My R2P Reflection

Reflection of Experience & the Semester

 

The Beginning:

      Going into this class I had no idea I would have a teacher blog. I didn’t think I would be placing myself online and presenting what I have done within a professional and educational field. I have never done anything like this before so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. I played with the various ways to go about the R2P, but I enjoyed the blog the most. So I stuck with it for the project. 

The Middle:

      I originally thought that this would be pretty easy. I was wrong and it ended up being more complicated than I thought. Throughout the experience, I messed with formatting, styling, visuals and everything in between. I learned about a lot, but the one thing that stood out the most was the rhetorical triangle. I had never heard of it until I started the R2P and I think it made me learn a lot. The triangle showed me the importance of the audience, the author, and the message of your content. There is a happy balance between the all three and balancing the three allows for a quality and successful post. 

The End:

     From learning this, it brought me to where I am now. Now we are at the end of the semester and I have learned a lot. With my experience in writing blog posts, I think now I will be better at connecting with others on the web. I think I will use something like this once I graduate and I am out trying to get a teaching job. I think I could also use this within my classroom and have a classroom blog for my students and parents. From learning this I have found more enjoyment in reading blogs and learning the insight of other current teachers. This will allow me to gain new and more knowledge about the education world from others that are currently in it. Part of being a teacher is continuously learning and gaining new ideas. This experience certainly grew me as a learner and I plan to continue this learning in the future. I can thank my amazing professor for this great opportunity at learning! 🙂

 

Necessity of Virtual School: Self Care

COVID-19

      Life is harder than ever for everyone in our country right now due to COVID-19. Teachers, parents and students alike are struggling with their own troubles during this time of quarantine. I have talked about quarantine life for the parents; I will now talk about teachers during their time in quarantine. Teachers have had to suddenly change their curriculum, adapt it to online work, change their schedule, and attempt to teach their students through virtual school and hope that they are able to grasp the information while being at home. 

      Due to the juggling of all these components, teachers can quickly become overwhelmed, stressed and exhausted. This could potentially pursue burnout within teachers. Typical school (not virtual school) also can stir burnout within teachers. Virtual schooling has increased frustration and stress in teachers more than ever.

     Us teachers need to stick together and support each other–especially during a situation like this. If you are an educator and you are looking for ways to decompress during your time of virtual schooling, PLEASE keep reading! Self care is essential for you!

Self Care at its Finest

It may seem impossible to find time to care for yourself when you have teaching, work, and family priorities (to name a few), on your plate. But, I promise you, self care is necessary and beneficial to you as a parent, (if you are one), a teacher and a person as a whole. Please consider these suggestions of self care and see which ones fit to your life and work best for you.

Simplify your schedule

       As teachers we do have a lot to do, however it is important to put an effort towards time management and figure out a schedule that works best for each of us. Simplify your schedule as best as possible. Ask yourself which activities and commitments are truly adding value to your life right now during quarantine.  Intentionally make space and time for those things that are most important. Make your schedule clear, and cross out tasks as you complete it, you will feel more accomplished that way.

Exercise

Exercise may seem impossible right now due gyms being closed, and really not being able to go outside. But, exercise is still important and can be something to do inside your home during quarantine. Stretch, swim in your pool if you have one, run, or whatever physical activity you enjoy. Exercise is a key part of self-care and it will help your body stay active and healthy throughout quarantine. Below, I have provided a few examples for you if you are not sure what to do.

Quarantine Home Workout – WITH NO EQUIPMENT

With gyms being closed and many of us being in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic, we have to get creative when it comes to doing our workouts. If yo…

 

Quarantine Stay At Home Workout #1 (no equipment needed)

Coronavirus quarantine home workout no equipment needed For Bookings Contact Anthony Mosley mosleymanthony@gmail.com Share with a friend who would enjoy this…

Take a long bath

Take care of your body, wash it well and clean all those crevices that dirt can get lost in. It is important more than ever to keep germs away. While you’re at it, light some candles, grab a magazine and a glass of your favorite wine for your bath as well–Treat yourself! 

Do something fun

Take time to participate in one of your interests at home–whether that be dancing, drawing, knitting, anything. Anything you get leisure enjoyment out of, do it. It will bring you happiness and peace during your downtime or break. 

De-clutter/Clean

Choose a place — your email inbox, your desk, a closet — and get rid of the excess and junk. This may bring peace to your mind knowing that there is a clean space within your home or computer. 

Meditation & Yoga

Meditation and/or yoga are great ways to calm the mind and the body. Begin or end your day with a minute of deep breathing, and focused awareness of your body, thoughts, and feelings. Meditation is beneficial to you in many different ways. According to the HHS and NIH, Many studies have investigated meditation for different conditions, and there’s evidence that it may reduce blood pressure as well as symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and flare-ups in people who have had ulcerative colitis.” Meditation and yoga are truly beneficial in more ways than one; this is an effective method of self care that will truly take care of your mind and body. 

Below are some videos that I have provided in order to get started. No need for a yoga mat, just pick a spot and get going! If you have kids and need to keep them busy, then get them involved as well!

5 minute yoga | Beginners yoga

This 5 minute yoga class | Beginners yoga is for those days when you don’t have much time, but feel like you need to get your energy moving! Perfect first th…

5 Minute Yoga | Morning Yoga for Beginners | Yoga With Bird

5 minute yoga class to start your morning! This is a gentle 5 minute morning yoga for beginners routine. A simple 5 minute morning yoga practice is all you n…

 

 

Relax/Sleep

Relaxing or sleeping may be the best way of self care. Relax in the way that suits you best: watching a movie, read a book, whatever works best for you. You could also take a nap, go to bed earlier, and give your body some extra rest. Extra sleep won’t hurt!

Wrap Up

For teachers, parents, students and others alike–it is extremely important for all of us to take care of ourselves. Especially, in a time like this during a pandemic, we need to stay clean, healthy and safe during our time in quarantine. Teachers who are reading, please participate in self care. Your kiddos in your class need you more now than ever. It is important for us to take care of ourselves,so we can take care of them.

Thank you for reading this in an attempt to better yourself during these crucial times. Stay healthy! <3

Keep Those Germs Away!

Blog for Parents

Due to the current events of our world, germs are scarier now than ever! It is important for you, the parents, and your children to be safe during this epidemic, as well as every other time, every day of the year. You are now the parent, the caregiver AND the teacher. As parents, you worry about the well-being and safety of your children. If you need some insight on how to keep your children busy and clean during this time of quarantine, keep reading!

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Don’t Know Where to Start?

There are many ways to encourage good hygiene within your children. Let us start with the basics. The basics include: hand washing, bathing, and brushing your teeth. These are the most important ways of good hygiene. These ways keep your child(ren), happy, healthy and safe overall and during this pandemic. With the excessive amount of germs going around during this time, we want to make sure children have good thorough hygiene. Due to the nature of our country right now, I will be focusing on tips, tricks and ideas on hand washing. 

 Most simplistic way to present hand washing is:Wet, Soap, Scrub, Rinse, Dry. Allow your child to soak their hands in warm water, rub on some soap, scrub their hands, rinse the soap off their hands, and dry them. What is most important in hand washing is the scrubbing and rinsing. While scrubbing you want to scrub your hands (And your child’s hands) in every spot possible. Germs can get tucked away between our fingers and under our fingernails so it is best to scrub them as best as possible. Rinsing is also important because you need to be sure to rinse all the dirty soap off. Otherwise you will still have the soap and germs on your hands. Minimal hand-washing is necessary if you and your child touch your faces and other dirt-prone areas as little as possible. 

Child Washing Hands Clipart

How Long?

How long do you think you should wash your hands?According to the CDC, you should wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. Now you can very easily can just count to twenty with your kiddos, but you can make it much more fun by singing a song instead! Some songs you can sing while washing include:

  • Happy Birthday song (twice)
  • Row Row Row Your Boat
  • Wash Wash Wash Your Hands—(Video)
  • Twinkle Twinkle

Hand washing clipart 5 » Clipart Station

There are many other songs that you can do as well. If they have a favorite song, or TV show theme song you could very easily sing those songs for twenty seconds. Here is one example of a song by The Wiggles. Of course, the use of this video changes depending on the age and the appropriateness for your child, but younger children enjoy the tunes of The Wiggles. (I know I did). 

Washing Hands Song: 

The Wiggles: The Handwashing Song

We are so excited to share the song and video we created with our friends at UNICEF Australia! ⁠ This song is all about how to wash your hands and stay healt…

How to Make Washing Your Hands Fun

It could be as simple as adding a stool to the sink so your small kiddos can reach the sink. That way it does not seem like as much of a hassle and issue to wash their hands. You could also make it a family gathering where everyone washes their hands; due to it being a family activity it may encourage your child to want to wash their hands. 

Baby, bath, child, kid, shampoo, shower, soap icon

You could also turn it into the game–especially if you have multiple children. You can make the game of “Who’s hands smell the cleanest?” This will encourage them to use plenty of soap, wash for the appropriate amount of time AND wash all parts of their hand. 

If you want to go the artistic/creative route, you can also allow them to make bubbles when washing their hands. Buying colorful soap in various shapes and smells can also excite your child into hand washing. 

How to Encourage Hand Washing

  • Introduce at an early age!
    • Introducing “good” behavior at an early age allows for the child to observe, understand and mimic the behaviors you desire. 
  • Read stories!
    • There are many story books out there about hygiene–especially washing your hands. This could expose your child to the habit of washing their hands and how important it truly is for them to stay clean. 
  • Use Hand sanitizer only when soap & water are not available!
    • Hand sanitizer does not have the same effect as soap and water, but it is still useful. Only use it when necessary!

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  • Provide own personal soap
    • Perhaps if you allow your child to choose a bar of soap for themselves (with safety checks from you of course) then this might encourage them to wash their hands. 

Eclectically Colored Soap Branding : Enjabonarte

We are experiencing some scary times within our country right now. It is up to us adults to keep our children safe–teachers and parents a like. If you ever need help, do not be afraid to ask. During times like these, we must stick together and help out one another wherever we can and however we can.  I will provide you with some addition resources below if you would like more information.

Thank you, stay safe and wash your hands! 🙂

Good Personal Hygiene Clipart

Additional Resources:

Hand Washing Etiquette –CDC

Encouraging Washing — Huffpost

Fun Time Washing — Lysol 

The Bathroom Attack!

Imagine this…

     You’re in your tiny classroom, prepping for lunch time. Everyone is getting in line in the bathrooms to wash their hands for their delicious lunch of chicken tenders, tater tots, and pineapple tidbits. 

Suddenly, you hear one student come out of the bathroom crying, screaming and holding their arm. In the process of consoling the crying child, you find out that one of his fellow classmates BIT him.

You and your fellow staff try to calm down your bitten student, and another staff member scolds the child that bit him. You watch and  listen to your colleague scold and yell at the child. After she is done scolding the biter, you do not really see a reaction from the child.

I experienced this within my own placement and it led me to the question of…does scolding and yelling REALLY work? 


The Research…

      According to research, scolding and yelling is not effective or beneficial to the teacher AND the students. They state that it is “rarely or never justifiable”.  Every teacher has their fair share of 

yelling or scolding, but I think that most teachers eventually figure out that it does not work.

I was placed within a Kindergarten classroom to observe before and my co-op did not go a day without yelling at her students. She did have a rambunctious and active group of children, but that did not allow her to yell at them. More research states that there are many reasons as to why it is not effective.

These reasons include:

    • Bad Role Modeling
    • Trains students to ignore your regular voice
    • Increase probability for less respect
    • May trigger bullying
    • And many more…

Can This Be Prevented…?

      From the research I found, it also provides ways to prevent, help and stop yelling within the classroom. There are many ways of doing this. The research goes into deep detail describing how you can go about preventing this within your classroom. I think that it is important to go about figuring this out because yelling and teaching I believe should not mix. Depending on circumstances of course, students can come home to the same thing…yelling from their parents. If they are being yelled at at home, they should not be yelled at at school. Children need a safe space to feel comfortable—school should be that place for them. 

Tips, Tricks & Steps:

TEACHERS, STOP YELLING! Some advice from another teacher.

www.createspace.com/3536421 discount code: NXY3Y88L for 15% off at the printer’s website. If you raise your voice 1 or more times a day, this video is FOR YO…

How To Stop Yelling

Join the conversation and share your ideas with others: http://mamablog.teach-through-love.com/2013/11/how-to-stop-yelling.html Get your Conscious Communicat…


Reflection…    

       Another issue within my placement is the child himself biting their fellow student. My placement is in a classroom of children ranging from three to five. My co-op mentioned to me that the child that did the biting, was indeed three. Biting is a typical behavior seen in children three and younger, however it is still not an acceptable behavior. There are ways that parents and possibly teachers could prevent biting as well.

Even though I was not the original person to scold and yell at the child who committed the act, I still can reflect on this scenario. I think based upon my observations and research, I would have gone about this in a much calmer way. My placement is all about using positive affirmation and positive words, so saying “DON’T” or “WON’T” or words with negative tones are a no-no. However, in this scenario, this did not occur–my co-op told the student:

“We do not bite our friends. That is not safe and that is not acceptable.” 

I do agree with her statement, however it goes against the ways of their program. I think it is important to be consistent and committed to your words so that your students understand and will respect you. Respect and trust is key…I do not think that goes about within yelling and scolding.  As a future educator I plan and hope to go about situations both similar and different, in a new way than just yelling. I want to speak calmly, but effectively to my students so that they understand what is right and wrong within the classroom and society as a whole.


References

Gonzalez, J. (2016, April 3). How to Stop Yelling at Your Students. Retrieved March 5, 2020, from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/stop-yelling-at-students/

How To Stop Yelling. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0VQv45P5io

Linsin, M. (2011, January 8). 10 Reasons Why You Should Never, Ever Yell At Students. Retrieved March 5, 2020, from https://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2011/01/08/10-reasons-why-you-should-never-yell-at-students/

Teachers, Stop Yelling! Some advice from another teacher. (2008). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-JFwHWkcpY

    Wheeler, G. (1935). Yelling Teachers. The Journal of Education, 118(1), 7-7. Retrieved March 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/42848215

Why an Education Major?

Hello everybody! If this is your first time on my blog, Welcome! As I begin my blog, I will take you on my elementary-ed journey and show you my experiences  within my classes, my placements and my opportunities.I hope that you care to join me on my journey as an educator through the semester.

 

            I think a few people that have influenced me to be a teacher is my high school teachers/mentors, my first grade teacher, Mrs. Wittle, and a past professor of mine, Kevin Bower. Throughout high school I had many of my teachers (that I was close with) tell me that I would be a great teacher. At first I wasn’t so sure and I did not believe them, but the further I went into my senior of highschool, I began to agree that maybe I could be a teacher. This also made me think about my teachers from my past that made a big impact on me. One of them was my first grade teacher, Mrs. Wittle; she was one of my favorite people. She was a very sweet and nurturing older lady that had a deep passion for bugs. She always had the troublesome kids in her class and she always knew how to deal with them and knew how to make them be engaged within the class. I hope to be a teacher like her someday. I also had a professor at Millersville that really increased my love for this major, his name was Kevin Bower. He showed me many different techniques and ideas in order to improve as a teacher. He gave many real life examples of his teaching life and encouraged nurturing and flexible actions towards students. I wish I was able to take more classes with him.Image result for teaching elementary

          One of my major educational gurus that I resonate with is Maria Montessori. Montessori focuses on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. I think that these are crucial for the learning of children. She was one of the first theorists I was introduced to and I fell in love with her pedagogy immediately. I think that there can be a fair and effective balance of play and academic activities in order to achieve student success within the classroom. 

Image result for montessori      Image result for montessori

         I think that my professors and my co-ops within placement are teaching me the in’s and out’s of early childhood. I think that my professors have done an amazing job so far in helping me succeed as a student and as a future educator. I have learned so much about theorists, technologies and teaching strategies. Each professor has provided me with their own personal experiences as examples and I think that that makes up a great teacher. My co-op teachers have also provided me with a lot of insight on each of their rooms, their students, and how to manage all classroom components. They have truly helped me through my years as an education major. 

            I hope that this semester, through my professors, my co-op teacher and my placement I will gain more experience and opportunities in regards to education. I am grateful for the experiences I have had and I can’t wait to experience more throughout the coming semesters and years!Image result for smile

 

 

 

Hello!

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Brianna Sangiamo and I am a junior at Millersville University. This semester I am using MU Blogs to do observations and research for my Early childhood class.

I hope to discover many amazing things on my journey through placement this semester. I hope to learn, understand and reflect on new ideas, methods and perspectives from my placement.

I will go about this by:

        • Observing
        • Listening
        • Participating
        • Engaging with the students
        • Asking Questions