Blog Post #11

The videos that we watched this week all revolved around teachers using Project Based Learning in their classrooms.

In Brian Crosby's "TEDx Talk video", he talks about the project that his 4th grade class conducted. They learned about hot air balloons and all he science and dynamics that go into them. They even made a little hot air balloon to send up into the sky. The amazing thing about his class, however, is that they are mostly Second Language Learners, meaning in this case that they speak Spanish fluently and are just beginning to learn English. Also at the end of the video, Crosby reveals he also has a student that comes to class via video chat because she has Leukemia and can't leave her home. Crosby helps his students with the English language by having Wiki's and blogs that the children have to use. They learn how to write in English while simultaneously talking about what they've done in class. In addition, they speak to other students around the world and learn about other cultures as well. After watching this, I see that with some determination and dedication we can easily teach kids that may normally be looked at as a challenge, and even go above and beyond what you would usually do with them.

Paul Andersen's video, "Blended Learning Cycle", mentions "the power of the question." Andersen explains that blended learning takes mobile, online and classroom learning and combines them, while the learning cycle starts with engaging, then exploring, explaining,

expanding, and evaluating. The blended learning cycle is a mixture of all of these concepts. His version of a blended learning cycle has six parts: questions, investigation, video, elaboration, review, and summary quiz. This cycle is all based on the power of the question, though. Without a question, students wouldn't know what to investigate or explain. Andersen shows that there are many steps in the learning process that should all be covered while we're teaching.

A 5th grade teacher, Sam Pane, has a video about teaching internet safety. He begins his lesson with a quote from Spiderman, the students then discussed the power they have on the Internet, then created their own "digital safety superhero" with a comic strip involving their superhero and themselves. Projects like this are great for kids because it is fun and educational for them. Something like making a comic allows them to be creative while still displaying their ideas and what they've learned in the lesson.

The video "Project Based Learning" by Dean Shareski is about a group of teachers that have worked together to turn History, English, and Information Processing into one class by using PBL. The students use computers, the Internet, videos, blogs, etc. to do work based on English and History. As an elementary school teacher, it will be easy to integrate different lessons because I will be spending the entire school day with them. This video gives me ideas to do something such as teach an English lesson about proper nouns, then a history lesson about their state government, and then allow the students to make a PowerPoint presentation about the government while correctly using proper nouns. Children are able to easily learn a couple different concepts at once, and then apply them to one larger project.

The last video, "Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program" is based in an elementary school. PBL in elementary schools is always interesting to see because the students are so much younger.

This video also interviews parents and shares their thoughts about PBL in their kids' classrooms. The parents all seem really excited about doing this in the classrooms because it helps them begin learning about real-world experiences, such as public speaking, at an early age so that they are used to it by the time they become adults. This video is proof that as teachers we shouldn't underestimate our students' abilities and as learners we shouldn't underestimate our own abilities. There are many ways to incorporate PBL into lessons in the elementary school setting.

Blog Post #10

After watching Kathy Cassidy's video "Little Kids...Big Potential", I learned a lot about technology in classrooms. First of all, like Dr. Strange has been telling us, young children can use technology very efficiently. Ms. Cassidy teaches first graders and they use blogs, websites, Wikis, videos, Skype and other resources to learn and communicate. What stood out to me even more than the young kids learning how to use technology, is that Ms. Cassidy has embraced it considering that she is a middle-aged woman and hasn't grown up with computers and the internet. This is proof to me that we can all learn how to use these things in our classrooms even though we haven't been immersed in it like our future students have.

In Dr. Strange's videos Interview with Kathy Cassidy (Parts 2 and 3 can also be found on YouTube) discusses how she began using computers in her classroom ten years ago after being given five of them to use. She had some support and funding from the school system, but is the only teacher at her school that was as technology-advanced as she was. Even now, there are few teachers that utilize all of the sources that she does. She makes it very clear, however, that learning how to use computers and the internet before becoming a teacher is very important. The children enjoy not having to be away from computers and games during the day, and they are very involved in using these things. Kids learn best by doing what they enjoy and know how to do. They can also collaborate with other students to share ideas and expand their education.

In my own classroom in the future, I think blogging is definitely something I want to try. It's such a simple thing that brings a lot of excitement to the kids while also letting them practice their grammar, spelling, and other writing skills. In addition to that, I really like the idea of Skype interviews. Those are a great way to talk to an expert about something. For example, in "Little Kids...Big Potential" the children were having an interview with a woman who studies rocks and she was answering a little girl's question. I think it would be awesome to have the kids speak to someone who knows a lot more about what we are learning than even I will, and this way their questions can be properly answered and they can learn more new things.

Project #12 Part A

C4K October Summary

Week 1: Braxton from Mobile, AL - Braxton wrote a blog post about parasites in the human body. He said that there are many parasites in your body, but they rarely get into your bloodstream. He went on to discuss the different parts, types, movements, and sicknesses caused by parasites. Braxton seemed to be very informed on this subject, and in my comment I told him that! I learned a lot from his post - even that cilia caused brain damage most often. He replied to my comment and told me he is a huge fan of South Alabama and was excited that he was able to teach a college student something new.

Week 2: Destiny from Connecticut - Destiny is in the 5th grade and I was able to comment on her first blog post ever. She said that she was really excited to have a class blog and thought it was going to be fun. I told her that it was great she was so excited, and that it would be a good way to communicate with her classmates and talk about what they are learning.

Week 3: Madison from New Orleans, LA - In this post, Madison explains how to be a good babysitter. There are five different paragraphs where she mentioned several tips on safety, basic infant care, and fun things you can do with a baby. I related a lot to this post because I started babysitting when I was younger, and I still do occasionally. In my comment I mentioned that, and also that she sounds like a very well-informed and responsible babysitter. She really was pretty thorough with her tips, especially when it came to safety.

Week 4: Taunese from New Zealand This post was written by a 5th grader and gave advice on how to stay safe in the sun. Taunese said that people should wear hats, sunscreen, and sunglasses. She told why each item was necessary. I told Taunese that in southern Alabama, we deal with heat and the sun on a regular basis, and she was absolutely right about needing to wear sunblock, hats, and sunglasses in order to protect your skin and avoid bad consequences.

Blog Post #9

We can learn about project based learning through many different resources, but learning from real teachers and students is one of the best options. For example, this article describes a project that a teacher named Mrs. McIntyre presented to her high school students about beach pollution. The article breaks project based learning down into seven essentials that go along with each part of her project. It explains that you must begin by giving students an introduction and driving question, then let them use their knowledge and skills to fully answer the question. At the end, it is important to give a public presentation so that students may take their work more seriously and in turn educate other people outside of the classroom.
Tony Vincent has a very up-beat and informative video that provides teachers with more background information and ideas about project based learning. He notes that students can be in control of their learning. He gives several examples of websites, apps, and other resources for students to use, many different possible driving questions, and all of the different skills they will use and gain. These examples prove that we can learn a lot from teachers and students because they give us new ideas and help explain things in a way that we can understand.

In addition, we can learn how to bring PBL into physical education. Before reading this, I hadn't considered PE being a class that gives project assignments, but I learned that it is possible by giving them a question that requires thought about staying healthy and physical. This way, students are learning more about why they have a physical education class in the first place, while performing exercises and staying healthy themselves.
Another class that projects are not typically a part of is high school math. This video provides thoughts from math teachers that are trying PBL in their classrooms. The main thing I learned from these teachers is that project based learning is actually very challenging for teachers to switch over to. There are materials, lesson plans, and gathering of technology to do before a class can begin experimenting with project based learning. If a high school math class can accomplish this though, an elementary school classroom as well.
Students can also teach us how to teach them. Interviewing students is a great way to find out what they are interested in and how they stay motivated in schools. According to the children in the video, they stay motivated by receiving positive feedback and having goals to word towards. Most kids mentioned what they want in their future and how they needed to make good grades in order to achieve those goals. They also discussed rewards in their classroom. Rewards are also motivators, of course, whether the children realize it or not. We can take away from this video that it's important to choose projects based on topics that children would want to learn about. For example, it could be interesting and even beneficial to assign a project about what career they want to have when they grow up and the steps it would take to get that job.

Project #9 Video Book Commentary

TT2 Group #1
Sources: Teaching Digital Natives by Marc Prensky
Kerbal EDU at kerbaledu.com
Khan Academy at khanacademy.com
Deviantart.com for Four Founders by Kaede-chama

Blog Post #8

     Randy Pausch's Last Lecture (a transcript can be found here) is easily one of the most informative and inspiring speech I have ever heard. He seemed like such an all-around great person and someone that everyone should strive to be a little like. Pausch speaks for a little over an hour and a half about fulfilling your own dreams, helping others fulfill their dreams, success, setbacks, and other pieces of advice. Though the points he makes can and should be applied to anyone in any situation, it is especially eye-opening for me, as someone who is majoring in education.
     Being a college professor for many years, Pausch mentions his teaching methods several times throughout his speech. The class he taught at Carnegie Mellon were based on virtual reality, and this was the class he seemed most proud of. His classes were very hands-on and project-based. From what I understood, his students were divided into groups and told to create a virtual reality game every two weeks for the entire semester. He gave them no guidelines or topics - they were able to do whatever they wanted to do. Project Based Learning is something that we are still new to today around eight years later. Although he was working with college students, and my method would have to be altered slightly to accommodate children, project based learning does work and it very educational for everyone involved. He said that he was always surprised by what his students came up with. At one point he even goes on to say that he asked his colleague what to ask for next because the students had already exceeded his expectations. The answer to this was to tell them, "that was pretty good, but I know you can do better." This tells me to always push your students. No matter what kind of work they produce, if they think hard enough they could almost always do better. Another point about Randy Pausch is that he absolutely loved his job. He was giving this speech while battling terminal cancer. He has only a few months left to live, and was spending his day lecturing at Carnegie Mellon. To me, that really says something about his dedication to that school and his students. Besides that, throughout his career he seemed very ecstatic about everything he was involved in. I'm sure his students noticed this enthusiasm, and that had to make them want to do well too. As a teacher, if we show our students that we are excited about something, the energy will transfer over to them.
     Pausch's quality of enthusiasm can also be applied to what I learned from him about learning in general. He was a man that loved to teach, but at the same time he was constantly learning about things. Whether he was learning from his students or working with outside projects (such as being a Disney Imagineer) he was always learning. This inspires me to never stop wanting to learn. Even after graduating, your ability to know new things shouldn't end. He even makes it seem fun to learn. Once we as teachers understand this, we can pass it along to our students. The best part of the lecture, was at the end when he reveals everything he said was really for his children. He had very young children that he knew he would be leaving behind soon, and wanted to leave them with something important. As soon as he said this, it made me think that this speech could be used for all ages. Knowing I'll be working with elementary school aged children, the lecture itself would probably go over their heads, but the things that he said can be transcribed to be appropriate for them. I think I'll watch this lecture several more times and make a list of the things that can be taken from it to better myself as a teacher and a learner.

Implications and Teaching Opportunities for Camera Use in Teaching and Learning

     A study by Zogby Analytics drew the conclusion that 87% of smartphone users aged 18 to 24 find it important that their phone has a camera on it. Of those surveyed, 44% said that they use their smartphone camera every single day. With these shockingly large percentages, undoubtedly people under the age of 18, such as the people we will be teaching, are also using their phones as cameras regularly. In fact, most of these kids have had phones with cameras in them as a part of their life since they were born. With that being said, it's almost obvious that as teachers, we should use children's familiarity with these technologies to our advantage and find ways to incorporate cameras into our lesson plans.

     To implement this, schools must first begin their technology revolution. It would be important for every classroom to have a tablet or laptop for every student or group of students. This way every child will have a chance to use the technology and participate in the activities. In addition, teachers will have to research and plan lessons accordingly to these items. By using cameras, students can create real-life moving pictures to answer questions posed by their teachers. Cameras are beneficial towards students' education because they promote creativity and learning in a new way. Not only are the children learning new concepts, but teachers can also learn new things from their students.

Some ideas for using cameras in the classroom could include:

• Video presentations in a group such as the one described here and in many other ALEX lesson plans
  
• Students recording themselves doing things then playing it back to themselves for learning purposes like in this video
  
• Creating movies for drama or literature
  
• Having Skype interviews with other students or adults
  
• Taking pictures of their work to post on their blog
  
• Older students may take iPads and document their day, a field trip, or something else outside of the classroom
  
• Make a time-lapse video to show students how they change throughout the year
  
• Have students make vocabulary word connections by taking pictures describing their words every week
  

GettingSmart, Raki's Rad Resources, and Teaching with iPads all have lists with great ideas in them as well!

C4T Summary #2

The blog I was assigned is called Dianne's Digital Discoveries. Dianna Krause uses this blog to post interesting and informative links to articles about technology in schools and other topics.
Last week I commented on Daily Digital Discoveries 06/25/2014.

There was a link to a website with history comics. In my comment, I told Dianne that the comics were a great idea and could be used to make a topic a little more interested to the students.
This week's blog post, Daily Digital Discoveries 09/27/2014, included several links to articles about peer coaching. I told Dianne that peer coaching is very important for teachers to consider. When students talk to other students, it makes things a lot more relaxed and easy to understand in my opinion.

Project #7 Part B

Video to Students' Parents:


Video to Students:

Project #13 Group PBL Lesson Plan

Blog Post #7

This week's assignment was to assess my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to what preparations and skills I currently have or do not have involving Project Based Learning and technology in schools. Then view several videos that introduced ideas for technology in the classroom.

After much thought, I came up with only a few strengths and weaknesses, but they are still important to consider!

Strengths
Quick learner
Good with basic Apple products
Experience with PBL in high school
Good understand of how to use YouTube, Twitter, Blogger, etc.

Weaknesses
Not familiar with most programs being used in schools
Not very creative when producing my own PBL lessons
Do not know the full capabilities of a SmartBoard

1. "How to Make an Audio QR Code" - Michele Bennett from Gulf Shores Elementary School explains the steps to make a QR code that has a link to an audio recording that you can make yourself. To begin with, you can visit Record MP3 to produce your audio recording. After that, you would take the URL from your recording and paste it into QR Code Monkey to have the code generated. It is a very simple process that can be used for easy communication with students, parents, or coworkers.

2. "iPad Reading Center" - An iPad Reading Center is demonstrated by Ginger Tuck, a kindergarten teacher at Gulf Shores Elementary. Her center involves students setting up their iPad and videoing themselves reading so that they can play it back and listen for mistakes to correct. I think this sounds like a really fun idea for the younger children, and it is doesn't even use any confusing apps - just the built-in front-facing camera.

3. "Popplet with Ginger Tuck" - Popplet is a free app that Ginger Tuck uses with her kindergarteners to make notes based on the books that they read. Students can take pictures from the book and type in important things to remember. This could be very helpful for study guides or in lessons about characters, setting, plot, etc.

4. "AVL and Kindergarten Students" - In this video, Ginger Tuck once again shows us a resource she uses in her kindergarten classroom. The Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) is a database with search engines to give students book, magazine, newspaper, website, and other sources for their research. Every week Ms. Tuck gives her students a list of words under a category that they are studying and allows them to use AVL to find out more about them. Then, her students are to draw a picture of their word and write a sentence including something new they have learned about it. This is fun for students and introduces them to doing their own research on different subjects.

5. "Tammy Shirley's Discovery Education Board Builder Moon Project" and "Mrs. Tassin's 2nd Grade Students Share a Board Builder Project" - Both of these videos highlight students in the first and seconds grades at Gulf Shores Elementary using Discovery Education in her class for projects. Discovery Ed has a "board builder" that is similar to a virtual bulletin board. Kids can pin facts and pictures to their board to aid them in presentations.

6. "Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten" - The purpose of this video was to show a conversation among Dr. Strange, Michele Bennett, and Elizabeth Davis. Ms. Bennett discussed students in kindergarten using iMovie trailers to make movies based on the books that they read. They're able to work on creativity, writing, comprehension, and more while having fun making movies. Ms. Davis talked about the Alabama Virtual Library which was much like Ginger Tuck's explanation in an earlier video.

7. "We All Become Learners" - While using technology, students and teachers teach each other. In many cases, children are more technologically advanced than adults are because they have been using these devices their entire life. On the other hand, there are still, of course, things that teachers have more knowledge on. We are able to use these different strengths to work together and succeed in giving our students a great education.