Sunday, December 11, 2011

Grinch or Santa?

Some parents are getting upset over the fact that the Fort Worth school district is not allowing gift exhcanges or Santa visits in their classrooms.


If I was to have a say on this, then I would go with NOT celebrating Christmas in class. Some reasons to back up my opinion are :


1. Giving gifts and having a party during class causes many distractions and takes away valuable instruction time from the teacher

2. Not all kids in a classroom celebrate Christmas. Why make them uncomfortable? Teachers should take that more into consideration.

3. Students that don't celebrate it, can't participate or get involved in activities being done at school. Making students feel left out and again, uncomfortable.

Read the first and second article on the topic on the Star Telegram to know more information about this.




Friday, December 2, 2011

American Teacher

 The movie American Teacher gave me a whole different point of view on teaching.  It shocked me to see that so many schools districts have a small income. Most can't even pay their teachers the money needed for materials used in class . I had always heard my teachers complain that they didn't get paid enough but I never realized it was this bad.   


 I think what was causing most of the teachers in the video frustration was having to stay after school everyday for hours just to get things done but still getting paid a crummy amount of money. Some had to get second jobs to be able to support their families economically and that put even more stress on them.


 I really don't think conditions could improve with out an increase in money. Something should be done about this as soon as possible. Teachers at least deserve that much. 







Friday, November 18, 2011

Why Do Students Procrastinate?




This week's topic is on Overcoming Procrastination. After reading an article on the topic, I noticed that one of the reasons why I tend to leave everything for the last minute is that I have difficulty concentrating.


I get distracted easily at school and so I decide to put my assignments off and prefer to finish them at home. But then that leaves me with not enough time to finish them.


To overcome my procrastination i will try to discipline myself to use my time wisely. Having my priorities straight should help me get things in order. Also eliminating the noise or distractions such as listening to music or talking to friends while working would be good.

Friday, November 11, 2011

If I could change education I would...

After watching the video of Changing Education Paradigms by Sir Ken Robinson, it made me realize that the way that we are being and have been educated, perhaps hasn't been the best after all.


 If I could change education I think I would start off by changing the standardized tests and activities inside the classroom. We all perform differently and therefore cannot all be evaluated and assessed by one standardized test. If testing is not our strong point, it limits our ability to succeed. 


 I think we could all learn more if we opened up to more options and had more "hands-on" activities. It would be a better learning experience and would get the students to be more engaged in what we are learning. It would also be a lot more interesting if we all learned something that would actually apply to our future lives rather than waste our time on things that we might not ever see again.


Also, rather than separating kids by age groups, I think it would help if we were separated by how much we know. Students with a higher level of intelligence should advance to the grade level they have the potential to be in. Rather than sitting in a class all day with students that don't understand the assignment and a teacher that can't move on because of those students.


I think students would really benefit from this and in the end we could all learn more.


Thursday, November 3, 2011

Lesson Planning 101

Mrs. Steven's Blog


TEA TEKS for First Grade
This week's blog is about lesson planning and different activities to use for first graders. 


Ideas for First Grade TEKS Activities:
1) Put a certain amount of pennies in a cup, take out a few, place them on a table facing up and have the kids count them. Give them the total amount of pennies but don't show them. Have the kids tell you how many were left in the cup by subtracting. (1.3)(A)

2) Have the kids go out to recess and while at it, have them all ask their playmates the same question like "What is your favorite color: blue, pink, or green?" Then when they come back in, discuss the data and create a bar graph with them organizing the results. (1.9)(A&B)


3) Cut out small squares with different amounts of dots on them like a dice would. Give them each a paper with enough space to place the squares. Each paper has different numbers like 15, 19, 10. They must search for a way to add the squares together and get the right amount for each number. (1.5)(D)



Friday, October 21, 2011

My First Week as a Teacher


 I'm an intern at Hardeman Elementary School in Haltom City, Texas.  My mentor teacher is Mrs. Hartman. I'm with her for Reading and Math in first grade.


                                                                A picture of the school:

   For my first day at my site school I was very excited, but also extremely nervous. When I knocked on the classroom's door no one was there. I found out they were having recess outside so I went to meet my teacher. I introduced myself and liked her right away. She was very nice, she explained to me the kids' schedule, and also told me about herself. Later back in the classroom, I introduced myself to my new class using the poster I had made for them about me. The kids immediately started asking questions and reacting to the little facts I had shared with them about me. Interacting with them was even more adorable than what I had imagined. 
They were all very engaged in participating in their activities. They would ask for hugs every five minutes and well i just really enjoyed spending time with them. Seeing how Mrs. Hartman handled everything really impressed me. I really hope I can learn a lot from this experience. I also hope to get to know the kids better and to be able to help them with whatever they need.  

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Reading A Tale Of Two Worlds: Old School, New School, I learned that technology being used in schools has been changing and evolving over the years.  I still remember when we used to use overhead projectors and video cassette players in class. Now it's all about the smart boards, smart phones, and ebooks.
But thanks to all of these new tools for learning, we now can understand concepts better. It makes our classes more interesting and interactive. Making it easier for teachers to teach their kids the needed information with fun and creative ways. Technology has become a necessity in our current society and is changing our world. For more information over technology changing our education, go to Buzzle.com


Friday, September 9, 2011

'Social Smarts'

I just finished reading this article about networks and social media habits, which made me think twice about my own online habits. It made me realize that yes, a lot of people that we don't know can be looking and keeping up with us through Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. People can also pull up our history on Google and see the immature comments we've made that we didn't necessarily think other people would ever see.
 The Internet never forgets. Therefor if we aren't careful, it could ruin our future chances and reputation. Having a clean reputation is very important. It affects the way other people see you and treat you. It could either open up doors for you later on, or completely ruin your chances at getting the job that you've always wanted.