C4K Summary for October

On 6 October I got to view and comment on Cheyenne's blog of Mr. Rhodus' 6th grade class of Robertsdate,AL. In her blog entry Cheyenne addressed the question of "How much does the sky weight?" At first I was taken aback by this question because it seemed so bizarre! I had never thought about such a question and I was actually very interested in seeing the answer! (You too can find out here!) Aside from some spelling errors Cheyenne did a great job showing personality and being creative in her post and she definitely taught me something!

On the 20th of October I had the pleasure of reading Hannah's blog of Mrs. Hartooni's 7th grade class. Hannah wrote about she and her friends Tyler and Dustin are going to plant a garden. She told about how her Marigolds would serve to protect Tyler's strawberries and Dustin's yet to be decided plant. Hannah did a great job with her writing in this post as she really showed personality through her creative speech. Also I think a class garden is a fantastic idea as fresh food is a value we should certainly be teaching our children.

A student's blog I was assigned to read on 27 October went by the name of woky34 of Mr. So's grade 2 class in Canada. The students were to come up with an idea for an activity called "Genius Hour." Woky34 chose to do sea creatures and stated an intent on using various sources and even actual samples. I commended woky34 of the idea of using samples and also commented on my own love for all things aquatic.

Project #14- PBL #2

History Critic

In this PBL the students will be analyzing Hollywood movies for their historical inaccuracies. Does Hollywood adequately portray the truth? How could this be remedied? The students will explore these questions and stretch their creative muscles in this project. Read all about it at the site!

Blog Post #10

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

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture is a presentation first and foremost about hope. It is his masterpiece that he proudly proclaimed before his imminent death. Pausch begins by addressing his terminal condition and ensures and reinforces that his Last Lecture is not to be centered around death, but rather life.  In this lecture he speaks on achieving your childhood dreams, or as he says maybe even more importantly helping others to achieve their dreams. This was the first to really catch my attention. To so selflessly consider aiding others in succeeding as being even more important than your own dreams is really a thing of admiration. I really do derive pleasure from helping others in many situations, and I strive to obtain a level of selflessness at which I can help others whether that be in everyday life or maybe even in developing their passions. After seeing this lecture Randy Pausch is definitely another role model in this goal for me. Bringing it back to the lecture, Pausch brings up pictures from his childhood where he is always smiling and he discusses constantly dreaming big in a time where man reaches the frontier of the moon. The importance of optimism, being positive, and never loosing that desire to dream is another key point that everyone should consider and practice from Randy Pausch. The power of positive, out-of-the-box thinking is limitless. I want to take a while and talk about how Pausch used his own dreams to kick off his Last Lecture.  Pausch lists his own childhood dreams and uses them as a tool to tell his experiences and what he learned from pursuing each of them. He talks about his first dream, of being in zero gravity, and how it was met by a brick wall. He displays a very thought provoking slide that says, "Brick walls are there to prove how badly we want something." This is an absolutely brilliant statement as most people think of brick walls a point of termination, an obstacle that puts an end to the road to your dreams. Pausch is saying that is not the case! These obstacles just force you to fight even harder to prove that you are striving to achieve your dreams.  Next pausch talks about his dream of playing in the NFL, which he never achieved. However, he views this in no way as a failure, in fact he goes on to say that he learned more from not achieving this goal than he did from achieving some of his other goals. From this he learns the importance of criticism as an essential tool for growth. Pausch also uses this opportunity to first address what he calls "head fake" or indirect learning. I am glad he brings attention to the things we learn indirectly because, as he says, these are some of the most important things we can learn and at times we don't even realize we're learning them! When Pausch gets to his dream of being Captain

Kirk, he uses Kirk as a fantastic example of leadership. Finally Pausch actually does achieve his dream of becoming an Imagineer at Disney. Through this example he again overcomes brick walls and fights tooth and nail to achieve this dream. Randy Pausch, either through achieving or not achieving his childhood dreams, learned and developed so much just from striving for his goals, and after doing so he moved on to helping others have this same experience. I absolutely love this school of thought. Pausch experienced, grew, and gave back to the world but through helping others to do the same so much more is achieved! He goes on to say that the greatest gift you can give to others is the opportunity for them to get other people excited. This aspect of Pausch's Last Lecture connects with me the most. This importance placed upon aiding the growth of others is essential and we should all (as educators or otherwise) learn from these words of wisdom. Mentorship is a vital thing in life and learning and it is something I am afraid is dying out in our world today. Pausch places a great importance on mentorship throughout his Last Lecture in instances where he is the mentor and also where he often consults his own mentors. A final thing he mentioned was a value he learned from one of his own mentors and that was to expect and look for the good in people. "People will surprise you." This is yet another thing from Randy Pausch's Last Lecture I love. I believe optimism is absolutely essential and Pausch definitely propagates the importance of optimism, hope, and happiness. So much that I have hit on here and even more can be learned from Randy Pausch in not only learning and teaching but also living.

Project #2- Personal Learning Network

Personal Learning Network (PLN) Growth Progression

I use Google's tools and Youtube quite often in my daily life, but when I started EDM 310 and learned I would be using these and other tools in creating a network for learning I was a little worried. I never used Twitter before even though many of my friends had accounts and I had also never used Blogspot. After the few weeks I have experienced in EDM 310 so far I have found these various tools easy to use and very helpful. I am still getting used to using Google+ and Twitter as tools for connecting with people but other tools such as iCurio have proved very useful in even some work outside of EDM 310. Blogger has been amazing not just as a great place to host all of our EDM 310 work but also to connect with other educators. I really enjoy the C4T assignments as they provide an opportunity to experience educators and their work in the field. Skype is another tool I am familiar with outside of this class and I know it has proven to be extremely useful. I have not had the chance to implement it for EDM 310 but I am sure I will be in the near future.  I hope by the end of EDM 310 I will have had more experience with all of these tools and be able to use them effectively to expand upon my PLN. I also view the class blog and all my other classmates' blogs as part of my learning network too. Viewing their work has definitely added to my learning experiences and I hope my blog helps in the same way for them.

Blog Post #9

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

Authored by: Secoria Burks, Jo Davis, and Lindsay Stewart

1. Brian Crosby, Agnes Risley Elementary School, Sparks, Nevada, “Back To the               Future”

In this video, Brian Crosby discusses how his class learns about hot air balloons, and how his students took learning to a higher level.  Mr. Crosby discussed the entire project of his students building and learning about hot air balloons.  The project was an eye opener in getting students to be involved in the entire learning process.  First, research was performed, then testing, after this, the actual building of the hot air balloon was completed.  In each step, Mr. Crosby’s students are blogging, making videos, collaborating, and connecting and sharing their learning with the entire world. So, what can we learn about teaching and learning from Mr. Crosby and his class?  Mr. Crosby shows us that it’s not about a race through learning or a race to get good test scores.  He teaches us that learning enrichment is part of everyday learning, and through enrichment and project based learning, students learn in their own way the things necessary to not only improve test scores but to also obtain a first rate education.  Mr. Crosby gave an interesting quote from a David Coen on the way schools now handle teaching kids “the basics.” Many schools just drill basics and then move on to enrichment learning afterwards. Using Coen’s quote to support his thoughts, Mr. Crosby says it shouldn’t be this way. “The basics” can be taught more discreetly and the children learn better when taught through more meaningful experiences such as Mr. Crosby’s project. The students in this class thrived from the attention they received from comments and sharing around the world, and the video gave a clear picture of how students are more motivated to learn when technology and collaboration are part of the experience. Mr.Crosby does something in this video that I really admire. He addressed his students presumed handicaps, his students were impoverished, second language learners,who were largely disconnected from the environment they lived in. Making the point that if students don’t understand their role in the scheme of things, that it would be hard for them to find that spark needed to imagine, be creative, and to be passionate. My favorite project was “High Hopes.” This project directly targets the problem with the disconnect by asking the students to include their community and their passions. Another thing I learned from Mr.Crosby is that by building a large learning network students makes learning more interactive and more rewarding.  

  

2. Mr. Paul Andersen, high school AP Biology teacher in Bozeman, Montana. “The Blended Learning Cycle”

Paul Anderson talks to us about the “Blended Learning Cycle” in this video.  Mr. Anderson begins by showing us blended learning combines online, classroom, and mobile settings.  He then presents the learning cycle with these steps: engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluating at all points.  Mr. Anderson combines the blended learning atmosphere with the learning cycle to illustrate the complete “Blended Learning Cycle.”  In the complete cycle students will do the following steps concerning the science lesson/project: 1. Question 2. Investigate 3. Video 4. Elaborate 5. Review 6. Summary Quiz.  He summarizes this process with the helpful acronym QuIVERS. In each of these steps the students explore in depth the lesson being presented through working hands on and learning via the web.  Mr. Anderson gives examples of some of the questions he poses to his students and how they work through them using the “Blending Learning Cycle.”  What can we learn from teaching and learning from Mr. Anderson?  It is good to have a process to use on different lessons/projects, and a way to mark learning via the summary quiz.  The “Blended Learning Cycle” is a tool that can be used in lesson planning to assure use of all resources available. Another thing we can learn from Mr.Anderson is that one really good way to start any lesson is to pose a question. Or that it really doesn’t have to be a question, it should just produce a conundrum for the students. One last thing we can learn from Mr. Anderson is actually how he started his video. He addresses the fact that he evaluated his teaching methods from the previous term and adjusted them according to his desires, values, and inspirations from other educators. The willingness to consider your own work and change it is an incredibly important thing to consider.  

3. Mark Church, “Making Thinking Visible”

In this video Mr. Church challenges his students to create a headline for what the search and puzzle is of the question, “What is human origin all about?”  The students are put into discussion groups to come up with headlines for the question, and then each group creates their headline.  The headlines are displayed in the classroom, and then after learning about the search for human origin the headlines are reviewed a second time.  This allows the students to see if they would change their headline after learning about the topic.  What can we learn about teaching and learning from Mr. Church?  We learn group work and collaboration brings out different points of view, and displaying the headlines helps to create a visual of the learning that is taking place.  This collaborative thinking Mr. Church had his students do is fantastic exercise in critical thinking. Analyzing and thoughtfully discussing with others in this fashion is a great facilitator of learning. Mr. Church employed another great technique when he had the students go back and consider their headlines again to see how and if their thoughts/feelings/ideas had changed. These methods and thinking lead to more actively thinking students. This is a great example how allowing students to independently explore is a necessity. Mr. Church placed a fairly vague and open question. The students had to decide what was important to them, what they wanted to gain from this section. As they go throw this section they will attempt to answer the question, and the banner they made gives them a starting point.

C4T#2

Turn Your Android Phone into a WiFi Hotspot
This time around for my C4T assignment I was again assigned to a particularly tech heavy blog. That blog would be Miguel Guhlin's Around the Corner. For my first entry I read his post on how to turn your android phone into a wifi hotspot. I do not have an android phone but I still found this post very interesting simply from a technical standpoint an also because of his writing. Guhlin included what could be considered a small anecdote and was very well written which added a lot of personality and made it easy to read.

BitTorrent Sync and Thunderbird Email Backups
For my second entry on Miguel Guhlin's blog I read his post regarding BitTorrent Syncing and Thunderbird Email Backups. While a lot of the info included in this post was way over my head in technical processes, I still found it to be very helpful. I could tell if I needed this kind of problem addressed Miguel Guhlin's blog entry would be very helpful. He gave many steps leading one through the processes for using BitTorrent Sync and handling Thunderbird backups on various OS's. He even used a very helpful graphic that clearly displayed the information. And yet again very well and interesting writing kept this post interesting.

Project #9

Source: Sugata Mitra

Blog Post #8

Learning Tools for the 21st Century

Authored by: Secoria Burks, Jo Davis, Lindsay Stewart

This week, we explored tools that we could use in our future classrooms; we have listed a few here, and will describe in detail our favorites. Grockit gets your students connected in study sessions on a social site.  Schoology is another site where teachers can connect with other educators as well as their students to stay connected.  Funbrain is a site with educational games, and Knewton is an adaptive learning site that personalizes the students’ learning experience based on their individual needs.  Quizlet is a great tool where you can make your own flashcards, or teachers can make flashcards and share them with the class.  Glogster is a site that helps you gather all data about a topic on an interactive, multimedia poster that can be shared publicly. Evernote is a useful tool that helps you organize all of your resources in one place. Diigo is another tool that assists in organizing all of your tools and resources; you can collaborate with others, highlight important information and keep everything in one place.  There are three more tools that we found very useful; we have described them below.

Digital History-”Using new technologies to enhance teaching and research”

Authored by: Jo Davis

When I first stumbled upon Digital History while looking for online history sources, I almost dismissed immediately as boring and generic. But something about the big empty timeline of the webpage intrigued me. As I investigated the site more I realized it is a fantastic, unique, and easy to use tool. As previously stated, the site at first seems to be nothing more than a large empty timeline of America from pre-1492 spanning into the 21st Century. But upon further investigation i realized that the empty tiles of the timeline were not merely empty tiles but cells functioning as links! On the top of the timeline there are dates and in the background are images that correspond with these dates (which is very visually appealing), and on the left side of the time line are four rows reading: media, documents, textbook, teaching. You use the timeline to find the desired period and then click the cell under the date that corresponds with the medium that you are seeking. Digital History provides an amazing amount of resources on every period available. Having the resources separated into media, documents, textbook, and teaching makes this an immensely useful tool. I will undoubtedly be using Digital History as an aide in the near future.


Timetoast

By Secoria V Burks

Timetoast is a tool that allows teachers and students both the opportunity to build interactive timelines.  Since I plan on teaching history it is comforting to know that I have a tool to help organize and present large spans of time. When first engaging Timetoast, you have to set up an account, there are plans you can pay for, or you can use the free one. To get a better feel of the site, I signed up for a free trial account; I began making my own timeline. This site is great for PBL or anything that requires research. In order to make an accurate and interesting timeline you would have to find precise dates and try to get as many details as possible. Another feature to this site is the ability to view timelines that have already been made by category. You can add groups to your dashboards and interact with them or even collaborate on timelines. While I was not able to use all the features of this site (due to my subscription status) I can say that this site is a wonderful tool for teachers and students of History, Literature, Art, and Science.   

Edmodo- “Where Learning Happens"

Authored by: Lindsay Stewart

Edmodo is an awesome resource that can be used in any classroom.  Its interface reminds me of Google in the way that is structured.  Teachers can create a virtual classroom for their students by creating an account and providing group codes to each participant.  After the students sign up, they are brought to their personal page that is not only functional but very appealing to the eye.  The site feels like a combination of Google and Facebook (and what student does not like Facebook?).  Students can comment on others’ posts and vote on questions posed by the teacher.  The teacher can share documents and keep track of the progress their class is making.  Overall, Edmodo would be a useful tool in any classroom, but it would certainly be a great addition to my high school literature class.  I cannot wait to use it with my own students soon.  The video below shows an example of how you can use Edmodo in your Language Arts classroom:  http://youtu.be/H4hy-0VxrRk

Blog Post #7

Conversations with Anthony Capps
Authored by: Secoria Burks, Jo Davis, and Lindsay Stewart

Project Based Learning, Part 1
Anthony Capps provides us with guidance regarding Project Based Learning. In the first video, he gives us an overview of this type of learning. Anthony tells us instead of assigning a project to summarize a lesson that we need to use project based learning as part of the actual lesson. He states he follows the ACCRS standards to assure his project will meet curriculum needs. Anthony also explains that getting others involved (family, community) will bring a learning based project full circle. He provides very useful examples such as peer-editing and peer-selection as an exercise in classroom democracy that truly lets the kids be a part of the whole experience. This very involved form of learning is extremely beneficial in the learning process. In addition, we get an example of how Project Based Learning will benefit the teacher as well and grow our knowledge.

Project Based Learning, Part 2
In this conversation with Anthony, he gives us another example of using Project Based Learning. In the project, Anthony wanted his students to provide a narrative from the perspective of living in Afghanistan. He explained that the outcome was phenomenal; students focused on food, clothing, and other cultural elements. Anthony had one parent who did not agree with the project assigned, and that child was allowed to do a project on a different topic. This showed us that we can make adjustments to our learning plan if needed, as long as the standards are still being met. In this particular project, the results were shown to a group of parents, and the parents were in awe of the abilities and skills shown in producing the projects. And with this, Anthony gives us the tip to never limit our students, because often they will go above and beyond the expectations, and we will be amazed. He also states that his students enjoy Project Based Learning, and he looks to their feedback to shape his future lessons. In addition, Anthony has the backing of his administration in using Project Based Learning in his daily lessons, and he is currently helping to develop a Project Based Learning template to use statewide.

iCurio
In this video, Anthony talks about the iCurio website and how he uses it in his classroom. iCurio is a curated website that his students use like a search engine to find approved content that meets ACCRS standards. Although he is a third grade teacher he made it clear that iCurio would be useful to all grade levels and subjects. He stated his students use iCurio to organize their data as well, and this allows the students to practice using online storage tools so that once leaving the classroom they will have a new skill of using online organization tools. The iCurio site is a safe site for students, and it has many resources including accessibility options. Anthony gives us tips on how to search in iCurio as well, and he explains how the directory in iCurio makes it easier for students to search for the specific information they need.

Discovery Ed
The Discovery Ed video shows us the importance of using Discovery Ed. Anthony tells us Discovery Ed has almost everything you can think of in terms of resources for Science and Social Studies. The videos found on Discovery Ed allow experts to deliver information to the students, and these videos enhance classroom learning and keep the students engaged. Accompanied with reading, the videos and resources found on Discovery Ed increase the students’ understanding of what is being studied. The aforementioned videos give us an overview of Project Based Learning and some of the tools/resources we can use to enhance Project Based Learning in our classroom. The real-life scenarios and experiences that Anthony gives us will assist in our own formation as a teacher.

The Anthony- Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1
Authored by: Jo Davis
Dr. Strange returns with his good friend Anthony Capps in this video to discuss things that are vital for a teacher, especially a new teacher. I found this video very interesting and Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps together constructed an excellent list of factors that teachers should most certainly take into consideration. They ultimately ended up with a list a little something like this:

Work hard
Be a learner
Have fun doing it
Be flexible
Know the importance of Review

These were the main points Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discussed and they went into some depth on why each of these were key for teachers. I really liked how they were sure to hit on the fact that it is vital for a teacher to be open for the ongoing experience of learning. I believe this is very important and we all must certainly realize that teaching is itself a great learning experience. I also thought the importance they placed on being flexible was fantastic. Being flexible is essential to successful execution as of course things will never go the way you plan it exactly, and it’s foolish to operate on such an assumption. Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps cover these points and even more in the video, and I would definitely suggest that anyone interested in education should check it out.

Don’t Teach Tech - Use It
Authored by: Lindsay Stewart
Technology in the classroom is still controversial, but it is vital to the learning process. Anthony tells us how to incorporate technology into our lessons without “teaching” technology. There should not be a checklist for technology lessons; rather, technology will be used in each subject, and the use of different technologies will assist students throughout their learning process. Anthony teaches us that scaffolding the use of technology can be beneficial to the students in gradually becoming experts on using different technological tools. The advice Anthony gives regarding technology is valuable and should be considered by all teachers. Technology is not going away, and we need to embrace it in a way that our students see the value for themselves.

Additional Thoughts About Lessons
By Secoria Burks
In general I have enjoyed all the conversations between Dr.Strange and Mr.Capps. In this video Capps breaks lessons down into a matryoshka doll. Your lesson plans should ultimately fit into your year. How do you go about making sure this happens? First plan your curriculum year, so when you are making lesson plans you can make sure you’re going to hit all the marks on your map. Next, divide your goals into units. This will allow the lessons to flow in a more coherent way. Then, plan your goals for your week, try making every day functional so that your weekly goal will be met. Finally, you plan your day, how to get kids hooked and how to measure the improvement.

C4K Summary for September

For my C4K assignment on 15 September I was assigned Rose's blog where she expressed her beliefs on the topic of abortion. It is indeed a heavy subject matter for a high school sophomore but she handled it very well. Aside from a few very minor grammar errors, she very clearly stated her stance and used personal stories connect with her audience and get her point across.


On the 22nd of September I was assigned Maggie of Mrs. Lieschke's 5th grade class in Australia. Maggie talked about a trip to see her friend she went on and a detour she took to the Canberra mint. Maggie greatly enjoyed her trip to the mint and brought a question she had concerning the word mint and its origins. I too had wondered where this word came from and she went on to explain it. (which you can read on her blog here ) She certainly taught me something and her blog was very well written!


29 September I went to the blog of 5th grade Kyan of Miss Lavakula's class in Auckland, New Zealand. He had many things he had done for his class on his blog but an illustration of a bird caught my eye. This bird Kyan had made turned out to be the Kakariki of Maori legend. Kyan did a really top job of creating the Kakariki and gave a brief description of the legendary bird. (see for yourself here ) I find the Maori people and culture to be very interesting and I was glad I could learn a little something about them from Kyan.

Project #13

Project Based Learning Plan #1

Created by: Secoria Burks, Jo Davis, and Lindsay Stewart

This is my group and I's Project based lesson plan presented through a Google presentation.