Blog Post #16

Part One: If I Built A School

If I built a school, the students would still love to learn. They would come in everyday, grab their iPads, look for the QR codes and find their early bird assignment. I would focus a lot more on learning than making sure that students are just having a good time. In the end, that isn't what it is all about. I feel that it is a very important aspect but not the most important.

I will focus heavily on project based learning, and I will use a lot of hands on activities, experiments, and projects in order to help students learn more effectively. I will give students the chance to get on the iPads and class computers (because in my school, everyone will have one no matter what) and let them explore through iCurio, Discovery Education, Brainpop, and so many more resources that are available to second graders. The students will work collaboratively through SMARTboard activities and produce group texts for our class blog.

The students will all learn to work together, but they will also grow independently through tests, presentations, and other criteria. Students will come in and expect to learn, and they will understand that school is a place to explore all areas of learning, not just stop after the test. I will push my students to always ask questions and want to know more. My students will love coming to class because it is going to be somewhere that learning takes place.

Tools that will be used on a daily basis in my second grade class will include iCurio, SMARTboard, Blogger, iPads, video cameras, podcasts, and so many other things. This will advance the learning process because they won't be sitting at a desk all day doing the same worksheets as the class next to them. Learning will be an adventure that will take us to new places everyday!

My classroom will be an environment for everyone. The students will be able to peer review and do group activities in order to further their education. The work that students produce will cover the walls so that students can have that sense of accomplishment and pride. My classroom is going to be something that makes a difference in the lives of not only my students but also me. I will not only teach; I will learn.

How my classroom changed...
After re-reading my blog post one, I see that I have really grown as a professional through this class. I was reading and I see that my school would be about having fun and building friendships. My hands on activity involved the dry erase board? I'm not exactly sure how that would work now. I wanted my school to be a "kid environment, not a professional environment".

Now that EDM310 is coming to a close, I have all new ideas running through my head that I would use to create my own school. The biggest thing that I would change about what I said at the front of the semester are the "resources" I would use. These items -  iPads, SMARTBoards, QR Codes, Computers, and cameras - are just so small in number now that I know the multiple, never-ending resource types such as iCurio, Discovery Ed, Padlet, Prezi, iMovie, Movie Maker, and so many more. I would use more than the term hands on learning. I would put much focus into project based learning, another thing that we spent a lot of time focusing on. I wouldn't just give students work for them to burp it back. I want to give students the opportunity to love learning by experiment and experience than to think they love school because they don't have to do anything.

Part Two: My Final Reflection