Blog Post #11

Back to the future

In this video, Brian Crosby shows us different ways that he has his students actively doing something instead of just listening to him talk all day. For example, he had his class come up with “high hopes” for their life and write them down. They then shared them on their personal blogs and people all over the world responded to their posts. Some people even wrote back giving them their hopes for the world. This little project showed the students that you can connect to countries all over the world. I learned through this video that the more you blog, the more connected with the world you can be. Also, PBL is a way that teaches children that there is a world outside of their little town and even outside of this country. Blogging also teaches that we can have things in common with other people from other countries. My favorite part of this video was watching how a little girl could not attend class because of her health, but they still included her in their classroom everyday via Skype.

Blended Learning Cycle

In this video, I learned what blending your classroom is. The teacher first asks students a good in depth question or a hock. This gets students thinking on the track that you want them to be on. The students will then learn more by exploring and experimenting. After that, the students watch a video or another educational tool to expand their knowledge of the topic and go more in depth. My favorite part of this idea is before the students can continue on and take the quiz, they must first come to you, as the teacher, and you ask them questions about the subject making them explain to you what they know. This will ensure that the student fully understands the material before being quizzed on it. I love what Mr. Andersen says about this, “I don’t think you have learned something until you can explain it to someone else”. I couldn’t agree with him more! Students have a way of just memorizing things for a test, but not truly understanding the material. If you can sit down and have someone ask you truly hard questions about what you have just learned and all you can do is either spit out pre programmed definitions that you have memorized or you don’t know anything at all, then you have not learned anything. If however, you can explain in your own words the material correctly, then you have learned something. This “review” process, as Mr. Andersen calls it, is the best way for teachers to know if students really understand what they have learned. I believe blended classes are a great, new way to teach children using hands on technology and projects, yet still be there as a teacher to help them along the way and also to make sure they are learning the core standards that are required.


Mr. Andersen’s Blended Learning Cycle:

1. Question
2. Investigation
3. Video
4. Elaboration
5. Review
6. Summary quiz

Make thinking visible

In this video, we saw Mr. Church give his students instructions to write a headline or question, and then post them on a wall in the classroom. After they finished the unit, they did the same thing. This was a way for the students to see how their ideas had changed, if they had changed, and to see how much they had learned throughout the unit.



Super digital citizen

I love how, in this video, Mr. Pane starts the conversation off with a quote from Spider Man. This gets the kids listening to him because most probably, like with the example of Spider Man, they want to know what Spider Man has to do with what they are about to learn. He then talks with them about how to be safe online and uses characteristics to make up a safe, online superhero. Once the class has their list, they each get to make their own superhero that has these characteristics using a website. I learned from this that if I make things relevant to my students, they will find it more fun and interesting to learn. It was cool watching as the students’ faces lit up when they found out they could make a superhero. Once the students made the superhero, they then had to write a story using the superhero and themselves. I learned that when the students can make something of their own, they take more pride in their work and it becomes meaningful to them. Lastly, I learned about this cool web site. They can create a comic book and superhero all within this one website. This is a neat and different way to have students write stories, instead of the old fashion way of just writing with pen and paper.


Project Based Learning

In this video, we see where a Canadian school has incorporated 3 different subjects into one Project Based Learning class. The students spend all morning in this one class with all 3 teachers, working on projects. I learned that by teaching this way they have more time to go deeper, making their projects better, and as a result they understand the curriculum better. Now, American schools are not going to change to this type of learning anytime soon. However, as a teacher, I can incorporate different subjects into one project in my classroom that meets the core standards they need to know. Just by my incorporating subjects and projects together will give my students the opportunity to go deeper and spend more time on subjects. Hopefully, this will also give them a better understanding of the curriculum.


PBL in Roosevelt Elementary

Project Based Learning teaches children to solve real world problems, and how to complete a project from start to finish. It teaches children to know how to think for themselves and be independent learners. Project Based Learning gives students the power to choose how to do things. It gives them the power and then, in return, this makes the students want to do well and give them a sense of pride in their work. It gives students the practice of 21st century life skills they will need when they get a job and are out in the real world. They learn to be comfortable speaking in front of people at an early age. Project Based Learning gives students the practice they need for working together as a team to get a project done. This is real big because most people do not like working in a group, especially as they get older. But, in a job one day you might need to work with your co-workers on a project and will need to know how best to work with people. Lastly, Project Based Learning helps those students who learn in different ways than most people because it is more hands on and uses all different types of learning strategies in one project.

C4K for October

     I first wrote to Aliya, in Mrs. Ripp's class. In her post, she talked about how she wished that school was from 10:00-5:00. She gave some great pros and cons to school being changed to these hours. I told her about how my high school was destroyed in a tornado in 2007, and the high school students had to attend class from 10:00-5:00 for the rest of the school year at a community college in my home town.  I also shared with her how this caused a lot of conflicts with sports and other activities. I told her that there will always be pros and cons to any time we attend school. 


    I then wrote to a little first grader named jersey, who simply said that she liked learning at school. I told her it was awesome to like to learn and that I like learning as well.

     I finally wrote to Tamara  in England. She posted a short google docs presentation about herself. She said that she liked using the computer at school. I told her that I, too, like being able to use the computer at school.   

Blog Post #10

     I really enjoyed watching the first video we saw of Mrs. Cassidy's first grade class  talking about the technology they use in her classroom. It was a great way to show us that the students really do love, and learn things from the use of technology. I loved how the students were telling us how to be safe on the Internet and how to only say nice things when commenting on each other’s blogs.  One thing that really stuck out to me was one of the students talking about their grammar getting better each time they write on the blog. I think knowing that people all over the world can view what you are writing helps make students want to do their absolute best on each assignment, especially in the upper grades. I know, because I use to be lazy and would just think it didn’t matter because only my teacher was going to see my spelling and grammar mistakes, no big deal. However, when you know the whole world will see your mistakes you will try your absolute best not to make those mistakes.  

     The next three videos I watched were all an interview with Dr. Strange and Mrs. Cassidy. I found this interview to be eye opening, as most of the videos I have watched for this class this semester have been.  I still might not think technology is everything in the classroom, but I am starting to see that it is a very important part of the classroom. Dr. Strange asked Mrs. Cassidy where the best place to start teaching with technology was. She answered saying to start using something that you feel comfortable using, whether that be twitter, blogging, or something else.   Then, start trying new things.  I think this is very important because, as a teacher, you don’t want to feel overwhelmed since that might affect your teaching. Most teachers that have been teaching for years do not want to change their teaching method, and I think that is partly because they feel so overwhelmed with the thought of having to learn all new things. Mrs. Cassidy told us that she started just using a web page and from there her use of technology has grown. I think we need to remember, as we start teaching, we will not know all there is to know about using technology in the classroom, and that we will have to continue learning new things and new ways every year.   

     Mrs. Cassidy also spoke about the fact that she is one of the few teachers in her school to use technology, and I think that is very brave of her. She also does not have a principal that is making her use technology, she is doing it all on her own with the help of her technology coordinator.  I have a lot of respect for her for going against what most of her fellow teachers are doing, and doing what she thinks is best for the kids.  I hope that when I become a teacher, if I am in a school where they do not incorporate a lot of technology in the classroom, that I will still try and incorporate it into my classroom.

     I really enjoyed hearing her talk about how she uses the kid’s blogs as an online portfolio so the parents can see their student’s work whenever they want.  I think this is a great way to keep the parents involved in what their child is learning.  In the very first video, some of the students talked about how their aunt or grandparent commented on their blog some too. I LOVE this! Being an aunt that lives 4 hours from my 6-year-old niece, I am missing out on what she is doing in school. If I could go on a blog and be able to read things she has written or drawn, I would love it. Blogging is truly a way to keep connected to the world.

     The most important thing I got out of Mrs. Cassidy’s interview was how to teach the students to use technology safely. She is a first grade teacher and she is already teaching the students to access the internet and getting them to talk to people all around the world. However, she makes sure that her 6 year olds know how to keep their identity safe, and how not to access sites that are not safe.  She does this by teaching them to only use their first name not their last, and she has all the links that the students are allowed to visit on her web page so the students do not find sites on their own. In this generation, children will be learning how to access the internet eventually, so why not teach them the dos and don’ts at an early age. So, when they do become old enough to get on the Internet unsupervised, they have the knowledge of how to be safe.  Also, Mrs. Cassidy mentioned that she has students who get upset with each other and post mean comments on each other’s blogs, and she has to set them down talk to them about it. I think this a great example of teaching children at an early age that once you post something on the Internet that it will always be there.

     Overall, I found the interview with Mrs. Cassidy to be a very eye opening video.  She is a true example of how using technology in the classroom, even in the younger grades, can better help your students learn. I am still hesitant about this new teaching method, but I am becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of using technology in my classroom.
Interview Part One

Interview part 2


Interview part 3

Smart Board Project part A

Blog post #9

In the article ,7 essentials for project based learning I learned that the two most important things as a teacher I need to do is to first, be sure that the project I am doing with the children is something they will find worth working on and putting forth the effort to do their very best. Also, I need to be sure that the project is educational based and has content that the children need to know. Basically, I need to be sure that I am not just giving the children “busy work”. In this article, I learned to first to ask children questions about the problem. Instead of coming in and just talking about the topic and problem, the children need to think for themselves on how they would solve the problem. Once you have the students thinking in the direction you would like, ask them the “big question” or driving question. This question should be open ended, complex, and should link to the big picture that you want them to see. This question is important because without it, the concept of the project you want them to know could be lost. After the driving question, let the children know that this is their project and that they have freedom in what they choose to do. It is important for the children to have a voice in their own project. They will be more willing to work on it if they get to put their own ideas and opinions in it. Make sure they know that this is their project and it doesn’t have to be just like yours or just like their friends. Also, make sure the children are using skills such as group work, critical thinking, and technology through out their project. Be sure to encourage the students to ask questions and then research and discover answers to their questions through out the project. Teach the children to always be looking for ways to learn new things. As the class is finishing their projects, have the children look at and edit each other’s work. Show the kids that it is important to get feedback from each other about their project. Once the projects are complete, either share them on the Internet or with other faculty and classes. Children enjoy sharing their hard work with others.

PBL Video
This video was very interesting and had a lot of information in a short time. Basically, what I got out of this video was that Project Based Learning is a new way to teach where the teacher gives the students a driving question that is in depth and requires the students to research and discover the answer. This way of teaching gives children the critical thinking skills they will need in the real world.

What motives students in the classroom

In this video, the first child talked about how he is most motivated when the teacher compliments him in front of the class. I feel like this is very important to be able to do as a teacher. Everyone wants to feel like the work that they are doing is great and someone likes it, especially children. Children need to feel like their work is good, and if you as the teacher comment on a student’s work in front of the class, then they will be more willing to do their work and do their best on it. One of the boys in the video talked about how in his class his teacher has classroom money and when you’re being good or you stay on green all day, you a get a certain amount of classroom money. However, if you’re being bad or you get moved from green, then you have to give her a certain amount of the classroom money back.  At the end of each week, she has a classroom store with different things they can buy.  I really like this idea for a reward because it teaches the kids responsibility and how to manage money.  If they want an expensive item, then they need to save their money and be good in order to buy that item. Also, in the real world, money is going to be the incentive to get up and go to their job, so why not use money in school to teach them to be good.

Project Based learning in PE

You don’t really think about Project Based Learning being a part of a PE class. However, in this article this teacher put together a neat idea for a high school PE class. This teacher had her high school PE class put together a work-out plan for the middle school students each week. This required the high school students to know the standards for that age group and they had to work together to think of different ways to have the middle school students work-out.  I think this is a neat and fun idea. I also think it would be cool for the middle school students to come up with plans for the elementary age students as well. This would allow the younger kids to look up to the middle school students that are staying active, and maybe encourage the younger students to stay active as well.

Ketchup Video

I found this video to be very interesting. I can not stand ketchup I am completely grossed out by it. However, my brother loves it and he has talked about the problem that these students are trying solve.  I would love to use a 3D printer that these boys did. You can tell that they were having fun and were very engaged in trying to find a solution to this problem.

  

Project #9

C4T Summary

This month I commented on Julie Vincentse’s blog.

principalmusings blog

The first blog I commented on was titled, “Capturing Struggling Readers”. In this blog she talks about audio books and how they are great for children who are low readers but want to be able to read the same things their classmates are. I told her how I was a low reader and that I loved using audio books so that I wouldn’t feel left out of what all my friends were reading.

In her second post that I commented on she was talking about the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. had on society and how far we have come in such a short time. I told her I agreed that we have come so far from the time that Martin Luther King, Jr. told his “I have a dream” speech to now. I wonder what he would think he if he were still alive today and could see just how far we have come.

Implications and teaching opportunities for camera use in teaching and learning

Part A:
The data that Dr. Strange has shared with us confirms my belief that technology is taking over our generation. Don’t get me wrong. I love being able to carry my camera, phone, laptop and game boy all in one device. The fact that the only record of my nephew’s first steps are on my iPhone shows just how important our smart phones are to us. However, I strongly believe that too much of a good thing is bad. As you walk through Wal-Mart, look around, you see people too busy looking down at their phone rather than looking where they are going. We are becoming a generation of people who cannot function without their smart phone. I am one of them. I would not survive a day without my smart phone. I would be late to class because my alarm is on my phone, I don’t know anyone’s phone numbers anymore, all my test dates and information is on my phone, and heaven forbid I can’t take a picture of my niece or nephew doing something adorable and be able to post it instantly to social media. Being so obsessed with capturing every moment on picture or video by having a smart phone with a great built in camera is the best thing ever!
Yes, I believe technology, including smart phones, can be bad. However, I do believe if used properly and monitored closely cameras built into smart phones can be a great tool used in the classroom. Nevertheless, the teacher should always be aware of where the smart phone is at all times. Also, there should definitely be some rules in place, both system-wide and classroom-wide. These rules should be written so the parents and students all know and understand these rules, and possibly a written agreement from the parents /students indicating they have read these rules. If the pictures are going to the internet, the teacher needs to approve them first and needs to be sure to know if any of these students are not allowed to have their picture posted on the internet. Once these issues have been discussed, then having smart phones with cameras on them will allow students to learn in a whole new way. There are so many apps out there that children can play that teaches them to learn new skills as well. They will have fun learning. Having these in the classroom can help the teacher as well. For example, if students get done with their work before others they can be allowed to play a fun, educational, learning game on the phone/iPad while they wait for the others in their class to get done. This allows the teacher to be able to walk around helping those that are struggling with the assignment and not having to worry about “busy work” to give to the students who are already done.




Part B

Having a smart phone or tablet with a built- in camera for every student in your class would give a teacher some great tools and fun activities for the students. Some activities could include:
1. Have a picture scavenger hunt - have a list of different types of things they must get a picture of.
2. Matching game with definitions-have a list of words and definitions and they must take a picture with both the word and definition together.
3. QR hunt- Hide different QR codes through out the school and have the children go on a hunt for them. Once they find one, they must listen to it and it will give them a clue to the next one.
4. Have the students group up and give them a story in history that would be easy to act out or make puppets to act it out and then video themselves and show the videos to the class.

Blog post #8

Blog Post #8

After watching , Randy's Last Lecture all I can say is that if I found out I had cancer and was dying I only hope that I could have at least half of his happiness and joy. This video has taught me so much, not just on how to teach children, but how I want to live my life chasing my dreams. In this video, Randy talked a lot about his childhood dreams and how, even though he wasn’t a NFL player like he wanted to be, that he learned a lot through the experience. I learned that it is very important to teach children to have childhood dreams, and ones that may seem impossible, because even if you don’t reach that dream, you will learn something from the process. At the beginning of his lecture he tells us that he has tumors on his kidney and is dying and yet he looks and acts happy and healthy. He is dealing with his cancer in a way that is so inspiring. Randy says, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand”, and this to me has so much truth behind it that we need to be teaching to the younger generation. As a teacher, I hope I can teach my students not to feel sorry for things they don’t have or how they were raised, instead, be happy and find a way to change the situation, whatever it may be. Randy said that when you mess up look for someone to correct you, if there isn’t someone correcting you, then that means that they have given up on you. I have never thought about that, but it is so true. As a child, whenever you do something wrong over and over again and your parents or teacher is correcting you over and over again they are doing this not because they want to repeat it over and over again, but because they care enough about you to constantly repeat themselves until you get it right. I hope that, once I become a teacher, I will have the patience and willingness to show my students in a loving way how much I care for them by always correcting them until they have mastered it. I learned that it is important not to set a bar for students because students will surprise you with how far they can go when you do not set a goal for them to reach. Another thing that I learned from Randy was “the best gift an educator can give a student is to teach someone to be self reflective”. This is very important in project based learning, especially in group work. The major thing I learned from Randy was Project Based Learning is students having fun while learning something hard or something they might not have wanted to learn if it wasn’t fun. If we make learning a fun experience then children will have a desire to want to learn more and work hard. I also learned from Randy as a teacher I should teach “head fake” learning. “Head fake” learning is when you teach two topics at the same time. Lastly, there were two statements that stuck out to me most in Randy’s lecture. The first statement was, “Never to lose the child like wonder”. As Randy was talking, you could tell that he was still a child at heart and he loved teaching his students. I think that as teachers if we still have a child like heart that loves to be happy and loves learning and teaching, then our students will be better off from that. The second statement that impressed me was actually a question he asked, “Are you Tigger or Eeyore?” Meaning are you going to be looking for the good in things or always looking at the bad in things? Which one are you?

Project 7 part B

To the parents




To the students

Blog Post #7

After watching these videos on how to incorporate project based learning and technology into the classroom, I have learned a lot about different ways teachers are using technology in the classroom. I love technology and everything we can do with it. Because of my dad’s job, I grew up constantly learning about the new types of phones, laptops and other devices. Being able to use and play with technology was a must in my house growing up. Because of this, I am confident in being around technology and using it, which I think is a good thing, so I can teach that confidence to my students. However, I have also seen the bad side effects of technology. Meaning that I see what happens when all the computers are down and as kids we didn’t know what to do because our devices were down. How were we going to entertain ourselves now? Or as my dad always says, “no one ever needed 100 copies of anything until the first copier was invented”, meaning that technology has caused us to work more than before. Having a little negative attitude about technology is one of my weaknesses that I hope I will not bring into my classroom. I don’t want people to think that I don’t like technology, because I do. I love it! I love learning new things about it and I love that as a teacher I will be able to bring some fun learning activities into the classroom that the kids will love to do and play with. I love that I will get the chance to teach the younger generation how to bridge learning with technology.

How to make a QR code

In this video I learned how to record my voice or a student’s voice and then be able to make it into a QR code. I think this would be a very neat idea to use as a teacher. I like the idea she mentioned on the video where teachers can record their voices reading a story and then have different ones set up at the reading center with iPads. Then, the students can go and listen to the teacher read the story and they can read it as often as they want. This would be great for the younger grades where they are not independent readers yet. In this reading center you could have them listen to the story and then answer simple questions that they could read and answer. Also, I think it would be cool if you had the students make a reading journal throughout the year. You could have them record themselves reading different stories throughout the year and make QR codes. You could then keep the QR codes in a folder in order and by the end of the year they could see how fluently they are reading.

iPad Learning centers

In this video I learned how to incorporate reading with technology and also a way to make it fun for the children. The students can use the iPad to record themselves reading a story or fluency words and then they listen to the video of themselves while following along to be sure they did not make any mistakes. I think this is a great idea because it would make reading fun for the kids since they get to use the iPad. Also, they can go back and see where they made a mistake and they can know what they need to work on. They can practice as much as they want, instead of going to the reading table and reading in a group to the teacher and then going back to their desk to do “busy work”. The teacher has the freedom to walk around the room and see which students need the most help and she has the time to sit and help that student as needed. I absolutely love this and think it’s a great idea!

poplet as a center

In this video I learned about an app you can download onto iPads that the students can use to make a reading web. Once they have read a book, they can take pictures of the book and place them into the web. In this video it was kindergarteners working on a poplet so there wasn’t a lot they could write in the web. However, if you used this app in some older grades then you could have students go into detail about the story. This is a great app that could be used at any grade level.


AVL

I have used the Alabama Virtual Library many times throughout my middle and high school career. But I have never thought of using it for the elementary aged students, especially kindergarten. In this video I learned a great way to use the AVL in the kindergarten classroom. The students using their iPads go to the AVL app and then find the elementary tab for them to use. Once they are there, they search a word from the list of words the teacher has given to them. They can then watch videos, look at pictures, and it can even read the text to them. Once they have done research on the word, they draw a picture and then write one sentence they have learned from what they have researched. This activity teaches them how to research things on their own.

Board Builder's

In this video I learned how students can research different topics and then make a power point type of thing using the smart board to share what they have learned with the class or other people. This activity is great for having students work together as a team and it teaches them how to take information and pictures they have taken from the internet and put together a presentation. Lastly, if the children are required to present it in front of the class it teaches the kids to be comfortable standing and talking in front of their peers.


AVL and iMovie in Kindergarten

In this video I learned that kindergarteners are using iMovie to make book trailers on books that they have read in class. They are not just making these trailers but they LOVE the process of it. We, as college students, do not like having to edit our mistakes but these students love editing. Also, I learned that kindergartners are using AVL to learn how to do research.


We all become learners

In this video they were talking about how everyone is always learning. Michelle Bennett was talking about how she had a kindergartner teach her how to do something on the iPad and it made the student feel proud to know that he knew something the teacher didn’t know and was able to teach her. Also, my favorite part of this video was what Michelle said about how everyone teaches each other. As a future teacher, this is very important for me to remember. I will never stop learning and my students will more than likely teach me more than I teach them some days.

Project #13 Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan Overview

Lesson Plan Rubric

Lesson Plan Calendar