Blog Post #6

After watching the seven videos assigned for this week, I can say that I learned a lot about project based learning and the value it has. In “Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade teacher.” Anthony and Dr. Strange helped me learn what the true meaning of project based learning was. It is to know that every student understands the concept of each lesson. The concept of project based learning is always evolving. And as he mentioned in Part 2, is that to never limit your students because you are always going to get more than what you expect.

ICurio, Is an online tool that allows the students to search the internet safely. It allows students to search the internet that is restricted to safe websites related to educational purposes only. It is a great tool for both the student as well as the teacher. When the student uses ICurio, they do not have to worry about their student logging onto inappropriate websites.

Discovery Ed, is a wonderful website that allows students to go more in-depth about what they are learning. Like Anthony stated in the video, about the flowers, it allows the students to learn more about the flower by an expert via video. It also allows the students to learn more information because they are connected to experts from around the world that can explain it a little bit more in-depth than the teacher could. When the students see pictures and watch videos, the information may retain a little better than them glancing through a textbook.

Use tech Don’t Teach It, We are immersed in technology. We as a society “in some parts of the world” rely on technology just to do simple tasks. I would agree that technology comes naturally to kids.  When it comes to teaching technology in a classroom setting, it should not be on the list of things that the teacher has to do. 

Project #7a

My Sentence Is.

My Passion Is.

Blog Post #5

A PLN or Personal Learning Networking is anything that aids, helps, advises professionally, or offers ideas via tools and people. When used right, they can be useful and effective.

In education, methods of teaching are forever changing. With a personal learning network, it is an easy way to stay connected and updated on what is trending.

Symbaloo.com is a great way to start your own personal learning network. It is incredibly easy to use and a very useful tool. After a short tutorial, you can start using your personal learning network. It has icon “websites” that you can easily access and you can add or delete to your liking. Stated by, Welcome to My PLE, personal learning networks are a great way to stay organized and are very useful. The students are allowed now to adventure out on their own with the guidance of the instructor.

I just simply connected my facebook to my symbaloo.com account and now I am already using it. I have personalized it to keep me updated on what is new.   

Project #15 Search Engines

1) Wolframalpha- is a great website. I used to use this when I had trouble with my math homework. It is a great website that allows you to ask a question and it will give you an answer, and also calculates math problems.

2) DuckDuckGo- is a wonderful search engine. It is very simple to use. It promotes itself as a search engine with less spam.

3) Answers.com- Their motto, is the most trusted place for answer life’s questions. It is a great search engine that gives advice for any type of situation.

4) Yummly- is a search engine that allows you to look up any recipe.

5) Dogpile- produced cross link results with what’s being looked up now. It is a great website to use for up to date information.

6) Bing- is a Microsoft company that competes with google. On it homepage, it has what people have asked recently. It uses your search history to give you related information.

7) Aol- was the internet I started on when I was younger. It is easy to navigate around on.

8) Ixquick- is the world’s most private search engine. They do not record any of your search history, they were the first to do so.

Project #2. (Team Rec)

Student Name:

Group:

Document:

Individual Performance In a Group Activity

Component	0 Unacceptable	1 Acceptable	2 Good	3 Excellent
Good cooperation with group members/ Good attitude	Failure to communicate.	Very little communication.	Decent communication.	Great communication. Good attitude.
Skill; Brought their own strengths to the project/assignment.	Brought nothing constructive to the project.	Brought little contribution to the assignment.	Brought good information/ contributed well to the assignment.	Brought an abundance of information and skills for the assignment.
Participation	Did not participate.	Little participation. Attended one session or less.	Decent participation. Attended a few sessions, but not all sessions.	Excellent participation. Attended every session.
Resourcefulness	Did not use time effectively. No commitment.	Little time was spent on project. Lack of effort.	Effort was applied, but did not excel in material.	Awesomeness. (Overall exceeded).

Comments:

Student Name:

Group:

Document:

Evaluation of a Project

Component	0 Unacceptable	1 Acceptable	2 Good	3 Excellent
Creativity/Effort	Showed no creativity or effort.	Displayed little creativity.	Showed sufficient effort.	Excelled in effort.
Attention to Details/Organization	Very scattered. No complete thought.	Provided little detail, slightly organized.	Some organization, good detail.	Expertly organized, showed great attention to detail.
Accuracy/Knowledgeable	No knowledge applied to project.	Little knowledge, many errors.	Few errors. Showed applicable amount of knowledge.	No errors. Showed a plethora of knowledge.
Resourcefulness	Did not use time effectively. No commitment.	Little time was spent on project. Lack of effort.	Effort was applied, but did not excel in material.	Awesomeness. (Overall exceeded).

Comments:

Student Name:

Group:

Document:

Evaluation of a Blog Post

Component	0 Unacceptable	1 Acceptable	2 Good	3 Excellent
Creativity	Showed no creativity or effort.	Displayed little creativity.	Showed sufficient effort.	Excelled in effort.
Attention to Details/Organization	Very scattered. No complete thought.	Provided little detail, slightly organized.	Some organization, good detail.	Expertly organized, showed great attention to detail.
Grammar/Mechanics	10 or more errors. Used no mechanics.	6-9 errors. Used minimal mechanics.	2-5 errors. Used average mechanics.	1 or less grammatical errors. Used proper mechanics.
Multimedia/Cites Sources	Did not use multimedia.	Used multimedia, improper use of citations.	Used some multimedia and properly cited sources.	Used an abundance of multimedia and perfectly cited sources.

Comments:

C4K Blog Post #1

After reading over some of Jordan S. blog, I was quite impressed with the high level of comparisons and writing. She did an excellent job in previewing the book, “The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die.” She started with a quote from the book that really grabbed the audience. I can tell that she enjoyed this book. She even gave the book a 5 out of 5 rating!

In my comment on her blog, I commended her on the outstanding job she did. Secondly, how great her opening sentence was, which really grabbed the audience. With just a few grammatical errors, I thought she did a great job previewing the book.       

Blog Post #4

In the video, Asking Better Questions in the Classroom, Ms. Chesley, talked about the two types of questions that can be asked. The first one is Closed-ended questions and the second one is Open-ended questions. A closed-ended question is just simply answered by a yes, no, or a single phrase response. An opened- ended question is answered with a more thought out response than just a single word or phrase. An example of an open-ending question would be, “Why do the leaves change color in the fall?” A question like that calls for an explanation of why the weather plays a key role, in the changing of color in the leaves. It allows for more student engagement than by asking them a simple closed-ending question.

In Asking Questions to Improve Learning, one of the big key points is that if you do ask a “Yes or No” question follow it with “Why”. Make the student explain their argument and what their opinion on the question is. Simply asking, why makes the question an open-ended question. 

C4T #1 and #2

For the past two weeks I have been looking at Language Journals and they have been quite interesting. Ms. Deyamport is a gifted education teacher for grades 2-6 in Hattiesburg, MS. She is trying to incorporate technology learning in elementary school classrooms.

In “The “Code” Never Bothered Us Anyway”, she made her students use Code.org which is a great website that allows younger students an easy way to code on the computer. Coding is essentially the blueprint for anything computer related. She split the age groups up and made the older kids code Frozen and the younger Angry Birds. And, if the students finished early they could move on to coding Floppy Birds. I think it’s a great way to get elementary age students interested in computer science.

I commented, that I thought that she was using a great website for beginner coders. It allows students to become more involved in computer science. Also, how I liked how she had the old students code something different than the younger students and then the more advanced one were allowed to go on to more advanced coding.

In another one of her post, "It's Better to Learn Together",  she attended her state gifted conference. She learned how her PLN “Professional Learning Network”, has effected even her own personal life. One of the biggest takeaways from her sessions was that sharing is the key.

In my comments, I agreed with her, that sharing is a key component in the PLN. In addition, it is not only your input but, it’s other colleagues’ input that can improve your own input. Also, she gave tips on how to build a PLN. One tip that I thought was crucial was when starting a PLN, is to start off small.  

Blog Post #3

Peer editing is when a classmate reviews your paper and gives feedback. I think the best way to do peer editing, is to give helpful suggestions that will strengthen the person’s paper. I will give my classmates positive feedback when doing peer editing. Peer editing is a great way to get advice from other students on ways to make your own paper better. Number one rule in peer editing is to stay positive.

According to the video “What is Peer Editing?” There are three steps for peer editing. The first step is Compliment. When doing a peer editing the number one rule is to be POSITIVE. Nobody wants to get their paper back that they worked hard on and just get negative feedback. The second step is Suggestions. When giving Helpful suggestions, do not be picky on every minor detail. Remember to stay Positive when giving Helpful suggestions. The third and final step is Corrections. Be clear and understanding while checking for spelling, grammar, and sentence structure when peer editing.  

“Writing a Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes”, stated that Peer editing should be a helpful and fun process for both the reviewer and the writer. Nobody wants to have Mean Margaret or Off- Task Oliver as their reviewer. Also, nobody wants to review people like Whatever William papers’,

who does not care about their own mistakes in their paper. And always remember, the number one rule, Stay Positive!