In this video I have demonstrated my ability to: turn on a SMARTBoard, calibrate (orient) one, work with text, work with objects, use object animation to hide and reveal feedback, use the Infinite Cloner and work with digital ink, save items added in ink layer to separate file, and use multimedia objects. These are skills required to make effective use of SMARTboard.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Blog Post #11
Ms. Cassidy is a first grade teacher from Moose Jaw, Canada. Over the past ten years or so, she has incorporated and got her students involved with many different forms of technology. In her video Little kids... Big Potential, she gives us a little insight and overview of some of the ways her students have used technology to learn. She included both pictures and real video clips into this video. She even had some of her students talk about what they had learned and what they had liked about the different kinds of technology they had been using. Ms. Cassidy used many techniques and resources to help her students learn. One technique Ms. Cassidy uses is student learning through blogging. She explained that her student's blogs are online portfolios of their work. Her student's know exactly how to write a quality comment and they know their work will be available for anyone to see. One little girl in this video said her writing gets better every time she writes a blog. Another child said they liked blogging because people can see it and leave comments. A second technique Ms. Cassidy uses is a classroom webpage. They have their own classroom webpage so that her students can find things on the Internet in a safe way. When her students go home, they are still able to access it. A third technique Ms. Cassidy uses is video making. Her student's make videos on the things they learn and then they upload them onto their blogs. Sometimes they get into groups and help each other make the videos. A fourth technique Ms. Cassidy uses is learning through Skype. By using Skype, Ms. Cassidy's class is able to talk to other people in other places. They Skype people from different classrooms and they have even talked to experts. The last technique I will be discussing that Ms. Cassidy uses for learning is by playing on a Nintendo DS. At first I wasn't sure how playing on a Nintendo DS would do anything to increase learning. However, I learned that by using them to play games, it helps students become better problem solvers and they learn about sharing and working collaboratively.
In the video Interview With Kathy Cassidy Part 1, Ms. Cassidy shared with us how and why she got involved with using technology in her classroom. She said she got involved in technology about ten years ago because they were suddenly given five computers in their classroom. She also said when you have five of anything you can turn it into a center, so she wanted to make use of the computers they were given. Ms. Cassidy then explained that she started with making a class webpage which then lead up to blogging and then on to other technological techniques. Her student's parents really like the idea of blogging. They like being able to see their child's progress through the year. Ms. Cassidy likes using blogs for learning because blogs provide students with two things that pencil and paper can't provide; an audience, and feedback through comments.
In the video Interview With Kathy Cassidy Part 2, Ms. Cassidy discussed where people should start when they want to incorporate technology into their classroom but do not know where to start. She said, "Do it for what you're interested in and push that way. If you're interested in video, start with using videos, get a YouTube account, and go from there. There is a a different entry point for everybody."
In the video Interview With Kathy Cassidy Part 3, Ms. Cassidy answered questions from Dr. Strange's class of students. One student asked Ms. Cassidy about how often she used blogging. In her reply she said it depends on the year. Most of the time her class blogs once a week, and occasionally twice. She said it also depends on how things are running in the classroom, there isn't just a set number of times. Another student asked about using Face Book in classrooms. Ms. Cassidy said that Face Book would be a great technique and tool to use in a classroom. She suggested that in order for Face Book to involve educational learning, students would need to set up a separate Face Book account for a specific class. Face Book would be a great source for posting of information, posting of assignments, and for other resources.
Out of the different techniques Ms. Cassidy uses in her classroom, I would highly consider using Skype and blogging in my own classroom. Although she did not specify that she used Face Book in her classroom, she did say that it could be a great source to use when she was asked about it from one of Dr. Strange's students. I would also highly consider using Face Book in my own classroom. I would use Skype in the same manner as Ms. Cassidy used it. I think that it is great that her students are able to chat with different classrooms and experts from around the world. I think my students would really enjoy it and they would also learn from it. I would use blogging in my classroom also as an online portfolio of my students' work. I will give my students specific topics to write about. They would be using writing skills along with 21st century skills through their blogging. By using Face Book as a tool, my students would be able to learn how to use Face Book and they would be able to turn to it as a source of information. By using these techniques and resources, my students will be able to combine educational work with 21st century skills. They would become more familiar with Skype, blogging, and Face Book in an educational manner.
In the video Interview With Kathy Cassidy Part 1, Ms. Cassidy shared with us how and why she got involved with using technology in her classroom. She said she got involved in technology about ten years ago because they were suddenly given five computers in their classroom. She also said when you have five of anything you can turn it into a center, so she wanted to make use of the computers they were given. Ms. Cassidy then explained that she started with making a class webpage which then lead up to blogging and then on to other technological techniques. Her student's parents really like the idea of blogging. They like being able to see their child's progress through the year. Ms. Cassidy likes using blogs for learning because blogs provide students with two things that pencil and paper can't provide; an audience, and feedback through comments.
In the video Interview With Kathy Cassidy Part 2, Ms. Cassidy discussed where people should start when they want to incorporate technology into their classroom but do not know where to start. She said, "Do it for what you're interested in and push that way. If you're interested in video, start with using videos, get a YouTube account, and go from there. There is a a different entry point for everybody."
In the video Interview With Kathy Cassidy Part 3, Ms. Cassidy answered questions from Dr. Strange's class of students. One student asked Ms. Cassidy about how often she used blogging. In her reply she said it depends on the year. Most of the time her class blogs once a week, and occasionally twice. She said it also depends on how things are running in the classroom, there isn't just a set number of times. Another student asked about using Face Book in classrooms. Ms. Cassidy said that Face Book would be a great technique and tool to use in a classroom. She suggested that in order for Face Book to involve educational learning, students would need to set up a separate Face Book account for a specific class. Face Book would be a great source for posting of information, posting of assignments, and for other resources.
Out of the different techniques Ms. Cassidy uses in her classroom, I would highly consider using Skype and blogging in my own classroom. Although she did not specify that she used Face Book in her classroom, she did say that it could be a great source to use when she was asked about it from one of Dr. Strange's students. I would also highly consider using Face Book in my own classroom. I would use Skype in the same manner as Ms. Cassidy used it. I think that it is great that her students are able to chat with different classrooms and experts from around the world. I think my students would really enjoy it and they would also learn from it. I would use blogging in my classroom also as an online portfolio of my students' work. I will give my students specific topics to write about. They would be using writing skills along with 21st century skills through their blogging. By using Face Book as a tool, my students would be able to learn how to use Face Book and they would be able to turn to it as a source of information. By using these techniques and resources, my students will be able to combine educational work with 21st century skills. They would become more familiar with Skype, blogging, and Face Book in an educational manner.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
C4T #3
For my third C4T I was assigned to Mrs. Cathy Jo Nelson. Mrs. Nelson is a school library media specialist with twenty eight years of experience. She is also an educator from South Carolina. Mrs. Nelson says her blog, Professional Thoughts, is "Designed to offer helpful hints, tips, and tricks to teachers and library media specialists who are modeling the integration of technology in an authentic and ethical manner in the name of increasing student engagement."
#1
The first post of Mrs. Nelson's that I read and left a comment on was called Connected Educator Month: DEN. She says "Connecting educators is what I think of when I think Discovery Educator Network." I liked how she explained a Discovery Educator Network as "A way for those looking for connections, and worried about online weirdos" to come together and exchange ideas in a safe way. I also liked how she described it as a "Safe place to seriously look at becoming a connected educator." I think a Discovery Educator Network sounds like a very helpful resource that can be provided to teachers, that want to make differences in their classrooms.
Mrs. Nelson said herself that she went from lurker to virtual friend to a full blown PLN member. She said "Reading or listening was enough... initially." However, eventually her true "connected-ness" started. Her blog, born October 1, 2006 over the Google Blogger Platform, then transitioned to Edublogs, and finally came to rest as her own domain and has become a place for her to publicly share her thinking, interact with others, and most importantly extend her learning. As she grew in these online circles, both in friendships and learning's, she began to dabble in other online circles. Through her interactions with her PLN, she began getting asked to make contributions. Mrs. Nelson said she likes to think of Discovery Educator Network as a "GLOBAL group of educators who come together periodically, some more than others, to learn from each other or learn often together about best practice in education." It is often centered on educational technology though not always on Discovery Education resources. One last important thing Mrs. Nelson's says about a Discovery Educator Network is "More often than not it is a virtual group meeting via social networking resources, but there are state levels, national, and even international opportunities to come together as a group."
In the comment I left Mrs. Nelson I told her that we briefly talked about Discovery Education a few weeks ago in class, but that we did not spend a lot of time on it because we have been so busy learning about other resources as well. So after reading her post, I’m glad to have a better understanding of some of the things it has to offer. I also told Mrs. Nelson that I think it is so great that they’re teachers and other people in this world that step out side of their comfort zones, and try all different types of resources to gain benefits for learning and for teaching. I then thanked her for being an inspiration to young students like me who want to become the best teachers they can be. I concluded my comment with a link to my blog and a short sentence saying that I would be summarizing what I have learned from visiting her blog soon.
#2
The second post of Mrs. Nelson's that I read and left a comment on was called SC Voices to Inspire. In this post she began by saying "I can't speak loudly enough the power of connected learning." Mrs. Nelson thought about what inspirational voices come from local flavor (the South Carolina variety). She was asked by one of her connected voices to provide a list of feeds and people she subscribes to in her current reader of choice, "Feedly". When putting together those lists, she realized there were some "Twitter" voices that impacted her daily practices as well. Although there is no blog RRS feed to show them, she did include a link to her Twitter list of SC voices in her post. She then created a few lists of voices from South Carolina who have inspired her. I'm glad to have read this post because sometimes I catch myself wondering who else could I use as a resource and who could I follow that is inspirational when it comes to Education. From there, I don't know where to look, besides my assigned C4T teachers. So I'm glad she provided lists of people and sources that I could gather more information and ideas from.
Her lists of people are separated into categories including: "South Carolina School Librarians," "South Carolina Teachers/Educators Across the Curriculum," "South Carolina School Administrators," and "South Carolina- Other/Interesting." I checked out a few of the blogs listed and they really are a great source to look to for information and ideas. Mrs. Nelson also concluded her post with providing a "How To" video on "Feedly."
In the comment that I left Mrs. Nelson I told her that once again I found her posts very helpful and resourceful. I also said that as a young college student who hopes to become a teacher some day, I’m always looking for resources and other people who have experience in Education. So I thanked her for including lists of people and resources that she found inspirational to your blog.
#1
The first post of Mrs. Nelson's that I read and left a comment on was called Connected Educator Month: DEN. She says "Connecting educators is what I think of when I think Discovery Educator Network." I liked how she explained a Discovery Educator Network as "A way for those looking for connections, and worried about online weirdos" to come together and exchange ideas in a safe way. I also liked how she described it as a "Safe place to seriously look at becoming a connected educator." I think a Discovery Educator Network sounds like a very helpful resource that can be provided to teachers, that want to make differences in their classrooms.
Mrs. Nelson said herself that she went from lurker to virtual friend to a full blown PLN member. She said "Reading or listening was enough... initially." However, eventually her true "connected-ness" started. Her blog, born October 1, 2006 over the Google Blogger Platform, then transitioned to Edublogs, and finally came to rest as her own domain and has become a place for her to publicly share her thinking, interact with others, and most importantly extend her learning. As she grew in these online circles, both in friendships and learning's, she began to dabble in other online circles. Through her interactions with her PLN, she began getting asked to make contributions. Mrs. Nelson said she likes to think of Discovery Educator Network as a "GLOBAL group of educators who come together periodically, some more than others, to learn from each other or learn often together about best practice in education." It is often centered on educational technology though not always on Discovery Education resources. One last important thing Mrs. Nelson's says about a Discovery Educator Network is "More often than not it is a virtual group meeting via social networking resources, but there are state levels, national, and even international opportunities to come together as a group."
In the comment I left Mrs. Nelson I told her that we briefly talked about Discovery Education a few weeks ago in class, but that we did not spend a lot of time on it because we have been so busy learning about other resources as well. So after reading her post, I’m glad to have a better understanding of some of the things it has to offer. I also told Mrs. Nelson that I think it is so great that they’re teachers and other people in this world that step out side of their comfort zones, and try all different types of resources to gain benefits for learning and for teaching. I then thanked her for being an inspiration to young students like me who want to become the best teachers they can be. I concluded my comment with a link to my blog and a short sentence saying that I would be summarizing what I have learned from visiting her blog soon.
#2
The second post of Mrs. Nelson's that I read and left a comment on was called SC Voices to Inspire. In this post she began by saying "I can't speak loudly enough the power of connected learning." Mrs. Nelson thought about what inspirational voices come from local flavor (the South Carolina variety). She was asked by one of her connected voices to provide a list of feeds and people she subscribes to in her current reader of choice, "Feedly". When putting together those lists, she realized there were some "Twitter" voices that impacted her daily practices as well. Although there is no blog RRS feed to show them, she did include a link to her Twitter list of SC voices in her post. She then created a few lists of voices from South Carolina who have inspired her. I'm glad to have read this post because sometimes I catch myself wondering who else could I use as a resource and who could I follow that is inspirational when it comes to Education. From there, I don't know where to look, besides my assigned C4T teachers. So I'm glad she provided lists of people and sources that I could gather more information and ideas from.
Her lists of people are separated into categories including: "South Carolina School Librarians," "South Carolina Teachers/Educators Across the Curriculum," "South Carolina School Administrators," and "South Carolina- Other/Interesting." I checked out a few of the blogs listed and they really are a great source to look to for information and ideas. Mrs. Nelson also concluded her post with providing a "How To" video on "Feedly."
In the comment that I left Mrs. Nelson I told her that once again I found her posts very helpful and resourceful. I also said that as a young college student who hopes to become a teacher some day, I’m always looking for resources and other people who have experience in Education. So I thanked her for including lists of people and resources that she found inspirational to your blog.
Monday, October 28, 2013
C4K Summary for October
C4K #4
For my fourth C4K or my first C4K for the month of October, I was assigned to a student named Charles from Mrs. Pernille Ripp's 5th grade class located in Madison, Wisconsin. Her class was assigned a challenge in which they tried to solve two brain teasers with a partner without speaking or writing. They had to be completely silent for twenty minutes. After doing this activity, they were supposed to write a blog post and answer a few questions. How did it feel to do this? Was it frustrating? Was it hard to communicate? They also read a book called "Out of My Mind." In this book, the main character melody has cerebral palsy leaving her unable to speak. They were also asked to answer the questions "How do you think it feels to be her?" and "Would you like to not be able to speak?" My assigned student, Charles, did not respond to this challenge so I chose to read and leave a comment for a student named Alex who is in the same class.
In Alex's post The no talking challege! he responded by saying that it was pretty hard to communicate without words or writing words down. He said he would go insane if he couldn't talk to other people. I told him that I would too! Alex also wrote that he respects people like Melody who have cerebral palsy. In the comment I left Alex, I told him that when we try stepping into other peoples shoes for a few minutes, we often look at life a whole lot differently and we sometimes see how blessed we truly are.
I told Alex that I thought he did a great job responding to the challenge. He was honest and he answered each of the questions very well. I concluded my comment by thanking him for sharing his thoughts with the world and then I left the link to my blog.
C4K #5
For my fifth C4K or my second for the month of October, I was assigned to a student named Emma from Ms. Eppele's class in British Columbia, Canada. For Emma's post assignment she was asked to answer a few questions. The first question was "Right away in Chapter 7, Melody talks about how she dreams she can do anything. Think about a dream that you have had. How can you make that dream into a reality?" The second question was "Why do you think it is hard for teachers to stay with Melody and her class?" The final question was "Why do you think the episode with Mrs. Billups is important to the story as a whole?" In response to these questions Emma said she had a dream before where she turned into this thing that was half donkey and half goat. She said "It was weird." Emma also said, "It's hard for teachers to work with Melody because she can't speak and walk and she can barely move her arms." In the comment that I left Emma I told her that her dream does sound weird but very interesting! I continued by telling her that I have also had weird dreams like that before but that thankfully, they will never become reality. I told her she did a great job responding to the second question and that I thought she gave an honest answer. Once again I thanked her for sharing her ideas with the world and I left a link to my blog just in case she ever wanted to visit it!
C4K #6
For my sixth C4K or my third for the month of October, I was assigned to a student named Evan from Mrs. Mclean's class in Alberta Canada. In Evan's post The levels of the Alberta Forest!, he compared the levels of the forest to a house. For example he said, "The sub-floor is the basement part of the forest..." and "The canopy is the rood of the forest..." He used a great picture of a bear with a fish in its mouth to go under his paragraph explaining which animals are present in each level. He also included a picture of his own drawing of the different levels! His picture is so good, and you can definitely tell he knows his levels of the forest.
In the comment that I left Evan, I explained what EDM 310 is and what we have learned to do so far. I told him that I loved how he compared the forest to a house because it is a great visual and it really helps to understand the different levels. I also told him that I loved his pictures. I ended my comment to him by giving him the link to my blog and I told him that he could visit my blog if he ever wanted to.
C4K #7
For my seventh C4K or my fourth for the month of October, I was assigned to a student named Alex from Mr. Warren Grieve's 5th grade class at Medbury School for Boys Christchurch, in New Zealand. Alex's last post was published on Wednesday, September 11, 2013. In his post What makes us Kiwi (speech), he asks the question "What makes us kiwi?" Throughout his whole post he gives great details on what makes him kiwi and why. In his first paragraph he tells a story about when his family came down a ski field one day. He said, "We saw a green kea pecking on dads car tires. Dad started going wild, he ran up to the car and waved his arms and shouted to shoo it away. I started laughing and my little brother spilt his juice and started to whine."
In my comment to Alex I explained who I was and what brought me to his blog post. I told him about how I was new to blogging at the beginning of this class, but that I am grateful for now having been taught to blog. I also told Alex that I loved his first paragraph because he used great descriptive details and I almost felt like I was there. I wrapped my comment up by telling him to continue to keep up the great work, and that if he ever wanted to visit my blog he was welcome at any time, and I left my link.
C4K #8
For my eighth C4K or my fifth for the month of October, I was assigned to a student named Lauren from Mrs. Horst's 7th grade Language Arts class, located in Canada. Lauren's last post Out Of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper was published on Monday, October 28, 2013.
In this post, Lauren described several reasons why and how she could be a good friend to a book character named Melody. In the book, Melody has Cerebral Palsy. Lauren has a big heart and you can tell that by reading her post. In this post, Lauren began by saying, "People seem to think that just because she has a disability she won't be a good friend. I don't agree, if I saw Melody while I was on my recess I would talk to her and laugh with her. I wouldn't just go over to her because she has a disability, I would go over because she seems like a really good friend." She also said, "If I talked about my problems with Melody, I would try to make her feel like she is not alone. She is the same as all of us inside, and someone like myself should remind her of that."
In the comment I left her, I explained who I was, and what brought me to her blog. I continued by telling her she did a wonderful job on describing the reasons why and how she could be a good friend to Melody. I also told her that she sounded like a very sweet young lady and it is so great knowing they’re children across the world with hearts like hers. I told her a few specific things that I liked about her post and then I told her, I hope she continues to have a big heart for the rest of her life, and to continue the great work! I also left a link to my blog at the end!
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Blog Post #10
What can we learn about teaching and learning from Randy Pausch?
Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He had cancer and was told he only had three to six months to live. Not letting that news bring him down, he continued to be positive and inspirational up to the day he passed away. His video, Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, has really made an impact on my life. There is so much to take away from this lecture.
Dr. Pausch taught a class at Carnegie Mellon University that was all about project based learning. He said, "The best way to teach somebody something, is to have them think that they're learning something else." He was also the kind of teacher that always encouraged his students to never stop chasing their dreams and to never give up on them. In this lecture, Dr. Pausch told the audience about his own childhood dreams and how he worked hard to make them come true. Just listening to him talk about achieving his own dreams and wanting the same for others was very inspiring. One of the things that I have learned from watching this video is, teachers can inspire and encourage their students in more ways than they think. Dr. Pausch let his students create projects in a way that they could enjoy what they were doing. I think this way of teaching would really help inspire and bring creativity to children. It lets them be in control, and it can increase their self-esteem. Giving children some freedom in what they produce could actually surprise you.
A man named Andy van Dam told Randy to get his P.H D and become a professor after he graduated from Brown. Dr. Randy Pausch questioned him at first. In repsonse, Mr. Andy van Dam said, "Because you are such a great salesman that any company that gets you is going to use you as a salesman, and you might as well be selling something worth while like Education." You could tell from his voice that when Mr. Andy told him that many years ago, it impacted his life forever.
From this video I have learned that when it comes to teaching children we should encourage them to never give up, and we should inspire them to go after their dreams. We also need to set examples of helping others. There are a few quotes from this lecture that I think are too important not to be shared. So here they are:
1) "You have to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn't going to work."
2) "When you're screwing up and nobody's saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up." -Dr. Pausch's Assistant FB coach.
3) "Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and they still care."
4) "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."
5) "The brick walls are there for a reason. They aren't there to keep us out. They are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people that don't want it badly enough."
6) "Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you." -John Snoody
7) "When you have something for a long time like 10 years, that you hold so precious, it's the toughest thing in the world to hand it over. Find somebody else that is better than you to hand it to."
8)"Don't complain, just work harder."
9) "Get a feedback loop and listen to it. The hard part is listening to it. Cheerish and use the feedback."
10) "Be prepared. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity."
Randy Pausch ended his lecture by telling the audience, "This talk wasn't for you, it was for my kids."
Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He had cancer and was told he only had three to six months to live. Not letting that news bring him down, he continued to be positive and inspirational up to the day he passed away. His video, Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, has really made an impact on my life. There is so much to take away from this lecture.
Dr. Pausch taught a class at Carnegie Mellon University that was all about project based learning. He said, "The best way to teach somebody something, is to have them think that they're learning something else." He was also the kind of teacher that always encouraged his students to never stop chasing their dreams and to never give up on them. In this lecture, Dr. Pausch told the audience about his own childhood dreams and how he worked hard to make them come true. Just listening to him talk about achieving his own dreams and wanting the same for others was very inspiring. One of the things that I have learned from watching this video is, teachers can inspire and encourage their students in more ways than they think. Dr. Pausch let his students create projects in a way that they could enjoy what they were doing. I think this way of teaching would really help inspire and bring creativity to children. It lets them be in control, and it can increase their self-esteem. Giving children some freedom in what they produce could actually surprise you.
A man named Andy van Dam told Randy to get his P.H D and become a professor after he graduated from Brown. Dr. Randy Pausch questioned him at first. In repsonse, Mr. Andy van Dam said, "Because you are such a great salesman that any company that gets you is going to use you as a salesman, and you might as well be selling something worth while like Education." You could tell from his voice that when Mr. Andy told him that many years ago, it impacted his life forever.
From this video I have learned that when it comes to teaching children we should encourage them to never give up, and we should inspire them to go after their dreams. We also need to set examples of helping others. There are a few quotes from this lecture that I think are too important not to be shared. So here they are:
1) "You have to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn't going to work."
2) "When you're screwing up and nobody's saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up." -Dr. Pausch's Assistant FB coach.
3) "Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and they still care."
4) "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."
5) "The brick walls are there for a reason. They aren't there to keep us out. They are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people that don't want it badly enough."
6) "Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you." -John Snoody
7) "When you have something for a long time like 10 years, that you hold so precious, it's the toughest thing in the world to hand it over. Find somebody else that is better than you to hand it to."
8)"Don't complain, just work harder."
9) "Get a feedback loop and listen to it. The hard part is listening to it. Cheerish and use the feedback."
10) "Be prepared. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity."
Randy Pausch ended his lecture by telling the audience, "This talk wasn't for you, it was for my kids."
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Project #14
In this lesson plan for project based learning, our fourth grade students will learn about the Solar System. This lesson plan includes the subjects: science, reading, writing, and art. Our group made this into a two week lesson plan. This project is intended for our students to grasp the concept of our Solar System including asteroids, meteors, and comets. They will create a science/art project to show their understanding of the information after one week of the lesson. On Friday of the first week, they will present their projects in front of the class. During the second week, they will write a descriptive paper titled "My Trip in Outer Space." Then they will peer edit their papers in small groups of four students. After peer editing each others work, each group will choose/vote one paper that they think is the best and should be read to the class. The next day, Thursday, the presenters will read their papers and then when our students are finished reading, everyone will hand in their paper. On Friday of the second week, our students will have a multiple choice/ short answer/ and matching test on the Solar System that is made up of about 10-15 questions. This lesson plan includes resources such as iCurio, YouTube, Smart-boards, and Mac laptops. The driving question for this lesson plan is, "How do we characterize and put into order the planets of our solar system?" This is the link to our site.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Blog Post #9
By: Katlyn Lusker, Tarcela Kohn, Jake Dukes, and Alex Hopson
"Back To the Future" by Brian Crosby
Brian Crosby is a teacher from Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada. In his video Back To the Future, he explains that 90 percent of his students are second language learners. His students are at risk because they qualify for free lunch, meaning they are students of poverty. On the second day of school, Mr. Crosby gave his twenty-four students a survey to find out where they stood. After gathering the results he found out when they were asked "Which city do you live in?", only nine children gave the correct answer. When they were asked "What state do you live in?", twelve gave the correct answer. When they were asked "What country do you live in?", only three students answered correctly. When they were asked "What is your address?", only seven students were able to answer correctly. Mr. Crosby then poses the question, "Why such a disconnect for these students?"
"We do not want to have a narrow curriculum for these students, but these students have had a narrow curriculum since they were born." Mr. Crosby also said, "They haven't had the experiences and the inputs to build the schema for the world." One of our favorite quotes from this video was when Mr. Crosby said, "It's hard to be able to imagine what could be if you don't know anything about what is. And if it's hard to imagine, where does your creativity spark from? If you don't have a lot of imagination and creativity, where do you build your passion from?" Those few sentences are very powerful. They make you think deeper and you start to ask questions.
In this video, Mr. Crosby's students did a balloon project where they created "high hopes" cards and then they created a place to put all of the cards, their pictures, and cameras for filming the process. Once they created a place for all of these objects they tied it to a balloon. After the balloon went out of site they went back in their room and tracked the balloon. They were able to watch the balloon in real time. The students were also instructed to come in and write about what they saw, what they did, and then they swapped pictures with each other. It didn't even stop when it landed because they were in a learning network. They are tied into other students from across the world, and they started getting messages about how some students wanted their own teachers to do some of the same projects as they had done.
They would Skype different classes and the students from Mr. Crosby's class (that had already articulated these projects in writing) showed the other students exactly how to do them. Mr. Crosby said, "When you're working/ dealing with second language learners, articulating it in speech is a whole different ball game, and by practicing, they are reviewing the material, and most importantly they get to shine. They get to show off what they know."
By doing projects like these, language is at focus. They learn to read and write to learn- content, they use writing to clarify and share, they write to tell a story, they use creativity, they learn to give and receive feedback, they learn to articulate orally, they connect globally, they become aware globally, and they have an authentic audience.
Mr. Crosby says, "This is active learning. This is empowering students to become learners. Now we are empowering kids to learn on their own. To use a lot of these 21st century tools like; connecting, empowering, being active, including, motivating, and collaborating, allows them to do just that." We agree with Mr. Crosby that by using these tools, we are connecting students to the world. He said it best when he said, "We can't just keep racing kids through school, it can't be a race. We have to keep making sure that we are giving them opportunities to build schema for the world."
"Blended Learning Cycle" by Mr. Paul Andersen
The Blended Learning Cycle video was made by Paul Andersen. Mr. Andersen's video was actually a podcast to discuss and inform others about the "Blending Learning Cycle". Mr. Andersen explained that last year he presented at TED Talk on "Classroom Game Design" and how he turned his classroom into a video game. He said last year " was a great year, however, it strayed a little from what he knew about the power of the question in his science class." Mr. Andersen depicted an image that we found humorous. The image below, is from the "Blended Learning Cycle" video. It is from 19th century France, predicting what students will look like in the year 2000. We agree with Mr. Andersen, our classrooms do not look like this, however, our classrooms have changed tremendously.
Mr. Andersen made a great point, he had a great year, but the class strayed. So over his summer, he assessed himself and became more inspired about his classroom. He then explains what he found during his rethinking process. He came up with a way to incorporate "The Blending Learning Cycle" into his Science Class..jpg "Source:mcqueenamber310.blogspot.com")
Mr. Andersen defined Blended Learning as taking compelling parts of online, mobile, and the classroom, then blend them together using technology in a positive way. The next part of the cycle are the 5e's: Engaging, Explore, Expand, Explain, and Evaluate.
.jpg "Source:lathemrebeccaedm310.blogspot.com")
When starting with "Engaging," you as the teacher want to engage the students with an opening question. Mr. Andersen explained it as the "hook." The second "e" is "Explore". After you have given the engaging question/opening question allow for the students to explore/investigate/inquire on their own with books, technology, etc. Next, is to "Expand." Here, Mr. Andersen uses videos or podcast. He says it allows to free up his time to assess his students. Now for the fourth "e," Mr. Andersen said his students "Explain" by elaboration with diagrams, reading, etc. Lastly, "Evaluation" was covered. Here Mr. Andersen assesses his student's understanding of the content. It is here that he will use a video or podcast that students can watch, so he is able to have individual time to ask questions to his students before his students have to take their Summary Quiz at the end of their lessons. Mr. Andersen then finishes his podcast by explaining that when you combine the Blended Learning and the Learning Cycle you get a "Blended Learning Cycle."
"Making Thinking Visible" by Mark Church
In the video Making Thinking Visible by Mark Church, Mr. Church has his students work in small groups to have a discussion about a video they had watched the day before, concerning the topic of early human beginnings and the origins of human society. In order for his students to capture the "heart" of what the unit was all about, he asked his students to talk about the "puzzles" in their small groups and to come up with a headline to capture what the "puzzle and challenge of the search for human origin" was all about.
One of Mr. Church's students asked her group, "How could we sum up everything that we have been talking about in one phrase?" We agree that through communication and collaboration, the thought process among these groups become visible. After discussing each groups headlines, Mr. Church then puts the headlines up on bulletin boards to be displayed. After two weeks more of the same unit and when the kids do a final project, Mr. Church is going to ask them "What's the headline now? How has the story changed? How has your thinking changed?"
This video was a great example of seeing thinking become visible. Communication and collaboration are some of the 21st century tools that we have been studying and to see children work and think together definitely proves that they are important tools needed all throughout life.
"Super Digital Citizen" - Building Comics by Sam Pane
The focus in the video "Super Digital Citizen- Building Comics by Sam Pane was "How to become a super digital citizen." Mr. Pane is a fifth grade teacher at Wilson Focus School in the Omaha Public School District in Nebraska. He teaches all curriculum's which include: reading, math, science, and social studies.
In this video, Mr. Pane asks his students "Who is really in charge of using the internet safely?" The video in this lesson is about how to be a good digital citizen and being able to evaluate when you go to websites, what kind of information they might be after. Mr. Pane brought up a quote from Spider-Man which was, "With great power comes great responsibility." He then asked his class, "What kind of power does the internet give us?" They had a class discussion and then they talked about what it means to be a digital citizen ("someone who chooses to act safely, responsibly, and respectfully, whenever they are online").
The project Mr. Pane gave his students was to build a comic showing safety, responsibility, and respect. They were to design a digital super hero that would step in, in order to save the day. The website that these students used is one that allows people to build their own super digital character. They were allowed to pick from three basic designs and then they were able to modify and customize it as much as they wanted. These students did their projects on Mac laptops.
Mr. Pane said, "Matching up with English, Language standards is a huge deal in this lesson because the students have to create their super digital citizen and then they have to actually take that and put them into a imagination situation." They are creating a narrative between themselves and their super hero. They also use pictures of themselves along with their super hero characters, which creates a sense of ownership for them. Mr. Pane said, "Building comics are a great way to do a visual presentation of learning and of text. We can also use this as a way to teach dialogue (text bubble)." When the students were finished creating their comic, they got up and walked to a different laptop to read someone else's comic. Then they had to determine if the person used examples of safety, respect, and responsibility. Mr. Pane said the bottom line is that "Students are going to be exposed online to all sorts of opportunities, and he wants his students to know that they're choices they will have to make, and that it's going to take a super digital citizen to make these choices."
We really liked this video because building comics is a great idea to use in classrooms. It used many of the 21st century skills including communication, creativity, collaboration, and it was also very engaging. The students looked like they really enjoyed this project and any project that promotes learning but is also fun at the same time, is always a great project.
"Back To the Future" by Brian Crosby
Brian Crosby is a teacher from Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada. In his video Back To the Future, he explains that 90 percent of his students are second language learners. His students are at risk because they qualify for free lunch, meaning they are students of poverty. On the second day of school, Mr. Crosby gave his twenty-four students a survey to find out where they stood. After gathering the results he found out when they were asked "Which city do you live in?", only nine children gave the correct answer. When they were asked "What state do you live in?", twelve gave the correct answer. When they were asked "What country do you live in?", only three students answered correctly. When they were asked "What is your address?", only seven students were able to answer correctly. Mr. Crosby then poses the question, "Why such a disconnect for these students?"
"We do not want to have a narrow curriculum for these students, but these students have had a narrow curriculum since they were born." Mr. Crosby also said, "They haven't had the experiences and the inputs to build the schema for the world." One of our favorite quotes from this video was when Mr. Crosby said, "It's hard to be able to imagine what could be if you don't know anything about what is. And if it's hard to imagine, where does your creativity spark from? If you don't have a lot of imagination and creativity, where do you build your passion from?" Those few sentences are very powerful. They make you think deeper and you start to ask questions.
In this video, Mr. Crosby's students did a balloon project where they created "high hopes" cards and then they created a place to put all of the cards, their pictures, and cameras for filming the process. Once they created a place for all of these objects they tied it to a balloon. After the balloon went out of site they went back in their room and tracked the balloon. They were able to watch the balloon in real time. The students were also instructed to come in and write about what they saw, what they did, and then they swapped pictures with each other. It didn't even stop when it landed because they were in a learning network. They are tied into other students from across the world, and they started getting messages about how some students wanted their own teachers to do some of the same projects as they had done.
They would Skype different classes and the students from Mr. Crosby's class (that had already articulated these projects in writing) showed the other students exactly how to do them. Mr. Crosby said, "When you're working/ dealing with second language learners, articulating it in speech is a whole different ball game, and by practicing, they are reviewing the material, and most importantly they get to shine. They get to show off what they know."
By doing projects like these, language is at focus. They learn to read and write to learn- content, they use writing to clarify and share, they write to tell a story, they use creativity, they learn to give and receive feedback, they learn to articulate orally, they connect globally, they become aware globally, and they have an authentic audience.
Mr. Crosby says, "This is active learning. This is empowering students to become learners. Now we are empowering kids to learn on their own. To use a lot of these 21st century tools like; connecting, empowering, being active, including, motivating, and collaborating, allows them to do just that." We agree with Mr. Crosby that by using these tools, we are connecting students to the world. He said it best when he said, "We can't just keep racing kids through school, it can't be a race. We have to keep making sure that we are giving them opportunities to build schema for the world."
"Blended Learning Cycle" by Mr. Paul Andersen
The Blended Learning Cycle video was made by Paul Andersen. Mr. Andersen's video was actually a podcast to discuss and inform others about the "Blending Learning Cycle". Mr. Andersen explained that last year he presented at TED Talk on "Classroom Game Design" and how he turned his classroom into a video game. He said last year " was a great year, however, it strayed a little from what he knew about the power of the question in his science class." Mr. Andersen depicted an image that we found humorous. The image below, is from the "Blended Learning Cycle" video. It is from 19th century France, predicting what students will look like in the year 2000. We agree with Mr. Andersen, our classrooms do not look like this, however, our classrooms have changed tremendously.
Mr. Andersen made a great point, he had a great year, but the class strayed. So over his summer, he assessed himself and became more inspired about his classroom. He then explains what he found during his rethinking process. He came up with a way to incorporate "The Blending Learning Cycle" into his Science Class.
.jpg "Source:mcqueenamber310.blogspot.com")
Mr. Andersen defined Blended Learning as taking compelling parts of online, mobile, and the classroom, then blend them together using technology in a positive way. The next part of the cycle are the 5e's: Engaging, Explore, Expand, Explain, and Evaluate.
.jpg "Source:lathemrebeccaedm310.blogspot.com")
When starting with "Engaging," you as the teacher want to engage the students with an opening question. Mr. Andersen explained it as the "hook." The second "e" is "Explore". After you have given the engaging question/opening question allow for the students to explore/investigate/inquire on their own with books, technology, etc. Next, is to "Expand." Here, Mr. Andersen uses videos or podcast. He says it allows to free up his time to assess his students. Now for the fourth "e," Mr. Andersen said his students "Explain" by elaboration with diagrams, reading, etc. Lastly, "Evaluation" was covered. Here Mr. Andersen assesses his student's understanding of the content. It is here that he will use a video or podcast that students can watch, so he is able to have individual time to ask questions to his students before his students have to take their Summary Quiz at the end of their lessons. Mr. Andersen then finishes his podcast by explaining that when you combine the Blended Learning and the Learning Cycle you get a "Blended Learning Cycle."
"Making Thinking Visible" by Mark Church
In the video Making Thinking Visible by Mark Church, Mr. Church has his students work in small groups to have a discussion about a video they had watched the day before, concerning the topic of early human beginnings and the origins of human society. In order for his students to capture the "heart" of what the unit was all about, he asked his students to talk about the "puzzles" in their small groups and to come up with a headline to capture what the "puzzle and challenge of the search for human origin" was all about.
One of Mr. Church's students asked her group, "How could we sum up everything that we have been talking about in one phrase?" We agree that through communication and collaboration, the thought process among these groups become visible. After discussing each groups headlines, Mr. Church then puts the headlines up on bulletin boards to be displayed. After two weeks more of the same unit and when the kids do a final project, Mr. Church is going to ask them "What's the headline now? How has the story changed? How has your thinking changed?"
This video was a great example of seeing thinking become visible. Communication and collaboration are some of the 21st century tools that we have been studying and to see children work and think together definitely proves that they are important tools needed all throughout life.
"Super Digital Citizen" - Building Comics by Sam Pane
The focus in the video "Super Digital Citizen- Building Comics by Sam Pane was "How to become a super digital citizen." Mr. Pane is a fifth grade teacher at Wilson Focus School in the Omaha Public School District in Nebraska. He teaches all curriculum's which include: reading, math, science, and social studies.
In this video, Mr. Pane asks his students "Who is really in charge of using the internet safely?" The video in this lesson is about how to be a good digital citizen and being able to evaluate when you go to websites, what kind of information they might be after. Mr. Pane brought up a quote from Spider-Man which was, "With great power comes great responsibility." He then asked his class, "What kind of power does the internet give us?" They had a class discussion and then they talked about what it means to be a digital citizen ("someone who chooses to act safely, responsibly, and respectfully, whenever they are online").
The project Mr. Pane gave his students was to build a comic showing safety, responsibility, and respect. They were to design a digital super hero that would step in, in order to save the day. The website that these students used is one that allows people to build their own super digital character. They were allowed to pick from three basic designs and then they were able to modify and customize it as much as they wanted. These students did their projects on Mac laptops.
Mr. Pane said, "Matching up with English, Language standards is a huge deal in this lesson because the students have to create their super digital citizen and then they have to actually take that and put them into a imagination situation." They are creating a narrative between themselves and their super hero. They also use pictures of themselves along with their super hero characters, which creates a sense of ownership for them. Mr. Pane said, "Building comics are a great way to do a visual presentation of learning and of text. We can also use this as a way to teach dialogue (text bubble)." When the students were finished creating their comic, they got up and walked to a different laptop to read someone else's comic. Then they had to determine if the person used examples of safety, respect, and responsibility. Mr. Pane said the bottom line is that "Students are going to be exposed online to all sorts of opportunities, and he wants his students to know that they're choices they will have to make, and that it's going to take a super digital citizen to make these choices."
We really liked this video because building comics is a great idea to use in classrooms. It used many of the 21st century skills including communication, creativity, collaboration, and it was also very engaging. The students looked like they really enjoyed this project and any project that promotes learning but is also fun at the same time, is always a great project.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Blog Post #8
Evernote by Katlyn Lusker
In the video Dr. Lodge McCammon's Fizz- Flipping the Classroom, Dr. McCammon said, "Too much of the time, Education today looks like students in the classroom and teachers just lecturing to the students, which is inefficient, not engaging, and it is a one shot deal." He continued saying, "Then we send our students out of the classroom to apply their learning individually which is also not engaging." To meet the needs of all students we need to make drastic changes. In the video Why I Flipped My Classroom by Katie Gimbar, she explains the importance and effectiveness of flipping the classrooms. In flipping classrooms, students are able to pre-load content, getting information they will need for class. They are able to pause, rewind, and re-watch videos. They can also post any questions they have, which enables the teacher to plan and prepare answers specifically for the class time. This is a self-paced program so students are able to go back and review former topics or they can even work ahead. Because of this process, the whole classroom has now shifted. The students come to class with the information already and now the teacher is the center of the class. The teacher can now work with the different groups that are moving on their own pace. Ninety percent of the class time is now spent on application of content by flipping the classroom.
So, as more teachers move into blended environments that focus on anywhere/ anytime learning, the need for practical tools increases. But how can we and our students best save, share, and manage content? Evernote can help (About Evernote).
Evernote is available in both free and paid versions and at its most basic level, it is designed to help teachers and their students take notes and access those notes wherever they are and whenever they want. The notes can be simple or they can be complex, from simple text to notes containing images, video, and audio clips. They can be just about anything also including lectures, to-do lists, clips and text from websites, or even essay rough drafts. A great things about Evernote is that it can be installed as software on a desktop, used as a web-based tool accessible through a browser, and as a mobile app.
In my own classroom I would definitely use Evernote. I think this is a great resource for teachers and their students. I really like how students are able to go back and look at information whenever and wherever they would like. One of the reasons why I chose to explain and research Evernote is because it is a great organization tool. I am a very organized person and I am always looking for other great ways to organize as much as possible. I would use this resource as a way to provide my students with all kinds of information. They would be able to prepare for class and they would be able to review for tests. I think Evernote would be a very beneficial tool in classrooms.
Promethean Planet by Tarcela Kohn
I have found a resource that is similar to iCurio. The website I found was Promethean Planet; it is a free interactive community that is created by teacher for teachers. With Promethean Planet, there are many links that teachers can use on a daily basis to assist in the process of making lessons and bringing technology into the classroom. One link that I particularly found useful that iCurio did not have was a Blog and Forum tab at the top of the web page. Here teachers can communicate and open up their networks. If a new teacher, like I will be, this is a excellent way to talk to other teachers, ask questions. The various methods in which you can talk about are Products and Curriculum, News and Events, Blog, Technical Support, and Special Interest Groups.
Secondly, in the resources tab, educators can share their resources, collect resources from publishers, pick lessons and activities based on themes and classroom assessments, but most importantly you can search by state standards. Another thing that I found that unique about the website, Promethean Planet educators can find a topic for; Fine Arts, Math, Reading/Language Arts, Science and Health, Social Studies, Vocational Educational, World Languages.
Powerschool by Jake Dukes
Powerschool allows teachers to manage attendance, grades and show a class schedule for everyday of each week. It also allows your parents to check your progress in every class. Your parents would be able to access your grades, attendance and be notified if you were not showing up for class or you were not completing your work on time. Powerschool shows what your child is going to be doing everyday in class and what he/she should have done by a certain date. It also shows an online seating chart of who your child is sitting by and a picture of the student that your child is sitting by. On each assignment they(the student) turns in the parent will be able to see a comment by which the teacher is talking about your child's grade. Which I think will help the parents stay on top of their child's progress in school, which will benefit the student so they won’t get too far behind and your parents will know how you've been doing every step of the way in the classroom.
In the video Dr. Lodge McCammon's Fizz- Flipping the Classroom, Dr. McCammon said, "Too much of the time, Education today looks like students in the classroom and teachers just lecturing to the students, which is inefficient, not engaging, and it is a one shot deal." He continued saying, "Then we send our students out of the classroom to apply their learning individually which is also not engaging." To meet the needs of all students we need to make drastic changes. In the video Why I Flipped My Classroom by Katie Gimbar, she explains the importance and effectiveness of flipping the classrooms. In flipping classrooms, students are able to pre-load content, getting information they will need for class. They are able to pause, rewind, and re-watch videos. They can also post any questions they have, which enables the teacher to plan and prepare answers specifically for the class time. This is a self-paced program so students are able to go back and review former topics or they can even work ahead. Because of this process, the whole classroom has now shifted. The students come to class with the information already and now the teacher is the center of the class. The teacher can now work with the different groups that are moving on their own pace. Ninety percent of the class time is now spent on application of content by flipping the classroom.
So, as more teachers move into blended environments that focus on anywhere/ anytime learning, the need for practical tools increases. But how can we and our students best save, share, and manage content? Evernote can help (About Evernote).
Evernote is available in both free and paid versions and at its most basic level, it is designed to help teachers and their students take notes and access those notes wherever they are and whenever they want. The notes can be simple or they can be complex, from simple text to notes containing images, video, and audio clips. They can be just about anything also including lectures, to-do lists, clips and text from websites, or even essay rough drafts. A great things about Evernote is that it can be installed as software on a desktop, used as a web-based tool accessible through a browser, and as a mobile app.
In my own classroom I would definitely use Evernote. I think this is a great resource for teachers and their students. I really like how students are able to go back and look at information whenever and wherever they would like. One of the reasons why I chose to explain and research Evernote is because it is a great organization tool. I am a very organized person and I am always looking for other great ways to organize as much as possible. I would use this resource as a way to provide my students with all kinds of information. They would be able to prepare for class and they would be able to review for tests. I think Evernote would be a very beneficial tool in classrooms.
Promethean Planet by Tarcela Kohn
I have found a resource that is similar to iCurio. The website I found was Promethean Planet; it is a free interactive community that is created by teacher for teachers. With Promethean Planet, there are many links that teachers can use on a daily basis to assist in the process of making lessons and bringing technology into the classroom. One link that I particularly found useful that iCurio did not have was a Blog and Forum tab at the top of the web page. Here teachers can communicate and open up their networks. If a new teacher, like I will be, this is a excellent way to talk to other teachers, ask questions. The various methods in which you can talk about are Products and Curriculum, News and Events, Blog, Technical Support, and Special Interest Groups.
Powerschool by Jake Dukes
Powerschool allows teachers to manage attendance, grades and show a class schedule for everyday of each week. It also allows your parents to check your progress in every class. Your parents would be able to access your grades, attendance and be notified if you were not showing up for class or you were not completing your work on time. Powerschool shows what your child is going to be doing everyday in class and what he/she should have done by a certain date. It also shows an online seating chart of who your child is sitting by and a picture of the student that your child is sitting by. On each assignment they(the student) turns in the parent will be able to see a comment by which the teacher is talking about your child's grade. Which I think will help the parents stay on top of their child's progress in school, which will benefit the student so they won’t get too far behind and your parents will know how you've been doing every step of the way in the classroom.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Project #9 Podcast
For our podcast we discussed topic #8. We discussed how we should connect technology to the curriculum and how we can teach for the future. We used the book "Teaching Digital Natives" by Marc Prensky and Mrs. Kathleen Morris's blog as sources.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
C4T #2
Elvira Deyamport "Language Journeys"
For my second C4T I was assigned to Mrs. Elvira Deyamport's blog "Language Journeys." Mrs. Deyamport is a Gifted Education teacher in grades 2-6. She also has a specialist degree in Reading Instruction, a masters in Gifted Education, and a dual bachelor's in Elementary Education and Spanish. Prior to Gifted Education, she taught second grade and elementary Spanish.
#1
The first post I read and commented on of hers was "Research Meets Podcasts." Mrs. Deyamport had to teach for her district's enrichment program. She said "I love teaching this program because it gives me a time to test out some methods and projects that I normally don't get to try during the school year or like in this case, haven't tried in a while." She sounds like a wonderful teacher, one that will try anything for her students. She said "I admit, I am a little weary of throwing tools at my students without trying them out myself, but this summer has taught me to do the opposite." She continued saying, "This time around I took a leap with my basic skills and knowledge and jumped right in." She wasn't at all disappointed in her decision to do so as well. I told Mrs. Deyamport in my comment that I wanted to be the same kind of teacher as her. I don't want to let my fear of not knowing how things work to keep me from trying new things with my future students. She encouraged me to want to jump right into things that could have a very positive outcome in students lives. Technology shouldn't be something we fret about. I need to start looking at technology in a different way.
Mrs. Deyamport was assigned as the "Activity Teacher" for their program and she decided to focus on exploring one tool and creating a product with that tool. I think that was a very wise decision. She "choose podcasts and narrowed their final product to a talk show where they would interview other scientists." The students had fun with their podcasts and she said "another reason why I love this tool- it captured my students' personalities best." I loved watching/listening to some of her students podcast videos. They were very creative!
#2
The second post I read and commented on of Mrs. Deyamport's was "Real Life Math and Other Enrichment Activities." Mrs. Deyamport started this post by saying she had been struggling with ways to make Math more engaging and relevant for her gifted learners. She said, "The drill and skill approach is not sufficient and worksheets are not going to cut it either." I told her in the comment that I left, that I totally agreed. She continued by saying "That's when I came to the conclusion that they needed to explore concepts and apply what they have learned to real life settings." With the help of her PLN, she was able to come across several resources to help her transition to projects and better manage them in her class. By doing this she said that "Now instead of feeding information to my students, they are solving problems through trial and error, communicating with each other on the best strategies to reach a conclusion or solution, and most importantly, making sense of and even justifying what they are learning."
She included some of the projects her students have done. The projects that she included in this post were "Decimal Designs," "Math Movies" which demonstrated their understanding of place value, and thanks to their school's PTA they were able to have a "Math Party" to apply estimation and computation skills. The students planned a themed party with a budget of $100. In the comment I left Mrs. Deyamport, I told her that I loved how she gave her students the opportunity to learn with hands on projects. The projects looked fun but also engaging at the same time. I concluded my comment by thanking her for sharing these great ideas.
For my second C4T I was assigned to Mrs. Elvira Deyamport's blog "Language Journeys." Mrs. Deyamport is a Gifted Education teacher in grades 2-6. She also has a specialist degree in Reading Instruction, a masters in Gifted Education, and a dual bachelor's in Elementary Education and Spanish. Prior to Gifted Education, she taught second grade and elementary Spanish.
#1
The first post I read and commented on of hers was "Research Meets Podcasts." Mrs. Deyamport had to teach for her district's enrichment program. She said "I love teaching this program because it gives me a time to test out some methods and projects that I normally don't get to try during the school year or like in this case, haven't tried in a while." She sounds like a wonderful teacher, one that will try anything for her students. She said "I admit, I am a little weary of throwing tools at my students without trying them out myself, but this summer has taught me to do the opposite." She continued saying, "This time around I took a leap with my basic skills and knowledge and jumped right in." She wasn't at all disappointed in her decision to do so as well. I told Mrs. Deyamport in my comment that I wanted to be the same kind of teacher as her. I don't want to let my fear of not knowing how things work to keep me from trying new things with my future students. She encouraged me to want to jump right into things that could have a very positive outcome in students lives. Technology shouldn't be something we fret about. I need to start looking at technology in a different way.
Mrs. Deyamport was assigned as the "Activity Teacher" for their program and she decided to focus on exploring one tool and creating a product with that tool. I think that was a very wise decision. She "choose podcasts and narrowed their final product to a talk show where they would interview other scientists." The students had fun with their podcasts and she said "another reason why I love this tool- it captured my students' personalities best." I loved watching/listening to some of her students podcast videos. They were very creative!
#2
The second post I read and commented on of Mrs. Deyamport's was "Real Life Math and Other Enrichment Activities." Mrs. Deyamport started this post by saying she had been struggling with ways to make Math more engaging and relevant for her gifted learners. She said, "The drill and skill approach is not sufficient and worksheets are not going to cut it either." I told her in the comment that I left, that I totally agreed. She continued by saying "That's when I came to the conclusion that they needed to explore concepts and apply what they have learned to real life settings." With the help of her PLN, she was able to come across several resources to help her transition to projects and better manage them in her class. By doing this she said that "Now instead of feeding information to my students, they are solving problems through trial and error, communicating with each other on the best strategies to reach a conclusion or solution, and most importantly, making sense of and even justifying what they are learning."
She included some of the projects her students have done. The projects that she included in this post were "Decimal Designs," "Math Movies" which demonstrated their understanding of place value, and thanks to their school's PTA they were able to have a "Math Party" to apply estimation and computation skills. The students planned a themed party with a budget of $100. In the comment I left Mrs. Deyamport, I told her that I loved how she gave her students the opportunity to learn with hands on projects. The projects looked fun but also engaging at the same time. I concluded my comment by thanking her for sharing these great ideas.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Blog Post #7
Interview Conversations with Anthony Capps summarized by Katlyn Lusker, Tarcela Kohn, Jake Dukes, and Alex Hopson
Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher
We have learned a lot by listening to Anthony Capps. In this video, Anthony Capps said “A lot of people when we think about Project Based Learning, we think projects are what you do at the end of a lesson to show that you learned what you were supposed to learn. But now the goal of PBL and the shift that educators have to take is looking at PBL in a new way. That is, using PBL not only as a means to show that a student has achieved something but using it as a means to also get them to learn something.” We should get them excited about owning their own learning. We also have learned from listening to Anthony Capps in this video that the goal of a good project is “one that has an authentic audience so that the kids are rewarded for the work they do.” Good projects also “need to have student interest, it needs to be relevant to the kids lives.” Another goal of a good project is that it involves the community somehow. It should “show how it really relates to the real world experiences, and most importantly good projects should be driven by content.”
Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher
In this video Anthony Capps said “Not everything is always going to go well.” During one of his favorite projects in which his class was studying different cultures, one of his student’s fathers did not like the fact they were studying Afghanistan culture. The student’s father had been deployed to Afghanistan and he didn’t think it was appropriate. Although Mr. Capps did not necessarily agree, it it still important to remember to respect your students parents. Anthony Capps also said “With Project Based Learning, never limit your students by giving them exactly what you want them to do. Create an opportunity for them to go beyond what you want them to do, and they will.” You are going to get more than what you expected.
Anthony Capps said “My students love projects because they are not trapped in worksheets and whenever he does give them a worksheet, they know it is meaningful and they know it is to help them gauge where they are.” We learned that student choice is another big aspect of PBL. When you give students the opportunity to chose, then you also give them more ownership and pride and they really understand what they are saying and what they are arguing. “On the kids aspect, they are really proud of what they do and they know what they are doing and why they are doing it, and that is what PBL allows for.
.jpg "Source:www.scoop.it")
iCurio
Out of all of these conversations with Anthony Capps, we think we learned the most about iCurio from him. iCurio is an online tool that allows students to safely search websites that have been pulled, (including websites, images, and videos) and others kinds of online media that have been pulled and filtered for educational use. We had no clue iCurio was filtered for educational use, and that is was designed for students to use safely. Another feature Anthony Capps discusses is that iCurio allows you to store content that students and teachers find valuable. “It also teaches virtual organization.” iCurio is kid friendly, created for student use, and it is safe. Anthony Capps said “Any teacher that feels comfortable letting their students search the web, I think iCurio is the best way to go.” Students just log on and use it like a search engine. iCurio is also great for accessibility, it has a read along feature so almost anyone can use it.
Discovery Education
Before we listened to Anthony Capps explain what Discovery Education was, we were kind of was clueless. We learned that Discovery Education takes students way beyond just pictures. It gives students videos from outside of you (the teacher) and it brings experts into the classroom via video. Discovery Education is used for “student searches so they can enrich their research experience and a teacher can also use it to bring different texts to life.”
The Anthony- Strange List of Tips for Teachers Part 1- By Tarcela Kohn
In this video, Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discussed key things that any new teacher should think about. Dr. Strange asked Anthony Capps “What are some of the most important things that you should prepare yourself to do as a teacher?” Dr. Stange continued by saying, “Teachers have to really be interested in learning themselves.” “If you are not a learner then you will not be a successful educator because what we have to do ourselves is constantly learn and model that behavior.” Anthony Capps agreed and said this also leads to another key thing any new teacher should think about. He continued by saying “Teaching is hard. Let your work become a fun experience for you.” Dr. Strange added “Teaching is a constant process, it never ends but it can be very rewarding.” More key things both Anthony Capps and Dr. Stange agreed on that new teachers should think about are: teachers need to be creative, flexible, and we can’t be committed to one particular way of doing something. We have to respond to events that we don’t expect. Also students should be engaged, and they should have a reflection process. Having an audience is perfect for reflection. Dr. Strange said, “Self evaluation is really important in the whole process of learning.” I think they’re a lot of great tips in this video. I’m glad that we were reminded that we cannot be committed to one particular way of doing something. I feel as if sometimes we forget not everything works out as planned, so having a plan B is always a good idea.
Don't Teach Tech- Use It- By Katlyn Lusker
Like Anthony Capps put it, “We are immersed in technology whether we want to be or not.” Technology is natural for all kids, it is there in their lives. Anthony Capps said “They will really enjoy the opportunity to be able to use technology to prove their learning or to learn.” Anthony Capps said “One of the things about technology is that you should not teach it, you should not have technology as something that is a list of things for you to get done in the day. Use it alongside with your teaching.” He also suggested that you chose one technology at a time to focus on. Most of technology is free, so they’re many other advantages to using different forms of it. It lets students create, it is clean, it is shareable, and it is real. Anthony Capps said “Use technology to let it get your students excited about what they are doing. Use it to let them share what they are doing. And also do not expect perfection.” “Never teach technology, just introduce it smartly.” Mr. Capps said “If you are worried about anything, do it yourself first.”
Additional Thought About Lessons- By Jake Dukes
In this video chat Anthony Capps is explaining the four ways to plan for a school year. The four ways he would plan for his class is daily, weekly, yearly and into units. One, is daily which means something that you do everyday in your class with your students, he tells about having a hook which catches your students attention while you're teaching your lecture. Second, is weekly which means to plan out the week of what you're going to be lecturing your students about but if you can’t do it all in a week stretch it out so the students will still be able to understand the lecture, don’t have a set time when things have to be due. Third, is teaching by units. When he says teaching by units he is referring to teach where you can have enough time to teach everything you need to in the time you are with the students. Finally, is year plan, the year plan is what you expect to teach the student throughout the year in your class, and what he or she should learn leaving the class.
Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher
We have learned a lot by listening to Anthony Capps. In this video, Anthony Capps said “A lot of people when we think about Project Based Learning, we think projects are what you do at the end of a lesson to show that you learned what you were supposed to learn. But now the goal of PBL and the shift that educators have to take is looking at PBL in a new way. That is, using PBL not only as a means to show that a student has achieved something but using it as a means to also get them to learn something.” We should get them excited about owning their own learning. We also have learned from listening to Anthony Capps in this video that the goal of a good project is “one that has an authentic audience so that the kids are rewarded for the work they do.” Good projects also “need to have student interest, it needs to be relevant to the kids lives.” Another goal of a good project is that it involves the community somehow. It should “show how it really relates to the real world experiences, and most importantly good projects should be driven by content.”
Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher
In this video Anthony Capps said “Not everything is always going to go well.” During one of his favorite projects in which his class was studying different cultures, one of his student’s fathers did not like the fact they were studying Afghanistan culture. The student’s father had been deployed to Afghanistan and he didn’t think it was appropriate. Although Mr. Capps did not necessarily agree, it it still important to remember to respect your students parents. Anthony Capps also said “With Project Based Learning, never limit your students by giving them exactly what you want them to do. Create an opportunity for them to go beyond what you want them to do, and they will.” You are going to get more than what you expected.
Anthony Capps said “My students love projects because they are not trapped in worksheets and whenever he does give them a worksheet, they know it is meaningful and they know it is to help them gauge where they are.” We learned that student choice is another big aspect of PBL. When you give students the opportunity to chose, then you also give them more ownership and pride and they really understand what they are saying and what they are arguing. “On the kids aspect, they are really proud of what they do and they know what they are doing and why they are doing it, and that is what PBL allows for.
.jpg "Source:www.scoop.it")
iCurio
Out of all of these conversations with Anthony Capps, we think we learned the most about iCurio from him. iCurio is an online tool that allows students to safely search websites that have been pulled, (including websites, images, and videos) and others kinds of online media that have been pulled and filtered for educational use. We had no clue iCurio was filtered for educational use, and that is was designed for students to use safely. Another feature Anthony Capps discusses is that iCurio allows you to store content that students and teachers find valuable. “It also teaches virtual organization.” iCurio is kid friendly, created for student use, and it is safe. Anthony Capps said “Any teacher that feels comfortable letting their students search the web, I think iCurio is the best way to go.” Students just log on and use it like a search engine. iCurio is also great for accessibility, it has a read along feature so almost anyone can use it.
Discovery Education
Before we listened to Anthony Capps explain what Discovery Education was, we were kind of was clueless. We learned that Discovery Education takes students way beyond just pictures. It gives students videos from outside of you (the teacher) and it brings experts into the classroom via video. Discovery Education is used for “student searches so they can enrich their research experience and a teacher can also use it to bring different texts to life.”
The Anthony- Strange List of Tips for Teachers Part 1- By Tarcela Kohn
In this video, Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discussed key things that any new teacher should think about. Dr. Strange asked Anthony Capps “What are some of the most important things that you should prepare yourself to do as a teacher?” Dr. Stange continued by saying, “Teachers have to really be interested in learning themselves.” “If you are not a learner then you will not be a successful educator because what we have to do ourselves is constantly learn and model that behavior.” Anthony Capps agreed and said this also leads to another key thing any new teacher should think about. He continued by saying “Teaching is hard. Let your work become a fun experience for you.” Dr. Strange added “Teaching is a constant process, it never ends but it can be very rewarding.” More key things both Anthony Capps and Dr. Stange agreed on that new teachers should think about are: teachers need to be creative, flexible, and we can’t be committed to one particular way of doing something. We have to respond to events that we don’t expect. Also students should be engaged, and they should have a reflection process. Having an audience is perfect for reflection. Dr. Strange said, “Self evaluation is really important in the whole process of learning.” I think they’re a lot of great tips in this video. I’m glad that we were reminded that we cannot be committed to one particular way of doing something. I feel as if sometimes we forget not everything works out as planned, so having a plan B is always a good idea.
Don't Teach Tech- Use It- By Katlyn Lusker
Like Anthony Capps put it, “We are immersed in technology whether we want to be or not.” Technology is natural for all kids, it is there in their lives. Anthony Capps said “They will really enjoy the opportunity to be able to use technology to prove their learning or to learn.” Anthony Capps said “One of the things about technology is that you should not teach it, you should not have technology as something that is a list of things for you to get done in the day. Use it alongside with your teaching.” He also suggested that you chose one technology at a time to focus on. Most of technology is free, so they’re many other advantages to using different forms of it. It lets students create, it is clean, it is shareable, and it is real. Anthony Capps said “Use technology to let it get your students excited about what they are doing. Use it to let them share what they are doing. And also do not expect perfection.” “Never teach technology, just introduce it smartly.” Mr. Capps said “If you are worried about anything, do it yourself first.”
Additional Thought About Lessons- By Jake Dukes
In this video chat Anthony Capps is explaining the four ways to plan for a school year. The four ways he would plan for his class is daily, weekly, yearly and into units. One, is daily which means something that you do everyday in your class with your students, he tells about having a hook which catches your students attention while you're teaching your lecture. Second, is weekly which means to plan out the week of what you're going to be lecturing your students about but if you can’t do it all in a week stretch it out so the students will still be able to understand the lecture, don’t have a set time when things have to be due. Third, is teaching by units. When he says teaching by units he is referring to teach where you can have enough time to teach everything you need to in the time you are with the students. Finally, is year plan, the year plan is what you expect to teach the student throughout the year in your class, and what he or she should learn leaving the class.
Project #13
In this lesson plan, for the project based learning, our 5th grade students will become familiar with inventors, from the 15th to the 18th century, their Ethnic or Cultural Heritage and how their inventions are still relevant today. This assignment will require iCurio to look up different inventors and what they invented, make models of their inventions, and create presentations for the class. Our students will have digital tools to establish and categorize the information collected. This lesson will meet the standards in; English Language Arts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, Writing: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 and, Speaking and Listening: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Our driving question is who were the inventors of the 15th to the 18th century and are those inventions still relevant today? The link to our site.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Project #2 PLN Progress Report
PLN stands for "Personal Learning Network." A PLN is the entire collection of people with whom you engage and exchange information, usually doing so online. In Steve Anderson's video Building Your PLN- A Primer for Anyone, he describes PLN's as collaborating and working together globally." Extending network beyond the walls of our schools or family and friends, but diving into the virtual spaces. By using PLN's we are making connections to other educators and students across the world. Steve Anderson also says "by using social media tools like Skype, blogging, commenting, twitter, and other connections, we are connecting to other brilliant people across the world." We don't have to know everything when we have a large network of people who we can have conversations with and ask questions to.
Symbaloo is one example of a PLN. A symbaloo is a way for you to have fast access to the resources that you use the most. You are able to create your own icons which will take you to where ever you set them up to go by just clicking on them. I really like Symbaloo and I am so glad we were introduced to it. It is a great resource that is convenient, easy to use, and easy to understand.
Below is a picture of an example of a Symbaloo.
In my own personal Symbaloo, I have organized my icons by different colors. My blue icons are located across the top and they are personal links. Including examples like Facebook, Pandora, and We Heart It (a photography site). To the left I have pink icons which are my icons for my own blog, the EDM 310 class blog, and blogger. To the right I have a specific teachers blog icon that I found very helpful and resourceful. I plan to add more teachers blogs as I continue to find ones that are really informative and useful. Across the bottom I have designated all icons that are for my classes here at South, as white. To view my Symbaloo, just click on the following link: Katlyn's Symbaloo.
I have really enjoyed using this PLN. Although I am not a hundred percent used to this resource, I look forward to learning more about it and I also look forward to growing my PLN.
Symbaloo is one example of a PLN. A symbaloo is a way for you to have fast access to the resources that you use the most. You are able to create your own icons which will take you to where ever you set them up to go by just clicking on them. I really like Symbaloo and I am so glad we were introduced to it. It is a great resource that is convenient, easy to use, and easy to understand.
Below is a picture of an example of a Symbaloo.
In my own personal Symbaloo, I have organized my icons by different colors. My blue icons are located across the top and they are personal links. Including examples like Facebook, Pandora, and We Heart It (a photography site). To the left I have pink icons which are my icons for my own blog, the EDM 310 class blog, and blogger. To the right I have a specific teachers blog icon that I found very helpful and resourceful. I plan to add more teachers blogs as I continue to find ones that are really informative and useful. Across the bottom I have designated all icons that are for my classes here at South, as white. To view my Symbaloo, just click on the following link: Katlyn's Symbaloo.
I have really enjoyed using this PLN. Although I am not a hundred percent used to this resource, I look forward to learning more about it and I also look forward to growing my PLN.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
C4K Summary for September
C4K #1
For my first C4K I was assigned to Mrs. Martin's student who goes by the blog name "Liltookrazzii." Mrs. Martin wanted her students to state a belief and include a personal story that explains how he/she came to that belief. In Liltookrazzii's: "This I believe" post, he wrote about how he believed in street racing. I found it really interesting to read. I don't know much about street racing and reading his passion for it really excited me. He believes that "street racing can change somebody else's life" just like it changed his. He said "street racing has taught me to enjoy myself and the things I like to do." He also said "ever since I have been around street racing my life has gotten better." I told him in the comment I left that after having experienced family problems with my older brother, I’m so happy to hear and read about other young men around the world making something of themselves and being excited about something that’s positive and constructive.
I like how he chose to write about his belief in street racing. I do believe it can change someone else's life too. Also in the comment I left him I said "the world can be a dangerous and destructive place, and it’s up to us to make something of ourselves. With dedication and passion, I believe anyone can achieve greatness."
I think "Liltookrazzii" did a good job on explaining his belief. He also did a great job including a personal story that explained how he came to his belief. He wrote about his first time being around street racing when he was only ten years old. I really liked how much detail he put into his story, I felt like I was right there with him. He said that ever since that first time he was around street racing he has been going back every chance he gets. I hope the best for him and his future and I hope he continues to always be passionate about something. I concluded my comment to him by thanking him for sharing his beliefs with the world.
C4K #2
For my second C4K I was assigned to Ms. Metzler's 5th grade student, David. In David's post, he told a story about "Being Stuck on the Word Beautiful." His story title, "Being Stuck on the Word Beautiful," and his opening sentence "So close!!! One letter!!! I thought as I was walking to snack recess," grabbed my attention. He told the story of when he was in his third spelling bee. He had begun his story by saying he'd been in two other spelling bees before and each times he had won. David was very creative and he walked the reader(me) along each step in his story. At the end of his story he said it was finally "the moment of destiny." He was up against two other classmates and the first student got his word correct. Then it was his turn. His word was "beautiful." He spelled it out and the judge said "elimination." He was stuck on the word beautiful.
I enjoyed reading David's post. In the comment I left him, I told him that I loved his creativity and the way he guided his readers along each step of his story. I also told him that as soon as I read his title "Being stuck on the Word Beautiful," I was instantly curious. The last thing I said was "being eliminated is never fun, but what matters in life is if we pick our heads up and try even harder next time," then I thanked him for sharing his ideas and stories with the world!
C4K #3
For my third C4K I was assigned to a student who moved to a different school and has not published a post since April. So, I chose a student named Calvin from Ms. Kings 7th grade class. Calvins last post and the one I commented on was posted on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. In his post, Hexagonal Learning, Calvin made a video of explaining how to understand his hexagonal figure. He said "we did this activity to help us think and say what we think about things."
In the comment I left him I explained who I was and what had brought me to his blog. I told him that here in EDM 310 we have learned about blogs and the importance of blogging. I also told him that I thought it was awesome that we are able to talk and listen to other people's ideas from all around the world. I thought Calvin did a wonderful job describing his hexagonal figure. He made it very easy to follow along to and when he was finished talking I was able to have a clear understanding of his figure and how it was set up. It was very creative and I enjoyed listening. I finished my comment by leaving him a link to my blog and I told him that if he ever wanted to check out my blog, he could at any time.
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