Lauren+Gayden

Hi! My name is Lauren Gayden. I am a senior Early Childhood Education major studying at Clemson University. I am originally from Columbia, S.C., where I grew up with my parents, one sister, two dogs, and my beloved horse, Teddy. After graduation, I plan to teach in the lowcountry of S.C. and then go back to school and get my masters in art education. I am currently participating in a practicum at Hunt Meadows Elementary School in Mrs. Godfrey's 3rd grade classroom. In my free time I enjoy riding horses, spending time with friends, hunting, and any other outdoor activities.

__**Lauren Gayden's PLN**__

__**P.E. Central:**__ With the physical education students are recieving in elementary schools being cut back every year, PE Central is a great resource for integrating physical activity into the general education classroom. It has great lesson ideas that you can build on even if you don't use the whole lesson and it gets the students up and moving and blood flowing!


 * __Pinterest:__** Pinterest is a virtual pinboard system, similar to having bookmark folders. You can create any category pinboard you want and I have one for teaching where you "pin" websites and photographs of any teaching tool, craft, lesson idea, blog, etc. that you have found and gotten information from. It is a resource to more resources! You can also follow other people you know and I am following a lot of girls I have met through the Education department and teachers I have had in the past who also have teaching pinboards where all of their pins show up on the main page, giving me even more great ideas for the classroom.


 * __Discovery Education:__** Discovery Education is a great resource for lesson planning, test making, getting advice and feedback from other teachers, videos and other lesson related add-ons, etc. You can also find great technology ideas to implement in the classroom and ways of assessing students online. It has been very helpful to me already, although I have only been using it a week.


 * __My PLN:__** I definitely want to keep expanging my PLN but I can see already how it is very helpful to have all of the best resources in one location. It is an interesting way to do staff development and personal development without having to sit in a classroom. Building our knowledge base and expanding our "teacher tool kits" is so important so that we can always improve and do better for our students. There is always room for improvement.

"Oh Spaghet!" -- My poem is "Spaghetti" from Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and my picture was found [|here.] media type="custom" key="10842035" "Candy Girl"- My second poem is "My Lunch" by Ken Nesbitt found [|here]. My picture was found[| here]. media type="custom" key="10842405" -The blabberize website is a great tool for meeting the ELA standards and Guiding Principles, especially for children who may be more afraid to talk in front of the class or who are behind on their verbal development. It is a comfortable and fun way for children to communicate and practice their speech. Using blabberize requires speaking clearly and at an appropriate volume (standard K-3.7) so that the program can pick up on the words to make the mouth of the photograph move enough. Children will be able to hear how the syllables make the mouth on the photograph move and it is more drastic than watching someone else speak. The use of oral rhymes, poems, and songs help to build fluency especially if the students memorize the poems to recite (standard K-3.7). A project using blabberize would give older students a lot of freedom to explore language and other forms of literature. Whether students are creating their own poetry to read or researching to find a great poem to share, they are given the freedom to explore and enjoy language arts. This tool is very beneficial for giving students, no matter how young or old, positive connected experiences with technology, communication, and language.