Lauren+Evans



Hi! My name is Lauren Evans and I am here to continue to pursue my dream of becoming a teacher! I am a senior at Clemson, majoring in Elementary Education, and I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. I grew up loving school. In fact, school for me was like a second home with a second family. I believe it is the wonderful family-oriented school environment which I grew up in that fostered my love for school. In turn, I believe my love for school is what made me know that I want to spend the rest of my life in school as a teacher, pursuing and creating, for future children, the wonderful family environment of school that I grew up knowing.

I realize, however, that because times change, the schools I will be working in will be completely different from the schools I grew up in. One of the ways in which schools have changed is through technology, its accessibility, and how it is being increasingly taught and used in schools of today. In some ways, this intimidates me. I have grown up knowing how to use a computer for doing online tasks as well as how to create documents and presentations within Microsoft Word and Microsoft Powerpoint. Other means of technology that are apart of my daily life include my cell phone, my ipod, and my television. Although I have some skills with the above technologies, it seems like technology is constantly changing and improving, and I feel like I will never be caught up in knowing how to work the latest and greatest gadgets. Despite that I am a bit intimidated by new technology, I am always open to increasing my knowledge of the new technology, especially for the purpose of being able to share that knowledge with students.

One of the many great and wonderful technologies that has recently entered many schools is the interactive whiteboard. A.R. Lewis Elementary, the school where I am completely my teaching practicum, is equipped with Promethean Boards, and these plus the internet are about the extent of technology used.

However, I believe that the internet in itself is an amazing technology because of all the many resources that can be derived from its search engines. One great resource for educators is www.edutopia.org. One thing I found interesting at this website dedicated to education is that it not only addresses academic achievement, but it recognizes that a student's health, whether mental or physical, is more important than anything else (in order for a student to be able to learn at full potential, that student must be healthy and well). Edutopia provides videos that address topics such as healthy school lunch and social/emotional learning, and I think these resources should be used and taken seriously in ensuring that students are living healthily and are able to learn and perform at their full potential.

__Math Extension Activity:__ My fourth graders are currently studying 3D geometric shapes (platonic solids). In order to identify the various 3D geometric shapes, students have to count the number of faces, edges, and vertices of each shape. I noticed that my students have a hard time keeping track of which faces, edges, and/or vertices they have already counted, and which ones they haven't. This results in student confusion, and they often end up miscounting, and therefore, incorrectly identifying the characteristics of the 3D geometric shapes. I found a great online activity at http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/topic_t_3.html. Once you click on the link, scroll down and click on "Platonic Solids". This activity provides students with virtual visuals of all the different platonic solids. The students have the opportunity to rotate and observe the shapes, as well as to count the number of faces, edges, and vertices of each shape without confusion by color-coating what they have already counted. Whether used by individual or pairs of students at a station, or used by the whole class on a Smart Board, this site would definitely serve to help students more easily observe and identify the characteristics of 3D geometric shapes.

Well, I believe that is all for now...Take care!