Food for thought...

Sorry it's been a while since I posted, it's getting close to exams and the fact that I should be studying is overwhelming, yet here I am. :)

I'm going to keep this one short because I think it speaks for itself. I recently heard this quote from one of my teachers. It was my Education of Children teacher. She said:

"Whoever holds the hand of a child, holds the heart of a mother..."

I'm not sure who said this quote, but I think it's awesome. I'll let this quote speak for itself.

-Enjoy!!

Learn Today Teach Tomorrow

So on the lovely campus of CMU, we host a special day just for future teachers. It is a wonderful conference that allows us to learn about being a better teacher, but also gives us a chance to meet other people that share our passion. Central invites people from our campus, as well as other campuses around the state to attend for just a small fee. It is from 8am-3pm on a Saturday and there is a keynote speaker, then you choose 4 sessions from the booklet that you want to go to.

Each participant receives a certificate as well as lunch, and a t-shirt. And who doesn't want another t-shirt? It's great because you can go to specialty workshops for your major, or check out any workshop you want!

This is my first year going, and I can honestly say it was a valuable experience not only for my future job, but also for my resume. Any opportunity like this one is a great one to take advantage of. I attended the following four sections:

Musical Ideas for the Classroom - presented by Kathy Wheeler
Finding a job - presented by Mark Moody
The new teacher preparation kit - presented by Lucas Foster & Greg Decourval
How to get and keep families involved in your program - presented by Mari Potter & Charlotte Galgoci


These were all valuable opportunities. I plan to post things that I learned from each of them throughout the rest of this month.

The fact that I want to share today is from professor Mark Moody. He is one of my professors, he teaches classroom management for special education. He is a wonderful teacher and is very knowledgeable. His presentation was about how to get a job:

For teachers it's important to have a portfolio when you go to an interview. The portfolio should include anything (besides babysitting) that involves children, especially volunteer experience. For questions about what else to include, ask your education department at your university or talk to an advisor. You could even go so far as to call the school and ask what they're looking for specifically. It doesn't matter how long it is, but make sure it's enough to show off how awesome you are, but not too long to overwhelm the interviewer. It is also important to make references to your portfolio during the interview when answering some questions.

A well done portfolio can give you that little extra lift that gets you hired. On the flip side, it can also be that one thing that loses the job for you. So make sure everything in your portfolio is important, spell checked, and personal. Leave your portfolio behind after an interview (unless specifically instructed to do differently) that way you can go back and pick it up later to make contact with your potential employer once again. This gives you a chance to ask any questions that may have come up since the interview. It's these small things that can make all the difference in the interview process.

Moral of the story is, make a portfolio and MAKE IT COUNT!

I hope this is helpful information! Stay tuned for more information about my experience at the LTTT conference. If you want more information right now, visit their website:

http://www.lttt.org/index.html

Enjoy!

Special Education

Alright, so as I post this, I have to warn you that it may seem a little biased... After all, I am a special education major. However, I feel that this is important to everyone going into education because you will all work with special education students.

So today we had a presentation in one of my classes by a woman named Susan Egan. She is the Teacher Consultant of Special Education at Novi school district. She basically talks to teachers and gives them advice, she also helps out with IEP (individualized education plan) meetings for students with special needs.

Some things that she mentioned that I thought were important I listed below:

• See what's going on with the student- are they bored? tired? lonely? sad?
• Is behavior a problem? Is the student trying?
• Occam's Razor: "Other things being equal, a simpler explanation is better than a more complex one"  - When you hear hoff beats, think horses, not zebras
• Take all sources of information into account like (what is the home language? What other schools (if any) have the students attended?  What is the student's health history? What are the student's previous test scores? What is the student's attendance?
• All of these affect student's performance
• People to talk to about the student:
• Parent(s)
• Previous teachers
• Specials Teachers (they see the student in a different way than you do)
• Child Care program
• Office staff
• Other support staff
• THE CHILD!
• Don't teach the textbook, teach the kid
• If they can't learn the way we teach, teach the way they learn

These are just a few examples of what we can do as teachers/parents. She is a great resource and one day I hope to be a teacher like that.

She gave us this website: www.http://www.oercommons.org/ to look at for free resources. From what I've looked at so far, it's awesome.

So I left out some of the special education stuff that maybe I'll post later. But for now, look over these tips and remember them!

Enjoy!

All the preceding information is from a presentation created by Susan Egan, it is her work and I give her credit. If you use this information for anything, I ask that you do the same. 

Photo credit: http://spectrum.mit.edu/articles/normal/campaign-for-students-enters-final-year/

Why animals need blubber

I remember doing this experiment in 2nd grade. That was over 12 years ago and I still remember. This involves getting an aquarium (or other large container) of ice water, then 3 plastic ziploc bags. (the bigger ones work best) Then having students put their hand in a plan ziploc bag and tape it around their hand. Then fill one bag with shortening, make sure it would be enough to completely surround a hand. Then put another bag into the one with shortening (so their hands aren't in the shortening exactly) Then tape that bag around their other wrist.

Have the student simotaniously put their hands into the ice water. Ask them to tell you which one is warmer. They should report that the one with the shortening or "blubber" is warmer. Then you can tie it to a science lesson about why some arctic animals need blubber. It's a great experiment that gives students the hands on learning that they truly need!

For a full list of instructions/supplies visit this link:
http://octopus.gma.org/surfing/antarctica/blubber.html

Enjoy!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Top O' The mornin' everyone!

No, I'm not Irish, but in the spirit of this Irish holiday, I thought I'd share a St. Patricks day craft for the kiddos (or us older kids.) This little treat involves the fudge stripe cookies from Keebler (or any cookie that you like that's bigger in a diameter than a marshmallow), marshmallows, and chocolate. First melt the chocolate then dip the marshmallows (however many you're going to use) completely in the melted chocolate. While the chocolate is still wet, set the marshmallow on top of the cookie. When it's dry, decorate with green icing, or just eat! This could also be good for pilgrims hats at Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

Kids Panel

Hey there!

So today I had a special opportunity to have a group of kids ages ranging from kindergarten - fifth grade come to our school. They sat in the front of the class and were asked questions by our group of future teachers. We were allowed to ask them anything (within reason) to help us become better teachers. So I wanted to share a few things I learned from the kids with you all. Here we go.

What do you like about your teachers?
       -"She's nice"
       -"She's funny"

What is your hardest subect in school and why?
       -"Math because story problems are hard to figure out"
       -"Math because I don't get it"
       - "Math, I don't like it"
       - "Writing because I don't know what to write about"

What kinds of books do you guys like to read?
        - "Chapter books"
        -"Magic Treehouse books"
        -"Mystery books"
        - "Chapter books"
        - "Picture books"

What does your teacher do to make you feel specail?
        -"Spends one-on-one time with us"
        -"Asks us about our day"

Have you had any special needs students in your class? And if so, what do you do to include them?
        -"We do peer-to-peer work so we include them and play with them on recess and we calm them    down if they get mad"

What do you do first thing in the morning on a school day?
         -"We like to start things right away"
         -"We do daily math packets"
         -"We read"

Do you like to work as a whole class or in groups?
           -"A whole class because we don't have to have things repeated"
           -"A whole class because when friends work together they talk and don't work"

Is there bullying in your school, if so what do you do to stop it?
           -"Unfortunately yes, but if I see it I tell at teacher and try to stop it"
           -"Not really"
           -"Nope"

What do you do in between activities?
           -"Read"

What are the rules in your classroom and what happens if you break them?
           -"Be honest"
           -"We get cards switched, everyone starts out green then if they misbehave they go to yellow which is a warning, orange is losing 5 minutes of recess, and red is silent lunch, no recess, and call home"
            -"We have to write a behavior plan, and trust me you don't want to write a behavior plan"

How are you rewarded in your class for good behavior or grades?
           -"By getting 100% on math packets we get math tickets and win prizes every week"

Do you like it when teachers go to events at the school?
           -"Yes I really like it"
           -"Yes"
           -"Kinda it makes me nervous"

Do teachers give you a chance to talk about your own life?
           -"Yes on Monday we get to talk about our weekends"
           -"No but I wish we did"

What advice would you give all these future teachers?
           -"Watch out"
           -"Be kind"
           -"Don't have lots of substitutes because your kids will goof off"
           -"Watch out for bugs"

What else did I learn?

•  Let kids move around the classroom, don't stick them at their desks
• Let them choose their own partners (at least sometimes)
• Be understading, loyal, nice, kind, and not strict

I hope this is helpful or at least funny. Enjoy!

Counting Pies

I love this activity for the classroom! This teacher just took cut outs of pies, and then wrote numbers on them. She gave the students a tub of Cool Whip that was filled with cotton
balls. The kids got to use ice cream scoops to put the right amount of whipped cream on the pies. So cute! This could be done with ice cream too. This is a great idea. Enjoy!