Blog #6

Anthony Capps is a former EDM 310 student who now teaches third grade at Gulf Shores Elementary School and uses what he learned in EDM 310 in his classroom. Prior to this assignment, I thought I understood the importance of Project Based Learning (PBL), but I learned a lot from the videos Project Based Learning Part 1 and Project Based Learning Part 2. I learned that PBL is an actual learning process rather than a test of what the students have learned. Mr. Capps also mentions how the projects sometimes meet several of the requirements that he must meet for state standards. I personally think that Common Core really limits how creative we can be in the classroom, so I definitely think that PBL is a great way to meet standards, inspire creativity, and allow student-student/student-teacher interaction all at the same time. I also learned how important it is to get feedback from the students. In the video, Mr. Capps mentions that he records his students' feedback so that he can continue to appeal to their taste, which is a really good idea. It is important to create projects that appeal to them in order to keep them interested.

Project #8 Book Trailer

September C4K Summary

I had to read some very interesting blogs for my C4K assignments this month. The three blogs were all very different, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading each one of them.

The first student that I was assigned to was Marama, a seventh grader from PT England school in New Zealand. Her blog post was about the dangers of drinking alcohol and doing drugs. She was very informative in addressing the subject and gave factual information to back up her words. She also made sure to mention how dangerous these things can be and that you should never do them. In my comment, I told her that I learned a lot about how harmful these things really are from her post. I also told her that I completely agreed that doing these things are extremely bad for you and that you should avoid them at all costs.

The second student that I was assigned to was Elliot, a student in Mrs. Horst's class. The post that I read was about Dot Day, which I had never heard of before. He expressed how excited he was that it was finally Dot Day by saying that it was "a whale of a time". He also shared his artwork from Dot Day; it was a picture of a minion from Despicable Me created entirely from dots. In my comment, I told him how neat I thought Dot Day was. I also told him that I enjoyed his artwork and that I love minions. I really enjoyed the enthusiasm that he expressed in his post. Here is the picture that Elliot shared on his blog:

The last student that I was assigned to was Brayden, a fifth grade student from Connecticut. This was Brayden's very first blog post, and he gave a lot of details about himself. He said that he loves purple and blue, cats and dogs, and video games. In my comment, I expressed that we have a lot in common. I told him that I also love the color purple and that I love animals as well. I also mentioned how much I love video games, especially on the Playstation and the Wii.

Project #3 Presentation

Blog #5

Prior to this class, I had never even heard of a Personal Learning Network (PLN). A PLN is a set of tools and people that you can turn to when in need of assistance. As teachers, we will not know everything, and we will have to call upon others for help throughout the years. If you have a PLN set up, it is very easy to get assistance. The first step in building a PLN includes finding people that you believe will be beneficial to you. Once you find someone who appeals to you, you can find even more people by seeing who he/she interacts with. Another important step in building your PLN is finding tools and resources, such as websites and blogs, that will be useful in your future endeavors.

I have found Symbaloo to be very useful, and I used this resource to begin building my very own PLN. This tool allows you to access the websites that you use most frequently all from one place. You create "tiles" for the websites that you visit most often and arrange them however you would like. Now Twitter, USA Online, and other websites that I visit on a daily basis are all available at once source. I have also thought about people who would be beneficial to include in my PLN. I think that my teachers, past and present, would be great to include in my network. Education instructors such as Dr. Strange would be good to include because he has an abundance of resources and knowledge about being an educator, and my elementary and middle school teachers would be good to include because they have spent many years working with the age range that I hope to work with one day. I am very glad that we have learned about this concept, and I cannot wait to use my PLN in the future. I know that it will only continue to grow in the future.

My Sentence Videos

My Sentence is...


My Passion is...

C4T #1

My first C4T assignment required me to read and comment on posts from educator Annie Palmer's blog Breaking Education Barriers. The two posts that I read were very interesting and will be very helpful to me in my future classroom.

Comment #1:

The first post that I read and commented on was titled Feedback: Lessons from the Ball Field. In this post, Palmer makes a lot of comparisons between her time in the classroom and her time on the softball fields as a young adult. She first explains the importance of giving specific, verbal feedback rather than just a score. She says that scores indicate that the learning is done and that there is no room for improvement. Next, she says how crucial it is to keep feedback and praise separate in the classroom; she does so by expressing that praising students affects their self-esteem rather than their level of achievement. Her final point in this post includes her expressing how important it is to constantly give feedback during the learning process instead of just providing it at the end.

In my comment, I focused on the first two points that she made in her post. I agreed with her about how important it is to give verbal feedback rather than just an end-result score because there is always room for improvement. As far as her second point goes, I told her that I had never really thought about it much before. I said that I have always found it to be very important to praise students, but after reading her words on how praise should be kept separate from feedback, I completely feel the same way. Her words from this post will definitely help me tremendously in my future classroom.

Comment #2:
So, How DO You Teach Fluency? was the second post of Palmer's that I read and commented on. This post focuses on the importance of fluency instruction in the classroom. She also explains how important it is for teachers to have resources to help them teach fluency in their own classrooms. She then provides the reader with several different resources including articles, videos, and lists of books.

In my comment, I expressed my interest in her post and told her how helpful the resources will be in my future classroom. I mentioned that I was particularly pleased with a video that she shared titled Foundational Reading Skills: Fluency (K-2). I told her that I hope to be able to teach that age range one day and that I loved the ideas that the video provided. The video mostly focuses on the use of songs in teaching fluency, which I told her I thought was an excellent idea. I think that this post will also be extremely helpful for me in my future classroom.

Project #15

I always automatically use Google any time that I need to look up information. Although I was familiar with other search engines prior to this assignment, I definitely feel better acquainted with them and now know which one to use and when.

Craigslist: Craigslist is a very commonly used search engine. On this website, people can post things that they are trying to sell or search for items that they are looking to purchase. There is also a section that lists countless job opportunities in your area. Although this website is sometimes made out to be sketchy, I think it is a very good search engine for these purposes.

Dogpile: This is just a basic search engine used to find any information. The results come from other search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com. I would personally rather just go straight to the source, but this search engine gets the job done nonetheless.

Indeed: Indeed is a search engine created for people who are in need of a job. You simply type in what kind of job you are seeking and your location and it provides you with pages of different job opportunities. It gives you the name of the company, a description of the position they are looking to fulfill, contact information, and a link to the application. It is definitely a useful search engine for anyone looking for a career in any field.

Ixquick: Ixquick claims to be the most private search engine. They hold up to this standard by not recording IP addresses, not sharing personal data with any third party, and not storing any of your searches or data. Although I am personally not concerned with these things, this search engine is definitely good for anyone who is very concerned with their privacy.

Mapquest: This is a search engine that almost everyone is familiar with. Whether you are traveling a long distance or just need directions to somewhere around town, Mapquest gives you specific directions to wherever you need to go. You can search for places by typing in specific addressees or names of businesses. This search engine is useful for pretty much anyone who drives and at any point needs to know how to get somewhere.

Nextag: Nextag is a search engine used for shopping. It has a price comparison tool that allows you to see which website has whatever you are looking for at the best price. It also makes suggestions of what to buy based on what is popular and what other people are purchasing.

WebMD: WebMD is a medical search engine that includes a symptom checker, a list of common conditions, tips on how to lead a healthy life, and more. It is an extremely convenient way for people to keep up with their health. It is a useful search engine for anyone.

WolframAlpha: This search engine is unlike any other I have used before. It is similar to Google in that it can provide you with almost any piece of information; however, I actually like it a lot better than Google, because rather than just giving you links to choose from, it goes above and beyond to answer your question in detail. It also assists in solving almost any kind of math problem, which is definitely a useful feature.

Blog #4

I think that it is very important for students to ask questions in the classroom, but I have never really thought about how important it is for teachers to ask questions as well. After reading the articles and watching the videos, however, I understand that it is crucial to do so. I definitely learned a lot from the article The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom. This article explains that it is important to ask questions in order to ensure that your students are understanding the material being taught to them. After reading this article, I realize that the commonly used question "Does everybody understand?" is not a good question to ask. Even if the students respond to this question with "yes", there is no way to know if they actually understand or if they are just complying because they do not care or are too embarrassed to say no. This is why it is important to ask specific, open-ended questions about the material to make sure that everyone is actually understanding. The video Asking Better Questions in the Classroom taught me a lot about the importance of using open-ended questions rather than close-ended questions. Close-ended questions are simple, because they usually just require a "yes" or "no" response. Open-ended questions, however, require students to actually think and elaborate more with their response. By hearing a detailed response rather than a simple "yes" or "no", you can really see whether or not they are actually grasping the material being taught to them.

I have really learned a lot from this assignment, and I will definitely use these techniques and keep these things in mind in my future classroom.

Blog #3

English has always been my favorite subject and I have had numerous teachers in the past who were huge advocates of peer editing, so I have a lot of experience with it. Since I am already very familiar with this, the videos and slideshow did not necessarily teach me anything new. They did, however, remind me of a few things to be mindful of when editing someone else's paper.

I have always been told that one of the most important things to remember while peer editing is to be kind with your criticism. The slideshow Peer Edit with Perfection reiterated this by expressing that giving compliments is one of the most important parts of peer editing. I always make sure to give a compliment with every critique that I make while editing someone's paper. If you strictly make negative comments and point out what is wrong, the recipient of the feedback will more than likely get their feelings hurt. The point of peer editing is to help, so not pointing out the good parts of the paper can be very discouraging. By saying something like "You make a very good point with this paragraph, but you may want to word the opening sentence a little differently," you are pointing out what needs work and giving a compliment all at the same time. It is also very important to be specific when giving feedback rather than making vague statements. If you were to simply say that some paragraphs need work, the author would have no clue how to improve his/her writing. You must use specific details about which sentences or paragraphs need improvement and why.

I think that using kind and encouraging words along with your criticism/suggestions and providing specific details on which areas need improvement makes for successful peer editing. I will definitely teach my future students to peer edit this way.