Final Reflection

Final Project

Blog Post #5 Final Post

My Personal Learning Network (PLN) has changed quite a bit since I first blogged about it. I am currently following the same people on Twitter, but with a few new additions. Twitter, in my opinion, has the easiest access when it comes to finding people that share the same interests as I do. The hashtags help me out a tremendous amount, and allow me to find what I am looking for. I followed everyone that Dr. Strange told us to follow on Twitter, and these people post some really amazing things. Also, from doing our Commments4Teachers (C4T) assignments, I have found a teacher's blog that I really enjoy reading. Her name is Jenny Luca and her blog Lucacept-intercepting the Web is extremely informative and interesting! Feel free to check out her blog at anytime, and I promise you that you will NOT regret it! Overall, my PLN has not grown at a rapid pace, but it has grown to the point where I might would be lost if I had to start all over again!

Blog Post #13

Blog Post #13- Technological Tools

Research to find three technological tools that you believe will help students stay engaged with learning in the classroom. These must be tools that you have not heard of or used before. Give a summary of what each of these tools consist of. How do you believe these tools will help students stay engaged?

Answer the question in a post that adheres to the standards found in the ACCRS and in Writing a Quality Blog Post.

WebQuest

 

WebQuest is a website that is great for teachers who use project-based learning in their classrooms. Teachers can create a task for their students to perform called a WebQuest. A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all of the information that learners work with comes from the web. The WebQuest tasks are designed to engage students while also preparing them for the assignments they will have to complete as adult. Students will also learn how to analyze rather than summarize.

A WebQuest must have the following attributes:

• is wrapped around a doable and interesting task that is ideally a scaled down version of things that adults do as citizens or workers.
• requires higher level thinking, not simply summarizing. This includes synthesis, analysis, problem-solving, creativity and judgment.
• makes good use of the web. A WebQuest that isn't based on real resources from the web is probably just a traditional lesson in disguise. (Of course, books and other media can be used within a WebQuest, but if the web isn't at the heart of the lesson, it's not a WebQuest.)
• isn't a research report or a step-by-step science or math procedure. Having learners simply distilling web sites and making a presentation about them isn't enough.
• isn't just a series of web-based experiences. Having learners go look at this page, then go play this game, then go here and turn your name into hieroglyphs doesn't require higher level thinking skills and so, by definition, isn't a WebQuest.

Edmodo

Edmodo is an extremely wonderful tools for teachers to use. Edmodo is an application that anyone can download on to their smartphone, and since technology is in some many people’s lives, Edmodo becomes an easy-access tool as well. Teachers can create an account on Edmodo and create a class section. Edmodo gives the teacher an access code to give to the students. The students can join the class section by creating their own account and entering in the code that was provided for them. Once everyone’s accounts are set up and everyone has joined the class section, Edmodo becomes a group chat tool. Teachers can send out mass text messaged to all of the students in each section to remind them about homework or any assignments that are coming up that will be due. This tool is great for high school and college students, because the older your students are, the busier they are in life. I know that I forget many things throughout my day so of course many other students have this same problem. This is why teachers should use Edmodo so that students will not forget assignments and always have the opportunity to learn and grow.

StoryBots

 

StoryBots is a website for interactive reading. Children are able to create an online account, but only if they put in their parents age and email address. Children can upload a picture of themselves and make their picture the star of the books! The books use the child’s name and make reading fun for children! StoryBots does cost some money ($36 a year or $5 a month), but I believe that the money is worth it so that children can have fun while they read! Along with books, children can also star in videos! On the StoryBots website there are learning videos, ABC videos, activity sheets, and also a section that provides applications that would be useful for teachers and children. There is an educator section that is specifically for schools, and who knows, maybe schools do not have to pay the same cost for access to the website. StoryBots team say, “saw an opportunity to support educators with free innovative and original learning experiences, and to engage them in a dialogue that could help create better, more effective learning tools. Hence, the StoryBots Educator Network was born."

Comments4Kids Summary for Month of April

JT M

On JT M's Blog, the topic that was wrote about was football. Football is JT's favorite sport due to the fact that football is made for all shapes and sizes. JT said that football is not like a sport such as basketball that requires tall people; football is great for anyone, and that is why it is the sport of choice. I really enjoyed how JT explained why football is his favorite sport instead of just simply stating that it is his favorite. JT seems to be all about equality whether he realizes it or not; it is deep down inside of him, and it will be wonderful whenever that side of him starts showing more. JT will be a great leader for his football team some day!

Javon

Javon, from Madame Thomas's class blog, wrote about something kind that someone has done for him. Javon said that once someone gave him euros when he did not have any, and he thought that was really nice of them. I asked Javon to explain why they had given him euros. Was he trying to purchase something? I explained that I am from the United States, so I do not know how euros work. I am sure that once Javon tells more of the story then it will be very interesting!

Javon's Blog

Brody

The student's blog I had to comment on this week was Brody. This is his blog: Brody's Blog. Brody's topic for his blog post was to talk about interesting facts about New Zealand. Brody is from New Zealand and he goes to a farming school. I am not sure if it is called a farming school because the students are taught how to farm or not, but I made sure to ask Brody about that. Brody gave facts about populations of different places within New Zealand and talked about the mountains as well. It was really interesting to know that in New Zealand there were many different cultures such as Chinese and Indian. I am sure it is extremely different in New Zealand than it is here in America, and reading Brody's blog post really inspired me to do some more research on New Zealand!

Comments4Teachers Summary

Cathy Jo Nelson

 

Utilizing Instructions to Enrich Learning

 

In Cathy's blog post, she talks about "entry events". These entry events will engage students in their learning, and it will also get their minds thinking about a topic that is related to the lesson of the day. Cathy explains that whatever tools you use in your classroom, whether it be videos, IPads, or a discussion, make sure you plan ahead for it. Also, Cathy believes that rubrics are important to use and you can use them for anything! I thought it was really neat how her blog post correlated with everything that we are learning in EDM310! Cathy made some really good points in her post about being prepared for each class and utilizing many different tools.

 

Cathy Nelson's Blog

Jenny Luca

 

Lucacept-intercepting the Web

 

Jenny Luca posts videos occasionally that she thinks would be a great discussion starter at the beginning of class. This time she chose the Dove Choose Beautiful video. Jenny Luca says, "Which door would you walk through?" And Jenny also says, "What door would I walk through? Beautiful. Damn right." Jenny's response was quite funny to me, but it showed me that she knows she is beautiful just like all women should. I believe that Jenny Luca's discussion starter videos are great for getting the class engaged and ready to learn! I always enjoy looking through Jenny's blog!

 

Jenny Luca's Blog

Blog Post #12

The video Assistive Technologies for Vision and Hearing Impaired Students really shed light on how much extra time is needed with special needs children. As a group we never experienced having classes with vision or hearing impaired students and never fully understood the extreme importance of one on one time with each student, but after watching this video we are more educated. These videos and articles informed us about new technologies that are available for vision and hearing impaired students and how teachers can use them in their classrooms. Here is what we learned.

Hearing

HAT Devices

Remote microphone hearing assistance technology (HAT) delivers the speech signal from the microphone to other audio devices so students can have easier access to what the teacher is saying. HAT devices can bring the speech and sound signals from the microphone to your child in a number of ways:

1. Directly to your child’s hearing aid, cochlear implant or other hearing device via a hearing loop;
2. Directly to your child’s hearing aid, cochlear implant or other hearing device via a wireless receiver that your child wears;
3. To a strategically positioned loudspeaker that benefits your child and others in the room;
4. To a single, personal loudspeaker close to your child.

This technology does not only help the hearing impaired, but also others students that may have a hard time hearing from the back of the classroom.

Vision

In the video, IPad Usage for the Blind

 

Here are the features Wesley uses:

• Voice controlled
• Uses gestures to navigate through all the features of the IPad
• Swipes finger across screen to determine what app to choose and then double taps to select the app
• Swipes three fingers across IPad to flip pages
• IPad reads the books to you and it is the only ereader that does voice control for books

 

Coming from Ipad owners, we did not know that these features were accessible for the vision impaired, but we believe that IPads are a wonderful tool for teaching through technology.

Teaching Math to the Blind

Reading braille is linear and this tool allows the vision impaired to vertically compute math problems, because number placement is necessary for students to be able to understand more complex math problems. With this technology, the vision impaired students are able to drag their fingers across the board and read the math problem just as any other student would be able to. It would also help non-impaired students be able to clearly visualize math problems.

Blog Post #11

According to Brain Crosby in his video Back to the Future, “We need to build schools that honor kids and make this happen for everyone.” Crosby focuses on project-based learning in his classroom, and he never gives up on his students. I teared up whenever he said one of his students had leukemia and could not attend class, because it would make her very sick. Instead of letting this student be home-schooled, Crosby video chatted this little girl every day, and Crosby and his students welcomed her into their classroom and included her in their learning and activities. This warmed my heart whenever I saw this part of the video, because no student should be left out, and everyone should get the same opportunities and education. Brain Crosby really taught me that teaching is more than giving tests and getting great scores. Teaching is about making students love learning.

Paul Anderson, in his video the Blended Learning Cycle, hooks the students by doing something that gets their attention. For example, a really great in depth question. Anderson uses many different ways of teaching in his classroom. Anderson uses technology, quizzes, reviews, textbook reading, and in depth questions. Anderson’s various teaching methods keep students interested in what they are learning. According to Anderson, students have not learned anything unless they are able to explain it to someone else, and I believe this to be true. You can give students a multiple choice test, but sometimes students decide not to study, because they believe that they have a better chance at guessing the right answer. In my opinion, giving a test that makes the students study and really think about the subject is the most effective way to test their knowledge. I recently took a midterm exam in my American Literature class here at the University of South Alabama, and it was by far the hardest test I have ever taken in my life. The test was 25 multiple choice questions, and two essay questions. One of the essay questions was worth 10 points, but the other essay question was worth 70 points! I admit, I freaked out a bit whenever my teacher explained the point value on this test, but it made me study harder. And guess what? After I wrote a 10 page essay for the test, my final posted score was a 99! I may not have enjoyed the hand cramps, but I am telling you, challenging questions on a test is the right way to go. Challenge your students every day, because without the challenge I fear they will never reach their full potential.

Sam Pane’s Building Comics project was amazing!! Even I, at 20 years old, would love to do this project! Pane’s project taught so many skills to the students and the students had so much fun creating their comics! Pane taught the students how to:

1. Write narratives to develop imagined experiences or events

2. Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to text

3. Ask and answer questions

4. Be safe and responsible online

Pane taught so many lessons from one fun project and he is a great teacher for being able to do this!

Project Based Learning by Dean Shareski sheds some light on this new way of teaching. Project based learning increases student engagement and provides an opportunity for deeper understanding. Students use technology to bring all of the content in the projects to life. Students become proud of their work because of project based learning and that is an amazing achievement.

In the Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program video, project based learning consists of a few things:

1. In depth learning

2. Integrated thematic instruction

3. Based on a “real-world” problem

4. Research-based

5. Project and presentation

Along with these things, teachers have to find a new way to teach. It is harder now for teachers to integrate the curriculum into the projects, but once the connection is made it has a wonderful outcome. The teachers at Roosevelt focus on public speaking at a young age so that there is less fear later on in life when students speak in front of a crowd. Students learn in so many different ways and project based learning allows teachers to create different activities that will help each individual student learn.

Blog Post #10

Mrs. Cassidy's approach to the use of technology in her classroom is wonderful! Mrs. Cassidy's first grade students write in their blogs once a week, and she believes that this helps them become better writers. Using blogging in a physical education classroom is also useful, according to Mrs. Cassidy. Blogging in physical education is not focusing on improving student's writing, but it is a great tool for teachers to post their lessons on. Teachers can post their lessons to inform students early about what to expect in class. This is a great tool for all teachers!

Mrs. Cassidy's first grade students play on Nintendo DS gaming systems. I think this is a really neat tool, because children learn so much from videogames. I know when I was little, I used to play Brain Age on my Nintendo DS and it helped me tremendously! Brain Age is a mathematics game. It has many math questions including: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Brain Age also includes a Sudoku section within the game. This is a great section for critical thinking and also utilizes addition and subtraction. This game lets students practice problems multiple times and analyzes their "brain age"; it also shows students their progress throughout the game. I would absolutely love to use this game in my classroom, because I believe students will love it, it will exercise their brains, and they will learn more.

During student blogging time, Mrs. Cassidy sometimes takes her students to the computer lab. I believe that getting the students out of the classroom and into another environment will make them more excited to learn. I think taking students outside every once and a while and teaching a lesson can really make students happy. Sure, outside could distract them but so can something in a classroom. Students need spontaneity in their lives and I believe this will engage students so much more than strict classroom procedures. Mrs. Cassidy knows what needs to be done to engage students and spark their creativity. I will absolutely use some of Mrs. Cassidy's ideas in my classroom.
This was my favorite video by Mrs. Cassidy:

Comments4Kids Summary for Month of March

Andre

 

 

I commented on Andre's Blog in the Moments That Matter Class Blog with Mrs. Maslowski. Andre blogged about Friday the 13th and some superstitions that are associated with this day. Andre has been the first person to ever inform me about these superstitions, so I made sure to tell him thank you for being a great teacher today! Andre did use some sources in his blog post, but left out the necessary quotation marks. I made sure to tell Andre to insert those quotation marks, but also informed him why it is important to use them each time so that he can give credit to the sources. Andre seems like a very well-educated student, and I look forward to reading more of his blog posts!

Harsh

 

 

I had the opportunity to comment on a student's blog, Harsh, on the class blog called Moments that Matter with Mrs. Maslowski. Harsh wrote about a test called the PLAN that all the students had to take at school. At first, Harsh said that guessing on all the answers was the best way to go until Harsh found out the significance of the test. The test is supposed to show Harsh's ranking in class and in the school as a whole. Harsh said that the only reason anyone does well on tests is because they get a good nights sleep and eat breakfast in the morning. I thought it was great that Harsh gave examples on how to prepare for a test. I told Harsh in my comment that I loved how much caring was shown throughout the blog post. But, I had to inform Harsh that the blog post did have some grammar mistakes and that they were simple fixes. Harsh seems like a very intelligent student!

Nathan S.

 

 

Reading Nathan's Blog really made my day! Nathan is so intelligent and he is only in seventh grade! He sounded so sophisticated, and I really thought that he had to be in high school. Once I found out that he wasn't, I was shocked but in a good way. Nathan talked about a book he read titled Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer by John Grisham. He explained a little bit about the novel, but Nathan never gave away the story. Nathan compelled me and made me want to read the book! Nathan is very good with his words. Once I read that it was a mystery novel, I was very excited. Mystery novels are my favorite type of books! I told Nathan to keep up the good work and that he truly impressed me!

Blog Post #9

What can teachers and students teach us about project based learning?

 

According to the article, Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning, I was taught what the essentials are for a good project. Projects should make students personally want to complete the task and should also fulfill an educational purpose. Elements of a good project:

1. A Need to Know

Start the day off with an “entry event” or anything that will get the students thinking about the topic. Many students wonder why they have to learn certain things in school. Do not let them wonder; show them why it is important.

2. A Driving Question

Gives students a sense of purpose and challenge. A driving question could be what you want students to learn from the project.

3. Student Voice and Choice

Give students freedom on their project, but make sure there are some guidelines. You want the project to reflect its educational purpose.

4. 21^st Century Skills

The project should let students work on their 21^st century skills such as: collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and technology.

5. Inquiry and Innovation

Student should want to learn more about the topic of their project. Do not give students specifics resources where they will have to “burp-back” information. Give the students their topics and give them the freedom to explore. You might be surprised with what they find.

6. Feedback and Revision

Rubrics are a great tool for feedback. Teachers and students can both use this tool. Create a rubric for individual students but also, create a rubric for students to critique their peers.

7. A Publicly Presented Project

If students know that they will be presenting their project to an audience, then they will work harder on the quality of their work.

In Tony Vincent’s YouTube video, Project Based Learning for Teachers, the importance of PBL is shown through Common Core Standards.

·         Rigorous content aligned with college and work expectations

·         Clear and understandable application of knowledge

·         Evidence-based

·         Inquiry-based

·         Open-ended questions

·         Problem solving

·         Personalized

The bulleted Common Core Standards can be reflected in PBL. While meeting Common Core Standards, students also learn…

·         Collaboration

·         Communication

·         Critical Thinking

·         Career and Life Skills

Students take charge of their learning with PBL by using their creativity and having freedom to make a high-quality product to present.

Project-Based Learning seems to have been a hard transition for these teachers in High School Teachers Meet the Challenges of PBL Implementation. The teachers were not sure of what PBL learning consisted of and so they decided that it would be best to just do a trial and error and see what worked best for each subject. Most math and English teachers found that it was hard to use PBL on every topic of discussion, so they made sure to put PBL into the subjects where it would fit best. The teachers at Sammamish High School did not want to lose content because of PBL and so, they have regular meetings to discuss PBL. I learned that PBL is not a good tool to use with every topic, because important content can be lost. But, when PBL is used with the right topic, it can better engage students in their learning.

I love the video titled, Students Solve Old Problem With New Ketchup Cap. I have always disliked how water squirts out of the bottle first and ruins the bun or splashes onto other food. I did not know that someone had actually solved the problem. And to think that it was two high school seniors. We, as teachers, need to give students freedom to explore their creative minds; show the students how much they can influence the world just by simply thinking!
 

In the video, What Motivates Students, students talk about what motivates them in school. Students love to be complimented and told that they are doing a great job, students want to have a great future, students want to have a great career, students want to be able to continue with their talents such as baseball, charts that show progression, candy, working outside the classroom, interesting class material, food, new school supplies, class pets, stickers, dancing, and any type of reward. Students like to be shown what a wonderful job they are doing and I know that this will be my ultimate goal as a new teacher!

Project #9

Comments4Teachers Summary

Jenny Luca

 

On Jenny Luca's blog, she posted a video titled The Time You Have (In Jellybeans). Jenny Luca watched this video for the first time in a school assembly. The student leaders asked the girls in the audience how they were spending their time that was left. Jenny Luca stated, "I think it made an impact on all of us sitting there watching it. Thinking about how much time you spend doing things that seem inconsequential when you look at life as a collection of jelly beans makes you take stock." She also goes on and says, "Have a good weekend. Make the most of these two days." Jenny Luca posts something on her blog just about every Friday and tells her readers to have a good weekend. I think that is a wonderful thing that she is doing! The video that Jenny Luca shared really makes us step back and take a look at how we are spending our time. It really made me believe that we actually do not have as much time on the Earth as we think we do, and that we need to make our lives greater. I think Jenny Luca's post was great motivation for her readers!

 

Jenny Luca's Blog: Lucacept-Intercepting the Web




 

I read Jenny Luca's blog post titled Technostress and she posted a video that she used to start up a discussion in her classroom.

 



This video sparked a discussion about sexualization of young girls and entrepreneurship as well. Luca says that this video had nothing to do with the lessons that they were learning in class, but that she believes in using anything that will get the brain juices flowing in the morning, which I think is great! The rest of her post simply stated all the technology that she used in her classroom that day. At the end though, Luca says that she believes that even though teachers are somewhat scared to introduce technology into their classroom, she also believes that teachers who do use technology would be even more scared to have it removed. I left a comment on her blog post saying how the video she posted had me in shock, because I had never been able to imagine the Bratz dolls in any other form than their original. It is amazing how someone can be so creative and simply turn a doll into something that speaks to the world in a positive way! Also, I love the way she uses to videos in the morning to get the students ready for the day.

Jenny Luca's Blog: Lucacept-Intercepting the Web

Blog Post #8

After watching the video Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, I believe I have obtained some new knowledge on how to teach and how to become a better learner. Randy Pausch spoke about indirect learning, which I believe is a wonderful way to teach. Pausch chose the topic of football in order to teach about indirect learning. "Indirect learning is a lesson that you learn within a task that you perform such as teamwork, sportsmanship, perseverance, etc.", said Pausch. What I found intriguing is that Pausch allowed the audience to believe that his lecture was about achieving childhood dreams and goals, but at the end of his lecture he asked, "Did you figure out the head fake?" Pausch states that the lecture was not about achieving your dreams, but it was about how to lead your life. Pausch used his own lesson of indirect learning to teach the audience more than what they thought they would be learning about. I believe indirect learning and fun within lessons is a great way to achieve amazing results from students.

 

Pausch said, "We learn from our students." He is absolutely correct. I believe that assessing your students is a great way to learn how much they have learned from you, the teacher. But, it also allows you to learn from them. "Brick walls are there for a reason: to let us prove how badly we want things and to give us a chance.", said Pausch. "Give people more time and they will almost always impress you.", said Pausch's undergraduate advisor Andy van Dam. Let students show you what they know first. Why start teaching when you have no idea how much knowledge your students have? Let students be creative and the might just do something beyond your imagination. I fully believe that we should let our students thrive in as many ways as possible. Students should also continuously improve. Pausch says, "After someone stops trying to help you improve or tell you are doing wrong, then you will know that they have given up on you." No one should ever be given up on; everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves capable of the task or lesson to be learned. Randy Pausch taught me so much from his video lecture and made me think about what I am going to do once I graduate and step inside my very own classroom to teach.

Project #7 Part B

To Parents...

 

 

To Students...

 

Rethinking Learning: The 21st Century Learner

This video shows how kids are learning in the 21st century. I believe that children should be exposed to the technological world, but as Kalie Salen says when referring to technology, "Bring it out when we need it and put it away when we don't need it." I believe that technology can be useful, but I do not think it is necessary in every lesson that needs to be taught. What are your thoughts?

 

 

Blog Post #7

From the video, Top 10 Reasons to Use Technology in Education: iPad, Tablet, Computer, Listening Centers, I have learned why it is essential to for me to use technology in the classroom.

1. Students love it
2. It engages the four key components of learning. (active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real world experts)
3. Professional development
4. Makes life easier for teachers
5. Improves test scores
6. Learn from the experts
7. Helps students with low attention spans
8. Encourages completion of homework
9. Saves money
10. Removes obstacles

Technology will only continue to evolve and some day I believe that it will be required in all classrooms. For most schools that teach through technology, they tend to use Macintosh (Mac)computers, iPads, etc. Mac technology has many more features for learning as well teaching tools for teachers than any other form of technology. For example, I have a Windows computer and my computer works well, but I have recently been looking for a video editor through my Windows 8 apps and it has been an impossible task. All of the apps freeze my computer and do not have enough tools for me to completely edit my video how I would like to. On Mac, IMovie is available on the computer for free and has all the necessary tools for editing videos. This is why most schools choose Mac! Mac computers are great teaching tools, and I believe that I will have to learn how to use Mac before I can become a teacher. I love technology, but since I do not own a Mac computer, learning how to use one is going to be a struggle. I will be working on saving up enough money to purchase a Mac just because I know I will need to learn it in order to be able to teach my students in the way I would like to. Maybe the school I teach at someday will require it too. I also love Smart Boards and I grew up using them in school. Smart Boards are a wonderful way to teach, especially for math teachers. Teaching math on a Smart Board is quick and easy! Using different colors, shapes, and patterns will engage students in the lessons and they will not get bored. Smart Boards are also great for the environment. No dry erase markers, chalk, white board cleaner, or paper towels are being used. Smart Boards are interactive and still allow students to come up to the board and work out the problems or circle the right answer. Technology is now and teachers need to use it! Maybe technology isn't best for all situations, but it is a great tool to engage students in a fun way of learning!

Comments4Kids Summary for Month of February

Angel D.

I had the pleasure of commenting on Angel D's blog from Mrs. Weil's Fourth Grade Froggies class blog. Angel had wrote about how it is hard for her to write on her blog, because she gets stuck with a lot of words. I left a comment saying how her imagination is the key to writing. I told Angel that she should think of a memory or a beautiful dream that she has had that makes her happy, and that she should write about one of those in her blog posts. I even told her my dream that I use whenever my mind is blank, and told her that she could use my dream to help her if she would like. Some children may not have the best of memories or the happiest of dreams due to many reasons. Some children may have a bad life at home or have some sort of medical issue that impairs them. Although I do not know anything about Angel other than she is in Mrs. Weil's class, if she does not have a good memory or a happy dream, then I am glad that I let her use mine.
Angel D's Blog

 

Tyler U.

I commented on Tyler U's blog from Boylen's 8th grade Language Arts Classes, and I would just like to say that Tyler is a great writer! Tyler's post talked about his winter break that his school had and how he was able to spend a lot of time with family and also see some family that he has never seen before. I told Tyler that having breaks from school was great, because it gives you a chance to relax and not have to worry about the more difficult things in life. But, that school was important and going back after break was great, because there is always time for learning!
Tyler U's Blog

Aiden

I loved the topic that Aiden blogged about on the Hartmen/Centeno Readers and Authors class blog. Aiden talked about the book Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Although I had not read the book, I have seen the movie, and I was able to follow along exactly with what Aiden was saying. I thought it was great how Aiden did not spoil the ending of the book just in case someone was reading his blog that had not read the Harry Potter series before. In one part of Aiden's blog he began to talk about a port key. I thought it was wonderful how he defined what a port key was before he continued on with his story. I am sure defining that word really helped the readers of Aiden's blog understand more of the material. At the end of Aiden's blog post he asked a question: "If you could make a portkey on a object where would you want to send the person who touches it?" Aiden really seems to have a lot of interest in the book he was reading, and it is great that he wanted feedback from his readers!

Aiden's Blog

Torrance

I commented on Torrance's blog posted titled Tupac from Moments that Matter with Mrs. Maslowski blog. Torrance talked about how Tupac was a great rapper, but also that Tupac was multi-talented since he was a poet along with other things. Torrance also said that he admires Tupac's poems and song lyrics and that was because he grew up listening Tupac with his father. I told Torrance that I really liked the person he chose to blog about for Black History Month, but I thought that Torrance should have told more about what happened to Tupac. Giving the reader more information about Tupac could help them to better understand Torrance's blog post. Torrance did insert a picture in his blog post, and I think that is a great way to show his reader's what Tupac looked like!

Torrance's Blog



Blog Post #6

I watched seven videos where Anthony Capps, 3rd grade teacher at Gulf Shores Elementary School, talked about his teaching experiences and gave advice and information for future educators. Anthony taught me so many things about project based learning and learning in general that I think will help me with my class whenever I become a teacher. There were six steps to project based learning that Anthony Capps talked about in the video titled The Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1.

1. Be a constant learner yourself
2. Teaching never ends. It is hard work. It is very rewarding.
3. Be flexible and creative. The unexpected will happen!
4. Start with a goal.
5. Engage 100% of your students 100% of the time with 100% of their projects.
6. Reflect, revise, share work with an audience.

These tips encouraged me to create my own list of things that I will hold myself responsible for in my classroom.

1. Have rewards for learning.
2. Always display students work and accomplishments.
3. Engage students with project based learning.
4. Be creative in everything I teach.
5. Learn about students lives and incorporate their interests into daily teaching goals.

My list is still growing and will continue to grow for many years to come. Anthony Capps inspired me to be a better teacher and to put thought and preparation into my daily lessons. I encourage everyone who reads this to create their own list of goals for their classroom. Anthony Capps was a student in EDM310 just like we are now and he is doing some incredible things. Just think, Anthony has come so far in such a short amount of time, and now that we have his knowledge just imagine how many great things we can accomplish as educators and learners! We are all destined to do wonderful things and in my opinion, teachers are the thriving source that will change the world.

Project #7 Part A

My Sentence Is...

 

My Passion Is...

 

Blog Post #5 First Post

Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are a set of people and tools that one can call upon for help, consultation, collaboration, education, or other assistance. A PLN is an ocean filled with knowledge. PLNs provide more opportunities for learning than ever before. As an educator I will have to be willing to try new things, and learn collectively. To establish a PLN you must formulate questions or identify a subject of interest. You must search out people, places, and organizations from which you will learn. My EDM 310 class gave us an assignment of creating a Twitter account. I believe that Twitter is a great way to create my own PLN. I have already followed some educators on Twitter and what I have seen has been amazing. If you would like to see some of the things I have, look at who I am following on my Twitter profile. One person in particular that I have followed is Michelle Rhee. Michelle Rhee is the founder of the organization called StudentsFirst and the former Washing D. C. Public Schools Chancellor. Last year I had to do a research paper for my EH 101 class on proper education in schools. I came upon Michelle Rhee while I was searching through books in the library. I was so intrigued by her ideas on education that I read her book in its entirety. Rhee's book is titled Radical: Fighting to Put Students First. Michelle Rhee is the first person that I added to my PLN and I encourage you to follow her on Twitter. PLNs are exciting and interesting tools for learning, and I am so glad that I have finally established my own PLN!

Michelle Rhee's Twitter

Emily's Twitter

 

Project #15

This project is all about search engines, and I will be giving personal reviews on each and how I think these search engines could be useful to you.

WolframAlpha

 

 

WolframAlpha is a search engine, but it is much more than what you expect! WolframAlpha does not just search by typing in a random word; it is also good for math problems, which I thought was really neat! I entered a simple problem into the search engine: 2+2 and hit the compute button, and I was given the answer to the problem. It gave me a numerical answer, a word answer, a number line answer, and also a picture answer using counting blocks. I was shocked by how many ways I was given the answer! Having so many examples is great for learning, but also great for people with different ways of learning. WolframAlpha also has an extended keyboard for extra use or for people with disabilities. What a great tool right? I think so too! This search engine also gives feedback on random data. I uploaded a picture and once it was done computing it gave me image characteristics, pixel value histograms, possible dominant colors, image keypoints, and image transformations. In my opinion, WolframAlpha is greater than your average search engine and can be extremely beneficial to everyone.

DuckDuckGo

 

 

I came upon this search engine called DuckDuckGo and it amazed me! This is a search engine dedicated to making answers easier to find and protecting people's personal information by not collecting or sharing anything about its users. DuckDuckGo also lets you refine your search by selecting a specific region and language. By searching a word, many options will appear on the screen. For example, I searched the word "talking". It gave me these five options: about, images, videos, meaning, and definition. This search engine is very useful for getting definitions of words. Instead of having to search "definition of talking" you can simply type in "talking" and choose the definition category. This tool is great for learning vocabulary!



Ask

 

 

Ask is all about questions. Ask a question and it will provide you with the website that has the best possible answer. This is the search engine where all the questions are answered! Ask also has a Q&A Community tab for people to create their own questions and have other people in the community answer them instead of relying solely on the search engine itself. This search engine has a tab called theKnow where fun facts can be found. It is a very interesting part that left me on Ask for a few hours looking at all the nifty stuff. Try it out!

Dogpile

 

What is super neat about Dogpile is that this search engine has a shopping tab and a white pages tab! The shopping tab is very handy for whenever you want to cut out all of the images and random information about what you typed in; you can simply shop. Also, the white pages is a great tool to have at your fingertips. Most people do not get phonebooks any longer, and if they do it does not have citizens phone numbers; it only has businesses and important emergency numbers. With that being said, if you need a phone number quick, Dogpile is the search engine of choice!

 

Zoo

 

 

Zoo is a neat search engine! The layout is really cool and colorful and the site has great organization. There is an added bonus: Zoo does not have advertisements (ads) anywhere on their site. Not having ads on this site makes searching easier and more convenient, because you will not accidentally click on some ad and it redirect you to another site. Zoo also has the weather posted directly on their home page. Instead of searching for the weather, it finds your location and sends the weather to you. Overall, this search engine is good for whenever you need to find something quickly!

 

Gigablast

 

 

I found a search engine called Gigablast and the tool that I thought was most useful was the advanced search. You can search exact words, exact phrases, multiple words, a certain language, a URL, and words can also be excluded from your search as well. This is a really great tool for cutting out unnecessary results. Gigablast also has a directory. These categories vary from arts, to games, to kids/teens, to science, to sports. If you choose the category kids/teens, some other categories will come up. I chose the preschool category and so many choices came up! Such as: ABC's and 123's, shapes and colors, crafts, and sea animals. These categories are extremely wonderful for parents at home who want to teach their children basic knowledge for their age. Gigablast is a great learning tool!

 

Lycos

 

 

The Lycos search engine has so much more than any other search engine! Lycos has weather, mail, news, entertainment, chat, TV, gamesville, a variety of languages to choose from, and a regular search bar. What I find most useful on this site is the TV category. This category shows short videos on news, entertainment, or really anything! Sometimes we get tired or reading articles over and over again to find out the information that we are searching for. So instead, take a break and watch a couple of informative videos on Lycos!
 

MagPortal

 

 

MagPortal is a search engine specifically for searching magazines. You can create an account on this website and save magazine articles that you have searched. This is a great tool if someone has a research paper to do and needs a lot of different sources. You can also search by category, publication, and date. MagPortal is a research guru!

Project #2

Rubric for Projects

Rubric for Individuals

Rubric for Blog Posts



Created By:

Emily Johnson

Tiffany Le

Candace King

Victoria Johnson