C4K Summary for September

 My student's name is Auri. His most recent post was about anti bullying. He had posted about a group that had visited his school to talk about anti bullying. He explained what he thought about this group and what they were there for. They talked about anti bullying and how to stop it. In my first comment, I introduced myself, complimented him, and talked some about bullying. In the end of my comment however, I asked  him a question "What are some of the things they told you would help prevent bullying".  

My second student's name is William. His most recent post was about a food invention. He stated he would like to invite pizza chicken strips using ranch, cheese, and pepperoni. In my comment, I introduced myself and what school I attend. I told him that this was a great invention because both of these are awesome foods. I asked him that if he gave it a try to tell me how it tastes.

  My third student's name is Isabella. Her most recent post she is talking about a book she is reading. I love to read and asked her what her book is about. I told her how long I have been reading for pleasure. She had mentioned she finished all three books in the series in three weeks, I mentioned to her that even though I read about a book or two a day now I hated to read anything when I was her age. I also told her I hope she continues to read books because they are a great way to travel to a new world without having to leave your house.

Blog Post # 6 What do you learn from these conversations with Anthony Capps?

• Project Based Learning
• Goal: its not only a means to show what the student has achieved 
• Its shows their excitement in what they are learning 
• Children are interested and motivated, something maybe that related to the kids lives 
• Driven by content
• The students critiqued each other on their work to which letters were sent
• Reflection opportunities
• Not everything is going to go well
• Parents aren't always going to like the projects
• iCurio
• a online tool that can serve a few proposes
• helps student search topics safely also gives information with the ACCS
• Has a storage system, teachers and students can store topics they find valuable
• You can search by criteria
• Could be useful for any student if teacher is comfortable with usage.
• Also has a read aloud feature
• Discovery Ed 
• Available to all teacher in Baldwin County
• Science and Social Studies
• Has illustrations to go with text (uses it to bring text to life)
• Also used for student searches
•  Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers
• Have to be interested in learning yourself
• Teaching is hard, work is not separate from play (Hard work but exciting)
• There are surprises, BE FLEXIBLE
• Start with an end in mind.
• Get students involved
• Reflect
• Don't Teach Tech- Use it 
• Natural for children 
• students are going enjoy using technology to learn
• Don't teach it, let the students learn it. 
• Shareable
• Additional Thoughts About Lessons
• A lesson is at least four layers think
• A year
• A unit size
• The week
• Daily
  

 In the Project Based Learning Project videos, I had learned what the goal was and agreed. Its doesn't just show what the students have learned but also shows their excitement. You can have your students grade each other. The students should be motivated and should be driven by the content. A way to do this is maybe have something that involves their daily lives. Teachers are also faced with parents that might not like the projects that have been assigned, and you have to keep them happy as well. It also helps with reflections on the students work.

  With the iCurio video, I was taught it existed. I had never heard of this website before this assignment. I liked how he told use the purposes he used this for and why he likes it. I learned that the website is safe for the students to use and also gives content that configures to the ACCS. Also because you have to login to use this website you are able to save the things you need in a folder for future use. It is helpful to both teachers and students for this propose. It also has a read aloud functional. You can also search for certain criteria.

 In the Discovery Ed video, I was also taught that this existed, even though I had attended Baldwin County School for K-12 grade. I learned you can use it to bring text alive with illustrations for Science and Social Studies. Also students can use it for research on this subjects.

  In the Anthony-Strange Teacher Tips video, I was taught important things to take into consideration when teaching. You should be interested in learning if you want to teach. You should reflect on what was taught. You should know it is hard work but exciting. You have to be flexible, there are going to be times the lesson is not going to go the way you hoped or there might be another problem that can arise. You should Start with an End in mind. Lastly you should get your students involved.

  In the Don't Teach Tech- Use it video, I was taught that technology is natural to students. Use the technology but don't teach it to them, let them teach themselves. They will be using more advance technology in the future and this gives them a head start by being able to use this now. Technology is shareable. You should introduce it smartly! Do it yourself first.

  In the Additional Thoughts About Lessons video, I was taught  a lesson is at least four layers think. You should think a year, a unit, a week, and lastly the daily. You have to make sure your lesson is teachable within the year and how you should break it down.

Project # 8 Book Trailer

http://youtu.be/B7pp_iACjgs?list=UUt9jI0zInfLZM7OyQ97E0bw

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post #5 PLNs What are they??

Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) are a way to have access to everything you use to learn in one place. You can connect with other teachers and students. It will be a great value when I become a teacher because it will help having all the apps I use available in one location.

In the future, this program will help me as a teacher. It will keep me organized when using programs regularly. I will have access to these websites with only a few clicks of my mouse. I always will be able to add teachers to my PLN so I can see if they have anything that could help me or if I can help them. 

    I decided to use Symbaloo as my PLN. I have already added twitter, Google docs, Google mail, Google drive, and other websites that I have needed in EDM 310. I may also add other programs I use in future classes.

  My first addition to my PLN is going to be the student I have recently been assigned to. Also I will add the teacher from my first assignment and any other teachers I will be assigned in the future. This will give me plenty of practice when I start using this program in the future for teaching.

Source: http://fairystreams.wordpress.com/

Project #7 Part A

My Sentence:   http://youtu.be/Pk6CRTAewKE

My Passion:     http://youtu.be/umxh8Q1xukw

Project 15: Search engines

Search engines:

1. http://www.wolframalpha.com/   This website allows you to search in different ways. You can input an image, data and files. It always gives you a button to be given an examples of many different subjects, for example you can get example and a step-by-step instructions. I think this search engine could be useful for just about anything, including homework. I think I would actually use this search engine in the future.

2. http://www.bing.com/ This search engine would be good for certain information, something specific. You simply ask a question. This will simply give you another website to use for the information you seek. I have used this search engine a few times and I like it for the most part, it is like using Google.

3. http://www.ask.com/  Their website has more then simply a search bar. They have questions of the day and several of them for a few days back. You simply ask a question as you would on bing, but you might have to scroll awhile to find what is was you were looking for.  I have used this website before and I have not liked it. It is a step or so behind Google and Bing.

4.https://www.yahoo.com/  This website is so similar to Google, it is kind of scary. You can have an email account and other things. When you search you can look for information or pictures. I actually used this website for years before I started using Google, and still use it sometimes.

5.http://www.chacha.com/  This website has tabs for many different things. You can search certain topics. You can also connect to Facebook, twitter, Google +, Tumblr. You would not use this as something for homework, but simply as for entertainment. I don't think I would use this at all. I would use Google for all the questions this ask, however, it is efficient.

6. https://duckduckgo.com/   They advertise that this search engine doesn't track you. You could use this for anything, even homework. I think this is a good site but like I have said before I prefer Google.

7.  https://www.ixquick.com/ This website is private, like duckduckgo.com. You can search for anything, including phone numbers, though they are in the process of taking this off the website. I'm not sure I would use this, but it is defiantly efficient.

8. http://www.dogpile.com/   This website would be good for searching for images, shopping, local, the white pages, and the web. It would be good for homework also. It is set up nice and easy to use. I would use it often because of how efficient it was while doing this project.
   Source: http://s1.cdn.memeburn.com/wp-content/uploads/google_logo.jpg

C4T #1 and 2 Liz B. Davis

  Outline:

• new ways to conduct Back to School Night
• Group projects with faculty to help with parents
• helps teachers understand parents better. 
• diverstiy
• parent survey

Comment 1:     
        Lix B. Davis has recently been hired as Director of Curriculum. She is starting a new program at back to school night. She wants to group teachers together from different grades and level of education. When they are paired together. Each pair will have something different to look at, for example one will have a parent survey. Then they will fill out an empathy map. Then the groups will be reconfigured by schools. They will discuss what needs to improve, with 10 minutes to list 100 problems. They will as a group discuss how to fix some of these problems.

     I think this idea is a great one. Even though I don't understand all of what is being said, I know that teachers need to see that they might be doing something wrong or can simply improve what they are doing. Parents don't know much about a teacher and how they are in class, however depending on the parents and students relationship, the parent is going to hear a lot about the teachers. When you think about it the most talked about teacher is not the one you like, but the one you absolutely hated. Is that not why rate my professor was created? So students do not have to take the terrible teachers. I can't wait to hear if this system actually works for what it is designed for.

Comment 2:
  When I reread this blog post so I could refresh my thoughts on this, I realized that I read somethings wrong. I had thought the parents were part of this meeting, however that is not the case. The groups are simply made of just teachers. Though I still agree with this program and how it will work. It seems simple, as long as it is explained well to the participating party.

Blog Post 4: What questions do we ask? How do we ask?

 Outline:

• Questions
• Time-period on thinking
• ask the entire class, not just one student. 
• Make everyone feel smart
• ask questions that relevant, not just random.
•  don't pressure the student
• yes and no questions are okay, but what about a follow up question
• Asking
• never ask if they understand as a whole
• be specific when asking what they understand
• never ask multiple questions, you aren't giving them time to think it through first.
• Switch it up ask different kinds of questions

   We ask questions that make them think, questions that involve what we are discussing. However, we should not immediately pick a student, we should give the class as a whole 7-10 seconds to think about the answer, then call on a student. We should also pick different students, never pick the same student twice until you have asked everyone a question. Why? Simple, when calling on one person, you may give the other kids relief but you have lost them the moment you stopped calling on others. You want to involve the class as a whole so everyone participates and knows the important questions. Also, you want every child to succeed, you yourself are setting them up not to care if you simple label them that way. Why ask if the understand, when clearly they are going to tell you yes simply because that is what you want to hear. Ask this question in a different way, ask them specifically what something is, or something in that manner. Be Specific!! When you ask a yes or no question, you should defiantly follow it by asking a more open-ended question. However, do not ask them at the same time, again it is important to let them think what you are asking through. Maybe have them write it down if they aren't getting it and tell them you will explain it individually to them so they can ask you questions. Never ask the same type of questions, give them something to think about, something they have to put thought into, because really are you not going to want to put that kind of question on a test. Ask these questions the way they might seem them on a test, do not through a random kind of question to your students on test day when they have not seen or heard it. You most likely will not like the results of this method. Be fair when asking questions give them more then two seconds to answer, they may have to think about it longer, but that doesn't mean they don't know it or are not smart. Think of how you want to be asked questions and how you would want your teacher to teach you.                                                     
Source: http://www.clipartpanda.com/categories/question-mark-clipart

Blog Post #3: How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback To Your Peers.

  In a and b, the material was a lot alike. I did learn that when reviewing some one's work you should be considerate. Sometimes you have to be gentle and watch how you phrase what you are saying to a person. You should start by giving them compliments on their work. It will give you the advantage of them actually taking your suggestions seriously when you get to that point. Your peers are your age and you are going to being giving feedback to the class, you should take this seriously if you want them to also take it seriously. After you give your peer some compliments, you should make suggestions on how to better the paper, but be gentle don't put them on the defensive. After you have given your suggestions, you should make corrections. Make sure your corrections are detailed. You want your peer to understand what you are saying so they can fix it properly.

  In c, the video was funny and cute. The message on this video was helpful though! You see all kinds of reactions when giving feedback from a peer. I'm not going to lie I have always hated it when teachers have others students grade my work. I mean who doesn't get embarrassed when they don't do well? However, when your peers are looking over your work to help you better your work. The kids in this video have given valuable points about how you, yourself, should be as a peer when giving feedback. You don't want to be mean but you don't want to be to nice without being aggressive with your ideas. You should make sure that you give enough detail and make sure you answer their questions when they don't understand what your saying.

   When giving your peers feedback, be reasonable, be understanding, be firm, make sure you read everything well.

Source: http://burrellbuzz.com/2011/09/burrell-re-evaluates-grading-scale/