Garry

URL of Post: http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/

Title of Post: On having a teaching toolkit

In his post titled "On having a teaching toolkit" Doug Belshaw talks about how it is important to learn how to use different resources so that if you need the resource in the future it is at your fingertips. He says that although you might not use some of these tools all the time it is helpful to still learn and inquire about different things in case they can be useful in the future. He gives a list of websites and other things that are included in his teaching toolkit some of which are del.icio.us, google calendar, youtube and twitter.

I think that having a teaching tool kit sounds like a great idea.  The more you learn and the more knowledge you have the more resources you have to accomplish your goals.  A lot of the sites you have in your teaching toolkit would be useful to me when I am a teacher. I think that del.icio.us is a very resourceful tool.  I am using it in one of my classes where we are starting to make our own teaching toolkit. Google calendar seems like it would be a useful site for me as well. I think that You Tube could potentially be useful to me because I am planning on teaching Math and I could maybe tape my lessons so that if students forgot a concept that I discussed in class they could re-watch the class on You Tube.  That would also be helpful for students because they can concentrate on understanding the lesson more and concentrate less on just copying notes and steps. Twitter would be useful as well because if students had questions they could ask over twitter.  Many kids have questions but don't have time to come in for help. With twitter it would be easy to answer question at the students convenience.

URL of Post: http://practicaltheory.org/serendipity/

Title of Post: Coaching

"As much as I love what I do as principal of SLA, there are big huge parts of my life as a classroom teacher that I miss every day. The biggest thing I miss is coaching....6:30 am was our badge of honor. It meant we wanted it more than anyone else. It meant we cared. I miss that time every day."

I would like to try to coach when I am a teacher. Growing up with 2 brothers, I played sports my entire life. Like your team members I loved practices.  To tell you the truth I might have even loved the practices more then the games. I would not have had such good practices if I did not have such good coaches though. If I am ever to get a coaching position at a school I hope to be what my coaches were for me and what you are for your team.  When I talk about my coaches I am talking about my middle school coach and my high-school coach. These coaches did not just coach.  They did not just teach us how to play the game.  They taught us valuable life skills as well.  They taught us camaraderie, loyalty, teamwork and so many other important skills. They were there as a mentor as well.  All of my coaches were interested in what was going on in your life.  If you were stressed out from school, friendships, a death in the family, whatever it was my coaches were always considerate about what was going on in my own and my team members lives. I think that through coaching I will become a better teacher in the classroom as well. Teaching is much like coaching and skills that are acquired through coaching can be used in the classroom and vis-a-versa.

URL of Post: http://123elearning.blogspot.com/

Title of Post: My Window in Educational Blogging

"These are some reasons why I blog:

• I blog to share what I am doing with my students and with my own exploration of education and life
• I blog to clear my head and document new experiences, with a focus on educational technology
• I blog for fun and to be creative
• I blog to encourage interaction with other like-minded individuals
• I blog to synthesise and evaluate and reflect on my ideas and experiences"

When I am a teacher I plan on Blogging for the same reasons that you said you enjoy blogging.  I think that as a teacher it will be important to communicate with other teachers to share ideas about the classroom or to even Blog about stresses or frustrations in the classroom. I think that by Blogging and sharing with other teachers I can receive advice or get feedback on what is happening in my classroom. I think Blogging is also a good tool for self reflection. Through Blogging I will be able to reflect on my teaching. I think that it is important to reflect on ideas and experiences in order to make improvements. Blogging will be very helpful to me as a math teacher but I don't know how I can make it useful to my students and relevant to class. I was wondering if you had any ideas on how I could incorporate blogging into my classroom.

URL of Post: http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/

Title of Post: Staying up in a down world.

In her blog "staying up in a down world", Vicki Davis talks about how people need to understand themselves in order to not get overwhelmed. She gives advise on how to address problems without getting overwhelmed and how to stay motivated.

In your post you talked about how it is important to understand yourself in order to not "lose it." You also talked about how to creatively attack problems in order to motivate yourself to get your work done. I found this advise very useful for myself.  There are many times when I am overwhelmed and I get all frazzled.  My behavior often reflects my mood and I sometimes have trouble taking a time out from whatever may be putting me in my bad mood. When I become a teacher I can not let my mood change how I act in the classroom. I am going to try to pay attention to my moods more now and hopefully I can save myself some stress. I also like the advise that you gave about motivating yourself.  Sometimes when I have a lot of homework and other things to get done I get really overwhelmed and put a lot of it off to the side.  This just creates more stress.  I think that by motivating myself with a Starbucks drink, or even just a little walk it will be much easier for me to complete things when I have a long lists of tasks.