Project #8

Blog Post #6

What do you learn from these conversations with Anthony Capps?

Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher and Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher
These videos gave me a better sense of what project based learning really is. Anthony gave many examples of projects he had done with his class, such as writing letters to our congressmen, and making movies about Afghanistan. At one point in the second video, Anthony Capps stated, "Never limit your students by giving them exactly what you want them to do. Create an opportunity to go beyond what you want them to do, and they will." After hearing this, it really made me think. Kids are so much more capable than many people give them credit for, and they can do more in the classroom than simple projects with an exact set of guidelines. A big part of this is student choice, which I also learned about. This gives students the opportunity chose what they want to write about or study. These videos were very informative and they got me much more excited about project based learning. I can't wait to take some of the projects Anthony did with his class and use them in my future classroom.

iCurio
Before watching this video, I had never heard of iCurio, so I learned a lot about it. iCurio is a tool students can use to safely search websites, images, and videos for educational purposes. It also has a storage component that allows students to organize themselves online, and they can save information to it. It has a directory feature that Anthony uses for historical figures in his class as well. Lastly, it has a read aloud feature so younger students whose reading skills are limited or blind students can hear the information.

Discovery Ed
In the beginning of the video, Anthony says that pairing a video with text helps students to retain more information. Discovery Ed is a resources that lets students search things such as "plants that can kill things" to find educational videos about things like Venus Fly Traps. It has videos for many subjects, and brings experts into the classroom. I think that this tool is definitely something I will use when I become a teacher. Students love to watch videos, and I think it helps them to remember the information they're learning. I had never heard of Discovery Ed before, so this video taught me a lot.

The Anthony- Strange List of tips for Teachers Part 1
In this video, Anthony and Dr. Strange give some great tips for new teachers. Anthony says that teaching is hard work, but you should let it be fun. Another great tip is to be flexible. Teaching is something that always requires flexibility. Things go wrong sometimes, and you need to be able to adjust and go with the flow. There are several other tips given, but these are my favorite. They were all great tips, and I learned that being a teacher can be tough, but there are many great things that go along with it.

Don't Teach Tech - Use It
This video taught me the most useful information out of all of them. Before watching it, I believed students would need hours of instruction to learn how to use technology. I work as a nanny during the summer, and babysit regularly, and most of the kids I watch can barely play games made for kids on I-Pads. However, they are all 6 and younger. This video made me realize that kids that are still relatively young are very capable of using technology that they have never seen before with very little to no instruction. This makes it much easier to bring technology into the classroom.

Additional Thought About Lessons

From this video, I learned that there are 4 components that go into making a lesson. First, you have to think about how your lesson fits into your year, and if you can finish meeting all of your standards. Then, you have to think about if you have devised a way to unfold the unit, which is 6 weeks or so, so that it makes sense. Next, you have to think about your week. You have to make sure you have a plan for each day of the week and that it all fits. Finally, you have to think about your daily plan, which is how you deliver it to your students.

C4KSummary for September

My first C4K was on Isaiah's blog. I commented on his post, Isaiah @PT England School: My term 2 writing sample. In this blog, Isaiah blogged that he loved rugby and dodge ball, and hoped to be an artist when he grew up. He stated that he is very creative and intelligent. He also explained that he makes videos about empathy at his school, PT England. In my comment, I told Isaiah were I was from and that I enjoyed reading his blog post. I also told him that being an artist would be a very fun and exciting job. I told him I am currently in school to be a teacher, as well. It was a very short blog, so there wasn't too much to comment on. 

The week of September 15 through the 21st, my C4K was on Clayton's Blog from Ms. Horst's 5-1 Class. Clayton posted all about how much fun he had on Dot Day. My Horst is an art teacher, and she read her class The Dot, by Peter Reynolds. In his blog, Clayton used many different colored fonts to explain that his class had many art stations to go to while celebrating Dot Day. He also shared a picture of his artwork, which was a painting of many, many colorful dots. In my comment, I told Clayton how much I loved his art. I told him that I like the colors he chose to use, and that it was creative of him to paint many dots instead of just one. I also told him that I liked how he made his text several different colors, and that I enjoyed reading his blog.

My last September C4K was on Ava's Blog from Mr. Salsich's Student Blogs. Ava's post was all about her trips to Florida and New Hampshire. She started by telling about Florida, and how her cousins and grandparents live there. Ava wrote about how she went to Disney World, Sea World, and Lego Land. She loved all of the things made from legos in Lego Land, like the mummy statues and the dinosaur in the truck. She also blogged about the rides she went on in Disney. Next, Ava wrote about New Hampshire. While she was there, she saw Diana's Baths, which has several waterfalls. She went to a few other places while she was there as well. In my comment, I told Ava who I was, and where I was from. I also told her how her vacations sounded like a lot of fun, and how one of my favorite places to go was Disney World. I said that I had never been to Lego Land before, but her blog post has convinced me that I need to go see everything there. Next, I told her I had never been  to New Hampshire along with a few other things. Lastly, I said her blog was great, and to keep up the good work.

My Sentence Videos

My Passion Is...

My Sentence Is...

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post #5

Before a couple of hours ago, I had never heard of Personal Learning Networks, also known as PLN's. According to Dr. Strange's post, Developing a Personal Learning Network, A PLN is "those people, places, organizations and activities which enable you to learn." I think many of us have come into contact with Personal Learning Networks before, and we didn't even know it.

Most people from our generation have a Twitter. I created one several years ago, used it for a couple of months, thought it was a complete waste of time, and promptly deleted it. However, for this class, I had to create a new one. After exploring different hashtags, such as #projectbasedlearning, I found that Twitter can be an excellent tool used for connecting with people across the world that share common ideas as you, and broadening your knowledge. This is just one example of a Personal Learning Network.

Teachers can use PLN's to connect with other educators from virtually anywhere. Without the internet, you would be much more limited in who you could contact easily, but using PLN's makes it a lot easier. Something as simple as a hashtag can connect millions of people. Personally, I use Pinterest more often than Twitter. On Pinterest you can 'pin' links or photos to boards for anything, such as an education board, a fashion board, or a home decor board. You can invite multiple people to pin to one board, and everything on that board will be shared with not only the pinners, but anyone who follows it. Through my education board at Pinterest: Brooke Allen, Teaching I have found many wonderful resources for future use in my classroom. I have also connected with many educators and started following their Pinterests.

After looking over all of the resources Dr. Strange provided for us, I believe I have already started my Personal Learning Network. My favorite tool so far is my Pinterest, but I hope I can begin to enjoy Twitter more and use it to benefit myself. I have followed all of the EDM310 staff, but I also plan to follow @NYEdTech, which promotes positive educational outcomes using technology. I will most likely look through Dr. Strange's Twitter to find people to follow as well.

Creating a Personal Learning Network can be as simple as discussing a lesson with a classmate, or as in depth as connecting with millions of people from all around the world through social media. I can't wait to continue to grow my PLN, and see where it takes me.

C4T1

The first teacher blog I commented on was For the Love of Teaching Math. It is written by Andrea, a sixth grade math teacher. The post I commented on was about integers, and you can find it at Revisiting Integer Operations with a Freebie!!!. It had everything from adding them, subtracting them, multiplying them, and dividing them. Within the post, there was 2 links, both leading to other post about integers. I read all 3 and discovered that learning about integers can be a very fun, easy experience. Andrea turned it all into a game, many games actually. The students were allowed to do hands on activities, move around the classroom, and enjoy themselves all while learning. Andrea also posted links to things she used to teach her students from Teachers Pay Teachers, and other various websites. There were some great freebies in the post! I commented telling Andrea how much I enjoyed reading her post, and told her thank you for sharing all of the wonderful resources she had for teaching integers. I told her that I had never heard of Teachers Pay Teachers, but I really loved it after looking through the website.

 The second time I commented on Andrea's blog, it was on her post, Some of My Favorite Things....... Andrea owns a Teachers Pay Teachers store online, and she posted some of her favorite things she sells in this store. First, she shared a coordinate graphing picture. It would be perfect for students learning about graphing, and would be excellent practice on graphing points. Once the students connect the dots, it reveals a mockingjay pin from the Hunger Games. The second thing Andrea talked about was another product for coordinate planes. Students play "I have/Who has" while searching for letters throughout the plane. The next product she shared was instructions for a fold-up fortune teller game. It is used to review equations. Fourth, she shared one of her most popular products, a game used to reduce fractions. It is called Potato Head Math Craftivity. Next, she shared one of her most useful items. It is instructions on how to teach operations with decimals using base 10 blocks. It also has worksheets. Lastly, Andrea shared another incredibly useful item. It teaches how to tie decimals, percents, and fractions all into base 10 blocks. She finished her blog by posting the link to her Teachers Pay Teachers store, and providing promo codes for discounts. In my comment, I told Andrea that I would be pinning a lot of her resources on Pinterest to save for later. I also asked her how she created all the material on her Teachers Pay Teachers store. I told Andrea that I thought all of her resources were very cute and useful as well. I enjoyed reading her blog post and will be visiting them again later!

Project #15- Search Engines

As a student, I use search engines nearly every day of my life. They can help you find answer to questions on homework, tutoring services, or the best pizza shop. The internet holds an answer to virtually any question you can ask, and the best way to find it is through a search engine. I have always used Google, as do most people. In fact, the first thing I did when preparing to do this project was google "Top search engines." There are far more than I expected, and I tried several of them out.

Ask.com
The first search engine I tried was Ask.com. This website is best for asking simple question. Searching things like "Where did Sriracha hot sauce get it's name?," will bring you to hundreds of links to websites answering your question. You can also go to their Question and Answer community and post your question. Along with posting questions for others to answer, you can answer other peoples questions. It reminded me of social media since you can communicate with other people. Overall, this website could be useful, but I find it much easier to just google what you're looking for. When people answer your questions, you never know if they are correct or not, so this could be dangerous.

Wolframalpha.com
This is by far my favorite search engine that I have found today. I started by searching, "Who was the first president?," just to see how it worked. I love how it gave me not only his name, but basic information, facts about him, images, a timeline, and other various pieces of information all on one clean, easy to read page. I then put in the math problem 22-16. Not only did I get the answer, but it also spelled out the number, showed me a number line, and explained the problem using mats, tiles, and units. This website would be absolutely perfect to use in the classroom. Its easy enough for students to use, and it shows them so much more than something like Google would. I love it!

Bing.com 
Bing is very similar to Google. Their homepage is busier though. It has suggestions along the bottom of the page of things you may want to search, but I have no interest in that. While they are incredibly similar, I still prefer good ole' Google. Bing is gaining popularity though, and you can use it to search anything and you will most likely find what you need. For instance, I used it to search "More search engines."

Kayak.com
Bing brought me to Kayak.com, a website used for searching travel sites. This website is strictly for finding things related to travel. You can find hotels, flights, cars, and other things from all over the internet. It would be incredibly useful if you were planning a trip. It compares many travel sights at once, allowing you to find the best deals.

ISEEK: Education
ISEEK is a search engine that educators may use to find teaching resources, such as lesson plans. It is a little bit harder to use, so once again, I would probably stick with Google. However, all of the material on ISEEK has been reviewed by professionals, so I would guess that it is all reliable, good information.

Zillow.com
Zillow is a search engine used to find homes. It can be houses for sale or rent, or apartments. You can see homes that are already on the market, as well as homes that have not yet been listed. This search engine would be perfect for anyone looking into moving to a new home. I have no use for it currently, but if I were moving I would use Zillow.

Yahoo.com
Yahoo is a very popular search engine. It is similar to Google because you can search anything and find a link to a website containing answers. Yahoo has many things that Google does not however. You can do things such as shop, view news stories, or see the weather directly on Yahoo's website rather than using it to go to another website. I like Yahoo, but I prefer simpler search engines with less clutter. I only use it for news, and that isn't very often.


Foodily.com
The final search engine I found was Foodily. It can be used to look us recipes for anything. I looked up "brownies," and found the most delicious looking brownies ever. It gives you hundreds of results, and you can even specify that you don't want recipes with certain ingredients. For example, if you were allergic to nuts, you could look up brownies and select without nuts. This website is ideal for someone who wants to try cooking something new. I will be using this search engine again.

Blog Post #4

  Asking Questions: What questions do we ask? How do we ask?

I am currently enrolled in a class where I am required to spend time in schools, and I have been observing a second grade class at Faith Academy. Every time the teacher ask a question, almost all of the children raise their hands frantically and jump up and down in their chairs hoping that they're lucky enough to be chosen. Sometimes, the kids don't even know the answer, but they want to give it a shot anyways. Somewhere along the line, this all changes. Students go from begging to answer the question, to praying the teacher doesn't call on them. I know I am guilty of this, along with many of my classmates. In high school, I made excellent grades, but I had absolutely no interest in answering the teacher's questions, and I never had to. I think that one reason students are reluctant to answer question is a fear of speaking in front of their classmates. Public speaking is the number one fear in the world, followed by death. Other times, students just have no interest and are not motivated to think of a response. After going over all of the material Dr. Strange provided us, I have found that there are many things we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher.

Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom has some great suggestions for asking better questions. The first suggestion they make is to plan what questions you are going to ask before you teach the lesson. Many times, teachers don't even think about this. They end up asking the same old question, "Does everyone understand?" After reading The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, I learned that this question is pointless. Students may not even know that they don't understand something. Instead of asking this useless question, try asking more specific, open-ended questions, that require thought. Once you ask this question, how do you get a response?

In the video, Questioning Styles and Strategies, the teacher uses many techniques to get the students involved and answering questions. One technique that is used is random calling. This ensures that all of the students are paying attention and thinking of answers in case they are called on. Another techniques he uses is student calling. This is very similar to random calling, but it gives the students an opportunity to make the decision on who will answer the next question. He also uses wait time. This gives students time to think and formulate an answer before responding to the question.

These are just a few things that are important to know about asking questions effectively. There are many techniques you can use to get students involved in answering question, and keeping their attention. Personally, I believe the most important thing to do is to ask open-ended questions. Making sure that all students get asked questions frequently is another excellent way to keep their attention. Students are more likely to answer if they think they will be called on in front of the class or are involved and interested.

Blog Post #3

Peer editing can be a very daunting task. Receiving criticism is never fun, and it can even be embarrassing at times. However, helping our peers correct their mistakes and having them do the same for us can help us all to grow into better writers. After watching What is Peer Editing? and Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes, and reading Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial, I have learned quite a lot about peer editing.

Peer editing means working with someone who is your age to help them edit or improve their writing. There are 3 steps to peer editing. The first step is to compliment the writer on his or her work. This is also the most important step of peer review. We all make mistakes, and its important to not make the writer feel dumb or embarrassed. The second step is to give the writer suggestions. This could include suggesting that they mix up their word choice or add more detail. Lastly, the editor should make corrections. This could be in spelling or grammatical errors.

After looking over all of the given information, I learned a lot about peer editing. Overall, I think the most important thing I learned is to not be offended when people give you suggestions on how to improve your writing. It can be a little bit awkward for everyone involved, but in the long run it makes us better writers.