The Finish Line

I cannot believe that I survived this semester! I loved all of the extra learning that happened in the classes that were required to take with internship, however, I will be excited when I start internship 2. I am one step closer to having my own classroom! I really enjoyed keeping a blog and felt like it was a fun and creative way to have students write without the pressure of writing to fit a certain standard. I look forward to doing creative writing with my students or assigning any type of leisure writing. The more that students write the better that they will get. The only obstacles that I encountered was coming up with interesting things to write in my free posts. I didn't feel like anything I had anything super exciting to share but I was able to figure it out every week. I think that I did pretty good maintaining this blog and my responses. It wasn't until the last post that I forgot to respond to one other person than my peer. As far as the other posts go, I remembered to complete them and my responses on time before every due date. I felt like my feedback for others was mostly just checking the box. I enjoyed reading their posts but had a hard time coming up with feedback that did not sound fake. I think this would be an interesting tool to use in an 11th or 12th grade classroom. I think it would be hard to do for younger grades because there is already so much that teachers have to do to develop student writing. However, in an AP class or other advanced classes, I feel like the students would be able to handle this on top of the other homework and it could be used as a way to teach them skills outside of the normal standardized writing assignments. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed keeping this blog and reading my peer's posts.

Professional Text

I really enjoyed reading Teaching Arguments by Jennifer Fletcher. Although it could be used primarily for 11th and 12th grade students because of the in depth standards that happen during that time, I plan on using it in earlier grades. Fletcher had many good strategies to use and she gave many student examples to help the reader understand. She wants students to inquire into other peoples arguments and not always immediately shut them down. We need to teach students to write to discover, not write to win. I thought this was an interesting concept because so often we do not teach students why they need to learn how to argue. Argument writing is something that can be used for any college major, any career, or anyone that has an opinion. Fletcher pushes us to create writers who are open minded but also know how to construct a well rounded argument. She does an in depth explanation of how ethos, logos, and pathos can be taught for student writing. Overall, this book was a good pick for me because it was an easy read and had a lot of different resources throughout the text to help my create my own ideas for my classroom one day.

Tech Creation

One thing I am constantly asked by my roommates or friends is how to become a good writer. For my tech creation, I made an info graphic for some of the steps that I follow when starting a paper. This normally helps me get organized and stay organized throughout the paper.

Missing: Adequate Amounts of Sleep

Slowly starting to feel drained from this semester. Balancing classes, my internship, a job, all while still trying to have a social life is starting to get the best of me. I find myself waiting until the last minute to do assignments (kind of like tonight) and not even trying to learn from them. My Monday-Thursday consists of me leaving at 7:45 am and not getting home until 9 pm every night and my body is really starting to feel it. I spend my whole day Saturday and Sunday trying to catch up on sleep because those are my only days off from school and my work schedule is less. If anyone has some suggestions as to how I can regain energy to finish the second half of this semester, let me know! Coffee is my best friend right now but I'm looking for healthier alternatives. Anyway, sorry to complain! Just hoping that I'm not alone.

Tech Exploration

1. I would consider myself a digital resident when thinking about my everyday life. I can, for the most part, learn how to use any program and am competent in many. I use technology on a daily basis and am usually the person who has to help my supervising teacher when there is a glitch. However, the words in the wordle are foreign to me which makes me feel like a digital visitor. I am not familiar with all of them other than the word "vlog."
2. Kahoot is definitely something that I will use in my classroom depending on the rules for technology. I think it is the perfect balance of classwork and competition. Also, there is a way that the shy students do not have to put their real names up. This would help them feel less stressed when answering questions but could also boost their confidence because they are seeing that they got the answer right. I think using technology in the classroom is so important and letting the students get on their phones could have a major impact on them. They are more likely to get involved by doing this than doing a worksheet. It is a fun way to introduce new concepts or even review for a test.
3. Digital writing is important because our students will be digital natives. They will have grown up during a time where typing and using programs on a computer or phone is the norm for them. It will help prepare them for state tests that are now online by having them practice their typing skills in a way that they do not realize that they are practicing. However, there are still some students who will not have access to this type of digital writing at home which would make it difficult to have this type of assignment. I especially like Prezi because it is just a modern version of powerpoint and allows the students to get creative with their work. Also, the meme website would be a cool tool to use today because students love making memes and it would allow them to make old assignments new and fun again.
4. I am amazed that there are that many tools that can be used in the classroom when I normally only think about the first 15. I am not surprised that the most popular are at the top because I assume, like me, many people do not realize what is out there to take advantage of. I am also surprised that turnitin is so far down the list because I even had to use turnitin in high school so I figured it would be in the top 20. I love that Youtube is number one because I do not think teachers realize the amount of videos that can be used in the classroom. I also would like my students to eventually create a youtube video that could potentially help my other teachers. I plan on going back to that list when creating lesson plans to see what other cool tools I can use.
5. When teachers integrate technology they need to think about what their ultimate goal is. It is so easy to use technology that we are familiar with but is it really achieving what we want? Also, it is important for teachers to recognize that the same technology or program can be used for different levels of Bloom's. Youtube can be used for basic recall or comprehension but could also be used to create or evaluate. As teachers, we need to take advantage of the different resources that are offered and use them to their fullest potential, even if that requires more preparation on the teacher.
6. I would love to try padlet in my classroom because I think that would make the students who like to hide, still participate in the classroom discussion. It would also allow them to put out multiple different points of view without feeling discouraged when a classmate says something else. Up to this point, I have not used much technology in my classroom because I am not able to create a lesson. However, I fully expect to take advantage of technology whenever I have my own classroom because I think it is a great think for the teacher and the students.

Perks of Being the Big Sis

One of the greatest things about my life is the fact that I have 3 annoying, polar opposite, but amazing little sisters. I have 2 older brothers too but I am still getting over the torment they left me, therefore, they do not get their own post, ha! Anyway, my sisters are Bri (20), Kasey (16), and Abby (9), and yes, I have a blended family or this would be crazy. 

Being a big sister comes with a lot of responsibility. Either way you will be an example, you just hope that it is what TO do rather than what NOT to do. I am the first one that they call when they have a question that they don't want to ask our parents about and the first one they tell when something great happens. Even though I loved being an only child for like 2 days (that's what it feels like) I wouldn't trade them for anything. 

Bri is probably the one who wants to be nothing like me. However, that doesn't mean we are on bad terms because I probably hear from her 4 times a week. I just mean she wants to be different. It is probably because we are so close in age. She is a hard worker and is also the loudest burper I know. It honestly sounds like a grown man burp which is surprising because she's only 4'9. 

Kasey is the most sarcastic person you will ever meet in your life and it is probably because she is my dad's twin. She is also the funniest person to be around. She has such a big personality when you get to know her but it just takes a while for her to open up to you. She is a sophomore in high school and I keep trying to persuade her to come live with me when she graduates and go to UCF. I'll keep you posted on that.

Abby... Oh Abby. She is hilarious. She is on my mom's side so I am her only sibling and she thinks that she is 21 too. She loves getting dolled up and she is probably my biggest fan and vice versa. She will take my moms phone and Facetime me when she gets in trouble or when she has problems with her friends. I love that girl. She can be so funny and so sweet at the same time. 

Being a big sister is awesome. It's the littlest things that make you proud that they're your family and that you are the one they look up to during tough situations. I love my babies. 

Goodwill Junkie

Over the past few months, I have noticed that my passion has turned into buying as many books from Goodwill (within my "fun" budget) as possible. I just recently bought a new bookcase, but due to Walmart's inability to make each shelf equally spaced, I need more room for larger books. However, my main reason for even starting to go to Goodwill was because I wanted to find all of the Harry Potter books. Now of course, like any reasonable human being, I have already read the Harry Potter books multiple times... Unfortunately, so did my 5 siblings which left them in shambles. A lot of you may be saying, "Allison, just go buy the books from a bookstore and save yourself the time." But you do not understand the fulfillment I will get when I find them. At this point, it is just a challenge with myself. I will let you in on a little secret though... I failed miserably 3 months ago.

So, 3 months ago, I was in Goodwill searching for YA novels that I needed for my summer class (I found 4 by the way). While I was there, I found the last Harry Potter book in hardback but for some CRAZY reason that to this day I cannot figure out, I did not buy it. Well, when I went home, I immediately realized the mistake I had made so told my said that I would return the following day, so I did. Can you take a guess what happened the next day? If you guessed that it wasn't there anymore, then you are right! Within 12 hours that book was GONE to some lucky owner who saw its worth sooner than I did. Now I am left with the haunting memory of my mistake.

Now to be less dramatic, I am still looking for the Harry Potter books, other than the 4th one (which is my favorite). I have moved on to just buying a book every time I go to fill the empty void that Harry Potter has left me. Next time you go to Goodwill, keep a lookout for the Harry Potter books for me. I will pay you double the price... so like 4 dollars.