Blog Post 15

MY END OF THE YEAR FINAL REFLECTION

Summary of Final Project 16

This was a group project done with my group, Paris: Jordan Pritchett, Monique Nettles, Pearl Johnson, and myself. Our project was done in iBook and had a Disney theme. It was titled "Where the Magic Happens". We, as a group, really enjoyed working on this project. Going through everything that we have learned and done throughout this semester was fun. Reading through our blogs and seeing how much we have advanced blogging wise was interesting. I enjoyed seeing my progress throughout this semester. At the beginning of our book, we had a group picture then an about me. We chose a Disney character to have as our background on our about me and I chose Squirt from Finding Nemo. We incorporated videos and blogs about using technology in our future classrooms. In the beginning of our book, we each had personal photos of our family and friends. It was nice to look at my groups family and friends and discuss who they were and how they were related. It was nice to get to know my group members more than I already have. We made a video on how to intergrate technology in our future classrooms. Everyone in my group, except Monique, are elementary education majors. Monique is a secondary major in English. I enjoyed what she was going to use in her future classroom and how she was going to use it!! Reflecting on what we have done in EDM310 was interesting and fun. I have learned very useful information in this class. I will carry the majority of what I have learned and done in this class. I have thoroughly enjoyed this class and working with my group. I have made some amazing friends through this group work in this class. We worked very well together and I will carry my friendships with them for years!! So two things I will take from this class: amazing friends and information on technology to use in my future classroom. Thank you EDM310!!

C4K for April

C4K #9:

This week I was assigned to Talita from Miss Ouano's class. She talks about her and her classmates going kayaking and baking snacks at a school function. It was a great experiment for her and her classmates.

My Reply

Hi Talita! My name is Caroline Parker and I am a student at the Unversity of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I enjoyed reading your blog post. I;m extremely jealous that your group and leader got to kayak. I've only done that once and enjoyed it. I like how at such a young age, you are already baking cookies and cheese scones. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog. I hope to see more from you soon. Keep up the good work!

C4K#10

This week I was assigned to Martin from Miss Lavakula's class. Martin shows an activity that he did containing Native trees. He also included a rubric that his teacher provided the class. His activity was very colorful!

My Reply

Hello Martin! My name is Caroline Parker. I am a college student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. We are learning about blogging and technology in the classrooms. I enjoyed looking at your Native trees activity that you did. When I was in your grade, I did something similiar to that. Also, the rubric that is there along with your picture is great, and not to mention colorful. That must be how your teacher is grading your Native trees work. I enjoyed looking through your blog. I hope to come across it again soon. Keep up the good work!

C4T #4

C4T #4 Post #1

This week I was assigned to J.F. Hadley. She is a middle school history teacher at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. Mrs. Hadley is also the Faculty Advisor for the Games for Change Club. She is also the author of three articles for ISTE'S Learning and Leading. Mrs. Haley always knew she wanted to be an educator from the very beginning. Also, Mrs. Hadley is the presenter of four different conferences. In her blog, Just Laugh she discusses the day her and her students returned from a school break. The blog was educational, yet entertaining.

My Reply

Hello Mrs. Hadley. My name is Caroline Parker. I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this blog post! I like how you put your students into groups on the second day back. I like the idea of letting students work in groups. They get to put two, three, or four different minds together to come up with one solution/answer. It also can open the students minds to think about something that they might not have thought about. I like how you rethought your reaction to your students that were giggling. Sometimes thats exactly what teachers have/need to do. I enjoyed reading this blog. I hope to come across your blog again soon. Please visit My Blog or the Class Blog.

C4T #4 Post #2

In one of Mrs.Hadley's older post, she discusses an assignment she gave her students before their holiday assembly. This assignement had to keep her students busy for 70 minutes. She gave each group a Tabletop Mapmaker Set from the National Geographic to make a map of Africa. I absoutely LOVE this idea!!

My Reply

Hey Mrs. Hadley! I absoutely LOVE this idea! I am going to have to use this in my future classroom! I think it's great that students work together to put a maap of Africa together. I also, like that it incorporates art. It's multisubjected. It keeps the students attention. I am a future educator to teach elementary grades myself. I believe I will be able to use this task in my future classes. I look forward to it! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this blog post. I hope I come across your blog again soon. Please visit My Blog or the Class Blog

Blog Post #13

This week we were asked to create our own blog post centered around our area of teaching. I am a major in K-6 elementary education. I came up with this idea:

Pick an educational website that you would use in your future classroom. Discuss how you would use this site and how it would be beneficial to your students.

I have a found a website that I can use in my future classroom. Starfall is an educational website that helps students with their phonics, math, and reading. This website also helps students with counting things, learning the alphabet, and spelling unfamiliar words.

I would like to teach anywhere from kindergarden to third grade. In my future classroom I would, of course, use Starfall for reading and math. If I was teaching kindergarden or first grade, I would mainly use Starfall for reading. After a lesson in the classroom, I would then let my students get on the computer to review what we have covered that day. That way my students would be able to practice the sounds of the different letters while reading a sentence as well. This is a great way for my students to learn to read simple words. I think this is a great way to get kids interest into reading at such a young age.

If I was able to get a higher grade, I would use this site for math. It has various ways for students to learn math and count numbers. One thing I am very pleased with, is that this site has a place for math songs. Before teaching a lesson, I would find a song that pertraded to what we were learning and play it. That way, my students would have an insight as to what they are fixing to learn. Then I would, of course, teach my lesson and then on some days let them get on Starfall to reveiw what they have been taught. There are numerous math objectives. It ranges anywhere from learning how to count numbers to multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction to geometry. The math portion could be used for many different levels.

In my opinion, I think Starfall is a great educational learning site for students. I think they would thoroughly enjoy using this site. This website should be used for all K-6 grades, especially the younger ones. The students will be more excited about learning about numbers, how to read, and how to spell.

Project #12B

Blog Post #12

What assisitive technology is available to me as a teacher?

Blog Post #11

What Can We Learn About Teaching And Learning From These Teachers?

Brian Crosby: Back to the Future

Mr Crosby is a Elementary teacher, who has been teaching for 30 years. He is currently teaching 4th grade at risk students. In his video he tells us that he wants his students to learn outside the box. He helps his students to do this by doing different projects with them. One of the projects that was done was a science experiment where they sent a hot air balloon up in the air and recorded how high the balloon went before bursting. While conducting this project they took pictures, collected data from the internet, blogged what they saw, and even created stories describing the experience as if they were the actual balloon. After posting their experiences to their blogs and developing their personal learning networks, the students began to get people from all over the world looking at their post. From this video we learned that it does no matter how limited a student past learning was and that it does not determine their future learning. We also learned that students learn mostly from active learning, learning while doing and to be an educator you have to empower and motivate your students to learn.

Paul Anderson: Blended Learning Cycle

Paul Anderson is an AP Biology teacher at a school located in Montana. Anderson introduces the concept of the “Blended Learning Cycle”. The cycle is online but uses classroom learning techniques. With this concept he introduces the 5 E’s: engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate. Understanding the concepts is very important. The use of educational videos are a great way for students to see things differently outside the classroom. Students may understand things more clearly if they hear and/or see it from someone else. Reviewing is the next important, necessary objective. Students may be going from one topic/subject to the next and if they don’t fully comprehend the previous material they will be behind even more. The very last step of this process will be a quiz to test the students new found knowledge. They will be tested and graded on the material presented. This video taught us that it is very beneficial for students to work in ‘blended’ classroom. They get the use of technology, but also the one-on-one attention they may need.

Mark Church: Making Thinking Visible

Mark Churches 6th grade class was in the process of watching a movie on the topic early human beginnings, the origin of human society. Mr Church wanted his students to think about what was the real meaning of the topic, so he divided his class into groups and told them to come up with a one sentence headline saying what's it all about. He was going to hang up their headlines and in a few weeks, after doing some more studying, hes going to ask them aging what the heart of the topic is and see if it has changed. From this short video we learned to write down our thoughts, so that you are able to go back and determine if your thought process is the same, has it become deeper, or have you analyzed the whole picture. This is a great way to teach students to build on their thinking or thought process.

Sam Pane: Super Digital Citizens

Sam Pane is a 5th grade teacher in Omaha, Nebraska. In the video he discuss how to be a super digital citizen. A digital citizen is a person who chooses to act safely, respectfully, and responsibly when online. Pane creates with his students a digital citizen superhero that uses his/her powers to help people. With the website he allows his students to use and build their own character. He like for the students to use their own pictures and make the character about themselves. Building comics are a great way to do a visual presentation of learning. He then allowed his students to view each other’s superhero. The main point of this video was to teach his students how to be safe while on the internet.

Dean Shareski: Project Based Learning

This Project Based Learning, or PBL, video was different than all the others I have viewed. In this video, there are three teachers combined in one classroom instead of just one teacher in a classroom discussing how they have been operating their class. It was three teachers from three different subjects: English, History, and Technology. The teachers wanted the students to take all three subjects, combine the curriculum, and have the students create their projects in groups. The students have a very wide range for what projects they want/can do. The students get to learn more doing this because it was more than just one subject. PBL is a great learning technique. I did not grow up doing many group projects in school. Students today, love working in groups and meeting new people in their classes. I think PBL is a great way for students to learn. This video taught us that Project Based Learning can be used with numerous subjects in one project; not just one subject.

Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program,

In this video Roosevelt Elementary students learn all about PBL. PBL is in depth learning, integrated thematic instruction, based on “real-world” problems, and research-based. The teachers at Roosevelt work together collaboratively to discuss what projects they will do with the state standards. Project based learning teach the students how to work on projects from beginning to end and it encourages public speaking at a young age. Roosevelt’s PBL program teaches the students to also work collaboratively. The video taught us that PBL is a great and effective way to teach students in the 21st century. The students are excited to learn.

C4T #3

C4T #3 Post #1

This week I was assigned to Liz B. Davis. She is the Director of Academic Technology at Belmont Hill School, an all boys independent school. In her post, Passion Driven Professional Development-Teachers Unplugged at NAISAC14, she outlines an Edcamp style conference. This idea, in my opinion, is absoutely brilliant.

My Reply

Hello Mrs. Davis, My name is Caroline Parker, I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed reading your blog. I love how you outlined your whole event for individuals that could not attend. I think the whole idea of an unconference is brilliant!! Everyone comes with their own knowledge to inform others and you can move from 'group to group'. I think educators can leave this conference knowing/learning various amounts of information. Please feel free to visit to visit my blog at Caroline Parker's EDM310 Blog or my EDM310 Class Blog

C4T #3 Post #2

This week I read one of Liz's previous post 4 Things I Love about Design Thinking in Education. She discusses four of her favorite things about this process of learning and discovery. There are five stages of this design process: 1)discovery, 2)interpretation, 3)ideation, 4)experimentation, and 5)evolution.

My Reply

Hello Mrs. Davis, It's Caroline Parker from the University of South Alabama again. I enjoyed reading this blog post. I have never heard of Design Thinking before, until I came across your blog. After reading this blog, I plan on trying this in my future classroom. I like how the students come up with the problems instead of you asking the students. It makes the students brainstorm and think "outside the box". Once again, I absoutely LOVE this activity! I hope to see more of your post shortly.

C4K For March

C4K #5

This week I was assigned to Cierra. She posted a slide show about a book she had read, "Out of my Mind" by Sharon Draper.

My Reply

Hi Cierra! My name is Caroline Parker and I am a student from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I came across your blog in a class I am taking that requires me to keep a blog and comment on an assigned students blog, which is you. I love your book project!! I have never read “Out of my Mind” by Sharon Draper, but you made me feel like I had and that it had just been a while. I am going to school to be an elementary teacher and the way that you talk about Melody and her Cerebral Palsy is very true! People may think she is slower than the average human being but in reality, she isn’t. People with cerebral palsy can do amazing things, just like you state. I think you did a great job with your book project!! Keep up the good work!!

C4K #6

This week I was assigned to Alamoni from Mrs. Jenny She's class. Alamoni created a video on Harold the Giraffe. There were also drawings of Harold that Alamoni had drawn.

My Reply

Alamoni, My name is Caroline Parker and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I watched your video on Harold the Giraffe and you did and amazing job! I loved your giraffe that you created on the computer. You are very talented. Can't wait to see more of your videos.

C4K #7

This week I was assigned to Wakatere from Mr. Barks/Mrs. Nua's class. Wakatere did a bio poem describing himself. Things that he liked and things that he disliked.

My Reply

Hey Wakatere! My name is Caroline Parker and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I really enjoyed reading your bio poem. I agree with you, dying is a very scary thing to think about. I love how you put that you love your mom and dad. I am a huge family orientated person so I too adore/love my parents. Just from reading your bio poem you do sound like a happy and fun boy. I really enjoyed reading your poem. I hope to read some more from you soon!

C4K #8

This week I was assigned to Wiremu from Ms. Squires class. He wrote about men and women from Tamaiki College that came and did a Somoan dance for his class.

My Reply

Hey Wiremu! My name is Caroline Parker and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I enjoyed reading your Samoan performance blog. I love how your class had the opportunity to see the Somoan men and women from Tamaiki College. I'm not quite sure what they do, but I get on Google and YouTube and find out. I too, have a soft spot for beautiful music. I hope that you get the chance to be in a Somoan performance so you can go to Polyfest. I enjoyed reading your blog. I hope to read more from you soon!!

Project #15

Project Based Learning Project #3

Blog Post #10

Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson is internationally recognized as a leader in education. He is a speaker who talks about the development of cretivity, human resources, and innovation. In Sir Ken Robinson's video, Bring on the Learning Revolution, he starts off by describing two groups in the world that people are divided amongest: people who love what they do and people who do not. He calls that as "going with the flow". He also describes the everchanging education system as a "revolution". He has made me open my eyes to realize that, we as humans, take things for granted. For example, everyone in the audience was over 25 years of age. He asked them who was wearing a watch, and about 75% of the audience was. He was making a point that they wear watches because their generation didn't grow up with the advance technology that is available in today's society. Today's generation don't wear watches due to them having different resources to tell the time. Sir Ken Robinson has made me realize that things can be taken for granted, even things so little as to wearing a watch. However, I think the technology advance in education is one thing that shouldn't be taken for granted.

Project #12 Part A

Blog Post #9

Ms. Cassidy's Classroom

This week we we watched a video, First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class; it discusses the variety of technology she uses with her students. Throughout the video, it showed how Ms. Cassidy's students use technology in the classroom. The students use blogs, Wiki, and Skype. Her students also get to use computers, Nintendo DS, and SmartBoards. Her students lovet o use the computers to blog because they like to see what friends, classmates, and even strangers say in their commenting sections. The students also stated how much they enjoy blogging. It's one of their favorite things to do because they can do this both at school and at home. Her students also use iMovie, in groups or individually, to create videos. Ms. Cassidy's students also like using Skype because they can talk professionally to other classes about what they learned that day or wanted to learn. I have never heard of classes using the Nintendo DS to learn. Normally Nintendo DS' are used for fun, but Ms. Cassidy's class use them for playing educational games. Very interesting! For my future class, my students will blog daily and use Skype. I think Skype would be a great source of communication with people in other classes/schools. Of course, I would love to use a SMART Board in my future class. They are a huge success in learning!!

Project #14

Project Based Learning Project Part 2

Blog Post #8

Technology in my Classroom

This week we were instructed to find technolgoy that would be beneficial in our future classrooms. I am majoring in elementary education. My personal goal would be to euther teach 2nd or 3rd grade in the future. Upon searching, I found some great information, but one really stuck out to me!!

SMART Table

The SMART Table is similiar to a SMART Board. A SMART Table is basically a SMART Board that sits and looks like a table. This SMART tool allows students to work collaboratively to figure out a problem. The table is a 42" screen that can read input from numerous amounts of fingers or a stilius. This table uses the SMART Notebook software. Students are encouraged to work together collaboratively and engage and interact. SMART Tables serve the purpose to make more convient for the busy, active classrooms and are accesible for all.

This video discusses how this SMART Table can grasp and keep the attention of younger children. I think these tables are a great way to get students engaged in whatever subject they are learning.

I have found three different sites that would be useful in my future classroom. One that would be extremely useful is the K-5 Lesson Plan Ideas. This website has various subjects and activities for different grade levels. It shows numerous lesson plans for different subjects. Another one I found useful was Elementary Educational Activities and Online Games. This site would be very useful for a new educator to get some ideas for activities and games. Games seem to keep the students attention better. They have to get involved, and lets be honest, what kid doesn't like games?! Last but not least, is another game and activity site. 1st-3rd Grade Activities and Games helps students learn how to read and spell. There are various games for students in grades 1st through 3rd. This looks like a very useful way to teach students that computers are not only used for fun, but can also be used for education.

C4T #2

C4T #2 Post #1

This week I was assigned Jenny She. Jenny is a primary teacher in Auckland, New Zealand. In Jenny's blog,You Got Snapped she talks about how one of her students had taken a picture of her. Mrs. She was in the middle of recording a student who was reading to her. Of course, she asked to see the picture and to her amazement, it was a great shot. She gave such wonderful feedback to the girl, Tatiana, who took the picture. She stated that what Tatiana had done was, "intelligent learning or even porous learning." Jenny She stated that, from this, she learned that you never know who is watching.

My Reply

Mrs. She, My name is Caroline Parker and I am a student at The University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I was brought to your blog for an activity in my EDM310 class. I love how you refer to your students in your class as beautiful. They are indeed beautiful. You may be teaching these beautiful children, but at the same time they are indeed teaching you also. It's amazing what we, as adults, can learn from little ones. I also loved how you gave Tatiana guidance on her photo taking techniques. It turned out to be a great picture. I have thoroughly enjoyed visiting and reading your blog posts! You are more than welcome to visit my blog page for my EDM310 class, here is the link:http://parkercarolineedm310.blogspot.com/ Please fell free to visit it and leave any comments and/or suggestions!!

C4T #2 Post #2

This week Jenny She blogged about how her students were using iPads in her classroom in her blog iPads in my classroom. She discusses how excited she is about having the iPads in her room and how excited the students are to have them. Her students use the iPads for reading and math. They also play the words bingo game. She states that her students use these iPads as a "behavior management tool" in her classroom. Jenny She is very satisified with the iPads in her classroom. I hope her class gets to keep them.

My Reply

Mrs. She, It's Caroline again. I am in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I think it's a great idea for your students to have iPads. There are so many great apps, like you discussed, to encourage students to read and explore the education side of an iPad, not just the games. It's amazing to think of how far technology has came since the time I was in school and even you. It is mind blowing that children as young as three years old can operate an iPad on their own. I think your students using the apps for math and reading are an encouraging way for them to get engaged in the subject. Reading was never my favorite subject, but maybe if I had an iPad it wouldn't have been so bad. I think you and your students should use the iPads as much as you should while y'all have this trial run with them. They are a great way to get the students involved in whatever subject y'all may be discussing. Please feel free to visit my blog page:http://parkercarolineedm310.blogspot.com/ Any suggestions/critique would be helpful!!

Project #9

Project #13

Birds Project Calendar

Birds Project Overview

Blog Post #7

What Can We Learn About Teaching And Learning From Randy Pausch?

This week for our blog we were told to watch Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. Mr. Pausch opened up this speech with, what he calls "introducing the elephant in the room". He has cancer and wanted to tell his audience that. He also told him that he only has 5 months to live. When telling his audience this, he was not depressed or upset what so ever. He didn't want his audience to feel bad for him. He explained that he shouldn't live his life in sadness and regret, but that he should rather live the rest of what life he has left, living to the fullest. That right there immediately gave me respect for Randy. Not many people would, or could, have that outlook on his situation. The main question behind this blog post is "what can we learn about teaching and learning from Randy Pausch?" Randy discusses that how when he was a child himself, that he had goals of his own and how they either happened or something positive came from it. He has no negative words or advice from his own perspective. One thing I learned from Randy Pausch is that when you make a goal, stick with it. No matter how hard, or how outrageous the goal the is, never let that goal fade away. A goal can be reached as long as the time and effort is put into it. Another thing I learned from watching his video is that, he is a very determined man and very dedicated to what he does. He loves what he does. He is truly a very inspiring man, in general. Despite the cancer he is faced with, he makes the best of life and is living it to the best of his ability. I think this video should seen by all Education majors. The moral of Randy Pausch's story is; live life to the fullest and when you have a goal set, do everything in your power to make that goal happen. Don't give up!

Blog Post #6

What are PLN's?

A PLN or personal learning network is an online method that someone can engage and exchange information with a group of people. Educators can use PLN's in a variety of ways. A few examples of this would be: professional development, locating resources, lesson plan ideas, and finding collaborating solutions. There are also many different resources that educators could use and find. One example, for instance, is this; Blogger. Blogger is a great way for teachers, and students, to communicate with individuals they have never met. Two other great, and also popular, PLN's are Facebook and Twitter. We use these PLN's in this EDM310 class. I have noticed that it has helped me get more involved in the class and the peers that are in my class as well as the ones that aren't. I never realized until now, that I started my PLN's a long time ago between my facebook, twitter, blogger, and a few other social media sites. I believe that PLN's are important in a classroom. It allows the teacher to ask and answer questions that may or may not be brought up in the classroom. Also, educators can communicate with one another and possibly learn things from each other. PLN"s, also, aren't just for teachers; they are for students as well.

Project #8

Blog Post #4

My question for my blog this week is, "Asking questions: What questions do we ask? How do we ask?"

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? I believe we, as future educators, need to plan and think about the questions we want to ask. I agree with Dr. Maryellen Weimer, that good questions make the students think and that they encourage participation. That is the number one reason teachers need to think about the questions they want to ask their students. Dr. Weimer suggest three actions that can help us, future educators, improve our questioning.

1st Action:Prepare Questions

Most educators spend most of their time preparing the content their going to teach, getting organized, and/or finding examples. The one thing that educators may not be doing is preparing the questions they need to ask and how they need to ask them. Also, teachers could recognize when their students don't understand the question they are asking. Not many students will answer the question asked. Preparing questions, either the night before or even the morning of classes, can drastically make a difference in participation. Dr. Weimer suggest that when asking a question, it should be clear all the way around. I agree with her. If you make a question clearer, the students will understand what you are asking and possibly answer it correctly.

2nd Action:Play with Questions

Playing with questions can make students think about it more in depth. Majority of the time, once a question is answered and the teacher states that it is correct, some students may stop thinking about the question asked; others may not. Dr. Weimer states, "Playing with the question means leaving it unanswered for a while and using some strategies that encourage students to think about it." It encourages students to think 'outside the box'. Not just the normal, usual answer. She also suggests that the teacher could accept many possible answers and then discuss how they may or may not be correct. I think this is a great way to encourage students to ponder on the various answers there could be.

3rd Action:Preserve Good Questions

A great way to preserve good questions is to jot down some answers that are given by students. Doing that will bring on more questions that the teacher could ask. Another way to ask some questions would be to use questions that a student in a previous class had asked that pertained to the topic. Some questions asked by students should be valued. They may give you an answer that you wouldn't have thought could be correct. Asking good questions could help students realize the importance of questions. Also, questions are more effective when more thought is put into them. I agree with Dr. Weimer when she mentions that, "the best questions of all are the ones that we, educators, cannot answer."

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post #3

How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback To Your Peers?

In order for students to be successful writers, they first must learn how to peer review/edit. Peer editing is working with a classmate (or someone your age) to help improve, revise, and edit their work. The video, What is Peer Editing? and the slideshow, Peer Edit with Perfection! tutorial, introduces three steps to be successful in peer editing.

Step 1: Compliment

When editing a peers paper, you should always start off with a compliment. Something like, "I really liked your topic" or "great choice of wording, it really got your point across." You are helping someone enhance their work. Their hard work! No one wants to have complete negativity towards their work.

Step 2: Suggestions

Suggestions are always helpful when peer editing. If you find something that you think isn't right, a suggestion would be helpful on how to correct it. When making suggestions, you should be as positive as you can. You should also be specific when making suggestions on things such as word choice, details, organization, sentences, and the topic.

Step 3: Corrections

Making corrections is possibly the easiest part of correctly peer editing a paper. You are simply checking for correct punctuation, grammar errors, misspelling, and correct use of sentences.

I absolutely loved watching students act out the wrong ways of peer editing in the Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes. They came up with some very creative names for each wrong-doing. A few of my favorites were: "Jean the Generator", "Off-Task Oliver", and "Defensive Dave". All of these can happen to anybody. "Jean the Generator" was not being specific enough. She would give criticism to her peer but wasn't specific enough for her peer to understand fully. "Off-Task Oliver" was not concentrating on peer editing. He got sidetracked often; which is one thing that I know is easy to do. He couldn't keep his attention on listening to his classmate and distracted others around him. And last but not least, "Defensive Dave". He got defensive over the criticism that was given to him. One thing to remember when peer editing, is to keep an open mind when given suggestions. You don't have to use them, they are just suggestions to help improve your work.

Blog Post #2

Mr. Dancealot

Every year teachers try to come up with new and exciting ways to teach their students. Some ways work, many others do not. One thing that hasn't changed and never will, is that students have to practice hands on. We were asked to watch a video, Mr. Dancealot, and answer a couple of questions about it.

In this video, Mr. Dancealot was a professor of a college dance class. He's supposed to help students learn specific dance moves. The whole semester, while teaching, he stood behind a podium and a science table. He used slideshows to teach his course. As he went through the slides, he tried to show the class the dance moves from behind the podium and science table. One student, stood up from his seat to practice the move and Mr. Dancealot, instructed him to sit down, he was trying to teach a class. The class never got to practice the dances that they had 'learned'. When the students went to take the final exam, Mr. Dancealot expected them to know the dances. None of his students knew how to do them. Student's need hands on practice with what they learn. In order to execute it right, practice is needed. After all, practice makes perfect.

Teaching in the 21st Century

In the last decade, technology has impacted society in a big way. Many kids today are completely dependent on their technology; no matter what it is, iPhone, iPad, tablet, iPod, etc. In the past few years, technology is being widely introduced in the school systems.

In Kevin Roberts video Teaching in the 21st Century, he argues that teachers should no longer use just pen and paper. He states that students can find information anytime, anywhere. That teachers 'are no longer the main source of knowledge,' we are just a filter. He's right, in my opinion. I think he's saying that times are changing and we need to change with them. Students can and will go online and find what they need to and teachers will filter through their results to determine if they're using their sources properly. However, I do not believe we need to get rid of pen and paper altogether. I think we, as future educators, still need to teach students how to use their library sources. I, personally, do not think it's a good idea for teachers to teach students to be dependent on technology. Technology, when I was growing up, was a reward, not a privilege. One good point Roberts made was, students need to be engaged, not entertained. Entertainment is short lived, while being engaged will have long term results. We as future educators, need to engage our students and help them learn in today's society.

Networked Student

Wendy Drexler's video, The Networked Student, was an interesting video to watch.

It was about how teachers make their students become independently self sufficient about learning. All the learning is based off of scholarly networking websites and the internet. Paper, books, and textbooks are all thrown out the window. Instead of students being handed what they need, they have the responsibility of finding the correct information on a particular subject themselves. If a student has a question or wants to talk in-depth about a particular subject, he or she also has access to top professors all over the world. Some may think that there is no reason to have a teacher then. Well, in my opinion, thats not the case. No matter what, students will need that one on one time with teachers. As humans grow they need someone to ask questions to, to get advice from, to look up to, and no matter what students will always need reinforcement.

Harness Your Students Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis is a teacher at a school in south Georgia, who uses all kinds of technology to connect her students to the world. Davis says, that she believes that every student can learn but not every student can learn with pen and paper. She focuses on teaching students how to use new software to learn. Davis does not teach her students all day everyday and she expects them to look up a word if they don't know one. She allows her students to get up and teach the class sometimes. I think this is a very effective and beneficial way to teach. I believe, making a student teach a class is a great way for the student to show you that they really understand and grasp the concept learned.

Flipping the Classroom

The flipped classroom is a new concept to me and I'm a little uneasy about it. I would have to test it out before I could say yes, I am going to use this concept in my classroom or no, I am not going to use this concept in my classroom. The main reason I'm so uneasy, is because this is the first time I've heard of it and it's just so new to me. I am an Elementary Education major and I find it hard to believe that an elementary student will go home and watch a video of me teaching and fully comprehend and grasp it. As the students become a little older and more responsible I could see flipping the classroom working. I believe, it would be a fail for elementary students to do this. Also, as a future elementary educator, you depend an awful lot on the parent of the student. Lets say the parent doesn't want to or doesn't have time to watch the video, the video would never get watched. However, I do like the concept of flipping the classroom, but I would have to test it out before deciding to have my classes be taught like that.

Blog Post #1

I have heard numerous things about this EDM301 course. I must say, majority of what I was told, so far is true. EDM310 is a required course for education majors at South Alabama. Many people have told me that this course was very time consuming, stressful, somewhat difficult, and a lot of work to be completed weekly. Although, all of that sounds negative, I feel as long as I keep up the work assigned that I'll do just fine.

I'm trying to keep an open mind and put everything I've been told, to the side. There has only been one class meeting and I must say I am overwhelmed. Dr. Strange put me at ease, a little, by telling us that the class gets better after week two. I think he's correct. I believe, that as long as I manage my time wisely, I'll be fine. I was also overwhelmed before the semester began. I was receiving e-mails that informed me of things I needed to do before the semester started. I have two fears of this class: 1) I'm going to miss an assignment, which would 2) cause me to fail the course. I feel that as long as I stay on top of the work assigned, neither will happen.

EDM310 is a very different course than what I am used to taking. Neither in high school nor college, so far, have I taken a class like this one. I've never had a course that was project based. Knowing that is a little nerve-racking. However, I think it will be interesting and exciting.

As of now, I only have a few questions. I know that as the semester goes on, I will have a hundred more questions. I am not afraid to ask for help and think it's great that there are helpers in the EDM310 classroom. I'm going to manage m time wisely, ask questions when help is needed, and not get stressed out. I am going to take this class day by day. I am curious about when do we begin our group projects? Also, what kind of projects will we be doing? There is a wide variety of technology, in today's world, that can be used in classrooms. I'm interested to find out which technology that is!

Practice Post

I was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama. I am 23 years of age. I recently, moved out on my own. I work at a family owned post office, The Mailroom. I have been working there for four years now and love it. I have one brother and I am the youngest. I have one best friend, that I would consider my sister. We have been friends for 10+ years. My mom is a Professor, here at South Alabama. My mom is my rock and my best friend. My parents have, unfortunately, been divorced for 22 years. At the age of twelve, I was diagnosed epileptic. After many years of trying various medications, my episodes are under control.
I have always wanted to go to Paris and to travel the world. I have an 'obsession' with the Eiffel Tower. My dream is to go to Paris one day (which I indeed plan to do).

http://europeantrips.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Eiffel-Tower.jpg
My one major interest, is volleyball. I started playing in middle school and continue to play to this day. If I could make a career out of it, I would.
Education has always been important to me. I started out as a nursing major at South Alabama. At the same time, I was a teacher at a daycare. It was working there that helped me realize, teaching is what I wanted to do. I love children. Plus, my mom always told me that I taught my stuffed animals when I was little.

2nd Test Post

Did it work??

Test Post

This is my first post. I clicked the HTML button like I always should in EDM310.