Reflection: Week 6

This class has given me a good basis to reach one of my goals as a teacher. One of my goals as a teacher is to make learning fun. I am now convinced to accomplish this goal I must engage my students. The question is, "How do I engage my students?" This class has given me many tools already to help me reach this goal. Using technology in the class room will help engage my students. From experience I have seen two different ways of teaching. I worked as a 504 aide for three years. One class I worked in was rowdy, the teacher had a difficult time keeping the students in control. I really didn't blame the students for being rowdy because the class was somewhat boring. Boring is an interesting word, it is overused by many students. But in this case it was the truth. I was an adult yet the lessons made me sleepy. If I am sleepy imagine how 28 pre-adolescents felt. The same teacher gave an engaging lesson once, when she was being evaluated by the principal. She was very prepared for the lesson that day. She used interesting props to prove a point. It got the students attention. I don't think teachers should have to entertain their students for six hours everyday, but teachers need a good lesson plan with hands on activities. In a class room down the hall the teacher had a high energy level. I worked in her class during math time. Almost everyday she had a math activity to help her students understand. This is the teacher who made me want to become one. She had a passion for the subject and the students.

Through the years of working in a school I have observed and watched teachers. Since I have taken this class I am more aware of the technology teachers are using. I noticed the Speech Therapist's laptop computer. Right there on her computer screen was google calendar with three different scheduling colors, red for work, blue for personal and green for her husbands schedule. I got a little excited when I saw the calendar because it is fun to see people using what I am learning. I even told the Speech Therapist about the phone feature, she didn't know about that. Another experience I had was with one of the resource teachers. She taught 4th grade last year so I thought she would be the best person to ask about tools she used in her class room. She took me to uen.org! She went on and on about UEN and how awesome it is. You can imagine how I am feeling now about the UEN scavenger hunt. I want to learn all about UEN! The resource teacher told me that she taught science to both fourth grade classes. She took the students outside with tools to find out what the weather was going to be like. She used videos in UEN to help her students with math. She engaged her students. I can't even begin to say how thrilled I am to live in the age of the internet. I have so many great tools at my finger tips.