Blog Post #9

What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?

Project Based Learning is something that I have seen more often recently than I have in the past. It is one of the best ways to learn different standards. PBL, in my opinion, is much better than reading out of a textbook and burping back what we learned on a test.

In John Larmer and John R. Mergendoller's post, Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning, they give seven things that are what every good project needs. A couple of the main points that are definite things to include are a driving question and student voice and choice. You need a driving questions so that the students know the main question that is being asked and they will also have a goal to reach. Having the students voice and choice is always great because depending on what the driving question is, students have a variety of things they can do for their project.

The video Project Based Learning for Teachers did a great way in explaining how project based learning is useful in the classroom. It says that you should think of PBL as questions, investigating, sharing and reflecting. It also gives many different examples of places to go online to help with PBL.

In the video, PBL: What motivates students today, students are asked what motivates them in school. The first response was that when teachers and others compliment him it makes him feel good and that he did something right.  Another response that I thought was a good one for the young girl's age is that she wanted to be able to have a dog when she grew up so that wanting to get a good job and be able to feed her family and her dog was what motivated her in school. Many students said that getting good grades would help them get into college and be able to do what they want when they grow up.

The video, Two Students Solve the problem of Watery Ketchup by Designing a New Cap, is a video about two high school seniors who really like ketchup and decided to do a project on making a new cap so that the first squirt of the ketchup is not watery. This is a great example of project based learning because the students were able to do a project on something they liked and they were able to fix the problem by making a new cap for a ketchup bottle.

Michael Gorman's post, Ten Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration in Project Based Learning, gives ten different collaborative Web 2.0 tools that will help make the project based learning experience better. I will definitely be using some of these tools in my future classroom!

Special Blog Post

Why Do I Have to Learn History?

For this blog post we were asked to answer this question that William Chamberlain posted on his blog that one of his students asked him one day. There are many different answers to this question. I think that the reason we should learn history is to see how everything came to be how it is today.  Without learning history we would not know how the United States of America got the name or how it even started. One thing that I really do believe is a reason for learning history is so that we do not make any mistakes or repeat anything that has happened in the past. There have been many events that have happened in the past and it would be terrible for them to happen again.

SMARTboard Project #12

Using the SMARTboard Part A

Project #14 Project Based Learning Plan

My project based learning plan will be for 4th grade science.



Lesson Plan

Project Calendar

Project Checklist/Rubric

Project #9 Video Book Commentary

Video Book Commentary by the Hollywood Group

C4Tp (Permanent) #2

The first post that I had read for this C4Tp was Silvia Tolisano's Blogging as a Curation Platform. She talks about ho curation is more than just collecting and having information. You have to actually collect it, organize it, comment on it and present it. You should not simply just copy and paste complete articles when you are looking for information, you should only take little quotes from it. If you are making a blog and are using information from others, it would be better to have little quotes from different sites instead of having huge quotes from them. She also has certain curators for specific topics that she searches for because they are the ones that have the best information for what she is looking for. When you are searching for specific information you want to make sure that you get the information form somewhere that has the right thing you are looking for. If you use false information then it will not be a good thing for you.




The other blog that I read was Silvia Tolisano's Copyright Flowchart: Can you Use It? As a future educator copyrighting is something important that I will need to have some type of understanding. This blog post has a flowchart that did a really good job of explaining copyright. I have always had a hard time understanding copyright but this chart really helped clear some things up for me. I am definitely going to keep this post saved as a bookmark on my computer so that later on when I need help with it, I can go back to it. This is a great source for other teachers and students to use in the classroom.

Blog Post #8

For this week we were assigned to watch Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. It is very inspirational because even though he was given only six months to live and he did not give up. He decides to give a lecture like it is the last lecture that he would give. He starts his lecture by talking about his childhood dreams and then goes into detail about them. The first one he talks about is being in zero gravity then he goes on a talks about when he wanted to be in the NFL. He said that he got more out of that dream than any other dream that he had even though he did not make it.

Later on he started teaching a 'Building Virtual Worlds' class. For college students this project seems like a good one for students to do. I like how he would change up the groups every couple of weeks because it gives the students a chance to meet and get to know different classmates and the students can also learn different things for the virtual world that they have to make. Some students may be able to make their virtual world a way that the others can not. This project would be a great way for students to learn from each other and also teach others. You will not be able to know everything about something and it is okay that you do not know it all. There is always something that you can learn form things. Learning as you go is a great way to learn things because you are actually able to do it all on your own and you do not have someone telling you step by step on what to do. Doing things on your own will stick to you alot better than just taking instructions. 

C4Ta Post #2

The first post that I read for the last couple of C4Ta assignment is Becky Goerend's More Homework Meme #morehomework. In this blog post she answers different questions from her brother and
I could relate to one of her answers. When she was applying to school she could not decide between majoring in Marketing or Elementary Education. She made the decision to go with Elementary Education and her life hasn't been the same since. When I first started school I was also deciding between two different majors, Physical Therapy and Education. At first I was not sure if I wanted to do Secondary or Elementary Education, but after taking a couple classes for Secondary math I realized that I would rather work with younger students than older students. Since I have decided to major in Elementary Education I have been so proud that I chose it and cannot wait to have my own classroom.

The second post that I read for the C4Ta assignment is Becky Goerend's Always on the Clock. In this post she talks about how the title of being a teacher does not end when you leave the school at the end of the day, you will always be a teacher to students that you have had in the past and present. She talks about how one Saturday morning she ran into about four or five different students in public. When one of your students see you in public they know you as their teacher and address you as what they call you in the classroom. What I take from this post is that you are constantly a role model for students. Students look up to their teacher as an example and that will follow you outside of the classroom.

Blog Post #7

There are many different sources online that you can use for your classroom. One source that I use for some things is Pinterest. This website can be used for other things than for your classroom. You can search what type of project and grade level you would like to find an activity to do in the class. When you see the activity you want to do just click on it and it will take you to the website.

Another useful website that is great for teachers and students is Interactive Sites for Education. You can choose what subject you are looking for and it gets more specific with each subject. When you go under math you can choose, addition, subtraction, geometry, graphing, division, etc. When you choose one of those it takes you to a page that has different games that you choose to play for that subject. When you choose one of those it takes you to the website that has the game where you can play it. This website would be very useful when it comes to many different subjects for different grade levels. Some of the different subjects that you  can choose from are math, English language arts, science, social studies, music, and even teacher tools.

The third website that I found that us resourceful is Smithsonian Education for Educators. You can search for lesson plans, resources and state standards. When you search by standards, you choose your state, grade level and subject. You are then brought to the list of different standards and if there is a resource for that standard you can click on it and it will bring you to a lesson plan that you can use for that subject. This is a website that will become very useful in the future when I have a classroom of my own.

Project #13 Lesson Plan #1

Emily Thomas, Savanah Moore, Aneshia Lewis, and I made our Lesson Plan for Kindergarten Math. Here is our lesson plan.

Project #8 Book Trailer

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Blog Post #6

While watching the videos Project Based Learning: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher Part 1 and Project Based Learning: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher Part 2, it made me thing of different things I could do as a teacher to incorporate Project Based Learning in the classroom. I really liked how Mr. Capps had the students write letters to the Congressman Joe Bonner. He had the students read and critic other students' letters and they had only used eight of the twenty-eight letters of the students. The eight that they used were the eight letters that the students thought were the best. Having the students pick which ones were the best is a great idea because they get to make the decision as a class. I love how Mr. Capps says that you should let your students go beyond and do not give them limits with projects. You never know what the end result would be and some students may get really into the project.

 iCurio is an online tool that lets students search safely for different things for class. It can search information, videos, and images. It only gets things that can be used for educational uses. You use it as a search engine but it also lets you save things that I useful. Students and teachers are able to save the information and it can help you with organizing because you can save things in folders to keep it together.

 Discovery Education is a resource that is great for teachers when it comes to science and social studies. Mr. Capps says that it brings experts into the classroom because of all the information that it provides for you on different things. This is a website that I will most likely use in my classroom because of all the information, images and videos that it provides. Today it seems like more people watch and/or listen to things more than actually reading and writing things, so this would be a way to have students listen and watch things when it comes to science and social studies.

  The Anthony-Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1 is a great video with different tips to help teachers. I definitely agree that it is hard work but it can also be fun if you let it be. Working with students can be fun if you make it and it is definitely rewarding! I can not wait to have my own classroom and incorporate things I have learned in the classroom.

Blog Post #5

What are Personal Learning Networks (PLNs)? I, personally, have never heard of it before until Edm310. A Personal Learning Network is the set of people and tools that you can call upon for help, consultation, collaboration, or other assistance. According to the Personal Learning Network YouTube video, "PLNs are a fancy way of saying you are going to connect with other people who also teach. The goal is to get better at what you do and/or help someone else improve because they spoke to you." They can be very resourceful when looking for different ideas for the classroom. They are always changing so when you go back and look at them you can see newer ideas than you saw when you looked the last time. It can be formed by any social network, like Facebook, Twitter, and even by blogging. You can connect to others who may have a similar interest that you have and maybe even someone who has the same goals as an educator.

When creating my PLN, one of the first things I am going to do is add Dr. Strange because he is the one giving us different ways we can connect with teachers around the world. He has been a big help in this because I would have never known any of these ways to connect without having him as a professor. I will also add people from my group so that when we all move on and start to teach our own classes, I could see what they are doing for their classrooms. A couple of teachers that I have observed have had great ideas that they bring into their classroom that keep the students motivated and I would like to connect with them and see what all they have done with their classes. I am starting out small but overtime I will be able to find new people that I can connect to. 

Project #7 My Sentence/Passion is...

My sentence is...

My passion is...

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post #4

As a teacher, it is always important to ask questions in the classroom. By asking questions you are helping students think about what you are doing in the classroom and it will give them the s=chance to respond what they think it is you are asking for. In a couple classes I would have teachers that would ask if everyone understood what she said and if you did not respond as soon as she finished asking, she would move on to the next agenda for the class. While reading The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom it says that as teachers we really do not need to know everything and that we should not assume that the students do not know anything. When teachers ask "Does everyone understand?" I would always think that it was the last chance to ask questions and if we did not have any questions then we would move on to the next subject. I agree with that part of the blog because that is how I felt at times when teachers would ask that question. You should ask questions that have to do with what you just went over that the students would actually have to think about it and can give you back an answer.

C4Tp (Permanent) #1

While reading Silvia Tolisano's Blogging as Pedagogy: Facilitate Learning it really helped me think of different ways blogging can be used in the classroom. She says that blogging should be seen as a pedagogy instead of an "add-on" or an "isolated project." She had listed different ways blogging can help with reading, writing, reflecting, and sharing. The list of things really helped open my eyes to different ways I can use blogging in the classroom and how it can actually help the students.

In the first blog that I read by Silvia Tolisano was And You Thought it Could Not Be Done: Blogging in Math. I agree with her that it is weird had not many language arts teachers do not use blogging. Language arts would seem like one of the subjects that you would use blogging in, especially since the students would get more feedback on their writing and help with their grammar. She talks about how you can also use blogging for math because you will get a bigger audience which gives you more feedback on different math problems.

C4Ta #1

For the Comment4Teachers temporary assignment I was assigned to Mrs. Becky Goerend's Live the Conversation blog. In her most recent post (Reflections on my first year as an elective teacher)she talks about her experience as an elective teacher. She loved having the chance to have such a deep relationship with students when she was an elementary teacher and did not think that she would be able to have that kind of relationship having about 300 kids go in and out of her class over a two day period. In this post she has a picture of flowers and an envelope with a letter from a student that the student gave her on the last day of school. As an elective teacher she did not realize how much of an impact and impression that she had made on the student.
It does not matter what kind of teacher you are to the students, but you will have some type of an impression and impact on students whether you realize it or not. You might be the only smile that the student will see that day and you may even be the only encouragement that the students have.

Her second most recent blog post, Thoughts on Wikipedia , talks about what she thinks about Wikipedia . She had given her class a research assignment and told them to use Wikipedia. When I was in middle school and high school teachers would always tell us that Wikipedia was not a credible source when we did research. Many younger students that I know are still being taught that you should never use Wikipedia when doing research because people can go back and change what it says in the information. There are people that work for the company that puts the information on Wikipedia that are notified when there has been a change to the information and they go back and fix it. Within minutes of someone editing the page, it is fixed back to how it was before. Mrs. Goerend says that Wikipedia can be one of the most updated sources on the internet. 

Project #15

I usually use Google when I am searching for something online. It was definitely strange using it to find other search engines that I could use. Here is eight search engines I have found:

Wolfram Alpha : Wolfram Alpha is a search engine that you can type in anything and it will give you useful information. You can type in a math problem and it will give you the result. It would have been nice to know about this website when I took math classes because it would have helped me out alot! You can also search people and it will give you their full name, birthday, and if they have passed away it will give you the day the passed and where. This site can be very helpful for different subjects in school.

MapQuest : Mapquest is useful for helping you find a place you are wanting to go. You type in the address that you would like to go to and the address that you will be coming from. It will give you directions from point A to point B. It becomes very useful when you do not know how to get to your destination.

 Bing : Bing is another search engine that can help you find what you are looking for. You can search keywords, images, and videos. It is similar to Google and can become very useful when looking up things you do not know.

 Craigslist : Craigslist is a search engine that can help you sell and buy different things and look for jobs or internships that are available in your area. You can search by your area and you can even search somewhere else in the country for things. If you might be moving and want to find something in that area that you need for your new home, or even a job available in that area, you can search for things in that area.

 Indeed : Indeed is a website that you can go to to find a jobs available in your area. You can search by the zip code, estimate salary you would like, and even by the type of job you are looking for. The website will even give you a description of the job that you may be looking at.

 Dogpile : Dogpile is a search engine that you can search by keywords, videos, images, and news. It is another website like Google and it can be very helpful when looking up information for a paper that you would have to write.

Yahoo : Yahoo is a search engine that you can use to look up videos, images, weather, news, and you can even use it for e-mail. It is another website that is very useful to look up information that you are looking for. Everyday it has the most recent news on their home page so that you can keep up with the news and what is going on in the world.

 Ask : Ask is a search engine that you can ask everyday type of questions and it will give you websites that you can go to that can help you find an answer to your question.

Blog Post #3

Peer editing is defined as “working with someone your own age to help improve, revise, and edit his or her writing” (Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial) Peer editing has never really been one of my strongest areas in English. Writing papers is something that I have struggled doing for a while, but I have gotten better over time. While watching What is Peer Editing and Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes and viewing the slideshow Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial, it helped me think about editing others’ posts. It made it a little more clear of how to see mistakes and how to show how to correct others’ posts. When watching the Top 10 Mistakes video, it really made me laugh and help me see that you should take your time while editing a paper because you would want someone else to take the time and make sure your paper was written thoroughly and correctly.
Peer editing is something, as a future educator, that I will have to know how to do very well. Overtime, with practice, it will come easier for me. Being able to write papers is very important. Some colleges require you to write a paper for them to see why you want to go there and to assess your writing skills. You have to start writing papers early on so that when you get into higher grade levels it becomes easier for you. To make sure you are writing your paper correctly you need others to peer edit your paper to show where you have mistakes. In the slideshow one of the steps for peer editing is to make compliments on the paper someone wrote. I agree with that because you do not just want to start telling someone their mistakes straight up and be rude about it. Maybe saying, “ I like how you included ____, but maybe you should reword it so that it makes a little more sense.” You are not only being nice, but also giving them suggestions for making their paper better