Every Beginning Has An Ending

I just wanted to say that Block 3 has been the best experience for me. I got to know a great good of future teachers and already teachers. You have changed how I view everything, myself, others, and teaching. Without everyone that I met this semester I dont think I would be as ready to enter the teaching world. I cant explain what everyone has done for me. Long Live This Crazy Beautiful Block 3 Memories!

Cause and Effect

I was working one on one with a student the other day. She has trouble with identifing cause and effect. How I thought she might see the direct corrolation between cause and effect is labeling them. We read through a book after a discussion on cause and effect. While reading she would read a few pages and then stop and think about if there was a cause and then what would the effect have been. In the book she labled each. Then we had a discussion on why she choose those and then would continue reading. This was done through the whole book. At the end we got to do a worksheet where she was given the causes from the book. Some where the ones she had already found but some where more broad causes so she had to think about them more. The labling helped her to look back and think about why certain things happened because of a cause. This was a fun way to get the student actively reading and making her think more critically about the book.

Setting the Stage for Success

Setting your classroom can aid in the success your students have in the classroom. Making sure the the students can see you, or important areas, and clearly hear you is important for everyday learning. The I like the idea of puting the desk into groups this way discussion and grouping can be easier for all involved. Having visual aids around the room can be little reminders for the student however you dont want your room to become cluttered. Having a room that is clean and students can easily get to things is important. That helps the teachers and the students. By having everything in a place allows the students to get some of their own materials and help take care of the room. Creating active members in taking care of the room. Everything you put into your room and how you put it should have a tought behind it and how it helps you and the students.

Talent shows

I used to think talent shows were pointless and there was no need for them in a classroom. However after doing one now I see that they can be a great way to get to know people on different levels. You can find out things about a person you never knew. I was going to do a cheer but then with some encouragement I decided to show the class something they didnt know about me which is my drawings. I have been with these people for years now and they never even knew I did any of that. So it really can bring out more understanding in a classroom. This can help to build community and show people even more about yourself. This can also build connections between people. Talent shows can really change how people see another person.

Adding the Arts

Its important to add arts into students learning. Student need an outlet to express themselves that they might not get to do anywhere else. This should let the students let out emotions. This can be an easy task if you know how to do it. It can also help further the discussion of a concept. I love the idea of doing a play. Plays can help students really look at a book further then just reading it. This get the students thinking. When doing the play if the teacher stops them and ask how their character is feeling or whats going to happen next can really open up the students eyes. This will drive the disussion into deeper thoughts and feelings. Arts can be many different things, music,drama, drawing, painting, any way that expresses something. The arts I feel really open up the doors for learning.

Decades Project

I never thought that researching different aspects of a decade could be so fun. I have been getting so excited mostly for dressing up like the 60's but also looking at what everyone else wears. I got to research the entertainment aspect of the 60's. I looked at the music, movies, tv, and books. The thing I found really interesting is that most of the entertainment that was popular back then is still popular today. I can remember watching tv shows like Gilligan Island, The Adams family, and the the classics. The music I still enjoy today like many others. The Beatles, The Supremes and The Temptations to name a few of the many I love. These all might be classics but they have stood the test of time. I had no clue that most of those where from the 60's but im happy i know that know. This makes me what to look at other decades. It's a great way to get students excited to learn about a time in our history and to make connections. This will get students engaged and excited to learn.

Last Lesson of Block 3-Paperclip Measuring

My last lesson in block 3 was in math. Math is not my favorite subject let alone to teach it. However I was very pleased with out it turned out. The lesson was on measuring to the nearest inch and half inch. I had the students do an activity with me where we measured paperclips in inches and centimeters. The students were very interested and actually took me by surprise.The students usually have a tough time in math but today they were focused and involved in the lesson.They were so focused I was a little nervous if they were understanding it, but once I saw their workbook pages, that they worked on with a partner, I was able to see that they indeed understand the material. I did some one-on-one time with a few students that needed extra help. With that extra help they seemed to all at least get the basic understanding of how to measure. I really feel that hands on activities are the key to get students involved and focused on the material.

Lesson On {Wants and Needs}

I got to do a fun lesson on wants and needs this last week. It was one of the most effective lessons I did with my class. They loved the class activity.

First I reviewed what are wants and needs, how are they different, are there things that depend on situations, how to make choices, what is better to buy first, savings. After the review, I showed pictures of items that they might buy and they were supposed to tell me if it was a want or need and then I would stick, with magnets, the item in the right column. This created a lot of discussions. It got the students engaged, asking questions, doing deeper thinking. I was very pleased with how the students did. After the activity the student went back to their desk to do similar activity by themselves.

I was so pleased with how the students did. I will be for sure doing this lesson again :)

Salt Dough Maps

Salt dough maps can be a great way to study your state or country with a hands on activity. These maps can expand on geographic awareness.

Things you can look at after making the maps.
Trade
- how the land of a place can effect how countries or states import and export.
-Compare countries and how they interact with each other.
Topographical information
-location
-landforms
-water
Culture
-human interaction
-environment interaction
How to read a map
How countries change over time
-land
-government
-war
-politics

Students can put together powerpoints alone with their maps to assess and apply their learning. This also gives the other insight onto many other places as well as the one they researched.

Remaking Famous Art Works

Its good for students to see how much work and the techniques famous artist used. They can still have the liberties to create their own work. Students use the techniques that the artist used that you are studying however give the students the freedom to express themselves through their own art. This will bring understanding of the art but still give the students a creative outlet for themselves.

My version of "A Starry Night"

Developing Empathy Through an IMovie

Sometime for young people it is hard to have empathy for the people that lived through an event and what their experience were. They don't understand the people behind the stories, hardships people endured, or the emotions felt. Through pictures, clips, music, sounds bites students can start to understand what it is that people went through. Textbooks are a great tool to get a general start to the story, names, dates, places, however for people to understand what it was really like and how much others have gone through their needs to be a connection. Building this connection can come from comparing similar stories from the past to the present or having the students do an activity that makes them think more. Having actual pictures, music from the time, and even interviews of people that where there can also help students to begin to feel what it was like at that time in history. History isn't just names and dates its feeling and emotions. Creating your own educational IMovie can help bring history to life for these students. The movies we created in class brought out a lot of emotions for us even if we had seen those images a million times before. It puts you there in those peoples mind set and how would it feel if that was me on a ship at Pearl Harbor, or watching the first plane take off, or if i had been in NYC during 9/11 instead of my classroom in Rural Delphi, In. Even though I was alive and experienced 9/11 the movie that my classmates made brought it all back and it brought out more understanding of what really happened now that i'm older watching these things happen. Some times it takes time to young people to have empathy but as teachers we need to be able to help that process along and finding tools that can do this.

Trade Fair

< : Trade Fair : >

Today I got to learn more about Trade.

I thought at first a trade fair wouldnt be that much fun but it was a fun experience. You learn how people would have used things in the past to trade instread of using money. This would be great for students to learn and experience how it would have been and why some laws are in place now becuase of trading before.

My winnings from the day - The Red White and Blue Scarf for 2 candy bars.

Artifacts of Your Life

Artifacts. What would artifacts from your life say about you if someone where to see them. In class we got to see how it would feel. I had brought some money from Mexico, a paint brush, a ring with my birthstone in it, a cheer bow, and a jewelry box my sister gave me. However finding things that would describe me the best was actually a lot harder then I would have thought. I had to take a moment and think " Who am I?" . Its a hard question and its also hard to find objects that can describe that. The class got to go around and look at others artifacts and it really helped me see what is important to those people and learn a little more about them. However those things don't define the whole person and there is much more still to know about. Thinking about how researchers look back at accent artifacts its hard not to think of the things that aren't being seen, the stories no one will ever hear, and the lives that had come before. We only get to see an glimpse and the rest is and will mostly likely always be a mystery.
What would you want found to explain your life?

Every Puzzle has a Picture

The other day in Art we got to look at a great activity that I would use as an Icebreaker for my class! Every student would get a piece to a larger puzzle. They get to use paint, markers, color pencils, what ever their hearts desire and then they draw what they think is beautiful.After they are finished with the first part then you can go around the room and have each student explain their piece and why they thought that was beautiful. This give everyone a change to see that everyone has a different views on beauty and art is their to express your ideas of what beauty is or not. At the end you can put all the pieces together to complete the puzzle. Lesson: Every piece,no matter shape or differences, they all work to fit into the group to make a complete picture.

Story Telling Through Art

Story's don't have to be just verbal but today we looked at how to express a story through art. We had tons of craft supplies from paper to chalk, feathers, glitter, sand, and so much more. We got to pick our own story and tell it through those materials. Many people picked to do a drawing but others made props and acted it out. It was cool to see what everyone could make and express through these materials. It showed that you could feel emotions from the art piece. Story telling brings out emotions in the teller and listener and can even bring out other similar experiences. This helps people connect to each other and the similar situations or feelings. This was a great experience to see first hand how to use art in the classroom.

Getting Crafty

Today in social studies class we got a chance to decorate our cow books. People could choose from fabric to wallpaper samples. I  picked to use wallpaper and wrap my cow book with it. Then I cut off the remainder of the wallpaper so that it fit perfectly around. The next step was to hot clue the paper to the book. The next thing I did to add an extra touch was to cut out another wallpaper pattern with flowers and pasted them on top of the other paper. This was a fun way to make your cow book more personal.