Final Project

Final Reflection

Blog post 5 PART 2

Summary of your PLN:

For my Personal Learning Network, like many others, I created a Symbaloo to organize them all into one place. I included things that have to do with me and my personal interests as well as educational sites for the Educator side of me. I included my twitter page, my facebook page, my blog post link, educational sites, the link to the school district I plan to teach at, and my summer workplace where I'm employed during the summer's between attending school in Mobile. Personal Learning Networks are awesome and resourceful. Whether my educator friends need links to places or friends of my other interest need links, they can all be found in one place.

C4K

My C4K for april was Jacob W. from Ms. Lombard's 7th grade English class in Oklahoma. His blog was titled Baseball. He wrote about baseball and about hitting a "dinger" which means a home run. He said that he loves baseball. He said that it is his passion and that he has been playing since he was 6. It was a rather short post as you can see here: Jacob W.'s Blog. A couple other South Alabama EDM10 have posted on this one as well. I have enjoyed commenting on student's blogs. It's a great way to see how kids from elementary ages all the way up to high school ages are using technology in the their classrooms all over the United States. As I was going through school, we did not do anything like this. I had one computer class in high school and it was honestly a waste of time. It was an introduction to Microsoft programs which I was already "literate" in. I've enjoyed commenting on kids' blogs and seeing how teachers are utilizing the knew age of computer communication in their classrooms.

Blog Post 13

Previously on a blog post, it was mentioned to use Symbaloo as a way to keep our PLN's organized. It was not required to look into it, but I did. I didn't do anything with it but I thought it was a cool idea. For my blog post this week, I'm "assigning" myself to make a Symbaloo page and challenging myself to set it as my homepage for a week. I think this would be a cool assignment because it challenges students to try something new. These would be my instructions:

Watch the video Using Symbaloo (a bookmarking service) in Education by Ms. Computer Teacher. After watching the video, create your own Symbaloo page using at least 10 links to websites you use daily and/or websites that you might need to use occasionally. This can include social media pages, news websites, email providers etc..

After making your Symbaloo, watch the video below pertaining to the type of computer you're using. When completed, post the screenshot of your Symbaloo page to your blog. Challenge yourself to set your Symbaloo as your computer's homepage for a week.

MAC USERS: How To Take a Screenshot on a Mac
PC USERS: How To Take a Screenshot on a PC

C4T #3 Summary

The teacher that I was assigned to was Jennifer Brokofsky. The first blog was titled "Responding to Common Questions Faced as a Math Coordinator". One question she was asked was if teachers should teach students automatic math skills first or number sense. She said, “We should focus on them both at the same time. Strong Number Sense supports reasoning and reasoning leads to mastery. Without Number Sense we run the risk of having students memorize sequences of numbers that have no real meaning to them.” I told her I agreed with this. Students can memorize anything, but sometimes they don't have a clue what the memorized information means in real terms. The second one was titled "Cooking With Your Kids... the Perfect Time to #TalkMath". She was just basically talking about turning daily cooking into math lessons with your kids. You can have all sorts of different lessons like fractions and addition and things like that. 

Blog Post 11

In the video, Back to the Future, Brian Crosby discusses how he uses technology in his 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classrooms. Every student has access to a laptop and they write blogs frequently. He also talks about a project he did with his students with a balloon. On the balloon, the hooked up audio, video, and a tracking device so they could track it wherever it went for a while. There was something he said that really stuck with me. Crosby said, "If you don't have imagination or creativity,  where do you build passion from?" This is so true. If children are going through the same motions day by day, how will they come across something new that they might be passionate about?

In the video, Blended Learning Cycle, Paul Anderson discusses the blended learning cycle and what exactly it is. He says it is a combination of online, mobile, and classroom experiences. Anderson says he learning cycle consists go the 5 E's: engage, explore, expand, explain, and evaluate. He also uses the acronym "QUVIERS" which stands for: Question, Investigate/Inquire, Video, Elaboration, Review, Summary Quiz. Anderson does a great job making sure his students really grasp the subject before he tests them on the subject at hand.

In this video, Making Things Visible, he focuses on tracking how students think. This makes me think of the word "metacognition" that we just learned in one of my other classes. It refers to the students ability to explain how and what they're thinking. Making Things Visible focuses more on tracking the progress of their thinking. This is a great way to get students thinking and opinionated.

In the video, Super Digital Citizen, teaching students internet safety is stressed. Personally, I know a lot of people who have been affected by malicious people on the internet. Whether it be money fraud or people saying they they're someone who they are not, there are bad people on the internet. In this video, the students create a superhero and talk about internet safety. This is a great way to get the students informed about such a serious topic in a fun way. It is important to make sure the students in your classroom have good digital citizenship. Most of the population who are active on the internet today weren't taught anything about it in school because it wasn't around. We must intervene with these students now to make a better future for everyone around us.

Project Based Learning discusses a school in Canada in which three classrooms decide to combine for a day. The classes were History, English, and Computer Processing. This was done to see if they could implement Project Based Learning. Doing this, they could create one project that meets the standards for all three subjects. Combining all these allows for ample time and study to be done on just a single project instead of three separate ones for three separate subjects. I think this is great and should be considered by schools everywhere. You could lighten the load on students while also giving them the quality education they need.

In the video, Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program, project based learning at this school is discussed. They gather opinions from both parents and teachers on the subject. They say things like it is very hands on and engaging for the students. It also provides self motivation. Parents said they liked how early the students were getting practice as far as public speaking goes. I know for me, my first public speaking class wasn't until college and it was nerve-wracking. We need to build up their confidence with speaking in front of people at a very young age.

Blog Post 10

After watching the video Little Kids, Big Potential you can learn a lot from Mrs. Cassidy. Even though these kids are only 6 or 7 years old, they can use technology efficiently if taught how to do so. It's just like learning anything else at that age. Even though they're not fully literate yet, it's still good practice to do writing sometimes on the computer. It will help their typing skills which will prepare them for upper level grades that require typed papers. Students thrive off independence so doing all those PBL activities will keep them engaged and interested. The children having blogs is awesome for the parents too. They can track their child's progress and even send the link to their blog to relatives or friends of the family. As long as the child doesn't delete the page, that's also a pretty cool thing to go back and look at one day.

In the second video  Cassidy 13 part 1, Dr. Strange asks Mrs. Cassidy how she got started with technology. Mrs. Cassidy definitely believes that teachers should be technologically literate. She said, technology is here and it's not going anywhere. She said, "the world has changed, so we must change." She believes having blogs is rewarding for the children because more than just the teacher reads what they are writing.

The third video Cassidy 13 part 2, she starts out by talking about her own personal technology use. She said it should be based on what you're interested in. Base the technology you use on what you're interested in. If you like to write, start a blog. If you like to take pictures, get a Flikr account. I agree with her opinion on Twitter. I've found tons of people with mutual interests through Twitter and they live all over the country. Some of these people I consider to be really good friends of mine.

In the last video Cassidy 13 part 3, Dr. Strange lets other people ask questions. Some of the questions were, "How ofter do you use blogging? Once a day or once a week or something like that?" Someone asked if she thought cheating was becoming easier nowadays. She basically said teachers just need to be more innovative with the way they get children to present their ideas. With technology being more incorporated, collaborative work is being used more.


After watching the videos, I have learned a lot about real like technology use in a classroom. I really like the idea of getting them to do blogs. I think it would be a great daily activity to have them write one sentence in a blog either responding to a question or just what they did. I will definitely keep this in mind when I become a teacher. Some problems that might occur are that they will get used to doing their writing in a typed form and their handwriting will not improve. I will make sure to have more handwritten writing assignments that online writing assignments.

C4K March

Since the last summary of C4K, I have done three additional ones. Both the first and the second kids' blog posts had to do with the PLAN test. It is kind of like the ACT before the ACT. It's usually taken in the 10th grade and prepares students for taking the ACT in the years following. Both of the kids expressed they were nervous beforehand. One of the students was confident in his English performance but was worried about how he did in Math and Science. The other student just said they were glad it's over and they got days off from school for it. I wished them both luck and reassured them they probably did better than they think! The 3rd one was a book summary. The book was called Making The Cut. The girl said it was like Project Runway but for teenagers. Weirdly enough, the main characters name is Chloe just like mine. The girl said she enjoyed the book and loved all the drama that came with it. I complimented her on her writing skills; she is only in 7th grade and the two PLAN test blog posts were written by high schools and yet the 7th grade girl's post was miles above the other two when it came to grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. Here is a link to her post if you wanted to see how well written it was for a 13-year old Marissa M.'s Blog Post.

Blog Post 9

The article, Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning, is a need to read before dealing with Project Based Learning. The seven essentials are:

1. Need to Know- Basically just give the students the feeling of they need to know this information. Make it personal to keep them engaged in the project.

2. Driving Question- The project needs to have one main question that can be answered afterwards. This is the most important part of the project because this is the purpose behind the assignment.

3. Student Voice and Choice- Students thrive from independence because it's very rare that they get any while in school. Let the pick the subjects and let up on the reins a little bit and let them have some free choice. This will ensure the students are active and engaged in the subject.

4. 21st Century Skills- Let the students know what they're doing is important and relevant. The world will soon be completely technology based. Let them know they're practicing skills they'll need for the rest of thier life.

5. Inquiry and Innovation- The article says to use "real inquiry" which is defined as "students follow a trail that begins with their own questions, leads to a search for resources and the discovery of answers, and often ultimately leads to generating new questions, testing ideas, and drawing their own conclusions." The students must genuinely want to know the answer.

6. Feedback and Revision- The students will not always do perfect work but it's important they we help them see their mistakes and make sure they are actually learning from them.

7. A Publically Presented Project- The students will be proud of what they do and will want to show it off. Let them come to the front adnd present to the class. This will also help their confidence levels by forcing them to talk in front of people.




The video Project Based Learning for Teachers, is a short video about just that, project based learning for teachers. Even though the video is only about 3 minutes long, it got a lot of information into those 3 minutes. It talked about Common Core, what PBL actually is, and how we can benefit from project based learning. The video also talks about the driving question which is the main part of the project. The driving question is your rocket fuel for the project; your overall goal is to answer it and in that sense, it launches your project.



One doesn't really think of technology when thinking about Physical Education but the video Project Based Learning and Physical Education, Andrew Miller addresses just that. An example he gave was for the students to get together and answer the driving question of, "How can we create the best exercise program for middle school students?" The students then got together and did research and applied it to their own P.E. class.



The video PBL: What Motivates Students Today, it addresses what students are motivated most effectively by. Everyone loves to see their hard work be appreicated so do just that. Let them know what an awesome job they did and it will motivate them to do well next time. You can also use rewards like a pizza party if everyone makes an A, or individual rewards like a treat box. Some classes even have a "class bank" where they are rewarded fake money and can "buy" stuff from a class store.


The video High School Teachers Meet the Challenges of PBL Implementations, teachers are looking at the way they've always taught and implementing changes to it by incorporation proejct based learning. I know some teacehers have a problem with this. There's a saying that says, "If it isn't broke, don't fix it" but we need to get teachers out of this mindset. Yes, your way has been successful for as long as you've been teaching, but the world is changing and we must change ourselves with it to adapt.

PROJECT #9

Blog Post 8

After watching the video, Achieving Your Childhood Dreams by Randy Pausch, I saw that Randy Pausch is such an inspirational person. This week's assignment was definitely a longer one, but definitely worth the watch. Sometimes we're distracted by little things (like hour long homework assignments) and need to be humbled by listening to someone like Randy Pausch. Early in the video you find out he has cancer. Without him telling me, I would've never guessed it. He told us about his childhood dreams and that it's important that we encourage that in children; even if they seem impossible. That's something we can learn about teaching. Let children dream. Don't be the person to make them face reality while they're still young and wonderstruck at the world. Another thing he taught us is that metaphorical brick walls are there for a reason. Pausch says, "Brick walls are there for a reason; they show us how badly we want things." As teachers, we definitely won't get everything handed to us. We have to fit so much into one day while dealing with wandering buzzing little minds. We have to be determined and focused on the task at hand. It won't be easy for us, but it will be so worth it in the end. Randy is such an inspirational person and I'm glad I took the time to watch this video instead of the trash TV I usually watch on my lazy weekends.

C4T Summary

The teacher I was assigned to was Mr. Utecht. He is an awesome guy and actually had his own Ted Talk one time. The first post I commented on was titled "Community Trumps Content". It was a video of him talking about the restrictions schools put on social forums at school. It was a really great video and really opened my mind on the subject. Students can learn so much from other students from other schools but we limit everything they can do on the computer at school. After watching the video, I believe there should be an educational social forum where students can discuss ideas, topics, and even get to know one another appropriately. The second post I commented on was titled "10 Ways to Use Google Maps in the Classroom". I'd never thought about it before but it's actually an awesome idea. Some of the ideas were to make a longitude/latitude scavenger hunt, create tours in different countries with voiceover so people could get a virtual tour, and even create routes with facts about stops on the way. I like this because you could use it from early elementary school all the way up to the high school level.

Video to Students

Video to Parents

Blog Post 7

There are undoubtedly many things that go into your preparation for becoming a teacher. One of the most important is being technologically literate and being aware that it’s constantly changing and evolving. In the resource We All Become Learners by Dr. Strange, Mrs. Bennett told us that a kindergarten student helped her with something on the iPad. We have to realize our students have never known a world without technology and they could help us out sometimes. With that in mind, we need to make sure 95% of the time, we know what we’re doing when it comes to technology. It’s a bad position to be in when the students start to doubt you. Yes we can learn from them, but it shouldn’t be an everyday occurrence.

            Another thing to keep in mind is the capability of these students. In the resource  Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten by Dr. Strange, Mrs. Bennett told us that at Gulf Shores Elementary, kindergarteners are using iMovie. 5 and 6 year olds are using what we college students are using. We need to keep an open mind with these students and never doubt their abilities.

            Students want structure and they want to have a set of rules (whether they say it or not), however, they thrive from independence as well. That’s something I’m definitely going to stress in my classroom. I’ll show them what to do and monitor them, but I really want them to have complete creative control of what they do. When we use technology, I want them to explore on their own after I explain whatever program we’re using. They gain so much from independent learning. I want them to say, “Mrs. Hendricks, look what I found! Did you know…” That’s my goal with technology in the class room.

            All in all, technology is the future of education; we need to be fully aware of that. In high school, I had some teachers who refused to use it and still taught using a chalkboard. I believe that one day teachers won’t even have the option. We need to explore every resource given to us and really utilize them and see what all they can do. Technology can help us immensely in the classroom if we let it, but it can also hurt us immensely if we don’t. 

C4K

So far I have commented on four student’s blogs. One of them was actually pretty funny and I’m glad I got to read it. The first was a book report on Percy Jackson the Lightning Thief. He just explained what the book was about and it was overall a good post. I talked about my history of taking mythology courses and asked him if he knew anything about Greek mythology prior to reading the post. The next one was a kid talking about a science experiment he did one time. The post has some spelling and grammar issues and I politely suggested he proofread more carefully next time. The 3^rd one was a girl talking about her passion for soccer. It was very cute and reminded me of my own passion for the sport I love. The last one was hands down my favorite. It was actually about a dog dying so it was sad but the kid was a high-schooler and the way he wrote it was so funny. The title was “My Dog Tequila R.I.P” so that right there made me raise one eyebrow. He explained that his dog ran in front of a car and that he was very sad about it. He ended it with “That’s bae. That’s bae forever.” Bae is a slang term people use to refer to someone they really care for. It doesn’t sound as funny now typing it but just read it for yourself. My Dog Tequila R.I.P. Obviously I didn't laugh or anything in the comment, I expressed my condolences and told him I've never had a pet so I couldn't imagine what it must feel like.

Blog Post 6

I learned a lot of new things I can implement in my classroom after watching the resources given in this assignment. But one in particular stood out to me. This would be iCurio in the resource iCurio: Conversations with Anthony by Dr. Strange. This is an awesome tool that I didn't know even existed. This gives students the ability to search the web freely while also filtering out things that they don't need to see. The students can also start learning how to organize themselves online. It gives them the chance to learn how to organize websites, images, and videos so that they never lose a source they found and can very easily come back to use it. Here, they can start learning how to make virtual folders and what to place in them and how to arrange them. This is very important because I didn't learn how to do that until early high school. Anthony listed many features it has like Timeline or Historical Figure directory and I'm curious to explore it and learn more about this resource. Anthony said this was good for practically any grade level so no matter where I end up, I could use this. iCurio was by far my favorite resource given to us in this assignment.

Video 2 of 2

Video 1 of 2

Blog Post 5

PLN's

A PLN, or a Personal Learning Network, is an amazing resource to help you expand your knowledge and ideas while also giving your own to virtually anyone. My favorite thing from all the resources was a quote by Michael Fawcett in his YouTube video Michael Fawcett Discusses his PLN. He said, “[t]hey’ve given me opportunities to communicate and to connect and to collaborate in ways that just weren’t there for us a year ago.” Granted Mr. Fawcett published this video in 2010, it really shows how opening your eyes to a new resource can be very beneficial for everyone involved.

As far as my PLN progress is going, I’m on my way to figuring it out. I have my EDM310 blog which is a great resource. If I were to put that on my resume, I feel like principals would be impressed with my experience with technology and all the resources I’ve looked into. Also, I have a personal story about PLN’s. I’ve been a competitive cheerleader for 8 years now and I made a twitter page about 4 years ago. In these past 4 years, I have met so many amazing cheerleaders from all over the country. Some of these people I consider my best friends. Through our mutual interest in cheerleading and also having a twitter page, I was able to find these awesome people and get to hang out with them at the big national competitions we all attend. One day, I will leave cheerleading behind me and step into the professional world of teaching. When that day comes, I know I can use Twitter as a PLN to help me find other teachers the way it has helped me find countless cheer friends.

C4T

The first blog post that I commented on was titled “Science Experiments Via Video Conference”. The teacher is a 5^th grade teacher and they video chatted another classroom from a different state. Each classroom performed a science experiment while the other class observed. I thought that this was an awesome idea especially with today’s expansion of technology. I made a point that our society has gotten to the point where you could have something as serious as am interview over video-chat so it’s an awesome idea to expose these kids to that resource as early as possible. The second blog post that I commented on was titled “Eggsercizes!!”. It was Easter and instead of filling the eggs with candy, the teacher printed out strips of paper with different exercises on them like “10 push-ups” or “10 sit-ups” and the student had to do them before looking for the next egg. I thought that this was awesome. We have an obesity epidemic happening in our country so any chance to take out unhealthy things and replace them with something active is great. I told the teacher this is definitely something I’ll keep in mind for my classroom.