final draft "Sun Protection"

Incorporating technology into a lesson

This year I taught a Social Studies unit on Native Americans, and every day I introduced a new tribe. I think for next year I will divide my class up into groups and give each group a different tribe and have them create a photostory. Thier photo stories will be teaching the class about each tribe instead of me.

Materials Needed:
1. Computers
2. research materials about the tribes
3. headsets or microphones to records the students voices

2nd video 1st draft

video outline

How to Pick a "Just Right Book"

1. The video will start off with a student asking me a question like "I dont know what book to pick out for my book baggie?"

2. Then we will go go through the five finger rules.

3. We will then show examples of a book that is too easy

4. Then we will show a book that is too hard\

5. Then we willl find a "just right book"

movie final draft

The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Resources

For my first educational video I will need:
1. Digital video camera
2. Windows Movie Maker
3. photographs
4. Cable cord for connections
5. student help

New Vista Comments

1. Santa Clara, California

I liked how this video was short and to the point. It told a lot of interesting facts about Santa Clara that I did not know about before watching this video. I enjoyed that there was different speakers throughout the video. I wish the audio was better; it was low and it sounded like they were talking into a tin can.

2. President Riddle 1

This short video was fun. It made you think alot about who it was. I actually didnt know anything about the president that the video was based on. I would have liked to have seen there be a riddle for every president; maybe it could be a class project for all the students to work on.

3. Considering Communism

This video had a lot of valuable information that made you think. It was thought provoking. I wish the speaker and the still photos were a little slower so I had time to think about what she was saying. I like how she used an example of the two sisters and it brought the theory down to a level that students could relate to. I really loved this video

student audience outline

So in our next assignment for class is to create a student-audience video. I was thinking and thinking and thinking of topic to do my video on that I can show to my students when I am done creating it. Then it hit me I think I will want to create a video about the life cycle of a butterfly. I can have my students help me create the video too! I think it will be a fun learning experience for myself and my students!!!


OUTLINE

Life Cycle of a Butterfly
1. Pictures of the different stages of the life cycle(going around in a circle)
2. Stage one:EGG description of how and where a butterfly lays its eggs.
3. Stage two: Larva description of the capterpillar
4. Stage three: Pupa Description of the pupa real video of butterfly pupas
5. Stage four: Butterfly video of our classroom butterflies
6. Explaining that the life cycle is always going on it is always going on (show the different stages of the butterfly's life)
7. finish with credits and a scene of butterflies flying about


I think it is going to be fun to create this video :)

I forgot to blog about this when Iwas in Florida during spring break. I met a guy who was actually a coder for websites. He was telling me all the different things he could do with a website and it was aa very interesting conversation.


I also wanted to share with everyone that I went to wordle.com after Jeffs mini presentation and made wordle pictures using my spelling words. I repeated the words that i thought were important for my students to really study and they came our larger then the other words. It is such an amazing web site

Design 2

Last week our school started using the Fountas & Pinnell Reading Assessment. It has been very frustrating for all of the teachers in my building. It wants us to do three different running records on each students and along with those running records the student will have to have a writing piece to accompany each running record. the assessment is very thorough and does give you an accurate guided reading level for the student. The problem that I think I am having with it is the design of the test. This test is design for you to work on the assessment with a student one on one without any distractions; to complete the assessment it takes about a hour and a half. I don't care how good someones class is there is no way that you can work one on one with a student with out any distractions. I have tried a few different things to keep the kidsquiet; first i had them do their centers, that wasn't a good idea because even though the students were working quietly in their centers they still whisper to each other so it was distracting to the child that I was assessing. Then I tried to assess a child while we were in the computer lab but there were a few interruptions from students that were having computer problems.Today I gave my kids busy work and I HATE BUSY WORK. I think the test needs to be designed differently in order to work in a normal classroom not one where are no disruptions and/or distractions for the teacher and the student that is being assessed.

design

So I have chosen to talk about design from Pink's book. I have been thinking about what I should write when it came to me one day in my classroom while my students were in gym, the design of a classroom is crucial to a students progress.

When I first arrived at my new job my classroom was a MESS,and being as organized as I am I started the very first day cleaning and trying to get some kind of a grip on my surroundings. The teacher before me was forced into 2nd grade unwilling and you could tell by how everything was layed out. For me the design of the classroom didn't flow; the carpet was in front of the chalkboard, there was reading books in all different places in the classroom and there was random things EVERYWHERE. It took me many afternoons but after about two weeks I had re arranged the classroom's furniture to create a library with the carpet for students to relax and read on in one area that wasn't right in front of the chalkboard. I had made the chalkboard accessible to use and I also sorted through the mounds of worksheets and random supplies that were scattered around the room. The design of my classroom I feel like really works for my class. I have heard positive feedback from my principals, fellow teachers, and parents. I tried to design my classroom to portray a warm work friendly environment.

The design of something I feel will either make or break something. In my scenario it helped me transition easily into being my students teacher for the rest of the year. It helped show the students that I am different and my new design of the classroom helped me get a fresh start to the rest of the year.

Last week in class we watched a mini presentation using a math program and i thought it was great. it let the students learn the different math lessons by discovering the rules themselves. I love these kids of discovery lessons becasue it make the students work and discover the rule of the math problem without having the teacher just give the rule. they actually discover it themselves and it is amazing when you get to witness that.

Parent teacher meet and greet

So I had my first Parent/Teacher meet and greet and it went well. I had 13 parents show up to the event which, it impressed be because it was 4:30 right after school. I am very proud of myself and how I handles all of the questions; I had a few questions that came out of left hand field but I was able to answer them. All in all I am very happy with the outcome of the afternoon.

Microsoft 2007

So finally, the school I work at got Microsoft 2007 which is differnt but great. I love how there are always new things in the technology field. I was able to adapt quickly but there were a few veteran teachers that had a few difficulties and got fustrated. So I volunteered to teach a quick lesson on how to do different things with the new word program during next weeks common planning time:)

I HAVE A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sooooooo excited to tell everyone that I HAVE A JOB!!!!!! well for the rest of ther year atleast :)

I found out friday afternoon that I would be a 2nd grade teacher for West Middle Island Elementary School.

Today was my first day and everything was a little bit overwhelming but in a good way:)

Back to Reality

I just got back from my cruise, which was soooo much fun!!!

but now it is time to get back to reality and back to work, even though I was only gone for a week I feel so behind. I met with my group last night in Marratech and I LOVE the different ideas that we all bring to the group.

2 weeks ago in class Faye, Perri, and Sean showed us how to use the Adobe software and I JUST got my software in the mail today :) I have installed it but I havent been able to do anything with it. I am so excited to use this program, I was bragging about it on my cruise to my friend Danielle becasue she was saying how she needs to take a program on the new Adobe. She also said that the price we got it at was really cheap which made me feel a lot better especially since I got the bill for it in the mail.

It's over......

So I have been in kind of a funk this past week becasue it is my last week of my leave replacement. I got really attached to my students and i am going to miss them. Time flies when your having fun. I am dreeding going back to subbing which I really dont want to do but it is what it is.

Mini Saga video

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mini saga movie

As usual I am having a difficult time packaging my min saga. I remember most of the steps but I have to be forgetting some of them because it isn't working right. No worries though I will be talking to Faye about it tomorrow.

I did find it weird though that I was able to relay Pinks book so much into the whole mini saga process. I think the design of the mini saga is a perfect way to help students tell stories clearly and to the point. Students are always texting and or e=mailing each other, and when they are doing either, they aren't writing full stories but abridges versions. That's why I think mini sagas will be fun for students to do because their design is the same type of design of writing they are used to in their lives. I think it is very important to try to link up what your teaching to something that the students can relate to.

delicious

So honestly I didn't really like delicious.com. I would rarely add to it and didn't see what the hype was about last semester. This week during class I found a really cool website and book-marked it thinking that maybe I could use it at another time. Then during our common planning something came up and I wanted to share the web-site that I found and with delicious I was able to share it with everyone. So now I am a fan of delicious. :)