Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Blog Post #14

In Teaching Our Children Can be a Profession, Joel Klein listed several problems and solutions.

  • Giving far more school choices to families.
  • Using technology to improve teaching and learning 
  • Starting education before a child is 5 years old
  • Professionalize teaching 
I agree that families should have more school choices. In the public school system, schools are chosen based on where the student lives. Joel Klein opened 100 charter schools while he was President over New York schools. Charter schools are public schools with private funding and fewer restrictions. Klein did not want poverty to be the reason for educational failure. Most of these schools consisted of students in poverty areas. In my opinion, students are learning a lot from technology and the Internet, therefore teachers should use technology in there teaching to ensure that students have the most accurate information. Learning begins at home but I think that all children should be in a learning institution before age 5 because around this age, children tend to learn and understand things quicker than if they begin learning at the age of 5. Also being in this setting helps children with social and communication skills. "Improving the quality of teachers was one of Klein's imperatives." When he began presiding New York schools, the average SAT score for teachers there was 970. Klein worked to improve this. I do agree that teachers should be professionals.

Joel Klein's book cover Lessons of Hope


In the article, Joel Klein listed several problems and solutions to better educate students.  I do believe that teaching is a profession and you have to be a professional to teach students effectively. Students will ask questions that sometimes teachers might not know the answers to, therefore teachers should be able to provide the most accurate answers quickly. This is where technology comes in. Teachers should also teach student how to use technology correctly and safely. I also think that students education should not be limited based on their poverty level.

C4Ta#4

This week the teacher I was given was Silvia Tolisano.

The first post I commented on was What are the Best Ways a Teacher can Demonstrate Leadership in the Classroom?
She began the blog with a google definition of leadership, the action of leading a group of people or an organization. Then she searched leadership in google images and got various pictres of leadership. Then she searched #leadership on Twitter and receives various responses of leadership. Lastly, she discussed the "Leadership Flow" components: model, experience, share, and trust.

My comment was:
I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I like how you gave the four components of the "Leadership Flow" and described each. In order to be an effective leader, one must model behavior, give the students the opportunity to learn on their own and share their idea with their peers. Also, teachers should develop trust within each other. For a future teacher, this information was very important to me. Thanks.





The second post I commented on was Reflection about Anne Frank and Making Blogging Connections.
She began discussing how reading the Diary of Anne Frank inspired her to write a diary which she continued for over 30 years. She also had a chance to visit the home that Anne Frank and her family lived in while they were hiding from the Nazi's. She concluded her blog by asking to view social media in the eyes of Anne Frank, when posting selfies, instead of bragging, think of it as leaving a legacy for other people to view.

My comment was:
I enjoyed reading your blog. I like how reading the Diary of Anne Frank inspired you to write in you diary. I think that posting on social media is permanent so reading you blog inspired me to be more mindful about what I post on social media. When posting on social media, you are leaving a public diary for other people to view.






Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Final Blog Post #5




Personal Learning Network



My PLN consist of my classmates, my family, a few teachers that I know, Facebook, Twitter, and Symbaloo.  I like using Symbaloo because it has everything you need on one page. I have not set it as my home page but I plan to. I love using Twitter because you can get ideas from other people. I already know a few teachers and I call them when I have questions and they are willing to help me with my teaching career. I also have a few teachers in my family that I go to for advice on my future teaching career. I know that my PLN will grow are a get closer to graduation and in my teaching career.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Blog Post #13

What can we learn about Teaching Special Education from Special Education Teachers?

Watch the four videos below and summarize what you have learned.
  1. Watch Neil Rubino's A day in the life of a Special Education teacher (10:00).
  2. Watch Amy Vogelsang's Teaching Special Education (2:00).
  3. Watch Krista Blessing in Teaching Special Needs Children : Tips on Teaching in a Special Education Classroom (1:30).
  4. Watch Reading Horizons What Works When Teaching Reading in Special Education Settings - Cyndie Fountaine (11:00).
All Children Can Learn



In a day in the life of a Special Education teacher, the teacher said that everyday is going to be different. One students behavior can tick other students behavior. There will be different problems that you will have to address everyday. Time management is also very important. 

Mrs. Vogelsang stated that the best part of teaching students is when you measure their progress and can see a difference in the students. You can see that the student has learned. The students can see the light and they feel good about themselves. This is also the most challenging part because the students make small progress over a period of time. Special needs students love using the SmartBoard and laptops help them with their writing skills. Mrs. Vogelsang also stated that being a special education teacher has to be in your heart and something that you really want to do. She said to go in with the attitude that you are going to make a difference in students lives and STAY POSITIVE!

  1. Set Up Room
  • Make sure all required materials are in the classroom
     2.  Be Aware of Children Responses
  • Some children will have different responses to different things
     3.  Talk to Parents
  • Find out what has an adverse effect on students attitudes
  • What makes them upset
  • What makes them happy
     4. Follow the IEP's


Mrs. Fountaine said that it is an experiment to try to find a program that works when teaching special education students reading. Reading Horizons is a program that gives step-by-step, clear instructions, which is what special education students need. There are a lot of things that even teachers are never directly taught. Reading Horizons lessons are supported  by other resources and the print-outs are clear and straight forward. Students are able to understand what they are doing and it is easy for students to figure out their lesson. 
Reading Horizons gives teachers the skill to teach decoding to students. It is easy to prepare the lessons. It  has systematic instruction and proceeds in small increments. There is no greater feeling than when you see struggling students make progress.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Blog Post #11

In Back to the Future, Brian Crosby said, "If you don't have a lot of imagination and creativity, where do you build passion from?" I agree with this statement because passions are built from imaginations. I think that students are more likely to perform better and are more willing to learn if the are passionate about something. Mr. Crosby also said that students set their own goals. I think that when students set goals for themselves, they are more likely to work harder to achieve those goals.

In the Blended Learning Cycle, Paul Andersen breaks down what the blended learning cycle is. Blended learning is combining mobile, online, and classroom learning into one learning environment. The learning cycle consists of 5 E's. Engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate. These components create the Blended Learning Cycle. Mr. Andersen also has an acronym for this type of learning, "QuIVERS."
Qu- Ask a really good Question
I- Teachers want students to Investigate and experiment when learning.
V- Students should watch Videos so that they can have a better idea about the topic.
E- Elaboration involves reading and looking over diagrams.
R- Meet with the students in small groups and review what they have learned.
S- Summary quiz to see how much the students have learned.

In Making Thinking Visible, the students were placed in small groups and they had to talk about a movie that they watched the previous day and each group were to come up with a headline of what they think the story was talking about. At the end of the project they will create another headline and discuss how their views have changed. I think this lets the students know that it is OK to change your opinion and ideas.

Cover of the book Making Thinking Visible

I really enjoyed watching the Super Digital Citizen which included Sam Pane, teacher. He said that you, yourself is the only person in charge of using the Internet safely. The students were excited to create their own super hero and comic. Building comics are a great way to visual representation on creativity and learning of text. "When an activity is about the students, it makes the activity more meaningful." Students are going to be exposed to all types of things online, and students have choices they have to make when it comes to these things that they are being exposed to.

In Project Based Learning, three subjects were combined into one. By combining these classes, students had more time to blend ideas and content, they were able to dig deeper into learning, and they also had time to provide and receive adequate feedback. Project Based Learning increases student engagement and also provides students with the opportunity to get a deeper understanding. Technology enhances and share students learning in richer ways. Students are also more willing to do their projects again if they do not feel comfortable with the way they did the project the first time. By them having a longer class time, the students have more time to do their projects again if they choose to. Teachers are actually teaching students beyond their curriculum.

Roosevelt's Elementary PBL Program style of learning is different.
PBL is:

  • In depth learning
  • Integrated thematic instruction
  • Based on a "real-world" problem
  • Research based
  • Project and presentation
Students not only learn subject matter but also how to think for themselves. Teachers work together to select projects and chose which standards to use for that project. The students work on projects together in groups. PBL helps with public speaking, it takes away the fear of public speaking because the students are getting used to it at an early age. Students have power over their work. They are able to choose how they want to do their projects. PBL involves trusting in your students. Students work independently and also n groups. PBL enhances communication and social skills. Students are more engaged with Project Based Learning. PBL helps students feel self-empowered. Even the struggling students are more engaged in learning.

C4Ta #3

This week the teacher I was given was Dr. Will Deyamport, III.

The first post that I commented on was The Dr. Will Show-EDTECH check with Celine Ng-O'Hara

My comment was:
I am an elementary education major at the University of South Alabama and this video was very interesting to me.  When using technology, a teacher must have a clear plan and be properly trained with the plan so that all students will be able to have access to technology.  Teachers should also be williing to try new forms of technology and not only that, teachers should be willing to let their students take control of the learning process sometimes.  It is amazing how much more students know about technology than teachers do. Teachers should let students do the work then show the teacher how they were able to do it. Teachers should have a plan with good rles when it comes to using technology.  This video gave me some good instructions on how to work with my future class using technology.

The second post that I commented on was The Dr. Will Show-The 411 for ISTE newbies with Tammy Neil and Kimberly Wright

My comment was:
I am an education major at the University of South Alabama, although I am unfamiliar with ISTE, this video did give me a few tips on networking. I know not every teacher will be able to attend ISTE so how does a teacher get invited? It seems to me that attending an ISTE will provide teachers with a lot of valuable information and advice that they can use in their classrooms.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Special Blog Post

Assigment 1:
  • "Assessment is evidence - not what the teacher says or provides to a student."
  • "Doctors do not think about how they dispense drugs but rather whether the patients get better or not."
  • "Learners now create and share knowledge differently from other generations of learners."

Assessment is effective when students are able to show what they have learned and are able to explain the process they used to get their information. Teachers should teach students they way that is best for them to learn. No student is alike, students learn differently. Learning is different from when I was in school.  We used books and paper to learn. Students now are learning through technology. They have more resources and more access to those resources than people my age had. There are new things to leaarn every day.

Assignment 2:
Curriculum 21 Logo


Popplet is a resource that stuudents can use to collect information. All of their ideas will be on one page and they are able to sort out ideas, You can add pictures and even draw on your popplet. I would use this with projects so that my students will be able to quickly post their ideas.

I think Illustrative Mathematics will be a very useful tool to use during math time. There are standards that the teacher can select for the students to learn. The standards have practice problems that the students can work on. When students have completed a standard they can prograss to another standard.

Keyspace is a fun way for students to learn how to type. It shows ways to get your fingers used to the keys on the keyboard. I find this useful because students are typing their work more than they are writing it down. Students should learn how to type effectively and quickly. This program does cost but there is a free trial that can be used. I'm sure even using the program for a short time can make a difference.

Common Core Progressive Continuum Web App is a good resource for teachers to use. It provides teachers with a visual enhancement for their teaching standards. This allows students to get the visual image of what they are learning. I would use this or a similar program in my classroom.

Rubistar is a resource where a teacher can create a rubric for assignments and projects.  This is very helpful to both the teacher and the students. Teachers will know what to pay special attention to certain things while grading and students will know what to be sure to include in their work. With my class, I will do my best to make sure my students know what I will be looking for when they do their assignments.

Storybird is a good resource to help students improve their writing skills. They are able to take pictures to tell their own story. This program will help with their creative writing skills. This will be a good program to use with a class.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Blog Post #10

What can we learn from Mrs. Cassidy?

The students in Mrs. Cassidy's third grade class from Canada were very interested in learning with technology. They learn by posting blogs, using webpages, wiki, making vidoes, Skype, they even use Nintendo DS's in the classroom.  They are excited to post blogs because they are able to get comments from family. Their blogs also helps them to sound out words better. Their writing improves every time they post. They know to say nice things on their blog. Webpages helps them find things on the internet. They can click on a picture and it will link to a learning site. They are also able to choose what they need to help them to improve on their learning. Using wiki, they are able to ask questions and research answers. The students even posted their own project on wiki. Third grade students are making their own videos and posting it to their blogs. With Skype they are able to take to people around the world and they learn problem solving skills and how to share by using Nintendo DS.



Dr. Strange and Mrs. Cassidy on Skype






Dr. Strange did a Skype interview with Mrs. Cassidy in 3 parts.
Interview part 1.
Interview part 2.
Interview part 3.

Mrs. Cassidy has been incorporating technology in her teaching for over 10 years. There is a group of people including a technology coordinator that helps with the technology experience. Mrs. Cassidy stated that all principals might not be supportive of things or ways that you teach but they will let you teach it. Mrs. Cassidy also talked about students privacy. This is very important when having students post things on the Internet. She gave ways to protect their privacy. Using first names but not last names and also by posting students pictures but not that students picture as their profile photo. Teachers can even make up names for their students. Technology is here to stay, it will only improve. Mrs. Cassidy encourages teachers to have a knowledge of technology and to stay up to date on resources. Also teachers should create their own personal learning network, teachers will be able to get ideas from other educators. Teachers should also figure out what works for them and also their students. Mrs. Cassidy thinks that students should be creative with their blogs. If there is not enough class time for all students to blog in class, they can blog at home.

In my future classroom, I might use blogs, students are more careful about what they post because they know other people will read it. I will also use this because it helps to improve writing skills. I will also have my students to post videos of their work and I will try to use Skype so that my students will be able to talk to different people from around the world. There are many different cultures and I think that children can learn a lot from other people. I will be sure to protect all of my students privacy.