Long Time No See...

Long time no see, fellow bloggers! We have had a few weeks off from the world of blogging to give us some time to focus on other assignments. The past few weeks in the classroom have been full observing, learning, and a little bit of teaching. All of these opportunities have been very valuable for next year when I’m on my own.

A struggle I encountered the past few weeks was time management while teaching. I had the opportunity to teach three lessons on theme, the students were loving the activities and really getting engaged! However, on the last day time was not our friend, the activities I had planned took longer than expected so we didn’t get everything accomplished that I wish we could have. With that being said the kids did PHENOMENAL that lesson, I originally thought they would really struggle because it was our first day finding the theme of a poem. But, they took the challenge and rocked it!

One thing that made me most proud was day 2 of teaching on theme. One of my students came up to me expressed that he thought I was doing a really good job and that I would make an excellent teacher. He continued to explain how he had learned so much and really enjoyed the lesson. This meant a lot to me because this student is not one to speak out and express his thoughts.

Over the next week I plan to continue my observations and prepare for another day with a substitute. I’ve had the chance to observe the classroom with a substitute in the classroom twice this year (Lord bless subs). It was very informative and really helped me make my sub plans for EUDC 435. Since I am accustomed to the schedule and the students the subs tend to rely on me quite a bit and have given me control often. This has been very exciting and quite the learning experience! Students will definitely test your limits and see what they can get away.

This week we have met and collaborated for our science fair and water cycle project. Next week we will continue to work on our science fair project and get ready to submit it!

This week my outside research was focused on effective questioning as my group worked on the hyperdoc for this week. The types of questions you ask your students are so important. Learning to ask better questions will yield better more thought provoking answers. This will help me prepare to use better questions in my future classroom and require students to dig deeper and make connections that will vastly improve their learning.

My first tweet is about making sure student's needs are met before trying to teach them. Students will not respond well if they do not feel cared for. Once student's feel supported then they are ready to learn and dig deeper.

My next tweet is about Google Classroom now supporting Newsela. You can now add an assignment from Newsela directly into your google classroom for students to see. Newsela is an excellent resource because it has current event articles on differentiated levels for students.

My last tweet is about vocabulary. The difference between teaching versus just giving it to students is huge. The article mentions how just having students copy a definition is not beneficial but having students investigate and work to find their own definition is more lasting.

The first object beyond Neptune has had been identified as having rings. Previously only the large planets (Neptune, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus) had rings. Now this dwarf planet, Haumea has spotted rings. The dwarf planet spins unusually fast and could be flinging debris. (https://www.sciencenews.org/article/oddball-dwarf-planet-haumea-has-ring)

This week I learned about NCTCS 4B, 4C, and 4D. To me these three standards revolve around the idea of knowing your students and teaching in a way that allows them to be most successful. Teachers should use methods that utilize student's strengths and build on their weaknesses. In my future classroom this will look like, getting to know my students and understanding when learning occurs for them. Something that is often not done is asking students how they liked the lesson and what could have been done to help them understand. Something so simple can result in powerful information gained and an opportunity to improve learning in my classroom.

Hope you all enjoy your fall break and find some time to relax!