Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Blogging about Blogging
Honestly, I love writing. I enjoy having an outlet to let my thoughts out. Whether it's a new recipe I want to share, posting some links to great music, or giving an update on my super-busy life, blogging can be an excellent resource to do so.
Time. Where is the time? Where do women (and men, I'm sure) get the time to sit and write? I wish so badly that I had time to make blogging one of my hobbies. I feel like I would have so many ideas of things to share with friends and family, but I just don't know where it would fit into my schedule!
Envy. I'm dating a guy whose sister-in-law is a wonderful blogger. She has the cutest layout and wonderful pictures posted all of the time with recipes and interesting news about their lives. The way she writes is almost sickening because she sometimes portrays her life as a perfect love story with pretty houses and fun social events. Ha, I know. I'm jealous. I envy the time she has to upload her photos and update her friends and family on the fun things of life.
I have always wanted to journal or document the interesting and memorable days and events in my life. I will just have to suck it up and find the time, patience, and creativity to create a blog just as awesome as the ones that make me sick.
Time. Where is the time? Where do women (and men, I'm sure) get the time to sit and write? I wish so badly that I had time to make blogging one of my hobbies. I feel like I would have so many ideas of things to share with friends and family, but I just don't know where it would fit into my schedule!
Envy. I'm dating a guy whose sister-in-law is a wonderful blogger. She has the cutest layout and wonderful pictures posted all of the time with recipes and interesting news about their lives. The way she writes is almost sickening because she sometimes portrays her life as a perfect love story with pretty houses and fun social events. Ha, I know. I'm jealous. I envy the time she has to upload her photos and update her friends and family on the fun things of life.
I have always wanted to journal or document the interesting and memorable days and events in my life. I will just have to suck it up and find the time, patience, and creativity to create a blog just as awesome as the ones that make me sick.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Comments4Kids
Commenting on a student's post about getting in trouble for messing up the TV.
http://kidblog.org/MrsSalernosClass/eion/the-annoyer-2/#comment-234
A student wrote about a fantasy book he is reading.
http://kidblog.org/MrsGoerendsClass/danielf2017/the-fall/#comment-778
Another student that is responding to literature.
http://kidblog.org/MrsGoerendsClass/kassidyn2017/reading-responce/#comment-779
http://kidblog.org/MrsSalernosClass/eion/the-annoyer-2/#comment-234
A student wrote about a fantasy book he is reading.
http://kidblog.org/MrsGoerendsClass/danielf2017/the-fall/#comment-778
Another student that is responding to literature.
http://kidblog.org/MrsGoerendsClass/kassidyn2017/reading-responce/#comment-779
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The GACE
Saturday I took the GACE for what is hopefully the ONLY time. It was a crazy day in the making, starting at 8AM. Our sorority yard sale had begun a few hours early and luckily I was able to sleep in for a few hours considering I had to take the GACE at 1PM. It was busy with customers and from what I heard brought in a good deal of money for our philanthropy.
From there, I rushed home to grab some lunch and get ready for what would be after the GACE. Packed up some clothes, grabbed some jewelry and headed towards Clarke Central High School. I arrived with plenty of time before the exam started. I was extremeley surprised to see how many people were at the test location taking the exam. It was quite overwhelming.
The tests itself was not that bad. Literacy was a littel difficult for me, but the other subjects I feel that I did pretty well. I will anxiously await for my scores to post in a few weeks!
Since the exam started about 45 minutes behind what I had expected, I was late getting to my other event for the evening. Back to sorority duties, I rushed to pick up a few girls and head towards Atlanta for the Georgia Ovarian Cancer Awareness Gala. It was so exciting to be volunteering at such a chic and formal occasion in downtown Atlanta. Though my nerves were a bit shaken from the exam, I was still able to have a fabulous night dining and celebrating our cause.
From there, I rushed home to grab some lunch and get ready for what would be after the GACE. Packed up some clothes, grabbed some jewelry and headed towards Clarke Central High School. I arrived with plenty of time before the exam started. I was extremeley surprised to see how many people were at the test location taking the exam. It was quite overwhelming.
The tests itself was not that bad. Literacy was a littel difficult for me, but the other subjects I feel that I did pretty well. I will anxiously await for my scores to post in a few weeks!
Since the exam started about 45 minutes behind what I had expected, I was late getting to my other event for the evening. Back to sorority duties, I rushed to pick up a few girls and head towards Atlanta for the Georgia Ovarian Cancer Awareness Gala. It was so exciting to be volunteering at such a chic and formal occasion in downtown Atlanta. Though my nerves were a bit shaken from the exam, I was still able to have a fabulous night dining and celebrating our cause.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Field Placement Reflection
Spending a whole week in the classroom from 7:15-3:00 was exhausting, yet so much fun. I wish that I were student teaching already to avoid coming to class. Overall, my experience spending a week with my class and mentor teacher was great.
I actually woke up on time and made it to school by 7:15 every day, yes, everyday. I can't believe that for 5 days in a row I was on time. Of course, there were a few days with Chick Fil A as an incentive to wake up! I was excited to get to school on time, prepared and ready for the day. I feel like I'll always struggle with waking up and lookinf forward to a full day of teaching, but this past week was very helpful in showing that I can do it!
It wasn't all fun and games at school though. Every day presenting my unit was a struggle fighting for the students' attention. There were many successful activities that students loved where I found them extremely engaged. There were other slip ups with technology that caused distractions and sometimes even my lack of preparedness with materials. This week definitely proved that the more prepared you are as a teacher the more students seem to be engaged. Lessons that I reviewed the night before and became most familiar with were the ones that students seemed to enjoy the most. Their behavior also was better when there weren't hold ups and gaps within the lesson.
Another cool thing about my week long experience was the hang out time with my mentor teacher and the 4th grade teachers. They have been extremely welcoming and inclusive since I have started at Fowler this semester. It is a great environment for me and they have all been supportive and helpful throughout.
I actually woke up on time and made it to school by 7:15 every day, yes, everyday. I can't believe that for 5 days in a row I was on time. Of course, there were a few days with Chick Fil A as an incentive to wake up! I was excited to get to school on time, prepared and ready for the day. I feel like I'll always struggle with waking up and lookinf forward to a full day of teaching, but this past week was very helpful in showing that I can do it!
It wasn't all fun and games at school though. Every day presenting my unit was a struggle fighting for the students' attention. There were many successful activities that students loved where I found them extremely engaged. There were other slip ups with technology that caused distractions and sometimes even my lack of preparedness with materials. This week definitely proved that the more prepared you are as a teacher the more students seem to be engaged. Lessons that I reviewed the night before and became most familiar with were the ones that students seemed to enjoy the most. Their behavior also was better when there weren't hold ups and gaps within the lesson.
Another cool thing about my week long experience was the hang out time with my mentor teacher and the 4th grade teachers. They have been extremely welcoming and inclusive since I have started at Fowler this semester. It is a great environment for me and they have all been supportive and helpful throughout.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Writer's Workshop Reflection: Chapters 7,8,19
I have been spending a lot of time in my field placement walking around the classroom observing students' work and helping where needed. As my mentor teacher spends time putting together other things and helping individual students, I have found my job as the teacher who walks around making sure students are constantly working towards something. I have observed a few students in the class who struggle finding their focus and accomplishing much at all. I repeatedly tell them that they should be writing and try to encourage them to write by asking questions about their writing topic and where they want to take their writing. In my classroom, the teacher does not put a lot of pressure on students to complete a certain amount in specific time. She allows freedom for her students, so it bothers me that students still have a problem finding enjoyment in writing and why some students just CAN'T stay focused and write even a few sentences. In another class I am taking, the teacher demonstrates well how to work with your students. If the teacher is making known his/her presence, it may be motivating for students in that he/she is creating a complete working environment where everyone is being productive.
I love being in control. I can definitely see how in the future with writer's workshop the ways I may struggle if students are in many different places with their writing. I agree with the text in that writer's workshop at the base is very organized, planned and stuctured, but how it can easily seem out of control with students' work being so diverse.
I really liked the author's three concepts of publishing. I am unsure if these would explicitly be made known to the class; however I can see where it would be beneficial to go into detail with students about these three ideas. Students need to know what it means to "finish" a piece and the long process it takes for a piece of work to be published. I also think audience is important for students to know about in that one of the beginning steps of writing is determining your audience.
I love being in control. I can definitely see how in the future with writer's workshop the ways I may struggle if students are in many different places with their writing. I agree with the text in that writer's workshop at the base is very organized, planned and stuctured, but how it can easily seem out of control with students' work being so diverse.
I really liked the author's three concepts of publishing. I am unsure if these would explicitly be made known to the class; however I can see where it would be beneficial to go into detail with students about these three ideas. Students need to know what it means to "finish" a piece and the long process it takes for a piece of work to be published. I also think audience is important for students to know about in that one of the beginning steps of writing is determining your audience.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Writing Workshop: Chapters 14,15, 17 Reflection
Conferring sounds like a great idea. I've heard about the effectiveness of having conferences with students on a regular basis, writing related or not. It will be extremely important in my classroom that I follow up with students not only on their individual work, but their lives and how my class is affecting them. I think it is important to meet with students and to show that you care and are concerned with the rate of progress and understanding of material. Students should know that their teacher is supportive and genuninely interested in each student. I have no doubt that conferring could play a large roll in improving students' writing.
Should students be required to share? In the past few years at UGA, on many occasions I have become very frustrated with professors that have participation grades, in which to get full credit a student must speak aloud in class and share in discussion. I feel like student sharing of their writing is similar. I absolutely do not feel that I should be required to speak aloud in class and state my opinion in order to obtain a grade. Personalities vary, and so do confidence levels. In my case, I just choose to weigh the opinions and voices of others and compare with my own silently. I see the potential benefits from participatin in group discussion, as I can see what could good can come from sharing their writing. I just don't know if I would require students to share. I'm sure there are many methods to use to increase students' confidence for sharing.
My mentor teacher seems to have no problems planning writer's workshop. I have seen her use the standards combined with the framwork to create a drawn out tentative plan for the year. All of the standards are covered, but there is room for additions and flexibility with topics and ideas.
Should students be required to share? In the past few years at UGA, on many occasions I have become very frustrated with professors that have participation grades, in which to get full credit a student must speak aloud in class and share in discussion. I feel like student sharing of their writing is similar. I absolutely do not feel that I should be required to speak aloud in class and state my opinion in order to obtain a grade. Personalities vary, and so do confidence levels. In my case, I just choose to weigh the opinions and voices of others and compare with my own silently. I see the potential benefits from participatin in group discussion, as I can see what could good can come from sharing their writing. I just don't know if I would require students to share. I'm sure there are many methods to use to increase students' confidence for sharing.
My mentor teacher seems to have no problems planning writer's workshop. I have seen her use the standards combined with the framwork to create a drawn out tentative plan for the year. All of the standards are covered, but there is room for additions and flexibility with topics and ideas.
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