Piktochart

Today in class we learned how to use Piktochart.  Here is the example that I made:

This was just something I created quickly, there are a variety of ways one could use this in the classroom.  I think I would mostly use it as a graphic organizer.  The template I chose was free, I did notice that you will need a membership for the majority of the templates provided.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Don't sweat the small stuff is a saying that I need to remember.  I learned this over this past weekend.  This weekend I had a large portion of my family in town from Cleveland to visit (aunts, grandfather, parents, and my siblings).  I was very nervous, there was going to be 9 people that I had to entertain, and all different age groups.  I panicked, I didn't know what I was going to do.  I began racking my brain to think about different activities we could do to help pass the time, dinners/breakfasts we could have and the places we could visit.  

After the much anticipated arrival on Friday evening everything worked out perfectly and very smoothly the whole weekend.  I feel like sometimes we can get overwhelmed and or stressed with news, events, gatherings, that we need to realize that it will all work out.  It always works out.  Once the weekend was over and everyone had traveled back to Cleveland, I thought, "Why do I get so worked up and stressed out about nothing?  It always turns out just the way it was suppose to."  That's how this weekend was, and it only reminds me to not sweat the small stuff.

20Time in Education

I just started researching more on 20Time.  I know we talk a  lot about it in class, but I never truly understood how to begin this amazing program in the classroom.  After reading 20Time in Education I realized that this is a very simple project to conduct with your students.  There are also many fantastic opportunities for students to learn and explore on their own.  This website goes into great detail on how to introduce 20Time to your students/parents, how to incorporate blogging, ideas on how student can present their projects, and even areas that are highly suggested for grading.  

After being in our ED584 class for just a few weeks I am beginning to learn the importance of failing.  In this 20Time project students should not be fully graded if they did not accomplish his or her goal.  Students are allowed to fail.  If you fail, you learn from your mistakes.  We need to start letting students figure things out on their own and begin learning on their own.  By doing this, I feel that they will take more ownership in their work and in the long run, learn more.  I understand that this can be a challenge for some teachers; however, after perusing many 20Time projects, the possibilities are endless and so is the learning!

Animoto

      In our last blog post we were suppose to explore videos and learn how to create one.  I had recently discovered a new app on my iPhone and thought I would focus my blog on this app.  After looking at everyone's blog posts,who utilized Animoto, I knew I wanted to explore this.  After just a few minutes I was hooked.  I love the different formats you can use and there is such a wide range of uses for this.  Above is a short video I created after just exploring for a few minutes.  
       When I get my own classroom, I would love to create my own video about myself and my room.  What a wonderful way to break those first day jitters for students.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to visit Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine and I had a wonderful time!  While driving home with my husband we were talking and discovered that six months ago (to the day) we were looking at the mountains in Maui on our honeymoon.  We couldn’t believe where our life has taken us in such a short amount of time.  After thinking about this for sometime, I wanted to compare the two mountain ranges into one photo, but had no idea how.  After searching the App Store I discovered PicPlayPost.  This is an app that allows you to take at least two photos/video and create 1, almost like you are creating a photo montage.  Here is the photo I created:  

Video Clip Here

Now granted I didn’t use any videos, but I thought how neat it would be to have students use this app as another way to present information.  Students can reenact different elements from a book, dress up like certain characters, or take snapshot of what they think the setting looks like.  Once a final project/image is created by the student, the student can then post it on the classroom Instagram page for all to see and comment on.  I love that by using this app you can include videos as well.  What a great way to present a subject in just a few short seconds.  This only forces students to concentrate on the main idea and for the teacher to understand if they are comprehending the material in a very short amount of time.  

Inspiring Conversation

After being in the teaching field for the past few years I’ve always had difficulty talking to students when they approached me with a problem they may be facing, whether it’s at home or at school.  I feel that with all of my schooling, we were never trained or licensed on how to be a school counselor and/or a school psychologist.  This has always bothered me because I don't want to give the wrong advice and yet I still wanted to be there for the student and help them in any way I can.  

During our last ED 584 class this topic came up and Marialice had informed the class on what she has done when faced with this situation.  She said that in the past she has always listened and did everything in her power not to pass judgement.  She let the student explain their feelings and the situation that is bothering them. Once the student finished, Marialice would acknowledge their feelings and ask them politely if they would like to talk to the school nurse/counselor or if the student would like her to call their parent/guardian.  I love this advice. I think it’s a great way to still be there for the student; yet you are still able to get them the help they need.  If only I learned this a few years ago!

The importance of reflection:

Last year I had the opportunity to be a fifth grade job share teacher.  Since I was working in a job share position, I taught class on Wednesday afternoons, all day Thursday and all day Friday.  This was a great opportunity for me, as it was my first teaching position.  Knowing this position was only going to last for a year I knew I had to make the most of it.  I wanted to absorb as much information and experience as possible.  I also wanted to be careful not to step on anyone’s toes either so I tried to implement my own ideas on the days I worked.

During this experience, my co-teacher introduced me to our classroom blogs.  She had done this in her previous years, so I followed her lead.  Each student was to create their own blog based off of their silent reading book, and yes, these blogs were going to be taken for a grade.  My students were so excited to begin this new adventure, and I was right there with them.  Each week, each student was required to write one blog post utilizing all of their reading strategies (picturing, figuring out, connecting, predicting…) and comment on three other blogs that their classmates have written.  Again, I thought this was wonderful!  I loved the interaction we were going to get between each student and I was very excited to read the students’ thoughts on the books they were reading at home.    This excitement quickly dwindled.  The students were getting graded on each blog post.  Each blog post had to include specific details and follow the rubric.  If students didn't follow the rubric or fell behind in their blogs they had to play catch up.  The blogs slowly weren't fun for them anymore because they were unable to write freely.  I also saw the comments beginning to change too, the students just weren’t feeling it anymore.  The blogs quickly lost their appeal when the rubric came into place.

I noticed this happening and yet, I decided not to say or do anything since this is what my co-teacher had done in the past.  I was very careful with the ideas I shared with my co-teacher and the comments I had made to her because any suggestion I had given in the past was not received very well.  I was wrong.  I should have discussed my observations with the blogs and suggested we do something different to my co-teacher.  Thinking back on this experience and knowing what I know now after just two classes, I know the potential these blogs could have had.  I wish I would have spoken up because now I feel that I have given my students a disservice.  I guess my main take back from this experience it to always reflect on the good and the bad lessons because there is always room for improvements.  

Change can be a good thing!