C4K Summary for September

Emmi's Blog
Week 1, Emmi:
Emmi is in tenth grade at Baldwin County High School. She is writing a blog post under the concept of, "This I Believe". Her "This I Believe" statement is on how men should protect women. She told how she didn't like how her dad treated her and her mom and he didn't keep his promises to them. He also spends money on different women but when Emmi or her mom need something he tells them he doesn't have the money. I told her I am in complete agreement that men should protect women. A man being loving, caring, and helpful is very important to me as well. The way a man treats his wife says a lot about his character. I told her I am sorry to hear that she does not agree with how her dad treats her and her mom, but I am happy to hear she is learning from it. Personally, having my father in my life has been very important. I was blessed with a loving father and he has shown how a real man should act. Emmi sounds like a very strong girl and she is learning from her father what she would or wouldn't want in husband one day. I encouraged her to keep her chin up and stay strong! I even told her to maybe try talking to her father about what she believes in and they could work on their father/daughter relationship.

Kim's Blog

Week 2, Kim:
Kim attends school at Guatmala City and is in the 5th grade. She wrote a short story that kept me on my toes about a wolf, a little girl, and her grandmother. The beginning was shocking. The little girl is eaten by the wolf at the very beginning and the wolf takes her picnic basket that she is carrying. Inside of the picnic basket the wolf finds some food and the grandmothers address. When the wolf arrives at the grandmother's house, she is already expecting him and is standing their with a rifle in her hands! I do wonder how grandma knew to be expecting the wolf and not her granddaughter? She was already prepared to kill this wolf! The grandmother proceeds to shoot the wolf 3 times and then on her fourth shot, the wolf was dead. I told Kim that I am glad the wolf dies at the end and the grandmother is okay. Overall it was an action packed short story and I enjoyed reading it and getting to experience her imagination go wild.

Gloria's Blog
Week 3, Gloria:
Gloria attends Pt England School and is in Mrs. King's 7th grade class. She attended a workshop that taught her more about camera shots and filmmaking. The students got into groups and created their own video, her group name was GJMR Studio. It included the first name of all of her group members. They had one hour to film and edit a video with their group. The topic that they chose to revolve their video around was “Economy and Society”. Their main question for their video was “How did the world come to revolve around money?” I was glad to hear that this workshop taught her so much about the filming and camera shots. Her video included information on cleaning the environment and feeding the animals, which were great aspects that dealt with the environment and society. I noticed where she said families aren’t making money because they are too lazy to feed themselves. Prices are rising and money has overtaken our nation, and I agreed with her statement. We should all work as a team and stop being greedy. I enjoyed her video and information about the workshop she got to attend! Her group as a whole made some great points.

Ella’s Blog
Week 4, Ella:
Ella is in Mrs. Ripp’s 5th grade class in Madison, Wisconsin. Mrs. Ripp challenged her class to be completely silent for 20 minutes while they tried to solve two brainteasers with a partner. They could not speak or write during this activity. They were asked to explain in their blog how it felt, if it was frustrating, or if it was hard to communicate. The class read a book titled “Out of My Mind” and the main character had cerebral palsy and was unable to speak. The students were also asked to write about how it would feel to be this character and not be able to speak. Ella and her partner, Isabel had a lot of fun with this activity according to Ella. She said the first brainteaser was hard because it did not make sense to her so her and her partner did get frustrated. Ella and Isabel were able to complete the second brainteaser without a problem. Ella stated that she enjoyed this challenge and cannot wait until she gets to complete another one. She didn't answer all the questions that the teacher specifically asked her to include in her blog, but she seemed very enthusiastic about blogging and completing future challenges.

Project #2 PLN

PLN stands for "Personal Learning Network". A PLN allows you to have fast access to tools or people that could be of help to you. Symbaloo is one example of a PLN in which you can organize what you as an individual use online most often. This website allows you to add links such as social media websites, blogs, and any other type of informational website you visit most often. On my personal PLN to the far left I have links such as social media websites, youtube, pinterest, email links, google app links, and Prezi. In the top center I have links to my EDM310 blog, the EDM310 class blog, and blogger. The top right contains any teacher blogs that I have visited and enjoyed. I plan to add more as I comment on and visit more teacher blogs in the future. In the bottom right I have a link to google, the weather, an encyclopedia, and the University of South Alabama website. As I come across other interesting websites or blogs I will continue to add to my PLN. It has been fun adding to my PLN the stuff that is important to me and that I visit most often. This is a very convenient tool.

Project #8

Swimmy by Leo Lionni
In this story, Swimmy is with a group of red fish and he is the only black one. He is faster than all the other fish so when the mean tuna fish comes to eat the school of fish, Swimmy is able to get away. This leaves Swimmy to face the ocean alone, but he finds several new friends in the sea. He has to come up with a plan to help other fish conquer the ocean and face their fears.

Leo Lionni Books

Blog Assignment #6

When reading the article “The Right Way to Ask Questions” by Ben Johnson, he states that the most important question we should be asking is "What does a teacher asking questions of a class expect the class to learn from the questioning process?" Some teachers say that the reason questions must be asked is to see if the students understand what is being taught. Teachers often ask the common question, “Does everybody understand?” This question has became useless because it is said so often, even when teachers can look at a students facial expression and see the confusion written all over it. Sometimes when a student doesn’t understand, they do not know what questions to ask in order to have a better understanding so they remain silent. In order to truly ask questions that will really tell a teacher if students understand or not we have to be specific. Ben goes on to talk about the fact that students who don’t know answers to questions, will often tune out the smart kids who answer all the questions all of the time. They are perfectly fine with someone else volunteering an answer and them not have to attempt an answer themselves. If a student is not called on to answer a question, they are too busy thinking, “I’m glad she didn’t call on me” to really be thinking about the answer and to learn. One simple, effective approach to this is to ask a specific question and then pause for a few seconds. This way, no student knows who is going to be called on and they should all be brainstorming for an answer.

On the Teaching Reading website, their article on strategies for “Asking Questions to Improve Learning” , suggests that when planning your lesson you should go ahead and come up with specific questions. By doing this, you will already have few questions brainstormed for your exams or paper assignments. A few strategies to responding effectively include: do not interrupt students’ answers, develop responses that keep students thinking, always show interest in a students answer even if it is incorrect, wait for students to think and formulate responses. This website also gives you twelve objectives to “Why ask ‘open’ Questions?” It gives sample questions for each scenario.

Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom by Maryellen Welmer is very short and to the point. The first word of advice is to prepare questions. Maryellen states that for most of her career she spent time preparing content and not questions to use while teaching. Writing out a question in advance helps you to make sure it is clear enough for the students to understand. It helps you to plan things such as, when does the question need to be asked? This way it fits into your lessons and relates to concepts you are talking about right then. The second word of advice is to play with questions. Playing with the question in this sense is meaning to maybe leave the question unanswered for a little while. This way the students stay engaged in the topic and are continuing to think about what the answer could be. You as the teacher could write the question on the board and not discuss it until the period is over. The students could write down their ideas and share with the class their suggestions. The last word of advice is to preserve good questions; good questions can always be kept. It could also be good to write down and keep students questions that trigger the rest of the class to start thinking. It is important for teachers to ask good questions so that students can learn that questions are important and help us learn and to think critically.

In the video, Asking Better Questions in the Classroom by Joanne Chesley, she starts off by saying how lots of times teachers notice that students are unresponsive in the classroom. We fail to realize we are getting the responses that we ask for. When we are not detailed with the question, the students are not detailed with their answers. She tells the difference between an open and close-ended question. An open-ended question lets the student think more and come up with more information. This lets the student come up with a variety of responses and allows the student to think through the situation. A close-ended question can simply be answered with a yes or no response. Our goal as teachers should be the ask as many open-ended questions as possible in order to get the students interested and thinking about what their response could be if called on to answer.

Blog Assignment #5

iCurio and Discovery Ed

iCurio

What is icurio? This is a digital curriculum that focuses on the individual needs of the student.It removes barriers from learning and improves achievement. It also offers digital content for teaching grades k-12. What are some of the benefits? It allows teachers to discuss the needs of each student and gives students the tools needed to become independent learners. It also allows for flexibility for teachers to work with students individually. It helps to improve student engagement with a choice of resources such as videos, learning games, and images. How will I use iCurio? I will save time on lesson plans, have personalized student learning, have unlimited digital resources, and it will help me to help every student to learn in a unique way.

Discovery Ed

Discovery Education is a digital media service that offers virtual experiences, real time assessments, interactive texts, customizable curriculum, and state standard content. This site is committed to improving teaching and learning by transforming traditional classrooms into engaging digital learning environments. This site offers: free lesson plans, free teacher/parent resources, interactive textbooks, state standard content, images and clip art, an audio library of speeches, sound effects, educational songs, and videos. It is also has homework help for students to use. This website can help a teacher because it can be used for so many different activities in the classroom such as: Morning work, supporting resources, journaling, encyclopedia, current events, KWL charts, graphic organizers, and even more.

Project #7

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Assignment #4

I started off reading the Judy Scharf Podcast Collection. She begins by telling us exactly what a podcast actually is. She describes it as a “radio-style talk show”. Podcasts can include music, be listened to on the computer or MP3 player, and allow information to be shared with people via the Internet. The only materials you need is a computer, microphone, and software. The software for podcasting is free. On this website you are given a podcast grading sheet, topic suggestions, and tips to succeed. Some of Judy’s tips were making sure you spend enough time with the software to be comfortable with it, let students pick whom they want to work with and their own topics, and allow plenty of time to complete the project. Judy also provides a podcast rubric. When making my own podcasts, I could go by her rubric to be sure and include certain aspects in my project. At the bottom of the page, she gives you two examples of podcasts. They each have background music and follow a specific topic. I didn't know much about podcasts before reading this website and it helped to have a better understanding.

In the video, The Benefits of podcasting in the Classroom, Doug Saunders starts off by saying how podcasting is an effective way of interacting with students outside of the traditional classroom. Podcasting focuses on the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. A “Millenial” is referred to as a person who was born after the year of 1980. Anyone born after this year has always had technology affecting his or her life. Everything from cell phones, computers, and TVs have been a major part of life since then. Podcasting has also played a role. Podcasting allows for differentiation in the classroom. This allows you to record a lecture and the student can simply play it back and listen to it as a review. If a student is sick and has to miss class one day, that student could pull up lectures on a program such as iTunes as a podcast and they could listen to the lesson. Teachers also upload their podcasts on blogs for the classroom. Harry Dell came up with a lesson for his students to help create a podcast by allowing the students to be a character in a story while he is the narrator. Podcasting is good for parents as well because they can hear what is being said in the classroom and help their child if needed. In my future classroom, I think it would be very useful to use podcasting and uploading lectures and discussions to iTunes. This way if a student misses class or is just confused on a certain lesson, it is available for them to listen to again.

I read Podcasting with First Grade from Langwitches Blog. This was about a first grade class that was inspired to create a podcast of their own after listening a second grade’s class podcast story. This first grade class had been reading the book called Vacation under the Sun by Mary Pope Osborne. The idea that come about was to create a podcast that was interviewing the two main characters in the book. The teacher read them one chapter at a time and they discussed what they had read. As a class they decided what questions they were going to ask the main characters and what the answers where going to be. The students each got a chance to be the interviewer and to be one of the main characters actually answering the questions. This is a perfect way to help comprehend a story and to get the whole class involved. If a student was curious about anything in the book, it could be used as one of the interview questions and their imaginations could go wild. I love the idea of doing this in my classroom one day. The students love getting to hear themselves on the podcast and they think it is so cool that they are on the Internet doing it.

C4T#1

Krissy Venosdale's Blog

August 28, 2013
"Seven things I Know For Sure"

Krissy's blog post titled "Seven things I Know For Sure" was such an inspiring read. I agreed with all seven. She stated that Kids should love coming to school! When I become a teacher, I want my students to be so excited to enter my classroom and learn something new each day! Another one of her seven things was "Real learning can happen with a pile of dirt and a bucket of water". I agreed that real learning can happen with anything. Any hands-on activity is the best form of learning to me. It is an actual experience and it will help them to remember concepts and steps. Krissy also mentioned that mistakes are opportunities for learning. I can’t stand when students get made fun of for messing up or making mistakes. Every time a student messes up, they are able to learn and take a different route next time. Without mistakes and trial and error, this world would not be where it is today. I loved when Krissy said, "Another packet of worksheets is never a solution, unless for starting a campfire". This made me laugh and it is so true. Even as a kid I couldn't stand worksheets. They are just busy work thrown at the students and really don’t help with anything. Group projects, discussions, activities, videos, anything besides worksheets! We want learning to be fun and exciting and worksheets are everything but that! I enjoyed Krissy Venosdale's list of seven things she “knows for sure”. Her blog is very inspiring for a future teacher like me.

September 5, 2013
"A Mission To Learn"

I love the fact that Krissy Venosdale creates a mission statement each school year for herself. I like the statement she made when she wrote, “I’ll forever be open to the fact that someone else’s idea is more than likely far better then my own…” If everyone could have that mindset and be open to learning new concepts and trying tasks in new ways, there is no telling the differences that could be made. Krissy wrote about her passion speaking louder than her position. If you are trying to change something for a long-term goal, fixing it short-term will never work. In order to make a difference in life, your goal has got to be long-term. This way it can affect others in the future and it can truly make a difference. Krissy finished up her post talking about having a vision and it being worth the try to make it happen. If everyone went through with their visions of change, the school system and life itself would improve so much. We have to stop just visioning these ideas and put them to action. I loved Krissy Venosdale’s “A Mission to Learn” blog post and I hope that when I become a teacher in the future I can hold on tight to this mindset.

Blog Assignment #3

Peer Editing

From watching the videos What is Peer Editing? and Writing Peer Reviews Top 10 Mistakes, and viewing the slideshow: Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial I have learned several things about peer editing. In the slideshow and in the video, “What is Peer Editing,” they both pointed out that there are three steps: compliments, suggestions, and corrections. All three of these steps are important when trying to help a peer out. It is also important to stay positive and encourage your peer to do better and fix their mistakes. The humorous video that described different characteristics of peer editors had one example named “Pushy Paula”. This character stood out to me because it is a common problem when it comes to peer editing. It’s hard to help others when each of you think you are correct. It is important to make suggestions instead of demanding a person make changes to their work. Helping people can be frustrating because you both believe you are correct, but in reality one of you are wrong. We must always consider other people's advice and get other opinions before making a final decision. In the first video, it describes what peer editing is by stating "working with someone your own age to help revise and edit his or her writing”. Note the phrase "working with someone". Peer editing can be a group effort, including the author. This way everyone is working together in order to help out an individual peer.

Getting help from others is important. It helps the both of you to learn from your mistakes and get advice on how to fix things and improve your work. I think to a certain extent it is better to correct your peers publicly, this is the way I have chosen when helping my peers. This way, other students can look at your advice and it could maybe help them improve also. If you happen to be wrong, others will be able to give their opinions as well if you keep it out in the public. When doing it privately, you are only helping that one peer. When being put in the position of being the teacher and having to correct your student, I think it depends on the student. Some students get very discouraged and embarrassed when being told they have made mistakes. As a teacher you are just adding to their embarrassment by announcing in front of a class they have done something wrong. Considering the points listed in the video (compliments, suggestions, and corrections) is very important. Having a positive attitude while following these steps will help the process to go even better.