Oh Blogging!

Oh blogging! When my classmates and I were first introduced to blogging, I was nervous. Even though I love to write, especially about topics I’m passionate about, I was still scared. I had never blogged before and did not think I would do it right. I was nervous about sounding unintelligent in front of my peers, but I’m sure they felt the same way. By my third post I got the hang of it, but was still struggling to see myself as a writer over a teacher.

Throughout this process, I focused on multiple topics. The first topic I focused on was about play in an early childhood setting. I chose this topic, because in each of my early childhood classes, there was always the topic of play brought up. In the article, Children at Play an Innovative Method From Studying and Teaching Nutritional Behaviors, play is an important part of a child’s health. When a child is involved in play, they are socially, cognitively, and physically involved. When I am at work or at placement, I see how the students are working together or solving problems on their own through play. They’re learning how to express their ideas, thoughts, and typical behavior. In my future classroom, I would love to implement play throughout the day.

Another article I blogged about was, The Relationship Between Teachers’ Implementation of Classroom Management Practices and Student Behavior in Elementary School. This article mentions how Teachers’ classroom management practices have a direct impact on their students’ success. Good classroom management involves active instruction, supervision of students, opportunities for students to respond, and feedback to students. Classroom management is something that I worry about now as a future teacher. I am constantly thinking of ways to establish classroom management with my students. I believe if there is good classroom management, the behavior of children will be better and the classroom will run like a well-oiled machine. In my field experience this semester, my teacher did well with classroom management. She always explained to my peers and I that it is important to stop negative behavior right away. If you let the child run all over you once, it’ll keep happening. I will always keep that in mind with me as I move into my senior year at Millersville University.

As a hands-on learner, movement in the classroom is important to me. I believe students should not be sitting for more than 20 minutes at a time. Even now that I am in college, I cannot sit in a chair and focus for more than 40 minutes. The article, Movement and Learning in Elementary School, movement is proven to increase student interest and control negative behavior. When students are forced to sit down for long periods of time that is when they become disengaged in the learning and start to act out. In the kindergarten room at work, I can see the difference in the students’ behaviors after I have them take a brain break, dance party, or hands-on activity. The bad behaviors decrease. Movement is linked with long-term memory, as well. When a student is moving around while learning, they are more likely to retain the information they learned. The reason for that is because they were having fun leading them to be attentive. I plan on including movement in my classroom when I become a teacher.

So I have two questions for all of you. What will you incorporate in your classrooms to be an effective teacher? How has blogging influenced you as a future teacher?

All in all, blogging helped me interact with topics I’m interested in. I was about to reflect on teaching strategies, communicate with others, and learn how to find credible sources. I have been able to reflect on myself as a future teacher, as well. My professors have given me the opportunity to better myself as an educator and relate what I have learned to the real world around me by assigning my classmates and I to blog.