Sunday, June 30, 2013

Blog Post #10

Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" was very inspiring. His lecture was titled "Really Achieving your Childhood Dreams." He talked about many things that kept my interest. One thing that he spoke of was taking the time to dream. If we cannot take the time to dream, then how can any of our dreams come true? One must first have a dream to fulfill it.

One of the other topics that he discussed was the importance of good parenting in a child's life. I owe so much to my own parents. They always taught me to follow my dreams. I think that this is what Randy Pausch was talking about. There needs to be more parents out there that encourage their children to follow their dreams.

He also spoke about how it is more important to put people before materials. This is really hard for some people. There are so many distractions in today's time. This has even been a problem for myself a few times. Materials come and go, but some friends are with you forever.

Randy Pausch's teaching methods are all circled around having fun. It is hard to truly grasp a concept if you are not having fun while learning it. It is also important to have fun while you are teaching it. I would have to say that I would have learned so much more in school if I would have been having fun while I was learning. Incorporating fun into leaning can also help the students to retain the information much better.

Project #12 Smartboard

Part A

PartB

Podcast Project #9

Sunday, June 23, 2013

C4T Assignment #2


For my C4T #2 assignment I was assigned a blog by Lisa Thumann. Her post was called Untapped Apps on Google Drive. I found her post to be very helpful and informative. She wrote about apps that might be helpful while using google drive. My favorite app was called Twisted Wave. Twisted Wave is an app that allows you to edit audio files in your drive. I did some research on Twisted Wave on my own and I found out that not only can you edit audio using this app, you can also record audio! This is awesome! I really think that this app could come in handy in the classroom when the children want to record and share audio with their classmates or anyone for that matter. I can't wait to use this app in my classroom. I wrote to Lisa...


Dear Lisa,
My name is Hannah and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed your post. It was so informative and brought many new google drive apps to my attention. I had never even heard of most of these. I am going into elementary education and I am excited to use several of these in my classroom. I think that Twisted Wave would really come in handy. This would be a fun app for me to use as well as the students. Thank you for your post and I can't wait to use some of these apps in the classroom. 


My next Post for Lisa was on her blog post 20 percent time.This was a post about the 20 percent time rule implemented by google. This allows students to take time out of the week to research or fix anything that they want to. I think this a great way to keep your students involved in things that actually interest them. She also put some links in her post that I found interesting. They were full of ideas and possible activities for the classroom. I really enjoy following Lisa Thumann and I cannot wait to see what else she has to offer. I wrote to Lisa...


Dear Lisa,
I am excited to implement the 20 percent time project into my future classroom. I think that it is a great idea that could be implemented in any classroom. All students should have time to work on or fix something that interests them on the web. This is a great way to get students involved in the things that like. I also loved that you included so many links into your post. I found out some interesting things in them that gave me examples of fun in classroom activities. Thank you for your post and I can't wait to see what's next.



Blog Post # 8


“Bozemanscience”-Amber
Mr. Paul Anderson is a science teacher in Bozeman, MT.  He has created hundreds of science videos that have been viewed millions of times by students and teachers around the world. His blog is titled “Bozemanscience.” Coincidently, I subscribed to his YouTube channel a while back before even knowing he would be apart of my next blog post! Mr. Anderson is a teacher that I admire. He is always teaching and learning new things. What can I learn about teaching and learning from him? First of all, I can learn that teaching can be fun and there is nothing wrong with learning with your students. This video, "Blended learning cycle," describes that in every way. Blended learning cycle is taking mobile, online, and the classroom and blending them together. Using them all as ways to have a more productive experience. In the learning cycle students are able to explore, explain, engage, expand and evaluate all within the classroom. Paul Anderson explains the importance of questions. He says that questions are something like the hook in learning. This means to ask questions that grab the students attention. Something that stimulates them to think deeper. He uses different types of technology to engage in the blended learning cycle. I learned from Paul Anderson an amazing skill to use in my future classroom. That is, how to use the blended learning cycle.



    “Back to the Future”- Brittnee

Mr. Brian Crosby an Elementary teacher at Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks Nevada, has came up with some great ways enhance his classroom. Every student in his classroom has access to a computer at their desk. He has each student create a blog, thus making them think “outside the box”. He give a lesson and either makes them take pictures or video of what they learned and then embed it in their blog. Crosby teaches them active learning and in the video Back to the Future he shows us that learning doesn’t have to be boring. We can learn from him that keeping a blog and sharing it to teachers and students around the world can help engage students and keep them wanting to learn. This video has taught me that even though it is just an elementary class doesn’t make them any less important to the way we are teaching and learning. All these projects that he does in his classroom helps to empower, connect, collaborate, motivate, and include children. Something else in his video that I can learn from is when he talked about the student with Leukemia and how he connects with her every morning  by using skype to let her be a part of the class. It has never crossed my mind of what I should do if I were in that position. He mentioned two different sites that can help him one site is ed.gov and the other is whitehouse.gov. I have learned some very valuable things from Mr. Crosby and I would use his example in my future classroom.
 
                 


  
  “Making Thinking Visible”- Hannah

Mr. Mark Church is a teacher that promotes visible thinking. Visible thinking is a research- based approach to learning and something that we as future teachers should know about. One of its main goals is to deepen content learning. Getting children to think out loud and in a group is one of the ways that Mark Church shows visible thinking in this video. He wants to get children involved in the subject matter and wants them to care about what they are learning. Visible thinking is about creativity and the strive for knowledge. This is a way to encourage your students to be the best learners that they can be. Visible thinking is something that I had honestly never heard of. I think that Mark Church's book, Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners, would be a very good purchase for those trying to better the overall learning and thinking atmosphere in their classroom. I cannot wait to learn more about it.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

PLN Project #9

I used Symbaloo for my PLN and it is really coming along. I love how I can keep adding stuff to it as I am introduced to new teaching resources and valuable people. I added a few social media sites like Instagram and Skype. I was also able to create my own tabs by adding in any website I wanted to. I created a tab for one of my favorite teacher's blogs. I also put in some great resources like Discovery Teachers and The Teaching Channel. I can see this being very useful in the future.

Blog Post #7


What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher? Select a few and discuss how they may be useful to you.


Nova Chat- Hannah


Many children in the United States suffer from some form of communication impairment. It is my job, as a teacher, to provide them with some sort of way to better communicate. I have done the research and there are many devices that would aid in the this. My favorite one that I came across was the Nova Chat. The Nova Chat is used by people who have ALS, Autism, Down-Syndrome, and Parkinson's disease. From the outside it looks somewhat like a heavy- duty ipad. It is actually a device made specifically for children and adults with hearing or communication impairments. All you have to do is find the button that best represents what you are trying to say and push it. Nova Chat gives you the option to communicate using simple words, phrases, or even pictures. One thing that I thought was really neat is that on the Nova Chat you can use different voices to communicate. A few of the options would be a child's voice or even a British voice. The Nova Chat is also now available to communicate in Spanish. I was not completely sold on this device until I saw the video Julia Using Her ALT- Chat device. Nova Chat is a device that I would definitely want to use in my classroom.

BAT Keyboard by Infogrip-Amber

Infogrip's BAT Keyboard is a one-handed, compact input device that replicates all the functions of a full-size keyboard, but with greater efficiency and convenience. The BAT is easy to learn and use. Letters, numbers, commands and macros are simple key combinations, "chords," that you can master in no time. Best of all the BAT's unique ergonomic design reduces hand strain and fatigue for greater comfort and productivity. The BAT is the ultimate typing solution for persons with physical or visual impairments and is proven to increase productivity when used with graphic or desktop publishing software.

FM Systems- Brittnee

Students with hearing problems in a quiet environment can hear really well, but putting them in an environment that is really loud changes everything. Students that are hard of hearing use many different devices, but the one that I found that could help students would be the FM System . Kids of all ages can use these devices, because when they enter a classroom with all sorts of different noises their hearing becomes muffled and they have a hard time making out what is being said by the teacher. FM Systems are devices that uses  radio transmission to send auditory signals. This device is wireless, portable and battery operated. While the teacher is giving a lesson or talking they will have a microphone attached to a transmitter that is hooked to their body and as they talk the student will have a receiver connected to their clothing or an input cable or by connecting it to the actual hearing aid itself. I found that students will be able to hear a speaker from either 30 ft- 200 ft depending on the power of the antenna. According to the  American Speech- Language hearing association they describe the FM Systems as being like miniature radio stations operating on special frequencies. These devices can be used anywhere that has too many loud noises. Ex. movie theatre, restaurants, or even in church.   

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Blog Post #6

Asking Questions: What questions do we ask? How do we ask?

Being able to ask questions is very important. It is not only the ability to ask questions but it is also the ability to know how to properly ask questions. In the video Asking Better Questions in the Classroom, Joanne Chelsey talks about the importance of asking questions that are open-ended as opposed to close- ended.  She said to try not to ask children questions that they could answer with a simple yes or no. The teacher needs to ask them questions that they can discuss. Each question should be an invitation into a discussion. As teachers, we need to encourage our students to think and debate.

There were some very good tips in Asking Questions to Improve Learning.  This site showed simple strategies for asking questions. One tip was to avoid asking leading questions. This means to not ask questions where the answer is being hinted in the question. This does not allow for the student to come up with an answer on their own. Another tip was to make your questions specific. Vague questions tend to be confusing and misleading. If the question is specific the student can better understand the topic, therefor deliver a more thoughtful answer. As teachers we need to realize that  with better questions come better answers.

Project #8

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Blog Post #5

Langwitches Flat Stanley Podcast
This is was a fun page to read and an awesome podcast to listen to. It is about a 1st grade class that makes their own podcast about Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley is the main character in a book called Flat Stanley. He is a child who gets flattened by a bulletin board and goes on many adventures. The children got to make a podcast about their own Flat Stanley and all of the adventures that they sent him on. This podcast was very inspiring and I would love to try this with a class of my own one day.

Langwithces Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting
This was a very informative page about the importance of listening and speaking skills. The children in a 1st grade class incorporated these skills is the development of a podcast. I loved how the importance of listening and the repetiion of words for language-learners was highlighted. The children recorded a story that they had been learning as a podcast. They even recorded certain parts in Hebrew! This was an amazing project!

Langwitches Podcasting With the First Grade
This was an awesome page about the same 1st grade class doing a podcast on the book Vacation Under the Volcano. The two main characters in the book were children named Jack and Annie. The children recorded a podcast about them interviewing the main characters. This is a great way for the children to get involved in the books that they are reading in class. This was a major success and I cannot wait to try it with my class one day.

Project #7

My Sentence Is

My Passion Is



Sunday, June 9, 2013

C4t #1

The teacher that was assigned to me was Lisa Thumann. I really enjoyed her post. She talked about how she is going to be addressing the Common Core differently. Her team has decided to form the Common Core Communities of Practice.  They are going to focus on creating a collaborative, creative workplace for teachers to connect. I really liked how she discussed the Common Core because we just had an assignment about it this week.

Blog Post #4


21st Century Tools

Brittnee-
Promethean is a company that is designed to make many different tools to help students learn. They want to take learning to the next level in the 21st Century.Their goal is to bring together data, resources, tools and expertise. I chose this program, because of the major differences they have made in bringing children together to work in groups and learn at their own pace. The more the children are engaged the better they learn. Promethean uses tools like, ActivTablet which is the same thing as an iPad and they also have an ActivBoard, this is similar to a SmartBoard. On the site you can watch videos of children learning with these tools and see that they are really understanding what the teacher is talking about. These children want to be called on to go to the board, because they want to draw or play the games that can be loaded. The tool that is most fascinating and the one that I would want to use is the ActivTable, this table is a multi-user interactive table designed to promote student collaboration, engagement and student-led learning.I chose this tool, because children use this table to help each other learn and it is a great tool to use for students to become more interactive with students. If a child does not understand something while is it being taught, they can go to the ActivTable and get help from other students.

Amber-
Flipping the classroom is an amazing 21st century tool. The whole purpose of it is to make sure the teacher addresses each child's academic need. I believe that this tool really helps students learn and grasp the subject before it is taught. The object is to have each student watch a video of their own teacher explaining the lesson for the next day. Many 21st century teachers choose to flip their classroom because only 10% is application and the other 90% is teaching or concept. To me that is entirely ridiculous. That is another great example of burp back education. Also, there is not enough time for differentiation in the classroom today. This great tool allows students to watch, rewind, pause and post questions about the topic at hand if they are confused. Students who have mastered the subject may also work ahead. They are able to watch the video as many times as they want.  Many teachers find that after they have flipped their classroom all students become engaged and challenged. This makes for an effective differentiation. Now instead of teaching 90% of the time, teachers realized they have more time to help children apply the skills they have learned. They also have more time to cater to every child's needs. I believe that “Flipping the classroom” is a very effective tool and I hope to use it.

Hannah-  
Prezi is a presentation and software tool. It allows you to turn boring slideshows into something more captivating for your audience. Many people use Powerpoint to express their ideas through presentation. Prezi is so much more than that. Prezi not only allows you to express your ideas but, but it also lets you share them on the cloud. One of my favorite parts about Prezi is all of the animation and decorative options that it gives you. The templates are really fun and interactive! I would use Prezi to present textbook information to the class.  Textbooks can be so boring. This will definitely spice it up! I am also going to make it an option for my students to use Prezi to present information that we are learning in class. I chose this tool because it is great for capturing the student’s attention. I think that the students will enjoy Prezi and actually be excited to make a presentation using it. I found the tutorial on the Prezi website to be very helpful.This is a great tool and I think that every teacher should incorporate it in some way in their classroom.

Project #3 Presentation

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Blog Post #3



The video What is Peer Editing? was very useful. I enjoyed how it was to the point. It emphasized the importance of staying positive and polite. When I peer edit these two things are my main concerns. I do not want to hurt anyone's feelings. This video relayed that if you show your peer the positives and the negatives of the paper, you are less likely to offend them.

Peer Edit With Perfection was a detailed explanation of peer editing. I thought it was slightly repetitive but it got the point across. My favorite video was Writing Peer Review Top Ten Mistakes. It was funny and gave very informative examples of common mistakes in peer editing. The child acting was also surprisingly very well. This is a video I would want my class to watch before sending them to edit their peer's papers.

I loved reading Paige Ellis's Blog Post #12. My favorite part about her post was getting to see the conversation between Paige and Dr. Strange. She had the same worries that I do now. Her post helped me realize that everyone needs constructive criticism. We make mistakes and it is perfectly acceptable for someone to help us fix them.