SS Methods - Blog 4

We're wrapping up the last week of the semester, and it's been such a journey! I can't believe these 16 weeks have gone so fast. I've been soaking up all the information I've learned over the last 5 months and am so grateful for everything I will be taking with me going into my internship and then student teaching. I believe all of us are trying to finish the semester strong and get as much done as we can!

Learning Experiences 
There have been many assignments due in the last few weeks, and I personally loved the Virtual Museum group project that was completed. After seeing the final project on the Carl Sandburg home, I was blown away at the amount of work, dedication, and attention to detail my group members put into this project! There were so many aspects of this project that required connection to NCSCOS, and the NCPTS. Standard 3; Teachers know the content they teach, and standard 4; teachers facilitate learning for their students. This project allowed us to heavily research Carl Sandburg by incorporation augmented technology, Sound Cloud voice recordings, interactive maps, and more. It was amazing to see how the finished project turned out; definitely something that a 4th grade teacher could use. 

Outside Learning

I have been in my clinical classroom heavily in the past month, and planning lessons have taken up a lot of my time. I've found so many neat websites that were useful in my lessons of supply/demand and goods/services. I found many good T-charts and worksheets, and created my own assessment tools! I have spent time creating assessments for my 1st grade students, including provocative and factual questions to guide conversation. My students has a great time with the lesson, and I feel as if they really became engaged and involved in the activities during the lesson.

Future Classroom Connections
I believe the creation of the virtual museum was such an impactful project that could be carried to any grade level. This learning tool would be so beneficial to all grade levels.  I would love to carry this into my students teaching classroom, then into my own! Other things such as TPAC and SAMR are great tools to self-reflect on in ensuring a proper and effective way of integrating technology into lessons daily.

I'm so thankful to have completed this semester on such a strong note! Reality is setting in that I will be student teaching SO soon, and will then have a classroom of my own a few months later. I'm ready for the next semester, let's do this!