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.