Seating Chart

One interesting thing that I did this week was help make a seating chart for the month of February, it was a real concrete way to express my knowledge of the students and their relationships with one another, and where to seat them to fill their needs. For example, there is one boy, I will call him L, who I know is a really curious boy and likes to learn things and participate in class, but he is easily distracted so I put him front and center right by the teachers desk. I also know that he has two boys he spends a lot of time with, and they often distract each other, so I put each of them on the opposite sides of the room. Since I have not been teaching a whole lot, I have had more time to spy on the students and learn about them than my CT has, so I know a whole slough of details about their lives. I also usually sit in the back of the room so I can see what they do behind their desks where they think no one can see them. They are wrong. I see everything. Making a seating chart was a good opportunity to take what I know of the students, and what I know from class and apply it to the very shape of the room. I sure hope that it turns out well.

Post for the week of 1/18 to 1/24

[THIS IS LATE]

I learned many interesting ideas this week in my classes, but there was one thing in particular that I learned that stood out. In literacy class, I learned that if you give students different sections of a reading and have them go in turns, they will not learn very much, and that there is some good research to support this thought as being true. This is because they will be rehearsing their own bit in their minds and focusing on performance rather than on comprehension. Instead, read to them or have them read silently to themselves. This is a very useful piece of knowledge, mainly since that is something that I have been doing and now I know to stop. It is sometimes difficult to stop something that seems like common sense at first, but it now seems that I should not do that anymore, so I won't. It is good to have people who have earned a high level of expertise in their field to tell me what is good to do and what is not good to do.

What I have learned today in the field

This week, my CT was sick for three days, and in the course of those three days we had four substitute teachers of varying quality. It was interesting hearing what the substitutes had to say about my class as it provided a different perspective on them. I think the best substitute was the one we had on Thursday, her name was Mrs. Nelson, and she was a very kind lady whom I could tell had been in the business of education for many a fine year. She tried some new and different things with the students that I think Ms.Winkler and I may need to try some more. The main thing is that she gave positive reinforcement for good behavior in addition to the normal gentle reminders to not talk while someone else is talking. For example, if a child was behaving well, followed directions promptly, or especially if they did anything extra kind for one of their peers, they would get a green ticket. There was no material rewards attached to the ticket, only good feelings. I didn't think it would work, but it really did. She also would tell the students that if they did not squander their time in transitions she would play hangman with them and that worked well. The most special thing about her, is that the good behavior she provoked extended beyond the classroom, that day they were really capital while in line, they walked quietly, but they seemed to beam with purpose. They got a compliment from their music teacher, which is a little out of the ordinary for them, and were visibly animated by that delight. At the end of the day I asked Mrs. Nelson for advice on management and she had some wise words. First she said that you must go down to their level and try to understand their own motivations as they are instead of trying to reason  with them using the values you would like them to already have. Secondly, she said the best thing I could do is to be kind, and to be firm, these can be difficult virtues to live by always, but it gets easier with practice. I learned quite a bit from her, as well as the other substitutes, so that was nice.

Curation: Teaching Economics in Elementary School

 A Few Resources That I Have Found

(Number 4 is particularly fun)

1.      http://econkids.rutgers.edu/top-5-books-by-concept-econmenu-155

a.       This site made by Rutgers university has a list of picture books that can be used to teach economic concepts like markets, competition, scarcity, and opportunity cost, some of the books seem pretty interesting.

2.      http://www.kidseconposters.com/literature-connection/

a.       This site has some lessons for a few of the books listed in the last link as well as some resources that can go with them.

3.      http://www.kidseconposters.com/landing-page/posters/

a.       This website has fun posters on economic concepts for sale or for copying the image into a document and printing it on the sly. For example, there is the “interest can work for you” poster with a happy girl climbing a mountain, and “interest can work against you” with a despondent boy climbing out of a hole.

4.      http://www.kidseconposters.com/activites-and-games/sing-a-longs/

a.       This site has some songs about economic consequences sung to classic tunes. For example, one of my favorites is, “consumers and producers” to the tune of the more we get together.

5.      http://econkids.rutgers.edu/images/pdf/final_draft_reading_teacher.pdf

a.       This is an interesting study done by Rutgers university on teaching economics through literacy, and how to develop this project.

6.      https://www.federalreserveeducation.org/

a.       This is the education wing of the Federal Reserve, it has lessons and publications that teachers can look at for their classroom sorted by grade.

7.      http://www.edutopia.org/stw-financial-literacy-resources-lesson-plans

a.       Edutopia has some nifty resources on teaching students about finances.

8.      http://www.councilforeconed.org/

a.       This nifty site has curriculum on it, some you need to pay for. The nicest part is that it is all aligned with common core standards.

9.      http://www.socialstudies.org/economics

a.       The national council for the social studies provides some interesting links to further resources and research.

10.  http://www.wscss.org/lesson-plans/

a.       The Washington state council for the social studies does not at this time have many resources for economics, but it does have a place for members to share resources and a category for economics that they have expressed they are trying to fill, so this may become a more useful resource.

Scratch Project

I gone made this!

Vignette

Here is my vignette. I hope it is adequate for your viewing.

Speedgeeking!

Here is my Speedgeeking! Delivered to you through the magic of the internet.