Project 16

This Semester I was enrolled in EDM310,within this class I have been working on my own work as well as group projects. My group's name was Slap-out. This name comes from the small town of Slap-out, Alabama. I am not kidding it really is a town.This Prezi sums up what me and my group have been working on this whole time! Click on the link below! Enjoy!
Slap-out's Project 16

C4T # 4

For the last C4T I had Mrs.Prom's Blog. Within the blog post Mrs. Prom goes over, what she feels, the meaning of being persistent. She hit the nail on the head in her analysis. I also commented on her point on being spread too thin with school and work.
The second post was on a tool called the "Little Write App". This iPad app is an aid for students to learn how to write and spell correctly. I commented on how it sounded like a great tool, because it is crucial for students to learn how to write and spell correctly. I also liked how she tries to give the students 1 on 1 time with her and this app. I commented that it was great that she was doing that. I know, due to class size, that ratio can be hard to meet. I really liked reading a teacher's blog that seems to be committed to her students. It shows that she is not treating teaching as a typical job.

Blog Post # 13

Previously in the semester I was reading a teacher's blog post on standardized testing, and how the scores do not reflect a student's true learning ability. It got me thinking about how a teacher might go about grading a student in a PBL setting. So for blog post 13 we are suppose to create a blog post assignment for our particular field of study. Instead of sticking to just general sciences I am going to broaden the driving question to all secondary teachers. How would you go about assessing a student's knowledge gained through a project based learning classroom? Start with these two resources to get a general idea of how some tackle this difficult task.
1.)Rethinking Grading in a 21st Century Project-Based Learning Enviroment
2.)How Do We Grade?
After reading these articles I have come to the conclusion that assessing an individual's gained knowledge is not easy in a PBL setting. Both articles have great points. The first stated that it is hard to switch up a grading system because parents will always try to translate what you do to a definite A-D assessment. In PBL that is not the case. In my opinion a child's progress can not be slapped with a definite grade. A teacher needs to wait for an end product to assess, whether or not a student has a grasp on the concept. By doing this I think standardized testing could also be retired. A teacher would be grading a student for the work done as a whole rather than just points during a semester. I also liked Varona's approach in his math class. He still has his kids do the lessons as a group but for the assessment he breaks them up and test them on the key concepts. In doing this he can still abide by the standardized grading system but does not have to deviate from the PBL plan. I think that the student should still be able to show what he or she can do through applying the knowledge. If standardize testing is still in effect I think this would be the best way to assess a student's gained knowledge in a PBL setting.

C4K April

I really enjoyed the blogs that I read for the month of April. I must say that I have always thought that other countries would have different ways of learning, and that no one did it the same way. It is really cool to see that the way I use to think is wrong, and that the way we learned is not much different than other countries.
9.)James's Blog
For C4K #9 I had a child named James. He talked about how a professional taught swimming lessons to him and his class. James also talked about how cold and tired he was. I commented on how I knew too well on what it was like to be really cold and tired. I also commented on how I liked his determination. and how he still focused on the lesson.
10.)Kaden's Blog
For C4K # 10 I had a child named Kaden. On his blog I viewed a presentation him and his classmates created about a classroom agreement. In this agreement they are required to be safe on the internet and to take good care of all their equipment. I complimented on such a good job he did on the presentation. I also told him that I saw the internet as a big city, and there are good places to be, and bad places. The good places being libraries and museums, and the bad places to be like near train tracks and busy streets.

Blog Post # 12

Watching the videos assigned for this blog post reinforced what I learned in EDU400. EDU400 is a special education course. This course is designed to teach you the inner workings of a special education classroom. The understood message was that these "special" kids need to have adequate learning too. During my class visitation I was able to observe many different technologies that help the students. These technologies ranged anywhere from what they called a "talker", which is an iPad set up for the students to select an audio command, to simple, plastic, colored objects that teach them sorting skills. It was also amazing to see how much the teachers accomplished and how dedicated they were.

My two technologies of choice are audio books and proofreading programs. The reason I chose these two is because they can really be used in any type of classroom. I like audio books myself, not because I need them, but I could see where if the student was having a hard time keeping up with the lesson, for any reason, they could go back and listen to the lesson as they are doing homework. Proofreading programs can replace or compliment audio books. One way that they could replace them is that if a student is taking notes, the program could correct any mistakes which would allow the student to maintain pace with the teacher. Proofreading programs can compliment the audio books for the same reason it could replace them. Say the student got behind in lecture, he or she still could get the correct notes but would still be a little lost. Then all he or she would have to do is go back with the correct notes and listen to the audio book at a slower preferred pace. One good site that explains the benefits of audio books and give a couple of places to purchase them is www.greatschools.org. A great program for proofreading is found here www.ghotit.com, this program uses an audio function so that you can hear and make better corrections.

Project # 12 Part B

This is my group's collaborative lesson plan presented via SMARTBoard. We decided to go with a math project. This project is suppose to teach the kids how to be smart with what they buy and to know the better product through math.

C4T #3

Dupriest's Blog
1. For the first C4T I had Dawn Dupriest, she wrote on the struggle of the common core, specifically in math. I commented on how being a biology major at heart I may not relate exactly but there are things i can relate like a student should still know how to write correctly.
2. The second post I commented on was about "Hour of Coding". This is where the students receive lessons on how to make code to work math tasks. I was really impressed with Mrs. Dupriest's strives with making this a fun activity for the kids. I was also impressed on all of the common core standards she was meeting. I commented on how I was jealous that I was never able to do any of this growing up. Also she had made a comment on this new process made coding "sexier". I told her that I was a biology major, and asked if she could help me make genetic coding more "sexier".

C4K March

I liked reading all of these posts. I am a little biased though, as a kid I swam so I did like to read about the swimming progress a little more, but they are all doing such a great job!
1.littlevoiceslittlescholars.blogspot.com
For the first C4K in March I watched a video of a little girl named Punairu. She went into great detail about how her class gets to go swimming. I also commented about how I also really enjoy swimming. I ended the comment congratulating her on her progress, and to keep up the good work!
2.pesbrookylnc.blogspot.com
In my second C4K I had a 4TH year student named Brooklyn. She started out by asking if the reader had ever taken swim lessons. She then goes on to talk about how she will act next time so she does not get as tired so fast. I commented that she was doing a great job and I hoped that she sticks with the swimming lessons. I also asked if the water was cold there.
3.Multiplication Slide Show
For my C4K number 3 I had Taeshell. Taeshell's newest post was a multiplication table that she had made via slideshow. I commented on how she did a great job on the tables. I also told her I was never that great with math, and that her slideshow would have really helped me through school. I finished with telling her how great of a job she is doing and to keep up the great work!

Project # 10

This is my interview with a teacher. I did my with Ms. Sheila Gaither. Ms. Gaither has taught for around 25 years, she specializes in special education at the middle school level. She has taught in a wide variety of school systems, including Autauga County and Baldwin County. I apologize for the rough video work, but enjoy!

Blog Post #11

1-Brian Crosby-Back to the Future-each class is full of different students. Not only different students in each class but different classes in each grade. No class is the same. Mr. Crosby’s class is a very low income class or live in poverty. Most students could not answer simple questions regarding their home state, address and country. As their teacher Mr. Crosby did not want his students to have a different curriculum than than other students. Mr. Crosby’s classroom is much like any other class room today. He has many technological devices such as laptops, smartboards and video cameras. The class takes part in many different projects and they really seem to enjoy them and it also helps keep them engaged in the material they are learning. After the projects are completed the students use their own working blog to upload the videos of the projects they have just taken part in. The students are also instructed to write a quick summary about what happens in each video. Students in Mr. Crosby’s and also other 4th grade classes at his school also have wiki pages and flickr accounts. This helps the students show what they have learned on a specific topic. after using these softwares online they cut and paste them into their blogs. When the students realized that other people are reading their stuff it makes them feel accomplished and makes them strive to work harder and do better. In this, they also added personal goals. The students were assigned to write a “high hope.” What this is something positive that the students hope to happen in the school, community and also around the world. After doing this the students sent out a plea for people all around the world to add their high hopes in the students comments to send out into outer space along with Mr. Crosby’s classes. This spread around the globe quickly and the students got a great response, in which they had all hoped for. After this project was added to their blogs students from all around the world wanted to take place in this and teachers wanted to know how to complete the project. The students not only used blogs and writing but also video skype to show and teach other students around the world so they could learn and take part in this same activity.

2- Blended Learning Cycle - Basically all blended learning is doing is taking the parts of an online, mobile and classroom learning and blending them into one classroom setting. There are 5 e’s in the learning cycle, engage, explore, expand, explain and evaluate. This is a great way to present material and material that is to be learned. By putting those two formulas together you get the blended learning cycle. In his blended learning cycle he has 6 steps: 1-it starts with a really great question. Hook in learning. students are given data and asked a specific question. 2-investigate and experiment. using given material students try different experiments and are timed at doing so. 3-use a video to help them understand. this is a form of direct instruction. 4-elaboration. reading and research. 5-review. making sure students have a clear understanding of the material discussed. 6-summary quiz.

3 - This video, Making Thinking Visible,is done by Mark Church. The main idea behind this video is how Mark makes his classroom think aloud. By doing this all the brainstorming is out in the open rather than just sitting quietly in their head. Each group has a couple of minutes to brainstorm a headline of their new lesson. Once the time is up they have to write it down. Later in the lesson Mark will have each group do it again so they can see how their thinking has evolved. This PBL does a great job covering collaboration and self reflection.

4 - In this video, Building Comics , Sam Pane teaches his kids about internet safety by building their very own superhero. After making the hero the students have to build a comic book strip where the main character is doing something that is not safe on the internet. Then their hero comes in and stops them before it is too late. Before they do all this they have to discuss at their table what are things that are dangerous to do on the internet. I like this PBL because it includes so many things that are important. Discussion of the dangerous actions is a great collaboration method, building their own comic and hero is a great way to build up creativity, and then reviewing each other work is a good reflection method.

5.Project Based Learning This video, Project Based Learning , is about a school in Canada who combined History, English, and Technology into one class. The students work on individual, group, and class projects that incorporate all three subjects. What we can learn from these teachers is if you really believe in something, don’t give up. When they first started this they hit a couple roadblocks. The program was not compatible in a regular school setting. They worked through the kinks and now the program is up and running.

6.Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program
Roosevelt Elementary takes a Project Based Learning approach to teaching. What I learned is that Project Based Learning can help bring the community together. It encourages community participation and it encourages teachers to work together. PBL helps the students stay more interested in what they are learning. The students become self motivated, interactive, and critical thinkers. PBL helps students be more prepared the future.