Sunday, December 8, 2013
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Blog Post 16 " The Final One"
Sugata Mitra is a great speaker. He really got me thinking about what are we doing with our lives and technology. He does think that the way we do school right now, is outdated and need a change, but look at me right now. I am doing my homework and school work, in my room, and I do not have to even get up.
My classroom will be different. We are in the 21st century right now. I do not have one class that I go into that someone does not pull out their laptop to view notes, study homework, or just surf the web. I hope my classroom never really gets to that. I have no problem with students using there products to help, but some class just does not need them. I will be teaching High School Health education. This is a class that a student should learn about their body type and how to live a healthy life. I decided to become a health teacher, because I did not more and more people to think that as long as I go out and play dodge ball or table tennis, that they are healthy. I believe in getting up and getting active. What do I want my students to know? I would love for my students to leave my class each time knowing a little more about their body, and what they can do to live a long and healthy life. what do I want my students to do? I want my students to be able to walk around the school without feeling like they are going to pass out. I also want my students to be able to choose for themselves a healthy choice of food for lunch or for their snack. what will be my primary way of teaching my students what I want them to know and do? I would start off by making myself a prime example. It would not prove anything to tell students to eat healthy and take care of their bodies if I did not do the same. I would also let them know that I am always there for any questions or concerns. One thing that always helps me, is to set goals. I can set a goal for the whole class that way everyone can help everyone, like a group project. what tools will I use in my classroom? I could use a BMI machine. This device tells what the percentage of fat is on your body. We could also use our on bodies. health is all about the body so locating muscles and bones and being able to see or feel them would be helpful. what role will students play in my classroom? My students will play a huge role. they will do 90% of the work in the class. I believe that hands on work is the best way to learn. We can stare at our teacher all day long, and not learn a thing , but as soon as we stand up and start really thinking about where our hamstring is that is when school is not just boring school, things get fun!
That was my first blog post for this class. Myself as a person has changed since the beginning of the semester, but the way I want to teach my class has not. I still believe that the students should do 90% of the work in the class. Some classes I understand homework and reading ahead, but my passion is health. I strongly believe that is something you have to learn hands on. I still want my students to be interested in what I have to say, realize that it is their body and their health we are talking about. When my students come to class because they have to is when I will know I have failed at my goal. How will my classroom be like now? Well, it will be just the same as I have always wanted it. I will not change the way I want my classroom to be like even later on down the road. I classroom will be energetic, fun, and inspiring. I want to inspire my students to learn on their own.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Blog Post # 15
Samantha West
I am blessed to have all of my senses that I was suppose to have. As a student I know that a class can be difficult enough even for me. I do not know where I would be if I could not see or hear. I know that it is not only hard on the student, but it is hard on the teacher as well. It is a good thing we have more and more technology to help out these students and teachers understand and perform better. Braille books are very helpful for blind students. If you can read Braille. Also, most schools are going all digital. What do those students do then? How about if each student has an Ipad, a student who is legally blind might have one that will read the book to them. If we were listening to a book in class on day, a student who had hearing impairments could follow along on his Ipad. There are many ways our students can learn, and most of them have the drive to.
On a website I found, they spoke about a student Karen, she was legally blind and they went through her day. She would sit in history class, and listen to the teacher speak about the American Civil War, as she took notes on her personal digital assistant (PDA). She then went to her English class where they were talking about the story To Kill a Mockingbird. Karen had downloaded a electrical copy on her PDA. That way she could read it with her braille. She also switched back and forth between the story, and taking notes. Later she went to the library with her partner for a project, and used the computer there. In the library there is a computer that whatever page she is on it will read it out to her. This makes things simpler for the librarian. She can stay busy doing her work while Karen gets done what ever she needs. Karen is a star student, and is at the top of her class. Karen was taught at a young age to use her resources wisely. There will come a time as a teacher that I might have to teach someone with a disability, and I will be ready for whatever it throws my way because you just have to remember the student is just as excited about learning as you should be to teach them. I got this information from www.afg.com.
Morgan Rushlow- iPad usage for special needs students. videos I watched-iPad usage for the blind teaching deaf/blind how to use iPad
I viewed the videos about iPad usage and how it can help students with disabilities learn because it has features that help the deaf and blind to navigate the apps and do the tasks they intend to do. It has not only a speaking feature for the blind but a voice-command for the deaf and blind so they know exactly what they are doing and going to- however, i find that while the iPad is great because of these features it is best if someone is there helping the person navigate the iPad, because they may navigate to the wrong app or type the wrong thing. The features the iPad has will be good for use in teaching students with disabilities of any kind as well as those who are not disabled in any way. the iPad is a device that is versatile and can perform so many functions, although it is important to know how to use it best and to make sure that the users of these devices get the help they need in using it. I found some information about iPads on the web and found some pretty interesting things- such as this website states-http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/10/19/01speced.h05.html, iPads are helping students all across the board in their learning because it is helping with not only hearing and sight impaired students, but it is helping those who are having a hard time with communication skills such as those with autism as well. iPads are indeed having a major impact on learning outcomes and they have a very important role in the future of education, as apple states in its’ very own statement about its’ own creation,the iPad-http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/. iPad makes it possible to do so many things now that were not possible even 10 years ago when iPad was not even a thought in Apple’s mind, that it is an understatement to say that it is going to be transformative, as this website states-http://www.concordmonitor.com/news/8040411-95/ipads-bring-students-with-disabilities-new-ways-to-participate-excel-in-education, iPad lets you express yourself in a variety of ways and this is why students can learn communication skills better with it because there are so many ways for students to participate in class and so many different apps that creatively express yourself it is mind-blowing. Clearly mind-blowing is an understatement in terms of what the iPad can do and will do for not only learning but for everything. iPad is a truly amazing piece of technology and it is worth it for schools to try to see how it improves student learning outcomes. iPad is truly revolutionary. Sure iPad has its issues and is best used with a helper if needed, its’ benefits outweigh the problems with it.As a collaborative secondary education major I plan to use iPad in my future classroom for these reasons-because it can do so much and can inspire creativity in ALL students. Daniel LoVette
The Mountbatten braillewriter is something that I would definitely use in my classroom if the student had practice using it. There will be a lot of note taking of many things in my classroom so through the braillewriters ability to give audio feedback, the blind student will be able to participate more often in my classroom debates, projects, and even lectures. Check out Mountbatten here. If I were going to be a math teacher, there is no doubt that I would use Art Karshmer’s invention. He discusses how teaching math to the blind is difficult because all braille is linear and a lot of math problems require numbers to be stacked atop one another. Thus, he created a 3D grid that uses blocks with braille numbers on them. This way the bling student is able to work math problems like the rest of the class. Teaching math to the blind!
I am blessed to have all of my senses that I was suppose to have. As a student I know that a class can be difficult enough even for me. I do not know where I would be if I could not see or hear. I know that it is not only hard on the student, but it is hard on the teacher as well. It is a good thing we have more and more technology to help out these students and teachers understand and perform better. Braille books are very helpful for blind students. If you can read Braille. Also, most schools are going all digital. What do those students do then? How about if each student has an Ipad, a student who is legally blind might have one that will read the book to them. If we were listening to a book in class on day, a student who had hearing impairments could follow along on his Ipad. There are many ways our students can learn, and most of them have the drive to.
On a website I found, they spoke about a student Karen, she was legally blind and they went through her day. She would sit in history class, and listen to the teacher speak about the American Civil War, as she took notes on her personal digital assistant (PDA). She then went to her English class where they were talking about the story To Kill a Mockingbird. Karen had downloaded a electrical copy on her PDA. That way she could read it with her braille. She also switched back and forth between the story, and taking notes. Later she went to the library with her partner for a project, and used the computer there. In the library there is a computer that whatever page she is on it will read it out to her. This makes things simpler for the librarian. She can stay busy doing her work while Karen gets done what ever she needs. Karen is a star student, and is at the top of her class. Karen was taught at a young age to use her resources wisely. There will come a time as a teacher that I might have to teach someone with a disability, and I will be ready for whatever it throws my way because you just have to remember the student is just as excited about learning as you should be to teach them. I got this information from www.afg.com.
Morgan Rushlow- iPad usage for special needs students. videos I watched-iPad usage for the blind teaching deaf/blind how to use iPad
I viewed the videos about iPad usage and how it can help students with disabilities learn because it has features that help the deaf and blind to navigate the apps and do the tasks they intend to do. It has not only a speaking feature for the blind but a voice-command for the deaf and blind so they know exactly what they are doing and going to- however, i find that while the iPad is great because of these features it is best if someone is there helping the person navigate the iPad, because they may navigate to the wrong app or type the wrong thing. The features the iPad has will be good for use in teaching students with disabilities of any kind as well as those who are not disabled in any way. the iPad is a device that is versatile and can perform so many functions, although it is important to know how to use it best and to make sure that the users of these devices get the help they need in using it. I found some information about iPads on the web and found some pretty interesting things- such as this website states-http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/10/19/01speced.h05.html, iPads are helping students all across the board in their learning because it is helping with not only hearing and sight impaired students, but it is helping those who are having a hard time with communication skills such as those with autism as well. iPads are indeed having a major impact on learning outcomes and they have a very important role in the future of education, as apple states in its’ very own statement about its’ own creation,the iPad-http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/. iPad makes it possible to do so many things now that were not possible even 10 years ago when iPad was not even a thought in Apple’s mind, that it is an understatement to say that it is going to be transformative, as this website states-http://www.concordmonitor.com/news/8040411-95/ipads-bring-students-with-disabilities-new-ways-to-participate-excel-in-education, iPad lets you express yourself in a variety of ways and this is why students can learn communication skills better with it because there are so many ways for students to participate in class and so many different apps that creatively express yourself it is mind-blowing. Clearly mind-blowing is an understatement in terms of what the iPad can do and will do for not only learning but for everything. iPad is a truly amazing piece of technology and it is worth it for schools to try to see how it improves student learning outcomes. iPad is truly revolutionary. Sure iPad has its issues and is best used with a helper if needed, its’ benefits outweigh the problems with it.As a collaborative secondary education major I plan to use iPad in my future classroom for these reasons-because it can do so much and can inspire creativity in ALL students. Daniel LoVette
The Mountbatten braillewriter is something that I would definitely use in my classroom if the student had practice using it. There will be a lot of note taking of many things in my classroom so through the braillewriters ability to give audio feedback, the blind student will be able to participate more often in my classroom debates, projects, and even lectures. Check out Mountbatten here. If I were going to be a math teacher, there is no doubt that I would use Art Karshmer’s invention. He discusses how teaching math to the blind is difficult because all braille is linear and a lot of math problems require numbers to be stacked atop one another. Thus, he created a 3D grid that uses blocks with braille numbers on them. This way the bling student is able to work math problems like the rest of the class. Teaching math to the blind!
Blog Post # 14
Why is Health Class so Important?
Why do you think health class is so important in school? Do you think it should be a mandatory class? Should it even be offered as a class? Tell me what you think. I know that everyone has their favorite subject. If Health class was cut from the schools would you be mad about it, or happy.
What does Health classes offer that is important to life?
Everything!
Watch these videos and write your blog post on your view of Health classes before and after watching these videos! You never know these videos might help you save someone's life someday!
Thursday, November 21, 2013
C4T Post Teacher #4 Post # 2
In my last C4T, Brendan Jones blog title was, From Spoons to Ladles, and all in between. What an interesting topic. What he is talking about is he did not want to spoon feed his children, but he didn't want to just let them fall with no help at all. He started with notebooks and blogs. The blogs worked well, but he still had to stay on top of them for them to actually do them all. When doing the blogs They were helpful because the students could comment on each others blogs, but it is hard to comment on someone's blog who did not do theirs. Also, to do their blogs, the students must bring their laptops to class. Most students noticed that if they did, they would have to do work. So they chose not too bring theirs. Finding that Happy middle ground was pretty hard for Mr. Jones. The concept of the whole thing was to get the students to be pure inquiry, which was impossible for Junior high, but he did not want to spoon feed them either. The way they liked it. By the end of the year, they had met that happy little middle spot. Where they were actually thinking for themselves, but was not being left alone to fend for themselves. Mr. Jones is not only getting his students ready for the final exam, but for the life exam. This blog post showed me that It is not bad to try something different in your classroom sometimes. Just because other teachers are not doing it does not mean you can not either. Stand up and be that teacher that when the students move on to the next grade they will say thank you.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Blog Post #13
Nakenya Ntaiya: A Girl Who Demanded School By: Daniel LoVette - Braque Group
I am sure to not be speaking for myself when I say that this video has the potential to make every American citizen feel like the size of an ant. Hearing Nakenya Ntaiya’s story makes me feel very privileged to live in this country. Ms. Ntaiya is from the Masai tribe in Kenya, and if just being in the tribe isn’t hard enough, being a Masai female is unimaginable. Masai members are tall, jump high, wear red, and hunt lions. As impressive as this sounds, their customs of oppression towards the female race are a tragedy that is happening all over the continent of Africa at this moment. Males are raised to be warriors, and women are raised to be mothers. Girls are engaged by the age of five, and are expected to be a perfect woman by the age of twelve. They have no say in political issues, family issues, career choices, or are even able to own land. By the eighth grade the average Masai female endures a circumcision ceremony by which any outsider would consider mutilation. The practice is unsanitary, and is the cause of many annual deaths of young female tribe members.
Nakenya Ntaiya has experienced this life and has overcome adversity to chase after her dream of being an educator and an activist against said practices. After almost not making it through the circumcision ceremony alive, Nakenya had an ultimatum to either become a wife and mother or to start high school which was very uncommon. After finishing high school, she was accepted to a women’s college in Virginia and had to get the tribe’s approval and support to attend, which was not an easy task. After getting the approval of sixteen male tribe members, she hits American higher education by storm and ultimately earns a masters degree in education. Nakenya has since started a girls school in the village and is making a positive impact in many student lives.
The biggest obstacle an American student has to face to attend college is finances, and most find a solution. Not attending high school isn’t even an option, and even then we take it for granted. More students, including myself, have to realize that the education we receive is a privilege beyond measure. As a future educator, I hope to instil a sense of urgency to my students so that they might not slip through the cracks like so many do. This testimony is a great one, and it’s top ten TED position is well deserved!
Arvind Gupta: Turning trash into toys for learning by: Morgan Rushlow-Braque Group
video-turning anything into a tool for learning
Arvind Gupta is a toy-maker and he is from India. He has been in the business of toy-making for more than 30 years and is making a revolution in the educational toy industry.Gupta has gone to schools and presented his learning toys; and,needless to say, they liked them. He began his career as an engineering major in college in the 1970’s-he didn’t think about making toys in college but he went to schools and saw that children wanted to make and create things and was inspired to help them by seeing this- and he started making toys for them to use to learn. He shows us in this video that you can turn anything into a learning tool. Gupta in this ted talks video takes simple things that seldom would be thought of as having but one use and makes them into something else that can be used as a teaching tool. Gupta made geometric shapes with a flexible material. He also showed how to make the shapes of a ship, a bird and a hat and other things using newspaper. He created many things with simple everyday objects that I wouldn’t of thought of as having multiple uses. Gupta shows us that almost anything can be turned into something else-one thing can have many forms. Gupta makes the quote in this ted talks video that “The best thing a child can do with a toy is to break it.” Why would he say this?Because Gupta believes that you can use any resource you have to create what it is you need to use-that means when something is broken it is still useful because you can make something else. An item that is broken can be recycled and can still be put to good use- in this case,it is used for learning.. This would teach children to be resourceful and to use what they know to create what they need. These are very useful skills for students they will need. Why does Gupta’s toys teach these things? Because they are simple toys made out of simple things that are familiar to children and when demonstrated by a teacher the students will be able to think of all the uses of the items the teacher used. These toys Gupta created came from his idea that to teach we should love others, use what they know,and what they have, to build on. He believes that when given the chance to actually have the experience with a concept they get excited about learning because they are able to see why and how the concepts they are learning about works.
“To this day… for the bullied and beautiful” Shane Koyczan by:Samantha West-Braque group
“ We are not the only ones who live like this.” This one sentence he repeated, and it is stuck in my mind. It is something to think about. Let us go back. Go back to when you were in Upper Elementary or Middle School. Who was those kids that were picked-on, bullied, and disliked? Were they you? Was you the Bully? These are the questions that went through my mind when I was watching this video. It is sad to know that our children will have to go through this. When I was younger I was never the popular kid because my parents were not rich, and I was not the prettiest girl. I did not have many friends, and it really hurt my feelings when I could not figure out why. When I got into High School, I lost a lot of weight, and was actually liked. I became the person who I had hated the most, a bully. I was so mean to some people, and later I realized what I had done. I have now apologized to every single person I was ever mean to. I thought this topic was just right for me, because I will stand up to bullying from now on. Shane spoke about being being adopted, and feeling unloved. He said he went from being sad, depressed, to wanting to kill a kid. It should not be like this. Children should not have to feel like this. Bullying is a subject that we will have to deal with for the rest of our lives. For some people dealing with it is different from others, but we are in some way affected by this terrible act. We are all beautiful in our own little way!
http://www.ted.com/playlists/124/ken_robinson_10_talks_on_educ.html
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
November C4K Posts
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Blog post 12
Samantha West, Morgan Rushlow, and Daniel LoVette
Sir Ken Robinson had many key points in his first video. He pointed out a very important key point to me, and that is ADHD. When my brother was little, he was sent to two specialists. One doctor diagnosed him with ADHD. The other said he was just a normal little boy, and he was. There was nothing wrong with him besides he didn’t want to sit in a classroom all day. They wanted to put him on medication that he did not even need. Doctors all over America are doing this now. It’s like we go straight to medication without even looking at what could be causing the problem. I find it interesting that my special education class was just speaking on this same topic Tuesday night. Do I believe our children should be drugged at such a young age? Of course I don’t. Do I think we should try every other thing in the book first? You better believe it! If nothing works should we resort to medication? That is the parent’s decision. Sir Ken Robinson and my point is how can we expect for every student to pay attention to, and I quote, “boring stuff”, when they could be watching TV, playing on their phones, ect. School is going to be boring at times, and teachers have to understand just because a child finds a subject boring does not mean they have an attention disorder.
Which leads me to another key point I would like to point out from the video. Sir Ken Robinson states, “ We shouldn’t be putting our kids asleep, we should be waking them up.” Hello! This is a wake up call to all of us soon to be teachers! He is speaking directly to us in this statement. My educational teacher always talks about how every teacher wants to teach to that perfect circle of students. Not the students that learn to fast, and not the students who learn to slow. Teachers want a class full of students that come in and understand everything on the day it is taught, and it can not be like that. We have to find a way to interest all the students, such as group learning. Group learning can keep all students busy and entertained. This keeps them from having time to act out. If you have not watch Changing Education Paradigms, Watch it. Sir Ken Robinson can teach everyone a thing or two about what should change in our educational programs.
How to Escape Education’s Death Valley
In this particular lecture, Sir Ken Robinson discusses the problems with No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and the supposedly Attention Deficiate Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) epidemic. In addition he summarizes what the role of the teacher should be in order to counteract these problems.
Being from Great Britain, Sir Robinson begins his lecture with a joke: “Before I moved to the United States, people told me that Americans didn’t get irony.” He then explains that Americans in fact do get irony and that it is visible through the education program NCLB. H says that NCLB should instead be called, “millions of children left behind.” The American classroom is changing for the worse because our dropout rate continues to rise and students are disengaged in the classroom. Sir Robinson attributes this to the natural personality of humans in that we are naturally diverse and that NCLB promotes conformity and the two cannot co-exist. I agree with this because NCLB implements standardized testing. Standardized testing should not be the main focus in education and Robinson states that they should instead be used to “support learning and diagnose.”
Sir Ken Robinson also believes that ADHD is not an epidemic. To him, children are not disengaged in the classroom because they are suffering from ADHD, they are “suffering from childhood.” This is a great point because children are not meant to sit and listen for hours at a time. They should be creating, and working through projects that are educationally fun. However, for this to happen, teachers have to change. Robinson says: “Teachers are the lifeblood of society.” Teaching should be a creative profession in which they mentor, stimulate, and engage students to promote life-long learners. instead of feeding facts to students, teachers should facilitate and let learning happen naturally.
The Importance of Creativity:
Ken Robinson in this video made a wonderful point about creativity- that we need creativity in order to discover ourselves and to figure out who we are as a person-our identity. Creativity is the key, as Ken states in this video, to being successful people but, however, as Ken states in this video creativity is not being encouraged in schools today and instead students are taking a path toward where the most money is made and what society believes is important to the economy. Ken believes students are not allowed to be creative in schools and schools kill creativity because society wants this cookie-cutter image of people and so instead of individualizing learning to each student as we should be doing, education has been designed to produce graduates in this cookie-cutter design in which all students are taught the same way-with what is believed to be the “most useful subjects” prioritized in school while creative subjects are not being prioritized. Ken believes in this video that education is teaching students to not be creative because of the idea that creativity isn’t needed in the workforce. Ken believes that students are taught today that it isn’t ok to be wrong and that it’s not ok to be their creative selves in which they have their individual talents and skills which are unique to each person. Ken believes that the education system today caters to industry demands but it should be catering to individual student needs and passions/desires. Ken believes allowing creativity is important to each students’ success and fulfillment in their lives. Ken believes that by not allowing creativity in school, many students are being left out in the system because some students’ talents are not being recognized because their talents do not lie within the frame of this cookie cutter image that is seen as desirable and important, but instead in the areas of study that are seen as less important and less desirable.
Which leads me to another key point I would like to point out from the video. Sir Ken Robinson states, “ We shouldn’t be putting our kids asleep, we should be waking them up.” Hello! This is a wake up call to all of us soon to be teachers! He is speaking directly to us in this statement. My educational teacher always talks about how every teacher wants to teach to that perfect circle of students. Not the students that learn to fast, and not the students who learn to slow. Teachers want a class full of students that come in and understand everything on the day it is taught, and it can not be like that. We have to find a way to interest all the students, such as group learning. Group learning can keep all students busy and entertained. This keeps them from having time to act out. If you have not watch Changing Education Paradigms, Watch it. Sir Ken Robinson can teach everyone a thing or two about what should change in our educational programs.
How to Escape Education’s Death Valley
In this particular lecture, Sir Ken Robinson discusses the problems with No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and the supposedly Attention Deficiate Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) epidemic. In addition he summarizes what the role of the teacher should be in order to counteract these problems.
Being from Great Britain, Sir Robinson begins his lecture with a joke: “Before I moved to the United States, people told me that Americans didn’t get irony.” He then explains that Americans in fact do get irony and that it is visible through the education program NCLB. H says that NCLB should instead be called, “millions of children left behind.” The American classroom is changing for the worse because our dropout rate continues to rise and students are disengaged in the classroom. Sir Robinson attributes this to the natural personality of humans in that we are naturally diverse and that NCLB promotes conformity and the two cannot co-exist. I agree with this because NCLB implements standardized testing. Standardized testing should not be the main focus in education and Robinson states that they should instead be used to “support learning and diagnose.”
Sir Ken Robinson also believes that ADHD is not an epidemic. To him, children are not disengaged in the classroom because they are suffering from ADHD, they are “suffering from childhood.” This is a great point because children are not meant to sit and listen for hours at a time. They should be creating, and working through projects that are educationally fun. However, for this to happen, teachers have to change. Robinson says: “Teachers are the lifeblood of society.” Teaching should be a creative profession in which they mentor, stimulate, and engage students to promote life-long learners. instead of feeding facts to students, teachers should facilitate and let learning happen naturally.
Ken Robinson in this video made a wonderful point about creativity- that we need creativity in order to discover ourselves and to figure out who we are as a person-our identity. Creativity is the key, as Ken states in this video, to being successful people but, however, as Ken states in this video creativity is not being encouraged in schools today and instead students are taking a path toward where the most money is made and what society believes is important to the economy. Ken believes students are not allowed to be creative in schools and schools kill creativity because society wants this cookie-cutter image of people and so instead of individualizing learning to each student as we should be doing, education has been designed to produce graduates in this cookie-cutter design in which all students are taught the same way-with what is believed to be the “most useful subjects” prioritized in school while creative subjects are not being prioritized. Ken believes in this video that education is teaching students to not be creative because of the idea that creativity isn’t needed in the workforce. Ken believes that students are taught today that it isn’t ok to be wrong and that it’s not ok to be their creative selves in which they have their individual talents and skills which are unique to each person. Ken believes that the education system today caters to industry demands but it should be catering to individual student needs and passions/desires. Ken believes allowing creativity is important to each students’ success and fulfillment in their lives. Ken believes that by not allowing creativity in school, many students are being left out in the system because some students’ talents are not being recognized because their talents do not lie within the frame of this cookie cutter image that is seen as desirable and important, but instead in the areas of study that are seen as less important and less desirable.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Blog post 11
Saturday, October 26, 2013
project #14
For project 14, my group member Daniel made us a website for our lesson plan!
https://sites.google.com/site/whereisourstuffmade/
https://sites.google.com/site/whereisourstuffmade/
blog post 10
On September 18, 2007, Randy Pausch delivered his last lecture that caught everyone's attention. this lecture became an internet sensation, an international media story, and even a best- selling book. Just by hearing that shows us what hard work, and the love of your career can do for you.
Mr. Pausch used his childhood goals to make his life so memorable. He used his career to help him achieve all of the goals or at least tried too. The main thing that we can learn form Mr. Pausch is to never give up. Mr. Pausch never gave up on his childhood goals nor did he give up on his life! My grandpa used to tell me, "If you don't learn something new everyday you must be dead."
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Blog Post # 9
Samantha, Daniel,& Morgan
Brian Crosby’s presentation titled Back To The Future had us wanting to re-take the fourth grade all over again. His science class at Agnes Risley Elementary in Sparks, Nevada are doing project-based learning plans infused with technology. Mr. Crosby chooses to teach by the project-based method because his students were “disconnected” and he wanted to build passion in his classroom which consisted of mostly of at-risk students. Needless to say he had his work cut out for him. Mr. Crosby showed us two lessons. One was an experiment on air pressure where the students crushed a soda by just placing it in hot water. The second and biggest experiment the class, with the help of some local professors, built an hot-air balloon rigged with a parachute and cameras to document the entire project. Since no one in the Braque group are science majors, the technical terms and standards taught in these experiments will be spared. However, we do think what the class did post-experiment was the most important. Because the hot-air balloon experiment was well documented, the students were able to write about it. Not typed in an essay, not written with pencil and paper, but blogged about. Through this students were writing to clarify and share, and writing to tell a story in which they get feedback from an authentic audience. Sharing what they have learned in this way promotes creativity, inspiration, and therefore students are able to remember content better. Crosby’s class went further than just blogging. They made wiki pages, and skyped with other classrooms all around the world. Also, through the balloon project, they created “High Hopes,” which was a blog used to connect his class to other classes around the world in order to hear other students’ hopes and life goals. Brian Crosby uses this type of educating in an effort to “quit racing kids through school.” By this approach, maybe students will use the same tools to learn when they leave the classroom.
In the second video Mr. Paul Andersen showed us the blended learning cycle and how it works. We believe this could be the best way to teach your class. He combines the blended cycle which consist of online, mobile, and classroom time with the learning cycle which allows students to explore, explain, expand, and be more engaged. Together this makes an amazing combination. This cycle could give the students more opportunities to understand the information and give teachers more time to better explain things in the classroom. Mr. Andersen’s cycle starts with a question. As future teachers we want our students attention. If we start with a question that they really do not know the answer to; they will stay focused longer knowing at the end they will get their answer. The next part is investigate. This is a helpful section because this is when the students can get into groups and work up an hypothesis. After the students investigate there is the video section. Mr. Andersen makes podcasts for his students to view. We believe podcast are very helpful when it comes to time management. The students can watch the podcasts outside of class during down time. This gives them plenty of time in class to comment and share their thoughts and concerns on the topic. Next, the students have to elaborate on what they have learned. The students can make charts or diagrams on what they believe will happen. Next come reviewing in which we think is the best part of the whole cycle. As future teachers and current students, we understand the importance of individual or group work with the teacher. This gives one on one time to answer any last minute questions that the students may have as well as gets them get ready for the summary quiz. The summary quiz is the last part of information that can help them get ready for the big test. The blended learning cycle is something that we will incorporate into our classrooms. Mr. Andersen has created something that is both helpful for the teacher and to the students which is what makes a great learning environment.
The last video discussed Mark Church, Ron Richhart and Karin Morrison’s book titled: “Making Thinking Visible”. The video showed us what it means to truly make thinking ‘visible’. According to the authors mentioned in this book,it means to have students do something that shows progress. An example of this would be, to have students put the work they have completed into a portfolio ,and later reflect back on how much more has been learned over a period of time. In order to see how their thinking has changed about the topic being discussed. It can be astonishing to look back and see how much progress has been made after a long period of time, especially when reflecting on your own work. In other words, making thinking ‘visible’means, at least in the context of what this book is saying, means to be creative in your teaching strategies when teaching and let students create through being engaged in the learning process. The simplest way of doing this may be to have the students write down what something means to them now and then think back on the work later when the class comes back to it either in a project or a discussion about what should be changed about their original thought. In this video that is exactly what happened. A teacher told students to attach a thought as groups to a piece of paper, about a topic they were given to address and they would look back at it later on and think about what they think their thought should actually should be after some time of reflection. This is what Dr. Strange asks us to do with our work as students in EDM 310 and we believe this is a very important part of the learning process- reflection. Why is reflection so important? It not only helps students to improve but it also helps them to see how far they have come with their learning. We believe this is real authentic assessment and it shows much more of what was learned than a test can show. This is something that all educators in the 21st century must be ready to incorporate into their classrooms.
Brian Crosby’s presentation titled Back To The Future had us wanting to re-take the fourth grade all over again. His science class at Agnes Risley Elementary in Sparks, Nevada are doing project-based learning plans infused with technology. Mr. Crosby chooses to teach by the project-based method because his students were “disconnected” and he wanted to build passion in his classroom which consisted of mostly of at-risk students. Needless to say he had his work cut out for him. Mr. Crosby showed us two lessons. One was an experiment on air pressure where the students crushed a soda by just placing it in hot water. The second and biggest experiment the class, with the help of some local professors, built an hot-air balloon rigged with a parachute and cameras to document the entire project. Since no one in the Braque group are science majors, the technical terms and standards taught in these experiments will be spared. However, we do think what the class did post-experiment was the most important. Because the hot-air balloon experiment was well documented, the students were able to write about it. Not typed in an essay, not written with pencil and paper, but blogged about. Through this students were writing to clarify and share, and writing to tell a story in which they get feedback from an authentic audience. Sharing what they have learned in this way promotes creativity, inspiration, and therefore students are able to remember content better. Crosby’s class went further than just blogging. They made wiki pages, and skyped with other classrooms all around the world. Also, through the balloon project, they created “High Hopes,” which was a blog used to connect his class to other classes around the world in order to hear other students’ hopes and life goals. Brian Crosby uses this type of educating in an effort to “quit racing kids through school.” By this approach, maybe students will use the same tools to learn when they leave the classroom.
In the second video Mr. Paul Andersen showed us the blended learning cycle and how it works. We believe this could be the best way to teach your class. He combines the blended cycle which consist of online, mobile, and classroom time with the learning cycle which allows students to explore, explain, expand, and be more engaged. Together this makes an amazing combination. This cycle could give the students more opportunities to understand the information and give teachers more time to better explain things in the classroom. Mr. Andersen’s cycle starts with a question. As future teachers we want our students attention. If we start with a question that they really do not know the answer to; they will stay focused longer knowing at the end they will get their answer. The next part is investigate. This is a helpful section because this is when the students can get into groups and work up an hypothesis. After the students investigate there is the video section. Mr. Andersen makes podcasts for his students to view. We believe podcast are very helpful when it comes to time management. The students can watch the podcasts outside of class during down time. This gives them plenty of time in class to comment and share their thoughts and concerns on the topic. Next, the students have to elaborate on what they have learned. The students can make charts or diagrams on what they believe will happen. Next come reviewing in which we think is the best part of the whole cycle. As future teachers and current students, we understand the importance of individual or group work with the teacher. This gives one on one time to answer any last minute questions that the students may have as well as gets them get ready for the summary quiz. The summary quiz is the last part of information that can help them get ready for the big test. The blended learning cycle is something that we will incorporate into our classrooms. Mr. Andersen has created something that is both helpful for the teacher and to the students which is what makes a great learning environment.
The last video discussed Mark Church, Ron Richhart and Karin Morrison’s book titled: “Making Thinking Visible”. The video showed us what it means to truly make thinking ‘visible’. According to the authors mentioned in this book,it means to have students do something that shows progress. An example of this would be, to have students put the work they have completed into a portfolio ,and later reflect back on how much more has been learned over a period of time. In order to see how their thinking has changed about the topic being discussed. It can be astonishing to look back and see how much progress has been made after a long period of time, especially when reflecting on your own work. In other words, making thinking ‘visible’means, at least in the context of what this book is saying, means to be creative in your teaching strategies when teaching and let students create through being engaged in the learning process. The simplest way of doing this may be to have the students write down what something means to them now and then think back on the work later when the class comes back to it either in a project or a discussion about what should be changed about their original thought. In this video that is exactly what happened. A teacher told students to attach a thought as groups to a piece of paper, about a topic they were given to address and they would look back at it later on and think about what they think their thought should actually should be after some time of reflection. This is what Dr. Strange asks us to do with our work as students in EDM 310 and we believe this is a very important part of the learning process- reflection. Why is reflection so important? It not only helps students to improve but it also helps them to see how far they have come with their learning. We believe this is real authentic assessment and it shows much more of what was learned than a test can show. This is something that all educators in the 21st century must be ready to incorporate into their classrooms.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Blog Post 8
Envision Education
Envision Schools' focus is on helping the students to master their academic, and also be able to apply their knowledge to other situations. A good example of this is Project Based Learning, which I find highly educational. I would use Project based learning in my classroom of high schoolers because when it comes to projects it does not matter how old the child is they will still enjoy it. I want to be a high school teacher. I believe a good project for Seniors might be a type of internship at a job which they are going to school to be. This would not only give employers some extra helping hands, it would give the students a chance to get hands on and decide if this is the career they really want to go into. Being able to solve real world problems is just as important than knowing all the facts about the world.
The Flipped Classroom
Samantha West
The flipped classroom is by far my favorite out of the ordinary class. "Why I Flipped My Classroom" explains the concept well. I have always thought that breaking the class into smaller groups would benefit the whole class. This is an activity you can do with any age group. The students learn some before they even come into the classroom. It is their responsibility to watch the videos the teacher makes in advance for them. This is helpful for the teachers as well because it shows them who care and who does not. I will break my students into groups such as this because I believe that closer one on one time is better. Dr. Lodge McCammon developed "Fizz" the flipped classroom, and he teaches the other teachers about the information so that all teachers can use this system. The Flipped Classroom could work in any type of class. I believe it could work even as a coach. In football we see different positions do different workouts. We are just taking this basic concept and putting it into the classrooms.
Envision Schools' focus is on helping the students to master their academic, and also be able to apply their knowledge to other situations. A good example of this is Project Based Learning, which I find highly educational. I would use Project based learning in my classroom of high schoolers because when it comes to projects it does not matter how old the child is they will still enjoy it. I want to be a high school teacher. I believe a good project for Seniors might be a type of internship at a job which they are going to school to be. This would not only give employers some extra helping hands, it would give the students a chance to get hands on and decide if this is the career they really want to go into. Being able to solve real world problems is just as important than knowing all the facts about the world.
The Flipped Classroom
Samantha West
The flipped classroom is by far my favorite out of the ordinary class. "Why I Flipped My Classroom" explains the concept well. I have always thought that breaking the class into smaller groups would benefit the whole class. This is an activity you can do with any age group. The students learn some before they even come into the classroom. It is their responsibility to watch the videos the teacher makes in advance for them. This is helpful for the teachers as well because it shows them who care and who does not. I will break my students into groups such as this because I believe that closer one on one time is better. Dr. Lodge McCammon developed "Fizz" the flipped classroom, and he teaches the other teachers about the information so that all teachers can use this system. The Flipped Classroom could work in any type of class. I believe it could work even as a coach. In football we see different positions do different workouts. We are just taking this basic concept and putting it into the classrooms.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Blog Post # 7
By: Samantha West, Javious Williams, and Orlando Nieto
Group Blog
The videos for blog post number seven was anything but boring. We found that the project based videos were quite interesting. Watching the videos was like being able to watch a radio station morning show. Anthony Capps had a great description of Project Based Learning. We could also tell that he was interested and excited about being able to do the projects with his students. We found the project were the children had to research and learn about Iraq the most interesting. Mr. Capps actually let a student change his topic because a parent did not like the other topic. That shows that the teacher is willing to work with the parents and that they are not just by standards. Mr. Capps could really teach other teachers on what should be going on in the classrooms. His students are learning creatively and in their own way. When a student learns in Project Based form he or she can use the information for the rest of their lives other than just for the test. To have a teacher like him is what every parents wishes for at the beginning of the year.
Samantha West
Anthony-Strange tips for teachers list
The many tips that I was giving were really good tips. I knew they were going to be before I even watched the video because I had two really good teachers who was doing the video. The first tip was that you have to be willing to learn. This is so true. You can never expect your students to learn anything new if you yourself are not. Showing your students that you are interested in a new fact lets them see that they are just the students but you are too. The second tip is that you have to learn to be flexible. So the internet is down on lab day, is the whole class period ruined? NO, be flexible, be creative, and above all do not be boring! The third tip was that being a teacher is hard work, but it is worth it. This tip I already knew! I know that the work is never really done when it comes to being a teacher, but the reward is so much greater. Always start with an end goal in mind. What a great tip! If you never think things through more than likely things are not going to work out correctly. Also, if you set a class goal to reach by the end of the year or semester, the students are more interested in what you have to say and are excited about upcoming projects.
Group Blog
The videos for blog post number seven was anything but boring. We found that the project based videos were quite interesting. Watching the videos was like being able to watch a radio station morning show. Anthony Capps had a great description of Project Based Learning. We could also tell that he was interested and excited about being able to do the projects with his students. We found the project were the children had to research and learn about Iraq the most interesting. Mr. Capps actually let a student change his topic because a parent did not like the other topic. That shows that the teacher is willing to work with the parents and that they are not just by standards. Mr. Capps could really teach other teachers on what should be going on in the classrooms. His students are learning creatively and in their own way. When a student learns in Project Based form he or she can use the information for the rest of their lives other than just for the test. To have a teacher like him is what every parents wishes for at the beginning of the year.
Samantha West
Anthony-Strange tips for teachers list
The many tips that I was giving were really good tips. I knew they were going to be before I even watched the video because I had two really good teachers who was doing the video. The first tip was that you have to be willing to learn. This is so true. You can never expect your students to learn anything new if you yourself are not. Showing your students that you are interested in a new fact lets them see that they are just the students but you are too. The second tip is that you have to learn to be flexible. So the internet is down on lab day, is the whole class period ruined? NO, be flexible, be creative, and above all do not be boring! The third tip was that being a teacher is hard work, but it is worth it. This tip I already knew! I know that the work is never really done when it comes to being a teacher, but the reward is so much greater. Always start with an end goal in mind. What a great tip! If you never think things through more than likely things are not going to work out correctly. Also, if you set a class goal to reach by the end of the year or semester, the students are more interested in what you have to say and are excited about upcoming projects.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Blog Post #4
Podcasting
Podcasting is an interesting new way to put a twist on just writing a paper or blog. A podcast can make things more exciting. I think podcast would work great for elementary children. A young child could have a short attention span, and will get tired of reading over and over again. If the class reads a story then does a podcast on it, it helps the children to enjoy the story better. Plus, they are looking forward to participating in something fun! The podcast can also help with skills such as listening, speaking, presenting, and even technology.
The first video i listen to was "Podcasting with 1st Graders". The children did a podcast on a book they read in class, "Vacation Under the Volcano". I could hear all the different children in the podcast, and they were all unique.I could tell they worked really hard.
The second podcast listen to was the "Flat Stanley Podcast". The children did their podcast on the children story Flat Stanley. The children picked a place they would like to visit, and had to bring information on the place to class. On the podcast the children were mailed off to the place of their choosing. This podcast helped the children learn about different places of the world. It also gave them a chance to travel without even leaving the classroom. The third video i watched was " Listening-Comprehension podcasting". The students were learning about the story of Purim. They were taught a couple phrases from the Hebrew language to say during the podcasting. This is great that the students get to learn something so unique. They might not ever use this again, but they will never forget that in second grade they learned Hebrew. I believe podcast are great! they make things so interesting for the students, and I can not wait to start using them with my own students.
The first video i listen to was "Podcasting with 1st Graders". The children did a podcast on a book they read in class, "Vacation Under the Volcano". I could hear all the different children in the podcast, and they were all unique.I could tell they worked really hard.
The second podcast listen to was the "Flat Stanley Podcast". The children did their podcast on the children story Flat Stanley. The children picked a place they would like to visit, and had to bring information on the place to class. On the podcast the children were mailed off to the place of their choosing. This podcast helped the children learn about different places of the world. It also gave them a chance to travel without even leaving the classroom. The third video i watched was " Listening-Comprehension podcasting". The students were learning about the story of Purim. They were taught a couple phrases from the Hebrew language to say during the podcasting. This is great that the students get to learn something so unique. They might not ever use this again, but they will never forget that in second grade they learned Hebrew. I believe podcast are great! they make things so interesting for the students, and I can not wait to start using them with my own students.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Blog Post 3
Peer Editing
I am a timid person when it comes to telling someone the honest truth. Especially, if it could possibly hurt their feelings. Peer editing has always been a hard task for me. I have never learned the proper information to help another student with an assignment. I always have a partner that is like a "Defensive Dave" or a "Whatever William". These two types of students can be the most difficult to please, and it makes the job that much harder. The three stages of giving an informative, helpful, but also polite feedback, are going to help me to honestly critique my classmates blogs.
The first stage of the comment should be a compliment. A compliment could be, " I love your topic sentence", " I love your choice of words in your second paragraph.", or it could even be ," You have great information in your paper". Any type of compliment is great to start with. It shows that we are not trying to be rude or unhelpful. The second stage is to suggestion something helpful to their information. Anything that another classmate suggests for me to do for my blog, I would do. I want the best grade that I can get in the class, and I know my other classmates feel the same way about their grade. The last stage is correction. This is where "Defensive Dave" could come into affect. Everyone will take being corrected differently, Some students, such as myself, take it in pride, and thank their classmate for the help. Others, take having a couple spelling errors as an insult, but it is the group members job to help each other make the best grade possible. The two videos and short slide show taught me how to help my classmates in the correct form.
I am a timid person when it comes to telling someone the honest truth. Especially, if it could possibly hurt their feelings. Peer editing has always been a hard task for me. I have never learned the proper information to help another student with an assignment. I always have a partner that is like a "Defensive Dave" or a "Whatever William". These two types of students can be the most difficult to please, and it makes the job that much harder. The three stages of giving an informative, helpful, but also polite feedback, are going to help me to honestly critique my classmates blogs.
The first stage of the comment should be a compliment. A compliment could be, " I love your topic sentence", " I love your choice of words in your second paragraph.", or it could even be ," You have great information in your paper". Any type of compliment is great to start with. It shows that we are not trying to be rude or unhelpful. The second stage is to suggestion something helpful to their information. Anything that another classmate suggests for me to do for my blog, I would do. I want the best grade that I can get in the class, and I know my other classmates feel the same way about their grade. The last stage is correction. This is where "Defensive Dave" could come into affect. Everyone will take being corrected differently, Some students, such as myself, take it in pride, and thank their classmate for the help. Others, take having a couple spelling errors as an insult, but it is the group members job to help each other make the best grade possible. The two videos and short slide show taught me how to help my classmates in the correct form.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Blog Post 2
" Teaching in the 21st Century"
Samantha West
The Video “ Teaching in the 21st Century” had many good points in it. How will teaching in the 21st century be? That is a good question to ask. We can see how far we have come today from when they first started teaching, and we think that we are doing good where we are. The video pointed out many websites that students can use to get information or help with their lessons. Such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Bing just to name a few. When I first heard this I thought that it would never work, but now I have noticed that if you do not have any other information you can always check Facebook or Twitter to possibly get an answer.
The video also points out everything we can do with the internet. I do not know a child twelve years of age and older who does not have a cell phone, laptop, or a type of tablet. With any of these devices they can browse the internet , and make better grades while doing it. They can do extra- curricular activities for class. Such as experiments, twittering, and blogs just to name a few. The down side to all this freedom is the students taking advantage of the internet. there will be that one student that will plagiarize, copyright, and slander, but should we take it away from all the students then, no. The use of the internet in school in this way could be missed used, but it is our responsibility to teach our students right from wrong.
The last thing in the video that really spoke to me was the difference from entertainment and engagement. “Entertainment is passive, engagement is active”. This is very true. When I think of the word entertain I think of a get together or a party. We always want to entertain our guest. The video states that entertainment is short-term like the party I mentioned. Our guest would stay for a little while and then they would go home. Engagement is long-term. We want our students to leave the class and go home still talking about the topic discussed. The video was not what I was expecting at all, but it was interesting. It really opened up my eyes and helped me see what I should be teaching in the classroom.
Group Member Javious Williams " The Network Student"
My reaction from the video “The Networked Student”, is that this course is more of a independent learning course, which requires students to learn and teach themselves as much as possible and use critical thinking skills. The Network Student course is similar to the EDM310 course that I am currently taking because it is a blended course which means students attend class on certain days and the other days students complete their assignments through the internet. Any student who take courses similar to EDM310 or Networked course must be computer literate and allow as much time as possible to learn, study, and complete assignments on time.
Another thing I noticed about “The Networking Student” video is that the teacher almost never lectures, so majority of the assignments are done through some type of technology networking source. In the video “The Networking Students”, the teacher is a student connectivism, a theory that learning occurs apart of a social network of many diverse connections. The teacher in this course empowers her students to take control of their own learning and make new connections with others strengthening the learning process. Overall I think the purpose of this course is to require students to think and be independent educational learners, therefore once they become teachers in the 21st century they will know how to teach their own students and answer any question the students may have.
To sum up the question “why does the networked student even need a teacher?”, is because the teacher is the one who teaches the students how to build the network and take advantage of learning opportunities. The teacher offer guidance when the students get stuck, show students how to communicate properly and ask respectfully for help from experts, and teach students how to differentiate between good and bad information. I really feel that classes similar to the class in the video is a very helpful way to teach students because it allows them to use critical thinking and problem solving.
The third member of our group had not done his assignment by this time, so I am unable to post what his thoughts are. I am going out of town for a couple days with no internet access so I have to publish my blog post early. Sorry for the complications.
The Video “ Teaching in the 21st Century” had many good points in it. How will teaching in the 21st century be? That is a good question to ask. We can see how far we have come today from when they first started teaching, and we think that we are doing good where we are. The video pointed out many websites that students can use to get information or help with their lessons. Such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Bing just to name a few. When I first heard this I thought that it would never work, but now I have noticed that if you do not have any other information you can always check Facebook or Twitter to possibly get an answer.
The video also points out everything we can do with the internet. I do not know a child twelve years of age and older who does not have a cell phone, laptop, or a type of tablet. With any of these devices they can browse the internet , and make better grades while doing it. They can do extra- curricular activities for class. Such as experiments, twittering, and blogs just to name a few. The down side to all this freedom is the students taking advantage of the internet. there will be that one student that will plagiarize, copyright, and slander, but should we take it away from all the students then, no. The use of the internet in school in this way could be missed used, but it is our responsibility to teach our students right from wrong.
The last thing in the video that really spoke to me was the difference from entertainment and engagement. “Entertainment is passive, engagement is active”. This is very true. When I think of the word entertain I think of a get together or a party. We always want to entertain our guest. The video states that entertainment is short-term like the party I mentioned. Our guest would stay for a little while and then they would go home. Engagement is long-term. We want our students to leave the class and go home still talking about the topic discussed. The video was not what I was expecting at all, but it was interesting. It really opened up my eyes and helped me see what I should be teaching in the classroom.
Group Member Javious Williams " The Network Student"
My reaction from the video “The Networked Student”, is that this course is more of a independent learning course, which requires students to learn and teach themselves as much as possible and use critical thinking skills. The Network Student course is similar to the EDM310 course that I am currently taking because it is a blended course which means students attend class on certain days and the other days students complete their assignments through the internet. Any student who take courses similar to EDM310 or Networked course must be computer literate and allow as much time as possible to learn, study, and complete assignments on time.
Another thing I noticed about “The Networking Student” video is that the teacher almost never lectures, so majority of the assignments are done through some type of technology networking source. In the video “The Networking Students”, the teacher is a student connectivism, a theory that learning occurs apart of a social network of many diverse connections. The teacher in this course empowers her students to take control of their own learning and make new connections with others strengthening the learning process. Overall I think the purpose of this course is to require students to think and be independent educational learners, therefore once they become teachers in the 21st century they will know how to teach their own students and answer any question the students may have.
To sum up the question “why does the networked student even need a teacher?”, is because the teacher is the one who teaches the students how to build the network and take advantage of learning opportunities. The teacher offer guidance when the students get stuck, show students how to communicate properly and ask respectfully for help from experts, and teach students how to differentiate between good and bad information. I really feel that classes similar to the class in the video is a very helpful way to teach students because it allows them to use critical thinking and problem solving.
The third member of our group had not done his assignment by this time, so I am unable to post what his thoughts are. I am going out of town for a couple days with no internet access so I have to publish my blog post early. Sorry for the complications.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Activity 5 The Flipped Coach
The Flipped Coach
The Flipped Coach was an interesting video to watch. At first I thought it was going to be a little like Mr. Dancealot, but later I started to understand his reasons for doing it. He would make a video of the sport they would be learning to play that week in class. To save time the students watch the videos then come to class ready to fully learn with already a grasp on the game. Schools are only allowing one hour for P.E. courses now for students. With these videos it can save time teaching every student how to play and more time out there playing.
Mr. Dancealot
Mr. Dancealot
The video Mr. Dancealot is humorous to me. It proves a point that everything can not be taught in a lecture. As a student wanting to be a health teacher I can not agree more with this video. The teacher can stand up in front of the class and teach the rules and regulations of dancing , but no one in the class will ever be able to dance. As a teacher you have to instruct the students on how to do the proper techniques. As a child I was always told practice makes perfect. I could study a dance all I wanted to , but when it came time for the test I would never be able to stand up and do it. Just like the students in this video. Some subjects are just better if we teach the student skills not facts.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
blog post 1
Krissy Venosdale's description of her school in one word, expensive. The school she wants to build would be an amazing school. It would have all the technology in it and resources that a student would need to succeed. I would love to go to a school like that. Krissy seems like a reader to me. Everyone builds things around things they love. She spoke about nooks, and comfy seats, and also a tree house. These things are all somewhere I would go to catch up on some good reading. I love how this is all about the students and their learning to her.
Sugata Mitra is a great speaker. He really got me thinking about what are we doing with our lives and technology. He does think that the way we do school right now, is outdated and need a change, but look at me right now. I am doing my homework and school work, in my room, and I do not have to even get up.
My classroom will be different. We are in the 21st century right now. I do not have one class that I go into that someone does not pull out their laptop to view notes, study homework, or just surf the web. I hope my classroom never really gets to that. I have no problem with students using there products to help, but some class just does not need them. I will be teaching High School Health education. This is a class that a student should learn about their body type and how to live a healthy life. I decided to become a health teacher because I did not more and more people to think that as long as I go out and play dodgeball or table tennis, that they are healthy. I believe in getting up and getting active.
What do i want my students to know?
I would love for my students to leave my class each time knowing a little more about their body and what they can do to live a long and healthy life.
what do I want my students to do?
I want my students to be able to walk around the school without feeling like they are going to pass out. I also want my students to be able to choose for themselves a healthy choice of food for lunch or for their snack.
what will be my primary way of teaching my students what I want them to know and do?
I would start off by making myself a prime example. It would not prove anything to tell students to eat healthy and take care of their bodies if I did not do the same. I would also let them know that I am always there for any questions or concerns. One thing that always helps me, is to set goals. I can set a goal for the whole class that way everyone can help everyone, like a group project.
what tools will I use in my classroom?
I would a BMI machine. We could also our on bodies. health is all about the body so locating muscles and bones and being able to see or feel them would be helpful.
what role will students play in my classroom?
My students will play a huge role. they will do 90% of the work in the class. I believe that hands on work is the best way to learn. We can stare at our teacher all day long, and not learn a thing , but as soon as we stand up and start really thinking about where our hamstring is that is when school is not just boring school, things get fun!
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
My test post title
this is my first post. I clicked the HTML button which I should always do in EDM310. I am now a blogger!
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