It's been a few weeks since we've blogged! Now that were back on track, and ready to start updating our blog again. We've all had a crazy few weeks, and here I am to explain it.
     
   
     The last few weeks we have had lots of projects and workdays. Our relevancy and methodology projects have been very overwhelming, but very helpful to our future careers. Both of these projects connect to the NC teacher standards. Monday, we had a workday so we could catch up on everything and just take a breather. Today, we did something phenomenal that we as future teachers should all use in our classrooms. We explored brainstorming and what a useful tool it is.  Using the chart and communicating to each other is an important tool to get feedback from teachers as well as peers.
    My idea of a future classroom has changed so drastically since the first of the semester. I have realized there is so much more than just creating a lesson plan and teaching it to students. We as teachers must cater to each individual student, make a lesson plan based off assessment, and the pace of students learning. My future classroom involves student interaction, giving feedback to students, and not testing as much as teachers are expected to.
     I'm so excited to see where the rest of the semester takes us. We have already learned so much in these eight weeks, and the next 8 I know will be just as great!

Another week in the books!

      This has been such an exciting week in EDUC 250. We finally got to observe an elementary school class, and it did nothing less that meet my expectations. I was so excited to visit and finally see how my future will look like. From visiting the middle school last week, I thought about switching, but the visit on Wednesday assured me that for sure elementary education is the way to go.
    As I observed a 5th grade class, the teaching expectations were underwhelming. From lessons taught in EDUC 250, we as future teachers know how to act professional and work with students in the classroom. From my observation, the teacher in my classroom was not meeting these expectations. This teacher was not connecting with students, but instead on their cell phone, and iPad, other than personally working with students and helping them learn.
    The lesson was taught on body systems in science. When referring to the NCTCS, standard 1 was not meeting the expectations I would have in my classroom. This teacher didn't seem enthusiastic to be working, and did not show leadership roles in the least. I hate being critical, but I want to be able to teach and be the best I can for students, and sometimes seeing the negative will motivate you to be the best you can for your future students. In the few years when I have my own classroom, I want it to be a fun, safe, learning environment that everyone can feel like they can be apart of. I have to show my sense of leadership, because without that, no students will be able to learn to their full potential.
     This week has been such a great experience for all of our elementary education majors. I feel as if we have all found our home! I look forward to observing high school next week, and seeing how we discuss our visit and experience in school on Monday.

Another Week Down!

    This has been such a great week for learning about philosophies, watching a fellow peer preform a lesson, and participating in a communication exercise. The main focus of this week was our paper on our personal philosophies.  My personal philosophy is that learning is a building process. Without learning basic skills and tools, we wouldn't be able to comprehend information as we grow in our educational careers.
       In our class today, we watched Ariel Campbell, an upper level EDUC student teach a lesson at the kindergarten level. We used a six point lesson plan to give her feedback on her lesson. As we grow deeper into our EDUC 250 course, we always refer back to our lesson plan, as it is the core for our future teaching. Another thing we did today was a communication exercise with partners. One partner was given a design and the other a blank sheet of paper. Our goal was to communicate and replicate the picture using only descriptive words.
       Referring to my original philosophy that learning is a building process, the communication exercise is something that I will use in my future classroom. This is a great exercise that students can use to build communication and leadership skills.  I'm looking forward to visiting the elementary school this coming week and seeing how the things we learn in class translate to the classroom.

We survived another week!

     Another week of EDUC 250 has passed, and all of us are holding on! Our teacher orientation was a huge day for us this week. All EDUC 250 students spent our Saturday learning about our future careers, as well as watching our fellow peers teach. It was a great way to learn about our next few years as education students. This week, our classroom time was spent making an infomercials on our philosophies. My partner and I chose perennialism, and we used the maker space to create a fun video to explain what this philosophy is. This is a great tool to use, and I will for sure use something similar in my future classroom if all the tools are available.

     We continue to use our 6-point lesson plan, and unpack a standard to get more specific in our teaching. As our discussions in class continue, we are learning ways to improve to better our future students. On Saturday, we observed students who were assigned a standard, then has to teach it. The EDUC 250 students as observers used the lesson plan to provide feedback. It's exciting to know that next semester we will be doing the same thing. I look forward to next week, can't wait to see what's in store! 

Surviving the Second Week

        We made it through the second week of EDUC 250! During these two class periods, we were involved in the walking classroom, many discussions, and learning about the six-point lesson plan. Now that we are getting more in depth about our futures in teaching, the more excited I am to learn about the things that will hopefully make me a great teacher.
     The KUD method was an important thing that stood out to me this week. Using the know, understand, and do method will allow students to fully grasp the information being taught, and give feedback to teachers to alter lessons and their way of teaching if needed. Learning this method, as well as other information taught to us this week will be crucial to out future classrooms. As taught later in the week, the six-point lesson plan is a VERY valuable tool that we as teachers (and education students) will become best friends with. This plan includes gathering previous knowledge from students, and creating a plan to prepare them for a lesson while making connections from what they already know, then how they will relate it to their future.
       When thinking into my future, there are already things I have learned in EDUC 250 that I will for sure use in my future classroom. As Dr. Parker told us, we retain information better when movement is involved. The walking classroom was a great way to involve movement and a lesson. Relating to the NCSCOS standard 4, teachers must facilitate learning for their students. As a teacher, you can't just sit down and teach a lesson while students are sitting at their desks. Each student has a different way of learning, and a teachers job is to teach in variety to cater to each students needs.
      This second week of class has impacted my viewpoints of teaching tremendously. I am becoming more aware of the work and how to plan my lessons and connect them to things we have learned in the previous week. It is also so great to see my fellow classmates become so connected to what we are learning as well. We are all extremely excited to grow in our future careers as teachers and can't wait to see where the future takes us!
     

Many eye opening realizations were made during the first week of EDUC 250. Walking in the door on the first day of class as a future educator was such an amazing feeling. As you read through this first blog post, there are many things my future classmates and I didn't know a week ago. Here begins my journey as a future educator. 

 

Through the first week of class, there were ample reference learning experiences to connect my fellow classmates and I to the classroom. Now that our generation is technology-based, we are using that as a gateway to introducing new materials to the class. For example, our class is using Twitter to communicate and reach out to each other and answer questions about the class on a daily basis. 

Using the Teacher Candidate Evaluation Rubric, standard four represents teachers facilitating learning for their students. During the three class periods, we use different ways of learning to accommodate this standard.  We participated in group work, partner activities, and lecture. This demonstrates the idea of KUD (knowledge, understanding, and doing). While participating in class, we are using and learning these tools without even realizing it. We as future educators must demonstrate that we will be able to provide many ways of learning to our future students. While leaning in the classroom, we are demonstrating that we understand that we grasp the information being taught, and with the followup activities, we are doing and showing that we will use this for our future education careers. 

Connecting these tools used in our classroom today will allow us to be well educated teachers in the future. The five standards we have learned during the week will be extremely useful when we have our own classrooms. Now understanding that we don't just "check off" what our students need to learn, but genuinely taking the time to make sure they grasp and understand the information. We as teachers must take the time, gain leadership skills, and take initiative to make sure every student stays on track with their education. With the help and accessibility of professors and resources, every Gardner-Webb education majors will hopefully succeed  in becoming amazing future educators.