Sunday, March 30, 2014

Project #12 Part A

C4K Summary For March

I've commented on three student blogs during the month of March. The first student had written a blog post about a project she was doing for her English class. She had to find songs that went along with a book she was reading. I told her that this sounded like a lot of fun because I find myself doing that when I read a book. The second student was learning class room etiquette. I let her know how important it is to learn those things, and I said it looked like they were having a lot of fun with it. The last student's post was about cows. He stated many fun facts about cows and even had a picture of one. I agreed with him that cows are very interesting. I told him that I have some next door to my house and I get to pet and feed them sometimes.

I Love Blogging

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Blog Post #10

Sir Ken Robinson is so amazing! In his talk, Bring on the Learning Revolution he makes so many great points about education. He talks about doing things we are passionate about and making a revolutionary change in education. One of the points he makes that I like the most is that being a teacher should not be what we do, it should be what we are. A great teacher is a teacher who cannot wait to be back in the classroom. It's not the kind of job you do just for money. Teaching has to be a passion; otherwise, it is not going to be affective.

Another great point Sir Ken Robinson makes is that the change we need to see in the education system needs to be a revolution not an evolution. An evolution would simply be improving something that is broken. We need to completely change the ways that we teach and engage our students. We need to be nurturing their passions and talents as well as giving them knowledge.

Photo of Sir Ken Robinson

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Blog Post #9

Kathy Cassidy is an elementary school teacher who encourages the use of technology in her classroom. I love seeing young students blogging and learning how to use the latest technologies in the classroom. I think it is so much more important than some people realize to start teaching students technology at a young age. It just benefits them in the long run because technology is never going away, and there are so many great tools out there that they can utilize. Because of EDM310, I have decided that I will have my students blog. I have always thought that it would be a great way to connect them to the rest of the world, but I never thought about how it would benefit the parents. Kathy Cassidy uses it as a way for the parents of her students to be able to keep track of their students progress. That is such a great idea! With a blog, the parents can always be up to date with what their student is doing. There is so much to learn from Kathy Cassidy, and it is so great to see a teacher embracing technology in the classroom like she does.

Interview with Cassidy Part 1
Interview with Cassidy Part 2
Interview with Cassidy Part 3

Student and teacher at chalkboard

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Book Review Project #9

Project Based Learning Plan #2

Project Based Lesson Plan Two

Subject/ Grade Level: 11th Grade English Language Arts
Subject/ Grade Level: Edgar Allan Poe Visual Board
Subject/ Grade Level: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9
Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American literature.
Project Details: Each student will be assigned an Edgar Allan Poe poem or short story. They will make a board full of visual representations of the particular work they are are assigned. Each student will present their board to the class and explain what every picture stands for.
Points Worth: 100
Challenge of the Project: The challenge of this project is for the students to associate themes in their assigned work with a visual representation and be able to explain to the rest of the class how those visual representations go along with the work.
Major Product: Visual Board
Skill: Reading comprehension
Skill: Using visual aids
Skill: Presenting
This project is done outside of class. I will make a visual board and show the students as an example, and they will do the work outside of class time.

Edgar Allan Poe

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Blog Post #8

Being teachers in today's world means we have access to a wide variety of educational tools. In order to be successful in our classrooms, we need to take advantage of all these tools. Most of them are only a key stroke away.

The first tool I find to be useful is called Pocket. Pocket allows you to save any web content you may find useful into an online folder and come back to it later. This is a great research tool. Web documents, videos, and even photos can be put into your Pocket for later use. I feel like this will be particularly useful for students who have no access to a computer from home. If a student is doing research from school, they can save all of the resources they may think to be helpful to their Pocket and be able to access it from any computer.

Another very valuable tool for education is Quizlet. Quizlet is one of the best online tools I have ever used. I use it every time I need to study. I think it is extremely helpful for students. It allows the student to make online flash cards for any subject matter. Quizlet also lets students access each others cards. One of it's best features, in my opinion, is the study options. Quizlet has three different study options. You can just review the flash cards one at a time, you can play a matching game, and you can take a test. There is even an app, so the students can access their flaw cards form their smart phones. I know from experience, this is a great tool!

Stcak of books next to an iPad

Thursday, March 13, 2014

C4T Summary #2

The Teaching Channel is a great resource for anyone in the education field. I read two different blog post from this website, and I found them extremely helpful and interesting.

The first blog post I commented on was about constructive feedback. I commented that feedback can be so helpful in the classroom. Sometimes, people looking in from the outside can see what we on the inside can't. If we accept constructive feedback from our peers, they may have some ideas on how to make certain aspects of the classroom better.

The second blog post I read was an argument for argument writing as opposed to persuasive writing in high school. I have never really given much thought to this until I read the blog post, but I completely agreed with it's author. I stated that being a college student, I absolutely think that argument writing is better for high school students to learn. I feel that it makes them better prepared for college and life after high school.

The Teaching Channel Logo

Project #13 Learning Plan #1

Project Based Learning Lesson Plan

Subject/ Grade Level: 11th Grade English Language Arts
Project Title:
Scene Interpretation Video
Standard: CCSS. ELA- Literacy. RL. 11- 12. 7
Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem, evaluating how each version interprets the source text.
Project Details: The students will be put into groups of four. The groups will be assigned a scene from one of two plays the class has already read. They will come up with two different interpretations for one scene and make a 5 minute video analyzing these interpretations.
The students will have access to a video that will show them how to use the video editing software and the grading rubric prior to starting the project. I will also share with them a sample video that I will make. After the videos are finished, we will present them to the class and post them to the class blog.
Points Worth: 100
Challenge of the Project: The challenge of this project is to make the students see past the surface meaning of the words on the page, and to come up with their own interpretation of what the author meant. The students also have to be able to use a wide range of technology tools in order to film and edit their video.
Major Product: Video
Skill: Reading Comprehension
Skill: Video Editing
Start Date/ Due Date: March 3, 2014- March 5, 2014

DAY ONE
Show the example video and pass out the rubric
Show the instructional video on video editing
Divide students into groups and assign scenes
Students discuss ideas for the videos
DAY TWO
Students begin to film and edit videos
DAY THREE
Finishing touches to videos
Share videos

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Blog Post #7

I really enjoyed watching the video of Randy Pausch. It was amazing and extremely motivating! There were two main points I took away from him. The first point is that anything is possible if you want it enough and work for it. The second is that is okay to let students have fun.

I have always been a firm believer in being able to do anything you put your mind to. I have noticed lately that there are so many students with so much potential, but there is no one motivating them to use that potential. Instead of telling all these talented and creative students they can, more people are telling them they can't or they shouldn't. I miss seeing kids and teenagers aspiring to be doctors and lawyers or even artist and writers. They have been told they aren't good enough to do those things, and they need to aim a little lower. As teachers, it is our job to do so much more than stand at a board and teach from a textbook. Parts of our job are to be motivators, to nurture our students talents, and to help our students discover new talents. The words "I can't" will not be allowed in my classroom because I am there to show them that they can.

I have always detested worksheets and written test. I want to have a fun classroom where my students actually retain the knowledge I share with them instead of just memorizing it. The best way to accomplish this is with project-based learning. Students need to be engaged, otherwise they aren't really learning much. When students aren't being actively engaged they tend to not pay attention. They will start doodling, passing notes, or falling asleep. Doodling isn't helping them learn anything. Instead of having them take notes, try letting them act out a chapter of a book. If they are acting out a certain chapter of a book they will be more likely to remember what that chapter was about because they link it to an active memory. They may even have some fun while they are learning, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Randy Pausch Quote

C4K Summary for February

My Comments for Kids assignments for February were very fun and entertaining. My first C4K was for a boy who's class was learning how to make comic strips online for a book. He did a review of two different websites that create comic strips, and he listed a couple of pros and cons for each site. He also decided that he liked one more than the other. I told him that I loved his blog post because it was very informative for anyone wanting to know more about creating comic strips.

My second C4k assignment was Braxton. Braxton is from Canada and his blog post was about a recent trip his class took to see a hockey game. His mom knows the mascot for the hockey team, so she was able to get the class tickets. I thought that sounded like fun because I've never been to a hockey game, but I told him that I've always wanted to go to one.

The third C4k I left was for Kylie. Kylie had to choose between two different projects to do for a book her class read. One of her options was to choose five song that have a similar theme to the book she read. I told her that option sounded fun. I tend to always think of songs that relate to the book I'm reading at the time anyway. Her blog was very well put together, so I've included a link to it below.

Kylie's Crazy Blog

Children playing on a computer