Part #2 Blog Assignment #5

This semester I learned about PLN's and how useful they are for not only teachers, but also for students. I did not realize though that by using Twitter, I was using a PLN until EDM 310. I will for sure continue to use PLN's throughout my teaching career and for my own personal use. The PLN's that I use is Twitter, Delicious, Edutopia, and Skype.

C4T April

I was able to comment on Becky Goerend's  blog this month. Becky talked about how she likes to make a connection with the students she teaches. She mentions how being a teacher is rewarding, but the relationships we make with our students can change the way we are. She recently moved classrooms and started to teach a different area and was worried about if she would be able to make connections with her new students like her previous ones. Needless to say, she of course did make a connection with them and realized that all that she did can change a students life. I like how she mentions that even though teaching is important that having a connection with your students is also important.

C4K April

This past month I was able to comment on a few great kids blog's.

On Audrey's blog in Ms. L's class was about about a book report she did. She wrote about the book Forevermore by Cindy Miles. She did a great job about keeping the reader interested about what the book is really about. Audrey also gave great descriptive scenes in the report that gave the reader a better visual of the things that were going on.

The other child's blog I posted on was William's from Mr. Gardner's class. William had a poem about the sense that people have. The poem was all about how people tweet on Twitter. He talks about how the things we tweet can bring in the different sense while just being on the internet.

This week I was able to comment on Tynisha's blog. Her blog was about her bucket list, which is were she sees herself in the next five and ten years. In five years from now she sees herself being in her first year of college. Ten years from now she says she plans to have a good job that pays a lot of money. Her goal in life it to get a lot of money and life a good life.

Blog Assignment #14

From the article "Teaching Our Children Can Be A Profession", by Joel Klein expresses the problems that are in the education system. Some of the problems that are listed in the article are:

• Pick From The Best 

                Employers need to recruit from the top third of the graduates.
                There needs to be better academic training for teachers.
                The reward system for teachers need to change.

• Seniority Distraction

                 For teachers to stay employed depends on how long they have been somewhere more than                      their skill.
                 Excellence should be a guiding tool for teachers to become better.
                 Teachers should go through a series of test after so many years to become re-certified.

• Radical Change 

           

   I completely understand where Joel Klein is coming from with wanting to make these changes in the school system. A lot of people think that just anyone can be a teacher, but it shouldn't be like that at all. Teachers are teaching the kids of the future and how we teach now will determine what the will go on to know and become. Also, teachers are not held to the highest of standards at all. Just beside someone has been somewhere longer does not make them the better employee. I enjoyed reading this article by Joel Klein and agree with what he has said greatly.

Blog Assignment #13

What are the many of different ways to incorporate technology and tools into Secondary Ed. English?

Read Five Top Technology Tools for The English Classroom by Sarah Findlater
Watch the video Technology In The High School English Classroom by Rose Mullaney
Read Emerging Technology Has Positive Impact in Classroom by Ryan Lytle


From each of these posts a future can learn a lot. From the "Five Top Technology Tools for the English Classroom" it is a great source for allowing new teachers how to introduce technology and what tools would be most useful. For the "Technology in the High School English Classroom" gives a great outlook on how technology can be used in the classroom to really benefit the student. 

C4K Month of April

This past month I was able to comment on a few great kids blog's.

On Audrey's blog in Ms. L's class was about about a book report she did. She wrote about the book Forevermore by Cindy Miles. She did a great job about keeping the reader interested about what the book is really about. Audrey also gave great descriptive scenes in the report that gave the reader a better visual of the things that were going on.

The other child's blog I posted on was William's from Mr. Gardner's class. William had a poem about the sense that people have. The poem was all about how people tweet on Twitter. He talks about how the things we tweet can bring in the different sense while just being on the internet.

This week I was able to comment on Tynisha's blog. Her blog was about her bucket list, which is were she sees herself in the next five and ten years. In five years from now she sees herself being in her first year of college. Ten years from now she says she plans to have a good job that pays a lot of money. Her goal in life it to get a lot of money and life a good life.

C4T #3

This month I was able to comment on Daniel Edwards blog.

   My favorite post that he had was "How Do We Prepare Our Children For Tomorrow" and it was a video that was about how students should not be determined of their ability by a "grade". The video mentioned how when students remember their favorite teacher, they usually remember what that teacher taught them. The video also talked about just because a child can or cannot do the work does not deal with the process beforehand such as can that child work in a group, can they collaborate with others well, and much others. Sure it is hard to measure these things, but we should be grading on the child and the things they did and the journey they take. I like this idea because we are no longer judging students on what their work "looks" like, but how much time and effort they put in to get the outcome they received.

    The other post done by Daniel Edwards was Why Innovate?. This one mostly was about how even though technology is a great tool it is still just a resource, and that it needs to be taught how to be used properly. He uses the word pedagogy, which I had not heard of before until I actually read his post. Pedagogy is that of the teaching or practice of something in an academic subject. That can be helpful because even if we think we know all about the computer or other technologies there is still so much more to learn and to keep growing.

Blog Assignment #12

Project #14

Project Overview         

Blog Assignment #11

    In the first video of Back to the Future, Mr. Crosby teaches us there is a lot to allow our students to do in the classroom. He showed us that he had his class using blogs to embed videos, write about what things happened in the projects, and why they happened the way they did. He even has his fourth graders create Wiki webpages which I myself just recently learned about. Mr. Crosby had his students write a story about being the balloon from their project and the trip the balloon would make in the air. He mentions how the students would start with thinking inside of the box, but then they would think outside of the box. Once the students finished the story they would post their stories onto their blog. Afterwards, Mr. Crosby had his students write about their own high hopes and post that to their blogs. The kids loved getting comments from other people and even started leaving comments on other students. This allowed the students to connect with other people around the world. His students even Skyped a class in Australia to help them with a project the Australian class did not know how to perform. The kids did not only get to show off what they knew, but his own students learned the language intense such as feedback, read/write content, writing to clarify and share, and much more. The most coolest thing I learned from Mr. Crosby was when a kid was sick, but she was still being able to participate in the classroom. 

      Paul Anderson's video Blended Learning Cycle there is much to learn. First off the blended learning is taking online, mobile, and classroom learning and mix these three forms together. A learning cycle is known for the five E’s which are engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate. When mixing the blended learning and learning cycle together is when there is then the blended learning cycle. Mr. Anderson also uses the acronym of QUIVERS for there to show there are six parts to the learning cycle. The QU is for question to help get the students engaged and starting to think about things. The I is for investigation/inquiry to allow the students to start experimenting about the project. The V is simply video to get the students into doing pod casts and also seeing themselves in their eyes. The E for elaboration will help explain things that the students are supposed to be learning about. For the R, which is for review, will allow him to meet individually and ask the students questions to see their progress. And finally the S is a summary quiz to help test the students about what they should have learn. I love when Mr. Anderson makes the comment that we cannot really learn something until we explain it to someone else. I learned the most from this video since it gave a lot of great things to use in the classroom such as the acronym and the background knowledge. 

     For video three Talk about puzzles in small groups and create a headline and share with the class. Give a few words to back up the headline. Then put up headline for display. Then when kids do their final project he will ask what is the headline and have them think about how things have changed in that story and in time.

Fourth Video: Building Comics

     Bring up a quote from Spiderman to them that is common to them.  Small discussion and then discuss a digital citizen. How to be safe and responsible online. No hacking and giving personal info. Will create a digital citizen superhero that will allow the students to build. Take five minutes to show students then allow them to build their own. They then have to take the character and put them in an imaginary situation that is seen in the real world. Next there will be a story created. Bigger sense of ownership since students created the superhero. Students are able to analyze things better. Next they take a gallery walk and give them a comment on a students comic. To show students they will be exposed to a lot of things online.

Fifth Video: Project Based Learning

     Students may not be able to tell you what class they are in. Projects engage learning and deeper thinkers. Combined all sorts of subjects together. To help make students do better and give better feedback. Makes students say they are proud of their work. Has kids take ownership of it more and want to make it more perfect. 

Project #13

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