Anthony Capps videos
These videos were quite informative. Even from the first video I learned something. Getting the students involved and excited about a project is a big step toward getting them motivated about projects. Having them be a part of every step of the project from beginning to end is a good way to have them feel like they aren't just doing busy work. I was surprised with the second video in that I didn't how much overlap project based learning would have within subjects. From the kids getting to draw their favorite scene yet having to write a page long defense of it before they were allowed to draw it is a a great example of overlapping subjects.
I was very interested to learn about iCurio in the next video . Having a search engine that's been refined for scholarly only sources would have been of great use in my previous semesters here at South Alabama. The organization feature alone would have saved me hours of writing and forgetting sources. Discovery Ed, mentioned in the fourth video also seems like a very useful source as well. Being able to have videos detailing subjects seems like a great tool for audio and video learners.
I would very much like a printed list of the tips outlined in this video . I think that this would be a very good motivator for myself.
I very much like in this video how Anthony says that lessons and how to use new technology should be incorporated into each other. I have seen so many lessons just devoted to the teaching of something rather than having it be used. Breaking down work into just four layers as mentioned here seems like a great approach. Implementing those layers would help keep things on track day by day and yet keep them wrapped up in the yearly projects that need to be done.
Monday, September 29, 2014
C4K September Summary
Comment Number One
I am ashamed to admit that I lost the URL for my first student to comment on and forgot to ask Dr. Strange if he had it written down as well. Next time I will draft these summary's exactly like the instructions recommend and copy down the URL to avoid such a situation again.
Comment Number Two
For my second student to comment on, I had Henry from Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand. The project I commented on was a google presentation showing how to convert decimal places to make subtraction problems easier. I told him that his presentation was well set up and that how I found it useful that he had explained in writing what he had done in his problems, as well as showing us the math work.
Comment Number Three
For my third comment, I once again had Henry from Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand. This time, Henry had created a video giving a brief history of archery. I told him that the style of video was well done. I recommended that he turn down his background music as it was hard to hear him over it and that ending the video just after his presentation would be better as well.
I am ashamed to admit that I lost the URL for my first student to comment on and forgot to ask Dr. Strange if he had it written down as well. Next time I will draft these summary's exactly like the instructions recommend and copy down the URL to avoid such a situation again.
Comment Number Two
For my second student to comment on, I had Henry from Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand. The project I commented on was a google presentation showing how to convert decimal places to make subtraction problems easier. I told him that his presentation was well set up and that how I found it useful that he had explained in writing what he had done in his problems, as well as showing us the math work.
Comment Number Three
For my third comment, I once again had Henry from Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand. This time, Henry had created a video giving a brief history of archery. I told him that the style of video was well done. I recommended that he turn down his background music as it was hard to hear him over it and that ending the video just after his presentation would be better as well.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Blog Post #5
Personal Learning Networks
At the time I began this project, I had never before even heard of a Personal Learning Network. A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is the people and tools you will use throughout your career to help you and your students. Although I had never heard of a PLN before, I had already begun to save useful resources and websites I had found over the years to a special folder so that I could access them for future use. Without knowing it, I had already begun to build my PLN and can only hope to keep expanding it in the future.
At the time I began this project, I had never before even heard of a Personal Learning Network. A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is the people and tools you will use throughout your career to help you and your students. Although I had never heard of a PLN before, I had already begun to save useful resources and websites I had found over the years to a special folder so that I could access them for future use. Without knowing it, I had already begun to build my PLN and can only hope to keep expanding it in the future.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Project #15
Search Engines
WolframAlpha.com
This is a search engines that lets you input a question and get a direct answer. I've actually never used this site before and it appears to be one I'm going to be using quite often. This one is good when you need to know an answer or fact without resorting to a general search and getting a million and one different links to the same information back.
Bing
Bing is your general search engine much like Google but prettier. I'm kidding! After searching for something in Bing, it lays links to other websites containing information on your subject. It also creates a right hand column containing items such as a general overview of your subject and items that may be related to your subject. The good thing about this website is the specificity of the links it provides you. For instance, I type into Bing "Yellowstone National Park" and every link that follows is about or directly related to Yellowstone National Park without all the oddball sites that merely mention the words Yellowstone National Park in passing.
Kayak
Kayak is a travel search site that lets you compare several sites at once. It searches other travel sites
Ziplocal is a search engine that searches the addresses of business or locations within a specific area. If I type in "Chinese" and "Saraland, AL" into the blanks provided a list is then generated with the addresses and phone numbers of Chinese restaurants close by. It's basically like an online phone book with addresses.
Ohloh
Ohloh Code is a search engine that lets computer programmers and other tech savvy people browse through online codes. I don't mean codes like, "you'll win x if you put this code in:..." on bottle caps. I mean codes as in HTML or things used by programmers to create software. Any publicly available codes are searchable provided they have been put online.
YahooMaps
Yahoo Maps is a search engine created by Yahoo that pulls up an online map of any area you enter into the search engine. I've found the interface to be much more appealing than Google Maps and it is faster at updating to any changes as well.
Yummly
Yummly is a search engine created with the specific purposes of finding recipes for any food you want. Enter a food into the engine, say pizza, and thousands of different recipes are pulled from the internet and displayed for you. Pictures, ratings, cook times, and number of ingredients are all displayed below each recipe so you can quickly browse through items you like. You can refine the search by adding or removing ingredients, browsing by occasion such as Game Day or New Year, tastes, allergies, nutrition, and a host of other options are all available to help you find just the right recipe you are looking for.
WolframAlpha.com
This is a search engines that lets you input a question and get a direct answer. I've actually never used this site before and it appears to be one I'm going to be using quite often. This one is good when you need to know an answer or fact without resorting to a general search and getting a million and one different links to the same information back.
Bing
Bing is your general search engine much like Google but prettier. I'm kidding! After searching for something in Bing, it lays links to other websites containing information on your subject. It also creates a right hand column containing items such as a general overview of your subject and items that may be related to your subject. The good thing about this website is the specificity of the links it provides you. For instance, I type into Bing "Yellowstone National Park" and every link that follows is about or directly related to Yellowstone National Park without all the oddball sites that merely mention the words Yellowstone National Park in passing.
Kayak
Kayak is a travel search site that lets you compare several sites at once. It searches other travel sites
Ziplocal is a search engine that searches the addresses of business or locations within a specific area. If I type in "Chinese" and "Saraland, AL" into the blanks provided a list is then generated with the addresses and phone numbers of Chinese restaurants close by. It's basically like an online phone book with addresses.
Ohloh
Ohloh Code is a search engine that lets computer programmers and other tech savvy people browse through online codes. I don't mean codes like, "you'll win x if you put this code in:..." on bottle caps. I mean codes as in HTML or things used by programmers to create software. Any publicly available codes are searchable provided they have been put online.
YahooMaps
Yahoo Maps is a search engine created by Yahoo that pulls up an online map of any area you enter into the search engine. I've found the interface to be much more appealing than Google Maps and it is faster at updating to any changes as well.
Yummly
Yummly is a search engine created with the specific purposes of finding recipes for any food you want. Enter a food into the engine, say pizza, and thousands of different recipes are pulled from the internet and displayed for you. Pictures, ratings, cook times, and number of ingredients are all displayed below each recipe so you can quickly browse through items you like. You can refine the search by adding or removing ingredients, browsing by occasion such as Game Day or New Year, tastes, allergies, nutrition, and a host of other options are all available to help you find just the right recipe you are looking for.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
C4T#1
I was assigned to read the blog of Mr. Ken Halla, a history teacher who create his blog to share information he finds on the web about history and how to use technology in the classroom.
Post #1
In the first post I commented on, Mr. Halla is posting about an website called Remind. It is a free service for teachers that lets you create a virtual group for your class in order to keep in quick contact with the parents of students. He has posted a YouTube tutorial video he made on how to use it so newcomers are not overwhelmed by this service. In my comment I went over I how I liked how he was sharing such a tool with everybody to see on his blog and how useful it can be. I found it similar to Facebook groups without the hassle of being required to join Facebook or even need an internet connection as the website sends messages directly to recipient's phones.
Post #2
In the second post I commented on, Mr. Halla has posted a reminder that PBS will be running a documentary special on the Roosevelt family this week. I commented saying that I liked how is blog included little things like this as they can help give teacher's ideas for the upcoming week or even give interested students extra things to do.
Post #1
In the first post I commented on, Mr. Halla is posting about an website called Remind. It is a free service for teachers that lets you create a virtual group for your class in order to keep in quick contact with the parents of students. He has posted a YouTube tutorial video he made on how to use it so newcomers are not overwhelmed by this service. In my comment I went over I how I liked how he was sharing such a tool with everybody to see on his blog and how useful it can be. I found it similar to Facebook groups without the hassle of being required to join Facebook or even need an internet connection as the website sends messages directly to recipient's phones.
Post #2
In the second post I commented on, Mr. Halla has posted a reminder that PBS will be running a documentary special on the Roosevelt family this week. I commented saying that I liked how is blog included little things like this as they can help give teacher's ideas for the upcoming week or even give interested students extra things to do.
Blog Post 4
Asking Questions
I think that what we need to know about asking questions in our classrooms is how does the question keep our students engaged? When I say engaged, I don't just mean how does it make them interact. I mean how does it make them think? Does it make them think about why or what if? Do they think of how or of other people's point of view? There are too many questions asked that are simple yes or no questions. These questions are given with the expectation of a certain response and if a student doesn't know the right response they will stay quiet. Instead of asking yes or no questions, I think that questions should engage the student. If I can ask a question in class and it keeps the students thinking about it after the answer is given or it creates even more questions by other students who now want to know more beyond the answer, then I have asked a good question.
I think that what we need to know about asking questions in our classrooms is how does the question keep our students engaged? When I say engaged, I don't just mean how does it make them interact. I mean how does it make them think? Does it make them think about why or what if? Do they think of how or of other people's point of view? There are too many questions asked that are simple yes or no questions. These questions are given with the expectation of a certain response and if a student doesn't know the right response they will stay quiet. Instead of asking yes or no questions, I think that questions should engage the student. If I can ask a question in class and it keeps the students thinking about it after the answer is given or it creates even more questions by other students who now want to know more beyond the answer, then I have asked a good question.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Blog Post 3
Providing Meaningful Feedback for Peers
With the Peer Editing video, I like how they say to start your comments off with a compliment. This is a good way to break ice and lets the recipient know that where they are strong at in their subject. When the video got to 1:18, they began to list several categories that would be good for offering advice on, such as grammar, layout, and topic. It's good that the video lists items such as these as some people may just summarize their personal feelings on a post because they aren't sure what to look for when suggesting changes. The slideshow tutorial is a good tool for teaching peer reviews to students just starting out on the subject and it reiterates many ideas in the Peer Editing video. I do wonder though why both resources would differentiate between suggestions and corrections. Many of the categories have room for overlap and would not corrections be offered with suggestions?
While watching the Writing Peer Review video, I found it to be very informative with the different ways of how not to peer review. I had not realized there were so many different types of characters who get it wrong. I did like how the video portrayed problems on both sides of the peer review process. From Pushy Paula who can't just let it go to Off-Task Oliver who won't get with the program, the video does a great job of showing the process from the reviewer's and recipient's point of views. I can only hope that when I peer reviewed my classmates in the past and any in the future that I will not be any of the characters in the video. Maybe it has a been a long time for me, but I don't remember ever getting the chance to peer review another classmate's work in the fourth or fifth grade. I do like how it has changed. Teaching students early on how to properly peer edit and cooperate, in addition to what not to do do when editing, will only help them as they go through life.
With the Peer Editing video, I like how they say to start your comments off with a compliment. This is a good way to break ice and lets the recipient know that where they are strong at in their subject. When the video got to 1:18, they began to list several categories that would be good for offering advice on, such as grammar, layout, and topic. It's good that the video lists items such as these as some people may just summarize their personal feelings on a post because they aren't sure what to look for when suggesting changes. The slideshow tutorial is a good tool for teaching peer reviews to students just starting out on the subject and it reiterates many ideas in the Peer Editing video. I do wonder though why both resources would differentiate between suggestions and corrections. Many of the categories have room for overlap and would not corrections be offered with suggestions?
While watching the Writing Peer Review video, I found it to be very informative with the different ways of how not to peer review. I had not realized there were so many different types of characters who get it wrong. I did like how the video portrayed problems on both sides of the peer review process. From Pushy Paula who can't just let it go to Off-Task Oliver who won't get with the program, the video does a great job of showing the process from the reviewer's and recipient's point of views. I can only hope that when I peer reviewed my classmates in the past and any in the future that I will not be any of the characters in the video. Maybe it has a been a long time for me, but I don't remember ever getting the chance to peer review another classmate's work in the fourth or fifth grade. I do like how it has changed. Teaching students early on how to properly peer edit and cooperate, in addition to what not to do do when editing, will only help them as they go through life.
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