The Darche Growth Effect

Over the past 6 weeks, I have been in the "Technology In Education" course presented by Kim Darche. (She is awesome!!!) Tonight will conclude this course and I must say that I am definitely going to miss it. This says a lot since going to class for 4 hours (6-10 pm) is the last thing I want to do after working all day (6:30 am - 4 pm)!

I have grown so much in such a short period of time. Not only did I learn a ton of new tech teaching tools and their applications, I became open to these tools. I see now that tech is not the enemy. There is extreme value to using technology in the classroom for everyone! I was rather skeptical of my being able to accept the idea of incorporating tech into the classroom. As I've said, I am a mother of two boys that have their face in front of a screen every chance they get...and I DO NOT LIKE IT! Like it or not though, technology is the future. So, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?

I've learned that there are so many ways to really engage today's techie students of all ages. There are great quiz apps, collaborative programs, and games that get the students excited about learning concepts that would be really boring in the traditional lecture format. When we tried some of these out in class, I was LOVING it and wanted to keep going. If that's how excited and engaged I felt, as a tired old grown up, then I can only imagine the benefit to our children!

Once I am a classroom teacher, I will have so many skills to put to great use from this class! Programs like Padlet, Google Classroom, Quizlet Live, and Screencastify will allow me to get my students engaged and excited to learn any concept that would otherwise be boring. All the while making me a more effective teacher, in terms of time spent grading creating and assignments, communicating with parents and developing lesson plans. Even leaving notes and lesson plan details for a substitute will be a breeze with the skills I have learned. God knows there is nothing more frustrating than spending so much time on leaving detailed notes and materials, just to have a sub ignore them and do their own thing!

So I say...Thank you, Kim Darche, for changing my mind about technology in (and out) of the classroom and giving me the tools to be a much better teacher than I would have been without them! 😍

How Will I Measure Up As An (Old) New Teacher?

As I am just re-starting this journey of becoming a licensed teacher, I wonder how I'll do. I've been working with children for the past 16 years,  yet it seems that actual teaching will be so different from this experience. To top it all off, I won't be a fresh out of college young teacher with all the energy that comes with it... Instead, I will be a 36 year old student teacher (assuming all goes exactly as planned) with a teenager and a preschooler at home, less the new and excited energy of the young college students, when the time comes for me to enter the classroom. 

I know that I am certainly not alone, as seen in my classes here at Trinity. It is just kinda scary and I am probably just over thinking everything. I just needed to get that off my chest...Thanks for reading!

Social Media Inspiration

In the midst of all the negativity on social media, it was nice to find a small inspirational video on Facebook this week. It showed a high school teacher accepting the challenge of bench pressing 315 lbs in front of a group of students. 

Why is this inspirational? It could have been seen as her showing off (which there were plenty of negative comments saying such things, or accusing her of staging the whole thing). Well, here is my reasoning...She took the time to do something that her students wanted to see her do. There were a million other things she could have been doing, not to mention the million things she probably already did that day. It was uplifting to see her take the time to indulge her students and to see so many of them there, eager to watch. That shows that she is a teacher that has developed some strong relationships with her students. Little things like this show students that they matter as people, not just successful students. I hope to be able to do the same when I join the ranks.