Journal #11

Last week was our first week back in class from field. We got into groups to start our Web Quest project. My group chose to gear our webquest towards 5th graders. Our content area is Social Studies and we are focusing on standard 4, objective 4. Standard 4 states, "Students will understand that the 19th century was a time of incredible change for the United States, including geographic expansion, constitutional crisis, and economic growth." Objective 4 says students should be able to: "Understand the impact of major economic forces at work in the post-Civil War." As a group, we came up with the following questions to focus our webquest on:

1) Why did new immigrants affect the economy of post-Civil War U.S.?Why did new immigrants affect the economy of post-Civil War U.S.?

2) How did new immigrants affect the economy of post-Civil War U.S.?

3) Why did People immigrate to U.S.?

4) How did People immigrate to U.S.?

5) How did immigrants find work and food?

I think webquests are good because it allows students to have a "hands-on" learning experience. I also realize it takes a lot of time to put a webquest together. When I have my own classroom, I would love to allow my students to use a webquest if resources are available. After my own field experience and listening to other members of my cohort share their stories, I learned that it is not always easy for students to have access to technology. However, I will do my best to make sure my own class will have experience with webquests because in my opinion, this is an excellent way for students to learn new concepts. During my field experience, I noticed that students are easily engaged when they have the opportunity to do their own research. Webquests allow students to learn about anything they are interested in by going to various websites. In my field experience, the students I worked with absolutely LOVED using the internet for research. It is very important to make sure students only go to the designated websites.

Technology Interview Reflection

1. What did you learn from the interview?

I learned that the Technology Specialist is a very busy man. In fact, when my cooperating teacher emailed him to see if we could schedule an interview with him, he requested that Rebecka and I contact the other student teacher's who had already interviewed him and learn about the school's available technology that way. Thankfully, the other student teachers were very cooperative and emailed their interview to us. Unfortunately, they have a different technology instructor and she required different questions. However, we did our best to make do with what was given to us. We did not want to cause any complications for the technology specialist.

2. How will this experience affect you as a teacher?

When I am a teacher, I will do my best to become more familiar with the various technologies provided by the school. The school I was at had portable computer labs. Teachers were allowed to check out mac laptops for their students to work on. There were almost enough macs for each student to have their own. The only problem with using the laptops was, neither Rebecka nor myself were too familiar with macs. Prior to teaching one of our lessons, we had to ask one of the students to show us how to open up the word processor. We also had a problem with setting up the computers to print to the classroom printer. We were not able to figure that out so we had to send the students' work to the teacher workroom printer.

3. How did this experience change your views about the use of technology?

This experience has showed me that technology can be useful and challenging at the same time. The students loved watching video clips, looking at pictures on the overhead projector, doing webquests, and typing their assignments on the laptops. The students learned a lot from the pictures the numerous pictures that were shown on the overhead. They also were fascinated by the air raid video clip from, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". We ran into a few challenges because sometimes technology didn't work the way we wanted it to. For example, one day we wanted to show them a video clip of a reader's theatre, but for some reason we couldn't get the video clip to play. We also had a little bit of trouble with figuring out how to use the macs, but we were able to overcome those challenges with some guidance.

I also learned that lessons involving technology generally take longer than direct instruction lessons. It takes a lot of time to get the students prepared with the necessary materials, such as computers. Giving the instructions and showing the class exactly what is expected of them is also time-consuming and can test your patience. Students can get really excited when they get to use technology which is good, but sometimes they tend to get off track because they are so excited and it can be very difficult to keep all of your students on track.

Overall, my technology experience was not too horrible. I liked that the students were excited to use technology for educational purposes. In my opinion, technology does not need to be used all the time. It is important to find a balance between when technology should and should not be used in the classroom.

Journal #10 Fieldwork Week 3

This week was so much fun! We got to finish teaching our World War II Unit. Last week we taught the students about various factors that contributed to WWII such as economics, tyranny, and invasion. We also taught them about the different technologies that were used in WWII.

For one of our assignments, the students were divided into groups and given a picture that showed a type of technology used during the war. As part of the activity, the groups discussed what the technology was, and how it was used. They also had to put their thoughts down on paper. The class really enjoyed this assignment. This experience has taught me that most students love hands-on learning. In my own classroom, I will do my best to provide my students with as many hands-on learning activities as possible to ensure my students are having fun while learning new, challenging concepts.

Here are some examples of the students' work:

On the last day of field, the class threw a surprise party for Rebecka and I. Many of the students gave "speeches" to tell us how much they enjoyed having us as their student teachers. Looking back on this entire field experience, I learned that the MOST important part of being a teacher is showing your students that you love them. During field, I tried really hard to get to know each student. I wanted each of them to know that I cared for them. When I have my own class, I will make it a point to show each student that they are important to me. I strongly believe that by showing them I care, they will have the desire to learn and become successful in their schooling, just as the students in my field experience have done. The saying is very true that "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

Here are some of the cards the students made for us:

Journal #9 Fieldwork Week 2

This week we finished teaching our WWII lessons. It was such a great learning experience. I had so much fun practicing the different teaching methods I have been learning in school. In fact, one day we used the Synectics model for our lesson and our field supervisor was so impressed with the way the lesson was presented, she cried tears of joy!

I've also been learning different management techniques. I've learned that I need to give very detailed instructions before the students start their assignments, or it can create a lot of confusion. My partner and I decided we wanted the students to perform a reader's theatre. For our last lesson, we had them write their reader's theatres with their groups, and the entire class was confused on how to write them and ended up not writing anything for a long time. When they got back from recess, we gave them an idea on how to write the reader's theatre, and every group except one was able to complete the assignment. Tomorrow I am going to work with that group and help them write their reader's theatre while the other groups are practicing to theirs.

We also taught our "Technology Rich" lesson this week. Each of the students enjoyed doing a webquest where they learned about the technologies of WWII.

It has been so fun working with these students. I'm so sad that this week is our last week with them!

Journal #8: Fieldwork Week One

The first week of fieldwork has gone by so fast! I absolutely LOVE working a 6th grade classroom. The students are absolutely wonderful! It has been so much fun getting to know both our cooperating teacher and his class. Our teacher always finds ways for us to help in the classroom. We get to help the students with their schoolwork, take them to P.E./recess, and grade MOUNTAINS of assignments.

Last week Rebecka and I had some time to prepare for our lessons. Luckily, she had designed these lessons earlier this semester for Curriculum Design and Assessment so all we had to do was make some minor adjustments. I am so excited to actually put what I have learned throughout the semester to use.

Our lessons are geared towards Social Studies but we also get to include technology and creative arts in them. Before we went into the class, I was a little nervous about how we were going to go about these lessons simply because our cooperating teacher is a core teacher, not a Social Studies teacher. He wanted us to teach about WWII and suggested we used the Language Arts time to teach our lessons.

Although I am excited for this week, I am somewhat nervous because our supervisor will be there for our first lesson!

Journal #7

Last week in class we turned in our Digital Stories and continued to work on our personal webpage. I was glad to have teh digital story done and turned in. I don't think I will have my future students make their own digital stories simply because they take so much time to put together.

I do like the idea of having a class webpage. I think it's a great way to keep parents notified of important dates. I also like being able to post homework assignments, and providing a description for each assignment. This way, the parents and students always know what they can expect to learn in class that day, and they can also be aware of how much time they will need to spend on assignments for school. I would definitely love to use this in my classroom!

Journal #6

This week has probably been my favorite class period so far this semester. We learned how to add the google calendar, assignment, and announcement pages to our website. I spent the entire class period working on the calendar because I had so much fun with it! I absolutely LOVE this feature and would definitely use it my future classroom. The google calendar and the class webpage is a great way to let students/parents become aware of important events and dates. I also love that we can add descriptions to assignments and events. This feature is absolutely fantastic!