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.