Power Down Day

I went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina this year for spring break with twelve of my friends.  The weather was not as warm as I would have liked it to be but considering the fact that it was snowing in Ohio while we were there it was great!  While we were there technology was omitted for pretty much the entire week.  My cell phone remained upstairs on the dresser while we were out having fun.  We went shopping, out to eat, putt-putt golfing, strolled the boardwalk, and laid out on the beach.  We played tons of card and board games and just hung out at the apartment we were staying at.  It was fairly easy to have my power down day while I was on vacation.  I did not even bring my computer with me to check Facebook or my email.  However, I did find myself wanting to get on Facebook just to be updated on what everyone else was doing on spring break.  There was a television in the apartment but we only used it to watch a couple of movies throughout the week on the rainy days.  Ipods were the source of technology that we used the most while on spring break.  There was often music playing in the background and I took my ipod to the beach with me some days to listen to music while I laid out.  Using the ipods was something that could have easily been left out though.  The power down day would have been much harder to complete if I was at Mount Union.  However, because I was on spring break with a lot of my friends, omitting all sources of technology was fairly easy.  I found the experience to be very relaxing and I would like to try it again while at school to compare the two experiences.  I would challenge everyone to try going a day without using technology.  I think it is something that many people would struggle with and it would help people realize just how much they rely on technology today. 

My Experiences with Children and Why I Want to be a Teacher

I have wanted to be a teacher my entire life.  My mother is an elementary school principal and my father is a fourth grade teacher so I have grown up with educators.  When I was younger, my sister and I would play “school” in our free time.  I was always the teacher and she was all of the students.  In junior high I started tutoring elementary school students after school.  I would work one-on-one with students on reading and math.  In addition to tutoring students, I would also make copies, laminate posters, put up bulletin boards, and do anything else that the teacher wanted me to do.  This is a volunteer job that I kept throughout high school. 

            During the summer, starting my freshman year of high school, I worked at a two-week summer school.  Camp MARS is a summer school held at my high school that provides kindergarten through sixth grade students with additional assistance in math and reading.  I was a teacher assistant and my jobs included making copies, recess and lunch duty, and assisting the teacher in educating the students.  I worked with one boy with a disability, which helped me understand some of the things we talk about in my Intervention Specialist classes at Mount Union.  I formed positive relationships with my co-workers and looked forward to working there every summer.  I just recently applied to work there again this summer in hopes to gain more knowledge about how to best educate students. 

            This past summer I also had a job at the Village Early Childhood Center, a local daycare.  There are children from newborn babies to second graders who attended the Village Early Childhood Center.  I was hired as the school-age teacher.  I made the lesson plans, decided when we did things each day, and disciplined the students.  We completed many craft projects, went to the park, and even went swimming at the quarry.  I had a lot of fun working at the Village Early Childhood Center.  The kids were wonderful and I go back to visit when I am home.  I hope to work there again this summer because I feel that I really benefited from being organized and planning what the children did each day.

            While attending Mount Union I have observed two different classrooms.  Last year I observed Mrs. McCamon’s second grade class at Washington Elementary.  I learned a lot and really enjoyed this age group.  Mrs. McCamon is an excellent teacher and she provided me with copies of many of the activities she did with her students.  This year I am observing Mrs. Offenbecher’s kindergarten class at the Alliance Early Learning School.  I have been with them for the entire school year and it is amazing to see how much the students have grown.  I have observed a child with Autism go through the process of being diagnosed, which is something many students do not get the chance to experience.  I always look forward to going and observing in Mrs. Offenbecher’s classroom.

            I have always wanted to be a teacher.  My experiences with children and education throughout my life have confirmed my reasons for being a teacher.  I love kids and I love seeing them grow.  I have had wonderful education professors at Mount Union who have made me realize that teaching is right for me.  I believe that being a teacher is one of the most rewarding jobs available and I cannot wait to graduate and start my teaching career. 

The Money Video

It is very easy to find educational videos on the Internet for Elementary School students.  A simple YouTube search for money songs will give you hundreds of options.  These videos are great for Elementary School students.  The songs and things they show really allow the students to connect and remember what is being taught.  In the Kindergarten classroom I am currently observing at the Alliance Early Learning School, Mrs. Offenbecher uses a variety of YouTube videos with her students.  The students love the videos and really get into them as they often sing and dance along.  This video is actually one that Mrs. Offenbecher is using in her classroom right now.  The students have advanced throughout the year and are now ready to tackle the concept of money.  This is a hard concept for many children to grasp.  Many students do not understand why a dime is worth more than a penny and a nickel when it is smaller than both of these coins.  By showing this video during class and encouraging the students to sing along Mrs. Offenbecher is helping them practice learning their coins through a fun song.  This song is better than most money songs found on the Internet though.  It not only helps the students with what the coins look like and how much they are worth.  It also tells the students which Presidents and buildings are on the coins.  This will be helpful as the Kindergarten students get older and start to learn the Presidents.  They will have already heard some of the names through the money song so these will be easier to remember later.  There are many great videos on the Internet and teachers should take advantage of them and use them in their classrooms to help students learn in a new and fun way.

Free-Tech Conference Part Two

After taking a break for lunch it was time to go to my next session, “Best Practices in Math + SMART Boards 101 = Accelerated Learning; Grades 2-6”.  I found this presentation to be very beneficial.  I learned a lot about the things you can do on the Smart Board to address math concepts that I will most likely use in my classroom in the future.  In this presentation we learned about undo/redo, line maker, shape maker, shape recognizer, magic pen, and measurement tools.  These tools can be used to help with money, reflections, rotations, translations, and measuring.  The SMART technology also includes dice, spinners, hundreds charts, and protractors to use for math.  After attending a session about math with the Smart Board, I decided to attend “Learning Literacy with a Technology Twist”.  In this session we learned how the Smart Board could be used in English classes.  The instructor told us about and demonstrated how to use the SMART recorder and camera.  These are great tools that teachers can use if they are going to have a substitute teacher for the day.  We also learned that the Smart Board could be used along with Google Earth for Lit Trips.  The instructor also gave us many online resources that are beneficial for reading across a wide range of grade levels.  At 3:00 I attended my last session of the day, “iPad in the Classroom:  Truths and Myths About Apple’s newest iProduct in Education”.  In this session the instructor told us all about what the iPad can and cannot do.  The iPad is a great technology for students, especially students with disabilities, to use in the classroom.  There are over 5,000 education apps for the iPad that teachers can use for their students.  Overall, I learned a lot at the Free-Tech Conference.  It is important to stay up-to-date on all the new technology that is out there for teachers as technology will soon be a huge part of education. 

Free-Tech Conference Part One

Last Thursday, February 17^th I attended Cleveland’s Free-Tech Conference in Independence, Ohio with my Educational Media class.  It was an early morning because our vans left promptly at 6:30 A.M.  SmartEd Services put on the conference so many of the sessions I attended focused on how to use the Smart Board in your classroom.  At 8:00 I attended “Rethink the Possible – Via This Comprehensive Website Through Technology and 21^st Century Skills”.  I learned about a great website for teachers called weschools.org.  The website is updated twice every day so all of the information is current.  At 9:00 I attended “Games Using SMART, Yes It Is Possible”.  In this session we learned about board games, crosswords, cards, dice, dominos, and sudoku that are provided with the SMART technology.  The games can be used for math and vocabulary concepts.  We were advised to use games sparingly as they can become too much if used too often.  At 10:00 I attended “VizZle:  21^st Century Learning in the Autism and Special Education Classroom”.  This was a good session to attend because I am minoring in Intervention Specialist.  It was interesting to see the technology that is out there for students with autism.  The instructor showed us what the VizZle software provides and how it reaches children with autism.  At 11:00 I attended my favorite session of the day, “SMART Magic!:  Hide and Reveal”.  In this session we learned how to hide and reveal objects using shapes, hidden text, and digital ink on the Smart Board.  The instructor was extremely entertaining.  He treated the presentation as a magic show.  The lights were turned off when he was performing “tricks”.  There was upbeat music that made the presentation much more interesting and I feel like I learned a lot from this session.  After the magic performance it was time for lunch with the other students in my class. 

The Benefits of Recess

In my CE 250:  Education of Young Children class we are doing critical inquiry portfolios.  Our topic can be anything related to education and children with disabilities.  We did a project similar to this last semester in CE 200.  Last semester my topic was the benefits of recess in schools.  I decided to continue my research on recess this semester.  Therefore, my topic for my critical inquiry portfolio is recess for children with disabilities.  I have already found and read two research articles about the benefits of recess for children with autism.  I also developed a list of ten questions related to my topic.  Today in class I conducted a small group discussion in which I asked my peers four of the questions I had prepared.  I found it extremely beneficial to hear my peers’ ideas about recess for children with disabilities.  They had some great ideas that I had not thought of.  The benefits of recess for children and teachers clearly outweigh the costs.  Some administrators choose to reduce the amount of time children are at recess or remove recess from the school day completely because they feel pressure to perform well on tests.  However, research shows that in order for students to stay focused on schoolwork for the entire day they need the break that recess provides.  Teachers also need this break.  Recess allows teachers to communicate with other teachers and observe their students outside of the classroom.  Students with disabilities also benefit from recess.  As long as a student with a disability is included in the recess activities and is safe then they will get the same benefits that all of the other children get. 

Using the Smart Board in Elementary Classrooms

There are many great tools using technology that can be used in early childhood classrooms.  One of the most common technologies is the Smart Board.  The Smart Board is a rapidly growing technology that is showing up in many elementary school classrooms across the United States.  Smart Boards can be used for almost all subjects across the curriculum.  The teacher could simply show a website to the class or use the Smart Board to write notes like you would do with a white board.  However, Smart Boards can do much more than that.  They are an interactive tool that allows students to actively participate in class.  The Smart Board technology contains many math concepts that are useful in early childhood classrooms.  Some of these concepts include: money, reflections, rotations, translations, flash cards, dice, spinners, hundreds charts, and protractors.  The Smart Board may allow a child who is struggling with math to better understand the material.  When the teacher presents the material and the child can perform the activity in front of the class they may better understand the math concepts being taught.  If the students in your classroom are doing a worksheet you can bring it up on the Smart Board and fill the answers out with the children.  This will make sure that all of the students are in the right place without having to go around and point to each individual child’s paper.   The Smart Recorder can be used to record your voice.  If you are going to miss a day of school you can record your voice teaching the lesson.  This way your substitute teacher does not have to worry about teaching the lesson and you know that your students received accurate information.  There are many more great things that you can do with the Smart Board in your classroom.  Technology is a great thing to have in elementary school classrooms and the Smart Board is greatly influencing the education of young children today.