3.2 100th Day of School

 In my Education Technology, we are going over the 100th day of school. If you have ever attended a public elementary school, you have probably celebrated the 100th day of school. Schools usually celebrate this day by dressing up as 100 year olds, and the day follows with tons of activities involving the number 100. 

    One of my favorite memories from the 100th day of school, was when I was kindergarten. It was the first 100th day of school celebration and I thought it was so cool that I got to dress up as if I was 100 years old. The day was filled with tons of activities involving the number 100, my favorite one was the cup stacking game where you stack 100 cups into a pyramid as fast as you can. 

    In high school people don't really celebrate the 100th day of school, so after looking at different websites I found one called Teacher Lists and gave some great ideas for the 100th day of school. Some of the ideas included writing down 100 acts of kindness, teachers could have the students pass around a paper and each one write down one act of kindness. English teachers for bellwork could have their students write a paragraph or so about what they think the world will be like and 100 years. Lastly art teachers could have the students make art out of the number 100. 

    In conclusion, these are some of the things I enjoyed doing while celebrating the 100th day of school, and here are some ideas on how to celebrate the 100th day of school now. 

Source: TeachLists

3.1 One Word

Positive 

    All throughout 2025, I learned that it is very important to have a positive outlook on life no matter what the circumstances are. There are so many negative things in our world today that it is hard to stay positive, but I tend to notice people who are always positive no matter what. That is the person I aspire to be everyday. So as the new year begins I want to be that person who is always positive, no matter what is happening in the world. Sometimes all a person needs to see is a smile to brighten the day. So lets be positive in our daily lives, give someone a smile that needs one, and be a happy person. 

Pros and Cons to Canva

 Introduction

    Canva has become one of the most popular online design tools. But there have been many debates about if its a good resource or not. But like any tool, Canva comes with post advantages and its disadvantages. Understanding these can help you decide whether it's the right design solution for your needs.

 Pros to Canva

    Canva's biggest advantage is how simple it is. The drag-and-drop options allow users to create a professional looking presentation. It offers thousands of templates for social media, business, school projects, videos, invitations, and plenty more. Also it has the feature to share projects with other people, which allows multiple individuals to work on something together. 

 Cons to Canva 

    Even though the benefits that Canva provides, it has limitations. Many of the templates that look the most professional users have to pay in order to use the template. Some of these templates are more expensive than others, which eventually adds up. Canva is mostly internet-dependent, so users have to have a stable connection in order for it to work effectively. Lastly, certain professional file formats for printing or advanced work are only available for members, and being a member costs money.

 Conclusion

    Canva is an accessible tool that makes graphic design easy for most people. It's user-friendly options, cute templates, and the sharing tool are great to quickly create visually appealing designs. However, for those who are seeking a cost friendly website, Canva has its limitations.  By weighing Canva's pros and cons, you can be the decider if Canva is a good fit for you or not.

 

Mini Teach 2

 Introduction

    The second lesson was that I had the opportunity to teach Mrs. Kiihnl's fourth-grade Literacy class about Nature's Fury, in a National Geographic magazine. Mrs. Kiihnl had provided me with the students' bellwork, and a copy of Nature's Fury.

Lesson Plan Overview 

    When the students came in they began working on bellwork, and after that I went over the answers with the students. Once that was done the students took out Nature's Fury, and I began reading The Eruption of Vesuvius. When I had finished reading, I had the students go back to the text and underline all the vocabulary words for the week. Then we went over the vocabulary words. 

 Changes to the Lesson

    Some of the changes I could've made to my lesson, was the pronunciation of some of the words in the passage. When I was checking over bellwork with the students, I should've read the answers options to the question. I think that if I did this the students would have a better understanding of the questions. 

Conclusion 

    In conclusion, I had a wonderful time teaching this lesson to Mrs. Kiihnl's class. I have started picking up on some changes I can make in the future, in order to become the best teacher I can be. I have loved getting this opportunity to teach a class, even though I'm not their teacher, it was still so much fun.  

Mini Teach 1

 Introduction

    I had the wonderful opportunity to teach Mrs. Kiihnl's fourth-grade Literacy class. While I was teaching I was able to understand a little bit more about classroom management. 

Lesson Plan Overview 

     The lesson I taught was all about Comparative and  Superlative Adjectives. I taught this lesson with two worksheets, one of which was to demonstrate to the class, and the other for the students to work on.I taught this lesson for the last ten to fifteen minutes of the class period.

Changes to the Lesson

    One of the changes that I could've made to the lesson is to give the students clearer directions during the lesson. At some point the students would ask me what to do after they finished the worksheet. One of the other problems I faced was students thought “gooder” was a word. So I had to tell them that the comparative and superlative adjective was better and best for the adjective good, this is another example of when I should've given the students more directions.

Conclusion

    In conclusion, I had a wonderful time teaching Mrs.Kiihnl's 4th grade class. I learned many things during the short amount of time of teaching. I learned that you need to give clear directions for the students to completely understand what is going on during the lesson. Other than that I had a wonderful time teaching my lesson to students. 

4.2 Observations 4-6

Introduction

    These past three weeks I have had the wonderful opportunity to observe Mrs. Kiihnl's 4th grade Literacy class. While observing I have learned different methods on teaching and how to manage a classroom. I have also learned how to make myself clear when I'm teaching, for the students to be able to understand the concepts of what is being taught.

Whole Class 1

    My overall favorite part of observing the class was the positivity that the students had, every time I was there. They didn't complain about the work that Mrs. Kiihnl would give out. I thought that the students would have some sort of complaint about the work, you know because they're kids, but that never once complained. I remember thinking to myself I hope I have a group of kids that don't complain about the work I give them. 

Whole Class 2 

    I also really enjoyed how the classroom was set up. The layout of the room was very well designed, Mrs. Kiihnl used circle tables with 4 seats at each table. The tables worked really well with the classroom, between each table there was plenty of room for movement. The seating arrangement was in group pods, so it allowed the students to work together, but during a test the students had privacy folders, so the other students couldn't look at the others. I also loved the design of the classroom, Mrs. Kiihnl uses different kinds of inspirational posters, to encourage the students to try their best. 

Teacher Methods 1

    When I was observing Mrs. Kiihnl, I learned many different teaching methods to use while I was observing. One of the methods that she taught me, is that it's okay for students not to get the information the first time. She showed me that sometimes you need to give some students a little extra help on things. During a test one day on paper, one of the students understands the information being read to them, so Mrs. Kiihnl read the questions and answers to them so that the student would have a better understanding of the test.

Teacher Methods 2

    One of the other teaching methods I learned while observing Mrs. Kiihnl, was how she used the Chromebooks with her class. In some classes all the students do their learning on the computer, but Mrs. Kiihnl split up her class time with worksheets and then Chromebooks. She told me that she found with this particular class they picked up more information when it was on worksheets for the students. Mrs. Kiihnl also said that she found worksheets to be more interactive than the Chromebooks were.  

The Overall Impact

    The overall impact that I had while observing Mrs. Kiihnl, is to always be paying attention to the students needs. I learned that there are some students who have accommodations that need some more help than others, such as reading aloud so that they comprehend the information better. I also learned to be paying attention to how the whole class takes in information. Mrs. Kiihnl taught me that some of her classes take in information better on a worksheet than on a computer. 

Conclusion 

    In conclusion, I had a wonderful time observing Mrs. Kiihnl's class, I really enjoyed the time I spent with the class. While observing I learned many different teaching methods, that I hope to use in the future. I'm so blessed that I had the opportunity to observe a wonderful teacher who taught me many things. 

4.1 Observations 1-3

 Introduction

    The past three weeks, I have had the wonderful opportunity to observe Mrs. Kiihnl's 4th-grade Literacy class. I go to observe this class two days a week, so in total I have been there five days. While observing, I have learned many different teaching methods that I hope to use in future as a teacher. I have had a wonderful time observing this class.

Whole Class 1

    My number one favorite part of the class, was how well-behaved the class was throughout the class. The teacher had clearly set some ground rules. The students also knew what the day would look like, once students came in they all knew it was time for bellwork, and then read. While observing Mrs. Kiihnl, I noticed that Mrs. Kiihnl noticed a student who was struggling, but before she could help the student, another student asked if they could help the student. I thought this was very interesting because you could tell the students were aware of other people in the room. 

Whole Class 2

    I also really enjoyed, how involved the students were throughout the class. There was never the awkward silence after Mrs. Kiihnl would ask a question. After she would ask a question the majority of the class would raise their hands to answer. Also, when the students had the opportunity to read aloud in class, Mrs. Kiihnl would draw ducks that had their class numbers on it, and if the students didn't have their number called you could hear audible complaints about not being called upon. I thought this was  cool, because this was my first time observing a class who  wanted to be involved. 

Teacher Methods 1

    I  enjoyed seeing all the different methods Mrs. Kiihnl used. My favorite one that Mrs. Kiihnl used every time I was in the class, was the hand motions she used for the students to remember the structures of words. It seemed that all the students knew the hand motions for each of the structures. I personally thought this was a great way for students to remember different things and a great visual representation. I definitely see myself using this method in my future teaching job.

Teaching Methods 2   

    I also  enjoyed the slideshows Mrs. Kiihnl used in her class. The slideshows would give the students which would explain what the day would look like and what the objectives were for the week. I thought this was a very interesting concept to show the students what the following week is going to involve, and what is being taught. This also gives the students a visual representation of what to expect for the week and what is being expected of the students. I plan on using slideshows for students in the future, to give a visual representation, and what is expected of my students. 

 The Overall Impact

    The overall impact I had while observing Mrs. Kiihnl's class, was how Mrs. Kiihnl knew how to handle some outburst while she was teaching without getting completely off track. She knew what the class and that student needed at that moment. I thought the way she handled it was very professional, she simply said wait in the hallway for me and that was that. She didn't let the student interrupt the whole class, and she didn't let the students' behavior take her off track. I thought the way she handled the situation was very professional and I hope that one day I can be just as professional when handling a situation like that. 

Conclusion

    In conclusion, I had a wonderful time observing Mrs. Kiihnl's class. I really did enjoy my time that I got to spend with this class. I learned many different things that I hope to establish in my own classroom one day. I hope one day that I'll be able to have a class that was just as involved with me, as Mrs. Kiihnl's class was involved with her.