What do you learn from these conversations with Anthony Capps? Blog Post #6

In the first video with Anthony Capps I learned about Project Based Learning and his experience with his class writing letters to the Congress. I found it very interesting that he got the class to choose the best letters to send off. I think it is a great way for students to help each other out, while also making the letters as best as possible. With this project the class as a whole was allowed to participate and help each other out, knowing the class as a whole would be represented by the eight letters that got sent to Congress.
In the second video with Anthony Capps I learned that student choice is important in Project Based Learning. I learned that with allowing the students to choose what they want to do (with given guidelines) they will be more passionate and more willing to do well. When the student has a little bit of freedom for projects, they are more likely to be excited and proud of their outcome.
Before this blog post I had never heard of iCurio. iCurio is a like a search engine where you can drop any finds in to a folder and keep it for later use. It saves all documents, photos, videos that you have found for your class and keep it in one, easily accessible place. I have never heard of it, but I think it sounds very efficient. I think iCurio is a great tool, especially for Project Based Learning.
Discovery Ed is a search engine that students or teachers can use where you are able to get expert opinions through videos. I have never used this before but it sounds very efficient. I am definitely a visual learner, so I think seeing and hearing a video on information would be more interesting for me than reading from a book. I will definitely try out Discovery Ed and most likely use it in my classroom one day.
In the tips for teachers video, I learned that teaching is a never ending job, but a very rewarding job at that. I found out that you must be a constant learner, always willing and loving to learn new things to be a successful teacher. I found out you must be creative and be able to be put on the spot. If something goes wrong you should always have a back-up plan as a teacher, you should never assume that everything will go the way you plan. Things happen, you must be flexible enough to make every situation work.
In the sixth video I learned that you must not teach children technology. In place of teaching technology, let them learn from it, let the class play with different sites and applications and technology. You should not have to teach technology, you should just be able to use the technology. With letting the students explore technology they will learn themselves.
After watching all the videos of Anthony Capps I have learned a lot of helpful tips and advice for being a teacher. I have learned different techniques to keep the students involved and excited.

Project #7

My Sentence Is...



My Passion Is...

Project #3 Presentation

What are Personal Learning Networks (PLN)? Blog Post #5

How can they help you as a teacher? How are they formed? How can you create your own? Who will be the first additions to your PLN?


Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are sites such as Twitter, or Blogger, in which you can interact with other teachers. On Twitter it is simple, you search a hashtag in which you are interested in and it will show you all the tweets with that hashtag. It makes it simple to find people with common interests. On twitter you can "@" someone to tweet directly to them, or you can direct message them. This makes it easy to get opinions and help from other teachers without having to meet up in person. With Blogger you can read any fellow teachers blog that you "follow". Blogger allows you to read others blogs, comment on theirs, and it even gives others the option to comment on yours. Both Blogger and Twitter will make teaching so much easier. With just going to a website you are able to get advice and opinions from other teachers, whether it be a teacher at the same school as you or a teacher in a different country. You are able to communicate with anyone you follow. I see these PLNs being extremely helpful for my future teaching career. Since being in EDM310 I have created a blog and I also created a new Twitter account. I never really used Twitter for anything of importance before this class. Since being in this class I have realized how informative Blogger and Twitter can actually be. I am amazed! I am already following quite a few Education pages on Twitter. I have also found fellow classmates that are in the Education major. I believe through Blogger and Twitter and it being created now we are given a lifelong lifeline.

Testing Out Search Engines Project #15

I have found that Bing is very similar to Google. It is a great website that will give you any and everything you search for. After that it is up to you to determine if that site is reliable or not. I think Bing is a good website for the basic information.

Dictionary.com is a very helpful search engine for definitions. All you have to do is go to the website and type in the word you need to be defined. It will give you a definition with numerous examples of how it is used.

Yahoo is a search engine, but also an option for emails. With Yahoo you are able to have an email, view latest news, and search anything you would like to. It also has a toolbar on the side where you can click on different links to stuff such as weather, finance, style, health, etc. It is a great website for any basic information you need, as soon as you get on the website page you are shown all the latest news.

Wolfram Alpha is a great search engine for math problems. Until this project I was unaware of this website. I believe it will be very helpful for future math problems. I am amazed with this website. It is by far the greatest website I have ever seen. If you have not heard of this website or seen it yourself, I strongly suggest saving it in your bookmarks.

Wikipedia is not such a reliable search engine. Anyone, anywhere, can post and edit information on this website. I would not suggest this site if you are looking for the truth. It is not the place to go for honest information.

EasyBib is a website where you can choose the format, and it will cite the website, book, newspaper, etc. It is very helpful when writing papers where you are required to cite information. I have used this site since highschool and it cites everything I need in the correct format.

Ask.com is a website I would compare to Siri on the iPhone. It is a website that you can basically ask any question and it will give you the best answer. I would say ask.com is best to use to ask general questions. I have used ask to find out the latest hollywood gossip or stuff like that.

Duckduckgo is a website similar to Google. However, when using duckduckgo you do not have to go through numerous pages of information to find what you are looking for. It is a quick, simple, and efficient website to use if you do not wish to use Google.

Asking Questions: What questions do we ask? How do we ask? Blog Post #4

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?

When thinking about this blog I realized that asking questions in a classroom is key to helping the children interact and learn. I read the article, "The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom" by Ben Johnson, and found a very helpful tactic. Johnson talks about his experience observing children of all ages in the classroom, he then has a short summary of solutions. My favorite example is, "...then at least we should be asking a question, pausing for three seconds and then saying a student's name in order to get the most effect out of questions (Johnson)." Using this method every student has those three seconds after the teacher asks a question to think about the answer with the fear or hope that it will be them to be called on. If teachers use this method students will be forced to pay attention and interact with the class.

By engaging each and every student in the classroom they will become more confident and more likely to want to learn. If the students are paying attention and have kept up with their classwork and homework they should have no problem answering questions. The best way to keep the classroom alive is questions, questions, questions. Each student should be able to have the opportunity to answer questions on a daily basis in the classroom. Whether the student wants to answer the question or not, seeing other classmates engaging in answering questions aloud should make it easier and more fun for the students to learn together.

How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback to Your Peers? Blog Post #3

In the video, What is Peer Editing?, I learned that when peer editing you must make it more of a compliment than an insult to their work. You must follow the three basic steps; compliments, suggestions, corrections. I was unaware of the importance of compliments. I can see now after watching, Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes, that it can be really hurtful and offensive to flat out say, "you spelt this word wrong, are you dumb?!". I have personally been peer reviewed by people like Mean Margaret and Picky Patty. When you do not make suggestions and compliments it can be taken the wrong way.

I also learned in the videos and slideshows that when peer reviewing you as the writer should not take everything so personally. Like the little girl in Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes says, "so what it's my paper anyways", when arguing about how to spell "fox", she is correct, it is her paper. It will be the writer that suffers if she or he does not take advice from the peer reviewer. However, I strongly believe if you follow the three basic steps you will successfully review a paper without hurting anyone's feelings. Don't be a bully! Just remember: compliments, suggestions, and corrections. Those three things will make it easier on both the writer and the reviewer.

Picture taken from Bing images