Long-Term ESL Substitute Teacher

I accepted a year long job as an ESL teacher for 2nd graders two weeks ago. I was really excited and nervous because never have I imagined I would get this job quickly. I am excited because I get to see the kids everyday and see them grow. I am substituting for 4 days Monday through Thursday which are really good days. I am bit still overwhelmed because I still haven't created a set schedule for the students, so basically the past few days I've been hoping that each day that passes goes by well.



I teach about 11 groups for 30 minutes each. Therefore, I teach about 50 students in total throughout the day. I mean it took me awhile to learn their names and learn their personality. Each group is at a different English level, so I have to figure out what's best for each group. It's about to be the end 2017, and I feel like next year I will have everything figure out for each group. I am gaining an insight and experience on what's it like to be an ESL teacher teaching students whose English language is not as perfect. I am actually learning a lot to what the ESL students need.

I am trying my best to post bi-weekly! Again, please follow my blog post for future updates!

I miss PreK - All over the place - Possible year long teaching position

Hello, long time no see!

My last day to be a long-term substitute teacher for a prek class was last week (10/25/17). I miss them so much! I loved teaching and coming up with fun activities for the kids. It was a roller coaster ride. During my last day, the class gave me a gift, and I loved it! It was so pretty. It was a dream catcher painting with the students' fingerprints as the beads. I loved the creativity.

Here's the picture

It reminded me not to forget my dreams, and to work hard to achieve my goals. I still see my prek kids in the hallway whenever I substitute for other classes from different grades.
So far, I've substituted for a 2nd grade and an art class. It was a good experience since I'm dealing with different aged students. Since I am not a long-term sub for a certain class, I am going to be substituting for other classes for now until I receive news about a long-term sub.

Okay, I might get a teaching position at this school as an ESL teacher. However, it might be for a semester or until this school year is finished. I just hope it is not an obligation for me take this position for many years because I want to teach abroad. I don't know what's going to happen, but I hope it is for the best! Everything is happening in a blink of an eye. I am glad that I'm getting blessed with these opportunities.

I am going to keep you updated about my experience as a substitute teacher. Please, follow my blog posts!

My Actual First Experience as a Substitute Teacher

I started teaching Pre-K this past Wednesday, and let me say it is difficult and tiring. I didn't post right after the first day because the kids took all my energy, so when I got home I just laid in bed and napped. I never felt this "tired" in my life! Before I started teaching, I had to meet and observe the classroom. I talked with the teacher of the class to get more details about the classroom. You know like the schedule, questions that I had, etc...



I am glad that I have an aide because I don't know what I would have done without her. She has taught and took care of pre-k students before, so she has experience. She is really helpful, and I can learn from her since this is my first experience as a teacher. I noticed as days go by the students are getting better in staying in line. My students are having trouble staying line, and so I have to constantly tell them stay in line and be quiet. I can't describe how much of this takes my energy away. This class has a lot of students with different situation, but I am learnning from them so much.

I am glad tomorrow is Labor Day because I need to recharge before I start teaching again. I love every single student. I am always constantly telling myself that it is going to be okay because I do believe this class is very difficult to take care of. Even the teacher aide told me this class is very difficult, so she gets tired as well. I am going to teach this class about six weeks, so hopefully by the time it is time to say goodbye, I am going to gain a valuable experience.

I was going to post pictures of the activities that I have done with the students, but I totally forgot since I am a bit overwhelmed with the class and the class routines.

The things that I learned and noticed when subbing for Pre-K:

- there are going be students who do not listen to you at all!
- the students who do not listen to you will come and hug you ~ this happened to me so I just forget about the bad things that happened that day
- when you are eating lunch with the little ones, you barely eat because you are constantly telling the kids to sit down and helping them opening their milk/juice
- there are times you have to wipe bottoms and pull up pants for the students ( I think this is rare because usually the students are already potty trained) I had to do this because the students were having trouble and was not hurrying up.. hopefully this is a one time thing
- the little ones enjoy rewards such as toys, stickers, and candies

Well, that is it for today's blog post! I am thinking about posting next weekend to update you guys!!!

Back and Forth- Teaching is Unexpeced

It has been a couple of weeks, I think... since I posted.
I just left my part-time job for a better one that is going to lead me to my dream job which is, of course, teaching. Right now, I am going to substitute for a year. I have been told that I was going to teach ELLs instead of Pre-K, but then they said for sure that I am going to teach Pre-K.

They were figuring out which substitute teacher is going to teach Pre-k and ELLs. Ultimately, I was chosen to teach pre-k, so I am happy and nervous. I don't mind teaching ELLs since I am bilingual, and I feel like I will be able to relate to the students fairly easy.

When I say teaching is unexpected, it is unexpected because the school said I might have to start teaching this Wednesday coming, but I was told first that I will be starting in the beginning of September. The teacher might have her baby early, so I don't what is going to happen. I have to prepare myself right now because I have done nothing since I have been busy with other stuff.

I have to...

read the school's handbook
brush up on classroom management
read articles and blogs on what to expect in pre-k
look at standards for pre-k
write questions that I have to ask the teacher and principal


There are lot of things going on my mind right now. Since I am about to start substituting soon, I am going to post as soon as I complete my first day as a substitute teacher. I can't wait what this journey holds for me.

Subsitute Teacher?

I haven't updated my teaching blog in a long time! As you can see from the title and a little bit of my bio, I am going to be a substitute teacher. I am going to substitute for awhile starting this September for a Pre-k class.

I have no idea what's in for me. I had the experience in being in a pre-k classroom before because of my uni required it. I am honestly excited because I love the smaller, cute kids. I haven't prepared as much because the HR department hasn't send any info documents to give me a green light that I am ready and set to go. However, I'll handle that next week to make sure everything goes smoothly.

I wanted to update this blog because so many thoughts have been going through my mind. I recently graduated, and I could be officially be a first-year teacher a great school somewhere, but I decided not to yet because my dream was to teach abroad for a few years. I think it's going to be a good experience. It is going to give me opportunities to travel to places that I never thought I
could experience. I have never travelled abroad before besides Guatemala, but that was when I was little that I vaguely remember.



Anyways, I going to update my blog biweekly or it could be every week once I start substituting. I just hope you join me! Please don't forget to subscribe by email for future updates!!

Student-Led Conference

What is a Student-Led Conference?

I was not really aware of what student-led conference meant, but after the presentation it seemed that it would be effective in student's learning. It's almost like a teacher-parent conference, however, students are more involved in conducting the conference. Within a student-led conference, the student is able to assess and reflect on learning that he or she has been doing throughout the grade. The student is responsible for being prepared when the conference begins. Students are suppose to gather work samples that showcase how they have improved. The students have to be honest on what they report to their parents. Usually, students are suppose to write a reflection page in how students improved in their learning and also the reflection page would guide the discussion in the student-led conference. Students may talk about a certain learning goal that they want to achieve within each conference meeting. They might want to highlight strengths and weakness that they have noticed in their work samples then discuss a plan for improvements. In addition, students might discuss about issues that they might have that are affecting school performance. 

Here's a video of how a student-led conference might look like:

Student-Led Conferences: Empowerment and Ownership

Putting students in the driver's seat of their parent-teacher conferences creates opportunities for reflection, engagement, and agency. Wildwood IB World Magnet School GRADES K-8 | CHICAGO, IL Explore more resources from this school: https://www.edutopia.org/school/wildwood-ib-world-magnet-school

When teachers are facilitating a student-led conference, they must provide the technological tools that students might need to keep organized and on track. If I were scheduling the student-led conference, a popular tool that students might use to save and showcase their work samples is a digital portfolio.

An app called SeeSaw is a student-driven digital portfolio that students can use. I plan to use to SeeSaw in student-led conferences. The students do have the opportunity to insert videos, audio, and images to portfolio to make it interactive and creative for parents to view. Digital portfolios are easy to share with anyone. Teachers can save papers and time with SeeSaw. Teachers do not have to go through the hassle of assembling a folder portfolio then few days later it ends up missing or damaged.

Look at the video below to see how a student might use the features of SeeSaw to capture work samples:

Seesaw: The Learning Journal Overview

Seesaw - the learning journal that empowers students and engages parents. Download at: http://seesaw.me Teachers can setup a class and start using Seesaw in less than 60 seconds to: EMPOWER STUDENTS: Students (as young as 5!) can independently create, capture, and store artifacts of learning in their private learning journal.

4C's

Student-led conference covers the 4Cs of the 21^st century learning skills. Students are collaborating with teachers and are involving their parents in their learning. They are allowing parents to get an insight of their hard work whether it was good or bad. Students are collaborating with their peers because with the use of SeeSaw students can get inspiration on what to insert in their portfolio. Students are communicating with their teacher and parents when they walk in the meeting room prepared. They are already have the artifacts they might want to reference when talking about their strengths and weaknesses. Students are thinking critically because they are reflecting on their learning in what ways they could improve to achieve their goals. Students are creating by building and adding work samples in a digital portfolio. They can also add links, voice record, and type in notes in a work sample of their digital portfolio.  I hope I can give my students the opportunity to use these skills so that they will be prepared.

Technology Tools for a First-Year Teacher

After the presentation, I strongly agree that a lot of teachers who do not have the training with technology are not going to know how to implement technology tools effectively in the classroom thus students are not going to be engaged. Teachers who do not have the training could get overwhelmed and frustrated resulting teachers less motivated to use the 21^st century tools that the students need. I think some prekindergarten teachers would have the misconception that young children at the age 4 or 5 would not know how to use to use an iPad or even learn with it. Therefore, teachers are going to automatically think that younger students are not potential enough to learn with an iPad. Hopefully in the future, educators strive to change that mindset regardless of any grade level.

The first app that I would like to use is Class Dojo.

I would use Class Dojo in my lower grades like 2^nd grade and under because I think my students would enjoy creating their own avatars and being able to represent the characters. Class Dojo could be implemented as a behavior management tool. This a great tool for first a year teacher to facilitate students’ collaboration in assignments and projects. In addition, first year teachers can use Class Dojo as way to establish parent involvement in student's work.

The second app that I would like to use is SignUp Genius.

I think this app would be a great way to gather information from parents such as their time of availability to volunteer at a school event or attend a parent-teacher conference. This app is design to organizes a teacher's schedule in a quick and environmental way. Teachers are going to parents immediate response because they are able to select a time in their convenience. Teachers are going to save a ton paper instead of sending out flyers to each student to bring to their parents and parents remembering to returning it to their son or daughter to take back to the teacher. 

4C’s

As I have mentioned before, if teachers do not have the proper training to use technological tools and apps before implementing in their classroom there are mostly likely to get frustrated. In order to understand what technological tools and apps are effective in the classroom as a first-year teachers, the 4 Cs of the 21^st century skills are embedded in teaching with technology. It has the ability for teachers to think critically because they are going to evaluate students' assessments such as shot answers more in depth with an appropriate app (Nearpod). Technology allows teachers to communicate whether it's within the school system or around the world. Teachers can use email, video conference, or blogging as media tools to share ideas and tips among other teachers. It also allows teachers to collaborate on a lesson that they want to teach together but each teacher can make accommodations to their students in their own 

Mystery Skype

Mystery Skype that I never hear of and the first idea came to my mind is that there would be strangers on the other end of video. Mystery Skype is an educational game played among two group of class using Skype video call. The rules of the game is that the two classroom are from different parts of the world so classroom 1 would not know where classroom 2 lives. Classroom 1 and 2 must guess where they live by asking yes or no questions. Before jumping to conclusions on how the classrooms are set up to play the game, the teachers from classroom 1 and 2 would schedule a time depending on their class availability.

Click below to learn the details of mystery Skype. 

Mystery Skype

Don't miss out! Points, badges and certificates are added to your profile as you complete courses and attend Skype in the Classroom activities.

I plan to use mystery skype when I need to teach my students about geography or expanding their knowledge on other cultures. Students would be engaged in learning about different regions, continent, and countries. In order for the students to know what to ask they need to be familiarized with basic part of world as well as the cardinal directions. When allowing students to play the mystery skype game, teachers have to set the expectations because we know that we do not want a chaotic classroom environment. Teachers must emphasize that every student should take a turn and would be able to participate. I would let my students brainstorm some questions and write down so that they would be prepared once the game would begin.

Watch the video below to get an idea how mystery Skype would like in the classroom.

Mystery Skype Connecting Classrooms Around The World

Uploaded by Térence Mosca on 2015-01-15.

Mystery Skype is not only meant for geography. I plan to use it for reading instruction. If we were learning about the holocaust with a group of 3^rd grade students and reading the book Number the Stars. I would schedule a mystery Skype with author or holocaust survivor. The speaker would be able to tell the explicit details during the era. Of course, before the skype video, I would have my students to prepare questions that they would like to ask the speaker. In general, teachers can use Skype to give the students the valuable learning that they would remember.

Here are some ways that teachers could use skype in a classroom:

Top 10 Ways to Use Skype in Your Classroom (Grades K-12)

There are plenty of organizations online that broadcast their educational adventures. One such organization is FindingLife (Findinglife.ca). This past fall, the group led an expedition to climb Mount Cho Oyu. They relayed with classes back home via webisodes, blogs, Skype, and photos.

4C's

Teachers are to give the opportunity to students to learn 21^st century skills.  Students are able to collaborate students that are not just limited to their classroom or school but are able to collaborate with students from all over the world. Students are able to communicate with other students in different continents and the students are going to learn the language of other countries in order to understand that is okay to learn other language. Students are able to think critically because within the classroom they are going to collaborate to come questions they could ask to find the other classroom's exact location. If time is reserved for students to ask open-ended questions about their location, then students are going to come with meaningful questions in order to satisfy their curiosity. Students are able to be creative because students are allowed to imagine how the other classroom's location would like when students' questions are answered in order to pinpoint the location.

Student Response Systems

What are Student Response Systems?

They are tools that can be used to gather student’s answers during instruction. There are numerous apps that provides that allows teachers to formally assess student’s learning throughout the instruction. With student response systems, students are engaged and all students can participate. Some examples of student response systems are Kahoot, Socrative, and Google Docs. Most of the teachers probably already heard of Kahoot so teachers would have already have witnessed how students were excited during the “friendly competition.”

There are a couple of student response tools that I would recommend below.

Plickers

I used this amazing quick assessment tool in a lesson before. I could not believe how students were excited in using them again in another lesson that I have taught. Plickers are great for classroom that have limited number of device for each student or no device at all.  All the necessary things that a teacher would need is a device (the teacher’s) and the plicker cards. The plicker cards are sort of like QR codes. Each student has a square unique pattern on their cards and each side of the square has the letters (A-C). The students can answer based on their choice letter. Plickers can be implemented in any subject.

Here’s an overview how Plickers are used:

PLICKERS

How to use the app PLICKERS for assessments

The next tool that I plan to use is and curious about is Socrative. The student response system allows for students to be assessed in a variety of ways such as multiple choice, short answer, and matching. Teachers are allowed to personalize formal or informal assessments according to student’s needs. Students can be assessed individually, in groups, or as whole. I can see Socrative be used in any subject that I would be teaching. I think this tool well go well with reading because I can ask an open-ended question so students are apt to writing meaningful answers Therefore teachers are going to get greater analysis of students’ learning.  In addition, students can answer questions in a game format resulting students’ engagement during instruction.

4C’s

Teachers are responsible in teaching students the skill for 21^st century learning. As the students grow, especially elementary students, their attention spans are short. Therefore, implementing a variety of quick assessments with devices or without device students are going to be engaged and garner deeper learning. With students’ response systems, students are able to collaborate among their peers and teachers. Students can stop on learning and think critically why they get this answer wrong to a question. Students are able to think critically when they are able to write a short response to a question because students are not answering in yes or no response. Students are able to communicatee because teachers are able to schedule a one-to-one meeting to discuss student’s learning and give constructive feedback on how a student improve on his or her learning. Teachers are allowing students to be creative by letting them ask questions whenever they might get an incorrect answer. Also, when students are engaged they are prone to participate in classroom discussion.       

STEM and iPads

 S.T.E.M stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These concepts are part of interdisciplinary teaching that students learn. Students do not have to learn through separate subjects because incorporates all those subjects that would help students become more skilled in STEM careers. According to a report by STEMconnector.org, jobs will be available for 8.65 million people who has at least have a four-year degree in STEM related skills. As the qualified teachers we are going to be, we have to prepare the students for the future and inspire the students to create innovation.

How can we implement S.T.E.M using iPads in the classroom?

It does not hurt to start early implementing S.T.E.M in the curriculum. Students who are in pre-kindergarten are ready to be engaged in learning and it is not hard to come with up a STEM lesson. It just takes time to plan it as well getting the materials for it. The early that we teach STEM to the students we could create more critical thinkers and better prepared students. We have to explicit teach the students how to ask meaningful questions in order for them to guide their own learning. STEM is basically learning and always improving when the outcome did not result as expected. For example, a young student building tall structure with leggo blocks. The student have to think critically on what needs to be done different so that the structure would not fall again.

Visit this website to get an idea how STEM can be implemented as young as three-months old.
 http://naturalstart.org

What are some STEM apps that can be implemented in the classroom?

Students are more engaged when they have the opportunity use the iPad, especially, when it comes to learning. Learning should be fun for the students. Therefore, I did some research on apps that could be useful for the classroom.

Bridge Constructor

 

This app can be implemented if you students were learning about feet, inches, and area. Math can be actively learning by doing which can be done with constructing a bridge. Bridge Constructor lets students be creative. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bridge-constructor/id503190232?mt=8

Life of a Monarch Butterfly

This app is great for younger kids who are learning about life cycles. This app can be used whole-group instruction or students alone can learn about the life cycle of a butterfly.  Within this app, there are worksheets and a lesson plan that teachers could follow. In addition, the app has the augmented reality feature.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/life-of-a-monarch-butterfly/id663140722?mt=8

There are endless apps that could be used for STEM. Look below at the SMORE page to view the list.

STEM APPS

Design and share beautiful flyers just like this one! Spread the word with an online flyer. They're easy to make and impossible to mess up :) Try it now The following educational apps were chosen as they relate to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Some are free some are not.

4C's

Students can learn 21^st century skills through STEM with the use of iPads. Students can collaborate by on STEM challenge. Teachers can facilitate the collaborate among the group of student by assigning a role to each of the member. Students can communicate with each other in a group or in a whole-group discussion by allowing the students form questions or comments about the challenge. However, teachers have to explicitly model a discourse discussion before students are able to conduct their own discussion with their group. Students would have the opportunity to think critically because STEM challenges students to present a better alternative to a problem or situation. Finally, students would have the opportunity to create a design to solve a problem or situation. Again, back to the example of students building structure with leggos, students would have to recreate another structure that would not fall over when its built taller.