Sunday, February 23, 2014
Blog Post #6
Wow! I don't even know where to start summarizing my progress in developing my PLN. PLN is a learning network that consists of people that a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from. A PLN is simply to help the learner out with their field of study. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Blogs can all serve as Personal Learning Networks. I went on Symbaloo.com to get the layout of my own PLN, I decided to go with the "EDU tools" layout at first because I was confused. Now that I have figured it out, I have made one with my own interests and then added the websites off of the EDU layout that I liked. There were so many websites I have found that I love. My favorite so far would have to be Gigster.com and Storybird.com. Gigster is fun because there are so many things to do on there. It kind of reminds me of Graphic Design stuff with they way you can lay things out on a page. Storybird is especially my favorite because I am planning on writing children's books here soon. I hope that this will work out for me because I know if I put my mind to it, I can do it. This website will help me get practice on setting up book pages and it has plenty of wonderful ideas.
My Personal Learning Network is small right now but growing. I am still exploring all of the websites I can find and I have been told about some awesome websites as well. Now that I am in Tier 1 of the Education Program, I have a set school that I go into to observe and tutor kids with problems in reading, writing, and math. I am in first grade and I am having so much fun working with them. I especially like my classroom teacher Mrs. Lambert, she gives me all kinds of good ideas and websites that I need to go on. They make a website where teachers from anywhere can go on there and print off anything to hang in their classroom. There is also another website where any teacher can go on there and type in what kind of lesson she wants to teach for that day and Smart board lessons will be right at your fingertips for that specific subject. On Twitter, I have been talking to Author Peter H. Reynolds and he has actually been really supportive of my activities with his book. My first grade class flipped their reading books open to "The Dot" by: Peter Reynolds and I took that as an opportunity to do an art activity with them that I done with Mrs. Vitulli in EDU300. We made a dot quilt and he told me to post a picture for him. I also done my Book Trailer on 'The Dot." Recently I have connected with a teacher in Australia just by commenting on her blog, she has really great ideas for integrating technology into classrooms so I think I would use her as someone for my PLN. I think it is so cool how your can connect to anyone over the internet and I cant wait to find out who I will be talking to and putting on my PLN.
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My Personal Learning Network is small right now but growing. I am still exploring all of the websites I can find and I have been told about some awesome websites as well. Now that I am in Tier 1 of the Education Program, I have a set school that I go into to observe and tutor kids with problems in reading, writing, and math. I am in first grade and I am having so much fun working with them. I especially like my classroom teacher Mrs. Lambert, she gives me all kinds of good ideas and websites that I need to go on. They make a website where teachers from anywhere can go on there and print off anything to hang in their classroom. There is also another website where any teacher can go on there and type in what kind of lesson she wants to teach for that day and Smart board lessons will be right at your fingertips for that specific subject. On Twitter, I have been talking to Author Peter H. Reynolds and he has actually been really supportive of my activities with his book. My first grade class flipped their reading books open to "The Dot" by: Peter Reynolds and I took that as an opportunity to do an art activity with them that I done with Mrs. Vitulli in EDU300. We made a dot quilt and he told me to post a picture for him. I also done my Book Trailer on 'The Dot." Recently I have connected with a teacher in Australia just by commenting on her blog, she has really great ideas for integrating technology into classrooms so I think I would use her as someone for my PLN. I think it is so cool how your can connect to anyone over the internet and I cant wait to find out who I will be talking to and putting on my PLN.
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Sunday, February 16, 2014
Anthony Capps
Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd grade teacher
From this video, I have learned quite a few things. Anthony tells us that ideas for Project Based Learning are constantly evolving. The goals now for project based learning is not only where a child has achieved something you need them to achieve, but its a means to get them to learn something. The goal of a good project is one that has a good authentic audience, one that has student interest and it relevant to the kid's lives, and most importantly, one that the kids will need to know based on what the federal government gives you for them to know. I think it was such a great idea when Anthony let his kids write letters to the congressman telling why or why not they agreed or disagreed with women fighting in combat. In project based learning, the most crucial part is the opportunity for them to revise and reflect on their work.
From this video, I have learned quite a few things. Anthony tells us that ideas for Project Based Learning are constantly evolving. The goals now for project based learning is not only where a child has achieved something you need them to achieve, but its a means to get them to learn something. The goal of a good project is one that has a good authentic audience, one that has student interest and it relevant to the kid's lives, and most importantly, one that the kids will need to know based on what the federal government gives you for them to know. I think it was such a great idea when Anthony let his kids write letters to the congressman telling why or why not they agreed or disagreed with women fighting in combat. In project based learning, the most crucial part is the opportunity for them to revise and reflect on their work.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
C4T #1
The new 2014 school year
In my assigned teacher's blog, Mrs. Kathleen Morris, she teaches at Leopold Primary School near Geelong in Victoria, Australia. In her latest blog post she talks about how this is the first time in ten years that she has not spent the summer preparing for the new school year. She is now on maternity leave for her little girl that is 5.5 months old now. She explains that just because she is out on maternity leave, this does not mean she is out of the education loop, now with blogs and twitter the education community is still at her fingertips. She recently wrote some tips for graduate teachers on the ABC Splash site. I found this sit very very helpful to anyone that is going to be a teacher. There are such good tips for teachers not just on what she wrote, but on the whole ABC Splash site. She inspired me to have a class blog when i become a teacher one day so that the parents can see what the kids are doing or have done that day.
My Response:
Hi Mrs. Kathleen Morris, my name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education major at University of South Alabama. I only have 3 semesters left before I will graduate with my degree but I plan on going back to school to get my Doctrine. I am taking a course that requires us to get involved with other bloggers all around the world, and my teacher has chosen you for me to engage with. I absolutely love this blog post, I am just now starting to understand that technology is the teaching of the 21st century. I have been watching all kinds of videos that explain to me how to incorporate technology, but I just found your blogs so inspiring. I found your “Tips for Graduate Teachers,” post very helpful even though I am not a new teacher. I never would have thought of making a classroom blog for parents and others to be up to date on everything going on in the classroom. You have inspired me to definitely do this whenever I get my own classroom. If you have any tips or advice for me I would love it! Lauren Reid
Kathleen Morris's Response:
Hi Lauren, I’m so glad you enjoyed this blog post. Hopefully you get the chance to start blogging with your future students. I have written a number of posts on getting started which I hope are helpful to you in the future. Good luck! Kathleen
Blogging and the Literacy Curriculum
In the second post to Mrs. Kathleen Morris's blog, I commented on the post labeled "Blogging and Literacy Curriculum." This post was talking about how blogging needs to be a part of every kids life in school because it helps with everything that writing and reading assignments would. This post is also on the ABC Splash website that I provided the link for above. Kathleen Morris realized that blogging cannot be squeezed in to your busy schedule, you cant just post during lunchtime because the post will not be at it's full potential. The lack of momentum led to low student interest and lack of opportunities for explicit teaching and learning. She explains that blogging needs to be planned because classrooms rarely have time for "add-ons." She then says "It is not longer enough to teach students to read books and write on paper,this won't adequately prepare them for their 21st Century lives." Also, students need to be transliterate.
My Response:
Hey Mrs. Morris, I couldn’t agree more with this post, blogging needs to become a part of every kids life. Teaching students to become transliterate is a great idea. I think it is awesome that your class has a computer ratio of 1:1. I live in Mobile, Alabama and I don’t see the school system getting technology in the schools anytime soon. I would love to be a traveling teacher so that I can move somewhere where the kids to have technology at their fingertips. Also, I am writing about you in my blog every time I comment on your blog. You can find my blog here!
In my assigned teacher's blog, Mrs. Kathleen Morris, she teaches at Leopold Primary School near Geelong in Victoria, Australia. In her latest blog post she talks about how this is the first time in ten years that she has not spent the summer preparing for the new school year. She is now on maternity leave for her little girl that is 5.5 months old now. She explains that just because she is out on maternity leave, this does not mean she is out of the education loop, now with blogs and twitter the education community is still at her fingertips. She recently wrote some tips for graduate teachers on the ABC Splash site. I found this sit very very helpful to anyone that is going to be a teacher. There are such good tips for teachers not just on what she wrote, but on the whole ABC Splash site. She inspired me to have a class blog when i become a teacher one day so that the parents can see what the kids are doing or have done that day.
Hi Mrs. Kathleen Morris, my name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education major at University of South Alabama. I only have 3 semesters left before I will graduate with my degree but I plan on going back to school to get my Doctrine. I am taking a course that requires us to get involved with other bloggers all around the world, and my teacher has chosen you for me to engage with. I absolutely love this blog post, I am just now starting to understand that technology is the teaching of the 21st century. I have been watching all kinds of videos that explain to me how to incorporate technology, but I just found your blogs so inspiring. I found your “Tips for Graduate Teachers,” post very helpful even though I am not a new teacher. I never would have thought of making a classroom blog for parents and others to be up to date on everything going on in the classroom. You have inspired me to definitely do this whenever I get my own classroom. If you have any tips or advice for me I would love it! Lauren Reid
Kathleen Morris's Response:
Hi Lauren, I’m so glad you enjoyed this blog post. Hopefully you get the chance to start blogging with your future students. I have written a number of posts on getting started which I hope are helpful to you in the future. Good luck! Kathleen
Blogging and the Literacy Curriculum
In the second post to Mrs. Kathleen Morris's blog, I commented on the post labeled "Blogging and Literacy Curriculum." This post was talking about how blogging needs to be a part of every kids life in school because it helps with everything that writing and reading assignments would. This post is also on the ABC Splash website that I provided the link for above. Kathleen Morris realized that blogging cannot be squeezed in to your busy schedule, you cant just post during lunchtime because the post will not be at it's full potential. The lack of momentum led to low student interest and lack of opportunities for explicit teaching and learning. She explains that blogging needs to be planned because classrooms rarely have time for "add-ons." She then says "It is not longer enough to teach students to read books and write on paper,this won't adequately prepare them for their 21st Century lives." Also, students need to be transliterate.
My Response:
Hey Mrs. Morris, I couldn’t agree more with this post, blogging needs to become a part of every kids life. Teaching students to become transliterate is a great idea. I think it is awesome that your class has a computer ratio of 1:1. I live in Mobile, Alabama and I don’t see the school system getting technology in the schools anytime soon. I would love to be a traveling teacher so that I can move somewhere where the kids to have technology at their fingertips. Also, I am writing about you in my blog every time I comment on your blog. You can find my blog here!
What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher??
Blog Post #4:
My reaction to this particular blog post was major confusion. I did not understand what point of view to have. After reading the post by Ben Johnson, The Right way to ask questions in the classroom ,I finally understood what i was supposed to focus on. He was very straight forward with everything and i respect that. The author says that we, as teachers, need to understand that we do not know everything. Teachers often ask the question "Does everybody understand?" This is like telling the kids that they have one last chance to ask questions; if they do not ask questions then they understand completely and the teacher is free to move on to the next subject. Asking this question is not the way to teach at all because if the students don't understand what your teaching, then how are they supposed to ask questions about it? A more effective approach towards asking questions to the students would be to ask a question such as, "What do we call it when an insect kills itself?" pause for at least three seconds and say a students name, "Sally." With this approach, all of the students will automatically be thinking about an answer and only after another child is chosen, they will sigh in relief because their name was not chosen. (Ben Johnson, "The right way to ask questions in the classroom.") After reading and understanding this, i completely agree with the EDM310 class motto "Questions are more important than answers!"
Dr. Chesley, in Asking Better Questions in the Classroom, makes a very good point about Open Ended questions and Closed ended questions. I don't necessarily like the example she has chose to describe these types of questions, but it gets the point across. She says that a Closed ended question structures the response for the student, and it can be answered by one word such as yes, no, or a brief phrase. On the other hand, Open ended questions leaves the form of the answer up to the person who is responding; thereby, eliciting more thinking and yielding more information. For example, if you ask "If Mrs. Rosa Parks had given up her seat to a white man on the bus in 1955, do you think the history of civil rights in this country would have been different?" The answer to this question is most likely going to be a yes or no, which is a closed ended question because that's the way you framed that question. If you ask "What if Mrs. Rosa Parks had given her seat to a white man on the bus in 1955, what do you believe the consequences of the implications would have been for our country?" This is an example of an Open ended question, the answer will have to be more complex.(Dr Chesley, Asking Better Questions in the Classroom). With the understanding of this video, her point was that the way the teacher asks the question, depends solely on the type of answer the teacher gets. I will keep this in mind whenever i become a teacher.
My reaction to this particular blog post was major confusion. I did not understand what point of view to have. After reading the post by Ben Johnson, The Right way to ask questions in the classroom ,I finally understood what i was supposed to focus on. He was very straight forward with everything and i respect that. The author says that we, as teachers, need to understand that we do not know everything. Teachers often ask the question "Does everybody understand?" This is like telling the kids that they have one last chance to ask questions; if they do not ask questions then they understand completely and the teacher is free to move on to the next subject. Asking this question is not the way to teach at all because if the students don't understand what your teaching, then how are they supposed to ask questions about it? A more effective approach towards asking questions to the students would be to ask a question such as, "What do we call it when an insect kills itself?" pause for at least three seconds and say a students name, "Sally." With this approach, all of the students will automatically be thinking about an answer and only after another child is chosen, they will sigh in relief because their name was not chosen. (Ben Johnson, "The right way to ask questions in the classroom.") After reading and understanding this, i completely agree with the EDM310 class motto "Questions are more important than answers!"
Dr. Chesley, in Asking Better Questions in the Classroom, makes a very good point about Open Ended questions and Closed ended questions. I don't necessarily like the example she has chose to describe these types of questions, but it gets the point across. She says that a Closed ended question structures the response for the student, and it can be answered by one word such as yes, no, or a brief phrase. On the other hand, Open ended questions leaves the form of the answer up to the person who is responding; thereby, eliciting more thinking and yielding more information. For example, if you ask "If Mrs. Rosa Parks had given up her seat to a white man on the bus in 1955, do you think the history of civil rights in this country would have been different?" The answer to this question is most likely going to be a yes or no, which is a closed ended question because that's the way you framed that question. If you ask "What if Mrs. Rosa Parks had given her seat to a white man on the bus in 1955, what do you believe the consequences of the implications would have been for our country?" This is an example of an Open ended question, the answer will have to be more complex.(Dr Chesley, Asking Better Questions in the Classroom). With the understanding of this video, her point was that the way the teacher asks the question, depends solely on the type of answer the teacher gets. I will keep this in mind whenever i become a teacher.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Blog Post #3
I learned quite a few things from the instruction videos about peer editing. I learned that a peer is someone your own age, Editing is making suggestion, compliments, comments, and changes to writing. Peer editing means working with someone your own age to help improve, revise, and edit his or her writing. There are three steps to peer editing: Compliments, suggestions, and corrections. When peer editing you have to stay positive, be specific, and complete all three steps.
ALWAYS start your peer editing off with a compliment, say how you liked things in their post or how your agree with what they have said. The #1 rule is to stay positive. Second, give your peer suggestions on their work. Things too look at: word choice, details, organization, sentences, and the topic. Make sure everything is described thoroughly, make sure you can understand what they are writing about, check sentences for run on's and fragments, and make sure they have a main idea. Lastly, make corrections you think are necessary. Punctuation, grammar, sentences, and spelling should all be corrected for the peer to fix.
ALWAYS start your peer editing off with a compliment, say how you liked things in their post or how your agree with what they have said. The #1 rule is to stay positive. Second, give your peer suggestions on their work. Things too look at: word choice, details, organization, sentences, and the topic. Make sure everything is described thoroughly, make sure you can understand what they are writing about, check sentences for run on's and fragments, and make sure they have a main idea. Lastly, make corrections you think are necessary. Punctuation, grammar, sentences, and spelling should all be corrected for the peer to fix.
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