California Learning Resource Network (CLRN)

This website is awesome; there is so much useful information in one area!

I did searches for 3rd grade science, since I would like to teach 3rd grade and absolutely love science lessons for that age range, the projects and lessons are SO MUCH FUN for that age range. I found some really great videos and websites to show during a lesson to really get kids involved.

I also like that you can search by standards, even though it is for California it is definitely useful information to have on hand.

Lesson Plans

I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous when doing this week’s lesson plan assignment mainly because I’ve never done one before. I wasn’t sure what exactly needed to be in a lesson plan and how you can tell how long it will take to complete.

I did a lot of research on line to check out other lesson plans similar to what I wanted to do so I can get a frame of how long it should take to complete and what type of assessments would work best, etc.

I ended up finding some cute ideas for projects to do with students, for this lesson and for others. There are so many great resources out there for teachers along with sites where you can post questions and other teachers can give you ideas on what worked/did not work for them.

I think having lesson plans is a great way to have structure in your class so you know exactly what will be happening on a daily basis. I’m sure you won’t always be able to stick to the plan and will make modifications as the weeks or even as the day itself passes because you will never know what exactly will happen in class that day (what discussions may start, etc), but it is a great way to keep things moving along smoothly.

Social Networking

The video on social networking brought up a few good points one of them being that people can and will judge you based on your profiles.

A great example of this is that a friend of mine works in HR and had a round of internship resumes come in for the summer internship at her company and for a good majority of them she also looked up profiles on MySpace and facebook and found some pictures that did not represent the student in the best of lights. Because of these incriminating photos those students did not get picked for the 1st round of interviews.

Social networking is not all bad though, it’s a great way to meet others to build and maintain relationships whether it’s strictly work related or personal. I know for myself at least I stay in touch and have reconnected with a good majority of friends through different sites.

Everyone no matter what age should be aware of who they friend; just because they look and seem nice through pictures or words definitely does not mean they are good people. Like the students in the video said don’t friend someone unless you know them.

Cyberbullying

I thought the video on cyberbullying was very cute for kids, I like how they have a 3 word line to help kids remember what to do if they are contacted by a cyberbully – stop block and tell.

This is a sad phenomenon that is happening way to often with kids today and it is not just kids who are harassing other kids; parents are even getting involved which is just disgusting in my eyes.

Anyone can say anything online because there is a screen blocking them, they are not truly facing others; but I bet when face to face with someone they do not like for whatever reason most of the time they will not say anything to them. If they do say something I doubt it will be as harsh as if said online and it would also be taken care of by people in charge much quicker than an online bullying session.

I think parents need to closely monitor what kids do online and punishments should be given if they see misconduct, same goes for parents if they are found harassing or helping their kids harass anyone (including other adults) they should be reprimanded as well.

We need to teach the kids in today’s society that this is completely unacceptable and will not be a simple slap on the hand if this kind of behavior surfaces.

The problem is that so much goes undetected and kids are so gullible and will believe what cyberbullys tell them even though they do now know the true origin of the hurtful words.

For the teachers out there, are there assemblies on cyberbullying to help kids cope with this sort of thing?

Class Web Pages Part III

So I am basically finished with my website and I have to say I definitely liked creating a site to use for a classroom.

The only thing I found challenging (after I figured out how to save my work) was what kind of homework I should give and what books/software I should include for my lists. I think the only reason I had difficulty was because I wasn’t sure exactly what a 3rd grade science class consisted of; but I did research and was able to find material to help answer my questions.

I think having a class website is a great tool in keeping students and parents up to date on school activities, homework and readings. I can only see having a classroom website as something that gets bigger and bigger and more a part of the norm in school settings.

Since our society is becoming more and more dependent on technology I wouldn’t be surprised if in the near future websites will be the main source of getting information to students and their families. No more sending papers home solely relying on the student to inform their parents, especially because a lot of times students either forget or lose the information.

Class Web Pages Part II

Hello Class!!!

Hope everyone had a nice spring break. I did and now I am back on track and working on my class web page.

I was having a little difficulty getting my edits to save and for the life of me could not figure out what to do because there is no save button, not sure if anyone else was having this trouble but I figured out what to do! I had an ah ha moment if you will. After you make edits you have to be sure to press the continue button after you preview your page. I was not pressing the continue button and finally after 4 times of losing my work figured it out.

Hope this helps anyone (if there was anyone else) who was having the same problem.

Resume

I have to say that I never thought about adding my blog to my resume when I start going on interviews.

I’m so happy Professor Luongo brought this point up in class because the market (especially in these crazy times) is so competitive that you need something to help you stand out.

I used to be a recruiter and I can’t tell you how many resumes I would barely look at because they all had the same opening line. It becomes tedious.

I also know quite a few people who had a hard time finding a job in the teaching field after college and now are doing something completely different. It’s scary but a reality.