Blog Post #10

In “Little Kids…Big Potential”, Mrs. Cassidy made a video with her students using technology in the classroom setting. They are already using blogs in the elementary school class. They have their own class webpage that already has safe search, which allows the students to look up anything education wise. The can access their class webpage at school and at home. In the classroom they use blogger, wikis, skype, and their Nintendo DS. With all these tools that Mrs. Cassidy has provided her students, they now can collaborate, share, and learn inside and outside the classroom.

In Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1, she explains how she got her start using technology and ways to use it effectively. Her number one rule is to protect her student’s identity. When one of her student’s blog they only use their first name and with no picture connected with the name. Mrs. Cassidy likes when her students use blogs because it allows them to get an opinion of their writing that is not from the teacher.

In Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 2 along with Interviewwith Kathy Cassidy Part 3, she explains how far technology has come and where you should start using technology for yourself. One of the points she made was for students that want to become teachers should start using their own network like twitter. She gave wonderful tips for future educators coming into an education system that’s technological-advanced. Technology is going to get more advanced and we as teachers need to embrace it and teach our students how to use technology more effectively.   

C4T #3

In Ms. Klein post, she previewed the program Prodigy. It is a free program that allow students to practice their math skills both a home and at school and it is based for common core. It is an interactive program that allows students to become more engaged that will improve their math skills. The program is tailored to each student.

I commented that Prodigy seems to be a good tool to have. It is awesome that there is now an interactive program that allows students to practice their math skills both at home and at school. The best part about Prodigy is that is free.  

C4K #5, 6, and 7

La’Cora wrote a blog post about Kevin Durant and why it is his favorite basketball player. He goes on to explain why Kevin Durant is beloved both on and off the court. Also, he talks about how Durant is an entrepreneur. At the end he makes a statement saying Durant isn’t just a basketball player, he is a role model.

In my comment, I said that Durant is a great role model for children with at-risk behavior from low-income backgrounds; He has his own charity that is meant for that. I agreed with La’Cora and stating that one day Durant will be in the NBA hall of fame.

In Mario’s blog he posted about the book divergent. He stated that the book was boring and that he was not interested in it anymore. Also, the more he read into the book, the more he was not interested in it. He finished the book and realized that he actually enjoyed the book more than he thought.

I commented, when I first read divergent I was not really into it. Like him, when I got to the end of the book I realized it had a pretty good story line to it. Some books just have to grow on you, the more you read the more engaged and interesting it becomes.

Katy K’s blog post was about tennis. I can tell that she enjoys playing tennis. She mentioned that sometimes you get to miss school because of matches. The best part about tennis is that you can play indoors or outdoors.

I commented that tennis was the first sport I picked up when I was in middle school. I used to love going to practice and talking to my teammates. I never really enjoyed playing on dirt I’d rather play on hard surfaces. I wished her luck on her upcoming tournament.  

Project #9

Blog Post #9

In the John Larmer and John Mergendoller article, Project-Based learning was broken down into seven essential sections. In Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning, they go in-depth about how to make a group project more effective.

1. A Need to Know

2. A Driving Question

3. Students Voice & Choice

4. 21^st Century Skills

5. Inquiry and Innovation

6. Feedback and Division

7. A Publicly Presented Project

In each section, the teacher picks out a topic that the student will be engaged with; if the student is not engaged in the topic then they will most likely not want to learn about it. Each of the seven sections is designed to get the best performance out of the students. It allows them to use their own creativity to finish their project while interacting with other groups. As they go further into the project they should come up with more questions, which makes them want to learn more about the topic and allows them to take charge of their learning. At the end, they give feedback amongst their classmates and peer edit ones’ work and present their finished project to the class.

In Tony Vincent’s video “Project-Based Learning for Teachers”, during the Project Based Learning the students should be trying to answer the driving question. The driving question should be deep and should take the students an extended time to answer; it gets them to think about the topic. It allows the students to take charge of their own learning. At the end of the project, the students should present their end product to the class. In the video, it has valuable lifelong skills for the students,

-          - Communication Skills

-          - Career and Life Skills

-          - Critical Thinking Skills

-          - Collaboration Skills

In the Video he quoted Einstein, “I never teach my Pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” It means that the student should take charge of their own learning and as teachers we should lay down helpful guidelines.

In Andrew Miller blog post,”Project-Based Learning and Physical Education”, it basically states how PBL and PE correlate together. In his article, he references Larmer and Mergendoller’s “Seven Essential of Project-Based Learning”.  He uses the example of high school students who are presented with a letter from the middle school principal to create the best workout for the middle school students. This is a great example of how PBL and PE work effectively together using the seven sections.

In the Blog Post, “Project Based Learning in PE”, the author used the same criteria that Miller’s post used, but gave ways the student could benefit from creating an exercise program for middle school children. It allows the students to collaborate with the middle school students and apply their teamwork skills. Along with teamwork skills, it helps the high school students to practice role modeling and physical fitness.

In the video, “PBL: What motivates students today”, students were asked what motivates you to do good in school?

-          POSITIVE feedback from the teacher.

-          To be successful later in life.

-          To get good grades to get into college and get a degree

-          To have more freedom if doing well in school

I remember in elementary school, my biggest motivator was to get good grades in school so I did not miss my soccer games on the weekends. Also, my sister and I used to have a competition to see who had the better grades; even though we are both in college we still have the same competition. Positive rewards are a great way to encourage the students to keep up their work. 

Teacher Summary #2

For the past couple of weeks I have been looking at Kleinspiration. In this blog, Ms. Klein gives creative ideas from project-based applications. She gives tips on how to create a 21^st century learning environment.

In the first blog I read, it was talking about the Intel 2 in 1 computer /tablet. She gave six reasons why it was a perfect fit for a classroom setting.  I had commented saying that I think that it should be a tool for the students to use in a classroom. It is both a computer and a tablet. It is very mobile and also has a 7.8 hour battery life. The 2 in 1 can have all the teachers’ lesson plans, lesson ideas, and many more.

In the second blog, she was talking about the Lexia Core 5. It is an online literacy program. It helps the students with the six areas of reading instruction. I commented that I thought Lexia Core 5 is a helpful tool for students to learn how to read effectively. It automatically places the student in a category based on how they performed on the base test. It saves the teacher a lot of time and it is a very useful tool to have.  

Blog Post #8

Dr. Randy Pausch was one of the most significant and motivational people in the education field. He “Last Lecture” was very wonderful lecture to observe. The way he composed himself during the video, you could tell how much compassion he had for the education field. He taught computer science and focused on project based learning. One of the classes he created was “Building Virtual Worlds”’. This project based learning course that helped designers and scientist, focused on getting the most out of his students. During his Last Lecture, he made a great point, follow your dreams and never give up on them.

What I learned from Dr. Pausch,

-          When teaching, give your best and make it fun.

-          Never give up on your dreams.

-          Talk to your students when they mess up, it show that you care about their future.

-          Work hard.

-          Find the best in everybody.

-          Tell the truth

Project 7 Part B

Introduction to Parent Video

Introduction to Student Video

Blog Post #7

In “Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual library in Kindergarten,” Ms. Davis, Ms. Bennett, and Dr. Strange; the students in kindergarten were already using iMovie and wanted to use it more often. I think it ensures that the teacher is using their tools effectively i.e.; when they first start reading a new book they would have to make a book trailer. I remember when I was younger we would have to use the AVL for books and looking up things in the dictionaries. It’s a great tool and it is free to everybody.  

In “We All Become Learners,” Ms. Bennett stated that one of her students taught her a feature on the iPad and she used that information to teach her class that week. With technology in the classroom only being around for a couple of years, everyone is sort of a learner when it comes to new technology. Students become more involved in activities when technology is being used. Students usually learn from one another when learning about technology, so you would only have to teach it once. When I become an educator, I will listen to the students and get their input on ways to use technology.

In the Video “iPads in the Classroom,” the iPads are such a great tool to have when being a teacher. It has so many functions and apps, which allows the student to become more engaged in their own learning process. When the students use their iPads they tend to pay more attention to the lesson in the classroom.

From part of the opening quote from “Top 10 Reasons to UseTechnology in Education,” teachers who don’t use technology will be replaced with teachers, who do use technology. I could not agree more with that those 10 reasons the video stated; from number 10 - remove obstacles to number 1 - the students love it. Today’s technology is changing the future of education. As teachers we need to adapt to use technology is our lesson. 

C4K February

My first C4K, Jordan S previewed “The Girl That Was Supposed to Die” a story she was previewing. The story is about girl who does not know who or where she is and the first thing she hears is “take her out back and finish her off”. Jordan did a great job previewing the book. In my comment on her blog, I commended her on the outstanding job she did. Secondly, her opening sentence was great and it really grabbed the audience. With just a few grammatical errors, I thought she did a great job previewing the book.   

My Second C4K, Makayla talked about horseback riding with her friend and her sister over the weekend. She has two horses, Cherokee and Dusty. I commented that I had never been horseback riding but I have heard from some of my friends that it is very fun.

In my Third C4K, Owen overviewed the first couple of scenes from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. One of the scenes he went over was when Dobby appeared in Harry’s room and told Harry not to return to Hogwarts for his second year. Dobby says bad things are going to happen to Harry. I commented that it was my favorite book in the series and how he did a great job reviewing the first couple of scene in the book.

In my Fourth C4K, Diangelo overviewed the new movie Selma. Selma is a movie about Civil Rights in the State of Alabama, led by Dr. Martin L. King Jr. I commented he did a great job on his post. I also told him the movie Selma has a powerful message and if he ever gets a chance to visit the Selma/Montgomery area, he should go to the Edmund Pettus Bridge where Bloody Sunday occurred.