I have been anticipating this blog post for most of the semester now and what I would create has been in the back of my mind this whole time. I wanted to create an activity that would be useful and practical to future EDM 310 students and current educators to use in their classrooms.
The first part of this should be in the activities section of the instruction manal. This is a wonderful resource to refer back to and begin exploring now before you even get into the classroom. The first thing that I came up with is to create an account at Teachers Pay Teachers. The idea of this website is for educators to share resources and lesson plans. In order to have good quality worksheets and materials to use in the classroom teachers often spend hours creating these or spend money of their own to buy these materials. The idea behind this website is when you spend the hard work and time to create creative and good quality resources you can upload them to this website. You can then sell them to teachers at a very low and reasonable rate. You can also buy resources for your own classroom. Instead of spending the time and gas to go to the local teacher's resource store, Why not log onto the internet, download the worksheets, print and copy them for half the price? They also run sales frequently and have new free downloads every few days. I have taken advantage of numerous free downloads in preparation for my future classroom. This website allows you to share your resources and lesson plans and then use those of other educators for much cheaper than you can buy them in a workbook. You do not have to wait to be a teacher to explore this website and begin downloading resources.
The second part of this assignment is to create an account on Storybird. This is a website that reverses the idea of reading and writing. Through this website you create a story from the pictures. The idea is to allow students to use their creativity in drawing, painting or coloring pictures and then this website assists you in coming up with your story and embedding or publishing it through the internet. Storybird encourages creativity and is a web tool that teaches skills necessary for working collaboratively. After creating an account on Storybird and exploring the website and the uses in which it would be helpful to you. Create your own short story about your life. You can use the artwork that is provided or your own artwork and pictures. The storybook should be fun, but still informational. The point of this activity is three fold. The first purpose is to learn to use the storybird program. The second purpose is to create a book that you can use on the first day of class to introduce yourself to your students and parents in a unique way. The third purpose is to create an example of an activity that you will have your students complete. Be creative and have fun with this project; it serves many purposes in your future classroom.
Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteThese sites you have mentioned sound very interesting. I will have to go check them out for future use. As teachers, we have to come up with so much creative material for our classes. This site would be fantastic for a first year teacher. Thank you for the head start in preparing us!