Blog Post # 16 - Final Reflection

Blog Post #5 - Part B

My PLN has not grown too much since I first created it. I have kept in contact with my personal teaching friends, started following other teachers and teacher assisting sites on twitter and youtube, and continued to use my Pinterest page to draw inspiration. I have also found many teachers blogs through our C4T assignments that I am continuing to follow. A piece that I cannot wait to add to my PLN as a teacher is one that I discovered while working on Blog Post #13 called Schoology. Using this service, I will be able to glean knowledge from teachers all over the country who also use it. We can compare lesson plans, talk about classroom improvements, and even ask for help. I think it will be a great asset to my classroom, and best of all - it's free!

C4T #4 - Shireen Dadmehr

My fourth C4T is on the blog of Shireen Dadmehr. Her blog is called Math Teacher Mambo, and I commented on a post titled Fraction Remix.... Mrs. Dadmehr is a high school math teacher from Texas. In her Fraction Remix post, she recounts a time when a student in her precalculus class couldn't remember the rules for dividing fractions. Fractions seem to scare everyone! Instead of quickly telling the student to "flip and multiply" or "drop, change, and flip," she decided to review fractions with her entire class and explain to them why the "flip and multiply" method works. To me, this was genius. Kids are always looking for the quick answer, but it is so much more beneficial to teach them "why" in order for them to gain a true understanding of the concepts. I know that I am a little strange because I'm passionate about math, but this is the type of understanding that I want to give to my students. I think that students could benefit from having a true understanding of the basics as they move on to more complicated concepts in high school. As an elementary teacher, I hope that I can truly prepare my students for their futures in math, and maybe I can help to mold some more crazy people who love math like I do.

Mrs. Dadmehr's notes from her review lesson.

Next, I commented on Mrs. Dadmehr's post titled Hello (mid) November. In this post, she talks about some changes she has made to her classroom to help improve the experience for her students. One of the things I really liked was she was noticing her students were struggling with a specific concept, so she arranged mandatory meeting times. She then posted the available time slots and allowed students to sign up for a convenient time. In these sessions, she was able to pick the brains of her students to find out what was causing their problem. Now, Mrs. Dadmehr is a high school math teacher, so I have had to somewhat alter this thinking to make it work in an elementary classroom. I think it would be  most beneficial in the areas of math and reading. However, I can't imagine posting a sign up sheet for kindergarteners to choose a convenient time to meet. My solution was to maybe pull them out of centers or recess for just a few minutes to go over areas they are struggling in. Another alternative is to get the parents involved and see if they can bring them to school a little early for extra help. 

Finally, I commented on a post titled Sine Graphs and desmos.com. This is PBL at its finest. Even though I love math, I can honestly say that Calculus kicked my butt. If only I had a teacher like Mrs. Dadmehr to show me real world applications for what I was learning. Students were to pick any city in the world and, for homework, research and return with weather data for a 12 month period in their chosen city. They used desmos.com to enter and save their weather data. Next, they had to draw a generic sine graph, and the teacher walked them through finding an equation to satisfy made-up data. Individually, they were to input their own data pertaining to their city and then find an equation to satisfy it. In this way they were working backwards to demonstrate competency.

Blog Post #14 - Teaching Can Be a Profession

For this blog post, we were asked to read an article by Joel Klein titled Teaching Our Children Can Be a Profession. In this article, Mr. Klein points out several factors holding teachers back from reaching their fullest potential as professionals. He also sites previous teachers union leader, Albert Shanker and some of his thoughts. The following is a brief synopsis of each issue and his proposed solution.

Lack of Education

In my opinion, this is true of the teaching profession today. Many people opt to pursue a career in elementary education because it is "an easy degree." While the course work may not be extremely challenging (especially for someone who excelled in school or who spends a lot of time around children), it is certainly a job to be taken seriously. Klein specifically points out the lack of knowledge in the areas of teaching math and reading. These are areas in which students most frequently struggle, and the problem is that, most likely, the teacher also struggled during his or her early education. This is why Klein suggests that we recruit our educators from the top third of graduates ensuring that each one has a firm grasp of the subject matter at hand. This sounds ideal until you think about it. I can remember as a student I always found it easier to help or be helped by my peers - someone who struggled and then figured it out. Many times, those people have a better way of explaining concepts. They can speak more on your level and break things down more easily. I think Klein hit the nail on the head in the beginning by saying we need to focus more on HOW to teach these hard-to-grasp concepts to our students.

Ease of Becoming a Teacher

Klein also points out that our society has made it too easy to become a teacher. This has positive and negative effects. Right now, anyone who has obtained a bachelor's degree is eligible to teach. It's that easy. How many times have you heard someone say something like, "I don't know what I'll do when I retire. Maybe I'll just teach." or "I can always use my history/art/English degree to teach if nothing else."? Why is this profession constantly viewed as an escape route or backup plan? I'll tell you why. The degree is not incredibly challenging. The perks (nights, weekends, holidays, and summers) are enticing. If you can just stick it out for ten years, you are virtually invincible. And finally, retirement comes much earlier. You only have to give 25 years of service, regardless of age, in order to retire with the state of Alabama. The main things pushing people away from education is working with children and the pay. It's tough to find a solution because many highly-qualified people will choose another profession looking for more money. However, finding the money to increase teacher pay is a whole new problem.

Seniority-based Reward System

I touched on this in the previous section. Once teachers have become vested, meaning they have contributed ten years of service, they are almost untouchable. They can do the bare minimum and receive no lasting consequences. It is virtually impossible to fire a vested teacher. Klein suggests a performance-based reward system rather than a seniority-based one. Shanker goes a step further.  "He proposed that teachers establish their own board to police the profession, establishing standards and providing mechanisms for removing incompetent teachers. Teachers would also be subjected to merit-based career ladders and would be
promoted based on specialty exams." I think this is an excellent idea. Teachers should be rewarded or reprimanded, hired or fired based on one thing only: how they perform their job. I'm not saying a teacher with failing students should be fired. There are other ways to evaluate job performance. Parent, student, and even coworker surveys would be a start. Principals could even look at how well students perform in the next grade to evaluate their preparedness.

In conclusion, if we as teachers want to be regarded as true professionals, we need to act like professionals, taking pride in all we do. As Klein said, excellence should be our guide. In achieving school admission, in our personal coursework, and in the way we run our classrooms, there should always be one common thread: excellence. The change has to start with us.

C4K Summary - November

My first C4K this month was fun! Mikayla wrote about her Halloween plans for this year. She is a fifth grade student in Oakville, Ontario Canada. She plans to go trick-or-treating with her friend, Marina. While they are collecting candy, they also plan to ask for donations of canned goods. She had written in orange and black text for Halloween, which I thought was a very creative idea. Since I commented the day after Halloween, I told her that I hoped she had a fun time, and I asked her how many cans she was able to collect.

My next C4K for November was on the blog of an 8th grade student in Iowa named Anna. She did a project where she had to create her own print. She chose to begin with a picture of a model. Printmaking is tricky because you have to carve out the negative space instead of drawing a picture. She essentially created a stamp. Her finished product looks great, but I was most impressed with her attitude. She cut herself twice while carving out her print, but she concluded that in the end it was worth it to see her final product. She felt a sense of pride in having completed her piece and having completed it well. This is something that I hope to find with all of the projects I assign as a teacher. Successfully completing a project should make students feel good about themselves. 

Project #12B - Greater Than, Less Than, Equal

For Project 12B, Group 8 decided to do a lesson on greater than, less than, and equal geared towards kindergarteners.

Blog Post #13 - What Did I Leave Out?

For this post, Dr. Strange asked us to write a blog post concerning our own field of study. I am an Elementary Education major, so I will be teaching many subjects. For this reason, my post is concerning technology and the rush for schools to go 1:1. 

The Assignment

Many schools are rushing to be the first (or the best) to go 1:1. This means that they will provide one laptop or iPad for each student in their school. Read Why Schools Must Move Beyond One-to-One Computing, and write a response to this article. If you are lucky enough to work in a school that has gone 1:1, how would you ensure that the technology your school provides is utilized effectively and not simply as a replacement for pencil and paper?

My Blog Post

This is a great article about a side of this discussion that I never really thought about. Every school wants to be on top of the technology game, but what does that really mean? Almost every classroom in Mobile has a SMARTboard, and now the race is to have iPads in the hands of every student. Who will do it first? And does that make one school better than another academically? Maybe. Teachers, administrators, and even parents need to consider what these devices are being used for. There is great potential for learning when each child has his or her own device, but they shouldn't be, as Alan November calls them, "$1,000 pencils."

If I am fortunate enough to work in a 1:1 school, I would love to implement a learning management system called Schoology in my classroom. I may use it anyways as an online supplement for home use. Schoology works as a central hub for the classroom. Using this tool, I could post assignments, grades, quizzes, and media such as audio or video. Everything is available for students, parents and even other teachers to see. This would be another piece of my Personal Learning Network as well as a beginning for the networks of my young students. Through Schoology, I can also give individual feedback to my students and track their success to see what works and what doesn't. I also like that it integrates Google Docs, Turn It In, and other sites so that everything is in one place. This will make it easier for me as a teacher and more organized for my students who will be using all of these resources. Finally, I love that schoology has iOS and Android apps available for both phones and tablets. This way, students can see their classwork from home. It will especially be useful when students miss a day of school. Below are some short videos about the uses for Schoology.

Project #10 - Interview Movie with Sara Martin

Interview with Sara Martin, a math teacher at Davidson High School in Mobile, Alabama

C4T #3 - Will Richardson

My third C4T is on the blog of Will Richardson.He is an educator, an author, and a speaker. He says in his bio that he is trying to answer the question, "What happens to schools and classrooms and learning in a 2.0 world?" The first post that I read is titled We Need Discoverers. In this post, Mr. Richardson takes an excerpt from David Edwards' American Schools are Training Kids for a World That Doesn't Exist. This is a fascinating article about how the world around us is changing, and we need to discover new ways to survive in it. Edwards says that there is a disconnect between learning and doing in our culture. You go to school and learn how to be a doctor, lawyer, chef, engineer, etc. and then once you graduate, you get to do it. This disconnect is simply not functional within our society. So how do we teach our students to become discoverers? I believe that one of the best ways to do this is through PBL. In PBL, students are given a problem and challenged to discover the solution. These are the types of professionals that we need. We cannot move forward in the areas of technology, medicine, agriculture, etc without people who are willing to discover new and better solutions. The article written by David Edwards would make an excellent prompt for future blog posts in EDM 310.

Mr. Richardson's next blog post was another excerpt, this time from Gary Stager. Stager predicts that the amount of time students spend in school will decrease, potentially to nothing. I'm not sure if I agree with Stager, but there certainly has to be some sort of shift. The comment section of this post is where the conversation really gets started. One reader suggested that as long as parents need glorified babysitting while they're at work, schools will continue to monopolize our children's time. Another pointed out that government assisted families will continue to send their children to school for free food and access to technology. That comment seems a bit far fetched. I pointed out that the incidence of children who are home schooled has steadily increased over the past decade. I believe a shift like this is most likely to pull students out of the traditional school setting. However, I tend to agree most with Mr. Richardson's comment that schools will still exist, but what the children are doing in the schools will change.

Blog Post #12 - What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher?

Google Slides Presentation

Assistive Technology Videos

Assistive Technology Articles

Blog Post #11 - What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From These Teachers?

Back to the Future

Brian Crosby is doing incredible things with his classes. I was completely shocked to hear that the majority of his fourth grade students didn't know what city they lived in. That could be incredibly discouraging for a teacher, but he didn't let that hold him or his students back. Instead, he gave them every opportunity to become engaged in their learning. The main thing that I took from this video was to never stop looking for opportunities that could make a lesson exciting. Throughout this course, it has become clear to me that PBL is the best, most effective way to teach. However, I probably would have stopped at crushing the coke can or sending the tissue paper into the sky. Mr. Crosby continued with his lessons. He didn't stop with one project or one cool introduction into the lesson. He even incorporated other subjects into this lesson. That was so smart to me. Learning about the earth's atmosphere already had the attention of his class. There was no need to find another "need to know" or attention grabber. He simply needed to gear his writing projects more towards his science lesson.

Blended Learning Cycle

Paul Anderson is applying a Blended Learning Cycle in his science class. In this method, students go through a series of steps throughout the lesson. They cannot advance to the next step until they have "mastered" the one they are on. The steps are laid out as the acronym QUIVERS (QUestion, Investigation/Inquiry, Video, Elaboration, Review, Summary Quiz). What I found most interesting was that Mr. Anderson sits down with each student during the Review to check their understanding before they move on to the summary quiz. Getting that kind of attention from a teacher is rare, and I'm sure it has had a huge effect on his students' learning. This is an interesting approach. I'm interested to try it out with other age groups and other subjects.

Making Thinking Visible

In this video, Mark Church gets his students thinking about the origin of the human species. They are asked to get into groups and discuss this topic, then create a headline that sums up the question. That is a great idea in itself, but I like his plan for the future even better. He plans to continue with the unit for the next two weeks and then go back and look at their headlines. He will ask them to create new headlines, and then discuss how their thinking has changed.

Sam Pane 4th Grade

This was such a fun project! I'm interested to know what program he used for the comic book creator. You can tell the students enjoyed this project by looking at the show of hands when Mr. Pane asked for a volunteer to share their comic. I can't remember a time when an entire class was eager to share out loud! I also really like his idea of a Gallery Walk. This allowed for a peer review, but it left the option open for them to look at anyone's work. The peer reviews I remember doing always started something like "Pass your paper to the person behind you..." This was a great way to teach fourth graders about digital responsibility.

Project Based Learning

This is an interesting idea. I completely agree that there are many instances where literature and history overlap. To fully understand most literary pieces, we have to have an understanding of what was happening in the world at that time. If the time period being covered in both classes overlap, then combining these two courses is a no-brainer. We have seen over and over again that computer/technology courses can be integrated with almost any subject. I really like this idea. It would help me personally to relate to both the literature and the history being studied.

Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program

Roosevelt Elementary School has taken it upon themselves to use project based learning throughout the entire school. That is an incredible undertaking, and I'm sure it requires a lot of work. There are some excellent benefits to a program like this. Project Based Learning is a great way to gauge students' understanding of a topic. Oral presentations help to curb the fear of public speaking at a young age. Project Based Learning also gives opportunity for curriculum integration. Curriculum integration is discussing a topic in more than one class or subject. This is the best way to show real world applications. One lesson or idea can be relevant across several different disciplines. My favorite part of this video was the parent interviews. It is incredible to see parents who are so excited about what and how their children are learning. Many times it is hard to gain the support of parents when trying something new. Roosevelt Elementary School is doing a great job implementing PBL across the board.

Project #14 - Group 8

For our Project Based Lesson Plan, we decided to do a lesson on weather for third grade students. They will research and learn about predicting and preparing for extreme weather events. We will also chart the weather each day on a simple bar graph to integrate what we are learning in math.

Lesson Plan
Calendar
Rubric
Checklist

Project 12A

Blog Post #10 - What Can We Learn From Mrs. Cassidy?

Little Kids...Big Potential

As I watched this video, I was amazed at all of the different ways Mrs. Cassidy has introduced technology to her first graders. She is using the typical routes like her smart board, but she is also using new ideas. This is the first time I've seen a Nintendo DS used in a classroom! I am also amazed at the number of teachers we have seen this semester interviewing professionals via Skype. I guess I underestimate the power of the internet. It's easy to think that they wouldn't have time or the desire to do an interview with an elementary classroom, but you never know until you ask. I'll definitely have to remember that.

Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1
Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 2
Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 3

Mrs. Cassidy, a first grade teacher in Canada, was interviewed by Dr. Strange and a group of his students. During the interview, Mrs. Cassidy explained her approach to using technology in her classroom. I was surprised to hear that she basically started from scratch. With very little knowledge on the subject, she decided to learn all that she could about technology in order to make her classroom a better learning environment for her students. That took some guts. It puts this semester in a whole new perspective for me. Students in her classroom are blogging, using wikis, and even skyping with other classes across North America. Even with first grade students, she is seeing success with this approach. It's encouraging for me to know that no matter what grade I end up teaching, there will be a way to integrate what I have learned this semester. Also, I will have teachers like Mrs. Cassidy who went before me and can offer advice or ideas. I love that she begins by teaching her students how to be safe online. As a parent, that would be my first concern. I believe that, just like the parents of Mrs. Cassidy's students, parents of the children I someday teach will grow to enjoy viewing their children's work online.

C4K Summary for October

My first C4K for the month of October was on the blog of Henry Robert, a student at Cottage Hill Christian Academy here in Mobile, Alabama. His most recent post was about what he thinks should change about our local schools. His suggestions were starting the day later, free teacher-given tutoring in the evenings, and a four day school week to allow for an extra day of rest, tutoring, or parent conferences on Fridays. I was impressed with his reasoning and thought process, but I reminded him not to forget about the teachers. I nicely reminded him that they like to go home sometimes too.

My next C4K was on Andrew's blog. Andrew is a fifth grade student who lives in Illinois. His most recent blog post was in response to an article he read in Scholastic News. This article discussed whether or not children should lose recess time for bad behavior. Andrew agrees that losing recess is a fair and effective punishment for bad behavior because recess is the best part of the day for most students. He thinks that if they have to miss recess because of bad behavior, they will try harder to behave appropriately so that next time they can play at recess. I do agree that most students don't want to miss recess, but sometimes that's the only break a class will get during the day. Also, if a child is misbehaving, the chance to get out and run might be exactly what they need.

My third C4K for this month was supposed to be on a student named Quarian A. in Ms. Naugle's fourth grade class in New Orleans. Unfortunately, Quarian did not have any posts on his blog. Consequently, I chose another of his classmates, Jenifer M., to comment on. For this blog post, Ms. Naugle's class wrote about an experience they had helping out with Pre-K students through a big buddy/little buddy program. Jenifer's little buddy was a Pre-K student named Melik. They worked together on Dot Day projects such as writing their names with Bingo stampers, playing Twister, eating donut holes, and coloring a picture. What I thought was cool was that after they completed their pictures, they were able to use an app called ColAR Mix. Using this app, they could view their drawings in 3D. How cool! I've already downloaded the app to see what it's like. I've also written some of these Dot Day ideas down for use in my future classroom. Finally, I complimented Jenifer on her writing. She really did a great job.

My last C4K for October was on the blog of a sixth year student named Harlem in Auckland, New Zealand. He wrote a post about the importance of protecting yourself from the sun. He advises his readers to always wear a fully covering hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen. I told him that I live near the beach and agreed with his advice. However, he did have quite a few errors. At times, I had to re-read to make sure I was getting the point of what he was trying to say. I told him that his information was accurate, but that he should take his time when writing and proofread his work when he was done in order to avoid mistakes.

Blog Post #9 - What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?

I believe that Project Based Learning requires continued learning for both teachers and students. I can learn information from students such as what types of projects excite them or what concepts they are not grasping that may benefit from a meaningful project. Teachers can also teach us what types of projects work. More importantly, I can learn from teachers exactly what is required of a meaningful project. I am currently working on a mock lesson plan for EDM 310, and I can certainly glean some valuable information from the following resources to help me keep my lesson plan meaningful.

Seven Essentials to Project Based Learning

John Larmer and John R. Mergendoller wrote an intriguing article on the Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning. In the intro they explain the difference between a project and a meaningful project. A meaningful project must be perceived by the students as personally meaningful while still fulfilling an educational purpose. Beyond that, meaningful projects also have seven essential elements: a need to know, a driving question, student voice and choice, 21st century skills, inquiry and innovation, feedback and revision, and a publicly presented project. Each of these elements is important. Without any one of them, projects can become mundane and seem like busy-work to students.

Project-Based Learning for Teachers

Tony Vincent created this video to get educators interested in learning about PBL. He defines Project Based Learning and effectively grabs the attention of teachers who want to do and be better. What stuck out to me the most was when I read that PBL requires an audience and a time of reflection. I want to make sure that as a teacher, I don't get caught up in the excitement of the projects and forget to give my students time to reflect. I also think it's important to give the students an audience. Knowing that your work will be on display generally encourages you to do your best work. Positive feedback will also boost self-esteem and the desire to do well (or even better) next time.

High School Teachers Meet the Challenges of PBL Implementation

Sammamish High School in Washington is working a five year plan to shift the entire school into Project Based Learning. Teachers are working together to change the curriculum in order to engage their students more. They were having trouble adding PBL to the math and English curricula. These are areas where PBL isn't as intuitive. I thought the way they chose to approach this problem was great. They asked themselves, "What do professionals in this discipline really do?" This is an interesting question because most people assume that all you can do with a math or english degree is teach. I was also intrigued by something one of the teachers said. She mentioned that a great way to get the teachers excited about the shift to PBL is to allow them to create their own lessons. This is exactly what they are doing with their students. Engaging them by giving them a voice.

PBL: What Motivates Students Today?

In this video, students are interviewed and asked what motivates them to do well in school. The answers range from positive recognition to a desire for future success. One child even says he wants to do well in school so that he will be able to play baseball, go swimming, and not be grounded. Some of the rewards that these students enjoy include a classroom money system, candy, being allowed to do classwork outside, fancy school supplies, and snacks. This was a great video to watch to get ideas on how to motivate my future students to do well.

Two Students Solve the Case of the Watery Ketchup by Designing a New Cap

This video is one of the best examples of an effective PBL project that I have seen. The only thing I can find wrong with it is that it is so broad. The challenge was to complete the sentence, "It really bugs me when..." and then try to find a solution to that problem. While this may meet standards for Project Lead the Way, it would probably have to be a little more refined for a typical classroom. It is a great way to make the project personal and to give students a heightened interest in the project. These two students, Tyler and Jonathan, found the problem of watery ketchup to be particularly annoying. They worked for a year to make sure that their project was unique and that they could find a solution, and they succeeded! They created a cost-efficient solution to the problem of watery ketchup.

Implications and Teaching Opportunities for Camera Use in Teaching and Learning

Part A

The rate of technological advancement in the past ten years is nothing short of amazing. I received my first cell phone at the age of sixteen, but it's not uncommon to see a six year old carrying his or her own cell phone around today. And My son could use my cell phone before his second birthday. Dr. Strange points out in our class blog that our students will have "lived all their lives in a world with smartphones containing cameras." What does this mean for the future of education?

In the beginning of this "technology boom," electronics were seen as a distraction and were forbidden from classrooms. It is only in recent years that educators have learned to embrace the knowledge that students have of technology and the amazing resources that iPads, laptops, and even cell phones have to offer. When I think back to the assignments that I have completed so far in EDM 310, I realize that  a lot of them involved creating videos. In a college environment where there are labs available for use outside of class and regular "school hours," it is easier to require work like this to be done on computers. In this class we were even required to use a specific brand of computer. However, in public school, one way to do similar projects would be to allow them to be filmed on cell phones. There are many opportunities for projects involving camera use at all ages, as demonstrated in Part B.

Part B

The following are projects satisfying ACCRS using PBL and cameras for several broad subjects at a kindergarten level:

Mathematics:
[K-CC6] - Using the class iPad, students will be asked to take pictures of groups of objects totaling greater than, less than, or equal to a given number.
[K-G2] - Students will be asked to take pictures at home and/or in the classroom of shapes around them. They will then present their finding to the class and identify each shape (square, rectangle, triangle, etc.)

English Language Arts
[RI.K.7] [RL.K.7] - Students will be asked to take a picture of an illustration in a book and explain to the class what is going on in the picture and how it relates to the story.

Science
Each student will be asked to find an example of a living object at home and take a picture. Students will then describe their size, shape, structure, and basic needs. Finally as a class, we will group the pictures according to color, shape, size, etc.

Social Studies
Using the Alabama Virtual Library, students will create two Poplets - one showing examples of wants and one showing examples of needs. Findings will be discussed in class.

Technology Education 
All of these projects satisfy #10 of K-2 Technology Educations Standards.

Blog Post #8 - What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From Randy Pausch?

Wow. Where do I even begin? I was semi-prepared for what I would hear in Randy Pausch's Last Lecture because I had heard people talk about it before, but I was not prepared for the emotion that I experienced at the end. What an incredible man. Moving on to what I learned from this video, first and foremost I was reminded to live each day with purpose. Dr. Pausch knew at the time of this lecture that his days were literally numbered, but listening to him speak, you would hardly know it. It seems that he is merely retiring and moving on to the next phase of his life. His passion was made clear in the final topic of his outline:

Lessons learned: How YOU can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others 

This final lecture was all about how he realized his childhood dreams and helped his students to reach their goals. It should also be pointed out that he instilled in them the drive to enable the dreams of still more people. Imagine the  possibilities if we all took his advice.

Dr. Pausch used project-based learning to help his students reach a potential that they [and he] didn't even know they had. He was constantly networking, asking questions about what he could do better, and LEARNING. My favorite lesson in this lecture is that, "Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things." As I sat listening to him repeating this theme, I couldn't help but think of all of the brick walls that I have run into in my life. I've hit brick walls, and I've let them stop me. I never thought of the walls as a sort of filter to weed out those people who didn't want it badly enough. Am I that person? More importantly, do I want to continue to be that person? Finally, how can I help my students to realize those walls in their lives and encourage them to break them down? 

C4T #2 - John Bernia

My second C4T is the blog of middle school principal Mr. Bernia. His blog is aptly named The Principal's Principles. I read his blog post titled Compliance or Creativity? In this post he discusses the difference between these two environments. In an environment of compliance there are strict guidelines and rules to be followed. When these rules are not followed, there are consequences, and there is no doubt about who is in charge. He says this environment "stifles ideas and is often toxic." Conversely, in an environment of creativity, there are some timelines and deadlines to meet, but as a whole, educators are allowed to collaborate and use their professional judgment. This is Mr. Bernia's preferred method of leading -- leading with colloboration. He argues that in this way he is creating a culture that "creates innovation and is a place where elite professionals want to work." I would have to agree with Mr. Bernia. I took the time to visit his twitter page, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that he is a leader who is completely engaged with the students and teachers of his school. He certainly practices what he preaches. My only comment was to emphasize the importance of trust in this type of environment. The administration needs to be able to trust that the teachers are using their professional judgment. I believe that Mr. Bernia's involvement in the day to day happenings of his school has helped to build this immense trust that he has in his teachers.

Mr. Bernia's most recent blog post is titled Attendance Matters. In this brief post, he points out the importance of student attendance. Teachers cannot teach students who do not come to school. He quotes Woody Allen who said, "80% of success is showing up." While there is not a lot that educators can do to physically get children into the doors, Mr. Bernia challenges teachers to ask themselves three questions.
          - Do you foster an environment that makes students want to come to school?
          - Do you monitor and follow up to find out why students are not attending?
          - When you discover issues that are hindering student attendance, do you address them, or do you place blame on the student who is not showing up?
One thing that teachers absolutely do have the power to do is to instill in their students the importance of coming to school. If teachers can make children want to come to school and if they can show them how important it is to learn, they can help to keep the attendance numbers up.

Project # 13 - Project Based Learning Plans (Collaborative)

Project Based Learning Collaborative Lesson Plan - Group 8

Lesson Plan
PBL Rubric
PBL Checklist
PBL Calendar

Project #9 - Video Book Commentary

Group 8 - Topic 4

"...students in our classrooms are changing – largely as a result of their outside-of-school experiences with technology – and are no longer satisfied with an education that doesn't immediately address the real world in which they live" (p. xv, Teaching Digital Natives) Do you agree or disagree with this assessment of students? What evidence do you have to support your conclusion? What evidence does Prensky give in Teaching Digital Natives to support his conclusion? What can be done about it?

Project #7 Part B

To Parents:

To Students:

Blog Post #7 - How Do We All Become Learners?

Becoming a teacher nowadays takes much more than a love for children, and a passion for learning. Children are growing up surrounded by technology, and they expect no less from their classrooms. I don't know about every elementary school in Mobile County, but I do know that in the elementary school that I attended and the one my son currently attends, there is a SMART board in every classroom. Baldwin County public schools now provide iPads for most of their students, and they certainly use them in all of their classrooms as we see in the following videos from Gulf Shores Elementary School kindergarten and first grade classrooms.

 iPad Reading Center
Poplet Center
Alabama Virtual Library Center
Discovery Ed Board Builder Project

The resource I am most excited about in this series of videos is the Alabama Virtual Library. I had no idea that you could use this site to do simple research at a kindergarten level. Mrs. Tucks' AVL center is such a creative way to introduce research to her kindergarteners. It also prepares them for future Board Builder projects because they are already using pictures and sentences to show what they have learned.

It is important that teachers know about the resources available to them through technology. For example, if Mrs. Tassin didn't know about the opportunities within Discovery Ed, she would not have created such a multi-faceted project as the one presented by her second grade students. In this video, it is clear that the assignment required research, collaboration, use of technology to create the presentation, oral skills for presenting, and innovation in their choice to collect money and how to go about it. I can see all of this in a two minute video, but I'm sure her students learned even more than that.

I think in my preparation for becoming an elementary school teacher, I will need to find all of these resources and begin using them myself. I don't think I will have a hard time figuring out how to use them. However, in order to think up creative project ideas, I will need to have a good understanding of how they work and what they can be used for. I'm excited about the shift to using technology more in the classroom. It is one of the best ways to keep children engaged and excited about what they are learning.

Project #8 - You Are Special

Post #6 Conversations with Anthony Capps

I enjoyed listening to the conversations between Anthony Capps and Dr. Strange in these videos. It is interesting to hear from a teacher who is successfully implementing Project Based Learning (PBL) in his classroom. One of the best things I learned from listening to Anthony was in the video Project Based Learning Part 2, when he said, "With PBL...never limit your students by giving them exactly what you want them to do. Create an opportunity for them to go beyond what you want them to do, and they will." This quote stuck out to me because so often teachers get hung up on children doing each project exactly a certain way. They have a set of criteria that they must follow to a tee or else they risk a failing grade. This gets children focused on spitting out manufactured information and projects. Instead, we should encourage children to think creatively about the information they want to present, and how to present it. Yes, they need guidelines, but specific regulations are not necessary.

I was also interested in Anthony's discussion of iCurio and Discovery Ed. I had never heard of either of these resources before, but I am now intrigued and motivated to learn more. I particularly liked that iCurio has a read-aloud feature. This way, even if I end up teaching in a lower elementary classroom (one in which the students are not yet proficient readers), I can take advantage of this resource.

The last three videos (The Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1, Don't Teach Tech - Use it, and Additional Thoughts About Lessons) all made me sit down and think about my personal philosophies of teaching. What do I want to achieve as an educator? How will I achieve it? I hope to be as hands-on and interactive as Anthony. I'm now seeing the amount of work that is involved outside of the classroom in order to be an effective teacher. I'm going to take Anthony's advice and "Let [my] work become a fun experience for [me]." I truly believe that where teachers love teaching (and learning!), students love learning.

C4K Summary for September

For my first C4K, I  read the blog of eleven-year old Wakatere Cecil. He attends Pt England School in Aukland, New Zealand. His most recent post is a video that he made with his friends to the song "Heal the World." He gives a brief description of what the song means to him and then we see him and his friends portraying that meaning through the video. He writes that the biggest challenge of creating this video was managing his time. I commented that I enjoyed watching the video and hearing what that song meant to him. I also noted that he and his friends seemed to have a lot of fun creating the video.

My second C4K was on the blog of Mustafa, a fifth grade student in Ontario, Canada. For this assignment, his class was writing about what makes a great mathematician. He writes that a great mathematician asks himself (or herself) questions about the problems they are working on. Some of his questions included, "Why did I choose the strategy I used?" and "How could I solve the problem differently?" For my comment, I commended him for his great math questions, and I offered another one: "How do I know that my answer is correct?"

My final C4K was on the blog of a fifth grade student in Connecticut. Her name is Rachel. This was a blog post that I enjoyed reading because it felt genuine. It didn't seem like a school assignment. Rachel wrote about her love for swimming. She likes to swim in her pool, and it sounds like she is a good swimmer. She can swim the length of her pool underwater without coming up for air. In my comment, I told Rachel that it gets very hot in Alabama during the summer, so I also enjoy swimming. I even mentioned how close we live to the beach. I think she would love the ocean. She ends her blog posts with "Stay Calm and Smile On," so I felt it was appropriate to end my comment with "Keep smiling!"

My Sentence Videos

My Sentence Is...




My Passion Is...

Project # 3 Presentation

C4T #1 - Dan Meyer

The first teacher's blog I was assigned to follow was that of Mr. Dan Meyer. He was a high school math teacher who now spends his time advocating for better math instruction. He is currently studying math education at Stanford University. The two blog posts that I first read were very insightful and challenged how educators view math instruction.

His first post Answer Getting and Resource Finding, elaborated on some of his most recent tweets comparing math students to math teachers.

Math students : Answer-getting :: Math teachers :: Resource-finding

Math students : "What's the formula for ____?" :: Math teachers : "Who's got a good lesson for ____?"

Math students : Understanding math :: Math teachers : Understanding what makes a lesson good

This is a scary comparison. Are teachers becoming like the students they complain about? Some students just want you to give them the answer or give them a shortcut to finding the answer. They just want you to tell them the formula, so they can memorize it for the test. In this way, they are not truly understanding the math they are being taught. Rather than thinking about what makes a lesson good and then expanding on that to create a meaningful lesson, are teachers just asking for shortcuts, like the students who just want to be handed information? This sparked an interesting discussion in the comments section. My contribution included what I think makes a good lesson good. I believe that a good lesson plan engages students and results in a greater understanding of the content on their behalf. How do you gauge understanding? That goes back to asking good questions -- even good test questions. I also elaborated on a good math teacher that I had in high school. This was the first class in which I felt that I had completed the "math puzzle." In this class, we were given formulas, shown why they are true, and then given problems in which we had to figure out which formula (or combination of several) was needed. I learned by doing. I put the puzzle together all on my own. And I still feel a sense of accomplishment from that class. 

Mr. Meyer's next post was a summary of a fun activity that he did with students in a summer workshop. In The Money Animal Marketplace, students were challenged to create a business model in groups. Each group was selling a different animal-shaped bar of soap with varying amounts of money hidden inside. Each group could choose their own animal, distribution of cash, and price. They then created a poster to market their product and placed it at the front of the classroom. Next, each student was able to review the posters and purchase three bars of soap (three different or three of the same, but not their own). They were only given a few minutes to decide. Then the results were graphed and discussed in class. Groups found their company's profits, they factored losses, and more. Mr. Meyer writes that in this lesson he is in essence extending a question. He flips it around and has the students create their own questions. I loved the creativity of this activity. It seems like the students really enjoyed creating their business models and they used trial and error to find the most profit, so they were learning by actually using the tools given by the teacher. 

Post #5 PLNs - What Are They?

A personal learning network (PLN) is a group of people or tools that you can use for help, inspiration and collaboration. PLNs are not only for teachers. Students can use a PLN to work on a research project or organize ongoing assignments.Teachers can find interesting ideas, new ways to teach, creative class projects, or even something as simple as an idea for classroom organization. One of the best ways to find people who are interested in the same ideas is Twitter. I have already created a twitter account for this class, and I am searching for other educators who are excited about math and reading. These are two passions of mine. In a previous class, I was instructed to create a Pinterest page. This is a tool used to gather ideas more than people. However, as an aspiring elementary teacher, I will use this tool to find creative games, lesson plans, classroom decor, and more. I can also follow people who post this information if I choose. Finally, my first C4T assignment was Dan Meyer, a math teacher with great insight and ideas for teaching mathematics concepts successfully. I have continued to follow his blog and draw from his experiences.

Another piece to my PLN is personal contacts. My mother was a kindergarten teacher and my sister is a high school math teacher. Through them, I have made other teacher contacts locally. All of these teachers are people that I see fairly regularly or that I can call to discuss ideas. One contact in particular is the kindergarten teacher at my elementary school. We talk at least weekly to compare the things my son is learning in his school with what she is teaching and to discuss different methods and how they work. Together, we have learned different ways to communicate with parents and different activities used to enforce a concept. We have also discussed scheduling problems that she had in her class at the beginning of the year and worked together to think of a solution that is currently working out really well!

I am currently compiling my PLN on a website called Symbaloo. Here, I can create tiles linking me to all of my PLN sources. So far, I have one for twitter, one for pinterest, one for Mr. Meyer's blog. I also have tiles designated for all of the important documents that I use for EDM 310. It's still a work in progress, but I am very excited about the idea of having all of my information in one place.

Search Engines

WolframAlpha.com

WolframAlpha is a great search engine. I wish I knew about it when I was in high school! You can search any school subject or topic and see illustrations, definitions, and related topics. For example, I searched "long division." I saw five different examples of long division problems worked out for me, a brief definition, and links to related terms such as "dividend" or "divisor." It's not only for math though. I also searched WWII. My results included, countries involved (with links), people involved (with links), a simple timeline, and a brief summary of the events of this war. I would recommend this search engine as a starting point for students' research, but it is probably not enough to stand alone as your only source.

education.iseek.com

This search engine is targeted towards students, teachers, administrators, and caregivers. You can choose to search either over education or the web. I chose education. I did another square root search. I am much more pleased with my results on this search engine. There is a column to the left that breaks down the findings into sub-groups, one of them being "Students will understand." I love that. You can also narrow your search by subject, source, resource type, grade level, subject, even standards by state. This is a search engine that I will definitely use again.

kayak.com

Kayak.com allows you to "compare hundreds of travel sites at once." It allows you to search hotels, flights, rental cars, and combination packages in one convenient place. You simply enter your starting location, ending location, and travel dates. You can then browse among your options to find the cheapest rate or best value.

Care.com

Care.com is a search engine that helps you to find affordable babysitters in your area. This is especially useful for families who are new to a city or region, and have not made many contacts yet. Parents and babysitters each create a profile or resume stating thier needs and what they have to offer respectively. Parents can include the rate they are willing to pay and babysitters can include the rate they are willing to work for.

AngiesList.com

This is a website dedicated to helping you find affordable, reliable services locally. These services range from plumbers to babysitters and the ratings are done by actual customers, so you know you can trust them. The only drawback is that it is not free. There is a $4 monthly fee or $10 yearly fee for the basic package. I just don't know how often a person is in need of a repairman. It seems like getting recommendations from friends or coworkers would be just as easy and a lot more free.

Craigslist.com

Craigslist is a very popular search engine. I know I use it all the time. It is essentially one big, local yard sale. Anyone is able to post items they are wishing to sell from old toys to cars. Even rental homes and apartments can post on this site. I have used it when looking for a house to rent, looking for a car to buy, and even looking for a used washing machine to get me by. I would definitely recommend it, but exercise caution.

Ask.com

This is a general internet search engine much like Google. It does differ from Google in one way though. It does not only search what you type word for word. For example, I searched "How many days until Christmas?" My top results were for a Christmas countdown clock. In a way, ask.com can think for itself. It still gave me useful information even though I couldn't think of the exact thing to search for. This can be both a positive and a negative attribute. Sometimes, I want to search for something specifically, word for word.

Refseek.com

Refseek is unique in that it allows you to narrow your search. My search was narrowed via the directory to Health and Medical. Then I was able to search Type 2 Diabetes with no problem. My results came from medical journals and reputable websites such as the Center for Disease Control and the American Cancer Society. This search engine would be very useful for students needing valid research.

Post #4 What Questions Do We Ask? How Do We Ask?

In my opinion, a mark of a good teacher is that he or she engages students in the lesson. One of the most common ways to involve your students is to ask questions throughout the day. It is also one of the easiest, and sometimes laziest, ways. However, a carefully crafted question can get the whole class thinking and possibly even discussing different answers or solutions.

Maryellen Weimer suggests three ways to ask better questions in the classroom.  She proposes that teachers prepare questions ahead of time. If you think of what you want to ask, you can also prepare for possible answers that you may receive and how you would respond to them. Her second suggestion is to leave the question hanging for a while. Don't immediately respond positively just because one student figured it out. Let the rest of the class consider their answers for a while. This is a great way to engage the entire class and maybe even have them work together to figure out the answer. Finally, Dr. Weimer would like teachers to save the good questions and use them again in later classes. Using the student's responses to improve this question for the next class is also recommended.

Ben Johnson gives some more tips for asking questions in the classroom. I thoroughly enjoyed his point of view and sense of humor regarding this subject. The most important thing to remember when asking questions of a classroom is to be specific! Don't ask questions like, "Does everyone understand?" Think about what your goal is for each question that you ask. Mr. Johnson suggests that teachers ask the specific question that they have formulated before class, wait a few seconds to let everyone think about their answers, and then randomly choose a student to give his or her answer. This method engages the entire class. Everyone should be thinking of their answer just in case they are called upon.

Mr. Johnson's was my favorite article on the subject of asking questions. It was an easy read and also very informative. It was the one that got me thinking about how I would like to ask questions in my future classroom the most. My goal is to be the type of teacher that gets her students thinking for themselves, not just memorizing information. Crafting my questions appropriately is a great stepping stone towards that goal.

Post #3 How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback to Your Peers?

Learning how to review the work of your peers in a genuine and respectful way is important no matter what profession you choose. It is refreshing to see Mr. Tim Bedley teaching this skill to his upper elementary students. I believe that as education students, we especially need to learn this skill seeing as we will be reviewing the work of our students on a fairly regular basis in the future. It is a good idea to get some practice now. From the video Peer Editing and the slideshow Tutorial Peer Editing, we learn that peer editing is comprised of three steps: compliments, suggestions, and corrections. All three steps are important for an effective peer review. Without the compliments, you may come off as a highly critical "Picky Patty", and without suggestions or corrections, what's the point? We must remember to maintain a positive attitude throughout all three steps so as not to offend.

I especially enjoyed the video Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes, not only because it was humorous, but also because it gave tips for the peer who is being reviewed. This video helped me to put into perspective that when I ask for someone to proofread my work and give advice, guess what? They might actually have some suggestions and corrections! It doesn't mean that I'm not a good writer or that I don't understand punctuation rules. It just means that I'm human. Sometimes I miss a comma here and there, sometimes I misspell a word, and sometimes my sentences aren't clear to the reader. Peer reviews are a valuable asset, but they are only effective if we all view them as a team effort to put forth the best work possible.

Peer reviews don't have to end like this! :)

Post #2 What will teaching in the 21st century be like?

Teaching has changed a lot over the years. Technology is playing a big part in the way we educate and the way our children learn. The following videos shed some light on what we have been doing wrong and what we can change to better teach students in this modern day.

Professor Dancealot

Professor Dancealot is a humorous video showing the consequences of teaching from a purely lecture-based point of view. The main message that the author wants to relay is that the best way to learn is by doing. This is sometimes referred to as project based learning. Obviously, no one would attempt to teach a dance class wholly through lecture (probably not through any lecture at all!). But so we sometimes do this with science, history, math or even reading? After a certain grade level, reading out loud is done on a voluntary basis, if at all. This often keeps the struggling readers from gaining the practice they need. It also prevents the teacher from recognizing that they need additional help. This video certainly was successful in opening my mind. My wheels are already turning, thinking of ways to engage students in subjects that are traditionally taught via lecture, like history and science.

Teaching in the 21st Century

What Does it Mean to Teach in the 21st Century?

I. Previous Roles of Teachers (Fact-Based)

A. Providing content, facts, and information

B. Providing stories

C. Providing dates

D. Providing formulas

E. Providing research and theories

II. Resources Making Previous Roles Obsolete

A. Blogs

B. Social media: facebook and twitter

C. Cell phones and iPods

D. Youtube

E. Wikipedia and Google

III. New Roles of Teachers (Skill-Based)

A. Validating information

B. Synthesizing information

C. Leverage information

D. Communicate information

E. Collaborate with information

F. Problem-solve with information

IV. Bloom's Taxonomy

A. Remembering

B. Understanding

C. Applying

D. Analyzing

E. Evaluating

F. Creating

V. How Does "Creating" Apply in the 21st Century Classroom?

A. Blogging and Podcasting

B. Animating and Recording

C. Planning and Designing

D. Programming

E. Other Technological Skills

VI. Professionalism With Technology

A. Pirating

B. Plagiarism

C. Slander

D. Copyright

E. Crowdsourcing

F. Confidentiality

VII. Relating to the Classroom

A. How could you gather and discuss data?

B. How could you talk about reliable sources?

C. How could students publish and evaluate work?

D. How could students collaborate?

E. How could struggling students benefit from integrating technology?

F. How could students in all disciplines create an e-portfolio to store work and reflect on their progress?

G. How could students be challenged to solve problems online?

VIII. Managing Technology in the Classroom.

A. Technology including

1. Laptops

2. Cell Phones

3. iPods

B. Lessons Should Be

1. Relevant

2. Challenging

3. Engaging

IX. Entertainment v. Engagement

A. Passive/Active

B. For Enjoyment/For Learning

C. Short-Lived/Long-Term Results

D. Irrelevent/Meaningful and Applicable

E. Escape From Problems/Problem-Solving

F. Uses Creativity of Others/Uses Creativity of Participants

X. How Do Teachers Get Started?

A. See What's Out There

1. Find Some Sites

2. Try Some Software

3. Do Some Research

B. Start Small

1. One Unit At a Time

C. Collaborate

1. Don't Do It Alone

2. Plan Carefully

3. Ask Others What They Have Found Successful

D. Take a Risk

1. Change Cannot Occur Without Conflict

2. Try It and See What Happens


Roberts' opinion of teaching in the 21st century is that the job of educating is changing. The knowledge that students would normally gain from their teachers or textbooks is readily available online from many different devices. We have unlimited access to information. Want to know the square root of 225? Who needs a calculator when you can simply plug it into google to find out that the answer is 15. You don't even have to know what a square root is. The job of educating is shifting. The internet is no longer a tool used for cheating like many of my teachers thought it was. Teachers need to shift their roles and begin teaching their students how to correctly and effectively use the internet as a resource. As a teacher, I will need to focus on the skills that I am teaching my students. Personally, throughout my academic career, I learned the skill of memorizing. I did learn to think critically and to read and write well, but mostly I learned how to memorize material for a test. If teachers focused on the skills that each lesson was teaching their students rather than solely the content, I believe that there can be a radical change in the education of our students. I think at first this will be difficult for me because it will require me to learn, and I will have to take the initiative to learn. There is so much that I do not know about online resources. In watching "The Networked Student" I had not heard of most of the resources that the student was taking advantage of. I feel that integrating technology into classrooms is really where teachers will find out if they truly want to educate. Do I still want to teach even when the job shifts to something unexpected and quite different? For me, the answer is yes.

The Networked Student

Before watching this video, I had never heard of Connectivism. It is a theory in which students take advantage of technology and connections with classmates and other students in order to control their own learning. The first teacher that I ever remember being honest with me about connective learning was Dr. Forbes in the chemistry department at USA. He told us that even after all these years of practicing and teaching chemistry, he still uses the periodic table as a resource and if there is ever something he doesn't understand or can't figure out, he consults textbooks and collaborates with his colleagues to find the answer. This is what professionals do every day. It is unreasonable to ask someone to memorize everything they could ever need to know about a given profession. I work with pharmacists every day who consult online resources to find drug information. Yes, they completed pharmacy school and passed the tests, but new medications are released constantly and medicine is always evolving. I think this video is exaggerated in order to include all of the different methods of networking. I don't agree with the teacher relying wholly on networking to teach. I think it should be a joint effort. I do believe that it is important to teach our students how to think for themselves and not hesitate to ask a colleague if they need more explanation.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis' teaching method is very interesting. She is a teacher and the IT Director at a school in rural Georgia. She firmly believes that every student can learn, but that each student or group of students learns differently. Because of this belief, she accomplishes her curriculum by customizing her teaching methods to each group of students. However, one thing always remains. She expects her students to be active learners. If they don't recognize a word she uses, they are expected to google it or look it up. If they don't know how to do something on their computers, they are expected to try to figure it out and help each other. This method of teaching is incredibly empowering for her students. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and ambition. When students are allowed to find new ways of doing things or figure things out for themselves, it also opens the door for continued learning for the teacher. However, this doesn't mean that she sits back and lets the students do all of the work. Mrs. Davis is constantly working to engage her students in the day's activities. Her goal for all of her students is that they will leave her classroom having learned how to learn. I love what Mrs. Davis is doing in this school. She is giving her students opportunities beyond what they expected for themselves growing up in a small community.

Who's Ahead in the Learning Race?

As I watched this video, I felt that it was incredibly persuasive. It is obvious that technology is integrated much more in these elementary classrooms. However, I'm not sure that it's fair to say that all elementary classrooms are the same as those in Baldwin County. The classrooms in my son's Mobile County public elementary school have smart boards, but he was not issued an iPad or MacBook. I'm not saying that the education he is receiving is sub par by any means, but technology is not integrated to the same degree as in this Baldwin County school. I think it is wonderful that these children are gaining exposure, not only to the computers themselves, but to the many different things that you can do with them. Computers aren't just for accessing games and social media. They are a wonderful tool that can be used to increase knowledge, and I hope that Mobile County can one day give their students these same opportunities. It seems that these elementary schools are certainly ahead in the learning race. I can't help but wonder if our colleges and universities just assume that we are all tech savvy simply because we are adults. I've only been in Dr. Strange's class for two weeks, and I've already learned a lot about blogging and html. I'm sure there will be a lot more to learn in the coming weeks. I always thought that I knew a decent amount about computers because I have tons of experience with Microsoft Office, but now that is expected of everyone. I, personally, am lagging behind in this race, and I can't wait to catch up!

Flipping the Classroom

Wow, flipping the classroom is an interesting concept. At first, I was completely against this idea, but after listening to Mrs. Munafo explain the way it works, I am definitely intrigued. I think it has potential to be a great tool for me as a teacher. It seems that it will require a lot of support from parents and guardians at home, though. And I'm sure, as with most new things, there are people who aren't fully supportive of it. I was one of them at first! Just like Mrs. Davis in "Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts," Mrs. Munafo is offering her students a chance to empower themselves through their own learning. This method also introduces children to networking. If, after watching the videos, they still have some trouble, they can use technology to help clear things up. This gives the students a chance to think for themselves. Also, if one student catches on quickly, they don't have to waste their own learning time waiting for the teacher to explain the concept to everyone else. This new method of flipping the classroom is very interesting and vastly different than what most of us are used to when it comes to education. I wish we could see a follow up video showing how this program is working for that school or even another one.

Bringing the Locker Room Into the Classroom

I was never a big athlete. I played soccer for a few years in elementary school and one or two years of softball in middle school. Neither one of these sports was super competitive in my school, so we didn't have big team discussions on strategies and the weaknesses of our opponents. Because I have friends who played football at the high school and collegiate level, I know it is a different story in those locker rooms. Never having actually been in one, I had no idea that the locker room would be such a collaborative environment. Like the article says, I always imagined players huddled around their coach listening intently to instructions and encouragement. I love that these professors are looking to coaches for new ideas on engaging their students in the classroom. Many times coaches are laughed off as not being real teachers, but coaches share a bond with their players that is rare in the regular classroom setting. They are bound to have insights into getting to know the students and encouraging conversation and independent thinking. All of the athletes I know have fond memories of their coaches and the life lessons that they learned on the field. It's encouraging to see educators collaborating with coaches because, after all, as educators we are charged to teach our students how to be successful in life - not just 4th grade history.