C4T Post #2

For Comments for Teachers Post number two I was assigned to Diane Dahl's Blog, For the Love of Teaching. Diane Dahl is a second grade teacher in Texas. She has a masters degree in Brain Based Teaching through BrainSMART at Nova Southeastern University. Mrs. Dahl has several blogs including a classroom blog that she posts the class's projects and learning. It was fun to get to know Mrs. Dahl and her classes through her blogs.

The first week I posted on her blog, For the Love of Teaching. Mrs. Dahl had a wonderful blog posts about having successful and productive math groups. Mrs. Dahl posted about her methods to successful groups. She uses an intriguing method called the Kagan Method. This is a method that her district has adopted and included peer coaching. Her ideas do not stop there, she also has a unique way for her students to check their answers, through QR Codes. What a wonderful idea that incorporates technology for the students. Students love this method. I commented to Mrs. Dahl how much I enjoyed reading her blog and all about her successful station ideas. I also shared my experiences and struggles of substituting in the classroom and group work becoming a disaster because of lack of organization and planning. I asked Mrs. Dahl is she used this structure with any other subjects and she commented back that she also uses it in science, social studies, and language arts. She said that she would be happy to answer any questions I had about the structure she uses in her classroom.

After talking with Dr. Strange, he gave me permission to also comment on Mrs. Dahl's classroom blog and explore there. On this blog, she posts more pictures and news related to the events and ongoings of her classroom. I commented on her post from March 4, about special presentations. Mrs. Dahl has a rewards system that makes it a privilege to do a special presentation on any topic using PowerPoint or another display. Students earn this privilege by displaying a positive attitude towards school and classmates, timely completion of work, and demonstrating self control.I commented on her blog post about how neat I though her rewards system was. This system rewards students, but at the same time encourages and rewards in an educational manner. This system instills in children the desire and motivation to learn more. This is really a neat concept in this day and time when so many teachers bribe students with candy and toys. Mrs. Dahl's rewards system has benefits that go beyond momentary pleasure, but lifelong learners that have pride in their work. I have really enjoyed reading Mrs. Dahl's blogs and plan to keep on following her blogs. I encourage you to go and check them out and all the resources she has to offer.