C4K for October

For my first C4K I was assigned to read and comment on this blog Interactive Understanding of the Government

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.You said that your class started with a interactive discussion dealing with a current issue in our democratic society. Engaging students in discussions gives them the opportunity to get outside of their comfort zone and actually think and understand what they are learning. It is good that your class is allowed to express their opinions even if they may sometimes cause heated discussions not many classes that I have been enrolled in do that. This is the type of environment I want for my students. I want each and every one of them to be eager to learn more about the things we learn in the classroom and for them to use their imaginations if or when we have a discussion. Would you introduce government and politics in a 3rd or 4th grade class? Good Luck in the future. Shakeya Andrews

Summary:

The student informed us that in her class the talk about politics and how the government system works. She explained that she is in an online school for girls. Her teacher Mike Gwaltney assigns reading assignments that challenges the class to understand and breakdown the Declaration of Independence. He allows allows them to have open discussions between classmates about the way the government is going. The way the class argues about a topic is through and online discussion panel.It is said that the assignments that Mike Gwaltney assigns allows his students to look at pivotal issues that our society faces. Students also seem more interested into politics and how it works after taking this class.

I read Jessica's blog. Jessica is a student in Mrs. Hartooni's class.

Summary: Jessica's blog is entitled Science. The student explains what she would like to do in her science class, what she is currently learning about, and how she felt the first day of school in her blog. Jessica is currently learning about cells in her science class and she hopes that her teacher has some group work planned for them in the near future. She would also like to start using the garden in class. On Jessica's first day of class, she felt scared and she also had butterflies in her stomach.

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 can relate to your post. On my first day of school I felt scared and butterflies were in my stomach as well. I think it is natural to be nervous about the first day of school especially if you are starting your first day at a new school. The night before I began my first day of high school I tossed and turned because I could not go to sleep. I couldn't sleep because I did not know what to expect. You covered all of your points that you wanted your readers to know like what you are learning, how you felt your first day of school, and what you would like to do in your science class well!I would like to know what made you want to start gardening in your class?

I read Jen's Blog. Jen is a student in Mr. So's 2nd grade class.  Read Jen's Blog

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 thought it was really sweet of you to name your mom as your hero! I also enjoyed reading about why you chose your mom to be your hero. In the second sentence of your blog you defined what a hero is, which is good because it helps readers have a better understanding of what a hero is if they are unsure. I have one suggestion for you and that is consider changing your first sentence to "I am writing this blog to inform you who my hero is." Overall good job!

Shakeya Andrews

My Summary: Jen starts her blog off by informing the reader she is writing about her hero in her blog she also defines what a hero is in her blog. Jen states "A hero to me is someone who is right beside you to save you." Jen says that her mom is her hero because she takes care of her when she is sick and because her mom listens to her when she needs someone to talk to. For my last C4K I read Alex K's blog.

For my last C4T of October, I was assigned to Alex K. Read Soybeans

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. Hi Alex! Your blog about soybeans was really interesting and informative! It never crossed my mind that I was eating soybeans when I ate a chocolate candy bar. Chocolate is my favorite type of candy to eat. At least i'm getting my proteins in right? Have I ever grown soybeans? No, the only seeds I've ever planted were watermelon seeds and seeds for flowers. I like how you included where soybeans grow in your blog and you also included an interesting statement about how many soybeans it would take to fill up Lincoln Nebraska. Interesting! Continue including details in your writing and you will go far!

Shakeya Andrews

Summary: Alex talked about a girl who gave a speech on soybeans and where soybeans grow, which lead Alex to write a blog about soybeans. Alex stated that proteins from soybeans give you energy and they are also healthy for you to eat. In Alex's blog was information about where soybeans are grown and the types of food you can find soybeans in such as: meat and chocolate. Alex asked where do soybeans grow then Alex went on to explain that soybeans are grown in Nebraska and that they are natural resources. One interesting thing I found from Alex's blog is it takes more than 25 times soybeans to fill up Lincoln Memorial Stadium in Nebraska.

Blog Post 10

If you are ever feeling discouraged and down I recommend watching this video. Randy Pausch is an example of what it looks like to be encouraged.Randy included some really good points that everyone could learn from not just teachers. Watch Randy Pausch

After watching the video I learned that inspiration and permission to dream is huge when it comes to acheiving our goals. Randy stated that it is important to always have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcomed to others. As future educators, it is important to make our students feel welcomed so they will be comfortable asking questions or talking about a situation that may be going on with them. Randy pursued his dreams no matter what obstacle stood in his way. He learned from his trials and used that as motivation to push him forward. I found this statement to be powerful "Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted." Experience is a great teacher because every time you learn something new about yourself you should evaluate what happened and try a different approach to be better than the last time. Randy wasn’t afraid to try something different.

Randy teaches us all how to stay motivated and happy even when life is trying to knock us down. He could have easily talked about his experience with cancer in the video and how down he felt when he heard the news, instead Randy talked about his experiences with teachers and the ways they motivated him. Randy also used his humor to catch the attention of his audience. In the beginning of his video, he said "We can’t change the cards we are dealt, but we have to choose how we will respond to it." This statement is so true we can't change the things the unexpected pain, trials, nor hardships that we face but we do have the opportunity to choose how we will respond to these events. Later on in the video Randy talks about ways that will help students reach their dreams. Parents and role models are number one on the list to help students reach their goals As future educators it is important that we learn how to include parents in what we plan to teach our students because parents are the foundation of our students. “The brick walls are there for a reason. "The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” I hope to put this quote in my classroom because there is so much power behind these words. The quote would be to remind my students not matter what bump, lump, twist, or turn they face in and outside of my classroom keep going.

Project 14

Blog Post 9

Blog Post #9 - By: Shakeya Andrews, Tracy Armstrong, and Emma Boren What can we learn from these teachers?

Back to the future We learned that there are many teaching styles that we can use to help students. In ”Back to the future,” the students in the video were in the 4th, 5th, and 6th, grade and they lived in poverty. The teacher realized that the students were not very knowledgeable of where they lived and their phone number after giving them a survey. Brian revealed in his survey that the students lacked knowledge by no fault of their own but because of the narrow curriculum. Even though the students lived in poverty, there were still opportunities for the students to receive a valuable education, which was proved in Brian’s video. As future educators we should know that not all of our students will have knowledge of the things that they should know that’s why It is important to allow our students to be creative in the classroom and to be interactive with each other. When we allow students to interact with other students they will be able to think on their own and share common thoughts. In the class the students learned to create by hands on experiment which is what we plan to do in our classroom. We also learned that students can be empowered and motivated when collaborating on their own.

It seems that a good teacher is one who empowers, motivates and includes every student in the learning process. We learned that as future educators it is important to use various tools and resources that will spark imagination and creativity to build passion among our students. Brian used tools such as skype, class blogs, and videos to connect his students globally, to gain an audience, and even to include the students sick classmates in the learning environment. The requirements of the ACCRS were met when students tied into a learning network with a school in New Zealand and shared what they learned through reading and writing. Also, students invited their community and inspired other students around the world by blogging about their “high hopes.” By watching the video our group learned that students can benefit from real world experiences like the students in Brian’s video did when Brian brought in an engineering graduate student to talk and work with them. The students were engaged by actively building a boxcar of their own. One of the most important lessons we learned from this video was once students were given the opportunity to build schema for the world, they were empowered and motivated to teach other students. as we so eloquently witnessed through the teaching of the can crushing method to other students by Brian’s students via skype. Watch Back to the Future

Blended Learning Cycle There are 5 E’s to learning science, which are engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate. The five E’s can be blended with online resources and classroom instruction. The video instructs us that it’s okay to stop and make sure we have an understanding of what is going on. In fact, the teacher says he doesn’t allow his students to go on to the next level until he is sure that they can summarize and understand what they have learned. He doesn’t encourage burp back education and neither should we. We want our students to be able to take what they have learned and apply it to daily experiences.

Mobile, online, and classroom learning blended together is Paul Andersen’s definition of The Blended Learning Cycle. Two things were presented in this video. One was the power of the question and the other was the power of learning. Andersen explained that learning begins with a question that really gets the students attention. He went on the explain the acronym, “QUIVERS.” “QU” is for the question or the the hook to begin the learning process. “I” is for the investigation or experiment that the class will conduct. It also stands for inquiry. “V” is for the use of videos in place of lectures. “E” is for elaboration through reading the textbook in order to gain more depth and to practice problems. “R” is for review of the lesson by meeting with each student individually to ask them question to test their understanding. Last but not least is “S,” which stands for summary quiz. We also learned that another tool that can be used to teach students it live data. Watch Blended Learning Cycle

Making Thinking Visible After completing assignments students worked in small groups to talk about what they learned in a previous lesson. We learned that we should ask questions that will challenge our students after they have done a project. The students seemed to be more interested and involved when they were asked to think about what they did in the previous lesson and it also helped the teacher know who was really involved in what they were learning. In Mark Church’s video, Making Thinking Visible,” we learned about the power of collaboration. It seems like this works best when students work together in small groups. The students were able to come up with their headline by bouncing ideas off one another through brainstorming. Watch Making Thinking Visible

Blog Post 8

21st Learning and Communicating Tools by: Shakeya Andrews

In my classroom I would like to use tools like Funbrain and Classroom Quizmo. I chose an online resource and a board game to give my students variety in the classroom. I’m afraid that if I allow my students to use one type of learning tool they will become extremely bored and shut down. I chose Funbrain as one of my learning tools because it has many different subjects that the students can choose to work on. Funbrain is also an online website that includes some of the subjects included in the Alabama Common Core Standard like reading and math. On the Funbrain website there are a list of different math, reading, and fun arcade games for students to explore. There are also word puzzles, comic books, and fill in the blank stories for students to access on Funbrain. The website is not hard to access and the students do not have to create a username nor password to login in they simply go to the website, click on what they want to work on, and get started. I hope to spend at least an hour a week on Funbrain in my classroom or allow students the opportunity to use it during their free time. The activities on Funbrain includes work for children in grades kindergarten through 8th grade. Hopefully my second graders will find interest in the website and use it as a tool to use throughout elementary and middle school. I found funbrain resourceful because on the webpage there are grade levels listed and activities listed below each grade level so that students can work on a lesson that suits what they know. To me the page is organized well enough for a 2nd grader to be able to use without someone supervising them. I would also like to use Quizmo in my classroom. Quizmo is a board game that deals with math, phonics, spelling, writing, and much more. Find out what Quizmo has to offer for your classroom.

21st Century Learning and Communicating Tools by: Tracy Armstrong

The learning tool that I will use when I begin my career as second or third grade teacher is Spree Learning. This is website that has multiple educational games that promote learning, exploring, thinking, and questioning while bringing high levels of engagement. On spree learning games.com, you can search for games by subject, age or grade level. The site even contained games that were appropriate for children with autism. One of these games in particular Autism Emotions Game allowed the autistic students to adjust separate parts of the face to represent common emotions. Although, I am not planning to enter the special education phase, I know how important is is to be prepared and ready for whatever may come my way.I also think that one of the challenges of educating students with special needs is to be able to keep them engaged in the learning environment. I will use this tool to to help students acquire and practice skills that are needed to enhance their understanding of science, math, art and history. I will also use this tool as a review of subjects that the students are learning at the time.I chose this tool because I think it will allow me to have all of the students completely and totally engaged 100% of the time. This tool will also allow for the students to have fun while learning.

21st Century Teaching Tools by Emma Boren

This 21st Century teaching tool that I chose was blabberize. This website makes pictures talk. This way, I, as the teacher, could put up pictures that show what we are learning, and incorporate what they should say to help the students learn. I think this would catch the students attention in a way that I couldn’t. They could get online and browse through the pictures and take in the information. I know when I was growing up, I would have enjoyed something like this. It was so hard for me to pay attention all day in the classroom. I believe that I could make this website fun and informational for my students. Visit Blabberize for more information. Another tool I would use in my classroom would be instructional video games. Such examples are World of Warcraft, Civilization IV, and Diplomacy. These video games are educational, and they would definitely interest the children. In today’s society, all kids do it seems like is play video games. I believe that these games would be useful tool to put in centers and let the children play in their free time. I don’t think there is a better way to keep a child’s attention. I want my classroom to be fun, but I also want the kids to be learning. I think that these would be ways to make my classroom different and make learning fun! I also think it would be a good way to get the kids adapted to technology.

C4T #2

For my second C4T, I was assigned to read Joe Bower's blog. Joe Bower teaches in Alberta, Canada and his plan is to challenge traditional schooling while exploring progressive forms of education.

My Favourite Excerpt from Reign of Error

Summary:

In My Favourite Excerpt from Reign of Error Joe Bower demonstrates why the reform era won’t work in education. He also offers solutions to help with the problems, which are based off his experience and evidence. In Joe's blog, he explains that students who come from a background full of resources have an advantage in school. The resources that Joe is referring to is having a helpful family and being able to live a healthy lifestyle. He says that we must do whatever is necessary to extend the same advantages to every child who does not have the proper resources to help them through school. Joe believes that no matter what type of household a child comes from everyone should receive the same chances for a good life. In "My Favourite Excerpt from Reign of Error Joe suggest ways to improve the lives of the younger people and ways to create a stronger society. In order to create a better society, Joe Bower suggests that pregnant mothers should make sure they receive proper nutrition and see a doctor often because a healthy baby is a happy baby. It is important to take care of a baby even though they are in the womb because the child could be affected later on in their life. Secondly, he suggests enrolling children in pre-kindergarten classes to help build their social skills. In the blog Joe includes different types of stresses and the importance of establishing programs and goals to close the poverty and segregation gap in education. According to Joe society is what creates strategies and goals to help close the gap and create equal opportunity for our students.

My comment:
My name is Shakeya Andrews and I am a student in edm 310 at the University of South Alabama. My blog can be found Shakeya Andrews

I have really been informed by reading your blog. You’re right there is an educational gap in the school system and it all starts with the type of resources that are available to students. You stated that "mothers should receive good nutritution and go to the doctor often while pregnant." This statement was interesting to me because parents create the foundations for our students. When parents fail to create a healthy environment for our students it makes it harder for educators and future educators to close that educational gap. As I prepare to embark on this educational journey I look forward to seeing the educational gap close and more parent involvement.

Education Excellence Requires Equity

Summary: Education excellence requires equity explains how the rich and poor class are contributing to students success. The first video is called "Actual Distribution of Wealth in the U.S" and it shows how wealth is distributed and it classified the poor, middle class, and the wealthier people.It is said that the top 1% of the country has all of the wealth. The video shows that there is not much of a difference between the poor and the middle class. Also, the richer students seem to do well compared to the other classes. The second video which is called "For Richer for Poorer" is a tale of two Schools that explains how Canadians and Albertans schools are different from each other. Some schools in these areas receive more funding than others creating a better environment and closing the opportunity gap for each student in Canada. Patrick Airlie School is a public school that is much more different than Webber Academy which is the number one school in Calgary. Webber Academy is a private school with more resources for students to use. Even though Webber is a private school it is funded by the government and it provides students with a solid food program and nice labs for students to use. Joe wrote this blog to show the poverty gap and his goal is to lift people out of poverty and creating more opportunities for students.Read Education Excellence Requires Equity

My comment:
My name is Shakeya Andrews and I am a student in edm 310 at the University of South Alabama. My blog can be found atShakeya Andrews Watching the first video is sad because it is not fair that the economic equity isn’t divided into equal portions. Like the old saying says “the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.” Why is it that we have students living in the same country living in towns less than 15 miles away, but their schools are different and the opportunities that they are provided with are different? I agree we need to get our students out of the poverty gap. Find me on Twitter @educating_1

Gary Stager on Progressive Education

My Comment: My namne is Shakeya Andrews and I am a student in edm 310 at the University of South Alabama. My blog can be found at Shakeya Andrews I found your point “Parents and teachers should do everything possible to help kids get through high school without hating it” to be interesting. Parents and teachers have the biggest job when it comes to keeping students motivated. I’ve seen some parents that have had to help their kids get through elementary school without hating it. The workload that students are expected to handle is a lot now. It breaks my heart to see kids struggling in school because they know that they are not meeting the standards in the classroom and they begin to shut down. How would help get your students through high school without hating it? Find me on Twitter @educating_1

 Summary: In Joe Bower’s blog Progressive Education he lists some of the principles of progressive education, which was originally written by Gary Stager. There are three principles that Joe mentioned that I thought were interesting. 1. Strong progressive public schools are the bedrock of our democracy 2. Parents and teachers should do everything possible to help kids get through high school without hating it. It is important that educators and future educators know what our students need to help them be successful and how we can make that happen. Parents play a vital role in our children’s lives. Where the teacher is lacking in knowledge the parent should be a dependable resource for students to turn to. However, that is not always the case for children in our society not. Joe also stated that “The best thing schools can do is prepare kids to solve problems that school has not even anticipated.

Project #9 Podcast Video