Blog Assignment #7

The first video was, How to make an audio QR Code. In this video I was taken through step by step on how to create my very own QR audio code. I think being able to make a QR audio code will be very beneficial to me as I start teaching. After I graduate, I hope to become an kindergarden or first grade teacher. Making an audio QR code will allow me to read stories to the children from a recording. I could also even teach lessons this way if I were to have a substitute teacher one day. I think the kids would love this.

The next video was, IPad Reading Center. In this video I learned that children in kindergarden record themselves reading on their iPads. This is a very effective way for kids to learn about any mistakes they make while reading. It is also a great idea for the teacher to be able to watch the videos of the students reading. The teacher would be able to see if he or she needs to review anything to the children, if they were having trouble in a certain area. This method is also very fun for the students. They seem to enjoy watching their videos of themselves while they read. Overall, I think the IPad reading center is a great idea, especially for younger students learning to read.

In the video Poplet with Ginger Tuck, Ginger talks about what poplets are and how to use them. She says that her kindergarden class is using poplets. It is great way for students to understand the material,practice their typing skills, and even their picture taking skills. As Ginger makes the poppet, it looks just like a web would look. She added the topic she was focusing on in the middle, and different information about the topic around it in boxes.I think using poplets in the classroom would be an effective way for students to learn.

The next video is, AVL and Kindergarden Students. This was one of my favorite videos, because I can see the potential in using the Alabama Virtual Library for students in elementary school and beyond. I liked the fact that students in kindergarden were able to log onto the AVL and research different topics all by there selves. Then, after they listened to the material on the AVL website, they drew pictures, and wrote sentences about what they learned. Having the students draw and write about the material they learned is a great idea, because the teacher can truly see if the students learned something new.

Next, the video that we had to watch was called, Tammy Shirley Discovery Education Board Builder Moon Project. In this video Ms. Tammy Shirley and her student Carley demonstrated how to use Discovery Education Board Builder. It was amazing to me that Carley was only in the first grade, and fully knew how to work this website, and create new things on her board. This program was used on the iPad. Carley showed us how to search for new information on the Discovery Education website. She then showed us that there were videos to watch and images to see. Discovery Education Board Builder is a great site to use for students. They can find lots of information on their assignment topic, and then write about the material learned.

Mrs. Tassin 2nd Grade students share Board Building Project was a video of Mrs. Tassin and two of her students who were talking about their Board Building Project on Whales. The students went on a virtual tour of a National Park in Alaska. They explained how they got the images off of Safari, and uploaded them to their project. The kids seem to know what they were doing as they worked on the project.

Mrs.Tassin's students share Board Builder Project was a video in which some of the students from Mrs. Tassin's class shared a project they created. The students used project based learning in this video. The girls showed what they had created about The Haven. They started their project off with a question for the audience. Then began showing images and information about The Haven, and what it was. The girls told us that they got their images off of Safari and Google. They also googled certain words to find synonyms,so they could replace the smaller word with a bigger vocabulary word. Mrs. Tassin's 2nd grade students definitely know how to do a board building project using PBL.

The next video was, Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarden. Dr. Strange, Michele Bennett, and Elizabeth Davis talked about how kindergardeners use both iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library. Ms. Bennett starts off talking about how her kindergardeners use iMovie, and use it very well. She says that they love editing their movies again and again. She even talked about another teacher who could not get her kids to stop using iMovie when it was time to move on to a different lesson in class. Ms. Bennett says that her kindergartens took to learning this program very easily. She demonstrated it a few times in class, and after that the students could do it on their own. Then, Ms. Davis moves on to talk about how her kindergardeners use the Alabama virtual library. She says it is very easy for students to look up even the most basic words to find information about. She thinks it is amazing that kindergartens can look up this information on their own. Dr. Strange makes a point that even his students in college have trouble using iMovie at times. Therefore, I think it is absolutely amazing that kindergardeners can do it on their own.

The final video was, We All Become Learners. Ms. Bennett starts off by stating that everyone learns from each other. In other word we are all teachers and learners. She talks about how one of her kindergarden students actually showed her how to use Padlet. She says that she is always learning from her students. Dr. Strange makes a point that Gulf Shores Elementary School is always allowing visitors to come and see what the students are doing and learning. He says the students are always eager to learn. Ms. Bennett adds that some of the teachers even rely on the students to teach them new things, and even programs on the iPad. She says that this is a new dynamic of learning, when the students actually come up and teach the teachers. Everyone learns new things at all times.

Project #8 Book Trailer

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

C4K Summary for September

Summary C4K #1


This week I was assigned to comment on Nathaniel's blog post. He is in Ms. Squire's 7th/8th grade class. His blog post this week was on President Barack Obama's trip to see the stonehenge. He included two pictures in his post. One picture taken of the president walking among the huge rocks ,and the other just taken of the stonehenge itself. Nathaniel included that the president was on his way home from Nato Summit ,and couldn't resist not stopping at the stonehenge. Nathaniel's grammar was good, and overall he created a good blog post for the week.

My Comment


In my comment on Nathaniel's post, I introduced myself. I included that I was a sophomore here at USA, and I was working to become an elementary school teacher in the future. Also, that I was in a class called EDM310 , and I was learning how to make weekly posts on my very first blog. I then complimented Nathaniel on his post. I mentioned that I enjoyed his use of pictures, and I enjoyed learning something new about President Obama. I told Nathaniel that I thought the only thing missing in his post was a little background information. I would have liked to know things such as, when the president visited the stonehenge, and also if anyone was with him. Overall, I told him that his blog post was done very well and I enjoyed reading it.


Summary C4K #2


This week I commented on Kelson's blog. He is in the fifth grade in Mrs. Schraml's class. In this post, Kelson explains what he is creating in Minecraft. Minecraft is a program that is used on xbox, PC's, and also smartphones. Kelson states that he is using this program to create a computer and also a chair. He tells how big each item is an also what color everything is. He says that he is building these objects using blocks that are included in Minecraft. He explains things very well in his post, but has a few grammatical errors. Kelson says that he does not know what he would like these objects to do, so he ends his post with a question to his fellow bloggers to let him know what they think.


My Comment


When I commented on Kelson's post, I stated that I attended USA, and gave a little bit of background information. I described how I was in college to become an elementary education teacher, and teach kids like himself one day. I gave him a link to our class blog and also my personal blog so he could really see what our class was doing, and how it worked. I then complimented Kelson on his work. I stated that I felt like I could actual see a picture of his computer and matching chair in my mind as I read the post. I told him that it was a great idea to end his post with a question. My answer would be that I would also create a person to work the computer. I would then used his person to look up information on the computer that he wanted to find out about. I assured Kelson that I enjoyed reading his post.

Summary C4K #3


This week I commented on Madeline E's blog post. This week she made a blog post about talent vs. hard work. She was assigned to state which was more important to have. Madeline said that hard work was better that talent. She started off by giving a dictionary deffiniton of both talent and hard work. She used lots of quotes in her post as well. Madeline states that if you have talent, then you don't work as hard as the people who do not. As she added in quotes she gives a translation of each one after. Madeline's post this week was well done.


My Comment


I started off my comment to Madeline by introducing myself. I told her that I was a student at USA, and I wished to become an elementary school teacher in the future. I complimented Madeline on her post for the week. I agreed that I too thought hard work was more important than talent. Being talented at something is great, but if you aren't talented at that special something, then you can always make up for it with hard work. Everyone has the ability to work hard, but not everyone has the ability to be talented at something. I told Madeline that I enjoyed her use of quotes inside her post. I ended by telling her that I enjoyed reading her post for the week, and that I hope she kept up the good work.

Blog Assignment #6

Conversations with Anthony Capps

In this video Project Based Learning Part 1, Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps had an engaging conversation about project based learning, and how it works. Dr. Strange asked Mr. Capps lots of great questions such as; How does it work, and is it effective? Mr. Capps stated that it is definitely effective. He says that students love doing it, it really helps them learn and become engaged in their work at the same time. Mr. Capps stated how his students critiqued each others work and did a very good job doing so. I liked the story that Mr. Capps talked about at the end of the video. This story was about the girl in his class named Gabrielle who proved that her answer was indeed correct when the students were going over their answers during class. She referred back to the text they were reading and clearly her answer was in the passage. This story was a great example of how students and teachers both are still learning.

The next video was Project Based Learning Part 2. In this video Anthony Capps starts off by talking about one of his favorite group projects he had his students do. This was a project on different types of cultures. Mr. Capps says that he had never been more proud of his students work before. He let his third graders explore different websites, and find their own information. He points out that a teacher should never limit their students to what type of work they should do in their projects. It is important for them to do their own thing, and learn from it. Mr. Capps states that students love doing group projects. The students give lots of feedback by talking about which idea they like best, or which idea they do not like. Mr. Capps states that one of his main goals is to give his students work that is meaningful. In other words, they can get something out of what they are working on. Also, he likes to give students assignments that let them choose the topic on their own. This lets students be more proud of their work. This interview definitely teaches me that project based learning is rewarding to students. They enjoy doing it, and also enjoy the outcome at the end.

In the video iCurio, Mr. Capps and Dr. Strange talk about what iCurio is. Until now I had never heard of iCurio. It is a search engine that is filtered for students to use to look up factual information including videos and audio. It also contains a storage folder for students and teachers to keep their work in. ICurio is a kid friendly site. The storage folder can be very beneficial if a student has to leave the room unexpectedly, or even just to take a break for researching. Overall, I think iCurio would be great for students to use in the classroom.

The next video is called Discovery Education. Discovery Education is a tool that students can use to help them understand a topic, even if their teacher doesn't know a whole lot about it. I previews videos of other professionals and educators that do know about the topic the child is interested in. Discovery Education is a great tool for students because it can help them learn beyond only what their teacher knows. Dr. Strange comments saying that students are too, "learner watchers." They learn from what they see, and take advantage of that.

The Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1, was another video I watched. In this video Dr. Strange and Mr. Capps gave tips for teachers. Dr. Strange starts off the video by saying that as a teacher, one of the key factors is to be interested in learning also. Mr. Capps states that when you are teaching, the work you do should also be fun for yourself. You should learn new ways to teach, and be interested in learning those ways. One of my favorite tips given by Dr. Strange was that teachers have to be spontaneous, and ready for the unexpected. It is very true that something unexpected could happen and throw your whole lesson plan off while teaching. Therefore, teachers should be ready for anything. Another key tip was reflection. It's a good idea for a student to reflect over his or her work, and make corrections. Having a good audience can help with reflection. Overall, Mr. Capps and Dr. Strange gave some great points that I had never given much thought to until I watched this video.

In the video Use Tech Don't Teach It, Mr. Capps talks about how technology should not be taught in a classroom, it should be used by the students to learn on their own. He says that technology is no factor for his third graders. They are using iMovie with no problem, and he didn't have to teach them at all. The students find out how to use these technical programs on their own. Mr. Capps allows his students to use the program again and again to get the hang of how it works. He likes to allow them to use a tool one week and use a different one the next. The kids get very excited about using technology. Kids also make lots of mistakes. That's just what they do. It's a good thing as a teacher to go back and review those mistakes so they don't happen again. Overall, I can definitely see Mr. Capps's point on allowing kids to be involved with technology.

The last video was, Additional Thoughts About Lessons. Mr. Capps talks about how a lesson should be broken up into four key parts. The first part is the year. You should focus on the year you are teaching the lesson, and if it will work during that year. Next, he says that you should stretch a lesson out. You should not teach it all in one day, but stretch it over days or weeks. Then, you have to look at lessons by weeks. Are you going to get all you want done during that one week? Finally, you have to look at a lesson by day. How are you going to engage your students in your lesson for today? Do you have something to get them interested? You should do as much as you can to get your students engaged during your daily lesson. Mr. Capps states some great information about getting a lesson planed out.

Watching these videos of Anthony Capps's and Dr.Strange's conversations has been very beneficial to me. I have learned great tips for my future teaching skills. I have learned that project based learning is great for students. They learn so much more while doing these group projects. Also, technology is a key factor in the classroom today. Students are adapting more and more to using a computer everyday for learning. It's great that they are learning about this technology at such a young age. Mr. Capps also stated great ways to make out a lesson plan. Thank you Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps for making these great videos!

Blog Assignment #5

PLN's What are they? How can they help me as a teacher?


PLN stands for personal learning network. PLN's can be great a source for most everyone, but especially for teachers. A PLN is a group things and people that someone can rely on for genuine, and interesting information. You can rely on the people and tools in your PLN for new information on a certain topic or even different view points on something. I believe it is a great idea to create a PLN if you do not have one already. You can use Symbaloo to create a PLN. They can be very helpful in your times of need. As a teacher,I could use my PLN to find new ideas for lesson plans from different teachers around the world. I could also use it to store a link for my class blog.

This week I was assignment to make my very own PLN. I used Symbaloo to create my PLN. I was amazed about how easy it was to access things such as twitter, blogger, and even just todays weather. I never knew that there was a program I could use to see all of my sources,websites, and friends at once. I also have started adding in reliable people that I can look to for help, or new ideas. I have added in the EDM staff, and a few people from twitter so far. Having a PLN will make life so much easier just by having everything I need at my fingertips. Having a PLN, will change how I look at teaching in the future.

My Sentence Videos

My Passion is helping others learn.





My Sentence is, "She didn't give up, because she knew the beginning was always the hardest.

Project #3 Presentation

C4T #1

C4T #1 Comment 1

Teachers Post


The teacher I have been assigned to is Mr. Tony Baldastro. In the blog post that I commented on this week, he talked about when his CEO mentioned 9 words that completely opened his eyes. Those nine words were "If we are really going to change the world." Baldastro stated how life changing those words were to him, and his mission in life. The words were very powerful in his eyes, and changed his outlook on what needs to be done in his world. He knew that he was doing the right thing at the right moment in life after listening to his CEO. He believes that if you find nine words to say about your mission in life that you should be able to start various conversations with those few words.


My Comment


I found that my words were; "If I am going to help my students learn." I think I could come up with many things to say starting with those words. Since I am planning to be a kindergarden teacher in the future, I will be most concerned with how I can teach students new learning methods, and show them how to work computer programs. I informed Mr. Baldastro that I was in EDM310, and told him a few things that we were learning such as new computer programs. I explained how I have recently become aware that most first graders are ahead of me in the learning race. My mission in life will be to use the most effective ways to teach my students and help them learn. Overall, I told Mr. Baldastro that his blog post was very inspiring to me and it made me want to discover new ways to teach my future students.

C4T #1 Comment 2

Teachers Post

This week Mr. Tony Baldastro made a blog post called "My Most Impostant Images of 2013." He posted seven different pictures with descriptions. He states that he had a dream to become a great photographer, so he practiced to achieve that goal. His pictures were mostly landscape imagines of boats, landscapes, and one of his daughter doing the breast stroke. He states that he focused of learning the shutter timings of the pictures, and all the different modes and filters his camera provided. The pictures are very well taken, and beautiful.


My Comment


In my comment I stated that I loved that he had a dream and went after it. He took the time to practice so he could perfect his photos. I wrote that I believed he had accomplished his dream of becoming a great photographer. On his photo of Mount Washington he even stated that he waited all day to get the shot. I told Mr. Baldastro that I believe he is very talented and dedicated to becoming better and better at photography. Once again I left a link to my personal blog and our EDM310 class blog. Overall, I highly complimented Mr. Baldastro on his blog post for the week.

Search Engines

Search Engines

1. The first search engine I have discovered is WolframAlpha. This search engine is mostly used to answer scientific and mathematical questions, and also provide explanations. It provides others with knowledge and helps individuals understand different methods. However, it is not only used for math and science, WolframAlpha will provide vocabulary definitions and even charts. This is my first time learning about this search engine ,and I have found it to be very effective and useful.

2. The second search engine I found is Bing. This search engine is a little different than WolframAlpha. It helps you keep up with the latest social media, and can also help you find the best hotel rates for vacationing. You can search for maps, media, news and more with this search engine. Its title screen looks very clean and modern. You just type what you'd like to know in the search bar and click the search button to the right. I don't usually use Bing so I tested it out ,and it does provide lots of great information.

3. My third search engine is Yahoo. Yahoo is a search engine that I particularly am not wild about. It is very similar to google in my opinion. You are able to set up and email account using this website, and mainly just type any wide range of topics in the search bar. On the left side of yahoo you can can check the weather, go shopping online, and even check your dating websites. Overall, yahoo has the potential to be effective.

4. The next search engine is called Galaxy. Galaxy was the first internet directory that was searchable. Galaxy gives you a selection of topics to choose from ,and also a search bar that you can just type a word into if you prefer to search that way. This engine is useful for finding factual information. I had never heard of galaxy until i did some research on my own. You can search topics such as medicine, politics, and references. If you type something into the search bar such as "dog", you are given the latest news and factual information on dogs, unlike google where you'd be given specific breeds of dogs. I have found that Galaxy would be a good search engine for school research projects and finding facts.

5. The fifth search engine is IceRocket. This search engine was very interesting to me. You are able to search topics on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter pages with this website. When you type a topic in the search bar you can search for peoples blogs that include your topic. This could be an interesting way to read blogs and find out other peoples opinions on different subjects. I believe this search engine would be very effective if it was used in EDM310.

6. The next search engine is Kayak. This search engine is mainly for travel. You can find accurate maps,top hotels, and even package deals on vacationing. There are lots of pictures that show you what you are searching for along the way. This engine would be great for information on a vacation, or traveling to a foreign country for the first time. You can also find flight times and information. If you are a traveler this search engine is definitely for you.

7. The seventh search engine is TheFind. TheFind is an engine that is wonderful for shoppers like myself. Type any brand or item name into the search bar and hundreds of results pop up. This makes it incredibly easy to shop online and find the best prices available. This search engine is useful for people who prefer online shopping over actually driving to the store. Overall, this search engine is very useable.

8. My last search engine is Infotopia. Infotopia is a great search engine for students and teachers. It provided quality information that is referenced. Students would easily be able to find information for a research paper or just for their own knowledge. Topics such as history, literature, and geography are covered with this search engine. I believe this would be a good search engine for me to refer my students to in the future.

Blog Assignment #4

What I Need to Know About Questions to be an Affective Teacher

From reading these articles I have learned several ways to go about asking questions and answering them as a teacher. By reading the article The Right Way to Ask a Question, I have found that even though you are a teacher, that does not mean that you know every answer to every question. As I teach through lectures it is very important for me to constantly ask my students if they understand the material, and if they have any questions. I need to let my students know that I am there if they should need any additional help ,or if they simply don't understand the lesson. This article also states there there are many different types of children in the classroom such as: the smart kids, the kids who don't want to learn, and the kids who really don't care. It's important for me to call on different students by name to wake their minds up and get the other kid's brains thinking also. When using this procedure, it is important to call on the children randomly. That being said, there will be a higher chance that the child is paying attention during the lecture.

The second article I read was, Asking Questions to Improve Learning. This article was a little different from the previous one. It was set up in bullet format and was very easy to understand. I learned that as a teacher, I should keep my course goals in mind when asking questions, and to put notes in my lesson plans to show me when I will ask a question. Also, to keep my questions clear and to the point for my students. Follow up questions are also very effective for students. I should use "closed questions" that only have one answer on tests, and "open questions" with lots of answers during class time. When responding to students answers, I should stay positive and never interrupt the student. It is important for the child that I always act like I am interested in what they are saying by nodding, and using expressions. This article has provided me with lots of useful information I can use as a teacher.

In the article Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom, it gives three very important points. The first is to prepare questions for students. When making lesson plans it's a good habit to insert questions you will ask during a lecture. If you are not organized, and forget what questions you want to ask, then the questions might become unclear. The next point is to play with questions. This means that after asking a question, let the students minds think for awhile. You could wait until the end of class to answer the question, or even the next class time. The goal is to make students think before just providing them with the answer. The final point is to preserve good questions. This means that the best questions should be kept in your notes and lesson plans as something to always go to. You could even use a student's question that you liked. You could then announce in class before asking the question, that a student from your previous class is the one who came up with it. This article is very beneficial and tells us that asking good questions helps students think ,and also learn better.

Asking Better Questions in the Classroom is a youtube video that talks about the difference in open ended and closed ended questions. Open ended questions are questions that only allow students to answer with yes or no. These kinds of questions don't get students brains thinking because they don't require a response that is thoughtful. When answering these questions, students don't think about the answer, they just respond with whatever pops into their head. Open ended questions require the students to think. These question require a thoughtful response that needs to be thought out before answering. Open ended questions are more effective than closed ended questions because of the thought process they require.

The next video Questioning Styles and Strategies, was my favorite so far. I enjoyed watching the teacher ask questions and the students answer them. The teacher was able to ask questions very effectively and the students responded very well. Many different techniques were used in this video such as provisional writing and queuing. This allowed the students to write down their answer as they listened to the teacher's question. The teacher used random calling when asking questions during the class, and also allowed student calling, which is when a student calls on another student. The teacher extends his questions off of other students answers, which is great. There are lots of wonderful techniques in this video that have the potential to be great in a classroom.

Overall, these videos have really opened my understanding to what kinds of questions are good to ask ,and which ones are not so good. I have learned many different methods to use such as open ended and closed ended questions. I too have learned to stay positive when answering questions and providing feedback to students. I believe I will be able to use lots of these methods, if not all of them in my future classroom.

Blog Assignment #3

Peer Editing


Watching these videos on peer editing and reading the information about it has given me some great ideas on how to evaluate my peer's blog posts. Before seeing this information I was unsure how to respond to my peers. I have had assignments to comment on my classmate's work before this class, but my previous teachers never specified what they wanted me to include in my comment or even tell me what my tone should be. I have always kept a positive tone in my comments. I never wanted to come off as harsh to my fellow peers. I am happy to know now that I was going about commenting the right way. From the information I have gathered, I am suppose to stay positive, and start off my review with compliments. I am then suppose to give suggestions and finally make corrections for my classmates.


When making suggestions and corrections for my peers, I will be sure not to be a "Mean Margaret", or a "Picky Patty". I thought the Writing Peer Reviews Top 10 Mistakes video was quite entertaining because that is actually how some people come off to be when writing peer reviews. The kids in this video did a great job portraying real people evaluating each other. It is very true that some people can come off as mean, unsure of their own critiques, and even just be down right rude. When giving suggestions and making corrections, I will give my peers advice that I would like to be given myself. I will try to be as helpful as possible. After gaining this information I am excited to critique and evaluate my peer's writings. I will do my best at giving good suggestions and staying very positive during the process.