Final Project Progress Report

For my final project I will be doing an iBook with my group and one by myself. My group members are Tina Bethel and Kayla Johnson, which they are both a thrill to work with. My individual iBook is coming along pretty great; I have already started getting pictures, videos, and planning to develop an excellent individual iBook. Also, the group project is going well. We have already completed the smart board presentation two the week before Thanksgiving; however, we have several more dates assigned to make an excellent iBook.

Blog Post#13

Back To the Future

This was a video of Mr. Crosby and how he teaches his fourth graders at Agnes Risley Elementary School which is in Sparks, Nevada. At the beginning, Mr. Crosby stresses that ninety percent of the students in his class are second language learners, most on free or reduced lunch packages, and that most are from families that are facing poverty. He also informed me of a survey that he had his students take on the second day of school that had just a few simple questions. The outcome of the survey was that nine students knew what city they live in, twelve students knew what state they live in, three students knew what country they live in, seven knew their address, and four knew their home phone number. I was completely shocked finding out that most of these nine years olds don’t know the correct answer to such important questions. I know four year olds that could answer all of the questions right and give you surprising information that would leave your jaw dropped by the information they know. Mr. Crosby informs me that these students suffer from having a narrowed curriculum because they have not had the experience to build the schema of the world; therefore, he enlightens the students by using technology and being creative.

 In his class, his students use digital cameras, videos, experiments, and blogs to expand the kids learning experiences. Throughout the school year, his students perform experiments that are recorded on digital cameras and they have to write what happen in the video. Also he informed me that he teaches his students how to put together a Wikipedia webpage, paste pictures on blogs. I think that Mr. Crosby’s ways of teaching benefits his students in expanding their knowledge of the second language by writing and using Skype. He makes learning interactive for students that usually would not even try because they feel like they are in a different world due to their lack of knowledge. Mr. Crosby and his students also created a project that involved recording a balloon traveling through the atmosphere and as the balloon traveled the students could actually see it happening live. He then had his students write as if they were the balloon traveling through the atmosphere. The main aspect that I learned from viewing this video was that you have to go the next step, no matter what it may be, to help our students learn effectively. This has to be a fun experience for his students that are learning through interactive assignments and connecting to other students around the world.

 A Vision of Students Today

This was a video created by Michael Wesch. The video contained information from students at Kansas State University and took place in what looked to be a college auditorium. Throughout the video, there were statements written on the walls, chairs, and board in the room. Also, there were students in the video that displayed facts about themselves and questions by writing on paper to express their concerns of school. The question in the video, “What are you learning sitting here?”, I thought was a excellent questions because students are in this large classroom being taught by one teacher. I feel like teachers that are instructing these classes are not being able give adequate assistance to every student.

 Another statement that caught my eye was “My neighbor never comes to class but paid for class”. I think that this statement can be really controversial. I know numerous students that pay for classes and only attend them when there are things due because they usually have other important things to do like going to work. I think this could be avoided if all universities uploaded lectures online for students that can not make it to class; on the other hand, teachers normally look at a student that are constantly absent as a disadvantage for them because they missed out on hearing the important information from the instructor. Overall, this video made me think of different ways that technology can benefit students and teachers in the classroom.

Blog Post 12

1.       Read "Fun Fall Activities to Stay Moving".
While you’re reading this blog post think about ways that you can get your kids out and be active. Identify and summarize five unique ways that you could use with your students.. Also, include a summary of the examples and your reactions to what the Spark blog stated. This is an excellent post on how to prevent childhood obesity, therefore; be creative with way and remember you want your students to enjoy exercising so think critical come up with some good examples.  

This was a very interesting post that gave me many ideas of how to get my students active in their free time.  The first example in the post informed me how I could take my students out for a nature walk or just let them be out doors to play around. I think that this is a very good idea; however, to make a nature walk a little more adventurous I would incorporate a game that involves them to identify the different types of trees or nature. The next example stated was to get outdoors and rake some leaves. This section informed me that there are numerous ways that you can work your upper body. When I heard this statement my thoughts ran crazy, if my administrator would allow it I would have a rock climbing wall and a rope in my room. The next section was about going out and having fun by throwing football or holding a football. Also, the post stated that you can pretend that you are a football player running bleachers. This was a great example of cardio that I could have my students do but the age of the class I would have to incorporate a different plan. For younger students, I would have them play freeze tag. The student that gets tag would have to inform the others on the major body parts of the human body. The blog I thought was very creative; it insisted that instead of going out to the supermarket that you could work your abs, gluts, and quads by going to a farm to pick pumpkins. For this example, I would have to have a shuttle run for my students or set up stations that consisted of my students using their major muscles to accomplish. The last section informed me ways that I can have my kids stretch and relax their minds. I believe that stretching is really important; therefore, I would have my students stretch at the beginning of class and after they perform all physical activity for that day. I would apply concentration and motivation music to relax my students while they are in class. This was a great post for anyone to read that wants to live a healthy life and fight heart disease.

Blog Post# 11

Little Kids Big Potential

In this video, Ms. Cassidy’s first grade students demonstrate ways on how she uses technology in her lesson throughout her classroom. The first topic that is pointed out in the video is blogging. Ms. Cassidy’s students explained how they write blogs and get comments from other people. From my experience, I believe that blogging can make learning more engaging and that students will tend to spend more time on an activity because they are enjoying it. Also, I think that blogging is a great tool for any teacher to use because students can help out other students by commenting on another students work. Overall, I believe that blogging helps with reading and writing skills. The only problem would be that it would take time for students and teachers to gain the knowledge needed to make blogging successful; therefore, I would develop videos demonstrating how to use blogging. Another topic was that she developed a webpage for her students that has everything the students do in class; therefore, the students can access their work outside of class. This would be a great tool for all teachers, students, and parents. The teacher has everything organized for the students on a webpage that benefits the students by making it as easy as a click of a mouse to access lessons. Parents can always keep up with their child’s work and know what they are learning in class daily. If there is a problem with the webpage a whole day’s lesson plan could be altered if the teacher relies on this technology daily in her classroom. The focus of the students will also be lost due to the technical difficulties. The solution for this situation would be to always have a back up plan. Also, her students can see what other students are doing in other classes around the country. Wiki was the next topic that the kids talked about in this video. The kids stated that they used Wiki to find out what a term means and created a Wiki about the alphabets. The University of South Alabama students also created a Wiki using alphabets and shared them with Ms. Cassidy’s class. Next the students explained how they created videos individually and in groups. I think that group activities are really important because it allows students to be creative and work with other students to distinguish between their ideas. Interactive group learning activities can lead to some students doing all the work and others not doing as much. The solution that I would use for this is have my students evaluate each other daily outside of class and email them to me so it will be confidential. The students also stated that they used Skype to communicate to other people and to their reading buddies in other schools. Her students also informed me on how they played an interactive game called Nintendogs, which they accessed on Nintendo DS’s. Nintendogs is a pet stimulation video game.

Summary of C4T#3

"Making "the Cafe" Make Sense for Primary Students".
Making “the Café” Make Sense for Primary Students was a post about how Kathy Cassidy came upon two books titled,” The Daily Five and the The Café Book”, by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. Cassidy pointed out that these books assisted her in organizing a primary classroom to have an individualized reading program. However, she encountered a few problems with the terminology that the book insisted needed to be on the bulletin board. The students were supposed to write out the reading strategies as each one is taught. The acronym C-A-F-E stands for the main categories that were comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expand vocabulary. The students were having a hard time understanding each; therefore, Ms. Cassidy changed the terminology to words that suited her students understanding abilities. She changed the acronym to R-E-A-D, which stood for right words, explain what you read, able to read smoothly, and discover new words. I told her how that I thought the change was really needed to insure that her students understood the concepts in order to have a successful reading program.

 "Is There an App for That? Word Work Edition".
The next post that I viewed from Ms. Cassidy’s blog was titled, “Is There an App for that? Word Work Edition. This was a very interesting post about applications that can help students to spell words that are frequently used. The applications that Ms. Cassidy informed me on throughout this post were DrawFree, Magic Ink, Skywrite, and Word Wizard. Ms. Cassidy explained that DrawFree is a drawing application not a spelling application that is free; however, with this application she informed me that the application is more engaging because students get to choose to write with a paint brush, pencil, or a crayon, She states that Magic Ink was a good application because the quicker students move their fingers the thicker the lines appear on the application. The cost of Magic Ink is $0.99.Also, Ms. Cassidy states that Skywrite is a free application that students will be keep students engaged. She states that with this application students write words in the sky and a tiny airplane follows their finger then turns the letters into cloud letters. However, students can also type text into a textbox and the airplane will create cloud letters for them. Last she informed me on the application Word Wizard that cost $2.99. Ms. Cassidy says that this application reads the letters as they are dragged onto the board and as more letters are added it speaks back the combined sound until there is a complete word. Word Wizard was my favorite because I think it beneficial for students because the application speaks the words correctly back to the student as they spell the word out. Word Wizard can also help students that are having trouble saying words

C4K Summary for October

Reilly - Flying on Wheels
The first kid’s blog post of October that I viewed was a fourth grader named Reilly. In this post, Reilly entertains his guest with a very suspenseful story, "Flying on Wheels. Throughout the post, you can tell that Reilly is going to be an awesome writer because he already fills his reader’s great details. The way this kid told the story, gave me several illustrations while reading and the use of descriptive words made scenes perfect in my mind.

Carolyn - Media Manipulation
The second blog post that I checked out was a OSG’s Global Issues blog titled "Media Manipulation" posted by a girl named Carolyn. This was a very creative post that changed the way I will ever look at news in the future. From reading this post, I have learned that there are many news topics that the public does not get informed about because media feels that there are not important. Also, Carolyn shared many statistics that she cited that came from really reliable sources.

Hannah - You Cant Expect It
Another blog post that I was assigned to was a fifth grade student named Hannah. While looking through her blog, I found that her most recent post was titled “You cant expect it…”. This was a very good poem that demonstrated a very creative thinking and writing style, especially for a student at the fifth grade level. After reading the poem, I could sense that Hannah puts a lot of hard work and dedication in the poem. If you read this poem you will be very shocked like I was when you find out the ending.

Marshall - Draco Lizards
The last blog post that I was assigned to was a student in Miss Mac’s class named Marshall. When I first looked at his blog, I noticed that Marshall and I have one thing in common. I found out that this kid loves reptiles. Marshall’s interesting post was about Draco lizards and he informed me on a unique trait that makes this lizard different from others. He taught me that Draco lizards are different because they have the ability to glide through the air. I know some of you reading this are thinking to yourselves, “ a flying lizard sounds like a horrifying miniature dragon”. Also, I informed Marshall that I recently loss my pet which was a Chinese water dragon that I had for six years and I told him that lizards are great pets that are easy to take care of.

Special Blog Post

A World Where Grades Will be Left Behind

This was an article from the USA TODAY created by Mary Beth Marklein, a writer for USA TODAY. It was USA Today’s thirtieth anniversary, when she interviewed some of the best United States visionaries to talk about the world in the future. She interviews Sebastian Thrun in Palo Alto, California, a Google vice president and a University of Standford research professor. She stresses that he is known for his role in developing Google’s drive less car. Thrun started off by saying that within a mile of the University of Stanford there is an office building across the street of an Olive garden restaurant. He states, this is no ordinary office building; however, it is the development of an upcoming contender.

Thrun, explains that at this school learning will be free and available to anyone who wants it. Also, he states the lessons will look like the popular game Angry Birds. Thrun follows up by saying; you want learning to be as much fun as it is to play a video game. Next, Thrun told USA TODAY that one-day he was in a studio at his education company that he found called Udacity. This is a free online intelligence course that caught the attention of over 160,000 students. Also, it led Thrun to discontinue teaching in a traditional way of instructing classrooms at Stanford. Thrun talked about his famous saying that he told an audience in a conference in Munich, he said, "you can take the red pill and go back to your classroom and lecture your twenty students but I have taken the red pill and seen Wonderland".

He continues stating the unique way of teaching at Udacity. He says that there is a windowless room where the producers of the program make creative special effects and video cameras capture close shots of the instructor’s hand as they write material on a white board. Thrun explains that in the next room there is also staff creating games for the lessons. Next, he informed on how technology is taking over education. There were several statements that he said that were shocking. One was that Charter schools in Chicago and New York City has created a school built around playing games. I think that if teaching was done through gaming that students would be seriously engaged in games and learn the information at the same time. I know several of younger children that you will be shocked to see how good they play these high definition sports games on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Most of the kids learn the basic concept of the sport and learn the rules. I think the game play leads to the determination some of these eye-catching youth league sport players around the world.

He states that classes in 30 years will have increasingly challenging exercises, quizzes based on skill and concept, class sizes will vary, grades will be determined on mastering the concept, and instruction will be free. However, he says services might have a fee like certifications and exams. I believe that his statements about education thirty years are possible. I think we all enjoyed reading the part about education will be free. Also, I think this would have an affect on the number of people that will further their education after high school. I have numerous friends that exceeded in high school but didn’t attend college because they did not want to risk taking out student loans. I see a positive resolution from the points that he stated, of course their would be more educated Americans if we made learning interactive and fun.

Project #11

Project #14

Blog Post #10

"Adventures in Pencil Integration".

This was a cartoon posted by John Spencer. It was a very difficult task at first for me to determine what the cartoon was actually illustrating. However, after sitting down and letting my mind expand a little, I realized that I was thinking way too hard. The text says it all, the character that is stating that he is a “papermate” is saying that cheaper things work well to an extent but give you more problems. On the other hand, the other character is stating that some people are afraid to spend more on new technology because they still believe that traditional ways of doing things. The way the men are dressed also helped me determine the message the cartoon by giving me a sense of personality of the character.
Why Were Your Kids Playing Games.

This was another post by John Spencer. From the title, this seems as if it’s a meeting between a teacher and a administrator. The teacher gets in trouble for playing games with his students. Apparently, it seems that the teacher has been in trouble before for playing games in the classroom. The teacher insists that he did have his students playing games, but he had them read scenarios and express what they thought was occurring. So, it was an interactive activity that his students loved and were really engaged with. The principal states that these types of learning activities are not permitted and gives the teacher examples of work he could have the students do. The administrator stated to the teacher that “if you want to abandon slate-based learning, at least try the Jonestown Intervention worksheets or maybe fill out the packet of algorithms”. The teacher’s solution was that he would create an algorithm factory and integrate it into the classes reading and writing projects. I think that this whole meeting was unnecessary the administration needs to be aware that the teacher is making learning easier for the students by applying the lesson through games. The teacher is not letting the administration change his way of teaching; however, instead he becomes creative and finds a way to apply the examples that the administrator insists into interactive activities. I read another post, Meet Ed Helper. This post was about Tom and his new teacher aid that an administrator appointed to his class. Within the first two hours of class Tom finds out that Ed Helper’s way of teaching is completely different than his. Ed Helper passes out numerous worksheets to the students instead of teaching, which Tom disagrees with because he stresses that worksheets don’t help students learn. I agree with Tom definitely, I think that worksheets do not allow students to fully comprehend the material because they usually consist of students looking up the information in a book. Therefore, the students are not learning they are just looking up the answers, which they will probably not remember. The students tend to not like Ed Helper because he doesn’t know the students personally like Tom does; however, Tom becomes aware because his students are not learning the way they used too before due to Ed Helper’s traditional way of teaching.
Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff Please.

This was a very interesting post by Dr. McLeod. Dr. McLeod is an Associate Professor from Armes, Iowa that enjoys blogging, generating ideas, and finding solutions. I certainly agree with this post because using technology can make learning easier, more interactive, and consist of creative lessons that from my personal experience makes school worth getting up for as a young child that has so much more going on in their mind other than school. Technology not only benefits students; however, it also benefits parents and teachers as well. For example, with educational technology parents can see what their child is doing in class and can see their progress in class at anytime. Technology can help benefit teacher’s lessons with better organization and videos that can put the lesson into a visual that makes the information more interesting to the students.