Response to Kristen W. (D Posting)

Thanks for the comment Kristen! I think sharing the games and e-books with my godmother's girls is a great idea. They love anything that keeps them interested. Since these games and e-books are very interactive and creative, I know they will love it! It's hard, though, because they live in New Jersey (where I'm originally from) and I really don't get to see them that often. However, I will definately save all my games and creative projects for them because when I do see them, it'll be a great way for me to show them how hard I've been working to become a teacher. It'll show them that if you work hard, you can acheive anything...and I want them to be motivated and ambitious, just like me! Thanks for your thoughts!

PS - Do you have anyone that you can share your projects and games with?

Digital Mosaic Listening Game (B Posting)

Technology is becoming more and more important in teaching and learning. It is improving the everyday classroom and allowing students to expand their abilities beyond the classroom. In one of the most recent projects in class, we had to create a listening game. The listening game was based on a story from our life. Prior to creating the game, a storyboard needed to be written and included nine pictures for each of the nine sections to the story. In developing the actual game, a table of nine squares was made. The nine different pictures were placed randomly throughout the squares and audio was added to each picture reflecting the storyline. The game was almost like a puzzle where the listener had to put the pieces of the story together by listening to the different audios of the pictures. It was a rather interesting and fun project.

At first, I found this project to be a little overwhelming. I am not very good with technology as it is, so listening to my professor tell me we have to resize images and add audio files and do this and that, it was a lot to handle. However, I found myself getting by easier than I thought I would. I learned quite a bit from this project. I never knew that something as creative as this could be created in a Word document. I always used Word for papers and that's pretty much it. I also learned how to resize images and how to add audio files into Word (another feature that never struck my attention). The biggest challenges of this project was probably resizing the images. I had a difficult time at first and thought about giving up on trying, but I rarely give up on things and I'm glad I didn't. I finally figured out what I was doing and made it through. In the end, I found this project to have helped me learn that I can really achieve something if I put my mind to it. It may not seem like a difficult project if you are a technology genuis, but I'm not. Overcoming the challenge of resizing images and putting this project together has helped me to learn that I enjoy challenges every now and then because nothing in the world is ever easy. I think projects like these are fantastic for teaching. They can be used in multiple ways and can really help students to learn. It has helped me learn, so I'm sure it would do a great deal for others as well. I intend to keep this project in mind for the future.

First grade classroom experience (E Posting)

One of my mom's closest friends is a first grade teacher. About a year ago, I went to school with her one day. I thought it would be a great idea for me to experience her teaching a first grade class and give me some more insight to what teaching is all about. She started the day off with the kids and before I knew it, she handed them over to me. I gathered them together over at story time and chose a book about fruit to read to them. They loved story time. The pictures in the book were captivating and they laughed and laughed their heads off. Afterwards, I passed out paper plates and crayons and markers. I had them draw their favorite fruit on the paper plate. Once their fruits were drawn, each of them had a chance to share their picture with the class and explain why they chose that specific fruit. They were so excited to share and enjoyed it very much. Although I couldn't incorporate technology into the lesson, they still had lots of fun. However, there was no use of technology at all in her first grade classroom. She teaches the traditional way. I learned a lot from watching her teach and teaching her kids myself, but in the future I do hope to use technology to improve my classroom. It was a great teaching experience and I plan on going back to her first grade class again.

Student Teaching (E Posting)

Here's another personal experience I want to share...I was a student teacher and have had the chance to experience what it is like to work with children. I absolutely love it! Although my student teaching took place at a dance studio and not a school classroom, it still deepened my inspiration. I taught three to four classes a week at Jo-ann's Dance Studio in New Jersey for four years. The ages ranged from six to thirteen. It was such an awesome way to become involved with children. When they needed help, I'd provide it. When they weren't understanding a step or two, I'd spend extra time reviewing it with them. When they performed perfectly, I'd praise them. When they would misbehave, I'd discipline them so they would learn to cooperate with the teacher and know that when I am talking or trying to teach a step, no one else should be talking. I always looked forward to going to class and teaching those girls. Student teaching was a fun and exciting experience and I miss it terribly. It gave me a great insight to what working with children would be like.

A Classroom Observation (E Posting)

In my previous semesters at FGCU, I've had to observe many different classrooms. It was a requirement for a few classes, such as Intro to Education and Teaching in Diverse Populations. I completed thirty observation hours and throughout those hours, I remember one particular middle school class that used a bit of technology. It was Power Point and many of us are familiar with it. The teacher informed me that the students were taking pictures of anything that dealt with nature around the school grounds. I saw some of them and they were great. The project was to capture the pictures and make a slide show using Power Point. They added sounds and decorated their projects up really nice. The teacher had let me know that she wanted the students to become familiar with Power Point because it is a very useful tool. Many of the classes I observed simply stuck with the old traditional ways of teaching. This class caught my eye because it was incorporating and taking advantage of the technology that is available. I thought this was a great way to start involving students with technology. It was simple, easy and the students seemed to have enjoyed putting their slides together.

My girls

I thought I might share these pictures. These two girls are one of my inspirations to wanting to become a teacher. They are my godmother's daughters and hold a very special place in my heart. The left picture is Kristen and the right one is Amanda. They are the sweetest, brightest, most outgoing children I know. I've known them since I was an adolescent and have watched them grow into beautiful young girls. My love for children grew when these girls came into my life. I realized that I want children to be an everyday part of my life and that is why I want to teach.

Welcome!!

Hey everyone! First and foremost, welcome to my blog. My name is Marisa. I am currently a student at Florida Gulf Coast University. Here is a bit of information for you to get to know me. I was born and raised in New Jersey and moved to Florida about two years ago. I'm 100 percent Italain and in the process of becoming an elementary second-grade teacher. I absolutely love children. They are the stars of tomorrow! I'm very excited and anxious to start my career as a teacher. Thanks to my Intro to Computers in Education class, I am being introduced to various technological tools that will definately help me in my teaching career. This will give me a chance to see how I can incorporate technology into my classroom and to ensure that my students are not only learning, but enjoying the ride along the way. This is all very new to me because I'm not very familiar with this type of blogging. However, I'm hoping that this will help me to learn because I will definately be using more and more technology in the future. I hope you enjoy reading my blog, as I will enjoy reading yours. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!!