Project #8 Book Trailer

If for some reason you only hear music and only see a black screen change the viewing quality to 720p.

Blog post #6 Personal Learning Networks

PLN stands for personal learning networks. These are used by people everyday, sometimes without knowing what they are. Social media outlets are mostly what PLN's are made from. From Facebook to Twitter social media is the main source of how people communicate in the world today. These personal learning networks can help teachers by getting them in touch with other teachers that may know more about the subject one is trying to teach. To get the insight of many people to help with the learning process even as a teacher is priceless. The more people that are in a persons personal learning network the more valuable the personal learning network is. I think that it is great to have personal learning networks. Having the knowledge that I can contact someone that I am comfortable with and being able to pick their brains about subjects without actually having to sit down and do a long interview is great.

I had already started having a personal learning network before taking the EDM310 class, I just didn't know that's what I was doing. I have a twitter and a facebook account already set up. The more research that I have been doing and the more blogs I have read have contributed to me following more people on twitter and facebook. As time goes on I am sure that I will continue adding more and more people to my personal learning network.

Blog Post #5

The first two video's of the assignment for this blog post are interviews with Anthony Capps a Third grade teacher in Baldwin County that talk about some of the projects that he does in his class.. Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher and Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher are the links to these interviews. The things that I have taken away from this interview are that that kids in Mr. Capps class are very eager to learn and love doing most of the projects that he sets forth. He explains, in this interview, that the projects he does also keeps him learning things. I love the thought of doing projects based learning and Mr. Capps, by explaining just how much the kids in his class enjoy it, has only strengthened that thought. The one project that really intrigued me was the one about writing letters to a congressman. The students had to do a lot of prep work to get these letters ready and Mr. Capps explains what went into this project during the interview. Another thing that interested me in these interviews was the way Mr. Capps explains how well it is received by the administrators of his particular school. From what Mr. Capps explains project based learning is very well received and liked by the administrators. This type of reception leads me to believe that project based learning is the type of teaching that is going to gain ground and take over the traditional method of "burp back education" as Dr. John Strange puts it.

In this interview,iCurio Mr. Capps does a short explanation of what iCurio does. iCurio is a search engine that is put together for educational purposes. There is a lot of material out on the internet that is inappropriate for students. iCurio makes it so instructors can be less wary of where students get their information. This website also has other features that Mr. Capps explains in detail like the folder options for storing information that students have gathered. I believe that this is a suitable search engine for educational benefits. iCurio will be something that I look into further, and once I've done research on it, may possibly use it for my educational endeavors.

Discovery Education is a short video interview with Mr. Capps about how he uses discovery education. Without going into to much detail, as I encourage you to watch the video, I will tell a little of this application. Discovery Education sounds to me like a very useful tool in the arsenal of a project based learning educator. This application brings video and experts of certain areas into the classroom via video. Video and reading these days go hand in hand in our technologically based civilization.

In The Anthony - Strange list of Tips for Teachers Part 1 Mr. Capps and Dr. Strange go through a short list of things that may help teachers who are just now coming into the field of teaching and those that have been teaching for years. After watching this short interview I find that they come up with a short list of things that should be used by every teacher. The most intriguing one to me is to be flexible. I find that if you are flexible, and not just set into one way, that as a student or teacher you can enjoy the fruits of labor put into the projects put before you. Being flexible allows for small or large adjustments that may be necessary. If one was not flexible with this it would make for a very unsatisfying project.

In Don't Teach Tech - Use It Dr.Strange and Anthony Capps talk about whether teaching technology or just implementing it is better for students. The overwhelming result from both Anthony and Dr. Strange is that it should be implemented along with the regular teaching. Mr. Capps says that scaffolding the projects and the implementation of technology and leaving time for reflection has helped his students very much. I must say that I agree with how Mr. Capps thinks. We don't need to teach the technology only give time for the students to get the basics and they will more than likely know more about the technology that we do.

One last little bit of information is given in additional thoughts about lessons. In this very short video Mr. Capps explains the four layers of a lesson. As I end this assignment I can only think that I have learned a bit more about how project based is implemented and how well it does in the eyes of those instructing it.

Blog post #4 Questions and how to ask them.

Questions are what keep the mind learning. If there were no questions then that would mean that people would know everything there is to know in the entire scope of reality. Now we know that is not the case because we pose questions to people and ourselves everyday. I was told, from a very early age, that the only stupid question is a question not asked, and I believe that philosophy works for me even to this day. Questions can be very confusing if not asked in the right way or manner. What is the right way to ask a question to a group of students? Well the answer is not a simple one but there are a few things we as educators can do to help us get our question phrased so students are engaged.

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? There are a lot of things that one needs to know in order to ask a question effectively. We need to know the goals of the questions we are asking. If we only give students yes or no questions are we really stimulating the mind of a student? There are ways to get a great question and get the students minds stimulated. One technique is to ask a question wait 3 seconds and then call on a student at random. The theory is that the students do not know who is going to be called on and therefor start thinking about the answer they want to give. How we phrase our questions can be a good way of getting students to be involved. Another way of getting students involved is by putting a question on the board at the beginning of class and having students think on the question throughout the class.

For further help on how to ask questions the right way I will provide links to websites that have strategies. The right way to ask questions in a classroom
Asking questions to improve learning
Three ways to ask better questions in the clasroom
Asking better questions in the classroom
Questioning styles and strategies

Project #3 Presentation

C4T #1

For my comments for teachers assignment I was directed to US History Teachers Blog, where I have had the pleasure of commenting on Mr. Ken Halla's posts. The posts that Ken places on his blog are mostly about US history.

The first post that I commented on was about mistakes that changed History. There wasn't much said on the post because it was a video. The video contained some interesting mistakes that changed history. One of the facts was on the Archduke Ferdinand's assassination. The comment that I left told of how I liked the video and that part in particular. I also told about my time in Sarajevo when I was in the Army.

The second post that I commented on was one that said Mr. Halla's was going to put on a presentation for flipping the classroom. Not much was said in the post itself but attached to the post was a slideshow of his presentation. The purpose of his presentation was directed toward teachers and how they can incorporate this style of teaching in their own classrooms. The comment that I left told of how I appreciated him putting up the slideshow on the blog and of how informative that I thought it would be for my own usage as I told him that I was currently in school to become a teacher.

Blog Post #3 Peer review the right way

Peer reviewing can be quite a daunting task. It is really difficult for me because I do not like to ruffle feathers and upset people by giving criticism, whether it is bad or good. I know that I must overcome this thought process in order to become a good educator. I always feel like I'm being picky over things when I peer review someone else's work, yet I know this isn't true. I have a feeling that after I get finished with EDM310 I will have a little bit of a better grasp on peer reviewing.

After watching the videos and flipping through the presentation that was given I feel that the peer reviews I've done in the past did not do justice to the paper I was reviewing. The thing that really got pointed out to me was the punctuation and grammar. I have been known to be a comma hater in papers. One of the things that I found that I have done in the past is to get off topic when sitting with someone to review their work. Peer reviewing is a great thing and can be very helpful if you get the right peer to review your work. By staying on topic, being nice, having constructive criticism, and being specific on the types of errors in the paper a peer could give you a much better outlook on your project than either a boss or a teacher could, because it is easier to listen to a peer than to feel you are being judged by a superior.