Ready, Set, Conquer!!!!

...And just like that, it's week 3 of the semester!  I have always heard people say that Junior year in college is one of the most difficult years and now I can attest to that!  Social Studies Methods and the flipped classroom teaching technique has made me feel like a productive college student. I feel like this class is the appropriate stepping stone to successfully get me from relying on my professors to provide all of the information, to letting myself explore different resources and research the information myself.  I am already starting to appreciate how this class (and all of the crazy assignments) is teaching me to be an independent, resourceful, and successful future teacher.

Creating my Professional Development Plan (PDP) and analyzing two professional goals that I want to achieve this semester, really made me stop and think about real this is getting.  I often times think that student teaching is still a couple of semesters away, and that I will have time to get it all together before then.  However, this class has been a wake up call for me, in the fact that this class is specifically preparing me to student teach, which will be here before you know it!  Part of me is intimidated by that realization and part of me is ready to takeover a classroom tomorrow! 

As I reviewed the Teacher Standards, I chose two that I think are relevant to where I am on my educational journey.  The first one I chose, dealt with knowing the content  that I will be teaching (3), and making the NCSCOS standards align with my lesson plan and assessments (3a).  When I first started glancing over the standards, I thought this was an easier one to master; however, as I looked for standards for my concept based unit, I realized, I don't recall much about what is being stated in those particular standards.  Going through school, especially in Social Studies, I would just memorize the facts and spit them back out for the test.  Now, I am personally experiencing the danger of that learning method because I am not familiar with the subject area.  As I prepare my lessons, I want to become confident with the content I will be teaching and create a level of understanding for myself as well.  The second standard I chose was teacher facilitate learning for their students (4),  integrating and utilizing technology within instruction (4d).  I am going to challenge myself to learn one technology tool per week and learn how to incorporate it in my lessons. 

If you were wondering, I have already gotten started on my PDP goals! (:

I learned about this really cool website called https://getkahoot.com/ and it is a free multiple choice, interactive, quiz game.  The questions along with the answer choices are projected on the screen, while the students select their answers from their own internet connected devices.  The website goes into detail about how it works and it's purpose, but I seriously love it!!  I have already created my free account and have taken some quizzes just to play around.  It is so much fun and your students would love the competitive aspect it has, as well as the cool music in the background as the questions and answers are revealed.  I hope you take the time to check it out and have some fun with learning and assessment!