New quarter! Spring quarter. I have class on Monday evenings and an online class on Wednesdays. I'm a little nervous about the online class because I feel I might do something wrong, but I'm also excited to learn more about the use of technology. Monday was also my first day back to school from spring break. My fourth graders (all 40 of them) were really happy to be back as well. It was a great day and I missed them. We only have a four day week, and unfortunately I have to give a few quizzes because next week is the end of the third grading period. Wow, already! This year flew by! I have homework to begin tonight, and I still have to get my text books for my classes at Otterbein. Maybe I'll fit in a nap... hmmm.. We'll see.

I tried Wordle!

I copied and pasted my blog into www.wordle.net, it was really fun to see! I like seeing all the words compiled bly size! Some of the largest words were students, teaching, like, class, group, ant think, social imformation, TWS, and unit. I want to try and use this website for other things!

This past Friday we went on our Jazz field trip to Otterbein College to see the Jazz faculty perform songs by Duke Ellington. The students had previously prepared good questions to ask during a Q and A session after the concert. I was so proud to hear these awesome questions and the Jazz musicians were stunned! The fourth graders were even offering information and complimenting the musicians on a great job of improvising. It was a blast. After the concert we went upstairs and a music methods course presented our students with an instrument petting zoo. Each student had the opportunity to try to play the instruments. They loved every minute of it. I was joking with one of the room mothers that I am single handedly going to start the next revolution of Muslim musicians. The parents that chaperoned had a great time as well and were very thankful and expressed their gratitude that they child or any of the children for that matter has been exposed to music in a complete educational way. I feel very privileged to have instilled this great memory into the lives of my students. I can't wait for our next field trip, but I don't think any other one we take during the rest of the school year will compare to the experience and wealth of knowledge they gained during this trip!

I like the jig-saw method

This week I have used the jig-saw method during my Social Studies class. We are studying natural resources, human resources, capital resources, entrepreneurs, inventors, monopolies and labor unions during the late 1800's and early 1900's in Ohio History (4th grade). The students are really into learning about these topics. I decided to group my students and each group received a topic to research to become experts on. One group researched entrepreneurs (i.e. John D. Rockefeller, Andre Carnegie ect.) Another group researched inventors and their inventions. Other groups became experts on laws and labor unions, and natural resources and products made from these resources. After a few days of research and sharing ideas within the groups, each "expert" was sent to a different group to display their knowledge on their topic. Then they discussed within these new groups why this information was important. Each group was able to record their original "expert" information as well as add new information. The students loved being called "experts" and I believe I will try this again!

Hey Stranger...

I have to admit that I don't mind blogging so much, but I honestly forget to do it. I guess having a hectic (current) lifestyle I can only handle reading face book statuses from friends.... The sad thing is, I haven't been current on that either! During this winter quarter, for the first time in my life I am experiencing this "out of control" feeling. Things that are beyond my control keep happening. I'm normally a planner, and can foreshadow things. That might sound boring, but that is how "life" has always been! The hectic nature of everyday life has let time blast by as if it were a rocket ship! I almost feel guilty that maybe I have made the wrong choice to take on too much at one time. That is one of my weaknesses. Saying NO! At school, with organizations, with friends, and even with family commitments, I find myself suggesting things, and then all of sudden POOF! I am put in charge of organizing, or assisting, helping, etc... I don't mind helping out. I feel very lucky and love everything about my life right now. I have an awesome and supportive family, work colleagues, college professors, and friends. Maybe I just need to learn how to say no thank you in the nicest way possible...
After reading and rereading the hack job I created out of my TWS (teacher work sample) It has left my mind in a blur.... I continue to teach my Jazz Unit and it is going really well! I have made some adjustments, like adding more read alouds for clarification ect. but when I put it down on paper, it made no sense.... I totally understand why my professor sent it back. What was I thinking???
I feel very fortunate that I have been given a second chance to fix it. I have worked on it, and have not liked the results, so I change it.... I'm just about to re-submit the first sections, so I hope it all goes well. I have to say this blogging assignment is a pretty smart assignment, because I find myself blowing off some steam here...
God, I'm 28, and I feel like a whiny 19 year old complaining about things I want to do, rather than what I am obligated to do.... I like that my 611 course is forcing me to do a lot of self reflecting.... I've always an over analyzer... my husband would agree! So with this new found (fingers crossed) confidence, and 2nd wind I plan to go out with a bang and hopefully do well in my winter courses... I know I will probably lose my 4.0 average, but as long as I pass, I will be happy with B's! Hmm... We will see. Ok time for Writing Workshop!
Sincerely,

Jill

Blog #2 Reactions to TWS

My initial reaction to the TWS was hmmm.... I haven't done such a detailed paper involving all of the TWS parts since my undergrad. program. After class this past Thursday, I feel better about the whole process. I like that I have the opportunity to do it in chunks, and I would have taught this material anyways. I'm excited that I get to break it up in such detail and make it a really good unit. I will also have the opportunity to self reflect and adjust things if needed.
The hardest part will be deciding on the minimum amount of standards. I tend to want to do so much within a unit. I need to scale back. I have decided to choose both Language Arts and Social Studies standards. The only challenges I forsee is making sure I get the current material I have planned taught, so it flows nicely with week 5-7 lessons I am planning. For Social Studies my class and I are doing a Civil War/Underground Railroad unit. According to our 4th grade "Ohio" curriculum after this unit it I will roll right into Women's Suffrage and the Civil Rights movement which will be a nice transition for my mini-Jazz unit. I am struggling with picking on too much to do. I know I want our English aspect to focus on the text style and possibly alliteration. The books I have chosen to do as read alouds and small group work has text styles that when read sounds like actual jazz music, such as scatting and stuff. I think my students will really enjoy this. Plus we will be learning biographical snip its of many jazz musicians, with a main focus on Duke Ellington. I chose to do this Jazz unit because my students don't get to have music class until they go to public school after 8th grade. Also, since I teach at an Islamic school, some Jazz musicians such as Art Blakey is a Muslim. There are other musicians who are also Muslim and I think my kids will be really excited to learn that, since they are also Muslim, and may one day choose to go into the performing arts field or take up an instrument some day. This unit connects very well to Language Arts and Social studies as well as current music standards. So we'll see. Well that's a lot of blogging for now.
Good Night!

This goes along with my first blog entry...

Wow, I really need to read and follow directions.... duh
Ok, so my first blog "ever" was my first thoughts about the class. As I read over my To do list, I realized that I was supposed to discuss the following in my first blog... here goes.

I wanted to become a teacher because I had wonderful teachers and mentors growing up as a student. I also enjoy seeing the spark of student's minds, and the progress they make while learning. It is really rewarding to witness, and realize what an impact and sometimes influence all teachers and adults have who are involved in student's lives.

Hmm... my greatest strengths in teacher.... Honestly I'm still trying to identify my greatest strengths as a teacher. I realize I have a long way to go to be satisfied with the answer to this question. I do feel comfortable teaching all Language Arts components and sub topics within. This may stem from enjoying reading so much when I was younger. I also have diverse teaching experiences especially in my current teaching positions and that makes me comfortable in any teaching environment. I believe I can grow in all areas of teaching. That's the great thing about education is that you never stop learning, and getting different perspectives on what I'm already doing is beneficial. I do tend to be fickle in my lessons. If I decide what I'm going to teach a few weeks before I teach it, I tend to change my mind and I'll want to do something different instead. So my weaknesses are to trust what I plan and go with it. If it's a flop, I get a second chance another day to reteach in a different way, but I do get worried when I find that some lessons are not successful. I decide how to teach required content by seeing what goals I want to achieve and what standards are incorporated with these objectives. I'll refer to texts, and write out my plans and think about what I want to do for my pre-assessments,and go from there. I enjoy discussions and interacting verbally or do an activity to see how the students are thinking, what they are thinking and then I ask them a question or give them a topic to discuss with me. It sparks their prior knowledge and go from there. I almost always incorporate a story, or point out a section of text that will be part of our discussions.

First Class thoughts

I wanted to think back to how I thought the first class would be like and how the class actually went. I really didn't know what to expect other than the listed assignments and course documents on Blackboard. I must say I am really excited to be in this class, and have such an open professor, who seems like she will be our partner in our journey and not just our leader. I look forward to learning in this class, and I am optimistic that I will be able to take a step back and refresh and redesign my teaching. I enjoy hearing about other classmates teaching experiences and I like to share my own as well. I think we will be doing a lot of this during the quarter. I enjoyed doing the 21st century learner activity. It gave the class a chance to get to know and discuss our ideas and opinions. Tomorrow is class # 2, and I'm anxious to see what we will be working on.

Good Night!
Jill