Blog Post 13

Brian Crosby- Back to the Future

Mr. Crosby is an elementary school teacher who teaches to at risk children. Brian fused his students use of technology with field trips, art, hands-on activities and a problem-based approach, to build their schema of the world while at once connecting them to it. In his video, Back to the Future, Mr. Crosby presents a project he did with his fourth grade class at Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada. His students learned about the science and history of the air balloons through hands on experiments. They then applied what they learned to writing assignments in their blog. Students reading the class's blogs wanted to get in on the action too, so the High Hope project was started. Students all over the world sent their high hopes, and they were all sent off into the atmosphere attached to a hot air balloon.

Mr. Crosby is a teacher who goes the extra mile for his students. He teaches them to think outside of the box. One thing I was fascinated with was Mr. Crosby's student with cancer. Since she could not come to school, he video chatted with her to include her in the classroom. Having his class work through blogs and of course modern technology made it possible for her to have a higher level of learning even with her health setbacks. This also showed Mr. Crosby's determination to provide education for all students.

Paul Anderson- Blended Learning Cycle

In Paul Anderson's video, Blended Learning, he elabrates on how he combindes the Blended Learning and the Learning Cycle into his own system called QUIVERS. This includes six components he uses in all of his lessons. 1. "QU" for questions. 2. "I" which is investigation/inquiry. 3. "V" is video. 4. "E" is elaboration. 5. "R" is review. 6. "S" is summary quiz. The QUIVERS method is very student focused and effective. Mr. Anderson's method keeps his students active in their learning. This style of teaching can be incorporated into any classroom.

Progress report on FInal Project #16

Progress Report

My group, July 16th, final project will be on the 5 easy steps to passing EDM310. We will start by describing what EMD310 is and how it differs from your typical class. For example, EDM310 is far from the "burb-back" method of teaching that most of us are used to. You must be an independent learner and technology efficient. Dr.Strange's class motto says a lot, "I don't know. Let's find out". My group met Thursday to record of problem, but due to a video recording issue, we will be meeting Tuesday to try again. Apparently, my iPhone decided we did not need sound in our video.

April C4K

April 13, Post 1

Tyler's post was all about his home state, Nebraska. I did not know kool-aid was invented there and its their state soft drink. Nebraska's state bird is the Western Meadowlark. Tyler asked his readers what their state bird was and where they were from. Of course, Alabama's state bird is a Yellowhammer. Tyle also blogged that his favorite food to eat is healthy things like fish, chicken, and steak. Tyler's post was full of interesting facts. I love to fish, and so does my fiance, so we eat plenty of eat. April 14, Post 2

Charlotte, a 4th grade student in Victoria, Australia, blogged all about her vegetable garden. She is growing potatoes, zucchini, capsicum, and carrots. She also posted an adorable picture of her and her homemade scarecrow. I have a veggie garden of my own. My carrots are a couple of inches tall now. I love the idea of you making your own scarecrow. It add a cute meaningful look to the garden. Because of her picture, I plan on making a scarecrow with my nephew to add to mine.

Blog Post 12

For this blog assignment, Dr. Strange gave his students the opportunity to write their own blog posts. This assignment is simple and deep. It requires thought! The directions are as follow: Plan a non-traditional project for your future students. Something that is not necessarily a learning unit, but could be beneficially in other ways. Visit websites like Teachers pay teachers for ideas, but be orignal.

Time Capsule

Have each student's family write a letter to them for their graduation day. For younger students, have the family write in cursive so they will not be able read it. Have your student write a letter to themselves for what they would want to tell themselves on their graduation day. Put all the letters in a shoebox and have the students design the outside. Wrap the shoeboxes and send them home for the parents to store till graduation. These letters can be a powerful thing to students one day. Especially, if a family member passes away before the student graduates.

Blog Post 11

First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class

After watching the video of Ms. Cassidy's first grade class I was in "AHHh". In this video, her students describe how they use blogs and wikis, and learn decision making and sharing skills from playing games. Ms. Cassidy made it known in her video that she is very pro technology! Which is great we have to move with the times. She found that she could coordinate homework assignments, information, and writing assignments on one simple website through blogs. The kids seem to understand what they're learning and how to use the tools they've been given. Ms. Cassidy truly understands how to benefit her students with technology and many teacher could learn from her. I have been saying "I do not know how I will incorporate technology into my classroom since I want to teach Kindergarten". Well Ms. Cassidy just proved me wrong!

On Dr. Strange's Skype Conversation with Ms. Cassidy

First of all, Dr. Strange brought up his class poll to see what percentage of EDM310 students believe that teachers should be technologically literate, in which about 5% say no. Ms. Cassidy discusses how important it is to keep up with technology because the way kids were taught years ago is not the way they should be taught today. They also discuss Twitter, which Ms. Cassidy says students classify as an "old people's Facebook". She suggests education students should follow other prospective teachers for advice rather than experienced teachers, because they would be going through more of the same thing. This is something I had not thought of yet. I follow many experienced teachers on Twitter because I am fascinated by almost everything they say. I try to soak up as much knowledge as I can to help mold me into a better teacher. Following beginning teachers would be beneficially because they still remember what it is like to go through the change of being a student to being the teacher.

C4K March

March 5, Post 1

In Allison's blog she was asked "What do you think you as a student gain from blogging with students and others outside of the school? Is it worth the time? Why/why not?" Her response was, "I think you gain getting to know other people by talking about books and telling a little bit about yourself, it’s not like Facebook or Twitter. I think it’s worth the time, because we are telling other people from around the world about the books we read and other students tell us what they think or we can look at their blogs and get to know them. We also talk to some of the teachers. I think it’s fun too!" I told Allison that in our class we only work through blogs. It is a very unique and beneficially learning experience. I am teachers are using this at a lower level in school. I also told Allison to not be so quick to judge Twitter. It can also benefit learning, because many educators and students use Twitter as a learning tool. It is all about what you make it.

March 24, Post 2

Heidi is in middle school and described her winter break. Her winter break was very fun! She hung out with family and went shopping and out to eat and other things. Winter break is my favorite because of the much needed family time. But Spring break is here! I asked her what all do she plans on doing for Spring break?

March 30 Post 3

In this students blog she wrote that it was currently Easter in New Zealand. Chocolate eggs, bunny rabbits and more are everywhere. Pt England was so lucky to be given boxes of Easter Eggs from some really generous people. Each child in Pt England was able to get 20 chocolate eggs. I was fascinated that their Easter fell a couple of days before ours and NOT on Sunday. Ours is always on a Sunday.

April 7, Post 4

Nicole's post was an introduction of herself. She has lived in Iowa, USA for 13 yrs, all of her life! She enjoys playing sports like basketball, volleyball, and track. Nicole has have have four people in my family. She has one sister. Nicole has two pets, a dog named Ruger and a cat named Taz. She likes to spend my free time with my family and friends.

March C4T

Quantum Progress

John Burk is a Physics and Math teacher at a boarding school in Delaware. His blog, Quantum Progress, tells the store of his on going learning.

March 24; A great visit to Saint Ann’s

On March 19th Mr. Burk traveled up to Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn to see a dear internet friend, Paul Salomon, and meet a few of his amazing colleagues. One of the great things about visiting a school like St. Ann’s is just how different it is from most schools. Saint Ann’s packs an entire 4th-12th program into a 13 story building with two elevators. Assemblies meet in odd classrooms and the lobby, and the entire building feels like a beehive of activity and engagement. One of the very best things was that every teacher in the department teaches in both the middle and upper level of the school. It’s not at all uncommon for a teacher to teach 3rd grade math, 6th grade math, and functions (Algebra II). This seems hard wired in the DNA of the faculty. Saint Ann’s also has no grades, and I can only imagine how empowering this must be for helping students to take risks and to learn from feedback from the teachers and peers without having to worry about the judgment of grades and ranking. As a future teacher I can only imagine what it would be like to teach middle and upper levels of school. Especially, at the same time! Saint Ann’s School sounds absolutely fascinating! The dedication of the teachers is far beyond most.

April 7; A collaboration between Dance and Physics

Avi, the schools dance teacher, approached Mr. Burk with this incredible idea he and his students are developing for arts weekend—a “day in the life of the school,” and in one of the scenes, a student gets really upset upon receiving a 96 on a science test. The student then begins to dance around the room, playing with science, and not focusing on grades, and then the student suddenly sees the real joy in learning. Avi wanted help for some ideas for some visually impressive demos that would help communicate the ideas of playing with science and be visible to an auditorium that seats 400. They bounced around with a few ideas including; making giant soap bubbles, dancing around with a large hydrogen balloon and then blowing it up, and using a vortex cannon to shoot smoke rings out. My favorite is making giant soap bubbles, especially if they could make them go in the audience. Getting the audience involved just makes the learning experience that much more fun!