Osmo is the new innovative interactive game system for the iPads. I have never heard of Osmo until my 21st teacher, Mrs. Weathers, introduce it to my classmates and I. If I say so myself, "Osmo is fantastic!" I fell in love with it. Osmo is not only a great educational tool to use at home, but it is also great to use in the classrooms. The students would absolutely love it!!! Osmo comes with a reflective mirror for the iPad camera;white board stand; two sets of game pieces (2 complete alphabet tile sets and 7 wood tangram shapes) and instructions for downloading 4 free apps from the Apple Store. Also there are so many games and activities that you can download from your iPad for FREE. Yes, I mentioned FREE (something that we all love.....RIGHT?
It is fun and interesting to see how the Osmo interacts with the world!
My favorite part of Osmo is the drawing. I'll be honest with you, drawing is not one of my talents like it is my sisters. She is an expert at drawing! I always need a little help. So, for the people who's not an expert at drawing (like myself), Osmo can help you with drawing the "perfect picture." Once you are finished with your picture, it allows you to share it with others.
We all had the privilege to play with Osmo. My friend, Katelyn Sparks, was very shocked about her picture. I was so tickled!
I enjoy Dr. Thornburg effective teaching class. She is the sweetest! I only attend her class once a week, but I wish it was twice a week because I learn so much from her. She's interesting, fun, funny, and caring. I wish that she taught some of my classes in the future. One of the last topics that we discussed in her classroom was sponge activities (brain breaks). Everyone in the class had to come up with a sponge activity and share it with the class. Before I share my sponge activity with you, (some of you may call them brain breaks) let me tell you what it is. A sponge activity is something that teachers give students to work on as they are entering the classroom or to keep the students busy while the teacher takes care of necessary business. Now, I'll share my sponge activity! :)
The teacher will have popsicle sticks placed in
a container of each student name in the classroom. The teacher or leader of the
day will pass the container around to each student and let them pull out a
popsicle stick from the container. Each student should have someone else’s
name. Once all students have received a popsicle stick with one of their
friends name on it, each student will have to share something nice about that
student with the rest of the class. This is a great way to build confidence in the classroom. Dr. Thornburg also added that it is a great activity to do on the first day of school so the students can get to know one another.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
I am so thankful to be in Mrs. Weathers 21st Century class. I learn so much in her classroom that I know that I will take into consideration when I get my own classroom. Today, we talked about using iPads in the classroom and how it is great for an autistic children and typical children. It is great for them to create sentences or even using a series of images. One of the benefits that we talked about in class was a child can enjoy independent learning and leisure time.
We also talked about the app Social Stories being used in the classroom. According to Mrs. Weathers, social stories describes a situation, skill, or concept in terms of relevant social cues, perspectives, and common responses in a specifically defined style and format. The goal of Social Story is to share accurate social information in a patient and reassuring manner that is easily understood by its audience.
When should teachers use Social Stories?
- When a student is on the autism spectrum or has ADD/ADHD
- When a student fails to complete work, homework, expectations, etc.
-When a student lacks social skills
Here are a more apps to use in the classroom to make stories:
Little Bird Tales
Kid in Story
My Story
This is actually one of my favorite articles so far. It is about having STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) in your classroom. As stated in the article, by giving our kids the tools they need to succeed in STEM, we are giving them a huge leg up as they enter the job market. I think that stood out to me the most in the article because getting students prepared early is very important and will help them in the future. Meanwhile, I like how Dr. Green helped us boil down the four essential tasks that teachers can do in order to lead their students to STEM education, which is change your lens, enlist a villiage of STEM educators, integrate STEM across he curriculum, and give kids more than just access to technology.
Technology is a great tool. However, I do believe that it is very important how teachers use it in their classrooms. Some teachers give their students iPads, iPod touch, or a computer just to keep them quiet while they work with small groups or respond back to emails all day, which is very unacceptable to me. I think technology is the best tool that is out there in the classroom that help students learn and share their knowledge with their teacher and classmates. As previous stated in the article, technology should not just allow us to do things in a more engaging way; it should allow us to do new things that we thought were not possible. This is an amazing article that all future teachers and current teachers should read.
I had never heard of Prezi in my entire life until my sweet and loving teacher, Mrs.Weathers, introduced it to my classmates and I. I absolutely love it! I am so excited to know that there is something else out there when putting together presentations. I have been using Microsoft PowerPoint for YEARS, so I was more than excited to do my "All About Me" presentation in Prezi for the very first time. Oh, yeah! Did I mention it was user friendly? Yep, that's it...USER FRIENDLY!!! I promise you'll want to check it out once you see mines!!! :)
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Today was such a awesome day in Introduction to Childhood Education. We talked about the roles of a teacher, which every teacher has many roles. Today, a few of my classmates and I were not only teachers, but we were a coach, mentor, counselor, and friend. We are all fully prepared to take the necessary steps to make each student dream become their reality. As for me personally, in my future classroom, I would like to have a wall full of positive affirmations. I believe it is important to vision, speak, and see ourselves the way we want our now and futures to be. There can be a lot of negative influences around us each and every day. I would like for my class to always feel like my room gives them encouragement and hope. An example of a positive affirmation is, I AM STRONG. I would like my students to know they are strong and can make it regardless of any obstacles that come their way.
