Now that my genius hour assignment, I can use this blog for what I want. I am really excited. I have been wanting to blog for a while, but I could never find my niche. I think I have finally found it! I really wanted to start a vlog, but ain't nobody got time for that. Maybe later in my blogging career.
I am definitely going to be talking about my life as a teacher candidate. I am going to kind of share what teachers college is like. Hopefully, I can provide some advice, and maybe share a little bit of humour. I will also be sharing my updates on my practical experience, some teaching tools that I have learned about, some lesson planning ideas, and even some recipes that students might like!
I just really want to write this blog as a way for me to share my experiences, and maybe help someone along the way. I am also going to be taking this opportunity to work on my writing skills. I love writing... especially this style of writing, and this is going to give me the chance to continue to develop this skill.
You can expect a post from me at least once a week. Usually it will be on a Saturday. There may be times when I post twice in a week, and I am possibly going to use this blog as a hub for some online assignments, but there will be a definite form of regular weekly postings.
So, I want you to let me know what you would like me to write about. What are some things that you would like to know about the teachers college experience? What would you like me to share my feelings on? Is there anything in particular you would like to know? Recipes you would like to experience? Just leave a comment below, and I will definitely take your wishes into consideration.
I hope that you all enjoy my blog, and what I have to say. I hope I can share my experiences, thoughts, and feelings with you all.
My time with my genius hour project is almost over. I have made some progress, but I am not going to be spilling any beans. Not just yet anyway. Within the next week or so I am going to be making my own version of a Ted Talk focusing on my genius hour project. This is where I am going to begin to share my results.
However, don't feel sad. I will let you know that I have been looking through a variety of selected lists from pinterest and family magazines, and have been cross referencing them. I have definitely narrowed down my lists. These lists definitely contain some fall classics that I have not thought about in a long time! I did give you guys a small taste using a Taugl on my Learning Object Page!
When this is all over, I am going to be making a list of the top 10 with details about where to participate in these activities, and a list of 25 activities with no detail. I am very excited to share all of this with within the next week.
I am kind of sad to leave this project. I have been working hard on it, and it is something that I am interested in. It was fun having the opportunity to research stuff that I was focused on. But I am really excited to try all these things out now that we are in the full swing of fall.
Like I said, I will be posting my finished product within the week and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
So I totally forgot to post for my observation day this week. I know it's still Saturday, but I am trying to post about my observations on Wednesday. Let's hope for next week!
Anyway, I think this observation day went way better than last week. I had a bit of a clearer head, and I knew what to expect. It was just nice to know what was going on, you know? All in all, I found it to be a pretty good day. I do still have room for improvement.
I feel like I still have not done a whole lot in the classroom though, and I feel awful about it. My associate teacher and I spoke about it again, and he is really encouraging me to interact with the students in the classroom more. I want to, but I still feel a little nervous about it. That however, is my goal for my next observation day. More Interaction!!
I did however, spend quite a bit of time making some really good observations. I noticed a lot of different classroom management strategies. I think this is something that I have been looking for. Especially in this placement. It's a sixth grade practicum, and I am so used to working with kinders. I know how to manage those classrooms, but I don't know what a 12 year old is, and how to handle them. I am glad that I was able to observe this. I debriefed a bit with my associate teacher and we discussed these certain strategies, and about how sometimes, we just have to bring the students back down to earth.
I feel like a learned quite a bit more about classroom management. My associate teacher likes to joke around with the students, and I have found in past experiences that I like to do that to. However, I learned that there is a thin line that needs to be drawn. It's great to joke around with the students and show them that I can be relatable, but I need to make sure that they know I am the teacher, I am in charge, and I still need to be respected.
I really want to continue to learn about these things. I feel like this where my biggest struggle is going to be. I need to know more classroom management strategies, and I really want to see them in action!
During this practicum, I have to complete a focused observation booklet, and I have to complete a focused observation inquiry project. I will definitely update you on that. I am only beginning the project at this point, but I know I am going to be completing it on English language learners in the classroom. Let me know what you think.
I will definitely keep you all updated on my first practicum at teachers college! It's really exciting and I am looking forward to all the things I am going to learn!
As you all know, I am in teachers college. One of the things that I was tasked to do within the first few weeks, was to share the moment that inspired my love for literacy. This was one of the most difficult tasks that I have ever had to complete. I have never been one of those people who has thought that I had one of those moments. When I am asked why I want to be a teacher, I tell people I don’t know, I just did. I love working with children and teaching them. But I never had a moment.
Wagar, E. (2015). Literacy Story Mindmap [concept map].
I got really discouraged trying to complete this assignment. I could not think of anything. After some severe brainstorming and some crying, I finally decided to make a mind map of all the things that I could think of. Eventually, after some internal wrestling, I picked what I felt my biggest inspiration was. This is my story.
The Paper Bag Princess was a story that played a huge role in my life as a literacy learner. This is one of the first books that I loved from the moment I heard it, and I have loved it ever since. The story of how I fell in love with this book is probably one you have heard before, but I think that it’s worth sharing.
Wagar, E. (2015, September 30). The Paper Bag Princess.
When I was in elementary school… I believe it was grade one, my teacher said she was going to read a book to us. Of course I was excited, this was always a good time of day. But today was different. As soon as she started reading this book, I knew I loved it. It honestly had nothing to do with the story itself, or the illustrations. But once she read the words “Elizabeth was a beautiful princess”, I was hooked. Yes, that is correct. I fell in love with a book because the main character and I shared one very important detail about ourselves. Our name.
Wagar, E. (2015, September 30). Elizabeth the Princess.
Of course I pretended to be all shy and embarrassed. But I wasn’t. There was a character in a book, and she was named after me. Even though my name is pretty common, that never happens. I listened to the rest of the story and was very intrigued. I went home and begged my parents for this book. I wanted this book. I loved this book. My parents did what they could to get me off of begging them, but it didn’t really work. Eventually they gave in, but I didn’t really find out until I received the book as a present for my birthday at the end of the school year. I was so excited. I had my parents read this story to me over and over again.
I did all of this because I had the same name as the main character of the book, and reading it made me feel like I was the princess, and when I was younger, I loved being a princess.
Wagar, C. (1997). Bridesmaid.
Eventually, after reading the book so many times, I learned that it had so many good qualities. The book was funny, and the main character was a modern day heroine. She went after what she wanted and did not stop until she got it. Elizabeth did not sit around and wait for a prince to come and rescue her. She went out and did something about her problem, even if she did have to wear a paper bag. She also saw Ronald's true colours and was able to call him out on them. She was able to tell him that just because he looked good, did not mean that he was a kind person. She was clever, and smart, and someone I could really look up to. This book has so many messages within the story that children can learn something from it.
The Paper Bag Princess is the book that has helped me to develop a love for literacy. I became more interested in reading and owning books. It was after this book that I became more interested in the qualities that characters possessed. I found that I really became interested in characters and how relatable they are. No, not all characters have my name. In fact, I haven’t found any that do. I always found that I could relate to Elizabeth, and that she was someone I aspired to be like. It was after reading her story that I found I like to see characters that I can relate to and that have qualities I want to obtain.
Wagar, E. (2015, September 30). Elizabeth is cunning.
Not only has it helped me to discover who I am as a reader, but I also love using this book to help teach children. I have used this book in a preschool placement along with a felt board I made.
Wagar, E. (2012). Paper Bag felt board.
The children did not understand the morals of the story as much as I hoped. However, I know that this is a story that they remembered because they would bring up the dragon character in outdoor play. Not only do I love to teach with this book, but I also like to simply share it. Whenever I know someone who is having a baby, this is the book that I get for them. I love sharing this book with other children, and I love seeing their reactions to it.
This book has always played an important role in my life. I may have begun to love it for a somewhat silly reason, but it turned into a long
love of literacy.
Loving this book has shown me that children should be given opportunities to look at and read different texts, because as educators, we never know what may spark their interest and love of reading. Always give students a chance to explore different materials!
Karen. (2007, February 3). Christine's shower-8
[online image] retrieved from flickr
Ask yourself… What are you going to do to help spark a child's interest and help them to discover their love for literacy? What event, text, or person helped to spark your love for literacy? I know that I will be asking myself these questions. Especially as I am planning for my students.
I heard this book in a grade one classroom, and I have loved it ever since. I don’t think I will ever stop loving it.
- Elizabeth
PS. Here, have a listen to Robert Munsch reading the story!
So today, you are in for a little treat. Not only am I going to be writing about my genius hour project updates, but I will also be talking a bit about my experience in my technology in education class. And let me just tell you, all is going well. At least in my opinion anyway.
I haven't done a whole lot more research for the genius hour project. I feel bad, but I will definitely do more throughout the week. I was trying to finish off a movie trailer advertising my genius hour project. I finally finished it! It took me a really long time. But I think it turned out quite well. I am going to be publishing it next week, and I hope you all enjoy it. I will try and update you on the research portion a little later in the week.
As for my technology class, I am really enjoying it. People keep asking me how I find it, and I tell them the truth. I love it. I just wish it was longer! It is only a 6 week course, I feel like it needs to be the full 12. There is so much to cover, and so much to learn. There are so many things we are covering in this course that I had never actually thought of using in a classroom. It is making me think of all the different ways I can incorporate technology in the classroom, and I get very excited.
Well. That was pretty much my half of the course update. I will give you another update on the course after it ends.
I hope you enjoyed this update on my educational journey. I will continue to update as things change!
So, this week I had my very first observation day for my practicum. I am in a grade 6 classroom, and I am kind of excited for it! I have my ECE already, so I have experience in younger grades. I really wanted to see what it would be like to teach in a junior grade. I could potentially end up teaching grade 6, and I wanted to know what teachers in these grades are doing.
I went to the classroom, and I really didn't know what to expect. I got my placement information less than 24 hours before I was supposed to be there. I really didn't feel like I had enough time to process what I was doing. But I prepared the best I could. Like I said, I really didn't know what to expect. I was totally nervous. I was just hoping that I didn't do something wrong.
When I got there, I didn't really seem to remember anything but the fact that it was an observation day, and I wasn't really supposed to do anything except sit there, watch what was going on, and take notes. This is pretty much what I did. I felt really bad, but I didn't know what to do. Although, I did feel like I learned a bit. But I know I have a lot of learning left to do. It's all so different being in a grade 6 class.
I was talking to my associate teacher throughout the day. We were getting to know each other a little bit. Luckily, he didn't seem terrible. He seemed to be pretty supportive, and he wasn't in teachers college 20 years ago, so he is a bit more familiar with what is going on. We also talked about how the day went. I told him that I did not know how I was going to handle my observation day; I am so used to being involved in things that were going on. He told me that I should get up and help out with the kids, he felt bad that I was sitting there just listening.
As much as we both felt it was awkward, I think it was necessary for the first day. I also didn't really have my life together. I think that I have everything under control now, so I am looking forward to going back thins week and setting everything straight with my associate teacher.
When it comes to what I am looking forward to learning, I am definitely looking forward to learning about different behaviour management strategies to use. I don't think that the ones I have used in grade 1 are going to be as effective. I am also looking forward to seeing how my associate teacher assesses his students. He said he doesn't really like to test, so I am interested to see how he accomplishes that!
I know I haven't talked too much about what was going on. I almost feel like I was really vague. But I still feel like all of what went on is swirling in my head. Next week I will for sure write more detail.
So... I keep changing my mind. Which really, not great. But, by George, I think I've got it! I have decided that instead of finding different fall activities in the GTA, I am going to create, what I like to call, "the ultimate fall bucket list". This is a list of activities that families, as well as poor students such as myself, may want to engage in before fall comes to a close.
This idea is still based off of my idea of finding fun and free fall activities, but not in the GTA. These are going to family, friendly activities that anyone can do. These activities can be done out and about, or at home with little to no additional materials.
This is going to change my research a little, but not too much. In fact, I have already started the research a little bit. I have started to compile different lists of fun family friendly activities that people enjoy participating in. I have gotten these lists from Pinterest, as well as different family and parenting magazines and websites. I even got a couple from different blogs.
My next steps are going to be to look through all of these lists, and cross reference them. I am going to see what items appear on more than one list. I am going to make a specific note of these items. Where I go from there I will see.
My end goals have changed slightly, as you can imagine. I am going to create this list, and present it in a creative way. My goal is to either create a detailed list of the top 10 items, or to just create a list of 50 things with no detail of the activity. I would also like to come up with 5 original ideas, but I will have to see if that will happen.
I promise that I will update my proposal pitch so you all have a better idea of what my steps and end goals are.
Now that I have actually figured out what I want from this course, I am actually excited. Really though. I am not making it up! I know I keep saying that, but this time it's true! I promise!
So as you know, I am engaging in a six week genius hour project for my tech-ed class. Well, good news, I finally picked a topic!
I am going to be looking at what the best events and activities are available in the GTA in the fall! I am actually kind of excited. Especially seeing as an hour ago, I had no idea what I was even going to do.
I originally wanted to look at just free events, and that is definitely going to be my focus. However, I have decided to expand my thinking and research to events and activities that are low cost, and even high cost for those who are interested in the more expensive things in life.
My goals for this project are really simple. I want to determine the best fall events and activities in the GTA. I am going to do research, and sort, read reviews, and provide rating scales to all the events and activities for easy navigation. Eventually, I would like to create an official guide that is more than just a sheet of paper, and who knows, I may be able to do this in the six weeks, but if not, that can be a project for a later time.
I don't have a whole lot of experience as of yet. All I know really is that fall is my favourite season, and I want to engage in more fall activities. But as a student, I have a limited budget. This was the real inspiration to this topic.
My next steps are going to be mostly researching all of the different types of fall activities there are, and the different types of activities and events that people like to participate in. This is really going to start my research and get it going. All of this research should be done by next week, so here is hoping.
Hey all, It's time for another blog post. Today, I am going to be talking about copyright, and the fact that it is actually an important thing! I have been a student all of my life, and if there is anything that I have learned throughout my educational journey, it's that you should never use anything that doesn't belong to you. If you have use an idea that isn't yours, you better cite it. In my world plagiarism is taboo, and if you plagiarize, you better prepare for the consequences because teachers know.
San Jose Library. (2008, August 23). Children using the computer [online image]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/5jWU3i
Continuing on with my previous post, I have been learning about copyright for my technology in education class, and there is so much more to it than just not plagiarizing. What is copyright, you ask? Well, according to Figg (2013), "Basic copyright law means that all rights are reserved-the copying, distributing, performing, displaying, or adapting of digital media found online is prohibited" (p. 1). This means, that all of those things that we see on the internet, and take and use for blogs and projects, are actually private property. This is not always the case though. When it comes to copyright, there are so many different restrictions that we need to be aware of. And this does not just apply to text, it applies to images, videos, audio, and so much more. When choosing images and other forms of media to share with others, it is so important to remember that someone else created it, and they may want their products protected. Always look for the creative commons and check to see if you can use the images you want to use. While learning about copyright, I was instructed to find images that I was able to use freely as long as I gave the appropriate credit to the photographer. That is the main reason why there is now photos on this blog post. Both of the images selected were chosen due to the fact that the creative commons stated these images were free to use.
McPhee, N. (2006, September 03). Corn and sunflower (Butterfly is optional) [Online Image]. Retreived From https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Corn_and_sunflower_%28butterfly_is_optional%29_%28298058648%29.jpg
This is actually not a difficult task to accomplish. Different websites such as google images, and flickr have made it easier to filter your search so that you can find images that are free to use. This will remove all of the restricted material on your main search, leaving you with images that you can use. However, you should always double check, because sometimes these filters do not always work. I feel that now that I know how to do this properly, you will definitely be seeing more images on this blog that will help to enhance the post I am writing, and that will hopefully make it more interesting... or at least a little bit easier to read! Well, I hope you learned a little something about copyright. I know I have, and it has really changed the way I look at searching for images. -Elizabeth p.s. the butterfly doesn't actually have anything to do with copyright itself... It was just the first thing I thought to search for. References Figg, C. (2013) Copyright for tech-enhanced teaching. Retrieved September 11, 2015 from http://www.handy4class.com/tpack-teacher-game/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Copyright-2013c1.pdf
Welcome to my blog! My name is Elizabeth, and if you haven't guessed, I am currently a teacher candidate. I am enrolled at Brock University and studying to be an elementary school teacher.
The program itself just started, and I am so excited! It's a newly developed program which is also exciting. The government in Ontario has made it so teacher education programs are now two years instead of one, so the program has been completely re-done. I am really looking forward to how it goes.
During this program, I am required to take a course regarding using technology in education. In this course, we are required to complete a genius hour project. This is a project where I have to pick a topic and ask a question about it. I then have to research it, and find out what I have been asking.
Not only does this project sound like fun for me to complete, but it also sounds like a great thing to do in a classroom. It is definitely something that will promote self-directed learning in students, and really get them thinking about things they are passionate about.
I am including a link that taught me quite a bit about genius hour. It is the official genius hour website. It will provide you with a basic understanding of using this program in a classroom.
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