Blog Post 16: Final Reflection

C4T Summary #4

I commented on Larry Ferlazzo's blog. He post a new blog every day, several times a day. It was hard to go back and find the specific post that I commented on because there are so many that have been posted since then, but Mr. Ferlazzo does a great job keeping up with the latest news and involving familiar social media sites such as Twitter in his blogs.

I really like Julie Reuter's blog Student PLN's. I added her as a resource for my personal PLN. She introduces PLN's to younger students which I believe is a great idea because they can start building their PLN's from an early age. She had the fifth graders help the first graders which I thought was really sweet. When little kids work with bigger kids they look up to them, have fun with it, and learn so much more. It is very important that we have people to learn from, and I explained that I have learned to much from Dr. Strange in EDM 310. She seems really fun and very positive, and I really enjoyed reading her blogs.

This week I commented on Mrs. Sharon Davison's blog A Celebration of Learning. She is a Kindergarten teacher and finds creative ways to keep her students families involved in the classroom. For example, one parent could not make it so she used FaceTime and the student were able to virtually share her work through the phone. There are several creative ways to keep the parents involved, and it is very important they see what their students are learning in the classroom. Mrs. Davison states, "Bringing families together to celebrate and connect is what is important. Learning is for everyone."

Blog Post 5 Part B

I was not familiar with Personal Learning Networks (PLN's) until I started EDM 310. It was very new to me, and I found it very interesting, helpful, and creative. There are several ways to build PLN's, but I found a few different websites to be very helpful for me.

Pinterest, Twitter, and Blogging are great ways to begin PLN's. Pinterest allows you to search boards from other pinners, some are current teachers and students, and you can create your own boards. When I searched "Personal Learning Networks", I found all kinds of ideas. It was great for me because I was a beginner and just starting out. The more I searched, the more I was learning, and getting new ideas for myself and my future classroom. Twitter is a great resource because it allowed me to follow up on college-level teachers such as Dr. Strange and Mrs. Vitulli . These teachers are great resources and are always tweeting links that are great for adding to your PLN. Twitter is useful because you can post one thing and it immediately gets around and so many people around the world can see it! It is a great tool for learning and interacting with people around the world. Blogging has become very popular around the world and is great for building any PLN's. I am so glad Dr. Strange introduced us to blogging. For example, our weekly C4K comments. I love doing those because we get to interact with different students around the world and get to know them through their blogs. Our C4T comments are good resources because most of those teachers are also on Twitter and constantly blogging and posting links and articles that are helpful to add your PLN. I commented on Julie Reuter's blog Student PLN's. She introduces PLN's at a young age, which is a good idea so they can starting learning and building up their PLN.

Personal Learning Networks are really fun, and I am glad I got to learn more about them. I can not wait to add more resources to my PLN and learn so much more along the way through my teaching career. I cam so excited to watch my PLN continue to grow as I become more experienced with teaching and become an educator.

November C4K Summary

The kids blog we do every week is my favorite part of this class. I love being able to see what children are doing around the world in other countries. Their blogs are very interesting and creative, and it is so fun to see what they write about.

Week 1: Keanan was the first student I was assigned to this month. His blog was called the "Elephant Whisperer", based on the book. He described the emotions of the elephants from the book. I was very expressed because he understood exactly what was going on in the book. He made great predictions on what the elephants what do next. He was very open minded and did a great job on his blog.

Week 2: My next student was Channing. He listed four qualities of himself and his major one was dedication. I explained to him that was a good quality to have, the importance of dedication, how he will need dedication to be successful throughout school and his career.

Week 3: My student is Megan from Mrs. DeBuhr's class. As I was reading her blog, the first thing I noticed was her outstanding, strong use of vocabulary. She was using words such as stupefies, myriad, and ominous. It is the ending of her schools first quarter, and she has accomplished all of her goals. She says she focused really hard on all of her assignments and made good grades. Her new goal for the second quarter is to become a writer and live up to her full potential in writing. I am sure she will maintain to keep a steadfast mind, focus on school, maintain her good grades, and achieve her second quarter goals.

Blog Post #14

I chose Ken Robinson's The Importance of Creativity video. I believe creativity is very important and should be apart of every schools classroom. My process of picking out which video I wanted was looking at the title. Since I strongly encourage creativity in the classroom, I knew it was a video I would be interested in. I was right! It is definitely a very important, interesting teaching video.

As Sir Ken Robinson states, all kids have tremendous talents and we have a tendency to shut them down. He also states, "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original." I played this quote four times because I found it to be very inspiring. As students start growing older, they get embarrassed from being wrong and are becoming followers, not leaders. Instead of teaching our students it is okay to mess up, some education systems are teaching them that mistakes are the worse things you can make, and educating them out of their creativity zones. He also made a good point that every education school system around the world has the same subjects and mainly focus on math and languages, and at the bottom are the humanities and the arts. He used the example dancing. There is not a school in the world that teaches dance like they do math, and I believe that is taking them away from using their creativity.

I will allow my students to use their creativity in my classroom. I believe allowing them to do so will boost their self esteems, become more involved in the classroom, and become more fluent within the arts. What many teachers do not realize is that there are numerous ways to encourage your students to use their creativity and are able to include it in a math, reading, or science lesson. Humanities and Art is very important and should be taking seriously in the classroom.
I was a student who absolutely hated PE class. I despised running a mile around the football field, push up competitions, and being sweaty with the boys. It was just not my thing. I am currently taking HS 365, and I have learned to love PE and value how much it really helps our students. There are so many fun ways to incorporate fun PE activities such as jump roping, swinging, playing with the parachute, and racing on the scooters to allow our students to let loose and give them the exercise they need. Being in a classroom all day can get boring, and our students become tired and do not want to focus on their work, and that is where these fun, creative PE activities come in. I believe it boost our students creativity, and it is something all teachers should keep in mind.

Project #12 Part B

Blog Post 13

What are some effective ways you can teach Special Education children in the classroom?

1.) Watch this video: Teaching Special Education

2.) Watch this video: Tips for a Special Education Classroom

3.) Read this article: Effective Teaching Strategies for Special Education

4.) Write a post on what you have learned about to effectively teach Special Education students. Is it something you are interested in?

Growing up, I knew I wanted to be a first grade teacher. I had made my mind made up, and there was no way anyone could make me change it. My senior year of high school, I was a fourth grade assistant, and I was able to work with two special needs children. At the time, I was completely lost and had no idea what I was doing or how to work with them. As the year progressed, I was starting to understand how to talk to them, teach them, and explain things in the way they would understand. About a month or so in their classroom, the teacher relied on me to teach them everything they were falling behind on. They were becoming more dependent on me, which was completely fine, because I absolutely loved being able to help and teach those sweet students. I realized that first grade was not my calling, Special Education is. I did not want to graduate and leave those sweet, smart, hysterical children behind. I love being able to go back to my home town and see their sweet faces, and hear their stories of how much they love school and their teachers. It puts the biggest smile on my face seeing special needs children becoming such inspirations not only to me, but in the classroom. Yes, it can be a very challenging job, but it is definitely the biggest reward you can receive.

Teaching Special Education Mrs. Vogelsorg knew she wanted to be a Special Education teacher since she was in middle school. In this video, she admits that there are days when there is a challenge of small progress being made and days when they are all progressing. She says incorporating the Smart Board in the classroom really gets the students attention and it is a positive and fun thing for them.

Tips for a Special Education Classroom Krista Blessing is a Special Education pre-school teacher. She list very important tips on how to run a Special Education Classroom: step up your room and make sure you have adaptive materials for your students, be aware of children's responses incase a certain scent makes them upset, talk to parents to see what upsets the students and what makes them happy, and follow the IEP's.

In the article, Effective Teaching Strategies for Special Education, I learned many strategies for Special Education. It is very important that the teachers allow a break in-between assignments to let the students refocus and re-gain their concentration. Also, adding creativity to your classroom, lessons, and homework will help them become more advanced in the classroom.

Project 10: Interviewing A Teacher

Blog Post 12

C4T Summary #3

I had the privilege of commenting on Larry Ferlazzo's blog post both weeks. He blogs every day, and it really grabbed my attention on how useful blogging really is. Mr. Ferlazzo's blogs are very interesting, and I strongly encourage everyone to check them out!

The first post I commented on was about blogging. I had explained to Mr. Ferlazzo that I was introduced to blogging in EDM 310, and how far I have improved with blogging. It has become very popular, and I will use it in my classroom.

The second post I commented on was Learning About Thanksgiving. As the holidays are slowly moving in, our kids are getting more and more excited. There are so many crafts we get to do with our kids that brings out their creativity and imagination. This site has numerous sites for worksheets, crafts, and you can make lessons from the sites about history of Thanksgiving. This will help the younger students better understand Thanksgiving, instead of it being a holiday where everyone gets together to eat until they pop.

Project 14

Lesson Plan

Calendar

Rubric

Checklist

As a group, we decided to have our students create a history project on our founding fathers. Each group will be assigned a founding father, and will work together to research their father and create a Board Builder project they will present to the class. The students will be given an option to dress up as their founding father for bonus points.

Blog Post #11

Brian Crosby is a fourth grade who does not take it easy on his students. He is not just satisfied from high test scores, he makes sure his students are understanding the material. Not only did he teach his students from their text books, the also used charts and had them complete numerous, fun activities. He also had his students blog. He would have them record their experiments and upload them in their blogs. The most important thing I learned from Mr. Crosby was to not rush our student into learning material. It is important to make sure they understand it, and having high test score results does not mean they understand it. He exposes his class to parts of the world like Dr. Strange exposes us when we do our C4K comments. At first I was all confused about why we had to comments, but now I love interacting with these kids, and seeing how our work interacts with what we are learning about.

Paul Anderson teaches AP Biology in Bozeman, Montana. He decided to do a something a little different in his classroom, so he decided to do blended learning. Blended learning is mobile, online, and classroom learning all blended together into one. Mr. Anderson says you need six things: a question to hook students attention, investigate and experience, a video for independent learning, elaboration, meet with students in small groups to review, summary, and a quiz to test them on everything they have learned.

Mark Church's video shows us some techniques he uses in the classroom. He puts his students into groups and gives them questions to talk about within their group. Each group will come up with a headline that represents their topic, and each group will present their headline. To completely finish the project, all of the headlines will be combined together to make a bulletin board. I believe this is a great way to introduce collaborative learning. It will get students familiar together in groups, and have them work as a team instead of individually and one person doing all the work.

Super Digital Citizen

Sam Pane is a fourth grade teacher who shows us the importance of teaching out students to safely use the internet to gather the information they need. The internet is becoming more popular in the schools, and I believe it is every important we as teachers teach our students how to properly use the internet. He also mentions how important it is for students to keep their information private. Pane also had his students use a website to create their own Digital Superhero. It was a fun way to learn in their own imaginative, creative situation what the superhero would do to save the day. I thought this was a cute idea to get the students involved in using technology. In this video, the students looked like they were having a blast, and I hope my students enjoy this activity as much as his did. Mr. Pane also states that it is important to create projects that are about the students because it makes them more meaningful. As teachers, we will be doing countless projects, so this is very important to keep in mind. We want our kids to have fun in our classrooms, but also remember and learn the material.

Project Based Learning

In this video, Dean Shareski teaches us how we can combine different subjects into one Project Based Learning. We learn how three teachers in Canada use Project Based Learning in their classrooms. Teachers integrate subjects like Math and Science or History and English with technology. I learned in this video that research shows integrated learning through projects which allows students to be more involved and provides them opportunities to deeper understand material. The teachers in this video stated it took time for Project Based Learning to be beneficial. I believe giving students time to complete their PBL will give them time to create something on their own, be successful, and proud of their work they have accomplished.

Roosevelt Elementary PBL

This video shows how PBL is really growing in schools and within the classrooms. There are five things PBL means in Roosevelt Elementary: in depth learning, integrated thematic instructions, lessons that are based on “real-world” problems, research driven, and presentations. They use Project Based Learning in groups and individually, which allows students to think for themselves. As students get older, they will not always have someone there holding their hand. This is a good way to get them going motivated and motivating themselves. I also like how they focus on public speaking skills at such a young age. In college, we have to take a public speaking class, and it is intimidating for so many people to stand up in front of a class and give a speech. As the teacher's at Roosevelt Elementary School said "It's not easy. It's a lot of work for teachers." I believe as long as our students are happy, having fun, excited to learn, involved in the class, and comprehending what we are teaching, that is all that matters.

Project 12 Part A

October C4K Summary

I am so thrilled I get to read these post every week. This is my favorite part of EDM 310, and I love seeing how creative these kids are. They are so cute, and I definitely get a good laugh at how humorous mine are. Being able to interact with these kids around the world throughout the week, reminds me why I love teaching so much!

Week 1:

My student was really concerned about how he was going to make his mark on the world. He was really upset because he was getting older and he had not figured out how to achieve the mark he wanted to leave. I had explained to him that he was so young and has so much more to experience in life. Once he got a little older and gets to experience the world, his mark will just come to him and will forever remain on the world. I told him not to worry, he has plenty of time to figure it out, and to enjoy life while he is still young.

Week 2:

My student Bella told me everything about herself. She loved basketball, volleyball, horses, and dogs. She also liked to go shopping and making crafts. We had a lot in common and really connected. I explained to her that we were a lot alike. I also like animals, shopping, and crafting. I also told her that my sister plays all of the same sports she does, and I was just a cheerleader in high school. She was really fun to get to know, and her blog was very enthusiastic and entertaining.

Week 3:

My student really cracked me up! She had to identify things in something the class had to read. She began explaining a few things and came across a bride and a groom. She had mentioned in her blog post how one day she wants to be a bride. I told her we both have the same dream, and I hope one day she gets to fulfill that dream.

Week 4:

Owen is a six year old student at PT England School in Auckland, NZ. He is in Class 7, and Mrs. Jacobsen's teacher. His blog post this week was on the importance of fitness and exercising. He explains that exercising keeps your body strong and fit, and fitness means having the energy to work and play. He also did a little research, and says that exercising help you relax, sleep better, and stay fit. Owen also says, "You need to move it!" If you need any motivation to go to the gym, I strongly recommend you read this post! I am so proud of him for encouraging others to be healthy.

Blog Post #10

Little Kids...Big Potential

In this video, the kids talked about how much they loved blogging and how it improves their work. We have done a blog post on positive peer reviewing, and at the beginning of this video a kid mentioned to always say nice things so you do not hurt other peoples feelings. That is a good point to keep in mind! As teachers, I am sure we will experience a situation like this one day in our classroom.

Interviewing with Mrs. Cassidy

Dr. Strange asked us to watch all of his interviews with Mrs. Cassidy. She has been involved for awhile, even with her first graders. Technology has been very effective for me and is the importance of our EDM 310 class. Mrs. Cassidy mentioned in her videos that she SMARTboards and blogging. Once again, blogging is such a common, powerful technology tool that fulfills the excitement our kids have to learn. I plan on using both SMARTboard and blogging in my classroom because I want my kids to enjoy learning and be excited to learn and use our technology tools. I do not know why, but kids love SMARTboards. It is easier for them to concentrate more when you as a teacher are doing something they like too, and they can play on it for certain activities. They really liked getting involved, especially with technology. I has never heard of blogging until I entered EDM 310, but it has helped me in so many ways, and I believe my students will definitely benefit from it just as much as I have. In the first video, some of the kids had mentioned blogging has helped them with their writing skills, reading skills, and they get to interact with other people and read their comments. Mrs. Cassidy has done such a great job with introducing technology to the first graders. Having them learn and use technology while they are young, will help them become more advanced with technology as they become older.

Blog Post #9

Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning

In this article, Ms. McIntyre surprised her students with a project. Throughout the article, it gives ideas for teachers to include Project Based Learning. The most important things to remember about Project Based Learning is: a clearer understanding of the topic; a driving question to focus their efforts on the project; allowing your students to have a voice and a choice when designing and creating their project; allow the students to build their 21st Century skills, such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and their use of technology; feedback and revision, teach them how to us rubrics to critique other's work; and a publicly present analysis. These are great factors we need to keep in mind when we are working with Project Based Learning activities.

Project Based Learning for Teachers

This is a video that explains why Project Based Learning is useful. The four C's, collaboration skills, communication skills, critical thinking skills, and career and life skills are great ways to teach our students how important PBL's really are. Project Based Learning is inquiry based, open-ended, problem solving, and personalized. It is also important to question, investigate, share and reflect. These are all very important skills for students to use because not only will they be using it now, they will be using it the rest of their lives.

What Motivates Students Today

Most students feel motivated when teachers give them positive encouragement on their work. It makes them feel like they have accomplished something, and it makes them want to continue do better in school. Students who get compliments for good work and good effort, tend to work harder because they might not be getting that attention and motivation they need at home. This video really opened my eyes that all kids, every single one of them, need to be given compliments. It brought to my attention that maybe the students who do not perform their best within the classroom may feel discouraged or frightened by their work. For example, if you compliment the same students repeatedly and leave out students in the classroom, the students who are not performing real well may feel as if their work is always wrong and the teacher hates them. It is important that we as teachers realize our students do have future goals, and it is our job to encourage them to reach them.

21st Century Educational Technology and Learning

In this article, it list ten collaboration tools that are great for Project Based Learning. All of these sites are really helpful, and I strongly encourage you to view this website and take notes because one day it will become very handy as PBL becomes popular within the classroom. The site that stood out the most to me was Google Docs because Dr. Strange has us using it a lot in EDM 310, which I am now thankful for because I know how to use it to create rubrics which are useful for Project Based Learning. Also, I played around with Todays Meet for a little while and found it really helpful for Project Based Learning activities. I discovered numerous ways engage learning in the classroom, and it does not take time away from your class for your students to create an account. It is quick, simple, and a good source.

New Ketchup Cap

Tyler Richard and Jonathan Thompson are two seniors from North Liberty High School who really like ketchup. They got really tired of water coming out, which caused to mess up their food, so they decided to tackle the problem. After plenty of research, they invented a new ketchup cap that captures the water and releases ketchup without you having a soggy hotdog or hamburger bun.

Implications and Teaching Opportunities for Camera Use in Teaching Learning

44 Smart Ways to Use Smartphones in Class

I got my first phone, which was a flip phone, when I was thirteen. My parents bought it for me for emergencies and I always stayed after school for cheer practice. At first, I only used it to call my friends, but then texting become really popular. I wanted to be cool so I started using the Internet for MySpace, which is super old now. I ended up with a $1,300 phone bill and got my phone taken away for two full weeks. I thought I was literally going to die, but at least I got it back. I got my first smartphone, a Droid Razor, but then later switched to the phone I still have iPhone 5 (but I can upgrade to the 6 in December). My phone is always in my hand, always! I do not leave it anywhere, it is my prize possession. I use it for texting, calling, keep up with all of my social media, the Internet, to cover up awkward moments, everything! I do not believe phones should be banned from the classroom; however, there should certainly be a limit.

There are many benefits for allowing your students to use their cell phones in class. There are several schools that cannot afford computers or iPads for every student in the classroom and the library can only hold so many. Allowing students to use their cell phones for research or other projects would be beneficial to them, the teacher, and the students who do not have cell phones could use the other sources provided.

This day in age, all smartphones have cameras. Everyone has to capture the perfect moment and post it to all have their social media. Once again, having a camera on your phone can be very beneficial and make learning fun for your students. For example, when your learning about different plants or insects, you can have your students go outside and take pictures.

Project #9

Blog Post #8

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Mr. Pausch is such an inspiration. For all of the elephants in the room, Mr. Pausch received some tragic news. The doctors told him he only had three to six months to live. Even though he received such terrible news, he still had such a funny, uplifting, positive attitude about it and he did not let it stop him from doing what he loves, teaching and helping others. In this video, Mr. Pausch is very big on achieving your dreams and enabling the dreams of others. He explains the importance of workikng hard to get yourself where you are today and in the future. "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." He believed children should have a fun experience of learning and explained you can do that with project based learning, which allows students to express their creative side. Mr. Pausch has taught me so much just through one lecture. I will forever keep this inspirational information in my future. This is by far the best video we have gotten to watch in EDM 310, and I can now say I had the privilege of getting to know Mr. Pausch through his lecture.

C4T #2

Blogging in the Literacy Classroom by Kathleen Morris

She states, “The concept of literacy education has changed as technology has evolved. It is no longer enough to teach students how to read books and write on paper.” In our EDM 310 class, Dr. Strange has told us this repeatedly. At first, I thought he was completely wrong, but the more I do my blog assignments, the more I learn he is right. In this blog, Mrs. Morris has really opened my eyes to how influential blogging really is. Throughout the blog, she talked about creating digital portfolios instead of journals. I thought that was an excellent idea! As technology becomes more advanced, we as teachers have to keep up and be able to teach with today's technology to keep our students interested. Blogging is a fun, useful way for both technology and literacy integration to become a student motivator. Mrs. Morris has been blogging with her students for six years. She knows exactly what it takes to keep her students enthused to learn. She is more than an inspiration to me and all of the future educators out there. Her blogs are very rewarding and you will learn so many new techniques involving today's technology in your classroom. If you have not read her blog, I strongly encourage you to do so.

Project #7 Part B

Project 13

As a group, we decided to have our students complete a project on the solar system. They will be split into groups, and each group will be assigned a planet. The students will be researching their planet and will be required to complete an iMovie presentation.
PBL Lesson Plan

PBL Checklist

PBL Rubric

PBL Calendar

Blog Post 7

We All Become Learners
In this video, Mrs. Bennett talked about the new dynamics of learning. The dynamics of teaching are teachers teaching students, students teaching each other, and students teaching teachers. Like Dr. Strange says, everyone becomes a learner and a teacher. I love that motto because neither the teacher nor the student will know everything about every subject, no matter how many times they go over it and study it. This gives the teacher and the student the ability to switch roles and help each other on what they did not know.
iPad Reading Centers
In this video, the teacher recorded her student reading a few sentences. After he was done reading, he played the video of himself reading on the iPad to see if he had made any reading errors. I thought that was a good idea because it allows the students to see themselves reading at their own paste instead of rushing them and making them nervous, which causes them to make more reading errors. I will definitely use this technique with my students in my classroom. It was a great idea and will be very useful!
Mrs. Tassin's 2nd Grade Class Video 1 and Video 2
She had her students share their Board Builder Projects. She had them introduce themselves and name their resources. Their videos included PBL (Project Based Learning), which I have been learning so much about and how useful it is becoming in the classrooms today.
How To Make An Audio QR Code
Mrs. Bennett explained thoroughly how to make QR codes. She had mentioned that teachers use this technique because they have found that their students listen and pay attention to their reading story when it is their voice that has been recorded and being read to them. This is a very easy and fun way to improve reading skills or record lectures for your class.
Poplet As A Center
Poplet is a free app that anyone can download. This would be a good activity to do when your students are in reading groups. This apps helps the students break down the book they are reading and makes sure they understand the vocabulary and can comprehend what they are reading.
Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten
At first, I thought iMovie was pointless and did not understand why Dr. Strange made us do all these little projects using iMovie. After watching this video, he and Mrs. Bennett have made me realize why iMovie is important and useful in todays classroom. I want to be a Kindergarten teacher, and Mrs. Bennett gave my several ideas for my classroom. This video really opened up my eyes and taught me how to use creative and fun ways to teach with iMovie. It worked about perfect with the grade level I want to teach.
Alabama Virtual Library as a Kindergarten Center
In this video, she explained to the students how to log in to the Alabama Virtual Library through the app and website. She continues so explain what you can do on the website and how to search for books. This is an easy way for the students to get use to finding books that interest them on their own.
Mrs. Shirley’s 1st Grade Class
Mrs. Shirley is a first grade teacher at Gulf Shores Elementary. She had her students watch a video about the moon on Discovery Education and write down facts about the moon. They got in groups and created aboard about the material they learned on Discovery Education. Then she explained to the audience step by step how to create boar. This will be great for group projects and presentations in the classroom. It helps the student write down what they are learning without them forgetting, prepares them, and teaches them how to work with a group rather than independently.

Project #8: Book Trailer

Blog Post 6

Anthony Capps is a former EDM 310 student who is using what he learned then in the class in his classroom. By watching these videos, I have learned so much to better myself as a future teacher. I really like Anthony because he is very involved with Project Based Learning, and does not give them information to "burp back" to him. I believe we should limit our students to anything. We should let them go above and beyond for themselves to reach their full potential.

I have learned so much about PBL since taking EDM 310. Anthony had mentioned iCurio, which is a tool that allows your students to search pictures or videos on specific websites that have been filtered. It allows them to save their research in folders so they can keep up with what they are fining. I hope to use this in my classroom.

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post 5

Personal Learning Networks

I had never heard of PLN's until this EDM 310 blog post. Personal Learning Networks are ways students and teachers can gather information about one topic through numerous sources. There are many ways to form PLN's, but I chose Twitter because I believe it is the best way to connect with other educators and resources. I have followed Dr. Strange, EDM 310 students, and other teachers on Twitter. As I become more experienced with teaching, my PLN will become more larger and meaningful. I am so excited!

My Sentence Videos

My sentence is...


My passion is...

C4T #1

Building a Vibrant Reading Program
I was assigned to read Jabiz Raisdana's blog post Building a Vibrant Reading Program. She began to start reading the same books as her students and quickly became involved with young adult fiction. She had stated she was "on the right track" and "had some classroom routines to establish." I absolutely loved her idea and can not wait to start using this technique in my classroom. I thought they were very unique, and I hope my students will be more interested in reading as her students were. I thought the book articles are brilliant, and I hope it helps my students find books they are interested in than the ones we pick out for them or make them read.

The second post I read was by Jabiz Raisdana called Well-Versed in Books. In this article, Jabiz talks about YA Literature and reading what your students are reading. She stated "I owe it to the kids I teach to be well-versed in both the books they love and the books I can find for them to love." I could not agree more. It takes me back to the first post where I stated it helps students find books they are interested in. Both of these post were absolutely wonderful, and I can not wait to start using Jabiz's techniques in my future classroom. I have learned so much!

Blog Post 4

As teachers, our students look up to us and assume that we magically know everything about every subject. Although teachers are not even close too perfect as some might think, we must understand what we are teaching our students. We need to understand our students are human beings just like we are, and they will not understand everything we teach. I believe asking questions is very important to both students and teachers. The teachers need to make sure their students are understanding the material being taught, and the students should not be afraid to ask for help. The more your students are asking questions, the more they are paying attention and learning.

In The Right Way to Answer Questions in the Classroom article, I found the classroom post very helpful. When my students get tired from doing their work, I will try the hook-laden method. I thought that was such a great idea to see who was still paying attention and who was not.

Blog Post 3

Peer Editing and Peer Editing With Perfection Tutorial
In this tutorial, I learned so much that will help me in EDM 310 and in my future classroom. I am so glad I got to watch this video so I can teach my students the importance of peer editing, and how to correctly use it. My students will need constructive criticism, and it is very important they know how to peer edit without hurting other children's feelings. It will be my responsibility as a teacher to explain how the peer editing process works and make sure it does not lead to unnecessary behavior. One important rule I will teach my students is positive feedback and giving compliments. I believe every student should feel confident in their work. No student wants to hear how awful they did or how ugly something looks. There are ways to nicely tell students what they need to improve on. For example: "Wow! You did such a nice job coloring your picture, but next time let's try to stay in the lines a little better." This way, the student feels great in their work, and knows what to improve on next time.
Writing Peer Reviews Top 10 Mistakes
These children are hilarious and certainly know what they are talking about. I loved the code names like "Mean Margeret" and "Picky Patty" to help identify the ways negative peer reviewing can be done. I thought that was so cute! Positivity was brought up when different scenarios were brought up, which brought back my point on why being positive is very important. I thought each example was great and everyone should be thoughtful when it comes to peer editing. I took many notes on this video, and I am going to prevent these mistakes from happening in my career and in my classroom.

Blog Post 2

Dancealot 1.)The central message from the Dancealot video is how to not adequately teach students. The professor was suppose to be teaching the class how to dance. He read word for word from a power point on a piece of a paper, he stood behind the desk and the students could not see the dance movements he was trying to demonstrate, and he did not allow them to participate in the dancing. I do not agree, I think the students should be participating and involved with the dancing than being lectured and falling asleep. I believe if they were being involved and were able to practice the dancing as he was demonstrating it, the students would have been more prepared for their final.

Teaching in the 21st Century 2.)Roberts believed that teaching in the 21st Century means that teaching will be based on technology in our future. It us up to the students to use the technology references, and the teachers should teach the students how to use and explore the resources. I agree that technology is very important in education, but it is the teachers job to make sure their students understand how to use technology and make sure they are using it in the right way. It is so nice to be able to use Google for everything I need, but sometimes I still do not understand things. As a future educator, it is our job to explain to our students the things they do not understand because not everything can be found on the internet.

The Networked Student 3.)The Networked Student concept is virtually students teaching themselves, while their teacher is more of a guide. The teacher used a few lectures, and did not use a textbook at all. She gave all the resources needed so she could teach them without verbally lecturing her students and using the textbook. Although the students do not require a teacher, they are collaborated through an online page and are able to share each others ideas.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts 4.)In Mrs. Vicky Davis' video, she wants her students to empower with each other. Her students are no longer using a pen and paper for learning, they are looking things up and using their technological resources. I believe this is a great practice for the upper levels of elementary. This strategy is great for both visual and hands on learners. I agree with Mrs. Davis' when she said "so many teachers think I need to know everything before I teach it, and that it the absolutely wrong thing to think." It reminds of the first day of my EDM 310 class "In EDM the teacher should teach me and be a learner and I should be a teacher and a learner."

Who's Ahead In the Learning Race 5.) In my opinion, the Kindergartner's are in the race. They have been brought up on MacBooks, IPads, IPhones, and more technology devices. It is easier for them to be able to do all of this stuff because this is what they know. I know I am last in this race. I do have an IPhone, IPad, Smart TV, and all of the other "in style" technological devices, but I also had to learn them because my generation was not born into all of this technology like the younger children are now. Coming from a small town and being a student aid in high school, I know parents do not take homework seriously. By the end of the day they are tired, their child is tired, and they do not make sure their child is doing their homework assignments. It is a struggle for the child, parent, and the teacher. The parents rely on the teacher for all of the school related assignments and teaching them, but when the parents do not enforce their children to do their homework, it causes them to be behind from all of the other students in the classroom.

Flipping the Classroom 6.)Flipping the Classroom is new to me. I have never heard of it until I watched this video, but it is a great idea. Having the students review the information themselves before coming to class will help them better understand the material. If they do not understand the material, the students will be able to ask questions they may have the next day. Since the students know a little more about what is going to be taught, this will help them be more occupied on what is going on throughout class the next day.

Bringing the Locker Room in the Classroom 7.)From reading this article, I have learned that I will not be a perfect teacher, but I will always improve. I want my students to be able to understand that they will not all be perfect students. They will get in trouble, they will make a bad grade, and they will not always understand everything I am teaching, but they can improve themselves and their academic skills. I want my students to understand that it is okay for them to get knocked down a couple of times, but to get back up and keep trying and continue to improve themselves.

Blog Post 1

I have heard quite a few good things about EDM 310. I had heard it took a lot of time, but it very well prepared for upcoming teaching in the classroom. I am very nervous, but excited about EDM 310. EDM 310 is nothing like any other class I have taken in college or high school. In high school, I took a computer class, but I did not learn anything besides what I already had known. The most difficult thing about EDM 310 will be taking the time to do the work because I am taking sixteen hours and working full time, but I will set aside some extra time and find a way to succeed and make an A in this class.

Practice Blog

I. General Information A. Hometown B. Major Interests C. Family II. Education A. Why I want to work in the field of Education B. Educator's work entails III. Passions A. What I like B. What I do not like C. What I want to be better at IV. Extra Interesting Facts
My name is Ashlyn Hubbard, and I am from Dothan Alabama. I am a Junior and majoring in Elementary Education, and I hope to one day become a Kindergarten teacher.I decided to attend USA because my boyfriend of two and half years received an academic scholarship to South Alabama, and I decided to follow him. When I was in high school, I was a cheerleader for ten years. It was hard leaving my small town back home and moving to a big city where we did not know a single person, but it is getting better.

My passions are I love to work. I currently moved to a new job and will start next Saturday. I love to hunt, fish, and go to the beach. I want to be better at driving and speaking in interviews. I recently had my first job interview, but I was so nervous the whole time. What you probably do not know about me is my boyfriend recently surprised me with a Dalmatian fish. I named him Cookies n Cream, and I have fell in love with him. I know it is random, but you are not allowed to have dogs on campus. I am excited about this semester, and I look forward to start my teaching career.

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Source: Photo by Ashlyn Hubbard