Education Resourses

	The following is a list of resources that will both help the teacher and the students. Enjoy. I hope these are helpful to you.
Name of online resource	Website URL	How will this site assist you in your teaching?
Apps that make my life easyer
Duolingo	https://www.duolingo.com/	This program allows the students to learn in a fun way and helps place students based on their level of understanding of the language. Duolingo monitors students’ progress throughout the program, helping students, parents and Teachers track their individual progress. Duolingo will provide students and teachers the opportunity to collaborate together with other students in group projects and turn in assignments.
Free Technology for Teachers	http://www.freetech4teachers.com/	This blog is a great spot to get new ideas about different apps and how to use them in your classroom. There are all sorts of things here. For example, one of its links was how to take virtual trips to National parks in your classroom. I think this is a great blog for any teacher to get ideas.
Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything	http://www.schrockguide.net/	This website shows how to use many different apps in the classroom. But more specifically iPads. iPads can be great resources but they can be tricky. They can get damaged, it can be a pain to get them out and put them away. So all those technicalities are summed up on this page. Take a look!
Handouts	http://handouts.in/	Another program I would love to implement is called Handouts.  Handouts provide the teachers with a paperless classroom. The students can literally click on the scanned assignment provided by the teacher under the daily assignment section. Complete the assignment and turn it into the teachers drop box.
Remind	https://www.remind.com/	I love this app too. It is basically a third party messaging board. It allows a teacher and parents to communicate without having to lose their privacy. No phone numbers are visible to the others but parents can receive and send messages through text. It definitely helps to get quick information or reminders out to parents when there is short notice. Also when a child has and IEP and constant updates are needed.  However this app only works if the parents are willing to participate and have phones.
Apps that make the kids life easier
Brain pop	https://www.brainpop.com/	I love brain Pop. It has so many  silly games. A good friend of mine uses it in her 1st and 2nd grade classes all the time. The kids love the robot and the songs. This app helps the kids learn in a fun way and many subjects too. Science, Math, History and others.
Smithsonian Museum	https://www.si.edu/museums	This website is a compilation of all the Smithsonian’s. So a teacher can choose what “topic” they want the class to learn about and go there. Many classes have their students take virtual tourers this way. Students can also complete research paper this ways as well.
i-Ready	https://i-ready.com/	i-Ready is a lot like Brain Pop. But instead of videos this website had games the students can play and learn with. This program is specifically built for the Common Core programs the students are already working with. The teacher can also chose what level to have the students play at.
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives	http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/topic_t_3.html	Ok, I know a hands on experience is better but sometimes the colors and moving parts of a video game is what kids need for a little bit. It is better than the teacher just talking most of the time. This app has all sorts of Geoboards ready to go. Without having to store them in your room. Think of it as a space saver.
NASA: For Educators	https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/index.html	Have 3rd graders needing to complete a research assignment on space. This website is were they will learn a lot. I know it is for educators but I think the videos will help grab the attention of the students. It also will help the teachers know how to incorporate the topic into other subjects with their STEM approach.

Welcome

Hi everyone
My name is Bree Villanueva. I am finishing my Masters in Elementary Education at National University. I love working with kids and feel it is my calling. Partly because its kind of a Genetic thing for me. I am a third generation teacher (or soon to be) with several cousins who have answered the call as well. Anyone who did not go into education has chosen the Military or Medicine.... so still helping others or protecting them. HAHA... But enough about me......





Welcome to a teacher's post. I am excited to share with you my experiences about teaching. I am currently a Bilingual Teacher's Aide and will be teaching my first year this coming fall. Sometimes you can feel like a crazy person running around trying to get everything done and often times that leads to extra stress that you do not need. I have felt like this opossum several times. Like I have taken on too much and gotten myself stuck in a situation that I cannot get myself out of. I'm scared and ready to snap. However there are several ways we as teachers can help alleviate that stress not only for ourselves, but for our students as well. Believe it or not, being a student is hard work. Our students are young and are being asked to sit still for long periods of time. On top of that they are being asked to remember lots of information. Many do not understand for several reasons.

I guess you could say I am a strict teacher. I expect the students to a least try. I am strict with a hug. I believe that students need to know boundaries. Every kid will test you. They want to know what they can and cannot get away with. I have seen several times where the teacher who is all sunshine and roses has a hard time with the class. They do not respect their teacher because they do not know their boundaries. I hope to gain the trust of my students and respect. I of course respect flows both ways. However I cannot hope to teach anything if I cannot manage my classroom.

I learn from more of a hands on style as well as visual. I hope that this will also help my students. Since I learn best if I am enjoying myself my students should also have the same opportunity. If students are not having fun they get board and begin to shut down in class, and that is when management/ behavior problems begin.

There are a few things I have done to differentiate the learning for my small group of students I work with each hour. The first thing I did was move my 'kidney' table closer to the white board. Many students are near sighted and have a hard time seeing the board. And others many not hear as well so speaking louder would be beneficial. These are probably the first things to do with any classroom. Making sure that all students can see and hear what you are doing in front eliminates a good portion of any problems you may be facing.

Other not so easy problems are what I deal with. Language barrier. Since I work with the students who speak another language other than English at home, many times they fall behind due to simple miscommunication. So when I get these students and their teacher tells me that they cannot comprehend what they are reading for the life of them I have to think, "Um Yes. They do not know all the words." So what I do is to first ask them what they do remember from the story. After that we will read slowly stopping when they do not understand a word or phrase. This can be a tedious process depending on how much English the student does or doesn't know. Generally if a teacher can front load these words before hand, it can help. Front Loading means that the teacher begins by giving the students a list of vocabulary that may be difficult or new to the students. The entire class would go over the words before they even opened their books.

Another trick I like to use, especially like to use with math is write out every step it would take to solve the problem. This takes up a lot of space on the board, but if the students also write it down they will have a template to fall back on when they have trouble later. I do this in the following:






There are so many ways to modify the learning of our students. As teachers it is our job to help each one of them succeed as a student.