Amelia+Watters

=__Why Am I Here?__= =I have moved over the last 15 years to "collect" teaching certification in the states of Wisconsin, Missouri, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. I am glad to be staying in Mount Pleasant for a long time, after finding a teaching home at Jennie Moore! I have two girls that are ages nine and fourteen. The best memory I had with them was our six week trip to Colorado with lots of family visits along the way. I have always loved to be outside to camp, swim, bike, and hike. So my love is to teach Science (and Math) to my fifth graders incoporating my many travels and joy of outdoors.=

=__Reflection:__= = = =Digital storytelling will enhance my teaching strategies for best instruction. It is a unique way to extend student’ thinking in to high level and continued rigor. Digital storytelling connects students to researching, exploring, and discovery of the best information to use to match the teacher rubric.= =So many times my fifth graders can look for various science topics on the web, but easily get distracted by copying text content for a written project! But using digital storytelling brings interacting and engagement of my students with an innovated application. It is one that they create, share, and remember, resulting in increased student achievement. This includes the various abilities (as well as interests!) and accommodates the student’s needs.= =Within my fifth grade class, my students will put to use their understanding of how natural processes affect Earth’s land in both constructive and destructive ways found in South Carolina’s state science standard 5-3.1. In order to create an acceptable graded project student must generate a movie covering these interesting landforms found across the world. Our class will share in presenting these discoveries of these formations and have fun in the process!=