Thursday, October 31, 2013
Project #12A
In this video, I teach you how to: Turn on a Smartboard, calibrate one, use texts with smartnote,work with objects, use object animation, use the Infinite Cloner and work with digital ink, save items added in ink layer to separate file, and use multimedia objects. These are some of the skills needed to work a Smartboard properly.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Blog Post #10
"Randy Pausch's Last Lecture"
Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He taught a class much like EDM310 at Carnegie Mellon University other than it was all Project Based Learning. In this class all his students were in groups of five and every two weeks they were expected to turn in a project. Every two weeks you would get new partners and you'd have four new people to work with and try to make a new project which I think is neat. It makes you work better with others and makes it where if you don't like your group your in you won't be stuck in that same group throughout the semester.
In 2006, he diagnosed with cancer and was told that he only had a couple months to live, but he didn't let that stop him from living his life. In his video Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. He explained his dreams as a child. Some of them involved him becoming a National Football Player to being a Disney Imagineer. These are just some of the few that he said in his lecture but that was two of the most interesting to me. As a kid he had a lot of big dreams. Unfortunately his dream of being the the NFL (National Football League) never came true but as for his dream of being an Disney Imagineer, it became a reality. It took a lot of time and a lot of hard work but it was worth it. As an Disney Imagineer he got to work on the movie Aladdin and after that he brought everything that he had learned while working their to his classroom while he was teaching.
Some of the things I learned while watching this video was to never get up. No matter how hard things get or how people don't believe you can do something all you have to do is believe in yourself and with that you can accomplish things you would never have dreamed of. He gave me hope as a person that I can do anything if you believe you can.
Project #14
In this lesson plan for project based learning, our fourth grade students will learn about the Solar System. This lesson plan includes the subjects: science, reading, writing, and art. Our group made this into a two week lesson plan. This project is intended for our students to grasp the concept of our Solar System including asteroids, meteors, and comets. They will create a science/art project to show their understanding of the information after one week of the lesson. On Friday of the first week, they will present their projects in front of the class. During the second week, they will write a descriptive paper titled "My Trip in Outer Space." Then they will peer edit their papers in small groups of four students. After peer editing each others work, each group will choose/vote one paper that they think is the best and should be read to the class. The next day, Thursday, the presenters will read their papers and then when our students are finished reading, everyone will hand in their paper. On Friday of the second week, our students will have a multiple choice/ short answer/ and matching test on the Solar System that is made up of about 10-15 questions. This lesson plan includes resources such as iCurio, YouTube, Smart-boards, and Mac laptops. The driving question for this lesson plan is, "How do we characterize and put into order the planets of our solar system?" This is the link to our site.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Blog Post #9
By: Katlyn Lusker, Tarcela Kohn, Jake Dukes, and Alex Hopson "Back To the Future" by Brian CrosbyBrian Crosby is a teacher from Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada. In his video "Back to the Future", he explains that 90 percent of his students are second language learners. His students are at risk because they qualify for free lunch, meaning they are students of poverty. On the second day of school, Mr. Crosby gave his twenty-four students a survey to find out where they stood. After gathering the results he found out when they were asked "Which city do you live in?", only nine children gave the correct answer. When they were asked "What state do you live in?", twelve gave the correct answer. When they were asked "What country do you live in?",only three students answered correctly. When they were asked "What is your address?",only seven students were able to answer correctly. Mr. Crosby then poses the question, "Why such a disconnect for these students?"
"We do not want to have a narrow curriculum for these students, but these students have had a narrow curriculum since they were born." Mr. Crosby also said, "They haven't had the experiences and the inputs to build the schema for the world." One of our favorite quotes from this video was when Mr. Crosby said, "It's hard to be able to imagine what could be if you don't know anything about what is. And if it's hard to imagine, where does your creativity spark from? If you don't have a lot of imagination and creativity, where do you build your passion from?" Those few sentences are very powerful. They make you think deeper and you start to ask questions.
In this video, Mr. Crosby's students did a balloon project where they created "high hopes" cards and then they created a place to put all of the cards, their pictures, and cameras for filming the process. Once they created a place for all of these objects they tied it to a balloon. After the balloon went out of site they went back in their room and tracked the balloon. They were able to watch the balloon in real time. The students were also instructed to come in and write about what they saw, what they did, and then they swapped pictures with each other. It didn't even stop when it landed because they were in a learning network. They are tied into other students from across the world, and they started getting messages about how some students wanted their own teachers to do some of the same projects as they had done.
They would Skype different classes and the students from Mr. Crosby's class (that had already articulated these projects in writing) showed the other students exactly how to do them. Mr. Crosby said, "When you're working/ dealing with second language learners, articulating it in speech is a whole different ball game, and by practicing, they are reviewing the material, and most importantly they get to shine. They get to show off what they know."
By doing projects like these, language is at focus. They learn to read and write to learn- content, they use writing to clarify and share, they write to tell a story, they use creativity, they learn to give and receive feedback, they learn to articulate orally, they connect globally, they become aware globally, and they have an authentic audience.
Mr. Crosby says, "This is active learning. This is empowering students to become learners. Now we are empowering kids to learn on their own. To use a lot of these 21st century tools like; connecting, empowering, being active, including, motivating, and collaborating, allows them to do just that." We agree with Mr. Crosby that by using these tools, we are connecting students to the world. He said it best when he said, "We can't just keep racing kids through school, it can't be a race. We have to keep making sure that we are giving them opportunities to build schema for the world."
"Blended Learning Cycle" by Mr. Paul Andersen "Blended Learning Cycle" video was made by Paul Andersen. Mr. Andersen's video was actually a podcast to discuss and inform others about the "Blending Learning Cycle". Mr. Andersen explained that last year he presented at TED Talk on "Classroom Game Design" and how he turned his classroom into a video game. He said last year " was a great year, however, it strayed a little from what he knew about the power of the question in his science class." Mr. Andersen depicted an image that we found humorous. The image below, is from the "Blended Learning Cycle" video. It is from 19th century France, predicting what students will look like in the year 2000. We agree with Mr. Andersen, our classrooms do not look like this, however, our classrooms have changed tremendously.
"A 19th Century painting that predicting what students would have looked like in the year 2000"Mr. Andersen made a great point, he had a great year, but the class strayed. So over his summer, he assessed himself and became more inspired about his classroom. He then explains what he found during his rethinking process. He came up with a way to incorporate "The Blending Learning Cycle" into his Science Class. Mr. Andersen defined Blended Learning as taking compelling parts of online, mobile, and the classroom, then blend them together using technology in a positive way. The next part of the cycle are the 5e's: Engaging, Explore, Expand, Explain, and Evaluate. When starting with "Engaging," you as the teacher want to engage the students with an opening question. Mr. Andersen explained it as the "hook." The second "e" is "Explore". After you have given the engaging question/opening question allow for the students to explore/investigate/inquire on their own with books, technology, etc. Next, is to "Expand." Here, Mr. Andersen uses videos or podcast. He says it allows to free up his time to assess his students. Now for the fourth "e," Mr. Andersen said his students "Explain" by elaboration with diagrams, reading, etc. Lastly, "Evaluation" was covered.Here Mr. Andersen assesses his student's understanding of the content. It is here that he will use a video or podcast that students can watch, so he is able to have individual time to ask questions to his students before his students have to take their Summary Quiz at the end of their lessons. Mr. Andersen then finishes his podcast by explaining that when you combine the Blended Learning and the Learning Cycle you get a "Blended Learning Cycle."
"Making Thinking Visible" by Mark Church In the video "Making things visible", Mr. Church has his students work in small groups to have a discussion about a video they had watched the day before, concerning the topic of early human beginnings and the origins of human society. In order for his students to capture the "heart" of what the unit was all about, he asked his students to talk about the "puzzles" in their small groups and to come up with a headline to capture what the "puzzle and challenge of the search for human origin" was all about.
One of Mr. Church's students asked her group, "How could we sum up everything that we have been talking about in one phrase?" We agree that through communication and collaboration, the thought process among these groups become visible. After discussing each groups headlines, Mr. Church then puts the headlines up on bulletin boards to be displayed. After two weeks more of the same unit and when the kids do a final project, Mr. Church is going to ask them "What's the headline now? How has the story changed? How has your thinking changed?"
This video was a great example of seeing thinking become visible. Communication and collaboration are some of the 21st century tools that we have been studying and to see children work and think together definitely proves that they are important tools needed all throughout life. "Making Thinking Visible the book"
"Super Digital Citizen" - Building Comics by Sam Pane The focus in the video "Super Digital Citizen Building Comics" by Sam Pane was "How to become a super digital citizen." Mr. Pane is a fifth grade teacher at Wilson Focus School in the Omaha Public School District in Nebraska. He teaches all curriculum's which include: reading, math, science, and social studies.
In this video, Mr. Pane asks his students "Who is really in charge of using the internet safely?" The video in this lesson is about how to be a good digital citizen and being able to evaluate when you go to websites, what kind of information they might be after. Mr. Pane brought up a quote from Spider-Man which was, "With great power comes great responsibility." He then asked his class, "What kind of power does the internet give us?" They had a class discussion and then they talked about what it means to be a digital citizen ("someone who chooses to act safely, responsibly, and respectfully, whenever they are online").
The project Mr. Pane gave his students was to build a comic showing safety, responsibility, and respect. They were to design a digital super hero that would step in, in order to save the day. The website that these students used is one that allows people to build their own super digital character. They were allowed to pick from three basic designs and then they were able to modify and customize it as much as they wanted. These students did their projects on Mac laptops. "A student creating a super digital citizen" Mr. Pane said, "Matching up with English, Language standards is a huge deal in this lesson because the students have to create their super digital citizen and then they have to actually take that and put them into a imagination situation."
They are creating a narrative between themselves and their super hero. They also use pictures of themselves along with their super hero characters, which creates a sense of ownership for them. Mr. Pane said, "Building comics are a great way to do a visual presentation of learning and of text. We can also use this as a way to teach dialogue (text bubble)." When the students were finished creating their comic, they got up and walked to a different laptop to read someone else's comic. Then they had to determine if the person used examples of safety, respect, and responsibility. Mr. Pane said the bottom line is that "Students are going to be exposed online to all sorts of opportunities, and he wants his students to know that they're choices they will have to make, and that it's going to take a super digital citizen to make these choices."
We really liked this video because building comics is a great idea to use in classrooms. It used many of the 21st century skills including communication, creativity, collaboration, and it was also very engaging. The students looked like they really enjoyed this project and any project that promotes learning but is also fun at the same time, is always a great project.
"We do not want to have a narrow curriculum for these students, but these students have had a narrow curriculum since they were born." Mr. Crosby also said, "They haven't had the experiences and the inputs to build the schema for the world." One of our favorite quotes from this video was when Mr. Crosby said, "It's hard to be able to imagine what could be if you don't know anything about what is. And if it's hard to imagine, where does your creativity spark from? If you don't have a lot of imagination and creativity, where do you build your passion from?" Those few sentences are very powerful. They make you think deeper and you start to ask questions.
In this video, Mr. Crosby's students did a balloon project where they created "high hopes" cards and then they created a place to put all of the cards, their pictures, and cameras for filming the process. Once they created a place for all of these objects they tied it to a balloon. After the balloon went out of site they went back in their room and tracked the balloon. They were able to watch the balloon in real time. The students were also instructed to come in and write about what they saw, what they did, and then they swapped pictures with each other. It didn't even stop when it landed because they were in a learning network. They are tied into other students from across the world, and they started getting messages about how some students wanted their own teachers to do some of the same projects as they had done.
They would Skype different classes and the students from Mr. Crosby's class (that had already articulated these projects in writing) showed the other students exactly how to do them. Mr. Crosby said, "When you're working/ dealing with second language learners, articulating it in speech is a whole different ball game, and by practicing, they are reviewing the material, and most importantly they get to shine. They get to show off what they know."
By doing projects like these, language is at focus. They learn to read and write to learn- content, they use writing to clarify and share, they write to tell a story, they use creativity, they learn to give and receive feedback, they learn to articulate orally, they connect globally, they become aware globally, and they have an authentic audience.
Mr. Crosby says, "This is active learning. This is empowering students to become learners. Now we are empowering kids to learn on their own. To use a lot of these 21st century tools like; connecting, empowering, being active, including, motivating, and collaborating, allows them to do just that." We agree with Mr. Crosby that by using these tools, we are connecting students to the world. He said it best when he said, "We can't just keep racing kids through school, it can't be a race. We have to keep making sure that we are giving them opportunities to build schema for the world."
"Blended Learning Cycle" by Mr. Paul Andersen "Blended Learning Cycle" video was made by Paul Andersen. Mr. Andersen's video was actually a podcast to discuss and inform others about the "Blending Learning Cycle". Mr. Andersen explained that last year he presented at TED Talk on "Classroom Game Design" and how he turned his classroom into a video game. He said last year " was a great year, however, it strayed a little from what he knew about the power of the question in his science class." Mr. Andersen depicted an image that we found humorous. The image below, is from the "Blended Learning Cycle" video. It is from 19th century France, predicting what students will look like in the year 2000. We agree with Mr. Andersen, our classrooms do not look like this, however, our classrooms have changed tremendously.
"A 19th Century painting that predicting what students would have looked like in the year 2000"Mr. Andersen made a great point, he had a great year, but the class strayed. So over his summer, he assessed himself and became more inspired about his classroom. He then explains what he found during his rethinking process. He came up with a way to incorporate "The Blending Learning Cycle" into his Science Class. Mr. Andersen defined Blended Learning as taking compelling parts of online, mobile, and the classroom, then blend them together using technology in a positive way. The next part of the cycle are the 5e's: Engaging, Explore, Expand, Explain, and Evaluate. When starting with "Engaging," you as the teacher want to engage the students with an opening question. Mr. Andersen explained it as the "hook." The second "e" is "Explore". After you have given the engaging question/opening question allow for the students to explore/investigate/inquire on their own with books, technology, etc. Next, is to "Expand." Here, Mr. Andersen uses videos or podcast. He says it allows to free up his time to assess his students. Now for the fourth "e," Mr. Andersen said his students "Explain" by elaboration with diagrams, reading, etc. Lastly, "Evaluation" was covered.Here Mr. Andersen assesses his student's understanding of the content. It is here that he will use a video or podcast that students can watch, so he is able to have individual time to ask questions to his students before his students have to take their Summary Quiz at the end of their lessons. Mr. Andersen then finishes his podcast by explaining that when you combine the Blended Learning and the Learning Cycle you get a "Blended Learning Cycle."
"Making Thinking Visible" by Mark Church In the video "Making things visible", Mr. Church has his students work in small groups to have a discussion about a video they had watched the day before, concerning the topic of early human beginnings and the origins of human society. In order for his students to capture the "heart" of what the unit was all about, he asked his students to talk about the "puzzles" in their small groups and to come up with a headline to capture what the "puzzle and challenge of the search for human origin" was all about.
One of Mr. Church's students asked her group, "How could we sum up everything that we have been talking about in one phrase?" We agree that through communication and collaboration, the thought process among these groups become visible. After discussing each groups headlines, Mr. Church then puts the headlines up on bulletin boards to be displayed. After two weeks more of the same unit and when the kids do a final project, Mr. Church is going to ask them "What's the headline now? How has the story changed? How has your thinking changed?"
This video was a great example of seeing thinking become visible. Communication and collaboration are some of the 21st century tools that we have been studying and to see children work and think together definitely proves that they are important tools needed all throughout life. "Making Thinking Visible the book"
"Super Digital Citizen" - Building Comics by Sam Pane The focus in the video "Super Digital Citizen Building Comics" by Sam Pane was "How to become a super digital citizen." Mr. Pane is a fifth grade teacher at Wilson Focus School in the Omaha Public School District in Nebraska. He teaches all curriculum's which include: reading, math, science, and social studies.
In this video, Mr. Pane asks his students "Who is really in charge of using the internet safely?" The video in this lesson is about how to be a good digital citizen and being able to evaluate when you go to websites, what kind of information they might be after. Mr. Pane brought up a quote from Spider-Man which was, "With great power comes great responsibility." He then asked his class, "What kind of power does the internet give us?" They had a class discussion and then they talked about what it means to be a digital citizen ("someone who chooses to act safely, responsibly, and respectfully, whenever they are online").
The project Mr. Pane gave his students was to build a comic showing safety, responsibility, and respect. They were to design a digital super hero that would step in, in order to save the day. The website that these students used is one that allows people to build their own super digital character. They were allowed to pick from three basic designs and then they were able to modify and customize it as much as they wanted. These students did their projects on Mac laptops. "A student creating a super digital citizen" Mr. Pane said, "Matching up with English, Language standards is a huge deal in this lesson because the students have to create their super digital citizen and then they have to actually take that and put them into a imagination situation."
They are creating a narrative between themselves and their super hero. They also use pictures of themselves along with their super hero characters, which creates a sense of ownership for them. Mr. Pane said, "Building comics are a great way to do a visual presentation of learning and of text. We can also use this as a way to teach dialogue (text bubble)." When the students were finished creating their comic, they got up and walked to a different laptop to read someone else's comic. Then they had to determine if the person used examples of safety, respect, and responsibility. Mr. Pane said the bottom line is that "Students are going to be exposed online to all sorts of opportunities, and he wants his students to know that they're choices they will have to make, and that it's going to take a super digital citizen to make these choices."
We really liked this video because building comics is a great idea to use in classrooms. It used many of the 21st century skills including communication, creativity, collaboration, and it was also very engaging. The students looked like they really enjoyed this project and any project that promotes learning but is also fun at the same time, is always a great project.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Blog Post #8
Powerschool by Jake Dukes
Powerschool allows teachers to manage attendance, grades and show a class schedule for everyday of each week. It also allows your parents to check your progress in every class. Your parents would be able to access your grades, attendance and be notified if you weren’t showing up for class or you weren’t completing your work on time. Powerschool shows what your child is going to be doing everyday in class and what he/she should have done by a certain date. It also shows an online seating chart of who your child is sitting by and a picture of the student that your child is sitting by. On each assignment they(the student) turns in the parent will be able to see a comment by which the teacher is talking about your child's grade. Which I think will help the parents stay on top of their child's progress in school, which will benefit the student so they won’t get too far behind and your parents will know how you’ve been doing every step of the way in the classroom. "Powerschool"
Evernote by Katlyn Lusker
In the video Dr. Lodge McCammon's Fizz- Flipping the Classroom, Dr. McCammon said, "Too much of the time, Education today looks like students in the classroom and teachers just lecturing to the students, which is inefficient, not engaging, and it is a one shot deal." He continued saying, "Then we send our students out of the classroom to apply their learning individually which is also not engaging." To meet the needs of all students we need to make drastic changes. In the video Why I Flipped My Classroom by Katie Gimbar, she explains the importance and effectiveness of flipping the classrooms. In flipping classrooms, students are able to pre-load content, getting information they will need for class. They are able to pause, rewind, and re-watch videos. They can also post any questions they have, which enables the teacher to plan and prepare answers specifically for the class time. This is a self-paced program so students are able to go back and review former topics or they can even work ahead. Because of this process, the whole classroom has now shifted. The students come to class with the information already and now the teacher is the center of the class. The teacher can now work with the different groups that are moving on their own pace. Ninety percent of the class time is now spent on application of content by flipping the classroom.
So, as more teachers move into blended environments that focus on anywhere/ anytime learning, the need for practical tools increases. But how can we and our students best save, share, and manage content? Evernote can help (About Evernote).
Evernote is available in both free and paid versions and at its most basic level, it is designed to help teachers and their students take notes and access those notes wherever they are and whenever they want. The notes can be simple or they can be complex, from simple text to notes containing images, video, and audio clips. They can be just about anything also including lectures, to-do lists, clips and text from websites, or even essay rough drafts. A great things about Evernote is that it can be installed as software on a desktop, used as a web-based tool accessible through a browser, and as a mobile app.
In my own classroom I would definitely use Evernote. I think this is a great resource for teachers and their students. I really like how students are able to go back and look at information whenever and wherever they would like. One of the reasons why I chose to explain and research Evernote is because it is a great organization tool. I am a very organized person and I am always looking for other great ways to organize as much as possible. I would use this resource as a way to provide my students with all kinds of information. They would be able to prepare for class and they would be able to review for tests. I think Evernote would be a very beneficial tool in classrooms.
Promethean Planet by Tarcela Kohn
I have found a resource that is similar to iCurio. The website I found was Promethean Planet; it is a free interactive community that is created by teacher for teachers. With Promethean Planet, there are many links that teachers can use on a daily basis to assist in the process of making lessons and bringing technology into the classroom. One link that I particularly found useful that iCurio did not have was a Blog and Forum tab at the top of the web page. Here teachers can communicate and open up their networks. If a new teacher, like I will be, this is a excellent way to talk to other teachers, ask questions. The various methods in which you can talk about are Products and Curriculum, News and Events, Blog, Technical Support, and Special Interest Groups. Secondly, in the resources tab, educators can share their resources, collect resources from publishers, pick lessons and activities based on themes and classroom assessments, but most importantly you can search by state standards. Another thing that I found that unique about the website, Promethean Planet educators can find a topic for; Fine Arts, Math, Reading/Language Arts, Science and Health, Social Studies, Vocational Educational, World Languages.
Powerschool allows teachers to manage attendance, grades and show a class schedule for everyday of each week. It also allows your parents to check your progress in every class. Your parents would be able to access your grades, attendance and be notified if you weren’t showing up for class or you weren’t completing your work on time. Powerschool shows what your child is going to be doing everyday in class and what he/she should have done by a certain date. It also shows an online seating chart of who your child is sitting by and a picture of the student that your child is sitting by. On each assignment they(the student) turns in the parent will be able to see a comment by which the teacher is talking about your child's grade. Which I think will help the parents stay on top of their child's progress in school, which will benefit the student so they won’t get too far behind and your parents will know how you’ve been doing every step of the way in the classroom. "Powerschool"
Evernote by Katlyn Lusker
In the video Dr. Lodge McCammon's Fizz- Flipping the Classroom, Dr. McCammon said, "Too much of the time, Education today looks like students in the classroom and teachers just lecturing to the students, which is inefficient, not engaging, and it is a one shot deal." He continued saying, "Then we send our students out of the classroom to apply their learning individually which is also not engaging." To meet the needs of all students we need to make drastic changes. In the video Why I Flipped My Classroom by Katie Gimbar, she explains the importance and effectiveness of flipping the classrooms. In flipping classrooms, students are able to pre-load content, getting information they will need for class. They are able to pause, rewind, and re-watch videos. They can also post any questions they have, which enables the teacher to plan and prepare answers specifically for the class time. This is a self-paced program so students are able to go back and review former topics or they can even work ahead. Because of this process, the whole classroom has now shifted. The students come to class with the information already and now the teacher is the center of the class. The teacher can now work with the different groups that are moving on their own pace. Ninety percent of the class time is now spent on application of content by flipping the classroom.
So, as more teachers move into blended environments that focus on anywhere/ anytime learning, the need for practical tools increases. But how can we and our students best save, share, and manage content? Evernote can help (About Evernote).
Evernote is available in both free and paid versions and at its most basic level, it is designed to help teachers and their students take notes and access those notes wherever they are and whenever they want. The notes can be simple or they can be complex, from simple text to notes containing images, video, and audio clips. They can be just about anything also including lectures, to-do lists, clips and text from websites, or even essay rough drafts. A great things about Evernote is that it can be installed as software on a desktop, used as a web-based tool accessible through a browser, and as a mobile app.
In my own classroom I would definitely use Evernote. I think this is a great resource for teachers and their students. I really like how students are able to go back and look at information whenever and wherever they would like. One of the reasons why I chose to explain and research Evernote is because it is a great organization tool. I am a very organized person and I am always looking for other great ways to organize as much as possible. I would use this resource as a way to provide my students with all kinds of information. They would be able to prepare for class and they would be able to review for tests. I think Evernote would be a very beneficial tool in classrooms.
Promethean Planet by Tarcela Kohn
I have found a resource that is similar to iCurio. The website I found was Promethean Planet; it is a free interactive community that is created by teacher for teachers. With Promethean Planet, there are many links that teachers can use on a daily basis to assist in the process of making lessons and bringing technology into the classroom. One link that I particularly found useful that iCurio did not have was a Blog and Forum tab at the top of the web page. Here teachers can communicate and open up their networks. If a new teacher, like I will be, this is a excellent way to talk to other teachers, ask questions. The various methods in which you can talk about are Products and Curriculum, News and Events, Blog, Technical Support, and Special Interest Groups. Secondly, in the resources tab, educators can share their resources, collect resources from publishers, pick lessons and activities based on themes and classroom assessments, but most importantly you can search by state standards. Another thing that I found that unique about the website, Promethean Planet educators can find a topic for; Fine Arts, Math, Reading/Language Arts, Science and Health, Social Studies, Vocational Educational, World Languages.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Project #9 (Podcast)
For our podcast we discussed topic #8. We discussed how we should connect technology to the curriculum and how we can teach for the future. We used the book "Teaching Digital Natives" by Marc Prensky and Mrs. Kathleen Morris's blog as sources.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Project #13
Blog Post #7
Conversations with Anthony Capps
Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher
We have learned a lot by listening to Anthony Capps. In this video, Anthony Capps said “A lot of people when we think about Project Based Learning, we think projects are what you do at the end of a lesson to show that you learned what you were supposed to learn. But now the goal of PBL and the shift that educators have to take is looking at PBL in a new way. That is, using PBL not only as a means to show that a student has achieved something but using it as a means to also get them to learn something.” We should get them excited about owning their own learning. We also have learned from listening to Anthony Capps in this video that the goal of a good project is “one that has an authentic audience so that the kids are rewarded for the work they do.” Good projects also “need to have student interest, it needs to be relevant to the kids lives.” Another goal of a good project is that it involves the community somehow. It should “show how it really relates to the real world experiences, and most importantly good projects should be driven by content.”
Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher
In this video Anthony Capps said “Not everything is always going to go well.” During one of his favorite projects in which his class was studying different cultures, one of his student’s fathers did not like the fact they were studying Afghanistan culture. The student’s father had been deployed to Afghanistan and he didn’t think it was appropriate. Although Mr. Capps did not necessarily agree, it it still important to remember to respect your students parents. Anthony Capps also said “With Project Based Learning, never limit your students by giving them exactly what you want them to do. Create an opportunity for them to go beyond what you want them to do, and they will.” You are going to get more than what you expected.
Anthony Capps said “My students love projects because they are not trapped in worksheets and whenever he does give them a worksheet, they know it is meaningful and they know it is to help them gauge where they are.” We learned that student choice is another big aspect of PBL. When you give students the opportunity to chose, then you also give them more ownership and pride and they really understand what they are saying and what they are arguing. “On the kids aspect, they are really proud of what they do and they know what they are doing and why they are doing it, and that is what PBL allows for.
iCurio
Out of all of these conversations with Anthony Capps, we think we learned the most about iCurio from him. iCurio is an online tool that allows students to safely search websites that have been pulled, (including websites, images, and videos) and others kinds of online media that have been pulled and filtered for educational use. We had no clue iCurio was filtered for educational use, and that is was designed for students to use safely. Another feature Anthony Capps discusses is that iCurio allows you to store content that students and teachers find valuable. “It also teaches virtual organization.” iCurio is kid friendly, created for student use, and it is safe. Anthony Capps said “Any teacher that feels comfortable letting their students search the web, I think iCurio is the best way to go.” Students just log on and use it like a search engine. iCurio is also great for accessibility, it has a read along feature so almost anyone can use it.
Discovery Education
Before we listened to Anthony Capps explain what Discovery Education was, we were kind of was clueless. We learned that Discovery Education takes students way beyond just pictures. It gives students videos from outside of you (the teacher) and it brings experts into the classroom via video. Discovery Education is used for “student searches so they can enrich their research experience and a teacher can also use it to bring different texts to life.”
The Anthony- Strange List of Tips for Teachers Part 1- By Tarcela Kohn
In this video, Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discussed key things that any new teacher should think about. Dr. Strange asked Anthony Capps “What are some of the most important things that you should prepare yourself to do as a teacher?” Dr. Stange continued by saying, “Teachers have to really be interested in learning themselves.” “If you are not a learner then you will not be a successful educator because what we have to do ourselves is constantly learn and model that behavior.” Anthony Capps agreed and said this also leads to another key thing any new teacher should think about. He continued by saying “Teaching is hard. Let your work become a fun experience for you.” Dr. Strange added “Teaching is a constant process, it never ends but it can be very rewarding.” More key things both Anthony Capps and Dr. Stange agreed on that new teachers should think about are: teachers need to be creative, flexible, and we can’t be committed to one particular way of doing something. We have to respond to events that we don’t expect. Also students should be engaged, and they should have a reflection process. Having an audience is perfect for reflection. Dr. Strange said, “Self evaluation is really important in the whole process of learning.” I think they’re a lot of great tips in this video. I’m glad that we were reminded that we cannot be committed to one particular way of doing something. I feel as if sometimes we forget not everything works out as planned, so having a plan B is always a good idea.
Don't Teach Tech- Use It- By Katlyn Lusker
Like Anthony Capps put it, “We are immersed in technology whether we want to be or not.” Technology is natural for all kids, it is there in their lives. Anthony Capps said “They will really enjoy the opportunity to be able to use technology to prove their learning or to learn.” Anthony Capps said “One of the things about technology is that you should not teach it, you should not have technology as something that is a list of things for you to get done in the day. Use it alongside with your teaching.” He also suggested that you chose one technology at a time to focus on. Most of technology is free, so they’re many other advantages to using different forms of it. It lets students create, it is clean, it is shareable, and it is real. Anthony Capps said “Use technology to let it get your students excited about what they are doing. Use it to let them share what they are doing. And also do not expect perfection.” “Never teach technology, just introduce it smartly.” Mr. Capps said “If you are worried about anything, do it yourself first.”
Additional Thought About Lessons- By Jake Dukes
In this video chat Anthony Capps is explaining the four ways to plan for a school year. The four ways he would plan for his class is daily, weekly, yearly and into units. One, is daily which means something that you do everyday in your class with your students, he tells about having a hook which catches your students attention while you're teaching your lecture. Second, is weekly which means to plan out the week of what you're going to be lecturing your students about but if you can’t do it all in a week stretch it out so the students will still be able to understand the lecture, don’t have a set time when things have to be due. Third, is teaching by units. When he says teaching by units he is referring to teach where you can have enough time to teach everything you need to in the time you are with the students. Finally, is year plan, the year plan is what you expect to teach the student throughout the year in your class, and what he or she should learn leaving the class.
Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher
We have learned a lot by listening to Anthony Capps. In this video, Anthony Capps said “A lot of people when we think about Project Based Learning, we think projects are what you do at the end of a lesson to show that you learned what you were supposed to learn. But now the goal of PBL and the shift that educators have to take is looking at PBL in a new way. That is, using PBL not only as a means to show that a student has achieved something but using it as a means to also get them to learn something.” We should get them excited about owning their own learning. We also have learned from listening to Anthony Capps in this video that the goal of a good project is “one that has an authentic audience so that the kids are rewarded for the work they do.” Good projects also “need to have student interest, it needs to be relevant to the kids lives.” Another goal of a good project is that it involves the community somehow. It should “show how it really relates to the real world experiences, and most importantly good projects should be driven by content.”
Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher
In this video Anthony Capps said “Not everything is always going to go well.” During one of his favorite projects in which his class was studying different cultures, one of his student’s fathers did not like the fact they were studying Afghanistan culture. The student’s father had been deployed to Afghanistan and he didn’t think it was appropriate. Although Mr. Capps did not necessarily agree, it it still important to remember to respect your students parents. Anthony Capps also said “With Project Based Learning, never limit your students by giving them exactly what you want them to do. Create an opportunity for them to go beyond what you want them to do, and they will.” You are going to get more than what you expected.
Anthony Capps said “My students love projects because they are not trapped in worksheets and whenever he does give them a worksheet, they know it is meaningful and they know it is to help them gauge where they are.” We learned that student choice is another big aspect of PBL. When you give students the opportunity to chose, then you also give them more ownership and pride and they really understand what they are saying and what they are arguing. “On the kids aspect, they are really proud of what they do and they know what they are doing and why they are doing it, and that is what PBL allows for.
iCurio
Out of all of these conversations with Anthony Capps, we think we learned the most about iCurio from him. iCurio is an online tool that allows students to safely search websites that have been pulled, (including websites, images, and videos) and others kinds of online media that have been pulled and filtered for educational use. We had no clue iCurio was filtered for educational use, and that is was designed for students to use safely. Another feature Anthony Capps discusses is that iCurio allows you to store content that students and teachers find valuable. “It also teaches virtual organization.” iCurio is kid friendly, created for student use, and it is safe. Anthony Capps said “Any teacher that feels comfortable letting their students search the web, I think iCurio is the best way to go.” Students just log on and use it like a search engine. iCurio is also great for accessibility, it has a read along feature so almost anyone can use it.
Discovery Education
Before we listened to Anthony Capps explain what Discovery Education was, we were kind of was clueless. We learned that Discovery Education takes students way beyond just pictures. It gives students videos from outside of you (the teacher) and it brings experts into the classroom via video. Discovery Education is used for “student searches so they can enrich their research experience and a teacher can also use it to bring different texts to life.”
The Anthony- Strange List of Tips for Teachers Part 1- By Tarcela Kohn
In this video, Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discussed key things that any new teacher should think about. Dr. Strange asked Anthony Capps “What are some of the most important things that you should prepare yourself to do as a teacher?” Dr. Stange continued by saying, “Teachers have to really be interested in learning themselves.” “If you are not a learner then you will not be a successful educator because what we have to do ourselves is constantly learn and model that behavior.” Anthony Capps agreed and said this also leads to another key thing any new teacher should think about. He continued by saying “Teaching is hard. Let your work become a fun experience for you.” Dr. Strange added “Teaching is a constant process, it never ends but it can be very rewarding.” More key things both Anthony Capps and Dr. Stange agreed on that new teachers should think about are: teachers need to be creative, flexible, and we can’t be committed to one particular way of doing something. We have to respond to events that we don’t expect. Also students should be engaged, and they should have a reflection process. Having an audience is perfect for reflection. Dr. Strange said, “Self evaluation is really important in the whole process of learning.” I think they’re a lot of great tips in this video. I’m glad that we were reminded that we cannot be committed to one particular way of doing something. I feel as if sometimes we forget not everything works out as planned, so having a plan B is always a good idea.
Don't Teach Tech- Use It- By Katlyn Lusker
Like Anthony Capps put it, “We are immersed in technology whether we want to be or not.” Technology is natural for all kids, it is there in their lives. Anthony Capps said “They will really enjoy the opportunity to be able to use technology to prove their learning or to learn.” Anthony Capps said “One of the things about technology is that you should not teach it, you should not have technology as something that is a list of things for you to get done in the day. Use it alongside with your teaching.” He also suggested that you chose one technology at a time to focus on. Most of technology is free, so they’re many other advantages to using different forms of it. It lets students create, it is clean, it is shareable, and it is real. Anthony Capps said “Use technology to let it get your students excited about what they are doing. Use it to let them share what they are doing. And also do not expect perfection.” “Never teach technology, just introduce it smartly.” Mr. Capps said “If you are worried about anything, do it yourself first.”
Additional Thought About Lessons- By Jake Dukes
In this video chat Anthony Capps is explaining the four ways to plan for a school year. The four ways he would plan for his class is daily, weekly, yearly and into units. One, is daily which means something that you do everyday in your class with your students, he tells about having a hook which catches your students attention while you're teaching your lecture. Second, is weekly which means to plan out the week of what you're going to be lecturing your students about but if you can’t do it all in a week stretch it out so the students will still be able to understand the lecture, don’t have a set time when things have to be due. Third, is teaching by units. When he says teaching by units he is referring to teach where you can have enough time to teach everything you need to in the time you are with the students. Finally, is year plan, the year plan is what you expect to teach the student throughout the year in your class, and what he or she should learn leaving the class.
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