C4K Month of March

   
     In Kiley's blog she wrote about five tips for future high school students. The tips were 1. Don't try to fit in, 2. Don't judge people before you meet them, 3. People will start rumors, 4. Get involved in sports/clubs, and 5. Relationships happen, but do not always think he/she is the one forever. After each tip she went more in depth about to follow that certain rule.

     For S'jon's blog he wrote about the recent PLAN tests he just took. He mentioned how he thinks he did great on each section the test offered along with the math portion which he says he does not do well in. S'jon talks about instead of being stressed like some students it is just best to stay chill and calm which is what he did. 

Project #12

Blog Assignment #10

     In the video Little Kids... Big Potential, done by Ms. Cassidy, her first graders were learning about blogs, webpage, wikis, videos, Skype, and Nintendo DS. Most of the things these first graders are learning about, us college kids are also just now learning it. The kids talked about all the things that they enjoyed about each of these online projects. For the blogs the students feel they are becoming better writers, people get to see them other than just the teacher, and it is a great hhhhtttttttonline portfolio for work. With the videos, it was neat to see how they would do group work and also create videos to help others. I never saw a classroom really use Nintendo DS in the classroom until this video. It was interesting what the kids said about the things helping them and also how the teacher allowed it.
     In Part 1 of the interview with Ms. Cassidy, she talked all about how she uses technology in the classroom. She says she is always adding new things and projects for her students to do. She has had several principals who have not totally supported the technology in the classroom, but there have also been some who were all for it. There are many tools online for students to use other than blogs such as videos and audio. Ms. Cassidy mentions how students should be technology literate and us as teachers should keep up with what is happening in the technology field. I would probably mostly use the blogs like she does in my classroom setting one day since I will be a high school English teacher.

     Part 2 of the interview was really short and to the point. Ms. Cassidy talked about as a teacher where to start when introducing electronics into the classroom. She says to start with something that we are interested in. So if it is writing then possibly start with blogs, but if it's movies then possibly do group project where they must create a video. I like how she mentions to start with something that interests us and maybe not so much the students. I see what she means though because if I am so for it then I will put my all into it.
     For the last and final interview, Part 3, with Ms. Cassidy the students were able to ask her the questions. One student asked about blogs for PE or even how to use cell phones. I never really used to think there could be much technology use in PE, but there are a few things that could really help out. I like how Ms. Cassidy addressed the question about cheating with stating that teachers should continuously be changing the way we make our students present our classwork.
     Overall these were all great videos and gave great information. Ms. Cassidy gave a lot of advice on how to start with using technology such as starting with something that interests the teachers and the different tools to use like Skype, blogs, and wikis.



   

Project #9

Blog Assignment #9

     The video Project-Based Learning For Teachers, done by Tony Vincent, kept me entertained the entire time. The video then made me think about how other projects and videos can make my future students be entertained and engaged in the classroom. Not only was his video entertaining because of all the movements and colors, but also because of what he had to say. The big thing that he included in the video that will help students and teachers teach others is how he put the common core standards. Many people do not really know the standards, but having him include then helps teaching others. A way students and teachers can help teach about project-based learning is showing the effects of it. Tony Vincent says that is keeps children learning and creates a drive through one question. His video is well done to to help others create a better knowledge of what project-based learning is and how it really should be worked.

     In Suzanne Bell's video PBL: What Motivates Students Today, she showed us about how students are staying on track and keep learning with project-based assignments. She pulled videos that students did individually that they recorded themselves at home to make this YouTube video. The age range is all different which is one way of teaching us that students at such a young age are already recording themselves and are able to upload the videos. This is a type of project-based learning because it kept the children intrigued and had them do the video. She also had a section in the video for what rewards really work in the classroom. One child mentioned about how there is a "color chart" which awards the students with money to help them spend in the school to get things they may want. I personally have seen this work when I went on a cite visit into a school. This video in general helps teachers and students teach about project-based learning since they were able to make this entire video and show what all they were able to do. The kids also had a smile on their faces the entire time which to me showed that they liked this assignment.

     Pflug's blog post Project Based Learning in PE, was an interesting read. I enjoyed reading about how there is a way to incorporate project base learning into the physical education field. I also liked the fact of how this bog post was told how exactly it can be introduced into the gym classes. My favorite one was that of having groups of students create fitness plans, but late being able to tell others about them. This in general was a great blog post.

     From the post of Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning by John Larmer and John R. Mergendollar there were of course seven tips mentioned, but also mentioned two things every project needs. Every projects needs to have a personal learning meaning for the students and also fills an educational learning purpose. The tips that are needed for a project based learning activity are:

1. A Need To Know
A teacher can cause this need to know learning by first introducing an "entry event" that will get the students asking questions and wanting to know more. As mentioned in the post an entry event can be anything such as a video, guest speaker, field trip, or mock correspondence that sets up a scenario.

2. A Driving Question
This is a question that will help the students think about things and trying to find a reasonable answer to the question. The post mentions that without a driving question is like have an essay with no thesis- no point. A good driving question will give a clear meaning on what we are looking for and also a purpose for looking for an answer.

3.

Add caption

C4T #2

Daniel Edwards Blog
        In Daniel Edwards blog post Top 10 Apps in an Established 1:1 iPad School, he talked about a great many number of apps that are out there to help for students and teachers in the school system. He gives the lists of the apps, but underneath he then gives a brief description about each app he listed. Most of the apps that he has listed I have never even heard of such as Explain Everything, Edmodo, and Showbie. He also mentions the popular apps of iMovie, iTunes U, Pages, and a few others. My favorite app that he mentioned was Edmodo which is a safe site for the students that only has a few people who know the access code be able to get into. It helps let students ask others about challenging questions and helps to slowly introduce a students first use of social media.

     In his other post Why Innovate?, he talks about how to help the distractions in a classroom and slowly bringing in technology. Edwards says that it is hard for a teacher to do 1:1 teaching all the time so it leads to a teacher just doing the best of her abilities, but if there were more resources than this can instead help the students. Having iPads in the classroom with in fact help the students since they can then have the 1:1 learning some students may need, but he says there should be more than just what is on the screen. He says that there should be a need for technology and that of books. He does a great job in saying how these things can both be used, but also approached.

Blog Assignment #8

     From the video Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, Randy Pausch gave a lot of great advice that can be useful for teaching and learning. He talked about different advice to help to remember and to help in the work profession and for everyday life.

      In the video Dr. Pausch started with his childhood dreams, how he achieved or did not achieve them, and how we should not lose sight of our dreams. He says that it is good to have dreams, but you should have specific dreams like how he wanted to experience zero gravity and not necessarily be an astronaut. In his childhood dream section he mentions how we should have something to bring to the table, and that will help for you to be more welcomed. He wanted to play in the NFL, never happened, but talks about the more important things of the sports such as team work and commitments which is something that is used a lot in the work field. Dr. Pausch makes a statement about a time when his coach was telling him that even though someone was hounding him to do better it just showed that person never gave up on him. This can apply to the school field since even though a child may be messing up, just not helping them is not the answer.

     After talking about his childhood dreams he talked about his time at Carnegie Mellon University where he was a professor. Dr. Pausch talked about lessons he learned while working and growing up. He says that anyone can influence us such as parents, teachers, mentors, and even students; student influence is an important one since even though we can influence them they can do the same to us. Even if we are working for someone we should respect authority, but while questioning it. We should never lose our childlike wonder, help others, loyalty is a two-way street, and never give up are other lessons we should keep in our minds.

     At some point everyone needs help. Dr. Pausch created a list of a few ways to help get help which can be useful to share in a classroom to help give students a better understanding how things work with others. He says to get help we must tell the truth, believe in karma, be earnest, apologize when we screw up, and most importantly focus on other, not yourself.

     Randy Pausch finished his wonderful speech with a list of his last important advice which is:

• Be good; it makes us more valuable
• We need to work hard to get what we want
• Find the best in everybody; even if we do not see it right away it is still there 
• Be prepared 

    I loved watching this speech and gained a lot of good advice from it. He is not only a great speaker, but also great at giving useful tips to use in our own lives and especially in the teaching field since we can apply these tips and advice to the classroom.

Blog Assignment #7

      Teaching now-a-days is no longer with pen, paper, and textbooks, but with computers, tablets, and phones. From the first video Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten I was impressed to see that kindergarten students were doing the same things as I am doing now in college such as using iMovie for book trailers. The kids are also eager to fix their mistakes since they know their videos will be to the public. Also from this video I learned about Alabama Virtual Library (AVL). This is a free resource tool for students to go and research things and get a variety of things on what they research sure as pictures, websites, and encyclopedia entries.

      From the video We All Become Learners showed that just because we are teachers does not mean we know everything and are still learning. Kindergarten students were showing the librarian how to use the camera on an iPad quicker than it would of taken for her to figure out or look up. Also mentioned in the video it sounded like a lot more teachers are actually relying on the students to help teach them the technology that is used in the classroom.

      In the video Top 10 Reasons to Use Technology in Education: iPad, Tablet, Computer, Listening Centers gave a great list of tips to help support the technology going on in the classroom.
Tips From Video:   1. Students love it
                              2. Engages students to the four key components of learning
                                  -Active engagement
                                  -Participation in groups
                                  -Frequent interaction and feedback
                                  -Connection to real world experts
                               3.  Professional Development
                               4. Makes Life Easier for Teachers
                               5. Improves Test Scores                                         
                               6. Helps Students With Low Attention Spans
                               7. Learn From The Experts
                               8. Encourages Homework
                               9. Save Money
                              10. Removes Obstacles

      From the final video iPads In The Classroom, it showed how not only are young kids using it, but now also high school students. Everyone is so impressed that younger kids can do all these things and older ones cannot, but in high school there is still not that much technology in the classroom yet. Granted the physics teacher said he has not seen an improvement, he has seen them more engaged with the learning. I liked this video the best because it gave other solutions to things such as helping students read and write and how there are apps for certain learning tools.

Project #7 Part B

To My Parents:

To My Students: 

C4K Summary for February

      This month I was given four different students' blogs to post on.

      Marcus, from Mrs. Semby class, wrote two different clues to help us guess what he was writing about. His two clues were "he likes to dig holes" and "they run to the picnic". Those two clues were the hints to the answer of a dog.

      Hannah S., from Mr. Boylen's 8th grade class, wrote her blog about how her basketball team won a tournament. They were doing a great job and made it all the way to finals. She was writing the blog at the beginning as if they lost the game since she wrote that the other team was ahead and she thought they could not come ahead. At the end of the story, she said they ended up winning the game, but she thinks it would not of happened if it was not for team work.

      Joey's blog was all about how she enjoys going camping every year with her friends and family. She mentioned how when camping at the camp site she will go jumping off the bridge into water with friends, tube down the river, and rides on a train. She mentioned how it is a great way to create memories with her friends and is one reason why she enjoys going so much.