Last and Final Blog Post!
This is my last blog post for this course and I have to say that I'm a little sad about it. I really enjoyed reflecting about the assignments we had to do, while also describing what I'm doing while I'm a substitute teacher. I truly love being a substitute teacher here at the school, but eventually I will want to have my own class and own students instead of traveling to everyone else's class. I will get to the modules we did this week but I really want to discuss what I do at the high school and middle school. The high school guidance counselor is going on maternity leave in November and so the middle school guidance counselor is moving up to the high school for four days and then back to the middle school one day a week. That's where I come in, I am not a certified guidance counselor and do not have my licenses so I cant really discuss too much with students, but I'm here for students who may be falling behind a little and need help getting organized or getting caught up on their work. At first many students didn't know who I was and I was just the mean lady who was there to nag them about their missing work, but now some students are comfortable with me and are more willing to come down to the office to let me help them with their missing work. All of these students are incredibly bright and really know what they're doing, they just need a little guidance and help to get. I am working with one student who had several missing assignments and I didn't think he would want my help but when I asked him If he would work with me to get his assignments he was fully willing and comes to see me every study hall to try to get all caught up. He is now all organized with his papers and I am on him everyday to make sure he gets his work done instead of messing around in class.
I love the students here because they just want to learn and get their work done, some need a little guidance and support, but knowing they want to get things done make a huge difference. I have not yet tried any of the cites with the students I've been working with but I do try to make it more fun for example if we are doing math, I let them use the white board instead of doing it on paper, which they really enjoy because it's more fun for them and they can correct their mistakes right on the board. I also try to find what makes thing stick with them so they know how to answer a problem. My one student told me that he likes to read things out loud because it sticks better that way, and he also like examples for things he doesn't understand so I try to come up with examples that relate to football because that's one thing he enjoys, so relating it to things he likes will hopefully help him learn or remember things. Since I've been at the school for almost the whole year its nice that finally students are starting to recognize me and know that they can come to me for help. I really enjoy helping students and love seeing them do their work because most students know how to do their work, it just takes them being away from their friends and other distractions for them to get things done. They see me as a friend and someone to talk to, but they also know I'm an older than them and know I will get on them if they miss their work or they're not turning things in.
Now to the modules we have done since the last post. I was stumped on the interactive PowerPoint for two weeks! I had no idea what I was doing or even how to do it. Even some of the videos I was watching just weren't helpful and I didn't think I would ever get this module done. I was really struggling with a topic, I asked my students, I asked teachers, I asked other adults and just nothing was popping up in my head that would be a good idea. I am disappointed in my interactive project. I decided to do a Powerpoint on the holidays, which was very simple but I know I didn't put as much effort and time in it as I should have. I was a substitute last Friday and all the students did was watch a national geographic the whole time so I did the whole thing all day but I just couldn't get creative with it. If I had to do it again, I would do something that current and exciting like the upcoming election and what both sides stand for and what everyone is saying about it. I wanted to do this idea, I just couldn't come up with a way to make it interactive. But the module I did not enjoy one bit was the the movie that was due on Monday. I found My Movie to be incredibly complicated and I couldn't even figure out how to change the font color on the movie so I had to go with white. I thought the example about 9/11 was so good and interesting and I wanted to do something like that but I was having so much trouble with the app that I just stuck with something simple like natural disasters. This is one app I cant see myself using in the future but it was nice to try it once to see what it was all about and what it could be used for.
I am excited to start the portfolio to put all of the work that we have done together and just look back at some of the fun work I have done. From this course, I have learned some cites that I will use in the future, and I have found some that I will not use but it was still fun and excited to try all of them to see what works for me and hopefully what will work for the students.
