My visual essay

Reflection:

I really enjoyed doing this project.  Using iMovie is something I really like to do.  I have used iMovie in the past for different presentation and for my personal life.  From having this experience I didn't find making the movie hard.  While doing this project I realized just how much I want to be a teacher.  I got excited about the future I have ahead of me.  The only thing I had trouble with was finding pictures that fit  the essay.  To me, my video isn't personal enough.  It would be nice to have my own photos or videos that show meaning.

What I believe and why I want to be a teacher...

OER

Open Educational Resources are great! It's nice to know that when I'm a teacher there are tons of resources out there to help me.  While researching this topic I came across a great website that has tons of options for resources.  It has full courses where you can have a full course for any subject you want.  It also has interactive resources and you can connect with other teachers!  The one thing about this site that I found most interesting is you can publish your own resource.  

This is only one site I found while researching, there is an endless amount of resources available for teachers and students.  Students can use OER to have access to different text books.  I think the best thing about OER is that it is available for any subject, any type of learning, etc.  I'm overall very happy to have learned about OER.

Visual Essay

            I believe that a good teacher can make a difference in a student’s life.  My reason to pursue a career in education is simply because I want to be that teacher.   I believe education not only teaches kids to think critically but it will make them realize they can succeed at anything they set their mind to.  After realizing this they will set goals for themselves that they will ultimately set forth to reach.  Through mentoring in high school I was able to answer the question most of my peers couldn’t answer yet, what do I want to do with the rest of my life?

Every other day I went to one of my old middle school math teacher’s classroom to help his sixth grade math during my study hall.  Each day I walked into the room excited to help kids and left with something new learned.  I had done mentoring throughout my high school career but my senior year was the best experience I had.  Once, I walked into the room to an uproar of applauding and cheering and saw my picture that had been in the newspaper for volleyball, blown up on the overhead projector.  The reward of having kids look up to you is indescribable.  During that same class period, I helped the students wit the coordinate plane and left with a feeling of accomplishment.  As the bell rang, a student came up to me and thanked me for my help that day.  At that very moment I knew that I wanted to be a math teacher.  I believe that students should respect authority, that day I felt like the students truly respected me and appreciated my help.

            While mentoring I was able to help all different types of students, the advanced kids who probably could do better mental math than myself, the kids who struggled through, and finally the kids that were too embarrassed to ask for my help.  By the end of the year I was able to make a connection with every student in the classroom and I believe they truly trusted me and enjoyed me coming to class.  From this experience I believe all children have the ability to learn and prosper.  It is not only up to my students to learn but as a teacher I am a life long learner that will learn something new everyday with my students.

volleyball photo that was on the over head projector

coordinate plane

Top 10

10. HyperPhysics
-Although I'm not big on physics, someone who is would like this tool.

9. Wicked
-Good for science students.

8. Wordle
-Good resource for teachers.

7. Classroom Jeapordy
-It doesn't matter how old you are, jeopardy can be a great review tool.

6. Super Teacher Tools
-Lots of good ideas for teachers to use.

5. Animoto
-Good tool

4. Virtual Book
-Very creative, I can see children liking this.

3. Wikispaces
-I think having a place to share children's work with their parents is a great idea.

2. Smartboard
-I want to be a math teacher as well and a smart board is a great way to integrate technology.

1. Pintrest
-I thought it was really creative to use pintrest.  I wouldn't have thought of this as a tool.

"Cool Tool For School"

 Ask Dr. Math    

This is a forum to ask Dr. Math any math question and search for answers.  It can be used for elementary math all the way to beyond college math.  You can search for examples on any topic to find the answer yourself or you can submit a question to Dr. Math and it will e-mail you back with help. But, if you can't wait for an answer there is an online tutor! There is a formula link that describes selected formulas and how to use them.  When you pick a topic that gives you trouble it shows you the frequently asked questions and a link that explains the question with an example.


This would be a great tool for students in a math class.  When running into a question on homework at home they can simple look it up and try to find the answer.  It was well known that students don't learn when you just give them the answer, if they find i themselves they will remember it.  Not only could it help with homework but it can be used for studying purposes.  If a student doesn't completely understand a topic in class they can ask on here and get a different explanation that might work better for that student.


For teachers, you can ask questions on how to teach math.  Dr. Math has a teacher2teacher service.  This forum has an unlimited about of information that can be used in the classroom for both students and teachers. 

it isn't BIG to make others feel small

One out of ever 4 kids will be bullied sometime throughout their adolescence.  I know that bullying is a common  issue among schools but that doesn't make it any less important.  As I prepare to be a teacher I think it is important to understand issues occurring in schools now because it is possible most issues will still be continuing when I have my own classroom.  Recent bullying statistics show that bullying is on the rise among young adults, teens and children.  Bullying isn't going to just go away on its own.  With technology advancing, so is bullying.  Cyber bullying is just as bad if not worse that bullying in school.  Students don't have a place to get away from it and it has the ability to cause serious implications if not fixed.  Bullying can have serious effects on children.  For example, students who are bullied are more likely to be depressed, lonely, and anxious.  They also tend to have low self esteem, feel unwell, think about suicide, and have more migraine headaches.  That is a lot for a student to carry all by themselves.  A teenager should not have those types of problems.  Let me ask you this, school is a place to learn correct? If students have all these problems going through their mind how does that effect their learning ability? their work ethic? 

It may seem like bullying isn't real, especially if you aren't the person being bullied.  I came from a small school where bullying barley happened and when it did, students stood up for each other.  When you get to larger schools more bullying is seen and less is being done about it. Bullying is going to happen, the only solution there is, is to stop it! If you see it, tell someone! say something! don't just let it go 


160,000 students stay home on any given day because they're afraid of being bullied.
43% fear harassment in the bathroom at school.
282,000 are physically attacked in secondary school each month
1 out of 3 students surveyed said they hear another student threaten to kill someone
Do you want more statistics? or even statistics on cyber bullying? click here!

All it takes is one person to stand up and do what's right!

There are ways to help stop bullying, one way is to learn about it

BULLYING IS WHACK! GET ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Twitter

Before this class I already has a twitter. My twitter. However, I haven't had it long.  I was against twitter until my friend made one for me.  I don't love twitter but I'm getting used to it.  For education purposes I still don't see a point for a teacher student relationship.  I do see how it can be helpful for a teacher to see other educators blogs and get ideas.  To me, it isn't necessary to have students get info from a teachers twitter.  There are other ways.  But, I almost contradict myself when I say that as a student in the education program I would like to see tweets from other math teachers.