Anticipation...

I have been thinking a lot about my future job lately. I am pretty sure I want to teach 2nd grade, but I love my 3rd graders that I have now. The only problem is that I hear the kids constantly talking about SOLs and how they are so nervous for them, etc. This kinda scares me because I do not want the kids that I have being only concerned with SOLs!! But then again...if I taught 3rd grade maybe I could get the kids to worry about them less?

The next grade that I have in my internship is 1st grade, I am soooo excited to meet these new kids and get started in my placement! I think that it will be so fun to go from 3rd grade to 1st grade! BUT...I will miss my 3rd graders SOOO much!!! They have already written me notes that sound like I am going away forever (even though I am just going downstairs in the building.) For example, one girl wrote me a note like this "Dear Ms "Kristin", you will always remember me because I will always remember you. Love, "Kid's name." It makes me sad when they write notes like this even though they are really cute notes!

I believe that every subject is taught through reading. So...1st grade will be great for me because they are just starting to read and write for comprehension! oh the anticipation.... =)

Top 10 Tips For New Teachers

Possible Adjustments...?

This picture just made me think of how people can just change Wiki's to say whatever they want. I like the fact that people are always monitoring the Wikipedia website though to change back what is incorrect, in order to be correct again. Sometimes people think it's funny to change things or add inappropriate information to a website just to get a laugh.

Personally, I like the idea of Wiki's within the classroom. This youtube video sums up my point of view on them....they are motivational, engaging, beneficial and make the students feel like they are apart of something when they make them and contribute to them in the classroom. When I become a teacher I am going to use Wiki's in my classroom. I feel like it will promote a sense of community and belonging within my classroom and that is something I will always welcome!

Blogging Without Seeing

Upon reading the article, Using Blogs to Enhance Literacy, by Diane Penrod, I was particularly interested in the blogging and visually impaired students portion of it. I agree with all of the article that blogging encourages fluency in writing, cooperative learning, critical thinking, and performance based learning among other cross-curricular strategies.

The portion of the article that was dedicated to blogging and visually impaired students sparked my interest. I wondered...how do these students benefit from blogs? Well, the article answers this question for me because it talks about audioblogging technology, podcasts, and screen readers, which visually impaired students can contribute to. These technologies are often free for the students and the parents, which is awesome! An interesting audioblog that I found online was about making pumpkin seeds. It has an audio file embedded that tells you the steps to make the pumpkin seeds outloud. Very cool! Also, audio blogging and podcasts are made up of sound and have some titles and links. With audio blogs, visually impaired students can participate in creative and engaging writing activities just like their classmates. This is awesome and I am happy that we have such advanced technology that can help all students become better writers and bloggers.