Final Refection

Well it's that time of the semester, were we say our goodbyes to our teacher and classmates. 

Throughout this course, I have learned so much! I have learned two more different lesson plans I can use in a classroom such as inquiry method and cooperative learning. I think these lessons were my favorite to learn and teach because they were more engaging. In my other fieldwork experiences, I only focused on direct instruction and this course really helped me open up my eyes to different approaches. I also learned so many different online tools. Some of these online tools include: Glogster, Voki, Paddlet and Google Docs. Learning this online tools really helped me because I was able to make my projects more fun and engaging compared to boring old PowerPoints. In fact, I mastered Voki so well that my fathers company wants to hire me as their web designer. I will be in charge of adding pictures and Voki's to their website. I would not have this opportunity if it wasn't for this

course.

Another thing I really enjoyed was my fieldwork experience. Now, social studies isn't my strong subject but teaching at Bishop Dunn Memorial School really helped me boost up my confidence because I was working with students I already knew. For the last past two years, I have been one of the extension teachers at BDMS which meant I was teaching some of my students. This made me really excited and eager to teach them about the thirteen colonies gaining their independence. 

Now as for assignments and/or projects I did in class. Throughout this course, I did many projects either in a group or individual. My favorite my project was the artifact bag. I had to create an artifact bag based on my fieldwork lesson plan topic. I chose Paul Revere, this was my favorite because I put a lot of thought into the presentation and artifact bag. My least favorite project was the current events. I did not like this one because it was assigned in groups. My group ended up choosing an article that had to do with their fieldwork lesson plan and I felt left out. 

Overall, I had a pleasure being in this course. I learned many new things and even tried to improve my "failures". For example, I do not like group work. However, this course really helped me improve on my group skills and I feel like towards the end I was doing much better than I was doing in the beginning. I also liked how we got to work on a practice edTPA. I feel like I am more confident in student teaching and working on my edTPA now that I had some experience.

Well it's been real Dr. Smirnova, thank you for everything you did and taught me.

Live Binder

One of the requirements for this course is to create a e-folio using the Livebinder website. This is to help us prepare before student teaching. However, creating a e-folio had both pros and cons. In fact, there were times I wanted to throw my laptop out because I couldn't figure something out.

During the first week of class, Dr. Smirnova helped us create the e-folio and add all the tabs we needed. She also briefly discussed what would be included in our Livebinders. I remember walking out of class the first week crying on the phone to my mother saying how hard this class was going to be. I was overwhelmed and it was only the first week of school. My mother told me to relax and take it one step at a time and that is what I did.

As the semester progressed I slowly began adding to my e-folio. I started off with my cover page and well lets just say that took FOREVER! It took me an hour to figure out how to add a picture to my e-folio. It was very frustrating but luckily I wasn't in the boat alone. My other classmates had trouble figuring it out also. 

Now, it's the final week and well I have came a long way. This experience has been beneficial and frustrating. I put in a lot of hours trying to make my Livebinder perfect and I pray to God that I did it right. I have learned so much about edtpa. 

Here is the link to my Livebinder e-folio. 

Mock Interview

Not your typical final

Yesterday in class, we had our final. Now you must be wondering, how many questions were there, did you study and how long did it take you. Well, it wasn't your typical final. Instead, i had a very interesting type of final. It was a mock interview. Everyone in class had to dress professionally and have their resumes. Before, we started the mock interview, four of my colleagues volunteered to pretended to be a school principal. They introduced themselves and explained what their school name meant to them. It was pretty cool to witness. Once the actual mock interview started, we were sitting in our fieldwork groups awaiting the arrival of our first "principal" to hear the questions they would be asking us.

I really enjoyed the mock interview because the "principals" came up with really unique questions. For instances, Melissa asked us what type of animal do you think of when you hear the word direct instruction. I answered with sloth, because sloths are slow and strong animals. When teaching a direct lesson, you want to make sure  you are teaching it slow so the students can understand what is being taught. I really enjoyed this question. One question, I didn't enjoy and thought was challenging was Emily's question. She asked about Bloom's taxonomy and how to use it in a classroom.

I really enjoyed this type of final because I thought it was a unique experience. This really prepared me for the professional world. I feel more confident and comfortable being interview by a "principal". Overall, I thought this was a good way to test students especially when they are overwhelmed with other classes.

Here is the link to the "principals" interview question.

Native American Tribe

For this jigsaw learning method we looked at Native American tribes. In order to complete this experience, the class was broken up into home groups. Within our home groups, each student was required to sign up for a Native American tribe which included the Tlingit, Lakota, Dine’, Mohawk/Iroquois, and Muscogee. For my expert group, I chose the Tlingit Native American tribe because going into this project I had no knowledge about any of the given tribes, so I chose one that sounded the most interesting to me. This group consisted of everyone who had picked the same Native American tribe as I did. Within my group, we had to research the topic that included the history, culture, geography, food, clothes, habitat/homes, famous people, and generalization. Each person was in charge on a specific topic on the tribe. I chose to research the habitat/homes of the Tlingit tribe.  When researching the Native American tribe it helped me develop content knowledge about the topic because I had to research and read about the Native American tribe to found out the information I needed. Once each person in my group did their research we came together to put it all together in a PowerPoint. When putting it together, each member talked about his or her topic and it helped each person understand the information before presenting it to our home groups. I think breaking up the information within the group is helpful because you aren’t as overwhelmed as you would be researching all the topics. It is also easier to retain the information. Once our PowerPoint was done, I learned a lot about my Native American tribe, as well as how its geography affected the way they lived.

   Overall, this was a great experience because I was able to learn a lot of information on different Native American tribes in such a short period of time. The jigsaw learning method also helped me interact with my peers better, as well as practice teaching in front of them. This project was one of my favorite ones in class because it was fun and engaging. I was not just stuck in one group, I was able to move around and work with others. When I become a teacher, I will make sure to use this technique because it was very beneficial and informative. However, I will make sure to adapt the lesson as needed for the specific grade level.  I think this project will help students learn geography because the students will learn how geography affects the way you live. For instance, I learned that the Tlingit relied heavily on their wildlife and the lush forests that surround them. These forests and wildlife help the Tlingit tribe create their shelter, clothing, and food. They also needed to live in close proximity to water to help them obtain the food they eat as well as the wildlife in the forest.

Macroeconomics vs. Microeconomics

In class the other day we got to learn how to teach economics in a elementary school . Each student was assigned one topic. The topic I picked was macroeconomics vs. microeconomics. I had to explain the difference, as well as explain how I would teach it to a first and sixth grade classroom. Below is what I learned. 

What's the difference between Macroeconomics and Microeconomics?

Macroeconomics is the study of a national economy as a whole. Some of the most common focuses of macroeconomics include unemployment rates, the gross domestic product of an economy, and the effects of exports and imports. 

Microeconomics is the study of economics at an individual, group or company level.This usually has to do with the study of supply and demand for a specific product. 

                                           

                                                Here is the Glogster I would share with my class.

                                           

                                              Here is the Voki I would share with my class.

 êBelow is a short video about 

macroeconomics vs. microeconomics.

This is a great video to show your classroom. ê

Here is the link to the class powerpoint presentation on teaching economics.