Blog Post #16 -Final Reflection Video

Blog Post 5 Part 2

My PLN has definitely grown over the semester. On my first post, Symbaloo was my only PLN, that has changed drastically. Now I have Symbaloo as well as other people in the Mobile County school system. Laurin Tew, is one of the women that give me advice and help in the education world. Mackenzie Easley is also in the school system that has recommendations and advice to go towards my career. Not only do I have people locally to add to my PLN, I also have the educators that I have connected with over C4T's. This exercise is a very good way to help connect. I also have people that I follow on Twitter and Pinterest that give me ideas and new tools to use in the classroom. I am very thankful; for this class and for the opportunities I have had to meet new people and broaden my learning system.

C4T #4

Beth Knittle
Beth's Blog

The first post I read from Beth was about education. This was my favorite post because it is true and it relates directly to an experience I am going through right now. College doesn’t take 4 years like advertised. Another thing she explains is that getting money to go to college isn’t easy. I love this post. It is a must read.
My Comment: Hi. My name is Alex and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I find this a very interesting post. When I was a senior in high school, multiple adults drilled into my head that I HAVE to go to college and it will ONLY take four years to get a good job that pays well. I am now noticing that the further I get in school, some of my peers that didn’t go to college are ending up making more money than me. My major is Special Education and I won’t be making much money at all. I will have student loans for probably the rest of my life because of the tuition going up to build a bigger and better football stadium. I am all for school spirit, but why not help the students out? We must make sure future students know that it is very hard and almost impossible to graduate college in four years. Unless the student takes 18 hours per semester, and takes summer classes, he or she won’t be able to graduate within four years. Colleges have drifted away from helping the students succeed, to helping the school grow. Most colleges don’t care about what is best for the student in the long run, they care more about what is better for the school. In my opinion, it shouldn’t take a teacher 5 years to graduate college. (Especially considering the pay that teachers receive) I hope that generations after me receive more help from the college of their choice than mine did.

The second post that I commented on was a post about connecting. Beth speaks of a story from her past and working with a team. She explains that coming together and connecting in the education world are important.
My Comment: Hi Beth! I agree! When teaming up with each other, we seem to get a bigger and better outlook for education. In my EDM 310 class, we are learning the importance of connecting with different educators around the world. This will better our systems and ideas for the classroom. Best of wishes and Happy Thanksgiving!

Blog Post #14

Teaching Can be a Profession by Joel Klein


1. Giving more school choices to families, using technology, adopting a knowledge-based curriculum, starting education before age 5. (Intro problems)
2. Professionalize teaching.
3. Seniority problems.

1. When asked, “If you could wave a wand and change one thing, what would it be?” Joel Klein answered, “This isn’t an easy question. Lots of things need changing. For example, giving far more school choices to families, using technology to improve teaching and learning, adopting a knowledge-based curriculum and starting education before a child is 5 years old.” These are things that need to be changed but aren’t his main focus nor are they the most important things that need to be changed. School choices are an important thing when starting school. Obviously parents want to put their children in the school with the best reputation and best ratings. Second, technology is an important tool when teaching and learning. As learned from taking EDM 310, technology opens more doors than imaginable. Students can reach out to others from around the world and look up anything they are curious about or need an answer to. Next, adopting a knowledge-based curriculum is very important. With a knowledge-based curriculum students will learn more and gain more experiences through their school years. Starting children in the education system before age 5 is already happening around the world. There are certain day care facilities that offer children with lessons during day care, which is very helpful. This is up to the parents to put them there, but is encouraged. All of these things are issues in the education system today.

2. Professionalize teaching is the main thing that he would change. This would make educators respected just as lawyers or doctors. One example he gave was to pick from the best. He thinks that teachers would be better for educating if the top third of the graduates were chosen to be teachers. He doesn’t agree with just letting people that graduate with a teaching degree to be teachers. He believes only the most striving and intelligent, need to be in the field. I disagree with this. I believe that students that want to be teachers and think they are good for the job deserve the job. Teaching isn’t just about knowledge. A teacher also has to be humble and outgoing to interact with the students. He also states that teacher’s rewards need to be changed.

3. Seniority in the education system is a major problem. I agree that this system needs to be changed. Just because someone has been in the school system for a long time, doesn’t mean they are supposed to be. I believe the more equipped teacher should receive the job position, not the one that has been there the longest. I don’t think the education “police” system would be a good idea that Shanker talks about. That would just give people jobs based on opinions and tests. I don’t believe in the tests he explains either. Tests aren’t good ideas. I think instead of tests, we should have in class evaluations to see how the teacher relays the lesson and treats/teaches the students.


Conclusion: I think some of the ideas that were proposed were good ideas and some of them were bad. I believe that the education system needs to be worked on. I believe that teachers are overlooked as a serious profession because of the pay. Many intelligent people don’t consider being teachers because the pay is so low. The only people that want to be teachers are people that love teaching. The seniority rule is something that absolutely needs to be changed. When competing for a position, the most qualified individual should receive the job.

C4K November

Amber, 5th Grade, South Africa Amber's Blog
1. Frogs are first tadpoles.
 2.
Then they grow legs
 3.
They eat flys
 4.
They have long red tongs 5.
They stay in and out of water. As well as a picture of the frog lifecycle.
-My response: Hey Amber! My name is Alex and I am a student in college at The University of South Alabama, in Mobile, Alabama. What a great post. I like to fish with frogs sometimes. I like your picture you included in your post. This helps the reader understand the frog lifecycle. Have a great day!

Dillon, 8th Grade, Iowa Dylan's Blog
Dillon posted about his alter ego. I assume they added this post on to a previous lesson done in class. He had pictures changing like a slide show, it was pretty cool.
-My response: Hey Dillon. My name is Alex and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. What a cool post! I really like your pictures and the way they change in and out on the main screen. I don't even know how to do that! Keep up the good work!

Ethyn, 7th Grade, Kingsland MN Ethyn's Blog
Ethyn wrote a post about how well her second semester was going.
-My response: Hey Ethyn! I am a student at the University of South Alabama. A great strategy for school is to stay on task. I always turn my assignments in on time and I am well prepared for class. Keep up the good work and you will go far in life. Best wishes, Alex

Project 12 Part B

Blog Post #13

List 5 Assistive Technologies that can be used in the Special Education classroom. Explain how a child can use them during class. Include source or sources that were used.

1. Speech recognition software: this technology converts talking into typing, making it easy for children struggling with movement or visual conditions that find it tough to use a keyboard. Ex. This can be used for a child that is blind for writing an assignment on the computer. The child can say what he or she wants written.
2. Talking calculators: this gadget relates mathematics via audio. This can help with visually impaired and learning disabled students. Ex. During math class a student that has a learning disability or is visually impaired, can use this tool to check previous math problems or use it to work math problems.
3. Switches: switches are usually attached to the hand. They allow students access to computer controls instead of using the mouse or a keyboard. They come in different structures to provide the best fit for each individual. Ex. A student with cognitive impairments can use this device to work a computer during an assignment.
4. Audiobooks: books that read the story aloud. This is not a new form of assistive technology but it will always be used. Ex. For students that have trouble reading, he or she can read along with the audiobook that reads aloud.
5. Ipads: small touchscreen computer. I always knew that Ipads were a popular tool in the special education world but after reading this post I knew they will become a must in my classroom. “I had a students with Cerebral Palsy who only has proficient access to one finger. The Ipad comes along and in 35 minutes after opening it from the box, he wrote his name for the first time.” This is so touching and uplifting. Ex. Ipads can be used for anything. As we read a second ago it can be used for writing, or learning games in apps during any subject.

Sources:1-4 5

Blog Post #12

Shayla McCorvey's Contribution:In the video,Teaching a Mom What Her Deaf/Blind Child is learning on the iPad is video of a teacher giving instruction to a parent on how to work an Ipad if they were deaf or blind. The teacher says, the parent should place his/her hand across the icon and each one she would click, a voice over will say the icon’s names out loud. The parent would also have to use four fingers and turn it like a knob to be able to turn it into typing mode. Standard typing is when you are moving your fingers across the screen and the voice over says the letters out loud. Once you double tap, it will appear on the note pad. Most people prefer the touch typing mode. You are still in typing mode, where you move your fingers across the screen and voice over reads out the letters to you. Instead of double tapping a letter, you should hold the letter down and lift your finger, the letter will appear on the note pad.
The alternative source she looked up was: NCLD, Assistive technology can help students with many different learning disabilities. The assistive technology can help them become more independent through school and throughout life. Technology has apps to help students with Dysgraphia and Writing skills. For example, the video I watched was able to explain everything out loud. This app can make the writing process a little bit easier and fun. Another assistive piece of technology would be a keyboard with built in accessibility on standard computer.

My Contribution: Source #1- To Siri, With Love is an interesting blog post. It tells a story of a 13 year old boy with autism that asks Siri questions about everyday life and his personal interests. What a cool way to use technology. It got me thinking about the different ways Siri could be used in the classroom. This blog has a lot of great ideas on it. It mentions IPEVO Whiteboard or the Belking Stage app. These two things can help during science class to capture and annotate what the students capture under a microscope. It also mentions Boogie Board. This is a small board the size of an iphone that would be good for taking notes during class or answering questions like we used to do on smart boards. Adobe Presenter is a great tool to use in classroom. This is a great thing to use when you want to include text and pictures in a presentation or quiz during class. This could also be used when doing PBL. One of my favorite things that I found on this blog is the Belkin Tablet Stage. This is a tool that turns your ordinary ipad into a document, camera, and presentation system. This is a great way to get your monies worth out of an Ipad purchased for your classroom. Speaking of Ipad, they are mentioned everywhere on this blog. Ipad is a really neat tool to use when teching. It lets the students independently do work and play learning games on the apps that adhere to the lesson being taught. Great source!
Teachhub.com is my second source. Teachhub This was a really cool read. Not only does it give you different technology you can use in the classroom, it also gives you different ways you can use it and how it helps the children. Powerpoint is a very common tool. In the post it mentions ways you can use Powerpoint as a game show review. I think that would be a really cool thing to use powerpoint for. It also mentions blogs and twitter as being a good source of technology in the classroom. Blogs can be used instead of diaries. Blogs are also helpful to see how well the students have progressed overtime. Twitter can be used as a discussion or for a summary of material. Creating a class webpage is a tool that can also be used in the classroom. It also mentions that students can create a film on a computer. This is a great way to implememnt PBL. Doing this and having the kids present the films, are a good way to use technology.

Kelia's Contribution:Source A Waking up, you open your eyes, stretch, and hear the bubbling sounds of the coffee pot. Like me you may turn on your radio to listen to the sounds of Nickel Creek or the music of your preference. Communicating thoughts and ideas let alone learning becomes seemingly impossible. However, in this video it outlines the tools used to help in assisting hearing and visually impaired students learn. These tools provide opportunity and hope for these impaired students improve their chances of having successful futures. Their realities are next to impossible for those without the disabilities to imagine. With assistive learning tools it enhances learning and improves the students’ capabilities and chances at excelling. The barriers that seemed to have blocked their path now are almost non-existent due to the technological advances. It is our responsibility as teachers to encourage, enlighten, and help enrich the education for any and all students-with or without disabilities.
Second Source Students are unique and come with a wide variety of learning styles and capabilities. It is up to the teacher to be able to identify and adapt to their learning needs. All of this can be accomplished through technology. This is a great tool to not segregate students from the regular learning process but to help them participate with the class as a whole. Assistive learning devices are not just flashy gadgets; they can be something as simple as a wheelchair to help the student access the classroom physically. Hearing aids, glare-reduction screens, Braille note-taking devices, and voice recognition software are just a few examples of assistive learning technology. A common tool used in schools to help in assistive learning would be voice recognition software. This would be very helpful to a teacher due to the fact that if a student is visually impaired or in not fully mobile with their extremities they can speak into the microphone and it will record his or her spoken thoughts. This would be a very helpful tool that would help a wide variety of students. Assistive learning technology is a wondrous tool that will help improve the lives of children and ignite their drive to excel in their learning capabilities.

Brittneys Contribution:iPad Usage For the Blind Second Video I have chosen to research, “iPad usage for the blind.” Apple has made tremendous stride with making sure the visually impaired and blind have access to using the iPad device. After viewing, the video, “iPad usage for the blind”, I have learned a lot about how exactly a blind person effectively navigates a iPad. Wesly Marjeus is the Access Specialist for the National Federation for the Blind. Marjeus teaches about the different devices that Apple has installed in their devices for the blind. Marjeus explains a unique service called VoiceOver. VoiceOver basically reads everything that is one the screen of the iPad.VoiceOver not only reads what’s on the screen but, also reads books to the user as well. VoiceOver helps the user to effectively navigate the iPad. Hand gestures are just as important as the VoiceOver service. Hand gestures can be given as a demand over the VoiceOver service. Hand gestures are used to move or remove certain icons,apps, etc.
Andreas Head is her second source. Andreas Head shares some basic information about the services that Apple has for the visually impaired. For instance, Refreshable Braille Display is a electronic device that enables the user to write or text while using the iPad. The buttons on the device are Braille and, the device can act as a mouse while connected to the device. Another cool feature is called Bluetooth Keys. The Bluetooth keys connects with the iPad and controls the VoiceOver service as well. The user should be knowledge of locating certain important keys to effectively navigate the device. There are a number of assistive technology that is available for educators to use inside of the classroom. These are just a few to name a lot. Technology is making a powerful stance to all rims of it’s users.

Project #10

C4T #3

Post #1
The first post that I read was about how standing desks can help students focus in the classroom. I was taken back when reading this because I have never heard of a standing desk. How cool?
My first comment was: Hey! My name is Alex and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in class EDM310. This is a new thing to me. Growing up in Mobile, Al I have never heard of standing desks. I believe that some children would definitely benefit from this but others not so much. I believe that children should always have their free time to run around and use their motor skills as Mark Benden stated above. P.E. and recess are vital to our health, especially small children because they are still growing and developing. This is a really great post and has brought this to light for me! In EDM310 we each have a blog and the class shares a class blog. If you would like to check it out here is the class blog http://edm310.blogspot.com/ and here is my blog http://growalexandriaedm310.bl.... I hope to hear back from you!
I never got a reply.

Post #2
The second post that I read was about technology in the classroom. The post showed a video and talked about a high school that allowed their students to use technology. It mentioned that the only reason that we don't allow technology in the classroom is because we don't trust student's and we block half of the search engines off. It then talks about this high school and the trust system that they go by. It seems to be working well from what I have read. I hope to get into a school system that allows these things.
My second comment: I think this is a really great idea. I am a senior in college and I think that if my classes included things like this, I would have been more interested in school. In my EDM310 class, we are learning about technology in the classroom. I have learned a lot over the past couple of months on this matter and pray that I get into a school system that has an open technology policy. What a great read!

Project #14

For Project 14, my group decided to do a lesson plan for a high school special education class. Math is the subject that we chose. In the duration of a week the students will be able to count money and use it effectively in their everyday life. This is a math lesson, but we have also incorporated a life skill. The lesson starts off with an introduction to money and the different values. With the introduction, we added a fun youtube video on counting money. Money Song. On the second and third day of the lesson, we are going to give the students a worksheet as well as allowing them to play money counting games on their ipads. Online Games. Worksheets. On the fourth day, the students will play a grocery shopping game to apply the money counting to life events. We found this game online, it seems to be adaptable to different levels of hardness which is good for a special education classroom.Game. The class will end with a collaborative project. The students are going to be assigned to groups of four. They will have 20 dollars to spend ($5 each), they will work as a team to pick four items that they can buy for less than 20 dollars. We will have this formed online so the students can do this on the ipad. PBL. Throughout the week the students will receive fake money, according to their behavior, to spend at the end of the week in the treasure box. This is a great way to see what the children have learned from the lesson while being rewarded for good behavior. Depending on the level of classroom I get, I will have to make accommodations to this lesson. After starting this lesson plan, I found out how hard it was to form a special education lesson without a class. When forming the lesson I will have to consider the children in the classroom.

Project Design Overview
Calendar
Rubric

Blog Post #11

What can you learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?

Back to the Future- Brian Crosby
Mr. Crosby suggests that his students have had a narrow curriculum when arriving to his class. Blogs and computer access are what he uses to help students think out of the box. His students, as well as many others we have seen thus far, have blogs. His students embed videos in their blog about things they do in class such as projects and activities. Students also put together their own Wiki pages. By doing these things, students can access the Internet to include many things in their project while they are learning. His students had to write from a balloons perspective in one of their blog posts. He explained that as the kids did this, they thought about things from a different point of view, which made them think outside of the box. As teachers before, he said that the kids love seeing people comment on their posts. This motivates the students to do their best work on their posts. One of the main things we can learn from Mr. Crosby is that projects help the kids learn more. Active learning lessons and practices, teach children how to learn. Kids learn to collaborate and yearn for learning more through technology. One of the other things that we can learn from Mr. Crosby is that technology is a life-changing tool to some students. Celeste is a little girl in his class that has leukemia. Celeste wasn’t able to come to class everyday because of her illness. The kids can include Celeste in class everyday by Skyping her on the computer. This way Celeste can communicate and learn just as the other children. Technology isn’t only changing the learning process, but it is also changing the children’s lives one by one.

Blended Learning-Paul Anderson
The picture Mr. Anderson opens with is a very interesting one. It shows what people predict classrooms will look like in the future. He explains the basics of blended learning. He says that basically, you take the major concepts of online, mobile, and classroom learning and merge them together with technology. He also explains the learning cycle. The student should first evaluate a question then engage, explore, explain, and expand for the answer and after the answer. With these two things you have blended learning. Mr. Anderson says that everything starts with a good question to trigger the child’s mind. Next you want to students to investigate the question and topic. The students need to experiment and have inquiry on the question. The teacher could then show a video. This frees the teacher up for questioning and gives the students time to watch the video independently when they get to it. The next step is elaboration. This is when the lesson gets into diagrams. The last step is the review portion. This is when the teacher should ask questions to assure the students understand the concept fully. The last thing the teacher does is give a summary quiz. This quiz determines if the children need to go back and review more. The unit ends with a paper pencil test. We can learn some basic steps from Mr. Anderson. These steps can help any teacher put together a blended learning lesson.

Building Comics- Sam Payne
Sam Payne is a fifth grade teacher. He teaches his students the importance of using the Internet safely. He introduces the students to the lesson by giving them a quote from Spiderman. This engages the students and grabs their attention. He teaches the students how to be a digital citizen. He asks the students what kind of power the Internet gives children. Acting respectful, safe, and responsible on the Internet is being a digital citizen. In class he gets the children to create their own digital superhero. This meets the standards he needs for this lesson, which is a concern. The students then put their superhero into a real life situation. The students do this by building comic books on their laptops. This helps with teaching dialogue. They can analyze tech structure in doing this as well. The students then peer review their classmate’s comics. While watching this source, I have learned that you can tie in many different lessons into one technical project. By having the kids peer review, they learn more than just what the teacher has said, they learn many ideas from each other. Great lesson!

Project Based Learning- Dean Shareski
Two teachers in Canada incorporated two subjects into one lesson plan. They used technology as a way to express the feedback of things they have learned from the English and History lesson. The teachers said the students learn more when incorporating more subjects into one with more time and technological use. They learn more than what is just in the lesson plan by expanding their thinking. This was a great source but it regurgitated all of the information that we learned in the previous videos.

Roosevelt's Elementary PBL Program
The video starts off with a definition of Project Based Learning. The main thing being said about project based learning is that children work in collaborative groups to solve real world problems using the state standards. Student’s work on these projects from beginning to end and students are encouraged to speak publically at an early age. This is a great tool for kids to learn at an early age so when they become a college or high school student they aren’t afraid to speak in front of people. PBL is also a self-motivation way for children to learn. The students strive to do their best. PBL uses 21st century skills such as presenting and public speaking. This makes the students proud to show what they have learned and put together. Students learn to solve problems, communicate, and work together as well as independently through PBL. PBL encourages community interaction. PBL incorporates different learning styles such as reading, writing, researching, math, and presenting. I have learned form this video that when a school and a community is on board anything is possible. PBL incorporates children gaining background knowledge to use later in life. PBL ignites the love to learn from students. Interactive projects are fun for students because they aren’t sitting in a chair all day listening to a teacher. Student reflection is a part of the PBL. Every child has a spark of curiosity to learn about the world around them and PBL strikes that spark.

Blog Post #10

First Graders in Mrs. Cassidy's Class
Video Summary: Kids like writing in books but more in blogs because people get to see what they right. Sometimes family members comment on the blogs, which the children like. They claim blogs as online portfolios of their work. They know that in a comment, you should say nice things. They have a webpage like our class blog. Wikis are cool things, they asked people about traditions and people wrote in them, and told them things that they didn’t know. The kids used Skype for talking to other people around the world.

Video 1, Video 2, &Video 3:
We can learn a lot from Mrs. Cassidy. I learned that with a good support system, reaching your goals are easy. Mrs. Cassidy has had blogs for 5 years now. She explains that the parents like seeing the blogs because they can see how the kids are progressing in the classroom. The kids really like the blogs because working with technology is more fun than pens and paper. An audience is one of the most important things kids need for a blog, she says. When children realize that people are looking at their work, they get excited and try to achieve at a higher rate. Mrs. Cassidy also has a cluster map for their blogs so that the children can see what parts of the world are viewing their blogs. I think that is really cool because you can see the different ways the world is connecting. In blog we have writing, video, and commenting all in one lesson. Mrs. Cassidy says that there are more tools online now than there were. The research possibilities are endless. Does Every Teacher Need To Be Technology Literate? She says: Yes, technology is here to stay. Technology today is bigger and better than in previous ways and we as teachers should take advantage of it. She says that we should create an online network as new teachers to explore new ideas. Twitter helps network online for learning and ideas. She says we should keep in touch with technology at all times. Where should we start? What you are interested in? Mrs. Cassidy says, Start where your interests are. This way you can comment and talk to different people or groups to start a network. Use Twitter for a personal learning network for finding new ideas and reaching out to teachers across the world. “Piggybacking” off what other people have done isn’t cheating. It’s working collaborative with technology. She explains she keeps the kids protected by teaching them not to use their last names, and not post any pictures of themselves on the Internet. The students also know which websites to click on during their computer time.

My Classroom:I think Mrs. Cassidy can offer a lot to future teachers. In my future classroom I am going to definitely use Skype. I think that students get excited to talk to different people from around the world. These teachers or professionals can offer guidance and insight for the students in my classrooms. My class can come up with key questions that tie to a lesson being taught in class at that time. Also, I would like to have a class blog. I think students can benefit from having blogs and reaching out to different people from around the world. I also believe that Wiki is a good approach to help students learn from others.

C4K for October

Week 1 Gregory JHFI Class of 2015

Gregory's Blog

Gregory's post: I’m going to try to make a mark on the world by playing football. Everyone will know my name number 88. I will go to stores just to sign autographs for fans. I will encourage kids to play football. I will break records and I will be in the hall of fame. On Madden I will be playing Canton Greats.

My Response: Hey Gregory, my name is Alex and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. Playing football is such a great way to make your mark on the world. I really like football a lot. I have a friend, Jay Prosch, that plays for the Houston Texans. His number is 45. You can do anything you set your mind to. Keep up the good blog posts and good luck on football!

Week 2 Julia, 5th Grade, Illinois

Julia's Blog

Question: Should students lose recess for acting bad in class? Her Response: She says no that he or she should have to stay after school. They shouldn’t lose recess because that is when kids get all of their energy out.

My Response: Hey Julia! I am a student at the University of South Alabama. Ultimately I think students should lose their recess if they act up in class. If a student is threatened with losing recess and still acts bad in class, then he or she should have to stay for detention after school. Sometimes it is harder for the teacher to stay with the student after school, than sit him or her out for recess. Great post! keep up the good work!

Julia-Post 2

Julias second post was about her last year of elementary school and her getting ready to go to middle school. She talks about how she wants to be a role model for the kids younger than her.

My Response: Hey Julia! I am a senior in college at the University of South Alabama. 5th grade was one of my favorite years of school. Get ready for 6th grade because it contains a lot of work and activities. Before you know it, you'll be in college like me. Being a positive role model to younger students will help you succeed through your whole life. Good luck with this year and next!

Week 3 Tevita, New Zealand, Age 8, 5th/6th grade

TJ's Blog

Tevita, TJ as his friends like to call him, wrote a blog post about his trip with his family to One Tree Hill. He explained everything he did there and how much fun he and his family had.

My response was: Hey TJ! My name is Alex and I live in the USA. I go to school in Mobile, Al. This is a really great blog post. I have watched the TV show One Tree Hill. That must have been a fun trip to go on with your family. I love barbecue. That is one of my favorite foods. We eat barbecue a lot in Alabama. Hope you have a great school year!

Project #12 Part A

Implications and Teaching Opportunities for Camera Use in Teaching and Learning

Teachers should allow students to use smart phones in the classroom.It is a tool that is in the palm of their hands at all times. It is the humans best friend, therefore they are very familiar with it. The students and teachers use smart phones more than their laptops because they are more compact and accessible. On my Iphone I can do almost everything I can on my laptop, if not more. Also, more people have cell phones than laptops.

Cameras are used more in phones than regular cameras in todays society. Cameras in phones are very useful because they are compact. Also, cameras in phones can provide the student and teachers with on site photos that they can enter on the web through the phones. These things being compact together on the phone are great for bringing pictures to the web with easy access. It's an all around tool for many things you need in school.

Thankfully, my groups video project was on technology in the classroom and my part talked about cell phones in the classroom.Students can use their phones during class for many things. They can use the phone for calculation in math class. They can convert measurements.The students can use their phones to look up research. The students can also use their phones for taking information to class from home. Cellphones can be used for many things. After reading the assigned material, I noticed that one classroom in Australia has open phone tests. The students are trusted to use their phones in the right ways. As long as students use and don't abuse the use of cell phones in the classrooms, they should be allowed and used to the students and teachers advantage.

Blog Post #9

What can teachers and students teach us about project based learning?


Seven Essentials For Project Based Learning, Gives the reader the two most important things that every project needs. The first being that teachers provide students with a meaningful task (One that drives the student to do his or her best) .The second is making sure that the task has an educational purpose. Then the site goes on to give the seven essential elements of PBL. 1. A Need To Know- This ultimately means that the teacher should activate the students minds into wanting to know more about the project. The teacher should initiate some questioning through a video, article, newsletter, or even a field trip. Any way that the teacher can grab the attention of the students, he or she should do for an introduction. 2. A Driving Question- After the introduction, the students should be left with an open-ended driving question for he or she to ponder over while doing the project. The source looks at the driving question as a thesis statement, which I like a lot. It gave me a better understanding of how important the driving question is. 3. Student Voice and Choice- This basically means that the students should have a certain free range of tools and sources to work with when doing their project. 4. 21st Century Skills- The skills here are reffering to collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and the use of technology. With these things, the students have endless opportunities of the way their projects can turn out. 5. Inquiry and Innovation- This means a great deal of steps and lessons are turned into one lesson. It is sort of a way for generating new questions for answering in the classroom through their projects. 6. Feedback and Revision- This could be done by using rubrics or criteria for peer review. This step is meaningful for the students to understand what is expected of them during the project. 7. A Publicly Presented Product- This step is meaningful because it drives the students to do their best. When the students present their final project to people other than their peers and teacher, they want it to look better and more creative. This source has helped me a lot in recognizing keep steps for PBL.

Project Based Learning For Teachers Says Common Core Standards are the WHAT to the projects. The HOW to the projects, are the projects ideas and understand. We can learn from this video that technology plays a big role in the classroom and in PBL. Technology can leave the students with many possibilities for the projects. Many different websites can contribute for communication in PBL. Also, the different websites shown can give the students access to create things with countless possibilities. Another key for PBL that this source shows is that we, as teachers, shouldn’t spoon-feed our students. We should give them the tools and guidance to learn and answer things for themselves. I like this approach a lot. If you have a question look for the answer as hard as you can before giving up. Every project should have a purpose, a rubric, groups, deadlines, a process, and a product.

Project Based Learning in PE I find this source very interesting. Usually in PE class students just do physical activity. Through this project the students actually learn important information about the body that could be useful to them as we all the other students. What a great idea! The lesson also meets the NASPE. This truly goes to show you that PBL can be done in any subject. The students question, analyze, and create in PE class. This is a very fun and interesting PBL activity. This meets all of the criteria from the first source. I really like this source and what it has to show students and teachers. It proves that PBL can be used for anything.

What motivates students today is a video that consists of many different videos from different kids. The students actually give their own word about what motivates them. All of the students say things along the lines of what they want to do when they grow up. The students also give the viewer of the rewards they get for doing well in school. This ranges from money to spend on stores or pizza at school. One student is rewarded by having extra time outside to themselves or candy. If students are rewarded for their good efforts in class they are more apt to do well on project and achieve their goals in class. I have seen this approach first hand and it works.

The Ketchup Bottle Case is a really interesting and cool story to read. These students came up with a problem or question that they wanted to solve. Through vigorous and hard work, they achieved their goals and are now two very well known students that invented something useful through PBL. The students have proved to teachers and students everywhere that PBL is very important and can take you in many directions.

Project #9

Blog Post #8

Randy Pausch's lecture The Last Lecture,is uplifting. He teaches people to reach for their dreams at any cost no matter what you go through or what you don't think you can do, you can do anything. The "head fake", he talks about is a really cool approach. The head fake is when students think they are learning one thing but they are really learning multiple things through the project and or lesson. He says that your critics are your motivators and when your critics stop trying to critique you, that means you're doing something wrong. He also talks about trials and struggles that he goes through in life. Through his struggles, he never gave up. He kept pushing for his dreams.The dream fulfillment factory is a really neat thing made by him and his team. The way that he put technology into learning and schooling made more opportunities for people. We can conclude that Randy is an advocate of Project Based Learning. He is truly and inspiration for teachers and learners all over the world.

C4T Summary #2

C4T #2 Vicki Davis
Blog
Mrs. Davis’s most recent blog post was a post about her switching from Blogger to Wordpress. I thought this was a really cool post because I got to read the pro’s and con’s of each blogging system. This was also appropriate for the class and myself because of the fact that our class is based on blogging and new technology.
This is my first response. Hey Ms. Davis, my name is Alexandria Grow and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in class EDM310. I really enjoyed reading your post. As a new blogger, I am just now beginning to get in the swing of using Blog Spot and I really enjoy it. We are required to use Blogger in class but I am interested in exploring Wordpress in the future. Great post and cute cat! 

You can check out my blog at Here as well as our class blog Here I would love to hear back from you. Thanks!
The second post I read was about, different tools that include technology that you can use in the classroom for research. It gives the students tools to learn with.
My response to this was, Hey Mrs. Davis! I am a student at the University of South Alabama in class EDM310. This is a great post. Going thorough my resent class, I am learning about technology and about all of the different ways I can use it in the classroom. The links at the end really enable the reader to visit the site. Thanks for posting!

Project #13

In our project, we decided to make a lesson plan in the Drama field for the 9th grade. The lesson is on Hamlet and Lion King. In this lesson the students, in groups, will conduct research to compare the two pieces of work and present what they have learned to the class. The students will start off with a pre-quiz to test their previous knowledge about the two. After, they will conduct research and compare Hamlet to Lion King. The students will then write a screenplay of a scene in each movie that the group thinks is like the other. They will create the plays in iMovie and then present the final product to the class. After the presentations are finished, the students will take a post-quiz to recognize what they have learned. I think this is a fun and interesting lesson for group work in the 9th grade.

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Project #7 Part B (Post 1)

Blog Post #7

Strengths: Note Taking ,Directions ,Attentiveness

Weakness: Technology ,Busy Schedule ,Creativeness

What I need to do In order to give myself more time to learn I need to motivate myself to be the best I can be when learning to do something new. I also need to explore the web and become more technology savvy so that I am up to date on my learning.

How To Make A QR Code is a Youtube video that teaches you how to make a QR code on a computer like you would use in an MP3 player. This is very helpful when reading books in a classroom where a student needs the book read to him/her. The teacher can pre-record the reading of the book. Classroom Learning is a Youtube video that shows the students recording themselves read. The students record themselves reading books and then go back and watch themselves to see if he or she has made and mistakes. They are doing it on an ipad. This seems very useful in the classrooms for this purpose. Ipads could be used in every classroom for these kinds of activities. Alabama Virtual Library is about Alabama Virtual Library. The students have learned how to log in AVL on an ipad. They know how to use search engines. They chose topics to search and a bunch of things come up about the topic. Such as pictures, and introduction, and a video or audio recording. The students can listen or watch the clip and fill out a worksheet assigned for that activity. The students research, watch, and record everything by themselves from this center. Discovery Education is a video on Discovery Education in the classroom. The students log in using a password and their own information. They know how to create boards on this site. They are able to add images and videos. This video actually has a student in the video that teaches me how to use Discovery Education for making a board. After this activity the students wrote narratives. This wraps in a bunch of different activities for one lesson. I find this very useful for a classroom. The student is being a teacher in the video and I am the learner. Board Builder is about two students that used Board Builder. This video shows me that students are using more technology in classrooms than we are in college. The students have used great images and did well on research. What a fun project! Gulf Shores Board Builder Project is also about students using Board Builder. This is by far my favorite source used in the whole semester. The students use many great resources and images. I think the students passion for helping the community is amazing. I am very impressed by the girls abilities to search, build, and work the camera. I would like to sit in on one of these types of lessons soon. Imovie and AVL is a Youtube video with Elizabeth and Daphne. They are the media specialists in Daphne and Gulf Shores. Michelle talks about iMovie. The kindergarten students write scripts and use images on Trailers in iMovie at ages 5 and 6. Teachers are teaching things in more technology in today’s classrooms. Elizabeth talks about AVL. She explains that you can log on and teach students basic research. It will pull up many things the students can learn from. It is FREE. Everyone is a Learner is a Youtube video with Elizabeth and Michelle from the last video. This video is talking about learning. Michelle says that everyone becomes a learner and a teacher in the classroom, which I agree to. Michelle also mentions Padlet, which we use in class. A student teaching the teacher is encouraged.

Project #8 Book Trailer

C4K #3 September Summary

Kefu Auckland, NZ 7th grade Kefu wrote a post about how cool cows are and what different things they can do. My response to the first bog was: Hi, Kefu! Cows are really cool animals. I like the fact that each cow has different spots. Cows provide us with a lot of nutrients such as cheese. Cheese is my favorite food. Great post! Kefu wrote another post about a story. The post was very elaborate and had a great supporting picture. My response to the second post was: Hi Kefu! This is such an interesting story. I have never heard this story before. I like to fish and hunt like Maui in the story. This story was very exciting. I really like the picture that you included. The picture ties the story together well. Another great post!

Grayson, Virginia, High School Grayson's blog post said, "To make my mark on the world I would pick up more trash that I see on the ground. I will continue to work with the GSM program im in and donate food for the homeless and help people." My response was, "What a great way to make your mark on the world. I currently foster dogs from my local animal shelter so they will have a place to stay until someone adopts them. What you are doing is amazing. Keep making an influence. Great job! Keep up the good work!" These were very good ideas from Grayson about the mark he wants to make on the world.

Parker, Iowa, ELA 4th 14-15 Parker's Blog Parker wrote a post about how he/she wishes students could go to school later. He/she gave great reasons as to why this would improve the school day. My response was, "Hey Parker! My name is Alex and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am not a morning person, myself. I would have loved to get an extra hour of sleep in the morning before school started when I was your age. I agree that kids do not get the right amount of sleep. As you get older, you will want to be in bed by 9:00pm. College students do not get enough sleep either. I enjoyed reading your post. Keep up the good work!"

Blog Post #6

Project Based Learning Part 1. Project based learning has an authentic audience; it should involve the community, and should be driven by content. In order for the student to complete the project, the student should learn along the way. Anthony actually used a national headline to help his students learn things from social studies, as well as writing to the congressman. This is an amazing strategy. The children were excited about this project because it was content driven and it was directed towards the community.

Project Based Learning Part 2. Children used culture such as Haiti and Afghanistan in a project. This lesson stemmed from a Science article. They found facts and different things about Afghanistan by practicing tools. Anthony made the children give a narrative script from a childs view that lives in Afghanistan. The children used Imovie to do this. Pulling pictures from search engines they completed the project. The students had many different ideas such as, Food, Religion, Fashion, Warfare, in their projects. A students father didn’t want him to learn about Afghanistan because he served and reality is harsh. The student did an alternate science project that the class also benefitted from. Through this video I learned to never limit your students. They will always give you more than you expect. I also learned that every project isn't going to always go as planned.

iCuroio. Baldwin County uses this. It is an online tool that allows students to save online research that can be pulled and filtered for educational use. Audio and Video content can be saved as well. The students have their own log in, like a search engine. It has a storage capacity so the students can store many things. The teachers and students can both store content that is valuable. This engine gives students practice to organize things online.

Discovery Ed. “Picture is worth a thousands words”, is a very important quote Anthony gave us in this video.Discovery Ed gives the students visual pictures. The visual pictures help children retain more. This source is good for research. The students can also look at videos. The source also brings experts into the classroom via video for students to learn different things they are interested in that the teacher is not familiar with.

Strange Tips For Teachers.A good tip Dr. Strange gave is to be interested in learning yourself, which he says many times throughout the semester. Dr. Strange and Anthony both agree that teachers learn the craft of teaching in their free time, like a hobby. Anthony says teachers need to become fastinated by different things by letting your work become fun. Hard work is very important when teaching, it is rewarding. Teachers should be flexible and creative when teaching. One very important key in teaching is to never leave a child behind. Give the children topics that excite them and interest them.

Use Technology Don't Teach It. Technology is everywhere. Kids enjoy using technology to learn. Technology should be taught in the curriculum. Start the students off by learning something from a tool or source, then make the students apply this to something. In the middle of this video, Dr. Strange says the third grade students learn iVideo or iMovie faster than the students in EDM310. This may be true, but these children have grown up sing Apple software and computers such as, iphones, ipads, ect. As toddlers these kids have been playing games on iPhones where as my generation was playing outside or with blocks. I believe naturally the new generation would catch on faster than my generation. I grew up with a pencil and a piece of paper in second and third grade. Times are different.

Additional Thoughts About Lessons. In the last video, Anthony says a lesson should be at least 4 layers thick. 1. Determine how the lesson fits in with your year. Ask yourself, "Have you covered all of the standards?". 2. Unit size. This is determined by having a unit connected and divided properly, stretched out within a lesson. 3. Week. How are you using your week so that you get everything done on a day to day basis? 4. Daily learning. This is determined by evaluating what the children will learn every class session. All of these are key components to making a lesson.

Project #7

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post #5 Post #1

Before this blog post I didn't know what a PLN was. I have now discovered thanks to Dr. Strange's assignment post, Developing A Personal Learning Network, what a PLN is. In the post he explains the characteristics of a PLN, how to establish a PLN, and examples of people to follow. He also gives examples about his own PLN's. I found this source the most helpful because it gives you all of the information about a PLN that you need to know.

When developing my PLN, I chose Symbaloo as my source. I started out exploring Symbaloo through settings and setting up my account. I entered all of my data in as well as changed my background. I began adding a few links to my PLN such as my blog and the EDM310 class blog. I have found Symbaloo very helpful thus far. I am intrigued and excited to explore and learn more.

C4T #1

The Teacher that I was assigned to is David McCullough. He is a history teacher that does a lot of fun things in his classroom. The title of his blog Speaking of History...a blog about history, technology, and learning.
My first comment was a post replying to Mr. McCullough blog post about his students getting computers in the classroom. In this first post I introduced myself and told him a little bit about what we do in EDM310. I continued to tell him that I thought the kids getting computers to work on in class was rather exciting and that I would have loved to work on a computer in class when I was in middle school. I also gave him my contact info so that he could contact me back or leave me a comment... Well he didn't.


My second comment was a comment on a post from August 18. On this post he explains of an activity the kids do in class. This activity consists of kids taking technological devices such as televisions, radios, and speakers. He explains the kids liked the activity and were interested in what was in the inside of these items. He explains that the children do not know what some of the inside pieces are but further in the year they might. My comment read that I thought this was a fun activity for the kids to do. I think the kids would enjoy getting to take apart an Iphone or Ipad because they are some of the newest forms of technology that are commonly used. I really enjoyed reading Mr. McCullough's Blog. You should take the time to read it too!

Project #15 Search Engines

Wolfram Alpha, is a site engine that gives you information about anything you want to know about or calculate. I am currently reading Great Expectations by Charles Dicks and I put that in the search and everything I need to know about the book is there. I also typed in, “How many days until Christmas” because Christmas is my favorite time of the year. The exact number of days came up, as well as other important days. I find this very helpful if I need to know a calculation or information about anything specific.

Duck Duck Go, is the first engine that I picked. After asking once again, “How many days until Christmas”, it gave me a specific number of days and also gave me different sites underneath about the topic I asked about. After entering in Great Expectations it popped up just as Google would if you entered it in there. The first site one the page was Wikipedia, and the second was Spark notes. I think this site would be good if you needed to know multiple websites to look at for information about something. It works like Google.

Dogpile is my second pick. This search engine gives you categories of things you want to search. Such as, web, images, video, news, local, shopping, and white pages. After picking your category, you can type what you want to search in the blank. I find this useful because it is a search engine that combines Google and Yahoo into one. This means that you get double the results when searching.

My third choice is Ixquick search engine. This search engine is kind of plain in a way. It doesn’t give the searcher many results. It has tabs you can choose from such as web, images, videos, and phone. The only thing I found helpful in this search engine is the fact that you can actually look up phone numbers for businesses or people. Besides looking up phone numbers I didn’t find this search engine helpful at all.

Yahoo is the fourth search engine I explored. I haven’t ever really used Yahoo I’ve always used Google for searching. Yahoo looks amazing. I believe you could find anything on Yahoo. It has so many things you can look at and explore. It has different and more complex tabs such as health, style, dating, and travel. This engine also has the weather on it as well as the newest movies, trends, and news circulation around in todays society. It also has what’s trending and games. Searching and playing around on this engine will leave you with endless possibilities. This search engine is my favorite so far.

Bing is the next search engine I have looked at. Bing is similar to Yahoo. Bing gives you choices that you can pick from when entering your search such as videos, news, maps, and more etc. This search engine does well when searching for things, but it isn’t quite as complex as Yahoo. On the bottom of the screen it gives the viewer some insider on what is happening in todays society. I like this search engine. I think it would be useful in searching anything you would search in Google, but it still doesn’t live up to the standards of Yahoo.

Excite is a search engine similar to Bing and yahoo except it looks a little outdated. It has updated information such as the Ray Rice case in the NFL. It gives you Business News, Technology News, Health News, Entertainment News, and Top News. Even being outdated this search engine still offers valuable information. You can Explore, Book Flights, Play games, and create your own page. This search engine would work just as Google does. I wouldn’t say this is my favorite search engine. It needs to be upgraded and creatively structured.

Ask is the last search engine I have explored. Ask looks just as complex as Bing. The thing I like about Ask is that it gives you a question of the day. I think this is really cool when wanting to learn new facts. It also gives you the previous questions under the question for that particular day. The other search engines didn’t have this, so that is the only difference from Bing. I find this helpful when wanting to know certain websites for things. It works the same way as bing but is less complex than others such as Yahoo and Google.

Blog Post #4

In The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, the goal of the question is very important. We must all understand that teachers do not know everything and they make mistakes. When asking questions we must think of what we want the class to learn from the questions asked. We also have to understand that even though a student may think he or she understands the material he or she may not and they just don’t know it yet. If we want all of the students to participate we should have a system that calls each students name to answer a question per day. If not, when asking questions we must pause for a moment while we wait for the students to think of the answer.

In Asking Questions to Improve Learning, it gives you general strategies for asking questions. We need to keep in mind that we ask questions for students to improve their critical thinking skills. We can do this by following a yes or no question with an additional question. As teachers, we also need to make sure the question has a clear specific answer. Questions should also be planned in a class session. The reading states that the student answering the question shouldn’t be interrupted when answering which I think is perfectly true. If a student is interrupted he or she will be less likely to answer another question in class.

In Three Better Ways to Ask Questions in the Classroom, it also states that teachers should prepare the questions to ask. I find this very effective so the teacher can decide if the question is open ended or a yes or no question. This also can help decide if the question is effective to he learner. This site also says like the others before that the teacher should leave the question unanswered for some time so the children can think about their responses.

In Asking Better Questions in the Classroom , Joanne says that college professors expect feedback from students in the classroom. She gives examples of close ended and open ended questions. She talks about how important open ended questions are. She says they encourage feedback and leaves the respondent to provide more information and think more deeply. I agree with this and I have professors that do both in every class I attend. Thinking deeply gets the brain going and it gets the brain in habit of continuing to think deeper.

In Questioning Styles and Strategies, the teacher gives many techniques. Personal Writing and Queuing being one of them. He asks the children many different questions about the book. He also asks the students to give their responses that they recorded. I like this technique because he gives the students time to think and put their thoughts on paper. I also like the fact that the teacher put all of the different types of questions into one setting in the classroom. I think this technique was very effective. The responses that the students give should also be analyzed and explained in further detail.

In Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions, it encourages teachers to get students to start asking their own questions as well as building off of their peers questions. The site gives you different tabs that can help such as Practice, Development, Teacher Participation, and Why Questions Matters. After reading the responses from real teachers about questions, it gives all teachers room for improvement. After reading these tips and thinking differently about the questioning system used in the classroom, I have learned a lot about asking questions and receiving questions from a teachers aspect.

In Open Ended Questions, Andi gives different ways to change close-ended questions into open-ended questions. She gives examples of different ways to change these by using “Explain in detail”, “Generate a list of (blank)”, and “For what reasons?”. She also gives the listener her contact info and encourages the viewer to contact her for professional help. I think this was inviting because we haven’t been to a source yet that does this for the viewer. Although this video was short, it was very helpful in ways of changing questions.