Goodbye fall semester. Hello winter break!!!

            This semester has been very interesting for me. Going into this class I had no idea what to expect. Coming out of this class I feel very accomplished of myself. It was a lot of work but I did what I had to do and got it done and I am proud to say I came out doing well.

            I learned a lot of things that I had never even heard about over the semester. Dr. Smirnova knows so much about technology that its crazy. The one thing that I will never be more thankful for is Google. When I say Google I don’t mean the search engine I mean Gmail. That has saved my life this semester. As a commuter it is hard to do projects in groups with people because you have to meet up with them and find a time that works for everyone. With Gmail it makes it possible to do work from home or wherever you but still are able to do it together. Google doc’s is not like a regular PowerPoint. I have made plenty of PowerPoint presentations throughout my schooling and it was always the same thing everyone would make their slides and send it to one person who would put the PowerPoint together. Only the person who would put the PowerPoint together knew what the final project looked like until you got to school and showed everyone. This is the complete opposite with Google doc’s.  You can have a PowerPoint that everyone in the group can share and edit at that same time. It is great that everyone can collaborate and help each other at the same time without any problems. The best part about Google doc’s this semester was every time we did something in groups, we would share the doc or the PowerPoint with Dr. Smirnova and she would give us her imput or knowledge on the topic. That was really helpful and generous of her!

            Web questing is something I have learned to love. This semester was the first experience I have ever had with making my own. Last semester for our unit plan we didn’t have to make them we could use one that we found on the internet. This experience was something I found very stressful at first, but I really became interested in it and got very creative with it. We had to make our web quest based on what we wrote our lesson plan on in class. My lesson was on angles for fifth graders and it was very difficult to think of a web quest to use around angles. I even searched Google just to get ideas about web quests on angles and there wasn’t many out there. What I did find was many activities on angles and fun interactive activities for my students to use. I found this specific activity on angles and aliens so I decided to base my web quest on that. (http://goglobalwithlauren.pbworks.com/w/page/29978202/FrontPage )My web quest was about saving aliens that were lost in outer space and only we had the tools to blast them back to their homes. The key was that you had to blast them at the correct angle to send them directly to their home or they would miss it and still be lost in space. There were a few activities to practice angles before they actually got to the task, but one they got to the aliens they had to have it right. At the end of the web quest they had a project to do which was to make a poster board of the aliens they saved. They would have to draw the aliens and then write the angle that they blasted them at to send them back home and then write whether it was acute, right, or obtuse.

            My fieldwork experience was really amazing this year. For most of the fieldwork I have done it was either me sitting in the class observing or working one on one with a student. This time it was different I got to actually teach lessons to the whole class. It was awesome because I actually felt like the teacher up in the front of the classroom and they students were in my control. This was an awesome experience because my cooperating teacher was like just pretend I am not even in the room and do what you would do if this was your classroom. I did exactly that and they kids were so good they did everything I asked of them with no problem. They loved when I was teaching lessons they couldn’t wait for me to get there and it was so exciting to know that they wanted me to come and teach them. It wasn’t like they wanted me to come because then they didn’t have to do anything, I definitely made them work harder than their teacher did but that’s only because I had a point to prove. This was also very helpful because since this was the first time I was actually in front of a class teaching it made me sure that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, because how do you really know at 17 years old what you want to do forever. I know people that are 45 and still don’t know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. I have always thought I wanted to be a teacher but this experience made it definite for me. Being a teacher is what I am supposed to be doing and this class made it a positive thing for me. I have no more doubts in my mind I know I will be a successful teacher someday and I can’t wait for that day to come.

Dear teacher's, whats the secret to not sleeping???

Throughout this semester I have had the opportunity to work in two different classrooms. Both classes I am in are 5^th grade classes. In one class I work one on one with a boy named Christian, who is a year older than all the other students because he was held back. His learning skills are night as high as the rest of the kids and he has a lot of trouble comprehending material. Although he is in 5^th grade his reading level is only at a 3^rd grade level and he still struggles there. The other classroom I get to work in which is also 5^th grade, I work with the whole class. The teacher basically uses me as a teacher’s assistant or has me be the teacher. I really enjoy that because I get a lot of experience in front of the classroom. For me that is the only way to learn, I can sit in class and have professors tell me information until my head is about to explode, but until I’m in front of the classroom doing it I don’t fully understand it. I’ve learned all about the hard work that goes into being a teacher. The planning in itself takes hours of work. I understand why Dr. S doesn’t sleep now. Planning, then having students do what you planned, then grading it. Where would anyone have time for sleep?

I have definitely learned that situations may not always go as you have planned for them to because each student learns differently. So what you have planned for your students may work for some and not for others. As a teacher you have to be compassionate to all students needs to have them learn to the best of their ability.

            For Methods I observe the whole 5^th grade class at George Fischer Middle School in Carmel. When I did my lesson on angles and presented it to my teacher, she absolutely loved it. She loved the specifics that went into it. She said she hasn’t made a lesson plan like this in so long because after teaching for 25 years you basically know what you are doing. The teacher said I hit every part of the criteria that goes into teaching a good lesson and also the children had a lot of fun learning all about angles. I began my lesson with a grabber of doing a little clap rhythm that the children repeated back to me.  After I had all their attention I asked them if anyone knew anything about angles. They gave me some answers like you measure them with a protractor and that a line is 180 degrees. These students were very smart and entertaining. I next went on to ask them if there was anything they would like to know about angles to make sure I covered it in that lesson. They said they weren’t sure so we just went on with the lesson. I followed my lesson exactly how I wrote it for the class and it worked out great. The students loved it and the teacher loved it. Teaching the lesson of angles was a great success to the students.

            I couldn’t have done this without google doc’s. Before this semester had begun I had no idea about google doc’s and I don’t know if many people do, but it is a life savior.Angle lesson plan! I’ve learned that doing presentations is much easier than using powerpoint. It is also very interactive because you can have a group of people sharing one document and adding their comments and feedback, it is wonderful to use in the classroom.

Block Lesson Plan

Methods 9/15

This week in Methods we have been learning about the Behavioral Model and Direct Instruction.

Behavioral Model
i. Strengths- Builds on prior knowledge, students learn skills that they could use in their everyday life.
ii. Weaknesses- Students lose focus easily, not very challenging for the students.

The Behavioral Model is based on direct instruction because it is focused on the teacher. It is very teacher centered where as the other three models: Information processing, Social interactive, and Personal are indirection instruction because they are student centered. The indirect instruction models focus on the students learning with the help of the teacher.

My life

My name is Lauren, I am 21 years old. I started off college at Southern Connecticut State University, where I learned I hate living at in a dorm. I then transferred to Dutchess Community College where I was for 2 years and graduated with an associates degree. I am now at Mount Saint Mary where I love it. I am majoring  in English and will get my degree in Elementary/Special education. I have an amazing group of friends and an awesome family I wouldn't trade them for anything, They put up with a lot from me because I can be a huge pain in the butt. I am really looking forward to finishing school and moving on to the next step in my life!