My Year as an Intern

As I look back on this year as being an intern, I think of all the ups and downs that I have had. A really good way to describe the ups and downs would be this poem http://adipintheinkwell.blogspot.com/. Some of the ups and downs that I have had during my year as an intern would be whenever it came to presenting my lessons and something went wrong. Something always goes wrong when it comes time for you to present something but my wonderful mentor teacher, Mrs. Lacey, was always there to help me through it. One thing that I was worried about when going into my classroom was whether the kids and my mentor teacher would like me, and turns out, they loved me. My elation this year would have been the time right before I presented my lessons thinking they wouldn't go right, but they always ended up going good. The experiences that I have had in the classroom have just made my decision to become a teacher even more sure. There has never been a doubt in my mind that I would ever give up teaching. Just knowing that I can handle a class when my teacher isn't there has made me see that I can handle a classroom by myself. One thing that I have learned from my mentor teacher was that you need to be strict when it comes to staying on task and teaching the kids but there is also a time to have some fun and be loving to the kids. The kids will always end up loving you no matter how you run your class. If I had to change one thing that I did at my field site, I really wouldn't change a thing. I feel like I have done things over and beyond and that I don't think I can make anything better than I already have made it.

High School Teacher Creates New Educational App

This week I read an article about a teacher creating his own app that is educational. This teacher was Kevin Giffhorn and he teaches at Maryland High School as a math teacher. The app he created allows his students to add notes or anything they want to things that he has created whether in a Word, PDF, or PowerPoint file. This type of an app is very useful to a student by the, being able to add or make changes to not without having to safe it as a new file or just not being able to change or add anything at all. I think it would be more useful for middle, high, and college students who take more notes but it can also be useful for elementary kids by them adding their own thoughts or drawings to something the teacher has created. I find it very useful because you can add and change anything you want in the teachers things without having to save it as something new. This has made me think if I would ever make any app. I don't think that I would ever personally make an app but if I did I would make one with lots of games on that goes with every subject depending on the age and grade level. These games would help you learn something you just were taught but in a more fun environment.

Here is the link to the article about this new app: http://www.eclassroomnews.com/2012/03/16/high-school-teacher-creates-new-educational-app/2/?

The Ron Clark Story

This week in my Education and Training class, we watched The Ron Clark Story. The main purpose of the movie was that this teacher named Ron Clark went to teach kids in New York City who didn't want to learn because of their circumstances at home. At the end of the year, his class got perfect scores on their tests and they achieved everything and more they wanted to achieve.
In this movie, he had many rules in his classroom posted around the room. Three of his rules that I thought were most important would be Rule 1, Rule 2, and Rule 26.
Rule 1 is basically saying that when you respond to someone to say "Yes ma'am" or "No Sir".
Rule 2 is saying that when you are talking to someone to make eye contact and keep eye contact throughout the whole conversation.
Rule 26 is saying that if in the lunch room someone wants to sit next to you, let them. We are a family and we need to act like a family.
In my future classroom, two rules that I think are very important to have would be:
1. If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all.
2. Treat someone how you would want to be treated.
Rules are very important in any circumstance if you want to get anywhere.
If you want more of Ron Clarks Book "The Essential 55", here is a link to his rules.
http://www.perucsd.org/lchen/Essential%2055/55rules.pdf
Here is a clip of The Ron Clark Story.

The Advantages of Technology in the Classroom

Today, while I was reading The Advantages of Technology in the Classroom, the author pointed out five ways of having more technology use in classrooms can help students prepare for the real world. Those five ways are:
1. Accessing Information
2. Editing of Written Works
3. Providing Supplementary Information
4. Communicating
5. Motivating Students
By the students using these 5 ways with technology in the classrooms, when it comes time to them entering into the real world, they will be fully prepared and will always have the information they need for things ahead of time. The most popular ways that have helped students prepare for life after high school would be the way to access your information faster and the way to provide supplementary information to others better and faster. I think another advantage of having technology in the classroom would be to be able to learn something new about technology before anyone else and getting hands on at the first sight. Having the advantage to getting a new technology and using it before anyone else is a priveledge and a right.

My Involvement in TAFE

This year I have not participated in any TAFE events at either level. I sometimes wish that I had participated in TAFE competitions but because of me being a senior, I had a lot of other things going on at the same time. I think that if I had taken this class a year earlier, I would have been way more involved in TAFE events. Even though I didn't really participate, I am still very proud of all of my friends who did participate and put so much time and effort into everything they did.

Want more information about TAFE? Here is their website:

http://www.tafeonline.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=3

Who is Stacey Bess?

Today I started to research Stacey Bess. While researching her, I found this website that has a bunch of information about her.
The website:  http://www.staceybess.com/about.php
Stacey Bess has made an incredible impact on education by "...teaching and modeling love, self-worth, personal power, and courage..." to students in a different way than most teachers would. Within her first teaching job, she was teaching kids who had no homes and little hope and were labeled unteachable. She would teach these kids in a small shed behind a community homeless shelter with nothing more than what she was taught at the University of Utah. As a way to express everything she got from teaching at this school, Stacey Bess wrote a book called "Nobody Don't Love Nobody: Lessons on Love from the School With No Name" describing everything she experienced while teaching these kids and the lessons that she taught her kids and lessons she also learned herself. The movie, "Beyond the Blackboard", is based on Stacey Bess's book describing her confronting her own fears and all the struggles she had trying to gain respect and attention from her students. When I think of being in those circumstances, part of me thinks that I wouldn't last but another part of me thinks that by thinking I can't last, would make me want to last. Just being able to see kids like that work and grow in an amazing way makes me want to stick with it and grow from it.

Bullying in School

Bullying has always been a very tough thing to deal with in today's world. Bullying can be caused for lots of reasons. Some reasons why kids bully is because they don't have any good people to look up to, things at home are not good so they bring it out on others, and simply just because they have been bullied and think it's okay. From the BISD schools I have attended, I have not seen very much bullying going on. At the other BISD schools I haven't attended I do think that there might be some bullying problems. I have never been bullied or experienced anyone being bullied at school before, but if I had I think that the person who is being the bully should be turned in and go to classes for it. It's not right and the issue should be handle right away and with extreme measures. I believe in the future to help bullying from not happening, we should make everyone feel welcome and not be mean to others.

For more information on bulling in schools, read this article:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/01/27/3693959/fort-worth-school-district-takes.html

Here is a video about bullying:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SMLADgjDMU