For my last and final blog post in EDM 310 I am to go and reflect on my very first Blog Post # 1. In my first blog post, I talked about how I am going to be an Elementary Teacher, what kind of classroom that I want to create, and what kind of teacher I want to be. As I said in my first blog post I'm a kinesthetic learner. Because of that I tend to like the more creative and hands on approach to school. And this semester in EDM 310, it has taught me how I can bring that extra creative approach to my future classroom. It taught me that school isn't just paper and pencil, with the rare chance of using the computer that's in the corner of the room. The school systems have changed, and now they're making students not just use the right side of their brains anymore. They're pushing them to use their whole brain. They're letting the students learn, but at the same time the students can be creative with the information they're gaining. So when I do graduate from University of South Alabama, that is the kind of teacher I want to be.
As a teacher I feel like you need to be that spark that helps motivate your students into being excited about learning. That's the kind of teacher I want to be. Like I said in my first blog post, I feel like being an elementary teacher is a very serious job. You're getting your students coming to you during their first years of school. This is the time when they either decide they hate this institution or they love it. If a student is only in the second grade and they're already start to get a hardend heart for school, we as teachers aren't doing our jobs correctly. That second grader should still be wide eyed, excited about what he's going to be doing and learning in school that day. For my future classroom I want all my students to be excited about learning. Learning is a gift. Not every child in the world gets to wake up in the morning knowing that he or she gets to go to a building where they feel safe and cared for while still getting to expand their knowledge. I want my students to know that.
As of now technology is already a huge part of everyone's lives. I'm not even out of college yet and I'm learning how to integrate technology into the classroom. I can't even imagine what all will already be integrated into the classroom when I finally do become a teacher. My future students will already be technology whiz kids, so I want to teach with technology. What it can do for the classroom is amazing. It opens so many other doors that I didn't even have when I was in high school, and I didn't even graduate that long ago. The students now can have the WHOLE world in their hands. They'll have an endless amount of knowledge that they can find. Why deny students that privilege when you can make it happen for them.
One of the tools that my students and I are going to use is podcasting and making an audiobook. I loved when I got to listen to 1st grade students take turns reading and interpreting what they thought their character would sound like. All of the students sounded dedicated and excited about taking turns reading and making their story come to life. It's a great way for the students to learn how to read out loud and learn how to accomplish public speaking.It also let's the story come alive and who knows... maybe the podcast and audiobook might help the students learn to love to read. Another great tool I want to put in my classroom is Blogger. By blogging it helps the students actually understand what the lesson was about. The students can't just say yes I do understand or no I don't understand. They have to prove to me and to the rest of the class that they have somewhat of a grasp on the lesson. Not only does it show what the student is learning but it will also help the students learn basic grammer. In order for a blog post to make sense, you have have to have the correct punctuation and spelling.
Like I said in my first blog post "Since I'm an artsy person I want my classroom to be colorful and vibrant. A place where my students come to school and get excited about learning. I want it to be an open room that the students feel welcome in." And I still feel that way. I want my classroom to feel open. A place where students know they can trust me and I can trust them. Their classroom will kind of be there home away from home. It's a place where young minds will come together and for that year they'll work out problems together and even learn from each other.
I wouldn't want to change a lot about what I wanted in my future classroom from my first blog post. I do want to make a few little tweaks though. At the beginning of this class I had no clue what a PLN was or that teachers and their students even did blogging. I just thought that blogging was just for girls who liked fashion, so they created their own little fashion blog. That's seriously all I knew about having a blog. It's sad... I know. But for the tweaks that I would want to make, is because of EDM 310. Like I have said before I would introduce my students to the new form of teaching. I wouldn't completely drop the pencil and paper, but I will now be making technology an even bigger aspect in their lives. I want my future students to be fully prepared for what the coming years has to offer them. I don't want them left behind just because I don't want to keep up with technology because I think it's too hard to understand or because it doesn't at that time intrest me.
Final Reflection Part 2:
