Blog Post 3

The month of October absolutely flew by, especially concerning Science Methods. We have been going strong for two and a half months now, and we are rapidly approaching the final stretch of the semester. I am very proud of my group and successfully completing our science experiment. We had to work super hard together on our project because our first project failed. The thing I am most proud about this week was how my group and I worked together, communicated into late hours of the night, and supported and encouraged each other. Team environments are going to go far with us into our teaching careers. Whether we work with the teachers in our grade, teachers who teach the same subjects as us, or just an administrative staff, we will have to work with others to establish a safe and diverse learning environment, as well as facilitating learning with other teachers. This relates directly back to NCTCS Standards 1, 2 &4.  I have found a pattern in this class that every time we do an assignment or a class activity, we relate back to multiple NCTCS Teaching Standards. This is awesome because we get to practice little things for our future classroom every single day! Every class I have been in for Science Methods so far, I have learned something that I will take with me into my future classroom and apply in the future. The thing I have struggled with most this month has been spending the proper time to work on my Unit Plan. I have to admit that I have let it fall to the back burner a little because I have had so many other things to work in for this class. I will really be working in these coming weeks to go hardcore on this unit plan and finish it out fully because its due date will be here before I know it. That will be my main action plan for the month of November, as well as finalizing the science lesson that I will be teaching in my clinical placement.

• I completed a lot of outside research this week, as well as more research about some issues I am passionate about. One of these issues is called Screen Addiction or Internet Addiction. There have been many studies done lately about this topic and the information I found out really shocked me. Internet addiction is starting in children as young as toddlers (1-4 years old.) Research from the American Psychiatric Association has proposed a new diagnosis called "Internet Gaming Disorder," or "IGD." Symptoms of this can be:  signs of addictive behavior, attachment to electronic devices, spending more than 4 hours a day on a device, inability to put a time limit in use, or loss of interest in other activities. 
• Participants in this study were parents of adolescent children and they were asked a series of questions. Some of these questions were: "What age did your child get his/her first mobile device?" & "How often do you worry about your child's screen media use/ what kind do they use the most?"
• The parents then completed a questionnaire examining their child's psychosocial functioning. The results from this study concluded that children who had high scores on the questions asked (regarding lots of screen time) correlated strongly with psychological and social problems with children such as hyperactivity, social problems with other children, aggression, and defiance. 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/media-spotlight/201711/does-your-child-have-digital-addiction


My Future Classroom:
I was glad to have done this research because for me it helped me get a picture of the amount of technology integration I will be incorporating into my future classroom.  I hope to find the healthiest balance possible in order to best serve my future students as well as fully adhering to the standards of the state I end up teaching in.


Top Tweets of the Week:





This first tweet if from DASH BC. They shared a great video about some students in the community taking action steps to better their health, get active, exercise, and get physical activity more important in the school systems. They are starting an action plan and are already taking steps toward their goal!






This tweet from MysCool Server related back to my outside research about technology. This article takes the devils to advocate perspective and talks about how when technology is used the right way, it benefits kids more than hurting them.



My last tweet is again from DASH BC and it is about 10 things parents or guardians can do to promote emotional health and well-being in their child's life. In the world we live in today, kindness and compassion are more important than ever. Those who are in roles of authority in student life are the ones who can assist them the most and make the most impact for them. This short article is about 10 easy ways that parents can do that!