It's the FInal Countdown

So the semester has come to an end. It has been an eventful 15 weeks so far. A description would be a roller coaster ride of events, activities, lesson plans, unit plans, blog entries, reflections, laughs, tears, and smiles. I would like to start off by saying thank you to Dr. Smirnova. You have given me the tools I will need to be successful in my teaching career as both an elementary teacher but also as a social studies teacher. I would also like to thank my fellow colleagues for all your help in getting through this semester.  I would not have been able to make it through this experience without each and every one of you. I know you all will be amazing teachers! WE DID IT!!!

I started off this semester thinking I was taking a normal methods course. I knew it would be more challenging than most because I had taken a previous class with Dr. Smirnova and she expects nothing but the best from her students. I wish I had had a organization plan in place before the course started. I had a huge organization problem in the beginning. Even though I had a binder, the eclass format was throwing me off that I had to stay connected to my laptop. I knew I had to this based off Dr. Smrinova's previous class but it still was a transition.

All in all, we learned many helpful tools we can use in our future classrooms. My personal favorites were the artifact bags, the use of NEWSELA, which I have seen used in the classrooms I work in, Kahoot, Prezi and how to develop an effective unit plan. I feel very prepared to go into my student teaching experience. Even though I will not be student teaching until Fall 2016, I am now equipped with the tools and techniques I can practice next semester in order to be even more prepared.

The edTPA is one of the biggest and I feel even more prepared now that I have completed ed5535. The efolio was tough and time consuming, but it was effective is showing what will be expected once I am in the midst of my student teaching. I hope everyone takes Dr. Smirnova's class with an open mind and understands that the amount of work is meant to challenge us and make us better teachers than we were when we came into her course.

I wish everyone good luck in their upcoming semester and their student teaching!! You will all do great things!!

-Lauren