2 Interesting Grants:

• Fund for Teachers
• (http://www.fundforteachers.org/)
  • The Funds for Teachers grant awards $5,000 to $10,000 and the best part about this specific grant is that is it self designed so that the teacher can create their own professional development opportunity based on what they and/ or their students need as an educator. If I was awarded this grant, I would use the money to get iPads for my classroom that way I can not only integrate more technology related things in my lessons but I can easily get my students to be hands- on with their very own iPads as well. Other than a big purchase like tablets are, I would use the rest of the money to enhance my classroom in whatever way it needs to be benefitted at the time. That could mean getting new supplies or redecorating the classroom for my students benefit, but either way the money will go to bettering the education of my students.
• Target Field Trip Grant
• (https://corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility/community/philanthropy/field-trip-grants)
  • The Target Field Trip Grant awards $700 to send students on an educational excursion. If I were awarded this opportunity, I would take my students on an educational field trip that is relevant to the unit we are currently or about to learn depending on when I am awarded the money. Whether it be to the zoo, a museum, or a fun educational workshop, this grant money would make something possible that wouldn’t happen for my students without it.

2 More Grant Resources:

• Scholastic
• (https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/teachers-get-grant/)
  • Scholastic plays a huge role in education as it is such as Scholastic Book Fair, but they also provide grants for teachers. They provide a checklist of what to do in order to get/ apply for grants, as well as thousands of links to different grants available to teachers.
• Teaching Community
• (http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/3069-corporate-grants-for-teachers)
  • Teaching community is a website that provides all things education such as becoming a teacher, getting a job, helpful links for current teachers, and resources such as getting grants. They provide categorized lists of grants from different brands and companies that give links to hundreds of grants to apply to.

Grade: Second grade

Subject: Mathematics

Time Allotment: 90 minutes

Objective:

• Students understand why and how numbers have to be carried over when adding

SWBAT:

• Students will be able to recognized why and when numbers need to be carried over while adding
• Students will be able to explain why regrouping is necessary to add
• Students will be able to add by regrouping

Standard:

• Common Core Standard- 2.NBT.B.5:  Number & Operations in Base Ten: Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add

Materials:

• Tens blocks
• iPads
• Paper
• Pencil

Procedure:

• Gather the class into one big group to explain how to add by grouping with tens blocks
• Explain the importance of the regrouping aspect of addition with the tens blocks
• Split the class into smaller groups and allow them to do addition by regrouping with tens blocks as a team
• Return to normal seats and show the class a video on addition with regrouping on the projector:
  • https://www.mathplayground.com/video_addition_regrouping.html
• Elaborate further on the video by demonstrating how to add by regrouping on the board
• Allow students to try a few example problems on their own while assisting until everyone shows that they understand the lesson
• Have the students then get their own individual iPads and play an educational addition with regrouping game:
  • https://www.mathplayground.com/math_monster_addition.html
• Make sure each student has a piece of paper and a pencil and instruct them to copy each addition problem on their game and solve it on their paper before entering the answer on the screen
• Collect each student’s paper showing their work from the educational game on the iPads

Check for Understanding:

• Ask the students if they have any other questions and confirm their understanding on why and how to add by regrouping and

Closure:

• After final questions have been answered, do one or two more examples on the board as a class
• Restate the importance of why regrouping is necessary when adding

Assessment:

• Students will individually complete an addition by regrouping worksheet consisting of 15 questions (Attached below)
• The worksheet will be graded for correctness

Khan Academy is one of the most useful online education tools any student, parent, and current or future teacher can come across. Khan Academy’s mission is to “provide a free, world- class education for anyone, anywhere” and they do a terrific job making that happen. They provide tutoring, extra learning, test prep for all subjects as well as college and career help. The website itself is very user friendly and the theme is pleasant and inviting while you scroll through to find what you’re looking for.

Being that I am going to be an elementary school teacher, preferably teaching second- third grade, I focused my lessons on those grade levels:

• https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-2nd-grade-math/cc-2nd-add-subtract-100
• I found a lesson on adding and subtracting within 100 for second grade math to be interesting because of how organized and simplistic the lesson was. For instance, the lesson starts out extremely basic with explaining repeated addition, goes on to adding and subtracting 1s and 10s and then gives a quiz to test the students on the first level of information before moving onto more complex numbers. The next level is adding and subtracting 2- digit numbers with practice for break apart and regrouping when adding and subtracting with a quiz to follow before moving onto the next level. This repeats until the students are are to the highest level of this lesson and a great part about this lesson is that for every single sub-lesson, there are videos the help the students.

• https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-third-grade-math/cc-3rd-fractions-topic
• In addition to finding a second grade math lesson, I went on to find a third grade lesson on fractions. This lesson is particularly interesting because along with the typical straight forward necessary information, it has a practice section for cutting shapes into equal parts. This feature of the lesson is great because it provides a sense of hands on learning even though it is on a computer and hands on learning is a great technique to get kids to truly learn and retain information. This lesson is a great one because of all the visuals and hand on activities it provides the students.

• https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/grammar/parts-of-speech-the-noun
• Parts of speech: the noun is another interesting lesson because of how detailed the introduction is about what a noun is and how it also goes on to explain singular and plural nouns before the student gets into anything so they are not confused. It is interesting to me that with short videos and practice on each step of what different types of nouns and how to use them, students learn so much and actually retain the information.

I created the seven placemarks seen above by thinking of an interesting way to engage students while simultaneously teaching them important information. On the map above, I have “pinned” or placemarked, seven different locations along the east coast and the one thing each of these places have in common are that they all hold some sort of historical value. It is the students job to locate the seven placemarks and determine the historical significance of each one. When each pin in selected, there is at least one, if not two, pictures and an occasional video to go along with each historical landmark/ monument to help the students start their research.

From a students stand point, worksheets are tedious and looked upon as “busy work” in most cases unless the teacher makes the students feel otherwise. On the other hand, depending on the teacher, worksheets are in fact “busy work” that allows them time to get things done around the classroom, progress assessments, or used for evidence in group work situations to make sure they students got work done. Whatever the use of worksheets may be across every grade and every teacher, worksheets need to be used in the most beneficial ways possible. For instance, worksheets are best used at the beginning and end of new lessons to show the students progress. For example if the teacher gives them a worksheet on a new topic, the students must fill it out to the best of their ability, then the teacher will grade them, hand them back, and when she starts to go over and give the right answers she will also begin to explain each question turning it into the beginning of the lesson. From there after they showed prior knowledge and began learning the basics from the same worksheet, hands on activities and such must take place to full digest and learn the material and after that is when a worksheet is appropriate to use again to show what they have learned. This is a great strategy for the use of worksheets because it allows a variety of mediums within the learning process and the worksheets are simply a source of their knowledge rather than a “chore” in their eyes.

The disadvantage to worksheets are as stated above, they can unfortunately be used as “busy work” where students are individually given a piece of paper to work on by themselves where they lose focus very easily because the worksheets become boring to them, they get frustrated that they do not understand, or other things become a distraction within the classroom that is much more entertaining than the paper is.

Yet overall, I am still a fan of worksheets despite the advantages many websites list because without tangible evidence of work and knowledge, there is no way to track students progress other than tests which are much less accurate than worksheets are.

Below is a worksheet that serves purpose and is fun for students because it allows them to draw and be creative, yet measures their knowledge on telling time as well.

I created this worksheet by searching “worksheet generator” and finding templates of worksheets organized by categories and subjects. Since I am an elementary education major focusing on math I picked a worksheet that would best suit what I will most likely be teaching one day. Telling time in this day and age has become a thing from the past because even little kids have cell phones and watches everywhere showing digital time instead of analog time. This exercise gives a familiar starting point, the digitally written time, and asks the students to draw the analog time on the physically drawn clock for guidance. This particular worksheet provides the students with the numbers already placed on the clock because it is an introductory worksheet, but as the lesson advances they would no longer be provided the numbers on the clock, and then the next level would to switch drawing the analog clock using the digital time and distinguishing the digital time by reading the time on the analog clock.

“How Flowers Grow: From Seed to Flower”

For my concept map I chose to focus on elementary science and flowers became my topic. It starts at the center where my main topic is written out, “How Flowers Grow: From Seed to Flower,” and it has four branches off of the main topic labeled the sky, flower (after germination), bird, and bees that have a few branches from those subtopics as well. Each branch although specifically related to how flowers grow have other connections between the other subcategories as well such as how bees and birds are connected to the pollen and seeds of the flowers. Within a concept map there as a plethora amount of connections to be made from the most obvious to the most complex because that is the way the world works.

In hindsight I knew exactly what a Personal/ Professional Learning Network (PLN) was before I read the given articles. I have not yet created my own professional learning network as a future educator, but after digesting the articles, it is evident that I have already created my own personal learning network. That is because I have chosen who to follow, converse with, reply to, and read comments from to learn more about my personal interests and  hobbies which is exactly what a PLN is. A PLN in a nutshell is simply the ways in which you are connected to the rest of the world by the means you choose to learn more about and give your own insight to others about a certain topic of interest whether it be a hobby or a professional career, all in an effort to continue learning and educating. The internet has opened up an endless amount of networking abilities, hence why I already have my own version of a PLN without even realizing it. Having a PLN allows people and professionals to expand beyond their friends, offices, and classroom neighbors which creates such a large pool of knowledge to be shared back and forth which not only makes learning easier, but it keeps the information up to date as well which is great in the education community.

Professional Organizations: (I am planning on teaching at the elementary level where I will teach my students all subject, but I am currently focusing on math and science as well)

• https://amte.net/webinars
• This website is called the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE) where thousands of members ranging from preK-16 work together to create a website for future and current educators to continue learning in the field of mathematics. This website also offers professional learning such as webinars and conferences.

• https://nabt.org
• The National Association of Biology teachers, or NABT, is a place where professionals pursuing an education career in biology can come to keep up with new technology and discoveries, as well as to further their knowledge on the subject through conferences and workshops where expert speakers talk and have sessions about the subject. This is a great site to join not only when you want to learn more about the field, but also to get expert ideas to improve your lessons within the classroom.

• https://www.nctm.org/About/
• The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is one of the largest mathematics education organizations that involves educations from Canada as well as the United States. This organization is one of the best that I have come across simply because in addition to providing many helpful tools and information and networking opportunities to further educator’s knowledge on the subject, that also have a “career center” tab where you can search jobs when starting out in your career.

• https://www.ams.org/home/page
• The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is a step above the NCTM where in addition to helping people find jobs in the field, they allow you to upload your resume not only to help find jobs but to also meet new teachers and professionals in the field of work as well that helps create a PLN. This organization, along with the others, help expand people’s knowledge on mathematics through research, programs, and forums that help advance professional goals.

• https://www.mathforamerica.org
• Math for America (MfA) is an organization that focuses more on advancing the excellence each educator already has rather than fixing them or creating a plan for them to follow. This website doubles as a PLN all in one place because by joining their programs, other professionals in the same field are all collaborating and helping one another grow professionally since that is the purpose of the program.

Blogs:

• https://alicekeeler.com
• This blog page was created by Alice Keeler who is a Google Certified Teacher. She posts about all things technology, mostly centered around Google of course, and she not only explains why these tools are so helpful and beneficial to learning but she also explains how to go about using the technology as well. “Teacher Tech” is a one-stop-shop when it comes to integrating technology into the classroom.

• https://catlintucker.com
• Caitlin Tucker’s blog has a focus on blended learning coaches other educators on how to effortlessly integrate technology into the classroom to achieve the most important goals in learning. In her blog she also specifically talks about different web tools to use to make it easy for the learning educator as well.

• https://classtechtips.com
• This blog is more is more of a resource center than it is a manual when it comes to integrating technology into the classroom. Dr. Monica Burns, the blogger, provides many different digital tools in which educators may be seeking how to use or want to find different ideas when it comes to technology in the classroom unlike most blogs that tell you how, why, and in what order to set up a  “tech savvy classroom.”

• https://www.coolcatteacher.com
• The “Cool Cat Teacher Blog” by Vicki Davis is a great one for beginner educators like myself because it is a more laid back blog written by a veteran teacher who is still currently teaching. Davis’s blog is her hobby while she is a full time educator and she shares her experiences and knowledge as she goes through and progresses in her career which makes her blog very inviting being that she is not a professional in teaching people how to use technology in the classroom, rather she is living the life of a teacher who must integrate more and more technology as the years go on and she takes beginners along for the ride.

• https://edtechteacher.org/BLOG/
• “Ed Tech Teachers” is a blog where many different educators made up of kindergarten through twelfth grade all contribute. This is a great blog for people who are looking for the widest range of knowledge and guidance when it comes to integrating technology into the classroom because it is not subject or grade specific.

Local organizations that provide technology based professional development workshops:

• http://www.ettc.net/calendar/index.cfm
• This has to be one of my favorite finds in regards to creating my own PLN because Stockton is so close and where I will be attending in the fall, as many ACCC students do or will do in the future. Stockton has many workshops on a lot of different topics and fields but in particular they have a couple of technology workshops. Stockton offers coding and and “integrating technology into everyday mathematics (ITEM) which will be very useful to me since I am focusing in math.

• https://www.njea.org/learning/professional-learning/
• NJEA is a great organization that offers so many different professional learning seminars/ workshops/ conferences with technology being a big focus of theirs. From “Google Boot Camp” to “NJEA TechStock” there are so many opportunities that are very local for people to attend and improve their technology skills that can be used in the classroom.

• https://www.theteachersacademy.com/technology/
• The Teacher’s Academy located in Furlong, PA, less than two hours away, provides one of the widest range of technology workshops for future and/ or current educators. They offer workshops on how to use Microsoft, basics of computers, and how to research, along with many other things very locally and conveniently.

Since I am majoring in elementary education, I focused on elementary level webquests from about first to fifth grade. Webquests are a great hands on learning alternative to boring lectures or powerpoint slide that can be done individually or in groups and children love them!

http://ebhj.htmlplanet.com

If I wasn’t going to be a teacher I would’ve become a marine biologist, hence why I like this webquest so much on a personal level as well as an assignment as a future teacher. I would use this webquest for my students because it is a hands on, creative, fun and authentic learning assignment all in one, which is the perfect recipe when learning is of the highest priority. The students would love this webquest as much as their teacher because they get to learn so many different things while completing it that they wouldn’t even realize or have to dwell on which makes the stress of the assignment much more reasonable for them. It is also a group work webquest which integrates working together and problem solving with real classmates as well as problem solving for the assignment itself. This particular webquest gives the option of using a couple different mediums to create their own appropriate habitats for the San Diego zoo such as on paper, on the computer or to create a diorama. Having the option of using different mediums is an aspect I enjoy a lot because it allows to students to figure out which way is the best to display their full potential rather than forcing them to do it all one way when some students may not be proficient as others. What I enjoy on the surface level of this webquest which is similar to the other ones I chose as well is that it is very organized and has clear labels and step by step directions to keep the students on task and focused which of course increases the probability that they will truly learn from the assignment. Yet even though there are clear instructions for the students to follow, it is unlike most webquests because it is allowing the students to have freedom and use their creativity being that they can create their own habitat for at least three different animals of their choice. This is a great way to test their true understanding of the topic, which I like as well, because they must follow directions and have sufficient knowledge about the animals and their habitat that they choose in order to create the correct habitat in the end instead of only following direction on how to create one specific habitat for one specific animal.

http://questgarden.com/146/15/4/120702163437/index.htm

I enjoy this webques in particular because instead of it being one little assignment that can be done in thirty minutes flat which doesn’t leave any time for learning, it is spread out through three weeks. The website is very easy to use with specific tabs in order to keep the students on track and very clear headings while also supplying a rubric sheet that is accessible to students so they are aware of exactly what they need to do with the assignment. I would use this webquest because since it is drawn out over a period of time, it hits key points the students must learn and know before they can go ahead and complete the rest of it and by the end of the three weeks they will know how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. For instance, the students will learn the days of the week, learn about the titles and authors of books, gain new vocabulary words, and the life cycle of a caterpillar all in one assignment instead of clicking through a webpage and filling in the blanks on a worksheet. This is one of the most effective ways to do a webquest because most of the time they are designed to fill in the blanks on a worksheet using the website that students often get done very quickly and learn nothing, while this one is hands on while the website aspect of the webquest assignment is only used for help, guidance, and furthering their knowledge.

https://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/TM/WS_invent_hunt2.shtml

This webquest is the most traditional one out of the other two I chose, and resonates with me being that these are the type of webquests I did when i was in school. This is a question to question webquest with different links to each question that the student must click on, visit, and explore in order to find the answer to that particular question. I enjoy scavenger hunt webquests for a pre assessment technique because it will give the students some basic knowledge that they had to find on their own about the upcoming topic in class instead of a lecture of it that they are less likely to retain. I also enjoy this kind of webquest because it is more technology based and teaches students the basics of researching to find the answers they are looking for while also learning the content while also making them expand past what they read to answer the specific questions on the worksheet attached to the specific links they must explore.

My name is Kayla Rosen and I attend Atlantic Cape Community College where I am taking a course called Instructional Technology for Teachers. This blog is where I will build my portfolio that will eventually demonstrate my knowledge and experience with integrating different types of technology into my future classroom.

Follow me through my journey & enjoy 🙂