*This blog post is the second portion of a two-part collaborative post between myself and Mary Bertram. Head over to her blog, Prairie Inspiration, to see the first portion of this post on digital identity, online presence and reasons to join the online education community. _________________________________________________________ When you Google yourself are you happy with what you find?* Does the search bring up pages that reflect you as a professional or are the pages not even about you? Perhaps your search for “Jane Doe” brings up “Jane Doe” from Tennessee who has unprofessional taste in life choices… how do… Read More
"Honest Trailers" Classroom Edition
Screen Junkies. (2008). “YouTube Channel Heading”. Screenshot. Available online at: http://www.youtube.com/user/screenjunkies Have you ever heard of “Honest Trailers”? I hadn’t heard of them until today but I am very excited about the role that they could play in the classroom. “Honest Trailers” are put out on YouTube by ScreenJunkies and provide humorous, straight-forward analysis of recent movies by revamping their movie trailers. Here is how they describe their channel: Where guys go to get honest and authoritative advice on what movies and TV shows they should watch and which ones aren’t worth the time. … Read More
Resources To Start Off Your Week 58
Happy Spring Break everyone, as of Friday the 22nd we have officially been on holidays and won’t be back in the classroom until April 1st. The weather is almost feeling like spring time (it is around -10 C) but we still have well over two feet of snow that can begin melting anytime (seriously… anytime now). We don’t have a lot of plans for the holidays as we are calving on our farm so I’ve ended up having lots of time to prep for school and spend time with our new puppy, Kevin! I’ve been spending some extra… Read More
2 Stars & A Wish: Appropriate Pacing
My second week of student teaching has come to a close and we are now officially on Spring Break until April 1st; so we are off for a full week. I am hoping to utilize this time to further prep for my classes and possible interviews that can come up in the next few months. Two things I think went really well this week were:1 ) Enforcing Accountability with my Students– This week we had a few preliminary assignments that we worked on in my various classes. They were not extensive or time consuming, but I needed them… Read More
My Experience with Parent-Teacher Interviews
Bacall, A. (2011). Parent Teacher Conference. Available online at: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/p/parent_teacher.asp This week not only marked the last week before spring break, but also “S-School’s” springtime Parent-Teacher Interviews. While parent’s could technically come in anytime during the week, depending on their schedule, our main interview dates were yesterday evening and today during regular school hours. Luckily, I was able to sit in on parent teacher interviews and learn more about how they are organized and how to address any parental concerns. As I am student teaching and not a staff member, however, parents need to give their consent for me to sit… Read More
A Snapshot of Information
Edvolution. (2013). “So True…”. Available online at: http://edvolution.info/so-true/ Today in Grade 8 Social Studies we did a Jigsaw activity where students, in small groups, researched about different social classes found in Ancient Greece. Once completed, students wrote their findings on the board and verbally presented about their specific social class (wealthy citizen, middle class woman, slave, etc). What resulted was six different sets of information on various social classes that students were responsible for having in order to utilize, in more depth, in the next class. Once all of the information was on the board and students were writing down their… Read More
Resources To Start Off Your Week 57
Today I am writing this post from school because there are almost no students here due to a bad snow storm. I only had three students in my class this morning and two of them left to meet with another teacher to complete work that they owed her before report cards come out. As such, it has been a very long lonely day at “S-School” today. The good thing, however, is that there is a lot of prep time to make sure I am more prepared once spring break is over. Some of my prep time was used… Read More
2 Stars & A Wish: Establishing Boundaries
My first week of student teaching is officially completed and I feel like I can now settle into a regular routine with my students. Two things I think went really well this week were: 1 ) Getting To Know My Students – As I shared on Wednesday, I used my first teaching day to get to know my students. Through the activities that I facilitated, I feel like I was able to get a good understanding of my students likes, routines and learning needs. – I know that this is no replacement for the knowledge that… Read More
Back to Teaching
Today was my first day actually introducing my lessons and taking over three of my four classes during student teaching. (I will continue to observe Grade 9/10 ICT until after Spring Break to accommodate my cooperating teacher’s unit plans). I am so thrilled to be back in the classroom and doing what I love. I find the transition from classroom teacher to student teacher to sometimes be quite choppy and awkward so I always plan my first day as a “get to know each other” day. If you remember back to my student teaching placement in the fall, I like… Read More
Back to Student Teaching!
Today marked my first day back to student teaching at “S-School”! This is my LAST student teaching placement before graduation and, as of May 4th, I will have officially completed all of my requirements for graduation! Last Tuesday was my last day of on-campus classes and I am so excited that I get to spend the last 8 weeks of my university career in the classroom doing what I love 🙂 Here is a glimpse at my schedule: I am actually back with two of my previous cooperating teachers as well as a new cooperating teacher… Read More