Blog Post #16

EDM310 Final Reflection

Blog Post #5 Part 2

For the first part of this blog post we were assigned to give a summary of our progress in developing our personal learning network. This week I am to give a final summary of my PLN. I don't really want to call it a final summary because it is still growing and I hope it continues to do so. Building my PLN has been a great learning experience. I would have to say that I use Pinterest and Facebook the most in my PLN. I have also discovered a neat website called Bloglovin. Through this website you can search for blogs by different criteria. You can save the ones you like that show up in your "news feed" when you log on to your account. I have begun to follow several teachers here. Twitter is a social site I know is highly beneficial in building your PLN. I am following a few teachers and professionals there as well. At this point, Pinterest is my most favorite. I have found many great ideas and tips related to teaching that I have posted to my "future teaching" board. Staring my PLN has been a great experience and I am looking forward to the connections I am making now and hope to make in the future.

C4T #4

Teaching with love and laughter

For this C4T assignment I chose to comment on a teacher's blog that I randomly came across this semester. Her name is Lori and she has been teaching at the elementary level for over 20 years. The name and colorful design of her blog initially caught my attention. Then I began reading through her blog and really became interested in the things she had to say.

I left my first comment on her blog post that talked about using Google Docs to schedule conferences. I thought this was neat since we have used them several times in EDM310 this semester.  She had the idea to use Google Docs to help schedule parent/teacher conferences instead of making a ton of phone calls. A document would be created and shared with the parents. All they had to do was sign their name next to a time that was available. I though this was a great idea and would save a lot of time rather than trying to reach out to the parents through phone calls.

The second blog post of Lori's that I chose was similar to one we were assigned this semester. It was a post about her classroom. She had several pictures and descriptions of everything in her room from the different learning stations to some of the students work. She also had a little classroom library where the children could sit and read books. Her room was very colorful and organized. I love looking at pictures of teacher's rooms and seeing the different ways they design and arrange their stations.

Blog Post #14

"Teaching Can Be A Profession"

By: Joel Klein

Problems:

1. There is a lack of proper math preparation for future teachers.
2. There is a lack of good programs available to prepare teachers for teaching reading.
3. Seniority makes it difficult to remove bad teachers.
4. Salary for teachers is not competitive so better teachers end up in middle class schools while less qualified teachers end up in schools in lower class communities.

Solutions:

1. Develop better coursework for students to create a better knowledge base.
2. Creation of a nationwide teacher exam somewhat like doctors and lawyers take.
3. A 1-3 year internship.
4. Better standards and procedures in place to help remove ineffective teachers.
5. Promotions can be based on exams.

In this article by Joel Klein, Joel talks about some of the things he could change about teaching and education. He said if he had to choose it would be to "professionalize teaching" in hopes to make it as respected as profession like law and medicine. He listed several issues that would need to be addressed in order to accomplish this. First, there is a lack of proper math preparation for future teachers as well as good reading programs in place to help them with reading instruction basics. He mention that better coursework could be developed for students to help build a greater knowledge base. I agree with this, especially when it comes to math. I think putting a better program in place to help teachers gain a higher level of skill in teaching math would be great. Klein also mentioned that seniority and job security makes it hard to remove bad teachers from schools. I can say that I had several teachers, especially in middle and high school, that were great people however not the greatest teachers. Teachers that lack or have lost the skills needed to teach are protected by seniority or tenure. There could be several solutions to this issue. There could be a nationwide teacher exam like doctors and lawyers have to take. A good score on the test could help secure job placement and better ensure the capabilities of the teacher. Also, there could be better policies and/or procedures in place to help remove ineffective teachers. Another issue faced in the teaching profession is salary. The salary for teachers isn't really competitive. Most teachers are all payed the same no matter how good or bad their performance. To help improve this, a teachers promotion could be based on performance or some type of exam. I agree with this to some extent. A teacher can be great at what he or she does and still have students that don't perform well due to issues of their own. Perhaps a performance review combined with some sort of examination would be a more well-rounded approach to evaluating a teacher. I agree with Klein in that teaching should be more professionalized. I think it is such an important profession because teachers help guide and dinstill the skills and knowledge students need for the future.

C4K Summary for November

Soha

Soha is a 5th grade student in Oakville, Ontario Canada. In his blog post he talked about whether or not he was a good citizen. He thought he was a good global citizen because he and his family send money to people in need. I told him he had a great blog and that it was so nice of he and his family to help those who don't have much.

Dillon

Dillon is an 8th grade student at Waverly-Shell Rock Middle School in Iowa. His blog was about using a potter's wheel. Dillon talked about how he learned how to get air bubbles out of clay and get the clay centered on the pottery wheel. There was a great video posted on the class blog that allowed you to get to see the students watching the pottery being made. It was really neat to watch. I told Dillon that learning how to use a potter's wheel was something I had always wanted to learn how to do myself.

Cole

Cole is an 8th grade student in Kingsland, MN. The title of his blog post was called "Tree Boy." It was a story he wrote about a pine tree living in Yellowstone National Park named Shebop. In this story Cole is actually the tree and he describes in great detail his surroundings. He talks about how his pine needles are beginning to fall off and how he can see the park rangers keeping the park clean. He also mentions a family of birds that visits his branches. His mom then comes into his room to wake him for school and he realizes he was actually dreaming about being a tree. I told Cole his story was great and that I really enjoyed reading it!

Blog Post # 13

What Did I Leaved Out?

For this blog post we are to create an assignment for a blog post that should have been created in our area of specialty, write the instructions and then create the post. 
Below is my 13th blog post assignment.


Using Technology, what are some tools you can 

use as a teacher to help students develop their  
reading and writing skills? 

Instructions: Use whatever resources you like. Below are a few examples that can be used.

1.) readingrockets.org
2.) kidshealth.org



According to Kid's Health, children develop both physically and mentally at different rates and as a result may spend various amounts of time at different literacy milestones. I am majoring in elementary education and would be excited to teach any grade from kindergarten to 4th grade. Reading and writing are just a few of the many things I would be teaching in these grades. Learning to read and write and putting those skills to work is very important. I would like to make reading and writing as fun as possible for my students. There are several great apps available to help children have fun while learning to read and write. At ages 4-5 children can begin to identify some letters as well as make certain letter-sound matches. They also begin to match spoken words with written words and begin making attempts to write letters and some small words. The Alphabet Zoo app is an app that helps children recognize letters and their sounds. It shows a series pictures that can be matched with the letter that it begins with. It will keep score of how letters were answered correct and how many were answered wrong.

By the age of 6 a child's reading and writing skills really start to grow. They can begin to read some things aloud easily,  identify new words by using letter-sound matches, identify new words by breaking down the word, identify a large number of sight words and sound out words as they try to spell them. Children at this age also begin to  use some punctuation and capitalization. I Can Write is a colorful and fun letter tracing app available for the iPhone and iPad. On this app letters are shown one  at a time and once the letter is traced correctly another letter will appear. At the end of the sequence the app will show the students achievement.

At the age of 7 or 8 children can read longer books by themselves, read aloud with proper pronunciation, correctly spell a large number of words and correctly use punctuation. Children also begin to learning how to write cursive. ABC Cursive is a great app for an iPad and/or iPhone. This app is used for practicing cursive. It allows students to practice in cursive upper and lower case letters, whole words, and sentences. A stylus can also be used for better application.

These three apps are just a few of many other apps available to help students practice and develop their literacy skills. By using these apps on a iPad, students can have fun while learning to read and write. They would be great to use for practice at home or would make a great reading/writing center for children at school. I look forward to learning about more of these apps and using them in my future classroom.

Project #12 SmartBoard Instruction Part B

Collaborative Video Lesson

"Johnny Appleseed & The Apple Tree"

Project #10 Interview Movie

Interview Movie

For our interview movie project I chose to interview a teacher whose room I observed in for a day this semester. Her name is Mendy Leech and she is a 3rd grade teacher in Saraland, AL.

Blog Post # 12

What Types of Assistive Technologies Are Available to Teachers?

C4T #3

Kathy Cassidy

Kathy Cassidy is a grade one teacher for Prairie South Schools in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada. She is also the author of the book titled Connected from the Start: Global Learning in the Primary Grades.
The first blog post I read of Mrs. Cassidy's was titled "Three Options for Independent Reading on the iPad."  In this post she talked about how teachers are constantly looking for quality reading alternatives for their students. There are 3 great options she found. The first is called Epic Books. Epic! is an app and ebook subscription service that offers children great quality books by well known authors. Children can instantly access what they want to read rather than purchasing or downloading the books. The second option is called Unite for Literacy. Unite for Literacy is a website that has many books for beginning readers. Students can also listen to a book on this site while they read along. And the third option is the Kindle app. Children can read and listen to books through this app. Some of the books are also interactive. While most books have to be paid for, occasionally a good children's book will turn up on the one hundred free books list. I commented that I enjoyed reading her post and I'm looking forward to reading more from her blog! I had never heard of Epic! or Unite for Literacy before. It is exciting to learn about these types of resources that I will be able to use in my future classroom!

The second blog of Mrs. Cassidy's that I read was called "Listening to Reading in a One iPad Classroom." In this post Mrs. Cassidy mentions that one question she is frequently asked when speaking about using iPads in a classroom, is how it would work if only one iPad was available in a class. Even though in her class each student has an iPad, Mrs. Cassidy will sometimes use Apple TV to project her iPad on a big screen so all the students can see it. Another device she uses is called a Belkin Rockstar. You can plug this device into an iPad and it then allows up to five headphones to plug in and listen at the same time. This blog post really stood out to me because I had always wondered how one could best use a limited number of iPads in a room full of students. I have known of little devices that would allow two listeners at once but I have never seen anything that allows as many listeners as the Belkin Rockstar. I can use this in my future classroom as well as with my boys at home. Very Cool!

Project # 14 Lesson Plan 2

Project Based Lesson Plan #2

What Can We Learn From Johnny Appleseed?

To view our lesson plan please visit our Google Site.

Blog Post # 11

What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From These Teachers?

Brian Crosby is an elementary school teacher in Sparks, Nevada. In this video he talks about a hot air balloon project conducted by his class. For this project his students created their own balloons and attached cameras to them. They took the balloons outside and released them into the air. Then they were able to go back to their computers and track their balloons online. Once this was complete the students then had to go back and write a story as if they were the balloon and tell about the flight experience from beginning to end. Mr. Crosby stated he would have his students embed their science videos into their blogs and then write about them. I though this was a great idea and would be helpful for teachers in evaluating what each student understood of the project they completed. This also met several Language/Writing standards. It also gave the students an audience. They had people from all over comment on their air balloon project. They even got to Skype with another classroom that was interested in learning how to make the balloons themselves. This gave the students in Mr. Crosby's room an opportunity to become a teacher themselves. 

Paul Andersen is a Biology teacher in Bozeman, Montana. In his video The Blended Learning Cycle, Mr. Anderson explains how he uses blended learning in his science class. Below is an image from his presentation that shows the two parts he brings together to create the blended cycle.

He begins with a good question that will really get the students interest. Then they begin to investigate that question. He may also use videos at times that the students can watch at home. This helps to free up time for other things during class. Next he says they will begin to elaborate on the subject which will lead to more in depth understanding. After elaboration the class will begin their review, Mr. Anderson will meet with small groups and asks questions to check understanding before giving a summary quiz. 

Sam Payne is a 4th grade teacher. His video about  building comics was my favorite from this blog. He is teaching his class what it means to be a good digital citizen. He asks them to discuss in groups what kind of information the internet gives and what it takes to be a good digital citizen. The students respond that a good digital citizen is someone who chooses to act safely and responsibly while they are on the internet. After this discussion the students begin to build a superhero on their computers. They each had their own unique look and name. Then the students began to create a story that presents and unsafe situation while using the internet. The story is in the form of a comic and the superhero they created comes to save the day. Once the students are done creating their comic they move around the room and read their fellow classmates stories. I thought this was such a fun and creative way to teach safety while using the internet. I know there will be parents that are hesitant about their students being on the internet. This would be a great project for the children to do to show their parents that they are learning how to make good decisions and use the internet safely. 

The last video I would like to mention for this blog is a video on the PBL program at a school called Rosevelt Elementary. If you are just beginning to learn about project based learning this would be a good video to watch. It breaks down the PBL definition and process in a simple form that is easy to understand and shows how students are actively engaging in it. The teachers also mention that PBL enables students to have a sense of choice and ownership through their work. The thing that stood out to me the most in this video was when the teachers mentioned that by the students presenting their work to their peers, they are learning public speaking skills at an early age. This will help eliminate any fears they may have about it down the road. I will say that I am not a fan of speaking in public and I wish that I was given more opportunities at a younger age to help conquer that fear.

Blog Post #10

What Can We Learn From Mrs. Cassidy?

For this week's blog post we watched a Skype interview between Dr. Strange and Mrs. Kathy Cassidy. Mrs. Cassidy is a 1st grade teacher in Moose Jaw, Canada. Mrs. Cassidy was given 5 computers to use in her classroom about 10 years ago. She wanted to make them useful so she began to explore the internet which led to blogging, and from there she added new things over the years. One thing she said that stood out to me was that she is always looking for new things to try. I think it is very important for teachers to always be on the look out for new ideas or methods that they can use in the classrooms. This can bring new ways of learning to the students and a means to perhaps improve lessons previously taught before. Mrs. Cassidy also talked about the use of the blog in her classroom. I learned that it can be a great way for the parents to keep up with their children's progress through the year. It can also help with the students writing skills. I loved how she mentioned that one thing a blog gives you that pen and paper doesn't is an audience. The students know that other people from all over can see who reads their blog. In this video the students talk about how they like to get visitors and comments on their blog. Mrs. Cassidy also stated that technology is here to stay and that teachers can no longer teach they way they did 10-20 years ago, but there are many resources available to being learning how to use technology. And it can handicap yourself or your students if you don't take advantage of those resources. What I learned from Mrs. Cassidy was that there is no better time than now to starting thinking and preparing for my future classroom and how I want to incorporate technology into my lessons. 

Project #12 A Using Smartboard Tools

C4K Summary for October

Amara

Amara is in an 8th grade class that uses their class blog for homework purposes or writing whenever they feel motivated. The post I commented on was actually written by Amara and her friend.  They talked about their friendship. I commented that I really enjoyed reading her post. It reminded me of a friend I had growing up. The unique thing about our friendship was that we were always able to make each other laugh. A genuine friendship is one to cherish!

Kiyan

Kiyan is in Mrs. Gadzala's 5th Grade Class in Downers Grove, Illinois. The topic of his post was "Should kids lose recess for bad behavior?" He felt that kids who are bad should lose their recess, and that it was unfair for them to get to go to recess when they have misbehaved.
I commented that I really enjoyed reading his post about kids losing recess for bad behavior and to keep up the great work!

Diya

Diya's post was about her online responsibilities. She talked about needing to keep her passwords safe and gave a few tips to help do just that. I commented that I enjoyed reading about her online responsibilities. She had some very good tips on how to keep her passwords safe!

Marilyn

Marilyn is a student at Pt. England School in New Zealand. Her most recent post was a Google Slides presentation on Kete. Kete are baskets make in New Zealand that are used by Maori people. Kete is woven from the leaves of New Zealand flax. I told Marilyn I had never heard of Kete before so I was able to learn something new! I told her she did a great job on her Google presentation.

Blog Post #9

What Can Students and Teachers Teach Us About Project Based Learning?

At this point in EDM310 project based learning is no longer an unfamiliar concept. I still don't know all there is to know about PBL but I feel I now have a good base to build upon going forward. The article Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning gives several key factors needed for project based learning. They are as follows:

1. A Need to Know - it is a good idea for teachers to introduce a project through a means that will "activate" the students. She could show a video, the class could take a virtual or real life field trip, or they could engage in a class discussion. Doing this will help to get the students attention from the beginning.
2. A Driving Question - a good, open-ended driving question helps to guide the students through the project. It is the foundation. The video Project Based Learning for Teachers by Tony Vincent gives some examples of what a driving questions looks like.
3. Student Voice and Choice - the more choices students have within a project the more meaningful it can become to them. They can make the decisions on what resources they will use and what they can create from it.
4. 21st Century Skills - these are skills such as collaboration, use of technology and critical thinking. Students can acquire these skills through PBL and can continue to use them in the future.
5. Inquiry and Innovation - real inquiry is where students follow a path that starts with their own questions that allows them to research for the answers. This can lead to new questions which can inspire students to test ideas and ultimately draw their own conclusion. This process is the exact opposite from the teacher to reproduce information already given to them through textbooks or the teacher herself.
6. Feedback and Revision - feedback on a project helps to make learning more meaningful. This can be done directly or through rubrics.
7. A Publicly Presented Project - if a student knows their work will be presented to an audience they are more likely to care about the quality of their project.

 

I have seen several videos that shows the positive effects of project based learning with students. However, until I watched how teachers meet the challenges of PBL implementation I realized all of the great opportunities it bring for teachers. The high school teachers in this video talked about how exciting it was for them to be able to have a voice in how their class is designed through PBL. They also mentioned the opportunities it gave them to come together and collaborate with one another. 

I really enjoyed watching students talk about what motivates them. One boy said that positive feedback from his teacher really motivates him. Another talks about how he will not be able to participate in baseball if he does not do well at school. I think this is such an important question to ask students. I think teachers definitely should want to find out what motivates their students so that they can use that information to help them in class.

When students are motivated I believe it helps to give them the little extra push  to take their thinking and work to a higher level. For instance, look at the two students who solved the case of watery ketchup. The first thing I wanted to know after watching this was is this gadget sold in stores? It was really neat to see two students put their minds together to create something like this!

Blog Post # 8

What Can We Learn About Teaching and 

Learning From Randy Pausch?

    Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon Univeristy. He was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and after being given a terminal diagnosis he decided to give "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". This lecture became extremely popular and has reached many people. It was a very touching and humorous lecture in which Randy discussed his childhood dreams, how he achieved them, and how he helped others achieve theirs. This is an inspiring video about living life. It was interesting to see how he was able to achieve all of his childhood dreams and the obstacles he overcame along the way. He believed in having fun in what you are doing. 

- Randy Pausch

    One of the things he talked about that stood out to me was what he call the "head fake." He said "the best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they are learning something else." I thought this was a neat concept of getting someone to learn something that might not necessarily interest them. He also said "remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don't really want to achieve their childhood dreams." What a great way to view the obstacles that come in life. I had never thought to think of them in that way!  And likely my most favorite quote from Randy Pausch is "don't complain, just work harder." I have never been a fan of complaining. I try hard not to complain about anything and be thankful for everything. Complaining only focuses on the negative and it can become a really bad habit that can drain the happiness from yourself and those around you. If you're looking for a little inspiration and entertainment I would recommend that you watch Randy Pausch's last lecture video. It is sad to think that he is no longer on this earth to continue innovating and helping others to reach their dreams. However, I think he will continue to impact people through the legacy he leaves behind. 

Project # 9 Video Book Commentary

C4T #2

Post #1

Daniel Edwards Blog

Daniel Edwards is the director of Digital Strategy at the Stephen Perse Foundation schools in the United Kingdom.  In his first post I read, he talked about how exciting a time it was for teachers with the access to all of the new technologies that are available. Pedagogy was a term he used often in this post. I had actually never heard of the word before so I researched and found that merriam-webster defines it as "the art, science, or profession of teaching." Edwards discusses the different ways pedagogy can adapt to take advantage of the use of technology in education. I commented that through taking EDM 310 I have been able to observe the use of technology in classrooms and the positive impacts it is having on teachers and students. I also stated that it has been fascinating to see how combining technology with class content has really gotten students engaged in the learning process. I told him that I definitely agree it is an exciting time for teachers and I am looking forward to the journey.

Post # 2 

The second post of Daniel Edwards that I read was called "Why Innovate?" He says the most important thing is learning however, with the changes in curriculum and implementation of new technology, he is curious to how much time is wasted with distractions. With all these things adding distractions to learning he could make a case for or against innovation and it just being another distraction. He feels however that this is the wrong way to look at the situation. He states that if teachers aren't using the tools available to them then they aren't helping to develop the learning process so its time to start taking advantages of the opportunities available. So "Why Innovate?" he says, because you can.  I commented that the ways in which we can teach and learn are constantly changing.  I agree that those involved in education are not helping to develop the learning process if they aren't innovating and using the the great resources available to them.

Special Assignment

Implications and Teaching Opportunities for 

Camera Use in Teaching and Learning?

Part A

    According to marketer there are 1.75 billion smartphone users worldwide. I have seen many young children with their own smartphones. Children as young as 8-10 years old.  Deseret News says that schools are beginning to capitalize on technology like smart phones because students love to use them so much. When it comes to technology like computers, tablets, etc., a smartphone is something more families could afford. 

    Smartphones have apps that can help students study as well as search the internet in researching information class projects, reports, etc. I think that some teachers may be worried that smartphones could be distracting to students but the positive effects could likely outweigh the negative. A smartphone that is connected to the internet has huge amounts of data available for student learning. 

Part B

    There are many ways a teacher can make use of students having smartphones with cameras for learning purposes. For instance, 1st graders should be able to identify the different developmental stages of plants and animals. I would have the students go out and take pictures of local plant life and its different developmental stages. They should also be able to name differences in the day and night sky with the unaided eye. I could have them take pictures of the different types of cloud formations as we are learning them in class. Cameras on smartphones would be a great tool at having students document things that go along with what they are learning in class.