I was lucky enough this past week to get to visit the technology classroom with my host class. The room was filled with computers and each station had a mini net book laptop. . . not really sure why since the students could use the regular computers.
The students logged onto the computer and went on the internet to access a website where they did little practice math problems. There was a whole long list of differnet skills that students could practice and work on. It was really interesting to see the student using the internet and benefiting from technology. After each problem student would see the correct answer and work on improving next time. After they finished, student were able to play some interactive games on the computer that were appropriate for their grade level.
The students could also do some reading comprehension work and used headphones to listen to the read-a-loud. It was really great to see the students benefiting from using the technology and practicing different subject skills.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
SMARTBOARD presentation in edu 315!
So i kept forgetting to upload this from my computer but this goes back to the day that my group presented to class using the SMARTBOARD. I was so nervous in the beginning because I am horrible with technology. I can just use the basics like PowerPoint and Microsoft Word. And even those can be challenging whenever there is a software update. Also I get so nervous being up in front of a crowd.
Surprisingly the presentation went pretty well. It was fun using the SMARTBOARD. I found the tools to be simple and not that difficult for a novice like myself. It was fun creating the word problems too! I could tell that my classmates enjoyed reading about themselves in the problems. It was fun to see students come up and use the SMARTBOARD to move the coins around and solve the problems. The graphics were nice, colorful and creative too! Students really seemed engaged!
Surprisingly the presentation went pretty well. It was fun using the SMARTBOARD. I found the tools to be simple and not that difficult for a novice like myself. It was fun creating the word problems too! I could tell that my classmates enjoyed reading about themselves in the problems. It was fun to see students come up and use the SMARTBOARD to move the coins around and solve the problems. The graphics were nice, colorful and creative too! Students really seemed engaged!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Field Observation 1
Well on Wednesday I finally did it! Finally I was able to walk down the halls of an elementary school building and meet my third grade host teacher and the students! As I was walking to the school I felt all my nerves gather up inside. Literally hundreds of tiny butterflies were flapping their wings against my stomach. Sure I had been around children before but never in such a structured setting as a school classroom. As I walked towards the room my mind kept repeating a mantra of questions: Would the students like me? Could I really handle impacting how a student learned a lesson? Would the students feel comfortable enough with me? Would they even let me help them? But I was pleasantly surprised just how easily the day went after I got over my initial uneasiness.
The students were actually very interested in what I spoke about. When I went to introduce myself and described that I enjoyed reading, sports, watching shows that the students might also enjoy, and playing video games, I took note on how the students responded. Many of them went on to say that they also loved reading, played a variety of sports (cheerleading, soccer, football, etc.), and almost everyone said he or she enjoyed playing video games too! The students then asked me questions and my favorite things and took great delight that I was able to understand exactly what they were talking about when speaking about their favorite things.
My host teacher even had me read aloud a book to the students about Abraham Lincoln. Now here was something that I knew all about: making stories sound fun and interesting to others. The students were engaged in the reading as I asked them questions about various points in the book.
Later on in the day there was a small grammar lesson and ditto for the students to work on. During that time I was able to walk around the room and assist students when they had a question or appeared to be struggling with a certain question. I noticed that some students looked up at me when I walked by just to make sure that I was there if they needed me. I was amazed at how some of the students were at completing the ditto! Some of them even were writing out there answers in cursive! Wow!
One of the last things I was able to do was help a student one-on-one. The student and I went out into the hallway and worked on correcting her math ditto that she completed earlier in the morning. I helped the student look back at the problems, re-read the word problems and discover where she struggled in finding the correct solution. She was able to pick up on her mistakes pretty quickly and I was patient on the parts where she had trouble coming to the answer.
Even after my first visit I know that I will still be nervous each time that I go in to do my hours. Being a teacher is nerve-racking but I think that these are good nerves. I am not dreading it. Instead I am excited and cannot wait to see what I can teach the students. More importantly I cannot wait to see what they teach me!
The students were actually very interested in what I spoke about. When I went to introduce myself and described that I enjoyed reading, sports, watching shows that the students might also enjoy, and playing video games, I took note on how the students responded. Many of them went on to say that they also loved reading, played a variety of sports (cheerleading, soccer, football, etc.), and almost everyone said he or she enjoyed playing video games too! The students then asked me questions and my favorite things and took great delight that I was able to understand exactly what they were talking about when speaking about their favorite things.
My host teacher even had me read aloud a book to the students about Abraham Lincoln. Now here was something that I knew all about: making stories sound fun and interesting to others. The students were engaged in the reading as I asked them questions about various points in the book.
Later on in the day there was a small grammar lesson and ditto for the students to work on. During that time I was able to walk around the room and assist students when they had a question or appeared to be struggling with a certain question. I noticed that some students looked up at me when I walked by just to make sure that I was there if they needed me. I was amazed at how some of the students were at completing the ditto! Some of them even were writing out there answers in cursive! Wow!
One of the last things I was able to do was help a student one-on-one. The student and I went out into the hallway and worked on correcting her math ditto that she completed earlier in the morning. I helped the student look back at the problems, re-read the word problems and discover where she struggled in finding the correct solution. She was able to pick up on her mistakes pretty quickly and I was patient on the parts where she had trouble coming to the answer.
Even after my first visit I know that I will still be nervous each time that I go in to do my hours. Being a teacher is nerve-racking but I think that these are good nerves. I am not dreading it. Instead I am excited and cannot wait to see what I can teach the students. More importantly I cannot wait to see what they teach me!
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