Team Reflection for Project #16 Lesson

We are the Cheetah Girls.

We tried out many different lesson plans before settling and loving our current one.

The idea to use QR Codes sparked as I was observing at St. Elmo Elementary and a teacher was working on a project on the walls outside of her classroom where she was sticking the QR Codes onto portraits on students in her class.

So I asked her what she was doing, and I quickly learned what a QR Code was and I thought it was the neatest thing!

Then BOOM! I knew we had to use QR Codes in our final project.

    JUSTINE: Looking back to the start of project 16, it is ridiculous to remember the process me and Jessica Mose went through to actually spark what we wanted to incorporate into our lesson. We most definitely had our high moments of “Aha! This is perfect, we are on the right track, we are on a roll!” and then all of a sudden we would be hit with an obstacle that brought our roll to a halt. We had our moments of despair, where one of us would start to feel completely burnt out, but the other partner would step up and bring the light back and direction back into what we were trying to accomplish. The fact is our journey to our final presentation was rough, we pulled an all-nighter, we almost broke into tears, while foraging for vending machine food at 2 am and at the end of it, we came out so victoriously! I feel so proud of our final project because Jessica and I invested so much into making this presentation great. Our project was definitely a true testament of the phrase “HARD WORK PAYS OFF”. Ultimately, I’ve gained so much from this project, I’ve learned how to meet my partner half way, especially when we didn’t see eye-to-eye, I’ve learned how to use a new method of presenting, Prezi.com which I love, and will use in the future and as I leave this class I have made an amazing lifelong friend and colleague, Jessica, Team Cheetah for everrrrrr!

Final Reflection Video

Technology & Teaching: My Philosophy

Initially, when I used to hear anything about technology in classroom's I usually thought disaster. I previously thought that students using devices such as ipads in a classroom would be a miss-use of time. Because I know that I am the type of person where if i was able to be on my phone during class time, I would learn absolutely nothing because my phone has so many non-educational distractions on it. But I've learned that technology doesn't have to be a distraction for students because there are ways to set locks on the students devices so that they will only be able to access the educational apps only.
I believe that it is essential that the instructor of a classroom which incorporates ipads into the lesson, should thoroughly teaching technology etiquette, to ensure they do not miss use their electronic devices during class time.

C4T #4 Experts & Newbies

Experts & Newbies is a blog that is not currently actively being used. It was created by John Larmer, the Buck Institute of Education editor in chief.

In the post Project Based Learning vs. Problem Based Learning he talks about the many ____-based learning methods that have been introduced lately. Two of the most popular being Project and Problem based learning.

Summary:

• Project-Based Learning
• Involves designing/creating a product or performance.
• Solves real-world problem
• Involves Investigating to achieve a solution

• Problem-Based Learning
• Begins with a problem
• List what we know and what we what to know
• States possible outcomes
• Share information and solution found

• Both Problem & Project Learning
• Focus on open-ended questions
• Emphasize students Independence

My Comment: 

Mr. Larmer!

Thank you for the clarification. As a students in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama, we have been focusing mostly all on Project based learning and we haven’t touched base on PROBLEM based learning and what it entails. I thoroughly enjoyed your post.

Justine Spicciani

Blog Post #5.B

As I explained previously, before EDM310 I did not know what a Personal Learning Network was and most importantly, I was unaware of the benefits of having a PLN. Unfortunately, during the duration of my semester in EDM310, I did not utilize or develop my rtPLN as much as I wanted to. But I have intentions of using a PLN as a tool in the educational field.

The components of a Personal Learning Network that I plan to use and will continue to use are,

• Twitter
• I think Twitter can be a great way to spread ideas through educators alike.
• Pinterest
• I think the use of pinterest should be introduced in EDM310. It is a great tool for cultivating ideas and projects that motivate students and bring out creativity.
• Teacher Blogs
• One of the coolest ways to learn new ideas are through reading about other educators experiences and insights.

Blog Post #14

Joel Klein has a vision for the future of schools and the educators that make up a school system. In his article Teaching Our Children Can Be a Profession he explains the issues that are apparent in our current United States school system. He also provides solutions that would help the system become a more successful and efficient one. Although many of his propositions seem drastic, he makes many valid points and he presents solutions that may help the education system.

• Problem 1: Educators have a lack of knowledge with academic programs, which results in ineffective teaching.
• Solution: Better academic training for prospective teachers.

• Problem 2: Teachers are able to teach if they simply obtain a college degree.
• Solution: The system should be more competitive, recruiters should only hire from the top third of every graduating class.

• Problem 3: Teachers with more experience are often chosen over newer teachers.
• Solution: Seniority shouldn't matter, teachers should be picked only because of their excellence not because of their experience. 

• Problem 4: Teachers do not respect their career position as a professional position.
• Solution: Teachers should have control over the standards to ensure "incompetent" teachers are "removed" 

• Problem 5: Promotions occur through time, not through achievement.
• Solution: Promotions should be granted to those who have shown great achievement and results through their teaching. 

Out of all of Klein's problems and their solutions the one that I find the hardest time agreeing with is Problem 2, I disagree that it is a problem that teachers are able to selected for hiring if they have their degree. I dint think this is a problem. Interview processes are a tool used to sift through teachers who aren't up to standard. I believe the solution of only hiring the top third of the graduating class is unfair. I fully believe a person's Grade Point Average is not an accurate criteria in determining whether or not a person can be a powerful and influential educator.

Blog Post #13

This week I learned about different ways to use technology in a classroom to help motivate students to learn and to be involved.

1.  In Class Dojo - A short Film the students in Mrs. Giuliani's 5th grade class made an excellent dramatization. They began by showing their classroom before using Class Dojo and it seemed that the students were disruptive and bored and unmotivated. After using the positive and negative points system for every student  it helped the students to be motivated to strive to become helpful and motivated students.

2.  Grodek's Dojo Tutorial helps teachers understand how to set up a Classroom Dojo.  He explains how to create an avatar for every student. A great advantage that the program offers is the feature to create your own positive or negative features. Next he shows how the program can help with attendance as students can double tap their avatar to indicate that they are present that day. At the end of the day, each student and even their parents can pull up their chart and see their percentage pie chart which shows where the positive and negative points are being placed. It's awesome because parents can keep track of their child's behavior.

3.  The news video Technology to Motivate Students brings viewers inside of Ms. Meyer's classroom where the students are reading Bridge to Terabitha. The students are reading this book using many different tools, some are using traditional books, ipads, ipod touches, kindles and different e-readers. The students love using the electronic tools to read because children love being apart of the technological age.

4.  In Louise Morgans presentation, Motivating Your Students to Write Through Blogging she explains why blogging can be so beneficial to a students development in writing. Next she shares resources that a teacher can use to set up a class blog for their classroom. An essential aspect of successful student blogging is having concrete rules that the students abide by while creating their post and while commenting on peers posts as well.


In brief we can motivate students with technology by using tools like,

•  Class Dojo
• motivate students to choose good behavior over bad behaviors.
• motivate classroom participation.

• Ipads, Ipods, kindles
• motivate children to read
• help students have easy access to defining a word in the text
• give students the option of writing notes directly in the text they are reading.

• Student Blogs
• encourage students to write
• get students involved in a global community
• teach students how to leave proper feedback

Comments For Kids: April

In the month of April I was invited to see the wonderful work of three brilliant children from all different parts of the globe, ranging from America, to New Zealand, to Canada!

1. Collin, a 7th grader, wrote an informative piece about March Madness.

I commented and said, 

2. Cruz, a student in primary school from New Zealand wrote a persuasive piece about why children shouldn't be given money.

 I commented and said,

3. Keanan, a student from Canada, wrote a post about the his senses while encountering a Centaur.

 I commented and said,

Blog Post #12

C4T #3 One Principal's Musings

One Principal's Musings is a blog written by Julie Vincentsen who is the principal at an Elementary school in Massachusetts.

Summary 1:
Capturing Struggling Readers is a post about using audio books to help students who are struggling to read books that their peers are reading easily. Principal Vincentsen suggests websites such as:

• Audible.com 
• $15/month
• 1 download per month
• Bookshare.org
• Free!
• Read-along text
• Learningally.org
• $99/annualy
• Great for students with dyslexia

Comment 1: 

Justine Spicciani
Mar 30, 2015 @ 01:58:02

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Principal Vincensten,

My name is Justine Spicciani, and like many students above me, I also am in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama.

I appreciate your suggestion of audio books for struggling readers, I currently am tutoring an eight year old in 2nd grade who is a struggling reader and I hope to incorporate audio books into his reading time.

Thanks so much for sharing,

Your Friend Justine
http://spiccianijustineedm310.blogspot.com/

Summary 2: Thank You Dr. King is a post written in honor of Doctor Martain Luther King Jr., as a reminder of how far we have come as a society and espeically in education. Julie wrote this email to parents at her school to share the powerful legacy of Dr. King and to remind us to be grateful for this opportunity to be able to share a classroom full of beautiful people from all tyoes of backgrounds. 

Comment 2:

Justine Spicciani
Apr 12, 2015 @ 19:39:57

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Thank you Principal Vincentsen for this reminder of how great Dr. King’s influence was to us. It is almost scary, yet breathtaking that the separation appeal was made only 58 years ago. But I am happy to know we have come such a long way since that time. Thanks again for sharing.

Blog Post #11

This week I had the privilege to learn from a few outstanding individuals.

The first, Brian Crosby, a teacher at Agnes Risley Elementary shares about how he runs his classroom in his lecture Back to the Future. The majority of Mr. Crosby's 4th graders have English as a second language, but Mr. Crosby does not let that minor fact hold them back from becoming avid learners in his classroom. There are many things that we can learn from Brian Crosby about Teaching and learning; 

• Teaching involves...
• Helping children become independent learners.
• Including technology like laptops, wiki's, Flickr to keep students up to date.
• Creating projects that spark creativity, for example the balloon project that Mr Crosby did.
• Encouraging creative writing/ looking at something with a different perspective, like when the students wrote stories from the point of view of the balloon.
• Finding ways that motivate students whether it be through blog view counts or using the word "butt" while talking about a balloon's anatomy. 
• Learning Involves
• Actively searching for answers, independently.
• Outreaching to other parts of the country, to learn about different communities.

Paul Anderson is a science teacher who uses the Blended Learning Cycle to teach his students. The essence of blended learning is a process of meshing together information found on the Internet and information found in the students textbook. A teaching tool that Mr. Anderson uses during his science lessons that I would also like to include in my classroom is;

• The five "E"'s 
• Start with an Engaging Question.
• Explore the possibilities, answers, predictions
• Explain what and how.
• Expand on the subject and teach a friend about it.
• QUIVERS - an acronym he uses to teach.
• Question- start with a hook or phenomenon
• Investigate
• Video- students watch independently
• Elaborate- students find a deeper solution
• Review- students re-evaluate material
• Summary Quiz- students take a quiz to internalize material.

Mark Church is an elementary school teacher who uses the method of group learning. In the trailer for his book Making Thinking Visible, he explains how he transitioned into teaching his students about the origin of human society. 

• The teaching method he used was...
• He started the students out in small groups
• He had the students construct a headline about the subject without being taught anything about the different theories of human  beginnings.
• He involved an audience by posting the students headlines on the bulletin board.
• He taught about the subject
• The students learned about the subject
• The students created new headlines after being more knowledgeable about the subject
• The students reflected on how the headlines changed.

Sam Pane, a 5th grade teacher from Nebraska invites us into his classroom while his class learns how to become Super Digital Citizens. The objective of the activity Mr. Pane created was for the students to create a comic strip that included their new made up superhero and themselves as the main characters and the conflict was to do with safety online. 

• What I've Learned about Teaching through Mr. Pane...
• Speak with enthusiasm & excitement.
• Start with an inspiring quote that the students might be familar with, and also applies to the lesson: "With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility.
• Have students sit at circular tables to encourage group learning & active participation.
• Turn the lesson into something that invovles the students.
• Have students take selfies (everyone loves selfies).
• Have students "whisper share" to keep noise level down.
• Have students go through a "gallery walk" to view other students work.
• Have students share their creation with the class.

Al Wandler, Melanie Delorme and Lona Froshaug all jointly teach one classroom full of high-school-aged children they each indivudally are in charge of seperate subjects including History, English and Technology but they combine the lesson so that it incorportates all subjects without segmenting them into time slots.

• Through this teaching lesson, I've learned...
• It seems this combining of subjects works very well in the classroom
• Time restraints arent an issue
• Opportunity and time to go deeper into lessons
• Creates proud students
• Teachers are able to go beyond the circulum
• Teachers LOVE IT!

The last video was from Roosevelt Elementary where the teachers use project based learning to teach. They define PBL as learning that goes in-depth into a topic, focuses on real-world subjects and does all this through muliple resources.

• What I've leaned about teaching this way is
• It's great because it invovles real-world teaching
• Students are more likely to become active memebers of the community
• Gives students ownership
• Students learn 21st century skills
• Students learn life skills like cooperation and communication
• Parents 
• Prepares students for their future careers.

Comments For Kids: March

In the month of March I viewed two students blog posts in Mrs. Maslowski's class.

1. Harsh wrote a reflection on preparing and taking the PLAN test.

I commented and said, 

2. Danyale wrote about her first impression when reading The 12th Night,

I commented and said, 

Comments For Kids: February

For the month of February I viewed two students blog posts from Mr. Boylen's 7th grade literature class. The assignment was to write about a book that the students recently read and to summarize it but leave questions unanswered so that the readers are left wanting to read the book. I also viewed a student's blog from Ms. Leatherwood's class, where the assignment was to write about overcoming a fear.

1. Destiny B. wrote a great summary about The Prohet of Yonwood.

I commented and said,



2.  Keagan M. wrote about Between Shades of Grey.



I commented and said, 

3. Olivia wrote a beautiful piece about overcoming a fear of hers, 

I commented and said, 

Blog Post #10

Almost 2,000 miles away in Moose Jaw, Canada lives Kathy Cassidy, an innovative kindergarten teacher. This week we were invited to see a glimpse of the wonderful things Ms. Cassidy is doing with her students. Some technology that Ms. Cassidy has incorporated into the classroom are;

• Blogs- The students each have a blog in which they write in at least once a week.
• Wikis- The students use this web resource to learn about things. ex). Traditions, Rituals.
• Videos- The students make videos with a small group.
• Skype- The students skype their reading buddies, and also other experts.
• Nintendo DS- The students use games to help them learn.

Ms. Cassidy is definitely a prime example of an educator who has taken technology and is using it to her advantage to help her students learn. She says "kids and technology go hand-in-hand" and therefore it is not benefiting children when you ask them to "unplug" themselves while in the classroom.

Some of the technological ideas that I would consider using in my future classroom that Ms. Cassidy currently uses are:

• Blogs- I love the idea of children using their creative skills and expression to write freely on a blog weekly. I could see that the blogs were fun for the children and they especially loved that people from all over the world commented and viewed their work.

• Videos- I also think having children invest time and their ideas into a project such as a video will help them learn to work together with their peers and therefore this technology is a great idea for the classroom.

• Skype- In my elementary experience I remember having pen pals in another state and I remember how thrilling it was to write and receive letters from these fellow students. I think what Ms. Cassidy has done with the reading buddies is a 21st century equivalent to pen-pals and I think this global outreach is very crucial to a child's development and understanding of the world. 

It seems as though Ms. Cassidy has had few to no problems that she has encountered while incorporating technology in the classroom. The only problems that I think should be of concern in my future classroom is safety, Ms. Cassidy mentioned she instructed the students not to click on the flashy sidebars that advertise all sorts of things while using their educational games but it is inevitable that students will sometimes break the rules and therefore I think by the time I am using computers with my students we will be using a blocker that prevents PG-13 things from popping up or even being accessible.

It is clear that there are endless benfits of using Ms. Cassidy's techniques in the classroom. As I have observed it seems the students are:

• More Engaged.

• Excited to Learn

• Motivated

• HAPPY!

Project 7.B

Project 12A Smartboard

Blog Post #9

I completely resonate on the powerful learning experiences that can come about from Project Based learning. 

As a junior in college now, I look back on my education during elementary, middle and high school; it's not so easy to remember the lessons I was taught and what I learned. However, the projects that I did really do stick out me. There's something about putting so much effort into something and actually enjoying it that can have a lastly imprint on your brain. I clearly remember my 9th grade project in Mrs. Winas's biology class, constructing a 3-D model of an animal cell. It is truly evident that people learn by doing and digging for intimation themselves with a purpose as their backbone rather than by sitting and listening,  that is why Project based Learning is so important to bettering our education system.

In the article Seven Essentials for Project Based Learning the authors John Lamar and John R. Mergendoller explain the steps in which make project based learning a phenomenal educational method in the classroom today. There is a lot we can learn from how Ms. Mclntyre used project based learning to shape a project for her class.

A Major turn off for students is slamming a packet of papers on their desks giving them step-by-step instructions on what they will be doing. 

• Start with an "entry event" to initiate interest.

• Video
• Guest Speaker
• Lively class Discussion
• Field Trip

• Driving Question

• Give purpose and challenge
• Must be open-ended
• Necessary to pick up main point of project 

• Freedom

• Let the students choose how to conduct their research
• No restricting guidelines
• Room for creativity

• Goal of Project Based Learning
• Give students skills that are applicable to real-world situations.

• Present to the Public 
• Schoolwork is more meaningful when students know it will be on display for parents

The next video Project Based Learning for Teachers was essentially an advertisement for Project Based Learning led by a man named Tony Vincent. It was a fast-paced crash course in what PBL is and why it is ground breaking. In less than four minutes Vincent has taught us alot to know about project based learning. 

• Definition of Project Based Learning

• Advantage of technology
• Schoolwork is more meaningful
• Student-based 
• No more busy work
• Students work over a period of time
• Share with others
• Evidence based
• Problem solving

• Students Learn
• Ccollaboration skills
• Ccommunication skills
• Ccritical thinking skills
• Career and life skills

The message that is stressed about Project Based Learning is that, Students can take charge because they have a voice and choice in their learning!

In today's society it has become more and more difficult to motivate students, with the help of the video What Motivates Students Today we are able to learn from young students to see what we can do as educators to keep our students motivated.

What we need to do is listen, listen to these young students and hear what motivates them and then embrace how they are motivated and remind them of the bigger goal that is ahead of them. A few of the things that motivate the students in the video are:

• Announcements to the class to affirm a great job
• Compliments
• Reinforcement
• Thinking about your future
• Reminding yourself of your life goal

Some examples of rewards that the students love are:

• Clipchart- different colors indicate students behavior that day
• Fake money rewarded for good behavior
• Classroom store
• Different themes for each day of the week
• Food!
• Parties- to reward class's overall behavior
• Brownie Points- you'll be liked if you're a good student

The foundation of Project Based Learning is working in a group and making decisions collaboratively. With the help of the article  Ten Sites Supporting Digital Classroom Collaboration Project Based Learning we can get an idea of great sites and tools to use to make working with a group of people easier. A few of the suggested sites are:

• Titan Pad - use to share documents, without email.
• Padlet - use to answer questions simultaneously
• Google Docs - great for incorporating the teacher into the group
• Linoit - colorful way to visually display material
• Quick Screen Share - allows group to share their current screen

In the final example of what students and teachers can teach us about Project Based Learning, we have an example of two students who used Project Based Learning to solve a problem that they found dear to personal lives. Two Students Solve Ketchup Problem.

The first step in the two students' project is they were inspired!
They encountered frustration by the watery mess that occurred when they squirted ketchup onto their food and they wanted to solve it. The boys worked together using each others skills to form a 3-D model of a patent for a cap that would prevent the water from squirting out.
Together they solved their ketchup issue using Project Based Learning.

Project 9: Translating Curriculum into Guiding Questions

Blog Post #8

Wow! What an incredible man! Randy Pausch truly was a man who lived a full and fulfilling life.
In Pausch's Last Lecture I was only able to get a glimpse of the kind of character he was, but it was enough to be blown away as well as inspired. As a future educator there is so much to be learned from Randy Pausch, not only on how to teach, but more importantly, on how to LIVE a meaningful life that continues in your legacy.


In his lecture he begins by spilling the fact that his lifetime will soon come to an end due to cancerous tumors in his brain. He speaks about this tragedy lightly and doesn't seem dis-heartened or beat up at all by this fact. The way in which Pausch has obviously come to such an acceptance of his life's ticking clock automatically gives the audience such a great respect for him and opens them up to listen to him genuinely.

Pausch bases his lecture around his childhood dreams and he emphasizes how important it is to strive to achieve your dreams, in one form or another. Randy Pausch's dreams were to:

1. Be in Zero Gravity
2. Play in NFL
3. Author an article in the World Encyclopedia 
4. Be Captain Kirk
5. Win stuffed Animals at Fairs
6. Be a Disney Imagineer
7. Enable the Dreams of Others

With captivating stories Pausch shares how he was able to achieve/pursue his dreams successfully. Not only was Randy Pausch successful in striving for his dreams but, he created a legacy as an educator. He lived to help students put their creativity to use and dream bigger and achieve bigger things; that alone is a phenomenal thing. 

There are many things we can learn about teaching by watching Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, I feel that the most important would be to:

•  Choose a bigger goal that is not based on yourself to motivate your life and career.  
• Always create a fun atmosphere
• Entertain with props (Pausch brought in pictures, huge stuffed animals, a football, vest with arrows in it, Letterman jacket, etc.)

Pausch died at the age of 47 on July 25, 2008, just ten months after he gave his famous speech, it is always a saddening event to hear of a person dying at such a young age. With Pausch, his passing wasn't such a devastation because the amount of greatness he was able to achieve throughout his lifetime is unmeasurable. His legacy will continue to live on. 

C4T #2 Dianne's Digital Discoveries

Dianne's Digital Discoveries is a blog written by Dianne Krause, the purpose of her blog is to share websites and different technological resources that can help improve the educational system.

Summary Post 1:
In Dianne's post 11/13/14 she explains that Wikipedia used to be a great resource for students in schools to use to easily find information. Unfortunately it has become unreliable because of the editing feature which allows anyone to edit or even tamper with information making it inaccurate.  She provides a link for a new Wikipedia called Wikipedia For Schools which can be used by anyone and it provides access to articles and information that has been proof-read and is dependable.

My Comment Post 1: 

Justine Spicciani says:

FEBRUARY 22, 2015 AT 4:19 PM

Hi Dianne, I enjoyed your post, and I’m very excited to be able to depend on wikipedia again as a reliable source. I remember doing projects using only wikipedia while I was in primary school and then suddenly, every teacher instructed us not to use it as a source because of the editing issue. I’m currently studying at USA to be an elementary school teacher and I look forward to using Wikipedia For Schools with the students because I do believe it can be such a wonderful source and it’s so easy to navigate. Here’s a link to my blog for my EDM310 class if you’d like to check it out, http://spiccianijustineedm310.blogspot.com/2015/01/practice-blog-post-1.html
Justine Spicciani

Summary Post 2:
In Dianne's most recent post, 2/26/2015 she gives great tools to use for formative assessment in the classroom. Included in her post is a link for The Best 8 Web Tools for Doing Formative Assessment in Class, in this link it gives eight examples of websites you can use to help create an interactive learning eviroment where students can submit their answers through devices such as a computer, smartphone or even a remote.

My Comment Post 2:

Justine Spicciani says:

MARCH 15, 2015 AT 8:31 PM

Hello Dianne, Thanks for posting this!
In college we have been using iclicker for a biology course of mine. I really like the quick feedback that it provides. I appricate the links for more useful tools for formative assesment.
-Justine Spicciani