Thursday, February 26, 2015
Sunday, February 22, 2015
C4T #1
For my second comments for teachers assignment, I viewed two blogs. The first blog I read was What am I Supposed to be Learning by a teacher named Mrs. Palmer. Mrs. Palmer shares with us in her blog post that she believes in allowing her students to have a hands on learning experience with the Common Core Standards. She allows them to think and explore for themselves. She gives steps and visual aids like pictures and videos of ideas. She also shares ways to allow your students to be hands on. Her students seem to really love and enjoy the atmosphere that Mrs. Palmer creates for learning.
The second teacher's blog that I read was Make School More Than Worksheets by Krissy Venosdale. I really enjoyed this post, it was simple but she got her point across. Ms. Venosdale explains that when she was student, she only had boring worksheets as her assignments. She just did the worksheets to get her "A," but never learned anything. She never was engaged in learning. She also sees that learning should be fun and hands on. She lists all the wonderful tools that she has used or found that makes learning fun for her students. I replied to her post and shared with her that I agree and believe learning should be hands on. I was also, a student that was bored with worksheets and just did them to get the grade. I never learned anything from those worksheets. I truly learned when I was given the opportunity to be hands on and involved. I enjoyed reading both of the blog posts and I am continually encouraged and inspired for the type teacher I want to be.
The second teacher's blog that I read was Make School More Than Worksheets by Krissy Venosdale. I really enjoyed this post, it was simple but she got her point across. Ms. Venosdale explains that when she was student, she only had boring worksheets as her assignments. She just did the worksheets to get her "A," but never learned anything. She never was engaged in learning. She also sees that learning should be fun and hands on. She lists all the wonderful tools that she has used or found that makes learning fun for her students. I replied to her post and shared with her that I agree and believe learning should be hands on. I was also, a student that was bored with worksheets and just did them to get the grade. I never learned anything from those worksheets. I truly learned when I was given the opportunity to be hands on and involved. I enjoyed reading both of the blog posts and I am continually encouraged and inspired for the type teacher I want to be.
Blog Post 6
"What do you learn from these conversations with Anthony Capps?"
In the first two videos with Anthony Capp and Dr. Strange, Project Based Learning Part 1 and Project Based Learning Part 2, I learned that it is important to know how to be an effective project based teacher. Any teacher can use projects to try and teach students, but are they using them in a proper manner? Teachers should make them fun and interesting. Teachers should never put a "lid" on the creative abilities of a student. Anthony gives a great example of how he brought a current news headline to life by taking it back into history for his students. It is the teachers job to spark an interest about the subject in the student. It was a great reminder as a future educator that projects can be fun and effective. When I was a student, I had a dislike for projects. This video helped me to see that projects can be an effective way for students to relax and learn in their own way.
The second two videos that I watched were iCurio and Discovery Education. iCurio is an incredible search engine for students. This is a great search engine mainly because it eliminates the negative or inappropriate things that typical search engines can provide. Students can explore images, videos, and lots of other content. It has opportunities for the students be organized by exploring and saving their data. Discovery Education is also a search engine that is great and safe for students. This search engine teaches information through video. I have never heard of this before until this assignment. I am very interested and think that this could be very helpful to students. In my opinion, since children are so engaged in media, I feel that they will be more apt to learn because it is in video format.
The fourth video that I watched was The Anthony - Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1. In this video, Anthony and Dr. Strange shared many tips to being an educator. Some of their tips were to never stop learning, to be flexible, that hard work is necessary to gain the rewards of the job, to always give 100%, start with a ending goal, and to always reflect on the work or experience. I feel that all of these tips are very important and key to being a successful teacher. These tips will not only help me, but they will help my students succeed also. I hope to gain and use all of these tips as a teacher one day.
The fifth video I watched was Don't Teach Tech - Use It. Anthony gives a great example of using technology but not teaching it. He has his students make a video of themselves talking about what they have learned and use iMovie. He gives standards and instructions for the assignments but does not teach them specifically how to use iMovie. He wants and encourages his students to learn how to operate iMovie on their own. Technology is important to students as well as teachers. As someone who uses technology on a daily basis for many different tasks, I feel it is easiest to learn how to use technology by using it and exploring it yourself. I feel that having someone try to sit and explain what to do only makes it confusing and overwhelming. I agree with Anthony about using technology and allowing the students to explore it, but not teaching them every detail of it.
The sixth and final video I viewed was General Thought About Lessons. So far lesson plans have been very overwhelming to me. Anthony shows us that we have to think about the big picture. We must think about the whole year and what must be learned by the end of the year to determine what will be taught on a certain day. He also explains that lesson plans must connect. Making a connection between Monday's lesson and Thursday's lesson is important. Personally, I have never thought about the connection of each weekday's vs. the full year's lessons until I viewed this video. Connecting the lessons from the day to day or week to week will allow the students to feel and see that they are learning. It will make a larger impact. He definitely shows a different side to lesson planning that I have never seen before. I am inspired to look at the big picture and to make connections for bigger impacts.
"What do you learn from these conversations with Anthony Capps?"
In the first two videos with Anthony Capp and Dr. Strange, Project Based Learning Part 1 and Project Based Learning Part 2, I learned that it is important to know how to be an effective project based teacher. Any teacher can use projects to try and teach students, but are they using them in a proper manner? Teachers should make them fun and interesting. Teachers should never put a "lid" on the creative abilities of a student. Anthony gives a great example of how he brought a current news headline to life by taking it back into history for his students. It is the teachers job to spark an interest about the subject in the student. It was a great reminder as a future educator that projects can be fun and effective. When I was a student, I had a dislike for projects. This video helped me to see that projects can be an effective way for students to relax and learn in their own way.
The second two videos that I watched were iCurio and Discovery Education. iCurio is an incredible search engine for students. This is a great search engine mainly because it eliminates the negative or inappropriate things that typical search engines can provide. Students can explore images, videos, and lots of other content. It has opportunities for the students be organized by exploring and saving their data. Discovery Education is also a search engine that is great and safe for students. This search engine teaches information through video. I have never heard of this before until this assignment. I am very interested and think that this could be very helpful to students. In my opinion, since children are so engaged in media, I feel that they will be more apt to learn because it is in video format.
The fourth video that I watched was The Anthony - Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1. In this video, Anthony and Dr. Strange shared many tips to being an educator. Some of their tips were to never stop learning, to be flexible, that hard work is necessary to gain the rewards of the job, to always give 100%, start with a ending goal, and to always reflect on the work or experience. I feel that all of these tips are very important and key to being a successful teacher. These tips will not only help me, but they will help my students succeed also. I hope to gain and use all of these tips as a teacher one day.
The fifth video I watched was Don't Teach Tech - Use It. Anthony gives a great example of using technology but not teaching it. He has his students make a video of themselves talking about what they have learned and use iMovie. He gives standards and instructions for the assignments but does not teach them specifically how to use iMovie. He wants and encourages his students to learn how to operate iMovie on their own. Technology is important to students as well as teachers. As someone who uses technology on a daily basis for many different tasks, I feel it is easiest to learn how to use technology by using it and exploring it yourself. I feel that having someone try to sit and explain what to do only makes it confusing and overwhelming. I agree with Anthony about using technology and allowing the students to explore it, but not teaching them every detail of it.
The sixth and final video I viewed was General Thought About Lessons. So far lesson plans have been very overwhelming to me. Anthony shows us that we have to think about the big picture. We must think about the whole year and what must be learned by the end of the year to determine what will be taught on a certain day. He also explains that lesson plans must connect. Making a connection between Monday's lesson and Thursday's lesson is important. Personally, I have never thought about the connection of each weekday's vs. the full year's lessons until I viewed this video. Connecting the lessons from the day to day or week to week will allow the students to feel and see that they are learning. It will make a larger impact. He definitely shows a different side to lesson planning that I have never seen before. I am inspired to look at the big picture and to make connections for bigger impacts.
The second two videos that I watched were iCurio and Discovery Education. iCurio is an incredible search engine for students. This is a great search engine mainly because it eliminates the negative or inappropriate things that typical search engines can provide. Students can explore images, videos, and lots of other content. It has opportunities for the students be organized by exploring and saving their data. Discovery Education is also a search engine that is great and safe for students. This search engine teaches information through video. I have never heard of this before until this assignment. I am very interested and think that this could be very helpful to students. In my opinion, since children are so engaged in media, I feel that they will be more apt to learn because it is in video format.
The fourth video that I watched was The Anthony - Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1. In this video, Anthony and Dr. Strange shared many tips to being an educator. Some of their tips were to never stop learning, to be flexible, that hard work is necessary to gain the rewards of the job, to always give 100%, start with a ending goal, and to always reflect on the work or experience. I feel that all of these tips are very important and key to being a successful teacher. These tips will not only help me, but they will help my students succeed also. I hope to gain and use all of these tips as a teacher one day.
The fifth video I watched was Don't Teach Tech - Use It. Anthony gives a great example of using technology but not teaching it. He has his students make a video of themselves talking about what they have learned and use iMovie. He gives standards and instructions for the assignments but does not teach them specifically how to use iMovie. He wants and encourages his students to learn how to operate iMovie on their own. Technology is important to students as well as teachers. As someone who uses technology on a daily basis for many different tasks, I feel it is easiest to learn how to use technology by using it and exploring it yourself. I feel that having someone try to sit and explain what to do only makes it confusing and overwhelming. I agree with Anthony about using technology and allowing the students to explore it, but not teaching them every detail of it.
The sixth and final video I viewed was General Thought About Lessons. So far lesson plans have been very overwhelming to me. Anthony shows us that we have to think about the big picture. We must think about the whole year and what must be learned by the end of the year to determine what will be taught on a certain day. He also explains that lesson plans must connect. Making a connection between Monday's lesson and Thursday's lesson is important. Personally, I have never thought about the connection of each weekday's vs. the full year's lessons until I viewed this video. Connecting the lessons from the day to day or week to week will allow the students to feel and see that they are learning. It will make a larger impact. He definitely shows a different side to lesson planning that I have never seen before. I am inspired to look at the big picture and to make connections for bigger impacts.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Blog Post 5
Personal Learning Networks are simply created by first developing a subject that appeals to you. Then create a place where all the information can be stored or added as you explore. Creating bookmarks of your favorite places to explore, such as Twitter or Delicious, will also be helpful. In one of my sources for this assignment, A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment, the seventh grader does a great job at showing how she created and bookmarked her PLN for easy access. Currently, Twitter is my only PLN. I have a twitter specifically for this class and I have followed many other accounts that have to do with education. I have followed accounts like: @drjohnhadley, @Edutopia, and@thenerdyteacher. Now that I have learned about PLN, I plan to add and explore more ways to be proactive as a future educator. I know I will be able to depend on my PLN for assistance, ideas, and ways to grow in my profession.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Project 4 - C4T 1
The first blog that I commented on Mrs. Gerin posted on Sunday, January 4, 2015. In this post, Mrs. Gerin shares with readers about a website that she found called Quill. When she found this site, she purchased an easel for her classroom. Mrs. Gerin explains how useful this product is in her classroom. She shows images of the easel and all the convenient compartments that it has available. As I commented on Mrs. Gerin's blog, I had nothing but positive things to say. As a future educator, I feel it is important for me to learn about helpful things that I will need to purchase for my classroom. She gave me a great idea for something to add to my classroom one day. Even more importantly, she shares the website where she purchased the easel. The website has decent prices and has lots of things to explore and buy.
The second blog that I commented on by Mrs. Gerin is called International Dot Day. This blog was posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2014. In this post, Mrs. Gerin writes about International Dot Day and how she brought it to life for her students. She shares the book "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds to her students. Her school asked the teachers to read the book to their children and do an art project with coffee filters. She was unable to get the book so she allowed her children to view a YouTube video instead. She then gave all of her students a coffee filter and paint then allowed them to create their own dot. I commented on Mrs. Gerin's post. I shared with her that I had heard of International Dot Day and that I thought it was great! I feel it is a great way to encourage students to be themselves and to be creative in their own way. It also had a important lesson of teaching students to make their own mark on the world. I also shared with her that I had seen many different art projects for this assignment, but I loved the creative idea of using coffee filters. I cannot wait to incorporate this project into my classroom one day! Mrs. Gerin's posts are easy to read and have great ideas for teachers. I highly suggest to check out Lana Gerin's For the Love of Teaching!
Project 15
1. WolframAlpha
This site was recommended to me for this assignment. My first thoughts when I visited this site was that it is bright and welcoming. In the left hand corner of the page it says, "Give your brain a quick workout with Wolfram Problem Generator." With this site, you can enter anything you want to calculate or search any general wondering that you have have. When you type something in the search bar, it gives information in depth about the subject. Instead of giving links to other sites for the information, the information is automatically there to read and learn. This site is great for kids because parents or guardians do not have to worry about what type of site links could come up when searching something. The information is there and the site does not take you to any other sites.
2. Bing
Bing is comparable to Google. Many reviewer opinions argue that Bing is better than Google, but that is one's opinion. When on the home page of this site, the top of the screen has a list of things you can search or view. The list has options to search like: images, videos, maps, news, or even history. At the bottom of the home page it shows events, news, or people that are trending. When you type a subject in the search bar, it takes you to images and links to view and learn about the subject you choose. The links that Bing gives you are links to other sites.
3. Ask
Ask is one of my personal favorites of search engines. It is a simple viewed site but is very user friendly! I like search engine because when you have a question, you can simply type in your question as if asking a human. Ask will respond with an answer to your question as well as other sources and links to continue learning about your question. So, anytime you have a question, just ask Ask!
4. DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo is another search engine that has a simple homepage. It has a picture of their mascot, a cartoon duck. Directly under their search bar it says, " the search engine that doesn't track you." If you are an Internet searcher that does not want to be tracked, this is the site for you. This search engine like many others, give you links to other sites to read and learn about the topic you desire.
5. Dogpile
Dogpile is a a site that gets the results of your search from Google and Yahoo. Therefore, you can find or search anything you would on Google and Yahoo and receive the same results.
6. Yahoo
Yahoo is a very busy site. When you go to this site, there is news and weather. The information is very big and right in your face. There are many images and activities to click on. Yahoo is like Google without actually being Google. Yahoo can be very overwhelming, especially if you are unsure what you want to search. The search bar is easy to fine at the top of the page but the rest is very busy and seems chaotic. There are many sites to click into and seems to be unending.
7. Dictionary
Dictionary is a great search engine that I find myself using a lot. It is great for looking up a definition to a word or phrase. It's a quick and easy way to get the exact definition of a word. The information given even uses the word in a sentence for you to understand how it is used. This site also has the use for a thesaurus, translator, Spanish dictionary, and many more useful things.
8. iSEEK
iSEEK is an education search engine. This website targets users such as students, teachers, administrators, and caregivers. It expresses on the homepage that the search engine is safe, authoritative, intelligent, and time-saving. When you search a topic on this site, it gives links to supported sites that will also lead you to learn about your topic.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Blog Post 4
In the first article I chose, it explains that teachers should know and be able to respond to student's questions effectively. Asking Questions to Improve Learning teaches great ways for teachers to ask questions as well as respond to the student's answer in a positive way. This article also teaches to allow the student to respond completely and for the teacher to not interrupt. Even if the student answers the question wrong, it is important to help the student and not make them feel insecure because they answered wrong. The teacher should continue to ask more questions and allow classmates to help the student to continue to brainstorm. This will allow the student to feel more confident and hopefully succeed with the correct answer.
The second source that I viewed was an article by Ben Johnson called, The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom. I absolutely enjoyed this read! Ben Johnson gives a simple but great way to ask the students a question in an effective way. He did some observation in a classroom and saw different ways that the students react when the teacher asks a question. He says when asking a student a question, the teacher should pause for three seconds before saying a student's name so that the whole classroom is thinking and brainstorming for the answer. His method of pausing for a few seconds allowed the brainstorming to begin. I think this is a great idea and I will definitely use this to help my future students interact and be engaged in learning.
It is important to me, as a future educator to know how and when to ask questions to my students. I do not want to create an atmosphere where my students are insecure to answer questions in the fear of being wrong or embarrassed like I was in school. Asking questions in the classroom are important to keep the students interacting and it also helps them to stay on task. Asking questions and having interactive learning causes students to think for themselves. It also creates a more fun and creative learning environment.
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