Resources to Start Off Your Week 21

     I found two GREAT Resources to Start Off Your Week that can add so much to our student's classroom experiences. Both of these websites have so many possibilities in our classrooms and can be used for Social Studies, English, History, Geography, World Issues, Math, etc! As always, I will be adding these to the lists under my Fav Websites page.

1 ) Women in World History
- Created by The Center for History & New Media (CHNM), this website houses
   a collection of primary documents, support materials and lesson plans centered
   around women and women's issues throughout world history.
- The CHNM has a strong focus on comparing women in different societies, the
   contact different societies have had with one another and how global issues such
   as technology have impacted women.
- Well this is obviously perfect for a history classroom this website could also provide
   valuable insight if you are studying a novel such as Lives of Girls and Women by
   Alice Munroe.
- http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules.php

2) Google World Wonders Project
- This Google endeavour is currently a virtual encyclopedia of 132 historic sites
   from five different continents. Not only do users have imagery from Google
   Streetview and Google Earth but they also have information from UNESCO
   World Heritage, pictures and videos!
- World Wonders has a specific tab for Education where teachers can download
   resource packages that have some pretty interesting project ideas that could
   work with math, English, social studies or science curriculums.
- Google will continually be adding more sites to the list which I think is good
   because I was disappointed that entire continents were left out and they didn't
   have the pyramids of Egypt.
- http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/worldwonders/

Happy Monday everyone!

Substituting in "T-Division" 3

     On Friday I was able to have another substitute teaching day in "T-Division"! I have already had some experience with the division as I was able to substitute teach in an English classroom and in a Grade 2/3 classroom in their French Immersion school a few weeks ago. This time, however, I was in a K-12 school only about 15 minutes from our house. I was so excited because this is a school that I might be applying for a job in next spring! (I have actually even applied to do one of my student teaching placements in this school for next year but I am still waiting to hear back about that.) The teacher I was in for is responsible for some Phys-Ed classes as well as some French classes.


I wasn't able to take pictures during the class,
this image is from Creative Commons.

 The teacher had left a straight-forward lesson plan for the day's activities that included different variations of fast-pitch outside on the school's baseball diamonds. Unfortunately it had poured the night before and it was still overcast and misty outside all day too! Here is where some of my on-the-spot thinking had to come in. Now for those who know me know that I am far from athletic. I was one of those students that didn't want to participate in gym class and when I did I was pretty clumsy! A few years ago I probably wouldn't have even been willing to substitute teach in a gym class. My fiance, however, is quite different from me and grew up his whole life being an award-winning hockey, football and baseball player. (He even had some offers for football and hockey after high school but chose to go to university instead). He is now in the Education Faculty with me after majoring in Phys-Ed. Thanks to him, and all of the low organized games he has taught me, I was able to pull out 5 different versions of dodge-ball that I modified for the Grade 2, 3 and 6 classes that I had throughout the day! The students were so excited because it was variations that they had not played before and they loved it! I was really pleased with how well everything went and the students were amazing.
*I left a note for the teacher letting her know that we had to change the plan because of the weather and let her know exactly what we did during the class.

I only had one French class during the day with a Grade 7 class and it was interesting. For a long time now I have regretted not continuing with French classes through school. Although different divisions do things differently, our school division had the option of having a French Immersion School or a regular English school. I was enrolled in regular programming but still had mandatory French classes from Grade 4 to Grade 7. After this you had the option of continuing in French until Grade 12 if you chose but it was an elective, not mandatory. I, unfortunately, chose not to continue. Since leaving high school I have regretted not learning French and over the last little while I have been thinking more and more about taking classes to learn it. I've been looking into the AIM Language Learning program even more since I was introduced to it during student teaching. Back to our class... The Grade 7 class was more or less self-managed as I was not able to deliver a lesson in French (which the teacher knew when I was booked). The students were working on an assignment that required them to survey ten of their classmates, in French, about their hobbies and their collections if they had one. Using this information they then completed a worksheet that had them compile their results and compare them to others. I found that many of the students did not have an interest in French which broke my heart because I know that some of them will regret it later on like I have. I am wondering how to make learning another language desirable?

     All-in-all it was a really great experience! After classes were done for the day I was even able to meet the Social Studies teacher and introduce myself in case I do get to student teacher there in the future or if he needs a substitute teacher one day!

   

Leibster Award

     I've won my very first blog award, yay!! I'm sending out a BIG thanks to Ms. Julie aka Southern Teacher for awarding me the Leibster blog award. If you don't know my story yet, I started this blog after being inspired by the professor of my ICT in Education class this past fall. I was hoping to use a blog as a place to reflect on education and teaching in general (my university education classes, student teaching, substitute teaching, etc) as well as a place to connect with other teachers using WBT.

     The award is given out to new blogs with less than 200 followers to highlight our efforts in the blogging world.

To keep the love going, here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2. Thank the giver and link back to them.

3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

     I know that everyone always says this but I had a really difficult time picking my top 5 blogs. One, because of a lot of the blogs I follow have quite a large following already which kicks them out of the running for this blog award and, two, because I follow SO MANY! I think they are all wonderful but here is the ones that stand out for me :)

1 ) My Whole Brain Teaching Blog
- The only other Whole Brain Teaching blog I have found from a Canadian teacher!
- Liann has provided me with so much support both on the WBT forum as well as
  through her blog.
- She is also part of my list of Whole Brain Teaching resources under my Fav
  Websites page.

2 ) Miss Read Gets Schooled
- Miss Read and I have been "blog friends" right since I started blogging!
- She just finished up her degree this past month and I loved hearing all her
  adventures as she went through her student teaching placements and now
  as she looks for a teaching job.

3 ) My Whole Brain Blog
- Carole is one of the WBT interns for 2012/2013 and has a great blog started up!
- Her blog posts are incredibly detailed, insightful and always have great pictures
  showcasing her WBT classroom! Its a great stop if you really want to learn more
  about WBT.

4 ) For the Love of Teaching
- I was referred to a great PLN that lead to me finding Diane's blog shortly after that.
- Diane blogs about education and her use of the BrainSMART program which shares
  some similar ideas about learning as WBT. Since we found each other she has been
  so supportive of my blogging and learning more about education!

5 ) Prairie Inspiration
- Mary is one of my favourite connected educators from Manitoba!
- We share a lot of ideas through Twitter as we are both going through the education
  program in the same province, although at different universities. She has been a
  great support to me and shares all of her classroom ideas on her blog.

New Additions!

Asides from my updated Fav Websites page, I haven't really changed anything to the blog since I started it this January. In fact, that last time I changed anything was on January 15th when I got a new blog button!

Well enough of that! I've now added the "Search This Blog" gadget and to help navigate my posts I've gone through all 70+ of my posts and added labels. Both of these are located to the right of my posts under "My Button" and "Blog Archive" respectively. Hopefully these changes will be helpful to everyone reading who may be looking for a specific post/topic.

Whole Brain Teaching Wednesday! FREE WBT Conferences

     So last week I shared with you some of my favourite WBT blogs and, again, a BIG thank you is going out to all those teachers out there that are willing to share their ideas and experiences with all of us! With your help, last weeks post is now my most read blog post ever, yahoo!

     As we start June I know that some of us have already started our summer breaks while some of us are still counting down the days! Either or, it is the perfect time to learn more about Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) before you start up your new classrooms in the fall. Now that you have a network of teachers using WBT methods in their classrooms you are probably ready to learn even more and what better way then attending a FREE WBT conference! Thats right, FREE, what do you have to lose?

The 5th Annual WBT K-12 National Conference
- June 14 - 16
- Pineville, Lousiana
- 7 presenters
- Topics include classroom management, lesson design and delivery, reading,
   math and grade specific breakout sessions!

WBT Reading Presentation
- June 19
- York, Pennsylvania
- Presenter: Chris Biffle
- Topics include Biffytoons, all of the SuperSpeed WBT reading programs and
   The Crazy Professor Reading Game.
* Part of Penn State York's Summer Reading Conference

WBT Reading & Math
- June 26 (reading) - 27 (math)
- Jackson, Missouri
- Presenter: Chris Biffle
- Topics include Biffytoons, all of the SuperSpeed WBT reading programs, The
  Crazy Professor Reading Game, Smoothy Bumper Planet and all of the
  SuperSpeed WBT math programs.

WBT Midwest K-12 Conference
- July 11 - 12
- North Canton, Ohio
- 3 presenters
- Topics include classroom management, lesson design and delivery, reading,
   math and grade specific breakout sessions!

WBT K-12 Conference
- July 17 - 18
- Union, Missouri
- Presenters: Chris Biffle, Chris Rekstad, & Angela Macias
- Topics include classroom management and lesson design and delivery.

WBT Conference
- August 13
- Bakersfield, California
- Presenter: Chris Biffle
- Topics include WBT for challenging students.

     To learn more about these conferences and find registration information check out the WBT Calendar on their website. Unfortunately, as you probably noticed, there are no conferences in Canada (yet) but I hope that some of my American followers will attend one for me since the closest one to me is over 1,200 miles away!

     With a strong network of WBT teachers and a conference or two under your belt you'll be more than prepared to start off the next school year with a bang!

Resources to Start Off Your Week 20: Science

     Without meaning too, I have seemingly bookmarked more science resources this week than normal. My solution? A themed Resources To Start Off Your Week post!! Here are four great science resources you can add to your collection.  As always, I will be adding these to my Fav Websites page.

1 ) The History of Vaccines
- This comprehensive website, organized by The College of
   Physicians of Philadelphia is the place to go if for information
   on vaccines. This website includes timelines, interactive games
   and activities, articles with comprehension guides and a gallery
   of images.
- This website can be an amazing addition to a science classroom
   if you are teaching about different body systems or the chemistry
   behind the vaccines. It could also be interesting in a social studies
   classroom if you are learning about different epidemics in history
   or in a world issues class discussing how medical resources affect
   different societies.
- What I liked was the game "Illsville" where students can control a
   city, watch how illness affects society, determine the importance
   of vaccines, determine how to allocate resources and help protect
   the population.
- http://www.historyofvaccines.org/

2 ) Cell Craft
- This interactive game allows students to learn about cells as they
   are playing a game! It is a little difficult to get the hang of at the
   start but once you get into it the game offers A LOT of information.
- This game would be perfect for review or after a preliminary lesson
   has been taught because students do require some background information
   on the structure of cells before they can begin the game.
- The vocabulary is quite advanced so I would suggest it for a high
   school class as opposed to early years.
- http://www.cellcraftgame.com/Home.html

3 ) NASA PlanetQuest
- Teaching about our solar system?? How about the planets outside
  our solar system?! NASA's new website shares it's search for other
  planets through interactive games, images, videos and articles.
- Students can learn about the math and science behind the discovery of
  planets, the history of our knowledge about space and life outside of
  earth. Some of the fun interactives includes creating your own planet,
  searching space in 3D images and discovering organisms that have been
  found on other planets!
- http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/

4 ) BioLogica
- This is not just a website about biology, it is an interactive lab that
   your students can work through! As students begin they are asked to
   answer questions including their reasoning behind their answers. This online
   lab can suggest additional resources to further learning and creates online
   profiles of student progress for teachers to monitor!
- This could be a great resource for a flipped classroom.
- http://biologica.concord.org/index.html

Happy Monday everyone!!

Substitute Teaching in "M-Division"

     Now that I have started my summer job(s) full time I unfortunately do not have as much availability to substitute teach as I did previously. Thankfully my employer was willing to be flexible with my hours so that I could have every Friday off in order to substitute teach in either "T-Division" or "M-Division", which are both within driving distance of our home! Now some people may find it weird that I am choosing to take one day off work just to go to another job but it was really important to me to substitute teach and get to know people in the division because this time next year I will be applying for jobs here! I can only hope that substitute teaching is allowing me those networking opportunities that may help me get a job down the road (fingers crossed).

     So this past Friday I was able to substitute teach a Grade 7 class in "M-Division". What a great experience! All I can say is that attitude is everything and positive staff can make such an amazing difference. Now just to be clear, I have never actually had a bad experience in any of the schools I have been in, but some have had a much more positive work environment than others. Do you know what I mean? The schools where all the staff are friends, they are working collaboratively and everyone has common goals for the students. Well the school I was at on Friday had exactly this! From right when I pulled up to the school I was greeted by another teacher who welcomed me and showed to where the office was. I had the opportunity to meet the Principal, Vice-Principal and office staff immediately and was then given a tour of the entire school by the E.A (Educational Assistant) that would be in my classroom through the day. As our classroom's E.A and I made our way to our classroom I was then greeted by the teachers across the hall from me who also welcomed me and told me all about the Grade 7 classes. To top it all off, the Principal even stopped in during the first period to ensure that I had found everything and that it was all going well. What a great feeling!

     Attitude is EVERYTHING when it comes to teaching (and most jobs) and a positive work environment does not stop at the teachers themselves, it all transfers down to the students we are teaching. Our students can tell when their teacher(s) are happy at their job and teacher collaboration provides so many great learning opportunities for our students!

     Do the teachers in your school work collaboratively? How has it influenced your teaching?