Professional Reflection

If I/we had the opportunity to present this lesson again to a similar audience, would I/we do anything differently? What would I/we do? Why would I/we do it?

I enjoyed creating and presenting our lesson. I would not change anything technology wise, but next time when presenting I will make sure I talk to the entire room and not just Dr. Lomax. I felt at times that I was looking and speaking directly toward him than my classmates. That would be the only thing I would do differently.

Final Reflection Video

EDM 310 Final Reflection

Final Project 16 Lesson

LESSON PLAN






LESSON PLAN USING SMARTBOARD




FINAL PRESENTATION SLIDESHOW

Project 16 Team Bobcat Post

Technology and Teaching: My Philosophy

Before taking EDM 310, I thought, really what is the point of this class? I know about technology and the different types of technologies that can be used within the classroom. I was somewhat on the line when it came to technology in the classroom. I was for it, but to a minimum. I was that person who didn't want too much technology in the classroom because I felt it could be a distraction as well as take away simple skills such as writing. I also didn't like how textbooks were being taken out of schools. I kept thinking this class will not change my view on technology and teaching. While I still would like to keep technology to a minimum in my classroom and use it when necessary, I must say I learned more about how technology and teaching are intertwined. Of course, I knew the basic technologies used within classroom such as computers and laptops, but there are so many more things I didn't know about. I found a new form of technology that I know for sure I will use in my classroom. Blogs! Who would've thought that I would become a big blog fan? I think a classroom blog will be great! Blogs aren't just about writing stuff down just because you are assigned to do that. No, blogs can be fun! There are so many activities and projects you can build using blogs. Blogs can help with reading and writing skills as well as socialization skills because you build relationships through blogging.

Also, when it comes to using other technologies, I want to learn just as students learn. Some people say that teachers shouldn't be required to know how to use the technology that their students use, but I disagree. Yes, I want my students to be independent and learn how to use the tools given, but I also want to be able to help students if they get in a bind. Just because I'm a teacher doesn't mean I can't learn new things. Isn't that what we are teaching our students? We must remember that we are all teachers and learners. 

Blog Post #5 Part 2

Personal Learning Network: PLN


Before I came into EDM 310, I honestly had no idea what PLNs were. Then, as I researched and read different things for this class, I saw that in a way I did have a personal learning network. I had a PLN through the app, twitter, but I wasn't as involved and engaged with different tools and people that were available to me. I went from following one of my favorite teachers just because to following many more teachers and my peers that are associated with my major. I enjoy going on twitter and seeing different quotes or websites that have interesting things pertaining to education and teaching. I get so many ideas just from twitter alone. Another tool that has helped build my PLN are the C4T and C4K assignments. I really enjoyed reading articles and blog posts from different people from all areas of the world. I even got a few replies from comments I posted on their blogs. Recently, I was assigned a C4K blog that was from a student in New Zealand, and I saw that the student and I had quite a few things in common. So when I commented on her post, I didn't expect for her teacher to reply back to me thanking me for the kind and motivating words I left on his student's post. He even visited to my blog to the leave comment and checked it out. That right there showed me just how powerful and important PLNs can be. There are many things that I will take from having taken EDM 310, but one of the most important things will be the different people I got to communicate with. I now know that I have so many tools to help me as I continue on this path to become a teacher.

Blog Post #14

For this post, I read Joel Klein's Teaching Our Children Can Be A Profession. In this article, Joel talks about the problems associated with teaching and solutions to those problems. He would like teaching to be professionalized like other professions such as law and medicine.

• The first problem: Most teachers get hired just by having a degree
• The solution to this problem: To do what other successful countries are doing and recruit from top third of graduates

I agree with this solution to recruit from the top third of graduates. Recruit those who really want to teach, and have shown through evaluations that they deserve to be teachers. Reward those who took getting their degree seriously, and actually wanting to teach. Sometimes you have people who just pick teaching because they feel like its an easy profession to make an income. Let's get rid of those people and make teacher a tough profession to get into. That way those who really are passionate about teaching will take full advantage of the opportunity.

• The next problem: Seniority (teachers with more years of experience will be chosen over first year or teachers with less experience at all times)
• The solution to this problem; Professionalize teaching and treat all teachers no matter the tenure as equals

I agree and disagree with this solution. I agree that all teachers should be treated equally no matter what. This will drive and motivate teachers to go beyond their limits to achieve success. Teachers shouldn't be judged by how much time they have or haven't been teaching, but I do think for certain situations seniority can be used.

• The last problem: Some teachers do not treat their job as a profession
• The solution to this problem: Teachers creating their own board to police the profession, creating their own standards, creating their own mandate for inept teachers, as well as promotions based on specialty exams

I agree with this statement. I think teachers creating their own board to police the profession is a good  idea because teachers know what they want and expect from this profession. I think this is part of what is wrong with teaching now. So many people outside of teaching are telling teachers what they should be doing when they have no clue. A board where past and future who have been through the trenches and understand the profession can create standards and guidelines. Just like law and medicine professions have oaths, I think there should be one as well for the official entry into the teaching professionalism. 

In conclusion, I am all for Joel Klein's idea of professionalizing education. This NEEDS to be done. Teachers should have standards and duties in the sames way that lawyers have model rules of professional conduct. Teaching must become a profession that will be known for qualifications and hard work and not just based on someone having a degree. We must pick the best qualified people to teach the future generations. Reading this article made me realize just how much teaching is unappreciated in a way. It also made me realize just hard I shall continue to work to earn my degree. 

C4K Summary for April

C4K #8
Blaine F's Blog

Santana Mullins (University of South Alabama EDM 310)
Hi Blaine F! Good post! I have never heard of this book, My Side of the Mountain. It sounds very interesting, and a book I know will keep me engaged. I really enjoy reading and adventurous books are always great. Thanks for giving me a new book to check out. Do you have any other book suggestions?

C4K #9

Abby's Lounge

Hi my name is Santana Mullins. I'm in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I was assigned your blog. I will start off by saying congratulations Abby on your award! You must be really good at basketball. I LOVE basketball! It is by far my favorite sport! Speaking of, I know of an NBA player from New Zealand who plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Does Steven Adams sound familiar? I'm not sure what part of New Zealand he is from, but he is a good player. Do you watch the NBA or have a favorite player/team? I read some of your older posts and Auroa looks amazing. I loved the picture of the mountain in the background. I also saw a post that said your birthday is April 18th, well I want to wish you a happy early birthday. Continue the great work on your blog! 

Reply from my C4K 9's (Abby) teacher, Mr. Webb:

C4K #10

Amy's Lounge

Santana Mullins (University of South Alabama EDM 310)

Hi Amy! Funny post! At first glance, I was like hmm, what is this all about? Then, I thought back to my Art class I took last semester, and remembered we did something kind of like this with Bruce Lansky's poem, If Pigs Could Fly. So this post has to be about his poem, What I'd Cook For My Teacher. I must say everything sounds good minus the soup and main course ha ha. Bruce Lansky has so many funny poems for children, and they are great for fun activities such as your blog post. If you have time, check out Lansky's poem, How To Torture Your Teacher if you haven't. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it ha ha. Good job and have fun blogging!

Project #4 C4T #4

Hello Mr. Hahnstadt! My name is Santana Mullins, and I'm a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I will be summarizing my visit to your blog with a post to  my blog on Thursday, April 23, 2015. My blog URL is http://www.mullinssantanaedm310.blogspot.com, and our class blog is http://www.edm310.blogspot.com. Good, informative post! I never thought about using the flipped classroom approach in physical education and coaching. For some reason, I tend to get stuck on the word "physical" and think no way technology can be used within that certain field. Well, I see now how it can be used successfully. And now that I really think about it, and see how it is used, it makes sense. The SAMR Model thoroughly expresses how you use technology on everyday basis. Thanks for the enlightening post.

The teacher's blog I read and commented on was Jason Hahnstadt's The SAMR Model - Transforming Physical Education and Coaching. Mr. Hahnstadt uses the flipped classroom approach to physical education and athletics. In this particular post, he talks about how he uses technology as a coach, He introduces the SAMR Model which is a model of how he integrates technology within his physical education and coach field. The SAMR Model stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition. This system helps him know just how much of an impact the technology is doing for his students. It also helps him to understand if what he is teaching enhances or transforms his directions.

Blog #13

What did I leave out?

Technology vs Textbooks 

The assignment addresses the ongoing debate about tablets vs textbooks. Technology is quickly taking over classrooms. Are you for or against this trend? Below is an article about the pro and cons of technology in the classroom over textbooks. Read the article. Summarize it and explain if you are pro technology or pro textbooks in the classroom and why. If you are in between, explain why. Do we need textbooks? How much should we use technology in the classroom? Etc. Explain how you would intertwine technology and textbooks in your classroom?

Tablets vs Textbooks: PROS and CONS

Answer the question in a post that adheres to the standards found in the ACCRS and in Writing A Quality Blog Post.

Blog Post #12

Project #4 C4T #3

Hello Mr. Vilson! My name is Santana Mullins, and I'm a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I will be summarizing my visits to your blog with a post to my blog on April 9, 2015. My blog URL is http://www.mullinssantanaedm310.blogspot.com and our class blog is http://www.edm310.blogspot.com if you would like to check them out. I want to start off by saying compelling post. I loved when you said "we shouldn't be preparing to teach content or the students we imagine might be there, but rather the students in front of us". That's good! I know that will definitely stick with me as a future educator. I concur that building a relationship with students, as a teacher, is key. We can be friendly with students, but building a relationship that is caring and has patience and understanding is much more important. We have to create an environment where there is balance and boundaries to the teacher/student relationship.

The teacher's blog post I read and commented on was Jose Vilson. In his blog post Empowering Educator Through Cultural Competence. He talks about how we all come from different backgrounds, and how we need to be more open to learning about different students and their backgrounds. In order to be able to understand different aspects of different cultures, we must build a relationship with students. Jose then begins to talk about the teacher/student relationship and how it can be testy. Testy as far as trying to determine how to be "friendly" to students, but not necessarily their friends. Teachers need to build relationships with students as their TEACHER first. Teachers need to have an environment that is fair, so students can see they are all equal. Because they see enough of inequality outside of the classroom. In order to have this type of environment, teachers must build great relationship with their students both individually and collectively.

This a very well written post. In a way, I am kind of torn. I know cheating is wrong, and I do not condone it at all, but on the other hand I understand why some teachers, like these teachers in Atlanta, would think they had to cheat. I agree policy makers have set somewhat impossible goals when it comes to these standardized tests. And when some teachers know there is no way their students can reach those goals and the consequences of not reaching those goals, things like this scandal happen. Yes, teachers have accountability when it comes to their students and making sure they learn the state's common cores, but let's not raise goals so high that we set them up to fail or in this case cheat. I read a quote in the New York Times from one of the indicted teachers that said "I truly believed that I was helping these children stay in school just one more year." While I do not know this specific teacher's heart, I can understand why she would feel this way.

I once again commented on a post form Jose Vilson. The post is entitled Recruiting Educators Color in the Time of Race to the Top. It is a very well written article that will have you really think about where education is and where it's heading. It talks about the 11 educators from Atlanta who were found guilty of cheating by changing their student's test scores. Their reasoning for this is because they were instructed by the principal and because they wanted to keep their school afloat. I don't condone cheating and neither does Jose, but he writes things within the article that makes you look at both sides. I personally do not look at it as a race thing because things like this happen everywhere, but I understand why Jose wrote it. I agree with him that teachers do have some accountability for students and their results, but lets not make goals so unattainable that we set them both to fail.

Project #14 - Project Based Learning Plan #2

Calendar



Lesson Plan



Rubric

Blog Post #11

What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?

In the video, Back To The Future, Brian Crosby talks about active learning and the use of technology. Mr. Crosby keeps his students engaged by creating fun, little projects for them to learn more about the lesson he is teaching. His assignments are geared, so that each student can succeed in learning throughout the project. Mr. Crosby's students use many different apps and sites each day to create these projects and communicate with others. Some of the apps and sites include Wiki, Flickr and Skype. The students also blog. Mr. Crosby has his students to set goals for themselves in their blogs. Goals such as what they hope for themselves, their community and the world. Through these many projects and activities, Mr. Crosby's students were steadily creating a learning network. He said he students loved the shine they got. They loved to see the views and the comments they got from many, different people around the world. I really liked the balloon idea Mr. Crosby had the children do as well as how they included a sick, little girl into their classroom since she could not attend school. I learned from Mr. Crosby that active learning empowers students to become learners. It also helps the become aware of and use the many 21st century tools they have available to them. Not only are they to collaborate, but they are also learning how to connect to the world.

In the video, Blended Learning Cycle, Paul Anderson talks about blended learning cycles. He believes in the power of the question and the power of the learning in the classroom. So what is blended learning? Blended learning is when you take components of the classroom, mobile, and online learning and combine them together. Mr. Anderson says there are 5 E's for learning. They are Engage, Explore, Explain, Expand and finally Evaluate. He says this is a great way to present material. Mr. Anderson has his own blended learning cycle, and he came up with the acronym QUIVERS to remember it.
1. QUestion
2. Investigation/Inquiry
3. Video
4. Elaboration
5. Review
6. Summary quiz
I learned something new from Mr. Anderson as far as the blended learning cycle because I wasn't familiar with this.

In the video, Making Thinking Visible, Mark Church divides his classroom into small groups. Then, he gives them a topic and tells them to discuss it among each other. The students start discussing the given topic, and they seem very much engaged and work well collaboratively. While his students are finishing up the activity, Mr. Church talks about why he does this. His goal is to take what the students create, put them up on the bulletin board, and then weeks later he sees where the student stands on the same topic. He wants to see how has the story changed and how their thinking has changed? I learned from Mr. Church that motivating students and pushing them pass what they think they can do is good. In the activity he gave them, he wanted them to get their minds working and to get them to learn more about the topic.

In the video, Building Comics, Same Pane talks about how to become a super digital citizen. Being a digital citizen is all about safety and responsibility. He has a discussion with his class about safety and responsibilty, and why they need to be safe, responsible and respectful online. The students talk about things such as no hacking, no gossiping, no giving personal information and many more things. Then Mr. Pane tells them about the project they are going to do. He wants them to build a comic showing digital safety. He wants the narrative to be a superhero stepping in to save the day online. He explains the directions to them, and then gives them complete control to build their characters and plot. He gives them the ownership so that it is about them. The activity is much more meaningful to them. By doing this activity, students are able to analyze the situation and the tech structures of a comic book and really build a complete narrative. The students were really engaged in this activity, and they enjoyed reading their classmate's comic books. I learned about the importance of safety and responsibility online not only for students but for everyone.

In Dean Shareski's video, Project Based Learning, three different classes are combined into one class. The teachers say this gives students more time to learn. It restructures the teacher's day and gives them more time to blend ideas and more time to provide quality feedback to students. The teachers say this way of PBL makes the students more engaged learners and they have a deeper understanding of the curriculum. The students love doing the projects and they even love editing their projects. This encourages them to make things better, and students become motivated to make it better. They take more ownership of their projects, like it more and appreciate it more. You can tell the teachers and students really enjoy the class. I learned that there are many different ways to present project based learning. Combining three different subjects is definitely a challenge, but it can also work.

In the video, Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program, we learn about project based learning. What is project based learning? Project based learning is in depth learning of a specific topic. It is integrated instruction and based on real world problems and is research based. Project based learning teaches students problem solving skills and how to think for themselves. It teaches them to come together to collaborate on projects. Project based learning is student choice. Students get to make decisions on their own, and this gives them a sense of power. PBL also gives students many choices because they have different ways of learning. One of the more important things, is the PBL teaches students to work independently and collaborate in groups. They learn to communicate with others and build social skills. I learned that PBL can help build student's self esteem because they learn how to speak and communicate well with others and to present their projects.

SMARTboard Project #12 Part A

C4K Summary for March

C4K #5
Per 4 Tamari's Blog

Santana Mullins (University of South Alabama EDM 310)
Hello Tamari! Great post! Yes, Maya Angelou was a great writer and civil rights activist. Did you know that she was also a dancer, actress, and singer? I love all her work, but my favorite work from her would have to be Phenomenal Woman. It is a poem that relates to every woman in the world. It talks about what society thinks a woman should look like as far as beauty and how we act. You should check it out because I think you will enjoy it.

C4K #6

Per 8 Steve's Blog

Santana Mullins (University of South Alabama EDM 310)

Hello Steve! This is a good post on Friday the 13th. I actually did not know there was a word for the fear of Friday the 13th. Reading your post, I now know paraskevidekatriaphobia is that word. What a word! Did you know that we will have a Friday the 13th three times this year? Two of those will be back to back (February and March), and the other one is in November.

C4K #7

Ethan H's Blog

Santana Mullins (University of South Alabama EDM 310)

Hello Ethan H! I was assigned to read your blog post. Great post! I've never read this book, but reading your blog has got me very interested. I will definitely put this on my to read list, I love basketball, so this is right up my alley. Are you a fan of basketball? Good job and keep up the good work!

Blog Post #10

 What can we learn from Mrs. Cassidy?


There are so many things we can learn from Mrs. Cassidy. The first thing I learned automatically is how passionate she is about technology in the classroom. Mrs. Cassidy talks about technology and how she got into it. She says technology is not going away, and that we have to change because the world is constantly changing around us. She thinks every teacher should be technology literate. Mrs. Cassidy believes teachers who don't use technology in their classroom are handicapping their students by not taking advantage of tools. We need to keep up with what is happening with new tools. In order to keep up, we need to direct our own personal network. We have to keep learning, and find a way that works for us. Mrs. Cassidy says that we should start with what we're interested in. For example, if a person likes to write, then they should start by blogging. If a person likes to take pictures, then they should start with Flickr and so on.

Mrs. Cassidy tells how she started with technology. She had a classroom years ago that only had 5 laptops. Well, she wanted to find a way to let the students use them within the class. She started to figure out how to make webpages which lead to her blogging. Now, Mrs. Cassidy has a classroom blog. She likes blogs because of the audience factor. Before she allows her students to use technology in the classroom, she sends out a form to parents. The form asks the parent's permission to allow their child to use computers. She protects her student's identity by only posting their first names, so you cannot match a name with a picture. Mrs. Cassidy uses her student's blogs as online portfolio of their work. She says it also helps with their writing process. The kids love it. They particularly love that the whole world can see it and the feedback they get. Students love seeing how many times people have viewed their page, and what they have written. Mrs. Cassidy and her students also communicate with people who comment on their blogs through Skype, so they are getting writing, video and audio lessons.

I may use a few of Mrs. Cassidy's techniques in my class one day. I like the idea of a class blog, and being able to communicate with people using different tools. I also like the idea of sending out permission forms to the parents because you don't want to have any problems with any of the parents or students. This is a good idea just in case a student has some reason, be it religious, culture or whatever as to why they can't be online. Mrs. Cassidy has many other good ideas for her classroom, and her students seem to love them. Check out this video of her students talking about technology in the classroom.

Project #9

Blog Post #9

What can teachers and students teach us about project based learning?

In order to answer this question, I had to read a few articles and watch a few videos. The first article I read was 7 Essentials for Project Based Learning. This article talked about what every good project needs. It needs to have two key ingredients. First, it needs to be a project that students will enjoy and really put their all into. Second, the project should be educational, so students can learn as well. The Buck Institute for Education provided a list of 7 elements to help create a group project. The 7 elements includes A Need To Know, A Driving Question, Student Voice and Choice, 21st Century Skills, Inquiry and Innovation, Feedback and Revision, and A Publicly Presented Product.

In the video, Project Based Learning for Teachers, Tony Vincent also talks about Project Based Learning. He has a list of elements that are consisted with PBL. Those elements are that the project has a purpose, addresses an audience, crafts a driving question, identifies learning standards, creates a rubric, groups students, has brainstorming questions, and meets deadlines. He gave a few ideas so that teachers could take advantage of what technology offers. Tony suggests that teachers get away from the "busy work" and get ready for PBL. He recommends PBL because it involves being open minded and creates problem solving which makes students think deeper and work harder. Tony says "think of PBL as questioning, investigating, sharing, and reflecting".

In the article, Project Based Learning and Physical Education, Andrew Miller talks about how valuable Physical Education (P.E.) can be when using Project Based Learning. Physical Education doesn't seem like it would work with PBL, but Andrew presents an idea to a group of students to show just how it can work. He told the students to create the best exercise program. The students could create any exercise program they thought was best as long as it met the standards of Physical Education.

In the video, High School Teachers Meet the Challenges of PBL Implementation, teachers from Sammamish High School in Bellevue are helping re-define curriculum within the school. They are re-designing 30 courses. English and Math are subjects that are more challenging to for Project Based Learning. This is because many people tend not to think about PBL with these particular subjects. The teachers think PBL is helping to keep students more engaged in the classrooms. Most of the teachers are buying into PBL because they like that they can create their own courses. They get to figure out how things looks within their own subject area. The teachers talk about how Literature is hard to create a PBL course for because of all the philosophical elements. Math is hard to create for as well, but the teachers just look to where it fits. All units of Math could not be covered using PBL. In order to make Math and PBL work, teachers allowed students to create games. This is a good idea because it allows the students to have a little fun while also learning.

In the video, PBL: What motivates students today, students talk about what motivates them to do better in school. Most students have the same answer which is they all want to get good grades so that they can have a better life. And by better life, they mean being successful in life in whatever occupation they choose. Rewards were also talked about. Rewards are big to students especially if they know what that reward is. When asked what reward(s) they would get once they finished a project, most of the students knew exactly what they could get. Most of the student's answers were either food, points, or being able to do a certain activity in class or outside the class.

So I go back to the question that I began with. What can teachers and students teach us about project based learning? Teachers can teach us that as long as you have a good and interesting project that students will be engaged. Students can teach us that just how motivated and interested they were in the project with their end result.

Project #4 C4T #2

Hello Mr. Sladkey! My name is Santana Mullins, and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I will be summarizing my visits to your blog with a post to my blog on March 12, 2015. My blog URL is mullinssantanaedm310@blogspot.com and our class blog is edm310.blogspot.com. First, I would like to say great post! I love the idea of making ferris wheels out of piper cleaners to learn some basic Trig ideas. I sure could of used this idea in high school ha ha. I concur that students most times are so concentrated on what teachers are explaining that things just don't sink into their brains. Students tend to learn better visually than reading and writing. Math is tough as it is, and I love how you used a manipulative and project based learning in a way in order to keep your students engaged to DO MORE. Hope the test scores are great! Thanks for sharing!

Mr. Sladkey teaches Trig. Math is always better when you do more than just WATCH He wanted to find a way to get his students to DO MORE. He understood how hard it could be for students to concentrate and understand what he was teaching. So he decided to use a manipulative in order to get the students to DO MORE. He had the students make ferris wheels out of piper cleaners to learn basic Trig. He did not tell or show the students how to make the ferris wheel. He just gave them a fictitious story about a person being thrown from the ferris wheel and released into a moving tub of water. The students then had to answer a few Trig questions using the ferris wheel and the scenario

Hello, Mr. Sladkey this is Santana again from EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. Great post about Google Docs! I really enjoyed the symbolism between the magic straw and Google. I must admit I had no clue what Google Docs was until I took my EDM 310 class, and now I use it everyday. I concur with what you said about it being so easy to use. I also enjoy no longer having to wonder if I pressed save or not.

Mr. Sladkey symbolized Google Docs into a story titled Doc and the Magic Straw. His purpose for this post was to show the benefits of collaborating. He wanted to show how you could present your project to others while also allowing them to collaborate on the project. No matter where the person was or how many people worked on the project, it was possible for everyone to contribute. The story was very interesting and went right along with what Google Docs does. The story was about Doc writing a letter to the mayor in order to save a tree. Doc began writing the letter, and noticed it would take some time, so he decided to send it to a friend with his "magic straw". Then, Doc had trouble finishing writing the letter and decided he needed help, so he created a "magic pen" for others to help him write the letter. Finally, after a collaborative effort, Doc was proud of the letter and sent it to the mayor. What happened next? Well you'll have to click on the link and see. :)

Blog Post #8

I watched Randy Pausch's Last Lecture and I must say it was an astounding lecture. It was a very inspiring video with some great messages. I loved that Randy Pausch was very enthusiastic and passionate about what he was saying. One of the first things he mentioned was to not take pity on him because of his illness, Randy was diagnosed with a terminal illness and had only a few months to live, hence the last lecture. Most of the video is about Randy speaking about his life as a college professor. He taught at Carnegie Mellon and the class he enjoyed talking about was his class that was based on virtual reality. His class was pretty much I've grown to learn about in my EDM 310 class, Project Based Learning. He divided his students into groups and instructed them to create a virtual game every few weeks for the semester. Of course, this class being PBL, there were no specific directions ore guidelines given. Students could create whatever they chose. After seeing the projects the students created, Randy talked about how surprised he was to see how creative his students were that he got to a point where he didn't know what to tell them to do next. So what did he do? He told the students their projects were good, but that they could do better. Hearing that is important to me as a future teacher because I know to always motivate and push my students further then they believe they can go.
So what did I learn from Randy? I learned that there will be times when you may hit a brick wall, but NEVER give up. As a future teacher, I know there will be obstacles I will encounter, but I know I must find a way to overcome those obstacles. I must be prepared to take on any challenge. Listening to Randy speak and knowing at that time he only had a few more months to live, but gave this astounding lecture showed me his passion and dedication as an educator. I believe passion is key for anyone's love of craft. This video was one of those things that I know will stick with me for many years, and something I know I will constantly be viewing as a teacher.

Project #13 Project Based Learning Plans

Calendar Lesson Plan Worksheet Rubric

Blog Post #7

After watching Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten, I learned that more and more Kindergarten teachers are using technology within their class. It's unbelievable to hear that they are doing some of the same things we as college students are doing for EDM 310. The difference is they seem to enjoy it more ha ha. Elizabeth and Michelle were telling Dr. Strange how their students can use iMovie to make book trailers, and how they love making the project their own. Michelle also mentioned how the kindergartners learn so fast that sometimes the teachers has to refresh herself about the program. That's amazing! The teachers also mentioned how the students enjoy editing their projects even when they've submitted the project.

They also brought up Alabama Virtual Learning. Alabama Virtual Learning is free to anyone in the state of Alabama. You can get your AVL card at any public library or you can log on any library's campus. Elizabeth mentioned how AVL is a great way to get students to research, and that the students actually enjoyed researching things.

In We All Become Teachers, Michelle passionately talks about technology and project based learning. She says technology in the classrooms has changed learning. Now, it's teachers teaching students and students teaching teachers. Teachers are getting students to teach them things. Everybody is a learner. Michelle shared a story about one of the students actually teaching her how to do a project and how the student was very proud about that. She says students are eager to show what they know and their work. I also learned about an app called Padlet that Michelle highly recommends to be used in classrooms. 

This video discusses what Chicago Public School officials think about iPads in the Classroom. Most believe there are benefits to having iPads in the classroom. An education director believes that the iPad is an excuse to really look at teaching and learning. One teacher thinks the iPad is effective because it takes students on a virtual field trip. She also likes that it user friendly for the students. Another benefit mentioned is how the iPads are portable and how students can really manipulate things on the iPad. Lastly, teachers seem to believe that having iPads in the classroom keep the students much more engaged. So I learned that easy access, manipulation and creation are the benefits of having iPads in the classrooms according to these teachers.


Top 10 Reasons to Use Technology in Education

1) Students love using technology
This keeps students more engaged in classroom.

2) Engages 4 components of learning; active engagement, participation in groups, feedback and connection

3) Profession Development
This allows students to learn and use other skill sets.

4) Makes life easier for teachers

5) Improves test scores
Students can work at their own pace.

6) Helps students with low attention span
Students with ADD or ADHD can be helped with different methods and activities to keep them interested.

7) Learn from experts
Students as well as teachers can learn from the smartest and best teachers in the world.

8) Encourages homework
This is the flipped classroom approach.

9) Saves money
Teachers don't have to spend more money to get things for their classroom.

10) Removes obstacles

Two Movies As A Teacher

Parents





Students

C4K Summary for February

C4K #1 Olivia
Mrs. Smeby's Class

Santana Mullins (University of South Alabama EDM 310)
Hello Olivia! Only seeing 2 clues has intrigued me. So the two clues from your story are that there are 2 dogs, and one dog likes to dig while the other dog likes avocados. I have a few questions for you. Are the dogs the only characters in the story? What are the dogs names? Do the dogs have owners? Where is the setting of the story? Are the dogs play around? Are the dogs searching for avocados?



C4K #2 Abigail Z
Mr. Boylen's 8th Grade LA Class

Santana Mullins (University of South Alabama EDM 310)
Hello Abigail Z! Great post! This is a powerful list to read when beginning your day or even throughout the day. Motivation, self confidence and inspiration make for a productive day. I personally would print this list and put it on my bathroom mirror and repeat these things each morning before I left home. Of course, everyday will not be all butterflies and lullabies, but waking up and starting my day off positive is key.The world needs more posts like these.


C4K #3 Joseph
Mrs. Leatherwood's Language Arts Class

Santana Mullins (University of South Alabama EDM 310)

Hello Joseph! This is a good informative post about the planet Mars. I've always found Mars interesting due to the fact that growing up I always thought Martians lived on the planet ha ha. Did you also know that Mars is home to the tallest mountain (Olympus Mons) in the solar system?

C4K #4 Lucero

Mrs. Maslowski's Class

Santana Mullins (University of South Alabama EDM 310)

Hello Lucero! Good post about KeKe Palmer. I am of fan of her as well. She is an intelligent and very multi-talented young woman who can sing, act, and dance. Did you know she was recently cast as Cinderella on Broadway, and was the first African American actress to do so? She was also the youngest person to ever have her own television talk show as well.

Project #8 Book Trailer

Blog Post #6

What do you learn from these conversations with Anthony Capps?

Project Based Learning: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher Part 1

I learned about how to approach being a Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL is a means to show what students have achieved, and it is also a mean to get students to learn things. PBL get students excited about learning and what they create. The goal of a good project is one that has an authentic audience and keeps the students motivated to create good work. Content driven is also a good component of a good PBL project as well as projects that interests students. And also make sure students know the content that they are required to know. Reflection and revision of work is key in PBL too. Last but not least, teachers should be learners as well.



Project Based Learning: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher Part 2


I learned in this video that everything will not always go well, so make sure you are prepared. Teachers should never limit their students, but more importantly create an opportunity for them to look beyond what they believe they can do. Listening to Anthony Capps, I understand that PBL involves a lot of planning and work in order for it to be successful for students to learn. Students enjoy doing projects that are meaningful. And only time students do not really enjoy doing the projects is if there are mishaps within collaborations. While students enjoy these projects, their parents are surprised by the outcome of seeing what their children have created.


iCurio


iCurio is an online tool. It allows students to safely search sites that have been filtered for educational purposes. iCurio allows teachers and students to store content and organize things online. iCurio has many features such as a timeline feature that allows students to search by date criteria (historical figure directory). It also saves work and allows students to continue where they stopped in case they had to stop working. iCurio is also great for students with disabilities or blind students because it has a feature that reads to them.


Discovery Education


Discovery Education is a nice source for teachers. It covers many different subjects. Discovery Education brings experts of certain topics into the classrooms through videos. Using Discovery Education, teachers can compare and contrast what students are reading to what they are seeing. Students are more listener watchers where they listen and watch more than they read and write. Discovery Education enhances these things.


The Anthony - Strange List of Tips for Teachers Part 1


1. Prepare to learn yourself (teachers have to consistently learn and model their behavior).
2. Teaching is hard work, but fun if you allow it to be, and very rewarding.
3. Be prepared for surprises (be flexible and respond to the unexpected).
4. Start with an end goal.
5. Make sure students are engaged and motivated (have content that they care about).
6. Reflect. Self-Evaluation. Share.


Don't Teach Tech- Use It


Teachers shouldn't teach technology, but they should introduce technology. They should focus on one technology at a time. They should use technology to get students excited about what they are doing. Teachers should use technology to also allow students to share what they are doing. Don't expect perfection, and let the students have time to reflect on their work so next time they will do it better. Teachers should also use the technology themselves so they can understand the questions students will ask. This helps with showing the students problem solving.


Additional Thoughts About Lessons


Teachers should remember a lesson has at least four layers. Think about a lesson in terms of how it fits within the year. Make sure all standards are covered. Stretch lessons out into units. Within that unit, devise weekly so that you can get things done daily. Daily lessons are things to keep students engaged, so that you teachers can see what the students have learned.

4 Components to making a successful lesson
1. Daily
2. Weekly
3. Unit
4. Year

My Sentence Videos

This Is My Sentence....









This Is My Passion....

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post #5 Part #1

PLNs What Are They?


Reading Developing A Personal Learning Network in EDM 310 was very insightful to me for this post. So what are PLNs? PLN stands for Personal Learning Networks. PLNs are learning networks of people whom you interact with about ideas and thoughts related to your professional interest(s). PLNs can help build relationships with other educators around the world. You can share your knowledge about the things happening throughout your classroom and within your life and vice versa. You can share and bounce ideas off each other, and also see how other educators use tools and technology in their classrooms the same or differently. PLNs can be formed by searching throughout social media outlets or tools and then sharing those things you learned. For example, you can use Twitter to form a PLN. On twitter, you can ask questions or tweet certain things about a topic that interests you. You can also follow people that relate to the topic as well as search hashtags related to the topic. I most likely would start with Twitter when I create my own PLN since I'm very active on the site. The first addition to my PLN would be educators as right now I follow a few professors from the University of South Alabama, particularly Ms. Paige Vitulli. She tweets many thing pertaining to education and art of course, but she also tweets to many different people around the world. I've seen her interact with George Rodrigue, the creator of the Blue Dog series, many of times. She's tweeted artwork from her class of them creating their own "blue dog", and George Rodrigue has re-tweeted her. She seems to have a well established personal learning network.

After finishing up reading about PLNs, I decided to check out the sites Symbaloo and Netvibes since they are good ways to start creating a personal learning network. I chose to sign up for Symbaloo, You can easily access your bookmarks and internet favorites on this site. It even teaches you the basics of the site. I like the layout and how everything is spread out in front of me, and I don't have to go different places for things.

Blog Post #4

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

There's this urban myth that teachers know everything. When in reality, teachers don't always have the answers or even the right questions. I read an article by Ben Johnson titled, The Right Way to Ask Questions in a Classroom. In this article, Mr. Johnson discussed how teachers ask questions pertaining to students understanding things. The main question he said they ask is "Does everybody understand?" According to Mr. Johnson, this is probably one of the most pointless questions ever. In general, students are really thinking that question means, yes you understand everything and if you don't, speak or forever hold your peace. Most kids think that way, and they then become either shy or too ashamed to ask what exactly they don't understand. Then, what does the teacher usually do? She moves right along to the next lesson. So how does Mr. Johnson think teachers should approach this situation differently? His more effective approach to asking students questions insists of instead of asking the whole class as a whole about if they understand things, randomly ask students throughout the classroom. Call a student's name, pause for a few seconds giving them time to think, and then ask a question related to the lesson, This way teachers can see what students are engaged, and it makes it a little more easier to see what certain students aren't quite understanding. Here is a link to the article, check it out. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/asking-better-questions-deeper-learning-ben-johnson


I also read an article that I looked up titled, Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions, by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana of Harvard University. It is a very insightful article as well. It talks about the Question Formulation Technique or QFT. This method focuses on helping students learn to ask their own questions. This method also teaches the students how to improve their questions and use them strategically. QFT can be used for all ages, and challenge students to think beyond. Students can learn how to research and analyze things on their own. According to Dan and Luz, there are 6 key steps to QFT.

Step 1- Teachers design a question focus
Step 2- Students produce questions
Step 3- Students improve their questions
Step 4- Students prioritize their questions
Step 5- Students and teachers decide on next steps
Step 6- Students reflect on what they have learned

Here is a link for more details about QFT http://hepg.org/hel-home/issues/27_5/helarticle/teaching-students-to-ask-their-own-questions_507


After reading these 2 articles and doing a little research, I go back to the question I began this post with. What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? First, we need to have a plan on asking quality questions that will show understanding by both the teacher and student. Next, we need to make sure we understand that students aren't always going to understand what we are teaching, so we need to make the effort to notice those who aren't. Lastly, we need to have a platform where students are more confident in asking us something when they don't understand things. I really like the idea of the Question Formulation Technique for me as a future educator. Students asking questions is just as important as educators asking questions. More interaction between teacher/students in regards to asking questions is not only easier for the teacher to know the student is understanding things, but it also makes the student feel great about the questions they ask and answers they give as well.

Project #15 Search Engines

Search Engines

Search engines provide information for a given question or statement specified by a user. The internet has numerous search engines, so I have listed a few that I explored. Some I liked, some I did not like, but it is always good to have variety.

1. Ask.com
This search engine was originally named Ask Jeeves, but the Jeeves was dropped in 2005. It is most useful as a question and answer site. I have no bad words about Ask, but I don't see myself using it due to me using their top competitor's search engine more.

2. Bing.com
This search engine was previously known as MSN Search, and Windows Live Search and Live Search, but all those names were discontinued when Microsoft and Yahoo joined forces. They then replaced the Yahoo search engine with Bing. Bing is most useful for instant answers regarding any things such as sports scores, stock information, mathematics, translations, defining words, and local information. Bing can also be integrated Facebook. I tend to use this search engine a lot mostly for when I'm looking up sports scores or looking for translations of words.

3. Dogpile.com
This search engine is a metasearch engine which means its uses other search engines' resources to produce results. Google and Yahoo are two of the main search engines that Dogpile uses to produce results. It is most useful for general queries. I didn't really like this search engine because I can pretty much go to one of the resources they use.

4. DuckDuckGo.com
This search engine is all about putting privacy first. This was my first time visiting this site. Duck Duck Go is a simple search engine There is no news, sports or blog sections. Just simply type in a statement, and it gives you numerous resources. I actually liked the simplicity of this search engine though I would like to see news integrated somewhere eventually.

5. FreeBookSearch.net
This search is self explanatory. It is used to find free books online. Free Book Search has many different digital libraries to find books for you. I like to read, so of course I would recommend this search engine.

6. IXQuick.com
This search engine like Duck Duck Go is very private, and IX Quick is considered the most private search engine in the world. It is metasearch engine meaning it also uses other search engines' resources. IXQuick is most useful for looking up data. I like this search engine because it gives you data from other resources therefore you don't have to go searching elsewhere for it.

7. Mininova.org
This search engine is the successor to Suprnova that was discontinued because of legal reasons. Mininova is used to search torrent files. I probably would not recommend this site since my security system warned me about it, but it is up to you.

8. WolframAlpha.com
This search engine computes answers. Wolfram Alpha is useful for mathematics, world facts and data. I had never heard of this site until I started on this project, but I will be using it for sure now. I will definitely recommend this to anyone especially students.

Project #4 C4T#1

Hello Mr. Edwards! My name is Santana Mullins, and I'm a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I will be summarizing my visits to your blog with a post to my blog on February 5, 2015. My blog URL is mullinssantanaedm310.blogspot.com and our class blog is www.edm310.blogspot.com if you would like to check them out. First, I would like to start off by saying great post! The post really spoke to me because this pretty much sums up what my professor is teaching us about education in the 21st century. The interesting thing is I didn't necessarily always agree with your point of having technology be a major part of the classroom, but I have gradually grown to love the idea. EDM 310 is showing me that education in the 21st century is constantly changing and technology is a big reason for that. Technology has gotten students more captivated about learning. Just like students have to adapt to change in the classroom, teachers will have to learn to adapt as well.

The teacher I commented on was Mr. Daniel Edwards, and he is very passionate about learning and innovation. The first post I read about was titled Pedagogy First Technology. In this post, Mr. Edwards talked about how this is a great time to become an educator. He explains how students and teachers have so many more tools in the classroom these days in comparison to years ago. The reason for this being the rapid changes in technology. While students seem to be more encouraged and engaged in the classroom due to these changes, some teachers aren't to thrilled about these new tools and gadgets. Some teachers think these things are taking time away from their methods of teacher and are a distraction. This is where the term pedagogy comes in. Mr. Edwards believes that teachers should learn how to adapt to the new ways of learning and that pedagogy is first. What is pedagogy? Pedagogy is a premise of how best to teach. It is a very interesting post, click this link below and check it out. dedwards.me/2014//02/15/pedagogy-first-technology/

Hello Mr. Edwards, this is Santana Mullins again from EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. Once again, another great and insightful post! This post is very informative for future educators like myself as well as present educators. Technology is being applied into so many schools now, and these are some great apps to use in the classroom. The iMovie app specifically caught my eye because I know I will be using that app for one of my EDM 310 projects. I've never used it, but I am excited to see what I will create. iTunes U is another app I believe I will be using in the future for this class. I've always wonder why that app was on my iPad and after doing a little research, I see that it is an app I will indeed be putting to use in the very near future.

In his post, titled Top 10 Apps in an Established 1:1 iPad School, Mr. Edwards detailed how iPads are used in everyday learning in schools. He listed his top ten iPad apps that are appropriate for school. He explained how these apps worked and when they could be implemented in school lessons or projects. His top ten list included apps such as Explain Everything, Socrative 1.0 and 2.0, iMovie, iTunes U, Showbie, Edmodo, Notability, Keynote, Book Creator, and Pages. I personally downloaded a few of these apps and check them out as well. Click the link below and explore these great apps and how they work. The link to this post is dedwards.me/2014/02/08/top-10-apps-in-an-established-11-ipad-school/ Enjoy!