Project#16

Final PLN Report

Throughout this semester I have enjoyed creating and using my personal learning network(PLN) via Symbaloo. I became very interested in using my PLN because, as an educator, it is important to keep web resources organized. To help keep my web resources organized I found that when color coding each item in the grid Symbaloo provided. While working on my PLN, I noticed there was a link to make Symbaloo my home page when I open up the internet. I have also been able to add more tiles to my grid, which allows me to instantly be connected to my frequently visited sites. The sights I have added to my Symbaloo was History Channel, VUDU, Pandora, some shopping sites, a bible app website, and Discovery Channel. I know as an educator I would use this resource on a daily basis.

Blog Post #14

2. In the article Teacher Knows if You Have Done the E-Reading, David Streitfeld tells his readers about an electronic textbook called CourseSmart. He described CourseSmart to be beneficial for teachers who desire to help students improve their study habits. This tool can be benefitial to studying because it can allow the student to high light and make notes when at important points. CourseSmart can also help teachers improve in their teaching methods by showing them the students engagement index's, which shows their usage of the electronic textbook.  Further in the article Streitfeld told about how some students had insisted the textbook had "software bugs". He explained how this reaction from students can be comparable to "the dog ate my homework".  With many positive aspects of CourseSmart there are many negative outlooks of using this resource. At the end of the article a man named Mr. Devine says, " We'll ultimately show how the student traverses the book. There's a correlation and casuality between engagement and success".  He began this article by saying many positive aspects of CourseSmart then lead his readers to think about the negative aspects and see if CourseSmart is worth using in the classroom.

3. As an educator I think this this technology could be beneficial to young students who have not learned how to study effectively. This is a great way to see if students with low grades need help with their study habits. Also it is important to remember each student has their own unique way to study. This may not work with every student but it might make a difference in the ways some students study.

4. As a student I would not have a high engagement index. I am the type of student who would rather study from my own notes made in class. I would not be opposed to using CourseSmart because I do believe it would help me stay organized when I need to refer back to the textbook. As a student I would like using CourseSmart because it does not require me to keep pens and highlighters with me at each class meeting.

5. Questions I would ask the teacher:
1. How did you introduce CourseSmart to your students?
2. Do they frequently complain about using this technology?

6. Questions I would ask the students:
1. Do you find CourseSmart helpful with staying organized?
2. Do you think this technology is easy to use?

7. I think this unique technology could be beneficial to young students who have difficulty studying productively. This would give the student an idea of how to study and may help them find a technique that suits their learning needs. With an older student, who has mastered his study technique, there should not be regulations on how their study habits.

Project #15

Blog Post #13

#1
Today I was introduced, via blogger, to Brian Crosby who teaches at Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada. In his blog, he posted the video Back to the Future, which encouraged me to never think a narrow curriculum is the only way to teach students. He began by identifying his students as second language learners who were at risk, and also students of poverty. After learning this, Crosby immediately made a questionnaire for his students with questions, such as, where they lived. Many of the students were not able to answer the questions correctly because they were taught the material needed to pass a test.

In Crosby's classroom, the students were able to work with computers and write in their personal blogs. Crosby informed the audience, in the video, how he was able to get the students excited about learning science and other subject areas. The students enjoyed being able communicate with other students and people around the world about what they were doing in the classroom. This enhanced the students writing and communication skills.

I love learning and hearing about teachers, like Brian Crosby, who are willing to take time and extra effort to
make a difference in their students. Brian introduced his students to technology in a way they were able to shine. His students improved tremendously and became active learners. The students went from being taught how to learn to a teacher who challenged them to learn on their own.  Brian Crosby taught his student to be connected, empowered, active, collaborative, and motivated.

At the end of his lecture, Crosby shared how his students were able to connect with their new classmate who was not able to attend class.  This particular student was diagnosed with Leukemia, but that did not stop Brian. The student was able to interact and learn with her classmates by video feed. I enjoyed learning how Brian Crosby was able to overcome the obstacles in his classroom, and also his determination to teach his students.



#2

Today I watched the video Blended Learning Cycle created by Paul Anderson. Paul introduced this strategy by breaking the words down into blended learning and learning cycle. Blended learning is a combination of using online, mobile, and classroom learning to teach. The learning cycle consist of exploring, expanding, engaging, explaining, and then evaluating. When blended learning and leaning cycle are combined students answer questions, investigate, elaborate, review, and take summary quizzes. I feel the blended learning cycle can be a positive improvement on how teachers present a subject, involve the students, and assess students. As an educator I will be more than willing to implement this particular strategy in my own classroom, and I believe it will help students comprehend what has been taught.

Progress Report: Final Project

In this progress report, on the final project, I would like to describe what my team, the Pigskins, will be creating. As a team we decided to create a movie about surviving the class EDM310. This survival guide will include the top 10 most important steps to surviving EDM310. The team members and I created a list, from the least to the most important, to help future students prepare for the class. The list includes going to class, having proper equipment, making positive comments, working with others, thinking for yourself, not procrastinating, having enough time set aside for classwork, keeping an open mind to new technology, writing grammatically correct, and staying positive. We hope our survival guide will help enhance future students prepare for this class.

Blog Post #12

This is my proposal for a blog post assignment for EDM 310.


For this assignment you will have to be creative and open minded to new ways of taking field trips.

1.Visit the Education World website and write one paragraph about what you have learned about using virtual tours in the classroom. Also, find a virtual tour on the internet and write one paragraph about your experience.

2. Go to the National Museum of Natural History website and take a virtual tour of the Smithsonian Museum. When clicking on the link you will have to click on the device you are using to view the tour. Write two paragraphs about what you have learned while taking the tour and how you would  implement virtual field trips in your classroom.


My Turn:
1. After visiting the Education World website, I now understand why teachers prefer to take virtual field trips with their students. Virtual field trips can be fun for the students and teachers. I personally have never experienced a virtual field trip and I wasn't sure how it would do in a classroom. As an educator I plan to continually learn different ways to teach my students and have them explore, and virtual field trips are a great way of doing this.

As I researched and learned how many different virtual tours there are I found a website called Panoramas. This website is filled with many ideas for virtual field trips all over the world. The locations I decided to view were the seven wonders of the world. This includes the Taj Mahall in India, Great Wall of China, Colosseum in Rome, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Petra in Jordan, Machu Picchu in Peru, and Rio de Janeiro.  I was able to see these amazing locations without having to leave my living room and under each panorama is a description of the locations.

2. While taking an amazing tour in the Nation Museum of Natural History, I was overwhelmed with the number of exhibits and size of the museum. There are three floors of the museum to view and they are all different. The ground floor has Western Cultures, Soils, Orchids, Rastafarian  Coral Reef Crochet, Cyprus's, and gardens. The first floor is filled with information about creatures and their fossils. On the second floor there is a variety of insects, bones, geology, and an incredible IMAX theater.

As an educator I would use this and many other virtual tours throughout the year. Virtual tours, like at the museum, have the ability to give the students schema of history, social studies, and science. Since virtual tours are accessible from any computer with internet I would assign homework to students, have them do classwork for their assigned computers in the classroom, and have a class discussion about the location we are visiting as a class by using a SmartBoard. Virtual field trips are wonderful to implement in the classroom and I will be using this technology in my classroom.

blog Post #11

Today I was able to learn a different approach to teaching by Ms. Cassidy from Moose Jaw, Canada. As a first grade teacher, she used the technology given by the school to provide her students with a background of writing and communicating with technology. As an educator I will use this technique Ms. Cassidy used to teach students how to write complete sentences. She provided the students with blogs and gave them guidelines on what to write. On their blogs, the students were able to see the large amount of people who visited their page. When teaching children about the internet and blogging, there will be parents who are concerned about their child's safety. This is a reasonable and common concern parents have, so as an educator I am to provide the parents with comfort and guidelines which will keep the student safe. There are many benefits to teaching children about technology and its uses. Students who learn at an early age to properly use Blogger, Skype, and other tools, will be responsible and have a schema of technology.

C4K summer for March

This month's comments for kids was entertaining to read and watch. The students were personal in their writings and willing to share their thoughts. The student's post I commented on for C4K#5 was Karnell, who showed his excitement about his birthday as he wrote. The next student I was assigned to, for C4K#6, was Kayla. This student was to inform the reader the connection between her and the character, Lucy from the book A Shade of Vampire. For C4K#7 I read a post written by a young girl named Lilly. She informed the reader about a man who was an inventor then explained the changes she would like to make to her school. Kaylee is the student I was assigned to comment on for C4K#8. Kaylee and her friends created a video about students being bullied and how students are bullying others. I have enjoyed learning about the students and what is important to them.

My comments to the students:
C4K #5
Karnell, Happy belated birthday! I hope it was a wonderful day for you and I hope your birthday wish came true. I love the cake picture because cakes make a birthday fun and delicious. Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work!

C4K #6:

Kayla,

This is a well written post about the connection between you to your character. I often enjoy reading about how characters connect to the reader. Thank you again for writing a great post and sharing about you and your character.  Keep up the great work!

http://kidblog.org/MrSeyfertsClass/f3fe53e3-59a3-450c-ac2c-6cc0fa31a8af/character-to-self-a-shade-of-vampire-by-bella-forrest/#comment-1309

C4K #7:

Lilly,

I enjoyed reading your well written post. I agree with your opinion of William being a successful man. Instead of using expensive materials he improvised and used what he could find. I also enjoy knowing your opinion of school lunches. Changing the schools lunch menu would make an impact throughout the school. Again, I enjoyed reading your post so keep up the great writing!

http://kidblog.org/Harbor7/d57592ab-d1b9-491b-8926-b9711bfbe0c9/ted-talk-3/#comment-719

C4K #8:

Kaylee,

This is an amazing video! I am very impressed with the creativity and technology used to make the video. This video has shown me different ways students are being bullied and bullying others. Thank you for a wonderful video and keep up the great work!

http://kayleescs17.edublogs.org/2013/01/21/bullying-video/#comment-42