Saturday, May 2, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Blog Post # 5 Part 2
Since creating my first PLN Jennifer's Symbaloo PLN towards the beginning of the semester, I have added additional resource tiles on to my web mix. Throughout the semester I have found teacher blogs that I found very interesting and added to my PLN. Also other resources that I have came across through blog post assignments or research for this class have been added to my PLN for future reference. I believe that if I continue to add resources and information to this PLN it will be a great resource for me to reflect on throughout my education and also after I graduate.
C4K summary April
C4K # 9
Sulaman did a post this week about if a undercover cop came to his school. His blog post was very short but basically he wrote that he would help the officer "fit in" if he came to his school. Sulaman said he would help him dress appropriately and help him find where to go. I commented to Sulaman that I thought it was very kind of him to want to help out the police.
C4K #10
Mckenzie T was the student I was assigned to this week. She wrote her blog post about if she owned her own business. She wrote that she would have bakery/coffee shop that was also a small book store. I commented to Mckenzie that I knew she had to put a lot of thought into her business idea. I also told her I thought it was a wonderful business idea and think she should follow through with her idea when she grows up.
Sulaman did a post this week about if a undercover cop came to his school. His blog post was very short but basically he wrote that he would help the officer "fit in" if he came to his school. Sulaman said he would help him dress appropriately and help him find where to go. I commented to Sulaman that I thought it was very kind of him to want to help out the police.
C4K #10
Mckenzie T was the student I was assigned to this week. She wrote her blog post about if she owned her own business. She wrote that she would have bakery/coffee shop that was also a small book store. I commented to Mckenzie that I knew she had to put a lot of thought into her business idea. I also told her I thought it was a wonderful business idea and think she should follow through with her idea when she grows up.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Blog Post 12
As a group we divided up the work for this blog assignment, two group members Carol and Kristina reviewed the resources given and discussed how they could be used in their own classrooms. Jennifer researched other resources to find what other assistive technologies are available for us as future teachers. Bellow is a collaborative summary of our research to answer the driving question. " What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher?"
I found some helpful resources for elementary school teachers to assist with "assistive technology". Top Teacher Tools is a website that can be used at a resource for finding other resources for assistive technology. This website basically gives a list of websites and a summary of what each website has to offer. I found it very help to read the summaries of the resources to find a website that best fits the information a teacher would be looking for.
Assitive Technology Training Online was one of the websites listed on "Top Teacher Tools". This website was very user friendly and allowed a teacher to actually go through a process of finding the best AT for their particular student. You can go through a step by step process of first picking a similar student story and answering questions to find a AT prefect for the students situation. There are also tutorials on how to use the particular equipment that seem like they would be very helpful for teacher. There is also a section that provides links to vendors, laws and state and national projects regarding assistive technology.
Trace Center is based out of the University of Wisconsin- Madison and is working to help individuals with disabilities have a better access to the internet. This website has a lot of useful links and information about products and tools for assistive technology.
One assistive technology
I could use in my classroom is The Mountbatten. This device is a Braille typewriter for blind students. This is
a very beneficial device to the student because it provides immediate feedback
to the student. Immediate feedback is imperative to the struggling student so
they can know if they are doing right or wrong. The Mountbatten allows the
student to type in Braille and then reads aloud that has been typed. It can
save, transfer, and receive files; it also sends the work to another computer
the teacher is on to allow for immediate feedback. This can also be used in a
classroom where the students and/or teacher do not know Braille. Words can be
typed and then printed into Braille. The most important thing about The
Mountbatten is that it allows blind students to be a part of the classroom and
curriculum. With this device, they can be included in group work and
discussion.
Apple also provides
assistive technologies through the iPad, iPod, and iPhone. For the visually
impaired, VoiceOver is a feature that allows users to know what is going on on
their phone by reading the screen to them. FaceTime is a great way for the
hearing impaired to communicate with others. They can see each other face to
face and communicate by using sign language. People with physical and motor
skills can use AssistiveTouch. With this, the user can enter common multi-touch
gestures. There are even assistive features for people with attention deficit
or other cognitive disabilities. Through Guided Access, the device helps the
user stay focused on one app instead of bouncing around to multiple ones. iPads
could easily be used in the classroom to help children with all of these
disabilities.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Blog Post #11
In Brian Crosby’s video, Back to the Future, Crosby discusses the technology they use in class, how they use it, and the impact it leaves on their education.Crosby’s students each have their own computers to us, with which they use for blogging, creating wikis, and posting pictures on the class flikr account.One project that the students did was called “My High Hopes.”In this project, students wrote down what their high hopes were in their lifetime. They sent up a balloon with a camera and their high hopes attached. This way they could see the view from the balloon. The students then wrote a story as if they were the balloon. The first half was written before the balloon was sent up, then finished after the the balloon was sent up.I think we can learn that students can learn through projects like this. It seems like students are just having fun, but at the same time they are learning, too.
Paul Anderson discusses the Blended Learning Cycle in his video. In blended learning, learning in the classroom, online, and mobile is combined, while the learning cycle involves an engaging question, exploration, explanation, expansion, and finally evaluation. Anderson uses the acronym “QUIVERS” for his blended learning cycle, which stands for question, investigation, video, elaboration, review, and summary quiz. It is important to start with a good question to get students interested in what they are going to be doing. Next you investigate. In investigating, students can experiment. Next is video. With a video, students can watch this on their own, leaving the instructor time to work with other students. Then there is elaboration which is going further into the subject. Students can be assigned further reading material to learn more about the subject. Next is review in which Mr. Anderson meets with students and asks them questions to make sure they understand the subject are. Last, students are given a summary quiz that tests them on the things they have learned in the previous steps. I think Anderson has a good system for his students. I think it incorporates all the different styles of learning. It starts off with a good question to get students engaged, but it also incorporates experimentation for students that are more hands on and reading for those kinds of learners. Not only are there these things but there is a video for visual/auditory learners.
Mark Church discusses a great way to make kids think, in Making Thinking Visible. The students watched a video the previous day on early human beginnings. He asked the to come up with a headline that would capture what they thought it's about. The students were asked to write their headline on a long sheet of paper. They then hung them up on the bulletin board. After a few weeks of the class going over human beginnings in more detail, they would then see if their headline would be the same. The idea is that when you make thinking visible then the students will learn more.
Making Thinking Visible is a great way to show the students how their thinking evolves. Students can view how they thought at the beginning of the lesson and then what they think at the end of the lesson. When students first hear about a topic, they form an opinion before they are knowledgable. After the students learn about the topic, their opinion will most likely change. This teaches students how to think more in depth before forming an opinion.
In the video Super Digital Citizen, Sam Pane was teaching his fifth grade class about digital safety as well as being a good digital citizen. Sam Pane quoted Spiderman "With great power, comes great responsibility." He had his students talk in their groups about what power the internet gives people. After the class discussed the powers of the internet and what a digital citizen was, Sam introduced the assignment of creating a digital citizen superhero and a comic strip showing proper internet safety and incorporating real images of themselves. Sam took about five minutes to show the students how to create their digital superhero. The students then created a digital citizen superhero and their comic strips. Once all the student created their comic strip, the students then did gallery walks. Gallery walks are when the students view and critique their peers work.
Educators can learn a lot from Sam Pane. He incorporates superhero quotes into his lecture to get his students engaged. The quote he uses "With great power, comes great responsibility" makes the students think about the power of the internet and responsibility they must use on the internet. The internet is a powerful tool we can use to learn about anything. Students need to know how to use the internet safely. Creating a comic strip that has self images makes the lesson personal for the students. In the comic strips, the students can come up with unsafe situations and have their digital superhero save them. They are learning through their creativity, without even realizing their learning. The comic strip also helps the students practice writing stories. The fact that he calls the peer review a gallery walk also gives his students a sense of accomplishment. They consider themselves an artist. The students also learn from performing a gallery walk. The students learn by reading their peers comic. They get new ideas as well as reinforcing the idea of using internet safety.
Project Based Learning
This video is about three teachers that worked together to combine three subjects and make serious changes to the structure of the classroom in order to, provide a improved learning experience for their students. The teachers expressed in the video that they were faced with some major roadblocks while attempting to make this change. After attempting they soon realized they would have to get their administrates involved to help restructure the class times to make the plan work.
After restructuring their classroom they took entire morning to teach English, history and information processing the three teachers worked together and used project based learning to teach students beyond just the curriculum. The teachers in the video talked about how this gave them the opportunity to teach the students not just about the facts but about, being a good citizen and poverty. The teachers could take time with the students to critique their work and revise this allowed more time for feedback and better quality work.
Roosevelt PBL
This video was basically just a break down of "Project Based Learning" and how this school was using it in their classrooms. The video explained how PBL was a "more in depth learning, based on real world instructions and research based". One of the teachers said something like " the students can really show they understand and not that they just kind of get but they passed the test".
The teachers in this video encouraged students to be involved in public speaking at a young age so that it wouldn't be such a struggle when they got older. The other key points made throughout the video about PBL were about student choice, giving students a sense of power and teaching them to be able t work in a group and communicate with each other.
Mark Church discusses a great way to make kids think, in Making Thinking Visible. The students watched a video the previous day on early human beginnings. He asked the to come up with a headline that would capture what they thought it's about. The students were asked to write their headline on a long sheet of paper. They then hung them up on the bulletin board. After a few weeks of the class going over human beginnings in more detail, they would then see if their headline would be the same. The idea is that when you make thinking visible then the students will learn more.
Making Thinking Visible is a great way to show the students how their thinking evolves. Students can view how they thought at the beginning of the lesson and then what they think at the end of the lesson. When students first hear about a topic, they form an opinion before they are knowledgable. After the students learn about the topic, their opinion will most likely change. This teaches students how to think more in depth before forming an opinion.
In the video Super Digital Citizen, Sam Pane was teaching his fifth grade class about digital safety as well as being a good digital citizen. Sam Pane quoted Spiderman "With great power, comes great responsibility." He had his students talk in their groups about what power the internet gives people. After the class discussed the powers of the internet and what a digital citizen was, Sam introduced the assignment of creating a digital citizen superhero and a comic strip showing proper internet safety and incorporating real images of themselves. Sam took about five minutes to show the students how to create their digital superhero. The students then created a digital citizen superhero and their comic strips. Once all the student created their comic strip, the students then did gallery walks. Gallery walks are when the students view and critique their peers work.
Educators can learn a lot from Sam Pane. He incorporates superhero quotes into his lecture to get his students engaged. The quote he uses "With great power, comes great responsibility" makes the students think about the power of the internet and responsibility they must use on the internet. The internet is a powerful tool we can use to learn about anything. Students need to know how to use the internet safely. Creating a comic strip that has self images makes the lesson personal for the students. In the comic strips, the students can come up with unsafe situations and have their digital superhero save them. They are learning through their creativity, without even realizing their learning. The comic strip also helps the students practice writing stories. The fact that he calls the peer review a gallery walk also gives his students a sense of accomplishment. They consider themselves an artist. The students also learn from performing a gallery walk. The students learn by reading their peers comic. They get new ideas as well as reinforcing the idea of using internet safety.
Project Based Learning This video is about three teachers that worked together to combine three subjects and make serious changes to the structure of the classroom in order to, provide a improved learning experience for their students. The teachers expressed in the video that they were faced with some major roadblocks while attempting to make this change. After attempting they soon realized they would have to get their administrates involved to help restructure the class times to make the plan work.
After restructuring their classroom they took entire morning to teach English, history and information processing the three teachers worked together and used project based learning to teach students beyond just the curriculum. The teachers in the video talked about how this gave them the opportunity to teach the students not just about the facts but about, being a good citizen and poverty. The teachers could take time with the students to critique their work and revise this allowed more time for feedback and better quality work.
Roosevelt PBL
This video was basically just a break down of "Project Based Learning" and how this school was using it in their classrooms. The video explained how PBL was a "more in depth learning, based on real world instructions and research based". One of the teachers said something like " the students can really show they understand and not that they just kind of get but they passed the test".
The teachers in this video encouraged students to be involved in public speaking at a young age so that it wouldn't be such a struggle when they got older. The other key points made throughout the video about PBL were about student choice, giving students a sense of power and teaching them to be able t work in a group and communicate with each other.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Blog Post # 9
What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?
In the first article Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning it references that every good project needs to fulfill two criteria one) "students must perceive the work as personally meaningful" two) project must fulfill an educational purpose. The article gave a very descriptive evaluation of the "Seven essential elements" for Project Based Learning. According to the article the seven essential elements are as follows.
1. Need to Know
2. Driving question
3. Students voice and choice
4. 21st century skills
5. Inquiry and Innovation
6. Feedback and Revision
7. A publicly presented product.
In the video Project Based Learning for Teachers it highlights all the key points of PBL from a teaching stand point. In a sense motivates teachers to be inspired by the potentials of using project based learning in their classroom. The benefits of using project based learning is that is requires students to go deeper in the material. It prepares them for college and life after school, communication skills, life skills and the ability to problem solve.
The video What motivates Students Today was the most inspiring resource we had for this weeks blog assignment. Some of the answers of students who were fairly young of what motivates them was amazing. Some of these kids who had to have been in elementary school, were motivated now because they wanted a better future when they grew up. A lot of the students had decided what they wanted to be when they grew up, and knew they had to be successful now in school to achieve those goals later in life. Of course there were students in the video who were motivated by being acknowledged or by some sort of awards system. But overall I was very impressed with the answers from these students as to what motivates them.
Ten Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration in Project Based Learning is an excellent resource for teachers to use as a guide for incorporating technology and project based learning in their classroom. There are several sites that I haven't heard of before and after reviewing found very interesting.
I choose the Project Based Learning In PE for my last resource because I read one of my fellow classmates blog about not knowing how they would use PBL in physical education. This article gave a good idea on how to use PBL even in physical education. The idea was for high school students to create physical fitness plans for middle school students.
I think that teachers and students can teach us everything about Project Based Learning. Through the resources given within in this blog along with numerous others throughout this semester we have been shown the way to teach using project based learning. As students in this class we have been shown how to learn through project based learning. The benefits are obvious its just now in our hands to take what he have learn and use it in our future classrooms.
In the first article Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning it references that every good project needs to fulfill two criteria one) "students must perceive the work as personally meaningful" two) project must fulfill an educational purpose. The article gave a very descriptive evaluation of the "Seven essential elements" for Project Based Learning. According to the article the seven essential elements are as follows.
1. Need to Know
2. Driving question
3. Students voice and choice
4. 21st century skills
5. Inquiry and Innovation
6. Feedback and Revision
7. A publicly presented product.
In the video Project Based Learning for Teachers it highlights all the key points of PBL from a teaching stand point. In a sense motivates teachers to be inspired by the potentials of using project based learning in their classroom. The benefits of using project based learning is that is requires students to go deeper in the material. It prepares them for college and life after school, communication skills, life skills and the ability to problem solve.
The video What motivates Students Today was the most inspiring resource we had for this weeks blog assignment. Some of the answers of students who were fairly young of what motivates them was amazing. Some of these kids who had to have been in elementary school, were motivated now because they wanted a better future when they grew up. A lot of the students had decided what they wanted to be when they grew up, and knew they had to be successful now in school to achieve those goals later in life. Of course there were students in the video who were motivated by being acknowledged or by some sort of awards system. But overall I was very impressed with the answers from these students as to what motivates them.
Ten Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration in Project Based Learning is an excellent resource for teachers to use as a guide for incorporating technology and project based learning in their classroom. There are several sites that I haven't heard of before and after reviewing found very interesting.
I choose the Project Based Learning In PE for my last resource because I read one of my fellow classmates blog about not knowing how they would use PBL in physical education. This article gave a good idea on how to use PBL even in physical education. The idea was for high school students to create physical fitness plans for middle school students.
I think that teachers and students can teach us everything about Project Based Learning. Through the resources given within in this blog along with numerous others throughout this semester we have been shown the way to teach using project based learning. As students in this class we have been shown how to learn through project based learning. The benefits are obvious its just now in our hands to take what he have learn and use it in our future classrooms.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
C4K summary
C4K # 5
I was assigned to Sindy G this week, her latest post was about Thanksgiving. Sindy's post was rather short explaining about how she enjoyed Thanksgiving and cooking. She also expressed that she always had family from out of town come to visit for the holiday. I commented to her that I also enjoyed the holiday and having out of town family come to visit.
C4K # 6
I was assigned to Rob this week who wrote a blog about job shadowing. He described the experience in his blog and discussed how he initially had a negative outlook on job shadowing. But through the experience, he was surprised that he actually had fun and really enjoyed his time there. I commented to Rob that I was glad he enjoyed his experience and that I hoped he had a successful career in business.
C4K # 7
This week I was assigned to Tressie C. a 7th grade student in Mrs. L's class. Her blog post was about a the last book she had read of a series of book by Rick Riordan. The book was titled "The Last Olympian" about a group of humans who were half human and half Gods. She gave a great summary of the book and suggested that her audience read the entire series. I commented to her that had never read the series she had read but that she did a really nice job on her blog and that I hoped she found another great series of books that she enjoyed as much as this one.
C4K #8
Mckenzie T is a 7th grade student in Oklahoma and she wrote her latest blog assignment about her Spring Break this year. Mckenzie went to a spelling B in Dallas, TX and then spent some time with her family there at the beach. She also wrote about a horrible experience she had on the ferry ride, where the ferry actually got lost and they had to wait for a boat to come and guide the ferry back to shore. I commented on her blog post basically telling her that I liked the experience she had with her family over Spring Break and I thought that she would keep those memories forever.
I was assigned to Sindy G this week, her latest post was about Thanksgiving. Sindy's post was rather short explaining about how she enjoyed Thanksgiving and cooking. She also expressed that she always had family from out of town come to visit for the holiday. I commented to her that I also enjoyed the holiday and having out of town family come to visit.
C4K # 6
I was assigned to Rob this week who wrote a blog about job shadowing. He described the experience in his blog and discussed how he initially had a negative outlook on job shadowing. But through the experience, he was surprised that he actually had fun and really enjoyed his time there. I commented to Rob that I was glad he enjoyed his experience and that I hoped he had a successful career in business.
C4K # 7
This week I was assigned to Tressie C. a 7th grade student in Mrs. L's class. Her blog post was about a the last book she had read of a series of book by Rick Riordan. The book was titled "The Last Olympian" about a group of humans who were half human and half Gods. She gave a great summary of the book and suggested that her audience read the entire series. I commented to her that had never read the series she had read but that she did a really nice job on her blog and that I hoped she found another great series of books that she enjoyed as much as this one.
C4K #8
Mckenzie T is a 7th grade student in Oklahoma and she wrote her latest blog assignment about her Spring Break this year. Mckenzie went to a spelling B in Dallas, TX and then spent some time with her family there at the beach. She also wrote about a horrible experience she had on the ferry ride, where the ferry actually got lost and they had to wait for a boat to come and guide the ferry back to shore. I commented on her blog post basically telling her that I liked the experience she had with her family over Spring Break and I thought that she would keep those memories forever.
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Blog Post #10
What can we learn from Mrs. Cassidy?
We can learn a lot from Mrs. Cassidy's approach to the use of technology in her classroom. I was certainly amazed by what the first grade students were capable of doing in her first video. The level of excitement that the students expressed about working on the projects in her class was very encouraging to me as a future educator.
The first grade students were able to create their own blogs and were very encouraged by the fact that they could see improvement in their work as they progressed through the course. The students in the video talked about how they enjoyed publishing their work for others to see, they also liked that they could read comments from people about their work. Mrs. Cassidy's students showed their knowledge about internet safety by talking about only using first names and not correlating students pictures with their names. As a future educator I can learn a lot from Mrs. Cassidy and how she used technology in her classroom.
I think Mrs. Cassidy had a very interesting perspectives that she expressed in her Cassidy 13 Part 1 she talked about how technology is not going away this really stuck with me. We can see that technology is not going to disappear it is going to continue to progress and become even more apart of our lives than it already is (hard to believe because its in our hands every second already). I also thought it was very shocking that Mrs. Cassidy actually did not use technology in her personal life as she said in the Skype video. But I really like her suggestion when Dr. Strange asked her about where she would suggest students start. She stated that we should start in the area that interest us the most what ever we are most passionate about start there weather it be videos, blogs, photography etc.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Blog Post # 8
" What can we learn about teaching and learning from Randy Pausch?"
Randy Pausch Last Lecture
This lecture given by Randy Pausch was just so inspiring. I can't imagine anyone in the world not walking away from this lecture without a feeling of inspiration in some degree. But as future educators the lecture is just that much more motivational and inspiring. Pausch's lecture is centered around the fact that this is his last lecture because he had been diagnosed with cancer and only had a short time left to live.
But Pausch makes it apparent in the beginning of the lecture of his motive and he clearly doesn't want to discuss cancer or any home remedies. Randy Pausch instead chose to talk about "how to follow childhood dreams" in his "last lecture" he discussed his life and the trials and tribulations he had been through in his life time, and how to preserver through the brick walls in life. Mr. Pausch is obviously a very successful man. I found that for him to very casually lecture about his short comings and failures that lead to his success sent a very powerful message to his audience.
I can honestly say that I was very inspired by this lecture I took notes and some life lessons from Mr. Pausch's lecture and life experience. Some of my favorite quotes he mentioned in his lecture were ;
-"loyalty is a two way street"
-"apologize when you screw up",
-"Don't complain just work harder"
-"Don't bail the best gold is at the bottom of the barrels of crap".
C4T Summary
C4T #1
Get your Game On-Do the Snow Clothes Challenge by Kathy Cassidy was a delightful blog post about students up North having a race to put on all their snow clothes to go outside. Although I can't even imagine having the task of ensuring a whole classroom of students, got on all their layers of clothes for below freezing temperatures. I really enjoyed how this teacher took the struggle and made it a fun challenge and it spread after she posted a video on her blog.
C4T #2
Blogging in a classroom with only 1 Ipad by Kathy Cassidy was the blog I was assigned to this week. I found the article very interesting and informative. Cassidy discussed how a teacher could have her students blog when there was only 1 Ipad in the classroom. She listed some resources such as Easy blogger jr. which is a app, that can be purchased on the ipad and have multiple users. This app seems to be very user friendly even for young users. Each student can upload a picture to be used as a icon for their blog, and even make voice recording for pictures within the blog.
I found this article to be a great resource. As future educators we hope to have access to an abundance of ipads for our classroom, but unfortunately we may not have that access. This article gave us information to still be able to have our students blogging even with just one Ipad.
C4T #2
Blogging in a classroom with only 1 Ipad by Kathy Cassidy was the blog I was assigned to this week. I found the article very interesting and informative. Cassidy discussed how a teacher could have her students blog when there was only 1 Ipad in the classroom. She listed some resources such as Easy blogger jr. which is a app, that can be purchased on the ipad and have multiple users. This app seems to be very user friendly even for young users. Each student can upload a picture to be used as a icon for their blog, and even make voice recording for pictures within the blog.
I found this article to be a great resource. As future educators we hope to have access to an abundance of ipads for our classroom, but unfortunately we may not have that access. This article gave us information to still be able to have our students blogging even with just one Ipad.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
C4K Summary
C4K 1
Sindy G wrote her blog this week about Thanksgiving and how she cooked mashed potatoes with her mom. I commented back to her telling I also enjoyed Thanksgiving and that my kids always love to help me cook big meals.
C4K 2
This week I was assigned Paige from Ms. Leatherwood's class. Her blog was about the baseball player Alex Rodriguez and his drug use. Paige wrote how Rodriguez was the greatest third baseman and she hoped that he would play again soon. She also gave some good information about how much money he made in a year and how much of that he spent on drugs. I commented back to her that I enjoyed her formative and opinionated post. I agreed with her on her points that "peer pressure" was no excuse for drug use and that everyone deserved a second chance.
C4K 3
Myla wrote her blog this week about a book she read called "Stone Fox". She gave a very good summary of the book she had read and encouraged her blog readers to read the book. I commented back to her that I enjoyed her post and asked her some questions like " Did she have a dog?".
C4K 4
Sindy G wrote her blog this week about Thanksgiving and how she cooked mashed potatoes with her mom. I commented back to her telling I also enjoyed Thanksgiving and that my kids always love to help me cook big meals.
C4K 2
This week I was assigned Paige from Ms. Leatherwood's class. Her blog was about the baseball player Alex Rodriguez and his drug use. Paige wrote how Rodriguez was the greatest third baseman and she hoped that he would play again soon. She also gave some good information about how much money he made in a year and how much of that he spent on drugs. I commented back to her that I enjoyed her formative and opinionated post. I agreed with her on her points that "peer pressure" was no excuse for drug use and that everyone deserved a second chance.
C4K 3
Myla wrote her blog this week about a book she read called "Stone Fox". She gave a very good summary of the book she had read and encouraged her blog readers to read the book. I commented back to her that I enjoyed her post and asked her some questions like " Did she have a dog?".
C4K 4
My comment for kids this week wrote her blog about a book
she was reading called “Wonder Struck”. She gave some detail about the book but
left the reader of her blog wondering what was going to happen next in the
book. I complimented her on that fact that she didn’t give all the details of
the book away in her post. She did a great job of leaving her audience
questioning what was going to happen next and want to read the book.
Blog Post #7
I believe that as future teachers in a totally new technology based learning environment. I am going to have to continue to learn about the newest resources and more importantly incorporate them in my classroom. I think the best way to prepare myself to "use technology effectively as a component of my classroom instruction" would be to start using it now. As we are required to make lesson plans or teach lessons before we graduate, incorporate technology in those lessons. Then using the technology becomes routine and natural for when I am in my own classroom.
In the first two videos
Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library
We all become learners
Dr. Strange is discussing with two ladies from schools in Baldwin County about their use of technology in kindergarten classrooms. They ladies discuss their use of iMovie in their kindergarten classrooms and how the students were able to make book trailers. Also discussed was the resource "Alabama Virtual Library" a free resource that can be used for research by students. I am amazed that Kindergarten students are able to use iMovies to make book trailers with ease. I can honestly admit that I was completely confused and terrified by iMovie when it was assigned to me as a junior in college. I think it just goes to show what a different era students are learning in then I did when I was in elementary school 20 years ago. I have actually only heard of Alabama Virtual Library because of my daughter bringing home projects that required her to use the virtual library for research.
In the video "we all become learners" the ladies discuss how everyone in the classroom becomes a learner and a teacher as well. She speaks about how when using iPads in her classroom its not just the teacher teaching the students it the students teaching other students and teaching the teacher. I think this is very important. As teachers we have to always be learners and be willing to learn from our students.
I think my favorite video was the Top 10 reasons to use technology.
1. Students love it.
2. It engages the four key components to learning.
3. Professional Development.
4. Makes life easier for teachers.
5. Improves test scores.
6. Help students with low attention spans.
7. Learn from the experts.
8. Encourages homework.
9. Saves Money.
10. Removes obstacles.
In the first two videos
Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library
We all become learners
Dr. Strange is discussing with two ladies from schools in Baldwin County about their use of technology in kindergarten classrooms. They ladies discuss their use of iMovie in their kindergarten classrooms and how the students were able to make book trailers. Also discussed was the resource "Alabama Virtual Library" a free resource that can be used for research by students. I am amazed that Kindergarten students are able to use iMovies to make book trailers with ease. I can honestly admit that I was completely confused and terrified by iMovie when it was assigned to me as a junior in college. I think it just goes to show what a different era students are learning in then I did when I was in elementary school 20 years ago. I have actually only heard of Alabama Virtual Library because of my daughter bringing home projects that required her to use the virtual library for research.
In the video "we all become learners" the ladies discuss how everyone in the classroom becomes a learner and a teacher as well. She speaks about how when using iPads in her classroom its not just the teacher teaching the students it the students teaching other students and teaching the teacher. I think this is very important. As teachers we have to always be learners and be willing to learn from our students.
I think my favorite video was the Top 10 reasons to use technology.
1. Students love it.
2. It engages the four key components to learning.
3. Professional Development.
4. Makes life easier for teachers.
5. Improves test scores.
6. Help students with low attention spans.
7. Learn from the experts.
8. Encourages homework.
9. Saves Money.
10. Removes obstacles.
Friday, February 20, 2015
Blog Post #6
In the series of video interviews with Anthony and Dr. Strange we learned that Anthony is a third grade teacher at Gulf Shores Elementary. Anthony is a former student of EDM 310 and a friend of Dr. Strange. Anthony expresses the importance of project based learning and gave examples of how he used it in his own classroom. He advised us as future educators about project based learning and how the lesson need to be "content driven".
Anthony gave us some great resources that he uses in his classroom icurio and Discovery Education. I think I will try to use both of those in my future classroom. Icurio is a search engine that is filtered for educational purposes so it is safe for students to search. The other feature that Anthony talked about was the storage component, this allowed students to store, organize and manage the information they find.
I think my favorite video was the Tips for Teachers I love to hear advice and tricks of the trade from actual elementary teachers. Dr. Strange talked about how in order to be a successful educator, we must continue to be good learners and to be flexible, both very important tips. Anthony expressed his opinion that "teaching is hard work" and that a good teachers make learning the art of teaching not just their job but also their hobby. Very good advice from both of them.
Resources Used for this blog:
Anthony Caps Interview Part 1
Anthony Caps Interview Part 2
Icurio Interview
Discovery Education
Tips for teachers
Don't Teach Tech Use It
Additional Thoughts about the lesson
Anthony gave us some great resources that he uses in his classroom icurio and Discovery Education. I think I will try to use both of those in my future classroom. Icurio is a search engine that is filtered for educational purposes so it is safe for students to search. The other feature that Anthony talked about was the storage component, this allowed students to store, organize and manage the information they find.
I think my favorite video was the Tips for Teachers I love to hear advice and tricks of the trade from actual elementary teachers. Dr. Strange talked about how in order to be a successful educator, we must continue to be good learners and to be flexible, both very important tips. Anthony expressed his opinion that "teaching is hard work" and that a good teachers make learning the art of teaching not just their job but also their hobby. Very good advice from both of them.
Resources Used for this blog:
Anthony Caps Interview Part 1
Anthony Caps Interview Part 2
Icurio Interview
Discovery Education
Tips for teachers
Don't Teach Tech Use It
Additional Thoughts about the lesson
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Blog Post 5
PLNs What Are They? What are Personal Learning Networks (PLN)? How can they help you as a teacher? How are they formed? How can you create your own PLN? Who will be the first additions to your PLN?
PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. PLNs provide a source for teachers to connect and link together in amazing ways. PLNS allow teachers from all over the world, to link useful information together and share with one another in the education community. I had never even heard of PLNs before this blog assignment. I think this resource is so interesting and very efficient in organizing a lot of resources and apps in one centralized location. As a teacher we can use this resource to not only organize different resources that we have. But also we can search through other educators PLNs and use their resources to find information for lesson plans or assignments.
When you create your own PLN using a website like Symbaloo you can add different apps or "tiles" to create your own personalized PLN. I created mine and uploaded some of my favorite websites such as twitter, facebook, Pinterest, You Tube etc. Then I also added some new resources that I found through the search engine on the site.
Jennifer's PLN
Sunday, February 8, 2015
C4T Summary
Week 1 C4T
Karl Fisch expressed her feeling about grades in her blog titled " What grade should they get". She is very strongly against grades and basing a students grade on percentages. She gives several examples of hypothetical situations where a student could actually turns in an assignment and receives full credit but it makes the total weighted grade go down. She also gave some real examples of how three teachers in her building graded differently for the sames assignments and students got the same grades but scored differently in the class.
Week 2 C4T
Karl Fisch wrote in her blog titled " If I had a million dollars" this blog was about her school district spending a million dollars on chrome book for the students at the high school. But the problem with that was because they had been asking for funds to provide netbooks or laptops for the students for a while. But not until the required test had to be taken on computers did the money become available. Then she felt like the money was wasted because a majority of the students had their own devices that they had access to through the "bring my own device" program. She said the the laptops just stayed in storage for most of the time while not being used for testing. She felt like there was a lot of other ways to spend the money to help the district. She gave some examples of that of hiring extra teacher and letting the schools place them where they needed them most.
Karl Fisch expressed her feeling about grades in her blog titled " What grade should they get". She is very strongly against grades and basing a students grade on percentages. She gives several examples of hypothetical situations where a student could actually turns in an assignment and receives full credit but it makes the total weighted grade go down. She also gave some real examples of how three teachers in her building graded differently for the sames assignments and students got the same grades but scored differently in the class.
Week 2 C4T
Karl Fisch wrote in her blog titled " If I had a million dollars" this blog was about her school district spending a million dollars on chrome book for the students at the high school. But the problem with that was because they had been asking for funds to provide netbooks or laptops for the students for a while. But not until the required test had to be taken on computers did the money become available. Then she felt like the money was wasted because a majority of the students had their own devices that they had access to through the "bring my own device" program. She said the the laptops just stayed in storage for most of the time while not being used for testing. She felt like there was a lot of other ways to spend the money to help the district. She gave some examples of that of hiring extra teacher and letting the schools place them where they needed them most.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Project 15
Yippy search engine
seemed to be very user friendly I like the tabs on the side of the screen that
allow you to narrow down your searches by time, source, or by sites. There wasn’t
a lot of random options that came up it was specific to what I had searched
for.
Gigablast is a
search engine that is said to run off wind energy so it’s a “green” search
engine. Also another good feature to the search engine, is when you set up an
account you can use parental setting for kid safe searches.
wolframalpha
the best feature with this search engine would be that with the “pro” version
you can actually upload pictures or documents to search.
Blekko’s promise is
that they are “categorically different”. This search engine is supposed to eliminate
spam and being rerouted to unrelated sites.
Duckduckgo
this is my favorite search engine that I have found thus far. It of course
promises to not share your searches and be private like most of the other search
engines. But this search engine gave the best “tour” of how exactly the search
engine works and what makes it better than the others. My favorite feature is
that when you search a question the answer is on the top tab you don’t have to
scroll thru countless answers to random websites.
Dogpile has
been around since before google but obviously nowhere near as popular. Honestly
I wasn’t that impressed with what this search engine had to offer, it was
basic.
Bing is powered
by MSN a Microsoft company. Bing is said to be Microsoft attempt to take over
google but not nearly as popular. Bing claims to be the “decision engine”. One
feature Bing has that is different is that it offers suggestion on the top and
gives other search options.
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