Sunday, November 30, 2014

November C4T

First C4T for November

Two weeks ago I committed on a blog written by Henrietta Miller from Sydney, Australia. She recently traveled to New Zealand to explore technology in the primary school system. Ms. Miller wanted to find out if the technology was helping the students with language and literacy. She found that the students take their test online, giving the teachers instant results. She found all the schools in New Zealand were using Ipads, laptops, chrome books, and using a BYOD model. The students and teachers are expected to already know how to use technology in the classroom. Almost all the teachers are using blogs weekly to communicate with the parents. According to Ms. Miller technology in the right hands is a great learning tool. I feel like this is a great idea to use technology in the classroom. By using technology students become engulfed in learning, by hearing, seeing, and interacting through technology.

Second C4T for November

For my second C4T I choose Edna Sackson, who teaches at an International Baccalaureate PYP school in Melbourne, Australia. One question that Ms. Sackson brought up was, "Why don't we abandon report cards altogether?" Since we are using technology in the classroom, why do we still need to send report cards out twice a year. By using facebook, twitter, and blogger teachers are already communicating with the parents on their child's progress. Ms. Edna calls people who communicate through technology "Cloud Grannies", who are people of all ages. I think using blogs, twitter, and facebook would encourage more communication between the teachers and parents. With my ten year old I have to contact the teacher to find out her progress or wait until the report cards.  It would be nice to see how she is doing daily or weekly.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Blog 5 Part 2

I have learned a lot about Personal Learning Networks.  I now use TwitterSymbalooPinterest, and Padlet for my Personal Learning Network. I hope in the future these sites will help me along my path to becoming a teacher. Symbaloo helps me organize my projects and materials; Pinterest helps me to gather important information together; Padlet lets me work on projects with other people and with Twitter I learn new viewpoints and information. I may not be using Twitter as much as I would like right now, but I am planning on expanding my social network. At the beginning of the semester I knew nothing of Personal Learning Network, now it all makes sense and I hope that it keeps growing. I believe different sites will appear along the way and I will explore them to gain greater knowledge to benefit my students.  Learning is a part of life, it is exciting and refreshing, so I will never stop learning. I will use my knowledge that I gained from this class to help improve my teaching and learning style.



Sunday, November 23, 2014

C4K November Summary

My First C4K for November
I read a post by Jacob in Mrs. Myers 8th grade class. Jacob wrote a blog post about product design, where he shows two videos on how to make a small container out of juice bottle caps. In the first video How to Make a Soda Cap Container, a person could make a container to store stuff in for survival.  In the second video Make a "Matchless" Survival Fire Kit showed us how to make a matchless fire starter stored in the Soda Cap Container. I feel these are two really good videos for when you go camping.

Second C4K for November

For my second C4K I read a post by Danielle, who is in Mrs. DeBuhr's 8th grade language class at Kingsland High School. Danielle wrote about blogging for the first time and how she carefully proof reads her blogs before she post them.  When she first found out she had to write a blog she felt "stupefied" now she feels "tranquil".  Reading her blog I feel the same way.

Blog Post 14

According to Teaching Can Be a Profession by Joel Klein we need to change the way we recruit teachers. He states that we need to hire only the top third of our students, and improve academic training for teachers. He also states that teachers are paid the same and it is hard to get rid of incompetent teachers. Depending how long you have been teaching depends on your pay raise. Mr. Klein states that the best teachers are often hired into middle class communities while the poor communities suffer. In the article he states that the late Albert Shanker suggested we make teaching into a profession.

I agree with Joel Klein that we need to change the way teachers are recruited. We should start training them in college to be effective teachers. Teaching should be a profession that offers better initiatives. I do not agree with accepting only the top third of our students, I think we should offer higher quality test instead. Some students may be poor in certain areas but strong in other areas. Offering workshops will help keep the instructors in touch with the newest teaching methods.   Training the teachers in project based learning will help to improve their teaching methods. As stated in the above sentence about hiring only the top third of the students, not all people are geared to teach.

 In today's world technology is taking over, teachers and students are always learning and will continue to do so. Teachers are there to instruct and guide students through the learning process, it is up to the students to learn. A teacher can graduate at the top of their class and still be incompetent.  By training teachers early on, we will improve the quality of teaching and learning.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Project #12 B Smartboard

Group 8 Smartboard Presentation 12B


Blog Post 13

Answer these questions after reading Pros and Cons of Allowing Digital Devices in the Classroom and Tablets vs. Textbooks. Watch the video Mobile Devices in the Classroom.  You can also use other websites to support your answers.
1. What are the pros and cons of smartphones in the classroom?
2. What are your thought on tablets vs. textbooks.
3. After reading these articles will you still use technology in the classroom? Why?

Smartphones in the Classroom
Pros
1. In case of an emergency students can call their parents.
2. Students can look up information on their smartphones for a class project.
3. Students can find new and exciting ideas and projects.
4. Students can excess instant videos, music and images.
5. Social information - students can share information with each other.
Cons
1. The EPA discourages too much exposure to video screens, which could harm people.
2. Students can excess material that is not monitored by the school.
3. Child predators and cyber bullying can hurt students and it can get worse.
4. Some people are concerned that students will stop interacting with their peers and rely on electronic devices instead.

Tablets vs. Textbooks
Pros
1. Tablets help students learn faster.
2. Tablets can hold up to a 1000 books on 1 gigabyte, which reduces storage space.
3. E-books are cheaper than a textbook.
4. Tablets can excess information that is not in a textbook.
5. Textbooks are heavier than tablets and has been known to cause back-pack injury.
Cons
1. Tablets are more expensive than textbooks.
2. Some homes do not have sufficient broadband usage for tablets.
3. Tablets are expensive to fix.
4. Tablets can freeze, crash, or get hacked.
5. Tablets have too many distractions for classroom use.



Using tablets in the classroom will give the students a wide range of information than from a textbook. By using their smartphones, students can talk with people from different countries to get an idea of what the world around them is like. In an earlier video, Anthony Capp mentioned that you should always have a backup plan just in case an emergency occurs.  You never know when the electricity will go off or the tablet quits working, so you should always be prepared with something non-digital.  Having lectures with open-ended questions, project based, and technology is a great way in directing our students for the future.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Post C4T Teacher #3

First Blog  National Day on Writing October 20

Anna cockerille wrote about the National Council of English Teacher's sixth annual National Day on Writing. In her blog she gave some ideas on how to celebrate NCTE which included:  Chalk-A-Bration and Theatrical Shorts. Ms. Cockerille mentioned that this year's theme is "Landscape of Knowing". In conclusion to her blog she made a suggestion to form a group with your older students and do a Moth-Style story session.

Second Blog Work Smarter

While grading papers Ms. Anna Cockerille  would make suggestions for the student to fix them, but some of the students were confused or could not read her writing. So she decided that organization and elaboration matter the most when writing papers. Organization is how the paper is put together, and elaboration is the amount of information that fills the paragraph up. When reviewing a student's paper you should concentrate on these two categories to help the student become a better writer. If you want to review one item at a time, it is up to you.  Knowing what your students need to work on, you could divide the paragraphs up into sections.   Take your time in grading the papers and do not feel overwhelmed with the task.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Project 14 - Project Based learning 2





Links

Checklist
Lesson Plan
Calendar
Rubric

Blog Post 11

What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?

In the video Back to the Future the students watched a hot air balloon take off, the movement, and landing, then Mr. Crosby had the students write a story about them being the hot air balloon. The students posted their stories and pictures on their blogs in a story format. Having these students become the hot air balloon helped them to learn about the air currents and the students had fun creating their stories. Mr. Crosby is teaching his students to write, share, tell stories, articulate orally, getting feedback, and connecting globally to other people.




Watching Teaching Digital Citizen by Sam Pain, students learned that using the internet they need to be respectful, responsible, and not to give out personal information.  Mr. Pain had the students create a superhero to convey being a good digital citizen.  Students created a comic strip using pictures of themselves, their superheros, and a situation of not being a good digital citizen.  In these comics the superhero would tell the students what not to do.  The students seemed to enjoy doing this project and it helped them learn what to do and not to do on the internet.


By watching  Blended Learning Cycle I learned that Mr. Anderson introduces the subject with a driving question, which gains the students interest.  Then he has the students investigate the question and elaborate on it.  Next the students discuss any questions they have with Mr. Anderson.  Finally the students can take a quiz until they understand the subject.  By having blended learning the students can research the material on their own, watch classroom videos, and speak to the professor.  This gives the students extra learning material instead of just lectures.  And watching Roosevelt Elementary's PBL program I learned that project based learning gives the students in-depth learning, integrated thematic instruction, real world problems, and teaches them to research and present their presentations. These teaching methods help the students to learn in-depth information and the students enjoy the accomplishments after completing them. Teachers now have to instruct the students how to use the media and equipment for learning. If the students need help the teachers are their to guide them through any problems they have, which includes acdemic questions. Teachers and students are teaching each other new and exciting information everyday.