Blog Post #9

What can teachers and students teach us about Project Based Learning?

Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning states, a project is meaningful if students perceive the work as personally meaningful and if the project fulfills the educational purpose. The seven essentials are:

1. A Need to Know

• An "entry event" that engages students interest and initiates questions.

     2. A Driving Question

• A good driving questions includes the main idea for the project.
• Without the driving question, students will not understand the purpose for the project.

     3. Student Voice and Choice

• "Teachers should design projects with the extent of student choice that fits their own style and students."

     4. 21st Century Skills

• A project should give students the opportunity to build skills like collaboration, use of technology, communication, and critical thinking.

     5. Inquiry and Innovation

• Students find projects more meaningful if they are able to follow a trail that begins with their own questions and are able to search for their own results to find a conclusion.

     6. Feedback and Revision

• Emphasizes that high-quality and performances are important.

     7. A Publicly Presented Product

• Students care more about the quality of their work when it is presented to an audience.

Project-Based Learning for Teachers defines Project-Based Learning as students taking charge of their learning. PBL has students working for an extended period of time answering a driving question. These questions require students to complete an end product to share their learning with others. PBL enhances students:

• Collaboration Skills
• Communication Skills
• Critical Thinking Skills
• Career and Life Skills

PBL is questioning, investigating, sharing, and reflecting. PBL also includes:

• Having a purpose
• Addressing an audience
• Crafting a driving question
• Identifying learning standards
• Creating a rubric
• Grouping students
• Brain storming branching questions
• Meeting deadlines
• Focusing on the process
• Reflecting the end product

All while students have a voice and choice.

Ten Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration in Project Based Learning are tools that can enhance the PBL experience. It is important to allow students to network while immersed in PBL. This includes student to student collaboration and communication, student to teacher, and even student to expert.
These ten sites are:

• Titan Pad
• Wall Wisher
• Cordboardme
• Google Docs
• Microsoft Live
• Today's Meet
• Will You Type With Me
• Linoit
• Skype in Education
• Quick Screen Share

Project Based Learning and Physical Education states that PE can be a place where relevant and authentic learning can occur. PBL can show how valuable PE can be . PBL give students a problem or challenge that they must explore and solve. Standards-based instruction creates a need-to-know in students. They are able to see why they are learning while they are learning. Students can see the relevance for their learning PE through the task of a PBL project.
"You must give up power in order to empower your students; empower them in their physical education"

PBL-High School Math a teacher said that having PBL in the classroom is helping teachers overall. English and math are subjects that people do not really think about having projects. One student stated that applying PBL in the classroom changes your perspective on what that subject is and what it entails, You can see how you can use the subjects you are learning for your future and for the rest of your life.
Each group of teachers work together to design functions for PBL. The teachers want to make sure they do not lose any content within their course and enrich the course with projects. PBL is not going to look the same in every class. PBL helps students to focus more and engage in math.

Project #12A: Mastering SMARTboard Tools

Project #9: Video Book Commentary

Project #14: Project Based Learning Plans

Lets Stop Pollution Rubric

 Lets Stop Pollution Lesson Plan

Blog Post #8

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was had a very powerful message. He took his situation and turned it into something positive. His last lecture was very interesting.  He reflected on his childhood dreams.  Almost every child has dreams of what they want to be when they grow up.

In the lecture I learned that brick walls are not always bad.  They are there for us to prove how badly we want things.  As a future teacher, I plan to tell my students when you run into a brick wall or when things get hard and you feel like giving up, push yourself.  Brick walls are just obstacles that you have to overcome to get to the finish line. Randy also stated that anything is possible. I agree that anything is possible, a person just have to put their mind to achieving the goal and work hard for it. He also made a statement saying "You have to get the fundamentals down, otherwise all the fancy stuff isn't going to work."  I agree because you have to know what you are doing and how to do it before you do something.  If not you will not understand what you are doing and what you are doing it for. Teaching is not easy, nor is it for everyone.

C4Ta#2

The teacher  I was given was Steven Anderson.

The first blog I commented was titled Curating Content with Appolearnng.

My comment was:
Curating and appolearning is new to me. I am a student at the University of South Alabama and my major is education. Appolearning is a way for teachers to have a collection of digital resources. This is something that I am interested in learning to use.

The second blog that I commented on was titled Evaluating Technology? Here's what to look for...

My comment was:
I agree with you when considering technology in classrooms, those questions should be considered. If students are not using the technology, would it really be beneficial. If institutions are willing to spend $10,000 on technology equipment, I am sure that they want to get the most of their money. I also think that students should know how to use resources and technology and not just google.

Blog Post #7

In the video Using Imovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten, Mrs. Bennett and Mrs. Davis discussed the students making Imovies and editing them.  A teacher teaches the students the mechanics of technology and give the students examples, them have them work independently.  Kindergartners are excited to go to the different stations in the classroom and make movies.  They are aware that their work will be uploaded to the internet and are eager to make self-corrections.  Kindergartners are also excited to do research using the Alabama Virtual Library. They use it on a daily basis.

Mrs. Bennett stated that when using a device the dynamics of learning changes. We all become learners. Teachers teach students, students teach teachers. At Gulf Shores Elementary School, the students are eager to show visitors their assignments that they have done.

In the video of Mrs. Shirley sharing 1st grade becoming learners the students had to work in groups and researched an inventor. The students also created a graphic organizer which they had to answer questions like why they chose this inventor and how was their invention useful. Another question the students had to answer was what invention would they invent and why.

Ms. Lauder's class did an IMovie about that they learned about planet Earth.  They indicated that Earth is the only livable planet and why. They also stated that Earth has seven continents and four oceans.

Sawyer's Story is a movie trailer about Sawyer and his classmates learning. They will all soon be in the third grade.

In Practice Session #2, the students had a story read to them. They interacted while they were listening. It seems to the me that they really enjoyed listening to the story

I learned a lot from these videos.  I learned that even kindergarten students are learning and teaching technology.  Learning mechanics and making use of the technology and the software that they have available is fun to use.  They are learning skills along with the resources, I can't wait to teach my class these things.

Project #13: Project Based Learning Plans

The Solar System Rubric

The Solar System Lesson Plan

Blog Post #6

In Project Based Learning part 1, I learned that Project Based Learning is very common.  It requires using projects to promote students learning capabilities. PBL not only shows the teacher that the students accomplished what the teacher wanted them to, it shows the teacher that the students actually learned while doing the projects. The goal of a good project is one that has authentic audience, has students interest, something that is relevant to the students lives. Also, something that interest the community and is driven by content.  In part 2, Mr. Capps says that everything is not going to go well. Never limit your students, create an opportunity for students to go beyond what you want them to do. You are going to get more than what you expect.

Icurio is a curated search engine.  Icurio is a search engine that allows students to search websites, images, and media. It also has storage capacity for students. Students can organize items online with folders. Icurio also has a timeline.

Discovery Education is a source in which you can get virtually any visual information about education. It has science, social studies, and many others. It has images as well as video. Discovery Education can help students enrich their research experience.


In the Anthony- Strange Tips for teachers, teaching is hard. Work is not separate from play. Let your work become a fun experience for you.  Start with an end goal. Get kids engaged. Make it a content they care about,get excited about and is shareable.

1. Be a learner.
2. Be flexible.
3. Start with an end goal.
4. Engage 100% of the students 100% of the time.
5. Reflect, revise, share.

Project #3: Google Presentation

Blog Post #5

I have created a symbaloo account. It is something that seems easy to use because everything that you need is on one page so that all you have to do is find what you are looking for and click on it.  That is easier than searching for what you need.

Personal Learning Networks or PLN are personal networks that are composed of people and tools. PLNs are composed of teachers and is a way to get the information you need if you have questions or want to know information. With PLNs you can choose the networks that you want to be a part of and the role that you play in the network. There are ways to being notified about new resources when they become available and how to use them. You are also able to connect with other educators and learn from them.

Project #8: Book Trailer

Project #7: Four Movies (Parts A&B)

C4T#1

The teacher that I was given was Wesley Fryer and his website is Moving at the Speed of Creativity.

The first post that I comment on was Upgrade a Verizon hotspot for $22 without a new contract.

My comment was:
A few years ago, I had the mobile hotspot but if was through C-spire for $60 a month with 2.5 GB of data. Now I do not use a mobile hotspot but if I were to need it, I would get Verizon. There are ways around these cellular providers high data fees, although most people know nothing about it.

The second post that I commented on was Digital Neighborhood Watch (nextdoor.com) & Model use of Twitter by Local Police.

My comment was:
I did not know the "Next Door" app was so useful. I only knew that I was a good tool to report break ins to neighbors. I was unaware that you can find a useful babysitter by using this app. Nor was I aware that you can notify neighbors about a lost dog. I find that by your post that this app can be very useful and I will see if the app is available in my neighborhood.

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Project #15: Search Engines

The eight search engines I decided to do was Bing, Duckduckgo, Dogpile, Yahoo, AOL, Webcrawler, Ixquick, and Wolfram Alpha

Bing is a search engine where you can search people, places and even ask questions.  When you search things using Bing you will receive various options for the search.  You can choose to search on the web, images, news and more.  Bing is owned by the Microsoft company.

Duck Duck Go is a private search engine.  It is a search engine that does not track your searches.  You can search images and videos as well as web searched.  You can search people and places, also. Duck Duck Go does not collect information from searches.

Dogpile is a search engine where you can search the web, images, news, you can even shop with Dogpile.  When searching through Dogpile you will get links through other search engines.  You can even check local listings through Dogpiles white pages. 

Yahoo is a search engine that is able to search web, images, news, you can even search on dating using yahoo.  If you have a yahoo account you can sign up for messenger.  You can even ask yahoo questions and it will generate answers.

AOL is an older search engine that is sill used.  Using AOL, yo can search sports, lifestyle, entertainment,etc.  You can watch videos, check weather and news with AOL. AOL is enhanced by Google.

Web crawler is a search engine that uses other search engines to generate the search.  With Web crawler, you can search the web and also images.  You can look up recipes and other things using web crawler.

Ixquick says it is the world's most private search engine.  When using ixquick you searches are quickly deleted and nothing is recorded.  With ixquick, you can search the web, images and videos.  Ixquick even had advanced search.

WolframAlpha is a very sophisticated search engine. It handles mathematics, measurements, chemistry, music, weather. Almost anything you can think of that has to deal with equations, WolframAlpha can handle it.    

Blog Post #4

According to Asking Questions to Improve Learning, teachers should ask their students specific and direct questions. During discussion sessions, questions should be mutilayered and complexed while only asking one question at a time. Questions should be closed-ended and also open-ended. When asking a question, teachers should wait a few seconds for students to voluntarily respond.   Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom states that teachers should prepare the questions ahead on discussion time.  Questions should also be asked in the best way to engage the students.

Asking better questions in the classroom, states that a closed-ended question can be answered by using one word or a short phrase. Open-ended questions leaves the answer up to the person who is responding, which yields more information.

Blog Post #3

         While watching the videos and powerpoint that were assigned, I learned that there are three ways to provide feedback to peer reviews.  The first way is to compliment the writer.  Things like, I like your wording, or I enjoyed reading your post, are good things to comment.  Also, making suggestions to the writer can be helpful.  Suggesting that the writer should include more in their post or that they choose better word choice is effective for peer reviewing.  The last effective method to provide feedback is making corrections.  If the writer has spelling errors or even the organization of writing, the reviewer should include helpful ways to correct these things.

        Although these are helpful tools, peer reviewers can also make mistakes while reviewing.  It is not helpful to criticize the writer.  I also do not recommend to get off topic while reviewing a persons writing.  Sometimes peer reviewers are used to their own writing style, and they want the writer to incorporate the reviewers writing style into their writing.  Peer reviewers have to remember that everyone has their own writing style.  Also, the writer should be open to suggestions to help their writing.