Peer Tutoring

As I mentioned in the Reading post, I think success can be made through peer tutoring. I plan on having my students work together in my classroom. I think the teacher teaching at the front of the classroom is important, but I think that gets very boring for students. I think the peer tutoring would be a great way for students to learn from what they know as well as from their classmates. One student may understand what I am teaching them, but when they get the information from another student it sometimes becomes a lot more clear to them.
These are a few ways I will use peer tutoring in my classroom:
a) After each lesson I teach I will let the students get into groups to discuss what I taught and to see what the other students got from the lecture.
b) Before a test I will let the students get into their groups to study what they have learned for the test.
c) I will let them do projects in groups of two so they can gather twice as much information on their topic than they would by their self.

Reading

I am a huge fan of Reading and I think this is a huge tool students should be able to accomplish before they leave the first grade. I think Reading should be a huge part of education. One way I plan to help children with their reading skills is through reading groups. I plan to have the students in my class who can read well and have a high reading level to be in the same group as a student who can not read as well with a low reading level. The reason I think this will be a success in my classroom is that not only are the children who can not read as well are learning how to read, but the children who can read well are getting extra practice at reading as well as learning how to help their peers.

Test Taking

I am not a big fan on test taking and I never have been. I feel like this is a poor way of measuring students knowledge on so many levels. For one reason, I think a lot of students are just poor test takers. Some children have really bad anxiety about test taking and if they really do know the information on the test they are so nervous that they can not do as well as they should on their test. I think one way to "test" students knowledge would be to have hands on activities for them to do without calling it a test. I know that they have to take the tests that the state requires them to take, but I think teachers should cut back on how many extra tests they give their students.

Technology

I plan on using as much technology as possible in my classroom because in our society a lot of technology is being used and I think it is very important for students to know how to use the technology that is essential for their education. These are some of the technologies I plan to use when I become a teacher:
1. Power Point
2. Computers
3. Projector
4. Smart Board
These are just a few types of technology I would like to use in my classroom and some of the things I would like to teach my students about.

Interactive Games

When I become a teacher I plan on using as many interactive games with my students as possible. These games will obviously be educational games, but I plan on using games to enhance their knowledge on the subject area we are working with. I can remember playing educational games when I was in elementary school and it seemed to work with me very well. I think students should be able to do hands on things such as games as well as the desk work. I think this would give every student a chance to learn in the way the learn the best whether it be at their desk doing book work or playing an educational game dealing with the material we are learning that day.

Google Docs Power Point

I have grown to love Google Docs Power Point while taking EDM 310 and the University of South Alabama. We were assigned a project through this tool and I have loved it ever since. The main reason I like this tool so much is because you can access your Power Points anywhere at anytime as well as on any computer. I plan to teach mt students how to use this tool and I plan to use this tool in my classroom.