Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was extremely enjoyable to me. He had me right from the start. He opened with a great attitude and was very engaging. Pausch talked about keeping your childlike wonder and always having fun. He compared this to being a Tigger.
He says that by having this mindset he was able to live his life to the fullest even though he was only given three to six months to live. He kept a positive attitude and his childlike wonder, he was a Tigger. I think this is an awesome mindset to have. Whether you are given a short time to live or not. We are not promised tomorrow, or this afternoon. We should strive to keep our imaginations running full speed and to always keep that childlike wonder. That would be a fabulous thing to instill in your students. The joy of life itself. We always focus on the standards we are meant to teach, but as educators we are also supposed to prepare our children for the world and what better way than instilling a joy of life in them!
Pausch made a statement that really stuck out to me, "The best way to teach somebody, is to have them think that they are learning something else.". Genius. Simply genius. In order to teach our student's what they need to know we need to make them think they are learning something they want to know. I think the best way to do this is to make what they need to know into what they want to know. Pausch taught a class at Carnegie Mellon University that was a project based learning class. You have to make learning fun! This is even true in a class full of adults, Personally, I learn better, faster and more when it's something I am enjoying versus something I am not a fan of. Imagine how this works for children. Children are driven by curiosity, but they aren't curious about the boring things, about the things that aren't fun. You have to make it fun. I think this is definitely something Pausch strongly believed in. Later in his lecture he mentions the "head fake". The "head fake" is having the students play a fun game or activity that has a life lesson behind it. A hidden meaning. Making them think they are learning something other then the actual lesson. Teaching them life lessons such as, team work and social skills, all while they think they are simply playing a game.
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Dr. Pausch also spent a lot of time talking about dreams. He used examples of his own life stories which definitely kept me engaged in what he was saying. We all dream especially as children because children have such active imaginations. Dr. Pausch says he never gave up on his dreams. He describes all the dreams he had as a child. He dreamed he had zero gravity, that he played football for the National League, that he was an author of an article in the World Book Encyclopedia. He even dreamed he was Captain Kirk! He says that it is important to have a specific dream that you are striving for. No matter how silly someone else may think your dream is, it is your dream. Never stop until you reach it in a way that satisfies you. You have to believe in yourself and your dreams. You have to believe they will come true. As teachers, we will all sorts of crazy dreams from our students. No matter how impossible they may seem we must encourage them to reach them. We must assist our students in reaching their dreams, by doing this we are teaching them how to apply classroom knowledge into the real world.
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Pausch taught me a lot. He taught his students in a way that they were able to enjoy what they were learning. I think it is so so very important to engage and inspire students and the only way to do that is to make learning fun! You have to teach your students that, they have to understand that you don't have to read a textbook to learn otherwise they will stop learning when we stop teaching. We need lifelong learners if we want to succeed and if we want the world to move forward. You can never stop learning and your desire to learn can never fade.
Randy Pausch did an excellent job with this lecture. He kept me engaged for the full hour and he even made me laugh but most importantly I walked away with a desire. A desire to make learning fun and a desire to inspire. This lecture was given on September 18, 2007, unfortunately Randy Pausch lost his fight to cancer in July 2008. This lecture gives so much encouragement and is so passionate that even in his death Randy Pausch is still inspiring and making a difference in the lives of teachers and future teachers. At least he did for one.
Link to Project Based Learning Lesson Plan Website!
The Native American Research Project. This project covers 3 weeks and is centered around Native American tribes in North America. The students will complete a research paper and also create a model depicting the village of the tribe they have been assigned. They will be divided into groups and each assigned a Native American tribe. They will be required to write a research paper about their tribe, how they lived, how they responded when the Europeans arrived, they will also give their opinion on what could have been done to make the transition easier. This research paper will require a works cited page. The students will also create a model depicting the village of the tribe they have been assigned. They will present this project to the class and give a brief overview of their tribe. This presentation will be videoed (when permissible) and posted along with their paper to their
class blog. Their model villages will also be put on display at the school for all other classes to come by ans see and ask questions to the students. The link above will take you to a website that has been created for this assignment. On the site you will find a project overview, unit calender, and rubrics that will be used by the teacher and their peers.
Group Pissarro
By: Kaley McDonald, Jordan Neely, and Brooklyn Rowland
Video One:
Back To The Future
Brian Crosby has been an upper elementary teacher for over thirty years. He is currently an elementary teacher at Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada. He also facilitates Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education to teachers and administrators for six counties in northern Nevada. His students are known for their numerous service projects of which he is very zealous. He believes that students should actively learn through hands-on and minds-on experiences and projects while giving back to the world, community, and environment around them.
Brian's Back To The Future Video begins by explaining that his fourth grade students are poverty stricken and over 90% are second language learners, meaning they are students whose primary language is not English and they are learning English as their second language. A little background information about Brian's class: Class of one-to-one laptops, interactive white board, several digital cameras, and students have their own personal blogs. At the beginning of the school year he gave each student a survey with questions such as "What city do you live in?" and "What country do you live in?"
The results of the survey were astonishing. Most of his students were completely unaware of their surroundings and were trapped in their thinking because of narrowed curriculum. So, in light of the results, Brian generated the “High Hopes” High Altitude Balloon Project.
To begin the project, they started off reading and gathering information, like the layers of the atmosphere, in their Science textbooks, of which state standards requires. From the information gained by reading they then performed different activities and small experiments to show air elements like pressure change, hot air balloon effects, and more. They videoed each activity and embedded those videos into their blog along with a writing portion about what they did, how they did it, what happened as a result, and why. This type of learning goes beyond multiple choice quizzes and never ending reading curriculum.
Next, they began studying the history of balloons. Researching the world wide web discovering pictures, historical people, different types of balloons, several ways to assemble, lift, and fly them, whether to use hydrogen or helium, and so much more. Based on their research, they were required to collaborate and create a wiki webpage on specific topics about their project.
Students were then required to write a story about what the experience would be like to be the actual balloon on its journey through the atmosphere. They wrote about the whole trip from beginning to end from the perspective and point of view of the balloon. They have their own class Flickr account, which is an online photo management and sharing application. Using Flickr, the students illustrated their stories with pictures that they could take themselves or find online.
The time came to build the elements of the balloon that they were going to send into the stratosphere. With the help of college professors from University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), the students were able to send the balloon up over 100,000 feet with a camera inside in order to have the means to observe the journey with Google Maps.
Bringing the project to an end, and keeping a goal oriented mindset, the students each made trading cards that they named "strato-cards," keeping the theme of drifting into the stratosphere. Each card was designed with free online software. It contained a picture of the student, any picture of the process of sending the balloon up or returning, and a writing segment stating “high hopes” for their school, community, and the world. They laminated these, were able to scan them to place on their blogs, and they also were allowed to keep them and take them home. Their blogs were soon read by students around the world and "high hopes" began to spread like wildfire. These students inspired other students to blog about their "high hopes" and it became a social networking ripple effect. Students also began commenting on their projects saying things like, "I want to do those kinds of projects in class, but my teacher doesn't know how!" To solve that problem, Brian and his class began skyping with other classes around the globe and the students were able to share their projects and explain how to do each one. By doing this, the students were reviewing the material and articulating their work.
The “High Hopes” High Altitude Balloon Project aided in accomplishing many of the Common Core Standards. The Language Arts standards were met, such as reading and writing to learn based on the content, writing to clarify and share, writing to tell a story, creativity, feedback, articulating orally, gaining authentic audience, and connecting globally and making them aware globally. It also touched upon Science and History standards.
Near the closing of the video, Brian introduced the audience to a student of his, a girl named Celeste, who has leukemia and is not able to come to school on a daily basis. Through the use of technology, his students can effectively include Celeste in their classroom every day. The students created a five minute video project on the story of Celeste, how they interact with her, and how she learns in the process of inclusion.
We have learned from Brian Crosby that teachers can’t just keep racing kids through school, doing just enough to get them to the next level. It's not about a race or helping them to progress to the next achievement on the list, rather it's about empowering students to become learners. In order to empower students to become active learners we must use 21st century tools that are inspiring and motivating to help them connect, collaborate, and communicate. Narrowed curriculum and passive learning are dull, boring, out of date, and ineffective. It’s hard to inspire imagination and generate creativity with narrowed curriculum and if students don’t have imagination and creativity, it’s difficult to build passion. Teachers going beyond the comfort zone and thinking critically outside the box will result in their students doing the same and ultimately help them become active learners who are excited and passionate about education and life.
Video Two:
Mr. Paul Andersen, Blended Learning Cycle
Paul Andersen’s blog, Bozemanscience, was full of information that could be helpful to students who are taking AP or college level science courses. It is also helpful for teaching when needing an extra source to better explain a certain topic. Mr. Anderson has been teaching high school science for nineteen years and has been teaching science through YouTube the last three years. Currently, Mr. Andersen is a science teacher and technology specialist at Bozeman High School. On the homepage of his blog, he has different science classes listed, and when you click on the one of your choice, it shows each unit in that subject. You can choose which unit and topic you want to view and then there will be a video posted that is on that topic that he created. Also on his blog he has a “Journal” tab that contains videos and articles from different days.
In the video Blended Learning Cycle Paul Andersen starts his off by showing a picture, from around 1900, in France and they are predicting what a classroom will look like in the year 2000. Students are connected up to wires and books are being fed into a machine. “Blended learning” takes the concepts of mobile, online, and classroom learning and blends them together. Mr. Andersen also explains the “learning cycle” that is made up of the 5 E’s. The 5 E’s are engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate. By combining “Blended Learning” and the “Learning Cycle” the “Blended Learning Cycle” is created. The acronym that Mr. Andersen uses is "quiver".
“QUIVER”:
QU- question: Teacher should make a good question for predictions that gets student’s attention. This should intrigue the student and make them want to find out information about the activity.
I- Investigation/inquiry: Teacher would let the students experiment and investigate the activity. This is when the students explain the data. They record what they are actually doing with the activity.
V- Video: One example of a video would be giving direct instructions by using podcasts. You can also show YouTube videos that explain the topic of investigation and give more information about it.
E- Elaboration: This involves reading and diagrams on the topic. This is when you go into more depth about the topic and get a better understanding. They can use their textbooks and the teacher will tell them certain sections to look over and what points they should be grasping from it.
R- Review: The teacher will individually meet with students to check understanding. The teacher pulls certain students or groups aside and checks their understanding by asking specific questions. They will not be allowed to go on to the summary quiz until they prove they have an understanding of the unit. Mr. Andersen states that he doesn’t believe you have learned something until you can actually explain it to someone else.
S- Summary quiz: This step tests the students on the previous steps. It is a timed quiz and it gives the students a few chances to take the quiz. It allows the students to test themselves to see if they have a good understanding.
After these steps are completed, Mr. Andersen gives an old fashion paper pencil unit test to see what they really know. He stated that these steps help him to feel more involved in the classroom. He said it all goes back to starting with a really good question and then doing the research to figure it out.
Video Three:
Making Thinking Visible
Mark Church has written a book entitled Making Thinking Visible. The Amazon advertisement for this book is a short video of Mark Church in his 6th grade classroom. He is conducting an activity with his students where they are creating a headline that depicts what they have learned about the start of the human race. They will display this headline and in two weeks, when they have completed the unit they will revisit the headlines and see how the story has changed. Although we have not read the book, we think there is a lot to be learned from Mark Church simply based on this 3 minute video.
He starts the class by saying that he has had the students think. Then think about how they extended their thinking. This says a lot about his teaching style. Church not only has his students connect with an idea but he has them think about how they can extend that thought process. He then has then work in groups to figure out how to take it a step further and but that whole process into a sentence that they will display. He is literally making their thoughts and thought process visible. Which in turn helps the students think deeper. Helping our students to think deeper, helps them to open their minds to things they haven't previously considered. We want to encourage and help to develop a deeper understanding and deeper thinking process in our students so that they can have an open mind in all life's situations.
As teachers it is our responsibility to prepare students for all the situations they will face in and out of our classroom. Helping them to develop a process of deeper thinking prepares our students for any and everything life could throw at them. It helps them have an open mind towards opinions that may differ from their own, to solve problems they are not familiar with and have an overall better understanding of the world around them. This is definitely something you can learn from Mark Church, even in just that simple 3 minute Amazon advertisement.
Brooklyn Rowland
Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a site that teachers and students can use to help enrich the learning experience. Khan Academy is basically a site students can go to and receive extra practice on certain concepts that are provided by the teacher.
Teachers start by creating a class, I titled mine Math, then they invite students to this class using their email or Khan ID. The students can also join the class by using a code given to the teacher upon creation of the class. Once the students are part of the class they can start by completing practice worksheet and taking pretests on a number of topics. Khan automatically generated the first few for the class I created, such as, reading line charts, reading bar charts etc.. The students then complete the short tests as extra practice on that topic. When taking the test the site even offers them a scratch pad.
As a teacher you can then see the results of each child's work. This gives you a better understanding of what each child is struggling with individually as well as what they struggle with as a whole. You can then focus your lessons around these problems to help your students better understand.
I think this kind of site is an excellent tool to use in any classroom setting. It allows the teachers to give students extra work, a way to practice on their own time, and a way to gauge their knowledge. It also allows the students to focus on a particular topic they may have been struggling with. You could use this site with any grade level or subject and it be beneficial. I think that as educators we have a responsibility to try every outlet available to us. This site may not work in every classroom and in every subject, but it may work in just one. In my opinion, one is enough. If I can engage one more student by using this tool or any other for that matter, I think I have upheld my responsibility as a teacher. I want every student sitting in front of me, every year, to leave my classroom knowing they are the best they can be. If it takes hundreds of trial and errors on my part, and numerous late nights changing lesson plans because something did not work, then so be it. Teaching children and helping them understand and grow as people is my passion and I will use this tool, as well as all the others I can get my hands on to make sure it happens!
Jordan Neely
Poll Everywhere
I am interested in teaching grades 1st-3rd and I have found a tool for communicating and learning in the 21st century. Poll Everywhere is a website that allows the teacher to post a question in a “poll” form. There are three different payment plans offered for K-12 education: basic, premium, and institution-wide plan. The basic plan is free and offers 40 responses per poll, multiple choice and true/false polls, and open-ended polls with live word-cloud. The premium plan is $50 a year but offers so much more! It is very similar to the basic free plan but provides grading and attendance program as well. The institution-wide plan is $500 but allows for more responses per poll, shared polls among teachers, and allows for school-wide events.
How does this program work? You can ask your audience a question, your audience answers in real time using twitter, web browsers, or cell phones, and you can then see your responses live on the web in a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. When making a poll you can choose what kind of question you want to ask. The options are multiple choice or you can let them respond freely with a written reply. As a teacher you would be able to control when the poll is started and stopped this way you can place time limits on questions. Another plus to this program is that you can allow only one response per device. So, if your students each have a computer or iPad, this program will only allow one vote from each device so that students can’t change their answer. If you do not have enough devices for each student and you have some students that have to share devices, you can turn that setting off to allow for multiple answers. As a teacher you will also be able to approve responses before letting them be seen on a public display. If you allow open-ended responses, you will want to go through and approve of some of the answers to be sure they are all appropriate.
As a class you will be able to watch votes be received in real-time. The two main ways that you would want to allow your students to respond to polls in a classroom setting would be to send in a “tweet” on twitter (depending on the grade level) or on a computer via the web. When responses start to come in, they are updated on an animated chart or a text wall, whichever agrees with your choice of poll type. There is a Pollev Presenter App that you can insert into your slideshows and it will work live in your presentation. You can customize your poll by changing the colors, images, and fonts. If you are using multiple-choice polls, you have the option to view it live as results come in or hold the results for the end of a lesson or a time of your choice. If you sign up for the premium plan, you can see what person voted for what option. The premium plan is probably going to be the ideal plan for a teacher. After a question is answered for your poll, you have the option to allow your audience to view the correct answer. As a teacher this is very helpful because when a large portion of your students get an answer incorrect, it can show you a better understanding on what topic you need to discuss in more detail. The website states “Educators will commonly use this feature as an ‘Entrance Ticket’ to begin a lesson with a clear picture of the current level of understanding”. Another great tool this program offers is the ability to score results according to people’s names or emails for the grade book. You can see how many questions they attempted and rank them by correctness and speed.
This tool can be used in the classroom in several ways. One aspect I really liked that they offer is that your poll results can be posted to a blog in chart form. You can do a class project and create a poll. You could send the link to the class poll to teachers all over and their results could be gathered and posted to your classroom blog so that everyone could view the results. This could be turned into a project based learning assignment. Have each student create a poll themselves using the basic free plan which allows up to 40 answers, then have them send their poll link to other class blogs from across the country that you as a teacher are familiar with. They can gather their results and post it on their personal blogs. They could write about what their predictions were and how the results turned out. I also like this tool for everyday use in the classroom. When trying to introduce younger students to technology in a slow way, you can have a poll every morning open that reads “Are you present in class today?” each student could select “yes” if they are present and the results could show up on your Smartboard. If the results read 100% correct, everyone would be present that day. This could also be turned into a morning math problem when people are absent. Another simple way this tool could be used is during presentations, you can ask questions to see if everyone is understanding the concepts and see what percentage of the class is confused based on answers to your poll questions. I enjoyed researching this tool because I know it could be useful and the students would enjoy it in class. You could do so many creative fun questions such as reading a story out loud and setting a poll to see how many students liked or disliked the book. The polls are so easy to create and it is easy for the students to select an answer.
I also found where this website allows you to post a poll directly to your blog by copying and pasting a code. Anyone who visits your blog can simply click an answer and you will be able to get the results. Example, please vote below:
Kaley McDonald
Web 2.0 for 2013
As a future educator I desire for my students to acquire and retain knowledge and skills relevant to life in order for them to be successful. To do so, I believe incorporating technology in the classroom is beneficial as it seems to be the 21st century student's most desirable approach to learning. I'm an elementary education major and I'm open to teaching any grades K-6, and no matter what grade level I teach, I think technology can and should be incorporated in some way. So, what about those educators who are not so "tech-savvy" and who have difficulty adapting to the new age of learning? Web 2.0, created by Discovery Education, is a "personal assistant" for those hesitant to change because of fear of operation. It is an online tool used to help educators, as well as inform them of the newest technology tools, understand and utilize technology in the classroom. The tools include presentation, video, mobile, and community that connect educators with suggestions and explicit instruction of how to implement the tools.
The presentation tool explains that we should show instead of tell. Presentations are crucial and definitely a daily occurrence in the classroom, in that teachers present content and students present their knowledge of the content learned. But, how can we make presentations more engaging and beneficial? Web 2.0 suggests using presentation tools that are simple to use and easy to access such as SlideShare, 280 Slides, Prezi, and Picsviewr.
Video tools are also useful when creating and producing presentations. Animoto is one of the most popular education sites used. It is a video editing site that allows you to upload still photos and combine them with sound. Teachers and/or students could use it to digitally recreate historical events, create engaging speeches, make informational videos, and much more. Other video tools include Gizmoz, where you can animate an image or photo of yourself presenting in a video, and PhotoPeach, which involves creating slideshows with built in polls and quizzes.
Mobile tools are suggested to use apps that ultimately convert cell phones into teaching tools. Cell phones have many features that teachers and students can use in a positive educational way. Those features include Poll Everywhere, which Jordan Neely, one of my EDM 310 Pissarro group members, gives a full description of below, Jott.com, which allows you to set reminders, read, share, organize, and get voicemail as email and text by means of your voice, and Phone.io which offers free voicemail, conference calling, podcasting, and more.
Community tools are designed to help students communicate, collaborate, and share work. There are tons of community tools mentioned on Web 2.0 such as Edmodo, which is like a teacher designed twitter that can be used to organize students, classes, and clubs while delivering messages to each, Ning, which allows you to create your own social network, Yugma, which is a desktop sharing and collaboration tool, and so many more.
As a future teacher I would use Web 2.0 to stay informed of the latest technology available and as a tutorial site on how to use updated technology in order to evolve with my students and help them succeed and progress.
A PLN, or Personal Learning Network, is a tool used to help you stay organized and to keep up with your resources effectively. It's similar to your bookmark bar but holds far more information and gives you instant access to everything at once! If your like me your time on the Internet is spent at many of the same sites. For most people it's Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Then there's your email and news sites. Well, with a PLN you have it all right in front of you at the same time, without 20 different tabs! We were given to possible choices in creating our PLN, Symbaloo and Netvibes. I opted for Netvibes and I have thoroughly enjoyed it!
Netvibes has two different veiw options. One is basic in design. Each link or feed that you have chosen to add has its own little box and is self contained. You can tell from the image below that I have several feeds already in use. I have one for each email account, I have 3! I also have my EDM blog as well as the class blog feed. I've also added a Google search and weather feed. My favorites of course, are my social media feeds. I have instant access to my Facebook account and Twitter account.
In this next image you will see the alternate view you can use with Netvibes. It is called a "reader view". It's like a news feed on a social media site. It has an ongoing list of the most recent updates to all of the links and feeds I have added.
Overall, I love my PLN. I have found it to be extremely useful and efficient. It is definitely something I recommend and look forward to growing.
Click the link below to view our Google Site:
Lesson Plan #1 created by Jordan Neely, Kaley McDonald, and Brooklyn Rowland
In this week long project-based lesson plan 5th grade students will be able to locate, label, and provide information about a state of their choosing. This project will include labeling states in iCurio digital assignments, creating their state with play dough, making a Prezi to present in class and place on their blog. Students will use digital tools and strategies to locate, collect, organize, evaluate, and synthesize information. This lesson will meet the English Language Arts Common Core Standards of Writing numbers 2, 6, and 7. The actual criteria that will be met is listed in our lesson plan which you can view by clicking the link above. Our driving question is to be sure the students understand where the 50 states are located and the main characteristics of each state that is assigned to them.
Project Based Learning Part 1 and
Project Based Learning Part 2 are both video of an interview with Anthony Capps on how he uses PBL(Project Based Learning) in his third grade classroom. Anthony starts by saying that educators think of PBL as a means of having our students show us what they have learned, but really PBL is a method of learning. I think this is a very important thing for us to realize. Project Based Learning is actually a method of learning. Who knew? Anthony also says, "The students should need content that you need them to know in order to be able to do the project." Meaning, that if the students can complete the project without learning something new, then your probably doing it wrong. When presented with e project the students should have to do research, be taught a lesson, read a book,and discover new facts in order to complete it. If they don't are you teaching? We should always strive to challenge our students, and if we are taking up their precious time by having them create something they already know about or how to do are we helping them at all?
Anthony also talks about the goal of a good project and gives four points. First, you need to be sure that the project has an authentic audience. You need to give your students a reason to work hard. By having them present their work they are more likely to take more pride in the work they do. Having an audience motivates the student to want to learn.
Second, the project should be interesting. There are students somewhere right now reading, studying, creating something that they won't be able to tell you about in a week. Why? Because they don't care. They aren't interested. I think that it's pretty obvious that we are only going to make room in our minds for something that interests us. Not those things we really don't care about. If you liked football a lot more than you liked baseball, would you spend your time learning about and remembering everything there is to know about baseball or football? Of course not. We need to make every aspect of a child's education interesting and memorable.
Anthony also says that a good project should involve the community. How many times as a student or teacher have you heard a child say or said, "When am I going to need this is real life?". Hundreds of times. So why are we as educators not striving to make every lesson we possibly can relate to the real world! This helps the students understand the importance of attaining this knowledge.
The final point Anthony makes about the goal of a good project is, it must be content driven. Everything that happens in our classroom should be content driven. Why wouldn't it be? Why on earth would we assign a project to our class that does not meet standards? It happens, and it shouldn't. We need to engage our children in activities that are going to help them when they leave our class. We need to make sure that every thing we do i a learning and valuable experience. If it's not why are we even there!
iCurio
Discovery Education both of these resources are very interesting to me. In these videos Anthony brought up several great things about each site that I was previously unaware of. Things that have definitely intrigued my interest in using both sites in my future lessons.
iCurio is a site that both teachers and students can utilize. It houses lesson plans, texts, worksheets, videos, pictures, etc. that teachers can use to enhance their lessons. Making it easier to find content related material. Students can use iCurio as a search engine to do research. iCurio is a safe and secure place for students to do research without the possibility of coming across inappropriate material. iCurio also offers students a way to save and organize the material they find into files and folders.
In the video Anthony mentions how the means of organization has changed in today's world. We no longer use hard copies but rather digital copies of documents and notes. The organization feature of iCurio helps the student become familiar with online or digital filing and also improves their organization skills. Some other really neat features that Anthony mentioned were the timeline, read aloud and historical figure features. I personally really like the historical figures feature. Students can use this feature to find out about people from different parts of history. If you are studying slavery for example, and you have assign a project to your class that involves them dressing up as an important person from this era, your students may not have ever head of Harriet Tubman (depending on their grade level). With this feature the student can simply search Slavery, woman, black and a list of black women from the times of slavery will appear. I think this is an excellent tool to use. It expands your students knowledge and helps them to learn to teach themselves.
Discovery Education is also a very helpful site to use in your classroom. This website is full of videos for you to use to enhance your lesson. Anthony uses the quote, "If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth a million.". This is so true. Showing a video of something happening is the most effective way to get your students engaged. These videos allow your to "bring the experts into the classroom" and give your students a deeper understanding of the content. As teachers we are supposed to be experts on everything, we just have to know how to find those experts and give our students access to it. We have to engage while we teach and if we don't know enough about a topic to make it interesting, who does? Where can I find it? Discovery Education is the best website to make this happen for educators.
The Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1
By:Brooklyn Rowland
Dr. Strange and his former student and current 3rd grade teacher, Anthony Capps create a list of tips in this video that could help teachers be at the top of their game.
Be a learner.
As educators it is important that we are willing to learn as much as we are willing to teach. The world around us is constantly changing, and advancing, and despite these changes we still need to prepare our students to be successful in the real world. The only way we can do this is by changing, advancing and learning with the world. We must move forward in order to help our students thrive. We must be life long learners!
Work and play are one in the same. Anthony brings up the fact that to be successful educators we have to take our work home. In order to be the best you can be for your students, no matter the grade level, you have to work outside the scope of 8 hour school days. You have to find a way to make what you do fun for you. Anthony says, "We are in the craft of teaching." and he is so right. Everyone has a hobby, something they like to do on the weekends and after work. As educators, teaching is our hobby! At least, it should be. Teaching is not something you just wake up and decide to do. Teaching is a calling. It is something you have to love to truly be good at it. We should all strive to be the best we can, and we can do that by loving our jobs!
Every classroom has a daily schedule. Without a schedule you could never fit all 7 subjects into your day. Your classroom has a routine and you stick to that routine. The only problem with that is that the school also has a schedule and routine and sometimes your classroom schedule and the school schedule do not coincide. What does this mean for us as teachers? We have to be prepared for ANYTHING. For a sudden assembly, a fire drill, no internet, computers are broken, anything. We have to be flexible. You have to be able to figure out how to get the concept across in another way. You have a plan and are prepared for your lesson but what if your plan does not work out? You have to be able to bounce back, think on your feet, and come up with something else and not let it ruffle your feathers. Teachers must be flexible.
One way to be a flexible teacher is to understand what the ultimate goal is for every lesson that you teach. When planning your lessons ask yourself, what is my goal? What do I want my students to understand? This way you have the most important aspect in the front of your mind and it is your focus. So if something does go wrong and your plan aren't quite panning out you can quickly find a way to bounce back and keep things moving in your classroom.
Dr. Strange and Anthony also mentioned presentations in the video. Anthony then takes it a step farther and says that reflection is important for your classroom. Presentations and reflection go hand in hand. Having your students present to an audience is a good way for them to reflect upon their work. They could self reflect and try to figure out before or after how they could make the project better for the specific audience. What would make it more interesting? They could all use audience critique to reflect on their work and their presenting skills. When students reflect on their work to make it better they are expanding their realm of learning. They are going beyond what you. as their teacher, can do for them.
The final tip discussed in the video is that you should engage your students. Anthony says you should have 100% of your students engaged at all times!
He also says that you can not leave any child behind, he is taking the phrase out of context to mean that you have to intrigue and engage EVERY student EVERY time. I think the most important job we have as educators is to make students want to learn. Children are not going to learn unless they want to. You can teach them something until you are blue in the face but if they don't have the desire to know the information, they won't. You have to make every lesson entertaining, intriguing and informational. When children have the desire to learn they will go above and beyond the classroom activities they will learn on their own. They will read, they will search the internet, they will succeed. Isn't that what we want? Do we not want every student that sits in our classrooms and takes our tests to be successful adults? If this isn't your goal you might want to rethink your profession. I want to inspire and motivate. One day I want to say, "You see that man/woman on the news? I taught him/her!" Our teachers shape who we are as learners, and as people. They make us we are. I don't know about any of you, but I want to make successful, caring, passionate and lifelong learners. Those are the kinds of people I want walking out of my classroom at the end of the year.
Teaching is my passion and what I truly believe I was born to do. I also believe this video to be very insightful and helpful to any future or even current teachers. We need to strive to make our world a better place and it all starts with our children. We as educators are responsible for molding young minds to be the future doctors, lawyers, teachers and leaders of our countries. The most important job in the world is the one that all of us strive to have.
Don’t Teach Tech- Use it
By: Jordan Neely
Technology shouldn’t be taught; it is natural for kids and everywhere in their lives. Kids are going to like to use technology to prove they are learning. Anthony used an example of Discovery Ed. The first week of school you could use Discovery Ed to teach your students a certain topic, the next week you can have the students use a video portion of iMovie to create a reflection or summary on a story you have read in class. Dr. Strange asked Anthony if his third graders have had any problem using iMovie or learning how to work it and he said absolutely not. They could use research tools and video tools to create a project requiring a movie component to it. Eventually the students will be able to combine all the skills they have learned. At first, you need to choose one technology at a time and focus on it. Make sure the students learn it and are able to use it to the best of their ability before introducing them to a new program or website. Using technology allows students to express themselves and has several benefits. Anthony mentioned that most programs are free and if they do cost it is normally only a one-time fee for membership. Technology doesn't need supplies and doesn't have to be cleaned up after, such as messes and spills. The tools that students will be learning in the classroom today will help them to learn the new tools that will be created in their futures. As a teacher, Anthony suggests you to scaffold the learning and let them use one tool at a time. They can share what they are doing with people from all over world and be excited about doing the work. As a teacher you cannot expect perfection, your students are going to make mistakes with their first research project. This is when you set aside a time for reflection to fix those mistakes and the next week those mistakes will be fixed and they will be ready to move a step ahead. The students will love being able to share what they have learned and accomplished while learning new tools. If you are worried about how a certain project is going to work out, do the project yourself first. If any questions arise in class, you will have already done the project and will hopefully be prepared to answer any questions. If neither of you know the answer to a question, this can teach the child problem solving skills and you can work together as a class to overcome the obstacle. In order to learn, questions must be asked.
An Additional Thought About Lessons
By: Kaley McDonald
How do we as teachers create an effective, successful lesson plan? Anthony explains in this video that developing a successful lesson requires four components. These components are year, unit, week, and daily plans that require the skills of time management and abundant planning to construct. The first, year plan, is to decipher how the lesson will fit into the year and making sure all the expected common core standards will be met and accomplished. Next is the unit plan. The unit plan can be formulated by asking and answering the question, "How will I unfold the unit so that it's relevant and all information and standards tie in together with the unit?" This concept involves beginning with an aspect and continuing to develop the material as time progresses so that by the end of a unit students should be able to accomplish the outcome expected. Next is the weekly plan, in that time must be managed in order to get everything that needs to be done, complete. This involves planning what will transpire through the week, what projects will be constructed, and assessing the student's accomplishments in the short time period of a five day week. The final component of the four, would be the daily plan. The daily plan affects how you deliver information to your students on a daily basis. Being flexible and observing what is working and what is not is key to daily planning, in that you'll know how to plan for the next day, and the next, and so forth. You must hook them, meaning you must obtain their attention with elements that interest them, keep them engaged while delivering content, and then offer entities afterwards to determine and record what they’ve learned for that day so you'll know where to begin the next day. All these components must be equally performed for the outcome of a successful lesson to transpire.
C4K #1
Batman is a student in Baldwin County. I commented on his "I Belive" post.
My comment:
Hey! My name is Brooklyn and I go to South Alabama. I love your essay. It takes a lot of courage for someone your age to stand up for what they believe in. I also believe that God is very real! I remember hearing the story of Colton on the 700 club. I love how God speaks to us through such wonderful ways. It’s a wonderful thing that you felt such a presence of God when you were baptized. There is nothing like hearing a song you have heard countless times and then while listening to it one lyric touches you. I feel it is truly a sign that God is with you. I am so proud that you were able to stand up and talk about your experiences with the Lord and be so unashamed. There is hope for this world after all!
Thank you so much for sharing. I look forward to reading more of your blogs!
C4K #2
Wookeun is a student in Guatemala City. The blog post I commented on was an animoto video about how to be a good reader.
My Comment:
Hi Wookeun! My name is Brooklyn and I am from Mobile, Alabama, USA! I loved your video. Those are some really great tips for reading. I always have to find a nice quiet place to read. Otherwise, I get too distracted. I also really liked the music you used for the video, what song did you use? You did a very good job! Keep blogging and good luck with the rest of your school year!
C4K #3
Max is a student in Pt. England. He also posted a video but his was about adding decimals.
My comment:
Hi Max! My name is Brooklyn and I am from Mobile, Alabama, USA! I am going to college to be a teacher. I think that is a really cool way to practice adding decimals! I will definitely have to use that one day to teach my students. Make sure you keep practicing and stay on top of your math skills. They are very important to your education. Make sure to keep blogging and good luck with the rest of your school year!
C4K #4
Allie is a 5th grader in Mrs. Ripp's class in Madison, WI. She teamed up with Leona and they wrote a very good blog post about the government shut down.
My Comment:
Hi girls! My name is Brooklyn and I am from Mobile, Alabama. I go to school at the University of South Alabama. You both must have done a good bit of research on the shutdown. You cited several good facts. I agree with you. I think that if your class of 5th graders can get along why can’t grown ups? You also have to realize though that there are some hard decisions that have to be made and it is pretty hard to get every one to agree. But I think we have some people being kind of stubborn. A compromise is exactly what they need! I hope you keep reading about things going on with our government it’s very important for everyone, including 5th graders, to be informed. You guys are the future of our country and you need to be prepared. So keep up the good work!
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