...And It's Over in a Flash!

Today was the last day of my 8-week student teaching experience. I cannot believe how fast time flies! The first quarter is already done! I planned on updating this blog more during these weeks, but was overwhelmed with being in the classroom full-time, completing necessary assignments, and working a part-time job.

It is hard to sum up the entire experience in one blog post, so I decided to jot down a few things I learned...

• You are on your feet 95% of the day. I never realized how much a teacher moves around throughout the school day. The only times I remember sitting down were for lunch, calendar, and reading to my students. Comfortable shoes are a must!
• You rarely ever see members of the staff. One of my friends was student teaching in fifth grade and I probably saw her 5 times total throughout the 8 weeks. 
• Stay calm and carry on. You would think that being organized was the most important aspect of teaching (okay, it's the second most important thing), but staying calm and collected is by far the most important thing. The students can easily sense anxiety and become tense if their teacher is. I found this out after a wonderful day where our school's water stopped working and I had a substitute teacher with me. 
• Find your own system for organizing units. My teacher has a specific Rubbermade bin for each month, or unit, that includes worksheets, manipulatives, decorations, and whatever else you need for that month. Other teachers have drawers, file folders, boxes, whatever they can find. 
• Sleep is your best friend: if not sleep, caffeine. To have enough energy for the long days, it is important to stay well-rested. If you need a boost, take caffeine pills or drink soda! Each morning after breakfast (which is also important!), I would take a One-A-Day energy-based vitamin. I would hate to think of how my days would have gone without them. 
• Flexibility is key. With counselor lessons, fire protection days, assemblies, new students, observations, power outages, illnesses, and anything else that may be thrown at you, your schedule for the day may be thrown for a loop. Just go with it -- you can't control it all!
• If life becomes stressful, just take a step back and realize: this is what you were meant to do. I've realized throughout this time that I cannot picture myself doing anything else. Teaching is so fulfilling and my students keep be going. 

I learned plenty more and will probably add to this later. 

Another thing I wanted to share was my newly-found crafty side. I created a crayon letter for my teacher as a thank you gift. This was a fun and easy project I found online. 

Items:

• shadow box
• construction or cardstock paper
• 2 boxes of crayons
• Elmer's glue
• Carving knife

Directions:

• I cut my cardstock paper to the size of my shadow box (8x10).
• I then chose the crayons I wanted to use for this project and guesstimated how many to use. 
• I cut the crayons in half using the carving knife. To do this, I rolled the crayon under the knife. It gave me a clean cut! 
• I laid out the crayons again on my cardstock. Once perfected, I glued the pieces together. I started with the crayons in the middle of the letter, then moved out.
• Next, I cut a smaller piece of construction paper, another color, and wrote my teacher's name with another crayon. I glued that on the side.
• I put it in the shadow box and it was good to go!

I was proud of this project and decided to do something for my little kiddos as well! Since it is October and we are learning about fall, I wanted to make a pumpkin snack for them. I came up with pumpkin rice  crispy treats!

Basically, I made rice crispy's like normal, but added orange food coloring (or in my case, yellow and red. More yellow than red). Once dried, you can mold the treats with your hands and stick a pretzel stick into the top. I used black icing for the faces. So cute! Just warn your students that the black will show up on their lips! Our wet wipes at school definitely helped.

Wow, such a wonderful experience, I cannot believe it is over! I hope to visit my kids another time this semester. I miss them already. What's next for me? Back to classes, nannying and working. Back to real life, I guess!

First Week

I've just completed my fourth day in the classroom and have already experienced so much!

Tuesday night was our "Back-to-School Night" where we met our students' parents and discussed what will be taking place in the classroom for the upcoming school year. I was able to assist my teacher with her PowerPoint and meet the enthusiastic (yet, some nervous) parents of my kiddos. During part of our night, the faculty and parents went to the gym to listen to our principal speak. As we walked in, the teachers went out of their way to get me another chair and move down the row so I could sit next to my teacher. All 3 of the student teachers were even introduced to the parents by our principal! I appreciated being included and made sure to let my principal know that later. I feel so welcome here!

Throughout this week, I was able to administer assessments to see where the students were in terms of reading. I created a Bingo game for the students that included pictures of people and places around the school so they learned more about their school community. I also found out about future field trips this semester! We're going to a Cider Mill in September and a play in November. Although my student teaching placement is over in October, I told my teacher that I would love to volunteer for the field trip in November if she'd have me. I'm excited! It will be nice to see my kids. I can already tell that it will be nearly impossible to say goodbye to my students after my 8 weeks in classroom.

I cannot wait to continue on and see what more I experience! If this is just the first week, I can only imagine what will happen during the next 7.

...And We're Off!

Today was my first day of student teaching! After 4 years of talking about teaching, watching videos, teaching lessons to my classmates, and spending some but not a significant amount of time in various classrooms, the time has finally come. And I could not feel more ready.

I was placed in a kindergarten classroom for the first of my 2 placements. My second placement is in a fifth grade classroom. I have to admit that I have been more nervous about kindergarten than fifth grade. I enjoy the intermediate ages in elementary and worry about the energy level of the kindergarten kiddos, but after today, I can already feel myself falling in love with these students. It is such a wonderful age to watch students learn. They are discovering the world around them, especially the world of reading. Words, sounds and stories are always on their minds. Their excitement for the subject is so refreshing!

Throughout the day I acted as an aide for my teacher. I honestly could not sit back and observe the whole day. I was ready to be utilized. I even (of course) jumped right in when it came to technology. During our planning time, the kindergarten teachers were getting a PowerPoint ready for their Back-To-School Night, which takes place tomorrow. They aren't as savvy as I am, so I offered my help to alter and add pictures of our students. They gladly let me take on the task. Before I left for the day, I found out that there is a weekly newsletter given to the parents of our students. I made sure to tell my teacher that I would love to assist with the newsletter each week. I would hope to take it on as my own little project if possible.

Needless to say, this school year started off on the perfect note! I am completely optimistic about this semester. The next 8 weeks are going to zoom by...

Every Bit Counts

On May 22nd of this year, a stream of disastrous tornados drove through cities in my home-state of Missouri, ruining wildlife, homes and lives. The city of Joplin was hit drastically, crumbling most of the area. From the moment this storm occurred, aid has been a necessity.

Now, six weeks later, although there have been repairs, aid has not stopped it steady stream. People around the state and even country have come together to help with relief efforts. I was so proud of the community I saw and still see today.

One of my best friends drives to Joplin every Tuesdays to volunteer and grab footage of the city for news segments. Businesses around the St. Louis area have donated money, food and belongings to the cause. Even local celebrities and athletes have visited Joplin and urged for more support.

Children are even becoming part of the cause. A day camp at the community center where I work has had numerous events to raise funds, from car washes to a special day at camp called Jumping for Joplin. This required the campers to jump rope for the entirety of their camp day. They had at least one person jumping rope at a time and searched for donators to help their case.

I am interested to see what classrooms will be doing in the fall to help support Joplin. In my future classroom, I plan on incorporating community service every chance I get. It is vital to teach children compassion and show them how to spread hope to others.

Want to help Joplin?

There are many ways to get involved! Below are just a few.

• Plant a tree in Missouri. It's completely free! Just put your email address in, choose your state and there you go! 
• Text "Joplin" to 80888 to make a $10 donation.
• Donate to the Salvation Army.
• Come up with your own interesting fundraisers! They can range anywhere from car washes to donation nights at a local restaurant, where a percentage of the purchases will be donated to the cause of your choice.

Happy Book

Over the spring break of my senior year of high school, I volunteered in Pearlington, Mississippi with a group of people from my school district to build houses for those who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. We traveled the 18-hour bus ride, slept in an empty elementary school on wooden bunk beds, used porta potties, and showered in sulfar water that smelled like rotten eggs. It was the best week of my life.

The elementary school we stayed at in Pearlington.

Only part of the group of students that went on the trip.

One of the girls on the trip had a simple notebook she called her Happy Book. She passed it around throughout the week and explained the rules:

• Pick up the number where the previous person left off
• Create a list of things that make you happy, it does not matter what it is
• Sign and date your entry

Needless to say, this book was a huge hit. We brought the Happy Book idea to our high school. I created Happy Books for friends on their birthdays, writing lists of a hundred or more things that made me happy. Some friends even put pictures in my Happy Book, turning it into somewhat of a scrapbook of memories. I brought my Happy Book with me to college, constantly reading through the entries my freshman year because my friends were at different universities. It was a great way to feel connected to my friends.

I've decided to make an entry in my Happy Book this week, reminiscing my college life. I plan on asking my close friends to put in their own entries as well (get ready, guys!). This is such a simple way to have friends contribute to your book of memories. Go ahead and try it!

Just some examples of entries in the Happy Book.

Google Earth

As I said in one of my earlier posts, the reason why I am obsessed with new technology and how to utilize it in my teaching career is stemmed from the technology course I took at KU this past summer. Each class was filled with 3 hours of technological discovery, creating projects, and looking at my classmate's work as well. It was a busy 3 weeks, but completely worth it in my eyes.

In previous semesters, I have experimented with iMovie and such for projects. I was actually pretty proud of a video presentation I created and editted with three other classmates about Least Restrictive Environment, having never officially learned the basics of the program. In this summer course, I was able to go back to iMovie and learn more about the program, creating numerous videos about my selected curriculum unit: The Rainforest.

The last grade for this class was a 20-minute presentation over a technological program of my choice. I was lucky enough to have first pick, choosing Google Earth. As my roommate can tell you, I spent hours upon hours watching tutorial videos about the program, reading its blog, downloading layers from the blog, and creating my presentation. I could have spent 5 hours presenting this amazing program, but had to keep it down to my 20-minute maximum. To do this, I had my classmates discover areas on their own, showed them only a couple of the basics of the program (that alone could take an hour), and created an iMovie about Google Earth.

The amazing thing about this program is there are different "layers" available constantly for different uses. There was even a layer for the oil spill this past year! It tracked the progress of the area, showing how the oil spread. Google Earth allows for great instruction at any age. Obviously it is used to teach geography and math, but there are other subjects to teach as well. There is an option to go back in time to see an area in past years. This is a great history component of Google Earth. There was also a program where high school students were able to create their own 3-dimensional buildings for the program, integrating architecture and computer programing into the lesson.

I encourage all of you out there to have some fun with Google Earth. It's a free download, enjoyable, and is helpful for future traveling and directions if nothing else.

I can obviously talk forever about this program, but instead, I will leave you with the video I created for class.

Graduation

I'm sorry it has been a little while since my last post. My days have been filled with curriculum projects, completing a workout challenge at my university's rec center, and working my job on campus. Because these aspects have been filling my schedule, the lingering graduation weekend has crept up on me. In a mere 4 days, the University of Kansas graduation weekend begins! A weekend filled with anxiety for what is to come, tears for the many goodbyes, and excitement for the next chapter in my life.

It is hard not feel nostalgic lately. It seems like just yesterday I graduated high school, said goodbye to my close friends and came to Lawrence, Kansas alone to start my college career. I was thrown into the college life and loved every minute of it. Through these past four years, I have been fortunate enough to experience so many things. I joined a sorority unexpectedly and was elected to numerous leadership positions, including Vice President of Internal Affairs, helped plan a philanthropy event that raised over $3,000 for Prevent Child Abuse America, dealt with unexpected deaths, witnessed the Jayhawks win the National Championship in basketball my freshman year, volunteered, spent time in numerous elementary schools, fell in love, learned to be even more independent than I already was, traveled to Israel, became inspired by a group of people in the School of Education, ate more sushi than I ever have or will in my entire life, and met the best friends that will continue to be there for me, even though we may have distance in the upcoming years.

My pledge class in the sorority.

My 5 best friends throughout college.

It is nice to know that with the advancements of technology, I am able to keep in touch with my friends, especially since we are all from varying states. Through social networks, cell phones, Skype, and even blogs I am able to keep my friends updated on my life, although it is fun to get some snail mail now and then.

Once I move back home to St. Louis, I plan on concentrating on a few projects this summer, one of them being this blog. I want to "beef" it up and add some interesting content for those of you out there who are interested. Until then, I am planning on cherrishing this next week with my best friends and absorbing the last few moments of true college life that I have.

T-6 days until I walk down the hill. Let's do this.

The hill I will be walking down on campus for graduation.

"Prezi"-ntation Tools

We all know how to create a basic PowerPoint presentation. Don't you find it a bit tiring and common nowadays? I did learn how to create an interactive presentation using PowerPoint and appreciated it, however more programs definitely need to be utilized.

Throughout the semester, my Foundations of Education course has required the students to present over our chapters of reading in each class. Of course the easiest solution for the presentation was a simple PowerPoint presentation. I admit, I was among my friends creating the easiest, most basic slide-show. I honestly didn't know what else to use.

Then one day, a group showed a presentation that caught my eye. Through the transitions, pictures, and ease of the slide-show, I had to know what it was. Keynote? PowerPoint? No. A simple, free online program called Prezi. A note to all of you students and teachers out there: you can use an advanced version of Prezi for free that is usually $59/year.

Prezi allows you to create a presentation from your already-created PowerPoint and Keynote presentations. You are also able to create handouts easily with your Print option on Prezi. Also, you are able to access your Prezi through the Internet, so no worries about emailing your work to yourself and opening it through email or carrying around a USB drive.

Wanting to find other presentation tools? Try looking at a few options here.

The Lottery

I woke up yesterday to the best e-mail I have received in a long time: the movie I requested was finally available at my local library! It’s the little things...

I requested The Lottery, a movie that is supposed to be extremely similar to Waiting for Superman, except it actually came out first! My classmate had explained how her cousin helped in the making of The Lottery and how it was a great movie to view instead of Waiting for Superman. My roommate and I each requested one of the movies and mine happened to become available first!

The Lottery is an interesting film based in New York that discusses charter schools in the area and how communities have reacted to it. Throughout, there are interviews from educational professionals as well as parents of a few children who are hoping to win the lottery and get into Harlem Success, one of the best charter schools in the country. The documentary presents both sides of a community debate as well. Should a public school in Harlem that is performing poorly close and allow Harlem Success to use its building to allow expansion of another branch of their charter school? Madeleine Sackler does an exemplary job of  presenting both sides of this debate in a reasonable manner.

The film ends at the lottery. There, the viewer is able to see who is lucky enough to have their name drawn to enter Harlem Success. It is hard to not wish the best for each of the four children.

As I was watching this movie, and tearing up at particular moments, I realized that teaching is what I am meant to do. I want all children to grow up having a spectacular education -- they all deserve it.

I was fortunate enough to be selected for a KU Alternative Breaks trip over my spring break this year. My roommate, a fellow pre-service teacher, and I traveled to Chicago, IL with a group of 10 other students and volunteered in various schools in the city. I learned so much throughout the week, including how to really use public transportation! I worked with a kindergarten classroom and enjoyed meeting the children, teaching them subjects, and literally getting my hands dirty with paint! (The teacher I had been placed with had been gone for two weeks with a broken arm. The kids and I made a poster for him welcoming him back.) By the end of the short week, I was sad to say goodbye. I have to be honest with myself -- when am I ever going to see these kids again? I care so much for each and every one of them and wish them the best as they grow older.

I found many similarities with the area of Chicago in which I was placed with Harlem in the film. I feel as if I am a more understanding teacher having experienced this first-hand. I believe it is so important for educators to go to different areas and learn about different cultures and ways of life. It makes for a well-rounded human being.

So, little to say, I recommend The Lottery for all of you, teachers or not. It is a documentary on real life and is emotional, as well as educational. I have not seen Waiting for Superman yet, and intend on seeing it in the near future, once my roommate's request for the library comes in!

On another note, make sure you utilize your public library! I have said again and again that the Lawrence Public Library is the place I will miss most once I graduate and leave my homey college-town. The library gives you so much, and all for free! Movies, music, and of course an unlimited number of books. Why wouldn't you want to use it?

All in the Family

I'd like to think that my interests coincide with both of my parent's. 

My parents and I dancing at my brother's wedding.

My mom has always loved learning new things and still sends me future teaching tools through email. She was a preschool teacher for a few years when I was younger as well as a Sunday school teacher. As I grew older, she spent time planning the most interesting speakers and field trips for the gifted school in my school district. She was constantly researching newspaper articles and used personal connections to find the most worthwhile speakers for these elementary-aged students. Even though she had to stop working in the past years, she continues her learning through the use of technology. The Internet has allowed my mom to continue her life of education. Ask her any question and my mom will be able to quickly and efficiently find pages upon pages of the topic you wanted. I also have to say that she is an avid Facebook-fanatic as well.

My dad is a graphic designer buff. He uses technology throughout his everyday life at his job, creating brochures, logos for companies, and even my brother's wedding invitations last year. He recently took classes to become certified to create websites. Even Dad understands the demand of the changing technological world. Although he refuses to create a Facebook account, he is an experienced Linked-In user and has had plenty of success finding freelance work through this, along with other social networking sites.

My brother and I

Even my older brother has created his own blog with his biggest interest in mind: vehicles. Jason, who is becoming a successful automobile salesman, has continuously researched information about cars and decided to transmit his thoughts on a web page. This is ultimately what caused me to start my blog. Why not go out and share my interests as well?

As I have grown older, I have learned to embrace the similarities I have with members of my family. To me, it means there is this special connection in us which allows for great conversations and a flow of new ideas. While at work yesterday, my dad had actually emailed me about a great opportunity for us to collaborate together on a project. The rabbi of our congregation is retiring this year. As a way to give back, Dad was asked to create a “celebration video” honoring what a great man he is. Immediately, he sent a reply stating that he and I would team up for this opportunity. What a great way to bond! I have never worked on a professional level with my dad and am excited to create something from scratch with him. Better yet -- it involves iMovie... my favorite!

Welcome!

Ah, my first post. I guess I should introduce myself and explain what I plan on doing for this blog...

I feel as if the majority of my generation has a blog nowadays, in addition to our Facebook, Twitter, and FourSquare accounts. It is amazing to me how technology has changed lives so drastically from a mere 10-15 years ago. Each generation has become magnificently different from the one before by the advancements of technology. My grandparents do not even own a computer and I wonder how they survive! How is this future generation going to grow up? How will technology be utilized even more in everyday life?

I took a required course this past summer for my elementary education degree. It was about using technology in the classroom and through some interesting and creative assignments, it immediately became one of my favorite classes I have taken at the University of Kansas. We created movies, learned about virtual schools, and found programs that can enhance our future lessons. I was immersed in the world of technology and did not mind spending hours upon hours creating a simple iMovie about the rainforest to show to my class. Soon after this course, I found a university that offered a master's program for educational technology. I knew it was for me.

That is where I am today. I graduate with my bachelor's degree in elementary education this upcoming May and intend on starting graduate courses back home in St. Louis in the educational technology program this summer. Since KU has a five-year education program currently, I will return to Kansas City in the fall semester to student teach in a kindergarten classroom. There is no doubt in my mind that I will utilize the information from my classes in the general education classroom, especially technology.

Through this blog, I hope to relay some interesting resources I find over time, what I have used in lessons, or some thoughts that may inspire others. I am extremely excited to get started and share with you all!