Sunday, November 23, 2014

Blog Post #14

Teaching Can Be A Profession

1.Better academic training for prospective teachers
Almost half of the states cannot claim a math program that prepares the student like some of the programs in the higher performing nations.
Math is one hard subject for most students. I do agree with this statement, in that there should be more training in Math for prospective teachers. It could be as easy as adding Calculus to an Education major studies.

2.New approach to recruiting teachers
This would change things so that not everyone with a college degree should be allowed to teach, only the top third of graduates.
This statement follows #5. I do not agree with the top third of graduates, but I do believe in setting an exam with certain standards that you would have to score a certain score on. Coming from a small town, I always thought the idea of teachers rotating schools within a certain mile radius should be required. Each year or every three however you want to do it, teachers would rotate, giving every student a variety of teachers and keeping away from politics and playing favorites.

3.Change how teachers are rewarded
This would make it to where keeping a job would be related to competency and not seniority.
Well, the true reward that comes from teaching would be seeing your students succeed and graduate. I agree with some states on the raises and benefits, only if your test scores are growing. I believe the teacher should be held accountable of their students learning or not learning enough.

4."Teachers establish their own board to police the profession"
Teachers would set the standard for removing incompetent teachers. "Merit-based career ladder" would create promotion based on specialty exams.
I do not believe this would work. I believe it would turn into politics within the school and they could end up removing teachers that just don't fit in. I believe in a higher power such as a board, like it is today.

5.Demonstrate mastery before having college graduates be aides
I agree with this statement. To me, this statement suggests that although students graduate with a degree, there should be some kind of mastery exam or board test they need to pass. To be a teacher and teach your students what they need to learn, you yourself has to have that knowledge.

6."Teachers would abandon their support for mandatory assignment of kids to neighborhood schools"
I would say this refers to students staying in their district to go to school. I am from a small town and out of the entire county, there was one city school, and it had all the goods (laptops, smart boards, extracurricular activities) that all the other schools in the county, including mine, did not have. So, this made a lot of parents that could afford it, to take their children out of district to get an education. To make it where everyone is getting an equal education, I believe funds should be split equally between each county school.
Joel Klein

C4K Summary November

My first student this month was Sino. Sino is from South Africa. Her class was learning about poems. They were instructed to come up with their own simile and metaphor. Her simile was about the moon. She used how the moon shines bright at night. Her metaphor was about a horse.
Moon

My second student was Katelyn. She loves volleyball and softball! Her latest blog post was on her classroom's print making project. In this project, they carve a picture in the aluminum, then transfer that picture on the paper. Katelyn chose to draw a volleyball, of coarse!
Volleyball

My third student was Brynn. Brynn talked about their quarters at school being over and beginning a new one. She goes on to explain that her vollyball team was a great team and experience for her. They almost won, but lost at the finals. Also, she enjoys her art class. She says it is a way for each student to express themselves in the way they feel best. The book fair was also coming to her school. Of coarse she was excited for that as well. In Brynn's blog, she uses some vocabulary words that she highlights in bold font.
Bookfair

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Blog Post #13

Why is EDM 310 so important and/or necessary for myself as an education major?

Now that the end of the semester is near, I would like everyone to take some time and reflect on their time spent in EDM 310. Also, how the technological tools you have learned about are going to be helpful to you in your career.

I have heard the rumors about EDM 310 and how it can seem "useless" or just be a lot of nonsense stuff that you're never going to use, but I believe this is wrong. EDM 310 has opened my eyes on just how important and useful technology is in someone's education. The newness jitters definitely got to me at first, but once I saw the light, my mind was in awe. First off, to be technology illiterate is a very popular trait. Newcomers to technology feel overwhelmed, stressed, and just want to give up, but once you get the hang of things, all seems quite easy. So, in that state, I believe in starting the use of technology in elementary schools, heck might as well start at preschool! A child's mind is quite susceptible to learning new things and catching on quick. EDM 310 has taught me so much about technology and the different tools offered in schools to start teaching young children.

EDM 310 is very important tool also in that Dr. Strange teaches the concepts of no "burp back" education. This concept summed up basically to instead of continuing on with the method of teaching for memorization to test, teach with Project Based Learning (PBL) method. Project Based Learning is a concept where, you as the teacher, come up with a realization to everyday life that might relate to the certain subject topic you're teaching, and give the students an opportunity to be involved with one another on a project and research. Instead of testing, we can assess the students' projects and research to see just how much they might have learned about that certain topic.

TecnologyInEducation

Project #12

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Blog Post #12

Assistive Technology

Sarah
I chose to read up on the different resources that Apple has available for special education students. Apple Support for Special Education. It is absolutely incredible to see the amazing ways that Apple is reaching out to make resources for special education. The “Speak Selection” is simple but so incredibly helpful for students who need to hear a word as it’s being read, this can help with comprehension for a wide range of learners! The Speak Selection can read text messages, emails, ebooks, and web pages. This is just one of many great options Apple has for special education students. Another resource that I saw was one that I just recently heard about in my EDM 310 class, iBooks. iBooks Author is where teachers can create a customized learning material to support each and every learning need. iBooks have a variety of features like 3D images, video, and audio. I believe this could be a great resource for special education students, because of the ability to customize the learning material, and that is so incredibly important because each student is different and will learn differently. There are many more wonderful examples of resources that Apple has available for special education students, and I believe that Apple has done an excellent job using technology as a fundamental way of learning for special education students.
Katie
I chose the video about teaching introductory math to young blind students by means of a touchpad. This video was Teaching Math to the Blind. In this, Professor Art Karshmer at the University of San Francisco offers a solution to the issue that blind students face in learning math. Here is a simple example of this issue: sighted students see an addition problem with one addend on top of the other with the sum underneath while blind students can only see the problems straight across on one line. This is a problem because the students are not able to develop a strong foundation in math and therefore are severely limited in their potential to go into certain career fields in their future. With the touchpad described in the video, the blind students are able to learn math more like a sighted student would. This would help them learn fundamentals of math better so they have a better chance with it in their futures.
Meagan
I chose to watch the video Teaching Mom What Her Deaf/Blind Child Is Learning On the iPad. In this video, the teacher is showing one mother Voiceover for iPad. She is teaching the mother how her deaf/blind child is using his/her iPad. She goes over the different ways to use and explore through the iPad with just the touch of their fingertips. I think that this is a great way for the parents to see just how much their child can accomplish with technology, no matter the child’s disability. I suggest all teachers that will have students that might have these disabilities go through an iPad training as this mother did to experience what their student/students will.

Friday, November 7, 2014

C4T #3 Summary

Mr. Bennett is a teacher focused on digital learning. He had published three books, and is furthering his education in a Masters program. Mr. Brian Bennett researched reflexes and the brain and spinal cords ability to pull back off a hot surface. He then went into how he found a topic to research. He explained that, as teachers, we often let our content knowledge get to us instead of searching our context knowledge. And, with that we often teach in a way where we're just explaining ourselves, instead of exploring our thoughts.



Mr. Bennett also posted on his blog about creativity and letting our minds discover it. No matter our different genes, or backgrounds, we are all capable of tuning in to our creativity. He explains that it takes practice to incorporate your creativeness in your work, and in your teaching. He goes on to explain that all his work might not be as creative as possible, but at the same time, his work is building the foundation for his students to explore in their creative side.

Project #10

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Blog Post #11

What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?

Back to the Future
I loved how he had his students make a blog post of what they learned through the projects. I feel that it was a great way to incorporate technology in the lesson. It's also just a new outlook on writing summary paragraphs. I, as a student, love the new technological outlook on my work in my schooling. It's a "new" but up and coming way to do school work. When he involved the student into his classroom even though she could not actually attend was a great and how he showed other students attending in the classroom. I'm positive that his involvement and care about her being a part of the classroom impacted her and other students greatly.

Blended Learning Cycle Blends online and classroom learning and combines it with the learning cycle (engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate).
6 Parts to his Blended Learning Cycle
1: Start with a question
2: Get the students to investigate and experiment
3: Show a video to students
4: Elaborate -suggested reading
5: Review -make sure students understand concepts
6: Summary -the way he does this is with a quiz


Super Digital Citizen I feel that the way he asked a question and then had the students talk among themselves about their different views before he put his input in is a great teaching strategy, and it also helps students relate and come together. Incorporating the comic books was a great way for the students to get creative while practicing their writing. It also had a great point behind the project about cyber safety.

Project Based Learning In the video, teachers show the beneficial factors of combining 2 or 3 curriculums into one lesson with technology. It gives the students a deeper understanding of standards they are suppose to be learning.

Project #14

Lesson Plan #2 Group 1 W6
Lesson Name:  Daily experience as a native American
Category: Social Studies
Grade Level: 5                       Lesson Number: 1 of 1
Date: Nov. 2,  2014

Alabama Standard(s): Distinguish differences among major American Indian cultures in North America according to geographic region, natural resources, community organization, economy, and belief systems.
•  Locating on a map American Indian nations according to geographic region

Driving Question:

What can be learned about the lives of native Americans through interviews and research?

Objectives:
According to rubric in assessment.
Students should finish the project to a minimum 90% completion according to the rubric in the assessment.

Activities:
An interview will be set up for the class as a whole with a specialist on Native Americans. This will be conducted through means of face-to-face video chat. During class time, the teacher will set up an interview via Skype that will be projected to where the whole class can see the specialist. The students will have the opportunity to have a Q and A session with him.
After this the students will be separated into groups to decide what Native American group they will be assigned to. For a class of 24 students, the class will be separated into 4 groups of 6. All these students will work on the same tribe for the remainder of the project and will work together for a later part. The students will get together to choose a tribe to study. This tribe should be different from the tribes that were the 6 mandatory tribes from the last project. Also, the groups will have to choose different tribes than other groups. This is decided by a first come first some basis. The groups that inform the teacher first of their tribe will get to do their project on that tribe.
From there, the students will conduct their own interviews with someone who can speak on behalf of their chosen tribe. An example of how to do this would to be to go to the tribe’s website and contact whomever is in charge of education as listed by the website. This person should be able to aid the student in finding an interview. This interview can be  conducted face-to-face, over something such as Skype, or even over email and needs to be a minimum of 5 questions. The students will create their own questions for the interview. The students will have to have their questions approved before the interview. Once the student has conducted the interview, their questions and a summary of the answers will be put online on the student’s blog. Also in this blog the students will have an “In the day of a life of ….” post. This might require some extra research. This part of the project will be done on an individual basis.
From there the students will work collaboratively for the rest of the project. The students will get together to work on a presentation. This will be presented to the class and to other classes through participation in a school culture week that the class could help organize in another project.  The students will create a single presentation as a group based of their individual research. Also the students will have to artistically (using visual arts) create things important to that culture. An example of that would be a shoe that is original to that tribe could be created for this part of the project. Each group will have to create 3 different cultural pieces.
At the end of the project the students will be required to create their own rubrics. With these rubrics the students will grade themselves individually, the members of the group, and the group as a whole cohesive team. This is for self-evaluation purposes. If the student finds it necessary, he may make 2 separate rubrics for self evaluation or group. The final grade will be decided by the teacher rubric.

Materials/ Equipment:

Computer, internet access, a blog, visual art supplies (will vary from group to group).

Homework:

Classtime will be given to work on this project, whatever is not finished will be done for     homework.

Assessment:

10 points
7 points
5 points
2 points
0 points
Interview
5 questions and did interview and summary
3 or 4 questions did interview and summary
1 or 2 questions did interview and summary
Questions no interview
No questions no interview
Blog Post
Blog post completed (3 sections) and proper grammar
Blog post completed (3 sections) with obvious grammar mistakes
Blog post incomplete (less than 3 sections) and proper grammar
Blog post incomplete (less than 3 sections) and obvious grammar mistakes
No post
Presentation
Presentation created and delivered
Presentation created and delivered at less than par standard
Presentation created but delivery was uninformed (read from project)
Presentation was incomplete
No presentation prepared
Visual Arts Creation
3 artistic creations with visible effort
3 artistic creations with obvious lack of effort
2 artistic creations
1 artist creation
No creations
Rubric
Made rubric and did the evaluations
Made rubric did 4 of 7 evaluations
Made rubric and 1-3 evaluations
Made rubric no evaluations
No rubric no evaluations
    

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Blog Post #10

Ms. Cassidy uses technology excessively in her classroom. As a kindergarten teacher, she uses a lot of ideas to incorporate technology in her classroom. Ms. Cassidy, like most teachers in todays education atmosphere, are using technology and having their students come up with new ways on their own to use technology in their learning process. She began her technology trip ten years ago when she created her own web page. She created a class blog and started having her students comment on the blog. She expressed how her students enjoyed the blog and not having to "power down" their technology in the classroom. Ms. Cassidy uses an Nintendo DS in her classroom, I think it is amazing! I would have never thought of a DS as anything other than a video game, but she incorporates it into her classroom very well. In EDM 310, I can continue to build my Personal Learning Network and hopefully will be able to incorporate those unusual, yet useful technologies in my classroom.

Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1
Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 2
Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 3

C4K Summary October

Monae was my first student this month. I have written on Monae's blog posts before.
Monae was very bored. I commented on her post and told her at times it can get a little boring and she may become distracted. But, I also suggested that when she gets bored, find something that interests her, research it, and write a blog post about it! Instead of posting a post that says "I'm bored...", research something important to her and keep it interesting.

Bored

I had my next student twice. In each of her blog posts, she went over baking cookies. She explained in one of her posts how to make an edible fish bowl out of cookies shaped as fish and rock candy for the "rocks" at the bottom of the fishbowl. She also explained how to bake simple chocolate chip cookies. I would say she enjoys baking and loves cookies! She did a great job with the creativity of this project blog post and I commented her on that and told her to continue exploring her creativity.

FishCookies

My last student's name is Cyrus. His most recent blog post was on explanation writing. He explained, in detail, on steps to avoid skin cancer. He explained that wearing sunscreen and a hat would protect you from the sun. He also used sunglasses as an example to avoid the sun and its cancerous rays.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Blog Post #9

Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning, I learned how to properly decide for a project in the classroom that will educate and motivate students.The steps given are to be followed by the students and be engaging. The most important step, in my opinion, is the "hook." To grasp your students attention, the teacher must present the project in a compelling way. Once the students are "hooked", it is about advising students on good research and great presentation skills. Students learn through relation with the project's subject that this so called "driving question" really resembles the real world.

In the video, Project Based Learning for Teachers, we are given several different examples of driving questions and resources the students have available to them. In the video, different types of skills students will learn while doing projects e.g. communication and collaboration are being described. Einstein's quote "Teachers should not teach but set the grounds for which their students learn." is a perfect way to describe Project Based Learning.

The article, Project Based Learning In Physical Education, gives a perfect example of how Project Based Learning is so diverse and is not just for one certain classroom. In the article, it describes how students got the opportunity to come up with a way for their peers to be involved in P.E. I feel it was a perfect way for students to become more knowledgeable about their fitness and just how important P.E. is. Project Based Learning in P.E. gave the students the opportunity to become more involved in warm up routines, exercises, and any of those physical things that one would only research about P.E.

High School Teachers Meet the Challenges of Project Based Learning Implementation was a great video for me, as a future teacher. It helped me realize that PBL is a NEW way of teaching and although in my head it is such a brilliant aspect of teaching, it is more than likely going to get difficult to know how to incorporate PBL in the right way in the classroom. The teachers in the video really express the hardship they have with PBL, but they know it is a great way to teach. They try to incorporate PBL in all subject learning.

Two Students Invent New Ketchup Bottle Lid video was very reassuring. It made me think, myself as a teacher, what my students could possibly come up with when the sky is the limit on their research and projects with Project Based Learning. It reminded me of the video of Pausch when he said that he never had certain expectations of what his students could accomplish. Keep your students learning off the radar! Do not give them a settling point on their projects, let them explore and research into something that is relative to their learning, yet interesting to them.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Blog post #8

PauschLastLecture
What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From Randy Pausch?

As I started watching this hour long video, my though was "For real?!". What could this guy possibly talk about for an hour on teaching and learning. In the video, Pausch talks about three different topics, 1. Childhood dreams 2. Helping other enable dreams 3. Lesson learned.
Through Pausch's lecture, I realized that with me as a teacher, I will always be learning.

With teaching, and the example story in the lecture that Pausch gives, when you give your students a project and the over come your expectations on what they will research and learn, Pausch tells his students that they have done a good job, but he thinks they could do better. With that, I believe that is a great way to teach because you, as a teacher, are complimenting your student's work , but at the same time pushing them to learn more.
GoodBetter

Implications and Teaching Opportunities for Camera Use in Teaching and Learning

Part A:
We, as teachers in education, can implicate smartphones into our classroom in many various ways. First, we have to know if all of our students know who to work a smartphone. Now a days, we all assume that everyone owns and/or knows how to work a smartphone. Involving smartphones in our lessons with school, if everyone know how to use them, I believe we could all benefit. Our students' education will only boom and they will be even more technologically advanced.

As teachers, it would also help if our student's parents own a smartphone. We can send emails, and more than likely respond to them a lot quicker. We can setup an application with all of the school's events, lunch menus, and even alerts. It could be used also for parents to easily see their child's progress in the classroom. We could also include frequently asked questions to the class blog so that parents can be knowledgeable of up to date questions and answers in the classroom.

Part B:
We can include them in our Math, by using the calculator. We can use a smartphone in reading by using the voice recorder, so that our students can hear themselves reading and catch their own mistakes. Also, in Science, we can take the camera from our smartphones outside and explore nature and different Science topics and capture pictures for examples. In History, we can use smartphones' internet, to research dates, pictures of wars from long ago, and today's news and events.

BabiesSmartphones

Project #9

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

C4T Post Summary #2

Mr. Wheeler is currently posting about his different theories for education. The post that I commented on was about constructionism. Constructionism came about by learning by making. To construct something will help to the student learn better and more in depth than sitting and listening to a lecture about the subject. For example, would a lecture on robotics, and an actual demonstration on robotics, help you learn easier.

Mr. Wheeler's second most recent post was on Piaget's theories of learning with each child being in a different age groups. Wheeler goes on to explain Piaget's stages for cognitive development. The Sensorimotor Stage is when infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and manipulating objects. The Preoperational Stage is when kids learn through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other people. The Concrete Operational Stage is at the time when kids at this point of development begin to think more logically, but their thinking can also be very rigid. They tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts. The Formal Operational Stage is the final stage of Piaget's theory that involves an increase in logic, the ability to use deductive reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas.

Baby

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Blog Post #7

How to make an audio Qr code:
Record MP3 website is a perfect way for students to get involved with their education using technology. The teacher's observation if the students record themselves reading the story, they're more likely to listen to that book many times, just because it's their voice is a display in the theory of project based learning.
RecordMP3
QR Code Generator
The QR Code Monkey website is a perfect and easy step in making a qr code! It seems like a very simple step for students. You can download a free application on any smart phone to scan the QR code, so this would be a different, yet convenient tool for parents to be involved in their child's progress and see how they are learning so much new things with technology.
QRGenerator

iPads In Reading Centers:
Having the iPads at the students reading stations is a perfect way to use technology in the classroom. Again, another example of project based learning, in that the students are able to listen to themselves after they read and check for any errors they might have had. Kindergarten students are doing this, it amazes me!

Poplet
Poplet is a free application that you can download on your iPad. It is a great tool and is very useful in the reading center. As in Ms. Tuck's video (Poplet), the students are able to do make a web graph of their book and upload pictures to describe what the main focus is. I also believe this application would be a good tool in Science or Social Studies as well!

Project #13

Meagan Jones
EDM 310
Project #13 (Collaborative)
Group #1

Lesson Plan #1 Group 1 W6
Lesson Name:  Traveling to American Indian groups
Category: Social Studies
Grade Level: 5                       Lesson Number: 1 of 1
Date: Oct. 5, 2014
Alabama Standard(s): Distinguish differences among major American Indian cultures in North America according to geographic region, natural resources, community organization, economy, and belief systems.
•  Locating on a map American Indian nations according to geographic region
Objectives:
According to rubric in assessment.
Upon finishing the project of “traveling” to different tribes, students will be able to receive 90% of their points according the the rubric below.
Activities:
Students will be giving a starting amount of “money.” All students will receive $500 to start their journey which will start in Mobile, Alabama. In this journey the student will be required to travel from one region of the country to “visit” the different tribes. At each tribe, the students will be required to “participate” in two activities to that particular culture. In participating, the student will have to research an activity done by those people and write a short (3-5 paragraphs) description of that activity. Ex: When visiting the Pueblo Indians the student can help “build a house” and in doing so the student will write a description of the the type of living arrangements on the Pueblo Indians.
After they have participated in at least two activities then they will travel to another group. In doing so they will have to learn where the tribe is/was located. Being that the student will start out in Mobile, if their first stop is the Pueblo Indians, they will have to travel to Central Arizona to visit this group. The location will have to be researched by the students.
The money comes into play with travel and activities. The student will have to pay to travel from region to region. The student will look up the distance between the two destination points (ex: Mobile and Arizona, a rough estimate of one state to another is acceptable). Mobile and Arizona are 1,591 miles apart. It will cost the student $3 to travel every 24 miles. The student will have to use math skills the figure this out. 1,591 miles distance/24 miles per gallon. Then that total will be multiplied by $3 per gallon of gas to find out how much that drive will cost them. In this case, $199. This would be subtracted from the original $500.
The activities with the tribes will cost the student $100 per activity for the first two activities and $50 for the third activity on. After they have traveled to the region and done the activities, they will turn in that portion of the assignment (via a class blog). After it has been turned in, the student will receive more money for their travels. If the student traveled and did at least two activities, they will receive $500 more. If they travel and participate in one activity, they receive $200. If the travel and participate in no activities, the student will receive $150.
The students will have to visit 8 different groups. Six if the groups are listed below and 2 of the groups will be at the student’s choosing.
The goal is to have a little money as possible by the end of the journey. The student’s project will be graded by number of tribes visited (8 minimum, 6 of which are specified), number of activities performed (16 minimum), and how much money they have left (less than $50 for the best grade) by the end of the project. Part of the student’s grade will also come from from his or her list of sources (minimum of 16) due at the end of each section of the journey. In addition, spelling and and grammar count. The project is worth 50 points total.
The summary at the end of each section of the journey (minimum of 8) will be on their class blog. This will include the tribe’s name, region of the country, how far the student traveled, what activities were performed, the total cost started out with and finishing with, and sources used (2 sources per tribe required).
Groups to visit:
  • Navajo
  • Cherokee
  • Siou
  • Chippewa
  • Choctaw
  • Apache
    • 2 nations of the students choosing.
Materials/ Equipment:
Internet access, computer access, writing utensils and paper (if desired by the student to keep account of travels), and research material (decided on by the student).
Homework:
Student will have some class time to work on this project, any time necessary to work on this project outside of the allotted time will be homework.
 Assessment:


10 points
8 points
6 points
4 points
2 points
0 points
Grammar/ Spelling
No grammatical or spelling mistakes
Minor grammatical or spelling mistakes
Several grammatical or spelling mistakes
Major grammatical or spelling issues
Many major issues grammatically or in spelling
Made no apparent attempt to follow grammatical or spelling rules
Sources
16+ sources
12-15 sources
8-11 sources
5-7 sources
2-4 sources
0-1 sources
Money left
Less than $50
$50-$100 left
$101-$175 left
$176-$300
$301-$500 left
$501+ left
Tribes visited
8+ tribes
6-7 tribes
4-5 tribes
2-3 tribes
1 tribe
0 tribes
Activities performed
16+ activities
12-15 activities
8-11 activities
5-7 activities
2-4 activities
0-1 activities

·