Blog Post #15

iBook Reflection

Creating our iBook was very interesting and fun; while at the same time, confusing and time orientated. Our iBook is a reflection of what we covered in the class EDM310. It includes blog posts, group and individual videos, and personal pictures. I enjoyed working with my group NOLA in this course and making our projects. It has been a great semester!

Blog Post #12

By: Sheridan Jones.
For this weeks blog assignment, the driving question is, "What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher?". To be honest, I have not thought about what technological tools that could be out there to help with special needs students. When I received this topic, I was actually able to put myself in a current teachers shoes and began to think "what if" I have a student that is blind or deaf. The videos that were assigned for us to watch were very useful and relating to what questions I had about this topic.

The first video, The Mountbatten created by The Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, was relating to a device that uses audio/feedback. It can save files, transfer files to a computer, and receive files from a computer. This device is great for a student and/or teacher who does not know brail. Blind students are now not limited to what they can do not but rather be included in projects and be held to a responsibility of doing their part of the work.

The second video, Teaching Math to the Blind by Professor Art Karshmer University of San Francisco, informs us how they have created a touch-pad that blind students will be able to use to learn mathematics. Students will be able to use special (braille engraved) blocks and align math problems in a 2-dimensional way so they may learn as normal students learn. The touch-pad will keep track of the coordinates of each block students can keep up with where they have laid previous blocks. It is a foundation for blind students so that they may learn the basics of mathematics. The picture below is a touch-screen display of graphical mathematics for blind students.

This last video, iPad usage for the blind, I found the most amazing and intriguing. Apple has developed a voice-over for the iPad that enables the blind to use the iPad just as a normal person with normal vision can. Wesley (who is blind) demonstrates this in the video by using the voice-over on the iPad and telling/showing us what all he can do with it. It is amazing technology that expands the blinds capability so far. I love how Apple has created such an amazing tool that not only helps for learning purposes, but also, to help create the feeling of normality to blind students/people. 

By: Amber Harris:

What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher?

After watching, "Assistive Technologies for Vision and Hearing Impaired Children", the video clearly shows educators that if they utilize the technologies available they can actually change a learning experience for a child with either a visual or hearing impairment. I agree that more awareness should be given to professionals to incorporate these types of technologies for children who not only suffer from sensory impairments,but for some teachers there is a resistance to incorporating new media in their daily teaching for the benefit of all students. More teachers need to be equipped with the skills to use these technologies. As with all professional learning surrounding the use of technology, teachers cannot expect to be handed a 'how to' manual on how to use and implement these technologies.
With some research on my own, I asl found the webpage "Computer Based Assistive Technology." This webiste gives 10 assistive technologies, such as Speech Synthsis Software. "Speech synthesizers are basically screen readers. They read text that is displayed on the computer monitor, allowing students to gain independent access to assignments, books, and research. Teachers or students do, however, need to pre-scan material before they can use it. Speech synthesis allows them to access the print in textbooks, and thereby the curriculum, in a way that would otherwise be more difficult, if not impossible. It may even increase student motivation to read." (Montali & Lewandowski, 1996)
How students can use speech synthesis software:
1. Where text is available in digital form (i.e., on the computer or diskette), students can have text read to them.
2. Some screen readers can read in a variety of applications, including the Internet.
3. Some Internet sites have collections of textbooks available to be read by screen readers.
4. Students can control the pace of the reading and the reading selection, through having the computer read only the words they are having difficulty decoding or a whole paragraph or passage.
5. Students can manipulate the rate of read-back to allow for variations in the speed they process auditory information.

 by: Mallory Harris
The driving question for this post was, "What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher?"

For this assignment, I Googled assistive technology in the classroom. There were some pretty interesting results. The first resource that I cam across was Bookshare. It is a website with a free online library for people with print disabilities. The website help people who have trouble reading. This website seemed like it could be very useful for me in the future because I am going to be an english teacher and some of my students may be able to get some use out of the site.
The next resource that I found was Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology. This is a website that offers information in its resources section as well as access to the QIAT list serv. The list serv is an excellent forum to keep current with new developments in AT and the latest websites and other resources.
This would be an imprtant website when working with assistive technology because it could keep me up to date with the standards.
I also watched the video assigned by Dr.Strange called Assistive Technologies for Vision and Hearing Impaired Children. The video was about the different types of assistive technologies that can be found in the classroom and listed some of the reasons why it is important to know about these technologies.


By:Tyler Mills The driving question for this blog post is, "What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher?" The video that I found interesting in the blog instructions was ipad usage for the blind. It showed a man named Wesley Majerus who was blind fully operate a stock ipad. He was giving lessons and tips of how to use the ipad as a vision impaired student. Wesley demonstrated how to operate using Voice Over. The system works by simply dragging your finger over items that appear on the screen. The Voice Over systems reads out whatever your finger comes across and makes a ticking noise when your finger is over a blank area. This is extremely helpful for a vision impaired student and helps them keep up with the rest of the class.

Through my own research I came across an ability to dictate what you want your apple product to type. The process is called dictation which is available on apple products. While viewing the video Dictation on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, by Steve Dotto I got an idea of how dictation works. Dictation works by saying anything aloud and your device typing the words out for you. This may help out a student that is born with no arms or hands to type. The system can be used to type papers in microsoft word and other systems. Mentioned in the video by Mr. Dotto, the dictation can not be used in google drive. I still believe this can be a big help to a handicap person.

Blog Post #13

For this week's blog post, the assignment is to create a blog post assignment for my area of specialty and actually write about it and DO it! Since I am a Secondary Education and Biology major, I decided to create a blog post that would be very useful and knowledgeable to my field of study.

Watch this video 3 Rules To Spark Learning. What does Ramsey Musallam teach us about curiosity? What about confusion? What about questions? 

Ramsey Musallam teaches us many different lessons in this video. From a personal stand point, he shows us how being strong and with a good attitude, one can come through anything. He was diagnosed with a threatening issue that required brain surgery. It was at this point in his life where he found his true meaning for teaching after 10 years in the profession. His doctor/surgeon was very confident in Ramsey's surgery but he could not understand how or even why. His doctor told him 3 important things, which were: 1) curiosity drove him to ask hard questions about what worked and what did not work, 2) he embraced trial and error, and 3) he reflected on the information gathered and revised to save his life during the surgery. This is where Ramsey took these 3 ideas and reflected on how they are used in the classroom. Curious students become interested students, which become questions asked by the students, which ends in students learning. He took this idea and created 3 rules for his classroom that he has used ever since. Rule #1: Curiosity comes first. Rule #2: Embrace the mess/trial and error. Rule #3: Practice reflection. He encourages us to be the surgeon of your own classroom.

C4K summary for month of April

The week of 4/9/14 I had the privilege of being introduced to Alex from New Zealand and his blog page. The post I read and comment on was that of Making a Piupiu. He uploaded a Google slideshow on how to make a piupiu. I probably cannot even pronounce it correctly and definitely did not know what it was. So before I responded to his post I did a little research. Turns out, a piupiu is made from flax. Flax is a big part of New Zealand culture. It is used for so many different things from cooking, medicine, and more. Well, a piupiu is made from flax that is engraved by a shell, boiled, and woven together into a skirt. I learned something from Alex and I look forward to keeping up with his progress for the rest of this year.

The week of 4/20/14 I was assigned Memory from New Zealand to check out her blog page. Her latest post was about the life cycle of a butterfly. The assignment that was given was that the students had to create an iMovie about an animal in New Zealand that goes through metamorphism. Her video was very well explained with detail of graphics and audio. You can find her blog post and video on her webpage. I commented back expressing how good she has done with her work and to keep it up throughout her schooling.

C4T #4

This month I was assigned to the Diane Dahl who created "For the Love of Teaching". The first post I read and responded to was that of Engaging Brains. She discussed about how if teachers introduce neuroplasticity to their students they can be aware of how to train themselves to succeed in school. She included an example that I found very interesting that was very relevant in supporting her topic. She wrote, ""Why do we practice so much?" For example, here's a great story about neuroscientists investigating how learning affects the brain. Medical researchers were fascinated with how veteran cab drivers could navigate the busy streets of London so effortlessly and remember all the shortcuts without consulting a map. So they did brain scans and discovered that the cabbies' hippocampal areas, the part of the brain associated with spatial reasoning, were larger than those of other adults. All those years of driving and remembering routes had literally changed their brains. Studies of musicians have found similar results of the impact of practice, practice and more practice.". I had a teacher in high school that did something similar to what Mrs. Dahl is talking about and it changed my outcome grade for the course. It was a very hard course but with her help I succeeded. I have now taking what I learned and have tried to apply it to every course I have taken since then. It was very interesting and I will definitely use this approach with my future students and hopefully it will make a difference as it did me.

Two weeks later, I went to back Diane Dahl's blog to check and see if she has created a new post since her last one. Since she has not, I read and commented on the most previous to Engaging Brains. This post was named What Does Neuroplasticity Research Suggest About the Potential of all Students to Master the 4 cs? The brain changes in response to what we hear, what we see, and what we do. The brain creates new neuro-synapses to new experiences that occur daily. An example of this is through vocabulary and reading. Learning new vocabulary words and reading broadens our personal vocabulary in our daily lives. Neuroplasticity is transforming into the form of how us as teachers think about our students success-ability. With all students receiving the same amount of belief in them, they will all feel as if they can succeed. A teacher has to set aside the thought of "natural ability" and assumptions embedded into our society. By taking this view, we can create an enabling behavior environment, rather than a constraining one, that will help students succeed in school and work life. One thing that will make this successful is understanding two things; 1) this is not just for young people, 2) even as an adult, you have to understand you will never stop learning. Some strategies for teaching and learning this are: 1) introduce neuroplasticity to your students so that they may be aware, 2) identify students who stand out with critical skill development, 3) while teaching core subjects, for example, teach math operations and comprehension strategies,4) model problem solving strategies by thinking out loud (great way to teach students how to work and study), 5) go beyond the classroom, spread the word! I commented replying that I believe everyone is born with God-given talents but also you can do anything you set your mind too. It is society that brings your drive to accomplish goals down. I will definitely use this approach in my classroom so that my students are aware that they do not have a predestined future but rather than can create it themselves!

Project #10

A little longer than seven minutes but I thought all of the detail was essential.

C4T#3

These past two weeks I have been following John T. Spencer and his blog page Education Rethink. I have noticed that he talks about situations and issues that is school related that no one even thinks about. The first blog post that I read and commented on was This is What Happened When We Stay Quiet with the topic of the American dream minimized/absent for young students not born in the country. He states that the American dream comes with an asterisk beside the word meaning that there is something else following the word in small fine print. Students at a young age are accepting the fact they will never achieve their dreams, so why even try? It is very saddening and heart breaking to hear that the dreams of a child are crushed before they even graduate high school. The issue is so belittled that no one will even consider talking about the situation. The second video, Changing What We Can Control, Spencer discuses the topic of students experiences that are not comfortable that gives bad feedback to students. It is simple things such as locks not being on the stall doors in the bathroom. Some students who may be shy or easily intimidated, this creates uncomfortable situations. If students are not comfortable or if they have had an unpleasant situation, instead of focusing on their lesson and learning, they are focused on their uncomfortable situation. The point of his blog post, is to share his knowledge of students responses to uncomfortable situations so that teachers and administrators can beware of what is going on and help control the things that they can.

Project #12B

Project #15/12B

Blog Post #11

The driving question for this blog post was, "What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?"

The first video was Back to the Future, by Brian Crosby. His video was about a project that he did with his students that integrated technology in many ways. He felt that curriculum has been narrowed over the years and that it is keeping students from having real life experiences. The main idea of his project was to send a balloon up into the air. His class did some reading and activities with pressure to get the project started. This got his students excited. He was able to get his students to incorporate various types of technology into his project. They embedded videos into their blogs, wrote about the science behind their experiments, learned to make wiki pages, used their class Flikr account to write stories about what it would be like to be the balloon, used free online software to design book covers, illustrated their stories with Flikr photos, did more work with their blogs, and made trading cards using free online software. Mr.Crosby also had his students write "high hopes," for their community, their school,and the world. Their blogs got many views which inspired them to ask other people from all over the world to write their own "high hopes." This taught the children to develop their own learning networks. The class also used google maps to track their balloon as it went into the air. By putting all of their work on their blogs, the class got to show off their work to other students. They are doing language intense activities which encourage them to read/write, to learn content, to clarify and share, and to tell a story. These activities encourage them to be creative, want feedback, articulate orally, connect globally/aware globally, want authentic audiences, and remember the science.

The second video was the Blended Learning Cycle by Paul Anderson. He turned his classroom into a video game. He moved from teacher-centered learning environments to one focused on students. He said the biggest obstacle he encountered was trying to get his students to learn independently. He designed each level of the video game around a blended learning cycle. He believes in the power of learning and questioning. He described blended learning as taking the compelling parts of learning: online, mobile, classroom learning and just blending them together in the classroom and using that technology in a powerful way. He said the five E’s of the Learning Cycle were engage, explore, expand, and explain all of which revolve around evaluation. He had a unique way of combining these methods with his quivars. Quivars stands for question, investigation/inquiry, video, elaboration, review, and summary Quiz. He uses the question part of this process as a hook to get his students interested. Next comes the students investigating by examining what is happening- you let the students experiment. You then use a video which frees you up for other things because the students can watch it independently. Elaboration comes when the students read about what they are doing or make diagrams for it. Then they review. He meets individually or with small groups and asks them questions to check their understanding. They can’t go onto the summary quiz until the teacher is sure they know what they are talking about. The quiz tests them on what they know and if they don’t know it, then they go back. He doesn’t think you’ve learned something until you can explain it to someone else. After they go through about five learning cycles, they have a unit test. The students do all the grading, but the teacher asks really good probing questions.

The third video was Making Thinking Visible by Mark Church. He had his students work in small groups to have a discussion about a video they watched. He wanted them to come up with a headline for what their unit was all about. He asked them to think about how their ideas/thinking were extended. He then wanted them to think about the challenge or the puzzle with the topic in general. He asked them to search for human origins. One of the students described his question as, "How could we sum up everything we have been talking about in just a phrase?" Every group had to have a couple of words to say behind their headline. Once they did their final project, he was going to ask them what the headline is now. He was doing this to get his students thinking how the story has changed and how their thinking has changed.

The fourth video was Building Comics by Sam Pane. He was teaching his students how to figure out what information websites might be after. He asked his students, “What kind of power does the internet give us?” He told them to be specific. They had a class discussion about this. He told his students that a digital citizen is a person who chooses to act safely, respectfully, and with responsibility whenever you are online. He then asked them to build a comic about their digital superhero. His class used a website which allowed them to do this. He showed his class how to make a superhero for about five minutes, and then let them do it themselves. He matched the lesson up with English language standards. The students are able to create a narrative between themselves and the superhero in order to put together a complete story. This project gave the students a sense of ownership. The students were able to analyze the situation that they were in and analyze the text structure of the comic book in order to build a complete narrative. He had his students take what he called a, “gallery walk.” This was his way of having them peer review. The children were very eager to share their comics with the class. The english language standards in his project were to write narratives to develop imagined experiences or events, analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to text, ask and answer questions.

The fifth video was Project Based Learning by Dean Shareski. In this video, three teachers worked together to combine history, English, and information processing and embedded the principles of project based learning to create a unique learning experience for students. Project based learning helps to create engaged learners with deeper understanding. The teachers had to convince their administration that what they wanted to do with the students could really be beneficial for them. The kids use technology as a tool to bring the content to life in their classes. Their idea gave them the luxury of time: time to blend ideas into content, time to go deeper into learning, and time to provide quality feedback for students. They are able to give students multiple perspectives. The students love the projects and enjoy doing them.

The sixth video was Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program. The video described project based learning as in depth learning that integrates thematic instruction based on real-world problems using research based projects and presentations. Project based learning helps to take away the fear of public speaking because children get used to it at an early age. They like to have the students make a lot of decisions on their own to create in themselves a sense of power. The teachers put trust in their students and give them ownership of their work which makes the students accountable. Students learn to work independently, cooperatively, how to solve problems, how to communicate with each other, and to support each other. It also helps children to learn in different ways because it incorporates many different intelligences and learning styles.

What we learned from these videos was that teaching with technology can be done in many different ways. These videos showed us that projects should encourage learning from students and that technology can be used to make classroom projects fun for students. These videos really showed us the diversity among techniques for project based learning, but with the same consensus that it is something we should all try with out own classrooms. We all enjoyed getting to see how experiments worked out for these teachers in their own classrooms and hope that we can someday develop such amazing projects as these.

Project #12 A

Blog Post #10

What can we learn from Sir Ken Robinson?

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!

Mr. Robinson gives this speech about creating a shift from standardized schools to personal learning that creates an atmosphere where students natural talents can be brought out and used to their advantage. He began his lecture with presenting a climate crisis. There is a climate crisis in the environment but he mentioned a different one. A climate crisis resulting in human resources by making poor use of our talents. People are not using their natural talents or they may not even know what their talents are. There are people in this world who love what they do and enjoy life; while, on the other hand, there are other people who dislike what they do and only wait for the weekend so they may have a break. Educational systems around the world are being reformed, meaning, they are improving a broken model. The educational system should not be an evolution but rather than, at this point, be a REVolution. It seems as if life at an early age is preparing for college. Some people may not be fit for college, may not want to go, or may wait a while before going. So what about for those students? When they graduate high school they need to be prepared for the next step in their journey. Discovering and building their natural talent will help them succeed in life and most importantly be happy! Instead of the educational system being standardized, it needs to be customized to occupy every students needs. If you are doing something you love, then, many hours spent seems like a very short period of time. Vis versa, if you are doing something that is not enjoyable, then, the clock seems to goes by so much slower. This is very relate-able to how students feel about school. People are opting out of education because it is not interesting to them and they are not passionate about it. Mr. Robinson finished up his lecture with stating how we need to move the educational system to an agricultural atmosphere/environment. Farmers grow their crops and nourish them. They customize to their crops needs. This is the same with students. Revolutionizing the educational system to discovering, creating, and developing the students natural talents and customize the education to and for them. 

C4K for March

Week 1 & 2: The past 2 weeks I have been viewing 2 students blog posts. I had the privilege of viewing Gillian's and Alisha's blogger. Gillian discussed a story that was about his Christmas present one yer. Him and his family went to Walt Disney world and absolutely recommended that everyone go just to ride the The Tower of Terror. He had a wonderful time and it made him feel like a kid again (lol). Another students blog I was able to visit was Ms. Alisha. Her assignment was to read a book and make a video about what she learned. She did her video on "Harold the Giraffe". Harold was very smart and gave her useful information about her oxygen. She learned that her oxygen went to her lungs and brain to support her. I have her a little bit of advice by saying that she needed to listen to Mr. Harold because he sounded very smart Another great week of viewing young students blogs. Looking forward to next week as well!

Week3: This week I read Tyla-Marie's blog from New Zealand. I commented on two of her blog posts because they were very interesting. The first post I read was about her goals. Their assignment was to create a blog post about her personal goals of 2014 and her most proud moment of 2013. She wants to exceed in every aspect of her life in school. She wants to get better and over exceed her grade level in the areas of math, reading, and writing. She is very goal-oriented (in which I love because I AM TOO). I gave her some encouraging words that I hope she will follow throughout her life. My dad gave me this advice when I was young and it has stuck with me through life so far. They key to success starts with a good plan/goal. If you have a goal, write it down. If you do not write it down, you do not have a goal - you have a wish. The second blog post I commented on was the assignment in which she had to create a diary log entry that included her being in the time of the Boer war. She also had to create a picture that gave life to her text. I love this assignment because the students had to truly think about that time period and what people had to go through during that time. She created a wonderful post and picture. Below is the picture and diary entry that she created.

Week 4: This week I read a post created by Ashlee. She wrote a report about the missing Malaysia plane MH370. She updated her viewers about what is going on with the missing plane and what we are doing to find it. She gave a lot of detail in her blog post and she seemed very interested in news. I suggested that she may like news enough to go into news broadcasting or journalism. I believe if students have an interest in something at a young age, when teachers recognize it, they may want to suggest things they could do so that students can develop a goal or start thinking about what they would like to do in life after school. 

Blog Post #9

For this blog post, we were to watch Kathy Cassidy's interviews and personal videos where she recorded what goes on inside of her classroom. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the videos (as always) because the teachers give so much useful information to help us, as future teachers, later on.

In the video Little Kids.. Big Potential, Mrs. Cassidy recorded her class and showed us what the inside of her classroom looks like. She is a first grade teacher with very smart students. The students post their work online (using Blogger) so that the whole world can see. Other students, future teachers (college students), teachers, and parents are commenting on their work and giving feed back to the students. They are having online video conversations with professionals to be able to ask them questions and get useful and knowledgeable answers/feedback from an actual person.

In Interview with Kathy Cassidy part 1, she discusses how she came about to share what goes on inside her classroom; why she uploaded the original video of "Little Kids.. Big Potential". She discusses how her students and parents love and appreciate using blog. One very useful tool she mentioned in this interview was about using "class blog mister". Class blog mister keeps track of how many page views each students blog receives. Students are excited to view how many page views they have received because of the huge and diverse audience.

In Interview with Kathy Cassidy part 2, she discusses how twitter is useful for your PLN (personal learning network). Even though it takes time to find people who will be an asset to your PLN, it is very useful when you do. Others will upload useful links which you may stumble across that you may you want to try out, do further research about, or actually start using right away.


In Interview with Kathy Cassidy part 3, students from EDM310 at the University of South Alabama asked Kathy Cassidy questions, in which, she responded and gave advice about. Students asked questions about blogs, Facebook, protection of young students from outside world while online, and commenting on others blogs.

The videos provided by Kathy Cassidy are very beneficial to future students. One topic that truly stood out to me when watching the interviews was during interview 3. A students asking Kathy Cassidy about how to protect students from the outside world. They can range from spam, predators, etc. Her response to this concern was teaching the students how to use the internet and what to do on the internet. With today's technology so advanced, students need to know what to do in case they are confronted with a problem. This is useful not only in school but while at home as well.

Project #14

My lesson plan that I decided to create this week was "All about the Cell". I decided the best way to incorporate project-based learning was for the students to actually CREATE cells. They will build a real-life model of what a eukaryote and prokaryote cell looks like along with all of the components inside of them. The leading event and driving question is designed for the students to get motivated and interested in their project. If they know the differences in the cells and who and what are made up of those cells, then, they should be able to draw conclusions about what would happen if the cells come in contact with one another. This is a very open project so that they students may create their own ideas on how they would like to represent their cell.

My Project Overview from Buck Institute
http://www.scribd.com/doc/212787569/Project-Overview-PDF

My Project Calendar from Buck Institute
http://www.scribd.com/doc/212791145/Project-Calendar-PDF

My Essential Elements Checklist from Buck Institute
http://www.scribd.com/doc/212791876/Essential-Elements-Checklist-PDF

Video Book Project #9

Blog Post #8

Find some 21st Century Learning and Communicating Tools? Tell us about 

them. Tell us where we can find them. Give a thorough review of at least one of 

them.

After doing research, watching videos, getting other teachers opinions, I have come to the solution of using "Flipping the Classroom" with my future class. I am a Biology and Secondary Education major; therefore, I will be teaching high school science. I know, in all reality, not everyone is like myself and loves science and biology. By understanding this, I know that students who are not interested in the subject will not be interested in listening and taking notes from lectures. A huge part of Biology and any science is understanding definitions and what things mean/are. If I can flip the classroom to where they can do the lecture part of the lesson at home and take notes, then, while in class, do homework-like experiments and hands on learning, I think I will be able to grab more students attention. I would use this tool of "Flipping the Classroom" with the help of YouTube and Google docs. YouTube is a great source of entertainment and also learning. I would create a video for lessons and upload it to YouTube so that students (while at home) can watch and take notes as their lecture. Why this is useful, is not only taking away lecture in classroom for my time for project-based learning, but also so that they students may go back and re-watch the videos in case they needed too. Parents and also administrators would be able to view the videos and see what goes on inside of my classroom. By taking away lecture while in class, it opens up so much more time for hands-on projects that will help the students learn more efficiently. Katie Gimbar explains "Flipping the Classroom" in more detail and also with her own personal examples of how she uses this technique. She accepts questions from parents, other teachers, and administrators, and answers them with a YouTube video that is uploaded to her account for everyone to see. I highly suggest checking out her videos. Here is the link that will lead you to her videos. 

C4T #2

These past couple of weeks I have been following Joey Feit's blog. I have been reading, commenting, and learning about his teaching strategies and what he does as an educator. His first post that I read was "How I teach: Mike Doyle". Joey made a blog post about his interview with Mike Doyle. I learned a lot from Mike because we share some of the same qualities. He goes the extra mile with his students just like I do with everything I put my attention too. He gave many useful tools that he uses like Google Handouts, iMovie, Twitter, and Google Forms. I enjoyed getting to know what about what he does with his classes and the advice he gave. Passion and going the extra mile changes students lives daily and it is teachers like him who make a difference.

The second blog post I read was that of an announcement for an open discussion with a very interesting topic. Anyone can join the discussion and if you do post to leave a comment, your name and information will be used in an scientific study (unless you let them know that you do not want your name mentioned). The link to the blog to the information is here. The topic link that gives the reasoning behind the open discussion is here. The topic is what can PE teachers do to engage girls in their lessons and also why are they not engaged. If everyone gives a little information and their thoughts, maybe experts can find a solution to what teachers can do to increase girls learning about physical education. Me, being an athletic girl, I do not understand why in general girls are not interested in being physically fit and healthy. I will be attending the discussion today (March 10, 2014) to get further information and possibly contribute to the discussion. Even though I am a Biology and Secondary Education major, it is still useful information for everyone so that they may education friends, co-workers, girl-friends, etc, about physical education.

Project #13

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Blog Post #7

What can we learn about teaching and learning from Randy Pausch?

The above question was the leading discussion question for this weeks blog assignment. We were to watch Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. In the beginning of the video, he explains why he titled his speech with "...Last Lecture". Randy Pausch states that he has a cancerous tumor but will not be defeated by this terrible incident. I had to watch the video twice to gather my information about what I would talk about. The first time I watched this video, I did not think that there was any solid information for future teachers learn about teaching and learning but instead he was talking about life in general. After watching the video the second time, I began to understand more about what he was talking about. Two quotes that stuck out to me tremendously was, "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted," and "Be prepared because "luck" is where preparation meets opportunity." He also talked about showing gratitude, to not complain and just work harder, be good at something, in which, will make you valuable, get feedback and listen to it, and brick walls shows us our dedication. At the end of his lecture he states that everything he talked about was for his children. He wanted to leave some advice behind for them just in case he could not defeat his worst enemy. I love that he used his lecture to do that for his family, but the more I listened to it, I realized it actually did relate to help future teachers. Teachers are to instill these characteristics in their students to be successful in life. In one week, teachers will spend 35 hours with their students. That is plenty of enough time to build students character. I hope when I begin to teach I will be able to instill character, morals, and dedication in my students because that is what its really all about. 

Lesson Plan #1

Lesson Plan #1: Endangered Species

EDM310 Lesson Plan 1

Blog Post #6

PLN, I have come, to find out, is such an essential tool for teachers! PLN stands for personal learning networks. Students have their own personal learning networks through friends and peers.  When students have questions about school work, projects, homework, study problems, tests, etc, they can call, text, tweet, or Facebook to get in touch with their classmates to be able to accomplish their goal. Teachers, most likely, may not have those connections like students do.  PLN enables teachers to connect and establish relationships with other teachers, administrators, professionals, and experts. For a new college student at the University of South Alabama, I do not know a lot of other students, and I have found that Facebook and Twitter are the best forms of PLN for me.

Another form of PLN, for tools, is through an internet website called Symbaloo. I have found this website very helpful! If you set Symbaloo as your homepage, like I did, you can access all of your favorite websites as soon as you pull up your browser. Symbaloo allows you to add titles, which are websites, such as G Mail, Pinterst, Ebay, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, and so much more! There is even a Google tool bar in the middle of the page where you can search Google as if you were on the regular Google homepage.

My goal for starting my personal PLN is to start right away! I first need to do my research on other biology classes that have blogs and practice problem-based learning because those are some of the qualities that will be involved in my own classroom.

Project #8

Blog Post #5

What do you learn from these conversations with Anthony Capp?

 This weeks assignment was to watch personal interviews with Mr. Strange, my EDM310 professor, and Anthony Capps, a former student of EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I became very intrigued after the first video of the interviews. Mr. Capps gives specific and detailed examples of how he applies certain topics into his classroom. He gave real-life examples on how to incorporate many different tools into his classroom which sparked my interest for my future students in my future classroom. Some of the different tools he spoke about were problem-based learning, iCurio, Discovery Ed, and general technology on how to use it in the classroom. 

He described problem-based learning close to my point of view on how I foresee it being used. He stated that when people think of problem-based learning, what comes to mind is doing a project at the end of a lesson or lecture to make sure the students understand and to achieve something. What it is shifting to is using problem-based learning as a learning tool to help the students learn AS THEIR LESSON. When teachers are given the content from the state, teachers have to create a problem-based learning atmosphere and lesson for the students to learn that content. Mr. Capps described it as in order for the students to finish the project, they must know the content. The key to achieving this goal is for the teachers to create a project that is interesting, fun, and knowledgeable, to engage the students for them to finish their work and learn!

Two other tools I learned about from listening to Mr. Capps interview is that of iCurio and Discovery Ed. iCurio is a way for students to safely search filtered websites for educational purposes. Students are allowed access to clean and appropriate text, audio, media, and images. The asset that caught my attention was that iCurio has a storage capacity, for students and teachers, so that they may save information and be able to come right back to it. Mr. Capps explained how Discovery Ed was very useful and beneficial for him because the website is supported through experts and information through text, video, images, etc. Teachers use it very frequently to bring text to life so that their lessons become more interesting and students engage more.

Technology is such a beneficial tool that helps people in their daily lives. Our world is now revolved around technology. Technology is at school, work, the gas station, grocery store, the bank, driving down the road, etc. So how do we as teachers incorporate the correct use of technology? In this video called Don't Teach Tech-Use It! Mr. Capps explains very effectively how to do so. We as teachers have to introduce technology smartly. When creating assignments, incorporate technology to DISCOVER instead of giving a list of directions that has to be done. Allow room for discovery and the students will pick up rather quickly!

This video, Strange Tips for New Teachers, was my favorite. It was quick and to the point explaining what a teachers job and life consist of. Here are some of the tips that was provided that I was drawn too: 1) be interested in learning yourself; we are to model students behavior, 2) even though teaching is hard work, it is very rewarding, therefore make it fun, 3) do not be committed to "this is what we will do today and that is how it is going to be" because plans may change and teachers have to be open for revising, and 4) create lessons that students will be able to share with friends, peers, or at home (they will be more apt to work harder). My goal for when I become an educator is to create a healthy dose of collaboration, purpose, competition, and pride in my classroom just like Mr. Capps does. I learned a huge amount of great information from the interviews and I am very thankful I was given the opportunity to access that beneficial information.

C4K Summary for Month of February

This past week I was to read elementary age students blogs and comment on them. I read Sharkies by Adam. Adam skyped with a woman named Sharky Gillian. He was introduced to MANY new species and interesting facts about sharks. One interesting fact that he was seemed very interested in was that one reason sharks are killed is because of the use of their fins. People cook and like to eat fin soup. An interesting fact that he actually taught me was statistical. One hundred million sharks are killed yearly by humans; while five humans are killed yearly by sharks. I fell in love with his interest and care for the sharks. I am a Biology/Secondary Education major so we definitely share a lot in common! I hope he reads and takes my suggestion of watching the Discovery Channel during Shark Week because I know he will enjoy it just as much as I do!

This week I was to read Kyla's blog and post a comment on her page. Her page is very new; created on the 5th of February this year. She has posted a survey asking simple questions for her to get to know who is reading her page. I love the idea of that because she getting to know her followers on a more personal level. She asked questions such as: what is your favorite color?, which is your favorite animal?, etc. I think she is heading in a good direction with her blog and I am excited to see where she leads it! 

My Sentence Video

My Sentence and My Passion Is..

Blog Post #4

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

What questions do we ask? How do we ask? What style of questions should we ask? If you, as a teacher, can answer these questions and carryout correctly formatted questions in your classroom, you will be a very successful problem-based teacher! The reason teachers use questioning strategies in the classroom is to improve learning by guiding the students to think and create their own personal ideas about topics.

When asking questions in the classroom, as a teacher, I will be modeling and exampling for students for how they should study and create their own ideas. Here is a few simple steps to follow when forming questions for your classroom: 1) plan questions ahead of time (not only the question but also when you will ask the question, along with follow up responses and questions), 2) make sure the questions that you ask are leading towards the courses goals, 3) stay away from leading questions (because it suggest the answer within the question) but include open-ended and closed questions, 4) when asking a "yes or no" question, have a follow up question for additional information so that the students can support their reasoning, 5) be direct and clear, 6) try to avoid asking more than question at a time.

As teachers respond to the answer a student has given, to the student, it is very nerve-racking because they do not want to give an incorrect answer and "look" dumb to their peers. As a teacher, I want to be encouraging but I also want to let the student know what is incorrect within the response. Here are some simple steps for how teachers should respond to students answers: 1) after asking a question, wait 3-5 seconds to allow students time to think and formulate their response, 2) if no one answers re-word the question, if that does not work, call on a student to answer to grab their attention, 3) avoid interrupting a students response, 4) show interest in all of students responses even if they are wrong, 5) when responding back to answers give the students more info so that they can continue thinking about the topic, 6) if a students response is incorrect, make acknowledgment of where it was incorrect and ask more questions leading them to brainstorm and come up with a correct or more correct response.

After taking a few educational courses at Cumberland University last semester, I already know a little about questioning strategies and how they can be applied. After reading The Right Way to Ask Questions, I was introduced to a new perspective about questioning strategies. The main reasoning that I found this useful and that it jumped off the page to me was having to ask specific questions. It seems simple and easy but when I read further along I become more interested in their point of view. They stated that asking, "do you all understand?" is not a sufficient of enough question because the students may not know that they do not know. The reason this attracted my interest as much as it did is because I  was one of those students. I did not know that I did not know and I am paying for it in college by having to work extra hard in my studies. If I would have been brought up in today's educational society with more questioning strategies and problem-based learning, I think I would have it a little more easier today. 

Project #4 Summary of C4T

For this project assignment, I was to read and comment on a teachers blog that was assigned to me named Dylan Blain. I become very lucky to be assigned this physical education teacher, not because of the subject, but because of the blog posts he had made. Without being assigned this teacher and being able to read his post, I would have probably never come across such beneficial websites! The two websites that I become exposed to and did research on was  Edmodo (I strongly suggest watching the demo that is on this site to see what all they have to offer) and Sports Plan.

For the first post I read, he talked about the new update to Sports Plan. I found this incredibly interesting because of all the benefits for coaches, players, and even physical education teachers just like Mr. Blain. He described examples of what Sports Plan has to offer on iPad and Mac such as creating drills, create drill sketches, different session plans for a variety of sports, and has a vast selection of animated drills to browse within its library for every sport. He stated that he highly recommends this tool for coaches but also gives some warning precautions with it as well. The warning precautions were that of internet access must be available to use website and having to purchase some things inside website for availability of using product. Being a future high school biology teacher, my goal is to work my way up to becoming a head volleyball coach one day. Even though I will not be using this website to benefit my classes (obviously) but I will keep it in mind when I reach my goal of being involved on a volleyball team staff.

For the second post I read, Mr. Blain talked about Work Flow, Edmodo, and Google Drive. What I understood of this blog post \when he talked about Work Flow was that he, as a teacher, could get on this app and create assignments, upload pictures, etc, but it is what he did with the Work Flow app that interested me. He uses two apps that he can upload his work onto to be able to share it with a variety of individuals, such as, Edmodo and Google Drive. Google drive is something I am already familiar with but am still learning the ropes on. This is the first year I have been exposed to Google Drive, which is very odd considering how beneficial it is. Edmodo is the website that caught my attention very quickly. I did some research and found that Edmodo is a website that I will introduce to my class the very first year I teach. It has the the look and feel of a social media site while actually being a useful tool for in and out of the classroom. Mr. Blain states at the end of his post, "Either way, both tools allow the mobile nature of the iPad to be used to its full potential for teachers and students..". I strongly agree with his last comment and am very fortunate to have been assigned his blog page!

Project #3

Blog Post #3

For my third blog post, the assignment is to describe what I have learned about peer editing. In class, we went over our rubrics that we created within our personal groups. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to view other groups rubrics to get new ideas to incorporate for my future classes. Some of the unique characteristics that groups included in their rubric for grading blog posts are that of: text layout, timeliness, preparedness, and position of student. Of course grading of criteria, grammar, media, HTML, plagiarism, etc. were incorporated in most of the groups work, but it was the above four that were different that seemed appropriate and essential to this class.

Peer editing means to work with someone your own age to help improve, revise, and edit their work/writing. In the video, What Is Peer Editing, they define using peer editing into 3 simple steps: compliments, suggestions, and corrections. 1) Always begin your feedback with a compliment! It is important to let your peer know the good things about their work and to STAY POSITIVE. 2) Suggestions are appropriate for: word choice, details, organization, sentences, and topic (and remember to STAY POSITIVE). 3) Corrections. Always check for punctuation, sentence structure, grammar, and spelling (and again, STAY POSITIVE). An important reminder that they ended with is to be specific and always complete all the 3 steps!

Another video that is adorable, appropriate, and straight to the point about peer editing is Writing Peer Review (Peer Critique) TOP 10 Mistakes. The children who created this video was able to explain and demonstrate the wrong ways to approach peer editing. They give very clear and simple mistakes on what to do while practicing this useful tool. I believe from watching these two videos it has helped me see a clear understanding on what to do and not to do!

A question that I have been asked to think about is whether or not I believe in critiquing peer editing through comments on personal blog post or through private email. I believe it depends on the situation. If a blog post has no use of correct word choice, use of details, organization, correct sentence structure, or correct topic use (and it is a complete disaster) I would use private email to edit one of my peers post. If they do demonstrate these things correctly, with minor changes needed, I believe a comment would be sufficient.