Life Thusfar

I know it has been a while, and plenty has happened since last I wrote. For heaven's sake, my last practicum happened! And for those who don't know, it went amazingly. I think I was converted to the upper grades, but that may only be because I fell in love with my mentor teacher. I cannot say enough about how magical she made my practicum. The kids were great and wonderful and hilarious, but Stephanie was the icing on the cake. That may all seem creepy, but I will really miss working with her.
I had my internship interview last Monday, and got a job! I'll be teaching 3rd grade for Larsen Elementary in Spanish Fork. I cannot believe how excited I am to have my own classroom and my own students and everything. It's amazingly overwhelming, but it will be a great experience.
Because I know my next year of life is secured, it has squelched the last embers of desire to do well in my classes. The common mentality in my cohort is that we already have jobs, and it doesn't matter how we do these last few weeks as long as we scrape by. Yes, I am one of the masses. I am trying to at least stumble across the finish line, but no promises for anything better than that. It's all very surreal, actually, knowing that these are my last days as a BYU campus goer. I feel like I should be drinking it all in, but at the same time, I just want to get away.
And the pinnacle of all reasons that I want this semester to end: getting married to the love of my life. No, not pink milk, not ping pong, not even MASH. That's right, the great Corbini, Corb-star, Corbina. Corbin has made this past school year such a wonderful experience, and I hope I've made it the same for him. We've only got less than a month to go, and we are so excited. There are still things to be done, but the business in that aspect will help the time to go faster, I think.
In less exciting news, I had oral surgery on Friday, and I am healing up nicely. Corbin and I have also been sick all weekend, but it feels like things are looking up and we're on the mend.
I hope some of this distractedness will settle down at least until school ends, then I will allow myself to lose my mind. So please, however comes in contact with me, don't judge if I'm a little mean or crazy. Just blame it on all the stuff I have going on. Also blame the hormones. =)

Things that make me happy...
Being with Corbin
reading/ listening to books
playing with my babies
visiting the elementary schools
having dinner with my family posse
Having this winter not be too bitterly cold
Hearing about my best friend's first kiss
delicious food and being able to eat it
sleep
getting big checks in the mail
MASH
turning in applications
turning in big homework assignments
accomplishing things on my wedding to do list
A friendly smile at church, since I am the new girl
the idea of teaching next year
the Gospel
listening to my favorite music
my nice future family-in-law
my own family
reading my old journals

I have felt a little bedraggled lately, so it's nice to remember all the good things I got going for me. =)

Weather Voicethread

I watched Robin's voicethread, which talked about the microscope. It was really descriptive, and I think she used the voicethread well to show us he different things a teacher can do with it, such as finding things around their homes or around the school, and looking at it in a whole different way.
I also watched Alli's voicethread about the Swiss Alps, and I learned that there are so many different ways of doing a science project, especially using google earth. There are all different kinds of extensions one can do with her project, and it didn't seem like it was too complex for her to make.
The last one I watched Nancy's voicethread about the chemical reactions. It was cool to see how, even though we both used the temperature probe, that there are still many many uses for it, and they are used in different pedagogy as well as content.

Internet Safety Reflection

1. I went to stopcyberbullying.org and read around the site. It was really interesting, because it explained just what it was, how to prevent it, and how to deal with it once it starts.
2. I loved the Dateline video on the generation growing up with the internet. It's strange to think that I am in a different generation than my 16 year old sister. She is definitely a part of that digital generation, and I want to help keep her safe while she is online, in addition to helping her not be consumed by it.
3. My most important take-away was just the simple things that can help keep a child safe on the internet: making sure they never give away personal information, keep the computer in a high-traffic area, limit computer time, etc. Some of the things they discussed on the Dateline video really scared me. The online bullying that occurs, the secret relationships and activities that the kids participate in, the way that people let the computer consume their life; these show me the importance for putting up those firewalls, and checking up on what the children are up to. This also shows the importance of family relationships. If a child is taught the correct principles, and has an open and easy relationship with the parents, he will be less likely to do things he knows is wrong.
4. For my "doing" experience, I called my sister who has a one year old son. I asked her what she knows about general internet safety. She told me that internet safety is becoming more and more important as more things become digital. She knows there are filtering services that parents can take advantage of, and to keep computers in high-traffic areas of the household. She also talked about how there are many sites that require people to have a loggin with an age requirement, and that it is very easy for kids to lie.
After she told me the things that she knew, I shared with her some of the more important and interesting things I learned from the readings and videos. I talked about Elder Bednar's talk "Things as they Really Are," and how some people let their physical bodies take a back seat to the digital world. They have two identities: their real world self, and their online self. But the scriptures tell us not to be two-faced, and the internet is no exception. She agreed with all these things, and we talked about our little sister who I mentioned above. My older sister is also very technically involved, but I believe she does productive things, rather than merely chatting with friends and surfing the net like our little sister does.
I was surprised that she did not rattle off bunches of things about internet safety, because she knows so much about it. Our father is in charge of the computers at the high school where he teaches, so he knows all about putting security on the computers. He instilled in us the know-how to navigate the internet safely, and I think my sister wasn't able to rattle those things off because they have become second nature to her.
I think that once her son gets to be a little older, that she will take into account those words of advice, and the knowledge that she has, and create a safe online environment for him to explore.

I have completed the course evaluation, the feedback survey, and checked my scores on Moodle.

TPACK project

Well, it's late, but it's here!

Or you can look at it from my google docs page.

juliechatfieldweather

Name: Julie Chatfield
Title: weather
Summary: I will use the digital thermometer from the McKay building to track the weather throughout the day.  We can then use the program Kidsperation to track the weather. We will look at a list of local animals, and use websites to see if the weather that day suits them.
Primary Core Objective: 2nd Grade Standard 3 Objective 2a. Describe how weather affects people and animals
Materials Used by the Teacher:   List of local animals that might be affected most by weather (ie. Insects, small mammals, etc.)	Materials Used by the Students:   List of local animals that might be affected most by weather (ie. Insects, small mammals, etc.)
Technologies Used by the Teacher:   Digital thermometer Computers with internet access	Technologies Used by the Students:   Digital thermometer Computers with internet access
Intended Learning Outcomes:  Students should be able to operate a digital thermometer, and how the temperature affects local animals.
Instructional Procedures: At the beginning of the day, I will explain the activity.  We will go outside every hour and look at the cloud formations, and take a temperature reading.  We will enter the data into Kidsperation, and observe the trend.  At the end of the day, we will look at a list of local animals, and choose a few that we would like to study.  We will look online at the weather that they survive in best, and the changes they have to make with the weather changes.  We will see what the animals are most likely doing that day.
Extensions:   We can talk about how people are affected by the weather.  What clothes to wear, what different foods we eat, games we play, ect.
Assessment Plan: Find pictures of each of the animals we discuss, and have them sort the pictures into summer winter spring summer columns by which season the animals thrive most in.

 

juliechatfieldguidedreading

Name: Julie Chatfield
Title: Guided Reading-Squirrel
Summary: Use a computer program to compose a graphic organizer to aid in making a summary for chapter 4 of The Great Squirrel Uprising.
Primary Core Objective: Standard 7 Objective 2g. Summarize important ideas/events; summarize supporting details in sequence
Materials Used by the Teacher:   The Great Squirrel Uprising Map of Central Park	Materials Used by the Students:   The Great Squirrel Uprising Map of Central Park
Technologies Used by the Teacher:   Kidsperation	Technologies Used by the Students:   Kidsperation
Intended Learning Outcomes:   The students should be able to effectively summarize the chapter we are focusing on.
Instructional Procedures: Before the lesson begins, the students should have read chapter four of the book.  We will come together and quickly brainstorm the main ideas and characters of the chapter.  As a group, we will get on the website and write down all the concepts we discussed in a spider graph.  From that we will put them in chronological order, and synthesize the ideas into a summary of the chapter.  This will help remind them of what happened in the chapter when we revisit it after we have completed the book.
Extensions:   We can use an online art program to draw a picture of the highlight of the chapter.
Assessment Plan:   Have them write a summary of their own, compare, and see if all the main parts of the chapter are there.