Mrs. Vanderford's Education Blog

Good evening future colleagues,           I delivered my math lesson to a small group of fifth grade students, prior to having to enrich it with technology to present it in my ETC 447 class. The technology incorporated into my lesson allowed me to create a small-group activity easily accessible to a larger group of students.           During the implementation of my lesson I believe I was able to give students a clear list of steps to follow when solving expressions that include addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division along with the use of parentheses and/or brackets. I introduced the students to the mnemonic device PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally) to assist them in remembering the steps when solving math equations using order of operations. Based on my peers advice they believe I could’ve taught my students an alternate way of approaching the problem which I would have planned to do either before or after this le...

Good Morning Teachers,  Last semester in my SPED Resource practicum placement I got the opportunity to plan out a lesson on Order of Operations and deliver it to a small group of students. The standard for my lesson is as follows:  AZ Mathematics Standard:  5.OA.A.1 Use parentheses and brackets in numerical expressions, and evaluate expressions with these symbols (Order of Operations).  The standard was chosen based on students’ needs, IEP goals, and objectives. Students’ current math levels were assessed based on progress monitoring (collected student work evidence).  Prior to this lesson students should have an understanding of the symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and parentheses. Have basic mathematical terminology (ex: add, subtract, multiply, divide, equation). Know how to add, subtract, multiply, or divide in one and two-step equations. Know how to solve multi-step equations with one type of operation.  ...

Good Evening!  Technology is easily accesible for most of our students but many don’t know the precautions that come with it. Today, I’m going to discuss the importance of teaching our students how to be good global digital citizens as they work with technology in and out of the classroom, more specifically with an educational resource I shared a few weeks ago, Seesaw.   There are four factors when it comes to Global Citizenship that teachers and students need to be aware of.  1. Safe, Ethical & Legal Use of Technology  2. Socially Responsible Digital Use 3. Equitable Access of Technology 4. Global Awareness & Cultural Understanding  The following poster does a phenomenal job putting it into student friendly language.  In what learning environments would Seesaw be appropriate? Seesaw is a great tool to use in the classroom in collaboration with our peers, our school, and other classrooms around the world. Seesaw allo...

Hello fellow teachers, Today we’re going to discuss the importance of continuous reflection in our profession. Deep thought and consideration is needed when planning lessons, during instruction and after teaching to ensure that we are being successful in reaching out to all our students while keeping their unique needs in mind and how we’re able to improve our lesson for next time. John Dewey said it best, “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.” Reflecting on Assessing Prior Knowledge and Planning Instruction            Students should have an understanding of the following symbols +, -, x, ÷ and () along with the basic mathematical terminology (ex: add, subtract, multiply, divide, equation) prior to the lesson. At this point most students know how to add, subtract, multiply, or divide in one-step equations and solve multi-step equation with one type of operation or set of operations such as + ...

Morning fellow teacher friends! Below I have provided a first impression short analysis on a few teaching resources I have not heard of or worked with in the past. Flip Quiz allows users to create Jeopardy-like games to review concepts with students. I like finding new programs like Flip Quiz to make review and quizzes more engaging and enjoyable. Having more than one in our toolbox will keep us from being repetitive with our students and exposes them to a variety of sources. Flubaroo allows teachers to quickly grade assignments when using multiple-choice method. It's an add-on for spreadsheets such as Excel. If using spreadsheet to input student data this can be a great source. If schools require a different grading system this program may not be the best due to it requiring an extra step in transferring scores. This add-on also gives us statistics such as the average score, the percent of students who got each question correct/incorrect. Students names will be in red font i...

https://web.seesaw.me/  IOS, Android, Kindle, Chromebook and Web Apps friendly. What is Seesaw?  An Instagram for your classroom, building the bridge to communication between teacher, students, and families.   Seesaw is a student driven digital portfolio application that allows students to take pictures, draw, record videos/ voice overs, take notes, share links/files, and blog. Students are able to upload their work for teacher and families to see and comment.  Families will now have a glimpse of what goes on in the classroom versus their child coming home and shrugging off the question, “Johnny, how was school today? What did you learn?” What else can Seesaw do?  Seesaw is user friendly and allows for each individual to have their own profile. Seesaw can be a great resource to show progress during parent conferences and collecting work samples.  Seesaw can send out messages to all students or all families. When and/o...

My Teaching Philosophy I believe providing a safe supportive classroom environment will promote students to feel valued, included, and empowered. In doing so I will lead by example and provide guidelines for them to do the same, with their peers. I will start the school year with a social contract where students have the opportunity to contribute to our classroom rules. This can be done by asking students: how should you treat your classmates, how should classmates treat you, how do you want your teacher to treat you, and how should we all treat each other when there is conflict? A social contract allows students to find meaning behind classroom rules and expectations and through experience are more willing to follow. To assist students in following classroom rules and expectations I'd love to set up a positive behavior system where students are rewarded for their hard work.  I believe all students are capable learners with the right instructional methods and strategies. In ...