Visit My Professional Portfolio Online

I have just finished creating a wiki that containes my professional information, philosophies, and goals as a future teacher. If you wish, you're welcome to check it out at http://shelas-portfolio.wikidot.com/start Hope you enjoy it!

I made a graphic organizer about the different types of triangles for my students. This was created at cacoo.com. The image will enlarge when you click on it.

Create Your Own Flashcards

I just discovered a new website that allows teachers and students to create their own flashcards online. This is a very useful tool for in classroom activities and studing techniques. You can make your own at http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards.

Basic Music » flash card maker

The following is a voice thread that I composed at voicethread.com. The purpose of it is to have my students comment and listen to their classmates' comments about the themes of the novel Maniac Magee. I hope you enjoy it!

Useful Maps

Technology can also be used in the classroom to create maps for activities. This particular map I created is of the boundaries and useful places to look for items for a scavenger hunt. This was highly useful because it let the students know where they should and shouldn't be, and gave them an idea ahead of time the places they could get the most items they needed. While this activity was more for fun than for learning, that does not mean that maps are not useful in learning. You can create maps for math class and mapping distances, or for science and population data. They can be used for a multitude of assignments. The one I created was formed using communitywalk.com. Many students are visual learners, so adding things like this to assignments is highly beneficial to their learning.

Creating Fun Assignments

Technology can also be utilized to create fun assignments that will help students learn as well. An example that I created is a jigsaw puzzle for practicing understanding synonyms of action verbs, created at classtools.net. This assignment helps students to better grasp the concept of synonyms by physically matching them together. They could then glue them down on a sheet of paper and use them for a later resource. This layout can also be used for a variety of other subjects and patterns.

Click here for full screen version

The Digital Quiz

As a teacher, there are numerous ways you can use technology for your assignments to improve learning in the classroom. One example is a short history quiz on people who were around during exploration of America. It was created at mystudiyo.com. Creating quizes in this form makes them more relaxed, fun, and visual for the students to take. They can be formal or informal and can be used for just about anything from spelling words to math problems and terms.

Elementary Reading Rubric

I believe that rubrics are also important tools that should be utilized in the classroom. It's very important for students to know what is expected of them, as it helps them be successful in their work. In the same way, it assists teachers in grading fairly by giving specific guidelines. Rubrics can be used on any assignment, but are particularly beneficial for projects, essays, and any other type of creative work. They can also be used for classification of citizenship or participation grades as well. They are extremely flexible. I will most likely use rubrics in all of those situations, even if they are just for my own benefit. The rubric I have composed is a rubric for silent reading time in class. It informs students of my expectations of them during the time so that they can work to fulfil the requirements. My rubric is posted below.

Spiritual Status Survey

A great tool to incorporate in the classroom is the use of surveys. They can be used to collect and plot data for math or science, or they could be used simply to collect feedback from the class. I will use them for both in my classroom. To demonstrated, I did a practice survey asking my fellow students how they are doing spiritually. The results are posted below. Overall, it seems everyone is doing pretty good in their spiritual lives.

A Troubled Story

A Story.

Starring Shawn Morgan, my little brother :)

Make Your Programs Run Faster

If you find your programs are running slow, try this:

Learning Styles Reflection

Everyone learns best in a variety of ways. We all have different “intelligences.” I learn the best through Interpersonal, Logical, and Intrapersonal means. The more challenging areas of learning for me are Linguistic and Kinesthetic. I find these predictions to be to be quite accurate in my daily life. I think that in preferring certain areas over others, I am influenced to teach using the methods I relate best with. Since I understand the need for teaching for all the intelligences, however, I will strive to incorporate them all into my lesson plans and teaching because I don’t want to leave any student behind. Variety is very important to me in teaching. I have set a goal for myself to include all ten intelligences in every week of my lesson plans. Since I will be teaching all subjects in elementary school, this will be easier to interweave. My results for the intelligences test can be found at the right.

Individuals also have varying learning preferences. I have a moderate preference for reflexive and visual learning. I am fairly well balanced between sequential and global, and also between sensing and intuitive, though I lean slightly toward sensing. I believe that these results are also true in my daily life. I think that since I am fairly balanced in most areas, it will be beneficial to me as a teacher because I will be more open to the areas. Since there are two areas where I do have a preference, I will have to ensure that I balance them evenly in my teaching. I will most likely have another teacher proofread my lesson plans to ensure that my teaching is beneficial to those with every learning preference as well. These are my results for the learning preferences quiz:

My Working Life Choices (i.e. Why I want to Teach)

I am currently studying to be an elementary teacher at Cornerstone University. I have often been asked why I chose this path. Well, choosing a career path was a huge decision for me and one that I weighed greatly. I've always wanted to have a job that I will look forward to, something I enjoy and love. So, I decided I want to be a teacher because I love children. I love their innocence and their humor. I love communicating with them, and I love the moments when they learn something, or come to a realization. I love their passion for learning, and I have a passion to teach them. I want to teach because I feel there are many parents who don’t provide their children with adequate care, love, morals, and discipline, so I hope to provide my students with those things and be a positive influence on them. I would like to give them some of the attention they crave while providing them with the education they need to succeed. I hope to stimulate growth and development in all subject areas. I want to work on their weaknesses and give them a strong foundation both in their education and their life. I also want to inspire my students to do the very best they can. I truly feel that I have been called by God to teach, so I’m pursuing it with all my heart.