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.