Search Engines

The eight search engines I found were WolframAlpha, Bing, DuckDuckGo, DogPile, Yahoo! Search, Ask, Webcrawler and MyWebSearch. I’ve visited each search engine and concluded the following:

WolframAlpha: This search engine seems to be for math inquires. I started to type in “cars” thinking it was just a normal search engine but the first suggestions it gave me when I typed in “car” was “carbon” “carbon steel” and “carbon dioxide” so off the bat I could tell it wasn’t your average search engine. In the frequently asked questions page about this search engine they describe themselves as “[A] computational knowledge engine: it generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links.”

Bing: This search engine is a lot like Google. You type in a phrase or a word and it searches it for you. I do not like this search engine. The home page brought up a giant picture of a buffalo and it is not very aesthetically pleasing. It gives news stories at the bottom which I guess could be useful, but if I’m going to Bing specifically to search for something, I wouldn’t be interested in reading news stories at that moment.

DuckDuckGo: This search engine has the slogan of “The search engine that doesn’t track you”. I’m not sure what that would be useful for unless you were being sneaky about something but I guess that could be useful for some people. I personally would not use this search engine.

DogPile: This is another one very similar to Google. You type in what you want searched and it searches the web for that content. I like the theme of this search engine. It has a little dog on the bottom of the page with a ball in his mouth and when you search for something you click on the button that says “Go Fetch!”. It’s a neat theme and I wouldn’t mind using this search engine.

Yahoo! Search: I like this search engine a lot. It also has a standard Google-type set up. However there are a couple things that set this one apart. It has news stories on the page, trending topics, and my favorite: the local weather.  It’s nice that it includes weather because turning on the TV and waiting for the local weather forecast could take a while. It also gives a 3 day forecast as well which is really nice.

Ask: This is a cool search engine. It has little trivia questions on the homepage which is really neat. For example, the question of the day was “Which taste can a cat not experience?” and I learned that cats can’t taste things that are sweet unlike most mammals. Without visiting this webpage today I would have never known that.

Webcrawler: This search engine says it combines results from Google, Bing, Yahoo! Search, and Ask. This would give you a wide variety of websites to choose from. I would use this search engine if I were having a hard time finding what I was looking for.

MyWebSearch: I do not like this search engine. It’s layout is basic and boring and it says “powered by Google” so you may as well just use Google. The only good thing about this search engine is that it has quic

Blog post 4

There are many factors that go into being an effective teacher. One of the important factors is your ability to ask effective questions. This ensures the students’ understanding of the subject matter being taught. With this in mind, there are definitely more effective ways of asking questions than others. From many of the resources given like Asking Questions to Improve Learning by Washington University in St. Louis or the video Asking Better Questions in the Classroom by Joanne Chesley, you can conclude that asking open-ended questions gives the student a better opportunity to show how well they do or do not understand the lesson. Open-ended questions allow the students to elaborate on their answers rather than simply stating “yes” or “no” to the question.  In, The Right Way To Ask Questions In A Classroom by Ben Johnson he says,“The fallacy with this thinking is that sometimes the students do not understand that they do not understand, and if they do not know what they do not know, there is no way that they can ask a question about it.” This really got me thinking. I’ve never realized that students might not understand that they don’t understand. They could be completely wrong with what they’re thinking and be under the impression that they’re right. This is one example why you need to ask specific, open-ended questions and not just “does everyone understand?” The key to asking effective questions is simply asking the right ones that ensure the students understanding; if they can teach it back to you when you ask a question, they’re on the right track.

Blog Post 3

Peer Editing

Peer editing is exactly what it sounds like; giving feedback to someone around your age group about something they’ve written. After watching these resources, I’ve learned quite a bit about peer editing. There are a couple of things that you want to keep in mind while peer editing. The first one is that you want to give compliments. Be genuine with them. Find something they said that you really like and let them know! The next thing to remember is to stay positive. Your goal is to help them out, not tear them down. Be constructive with your criticism. Another thing to do is offer them suggestions. If you know a little on the topic, it doesn’t hurt to throw some knowledge out there that would be helpful to your peer.

As the video with the kids pointed out, there are a ton of mistake you can make while peer editing. You don’t want to be too picky when it comes to personal preferences. While editing, you want to stay on topic. If your peer said one little thing about soccer, don’t go off on a tangent about how you love soccer and your high school team was so close to winning the championship but Bobby sprained his ankle… You get the point. It’s okay to say, “I enjoy soccer as well” but save the details for another conversation. To me, the most important thing is not being rude while editing. Just because a person makes a really obvious mistake doesn’t mean its open ground for you to be rude. Let them know in a kind way. All in all, peer editing is a great editing resource when done correctly.

 

Twitter Handle

@ChloeHendricks

Blog Post 2

Blog post 2 Outline

I.               Mr. Dancealot

a.     Some classes require a different way of teaching

b.     Makes the case by showing an example of what not to do

c.      Shows students failing miserable at the class

II.              Teaching in the 21^st century

a.     Technology based learning

b.     Emphasis on teaching skills rather than facts

c.      Teachers need to be efficient with the internet

III.           The Networked Student

a.     Teachers beginning to serve more as a guide than a facts source

IV.            Harness Your Students Digital Smarts

a.     Technology is essential to the classroom environment

b.     You can teach without knowing everything

c.      Students thrive from learning for themselves

V.              Who’s Ahead in the Learning Game

a.     Children are more eager to learn

b.     Children are ahead in the learning game

VI.            Flipping the classroom

a.     It is new to me

b.     Love the concept of night-before learning

VII.          Bringing the Locker Room to the Classroom

a.     Treat your class as a team

b.     Encourage engagement

BLOG POST 2

I.               The central message of the video Mr. Dancealot by Kari Johnson is that there are ways of teaching that are more effective than others. Dancing is a skill based course and therefore needs to be an interactive class. You simply cannot learn to dance by taking notes and never physically practicing.  The author makes the case for this by showing you that being stationary and taking notes ends up really bad in the end. By the time of the final exam, the students had no idea how to put their notes into action. Yes, I agree with his conclusion. There are some things that cannot be taught by sitting and taking notes. Imagine a driver’s ed course taught like that. That’s not only ineffective, but dangerous as well. All in all, there are many different ways to teach a subject and (varying by subject) some are more effective than others.

II.             When referencing Teaching in the 21^st Century by Kevin Roberts, its clear the he thinks teaching has way more to do with teaching learning SKILLS and less to do with teaching FACTS. The internet is literally endless information at our disposal. We need to teach children how to effectively and carefully use this information. I agree with the way Roberts sees teaching changing. People are always saying things like “why do I have to learn this high level math when my major has nothing to do with math?” Well, its not about the numerical information. It’s about learning the steps to solve a problem and putting them to use effectively. It has nothing to do with the actual numbers. I see the internet the same way. He asked all those questions at the end of the Prezi to see if you could effectively use the internet. That’s a skill that the students of the 21^st century will need to use. This will effect me as an educator immensely. The students that I will  be teaching will never know a world without the internet. I will need to teach them the rights and wrongs about this endless information source and how to properly get the answers they need.

III.           After watching The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler, you really wonder, why does a 21^st century students even need a teacher. EDM310 is a good example of this. All of our assignments are online and all the information we need for this class is found through the internet. However, without meeting in class with the guidance of all professors in charge of EDM310, I would be so beyond lost. Teachers provide guidance and reinforcement rather than facts and information. They show us how to effectively use the resources we have and let us find the facts on our own. 

IV.            In Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts by Vicki Drexler, you can tell that she is a strong advocate for the use of technology in the classroom. I loved what she said about the sense of empowerment students get when they figure out new ways to use a program without being taught how. Vicki said you don’t have to know everything to teach it, and I believe this is very true. Students are capable of figuring out how to use technology with just an initial nudge; you don’t have to hold their hand and walk them through every step of the way.

V.              After watching Who’s Ahead in the Learning Race by John H. Strange, I think its clear who is ahead. Children are so eager to learn new and exciting ways to use technology whereas us older people are somewhat resistant. Dr. Strange said one of his graduate students said her new macbook was hard to use whereas the 8 year olds were practically making movies on it after two days. I would say that the elementary school aged students are ahead in the learning race. This means that us aspiring educators need to step up and take initiative to change that. It is a dangerous position to be in if your students know how to more effectively use technology than the teacher in the classroom.

VI.            After watching Flipping the Classroom by Lodge McCammon I would say yes. flipping the classroom is new to me. I like the idea of it. If the students already have a preview of what they’ll be learning the next day, it prepares them to come into the subject and really grasp what the teacher is saying. It will also save precious class time that there never seems to be enough of. I think this approach will definitely be useful when I’m a teacher and I hope it will be implemented in the school that I get hired to.

VII.          I love the idea of Bringing the Locker Room to the Classroom by Craig Owens. Students who play sports in the high school and collegiate level obviously have an immense love for the sport. If we can get them to engage in the subject the same way they’re engaged on the court or the field, the possibilities are endless. Make each section of a class really feel like they’re a team striving to reach a goal just the same way as a sports team does. This is an awesome idea and I’ll definitely remember it as I start my career.

Test

Test

Blog Post 1

Blog post 1: What about EDM310?

I. Dedication to class
II. Keeping up with work
III. EDM310 vs. EDM2030
IV. Staying up to date
V. Stay organized
VI. Don't have many questions

I.                 I haven’t really heard too much about EDM310. I do recall however in my art class last semester hearing some students have a brief conversation about it. All I remember is that they said it was really hard for them to keep up with all the things they were required to do for the class. I know I have a tendency to get caught up in everything I have to do and let some things slip my mind, so I will definitely have to dedicate a good amount of time to this class.

II.               Some of my fears are basically just staying on track and keeping up with the work. Being a cheerleader, staying in shape, keeping up a decent social life AND keeping up with all my class can get extremely overwhelming at times, however, it is not impossible. Yeah, I’ll probably have to sacrifice a party or two to keep my grades where they need to be, but in the end it will definitely be worth it.

III.             At my junior college I took a class called EDM2030. I thought for sure it would count to replace this class but it did not. It was an education based computer class just like this. We didn’t learn the basics of how to use a computer, but how to implement different things to help us in the classroom later. I was upset that I’m going to basically be taking (and paying for) the exact same class that I previously passed with an A, but after looking into what we’ll be doing, it will be good to learn even more technology resources to use in the classroom.

IV.             The most difficult thing by far will be time management and keeping up with the work. I’m afraid that there’ll come a time in the semester where I’ll let an assignment slip my mind, but I need to do my best to stay organized and turn everything in on time. I will definitely have to sacrifice some time with my friends and probably a couple hours of sleep, but in order to stay on track and maintain the GPA I want, I must go above and beyond the average student’s work ethic.

V.               I don’t really have any questions about the course right now, but I know I will. I’ve always been that students that asks a million questions but I just really like being well informed and knowing that what I’m doing is correct and on track.