Blog #4

Read Alouds

One of the books we read was “Once Apon an Ordinary School Day” by Collin McNaughton. It was such a good book about how teachers can help and inspire students. An art lesson would be to have the kids color in black and white coloring pages to the music they are listening to. A music lesson would be to have the kids make a beat to the emotion they are feeling. Due to the music and colors in this book, you can really incorporate many of the different learning styles.

Another one of the books was “Is There Really a Human Race” by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell. It was such a good book, it really encourages kids to be their own person and do things at their own pace. A good PE lesson would be to have kids run through an obstacle course. In Science, kids could learn about the Earth and the sun. A history lesson would be to study the kid’s ancestors.

Learning Experiences

This week we taught a lesson on the different stages of moral development. The lesson went really well I thought. The class seemed to stay involved. The copied notes from the power point and at the end they took a survey to see the different kinds of morals they have. It was really cool to see everyone’s responses at the end and discuss it as a class.

Current Events

Schools in North Carolina Reevaluate Laptops in the Classroom

Schools in Mooresville, NC are known for their amazing test scores after introducing computers in the classroom. A year later the schools’ scores showed that the test scores went up about 73% from the year before. A study now shows that the laptops have not had a huge effect five years later. This is a lot like our school district because we give computers to all middle schoolers and high schoolers. That also leaves the question standing do the laptops have any real benefit.

Quote of the Week

You not only want to teach your students good lessons to help grow their mind but you also want to teach them how to be good people. If they have good hearts they can use their knowledge to go on and help others and build a good community.

Observations

This week in my classroom of first graders we switched from learning addition to subtraction. It was interesting to see that the ones who were doing so well with addition were having such a hard time understanding the subtraction. They were still trying to add the numbers and we showed them how to subtract and draw pictures to help them. Grasping the new concept was very hard for them so that is defiantly what we will be working on in class this week.

Reflections

This week has been very productive for me. I submitted all of my applications to college and I got accepted to Coastal Carolina. I am getting more and more ready to graduate, I have gotten so lazy and not wanting to do any school work. I am trying really hard to keep my grades up though because I want to finish my senior year strong. I am just very ready to be done with high school, and at the same time, I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can.