This week I have finally met with my student and parent! We have had to work fast, but we are making progress.We have to finish the project with in just a few days, but hopefully everything goes right. I have been in contact with his mother and we have discussed many aspects of the project and what needs to be done.
I am being assissted by Alysha Lomba. Alysha and I went to my students house to help him start up a blog, complete a KWL chart, and get started on a voice thread. Here is a link to his blog on volcanos. He has done a great job on his first blog post describing his project. It was so nice to see how eager he was to create a voice thread. He was fascinated with the idea of making a movie and show it to his classmates. We had a bit of trouble recording, so we had to stop, but he continued to work on it with his parent. Over the weekend my student has been able to create a voice thread of many slides. He has added audio to his first slide, which sounds great. Here is a link to his unfinished storyboard. He still has to add to it, but he has it filled out for the first slide. My student did a great job so far on his voice thread and I am sure he'll continue and use voice thread for other upcoming projects.
This experience has really taught a lot about teaching technology to children. Technology is a tool that requires a lot of hands on learning. At first I could tell my student didn't understand what I was talking about and seemed to not get into the conversation, but as soon as we started working on it he became totally engaged with it. He took over the lap top and was really excited about voice thread. He showed all of his books to us that he got for his research. This was a great learning exprience for me to see because it allowed me to practice teaching.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
CCMS Tour
This week I had the privilege of visiting the Corpus Christi Montessori School. What an experience! I have learned about Maria Montessori’s teaching philosophy’s many times in school before, but I don’t think I really understood them very well until now. CCMS is a dual-language charter school that is funded solely by the state. It is an amazing school that has so much to offer.
As I walked through the halls I was blown away by the artwork, pictures, and learning tools that were displayed throughout. Mrs. Sylvia the director of the school was generous enough to let us walk through the classrooms, and observe the students. I observed the students during their work cycle, which was so neat to see. Each child has a work plan, which they are able to pick a task and work on it by themselves on their mat uninterrupted. CCMS classrooms are composed of the lower el classes (1-3rd), and the upper el classes (4-6th). Each classroom is a prepared environment, which Montessori strongly emphasized. The classrooms all had live animals in them, which was awe-inspiring. The students take on the responsibility to take care of these animals. The classrooms flow into each other, which makes the classrooms feel like a big home. The also have many windows that let in a lot of sunlight. In the afternoons the students take part in art, music, and physical education. Sports and other extra curricular activities are also offered. One aspect of the classroom that I notice was respect the students had for their teachers, classmates, and their principal. They have three rules at CCMS, which are 1) Respect of self, 2) Respect of others, and 3) Respect of the environment. These three rules our really taken seriously, which allows the school to run smoothly.
This experience has really made an impact on how I want to teach in the future. I do not know if I will teach in a Montessori school, but I will definitely take some aspects of it and use them in my future classroom. I couldn’t believe how happy the students looked while learning. It is reassuring to see students want to learn because most children aren’t that eager to learn and do work in school. If every child would show a bit of eagerness to learn then we as teachers would prosper even more. On a closing note one thing that I absolutely loved about CCMS was that even though they have to follow state guidelines they are not a TAKS driven school. I don’t like how TAKS is taking over the classrooms, so it was definitely nice to see CCMS not placing so much emphasis on doing TAKS worksheets all day.
I have not met with my student yet, but I hope to soon! This week I am still preparing to meet with my student. He has e-mailed his answers to my open-ended questions that I have asked him. He seems to be a really bright student, so I think this project should turn out great!
As I walked through the halls I was blown away by the artwork, pictures, and learning tools that were displayed throughout. Mrs. Sylvia the director of the school was generous enough to let us walk through the classrooms, and observe the students. I observed the students during their work cycle, which was so neat to see. Each child has a work plan, which they are able to pick a task and work on it by themselves on their mat uninterrupted. CCMS classrooms are composed of the lower el classes (1-3rd), and the upper el classes (4-6th). Each classroom is a prepared environment, which Montessori strongly emphasized. The classrooms all had live animals in them, which was awe-inspiring. The students take on the responsibility to take care of these animals. The classrooms flow into each other, which makes the classrooms feel like a big home. The also have many windows that let in a lot of sunlight. In the afternoons the students take part in art, music, and physical education. Sports and other extra curricular activities are also offered. One aspect of the classroom that I notice was respect the students had for their teachers, classmates, and their principal. They have three rules at CCMS, which are 1) Respect of self, 2) Respect of others, and 3) Respect of the environment. These three rules our really taken seriously, which allows the school to run smoothly.
This experience has really made an impact on how I want to teach in the future. I do not know if I will teach in a Montessori school, but I will definitely take some aspects of it and use them in my future classroom. I couldn’t believe how happy the students looked while learning. It is reassuring to see students want to learn because most children aren’t that eager to learn and do work in school. If every child would show a bit of eagerness to learn then we as teachers would prosper even more. On a closing note one thing that I absolutely loved about CCMS was that even though they have to follow state guidelines they are not a TAKS driven school. I don’t like how TAKS is taking over the classrooms, so it was definitely nice to see CCMS not placing so much emphasis on doing TAKS worksheets all day.
I have not met with my student yet, but I hope to soon! This week I am still preparing to meet with my student. He has e-mailed his answers to my open-ended questions that I have asked him. He seems to be a really bright student, so I think this project should turn out great!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
CCMS Service Project
This week I have began working on a sevice project for class that entails previous knowledge from my past assignments. I have been assigned a CCMS student and I will assist him with his volcanoe research project. There is a lot of interesting information on volcanoes, so I think we will have a lot of fun doing this project. I am excited to show my student the many different tools I have learned this semester, and hope he likes using them as well. I have not met with my student and parent yet, but there is still much preparation to be done in the mean time.
While I am preparing to meet my student I need to gather information together to present to him and his parent. I need to provide a project plan to show what progress should be made weekly, and also provide a K-W-L chart to see how much information my student knows, and what he wants to know. I also need to provide my student and parents with links on 21st learning , and other interesting links, as well as my blog link. I need to apply inquiry-based learning skills to help my student withh his project and give him tools to suceed in his project. I have been able to come up with some open-ended questions to ask my student to broaden his mind and ideas.
While I am preparing to meet my student I need to gather information together to present to him and his parent. I need to provide a project plan to show what progress should be made weekly, and also provide a K-W-L chart to see how much information my student knows, and what he wants to know. I also need to provide my student and parents with links on 21st learning , and other interesting links, as well as my blog link. I need to apply inquiry-based learning skills to help my student withh his project and give him tools to suceed in his project. I have been able to come up with some open-ended questions to ask my student to broaden his mind and ideas.
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