Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
School Supplies Addict!
Hello, my name is Megan, and I am addicted to school supplies. Seriously! So duotangs are ON SALE at Staples right now... FOR FIVE CENTS!!!
But there is a maximum of 50 per family. So instead of being satisfied with 50 duotangs, I roped my boyfriend into coming with me. He bought 50, I bought 50. 100! Youd think, ok, thats a great day! But me? Nope. We went back... 2 more times! That makes 300 duotangs!
Unfortunately, that wasnt it!
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| These guys are on sale for 25 CENTS! |
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| These guys are on sale for FIVE CENTS! |
Remember, Im not even a teacher yet... but this, THIS is my teaching cabinet:
I am forbidden from entering that store again, at least until I have a classroom to store all this stuff in!
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Teaching Portfolio
As I round out the work week and the excitement of my pending vacation builds, I realize that when I return (in two weeks time) I will have five weeks left before school. 5 WEEKS! Let the panic set it. I havent built my teaching portfolio, I havent built my student teacher binder, I havent done anything I planned on doing this summer! I mean, lets face it, once classes start, there is no hope in hell that I will get around to making my teaching portfolio! Id better get my ass in gear!
I have two options for building a portfolio- build a hard copy, or a digital copy. My thoughts are currently leaning towards a hard copy (its something I am much more comfortable with) with the hope of finishing with enough time to also build a digital copy. (This is sure to impress those tech-savy principals!)
Where do I even begin! I spend my dull moments browsing Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers for all sorts of advice & tips for building a portfolio, but still- I havent had that moment of inspiration yet. I sit, and I look at my collection of (for lack of a better word) stuff, and that is all I see, a bunch of stuff.
So I guess first thing first, lets start with the table of contents. What are the MUSTS to include:
1. Rationale (explain why you have included specific things)
2. Table of contents (organization organization organization! Its the key!)
3. Teaching philosophy (I always struggle here. I have a hard time saying anything concisely)
4. Teaching Certification
5. Transcripts
6. Professional Development Certificates
7. IFX (pictures, examples of work, final evaluation)
8. AFX (pictures, examples of work, final evaluation)
9. Examples of personal growth
10. Examples of life-long learning
This last one is super important to me. The principal in my IFX told me that the most important thing to do in a teaching interview is to demonstrate that you are a life-long learner. He said that as teachers you are role models for students, and you model through your actions. So what does a life-long learner look like? (wow alliteration!) Well, a LLL is someone who is constantly learning something new. I for instance, am trying my hand at blogging! Ive also recently begun to use Twitter (you can follow me here). Why am I doing this? Because I have seen how teacher have begun to use social media in their classrooms & I wanted to be able to do the same.
Im sure there are a ton more things that I can include in my portfolio... If you have any ideas or suggestions, please help a girl out & comment below!
Thanks!
I have two options for building a portfolio- build a hard copy, or a digital copy. My thoughts are currently leaning towards a hard copy (its something I am much more comfortable with) with the hope of finishing with enough time to also build a digital copy. (This is sure to impress those tech-savy principals!)
Where do I even begin! I spend my dull moments browsing Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers for all sorts of advice & tips for building a portfolio, but still- I havent had that moment of inspiration yet. I sit, and I look at my collection of (for lack of a better word) stuff, and that is all I see, a bunch of stuff.
So I guess first thing first, lets start with the table of contents. What are the MUSTS to include:
1. Rationale (explain why you have included specific things)
2. Table of contents (organization organization organization! Its the key!)
3. Teaching philosophy (I always struggle here. I have a hard time saying anything concisely)
4. Teaching Certification
5. Transcripts
6. Professional Development Certificates
7. IFX (pictures, examples of work, final evaluation)
8. AFX (pictures, examples of work, final evaluation)
9. Examples of personal growth
10. Examples of life-long learning
This last one is super important to me. The principal in my IFX told me that the most important thing to do in a teaching interview is to demonstrate that you are a life-long learner. He said that as teachers you are role models for students, and you model through your actions. So what does a life-long learner look like? (wow alliteration!) Well, a LLL is someone who is constantly learning something new. I for instance, am trying my hand at blogging! Ive also recently begun to use Twitter (you can follow me here). Why am I doing this? Because I have seen how teacher have begun to use social media in their classrooms & I wanted to be able to do the same.
Im sure there are a ton more things that I can include in my portfolio... If you have any ideas or suggestions, please help a girl out & comment below!
Thanks!
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Classroom Libraries
The last two summers I have been lucky enough to snag myself a pretty great summer job. Coming back this summer was great because I knew all the perks in advance. One in particular could definitely work in my favor; the company has this little program they call the "bulletin board" which is similar to Kijiji or Craigslist, but safer (in my opinion) because you like to think you can trust your co-workers! So coming into the workplace this summer I knew that I wanted to use the bulletin to my advantage! Anyways, I posted that I was looking for childrens books. Having done my intro field experience and seen the vast number of books that my mentor teacher had in the classroom, I knew I had to get a kick start! No way could I afford to stock my classroom library all at once. So I posted a little ad, and low-and-behold, the responses came pouring in! "I had my son clean out his closet..." "My daughter wants to buy a new Ipod..." "We just cleared out our garage for a big yard sale..." and they dogpiled on. Once I dug my way out of the mountain of books dumped on me (for a VERY affordable price!) I thought "OK, NOW what do I do?"
I rent a room in a small, 1940's style house... with 6.other.people. Its cramped. I barely have enough room for a bed, dresser, and some storage. I dont even have enough room for my OWN books, let alone five boxes of books for my future classroom! Whether he likes it or not, my boyfriend has kindly allowed me to store the boxes in his room at his parent house (nobody uses it anyways!).
So now Ive got all these books, what am I supposed to do with them? My mentor teacher had his all catalogued beautifully, they were organized alphabetically, but they were also scored by reading level. I had no idea how to even start something like that!
So first off I perused the web. I found a lot of positive feedback about an app called Delicious Library.
http://www.delicious-monster.com/get/
So I bought it. I cant remember what it cost- about $25 Id say, and downloaded it onto my Mac. This program is amazing. You just use the camera to scan the barcodes- you dont even need to buy a scanner if you have a camera (scanning worked for probably 90-95% of my books), the rest I had to type in manually, which was a little tedious, but not the end of the world. Now I could sort my books by all sorts of different genres (alphabetically, by author, by subject, by theme and on and on and on). You can also upload your class list (as I dont currently have a class, I believe but am not certain, that this must be done manually) and document who has borrowed what books! You can set due dates, and the book emails you & the culprit when books are "over-due." Once again, pretty sure this has to be done by you (Ive seen other programs that allow the student to check out their books) but seeing as my plan is to teach lower elementary, Id be doing it myself anyways. This was amazing!
Now Im on to my next challenge: Levelling my books. Let me tell you. I have done my research over the last few days. And its not as easy as it might sound. There are like, 50 different methods of labelling books!
Too many different programs to count! From what Ive read, some school districts prefer you use specific labelling methods. Others arent quite as picky. I have no idea what is best. At this point, Im thinking of labelling them using ALL the methods I come across... Ill keep you updated on how this goes.
Feel free to let me know if you have any advice on the topic!
I rent a room in a small, 1940's style house... with 6.other.people. Its cramped. I barely have enough room for a bed, dresser, and some storage. I dont even have enough room for my OWN books, let alone five boxes of books for my future classroom! Whether he likes it or not, my boyfriend has kindly allowed me to store the boxes in his room at his parent house (nobody uses it anyways!).
So now Ive got all these books, what am I supposed to do with them? My mentor teacher had his all catalogued beautifully, they were organized alphabetically, but they were also scored by reading level. I had no idea how to even start something like that!
So first off I perused the web. I found a lot of positive feedback about an app called Delicious Library.
http://www.delicious-monster.com/get/
So I bought it. I cant remember what it cost- about $25 Id say, and downloaded it onto my Mac. This program is amazing. You just use the camera to scan the barcodes- you dont even need to buy a scanner if you have a camera (scanning worked for probably 90-95% of my books), the rest I had to type in manually, which was a little tedious, but not the end of the world. Now I could sort my books by all sorts of different genres (alphabetically, by author, by subject, by theme and on and on and on). You can also upload your class list (as I dont currently have a class, I believe but am not certain, that this must be done manually) and document who has borrowed what books! You can set due dates, and the book emails you & the culprit when books are "over-due." Once again, pretty sure this has to be done by you (Ive seen other programs that allow the student to check out their books) but seeing as my plan is to teach lower elementary, Id be doing it myself anyways. This was amazing!
Now Im on to my next challenge: Levelling my books. Let me tell you. I have done my research over the last few days. And its not as easy as it might sound. There are like, 50 different methods of labelling books!
 |
| Scholastic Book Leveling Chart http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/classroombooks/browse_level.asp |
Too many different programs to count! From what Ive read, some school districts prefer you use specific labelling methods. Others arent quite as picky. I have no idea what is best. At this point, Im thinking of labelling them using ALL the methods I come across... Ill keep you updated on how this goes.
Feel free to let me know if you have any advice on the topic!
Monday, July 7, 2014
What Teachers Make
I promise, not all of my blog posts are going to be this sentimental, but this poem, this poem makes me tear up, all while grinning like a fool (I now only watch it in private due to the frequency of strange looks from people). No matter how many times I hear it, watch it, read it, or listen to someone talk about it- it remains uplifting.
I tend to listen to it on those bad days that make you question every decision you have ever made, and wonder if all this crap is worth it. Those days when someone tells you "when I was your age... I had a house, a baby, a husband" and look at you like, "what have YOU done with your life." On those days I really begin to question things. But then I look up this video, and it reminds me that if I can make a difference in one, just one, child's life, then all of this has been worth it.
I tend to listen to it on those bad days that make you question every decision you have ever made, and wonder if all this crap is worth it. Those days when someone tells you "when I was your age... I had a house, a baby, a husband" and look at you like, "what have YOU done with your life." On those days I really begin to question things. But then I look up this video, and it reminds me that if I can make a difference in one, just one, child's life, then all of this has been worth it.
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