Project #12

Here is our Smart Board project. We are presenting a second grade lesson plan on cloud types. 

Blog Post #16

Here is my final video reflection of EDM 310.

Blog Post #5 part b

I have accumulated many resources throughout this course. I put together my Personal Learning Network on a Symbaloo page here for you to see.

Blog Post #13

What did you leave out?

Discuss how to handle health difficulties that come with technology. For example, many people get sick or nauseous from staring at computer screens for a long period of time. As well, a large population of people are triggered into sever migraines by computers. Migraines typically start at the age of 7 or 8 years old.

Remember in the 90's when we were told NOT to use computers because of eye health, posture, and various other health reasons. Discuss ergonomics and other things you can do to prevent negative health effects on your students.

Blue light filters installed on computers or apps downloaded on iPads can be beneficial to help with eye restraint and prevent migraines from triggering.

Ergonomics can help prevent carpal tunnel and back problems.

How can you modify your technology for students with health problems triggered by monitors and how can you prevent health problems developed from using technology?

This website talks about many ways you can keep good health while using a computer.

You can search many sites like this one on ergonomics in the classroom. You can purchase specific keyboards and wrist wrests to prevent carpal tunnel. Proper posture and seating prevents back problems.

For students with migraines you can install blue light filters. However, that typically does not help if the exposure time is more than 10-15 minutes. Students with these types of medical conditions should be allowed to use other methods of doing work including paper and pencil, using library sources to find information, and being teamed up with a partner who can do the screen work while the other student does any preparation work not required on the computer.

C4T #5

Honestly, I am not sure if I am ahead or behind one. I spoke to another classroom that has the same problem. We think the schedule might have gotten off for C4T as we are told to post for our second comment this week. However, we are only in our first comment of this series. We decided to just do two blog posts this week and hope it works out!

This week I read about how use of technology can effect the classroom. In Connected Principals they spoke about walking into a teachers classroom and seeing posters about "geniushour" and other various details that encouraged different styles of learning. The teachers that walked into this classroom asked each other if they thought the teacher of this classroom was on Twitter. They both agreed he was because they could see the influence displayed in this classroom set up. When they asked the educator of the classroom he said he did get some resources from Twitter but was not online so much. This blog discussed that having resources through the internet opens up a teachers ability and mind to share with their students. There is basically no excuse not to have a resource because you can get almost anything through the internet.

The blog on Connected Principals was all about smiles! This principal really did a self evaluation and realized his days were starting off looking to settle problems and answer emails. Instead he decided to spend the first 30 minutes of his day looking for smiles! Of course, he lost count immediately as his students walked by ready start a new day. He says:

There is so much beauty in the run of a school day that it will make your head spin…change your habits so you allow yourself the opportunity to revel in it…schools are the most beautiful places on earth if you open your eyes,

I completely agree with this statement. This principal also addressed the connotation of the principals office being a bad place. Instead of having teachers send their students to his office for punishments, he had them send them to his office for praise! Students were excited to get sent to the office because they were celebrated for their achievements! What a wonderful idea! I very much enjoy this blog and hope to continue reading and gathering ideas for my future classrooms.

C4K April

Today I read a blog by Luke H. I really enjoyed the topic of this blog. Luke told us that he thinks students should be allowed to chose if they want to learn through online classes at home or go to school. He chose online classes. He brought up some very good points! He notices that he does not pay attention or focus as well early in the morning when school starts because he is still tired. He also feels the same way about being hungry. Luke would like to sleep in later and be able to snack throughout the day so that he can focus better on his school work. Luke said he thinks kids, not just adults, should be allowed to take online classes.

I wrote a sort of lengthy response because I got so excited about his post. I told Luke how I agree with his two concerns of focus and that some schools try to address those issues with rotating class schedules and snack times. I also told him that a lot of my classes are online and my main concern is that I can get sick if I look at a computer screen too long and there are many other people that do too. I reminded Luke the difference between "your" and "you're" as he misused it and congratulated him on writing such a wonderful post!

Nadia wrote a blog about her bucket list. She included items like having a relationship, getting her license, graduating college, and my favorite, making a quilt for her house. I asked Nadia if that is a family tradition or if she had any reason why she wanted to make a quilt for her home. Nadia also wrote on her 5 year, 10 year, and life bucket list that she wants to "be happy". I think that is something we all should strive for!

In Luke H's blog he discussed how he would run a restaurant. He decided that he would offer many different varieties of food on different days such as Chinese food on Tuesdays and Mexican on Wednesdays. I told Luke I would love to eat there on Tuesdays! Luke also mentioned that he would ask his customers after every meal how he could improve and then make changes based off of that. I stated that I think that is a fabulous idea. 

For Dakota's blog he also wrote about his bucket list. Dakota mentioned a few things like getting a tattoo, owning a restaurant, and visiting Alaska. I told Dakota I think it is awesome that he wants to have his own business and asked if he wanted to live in Alaska or just see it. Dakota also said he wants to visit the John Hanson French Immersion.

Blog Post #12

Our group did a Symbaloo page to display the resources we found that aid deaf and blind students through assistive technology. I found 14 of the links out of the 27. Mercedi made the Symbaloo page and Traci helped her. They also found a couple sources together. We sort of independently found resources and loaded them to our pages.

Visit our Symbaloo page featuring assitive technology for the deaf and blind.

I made another Google slide I wanted to add but got very sick this week and was unable to complete it in time. I still have to upload me speaking and signing to it. I will try to add that later if you want to come back and take a look! I adore sign language and deaf culture! I am actually looking at going into deaf education. South Alabama has a sign language program and here are a few photos from one of the times we got to sign the National Anthem!

"Rockets red glare"

"Bear"

Blog Post #11

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

Teacher videos:
Brian Crosby
Mr. Paul Anderson
Mark Church
Sam Pane
Project Based Learning
Roosevelt Elementary


In Brian Crosby's video he spoke about building a passion in at-risk students. Most of his students were at-risk students and could not answer simple questions like what country or city they lived. Crosby wanted to motivate his students by getting them into hands on experiments and into technology. His class did "can crush" experiments and a balloon experiment that allowed the students to feel excitement about learning. Within the balloon experiment his students were able to upload data and pictures to blogs and Flikr accounts which allowed them to see that they had an audience. The students became more aware of their location by tracking the balloon and aware of their language by posting to an audience through technology. Another incredible task Crosby and his class accomplished was the inclusion of a very sick student who could not attend school. They set up a web cam and allowed the student to learn and be a part of the class through the technology. This kept the student from going through a very long and tedious process of paperwork to get in home schooling and allowed her to continue learning.

Paul Anderson spoke of a blended learning cycle in his Science classroom. The first part of the learning cycle brings together online, mobile, and classroom learning. Then, the learning cycle consists of 5 E's; Engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate. When you combine the blended learning with the learning cycle is when you get the blended learning cycle.
I believe the following lesson format is a good idea for science lessons and I think I will incorporate them in some ways into my future classrooms.
Anderson focus' his lesson around a good, enticing question and continues with the mnemonic QUIVERS.
QUIVERS: Questions, hook the students into learning.
investigation/inquiry, have the students investigate and inquire about the topic
video, show the students an introduction video or use a video for instruction. This frees up the instructors time to be with the students. When the students get to the instruction part they can simply watch it on their time.
elaboration, this is where the students use diagrams and pull information from the textbook to really understand the experiment.
review, allows the instructor to sit down with the student to ask questions and gives the student a chance to show that they really understand the material. Students can not go onto the next step without passing review and will be sent back through the process if they do not pass.
summary quiz, this is a timed quiz that students may retake a few times until they pass.
After a few lessons like this, Anderson has his student's take an overall pencil and paper assessment to review and tell what they know.

In Mark Church's book summary video he focus' on seeing how students progress in their thinking. He chooses to have them write a headline for their subject and will later have them write another to see how their thinking progressed. I can see how this would be an interesting theory and beneficial in the classroom. However, this video did not provide much more information than that.

Sam Pane had an awesome lesson in his video! His lesson focus was on Internet safety. The title was "Super Digital Citizen" in which Pane had his student's create a superhero online and create a comic story about themselves. The story included the student's approaching an unsafe Internet situation and their superhero saved them from it. I think this would be a fabulous first day of school activity! It would get your students excited about learning because they know they will be doing fun activities using technology. It will also set safety expectations right away in how you want them to approach their ongoing Internet activities. And you would have more time on the first day of school to give them to work on this assignment because you won't have tests, be in the middle of a chapter, or other time consuming work that accumulates later in the school year.
The criteria learned from this was:
1) Write narratives to develop imagined experiences or events
2) analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to text
3) ask and answer questions
Though Pane does not say which site he used for this activity in the comments under this video it suggest Pane could have used the websites comic-life.en.softonic.com or X-treme comics from professorgarfield.org. At the top of their comic editing on the Mac computers it said "comic life".

For the Project Based Learning(PBL) video it talked about a school in Canada that integrated three subjects; History, English, and Computer Processing. This school has allowed their students to learn without segmented subjects but rather integrating three subjects into a longer time frame. This has allowed the students more time to focus and work hard on their assignments and be proud of their finished products. It has allowed the educators the time to sit down and review one on one with the students. I think this is a great idea for classes and very beneficial to everyone. I would love to incorporate the idea of integrated subjects and longer learning times into my future classrooms.

Roosevelt Elementary also uses PBL in their classrooms. For younger students this allows more hands-on activities to spark interests, apply knowledge, gives student choice, allows ownership, and provides self-motivation. Student's are engaged in real world activities that allows differentiation for different types of learners. Parents voiced that they like the public speaking aspect of PBL so that their children get used to it at a younger age. As well, they enjoyed the collaborative learning techniques applied. PBL is definitely an essential tool in today's education.

Blog Post #10

Kathy Cassidy's approach to technology in her classroom opens up many learning opportunities to students. I found it intriquing that Mrs. Cassidy used Nintendogs game on the DS to help her students with reading, problem solving, and getting along in a group. Of course students love to play these games! It is an opportunity for them learn skills without even realizing they are learning them. That can sometimes be the most beneficial way of teaching. She also discusses the use of blogs to help students with writing, the availability of audience gives the students incentive to do well, and gives motivation when others comment on their blogs.

I have never really given Twitter a real chance in the education field. I think what Mrs. Cassidy and Dr. Strange were discussing inspires me to try it again. I need to really find some PLN connections and utilize Twitter as a learning and educational tool as opposed to a social networking site.

A lot of parents might be weary of their students names, information, and/or pictures on the internet. Mrs. Cassidy suggests a few tips to keep them safe. She only uses their first names and not their last names. She makes sure the students have a clear understanding of this safety rule. She also never puts names with faces in the pictures she uploads. This keeps her students protected.

Another problem might be how to keep the students safe from seeing outside sources they should not that the internet inevitably has to offer. Mrs. Cassidy instructs the students to go to her web page in order to get to approved sites. Once the students are on those sites she makes sure they understand that the stuff in the middle is what they are supposed to click on. All the flashing and shiny ads and links on the outsides are not okay to click on. Most school systems also have blocks on their internet service that do not let a link load if it has specific content.

I see Mrs. Cassidy's techniques as inspiring to her students. I think this approach is good to keep learning fun and interesting. It gives motivation to the students. All students love to use technology and it is such an essential tool in this day and age to utilize it in an educational way. If proper safety precautions and real effort goes into setting up a good technological environment for students, I think it will set students up to succeed and give them the drive to learn.

C4T #4

In Mrs. Krebbs blog post, Explore, Create, Contribute: The Best in Free Online Resources for Educators, she tells of the exciting new that she is hosting a webinar to help educators get free online resources. She discusses what makes this "the best". With contributions from all participants and the ability to create together she says that this is what makes it "the best" of online resources. Her webinar will be held on April 2, 2015 at 2:30 EST. I hope to attend this webinar. I commented that we, in EDM 310, are learning how it is the educators role to guide students on which resources to use and how to use them. This is what I interpret this webinar as and I am excited to be a part of it.

I really enjoyed the blog, The Ultimate in Differentiation Genius Hour.
What is genius hour? Mrs. Krebbs describes it as

"In genius hour we hand over power to the students. They choose what they are ready for. They choose what they are interested in. They choose based on their learning profile. They choose the content they want to learn. They choose the process to use to get to that end. They choose the product to show their learning. Throughout, the teacher is available for scaffolding, guiding, helping, leading as needed. Primarily, it’s about the learning, not the knowledge the teacher is imparting."

I LOVE this idea of teaching! I feel like I would have been much more successful in school if my teachers gave me this opportunity. I think this would give students a chance to feel like they are doing something right! It is based on their "learning profile". Many times students feel like failures because they can't keep up with everything. But this gives them the chance to succeed! This is setting the students up for success!
Mrs. Krebbs says

" It’s not always easy to give choices when we are mandated to test and cover so much material. However, when students are entrusted with learning–real learning, not just to pass a test learning–they are empowered and motivated. "

How true is this statement? Students are way more motivated when they aren't just trying to pass a test but really understand and apply a skill or learn something new. This is where learning is for the FUN of it!

I commented on this post that I will surely bring this concept into my future classroom! I can't wait to look more into #geniushour!

C4K March

Today I read a post by Luis about the PLAN testing. Luis summarized the format of the standardized test and made some suggestions. He suggested to make educational guesses on the English section of the test. He also made note that the graphs on the math section are not for college placement for for career planning. I told Luis that I am taking a standardized test tomorrow which will allow me to get into the teaching program at my college. I also suggested that Luis re-read his posts before submitting him in order to fix small errors.

The blog post I read from Omar was about his Job Shadowing experience. He was able to go to a Chicago Speedway and see the accounting department. Omar learned that money comes from [ticket sales, investors, and sponsors]. He also discovered that it takes more than just money to run a business! He was told about how you have to keep a good working environment as well. I asked Omar if he thought it would be hard work to keep all the financial records straight as well as keeping a good environment.

In Zach's post about chairs he tells us when they were made, colors of chairs, and how many he has in his home. Zach tells us chairs were made in the 16th century. I commented that I did not know that fact and asked him where he think they sat before they were invented. He also told us that he has 67 chairs in his home. I told him I bet his guests always have a place to sit! I also reminded Zach that "where" tells a place or location and "were" tells something happening in the past because he misused "where" in a sentence". I told him he had great enthusiasm and to keep up the good work.

Blog Post #9

What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?
There are so many answers to this question! A few articles and videos summarized will help me to answer this question.

The video Project-Based Learning for Teachers explained the ideas of PBL. I think one of the most important concepts is what your students gain from this type of learning. At 1:34 it begins to tell of all the skills students can acquire by using PBL. Those are as follows:

• Collaboration skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills 
• Career and life skills

The video reminds us to think of PBL as "questioning, investigating, sharing, and reflecting". PBL is technology based and also allows students and audience to present in front of. It is the role of the educator to give students the opportunity to learn.

In PBL: What Motivates Students Today it is great for us to hear what really allows students the opportunity to learn. To summarize the answers in this video I would say were positive feedback from teachers, being able to achieve what they want in terms of college and being successful after college, parents enforcing good grades by allowing extracurricular activities or taking away fun activities. Positive enforcement seems to be the overarching theme in this video. Students want to do well when they are rewarded with things like "class money", "going into the garden", or receiving candy. Students also enjoy when the class is interesting like "music Mondays" and "whacky fact Wednesdays". It is important to keep students motivated to do well and want to keep learning.

Ten Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration In Project Based Learning gives a few really great websites to use as an educator in PBL. For instance they talk about using Skype in the classroom. A lot of educators have been able to allow students to collaborate with other students from around the world through this educational version of the video call program.
Another cool website that I had never heard of is Wall Wisher where you can post virtual sticky notes for others to see. It looks like it might have been changed to be called "Padlet". The website gives you the option of using it for work or in school. This might even be a useful tool for teachers in the same grade or school to collaborate on their lesson plans with one another! There are many other useful websites to check out on this site!

In a high school two students were able to come up with a solution to the ever lasting problem of watery ketchup! They spent time sketching possible solutions to diminish the watery part of the ketchup. Through their schools technology they designed the perfect ketchup cap. The school homes a 3D printer which allowed them to print their design. These students really enjoyed that they were able to have a class that was interesting and, of course, this was through project based learning!

In Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning this article discusses "[what students] need to know, a driving question, student voice and choice, 21st century skills, inquiry and innovation, feedback and revision, and a publicly presented project".
The main theme and start of any PBL seems to be the driving question. Why is that? This article suggest that "A good driving question captures the heart of the project in clear, compelling language, which gives students a sense of purpose and challenge". 
To the beginning there must be an end, the audience. In this article their audience consisted of " parents, peers, and representatives of community, business, and government organizations". Of course, you could have any audience including just the class, the school, parents, or any combination! I think having an audience really pushes students to strive towards their best work. 

Project #9

Here is our group's video conversation on our text book by Marc Prensky.

Project #13

Our team decided to do a PBL lesson for grade 3 in the subject of science.

Calendar
Slide Show
Checklist
Rubric
Project Plan

C4T #3

Again, this 2 weeks I read blog posts by Julie Reuter in her blog Teach- Share- Inspire.

Julie had a transitional experience as she got ready to change schools. She was always used to sending her students to the next grade knowing she would be there if they needed her. This year was different. Julie reflected in this blog about her last group of students at this school. Julie remembers how "they were chatty, easily distracted, innovative, and wanted to be challenged". She says they were much like herself. She taught her class the 4 c's, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity, and this set the tone for the next two years she had with these students as a looping teacher. Julie had her class set up PLN's and write blog posts that became very successful. They had thousands of viewers and comments from many famous authors. Julie wanted her students to remember to be brave as they tried new adventures in the 7th grade. She ends her blog telling her students "you are a gift to be treasured".

On this blog, Wanna Hangout? Google Hangouts for Education, Julie discusses how her class had the ability to use Google Chromebooks in their classroom. Their class got to use Google Hangout to speak with and "hangout" with other classes from their PLN's. I thought this was a very interesting and fun way to connect with her PLN's. She wrote about three different groups that her class got to meet with and how they were sort of an experiment for Chromebooks in the classroom. I have personally have a Chromebook and can see the benefits this computer might have in a classroom setting. It is equipped with everything Google at the click of a button and you can even edit Google Docs offline. It would be interesting to have a future class of mine utilize Google Hangouts for educational purposes. 

Blog Post #8

The question we are asked to address in this blog is "What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From Randy Pausch?" after watching his Last Lecture.

Randy used this opportunity, this lecture, to teach some very key lessons not to his audience but to his sons. Randy was given a diagnoses that left him with only a few months left to live. Many lessons in this lecture can and should be applied by many.

The overall theme of this lecture was "childhood dreams". Randy says "Anything is possible. That is something we should not lose sight of. The inspiration and the permission to dream is huge". I agree with statement and think we should take this idea into our classrooms. Our students should have permission to dream huge.

Randy, a Carnegie Melon professor, used technology and project based learning throughout his classes and created a very successful career for both himself and his students.

An important concept in learning Randy says is "You have to get the fundamentals down otherwise all the fancy stuff isn't going to work". He uses an example from his childhood. His coach came to football practice without any footballs. When a teammate asked about it, the coach responded asking how many football players are on a team. He then asked how many players touch the ball at once. One. The coach stated that they would be practicing on what all the other teammates would be doing. "You have to get the fundamentals down otherwise all the fancy stuff isn't going to work". This concept needs to be carried over in any learning area. You have to understand the fundamentals in order to build on that and do the "fancy stuff". I think this concept is key for learning as well as something that should be taught to our students.

When teaching, you don't always know where to set expectations and limits. When Randy was blown away by the phenomenal work of his students within the first two weeks of class he didn't know where to go from there. His adviser told him "You don't know where the bar should be and you are only going to do them a disservice by putting it anywhere". I very much agree that you should allow your students to go above and beyond as far as they can. Setting certain limits only says you don't believe they can do better.

As I have volunteered, observed, and worked with students I have repeatedly come across a student that just doesn't want to follow the rules. Randy reminds us to "wait long enough and someone will almost always impress you... You just haven't given them enough time". It is so important that you give every student a chance to do great! A student is never "bad", only their actions are. There is good in everyone and you just have to give them time to show it.

Randy shared of a time where his actions were being perceived as arrogant. He had a boss tell him "what a shame that people perceive you this way because it is going to limit what you can accomplish". This is an important statement! Randy, himself, was not arrogant. However, his actions were causing people to think so and that could have kept him achieving great accomplishments. I believe you should address issues with your students in a similar, age-appropriate way. Let your students know that they are being seen in a certain way and that is only going to keep them from having good things in their life. When others start to see them in a different light, they will begin to feel the benefits. I had an instance like this with a "bully" in my summer daycamp class. We sat down and addressed that people did not see her as friendly and that was keeping her from having play mates. When she understood that, she began going out of her way to help others and gained many friends by the end of the summer.

To paraphrase Randy "there's a good way and a bad way to say I don't know". I think in teaching and learning whenever you come across a moment that you don't know an answer to something, you can address it in completely different manners. One way to say it is in an upset rage. That is obviously the wrong way. Randy remembers a time where a dean said to him something along the lines of "I don't know. But I do know that I have a star faculty member in my office and he is really excited about it. So, let's figure it out". Students will ask a million and one questions and you will not always have the answer. It is important to learn how to speak to your students and to teach them how to speak to their peers and adults. Ending an "I don't know" phrase with "let's figure it out" is the best way to approach any situation.

Randy reminds us that it takes others to help us get anywhere in life. We need others help. He tells us some ways to get that. He says always apologize. He also reminds us not to focus on ourselves but to put others first. These are great ways to get a group of support!

One very true idea Randy talks about throughout the lecture is what he calls a "Head fake". This is when you think you are learning one lesson but are really learning something else or many things in the process. In my opinion this is one of the greatest ways to teach! Students don't want to sit and learn but when you make something fun, they don't always realize they are learning in the process! I believe this concept is very important in teaching many lessons.

Randy taught many key concepts in his lecture that we are lucky to have been able to hear.

Project #7 part B

For the video to my future students and their parents I chose to do a video as if I were teaching a second grade class. I looked up ALEX standards in different subjects so that I could talk about some of the things we would be learning in class. I used imovie on an ipad to create these two movies.

Here is my video to the parents.

Here is my video to the students.

Blog Post #7

In the video Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten it discussed many benefits of imovie and AVL in a Kindergarten classroom. I think the key point in this video is that you should not underestimate you Kindergarten students. A lot of people might think that students of this age are not capable of creating movies on ipads or researching on a regular basis. However, students should not be underestimated because they can. As discussed in this video students love to make videos, especially when it comes to the editing aspect. Students can take pictures, use the iMovie trailer, and fill the frames with their project assignment such as a book trailer. It is good to show the students one or two examples of how to do one and then they can do it on their own.

The Alabama Virtual Library(AVL) is a free resource to anyone living in Alabama. You can attain an AVL card through almost any library in Alabama. AVL is a research based search engine that even Kindergartners can use. The video suggest giving the students a list of animals to go through and research on a weekly basis in order to practice using research skills.

As I watched We All Become Learners I felt agreement with the idea of students teaching in addition to the teacher. In this Michelle Bennett said "Barriers go down and we all learn" referring to the moments that the students get to teach other students as well as teach the instructor something they might not have known. The discussion suggests a change in dynamics and Dr. Strange remarks "so everybody becomes a learner and a teacher".

iPads in the Classroom gave many good perspectives on this topic. The students in the video were using an app they referred to as "ABC magnetic" to interactively learn their spelling lesson. This is a great resource that not only engages the students but also allows time to focus on the lesson of spelling for some students who might be slower at writing. Using the technology allows a faster but still reasonable speed for students to learn. Another app I found intriguing was the "iconverse" app they spoke about. This allowed special needs students who had difficulty speaking to interact with others they would normally not be able to. If the student wanted to say thank you they just pressed the preset button in the app.

Top 10 Reasons to Use Technology in Education gave many great reasons such as engaging students, the ability to learn from experts, and my personal favorite was the Amplivox ipod listening center. This device seems similar to the stations we had as kids where we would listen to a lesson on cassette tapes. However, this device allows you to plug in your ipod and has access for six students to plug in headphones at once. I looked more into this device and found that Wal Mart sells it for less than $80. The Amplivox website sells it for $109. I think this listening center would be worth the investments for my students!

C4K February

Week 4: This week Noah from Illinois wrote about Jackie Robinson. Noah had an impressive amount of information in his post. He told us Jackie's birth place and date as well as his death place and date. Noah told us that Jackie Robinson was a famous baseball play who was the first black man in the Major League and the first black man to be on a white baseball team. I asked Noah why he thought that was important to Jackie and to history.

Week 3: Today I read a blog by Owen entitled Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone part 3. Owen did a great job on this post! He summarized the parts of the book that he has read and told us his thoughts on it. He asked what house at Hogwarts we would want to be sorted into. I told him Hufflepuff just because it is really fun to say! He also expressed how Harry might have felt either scared leaving his aunt and uncle or happy to be away from him. I commented that I think it might be both. Harry was probably happy to get away from his aunt and uncle but also scared to be going to a new place alone. I asked Owen if he has ever been to a new place by himself like a new school. Owen did a spectacular job in his spelling and overall writing of this post.

Week 2: In Hunter's blog, Military Pros and Cons, he talks about the different aspects of being in the military. He touches on the points of pay differences for different ranks and also shows a great diagram of the ranks(see below). Hunter says that he would love to be in the military one day because he would love to fight. He talks about how a person in the military has to be good at math and train hard to do well. I offered some thoughts on how well military persons get paid for all ranks and asked if he had any family in the military.

Week 1 I read a blog post by Jonathan H called "Winter Weather". Jonathan wrote about how he loves the snow and building snow castles! I posted about how we live near the beach and make a lot of sand castles. I also asked him if he has ever built a sand castle before.

CFT #2

The blog I read today, Teach, share, inspire  by Julie Reuter, was just that, inspiring! She wrote a great article that inspired courage and reminded us that change and growth are good especially in our line of work. Julie recently won an award for Teacher of the Month and uses this post to thank people as well as answer the question "Why am I a teacher?". Julie explains that the answer to that question can change on a daily basis. However, ultimately the students are the answer. She brags on her students and talks about how they knew exactly what to say and do when she was given an opportunity to move schools after 19 years in the first school. She took the opportunity and is very grateful that she did as discovers growth in her life.

Julie's blog, Just Keep Pedaling, told the story of a lesson learned in her life. Julie had often been afraid of going bike riding though her family and friends were experienced at it. She often found ways to get out of going on biking trips. However, one year she was faced with a decision and went on a bike trail with her family. As she increased her speed and reveled in the freeing feeling of biking she remembered she was not as experienced as those with her. As they came to a stop her foot got stuck in the pedal clip and she fell in front of her kids. While she wasn't happy about letting her kids see her fall at something she set out to do, she used it to inspire them to always get back up and keep going.

Blog Post #6

For this post we watched a series of videos of teacher Anthony Capps and professor Dr. John Strange speaking on different topics. The first thing I learned from this assignment is about screen recording. I learned that when you are recording a conference like the ones in the videos you should make sure each person has similar microphone input devices. Dr. Strange had a head set that was close to his mouth and allowed for clear, high volume recording while Capps was speaking farther away into his computers recording device. This caused problems for me as the viewer. I was more focused on turning my volume up to the maximum volume as Capps spoke(and still barely hearing him) and down to half or less volume as Dr. Strange spoke than actually focusing on the content of the videos. So, my first lesson I learned in this is to prepare and prevent volume distractions when videoing a conference.

As for the video lessons I learned from the first two, Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher  and Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher , the following information:

To paraphrase Anthony Capps project based learning should focus on the method by which your students learn versus showing achievement or what they learned. I think this is an important concept. Examples I can think of from when I was in school are a book report which simply states what I learned and a cell structure made from food in science. The book reports were always boring and I don't remember anything about any book report I wrote. However, the science project required us to learn as we created the project. Because we used peanuts, which have high protein, for the amino acids in our cell project, to this day I can remember that amino acids have to do with the proteins in our bodies. Project based learning should be a way to learn and not to show what you have learned.

The videos also talked about topics such as student interest, community involvement, and meeting content standards. I love the example Capps gave that his students used in his classroom when they wrote to Representative Bonner about a current popular topic about women serving in the military. They used iCurrio, a curated search site, to find women in history who served and were able to use real life examples in their letters. This use of iCurrio allowed the students to use technology as well as meet social studies standards as they studied the specific historical figures. By the end the students critiqued each others letters and chose the best ones to send to Representative Bonner. This allowed them to revise and reflect on their work. Capps says "Don't limit what they do. They will go above and beyond if you let them". By allowing the students to choose their historical figure it gave the students a choice and allowed confidence. This encourages students to want to know what they're learning.

Another good site to use in the classroom is Discovery Education where books can become animated and you can bring experts into the classroom.

To summarize the video The Anthony - Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1  some of the tips suggested by Anthony Capps and Dr. John Strange are to be a learner yourself, make your work fun, be flexible and creative, strive for 100% student engagement, and share your work such as to an audience.

In Don't Teach Tech - Use It  the discussion takes place of technology in the classroom. It is suggest in this video that your lessons are not actually to teach technology but to use it in the process of learning. Capps says to scaffold your technology into learning. For example, have the students use iCurrio to look up a topic. Then, the next week have them use iMovie while in the third week have them combine the two technologies to create a project.

In Additional Thought About Lessons  Capps explains the importance of lesson planning. He talks about creating the lesson plan for the year and then breaking that up into units. After, you break down units into projects and create a weekly plan as to how you will cover those. Just as important you then plan the weeks into daily activities which is where you are actually delivering the content to your students.

Blog Post #5

What are Personal Learning Networks (PLN)? 
PLN are a group of people, sites, and available technology that help you to learn and grow on a specific content area.
How can they help you as a teacher? 
As a teacher we have to accept that the world is constantly changing and so is the way we attain knowledge. PLN can help us keep up with the changes and allow us to constantly learn and grow. That way we can give that growing knowledge to our students as they come in each year.
How are they formed? 
You personally form your own PLN based on a certain subject or content area. You gather sites, people, and information through technology and those connections are your PLN. You create your PLN.
How can you create your own PLN? 
You can find specialist specific to your subject and add their websites, twitter, emails, etc. You can put them on a personalized dashboard site such as Symbaloo. There all your accumulated links, people, and information reside so that you can go to it at any time. You have to research to find the best PLN.
Who will be the first additions to your PLN?
I think this class has offered a lot of great resources and information. I am already following some Twitter accounts of professors here at the University of South Alabama and professional educators elsewhere that I think would be a good start for my PLN. The blogs of teachers that we have been commenting on are also a good start to building my PLN.

Project #7 part a

This is my sentence video.

This is my passion video.

Project #2

For Project #2 our group created 3 different rubrics using Rubistar. We collaborated on what criteria we felt was important to evaluate and broke it up into groups. We then input the information into the rubric generator and posted it into a google doc to share.
Here are the rubrics:
Blog Post Rubric

Group Rubric

Project Rubric

Blog Post #4

"What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?" (John Strange. Blog post #4). This is our main focus for this blog.

This week we read a few articles and watched a couple of videos on asking effective questions(references listed at the bottom). There were a lot of great suggestions on style, technique, and types of questions. Some of the articles spoke about how, as an effective teacher, we need to steer away from general questions. It is important to be very selective with our questions. One way to do this is to write questions prior to the lesson. This allows for questions to be thought out and well placed. You can also save good questions such as ones a student might ask in one class to use in the next.
A topic mentioned in multiple sources is that of open-ended questions versus close-ended questions. Close-ended questions are ones that require a short answer such as yes, no, or a short phrase that fully answers the question asked. These types of questions also are known to lead a student to the answer. For example, "If a community has a high poverty level, there would be more families on welfare, right?". An open-ended question is one that requires more thinking. An example of an open-ended questions could be "Can you list  some of the effects high poverty levels might have on a community". By asking to list answers one allows a student various ways to answer a question. These types of questions tend to give the student an option as to the form of the answer given. It is better to ask open-ended questions in order to get students thinking more critically.
Style and technique were two other topics brought up multiple times in the source list. I found it interesting to realize that what style you use in questioning directly effects what style your students use to answer. Sometimes students will even repeat the question back to you as they answer the question. That is one reason it is so important for effective teachers to model good questioning styles and strategies. Learning proper questioning strategies is important for students to learn and use throughout all aspects of their life.

The article I found, Asking Good Questions, did a great job explaining and breaking down Blooms Taxonomy and other paths of questioning. This article talks about different methods we, as effective teachers, need to know and practice.

Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom
Asking Questions to Improve Learning
The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom
Asking better questions in the classroom
Questioning Styles and Strategies
The Right Question Institute
Open Ended Questions

Project #15

For this project I have chosen eight different search engines and taken time to use them. For my main search criteria I used my husband's full name "Jonathon Marc Sanders" to compare what the engines could pull up.

The first engine I searched was Yahoo. With in the first page of links this engine pulled up my husband's facebook page. It also shows the images as a row on the first page rather than having to click the "images" link to get to the first few. The first image on the Yahoo search was of my husband and I at our first Easter dinner together a few years ago. I think this engine worked well, pulled good information, and I liked that the images were also shown on the first page. This search engine would be good for really all searches.

The next engine was Webcrawler. The first thing I noticed on this engine was all the ads. There were six ad links taking up half the page. I do not like that about this engine. Webcrawler did bring up my husbands facebook page within the first page of links. However, it does not show images on the first page of links. Though, when I clicked on images it did show the same picture that Yahoo had. It was also the first image. I do not think I would use this engine again. This search engines seems it would be good for all searches if you don't mind a bunch of ads.

Wow is the next search engine on the list. Wow had five ads on the page. This search engine did not seem to search the whole name but focused on "Marc" instead. There was no information on my husband in the links or in the images. This site does not show a row of images in the initial search either. This search engine would probably be better for searching factual information and one worded searches. I will not use this search engine again.

Wolframalpha was a different but good search engine. When I searched my husband's name it showed the message "development of this topic is under investigation" and gave me an option to email them about the search topic. I decided to search a simple math problem and it gave me that answer as well as additional information such as a number line, graphs and other information that might be useful. I also typed in "square root" and just hit about 15 different numbers in random order. It gave me the answer, explanation, and other information like the first math problem. Other topics I searched were "COD", "ukelele", "piano chords" and "civil war". It recognized that COD is a video game but did not give much information. It pulled up good musical information and very useful information about the war. This engine obviously is for educational searches and less for popular or people criteria.

I liked the option that you could upload a picture and search based on that upload. You could do the same with a file. You could also input a whole set of data and I assume it figure it for you. I did not test these functions but it is useful to know they are there. I will use this engine in the future.

The next search engine was aol. I did not like this search. It suggested a spelling change to how it thought Jonathon's name should be spelled. That is not the bad part. The bad part is that it proceeded to search with the suggestion and not what I typed! It didn't even wait for me to click the suggestion but rather assumed that is what I meant. Needless to say it did not pull up any information on my husband nor any images. It also focused a lot on the "Marc". I would not use this search engine given a choice. It probably is useful for popular news and gossip.

ask was the next engine I tried. This search engine was pretty much identical to the aol search engine. It made a suggestion and searched by that. However, it did have the Easter image as the first image. This search engine was okay and overall pretty basic. This would be good for probably all general searches.

A search engine I had never heard of before this assignment is Blekko. I really liked the layout of this engine. It had a nice blue color and good format. It was appealing to look at. It pulled up Jonathon's facebook page and also had the Easter image as the first picture. I would consider using this search engine again. It seems it would be good for all searches.

infospace was the final search engine I tried out. There were four ads at the top of this page. However, it did pull up Jonathon's facebook page and the Easter image was the first. Nothing about this search engine really stood out to me. I will most likely not use this engine again.

C4T#1

Today I read the blog Stump the Teacher by Josh Stumpenhorst. I read the post entitled "Educational Erosion". This post was interesting as it talked about the concept of how a "sucky" teacher got to that position. He used the metaphor of erosion, specifically water pressure, types of rocks, pressure, supports, and shelter, to illustrate the daily and yearly outside sources that may cause an educator to lose their initial passion. Teachers do not ever stop wanting to teacher. However, many outside sources trying to control how they teach is what causes them to look elsewhere for a job. The article discusses the idea that a "sucky" teacher might not have always been that way. It is up to us as fellow teachers, co-workers to give each other support to help balance the stress caused by things such as assessments, initiatives, and meetings. Stumpenhorst states at the end of the post "erosion over time can create smooth and polished masterpieces if it is controlled and nurtured. However, if unprotected it will ravage and destroy all in its path". He helps us visualize through this illustration just how important it is to keep your passion and help those around you do the same. 

The next post by Stumpenhorst was Bullies, Trolls, and Fakes. In this post he talked about the inevitable point that no matter what you post on the Internet there will always be someone there to talk you down. Either someone will get mad at you for being your race, ethnicity, etc and commenting, for commenting on the topic in general, or for not commenting soon enough. He also posted on the "fakes" or the people who only post their success online. Stumpenhorst pointed out that they aren't as perfect as they seem and one should not let that get them down. The "fake"s only post what is good and not those bad days in the class. Overall it is a good reminder for anyone new to the Internet that there will be someone against you no matter your stance on any topic. 

Blog Post #3

First, what is peer editing? Peer editing is when you make suggestions for improvement on a classmate's or some one your own age's writing. 

Second, what is the best approach to peer editing? Peers can sometimes be protective and proud of their work. We don't always want to hear what we did wrong. Therefore, it is best to start peer editing by complimenting and stating parts of the writing that were done well. One must be respectful and helpful when editing. 

I will edit my classmates blog posts by reading and analyzing what they have written. I will make note of where there were mistakes and things done well. I will then comment on their blogs to let them know what I think was done well and what I think needs improvement. I will do this in a kind manner with only good intentions to help. 

It is important to peer edit because we can all improve in one way or another. It is nice to have someone to support you and help you better your writing. Having a peer to edit is helpful because they know the assignment requirements and have a base connection with you through age or being classmates. With peer editing you can improve your writing in a helpful environment. 

Blog Post #2

In the video Mr. Dancealot the author presents the idea of teaching students without allowing them to be interactive. The message I got from this video is that educators set their students up to fail if they simply stand in front of the classroom and lecture. Specific concepts require students to practice in order to learn. If educators do not allow students that time to practice, the students will get frustrated and never learn even if they try to teach themselves. This message was conveyed by an educator teaching a dance class but never allowing the students to get up and practice the steps. The educator stood behind a counter where the students couldn't even see his feet when showing the steps. I believe a lot of students are kinesthetic learners and need to have hands on learning. Practice is a great way to learn!

In the second video, Teaching in the 21st Century , author Kevin Roberts shows us what he thinks about 21st century teaching. He recognizes that students can find information anywhere. He introduces the idea that "teachers are no longer the main source of knowledge" but rather "we are a filter"(Roberts). In the video Roberts argues concepts such as how to handle resources, should we teach facts and content or skills, how this changes classroom discussions, how to manage classroom tools, and the difference between engaging and entertaining students. His evidence to support these arguments are stated in how a student must navigate through technology. He describes the abilities needed to navigate search engines, post, design, paraphrase, copyright, professionalism, explain and justify opinions and resources, along with many other ideas. I believe Roberts is right in some manner. Students do need to be taught how to handle all these resources. That means, for myself as an educator, that I must also learn these skills in order pass the knowledge to my students. Technology can be a great tool when the user knows to their highest ability how to use it. 

In The Networked Student Drexler asks "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" A networked student is one who creates many connections throughout the world using technology. Drexler states "each network is it's own learning opportunity". So, the students are learning from outside sources. What the teachers is need for is to help navigate the student. The student needs to know what sites to access, what sites are reliable, and how to communicate respectfully and properly. The teacher, as the video says, "offers guidance when stuck... [and helps] organize information". I found this video to be accurate. Teachers might not need to supply all the facts any longer but they do need to help navigate and guide the students for better understanding. 

The next video, Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts, Davis' thesis seems to be her idea that if you only provide students with tools such as pen and paper, then only certain students will learn from that style of teaching. I somewhat agree with her but I think I mostly disagree. I personally suffer from chronic migraines, chronic meaning more than 16 times per month. Computer screens are triggers to those intense migraines that often put me in the hospital due to such intense pain. I put certain filters on my computers, phones, and adjust brightness levels to help but all in all I can not be on technology all day. Technology is actually a barrier to my learning process. I think Davis has a good idea when it comes to differentiating the instruction but I think it should be an option for the student's to decide. Does the student want to learn on pen and paper or on the technology? Because at the end of the day those students she is saying benefit from pen and paper are now being pulled down by her insistence of technology in the classroom. 

In fifth video, Who's Ahead in the Learning Race?, an interesting topic is discussed. Who is ahead in terms of learning technology between elementary students, undergraduates, and graduate students. I am an undergraduate. I think elementary students are ahead in terms of learning with in the classroom. However, the majority of undergraduate students grew up learning this information. We might now have as many classes teaching it but that's probably because we already know how to do the most of it! I think undergraduate students probably know how to do more and use technology to greater extent than elementary even though elementary may be getting more classes. Graduate students, I believe, are the farthest behind because they tend to be the generation right before all of the technology boom or are older adults coming back to school. Now, Mac vs. PC is another situation. Undergraduate and graduates grew up learning PC and can navigate those like a pro! Mac computers are completely different operating systems. Our synapse have already fired and been wired to copy and paste, print, and open tabs in a certain way. It is difficult to retrain your brain anything. Therefore, I believe elementary students are most likely more advanced in using Mac systems because that is really all they are growing up to be taught!

Next, we viewed the video Flipping the Classroom. This is a new concept to me. I think this idea is poorly thought out and seemingly poorly executed. I would never do this to my class. Sure, it could be useful ... to the 5 out of 20 students that succeed in it! How many kids do you think have a home life that this would work with? How many kids would focus on MORE school after the 7 hours they previously had that day? How many students would actually think of questions to bring to class? This is the type of work we do as college students! Elementary students do not and should not be expected to have the attention span and ability to learn like this. I feel like this would just cause frustration and confusion for both the parents and the students. I personally ask questions as we go along. If my questions aren't answered, I don't understand, and I can not continue. How do you expect a student who asks questions to learn the whole thing on their own the night before? The teacher in this video kept saying that having the "main instruction" during school was a "waste of time". Honestly, she shouldn't have signed up to be a teacher if that's what she thinks! You can have time for creativity and activities as well as the main instruction time if you learn how to manage you and your student's time well. 

The final article Bringing the Locker Room into the Classroom was a little confusing to me. But what I did get from it is that it helps to bring the class focused on a more team based learning. You should allow your students to build each other up by helping one another. He called it problem-based learning. I always liked having putting our desks in a big circle and having a respectful conversation about a topic. It allows for students to explain to another student in a way they will understand. 

Test

test

Blog Post #1

1) I have heard that EDM310 is really hard in terms of time management. Apparently if you have a bad group, there is no hope.
2) I am afraid I will get too many migraines from this being so much on the computer. I have diagnosed chronic migraines and too much computer/phone/tv screen time will trigger one and I will have to go to the urgent care or emergency room. I am afraid my migraines will not allow me to do my work on time because I can't look at any light when I have one. Chronic means more than 16 times a month.
3) The only thing I really know about this course is that it is online. None of my classes in high school had so much focus online. My college classes are starting to lean towards more online.
4) I think time management and trying to understand all the new information from this class will be the hardest part. The screen time will be difficult for my health.
5) I just have to focus my time each week and set aside time to focus on this class work. I am on a new preventative which will hopefully work to stop the migraines.
6) I attended two classes of this course last semester before I knew I had to change it to this semester. I feel like a lot more information was covered in the first classes last semester like html and format. I am afraid I will get points off for doing something incorrectly though we haven't really talked about much this semester.

Practice Blog

1) Myself and my family
2) My interests
3) Why teaching
4) Educator's job
5) Passions- learning and teaching

Hey everyone,
My name is Sarah Sanders. I have lived in many places. While I was born in Columbus, Ohio, I moved to and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. However, I moved back to Ohio during Christmas break of junior year in high school. I found my way back to the south for college here at South. My 3rd semester at South I took an internship in San Diego, California which allowed me to travel across the U.S. for a semester. Since that I have stayed in Mobile and intend to stay since I was married in May.
My family in Mobile consists of my husband and I and his family. I have 6 sisters and 1 brother that live in Alabama, Ohio, and Texas. Only one sister is younger than me and the rest are my older siblings. 6 of my siblings have children so I am an aunt of many! I have a dog named Max who is paralyzed. He doesn't let that get him down! He is very active and loves playing at the dog park.

If a kid has fun doing an activity, I probably do too! I love games, chalk, roller skating, and coloring! I have a great passion for teaching and helping others learn and grow. That is the main reason I am pursuing a teaching career.

An educator in 2015 has many responsibilities. Teaching is not just about standing in front of kids and making them learn something. It is about helping children grow and want to learn. Teachers must teach to children's interests. They also have to deal with parents, other educators, and create all the lesson plans. It is almost impossible to state all the work of an educator.

It might sound cheesy but I love to learn and teach more than anything. I am always reading new articles, learning more, watching documentaries, and trying to share my new found knowledge with those around me! I am often asked "why do you know all of this?". I want to know more and get better at  sharing knowledge with others in a way that is interesting to them and in a way they understand!