The Crown of Literature

The last day of March. My, how the year is flying by. 

April is right before us! April and May are my most favorite months of the year. 

April holds lots of exciting times!

1. April Fools Day!

             This may be my favorite day! I love to play pranks on everyone in my family. I always get everyone really good! Last year I happened to be observing in the schools on April Fools. The teacher I observed got her students so good! They had missed quite a few days from all the snow, and she had the office call down and announce that spring break was cancelled due to all the snow. Her students had a fit! This made me laugh so hard! I just know that is the kind of teacher that I will be. I love to laugh, and I love to make others laugh!

2. Spring!

              Spring is the most glorious time of year. My husband is a farmer, and this is the time of year that you see everything come to life again. I myself grow my own flower and vegetable garden. Due to the beautiful weather we have already been having, my herbs are coming along quite nicely. This year is a special year for us though! We have baby chicks living in our home! It's so amazing to watch them grow and play! It has truly been a blessing to have these sweet animals join our family!

3. National Poetry Month!

              Before I decided to become an Elementary teacher, I wanted to be a high school Social Studies teacher. The more I thought about though, the more I knew that this wasn't the right path for me. Number one, my heart really lies with younger children. Number two, I love all the other subjects too much to just focus on one! Literature has a very special place in my heart. I once read that the crown of literature is poetry, and I couldn't agree more. Poetry is a way for people to express themselves in anyway that they like. There are no rules, no guidelines, just room for imagination and creativity. 

I read a blog that gave the idea for teachers to start everyday in the classroom off with a poem. What a lovely idea! I think that this would be just the most wonderful thing! It could really set the mood for the whole day, leave students with more knowledge and understanding, and be an absolutely amazing learning experience each and every day. My hope would be that students would begin to develop a love and passion for poetry as well! 

I found another website that shares "25 Must-Share Poems for Elementary School". These are great poems that teachers could focus on throughout the month to teach a variety of subjects and knowledge. There are so many creative activities to do with poetry as well. These activities allow students to learn, but also have fun. I can see this being especially exciting and effective in upper-grades. So far, in my short experience in the classroom, I haven't seen a lot of instruction with poetry. However, last week I did hear my teacher tell one of her students that he could write a rap for his assignment if he wanted. Rather that student realized it or not, he was writing poetry! This is a great way to connect to students in our classroom today. It makes them feel that they are learning about something relevant and close to their lives! I hope that I can find ways to do this every day. 

Standards to connect to:

Standard 3:

teachers make instruction relevant to students. 

Standard 4:

teachers use a variety of instructional methods. 

Check out the links below to learn more:

http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2016/03/25/25-must-share-poems-for-elementary-school?utm_content=1459160555&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter#.VvkF1F9b3DI.twitter

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/start-class-poem-each-day-brett-vogelsinger?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

A Very Special Day

For many of us, today was a day filled with many emotions. We were scared, stressed, excited, anxious, nervous, and hopefully relieved. Yes, today was the day that many of us interviewed for the School of Education. 

As I tried to prepare myself for my interview, many different questions were brought up. What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? Why did I decide to pursue a career in education? If I could change a school situation, what would it be? 

Even though that many of the questions that I asked myself weren't asked during the interview, they helped me evaluate myself and answer questions that I had never thought about before. In the interview, I did make the statement "Our students should be learning everyday, and teachers should be learning everyday." There is always someone with a new idea, a new strategy, a new method. It is important for us to branch out and find these things to help our students learn more and better. 

The interview and my own personal questions and answers made me begin to think about my Professional Development Plan. I am doing a lot to work towards bettering myself as a future teacher. What made me stop and think twice was "what about after graduation?"
We should continue to develop professional development plans every year as a teacher. That will help us become better teachers and grow in great ways EVERY year. 

The article I found on Edutopia discussed an ultimate professional development plan. This teacher discusses the three primary tools that she uses to grow each year. 

1. "My first tool is my spiral notebook. Here I jot notes while I conference with students, tape in samples of their work, and record insights and observations. Each evening, I reflect on my notes and use them to plan for tomorrow.


2. My second tool is my iPhone. Throughout the day, I take pictures and videos of my students' writing samples, projects, and engineering feats. I often interview them as they share their innovative thinking. These visuals sometimes go in my spiral notebook, sometimes in my Evernote app, and often on my blog to parents. I also use them when I share my students' thinking and creations at our research team meetings and when I present at conferences or write about my practice. The visuals serve as an outward product of our classroom's evolution.


3. My third and most important tool is my teacher research team. These colleagues focus me and serve as a sounding board and support network for my contemplations in the classroom."

We often talk about assessments. Assessments can't always be tests or quizzes. They often may be verbal assessments. Having a spiral notebook would help a teacher keep track of various students and various assessments throughout the day. 

I also mentioned in my interview that I struggle with embracing technology. However, this teacher mentions how she utilizes and uses her phone and other apps to help her develop and grow as a teacher. What a great thought. Something so easy to use and right there at our finger tips. I also LOVE the idea of blogging to parents. Blogging was something totally new to me this semester, but I have found it almost relaxing. 

Finally, this teacher talks about her research team. The article goes into much more detail of what this consists of and what they do. It is something that she encourages every teacher to join or start. It is basically a group of teachers reflecting on their own teaching and their students learning. They come together to share and learn from each other. I think that this can definitely be the great tool and resource to ANY teacher. In my opinion, it is impossible to grow and expand learning without collaborating with other teachers. Having an opportunity to do this once a week is especially useful. 

All of these tools are ones that I want to utilize when I have my own classroom. I want to make sure that I am reflecting on myself as a teacher and helping my students, and myself, become better. The teacher research team may be something that I have to develop on my own, but this would be an opportunity to be a leader in my own profession (NCPTS Standard 1).

This ties in with all of standard 5 of the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards. Teachers should be reflecting on their practice. They should analyze student learning, but analyze themselves. More importantly, standard 5 tells us to link professional growth to professional goals. We should strive to grow and develop at all times. This is possible if we use the tools and resources around us, and care enough to put them time and effort in. 

Check out the article:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/reacher-researcher-ultimate-professional-development-dorothy-suskind

Happy Birthday!

It has be different, but interesting developing my concept-based learning plan this week. It has been a new experience for me, but I have really enjoyed this format better than others that I've worked with in the past. I have seen the significance of concepts and generalizations develop with my unit and lessons. I do think that it important to make learning experiences fun for kids! I get bored with the same ol' stuff just like students would! 

That brings me to my next point!

Do you know what March 2nd is? 

http://solvaylibrary.org/?p=3871

That's right! It is Dr. Seuss's birthday!! What a great opportunity to read a few Dr. Seuss classics!

If you are thinking to yourself that Dr. Seuss books can't relate to any important concepts in your classroom, YOU ARE WRONG! Dr. Seuss addressed some truly important issues and ideas in his books. Seuessville.com has some great suggestions on how to take some Dr. Seuss books and make great and effective learning plans! A few concepts recommended include:

-conservation

-racism

-greed

-perseverance 

-self-discovery

I think we have all seen or heard about teachers connecting The Lorax to the environment, recycling, or Earth Day. This is a great opportunity for students to connect to these concepts in a fun way! You can connect to all subject areas by reading, talking about poetry, writing their own poems, counting or graphing objects from the book, and talking about the environment and other aspects! Spending the whole week on an integrated unit for the subject would be a great way to address various learning areas. 

A-Z Teacher Stuff had other GREAT ideas! 

One of my personal favorites:

Green Eggs and Ham:

• Make green eggs and ham in your class.
• List green foods.
• Rhyming Bingo
• Discuss animals that lay eggs other than the chicken.
• Eggshell Art

We actually made green eggs and ham in my pre-k class today and graphed who liked it and who didn't! This was a time for students to learn, but have fun be engaged the entire time! 

I want to make sure than in my future classroom my students are learning and developing their skills more and more every day! I think that the best way for this to happen is to find ways to engage the students. 

This could connect to a few different standards:

Standard 3:

Teachers make instruction relevant to students.
Teachers incorporate 21st century life skills into their teaching deliberately, strategically, and broadly. These skills include leadership, ethics, accountability, adaptability, personal productivity, personal responsibility, people skills, self- direction, and social responsibility. Teachers help their students understand the relationship between the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and 21st century content which includes global awareness; nancial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy; and health awareness. 

Standard 4:
Teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students.
Teachers collaborate with their colleagues and use a variety of data sources for short and long range planning based on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. These plans re ect an understanding of how students learn. Teachers engage students in the learning process. They understand that instructional plans must be constantly monitored and modi ed to enhance learning. Teachers make the curriculum responsive to cultural diversity and to individual learning needs. 

These both say that instruction should be relevant, engaging, and appropriate. Planning a unit or lesson relating and connecting to this subject would be doing all of these things.

I STRONGLY urge you to check out these websites (especially the second one!!)!!

http://www.seussville.com/Educators/educatorClassroomResources.php?id=printables#4
http://lessons.atozteacherstuff.com/80/dr-seuss-activities/