Blog Post #6

iCurio
This is a tool used online by students to safely search audio, videos and other sorts of media along with articles. iCurio is filtered by the teacher to shield the students from unwanted, unsafe, and inappropriate webpages. The student can only see what the teacher allows them to see. Its also a tool to store valuable information and organizing it online. This tool also has a program for students with a learning disability, for example a student who is blind could listen to things read out loud and listen to audio.
Discovery Ed
This is an online tool for students to search for additional information that is not discussed in class by the teacher. What I learned from this video is that students can retain more information if they listen to audio than reading an article or listening to a class lecture.

The Anthony- Strange Tips for Teachers
The tips that stood out to me the most was to really be interested in learning yourself, Dr.Strange says we need to model our behavior for our students. Anthony also shared a tip that stood out to me, he said let work become a fun experience, to have fun and let becoming a better teacher a hobby. I learned to go with the flow of things if something goes unplanned, to be creative and come up with a backup plan. The most important tip I thought was reflection. As a future teacher I should reflect on what works and what doesn't to come up with a better plan for the future.

Use Technology, Don't Teach It
I learned not to teach technology and to use it. Instead of teaching tech, Anthony says we should gradually introduce new concepts of technology and for the students to continue to practice what they used to get better and more familiar with it. He also says not to expect perfection the first time or ever, that students will continue to get better.

Additional Thoughts About Lessons
I learned that there are four layers to every lesson. The first is how the lesson fits in with the year, The second is what projects would be used to cover all content standards, the third how unit projects fits into a week, and finally fourth, the daily lesson which is just as important as all the other layers of a lesson.

Project #8 Book Trailor

Just One More Pet

C4K Summary for September

Zion is a 7th Grade student at Pt England school in Auckland. The blog post that I commented on is called "Children and Exercise", and he wrote about how important it is for children to stay healthy and exercise to keep the muscles strong, and to stay fit. He gave a great example on how to do so. He said sports like rugby, touch and cross country are great to stay fit. I commented that I completely agreed with him that it is important to stay fit and healthy, also  I love he provided examples of ways to accomplish a fit lifestyle.


London titled her blog post "My Life and How it Is." She discussed how she hates for other people to be judgmental because everyone has flaws that make them different, and she tells why she is different. London says "I HAVE GOALS', her goal is to be a R.N. and work with sick people and children and travel the world trying new foods and exploring different things. I commented that I absolutely thinks she's right that people should not judge each other for our unique traits that makes us who we are. I also said how ambitious and how excellent her goals are.


Liberty titled her blog post "Talent or Hard Work". She discussed how talent is not all that it takes to accomplish your goals, that you need to put forth a great amount of hard work to be successful in any thing that you do. She gives singing as an example, that if you want to be a singer, of course you would need talent but, in order for you to be famous you need to put in hard work. I commented that I agreed with her 100 percent and that relying on talent alone would not take you far, and how wonderful it was to hear her opinion on the subject.

My Sentence Videos

My Sentence is......

My Passion is.......

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post #5: Personal Learning Networks

"A personal learning network is a set of tools and people that you can use for help, consultation, collaboration, and other assistance."(Dr. John Strange) I had no idea what a personal learning network was, and trying to figure out who and what would be in my network started off very difficult, but then I realized there were a bunch of people who I could go to for help. I remembered that I had created numerous study groups in the past whether in high school or in college. I am still connected to most of those people either on social media, like Twitter and Facebook or through email, text, and video chat. I'm sure this same kind of network would be very useful as a teacher. I know that as a future teacher I can use my PLN to collaborate with other teachers to come up with new effective ways to teach, and  new ideas that could make learning fun.

I created my PLN on Symbaloo. This is a website where you can organize all of your resources you need for learning. For example on my symbaloo homepage I added Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, my school websites, and my various email accounts. I did this so I can easily locate my blog/class blog, and easily connect with those I go to when I need help.

When I first started using Symbaloo I was very confused. I didn't know what to add on my homepage or how to add it, but after playing with it and using the examples it was very easy. I started thinking of all the things I use on a daily basis for homework, studying,and  projects. I added them and organized them from left to right with school websites like sakai, and mymathlab on the left, and social networking sites like Twitter and Tumblr on the right. I love the way this website works, and I think I will be using it for a very long time.

Search Engines

Google's definition of a search engine is "a program that searches for and identifies items in a database that corresponds to the keywords or characters specified by the user, used particular to find sites on the World Wide Web."

Ask.com
Ask.com also known as askjeeves.com is an engine that gives direct answers to questions from the web and real people. You can find answers to all questions in all subjects of education. This website also includes a toolbar for download to get you quicker access to the site with quicker results. This a great search engine to find answers to all questions.

IMDB
This is a search engine dedicated to the entertainment field. You can search for almost anyone who has released music, acted in a television show, movie, play, basically almost anyone in the entertainment field. If you have a favorite actor and is looking for movie that they starred in simply search their name and anything they appeared in will show along with the character description, date, and title of the work,
Youtube
According to Google's definition, you tube is a search engine that mainly searches for videos and playlist. YouTube users can sign up for an account where they can subscribe to pages that interest them most. you can pretty much find any video your looking for whether its cooking, comedy, music, and almost every other topic out there.
Yahoo
This is a search engine that includes email accounts, information on jobs, horoscopes, stocks, news, shopping etc. This engine is not best used for research projects, but for world news, stocks and all of its miscellaneous uses. Email is another great feature of this website. It includes chat, calendar, and an online social profile.
WolframAlpha
This is a search engine is used to calculate all kinds of information including science and math. This website gives knowledge not by searching the web but using built in data algorithms and methods. This search engine is used best when searching for information along the subjects of math science, and data.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a search engine that searches for all kinds of information. Its best used for biographies, projects, history reports, research papers, or anything that has to do with information. It is not best to use this site because anyone could add information whether it is true or not.
Tumblr
Tumblr is a website where you can search and view blogs of subjects that interest that interest you most, whether it is fashion, cooking, sports, pretty much anything. You can receive information, new ideas, and it is very entertaining also. This site is mainly for searching blogs.

Blog Post #4: Asking Questions

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

The Right Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom

In this article by Ben Johnson I have gained a new perspective of asking questions. As he  talks about the general questions asked by teachers and how these questions are proven to be ineffective, it brings me back to high school where I suffered from one of the three roles he discussed in classrooms. In subjects that I had a hard time understanding, I never raised my hand to answer a question, and I was always happy someone else volunteered to do it. After reading this I am thinking of questions I can ask my future classes to understand difficult concepts.

Asking Better Questions in the Classroom by Joanne Chesley
This video discusses open ended and closed ended questions. Joanne Chesley elaborates on the difference of these questions and why one is more effective in the classroom for critical thinking. Asking open ended questions allows the student to think harder and longer about the question.

Questioning Styles and Strategies
The strategies presented in this video are some of the same in the first article, but I was able to see how these strategies actually worked. The whole class was engaged in discussion about the book they read. The random calling for students to answer questions showed that all students were thinking of the answers even though they were not called on. Every student was eager to answer questions and they did very well.

Open Ended Questions by Andi Stix
Andi Stix elaborates on what open ended question are, how they work, and gives us examples. Open ended questions are more effective because the answer requires more than just a yes or no, or a three word phrase. It requires the student think harder to come up with an answer that fully grasps the subject in which they are learning.

It is important to know which questions to ask and how to ask them. We ask questions to check for understanding, but depending on the question the answer might not confirm that the student truly knows what they are learning. We need to ask more critical  and open ended questions to receive the response we are looking for. These kind of questions can influence the student to think on a more critical level to learn more, or even lead them to ask more questions if they do not know the answer.

Blog Post #3

I can provide meaningful feedback to my peers by letting them know what is great about their work, and what they could do differently to improve their work. I would let them know in the nicest way possible to not hurt their feelings or embarrass them. I would also critique their work according to standards set for a good project, or rubric.

What is Peer Editing,  Peer Edit with Perfection
After watching the video I learned to compliment my peers work before I suggest they make any changes, I also learned how to correctly give advice, and to be specific to what I'm am referring to in the paper. The most important thing and the first step to peer editing is to compliment my peers paper and tell them specifically what was good

Writing a Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes
This video was very humorous however it did get their point across. I learned that there are many ways not to do a peer review, like point out mistakes in a harsh tone or in a mean manner, or point out mistakes and not be specific or provide and explanation why.