Spring semester always seems to be a tough one. Last Spring semester it seemed as though we could not catch a break from snow, this year hasn't been too bad! Today, we were supposed to go to a fieldwork session at Bishop Dunn Memorial School. Unfortunately, the snow had cancelled their school day. Dr. Smirnova informed us we would be having a "virtual classroom." I was not too sure about what that meant, but after experiencing this type of setting, I loved it! It was run by Dr. Smirnova via a video chat and the rest of the class was incorporated via their own video chats. I really enjoyed it. Dr. Smirnova would ask a question, and then the class would respond via chat response or voice response. The site looked like this picture below.
This was a great experience for us to go through. In this day and age, technology is key to a classroom. Although I don't think we could use this setting with elementary school students, peers colleagues, or parents could use this service. It is another type of technology tool I have learned from Dr. Smirnova's class. Below are some screen shots from the virtual classroom day!
Finally! After a couple snow days, endless hours of work, and lots of anxious nerves, it is my fieldwork group's, group 3, turn to teach our lessons to the second grade! Our lesson is "The Colonies Become Free" which includes, the American Revolution, and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This is a very exciting topic, and I am eager to get into the classroom and begin our lesson.
For our direct lesson, we taught about important people in this period of history, we also taught about unfair taxes, the American Revolution, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, along with many other topics. The students were engaged throughout the lesson, and during the checks for understanding, the class was in agreement. They also enjoyed holding up their American flag response cards.
To introduce the topic, we created a word cloud with thirty two words pertaining to our lesson. This word cloud had words that ranged from people, places, things, and events. The students did well with this, and knew a lot of the words we put into the word cloud. The rest of the direct lesson was a powerpoint, with checks for understand throughout, and then activities and independent practice at the end.
We transitioned with a song. This was a great way to get the students involved and ready for the lesson. I sang that song once, and then asked the students to repeat with me. The kids loved it, and I think our peers enjoyed it too! This is a technology aspect we have to take advantage of! There are songs for everything. This one was only 20 seconds long, and the kids took a lot away from it. I may have been embarrassed to sing it at first but seeing the kids enjoy it as they did, it was fun!
Both our inquiry lesson and cooperative lessons went well. We were a bit pressed for time on the cooperative but after hearing from our peers, we learned ways of bettering our time management. This was the first course at the Mount that I was able to teach to a whole class. I really enjoyed it, and I wish other courses would have this aspect, because after all, this is what we will be doing.
Today we started our fieldwork experience at Bishop Dunn Memorial School. I really like this school, and have a lot of experience here because I have volunteered at the after school program since freshman year. I had never worked with Ms. Pozzulo, so I was excited to go in her classroom, and experience her class. The students were all very engaged, and interested in us and our materials. I think both they, and us are excited for the next few weeks! This first day was an introduction to the room and the students. Each fieldwork group brought a book, and went around to the different groups of students. We introduced ourselves and then said one thing we enjoy doing. The students did the same. This was a great way to break the ice, and make the kids feel a bit more comfortable with us before we all went in to teach our lessons! Each group also brought a book that went along with the topic they would be teaching in their lesson. It was a quick pre-assessment to see what the students, if anything, knew about the topic. Our topic, "The Colonies Become Free" was an interesting topic. The students seemed to know the concept, but did not know completely understand certain facts about the colonies or American Independence. I enjoyed the article, Pretests; Importance and Uses of Pretests, on the benefits of creating and administering pretests. Pretests can be extremely beneficial for not only the teacher, but also the student. After this first introductory day, I am very excited to begin this fieldwork experience!
Today we started our fieldwork experience at Bishop Dunn Memorial School. I really like this school, and have a lot of experience here because I have volunteered at the after school program since freshman year. I had never worked with Ms. Pozzulo, so I was excited to go in her classroom, and experience her class. The students were all very engaged, and interested in us and our materials. I think both they, and us are excited for the next few weeks! This first day was an introduction to the room and the students. Each fieldwork group brought a book, and went around to the different groups of students. We introduced ourselves and then said one thing we enjoy doing. The students did the same. This was a great way to break the ice, and make the kids feel a bit more comfortable with us before we all went in to teach our lessons! Each group also brought a book that went along with the topic they would be teaching in their lesson. It was a quick pre-assessment to see what the students, if anything, knew about the topic. Our topic, "The Colonies Become Free" was an interesting topic. The students seemed to know the concept, but did not know completely understand certain facts about the colonies or American Independence. I enjoyed the article, Pretests; Importance and Uses of Pretests, on the benefits of creating and administering pretests. Pretests can be extremely beneficial for not only the teacher, but also the student. After this first introductory day, I am very excited to begin this fieldwork experience! 
