Activity Reflection 1

Too often I find myself scrambling to find information and additional resources to use in  the lessons I teach. As was the case for the 100th day of school. I was looking for a good book that not only referenced the 100th day of school, but also something that included some type of first grade math. My initial thought was to go through my books that I had in my classroom, but something from our reading stopped me . As I was researching all the websites available through our reading of Chapter 2 and the websites given on webcourse, I found the information I was looking for. I initially accessed Education World and was able to connect to a lesson plan that was perfect for what I needed.

As I researched the FLDOE I found some similarities and differences to those of other states. I found that the FLDOE had many more community outreach programs than those of other states. For example, the FLDOE had resources for family involvement and the list of sites were plenty. I visited the "All Pro Dad" website and found many other outreach programs and parenting tips through this site. I've never had much luck with FLDOE website until I really had the chance to explore it. I have only used it to look up my certification and make sure I was actually allowed to teach in Florida.

Beyond this, I also took a look at the Seminole County Public School website. I often use this webpage during my classroom instruction as this is the county I teach in. There is a student tab available on the webpage that lets students access different reading programs, such as, Tumble Books and other helpful library links. Of course, there are resources for teachers as well. There are many reading programs accessible through the educator link and Professional Development tab. Teachers have open access to sign up for many of the PD classes the county offers. I have used the district website to get copies of numerous things, such as, benchmarks, NGSSS standards, and other assessment data.Educationally relevant materials are all over the webpages I located during my search. It's the matter of finding these sites on your own. I appreciate the limiting your search examples given in the reading, as I never knew these common operators.

I have a strong like for Professional Learning Communities for a few reasons. First, if your're collaborating with your colleagues about what you are teaching often times there is always someone that knows of a site that is useful for what you are teaching. Second, PLC's almost make us constantly refine what it is that we are teaching. What is it that we can do better, what other resources are out there? Keeping it fresh and constantly collaborating with our peers keeps these searches on-going.

21st Century

After viewing the Fisch & McLeod's video my interest was sparked because I thought hard about what I was doing as a classroom teacher to ensure that I was preparing my students with the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century. Am I preparing them with the skills they need to compete in the global economy? Am I allowing adequate access to a computer to teach the critical technology skills they need? Am I preparing my students with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they will need to be successful?

After asking these questions, it is clear to me that many perceive the U.S. as lagging behind when it comes to taking the lead in the 21st century. Why is this? I think that the U.S. has a focus that does not lean towards  expanding skills students need, but the focus is put on the acheivement gap and improvement of low performing schools. It seems that providing these 21st skills would help to close the achievement gap and expand on the skills students will need to be successful and compete globally.

Students will need to be provided with the tools and resources they need to gain these 21st century skills. Teachers need to get away from "conventional teaching" and take chances themselves. Educators can become stagnate and non-welcoming to change. Technology will continue to be the driving force and I feel it's time to emphasize that importance by teaching and giving our students the tools they need. Without budget cuts and accountability issues these plans seem feasible, but with the continued struggle of where we will get the money for resources and how will we teach it will be our biggest issue.

Instructional Reform

Very often I notice that when our districts adopt new curriculum series, teachers are taught to buy into these plans because they go along with the standards that we are teaching. Are we doing what is best for our students when we adopt these new plans? Are these curriculum series developmentally appropriate for the students we teach? Or is it a convienent and more easy way to get the material out there?  "Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convienent?" Policymakers continuously try to make instructional reforms and raise standards that too often negatively effect our students. Districts rush to find new and innovative ways to teach the standards, but they don't look at the appropriateness of the material.

I bring up the curriculum series because companies like Harcourt and Pearson try to make textbooks that are convenient for our ways of teaching. I think many teachers use these series as a "crutch" for teaching the material and fail to utilize outside resources. These series are the not the "do all, tell all" and are simply provided as guides for teachers to build upon. Teachers are too often scolded for maintaining the conventional styles of teaching inconsistent to that of the new curriculum series. So to this I strongly believe we are most comfortable with convenience and do often fail to do what is best for our students.

Conventional styles of teaching are going to have to change in order for our students to keep up with the ever-changing world of technology. Students will have to display media literacy and finding ways to incoporate this into our teaching is not always easy. Many educators don't have access to many resources that others might, but that doesn't mean we, the teacher, are not responsible to teach it. Finding new ways to integrate technology into our teaching is what is best for our students, but not necessarily convenient for us.

integrating blog

I hope this worked

About Me

Thanks for taking the time to read about me. I'm currently a first grade teacher in Seminole County. I absolutely love my job and couldn't imagine doing anything else. I'm maried to my wonderful husband, Charlie. We have a beautiful 3 year old daughter named River. She keeps us very busy and happy:) I go by Kari.

I hope to get a lot of information from this class to use in my own classroom. I currently use a Smartboard in my room and can't wait to gain even more information about all the resources available.

New Blog

This is my first post on my new blog. I hope this works!