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