Being a Teacher in the 21st Century

Being an educator in the 21st century is a very demanding job. To be considered an educator, one must first be able to teach children basic content knowledge, but that is not all that the job entails. A teacher must be an example for how to behave in society. Children learn by example. It is also an educator’s duty to implement a variety of different teaching strategies in the classroom to expose children to all the things that they will be dealing with in the real world.
To teach basic content knowledge, teachers must follow the standards set by the state of Maine. In my classroom, I will try to incorporate as many standards as I can into my lessons. For example, after doing a read aloud to a group of first graders, I could have them write a sentence and draw a picture that pertains to the reading and be able to use a language arts standard and a performing arts standard. I created a lesson just like this one in my practicum classroom. It is also the responsibility of the teacher to make learning fun for children. When I have my own classroom I will try to see what the students are interested in, and then plan my lessons from there.
A teacher must set examples for students. Whether that be through using manners, teaching basic life skills like washing your hands after going to the bathroom, or even showing students how they should interact with their friends and with adults. When I am a teacher I will always remember that I am a role model, and I will behave as I want my students to behave.
Teachers must use a variety of strategies to get information to students. One of the strategies that we worked closely with in this class was technology. I feel as if technology is very important to a students’ learning because the use of technology can expose a child to something they never would have come in contact with before. For example, if I was doing a unit on butterflies, I would show my students pictures of butterflies on the internet. In Maine there is a limited amount of variations in butterflies, so the students would get to see what butterflies in other parts of the world look like. In this class I got to experience the SMARTboard and I thought about all of the ways I could use this in my classroom and about what a great asset that having one of these would be. When using a SMARTboard, students can get moving, and take control of their learning. They get the chance to participate, instead of just sitting and listening to me talk. The only limitation to technology would be if there wasn’t enough money in the budget to have things like this. If that was the case, I would put together fund raisers, and get the community involved. I feel like technology is important enough where the students should get to experience it.
Being a teacher involves a lot more than I had originally planned. You don’t get to just teach children their A B C’s and spend time with them. You have to teach them everything they need to know in order to be successful in life. And you also have to make sure they get to experience all the necessary technologies to help them expand their learning. This is a job that I am looking forward to dearly, and I am really glad I got to experience all the great technology that I did in this class.

Water Cycle Pre-Quiz

Hey Riley!

My name is Kristin. I want to be a teacher when I finish school. I hope to teach first grade. My favorite animal is a dolphin. What is yours? I am an only child. I like to sing and read. I hope you have a good Halloween!

Kristin

Education Conference

The top 10 things that I learned about at the education conference that will be useful to me are...

1. Google Reader

• This program allows you to search blogs and other interent sources for certain topics. Also, google reader is an RSS which means the things on it can be easily shared with other people.

2. Delicious

• This program is a program that allows you to see all of the websites/blogs that are bookmarked by other educators. You can also choose to bookmark the websites you see to add to your list. It would be very helpful for a teacher to have every resource he/she needs right at his/hers finger tips.

3. Skype

• This program allows someone to call someone else over the internet. This could be useful if a teacher was doing a unit on a specific profession, and they could call someone who does that job and have them talk to the kids about their job.

4. Twitter

• This is a blogging and social networking system. This program allows you to see other peoples updates and read them as soon as they are updated. It is a good way to share the latest information on a particular topic.

5. Ning

• Ning does something along the lines of Twitter. Only this program allows you to create your own social network. A teacher could make one for his/her class that only people in the class could access.

6. EDU Blogs

• These are blogs that are education based. A teacher could go on and read these and gain a lot of neat information to use in their classroom.

7. Jing

• This is a program that allows you to take a screen shot or make a film of a screen shot where you can demonstrate instructions by showing someone. The program also gives you a link so that you can send that movie demonstration to anyone anywhere.

8. Scratch

• This is a program that allows children to create their own visual stories. These stories can also be easily shared on the web if they choose to do so.

9. Flickr

• This is an image sharing network. A teacher can put up pictures of things going on in the classroom and only people such as parents who are in the network can see them. This is a good way to get parents involved in what is going on in the classroom.

10. Flickrstorm

• This is a sharing network that has pictures on it with extended copyrights. The pictures on this network can be used for projects that kids due without having to worry about citing things.

My overall topic for this webquest is The Holocaust.

1. Life during the Holocaust.

• Topic: Have students explore what life would have been like for Jewish people during the Holocaust.
• Grade Level: 8th Grade
• Task: Pretend you are a Jewish person during the Holocaust. What would life be like for you if you were in a concentration camp? What types of things would you be doing?
• Roles: Jewish Boy, Jewish Girl, and Jewish Man.

2. Examine the American reaction to the Holocaust.

• Topic: Have students examine what a typical American citizen in this time would have thought about the Holocaust.
• Grade Level: 8th Grade
• Task: Pretend you are an American citizen during the Holocaust. Write a letter to the president about how you think that the Americans should get involved in the issue.
• Roles: Politician, Average working citizen, and Person of Jewish decent.

3. Examine what children did for fun when in a concentration camp.

• Topic: Have students research and write an essay on what they would have done for fun while in a concentration camp.
• Grade Level: 8th Grade
• Task: Pretend you are a child in a concentration camp. What activities would you have done when not working? What did you do for fun?
• Roles: 10 year old boy, 10 year old girl, 16 year old boy.

4. Have students think about geographical location and set up of a concentration camp.

• Topic: Have students plan an escape from a concentration camp.
• Grade Level: 8th Grade
• Task: Pretend you are in a concentration camp in November. How would you escape? While explaining your escape, describe the surroundings, and the temperature of where you are. Be sure to include drawn picture of the concentration camp layout.
• Roles: Illustrator (draws the picture), Recorder (writes down the escape plan), Head Escapee (is the head decision maker in the escape plan).

Inclusion in the Classroom Using Technology

I feel as if teachers should strive for inclusion with all their students, not just the ones that have special needs. Every child is different, therefore they all learn at different speeds. Using technology in the classroom could be a good way to get everyone involved and on level playing ground. 

One good way of getting kids all involved and on the same playing ground would be to get everyone on a computer at least once a day. Whether they are working on typing or playing an interactive learning game I feel like all kids would benefit from that. For those who have special needs, there are keyboards that are specially designed to help them too. 

Another good way to get everyone involved would be to watch some video, for those students who's attention span is short when it comes to regular lessons. It would grab their attention and maybe make it easier to absorb information if they have a different way of grasping the material. It might take many different methods to reach just one child and I feel as if using a movie or movie clip in a classroom will reach them differently.

Another way to use technology in the classroom to include everyone would be to play an electronic game. Maybe if kids could get hands on experience while they are learning, especially while playing a game I feel like they would learn more. Maybe an educational game made for a game boy would grab a little boys attention more than a boring old lesson. 

Even low tech technology could help kids learn material. Like for example, learning how to count using the touch method. The one where each number has these imaginary dots on it that the kid touches and learns to count with. When I was little I was taught this method and I still use it today. When I am adding numbers I will take my pencil and hit the place on the number where the dots would be. I feel like this is a good way to teach math in another way so that the kids that don't get it the first time, have another chance to get it this time.

Having computers that talk to you could also be beneficial in the classroom. Maybe an interactive program that is voice activated, or even a touch screen for a computer would give kids the hands on type of learning that they need sometimes. Especially if the child has a disability and can't talk well the touch screen would really help them out.

Having the kids who are learning their letters use magnetic tracing boards would help them practice in another way than just on paper. That activity would actually be fun for them, but at the same time they are getting the knowledge they need to learn it. This isn't a really high tech method but I feel like using technology in the classroom doesn't mean that the technology has to be flashy.

Technology of all types would help kids who learn differently than others. When putting technology in the classroom no child would fall behind because of all the neat things that you can do with it. I feel as if technology is the bright future of education, and that soon children with special needs will be able to sit right next to all the other kids in the classroom. 

Computers in the Classroom

To be an educator in the 21st century means that you have to not only teach the basic knowledge needed to pass through grades, but that you also have to teach children how to use technology to help them. An educator should always try to connect things to the children’s real life experiences because that always makes it more fun for them, and really keeps them involved. Being creative is part of a teachers job description and I feel like the internet and educational gaming software will really help them.
Computers are a great asset to the classroom. I feel like they really help connect things for kids. What they learn in the classroom can really be complimented by what they can find on the internet. Things that are going on in the news today could have some connection with something you are teaching in the classroom and I feel that it is important that the kids see and understand that connection. In one of the articles we had to read a teacher used a strike to tie into their discussion of health care and how not enough people have it. She also had the kids watch John Q. to get them making all these connections. Learning is all about connections and the stronger you make those connections the more a child will learn.
I also feel like certain programs used in a classroom can really enhance a subject and make it fun. All those educational games that they have out there could be used in the classroom once a week to make the subject fun for kids. I feel as if these games keep kids engaged in what they are doing, and at the same time they are learning valuable information.
Sources like you tube would be helpful in a classroom also. Being able to watch a clip that has something to do with the unit being studied would really draw kids in. Like for example we read about a teacher who showed a clip of open heart surgery before starting a health unit. I feel like that is a really good tool to make kids want to learn more.
Teachers have to be knowledgeable about not only content but application. They have to bring it close to home for the kids to feel some sort of benefit from it. That’s why I think that it is so important for computers to be a part of the classroom. I feel like overall it would benefit the kids in ways that normal text book reading wouldn’t do.