Technology in the Classroom: A Professional Blogfolio

I didn’t feel as if this week was particularly difficult, but I sure was exhausted at the end of every day! By 9:00pm I was aching to crawl into bed (a phenomenon I had rarely experienced before this week). I’m happy the long weekend has arrived because I needed some time to organize my life. Now that I have been able to get to know our students a little bit I can begin to plan some larger units that I will soon be teaching. I was doing some soul searching and I found it was helpful to break up my internship into smaller parts. I asked myself:

“What do I have to teach?” – The short answer is EVERYTHING and the long answer is that I need to look to the curriculum guide..

“What do I want to accomplish?” - I want to engage the students. It’s as simple as that. Now, the difficult part is finding out how to do that…

Attempting to answer the “how” question I’ve been mulling over, I came across this video on TeacherTube. It gives teaches a great deal to think about..

 Click here if the video is not playing

I walked into the school eager to meet the staff and prepare for the upcoming staff meeting.  The chirp of crickets followed me into the entry way as I checked the soles of my shoes for specks of dirt or mud. I’m not sure why I had done this.  Perhaps, out of habit I suppose? Did I plan on removing my shoes if they had been dirty? It’s not as if I brought an extra pair of shoes anyway… 

I was quickly directed to the library where I found tables neatly placed in a circle for the very first staff meeting of the year. 

“Congratulations,” a voice behind me said. ”You’re about to experience the most boring school day of the year.  It’s no fun when there’s no kids here.”

I laughed and greeted my grade eight home room teacher from 1999. I felt my role change suddenly.  “Colleague,” I reminded myself, “not student.”

Teachers with familiar faces began to file in from their various classrooms and the meeting was about to begin. I looked around while reminiscing about singing, playing hockey, and graduating with some of their children.  Others were teachers that I had had growing up in this small prairie town. The meeting began and my co-operating teacher smiled. Over the next day and a half I listened quietly, contributed occasionally, but mostly allowed the knots in my stomach to tie themselves even tighter as I scribbled reminders on a pack of sticky notes. 

This morning was the first day of school. Children wandered the halls dragging strategically packed backpacks as the smell of new running shoes filled the air. I think I was just as excited as the kids! I greeted students at the door and helped them to find their desks and locker spaces. I breathed a sigh of relief as the bell rang to begin the school day.

Overwhelmed with information about school rules, fire drill procedures, and bus routes our new grade four students fidgeted as I took centre stage. My first health lesson about friendship unfolded for the last half hour of the day. Seated on the floor in a circle we held our very first classroom meeting. We agreed that by creating a community in our classroom we would be able to have more fun throughout the year. We also agreed that the easiest way to begin to do this is to make friends. Students, one at a time, gave and recieved compliments from their peers. Silence filled the room as we listened to each other share a special comment. I was so happy noticing how engaged the students were! I was also shocked by what the kids were sharing. While some students commented on new school clothes or hair do’s, others said things like:

“Thanks for showing me around the school and showing me where the bathrooms are ’cause I’m new here.”

“You’re a good friend with a big heart.”

“Thanks for being so kind and caring today.”

“I noticed you’re really great at soccer.”

“Thanks for inviting me to play tag with you and your friends at recess.”

Some simple and some wise beyond their years, I found that these compliments were a great way to end a hectic day and to begin an exciting year.