Word Cloud Fun

Throughout this semester, I found myself using word clouds often. A word cloud is a picture that holds words about a topic. The above is a word cloud about word clouds. It has many words that all pertain to word clouds. WE used this for the introduction of our lesson on "The Colonies Become Free." We asked the students if they knew any of the words. It was a quick pre-assessment. Below is the word cloud we made for our lesson.  

We also used word clouds in our current event presentation. Using wordle, tagul or tagxedo, our peers created word clouds based on the 5 W's in regards to their articles. Our peers' word clouds are below. 

Jigsaw Method

We experienced the jigsaw learning method today in class. This is where there are groups of students, and then each student is assigned to a topic. The students then break into sub groups based on topics. These groups become expert groups on their topics. It is a fun and different approach to group work. 

This video is very helpful, and informative. The video shows history, the structure, and tips for teachers. The video goes on to say "increases student engagement, encourages collaboration, and results in better learning. " I enjoyed this learning environment, and feel it would work well in my classroom. I believe students would enjoy being an expert and teaching their peers. 

Economic 101!

We created a class economics 101 presentation. We each took a topic, and then researched it and created a presentation on it. It was an exciting way. Even though some did the same topics, no two presentations looked the same. I thought that was interesting and how creative each of us are. My topic was Macroeconomics vs Microeconomics. This is a challenging topic for young students but I found was to make it not so challenging. Because I enjoyed creating the glogster in the past, I made another for this presentation. This is link to my glogster, and there is a picture at the bottom of this blog post. I enjoyed presenting in out groups on our topics. It also helped build our technology toolbox, because many different sites were used. Here is the link to our class presentations. 

What's in the Bag?

In class today we did an activity called "Artifact Bag." This activity was extremely engaging, and interesting to all our students.  For my artifact bag I did the event, "Independence Day." I really enjoyed having students use the inquiry process to guess whats in the bag. I also enjoyed completing this process with my peers and their own bags. I loved some of the different props my colleagues put in their bag. This is a very fun and engaging activity for all students. Here is the link to my artifact bag presentation. The artifact bag was introduced to us via Dr. Smirnova, when she shared important life events with us in artifact bags.

My event was "Independence Day," so on the outside of my bag, there was a picture of fireworks. Inside the bag there were three items, a barbecue, a parade, and an Uncle Sam picture. All of these would help students use the inquiry process and guess the event. 

I loved all the artifact bags in my groups. They were enjoyable, and you could see that my peer's took a lot of time to put their bags together. My favorite was Sam's. She had tangible items, and I think from here the student's would be hands on, minds on, and would be able to perfectly execute the inquiry process, and accomplish the goal. 

Native American Tribes

Using the jigsaw method, we researched Native American Tribes. My expert group was assigned the Diné Tribe. The Diné Tribe is more commonly known as the Navajo Indians. The word Diné comes from the word people so the tribe is the peoples tribe. For our presentation, we took the technology challenge and used glogster. We all really enjoyed collaborating on the glogster, and I love the way it came out. Here is the link to the glogster, I will also post it on the bottom of this blog post. I enjoyed learning about the other tribes when we went back to our base groups to present. 

I also enjoyed  the scavenger hunt Dr. Smirnova had us complete at the end. The scavenger hunt really showed how much of experts we had all become because there were questions regarding all of our topics, and we all know the answers to our topic's questions. It was a great collaboration experience. 

Pre-Test and Post-Test

We conducted both a pre-test and a post-test in our fieldwork experience. I have learned so much about the importance of both assessments. The pre-test is used to assess what the students already know about the topic we are teaching. From the results of that pre-test, the teacher can then revise her lesson plan to cater to the needs of all her students. The teacher then teaches the objectives set out for her throughout the unit plan. After the unit plan, the teacher administers a post-test. The post test is a guide to see how well the students retained and learned the information. It is also a guide for the teacher. The teacher can reflect on her teaching and see what he/she may need to change in the future. 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.

I enjoyed this video on pre-tests and post-tests. It shows that after completing the pre-tests, students can set goal for themselves. The goals can push the students to better themselves throughout the lesson, and ace the post-test.

P.I.G.S.

Since we had learned the jigsaw method, we implemented it to learn about the 5 P.I.G.S. We had base groups, and were each assigned a letter of P.I.G.S. We then went to our expert groups based on our letter. My letter was S. After learning about the P.I.G.S, from the other expert groups, the p stands for positive interdependence, the i stands for individual accountability, the g stands for group processing, and the s stands for social interaction and face to face. I enjoyed watching the presentations on all these because everyone had really become experts. 

I have included the links below to each of the presentations. I feel this is something that can help us as teachers later on in life. 

Positive Interdependence

Individual Accountability

Group Processing 

Social Skils