Name That Nursery Rhyme!

Anna K's ThingLink!

My Favorite Five Things to Share:

1. Red Heart: On August 31st, 2014, I was lucky enough to marry the fine fellow near the red heart. He's my best friend and my favorite. We laugh together, learn together, play games together, and even cook together. I'm so thankful to have his support as I work towards completing my degree in Elementary Education. 

2. Blue Heart: My family is very important to me, and friends are included in that statement because they might as well be family. I'm a twin and have a little sister also. My little sister is starting her driving adventure shortly and I can't believe it. My twin is a Subway Sandwich Artist (now I"m hungry for one of her sandwiches). My parents are great and I'm lucky to have them.

3. Back and White Circle: I graduated from John A. Logan College in May of 2014 with three associates degrees. I figured one would be too boring I guess. I fully support community colleges because I had the best time at mine. My dad got to be the "preacher man" for the graduation service. I will also graduate from Coe College in December of 2016. I will have earned my Elementary Education degree with an emphasis in reading and mathematics.

4. Green Play Button: One of my past favorite adventures was when I was Chapter President of the Upsilon Pi Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. I treasure all the memories and friendships I made through that adventure. One of my favorite experiences as Chapter President is of the 2014 Nerd Nation International Conference in Orlando, FL. My chapter won an International award! Needless to say, that was one of the most amazing memories that I hold dear. My chapter and I got to go on the International Stage to receive our award. It was amazing.

5. Yellow Star: If I ever have spare time, it is spent reading. It usually takes me a year or two to finish a book that is non-school related. I'm currently reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austin. I received that book from my old Advisor around the time I graduated from John A. Logan College. I'm just now halfway through. Reading is one of my favorite past times next to hanging out with my husband.

All About Ashlee

Why these 5 things?

Red Heart: I was just recently married to Clayton this past September. We haven been together for 6 years and I'm excited to see what the future holds for us. Having someone to support my endeavors is really important to me and he has been behind me in everything I have considered pursuing (and that has been a lot).

Blue Heart: Being a mom has always been a dream of mine. I have loved being a part of such a big family and want to have a big family of my own some day. Teaching has always been in the back of my mind and it took me a little longer to realize that a teacher is what I am meant to do. After working as a Para Educator in a modified classroom, I realized my love of being around kids and helping them in any way I can.

Yellow Star: This is our dog Penny. We are totally dog people. I am often at home by myself, particularly during wrestling season, so it's nice to have a friend around. I wasn't sold on getting a dog because they are a lot of work, but she has been the best "first" dog for us. She has such a personality and Clayton absolutely loves having a dog.

Black Star: I played softball at Coe for 4 years and now I am an Assistant Coach for the Kohawks. Softball has always been a big part of my life and has taught me a lot about myself. I grew up playing sports and I love all sports and anything that is competitive. My husband and I both hate to lose so card games and Banana-grams can get intense and usually ends with one of us taunting the other! :)

Green Star:  This is a picture of my family. I have 3 sisters, 2 brother-in-laws and a nephew, Brady. My family is very important to me. Whenever I get a chance to go back home, or to go visit my sisters, I do! My nephew is one of the cutest kids I have ever seen (I'm slightly biased) and every time I see him he has learned something new. His latest feat is walking! I love spending time with these people and they have helped shape me into the person I am.

5 Things about Amanda

5 things about Casey

Black Dot) I love being in the classroom, whether it be as a teacher or student. I believe that there is no limit to what a person can learn. And I am proud to have the ability to share my knowledge with students in the classroom.

Blue Dot)  I have a passion for what I do; teaching, coaching volleyball and life. I have never imagined my life without teaching or volleyball. Both have helped shaped me as a person and have helped me gain confidence in everything I do.

Green Dot) I am a communicator. I am able to start a conversation with pretty much anyone. When I talk, I usually tell it as I see it, unless it's a very touchy subject. I am always willing to talk to others who have questions or just need someone to talk things through.

Red Heart) I am a History Channel junkie. Anything that is on the History Channel I will watch. Reading the headlines of the History Channel website is part of my daily routine. I even included the link to the website :)

Yellow Dot) My family is the most important thing in my life. Even this guy. So far I've had two years with my boyfriend and cannot wait for years to come. My parents, brother, and my boyfriend have helped me with my goals in life and have supported me 100% as I move closer to getting my teaching license.

Also included my Twitter. Just click the Twitter bird and follow me : )

5 Things About Morgan

Morgan's 26 Question Reflection

I would definitely use the 26 Questions exercise for my future students as a way to get to know them, as well as encourage them to think about the personal qualities and attributes that they possess.  When grouping students together and having them share their answers with the members of their group, it introduces the mindset each student possesses and the importance they place on aspects of their lives.  For example, if a question asks about an aspect of your life that makes you proud and a person responds with "going to college", you can infer that the individual considers education to be important.

Though the questions were rather straight-forward, some of them were difficult to answer.  Some of the questions were ones that I had never been asked before, which means I had never thought about what my answers would be.  I was required to think "outside the box".  Through sharing with my peers, I found myself re-thinking my responses and validating my answers.  I found this to be helpful in the sense that you get a better grasp as to what you deem important.

Ashlee's 26 Question Reflection

26 Questions Every Student Should Be Able To Answer

When challenged to answer these questions in an allotted amount of time, it can be overwhelming and intimidating. However, once you start to answer these questions, the answers seem to come pretty quickly. These questions covered a range of topics including both personal questions and learning/school related questions. 

I would use these questions with my future students, however, I would not use all of them. I don't know that elementary students would be able to answer a few of the deeper, more intellectual questions. These questions were good because it forced you to reflect on the things you find important, both in your life and in school. They force to you also examine the way you learn. These questions can give a teacher a good grasp on what students expect and will need in order to reach their potential in class. It also gives the teacher a small synapse of how the students view themselves and the things they find important.

The easy part about answering these questions were the personal ones. It was easy for me to recall what I find important and to write what I think the teacher should know about me. The more challenging questions to answer were those pertaining to my learning style, and how teachers may perceive me. It was challenging to reflect on past experiences where I had to be creative. It was also challenging to sum up my philosophy. If I had more time with these types of questions, I think I could have come up with more intellectual, deeper answers. But perhaps that is the point of this activity. To see what is at the forefront of your mind?

When reading other group members answers it did stir some thoughts in my own head. I agreed with them but I wanted to come up with my own answer. Once I saw their answer, it was hard to forget it and I kept resorting back to an answer of my own very similar to theirs.

This was a good activity for students. I think it is important to do these types of activities so you yourself know where you are at and the way you feel about various things. It's so easy to go through life not giving a second thought to, for instance, my personal philosophy. This would be a great activity to do at the beginning of a school year and then do it again at the end so students can see what has changed and what they have learned throughout the year.

Casey's 26 Questions Response

          So when we were told that we had a certain amount of time to answer these 26 questions, I was kind of freaking out. In our group we split the questions among us so we could accomplish more in less time. After answering so many questions, it was confusing to who had answered questions or not. Once we started to figure out who had answered or not, we got organized and things became less chaotic.
            As I was reading and answering the questions, I started to think about how a middle school or high school student would react to this activity. I placed myself in the shoes of a student and got kind of nervous. I'm in a room where I only know maybe 5 people. So reading my group members responses helped me answer mine. But after realizing that I can just me myself, I started answering with no hesitation. Activities like this not only helps teachers and students to get to know each other, but it also establishes the rapport with students that they don't have to be nervous to answer a question because there is no wrong answer and that they can be themselves.
            I would 100% use this in my classroom. Whether it is for middle school, high school, history, or special education. Any student and teacher can benefit from this activity because it asks questions related to learning, but also to the student's life. Knowing what students are into helps teachers make connections from materials to real life. For example, my response to "what's the most creative thing I've done" is that I designed jerseys for my volleyball team that I coach. As a teacher, I can connect that to different subjects such as economy and how are you going to obtain or pay for the materials. How much material do you need and connecting it to math or home economics.
            Anytime a teacher can learn about a student and how they think helps open the door to a better relationship with the student and helping the student to reach their potential intellectually.

Anna K's 26 Q's Reflection

 In our first Technology Lab class, we were broken into groups and had to answer all 26 of these questions. After reading Educator Terry Heick's explanation of the questions for classroom use (TeachThought), I've concluded that they could be a useful resource in the classroom. Heick explains the reasoning for these questions by saying, "As an educator, your job is lead students to understanding, but student self-awareness and self-knowledge should precede that. These questions hit at a range of topics, but all revolve around that idea of a learner’s identity." Basically, Heick believes that our students need to understand themselves first before they have a true chance at learning other content in class. I agree with this. How can students relate to what and how they're learning, if they don't have a clear picture of who they are first?

The questions varied from what is important to know about ourselves all the way to deeper questions that wonder what our personal philosophy is. Questions #3, 6, 11, 13, 17 and 20 are some of the questions that I found easy to answer. They were easy because I had thought about them before. However, questions like #5, 8, 10, 15, 22, and 26 were harder to answer because they were either too broad, vague, or I hadn't ever thought about them in detail to answer in the amount of time we were given. The responses of others did make me re-think mine. They helped me either understand better what I answered or they made me think deeper about the realm of possible answers. I don't think there were any responses that really surprised me. I enjoyed this activity overall because it helped me get to know my group members in many different ways. My only complaint is that I wish we had more time to go over the answers with each other.

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