Wednesday, July 15, 2015

C4T#4

Vickie Davis

In Vickie Davis blog post 3 WAYS MONSTERS AND MINECRAFT CAN DRIVE GREAT TEACHING AND LEARNING she has an interview with Joel Levin about how he uses minecraft in his classroom. throughout the interview he tells us the ways he uses it, why it is helping his students, and more. It was very informational interview. I would of never thought about using minecraft in the classroom. At the end it give some teacher comments and tells us what they think.

Comment: I think this is very interesting. I would of never thought about using this in my classroom to help my students learn.


In Vickie Davis blog post DON’T MISS IT: TEACHERS LEADING TEACHERS ONLINE CONFERENCE STARTS THURSDAY it tells you all the things you need to know about the conference. It tells you when it is, the time and date and also where it is at. Also it gives you a list of who will be speaking at the conference. It give the date and time of when they will speak. Towards the end of the blog post she give us points that will be taught during the conference. It also give how much it is for the whole conference.

Comment: This sounds like a great conference! I will have to look around for when i become a teacher and go to the different conferences. 

Blog Post # 14

In the article Teaching Our Children can be a Profession, John Klein addresses three different points about professionalize teaching.

Pick from the Best: He talks about how we need to change the academic training for teachers. He says we need to make it better. Then John says that we need to find a new way for finding teachers. That we need to only hire the top third of the graduates from the schools. Finally he says we need to change the ways the teachers are rewarded because all teachers are different in their own performance.

Seniority distraction: John says that some teachers don't need to get paid the same as others. There is always some teachers that are ineffective teachers. When a teacher is laid off it is sometimes that one effective teacher and it should of been the ineffective teacher.

Racial Change: Throughout this one he said that teachers need to establish standards and policies so that way we can pick out the incomplete teachers.


teacher meeting

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Final summary of blog post #5

For my Personal Learning Network I created a Symbaloo. I Put all the websites I use on a daily basis. It helps me keep organized with all my website in one place where I can get to them easier. I think that its a good way for teacher to keep their work together and not have to go to different places to get to all of their teaching supplies. My Symbaloo helped me keep up with all of the different sites that I used. I really think this was a really good source to use. I would use this source in my classroom later on. It will help me keep organized though out my teaching.

Christian Dabney Symbaloo

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Blog post #13

Why is the smart board useful in the classroom?

To answer this question above I have provides some resources listed below but you are more then welcome to pick other resources to use. You have to a least two resources but you have to use one of the following.

1. 5 Smart Ways to Use SMART Boards in the Classroom
2. The Advantages of SMART boards in the classroom


students using the smart board

5 Smart Ways to Use SMART Boards in the Classroom: In this article it give us many examples. For instance improving classroom management. While using the smart board in the elementary class it helps with day-to-day routines that are needed. Another one they give in the article is minimizing the need for eyes at the back of the head. SMART Boards change the amount of time teachers need to turn their back to the class. Also it providing academic & digital learning. When the teachers teach with the smart boards it helps the students gain technology skills. Another reason is building motion into kindergarten lessons. Kindergarten students have very shot attentions spans and with the smart boards it helps them stay interested in the lesson. Clicking here to show what you know. This is when the teacher may ask the student so show what they know by doing it on the smart board. The last one they talk about is waking up students with smart technology. This provides hands on experience for the students.


The Advantages of SMART boards in the classroom: In this article it examples the advantages of using the smart board in the classroom. One of the main reason is it provides new ways of the teachers to teach. It also is environmental friendly. the teacher uses the board for everyone to see versus printing out paper. The smart board is very low maintenance to use and to operateIt has the internet is right their and easy to get to. It has so many sources of media through the programs on the board. I think the smart board is a great source of technology for the classroom.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Project #10

C4t #3

In Dr. Wills blog post THE DR. WILL SHOW - THE 411 FOR ISTE NEWBIES WITH TAMMY NEIL AND KIMBERLY WRIGHT He interviewed Tammy Neil and Kimberly Wright. Tammy is the person that is asking all the questions about EdCamps. Tammy is trying to find out everything she need to know about the EdCamps. They go over ISTE and all they things that Tammy would need to know before she goes in a start ISTE. She wanted to know everything  about them before she went to the classes.

 Kimberly WrightTammy Neil
My Comment: The EdCamps seem really neat to go to and learn. I love that they have these to get teachers educated. ISTE seems to be a long class to help teacher. I feel these should be really helpful to teachers.


In Dr. Wills blog post THE DR. WILL SHOW - EDTECH CHECK WITH CELINE NG-O'HARA He interviews Celine. Celine is a special ed teacher. She is trying to get Ed Tech in to her school and for her teachers. She is trying to better educate everyone on Ed Tech. She has set up a Facebook discussion for the teacher to be able to talk and chat with others about Ed Tech. The faculty does a Ed Camp monthly to talk over ideas and try to get more students more interested in the Ed Tech.

My Comment: I think Celine idea is great. I love how she gets everyone into the Ed Tech. Also how she does the discussions and the Tech Camps to help people understand it better.

Celine

Blog Post #11

blended Learning


In Brian Crosby's video, Back To the Future, I learned many things about teaching. I learned it's very important to empower your students. Let kids shine through their work. Kids want to learn and we should expect high quality work from them. When helping students learn, we need to let them work collaboratively. Once students know their audience is greater than just their teacher, they would produce better quality work. Lastly, he showed me it's important to use different technologies to teach students. Teachers should use many ways to teach students so they do not become bored while learning.

Blended Learning Cycle is a combination of two separate techniques. One is blended learning. In blended learning you take online, mobile, and classroom learning about put them all together in the classroom as a way of teaching. The second is the learning cycle. This cycle involves five E's: engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate. The blended learning cycle started by a driving question or something to get students hooked to what you are about to have them investigate. The teacher would create a video or have a video source for students to watch on the particular assignment. The teacher would review with each student before they can take a quiz on what they have learned. If a student does not pass the review question the teacher would tell him/her to go back and elaborate the assignment more. I think this is a great way to make sure students are really learning what they are investigating. Mostly, I like that students do this on their own. They are seeking the information they need to pass the quiz.

Mark Church's video, Making Thinking Visible is discussing small groups and how they are a great way to learn. It can help students extend their learning through other peers views. It's also important for kids to see people have their own opinions that may be different from theirs but they still need to collaborate to get the work done. Also, as they learn more on a subject, they need to see their opinions can change and that is okay.

In Super Digital Citizen I learned it's important to discuss online safety with my students. I feel this is something that will be done the first week of class. Students need to know the difference between good and bad information that is online. This video was cool because students were able to design a superhero who would become their super digital citizen. I believe students would enjoy the because many kids love comics and enjoy being creative. Kids were inspired from other peers work as well. This allows them to grow for the next assignment.

Project Based Learning has produced more engaged learners who have a deeper understanding of what they are learning. This video was neat. I've never heard off three different subjects being put together like that. I'm not sure how I would like that as a student. It is definitely something I would like to look into though. The main thing I got out of this video is that you shouldn't be afraid to go against the grain. These teachers took an idea they felt would really benefit their students to their administration and clearly they were on board with it. I do like that it gives more time on assignments and gives students the resources they need to do the best work they can.

In Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program  I love that the teachers are already helping these kids with public speaking. What a breeze public speaking would be if we would already have that comfort in us. We would also have more confidence in ourselves. PBL gives students many choices in learning. They have so much room to be creative in these projects. It's important to teach them how to be a good audience as well. Cooperation, to say the least, is so important. It's crucial in PBL projects. Students learn how to talk to one another and get work done. This is a skill they will need for the rest of their lives. Reflecting on a project is also important. Students need to know what worked and didn't work so they won't make the same mistakes twice.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Special Blog Post Assignment #1

6 Resource Sites from Curriculum21


1. Prezi

This website is where you can make a presentation like a powerpoint only more advanced. It has different themes, shapes, and other cool gadgets that you use to to make your presentations. You can add video and pictures to your presentations also.



2. Pinterest


This website is where you can pin ideas, pictures, recipes, and other things to different cords you create to save your ideas for later and to remember them for special events and other things. I love this website and it is very useful for my life. It has planned almost my whole wedding and house ideas. I recommend it anyone who hasn't used it before.





3. Padlet
This website allows you to work communicatively with other people on one work page and have everyone contribute into the work. this is a great website for group projects with their computer and all work together.








4.  LikPick
This website gives electronic books for kids in grades 4-12. It where they can go and read books online for free.








5. Math Playground
This is a website of math games. It is for kids in elementary and middle schools. It helps them learn and have fun at the same time.



6. GoAnimate
This website is where you can make short animated shorts about different things. I think kids would love to do this every now and then just for fun.

Blog Post #10

Mrs Cassidy and two of her students

I really enjoyed watching the videos with Ms. Cassidy and how she uses technology in her classroom. In the video, Little Kids...Big Potential, it shows her students actively engaged in the technology provided to them. You see them using things such as the internet and podcasts. The students are also blogging and really enjoying it. The students and parents both love the blogging experience, because not only are the students allowed an active audience to critique them, but the parents can keep up with what is going on in their child's classroom at the click of a button. This makes it easier for parents to be engaged in their child's learning, but they can do it at home instead of in PTA meetings.

In the interviews with Ms. Cassidy, she discusses what happened when she was first introduced to technology in her classroom, and how she took advantage of it for her class's benefit. She was initially not allowed to download any software to that technology, so she creating her class's blog to help her students keep up with what is going on, and help them stay in touch outside of the classroom. I see this helping students think about what they learned outside of school, because it is also a place to talk to their friends before they get to the age of cell phones and Facebook (hopefully). In one of the videos, Dr. Strange makes Ms. Cassidy aware that some students are rejecting this "new" idea of technology in the classroom, and she explains that classrooms are changing and that teachers need to get used to this form of teaching and learning. I see having a class blog not only to benefit the students by building up their writing skills and communication skills, but it will also benefit the teacher. It gives us somewhere to keep up with what our students are talking about and what interests them, as well as keeping up with their learning styles. A blog would be one central location for teachers to learn so much about their students. I plan to have one for my classroom, if possible.