My Exhausting Month!!

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to go ahead and apologize for this long post!!

So its been awhile since I blogged! I have been suuuuuper duuuuper busy with summer classes and student teaching seminar.

I long awaited the day for student teaching seminar and it was GREAT! It was a 3 day seminar full of information, paperwork and fun. But before I get into all of that, let me talk about my final two classes. I think the expression would be...WHEW!!

Four weeks full of information, reflections, research papers, action plans, reading and learning how we can be effective teachers. I had to complete a research paper for Advanced Educational Psychology on a chosen subject which was Instructional Strategies (that was a fun one to research). In my research I learned a lot MORE about effective classroom strategies and methods. The ones listed below are some of my favorites but I'm certainly not going to limit myself to these.

• Think-pair-share
• Jigsaw
• Field trips including virtual
• Role playing
• Computer assisted instruction (CAI)

I plan on utilizing these strategies in the classroom and each day I continue to delve deeper into each one to learn more and more about them. I plan on using these strategies during my student teaching semester.

We also talked a lot about brain-based learning. In my last post I talked about the book Brain Rules by John Medina. I created an action plan (which I will share with you soon). But in this action plan I chose four brain rules on which to focus on and utilize in the classroom. The four I chose were: exercise, stress, vision, and attention. With these four rules I had to come up with 3-5 strategies that I can use to fully engage my students in the classroom. Here is an example for each one:

1. Exercise- I heard of a great site called Go Noodle, so I checked it out and guess what...I LOVE IT!! I'm having so much fun with it and I cannot wait to use it. There were so many exercises that the student can do, and have fun with.
2. Stress- Creating a stress free environment by exemplifying a happy classroom. I will already have my students desks assigned and a designated place for the supplies/materials so that they will feel that the classroom is not only mine but theirs. I will develop a personal relationship with each one. To do this I will ask them about their day and interests.
3. Attention- I absolutely love Whole Brain Teaching! I will use this in my classroom. I will incorporate storytelling as well as using attention grabbers.
4. Vision- I will incorporate graphic organizers, bright presentations, word walls and flash cards in the classroom.

These are just a few strategies that I put in my plan. Lots of work but I enjoyed working on as these are some of the things that I will use in my classroom.

Moving on to Student Teaching Seminar, as I mentioned above I enjoyed it. I won't go into great detail but here's what we talked about:

Monday

• Creating professional relationships
• Professional Communications (I needed that one)
• Student Teacher Handbook (tons of paperwork)

I also met my University Supervisor and I know she is going to be great!

Tuesday

• Your Kaleidoscope (personality inventory)
• Technology in the classroom (I got to play with the smart board tons of fun!!) I also learned how to create a quiz using Google Docs.
• Q&A

Wednesday

• Common Core & Lesson Plan Review
• FATS City video
• Final Comments (I'm tearing up) I'm so blessed for this opportunity and I am so very proud and excited about my future career!!

I met my cooperating teacher yesterday, and I she is so sweet! I know I'll learn a lot from her!! I start August 5th and I will be sharing my adventures with you all!!

Well I'm going to wrap it for now. I wish everyone a good night!!

Miss Student Teacher