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Spring Mid-Terms already!

It is time for Spring 2012 mid-terms, and as I've been teaching and attending classes I suddenly realized there hasn't been an update in my blog postings in ages. 

Educationally:

Mid-term papers are due this week in both my research course and my curriculum and assessment course.  Graduation is coming up very soon!  I have one more class in May term before I officially have my MEd.   I can't believe how fast the year as flown!  My research mid-term paper is focusing on my class main research assignment which is studies the effects of educational play in the curriculum on apathy and active participation.  I've never been a "hard-nosed" teacher, and I think that what is really lacking in many classrooms is the element of play.  Students are getting less time to imagine, create, and explore through play and because we know play effects cognitive, social, and emotional development, I think we are seeing those effects in our classrooms.  My notion is an educational play type curriculum.  The development of this type of curriculum that other teachers could access and incorporate in their current curriculum would really be phenomenal. 

Professionally:

My time as a long term substitute for 5th grade Science students is up, and I'm taking a short break and substituting as needed until I take up my last long term position for the year.  I will begin teaching 7th grade Social Studies in mid April through the end of the school year for a teacher who is taking his sick days as part of his retirement.  He essentially will begin his retirement vacation early, and I will get more classroom experience.
Test wise, I have passed both my PPR and my EC-6 certification exams and am awaiting graduation so that my teaching certification will be released.  Then I will be concentrating on even more tests to take so that I can increase my chances of being hired and increase the areas in which I can teach.  When I began this journey I was really focused on teaching Math, and now I've found that there are many subjects I would like to explore and teach.  What an amazing  journey this has been.

Next:
In the future, I am going to post some interesting finding concerning assessments and their importance. I found that one thing I was doing while teaching was making a lot of assessments with only the knowledge that I'd "test" on what we've gone over in class.  What I've learned is more about preparation, and that is what I will be covering soon.  Until next time, God Bless You.
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