EDM 310 Final Reflection

Project 12B

Blog Post #5 Part B

ATTN: This blog post is a continuation of blog post 5.

"My PLN"
Throughout my semester in EDM 310, I have built up a vast personal learning network. I can mainly accredit this success to Twitter. Through the use of twitter's features such as "retweet," I have found so many different teachers across the world who provide ideas for everything needed in the classroom. I have kept track of a lot of my network through pinning blogs, twitter accounts, and websites to Pinterest. I like using Pinterest to track because it will suggest things to "pin" based on my personal boards. I have found resources such as teaching materials, teacher blogs, classroom blogs, twitter accounts, and even "teacher outfits!"

C4K #6

#1Henly H.
Henly's blog post was from the Bible. This post was about forgiveness and gratefulness, through a story about Jonah. While Henly did not completely grasp what the story was about, she still provided great input on what she thought it was about! Either way, she did find a great moral in the story. I commented along with her teacher explaining what I thought the story was about, in addition to my opinion on the moral she came across!

#2Dakota
Dakota's post was his bucket list. I told him that I share many of his bucket list items in my bucket. He has great goals such as graduating, getting married, and having children. I told him that my favorite task on his list was to visit Alaska, since that is something I have always wanted to do.

#3.Henly H.
Henly's blog post was regarding her spring break. She told her readers all about her skiing trip she took with her friends. I told Henly about our rainy Mobile spring break, and how I miss going skiing over break when I was in high school.

Blog Post #13

Apps for the Classroom (Research 5 apps that will help teachers and students to be more effective in the elementary classroom.)

My top 5:

1. Quizlet

Quizlet is an app that is available not only on your phone, but on your computer as well. While most students in college use this app for cramming for tests, it can very easily and effectively be incorporated into the classroom. One way I have found it useful is for sight words. On the app, you can type in words on one side of a digital flash card, and a definition on the other. I used this in tutoring by putting a sight word on one side and a sentence using the sight word on the other side. The great part is, when the students get home, they can log on using their parents' phone to independently study. (Fun fact: The student can also click "read aloud" so the app will tell the student what the word is if they are having trouble.)

2. Scholastic Book Wizard

Scholastic Book Wizard is a great app for AR/STAR reading. With this app, teachers and students can scan the barcode on the back of the book, and receive a quick glance at what the book is about, who it might interest, the grade-equivalent level, the guided reading level, and the AR level. 

3. Stack the States

One of the most nerve-wracking homework assignments for a parent seems to be when it comes time for their child to memorize the 50 states and their capitals. Using "Stack the States" students can practice the name, geographic location, and capitals of all 50 states through fun games and activities. 

4. My Math Flash Cards

My math flash cards appeals to the student who prefers digital worksheets as opposed to paper ones. With My Math Flash Cards, students can practice their time tables with the convenience of digital, immediate answers. 

5. Class Dojo

Class Dojo is a GREAT app for parent-teacher communication. Similar to a "group message" teachers can send out updates, homework, or simply words of encouragement. This also provides parents with an easy way to get in touch with the teacher when email isn't effective. 

Blog Post # 12

Assistive Technology

C4T #3

IMG SRC: DML CENTRAL

DML Central-Howard Rheingold

For C4T #3 I commented on two blog posts by Howard Rheingold of DML Central.

For the first post, Rheingold wrote a post called "Our Common Core." In this post he analyzed the structure of the way educators teach, assess, and review. He also reviewed the "6 assumptions" made in the Postman Program:  “(1) that learning takes place best not when conceived as a preparation for life but when it occurs in the context of actually living, (2) that each learner ultimately must organize his own learning in his own way, (3) that problems and personal interests rather than subjects are a more realistic structure by which to organize learning experiences, (4) that students are capable of directly and authentically participating in the intellectual and social life of their community, (5) that they should do so, and (6) that the community badly needs them.” In my comment I provided my own insight on the 6 assuptions: "I am especially fond of the 6 assumptions. More specifically, "that problems and personal interests rather than subjects are a more realistic structure by which to organize learning experiences." I found this one particularly interesting because it is completely true. I always found it easier to do my work in high school when it pertained to real-life issues/experiences. this is something that I feel should be better incorporated into the classroom. Student's would not only gain additional life-advice from it, but it would also have a higher chance of sparking interest with the students."

For the second post, Rheingold wrote a post called "Assessing, Measuring Connected Learning Outcomes." In this post, Rheingold discusses the benefits of connected learning through an open classrooom. I found this especially interesting because it completely pertains to everything we are learning in EDM 310. He talks about the benefits of connecting with other k-12 students throughout the world. In my comment I discussed how we focus on doing exactly that in EDM 310, 

Blog Post #11

"What can we learn from these teachers?"

1. Back to the Future by Brian Cosby
Brian Cosby teaches us a variety of important teaching aspects as supported by his former class. Cosby focuses on the importance of creativity and real world connections. What I found most interesting was his anecdote about a former class where he asked his students basic questions about their everyday life. (i.e. What state do you live in? What country do you live in? and What is your address?) Few of his students could answer all of the questions correctly. I found this interesting because of how much my class focused on these basic topics in Kindergarten.Therefore, I learned that we should not teach our students only the state standards of curriculum, but also parts of everyday knowledge. 

2. Blended Learning Cycle by Paul Andersen
I really enjoyed learning about Paul Andersen's method of teaching. In his method, acronyms play a large part in successful teaching/learning. A big fan of acronyms myself, I found his various ways to incorporate them to be very useful. Andersen creates acronyms to assist the students in retaining what they have learned for the day. 

3. Making Thinking Visible by Mark Church
Mark Church appears to enjoy the teaching style that is a mixture of PBL, lecture, and presentation based. In his video, he had his students write on a banner what they already knew about human origins. After his lesson, he allowed them to go back and add on what they had learned. I really like this idea, as giving the students a creative activity prior to teaching is a great way to spark interest in the subject at hand. 

4. Building Comics by Sam Pane
In "Building Comics" Sam Pane focuses on teaching his students internet safety and the importance of being a digital citizen. I found this to be very useful, as I. along with many other students from my age group, were never really taught about internet safety and digital citizenship; therefore, we have a large rate of cyber-bullying, and poor internet safety techniques.

5/6. Project Based Learning by Dean Shareski and Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program 
Project based learning is already something that I am highly interested in. Therefore, videos 5 and 6 only reiterated that. In both of these videos, the use of PBL is elaborated on and used to combine subjects.. What I liked about these videos, is that technology was incorporated and subjects were merged. Coming from a school district where technology is not viewed as that important, I enjoy finding out different ways that I can, hopefully, one day incorporate into my classroom. Additionally, I really like the idea of merging subjects to teach a lesson. Why just focus on one subject when your students can learn more from the combination of multiple ones?