Project #12 Smart Board (Part A)

Blog Post #10

Little Kids... Big Potential

This video was really neat and interesting to watch. The video is short and the music was great, it kept my attention well. Having to turn things in on a blog is a great idea for the classroom. Students more than likely work harder knowing their work will be put up online and the entire world will be able to see it. The Wiki tool is a very interesting tool that I could see myself using in my classroom. The Wiki tool was a site, that you could go to and learn different peoples rituals.

The following are the three parts are interviews between Dr. Strange and Mrs. Cassidy.

Interview Part 1
Interview Part 2
Interview Part 3

I learned and took several notes while watching the three interviews. One of the things she stated was that we can piggy back off of each other. This is not stealing peoples ideas. when you put something or an idea on line it becomes available for anyone to see or use. When Mrs. Cassidy was asked how does she keep her students safe on the internet, she answered "I tell my students not to put their last names on their post. Also, not to post pictures of themselves online." Those are two very good points to tell your students whether you have them blog or not. Finally, she made a point about physical education, she gave an example of how to inform students to let the know if they would have practice or not. She explained that you could have a page or a blog that you updated for students telling the students if the gym would be open that day or if their practice would be cancelled or that the practice time has changed.

C4K summary for October

During week four I was assigned to comment on a student named Nicolas. Nicolas is a from Texas, and is in Mrs. Morgan's second grade class. Nicolas posted a very artistic painting of a lava mountain that he made himself. My comment to him was about how wonderful and creative his picture was. I also told him I was impressed. Below is the lava mountain Nicolas drew.

Week five of student commenting I commented on a student named Zaya. She is a seventh grader from Madison, Wisconsin, currently in Mrs.Ripp's class. Zaya's post was very good, a few grammar problems but I understood it and she went into very good detail about it all. Her post was about having to get her two bottom teeth pulled. Also, her second paragraph was about having to get braces put on. I commented back telling her she was brave. I told her I understood everything she was talking about because I have had braces before, and told her some stories of my experiences about my time with braces.

Week six I was assigned to a student named Gavin, a third grader in Mrs. Essenburg's class. Gavin is all the way from Michigan. Gavin's post was a good little paragraph titled All about me. Gavin simply explained his family and a few things he liked to do. I commented back and told him he had a great post. I also mentioned to him a few things about my family and explained how I like to play sports as well.

Week seven I commented on a student named Elizabeth. Elizabeth is from Pt. England School Auckland, New Zealand. She is a sixth grader in Mrs. Somerville's class. Elizabeth posted a blog about the movie Divergent. What are the odds that this is one of my top ten favorite movies. I commented and told her that, I also told her that I liked her pictures she used. Finally I complimented her on how well she explained each of the groups in the movie and that it was a fabulous post.

Blog Post #9. What can teachers and students teach us about Project Based Learning?

While reading the online article Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning by John Lamer and John R. Mergendoller, I learned a few more things about Project Based Learning that I didn't know already. Papers are a turn off, I know this from being a student, but have never really though of it till I read it in the article of how much I'd rather do a fun project rather than write a long boring paper. I think kids should always be able to have their own opinion about things, but should have answers and proof to back it up. Another thing that stood out to me was when they talked about how the students work is more meaningful when more than just the teacher will see it. If the students knew that they would have an audience of their peers or family viewing the project I think the students would work harder on it because they think so much of what their fiends think of them. The Project-Based Learning for Teachers YouTube video makes several good points of why you should use Project Based Learning in your classroom. Some of the examples it is good for are grouping students together, meeting deadlines, addressing an audience, and brainstorming branching questions.

PBL: What Motivates Students Today?

I enjoyed watching this video because it is from a students point of view. I learned that students like to be recognized when they do a good job, not in a bragging type of way but rather compliments. Students are motivated by sports as well, they have to keep up good grades if they want to be on the team of keep playing. Even at such a young age kids understand to have a good future they have to work hard and find a good job, which is also a good motivator. another great motivator the video point out is to reward the kids with fun prizes. Prizes can be anything from being the line leader one day or giving out candy.

Project-Based Learning and Physical Education

As a Physical Education major this article was very interesting to me. This was a great idea for a Project Based Learning project. The high school students were to make a unit of PE skills for the middle school students. To succeed and make something they would like the high school students would have to go online and search games, as well as interview middle school students to find out their interest.

Project Based Learning in PE

This online article is very much like the one I wrote about above. It explains the importance of Physical Exercise and how much the high school students enjoy getting to teach and help the younger middle school students. It also points out by doing this project it is not a waste of time because it is meeting the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) requirements.

C4T #2

One of my Teachers I had to comment on was a second grade elementary teacher. He also has a daughter who is in kindergarten. His blog post was about how his little girl was sent home with a reading log. He went on to explain how he was so surprised that they were already starting readers log so young of age. My comment to him was how I remember being sent home with readers logs to. Also, that I remembered going home and having to read for at least thirty minutes with my mom or day every night, and then get them to sign off on my log sheet. Finally, I told him to have fun with it and wished him good luck.

My other teacher I was assigned to comment on was Mr. Ross Wickens. His post was very short and sweet. He had working links going to articles that were very interesting to read. My Comment was to Mr. Wickens was that I liked how he was constantly searching for new ideas. I also commented on how I enjoyed his different way of teaching methods, and I liked seeing how different teachers teach.

Blog Post 8

When I clicked the link to watch the YouTube video Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams and then saw that it was an hour long I dreaded watching the video. Though within the first ten minutes I had my full attention to watching the video. I really enjoyed the video. It really made me stop and think about the question what can we learn from him.
He talked about several little things that stuck out and made me think about things in life. For instance, when he said "When someone tells you what you're doing wrong instead of letting you keep doing it wrong means they care." Right after he said that, one thing popped in my head, the volleyball team I coach. I can tell them that they're doing something wrong with their arm swing a million times. I don't do this because I'm mad at them, I do it because I care about them and want them to fix it so it will make them a better player. We learn who really wants it, when he made the comment "brick walls stop the people who don't want it bad enough," I can learn from this because just doing the work won't get you through, you have to be involve, prove, and show how bad you want whatever it is your trying to accomplish.

Implications and Teaching Opportunities for Camera Use in Teaching and Learning.

I think that kids, teens, young adults, and even adults spend to much time worrying about their smartphone and way to many hours of the day than they should. I am defiantly one of the seventy eight percent of people that use their phone more than two hours during the day. Having a camera on your phone is a very easy and convenient tool to just pull out of your pocket and take a picture.
I think students should be able to take their phones to school but not have them out all the time, only when the teacher allows it. I don't think students should be able to use their phones as calculators or other things like such. Most students would text their friends to find the answers. Also many kids find websites that that can put in their math problem in and it will sole the hole thing out for them and show how to do the work. So what is to stop them from doing this stuff on a test or quiz that that are assigned to?


Assuming all of the students I will teach will have a smartphone or a tablet with a camera on it here are a few things I would do with this in class:
1. We would go outside and take pictures of leaves, and when we come back in the classroom and compare them to see what type of leaves we have.
2. You could take a field trip to the zoo or the aquarium and get them to take diff pictures of the animals/fish. Then when you get back to the classroom have the kids share their pictures with one another and talk about their pictures.
3. Have a picture scavenger hunt. As the teacher I would have a list of items in the classroom and around the school and I would have the student go around finding certain items.
4. Have students interview someone in the field of their dream job. Let the students video record an interview of them and someone of their choice that they would like to have a job with when they grow up.

Project #9

This is Group 7's recorded video book discussion of Prensky's book. Topic #3.

Blog Post #7

I am very good with an iPad, I think it helps a lot because I use an iPhone. A weakness is I don't know how to use a Mac computer to its fullest. I need to be able to make movies or videos better and learn to edit and use them more. Technology is my biggest worry when it comes to being ready to teach students. I want to be confident when a student ask me any kind of question about their iPad or whatever electronic device they are using.

How to make an audio QR Code
I had no idea how easy it was to make a QR code till I saw this video on YouTube. I could defiantly see myself using this in my classes. A good plus side about the QR code is that it seems fairly easy to work and manage because it saves as a URL. I like how you can have this done ahead of time and in your own voice.

iPad Reading Center
I think this is a great new way of teaching and learning how to read. It's good for the students to be able to hear themselves read and hear how they're pronouncing they words out loud. I think it would be really good if some of the student were having trouble reading the words they could watch another kids video and follow along with the words. Other than that this idea is very smart and seems to be working very well.

Poplet with Ginger Tuck
This is a great way to get kids to enjoy reading more. Also, it is a great start for kids to understand how to summarize about books,. It'll be good for them to start young. I like how they can help each other while taking picture and notice the adjustment they have to make with the brightness of the lightning.

Alabama Virtual Library as a Kindergarten Center
I think this is great again because it saves paper and trees. Also, I like that they are starting students so young with Alabama Virtual Library. I have used Alabama Virtual Library all the way through my high school days. I had no idea they were starting so young, but that is a great thing.

Mrs.Tassin 2nd grade students share Board Builder Project
I have never heard of a Board Builder Project before. To me this seems like a poster board project but online. I like how everything is going online and saving paper and our trees. This is a great idea, because you can make it as simple as you want it or it can be very detailed as you want it.

 

Project #13

Our group did a project for an eleventh grade history class. The students will work in groups and will have to make a digital timeline about the Great Depression. Check out our plans in the listed links below for more information on the project.

Project Overview

Project Checklist

Project Calendar

Evaluation Rubric for Individual Performance

Group Rubric

Project #7 Part B

For my Students!



For my Parents!