C4T #3

C4T #3 Post 1

My C4T #3 was to post on Nico Rowinsky blog Yo: A Math Teacher's Blog. I commented on his blog post, Is this going to be on the test?

Nico feels like he has done something wrong when a student asks, "Is this going to be on the test?" He states "The word THIS is the problem for me. To a student asking this question, THIS, means a piece of information that will be copied and reused very soon (and then likely never again)."

I commented telling Nico, my EDM310 teacher favorite saying is "NO MORE BURP-BACK EDUCATION!" This post reminds me of this saying because I think that is what he is trying to get away from as well.

I told Nico that I am in school to become a teacher, so I do not have experience with children quite yet. I can imagine students that try to remember everything just to pass the test will most likely not remember the information the next week. I feel if the students have fun and learned the material in different ways other than just a lecture, they will remember the lesson more.

C4T #3 Post 2

I commented on Nico Rowinsky's blog post "How My Students Impressed Me In The First Week".

Nico started the school year by prompting his students with this.

I commented saying I enjoyed watching the videos his students created on YouTube. This is a great way to get students to use their imagination and be creative. I am definitely going to use this in my classroom.

I told him I loved Video 9. This is a very neat way to illustrate math using Legos and technology.

C4K Summary Post (October)

C4K #5

My first C4K this month was Mara from the blog The Pickles.

Mara wrote about the book Out Of My Mind by: Sharon Draper, which she is reading in class. She said Melody, a character in the story, is having a baby sister. Mara said she is so excited to keep reading to find out what happens to Melody and her family.

I commented telling her that I think it is wonderful that her teacher is allowing her and her classmates to use technology in the classroom by making a blog. Mara sounded so excited when she posted her summary about reading and finishing her book on her blog. I told her that I love reading as well, and reading will help her in her studies in the future. I told her to keep up the good work.





C4K #6

My second C4K this month was Joey from Mrs. Hartoon's Class.

Joey wrote about his first day of seventh grade science. He was scared to go to class. His best friend told him to stop being a baby and get in there, and that is what he did. When he walked in to science lab there were veggies all over the table in front of him. His teacher had a Mr. Potato Head project planned for the students. Joey made a real Mr. Potato Head out of a potato. He was not scared of school andymore becayse he had a blast on his first day of seventh grade.

I commented telling Joey that I loved his post because I remember when I was in seventh grade. I was also scared to go to school because we were in a new building. After being there for about 10 minutes, I was not scared anymore.

I told him that I have never heard of the real Mr. Potato head project. It sounded very fun and got the students involved in a group project. I am going to do this project with my students when I start teaching.

C4K #7

My third C4K this month was Jen from Mr. So's Second Grade Class.

Jen's post "My Hero" was about who would she consider her hero. She chose her mom because when she gets hurt or sick her mom is always there to take care of her.

I commented saying I enjoyed reading her post, that she chose her mom as her hero. I would chose my mom as my hero as well. I know Jen's mom read her blog, and it made her day that she chose her as her hero. I told Jen to keep up the good work.

C4K #8

My last C4K this month is Giselle L., and I commented on her blog post about Soybeans.

Giselle told the history and some interesting facts about soybeans. Soybeans are one of Nebraska's natural resources, and some chocolates and dog food are made out of soybeans.

I commented telling Giselle that I learned a lot from her post. I did not know soybeans are one of Nebraska’s natural resources. I have never had chocolate made from soybeans, but I am willing to try some foods made from soybeans because it is really good for your health. I asked her if she had ever had chocolate or any foods made from soybeans? I told her about my cousins baby that had to have soy formula when she was born because it was better on her stomach. She did not have anymore stomach issues once my cousin switched her to formula made from soybeans.

Project #12 Smartboard Instruction Part A

Project #10

Project #10 Interview Movie

Project # 14

A Gardener's Dilemma By: Jamie Baxter, Thomas Leytham, and Colin Richard

Students will learn the following in this project:
1. Determine perimeter of geometric shapes.
2. Determine area of geometric shapes.
3. Use grids to record designs.
4. Use of ordering pairs to identify location.
5. Group Collaborative Skills

Lesson Plan - A Gardener's Dilemma Created by: Jamie Baxter, Thomas Leytham, and Colin Richard

Blog Post #10

I feel very inspired by Randy Pausch after watching his video, "The Last Lecture". He really kept it together when talking about his life achievements, knowing that he has cancer, and that he will pass away soon.

I love when he was talking about his childhood dreams of becoming an NFL player. He said that it is very good for all children to play in sports when they are young. Even if they are not good at sports, it is important because it teaches children how to become team players and get along with others. It also teaches them how to work towards a certain goal. Pausch calls this “Head-Fake” learning. This is indirect learning. This is explained when he is talking about sports. Children are playing sports to have fun, but at the same time they are gaining knowledge of how to get along with others. I totally agree with this concept. I think that it is great for children to be involved with other children because it teaches them valuable lessons they cannot learn in school.

Pausch went through a lot with his directors and deans at his job when he was trying to get a furlough from work to go and do a project with Disney. He always dreamed of being an Imagineer with Disney. The Dean of Sponsored Research was very open-minded about the situation with Disney. The project did not work out, but later on in Pausch’s life he was able to have his dream of working with Disney. He got the opportunity to work on a virtual reality project with Disney. This is a life lesson that Pausch taught, which is to never give up on your dreams. This hit home for me because I have always dreamed of becoming a teacher. I graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelors of Science in Commerce and Business Administration in 2009. I have worked in the accounting department at an oil company for four years, and I finally decided to follow my dreams and get my Education Degree. I am glad that I am following my dreams, and I am going to do something I have always dreamed of.

At the end of Pausch’s lecture he explains the two “head-fakes” that were in the lecture. The first one was the lecture was “not about achieving your goals, but how to lead your life”. If you lead your life and never give up on your dreams, your dreams will come true. His second “head-fake” was the lecture was not intended for us, but for his children. Pausch loves his children and wants them to live a life they always dreamed.

Pausch is a very inspiring person. This lecture was exactly what I needed to hear because I know now that I am doing the right thing and not giving up on my goal to become a teacher.

Blog Post #9

"Back to the Future" by: Brian Crosby

Well, starting with the “Back to the future video”. Once the video was finished, the first thought was, this is a great teacher. Obviously he cares on just about every aspect when it comes to his “kids”. He is very enthusiastic with all of his projects and gets real excited which gets the students involved.

The balloon project was particularly innovative and most definitely educational. The projected helped develop the students’ knowledge and concept about pressure. Also, the students use critical thinking and creativity while writing from the perspective of the balloon. Most importantly, the project did all of this while being attention grabbing and fun. Jamie is going to save this project and use it in her future classroom because she really enjoyed how excited the students got while completing it.

When he was describing what students learn from 21st century tools, it really caught our attention. This is a very helpful and useful part of the video for us as future teachers. For example, learning how to collaborate, motivation, empowerment, and connection with others. Students will learn and practice all of these activities when using 21st century tools.

We also loved the fact that the child with cancer was brought in through skype and became an active member of the classroom. This teaches communication, understanding, tolerance, compassion, and learning to change each others lives.

We would, because of his new teaching plan, love to know what the kids knew after his class compared to their first day. It seems like if you are advocating a certain plan of teaching, backing it up with statistical data would help the cause. On top of which, he already mentioned the parts that they did not know. So, it would not be difficult to show their progression.

The most important aspect of this video is the teacher and his passion for teaching which makes things work in the classroom, and is more than a video on how technology has turned around a low income student based classroom from not knowing to knowing.

“Blended learning Cycle” video by: Paul Henderson

The first thing that struck us in the Blended Learning Cycle videa was how much we loved the tweet by Dr. Tae, “remember, it’s not fair to tell your students that grades are not important if you are ultimately giving your students grades.” True information for sure.

Thomas noticed that in the beginning of the video he mentioned doing a TED talk about making the class a video game. He watched the TED talk video which made this video much more understandable. Essentially, making the class a video game was quite difficult. There were many problems that led to many parts failing and needing revisions. Thomas feels this is why his approach changed overall. Mr. Anderson definitely believes it is okay to fail and that we learn from failure. This is definitely true and teachers should learn to rework failure. It has such a terrible connotation when it shouldn’t.

Anderson developed his “quivers” approach to teaching in response to his video game “failure”. Quivers seemed like a very good concept. We do not always like acronyms because they can detract from the actual concept, and people remember the acronym word and not what each part stands for. All we can remember is Questions, Videos, and Summary quiz. Colin found the video part to be idiotic and a waste of time. Not having anything that could spontaneously happen or be asked by the teacher while talking. Sitting and watching a video, only calls for distraction and daydreaming.

Jamie thinks the video would be a good idea because some students learn from watching videos. Most children or young adults grow up watching television, so maybe the video will teach them something they missed while investigating. We think the review step of “quivers” is very important because this is the step where the teacher can make sure the student he is reviewing, learns everything that was intended to be taught.

Thomas thinks that all students learn differently. So, having a video could be beneficial to some and not as beneficial to others. It would be important to have all of the knowledge learn-able in different ways. Thomas is a kinesthetic and auditory learner. So, the video would probably be beneficial to him., but for a visual kinesthetic learner the video may not be.

We also found it interesting that he is teaching AP Biology. Good for him and his students, but what about students in a poverty ridden neighborhood at a state school with minimal funds, would this process still work? He says we should start with a question, well that would be ours for him.

We learned from this teacher a great concept to use for our future classrooms. Although we might change a couple of steps in the “quivers” approach, overall it is a good idea.

“Making Thinking Visible” by: Mark Church

This video is pretty straight forward by having the kids watch a video, and then create a project that builds upon each weeks learning. We can learn from this video that critical thinking, analysis, and building upon what has already been learned is the fundamental building blocks to project based learning.

Blog Post #8

Thomas and I found many 21st century tools being used in classrooms today. Out of the ones we found, there are two tools that we both really like. We both learned about them from the sources listed, and so the information about them is communal knowledge that we share. The explanation on how we will implement one of them in our classrooms, however, is separate. Since I was more intrigued with GIF’s, I wrote about how I would use them in her classroom. Since Thomas was more interested in video games, he wrote about how he would use them in my classroom. Some 21st Century Learning and Communicating tools we found are GIFs, PhotoPeach, and video games.

I did not know anything about GIFs until my second C4T. I commented on Mary’s blog post Experimenting with GIFs. She posted four GIFs she and her classmate created together, and they are quite entertaining.

I think this would be an excellent tool for my elementary classroom. The students could brainstorm and think of what they want to use in their GIF. Then the students can either take pictures of the object or subject they want to use, or download pictures off the internet. The students can go to gifmaker.me. They can upload their pictures and move them around as they wish. Then they can decide which speed they want the GIF to be, and they can save it to the computer.

Students could use this in the classroom as a group project. They would get separated into groups and go out and take pictures together. This will get the students involved with technology, as well as taking pictures. The students would use their creativity and create a GIF to post on their blog or you tube.

Here is one that I created from three pictures I took of my puppy.

Another 21st century tool that we discovered being used are video games. Thomas has always considered that video games sometimes receive harsh scrutinization because some of them are violent. However, it would interesting if students could learn without realizing it, and Thomas thinks video games could be used to achieve this.

Thomas found this article Level Up: Video Games Are The New Educational Hack, that discusses specific topics on how video games are being use in education now. The article focuses on two different ideas that have been implemented.

The first is The National STEM Video Game Challenge, which promotes students’ to make their own video games and submit them in a competition. The point of this is to get students interested in technology and engineering. They learn code and build video game platforms on their own. It requires a lot of thought and knowledge to create a video game, and this innovation is quite impressive.

The second focuses on the use of a videogame playing to teach students. They give a specific example created by The Mind Research Institute’s ST Math. The video game teaches math by showing math in motion and having students solve the problems. Being able to see how math works is very important, and video games can allow a broader spectrum to be seen by students than traditional methods allow.

Whether it be creating them or utilizing them to teach different subjects, video games are becoming a great tool for teachers to use. We are excited to see what direction they will take.

Thomas wrote:
I am excited to see what developments have been made for video games by the time he start teaching. They are constantly getting more and more advanced. I would love to be able to tap into them as an effective tool to teach with. However, I wouldn’t want my students to know they were learning as much as they would be.

At the moment I did not believe there is a game out there that subtly requires students to gain math skills, but I am certain it could be done. Many popular video games are problem/puzzle solving games. They require you to think to solve them, and yet they are fun because of this challenge.

So, I would love a video game that would require us to solve physical mathematics problems, but in a way that didn’t feel like we were solving math. The game would need to be fun, have a plot line that intrigued people, required other kinds of puzzle solving alongside solving math problems, and be good enough to make the learning subtle.

Since we don’t have that at the moment, we can settle for the technology we have now. I would like to find video games that required students to do math and would love for that to be their homework. “Get through level 5 by Sunday” or “Go to this area and do problems such and such to unlock your quiz for next week.” Again, I slip into a dream that hasn’t been achieved. But even though we know the technology isn’t quite there... yet, just having them working on problems in a video game would be enough. After all, the goal for math homework is practice. I can’t wait to use them.

Project #9 - Podcast

C4T #2

C4T #2 Post #1

I was assigned Mary Worrell's blog to comment on for my second C4T. I commented on her post Embracing the Grey Area. This post was about how Mary started teaching in the Netherlands. This was her first year teaching, so she did not have much experience. She was so excited because they did not have the state standards to worry about, and she could research and use her own material. She did not purchase a textbook because she wanted to find short stories online for the class to use. This became very difficult because it was like she was writing the curriculum for the class. The next year she decided to purchase a text book, and also use material she found from the internet.

I commented on Ms. Worrell's post saying, she has been an inspiration to me, and I have learned a lot from her blog. I told her, I have got overwhelmed with a few assignments I had in college. We have to write lesson plans, and there is so much information to use that I get very overwhelmed. After reading her post, I see that you can not only use the text book, but also find your own sources for information. I enjoy reading her blog and look forward to the next post I am assigned.

C4T #2 Post #2

The second of Ms. Worrell's post I commented on was Experimenting with gif's. She loaded four different GIFs that she and her classmate made during a quickfire activity. They had an hour to figure out and create a GIF in class. She posted four of the GIFs they made, and they were quite entertaining.

I commented saying that I have heard of the computer term GIF before, but I never really knew much about it. After watching her videos, they made me laugh, and I want to learn more about making one.

I asked her what website she and her classmate used to create the gifs. I would love to use this in my classroom, and get my students to make one to experience this form of technology.

Blog Post #7

Our group had different opinions on the videos. We agree the videos were quite informative and interesting, and that Dr. Strange and Mr. Capps did a very good job with explaining project based learning (PBL) and iCurio. We do not have such differing opinions as a whole, but we do differ on how we feel about specific aspects of this blog post.

The first video interview with Anthony Capps about Project Based Learning was a great example of a project that can be used in the classroom. The project Anthony instructed with his third grade class was to write letters to the congress about if women should be able to serve in the armed forces. The students had to critique each other’s work and choose 8 letters out of the 28 letters written to send.

I think editing and critiquing classmates work is a great way to teach students what not to do when writing a letter. The students will see the mistakes their classmates made, and they will not make those same mistakes on the next project.

Thomas very much liked Capps’ examples of PBL especially the Afghanistan culture example.

Thomas found that he already knew much of the information that was presented. He knew and understood the concepts of PBL. He had a project that illustrates his knowledge of it, and it remains within the same consistency of these videos. Though, he wish he had these videos when he began learning about PBL. He liked the direct examples of actual learning that had occurred through utilizing PBL. He thinks it would be more beneficial to have linked it with his project where he was actually learning about PBL, rather than having him summarize it.

We all agree that project based learning is an effective way of learning. This project shows how students get excited about the letters, and what kind of responses they received. Choosing the 8 letters got them to think critically and be non-bias.

Our group has different opinions on this iCurio interview as well. The iCurio Video with Anthony Capps was about what iCurio can provide to the students and the teachers.

It explains that iCurio is used by students as a safe search engine. Students can search and explore the material in iCurio, which is pulled from the internet and monitored for student use. The material also follows the standards for all the different states, so the teacher can make material available from whichever state is applicable. The children will then learn according to those standards. Anthony explained, students can save what they find when researching and start organizing their resources online with folders.

Teachers can find sources, and specifically make them available to students. It is also an organizational tool for teachers as well.

We agree this is a wonderful tool for the children. The children will learn from searching and exploring along with getting organized through iCurio, which is a very important aspect to their future. Teachers will not have to worry about the students searching and finding something inappropriate because iCurio is monitored and edited for student use.

Thomas had the same feelings about iCurio video as he did for the Project Based Learning videos.

Thomas still considered this to be an interesting discrepancy that he had with Dr. Strange and our group, and he felt that it should be asserted. If you were to go through his PBL presentation and his icurio presentation, you would gather the same information these videos present. So, he feels this post should be about something else, and the videos should be justly linked to the projects that they are connected to.

As a group, we agree these videos are very informative. Thomas just thinks they should have been presented to us before we completed the projects on Project Based Learning and iCurio.

Additional thoughts about lessons by: Jamie Baxter

Anthony Capps did an excellent job when explaining lesson plans in four layers. The first layer is thinking about the entire year, and how your lessons will be sufficient. He explains, the teacher needs to think of goals and concepts the students should learn throughout the year. These concepts can be broken down into units, which is the second layer he described. This will allow teachers to plan the lesson over a course of time, and not expect the students to know everything in one day. The teacher can start with one aspect the first day, and by the end of the unit the students will know everything the teacher is trying to teach in that unit. The third layer is the teacher’s plan for a week. The teacher needs to figure out what the students need to learn each week, and make sure everything is covered within that week. The fourth layer is the lesson plan for each day of the week. This has all the details that are being taught that day. This could include activities for the students and the questions the teacher wants to ask the students. All of these layers are equally important when a teacher plans her lessons.

I find this explanation about lesson planning very important and useful. When you break it into these layers, it makes it easier to adjust your lessons to be more efficient for your students. It will also be easier to make sure you cover everything you want to in the school year. I am going to use this when I start making my lesson plans in my classroom.



Don’t Teach Tech- Use It- by: Thomas Leytham

This video does a good job explaining how to properly utilize technology in the classroom to make for better learning experiences. Honestly, the title says it all. Don’t just teach technology, utilize it.

As my dissent describes, I find that for many of these videos, there are better places for them to be placed, and this video falls in the same category. I believe it should have connected either with blog post 2 or blog post 3.

Blog post 2 is discussing utilizing technology and it could be effectively placed there. Blog post 3 discusses podcasts, and there were many points that stated not to teach podcasting, but to teach through podcasting. Though, I believe post 3 needs a facelift completely, and I’m unsure this video will be as applicable there after that occurs. (Read my blog post 3 to see my opinion about this.)

I wish I had more to add about this video. But since I already understood the information, I was a little bored and didn’t learn anything personally.

Project #13

Our Lesson Plan is a project in which the students are hired as a shot analyst for an All-Star Soccer team. The students will use Geometry to determine the region in which to maximize their chances of scoring a goal, and to prepare some sketches to show coaches. The students need to convince the coaches that they can maximize their chances by using the ideas from the sketches.

This lesson plan will teach the students how to represent geometric figures, such as points, lines, planes, segments, rays, and angles pictorially with proper identification. They will distinguish between undefined and defined terms. They will also validate conclusions by constructing logical arguments using both formal and informal methods with direct and indirect reasoning.

Lesson Plan - Geo-Soccer Created by: Jamie Baxter, Savannah Rhodes, and Thomas Leytham

PLN Project # 2 Post 1

For my PLN I choose Symbaloo. I added some of the websites that I use frequently such as USA Online and PNC Bank. I am glad that Google, Facebook, Twitter and Gmail are on there because I use those everyday. There are a few education websites that I put on my Symbaloo that I plan on using in my future. I added iCurio, EDM310 Class Blog, and Sarah's Frist Grade Snippets. Sarah's First Grade Snippets is a blog I came across while doing one of my blog post that I found very useful. She has a lot of resources that will be helpful to me in my lesson planning. Symbaloo is going to be very helpful in my future because it will have all of my websites I need in one place.

My Symbaloo is not complete, and I will be adding websites and blogs throughout the year, for the rest of college, and into my teaching career.

C4K Summary Post (September)

C4K #1

I commented on mj01's Blog Post This I Believe. This student is in Mrs. Martin's 1st Block class.

His post was about how sports helped him make better grades in high school. He was hanging out with the wrong crowd. When he got involved in sports, he was motivated to make better grades. He made friends with people that played his sport, he never thought he would.

I commented saying, that I really enjoyed his post. Extracurricular activities are a great way to stay involved in school and meet new people. Also, that all athletes need to know they need to have good grades before they can play sports.

C4K #2

My Second C4K was to post on Damon A.'s blog post Guess Who am I?. He had to write a poem in a point of view, and the teacher asked us to identify which one he was using. His poem was about a fight in the lunch room. The teacher called Damon to come help catch the kids that were fighting. Damon went to his car and got his canine dog to help catch the kids.

I commented telling Damon that it was a great post, and he used the first person point of view. I told him to keep up the good work!

C4K #3

My C4K this week was Taunese from New Zealand. His post My Life's a stage presentation was a presentation about life's a stage.

I commented saying that he did an excellent job on his presentation. I told him I loved how the first slide has pictures from the presentation. It was an overview of the presentation, and I thought it was very creative. I told him to keep up the good work!

C4K #4

Cheyenne is in Mr Rhosus' 6th Grade Class. I commented on her post, How Much Does the Sky Weigh?

I commented saying, her post was very creative and funny! She used a comparison of how many adult elephants it would take to equal the weight of the sky. I told her that I loved that comparison because it was very creative. She did a fantastic job on this post.