Mission: Organization

After finding out that I had secured my first teaching job in June, I was very excited to see my classroom for the first time! After spending two years working in other people's rooms, I was excited to put my own touch on the classroom. The first time I saw my room, I was a little overwhelmed! My classroom was left with tons of resources and supplies, but they were so disorganized. I like my things to be orderly and I hate wasting time looking for things, so I knew I had a big job ahead of me. I needed a system, and so my mission to find organization began.

It took me about two weeks to get everything how I wanted it. I was lucky that I had an extremely organized mother to help me out for a few days. She did all of the little jobs that take so much time to do by yourself, like sorting supplies, moving books, cleaning shelves, and throwing old stuff out. We threw out four bags of garbage and recycled at least six buckets of recyclable paper. I also moved my desk to the back of the room so I wouldn't be tempted to sit at it during class time. I wanted to have my own space that wouldn't get in the way of my instruction. I took down most of the posters so that the room wasn't so busy for kids that have trouble concentrating. I am so happy with how things turned out, and now I feel prepared to take on the new school year! Hopefully my hard work all adds up to a better learning experience for the kids. Check out my before and after pictures.

Good luck to all the new teachers out there! I know things are really going to get crazy starting tomorrow, so I hope you all had time to organize like I did!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Teacher's desk BEFORE

My desk AFTER

NEW station for supplies

Book shelf and table for handing in assignments AFTER

My new chapter

I am very excited to have secured a full time teaching job for the 2012/2013 school year! My placement is in a small town about a half hour from where we live. Half of my day will be spent co-teaching, and the other half is a permanent position. The classes are mostly split, so I have on average 14 or 15 students per class. I will be teaching 6/7 ELA, 6/7 Social Studies, 6/7 Health, 6/7 computers, 8/9 Social Studies, and 8/9 Computers. I will also be co-teaching in 4/5 ELA and Math and 8/9 Science. I am very excited to begin my new journey as a teacher!

I have visited the school a few times since I accepted the job, and I have a TON of work to do already! I am going to do my best this summer to prepare for my classes so that I don't burn out in the first month. I know that as a first year teacher, I will face many challenges so I want to be as prepared as possible. To top it all off, I am dealing with new curriculums since I have moved to a new province!

I cannot wait to start de-cluttering my classroom. I am lucky that I have my own room even though I will be co-teaching in someone else's room for half of the day. There are lots of old books, guides, projects, novels, anthologies, etc. to be thrown out and sorted through. I am also going to have to work hard to collect new resources for my students so that they can get excited about reading and learning! I cannot wait for September, although I am trying my best to enjoy the summer as well. I have excellent support groups at my new school, including an amazing resource teacher and some experienced staff who have offered to support me in any way that they can. As I was told today, everyone has to start somewhere, and the first year is all about surviving, so use every resource available to make your life easier! And so... my blog will now become about my experiences as a first year teacher. Enjoy!

 Let the journey begin...

And the student becomes the teacher...

Wow! The last eight weeks really flew by! I don't think I actually realized I was finished student teaching until this morning when I woke up and didn't need to be at the school. My last student teaching placement was the best one yet. I loved taking on more responsibility and testing out some of the lesson plan theories we developed in our final year of university. I learned so much, and somewhere along the way I began to feel like a real teacher. I gained so much confidence, and I can't wait to get my first job! Now I know that I can do this! I am currently applying for jobs. It has become a waiting game! I think I will spend the next month or two organizing my resources and doing lots of reading, something that I haven't had time to do while in school. I am also hoping to do some subbing for EA's. Because I have recently moved to Saskatchewan, I am not able to substitute for teachers until I have received my teacher's certificate.

I am looking forward to this next chapter in my life, and I can't wait to start my career! I have my fingers crossed for a job. In the meantime, I will keep updating my blog with resources and ideas that I am finding. I just can't seem to sit still now that I am inspired and read to take on my first job! Congrats to all of the other student teachers who have finished their placements! See you all at grad :)

A New Kind of Gym Class

I will admit, I was a little nervous when I found out that my final student teaching placement would include a grade 11 gym class! When I attended class on the first day, I wasn't sure what to expect. What I found out was that there are only four girls in a class of thirteen, and somewhere along the line, someone made them HATE gym class. They didn't want to run in front of the boys, they didn't pull their hair back, and there were frequent screams when a ball happened to come their way. I haven't totally reformed them, but I found a way to work with them instead of against them, and this is what we came up with! I hope that my experience will be helpful to other teachers who run into the same problem...

Tuesdays and Thursdays, the class had been going to the gym to lift weights and run on the treadmills. The first day that i went to the gym with them, the girls maybe spent ten minutes actually active during a one hour period. At first, I found this hard to understand, because I have always been an athletic girl, and I would have loved the opportunity to go the gym during school. Instead of getting frustrated, I started to talk to the girls and look at the situation from their point of view. They didn't like having to compete against the boys, and they did not enjoy participating in the rough physical activity. The solution that i came up with along with my co-operating teacher was to split the class up. We were able to do this because we are both in the classroom (because I am student teaching). So, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, i take the girls into a classroom and we play a dancing game on the WII. We close the door, we turn the lights off, and we dance! AND THEY LOVE IT! Now, they are active for at least 50 minutes in a one hour block. We are laughing, dancing, singing, and inviting other teacher's to participate with us. For those that haven't tried a dance game on the wii, you definitely should, because it is a great workout. Just today, the teacher that joined us for a few songs said that this is the way gym class should be! I know for myself, I am in a better mood all day after having danced in the morning.

I am pretty proud of my girls for taking a chance and trying something different with me. It was an unconventional idea, but it works and the students are active and engaged for the entire class. Thinking outside of the box is a good thing! Happy Dancing

Personal Growth Outside of the Classroom

I was lucky enough to participate in the Manitoba Provincials this past weekend with my hockey team the Souris Blue Ice. We finished the weekend with a 2-1 victory in the finals!!! I hadn't played hockey that competitive since high school. I had an absolutely amazing experience with some great women. It was a 4.5 hour drive for me, so I left right after school on Friday and did not get home until late Sunday night.

On my drive home, I got to thinking about a colleagues blog that I follow. One of her recent topics was about bringing outside experiences into the classroom (thanks Kat!). I will not lie, I had to do some major prep ahead of time so that I could go away for an entire weekend and not pick up a book, and Monday morning was a little rough in the classroom because I was so sore and tired from my weekend of playing hockey.

However, I also would not change a thing about my weekend. As a teacher, it can be difficult to find time to do things for ourselves, but we cannot forget the importance of taking care of ourselves!!! When our minds and bodies are healthy, we are better teachers! I came back to school today sore and tired, but I also felt energized from having been part of such an amazing team. Participating in extracurricular activities is important for our students, we all know that, so why do so many of us not take the time to participate in extracurriculars ourselves?!?! We need to take the time to make ourselves healthy too.

I think my weekend away gave me some new perspective on my place in the classroom. I had forgotten how much of a role model we are for our students. Today when I came to class, I proudly showed off my metal to the kids and told them about my experience. They were so excited for me! This is particularly important for the girls in our school, because somewhere along the way, they have lost the confidence to participate in sports. I want them to think that its cool to be sweaty and wear sweat pants in the name of competition. I also think its important for our students to know that we do wear other hats besides the "teacher" hat.

I am feeling very inspired, and I know that this feeling will last me for at least a couple of weeks. Competing in an event such as provincials made me remember all of the good reasons why we all need extracurriculars. Some of my best friends throughout the years I have met on my sports teams. A person's true character is shown on the ball diamond or in a hockey rink. I truly believe that my work ethic and drive to succeed comes from my struggles and triumphs through athletics. They made me the teacher that I am today, and I have made a new commitment to myself to continue to grow through sport.

So, I challenge my fellow teachers to get out there and take some time for yourself! You never know how your experience outside of the classroom might help you to grow inside the classroom.

Suicide Prevention and Anti-Bullying Websites My Students Found:

www.youthsuicide.ca
www.suicidal.com
www.metanoia.org/suicide
www.kidshelpphone.ca
www.kidshealth.org
www.stopcyberbullying.org/teens
www.dbsalliance.org
www.sp-rc.ca
www.bullyingcanada.ca
www.cmha.ca

Student's Creations About Bullying and Suicide (made using Tagxedo.com)

Cyber-Bullying and Teen Suicide Unit

This week I began a new unit on cyber-bullying and teen suicide with my grade 9 health class at my last student teaching placement. I put together all of the resources and knowledge that I have gained over this past semester at BU to create this unit. The final assessment is going to be a Public Service Announcement raising awareness about bullying and suicide. I cannot wait to see what the students come up with!
First of all, this is an excellent class. They are great for having discussion about these issues. Most are not afraid to speak up, and those that say nothing are still engaged in our discussions. The first day of class, we discussed the differences between traditional bullying and cyber-bullying. The students did a survey on how bad they think bullying is in this school. Today I showed them the results of the survey in a bar graph. They seemed to really be shocked by the results. Bullying and cyber-bullying are issues here and everywhere. I'm glad this began our class because it makes the information relevant. I also showed a short video to begin class. Students became emotional, and it really opened them up for the rest of the class. I was lucky enough to receive some resources from a prof at BU that we used in class. First we did an agree/disagree sheet to touch on some statistics and facts related to suicide. Then, I divided students into groups and they guessed the suicide risk for each scenario. Students were visibly shaken when I told them that all of these students had committed suicide. I then shared my personal story about a friend who committed suicide. I really felt like I got to them! I'm excited that we are going to start "being the change" as a class. I want us to be leaders in this school!
Here are a list of things the students learned in today's class:
Signs to watch for when a person is considering suicide: bullying, appearance changes, being tired, excluded, grades down, quitting sports or clubs, sudden happiness, planning a suicide attempt, giving things away, loss, family or parent problems, drug and alcohol use, uncharacteristic behaviour, stop caring, acting out, break-ups, divorce
How to help yourself and others: focus on positives, get help, talk, include people, do fun things: sports, music, friends, eat well, build self-confidence in self and others, follow the school rules on bullying, don't bully!, give compliments, say hi to everyone, BE NICE TO PEOPLE
This is a great unit, and I hope that more teachers will start talking about this HUGE issue. I can't wait for the students to make their PSA's and for us to share them with the whole school on bully-prevention day!

My philosophy on what makes an effective teacher

This was part of an application I completed for a teaching position! The questions was asked: what do you think makes for an effective classroom teacher? What do you think of my response? I thought it might be useful to include it on my blog, which I am going to continue during student teaching.

An effective classroom teacher knows their student's ability levels, interests, strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge is very important for lesson planning and differentiating instruction. Being approachable and fair are key qualities that help to build trust and a sense of community in the classroom. An effective teacher is resourceful, having multiple methods of instructing and strategies to help students effectively retain the curriculum content. They also find ways to integrate technology into the curriculum in order to make lessons relevant and current. To be effective, a teacher needs to be professional and have good classroom management while maintaining a balance of student-centred activities and incorporating an inquiry based approach. Knowing students outside of the classroom through extracurricular activities and taking time to get to know each student is the first step in developing a positive classroom environment and being proactive in classroom discipline. First and foremost, a teacher must teach students first and content second!

Final Project!!!

I think this speaks for itself!!! Thanks to Prof. N and my colleagues for all of the help and support this term!

Kudos to Couros

I found the Skype chat with George Couros to be extremely helpful! First of all, I liked that George said he would not speak specifically about technology because it should be integrated in with everything else we are doing in the classroom. How true is that?!?! We have been extremely focused on technology this semester during this class, and we have all learned so much, but the next step is that we find ways to integrate the technology into what we are already doing in the classroom with the purpose of enhancing student learning. In other words, we should not be using technology just for technology sake, but with a purpose!
I'm not sure that I completely agreed with all of Couros' comments about Facebook. I am moving to a very small community where I don't know anyone, so I DO appreciate the fact that Couros wants us to be careful about who we add on Facebook. Just the other day, a student tried to add me but I declined. The thing I was critical about was not adding parents. I have friends in the community who have children that I will teach eventually. I would feel wrong deleting that parents once their child is in my class. I think because it is a small town, you have to be somewhat flexible in your approach, because it is important that people like you, as shallow as that sounds. I think I would come across in the wrong way if I was so rigid about my Facebook membership. I would not want people to think that I am "too good" to add them as a friend. However, I also have absolutely nothing on my Facebook that I could not show a future employer. I can see from Couros' administrative perspective that it is good advice for him to give. At least he made us think about our actions, even if we do not change our ways!
The advice George gave about preparing for interviews was invaluable. It was really great to hear from an administrative perspective what they are looking for in your interview. George put a lot of emphasis into working hard in your final placement. He recommended getting to know the kids as well as you can, and getting involved with the school as much as possible. I am for sure taking his advice to talk to the principal and get her to watch me teach a class. I had never thought of doing that before, but its true, she is the one that will likely play a big role in me getting hired next year! The one thing that resonated with me most from George's advice was his approach to discipline. The analogy about the cop giving out tickets is a great one! As a teacher, you need to deal with discipline as much as possible on your own. We should always try to deal with the child on our own unless we feel unsafe or the situation has exploded. The first step to discipline is to really know the kids. It is much more effective to have a conversation with a child about their behaviour if you actually know their typical behaviour and where they are coming from. An officer gives a ticket and walks away, but that is not something that is effective with discipline in the classroom.
This Skype interview was an excellent end to our guest speaker series. It made me look towards the future, and I am just as excited as ever to get into the classroom and do what I love every day. I am also sad that my time at BU is coming to an end. I have learned so much from my colleagues and professors! I think it is going to be a difficult last couples of days! I think bittersweet is the right word :)

Web Based Courses

I ordered four courses from the Manitoba Education website: Grade 9 Social Studies, Grade 10 Social Studies, History of Canada for grade 11, and World Issues. During high school, I took grade 12 Biology using the Blackboard system. After exploring the courses, my opinion of the web-based system has not changed. I still don't think it would be my preferred system of learning. My goal as a history teacher is to make history come alive, because a lot of students HATE history! They find it boring and monotonous. The online courses are based on reading modules and answering questions or participating in a discussion. I'm not sure that this type of system is effective for the majority of students. It does not make the material interactive and relevant. However, I could see online learning being extremely effective for those students that are very self-motivated or who have trouble with classroom interactions. I think it is very valuable to have the online courses for students who have to be away from the school setting, perhaps due to other responsibilities, sickness, motherhood, or work commitments. I could also see these courses being useful for teachers in their planning of courses. It gives a nice outline of topics to be covered, and there are a few assignments that could easily be adapted to be interactive in the classroom. I plan on exploring the courses even further, and printing out the sections/resources that I would be able to use in my own classroom!

Looking into the crystal ball...

What does the future hold for education??

This was a good assignment to do as we are wrapping up our coursework at University, and we are about to go into the field to gain valuable real life experience. Hopefully, all of our efforts over the past five years will culminate in us getting jobs! But what will our classrooms look like in two years? five years? twenty years?

I read the Horizon Report document, and I found it very insightful. The document connected a lot of the ideas we have been blogging about already. I agreed with almost everything that I read in the document. The internet has revised our role as educators. More and more, we are becoming facilitators in our classrooms, and not lecturers. Student-driven education and lesson planning is the way that education is going. Our instruction is differentiated and plays to each type of learning style. Even our assessments are designed so that each student can prove to us what they know in the form that best suits their learning style. Success is no longer determined solely by a person's intelligence or ability to memorize facts and information; we value creativity and innovation more than any other time in the past. Being successful in the workplace means being able to find and present information when it is needed and in a creative manner, not just specifically having the information in your brain.
I believe that technology has played a role in these changes. It has affected how we work, collaborate, communicate, and succeed. People can work and learn anywhere and at any time. Information is no longer found in one single location (a library) but is accessible by millions of people in millions of locations. I love that information and knowledge is becoming open to everyone. As a teacher, I believe that it is fundamental that each person should be able to educate themselves if they so desire. More and more institutions are becoming about sharing, collaborating, and open-content, something that I have come to value because of this course.  
In summary, here is what I believe the future of education will involve: being skilled in digital media as a requirement for almost any job, increased sharing of information, collaboration, personalized education, no "set" learning environment or standardized assessments of knowledge, changing technologies, constant learning and adjustment in teacher's planning to adapt to technologies, and the need for teachers to connect what students are learning outside of school to what we teach IN the school. When I look into the crystal ball that is the future, I get very excited about the way things are going! I don't think any of us will be able to say that we are bored with our jobs!

Online Videos

I love using videos in my classroom! On of my ideals as a teacher is that students should be learning things in the classroom that they can relate to every day life and their own experience. Videos appeal to visual and auditory learners. They bring the content alive. In my field of history, I find that it is particularly important to bring events of the past to life in the classroom. I hope that YouTube will not be blocked in the school I am working in, because it is one of my favourite tools for finding online videos. Here are a few examples that I would use in my classroom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_YBplucfuk&feature=fvst Martin Luther King Junior's "I Have a Dream" Speech. This would be very helpful in a study of social justice, human rights, and the movements of the sixties. Instead of reading his speech, the students actually get to hear and see him speak. He was an amazing speaker, and the atmosphere that you can see at the rally around him is fascinating. Plus, its only seventeen minutes and would be excellent to begin a class or unit to get the student's minds activated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXIe5GbLSUs&skipcontrinter=1  Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Germany. I have actually used this video in a grade 8 classroom for our Holocaust unit. I had a lot of boys in that classroom that were very into sports, so I thought another way to get my students thinking about the consequences of the Holocaust and Hitler's way of thinking was to show them how much influence he had over the people of Germany. Owens was a black track star at the olympics that year. Hitler made a speech at the opening ceremonies declaring that the games would show the superiority of the Aryan race over every other race, including black people. The video explains the propaganda of the games, and Owens triumph despite adversity. I love this story because it shows the resilience of humans. I love sports and I believe that a person's true character is shown when they are competing in athletics. The video is a great tool for bringing a human side to the Holocaust, and giving some hope to students because it is a very heavy unit!

Podcasts!

I am coming to realize that before being in this class, I was using my laptop to about 20% of its capabilities. I have never actually used iTunes before! That seems ridiculous to me now, because I have an iPod that I use on a regular basis, but I have always just gotten other people to add music to it for me! I am so glad that  Mike got us to look into podcasts as a resource for our classrooms. Once I figured out how to use the iTunes Store, I spent almost an hour looking through podcasts and educational materials. I just couldn't seem to stop! It blows my mind the amount of resources that are available to us as teachers.

I ended up settling on a few different podcasts to download in my subject area. I love Global 3000: The Globalization Project. There are fifteen episodes that you can download about globalization and world issues. It would be excellent reference material for both teachers and students on a unit about globalization, environmental issues, and social justice. I also found some professional development resources. In particular, one I think that will be very useful is Teaching with SmartBoard. It is a series of tutorials about how you can use the SmartBoard to enhance your lessons.

I also found a few podcasts that were student created! I thought that was amazing. The ones I looked into were about history because that's my passion. Students could create a podcast as a final project to complete a unit. They could make a dialogue between historical characters, or dictate a paper or essay. This could be very useful for review purposes but also for assessment AS learning.

Podcasts are another solid resource that I look forward to incorporating into my classroom!

Group Projects

I was really impressed by our presentations in class yesterday! I thought everyone did an excellent job of discussing the positive (and sometimes negative) uses of technology. I was happy that my classmates were able to extend our Skype presentation. They thought of things that none of us had. I love that type of learning. It's amazing what can happen when you get lots of heads together!
I had never considered using Facebook as a personal homepage for your classroom. I LOVED the idea of Edmodo when we first saw it, but I wanted more details and without being able to log in, I wasn't sure if this was a useful tool or not! Rachel, Josh, and Colin's presentation really made me think about the pros and cons of each type of technology. Although I'm not sure I would ever use Facebook, I was glad that I at least had the opportunity to consider it and "talk it out" with my colleagues. I am very excited about using Edmodo in my classroom, and can't wait to get a job next year so I can try it out!
I was very excited when I heard that Sylvia, Mike, and Jess were making a wiki on cyberbullying. My CT asked me to do a unit for our health class on bullying and cyberbullying. I was planning on getting the kids to make PSA's about bullying, so I will definitely use their videos as examples! I thought their site was very creative and full of useful information that I am excited to use in my unit planning!
Good work everyone, but I think the MVP Award goes to Rachel for her creativity in making the T-shirts haha!

My New Favourite App!

I have been having a lot of fun lately exploring my Mac computer's app store. I LOVE my new laptop, and I would never buy anything other than a Mac again. Plus, it only weighs about two pounds, so its light in my backpack and can come everywhere with me!
I recently downloaded SimpleMind from the app store. It was free to download on my apple, but you can also go to the website and download it that way for free. You can put it on your iPhone or iPad as well. Its an easy tool for creating mind maps and brainstorming. It is very simple and easy to use, and you can easily print out your maps to use in the classroom as a handout or for studying purposes. I used it to make my PLN, and I have also been using it as a review tool for my personal studying. I am also using it for my lesson and unit planning during student teaching! Definitely worth looking into for differentiating instruction, vocabulary, review exercises, concept maps, outlining, and visual learners.

Follow the link below to try it out:
http://www.simpleapps.eu/simplemind/ 

Learning Outside of the Classroom - Distance and Web-Based Education!

I found G &G’s presentation about distance and web based learning to be very informative. It was an area that I had not really thought of during my time at BU. I took a biology course in grade 12 that was designed by the province as a web based course. I personally did not enjoy this type of learning experience, because it was completely web based, and the only time I had contact with my teacher was if I needed help with assignments. I read everything on the computer and completed assignments at my own pace.  I am an auditory learner, so I learn by listening to others and making it relevant to my own life experience. I found that I had trouble connecting with the content, and so I rushed through the reading and assignments so that I could be done early! While I did not have a positive experience with that particular course, I do see the value in a having distance learning courses.

It is very important that we recognize that everyone learns differently. I believe that the distance option can work under the right circumstances. The student has to be highly self-motivated and have good thinking, writing, and reading skills so that they can absorb the content. They also have to be goal oriented. I can see this option being effective for students who cannot spend time in the classroom due to personal circumstances (young mothers, students who work, rural students, those returning to school, those who want to extend their education or prepare for University, or students who do not work well with others to name a few examples).  Another thing I had not thought of was that teachers have the opportunity to order these courses to supplement their own learning and to build their resources. Teachers can refresh themselves on the course content, or use the online courses to enhance their own lesson planning. I love that this is possible, and I am going to look into ordering a few courses that I think will be useful in my subject area!

It is so important for us to know about all of the resources that are available to us as teachers so that we can keep developing our courses and ourselves so that our students get the best learning experience possible! This is one more tool that we can use, and I am really glad we got the opportunity to learn more about it!

My search for an edublogger!

So... my search for an edublogger began with a tested and true method... GOOGLE! I typed in social studies edublogger. I got lots of hit, but I quickly refined my search to include only Canadian edubloggers because I felt it would be more relevant. Long story short, I stumbled upon a blog called "Thinking In Mind." It is written by a Canadian named Neil Stephenson. He is the PD and Outreach Coordinator at the Calgary Science School. His approach to learning and teaching is focused around inquiry-based inquiry, and he has been lucky to work in forward thinking schools where technology is a priority. He taught grade 6-7 Humanities and is known for his "cigar box project." Stephenson used an inquiry based, student-centred atmosphere in his classroom. To briefly describe this project, students researched cigar box pictures as artifacts of Canadian history. They found the ones that were most meaningful to them, and then they created their own cigar boxes. This is the main reason why I decided to follow this blog, because there are lots of great resources and links to follow for good ideas to teach Social Studies (my area of interest).

After I got exploring the blog, I learned more about inquiry based learning, and it really made me excited to try this approach! In my past student-teaching experiences, I have gotten good reviews from my advisors and co-operating teachers. BUT... the comment that they all leave on my reviews is that I need to work on "projecting my voice and disciplining the students." I will admit, I am not a very loud person, and I do not enjoy disciplining students, so this is an area that I know I need to grow in. At one point, I was crying in the bathroom telling myself that I couldn't be a teacher because I wasn't loud enough! After picking myself up, I set out to make myself "louder." My attempts began with singing as loud as I could to the radio on my way to school every day (I'm serious haha) and doing as much talking in front of the students as possible. Needless to say, I lasted about a day and a half before losing my voice. I got pretty upset about my inability to project, so upset that I talked to several teachers about my problem. At the end of it all, I came to the conclusion that I was just not going to be a loud person, and I would have to stick to my strengths if I was going to succeed in the classroom. My strengths are that I am a good planner, I'm creative, and I CARE about my students. I want them to like what they are doing!

So, the point of this very long story is that Stephenson's blog has renewed my belief that I can be a good teacher based on my skills and not my weaknesses. In an inquiry based classroom, students are the centre of all of the instruction. You research and plan projects based on what they enjoy and what makes them curious.  No longer does the teacher need to be at the front of the room demanding silence from the students. Instead, they can be circulating around the room facilitating collaborative learning. I am so excited to begin this journey as a teacher, and instead of working on my weaknesses, I have decided to play to my strengths! I will continue to follow Stephenson's blog, and I have also added him to twitter where I have already gotten several excellent resources from him.

Happy blogging everyone, I am learning so much about myself and my "craft" as we go along!

MY PLN

My PLN:

The 21st Century Student: