It's been awhile

It has been over 6 months since my last post, but I promise it is for good reason! These past few months have been packed busy and unfortunately, blogging hasn't made it to my to do list.

This summer was crazy and flew by. I attended 3 bridal showers, 2 bachelorette parties, and 6 weddings. I think I may have broken a record! It was very fun, but incredibly busy. Not a free weekend all summer! During the week, I spent my time attending class and babysitting for two amazing families in Ames. I had a blast with those kids - spending days at the pool and nights at the park. Along with one of my classes, I had a practicum experience in 4th grade. I had the privilege of being there every day and seeing their growth throughout the summer program. It was awesome!

Now I am almost finished with my last semester of regular classes at Iowa State University. I have been enjoying my classes; learning a lot to prepare me for the future. It was an adjustment having 3 night classes, but I keep telling myself it'll be worth it to be done with the reading endorsement when I graduate :) In addition to school, I have managed to have a little fun too. I have enjoyed making some great college memories with my girlfriends, I will miss them so much next year when we all move away.

This week, I finally found out where my student placements are. I will spend the first 8 weeks at Roland Story Elementary School in 2nd grade and the second 8 weeks at Woodlawn Early Childhood Center in a preschool classroom. I am very excited to begin this last chapter of my college career. I have been doing what I can to prepare!

I bought a clipboard at my favorite place - the Dollar Tree - and spruced it up using a spray adhesive and scrapbook paper. Added a few stickers to personalize it and wa-la! A cute and cheap clipboard!

The binder is still a work in progress, but I have my supplies and I'm ready to tackle it. Dividers, paper, student teaching handbooks, and check out these cute binder tabs I found at Wal-Mart!

As I begin thinking about my first job, I want to do what I can now to organize the materials I have for my future classroom. Over Thanksgiving break, I finally completed a task I've been wanting to do for a long time - organize, level, and create a list of all the books in my library. It was a HUGE task, but with the help of my family's company, a fire burning in the fireplace, and some of my favorite movies on TV,  it was much more enjoyable!

I used Scholastic's Book Wizard to look up the book titles and determine what guiding reading level the book was. I sorted them into piles by the guided reading levels (A-Z). As I was leveling them, I also added them to my classroom library list using an app called Book Retriever. It is a wonderful app that is definitely worth purchasing! It allows you to scan the book's ISBN number and adds it to your library. It will notify you if they don't have the information in their system and you can add the information yourself. Now I can see all the books I have by title or author. It will be very useful as I am out shopping for more books so I don't end up with duplicates. 

Since I have purchased so many books on my own, I wanted to label them so they will not get confused with a school's books when I (hopefully!) get a job and classroom of my own. I personalized my own self-inking stamp from Vista Print and was able to stamp my name in the front of all my books.

I know these next few months are going to be very full, but I will try to blog as much as I can to document the experience. I am very excited to continue learning and grow as an educator!

Final thoughts

People have always told me that time flies as you get older, and man, they weren't kidding! I can't believe this semester is almost over. As I reflect back on this semester and the knowledge I've gained through my technology class, CI 302, I am happy with how far I've come. I have learned so many tools and ways to incorporate technology into my classroom someday. The biggest take away for me is pushing myself to redefine teaching and learning with technology, not just substitute old ways with new ways. That is something that had never been brought to my attention before this class and I think it's really important to consider.

The learning that has happened through this class matters because it pushed me beyond my limits. It challenged my thinking and opened my eyes to technology I wasn't familiar with. I learned from my peers and was also able to teach them what I knew. More than just learning about tools and gadgets, I learned how to be a better educator; connecting with others using technological tools to gain insight and ideas. This is only the beginning, and I look to grow more in the future.

As a future teacher, I think this class helped me realize that I will never be a master at technology. There is always someone else who knows more, and as a teacher, it is my job to find and connect with that person to share knowledge and grow. I also have so many more goals for myself now, not just my students. I want to participate in twitter chats, continue blogging to share ideas and reflect, and connect with educators across the world. These are things that weren't a priority of mine until this class.

To my teacher, Jamie Fath:
Thank you for a great semester. I truly learned a lot and appreciate you taking the time to teach us. To help you become a better educator, I will provide "one glow, one grow" as feedback (one thing that went well and one thing to work on). My glow would be how you let us teach each other. We were able to share the resources and tools that we know about and teach it to our peers. This is how the real world of teaching will be and it was really nice to see that in our class. My grow would be to enhance our blogging experience. It is hard to keep up with everyone's blogs because we had a large class. I think it would be beneficial to group students and then each group can follow, comment, and keep up with only their group's blogs. This would be less overwhelming than the entire class and allow us to practice interacting through blogs.

In conclusion, I am sad to see this class end, but I am excited to continue moving closer to student teaching and my future classroom. I look forward to growing and learning more about being an educator in the future.

Writing a Grant

In my technology class, we had to apply to a fake grant as a group. I worked with two of my peers as a '3rd grade team' at a K-5 building. We applied for 60 iPads to be used in the 3rd grade as a trial for eventual full implementation of iPads in K-5.

I learned a lot through this process. I had never even considered applying for grants, and didn't know that it was something teachers did. It was empowering to know that we have the ability to make a change in our school environment. I think it is a great way for teachers to get what they want and make something happen. This assignment also showed me how easy grant writing can be. I am by no means an expert, yet I successfully wrote and submitted a grant!

During the grant writing process, the biggest struggle my group encountered was getting everything we needed to say into 5 pages. The grant proposal called for no more than that. We wanted to sell our case and show that we deserved these iPads, while being concise and getting our point across efficiently. It was a challenge because we had to decide what was a priority to write about and what could be left out.

As I begin to think about the future and myself as a teacher, I think grant writing is something I will try to do. During my first few years of teaching, it will not be my main concern. However, once I have a secure job and see myself at that school for a long period of time, I think it would be great to take a look at the school and its needs and make it happen. I look forward to seeing what my future brings!

Technology Interviews

For my technology class, my teacher interviewed a teacher librarian, a technology coordinator, 1:1 teachers, a technology integrationist, and an AEA staff member. She posted videos of the interviews and we were to watch them all.

My goal is to be a teacher will technology in my classroom, so the role I found most interesting was the 1:1 teachers. One of them was in her 1st year of teaching so it was really cool to see how she was adjusting to a new classroom and a new technology tool. They gave great advice that I will take with my in the future.

• Take baby steps with technology
• Don't be afraid to try something new
• Ask questions
• Find technology to support your outcomes, not outcomes that support the technology
• Consider room set-up to manage classroom

After watching all 5 interviews, there were many similarities to the information discussed. I saw 2 major themes throughout all the interviews: don't be afraid of the technology and technology is not all that matters. 

Hearing from 5 different perspectives that it is important to try new things and be willing to fail was very comforting. As a new teacher, it is nerve-racking enough to plan a lesson that will go well - let alone one with technology. It is nice to hear from so many different perspectives that failing is okay. I think that is a great outlook to have when it comes to using technology, because failure will happen, but you just have to learn from your mistakes and fix them for next time.

Technology is not all that matters is very interesting to hear from people whose jobs center around technology, but I totally agree and see where they're coming from! Technology is amazing; it's a game-changer in the best way possible, but student learning is still more important. Technology may be a great way to reach student understanding, but it is not the only way. One of the 1:1 teachers stated that it is important to find technology to support your outcomes, because then the technology is supplementing your teacher and the students' learning, not just an addition.

I learned a lot from watching each video. I think it was very helpful to see multiple perspectives of people working with technology in schools. Even though I hope to be a 1:1 teacher, it was helpful for me to see the perspective of technology integrationist and coordinators because if I ever need help or have an issue with something, I know have a better understanding of what their jobs look like and realize I'm most likely not the only teacher with a problem. It was also a great professional development opportunity. I connected with educators and now have more people to follow on twitter!

Many of the people interviewed have different tools at their schools: chromebooks, macbooks, iPads, etc. It was interesting to hear why they chose the tools they did and how they are being used in classrooms. It solidified for me that the tool isn't what is important, it's how the teacher uses it to further student learning.

Speed Geeking

In my technology class last night, we spent the majority of the time reviewing many devices and tools very quickly - or as my teacher called it, "Speed Geeking". Through doing this, we learned about 7 different devices and 9 tools in less than an hour.

Devices:

• Acer Chromebook
• Samsung Chromebook
• Lenovo Chromebook
• Nexus 7
• Kindle Fire
• iPad
• Surface tablet

Tools:

• Write About This
• iMovie
• Educreations
• Popplet Life
• Lucid Chart
• WeVideo
• Powtoon
• Padlet
• Educreations

My favorite device: the iPad. My favorite tool: Write About This.

My least favorite device: Chromebook. My least favorite tool: Powtoon.

Strictly my opinion, but let me explain...

I chose those two devices as my favorite and least favorite for many reasons, but I will admit, my early childhood degree sways my opinion on this one. For students PreK-3rd grade, I believe the iPad is the best tool out there and the Chromebook is not appropriate. However, that does not mean I believe the Chromebook is a bad device. I think it is a nice, cheaper option for older students. I believe the iPad is the best tool because it's interface is student friendly, it is easily carried by students, and through the App Store, there are a multitude of tools to further the students' education. I also have the most experience with the iPad - working in an elementary school that is 1-1 I have seen it implemented in classrooms successfully.

Write About This is my favorite tool out of the tools we reviewed. It provides students with writing prompts: photos, a starting sentence, or directions on what to write. I think this is a great tool to use with elementary students. It avoids the response, "But I don't know what to write about!" I did not like the tool Powtoon because I think there are other simpler tools that teachers are more familiar with that do relatively the same thing. There are so many tools out there and as teachers we must decide what's worth spending our time to learn and what is not. In my opinion, Powtoon is not worth spending our time on. It is very similar to Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Presentation with a few "fun" additions.

If I chose a device for my classroom, I would choose an iPad. I would use the iPads for many things, but here are a few examples:

• To hand out assignments virtually
• Conduct spelling tests
• Record students' reading
• Practice math facts and spelling words through game-like apps
• Quickly assess during a lesson
• Daily journal writing assignments for students
• Behavior management
• Conduct running records
• Explore the world with Google Earth
• Communicate with pen pals from across the world

Every device can make a difference in your classroom. It takes time and research to find the best tools within that device to further your students' education, but the extra effort is worth it!

I updated two of my previous blog posts with a more in-depth review of the apps I discussed in them. Check out Live and Learn and Pic Collage to learn more about how you can use Toontastic and Photo Collage in your classroom.

Digital Equipment for the Classroom

For my technology class, I chose to do my Digital Classroom Project on "Digital Equipment for the Classroom." I had to state what kind of hardware and computer access I thought should be available for grades K-12, while backing up my opinion with reasoning and evidence to support.

I chose the topic "Digital Equipment for the Classroom" because I have the most experience with this topic. I work at an elementary school which is 1-1 with iPads, each teacher has an audio system that serves as a microphone to project their voice throughout their classroom, every classroom has a projector, and I also went to a 1-1 laptop high school. With this experience, I felt that I had a good stance on this topic.

When we're thinking about "digital classrooms", I think the most important aspect is educating the teachers. Working at that elementary school, I see so many times teachers struggling with the tools provided for them because they were never educated on how to use them. Simple tasks become impossible without education. Professional development can solve this problem. It will take time and effort, but it is worth it in the end to provide a better education and ensure that the money spent on technological tools is put to use.

I created a presentation to compile my ideas of necessary hardware and computer access for each classroom. Below is a summary of my presentation:

A K-2 Classroom needs:

• Projectors
• Lab of mobile devices or mobile device for each student

A 3-5 Classroom needs:

• Projectors
• Mobile device for each student

A 6-12 Classroom needs:

• Projectors
• Laptop for each student

Again, this is all my opinion based on my experiences and some research I've done. Every students' needs are different, every school district is different, and the need for technology will depend on all this. Check out my presentation for more detailed information!

Kindergarteners or Paleontologists?

This semester I am placed in a kindergarten classroom for my science field experience. I have been teaching them about dinosaurs and they LOVE it! It's amazing how motivated they are when something interests them. As I was planning my lessons I was struggling to come up with something hands-on for them to do with dinosaurs because I don't have dinosaur bones to show them! After some brainstorming with my cooperating teacher, we came up with a plan to engage them.

To begin we had a surprise "visitor" in our classroom. I took the kids to a bathroom break and when we came back there were items strewn all over the carpet.

The items included:

• Diaper
• Onesie
• Pacifier
• Tiny sock
• Tiny shoe

We had to look at the clues our "visitor" left because no one saw the visitor in our classroom. We made a list of what the clues told us:

• It was a baby.
• It could've been their ESL teacher because she just had a baby. (wasn't expecting them to make this connection!)
• It was a boy because the clothes were blue.
• It was a small baby.

Once we had a good idea of who our visitor could've been, I made the connection back to dinosaurs. No human has ever seen a dinosaur, so scientists who study dinosaurs have to look at their bones like clues or pieces of a puzzle! I introduced the word paleontologist and we watched a video about what paleontologists do. The video was perfect because it illustrated for them what a paleontologist does much more than just me talking about it.

The most exciting part of our activity came next. The students were able to make their own fossils! They put a small animal into play-doh to make an imprint. Then they moved around the classroom and tried to guess what the animal was by looking at only the imprint. We were paleontologists!

The kids were so engaged throughout the whole lesson! I am excited with how well it went.