Blog Post #6

In Project Based Learning Part 1, Mr. Capps made an excellent point by saying that although we're the educators, we can always learn from students. It's very important to keep an open-mind when we enter the classroom because we don't need to stand all high and mighty and pretend like we know everything because in essence, we surely don't know everything! Again, although the students are the primary learners, the teachers essentially become the secondary learners because we can all learn something from each other. The project that was mentioned is one identical to what I did when I was in grade school but we surely didn't have the technology to search for what these third-graders searched for. I think it's important at a young age to teach our students as much as possible because they'll be better equipped for their future. Mr. Capps also mentioned that it's so critical in PBL that the students are able to revise and reflect their work once it's been edited from a rough draft; being able to peer-review in third grade is quite the accomplishment! The aforementioned project is also one that is claimed to be content based in that it covers multiple subjects at a time; that's an important quality as well because you're learning to add on to subjects that have already been reviewed! This video gave a great introduction into learning what Project-Based Learning is.

After viewing Project Based Learning Part 2, I'm definitely becoming more of a fan of Project-Based Learning. I'm honestly just blown away by the complexity of this man's third-grade classroom! To reiterate my point about teachers becoming the learners, Mr. Capps made a point to never limit your students because by limiting them, you deny that opportunity for them to go beyond what you've taught them. As a future educator, I think that's a definite item that's going to be on my agenda (to never limit my students) because our students may be able to find something out there that we don't know and by letting them teach us something, I think that displays some sort of pride in themselves because they "taught the teacher." When we assign projects, we've got to be mindful that there are parents out there who will disagree with the topic (i.e., Mr. Capp's parent who served in Afghanistan) and we must accommodate as best as we can to our students' parents. Another point was made that collaboration isn't always an easy thing and it's not because we all like to think we've got the best ideas or the most knowledge on the subject. By collaborating with one another, that leaves room for creative thinking (as well as critical) and allows for students to debate with one another about the subject/topic assigned! My final thought on this video is the point made about letting the students have a choice on what they want to do for their project because that promotes ownership and lets them take pride in what they've done! When my mother taught fifth-grade, she assigned the same project every year to her students: she let them pick significant people related to the American Revolution and they got to dress up like their person and get up in front of the class and speak about who they chose and why! It was always so neat to see most of her students get so excited about their project! :)

The video about iCurio was an insightful one because I've never heard of it and its features seem absolutely astounding! I do agree with Mr. Capps on the fact that virtual organization is harder on adults because we didn't get to grow up with the technology that's available to students this day in age. We must learn to adapt to virtual organization because we need to able to teach our students how to use it so they can be better equipped in future classrooms! When thinking about what iCurio represents, it almost sounds comparable to a Google drive (well, a kid-friendly one). I think that having iCurio would be beneficial because it's a safe tool to limit what our students are learning on the internet. I love how this tool accommodates to the learning-disabled children in that it has a "read-aloud" feature! This feature allows all of our students to have access to such a unique tool.

Discovery Education isn't a new website to me because I've utilized many of its features in the past. I like how Mr. Capps uses this website to make science and social studies more entertaining subjects because not all students are eager to learn about plants or things of the sort. I completely agree with the fact that students retain information better when there's a visual in place. Even as a student in college, I fully rely on having visuals to help me in my studies because when a question is asked and you have a visual, you know you've grasped the topic when you can explain it by remembering the visual related to it!


After viewing Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1, I really thought about what it's going to take to become an educator. The conversations between these two men are enlightening and these tips that I learned are going to go a long way with me in that I'll keep them in mind in my own classroom. The first tip about being interested in learning is probably the most important tip in the whole video because like I've stated many times before, it's vital that students learn from their educators and vice versa. When we are open to the input of our students, we become more effective educators in that we do take the time to learn what they have to say and we do take their viewpoints into consideration! The second tip is a tip that I'll have to remember when I become frustrated in the future: teaching is hard but it's surely exciting. Mr. Capps has an excellent viewpoint by saying that we learn the "craft" of teaching because we should allow it to become our hobby and let it become a rewarding experience because learning never ends! That's a mouthful to take in but his point is to let your job become your passion because when you display your knowledge with passion, you never know who you may inspire. The third tip mentioned was that surprises do happen and we should learn to adapt to the surprise and don't let the surprise defeat you. In other words, you should always have a back-up plan in case your activity were to fail. The fourth tip mentioned was to have goals set in place not only for our students but for us as well! If your goal doesn't come into play toward the end of its entirety, be flexible and adjust your goal; this will be ever so important to know in the future. Finally, the final tip was to be able to reflect on what you've taught and be able to have a purpose on it as well. If this project is displayed to an audience, be able to use feedback to your advantage (whether it be negative or positive) and make it 100x better if you have another chance.

In the video Use Tech Don't Teach It, it just reiterated points that I've become familiar with. When you use your energy to teach technology and not let the students use it, it becomes mundane and boring. What I took away from this video was that you should let your students engage in technology while you're teaching it because with the advanced technology that we have these days, being able to use it while it's being taught ties in with the concept of having visuals to retain information better. Mr. Capps used the word scaffolding many times in this video but it made so much sense when he continued to explain it because we've got to dispel the idea of perfection in the classroom. In the classroom, we've got to realize that our students will make mistakes more often than not but letting them learn from their mistakes is an important concept because once they've learned from their mistakes, they can build on that explanation and be able to get it right the next time. I hope that my students will be as eager as Mr. Capp's third graders to share what they've created using technology!

In Additional Thoughts About Lessons, Mr. Capps gave an excellent visual that makes perfect sense. The "layers" that he describes are equally important in that the ultimate goal is for our students to be able to build on what they learn from each day to each week to eventually the end of the year. When a student leaves our classroom, we want them to take away a bountiful amount of knowledge and be able to use it for later use in their education!

Project #15

1. Wolfram Alpha is a very useful search engine and the best feature of it is that it can compute virtually any math problem via the Problem Generator. While trying to learn how to maneuver through this search engine, I found a feature that allows you to upload pictures and see them through the eyes of a color blind person as well as being able to see it through the eyes of a dog! Overall, it's used best for people who are trying to figure out a complicated math problem or looking up certain statistics because it's a computational search engine.

2. DuckDuckGo is a search engine with the tagline, "the search engine that doesn't track you." That's a unique characteristic because it protects the person's privacy who is using the website to search what they're looking for. It's mostly comparable to Google and Bing because when you search for an item, lists of articles and pictures pop up that are related to the item that was searched for. A feature that I found useful was that if an app for a smartphone was available, that was shown at the top before anything else was listed. This search engine would be most useful for a person who doesn't want to be tracked by a third party, but not much different from your average search engine.

3. Dogpile uses a catchphrase, "go fetch," as if you're throwing a bone for the search engine to look for! It is reminiscent of Google as when you search for a topic, it lists articles relevant to what you're searching for. While many search engines display duplicate results, this website does not and that's useful because clicking on the same link many times can be frustrating. The site's mascot, Arfie, is the one who "fetches" the information for you and that's appealing to younger audiences who are learning how to use a search engine. This search engine is most useful for people who are looking for images or news articles.

4.Ask is a question and answer based search engine. When you type in a question in the search box, you immediately receive an answer to your question and where that information was derived from. Like Google, you can type in anything you want to know and it will bring you the best information from their database. The databases range from art to literature to math to history and almost everything in between. This search engine would be most useful for young audiences who just need help on a question that they're "stuck on." Although, this search engine could promote laziness as all a student would need to do is type a question and they wouldn't put forth any effort to get the answer.

5. Bing is seemingly the little brother to Google as Google is the world's number one search engine. Although Google accounts for 67% (according to http://mwpartners.com/bing), Bing accounts for nearly 16% of all internet searches. It's mostly comparable to Google in that when you search for an item or topic, you receive millions of links for feedback. This search engine would be best used by nearly everyone because of all of the feedback you can receive from it. A pretty cool feature by Bing is that it links your Facebook account to your Bing account and you've got the ability to search for trends among your Facebook friends!

6. WebMD is a search engine geared toward medical advice. The best feature about this engine is that you can try to figure out what's wrong with someone by simply typing in the symptoms in the symptom checker and they give you advice on whether you need to go see a doctor or not. It also lists doctors and pharmacies that are closest to where you may be (which is useful because you shouldn't have to drive a long way to find a doctor). This search engine is best used for persons who may be seeking out medical advice or they're just trying to attain a better lifestyle by the advice of doctors and people who currently live the lifestyle. This website could also shock people into thinking that they're worse off than they really are but if they do complete research and think straight, they'll make the best decision for themselves.

7. Topix is a search engine best used for people who are looking up things about their town/city and surrounding areas. However, there are many complaints about this website in that it provides false information and it slanders peoples' characters by anonymous users. It displays information about local businesses and it goes so far as to display their financial status which could harm a business's reputation.

8. eHow is an online "how to" guide in that it displays results for videos for people who are learning how to do/construct something. This search engine would be best used for people who want to know how something's done before they being the process of doing the task themselves. This is also useful for students who are interested in seeing how experiments work. I would make this search engine a prominent one in my future classroom because of the fact that I will be teaching science!

Blog Post #5 Part 1

What are PLNs? How can they help you as a teacher?
A personal learning network (PLN for short), is a network used to further your learning using social media and other outlets via the internet. The very thought of having to create a PLN frightened me because the thought of having to keep up with multiple websites is a task in itself. Although when I construct a little bit of my PLN at a time, it's not all that terrible. In fact, constructing my PLN is actually kind of fun because I know that I'll be able to utilize it in my future classroom and educate my future student as to what a PLN is and what it entails (if they don't already know, that is). Of course, the acronym recognized can be easily broken down and explained further:
(I derived my inspiration from What is a PLN?) 

Personal is something that is yours and yours alone. When you create something that's personal, it's unique       to who you are and what you represent. For example, if you love to cook, you'll have links to websites that enable your love of cooking, or maybe you'll have a blog that's related to cooking so you can help others LEARN how to cook! 

Learning is also a unique characteristic because we don't all have the same major! I'm a Secondary Education/Chemistry major so my network will be vastly different than say that of an Elementary Education major. I'll have links that are special to my subject and links that will provide information related to chemistry. The internet is a giant place and think of how much you can learn from so many sources. Don't let learning be limited because there is SO MUCH to learn!

Network can be a terrifying word because of what it means. A network can be really short and limited to a few people or it can be enormous and link millions of people to one another! While networking gives off the connotation of everything being online, it also brings people together whether it be in a classroom or a coffee shop. Imagine what we can learn from people in other countries and what they can learn from us. Education is never ending and that's why we should stay connected to one another! 

I believe that PLNs will be a very important item in the classroom because as an educator, we can only relay so much information to our students. Let's think of it like this: teachers hold the key that enable students to further their knowledge on the subject being taught; we can choose to keep the key and be the cornerstone of all the information for our students or we can pass the key and let our students unlock vast sources of information that help them interpret the material that we teach! They can help us as teachers because they're valuable sources of information that "unlock" our students' potential (as well as ours, of course). 


How can you create your own PLN? How can your PLN be formed? 
In PLN, Michael Fawcett explains how he formed his PLN and after a year had passed, he wondered why he had never made one before. When you gain perspective from other people, it makes forming your PLN easier because it all had to start somewhere, right? There are a vast amount of outlets that can make forming your PLN simple. I chose to start with Symbaloo because it makes constructing a PLN easy! Before this class, I never knew that Symbaloo existed and if I had done my research and found this website, it would have made taking other classes so much easier because all of your websites are right in front of you and easily accessible. I have my websites separated by my interests, social media, education, and news websites. The picture above is a screenshot of what my Symbaloo homepage for EDM 310 looks like! It is really beneficial to have a base for your PLN and thanks to Symbaloo, I now have that! After reading Developing a Personal Learning Network, I now know the unique characteristics as to what a PLN is and what it entails; the statement made about us (as students) being detectives is a better way to look at it because when you develop your PLN, you're browsing the internet to find what you're looking for and that's a neat way to put it! Also, Welcome to My PLE! was wonderful to watch because it put a student in the driver's seat and she really taught me the most because she was completely engrossed in her PLE and enthusiastic to relay what her PLE consisted of. Students and teachers can learn from each other when it comes to technology because technology is a HUGE part of education now! 



Who will be your first additions to your PLN? 

The first additions to my PLN will be the entire staff working with both EDM 310 sections, other professors from the college of education, and I will follow various Twitter accounts related to Biology and Chemistry because they're related to my major. Expanding my PLN throughout the course of the semester is the goal and having a PLN to continue to use after the class is over is the big picture item! Learning from others throughout the entire universe is a scary yet beautiful thing because education is so important! 

Project #7a

My Sentence Is

My Passion Is

Blog Post #4

I found The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom to be very insightful. When I was in grade school, I wasn't always the student who was terrified that my name was going to be called next but in certain subjects I was a bit hesitant and nervous. When I look back on those times and reflect on what should have been, I link this article to those times because I did have teachers that called on names and expected the right answer and when the right answer wasn't said, they didn't elaborate on why it was wrong. In my future classroom, I want to be the teacher that asks questions that are effective and are easy to comprehend. There were so many truthful points in this article but the one thing that I completely agreed with was that although students didn't answer the question about understanding the concept, doesn't mean they fully comprehend what that question was entailing. An educator should not say, "if you don't ask anymore questions, I assume you know everything that you need to know." That's a broad statement and if I were a student in that classroom, I'd have a little anxiety about asking anymore questions and try to comprehend all of the material on my own. Not every child is on the same level as their classmates and the way that material is comprehended is different in many ways. Instead of assuming that every student knows the material, educators should display an approachable attitude and be willing to work with students who may not be comfortable to ask questions in class!


After reading Asking Questions to Improve Learning, I bookmarked this article for later use. It is really important to know how to ask questions to your students so they can retain information. When testing comprehension of the material, I like how the article pointed out that you should acknowledge the student's answer whether it was right or wrong. When acknowledging a wrong answer, it should be followed with a, "nice try but let's talk about the right way..." or something of that nature. I think the best point made in this article was that questions should stick to the curriculum and not jump outside of what's been learned because that can cause confusion and modeling questions for the exact lessons is key. Learning about the different kinds of questions is crucial because not all subjects can ask the same model of questions. Another point made was to not interrupt a student's answer because although you, as the educator, know why the answer is right or wrong, letting the student answer the question in full could let you gain insight and let his/her classmates learn from their answer because that child's answer could be another child's ticket to understanding/comprehending the material being taught! I believe that open-ended questions are central to a child's comprehension because when a student can support their answer with sufficient material, it's known that the student understands what's being taught.

After viewing Asking Better Questions in the Classroom, it just reiterated what I previously read in the assigned articles. When asking a question as the teacher to the class, you have to be specific about what you want from the student and do not display any type of angst because you get what you ask for. For information retention, close-ended questions are ideal and for information comprehension, open-ended questions are ideal (in my opinion)! Although I am not an educator yet, I know that all of this information will be resourceful when it comes to writing questions for my classes.

The Right Question Institute's website is a tool that can be utilized when critical-thinking skills need to be further developed. After reading reviews about this tool, I can see that not only do students improve their ability when it comes to critical-thinking skills, but teachers learn how to develop these questions needed to deepen a student's ability to comprehend such questions.


What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?
After viewing each of these articles and videos, I think that a crucial element is being able to model questions after a curriculum. When composing questions, we need to be able to reach the students on every level so we can see how information is being retained and what areas we need to work on. Also, we need to know how the information is being comprehended so when it comes to open-ended questions, we can rest assure that our students understand the material so that can be displayed when a test is given. Specificity is another key element because if we're not specific, we can't expect students to read in-between the lines and give the exact answer we're looking for. There are many things that need to be known when it comes to asking questions but these are just a few crucial items that I picked up from the information read!

C4K #1

In Keri P's latest blog posts from Mr. Boylen's 7th Grade Lit Class, she describes the book, Tommorow Girls: Behind the Gates by Eva Gray. I was highly impressed with the slideshows that are being created in this class! In the last post that she made, she just simply described the book's plot and began to describe all of the characters in the story. Although it was a simple explanation of the book, it was short and to the point! It is very neat to see so much technology being integrated into classrooms at this point in time.

In my first comment, I told her that I was impressed with how well-worded she was and how easily a book can be described in a few short sentences. I also pointed out that she was enthusiastic about reading and simply said that it really is important to continue to be enthusiastic about reading because when you approach future subjects, that reading may not always be fun but it will be well worth it because education is so very important!

C4T #1 & #2

In "Get Organized!," breaks down how having a blog is a beneficial thing rather than other outlets of social media. Unfortunately, he does not post on his blog anymore as all of his posts are on his official website.

In my first post, I commented on how much I agree that blogs are beneficial and that they're a simple source of communication in between co-workers, classmates, friends, etc. and that post was posted in August and no other posts have been made since that time. He also gives ten reasons as to why a blog is effective and important. In summation, he makes the case that blogs are free, they're easy to use, they're eco friendly (to save paper, of course), and you can communicate with anyone that's anywhere in the world! Unlike sending snail mail, posts on the internet are never lost and they're always accessible to those who would like to view it.

Blog Post #3

What is Peer Editing? 

 Peer editing is a task that is done to help out fellow classmates when it comes to revising or editing a paper. While editing is the main task, there's always room for improvement on a paper no matter how large or minute it may be. According to the first video and presentation, the biggest thing is to always compliment the author of the paper you're reading. I fully agree with this because if someone was editing my paper, I wouldn't want nothing but harsh feedback- I would hope that they would enjoy some part of it! 



What do you think is the best way to approach Peer Editing? 

 I believe that the best approach is to keep an open mind and know that not everyone thinks alike. For instance, if we were all assigned a certain topic to write about and you completely disagree with a person's stance on the subject, do not let that be the only thing that you critique on because that would trigger you becoming defensive like what the last video portrayed. As previously stated, always compliment the writer of the paper because although you may not agree, let it show that you're reading the writing and not bringing your personal standpoint into it. 


How will you peer edit your classmates blog posts in EDM 310?  

For starters, I'd definitely keep an open mind and pinpoint the high points rather than focus on the low points. The videos and the presentation really made me think about what to say and how to say it when it comes to peer editing. With the completion of many peer edits in past classes, I've learned that when you focus on what they did right, it makes what they did wrong easier to convey. I would not want someone to completely hammer my writing so I would hope that my classmates wouldn't do that to me! I will always keep an open mind and remember that everyone's writing styles are different! 


What is the importance of Peer Editing? 

The importance of peer editing is being able to revise, edit, and compliment your fellow classmate's paper without being super harsh or extremely critical. It's also being able to recognize that there are errors on a paper and giving a true assessment of writing is supposed to benefit the writer instead of just saying, "that's good," or "that's bad." In the last video, the character that was being too general is the message that I'm trying to give. When you give good feedback and avoid being general, then you're on the fast track to being an excellent classmate. Overall, providing constructive feedback that's also positive is something to keep in mind! 


The answers to these questions were inspired by the following:
Writing Peer Review 

Peer Editing 

Tutorial Peer Editing