Blog Post #10

First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class 
In this video clip the 1st graders talk about some of the different uses technology has in their classroom. They all seemed to enjoy having their own blogs and said that it helped their writing to improve. They also have a class website that you can go and explore. It had learning tools on it as well. Another really great use of technology was how they used Skype to talk to experts in certain areas. I would use this in my future classroom. I believe it would really helps students learn more about the subject if they were able to interact with an actual person instead of just reading it in a textbook.

Part 1
In the first part of the interview, Ms. Cassidy talks about how she utilizes technology in her classroom. Her class was given computers and she used them as a computer center in her room. She also created a class blog for her students and parents. I would definietly consider this idea when I become an educator.It would be so helpful for the students and parents to be able to see everything we are doing during the day. I could put the homework assignments online as well so the parents could access it easier.

Part 2 
This part of the interview was a lot shorter than the other parts. Here Ms. Cassidy talks about how she uses technology in her classroom and for her students, but she does not really use it for her personal life. She says this probably makes her a little unusual than most. She did get a facebook though because she needed it to access some sites.

Part 3
In the section the EDM 310 students were able to ask Ms. Cassidy questions. One student brought up a good point that I've always wondered about when it comes to blogging. Do you think students cheat more when using the blogs? I have always thought that this would be the case if students were using blogs a lot in class. Ms. Cassidy explained that with so much being collaborative, students really aren't able to cheat. This made sense after I thought more about it and I completely agreed with Ms. Cassidy's answer. Overall the question and answer session was a great way for those EDM 310 students to learn, but I learned a lot from their questions as well.

Project #12 SMARTboard Part A

Mastering SMARTboard Tools

Project 6: C4K #4 October

C4K #4

In this post India wrote how she does not like erasers that leave red smudges. I agreed with her and explained how I usually try to stick with pens.

C4K #5
Tommy wrote about whether football was too dangerous for kids. He believes that if you wear the correct gear and follow the right medical advice, like icing sore muscles, you will be fine to play. I agreed with him. I also told him that it is super important to be aware and know what your doing on the field. This will help eliminate injuries as well.

C4k #6
Daisy talked about all the important rules to go by when creating a password for an online site. My advice for her was that she could always take a simple password and make it more complex by adding numbers and capital letters.


C4k #7
In this post Steven made a slide presentation about harakeke. It is all about how to weave flax and how to make different things out of the material. It was a very informative presentation and I enjoyed looking at his work.

Blog Post #9

Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning

I found this article very accurate and helpful when it  comes to project-based learning. Students will be more interested and engaged in the classroom if you follow this method.The seven parts to this article are as follows: a need to know, driving question, student voice and choice, 21st century skills, inquiry and innovation, feedback and revision, and a publically presented project. I strongly believe if all educators followed this advice in their own classrooms, students would be getting a lot more out of school than by going the tradtional route. As the author said, students need to be motivated by learning something meaningful to their lives. 

Project-Based Learning for Teachers

This video reiterated what I saw in the first resource I viewed. Students need to be learning something that will help them prepare for life after school. Memorizing something just to pass a test is not going to benefit our students in the long run. Through PBL our students will be learning critical things that they can relate to real world issues.

Project-Based Learning and Physical Education

In this article, Andrew Miller writes about how he believes using PBL in physical education will help show the value of PE while students are also learning about PE. He also writes about how educators "steal" ideas from each other and recycle them. I think if we see something that's working for our students we should take advantage of it. He then uses the seven things that are essential to PBL that I wrote about earlier.

Project Based Learning in PE

This school allowed their high school students to use PBL to create different PE fitness programs for their middle school students. The students worked together to complete these and learned why living a healthy life is important. They followed the National Standards(NASPE) when creating these programs. This PBL could be used for all high schoolers to promote physical education.

Ten Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration in Project Based Learning

This article discussed how PBL is becoming increasingly popular and then gave the readers ten sites they could utilize as tools in the field of PBL. I knew what a couple of the sites were previously but I had to research the other ones. One that we have used in class that I have found very helpful was Wall Wisher. This allows you to post sticky note type messages. These resources could be used in numerous ways.  

Implications and Teaching Opportunities for Camera Use in Teaching and Learning

Part A

Embracing the Use of Technology
After reading the data that this survey, I was a little astounded, but then I realized that I am probably close to the same way. Smartphones have been introduced to society and they are not going anywhere. I know of many who disapprove of people always on their phone and most schools and some jobs ban people frombeing on their phone while they are there. I can see where smartphones can be a distraction, but I think if they were embraced more and incorporated they could prove to be very useful.
We already have children using technology in the schools and we are telling them what a useful tool it can be. Instead of banning all smartphones, why not get students using them to better their education? The same can go for the work place as well. We need to have our students ready for the future careers. If the influence of technology keeps growing at the rate it is now, then we need to make sure our students are prepared for these careers!

Part B

Smartphones and Technology in the Classroom

Videoing and recording can be a huge resource that educators could utilize in the classroom. Students can record themselves reading and use that to help themselves practice. This could go for many subjects as well. Different kinds of projects could be carried out with the use of video. You could have more students working in groups and meeting virtually for discussions and things of that nature. I know when I was in school, we would get our phone taken from us if any staff member caught sight of it. Instead of this rule keeping students off their phones and paying more attention in class, it caused the opposite effect. The majority of them would hide it under the table, or take exsessive bathroom trips so they could use it there. I believe if we stopped having the mindset of it being something bad, and tried to incorporate it more in the classroom we would have a better outcome. 

C4T #2 Summary

Taking to the Streets

In this post Will Richardson wrote about how good it felt to be able to stand up for something. When there is an issue or problem, we have to search and see if theres enough people and determination to change this. I commented on his post and said that I agreed with him and that one of the most difficult things to do in order to get something changed is to get awareness about the issue.

A New Sense of Reading

For this post Will Richardson put a short article by Mia Zamora into his blog and then used it in his writing as well. They both wrote about how reading has changed immensely with the intergration of technology. People do not have to just sit down with a book any longer, we have social media, blogs, and other things like that now. It is our job as educators to learn how to utilize this new way so that we are able to pass it on to future generations. 

Blog Post #8

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

Randy Pausch received news that he had brain cancer and had about three to six months to live. I know if I received this kind of news I would be devastated, but Pausch understood that he could do nothing about it and chose to make the best of his situation. This lecture was titled, "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", and in it he talked about his dreams as a child and everything he learned along the way as he was trying to achieve them. This video is very inspirational and teaches us a lot about teaching and learning. 

When it comes to teaching, Pausch says it is important to be enthusiastic. This give your students confidence. When I reflect on some of my past teachers, I find that the best ones all had this trait. People respond better to someone who is enthusiastic about what they are trying to convey to you. He also speaks about the importance of teaching the fundamentals, or the basics. He had a humorous memory he shared about his football coach when he was a boy and how he learned the fundamentals about the sport before he ever touched the ball. His coach really worked him hard and Pausch appreciated this. He said, “When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.” He saw the value in what his coach was doing for him and his team through his coaching methods. 

Pausch states that learning usually occurs indirectly. This happens when someone is learning from something, but they do not realized that they are learning. Throughout his lecture Randy Pausch talked about the brick walls in life. He said these are the different adversities we have in our life when we are trying to accomplish something. He taught me how important it is to try your best with whatever life throws at you. No matter what happens, you will gain something from it all. 

Project #9: Video Book Commentary

Group 9 Video Book Commentary

Blog Post #7

QR Code
In this video I learned how to make an audio QR code. The website used was record mp3. It is a great tool to use as a pre-reading before going to reading or used it for rereading things. It was especially successful when students listened to their own voice. It is important to not start talking as soon as you hit record. After you record yourself you click save recording and the computer generates a URL. Then students go to qrcode-monkey and put in the URL and this site will give you a QR code.  

Ginger Tuck- iPad Center
In this video I learned how helpful it is having students record themselves reading, then they go back and listen to themselves read and follow along. This is an easy way for them to see any mistakes they made and how to fix them. I think this could be specifically helpful for children who are first learning to read. 

Poplet with Ginger Tuck
This is a free app that can be downloaded to your iPad. The students put the main idea of what their book is about in the middle of their web. They then can take pictures to put on their web and write about the pictures. This helps them practice their reading, and also their writing skills.

AVL and Kindergarden Students
On this app, students first learn how to make a login and how to actually get to the search engine they need. The teacher gives them words to choose from and the students type it into the search engine. After this the students watch and listen to all there is about this search and fill out their worksheet. 

Tammy Shirley Discovery Education Board Builder Moon Project

This video is all about building a board on Discovery Education. They have a username and password to login and then they can go through the steps of creating a board. After they have the board created they begin typing the information they have learned about the specific subject they have looked up. Discovery Education also allows users to get pictures to attach to their board. 

Students Sharing Board Builders #1

These students are sharing information they collected on their board after taking a virtual field trip to glacier national park in Alaska. The two boys have a lot of facts that they learned. They were also able to upload photos and show you where they got their images on Safari. 

Students Sharing Board Builders #2 

This video was similar to the last one except they created a project and explained their PBL they had made. These 3 girls were able to collect information like vocabulary words by using Word Hippo. They also used Safari and Google to save photos for their PBL.

Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten

Dr. Strange, Mrs. Bennett, and Mrs. Davis were all three in this video. The first part of this video talks about how well the kindergartners are at using iMovie to do different things in the classroom. This is the same iMovie program that college students and other adults use. The kindergartners make trailers for the books they have learned in class. The second part of this video is about Alabama Virtual Library. This is a great way to teach students basic research. This program brings up information and images about whatever the student typed in. This website is completely free and easy to use.    

We All Become Learners

This video was also between Dr. Strange, Mrs. Bennett, and Mrs. Davis. Here they are speaking about how using a device changes the dynamics of learning. Everyone is teaching each other so everyone is the learner. The more the teachers are learning and teaching their students, the more the learning field grows. After you give the students these technologies they are able to take it and learn more from it than the teacher knew in the beginning. Through this method everyone becomes learners. 

Watching these videos showed me that I have a lot to learn before becoming a great teacher, and that I will be forever learning and teaching new things. I think some of the strengths I possess are that I get along great with children and can really connect with them. I am patient and put in a lot of hard work on the tasks I face. Some weaknesses I have is that I'm not always the best at understanding new technological things. It is sometimes difficult for me to get the hang of new things at first. I have learned that the best way to counteract this is to get a head start and practice with whatever it is I have to know. The more I work at something the easier it is for me to understand it. 

Project #7 Part B

Video to Class

Video to Parents

Project #13

This is my groups Lesson Plan for 3rd grade Science.
Lesson Plan
Rubric
Calendar