Blog Post #6

                                                         Project Based Learning 

1. Project Based Learning 1 and Project Based Learning are a continuous interview with Anthony Capp concerning how he has incorporated project learning into his 3rd grade class. He uses examples from his years teaching to show how he has learned to use projects to help students learn more. How he has shown that you must make the projects use the skills that you would have taught them, yet allowing them to learn those skills themselves. Also, he talks about how learning what helps the students most will make the experience more effective for them. 

2. iCurio is a neat little project. I feel for younger groups it is ideal as far as web browsing, since it filters for educational sites. As Anthony stated there are other applications and that would be something worth investigating further to see how it could be incorporated into my classroom. 

3. Discovery Education is a browser program that allows students to search and learn more about a given topic. Anthony uses the example of teaching about flowers. Since he may not be the foremost expert on flowers students can not only search for pictures, they can watch videos about that particular flower. On the other hand it is a to filter though timeline biographies. An example being you can filter for African American men from the 1950s through 60s. It would bring up only those who meet that criteria. 

4. Additional Tips and Anthony- Strange Tips helps show how to use projects to plan for your entire year or semester. The fact that you have to think about what projects you are willing to do and even more importantly when to do them. Which projects would help students learn the skills best. Also, that teachers should make learning their hobby. Every teacher should keep learning their area and even learning new ways to teach it. It is important to remember that your job does not fit in the normal eight hour work schedule. As a teacher we should always be bettering ourselves and students.

5. Don't Teach Tech- Use It is an important idea. We are allowing students to learn by teaching themselves a specific topic. Slowly build on what they should know. Do not just throw your students into a huge project using different tools they have never used. Just walk them through the processes and programs they will need to ultimately use for a final project. Allowing your students to gain knowledge on the program little by little, then combine everything they learned and push them just a little further. 

C4T #2

                   Science Experiment Video Conference Call  and Learning with Nintendo DS
                                                                        By: Jen Deyenberg
                                                                           Trails Optional

Jen Deyenberg has made many interesting blog post, the first of which I read was about video conference science experiments. The classes would share experiments with each other over video, they did multiple chemical reactions, and then followed them up on their own by changing them the ways they approach them. Either adding more ingredients or changing the type. I commented on how interesting it was sharing the experiments with another class. This would give the two classes an ability to discuss what occurred during the reaction and what effects certain changes would have.

The next post was on her new site Trails Optional, she discussed how she began using the Nintendo DS to assist the students with spelling and words. There are many different games that they can play, one of which removes letters at the beginning, middle, or end and requires them to use the stylist to complete the word. Another gives the student two definitions and they must write the corresponding word. The students also have a leveling task assigned to them. As they learn the game changes becoming more difficult to match their current skills. The comment feature was closed, but I would have mentioned how ingenious it is to use a game system that so many students have, also the fact that it is a handheld system. Not a bulky computer and reasonably priced. I would have never thought about using this software.

Project #15

                                                             Search Engines 

wolframalpha.com- This little engine is phenomenal. As far as educational searches go, this will permanently be my go to. One simple search, such as 700,012,343 feet to meters led not only to the actual conversion but also comparisons as radius... (i.e. approximately 3.5 x Saturn equatorial radius). As far as searches to advise students to use wolframalpha.com takes the gold.

bing.com- A search engine similar to Google in design. It allows you to search the web in seconds. It is not the most ideal search engine but is one to keep on the back burner if all else fails.

Blekko.com- Blekko seems to be a safer search provider. They strive to eliminate what they call "content farms". Assuming that means that you will receive a more reliable search parameter. They are a fairly new company, one that i hope will become more popular in time.

 Education.iseek.com- This engine is targeted for students and educators. A simple vague search of history brings up the definition of history itself, along with websites for state history websites even the Smithsonian. It even allows you to narrow your searches though folder tabs on the left hand side of the screen that show the searches and groups them into similarities. These tabs can be and will show only the selected topics or grade levels.

refseek.com- refseek allows you to both search the web but also serves as a research engine. A simple search of a research topic for one of my classes "1918 Soviet Constitution" brings 109,000 results, of the ones on the first page, only two are wiki pages. All of the other sources are university sites, political science forums or blogs, and even the marxists website itself.
For teachers and students alike this is an ideal engine.

sweetsearch.com- Sweet search targets students. They provide multiple sites that help with teaching students research skills, helping students learn something new every day, and biographies for 1,000 significant people. They survey every site that the engine browses through, and ensures that they are credible sites. For the up and coming researcher, I feel this will be an asset for both the teachers but also the students.

Federal Registry for Educational Excellence -  The federal registry uses government databases along will bringing up special organizations. Using a simple search of "history", it brings up similar responses as many other engines, yet adds all government sources. Once result was an oral history of the U.S. Congress. These increased resources are targeted for education. Also, another benefit was not having to see Wikipedia in the results.

 Virtual Learning Resources Center- VLRC is describes themselves as "Index(ing) thousands of the best academic information websites, selected by teachers and library professionals worldwide, in order to provide to students and teachers current, valid information for school and university academic projects." Just another search database to add to a "PLN" in assisting students in their scholarly research.

Each of these are great resources to be added to everyone's "PLN" simply as an alternative to the uncontrollable size of Google.

Blog Post #5

What are Personal Learning Networks? 

They are "virtual locker rooms" as stated in an article by Vicky Davis. Personal Learning Networks are also known as "PLN" for short. They are the ways you can set up people and places to assist you in learning in this high tech century. In this day and age, when students are going to Google, YouTube, or even Wiki to find out information, physical visits to libraries are becoming a thing of the past. Just as the days of searching catalog were replaced by online databases. A PLN is a group of networks that will assist you in furthering your knowledge in life.

How can PLN's help you as a teacher. 

They will always be updating. As you grow as a teacher you will meet other educators and explore more resources from which to learn from. As a teacher, these resources may be websites that may help your students in learning a subject, or allowing you to explore more interactive ways of teaching. The possibilities are endless and will continue to expand as technology changes.

Who will be your first additions to your PLN? 

I will begin by adding the staff of EDM 310, in addition of faculty from my department and blogs and websites that focus on history.

Here is my PLN, 

Since this is my first interaction with setting up my PLN's I have my Facebook, which is access to current teachers i stay in touch with, with areas to expand with blogs that are on my area.

Project 7a

                                                                My Sentence Is...

                                                                  My Passion Is...

C4T #1

                                                               Comments for Teachers

Recently I was assigned Mr. Jeff Delp, the pricipal of Willis Junior High School in Chandler, Arizona. His blog is composed of post from his life and and reflections upon what he has learned, molehill out of mountains has become his outlet to reach others through the power of the internet. The two blog post I read were "I Am... Thoughts of a Learning Disabled Student" and "A Little Help for Haiti, Please...".
"I Am" was a fictional piece composed from statements taken from actual learning disabled students. He took there statements and organized them into one persons struggles to possibly show educators and anyone else who would care to read the real life struggles that are facing these students. In my response I commented that as educators our job should be to provide the best learning experience and environment for all students, not just the ones that we may consider normal. To understand which students struggle with which subjects or even just with which concepts and finding ways to assist them and keep them caught up with the entire class without letting the class fall behind as a whole.

In "A Little Help" Mr. Delp discusses an orphanage in Haiti that each year must obtain supplies and clothing to send the children there to school. He asking the readers to send what ever school supplies to the missions United States office so that they could be sent directly to the orphanage to provide the children with a learning experience. I commented on how amazing this project was, the fact that he so  strongly pushes for supporting this organization is amazing. I will be posting the information onto my public media sites as the summer comes to an end, along with sending items myself, with hopes that friends and family will support them also.

Blog Post #4

                                                                         Questions!

Everyone has questions. The important part of this is what kind of question we are asking as teachers. What are we trying to accomplish through questions? There are many times where the questions we ask are trying to reinforce a previous idea. This is when multiple choice questions are okay. Yet, think of questions that there is no one answer, something that will push the students to dive further into the idea or subject to come up with a strong argument. With history, I had a professor simply put up a topographical map of the United States. There are no roads and no state divisions shown, he simply posed the thought how we became the United States we know today.

Simply stated, this question takes our knowledge of the history of the United States and making us think about how our geography shaped how we branched out. Even where humans were able to thrive and why it took so long to populate the western United States. This is the type of question we should be seeking as teachers. Not a question that can be answered by a simple yes or no, nor one that has just one answer. It should be one that is requiring students to voice their ideas and allow other students to use their peer's ideas to develop another possible solution. In this question about shaping our development, you must look at the mountain ranges, where the major rivers were, even which countries were in certain areas.

A question, in my opinion, should force students to think more deeply on the idea or subject. There does not necessarily have to be a right or wrong answer. Just simply that there is a deeper train of thought then that of yes or no.

Blog Post #3

                                                      Peer Editing, an Informational 





1) Compliments 
        What did the students do right? What was their strongest point. Point these out first to give positive reinforcement.

2) Suggestions 
        What can they do better? Stay positive with everything you say. Where their grammar issues, or was the wording awkward? Think of these things and polite ways to let them know about them.

3) Corrections 
        How can they fix these problems, do not rush through and try to finish early. Take time to explain how they can fix particular problems, and specifically how they can avoid this issues in the future.  
                                                               STAY POSITIVE!!!
Peer Editing is exactly what it sounds like. Defining who your peer is, in my case that is a college student preferably in the same class. Editing is giving compliments, comments, and suggestions all in a positive manner. The best way to approach peer editing is to understand the assignment, see if they are following the guidelines. With this class having all assignments completed online you must be concise to avoid rambling on. Get to the point and be effective while also being polite about it. You should always approach reviewing a blog post by making sure they follow "Writing A Quality Blog Post".  Also that they attack each topic of discussion and they did not just put something down for a grade. Important always be positive. Positive criticism and comments are key.

I feel that for this class it is easier for peer review, especially if we use the groups or even use the same person we are suppose to comment on already. This will provide immediate comments for the writer of the blog to make changes on their next one, or simply go and edit the most recent blog post. It would be better for a student in the EDM 310 to catch the mistake before a teacher or student from somewhere else in the world to catch the mistake and point it out. Having peers edit our content, if down correctly, can also keep the teachers and lab assistants from having to grade and make extensive comments on how to correct them for every single week. This is all granted that peer review is done correctly and all parties involved are taking advantage of this resource.