Field Experience Reflection

I was assigned to complete my first semester or student teaching at Ridgeline Elementary in Highland. I went into my field experience not knowing exactly what to expect, but I enjoyed my experience more than I expected to. I worked with Mrs. Patti Ratliff in the fourth grade. I had never thought much about teaching fourth grade, but after my experience with the fourth graders, I would definitely not be opposed to the idea.

            Mrs. Ratliff had a good balance of freedom and rigidity in her classroom. When she needed the kids’ attention, she demanded their attention and kept it. But when it came time for the students to work on their own, she was a little more lax, and as long as the noise level wasn’t too loud, she just let them work. The students in the class all respect Mrs. Ratliff and she creates a fun atmosphere for them to learn in. Mrs. Ratliff definitely taught me a lot about the teacher that I hope to become both by her actions and through words.

            One of the many things that I learned from Mrs. Ratliff is that you need to establish expectations early so that you can have fun in the end. Students need to know that they are expected to work so that they can create a strong work ethic at a young age. This way, the students will work hard so that they can have fun, and the fun they have is more rewarding because they worked so hard in order to earn their reward.

            Another thing that I learned from my time in Mrs. Ratliff’s room is that I want to have a well organized classroom. I could tell that Mrs. Ratliff started the year with a well organized room, but as the year has gone on, there are areas of the room that have become quite disorganized. When it came time to find something she needed or even a paper that she had used the day before, it was easily lost. This definitely taught me that I want to have a place for everything and that I need to keep my materials where they belong so that when it comes time to use them, I know exactly where to find them.

            Overall, I had such a wonderful experience with Mrs. Ratliff and her class. I learned so much from Mrs. Ratliff, the other fourth grade teachers, and the darling fourth graders themselves. I am definitely looking forward to my future student teaching experiences and to having a class of my own.

PDP Blog 3 - My Beliefs - April 14

I definitely plan on using technology in my classroom. I think it provides another way for students to learn. You hear all of the statistics about retaining information when you hear, see, teach, and do. I think that through technology, you can do all of these things at once, providing for maximum retention. The resources that are available on the internet are limitless! There are so many new ideas and I plan on using these ideas and resources in my classroom to help my students learn.

PDP Blog 2 - Lessons Learned - April 14

I feel like most of what I read and watched, I kind of already know. The only thing that worries me is that I won't be able to keep up. Right now, I feel great about my ability to work with technology. However, I look at my parents and wonder if, eventually, I will be behind on technology. I think that teaching, though, will keep me in contact with new technology because the kids will always have the latest and greatest stuff, so I will probably be able to learn a little bit from my students.

I am so excited to see what the future holds, but I sincerely hope that I am able to keep up with everything!

PDP Blog 1 - Strengths and Weaknesses - April 14

To sum up everything, shift really does happen and I sure hope I'm ready. I have seen the "Did You Know" video multiple times, yet every time, the information shocks me! I can't believe how fast our world is progressing and how much technology has advanced and how much it will advance in the future!

According to the UNI survey, I am a novice in almost every category. I feel like I am very competent when it comes to technology and I can do all of the basic things. However, I am not very innovative with implementing technology in the classroom. I love exploring technology and I love learning new things. I love having the latest and greatest technology and learning how to use it. I think this will prove very advantageous for me because as new technology comes out, I will be able to learn about it and be able to use it in my classroom.

There are lots of different ways to improve your personal use of technology. However, I think my best bet is to search ways to implement technology into the classroom. I know how to use it, it's just putting it into my teaching that might prove to be a challenge. There are a ton of ideas online that tell you ways to implement technology. All I have to do is utilize my technology resources and Google "Ways to bring technology into the classroom" and ta-da! I have lots of ideas right at my fingertips!

Digital Story 2 - March 10, 2011

Today we looked at Creative Commons.

This site is a way cool place where you can register your own work and you can also get other peoples work that they have licensed on the site. You can control what kind of license you want for your work.

This will be very useful when I start teaching because I can either just use someones o\work or use their work as long as I attribute the work to them! Saves sooooo much time!

March 3, 2011 - Digital Stories 2

Today we learned about copyright.

This was kind of an eye-opener for me because I did not realize how strict copyright laws were! I knew you couldn't compy pictures and videos and music from the internet but I didn't realize that you aren't even supposed to lend movies or watch them with a large group of people! To be honest, I think it is slightly ridiculous. I am glad I learned though.

This will influence what media I can use in my classroom and how I use it. I now know the acceptable use of copyrighted material and what "fair use" is. This will be very beneficial when I start teaching because it will keep me from getting in trouble.

February 24, 2011 - Digital Stories 1

Today we learned about Digital Stories.

While I was in elementary school, we never really used digital stories so I didn't realize just how cool they could be. The Holocaust Digital Story really struck me. I think that the combination of music and pictures in that story were impeccably done. It really showed that a digital story can emotionally affect a person.

I think these will be very useful in my class to teach important events or subjects, like the Holocaust for example. I think that, as long as the pictures are not copyrighted, it is a very easy but blunt way to put a point across about a gramatic event. I love it!

February 17 - Vidcast Reflection Paper

We had a wonderful time recording our vidcast. In a few of our classes this semester, we have talked about getting kids active in the classroom. When kids are sitting for a long time, they start to get restless. So, we found that creating a quick exercise video helps the kids get their wiggles out and it also connects the PE core. All students need to be active so this is a great way to do it for 5 minutes in the classroom! Thus, we created "Awesome Classroom Workout!" As part of every grade core, being active and getting exercise is an importanat part of health and physical education.

As we thought about what would be best to do for our vidcast, we thought that exercise was a great idea! Even as we were filming it, we got a little worn out! It's an awesome activity for kids to get them moving and to get them to calm down a little bit.

A potential drawback of this vidcast could be that it could get students hyped up and you would then have to spend time calming them down. That is why at the end of the video, we tell the students to get a drink and sit back down in their seats. This way the students are still listening to the video and getting instructions.

I think if we were to make another vidcast, we would continue to do classroom workouts. Just with this one video, we had a hard time deciding which classroom exercises we would do. SO, we would creat a new video with different workouts that get your blood pumping!

Vidcasts - February 10, 2011

Today we learned how to make vidcasts and how to use other fancy programs.

Right now, this doesn't really apply to me. I really enjoy learning how to use Jing and Photo Story, but I don't think that I will really be able to use this until later in my life. Right now, I don't take videos very often and if I do, they are only for my own enjoyment, so I don't really need to make fancy videos out of them.

Jing will be a very useful tool if I ever have to do a tutorial for my class or if I need to do a how-to video. Photo Story will be fun to use if I ever want to make a class slide show or something like that. These tools will be very useful when I begin my teaching career.

February 3 - Podcasts

Today we learned how to record podcasts and upload them to the computer.

I had no idea that making podcasts were so easy! I guess I never really thought about it, but I didn't realize that I could just record them on my phone and then email myself the recording. This is so nice to use because I can record things and send them to myself or my family and friends.

When I begin teaching, this will be a very useful tool because I can record lessons or record audio instructions for my students. They can listen and even record audio back. Because so many students have cell phones now, the technology is readily available for the students to use. This will be a very useful tool if I have students with disabilities that need to hear instructions more than once or that need to listen to class lessons more than once.

January 27 - Google Part 2

This week we learned how to create our own Google Site.

To me as a student, this means that I can begin to use Google Sites and then once I become a teacher, I will basically be a pro at it! I will know how to do all of the various functions on Google Sites and it will be easy for my students to use. It is also nice because I now understand more fully how to use our class site.

As stated in the previous paragraph, I am very excited to learn how to better use the Google Sites tool. I love this tool because it is so easy to use and create and it doesn't take a lot of time. It is also very easy for students to figure out. When I have a class of my own, I will use Google Sites in order to keep my students, as well as their parents, informed about what is going on in our classroom.

January 20, 2011 - Google Part One

Last class, we learned how to use all of the different Google tools. We went over Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, Google Forms, and Google Presentations.

These tools are very convenient to use for school projects. It makes group projects so much easier because you can share information and collaborate with the other people in your group without meeting face to face. It will be very useful in this course as well as in my other courses this semester and throughout my college career. I am so glad that we learned how to use all of these tools so that we can all use them together.

I think this will be very useful because you can create a document, give the link to your students, and they can access it at home. They can then modify it and add things to it. I think that technology is so important in the classroom, especially now. I will be able use these tools in my classroom not only to share documents with other teachers and students, but also for my personal use.

January 13, 2011 - Introduction

My name is Jessica Rose. I am from Alpine, Utah and I have lived there my whole life. I am eighteen years old and just graduated high school in May. I have a lot of hobbies and interests. I love to dance, which I have been doing since I was three. I have done most kinds of dancing and I enjoy all of them! I also love to travel! I have been to more than half of the 50 states, my favorites being New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, California, Hawaii, and Florida. I have also been to Mexico, England, and Italy. This spring, I am going to Spain for study abroad!

Some of my pet peeves are when people don't signal when they are driving! My mom never does and it drives me crazy! And just like everybody else, I hate it when people cut me off when I'm driving. I also don't like it when people don't say their 'T's. I've lived in Utah my whole life, but I can't stand the Utahn accent. I know that I have more pet peeves but for some reason, my mind is drawing a blank at the moment.