Blog Post 6

What did you learn from these conversations with Andy Capps?

Project Based Learning Part 1

Project Based Learning Part 2

ICurio

Discovery Education

The Anthony-Strange Tips

Dont Teach Tec Use It

Additional Thoughts About Lessons



The video that I most enjoyed was Dont Teach Tec use It. I really liked this video because Mr. Capps had some really good ideas about teaching technology. I liked how he pointed out that it is crazy that technology in schools is still controversial. It is crazy that some people are not willing to learn about technology and dont want our students to learn it either when Technology is around us at all times weather we like it or not. Technology that teachers are using in classrooms today comes natural to students. It comes naturally to them because that is all they have ever known. Students enjoy using technology and it is fun for them. I really liked Capps's term of "scaffolding" the learning of technology. How each week build onto the week before's lesson. This way they are learning each part and can use each part separately and all together.

Having a classroom with almost 30 students can be very messy when trying to do projects together but with technology there is no mess. He says that there is no clean up and no spills when using technology for projects. One of my favorite things I learned from watching theses videos was this quote, "What kind of project can I create that will give my students an opportunity to need to know the content that I need them to know." I really love this because it was confusing at first and I had to replay it several times before I fully understand what Mr.Capps was saying. I believe that he is saying that the students need to work on projects to learn not do projects to show what they have learned and how do I show as a teacher how to use the tools to get the information that they will need for the project. I am saving this quote to put it into my teaching philosophy.

C4K Summary for September

First Post:
The student did not have any words in this blog post just his math problems and I guess he was showing his math skills
What I wrote:
I am a student from the United States taking a collage technology class. Your blog is really good. I like how this post is very organized. You also have very good math skills. Keep up the good blogging.

Second Post:
The student wrote about how if he could invent a food he would invent chicken pizza and would put ranch on it.
What I wrote:
Hi William my name is Lauren Parker I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. Your food idea sounds delicious! My favorite food is chicken and pizza so combining them would be a dream! Ranch is so good with both pizza and chicken using ranch is a good way of pulling the two foods together. Good idea!

Third Post:
The student wrote about an alligator named Munchie and how he liked to eat only peppered food because he was peppered himself. His mom made him feel better when he remembered that there were no more oranges for him to eat.
What I wrote:
Janiya,
Hi I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I loved your story about Munchie the orange alligator! You have such a wonderful and descriptive words in your story. I would love to hear more stories about the adventures of Munchie and Gloriamunch. Great post!

Project 8

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post 5

What are Personal Learning Networks (PLN)?

PLN are learning networks between different professional. They create connections that contributes to their professional knowledge. They don't even have to know these people.

How can they help you as a teacher?

They can help you as a teacher because if you don't know the answer to something and need help you can ask the question on Twitter and you could get real time answers. Michael Fawcett used this as an example in his video he asked twitter a question and with in thirty minutes NASA answered his question.

How are they formed?

PLNs can be formed in many ways. One can create a formal websight and invite members to check it out. One can join twitter, create a blog or visit blogs written by professionals.

How can you create your own PLN?

I have already started creating my PLN. I joined twitter and instead of following all the trash that is avaliable on twitter I have followed profesionals that discuess ideas that I am intreasted in.

Who will be the first additions to your PLN?

I have followed Some of my professors and to expand my PLN I could follow some of the people that they follow or the ones that my professors retweet a lot. Twitter connects you to teachers with similar ideas as you and they can help you expand your knowledge or give you ideas.

My Sentence Videos

My Sentence is...





My Passion is...

Blog Post #4

In Ben Johnson's article The Right Way to Ask a Question he says that we as teachers need to come to terms with the fact that we do not know everything. When a teacher asks his/her students does everyone understand, or any other kind of open ended question students rarely respond. We must ask specific questions that get students talking. When teachers ask students a question that requires them to give an answer other than yes or no they think and recall and the more the information the more likely they will learn it. Getting students involved in the learning process is very important.
Dr. Maryellen Weimer gives us some good pointers on how to ask students better questions in her article Three Ways to Ask Better Questions. First thing teachers must prepare questions. Teachers spend lots of time making the lessons, they also need to spend that time for questions too. When teachers have the time to sit down and write out questions it makes them think about what they are going to say. They may find that they are wording the question weird or it just does not make sense. Another thing teachers need to make questions engaging. Teachers who come up with thought provoking questions get their students exploring the subject. Teachers should also be on the look out for good questions. When ever a student asks a really good question teachers need to jot it down. They now can use it in different classes or to explore the subject further.

Project #15 Search Engines

WolframAlpha (wolframalpha.com)

-filled with tons of information
-it uses a complex set of algarthems to answer questions or calculations
-aimed towards older students


Sortfix (sortfix.com)

-provides relevant stream lined results
-it analyzes the search results and giving the searcher the ability to focus on or remove certain keywords
-good search engine if you are unsure which information you want to find
-it is meant for younger users


Fact Monster (factmonster.com)

-it is an almanac, dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia
-for elementary and middle school ages
-most useful for helping with homework because it has a homework center
-also has games and quizzes

Quintura Kids (quinturakids.com)

-for visual learners
-you enter your terms in the search box and hit enter, all terms in your original search are used to generate additional search items that helps you focus in on something more precise
-one of the safest search engines for kids

Middlespot (middlespot.com)

-it is a visual search engine that returns your search results as a series of thumbnail images
-there are live screenshots of web sights in your search results
-you can save your results, so you can share them with others or look back at them
-would be a very useful tool for an ongoing project

Sweetsearch (sweetsearch.com)

-only searches sights that have been reviewed by an approved team of librarians, teachers and research experts
-you can click on a subject area and grade level

Domoz (domoz.com)

-one of the biggest human-reviewed directories on theses
-it breaks things down into subject areas
-they have a special category for kids and teens

ERIC (eric.com)

-digital library of education research and information
-has access to education literature to support the use of educational research
-information to improve practice in learning, teaching, educational decision making, and research

C4T #1 (Posts 1 & 2)

Summaries of More than a Maths Teacher

1) (An Unusual) Measure for Measure
To me, this blog post was a little hard to understand because she is from the UK and they use different measurements than we do. I reread this post several time to try and understand what she was talking about. The jist of the post was that she had to move rocks form the store to her house and she was concerned that they would not fit in her car so she used a different unit of measurement to figure out that her car was capable of moving the rocks.

My comment said that I enjoyed how she used math in every day life. It shows students and everyone that math is important and we need to not just learn stuff for a test but learn it so we can use it in our day to day lives.


2) Back to School-Time to Set Goals
She says that she is having a harder and harder time learning her students names so she sets a goal of two weeks to learn all her students names. She also sets a goal for the about of time she sets back for just school work. She said last year it got a little crazy so her idea on how to make that happen is to set out a calendar with reminders of times she needs to work and times she needs to do other things.

My comment said that I like that she set realistic goals for the year. Also, having goals for the school year is a really good idea because it makes you focused on what you want to accomplish even if it seems hard right now you are working towards a purpose.

morethanmaths.com

Blog Post 3

How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback to Your Peers?


When teachers grade our work we usually have no problem with the way that he/she grades it. So, why is it that when a fellow student grades our work we flip out? I can only guess that we believe that because the student is in the same class as we are or the same grade level they could not possibly know something that we don't. When a peer grades my work I am totally a Defensive Dave. I spend lots of time on my work and really try my hardest to make sure I am turning in the best product possible. When a peer makes corrections or suggestions it I feel like I am being attacked personally. Yes, I am very aware of how dramatic I am.

Being a Defensive Dave has its ups. When I grade another students work I can to relate on how the student would feel if I just say only negative things. One must always start with complements when grading a peer paper because the student will be more inclined to really listen to what their peer has to say if they are being praised. Staying positive is key. If a peer just says negative things, the student will believe only the negative. Making suggestions is helpful. Also, a good peer grader must correct mistakes. You can be kind in your review but you also need to correct the student if they need correcting. Otherwise what is the point of the review.