Blog # 16 Final Reflection

Blog 5 (part 2)

Over the semester I have expanded my PLN some. Not only have I expanded it with the history blogs that can be found in the C4T's but I have also created friendships with some local history teachers in my town. I got in touch with them through Facebook and developed a friendship with them when they let me sit in on some of their A.P. classes. At the beginning of this semester I did not have any friends or acquaintances in the history field and now I have reached out a great group that I found on a social network. If you would have told me that this would have happened in the beginning of the semester I would have laughed and not believed a word of it. However with the help of developing a PLN I have been introduced a group of fellow history teachers or students working towards getting their degree in history education which has truly changed the ways I see certain aspects of teaching. Which I am very thankful for.

C4T #4

I chose to work with the U.S. History Teachers Blog, by Ken Halla. It can be found at U.S. History Teachers Blog.
The first blog I commented on in this blog was a actually a video that they had posted about flipping the classroom. The idea of flipping the classroom was explained very well and give examples of how to do it. The video focused on the things students could learn outside of the classroom on their own. It talked about the arrival of the Spaniards in Native American Territory and how disease and things of that sort, which had not been introduced to the Natives wreaked havoc. It was very well written out and preformed in a timely manner that would not allow for the students watching it to become bored.
The second blog I commented on was a blog regarding the use of Primary Documents. I wrote about how I loved the use of primary documents because they provide the most credible details of what exactly happened in this event being discussed. I also feel that primary documents provide vivid details of what is going on which in turn allows the students to create what is going on in their heads, only by the information provided.

C4K 11

This month I was assigned to two different people. Lylem who was in the 5th grade and Daniel P who was also in the 5th grade. Both of these children's blogs were focused around things they liked or did not like. Those were the first two log they had done. I also had to comment on a blog that talked about how rude fans of a rival sports team were when things were going in the favor of the other team. And lastly the bog I was required to comment on today was one talking about Nelson Mandela and Walt Disney. The student was Daniel and he was talking about how they were good people, and cared about others which is why they were so kind and generous with their money.

Blog 14

Teaching can be a profession: In this article Klein lists problems and solution to these problems

Problems- he calls for better academic training for teachers.
he also says that a demanding knowledge base needs to be established.
and wants to change the way teachers are rewarded.

I agree that teachers should be require to have better academic training. Teachers need to be well versed in their field of education, but they also need to focus on teaching the students to learn, versus just telling the students information that they may of may not remember. Teachers also need to slowly prepare the students for real world experiences they will face once they are out of high school. Teachers are not only teaching students but they are installing basic needs and facts that the students will need to use later in life when they are working and living in the real life, they will be the future leaders in our world and a more selective education system would help weed out the ones who are not up to the full job of teaching or the ones who are not up to par with the education requirements.

Developing a demanding knowledge based education, this ultimately depends on the students but also the teachers. If this was to be developed then teaching would have to be looked as a professional job instead of something that many people deem as an easy way out, or an easy job. If the content students were learning was beefed up and looked at as challenging then maybe teachers would receive more acknowledgement in this profession instead of being told "you are wasting time, to be paid such little money" or the always lovely to hear phrase "why are you going into education? that's a pointless field" Us teachers or feature teachers do not find this field pointless, we find it enjoyable and love the act that what we are doing is molding the minds of our next generation.

I feel that not all teachers need to be rewarded, I say this not because they do not deserve it, but why do they need constant rewards for something they went to school for and strive so hard to achieve? Rewards for something like the students passed all their tests each test time, or none of the classes you taught had anybody fail the state tests then yes I can see a reward being acceptable. But rewards for small and petty things I feel are not needed. If you have worked for an extended amount of time and they are rewarding you for your service or how long you have been there is not needed in my eyes. If the teacher enjoys teaching then they should not need to or feel the need to have a reward for doing something they love. What I am basically saying is if teachers were rewarded on their students work then that is fine, but rewarding a teacher for something she should love and not need a reward for is unneeded.

Project 12B

Blog # 13

I have chosen to write my blog on how I could incorporate technology into my classroom. I chose to write a blog assignment that would keep the students engaged in learning. Also keeping Interactive Smart Board presentations to go along with classroom lectures. The use of iCurio when resreaching papers the students would be required to write. iPads would also be used in the classroom to create imovies on whatever they please as long at it fits in the time frame we are studying. And lastly Google Drive Presentations would be created to go hand in hand with the project they would be doing with the blogging project. I am planning on teaching History on a high school level.

Blogging- I know that many students are not interested in History, therefore I would require them to create a weekly blog post on what is going on in their lives and also important things that had happened during this week, that is significant to history. It could be the date of an important event such as the bombing of pearl harbor, a past presidents birthday, or what is going on in the world currently. These blog posts would later be combined into a project at the end of the year, that would require the students to show the cause and effect of how History effects their lives on a daily bases. I feel that incorporating the students weekly lives and relating them to historical events would bring the students into history on a deeper level. Instead of me just talking and trying to get them to memorize dates. Bringing in students on a personal level and allowing them to connect would ultimately cause the students to relate to history and actually feel that they learned something.

Interactive Smart Board Presentations- I would use the program that would allow me to hide the answer to the question being asked and would allow the student being called on to reveal the answer to the question. Then I would provide a detailed reason as to why the answer was right instead of the others.

iCurio- Is a website that allows students to search an gather information on specific events. This would be used when creating other projects or when they have to write a paper. It allows their searches to be saved and creates less time being spent on trying to find what they were looking at previously. This would also allow the students to only find articles related to what they are searching for. When students have to write a paper I feel that it would allow the students very good online sources to match with book sources as well when researching for these papers.

iPads- iPads would be used to create imovies that incorporate the chapter main events. Creating a simple movie on something like the Nixon Kennedy debate where the student could discuss the points of why Kennedy seemed to win the debate to the people who watched the debate on television and why it seemed that Nixon won the debate to those who listened via radio broadcast. There are many reasons that I feel the students would be able to find. Whether it be in the class provided book, or what was previously talked about in the classroom. They would provide examples of the reasons on both sides and then talk about their thoughts of who they felt really won the debate.

Google Drive Slideshows- As stated in the very beginning of this blog I would have the students create a semester year long blog. At the end of the semester they would be required to create a presentation on the comparisons of what went on in their lives and how it also incorporated history. They would be required to create their projects in the Google Drive Presentations Slide Show, this would allow the students to work from home if they have access to a computer. If they do not have access to a computer at their home they will be given time during classroom meetings to go to the library and work on those computers. I think that Google Drive Slide Shows would be better to use than having students create a Power Point when they may not have access to Microsoft Word other than at the school. If it was done on Google Presentations it can be access anywhere and worked on regardless of the software their computer has.

These are the ways I could keep technology incorporated in my classroom, and hopefully keep the students engaged in learning.

Blog #12

C4T #3

I was assigned to comment to Henrietta Miller's blog, Classroom Chronicles. The first blog I commented on she talked about how she gave each student a Gobstopper when they returned back to school and asked them to think about three things. 1. Why are we using them? 2. What might we be inquiring into? 3. How could a gobstopper relate to this term’s inquiry unit? Before the students were allowed to eat the Gobstopper the student was required to create a list of " I wonder questions" some of the results were "I wonder what happens to a gobstopper in my digestive system?" and "I think the gobstopper is a metaphor for the earth’s crust and we are going to investigate the layers of the earth." Those were just a few of the responses that she received from her students. In the second blog I commented on she was talking about how she had the students pretend they were throwing a party. This pretend party is a way of making the students think about make and ultimately make it come alive. This was an interesting idea because it allows for the students to relate to something they would enjoy and get excited about.

Blog # 11

These videos provide a great deal of information that we as students can learn to adapt and use in our own classrooms once we become teachers. In the first video "Back to the Future" Brian Crosby discusses how his students are second language learners, and how they are also considered students of poverty. Brian Crosby took a survey on the first day of school and received shocking statistics about the lack of knowledge his students knew when it came to their personal lives, such as city name, country name, and even home address. Crosby took many interesting ways to bring his students into learning and being excite about it. One way Crosby did this was the can crushing experiment, or the tissue on fire rising instead of burning at ground level. The bringing of students into the experiments and asking questions related to the experiments are ultimately what keeps the students engaged in what they are learning. One big project that was discussed during this video was the high altitude balloon that was being sent up. It allowed the students to create a Wiki and compose questions as to what would happen since it was hydrogen filled versus hot air filled.
What this project did was allow the students to get engaged with this project, the teachers approach to this project allowed the students to be hands on. The students were able to send "their high hopes" up with the balloon when it was sent off. The students high hopes are what they wish would happen, to them or change in the world. Some high hopes that were mentioned were "to do better in a certain class", or "for the violence to stop in Bangkok Thailand" the last high hope was sent in from a student in Bangkok that the class had contact with. The fact the students and other students who where not even in the same country was also able to send up their high hopes. The students were also required to write a story of them selves in the balloons perspective when it blew up. The teacher requiring the students to write a story like this allowed for the student to think outside of the box, which again engages the student and keeps their interest.

In the second video "Blended Learning Cycle" Paul Andersen who is an AP biology teacher explains what blended learning and the learning cycle is. Blended learning is the combining of online, mobile, and classroom, and the learning cycle is engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate. Andersen states that the learning cycle is a great way to teach science. He says this because he is able to ask questions that will draw in the students in the Engage part. The students are then able to look into the answers of this question by brainstorming, and discussion with the class. In the explain aspect the students can explain why they feel their conclusions are plausible. In the expand part the teacher is encouraging the students to further expand their thinking and branch off of ideas gathered in the previous steps. And lastly the evaluate part this is the students and the teacher looking over the final conclusions of the students. When the blended learning, and the learning cycle are put together you get the Blended Learning Cycle. Andersen used the acronym Q.U.I.V.E.R.S to further describe the Blended Learning Cycle (BLC). Q & U- stands for question, which means that you start off with a really good question to get the BLC started. I- stands for investigation or inquiry, meaning the student then investigates what the question is and gathers information that can be used to expand the questions boarders. V- stands for video, Andersen used the video aspect to give video instruction to the students. E- stands for elaboration, this means that the students will return back to what they were investigating, the students are required to elaborate on their investigating and look into reading material and diagrams that might have reference to what they are looking into. R- stands for review which Andersen uses this time to meet with the students either individually or in small groups. He does this to check the students understanding of the question he has asked them to answer, and if they do not understand he sends them back to figure it out again. He also will not let them take the summary quiz until he knows for sure they understand what is going on. And lastly the S- stands for summary quiz, the summary quiz is a quiz that is a summary on what this learning cycle project was based on and the conclusions that were reached.
This new way of blending the learning cycle and blended learning is a great thing, it allows the students to look at things a new way, and further helps the students with abstract thinking skills. These projects will not always be a cut and dry answer they will require thinking o a much broader level that will be achieved by this idea.

In the video Sam Pane 4th grade- the teacher Mr. Pane is requiring his students to make comics with their own superheros that will guide others into safer ways of using the internet. The idea of creation comics was a wonderful idea, children love superheros and the fact that they are able to create their own proved this project to be even better. Kids might know that there are unsafe ways on the internet but they might not know why some of those things are unsafe. The teacher stressed the importance of not sharing personal information and some of the students eve incorporated this into their comics, which means that they understood what the teacher was saying.

The last two videos talked about PBL also knows as Project Based Learning. The videos were endorsing the idea of PBL and saying that it is the way to go for any teachers, because it allows for the students to work on their own and in groups which allows them to be independent at times, and also improves their group social skills. Those are just a few reasons why PBL is gaining more and more popularity with teachers and stuents as well.

Blog # 10

In the first video we watched it was done in the kids perspective of how blogging had helped them. The students said that blogging had improved their writing skills, as well as spelling skills. One student said that every time they create a blog post that they feel their writing skills are improving with every entry. One student said they liked blogging because it allowed them to put their work in the public for others to see and comment on. He continued on to say that he liked getting the comments because it helped boost his confidence. Other students said they got comments from other classes, and from their family members. The fact that students are enjoying having technology in the classroom is great, its expanding their learning abilities and taking learning from the book to note learning to the technology learning.

In the second video which is part 1 of a 3 part video question session with Kathy Cassidy. The first part she is talking about how she got started with incorporating technology into her classroom. She said it started with receiving computers in her classroom that had internet but did not have the options to download programs, she then turned to finding ways to bring the computers and the internet into the classroom by starting blogs, and creating videos that the students could watch and or participate in. She talks about how she starts working with her students from the beginning of the school year that starts in September and working with their blogging skills until they leave her classroom. She states that she has had mixed views about her bringing in technology into the classroom. Some teachers feel as if technology is not needed because the old way of teaching still works and is not flawed. Kathy Cassidy talks about ways she keeps the kids safe, some of the ways are only allowing them to post their first names, and not allowing pictures that can be matched with the students first name. These are great ways of keeping the kids safe when dealing with the internet, and I honestly had not put much thought into how i myself would keep my students safe when it came to their blogging. She ends this video by saying that all teachers should be technology literate and that it should go beyond being able to work a spreadsheet, she states that teachers should start developing online networks, such as twitter, twitter will allow them to reach out to other people who have the same interests as them.

In part two she was asked what media would be best for teachers just starting out in the technology world. She said that she really had no answer to that but said to go with what you the person who would be doing this was interested in. It its writing then start a blog, if its photography then create a flicker. She makes it clear that we should play off of it by what we are interested in. Cassidy also goes on to say that Twitter is a good resource because it can help create friendships between people who have the same thoughts and interests.

In the final part of the video, actual EDM 310 students were allowed to ask her questions. One question that was asked, was how often did she let her students blog in a week? She replied with usually once a week, but that it varied year to year with the size of the class she had and the number of helpers she had in her class too. With less helpers then the students would get to blog or have computer time more often. Another question that was asked was, can Facebook be used as a means of education? Cassidy answers that she believes that it can be used for education, but that she would suggest that the students create a Facebook strictly dedicated to school. That way the teacher could post on the news-feed and that would allow for the students to easily find or see any announcements that the teacher might have posted. These are the two questions that really stuck out to me because one I myself was unsure of how much a child should be in the technology world when in a classroom. I say this only because the class is not a computer course so there would have to be an even balance of computer time as well as other classroom times. The second question stood out because I had never thought of Facebook being and educational tool, which now I know that I can be if taken the right way.

I could see myself using technology in my classes, I could require them to create a weekly blog post about what time period in history we had go over that week, my requirements would deal with important facts, and dates that I made sure to stress in class lecture. This would be more so of a reflection on what the students had learned during the week. When it came around to test time they could refer back to past blog post to receive answers for the questions on the study guide I have provided them with, as well as look upon other students blog to get information they the writer might have missed when creating their blog. This is how I feel I could incorporate technology into my history classes.

C4K Summary

In the past month, I have dealt with commenting on many children's blogs ranging from different ages. The post ranged from "about me's" to book reviews of their favorite books, to some of their favorite things such as chocolate, or music, to animals they enjoy most. The most recent blog I was given to read was centered all around Israel. This blog was written by boy named James who is in the 6th grade. He wrote all about the past religious history that was focused in that region, the pottery that could be found in this area, and scrolls one could find in such a rich place of history. He opens his blog with saying that "Israel is the only nation on earth who still has the same name, the same people inhabiting it, speaks the same language, and worships the same God as it did 3,000 years ago". This was what initially captured my interest once I started reading this blog. It was very informative, and decently written besides a few minor mistakes. All in all this past month of C4K's were all very interesting to read and comment on. These students are developing great skills at blogging.

Project # 12 Part A.

Blog # 9

The question we were asked to answer in this blog post was, What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning? The the articles and videos provided, I narrowed it further down to five sources that I will be using to write this post. The first article that I will be discussing will be the Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning this article discusses a project that was done at a high school about bacteria ridden water, and how to prevent this from happening. The article says that a project is meaningful if it covers two things, one of those things is that students must find the work or project personally meaningful to them. Second thing that must happen is the work must not only be meaningful but also educational. I will now list/go through what the seven essentials are or what this article says they are. The first one is, A Need to Know- What this means is the introduction of what the students will be doing projects based one. In this article they used a video of a polluted beach, and then the teacher talked about ways that could help combat this problem.
The second point is, A Driving Question- A driving question can relate to pretty much anything, whether it be brainstorming to figure our better ideas that could combat this bacteria problem, since we are sticking to the article they used the example of better drainage and also better designed waste treatment plants. The third point is, Student Voice and Choice- this is saying that the students after given the driving question should be allowed to have choices when it comes to creating their projects and what they use to create them. They could write a paper, create a brochure, a poster, an Google docs presentation. The reason students should have the ability to choose how they will create this projects allows them to further take control and immerse themselves in what they are doing. Fourth point is, 21st Century Skills- this is after the students get the driving question, and also have figured how they will be creating their project they will break down into groups and go from there. The groups will use rubrics to peer review each other and how they have done on their group and individual work.
Fifth point is, Inquiry and Innovation- After given the driving question the class sits down in its groups and they create even more questions focused on or around the question that first sparked their interest on this topic. The sixth point talks about, Feedback and Revision- which is where the groups will look over each of the other group members work and peer review and edit it for mistakes. This till will also allow the students to build on their editing skills and not have to be completely dependent on the teacher for help when it comes to things such as grammar, or spelling. The seventh and final topic talked about in this article is, A Publicly Presented Product- this one is pretty self explanatory, this one is talking about presenting the final project to a public group. It could be a mixture of students, parents and other teachers it does not matter who the public audience is as long as its presented to a public audience.

In the video Project-Based Learning for Teachers This video tells the teacher what exactly PBL is. It tells how the students will be working an extended amount of time answering a driving question. The questions like discussed above are deep and requires the students to think long and hard about this. It is not something that can be answered in a short amount of time, it is something that must be thought about and expanded upon. Once the question has been answered to its best ability the student must share their findings with a public audience or forum, for example a blog. An example of a driving question that was used in this video was, What if Rosa Parks never gave up her seat? This question cannot be answered easily one must put thought into it and the fact that one has to out thought into the question so they can later formulate an answer shows why it is a driving question. Reasons why PBL is something teachers should use in the classroom, it helps develop problem solving skills, it helps students become able to answer open ended questions with more ease, and also helps students become personalized with the project they are working on. Those are just a few things talked about in the video. Students also learn collaboration skills, communication skills, critical thinking skills, career and life skills, when working with PBL. This is why it is so important for teachers to turn to this method of teaching, and assigning projects.

I also looked at three other videos and articles. The first video I watched was Two students solve the case of the watery ketchup by designing a new cap This video talked directly to the two students who developed this new design. They talked about how much they enjoyed being able to research ketchup all semester, in hopes to solve the problem of having to shake the bottle, or forgetting to shake the bottle and ultimately receiving soggy bread. They talked to their teacher about what they wanted to do, they received the okay of doing this once they gather information that this was a problem and something that should be fixed. What they did is create an mushroom like part that is on the inside of the bottle that allows for the water to not go out when the ketchup goes out. They used a 3-D printer to print off the exact design they wanted and needed.

I then accessed the website 10 Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration In Project Based Learning This website provides many options that students can use when creating projects in the classroom. For example the Titan Pad- which is a fast and easy way to share a document, the cool thing about this is it does not require an email to function, which means if you are dealing with younger children. This would be an ideal product to use just in-case they did not have an email established at this time. Another website they mention in this article is Google Docs- this is something I use on a daily bases, I was first introduced to this at the the start of EMD 310, but have grown to love it and will always use it when I can. They mention more websites that can be used in PBL's but I just picked my favorites or the ones that caught my interest.

The last article I chose to write about is actually a blog post dealing with PBL's in the Physical Education field. Project Based Learning in PE. This article is dealing with teachers being able to adapt the idea of PBL into any school subject. The idea of PBL could throw many people off and they could feel that just because P.E. is not set in a normal classroom setting that PBL is not an option. This article debunks thins myth and shows a solid example of how one can actually do PBL when dealing with a class of this such. The example the blog uses is have the students create a workout schedule for the younger children. They used middle school students to be the students that would be receiving the workout routines the high school students created. Not only does this involve the high school students to work with their classmates, but it also helps the older students talk and relate to the middle school students who are partake in this PBL. All of these websites, and videos provoded great information about why teachers should use this idea.

Blog #8

Randy Pausch did not only show great teaching skills in this video he also gave hope. He was able to install hope into people who may be going through a hard time in their life. Pausch put aside his life problems to give inspiration and sow others that things are possible even if things might not be going your way in life. He makes it a point to show that he did not wait around for something to happen or to go his way, he made sure things would happen. Which is something everyone can take a lesson on, when things are bad do not just sit around waiting for a change you be the change.

In the video the last lecture Pausch brings up a key point about hitting "the brick wall" which is when one hits a dead end and feel as if they can no longer stay on the course they are going on. What Pausch says about this part in your path is it shows how much you as a person really want what you are going after, you can either let it defeat you or you can keep pushing and eventually overcome this block in your path. This is something that made me take a minute and think because I know in one point in my life I have had or know someone who has had these moments and for it to basically be put into the words of "it's not the end unless you let it" shocked me. Not because it is blunt or straightforward but because I had never thought of it like that before.

Pausch also states that we need to be lifetime learners, which means even if we are no longer in school we should never stop taking in important information. Ways that one can be a lifetime learner would be keeping connections with people of the same interests and or majors as you. The reason I say this could be a way to keep that up is the person or persons you keep in contact with might be more up to date on something going on in yall's field of interest than you are. This in turn allows you to be able to learn from the other what is going on and vice-verse. One way that Randy Pausch taught us about learning in this video would have to be his childhood dream of playing pro football. He stated that knowing how to play football was the key, however you needed other skills besides knowing how to play. The skills needed were: trust, loyalty, friendship, and teamwork. He then described this as Head Faking, which is when you make someone believe they are learning one thing, but in reality they are learning something totally opposite of what the believe. The idea of Head Faking could easily be applied to a classroom setting, I say it could easily be applied because students get into this routine of school work, so by keeping with their routine and incorporating skill learning tasks they would also be learning things of that sort without knowing.

Pausch also states that we as educators need to set the bar for what our students can achieve. What he means by this is if your students are doing great projects and assignments but feel as if they can do better then tell them "I feel as if improvement can be made" this in turn will motivate the students to go above and beyond the teachers expectations. This will nit only allow the teacher to see the full potential of their students, but also allow the students to see they can in fact do what they one thought was too hard, or too much work.

C4T # 2 Post 2

This blog is focused on the teachers connects she has established with other teachers that have the same interest as her and the topics that her students are currently studying.
It strongly focuses on the use of SKYPE and how her students were able to connect with a person who was very well educated on the Monarch Butterfly. She also emphasized how the students were very comfortable with using SKYPE and asking questions over a device that way instead of face to face.

Project 9 Video Commentary

Blog # 6

In the first video provided Project Based Learning Part 1 Anthony Capps tells us that the crucial part of PBL is allowing the students to have the opportunities to revise and reflect on their work. Revising and reviewing is the key to an effective PBL system. What Anthony is saying is that by allowing the student to make their own mistakes and fixing them is the best learning tool that is learned through Project based learning.

In the second video Anthony states that us as teachers should never limit the students when it comes to creating projects to do to as a class. Limiting the students does not allow them to go above and beyond what you the teacher expects. PBL is revolved around a very powerful method that allows students to learn in a group setting and helps their developing mind think outside of the box and create different connections that they might not normally make otherwise. Allowing a student to have a choice on what they will be doing in the project based learning is also key, this allows for students to fully immerse in a topic of their liking and or interest.

In the video regarding icurio he explains how it is an online tool that allows students to safely search websites which also turns up results of audio and video that regard to the topic the student is searching. This website also allows for students to store their previously searched items into a library basically which allows them to return and access the previously searched items. This feature is important because it allows for the students to become organized and stay organized with their searching. This website also allows for searching of certain criteria and also has a directory feature that goes along with the historical features. A good thing about icurio is that it is all age appropriate, meaning that high school students can also find material that they need on this website.

Project #7 My Sentence Video

My Sentence

Blog # 5

I myself have never heard of PLN or Personal Learning Network before we were requested to blog on this subject matter. A PLN is something that allows one to interact with other people, enhance your thinking and also broaden your learning skills.
An example of a PLN could be Twitter. Twitter allows people to interact with one another on a social media platform. Just like any new social media platform it has to be learned, so it is not only allowing you to interact and create connections with people who have the same interests as you, it also helps with you having to learn how Twitter works. The use of hash-tags and be confusing or may seem silly to some, however this is how Twitter works and if you intend to use this form of social media then you must adapt and learn as you go.In the videos and websites provided for us to look at and gather information a couple stuck out as importance to me.
In the video Personal Learning Networks that can be found on one of the pages provided for our reading or watching it states that PLN's can and re developed every day by just conversing with someone about classroom assignments and or things discussed in the lecture that day or whenever. This is news to me because I discuss on a daily bases what is going on in classes with numerous classmates. This being said I had no clue I was starting the building blocks of creating my own PLN by just talking about school work, and past things learned.
In Michale Fawcett video he discussed how he created his own PLN by just conversing with fellow conference attendees who enjoyed the same things he did.He discussed his use of Twitter at the conference, and his choice to keep using Twitter once he returned home. Micheal's choice to keep using Twitter once home from the conference was a great idea because it allowed for his to build a bigger PLN with others who had the same interests as his own. This in turn allows him to seek help from other when he needs to by just a click of a button and a tweet to a fellow friend or colleague. Another great thing about Twitter is it allows us to interact with people around the world so if you have someone who is living in a different area than you are and you happen to be studying, or researching something going on in that area you can ask them and they will reply with no delay. This can d wonders with building bigger and bigger PLN's because this will help the diversity of the group grow and become that much stronger.
I myself have my own Twitter account I created this account in 2010, I have been taking a break from Twitter until recently. I myself did not have much time for Twitter when I had no need for it besides letting others know what I was doing that day/night. I know realize that using and having a Twitter is opening a door to many opportunities that can do wonders when creating my PLN. I might not have realized the true need for me to have a Twitter when I created it however I now understand that Twitter can and will help me out in the long run with my professional lifestyle.

Project # 3 Presentation

Project #15, Search Engines

WolframAlpha is a search engine that can compute math problems or allow you to search what you want. It is a very interesting search engine because it allows for one to caluclate tricky math problems and things of that sort.
Bing is also a search engine that I have used in the past, it allows for one to do searching just as Google or WolframAlpha would allow. It seems to me to be faster and have less adds to filter through verses Google.
AOL is a very popular search engine that many people use, I however did not really like it because it was very add ridden.
Yahoo is another search engine that I was not particularly a fan of because it caused my computer to lag and not work to its full advantage.
Ask Jeeves is a relatively okay search engine I had no bad things to say about it, however it was not my favorite.
DuckDuckGo is a rather nice search engine it created tons of results upon tying in a simple phrase I was interested about.
Lycos is another search engine that I seemed to have no problems with, it provided fast and quick responses to bring up my desired material.
Ixquick was the last search engine I looked at, it had no major problems to me besides I felt that it caused my computer to run slower than normal. It did provided good sources but I wouldn't trade a fast computer for good sources when I can find others.

C4T, Project # 1

The first blog focused around Sketchnoting was the topic of the first blog for my C4T it discussed a visual way of note taking that has gained popularity in conference attendees. Sketchnoting helps to makes ones thinking visual and sharable as the reader is reading a book or watching a movie clip. This is a conference that is open to educators who want to learn how to sharpen their abilities to listen more closely. There is no artistic abilities needed when learning how to sketchnote This is very interesting to read about, technology has come a long ways. Makes me wish I wish I was closer to where this is taking place because it seems like a very interesting event.
The second blog dealt with Now Literacies including digital, media, and global literacy this is preparing students for the changing occurrences that are taking place in our education world today. This is preparing students for a time when it doesn’t matter what they know but what they can do with what they know instead. Interesting to hear how you are preparing the students to the changing world we live in today, whether it be technology or changes in teaching and learning
I have provided the links to each blog below. Great PD Opportunity: Miami Device, is the first blog being discussed the second blog being discussed is The Now Literacies Through the Lens of Sharing.

Blog post #4

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? This is the question we are supposed to answer in this blog. Asking questions to try and get some kind of reaction to what you the teacher is teaching about is always important. Without some kind of sign that the students are actually listing to you teach, teachers are going to often get flustered. We as teachers or soon to be teachers do not need to loose our cool when dealing with students, we need to take a step back and try to remember how we as students hated to answer questions, or be put on the spot. In the first article The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, states that we as teachers need to understand we do not know everything, and also understand that the students are not completely clueless. Asking the students if they understand what was just discussed is not a way of trying to make a student feel inadequate if they do not understand, the question is asked to make sure there are no misunderstandings about what was just discussed. However if the student is confused about what was discussed how would they be able to word the question in an understandable matter? This can be combated by the teacher asking very focused in questions on what was just discussed instead of the normal does everyone understand question, the less broad a question is the more likely a question will be asked or better yet answered by the students. Other ways to insure the teachers questions being answered would be asking the question, waiting a few seconds and if no student volunteers then call on a student and get them to answer the question for you. This insures that the students are at least given the chance to answer the question on their own free will versus being called out, however if no student offers to answer than calling on a student is also acceptable. Those were just a few ideas that were listed that can improve the question asking and answering.
In the second article Asking Questions to Improve Learning, it states that teachers should refrain from asking two questions at once, because it can confuse the students and the teacher will be less likely to receive an answer because the students will or are unsure of which question to answer. If the teacher can refrain from asking two questions at once then it is more likely the students will respond positively to the teacher.
This article basically states that for a teacher to get an effective response they should stray away from leading questions, meaning that questions that formulate the answer which in turn gets answered but it stops the students from creating their own critical thinking process. The first two articles helped me formulate my own thoughts on asking questions in the classroom and provided me many helpful tips that I can and will use while I am a teacher. Some other links that can be used to get further reading on this subject are Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom, and a video that can provide help is Questioning Styles and Strategies. These are just a few other links that can proved more insight into what a teacher can do while trying to achieve students to respond when asked a question.

Providing Helpful Feedback to Your Peers

The video What is Peer Editing? Provides a great explanation of what exactly Peer reviewing is. It states that Peer reviewing should not be done in a way to bring someone down, but rather be done in a way to help your fellow classmates out while bettering their writing skills. The video provides three steps that should be followed when trying to give a successful peer review. Step 1. Compliments, complimenting one on the good points you found in their work is always something that should be done. It should be done because it makes the person under review feel as if the reviewer saw something positive in their work. Step 2. Suggestions, suggestions on what you feel would make for a better paper, or whatever is being under review is always welcome. However don't try to push your idea upon the person you are editing, they might not feel the same way as you do and it might just cause problems. Finally the 3rd step is Corrections, while looking and making corrections one should look for grammar, spelling, punctuation and other things that could hinder a paper grammatically and so on.

The slideshow on Peer Editing further touched on the three steps listed above. The three steps are very helpful because it is a written do's and dont's when editing another persons paper. The biggest thing that I took out of all the material we were made to watch was that complimenting, and staying positive were two of the most important things because it is so easy to get discouraged when someone is ripping or you as the writer feel they are ripping apart your hard work. Nobody likes to feel as if they are being ganged up on or that their work was not good enough, so by providing compliments and staying positive while giving a critique its almost as if you the critic are softening the blow of finding mistakes or problems with their papers. In the video Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes this video provides a funny outlook at all the ways one does not wan to encounter when peer reviewing. The video is meant to be funny however the content is not something that would be funny to deal with in real life.

What Will Teaching in the 21st Century be Like?

Mr. Dancealot video the main point or what I took as the main point is no matter the technology used to help in teaching a course, if it is not followed up by a professor who lets the students actively learn they will not understand the material. What I mean by actively learning is by allowing the students to to try it for themselves, not just showing them what to do. By showing the students what to do yes they are getting an example but until they are made to repeat it back they have not truly committed it into their memory. Students who actively learn have better chances of learning and remembering material taught in the classroom. The author shows that students who just listen will not retain the information as well as a student who is committing it into memory. The author shows that no matter the technology you have going on in the classroom if the students are not allowed to discuss or preform examples during the learning period nothing, or only tiny things will stick in their memory.
Robert states that to teach in the 21st century we as teachers are no longer the only form of knowledge, and we must show the students how to interact with all types of social media that one can research information on, for this to happen the teachers must also be well versed in these forms of social media. Teaching is changing because the teacher is no longer the sole teacher anymore with the influence of outside sources the teacher is also considered the filter. We as teachers must filter out the negative resources that students can access and point them in the right direction when it comes to maneuvering about the social forums. I defiantly feel that teaching in the 21st century will involve tons of changes dealing with technology, we as students already use social medias to research topics that are in question. So yes teaching in this century will prove to have tons of change towards a more modern lifestyle.
In dealing with Network students it is important for them to have a teacher because they teach the student how to build this network and take advantage of learning opportunities. Not only does the teacher help with getting ahead of the crowd they offer guidance in times of need, and shows one how to seek help and act like a professional when talking to people in authority. Teachers for network students is not something unneeded, the teacher is needed to help mold the young student into a student who is self sufficient and an active learner.
Davis states that a classroom where students feel empowered is the best teaching environment for students. This could be a good thing as well as a bad thing though. I say it could be a good thing because an empowered student will be more proud and more confident of the work they put out in this class if they has this feeling of being their boss. However I say it could be a bad thing because a student could feel as if they can dictate what they can and cannot do due to this excessive empowerment they have or they feel that they have. Empowerment is okay but the students still would need to know where the lines are that cannot be crossed by this student empowered classroom environment.
In the Who's Ahead in the Learning Race video Dr. Strange makes it a point to show us that these young children seem to be very well versed in the mechanics of working these i pads and mac computers. The question is asked as to who is a ahead in the learning race, and by the looks of this video I myself feel as if the younger children are ahead because they are starting to have access to technology that we as adult students do have now but did not have while we were growing up. This could advantage of having access to such technology at a younger age allows for skills to be formed at a younger age as well that we did not necessarily have formed until we had the luxury of being introduced to them while we were growing up. I feel as if I am a little behind in this game because I have just now been introduced to some of the forums that the younger children have already been introduced to.
Flipping the classroom is where teachers will request students watch the next days material the night before class. This allows for the students to have time for them to gather questions they have about the next days lesson. Flipping the classroom is new to me yes, I have never heard of anything like this before. I feel that it is a good idea but could have some draw backs when it comes to the grade levels that are using this technique. I myself do not feel that this technique would work in my favor only because I will be teaching in the high school level and I do not realistically see high school students going home after a long day of school and watching a video about what they will learn tomorrow. I feel that getting them to do homework would be a big challenge already.
One can use problem-based learning to go between the classroom and the locker room. Problem-based learning allows for students to discuss the material between each other instead of automatically looking to the teacher to find or figure out the answer at hand here. Allowing an open discussion throughout the students is a great thing because they are helping each other achieve the answers to the questions they are seeking versus outright asking the teacher to help instead of the student seeking the questions on their own and actually learning the material versus just asking or guessing.

What about EDM310?

Upon entering EDM310 I was told many stories of how the class was hard, it was too much work but if I stayed on top of the course load then all should be fine.
I shrugged the comments off and just thought they were overreacting about it. However after my first class meeting for EDM310 I had the same thoughts. The course itself is not the problem, the fact that one is having to learn so much in a short period of time is what got me worrying.
The only fears I have about this class is being overwhelmed by the assignments, or falling behind on the assignments themselves.
EDM310 is very different when compared to other college courses one thing that sticks out from the get go is it is listed as a blended course, a blended course is half on campus and half online. Blended courses allow for one to work on their own time pace however they cause the student to do a lot of learning almost on their own.
Ive taken straight online courses and straight on campus courses during my college life, the biggest difference between online and a blended course is when taking an online course one has contact with his or her professor strictly through emails or phone calls. Blended courses all work is done on the computer and on the students own time yes, however if something needs to be addressed then that can be done during the face to face time slot.
I feel the most difficult problem I will face in this course is not to feel overwhelmed or rushed when working on projects for this class, this problem will only be addressed as the class progresses further into the semester, and I feel more confident about the work and time frame put in front of me.
I really do not have any questions revolving around EDM310 as a course. I more so question myself with the work load as stated above, but the only way to address these issues will be as the semester progresses into the year and my confidence about the work load is eases by my knowing I can do this.

Pratice Blog: Who Am I?

Outline:
Who am I?
A. Callie Amara Thames
1. I am 23 years old.
2. I have an older sister by the name of Kate.
3. I am a Pascagoula MS native.
B. My Family:
1. My family plays a big part in my life, they keep me motivated to better myself.
2. I have two nieces and two nephews who are my world.
II. Where I grew up:
A. Pascagoula MS
1. Pascagoula is a small coastal town in Mississippi, it is the home of Ingalls Shipbuilding company.
2. Being from a small town has its perks and disadvantages. A perk would be always seeing a friendly face, a disadvantage would have to be running into people you would rather avoid.
B. Things to do in Pascagoula:
1. Many people who live in this town are constantly on the water, whether it be in the pool, river or out in the Gulf.
2. I spend my past time on the river most weekends, with the tight knit group of friends I have.
3. We spend most of our time on the river, but occasionally we will go to Round or Horn Island which is located in the Gulf.
III. Why do I want to be an educator:
A. Being an educator to me is important because I can try and get my passion out for history and hopefully reach a child who will establish that same kind of passion I have, regardless of the subject matter.
1. Being an educator is more than just teaching a child something, it goes deeper than that any child can be taught something but when they start to learn things is the key.
2. Being an educator is also more than teaching or having a child learn something as well, it also allows you to give the child the building blocks to create what they want to do with their education pathway.
IV. My major is History Education:
A. I will be licensed to teach secondary history education once I finish these last couple of years.
1. This means I will be the classroom teaching students about the history of our country as well as other historical events that happened throughout the world.
2. I will not just be teaching about past historical events, current events are also great things that will and can be used when in a class room.

My name is Callie Thames, I am 23 years old and currently a student at University of South Alabama I am in my Senior year working towards my History Education degree. I have one sister who is 4 years older than me her name is Kate. Kate happens to be not only my sister but also one of my best friends. Our being relatively close in age helped forge our friendship. My sister has 4 children with her husband Gene. Two girls and two boys, these kids are my world. I try my hardest to be a good influence on them, I want nothing more than for them to grow up and be respectful towards their parents, grandparents and anyone who they will come in contact with. I previously attended University of Southern Mississippi but felt as if I truly did not belong with that school, upon some soul searching I mad the decision to apply to USA and received my acceptance letter a few weeks later. I knew this school was the place for me to finish out my degree, and it was the best choice I made for my education.
I made the choice to enter the field of education because I feel that teaching and helping a student develop during their time of high school is a wonderful thing. Not only would I be installing the raw materials for them to go off and become who they want to be when they grow up. I am also showing them that school is not all that bad, yes it makes them work but it should also instal some sort of discipline in their life as well. Teaching a child to learn something is where changes happen. If a child learns then that task they learned will or should be with them for life, which is something that I want to do. I want my students to take some bit of information they learned from me and run with it. Let that information take them places and hopefully cause them to do great things. As a history educator I would hope to spend my teaching days teaching children about the past history or current history of our country and historical events that happened or are happening in the rest of the world today.