Greetings!

Personal Photo, Courtesy of me
About ME
Hello and welcome to my blog! First and foremost, my name is Jennifer and I am a 1st grade dual FIRST YEAR teacher! Please take a breather after reading that sentence. Also, please feel free to share or comment on any resources, tips or recommendations for my first year. Please follow me on Twitter as I continue my journey of a first year teacher. I will provide the link at the end of this post.
Courtesy of GIPHY.com

A little bit more about me is that I LOVE musicals!! In May, I won the Hamilton lottery that gave me access to awesome front-row seats for only $20! It was a great show and I did not throw away my shot to see it twice! I also saw West Side Story, a favorite of mine! 

 When I am not lesson planning, I am making slime and giggling with my four year old niece. She keeps me on my toes. We are always ready for trips to the ice cream store! We love going to Brown Cow and ordering a pail (Yes, a pail) of ice cream! 
My friend Jessica & I (P.S She's a teacher too!)
Courtesy of Benjamin Rivera 
I recently graduated from Dominican University with my BA in elementary education with endorsements in ESL and Spanish. Throughout my junior year, I had decided I wanted to continue my education upon graduating. Technology has always fascinated me. It is so amazing to think that through a click of a button we are given access to thousands of resources. 

 The School Year The school year began for us last week, so we are still waiting patiently for our iPads to roll out. Our school is 1:1 on technology, giving me the opportunity to use technology to engage my students to learn both English and Spanish. 

 When many children think of technology, they think of YouTube. However, technology is so much more than that! Throughout my student teaching in the Spring, I was exposed to creation station, where many of my students used green screens to create movies and Osmos to code. I was in awe to think that seven year olds can be so tech savvy! 

 Why technology? Goals for this year This fall I will begin courses to help me pursue my technology endorsement. I am very fortunate to work in a district where technology is 1:1. Growing up, technology was very scarce and limited. I remember my school had three computer carts for K-8 to share from. Hopefully through these courses, I will learn more on how to incorporate technology within the curriculum. When I first began my college career, I used to think technology in the classroom was just used for formal assessments, however that is not the case. I like to consider myself tech savvy, nevertheless like I say to my students, "Like you, teachers are also learning everyday." So let's get started, shall we?

Courtesy of GIPHY.com

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Comments

  1. Lauren MietelskiAugust 28, 2019 at 6:14 AM

    Hi, Jennifer.

    This was a great introductory post. Welcome to teaching! A website/class management system that young kids love is ClassDojo: https://www.classdojo.com/, and I have to say that I love it too! You load your kids into the system and it assigns them a cute little monster avatar. It gives you tools such as random choosing of individuals, easy random grouping, timers, and other tools. You can also assign students fun badges and rewards for behaviors as positive reinforcement as well as feedback for students and their parents. It is also a messaging system. I highly recommend it for your students! The best part is that it is free.

    I think it is great that you explain to students that teachers are always learning. This year I actually gave that as part of my introduction to my kids about how learning never stops, even when you become an adult. I think it is really important in today's world especially to give kids the life-long learning frame of mind.

    I earned my ESL endorsement a year or so ago but am always looking for more tools to help my ESL students, so anything you can share would be wonderful, especially technology programs. For example, I like Vocaroo for students to record their reading and listen to it: https://vocaroo.com/.

    By the way, I also love musical and finally got to see Hamilton this summer! I also saw SIX, which I highly recommend. It is a musical about Henry VIII's 6 wives and is retold in pop/rock/hip hop song format very much in the same vein as Hamilton. It was like going to a Beyonce concert. It's going to Broadway so check it out!

    Best of luck as you start your first year, and don't be afraid to reach out and ask as many questions as you'd like.

    Lauren Mietelski

    ReplyDelete
  2. NMZumpanoAugust 28, 2019 at 10:47 AM

    Oh my goodness- how exciting to be in your first year! You will learn so many different things this fall about technology in education- don't worry about understanding (or using) every single thing we talk about. You will find what works best for your learners. I agree with Lauren, Class Dojo is a fantastic tool. Another that your district may use already is SeeSaw (it's great on the iPad).

    Looking forward to learning with you this fall!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NMZumpanoAugust 28, 2019 at 10:50 AM

      One more: you may want to add GoNoodle.com to your resource toolkit!

      Delete
  3. Mrs. SAugust 29, 2019 at 6:46 AM

    Hi Jennifer!

    Wow what an exciting year. If your positive attitude continues throughout the entire year, you will be great. One step at a time was my motto during my first year. Also, how great is it that your school is 1:1. You can definitely start to create your teaching style around this power tool. I also agree that our students think that technology is youtube and any sort of social media, but there are so many other skills used that they will need in the future. Essentially we are preparing them for jobs that do not exits yet. My only fear is that, as teacher passionate about technology, we don't stray away from some of the more traditional skills that are also important to learning.

    Ummmmm HAMILTON!!! I saw it once as well and I am obsessed! My goal for this school year is to enter the lottery everyday to see it again. I know every word to every song. I wish I taught U.S. History not World for the sole reason to teach it through Hamilton.

    ReplyDelete

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