The End of Science Methods

The end is here! I can’t believe that we have reached the end of science methods. This has been a great semester of learning. I have learned so many things that I can take into my science classroom. This past month has been good because I was able to focus on my unit plan. I decided a while back to write a unit on the solar system. I had no idea how much fun I would have planning this unit and I was even able to teach a lesson to my 3rd graders based on my unit. I feel that this is a good unit that I can continue to use in my future teaching career.

As I was teaching my lesson, I encountered some struggles. I love to implement technology into my lessons. It is not only an integral part of every lesson, but it makes everything so much more interactive and interesting for the students. However, with technology there can be some hiccups. During my lesson, the SmartBoard in our classroom was doing things by itself and acting crazy. This taught me a good lesson though to always have back-up plans in case something does go wrong and to have good classroom management because if something does go wrong with the technology that can make the students go crazy. It is important to manage your classroom so this doesn’t have a negative impact on the teaching. I felt that I learned many lessons from teaching and planning this unit.

Over the next month, I will be focusing on preparing for student teaching. Over Christmas break, I plan on completing things that can be done ahead of time so that I can be fully focused and ready to tackle the semester ahead.

This past month we have worked together as classmates to finish the semester strong. We are able to work together to collaborate and share ideas. We really do have a great group of student teachers and I am blessed to be a part of it!

For my outside learning this month, I found a list of 30 things to remember while student teaching from Scholastic. Many of these we have heard before through orientations and meetings, but this is a great print-out friendly list that I will print out and keep in my student teaching binder.

https://www.scholastic.com/content/dam/teachers/blogs/genia-connell/migrated-files/student_teacher_tips.pdf

I have loved implementing Twitter in my education career. Here are 3 more tweets I have found this month.

Everyone knows I'm a sucker for a virtual museum. This takes students on a tour to help them understand 3D printing. I will enjoy it as much as the students! 

This is a short clip that really helps you think of ways to get students collaborating and communicating. It gives "Talk Moves" which are ways to get students to begin discussions instead of just letting them go freely. Sometimes students need that extra guidance. 

This is an activity that Discovery Education is having classrooms all over the country participate in. It allows students to follow along the flight and even see what other students are learning about in regards to this topic through Twitter Chats. 

This past month, NASA has successfully landed on Mars. This was a great thing to implement into my solar system lesson plan. My CE pulled this up at the end of the lesson. However, I feel now that this would have been a great hook to get the students interested. This is proof that NASA is making great strides to get to know more about our solar system. This will be great as I continue to teach the solar system in the future.

In regards to the NCTCS, I learned that data is CRUCIAL for analyzing student learning. I was able to dig deep into this standard and understand how to collect data that can truly assist us in analyze student learning and our teaching.

We are headed to student teaching!

Student Teaching Here I Come!

The semester is almost over. I can’t believe we are finally at this point. We student teach in a little over a month. I’m excited for this next chapter in my educational career, but I’m nervous too. This past month, I have spent a lot of time in my classroom, really working on developing those relationships with my students and preparing for next semester. I have planned with my CE when I will take over full instruction and we talked about those weeks. It is crazy to me that I will be graduating in May. This past month I have really learned the flexibility that comes with being an educator. I had lessons that I had plan to teach, but we would have to complete a state required test that day or a reward day would come up. It really taught me about being flexible and being ready for any changes that may occur. We just have to accept those and keep going because they will never stop. I enjoy this part of education though because there is never a dull moment!

For my outside learning this month, I went to Twitter. I am a firm believer in having students reflect on their own work. I feel that this is a great way for them to assess themselves and great things can come from student self-assessment. A teacher has created a board in her classroom that has a list of questions for students to ask themselves before turning their work in. This is a great idea for my classroom because I have noticed that many of my students rush through their work and don’t really take the time to stop and reflect. I plan to implement this in student teaching. I will submit the link to the tweet below.

https://twitter.com/teacher2teacher/status/1067947507311759360

This month my learning relates directly to NCTCS Standard 4. A part of this standard says that each teacher has multiple ways to assess their student’s learning. By having students assess themselves and reflect on their work, I am adding another form of assessment into my classroom that is different from the traditional test.

In my future classroom, I plan to implement this strategy of having students really stop and reflect on their work. I know that this will be a good thing for the group of students I have right now and I will implement it in the future with other students as well. It is something powerful when students can assess themselves and see where they are in their learning. Sometimes, they know more about their learning and work than they are showing us.

Fellow student teachers, here we go! The next semester is almost here! We’ve been waiting for this moment for the last 3 ½ years. We got this!

Learning in Science

This past month in Science Methods has been full of learning experiences. Some of my favorites were the science fair project and the science through my lens project. These were two experiences that I really enjoyed doing and I feel that I learned a lot from them. We had a few struggles during our science fair project, but for the most part everything went well. We had a few hiccups in transferring the plants, but they did well. I felt that these learning experiences would be great to do in my own classroom. The group that we had for our science fair project worked well together. We all had important parts in completing it and we worked together to make sure everything was done well.
Over the next month, I plan to have my science lesson taught in my clinical and have the majority of my unit completed. I am interested to see how the rest of my unit planning goes. I have enjoyed completing this unit about the solar system. I think it will be fun for my 3rd graders. We will be measuring shadows at different times of the day and collecting data.
My outside learning and research took place on Twitter. I found that virtual field trips are becoming more and more popular. I found two great virtual ones from Discovery Education. One took you on a trip to visit the polar bears and one takes students to the set of the newest Spider-Man movie and what they did to create it. Both of these are great resources!
Twitter:

This is one of the virtual field trips that takes you to the set of the new Spider-Man movie. This would be great for teaching students are comparing and contrasting. They could compare their knowledge of spiders to what happens in the movie. 

This is another virtual field trip that I think would be awesome! This gives you an in depth look at polar bears without ever leaving your classroom. Who needs to travel to the zoo? 

This is a great resource on teaching students how stem skills are used to solve real-world problems, which teaches them 21st century skills, problem solving, and critical thinking. The great thing is that this resource is also available in Spanish now! A great way to accommodate for our ELLs! 

A current event I learned about this past month was the outbreak of measles across the country. This is a great way to incorporate the human body system into your classroom and how we are supposed to take care of our body and keep it healthy. 

This past month, I learned some more about NCTCS Standard 4. An important part of this standard is to keep students engaged and involved in the learning process. Students should be a part of what they are learning and they should always be engaged. Learning should not just be the teacher standing in front of the room talking to the students. Students should take part in learning experiences and self-assess to see where they are in their learning. This is so much more beneficial in the end. 

Feedback & Twitter

It’s hard to believe that we have a little over a month before this semester is over. It has gone by so fast and I feel that I have grown so much in my educational career. The end of the semester is approaching, as well as, student teaching! I’m excited and nervous at the same time.

One of the biggest learning experiences that I had this past month would be when I received feedback on a lesson that I taught from Dr. Clark and Dr. Parker. I was teaching a small group lesson on finding the evidence in the text. It was a text about bats. The feedback I received was very helpful. I learned that I need to take that opportunity to teach science and support inquiry. I had always planned on integrating, but I wasn’t realizing the opportunities I had right in front of me. After talking with my professors I realized how much I could be doing with that one text. The next find the evidence passage is all about shelter dogs. I am excited to do different things with it to spark the student’s curiosity and get them all excited about shelter dogs! I plan on showing pictures, talking with the students and their experiences, and I may try to call an animal shelter.

My outside learning this month took place on Twitter. I have begun following a page called @Teacher2Teacher. They have short conversations at least once a day that ask different questions. For example, “How do you use social media in your classroom?” and “How do you teach group discussion skills?” Teachers from all over answer it and all of the sudden you have all these different strategies to use when it comes to social media, group discussions, etc. It’s great to read what other teachers do in their classrooms and what works!

I feel that my learning experiences relate to both Standard 3 and Standard 4 of the NCTCS. In regards to standard 3, I am making instruction relevant to students by allowing them to participate in discussions regarding shelter dogs. They will get the chance to talk about real-life experiences and we will talk about how many issues have come up with shelters being too full lately. In regards to standard 4, I am integrating and utilizing technology in my small group lesson and in my instruction because I am learning new strategies on how to teach through Twitter. I am also planning instruction appropriate for my students.

In my future classroom, I will think and plan more for integration. The feedback I received helped me to see that I need to not focus as much on the skill of finding the evidence, but I need to open up a whole new world of learning for my students to allow them to become well-rounded.

Practicing for edTPA

This past month in 435 has been good. The main focus has been on practicing for edTPA. It has been great experience being able to complete all 3 tasks along with the commentaries. I would say that my biggest learning experience for this month has been in writing the commentaries. It has helped me realize that these are difficult, but they can be done. I have learned some edTPA language and how to write effective commentaries that show my reader everything they need to know. I have also been able to spend more time in my placement. My students are learning and I love being able to teach them. We have been working on finding the evidence in the text in small groups and we are teaching them skills and building on their knowledge to get them prepared for this EOG! I know they are going to rock it. I will also get to experience my first night of Parent-Teacher Conferences and I am excited. I am looking forward to sitting down with the parents and families of my students and getting to know them and letting them know what their student has been learning.
For my outside learning this month, I found an article that was linked in Twitter that was about homework. I decided to click on it and read it because I know this is such a debated topic. This article stated that some students aren't receiving enough homework. What? Their reasoning was that those in lower income situations can get involved in things that aren't good if they have all this free time from no homework. That makes sense, but I don't agree with it fully. Yes, some students will do that. However, not all students will and some students who are living in higher income situations will do the same. Based on what I have seen, many of my students do complete their homework. We have a good community surrounding our school and great parent involvement. However, we have a few students who don't have a good home life. In our class, students are given their homework the Friday before they leave for the weekend. They receive a reading passage with questions, a math sheet, and 20 spelling words. They have the whole week to work on these and it is not due until Friday of the next week. This has worked well with our students and families. However, we have one student who doesn't have a good home life. His grandmother told us that he won't do it and it causes a huge fight. This student has struggled with family issues and doesn't get support at home. For this child, homework is not important because all it will cause is a fight that will tear that student down emotionally. Homework will always be a debated topic.
Here is the article if you're interested in reading it.
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2018/10/how_much_homework_is_enough_many_students_get_too_little_brief_argues.html?cmp=soc-edit-tw 
My learning relates to NCTCS Standard 2 which involves treating the student as an individual. I have learned quickly that the needs of my students vary. Everyone has a different background and story. Seeing that homework is not beneficial to one student, but seeing the benefits from one student completing it shows this standard in play. I can still give homework to the student that usually ends up in fights with his grandmother for the chance to do it if he wants to. However, homework is not taken up as a grade and he will not be penalized for not completing it. I would rather him receive emotional support and know it's going to be okay. My students do not know that homework is not a grade because I do want them to try their best and complete it. Homework can be great practice, but my students all have individual needs and will not be punished because of the home life they have been given.
In my future classroom, I want to continue this homework policy. I see the benefits from this and it allows my students to get what they each need.

Science, Science, Science

We're already a month into the semester! This has been a month full of course work, assignments, and project planning, but I've already learned so much. This month in science methods we have focused on a lot of things, but the one thing that really stood out to me was the science fair project planning. It seems as if we have already been working on this project for months because our group has been doing a lot of planning and prepping for our experiment. I'm excited to see how it's going to turn out and the group we have works so well together. Our group consists of us that are going to be student teaching together, so it's nice to have the chance to collaborate together and share ideas since we are all so close to taking over a classroom! I'm so proud of the plans that we have made and the progress we have made so far. This has really been a test of our flexibility and willingness to accept change because science is forever changing and not something you can specifically plan for. Our plants are looking great and they will soon be ready for some acid!
My struggles this month would have to be that since we are getting into the swing of things in the classroom and we had to do a lot of testing, science and social studies were pushed to the back burner. I have been talking with my CE and she is encouraging me to use science and social studies as much as I can since we won't be in the middle of so much testing when I take over in January. However, we will be prepping for the EOG so it's going to be crazy. Thankfully, my CE has been providing me with a lot or resources that I can use to teach science and I'm excited to implement them. These will be interesting activities so I think it will be a good relaxer for my students after all the reading passages and math problems. I would say that this brought me the most satisfaction as well. My CE is a great person and I'm so blessed with all the resources that she is giving me to teach in January. This shows me that she does see the importance in all subjects. The sad reality though is that when we are testing, we lose so much instructional time.
My action steps over the next month will be to continue working in my classroom and staying on top of assignments. I also hope to dive more into the science curriculum for 3rd grade to do some more planning on what I hope to do with my students!
This past month, I contributed to the science fair project group by giving ideas. We all work very well together and I know this will continue. It's nice to have other people going through the same thing you are to be there for support and encouragement! We plan to continue this.
My outside learning this month consisted of all of the news after the hurricane hit. This was such a sad thing that hit the coast of NC and I think about all the ways I can implement this event in my classroom. We didn't get hit very hard in this area, but there are so many places just a couple of hours away from us that lost everything. My students don't really see that devastation, but it's real and I think we need to talk about it. This would be a great way to integrate science and social studies because this has changed our history and made a huge impact. I saw a news article that showed an aerial view of all of the pollution that has taken over the oceans from the hurricane and it was crazy. This is a great phenomenon to show my students and learn their thoughts on it. It was one of my TTotW, so it will be added below.
This month I learned that NCTCS Standard 2 when it mentions community it means everyone that lives with or around my students. This consists of the community around my school and the community around my students. It's important for us to reach out to everyone to know what is going on. The more we know about our students, the better we can meet their needs. My school is very big on parent/community involvement, so I'm excited to be a part of this. I'm excited to be able to plan a parent night for 435 and present it to the principal. Who knows, maybe we will use it!
Listed below are screenshots of my TTotW.

This article talks about the gap that is occurring between students and learning in science. It gives ways that we can reverse this gap and ensure that our students are really learning! 

This had to have been one of my all time favorite tweets that I have found. I love virtual field trips after taking social studies and this one takes you on a trip to learn all about cows! (an animal that has a close place in my heart) I have completed some of it and it looks so fun! This would be great for any grade! 

Phenomenon! This would be awesome to just pull up and see what your students say and/or think. 

My last semester of course work!

I have been waiting on this semester for a long time it seems. I can't believe it's finally here. This past month has been great. I have been able to make great relationships with my CE and my students. I truly love what I do and I'm so excited that I get to do this for the rest of my life.
Teaching 3rd grade comes with a lot of challenges. This is the first year that my students will take a summative assessment at the end of the year to determine what they have learned. This can put a lot of pressure on students. We also have to test them a lot at the beginning of the year to see what they need and where they need to grow. This has taught me a lot. There were many times that I felt sorry for always handing them a test because I felt like they never caught a break. This really made me think about how I assess them in the classroom.
We talked a lot about assessment in previous education classes. We learned so many alternatives to assessing our students instead of just testing them. Learning about it is one thing, but seeing it is a whole other. It really opens your eyes and lets you realize that we can't always just test these students because they get enough of that from the state. I had learned many different strategies for assessing learning, so I wanted to take that into action. I am teaching a chapter and lesson in Charlotte's Web this week and I researched ways that I could assess them on this chapter. I found a great assignment where the students can pretend to be a character. This allows them to pretend to be a character, write a persuasive letter, and practice their writing skills. I can't wait to see how it goes!
My learning this month relates to NCTCS Standard 5: Teachers reflect on their practice. Seeing all this testing really made me stop and reflect on what I wanted for my students. I don't want to constantly feel that pressure of being tested. I want them to have fun and learn. I want them to have a wide range of experiences and things they can keep that show what they have learned. Testing is something that has to happen at the beginning, middle, and end of the year, but it doesn't have to be all I do throughout the entire school year. We learn so much from interacting with our students, talking with them, watching them, and listening to them.
In my future classroom, which is now in the near future, I want to make sure I assess my students in ways that truly show their learning and growth. I will strive to find new ways to engage my students in their learning and allow them to have a say in how they show me what they know.

Back at it again! Headed for Home!

Wow, I can’t believe it’s actually here. I student teach in January. I have already met my students that will be in my class. I’ve already been in the classroom where I will take over. It’s all beginning to feel so real. Blogging through this journey has been interesting. It has allowed me time to reflect on the week and what I experienced. It’s a time to let out my feelings, think and talk through some things that I got to see. It’s been a time for me to get to know my classmates on another level. There were weeks where I had so much going on that I dreaded blogging, but looking back, it’s been so beneficial.

The first full week of classes at Gardner-Webb is now complete and the first full week of school is complete as well. I am tired, but it’s a good tired. Going into Science Methods for the first time, I was excited. Teaching students about science is always so much fun. There is so much to do with them and it’s so hands-on. They truly learn so much more that way. I couldn’t wait to learn ways to teach them. One of my favorite things about this class so far is that we are actually having the opportunity to be the student again. We learn by doing, so why shouldn’t we take part in the same activities that we will have our students do? We began building our ecocolumns this week and it brought me back to 5th grade. I completed this same project as a student and now I am completing the project again, but with a different purpose in mind. How can I use this in MY classroom to teach MY students?

One of my struggles this week came with being in the classroom first-hand actually taking a part in the student’s learning and realizing that science and social studies are often times pushed to the side if time doesn’t permit. That’s why integration is SO important. If we see that our students needed more time on their reading chapter, or more time on their math, we have to accommodate that. That’s why it’s so important to integrate social studies and science into math and reading to know at the end of the day that my students got a well-rounded curriculum.

This next week I want to look at what resources my teacher has for teaching science. I want to see if she is given any at the beginning of the school year or if she has accumulated some over her teaching years. I hope to use some of her resources when planning. If I find some that are really helpful, I hope to share those with my colleagues so that they may use them in their classroom. Sharing is caring.

One of things that I learned outside the classroom this week is that the school where I am placed gets Scholastic Monthly Readers for the students to use. These are newspapers with articles relating to science and social studies. These are a great resource, but I wonder if they are enough. I wonder if the students are actually getting something out of them. This is something that I want to discuss with my CE and get her thoughts on it.

My learning this week relates to NCTCS Standard 3. A part of standard 3 states that Teachers recognize the interconnectedness of content areas/disciplines. Realizing that there might not be enough time in the day for science/social studies was hard for me to grasp. However, it's a reality that I'm going to have to face. It's so crucial for me to connect science and social studies to math and reading. My students need all 4 subjects and I can't eliminate one just because I don't have time.

Twitter has become a great resource for me. It’s a cool way to interact with other educators. I can go on there to find inspiration if I’m having a bad day, a resource/strategy for teaching math, language arts, science or social studies, keep up with the current events in the education world and so much more. Here are three tweets relating to science education that I found this week.

This first tweet was amazing to me. This is a robotic arm that was invented that allows scientists to work on Mars without ever leaving the lab. Crazy right?! The video attached to the tweet is awesome to watch. Technology has improved so much that we can work on other planets without even leaving earth! 

I love watching children learn and experiment. It's so fun to watch their faces when they figure something out or learn something new. This is a tweet from Discovery Education all about young scientists. This is a group of students that has worked on a science project this summer and what they did. Looking at all the student's science projects reminded me of the science project we are completing in science methods.

Another crazy invention! These sensors are built to mimic real organs and perform the same functions that they would. For example, they have created a sensor that mimics the lungs, so it transfers oxygen from the air into the bloodstream. Mind-blowing! 

Wrapping Up The Semester!

I have always enjoyed clinical experiences in the classroom. I love being able to go and see what a real classroom looks and feels like. This semester was different for me. I really felt like I had a meaningful part in student learning this semester. I was able to teach a literacy lesson to 4th graders, assist the teacher, and get to know the students. I will also be able to teach a few lessons to 2nd graders this week. It has really made me realize that I am where I need to be and I love being in the classroom! Also, I feel that I have learned so much this semester! I love all the learning experiences we have had. One of my favorite learning experiences would have to be the TTotW that we did every week. This was one thing that I didn’t think I would like, but Twitter has great resources and very inspirational quotes to motivate teachers!

For my outside learning this month, I wanted to go to Twitter, since we have finished up TTotW. The tweet that I found inspiring was from Teacher Goals. It states that standardized tests cannot measure what makes students unique and it has a picture of a bulletin board that includes 30 things that standardized tests do not measure. This goes along with what we talk about all the time. We can’t look at a student based on what their test scores say. We need to get to know our students, know their strengths, along with their weaknesses, love them, and be there for them throughout everything they go through in life. Students can be successful in so many things that a standardized test doesn’t even begin to measure.

https://twitter.com/teachergoals/status/986202713972240389

I believe that my learning and connections made relate directly to NCTCS standard 2c. Teachers treat students as individuals. This has become a really important motivation for me. I have a student in my clinicals that is severely below grade level. She has developed learned helplessness and doesn’t really try anymore. I allow her to try her morning math work on her own like all the other students. However, she doesn’t usually try. When she is finished, I will sit down with her individually and talk her through 2 of the 5 problems. It’s amazing when I hear her say, “I get it now!” This is what it’s all about. She just needs that extra little “push” to help her through the problems. If I wouldn’t have looked at her as an individual and saw her needs, she would have never gotten the help she needed. Some students didn’t need that, but I see where their strong suits and weaknesses are as well. Every student is different, just like every teacher is different.

I have learned so many wonderful things in my experiences that I will utilize in my future classroom. The saying is true when it says “you learn by doing.” This absolutely true! I want to take that saying into my future classroom as well. Students will learn so much more when they can actually do things instead of just learning about them. I will differentiate for all my students in every way that I can. I want all of my students to have those moments where they can say, “I get it now!” I am excited for my future career!

Managing My Classroom!

For my blog this month, I wanted to talk about my learning experiences that took place in my clinical placement. I am placed in a 4th grade class and that scared me at first. I never thought that I would like 4th grade. I always wanted to stay K-2, but as I’ve gotten more involved in this 4th grade class, I’ve realized that I like it and I wouldn’t mind teaching it.

I had the amazing opportunity of teaching reading for the day for my teacher who had to attend an IEP meeting and was going to be out of the room. She asked if I could teach it because there were going to be a couple teachers in and out to watch her class, but I knew the students and the book she was teaching and she didn’t want her students to get too behind. I did their reading with them that day and I loved it. I felt like I was in my own classroom and it was a great feeling.

I’ve also learned a lot about classroom management by being in this class. The teacher I am shadowing is very good at managing her class and they have a lot of respect for her because she respects them. Her students are very well behaved and know what to do. They never tried to disrespect me because I was a new authority figure in their classroom. They welcomed me with open arms and respected me like they had met me the first day of school. I have learned that if I have a student that is off task and not cooperating like they should, then it is best to let that student go off on their own and cool down. There was a student in this class that was having a bad day. He was being very disruptive and not doing anything that was asked of him. The teacher sent him in the hallway to cool down, went out to talk to him, but had him stay in the hallway to work on his work alone. The teacher handled this very well and never allowed the student to take away from the rest of the class being productive.

For my outside research, I wanted to take a deeper look into classroom management strategies, see what my clinical educator does, and research things that I can take into my classroom to manage it. Edutopia has provided a list of 11 research-based strategies for managing a classroom. They are referred to in this article as “kernels.” It states that kernels are “bite-size strategies that are validated by mountains of empirical evidence and teacher experience” ("11 Research-Based Classroom Management Strategies"). The website is linked below:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/11-research-based-classroom-management-strategies

This learning for this month relates directly to NCTCS Standard 1: Teachers Demonstrate Leadership. In order to manage our classroom, we have to be leaders in our classroom. A classroom should be full of respect. We must respect our students in order to expect respect from them in return. However, they must know that we are the teacher and we are the leader in that classroom. We must take charge and allow our students to know what is expected of them at all times. In order for our students to learn, feel safe, and enjoy school, we must manage and lead our classrooms!

I have mentioned previous times in this blog post about my future classroom. I strive to have a classroom like my clinical educator does. In order to do that, I have to educate myself on classroom management strategies and enforce those. By researching articles like the one from edutopia, I am educating myself on things that have worked for others and by watching other teachers in action, I am learning as well. Classroom management is a necessity in order for my classroom to run smoothly and for my students to feel safe, loved, and learn all that they can!

A Month Full of Learning!

It’s hard to believe we’re about to finish up week 8 of Social Studies Methods! This has been a busy semester so far, but we still have a lot to do and learn!

For my learning this month, I would say that the most impactful moment would have to be in my clinical. I am placed in a 2^nd grade class and there are 4 tiered students and a few students that are classified as EC. I knew this was a reality for a class, but I had never got to see it in action until I observed in this class for the 1^st time. It was life-changing. The teacher of that class is awesome. She knows her students all have different needs and she differentiates to ensure that they all have what they need. I watched as she would teach a whole group math lesson, while the tiered students and EC students were pulled out to work with an assistant. After the lesson was over, she put the students who observed the lesson into small math groups. When the tiered and EC students returned to the class, she had them come to her table and she worked with them one on one with their reading and math work for the week. It was amazing to me to see her giving the attention that those students needed to them, while watching the other groups and helping them if they needed it. It was great and a true picture of what differentiation is supposed to look like. Every student was learning and every student was learning on their level, at their pace. I will strive to do this in my future classroom. I admired how much that teacher cared for each of her students. It was so evident that she knew her students and she knew each of her individual needs. She mentioned to me that she had one student that used to be in a school strictly for behavior issues. This student never had the academic learning time that he should have had, so he is significantly behind his classmates. She knows that sometimes he just needs to go over and read a book because he can’t always focus on the lesson. She handles this so flawlessly and in a way that doesn’t distract from the other students learning and staying on task. I want my future classroom to have this type of environment. I want differentiation to be so smooth in my classroom that the students don’t even realize most of the time that it is happening. This relates directly to NCTCS Standard 2. This standard says that teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs. This teacher ensures that all her students are cared for and learning. Those that need to be pulled to have one-on-one learning with another teacher get that. Those that need to sit at her table to work, can do so. She takes every student’s need and does everything in her power to ensure they have what they need to learn. That’s the kind of classroom I want. I’m so glad I have the opportunity to work alongside her this semester.

I also had a huge learning experience through a Google Community discussion about how long we should pause after asking a question in our classroom. After we had that discussion, I also retweeted a tweet from Teacher Goals that talked about how in class, the student that thinks the quickest and can answer a question the fastest is the one who is rewarded. However, there are those students that must take more time to think and to think deeper and form their answer before they speak. I learned so much from this discussion and from my findings on Twitter. I think often about how I will handle situations like this in my future classroom. I want to take the time to let those students who are deeper thinkers the time to think. They need the chance to answer and show their knowledge just like the other students do. I like the idea of proposing a question to the class and then having them break up into small groups or individually think about the answer to that question and then we will come back together as a class and discuss. This gives every student the opportunity to think and the ones that don’t need that extra time to form an answer, they can take that time to think about how they will say their answer in a way that truly shows their understanding. This learning relates to NCTCS Standard 4. This standard says teachers help students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. By taking the time to let my students think about their answer and collaborate with others, they are learning to think critically instead of thinking fast and just blurting out answers. I think this would be a great way to see learning in my classroom and really see what my students’ level of understanding is.

For my outside learning and research this week, I found a YouTube video that explains the term “wait time” very well. It goes into detail what happens with the brain when wait time is not given in a classroom. If some students answer the question quickly, those students that are still thinking, stop their brains. Their thinking stops and they never form an answer to the question in their mind.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCLRrmeLk6A