Teaching Teachers

I had a great internship experience, I truly couldn't have asked for anything better. One thing that I especially enjoyed doing besides teaching the students in the K/1/2 classroom, but also teaching the teachers!

My internship was in a small school so it was very easy to communicate with everyone in the school. It really was like we were a family. When someone has a good idea, they share with everyone and they are constantly using each other to continue learning. Something I brought to our small staff was knowledge of technology and finding teacher resources across the web. For me, technology seems to come pretty natural, although there is more there for me to learn. And, of course, many of us know how to go online and search for teacher resources and classroom materials. 

There were two teachers in our end of the school. The K/1/2 teacher (my co-op) and the 3/4/5 teacher both who have many years of teaching experience behind them and both who are wonderful teachers. They were both talking to me one afternoon near the beginning of the school year and said, "I don't know how they expect first year teachers to buy all the resource books we have, that's not fair!" Which is true, but I questioned, "What resource books?" They opened their combined cabinet filled to the brim of workbooks with reproducible pages and lessons. This is where their learning began! 

I asked them if they have ever heard of Pinterest or TeachersPayTeachers. They looked confused, so as I lead them to the nearest computer talking about what the internet and technology has to offer. It was funny because one of them said, "Nope, I know where this is going. I'll be lucky enough if I can open my email each morning." 

So I went on to show them the two sites I had talked about and taught them how easy it is to use the internet for finding different resources. They agreed that it was much easier then having to go to the Teacher Store to grab the same type of resources. I continued to show them something new each week, and by Decemeber, they were using it pretty well, and liking it!! My co-op teacher and I actually came with the SAME lesson we had found on Pinterest and pinned to our Christmas Pinboard! 

I was really glad that I had the opportunity to teach other teachers about what I know of technology and how I can find it useful for teachers. 

Here are some sites I enjoyed throughout my internship:

Pinterest: Well, Pinterest is my all time favourite website. I'm nearing 3,000 pins and I use it all the time! If you aren't familiar with Pinterest, it's about time you get acquainted! It's your one stop shop for storing and sharing things you love! I love finding delicious recipes, DIY projects, crafts, tutorials, fonts, and obviously teacher resources. You name it, Pinterest has it. What I also like is that I can post my own things to Pinterest that I have made and get to be able to share with the world! Out of my 52 pinboards, 20 are dedicated for teaching purposed, organized by subject area and sometimes grade level. It is a great tool for teachers for sure to collaborate and share ideas and materials online. 

TeachersPayTeachers: This is a great website for teacher collaboration. It allows you to buy, sell, and share original teaching ideas. The site is not only for buying, there are MILLIONS of freebies out there for you to use as well. Any subject, any grade level, I bet there is something you are looking for. I joined as a seller a while ago because when I make something, it needs to be ultra cute, so I thought that it is also a great outlet for people like me who are wanting to share their work! The site is really user friendly and I all around love it because you don't have to go to the Teacher Store to buy something, it's right at your fingertips, the priced items are reasonably priced, AND your supporting other teachers as well! 

Education.com: This is a great site if you are looking for free, printable booklets or work pages for addition practice in areas like math and language arts.

I used many other great teacher made blogs to find some helpful ideas while I was planning as well. Its important to remember that pretty much everything you need is out there, so there's no need recreating it.

I'd like to know in the comments of any other sites that you find particularly helpful when planning!!

Kaitlyn :)

PS: Let me know if you would like a video tutorial on how to create a personalized banner (similar to mine above) for your blog. I'd like to play around with Screenr and would make one if there's interest :)