Project #9

B. Spillman, H. Thames, and H. Smith Project #9

Podcast
by Brantley Spillman,Hilary Thames , and Haley Smith,

Based on the book, Teaching Digital Natives by Mark Prensky, we have discussed the questions "How can we connect technology to the curriculum?" and "What can we do to teach for the future?" Our answer in the podcast below comes from different resources such as iCurio.com, discoveryeducation.com, and Jen Deyenberg's blog trailsoptional.com.

Project #13: Lesson Plan

Blog Post# 7

What Can We Learn From these Conversations…

 

All four conversations we observed this week revolved around the structure of “Project Based Learning” (PBL) techniques and how both iCurio and DiscoveryEd can be used as resources to execute “Project Based Learning” strategies. Throughout EDM 310, we have been learning how these strategies can motivate a student to learn while familiarizing ourselves with the tools available to create this strategy in the classroom. Specifically, we have both created and used several online forums that could be employed for “Project Based Learning.” Honestly, the mentality of “students as scholars” is relatively new to us, and we are realizing the potential of these techniques with each additional conversation this course offers.

 

Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of Third Graders  


Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of Third Graders

In the two videos, they discuss how “Project Based Learning” is constantly evolving. Multiple questions that we had about PBL were answered: How to approach PBL, what you need to prepare for it, what details it involves, and what teachers get as a result are all things that are mentioned.  Additionally, it involves lots of planning in order to be implemented properly. PBL strategy has provided a sense of ownership to the student that has been nonexistent in the past. Ownership of the learning process has been found to provide increased retention and understanding of the material. Most people think that PBL is when a project is completed at the end of a lesson rather than using it as a teaching tool by which students learn.  All projects are not going to be easy to organize and complete.  Specifically, projects must entail an audience, engage all students’ interest, and, importantly, these projects must coincide with Alabama State Standards.  Creating a project that meets all of these standards will be a difficult task for any educator. 

A good example of meeting these requirements would be Mr. Capps’ project presented in this discussion. His project entailed his students writing Joe Bonner (Alabama Congressman) about women in combat. This particular project embraced learning topics such as reading, social studies, and writing.  Furthermore, the kids had the opportunity to revise all the letters to select which letters represented the class and should be delivered to their congressman. It is outstanding to see third graders learning the concept of peer review editing at this stage of development.  In Project Based Learning, the most crucial element is the when the students have the chance to revise their classmates’ work. As indicated in the video, Mr. Capps’ PBL strategy has incorporated complete democracy in the classroom. Specifically, students own their work and make final decisions on quality of assignments. The whole point of PBL is for students to have better understanding and more control over their learning. Additionally, when the students are bored with an activity, or their mind is elsewhere, learning is not being achieved. We learned that if the teacher is willing to put in the time and effort to make PBL all that it can be, the outcome will be all that is expected, and your students will greatly benefit from it.  You can’t limit your students because you will always get more than you expect. By giving specific criteria, students will not have the opportunity to go beyond what is required. We must remember that we are still learners. 

While watching the videos on iCurio and   DiscoveryEd, we are realizing where today’s classroom is going.  Unfortunately, we are also appreciating that many third graders using PBL resources are ahead of us in their abilities to search and learn new materials.  As future educators, we are excited to know that our students will be further challenged and expected to embrace this new style of education.  Having tools such as iCurio and Discovery Ed available in the classroom gives every student the opportunity to experience research at his or her own pace and topic of interest.  Additionally, iCurio gives our future generation of students the ability to safely search the internet for any particular topic without the fear of stumbling onto non-educational websites.  

Before EDM 310, we were unaware of the options iCurio provides. Specifically, iCurio allows students to create their own organizational folder for their retrieved research.  It is a remarkable idea that third grades can learn to virtually organize their research and assignments.  Organization has always been difficult to teach students and teachers alike. When given the proper tools to organize, we can aide in the teaching and execution of organizational skills. iCurio also allows student to search historical figures. A student can search “Scientists in Thailand” and a whole list will be provided to students. This also ties into the safe search engines. In the classroom, teachers should use iCurio for any online search engine. In addition, “Discovery Ed, like iCurio, virtually brings experts into the classroom.”  In order for these resources to be most effective in the future classroom, the tools and resources technology offers must be embraced and used by our future professionals as well.

by B. Spillman

Anthony and Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1 

I believe you guys nailed it with your tips for being a successful teacher.  First, all future educators should be willing to have a fun experience in order to be successful in the classroom. A teacher’s excitement is infectious to the student. We all know being a teacher can be very trying at times. However, if you can find a way to keep the process exciting and enjoyable, then the chances of your students enjoying and learning are much greater.  Secondly, as Dr. Strange stated, we must be open-minded and interested in learning ourselves.  If you, as an educator, are unwilling to learn and find answers, you may have chosen the wrong career.  Thirdly, having the ability as an educator to have EVERY student engaged is necessary.  It seems like an overwhelming task, but I believe it is possible and should be a priority in your educational methods.  Finally, a reflection on any teaching strategy/project you have implemented is essential.  Without reflection, there is no way of knowing what worked and what did not work.  In order to continue making progress in our teaching strategies, we must look back on what we did in order to improve in the future.

by H. Smith

Use Tech Don't Teach It

 

While watching this video, I thought about what I was learning throughout this discussion. I had my notepad open writing things down that really stuck out to me, and those things make a world of difference in a classroom.Today, technology is a wonderful tool. Children are learning how to use technology earlier and earlier and sometimes, students know more about it than the teacher. One point that Anthony made is that the teacher doesn’t have to spend a lot of time worrying about the students catching on to using computers. If you give the students a computer and a task or project, they may be able to figure it out. This goes back to the video by Sugata Mitra. He never taught the children how to use that computer. He simply made it available to the students who then taught themselves and were later teaching others. However, this video’s discussion maintains that it is imperative a teacher does not become intimidated when a student can maneuver the computer more aptly than the teacher. Be excited for these students that they want to learn and teach it to others because sometimes, a student can relate to another student better.  In addition, it is important to execute the computer work prior to presenting it to your students. By doing the computer work first, you will be able to answer the questions that your students might present. Later, students will develop problem solving skills generated by the process of working towards the goal of understanding the information.

 

It is very important that you don’t expect perfection from your students. Teachers have a lot of practice on computers in college courses, the work field, and even social media at home that puts teachers ahead of students. When students have questions, let them ask. Questions are always more important than the answer because questions give something to work towards. If you work hard at teaching while loving the process yourself, then you will be an excellent teacher. Students are always going to teach us, as educators, something new.  We, as teachers, must be open to the experience. Teaching is and always will be a tremendously rewarding occupation.

      

by H. Thames 

Additional Thought About Lessons 

Anthony did an awesome job explaining lessons with the four components! After watching this video, I feel much more informed when it comes to them. As he explained, each lesson plan has four components: yearly, unit, weekly and daily. Each component is just as important as the next one. The first component Anthony talked about is yearly. Yearly lesson plans are the lessons you plan to cover throughout the year and should cover all of the core standards. The next component is lesson plans for each unit. Each unit is usually a few weeks long and covers sections of information. For example, a math unit on fractions would cover: what is a fraction, reducing fractions, adding fractions, subtracting fractions and multiplying fractions. These plans must be meaningful and they are made up of weekly and daily plans. Weekly plans are the lesson that will be taught each week. The final component of lesson plans is daily plans. These plans are what you want your students to accomplish each day.There are standards and goals that should be met each week and as teachers we must make sure we are meeting these.

Project # 2: Progress

MY Personal Learning Network (PLN):

A Personal Learning Network is to provide a group of people and tools that can offer direction, advice and assessment of your teaching strategies. Technology has provided us, as educators, many tools that will help organize these people and tools.  Symbaloo is just one FREE option teachers can take advantage of to arrange a PLN support system.  Symbaloo seems like any easy way to virtually organize an educator’s contacts, useful websites, class blogs, and any other web resources.

However, the key term I see is “Personal”. The point of personal is to build a network system that works for you personally.  Not every educator relies on technology to organize and gather contacts. Granted, technology’s purpose is to streamline organizational tasks, I think it is important to note what is most effective for each individual educator. Not every educator will have the same set of tools or people to pull from as their experiences and personalities will differ. For me, I am a social networker IN PERSON. For me as a 33 year old, I have a group of diverse friends and families that are currently in educational fields at all levels (elementary, elementary special education, administration, Montessori and high school), experience (2 years up to 25+ years) and locations (Kentucky, Alabama, Texas, Georgia) that I can utilize. For me, I am more effective making a phone call than an email. For me, something is lost when written than when spoken. Thus, my PLN will be a phone contact list of this group of diverse educators. I will absolutely use my iPhone to organize this list!

I understand Symbaloo provides this service. I am sure there will be a day where I will require this tool and I have opened an account to familiarize myself with this tool. I do believe that even if you are not a “techie”, you must integrate some aspect of technology for organizational purposes. Given I am not of the “social media generation,” my progress is slow, but certain.  I’ll get better at using online resources to meet individuals for increasing my PLN but I believe I feel more comfortable beginning with a smaller core of seasoned educators that I have a relationship already intact. One benefit of already knowing my group of PEOPLE allows them to provide personalized advice. They know my personality and can suggest techniques and projects that would work best for me.

However, I would use online teaching resources in developing my teaching TOOLS. I like the idea of a web tool similar to the Pandora website in which the internet "suggests" additional teaching websites that  have similar "like/dislike" hits from current teaching resources (iCurio and DiscoveryEd) that I already utilize. 

C4K Final Summary: September

Reading young peoples experiences in the classroom and their subsequent interpretations has been very educational for me as an inspiring educator. 

My first read was with a tenth grade student named DeeDee right here in Alabama.  His love of basketball and his understanding of the concept “teamwork” really stood out to me.  Most kids his age seem to forget that “teamwork” is necessary for teams to reach their potential for success. I tried to encourage DeeDee in my response to his post for his astute realization that “teamwork” and practice are essential components for victory and can translate to all of his tasks both athletic and academic.

My second read was with a fifth grade student named Helen in Buena’s Aires, Argentina.  Having personally spent time in Buena’s Aires, I was extremely excited about this particular student.  Her post was an interpretation of a Skype experience with an American class in which they read her the story The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. I did not recognize this story but both my kids remembered it fondly. This story encourages kids to not be afraid to draw even if you think you may not be very good. Being able to see different cultures and interact with a ‘click of a button’ creates great opportunities for both Argentinean and American students to learn lessons from other cultures.

My third read was with Tyla Marie, a Year 7 student in New Zealand.  This blog was by far the most educational for me. Tyla Marie discussed her love of “kapa haka.” I was forced to research “kapa haka.” I learned that it was a cultural dance/music that still existed in their country.  Her love for music and having the opportunity to share this love worldwide was assisted by a video posted on her blog. I believe I became the student in this blog post comment and enjoyed the educational experience.

Tyla Marie's Two Loves: Rugby and Kapa Haka

My final read was with Emmy who is a fifth grade student in Mrs. Ripp’s class in Madison, Wisconsin.  This blog stood out due to the topic.  The class was writing about why they should never use the “R” word.  Honestly, I initially had no idea what word they were referring.  After researching, I realized they were talking about the word “retard.”  It is great to know that teachers are stepping outside the box to teach about socially sensitive topics. Kids were learning right from wrong by using their blogs to post their opinions on the usage of such words.  The opportunity for all these students to interact with their classmates and others worldwide is proof that education does not have to be strictly about facts and figures.  These kids seemed to be working through the problem through reading other peoples blogs and comments. Specifically, Emmy had read a book about a young girl, Melody, with a disability that prevented her from verbally communicating everything she took in. Emmy was both amazed and empathetic at this girls’ plight. I was encouraged to see a student learning empathy through these learning tools. 

Blog Post #6

 

Being an effective teacher is a difficult task.  Every student is different, thus, making each “right” question and/or answer different.  Being able to ask an effective question in a way that pulls relevant information from every student, will allow us, as educators, to evaluate where our students stand in the learning process.  Our questions must be legitimate and relevant to the material, but should remain on a level that is understood by students. Specifically, we want to pose questions that challenge our students. We, as educators, want to determine what a student is capable of achieving. However, we must be careful not to pose such a challenging question that the student is intimidated and, in turn, shuts down from the learning process. Additionally, we should not complicate the information. Specifically, questions should be concise while allowing the student an opportunity to respond in a manner that allows the educator to assess their understanding and knowledge of the material.  

  

I don’t believe there is a book that an educator can read that will teach them how to ask the “right question” every time.  Furthermore, I believe the “wrong question” can carry just as much significance as the “right question.”  There are some students that need to hear the “wrong question” to understand why there is a “right question.”  This strategy can contribute to the student’s learning process. Every student is different, and an educator must find out how to relate to each child in his or her own unique style.  If the teacher cannot find a way to relate to each student, then the questions begin to mean nothing.  Constructing correct questions begins with knowing your student.  This concept reminds me of a mantra I learned while working in sales, “if you know your customer, you know your business.”  I believe this can translate to education: if you know your student, you know the “right” questions. Basically, if you have a student that is type A, then the ‘right’ question is, “What is the definition of tsunami? However, if you have a student that is unmotivated and distracted, then the ‘right’ question may be, “how long have you enjoyed  skateboarding?” Quickly followed by, “can you surf? And further followed by, “what kind of waves do you think a tsunami would produce?

I do believe it is important for educators to step outside of the traditional learning box in pursuit of answers to traditional questions like illustrated in Ms. Elizabeth Cornell's Blog. In this process, a volley of questions/answers between the teacher and student may arise. Thus, teachers should be honest in their responses, as students should be with their questions. However, if we, as educators want honest responses from our students, then there should be some honesty in our responses as teachers. If you cannot be honest with your students, we cannot expect our students to be honest in return.  Like adults, if no respect is gained, the questions presented will be less indicative of the learning process.

Project #8

A Sick Day for Amos McGee: Written by Philip Stead and Illustrated by Erin Stead