Mind Blown

Going through the last two years dealing with grad school and working at the same time it has always been an interesting balance in my life.  This year I do not understand why I thought it would be smart for me to start coaching swim team as well as doing both grad school and working full time.  This has been a hard juggle for me and since we have had all the snow days we went a lot longer into the summer as we have in awhile.  Tomorrow is my last day and it is a teacher day which is alright but still I feel they are wasting our time just to make up time that we didn't get to this year.  I am excited however to continue being the assistant swim coach because it is teaching but a lot different.

image retrieved from Melanie Scott

I am feeling more comfortable now with practices being in the morning and me not having to work during the day that I can completely wrap my head around this class.  I am really excited (not to write a 10-12 page paper) but to research how iPad can be effective in an elementary school setting. Our school has three iPad carts and they are wanting us to implement them more into our classroom.  The problem I am having with them is that I still do not completely understand the capabilities of them because I do not have one of my own.  We talk about adding applications to our carts but the only advice I can give them is find applications for early childhood.  Now what are the good ones, I'm not sure.  I really want to make sure that using an iPad in my classroom will benefit my students then me being more hands on with the skill being taught.  I am always afraid of students having too much "computer" time and I do not want to use them as a second teacher.

image retrieved from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH2y1mnm2XLc_wQKcbKBbXFxyp9smyUFzC1SqqAtT0n3wsVpUOySoU1YlEkkv_d-edOUguwcyzcaSGM7fW6TgIdHyH4KHtMALIlcRwCuxukFdljYxwUmw-7ellkzpH8Gh97Yx4IxITgcXd/s1600/ipad+1.jpg

I am also excited to interview a person about assistive technology and how we can get them within our county.  I used to be an inclusion classroom and this year we went back to being one again.  We didn't begin to be inclusion until January and I had a student who came in this year in September who clearly was in need of special services.  This was the first time I went through the process of getting him the services he deserved and needed.  I had no idea on this process and I feel that I wouldn't even know what to do if I needed to get assistive technology for a student and I feel this is something that all teachers should know.  This is something I feel the board should do for all new teachers but of course we do not find out unless we ask.

Image retrieved from: http://rjcooper.com/spell-a-word/classroom-phrases.jpg

I am finally glad to have my head back on my shoulders and in the game of things.  I'm excited to dive completely into this class and I have truly enjoyed writing these blogs and maybe will think about keeping one one day but let me at least get through grad school first!

The Ups and Downs to blogging

Reading about blogging and thinking about the pros and cons about using blogs as a collaborative tool in the classroom more for the upper grades then in my classroom.  I have mix feelings when it comes to using blogs in the classroom.   But just like all the new types of technologies and software that are being introduced to us teachers I am open to explore them.

I believe there are many great points to having and using a blog in the classroom as a project.  I think there are many times when kids sit in the classroom when they are feeling pressured to get writing done that sometimes I think it gives them writers block.  If students have the ability to sit down in the comfort of their own home maybe they would be able to open up more.  It would also make them more motivated to do their work because their work could be seen by others.

I also believe this could be a con to having their work opened to the public or to their parents/students to see that this could open them up to be scrutinized by others.  This could also make them not want to open up as much because they would be afraid to be honest with others reading on.  

Setting up my blog

I am completely new to this blogging world.  I have never  had a blog of my own so setting this blog up has been kind of intimidating for me.  Setting up and creating websites have been easy to me but when it comes to writing my thoughts and feelings I'm not as comfortable with this type of web tool.  Even with the links in the course content about setting up the RSS feed and if this is public or not I'm still confused if I am doing these things correctly.  I do not understand most of the directions or see what they are talking about.  I guess with time I will get more comfortable with this format and web tool.  I am always excited to try new things but I have never felt like I was a strong writer so I am also hoping this will help me become a stronger writer at the same time.

I hope whoever reads this blog will enjoy reading my thoughts and feelings towards things within this class and maybe I will continue doing this after the class is over.  I guess we will have to wait and see!

M. Scott