Holiday Plans

I went home for Thanksgiving break. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was my little sister's birthday, so we went out to eat to celebrate. On Thanksgiving day my family and I volunteered at the Thanksgiving community dinner at my church. We served Thanksgiving meals to the less fortunate and whomever else came in for a lovely meal surrounded by friends.

I spent the next day with my high school friends, catching up and enjoying each others company. The rest of the weekend was spent working on homework and projects for my classes. Overall it was a wonderful weekend.

Teacher vs. Student

I have learned a lot over this past semester, in my classes and during my field experience. One of the big things that I noticed was that there is a HUGE difference between being a teacher and a student. As a student you have to complete homework and study for tests, but as a teacher you have to create lesson plans, correct homework, grade tests, communicate with parents, and organize your classroom (all while making it look so easy to the students).

As a student I always thought the teacher was mean for giving us so much homework and making us study for tests, but looking at it from a teacher's perspective I can see how wrong I was. Teachers need to assign some homework to see what the students can do on their own and what the teacher needs to reteach. Teachers also have to give out exams as a more formal way of assessing student learning. Teachers also have a pacing guide set for them that they need to follow.

As a teacher it is interesting to observe your students in the classroom and out of the classroom. It is helpful to watch their interactions with peers and with adults. There are some things that are difficult as a teacher. You have to discipline the students who misbehave (when you were a student you may have thought the misbehaving students were being funny) and try to redirect the class. You also have to deal with issues such as bullying and home life. As a student I was never bullied and was not a bully either. My home life was wonderful because I was raised by loving parents. As a teacher I will have to figure out the best ways to deal with bullying in my school and maybe even in my classroom. I will also have to be on the look out for signs of abuse or neglect on my students. It is so different to be on the other side of the classroom for a change.

QR Codes

We experimented with QR codes in our educational technology class. Here are the worksheets that I created using QR codes. It's a way to make lessons, in this case math, a little more interesting for your students. I created these QR codes on QRstuff.com but you can also check out Snap Maze or Kaywa for more options.

This is obviously a more structured worksheet, but you can also create matching, flash cards, and fun activities as well!

Polaroid Pictures

This is a fun way to create memories. You can cut them apart after printing them and create a collage of mini Polaroid pictures. You can glue these on tiles using mod podge and attach a magnet to the back of each mini Polaroid and hang them on your fridge, locker, or anything magnetic. Students could create these as gifts for their parents as well. Here is a link to the website where I got the template for the mini Polaroids if you want to check it out!

Germ Cover

This is something that we made in my educational technology class. After printing it off I wrapped it around a hand sanitizer container using mod podge. This is a really awesome way to make a boring hand sanitizer container look like it belongs in a classroom! Children are always spreading germs around, so if you have this on hand you will be able to quick give them a squirt if they sneeze in their hands, or on a desk.

iPad Rules

When you introduce iPads in the classroom you need to make sure that you set rules and regulations for your students to follow. You can either make your own or look online for ideas. Above is a picture of a poster that I made of rules for iPad use in my (future) classroom.

Forms

Here are two forms, the first one is before and the second one is the one that I edited to make a little more fun! I grouped the information into three categories: Your Child, Parents, and Contact Information. This makes the form easier to look at and it looks like less of a burden to fill out. Different fonts and colors also enhance the overall look of the form.