WEEK 8 REVIEW - RIBBIT RIBBIT THIS TEACHER'S GOT THE TICKET!
Well, the first thing that sucked me into Mrs. Samuelson's online teaching blog is the BRIGHT COLORFUL decorating banners she has and the cute little drawing she has that represents herself! (You know you're going to be a teacher when you get so easily excited about and sucked into something because it looks cute and fun and energetic and brightly colored!)
I really respond to things that are presented as fun and creative and brightly colored, and that's just what Mrs. Samuelson's website is! I imagine her classroom at her school is equally - if not more - inspired and zesty! I know as a student, I would have felt very cozy and at home in a classroom that had lots of thought put into it!
One thing that I think is super cool about Mrs. Samuelson's blog is that she has updated blog posts. The last blog post that was written is from October 11th - that's just yesterday! That shows me that Mrs. Samuelson is always working on cranking something new out, which assures me the information she is providing her blog viewers with is relevant, up-to-date, and innovative for today's cultural climate! : )
A particularly innovative post on her blog that got me excited about teaching Math to my students is her October 11th post about a Math Twitter Challenge that her students have been participating in and loving. So basically, students make as many equations as they can think of that make a total of 24, using multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division skills. HOW FUN! So once they've come up with all the different combinations they can come up with, students send their page to their teacher through uploading it to a certain app or page or something of those sorts, and Mrs. Samuelson checks it and uploads it to their class' Twitter page, Swamp Frog Kids. Then - this part is really cool to me! - each of the students' parents can sign up for notifications when their student uploads something to the page, so they themselves can keep up with their student's work from home. What a cool way to use technology as a connector between the home and the classroom! I really love that and think that's so fun! Mrs. Samuelson says on her blog that her students get really excited about the time of day that they do this activity because her students love the competition piece, as well as the creative challenge it poses to them. If we had done that type of Math when I was in elementary school, I sure would have been more excited about it! It sounds like a way to get students to be engaged in practicing their equations because they are practicing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills - and the combination of those skills, i.e. adding this amount so you can then multiply this amount to get 24 - as well as encouraging self-efficacy. Imagine how excited students would feel if they came up with an equation that works that no one else had! Talk about building up confidence in students! Here's a video of one of her students explaining how they came up with a fourth equation for the 24 total challenge on twitter!
Well, the first thing that sucked me into Mrs. Samuelson's online teaching blog is the BRIGHT COLORFUL decorating banners she has and the cute little drawing she has that represents herself! (You know you're going to be a teacher when you get so easily excited about and sucked into something because it looks cute and fun and energetic and brightly colored!)
I really respond to things that are presented as fun and creative and brightly colored, and that's just what Mrs. Samuelson's website is! I imagine her classroom at her school is equally - if not more - inspired and zesty! I know as a student, I would have felt very cozy and at home in a classroom that had lots of thought put into it!
One thing that I think is super cool about Mrs. Samuelson's blog is that she has updated blog posts. The last blog post that was written is from October 11th - that's just yesterday! That shows me that Mrs. Samuelson is always working on cranking something new out, which assures me the information she is providing her blog viewers with is relevant, up-to-date, and innovative for today's cultural climate! : )
A particularly innovative post on her blog that got me excited about teaching Math to my students is her October 11th post about a Math Twitter Challenge that her students have been participating in and loving. So basically, students make as many equations as they can think of that make a total of 24, using multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division skills. HOW FUN! So once they've come up with all the different combinations they can come up with, students send their page to their teacher through uploading it to a certain app or page or something of those sorts, and Mrs. Samuelson checks it and uploads it to their class' Twitter page, Swamp Frog Kids. Then - this part is really cool to me! - each of the students' parents can sign up for notifications when their student uploads something to the page, so they themselves can keep up with their student's work from home. What a cool way to use technology as a connector between the home and the classroom! I really love that and think that's so fun! Mrs. Samuelson says on her blog that her students get really excited about the time of day that they do this activity because her students love the competition piece, as well as the creative challenge it poses to them. If we had done that type of Math when I was in elementary school, I sure would have been more excited about it! It sounds like a way to get students to be engaged in practicing their equations because they are practicing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills - and the combination of those skills, i.e. adding this amount so you can then multiply this amount to get 24 - as well as encouraging self-efficacy. Imagine how excited students would feel if they came up with an equation that works that no one else had! Talk about building up confidence in students! Here's a video of one of her students explaining how they came up with a fourth equation for the 24 total challenge on twitter!
I also love her mantra that I posted at the top of the page! Especially the part about how great teachers aren't born but grown by other teachers. I think that's really intuitive, as well as encouraging for students like me who are learning to develop those teacher skills. I appreciate the confidence-boosters from older, more experienced teachers as Mrs. Samuelson! : )