Project #9 Podcast Video

First Progress Report On My PLN

I chose Symbaloo for my PLN because it has easy access to all the tools that I need to use for this class. It includes Twitter, Gmail, Pintrest, and a link to the class blog. It also allows me to use google search to find whatever I am looking for. I can consult students in my EDM 310 class as well as people on twitter for help using symbaloo. Symbaloo is filled with ideas from other people and at it also allows me to share some of my ideas.

Project 13

Blog Post 7

 Project Based Learning by the Derrain Group: Tracy Armstrong, Emma Boren and Shakeya Andrews.

PBL Part 1 
Project Based Learning allows students to create a project using all the contents that the state requires. Because the students have to know the state contents, PBL is content driven.PBL has an audience, gains student interest and involves the community in order to show real life scenarios. In PBL part one, Icurio was used to write Congressman Bonner thus covering the reading writing and social studies standards of ACCRS. The students really liked this project and they were very engaged. We also learned that reflection and revision are the most crucial parts of PBL. Watch ProjectBasedLearning

PBL Part 2 
In this summary with Anthony, he shared with us that not everything is going to go well so always be prepared to improvise. Anthony gave an example of how one parent did not approve of the assignment and because Anthony respected the parents concern, he allowed the student to create an alternate project. Anthony gave another example of how things can go wrong when he shared with us what happened when the state representative came for a classroom visit and the comic strip website was not responding. Anthony decided to incorporate some art tips that he received from Dr. Vitulli. Needless to say, when all the representative arrived, ALL of the students were engaged and Anthony and his class won their approval. We also learned to never limit our students and create the opportunity for them to go beyond what we are asking. Also, give the students a choice in regards to PBL because it gives them ownership of their work.By using PBL students know what they are doing and why they are doing it.Watch ProjectBasedLearningPt2

ICurio 
Icurio per Anthony’s definition, is an on-line tool that students can safely use to search websites that have been polled and filtered for educational purposes. Students can search for images, video, audio and texts. Icurio is good for all grade levels. One of the features of icurio is its storage capacity. This feature allows the students to store content that they find valuable. It also gives the students practice at organizing themselves on line via the folders.Icurio also saves automatically. This is good because students may have to leave in a hurry or they will be able to collect all of their material so that they can go back and finish it later if needed. Some more features are the time line and the historical figures feature. The latter is good for history projects or current event assignments. It allows the student to search by criteria. Icurio is learning disabled friendly. It contains a read aloud feature for students that struggle in that area.Watch ICurio

Discovery Ed In his Discovery Ed video, Anthony explained to us some of the advantages of Discovery Ed. One advantage is that it is good for visual as well as audio learners. Because the text article is coupled with visual materials, the students retain a lot more. This tool also enhances research material by bringing experts into the classroom via videos. Discovery Ed is a great tool for social studies and science. Anthony said that his students associate Discovery Ed with reading but on a higher level because of all the different kinds of illustrations. Watch DiscoveryEd

Additional Thoughts About Lessons by: Tracy Armstrong Anthony says that lessons should be four layers thick. The first layer being how the lesson fits in with your year. The second is dividing the layers into units. The unit projects are done in stair steps so that by the end of the 6-8 week unit, subject should be mastered. The third layer is the week. The week should be devised so that you can get everything done. In other words, set goals for the week. The fourth layer is the daily lesson. This layer is just as important as the weekly, unit and yearly plan. This layer should contain a hook that will keep the students attention while learning. During this part of the lesson, the teacher must measure what the students learn in one day so that he can know what do do on the next day. During the course of the year, all content standards should be covered and the curriculum must be written.

Use Tech Don’t Teach it by: Shakeya Andrews Anthony says that you should not teach technology. He believes that as a teacher you should not include a list of things that students need to get done using technology. I find this statement to be interesting because it is rewarding when you learn how to work a product or solve something on your own without any help. In the video, Anthony says that it is best to use Project based learning to help students learn how to use technology. Meaning allow students to use different learning tools such as Imovie and Podcast. Anthony allowed his students to use imovie, which is a tool that we have used multiple times in EDM 310 this semester. Just like our EDM 310 class Anthony did not teach his students how to use Imovie he allowed them to explore imovie and create a project by themselves. Trial and error is always a good learning technique to use because it allows students to be creative and find new techniques to use when learning. In UseTechDon'tTeachIt Anthony says that his students have learned to express themselves and be creative while using Imovie. Being creative creates excitement because when students are bored and frustrated from trying to follow instructions step by step they are unable to experiment and see what works for them. Also, Anthony informs us that is important to be aware that students will make mistakes when using technology, but hopefully with trial and error they will get better. Once our students master how to use technology, then they will be able to demonstrate what they have learned and how they learned how to complete the project or work the technology.

The Anthony-Strange list of tips by Emma Boren
The video that I watched summarized Dr. Strange and Anthony’s list of what we should do as teachers (The Anthony-Strange list of tips for teachers part 1). As teachers, what can we do to better our classroom and the learning environment for our students. In this video, Dr. Strange and Anthony listed their top 6 things that we can do. The first is, “be a learner”. It is important for teachers to also be learners. We cannot teach withouday. Sometimes, changing your plan is necessary. It is important to be flexible and not worry that you aren’t on your set schedule. The next thing is “hard work”. Being a teacher is really hard work. A lot goes into the planning, the teaching, and the hands on of teaching. However, it is also very rewarding when everything goes right and your students get it. As stated in the video “it is hard work, but it is exciting!” Next is reflect; students need a purpose to reflect. This is why presentations can be helpful. Presentations make students go back and look at their work because they know they will be standing up and showing their powerpoint or talking about their topic in front of a bunch of people. I know that is true for me because if I have to get up in front of people to talk, I will look at the information over and over again until I think it is as good as it can get. Last was to start with a goal. I do agree that this is important. As teachers, we should definitely have a goal of what we want to accomplish in this school year. What do we want our students to learn? What do we want them to accomplish? What do we want them to walk away with this year? Being a teacher takes a lot of thinking and a lot of planning to give the students the best year they can have, but I think it will be completely worth it!

C4K for September

For my first C4K assignment I was assigned to read Buck's Blog.

This I Believe

My Comment for Buck: My name is Shakeya Andrews and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, AL.

I enjoyed reading your blog. I usually express the way I feel through writing, but I found getting tattoos as a neat way of expressing your feelings. Usually people get tattoos just because but you described why you got your tattoos very well. While reading your blog, I knew that your tattoos make up a special part of your life. One grammar mistake I would consider fixing is “Your probably wondering.” It should be you’re or you are probably wondering.

Overall, good job explaining how your tattoos express your feelings. Summary:Buck gives us reasons why she has tattoos in her blog "This I Believe." In her blog she says that tattoos help express how she feels towards herself and others. Her first tattoo is dedicated to her dad, who died in September of 2010. Buck says that whenever she looks at her tattoos they bring back good memories. Buck has two tattoos but each tattoo has a different meaning behind them. Her second tattoo is dedicated to her brother who has been in prison for four years. To sum up Buck's blog she states that you can express your feelings in many different ways and getting tattoos is her way of expressing herself.

What is My Point of View

My comment for Austin:My name is Shakeya Andrews and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, AL.

What is your point of view? Well in your blog you said you have a big red nose and big black boots. You also said you are funny looking. From reading your blog, I would say that you are describing yourself as a clown!

Shakeya Andrews

Summary: Austin P starts off by saying he looks like a nerd with big black boots and a red nose in his blog. He also said a guy came up to him and said that he is funny looking. I assumed that the student was referring to a clown because they have a red nose and they are funny looking. Lastly, he said that everyone gave him funny looks and laughed at him, which is what most people do to clowns. Austin's blog was written to see if the reader could find the point of view in the story.

Cinderella

My Comment: My name is Shakeya Andrews and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, AL.

I liked how you used different colors in slide 2 and you were very detailed with your facts about Cinderella. I never knew she wore a size 4 1/2 in shoes. Good job in telling who the Grimm Brothers. Shakeya Andrews

Summary: Ashley, a student in Mr. Rhodus 6th grade Elsanor Elementary School gave facts about Cinderella in her google presentation. She listed Cinderella's shoe size, birthday, and she also informed us that Cinderella is a Disney character. On slide 3 of the presentation Ashley gave us information about Grim Brothers. On slide three she stated who the Grimm Brothers were and what stories they wrote.

How Much Does the Sky Weigh?

My Comment:Hi Angel! My name is Shakeya Andrews and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, AL.

Wow! I never knew the sky was estimated to weigh close to 570,000,000,00 adult elephants. Good job explaining how much the sky weighs you used a lot of details to help me understand. "The air weighs more than you" really caught my attention because I never thought about how much the air weighed until reading your blog. Interesting post!

Summary: Angel explains how the sky is weighed in her blog. She stated that the sky is estimated to be 570,000,000,000 adult Indian elephants. She compare the weight of humans to the weight of air and informs us when we breathe in and out we are breathing in air. Angel explained how to tell the air pressure with a barometer and how low the pressure will be. I learned that if the air pressure is low then a storm could possibly be on the way.

Blog 6

Asking Questions: What questions do we Ask? How do We Ask? As a teacher, it is important to ask questions that pertain to project based techniques. Why should teachers ask questions you ask? Asking questions provides teachers with feedback. The teacher may ask a question to see if the student has understood the concept that he or she taught in a previous or current lecture or to see who is actually paying attention. Asking questions does not always provide useful feedback because some students are afraid to answer questions in class. Some students may not ask questions because they are scared of the idea of getting the answer wrong and being ridiculed. When asking questions it is important to ask the students if they understand and ask do they need some clarification because many of the questions we ask may not always make sense. As future educators we must also understand every student is different and not all of the students will want to participate in class discussions nor will they want to answer questions. However, as a teacher we do play an important role in helping students gain the courage to answer questions and get involved in the classroom. We should ask questions that will fit the level that students know how to communicate on. According to Ben Johnson, by the time students enter the fourth grade they know how they are perceived and play their roles accordingly. Why is this significant? It all goes back to asking questions and forming a question that the grade level you are teaching will be able to respond to. Find out how to ask appropriate questions at Better Questions Deeper Learning

Two of three Ways to Ask Better Questions In the blog three ways to ask better questions Maryellen Weimer,a teaching professional gave ways to ask better questions in the classroom.

Prepare Questions: Maryellen Weimer said that she never prepared questions to ask her students while in the classroom. Maryellen said she would just ask them. Maryellen would ask questions that students could not understand and when she found blank stares on their face she would reword her questions. It’s obvious that Maryellen did not think about her questions before she posed them or else students would have given her some type of response. What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? Thoughtful questions require students to think about what is being asked. It challenges them to think outside of the box and come up with a response that may be different from their classmate. When preparing questions it is important to pose questions that relate to the lecture or the assignment. If a question is posed and it does not relate to the lecture students will take advantage and get off topic and who knows how long that will go on. I found the article by Bill Welty interesting because it gives the teacher the opportunity to be creative with questions and examine when, where, and how to ask the question

Preserve Good Questions: Maryellen Weimer says that it is okay to save good questions. Sometimes students offer ideas or questions that the teacher may not have thought of asking. If a student asked me a good question I would write down that question and ponder on it. I would probably do research on it as well. As a future educator, I believe that there is nothing wrong with research even if we have knowledge of that subject. The world is constantly growing and things are constantly changing, which leads to why teachers should preserve questions. Maryellen said that eventually students may start asking better questions themselves, including the ones we can’t answer. What significance does this have? Hopefully students will go research the questions that we cannot answer. Allowing students the opportunity to research what we can't answer will have them eager to learn more and wanting to ask more questions.

Project #8