Morning Meetings

I have learned about the responsive classroom many time and I have to say I love the morning meetings. This idea is so creative and wonderful. Not only do you get to know your students, but you get to observe how productive they may be in class today based on their actions and attitude, make them feel accepted in the classroom, and to provide an overall positive relationship between you and the student.

When I was on my latest observation at an elementary school, the teacher incorperated morning meeting into her Kindergarden classroom. She asked a few children what was one thing they did when they got home from school yesturday. She then proceded with the morning interactive song. Here the students sang along, made hand gestures that went along with the lyrics, and each child was to shake hands with at least everyone in the classroom while singing.... "Rise and Shine, Welcome to school today". I thought this song was very appropriate and wonderful. It made me happy and want to incorperate this into my class.

Here is an example of a Responsive Classroom morning meeting.



Did you nowtice after she demontrated and told the studetn's what to look for she had them repeat them back to her? Did you see the students reactions to each other?
I found this particular one to be a good example on how a morning meeting, such as this one, and build a strong relationships in the classroom community.

So tell me what did you see that the student's learned or experienced in this activity?

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Tools to use in the classroom

My fellow classmates and I got to experience some new technology tools that can be Incorporated into the classroom.  One tool that I thought was really cool was poplet.  This can be used as a unique discussion board and unlike Prezi you can embed links within the poplet. 

Storyjumper is another cool educational tool that I find to be my favorite so far.  With this tool it is done on-line where you can make a 16 page book on whatever you would like.  To top it off you can order a hard copy of the book you made.

Another tool i can see me using in the classroom is called wordle.  Wordle is a cluster of words and the words you choose or type more often are bigger in size.  I can see using this in an Elementary classroom for sight words or respect poster (for an example).

MuseumBox is another tool that I would love to use in my classroom.  It's basically a 3D PowerPoint, but you can make a whole lesson developed into one drawer of boxes composed of power points.

Brain Gym

The brain gym helps stimulate the two hemispheres by a series of exercises.

• drink water
• brain button
• cross crawl
• hook ups
• thinking caps

When doing these exercises students become alert, aware, have positive attitudes, and are energetic for learning.  A lot of educators have found this activity to improve the students attention in the classroom.  I can definitely see myself doing this in my class before a test.
http://esl.about.com/od/englishlessonplans/a/braingym.htm

Another tool that I found interesting and more to do with technology is BrainPOP.  www.brainpop.com is a really cool site that is free to educators.  On this site there are activities, quizzes, and movies involved in the subject matter.  Kids can use this site to learn more on subjects.  This web site "creates animated, curriculum-based content that engages students, supports educators, and bolsters achievement".  Topics that are provided are Arts and Music, Engineering and Tech, Social Studies, Science, English, Math, and Health.  The activities are available in English or Spanish, for children K-3, and for ESL or ELL students.

NCLB

Obama has introduced a NCLB (No Child Left Behind Act) wavier so teachers don't have to teach for a test, but to teach the children their educational knowledge and know hows for their future. He mentioned the reasoning of our economic problems and that we should be focusing on teaching our children to better function in this world of our economic failings. He also mentioned the truth that we as a nation are down in math and science scores and in overall knowledge compared to the other nations.

So this brings up the past "Nation at Risk"! Have we ever gone over that mark? Will the U.S. be able to get back on top of the educational post or will our children continue to stay behind in the world? I think with the reforms that Obama is planning on taking into action we will begin to see the climb, I just hope is doesn't have a negative affect on our educational systems.

 In this same speech that Obama gave about the NCLB waivers, he mentioned that the education does not just the involvement of the schools, but the encouragement from the home.  Parents involvement in a child's educational development is just as important as sending a child to school.  If we continue the education at home critiques will stop pointing the finger at schools and teachers for the mistakes that children have in their education.  It is not just one person's fault, it is a fault by a whole group.

Look into the Future

This video shows a new form of technology, a 3D Printer. This is deffinitly a glance into the future of what our technology is to become. What I find the uncanny part about this video is how cartoony the printed products look. I never thought this advancement in technology would happen in my life time.

So where can this technology lead us in the educational part of the world? How can this impact education? I can see field trips happening for the children or anyone of that matter who is inspiring to become a future engineer. Actually some firld trips have been made to educate the children on this 3D printer.
http://www.dimensionprinting.com/successstories/successstoryview.aspx?view=61&title=STARBASE+and+Dimension+Rocket+Elementary+Students%27+Design+Skills+to+New+Heights++

The Perfect Teacher

So I was just randomly talking in class today with some friends and one thought came into my head, what do I see to be a perfect teacher?

This is a hard question that I cannot find myself to answer.  There are some people who believe that they would prefer not to have a teacher at all and those who think we can't learn without them.  Well these are both opposite sides of the extreme.

So tell me, what would you do to create the perfect teacher?  Would you clone someone from the past?  or would you make a Frankenstein teacher picking and choosing from individual peoples traits and thoughts on teaching?!

I knew I loved Recess

Recess is really important.  Why you may ask?  Well studies have shown that recess actually improves learning through physical activity (ericdigests).   Since the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), teachers have been concerned that they won't be able to teach their students all the information they need in order to pass the assessment tests.  Some schools have gone as far as eliminating recess to give more time to the teachers to prepare the students to pass the assessment tests.
Recess is too important to take out of the elementary school day.  Breaks are essential for satisfaction and alertness, not only for children but for adults too.  Researches have been done with the memory and found that recall is improved when learning is spaced rather than all at once (ericdigests).  It is shown that a minimum of 10 minute breaks improve children's learning efficiency (journal-news).
Recess has cognitive benefits as well; it encourages creativity, promotes problem solving, and improves vocabulary.  Teacher's also gain benefits when their students have recess during the school day.  Teacher's gain better attention from the students and notice a decrease in disruptive behavior after recess time (barbara).
Recess was always my favorite in the day because I got to get away from the classroom and have the opportunity to be a kid.  Now that I know more about the meaning to recess, it makes me a little mad that what us teachers are more concerned about is educating the children to pass a test.  Us future educators now know the benefits for our students and ourselves. Let's educate the rest to bring recess back and no longer have the treat of being eliminated in the school days ever again.


Resources:
http://www.journal-news.com/
http://www.ericdigests.org/
http://barbara-pytel.suite101.com/

cell phone!!

So I'm taking advantage of this blogging experience.  I couldn't remember where I had put my cell phone.  Needless to say i went into panic mode.  I tore apart my whole house trying to fine my phone and having my boyfriend call it so I can try to find it that way.  Well it turned out I left it at my work, thus causing me unwanted stress.

This brings me to the  reflection of the psychological view on cell phones.  It's not the part about talking on cell phones that causes attachment, it the need and sense of being connected that can drive people crazy when they don't have their phones.  Those who are very connected to their cells phones may feel an underlying anxiety or depression within themselves and could become problematic, as said by the researchers of http://www.physorg.com .  A British study also recently found that 36 percent of college students surveyed said they could not get by without cell phones.

Tell me what do you think about your cell phones?  Do you see your self as an addict?  How much are you on your phone and how might you react to loosing your phone?  Think about what it would be like to spend one entire day without your cell phone.  I plan on doing this experiment, so follow my blog to read about my experience without my phone for a day.

Technology reflection

I have been attending a class in my college that involves technology for teaching and learning.  We have used several technology tools over the past month to us future educators a better understanding what technological tools we can use to enhance our lessons.   We have used PowerPoint twice in this class so far.  The main one was to create a lesson using PowerPoint that involved other technology tools. 

For my PowerPoint I used YouTube videos that were age appropriate and pictures that involved classroom discussion and could be used on a smart board. We have also gotten a head start on focusing on professional manners being separate from our personal lives.  Our class made G-mail accounts that would suite to be a professional e-mailing address in the future.  

And so it leads me to here, blogging.  This is our new adventure in expressing our minds and sharing our views with the public.

Just Me

I enjoy spending my time with my family.  I'm Italian so family is always first.  I am the biggest Cleveland Browns fan, so if you are a Pittsburgh fan I'm sorry!  I was originally from Ohio.  Before I changed my major to Early Childhood Education I was going to Penn State Behrend for l Engineering.  I have recently become a an environmental science freak since my one class with Professor Shewy.