ED 505 Week 4-My Education Journey

My Education Journey

Some of my earliest memories of childhood involved playing school.  I would sit all of my stuffed animals around my bedroom and pretend that I was teaching them.  When my cousins would come over to play, we always seemed to get around to playing school.  I remember that I had a small chalkboard where I would write the lessons for my "students."  Once I started to school, I loved it.  Being an only child, I loved getting to be around kids at school.  I was a good student and academics came easy for me.  Once I got into high school and really started to think about what I would do with my life, there was only one answer--I would be a teacher.  It is the only thing I have ever wanted to be.  After graduating from high school, I took that first summer off to work and then started to college in the fall.  From then on, I went straight through and graduated with my B.S. degree in Elementary Education in three years.  I couldn't wait to get into my own classroom with my own students.  I will never forget the feeling I had when my first principal handed me my very first class list.  I told him I felt like he was handing me a million dollars.  I still feel that way every year when I get my new class list.  I love my students and love helping them learn.

When I think about all of the teachers along my education journey, it is hard to pick just one who influenced me the most.  There were teachers at every stage of my education journey who impacted me greatly.  Some of my favorite elementary school teachers were my second and fourth grade teachers, Mrs. Deerman and Mrs. Nichols.  Both of them were so kind and loving toward the students.  I do not remember a lot about specific things they taught me, but I do remember their smiling faces and the way they made me feel safe and cared for in their classes.  In junior high, I had several great teachers including Mrs. Hollis, my seventh grade science teacher, Mr.Carter, my seventh grade math teacher, and Mrs. Dutton, my eighth grade math teacher.  They made their classes interesting and gave lots of help to those students who needed it.  Science and math are typically more difficult courses, and these teachers worked hard to make sure the students "got it."  Once in high school, some of my most memorable teachers were Mr. Hodges, my history teacher and Mrs. Sharp and Mrs. Pendley, my English teachers.  The thing I remember most about these teachers is that they were fair to everyone and treated us with respect.  In turn, we all respected them and wanted to be in their classes.  I loved Mr. Hodges so much that when I was a senior, instead of taking P.E., I took an AP World History class.  In college I had lots of great instructors at Northeast State Jr. College and at Athens State University.  One instructor that I remember the most is my Foundations of Education Teacher at Athens.  So much of what he said and what I learned in that class rings in my ears still today.  Things he taught us about the importance of education and how teachers should treat their students still guides my teaching practices today.

As I have reflected on my education journey, I realize how blessed I have been to have been positively influenced by so many wonderful educators.  I pray that I will be that kind of positive influence on the students whom I have the privilege to teach.  My principal posed the question just the other day--are you being the kind of teacher for your students that you remember your favorite and best teachers were to you?  I know for sure that teaching is my calling.  It is what I am supposed to do.  I am never happier and more at peace with myself than when I am with my students.  I am so thankful to be where I am right now and to have the opportunity to touch children's lives.  I pray that I do it with love, compassion, fairness, and respect.

Stacy

ED505 Web 2.0 Resources

Web 2.0 Resources

For this assignment, we were required to use 4 different sites to create resources for a unit that we would teach in our classroom.  I teach fourth grade, and I chose a science unit that I will be teaching in the coming weeks, Electric Circuits.  The first resource we used was bubbl.us to create a concept map.  I really liked this site, and I think that I can easily teach my students how to use the site.  The next resource we used was Glogster.  I must confess that I had difficulty using this site.  It was fun to pick out the graphics and backgrounds, but I had a lot of trouble trying to embed a video.  The site was not set up exactly the way it was presented in the tutorial video.  The tutorial video said that you could click on SchoolTube, however SchoolTube was not an option once I got into the site.  I tried repeatedly to embed a video from YouTube, and I could not get it to work.  Finally, I chose a video from Google that was already loaded onto the site.  That was the part of the assignment that I had the most difficulty with.  I am planning to have my students use my glog page as a center activity during the coming weeks.  The third part of the assignment was to use Animoto.  I really enjoyed this part of the assignment which was to create a 30 second video complete with music and pictures.  I can see how students would love to do a project like that, and I thought the site was very user friendly.  I liked it a lot.  The last part of the assignment was a Free Choice.  I chose Classtools.net.  I created 2 fun games for my students.  The first one was an arcade style game.  To create the game, you had to type in questions and answers and the site generated arcade style games based on the questions and answers.  The other game I created was called PostIt.  I used this game as a label matching game.  My activity was to match the parts of a light bulb with the correct label.  I thought this was a great site, and I will use it again in the future.  My students could also work together to create games by making up their own questions and answers.  I really liked this site.  Overall, my favorites were Animoto and Classtools.net.  I will use all of the resources I created in my Electric Circuits Unit this year.

The links to my Glogster page, Animoto video, and Classtools.net resources are as follows:

Glogster
http://www.glogster.com/warren4/electric-circuits/g-6lpkqplvr154t7mjqsklh87

Animoto
http://animoto.com/play/R6gkBS8rkOO34Tmn00kAQw

Classtools.Net
http://classtools.net/widgets/quiz_8/StCAY.htm
http://classtools.net/widgets/postIt_1/wUyZm.htm

Concept Map from bubbl.us

I have learned so much from this assignment, and I was introduced to 4 new resources that I can use in my classroom.  It was a lot of work, but I found tools that I can definitely use again.

Stacy

ED505 Week 3 Top 10 Websites

Top 10 Classroom Websites

1.  Multiplication.com
     This is a great site for students to practice multiplication
     facts.  The games are very bright and colorful and
     provide immediate feedback.
        http://www.multiplication.com/

2.  Spelling City 
       This site allows students to practice with their spelling
     words.  It is set up to coordinate with the Scott Foresman
     Reading Street series.  There are lots of fun games for
     students to choose from.
     http://www.spellingcity.com/

3.  Waltke's Web
     This is a site with lots of resources for the Scott
     Foresman Reading Street series.  I use this site to get
     PowerPoint presentations to accompany my reading
     stories.
     http://classroom.jc-schools.net/waltkek/fourthgrade.html

4.  Super Teacher Worksheets
     This is a great site for worksheets for every subject and
     holiday activities.  I like to use the resources to give my
     students extra practice with skills.  Everything is free.
     http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/

5.  Cool math 4 kids.com
     This is a great site for students to practice all kinds of
     math skills.  It is one my students choose most often.
     http://www.coolmath4kids.com/

6.  K-5 Math Teaching Resources
     This site has a wealth of resources for math concepts
     for kindergarten through fifth grade.  It provides lessons,
     games, and activities for teaching the concepts.
     http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/

7.  National Geographic Kids
     I have my students use this site often when they are
     doing research.  It is a kid-friendly site and gives lots of
     facts.  It is a reliable source for students when doing
     research.
     http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

8.  ABCYa.com
     This is a great site for grades kindergarten through
     fifth.  The site provides fun games for a variety of 
     concepts.  My students love this site.
     http://abcya.com/

9.  Ms. Sanchez' Class
     This site is the classroom website of a fourth grade
     teacher, Ms. Sanchez.  She has  a wealth of resources
     for teachers on her site.  I love to visit this site for lots
     of great teacher ideas.
     http://sanchezclass.com/

10. Mandy's Tips for Teachers
      This is a teacher's classroom website.  She posts
      lots of teacher resources and great classroom ideas.
      I love to visit this site to get tons of great teacher ideas.
      http://www.tips-for-teachers.com/

ED505 Week 2 Embed a Video

This is a Schoolhouse Rock video about verbs.  It was taken from TeacherTube.  I bet many of you remember watching Schoolhouse Rock.  One of my personal favorites is "Conjunction Junction."  I have used that video in my class, and the students really enjoyed it.

I have never embedded a video before, so this was a challenge for me.  I think I got the video embedded correctly.

After viewing the video, think about the following questions:

1.  For what grade level(s) would this video be appropriate?

2.  How could you use this video in a grammar lesson?

3.  Do you think this video would be effective in helping students understand the function of a verb in a sentence?  Why or why not?

Thanks for viewing the video,

Stacy

ED505 Social Bookmarks Assignment

Social Bookmarks

Before taking the ED505 online course at the University of West Alabama, I had never heard of Delicious, which is an online database.  It was interesting to discover how to use such a site.  First, I found educational websites and online resources that I can use in my classroom to enhance instruction.  Next, I bookmarked the sites to my Delicious account.  I have sites that provide classroom and teaching resources as well as sites for online, interactive games for my students.  It is nice to have all of the sites that I use on a regular basis all in one place and easy to access.  In addition to bookmarking my sites to Delicious, I also used a fun, new site called Wordle to create the graphic at the top.  This assignment introduced me to two new sites that I will definitely use in the future.

To access my Delicious account and view my bookmarked sites, please click on the link below.  I hope you find these sites as helpful as I did.

Stacy

 http://www.delicious.com/warrens

ED505 Introduction

Hello, everyone.  My name is Stacy Warren, and I am a fourth grade teacher in Alabama.  I have been teaching for 11 years, and this is my second year in fourth grade.  Previously I taught first grade for eight years and third grade for one year.  I really love fourth graders, and I hope I get to stay in fourth for a while.


I am married and have two beautiful children, a daughter and a son.  I am currently working on my masters degree in elementary education.  I only have 2 classes left after this term.  I am so excited.  It has been quite a challenge to work full time, be a good wife and mom, and go to school.  I wanted to get my masters degree because I had been out of the classroom for six years while my children were small.  A lot had changed in education in those six years, and I felt like I was behind.  Getting my masters degree has allowed me to get up to date on current teaching practices.  I feel like I am becoming a better teacher every day.  I love my students and my job.


I am looking forward to this class, ED505.  I am a bit technologically challenged, so I know I will learn a lot which will improve my classroom instruction.  I look forward to meeting my classmates and learning and working together this term.


Thanks,
Stacy