C4K#1

For the month of February, I was assigned to post comments on various kids' blogs. The first week I was assigned to post a comment on a fifth grade student's blog from Mrs. Schneider's English class. They were from Missouri. In this blog post, the student discussed argumentative writing and what a thesis statement was. The student gave step by step instructions on how to write a thesis statement. I commented on the blog post saying how this would help me while writing since I have been doing a lot of writing in college.

The second week I commented on a student named Daniel's blog post from Mrs. Caddy's class. They were from Virginia, MN. They student's blog was actually a survey that I responded to. The survey had just a few questions, some serious and some silly.
The questions said:
1.) How tall are you?
2.) How many pets do you have?
3.) How big are your feet?
4.) Do you have teeth?
5.) Do you have long hair?
I commented on the survey stating how I loved the uniqueness of the questions and I enjoyed answering them.

The third week I commented on a student named Aubrey from Mrs. Schneider's third grade English class. Aubrey posted blogs about the weather. Her most recent blog was about how Gary Lezark from their local weather channel was coming to visit English Landing on March 25, 2014. He was going to discuss weather forecasting. She also provided a video of him on the weather channel. I commented saying how that must be exhilarating for her to meet him since she blogs about the weather.

The last week I was assign to comment on Russwell Wilson The Big Dog's blog post from Mrs. Miller's fourth block class. His most recent post was about NFL football. He provided many facts about NFL football in his blog post. I commented saying how you could tell by the way he talked about football that he is a dedicated fan. I liked how he used many facts to back up what he was discussing. I said it was interesting reading all the facts because I do not know that much about football. I did not learn the rules of football until I got to college.

Blog Post #6

A PLN or "Personal Learning Network" allows you to have quick and easy access to people and tools that may be able to help you. It allows you to design this the way you need it for your own benefit. You can also create whatever is needed for your own needs for the future. One example of a PLN is Symbaloo. Symbaloo allows you organize anything you may need or use the most on the internet. As a teacher, I will be using a lot of technology and many websites for different activities for my students. PLN will help me to organize everything I use very often so I can always go back to it in the future.

Project #8

Blog Post #5

This week we were assigned to watch videos of interviews between our professor in EDM310, Dr. Strange, and Anthony Capps. Mr. Capps is currently a third grade teacher in Gulf Shores, AL. These videos discuss project based learning and how to use it in the classroom. Mr. Capps uses project based learning in his classroom with his students. He explains that doing these projects pushes the students to learn the content needed to know before doing the project. He also states that the students must have a good audience for their project so they are motivated to do a good job on it. It also gives the students satisfaction in their own work once they are finished and can see what they have completed. Mr. Capps gives some examples of projects he has done with his students.

In another video, Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discuss iCurio. This is something that I have never heard of before. iCurio is a search engine where students can search for websites, pictures, videos, audios, and other types of media. Another useful feature of iCurio is students and teachers can log on to it and it will store any information that they found and may need in the future. I thought this was very interesting and helpful.

In another video called Don't Teach Tech- Use It, Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discuss technology and using it in the classroom. Mr. Capps explains that teaching technology should not be taught in the curriculum, but should just be used in the lessons. The students definitely have technology in their lives and especially in their classroom.

C4T#1

I was assigned to post comments on Principal Julie Vincentsen's blog. Her most recent blog that I read discussed audio books. She was stating how audio books can help readers who struggle with reading. It helps some students to be able to hear the book read to them. This helps them understand the story better. She discusses how iPods and MP3 players are so small that a student having a book read to them with one of these would not be so distracting for the student's peers. She also goes on to list places where audio books are available. In reply to this blog, I agreed that audio books was a fantastic idea to help struggling readers. I think audio books are heard with expression and emotion which can help the reader engage in the story and understand it better.

Another one of Principal Vincentsen's blogs that I read discussed report cards. She states how students feel anxious and nervous when bringing home their report card to their parents. They are scared of being grounded or getting in trouble for their grades. She discusses how parents should try to focus more on what makes them proud, instead of focusing on any of the bad grades their child may have received. In reply to this blog, I state how when I was younger my parents always told me to just do my best and that was good enough for them. I agree that parents should show their children how proud they are of them for doing their best, no matter what their best may be.

Blog Post #4

For this assignment, we were to focus on one question. What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? There were many sources to refer to in attempt to try to understand this question. In one article by Ben Johnson called The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, he really breaks it down and is very honest about asking questions in the classroom. He explains that teachers really do not know everything and that is okay. Teachers can not just ask their students if they understand the material that was just taught. The students may not realize that they do not understand the material because they do not know enough about it. I think teachers need to ask their students questions, but they have to be asked in a certain way.

Blog Post #3

How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback to Your Peers?

This week we were basically forced to sit inside for three days because it was so icy outside. During the week, we were assigned to watch two videos and a slideshow about peer editing and the correct way to go about doing it. My favorite video of the two was titled Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes. The video presented a class of fourth or fifth graders showing what NOT to do when reviewing a peer's writing. This video was very clever and helpful, but also quite hilarious! The other video and slideshow just give helpful tips and steps on how to properly peer edit.

The video and slideshow gave three steps to go by when peer editing. The three steps include compliments, suggestions, and corrections. First, I am always to start of my peer review with a compliment. Then, I can give suggestions to make their writing better. Lastly, I can give corrections on grammar, punctuation, etc. I agree that HOW you state things when peer editing is very important. I am going to peer edit someone else's writing the same way I would want someone to peer editing my writing. I think peer editing is very important and is very beneficial not only to the writer, but to the one editing as well.