Blog post 15 Final Reflection

I have truly enjoyed my journey in EDM310.

Project 16

Excel group created an ibook. We decided to do a space theme. Our book is about discovering the unknown of EDM310. When we first came into EDM310, neither of us knew what we was getting into, but now that we have finished the class, we realize that it was one giant step into our futures. Our book consists of, our sentence and passion videos, blogs that we have did along the semester, and tons of other stuff. If you have time stop by the lab and check it out.

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!"

Project 12 Part A Working with Smartboard Tools

Blog Post 10

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire" - William Butler Yeats

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution speech brought things to my attention that I was not aware of.  Sir Ken Robinson explained in his speech that we are in an education crisis and we need an education revolution. Education is just reforming and not being fix. What I personally took from the video is that we as educators need to help our students find their talents so they may use them in their educational journey and in life. He said in his speech," we make very poor use of our talents". I think as educators, we are going to come across talents that we did not even know we had, but there are going to be multiple talents that our students will have that will be benefit them tremendously in education. We must teach them to find their talents and use them not only in their educational journey, but in life.  Teachers must create conditions where our students' talents can  flourish. Education has been standardize for many years, but it is up to us to change our schools so that our students do not receive just a standardize education, but a personalize education. We have to allow our students to personalize their learning. I feel like if we allow that to happen, our students will learn so much more.

"Life is not a manufactured process, it is a organic process (Sir Ken Robinson)". As educators we must let our students create their own lives; we must solely be a guide for them and support them in whatever they decided to do. When Sir Ken Robinson mention that we have to create our own lives and let our students do the same, this hit home for me. I can clearly remember the teachers at my school encouraging all the students to go to college after they finish high school. It is nothing wrong with encouraging them to go to college, but I also remember a student in my class that did not want to go to college, he just wanted to be a police officer. My teacher told him that if he go to college in study criminal justice, he would make more money as a police officer. I know that  teacher meant well for that student, but she was trying to persuade him to go the route she would have went if she wanted to be a police officer. Listening to Sir Ken Robinson speech taught me that is is not about anything but passion. We must follow our dreams and allow our students to do the same. As educators, we must teach our students that it is okay not to follow the path that everyone went down, but to create their own path. We must teach them to love what they do, and do it to the best of their abilities.

As educators, we can not be afraid to to create a personalize learning environment in standardize schools. We must allow our students to use their talents. We can not keep going along with improving broken models, but we must come together fix education. We must remember that life is not a manufactured process, but an organic one. We must help bring on an education revolution so that our students can receive the best of the best education their is.

"And everyday, everywhere our children spread their dreams beneath our feet and we should tread softly"- Sir Ken Robinson

Project 15 Project Base Learning Plan 3

Nutrition Nutrition Nutrition!!!!

Nutrition Nutrition Nutrition!!!!

Blog Post #9

 What can we learn from Mrs. Cassidy? What I have learn from Mrs. Cassidy is that we can not teach the future generations with the tools that we were taught with. As future educators, we have to be creative with teaching and find a way to engage our students and make learning fun. Mrs Cassidy stated that she got involve in using technology in the classroom about ten years ago. One approach that Mrs. Cassidy uses is blogging. The students love that they have an audience and they get excited when people comment on their blogs. She also uses the blogs as an online portfolio of her students' work. Through blogging,the students are getting a writing lesson. She also uses Skype to bring other people and classrooms into her classroom. This is great to for kids to see what other kids are learning. Out of all things, she uses Nintendo DS's for learning. I was thinking how can students learn from a Nintendo. In the video, one of the students said that they play games on their Nintendo that teaches problem solving strategies. I would have never thought a Nintendo could teach problem solving strategies. In my opinion and from what I took from Mrs. Cassidy, is that students learn more when they are enjoying using things that they are interested in. The use of technology has been very beneficial for her students.
The technique I will use in my future classroom is blogging. I want to use this because I feel that my students will enjoy writing more if they get the opportunity to do their work on computers instead of using pencil and paper. Along with blogging, I will allow my students to make videos of what they learn and post the videos to their blogs to share the things that they learn. I think this will be a great online portfolio for kids and for their parents to monitor their progress. I also can use our class blog as a place where I post reminders and upcoming events. I know that I will face some impediments such as, parents not wanting their kids to be on the internet and the lack of encouragement to use technology in the classroom. I will assure my parents that I will protect their children identities and what they see on the internet. I will post only the first name of each child and will approve every comment that will be posted to their blogs. I will invest in programs like Icurio for my students to use when searching the internet. Using Mrs. Cassidy approach to technology, I anticipate there to be great benefits. The greatest benefit I anticipate is that my students will have fun learning. I also think that the parents will be very appreciative that they get to monitor their children progress.

Blog Post #8

As technology has grown, so has the way we communicate. Some 21st Century communication tools consist of: e-mail, twitter, Facebook, Skype, face time, texting, and ooVoo. OoVoo is a communicating tool that we have not talked about in EDM 310. OoVoo is somewhat like Skype. It allows you to chat with up to twelve different people, send video messages, record and upload videos, send instant messages, send files, and so many more things. It also allows you to chat from your IPhone as well. I personally have an OoVoo and I love it. This tool is very beneficial to use if you need to record a short lecture or explain something through a video message. If your student is struggling with a homework problem and he/she e-mails you a question, you could send him/her a video message, or instant message. That student would always have that in front of him/her. In my opinion, this works way better than the use of telephone, e-mail, or texting. There are many ways to use OoVoo, but this is just one way I would use it. This tool is free and it is constantly improving.

Just as the way we communicate is changing, the way we are learning is too. In EDM 310, we have talked a little about the use of YouTube, Icurio, and Discover Ed as learning tools. After researching I have found that Evernote is a great learning tool for both teachers and students. I would use this tool if I was teaching 4th through 6th grade. Evernote is a place where teachers and students can organize literally anything. For teachers they can organize things by class (if you teach more than one class), school year, subjects and many more things. Students could use this to organize notes that they find on the internet by subjects. This tool also lets you use mobile apps, or computer base apps. You can save screenshots, use word processor and many more things. As a future teacher, I would use this tool to organize my notes by classes if I teach more than one class and I also would organize my notes by subjects.

Voki is another learning tool I came across during my research. I personally like this because this would appeal to the elementary students and I am studying to become an elementary teacher. I would use this tool if I was teaching 2nd through 5th grade. This tool lets you create an avatar that could present the lesson. You can customize the language you wish to use. You can create homework and projects on this site. It is a fun site where the students can do homework on instead of doing it on paper and turning it in. If a student was absence for school, he or she could view your presentation or lesson and do the homework that was assign on Voki. He or she could return to school ready to learn the next lesson. Voki is a really great learning tool to use in the classroom.

Project 14

Project 14

Structure and Function of a Flower/Plant

C4T #2

I was assign to comment on Brian Cosby's blog.. Learning is Messy. The title of the post I commented on was Unleash the Learning Power of Blogs By Actually Using Them Consistently! The post that I commented on was about blogging. Brian was explaining in his post about how powerful blogging can be. He mention that blogs should be used consistently for it to be power. He named numerous of ways that blogging could be a learning tool. He also mention that blogging could connect students and families, which I totally agree with. He suggested that if we use blogging as a way for out students to learn, than we need to let them blog consistently.
I am currently a student at the University of South Alabama majoring in Elementary Education. I am also enrolled in a course called Educational Media (EDM310). This course is teaching us the importance of using technology in the classroom. We also have a blog, where we have to post weekly and comment on our classmates' blog.
I agree that blogs are powerful and can be a learning tool. I have learn so much from blogging in my class and reading assigned blog post. I think if we allow our students to blog, it would be a great way to show their families what they have learn. It will connect their family to their learning process. It is a great way for students to meet writing criteria as well. I will definitely be incorporating blogging (safely) in my class. I agree with you totally. Thanks for sharing.

The second comment I left was on the blog post Stem: Cantilever Spans. This blog post was about a real cool science project that Mr. Cosby did with his students and their parents and friends. The materials need for the project are paint stirring sticks and washers. Sounds simple right? Well, it is just that simple. The students were to make as long a span  as possible using washers and stirring stick. He helped get the students started and than he answered no other questions. He wanted to let the students figured out how to do it. The parents even let the students take the lead. The project is pretty impressive. He walks you through how to do the project step by step. I recommend that you go look at this project.
I commented,  Mr. Cosby, I am really inspired from this science project. I love the fact that you were very creative with this project and you made the project fun. From the photos you shared, the students seem to be having fun, but most importantly they are learning. I hope to one day be a creative as you are and make learning fun for my students. I hope to use this project when I become a teacher. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Project #9

Project #9 Video Book Conversation
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Project 13

Project 13 was a collaborative project. My group and I created a project base lesson plan. We named it Shapes of Life. Click the link to check it out. Shapes of Life

C4K February

Comment for Kids is a project that we were assigned to do in our EDM310 class. It allows us to see how teachers use technology to teach and kids use it to learn. We comment on a different kid blog each week, which allows us the opportunity to go around the world to see what each kid is learning.

The first blog I commented on was a fourth grader named Haylee J. In her blog post, Haylee was teaching her viewers how to add fractions with unlike denominators. I was very impressed with Haylee's blog post because she inserted pictures of each step to take while solving the problem. To my knowledge, the pictures were the actual work that she did. She explain the steps perfectly. I told her that she did a very good job solving the problem and her directions were clear and easy to understand and I also told her to keep up the good work.

My second comment was on Jennifer's blog, she is in the six grade. Jennifer was explaining why she like using technology. Some of reasons were because of the amazing speed, social media, and the games that she could play. I replied, Technology is amazing. There are so many different ways that you can use technology. You are exactly right when you said” social media can allow you to collaborate with other people”. I also love games, but make sure you look for educational ones. Keep learning about technology and as Mrs. Bryson said, “keep rocking the technology.”

The third comment I left was on Jacquelynne's blog post. Jacqeulynne is in a band and she plays the piano. She was explaining how nervous she gets when it is time for her to preform. She said that she worked very hard on her piano piece. Her hard work payed off, because her teacher inform her that her band won the gold. I replied to her by saying,Jacquelynne, I can relate to how you get so nervous when you perform for an audience. I am sure you were very happy when your teacher told you that you won the gold. Remember, hard work pays off.You did a great job on your blog post. Keep blogging!!

The last blog post I commented on for February was on Free_bird's blog post. This blog post was explaining the importance of teamwork. The writer stated, "When you have teamwork, your strengths may help another teammate’s weakness"(free_bird). He/She also used one of Michael Jordan quotes about teamwork. The writer believes team work is not just about playing on a team, which he/she is right. From the blog I took that the writer knew that teamwork is apart of our everyday life. I replied to the writer by saying,Being able to work on a team is a very important skill to learn. Working on team allows you to help others and learn from others. I love that you used Michael Jordan in your discuss on teamwork. We all know that Michael Jordan was a great player, but he could not beat all the teams he played without his teammates. You did an awesome job on your blog post. Keep up the good work!

Blog Post #7

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." Randy Pausch  

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture : Achieving Your Childhood Dream

Randy Pausch is so inspirational and I learn so much about life and teaching from his video. I am really thankful and appreciative that I got the chance to watch this video. He inspired me to work hard to achieve all of my dreams.

In the video, the one thing that stuck out the most to me was when Randy was talking about brick walls. As educators, we are going to face hardship and problems, but we have to learn from them and keep enabling our students to achieve their dreams. You may be wondering how we enable our students to achieve their dreams. We do this by teaching them to the best of our abilities and never giving up on them. Just as teachers will run into “brick walls”, so will our students. Just as Randy said, we have to let them know that brick walls are there to separate the ones who want to achieve their dreams and the ones who really don’t want to achieve their dreams. When our students come across those brick walls, we have to be there to help them get through it.

I can assume that Randy is an advocator for project base learning. He explains how he had students do five projects over a semester. He also mentions that he switch their group every two weeks, which I think is awesome because he gives them the opportunity to develop different skills by working with different people. He also mentions that his students are having fun while learning something hard. As educators, I think that it is extremely important for us to create fun ways for our student to learn the “hard stuff”. If we can take the focus away from the material being hard and make it fun, students will be eager to learn. When can create projects for our students to complete, we might think our expectations are too high, but Randy suggested that we do not set a bar on our students. Let them show us what they are able to accomplish. Setting the bar on our students may limit them and do them more harm than good. They may even teach us something new and as educators we are lifelong learners. Randy talked a little about disappointment, and we know that our students sometimes will disappoint us. When student disappoint us by not doing their work or trying their best; don’t give up on them. Push them harder and let them know you care. Also as educators, we are going to get disappointed when a project or lesson do not work out, or when someone criticizes us. Take that experience and learn from your mistakes. As Randy stated, experience is what you get when you did not get what you wanted

What can we learn from Randy Pausch about learning?

We can learn from Randy that it is okay to take risk with learning. As an educator, let your students take risk with learning. Allow learning to be fun. Design a project for them and let them show you their abilities. Do not set a bar on learning. When something is hard, do not give up, just work harder. He also taught us to learn from others and take their feedback to help you improve. Remember, all feedback is not bad feedback. He also taught us to learn to work with others and learn from them and with them. In the video, Randy explains in every achievement or disappoint that he came across, he learn something. I think it is safe to say that one of the main points that Randy made is to be a lifelong learner.

Blog Post #6

A personal learning network is a group of people, places, or organizations that you can go to when you have questions, need clarification, need inspiration or ideas. Your personal learning network helps you along your educational or teaching journey. The awesome thing about having a personal learning network is that it is not limited to a certain country; you can go as global as you want. Also, a personal learning network lets you connect with people that have similar interest that you have, people that are in the same profession as you are, or who have had similar experience as you. Having a personal learning network can help you as a teacher in so many different ways. As teachers, we are going face problems that we are going to need opinions on, ideas, or solutions to and having a personal learning network gives us the opportunity to reach out and learn from others. Also, having a personal learning network can help you get creative with teaching. You can get ideas from the people, places, or organization in your personal learning network to come up with a great lesson or project. Having a personal learning network would be great for teaching project base learning. Personal learning networks are formed through twitter, blogging, facebook, delicious and many more websites. Through these websites you can follow conversation or subjects that interest you. You can watch who people are conversing with and you also can formulate questions, have people comment answers to the questions, and you can decided if the people that comment on your question is someone you would want in your personal learning network. I will also be using these websites to help create my personal learning network.

My Personal Learning Network

I am using the website Symbaloo to create my personal learning network. The first edition to my personal network is Top Master in Education website. I chose this website because I am majoring in elementary education and it includes the top twenty-five blogs from elementary teachers. The teachers discuss many ideas on how to make learning fun for elementary students. They also communicate lessons idea, classroom management ideas and other helpful tips. Also, I can use some of the teachers in my personal learning network.

A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment
Building Your PLN - A Primer for Anyone
Developing A Personal Learning Network in EDM310
Personal Learning Networks

Project 8

Blog post #5

Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher
Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher

In the first two videos with Anthony Capp, I learned that project based learning allows students to create something while discovering knowledge. Teachers want to see that their students have achieved what they wanted them to achieve. Also, when a student is successful in a project based learning activity, he or she takes ownership and have a sense of pride. They are very proud of what they have achieved. For teachers, coming up with a project based learning activity is hard work and involves a lot of planning, but it is also a creative way to meet content standards in writing, social studies, reading, and many more subjects. When coming up with a project based activity, teachers should have an audience for the students, make it something that students are interested in, get the community involve, and make it content driven. These things will get the students excited about completing their activity and also inspire them to do their best. After the students have completed their activity, let them reflect on their work. Project based learning also teach students about collaboration skills. Collaborating with people is not always easy to do, but it is an important skill we must learn. Project based learning allows students to be creative with learning.

ICurio

I learned that ICurio is a tool that allows students to safely search websites that have been pulled and filter for educational purposes. It is not restricted to text, but has a variety of educational videos and pictures. Students and teachers can use ICurio. ICurio has features such as storages and timelines. Students can save information that they have searched into a folder or file and continue to search for more information. It makes researching information easy for students. Students are also learning virtual organization skills by using the storages that ICurio provides. It also has a read-out-loud feature that reads the text to the students. This would come in handy if a teacher has a student with special needs such as, if they are blind or having difficulty in reading the material. Anthony believes any grade can use ICurio as long as their teacher is comfortable with them using it. ICurio is a great resource to have for students to search the internet. It is safe and it protects students from inappropriate things on the web.

Discovery Education

I learned that Discovery Education is a great resource for teachers to use to put a visual with text. It allows students to learn from someone other than their teacher. It allows experts to come into the classroom through videos. In the video, Dr. Strange mention that students are learning more from being “listener-watchers”, which means students learn better from listening and watching things. This would be a great resource to use to help enforce what is being taught to someone who learns more form listening and watching or for someone who is a visual learner. Anthony mentions that this website also enriches students’ research experience. Discovery Education is a great resource for both students and teachers.

The Anthony-Strange List of Tips for Teachers Part 1 

Tips to help you become an effective teacher.

1. Be a constant learner. 
2. Teaching is hard work, be creative and make it fun.
3. Be flexible and expect the unexpected.
4. Always start with a good goal.
5. Engage a 100% of your students all the time and in every project.
6. Reflect and revise your work.

Don't Teach Tech-Use It

Additional Thoughts About Lessons

Technology should be used not taught. If teachers are just teaching technology and not letting their students use technology, they are getting no where. Technology comes natural to children and it is much easier for them to use. When letting kids use technology, you can start with something small and then build on as they continue to use it. Try doing the project yourself before you introduce it to your students so that you can be able to answer questions that might come up. If we introduce technology smartly to our students, it will become something that they absolutely love.

In the last video, Anthony talks about what an effective lesson plan consist of. He states that a lesson plan should have four layers: a yearly plan, a unit plan, a weekly plan, and a daily plan. The yearly plan should cover all the content you want to cover within that year. The unit plan should consist of ways to connect projects to what a student learn in that unit. A weekly plan should have work divided into days so that you can be sure that you can get all the work done. Lastly, a daily plan is how you deliver the content to your students and you should have something to measure what your students have learned.

My Sentences Videos

My Sentence is..

My Passion is...

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post # 4

The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom

Why do teachers ask questions? Teachers ask questions to see if their students understand the material being taught. Sometimes after material is taught, teachers will ask the students do they have any questions or do they understand. If no one has any questions, educators will move on to teach the next subject without realizing they may have a student that does not understand what was previously taught. What if a student is too shy to ask a question in front of the class in fear of being laughed at? What if the student does not realize that he or she is confused about the lesson? Well, what if the teacher ask a question and pick the student with his or her hand raised, she has the correct answer, but was everyone paying attention? Most likely, everyone was not paying attention. There are many different reasons why students do not ask questions. As educators it is important for us to ask questions in the right way. Ben Johnson’s blog post really put in perspective on how important it is to ask the right questions. What is one effective approach for asking a question? When teachers ask a question, they should pause only for about three seconds and then call a student’s name. By doing this, all the other students will be thinking of an answer to the question just in case they are chosen to answer the question next. Asking the right questions can get all students involve in the learning process.

Asking Questions to Improve Learning

Asking questions to improve learning gave different ways to ask questions. When planning questions to ask, we need to keep in mind what concept we want the students to learn. If we ask a yes or no questions, we need to follow up with and additional question. This allows the students to provide evidence or an example on why they answered the way they did. In class discussions, be sure not to ask more than one question at a time and always aim for direct, clear, and specific questions. Also, we need to ask different styles of questions such as: “closed’ questions, managerial questions, and “open” questions. Questions such as these test students’ comprehension of the information, their understanding of the assignment, and encourages active learning in the classroom. Along with asking questions, teachers should respond effectively. Teachers should not interrupt their students and they should show that they are interested in their response.

Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom

1. Prepare questions.
2. Play with the question.
3. Preserve good questions

When a teacher prepare his or her questions in advance, it allows him or her to get organized and helps him or her to be sure that they are not leaving anything out. Playing with the questions encourages students to think and preserving good questions allow teachers to use it again in the future.

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? Effective teachers need to ask questions that test students’ comprehension of the information, their understanding of the assignment, and they need to ask questions that encourage active learning. Most importantly, when they ask questions they need to have strategies that will get the whole class involve, such as picking a random student to answer a question.

C4T #1

I was assign to comment on Dr. Wesley Fryer’s blog, Moving At The Speed Of Creativity. The first blog post I commented on was titled, You Must Watched This: We Need Educational Change But Not High Stakes Accountability, which was a video of a gentleman named Ethan who argued against Common Core. According to www.corestandards.org, Common Core Standards are state standards that provide a clear understanding of what students are expected to learn. Ethan argued that programs like Common Core will not work and that it shows a lack of trust in teachers. He felt that if educators continue to teach by standards like Common Core they will be leaving students with an empty skill set. Ethan also argued that an educational change is needed, but we should not use programs like Common Core. Dr. Wesley Fryer expressed that he agreed with Ethan.

In my comment I introduced myself and told him about our class EDM310. I also told him that I was pursuing a degree in elementary education. After researching Common Core, I express that I did not think that extreme testing was necessary. I also express that I do think programs like Common Core illustrated mistrust in teachers. I told him how I wanted my students to be creative with learning and I did not want programs to dictate how they learn.

The second blog post I commented on was titled American Revolution Videos From Schoolhouse Rock and Discovery United Streaming. In this post, Dr. Fryer expressed that he had a lot of teachers absent from his school and that they were shorthanded on substitute teachers. He had to become a fifth grade substitute during his planning period. Instead of following the lesson plan that was left for the substitute, he played short videos from Discovery United Streaming to get the students more engaged in the lesson and that they were able to discuss what they have learn in the short videos. He suggested that teachers should get their schools to subscribe to sites like Discovery United Streaming. He felt that this site is a great resource and it will help get students excited about learning.

In my comment, I told him that I understood that it can be hard for a substitute teacher to get the students engaged in the lesson and I thought it was a great idea that he used short videos to get the students engaged. I also told him that when I become a teacher I would like to use sites like Discovery United Streaming to get my students engaged in the lesson that I am teaching.

Blog Post #3

How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback to Your Peers?

Peer editing is critiquing work of a peer to help improve his or her writing. What is a peer? A peer is someone your age. Many students (including me) are afraid to critique other students work, but we will be critiquing work all the time as future educators so we might as well get in the habit of it now. There are three important steps we must follow when we are critiquing work of others. We must compliment their work, make suggestions, and make corrections. Staying positive is very important when we critique someone else writing. Compliment the writer by telling him or her what you like or thought he or she did well. Make suggestions on how he or she can improve his or her writing. Ask him or her to use more vivid detail or suggest that they use better word choice. When making corrections, you need to look for things like grammar errors, punctuation errors, and spelling errors. Peer editing can be fun if we let the writer know that we are here to help him or her. Following those three steps can help you become a great editor, but always remember to stay positive. Not only will these steps help you now, but it will also help you when you become an educator.

Top Ten Peer Review Mistakes.

It is important to give a quality peer review and also to receive positive criticism positively. We must always stay on task, take our time, and don’t get defensive. I have committed many of those mistakes that were shown in the video, but now I know what not to do when I do a peer review. The process is very important and we must not be a Picky Patty, Defensive Dave, or any of the characters we saw in the video. We must take the positive criticism with the main goal in mind.

What is Peer Editing?
Peer Editing With Perfection Tutorial.
Writing Peer Review Top Ten Mistakes.

Blog Post #2

Mr. Dancealot
Many teachers teach in various ways. However, the teacher way of teaching might not be effective for the students. In the video professor Dancealot is attempting to teach his dance class straight from a power point presentation and it do not work out so well. He does try to demonstrate some of the dance steps he is teaching, but he did not let his students try. While he is reading from his power point and demonstrating dance steps that he already know how to do, his students are lost and have no idea what is going on. The central message of the video in my opinion is that class participation is very important. If a class is not participating in a lecture then a teacher cannot be sure that their students are comprehending the material being taught. Just because someone is listening does not mean that they comprehending what is being said. The conclusion that class participation is important was made after seeing that the students struggle to perform the dance that they were taught in the lecture. I strongly agree with the conclusion because teachers cannot assume that students are listening to them. Some students learn differently from other students and some learn at a slower rate than others. Getting the students involve is a great way to see if they are learning.

Teaching int the 21st Century
Teaching in the 21st century requires teachers to continue learning. Robert states that students can get information anywhere at any time. He is absolutely right. Kids are getting information from the internet, so teachers are no longer the primary source. Robert argues that teachers need to use different tools to teach. Technology is a large part of life now, so we as future educators need to use it to our advantage. Robert gave a suggestion to create an e-portfolio to let students store their work. They can collaborate using skype , twitter, facebook, or google docs. As technology grows, teachers will have to grow with it. Learning will never cease for a teacher

The Network Student
Teaching is constantly changing. It is not how it was when I was in school and it will not be same as it is ten years from now. The video showed that along with the student learning facts, the student also learned skills. He learned how to use various program to make connections that would help him. Also, having access to technology gave him access to many more things that a text book could not give him. He is primarily in control of his class. He decides when and where he completes his work. So why does he still need a teacher? He needs a teacher to help him make those connections. He will need a teacher for when he do not understand something. It is unbelievable how much information that is given to us through technology.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Mrs. Davis thesis is that only certain types of student learn from pencil and paper. Mrs. Davis wants to appeal to all of her students just as any teacher should. She is teaching her students to be independent learners. She wants her students to be comfortable using technology. She wants them to be thinkers. It is so much offered to us through technology and we need to take advantage of it. She gives the example of teaching literacy by having her students google words that they do not know. I agree with Mrs. Davis. Learning is not all about pencil and paper. We need to teach our students to be thinker, to make connection, and to learn from whatever is out there.

Flipping the Classroom
Flipping is very new to me and now I am a fan of it. I like the idea of the students being able to see what the next day lesson is going to be about and they can prepare for it. I like that it allows the students to think on a higher level. It also let other students share their process of figuring something out and it possibly can help another student. Flipping is something that I would love to try when I become a teacher.