It's time to make pancakes! And more importantly, time to demonstrate that I can effectively use a Prezi! So check THIS link.
citations for pictures included:
-http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-mixing-bowl-ingredients-image11101454
-http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/basic-boffo-buttermilk-pancakes-recipe/
-http://2eat2drink.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/stack-of-pancakes-p.jpg
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Technological Teaching Tools
When browsing the "Free Technology for Teachers" website, it was surprisingly difficult to find resources that were applicable for an English classroom. It makes sense though, most of the new technology for classrooms we hear about are geared more toward the fields of science, math and social studies. I think this might be why I've been slightly skeptical of how technology can be realistically applied to an English curriculum. Seemingly, the best way to learn to read and write is to do just that: read and write in the traditional manner. This may just be my technologically naive side coming out again, and I do think technology has a place in the classroom, but I just question how much it can be utilized by English teachers. I'm sure I have a lot to learn and can certainly be proved wrong on this point. But for now, I'm still struggling to see that proof.
I did, however, find a pretty neat resource on the website regarding the conduction of research online. "Google for Educators" offers free posters that list some of tips on how to make most of a google search. I think this would be incredibly valuable in an English classroom, seeing as any research paper usually requires anywhere between two and ten outside sources, and almost all research is done explicitly online these days. When I was a younger student, nobody told me the tricks and tips of conducting a successful google search, so I think this would be a great thing to hang on the wall of my own classroom. The posters are organized in a well thought out manner: they start with a simple search on the left and explain how to get more and more specific as the text moves right. Even fourth and fifth graders would be able to interpret the graphic.
The link is here, so check it out. Look at all five posters. They all seem really useful.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Future Student Work
As an English teacher, I will, of course, will expect my students to conduct a lot of reading and writing. It is so important to me that my students learn how to think critically and therefore understand how to pick apart a piece of writing and analyze it for certain components and ultimately, be able to apply the text's themes to a real world existence. In most cases, the way they will demonstrate this capability will be through writing responses, essays and papers. But in non-tangible production, they will demonstrate their critical thinking capabilities through group discussion, answering questions in class and giving public speeches. Although at first, the intended audience of these things may seem like the teacher, in the end, it's the students themselves who learn from their own writing. The process of dissecting literature and then reformatting it into your their observations is a method that teaches the very writer something about the text and ultimately about universal truths and humanity. That's what I love so much about English; the entire development toward being able to read for both enjoyment and exploration at the same time is self-improving and builds on multiple emotional facets such as empathy, cultural understanding and problem solving. The actual process of reading and responding isn't meant for the teacher or parent or principal at all, but for the student to realize that they can discover meaning in presumably indecipherable texts.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Sad Sad News
Guys... Missoula's most beloved brunch spot is closing their doors on Sunday, February 16th. There are rumors that Food For Thought may just be shifting management and if that's the case, maybe everyone's favorite hangover-cure-spot won't be closed for long. So we're crossing our fingers that that's the case. Because if Food For Though closed forever, most of UM's population would be gravely saddened. Seriously.
Listen to this test "Audioboo" about our thoughts on the closing of Food For Thought.
listen to ‘RIP Food For Thought’ on Audioboo
Listen to this test "Audioboo" about our thoughts on the closing of Food For Thought.
listen to ‘RIP Food For Thought’ on Audioboo
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Technology in English
The role of technology in English has the potential to be extremely useful. From my experience in high school, English teachers utilized the internet to help supplement research and a variety of outside analyses of literature all the time. However, I rarely had an English teacher that used more than just that. Some of my teachers did have Smartboards and used them in ways to help the class run smoothly, especially in terms of diagramming sentences and having students come up to the board to write examples or pull up Youtube videos.
To be quite honest though, I'm not super familiar with modern and exciting programs at the disposal for English teachers. I'm excited to learn about some of these programs- I've discovered quite a bit of new and interesting stuff from following notable writers/authors/English experts on my twitter account. I see now, at least the partial significance of using social media in classrooms. I understand the push for encouraging digital literature in classrooms through the use of Kindles, iPads, Nooks, etc. but personally, I really don't think I want to exclusively use these in my classroom. I highly value the importance of the written page and the ability to annotate and take notes in the margins of books. I also think that note-taking is one of the most important aspects in the successful learning of writing and reading. I think the practice of allowing students to take pictures of slides with their smartphones so they can avoid writing out notes is completely counterproductive. Again, I understand the efficiency and convenience of using digital literature and ways of notetaking in the classroom, but as a huge supporter of plain old pen and paper, I really push for the traditional ways of writing and reading.
To be quite honest though, I'm not super familiar with modern and exciting programs at the disposal for English teachers. I'm excited to learn about some of these programs- I've discovered quite a bit of new and interesting stuff from following notable writers/authors/English experts on my twitter account. I see now, at least the partial significance of using social media in classrooms. I understand the push for encouraging digital literature in classrooms through the use of Kindles, iPads, Nooks, etc. but personally, I really don't think I want to exclusively use these in my classroom. I highly value the importance of the written page and the ability to annotate and take notes in the margins of books. I also think that note-taking is one of the most important aspects in the successful learning of writing and reading. I think the practice of allowing students to take pictures of slides with their smartphones so they can avoid writing out notes is completely counterproductive. Again, I understand the efficiency and convenience of using digital literature and ways of notetaking in the classroom, but as a huge supporter of plain old pen and paper, I really push for the traditional ways of writing and reading.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Open and Eager
As a student, I was never especially fond of technology being used in the classroom. I found it time consuming and complicated and never seemed to understand the importance of technology in comparison with more traditional teaching techniques. In most cases, the faults of a technological classroom lesson fell on the inability of the teacher to properly use the tools he or she were trying to implement. For instance, I had quite a few teachers who didn't know how to use their Smartboard correctly or had immense trouble trying to log the entire laptop fleet into the school's wifi signal.
I did however have one teacher in high school who was incredibly efficient and reliable when it came to using technology in the classroom. My AP Calculus teacher in high school used her Smartboard every day in ways I never considered a math teacher to use in meaningful application. Although I don't remember specific programs she used, I do remember that she utilized a very specific and organized lesson plan centered around the activities on the Smartboard for every day we had class. Each morning, when we walked in the classroom, she had a problem written on the Smartboard and we were expected to solve it. Each group would come up and demonstrate their problem solving on the board and then the teacher would correct mistakes and re-write the appropriate notation. She utilized multiple math websites for examples and showed us Youtube videos of mathematicians. She constantly pulled up the huge electronic sheet of graph paper to show how to graph functions and tables. She also integrated a really helpful graphing calculator program that helped students discover the in's and out's of the complicated tool.
This teacher was one of the only teachers I had that was able to successfully use new technology in the classroom without allowing it to become a time-consumer for her students. As an English teacher, I'm sure there are thousands of new and interesting technological tools that can be implemented into the classroom and I'm excited to learn about them and use them in my own curriculum. Despite my prior concerns with technology in the classroom, I am quite open to the innovations and benefits of introducing it to students and I'm eager to learn more about it.
I did however have one teacher in high school who was incredibly efficient and reliable when it came to using technology in the classroom. My AP Calculus teacher in high school used her Smartboard every day in ways I never considered a math teacher to use in meaningful application. Although I don't remember specific programs she used, I do remember that she utilized a very specific and organized lesson plan centered around the activities on the Smartboard for every day we had class. Each morning, when we walked in the classroom, she had a problem written on the Smartboard and we were expected to solve it. Each group would come up and demonstrate their problem solving on the board and then the teacher would correct mistakes and re-write the appropriate notation. She utilized multiple math websites for examples and showed us Youtube videos of mathematicians. She constantly pulled up the huge electronic sheet of graph paper to show how to graph functions and tables. She also integrated a really helpful graphing calculator program that helped students discover the in's and out's of the complicated tool.
This teacher was one of the only teachers I had that was able to successfully use new technology in the classroom without allowing it to become a time-consumer for her students. As an English teacher, I'm sure there are thousands of new and interesting technological tools that can be implemented into the classroom and I'm excited to learn about them and use them in my own curriculum. Despite my prior concerns with technology in the classroom, I am quite open to the innovations and benefits of introducing it to students and I'm eager to learn more about it.
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