Blog Assignment #7

How do we all become learners?

As always, I learn so many new interesting things from watching the videos that Dr. Strange assign to the class. In my own personal opinion, I feel that the way to become a better learner is to be a great listener. If we are close-minded about other people views, our progress is not only limited but completely blocked. In the last video I watched titled We All Become Learners, Mrs. Bennett made an excellent point about how we all become learners. She stated that when using a device of some kind, educators have begun to notice it changes the dynamics of the learning. The teachers teach the students, students teach other students, and students also teach teachers. In other words, everybody becomes a leaner and a teacher all in one.

One new interesting tool I discovered is How to make an audio QR code. Before watching this video, I never knew how simple it was to create a QR code. Teachers use QR codes to read books to their students or record a reading story. When creating a QR code, you can record as many times as possible until you feel you have recorded it correctly. I think this tool is great to use in the classroom to get students involved and interested in reading books. I also learned that younger kids get excited about reading once they hear their actually teacher voice on the audio recorder.

The iPad Reading Center video was so much fun to watch. During the video, the entire time I was thinking, "who came up with these amazing ideas that make students want to get involved and participate in daily activities.” In the video, the teacher used an iPad to allow students to record their self while reading a book. After the students were done reading, they were able to listen to themselves read aloud as they read along to check and make sure that they did not make any mistakes. That is so awesome!! This would also be a great strategy to use to get students excited about reading as well as checking for corrections.

Popplet is an online concept mapping site that allow students and teachers to create maps using images, text, videos, drawings, and basically anything someone could possibly think of. Popplet is a great tool to use in the classroom because it can be very useful for visual learners to follow along with during the lesson. Popplet not only help students learn to read a book, but it also helps them practice typing skills. One of the best things about popplet is that it is an app that is completely free of charge.

Alabama Virtual Library provides all students, teachers, and any citizens in the State of Alabama with online access to essential library and information resources. It is primarily a group of online databases that have magazines, journals, and newspaper articles for research. What I learned from this video is that teachers have begun to incorporate AVL into their kindergarten classrooms to allow students to search a topic and learn important facts about that topic. The kids can search pictures of their topic and AVL also has an audio sound system that can read the information a loud to the students. AVL is a fun and easy project that teaches kids how to research information.