Trapezoids and Hypotenuses and Circumferences! Oh My!:The Importance of Geometry

So what is geometry all about? The first thing I think about when I hear the word "geometry" is shapes. When I think about it further, I remember concepts like area, perimeter, parallelogram, circumference, hypotenuse, length and width. But what is the purpose of all of these terms when talking about geometry? To me, geometry is all about shapes and their properties, how we define those shapes and how learning about all of this helps us to better understand the world around us. 

The first time one learns about "geometry" is when you are first learning how to speak. Usually there is a book or poster that has simple shapes like circle and square that are labeled. Then throughout elementary school, we are taught briefly concepts relating to geometry. Then all of a sudden in high school, we are thrown into a class completely dedicated to geometry. We are learning how to identify more complex shapes, the formulas for those shapes, and my personal favorite, how to find the missing side of that shape. Condensing all of this content into one class can throw most students for a loop, but even worse cause them to not retain the information. 

Why would we need to know about geometry? Will we ever even use it in the "real world"? In the world we live in, we are surrounded by space and multitude of objects in that space. Geometry helps us to better understand the objects/shapes around us. Geometry has real world applications that are often not expressed to students. Many occupations use a form of geometry to complete daily tasks. This weekend I watched the movie "Suicide Squad". A character in the movie Dead Shot is a famous hit man who uses geometry and angles to help him "finish the job". Even at the end of the movie, he helps his daughter with her geometry homework by relating it to his line of work. It's a bit of an unconventional example, but an example none the less. 

3 Branches of National Government Infographic

I just got an assignment to create an infographic that would help students to learn content. The standard and clarifying objective I chose was:

3.C&G.1 Understand the development, structure and function of local government.

3.C&G.1.3 Understand the three branches of government, with an emphasis on local government.

        You may be thinking, "well that standard doesn't specifically talk about the national government?" And you are right, it doesn't!The standard discusses the students being able to understand the three branches of government with an emphasis on the local government.

         As you can see, my infographic is on the three branches of the national government. The infographic discusses the 3 branches, their purpose, and who is a part of that branch. I would use the infographic to help the students understand the three branches of the national government and why they are important. I would use the infographic to help the students make connections between the structure of the national, state and local government.

         I, as the teacher, would go over the infographic in detail with students. I would ask the students related questions to further their understanding. I would then post it in the classroom for them to reference when we begin discussing the state and local government. The students would ask and answer questions related to the infographic. The students would use the infographic as a tool to reference to when we begin discussing the local government. I would use this infographic when introducing a unit on the three branches of government.  My unit of lessons would start broad with the national government and then narrow in on the local government.

Digital Literacy: What You need to know

The meaning of literacy has evolved over time. Literacy is usually defined as being able to read and write. In today's rapidly evolving society, literacy extends beyond its basic definition. According to US Digital Literacy, digital literacy is "the ability to use digital technology, communication tools or networks to locate, evaluate, use and create information." Digital literacy extends to student's ability to comprehend and use digital information to learn and communicate. People need digital literacy to be a productive in a digital environment. This skill encompasses, "the ability to read and interpret media, to reproduce data and images through digital manipulation, and to evaluate and apply new knowledge gained from digital environments." Digital literacy needs to be a content priority in the classroom.

Copyright is the author's legal protection for their work so that no one can steal their thought's or ideas. According to Digital Citizenship, Copyright protects, "original works of authorship including literary works (including computer software and compilation), music dramatic works, pantomimes, choreographic work, pictoral, graphic and sculpture works (such as maps and blueprints), motion pictures, and other audio/visual works, sound recording, and architecture." Teachers need to teach students what copyright is and how to cite their sources.

Photo credits to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-University Library

The Next Morning

It was the morning after my first day of teaching. My throat hurt, my nose was stuffed, and my head was throbbing. I'm sick. I was in complete disbelief. I was vigilante in washing my hands, I brought two different types of hand sanitizer, and I made sure not to touch my face. How could this have happened? I thought I followed all the steps in stopping the  Chain of Infection. When being a teacher, is getting sick inevitable? After some research, I found the article Germ! Germs! Go Away! which gives people even more tips on how to avoid getting sick. I am currently fighting my flu with medicine, vitamin C, soup and movies. To all the other teachers and future teachers, be sure to get your Flu Shot.

The Colors of Behavior

Yesterday was my first full day in the classroom. My main goal yesterday was to observe the students and understand their daily routines. While working with the students, I began to learn more about them and their personalities. I also learned about their classroom management system. Their teacher has a painted yard stick with each of the students having there own clothes pin with their name on it.The students start off each day on green and move up and down according to their behavior throughout the day.  I noticed that this yard stick system is used school wide. Wherever the students go, the yard stick follows. It followed them to PE, lunch and the library. The yard stick system is similar to the Famous Traffic Light System. This clothespin system is widely used and varied depending on the class. I have even seen nautical themed systems. While many love this system, some teachers are not fans of the system like Fairy Dust Teaching. While I am no expert yet on classroom management, I feel as though the system should be catered toward the students. What may work great for one student, may not necessarily work well for another. Some think that this type of system is discouraging to some students and focuses more on punishment. My current practicum teacher said, "It's not the system, it's now you use it."