A New World

I feel lucky that I can still call the blog, "Elementary Observations." But as of now, I am starting a new chapter in my existence. I have graduated and have somehow secured a job teaching 5th grade in this crazy job market.

We had our first team meeting yesterday, and it surfaced a lot of nervousness. I was feeling confident. I have to believe that my planning and purpose will pay off with the support of some great teachers! It's interesting to be a 40-year old rookie. I'm hoping life experience counts for something.

My motto for the year is "Nothing is Impossible, If you believe!!" I will continue this blog as a log of my experiences as a first-year teacher. Maybe some out there can commiserate and offer support and helpful ideas once in a while. Hopefully I can do the same.

My Kids versus "My Kids"

My children were sick all last week. My daughter missed 4 days of school. That means I missed 4 days of work as a substitute. I was hoping to work a lot, since the year is so close to a close, but my kids are number one yesterday, today, and forever.

I know my sub coordinator is mad at me. She made it clear Thursday that she couldn't replace me for a planned Friday assignment. I couldn't help it. My daughter was vomiting Thursday night, and besides the fact she was still sick, the district rules are clear. If your child has a fever, or is vomiting, or contagious; they cannot return for at least 24 hours after their last episode. I had no choice. All is well now, but my phone didn't ring this morning. I'm really hoping that no one called in, but I don't know.

I guess you have to have your priorities, and I have to pick MY kids over my school kids every time. And, I especially have to pick my kids over the $ every time as well. We'll get by somehow, we always do. It just seems like you end up feeling guilty no matter what you do.

Not that Open

I've been looking at other student blogs in my technology class, and some of them are so open about their interests and their families. I used to think I was open about who I was, but my husband is a police officer and he made a good point way back to when we got married. He said there was no reason to post anything in the paper because everyone who should know about what was going on with us already did. And then, especially when our kids were born. I am amazed at how much personal information people are willing to share with strangers these days.

Tech Final # 5- WOWs

I think my favorite WOW moment was the whole idea of student-centered project learning. With every technology site, there always seemed to be the concept of the involved student, ways to get students personally invested in the projects in their classroom, in the hopes of getting the students more excited about learning. Until this class, I thought I would be more lecture based than discussion based. Not anymore.

I also didn't know there was so much help out there. It's nice to know there's plenty of blogs with ideas, including those that didn't work. I love all the sights that help you create quizzes and games. Time management was also a concern of mine. Now, not as much of a concern anymore.

I've also discovered a host of knowledge about classroom management. (not classroom discipline) Classroom management, I believe, is truly the key to great classes and actual learning.

This class had opened doors that textbooks cannot open for me. The support I've found and will continue to be able to access is invaluable.

Tech Final # 3- ALTEC

I'm equally enthralled with ALTEC, as I was with Apple Interchange. You'll see it mentioned in my 10 websites later in the Blog. I was immediately drawn to the link that allows me to access a subject and topic and then search the state standard on that topic. I think I've mentioned before that one of my fears is keeping up with the state standard. But I love this sight due to the overall fact that you can check your state standard and immediately jump into a quiz template on that topic. It's the best one-stop shop I've seen all semester.

I asked a different teacher to view ALTEC. I subbed for a 4th grade teacher on Friday and asked another 4th grade teacher to look it over, especially since the higher grades are more rigorously tested. She said that he's been hunting and pecking for technology with the new computers. She said their last in-service was very helpful, as all district teachers were required to attend a technology class. I have spoken to many teachers about that class and they were equally enthralled with his ideas. But my teacher said that this sight was a god send to someone just catching up to technology ideas for the classroom. And she was as impressed as I was with the ease of linking curriculum ideas to the state standard for a topic and subject.

Tech Final Project #4- 10 new websites

Ten Websites:

1) factmonster.com
http://www.factmonster.com

I am enthralled with this website. It contains everything to make a subject fun.From flashcards to worksheets, it's one of the only sites that's fun for kids and teachers at the same time.


2) Middle Web.com
http://www.middleweb.com/

A great one-stop shop for middle school teachers with blogs about classroom situations, to new ideas for presenting material. It also contains news pertinent to what's happening in education.

3) Discovery School.com
http://school.discovery.com/

Thanks to another class, I discovered this website with everything from crossword templates to access to united streaming clips that are correlated to state standards. In anticipation of being a teacher, the thing I worry about most is creating a curriculum that is both relevant and yet meets all the standards necessary.

4) ALTEC
http://altec.org/index.php

After playing with this site for the earlier part of this assignment, I have to add to my 10 websites. With games and quiz templates, as well as having ways to integrate technology, all I can see is unlimited uses. I was really excited by the link that allows me to access a subject and topic and then search the state standard at a glance.

5) Apple Learning Interchange
http://ali.apple.com becomes http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/

I love this site, I just place it later in my list because I am not yet surrounded by Apple as I hope to be. Right now, I'm restricted to several I-Pods. (The district I hope to teach in is very Apple happy.) I come from a business background and the PC is king in that arena.

The teacher I introduced to this site said I opened her eyes on how to use the site right now, but she also opened my eyes to how I could use the site. The fact that she's going to give out CD's with pictures and movies with my daughter and about her experience in her first year of school is priceless. Jenna will treasure that forever. To give kids memories beyond their class photos is immeasureable.
Her ideas for this site have really inspired me, so I'm going to help her with the project.

6) Electric Teacher.com
http://www.electricteacher.com/newteacher/

This is a site dedicated to new teachers. How can this not be valuable? It has chat rooms and guides to creating curriculum, as well as tips on things such as dealing with parents, especially difficult ones, diplomacy training if you will.

7) PBS Teachers.org
http://www.pbs.org/teachers

I love PBS anyway, but to find their website just for teachers is great. The first thing that caught my eye was a month-long "alternative reality" game where your students attempt to find a way for the world to survive without oil. Projects like this are so exciting to me. Developing thought skills while attempting to solve real world problems. The site is full of innovative and wonderful projects for every grade level and subject.


8) Teachers.net
http://www.teachers.net/

In all the website searching we've done, this is the first site I've seen with concise, well put-together meetings, job listings, and my favorite, the mailring. You can mailring with other substitutes if that's what you do, or with teachers from Australia, Canada, or the United Kingdom. How great is that. I'm especially interested in teaching my students through a global perspective, and being able to chat with teachers from other countries would be invaluable. They also have teacher classifieds. You can buy or sell many items, sort of a teacher only e-bay without the auction.

9) Teacher Blogs
http://teacherlingo.com

Right now, I'm really torn about switching from Blogger to Teacher Lingo. Teacher Lingo is made just for teachers so they will have a forum that other teachers can read and respond to, sort of a filter versus an all-encompassing site such as Blogger. A blog site just for teachers is intriguing to me. But who says all I want to write about is teaching. It's weird to say, but teaching isn't just some new career choice for me. I don't want it to be just my job, just something I do. But, I also don't want it to be my entire life. To be complete people, we have to have many aspects to ourselves, especially for us to grow. So, do I limit my blogging to teaching and switch or stay with Blogger, and maybe not get as much technical response. But, wait, maybe the teachers blogging on Teacher Lingo feel the way I do. I'm sure they have other aspects to their lives that we could all relate to, that don't necessarily involve teaching.

10) Oracle sponsored Think.com
http://www.think.com/en_us/

This site is operated free of charge by Oracle. You enroll your school, and you can blog, create teacher websites, student websites, and parent websites. And, only member schools can access your blog information or your website content, so if there's a problem, it can be easily traced. I'm very interested in creating class websites so that parents have full access to what we're doing. It makes it so much easier for busy parents to come home and be able to see our schedule at the touch of a button, and then, help with homework.

Hard to Handle

Yesterday I subbed for a 4th grade class. I have never had such a discipline problem. The list of kids that were good was easier to write for the teacher. If I gave one lecture, I gave 30. It's one thing I fear about being a teacher. Can I handle these problems? I understand that when you're the regular classroom teacher, there is more respect. Or is there? The elementary school has behavior bucks and flipping behavior cards. But I can honestly say, it doesn't seem to work.

Everyone says, "Send one to the office, and they'll all fall in line." I really want the office to be an option of last resort not a defense tactic. I want to learn how to handle these problems, but sometimes I wonder if I'll be up to it.

But I can still say that my worst day in the classroom is still way better than my best day anywhere else working. So I know I've made the right decision about obtaining a teaching career.