The Power Of Videos

Videos can be such a powerful tool, if used appropriately, in a lesson.  Therefore, I am going to share a lesson in which I used a video to enhance the lesson.

Essential Standard:

K.PCH.1: Apply measures for cleanliness and disease prevention.

Clarifying Objective:

K.PCH.1.1: Use steps of correct hand washing at appropriate times throughout the day.

Lesson Objective:

By the end of the lesson, the students will know the importance of washing their hands, when they should wash their hands, and the steps to washing their hands.

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ24EfM7sEw

Source:

[SaskatoonHealthReg]. (2014, September 21). Germ Smart Kids- How To Wash Your Hands. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ24EfM7sEw.   

In this lesson, the students will be learning how to wash their hands.  I chose this video for many reasons.  First, this video emphasizes the importance of washing your hands every day in order to keep the germs away so you don’t get sick.  Children don’t enjoy being sick so that part of the video is a strategy that helps motivate them to wash their hands.  It is also very important to remember that students need to know the answer to the question “why?”.  It wouldn’t be nearly as effective if you just told the students they needed to wash their hands and didn’t tell them why they need to wash their hands.  The video also tells the students when they should wash their hands like after using the bathroom and before eating.  It is very difficult for children to just grasp the broad concept of washing their hands without giving them some sort of guidelines as to when they should wash their hands.  Then the video shows the exact steps that they need to take when washing their hands.  What I think is extremely beneficial for the students in this part of this video is that not only are the steps being shown in the video but there is a narrator telling the steps out loud and there is an icon that pops up that has the steps in writing accompanied by a still image showing the step.  Lastly, it covers the “what if?” question that most young students often ask.  It tells the students to use hand sanitizer if there is not a sink available.  It even provides the steps to that process for the students.  Overall, this video really attracts the attention of all students because not only does it have a germ song but it also has funny animated germs that talk.

I (the teacher) will teach this content during the teacher input part of my lesson.  I will stop the video after each point that I talked about in the above paragraph and I will ask the students to explain/share with the class what they learned.  I will also ask questions such as “When is a time that we should wash our hands”?

Keeping Students Engaged Using The SmartBoard

How can I keep my students engaged in my lessons and why is keeping students engaged important?  These are questions that my field experiences have answered for me.  SmartBoards are a great way to keep the students engaged and open to learning.  Therefore, I am going to share a lesson in which I have used the smartboard to enhance my lesson.

In my lesson, the students will be learning about the properties of solids, liquids, and gases that will then help them identify if the different examples I give to them in the sorting activity are a solid, liquid, or gas.  

The first slide of my activity is my way of telling my students what they are going to learn in a very simple way.  I will have my students read that statement of objective out loud with me.  That requires students to say out loud what they will be learning which will help them remember it better.  The second slide is my teacher input.  That slide contains all the information that the students need to know in order to correctly and efficiently complete the sorting activity.  This slide is what I will teach.  In that slide I have the properties for a solid, liquid, and gas along with a picture example of each.  This is to give the students a visual representation of each.  I will read the information on the slide and allow the students to raise their hands to share what the pictures for each are.  Then when they say what the pictures are of, I will help them justify why that item is a solid, liquid, or gas by using the description provided beside that picture.  For example, in slide 2 I have described a solid as having a definite shape and size.  Next to that definition is a picture of an apple.  Students will tell me that the picture is of an apple and I will help them justify that is a solid by saying “An apple is a solid because it has definite shape and size.”  The third slide is the student activity.  This is when I will allow the students to complete the sort on their own.  I will call on students one at a time to come up and move a word into the category that they think is correct.  I will then have them justify their answer using the information taught.  That aspect will be very similar to what was done during the second slide but the difference is that the student will justify their answer themselves.  

Allowing the students to come up to the SmartBoard really makes the lesson interactive and fun for the students.  Making learning fun is what makes the students learn and remember the content.  With 16 different examples, each student can have their own turn coming up to the SmartBoard too.  This lesson is so beneficial to the students because it not only provides visuals but it also makes the lesson interactive and interesting.  Lastly, this notebook is useful for the lesson because it teaches content that can be very difficult for some students to learn and understand in a very simple format.  Kids learn better when it’s something they are enjoying to learn and what better way to do that than a fun sorting activity.

 

Teaching With Infographics

Teaching children about exercising and the benefits of exercising is very important.  It also can be such a fun and interesting thing for them to learn about.  Therefore, I have chosen standard 1.NPA.3.1 to share a lesson idea and infographic on.  1.NPA.3.1 states that students will recognize the benefits of physical activity.  

The topic of this lesson is What Does Exercising Do For Me?  To begin, as an aspiring elementary education teacher I find value in teaching lessons that are fun, interactive, and interesting for my students.  What better way to do so then by using infographics.  Infographics are such a practical tool to use as an aid in a lesson because it provides such a great visual representation for students.  It breaks information down, giving students a better chance of being able to understand. 

For my lesson I created the infographic to the left titled, "What Does Exercising Do For Me?"  I chose to teach the standard this way because I wanted to make it relevant to the life of my students.  This is a standard taught in first grade therefore, I wanted to make the visual "short, sweet, and to the point".  

This infographic will be used in the teacher input part of the lesson.  In other words, it will be used to teach the content of the benefits of physical activity.  During the lesson, it will be shown via smartboard.  When the lesson is complete, I will print the infographic and hang it on the wall in the classroom for support.  This will allow students to reference it when needed.                    

Digital Literacy: What You Need To Know

Digital literacy can be defined by a few things.  According to the University Library of the University of Illinois, “it is the ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information.  It is the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers.  It is the ability to read and interpret media, to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments.” (US Digital Literacy)

Digital literacy is important for children because it allows them to better sustain themselves academically, socially, and globally, they can educate themselves inside and outside of the classroom with the touch of a button, and as education becomes more accessible, they become more accountable for their individual knowledge base. As the US Digital Literacy webpage states, "The use of digital tools emphasizes discovery through applying, finding, assessing, synthesizing, and utilizing information."  

There are many different examples of digital literacy in and out of the classroom.  A few examples are:

• ·      Smart Boards to teach and implement lessons  
• ·      Computers to use the web in order to enhance the learning of the students
• ·      Using online videos to enhance teaching lessons

"Copyright is a protection provided by law to the creators of original works." (6070 Robb, Copyright, Plagiarism, and Citations)  It is necessary for not only teachers but also students to understand copyright.  This means both teachers ands students need to be educated on what can and cannot be done in order to stay compliant with the laws of copyright.  It's important to teach students how to correctly cite information.  Also, making sure students understand that copying someone else's work and not citing it is called plagiarism.  

   

Classroom Management

I have been blessed with many opportunities as a future elementary education teacher to work in different classrooms and observe different teachers.  What a learning experience that is because every student is different and every classroom operates differently. 

I want to begin by saying I personally have struggled with classroom management during my field experiences.  Due to that, I have taken interest in researching classroom management strategies.  Pinterest has provided me with some really wonderful ideas therefore, I want to share a few of my favorites.   

1. Brain Breaks 

If there is one thing that I have noticed in all the classrooms that I have observed, it is that elementary students cannot focus nor sit still for extended amounts of time.  Children need breaks to move or what is known as brain breaks.  Brain breaks give students time to get up and move.  Often times they are short activities that only last a few minutes.  Children love being able to get up and they often have a lot of fun doing these short activities.               

2. Classroom Rewards

Children love to be rewarded.  This strategy actually became one of my favorite due to my current field experience.  My teacher uses this strategy with her students.  Children love this strategy and they really get excited.      

3. Classroom Jobs 

In every classroom that I have observed that utilizes the classroom jobs strategy, the students love it.  From my observation, it seems as though it allows students to feel like they are a vital part of the classroom.  I feel that it makes the students more open to learning and actually more respectful while teaching them responsibilty.  This strategy also avoids chaos in the classroom.