Moving Mountains in Ms. Morrison's Class

I want to be blatantly honest for a minute... I started this blog as an assignment for a class early in my career at JSU. Most of my beginning blogs are based on prompts or assignments given to me by professors and they are not my finest work or very deeply thought out. However, after some time I actually became fond of my blog and found that it helps me reflect on new learnings and allows me to keep my thoughts organized. Blogging has also provided me a simple and easy format to share my ideas with other educators or professionals. I am a very visual learner; if I do not write down my thoughts, they're gone. My house, car, and classrooms are covered in all different forms of post-it notes, lists, and even the occasional napkin or receipt covered in my scribbling. You don't even want to look at my plan book... As much as I have to write things down now, I was never very interested in journaling or writing when I was in school. I had (and still have if I don't put a lot of t...

The definition of technology is simply anything that makes a job easier. For first-year teachers, we need all the technology we can get! The most important thought to keep in mind when deciding what technology to use is to remember that everything in a classroom must be intentional in its purpose. Many students are used to using technology for entertainment purposes but we must shift this mindset in order for our students to view technology as valuable tools in the learning process. There are many tech tools that can make our students education easier, such apps like My Storybook Creator for digital storytelling or Educreations to document learning, but there are just as many apps to make a teacher's life easier as well. All-in-one apps like Nearpod can help a teacher bring their classroom together and into the 21st-century by providing a digital presentation format in which teachers can integrate student learning with on time assessment and personalized lesson formats. Teachers al...

Nearpod is a presentation tool that has been helping to build better 21st century classrooms. With Nearpod, teachers are able to create presentations, save and share lesson plans, take polls and quizzes, view calculated assessment data, and more! This all-in-one app and website can really bring a teacher's style to the next level. Nearpod is available free to all teachers and can be used with all subjects and all grade levels. While some features must be bought, such as the personalized virtual field trips, there are many things that can be done with a free account. Nearpod presentations are the equivalent of putting a teacher guided whiteboard in every student's hands. Teachers set the pace for their lesson and can embed questions, polls, and other assessment features for the students to complete periodically during the lesson. These assessments do not have to be multiple-choice or true/false; Nearpod includes a "draw it" feature in which students can sketch or write...

 For years parents have been coming into classrooms to sit down with their child's teacher to discuss their child's progress as a student. While these can prove effective, especially for parents who are highly invested in their student's learning, they are not as effective as when the student is in control of the conference. Many schools are beginning to host student led conference days in which parents schedule a time to bring their student back to the classroom in order to discuss their education. However, instead of teachers leading these conferences the students are in complete control. They are responsible for gathering data that shows their gross according to what is developmentally appropriate for their age and grade level. Students may create physical or digital portfolios, presentations, or even visual displays in order to provide their parents with a window into their classroom. The biggest benefit found by doing student led conferences is the increase in self reg...

 Student response systems were designed to make education more engaging and to create a more active learning environment for students. By using student response systems, teachers are able to quickly assess their students' progress in the mastery of concepts, skills, and other desired outcomes. These systems make assessment easier for teachers in that many platforms offer graphing functions to consolidate data. Student response systems also make answering easier and more precise for students. While some systems simply allow true/false or multiple choice answering options, some systems such as Ping Ping offers students the option to draw or write their own answers. Students are able to share answers in a supportive environment while using Plickers due to the fact that every student has a unique card that the teacher is able to then scan to find their answer. This not only prevents cheating but also allows for a more interactive experience for the class. Many teachers have found succe...

A trend that has begun taking over classrooms around the world is the flipped classroom format. Flipped classrooms utilize classroom time for discussions and deeper learning instead of teaching the basics and the beginnings of concepts. Teachers use platforms such as Nearpod or BlackBoard to give students videos, assignments, and learnings to complete outside of school so that when they come to the classroom they are ready for hands-on activities and deep discussions with their peers. Many teachers and students find this method very  beneficial to the educational process. Teachers are able to target their lessons on highly valued skills and concepts and students are able to learn in ways that are more conducive to their various styles. While a totally flipped format may not be ideal for all areas, some educators have found a way to make it work. Many are using a "faux-flipped" format in which students are still giving online objectives to meet, but are also giving things such...

{ "Adventure sparks curiosity. Curiosity fuels learning. ~ Polar Husky } Virtual field trips have offered something that educators have been striving to provide their students with for decades: adventure. Field trips offer students the opportunity to construct their knowledge, often in very hands-on ways, but there are many drawbacks to field trips. Most field trips are not only costly but can become difficult with students who may have different disabilities. Virtual fields trips allow teachers to take their children across the world, under the seas, and even beyond our world and deeper into the universe with little to no cost. They also allow students with physical disabilities to fly. They allow students with sensory disorders to go scuba diving without ever having to touch the water. They allow us as educators to show our students the world and beyond, no matter their socioeconomic background, physical or mental disabilities, or any other thing the world tries to use to stop...

{"Thank you for releasing my voice." ~Lanier, age 18 } Autism is a neurological disorder that affects how to the brain processes information; this often leads to a unique perspective of the world and difficulty communicating and socializing with other people. Thanks to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), students with autism are able to conquer their worlds in new and exciting ways. iPads offer these students with an insurmountable tool: a voice. AAC is a communication method used to supplement speech which in some case means using body or sign language and sometimes means using tools such as iPads. When using iPads and AAC apps, it is important to look for five specific criteria: the ability to customize instruction, use of requisite moto skills to use the iPad, resources and time needed to teach iPad operation, research basis, and the cost or affordability. Technology use must always, always, always be intentionally used with students but especially those s...

This week I was able to get a quick peek into the Arctic. I then went on a whaling expedition where a 40-ton humpback whale breached right over the bow of our boat. Thanks to virtual reality and a wonderful presentation on Google Cardboard from some of my peers at Jacksonville State University, I was able to do all this from the comfort of our 72-degree classroom while drinking my morning coffee! Google Cardboard is a virtual reality (VR) platform designed by Google that provides a cardboard headset compatible with Android and IOS smartphones. The beauty (or one of them) of this program is that not only does it work with a number of different apps, the devices are made of durable cardboard and are only $1.99 when you choose to construct them yourself. The use of VR has been an unmatched gift for students in the average classroom; it allows them to travel to places they could never have imagined, participate in discussions of historical events with a first-hand perspective, gain experie...

JSU Volunteers for STEM Challenge with Dr. Johns Last weekend I had the privilege to visit Eura Brown Elementary in Rainbow City, Alabama, to participate in what they have called their "Serendipity Day". Held every spring, Serendipity Day is a day spent challenging students to think beyond a typical school day. Guests from all over the area are brought in to enrich the children in music, performing and visual arts, social sciences, and science. The students take part in demonstrations, simulations, challenges, and performances. It is a constructionist educator's dream day. I, along with several of my peers from JSU, was invited by two of the most passionate professors I have ever had, Dr. Jennifer Troncale and Dr. Kyoko Johns, to assist in a STEM challenge. STEM is the collaboration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics into meaningful and realistic challenges for students. Because these areas are so closely intertwined, teaching them together creates...

I completed AMSTI Year 1 science preservice training for the fourth grade the week of January 30th through February 3rd, 2017, with Mrs. Tara Hood. We started training Monday morning by dissecting the Next Generation Science Standards as well as the practice standards for fourth grade. I found it beneficial that Mrs. Hood took the time during the week to also point out when and where we were addressing the practice standards because it helped me to visualize them as activities and processes instead of simply a list of abstract skills. This has also helped me in planning my STEM challenge for my practicum class in that I can more easily implement these skills in multiple ways now having seen them both in AMSTI training and in class with Dr. Troncale. In addition, we spent time Monday morning discussing the science journals we would be using throughout the week. We were provided with composition books to use and Mrs. Hood modeled for us how to set up multiple features within the notebo...

I completed AMSTI year 1 math preservice training for the 3rd grade the week of January 23rd through the 27th, 2017, with Mrs. Amber Trantham. We began the week by dissecting the math standards and the process skills. Mrs. Trantham also discussed how and when we would be using the standards and process skills throughout our training. She set a standard very early in training that we would be in charge of our learning during training; we were responsible for what we included in our notebooks and where our discussions would lead. This was an excellent example of how to create a constructivist environment in a classroom and was very beneficial to us as students in that we were able to connect the information to our own prior knowledge and experiences.  We did many hands-on activities during the week. I have not previously experienced math in a way like this and it was very eye-opening for me to see just how interactive math education can be. Mrs. Trantham let us use any manipulati...