I'm here too!

As I explain my journey and all that I've learned and gained from this experience. I almost forgot that you are probably wondering about me a little. Well, I made this Pinterest board to describe myself to my classmates. I figured I would share this with you all! Enjoy! 

Visit my Pinterest board! 

"So tell me about yourself" : My experience from a mock interview

In class, we conducted a mock interview. In this mock interview 4 of my fellow classmates were chosen to act as administrators. As administrators, they each constructed about 5 questions to ask each group. Some of these questions included: 

If you are teaching a lesson on Geography, how will you incorporate technology into your cooperative lesson?

What cooperative learning activities or tasks will you use when teaching a cooperative learning lesson on economics?

What is your teaching philosophy?

What made you want to become a teacher?

There was also other thoughtful questions. 

At first, I was very nervous about the whole interview process. I have never gone for a formal interview before, so I did not know what to expect. Once the questions started being asked, my nerves got the best of me and I started to get tongue tied. After a few questions, I started to get more comfortable because I felt passionate and confident about my answers. 

The interview in itself I think was slightly difficult because you did not know what kind of questions the administrators were going to ask or the type of answers that they expected to hear. On the other hand, I felt that the interview was slightly easy as well because since the administrators were my fellow classmates I felt comfortable to express myself and my answers. It was also nice to know that if I didn't understand a question or I became tongue tied my classmates would help me out by explaining the question or encouraging me in answering it. 

Even though I was very nervous for the entire process, apparently I handled myself very well, dressed professionally, and articulated my answers well. This is what my administrators said when they announced that from my group I would be the one they would hire. I was very proud of myself when they said this and it allowed me to gain confidence in my interview skills.

In general, mock interviews are very beneficial to prepare you when you go out into the real world and are interviewed by real professionals for real jobs. Below I found a website with "4 Benefits of a Mock Interview". Please read, it is very informational.

"4 Benefits of a Mock Interview"

Pedgogical content knowledge, what's that?

·        Pedagogical content knowledge

o   Content knowledge= specific to social studies

o   General pedagogical knowledge= used in teaching all subject areas (ex. Classroom management skills)

o   Pedagogical content knowledge = knowledge of how to teach social studies

The What and Why of Social Studies

·        The category of social sciences includes history, geography, economics, psychology, anthropology, political science/civics and sociology

·        Whyà

o   To understand people and societies

o   To understand change and how the society we live in came to be

o   To understand the importance of history in our own lives

o   To understand how history contributes to moral understanding

o   To provide identity- cultural literacy: a shared history that is assumed all already know.

o   To become responsible citizens

o   To develop essential skills such as critical thinking, questioning, making connections, and adapting to new situations

o   To succeed in the world of work

·        Schools used to emphasize solely the memorization of facts à my childhood

·        Essential questions à Questions that make students think and do not have a “right” answer

·        Convergent questions à 1 answer, factual, 4 Ws (Who, what, when, and where)

·        Divergent questions à open ended questions, multiple answers

·        Certain skills needed for the 21^st century

o   Creativity

o   Innovation

o   Critical Thinking

o   Problem Solving

o   Communication

o   Collaboration

o   Information and Media Literacy

·        Five strands of Social Studies:

o   World History

o   US/NY History

o   Economics

o   Geography

o   Civics

·        Social Studies teaching and learning is powerful when it is meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active

Classroom Rules

·        Great idea to create a stronger community in the classroom

·        Quick and easy

·        Visual

·        Great to get to know other points of view

·        Good way to keep order in the classroom

o   Managed chaos

·        Create a standard for the rest of the year

·        From scholastic “Students are more like to buy into rules if they have a hand in creating them”

What is ExitTicket?

·        App

·        Pros outweigh the cons

o   Offers feedback on understanding

o   Tracks student progress

o   Reduces time for grading

o   Disadvantage- Assessment not available on the free version

·        Students were engaged and liked tracking their progress

·        Great way for teachers to see if students are keeping up or if re-teaching is necessary

·        Straightforward and every possible question is answered

·        “Simple solution in a short amount of time” à Allows teachers to spend more time on teaching

·        3 main strategies:

o    Teachers can begin each class with a review of the previous lesson’s content to check whether the students have absorbed the content of that lesson. This could mean a short mini-quiz on the homework, instead of collecting and grading it.

o   Teachers can ask students to use their app halfway through the lesson to check understanding and ask clarifying questions.

o   Teachers can use ExitTicket to ask the class to check their understanding at the end of the session.

·        Research à Leadership Public Schools measured its results after a year

o   Found that students jumped 2.6 grades in math

o   97% of students continued to college

o   Attribute progress to feedback which increased level of engagement

·        Nearpod

o   Gives teacher control over presentations and syncs with students

o   Allows student responses to presentations

o   Teacher can see student responses in real time

o   Gives students a chance to participate in the presentation rather than a teacher solely directing the presentation.

o   Limitation on file uploads à only allows pdfs

Artifact Bags are not only for Social Studies

An artifact bag is an activity in which items are placed in a bag that represent a certain place, person, or thing. For example, my class explored various artifacts that represented my professor's culture and history. By exploring the artifacts and researching we found that the items we received included a birth certificate, a porcelain napkin holder, and a decorative spoon. We came to the conclusion that all the items was a representation of my professor and her heritage.

Artifact bags can be used to demonstrate specific events such as wars, holidays, or current events. Artifact bags can also be used, as we discovered, to represent a person.

When I completed this activity in my classroom, I started to think of how I could use this in my elementary classroom one day. The first thing that came to mind, was to use this activity during the first day of class or sometime during the first week of class.

The way this can happen is in 3 steps:

1- Send a letter home asking for students to bring in a paper bag containing items that are important to them or that describe them in some way

2- Allow a week for students to bring in their bags, so each student has ample amounts of time to bring something in and participate in the activity.

3- Conduct the activity in class by forming small groups and passing out a bag to each group. Once each group has a bag, they will examine the artifacts, fill out a graphic organizer and use reasoning skills to come to a conclusion as to who the bag belongs to.

This is a great activity that is fun and engaging. The artifact bag assignment requires students to use critical thinking and problem solving skills. This can also be a great formative assessment tool. After a unit is completed, the artifact bag assignment can be used to test students as to how their knowledge of events or people can apply to the artifacts given.

In my classroom, each person was required to bring in an artifact bag that represents the lesson that we previously taught to the 5th grade at Bishop Dunn Memorial School. Since I did a lesson on Christopher Columbus and the New World, I decided to create my artifact bag to represent Christopher Columbus. The three objects in my artifact bag included a journal of Columbus' voyage, marbles to represent the glass beads that Columbus gave to the natives to assimilate them to Spanish culture, and a peseta with Christopher Columbus' picture on it. My classmates were given the objects and began examining and researching the artifacts. After about 5 minutes and analysis of their research, my classmates came to the correct conclusion that the artifacts represented Christopher Columbus.

Check out my Artifact Bag slideshow that demonstrates how you may present a specific artifact bag to your class.

The following article discusses the importance of artifacts and how they help us connect to the past:

"Saving pieces of history, one bullet or belt buckle at a time"