C4T Summary- April

I commented on Mr. Joe Bower blog, For The Love Of Learning. Mr. Joe Bower posted a YouTube video of a speech given by Sir Ken Robinson. In the video, Sir Ken Robinson explains that people often times confuse getting back to the basics of education with subjects that they think are more important than others. He argued that the basic of education is the purpose of why we do it. He think that education should be personalized and teachers should be creative with it, add their students culture in it, and accommodated every student's learning style. I responded by saying, Hi, my name is Kastala Brown. I am in a class called EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I agree completely with Sir Ken Robinson. I think teachers need to personalize education for their students. I also think that teachers should be creative with education, embed culture into, and let every student's talents flourish. This is great video. Thanks for sharing.

The second post I commented on was about myths about teachers. The three myths were, the quality of the education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers, the most important single factor in improving quality of education is teachers and that if a student has three or four great teachers he or she will excel or if they have weak teachers they will fall short. Mr. Boyer explains that the school’s culture matter more than the teacher. For students to receive the best education, the school’s culture has to be great. He stated that “great teachers make great schools, but great teachers can’t do it alone”. I commented, Hi, my name is Kastala Brown and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I agree with this post completely. I agree that great teachers make great schools, but they can't do it alone. The school's culture plays a very important role if not the biggest role in the success of the school. Great post!

C4K April Summary

I commented on Bishop for my first comment for kids. In Bishop's blog post, he told his readers about the exciting day he had with his aunt at Big Boy Toys. He got up really early one Saturday morning to get ready for his day. He said it felt like it took them forever to get there, but when he got there he had an amazing time. He saw the new Lamborghini, BMW, wake borders, and some of the best motorbike people in the world. I could tell from reading his blog post that he was so excited. I responded to Bishop by saying, "Hi Bishop, it seems as if you had so much fun at Big Boy Toys. I was unfamiliar of what Big Boy Toys was, but I did a little research on it and I am sure you had fun. I would have loved to see the new Lamborghini. I bet it was awesome. You did an awesome job on your blog post. Keep blogging!!!
If anyone is interesting in knowing what Big Boy Toys is click here

For my second C4K, I commented on Izac blog post. Izac wrote about his eight swimming lessons that he took this school term. He informed his readers that the swimming lessons taught him a lot of skills and help improve his technique. He also informed them about the relay races he had to do because their instructor wanted to see how long he could swim. He was extremely exhausted after completing the races. Izac then tells his readers that after getting out of the pool, they have to rinse the germs off so that no one will get sick. I resonded to Izac by saying "Hi Izac, My name is Kastala Brown and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. Your blog post was very interesting. I can only image how exhausted you were after doing those relay races. Keep up the good work and keep blogging!"

For my last comments for kids, I commented on Zion's blog. Zion created a Google slide presentation. Within the presentation, he inserted a picture of himself. He also told his readers a little about himself. I learn that his favorite subject is math. I responded to Zion by saying, "Hey Zion, my name is Kastala Brown. I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I just wanted to tell you that you did an excellent job on your Google slide presentation. Math was also my favorite subject in school too. Keep up the good work and keep blogging."

Blog Post 13

This week we were asked to create our own blog post assignment according to our expertise. I have recently learn that children start to notice differences among themselves and others at a very early age. So the blog post I would create is about diversity because it is such a huge part of our world and teachers need to start teaching children about it in the elementary grades.

Directions: Find activities or tools that you would use to help teach diversity in the elementary classrooms and briefly summarize each.

When life give you lemons, peel it. With this activity, you would give each student a lemon and have them to observe it very carefully. Once they have observe the lemon, have them to but in a basket and the teacher would shake it up to mix the lemons up. Once the lemons are all mixed up, have the students to pick out the lemon that they initially received. After they have completed that part, take the lemons and peel them. Put them back in the basket and have students pick out the one they had. Chances are they are not going to know which one they had. This open up the time to discussion how people may look different because of gender, size, race, disabilities or whatever it may be, but often times people are the same on the inside.

Who am I poem. I would have my students to write a poem on who they are. They would self-reflect on themselves and record their poems. I would let them share with the class who they are. I am sure they will find more similarities than differences.

Those are just two of many activities that can be used to help teach diversity. Diversity can be such a touchy topic to discuss with anyone,but as educators and especially elementary educators I think that it is important for us to teach our students about the differences and similarities of others. Also as educators, we need to learn how to be culturally responsive when our students begin to ask us questions about different diversity.

Project 12 Part B

Blog Post #12

Blog Post 11

Back to the Future
Blended learning cycle
Making thinking visible
Sam Pane 4th Grade
Project Base Learning
Roosevelt Elementary ‘s PBL Program

Project 10 Interview Movie

C4K -March

For the first C4K, I was assigned to comment on the category of Harold. Harold is a giraffe that teaches kids about health and safety. I had the opportunity to watch Alisha's video. In her video, she told the viewers some of the things Harold has taught her. Some things that I learn from her is that we breathe through our nose and mouth and the air travels through our windpipe and then to our lungs and brains. She also concluded by saying, " I like Harold." I responded to her by saying, Hi! I am Kastala Brown and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am currently taking Dr. Strange's EDM310 class. I loved your video. You did an excellent job. It seems like Harold is teaching you a lot of important facts. Keep learning from Harold and thank you for letting me watch your video.

I comment on Lotu's blog for my second C4K. Lotu is from New Zealand and she wrote about her swimming experience. She explained to her readers that her class went to take a swimming lesson. They take these lessons because New Zealand is surrounded by water and I am assume that the teachers want to make sure the students are safe and they know how to swim if they ever come across a time they will have to swim. Lotu also told her readers that it was hard for her at first because she could not breathe properly.  However, she still learned a lot of things, such as the streamlines and the rocket arms. She said that next time she wants to be able to hold her breath longer.  I responded to Lotu by saying, "Lotu, it seems like you learned a lot about swimming. I know that some of the skills are hard, but just keep practicing and I am sure that you will be great at swimming. Remember, that everything you learn will get you one step closer to becoming a great swimmer. You did a great job on your blog post and thank you for sharing. Keep blogging!"

C4T Summary #3

Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like – Rita Pierson. 

I was assign to comment on Angela Maiers as my third teacher. The first post I commented on was explaining how teachers must secure their students hearts in order to get a shot at their brain. By doing this, she uses a method called the 2-5-2 rule. In the first two minutes of class, teachers should make a positive remark to several students, then teachers should commend at least five students for their contribution to the class discussion, finally teachers should reserve the last two minutes of class to reflect on what everyone learned that day. To find more about this rule, read Angela Maiers’s column in the Huffington Post. I responded by saying, "Hi, my name is Kastala Brown and I am majoring in elementary education at the University of South Alabama. I agree that it is important for teachers to let their students know that they care for them. If students feel that teachers care for them, they will open up and receive what the teachers are saying or teaching. I also agree that it is important that teachers show their students that they will be champions for them and teachers must demand the best from their students. Thanks for sharing."

The second post I commented on was Self-Awareness. In this post, Mrs. Maiers was explaining that for learners to become more effective they must know who they are. She also explain how powerful self awareness can be. She stated, "Self-awareness provides us with a system of checks and balances that equips us to understand ourselves and to make conscious choices and deliberate decisions about the direction and quality of our lives"(Angelmaiers.com). Also, she provided a short survey that teachers and students should take. I responded to the blog post by saying, "Hi my name is Kastala Brown and I am an EDM310 student at the University of South Alabama. I agree with your blog post completely. It never crossed my mind that one thing that help students and adults learn is being aware of who they are. I am so glad that you shared that. I love the survey you provided. I will use this and I plan on giving one to my students so that I can become aware of whom they are. Thank you so much for posting!"