SCED 330 // Blog 4

November 29, 2018

I absolutely cannot believe that this is the last blog I will be writing before Student Teaching! Time has absolutely flown by, and I am so excited!

Reflection...

     I am most proud of how hard I have worked this month-- and really this whole semester. I completed my Science Methods clinical experience commentaries over Thanksgiving Break, which took dedication. This month we also were able to learn some formative assessment strategies that we can use in the classroom, and I found that to be very insightful. This month, I encountered struggle most with my unit. I was having a hard time comong up with ways that my students could use metacognition. However, I am overcoming this struggle and getting it done! This month, my Task 3 clinical experience commentary brought me the most satisfaction because I worked really hard on it, and I feel confident in it. Over the next week/month, I will get prepared for student teaching! I will be going into my placement during final exam week. I will not be going in after that until January 2nd, because I need time to decompress and get ready for Student Teaching. If I don't give myself a break, it will be a disservice to the children because I won't be able to 100% give everything I've got for student teaching. I want to do my absolute best for these kids and the semester I've been waiting for! I contributed to the overall class this month by trying my best in all these last group projects we finished up.

Outside learning/research...

     This month, I decided to do my outside research on Paige Keeley's book that we talked about in class, known as Science Formative Assessment Strategies. I would like to highlight two that I think would be good to incorporate in my future classroom.

1. Paige Keeley’s formative assessment strategy #10, known as Data Match. In this formative assessment strategy, students use and demonstrate discourse and metacognition by using evidence from data to see which statements are true and accurate.
2. Formative assessment strategy in which students analyze their own, and their peers’, explanations. 
3. APA citation: Keeley, P. (2008). Science formative assessment: 75 practical strategies for linking assessment, instruction, and learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Top Tweets...

I chose this tweet because we talked all about the 7 Habits in class this week. This was a new concept to me, so I looked it up. I was amazed to see what the 7 Habits are and how educators are currently encorporating these into their classrooms!

I feel just a little famous now that I got a reply from a Twitter account that has so many followers, telling me that they would "love to hear more" about my tweet! I replied back to them saying that we had been discussing Paige Keeley's book regarding formative assessments in science.

I wanted to share this tweet with y'all, because I thought it looked like a great resource. It is a tweet by the Next Generation Science Standards' Twitter. I think that it is important that we will be licensed in 6th grade, and we need to stay up to date on things in the 6th grade world so that we are ready if we get placed in that grade level!

Current Event...

     This month, I came across an article that I found to be very interesting! This article states that there has been a breakthrough in DNA technology. This new DNA technology has allowed us to make amazing sketches of suspects from samples obtained on crime scenes. The article states that this technology can help officials find how who committed crimes recently, or years ago. I think that it is amazing what science and research can do! I cannot wait to get into the classroom and have my students do all kinds of science learning experiences.
APA citation: Sterman, J., & Brauer, A. (2018, November 29). DNA technology can create unbelievable suspect sketches from crime scene samples. Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://wlos.com/news/nation-world/dna-technology-can-create-unbelievable-suspect-sketches-from-crime-scene-samples

NCTCS...
   
     This month, I think that Science Methods brought a whole new meaning to Standard 3, "Teachers know the content they teach." While completing all of these last few assignments, commentaries, etc., I have really realized why it is so important to learn all that we can as future teachers. If we are going to teach these children, we are going to have to know what to teach them, and how to teach them. By completing these projects in Science Methods, I feel more prepared to take on teaching science to my student teaching students, and my future students!

EDUC 435// Blog 4

November 27, 2018

     I absolutely cannot believe how fast this semester has gone by. I also cannot believe how fast this whole experience has gone by-- we are about to start student teaching, y'all!

     References to Learning Experiences:
This month, I completed my clinical experience checklist. My C.E. was so helpful in letting me interview her for various parts of the checklist, and introducing me to the staff. She is great! I have been talking to her about what she wants me to teach for my real Task 1, and she has officially chosen the topic she wants me to teach. Now, all I have to do is start writing it! I am a little stressed and overwhelmed, but also really happy and thankful.

     References to Outside Learning/Research:
This month, I researched a lot of theories and things that I can include in my lessons for student teaching. There are so many things out there! I specifically researched Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development, because I have been seeing this a lot in my placement... especially in math. This theory states that children cannot grasp the abstract until they are first introduced to the concrete. For example, this means that children could have a hard time understanding the different values of money until we give them play money, real money, or money paper cut outs that they can feel and see. Feeling and seeing the concrete examples would help them understand the abstract idea that a penny does not equal a quarter, and so on. This is a great theory, and I have started including it in my instruction a lot.
APA citation:
Mcleod, S. (2018, June 06). Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. Retrieved September 26, 2018, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

     Connections to NCTCS:

This month, we have been pretty much exemplifying a lot of the Standards. Every day in my placement is a new opportunity to demonstrate aspects of the NCTCS. The Clinical Experience Checklist has things on it like "Discuss long term and short term planning with C.E." This is directly related to Standard 4b, "Teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students." These are related because this is exactly what we are doing-- planning instruction that is appropriate for our students! Our C.E.'s help guide us and make sure that what we are planning is appropriate for our students. Another part of the Clinical Experience Checklist was "Introduce yourself to clerical staff." My C.E. has introduced me to just about everybody at the school! She is awesome! By putting ourselves out there and introducing ourselves to everyone, we are demonstrating Standard 1b, "Teachers demonstrate leadership in the school." When we do this, we are demonstrating leadership in the school by getting out there and meeting people, and just getting involved! I think that good teacher leaders get involved as much as possible.

     Future Classroom Connections:

In my future classroom, I will encourage my students to be friendly to everyone and be student leaders to their peers. Since communication is a 21st century skill, I think it is important that I encourage my students to be friendly, communicate and collaborate with others, and apply themselves in everything they do. Communication and collaboration is a lost art that I plan to bring back in my classroom.

SCED 330 // Blog 3

November 1, 2018

Overall Reflection
   
     This month in science methods, we finished up our science fair projects. We did the acid rain portion of the project, and it was cool to see how acid rain affects plants! We used a vinegar solution and poured it straight onto the plants. It really affected them quickly! We also did the Safety in the Classroom project, which was great to think through. I did not realize how much a teacher really needs to prepare and think about the safety precautions that should take place in the classroom at all times, but especially when conducting science labs and experiments. Here's the poster that my group made on Venngage that shows what we would expect our 2nd and 3rd grade students to follow during a science lab:

We are also continuing with our ecocolumns. All of my goldfish died, and the water has a ton of algae in it! My plants are hanging in there, though. I think this is a cool science learning experience that I would like to do in my future classroom one day, if I teach 4th or 5th. I am loving the K-2 world, though!💗 I am moving right along with my clinical experience, as well. I will be teaching a 5-day learning segment on sounds next week, and I am so excited. I will be zoning in on bats and how they communicate through echolocation. This month, I was most proud of our science fair project. I think that the project went well and that we tried our best. I encountered struggle this month when my goldfish died in my ecocolumn, but that's a part of the project! The project can still go on without them. My focus from now on will be helping my plants grow. Over the next month, I really want to focus on my clinical experience, and doing my best when teaching the learning segment and looking closely at the edTPA commentaries and rubrics before we do the real thing in just a couple of months. I contributed to the overall class by just coming and participating in all the group projects we've had going on. I brought all the dirt and seeds for the science fair project, and I planted them all. I also replanted them all in cups with Megan White, Mackenzie, and Amber. It's really been a fun month full of learning in SCED 330. I could continue contributing to the other group learning experiences that we have coming up.

Outside learning/research:
     For my outside learning and research this month, I decided to read on Edutopia about project-based learning. I thought this would be perfect since we have been doing so many projects this month! The article was written by Vanessa Vega, and I thought it was really informative. According to Edutopia's research, project-based learning is effective because it helps children to solve real-world problems, collaborate with peers, and take control and responsibility for their learning. This sounds like a few of the 21st century skills! I can use this info in my future classroom in order to promote a more wholesome science education for my students and allow them to explore and pursue that natural curiosity that they have for the world around them.
APA citation: Vega, V. (2015, December 1). Project-Based Learning Research Review. Retrieved November 1, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/pbl-research-learning-outcomes

3 Top Tweets
(Sorry about the low quality pictures of these tweets, my screenshot button on my laptop was not working!)

I chose this tweet to be one of my top tweets this month because it is a video of a teacher dropping a huge pumpkin into a tub of water. All of the kids were talking about how the pumpkin would "definitely sink," and they were amazed to see it float and bob up and down in the water! I said that we could do something like this in our future classrooms to teach about buoyancy, the bonds in water, making predictions, etc.

 I chose this tweet because I am teaching a unit in my placement on sound next week! This teacher wrote about how her students got to play the harp and talk about how sounds are made from vibrations. I thought bringing in a guest speaker for this was a great idea!

Lastly, I chose this tweet because it's an inspirational quote. Here's the quote so that y'all can see it more clearly:

I think that this is so true! We cannot do it on our own. We have to work with our coworkers, administrators, and the families of these children to do what is best for these kids. It's a team effort.

Scientific Thinking... current event
This month, my current event comes from this link: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/mosquitoes-eat-microplastics-as-larvae

According to Sharon Oosthoek at sciencenewsforkids.org, polution in the world around us is cause mosquitos to keep plastic in their bellies. This is putting the birds that eat them at risk. The plastic gets into the mosquitos because it is microplastic, which the article states is a commant pollutant found in water. Since mosquito larvae thrives in water at first, this is how they are getting the microplastic in their bellies. It stayes there, and then when birds eat the mosquitos, they are polluted with microplastic too.
APA citation: Oosthoek, S. (2018, October 30). Microplastics take flight in the bellies of mosquitoes. Retrieved November 1, 2018, from https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/mosquitoes-eat-microplastics-as-larvae

NCTCS
     This month in my clinical placement, I learned a lot about the importance of working with the teachers on your grade level in order to provide high quality materials and instruction to the whole grade level. My C.E. and the other 2nd grade teachers come up with their own pacing guide, and its all done in units based on something to do with science. Just like many of the other K-2 classes recently, we went from apples to pumpkins, and next week I am teaching them about bats. This is all integrated in literacy! This relates to NCTCS 4g, "Teachers communicate effectively."
     One of my top tweets was also related to NCTCS 2e, "Teachers work collaboratively with the families and significant adults in the lives of their students." This is so important. We have to work together with the families and other significant adults in the lives of these children in order to do what is best for them.


   

EDUC 435 // Blog 3

October 25, 2018

References to Learning Experiences

     This month, I have really been digging into practice for edTPA. I submitted my practice Tasks 1-3 into Taskstream, and I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to practice this before we do the real thing in just a couple short months! I learned so much, and I already have picked up on a few things that I would/should have done differently that I will now know for the real thing. I have also been spending lots of time in my clinical placement, and have been completing my clinical experience feedback forms. I am absolutely loving my placement! Over Fall Break, I had the awesome opportunity to be trained in Orton-Gillingham Phonics with all of the K-2 teachers at my placement school. My principal got it approved to let me sit in on the training, just in case I was to get a job at this school next year and have to teach this phonics program! I really learned so much, not just about phonics in the training, but about the processes involved in learning and teaching students how to read.

References to Outside Learning/Research

     Since I was trained in Orton-Gillingham phonics this month, I decided to do a little bit of outside background research on the program and report it back here to y'all. Orton-Gillingham is published by a company called IMSE. This is an acronym that stands for Institue for Multisensory Education. This program is targeted phonics instruction for children with different learning styles! This program includes activities like forming letters in sand on a plate or air writing, which is for the tactile-kinesthetic learners. Another major component of this program is decoding words, red (sight) words, and other visuals cues for the visual learners. However, one of the most important components of this program is the auditory component. For some parts of the instruction, the teacher says "The sounds is ___." Students are expected to be able to mimic the sound, and spell it correctly. If the teacher says "The sound is /c/," students are expected to correctly write the letters c and k, because they both make this sound. I think that my placement school will do very well with this program!
     You can click the link in the APA citation below and read the journal of an educator that uses Orton-Gillingham in her classroom.

APA citation: IMSE - Journal. (2018, October 16). Retrieved October 25, 2018, from https://journal.orton-gillingham.com/

Connections to the NCTCS

     This month, I really applied myself to my clinical placement and became trained in the new phonics program that they are adopting in the school. At first, I thought that they were going to try to implement it next year, but my C.E. explained to me that they are actually going to start implementing this program either right away, or right after Christmas Break! This is going to be a brand new phonics program that they are going to be starting when I start Student Teaching! Thank the Lord I will be officially trained in it before Student Teaching starts! This is connected to NCTCS 1d, "Teachers advocate for schools and students," because by going through this training, we advocated for what our school and students needed-- a phonics program! This also relates to NCTCS 3, "Teachers know the content they teach." This one is self-explanatory, because if we are going to start teaching this phonics program either now or right after Christmas break, then we definitely need to know what we are going to be teaching! This only comes through training, as well as practice and a little more experience.

Ms. McDaniel's Future Classroom

     In my future classroom, I will use the knowledge that I obtained in this Orton-Gillingham training in order to help my students become stronger readers. Even if I teach grades 3-5, this information will still be very valuable to me as an educator because I can always get students in these upper elementary grades that either struggle with literacy, or cannot read at all. The training even touched base on how you can use this program for people trying to get their GED, or high schoolers that are struggling in reading! I am thankful for this experience because I really feel like I can use this information I learned in order to help my students in literacy in my future classroom, regardless of what grade I teach.

EDUC 435 // Bog 2

October 9, 2018

     I can't believe we are half way done with this semester! It is absolutely flying by and we are so close to student teaching.

References to Learning Experiences:
     This month, I completed my Leadership and Collaboration project, and unpacked the NCTCS for our class. You can view my website later on in this blog! I also taught my learning segment for tasks 1-3, and it went well. I just finished my task 2 commentary for peer review with Bailey, and I am now in the process of peer reviewing her task 2. Next, I will be completing my task 3 commentary for peer review. I am so thankful for the opportunity to do a run-through edTPA before doing the real one next semester.
     We are now getting ready for our Hands on Halloween event! I'm so excited, because I really enjoyed being a part of this event last year.

References to Outside Learning and Research:
     This month for my outside research, I read on Edutopia on how to help students build social and emotional skills. This article was written by Randy Taran, and it talks about how educators can teach (and learn themselves) happiness skills! Here's a visual that he includes in his article:

     He explains that we think "If I can just have/do this, I will be happy." Then, we get it, we are immediately happy, and then our happiness fades. Then we want something else that we think will make us happy, only for the cycle to start all over again. Teaching is a profession in which many people get burned out. What better skill and professional development is there than to learn about this "Never Ending Cycle of Desire," recognize how this happens, and find true, lasting joy? Wouldn't it also be really valuable for us to teach our kids the skills of true happiness, too? For example, instead of always wanting it to be Friday, we can teach them that we can be happy on other days of the week too, because we have so much to be happy about.
     Some of the skills that Taran discusses that we can do to help our kids be happier is relaxation and movement. Research shows that these two things are good for the brain and help everyone to be happier. I know that we didn't talk about this in class this month, but when we write our commentaries, we have to write about how we created a positive learning environment for our students. This is because it is important, y'all!

APA citation:
Taran, R. (2012, September 5). Activities to Build Social and Emotional Skills in Elementary Students. Retrieved October 9, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/sel-for-elementary-school-randy-taran

Learning Experiences related to the NCTCS:
     The Leadership and Collaboration project that we completed this month is really eligned to NCTCS 1, "Teachers demonstrate leadership." This is aligned to this standard because we took the time to gather all the data we could find, analyze it, organize it into charts and graphs, and much more. We familiarized ourselves with our placement schools as much as possible so that we are ready for student teaching. This is us being teacher leaders!
     Unpacking the NCTCS is also related to NCTCS 1 for the same reason, but it is also related to NCTCS 5, "Teachers reflect on their practice." When we make our websites and we connect our standards to our future classrooms, we are reflecting on how we can actually apply these standards and be proficient in them.

✭Here is my NCTCS Examining website I made this month!  https://meganmcdaniel098.wixsite.com/nctcs2c2d

Connections to My Future Classroom:
     I will help my students to be happier by having them do GoNoodles to get moving. I'll have them take brain breaks when I see that they need one, as well. I am a person that needs relaxation and exercise to help keep my stress levels from becoming too much, so I can definitely see how this would help my students. I will continue to familiarize myself with the NCTCS as well, because I want to be the best teacher I can be, and these standards will help me to do that.

SCED 330 // Blog 2 September 27, 2018

Hey y'all! I can't believe it's already time for blog 2 for this class, and that we are almost to October! It's going by so fast!

Reflect on your thinking, your learning, and your work this week. What were you most proud of?

This week, I have been really gearing my mind towards planting seeds and creating an environment in which they can grow-- watering them, making sure they don't stay too wet, making sure they get enough sunlight, etc. This is because in class lately, we have been working on our ecocolumns and science fair projects. My group's science fair project consists of growing plants and testing which species is most resilient against acid rain. This week, I was most proud of how our plants are growing! I am so glad our project is off to a good start.

Where did you encounter struggle this week, and what did you do to deal with the struggle?

I encountered struggle when I found that some of my lettuce in my ecocolumn is dying. It was growing and thriving so well, and then all of a sudden started turning yellow and dying. I realized that I was absolutely drowning it by giving it too much water, and it could never dry out because I did not make the holes in the top of the lid big enough, in hopes that it would keep the crickets from jumping out. I dealt with this struggle by skipping watering it for a day, and putting the lid on it sideways in order to let it dry out some, since the crickets aren't in there yet. 

What about your thinking, your learning, and/or your work brought you the most satisfaction this week? Why?

This week, I got the most satisfaction out of my discussion board post on the 5 Elements of Effective Science Instruction by Center on Instruction. For this assignment, I made an infographic, connecting these 5 elements to my future classroom, and including a short description of each element. Here it is so y'all can view it!

I really enjoyed reading about these 5 elements of effective science instruction, and I am excited to hear back from my C.E. on the interview questions that I made for her regarding how she implements these five elements in her classroom. 

What action steps do you want to complete over the next week? Why?

Over the next week, I will analyze and reflect on the interview that I conducted with my C.E. regarding these 5 elements of effective science instruction, and I will make connections between this information and my future classroom. I want to do this because I want to learn all that I possibly can from my C.E. before I take over the classroom for student teaching in January, and before I have my very own classroom next school year!

How did you contribute to the overall class this week? What can you do next week to help your colleagues more?

I contributed to the overall class this week by replying to my peers' discussion boards, contributing to my groups' science fair project, and tweeting using our class hashtag #SCED330. Next week I can help my colleagues more by participating even more in the science fair project as our plants will probably be big and strong enough to start testing the acid rain on them!

What outside learning/research did you complete? How will you use this information in the future, either in this class or in your future classroom?

For my outside learning research for blog 2, I dove more into research-based strategies for teaching science. I found a slide deck that is super long (98 slides), but very informative. I will link it below for y'all. One of my biggest takeaways is that one of the slides said "Learners grow through the same predictable stages but at different rates." This is so true! I am seeing this in my placement. I have some children in my class that could pass for a first grader, and some that could easily pass for a fourth grader. I thought this slide was a good reminder that children learn and grow at different rates.
Source: https://www.slideshare.net/majumalon/science-teaching-approaches-and-strategies 

Majumalon Follow. (2015, October 28). Science Teaching Approaches and Strategies. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://www.slideshare.net/majumalon/science-teaching-approaches-and-strategies

You must include the screenshots of the 3 most influential tweets you read / contributed during this week with a 3-5 sentence description of each. 

Tweet 1: 

I thought this tweet was cool because this teacher's class grew radishes in their ecocolumns, and were able to track their growth over the course of 9 weeks! I connected this to our ecocolumns, and how Rachel brought Parrot Feathers in for us to grow in the aquariums of our ecocolumns. Hopefully ours will last for a while and these students in this teacher's class won't put us to shame! Haha!

Tweet 2: 

I really liked this tweet. It does not particularly relate to science, but it absolutely can be applied to science. This math teacher stated that he stopped asking if students had any questions, and started asking them what questions they have. Think about how this could transform our classrooms if we applied this in all subject areas, but especially when we teach science!

Tweet 3: 

Okay, y'all forreal go check this out when you have time. It will be worth it. I found this tweet where this person made a weather tool that gives you updates on the weather in real time! If you click on his website, the weather currents and patterns swirl on your screen. It is amazing! 
I'll make it easy for you, here's the link! https://t.co/ZjeBfuyLEB

What specific current event related to science did you learn about this week? How were you able to connect a component of science methods to your learning?

Speaking of weather, my current event for blog 2 is on hurricane Florence that just hit our east coast and got us out of class a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully, the hurricane was not as severe as they thought that it would be here, but it was very bad in Wilmington and New Bern, and other places on our coast. We should all be praying for those affected by hurricane Florence recently! I was able to connect this to science methods because we took a whole class period and talked about hurricanes, what they really are, and how they get started. I actually learned that it all starts over the Sahara Desert. 

Bacon, J. (2018, September 24). Hurricane Florence hit 10 days ago, and still hundreds of roads remain closed, thousands evacuated. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/09/24/florence-10-days-later-rescues-and-evacuations-continue/1408965002/

What did you learn about the NCTCS this week? How does this relate to your future science instruction?

This week, I am unpacking NCTCS 2c and 2d for EDUC 435. These standards are about treating students as individuals, and adapting teaching to benefit students with special needs. This can relate to what I have learned in science this week. When I hear the phrase "Teachers need to modify their teaching to benefit students with special needs," I do not automatically think about adapting my teaching for students who have a disability of some sort. When I think of someone having a "special need," I just think about them needing something that is specific to the way that they learn, and it can be anything. One of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences is the Naturalistic Learner. These students learn best when reading about animals or nature, when sitting or walking outside, or while learning about the outside world. Our students learn differently, and we must treat them as individuals (Standard 2c) and cater their learning (and special) needs. We must remember that some students just need to get some fresh air and get back to nature.

Cherry, K. (2018, February 24). Which Type of Intelligence Do You Have? Retrieved September 26, 2018, from https://www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161

EDUC 435 // Blog 1 September 20, 2018

Hey y'all!
This month has been busy, busy, busy. I have been getting really involved in my clinical placement with my 2nd/3rd grade combination class, and I am starting to feel like I am getting the hang of it!

References to Learning Experiences this month:
     This month I completed a classroom management system, classroom management plan, and my lesson plans and commentary for task 1. I really enjoyed taking pictures around my C.E.'s classroom for the classroom management system because it helped me to get acquainted with how she runs her classroom and the expectation she has for her students.  I also really enjoyed making my own classroom management plan, because I think that this was a good thing to go ahead and have completed so that I can "work smarter, not harder" and have my procedures set into place. I think that it will be more helpful than we all realize to go ahead and have 3 days worth of substitute plans done. Writing task 1 this month has really helped me to feel more confident and relaxed about edTPA. I feel like I am finally starting to make connections in my mind between my practices and what the prompts are asking me. I think the light bulb might finally be coming on for me with edTPA!

References to outside learning/research:
     One thing that I have really struggled with this month is grouping for guided reading stations in my task 1 lesson plans. This is because two students were removed from our class just this past Monday. Also, the way that I have always done grouping in my lesson plans is much different than how my C.E. groups students for literacy stations. This isn't a bad thing AT ALL, it's just different and something for me to adjust to! She is very flexible and supportive, and she told me that I can do grouping how I want. However, I don't want to change the grouping too much from what the children are already used to. She was so sweet to send me an email last night with a book that she read that inspired the way she groups for literacy stations. The book is called Practice with Purpose (Literacy Workstations for Grades 3-6) by Debbie Diller. I looked into this book, and basically, the author that wrote this book was a teacher for 30 years. She decided to look at classroom practices with a questioning/inquiry point of view. She asks the questions "What are the purposes for these classroom practices, and why?" I am glad that my C.E. shared this book with me, and I can't wait to dive into it more. It might change the way I see grouping students for literacy stations as well. One thing that I love about my C.E.'s practices is that they are all research based.

Learning Experiences related to the NCTCS:
     Planning and writing task 1 is connected to the NCTCS in so many ways. It is directly related to Standard 4, "Teachers facilitate learning for their students." When we write task 1, this is exactly what we are doing! We are not just planning for the whole class, but for our students who need modifications and supports, as well. We are planning to facilitate learning for ALL of our students... not just the students who are "on grade level." Completing the management plan with substitute teacher lesson plans and the management system are directly related to Standard 5, "Teachers reflect on their practice." These learning experiences are also directly related to substandard c, "Teachers function effectively in a complex, dynamic environment." You never know when you might get sick or have some kind of emergency and have to miss school during student teaching or in your own classroom. By having these plans already in place for our substitute teacher to use for 3 days, we are planning ahead and preparing for anything. When we first went into our C.E.'s classrooms in August, we had a lot of information thrown at us. By creating the management system and taking pictures for artifacts, we became better acquainted with the classroom and how our C.E.'s will expect us to keep those procedures going in January. This is directly related to functioning in a complex and dynamic environment.

Connections to my Future Classroom:
     This month, I have made so many connections between my learning experiences at Gardner-Webb and my clinical placement to my future classroom. I have been taking care of my student with diabetes so much this month, and it has taught me a lot about life. First, I realized how blessed I am. I am 20 years old and by the grace of God I have not yet known struggles that this sweet child has already faced at 7 years old. She goes through a lot every single day with her condition, partly because she does not have a pump and in a 24 hour period she can have up to 4-5 shots of insulin and 10 finger sticks. She's so brave! She faces every single day with a smile! She keeps us on our toes, not just because of her severe diabetes, but because she is so sassy too! She is a constant encouragement to me because she tells me "Ms. McDaniel, I think you're getting the hang of this teaching thing. You're learning fast." I think we all need a kid like her in our lives. 💗 I feel like I was placed in this classroom with a purpose that is bigger than me, and I am already feeling more prepared for my future classroom. This placement has been tough and intimidating at times, learning to teach two grade levels at the same time, but it is only building my confidence for my future classroom.

SCED 330, Blog 1 // August 30, 2018

Hey y'all! It's so good to get back to blogging, I have missed this!
     I have officially started my clinicals at my student teaching placement school in a 2nd/3rd combination class!
     Overall, I would say that it is going well. I really like the location of my school, the atmosphere, my classroom, C.E., and my students! We are all getting to know each other, and I have some awesome kids in my class this year.
     This week, I was most proud of how hard I worked in getting my work in SCED 330 done on time. I encountered struggle this week when I accidentally submitted all google links not in "edit mode." (Sorry Dr. Parker!) To deal with this struggle I immediately made it right. I also encountered struggle at first understanding the NGSS information, but I dealt with it by reading the sources and watching the explanation video over and over. This helped a lot. I got the most satisfaction with my work this week when I constructed my ecocolumn. I absolutely love hands on learning. I especially enjoyed this activity because I didn't construct an ecocolumn in elementary school. I think this activity will help me to be a better science teacher because it will be another great activity in my "bag of teacher tricks/activities" that I can use to facilitate learning in my future classroom for my students (Standard 3).
Action steps I want to complete over the next week & why:

• Confirm my PDP goals so that I can get started on Professional Development as soon as possible.
• Confirm a plan with my Science Fair Group as soon as possible so we can get the ball rolling on that. 
• Complete all my course work to the best of my ability on time so that I can remain successful in this class. 

     This week, I contributed to the overall class by:

• Participating in my group's science fair discussion (via group text).
• Creating a google doc for our group with the project's rubric on it.
• Directed my classmates on how to find the discussion board rubric in blackboard.

     Outside research learning that I completed this week was from www.sciencebuddies.org. I found a great visual on their website about the Scientific Method, and thought that I would share it with y'all!

Source in APA: sciencebuddies.org. (2018). Steps of the Scientific Method. [online] Available at: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/science-fair/steps-of-the-scientific-7method [Accessed 30 Aug. 2018].

     Tweets:

I really liked this Tweet by "Josh" @Jetstopia in a Twitter chat about STEM. I like how he communicated what he thinks differentiation in a successful STEM program looks like. He explained that a successful STEM program's activities are effectively differentiated when they are "open ended enough that everyone can get involved." 

I also liked this Tweet because it is directly related to what we learned about in class this week- the NGSS! There was an article attached to this Tweet from sfexaminer.com titled "Science refreshed in elementary schools this year." I thought that as a future educator, this tweet was encouraging.

Lastly, this tweet was amazing. It was like our whole week in SCED 330 summed up in one Tweet. It says, "Teaching science through inquiry by using the 5E instructional model & Profile of a Graduate!" It also had #aligned, which we talk about a lot. This explanation won't make sense unless you look at the picture that Reinaldo Gomez was tweeting about:

This is a picture of a sample of student work! I thought this was great to see in a tweet about student inquiry in science, including the 5E model.

Scientific thinking: 

For my current event this week, I learned about the hurricane "Lane" that happened on the coast of Hawaii! I learned that hurricane Lane was the "second wettest tropical cyclone on record in the U.S." Hurricane Lane put down 52 inches of rain. Hurricane Lane was the second wettest to hurricane Hiki of 1950. 

Citation in APA: Mersereau, D. (2018, August 30). Hurricane Lane Was The Second-Wettest Tropical Cyclone On Record In The U.S. Retrieved August 30, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/dennismersereau/2018/08/30/hurricane-lane-was-the-second-wettest-tropical-cyclone-on-record-in-the-u-s/#2ecf2c6e3376

This week I really learned what Standard 3, "Teachers facilitate learning for their students," really means in science instruction. This does NOT mean reading a textbook. This means learning through student inquiry, hypothesis, labs, hands-on activities, and concept-based science instruction. I am grateful for my deeper understanding of Standard 3, because I will implement all these things that I have learned about good science instruction in my future classroom.

SSED 307 April 24, 2018 // Blog 4

Hey y'all!
     I can't believe it's time to write our last blog post! This month has been crazy as I have been trying to wrap up everything for the semester.

Learning Experiences
     This month I turned in my Concept Based Instruction Unit, my clinical experience commentaries, my last Top Tweets of the Week, and now I'm finishing up my PDP and I will be (almost) done! I am thankful for the opportunity to practice the edTPA commentaries in order to help prepare me for student teaching. Speaking of student teaching, we should be getting our placements back very soon😍
     Today was our last day at the elementary school that we have a partnership with this semester, and they gave us gift bags and provided lunch for us! My C.E. also shared a cool "teacher trick" with me today: you can apply for grants for field trips and the field trip will come to you... she applied for a grant for a field trip at an aquarium, and she won it for her classroom. Some of the aquarium's staff is coming next Friday to her classroom (they are driving 5 hours and spending the night in motel rooms just to come visit and teach the class)! I didn't know that this was possible, so I thought it was really cool.

Outside Learning & Research
     I know that as (future) teachers we're always looking for research-based strategies for our lesson plans, practice edTPA, etc. I found this research-based strategy to help students with their writing, and I thought I'd share it! It's called the "Collaborative Community of Writers" strategy. 

• The “Collaborative Community of Writers” strategy is based on the analysis of research whose evidence shows that “Because well-structured collaborative writing activities allow students to learn from each other, compositional quality improves significantly.”
• Santangelo, T., & Olinghouse, N. G. (2009). Effective Writing Instruction for Students Who Have Writing Difficulties. Focus On Exceptional Children, 42(4), 1-20.
In a nutshell, kids learn to write better when they write in small groups and hear their peers' writing. 
I used this strategy in one of my lesson plans for kindergarten and I loved it. (Yesterday was my last day teaching in my kindergarten clinical and I'm going to miss them SO bad.💗) 

NCTCS

     This month as I have really spent a lot of time in the classrooms, I have gained a whole new perspective on what Standard 2a, "Teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults," really means. I have seen the worst and the best of it in some of my clinical classrooms this semester. Not all kids are easy to love, but there's something to love about each kid! And they deserve for us to dig deep and find what makes them lovable and love them for it! Even if it's a challenge sometimes. 

So what does all of this mean for my future classroom?

     All of the edTPA commentaries are definitely making me a stronger lesson planner, so that's definitely going to be great for my future classroom. I gained a ton of classroom experience this semester, and I think that every single bit of experience counts and prepares you more as a teacher. This semester has taught me the importance of time management and breaking each week up into bite-sized pieces, because every day counts and you shouldn't put off till tomorrow what you can do today. I think that this will help me a lot when it comes to my future classroom. 

#ssed307 March 26, 2018 // Blog 3

Hey y'all!
This class is absolutely flying by! It's week 11 out of 16. We're almost there!

Learning Experience References
     This month in Social Studies Methods, I completed my clinical experience! It went great. I feel like my clinical class is my own kindergarten class. I always wanted to teach 3-5 until I taught my first ever lesson in kindergarten, and now I think my heart is changing towards kindergarten. (Who knows, I might change my mind another million times.)
     My lesson for my clinical experience took longer than I was expecting it to. I taught them about community helpers for a social studies lesson integrated into some ELA. I borrowed community helper puppets, puzzles, books, and dress-up materials from the ECLC. My students were so engaged in the lesson the entire time, and they begged me not to take the puppets and dress-up clothes back to Gardner-Webb! I was shocked at how well their behavior and attention spans were during my lesson! I was so thankful that my first ever lesson was taught with my amazing C.E. this semester and her kindergarten babies. My C.E. has been so helpful with everything, and has really taken me under her wing.
     This month I taught my first ever flipped lesson, and it went better than I thought it would! Honestly, I didn't really know what to expect with teaching a flipped lesson because I had never heard of flipped lessons until this semester. I had no experience with them. However, I think it went well. I have also been working on my PDP this semester. I'll give an update on that in the next blog! I am also continuing to work on my unit. That is still a work in progress.
     I have been working on my virtual museum a lot this month, of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. I don't know why I was dreading this so much, because although it's a ton of work, it isn't as hard to figure out how to do as I thought. I think it'll be a great learning experience for my future students!
     This month we haven't had a whole lot of class meetings due to the D.C. trip, Spring Break, going to the elementary school that we have a partnership with, etc. Most of the time that we have spent in class has been used for talking about edTPA. I was really thankful to have been given my own copy of Making Good Decisions, as well as the edTPA Handbook. This will help me so much between now and student teaching! (We should be finding out our student teaching placements here in the next couple of months!!!)
     This class is moving right along, and I am just trying to buckle down, hang in there, get my work done, and learn all that I can.

Outside Learning/Research
     I want to highlight some learning that has been going on for me during outside research. This month, I learned a lot of differentiation strategies that I didn't know of before. Those strategies are:

• Think-Pair-Share
• Journaling

I have used these differentiation strategies in my lesson plans for both my flipped lesson and traditional lesson plans, and I have to say that it has been a game changer! Not only are they differentiation strategies, but they provide the teacher with tons of qualitative data while allowing students to develop their 21st century skills of communication and collaboration. There are lots of resources out there that cite this information, but here is a good one:

Guido, M. (2017, August 24). 20 Differentiated Instruction Strategies & Examples | Prodigy. Retrieved March 26, 2018, from https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/differentiated-instruction-strategies-examples-download/

NCTCS 
     There are many connections that I could make to the NCTCS with what we've been doing in class this past month. Here's a few examples:

• All the edTPA talk that has been a little overwhelming at times is more beneficial to us that we can even imagine! {Standard 5 a and c, "Teachers analyze student learning. Teachers function effectively in a complex, dynamic environment."}
• Working on our PDP's is great practice for when we have our own classrooms and have to turn a PDP in to our administrators each year! {Standard 5b, "Teachers link professional growth to their professional goals."}
• Learning all of these differentiation strategies in outside research is really going to pay off for our students. {Standard 2d, "Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs."} *Remember, "special needs" does not necessarily translate into "disabilities!" At least to me it doesn't.*
• Learning how to integrate various content areas into a single lesson for my clinical experience and other lesson plans that I have been writing this semester is really teaching me the art of integration. {Standard 3c, "Teachers recognize the interconnectedness of content areas/disciplines."}

So what does all this mean for my future classroom?
     All of this means that the future is looking bright for my future classroom, because I have been learning some pretty amazing things that are going to help me so much in the long run! Just this month I have become so much better at integrating, writing lesson plans, and I have become a stronger teacher. I taught my first ever lesson to real students this month!! I loved every minute of it, and I am going to carry lessons I learned as a teacher in that experience with me throughout my career.

March 1, 2018

Learning Experiences this past month:
     This past month has been insane with the amount that we are learning, plus the work load. I must say, I have a clearer picture now of edTPA than I ever have because of how much we have been talking about it in class!
     I am really enjoying my learning experience this semester in the 5th grade class at the elementary school that we have a partnership with this semester. I always said that I wanted to teach 2nd or 3rd grade, and this hasn't really changed, but I do know that 5th grade is such a crucial time in a child's academic and social life. In a nutshell, 5th grade is awesome!
     This week I completed my edTPA Context for Learning, lesson plan, and planning commentary and it was an insane amount of hard work, but worth every bit of it. I am going to be teaching my lesson on Community Helpers to my kindergarten babies in my clinical placement this coming week while everyone is in D.C., and I am so excited! This will officially be my first time teaching to a group other than my school of ed friends here at GWU, and I cannot wait. I'm so ready.

Outside Learning & Research:
     There is one thing that I came across the other day that I want to share with my audience for this blog, and it's a research-based literacy strategy, because who doesn't need more of those, right?
So here it is: it's called the “Collaborative Community of Writers” strategy. The “Collaborative Community of Writers” strategy is based on the analysis of research whose evidence shows that “Because well-structured collaborative writing activities allow students to learn from each other, compositional quality improves significantly.”

• Santangelo, T., & Olinghouse, N. G. (2009). Effective Writing Instruction for Students Who Have Writing Difficulties. Focus On Exceptional Children, 42(4), 1-20.

In this strategy, students write with their peers, and they become stronger writers as a result!

NCTCS:
     This semester is started to get crazy busy with our SSED 307 class; there's just no other way to say it. But by working hard and using this time to become better teachers, we are all adhering to Standard 5c, "Teachers function effectively in a complex, dynamic environment." By implementing research-based strategies in our classrooms, we are also adhering to Standard 3d, "Teachers make instruction relevant to students."

What does this mean for my future classroom?
     This means that I will implement research-based strategies in my future classroom because they will help my students. Whatever is going to help my students succeed in their learning, that's exactly what I want to do!

#ssed307 Blog 1

February 1, 2018

Hey y'all! It's so good to get back to blogging-- it's been a while!
     So many exciting things are happening in Social Studies Methods class right now. This semester is off to a great start. I can tell that this semester is going to require a lot of hard work and dedication out of each of us, but I can also tell that we are going to learn A LOT. I'm already learning so much!

Week 1
     Week 1 of the class got off to a busy start- we completed the course orientation and some of our very first assignments in the class. I looked at the KUD document for the first time during this week. I learned that this stands for "Know, Understand, Do." I also learned that this document is Gardner-Webb's version of the NCPTS, adapted for Gardner-Webb's Teacher Candidates. During this week, I also completed the Powerful and Purposeful Social Studies Article Review. I love that we read and responded to this article during the first week of this class, because it really helped me to understand and apply the information in the upcoming weeks of the course. I used this article to help me to come up with some of my questions for my Wisdom from Experience interviews. I learned that Powerful and Purposeful social studies is important because it prepares students to take on a diverse world. As teachers, it's our job to prepare them for this as much as we can! This directly aligns with NCPTS 2b, "Teachers embrace diversity in the school community and in the world," because if we teach Powerful and Purposeful social studies, this is exactly what we are doing. We are embracing diversity and preparing our students for diversity in the real world.

Week 2
     During Week 2, I learned SO much. I had never done a TTotW (Top Tweets of the Week) before. I had never made my own infographic before. I had never heard of Concept-Based Instruction before Week 2, either. This was also the week that I started working on my Concept-Based Instruction Unit, and I completed my first interview for my Wisdom from Experience project. Week 2 was super busy, but the 2 snow days helped!
     This week was so crucial to my learning experience and to becoming a teacher. If it wasn't for Week 2, I still would have no idea what Concept-Based Instruction is. I made a video explaining what CBI is for my Concept Visual, and you can check it out here￫ http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=3bJGMr2 
     I also made my first ever infographic during Week 2. I took the Multiple Intelligences Quiz on edutopia.org in order to find out how I learn best, and then I created an infographic based on the results. Check out my infographic here￫ https://infograph.venngage.com/ps/TMvjA0hG3I/types-of-learners-meg to see how I learn best.

Week 3
     During Week 3, I submitted my first ever PDP (Professional Development Plan). This was huge for me, because I didn't know what a PDP was before taking this class. I really enjoyed making my PDP based on 2 things that I thought I needed to work on most in the KUD document. I also learned more about writing SMART goals, which was something that I found to be challenging before writing my PDP. These are my 2 goals for the semester:

1. By the end of the Spring 2018 semester, I will be able to use data from teaching a lesson in my Clinical Educator’s classroom to effectively plan instruction, assess my students, and modify my instruction based on what the data shows that the students need. (KUD: 1a2, 4h1, 5a1)
   
2. By the end of the Spring 2018 semester, I will have created a website that consists of a collection of a minimum of ten resources including research-based strategies for improving my teaching and students’ learning, including research-based strategies for differentiation practices. (KUD: 4a2, 5c1)

This aligns with NCPTS 5b, "Teachers link professional growth to their professional goals." When I created my PDP, I had to write out what my evidence was going to be at the end of the semester that I had achieved my goals. One of my evidence criteria was that I will write a narrative explaining my thought process and my steps for completing my goal. When I do this throughout this semester, I will be linking how I grew as a professional to my original professional goals.   

Week 4
     We are currently wrapping up Week 4. I cannot believe how fast the first month of the spring semester has gone by! This week, Megan White and I completed and submitted our January Global Citizenship Project. In order to complete this project, we had to choose a current even that happened during the month of January, and make that event applicable to the classroom. We chose to do our project on the Government Shutdown that happened this month. Megan and I connected the event to social studies standards within the 5 Social Studies Strands, and made some classroom ready examples for how a teacher could integrate the event into their classroom. Here is the link to an interactive timeline that we made, showing all the government shutdowns in U.S. history￫ https://time.graphics/line/51227  Megan and I used this as a technology tool and classroom ready example that a teacher could use in his/her classroom to help them explain the government shutdown to students.
     This week, I also began working on my Flipped Classroom Certification on sophia.org, wrapped up my Wisdom from Experience project, started on my Today's Learner Project, and submitted my final draft of my Concept/Content Web on my CBI Unit. We are moving right along this semester!

•      I am very excited to say that I officially received my clinical placement for Spring 2018 today, and I am so happy with my placement! I will be in a kindergarten classroom. I am super excited to further my learning and grow as a teacher candidate with these k5 babies. 

Outside Research
     For my outside research this week, I read in The First Days of School: How to be an Effective Teacher written by Harry K. Wong & Rosemary T. Wong. On page 7 of the book, the heading is, "Effective Teachers Affect Lives." On this page of the book, it says, "You were hired to affect lives. You were hired not so much to teach third grade, history, or physical education as to influence lives. Touch the life of a student, and you will have a student who will learn history, physical education, even science and math, clean the erasers, staple all the papers, and turn cartwheels to please you." This is so true, y'all. (Also, this aligns with NCPTS 2a, "Teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults." Let's be those caring adults in these children's lives!) One tweet that I saw that I really liked this month said, "We don't teach content, we teach children." This is why I want to be a teacher-- to make a mark on the lives of children and to help them. We have done a lot of work in this class this month, and there is so much more work ahead. But every time we turn in an assignment, we are one assignment closer to being a teacher.

Connections to my Future Classroom💗
     Throughout this first month of class, I am already making lots of connections between what I am learning and accomplishing, and my future classroom. Completing my Wisdom from Experience project had the biggest impact on me so far, out of everything that we did in this class this month. I learned more about differentiation, social studies instruction planning, methods for teaching social studies, and so much more, just by interviewing 2 teachers who are currently teaching right now. One of the teachers was kind enough to show me her PDP, which really helped me to see what a real PDP looks like in action. This really helped me to make that connection between my PDP in this class and what it will look like each year when I am a teacher.
     Another connection that I was able to make between this class and my future classroom was completing TTotW. Twitter is an AMAZING tool for Professional Development. I have learned so many little nifty teacher hacks and I have been so inspired by lots of tweets this month. To end this month's blog, I want to share one of those tweets with you that really inspired me:

Sources:
Source for the above Tweet: NC Education Learners @leadandlearnNC  https://twitter.com/leadandlearnNC/status/956181112497242115

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/effectiveness-model/ncees/standards/prof-teach-standards.pdf

Wong, H. K., & Wong, R. T. (2009). The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.