Life is like riding a bicycle; To keep balance, you must keep moving.

The stress of the semester has officially set in. I am overwhelmed with papers, projects, fieldwork and classwork assignments. On top of that I am still attempting to maintain a job and social life. Most of the time I feel like I am completely unbalanced. I either spend too much time on work and not enough time enjoying myself or taking time to do things for me, or I am spending too much time having fun and not dedicating enough time to my studies. I am working every day to try to incorporate an hour or so of fun into my day, that way I don't feel the need to spend the entire weekend away from my work. Balance, balance, balance. I WILL FIND MY BALANCE.

Monday 9/30/13:

During today's class, we participated in a treasure hunt about cooperative learning. We accessed a site that allows teachers to create a treasure hunt using QR codes.

The QR codes allow technologies (like the iPhone) to scan the code. Each code coincided with a question about cooperative learning. 

Our group was divided into the manager, recorder, time keeper, researcher and presenter. The manager would check to make sure that all questions were answered and answered completely. The recorder took notes about the information we found. The time keeper made sure that we were on task and not dedicating too much time to one question in particular. The researcher was in charge of looking up answers on the computer. The presented recorded the information on the week five forum on eClass.

I really liked how this lesson incorporated a new technology into it. It made the lesson more engaging and updated. I think students would appreciate any teacher who attempted to breach into their territory: a technologically savvy one at that. I would like to use this type of activity in a future lesson if possible. I think that it encourages students to utilize the principles of P.I.G.S. The activity incorporates the aspects of positive interdependence as students work together toward a group goal, of individual accountability as students work individually to find information for the group, of group processing as students share their findings and reflect on the process, and of social interaction as students talk with one another.


Tuesday 10/1/13:

Today I completed a self-assessment to find out what kind of educator I am. Dr. Smirnova provided us with a link that would let us self-assess our teaching styles. After we had completed the 40 question assessment, we would check our answers using this scale. According to the results of this assessment, I am mainly a humanism, cognitivism and reconstructionism/critical theory teacher.

Humanism was my highest score: 24. A humanist believes that learning is a personal act to fulfill one's potential. This directly correlates with my personal philosophies that you are the only thing holding you back and that you are responsible for your own outcomes. I feel that all students have the capability to do great things, they just need the appropriate tools and motivation to do so.

Cognitivism and reconstructionism/Critical Theory were tied for my second highest score: 22. Cognitivism focuses on how the mind is an information processor. As an educator, a cognitivist would aim to figure out how his/her students' minds best functioned and structure teaching to fit their modes of thinking. I can see how this learning theory would apply to my teaching style. I believe that all learners learn differently. Some are visual, others are auditory. Some can pick up a skill by listening to directions, while others need a demonstration or to practice the skill multiple times. When planning lessons, I always take into account the varied ways of processing information. I attempt to include visual input (videos, charts, graphs), auditory input (lecture, music), hands-on input (models, personal experiences), etc. 
Reconstructionism/critical theory emphasizes the importance of addressing social questions in an attempt to create a better society and worldwide democracy. This was an interesting find for me. I did not realize how deeply I felt about informing my students about the world around them in order for them to make informed decisions that may result in social reforms.

I was surprised that by score for Behaviorism was only 16. I currently work at Hudson Valley Behavioral Solutions whose guiding principle is Applied Behavior Analysis: a facet of behaviorism. I practice this theory daily and see the benefits it has for children with Autism, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, and other behavior problems. I feel that this result occurred because my ideas as a general education teacher are vastly different than those of a special education teacher. I feel that this ties in with my cognitivism side of my teaching style, which believes that all learners learn differently. Students in a general education classroom can benefit from different teaching styles, while children with special needs may benefit more from the behaviorism model of thinking.


Wednesday 10/2/13:

During today's class, we were provided with time to work on our lesson plans. My group has already completed our first lesson direct instruction lesson plan. We mainly worked on our second lesson plan that follows an inquiry-based lesson plan structure. We plan to engage students through artifact bags, colonial themed books, and websites. We also brainstormed ideas for our third lesson based on cooperative learning strategies. We wanted to have students write from the perspective of a colonial boy or girl and then have students share their works with the whole class. Dr. Smirnova liked this idea, but suggested that we involve other forms of expression like theater, job listings, or poetry. Although I like this idea, I know that I personally dread putting on theater performances or writing poetry. I think it would be difficult for students to accept the differentiated activities if we are forcing the choice upon them. It also would not be an effective activity if we allowed complete freedom of choice to students. Every student may decide they want to participate in a theater performance, and no one may participate in the poetry section. This is an issue with the activity that we as a group plan to work on further during our next meeting.

Friday 10/4/13:

Today was our first experience with fieldwork at Bishop Dunn Memorial School. We are in a fourth grade classroom with twenty-six students. Today, we introduced ourselves to the students as a class, then we broke up into groups. Each fieldwork group was given an opportunity to meet with a group of four to six students for about seven to ten minutes. Our group decided to make name tags with the students that way we could learn the students names quickly and easily for future lessons. After the name tags were completed, we engaged students in discussion regarding what they had been learning about in social studies. We also probed questions regarding the thirteen colonies. After the students had given some thought to the topic, we stated that our group's topic was New York and the New Nation. We asked students to make predictions about what the topic meant. We then provided additional information from two age-appropriate, colonial life books. The students did not seem interested in the reading passage, but Alex sparked their interest by reading them fun facts and tips. These were ideas that the students could relate to by making comparisons to colonial times and now. Overall, the first experience of fieldwork for Social Studies Methods was a success!

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

I definitely have been feeling overwhelmed with my course load lately. Balancing the work of five classes, having a part-time teaching job and maintaining a social life is close to impossible. I have to be honest, I broke down a bit this weekend, but thankfully I had my mom to help me get my emotions and thoughts back on track. Her words of wisdom: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." (I know she didn't coin this phrase, but it certainly did help!)

Monday 9/23/13:

In preparation for today's class, Dr. Smirnova asked the class to read Chapter 8 from our textbook: How are Powerful and Meaningful Social Studies Units Constructed? This chapter contained A LOT of information. To help better organize our thoughts, Dr. Smirnova suggested that we create visual maps. Madison shared that she worked with Cacoo, a visual representation site. My visual map for chapter 8 is provided below and you can view it larger by clicking HERE. This site was very useful! It allowed me the option to choose from pre-made templates or to create my own map. I opted to create my own map because I could not quite find exactly what I was looking for to incorporate all of the chapter's information.

I think that using Cacoo in the classroom would be beneficial for students. This serves as a graphic representation of the most important points for a lengthy chapter. Students could study from a pre-made visual map provided by the teacher or they could create their own maps to study from. These visuals could also be used to teach a lesson within a classroom, whether it was teacher or student-led.

Here are some additional notes from Dr. Smirnova's PowerPoint and our class discussion that may clarify some of the items in my visual map:
UNIT PLAN- is the largest segment of teaching a key idea, a skill, an attitude or a value. May consist of 4 weeks to a semester. 
EVALUATION CRITERIA- Significance (content taught is important to the discipline and to the students' need for powerful social studies), Relevance (questioning/investigative nature of social studies cuts across all parts of the unit and curriculum), Coherence (content, activities, and breadth of experiences in the social studies unit reflect the students' life, goals and aspirations).
Convergent Questions- who, what, when, when questions: factual, knowledge-based questions
Divergent Questions- what if?: need basic knowledge combined with reasoning and creativity

Wednesday 9/25/13 and Friday 9/27/13:

During today's class, we focused on cooperative learning. According to chapter 7, cooperative learning is defined as "an approach and a set of strategies specifically designed to encourage student cooperation while learning" (p. 204).

To further our understanding of cooperative learning, Dr. Smirnova had us participate in a Jigsaw learning activity. To participate in this activity, our fieldwork groups became "experts" on a particular element of cooperative learning. The five elements of cooperative learning are: positive interdependence, individual accountability, group processing, social interaction, and the cooperative learning lesson plan. Each of the elements moved into a "base group" where we researched our topics. We collaboratively decided how we would present the information and then moved back to our field work groups to present. After we completed our presentations, we were asked to complete two surveys about the activity as a whole and about our group members' performances.

I was not proud of my presentation. I did not follow my base groups lesson structure: opening question, video, direct instruction, reflection, assessment. Rather, I moved directly into direct instruction, asked a few questions, and showed a brief portion of the video. I was not focused on the task at hand. This experience helped me understand that as a teacher my personal business may interfere with my teaching. In the future I hope to be better prepared for this type of situation.

"Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success." - Henry Ford

Today my fieldwork group (Ericka, Alex, Madison and James) met at the Mount to discuss our ideas for our fieldwork placement. Our group's topic is New York and the New Nation. We started by planning out what ideas we definitely wanted to include for our unit plan. 

We felt that it was important to know students by name, so for our introduction activity, students will create name tags. After the students have completed their name tags, we will introduce them to our Tagxedo which will introduce the students to vocabulary and important identifications for our unit. Shown below is our Tagxedo project. 

We will ask students to identify and provide descriptions for as many terms as they can. We will explain that if they do not know terms, they will be further explained during our lesson.

After our Tagxedo presentation, we will provide students with a KWL chart. The students will be instructed to fill out the "K" and "W" columns of the chart. Then, students will be asked to share their ideas as we write them on the SmartBoard.

Following our KWL discussion, students will be shown our Prezi. The Prezi presentation will provide students with a graphic way to learn more information about New York and the New Nation.

To conclude the lesson, we will show the students a "teaser." (shown below)

This picture will allow students to make predictions about what our next lesson will be about. (SPOILER ALERT: Artifact Bags)

Helping Students Make Connections

Monday 9/16/13:

"Social Studies educators need to help students find connections between what they study and its importance to their lives and to the world in which they live." (Sunal 449)

In preparation for today's class, we were instructed to reading Chapter 14 of our textbooks regarding assessment. Assessment is an essential component of any lesson plan, as it allows for teachers monitor student progress. This constant monitoring indicates when students are prepared to move on to new topics, what in a lesson or unit can be improved, and what strengths a lesson or unit had. This information allows for teachers to plan for better, future instruction.

This chapter clarified my understanding of what assessment and evaluation truly . According to Sunal (2011), assessment is "collecting evidence of learning as your journey toward accomplishing your learning objectives," while evaluation occurs "after you complete the journey and ascertain how well that journey met your expectations" (448). I think it is important to consider the different between assessment and evaluation within a classroom because they serve two different functions that should not be interchanged. Assessment should occur during learning to monitor student progress and understanding, while evaluation should occur after learning to show evidence of learning.

But how can students show evidence of their learning? Testing becomes limited when students need to demonstrate knowledge of effective democratic citizenship. According to Sunal (2011), effective democratic citizenship is comprised of "gathering information, thinking, decision making, communications, social interaction, and civic participation" (452). These concepts and skills can not be truly evaluated through standardized testing. Expects agree that the use of essays, projects, presentations and portfolios are best suited to exhibit these skill areas. I agree that the use of multi-mediaed showings will better demonstrate the knowledge students possess rather than through standardized testing. I plan to use these techniques in my own future classroom so students can truly show their abilities.

This chapter also gave advice regarding the incorporation of assessment into the classroom. Assessment should be inegreated into the curriculum. Student should also be involved in the assessment so changes can be made. It is also important to remember than particular types of assessments, namely summative assessments, can "reinforce poor habits and errors because students are unaware of the need to change" 
(Sunal 453). This is another reason why students should be involved in the assessment process. Students can also become a part of assessment by participating in collaborative goal setting, reflective discussions as a whole class, individualized formal written reflections, group evaluation reports, or individual rating of participation.


We were also asked to read the two articles provided to us on eClass. The first, Authentic Assessment Toolbox, aimed to compare the differences between traditional assessment and authentic assessment.
According to Jon Mueller, authentic assessment is a "a form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills." Below, I have provided a comparison present in the article that shows the major differences between traditional and authentic assessments. 

I believe that both traditional and authentic assessments should have their place in the classroom. Multiplication tests and scientific formulas call for contrived methods of teaching and displays of understanding. Teacher-structured models are useful for periods of direct instruction. But, as the article stated, traditional methods should not be the only way of teaching. Performing a task shows a true understanding of it. It shows that a student has learned the material and now can apply it to the real-world. Authentic assessment shows the direct evidence of learning through practical examples. 


For today's class, we were asked to prepare a graphic organizer regarding assessment. I like using graphic organizers because they help me gather my thoughts. I definitely plan to utilize graphic organizers as a tool within my classroom because it will benefit students. It provides a neat way to place thoughts and can later be used as a study tool.

In class, we were asked to create a "house." The house would show the foundation, walls and roof using the words "learning," "instruction," "standards," and "assessment." When creating the house, we had to pay attention to how we progress from the bottom to the top of the house. Our group believe that learning should be the foundation because without learning, we would not be able to assess, instruct or meet standards. Upon listening to the presentations of other groups, we changed our way of thinking. As the image shows, Standards is now listed at the bottom as the houses foundation. Standards serve as a foundation for instruction, learning and assessment. Without standards, lessons would not have a focus. Student work also would not have a standard to be measured against.

Wednesday 9/18/13:

In preparation for today's class, we were asked to read PDF's of chapters 7, 8 and 13. To better organize my thoughts, I created tables for each chapter. (Shown below)

In class we reviewed Dr. Smirnova's PowerPoint. We were instructed to use the PowerPoint's tips to create our own tests for our peers. The link to my test is here.

Friday 9/20/13:

During today's class, we presented our artifact bags to our fieldwork groups. The contents of my artifact bag are shown below.

I chose to include a letter, a photography and a slip of currency. My letter was written from the point of view of a colonist of New York. In the letter, the writer discusses a bit of her journey to America, her current life in the city, and possible plans for the future. The accompanying picture was of a colonial woman. I found the currency on Pinterest, but unfortunately my group will not be able to use it for our actual artifact bags. Our topic is New York and the New Nation, but the bill's image is of a battle the colonies won against Great Britain during the American Revolution. 

Our group plans to meet on Sunday to discuss future ideas for fieldwork. I plan to post our ideas here!

What is Social Studies?

This post will be regarding my WEEK THREE experiences in Social Studies Methods: 

Monday 9/9/13:

Today's class began with a discussion of chapter one from our textbook. I learned that the formal definition of social studies was "a body of integrative knowledge, concepts, skills, generalizations, and theories in the social studies fields (history, economics, geography, citizenship, etc.)." We also talked about the powerful elements of social studies teaching: meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active. Dr. Smirnova demonstrated the final component of powerful elements. She engaged us in a whole class activity provided below.

Classwork Activity:
First, we were asked to TAKE A GUESS- Percentage of what we learn is retained in memory:

These are my guesses regarding memory:
When we read: 40%
When we hear: 40%
When we see: 40%
When we see and hear: 50%
When we discuss: 60%
When we do things: 70%
When we teach others: 85%

National Training Laboratories, Bethel, Maine
Research done by The Institute of Learning

The results:
Lecture (hearing): 5%
Reading: 10%
Audiovisual (see and hear): 20%
Demonstration (see): 30%
Discussion: 50%
Practice by Doing: 75%
Teaching Others: 90-95%



Upon learning these results, I plan to restructure my ideas about how to teach. I will implement more demonstrations, discussion, hands on activities and utilizing teaching others. Demonstrations, like teacher-modeling, will allow students to observe and then practice independently. This helps students make connections between the directions and the actual experience. Discussion is another important and useful classroom component. It establishes an open form of communication between teacher and student, as well as between student and student. By utilizing discussion, students can learn how to form and share their own opinions. Hands-on activities give students the experiences they need to apply a concept to a real-world situation. I am a hands-on learner, so I already can see the value of using this type of teaching practice. Teaching others was not a teaching practice I had even considered. Dr. Smirnova made a point in class, teaching others  is "learning something twice." That statement made it more clear to me as to why 90-95% of memory/learning retention occurs when students teach others.

Our class also discussed the structure of knowledge listed below.

Structure of Knowledge (Jerome Bruner):

- thinking about thinking; regulate own behavior; learning outcomes

- key ideas


- Common Core Standards


- Content/information


The structure of knowledge pyramid is helpful because it helps direct teachers to create unit plans that hit each step of the pyramid. Facts and content information should be introduced, but students need to work more closely with them for the facts to make sense. The Common Core Standards help establish concepts that can then be generalized to key ideas in the community, greater democratic society and world. Finally, and most importantly, students can begin to think about their thinking using meta-cognition. They can learn to make and express opinions, regulate their behaviors and accept others at this top portion of the pyramid. This meta-cognition is ultimately the goal of social studies, and any other, academic instruction.


Wednesday 9/11/13:

In preparation for today's class, we were each asked to answer a question from our chapter 11 in our textbooks. My question was "Distinguish between the roles of primary and secondary resources in studying history." I created a table, provided below, to better organize my thoughts.

In my future classroom, I plan to make use of both primary and secondary resources. Secondary resources, like textbooks, will serve to provide students with background knowledge of facts and events. Primary resources can then be used to extend that learning by giving students the ability to explore artifacts, museums and documents. The use of primary resources will give students the opportunity to make more personal connections.

To begin class, we discussed our unit plan design for fieldwork.

Direct instruction should be used to developing basic skills and providing information to students. Ideally, direct instruction would be used at the beginning of a unit or whenever a new topic or concept was introduced. Following direct instruction is inquiry. Inquiry focuses on the metacognitive skills of students which is expressed through research and exploration. Students are asked to show evidence in order to prove their understanding. After students have found sufficient evidence, they should be provided with the opportunity to share their findings in small groups. This is a social form of learning that can be facilitated by discussion or group projects. Individual projects can serve as the final section of the unit plan. Individual projects demonstrate each student's personal learning.

We practiced using artifact bags in class. Dr. Smirnova passed out bags to each of our groups. Our bag contained: 

- Russian cloth doll
- Teaching Certificate
- Photograph

Our five-person group decided that the best way to tackle this assignment was to choose one item to study in depth. Ericka and I chose to study the photograph. We quickly gathered that the woman in the picture was Dr. Smirnova based on her facial features. We noted that she was wearing a neckerchief, which could indicate a membership to a club or organization. The message on the back of the photograph was most difficult to work with. Ericka and I worked with Google Translate and it's Russian keyboard to try to decode the writing. Dr. Smirnova later informed us that this picture was taken at a mandatory teaching camp. She was judging a synchronized marching competition. 


Friday 9/13/13

To begin today's class, each group shared their artifact bag findings. We were encouraged to discuss each item in depth and to provide conclusions regarding what we learned. One of the unifying conclusions among all four groups was that this type of activity would encourage students to use their "detective skills." Students could use problem solving skills and explore the artifacts using technology. This would encourage higher level thinking skills, like observation and expressing opinions. Inquiry based instruction, such as this, will encourage students to explore. Inquiry based instruction can also help students prepare and become excited for future lessons.

Interpret the Evidence.

The stress of the upcoming semester is starting to set in. My professors are beginning to pile on the work and I can already feel my brain swelling and the stress mounting. It is EXTREMELY difficult for me to balance school, work, club activities and a social life. I just hope I don't lose sight of myself from all the stress.

Twenty-One Pilots- Holding On to You. This song pumps me up SO much and will definitely become a staple on my homework playlist. (I'm currently listening to it as I write this post! )

This post will be regarding my WEEK TWO experiences in Social Studies Methods:

Monday 9/2/13

We did not have any class today, but there is always work to be done. Our class was assigned to read Chapter 11 from our textbook. I enjoyed reading this chapter because it provided true classroom applications that I could potentially carry out in my own classroom. My favorite quote from this chapter regarded historians; "Historians interpret the evidence." Chapter 11 focused on the learning cycle lesson plan, which moved through three phases: explanatory introduction, lesson development and expansion. The lesson provided in the chapter explored how intermediate/middle grades would learn from paintings and drawings. The lesson was aligned with NCSS standards, with objectives and assessment options. I liked that this section of the chapter provided step-by-step guidance for how to carry out the lesson plan. This type of reading helps me begin to feel more confident about my abilities to participate in fieldwork, to create lesson plans similar to this one, to carry them out and to be an effective teacher overall.


Wednesday 9/4/13

To start today’s class, we finished working through our about me presentations. Dr. Smirnova stressed the importance of getting students attention at the start of the lesson by clapping or using phrases to have students become engaged in what you needed to say. “One two three, eyes on me” is the phrase I have begun using in the day camp I participate in and it seems to be effective thus far. 

We also came prepared to talk about an artifact bag article. According to Fuhler (2006), "using artifacts, from primary documents to items that can be held in one's hand, is a motivational technique that can tie readers to a variety of genres and bring a period of history to life in the process." I think this quote embodies what the entire article bag activity is about: motivating learners and providing an experience. This article, much like Chapter 11 of our textbook, provided a lesson plan regarding how to carry out an article bag lesson I liked that teachers modeled how to do each step, while still engaging students and having them participate by answering questions and writing, before students were encouraged to explore the activity bags on their own. I think teacher model is an extremely effective technique. I have seen it work nicely in my own mock-classroom at the day camp I worked at during the week. I am excited to create an artifact bag with my classmates in the near future.

TIPS FOR THE USE OF ARTIFACT BAGS:
1. Get students interested in using the artifact bags. Do not just lay them out on desks.
2. Try to make use of primary resources. This adds authenticity to the lesson and can make students feel like they are truly historians.
3. Always encourage students to use prior knowledge. Make connections, give examples, promote discussions.
4. Use the artifact bags as a "jumping off" point to carry your lesson. Use the bags to lead into group projects, presentations or other work.
5. Include time for discussion so students can share their findings.

I also created a Wordle to highlight the key terms in my tips for the use of artifact bags list.

Here are ONE and TWO sites that have listed artifact bag activities that have been successfully carried out.


Friday 9/6/13:

Today our class was introduced to Blogger. As you can probably already tell from my posts, I enjoy blogging. I have been a member of Tumblr (even though the first rule of Tumblr is to never talk about Tumblr...) for over four years. Blogging is often a procrastination technique that I use, but here on Blogger it will be a fun and productive thing to do! This site is simple to navigate and provides many different options for customization, through your pages, the capabilities to link different pictures, videos, and links, and the privacy options. 

Dr. Smirnova also requested that we respond to a video she shared in class. I chose to respond to the video below:

This video was extremely interesting. Students are constantly exposed to technology, whether it be television, computers, cell phones, music players or video games, but many teachers are not fully taking advantage of this medium to engage students. As a future teacher, I plan to learn as much about technology as possible. I want to be able to reach my students in ways that speak to them, while still meeting standards and lesson plan objectives.

Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy.

This post will be regarding my WEEK ONE experiences in Social Studies Methods: 

Monday 8/26/13:

Today was my first day of Social Studies Methods. This is the one class I wasn't necessarily worried about because I am acquainted with Dr. Smirnova through KDP and have many friends in the class. I also enjoy history so I know the subject matter will be interesting to me personally. My only worry was the work load, but then again, nothing worth having comes easy.

During today’s class we focused on get to know you activities. We began by creating name cards to place on our computers. Dr. Smirnova instructed us to write the number 1-4 on the corners of our name tag. Each number correlated with a question: 1) Our most memorable history teacher and the characteristics he/she possessed, 2) our personal definition of history, 3) how do students best learn history, and 4) why is history important for students to learn. 

Above, are the two sides of my name tag. My sixth grade teacher, Mr. DeHay, was my most memorable teacher. He was charismatic and used different techniques (group work, research, field trips, primary documents, videos) to keep students engaged in the course material. To me, social studies is learning about the past to improve the future. I feel that by looking at our country and world's histories, we can make improvements for the world to come. In regards to the best way for students to learn, I feel that experience is the best teacher. The fourth question, why do we teach history, is to give students both practical and conceptual knowledge about the world around them.

We shared our answers with the person sitting next to us. Next, our partner introduced us to another pair of students. Then, a member of this newly created group was elected spokesperson. The spokesperson grouped together our ideas and noted similarities and differences. Finally, the spokesperson summarized and shared our findings with the class. This exercise not only helped us get to know one another, but it also demonstrated the importance of different groupings within a class lesson. This get to know you activity incorporated individual, pair, small group and whole class sections of work. This is definitely an effective teaching technique because it allowed us as a class to work through the steps of the lesson and then gave us time to reflect upon how effective moving from individual, to pairs, to small group, and to whole class, can be within a classroom.

Wednesday 8/28/13:

Today's class was held in the curriculum library. Dr. Smirnova believed it was important for us to be aware of the resources and tools available to us as students, and as future teachers. The presentation was extremely informative, but a bit overwhelming. There were many pieces of information that had to be covered within the short class period. The most interesting site we learned about was Kidspiration. This site allowed access to pre-made templates for varying subject area worksheets and other tools. We also learned how to access the Curtin Memorial Library's databases more efficiently. This section, in particular, will be useful to me in the future. I have had some difficulty in the past using the databases, but the presentation cleared up much of my confusion.

For homework, we had to choose a different form of technology that could be used to further introduce ourselves to the class. I chose to use a website called Thinglink. This website was particularly frustrating to figure out how to use at the beginning because no step-by-step tutorials were offered. It was a trial and error process to learn how to upload photographs and link different pictures, sounds, and videos. After I learned how to navigate the site, I was excited by the technology. 

I view Thinglink as an effective way to communicate complex ideas and concepts to students. For example, if young students were asked to begin a research assignment they might immediately become frustrated by the amount of work they would need to put into the project: finding books, gathering facts, arranging facts in a way that makes sense, checking to make sure sources are valid. Research is a tool that all students will need to become familiar with eventually, and Thinglink can simplify this difficult task. For a topic like the American Revolution, a teacher could choose a picture that exemplified this topic like a soldier or the American Flag. Then, the teacher could link different facts, such as major battles, events leading up to the war, etc., to the picture. Students could click on the different links and organize the facts found into a graphic organizer. The students could use this information to write a short essay or to create a presentation to share with the class.

Friday 8/30/13:

In class today we all presented about our chosen technology. My presentation about Thinglink went fairly well. Overall, my peers liked the images I chose and liked that I shared personal information with them to help them get to know me better. Many of my classmates wished I had demonstrated how to link different pictures, sounds or videos to a picture I had already uploaded. In hindsight, demonstrating how to use the technology would have made my presentation much fuller and more explanatory. I had planned on doing so when I was running through how I would complete my presentation from my seat, but my nerves got the better of me when I moved in front of the classroom. This is clearly something I will need to work on in the future. I work much better when I have a set of talking points or schedule of events written down for me to refer back to while I am speaking or arranging an activity. I plan to implement this type of device during my next presentation in order to calm my nerves. 

VIEW ABOUT ME PROJECTS AND FEEDBACK.

Throughout the presentations, we were instructed to post feedback (three likes and one wish) about our peers' presentation. Overall, I really enjoyed using the forum to post and view feedback from my peers. Many offered good advice and pointed to strengths and weaknesses I may not have noticed otherwise. I view collaboration and cooperation as KEY aspects of becoming a good teacher, and coworker, so this experience furthered my feeling of how important these to characteristics are. I also liked that I was exposed to so many different websites that I can use in my classroom. I plan on using Animoto and google docs powerpoints in the future.

Every New Beginning Comes from Some Other Beginning's End

Semisonic- Closing Time (This song always reminds me of changing tides in my life. It gives me a positive outlook of how to respond to these changes: "every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." To me, this means that even if a part of your life is ending, like high school or working at a particular place, the end represents an availability to have a new start with something else.)

Summer came and went. A new semester is kicking off again, but this time it is a bit different. This is my SENIOR year of college at MSMC. I am more motivated than I have ever been before to succeed and push myself further from my comfort zones in order to become an exceptional teacher. I feel like I am so incredibly close to achieving my dreams and that is what pushes me forward.

This blog will serve as an outlet for my thoughts mainly about my Social Studies Methods class, filled with reflections and ideas for future teaching.

Here's to a good semester!