Blog Post 7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Pausch had many inspirational quotes throughout this lecture. The main one was, "Brick walls are there for a reason, they let us prove how badly we want things." I believe this quote is a great motto to abide by for everything in life. If we want to achieve something, whether it be learning the alphabet, helping a student in class, becoming a football player, or writing a book, we cannot let obstacles hinder us from being successful. In regards to learning, Pausch reiterated the fact that fundamentals are key. Similar to an athletes perspective, you have to master the fundamentals before you can attempt anything else. When you are learning, it is important to remember that your critiques are not your enemies, they are your support system. The minute you stop having critiques is the minute people have given up on you. There will be times when we, as learners, fail and it is important to remember what Pausch said: "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted".

Educators must realize that most of what is learned, is learned indirectly. Therefore, the best way to teach someone is to have them believe they are learning something else. Pausch called these head fake lessons. Teachers do not have all the answers, but there are ways to say I don't know. Pausch explained how there is a good way and a bad way to express your uncertainty. One of the best things an educator can do, is set the standards higher than the norm, allowing students to reach exceptionally high expectations. The end goal is for the students to be self reflective. Educators are learners themselves; therefore, it is essential to be willing to learn from your students.

Pausch's Last Lecture was a very insightful and encouraging lecture. The most important piece I attained was preparation meets opportunity. Those three words sum up his entire speech and shed light on the world around us. I learned that, in time, people will almost always surprise you and the way people perceive you can limit the things you accomplish.

C4K Summary for February

Should Athletes Who USed Banned Substances Be Allowed in the Hall of Fame

In week one's post, Matthew introduced the controversy about allowing athletes, specifically baseball players, who have used performance enhancing drugs into the Hall of Fame. He mentioned the fact that it was not against MLB regulations until 2004 for players to use PED. In my comment, I mentioned that I think this is an important fact. I believe we should not punish those who possibly did not know the negative effects of PED and were technically following the rules. He brought up the fact that using PED is cheating. However, I question that statement in terms of rewarding these athletes in the Hall of Fame. Today using PED is considered cheating mainly because it is a violation to use them. With that in mind, can we consider it cheating prior to 2004 if it was not a rule? I found this debate very interesting and I look forwarded to hearing the outcome.

About You and About You Only Survey

In week two's post, Jamie constructed a survey. This survey was designed to tally the results of questions regarding information about ourselves. The questions included things like your favorite food, your gender, where you are from, etc. I think the questions were well construed and will have diverse results. My favorite part about this survey was the comments made under each question. I think they added flavor to the survey and made me laugh at points.

Grandparents: 10 Good Things and 10 Bad

In week three's post, Imaan discussed the ten good and bad characteristics of grandparents. Imaan started this post by explaining how everyone loves grandparents but some things need to be said. I found this post very amusing and accurate! Some of the top good things Imaan included were: they give you presents, they are always on your side, and they give you awesome candy. Some of the top bad things Imaan included were: sometimes they can not hear what you say, they fall asleep whenever they want, and they eat the most boring things for dinner. I love my grandparents very much, but I agree with everything said in this post, both the good and the bad. For example, one of the good things Imaan said was grandparents are always on your side. My grandparents are always on my side, especially when I am in trouble with my own parents. One of the bad things Imaan said was their stories can be really long. Whenever mine get ready to tell a story, I have to make sure I am comfortable because I know it's going to be a while. I really enjoyed this post because I thought it was personal and accurate.

I Believe

In week four's post, Russwell wrote about NFL football. This post was a very passionate description of football and the teams/players involved. Russwell further explained who his favorite players were and why they're his favorite. The post was difficult to follow at times, due to punctuation and grammatical errors, but overall it was a fascinating post. I am not very interested in football, therefore this post taught me things I was definitely unaware of. Being an ex-athelete myself, I enjoy seeing the passion in other people's work and I could definitely see Russwell's passion for football.

Project #13 Lesson Plan

Befriend a President-Lesson Plan

In this week and a half project-based lesson plan, 5th grade students will obtain and share knowledge and information about a particular and interesting United States president that their group selected. There are five groups consisting of four classmates to a group. The objectives are to research, collaborate, share important information and create Google docs presentations. The groups will then present their presentations on the assigned day. Students are expected to use appropriate online tools including iQuiro and YouTube. Our driving question is: what were some of his most successful accomplishments during his presidency, as well as fun facts about his life?

Project #9 Book Conversation

Blog Post 6

A personal learning network (PLN) is a network of people or tools that you can use for help. After watching Steven Anderson's Building Your PLN and Michael Fawcett's PLN, I realized how important it is to start constructing my PLN now. Because I am not from Alabama, I believe I have started building my PLN without even meaning to. I have kept close connections with my old teachers, specifically to use them as resources once I begin teaching. I have contact information for most of them and I follow a few on Facebook. I remain in contact with the principal of my old elementary school, and had always planned to turn to her for advice when applying for jobs. I am friends with a kindergarten teacher on both Facebook and Instagram, which has given me awesome bulletin board and classroom decorating ideas. I follow many teacher pages on Pinterest for activity and decorating ideas as well. I did all of this before learning about PLN and I am not sure if any of that really counts but I think it is a step. Now that I have learned what a PLN is and how to establish one, I am interested to see who and what I can find. I have already started searching for relevant Twitter pages and we will see what I come up with!

Project #8 Book Trailer

My Sentence Videos

My Sentence Is...



My Passion Is...

Blog Post 5

Project Based Learning Part 1

Project Based Learning, or PBL is reconstructing the way of teaching. Mr. Capps explained, in this video, that using projects is no longer just a means to show understanding, it is also a way to teach. Mr. Capps also taught me that projects are not just busy work; they are assignments that are meant to be designed by a specific set of guidelines. These guidelines include: having an authentic audience, enticing student interest, involving community involvement, and being content driven. The goal of PBL is for students to be comfortable with self correction and reflection. After a few projects, we want students to have the capability to recognize their mistakes and the confidence to correct them.

Project Based Learning Part 2

Never limit your students! From this video, I learned that students have the ability to go far beyond our expectations as long as they are given the opportunity to. PBL allows the students be more involved in their learning and make decisions in the way things are done. It results in the students being proud of their work and more willing to show others what they have done. PBL takes a lot of meticulous planning, but if well put together, the outcome can be miraculous.

iCurio

iCurio is a specifically developed search engine made for students. The purpose of this search engine is to allow the students to search through filtered text, video, etc. and find information based on the state standards. Another important feature of iCurio is its storage unit. It contains a storage unit that allows both the teacher and the student to organize information within the iCurio search engine. This feature shows the students how to maintain their notes in an organized way. Criteria research is another helpful aspect of iCurio. Because students may not know specific details, criteria research allows them to look up what they do know. An example would be searching for a race or gender within a certain time period.

Discovery Education

Discovery Ed is a resource for Science and Social Studies. It is an opportunity to implement pictures and video with the text. As Mr. Capps said, this is a chance to bring the text to life, another way to engage the students and allow them to actively participate in their learning process. Discovery Ed is a way to enhance reading and encourage students to enjoy researching. Discovery Ed allows the students to recognize what is being said in the text by comparing it to what is being seen in the pictures.

The Anthony- Strange List of Tips for Teachers Part 1

This video taught me some great tips to help prepare me for teaching. In order to be a teacher, you must be interested in learning yourself. You can not expect your students to be willing to learn if you are not willing to learn yourself. Another aspect to teaching is that the work is not separate from play. This means that the work is never-ending but it is always rewarding. You can learn a valuable lesson for your classroom at any moment, like at the dinner table, and it is your responsibility to act on what is learned. Teaching is a difficult job because it is never-ending. As an educator, you must be open-minded and flexible with your ideas. There will be many times when things do not go as planned; therefore you must be comfortable with changing the way things are done. A good mindset to have is to start with the end in mind. This allows you to have a goal and be flexible enough to reach it despite the obstacles throughout the year. An important goal, as an educator, is to have full classroom engagement. You want the students to be engaged 100% and actively participate in their learning process. This will result in a much higher success rate with their academics. The final tip, that I learned, is about reflection. You want your students to be able to reflect on their work and self-evaluate themselves. This can be a very helpful characteristic for them, especially as they grow in their academics.

Don't Teach Tech- Use It

Students enjoy using technology to show that they are learning; therefore, never teach technology. There is a difference between teaching the technology and implementing technology in your lessons. Introduce the different types of media throughout your lessons and build on what is used. Do not just throw a media device on your students at once. Also, never expect perfection, but do not be surprised when their results are better than yours. Your students may not be able to make Hollywood style movies, but they will have the ability to manipulate technology quicker and possibly better than you can.

Additional Thought About Lessons

In order for a lesson plan to be successful it must have four layers. The first layer begins by looking at the big picture. It is seeing how the lesson will fit in your full year. The second layer is unit sized. This step is breaking the lessons into a six to eight week process which gives students time to master the lesson. The third layer is devising each week in a way that allows you to get everything done. The final layer is the daily lesson. In this layer, you figure out how to deliver each lesson to your students, what the hook will be and how to you keep them engaged throughout the entire lesson. Mr. Capps believes thinking from the outside in is the best approach to lesson planning.

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post 4

The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom

This article was very interesting because it reminds us that educators do not know everything and are not expected to know everything. I think one of the biggest fears of young teachers is the expectation to know everything. It also mentions the fact that the students have their own knowledge and that educators tend to forget that. This article showed that the important aspect of asking questions is understanding what the students already know and what they are supposed to be learning. I learned from this article that an important part of asking questions is to do it in such a way that will captivate the entire class's attention and not single out a certain group of students. Not all students are interested in answering questions or knowing the answers to the questions, so it is up to the teacher to find a way that will engage every student and force them to be involved in the questioning process.

Asking Questions to Improve Learning

This post was very helpful because it gave examples along with short descriptions of the type of questions teachers should be asking. From this post, I learned that asking questions is meant to improve learning; therefore, teachers need to understand the correct way to ask a question in order for the questions to be effective. In order to ask valid questions, you have to first understand the different types of questions. If a question is closed then it has few answers and is meant to test the students' understanding of the material. If a question is leading then it suggests the answer within the question. An open question tends to be the most effective and does not have a single answer which leads to more discussions and active learning. This post explains the different types of questions in more detail which I found very helpful for future responsibilities.

Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom

An important thing to know about asking questions is that a teacher's question is an example for the students. So the type of questions a teacher asks shows the students the type of questions they should be asking themselves. Also, questions encourage students to reach a higher level of thinking and really participate in their learning. This article discusses three ways to ask better questions. If we simply prepare, play with, and preserve the good questions then educators can begin to ask better, more effective questions. I think the most interesting thing I learned in this article was to prepare my questions. Everyone knows that you have to plan your lessons and what the students will do for the day, but who would have thought to plan what questions you will ask throughout the day. Being well prepared in every aspect of teaching can lead to such a productive atmosphere.

Asking Better Questions in the Classroom

This video discussed the difference between open and closed ended questions. As an educator, it is important to know the difference or else you could easily get frustrated when you are not receiving the feedback you desire. A closed ended question allows the student to give short answers with no requirement for discussion. An open ended question, however, requires the student to give a longer response that often leads to class discussions. Open ended questions are more effective because they require participation and allow the students to engage in critical thinking.

Questioning Styles and Strategies

This video taught me that it is important to use many different techniques when asking students questions. This allows the students to remain interested in the lesson as well as actively participate in the questioning process. Therefore, it is a teacher's responsibility to become familiar with and understand all the possible techniques.

C4T #1

Showing How Awesome You Are- Building Your Brand

This blog discusses how the digital world is important to personal branding. According to this blog, personal branding is discovering who you are and sharing it with the world. Personal branding allows each individual to show off their good traits while creating their ideal traits. This blogger discusses, in detail, the four steps to personal branding. The first step is to create a landing page. A landing page is just a page that has basic information about you, similar to a biography. A good site for this is About.me. The second step is to create a blog or portfolio site and share your work with the world. The third step is to create a social media profile. Do not stop at just one, create numerous profiles. This does not mean you have to update or check each profile daily, but it is an excellent way to get your information out there. I also believe this a great way to define yourself and create the ideal you. My comment on this post included my opinion on how helpful social media can be. Social media gives us the courage to post, retweet, or favorite things we might not say in person and it gives us the capability to create an identity we've always wanted. The final step is to pick a name and stick to it. Do not change your name with every profile, pick one that identifies you and keep it.

Get Your MOOC

In this post, the blogger explains what MOOC is; it is a massively open online course. So far three MOOC courses have been developed. One course will help teachers implement technology within their classrooms. Another course will help explain multiplication and division according to the common core. The third course will help with digital learning at the k-12 grade level. This post gave more details about each course and links to obtain more information on MOOC. In my comment, I mentioned the fact that MOOC is a new concept to me and I would like to do more research on it.