Since the first week of school, I have incorporated growth mindset in my classroom.  I have seen most of the students feel more comfortable when they mistakes and we can "fix" them.  This takes place during the Math Meeting time where the students make number sentences and they are adding  (or subtracting) to get to the number of the day.  

Sometimes I am scared to share things that I am so passionate about.  I have put my heart and soul into things and I usually am the most critical about my own work.  
A week and a half ago, I had not actually published my Weebly portfolio (I had used Google Sites for my first portfolio.)  It had been decided by my group that we would participate in a Google Hangout on Sunday.  I knew that I had a lot of work ahead of me.  I pulled everything together and even put pictures that showed me growing up.  I learned a lot in putting this together and that I was probably would be the hardest evaluator myself.

In my first grade class this year, I have added a Makerspace area so the students would be able to get creative.  I was asked this week to define what my Makerspace area actually is and so I decided to look for different definitions.  Rendina (2017) mentions that "A makerspace is a place where students can gather to create, invent, tinker, explore and discover using a variety of tools and materials."  This is what I want the students to have the opportunities to have in my class.  I have had many people just give me things (and I buy things too) over the year and I usually keep them in my closet.  I also have gone to a place called The Welman Project.  This is a cool place that people can donate things for teachers and non-profit organizations and can pick up things for free!  They are into reusing things...
So this past week in Science, we are studying recycling, reducing, and reusing.  For their exploring part of teaching, I decided that the students could make a project out of things in the Makerspace area and things that they brought from home.  The projects that they came up with were so cool!  The pictures are just a few from the week.
For the explaining part of the week, I had the students explain their project and recycling (or reducing or reusing) in ChatterPix.  I love their projects and how I am hearing that they are understanding what they are learning in class. Click the button to see the example.

Last March, I realized that I love to walk and just see things that are happening in nature.  I had gotten a zoo pass, so I could go to the zoo with my niece and nephew.  I would really just use it once or twice in the summer and maybe during the holidays.  So in March, I decided that to start walking after school at either the zoo or the Botanical Gardens.  This helped me relax after a day of teaching and I was able to share with the students are the plants and animals that made me happy.

Well, since the end of May, I have not gone walking because it was too hot in the afternoon (and I just did not want to walk in Texas in the summer.)  Today was a coolish day and I decided that I needed to go after a day of teaching.  The first animals that I went to was the gorillas.  There is a 'toddler' gorilla named Gus.  He is so adorable! He does not stop moving and he does remind me of some students.  

I know that I have to walk more because I feel better when I am doing this.  And I felt so great that I worked on my ePortfolio for a couple of hours!

​So today was a rough day for me as a teacher.  My students had their first "test" and it was computerized.  Now, it was not a test of material that I have taught them, but I get so nervous when my first graders have to take a test.  This is so new to them and many of them do not have the concept of taking a test.  We have been talking about growth mindset, but I just want them to well on the test (why- probably because it means that I have to do more RTI plans- but that just means that they can reflect more in their learning.)  In Dweck's book, Mindset- The New Psychology of Success, she mentions that you have to be aware of success, because it can knock you into fixed mindset.  I was when I saw there was some students that scored well.  I know that I have to now push them more... 

When I made my ePortfolio a couple of weeks, I realized that this would help me in my teaching and in learning.  In the past, after I did a major lesson or had my evaluation, I would think about it a lot.  This is reflection, but I never wrote what I thought about down.  I know that this ePortfolio will incorporate a blog that will let me reflect over what I do in my master's class and in my school job.  

As I write this reflection, I am thinking that I should of written it last week when I watched and read different websites.  I had time, but I thought that I would remember all what I learned about.  I procrastinated and now I feel a little stressed.  I will work harder on just doing it and not just waiting to do assignments.

The ePortfolio will house my work that I will put together in all of the classes and as I use those assignment, I can reflect how I have grown as a teacher.  Reflection is something that takes time, but it really helps you grow as a student and a person.   John Dewey has stated (as cited in Barrett, n.d.), “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.”  We put so much on as a teacher to give information to students that we sometimes forget to let the children stop and just think about what they are learning.  As a first grade teacher, I use Seesaw and I have the students "read" their work in this digital portfolio.  I am going to let the students not only start to reflect about their own work, but other work from their peers.  (I also have to remember that this will not happen next week, but they will build up to this- no instant gratification.)

References
Barrett, H. Why Reflect? - Reflection4Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from
           https://sites.google.com/site/reflection4learning/why-reflect