Well, today was the last day; the last day for smiling faces and squeeze-hugs; the last day for seeing children's "light-bulb" face when they figure out the solution to a problem; the last day for listening to every student and getting to know them personally; and finally, the last day of sharpening endless pencils!
My experience in my 3rd grade host classroom was short, but one that I will never get. Some things were challenging during my experiences, but I loved every second of the experience that I got! I cannot wait to do more. This host classroom taught me a great deal of classroom management techniques, showed me how I am growing as a professional, and posed as a challenge to see if I have what it takes to be an effective teacher (and trust me, I think I can do it!).
During my last day, I gave cards to the host teacher and teacher aid and thanked them for allowing me into the classroom and helping me every single time I needed them. I brought in cookies for the kids and thanked them for being a part of my journey. Toward the end of the day, I was asked to stand in the front of the morning meeting carpet as each child went around and shared something that they will remember about me. I enjoyed listening to comments like "You are nice," "You always smile and make things I don't like to do fun," "You take initiative in the classroom," and of course from the girls, "You're pretty." I got to share personal memories I will keep of the students as well and it was a heartwarming moment for me.
Without naming classified information of the school, the staff, and the students, I would like to thank a few specific individuals. First off, thanks to the principal who helps maintain such a wonderful school culture and invited myself and other individuals from my college into the school. Secondly, thanks to the wonderful teacher and fellow staff who helped me out by showing me what it takes to be a teacher each and every day (and let's face it, all night too!). Lastly, thanks to my college professors who have shown me efficient ways of handling certain situations and constantly challenged me keep going and stay motivated as I experience the pressures I will soon have to face as a teacher. Thanks to you all!
Sunset At Raquette Lake
Block I trip to Camp Huntington
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
My First Social Studies Lesson!
So yesterday at my host school, I was fortunate enough to teach a lesson about Mountains in the United States. It was overall a positive experience as the kids really enjoyed the activity I had them do. However, some complications were present. I was told by my host teacher that I would have a spot reserved for me in the afternoon in the computer lab since I incorporated technology into my lesson; the truth was, I had no spot reserved for me when I got there and the spots for the computer lab were booked.
LUCKILY, another 3rd grade teacher was nice enough to allow me to share the computer lab with her for a little while since I only needed to teach a small group of children. The downside was, I did not have the time needed to do my lesson plan. I ended up quickly having them read about the mountains in the United States and play a quick matching game to match facts with the correct mountain ranges. Then, I had them create their own mountain ranges. Sadly, I did not have enough time to conclude my lesson properly and ended up asking them whole group what they learned while I was walking them back up to their classroom.
They loved creating their own mountain ranges on the computer. They asked me if I could give them the website we used to send home with them. So that felt good to witness. The site I used has several features that focus on geography and other areas of the curriculum. It is a fantastic website to use when planning and doing lessons. I hope you click the link below to go to an explore the website I used. If you have any questions about where I went to have them make their own map or any other questions, please comment and I will answer.
http://www.mrnussbaum.com/
LUCKILY, another 3rd grade teacher was nice enough to allow me to share the computer lab with her for a little while since I only needed to teach a small group of children. The downside was, I did not have the time needed to do my lesson plan. I ended up quickly having them read about the mountains in the United States and play a quick matching game to match facts with the correct mountain ranges. Then, I had them create their own mountain ranges. Sadly, I did not have enough time to conclude my lesson properly and ended up asking them whole group what they learned while I was walking them back up to their classroom.
They loved creating their own mountain ranges on the computer. They asked me if I could give them the website we used to send home with them. So that felt good to witness. The site I used has several features that focus on geography and other areas of the curriculum. It is a fantastic website to use when planning and doing lessons. I hope you click the link below to go to an explore the website I used. If you have any questions about where I went to have them make their own map or any other questions, please comment and I will answer.
http://www.mrnussbaum.com/
Friday, November 25, 2011
Banning Student Teachers From Schools?!
"Tennessee’s new teacher evaluation system has prompted some school districts to ban student teachers from working in core high school subjects, college education officials say. The reason: So much of a teacher’s evaluation is now based on student test scores that some teachers don’t want to cede control of their classroom to a student teacher..." (click here to read the article!)
I read this beginning of an article on banning student teachers from schools and I already know the reason, the amount of value wrongly placed on test scores. Teachers are so desperately focused on how their students perform on testing. It almost seems a matter of life or death because it may or may not cost them their tenure or their career.
After winning the $500 million reward for participating in the Race to The Top education grant, Tennessee schools are starting to get serious by making tougher teacher evaluations and curriculum changes. Teachers are nervous to lose their careers and are starting to not want student teachers in their classroom in fear that they might damage the student test scores. The fact of the matter is that this is not something just happening in Tennessee, it is starting to form worldwide. If there is not a shift of focus in education, it can and WILL cost people their jobs and cost people their education.
Student teachers and education majors will only learn how to be an effective teacher by experiencing first hand what works and what causes issues. Due to the over-valued and overrated testing is America really going to deny future educators the experience they need to continue EFFECTIVE education?
Testing can have upsides to academic placement and other areas of education. However, it should NOT be the main focus of student AND teacher evaluation. When it comes to a point where citizens who are full heartily committing to a profession are DENIED an opportunity to excel and develop as a professional, then a change HAS to be made.
I read this beginning of an article on banning student teachers from schools and I already know the reason, the amount of value wrongly placed on test scores. Teachers are so desperately focused on how their students perform on testing. It almost seems a matter of life or death because it may or may not cost them their tenure or their career.
After winning the $500 million reward for participating in the Race to The Top education grant, Tennessee schools are starting to get serious by making tougher teacher evaluations and curriculum changes. Teachers are nervous to lose their careers and are starting to not want student teachers in their classroom in fear that they might damage the student test scores. The fact of the matter is that this is not something just happening in Tennessee, it is starting to form worldwide. If there is not a shift of focus in education, it can and WILL cost people their jobs and cost people their education.
Student teachers and education majors will only learn how to be an effective teacher by experiencing first hand what works and what causes issues. Due to the over-valued and overrated testing is America really going to deny future educators the experience they need to continue EFFECTIVE education?
Testing can have upsides to academic placement and other areas of education. However, it should NOT be the main focus of student AND teacher evaluation. When it comes to a point where citizens who are full heartily committing to a profession are DENIED an opportunity to excel and develop as a professional, then a change HAS to be made.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Lure of the Labyrinth
LURE OF THE LABYRINTH
Lure of the Labyrinth is a mathematical computer game for middle school pre-algebra students. In this game, students draw connections from math to simulated real life experiences. The game also matches to state standards in educations so teachers will love it!
I could see how this could be used in my future classroom. Video-games are a big hit with the youth of America and children will love to do something that is not the normal routine of math lessons. The site goes into detail for educators of how this game meets math standards and discusses the math involved.
I encourage everyone to click on the game title that I listed at the top of this post to go check out the site for themselves!
Lure of the Labyrinth is a mathematical computer game for middle school pre-algebra students. In this game, students draw connections from math to simulated real life experiences. The game also matches to state standards in educations so teachers will love it!
I could see how this could be used in my future classroom. Video-games are a big hit with the youth of America and children will love to do something that is not the normal routine of math lessons. The site goes into detail for educators of how this game meets math standards and discusses the math involved.
I encourage everyone to click on the game title that I listed at the top of this post to go check out the site for themselves!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Music For The Mind
Over the past week in my education courses, the musician Gary Lamb was briefly mentioned and praised for his music that helps children learning in the classroom. I decided that this sounds like something I would like to do in my future classroom and went to research more about Gary Lamb. What I found, I LOVE!
Gary Lamb worked hard to create the Music For The Mind series which is a series of CD's that is meant for classroom use. Each song is approximately 60 beats per minute (BPM). Why use music in the classroom, and why specifically 60 BPM? Research shows that music can help reduce stress, increase cognitive functioning, and improve productivity and creativity. Studies also show that using music that is 60 BPM is most effective because it is the same tempo as a resting heart beat. Using this tempo is what calms us and puts us in that state of relaxed alertness (AKA- what you want in your classroom for your students!).
Each CD in the series serves it's own purpose such as "problem solving," "reading and writing," and "productive flow." Each individual album is ideal for different things and all work together to enhance the learning experience of the students. The total series cost about $70 dollars and it contains 6 albums. However each album can be bought separately for $15. I think this is a GREAT deal! When I get my future classroom, I definitely plan on buying this series. Gary Lamb uses the piano wisely as a way to enhance learning that has been shown to work!
Click Here Check Out Gary Lamb!
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Gary Lamb worked hard to create the Music For The Mind series which is a series of CD's that is meant for classroom use. Each song is approximately 60 beats per minute (BPM). Why use music in the classroom, and why specifically 60 BPM? Research shows that music can help reduce stress, increase cognitive functioning, and improve productivity and creativity. Studies also show that using music that is 60 BPM is most effective because it is the same tempo as a resting heart beat. Using this tempo is what calms us and puts us in that state of relaxed alertness (AKA- what you want in your classroom for your students!).
Each CD in the series serves it's own purpose such as "problem solving," "reading and writing," and "productive flow." Each individual album is ideal for different things and all work together to enhance the learning experience of the students. The total series cost about $70 dollars and it contains 6 albums. However each album can be bought separately for $15. I think this is a GREAT deal! When I get my future classroom, I definitely plan on buying this series. Gary Lamb uses the piano wisely as a way to enhance learning that has been shown to work!
Click Here Check Out Gary Lamb!
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives
Yesterday in one of my education courses, my teacher showed us a VERY handy math resource website. It is the site for the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (nlvm.usu.edu). This website has a bunch of virtual manipulatives you can use for virtually any content area and any grade level. There are visual tools for all standard areas of mathematics that can be used as a visual aid to teach concepts such as fractions, and angles.
This is something I thought could really be helpful in my future classroom or any other classrooms in the present times or the future! I believe that this can make difficult concepts much easier to truly understand. It will also b a good resource to use for children who need extra visual aids to grasp concepts. Lastly, if classroom manipulatives are lost, destroyed, or there just is not enough for the class, this is a GREAT alternative.
I am very happy that my teacher shared this website with us and plan on using it in my own classroom someday!
This is something I thought could really be helpful in my future classroom or any other classrooms in the present times or the future! I believe that this can make difficult concepts much easier to truly understand. It will also b a good resource to use for children who need extra visual aids to grasp concepts. Lastly, if classroom manipulatives are lost, destroyed, or there just is not enough for the class, this is a GREAT alternative.
I am very happy that my teacher shared this website with us and plan on using it in my own classroom someday!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Mastering The SMART Board
Over these past two weeks of my college courses, I have taken time two days a week to meet with a group of classmates and design a lesson that will be taught on the classroom SMART Board. I was so nervous! I had a little experience with SMART Boards in my high school math courses but never have to think of how to design anything on them.
The anxiety of learning how to do things on the SMART Board was quickly felt by my group mates and I. As a result of this (along with limited availability of using the SMART Board) we decided to design an outline of what would be included on our slides for our presentation. Then, when we were able to use the SMART Board application on some of the classroom computers, we played around with the buttons to explore how different things could be put into our lesson.
From our experience as a group with the SMART Board, we were able to discover how to add and edit text, how to add backfrounds, how to add graphics, how to insert links, and many other SMART Board features. We created a well-laid-out ELA lesson plan that we designed for 2nd graders. I am a little nervous about presenting our lesson to the class but confident that our lesson will be a fun, interactive learning experience for our Block I classmates.
The anxiety of learning how to do things on the SMART Board was quickly felt by my group mates and I. As a result of this (along with limited availability of using the SMART Board) we decided to design an outline of what would be included on our slides for our presentation. Then, when we were able to use the SMART Board application on some of the classroom computers, we played around with the buttons to explore how different things could be put into our lesson.
From our experience as a group with the SMART Board, we were able to discover how to add and edit text, how to add backfrounds, how to add graphics, how to insert links, and many other SMART Board features. We created a well-laid-out ELA lesson plan that we designed for 2nd graders. I am a little nervous about presenting our lesson to the class but confident that our lesson will be a fun, interactive learning experience for our Block I classmates.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
My First Field Observation for Block One!
Last Thursday I gathered my paperwork, grabbed my coat and headed for my placement in a third grade classroom. As soon as I walked out of the office and through the halls of my host school, I was overwhelmed by the differences it had from the elementary school I attended. There was more than one floor, it was small, and the gym had a stage at the front of it! I continued into my classroom to find it different as well. It was smaller, there was a white board instead of a chalkboard, and desks were in two large groups instead of rows.
As I went through my day at the school I felt rushed immediately from one thing to the next. There was no time to even take a sip of water. My feet were killing me from my heels and my throat was parched. The students were only in the classroom for a math lesson and then were off in other places until I left. I worked with many students who needed help with their math work and then had no interaction with them the rest of my time. When they were away I was grading their classwork, sharpening pencils, and making copies of pages to put together packets. I hope this goes differently the next time I go in.
I felt like more of a "Teacher's Pet" instead of my own emerging teacher. I want to lead a lesson for students and I want to get to see and know the students better. I hope that the reason they were gone half of the time was because it was the morning. Perhaps their afternoon schedule is mostly in the classroom. I am hoping to lead both a history and a ELA lesson that I plan. I spoke to the teacher about this but did not get a concrete answer yet.
Overall, I would say my first day participating in the third grade classroom was a bit overwhelming but a positive experience. Things did not exactly go as I planned, there were problems with kids who temporarily had problems staying focused. However, I did work with many students and made that initial impression that I wanted to make. I connected with the students quite well considering the minimal amount of time I had with them. Hopefully this week I will be able to make that same connection to more of the staff and the rest of the class that I was unable to work with.
I am so excited to be in a classroom again doing what I want to do!
As I went through my day at the school I felt rushed immediately from one thing to the next. There was no time to even take a sip of water. My feet were killing me from my heels and my throat was parched. The students were only in the classroom for a math lesson and then were off in other places until I left. I worked with many students who needed help with their math work and then had no interaction with them the rest of my time. When they were away I was grading their classwork, sharpening pencils, and making copies of pages to put together packets. I hope this goes differently the next time I go in.
I felt like more of a "Teacher's Pet" instead of my own emerging teacher. I want to lead a lesson for students and I want to get to see and know the students better. I hope that the reason they were gone half of the time was because it was the morning. Perhaps their afternoon schedule is mostly in the classroom. I am hoping to lead both a history and a ELA lesson that I plan. I spoke to the teacher about this but did not get a concrete answer yet.
Overall, I would say my first day participating in the third grade classroom was a bit overwhelming but a positive experience. Things did not exactly go as I planned, there were problems with kids who temporarily had problems staying focused. However, I did work with many students and made that initial impression that I wanted to make. I connected with the students quite well considering the minimal amount of time I had with them. Hopefully this week I will be able to make that same connection to more of the staff and the rest of the class that I was unable to work with.
I am so excited to be in a classroom again doing what I want to do!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Technology: A Teacher's "Right Hand Man"
For the past couple weeks in my college course on technology, I have been discovering new websites with tools I can use in my classroom. I have mainly worked with Little Bird Tales (www.littlebirdtales.com), Glogster (www.glogster.com), and Tagul (www.tagul.com) to create things that I could use as lessons or to promote lessons in my future classroom. I never realized just how many tools were out there for the aid of teachers!
Little Bird Tales is a website that lets individuals with accounts create their own digital stories about anything! What I found really cool was that you were given the option to either draw the pictures on the computer or upload them right from your computer! Just to experiment, I used a combination of both but focused mainly on uploading pictures. Another thing that I liked about this website is that you can record and add your voice to your stories if you wanted to. I did this as well to experiment with the site. I found this to be a tool I could use in my future classroom for creative writing that focuses on ELA, or for any sort of presentations I have students give. Presentations could also run more smoothly if voices were pre-recorded; this might take the edge off with students who are shy or mess up speaking when under pressure.With the options of writing texts, recording your own voice, adding whatever pictures you want, and many more editing options, students will have an incredible amount of freedom to truly create an original piece of work.
Glogster was another helpful tool for teachers that I experimented with. It is a website that allows individuals to create their own posters on virtually any topic. However, since it is a poster on the web, there are several multimedia options such as adding videos to the poster to enhance student learning. I liked this website because it was a very organized way to set up a classroom lesson and discussion. Instead of having notes up on a chalkboard on one side of the room and a video playing on the other side of the room, students can see and make connections with all the information in one spot. This makes everything from the lesson a central focus.
Lastly, I have played around with the tool options on Tagul which is a website that generates word clouds. For my work, I typed in all the words in Spanish that count from 1-20. I then typed in the word "Spanish" to give the focus if this cloud. Then, I chose from a variety of different shape options and chose a heart shaped cloud. After I clicked to generate my word cloud, all the words I typed in took the shape of a heart. I was also able to choose different colors for the words in my word cloud. Creating a word cloud can help students see how different words are spelled so they learn to write correctly. It is a great aid for students when learning different ideas.
Overall, I have found that technology can be a teacher's best friend if the teacher is wiling to accept this new idea into their classroom. There are several tools such as these that can aid teachers in planning and performing virtually ANY lesson. If you are looking for any ideas of sites that can help you in your classroom, please click the links below!
http://littlelearnersbigideas.yolasite.com/top-hits.php
http://glovely09.wetpaint.com/page/TopTen+for+Young+Learners
http://www.tammyworcester.com/TWHandouts/TW_Handouts/Entries/2011/6/26_Tammy%E2%80%99s_Top_20_Favorite_Web_Tools%21.html
Little Bird Tales is a website that lets individuals with accounts create their own digital stories about anything! What I found really cool was that you were given the option to either draw the pictures on the computer or upload them right from your computer! Just to experiment, I used a combination of both but focused mainly on uploading pictures. Another thing that I liked about this website is that you can record and add your voice to your stories if you wanted to. I did this as well to experiment with the site. I found this to be a tool I could use in my future classroom for creative writing that focuses on ELA, or for any sort of presentations I have students give. Presentations could also run more smoothly if voices were pre-recorded; this might take the edge off with students who are shy or mess up speaking when under pressure.With the options of writing texts, recording your own voice, adding whatever pictures you want, and many more editing options, students will have an incredible amount of freedom to truly create an original piece of work.
Glogster was another helpful tool for teachers that I experimented with. It is a website that allows individuals to create their own posters on virtually any topic. However, since it is a poster on the web, there are several multimedia options such as adding videos to the poster to enhance student learning. I liked this website because it was a very organized way to set up a classroom lesson and discussion. Instead of having notes up on a chalkboard on one side of the room and a video playing on the other side of the room, students can see and make connections with all the information in one spot. This makes everything from the lesson a central focus.
Lastly, I have played around with the tool options on Tagul which is a website that generates word clouds. For my work, I typed in all the words in Spanish that count from 1-20. I then typed in the word "Spanish" to give the focus if this cloud. Then, I chose from a variety of different shape options and chose a heart shaped cloud. After I clicked to generate my word cloud, all the words I typed in took the shape of a heart. I was also able to choose different colors for the words in my word cloud. Creating a word cloud can help students see how different words are spelled so they learn to write correctly. It is a great aid for students when learning different ideas.
Overall, I have found that technology can be a teacher's best friend if the teacher is wiling to accept this new idea into their classroom. There are several tools such as these that can aid teachers in planning and performing virtually ANY lesson. If you are looking for any ideas of sites that can help you in your classroom, please click the links below!
http://littlelearnersbigideas.yolasite.com/top-hits.php
http://glovely09.wetpaint.com/page/TopTen+for+Young+Learners
http://www.tammyworcester.com/TWHandouts/TW_Handouts/Entries/2011/6/26_Tammy%E2%80%99s_Top_20_Favorite_Web_Tools%21.html
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Getting Rid of Printed Textbooks
Textbook Free Schools?
An article on eSchool News investigates the creation of schools without printed textbooks. Individuals have said that this change was difficult for teachers as they had to change their way of teaching materials. However, it was stated that students became more involved in their independent learning and ended up asking for more! How do I feel about this idea?
I feel that these schools are grasping the concepts of the 21st century-style classrooms. The current generation is a generation of technological based learning and it will only become more consumed by technology. Forms of technology such as cell phones, lap tops, and Ipads are becoming easier to own and more and more students and their families are supporting a technological lifestyle.
I believe the biggest threat of getting rid of printed textbooks is the idea that students will not be able to take their technologically based learning resources home with them. However, there are many other ways to supply needed materials without textbooks or technology. Worksheet activities can be completed that are able to be taken home and studied. From worksheets that are completed in class and based off from the students technological learning, the students can easily review what they learned as well as show their parents. This will be a good way to help students retain what they learn and also help gain support by parents as they are able to see on paper what their child is doing and learning in the classroom.
Lastly, another benefit from using technology is the idea of using online interactive textbooks. These textbooks retain the idea of a printed textbook but offer online activities that children can complete to show their understanding of the material discussed. Provided that every student can get internet access, these can also be completed at home. However, online activities can also be done in class and printed out for each student.
I feel that the idea of change is scaring many schools away from this opportunity. However, I say schools should steer toward it! It is the 21st century; there are online learning programs, downloadable education applications, and interactive resources. Books are more commonly being read off a screen than read by flipping the pages. The way our generations live are changing, shouldn't the way education is taught change with it?
An article on eSchool News investigates the creation of schools without printed textbooks. Individuals have said that this change was difficult for teachers as they had to change their way of teaching materials. However, it was stated that students became more involved in their independent learning and ended up asking for more! How do I feel about this idea?
I feel that these schools are grasping the concepts of the 21st century-style classrooms. The current generation is a generation of technological based learning and it will only become more consumed by technology. Forms of technology such as cell phones, lap tops, and Ipads are becoming easier to own and more and more students and their families are supporting a technological lifestyle.
I believe the biggest threat of getting rid of printed textbooks is the idea that students will not be able to take their technologically based learning resources home with them. However, there are many other ways to supply needed materials without textbooks or technology. Worksheet activities can be completed that are able to be taken home and studied. From worksheets that are completed in class and based off from the students technological learning, the students can easily review what they learned as well as show their parents. This will be a good way to help students retain what they learn and also help gain support by parents as they are able to see on paper what their child is doing and learning in the classroom.
Lastly, another benefit from using technology is the idea of using online interactive textbooks. These textbooks retain the idea of a printed textbook but offer online activities that children can complete to show their understanding of the material discussed. Provided that every student can get internet access, these can also be completed at home. However, online activities can also be done in class and printed out for each student.
I feel that the idea of change is scaring many schools away from this opportunity. However, I say schools should steer toward it! It is the 21st century; there are online learning programs, downloadable education applications, and interactive resources. Books are more commonly being read off a screen than read by flipping the pages. The way our generations live are changing, shouldn't the way education is taught change with it?
Friday, September 16, 2011
About Me
• My name is Amanda Kratz
• I am fun, spontaneous, creative, and understanding
• I am a daughter and a sister of two awesome brothers.
• I love music, kids, and laughing
• I am feeling happy to be who I am, lucky to have amazing friends and family, and anxious to start my life.
• I fear failure of my life goals, rejection, and sharks!
• I would like to see smiling faces, an end to violence, and the world!
• I am a resident of Tompkins St, Cortland, NY
• I am currently unemployed. *sad face*
• I am fun, spontaneous, creative, and understanding
• I am a daughter and a sister of two awesome brothers.
• I love music, kids, and laughing
• I am feeling happy to be who I am, lucky to have amazing friends and family, and anxious to start my life.
• I fear failure of my life goals, rejection, and sharks!
• I would like to see smiling faces, an end to violence, and the world!
• I am a resident of Tompkins St, Cortland, NY
• I am currently unemployed. *sad face*
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