Helpful Resources!!

    In my TE 401 course, we talked about various resources available to teachers online. One that I found very helpful and explored a bit was through the Smithsonian Institution. By clicking on Educators at the left, typing in the state you are in, grade level, and subject area, one can find lesson plans and suggestions that line up exactly with the grade level content expectations!
   With the Smithsonian Institute resource, you can take virtual tours of some of the galleries they showcase which change every few weeks. I would feel very confident introducing this website to upper elementary students or even college students to aid them in learning about history, social studies, researching, or data collecting. Because this Smithsonian is such a well known institution with many credible historians contributing to the institution, I would also feel confident in giving students this resource so they can get scholarly information.
   I have been to the link (above) a few times this week, and every time I notice something different that I hadn't before! I just noticed the links to art/design, science, and the encyclopedia. This is like an all-in-one resource for teachers!

Also, a helpful video for how Google can help educators: Here!

Pandora... In the Classroom! (Choice)

    I have heard friends talk about Pandora, the Online radio station that you can personalize and hear any style, artist, new, or old song on. So, feeling in the music mood, I decided to create an account tonight. It was quite a bit to work through and try to think of my favorite artists to search and begin a station for myself. However, one of the great things about Pandora is since you create your own station, you can always adapt it or add to it!

     Also, being in my classroom, hearing all the students sing their hearts out every day regardless if they are in music class or not, I thought maybe having a classroom Pandora in my future class would be neat! I remember some of my favorite teachers (elementary through college) would play music for inspiration, for a mood changer, or just for fun at free time. The first graders have been singing holiday songs, gearing up for their upcoming Holiday Concert, so setting up a Pandora station of not only the songs they are preparing for the concert, but maybe other holiday and classroom favorites would be neat to add to a station.

Reflection of Powerpoint Presentation

     Last week, I conducted the Family lesson plan I had prepared for my first grade students. Since the curriculum included learning from artifacts such as photographs, written documents, and objects, I chose to prepare a power-point presentation. Not only would this prevent little fingerprints all over my pictures, but I thought that though viewing the photos and documents on the big screen, every one could see, the whole class would be viewing the same thing, and would be more focused than if i would have just passed everything around. I posted earlier about the beginning process of the power-point presentation, but have included the final product at the end of this blog.
     Prior to the lesson as I was preparing the power-point on the computer, the students were very curious and excited to see I was using the computer. Once I began the lesson, they were intently listening and very interested in what they were about to learn! I guess I hadn't realized they haven't had much experience learning through technology presentations. Even though they use the classroom computers every day, learn lessons from the art/sketch program on the smart board, and use interactive websites in computers, they haven't had the chance to see and learn from a power-point. One of the things I have taken for granite and use all the time was something so new and interesting to the students. And honestly, it really didn't take me long to put together the lesson using the power-point! After teaching the lesson, my CT complimented the use of technology and the overall lesson since it was engaging and educational!

First Grade Family Lesson Plan

My Resume

Here is my current rough draft of a resume!
I hope to add other drafts to this as I update them.

Resume

    For the MSU college of education and this CEP class, we have been asked to complete a resume for our future intern work in education. I think it is very interesting that although I have a job resume, a pageant resume, we are making education resumes as well. I supposed I never really thought about all the different purposes a resume can serve and the importance of tailoring each resume for it's specific purpose. Curious, I began searching around for various types of resumes and resources online that best help one create a resume.
    I began by searching Google for "resume" and about 110,000,000 results came up within a quarter of a second. This says a few things about Googling resumes, first that there are a lot of resources on the web to help and or use. Second, since there are so many, it's easy to get overwhelmed or even find resources that aren't scholarly and that's the last quality you want, especially for a resume. Thirdly, because there are so many different types and templates of resumes, you really must think about how your resume will be used, who your target audience is, and how can it best showcase you and your talents.
     Suprisingly, the resume template that Google has wasn't one of the first findings listed. A friend told me she was really pleased with the Google Doc resume template, so I decided to give it a try. I found it to be much like using Microsoft Office's Word 2007 templates in that you look through a list of resume samples, select the template you would like, and plug and chug your information. By plug and chug, I mean simply type in you own information into the suggested areas provided, and they even give suggestions! This is very easy and makes for a professional looking resume. However, in a country and state where jobs are scarce, who's to say the employer reading your resume hasn't already read that same template resume hundreds of times.
     Which brings me to my ambiguous questions of, What will your resume say about you? How will you make your resume stand out over the other resumes?

Student Comparison

     This week in one of my TE classes, part of our assignment was to think about two students learning habits in the classroom. I find this very interesting, so rather than just thinking about it, I decided to write a detailed description so I could refer back to it throughout other lesson plans I prepare. This will help me keep in mind that each student learns and interacts with education differently.
     For a full description of the students I observed and how I used these observations into a lesson plan, feel free to read the science talk my partner and I created.  Google Doc Science Talk

Presentation

This upcoming week, I will be teaching a social studies lesson to my first grade class about family history. The Michigan Grade Level Content Expectation is: 1 – H2.0.5 Use historical records and artifacts (e.g., photos, diaries, oral histories, and videos) to draw possible conclusions about family or school life in the past. My objective is that students should be able to draw conclusions about the past by looking at artifacts. Students should also be able to share an artifact or story about their own past and explain how that has or hasn’t affected their life today. The lesson abstract is that students will learn how to assess the past through photos, artifacts, written documents, and stories.

The lesson plan write up can be found under the MSU Senior Work on my Weebly.  

This is the powerpoint presentation I plan to use. Currently it is a rough outline, but I will try to post the actual presentation as I continue to work and prefect it!

Digital Story

     For TE 401, we were to create a digital story based on students conceptions and or misconceptions about a topic they were either learning about or about to learn about in class. My first graders had just done a lesson about magnets, so I asked a few of them to tell me what they learned, so I could get an idea of their thinking at that point. I really enjoyed this assignment because it not only got me thinking about how the students learn, but it also gave the students a chance to tell me what they learned in their words, without having to write it on a paper. We have been discussing in many of my classes the pros and cons of work sheets, so this is a great alternative! This video could also be used to introduce this same lesson for next year. Students might get excited about an introduction done by students their age, or that they may know, rather than always hearing it from their teacher.
  To view the lesson plan, please visit: lisadexter.weebly.com

Also, I have created a Social Studies Presentation/Lesson Plan.
Click HERE for the Lesson Plan

Click HERE for the Presentation

Halloween Party!!

     One Friday, I knew the classroom placement I am in was having a Halloween party as well as half-day so the teachers could have a planning day the other half. What I didn't know however that EVERYONE was supposed to be dressed up, including the MSU interns, seniors, parents, volunteers, staff and students. The students did a Halloween Parade which was all new to me! We were not allowed to wear costumes to school at any grade where I'm from. The Kindergartners paraded into the first grade classrooms, then the first graders added onto the Kindergarten line and they traveled into the second grade classroom. This pattern repeated until all the students, teachers, staff, parents, and volunteers were in the line. They ventured outside in their parade to walk around the school before returning to their classrooms to have a party.
      My CT really enjoys doing centers, so while they were parading around the school, a few parents and I set up the centers. One center was where all the food was set up, along with the apple cider and candy. Next the students painted little wooden fall and Halloween shapes. At the third table, they could chose to make either a pumpkin magnet or a pumpkin necklace. They had just learned about magnets in their science unit, so that tied in nicely. And at the last center, there were over forty rolls of toilet paper. With the help of an adult, we wrapped each student up with the toilet paper so they looked like Mummies! Their teacher was able to catch everyone's picture and then posted it on their classroom facebook so their parents could see.
     Overall, it was a good time had by all.

More blogging!

     Now that I am starting to get into the blogging scene, I have searched for some other blogs to read and or follow.
     One I found was THIS website this weekend which I found very interesting. This blog is intended for those who are interested in the history of education and history in education. My freshman year, I was a history and English double major at Central Michigan University because history is my favorite subject. Not only did I find it interesting to read the latest blog about Halloween, but it was certainly educational and could be incorporated into a classroom easily.

Education News

     I have never been a news/media buff. I will occasionally glance through the news paper here or there, pick up a magazine in the doctors office, or I catch whatever news my homepage brings to my attention. However, I am learning how helpful being up on the news, especially news in education, and beneficial it will be when I apply for jobs. Decisions that are made, ideas that are developed, and people that are involved will affect me when I got a job, and are already affecting me as I work as an intern in a classroom. Especially with tomorrow's election, we will get a new governor who could play a role in education and it's policies.