Recap: EDEL 335

Well since my last final, for EDEL 335 is tomorrow, I would much rather talk about it than study for it. Totally works in my mind, doesn't it? EDEL 335 is the curriculum and pedagogy focusing on social studies, and let me tell ya, it was an adventurous up and down, down and up roller-coaster ride for a majority of the students. We were the only class this term where our professor came from the west coast teaching us too for his first experience at the University.

The main textbook is called The Anthology of Social Studies: Issues and Strategies for Elementary Teachers where I felt reading it throughout the term has not only shaped my instruction about social studies, but honestly for all elementary subjects. The chapters are short, it is very relevant for teachers today and provides a great amount of insight for educators. I'm pretty sure I won't sell this textbook because I actually found it as one of the best teaching resources for a pre-service teacher! Some of its chapters include proper assessment, unit/lesson planning and correct evaluation of incorporating resources in a social studies classroom.

Since my final is tomorrow and I am not terribly worried about it, I'll briefly outline the summative components of this course. The two main assignments included an evaluation of teaching resources (10 in total) and a unit plan consisting of 8 to 10 lessons. Both of these major assignments were due about a week apart at the later half of the term, closer to the end of November. All of us were put to the test handling how were we able to even survive this, just because I felt that a little more time for both would have been appreciated. Looking back, it was fine to say the least, though with 4 (or in my case 3) other classes, late November/early December was one of the craziest times regarding assignments this term! After tomorrow, it will all be done. 

We learned a lot in this class actually, our professor is very passionate about social studies and it was evident in his lectures. There are two favorite things I liked about this class:

The first is how our professor incorporated cooperative learning strategies into his instruction. Similar to Kagan Learning Strategies (which by the way I have bought the full book and am planning to read!), able to see it being put into practice. Examples included using Four Corners, Hand-Up Stand-Up Pair-Up and Placemat Activity that were used in class. This helps me to see if these strategies will work in the future for my students or not. 

The second thing which I admired was my peers. Not until November is when I started to "branch out" and talk to different people about things not just relating social. Whether it was seeing then at the library, or at the cafeteria or just in the hallways, every time I initiated a conversation they would too and who would've known an hour has already passed! This one of the few classes where I know the vast majority of my classmate's names and able to recognize their faces. The last day of classes a majority of us when to the on-campus pub to relax and had a good time before finals hit. It was nice to see everyone outside of class and proves how pre-service AND service teachers are the friendliest. 

Did You Guess My 5?

Before I reflect back on the 5 subjects I taught during my practicum, I went to first off say two things:

1. It's M A Y, how is this possible!? I feel that 2015 is just soaring on by and can't believe it's already May. I hope it'll be beautiful weather until October and as I'm honestly tired of seeing rain/snow/snow/rain/snow/rain/snow. You know what I mean.

2. I finished wrapping up my volunteering with an elementary school that I started back in October! I had this week completely off until I start FT work next week. Soo this past Monday, Wednesday and this morning I was at that school individually reading with the students. Specifically, with the higher grades! Despite the lengthy drive, I love going there because the kids are wonderful, the staff are great to be around the my coordinator is an amazing mentor to learn from!

My very last kid I read with this morning, absolutely loves Minecraft. It's his (healthy) addiction! And so, I was hoping that we would minimize the conversation of Minecraft and more towards the books we were reading. With about 7 minutes left in his time slot, he didn't want to read another book. Instead, I asked him "could you draw on the board what your favorite part was from the book?" This is what he drew:

The book we read was about 2 mice -- a city mouse and a country mouse becoming friends and enjoying each other's company. I'm sure this picture depicted that exact message. ;)

Starting the weekend I'll blog about each subject I taught and will describe my favorite thing about it! Oh, get out your list -- let's see who's right!

In alphabetical order, I taught health, language arts, physical education (gym), religion, science. Were you right!? Doubt it..

EDPY 303 Recap

Woop woop, this is my last class that for the year that I'll be doing a recap for. I wasn't going to recap for EDPY 303 (Assessment class) until I got my letter grade received. We all wrote the final exam on March 12 and didn't get our grades till today (March 31). That's 19 days later! For me, totally not cool. Did you know that professors have 5 days from the point students write their class final, to give their later grades back? That's typically the guideline, but how often does that happen? Usually 50%. Assessment was clearly an exception! 

I don't even remember this class fully, it's been almost a month since I sat in its lectures! The final for this class was also the latest one for me, so I wrote the final, took time to work and relax, then BAM practicum hits. The final was decent and fair, just like any other final and I walked away with an ehh grade. #kindadisappointed

EDPY 303 was pretty straight forward, where we learned about different assessment practices to exercise when student teaching or teaching. I remember there was a lot of proper test creations, such as selected-response, constructed-response, matching, etc. My favorite section in this course would be the how of assessments and learning its pros and cons. Should I use checklists? Rating scales? Holistic or analytic rubrics? These questions are what I'm asking myself during my IFX currently! 

Am I right or AM I RIGHT?

I sat beside my good friend all assessment classes, who I met last term and we partnered for both of the assessment assignments. She's an example of someone who I want as a teacher across my classroom! She's that amazing. And so am I.