Project 8 Book Trailer

Blog Post 6

 

   After watching the 7 videos for this blog post, I learned many new things about Project Based Learning. All of these videos include a former lab professional, named Anthony Capps, who is now a third grade teacher at Gulf Shores Elementary School. I did not know a whole lot about Project Based Learning, and I was a little intimidated by the thought. Now, after watching the videos, I feel more at ease about PBL. Mr. Capps gave many new ideas and tips to use in the  classroom. I like the idea of scaffolding; which Mr. Capps talked about in Don't Teach Tech - Use It. Scaffolding is where you let a student learn how to use a piece of technology, let them reflect on it, and pair that with something new the next day. I like this idea because you are not really teaching students how to use technology, but allowing them to learn on their own. I will also use the websites iCurio from the iCurio Video, and Discovery Education from the Discovery Education Video. ICurio is a website that allows students to safely search school topics on the internet without any worries of what they could potentially find. This website includes a storage capacity, where students can save what they search for later use. Also, this website helps students practice online organization skills. The next website, Discovery Education, is a great online tool to use in the classroom. This website connects students to videos that they can watch that can help teach children about their subjects of interest. This is also a way to bring experts into the classroom. I learned many new ways to convert PBL into the classroom. I plan to use PBL in my classroom because there is great student, parent, and administrator feedback on this way of teaching. PBL allows students to be excited to learn and that is how everyone should be, when it comes to learning.

Blog Post 5

     PLN (Personal Learning Network) is a network of people and other resources that you can use for help and ideas. The biggest use of a PLN is for collaboration. I chose to create a Symbaloo to help me with my PLN. This site helped because it puts all my resources up in an organized way. Some resources that can be used are Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, and other social media. These sites connect you to many people in your job field. In this class, we will utilize Twitter the most. This site is used to connect you to people by their names and ideas.These ideas are distinguished by hash tags that can be searched just like you search a person's name. I like to use Pintrest as well, because you can look up classroom ideas and save them to a "board" that you can look at in the future. It is important that I utilize the resources from my PLN to use in my future classroom. This will ensure that my students get the best education.

Project 3 Presentation

My Sentence Videos

My sentence is...

My passion is...

Project 15 Search Engines

 (I looked up "The University of South Alabama" in each search engine.)
1. Bing: When I looked up this keyword, the search engine brought up statistics, maps, the website, pictures, related searches, and famous alumni. This site can be used to look up news stories, videos, and history. This site is nice to search things for general information.
2. DuckDuckGo: When I looked up this keyword, the search engine brought up the Wikipedia site, statistics, and labeled the official website. This search engine has a nice feature; it does not track what is being searched. This is a good privacy feature. The language can also be changed.
3. Dogpile: When I looked up this keyword, the search engine brought up the website and statistics. This website compiles information from other big name search engines. Also, this search engine has a handy white pages feature.
4. Yahoo: When I looked up this keyword, the search engine brought up the website, related websites, and statistics. This website is manly focused on the news part of web searching.
5: Ask: When I looked up this keyword, the search engine brought up related questions and statistics. This website is mainly focused on the question and answer form of web searching. This site is good for finding the answer to specific questions.
6. Info: When I looked up this keyword, the search engine brought up the website and related websites. This search engine uses information from other websites to come up with results.
7. ChaCha: When I looked up this keyword, the search engine brought up related questions to the topic. This search engine is just like Ask because it focuses on the question and answer form of web searching.
8. Wolframalpha: When I looked up this keyword, the search engine brought up every statistic possible about the topic. This search engine is good for wanting to know everything about a topic. This site is also good for calculating problems.

C4T 1 Doug Johnson

I was assigned The Blue Skunk Blog, by Doug Johnson.
     1. Technicians - The Unsung Heroes: This blog post was about lab technicians in schools, and how they are looked down upon. Johnson stated that these technicians are "under-staffed, under-informed, and under-appreciated." He also explains how they are "unsung heroes." These technicians have little recognition when it comes to having things written about them. And eventually they will be the bottom of the work pile, and they will not be needed anymore.
        I explained that technicians are needed in schools. They are the biggest help to students and teachers alike. I also explained, that just like in this class, the technicians are the biggest help with the work that is supposed to be completed. I do not know everything about computers, so I know I may need to use the services of the technicians in this class or in my future classes when I am a teacher.
    2. What Does a Good Library Tell You About a School?: This blog was about the reasons why a library is needed in schools. Libraries should teach children to ask and answer questions; other than just teach them the right answer. Asking questions is a sign of how smart the child is, not if they are dumb. Libraries give children access to diverse topics. Children should want to read not just learn how to read. Libraries help with learning good research skills. This lends a hand in how the classroom is not the only place to learn. A library should make kids feel comfortable, like their home away from home.
        I explained that a good library is needed for learning in schools. These libraries help each child in their journey to fulfill the rest of his or her life goals. Each child needs a quiet place that can be relaxing for them while they are not home. And also a library is a good place to get information other than a computer.

Blog Post 4

    People ask questions everyday. This is the main way people learn. It is important to ask questions in a classroom, but asking the right questions can make or break the class understanding the subject. This week we had many sources to aid us on how to formulate the correct questions to ask. I chose three of the sources, The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, Asking Questions to Improve Learning, and Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom.

    From the article, The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, Ben Johnson explained that it is important that the teacher should ask the students specific questions. Also, the teacher should use a certain technique to ensure that each student will engage in the thinking process. This technique is to ask a question, wait three seconds, and then call on a student, who could be random or not, so that each student is thinking of the answer to his or her greatest abilities.
    According to, Asking Questions to Improve Learning, there are a few good ways to ask questions to students. After asking a yes or no question, follow up with asking the student to explain why he or she gave that answer. Also, do not ask more than one question at a time. There are a few different kinds of questions that can be asked; these are closed questions, managerial questions, and open questions. Good ways to ensure the students have the best environment to answer questions are to wait 5-10 seconds before calling on someone to answer, do not interrupt the student who answers, show interest in the answer, even if it is wrong, keep students thinking through the whole process, and if the student answers the question wrong lead them to the right answer.
    The article, Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom, by Maryellen Weimer, has good insight on how to get ready to ask students questions. The first thing is to prepare questions. This means to think of what is trying to be accomplished in the lesson and plan the right questions to help the class understand the subject. Next, play around with different questions to see if certain kinds of questions can get the job done. Lastly, the questions that work, to get the right effect, need to be saved and used again on the new classes to come.

Blog Post 3

 

    Peer editing is important when working your way to a finished writing product. Peer editing is where you work with someone your own age to review, revise, and alter his or her writing. In school I never really understood to correct way to peer edit, because we never had set rules on how to peer edit work. Now that I have examined the three resources, What is Peer Editing?, Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial, and Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes, I have found the best way to peer edit.
    There are three steps that are associated with peer editing. These three are compliment, suggestion, and correction. Compliments are important because you want the writer to feel comfortable with the fact that someone is reading his or her writing. Next, suggestions are important because instead of saying something is wrong, a suggestion can make a writer less nervous with someone reading his or her writing. Lastly, correction is the most important because it is the whole reason for peer editing.
    When you peer edit it is important to treat others the way you would want to be treated. Do not act like a "Mean Margaret," or any of the others either, according to Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes. The best way to peer edit someone's work in EDM 310 is to follow the three big steps, as mentioned above in paragraph two. Peer editing is really important because I know, personally, that if I reread my work, I will read it exactly how the writing should sound. I need someone to go behind me and make sure everything looks good. These resources we studied this week will help us with the rest of our college journey.