Creating an E-folio

Creating an E-folio looks like work, but in fact it is a lot of work. The e-folio is a google site where young teachers can put their lessons, edTPA tasks, information about them, resume, professional organizations, projects, etc. It has taken me a week to complete my e-folio and all the aspects that go with it. The e-folio is very time consuming, but looks great at the end and it is a great way for people to find teacher candidates. Even though the e-folio is very time consuming, not a lot of thinking goes into it. It is mostly putting all your documents together and answering easy questions. Do not stress over the e-folio, just make sure to have time to stop and do some work on it during the year. You will see that putting just two hours into it every other day isn't hard to do, and in the long run your e-folio tasks get smaller and smaller. I believe waiting till the last minute is not a good idea, but spreading out your work and doing a little at a time is the way to go. There is no anxiety or being nervous because things are getting down and your not spending that much time doing it. My e-folio took my maybe two weeks working on it every other day for a couple hours and I wasn't worried about submitting it at all. Just know that being nervous is silly and hurts you more. Live your life, and get rid of these non-sense emotions.

Dr. Smirnova

Dr. Smirnova's class taught me so much before student teaching. It opened my eyes to a whole new type of teaching and how to actually teach a whole classroom. I owe her so much for what she has done for me. Let me go through a couple of things on why she is the best. She showed me what a direct instruction looks like and the concepts for having it. It should be teacher-centered and full of information, given to the kids at a fast pace with minimal critical thinking questions. She taught me about Inquiry/collaborative instructions. Showing me the steps of inquiry and to put it into a classroom. Creating experiments or activities related to problems, and how it is more student-centered. She taught me how to engage the classroom to create a positive environment. This can be from he awesome knowledge of digital tools. Having digital tools and using them in your classroom is fun for everybody and creates a powerful lesson. It can be used in the intro, body, or end of your lessons. She taught me about different projects to give in the classroom: Jigsaw, artifact bag, book trailer, etc. I wouldn't be as confident as I am now for student teaching if it wasn't for her. If you are reading this Dr. Smirnova, THANK YOU so much for your help and everything you do for us.

My Experience to get into Student Teaching

I am a junior in college at Mount Saint Mary College, I am majoring in Math, and hope to become an elementary teacher in the future. I was thinking of Student Teaching in the Spring of next year, but as I was enrolling into classes I couldn't get into the math classes I needed. I emailed my professors and they told me I could only take the math classes during the Spring and that math education undergraduate have to student teach in the Fall. However, everything was already due for Fall student teaching. I emailed the head of student teaching, and told her my problem. She said I had to do everything by tomorrow and email it to her. I was so flustered, but got right to work. I wrote my application, resume, and essay that night in order for me to student teach. I then had to fill out another application and essay to my student teaching schools to let them know who I was. I am now proud and excited to say I will be student teaching next semester in the Fall at Cornwall 2nd grade, and Marlboro 5th grade. I just want everyone who is reading this that, there is work always, but it pays off and open a brighter future. There is always a rainbow on the other side, and life will always be a roller-coaster having its ups and downs.

Protista

In Science Methods we did an assignment on the six Kingdoms of Life Science. We split up into groups and each group had a different kingdom. My group was the Protista Kingdom, which are unicellular organisms. The groups had to come up with a presentation and then present to the remaining students in the class. I created the number of cells slide and the cell wall slide. We presented to our class and quizzed them on what they learned using a kahoot. I loved this activity because my group mates and I had so much fun decorating and making our presentation exciting and engaging. We use many gifs and funny pictures to intrigue our audience, and I hope you can take a look at it.
Here is the link to my presentation

Students in the Stages of Grief

Teachers will come across students that are dealing with Loss. This can be: Death, Moving Away, Loss of a Friend, Divorce, Changing Illness, or a Disability. Teachers should first understand the Stages of Grief: Shock, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Testing, and Acceptance. Teachers should look to see if students are showing signs of the Stages of Grief so they can help the student get through their harsh time. If teachers do see a student going through the Stages of Grief, then there are things they should not do. Never say, "Things will get better," loss never goes away, pain is only resolved. Also never say, "I Understand," this is the worse thing you can say to a student going through loss, it is actually an insult to the student. No one has the same experiences/same relationship that the student has/had. Things for teachers to do is to be empathetic and say things like, "Sorry to hear that,"teachers should acknowledge what they are saying/addressing, or else the student will close up.

Digital Tools

Teachers need to know that everything they used to know about school is a lot different now. The world is changing and so is technology. Teachers must keep up with new technology and insert it into their teaching to actively engage and produce an easier way of children to acquire knowledge. Having digital tools promotes personalization. When students use digital tools they put their ideas and things about themselves in them causing a personal attachment. Using digital tools also has easy accessibility. Being able to share files and use pictures and videos are great way to teach students quicker. Digital tools also cuts efficiency. Using online tools effectively cuts costs, maximizes resources, and heightens reach. Studies have shown that students using technology as an education tool become more engaged in the process and more interested in growing their knowledge base. In some cases they don't even realize they're actively learning. Some examples of digital tools to use are: Animoto, WordClouds, glogster, blogger, and GoAnimate.

Example of an Animoto: link

Mirror Books for Mental Health Disorders

Statistically, 1 in 5 people show signs of mental health disorders. Some examples of mental health disorders are depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorders. What surprised me about talk therapy was it can also make things work for someone with a mental health disorder. It can make things worse because children don't want to remember past memories of their disorders or talk about it. It can cause them to get more frustrated, anxious, or depressed. However, a teacher can use activities like art to reveal what the student wants to share, since art isn't in oral communication. This can help a teacher create that teacher student relationship and help the teacher understand what the student is going through with their disorder. A great way a teacher can help students like this is to have mirror books. Mirror Books are books on real life events that student go through, it is books that students can see themselves in. For example, a book can be on a boy who joins a gang becoming a bully, his father dies, and he wants to get out of the gang and re-shape his life. Mirror books can help students see a resolve or a way to get out of tough situations.