6 Weeks In

This week I have really begun to get into the routine of going to Washington twice a week and working with the students and teachers there. Only two weeks in and I have already learned so much about classroom management, new types of curriculum and technology, as well as what it really means to be a teacher to twenty+ young students. This week in class we have been talking about learning experiences and it has been interesting to learn about this because I don't feel like I did this in my classrooms in elementary school. But I know that in my future classroom, learning experiences will be a great way to help my students learn. It also helps me as teacher connect to standard 4 where teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students.

Outside of class, I tutor a young boy once each week. He is not in Cleveland County Schools, but his teacher is using some of the same programs that schools here are using. One of these is called Zearn. I watched my first graders at Washington use this math program to practice their addition and subtraction and it was a really quick way to assess the students, and the students seemed to enjoy it. On Zearn, there are different grade levels that you can pick depending on where your students are. Then, there are different activities that connect to math standards for students to work on. One activity is called Sprint and students have to answer as many questions as possible in a minute's time. This is a super easy way of assessment and the students really like to make it into a competition to see who can get the highest number of correct answers. I really liked this technology tool because it is a way to incorporate technology into the classroom everyday and it really fits in with NCPTS standard 4, under the section that teachers use a variety of methods to assess what each student has learned. I believe that students shouldn't be taking tests as their only forms of assessment and Zearn is a great way to make assessment fun. I know that Cleveland County Schools and Rutherford County Schools use this program so in the future, if I teach in either one of these schools, I will most likely be using this program so it is important for me to get familiar with it now.