Project 7 Part B

Introduction to Parent Video

Introduction to Class Video

Blog Post #7

According to Dr. Strange's Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten, kindergarden students are using iMovie to make book trailers for the books they read in class. Every time they start a new book, they make a new book trailer. I will need to learn how to effectively use iMovie so I can teach my students. I would like to leave some room for them to try different things and show their creativity. If iPads or MacBooks are provided at my school, I would most definitely put iMovie into use and have each student participate for a grade.

Michele Bennett, the Media Specialist at Gulf Shores Elementary, converses with Dr. Strange in the video We All Become Learners about how students learn from multiple sources, including each other.  I will have to become more in tune with the programs my students will be using, and be ready to help them if need be. However, the best part about incorporating technology is that most of the time, you will only have to teach it once. The students learn from one another…Even teachers are constantly learning from their students! Michele's students are eager to use the media and have begun to ask one another for help, rather than asking her or any other teacher in the classroom.

The video iPads in the Classroom opened my eyes to many educational programs that help students in Chicago public schools learn every day. At one of the schools that special needs students attend, iPads are used to help students communicate using the iConverse app. At a Chicago high school, a physics teacher uses iPads in the classroom helping students build virtual roller coasters. 

What's the moral of the story? The more they use technology, the more engaged they are. The more students are engaged, the more they will learn. 

What does it mean for me? It means a lot of extra time, work, and research on my end to make a difference in my students' lives!

What are the Top 10 Reasons to Use Technology in Education?

1. The students love it. 

2. Uses four key components of learning that students should be involved in

3. Professional development

4. It makes teachers' lives easier

5. Improves test scores

6. Helps students with low attention spans

7. Learn from the experts

8. Encourages completion of homework

9. Saves money

10. Remove obstacles

All in all, technology is changing education. We as educators have to change with it!

C4K #1-4

C4K #1

Jesse B's post: 

In Jesse B's blog post, he summarized "I am Malala," a story he read. The story is about a girl named Malala who lived in Pakistan and stood up for education. Sadly, she was shot by the Taliban. The great part about the story he read gave him insight about real world situations that happen daily. Also, I like that he is learning just how fortunate he is for being able to get the education we get in America.

My comment to Jesse:

Hey Jesse! My name is Abby and I am a college student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I love your posts and I especially enjoyed this one! I am glad you are able to read stories like Malala's and talk about it because these are real life events. This is a great post! Here's a link to my blog if you would like to see mine! (my link)

Jesse replied almost instantly, and he even commented on my Blog Post #3 about Peer Editing.

C4K #2

Macie W's Post:

Macie posted a noun video with two of her classmates. They explained what nouns are and gave great examples of nouns throughout the movie. She also added music to the movie, which made it more catchy. It was a great post for an 8th grade level class, especially because none of the classes I had growing up were so technologically savvy. Overall, I was very impressed with the movie!

My comment to Macie:

Hey Macie!

I am a college student at The University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I'm studying to be a teacher, and I think it's so cool that you are using technology so efficiently in your class! I also play volleyball for my school. Believe it or not, using technology will be of great use to you as you get older. It looks like you and your classmates had a great time making this video! Here is a link to my blog if you would like to check it out!

C4K#3

Aiden's Post:

Aiden summarized Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and did a great job! I like it that students are required to post about what they are reading/doing in class, because whether they like it or not, they are learning great technology skills that they will use for the rest of their lives.

My comment to Aiden:

Hey there Aiden,

I am also a student at the University of South Alabama, and like Patricia, I am studying to be a teacher. I enjoyed your summary of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The whole Harry Potter series is great! I liked how you ended your post with a question because it leaves readers thinking. Great job Aiden!

C4K #4

Diane's Post:

Diane spoke about her beliefs on Valentine's Day and Friday the 13th being the day before. She believes that you should take every day as just another day, and she used great style. She has a bit of a negative outlook about the whole idea of Valentine's Day, but that usually depends on the person.

My comment to Diane:

Hey Diane,

My name is Abby, and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I am studying to be a teacher. Like you, I agree with encouraging people to have a great day on Valentine’s Day, no matter what. I think you did a great job expressing yourself and showed a great sense of style. If I were you, the only thing I would look out for in your posts is typing out each word completely, and throwing in a few missing punctuation marks in sentences. However, I thought you had some great ideas! Good post!

Blog Post #6

In watching the videos with Anthony Capps, I have learned many things. One of the statements he made in Project Based Learning Part 2 was the most blaring topic of most of the videos. Anthony and Dr. Strange agreed that Project Based Learning not only involves a way to evaluate students, but it involves their creativity and teaching themselves. They stress that the most important part about Project Based Learning is that the students actually learn.

In the video iCurio: Conversations with Anthony Capps, Anthony talks about iCurio, an online tool that allows students to safely search audio, video, and different websites. iCurio has a storage space that will allow students to hold information that they find in folders, and it helps students organize. For Anthony, it seems that iCurio has been a great success.

Anthony also speaks with Dr. Strange about Discovery Ed and why he thinks it is important in the learning process. Discovery Ed is a good resource full of information about any science or social studies questions students may have. Students and teachers use this search engine that helps students listen and/or watch and learn rather than attempting to read and learn, as many students today are more visual learners. 

I liked the video Use Tech Don't Teach It simply because of the title; let the students use technology in the classroom, don't just talk about it. Today, students are around technology at home, so why not use it in the classroom? He says to incorporate technology into the curriculum, so that students are learning how to use the technology while learning. 

In the video Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1 discussed six tips for future teachers:

"1. Be a constant learner

2. Teaching Never Ends, It is hard work, but very rewarding

3. Be flexible, the unexpected will happen!

4. Start with a goal

5. Engage 100% of your students, 100% of the time, in 100% of their projects

6. Reflect, Revise, Share, Work with an audience"

I learned a lot in watching these videos, and I will most definitely use them for future reference! 

Project #7 Four Movies Part A

My sentence is...

Quote by R.S. Grey

My passions are…

Search Engine Project

WolframAlpha is the search engine that will calculate any problems you may have. Under the search bar, there is a link for examples and random problems. This would help in almost any math or number-based class and will also help in any computer based classes. I had never heard of this search engine until recently, and it seems like a good one to use.

ixquick is "the world's most private search engine" as stated on the home page. It protects your privacy and ensures that your business is your business, and not the business of anyone who wants to know what you have been up to, and when. They try to offer good search results with great privacy. I have just now learned of it, but it seems very logical to use ixquick if you want to hide something!

Bing is a decent search engine as it shows news and has a popular page where the world's most popular stories are shown. It also has a search bar that will bring up much of the research you may need. It also has tabs at the top for Images, News, Videos, Maps, and many others. Bing has not always been my top search engine, but it does have its perks.

Yahoo! Search is the second largest search engine behind Google and is powered by Bing. Yahoo! sends its directory of websites to you. It also has a trending box on the home page, where the most talked about people have stories written about them, and the most important news of the day. It also has the current weather using the location services on your device. I personally use Yahoo! on occasion.

Ask.com is a great search engine for anyone with a random question… Ask will find it for you! On the home page it offers questions of the day and previous questions of the day, just to spark interest. I think that would be a good search engine for kids to use, because they may learn something new just from the home page. When you search a question, different websites will appear offering their best answer for you.

Aol has SafeSearch on automatically, and will be turned off only if you choose. It is enhanced by Google and seems like a reliable search engine. I have never used Aol, but I could see myself using it if need be.

Excite search engine offers websites that will help you book airline tickets, concert tickets, hotel rooms, shop on ebay, and even credit score websites. It seems like a good place to book vacations and see the latest news, as well as offering a customized site just for you.

Dogpile brings results from Google and Yahoo! to researchers. It presents links to popular stories of the day that may interest readers. Along with the usual tabs, such as web, images, video, and news, it has local, shopping, and white pages. When searching, the first few results to pop up are ads, and below that is other search results, such as websites with answers to questions.  

Blog Post #5

Personal Learning Networks are the set of tools and people you acquire to be successful as a professional educator. A good PLN requires a lot of work and patience, but learning from your own PLN will provide you with tons of knowledge that will make you a better educator. The ever-changing education system is what makes PLNs so effective- it gives teachers the opportunity to stay in tune with new programs and technology than can change the way students learn, for the better of course. 

To create your own Personal Learning Network, you must compile a list of people or things of interest. According to Dr. Strange's post, all you have to do is search them, follow them, and even communicate with them using the tools you already have. Learn from them! Then, expand your PLN with even more points of interest, being open to new activities and lesson plans. The best thing about PLNs is that it requires a good bit of open-mindedness that will also help you as a teacher in a classroom. 

In my PLN, I will search for Physical Education teachers who are not your average PE teachers. Of course, we all have a curriculum to follow, but I want to expand on the curriculum and make a difference in my students. I want tools that will help my students make physical fitness part of their every day lives, not just because they have to. If I can teach them that fitness and making healthy choices is a great lifestyle to have, then I have done my job. I'm not saying that all children have to run so many miles or push so much weight, but that being healthy is not hard, and with making it a habit to stay active, people live longer, happier lives. If there are any tools or people that will help me with this goal, then sign me up!

Group Assignment 1- Group Rubrics

Student Name:

Group:

Document:

Individual Performance In a Group Activity

Component	0 Unacceptable	1 Acceptable	2 Good	3 Excellent
Good cooperation with group members/ Good attitude	Failure to communicate.	Very little communication.	Decent communication.	Great communication. Good attitude.
Skill; Brought their own strengths to the project/assignment.	Brought nothing constructive to the project.	Brought little contribution to the assignment.	Brought good information/ contributed well to the assignment.	Brought an abundance of information and skills for the assignment.
Participation	Did not participate.	Little participation. Attended one session or less.	Decent participation. Attended a few sessions, but not all sessions.	Excellent participation. Attended every session.
Resourcefulness	Did not use time effectively. No commitment.	Little time was spent on project. Lack of effort.	Effort was applied, but did not excel in material.	Awesomeness. (Overall exceeded).

Comments:

Student Name:

Group:

Document:

Evaluation of a Project

Component	0 Unacceptable	1 Acceptable	2 Good	3 Excellent
Creativity/Effort	Showed no creativity or effort.	Displayed little creativity.	Showed sufficient effort.	Excelled in effort.
Attention to Details/Organization	Very scattered. No complete thought.	Provided little detail, slightly organized.	Some organization, good detail.	Expertly organized, showed great attention to detail.
Accuracy/Knowledgeable	No knowledge applied to project.	Little knowledge, many errors.	Few errors. Showed applicable amount of knowledge.	No errors. Showed a plethora of knowledge.
Resourcefulness	Did not use time effectively. No commitment.	Little time was spent on project. Lack of effort.	Effort was applied, but did not excel in material.	Awesomeness. (Overall exceeded).

Comments:

 Student Name:

Group:

Document:

Evaluation of a Blog Post

Component	0 Unacceptable	1 Acceptable	2 Good	3 Excellent
Creativity	Showed no creativity or effort.	Displayed little creativity.	Showed sufficient effort.	Excelled in effort.
Attention to Details/Organization	Very scattered. No complete thought.	Provided little detail, slightly organized.	Some organization, good detail.	Expertly organized, showed great attention to detail.
Grammar/Mechanics	10 or more errors. Used no mechanics.	6-9 errors. Used minimal mechanics.	2-5 errors. Used average mechanics.	1 or less grammatical errors. Used proper mechanics.
Multimedia/Cites Sources	Did not use multimedia.	Used multimedia, improper use of citations.	Used some multimedia and properly cited sources.	Used an abundance of multimedia and perfectly cited sources.

Comments:

C4T #1, 2 and 3

C4T #1- Edna Sackson
Summary of Edna's post: "No Secret Teacher Business"
In this post, Edna Sackson, the owner of the blog "What Ed Said" talks about the way students are starting to learn now, and how education is changing for the better. She gives examples of how students are coping with new learning strategies by showing a prompt by a 12 year old girl talking about the iBook she read in her class. The young girl, Sassi, has developed into a good learner, much like the other children her age. Edna shares her personal opinions as to how learning should be, and I agree completely with her. Students should be able to develop and learn on their own.

My Comment to Edna:
It is great to hear from actual students that they enjoy learning in a different way! As a student in EDM310, I love the fact that what I am doing in this class will make a difference in my students’ lives. I had a teacher in high school who had so much faith in us to learn on our own, and I never understood why. But now I know, we are capable of doing it ourselves!

I would love to learn more about how the programs built within technology are used in the classroom. With times changing, students are becoming more tech-savvy and as teachers, we should be too! If we future educators get on board, it would take no time for us to build our own networks and connections so our students could build their own.

C4T #2- Eric Langhorst
Summary of Eric's post: "Flipping the Classroom and Google Tools"
In this post, Eric goes into detail about the pros and cons of "flipping the classroom" which means to have students learn on their own and making much of learning digital, with teacher supporting students on their intellectual journeys. He then goes through programs that he feels will help students and their quests to become technologically savvy, such as Google Drive, QuickTime, Youtube, etc.

My Comment to Eric: 
Mr. Langhorst, I am a student at the University of South Alabama and I am studying to be a teacher. I have very much enjoyed this presentation as your presentations are very clear and concise, and I enjoyed looking at the ways you incorporate technology in the classroom. Your posts are very interesting, and I would like to learn more about how to incorporate these things into the classroom when I begin to teach.

C4T #3- Eva Buyuksimkesyan's 

Summary of Eva's post: Thought, Impressions, Inspirations from #Bett2015

In her blog, Eva reveals what she learned at Bett Show 2015. She shows her enjoyment of learning the up-to-date information about education and the technology being used around the world. She believes that it's a teacher who will make the difference in students' lives, not the apps. The apps are just tools in the process of education. She also mentions Marc Prensky's book in her post and agrees that students should be taught effective problem solving, negotiating, creativity, etc. 

My comment to Eva:

I enjoyed hearing about what you saw and learned in London! I visited last summer from America, and what a beautiful place. I hope I can attend one of these shows when I become an educator. Thanks for sharing!

Summary of Eva's post (my comment #2): A quick Lesson for Valentine's Day
Eva gives a fun lesson plan with creating sentences using heart shaped cut outs and a handout that sparks their creativity. The handout consists of a table that has columns with the titles Food, People, Pets, Drinks, and Places. As they complete this handout they will write a different sentence on each heart. The beginning of each sentence is "Love is"…

Random phrases, such as "a piece of cake, a friendly dog, sister, mother," etc. can be used. She explains that children will use these phrases to write on their heart shaped cut outs and turn it into a book.

My comment to Eva:
This is a great idea! I will most definitely use this in my classroom. I am a student enrolled at the University of South Alabama also, and I have really enjoyed looking at your blog!

I know students enjoy being creative, so adding this in to their learning is very important. The most important thing to me is making sure my students are learning and enjoying the process of education, not dreading it.

Blog Post #4

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

In Ben Johnson's article, The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, the most important rule I gathered is simply this: Ask specific questions! Make sure students understand what you want them to know before moving on to a new topic. Give them time to think about your question before calling a name. That way, they won't know if the question is coming to them or not. 

Asking open ended questions should be another main goal of teachers in the classroom. According to Dr. Joanne Chesley, teachers should leave the form of the answer up to the student; therefore, ask open ended questions rather than closed ended. Don't ask questions that can be answered with one word. Andi Stix also believes strongly in this form of questioning and has shared with us how to form and ask Open Ended Questions. 

In the informational video Questioning Styles and Strategies, the teacher uses several techniques to get students involved in the answering process. He uses the style "Think, pair, share", to get every student's brain thinking about what he has just said. "Think" is giving the students time to get ideas in their own heads, "pair" is students pairing up and "share" is having the pairs of students share their ideas with one another, then being ready to answer questions in front of the class. He also uses random calling and surveying (ask if everyone agrees), gives feedback that he values their information, and also asks if anyone has anything different to share. He then probes them deeper, and then asks them to express themselves. This video was the best learning for me because I got to see how students responded to what he was lecturing about. 

Overall, I learned how to re-form questions to make them open ended. I also learned that getting students' attention can be easy if you have the correct technique to do so.