I think the lessons went really well, they all had different ideas, activities, and techniques. I definitely learned a lot from all of them; great worksheets, different ways to read stories to the students, get their attention, etc.
The only critique would be that we all need to work in our techniques of controlling the students, we need to remember that kids will always misbehave and try to talk and play with their classmates, and there's nothing wrong with it, we just have to let them know they will have their time to talk and play. Let's not forget that they are kids, and if we really want to be teachers we need to be patient and love to work with children. If we don't have those characteristics we should not be teachers.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Reflection of Podcast
In our original lesson plan we had included the podcast, but then the last time we met we decided to take it out and use it in our individual lesson plans. We struggled a lot when recording the podcast, but it was not because of the software, it was because of the computer we were using. But at the end we were able to finish it on time. We recorded it a few times until we had the almost fantastic one :). I really liked the idea of podcasting; I will definitely use it with my students in the future.
A funny story about the podcast; I never thought people would actually go to our blogs and read our postings, but a few weeks ago my boyfriend texted me and asked me about my podcast. I had never said anything because I felt shy about it, but he found out through a classmate in his university that found Dr. Luongo's Blog and was talking about it in class; "a blog where future teachers write about their experiences and different activities they do". It was so funny, but people actually read our blogs and listen to our podcast :).
A funny story about the podcast; I never thought people would actually go to our blogs and read our postings, but a few weeks ago my boyfriend texted me and asked me about my podcast. I had never said anything because I felt shy about it, but he found out through a classmate in his university that found Dr. Luongo's Blog and was talking about it in class; "a blog where future teachers write about their experiences and different activities they do". It was so funny, but people actually read our blogs and listen to our podcast :).
Lesson plan
I think our lesson plan went pretty well, we were able to do everything we had in our lesson plan and a little more. We did a few things that were not in our lesson plan, but they actually went well with the lesson; like having the students write their sentences on the smart board. I think my partner (Renee) and I worked really well together, we did our best to keep the students under control, but we also made sure they were learning and having fun. We met a few times to plan our lesson. The first time we worked on the actual planning of the lesson, the activities we wanted to include and the things we wanted the students to learn. The last time we met, we organized where the students would seat and who would seat next to whom; we did these based on their behaviors. If I'm not wrong we did two seating charts, we wanted everything to go smoothly, and I think we got it. I will be very honest I don't like working in groups much, but I'm happy my partner and I did a nice job together.
I learned that having the students work in pair may work really well, especially if we have a reward system, where they will both benefit if they both do a good job or behave well, but if one of them does something wrong or misbehave they will both lose points. I think this kind of system works well because it encourages students to help each other and to behave well.
I think the only thing I would change is giving the students the opportunity to say yes or no. Even though we didn't give them the choice for everything, we did give them the option of getting the points or not.
I learned that having the students work in pair may work really well, especially if we have a reward system, where they will both benefit if they both do a good job or behave well, but if one of them does something wrong or misbehave they will both lose points. I think this kind of system works well because it encourages students to help each other and to behave well.
I think the only thing I would change is giving the students the opportunity to say yes or no. Even though we didn't give them the choice for everything, we did give them the option of getting the points or not.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Questions for the Very Busy Spider
Today we were finally able to record the story with the sound effects and everything, it's not the best one, but it sounds pretty decent. We recorded a few times before we agree on one that we liked. It was very funny because by mistake we erased one that we really liked and had to do it over, I think we both enjoyed this very much, it was an exciting experience as well as something totally new.
Our Story: The very Busy Spider
By: Eric Carle
Questions:
1. What do you know about spiders?
2. Why do you think this is a very busy spider?
3. Are you a busy person? If so explain why?
4. What were some of the animals mentioned in the book?
5. Why did the spider fell asleep?
Our Story: The very Busy Spider
By: Eric Carle
Questions:
1. What do you know about spiders?
2. Why do you think this is a very busy spider?
3. Are you a busy person? If so explain why?
4. What were some of the animals mentioned in the book?
5. Why did the spider fell asleep?
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Last day to podcast!!!
Hopefully today well get to finish, we recorded the sounds effects to my cellphone and now we are going to try to record the story with the sound effects. We are using different computers today so hopefully this will help us finish on time.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Some problems...
I have had a lot of problems with the computer, it gets really slow and it doesn't let me do anything. Today we worked with two computers hoping it would make it easier, and it did but still a little difficult. We were not able to do much, but at least we started to record and practice, we had problems recording the sounds on time, since it was a little difficult to to read, record, and get the sounds effects within a shot time. We really hope to have better luck next tuesday...
3rd day!!!
Hopefully today we'll get to read and record our book, I have had a lot of problems with the computer it gets really slow, I cant open more than 4 websites at the same time. Now we are working with two computers so this may help us do the recording faster and easier.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Podcast Experience: 1st time
Today is the first time we are working with Podcast in class, it is an interesting and fun experience. In order for the recording to be great everything has to be silent, because it records every noise around. Its weird the way my voice sounds, so I'm guessing I have to practice the way I speak when recording. I think is an exciting activity that students would enjoy a lot.
This is my test podcast...
http://yermen.podomatic.com/entry/2009-09-18T07_26_42-07_00
This is my test podcast...
http://yermen.podomatic.com/entry/2009-09-18T07_26_42-07_00
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
I really don't know anything about podcasting, I guess it is like recording and then getting it to be online so other people can hear it.
Even though it is not very common to use in class, I'm sure it can be of great use in classrooms as a different technique for students to use. It can be of great use for students who learn differently, and it can motivate them to do something different and be more creative.
I guess we can use it for different activities, like recording a drama instead of acting it. It could also be helpful for low grade students, they can read the story as they hear it.
Even though it is not very common to use in class, I'm sure it can be of great use in classrooms as a different technique for students to use. It can be of great use for students who learn differently, and it can motivate them to do something different and be more creative.
I guess we can use it for different activities, like recording a drama instead of acting it. It could also be helpful for low grade students, they can read the story as they hear it.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Standardized test....
Standardized test: is a test administered and scored in a consistent manner. The tests are designed in such a way that the "questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent” and are "administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner."
Tests such as the ACT and SAT that provide college admission officers with a comparative standard for evaluating a student’s academic aptitude and likelihood of successes in college.
Can a test really tell if a person is going to be successful in college? In life? Should we measure the future of a person with a test?
Let me start by saying that as a student I hated standardized tests, they didn’t have anything to do with the curriculum. Most of the things we learned in class were useless when it was time to take these exams; teachers take weeks of important learning to get us in the mood of standardized tests like HSPA and others. These tests only measure the ability to answer multiple choice tests quickly.
Students get stressed out thinking that if they don’t pass this tests they wont graduate, they wont get accepted in college, so what’s the point of years of hard work doing homework, studying for tests, doing extra credit, asking for help if at the end everything its going to come down to a test? It won’t matter how good a person did throughout the school years because if they fell these tests they won’t be accepted to the college of their dreams.
As a future teacher I believe they are not fair, I have to be honest and say that I don’t think these exams help students. If we really think about it these tests do not measure how much a student knows, they don’t measure creativity, or ability to think. The only thing these tests measure is ability to choose what we believe is the right answer, in a timely manner.
Tests such as the ACT and SAT that provide college admission officers with a comparative standard for evaluating a student’s academic aptitude and likelihood of successes in college.
Can a test really tell if a person is going to be successful in college? In life? Should we measure the future of a person with a test?
Let me start by saying that as a student I hated standardized tests, they didn’t have anything to do with the curriculum. Most of the things we learned in class were useless when it was time to take these exams; teachers take weeks of important learning to get us in the mood of standardized tests like HSPA and others. These tests only measure the ability to answer multiple choice tests quickly.
Students get stressed out thinking that if they don’t pass this tests they wont graduate, they wont get accepted in college, so what’s the point of years of hard work doing homework, studying for tests, doing extra credit, asking for help if at the end everything its going to come down to a test? It won’t matter how good a person did throughout the school years because if they fell these tests they won’t be accepted to the college of their dreams.
As a future teacher I believe they are not fair, I have to be honest and say that I don’t think these exams help students. If we really think about it these tests do not measure how much a student knows, they don’t measure creativity, or ability to think. The only thing these tests measure is ability to choose what we believe is the right answer, in a timely manner.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Observing and learning from others
One of the most important things from teaching is being able to relate whatever we are teaching to modern things so the students can feel familiar with the lesson. Just like a few people in the class did when trying to relate the lesson to modern singers and music that young people like.
Another important thing is to have a good sense of humor, students will always try to be funny, we’ll also have students who want to make us feel uncomfortable, but if we have a good sense of humor they will stop, because that’s basically showing them that it doesn’t really bother us and we have the control, or course there is a limit for everything but having a good sense of humor will help decrease the brainless jokes.
an additional thing I have learned is, if we tell the students that we are going to do something if they continue their behavior we must do it, otherwise they wont take us seriously; for example John is throwing paper across the classroom I tell him to stop or I’ll send him to the principal’s office next time I see him doing the same action I must send him to the principal’s office. It can also be a positive action like; John if you write your paper you will receive a prize, so when he writes his paper I have to give him his prize. This will help us teach the students who is in control in the classroom.
Energy, Energy, Energy.... we need to have energy to teach, make the lessons fun and interesting.
Another important thing is to have a good sense of humor, students will always try to be funny, we’ll also have students who want to make us feel uncomfortable, but if we have a good sense of humor they will stop, because that’s basically showing them that it doesn’t really bother us and we have the control, or course there is a limit for everything but having a good sense of humor will help decrease the brainless jokes.
an additional thing I have learned is, if we tell the students that we are going to do something if they continue their behavior we must do it, otherwise they wont take us seriously; for example John is throwing paper across the classroom I tell him to stop or I’ll send him to the principal’s office next time I see him doing the same action I must send him to the principal’s office. It can also be a positive action like; John if you write your paper you will receive a prize, so when he writes his paper I have to give him his prize. This will help us teach the students who is in control in the classroom.
Energy, Energy, Energy.... we need to have energy to teach, make the lessons fun and interesting.
Micro-teaching Spanish
I decided to teach basic Spanish greetings because I knew that most of my classmates didn’t speak or understand much Spanish, so teaching literature would be too hard. My classmates were supposed to behave badly while I was teaching but since I had them engaged in the classroom there was no time for them to misbehave.
After I finished the lesson someone mentioned that it was hard to misbehave because I had them moving and talking to each other, and then in a circle, so what I learned from my lesson was that I need to try to keep the students active and engage in the lesson in order to avoid problems like kids talking on the side, others throwing paper, passing notes or texting.
Another thing that I noticed was that even though I thought I didn’t have enough material to cover, it was actually enough, because I had them practice around the class with each other. I think I did well, I was able to have them talking and greeting each other in Spanish.
After I finished the lesson someone mentioned that it was hard to misbehave because I had them moving and talking to each other, and then in a circle, so what I learned from my lesson was that I need to try to keep the students active and engage in the lesson in order to avoid problems like kids talking on the side, others throwing paper, passing notes or texting.
Another thing that I noticed was that even though I thought I didn’t have enough material to cover, it was actually enough, because I had them practice around the class with each other. I think I did well, I was able to have them talking and greeting each other in Spanish.
Getting ready to teach...
First I have to start by saying that writing lesson plans is not easy. It is a hard task since we have to think about what we are going to do in class, but we also need a backup plan just in case the original lesson plan doesn’t work. Another thing that I found difficult was to know what the right amount of work to cover in a lesson is. In some of my lessons I wanted to cover a lot of things and in other lessons I just had two things to cover. The set is also a little difficult, given that we can not use the same set within the same unit, so even though we are covering the same topic for a few days we have to come up with different sets to get students’ attention.
However lesson plans are of great help especially when we are new teachers because it makes our lives easier when in class, since its our guide to follow.
However lesson plans are of great help especially when we are new teachers because it makes our lives easier when in class, since its our guide to follow.
My access
My access can be a great tool to use in English and composition classes, even at the college level. It is a great thing for teachers because it saves time for the teachers and it gives a quick score to the student, which can motivate students to redo it if they don’t get the grade they want.
It has most of the popular topics used in standardized exams which can be of great help to get students ready for the tests.
What I liked the most were the sheets that my access provides the students for the pre-writing. The only bad thing is that is mostly useful for English and composition classes. It would be great if they could expand it to other subject areas and languages.
It has most of the popular topics used in standardized exams which can be of great help to get students ready for the tests.
What I liked the most were the sheets that my access provides the students for the pre-writing. The only bad thing is that is mostly useful for English and composition classes. It would be great if they could expand it to other subject areas and languages.
11 year old girl teaches teachers
Adora Svitak an 11 year old girl who teaches teachers. She teaches them how to teach children, how to make classes more interesting for the students; she also gives workshops where she uses technology like cell phones to give the class. She likes involving a lot of creativity and technology since she feels that’s what kids like. Adora gives teachers advices on how to get student’s attention and how to make classes easier for students. She wants teachers to work more on creativity, she gives new techniques to teachers like having the students write the end of a story first and then write the rest of the story. She loves to read and write, she has written a few books. Her website is
http://www.adorasvitak.com/Main.html
If my school district offered a workshop with Adora I would definitely take it, I am sure she has some great ideas.
Even though she seems to be a genius I am sure a lot of teachers wouldn’t like taking her workshops since they will feel there’s not much that an eleven year old girl can teach them. In my opinion there’s definitely a lot that we can learn from kids, but the key to be great teachers is to remember that at some point we were kids, that we also went to classes and got bored, it doesnt matter what we are teaching we have to try our best to be creative and energetic in order to make students love the class.
http://www.adorasvitak.com/Main.html
If my school district offered a workshop with Adora I would definitely take it, I am sure she has some great ideas.
Even though she seems to be a genius I am sure a lot of teachers wouldn’t like taking her workshops since they will feel there’s not much that an eleven year old girl can teach them. In my opinion there’s definitely a lot that we can learn from kids, but the key to be great teachers is to remember that at some point we were kids, that we also went to classes and got bored, it doesnt matter what we are teaching we have to try our best to be creative and energetic in order to make students love the class.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Do we have to pay attention in class?
I found a website where college students can upload their lecture notes and get monetary rewards (Gift Cards), while other students get the benefit of getting the lecture notes for free. This website is for college students, but I am pretty sure it will be available for high school students soon.
Is this a good idea? As a future teacher I think this is not helpful. It is really hard to get students to pay attention in class as it is, imagine now that they have access to this. With this website teachers will have 8 out of 20 students paying attention.
If we see it from the students’ point of view this is good, we don’t really need to pay attention in class, and maybe we don’t even need to go to class, we can just go to the website and get the lecture notes for free. The other possible outcome could be to take it as a way to make money, which could be good, because students would be learning and making money to help themselves.
http://www.isleptthroughclass.com/
Is this a good idea? As a future teacher I think this is not helpful. It is really hard to get students to pay attention in class as it is, imagine now that they have access to this. With this website teachers will have 8 out of 20 students paying attention.
If we see it from the students’ point of view this is good, we don’t really need to pay attention in class, and maybe we don’t even need to go to class, we can just go to the website and get the lecture notes for free. The other possible outcome could be to take it as a way to make money, which could be good, because students would be learning and making money to help themselves.
http://www.isleptthroughclass.com/
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Classroom Management
I have observed different types of teachers, the one that is almost always screaming, the one that is too sweet and doesn’t have control of the classroom and is always calling the teacher next door for help, and the one that is nice, friendly and strict at the same time. I have noticed something when we start teaching we have to look strict and strong and then be friendly. If we do the opposite students will take advantage.
There is a big difference between fear and respect, I want my students to respect me not to fear me, I want them to feel they can talk to me, I don’t want to be their friend, but I want to be friendly to them. I believe a happy, friendly teacher can have more control in a classroom than a strict mean teacher who everybody hates.
There is a big difference between fear and respect, I want my students to respect me not to fear me, I want them to feel they can talk to me, I don’t want to be their friend, but I want to be friendly to them. I believe a happy, friendly teacher can have more control in a classroom than a strict mean teacher who everybody hates.
Teachers, Technology and the results...
Technology is playing an important role in the life of every teacher and student, not only now but for a long time already. Now let’s evaluate the advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
It makes our lives a lot easier
We learn new things
We have access to the world in a click
We can communicate faster with people around the world.
We can solve math problems within seconds
We can buy and sale, without going outside of our houses.
We can call people from anywhere, at any time we want.
We don’t have to read books anymore.
Disadvantages
If you ask most H.S students to do a simple multiplication problem they won’t be able, unless they use a calculator.
Same thing would happen if we ask them to add or subtract some numbers.
If we look at the handwriting of most H.S/ college students is horrible.
Most young people do not read books.
A lot of people don’t know how to spell words right.
Technology has many advantages and disadvantages.
Not always, but if we get a student from another country and a student from here and we give them a basic test on different subject areas without any type of technology there is a big probability that the student from here won’t do as good. I believe technology is an important part of our lives, but I also believe that we are becoming too dependent on it.
We have to use technology to teach, to make the classes better and more interesting, but we cannot abuse it. As teachers we have to try our best to inspire students to not depend on technology all the time.
Advantages
It makes our lives a lot easier
We learn new things
We have access to the world in a click
We can communicate faster with people around the world.
We can solve math problems within seconds
We can buy and sale, without going outside of our houses.
We can call people from anywhere, at any time we want.
We don’t have to read books anymore.
Disadvantages
If you ask most H.S students to do a simple multiplication problem they won’t be able, unless they use a calculator.
Same thing would happen if we ask them to add or subtract some numbers.
If we look at the handwriting of most H.S/ college students is horrible.
Most young people do not read books.
A lot of people don’t know how to spell words right.
Technology has many advantages and disadvantages.
Not always, but if we get a student from another country and a student from here and we give them a basic test on different subject areas without any type of technology there is a big probability that the student from here won’t do as good. I believe technology is an important part of our lives, but I also believe that we are becoming too dependent on it.
We have to use technology to teach, to make the classes better and more interesting, but we cannot abuse it. As teachers we have to try our best to inspire students to not depend on technology all the time.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Introduction
Hi everyone!!!
y name is Yermen Guzman; I am a Spanish major with a minor in Secondary education. I want to teach middle school and then teach High School. In the future I would like to teach ESL.
y name is Yermen Guzman; I am a Spanish major with a minor in Secondary education. I want to teach middle school and then teach High School. In the future I would like to teach ESL.
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