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.