Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Project 14 PBL Learning Plan #2

For project 14, we created a lesson plan for second grade English and Language Arts. Each students will be assigned a partner, and after discussing lessons on types of stories, characters, main points, and characteristics, as well as reading Officer Buckle and Gloria, each group will make a Prezi presentation. In their presentation, they must include a summary, pictures, and details about the characters, among other things.



Lesson Plan

Calendar

Rubric

Checklist

Officer Buckle and Gloria


Tuesday, October 21, 2014

C4K Summary for October

Katelynn was the first kid I was assigned to for the month of October. She blogged about a picture that her friend Alice painted for her using her favorite color blue. She told Alice that is was the best paining she has ever seen. I told Katelynn that I also liked the painting and that I love the color blue as well. I told her how nice it was for her to compliment Alice the way she did.

The second kid I was assigned to was Riley M. Riley blogged about things she didn't like. She said that she didn't like how teachers made her blog and she wished she could just blog on her own when she felt like it. Along with that, she didn't like not being able to pick what was on the lunch menu or how you couldn't play more sports at recess. The last thing she said was that she didn't like working with people that weren't her friends on group assignments. I commented and told her that I too wish we could have picked what was on the lunch menu at school and play more sports in gym class. I told her how we were assigned random groups for classes, but that some of the people can turn out to be your friends if you just get to know them. Last but not least I wished her luck on her blogs and told her it's not so bad.

The third student I was assigned to was Zachary who is in first grade. Zachary posted that he liked to play with Jacob at school. I commented and told him that I was from Alabama and I too like to play with friends at school.

My last student was Finau from New Zealand. He blogged about the ways you can answer a multiple choice question. He said you should read the question, solve the problem, choose the answer and if it's not correct you can start again. I commented and told him that another way you could answer the question would be to mark out the answers that are least likely to be correct and don't make sense. Just a helpful tip!

Blog Post #10

In the first interview with Ms. Cassidy (Cassidy Pt. 1), she states that she was given 5 computers in her classroom about 10 years ago. She started off with a webpage when she got the computers, she started blogging 5 years ago, and she started using video about 2 years ago and is continuing to add new things. She says that when it comes to the administration being supportive that none of them have ever discouraged her when it comes to using technology in the classroom. Dr. Strange asked her how the parents felt about their kids posting their work to the internet and she said that most parents are happy to be able to see their child's progress on their blogs. They send home information at the beginning of the year which states that the students privacy will be protected. I think it is very interesting and convenient that parents can go online and view their kids progress and work being done in the classroom. They are able to keep up with what their kids are doing all school year so they can help with anything that needs to be improved at home. Another good point Ms. Cassidy makes about blogs is that students enjoy an audience, they like their work to be praised so why write on paper to where just she can see it when they can write on their blog and let the whole world see it. AS for other people in her school adopting her ways of using technology, she said that the other grade 1 teacher has become very interested in the use of technology. As for other teachers, they just don't want to change.

In the second part of the interview with Ms. Cassidy (Cassidy Pt. 2), Dr. Strange asks her where do you start? She says it depends on where your interests lie. Personally I think you have to start off small and work your way into more complex things. You should maybe start off in a small way such as filming your students read and then work your way up to filming them in groups presenting something. Have them research things on the internet and then have them later make a blog where they can talk about the things they've researched. 

In the final part of the interview with Ms. Cassidy (Cassidy Pt. 3), Dr. Strange has the students with him ask her some questions. The first student asked her how often her classes blogged whether it was daily, weekly, or monthly. She said that it depended on the year and that this year she has a smaller group of kids so they blog once a week. Some of the kids blog from home so if that is the case they blog more often. Another student asked her if she thought that Facebook could be used as a resource in future education. Earlier in the videos she said that she had just joined Facebook a week ago so she doesn't have much experience, but she said that other teachers have had their students set up a completely different Facebook account specifically for their school and has great potential for posting assignments and learning things that are being done in the classroom. 

The one thing that I can see myself using in my future classroom is blogs. I've known about blogs for some time now, but every time I watch a video in this class I seem to learn something new or look at blogging from a different perspective, This time I was able to see that parents can be more involved in their child's progress in the classroom by viewing their work done via their blog page. In improves their writing and reading skills each time they blog in the classroom. It can lead them to blog more at home and think outside of the box.

The fun in blogging



Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Blog Post #9

After reading Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning, I was amazed at how much I agreed with the whole article and how much I wish this was used when I was in school. At the very beginning we were asked if we remember the days where our teachers would just hand up papers of directions and tell us we had a project due. I definitely remember those days and I remember those days being terrible. I remember dreading doing any kind of project in school because we were never intrigued by it, we were never interested in doing another project that didn't seem for our benefit. Although, i'm sure it was for our benefit, but at the time it didn't seem like I learned anything from those projects.

There are 7 essentials for PBL: a need to know, a driving question, student voice and choice, 21st century skills, inquiry and innovation, feedback and revision, and a publicly presented product.  In this article I am impressed by the way the teacher introduced this project she was going to have her students work on. She started off by showing them a video which led to an interesting discussion to where she was able to introduce her project. The kids were already intrigued by the video and the discussion that they were looking forward to working on this particular project. They then came up with a driving question and were able to come up with their own questions to feed off of the driving question. After coming up with their own questions they were able to use those questions to research and find information on the given project and work on it. To me, this is how projects in the classroom need to be. The standards were met, they kids were able to learn the material by collaborating and creating a project that was fun and engaging. 

In the video What Motivates Students, several different students are asked to answer the question, 'What motivates you?'. One of the students said that positive feedback motivates him. Even if there is something that needs improvement, just pointing out the positive things and making the student feel good can be real motivational. A few students said that having a successful job is what motivates them. I found that very interesting because I feel as you get older that is the reason most people stay motivated and for them to be so young and already have that reason as motivation is astonishing. Another kid said that if he doesn't do well in school his mom won't let him go to his baseball games which is definitely a reason to be motivated at that age haha! Things that work to keep certain kids motivated is also explained in this video. Kids who do well throughout the day get awarded special prizes or get to eat lunch with the teacher. Those methods can really work to keep kids motivated because at such a young age they like to be rewarded for good behavior and with rewards and compliments comes consistent good behavior. 

After watching the video Students Solve the Case of Watery Ketchup, I came to the conclusion that somewhere in the world some students, like the ones in this video, are inventing things through PBL. The last thing one of the students said was that it was fun to take a class and research one thing year long. With that year long class, they were able to come up with a solution to the watery ketchup by inventing a new top to put on ketchup bottles. 

I've never really thought about the certain classes where it would be difficult to enforce PBL until I read PBL in PE. Even though Project-Based Learning was successful in this class, the more I thought about it the more it dawned on me that it would be difficult to try to use this frequently in a Physical Education class. PE classes are designed to keep kids active and fit, they aren't designed for projects and work, but this teacher made it happen which was very impressive. He got his high school students to come up with a physical fitness program for middle school students. After they did that they would be able to observe and critique their program they created. 

Overall, I think what the students and teachers in these articles and videos are saying is that PBL is a great idea. More people should be looking into teaching this way because it engages the students into wanting to learn and it keeps them motivates. Also, you never know if one of your students could be the next Bill Gates without letting them research and think on their own.

Kids working in groups

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Project #9

Blog Post 8

While watching Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams I really didn't know what to expect. At the beginning he states that he has 10 tumors in his liver and only has 3-6 months to live and he was told this 1 month ago. First, when hearing this all I could think about was how could he be in such high spirits and giving a lecture when he should be spending all of his time with his family. Well anyways, he started out by telling us his childhood dreams. As he was going through and explaining them one really stuck out to me and it was about his dream to play in the NFL. Even though he didn't play for the NFL, he got to play in school. He said that "most of what we learn, we learn indirectly (or"head fake")". By saying this he meant that when your kids play football (or other sports) you don't necessarily want them to learn football. You want them to learn the things that come with it such as teamwork, sportsmanship, and perseverance... Which are the most important things. This really had an impact on me because when I played sports in school I thought that I was going to continue to play further than high school, but when that didn't work out I still think of the things I learned while playing to this day. Little life lessons that all of my coaches taught me are still with me today. At the time I never thought about how much it would impact my future, but after hearing this talk I definitely realized that it had made a great one.

After saying all of that, I can say that this applies to teaching and learning as well. Whether it's sports or in the classroom, teachers are not just there to drill knowledge into kids brains. While yes, we want them to succeed and learn the things necessary to have a successful future, the little things we teach them about life are important too. Working in groups and learning to work with those who are different from you can make a huge difference when you get older. You learn to accept what's different and work with others in situations where you need help in the future. Believe it or not but things your teachers do when you are in elementary school will have an impact on your whole life and can impact the way you teach in the classroom.

Teacher with her Students



Tuesday, October 7, 2014

C4T Summary #2

I was assigned to Jerrid Kruse and he blogged about "The Dreaded Pendulum Swing". He said that when it comes to teaching new ideas in the schools people think it's always ideas and techniques that we have used in the past and we are never reaching our goal. Kruse gave a great example, he said that if you spin money down the coin funnel you can see it spin around and around until it goes down the tube and hits the bottom. Well if you look at the coin funnel from the side you can see the coin spin back and forth like a pendulum until it reaches the bottom which is the goal. He said that people who complain about teaching ideas going back and forth just don't have enough perspective.

After reading Mr, Kruse's blog I admitted that I had never looked at new teaching ideas in the way like the coin funnel. I told him that at the mall here in Mobile we actually have a coin funnel at the back entrance and I have several times spun coins down it and never looked at the coin from a different angle. The next time I go I'm going to look at the coin spin down the funnel from the side to see it swing like a pendulum. I then left him the link to my class blog and told him he could contact me for any further advice.in

Jerrid Kruse's second blog I read was about how he spends his Friday's each semester for a little over a year. He says that he spends his whole day on Friday in a 6th grade classroom. He brings his students in, about 6 each period, and assigns them to a group of 6th graders. He gets to watch them interact with the kids and then they get to see him teach the 6th graders Science. After they watch Mr. Kruse teach, he sits back and watches his students teach the 6th graders as well. He says that "powerful"doesn't begin to describe the feeling.

I commented on his blog and said that reading it made me really look forward to the time I will be able to be observed by other teachers while teaching a class and maybe one day will be observing students doing the same thing. It sounds like a great experience and hopefully my Friday's will become as "powerful" as his sound to be.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Project #13

Our group chose to create a lesson plan on teaching 3rd graders about the Temperate Forest. We decided to teach them about the location, weather, plans, animals, and humans in that particular environment. We decided to use Project Based Learning in order to keep their interest in the subject alive. Our goal is for them to use technology to research 2 of the 5 topics covered throughout the week and create a learning web to hang around the classroom. Provided below is our checklist, rubric, calendar, and lesson plan used for this project.

Checklist






Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Implications and Teaching Opportunities for Camera Use in Teaching and Learning

The statistics that were shared on the EDM310 home page were not surprising to me at all. I can honestly say that I am one of those people who never lets their smartphone leave their side. If you asked me what I thought the implications for education, school, teachers, and learners that flow from that particular data before taking this class my answer would be completely different. In certain classes I can see where smartphones are a distraction. People are always texting during lecture and checking Facebook and Instagram instead of paying attention to what the teacher is saying, but doesn't that come back to the teaching style these days?

In a PBL based course technology seems to be a major resource and way to explore one's way of learning. People are always on their smartphones so why not bring the smartphones into the classroom in an appropriate way? You can use technology such as iPads in a way that will make it fun to learn. I've always heard people saying that they don't want to go to class and that class is boring, but what if technology is a way to change those perceptions of how the classroom is run. All of the videos I have seen of technology being used in the classroom seems to be a very effective way to teach. More teachers need to open their mind to this idea and use it in an appropriate way without it being a distraction.

The ideas that I would use in my classroom generate from the videos I have seen in this course. I have to thank this course for showing me so many different way to liven up the classroom. This week I watched a video by Ginger Tuck called Poplet. This video was an excellent way to demonstrate using iPads and cameras in the classroom appropriately. Kids would learn about future jobs and research information and take pictures on their iPad to create learning webs. Once they printed out their learning webs, it includes pictures as well as information on the particular subject so that when you show it to someone who has no knowledge of it they will have an idea from the web. To me it is amazing how many little things you can use in your classroom that allow students to learn the things necessary to pass the class but also have fun with technology.