Blog Assignment #6

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

Students learn and gain a better understanding of the material being taught when the teacher asks multiple questions throughout the lesson. This not only benefits the students, but it also assures the teacher that the class is understanding what is being taught and that he or she can move on to the next lesson.

When teachers ask questions in the classroom, they are modeling a process that students can and should use for themselves. Before asking questions in a classroom, teachers should remember to ask questions that allow students to use critical thinking skills to improve their learning. There are certain aspects teachers should think about before asking questions to students. The important thing to remember is to aim for direct, clear, and specific questions. When planning questions, keep in mind your course goals. For example, do you want students to master core concepts? Do you want students to develop critical thinking skills? The questions teachers ask should help students master these skills as well as communication skills. Follow up with a "yes or no" question with an additional question. That way the teacher could ask the student to explain why he or she answered the question the way they did. Also during class discussions, do not ask more than one question at once, allow the student enough time to think and formulate responses. When you ask more than one question, students often do not respond because they are unsure which question you want them to answer.

Never ask the question "Does everyone understand?" because all students may not understand, and the teacher will never know. This type of behavior only causes more confusion to build up on the student, which in the end will affect the teacher because he or she did not properly check for understanding. The best ways to check for understanding in your classroom is to ask specific questions, and remember to always be direct and clear as possible. Teachers should try their best to avoid using closed ended questions in their classroom. These types of questions structure the response for the students and can be answered by a simple "yes or no". Closed ended questions are okay if they are followed with an additional question, but they do not give students a chance to use critical thinking skills. Teachers should use open-ended questions. Open-ended questions leaves the form of the answer up to the person who is responding, thereby enhancing more thinking and yielding more information.

Before a teacher prepare for class, they should compose specific questions that they will ask their students or they anticipate the students will ask them. Doing so will help increase the students participation and encourage active learning.

Project #3 Presentation

My Passion Video

"My Passion is" youtube

My Sentence Video

"My Sentence is" youtube

Blog Assignment #5

In this presentation, I will be explaining what iCurio and Discovery Ed is and how they both work. I will also tell you what material they provide to students and how to incorporate them into your learning plans. After watching this video iCurio on icurio, I gained lots of information about how iCurio work. I could not find much information on Discovery Ed, but I did manage to find some information. google

Blog Assignment #4

Why podcast? How do we do a podcast?

I never used podcast before, but after watching some of the videos and reading a little bit about podcast, I really have to find out more about podcast because this is a great way for students to learn. A podcast is a "radio style" talk show. It may include music as well. Podcast is very easy to use and it does not cost that much money. Podcast my be listen to on the computer, mp3 player, or you could even download it from itunes or any podcast hosting service. Podcasting allows information to be shared with millions of people around the world. All you need is a microphone, a computer, and a software and you can share any information with anyone.

Podcast have information about any subject, so all teachers can succeed from using podcast in there classroom. Teachers can record lectures and play it back for student to listen to it as a review, that way if a student happens to be absence for any reason, they could listen to what they missed in class for that day on podcast. Podcast also promote creativity and innovation. Podcast is a very fun way for student to learn and get involved in the classroom. There is so much more that can be done with using podcast but I just listed a few. I would advised all teachers or any students who are planning to becoming a teacher in the future to learn more about podcast and use it in their classroom.

C4T #1

C4T #1 Post #1

In my comment for teacher post, the teacher I was assigned to was a 1st grade teacher name Kathy Cassidy. On her first blog post I read about, she talked about her experience at the Building Learning Communities Conference she attended this year. The BLC is a national educational conference that is held every year for educators around the world. The BLC is a major conference that provide teachers and other individuals with inspiration, practical skills, and expand their professional network. Mrs. Cassidy alone with three other educators were asked to be a speaker at this year BLC conference, and if you know anything about the BLC conference or have ever attended one, then you know how major it must have been to be asked to be a speaker at the conference. On her blog post, Mrs Cassidy uploaded a video of her speaking at the conference , and in the video she basically invited the world into her classroom and gave a presentation on how she teaches her students and some different learning strategies that she use to help her students better understand and become successful learners. In my comment for Mrs Cassidy, I told her that her experience at the BLC conference was very inspiring and that I could only amgine  how exciting it must have been to be apart of something so major and inspiring to other teachers and students around the world.

C4T #1 Post #2

In my most recent comment for teacher post, Mrs Cassidy posted a blog about "The Early Literacy Shift", where she talked about how literacy has really changed from 20 years ago. Mrs Cassidy talked about how vocabulary has changed and how several new words has been created since she was in school. Mrs Cassidy also talked about new ways for kids to learn, new audiences to read kids writings, and new communication forms. In classrooms today kids are learning to become computer literate in the 1st and 2nd grade. In Mrs. Cassidy classroom, she teaches her kids how to use twitter as a back channel to search for characteristics of fairy tales and how to use skype to do reader's theatre with classes in other states. These new ways of learning is a great way to get students more involved and to make learning more fun. Technology also allow kids to grow in knowledge and skills that will better prepare them for their future. In my comment on Mrs. Cassidy blog post, I told her that I totally agree with her about the changes in literacy because I remember when I was in school and we were never allow to use twitter, skype, or created a blog post and share it with other students around the world, when ever we wrote it was on paper or in our notebooks, which only the teacher read or our parents. Now students are allow to created blog post and express themselves through their writing where the hold world can see, and I think that is a great way for young kids to become independent writers.

Blog Assignment #3

Peer Editing

Before watching the two videos and slideshow on peer editing, I had no idea what the word peer editing meant, although once I thought about it and gained more knowledge from the videos, I realized the word is clearly self-explanatory. Peer editing means working with someone your own age to help improve, revise, and edit his or her writing. I really think that peer editing is a great idea if done the correct way, because some people may gain a better knowledge of understanding from someone their own age. It is very important that people view peer editing in a positive manner and take it as a learning experience rather than showing no interest or having a negative attitude.When peer editing fellow classmates or anyone, a person should always be respectful and remember to stay positive. It is always best to compliment your peers writing, tell them what you liked about their writing or what stuck out to you the most. I total agree with peer editing and I think it is very helpful for students who are becoming a teacher, because teachers will have to editing their own students writing, so peer editing is a great way to practice decision making skills to help better improve their students writing once they become teachers.

  If I had to make a suggestion on any of my classmates writings or blog post, I would rather make my comments privately through their email, even if it was just a grammatical or spelling error. The reason I would comment through their email is because for one, I do not think that it would be necessary to comment publicly on a student blog post criticizing them about any errors they have made on their writing, clearly it was a mistake that need to be corrected, and I feel the best way to do so is privately, therefore you would not have to worry about anyone getting up set or feeling embarrass. Another reason is because words are often misinterpreted, especially when you are not face to face,  so that person may not read your comment the exact way you intended them to.

Blog Assignment #1

If I Built A School

If I had a chance to build a school, it would be a High School from grades 9th through 12th, and I would be teaching Physical Education. In my classroom I would be teaching my student the importantance of Physical Education and being physically active.

I understand that not all student learn the same, so I will use different teaching methods to make sure that every student in my classroom is learning what is being taught. Some of the methods I would use in my class is drama role playing, gaming and simulation, and use of technology.

What Do I Want My Students To Know

In my class I would want my students to know and understand that Physical Education plays a major role in students development and growth. Also I would want my students to know that being physically active helps prevent measures against disease, its a program for muscle strength, it promotes academic learning, it builds self esteem, it develops teamwork and sportsmanship skills, and it promotes a physically active lifestyle for the future.

What Do I Want My Students To Be Able To Do

Before my student leave my class, I would want my students to be able to understand principles of motor behavior which include motor learning, motor development, and psycho-social aspects of physical activity. I would also like for my students to be able to learn activities that improve movement and balance.

What Would Be My Primary Way Of Teaching My Students What I Want Them To Know

One of my main primary teaching methods would be the use of technology, because with technology a person can do numerous of activities. I would also use hands on teaching skills because records shows that most students learn better for hands on experience. Since I am majoring in Physical Education, I would allow my students time in class to practice and learn how to master any skills that are being taught.

Blog Assignment #2

What Will Teaching In The 21st Century Be Like?

Group: Appel

"Mr. Dancealot"

By: Javious Williams, Orlando Nieto, and Samantha West

Teaching in the 21st century should be a fun and exciting way for students to learn. Teachers that teach in the 21st century are expected to follow certain state standards for  the different grade levels that are taught. The standards clearly state what is expected of students at each grade level. Teachers who teach in the 21st century should use several teaching methods to make sure each student fully understand what is being taught. Common teaching methods that are taught in the 21st century are critical thinking skills,which allows students to think out of the box and be creative, and problem solving skill, which allows student to become more interactive and use those skills in everyday life situation. Teachers in the 21 century dialogue with their students and have their students participate in group activities to build up their communication and social skills. In the movie “Mr. Dancealot”, we agree that Professor Dancealot skills for teaching in the 21st  century was good because he explain to his students what the objectives were and what they were expected to learn by the end of the course. Professor Dancealot taught his students the history of dance and he demonstrated the fundamental steps of the dance in the visual and verbal teaching methods. We also like that Professor Dancealot use technology to analyze and evaluate his student on their final exam, technology is highly recommended when teaching in the 21st.The professor could have improved his teaching skills to the students by allowing them to be more interactive with the dances that he wanted them to learn. The classroom choice would also have been more appropriate had it been placed into a more open are room with no desks to block the students vision of footwork.

"The Networked Student"

By: Javious Williams

My reaction from the video “The Networked Student”, is that this course is more of an independent learning course, which requires students to learn and teach themselves as much as possible and use critical thinking skills. The Network Student course is similar to the EDM310 course that I am currently taking because it is a blended course which means students attend class on certain days and the other days students complete their assignments through the Internet. Any students who take courses similar to EDM310 or Networked courses must be computer literate and allow as much time as possible to learn, study, and complete assignments on time.

Another thing I noticed about “The Networking Student” video is that the teacher almost never lectures, so a majority of the assignments are done through some type of technology networking source. In the video “The Networking Students”, the author uses the word connectivism, which is a theory that learning occurs apart of a social network of many diverse connections. The teacher in this course empowers her students to take control of their own learning and make new connections with others strengthening the learning process. Overall I think the purpose of this course is to require students to think and be independent educational learners; therefore, once they become teachers in the 21st century they will know how to teach their own students and answer any question the students may have.

To sum up the question “Why does the networked student even need a teacher?”,  is because the teacher is the one who teaches the students how to build the network and take advantage of learning opportunities. The teacher offers guidance when the students get stuck, show students how to communicate properly and ask respectfully for help from experts, and teach students how to differentiate between good and bad information. I really feel that classes similar to the class in the video is a very helpful way to teach students because it allows them to use critical thinking and problem solving.

"Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts"

By: Orlando Nieto

This video was a little different than what I had expected. This class was very unique in the sense that the students had a teacher to help and guide them when learning something new, but the students would also teach each other and the teacher as well. The students could communicate and learn something new from connecting to people all around the world just by a computer in their classroom. They were able to make and watch videos of themselves and others and share in a classroom environment while teaching and learning at the same time.

"Teaching in the 21st Century"

By: Samantha West

The Video “ Teaching in the 21st Century” had many good points in it. How will teaching in the 21st century be? That is a good question to ask. We can see how far we have come today from when teachers first started teaching, and we think that we are doing good where we are. The video pointed out many websites that students can use to get information or help with their lessons. Such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Bing just to name a few. When I first heard this I thought that it would never work, but now I have noticed that if you do not have any other information you can always check Facebook or Twitter to possibly get an answer.

The video also points out everything we can do with the internet. I do not know  a child twelve years of age and older who does not have a cell phone, laptop, or a type of tablet. With any of these devices they can browse the internet , and make better grades while doing it. They can do extra- curricular activities for class, such as experiments, twittering, and blogs just to name a few. The down side to all this freedom is the students taking advantage of the internet and there will be that one student that will plagiarize, copyright, and slander, but should we take it away from all the students then, no. The use of the internet in school in this way could be missed used, but it is our responsibility to teach our students right from wrong.

The last thing in the video that really spoke to me was the difference from entertainment and engagement. “Entertainment is passive, engagement is active”. This is very true. When I think of the word entertain I think of a get together or a party. We always want to entertain our guest. The video states that entertainment is short-term like the party I mentioned. Our guest would stay for a little while and then they would go home. Engagement is long-term. We want our students to leave the class and go home still talking about the topic discussed. The video was not what I was expecting at all, but it was interesting. It really opened up my eyes and helped me see what I should be teaching in the classroom.