The End!

• What you learned about yourself as a writer?

   When starting the blog I thought that I was going to be horrible at it, however I thought it was a great idea. It was a place that I could write for class and possibly after class. I believe that this course has made an impact of how I write from here on out. I say this because this is the first course that I have taken like this and it opened me up to so much. I learned a few things about myself as a writer too. I learned that every writer is different and for some it might take a litter longer for one to figure out exactly what it is they want to write.

• What you learned about digital writing?

   As for digital writing, I have learned that it is a great way for assignments, and expression. I do not really like writing in class because I feel like I do not have enough time to think about what I want to say. Yet, with digital writing I have plenty of time to put my thoughts together. As for expression, I was able to use digital writing as a place for expression, and even though it is public I felt like I was able to use my experiences to help someone else.

• What lessons you can take to classroom or share with future teachers about integrating blogging into instruction?

    I would use digital writing in my classroom because I feel like the students will not be pressured to write in class or on a piece of paper. They will be able to use technology to turn in an assignment. I believe that students in middle or high school will enjoy having their own blogs, and they will be more likely to complete their assignments, especially if it is an open post. I believe this allows students to be creative and sometimes that is all they want to do, is to be creative. I believe every teacher should use digital writing with their students, even if it just a simple post. 

• Challenges? Successes

 The first blog was a challenge only because I did not know how to work a blog. Yet, as the time went on I found myself excited to write. I believe the use of the blog was a huge success, and I have thought about starting another blog.

Part 2 of Teaching Arguements

       After spending my break doing homework the last thing that I wanted to do was open this book again. However, once again I am glad that I did; I really enjoyed the second part of this book. The thing that I found myself interested in most was the fact that it talks about judgements and assumptions. Now, if you are like me I assume more than I like to admit, yet I still do it. The book explains why each one is important to not always go on what you once knew, but to be open to new learning experiences when it comes to new ideas. For example, on page 144 it states "Growing up, we accept the judgements and assumptions of others. Those views become our lenses for seeing and interpreting people, things, and ideas. All of us operate our lives on the basis on these views." As soon as I read this I started to wonder, how can this be changed? Well, it is how we are raised and what warrants guide our conduct throughout our lives. People will continue to make judgements and assumptions, which will lead to arguments or debates. Either way a judgment or assumption is one's opinion, and "the more serious the argument that the more likely definitions will use invoked and defended."

    Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it will be one that I hold onto. It has taught me more than I thought it would, and I look forward to using some of the ideas in my future classroom!

Teachers and Their Books...

    Another book on the list... How boring..... That's what I thought, however, after reading the first four chapters of "Teaching Argument Writing" I found myself interested.

   I really enjoyed chapter one, not only because it has pictures but the students write as if they are investigators. The chapter fully explains how whodunit mysteries can help students learn how to "write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence." I am sure that I learned this in high school, yet I do not really remember.  I believe that this form of writing is great because when the students are presented the picture they are able to immediately draw questions from it. It allows the students to try and determine what really took place at the crime scene. This is something that I would definitely use in order to teach my students about argument writings. I love how the pictures can be full of details, yet the students get to use their creative side.

    Chapter 2 talks about The Proper Mascot, and how students are asked to: "develop a model for informal reasoning, use a model for informal reasoning to analyze data and draw logical conclusions, and apply a model for informal reasoning in writing an analysis of a problem that requires the application of criteria in judging the relative merit of a set of proposed school mascots."  I really like this activity because the students are able to gather their thoughts and judgments. When in their groups, they are able to come together with one another and talk about the pros and cons of each school mascot. In the end, even if the paragraphs are short, they should contain the major three elements of an argument: a claim, evidence, and a warrant explaining how the evidence supports the claim. Whether the activity is simple, as this one, or more complex each argument must contain the major three elements.

    As I read through chapter 3 I found myself thinking of many different problems that could be researched. I cannot say how many times I have been at work and I want an answer yet no one can provide me with that.  I am always ready to research the answer because I want to know the meaning behind it. As for teaching students to draw arguments from researchable problems is an excellent idea. I believe this is a great way to get the students involved and it allows the student to voice their arguments after the research is completed.

100 pages down..... 12 pages to go....

      Chapter 4 discusses judgments and unexamined assumptions. Well, who has not made either of these, I know I have. The funny part is that each time I make judgments or assumptions, I USUALLY end up feeling horrible because sometimes my judgment or assumptions are wrong. I believe that this goes back to chapter three when it talks about researching the problems. Students need to be able to understand that having evidence is important, especially when making assumptions.

     Now that I have finished this assignment I can that I actually enjoyed reading this book, I learned more than I thought I would. Each one of the ideas / activities that I talked about will be used in my classroom when teaching argument writing.

    I must finish this book to learn some new activities.

Creating Memes.?.?.

        When memes first started to make their appearance, I did not think that they would last as long as they have. Yet, now I am here about to share two of them that I created tonight. I have never made these before so please do not hold it against me.

     



     This is exactly how I feel right now. So much work to finish and the clock is ticking away.

      This meme has nothing to do with education, however, I thought it was hilarious. Fitness is something that I love, but I have my days and my sister has to remind me why I do it.









      I believe memes can be incorporated with lessons to make them fun, and even interacting. Only as long as the jokes we come up with are funny, else wise there will be an awkward moment, and we have to spend some time explaining it. As a future teacher I will be incorporating memes and plenty of the other sites that I have discovered through this process.

Being Adventurous..

     This past weekend was a nice 4 day weekend for me, and it was very much appreciated.  I was able to relax and catch up on some things that I had been putting off, simply because I could not find the time to get everything completed. However, I was able to take a little break from life, and took Sunday to be adventurous; Ashley (my sister) and I took off to St. Augustine. I had never been there before and I must say it was pretty interesting, I really enjoyed the history. We was able to learn new facts, and we ate some amazing food ( we are foodies). We took the day to clear our heads and enjoy life for what it really is.
     I have decided that I need more weekends like this and I need to enjoy the time that I have. Stress, bills, and everything else will always be around for me to focus on, but there might be a time where I will not be able to travel. So, with that being said I believe it is time for me to renew my passport, and start traveling as much as I can.  Italy, France, and England is already checked off my list, therefore, I think it is time to plan a trip to Spain.

Are you adventurous? 

Tech Trek

          Before beginning this assignment I read over the title and thought to myself, I am a native, no doubt about it.  I grew up in a time where pagers were the coolest thing to have, until cell phones were affordable. I used computers in Elementary School, and I was taught well on the different programs. Now, as an adult I use my computer for just about anything, same goes for my phone; it is like my child. Yet, after reading over the assignment I was completely lost. I immediately realized I was not familiar with most of the things listed. How was this possible? Then I realized that every semester my professors asked me to do something with technology that I have never done before. I am constantly learning something new when it comes to technology, so I would say I am a visitor.

The good this about technology is that over the years it has advanced so much that it can help us teach our students. The resources that are available to students now verses when I was in school are completely different; students can do a lot of work from their computers. After looking through each site to use to enhance my students learning, I would use the Slideshare. I chose this one because of the memories I had from when I was in school. I sometimes missed more days than I wanted to, and if my teacher has Slideshare it would have been easier for me to keep up. I probably wouldn’t have had fallen behind so many times.

Technology has impacted the education system in such a huge way that even now days teachers turn to other resources to help them succeed in their career. I believe that social networking for teachers is a great idea. It allows teachers to access other teachers creating new resources for them. Every teacher has a different way of teaching a subject, and sometimes it can be better to see what other teachers ideas are when getting ready to teach a new lesson. It allows teachers to see different aspects. As for twitter, I am not a fan of this and no longer use it; so even as a teacher I would have to turn my back to it. I would possibly stick to other social networking sites. One of my favorite social networking sites is Pinterest, I could spend hours on here. I have already pinned so many different ideas for my classroom. It opens a world of people sharing ideas about what teaching is or could be. Overall, I believe that professional virtual learning is important and every teacher can benefit from it. Our learning experience never ends, it continues as we teach our students.

When it comes to our students virtually learning is extremely important, not only because technology is expanding at a rapid rate. Yet, because soon schools will be digital and students will be expected to present their work in the newest ways. I believe that students will benefit from each one of the examples provided, mostly because they can take this knowledge and carry it with them throughout school. For example, I learned how to make a PowerPoint when I was in Elementary school, and till this day I use it.  Now day’s students have new ways to present their information, and I must say that I really like these ideas. Over the summer I took Diversity and we would use Prezi to complete out presentations. This was my first time using this, and I loved it. If I can enjoy the new ways to present information, I wonder how our students are going to feel about them.

As for the teachers, their top tools for education include some of the following: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, what’s app, and Skype. I chose only to list these few because I found myself interested, simply for the fact that teachers have come a long way. When I was growing up social networking was only for adults, yet now it seems like more and more children are turning to social networking. It is being used for teachers to make contact with students, or to make contact with other educators. Either way, teachers and students are gaining knowledge about technology and the way it works. One thing that I was amazed at was that twitter was the number one tool being used. Before I stated that I am not a fan of twitter, but after reading that it helped one teacher more recently than in her last 30 years, I might have to second guess my statement.

Whether it is educators or students, we all need to remember that technology is advancing and as this happens we will continue to learn new things. I believe that we all need to be open to the idea of new strategies, and remember that each lesson can still be understood with these new approaches. Technology will continue to change, and it will continue to create new resources for us to use.

Today's Thoughts

     This week a lot has taken place and I can say that I am exhausted, but I am managing to get everything finished, including this blog. I was at work thinking about what I was going to write about, and my mind kept going back to food, and how awesome it is. Then something happened,  one of my students amazed me. She is a busy body and it is hard for her to keep still, yet she is awesome. She will try to be in the adult conversations, and wonders what is taking place. She is bossy, and loves to tell people what to do, however she is extremely smart. Today, we was working on rhyming words (I work with 3rd & 4th graders in ESE) and she was going through them so fast, like it was easy for her. Then, when it was time for math, once again she sped through it. You are probably wondering why I am amazed, well it is because usually she cannot focus, and today I seen a different part of her. As a teachers assistant I can that I am extremely proud of the progress that she is making.
    As I was writing about this student, I thought about how awesome my entire class is. They all have so much potential, and give their best. However, everyone has their off days, including us. Speaking of off days, one of our students is autistic and he tends to get mad fairly easy. Well, yesterday the teacher that I work with was joking with him, and as the entire class became quite, he shouted "Hell No!" We were all in shock because it was unexpected, the teachers did not know whether to laugh or to be serious. I have to say I laughed because of the reasoning behind it  The teacher told him to redo a math test on I-Ready from earlier and apparently he does not like math very well, that's when he shouted. If you are wondering, the teacher did pull him to the side and they had a little talk, and he said he will not do it again. So then today, he was having a grumpy day, then before centers he stated that he had a good day because he did not curse. 
    I could keep going on with stories about my days at work, but I would probably be here all night. It might sound weird, but I get happy just thinking about my students, I care for them and their achievements. I have learned so much since I started working there and I am thankful for the people that I have worked with. I look forward to finishing my education so I can become the teacher that I am learning how to be. Until then, I have my hands full with the students that I work with now.