Research + Field Experience+ Course Content

When I started this blogging experience at the beginning of the fall semester I was slightly terrified. I had never done this before, and even though I was excited to try something new I had a hard time getting started. Even though it was difficult I still learned a lot from this experience and I made many connections with my research to field experiences and experiences from my personal work.

To begin, from my first blog about music therapy was very eye opening and I was able to make many connections to previous experiences and I wasn’t able to make connections during the field but I did make connections in my workplace. I noticed that those young children who seemed to struggle building relationships benefited greatly from interacting with others through music. I noticed that it did not necessarily matter if it was pre-recorded music or if it was music that they made on their own. Overall, the article about family center music therapy demonstrated that those who participated in music therapy were able to communicate better and hold on to better relationships.

In the second article I discussed in my blogs was about classroom management techniques. After analyzing and reading this article and comparing it to my field placement, I believe that my placement would be interventionists. Often the teachers in there would make decisions for the kids. They would tell them what to do, how to do it, and sometimes how they were feeling. In addition, if a child did not behave or meet the standards expected of them they would be corrected and then sat in a “time out” chair. Their method of classroom management often bothered me, because I feel that students should be exposed to more positive reinforcement. In addition, I don’t feel that their classroom management style really helped them control the classroom. I often felt that the room was chaotic. Overall, I think that it is important for all students to experience a classroom management system that is a combination of all the methods described in the article.

In the end, I feel that I have learned a lot about this experience. I learned things about my professional life, as well as, self management. I would like to thank you, my professors, for exposing me to blogging.

My personal blogging journey this semester has deeply impacted me as a student and future teacher.  At the onset of this endeavor, I was intrepid and hesitant to dip my toe into the frightening, unknown waters of the elusive blog.   Before taking ERCH 496, I  had little experience with this form of expression and I was too embarrassed to confront my fear of technology.    My desire to succeed in this course forced me to confront my fear and delve into this new mode of communication and I am delighted at this unexpected turn of events.   Throughout this experience I’ve found out that I deeply enjoy blogging and I now plan on incorporating it into my future classroom.

The first article I found on Cult of Pedagogy was A Strengths Based Approach to Teaching ESL by Laura Lenz.   I was intrigued by this article because I want to get a Master’s Degree in teaching ESL and I believe that English Language Learners possess a tremendous talent which needs to be nurtured.    The author is an ESL teacher who implores the audience to:  “close our eyes and imagine what brilliance might be unleashed if we focus on the strengths, assets and potential of our ELLs.”  As an optimist and an advocate for the individual strengths and talents of every child, I was instantly drawn to read and learn more.   Lenz focuses on creating a classroom defined by “kindness, respect and positive reinforcement”.

There are some parallels between my field placement and this article.  In my placement I had the opportunity to interact with many English Language Learners.  I  was impressed to hear them speaking Spanish as mom dropped them off and then seamlessly transitioning back to English to interact with their peers.  I would recommend that the teachers add bilingual labels to objects around the classroom to make these students feel more welcome and promote vocabulary acquisition.   I appreciate that the teachers used a bucket filler reward system similar to the one advocated for by Lenz.

For my second article, I chose to research another passion of mine, teaching children with autism.   I explained that since I work with ELLs and children with Autism as a substitute teacher’s aide, I want to be able to effectively and passionately teach both of these groups of children to the best of my ability.   My research question was: how can we help children with autism improve their social skills?”  To answer this question I read: Teaching Games to Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Special Interests and Video Modeling by Sunhwa Jung and Diane Saint.   The authors found that using videos and games to teach social skills was extremely beneficial to children with ASD.

Throughout  my placement, I interacted frequently with two children  with ASD.  At the beginning of my placement they were struggling to interact with their peers and they displayed antisocial behavior.  They had many outbursts which created a chaotic classroom environment.   Approximately a third of the way through my placement, one of the students received a TSS and almost immediately began to display substantial improvements in his behavior.   His TSS used games and songs to help teach the child social skills and especially to emphasize the importance of listening to peers.  He began practicing these skills and was accepted by his peers after he became willing to respect their boundaries.  This was a beautiful transformation to witness and made me happy to have the opportunity to be a part of.

The third article I read in an attempt to answer the question of how to level the playing field in early literacy for children from lower SES.   I have seen first hand how children’s earliest literacy exposure directly impacts the vocabulary that they come to school knowing.  Some children have been read to since birth, while others have not seen a book until they enter the formal educational system.   The achievement gap can begin for children of lower SES before they enter their first kindergarten class.   They may have been exposed to few vocabulary words and may not ever have participated in an interactive read aloud.  As teachers, it is our responsibility to reduce the achievement gap by creating a literacy-rich environment to benefit all learners.

The Effect of Tier 2 Intervention for Phonemic Awareness in a Response-to-Intervention Model in Low-Income Preschool Classrooms by Koutsoftas, Harmon and Gray examines the effect of 6 weeks of Tier 2 small group instruction on the phonemic awareness of low-income preschoolers.     The authors found that “in a relatively short period of time, preschoolers’ phonemic awareness skills were increased  for 78% of students through small–group Tier 2 intervention provided by teachers and SLPs.”  I found this research significant and very useful.  During my field placement, I conducted story time repeatedly making sure to use the interactive read aloud approach.  Additionally, I attempted to read with every child individually.  When I encountered a child who lacked familiarity with reading, I had them point to the pictures in a book and tell me a story.   I found the Head Start program to be beneficial for introducing new vocabulary and building emergent reading skills to level to playing field before children begin formal school.   Eventually, I would like to take some graduate level classes on teaching early literacy to culturally and linguistically diverse learners.

The fourth article I considered was part of the group blog for the Eshleman Elementary School Science Fair.   We read ‘It’s a mystery!’ A Case Study of Implementing Forensic Science in Preschool by Christine Howitt, Emily Upson, and Simon Lewis.  This article discussed the inquisitive nature of young children and considered their innate desire to learn through science.   The article suggests developing children’s scientific inquiry skills though the use of forensic inquiry.   Our group question was “How do detectives work to solve mysteries with the information they are given?”  At our table we peaked student’s curiosity by taking their fingerprints in colored ink.  We then enlisted their help as junior detectives to find the clues and solve the mystery at our station.  The children worked well together and were able to deduce that the clues  pointed to a kangaroo.   Upon reflection, our group would have made more challenging clues, but overall we were happy to see that the students worked well and cooperated to solve the mystery. 

In my field placement I have been consistently impressed by their incorporation of science and nature into the classroom.  Students go on daily walks and many times return with natural treasures such as pine cones and acorns.  Students have a science table in the classroom complete with mirrors and magnifying glasses to study their scientific artifacts.  Additionally the preschool has an amazing nature playground where the children use their imaginations to turn grass into pizza and stones into Halloween candy.  Their imaginations soar when they are playing in nature.

I have found this blogging experience to be deeply rewarding.  I was a technophobe when I began the process, but I have grown to love researching questions and synthesizing my ideas online.   I feel excited that I was able to acquire and practice a new skill and I am sure that I will continue to explore blogging.   At this point, I think it would be beneficial for me to establish a blog as a pre-service teacher in order to synthesize all of the information I am learning from more experienced teachers.    I am confident that I will blog again, possibly over winter break.  Additionally I will incorporate blogging into my future classroom both as the teacher (by creating my own teaching blog) and for my students to practice the art of blogging themselves.  Do you see yourself blogging again?  If so what do you think you’ll discuss in your future blogs? Will they be about teaching or an extracurricular activity?  Do you want your future students to be proficient bloggers? How can we get students started blogging in a meaningful way at an early age?

Throughout this blogging experience, I looked closely at a variety of topics that peaked my interest, and I was able to learn much more about those topics through research and writing.

The first topic that I looked at was the importance of play in the classroom. This is a topic that I have been continuously exposed to during my years at Millersville, but I think it is a topic that you can never have enough information on. I looked at the article, What Exactly is Play, and Why is it Such a Powerful Vehicle for Learning? by Peter Gray. This article looked at the definition of play, and also how play has been proven to aid the development of children. I found that play helps in a child’s development in my field placement. When children are playing together, they exhibit social and emotional development, they use fine and gross motor skills, and they exhibit cognitive development as well.

The second topic that I looked at was teaching children a second language at a young age. This is a topic that I have been interested in since I learned more about how linguistics work. The human brain is much more malleable at a younger age with the content we have the capacity to learn. As we get older, it becomes harder, which is why it is harder for us to learn a second language. I learned more about this topic from the article, The Age Factor in Second Language Learning by  Ruyun Hu. Realistically, children should not be waiting until high school to learn a second language because it is unlikely to stick with them when the learning stops. Young children are much more likely to learn the second language and keep it. At my field placement, each object in the room is labeled with the English word and the Spanish word. However, I was disappointed to see that the words were never spoken to the children or interacted with in any way.

The third topic that I looked at was as a group for our science fair project. We read an article titled, ‘It’s a mystery!’ A Case Study of Implementing Forensic Science in Preschool by Christine Howitt, Emily Upson, and Simon Lewis. This article stated that children have immense curiosity and are all innate scientists. That is why it is our job as future teachers to make time for our students to explore the aspects of science. We did our science fair lesson on forensics, specifically fingerprinting and how every person has a different set of fingerprints. The students seemed to enjoy our lesson, and they especially had fun finding the clues to solve the mystery. I was disappointed to see in my field placement that their “science” centers did not have much to do with science, nor did they cause the children to think or problem solve.

The fourth topic I looked at was how to encourage writing through blogging. Blogging was something that I had previously been exposed to in high school, and it is something that I would like to maybe continue doing outside of class. I read the article, Blogging in Elementary School: Why, How, and What Teachers can do to Encourage Writing by Joe Jerles.  This article examined the benefits of blogging from a writing aspect and also a technology aspect as well. I think blogging is an engaging  and fun way to allow children to write out their thoughts and answer prompts. There was no evidence of writing, aside from letters, in my field placement, which is age appropriate for three year olds.

Overall, I feel that I learned a lot from this experience, and that it aided me in my field experience too. Is blogging something that you would like to continue doing? Would you like for another professor to use blogging as an assignment?

As I reflect back on this blogging experience, I realized that I learned more than I ever anticipated. When I first started blogging, I found the article about using an Apple TV in your classroom through the Tech Savvy Educator’s blog. I initially thought that my theme for blogging would revolve around technology in the classroom and, while that was an underlying theme, I found that there was a lot more to offer through the blogging experience. I realized that, by following a multitude of blogs, I was able to gain so much more information than I would have if I would have just focused on one. I gained a lot of knowledge about classroom management, technology in the classroom, and blogging that I will be sure to use to my advantage.

The first two blog posts that I wrote focused on techniques to use in your classroom that benefit students. The first blog that I focused on was based on the article written by Chen and Hwang about collective efficacy in the classroom. We always talk about self-efficacy in our classes, but this article showed me the importance of collective efficacy and how we should teach our students about it. Because of that article, I now have the understanding of what collective efficacy is and how to enforce it in my future classroom. My second article talks about the importance of incorporating music into your classroom. I am an advocate of music in our schools and I really liked that this article backed up my personal philosophy. It was a really interesting article that, not only discussed the importance of incorporating music into the classroom, but also gave ideas on how to do it. I noticed that both of these articles discussed incorporating interesting techniques into your future classroom, which I found to be really beneficial.

My last blog post was about extending your classroom beyond the walls of the school. The article focused on blogging in your classroom and the benefits that it has for your students. I really enjoyed this article because it reinforced the idea of blogging in the classroom, even with young students, which is something that I hope to do. It will be nice for me to incorporate blogging into my future classroom because it will allow all of my students to connect in and outside of the classroom.

This blogging experience was really eye-opening to me. It allowed me to gain insights from people that I would never read before, and it showed me to gain an appreciation for blogging and for my own writing abilities. After this experience, I realized that I want to continue blogging in my future. I would love to blog my experiences during student teaching and during my first year as a teacher and then see where it takes me! It will be a great way for me to reflect back on what I have done and to even use as a resource for future lessons. Just like I reflected on my experience at the science fair at Eshleman, I’ll be able to reflect on future experiences as a teacher as well. I will be able to see what went well, what didn’t, and what I could change in the future. Overall, I feel like this was a great experience for me. Not only did I gain experience in blogging, but I gained experience in research as well.

I would like to end with the question to my peers: do you think you’ll continue to blog? If so, how will you use blogging? Will you use it as a teacher, will you incorporate it into your daily lessons, or will you just continue it for fun? Good luck to everyone in your future endeavors! I can’t wait to follow everyone’s teacher blogs and see what they’re doing 🙂

 

I would like to start this blog post by first talking about the experience I had personally with this assignment. I think this was a very beneficial assignment in this course because it helped me think critically about many topics that I will be dealing with as a teacher. Another reason I enjoyed it was because I was able to look for any topic that I wanted to write about which made me interested in the assignment. Lastly, I was able to think about how I could apply my new knowledge in my future classroom which is the whole point of going to school for teaching. Next, I will talk about three articles that I used in my blog posts and how they benefited me individually.

The first article I wrote about was Classroom Management Affects Literacy Development of Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. This article helped me learn a lot about students with  emotional behavioral disorder and will benefit me immensely in my teaching career. An important quote from the article that stood out to me was

“Given the known struggles in classroom management for teachers working with students with or at risk for EBD, it should not be surprising that many teachers resort to punitive and reactive practices, which then leads to less time for learning.”

This stood out to me because positive reinforcement is something that we’ve talked about throughout our entire college career.

The next article I talked about was The Influence of Mathematics Vocabulary Instruction Embedded Within Addition Tutoring for First-Grade Students With Mathematics Difficulty. This article first struck my attention because I saw the heading including the words “academic language”. I was able to relate my findings in this article to Dr. Himmele’s ELL class that we have this semester. I thought that this article was very relevant to us and our discussions of CALP. Not only is this the only reason I chose this article, but I also liked it because I enjoy learning about ELL’s because I feel like we don’t get enough of that in our classes especially with the growing numbers of ELL’s in the classroom. I think that this article and writing of mine helped me think of ELL’s in my future classroom with I hadn’t previously thought of before and even had me thinking of different ways to help them in the classroom.

The last article I wrote about was Journalogue: Voicing Student Challenges in Writing through a Classroom Blog. The study in this article involved 15 students who were divided into five groups, of three members each, with varying proficiency levels in writing. They were asked to submit reflections as journal/blog posts, on two assignments. Each group was then asked to comment on their group members’ reflections, while the teacher remained a silent observer, to ensure a stress-free environment. I was able to easily relate this article to the blogging that we did in this class. It also helped me find something that could be useful in my own classroom but I would prefer to adapt the idea to communication with my student’s parents. This could be a very effective way of communication so that that I can contact them as well as them contacting me.

Synthesis:
Over the course of this semester, I have been wracking my brain, trying to prepare for the next professional block and for student teaching, as well as researching what makes up an effective, efficient teacher. With my thoughts on baking cookies and getting ready for the holiday season, I often equivalent my professional development, and what I need to include in my teaching to make myself as perfect of an educator as I can get, to baking. Strangely enough, I ask myself and others around me, “What is the recipe for a superb teacher?”. Through my blogging this semester I have tried to develop this recipe by grounding it in research and applying it my own personal experiences in the field of education so far. While my blog posts and cover a wide range of topics one thing is established clearly, all the topics establish elements of what makes superb teaching.
1 1/2 Cups of Teacher-Family Collaboration
During my first exploration in the world of blogging I took a look at a blog that discusses the importance of teacher-family communication and collaboration. From this blog, I gained not only an example of how to write an entertaining and informative blog myself, but also ways in which I can communicate with the families of my future students. This blog goes into dept talking about one specific way in which communication and collaboration are made easy and effective through the app and website Classtag.  This tool allows teachers to streamline all their communication methods into one digital space where announcements, sign-ups, private messages, photos, and two-way discussions can be completed without ever having to use multiple platforms. This blog grounded in research and application demonstrated to me how important it is for an efficient and effective educator to have various methods to communicate with families and to do so often using the tools available. I plan to use either this tool or a tool similar in the future when deciding the best ways to communicate and collaborate with my student’s parents and families. I also plan to make sure that I communicate and work together with families as often as possible to teach to the whole child.
2 3/4 Cups of Interactive Classroom Teaching Strategies
Once I got the hang of blogging I started to dive deeper into other various subjects that I felt were important to research so that I could become a better educator. What I found definitely did not disappoint me and actually made me pretty excited to try.  I knew from my previous classes that having interactive teaching strategies were the best way to make sure my class is engaged and learning. What I did not know was that there were so many different models of classroom management and teacher strategies out there. One article I found went into depth about the practice of using the Game Based Learning model. I researched this model, and found that GBL is a way that educators use games, most often digital games, to enhance the student’s journey of learning in the classroom. These games use competition, teamwork, and challenges to spark students attention and to have them learn in a fun way, but also to have the students apply what they are learning instead of just acting as inactive sponges. The study I read discussed that 62 students in six different sixth grade classrooms took place in the GBL instruction model and it was found that their skills became more proficient, the students were able to reflect on their learning, they were motivated, and learned to be responsible for their own learning. This study and the research I did on this one specific model stressed the importance for a superb teacher to be able to use the best interactive teaching strategy available that fits what their students need. That’s why to continue to improve my skills of being a great teacher I need to research more interactive teaching methods and use them in my practice. I need to make sure I am able to motivate, inspire, and engage my students throughout their journeys in academia. In the future I will make sure to get to know my students and their learning styles, then find a strategy or several, that will make their time in my classroom worthwhile.

1 Cup of Technology Integration
Speaking of various teaching strategies, another one I stumbled on in my research to become a superb teacher is the Flipped Classroom Model. I learned through another study that the Flipped Classroom Model is a model where educators integrate technology into learning by setting up direct instruction through interactive power points for videos for students to watch outside of class and then during class time have students practice their skills. Basically, this model switches the roles in the traditional teaching model by using technology as an advantage. The study I found discussed how 27 fourth graders underwent this non traditional way of learning since their classroom teacher wanted to give it a go to improve performance. The study demonstrated there were many benefits such as students gaining more practice and understanding material better since the teacher’s guidance was readily available to them. Students were also able to learn at their own pace by stopping and rewinding the videos and given the opportunity to be responsible for their own learning since it was up to them to watch the videos and participate. However, I did find some drawbacks such as this method being a difficult one to use if students did not come from homes where technology was available to them and that the teachers had to do a lot more initial work to prepare all of the materials for students to use online.  I learned from this research that the Flipped Model is not meant for every educator or classroom, however, technology integration inside the classroom is an important thing to have. Technology integration allows students to gain important 21st-century skills as well as to learn about being part of a global community. To be a superb teacher I found that it is crucial to expose students to technology when possible and when it makes sense. To better myself as an educator I plan to take this into account when planning future lessons and strategies to teach within my classroom. I learn about more ways to incorporate technology, but also understand that technology is a tool and not a replacement for good teaching.
3 Cups of Professional Development
Last but not least on my journey to find the recipe for what makes an effective educator I wrote about my own professional development, and how blogging has better prepared me for teaching. Through my research and own personal experiences I found that blogging gave me an opportunity and outlet to research what makes a good teacher, how to put that into practice, and to overall keep up with professional development. I found an article and study that discusses how other pre-service teachers used blogging and a pen pal system with students and they learned several key things which corresponded to what blogging taught me. I learned how to become a better active reader and writer, find quality research to use in my professional development, how to give specific feedback, and to improve upon my reflection processes. All of these areas are essential to being a great teacher but also to advancing as a professional as a whole. Through the entire blogging exercise this semester along with the research I learned that professional development is crucial to improving myself over time. Without professional development and various outlets for it such as blogging, publishing, going to conferences, and collaborating with others, I would never become a superb teacher. In the future, I will continue to gain as many experiences as possible as well as research and apply my research to better prepare myself and continue to gain useful skills in teaching.

Final Thoughts
While over the past few months, based in research and discussion, I have found several key elements that I believe are important to include in a recipe for a superb teacher, I know that over time these things will change, shift, and more will be added. That is because like any recipe to make it your own you must adapt it and shift it to meet the needs at that time. For teaching that means adjusting my practice, strategies, and curriculum to become the best learning guide for all of the various classes I will have and know that to be great as an educator I must be willing to research and change. I plan to continue to dive into research and further professional development and challenge myself to always find elements to improve upon so that I can become an effective teacher. I want to leave the rest of you with a challenge too. Continue to always reflect on your own teaching and ask yourself how you can be better. What would be your recipe for a superb teacher be? Would you add, change, or shift anything to mine?

To start this blogging process, I began by exploring The Cult of Pedagogy and I stumbled upon a lot of great topics. Classroom management was the topic that stuck out to me and it was something I wanted to learn more about, so I continued that throughout each blog post.

The first article I read (the link is now dead) explained how important it was for a classroom teacher to plan classroom rules in advance and create consistent procedures that the children know to follow. The next article I explored offered suggestions of what teachers can do before the school year starts to implement effective classroom management techniques. This particular article was very informative for me as someone that will have their own classroom soon (!!!). It took away some of my stress about classroom management and gave me good ideas of what I can do before the first day of school.

I have been in the field several times in several different grades. I have always wondered how teachers get their students to follow their specific rules and procedures to create a smooth and flowing classroom. After exploring these articles throughout the semester, I have realized that effective classroom management is possible and there are a lot of things that teachers need to do to make it possible.

When thinking about your future classroom set-up and instructional methods; do you believe your classroom will “flow” together and that effective learning will take “place?” Do you feel that the way materials and instruction are presented affects your classroom environment?

I will discuss why it is important for instruction to be given positively and effectively; these factors both will affect your future classroom “flow.” First, the article, “Two Urban Elementary Science Classrooms: The Interplay Between Student Interactions And Classroom Management Practices” written by Bobby J. Jeanpierre, PH.D discusses research about monitoring that was performed on classroom management procedures and student interactions. The classroom management styles were intrinsic and the other was authoritarian. Though, the styles of teaching differed; the classroom experiences were both that of “negative ones.” The classrooms involved lower-quality instruction and had many classroom interruptions and negative student interactions. The instruction was lacking effective questioning and student engagement. The one teacher discussed how her style of teaching is like “coaching” her students and the other teacher did not self-describe her teaching style (Jeanpierre, B.). The research gained from observations and teacher discussions reiterated just how important effective instruction is in the classroom. The students who were off task or being disruptive were not being challenged nor engaged in the classroom. The style of the teachers also affected student reactions to the lessons as well. The main analysis of the research from the observers was that classroom management styles, teacher instruction, level of questions asked to students, and the quality of the lessons all affect the classroom environment.

Another article that connects to the importance of effective instruction is: “When Cultures Clash in the Classroom”, written by Veeko Lucas. This article was from a blog site called The New Teacher’s Post (TNTP); the article brought up the topic of how to present and discuss relevant topics such as race, native origin, and culturally differences in the classroom setting. The article discussed how to deal with the hardships of the “gap” that may be present in classrooms because of cultural differences. Hopefully the schools support cultural differences-discussions. The way the teacher “brings” these topics to awareness in the classroom is important and the instruction should be performed in an effective manner to create an enjoyable and welcoming classroom environment.

The form of instruction is not without the pedagogy and beliefs that the classroom teacher has, so the way teaching is “handled” affects the classroom environment too. There is an informational article about 31 teachers from low-performing urban schools that were observed because their teaching methods were very effective; the article is, “Highly Effective Teachers in Low-Performing Urban Schools” (Poplin et al., 2011). For example: one of the teachers was “stated” to be strict, but very caring as well. The teacher was not-over-bearing through her instruction; nor classroom management, but “showed” the students they were important, by effective planning and instruction. Through her teaching practices she reminded students that they are important and capable to succeed; not matter what their obstacles or economically status was. The students of the elementary schools from the study were living in the most economically depressed communities in California. The teacher mentioned in the article, “she believes every student can learn” (Poplin et al., 2011). The students even stated positive rapport with their teacher and knew she wanted only the best for them. Another student who had a male teacher stated, “One thing for sure, his attitude is always up. He never brings us down, but we all know he has faith in us to learn and succeed” (Poplin et al., 2011). All of the educational-related articles discussed in this blog have one main factor that is significant in the classroom and effects how the “flow” of the learning environment; the importance for instruction to be given positively and effectively.

All the information I gained from the articles made me reflect on the observations that took place during my field experience. I was in a young-age classroom; most of the children were 2 years old. The center director and assistants were kind and knowledgeable of their surroundings such as: the importance of professionalism and engagement with the children, as well as with the parents. The classroom teacher’s management styles varied widely; some were positively engaged in the workplace and others that seemed as if they didn’t want to really be involved with the children. The classroom I observed involved two main teachers and “floating” staff that assisted. The two year olds I felt were still young enough not to need as much teacher instruction during free play time, but the way the teachers acted affected the environment of the classroom frequently. As well, the way instruction was taught for the children and that it was at their level of learning and pace. The teachers allowed for the children to have some down-time, but also incorporated learning time through lessons such as: colors, matching, building, drawing, and size. The lessons were age-appropriate and were engaging for the children. The teachers used speech assisted with pointing, “modeling”, enthusiasm, encouragement, and a “pace” that allowed for the children to process information. This reiterates how important effective instruction is and that positive teacher interaction is paramount.

So, how do you “see” your future classroom “flowing”?

In the article “what about blogs?” I have learned that blogging is a baseline that many times sprouts ideas that later become groundbreaking research topics. Overall, I feel that blogging is an important means for communication and education. Blogging can also be a great way to work through potential problems in my every day career. By following other blogs, I will obtain more knowledge and understanding in my work field.

The first two blog posts that I completed discussed the School to Prison Pipeline and the affects that it has on children in schools today. This is a topic that I feel needs to be talked about, blogged about, and shouted from the rooftops. After reading the article Dismantling the School-to-Prision-Pipeline, I was equipped with the skills to create a safe and positive learning environment that will help students be successful in their transformation into productive members of society. I felt that I was doing something important when I was blogging about this topic. One of the main reasons this topic still exists is because of lack of exposure and understanding. So while I was writing about it, I felt that I was raising awareness and not only informing people of what it is, but I was able to spread word of different ways to help and prevent this from happening. While reading these articles, I wonder if my readers felt that they were beneficial to their future career.

Overall, I would blog again as I said before. I am hoping to create a blog that discusses my experiences during student teaching as well as the shift into my job search and the blog will follow me to my new job as well. For example, after the science fair, I was able to blog about my experience. This would be a great way to showcase an activity done in the classroom for parents and other educators to observe. While writing Liquid Learning; the Solid Facts, I was able to obtain more information about the topic through extensive research and planning. While conducting our research, we found an article that did a great job describing what Oobleck is and it gave us examples of how universities such as Princeton and University of Chicago have experimented with Oobleck. Overall, the whole experience including not only the blogging, but the research and thought process behind the blogging was beneficial.

My question for my readers would be, did you find blogging to be helpful? do you see the many ways that it can showcase your future journey as a teacher? Starting now would help you create an online resources for future employers, parents, and act as a timeline for yourself; just something to think about.