Blog Post #13

Summarized by: Keri Brown
Shane Koyczan is an amazing man who told his story through poetry. Koyczan began by talking about how as a child we are told to "stand up for yourself," but that is a hard thing to do when you don't even know who you are. He says that we are expected to define ourselves at such a young age and if we didn't others did it for us by calling us names like geek, fatty, slut, or fag. "What do you want to be when you grow up" is not a fair question because it doesn't allow kids to be what they already are, kids.

Mr. Koyczan talks about his childhood by saying:
At age 8, he wanted to be a marine biologist.
At age 9, he saw JAWS and said no thank you.
At age 10, he was told his parents left because they didn't want him.
At age 11, he wanted to be left alone.
At age 12, he wanted to die.
At age 13, he wanted to kill a kid.
At age 14, he was asked to seriously consider a career path.
When he told them he wanted to be a writer, they told him to come up with something realistic. They told him to come up with something and then told him what he couldn't be. He was basically told to accept the identity that others would give him. His dreams got called names too, silly, foolish, impossible, but yet he kept dreaming.

During the ages 15-18, he hated himself for becoming the thing he loathed…a bully. At age 19 he wrote, "I will love myself despite the ease with which I learn toward the opposite." He said that "standing up for yourself does not have to mean embracing violence."

Mr. Koyczan talked about one specific time when certain people always wanted his answers for the homework and he wanted friends so he would always give them the answers. One boy would always call him "Yogi Bear" and laugh at his belly. After a while, Shane got fed up with this and when the boy asked for his answers to his homework, he gave him all of the wrong answers. When the boy got his homework back, he looked at Shane mad and puzzled that he had received a zero on this homework assignment. This was just enough satisfaction for Shane.

Shane closes by saying "if you can't see anything beautiful about yourself, get a better mirror, look closer, or stare a little longer." There is something inside you that made you keep trying despite everyone who told you to quit. He says that you have to believe that those people were wrong. Shane said, "yes, those things did hurt him, but life is a balancing act that has less to do with pain, and more to do with beauty.

Mae Jemison: Teaching Arts and Sciences Together
Summarized by: Kenesha Brown
Mae Jemison is an American physician and NASA astronaut. She was the first African American woman to travel into space. Jemison had a successful career at NASA; however, she resigned in 1993 to form her own research company. Jemison participated in the Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) Conference. TED is a global set of conferences owned by a private non-profit organization.
In the video, Mae Jemison explained how arts and sciences should be revitalized. Lewis Carrol quoted “If you don’t much care where you want to get to, then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.” However, Jemison explained that it does matter which direction to take. What we do now is critically important to our future. The world is built off of abstract ideas that people think of today. Knowledgeable ideas came to play as early as the 50’s. The subjects that are now invented, internet, high definition, etc., was thought of and mentioned during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.

Jemison explained that during the 60’s people believed in hope for the future. They thought that everyone could participate in giving creative ideas. The tools people think is “hot or cool” now are based off the ideas from the 60’s.

On her trip to space, Jemison took three items with her. She took an Alvin Allen poster of a dancer performing a dance piece called Cry, a Badu statue that was given to her by a women’s society, and a certificate from the Chicago Public School students to work and improve science and math. People found it strange that Jemison took the items she chose. However, she felt as if each of the three things she took with her represented human creativity. Human creativity is what allowed them to conceive, create and launch the rocket into space.

Albert Einstein stated that “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true arts and sciences.” The differences of arts and sciences are deconstructive. People look at science as deconstructive because often times it is something that has to be pulled apart to understand. However, Jemison explained that science provides an understanding of universal experiences; whereas, art provides a universal understanding. People must realize that understanding, resources, and will are the cause of the outcome. Ideas and innovation should be driven from a person’s intellect. Jemison stated that ideas should be thought of as potential energy. Nothing will happen until someone takes a risk. I believe that the arts and sciences play an important role in critical thinking for students. As teachers, we should to continue to stay ahead on a technological standpoint. However, we must remind our students that inventions come from people who are not afraid of sharing their ideas and failing. Students need to learn the importance of embracing culture. They need to understand that there are many ways of viewing situations. Therefore, as educators, we need to teach our students how to accept abstract ideas.

Shukla Bose: Teaching one child at a time
Summarized by: Chelsea Calvert
Shukla Bose is a woman who went to the Indian slums to start making a difference in the education system they have. She has never been educated how to teach but she has been in the corporate word for twenty six years. In 2003, she started the Parikrma Humanity Foundation out of her own house. They started by walking through the slums and visiting the children and the parents. They realized that most of the children did not go to school. They tried convincing the parents to send their children to school. Once they got back to Shukla Bose's house to begin a plan they were overwhelmed with the numbers of children that should be going to school but do not. The number of students that attend school but cannot read or even do basic math. It was then they realized they are focusing on one child at a time. They started a school in a slum of 70,000 people living below the poverty line. The school was on the rooftop of two story building that was only partially covered. The school started with one hundred sixty five students. Now, after six years they have built four schools and a junior college with one thousand one hundred students that are attending. Their goal is to prepare these students to be educated and be able to function in this chaotic world. They teach every student how to speak English within about three and half months. They also chose one the most difficult curriculums and their students excel in it. The students are also excelling in sports.

The schools not only address the student’s education but also the parents. The parent attendance to school meetings is over eighty percent. At first the parents would sign in by using their thumb print but their children taught them how to sign their names. Some of the fathers had begun to attend the school. They had some mothers approach them about wanting to learn how to read and write. They school formed an after school program for these mothers to attend to educate themselves. She says that 98% of the fathers are alcoholics who they send some of them to a facility to get sober. Once the father has gotten sober, they help him get a job so that he does not relapse. The school as also taught some fathers about hygiene and how to prepare meals. Some of them work at the school and cook for the students. This type of job gives the father a sense of importance. The school also has programs for the older children in the families so that they will attend and the younger ones will have a way to school.

Bose addresses a few myths in her discussion. One of them is that the children from the slums cannot integrate with mainstream. She shows a video of a student who was selected by Duke University to participate in a program and was sent to a place that had many different cultures. In the video, the girl discusses how much she loved socializing with people of a different race or class then she was. She said normally she would have never approached people that were not in her social class or of her race. Once she had spoken to many different people she realized they are all the same they were all very friendly and could interact with her.

Shukla Bose shared a great testimony that anyone who has the will to make a change can. Within six short years she has help build four schools and a junior college that in itself is amazing. She not only educates the students but also the parents. I think it was a great of them to start an after school program for the mothers to become a part of the learning process. Helping the parents and getting them involved with education will benefit the students. The parents are more likely to make sure their children go to school and get an education if they are excited about it too. This program is also changing the whole demeanor of households by helping the fathers get sober and finding new jobs. They are also teaching the fathers how to cook and how to set up their kitchens. This not only gives the father a new skill but also gives them the knowledge to share to their spouse. They also provide programs for the older students to ensure they will come to school along with their younger siblings. This is something I would have never thought about doing because normally the action of the older siblings does not affect the actions of the younger children. It was a great idea for them to impalement a program to keep the older students engaged in school.

C4T#4

A “Radical New Teaching Model” That is Missing the Point This blog is by Brian Bennett. In this blog post, Mr. Bennett talks about his opinion on an article that Wired Business put out earlier this month. He talks about how the article downplays the role of the teacher. He says that "While on the surface, this looks appealing for a lot of reasons. Students can explore on their own without the dictator at the front of the room. They can work collaboratively, problem solving and self-democratizing. This is all great, but having a teacher is still important (and that’s not because I’m a teacher at heart). All of this can be done, but the role of the teacher is to provide context for the content. Anyone can get online and look up facts about the moon, DNA, or the French Revolution. What is missing is a facilitator providing context to the flow of information we get from the Internet." He talks about how it is the teachers job to be the content resource, but to also provide provoking questions for the students while they are using technology.

My Response to Mr. Bennett I explained to Mr. Bennett that I am currently a student in EDM310 in which we are learning to incorporate technology into our future classrooms. I explained to him that I have learned a lot of useful tools from this class but I do agree that students still need the guidance and support from their teachers while using all of the new technology.

Listening Past the TED Talk This blog post by Brian Bennett talks about a recent TEDxBeaconStreet talk he had watched. He talked about how at first he liked the talk and he agreed with what Richard was saying especially in his opening statement when he said "There’s a more serious digital divide that we face in this country. That is the divide between those who know how to use technology to reimagine learning and those who simply use technology to digitize traditional learning practices." As the talk went on, Brian began to disagree more and more because he said, there are so many things in this story that put Richard, in my mind, solidly in the camp of “digitizing traditional teaching practices.” Brian said "I think I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the widely-publicized talks on education are either 1) given by people with lots of money, or 2) given by people who want to make lots of money. There have been very few compelling TED talks lately that have really communicated some of the major change that can come to education when we really think hard about what technology can help us do."

My Response to Mr. Bennett I once again explained to Mr. Bennett about our EDM310 class and how we are learning to incorporate technology into our future classrooms. I explained that I think technology is important especially in the day and age, but I do agree with his points as well. I think it is so important to be an involved and engaging teacher. I agreed with him about being the first thing my students see when they walk into my classroom with a smile on my face greeting them to begin the day together. I also thanked him for being so engaged and involved with his students.

C4KSummary for November

The first student blog I commented on was for Jacob, a year seven student in Mrs Nua and Mr Barks class at Pt England School in Auckland, NZ. On Jacobs post, he created a Google Presentation to show a math problem he worked out with a group. On the first slide he showed the problem, and on the second slide he showed how they worked out the problem. I told Jacob about how we use Google Presentations in our class and I liked how he showed exactly how he worked out the problem and showed each step.

The second C4K I was assigned was for Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog on how to write a compound sentence. For this post, Mrs. Yollis wanted her students to practice writing compound sentences by talking about their Thanksgiving plans and traditions. Since November is "Family Blogging Month," Mrs. Yollis told her students that this would be a perfect blog to get their families involved on. I wrote a little bit about our EDM310 class and our C4K assignments. I also told Mrs. Yollis and her class a little bit about my Thanksgiving plans. I really enjoyed looking around on their classroom blog. Everything was so neat, organized, and creative. The students are awesome at blogging and seem to really enjoy doing so. This encourages me even more to incorporate blogging in my future classroom.

Project #15

For my Project #15 lesson plan I chose to do a Google Site using the BIE forms. I created a one week lesson plan for first grade on Helen Keller and the different ways she communicated. Here is a link to my Google Site.

Blog Post #12

How to Escape Education's Death Valley
Summarized by: Keri Brown
Sir Ken Robinson begins by giving us a statistic that states "in some parts of the country 60% of kids drop out of high school, in the Native American community it is 80% of kids." This is a very sad fact to think about in our educational systems. One estimate about this is that if we half that number, that would create a net gain to the US economy over ten years of nearly a trillion dollars. Mr. Robinson explains that American spends enough money on education, America has small class sizes for the most part, and we have hundreds of initiatives to improve education. All of these impacts on education are good, but they are all going in the wrong way.

In this video, Sir Ken Robinson outlines three principles that are crucial for the human mind to flourish and how current education culture works against them. The first principle he discussed was that human beings are naturally different and diverse. The education under the No Child Left Behind Act is based on conformity not diversity. Schools need to start focusing on the arts, humanities, and physical education more rather than just the core subjects. One estimate says that nearly ten percent of kids are being diagnosed ADD and ADHD. Mr. Robinson says that "children are not suffering from psychological condition, but yet childhood itself. Kids prosper best with a broad curriculum which includes all of their interests." The second principle Robinson discussed is curiosity. He says that we are all natural learners, we just need something to spark learning. Teaching is a creative profession, and in this profession we need to mentor, stimulate, provoke, and engage our students. Education is all about learning, and as teachers we have to facilitate learning. Robinson says that standardized test should not be the dominant part of education. They are good, but they are not everything. Standardized tests should support learning, not obstruct it. Instead of curiosity we have a culture of compliance and teachers are encouraged to follow "routine algorithms" rather than to excite that power of imagination and curiosity. The third principle Robinson addressed was that "human life is inherently creative, it's why we all have different resumes." He talked about how we create our lives and we can re-create them. Robinson compared Finland to a state in America by saying that when he was at a conference and someone asked their educational leaders about their drop out rate, they looked funny and stated they do not have a drop out rate because when kids have trouble they get help and they have a very broad curriculum. In the United States of America we need to begin by individualizing education and learning. The responsibility of this should be on the school level to "get the job done." Education is not an industrial process based on mechanics, it is a human system. Sir Ken Robinson ends his discussion by saying that "the culture of the school is essential. The "Death Valley isn't dead, it's dormant. Right beneath the surface are these seeds of possibility waiting for the right conditions to come about."

I loved watching this discussion. I feel like we have lost sight of the creativity that is necessary in education. Mr. Robinson had so many wonderful and true points. I completely agree that standardized tests are good to have, but they should not be everything. I feel that students learn better when they are interested and actively engaged in what they are learning. I hope to be a creative mentor to my future students.

Changing Education Paradigms
Summarized by: Kenesha Brown
In Sir Ken Robinson’s video, Changing Education Paradigm, he explains how every country is reforming public schools. The main reason why public education is reforming is because of economics and culture. With economics, people are trying to figure out a way to educate children in the 21st century, given that people cannot anticipate what the economy will look like at the end of the week (Robinson). With culture, on the other hand, people are trying to figure out a way to educate children so that they will have some type of cultural identity. However, where the problem lies with education is educators are trying to meet the future by doing what they have done in the past.

A lot of kids are being alienated because they don’t know the purpose of their education. Robinson explains how when he was younger he was taught to go to school, work hard and in the long run, hard work pays off; however, kids these days don’t believe in that. As educators, we have to raise standards, but the current system is designed and conceived for a different era. The educational system is conceived in the intellectual culture of enlightenment. Robinson tells us that before the 18th century there was no form of public education. Mostly wealthy families could afford schooling. Public education gives compulsory to everyone. It is funded by taxation and free at the point of delivery. On the contrary, a lot of people objected to public education. They felt as if it was impossible for poor and work class families’ children to benefit from getting an education. People believe that these children were incapable of learning how to read and write.

Robinson explains how public education base kids’ academic ability off of deducting reasoning and knowledge of the classic. Children who are smart are considered academic; children who are not smart are considered non-academic. However, non-academic children don’t know how brilliant they really are. Robinson views the model of education as trouble. He explains that the modern epidemic of education is ADHD; however, this is not an epidemic. “Children are being medicated routinely” (Robinson).In today’s society, kids are living in the most stimulating time in the history on the earth. They have a more advance perspective of how technology works. Instead, they are being force with information. Their attention is being pulled away from every technological platform. Lecturing is becoming boring. Children are getting through education by being anaesthetized. Instead of shutting students’ senses off and deadening them to what’s happening teachers should be waking them up.

In addition, Robinson tells us that education is modeled on the interest of industrialization. Schools are being organized as if they are factory lines. Children are being educated in batches, age groups, instead of ability. Robinson explains that the model of education don’t start from the line of mentality; it is about standardization and changing directions.

“Divergent Thinking is not the same as creativity” (Robinson). Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value; whereas, divergent thinking is an essential capacity of creativity. There are a lot of possible ways to find answers. Teacher should encourage students to find creative ways to interpret a question. Questions can have multiple answers, however, kids are taught there is only one answer and it’s in the back of the book. They are often told not to look or copy because it is cheating, but outside of schools’ walls, it’s collaborating. This is because of the gene pool of education. Sir Ken Robinson made valuable points on how our educational system works. Teachers don’t realize that they are failing our students by not taking advantage of the technological opportunities that is being presented. Great learning happens in groups. Allowing students to collaborate is the stuff to growth in the classroom. As educators we need to embrace our stimulating society and apply real world application to our classrooms. Kids have more advanced opportunities that they need to be exposed too. The educational system from the 18th century has no use for this 21st century generation.

The Importance of Creativity
Summarized by: Chelsea Calvert
Sir Ken Robinson believes that as an educator we have to prepare our students for what the world will be like in just a few years even though we ourselves have no idea. He believes that creativity is just as important as literacy. In every school system the arts at the bottom of importance. Mathematics and English are the two most important things in the education system. Art and music are taught but not on a day to day basis like he believes they should be. He refers to the woman that was a choreographer for the production "Cats." He tells us how even she was a child her teacher thought she had a learning disability because she could not sit still and was a distraction to the class. Her mother took her to the doctor to learn that her daughter did not have a disability she only was able to learn when she was active.

I think that Robinson has made a great point in this video. I had never thought about much the arts get overlooked. Every student learns in different ways and as an educator it is important to meet the students’ needs whatever they may be. Teachers should incorporate the arts into their classroom. Incorporating the arts in lessons would not be difficult to do.

After watching this video, I think the schools are more focused on trying to catch up with today's technology. It seems as if the schools are putting so much money into technology and having less teachers. The school systems have always been low on funding when it comes to teachers so they will get rid of the art teachers first but to be sure that every student has a personal computer to take home.

I think it is important for students to be technology literate but I think that it is equally important for them to be able to express themselves and be creative. The education system needs to find a way for the students to do both. If the school cannot afford to have a teacher for the arts then the classroom teacher needs to be sure to incorporate it into their lessons.

Blog Post #11

Watching Little Kids...Big Potentialreally opened my eyes to the different opportunities for using technology in my future classroom. This video actually got me more excited about trying different things even with my younger students. When I become a teacher, I would love to teach kindergarten or first grade. I always knew you could incorporate technology into these grades, but I never imagined using blogs, wiki, facebook, or even twitter until I watched Ms. Cassidy incorporating this into her first grade classroom.

One of the tools and techniques Ms. Cassidy uses in her classroom that I plan to incorporate in my future classroom is student blogs. I think student blogs are an excellent tool to help children learn to use computers and be on the internet while still working on their writing skills. Ms. Cassidy explained that technology is only going to get bigger and keep expanding in our world. It is better if children begin learning how to use these tools early on. Seeing her class post blogs and hearing about how excited they are when they get comments and views from people all over the world shows that it is an interesting and effective tool for learning. Students in younger grades normally have a daily journal where they write their thoughts and ideas about a specific topic. I have even thought about starting a student blog and for part of the week their "journal" entries would be on their blog. I really enjoyed hearing about Ms. Cassidy's ideas of using technology in her classroom. I can definitely take a lot out of this and learn from her things to incorporate in my classroom.

Project#10 Interview

Project #12 SMARTboard

C4T #3

Casual Models Help Uncover Hidden Thoughts My first teacher was Heidi Siwak. Ms. Swak wrote about using a responsibility circle and a casual model of responsibility after her students had read Ray Bradbury's book All Summer in a Day. Using responsibility circles requires the students to find reasons for their opinions, but does not ask them to think at a deeper level, nor to find connections between their justifications. By using a casual model of responsibility, it helps students by making thinking more explicit. This model breaks down the hidden layers and causes students to build connections between ideas.As students dug deeper into causality, they begin to link ideas and see how one aspect influences another. It is a fun thinking task to engage in.

My Response to Ms. Swak: I explained to Ms. Swak about our EDM310 class and how we are learning to use technology in our future classrooms. I thought this was a very good post because she seems like she is such a fun an active teacher in her classroom. The use of both of these models in her classroom and her interaction make it seem like she is a very good teacher. I would love to incorporate the use of these models in my future classroom.

Structuring Effective Collaboration and the Place of the Individual The second blog Ms. Swak wrote about was group work. Ms. Swak talked about collaboration and effective group work. She discussed the role of the individual in the group based on accountability and their contributions. She also discussed some projects her class worked on. She had her students construct knowledge on longitude and latitude to teach the younger students how it works. Ms. Swak had her students hold a knowledge building circle after they had all gathered their information so they were able to share. Ms. Swak also discussed collaborative inquiry, co-operative learning, and flexible groupings within her classroom.

My Response to Ms. Swak: I explained to Ms. Swak a little bit about our EDM310 course and how we are learning to incorporate technology in our future classrooms. I also explained to Ms. Swak that we do a lot of collaborative group work in this class. I really enjoyed reading her post because it showed me different ways to incorporate group work in my future class. Ms. Swak is good at working around each individual students needs and I feel that her information and resources will help me later in my teaching career.

C4KSummary for October

My first student was Amy in Ms. Eppele's class in British Columbia, Canada. Amy was to look at a website on service dogs and explain what are other jobs dogs do for people and what you can do to help when you see a service dog. Amy explained that service dogs are used for several different things such as, people who are blind, people who are disabled, and people who have seizures. Amy also told different ways to help such as making donations and teaching dogs to be service dogs. Amy thinks that Melody will like having a little sibling at first, but after a while she will get uneasy about the situation because she is used to being the only child.

The second student blog I commented on was for Jett in Mrs. Hartooni's seventh grade science class. Jett wrote about gardening and how he does not know much but he wants to learn more. Jett wants to know more about irrigation and how much to water his garden. He also wants to know what flowers make the prettiest garden. Jett is wanting to use this project and experience to see who he works well with in the classroom for later group projects and things. I think that is such a great way of thinking on his part. I hope Jett learns who he works well with and also learns more about gardening.

The third student blog I commented on was for Man,a second grade student in Mr. So's class in Canada. Man wrote about "his genius hour project." He wrote a short post about how he loves to color and draw. He also likes to use scissors for art projects. He seems like a very creative boy and I hope he never loses site of his creativity and always strives to do more and be creative.

The fourth student blog I commented on was for Jenna, a fourth grade student in Mrs. Geldes class. Jenna wrote about Jack-o-lanterns and the tradition of carving pumpkins and other facts. I did not know any of this about pumpkins, but Jenna said that the Irish brought the tradition of carving pumpkins to America. She also said that there are at least 500 seeds in a pumpkins. Plus the top 4 states for growing pumpkins are Illinois,Ohio,Pennsylvania and California. I enjoyed reading her post so close to Halloween.

Blog Post #10

What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From Randy Pausch?

I truly loved watching Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. At first, I wasn't sure what to expect when we were told to watch an hour and sixteen minute video for this weeks blog post but shortly after turning it one I was hooked. Randy Pausch is such an inspiring man and there is so much that we can all learn from him. Even though Pausch has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was only given a few months to live he was making the most of his remaining time on Earth with his family and friends.

In the beginning of his lecture Mr. Pausch tells us the things he is not there to talk about which included his wife and kids, cancer, and religion. He was there to talk about his dreams, helping other people enable their dreams, and lessons he has learned. Mr. Pausch went on to talk about football, imagineers, and being at zero gravity.

I took several quotes from this lecture. The one that I really thought about was "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." This quote can apply to all of our lives when we get disappointed about something we really wanted or thought we deserved. Pausch also discussed "brick walls." He tells us that the brick walls are there for a reason. They are there to let us prove how badly we want things and to let us show our dedication.

Mr. Pausch was all about helping others in any way that he could. Head fake was another thing Mr. Pausch addressed. I think this applies so much in the classroom. Using a head fake is making someone think they are learning something, but they are really learning something else. Alice was a program that he and a group of other people worked on for years that was based on millions of kids having fun while learning something hard.

I loved this lecture from Randy Pausch and I cannot wait to begin reading his book, The Last Lecture.

Project #14

For my Project #14 lesson plan I chose to do a Google Site using the BIE forms. I created a two week lesson plan for first grade on Mardi Gras in Alabama. Here is a link to my Google Site.

Blog Post #9

Keri Brown, Kenesha Brown, and Chelsea Calvert

Back to the Future
Brian Crosby has a 4th grade class that will be enrolled in his class for the next three years (grades 4, 5, 6). Over 90 percent of his students are second language learners. At the beginning of the school year, Crosby took a survey of his students’ knowledge in his class. Most of the students weren’t able to give basic demographic information.

There is a disconnection between students and learning because of a narrow curriculum. However, students only know a narrow curriculum. They have only been taught in a lecture style. Students don’t have any experience or input to build schema for the world. It is hard for them to imagine if they don’t know how to do this. As teachers, if we don’t have imagination or creativity then where would the students passion stem from?

Crosby took a narrow curriculum and enhanced it to 21st century learning. A hands on activity that he and his students did with the hot air balloon covered standards that the students needed to know and gave them experience on how air pressure and other things work. After the activity was done, the students embedded videos and summaries about the activity and why the reaction was the way it was on their blog.

Crosby explains that active learning empowers students to learn own their own. It allows them to connect with others, collaborate with classmates, and include thoughts and ideas during activities. Brian Crosby changed his 4th grade class by doing things that attract their attention. His class went from not knowing their basic demographic information to illustrating science projects to other students in a different country. Crosby’s class is the perfect example of innovative learning.

Blended Learning Cycle

In this video, Paul Andersen who is a high school AP biology teacher, is explaining a system he uses within his class. Mr. Andersen uses a strategy known as the blended learning cycle. The strategy is combining mobile, online, and classroom learning. There are six parts to this learning cycle. The first one is a question. This is also known as the hook to get them interested in the topic. The next step is investigation/inquiry. Then they have a video of instruction. This frees up some of Mr. Andersen's time and the students are able to review the videos when they do not understand. The next step is elaboration which goes into the explanation of the answer to the question originally asked. Then he reviews with the students. He meets with the students individually or in small groups to ask them questions to check their understanding. This also gives the students the opportunity to ask him questions if they are having trouble understanding. The last step is a summary quiz which is about what they had just covered. He will not give them the quiz if he can tell that they do not have a good understanding of the subject. If they do not do well on the quiz then he makes them start the process over.

We think that this strategy is a great idea. We think the first step is extremely important because it gets the students interested in the topic. The investigation step is important because the students need to find the answer out for themselves. They are more likely to remember the information more if they find it out on their own. The video gives the students more insight about the topic at hand. The review stage is especially important because it gives the teacher the opportunity to evaluate if the students are ready to take the summary quiz. We think that it is good that he gives the students the chance to go back and learn the information again if they did not get it the first time.

Making Thinking Visible

In this video, Mark Church, co-author of the book Making Thinking Visible, describes a little bit about a lesson he does in his 6th grade classroom with this students. This lesson is the “headlines routine.” The students are going to work in groups to do a project on a video they had watched the day before in class on early human beginnings and the origins of society. He will have the students talk about the puzzles and video their groups and come up with a short headline to tell what it is really all about. He gave each group a long thick sheet of paper to write their headline on after their discussion. After every group had completed their headline they shared them in front of the class. The students needed to have just a little bit to back up why they chose this as their headline. After doing the same unit for two more weeks, Mr. Church will ask the students what is the headline now since they have learned a lot more and things have changed since the beginning to when they are doing their final projects.

We think this would be a great idea to use in the classroom. This would work especially well for long projects like the one in the video. This engages the students in thinking about what they already know, or what they think they know in the beginning. This also allows the students to stay interested in the assignment and continue to learn and change the headline as time goes on and they learn more about the specific unit.

Blog Post #8

Dr. Lodge McCammon and Ms. Katie Gimbar explain in their videos about flipping the classroom. Dr. Lodge McCammon explains that a lot of times in todays classroom the teacher just stands in front of the class and lectures. This is not a good technique because it is inefficient, not engaging, and it is a one shot deal. Both of these instructors explain how 90% of the class time is spent lecturing and the other 10% is spent on actual application. Katie Gimbar explains how she has a set of higher level students who are bored and not challenged, struggling students who are not understanding the material, and a range of middle students which she ends up gearing her lectures towards. By flipping the classroom, the teacher provides the students videos to watch before they get to class. By doing this, the students can pause or re-watch the videos as many times as necessary until they understand what is being taught. This helps with all levels of students in the classroom. When the students get to class and already know the concept that is being taught, they can begin working on the application. This changes the percentages from 90% lecture to 10% lecture, and from 10% application to 90% application. I feel like this would be a great thing to incorporate in your classroom for all of your students benefit.

Summarized by: Keri Brown

Spelling City is a website and also has an app for iPads other devices. This app has a feature to search the language arts standards correlation list for standards by region and grade. This app provides correlations to U.S. Standards by State, Common Core Standards for each State's Implementation, Australian Standards by State, Canadian Standards by Province, and English National Curriculum Standards. This is a great tool for teachers to work with students in the classrooms as well as at home on their own time for homework or extra help. There are many games provided on this site for parts of speech, nouns, synonyms, contractions, phonics, Dolch-sight words, as well as vocabulary activities. There are also premium membership opportunities depending on how many students you have. There are many benefits with the premium membership such as, student activities being tracked, student test results and activities are automatically recorded, and you can create customized lists and lessons to meet each student's individual needs. This makes it great for ESE, ESL/ELL, and RTI.

Pearl Diver

Summarized by:Chelsea Calvert
This is an app that covers number and operation standards. Since iPads are becoming more common in the classroom this is a tool that could easy be accessed. This app helps the students understand how numbers are represented and the number system. The students must understand and know how to represent fractions on a number line. This game is more geared toward grades third through eighth. I chose this tool because it is something that will keep the students engaged. The students can also move into harder levels as they learn more so they are not confined to the same problems. If the teacher was to cover fractions and their place on the number line, they could let the students play this app to practice and check their understanding.

21st Century Learning is Here!
Summarized by: Kenesha Brown

Mark Stevens explains how the technology people use in their daily life influences how students learn. Students and teachers have changed, and learning has changed, as well. However, the former setting of a school remains the same over the last 100 years. Stevens states, "We live with the reality that the same structure of brick, mortar, and steel will continue to greet us each morning" (Stevens). The great thing about 21st century learning is it can take place anywhere. Stevens explains that learning environment is not about the cool gismos and gadgets that are being used but the teacher applies today's technologies to make materials for students more engaging. "In other words, encourage the students to create, communicate, and collaborate in many ways" (Stevens).

"Learning in the 21st century takes new thinking" stated by NEA Executive Director John I. Wilson. 21st century skills are required in order for teachers to prepare their students for the globalized workforce. The teachers should find ways to incorporate technology while fulfilling the requirements for the curriculum. There are many useful tools that are available for teachers.

The question that Stevens mentions is "what does this 21st classroom look like?" He explains that interactive demonstration allows students to work through materials together. In addition, having access to the internet allows students to engage and transform content from around the world through tests and reliable learning portals. Students should have pens that records audio and data, because it helps students learn organization skills and allow teachers to share notes easily. Also, Stevens states that mobile devices allow students to learn on the go. Moreover, web-based applications allow teachers, students, and parents to stay connected outside the classroom.

The question is where do we start from here? Stevens explains that all teachers must think through the entire learning experience that they are creating for their students. Stevens provides NEA's and SETDA's key questions to inspire teachers thinking on how they can incorporate technology this school year:

-What tools and technologies will help the students create, collaborate, and communicate better?
-How can teachers let students learn with technology they already have?
-What is the appropriate role of the web, social media, mobile technologies, interactive white-board, etc., in today's classrooms?

Mark Stevens made some great points on 21st century learning. Teachers should consider ways to incorporate technology in their classrooms. These generations of students that educators are up against are more advance. Every moment of their lives is evolved around some form of technology. Educators must enhance their lesson plan to keep the attention of their students and cover all of the state standards. The main focus of the teachers' lesson should be allowing students' interest be the guidance to their learning process.

From reading Mark Stevens article, I did a search on tools to use to incorporate technology in students learning process. The website I can across is called BrainPop. BrainPop is a great tool to use as an inside or outside source in the classroom. It provides students with videos and games on any subject and topic. BrainPop is a tool that I would use to make sure my students are using technology as a tool of learning.

C4T #2

5 Chrome Settings That Will Make Teachers Smile
Mr. John Sowash is a strong believer in Google Chrome. This has been his browser of choice since it was launched in 2008. In this post, Mr. Sowash talks about his five favorite "tricks" for getting more out of Chrome. "These tips do not require any special plugins, extensions, or applications. They are available for anyone running Chrome OS or the Chrome browser for Windows or Mac." The first trick is launch tabs on start up. With this trick you can set it to where every time you pull up Chrome it pulls up your selected (most visited) webpages. Mr. Sowash recommends doing no more than three websites. The second trick is bookmark sync. "With this trick, you can use Chrome on your PC, Mac, Chromebook, iPhone or Android tablet. As long as you sign in to chrome, your book marks will be there when you need them." The third trick is tab sync. "With tab sync, you can view any open tab on any of your devices and open them with a single click." The fourth trick is zoom. "When you are projecting something in class and you want to highlight a specific area of the screen you can use the keyboard shortcut ctrl and + to zoom in. When you are ready to zoom back out, use ctrl and - or ctrl and 0." The last trick Mr. Sowash talks about is settings search. With this trick, Chrome user settings can quickly be found and adjusted.

My Response to Mr. Sowash:
I thought this blog was so interesting because this is exactly what we are learning about in EDM310. I explained to Mr. Sowash a little bit about our class and blogs. I also told Mr. Sowash that we use Google Chrome as well as Google Docs in our class. I explained that these tips/tricks will be very helpful not only during this class, but definitely when I become a teacher. These tips will make using the internet a lot easier and faster. I really like the launch tabs on start up and will apply this on my Chrome because I view several of the same sites every time I get on.

Free Plagiarism Checker for the Classroom
Mr. John Sowash explains a little about The Plagiarism Checker. This is a free service for teachers to use to check their students work for plagiarism on the internet. The teacher simply copies and pastes a chunk of the work onto this site and it will check to see if the work was plagiarized or not. The basic service of the checker is free to use, but their is a more advanced service for $8 a month. There are other sites out there that cost a lot of money and require a lot of leg work, but this site has been very useful to teachers and is nice because it is free or fairly inexpensive if you want the advanced options.

My Response to Mr. Sowash:
I thought this was a very useful post for educators. I explained a little bit about our class and how it is based on incorporating technology in the classrooms. This would be useful to all of us in our future classrooms when we are incorporating technology and allowing our students to use the internet to work on projects and papers.

Podcast Project #9

Blog Post #7

Project Based Learning Part 1
In this interview between Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps, Dr. Strange begins by asking Anthony about the different aspects of being a project based learning teacher. Anthony states "When we think about project based learning we think projects are what you do at the end of a lesson to show that you've learned what you are suppose to have learned." The goal of project based learning is that it is a means to get the students to learn something, not only to show what they have learned. As a teacher, you have to create a project that the students will need all of the content you need them to know in order to complete that project. Project based learning allows students to be excited about what they are learning and to be engaged in the lesson since they are creating their own work and using their own knowledge. The goal of a good project is one that has an authentic audience, one that has student interest, one that involves the community, and one that is driven by content. One of the project based learning projects Anthony has done in his third grade classroom incorporating writing standards, reading standards, and social studies stands was have the students do research in iCurio and write a letter to Congressman Bonner whether they thought it was appropriate for women to fight in open combat or not. This specific project really sparked the students interest because they have family, friends, and neighbors who are in the military that they interviewed and got input on their opinions. There were twenty-eight students in the class and the students worked together to pick the eight best letters to send. The students also got responses from the state office and this made the project even more interesting for them.

Project Based Learning Part 2
In this interview between Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps, Anthony starts by explaining another project he did in his classroom. The project Anthony explained was his favorite project that his students have done. His third grade class had been studying the elements of different cultures. The class started out exploring Haiti. When the students started studying Afghanistan, Anthony Anthony told the students they were to write a narrative on what it would be like to be a child in Afghanistan and record the narration in iMovie on an iPad. The students were to pull pictures from Discovery Ed or iCurio to incorporate in their narration. The students focused on food, fashion, warfare, religion, and some did a blend on those topics. This specific projects got the students to be very engaged. Anthony held a parents awards night to allow the students to display their work and the outcome was great. Anthony states "with project based learning you are going to get more than you expect, so never limit your students by giving them exactly what you want them to do." Anthony also talks about creating opportunities for your students to go beyond what you want them to and they will. Anthony is a great model to learn from. He loves seeing his students excited and engaged in what they are learning. Students learn more when they are actively involved and engaged in the project. When students are involved in project based learning they are proud of their accomplishments and projects and this also encourages them to learn more and be more creative. iCurio

In this video, Dr. Strange begins by asking Anthony about iCurio and what it is and how he uses it in his own classroom. Anthony tells us that iCurio is an online tool that can serve several purposes. One purpose is that iCurio allows students to safely search websites, videos, images, and other online media that have been pulled and filtered for educational uses. This tool is a filtered search engine that allows us to search text, audio, and video around subjects that would fit in the Alabama College and Career Ready standards as well as other state standards. The students are able to go on iCurio with their personal login and use it themselves. Another component of iCurio is its storage capacity for students. iCurio allows teachers and students to store any content that they find valuable. By using the storage capacity, the students are able to learn virtual organization. This feature helps with doing projects over a period of time or when the day gets interrupted by different things the students can just store their findings and pick up right where they left off. iCurio also has a "historical figures" feature. With this feature, you can search by criteria. iCurio is useful for any grade level with a teacher that feels comfortable letting their students search the web. iCurio also has a read-aloud feature that is useful to students with disabilities, ELL students, or blind students.

Discovery Education

In this video, Anthony refers to the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" and he says that " a video must be worth a million." If you can pair any text article you give a child with a visual then the students will retain a lot more information. Discovery Ed has everything for science and social studies that you could think of to help add visuals to your lessons and to help your students learn and retain more information. Discovery Ed offers great resources for students to research specific topics. Discovery Ed is a very effective tool for project based learning. Discovery Education takes you way beyond just a picture, it provides a video for the topic and brings experts into the classroom via video. Anthony uses Discovery Ed for student searches so that they can enrich their research experiences, and Anthony uses Discovery Ed to bring different texts to life. This allows Anthony to provide his students with the opportunity to compare and contrast what they are reading, to what they are actually seeing and finding on Discovery Ed.

Don't Teach Tech - Use It
Summarized by: Keri Brown
Anthony starts off by explaining that whether we like it or not we use technology every day. He states “we’re immersed in it whether you want to be or not, you can’t buy groceries without it.” Anthony says that technology is natural for kids whether they are in low-income areas or high-income areas, technology is a part of their lives. When creating your lessons, you should scaffold technology into those plans. Anthony says that you should focus on one technology at a time and make sure your students have different opportunities to review and continue practicing and using each technology. Once students have practice with a technology tool you can then add on and incorporate the use of other technology. Anthony uses iMovie with his third graders and he says that by allowing them to use iMovie they can be creative, express themselves, it is free, it is clean, and the students love it. You should use technology in your classroom to allow your students to get excited about what they are doing, use it to let them share what they are doing, and scaffold it to let them use one tool at a time then progressively add in more tools. Do not expect perfection from your students, because it is not going to happen. Students will make mistakes, but as a teacher you should allow time to reflect on those mistakes so they can better themselves the next time they use this technology. Dr. Strange states “you don’t have to worry about spending a great deal of time or energy teaching your kids how to use technology, just give them the opportunity, and don’t expect perfect.” As the teacher, you should “do it first.” Use the technology and do the projects to better understand why students are asking questions and how you can help them.

The Anthony - Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1
Summarized by: Chelsea Calvert
In this video Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps are creating a list of things that consists of things that as teachers we should do. They make a list of four things that teachers should do. Teachers need to be lifelong learners. To prepare ourselves to get into the teaching field we need to be extremely interested in learning. We need to be constantly learning and modeling how to learn. Teaching is hard work and even after you leave your classroom you should still be seeking to learn new information. Learning how to teach should be a teacher’s hobby and part of their everyday lives. It can be very rewarding once you have learned something new that you can incorporate within your classroom. Teacher need to be flexible and creative. As teachers, we need to be prepared for surprises that might arise in the classroom. We need to be prepared to go outside the normal routine if something were to come up. Teachers should also reflect on their work. We need to be able to critic ourselves to master teaching. These four things are all important tasks that teachers need to focus on.

Additional Thought About Lessons
Summarized by: Kenesha Brown
Anthony Capps explains that “a lesson is four layers thick.” When teachers are preparing their lessons, there are four things to think about. The first layer is think about the lesson in terms of the year. Teachers should think about how are they going to cover the content standards and have the curriculum they prepared covers all of the standards. The next layer is a unit. There are layers within unit that create the rest of the four layers to an effective lesson. Teacher should consider unfolding a unit in a way “that is meaningful and that is connected in some type of way.” The unit should be a stairwell of goals that teachers want their students to meet. “Stretch out a unit by saying we going to start the unit off with this and by the end of the unit the student should be able to do this.” The unit then moves down to the week. Teachers should think about their goal on a week scale. They will need to try to figure out how everything is going to get done. Most importantly, the final layer is the daily lesson. The daily lesson is the way teachers get students’ attention. It is the hook to what they can expect to do. It is also the way teachers can evaluate students learning.

Project #13 Lesson Plan #1

Kenesha Brown, Keri Brown, and Chelsea Calvert
Our Google Site:Project #13, Lesson Plan #1

This lesson plan is for a two week lesson for fifth grade students. Our driving question for the lesson is "What is colonization? Describe the early colonization of North America." We will begin this project by playing a trivia game found on iCurio for fun and to see what they already know. The students will be assigned one of the thirteen colonies and conduct research to write a research paper. After the students have written their research paper, they will be paired with another student that was assigned the same colony. The two students will then work together to create a Google Presentation to present in front of the class. This lesson will cover the English Language Arts Common Core Standards of Writing two, six, and seven. This lesson will also cover the Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies standard five.

Project #2 PLN Progress Summary

I chose to use Symbaloo to create my Personal Learning Network. On my PLN, I included many websites and resources that will be helpful to me throughout my educational journey and teaching career. In the top center of my PLN, I included a link to my Google drive, EDM310 class blog page, and a link to my personal EDM310 blogger page. I use these sites on a daily basis and felt that they would be better in the center. On the left side of my PLN, I have included links for Google, the weather (I edited specifically for Mobile, Al), and a calculator. On the right side of my PLN, I included links that I use frequently. I included Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, Teachertube, Pandora, Gmail, the University of South Alabama website, and Amazon. All of these links are helpful for school and my future teaching career in a different way. Facebook and Twitter are great sources on my PLN because they allow me to get connected and talk to people in my classes and teachers all around the world. I want to continue adding to my PLN each time I find a website or teachers blog that will be useful to me now or later on. The Google search in the middle of the PLN provides a faster way to search the web. I have really enjoyed using my PLN so far. The use of my PLN will help keep me organized and have all of my resources in one place.

C4KSummary for September

The first student blog I commented on was Hanna. Hanna wrote about softball and how she believes that this game instills hard work and determination in people. Hanna talked about the time her dad told her that he would pay her if she hit a home run and she didn't think she would, but she actually did that game. She was so excited, and she could not believe that happened. Hanna did a great job expressing her thoughts and feelings throughout her essay. Her paper was organized and only had a few grammatical errors.

The second student blog I commented on was for Noah, a fifth grade student from Mrs. Huebner's class in Iowa. Noah wrote a poem and you were supposed to figure out the point of view he was writing from. Noah wrote his poem from a coach at Sioux Central's point of view. His title told his point of view, but his poem was written very well with details where if the title did not say you would still be able to figure it out. Noah talked about the class doing pushups, the coach being happy, and the coach feeling good when the kids work out.

The third student blog I commented on was for April, a Year 5 student at Pt England School in Auckland, NZ. April wrote a short blog about taking a field trip to youth town. She talked about how they rode on a bus to youth town and she did not like that. April wanted to take a nap on the bus but she could't because of all of the other children singing and being loud. April said that everyone was happy when they arrived at youth town because some people could swim and if you did not want to swim you could go in the recreation room and play pool and table tennis. In my comment, I asked April if she swam or played the other games. This blog was short, but she included pictures which I thought made it better.

The fourth student blog I commented on was for Shane, a sixth grade student at Elsanor Elementary in Robertsdale, Alabama. Shane wrote a short blog about "how heavy is the air." Shane tells us that the air weighs 570,000,000,000 pounds but it is spread evenly and that is why it does not crush us. Shane made simple grammar and sentence errors in the post, but he expressed his thoughts about the weight of the air well.

Project #8

Blog Post #6

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?

There are two types of questions: open-ended questions and close-ended questions. As Joanne Chelsey states in her video, Asking Better Questions in the Classroom Pt. 1, "a close-ended question structures a response for the student, and it can be answered by one word, such as yes or no, or by a very brief phrase. An open-ended question leaves the form of the answer up to the person who is responding, thereby eliciting more thinking and yielding more information." Teachers are often looking for more in depth answers to their questions than just "yes" or "no," but they are getting exactly what they ask for when they ask questions that do not invite extended or thoughtful kinds of responses. Open-ended questions allow the student to do more thinking on their own and come up with a variety of responses. To help encourage students to think about their responses and give detailed answers, it is the teachers responsibility to think about and prepare open-ended questions for their lessons.

Ben Johnson, a high school principal in San Antonio, Texas explains The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom. Mr. Johnson begins by explaining that the reason students get so confused is because the teachers will present themselves to be the ones with all the answers, and then after they talk to the students, they start asking questions as if they don't know anything they just talked about. Teachers ask the question "Do you understand?" or "Does everybody understand?" even though they realize that students may not say anything, but they do not understand. This question is a useless question in the classroom and as educators we need to steer away from asking this. This question is close-ended and does not allow the student to think extensively about the answer. Mr. Johnson explains that the effective way to ask a question is to ask the question, pause for about three seconds, and then call on a student to answer your question. When you ask questions like this and wait for the answer, this requires all of the students to think about the answer before they know who will be called on. When teachers call on a student and then ask the question it only requires that specific student to use higher-order thinking to come up with the answer to that question.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD, provides us with Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom. Ms. Weimer explains that good questions make students think and they encourage students to participate. The first action she recommends is to prepare questions. A lot of the time, teachers spend so much time on the content and organization of the lesson but they just try to wing it when it comes to asking questions throughout or at the end of a lesson. If teachers would prepare the questions in advance, it would help them to know they are asking well written, higher-order questions that require their students to think. Preparing questions ahead of time also eliminates confusion for the teacher as well as the students. The second action she recommends is to play with questions. "Playing with the question means leaving it unanswered for a while and using some strategies that encourage students to think about it." Too often, teachers will ask a question, call on a student, the student will answer the question, and the thought process is complete. Weimer suggests asking the question and then giving the students time to be actively engaged in finding the answer. Students could take time to talk with a partner or a group or simply write down their own ideas to answer the question. The third action she recommends is to preserve good questions. Weimer says that good questions can be kept. Questions can be asked in subsequent classes, and even be revised if necessary. Questions that students ask may also be kept for teachers to talk to their other students about.

We need to know about they two types of questions to become an effective teacher. We need to be able to prepare open-ended questions for our lessons in order to engage the students in higher-order thinking. By asking questions, we will get our students to participate and be more actively involved in the lesson and learning process.

Blog Post #5

My Sentence Videos

My Sentence Is...



My Passion Is...

Project # 3 Presentation

Blog Post #4

Judy Scharf provides a lot of helpful information for someone who does not know much about podcasts or how they are done. Scharf states "The term "podcast" is a cross between "broadcast" and "iPod." A podcast is a "radio-style" talk show." Scharf also explains that a podcast may be listened to on the computer or an MP3 player, and they may be downloaded from iTunes or a podcast hosting service. According to Ms. Scharf, podcasts are easy to do, cost very little, and can be shared with millions of people via the internet. This page also provides several resources, such as YouTube videos, step-by-step instructions to creating your own podcast, and resources for teachers to use with their students when creating a podcast.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom by Joe Dale explains many reasons podcasting may be useful in the classroom. Mr. Dale provides real-life examples of when podcasts can be helpful for students. Mr. Dale explained that if a student is sick and cannot come to school they will be able to stay caught up by listening to their teachers podcasts. Teachers are able to upload their podcasts to the class website, a blog, or iTunes for both parents and students to stay involved and up to date on what is going on in the classroom. Dale also explains that the process of creating and uploading audio files is easy and it promotes creativity and innovation.

I also listened to the Flat Stanley podcast. I really enjoyed listening to this podcast because you could hear the excitement in all of the students voices. Listening to the students really made me think about how this would be a great tool to use in my future classroom for students of all ages. Before the students recorded their podcast, they had read the book Flat Stanley by Jim Brown. This also showed me how I could incorporate reading a book, using technology while creating a podcast, and having the students work in groups to do so.

C4T #1

Building Non-Cognitive Skills into a Blended Model Meghan Dunne has been teaching kindergarten, but is moving to teach a first grade classroom this year. Dunne explains that many people do not see this as a big change, but in reality it is a very big change. First grade is a huge year for academic growth and the expectations for the students and herself are increasing. Dunne also states "(many studies have shown that gaps in the primary years are significantly harder to close after 3rd grade)And while this is why I wanted to move to first grade, I do not want to sacrifice the routines and procedures that promote “soft skills.” Dunne talks about how when working with young children you have to provide classroom instruction that goes beyond academic instruction. "Teachers of young children must find the time, in an already tightly scheduled day, to engage students in routines that promote the growth of non-cognitive skills such as persistence, grit and self-regulation." Dunne explained that she was a week away from meeting her new first graders and she has decided to implement the station rotation model in her classroom which will demand student self regulation.

My Response to Ms. Dunne I explained that I found her thoughts on soft skills very interesting. You always hear teachers talk about how busy the school day already is and how hard it is to fit anything else into the daily schedule. I also explained that I think the station rotation model will be very useful in her classroom because it will get her children engaged with their peers as well as teach them self regulation.

Back to School 2.0 Adam Hurwitz explains that Edna Brewer Middle School has just received 180 Google Chromebooks as well as network and device infrastructure upgrades, through the Blended Learning Pilot Program joint-sponsored by the Oakland Unified School District and the Rogers Foundation. The school will also receive on-going teacher support and training sessions throughout the year. The students all received a google account. A sixth grade class is instructed to take a "Welcome to Being a Panther Quiz." Students who don’t get a perfect score on the first try have up to five attempts — most nail it in two or three, which is great. Everyone is very excited to see how well this blended classroom works out.

My Response to Mr. Hurwitz I explained to Mr. Hurwitz a little bit about what we are doing in EDM310 since it involves technology like they are trying to incorporate in Edna Brewer Middle School. I think it is great that they were able to get so many Google Chromebooks through the Blended Learning Pilot Program. I feel like having the computers and incorporating technology will greatly influence the students and have a very positive impact on them. Technology is ever increasing in schools and it is important to help the students become familiar.

Blog Post #3

Peer Editing can be a scary thing for many students. A lot of the time, students do not know a good way to edit their peers and they are afraid of hurting their feelings. I know that I have always been worried about criticizing someone else's work because I did not want to upset them. In the video, "What is Peer Editing?" we are given three important steps to peer editing.
Step one: Compliments.
There is one important rule in peer editing, STAY POSITIVE.

Step two: Making Suggestions.
Give the writer specific ideas of how to make their writing better.
Step three: Corrections.
When making corrections, check for punctuation, grammar, sentences, and spelling.

There are many things you need to stay away from when doing a quality peer review. You do not want to be a Picky Patty or a Mean Margret. When giving suggestions to someone, we need to always be aware of their feelings and if we need to criticize or critique something, it needs to be done in a way that will benefit them and not offend them in any way. In peer editing, you need to be sure to use constructive criticism to help your peers. If used correctly, peer editing can be a very effective tool in the classroom. There are several ways to go about the peer editing process. You can do this publicly by commenting directly on their blog, or you can do it privately through an email, a phone call, or a text message. When making specific suggestions on corrections, I would probably prefer to do that in a private setting. I have learned a lot about peer editing and feel much more comfortable about this process now.

Blog Post #2 A Collaborative Assignment

Mr. Dancealot
By:Keri Brown, Kenesha Brown, and Chelsea Calvert
In Mr. Dancealot’s video, he teaches a dance class with no hands-on experience. By using a PowerPoint, he has his students take notes and sit quietly during his lecture. When one student stood up to give the dance steps a try, he was instructed to have a seat. How can a dance teacher teach dance through lecture?
The truth is he can’t. Actually, nothing can be learned just through lecture. Students need to have hands-on experience in order to grasp the idea of anything. It’s okay to explain the fundamental of how to do a particular assignments; however, students won’t get the concept unless they try it for themselves. Technology is growing in our society and it is becoming more and more important in our schools as well as our everyday lives. Hands on experience is necessary when learning how to use this technology instead of just a lecture or reading something out of a book. The information needs to be applied to be learned. The students in this video did not actually stand up and dance before their exam, which caused them to be very confused on the day of the exam.

Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts by: Vicki Davis
By:Keri Brown
Vicki Davis is a teacher in a rural city in south Georgia. Vicki has completely opened the minds of her students to many new ideas of technology. She has provided them with access to wikis, blogs, podcasts, virtual worlds, and other media tools. These students are constantly learning something new about technology. Everyday there are opportunities in the classroom for students to use technology with their classmates as well as others around the world on blogs or other resources.
As a teacher, Vicki does not spoon feed her students. In the video, she said that she often gives them unfamiliar words and tells them to look up the meaning of the word in the context in which she has used it. Vicki also was partners in a founding a global collaborative project. “Digi Teen,” which is digital citizenship for teenagers. On Digi Teen, students from around the world studied digital citizenship by researching, writing, and posting their work through two digital portals. Vicki also believes that she is constantly learning from her students and that they can learn from each other as well, therefore she has specific times in her class where each student will be the teacher, or certain groups will teach on certain days.
The Edutopia website is full of resources for teachers. There are links for student engagement in the classroom and tips for keeping the students involved. There are also links to other blogs from teachers with experience in the classroom setting. Also on the website, there is a spot you can go to search things specific to each grade-level which can be a very useful tool for teachers. At the bottom of the webpage, there are links to “get inspired,” “find solutions” to problems or issues in the classroom or school, and “join the conversation” by getting connected with fellow educators on social media.

The Networked Student by: Wendy Drexler
By:Kenesha Brown
Wendy Drexler explains what it would be like if students took control of their learning. She goes on telling a story about a student from 21st Century High. The student was assigned to do research on any topic. He chose American Psychology. However, there is no textbook for the class and the teacher hardly ever lectures. His teacher believes in connectivism, which is a theory that learning occurs by social networks and many diverse connections and ties. Connectivism are made up of many tools and technology. However, the question was asked “ Why does a network student need a teacher?”
Drexler explains that the teacher empowers students to take control of their learning and connect with new people who will strengthen the learning process. They teach students how to build their learning network. They also show them how to take advantage of opportunities. The teacher is there to be the learning architect when the students get lost. He/She serves as a learning concierge when the student gets stuck, as well as, teaching them how to be a network sherpa when looking at resource. In addition, (s)he teaches them how to be a synthesizer when looking at information.
From viewing this video, network learning is something that the educational system is becoming. Students are being pushed to go out there, find resources, and look up information. As educators, we should allow them to spread their wings and find answers to their questions. Drexler explained the teacher’s role really well. Basically, teachers should allow the learning process to happen until they notice a student is unsure about something.

Teaching in the 21st Century by: Kevin Roberts
By:Chelsea Calvert
This video by Roberts asks many questions to future teachers. He says that teaching is not the main source of knowledge anymore. He believes students should be taught skills not facts. He believes that students will be able to learn the information they are getting from a teacher from the internet. The students will be able to communicate from a variety of sites such as blogger, twitter, facebook, pinterest and many more. The students can also type the question they have into any search engine. If the students are able to find out everything thru the internet or by discussing it with each other, then why do they need teachers. If his suggestions are true and accurate, teachers will become obsolete.
I agree that the student must be shown how to use the technological applications available to them. Teachers should be encouraging in any type of learning. Students need to form their own opinions and need to be able to find out the answers to questions they might ask themselves or a teacher. Students need to be taught responsibility and integrity. Teachers have an effect on every aspect of a students life. Teachers can be any one who teaches a student a life lesson. Students should be shown every possible form of technology and then allowed to study how they choose. However I do not believe that teachers could ever become obsolete.