Final Thoughts...

Well, this course is coming to an end and I am going to reflect on some of the things I learned and experiences I had. During this course I became much more comfortable in front of the classroom. I would say that this was the most drastic difference the course made for me. This was most likely due to the high amount of time we spent in teaching roles. In fact, I had never taught an entire class, so doing so only two-three weeks into the course was intense!

Additionally, I learned how important working cooperatively is in this career. Teaching cooperatively is a tough skill to acquire, but I think my skills have improved significantly. This is due to the fact that we spent a lot of time working together in groups. For instance, we created the Native American Tribal project, and worked in groups for our lessons.

Another aspect of the class that drastically altered my teaching perspective was the use of technology. I realized that technology is important in this day and age. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this course was taught completely through technology. Meaning, that there were no handouts/assignments to print out to turn in. This is environmentally efficient, and more practical for students in today's society. Therefore, this will be one of the most important things for me to remember and use in my future classroom.

Working with the fourth graders at Bishop Dunn really helped build my confidence as a teacher. I enjoyed working with a group of students more than once a week, which was a change for me. Also, the students thoroughly enjoyed the project and working with us which made it even better.

Finally, designing the unit was another first experience of mine. Although I have created a mini unit in language arts methods, I had never completed an entire unit. This seemed daunting at first. However, working on it in class and knocking off a little at a time proved to be a manageable feat. All in all, completing this unit helped me realize what I can do when I put my mind and the time into an assignment. 

Artifact Bag Activity

Last week we completed the artifact bag activity in class. Throughout the week we discussed the importance of teaching history and different methods to do so. Exposing children to primary sources, artifacts, and things they can explore for themselves, is much more effective than lecturing about history. Similar to science, and from my personal experience, being able to explore things with your own hands allows you to much better understand the concept or object. Unfortunately, I was not able to be in class Friday for the sharing of the artifact bags, due to a family problem. However, Rachel helped fill me in on what people brought in their artifact bags. I will be bringing my bag in on Monday in case Dr. Smirnova would like me to share.

My artifact bag consists of three pictures; one of Monsters Inc., one of Walt Disney Pictures, and one of a few different companies with words beneath. Each of these pictures was specifically chosen due to its representation of something our group taught the class at Bishop Dunn. For instance, the Monsters Inc. picture was included because I explained to the class that this is my favorite animated movie, and it was used to show a successful commercial. Additionally, the picture of Walt Disney was included in my artifact bag because our group taught the class about logos. The students learned that every company needs a logo that is easy to remember and sticks in someones head. Finally, the picture of a few different companies was used to signify slogans. Our group discussed what slogans are and the importance of a good slogan for a company. For instance, Nike's "Just do it," is simple and to the point. In fact, many people remember what Nike's slogan is without prompting!

All in all, I felt that this activity could be successfully used in an elementary classroom on a multitude of different topics. I believe that it would be most effective to have the students choose and research a specific person from the past and create an artifact bag based on the person they researched.

Create Your Own Country...

While doing some reading on geography lesson plans, I came across one in particular that I was fond of. This lesson consists of students creating their own country. This specific teacher broke the project into several manageable sections for the students. The first section consists of research, where students choose a country that already exists and answer eleven questions about it. These questions range from the name of the country to the vegetation to the language spoken there.

 Next, the students make a country of their own and go on to answer the same eleven question but this time, about their fictional country. They should use their imagination with this, but their answers must be logical. For instance, you cannot have a desert country that is tropical.

Then the students have to draw two maps; one of the research country and one of the fictional country. The maps should include a key, a scale, a compass rose, and any lakes, rivers, mountains, or other major physical features. Additionally, the maps should be about poster board size and include at least one major city or town. The poster board is used so that the students can share their map with the class. 

This activity not only provides an opportunity for students to develop their research skills, but gives them a lot of practice working with geography (through making the maps). Another positive aspect of this project is that students can be as creative as possible!

Last Day

Friday was the last day that we were in the classroom. In my opinion, it was the least productive day of the entire BizMovie process. This was probably due to the technical problems that happened on the computer, but the students basically had 15 minutes of completely free time. I know in our group it was tough to keep the students quite and well-behaved because there was not anything to keep them focused. However, each of the students received their certificates and trophies which was exciting. All in all, I think BizMovie could use a little tweaking, but has the potential to be a very successful program.

Group 4: Session 2
Today the students worked well on creating their animated movie. However, only one student is able to go to the computer and type at a time, so the other students had trouble staying focused and calm. Overall, the group got a lot of work done on the movie and came up with a few good ideas. The students who wanted to type seemed to really enjoy using the computer! One thing that came up during today's session was how some of our group is disappointed that they are not the characters in the movie. I see where they are coming from because they all want to get dressed up for the scenes. Maybe the next BizMovie group should have either everyone film the movies or have everyone make animated movies. This way none of the students feel left out.

Group 4: Session 1

Group 4: Session 1
Yesterday was the first session for the last group. After introducing new vocabulary and reviewing some older vocabulary words, the students were given an opportunity to work on their movie. The group that I work with, Sparks Fly, began using Kerproof to make their animated movie. The goal is to have the movie done by the end of class Wednesday, so we tried to get the students to work diligently. However, a few of the students did not take part in the movie creation this session, and were actually quite distracting. Hopefully they will be more motivated tomorrow so that they can finish making their animated movie!

Group 3: Final Session

Group 3: Final Session
Today was the last day of group 3's lessons, and the last day before our spring break. The majority of the lesson consisted of the students reviewing and learning new vocabulary terms. Once the new vocabulary was introduced some examples were shared. Then group 3 instructed the students to work together and create a piece of work explaining the new vocabulary. Sparks Fly made a poster with visuals and then they explained and shared examples of each term in front of the class. A few of the other groups made a rap or wrote a poem with the new vocabulary. I thought that the lesson was successful and I really liked how each group did something different with the vocabulary. Sometimes these activities get too repeatetive if each group does the same exact thing. Overall, group 3 did very well and got more confident as their sessions progressed.