Project #16

Our group, San Francisco consists of myself (Lauren Reid), Emma Elwell, Emily Huff and Briley Lovitte. Our iBook theme was Peter Pan and titled "Flying through EDM 310." Our project consisted of collaborative blog posts and videos done within our group and also individual blog posts and group work that we have accomplished throughout this semester.

Blog Post #15

C4T Summary for April

Venspired.com
This blog was absolutely amazing. Out of all of the blogs I have commented on for my C4T's, this one is by far my favorite. The blog post I decided to comment on first was called "Super Resources." This was a blog filled with all kinds of links to Glogster.com and also a lot of links that had to do with outer space. This intrigued me to read every link she provided.
My Comment:
Hey! My name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education major at the University of South Alabama. I love your blog! I just recently started using glogster and I think it is a wonderful tool to use in the classroom. Some of your links helped me see some new things and learn some new things also. I especially liked this post in particular because I am OBSESSED with outer space. As soon as I get my masters in Education then I plan on becoming an Astrophysicist to work for NASA or in a college. My favorite link that you provided was the mars activity guide, I will be saving the link to your blog,
Lauren

Venspired.com
WOW!!! This is amazing! It’s good to know that there are still good hearted people in this corrupted world we live in today. “Human innovation and thinking will determine what our future looks like,” this statement could not be more true! The world is so technological now and it is helping people do things that they couldn’t do 10 years ago. I have been discovering all kinds of assistive technologies lately being used around the world. I have been inspired! Thank you, Lauren Reid

C4K April Summary

Angelica's Blog
Angelica's latest blog post was titled "Angelica Faifai." She talked about how she was in some kind of dance group called the jump jam group, she said she loved hip- hop out of all of the dances they done. Angelica said they danced to the songs mission impossible and don't stop wriggling. I am a dancer myself of 18 years so I could relate to her blog post which was nice because I haven't really related to any of my C4K's before.
My Response:
Hey Angelica, my name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education major at the University of South Alabama. Your jump jam group sounds fun and entertaining. I can relate to your blog post because I have danced since I was two years old and I am now a dance teacher. I also love hip- hop like you because you can dance to the beat of the music. Keep up the good work and never stop dancing if you love it, Lauren Reid

"Efa-Lata Went to the Zoo"
Efa-Lata is a year 2 student at the Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand. Her Blog post was titled "Efa- Lata went to the zoo!" She drew a picture of an animal and then made a video telling her story about the day she went to the zoo. She says that her and her mom went to the zoo to see all of the animals and then they went to Burger King. I did not know that they had a Burger King in New Zealand. She says that she had fun
My Response:
Hey Efa-Lata, My name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education major at the University of South Alabama. I like your drawing of when you went to the zoo. It sounds like you had a fun day going to the zoo and eating at Burger King. I like Burger King also. Great Post!

Blog Post #13

Blog Post #13 Instructions:
What we can learn from Raj Dhingra in his Can technology change education?? TED talk. What can we do as educators to make learning better?

My Post:
In Raj Dhingra's TED talk, he taught us three lessons that can make better educators.
Lessons:
1. Dream big, despite small means.
2. Unlock the power of student- centric learning.
3. Deliver access to many, not just a few.

Raj says that "Changing the thinking, changes the solution."
One myth that is said a lot is that big dreams need big budgets. You can dream big and make a big impact even when you don't have a lot of money. You can achieve a lot with small amount of money if you think carefully on how to spend it.
The second myth is that we have adequate technology in the classroom. He says that teachers are delivering learning in a very standard way just like they were whenever we did not have technology in the classrooms. We have to tear down the walls of a classroom and we can make that possible with technology where we use blended learning a mix of different types of learning to kids. Blended learning is where you get the best of both teachers and technology. With technology kids can learn what they want to learn, they can learn at their own pace, there is more collaboration between kids and a much higher engagement. Technology can transform the learning in a classroom. When we integrate technology into classrooms the students are more engaged and the teachers role is transformed It turns out to be better for both the teacher and the students.
The third myth is that technology will solve all of your problems. The hunger for "tech candy" as he calls it, it like saying that teaching these lessons would be so much easier with technology. Most people think it's too expensive, and hard to scale when it's really not. We have to focus on making technology available to many, rather than a few.
The MOST important thing of this whole lecture was his last slide on his power point that said:
Learn. Share. Change.

Blog Post #12

What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher??

Assistive technology is available to help individuals with many different types of disabilities. This can give kids a sense of independence like they have never had before. Kids with disabilities have always depended on their family or friends to take care of them, but now they can depend on themselves by using assistive technology. In the video The Mountbatten, I was amazed at how far technology has changed the lives of so many people. I had no idea that there were devices such as the mountbatten that could help the blind with technology.

Once I seen how much technology has changed so many lives, I was intrigued to learn what other devices were out there to help individuals with disabilities. While searching, I discoverd The National Center for Learning Disabilities website. I found that there are apps to help children with their writing skills who have dysgraphia and dyslexia, math problems, and even organizational problems; this is an amazing thing! I had no idea that technology could be such a tool for learning. There are also alternative keyboards that are specially programmed to customise the appearance and function of the standard keyboard.
As a learning educator, I can honestly say that I learn something new every day just by going to school for education. I hope to one day help every student in my class in their very own special way, even if we do have to have assistive technology. I plan to focus on each child's strengths instead of their weaknesses.

Project #12 Part B

Interview Movie

Blog Post #11

Collaborative Blog Post #11
Blog Post #11 What can we learn from these teachers?? The video by Brian Crosby called Back to the Future is very interesting. Mr. Crosby teaches students that are secondary learners from fourth grade until sixth grade. On the second day of class, Mr. Crosby asked the students general questions that they should know the answers to like: What city do you live in? What state? What country? Over half of the students did not know the correct answers. Since theses students are secondary learners they have been taught a narrow curriculum since they were born. They do not have the same experiences as others. If the students are limited, it is hard for the students to imagine and if they can not do that where does your creativity spark from. All the students have their own blogs. The students do an activity where they are sending a balloon up in the air over 1000 feet. They students first have to do an experiment with a can to see how the air pressure changes and upload it to their blogs explaining what happened and why. The students then have to write a story about them being the balloon and taking the trip. They are telling about the trip from the beginning to the end. The students are starting to set goals for themselves and are building learning networks with blogging and skyping with people from all over the world. So then the students then write a high hope for their school, community, and the world and post it to their blogs. People from around the world were commenting on their blogs and the students came up with what if we let everyone send their own high hopes. The kids went out and started leaving comments on the people they usually blog with and the people they blog with. Many different people from around the world started sending high hopes. They burnt all of the world high hopes onto a cd and sent them up with theirs. A grad student came in the classroom and talked to the students about engineering and they learned how to build their own payload camera. All of the students contributed to making it. As the balloon rises the air pressure is going down, the balloon is expanding, and eventually the balloon bust. Since the students are still writing their stories about the trip as them being the balloon they had to imagine the balloon was them. The students now had all this schema to add to their stories. When it was over the students had to come in and write about what just happened but it did not stop just there. The students are now in a learning network. Another classroom wanted to know how to do the experience so the both of the classrooms skpyed each other. The students explained to one another how to do it. Throughout the whole activity the students accomplished: Language intense Read/write to learn-content Writing to clarify and share Feedback Articulate orally Connect globally/aware globally Authentic audience Remember the science, high hopes art? The students have to have active learning. The teachers need to empower students to be learners. They need to empower students to want to learn on their own, connect themselves to the worlds, and learning to collaborate in and out of the classroom. Mr. Crosby was told that he had a new student in his class but will probably never see her because she has cancer and will not be able to make it with her condition. Mr. Crosby sets up the computer so she can skype throughout the day and she can have a regular day in school like a normal kid. He says you can not keep racing kids through school. You have to make sure that we give the students the opportunities to build schema for the world. Mr. Paul Andersen teaches us about the blended learning cycle. Blended Learning is taking the components of online, mobile and classroom learning and blending them together in a classroom. The Learning Cycle starts with the five “E’s.” Start with an Engaging question, student then Explore that question, you then Explain the phenomenon, Expand upon that, and then you Evaluate. This a great way to present material and learn the material. When we put these two things together, we get the Blended Learning Cycle. His cycle in his science class for this year, which seemed to work great, was QUIVERS. First he started out with a really good driving QUestion; you have to have a good question to get the kids interested in the topic. The students will then Investigate on what you have presented to them. They then have a Video that has a lot of the direct instruction so that he doesn’t have to do all of the explaining; the students can watch this independently. Next they have Elaboration, this is where the teacher can give them reading on your subject and talk about what they have learned. The Review portion of this is where the teacher can meet with the students individually or in small groups to discuss and ask them questions to test their understanding; if they do not understand then they need to start over from the beginning. The students cannot move on to the Summary quiz until the teacher is sure they know what they are talking about. The summary quiz is made to test them on what they have learned from the IV and E portions of the QUIVERS cycle. I think this is a great way to get students more involved into classroom assignments because they won’t feel like this process of learning is basic like reading from the books and answering questions from what they have read. Mark Church demonstrates the “Headlines” routine. This is where the students work in small groups and discuss a video from which they watched about the early human beginnings and the origins of human society. In their small groups, they come up with a headline to capture what the video is all about in one phrase. This causes the students to open up their minds and to really think about what they have watched and also to interpret what they think it is all about. Mr. Church said he would hang the phases up onto a board and come back to them a couple weeks later when they have learned more about the story. The students will be challenged to think if that is still their perspective of the story or not. I like this idea a lot, it opens up the students minds to think outside of the box and to discuss what they feel about something that they have read or watched. Sam Pane did a great job on teaching his students how to be a super digital citizen. He explained in the video how students are going to be exposed to all kinds of situations online and the students are incharge of knowing how to use the internet safely. Using the internet safely if very important for students to learn about since technology is such a big part of our world today. In his lesson about becoming a super digital citizen, the students created a comic hero online and they used dialogue to give safety tips. After the superheroes were created the students went around to their classmates computers to view their superheros and the safety tips they gave. The students were learning how to be smart and safe online when reading all the comicals. I loved the little girls example of being offered a free ipad online and all you have to do is submit your address. This is something that I have seen multiple times while using the internet. Young children may not realize that it is a scam so I think that it is extremely important to inform and direct them in the right direction when using the internet. Sam Pane taught a great lesson that really got the students involved and informed them how to become a super digital citizen. I would love to do a lesson similar to his in my future classroom so I could teach my students how to use the internet safely. In the video by Dean Shareski, Project Based Learning, the teachers have combined 3 subjects together and incorporated project based learning. In the video he explained how research shows that integrated studies using projects increases students engagement and provides an opportunity for deeper understanding. I think that project based learning is a great way for students of all ages to learn because it makes them engaged and want to learn. In the video, he explained that incorporating technology into project based learning enhances and shares students learning in richer ways. I think technology is great because it will allow the students to have access to so many resources while doing their projects. When preparing and presenting projects it makes the students proud of their work because of the time and effort they have put into it. The students feel like they have ownership of their projects and appreciate them. When integrating subjects and using project based learning it allows you to provide your students with so many opportunities and teach them beyond the everyday curriculum. Project based learning is a great way for students to learn and push themselves to become better and better with each project they produce. In Roosevelt’s Elementary PBL Program, Roosevelt School introduces project based learning and they explain that this when the learning is different in the classroom. This school describes PBL as in depth learning that has integrated thematic instruction. The lessons are based on real world problems and require students to research their topic. After a project based learning lesson is taught, it is then evaluated with a project and/or a presentation. Project based learning allows for the students to really think for themselves. Teachers collaborate on differents things to do PBL’s about. They like to teach PBL lessons that will have an impact on their students and really make them be engaged in learning. Project based learning gives the chance for students to use cooperative learning while they work in groups. Another thing that PBL’s bring to the table is public speaking. Since the student’s are being evaluated with a presentation it allows them to become comfortable in front of a classroom of their peers, presenting their work. Project based learning gives the students a sense of empowerment and they learn skills that they call apply in the real world. For example, how to conduct a presentation. Students can use this their whole lifetime. In my opinion, PBL is one of the most beneficial things to use in a classroom. It can offer so much for your students and really give them the guidance for a great education. Project based learning is a must in the classroom and I recommend every teacher at least try it!

C4K Summary for March

Punaiuru's Weekend Story
My child for C4K this week is named Punaiuru. She goes to school at Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand. She is in class 18 with Mrs. She; most of the children in this class are six years old but some five and a half. Class 18 writes their stories, draws pictures of their stories, and then they make video's about their story with iMovie. Punaiuru videoed herself telling a story about her weekend. She and her cousin went to play in the park. She drew a picture to go with her video.
My Comment:
Hey Punaiuru! My name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education major at the University of South Alabama. I like your story about how you went to the park with your cousin. I also like your drawing with you, your cousin and the slide. I also have a blog and I know how uncomfortable getting in front of a camera and videoing yourself can feel. Good Job Punaiuru!

Isaaka fedding Africans
My assigned child was Isaaka from Pt England School. The blogpost I commented on was about a game that she played. This was a game where it asked you questions and every time she got a question right, that was 5 grains of rice to feed someone in Africa. I love this idea and the meaning behind it. It is so powerful and it can teach kids to give back while answering questions.
My Comment:
Hey Isaaka, my name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education major at the University of South Alabama and I have been assigned to comment on your blog this week. I love your blog, it is very colorful and inviting. I love the idea and the meaning behind this game. I think it is wonderful that there is a way to donate to Africans just by getting questions right on a game. I think it would be a good idea to provide the link to the website you are talking about on your next blog post.

Alarzae's Blog
This week my assigned child was Alarzae and she is a year 7 student at Pt England school. Her blog post was about learning how to write compound sentences so that her sentences will be longer. Her approach to learning this was called "FANBOY." F-for A-and N-nor B-but O-or Y-yet S-so. I have never seen this before but I think it would be a great way for the students to remember each word they can use to make compound sentences.
My Comment:
Hey Alarzae, First of all, I love your background on your blog, it is very unique and unique is a good thing. We all need to find a way to be different than one another in the world today. My name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education Major at the University of South Alabama. I have never heard or seen the "fanboy" approach to writing compound sentences. This is a really good idea. Thanks for sharing!

C4T #3 Summary

The Dr. Will Show (The Connected Educator
My assigned C4T for this month was Dr. Will, his blog is called "Peopleology." He started this blog in 2009 to assist adults in improving both their personal and professional lives. Since then, the blog has evolved to focus on the educational applications of digital media. Via timely and engaging articles and vlogs, his mission is to use PEOPLEGOGY to empower, educate, and lead discussions about how educators of all types are using digital media. The first post I commented on was his first video to his new show "The Dr. Will Show." He was talking with Dana Ariss from Alberta, Canada. They were talking about how to become a well connected educator and how to stay connected. Her main source for this was via Twitter. She says that there are so many educators on twitter that you can follow and ask questions to anything you want. This is actually how Dr. Will and Dana met.
The second post that I commented on was his second video to "The Dr. Will Show" with Jennifer Carey who is the director of Educational Technology, a blogger, and an expert voice on Twitter. The subject of this video was "Flipping Professional Development." This rethinks professional development to maximize and respect teachers’ time for professional learning. Jennifer has a new position at her school this year where she can teach all of the faculty how to use technology in their classrooms. She could not meet with everyone every time they have a question about how to do something, so she found it easier to make instructional videos of how to do many things and just tell them to go watch that really quick. I think it is really good that she done this for all of the faculty because I know it is hard for the older teachers to integrate technology in their classrooms when they don't even know how to use it.

Comment #1:
Hey Dr. Will, My name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education Major at the University of South Alabama. I am new to the blogger community and I definitely want to start a class blog for my future classroom; I am looking to be a connected educator. This video was very informative and I look forward to your next one.

Comment #2:
Hey Dr. Will, I love the idea of Flipped Professional Development. The older generation of teachers needs someone to teach them how to use technology so that they can integrate it in their classrooms. I know it must be hard for older people to learn how to do certain things, so I think that having accessibility to it on their own time will make them a lot more comfortable with teaching it. I live in Mobile, Alabama where they have not yet incorporated technology into schools; and quite frankly, I don't think they are worried about doing that anytime soon. This is why I plan on going to a different county to teach because I would love to flip my classroom and also use blogging, Icurio, Google Docs and more in my classroom. Thanks for the educational video, Lauren Reid

Project #15- Lesson Plan #3

Healthy Teeth Lesson Plan
This lesson plan is about encouraging 4th grade students to take good care of their teeth on a daily basis. This is a week long process for one hour a day. I am covering state standards from Science, Health, and Visual Arts. I have incorporated a video, an article and a quiz from icurio into my lesson plan.

Project #12 Part A

Blogpost #10

What can we learn from Sir Ken Robinson?
When I watched Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the Learning Revolution I realized that I am going to school for the right profession. His lecture was very relatable and he was funny while he got his point across. He makes very accurate points towards todays generation. Robinson states that education needs to be reformed entirely and to do that we need to start brand new. Since we cannot start brand new, he says that we need to create new ways for education.
Sir Ken Robinson states that "humans make very poor use of our talents. Many people go through their lives have no real sense of what their talents may be or if they have any real talents at all." I completely agree with this because most people in today's world are not motivated and driven enough to find out what they are good at doing and they just settle for whatever is right in front of their face. I am not like this at all, I said that watching this lecture made me realize that I am in college for the right profession because Robinson explains that "If you're doing the thing that you love then time will take a different course entirely. If you're doing something you love, an hour feels like 5 minutes." This is called Passion. He defines passion as something that excites our soul and that it is different in every person. Whenever I go into the schools for my field service hours, this is what it feels like. The time goes by so fast for me because I am doing what I love, and that is helping children learn. Being in the schools has also opened my eyes to the teachers who really do not enjoy their job. If they do not enjoy teaching students what they need to learn and be successful then they are just waiting on the weekend to come around again. This is the kind of people that Robinson is talking about in his lecture. If they do not enjoy teaching then they need to find their talent and something that they like to do and stop holding the kids back from fully learning what they need to.
This lecture was my favorite lecture I have watched in this class so far. I have never been able to relate to a lecture so much until this one. I hope Robinsons lecture made some people realize that they need to do what makes them happy and figure out what their talents are. My talent is teaching!

Blogpost #9

What can we learn from Mrs. Cassidy??
Mrs. Cassidy tells us that we need to learn how to use technology in our classrooms even if we don't want to. She says that we have to change because the world is changing. "You are handicapping your students by not using technology."
Cassidy says that she made an online portfolio for her student's parents so that they could see what their child was doing in every subject on their own time. The students loved it also because they get to have an audience to look at all of their work and their audience could comment to them. "Technology is here to stay!"

Since the beginning of this semester when I started learning all of the technology I could use in my classroom one day, I have said I would have a class blog. I would also love to flip my classroom but I'm leaning more towards the blog so that my classroom parents will be able to see what their kids are doing and learning in my classroom. I don't think I will have any impediments with doing the class blog but I might with flipping my classroom just because the kids might not have a computer at home or the parents might say the kids don't need to watch my videos at home before the next day. I am not sure how I would handle this if I wasn't at a school where all of the kids are each provided a PC or Macbook; I most likely wouldn't even think about flipping my classroom. Some of the benefits I might anticipate are, like Mrs. Cassidy, letting my class communicate with people all over the world with a class blog. If I am going to benefit from flipping my classroom, it would be to save time in class by teaching the lesson in a video the night before class and spending more time on explaining and doing activities with it in class. The teacher will spend less time in front of the class and more time with the kids.

Lesson Plan #2 (Project 14)

My Health Lesson Plan

For this lesson plan, I chose to focus on Health Education and the 6 food groups. This lesson plan will be focused on for one week for one hour a day. It covers state standards from Health and Visual Arts for 1st grade. The whole purpose of this lesson is to encourage kids to eat healthier. The main questions my class will be focusing on is:
1. Why does our body need food?
2. Is all food good for us?
3. What can happen if we do not eat enough of the right foods?
4. Does eating the wrong foods affect our teeth?

C4T #2

Integrating Technology into schools
This blog post was about integrating technology into the schools. She says that she thinks it could be a good thing and gives all of these good examples of how you can integrate technology into the classroom. When I read the comments, they were all downing this idea and some people even arguing over it. I remembered back when I first started my EDM 310 class at South Alabama and Dr. Strange told us that "technology in the classrooms is what this course was all about; if we disagreed with this idea then we were too old fashion and the classrooms now days are all about technology." This shocked me because I had no idea that technology was already in classrooms. Now that I am halfway through this course I am all for technology in the classroom.

My Comment:
Hey Katrina! My name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education major at the University of South Alabama. I completely agree with this article. Technology needs to be integrated into the schools worldwide. Some people might not agree, but teaching kids how to use certain techniques with technology can prepare them for America's future jobs. In schools that have already integrated technology, the kids are blogging, making video's, and talking to other kids worldwide. I have not seen one bad thing come out of using technology in schools. The kids are more eager to learn, the absence rate has dropped to almost nothing, and the kids like to come to school because they think it's fun and that's the way it should be. Teachers who do not believe in using technology in their classroom should really open their eyes and look at the big picture. The world is not the same as it used to be, we are constantly evolving. I am completely on board with using technology in my classroom whenever I become a teacher.

Is Kindergarten too young to test?
This post was created by Holly Korbey titled: "Is Kindergarten too young to test?" The whole post is about how schools in New York are trying to make Kindergarteners take bubble tests and how nobody agrees with it. "According to the New York Daily News, multiple-choice questions and bubble answer sheets left New York’s four- and five-year-old students feeling 'bewildered,' and some in tears." The parents of the Washington Heights school denied this be given to their children and it wasn't given to them. This post completely infuriated me because I don't believe any Kindergarted classroom should scare the kids like this. I believe it should be a fun, interactive, and learning environment

My Comment:
My name is Lauren Reid and I am an Elementary Education major at the University of South Alabama. I think that the question "Is Kindergarten too young to test?" should not even have to be asked. When children are young, they need activities to open up their mind and get them excited about learning new things; it should not be taking boring bubble tests. Most teachers in today's world don't think about bettering the children's minds and they don't think about how every child learns in a different way. I think that it is good the parents are standing up and saying "no" to this nonsense. Classrooms need to be more interactive and especially Kindergarten classrooms

Project #9

Blog Post #8

Discovery Education
This is the best site I've found for teachers so far. I am student teaching in a 1st grade class right now and I love it, so I went under the teachers tab and clicked K-5 for my grade. The top link that popped up was called "Brain Boosters." I had no idea what this was so I clicked on the link to browse the Brain Booster library and I found myself looking at all of these different 5 minute exercises that I could do with my class. These exercises are divided into categories i.e(Categorization, Logic, Number and Math Play, Reasoning, Spatial Awareness, & Word and Letter Play). My favorite category was Number and Math Play because Math is my favorite subject and I love kid's math even more. I would love doing this with my class a couple times a week because I feel like this will improve their thinking strategies more and more every day that we do a new one. Some of it is critical thinking and some of it is logical thinking and it would always be different exercises so they wouldn't know what to expect. I would probably let them work in groups if it is something they need to talk about with their peers. I chose this tool because it is a very creative and effective way to communicate as a class and hopefully the kids would enjoy it. I might try some of these with my 1st grade class I am overseeing this semester and see how it works out.

Project #13

Lesson Plan Created by group San Francisco for Project #13

This lesson plan is for second grade science to understand space and planets better. This project is to be done for one week for two hours a day. It covers state standards from Science, Technology Education, Visual Arts, and Dance. My group went ahead and made an actual Lesson Plan instead of filling out all of those other forms.