C4K Summary for March

This month I commented on two different students from the Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand. I would like to share with you what their post were about, and what my comment on their post said.

First, I had a little girl named Meliana. She is from the Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand, like I mentioned above, and is in Mrs. Jenny She's second grade class. Her post was a short video telling everyone about her weekend. She talked about how she went to the beach with her family and had a picnic, as well as, building a sandcastle. My comment I left for her stated many things. I simply mentioned how I always loved going to the beach with my family, and that we always had picnics and built sandcastles, too. I did let her know that her sandcastle was probably the prettiest one out there! Then, I told her that I enjoyed watching her video and I'm looking forward to visiting her blog again to read more.

Second, I had a little boy named Esrah. He is from the Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand, as well, and is in Mrs. Wua and Mr. Banks first grade class. His post was about equivalent fractions. He was asked the question, "What is 2/4 =4/?"He told us how to figure out the problem. Esrah said the pattern is 2x because 2x2=4, so that would mean the denominator of the completed fraction would have to be timed by 2, which would equal 8 and the answer is 2/4=4/8. On my comment on his post, I stated how much smarter he is then I was when I was his age, and that I enjoyed learning how to do a math problem. I, also, told him that I look forward to reading more of his post.

Project 15

Project Calender:
Title: Dinosaur Clay Modeling and Presentation                             Duration: One Week

                                                                WEEK ONE

Notes: This week will be full of leaning about dinosaurs! Starting on Monday they will choose a dinosaur, research it, make a presentation on prezi (around 2 minutes in length), and design a clay model of their dinosaur and present their presentation and model at the end of the week. 

Monday   

Today I will draw dinosaur names and give to each student. I will set aside an hour for them to research their dinosaur.

Tuesday

Today I will set aside another hour for them to work on their presentation and start their clay model (no more than 15 minutes on their model).          

Wednesday

Today There will be another hour for research and to work on their clay model. This is the last day for them to ask me final questions about their presentations and to make sure everything they need is in their presentations. 

Thursday

Today we will start presentations (10 students will go today) and they will also show their clay model they designed and afterwards will get to take home to keep!

Friday

Today we will finish presentations (10 students will go today) and they will also show their clay model they designed and afterwards will get to take home to keep!

Project 12A

Blog Post #10

There are many things we can learn from Sir Ken Robinson in his video Bring on the Learning Revolution.

First, is that people go through their lives not knowing their true talents or may think they don't have any. Well everyone has their own talents, and these are things we have to figure out about ourselves as we get older. Knowing our talents will help us figure out what we want to do for our profession, or throughout life.

The second thing I feel we can learn from Sir Ken Robinson is that education does not need to be evolved, it needs to be revolutionized. We keep trying to reform the same education system, but clearly is not helping. Education needs to be revolutionized to capture students interest.

Lastly, Sir ken Robinson mentions that he met a guy at a book signing, and asked what he did. The guy said he was a fireman. Mr. Robinson asked when he knew he wanted to be a fireman, and the guy said since he was a little boy. The guy went on to say that when he was in school, one of his teachers told him it wasn't a real job, that it would be a waste of his time, and that he should go to college. Well, this guy ended up being a fireman anyways, and actually saved his teacher's life along with his teacher's wife's. Students hold adults responsible to help nurture and foster their dreams. We should never tell a child their dreams are a waste of time, we should help them reach their dreams.

Blog Post #9

After watching the First Graders in Mrs. Cassidy's Class, video, it gave me a good sense of how technology is used in the lower grades. Really, their doing exactly what we are doing now, as college students, which is crazy to think about. Their smarter then we are, and could probably show us college students even more tools that we don't know about! Mrs. Cassidy's class skypes with different people, and even different students in another school. This is something I want to try and do in my classroom one day!

Mrs. Cassidy really stressed the importance of technology in young children in the video, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1. She tells us that kids are all about technology these days, which is true, so it's our job to help them pursue their education with the help of technology. Mrs. Cassidy was given five PCs for her classroom, but they prevented any software to be downloaded to them. This is when she began exploring different ways to use the internet, which led her to find out about blogging, youtube, twitter, and even skype. We have been given many tools, unlike Mrs. Cassidy, but it is, also, our job to explore and find even more tools, we have to broaden our personal learning networks.

In Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 2, Mrs. Cassidy believes that we should start using technology, especially in our classrooms, with something we are interested in. For example, I like the videos more, so youtube, skype, iMovie, etc. are along the lines of tools I would use. Some people like writing more, so you may want to go the blogging route. I want to help my students, one day, find their interests, then introduce technology to them using that interest.

One thing that really interested me the most in the video, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 3, is all the ways to use technology in physical education. There were a few Physical Education Majors asking questions, and one is, "How can we use technology in physical education?" One idea Mrs. Cassidy proposed was having a working blog, and if something came up to where the coach needed to let his/her students know immediately they could post it on their blog. Another question that came up is, "With blogs being more accessible to the internet, do you fear there is more cheating going on?" She stated that things are becoming more collaborative, and professors should get more creative with the way they want us to present things. She said to use others as guidance and just present ours in a different way. If we were asked open ended questions, it allows us to be more collaborative and there will be no one (correct)answer.

Blog Post #8

This week we were told to explore the web and find our own 21st century tools we could use in our classroom one day. i have found a few that I want to share with you. I want to teach either Kindergarten or first grade so, most of these are for little kids.
First, is this tool know as Voki. Students create their own personalized speaking avatar. They are able to customize their character, design their own background, you even record your own voice so the avatar will talk. Voki avatars help children improve listening and speaking abilities. Teachers are able to make one as well for introductions, activities, and even things to help pronunciation of vocabulary.

Secondly, there is this tool I will definitely be using known as Voicethread. This is a tool to involve technology with storytelling. It allows students to add images, text, audio, and video to create a digital story. Once a child has created their voicethread others can comment either by text, recording, or filming. This tool is great to collaborate with not only other students in their class or school, but all over the world. Students can draw their own pictures and talk about it, or create their own story and record their own voices while telling others about it. This would be a good project for them to do and share with the class.

Lastly, their is this tool called Edmodo. My senior year of high school, my school system started using this in K-12. This is a tool where teachers can post homework assignments, ask questions to their students in their class only, the students can get on and have a conversation with their classmates, and the teacher can have online parent and teacher conference. This is laid out just like facebook. I guess it is sort of like Sakai for all of us here at South. the main reason I would want to use something like this in my classroom, is because students don't always tell their parents the truth if they have homework or not. This way the parents would have access to check to see if their child has homework for that night.

Project #14

For my lesson plan this time, I have decided to allow my students' to choose a small topic to do a presentation on from the broad topic I will give them: American History. Giving my students this topic allows them to do their own research to find their own topic. For example, they could pick something such as: Christopher Columbus's Voyage to America, The Revolutionary War, the Boston Tea Party, or even President Kennedy's death. My students have multiple choices to choose from and plenty of information to gather on each. They will have 2 weeks to complete this project, and the last 2 days of the second week, they will present. I ,also, would love to invite their parents to watch and listen to their child's presentation, and to see the great job they will do on them!

Project #13

Date:              February 24-28                                   Project Based Learning                                                Technology Lesson Plans

Weekly Objective:  BPL Introduction Implementation Reading: R3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. Language: L 3.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. Speaking & Listening SL3.6 Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification. SL 3.1d explains their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion. SL 3.1b follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).	On-Going Objectives Reading: R3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. Language: L3.2  Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.  Speaking & Listening: SL3.4  Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace. Writing: W3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Monday:  BELL RINGER: List the project criteria. Direct Instruction: “I DO”-  I Curio demonstration on gathering information Guided Practice: “We Do”- decide with your group the topic of your project Let’s Practice: “You Do”- complete the role assignment and begin the research Assessment: teacher observation
Tuesday:  BELL RINGER:  Review roles and responsibilities of group members Direct Instruction: “I DO”-  Answer questions and discuss ways to complete a quality production Guided Practice: “We Do”- review material before publishing Let’s Practice: “You Do”- determine rubric criterion Assessment: teacher observation
Wednesday: BELL RINGER:  Publish rubric and complete final step in the project publishing Direct Instruction: “I DO”-  view demonstration on previous quality presentations Guided Practice: “We Do”- review procedures for full credit on the performance rubric Let’s Practice: “You Do”- complete oral presentation with power point or slideshare Assessment: teacher observation
Thursday:  BELL RINGER:  Write a reflection about pros and cons of PBL and group work. Direct Instruction: “I DO”- read reflections about project and brainstorm ideas for improvement. Guided Practice: “We Do”- develop t chart for pros and cons Let’s Practice: “You Do”- administer questionnaire evaluating performance of group members. Assessment: teacher observation and questionnaire, project submission
Friday:  FIELD TRIP to the computer lab to compile presentations to disc
Students that struggle will be identified through the check list and provided intervention.  Students who have mastered the objective will be assigned the enrichment materials.

C4T #2

Training and Coaching

In David Truss's blog post "Training and Coaching," he starts off by talking about his daughter's synchronized swimming, and how she trains 22+ hours a week, and how her aerobic and anaerobic conditioning is exceptional, then a routine is over and done with in 5 minutes. He combines his daughter's synchronized swimming with inquiry learning, and wonders "what kinds of structures can we build to help train our students as they do their inquiry learning dance." He believes educators should use an inquiry model, and think of ourselves as coaches. He says this, "The conditioning is cross-curricular, the practice needs to be purposeful, and tehy training is ongoing, with opportunities to improve many skills throughout the process."
In the comment I left under this post, I mentioned how I haven't really thought of coaching and teaching being similar. I gave this example, "Especially in the lower grades, such as Kindergarten through second. These students are just learning how to write their letters and numbers and learning how to read. We have to coach them on how to do this, and they have to practice over and over in order to memorize how to say and write those letters and words."

Learning and Failure

David Truss talks about learning sprouting from failure. "Failure can be very unproductive," he says, but also says, "Failure can also be an amazing tool for learning, and perhaps one that every student should experience before graduation." He mentions that everyone should do something big, as well as meaningful, beyond classroom walls, and even if they fail they will have a tremendous learning experience in the process. David also mentions that if students have only met success and accomplished every assignment, project, and task then they weren't pushed hard enough, and it is the programs fault not the students.
In the comment I left under this post I said, "If we don't fail, then how are we suppose to learn our mistakes?" I shared with him something my parents used to always tell me about failure. I also let him know that I agreed with him on if a student doesn't fail sometime before graduation, then it is the programs (sometimes the educators) fault. Go check out David Truss's Blog

Project #9

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch was a professor of Computer Science and Human-Computer and Interaction Design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Randy found out in September of 2006 that he had Pancreatic Cancer, and in August of 2007 his diagnosis was 3-6 months of good health left. During these months Randy gave his Last Lecture. His last lecture was about achieving his childhood dreams and how he helped enable others to achieve theirs. Then, sadly, in July of 2008 Randy Pausch passed away. In Randy's, Last Lecture he states this, "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, I'm sorry to disappoint you." With this being, we know he is not happy with his cancer, because he is leaving a beautiful family behind, but he is happy to leave with the many blessings he has left in not only his family's life, but his students and colleagues as well.

This is not only an inspirational video (which I took a lot from), he also shares with us "head fake." This is one way he taught in his classroom, and also one way I want to teach in my classroom one day. Head fake is when students believe they are learning one thing but in fact learning something else that is not in obvious sight. When talking about this, he is really talking about football. When he was a child he wanted to play in the NFL (along with other dreams: being in Zero Gravity, Being like Captain Kirk, winning stuffed animals, and being an imagineer at Disney). But in football, you learn some many more things than your stance, how to read plays, or where you need to be at on the field. Football teaches its players perseverance, teamwork, sportsmanship, etc., and these are the head fake. You teach students these ideas as well, even though they may not know it, and they use all of these throughout life! This is why I want to use this in my classroom.

Randy also mentions brick walls, and what they are. "Brick walls are not there to keep us out, they're there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something!" With this being said, I want to teach my students that when they hit a brick wall, all they have to do is persevere through it, and show it who's boss.