Monday, September 20, 2010
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Responses to Merrill
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Responses to Merrill
Wordle Response to Classroom Managment 3
The most memorable experience I had in elementary school was in third grade. It was for science class. We were learning about the dinosaurs and the time period they lived in. We had to pick a dinosaur and then we had to learn as much about it as we could. We could check books out from the school library, research them on the computer, anything that would help us learn about our dinosaur. Then we had to actually make the dinosaur and its home. We could use any material we wanted. Some students made their dinosaur with paper mache, others used modeling clay, and then one kid just used a stuffed animal that was their dinosaur. I used modeling clay. I made the dinosaur and then put him in a shoe box. I made different objects that would go with it that would have been there around that time. And we had to make a poster of some kind with facts about our dinosaur, like what they eat, where they lived and different things about them. Then when the assignment was due, we brought them to school and we had a "dinosaur walk". The class had their parents come and we walked around with them to see all the other student's dinosaurs. I thought this was so cool and a great activity for students to do. I can even remember what dinosaur I had (stegosaurus). This activity could tie in to so many different learning processes. You could teach about the skeletal system, and compare a human skeletal system to those of a dinosaurs. You could even tie it in with math, and learn about ratios and compare the size of a dinosaur to a human or a favorite animal of the student. I thought this activity really got the students involved in the learning, it was hands-on and engaged the students and got the motivated to learn. Talking to some of my classmates from third grade, they too can still remember this assignment.
ReplyDeleteOne memorable experience that I had took place in third grade. We were learning about Thanksgiving and the pilgrims that sailed over on the Mayflower. Before we went on break for Thanksgiving, my third grade class put on a play where everyone had a part to play. Each person was a different pilgrim that sailed over on the Mayflower boat. I feel like this was a great experience for all of the students in my class because we each got to play a part in our Thanksgiving play, which helped all of us understand the concept of the pilgrims and the story about the Mayflower. I feel that integrating the arts into our social studies lesson was also a great learning experience. We weren't bored because we weren't sitting in our desks listening to our teacher tell us about Thanksgiving, we were a part of the lesson and that was a great learning experience. I would like to incorporate learning experiences like that into my classroom because I know that it motivates the students to want to learn and it helps the information stick. I can still remember parts of the play that I was in, that makes me feel like I really did learn something and I actually enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteMy most memorable learning experience was when I was in sixth grade, we were learning about the feudal system. One day we created a layout of our own kingdom. It had to include certain buidings we were learning about. I really enjoyed it because we got to use our artistic abilities as well as apply some of what we learned however we wanted. In that same unit we had a feast with the whole class. Each student got to choose a new name and identity that was one of the class that people were placed into during medieval times. We had to dress similar to the class we chose. A king and queen were choosen and food was brought and a grand feast was served. It was wonderful learning experience becasue the feudal system was repeated multiple times and was put into action when we did the hands on activities.
ReplyDeleteMy most memorable experience was in the fifth grade when we were learning about the states. In our social studies classes we took each region of the country and learned which states belonged where along with their capitals, while in music class we were learning songs to help us remember all fifty states and their captitals. We memorized the captial song along with the "Fifty-Nifty" song which I can still rehearse today. At the end of the unit the whole fifth grade put on a play for our parents and faculty where we also recited facts about the presidents and how we became a free nation. Because we incorperated classroom work, music, and drama, this experience has really stuck with me and probably will for the rest of my life!
ReplyDeleteOne of my most memorable learning experiences took place during my High School Physics class. We were studying simple machines and Rube Goldberg, an inventor. In order for us to learn more about these simple machines, my teacher actually had us design our own machine to accomplish a simple task. We had to combine a certain number of simple machines that would all work together to cut open a freeze pop in the end. We could only do one action to start the machine and then the levers, pulleys, wedges, and other simple machines had to operate on their own. To start our own Rube Goldberg machine, my partner and I used a ball that rolled down the machine and triggered the rest of the simple machines.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a great strategy for the teacher to use because we were actually applying the information we learned in class to something we could make. I will always remember the information I learned from that Physics unit because the teacher gave us a great opportunity to apply it to a real-life situation.
One of the most memorable learning experiences I had was in 7th grade History. We were studying all of the different countries and everything that dealt with that country like the flag, food, people, clothing, etc. Each student was responsible for a country. I remember I had Turkmenistan. We had to create a flag for our country and at the end of the unit, we had a celebration where each of the students set up a booth to display all the information we gathered about our country. We all brought food for each of the teachers and classmates to sample that was original from out country.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a great strategy because it made the students feel responsible for that country and everything that had to do with it. It was also good because we got all of the countries covered in a shorter time with more time to learn about each others country. It was also fun because we had the opportunity to display our work in a formal display.
The most memorable experience I remember as a learner was in the 4th grade. I'm not quite sure what the assignment was, but I remember having to make the environment monkeys/gorillas were found in and present it. I believe the project went along with a paper we also wrote, but I'm not sure if the topic was open ended or if everyone did animals, all I remember is making this box that turned into a jungle! I do not specifically remember what kind of instructions we were given but I remember working on it all weekend long, going to arts and crafts stores and even Camp Courageous to get green and furry/jungle like felt to make that box into a jungle! My mom helped me and we even found fake gorillas to glue into the box. I can still picture the box today and how proud I was of it. I think I would remember more about this project if it wasn't from 11 years ago! But this was the only memory that came to mind after I read this blog!
ReplyDeleteMany of my most memorable moments are revoloved around science. The instructional strategies are all hand-on as well. In middle school, sixth grade, I remember learning about fossils. Later that year for the science fair, me and my groups' topic was fossils. We research information on fossils and how to create one. We then made a fossil of a leaf using clay and smashing it until the print was clear. It was a fun activity and I would love to do it with my students, but with animal prints. Also, other strategies that I recall were interactive and collaborative.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Katie as well! Lessons taught through music are very memorable. I also remember learning the "Fifty Nifty" song and still remember it. I find myself singing it often when recalling the names of states. I also learned a song of prepositions in 8th grade that I also remember and sing often.
ReplyDeleteI agree with any hands on learning technique. I know all students learn differently but I think the majority of them learn best when they are up and moving and trying stuff out on their own. This is obviously very popular in the subject area of science, and I believe teachers should be constantly brainstorming activites for their students to do hands on in any subject area.
ReplyDeleteMy most memorable experience as a learner was in 5th grade during our unit on the colonization of America. We were grouped up as different countries, and tried to colonize as much as the map of the “new world” as we could. “Wars” for land were done through pop quizzes (such as math facts, science vocab, etc) against other groups. These “wars” tied in other content areas, while still keeping with the feeling of competition for land. As we continued the unit, alliances were formed, with the groups with more land teaming up with weaker groups in an exchange for crops and help in further colonization. This experience was really entertaining for the whole class, and I can’t think of a student that was not excited for social studies everyday so we could continue our colonization. It really helped me understand what the competition for land in early America was like in the early 1700’s, and a very simple way that diplomacy worked for these countries.
ReplyDeleteIn 7th grade social studies, we did a similar activity to show how countries would ally and fight common enemies during World War II. Both these activities gave us a fun and meaningful example of how and why these important events in history occurred, and helped build teamwork and cooperation skills. Obviously they were very meaningful to me, as I remember them clearly so many years after, and hope to use them in some form in my instruction in the future.
The most memorable experience I had was in 2nd grade. We were doing a dinosaur unit and we would check out lots of books and we would do a bunch of different activities. We picked one dinosaur and we had to learn as much about that one dinosaur. My favorite part of the unit was that we made playdough out of kool-aid and we formed it into the dinosaur we were studying. This unit fit into so many different instructional strategies. We were reading the books so we were doing literature working on our reading. We also did some social studies and science because we were making things and we were talking about the era that dinosaurs live.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in middle school, we had family and consumer sciences. I remember the day that I learned to sew a button onto a piece of fabric, we got to pick our fabric and our button. Once we sewed our button on we got to show it off to everyone in the class. This made me feel good about my work and want to keep practicing it.
ReplyDeleteI also remember doing an activity like Lindsey talked about but instead of researching dinosaurs, we researched cavemen. We got to make a model of what the cavemen would have lived in and dressed like out of colored clay.
ReplyDeleteI did something very similar to Katie when I was in elementary school also! We were learning the song "Fifty Nifty United States" when we were learning all of the states. I still remember this song and I can sing it word for word. It still helps me remember all of the states now!
ReplyDeleteThe most memorable experience I've had as a learner was when I was in 8th grade. We had an event called "river day" which is when we presented all of our river projects. First we started by testing a river three times and learning many different things about what the readings meant. We had a great time testing the different things in the river, and then proceeded to research different things about rivers and came up with a project to do with a partner and presented them throughout the day to many different classes throughout the elementary and middle school. Some groups came up with different games kids could play and some came up with displays that mechanically demonstrated the testing strategies and some reported on the different kinds of animals living in the river. I believe that this activity was so memorable for me because it was a lot of fun and a hands on activity that allowed us all to participate.
ReplyDeleteLike Brittney, our school would put on school plays. It was fun for all of the students, because each person had a part that was important. There were drama roles, researcher roles, choir roles, technology roles, and stage crew. I think that this is a wonderful example of project learning. Students who have creative activities and projects will learn the best in those environments. If they are enjoying what they are doing, then they will want to learn more about that area.
ReplyDeleteMy most memorable experience would have to be in 1st grade. my first grade memory is everything that my teacher Mrs. Dennis did. she was so nurturing and committed to her job. this was a time when you are learning all kinds of new things and my favorite thing to do was the morning activity, every morning we got to be involved in the schedule for the day as a class we would change the days we been in school, the weather, change the calendar, just all that fun stuff that keeps you involved and excited to learn that day. First grade was most memorable moment. i know it is probably easy for teacher to be so nurturing and care when students are that little and young but she always went above and beyond, classroom parties were the best. man it makes me miss first grade.
ReplyDeleteMy most memorable experience as a learner is from third grade when we were studying a unit on Chicago. My teacher, Mrs. Powers, had our class study the history of Chicago such as the big Chicago fire and the major buildings. Each of us had a partner and we made a replical of a building we were assigned to out of construction paper and put it up on the bulletin board to create the Chicago skyline. Each partner pair would present their building as well as facts about our building. Since where I grew up and went to school was a hour outside Chicago my teacher decided to take advantage of this a booked a field trip to Chicago and to the top of the Sears Tower. The entire third grade, about 200 kids, rode the train into the city, walked downtown, did a boat tour and went to the top of the Sears Tower. When we returned from our trip we wrote about our most memorable experience in Chicago and why. We also made picture frames to put pictures from our field trip in, and I still have it today. This unit and field trip is so memorable to me because it was relatable to everyone in the class and it eventually became hands on with the field trip.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Amanda said about her teacher being so nurturing and commited to her job to be one of her most memorable things about elementary school. I think that this is very true because my third and fourth grade teachers made it so evident that they cared and loved their job that it was impossible to not have fun while at school. I remember every song my fourth grade teacher would sing about going up to her desk if you wanted hot lunch, left over lunchboxes left in the hallway and about her favorite math problem, that I still say in my head when I come across it. I don't think that my third and fourth grade teachers realized what an impact they have had on all their students and how many memories can be formed for just loving what you do and showing it.
ReplyDelete