The Amazon Rainforest

 Digital stories can be a great way to teach children the standards and curriculum needed. I have created a digital story to meet standards 2.LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics  1) Develop and use models to compare how animals depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs in the places they live. 2) Predict what happens to animals when the environment changes (temperature, cutting down trees, wildfires, pollution, salinity, drought, and land preservation). The digital story is focused on the Amazon Rainforest ecosystem, and how that has been affected by human impact and climate change. You can find the video here.

Educational Blogging: Is it applicable and Useful?

 Is Educational Blogging something that should be used in classrooms?

    One of the many questions that we receive from parents is, what is educational blogging? As a society, we hear a lot about blogs, but we rarely hear about educational blogging. An educational blog is a blog that has an educational purpose. Another important question is what are the benefits of blogging in education for both teachers and students? The benefits of blogging for students are that it promotes self-expression, exercises students' creativity, improves their writing skills, and many more. The benefit for teachers is that they can promote the exchange of their teaching ideas and experiences along with their beliefs for transforming education. 

A graphic showing different ways
to use blogs in the classroom

    Reading other teachers' blogs can be very beneficial for an educator. From reading other peers' blogs I was able to be further educated on topics such as classroom management, parental involvement, and school safety.  When it comes to classroom management it is important to recognize that it is a learning curve and that there are always professional learning opportunities to further your development. Classroom management is one of the key ways to have a classroom that runs effectively to benefit your learners. A chaotic classroom can limit what the children can learn.  By maximizing management within your classroom using different techniques, you can have an approach that maximizes the time and material being presented. Parental Involvement also plays into how your classroom functions effectively. By having parental involvement in your classroom, you can promote more active learning and it helps promote students to stay in education longer, thus decreasing school drop-out rates. School safety also plays a big role in the ways that your classroom is managed. Students need to feel safe when in your classroom and school to maximize their learning development and abilities. It is important as educators to recognize that school safety is not just about physical safety, but also mental safety. By being able to be proactive in discussing and ensuring school safety, you can make a big difference in helping students feel safe in their learning environments. 

    I personally had never blogged before my ETEC class at The University of Tennessee. Now that I have been able to learn how to create a blog, and make meaningful posts I do hope to use an education blog in my future and current classrooms. After doing more research on educational blogging, I also want to incorporate educational blogging with my students by having them and their parents set up blogs to demonstrate their viewpoints about the classroom and their child's learning. Educational blogging can be beneficial in a classroom, and I look forward to continuing blogging throughout my career. 

Technology in the Classroom: A Benefit or a Distraction?

 Is the technology in your child's classroom benefiting or distracting them?

     In recent years there has been more of a push to integrate technology into the education system with advocates saying that it will better a child's education. The pushback from concerned researchers and parents argues that technology may distract children from learning. So which is it? According to research, the ways that it improves your child's learning is that it creates a more engaged environment, incorporates different learning styles, improves collaboration, prepares children for the future, and connects you, the parent, with your students (Walden University). It takes a teacher who is intuitive and willing to use technology to benefit the children in the ways that research has shown to benefit them. The

Children look excited while using
the computer in the classroom.

teachers should be guiding them through the work with technology, and supporting their instruction with technology. The concern of researchers and parents can be valid. If teachers are using technology to substitute their teaching, then it is a distraction. Teachers should be using technology to support the learning material that they are presenting to the class. An example would be a teacher presenting information about chemistry, so after she/he has done their presentation they have the children play a matching game with technology about the material they just presented. This is an example of using technology in a way that supports the learning experience and does not substitute for the teacher's role. Rather, it is incorporating multiple learning styles in one lesson while also creating a more engaged learning environment where the children can learn and reflect. 

    As your child's teacher, it is important to me that I am being flexible and intuitive reflecting on the uses of technology in my classroom. I am constantly thinking about how it is supporting my teaching, and if there is truly a need for technology with that specific lesson. Some teachers tend to use technology with just videos, but it is my goal to use it in interactive ways such as learning games or matching games when it comes to reviewing the material presented. I believe that the technology I use builds upon your child's learning, rather than takeaways. I also try and adapt based upon what I have seen works with my classroom that year, and what does not. It is my goal to integrate technology into my curriculum to reach the benefits that the research has found. 

The Whole Child Approach to Education?

 What is the whole-child approach to education and how does it benefit your child?

    The whole-child approach to education is one that I believe should be the priority of all teachers in the education system. The whole-child approach can be defined as, an approach "that honors the humanity of each teacher and student, and is critical to equitably preparing each student to reach their full potential. This starts by creating environments of belonging and connection for students and adults to engage and thrive". The aim of this approach is to create an environment where your child feels safe and secure so that they can thrive during school hours. Some of you might be asking where this concept arose. It arose from a

Children smiling on the playground 

study that was done by Teach for America where they found that this approach results in better academic outcomes, and lower troubling behavior. It should always have been the aim of the teacher to make sure that every student is succeeding, but throughout the past, that has not always been the case. It is hoped with this new approach to teaching we will see lower school drop-out rates, higher scores in the classroom, and fewer disciplinary actions in schools. Children thrive where they feel secure. When children do not feel safe in their environment they are less likely to enjoy learning and push boundaries to become better students academically and socially. 

    This approach is one that I will very much be included in my classroom. I say this because the reason that I went into teaching was that I wanted every child to feel loved and safe in my classroom. This approach does just that. I want to create an environment where my students feel comfortable being themselves, and want to learn the material I am presenting to them. I never want to be the teacher that kills the joy that comes from learning, rather I want to be the teacher that ignites the learning flame within them. You can send your child to my classroom feeling confident that your child is safe and secure with the whole-child approach being a priority for the ways in which my classroom functions. 

The Importance of Parental Involvement

How does parental involvement affect the classroom and your child's learning?

    Parental Involvement is a difficult topic because not all parents can be involved in the same ways, but their involvement, in general, is what is important. As a teacher, I understand that all of my parents have different careers, home lives, and outside stressors that may cause them to be able to more involved in our classroom life or less involved. However, the concern is that you are involved in the ways that you can be. Now you may be asking why involvement is so important to your child's education. After all, it has often been thought that the teachers are the ones who should be involved when the children are at school, and the parents are involved outside of school hours. Research, however, shows that students who have involved parents are more likely to be successful in the classroom, and are more likely to have better social and life skills. In an article by Ashley Brooks, from Rasmussen University, she defines the aspects of the classroom that these students are more likely to be successful. These areas she states are "higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have better social skills, show improved behavior and adapt well to school"(Brooks, 2019). Some parents may stress when they read this because they are thinking about their current involvement and then will start to go to the extremes of how they can be involved when in reality there are three simple ways presented by Brooks. Those are to be present at school when

A parent in the classroom reading a book to a small 
group of children

possible, showing interest in kids' schoolwork, and keeping a positive attitude towards education (Brooks, 2019). The one area to focus on out of these three that some parents may worry about their abilities to do is being present at school when possible. There are many ways that you can be present at school both literally and metaphorically. Mary O'Keefe, a pre-k teacher at Hudson Falls Central School District states ways to be involved include, “Attending parent nights, conferences and open houses; chaperone field trips; volunteer in the classroom; or donate your time at home with materials and sending in needed supplies”. (Brooks, 2019). What we can see from these examples is that yes there are ways to be involved in the physical form, but also if you are constrained to a job that doesn't allow that you can always be involved in other ways that still help your child receive a quality education and classroom environment. All in all the research supports what has been advocated for years, especially recently after the COVID-19 pandemic, that parents need to be back in the classroom and schools to play an active role in their child's education alongside the support of the teachers. 

    As a teacher, I agree with the research. I have seen firsthand what the classroom environment is like when parents are involved and are willing to share their culture with the children. Children are excited to learn and have the willingness to learn about new topics, ideas, and cultures. In my classrooms, we have a variety of different backgrounds, cultures, languages, and many more customs that can be shared with the children to make a more well-rounded education. I believe that having the home-life merge and mesh with school life not only benefits the individual child but also the classroom culture as a whole. Having parents involved makes children in my classroom feel safe, included, and seen. It is my hope that as parents you understand that the teachers are not the only role models in the schools, it is you as the parent as well.