Where do you find the majority of your teaching resources?
I teach children in kindergarten in the Wilson School
District. As a kindergarten teacher, I
teach all subjects, including language arts, writing, math, science and social
studies. Most of the teaching resources
that I use come directly from the district curriculum which we are expected to
use but I also gather other resources from other educator’s blogs, online
resources from the curriculum itself and many times if we have a professional
development day and there is a presenter, they usually provide us with
resources to access from their website. I also use many online resources such
as You Tube for learning songs, BrainPopJr., Scholastic Let’s Find Out magazines
and a variety of online books for students to read and listen to.
Who do you look to for support and research for new ideas?
My kindergarten team is a good resource to go to for support
and to talk to about ideas and resources. I also go to the reading specialist
and the IST teacher for new ideas. The
reading specialist in my school has a great deal of research knowledge so I
often go to her for support in reading and writing. With students coming in to kindergarten at so
many different levels, she is a good support.
When I want to implement new ideas using technology, I go to the
Discovery education teacher and also the technology support coaches in the
district. The help in the classroom to
support teachers with technology.
What challenges do you face as you try to incorporate new
ideas and research with your students?
One of the biggest challenges that I face when incorporating
new ideas with students is time to plan for it and time to actually do it with
the class. There are so many
requirements that we must do with the students that I find myself struggling
with finding time to do the new ideas with students. A challenge that I face when incorporating
technology in kindergarten is the although many are technology savvy, the
device may be new to the students and the activity that we are doing so it
takes a great deal of patience on my end and the students end as well as an
extra set of hands in the classroom if possible.
