Moving on to the next chapter!

"The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth." --Dan Rather


I never thought this moment would come as fast as it did. Sitting in class the first day, I imagined the end of this class being, what would feel like, years away. This semester flew by and I have learned so much about teaching, learning and myself in such a short time. In the beginning this class was one of the most stressful and complicated classes. Although I felt that way all semester, it is hard to admit that this class has helped me grow so much and I learned more than I thought was possible in a quick, short semester. I feel that I have never done as much work for another class as I did for this class. Everyday was a new challenge, but it only helped me to become a better learner, educator and future teacher! This is one class that has definitely prepared me for my future as a teacher.

Coming into this class, I knew it was focused heavily on technology. I thought I knew enough about technology and technological resources to use in the classroom. But, I was very, very wrong! I learned about so many new resources that I will definitely be using in the future.

The thought of having to create three lessons and teach them to a class in front of my classmates was one of the scariest thoughts. After doing it and succeeding, I felt so much more confident in front of the classroom and behind the scenes preparing lessons. Throughout this class I learned a lot about effectively working together and communication. A huge portion of this class was working with others and succeeding as a team. Although it was very difficult at times, it has shown me the importance of collaboration and team work.

I can take with me all the new skills, philosophies, knowledge and experience I learned in this class and use it in my future. I have prepared a lot of activities that I can see my future students loving! In the end, for the most part, the knowledge and wisdom I have gained was worth the stress!

Here are the links to my fellow classmates blog posts that I have commented on: 

Kelly Raich's blog

Mallory Menneci's blog

Keilani Wilhelm's blog

Melissa Kelly's blog

Emily Meehan's blog

Mock Interview

Time for an interview!

Today in class we had a mock interview. My four classmates, Mallory, Emily, Erin and Melissa took on the role of a principal/administrators and prepared thought provoking questions for us to answer.
We did not know what questions they were going to ask us. At the end, the administrators all came together and they chose who they would hire for their school. One person from each group got hired. 

This was certainly a nerve-wracking experience at first. We had to think on our toes and come up with well thought out, educated and relevant answer to the question. This was excellent practice for a real interview that most of us will be going on in the very near future. We had to reflect and think about everything that we learned all semester in order to come up with professional and accurate answers. One of the questions that really stood out to me was asked by Mallory. She asked "How would you manage a classroom during a cooperative lesson to ensure that there is valuable learning going on and not just chaos in the classroom?" This question stood out to me because it incorporated so many principles and values we learned in class. It goes to show that everything we learn overlaps. In order to answer this question you need to know about proper classroom management, cooperative lesson requirements as well as valuable learning. A question like this is one that we can all definitely except to get at a real job interview. 

Overall, this was a wonderful learning experience that really kept me on my toes. I got the chance to share my experience and opinions about different topics that we explored all semester in class. My classmates and I took this very serious and it really provided us all with a great learning experience.