Moreland Module 8 Unit 9 Scavenger Hunt- Nicholas Vetri

1. Share a recently published article or journal- Through google scholar I found a

recently published academic book on Universal Design for Education in early
childhood education. I want to read this because I anticipate it will help my
presentation and teaching methods in a way that will help my teaching be more
effective to students. Also, it will help me with differentiation, which is something
I’m just beginning to understand and implement in my teaching practice.

The book is called Creating Young Expert Learners: Universal Design for
Learning in Preschool and Kindergarten by Marla J. Lohmann

Link:
https://books.google.com.sg/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=_yCIEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT5&dq=universal+design+for+l
earning&ots=zAIBnvCYrT&sig=6wnItwXSXqy6q7-0mY-
ox0mFptk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=universal%20design%20for
%20learning&f=false

2. Share a conference or event that you would like to participate in: I would like to
participate in the International Conference on Classroom Management and
Control (ICCMC-2023) Shanghai, China. I am realizing that classroom
management is so important to getting the most out of your class time, and that’s
one area that I want to learn more about. I am moving to a city near Shanghai in
September for work and this conference is taking place on October, 3 rd in
Shanghai, so it is relatively convenient for me to go.

Link: https://researchsociety.co/event/index.php?id=2009802
3. Build life skills: Host a scavenger hunt activity for your students on life skills or social-
emotional learning and take a picture of items collected by students: I decided to teach them
independence as a life skill by teaching them how to pour water and clean up spills
independently, and also how to serve themselves fruit. I did this instead of a scavenger hunt
because my students are very little and there is a big language barrier between us, so I didn’t
think it was really possible to do a scavenger hunt this week.

4. Create awareness: Implement an activity with students to overcome any one stereotype
towards culture, ethnicity, gender, or learning differences: For this item, it’s not really feasible
for me to teach about this right now to my ESL kindergarten class. However, in my portrayal
of content I consciously use pictures of different races, cultures, disabilities, and other
differences to broaden students’ horizons and have them become used to different kinds of
people.
5. Cohort Picture:

6. Find common ground: Show pictures of a hobby or interest that you share with a teacher
colleague at your school.  (e.g. pictures of you and your colleague trekking): This is a picture
of a recent outing me and many of the teachers at my school went to. We discovered that we
all really like Chinese barbecue and are all interested in how to make good barbecue.
7. Get social: Add a post on the Twitter hashtag #tncohort or on the Facebook Cohorts
community page with one important thing you learned during your clinical practice: First I
want to say that this activity is shameless promotion by Moreland and I shouldn’t be made to
do this. I stopped using my Twitter and Facebook accounts a few years ago, and I tried to sign
up for a new account, but I wasn’t able to create an account with using my Chinese phone
number, due to security regulations. I ended up making a post on my Chinese social media
account, Wechat, and here that is.

8. Share an achievement: Share the biggest learning challenge you faced in the program and how
you overcame the challenge: I would say the biggest achievement I have so far is just finding
ways to balance the work load of Morland with being a full-time teacher. I have had very busy
schedules before. I went to a good university that gave a lot of homework, and I worked
almost full time to support myself then. But, back then I didn’t really manage my time, I
would just work hard when there was work, and relax when there wasn’t. My life now is more
stressful, and I have less time to relax for a few reasons. When clinical started, I decided to
write myself a really basic weekly work schedule for my Moreland work, and I have done a
 really good job of sticking to it about 90% of the time. On weekdays I will put in an hour after
work, and on the weekends I will do 2-3 hours a day. Getting through this course has made
me realize that I’m more disciplined and able to manage my time that I had thought, and I
have become a little more confident because of that.

9. Get personal: Share one professional ethic that you always live by: When teaching in early
childhood education, one personal ethic that I try to adhere to is encourage children to be
themselves, and think in their own way. I try to question the assumptions I have and the
socialization I have received, so I don’t blindly indoctrinate children in the way I have learned
without understanding what I am teaching them. I try not to arbitrarily correct children, and
when they have their own way of doing something I respect that.