C4K Summary for February

C4K #1
My first C4K was on Jack's blog. Jack is a student in Mrs. Toal's class and lives in Dublin, Ireland. Jack wrote about how his friend Sean stayed with him and the things they did. It sounded like they had a lot of fun, so I commented on his post and told him I used to stay with my friends a lot when I was younger and how we also had a lot of fun.

C4K #2
For my second C4K, I wrote on Lexiss' blog. She had an "About You" survey on he blog to find out what the people who visited her blog were like. SOme of the questions she had on there were "What is your favorite color?", "Do you still drive your mom's car?", and "Are you still in school?". I commented and told her I thought it was cool that she had a survey on her blog and it will be really neat to see what different people like.

C4K #3
The third blog I commented on this month was Jordan's. He is in Ms. Ruiz's high school English class and they are reading the book Of Mice and Men right now. In Jordan's post, he said that he thought the title of chapter 2 should be called "Brothers" because there are two brothers in this chapter that "always look out for each other". He also said that he thought the title of the book should be called "Life of Two Brother". I commented and told him that I liked his titles and that I think he explained what happened pretty well.

C4K #4
The final blog I commented on was Dan's blog who is a tenth grader in Mrs. Long's class. His blog post was titled "Is There Really a 'Best' Brand?". He discussed how there are different brands of dirt bike, but people like a certain brand and then shoot down all the other brands, saying that the brand that they own is the best. I responded and said that i agreed with what he said and that a lot of people are like that, especially when it comes to vehicles.

Project #13

This is a project based learning plan for students to learn more about the planets. In this plan, students will search the internet using iCurio to learn more about the planet they have chosen. From there they will make a poster including 10 or more facts about that planet and present it. What's Your Planet?

Blog Post #7

In Randy Pausch's Last Lecture , he talks about his life, lessons learned, and dreams accomplished. In this lecture, Randy teaches us many things, one in particular is that our dreams can be accomplished. As a young boy, he had many dreams. He accomplished many of them. One of them in particular was working as a Disney Imagineer.

How did he accomplish this? He accomplished this because he pursued it. He worked hard and he made it happen. One of the things he mentioned throughout his lecture was that sometimes there are brick walls that we hit along the way, but they show us how badly we want things. Pausch emphasized how hard work and dedication can get us places in life. If we hit a brick wall, what are we going to do? What is our reaction going to be? Do we want it bad enough to keep going and push through? These are things that Pausch makes us think about in his "Last Lecture". Pausch accomplished so much in his short life, but the reason he did this is because he wanted it bad enough. He wanted to accomplish his dreams, and he was willing to work hard enough to achieve them.

Project #8 Book Trailer

Blog Post #6

For our blog post this week, we explored PLNs, what they are, how we can use them, and so on. So, what is a PLN? PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. A PLN is basically a collection of the people you talk to, or the websites you may interact with on a daily basis. As a future teacher, PLNs are great for resources. An easy way to start a PLN may be to use a site such as Symbaloo. I chose to use Symbaloo as my PLN. I really like how it is set up and how you can create your own tiles. This way I can add what ever I may please to my Symbaloo based on the main websites I use for classes, recreation, and so on. The ones that I use mostly right now are Blogger, Google Drive, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and the list can go on. I think this is really neat because by using this, I don't have to type in a bunch of different websites. I can simply log into my Symbaloo and all of the websites that I access regularly are right in one place.

My Sentence Videos

My Sentence Is...



My Passion Is...

Blog Post #5

In Project Based Learning Part 1 and Project Based Learning Part 2 , Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discuss a little about what project based learning does for students. Project based learning is a way to get students more involved and excited to learn. According to Anthony Capps, "a good project has an authentic audience, student interest, involves the community, and is driven by content". Anthony spoke about one project that he had his students involved in that one parent wasn't comfortable with. This goes to show that with anything that is done in the classroom, parents aren't always going to necessarily like it, and if they don't want their kids involved in it, their wishes have to be respected. Although things like this may happen from time to time, with project based learning, students are more prepared for their future in writing, and in thinking. Students have fun and get involved in what they are doing.

In iCurio , Capps explains a little about iCurio. iCurio is basically an internet search engine that has already been filtered for kids to use. Not only is it safer and better for students to use for school research, but it also is great for teachers to share documents with students. Another great thing about this is that is has accessibility for handicap students.

In the video Strange List of Tips for Teachers , Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps give us five tips that could be useful as a teacher.
1. If you are going to be a teacher, you have to be interested in learning, yourself. After all there are going to be mistakes and some things are going to work while others don't, therefore teaching becomes a learning process.
2. Teaching is hard. There is so much that has to be done, lesson plans, grading, and so on. But Capps reminds us that even though teaching is hard, it can be very rewarding.
3. Be flexible. Things aren't always going to go as you planned, and there are going to be things that come up right in the middle of a lesson. Teachers have to learn how to work around those things.
4. Get students engaged in learning. If students are engaged they will be learning something instead of day dreaming. When students are engaged, they are interested and you are able to have their full attention.
5. Reflect. Because there are going to be mistakes, it is important to think about how you are going to fix them. How can you make it better? Ways to think about this would be to involve your students or parents. Ask them their suggestions and the things they would change. After all, they are the ones involved in the learning process.

Discovery Ed is a program designed to be interactive with students. It helps to bring what the students are learning into the classroom. It engages students with bringing what they are reading or learning about to life, helping students to remember more. With Discovery Ed, students are able to "bring experts into the classroom", says Capps.

In Use Tech, Don't Teach It, , Dr. strange and Capps discuss technology in the classroom. Technology is so important for students to use today, and often teachers feel the need to talk about what students need to do, kind of like lecturing about it, instead of allowing students to physically use the technology. By allowing students to actually use the technology they have, they are able to understand what they are doing. Students aren't going to learn everything in one day, so it is important to pace them. An assignment the first week might be for students to explore a new app or something, and then the next would be for them to apply what they have learned the first week to make something with it. This really gets students excited, but at the same time they are learning.

Last but not least, Capps gives us some Additional Thoughts About Lessons . According to Capps, a lesson is four layers thick. I visualize it like this: On the very outside you have the year, and inside of the year you have the units, inside of the units, weeks, and inside of the weeks there are days. It seems like so much. As a teacher you must meet the standards, and you have to figure out how you are going to do that along with fitting it all into the year. It is important to think about all of these things, and consider what your plans are, and how you are going to follow through with them.

So as I have summarized all of this, or at least tried, I have to say I'm a little bit scared, but at the same time excited about becoming a teacher. I think all of this was actually really helpful because Capps talked about his experiences along with some of the things he has learned from being a teacher. There is one thing that he said that really stuck out to me, though."Never limit your students. Create an opportunity for them to go beyond, and they will." I love this because I remember when I was younger there was always a certain way for things to be done, and we just sat there and listened to the teacher talk. With all of these things, they have so much more freedom and there is no way for the class to be boring. Students will have fun and be excited about learning, and that will make being a teacher that much greater.

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post #4

After reading these sources it is safe to say that questions are important. Questions are used to help students, to make them think about what they are learning, and to help them become better learners. There are so many different ways to ask questions. The most common types of questions are open ended and close ended questions as seen in the video Asking Better Questions in the Classroom. Close ended questions have a simple yes or no answer whereas open ended questions allow students to think a little more. There is more to these questions than just a simple answer.

In the video, Questioning Styles and Strategies, students were asked many different questions about a book they had been reading called "Bridge to Terabithia". The teacher asked students a question, but paused and let them think for a minute and then allowed them to answer. Then he asked them what they thought Terabithia would look like, but instead of an answer he wanted a picture. I like this idea because kids get to express themselves in a different way than just a simple answer.

Asking Questions to Improve Learning gave a lot of tips when asking questions. Some of them were to keep in mind course goals while planning and to avoid asking questions that simple suggest the answer in the question. Other tips include following a simple yes or no answer question with another, more in depth question and to not ask more than one question at once when it comes to in depth questions because it may confuse students. According to "Asking Questions to Improve Learning", questions are important because they assess learning, may clarify something, and allow students to explore, investigate, and organized.

The last two resources I read, Three ways to Ask Better Questions, and The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom provided even more useful information about questions. Three ways to Ask Better Questions gave great advice such as preparing questions in advance. By preparing questions in advance a teacher won't have to think of questions on a whim. This can cause confusion toward students of the wording is misinterpreted, and by preparing them ahead of time this allows the teacher to be more clear with the students. In The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, the questions is asked, "Why ask questions?". It is important to ask questions so that students can gain knowledge and understanding of what they have been taught, but to also "deepen and extend their thinking" as said in the video Questioning Styles and Strategies.

As a future educator, it is important for myself to know what questions to ask along with what kinds of questions to ask. These are great resources full of information. Students get by really easy now-a-days and it is so important that they are more engaged in the learning process. By asking them questions they are required to think, which in turn will help them to retain the information they were taught.

C4T #1

Blog Post and Comment #1

My assignment was to comment on the blog of David Truss, called "David Truss:: Pair-A-Dimes For Your Thoughts". The blog post was about the Inquiry Hub, which is a "full-time grade 9-12 program which brings students together in a technology-facilitated environment". This program allows students to learn through technology. In his post, Truss interviews current students about what their school is like. AS students, they liked being able to do their work in their own time, but also added that you still have to be disciplined enough to do it. You can't forget that it's there.


My response was:
Hello Mr. Truss, My name is Alyx Kellam and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in a class called EDM310. I think it is so neat that there is online learning for kids that like to on the computer. Everyone learns differently and in their own ways. I wish I had that option in high school. Do you know if they have any schooling like that in the United States? I am currently learning a lot more about using technology in my class. It is quite difficult right now, but will be beneficial in the long run. It is nice that the students are learning to be more responsible and disciplined in their school work by doing it over the internet. If you would like to visit my blog, you can find it at . I hope you have a great day!
Sincerely,
Alyx Kellam

Blog Post and Comment #2

The second blog post Mr. Truss wrote about was on balance. He wrote how it is so hard to find balance with so much overlap. He goes on to write about the things he is going to work on to find balance in his own life. He goes on to list some of the things he is going to work on such as eating, exercise, work, and how he is going to find the stability between everything. I commented back and said that as a college student it is definitely hard to find balance between getting assignments done and doing other things, but that I think getting organized and having a schedule would help. I think by having a schedule, you are able to stay on track better and not get behind.

Blog Post #3

While watching these videos,Peer Editing, Writing Peer Review, and the slide show Tutorial Peer Editing, the point that stuck out to me is to always stay positive when peer reviewing. As said in the first video, it is important to compliment. No one wants someone to tell them that their writing is bad, leading them to feel bad about themselves. After complimenting someone, one can make some suggestions about what the other wrote. Some things to think about when peer editing are word choice, topic, details, and so on. It is good to look at these things in order to help a peer to improve their writing, but the key idea is to always stay positive.

The video, Writing Peer Review, specifically points out that there are so many different ways in which others peer review. While some may think their way is the best way, it is not necessarily so. There are some who are loud, others who dont care, and the list can just go on. As someone who will be "peer reviewed", I don't want someone being particular about what I said or to make me feel embarrassed by something that I may have said wrong, I want to feel like I did everything right, but just had a few things to fix. I think by following the steps in the first video and the slideshow above, there should be no reason anyone would feel that way.