Kara+Wenberg


 * Placement:** Martin Middle School teaching 6th grade Social Studies with Mary Adams

__**ECI430:**__

While I was reading the "Getting Started" I was coming up with different ideas and really considering the importance of the first day of school. There's so many different kinds of teachers. There's the teacher that has "getting to know you" activities on the first day and a few days after that and then there's the teacher that hands out a sheet about the class and begins a lesson the first day. This article showed me the importance of getting to know my students on that first day and allowing them to have a chance to get to know me. I liked writing the letter to Clarice and Dr. Young before class started because it allowed them to have a chance to see what I had done, been through, have fears about, and anything else I decided to write about. I think that was a great activity to do because it gives the teacher time to prepare for that student to come into the classroom. It also allows them to show that they care about what that student wrote to them about. A great thing to do from that activity is to walk up to that student and pull something from the letter and ask them about it. That shows the student that you actually read their work, want to get to know them, and care about them. I really liked the different activities that the article listed. I remember doing the silhouette activity in my 6th grade and loved it! I also like the idea of the personal surveys and the fib writing. I think that would be a fun activity and it allows me to see more of my students' personalities through something like that. I enjoyed this article and I will definitely be keeping it as a reference for the different activities to use when I have my own classroom.

Timeline URL: []

Teaching Philosophy:

Ideal Classroom:

__Name Inquiry Project:__ Poem: Paper:

Visual Representation:

Poem:

Where have you gone Natasha? You are pretty and smart You are a sweet tart You are always there when I need you, but we have had to be a part And it really breaks my heart
 * Sisters**

Wedding planning can be stressful You aren't always so restful You'll be just great! I'm glad you have set a date

You're strong and confident You'll be just fine I'll try not to whine You love with all of your heart And I love you with all of mine

Unit Plan: Kara Wenberg: Sixth Grade Social Studies. My theme is "People Then and Now". They will be learning about the Middle Ages. The very beginning of the unit will rely heavily on the Black Death. Students will write news articles about the epidemic and present them to the class. We will also look at the different artists of that time and the students will create their own art work and we will have a gallery showing of their work. We will also look at doing a project with Martin Luther and his "95 Theses". My CT tends to rely on a lot of worksheets, I was going to try to incorporate these more for homework, but rely heavily on them.

__**ECI445:**__

Twitter: @karawenberg

"Writing myself into being"

Social networking is such a big part of everyone's lives in today's society. If you say you don't have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social networking site, people give you a weird look and sometimes think you have something to hide if you're not publicizing it. There is a good way and a bad way to handle your social networking site. Becoming a new teacher there are many ways to establish and keep a positive digital footprint. I think it is a great idea to have a Twitter or a Facebook group that is specifically for my classes. There would obviously be privacy settings and I would not follow or friend any of my students or allow them to follow or friend me. It also depends on the schools feelings about these sites. It seems that social media sites, computers, cell phones, and tablets are becoming pretty popular in classrooms. If I learn how to use these and teach my students how to use them positively theI think that it could work and it would allow me to connect with my students in a different way and is more on their level. I also have always wanted to started a blog. Even if no one followed my blog I would love to have one. I think that having a blog and tracking my journey to becoming a teacher and showing the different projects I am working on and what my classmates and I are doing in our classes would be a great way to establish a digital footprint that is different from my other social media sites.