Blog Post #10

The Last Lecture

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was very inspirational! He gave so much wonderful advice that I could write for days about it all. His words can be applied not only to life in general, but also teaching and learning. The biggest driving message of his lecture was enabling the dreams of others. Giving someone else the chance to achieve their dreams is far more rewarding than achieving your own. I think this should be the ultimate goal for every educator. Not only should you teach them the things they need to know, but you should encourage them to chase their dreams! If they want to drive an ice cream truck or go to space, it is our job as educators to help them in any way we can. He also said to never lose your sense of childlike wonder. In this day and age, with all of our cynicism, I find that point to be extremely important. Especially for educators! How can you identify with your students enough to teach them, if you can't see the world through their eyes? A piece of advice from one of Randy's colleagues that was about people, was to wait. And if you wait long enough, then people will surprise and impress you. They just need more time. This applies directly to how I feel about profiling in the classroom. If a teacher treats a student like a slacker, that student is going to be a slacker! It's referred to as the "self-fulfilling prophecy." I believe in giving people additional chances. You can't know everything about a person. And as such, you can't judge them based on a small piece of information. You have to find the best in people.

There were two wise points he made that go hand in hand. The first, was that the best gift an educator can give is to get someone to be self-reflective. And the second was that if you get feedback, don't get defensive. Cherish the feedback and use it to better yourself. How can you teach someone to be self-reflective if you can't do it? Evaluating your own work and your "self" are two things that every individual has to be able to do to succeed. We should show our students how to do this! What is readily apparent to some may not be the case for others, so we have to show them how.

He also gave so much good advice on basic core values; the things that everybody should do. It is advice that not only applies to educators, but to people in general: apologize when you screw up, be honest, be earnest, because you can't get there alone, never give up, help others, focus on other people besides yourself, loyalty is a two way street, and show gratitude. These are things that should be a no-brainer. I've included these here because I think that in order to be a successful educator, you have to be a good person. You also have to be a lifelong learner. Randy's lecture wasn't just some psychobabble that he wrote on a napkin. Those lessons he shared were things that he learned over the course of his life. We have to follow suit. When he earned his degree, that didn't mean his education was over. The same will apply to me when I graduate. I can prepare for decades and not be totally ready. When that day comes, I will simply follow my favorite piece of advice from "The Last Lecture." And that is "Don't complain. Just work harder."

Blog Post #9

Back to the Future

After listening to Brian Crosby’s TED Talk, we learned very valuable information that we need to consider over the course of our entire teaching career.

First, Mr. Crosby speaks about his 4th grade class. He mentions that 90% of the students in his class are second language learners, students of poverty, and considered to be “at risk.” Mr. Crosby mentions that it is important that these students not have a narrowed curriculum just because of their background information. Our group found this situation very enlightening. In our future teaching career, we are fully aware that we will have students from all walks of life. We will have students that barely speak English, that are on different academic levels, live in a low-income family, live in a high-income family, etc. It is very important to give all students the same opportunity to learn, regardless of who or what they come from. Why give students a narrowed curriculum? Why not give students an opportunity to excel far beyond what they imagined? As aspiring educators, this segment of the video really made us realize how conscious we will have to be of giving all students the exact same opportunity to learn. It is very important not to apply stereotypes in the classroom. In our Classroom Assessment course, a course required for elementary education majors at The University of South Alabama, we learned about the “self-fulfilling prophecy” in regards to students. If a teacher treats a student as though he or she will do poorly, and doesn’t expect much from that student in general, then over the course of their education that student will morph into exactly what that teacher thinks of him or her. And that is not fair to the student by any stretch of the imagination! If we treat our students, all of them, with respect and hold them all to the same high standard, we will be pleasantly surprised by the results.

Mr. Crosby then speaks about a few science projects his class had completed. He mentioned that his class used their science book “a little bit” and that the projects, of course, aligned with the standards that Mr. Crosby had to cover. Our group learned a lot from that one statement. Classroom textbooks can be a great tool, but do not necessarily have to be used at all times, or used as the only learning tool while covering required state standards. Learning goes far beyond a classroom textbook! As future educators, we have to be creative in order to provide hands-on and engaging activities and projects that the students can relate to and that motivates the student. Having students read the text from a classroom textbook, complete a worksheet on the material, and then the teacher administering a test on the material is not an effective way of teaching. As stated earlier, learning stems far beyond a classroom textbook! From this video, we learned that giving students opportunities to collaborate with other students, research, and think deeply in order to solve a problem or answer a driving question is a much more effective way of teaching. This portion of the video impacted our group greatly. It made us realize that it is okay to step outside of the box and be creative with our pedagogy. Here is a well respected figure in the education world, basically giving us the go ahead to teach our students the way they deserve to be taught. Textbooks should merely be tools, not what the entire course is based upon.

Something else important we learned from Brian Crosby’s TED Talk is that getting an education is not a race to the finish line. One day, Brian Crosby was informed that he had a new student, Celeste, on his class role, but that he would probably never even see Celeste. He learned that Celeste was undergoing cancer treatments for Leukemia. Since her immune system was so low, she could not attend class for the fear of getting even more sick. Celeste had to be enrolled in a class in order to qualify for home studies. The idea that Mr. Crosby would never interact with Celeste in his classroom did not sit well with him, so he decided that he would, in fact, involve her daily in his classroom. Mr. Crosby would Skype/video chat Celeste so she could listen to lessons and also feel apart of the class. When Celeste was diagnosed with Leukemia, her life was probably turned upside down. Any sense of normalcy, such as being a member of a classroom, probably meant the absolute world to her while going through something so tragic. And let’s face it, unless Celeste’s parents were professional educators, Mr. Crosby was probably a more suitable teacher for Celeste. Celeste’s situation was very unfortunate, but it is still so important that she gets the same opportunities to learn, regardless of her health status. We learned from this video that an education should not be a race to the finish line, wherever and whatever that finish line may be. The process of learning is not something to be rushed through. An education should be thoroughly taught and available to all students, regardless of their health status or limitations. The world needs more teachers like Mr. Crosby. He went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure this girl got the education she deserved. That level of compassion is something that every teacher ought to demonstrate on a daily basis.

Blended Learning

Paul Anderson teaches AP Biology in Montana, and he taught us a very interesting strategy! He has a mnemonic device that he uses, called QUIVERS. It breaks down into Question (hook), Investigation, Video, Elaboration, Review, and Summary Quiz. Starting off the lesson with a question, or hook, that draws the students in is a great way to engage them. Then the students are instructed to investigate. There are elements of project based learning throughout Mr. Anderson’s strategy that we think will be very useful when becoming elementary school teachers. Then, the investigation is halted and a video is shown. This breaks up the traditional monotony of the classroom. Kids love watching videos. Next in this sequence is elaboration. Anderson provides resources and direction, and allows the students the room to find the answer to his question. This seems to us a bit like “Partnering,” the pedagogy referred to by Marc Prensky. The roles of the teacher and student should be redefined. The student should be placed in charge of their learning, while the teacher acts as a guide. When students feel that they are comfortable with the material, Mr. Anderson has them review with him. This is an example of partnering again. Letting the students do their own research gives Mr. Anderson the opportunity to come up with really deep questions. He feels, and we agree, that if you can’t explain what you’ve learned to someone else, then you don’t know it as well as you thought you did. If the student hasn’t adequately learned the material, Mr. Anderson sends them back to the drawing board to continue digging into the subject. Once he is comfortable with his students’ levels of comprehension, he gives a summary quiz on the material. To our minds, Mr. Anderson has taken some of the best aspects of project based learning and partnering and combined them into a new pedagogy. Utilizing different strategies helps him to manage his classroom, and maximize learning.

Making Thinking Visible

Mark Church, author of “Making Thinking Visible,” uses a research based method to teach students how to think. In his class, he had his students watch a video, and then create a headline about their opinion on the overall theme of the project. His thought process behind this was to capture the students current mindset about the lesson. And at the end of the lesson, he is going to ask them if their “headline” is still the same, and if it’s not, what has it changed to? This is a critical skill for students to have. Reflecting on your opinion, learning something new, and then changing your opinion is a valuable skill necessary for the real world, and also a skill that we think is becoming more and more scarce. Too many people are close-minded in their thoughts. They have an opinion of something, and no matter how much new data emerges, they will not change their minds. We have to teach children that it is okay to change your mind! Opinions are not set in stone. We think that Mr. Church’s lesson here is an amazing thing to teach to children. Being open to new things and always updating your perspective will make you a better person. And as teachers, don’t we owe it to our students to teach them to be the absolute best person they can be?

All in All

Everyday, we learn something new that will help us in our future teaching careers. Learning is a never-ending process, and as we progress through our own education, we are realizing that in order to be effective educators, we must be constant learners. Dr. Strange even said that after 50 years, he does not always have the answers to every question, and is still learning himself. Watching videos like these, we get to learn from the people who are at the crest of the wave that is sweeping through the education world. We both know that when we walk out of The University of South Alabama as graduates, we will not be entirely prepared for the road ahead. But as long as we continue to learn from influential educators, use the things we’ve learned, remain constant learners, and do the very best we can from the moment we walk into our classrooms, we will be successful.
Authors: Brylyn Cowling and Stephanie Faison

Blog Post #8

21st Century Tools

As we prepare ourselves to be future teachers, we must always be on the lookout for tools that we can use to improve our classrooms. These tools can be online databases, apps, books, or even online message boards. Being a teacher means that we will always have to deal with change. As such, we must learn to embrace change. Building up a pool of educational/technological resources throughout our college career will benefit us greatly by the time we get into our field of study. In the spirit of being prepared, we have located a couple of resources that we think will be helpful to us in the future.

Teacher Lingo

Teacherlingo.com is an online resource for teachers of all grades. Teachers can share activities, lesson plans, worksheets, and many other useful classroom tools. There is also (and this is the part we really like about it) a forum for teachers. A pre-existing online network of fellow teachers can be a valuable resource! There is also a blog directory for any teaching circumstance we can think of! Substitute teachers, special ed, parents, and many others each have their own niche on the webpage that you can peruse to find what you need. We think it is important for any new teacher to be able to reach out and ask questions through their personal learning network. This website allows for that, while at the same time providing resources to be used in the classroom.

Being future elementary teachers, we found lots of age appropriate materials for the younger generation of students. The materials available can be sorted by grade, subject, resource type, and cost! Yet another feature we really like is the fact that you can sell on this site! For example, say you come up with a worksheet that your students really enjoyed which in turn made the worksheet very effective. You could go post it on teacherlingo.com to share it with others in your field.Teaching involves a lot of collaboration amongst fellow educators in a personal learning network, and we feel that this website will be incredibly useful in years to come.
Authors: Brylyn Cowling and Stephanie Faison

Kidblog



Kidblog is a free, safe, and simple blog for students. Kidblog is built by teachers, for teachers. Kidblog is designed for K-12 teachers that want to provide an individual blog for each of their students. Teachers maintain complete control over student blogs and user accounts at all times. Our group loves the idea of Kidblog and we both plan to have a class blog when we become elementary school teachers.

Kidblog allows students to exercise digital citizenship within a secure and private classroom blogging space. This secure blog is COPPA-Children's Online Privacy Protection Act compliant and does not require any personal information from students. The students' blogs are private by default and viewable only by classmates and their teacher. Teachers can elect to make posts public, while still moderating the content. The comment privacy settings block unsolicited comments from outside sources.

Kidblog is very simple and student-friendly. This blog site has a central blog directory and simple navigation links in order to make it easy for students to find classmates' blogs. The layout of the blogs created on Kidblog have a clutter-free design, which means students spend less time customizing their blog and more time writing and publishing. Kidblog has easy login menus that allow students to select their name from a list of students in the class. Students do not have to memorize complex user names. We find this aspect wonderful! Can you imagine students having to memorize a username and password? There are probably college-age students in EDM310 that have had, at some time or another, trouble remembering their blog login information!

Our group, as mentioned earlier, plans to have class blogs in our future classroom. Something we talked about when we gathered to do collaborative work this week was how when we were in elementary school, we loved getting to do projects with students in other classrooms. Being able to collaborate with students outside of our immediate class was always such a treat. Kidblog provides this same collaboration, only now, in a virtual environment. Students can, if teachers permit, have access to other student blogs outside of their immediate classroom. Kidblog is a great way for students all over the world to collaborate with one another in a safe environment. Something else our group mentioned when discussing Kidblog was the aspect of students having an authentic audience. We feel as if Kidblog will make students put forth their best effort when creating posts knowing they have other bloggers, such as fellow classmates, reading their work. We each look forward to creating class blogs for students with Kidblog in our future classrooms!
Authors: Brylyn Cowling and Stephanie Faison

Comments4Teachers #3 and 4

Brian Bennett is a science teacher in Evansville, Indiana. He hopes to create 21st century learners, and his blog is where he writes about that mission, as well as personal projects, and technical insights.

Chrome

The first post I commented on was about Google Chrome, and an amazing function it has! Within Chrome, you can designate multiple users, and associate all of your passwords and plug-ins with that specific user. For people like me, with four emails, and very different needs that go along with each, this option is a godsend! I have a Chrome user for personal/school, Zirtual (which is work), and an account for a separate client! I told Brian that I had indeed discovered this function, and explained how useful it has been to me. Then I mentioned another trick I found within Chrome. You can have certain web pages open as soon as you open the browser, that are specific to the user! So if I click on my Zirtual user, it automatically loads up my Gmail and Harvest! If I click on my personal user, it loads up Gmail and my Blogger account. I adore Chrome, and I have no idea how I survived without it.

Astronomy

The second post of Brian's that I commented on was about his Astronomy project. He is going to use a program called Python to write an application that will allow him to direct his telescope via a small motor. His ultimate goal is to be able to enter a planet in the program, and the telescope will locate the planet. I told him that I thought that was incredible. I also said that I enjoyed looking at the stars, and wished him luck on his program. Then I told him that I would be posting the comments on my own blog.

Project #9 Podcast

Podcast

Our group, Brylyn Cowling and Stephanie Faison, discusses the pedagogy of partnering, as explained by Marc Prensky in Digital Natives - Partnering for Real Learning.

Project #2: PLN in Progress

My PLN

A personal learning network is, to put it simply, your outside resources. It can be a person or an application that you go to when you need help or collaboration. This is challenging for me, and it is something I am working at. I try to remind myself that "no man is an island." I've always been a very independent person. If I'm being perfectly honest, I don't like asking for help at all. I'm prideful. I don't want to say to someone "I need help, I can't do this myself." I feel like I should be able to do it myself! As I progress through my education at USA, I have to remember that I will need help. And I shouldn't feel inadequate when I ask for help. Just last week, I had my first meeting with an adviser. Ever. I've been in and out of college, unable to decide what I wanted to major in, since 2008. And I have never sat down with someone and said "I don't understand what I need to do to proceed. Please help me." And when I walked out of his office, all of my ducks neatly in a row, and my worries completely alleviated, I marveled at myself! I thought "I've gone all of this time without any sort of guidance, flying by the seat of my pants. No wonder I haven't graduated yet!"

So with that all in mind, I have begun my search for the people and places that I am going to go to for help in the future. I am finding some amazing resources that I know I will come back to. There are Twitter feeds, blogs, and websites that I have followed or bookmarked, and they are as follows:

We Are Teachers ‏ @WeAreTeachers
We offer ideas, inspiration & information for your best days & double that for your hard ones. Supporting kids means supporting educators, always.

Ed Week Teacher ‏ @EdWeekTeacher
Education Week Teacher: a leading source for K-12 teacher leaders covering instruction, school environment, classroom technology, curriculum, and more.

Edutopia @edutopia
Inspiration and information for what works in education.

Education Week @educationweek
American education's newspaper and website of record.

Ted Talks@TED_TALKS
Ideas Worth Spreading.

Paige Vitulli ‏ @PaigeVitulli
Passionate about family, friends, art, technology, traveling, food, learning and exploring. Associate Professor of Education in AL

Education Nation @educationnation
What do YOU think it takes for student success? Weigh in with #WhatItTakes, and click the below link to send us a video. Hosted by @NBCNews.

US Dept of Education @usedgov
News and information from the U.S. Department of Education.

Education.com @Education_com
Follow us for ideas and inspiration to make learning fun.

John Strange ‏ @drjohnhadley
Professor, Univ of S. Alabama, Photography, Travel Planner, Technology, Future, Cook, Education, Duke, Princeton, Cruise Speaker, Wine Maven, Podcaster, Learner

Krissy Venosdale: Venspired

Pondering Paige

EDM 310 Blog

I will continue to add to this over the course of my education and my career. One thing that I know for sure is that it never hurts to ask for help. And I will make sure that in the future, when I do need assistance, I'm not afraid to ask for it.

Project #13: PBL Plan #1

This project is created for 4th grade students, and requires students to be able to identify the four angles: Right, straight, obtuse, and acute. This project takes five days to complete, and requires an additional adult, such as an aide or parent, in the classroom.

Contributors: Courtney Brown, Brylyn Cowling, Stephanie Faison

Project Overview and Project Calendar

Project Rubric

C4K Summary for September

For my first C4K, I got to visit Ms. Martin's English class.

Buckshot9856 wrote that they believe in Ghosts. They shared several stories in which they went ghost hunting with their mother and aunt. They saw a ghost of a little boy that had been cut up from head to toe in the cemetery. Later that night they saw one in a house, a dark shadow in a mirror... Buckshot said that there were people living in the house with the dark shadow, and didn't see how they can stay! Personally I don't either! Yikes! I tried to encourage Buckshot with a story. My grandmother’s house was haunted by a woman named Nelly. She was a wonderful woman that never got to have children of her own. She was killed due to a horseback riding accident, and she never left her home. My sister and I were staying the night one time, and I had kicked off all of my covers in my sleep. I was freezing! Well I woke up. Then a woman leaned over me, pulling up the covers and tucking me in. I remember that she smelled like lavender and horses. The next morning, I thanked my grandmother for tucking me in. My grandmother said, “I never left my room sweetie…” Then I told Buckshot not to worry, that there are nice ghosts in the world. I said "You just have to find them. Are you going to keep searching?"

My second C4K has me visiting the Outback, to Mrs. Lieschkes's 5th grade class.

Harmony writes that she was video chatting with a friend of hers, named Natalie. Natalie asked Harmony what her Club Penguin username was. Unbeknownst to Harmony, Natalie was making an account in Club Penguin, where Harmony was currently playing. All of a sudden, another penguin appeared in Harmony's igloo! She thought it was a weird stranger, but it was just Natalie. They then proceeded to play hide and seek in the igloo, and they had a grand ol' time. After introducing myself, I told Harmony that I like online gaming as well. I said that I play Guild Wars, an online game where you battle monsters to save the kingdom. When random people come talk to you in the game, it is creepy. On that front, she and I agree. Then I asked her if she plays any other games. She has since written back asking me what my favorite online game is! Hers is Club Penguin. I told her mine was Borderlands 2. She has yet to comment back.

My third C4K took me over to New Zealand!

There I met Liz, a grade 5 student in Miss Ouano's class. She wrote a "Point-of-view" story about Goldilocks and the Three Bears. She was taking a Mint Cake to her Nana. She went into a cute house, tried soup, sat on a chair, and took a nap. When she awoke, the bears were home, and she ran away! She ducked into other houses to hide, and only found more bears! She tripped, and the bears helped her up and said all she had to do was ask to use their things. After that, she, the bears, and her family all got together and had a good time! My comment to her was that her mint cake sounded delicious and that I loved her story. Then I asked if she enjoyed telling stories.

My fourth C4K brought me to the US, in Robertsdale.

In Mr. Rhodus's sixth grade class, I met Janie, who decided to answer the question "How much does the sky weigh?" She said that the atmosphere weighs five million billion tons! Wow! And that equates to roughly fifteen pounds of pressure per square inch. I had no idea that the air around us was that dense! I told her that I was amazed by her post. And then I brought up the fact that newborns, who up until birth exist in a relatively weightless environment, can't pick up their heads. I attributed that to the fact that we have fifteen pounds of pressure all over our bodies, and made the observation that it is no surprise that babies can barely move when they are born!

Final Thoughts

Having gone through and commented on these students' blogs, I am in awe. Mainly because even as far away as Australia, kids are the same. All children are different, but there are commonalities. I find it refreshing and new, but comforting and familiar all at once. They're wonderful, and they surprise you at every turn. And yet, as I continue to learn the skills I need to be a teacher, with all of these changing teaching methods and technologies, I breathe easy. I may have to learn all sorts of new things to be able to do my job, but kids will be kids no matter what.

Blog Post #7

Anthony Capps is a third grade teacher at Gulf Shores Elementary School and also a former lab professional in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class.

Collaborative Thoughts on Project Based Learning Part 1

To hear a former student of EDM310, who is also a new elementary school teacher, discuss how easily he implements project based learning in his third grade classroom was refreshing. In Dr. Strange’s class, we learn so much about project based learning and how we should implement it in our future classrooms. Hearing how seamlessly Anthony uses PBL daily in his classroom is very encouraging to us as future educators. Anthony said that project based learning is constantly evolving, as it should be. New technologies emerge every day, and we must educate ourselves on how to utilize these new tools in our classroom. Updating our teaching methods in order to use these tools is vital.

Collaborative Thoughts on Project Based Learning Part 2

Something very informative Anthony mentions in Part 2 of Project Based Learning is when creating a project, never limit your students by giving them exactly what you want them to do. Instead, give them opportunities to go beyond what you want them to do. If you give your students a voice/choice in the project, it gives them a sense of power and ownership over their work. That also will encourage students who may be withdrawn or shy. If they have total creative control over their work, they will really shine. Likewise, confidence is a valuable personality trait that Project Based Learning reinforces tenfold.

Anthony reflected on a day that many of his “bosses” were coming to visit his third grade class. He said that the class was working on a project, and the project took a turn for the worse, and he knew he had to quickly modify the project in order for it to be effective. This taught us how important it is to be able to think on our feet and quickly modify/adjust a project if needed. It is important to keep the project engaging at all times, even if that means we (the teachers) have to quickly modify/adjust a project in the moment. Maintaining a positive atmosphere in the classroom is imperative. Students are much more productive and creative when everyone is in a good mood. If an issue arises that irritates a group of students, their angst can quickly turn your creative sanctuary into a gulag of negativity.

Collaborative Thoughts on iCurio

Something interesting we learned about iCurio is not only does it allow teachers to save and store useful content, it allows students to do so as well. iCurio helps students get virtually organized, which is a skill students will use throughout the rest of their lives. Another feature of iCurio we learned about from Anthony was the “read aloud” option for the sites on iCurio. So if a student was blind, or had a learning disability of some sort, iCurio has a read aloud option that will read an entire site to the student. Anthony really reinforced how important it is to use safe search engines, such as iCurio, because there is so much information on unprotected search engines that you do not want your students having access to. The most innocent search on Google can turn up some rather disturbing results.

Collaborative Thoughts on Discovery Education

Anthony shared that Discovery Education really brings experts into the classroom via video, which our group found very interesting. Students have access to topics on video that were created by experts, which creates a very authentic learning experience for the student. We also learned that Discovery Ed is a great way to enhance reading text. If the teacher can provide a video along with reading material, it creates a much more engaging learning experience. A fond, collective memory of the group was walking into the classroom (in the days before Youtube), and seeing a television with a DVD or VHS player hooked up. Students get so excited about videos because they are a break from traditional classroom activities.

Strange Tips for Teachers

I really enjoyed this segment, because there was some fantastic advice mentioned. According to Anthony and Dr. Strange, teaching is hard work, but it is rewarding. As an educator, you have to be a lifelong learner. The learning doesn’t stop when you graduate. Just because you walk out of a school with a piece of paper doesn’t mean you will be completely prepared for the road ahead. You always have to learn new things. Another tip, that not only applies to teaching, but to all walks of life, is to be flexible. Things don’t always go according to plan, and successful people have learned how to roll with it. You’re going to create a lesson plan, and some problem is going to come out of left field. Will you adapt? Or will you panic? Being able to think quickly, react appropriately, and fix the problem will benefit you far greater than freaking out about the issue at hand. Encouraging reflection is another teaching tip from Anthony. By having students create presentations and giving them an audience to present them to, students will be much more critical about their own work. And that is a good thing! You want your students to go through that in-depth thought process of “What will this sound like? How can I get my point across?” Reflecting on your own work in order to improve it is a big deal in the real world! If your boss assigns you a project, and you bang something out without giving it much thought, and then turn it in, he’s going to show you the door! You have to be able to step back, self-evaluate, and improve. Project Based Learning, and the presentations that often go along with it, are a wonderful way to teach that skill.
Author: Stephanie Faison

Anthony’s Additional Thoughts About Lessons

After watching “Additional Thoughts About Lessons,” I learned that planning a lesson takes a lot of thought. I learned that there a four layers to creating lessons: Year, unit, week, and day. The fours layers are like a curriculum map for the year for the teacher to follow. I like to visualize the four layers as four tiers. The first layer, the year, includes what content standards have to be covered over the course of the school year. The next layer within the year, the unit, is typically a 6-8 week time period that the teacher has specific content that is stretched out over this time period, and once the unit is complete, students are expected to have mastered the content covered. The next layer within a year and unit, week, is a weekly plan the teacher has in order to complete an entire unit. The last layer within year, unit, and week is day. Teachers must have daily plans in order to complete each weeks expected amount of work in order to complete a unit. Anthony’s “Additional Thoughts About Lessons” gave me a great visual of how I will have to construct my lessons in my future classroom.
Author: Brylyn Cowling

Don’t Teach Tech-Use It

The video Don’t Teach Tech-Use It describes an effective way to learn about different technology tools. There is so much you can do with technology, teaching it would take an enormous amount of class time. Plus, the actual experience students get from navigating and making mistakes gets them more involved and comfortable. I know when I use new technology tools, I learn more from what I call “playing around”. Which is just clicking on different options and seeing what they do. Mr. Capps made a great point about only introducing students to one new tool at a time and then allowing time to review. Students learning multiple tools at once can be overwhelming and confusing, which may lead to students getting frustrated and interferes with the learning aspect. It is vital to have enough time to review because students may have missed or misunderstood some important parts of the tool. Review time allows teachers to get a better understanding of what students actually learned and the areas where help is needed. Once students have mastered a tool then a new technology tool can be introduced. Technology is advancing rapidly. Teachers getting students familiar with learning new tools on their own helps students develop a necessary skill needed to learn future technology tools.
Author: Courtney Brown