Reflection #6

I was just thinking how many teaching opportunities we have outside the classroom. To take your class for a walk, you can point out the different leaves, trees, the animals that may live inside the trees, the animals in the woods or that live near by, the ivy that grows on the tree, the sky, clouds, sun, rain, snow, then expand, what is snow, where does rain come from...etc. I can think of lots more, but my point is, I think it's important to have interactive learning experiences like this, and it's good to get kids excited about the world around them, (especially these days) so they don't get sucked into TV, videogames, computer games, etc. Let's raise up environmentalists, scientists of all types, astronauts, people that will change the world for the better.

Reflection #5

I was looking at teacher websites and found this website, www.teachingheart.net/tquotes.htm
I thought the quotes were really encouraging.

Then I found this book that looked really good. It's called, You're God's Gift to Teachers: Passages of Biblical Encouragment. I think it will be important to have Biblical encouragment when we become teachers. I love books and tools like this one.

Reflection #4

In our instructional Design class we have been learning how to create lesson plans. Lesson plans are good, because they help me feel prepared to teach, but they are also very much time consuming.
We created four topics with at least four subject areas we could integrate the topic into, then today we were to pick a topic to create a lesson plan out of. I pick Thanksgiving, because it seemed the easiest and most fun to do. One subject area I paired with Thanksgiving is "Music," which I thought we could sing the song, Turkey Lurkey we learned from Professor Mohan.
It's great how we can integrate all our classes, and use material from one class to help us in another class.

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Amber, Emily, Heather, Heather #2, Angelyna, Angelyna #2, Jessica

Reaching My Goal Regarding the NET Standard

In my assignment #1 post I talked about NET Standard #3 and what I would like to do to improve in this standard, for the sake of my future students.
In my previous post I mentioned, "My plan on improving in this area is to learn how to design and develop tools that can be used to give the best learning experience for my future students, and also to find the best possible ways for my future students to personally engage and have control in their learning."

The process I am making in reaching my goal to improve in this area, is coming along well. I am learning so much in class about technology and how to use it. I am learning more and more about the SMART board, and have downloaded the software for future use with it. I plan on using my webs.com website to communicate with my future students and parents of students. I am learning about tools that will engage my students involvement, like customized search engines to find educational websites, and participation with the SMART board. I plan on learning much more, about Wikis, podcasts, and SMART board clickers.

Reflection #3

I was looking at one of my previous posts and clicked on http://www.teachertube.com/
This video is really interesting, it's about Thanksgiving, you all should watch it. :o)
It was interesting hearing about what really happened on Thanksgiving; a bit of the history. I wonder how many Americans don't know the history behind what they are celebrating.

Reflection #2

I was at a womens prayer group yesterday, there was a lady who works with students with special needs. She was talking about how great they are and the joy they have. She mentioned one student, who has DS remembered who she was, and it had been a year since they interacted. For a while now I've thought about getting certified to teach Special Needs after college, and last night when I was hearing how she enjoyed it so much, it got me thinking more about teaching them. I think I have the patience and the compassion to do it. We'll see where God sends me, but I'll definitely be praying about this possibility during this next year.

Assignment #2 - SMART board activity

My first SMART board activity is called "Choosing the Right Word"
My second SMART board activity is called "Mother's Day Math"

The NETS standards for students in the activity, "Choosing the Right Word" include standard one, three, and six.

This activity meets standard one because in the activity the student demonstrates creative thinking, creates orginial works in the creation of sentences, and forcasts the possibilities in creating the correct sentence.

This activity also meets standard three because in the activity the student uses a digital tool, the SMART board, to gather, evaluate, and use information. The student also process' data and reports results in this activity.

This activity meets the sixth standard because the student is demonstrating an understanding of technology systems and operations within the activity. While performing the activity the student is using the technology system of the SMART board, and is using their current knowledge of how technology works and is applying it to this activity.


The NETS standard for teachers in the activity, "Choosing the Right Word," include standards one, two, and three.

This activity meets standard one because the teacher is using his/her knowledge of how technology works to facilitate this activity. The teacher is also promoting creative thinking using a digital tool to engage student learning.

This activity meets standard two because the teacher is adapting relevant learning experiences that incorporate the SMART board and it's tools to promote student learning and creativity. The teacher is also enriching the learning environment by using a tool that captures the students attention and active participation.

This activity meets the third standard because the teacher is exhibiting knowledge, and skills of a technological system when using and demonstrating the use of the SMART board. The teacher is also modeling and facilitating the use of the SMART board to support the work of the students.

My second activity, "Mother's Day Math," shares the same standards of my first activity, because it is using the same skill and participation of the students and the teacher.

  I think the SMART board will improve the student learning in my future classroom in many ways. When comparing today's technology to the technology that was used when I was in Elementary school, the technology of today has improved and is more efficient than ever. I can only imagine the possibilities will increae. With the SMART board the students will be more inspired, more encouraged to expand their technological skills, and there will be more learning styles met.

HTML and Webs.com

Creating HTML was fun and a bit tedious. However, I now feel I'm more of a "computer techy" because I know HTML. :o) Knowing a little HTML is good when you do need it, but since we now have websites like Webs.com or Weebly, people don't need to know HTML as much. I thought it was cool how I could control what colors I wanted and actually hands-on design my own website. Instead of picking a selection of formats and colors that were all ready created by people.

Creating a website at Webs.com was fun as well. They had fun layouts and it is definitely a handy tool for a teacher to communicate information to parents, the principle, and the community. Maybe I'll even be able to use this website for my real class someday. I look forward to adding more information on it. It's a little difficult when I don't have a real class, with real information, but it's still fun making things up for now.
Mrs. Burch's Website