Last C4T

Post One

     I first posted on Angela's post on Habitudes in Gym Class in this post she speaks on an email she received from a physical education teacher. In this email the teacher tells Angela how he used habitudes in teaching sports. By doing this the teach is teaching students through sports activities how to think critically and face obstacles. This sets them up for success in both sports and life in general. I enjoyed this post because although I am working on being a history teacher I coach even now. Positively impacting a students life on and off the field is extremely important to me and the students future.

Post Two

    My second comment was on her post Habitudes: Imagination. This post was simply a quote from her book Habitudes in the Classroom Although it was small its impact on me was grand. The quote spoke on using your imagination to drive forward your hopes and dreams. It was exactly what I needed to read at this point in my life.

Final Progress Report

Final Project

     The script is finished. Final taping and the editing will be done throughout this coming week.

Project #15

Progress Report

Final Project

    For our final project Responsibilities have already been divided up. Topics have been discussed and planned. We are each currently working on creating a script for I final video presentation. We plan to begin recording this Friday.

Blog Assignment #13

Blended Learning Cycle

    I really enjoyed watching Paul Anderson's video. It helped me finally figure out a way I could effectively use technology and blogging in my classroom. He used the acronym QuIVERS to follow the path in which students should learn a concept. QuIVERS stands for Question, Investigate, Video, Expand, Review, and Summary quiz. In this the teacher creates a question for the students. The student then investigate the question by asking why. They then are able to look into videos for explanations then they expand their information and understanding of the matter. The teacher then reviews it with the student by asking thought provoking questions. After the students have obtained all this information they take a summary quiz that they maybe be graded for their understanding of the subject.

Blog Assignment #11

Blog Post #12

    Find at least one picture, one video, one website, one quote, and one audio clip(song, podcast, or speech)that you may use in your classroom to help you students learn the subject matter. Place them in your blog. Tell about the subject and grade you plan on teaching. Explain how each one would help (or not help) you in teaching and How or if you will implement them into your lesson plans. Write a paragraph on the roles these objects have in education. Write a paragraph on any other creative tools you've found that may help your students in the future.

     I am secondary education major. I plan on teacher history. I hope to teach 11th grade U.S. history; however, just being in a high school will be great.

 &nspb;  This picture reveals short quick information on the similarities of Lincoln and Kennedy. This picture will help students to quickly learn different information on these two presidents. I could use this photo to introduce a lesson on the presidents. It will get them laughing and questioning what else is there to know about the presidents.

 &nspb;  This video gives an interesting angle to the students. it is well put together and has images for them to better understand. This video is compelling and may spark interest for the declarations for the students. This video may be shown when I desire to demonstrate the important role the declarartion of independence had as the foundation of the United States of America.
 &nspb;  It my seem silly, simple, and obvious however pointing your students to The History Channel website will give them access to every sort of historic topics in form that are appealing to their generation. This website may be used by either students who are interested in a certain topic or students who are struggle to understand a concept.

 &nspb;  This quote sets the stage for the mind set of both Lincoln and early U.S. Americans as they fought for independence. I would show this quote just to add a bit of insight while I taught on early actions taken in order to gain independence.

 &nspb;  This is a song that provides information for students in a why the may enjoy memorizing and learning it. I would use this song in order to help students learn states and capitals to create a better understand for U.S. history.

In the Classroom

 &nspb;   Media objects play an important role in the learning and understanding of subject matter in today's classrooms. Students see and hear things like this all day everyday. This means that they have grown accustom to learning and gathering information this way. Therefore, it is important that we as teachers meet them in this and teach them in that way.

C4K March

C4K #5

     In Carson's blog she talks about alligators and being able to see an alligator on a field trip. I was excited to comment on this blog because I was really interested in alligators as a child. I learned a lot about them at a young age too. So I was able to talk to her about them. I asked her if she knew the difference between an alligator's and a crocodile's teeth.

C4K #6

     In Renata's blog she compare a character named Jonah from the book Found to herself. She talked about how both the character and herself enjoyed Mint Chocolate Chip ice-cream, Basetball, and they both had a sister. I found this interesting because I share these commonalities with the two of them. I shared that with her and asked more about the book and character.

C4K #7 Sam's blog post was on a 14 year old boy who built a windmill in order to power his home. Sam then went on to coming up with his own in home innovations. I encourage him to keep being creative and asked questions and gave advice on how to make his ideas even better.

C4K #8

     In Kennedy's blog post she tells about a Skype call she did in order to learn about Nunavut, Canada. This post was very interesting because I did not know anything about Nunavut. I asked her about Nunavut and if she would ever want to live there.

Blog Assignment #11

Techhnology?

    I really enjoyed hearing the Skype conversation between EDM 310 and Ms. Cassidy. I agree with her completely as she stated you cannot teach the students of this generation with the same methods as twenty years ago. Technology is here for our use. It is what we make it. We must use it to our advantage. I will differently have a class blog set up for my students where I will post extra things for them to look at or use if the need help or are interested in that subject. I have not, yet decided if I will have my students incorporate blogging into my classroom. I would if I could just figure out a solid idea on how I want to effectively integrate it into their studies so that it is an aid to them instead of a burden. I have not reached that point quite yet so I'm more hesitant to that method of teaching.

C4T #3

Teaching Teachers How to Learn

    This month I have been following a blog by Angela Rand. I focused on two post in her blog. The first being Sketching Notes, and the next being Theories Mindmap. The first blog gave a great lecture on how to take sketch notes. Sketch noting is incorporating words and drawings into your notes. It teaches the benefits and how to's of sketch notes. It was incredible and completely worth the time to listen to the lecture. I provides you with so many ideas to help keep your notes more interesting and in return allowing you to study and recall more efficiently. The second shows you what a Mind map is. It also explains how to make and the uses of them. Mind maps are designed to help you organize and see information allowing you to better analyze and make decisions. I really enjoyed reading both of these post and I plan on incorporating what I learned from them in how I learn, study and work.

Blog assignment #10

Mainstream Classrooms

    The picture above was created by John T. Spencer as a mock of the PC-Mac commercials. Its purpose is too make fun of mainstream technology, there high cost, and impact on society.

Learning is Not a Game

     In Mr.Spencer's post he uses dialect to bring attention to the idea that hands on experience helps student learn, understand, and apply concepts. In the post the a principal criticizes John for allowing his students to play games in class and demands him return to using standard memorization method to prepare the students for exams. Mr. Spencer insist that his students are not playing games in his classroom. Instead they are using interactive material that allows them to better understand the material.
    In Mr.Spencer's second post he brought up something I have personally never thought of. He recalls a thing called Pen Quest that one of his teachers took the class on often. He remembers it to be somewhat fun, yet looking back it seems silly and pointless. This leads him to the question: what if the things that I set up for my students just became silly waste of school time in their eyes as they get older. My answer to this is purpose. It is so important that we as teachers make sure that we know the purpose our lessons have. Every moment is an opportunity to teach. If we are not mindfully using our time with a definite purpose. Students will look back a think what they did in our class was silly.

Technology is Killing the Students

    Scott McLeod writes a laughable pled in his post asking everyone to stop teaching their kids to use technology so he's kids will come out more successful. McLeod mocks all the dangers and waste he hears people say about technology. He does this because he understands that if students are taught to effectively use technology to their advantage. It would become a tool not a fear.

Project #14

Project #11

Project #12

Blog Assignment #9

First Year, First Mistakes

     In Mr. McClung's first year blog post he addresses the mistakes he made in his first year of teaching. This mistakes are not just mistakes he made but ones many teachers make. These mistakes include: worrying more about content than teaching, wanting to be perfect, lack of communication, setting unreachable goals for students, fearing technology, not listening and being set in your ways. This post made me think. What am I going to do my first year? How will I avoid this mistakes? What mistakes will I make? I am ready for that year. It will be filled with learning and mistakes but I know I can do it.

Students First

     In this blog post McClung speaks on the importance of teaching for the students not your peers and challenging your lessons. These mean making sure your students enjoy your lessons is more important than making sure other teachers do and being sure to not become complacent in your lessons. Keep them interesting and up to date. These two things are definitely things I do not want to fall into. It is very important to me to constantly be creating lessons that my students will enjoy.

Project #9

The Begins of a PLN

    I am just starting to create my Personal Learning Network. To aid me in this I have created a Symbaloo and made it my home page. It will be a hub of all the tools I use to grow as a teacher. I have loaded the tools I have discussed in previous post and even found a few more there. I have also started to consider who I want to include in my PNL. I have been adding different teachers that I have come across through the help of EDM310 and I have also spoken with a few teachers who I have come to admire through personal experience about how I may incorporate them into my PNL. I'm really excited to get my PLN more developed and watch everything it teachers me play out and allow me to grow as a teacher myself.

Project #8

Project #10

Helpful Sites

    In my search to find new tools to help me teach that we do not cover in this class I came across three different sites. These sites are Teachervision.fen.com, Historyteacher.net, and Turnitin.com. Teachervision.fen.com and Historyteacher.net are both incredible sites that are filled with tools for teachers that they may use to help students understand. These tools include videos, interactive websites, and worksheets. Turnitin.com will be a great tool for me to use if I ever assign a paper or even blog post to students. Turnitin.com aids teachers in checking papers for things such as plagiarism.

Blog Assignment #6

Learning through Networks

     In Wendy Drexler's video Networked Student tells a true story about what is happening as result of connectivism entering the classrooms. Connectivism occurs in the classroom when students learn through new advances in technology and by connecting with others across the globe to both learn and discuss their focussed subject. In these networking courses a student discusses, listens, communicates, and learns about the subject with other peers, professors, and experts from across the world.
     Towards the end of this video it brings up a very important question. If the teacher is not the one teaching the students why have a teacher at all. The teacher is the one responsible for helping the student build up this network. The teacher becomes the learning architect, modeler, learning concierge, connected learning incubator, network sherpa, synthesizer, and change agent. The teacher is no longer the only source of information reaching the student.
     Through Networked learning students are able to find tools that fit their personal learning methods and their personal interest. This allows students to become more involved in their own learning. This will also help students retain more of the information because they are not being handed information but instead they are actively working their way through the knowledge they obtain themselves.

PLE in Action

     PLE stands for Personal Learning Environment. In this video you are able to watch as a student guides you through her PLE for her seventh grade science class. It shows all the tools she uses and the opportunities she has available through this PLE. It truly blew me away to see this in action for the first time. It creates a wonderful tool for students to become active learners, and it acts as an amazing step in their educational development

Blog Assignment #5

The Dream of Innovation

    Krissy Venosdale is an inspiring teacher who strives to impact her students through creating an environment that allows students to find their own creativity and innovation while giving them the tools to become active learners. In Krissy's blog post she reveals her dreams of a new kind of school. A school where the students are encouraged to explore their own interest. This school would work up a desire in its students to always want to come and join in and to always be learning. This school is wonderful; however, I do not believe it is a practical, realistic idea that can be implemented into schools and learning. In a perfect world this would be a perfect school. Realistically students would take advantage of the schools lack of structure instead of its openness for creativity.

Structured Innovation

    If I was able to create my own school it would be a lot like Krissy's except it would be more structured, organized, and practical. Like Krissy's school: it would be comfortable and it would be set up in such a way that made it easy and comfortable for students to collaborate and work together. It would be colorful and include things to help spark the imagination of the students It would have classrooms filled with tools to help students learn that subject. Professionals would come to teach students about all different careers and opportunities. The school will be a center of encouragement of the child's growth, knowledge, achievements and learning. All forms of technology will be used daily, these are tools for their learning not distractions.
    Somethings I would do differently than her are grades and grade levels will still be in place and structured these will allow the students to feel and see their accomplishments. Although grades have such a negative mark currently this school's grades will not. this is because students will not constantly feel as if they are failing because grade will work up from zero instead of fall from 100. Also, passionate teachers will be around at all times to help tutor and give advise to students at all times either at school or online. Curriculum would be set this, however, would be to help the students know what they will know after coming out of the class not to confine what they can learn. Field experiences (not field trips) will be encouraged. These experiences will be used to inform and encourage students in that field; not entertain or give them an off day. Students will not be able to attend random classes; however, students will have the opportunity to choose elective courses that they are interested in and that prepare them for the career in which they are pursuing. Students will have the constant opportunity to just ask questions to school advisors about the future such as what college should I go to? How do I get a loan for a car? What career options are their for people interested in art? This school would be set up for students to meet their needs not just standards set by board members who have never even interacted with the students.

Different Voices Come Together

    In Eric Whittacre's virtual choir he composes and virtually conducts for 185 different voice from across the world by using using the internet to gather individual voice and placing them together to create one incredible choir. This means that his choir made up by people across the world may also be viewed by people across the world. This all comes about through and by the power of the internet and the new abilities it has given us.

Teaching Children Today

     Kevin Roberts presents some compelling information about the role of a teacher in the 21st century. He explains that as technology evolves the more opportunities students have to obtain information on their own. This means that teachers are no longer the only means of information. It is now important for a teacher to teach student how to sort all the information they come across daily. It is the responsibility of today's teachers to help student learn how to effectively analyze information to determine it's truth, obtain the knowledge, apply the concept, and to create new ideas and creations.

Flipping Your Class

     Flipping your class is a new idea on how class should be conducted. In class before now lessons were set up to so that Information and concepts are presented in class while the applications of these concepts are to be done at home as homework. A new style of teaching has risen now. In these flipped classrooms information is presented to students via tools such as vodcast which the students are to watch and understand at their own pace as homework in preparation for the next days class. Class time then is spent on the application of the concepts learned.
     This method is very important to me as a future history teacher. This is because the knowledge of the date Hilter rose to power is pointless triva unless you understand how and why. Yet, even the knowledge of how and why this event happened isn't that important unless you can look at it and learn from it and understand how as a citizen you can prevent such events from occurring and then understand the concept on a smaller scale such as how to handle a boss who is discriminating people based on things such as the color of their skin or religious beliefs. It will be my job to prepare my students for their future by looking into the pass.

My Sentence Video