Me..and Lesson Plans

On Wednesday, October 20, we started to correct our lesson plans in class. I was Dr. Smirnovas guinea pig. We pulled up my direct instruction lesson plan in front of the whole class and went over what was correct or incorrect about it. On Friday, October 22 we started to work on our webquests and had time to look over them and see what was needed.
When we corrected my lesson plan I was so nervous but anxious to see how I did at the same time. As we went through it, I realized that what I have done was not too far off from what was needed. I know I looked through the rubric as I was writing it. What really surprised me was how comfortable I felt in front of the class. Sometimes its really nerve racking to have an entire class see your work and know exactly what you did wrong or right. I think that all the input that I got from my class was really helpful and useful. Everyone gave me really good ideas and no one made fun or laughed at the things that I got wrong. I was happy how nice everyone was to me and they wanted me to accept their opinions which I really liked.
THis class has really began to make me more comfortable in front of a classroom and I think thats really good because I have never been good with standing up and giving a presentation, let alone correcting my own work in front of a class. This experience brought me one more step closer to where I want to be as a teacher and I am so thankful for that.

Anticipatory sets and me..as one :)

On Monday, October 18 I had to present my own anticipatory set. Surprisingly I felt very very comfortable in front of the class. I thought I was forgettting everything but I remebered most of it. I was not as prepared as I could of been which is somethign that I really need to work on but it wasnt too bad because I already knew my topic and what I was going to do and say so it didnt seem like I wasnt prepared. I actually had fun up in front of the class teaching and it kind of makes me excited to do a co-teaching experience with Dr. Smirnova.

Tonight I had to write my lesson plan rough draft and I kind of thought I was going to lose my mind. It got really confusing but I think I did okay with it. Once I got all my thoughts sorted out and started to get them down onto the paper everything started to flow really nicely. Im nervous about Dr. Smirnova editting everything because I dont want her to tear me apart! I dont think she will but it still makes me nervous to have someone editting while I am trying to write a whole lesson plan! YIKESS!

I hope i did well...wish me luck!

Presentating Anticipatory Set...ahhh!

Presenting to a bunch of your peers can be really challenging, especially when you are supposed to pretend they are a bunch of third graders and they are watching and judging your every move. On Friday in class everyone presented their anticipartory sets to our class on what we are going to be teaching our Direct Instruction lesson plan on.
I didnt have mine ready that day because I was not in class on Friday but I paid close attention to what everyone else was doing and taking notes. I think everyone did an awesome job with their and I learned alot of really creative ideas on how to grab the students attention. I think that sometimes can be the hardest part when you are teaching your peers because you feel like a fool but your really not!
At the begining of the class I had no idea what to expect with the anticipatory sets but the more I watched the more I enjoyed. I loved the song that Rachel created and the money riddles that Samantha did. I thought those were really good and I give Rachel alot of credit for trying to hum the tune to us.
Im really excited to put together my anticipatory set because now I have all these great ideas swimming through my head thanks to all my peers!

Good, Bad, Ugly?

Today my partner, Samantha Conklin, and I had to give our presentation. I have to say that I did feel more comfortable in front of the class than I thought i would or could. I actually had alot of fun getting in front of the class and teaching to my classmates. I know that our presentation was not perfect by any means but I think we really did a great job with it.
I was super nervous in the begining but everyone seemed like they were participating more than usual and I really liked that. I think its so good when the class interacts with the teachers. I know that since there is only about 10 of us, not many people talk all the time, but it is nice to know that when your teaching and the students understand something you can see it in their faces.
What I realized that I need to work on more with future presentations was that I need to not read off of the power point so much. I think i should also use less words and more pictures. Its natural for students of any age to want to look at a picture rather than a bunch of words so I know that next time I have to present for this class or any class I want to be able to show more pictures or videos and just be able to talk and interact with the class that I am teaching to.

Presentations..Presentations

The last few days in our Methods of Teaching class, we have all been teaching each other the different parts of the Direct Instruction lesson planning. So far everyone has gone except for me and my partner Samantha. I think that everyone has been doing a really good job but I am still nervous to go.

After everyone has gone we have been talking about what they could have done better and some people didnt seem too happy with how their presentations worked out so far. Dr. Smirnova told us that now we have seen everyone go so we should know exactly how to make our presentations perfect but I am still really nervous because I dont want us to do a bad job on it.

For our presentation we are teaching the class about Independent Practice. It is about homework and how to assess the students while they work on their own to see how well the students learned what the topic of the lesson was on. We have pictures in our presentation and we will explain to the class what they need to ask themselves and think about while they are planning their Independent Practice. I think the only thing that I need to make sure that I do is to keep eye contact with the class and not read off of the power point and to make sure that our transitions go over smoothly.

I really think everyone did great I just wish that everyone would talk more when people ask questions, including myself, because that would have made all the presentations go alot smoother. So hopefully on Monday everyone will be answering the questions that me and my partner ask!!

One Missing Teacher..Ten Students

On Friday Dr. Smirnova was not in class but I think that it wasn't a bad class at all. We were able to work on our presentations, find out who are partners were on and even get to know each other a little better. I was kind of lost when it came to our "gmail" accounts that we created but Ashley Hastings was really nice, she sat down and showed me and my partner how to do a presentation and helped me to connect with the other students in the class online. I think that Ashley did a great job because she really took the time to make sure that I understood what I had to do over the weekend.
Tonight me and my partner Samantha finished our presentation on Independent Practice. I think it came out great and I am happy that we were able to work together and thankful to Ashley because we were able to be in two different places and working on the presentation at the same time! I think that was awesome that we could talk to each other and make edits and everything and we didn't have to be with each other.
If i ever teach in a high school class, I think this is something that I will make all my students use because then they would be able to work on presentations together but if they do not have a ride to meet up or they don't get it finished in school, this is a great way for them to complete the assignment.

Technology...Websites...Teaching..Pulling it Together

Today in class we started to discuss the text book that we are going to create online. It is going to be an on going project throughout the semester and I think it can help everyone in different ways. I know that I will be able to look back on this years from now and it will help me to look better in interviews with other members that I work with and it will especially help me as a teacher.

I think that it is not going to be easy and it will get frustrating at times but overall it will be a great experience for each and everyone of us. We also discussed Direct Instruction. I like this type of teaching but I know it only has the students reach one level of Blooms Taxonomy and that is never good for the students. In Blooms Taxonomy, it is in the best interests for the students to be able to reach all the levels of thinking, especially creating something because then the teacher will see that the students understand the topic at a mastery level.

I provided the different levels of blooms taxonomy because everyone should know the different levels. We all want to reach the highest level with our students and technology plays a big role in this also. Technoloy, like a web quest for example, will help the students to explore, analyze and create on their own so we are helping the students to learn on their own and reach all levels of Blooms Taxonomy.