Flip-book

I have officially survived my first two full days of full time teaching in middle school!  I have to say teaching middle school is a drastic change from teaching first grade, as expected.  I believe I have finally made most adjustments and switches needed to adapt with the changes. It is great to give the students a little more freedom and independence, as at this level students are able to handle more independent work.  I have been working on creating and building student-teacher relationships and building a productive, yet positive community atmosphere where students are engaged, having fun, and learning!  I love being able to delve deeper into the science realm and release a little of my science nerd personality. 

Today, I was able to incorporate a ‘flip book’ idea I gained from my education classes at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.  My class was a little ahead of schedule and something needed to be used to fill time.  Thinking on my feet, I quickly came up with creating flipbooks of the vocabulary words we were studying for our new unit on Force and Motion.  I was extremely ‘proud’ of myself for referencing an old (but good) idea, as well the quick thinking which produced an engaging review/study tool that the students will be able to reference! :)

Force and Motion Flip-book

Force and Motion Flip-book: Term, Definition, Sentence

We are currently beginning a unit on Force and Motion and will start our Trolley lab tomorrow in class.  This lab, will take us a few days to complete as we need to create a problem statement and hypothesis, gather data, calculate averages, create graphs, and answer conclusion questions!  It is great be able to see students interacting, using inquiry skills and engaged in activity; this is one of the many reasons I absolutely LOVE science! 

Trolley :)

Lastly, through my placement, I have been introduced to Twitter.  However, it may not be the way you are thinking.  Twitter is an exceptional tool to use as a professional learning network.  I have created a Twitter account to help me stay informed on new and upcoming teaching techniques including science, literacy, common core, technology and overall education related topics.  It is amazing how with technology so many great ideas can be shared with others, which of course directly impacts the learning experience of our students!  I am very excited to continue to learn more about using Twitter as a professional learning network and of course contributing my ideas to others as well! :)