Blog Post 5 Part B

Final PLN

    My PLN has tremendously grown in my EDM 310 class. In the beginning of the semester, my only PLN was Symbaloo. Not only do I have Symbaloo, I am able to network with people across Mobile County and all over the world. I am able to read teachers and students' blogs, comment, and also receive a response back. I have people and educators who have help me out throughout this course. I have different people to follow me on twitter to use different technique and tools that will be useful in the classroom. I thought this class was going to be hard and stressful, but turned out to be one of the best classes taken thus far. I gained a lot of knowledge in this class and was able to expand my Personal Learning Network.

C4T #4 SUMMARY

Sandi's Blog

Every year we talk about why we wear poppies for Remembrance Day.

I tell my kindergarten kids that we wear them to honor people who risk getting hurt or dying so that we can be peaceful.

We also make poppies.

My Response

Sandi,
I enjoy reading on how poppets are very important and the purpose of celebrating it. I think this is a great lesson that is taught to the students of remembrance day. Great lesson!

Nicholas Provenzano's Blog

 The ScanSnap SV600 is a beautifully designed scanner with high quality pictures that is very easy to use. The scanner would be perfect in the library for students and teachers to use who need to scan parts of books or their projects. The ability to share easily with Google and Evernote is a huge plus for me and I see this Scanner getting hours of use the rest of this year. The ScanSnap SV600 is an archivist dream and librarian's best friend. 

My Response

Nicholas,
I enjoy looking at the video on SV600 scanner. I am impress on so many things you can do on this scanner. This will be a great tool to use in the classroom. This will make teaching so much easier to wear you can just scan the pages out the book and upload to your smart board. Great Post!

Blog Post #14

Teaching our children can be a profession

List of Problems:

• Prospective teachers should have better academic training.
• How teachers should be rewarded.

    I agree that teachers that are unqualified is a major Problem in the United States. If we hold our teachers to a higher standard such as doctors or lawyers, there would be less than 23 states that provides solid math preparation. Many states across the U.S. are unable to provide a good math program that prepares students as well as some of the top performing nations. I do agree that math is one of the hardest subjects in school to learn as well as to teach. I also believe there should be more training for prospective teachers, especially for the teachers that are not a Math Education Major.

    I do agree that seniority obligations are a problem in the United States. Teachers should be able to keep their job based off of effectiveness and not seniority. The true reward for teachers is seeing your students exceed well in the classroom. I agree that some states should give teachers raises based on students test scores to give the teacher some type of urgency in delivering instruction. Teachers should be responsible for students learning ability and how much they succeed throughout the class.

C4K Summary Novemeber

Alex Blog October 16, 2014
At school I like playing Mine craft at recess.
My Response:
Alex,
I am glad that you enjoy playing at recess. Do you mind telling me Mine craft is? What kind of game is that and how do you play it? I enjoy hearing from you.

Derek's Blog November 6, 2014
I really enjoyed this project I liked this project because i didn't know this is how they made this kind of stamps. all the drawing and the and cutting and all the precautions. for example the amount of ink and the amount of time to roll it on the block is really hard. cutting is also hard I thought it would be like cutting butter. but this was probably on of my favorite projects.
My Response:
Derek,
I enjoyed reading your post about printmaking. I did not know what printmaking was my self until you explained it to me. Great Job!

Brayden's Blog November 22, 2014

The first quarter of middle school is great so far. No late assignments, no logs signed, and no detentions.

But I’m just starting middle school as a novice. The first week you are stupefied with all of the work and books. But once you get going your ecstatic or once you feel calm and tranquil you fit in. You have to get to know all of the new teachers which takes a couple days or a week. We have a copious of teachers.  All of the teachers are fun and silly. All of the students are nice and funny. You get to know them all very good and become best friends.

My goals for the next quarter are, no late assignments, good grades, to not get my log signed, and no detentions. I hope to have a good first year in middle school.

My Response:

Brayden, 
My name is Shayla, I attend the University of South Alabama. I enjoy reading your post. It seems like you are a very good student, with excellent vocabulary. Make sure you do all homework assignments, study, and turn everything in on time. If you master those three things, you should have no problem this school year.

Blog Post #13

What Did I Leave Out?

Read the article, 5 ways to teach students the use technology safety. Explain and describe 5 ways to have parents involve with students and the safety of technology.

1. Encourage Parent Leadership.
Gather a group of parents for a meeting, such as a PTO, PTA, or other parent communities at your school. Discuss with parents about safe use online for students to use at school and at home. Also, invite a guest speaker to kick things off in the meeting by discussing different resources on internet safety.

2. Communicate regularly to parent communities.
Explain to the parents how you use technology in the classroom, and how you ensure the students how technology and how to use internet safely in the classroom. This would be a good way to discuss at an Open House or Parent-Teacher night.

3. Be clear with parents on how appropriate technology use is enforced.
Teachers should enforced how appropriate technology use should be enforced in the classroom, and how it could affect students school record and how it would be handle if technology is use inappropriately. Teachers should also enforce how personal use of technology can or cannot be use on school grounds. All of this should be discussed and reviewed at the beginning of the school year and signed by the parent.

4. Be creative
Help parents and students use technology together. We want students to be successful with technology use. Find ways to use technology with students and parents through school driven activities, fund raisers, and group project contests. We should not limit the discussion to being safe and responsible with technology.

5. Recognize the positive use of technology.
Technology can be a little bit frightening, especially if we was introduce to it later on in life. As adults, we cannot sidestep our obligation to make technology a tool our kids use safely and responsible. Parents should be encourage the right behavior with their kids at home, so students will be more efficient with the safety and use of technology.

Project 12 Part B

Project #10

C4T Summary

Post #1
    In the first blog post, I read was how to support clarifying questions in common core classrooms. Instead of accepting an answer as merely right or wrong, we should push students to support their answer with evidence by asking clarifying questions.
My Comment: 
Mathew,
 I think this is a great post! We should challenge student’s more with supporting question’s behind the answer’s they have given. Some tips that I would use for asking question’s would be: -Where did you get that answer from? -How So? I hope this will help a little.
(For the second post, the teacher did not leave a up to date blog, so I had to scroll down to an old post he posted in September)
Post #2
    In the second blog post, I read how teachers should be able to teach students how to write satisfactory in the classrooms.
My comment:
 Mr. Needleman,
My name is Shayla McCorvey, I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I was assigned to read your blog posts and comment on them for my EDM310 class this semester. I think this is a great blog post. I am currently going to school to be a teacher, and I think this a great start to teach students how to write. By using pictures in the classroom it is a great at to get the students to ask questions and learn different view of things. Once again, Great Post!

Blog Post #12

Assistive Technology

My Blog Post: 
    In the video, Teaching a Mom What Her Deaf/Blind Child is learning on the iPad is video of a teacher giving instruction to a parent on how to work an iPad if they were deaf or blind. The teacher says, the parent should place his/her hand across the icon and each one she would click, a voice over will say the icon’s names out loud. The parent would also have to use four fingers and turn it like a knob to be able to turn it into typing mode. Standard typing is when you are moving your fingers across the screen and the voice over says the letters out loud. Once you double tap, it will appear on the note pad. Most people prefer the touch typing mode. You are still in typing mode, where you move your fingers across the screen and voice over reads out the letters to you. Instead of double tapping a letter, you should hold the letter down and lift your finger, the letter will appear on the note pad. 
    The alternative source she looked up was: NCLD, Assistive technology can help students with many different learning disabilities. The assistive technology can help them become more independent through school and throughout life. Technology has apps to help students with Dysgraphia and Writing skills. For example, the video I watched was able to explain everything out loud. This app can make the writing process a little bit easier and fun. Another assistive piece of technology would be a keyboard with built in accessibility on standard computer. 

Alex Grow:
Source #1
     To Siri, With Love is an interesting blog post. It tells a story of a 13 year old boy with autism that asks Siri questions about everyday life and his personal interests. What a cool way to use technology. It got me thinking about the different ways Siri could be used in the classroom. This blog has a lot of great ideas on it. It mentions IPEVO Whiteboard or the Belkin Stage app. These two things can help during science class to capture and annotate what the students capture under a microscope. It also mentions Boogie Board. This is a small board the size of an iPhone that would be good for taking notes during class or answering questions like we used to do on smart boards. Adobe Presenter is a great tool to use in classroom. This is a great thing to use when you want to include text and pictures in a presentation or quiz during class. This could also be used when doing PBL. One of my favorite things that I found on this blog is the Belkin Tablet Stage. This is a tool that turns your ordinary iPad into a document, camera, and presentation system. This is a great way to get your monies worth out of an iPad purchased for your classroom. Speaking of iPad, they are mentioned everywhere on this blog. iPad is a really neat tool to use when teaching. It lets the students independently do work and play learning games on the apps that adhere to the lesson being taught. Great source! 
    Teachhub.com is my second source. Teachhub, This was a really cool read. Not only does it give you different technology you can use in the classroom, it also gives you different ways you can use it and how it helps the children. PowerPoint is a very common tool. In the post it mentions ways you can use PowerPoint as a game show review. I think that would be a really cool thing to use PowerPoint for. It also mentions blogs and twitter as being a good source of technology in the classroom. Blogs can be used instead of diaries. Blogs are also helpful to see how well the students have progressed overtime. Twitter can be used as a discussion or for a summary of material. Creating a class webpage is a tool that can also be used in the classroom. It also mentions that students can create a film on a computer. This is a great way to implement PBL. Doing this and having the kids present the films, are a good way to use technology. 

Keila Fagan:
Source #1-
    Waking up, you open your eyes, stretch, and hear the bubbling sounds of the coffee pot. Like me you may turn on your radio to listen to the sounds of Nickel Creek or the music of your preference. Communicating thoughts and ideas let alone learning becomes seemingly impossible. However, in this video it outlines the tools used to help in assisting hearing and visually impaired students learn. These tools provide opportunity and hope for these impaired students improve their chances of having successful futures. Their realities are next to impossible for those without the disabilities to imagine. With assistive learning tools it enhances learning and improves the students’ capabilities and chances at excelling. The barriers that seemed to have blocked their path now are almost non-existent due to the technological advances. It is our responsibility as teachers to encourage, enlighten, and help enrich the education for any and all students-with or without disabilities. 
Source #2-
    Students are unique and come with a wide variety of learning styles and capabilities. It is up to the teacher to be able to identify and adapt to their learning needs. All of this can be accomplished through technology. This is a great tool to not segregate students from the regular learning process but to help them participate with the class as a whole. Assistive learning devices are not just flashy gadgets; they can be something as simple as a wheelchair to help the student access the classroom physically. Hearing aids, glare-reduction screens, Braille note-taking devices, and voice recognition software are just a few examples of assistive learning technology. A common tool used in schools to help in assistive learning would be voice recognition software. This would be very helpful to a teacher due to the fact that if a student is visually impaired or in not fully mobile with their extremities they can speak into the microphone and it will record his or her spoken thoughts. This would be a very helpful tool that would help a wide variety of students. Assistive learning technology is a wondrous tool that will help improve the lives of children and ignite their drive to excel in their learning capabilities. 

Brittney Henderson:
    I have chosen to research "iPad Usage For The Blind", has made tremendous stride with making sure the visually impaired and blind have access to using the iPad device. After viewing, the video, “iPad usage for the blind”, I have learned a lot about how exactly a blind person effectively navigates a iPad. Wesley Marjeus is the Access Specialist for the National Federation for the Blind. Marjeus teaches about the different devices that Apple has installed in their devices for the blind. Marjeus explains a unique service called Voice Over. Voice Over basically reads everything that is one the screen of the iPad. Voice Over not only reads what’s on the screen but, also reads books to the user as well. Voice Over helps the user to effectively navigate the iPad. Hand gestures are just as important as the Voice Over service. Hand gestures can be given as a demand over the Voice Over service. Hand gestures are used to move or remove certain icons,apps, etc. 
Andreas Head is her second source. Andreas Head shares some basic information about the services that Apple has for the visually impaired. For instance, Refresh-able Braille Display is a electronic device that enables the user to write or text while using the iPad. The buttons on the device are Braille and, the device can act as a mouse while connected to the device. Another cool feature is called Bluetooth Keys. The Bluetooth keys connects with the iPad and controls the Voice Over service as well. The user should be knowledge of locating certain important keys to effectively navigate the device. There are a number of assistive technology that is available for educators to use inside of the classroom. These are just a few to name a lot. Technology is making a powerful stance to all rims of it’s users. 

Blog Post #11

What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?

"Back to the Future"
Brian Crosby the educator, discuss what is going on in his class and how each student has a blog in the classroom. Mr. Crosby, think he should teach his student's differently in a standard way. He has his student's to make a blog post on every project they learn throughout the class. I think this is a great idea on learning how to write summary paragraph. Mr. Crosby also discuss how he has a student in his class that has leukemia and how she is unable to attend class regularly due to her weak immune system. Crosby, decided he should Skype the student so she can stay involved in regular class discussion. I like how Mr. Crosby honor his student's when they do a great job in school work and how he make sure every student is learning and understanding the material.

Blended Learning Cycle
In this video, Paul Anderson talk about how Blended Learning Cycle is use in the classroom and also on Science Projects. Anderson discus the five E's throughout the video: Engage, Explore, Explain, Expand, and Evaluate. He also discuss in the video the six parts to his Blended Learning Cycle: 
1. Ask a question
2. Investigate and Experiment
3. Have student''s to watch a video
4. Elaborate
5. Make sure student's understand video/ Review
6. Quiz/Summary

"Making Thinking Visible"
Mark Church, make the student's think and learn throughout the classroom discussion. The student's in the classroom watched a video called "Early Human Beginnings" and were split up into small groups. Mark, ask the student's come up with a headline on what was learned in the video. Once the group comes up with a headline they will be able to present in class, and he will hang it up throughout the classroom.

"Super Digital Citizen"
In this video Sam Pane, a 5th grade teacher discuss in class on how to use the internet safely.  He explained to the student's the responsibilities on how to use the internet safely. He came up with a project, which the student's had to come up with a superhero of not being A good digital citizen. The student's was also instructed on doing a Gallery Walk, which is walking around the classroom and viewing different student's ideas. I like how Sam ask the student's a question and had them talk among  their group. This will make it seem to the students it is more meaningful.

Project Based Learning
In this video, it talks about how three teachers use Project Base Learning by blending History and English together. By doing this the teachers were able to make the classes longer, which helps the teachers teach more materials. Students are able to make their projects better with the extended time that the teachers are given them. It gives the students a deeper understanding of standards they are suppose to be learning.

Roosevelt Elementary
In this video, teachers at Roosevelt Elementary School blend Project Based Learning into their curriculum, The parents and teachers like how to the students are able to learn and work in groups by building social skills that they need throughout life. Project Based Learning because it helps the students to make their lesson more meaningful to them and they are able to be creative.

Project #14

    For Project 14, our group decided to do a lesson plan for a high school special education class. Math is the subject that we chose. In the duration of a week the students will be able to count money and use it effectively in their everyday life. This is a math lesson, but we have also incorporated a life skill. The lesson starts off with an introduction to money and the different values. With the introduction, we added a fun YouTube video on counting money. Money Song. On the second and third day of the lesson, we are going to give the students a worksheet as well as allowing them to play money counting games on their iPad.Online Games. Work Sheets. On the fourth day, the students will play a grocery shopping game to apply the money counting to life events. We found this game online, it seems to be adaptable to different levels of hardness which is good for a special education classroom. Games.
    The class will end with a collaborative project. The students are going to be assigned to groups of four. They will have 20 dollars to spend ($5 each), they will work as a team to pick four items that they can buy for less than 20 dollars. We will have this formed online so the students can do this on the iPad. PBL. Throughout the week the students will receive fake money, according to their behavior, to spend at the end of the week in the treasure box. This is a great way to see what the children have learned from the lesson while being rewarded for good behavior. Depending on the level of classroom I get, I will have to make accommodations to this lesson. After starting this lesson plan, I found out how hard it was to form a special education lesson without a class. When forming the lesson I will have to consider the children in the classroom.
Project Design Overview
Calendar
Rubric