“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”

I decided to start off my blog this week with this Chinese proverb that I found while online. I think that this proverb provides a good lesson, especially in teaching. You can't simply tell your students information and facts, and leave them to memorize them. That is not an effective teaching method. Students may remember the information briefly for the test, but will not be able to use this information in a productive manner.

Showing students how to do something, through modeling, is one step closer to students retaining new information. Students are able to see how to use this new information in their lives by how the teacher uses the information. 

Though both of these methods have the students learning new information, it is not guaranteed that students will retain the information and be able to implement it. The key to this is to involve the student. Yes, you can provide new information through direct instruction, you can model new techniques, but then you need to somehow involve your students in the lesson. Students will remember a lesson if they are involved, by being out of their seats, by working cooperatively, and by making learning fun. 

I remember back in my junior year of high school, I took AP Environmental Science (APES). In this class I learned a plethora of knowledge about ecosystems, global warming, and how to be environmentally savvy. My teacher took this class to a whole new level, involving his students in as many hands on learning experiences as he could. In class, we would learn about a topic via PowerPoint and textbook work. Then we would take the words that we learned and apply them in real life situations. We would go out to a local creek and test the water to see the pH levels, to see if there were too many nutrients in the water, etc. Being able to go out and see science in real life made me learn the vocabulary and be able to use it. Almost 5 years later, I can still tell you that excess nitrogen and phosphorous in water can lead to eutrophication, which causes hypoxia (an oxygen free environment) and living organisms will die. 

It is because my teacher involved his students in so many ways, that I still remember this information from his class. This is what the Chinese proverb meant by involving students and they will understand. 

Caution: Unit Plan Under Construction

This week is the unit plan week. Starting lessons, editing, and figuring out what exactly needs to go into each lesson will be the main goals of the week. 

This weekend, my group and I decided to start working on our unit plan. We met up and worked for three hours! We accomplished a decent amount of work, finalizing our first lesson and even starting on our second.

We decided that our first lesson should be a direct instruction type of lesson. This type of instruction is used to get content and information across. We decided that the first lesson we teach should be used to introduce the students to key vocabulary and important concepts. These concepts will be revisited during our future lessons as a review. 

For out second lesson, we are planning on using our previously created artifact bags for an inquiry lesson. Students will have to explore artifacts and a book to find out about colonial life. Students will be working individually at first, filling out a worksheet about their specific artifacts. Once completed, students will work together to find connections between their artifacts. 

For our last lesson, we are thinking of doing a divergent type of question to lead into an activity.  A divergent question is one that has many answers and is more open-ended. We are thinking of having students take on the persona of a colonial child and write a diary entry from that perspective. Students would then share their writing in an "author's chair" type of activity. At the beginning of this lesson as a review, we want to have the students participate in the making of a class Venn diagram that will compare/contrast colonial life to today. This will give students ideas to write about in their diary entry and will be another way to review the material. 

In class this week, our main focus was going over the unit plan format. Through a direct instruction format, we worked through a PowerPoint that broke down each lesson that we need to have for class. Some vocabulary words that came up during the presentation were:

Significance - content taught is important to the discipline and to the student's need for powerful social studies

Coherence - the questioning and investigative nature of social studies cuts across all parts of the nit and across the cuticulum

Convergence - factual questions, converges to one single answer. 5 W's, lecture or text. Direct instruction. Knowledge based questions.

Divergence - open-ended questions, what if?

It's really important to incorporate a variety of both convergent and divergent questions while teaching. There are specific times where one type would work better than another type, though. For example, a convergent question would work better in relation to direct instruction. It checks for understanding of a topic and makes sure that students are comprehending what you are teaching. 

In class we also participated in a jigsaw activity with our peers. In a jigsaw, you become an "expert" on your assigned topic. Once you learn about your topic, you become the teacher and teach the topic to your group members. I think that this activity would work really well during a cooperative learning lesson. Though part of the lesson would be individual work, students then work together to put the pieces together. It allows students to share new information with peers and takes the primary focus away from the teacher. 

My group received feedback from our first lesson as well this week. It was a decent first attempt at a lesson plan. Though we need to switch some things around, I think we will be prepared for fieldwork. I really enjoy the group I'm with. There are a lot of hardworking people who really know how to crank things out in a timely manner. 

I think that with all the new information that we have learned about unit planning this week, we will be able to create a stronger unit. 

How to assess students

There are three main types of assessment that are used in classroom settings:  pre-assessment/diagnostic, formative assessment, and summative assessment.

A diagnostic, or pre-assessment, is taken at the beginning of a unit or topic study. This assessment can a pre-test, filling out a KWL chart, or completing a self evaluation. The pre-assessment is used to test students prior knowledge of the topic that will be studied.

A formative assessment is one that is on-going throughout a unit of study. The teacher is keeping track of what the students know and what they need to review. This assessment is usually seen as a conference with the teacher, a peer evaluation, a journal entry, etc.

Lastly, there is a summative assessment. This assessment usually takes place at the end of a unit of study. It is the teacher making sure that the students know the information. It is usually seen as a unit test, a portfolio review, or a demonstration.

A quick review on the difference between formative and summative assessment can be seen by watching Formative versus Summative Assessment . This quick video provides definitions and examples of both formative and summative assessments.

Modes of Assessment 

Checklists - identify desired student behaviors for lessons throughout the day. They provide a running record of the teacher's perceptions of students' participation and accomplishment.

Individual portfolios - samples of student work illustrating what students are correctly able to do. Students select and organize best examples of work to illustrate clear progress over time. Contains a variety of projects to demonstrate the range of knowledge and skills the student is developing


Interviews - enable teachers to talk with students in some depth about their ideas and plans. A key set of questions for each interview is pre-planned, while additional questions probe students' ideas. A record is kept of all answers and any agreed-upon goals.

Classroom websites - involves the teacher and students, as well as parents and guardians. Family members can be asked to fill out short questionnaires or reports for the teacher to help the teacher gain a better understanding of their child's interests, abilities, and needs.

Journals - diaries or logs that students use to reflect on their school experiences. They encourage the use of writing as a learning process and as an individual connection with their teacher.

Quality circles - class or small-group evaluation sessions that may be teacher led or guided with a questionnaire or rubric.

Self- evaluation reports  - filled out by each student concerning his/her role in a group. Provide an opportunity for reflection.

The letter to  ___ - each student writes a letter to the teacher, a family member, imaginary friend, etc. The teacher reminds the students of each of the goals of the unit, project or lesson. The letter responds to each of the goals. Can be shared with the class or only with the teacher.

The self study  - a form of self-evaluation report. Whole class, small group, or partners, analyzes the project/ presentation techniques used and gives written feedback. Can have many forms but requires students to have trust in their teacher.

We were asked to create a "house" in class today. This house had to have 2 walls, a roof, and a foundation. We were given 4 words:  learning, assessment, instruction, and standards. My house can be seen below.

In my "house" I placed standards as the base or foundation. Standards are the basis of a lesson. Before creating and building upon a specific topic, the standards have to be picked. Once you choose the stanards that you choose to address, you can start to create your lesson. The walls of the house are assessment and instruction. These are what "holds up" the lesson. Based off of standards, the teacher then creates a lesson for his/her students. While creating the lesson, the teacher has to keep in mind how he/she will implement the lesson and how he/she will assess his/her students. Lastly, there is the roof of the house, which is learning. Learning is what occurs from the assessments and the instruction that has taken place. Without standards, assessment, and instruction, there would be no learning taking place. 

While creating our unit plan, we will have to remember this "house."  We will have to choose standards that address the topics that we have been assigned, and then begin planning our lesson. 

Authentic vs Traditional Assessment

Chapter 7 reading:

Selected-Response Assessment: Multiple Choice, Binary-Choice, and Matching

Multiple Choice Items

-They are widely used in schools even though they may not be the best method for assessing. 

-They have a stem, in the form of a question or incomplete statement

-3+ alternatives that contain one correct and 2 distractors (or wrong answers)

-A direct ? is best because...

    *familiar format to students

    *makes grammar easier 

    *less demand on reading

-This questioning is better for young students to show them a clear right or wrong

-Advantages

• broad sampling of info
• scoring is easy
• good practice for students
• more reliable then binary choice items. 
• less guessing factor
• free from response set

-Disadvantages

• take longer to answer
• difficult to create MC questions

Tips for writing MC ?s

1.Write the Stem as a Clearly Described Question or Task

• The stem should be meaningful by itself

2. Avoid the use of Negatives in the Stem

3. Write the Correct Response with No Irrelevant clues

4. Write the distractors to be Plausible yet wrong

• The distractors are useless if they are so obviously wrong so make them plausible
• The # of distractors depends on a number of factors
• age of students
• the question itself

5. Avoid using "All of the Above," "None of the Above," or Other special distractors

6. Use each alternative as the correct answer about the same number of times

• about 25% of the items should have the same letter as the correct response
• this is to avoid a pattern that the students are likely to guess

- Assessing knowledge and comprehension

• knowledge of facts builds an important foundation for other kinds of learning
• Comprehension is demonstrated when students understand the essential meaning of a concept, principle, or procedure.  

-Assessing application

• This is when students are able to USE what they know to solve problems in a NEW situation
• A good ex. is mathematics b/c it is more then just memorization

-Assessing deep understanding and reasoning

-Binary Choice Items

• when students select an answer from only two response categories, they are completing a binary choice item. 
• it is also called alternative response, alternate response, or alternate choice
• PROPOSITION is a declarative sentence that makes a claim about content or relationships among content. 
• ex: Lansing is the capital of Michigan
• Peru is in the southern hemisphere
• The area of a sq. is found by squaring the length of one side

-Assessing knowledge and comprehension

• good binary-choice begins with propositions about major knowledge targets. 
• keep them short, simple, and direct

-Matching Items: determines if students know related ideas

1. Make sure directions are clear to students
2. Include homogeneous premises and responses
3. Use four to eight premises
4. Keep responses short and logically ordered
5. Avoid grammatical clues to correct answers 
6. Put premises and responses on the same page
7. Use more responses than premises

-Interpretive Exercises

1. Advantages

• there are several ?s about the same topic
• info is provided which makes it possible to separate assessment from reasoning skills from content knowledge of the subject
• easy to use every day materials 

     2.  Disadvantages

• time consuming and difficult to write
• difficult finding the right difficult level
• unable to see how students organize their thoughts

This chapter gave a great bit of information on how to construct different question types. It listed many of the benefits as well as disadvantages to each of these styles of questions. After reading this chapter I am feeling much more confident on what to include and not include when creating these different questions for the evaluation of my students.

Chapter 8

Constructed Response Assessment: Completion, Short-Answer, and Essay Items

Completion Items

-This is the most common and effective way to assess knowledge 

-Good for measuring how well students can recall facts

• easy to construct
• good sampling of different facts
• guessing contributes little to error
• scorer reliability is high
• scoring can be done quickly
• provide more valid results than a test with an equal number of selected-response items

-limitations to completion items

• scoring takes a long time
• if the sentence is not well written, more than one answer may be possible

-Steps

1. Paraphrase sentences from textbooks and other instructional materials
2. word the sentence so that only one brief answer is correct
3. place one or two blanks at the end of the sentence
4. if answered in numerical units, specify the unit required
5. do not include clues to the correct answer

Short Answer Items

-The student supplies an answer consisting of one word, a few words, or a sentence or two are generally preferred to completion items for assessing knowledge targets. 

-Steps

1. State the Item so that only one answer is correct
2. state the item so that the required answer is brief
3. do not use questions verbatim from textbooks or other instructional materials
4. designate units required for the answer
5. state the item succinctly with words students understand

Essay Items

-can tap complex thinking by requiring students to organize and integrate info., interpret info., give arguments, give explanations, evaluate of merit of ideas, and conduct other types of reasoning. 

-Steps

1. Construct the Item to elicit skills identified in the learning target
2. write the it sem so that students clearly understand the specific task
3. Indicate how much time students should spend on each essay item
4. avoid giving students options as to which essay ?s they will answer

-Scoring

1. Outline what constitutes a good or acceptable answer as a scoring key
2. select an appropriate scoring method

• holistic- the teacher makes an overall judgement about the answer, giving it a single score or grade
• analytic- achieved by giving each of the identified criteria separate points

     3. Clarify the role of writing mechanics

     4. Use a systematic process in scoring many essays at the same time during period

     5. if possible keep the identity of the student anonymous

Chapter 13 

Grading and Reporting Student Performance

Teachers' Judgments in Grading

-it is a practice that is objective measure of student performance

-An A should then mean that a student has mastered the course content, while an F is failure to master content

-Should Terry get a low grade even though he scores so high on tests?

-Should Burt get an A b/c he showed improvement?

Functions of Marking and Grading

-Why do we grade? 

-The "Curve" or adjustment of % correct b/c some students had really high scores 

At the end of the week, we created tests based on these methods that we read about. The tests are to be taken by our peers, and they are supposed to comment about them in our class forum. 

This week will also created our own artifact bags. In these bags, we had to come up with 2-3 items from our designated topic (my group had New York and the new nation), a book that correlates with the items, and a website that can be used to further research on the topic. My group created a google presentation of our artifact bags to share with the class. 

We have been using gdocs a lot this semester so far. I think it's a get way to colloborate with eachother and get things done in a proactive manner. 

Powerful Elements in Social Studies

Week 3 - Statistics and Information

In class today, we were asked to predict the retention rate of students based on different teaching styles. My guesses are are follows:

Reading - 25%

Hearing - 20%

Seeing - 30%

Seeing and hearing - 35%

Discussing - 50%

Doing things - 75%

Teaching others - 85%

After going around the room and sharing our guesses, we were shown the actual results.

The Learning Pyramid
The actual average retention rates are as follows:

Lecture - 5%

Reading - 10%

Audiovisual - 20%

Demonstration - 30%

Discussion Group - 50%

Practice by doing - 75%

Teaching Others - 90%

I am kind of shocked at how low some of the retention rates actually are. I would never have guessed that students only retain about 10% of what they read. Looking at these rates, I think that teachers should try to use "practice by doing" and "teaching others" as often as they can in their classrooms. By having students actively learning in these ways, they will have the highest retention rates and will learn much more than by simply reading their textbooks.

I wonder if these facts are based on a certain age level and if they can be applied to college students as well. In most college classes, students are expected to learn through reading of their textbooks and by attending lectures. By looking at the model, these methods of learning are the lowest two. Only 5%-10% of information is retained using these methods. Though college students do have a more developed brain than those of an elementary student, I think that the retention rates would be similar. College professors should take this into account when they are developing their lessons. 

Structure of Knowledge 

 Jerome Bruner

- Learning outcomes/Re-Construction

- Key ideas

- Common Core concepts and understandings


- Content to be taught







I really like this interpretation of knowledge. It is hard to place a definition as to what knowledge actually is. Breaking it up into the four segments of facts, concepts, generalizations, and meta-cognition, one can begin to understand what knowledge actually is and what goes into teaching students to gain understanding and knowledge. I like how Mr. Bruner placed these segments into a pyramid. The basis of knowledge is facts, or the content to be taught. Once the facts are established, then the concepts are formed from the Common Core Standards and understandings. Further up the pyramid, you have generalizations. Generalizations are the key ideas of what you are learning or teaching. At the top of the pyramid, you have meta-cognition. Meta-cognition is the learning outcomes, what you want the student to walk away with from the lesson. Meta-cognition is also thinking about thinking, a reflective process of learning. 

There are different educational philosophies that correlate with these structures of knowledge. Meta-cognition goes with re-construction, generalizations refers to existentialism, concepts goes with progressivism, and facts correspond with perennialism/essentialism. 

Medena - Brain Rules

Models, Strategies, and Methods  = Teaching approaches

Today's lesson reminded me of psych classes that I have taken. For example, Psych of the Exceptional Learner frequently featured various pyramid diagrams in relation to RTI and Bloom's Taxonomy. These diagrams provide a visual to the given information, helping a learner see what steps are involved in reaching the top, "most important," or highest level of the pyramid. 

The main part of today's class was reviewing the unit plan:  what makes up a unit plan and the content to be taught. This information will help us create a well structured unit. The unit plan is something that we will be partially implementing during firldwork. 

Each group will teach 3 mini lessons that take up approximately 25 minutes each. The class will be split in two and each section will be taught the two lessons. Teaching in this way will keep us "on our toes" and will make us be creative in finding ways to teach effectively in a short amount of time. 

Unit Plan Design

1. Direct Instruction - Behavioral Model = used for developing basic skills and knowledge (explain/lecture) Audio-visual students

2. Inquiry - they have basic knowledge and skills, let them apply it. Give them resources and have them research, explore, draw conclusions. Focus on their meta-cognitive skills. What is your evidence? How did you come to this conclusion? etc. 
-Indirect (cognitive/inquiry)

3. Work in groups, focus more on socialization 
-indirect (social/CL)

4. Indirect - individual project to show knowledge
-personal project

Group 1's theme for the unit plan = New York and the New Nation

At first I was not very excited about this topic because we don't really get to talk about the revolution as much as the other groups. Looking into the elementary textbook we'll be working out of, I began to get excited. The section that we will be covering is mainly about colonial life in New York. I think that my group will be able to make this topic into some interactive, fun, and educational lessons. I have high hopes for my group and I know we will make our lessons the best they can be.  

Exploratory Introduction - (Sunal = textbook) 

"The historian interprets the evidence, deciding on the degree of its importance and accuracy. This is done by applying logic and 'best guesses' to knowledge about the people and their times."

• Students have to learn how to formulate questions and answer with the support/evidence they have gathered/discovered

We were able to become history detectives in class today by examining artifact bags. These bags contained clues about our professor's, Dr. Smirnova, life. Our bag contained 3 different artifacts:  a Russian fabric doll, an old black and white picture, and a passport looking item. Together we tried to decipher what these items were. One thing that we fixated on was the Russia writing on the back of the picture. Using google translate, we tried to translate the writing. 

(On a side note, google has a very useful translating device. Not only can you simply type the words in, you can also write out the words using your mouse, or you can scan something and it will translate. This is a very good option for handwriting that you can not really make out on your own.)

Picture - This picture is of Dr. Smirnova at a "camp" similar to scouting in the U.S. In particular, the picture is of a marching competition being judged. Dr. Smirnova was in charge of many groups at the camp. The camp was a mandatory part of her schooling.


Doll - This Russian doll is handmade, it is a noble woman. 



Teaching Certificate - an award that Dr. Smirnova received in 2009. 


While investigating our artifacts, we were supposed to answer questions about the items. Who were the items from/about? Where did the items come from? When were the items from? How did the items fit together/how did they come to be? Why are these items in the bag/why are the items what they are? Lastly, we had to state a conclusion about the items in general.

Each group was assigned a different bag to present to the class. Going around the room, we talked about how we found out what the items were and how the connected to Russian culture and Dr. Smirnova's life. Our group made the conclusion that Dr. Smirnova is very dedicated to her education and loves her culture. 

This week was one that provided numerous amounts of information. We leaned about our unit plans, were given amazing statistics, and even got to become historians and investigate artifact bags. All in all, this week was very informative and made me a little more comfortable with what we're going to be doing in fieldwork 

Why Study History?

Chapter 11 "How Do I Engage Students in Examining History?" tells the reader many reasons why students in grades K-8 should study history. History provides students with a variety of skills that will help them succeed later in life. 

History helps to prepare students for "responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our modern economy" (pg. 335).

History provides the opportunity for both socialization and counter-socialization experiences. The role of history in schools has mostly been to socialize students in the US democratic tradition and to prepare them to be citizens.

History incorporates not only the study of the origin of the nation, and it's struggles to grow physically, politically, and economically, or famous people and events, but it also includes multicultural/global/gender-related information.  

Social studies should include experiences that provide for the study of the ways human beings view themselves in and over time. It should be linked to people and ideas that remain the same over generations. (pg. 343)

Looking at the following standards for history, students are learning how to comprehend, how to research and make decisions. These are important skills that students need to learn in order to succeed in life. Students need to be able to research topics to formulate ideas and be able to interpret what they have learned. 

National Standards for History K - 12

1. Chronological thinking

2. Historical comprehension

3. Historical analysis and interpretation

4. Historical research capabilities

5. Historical issues analysis and decision making (pg. 344)

The study of history is "vital for all citizens in a democracy because it provides the only avenue we have to teach an understanding of ourselves and of our society, in relation to the human condition over time, and how some things change and other continue" (pg. 346). The author refers to this as being able to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. Referring to history in this way is a excellent metaphor. In a laboratory, there are specimen that you dissect until you find what you are looking for. In a similar way, historians dissect the past, finding out about people and places until they find that key component that they are looking for.

"The study of history can stimulate us to examine our present behaviors with an eye towards making appropriate changes while maintaining continuity with our worthy past" (pg. 369). Part of History is learning about the past and how to change our future based on what we've learned.

It is difficult to state one single rationale for the study of history. There are many reasons, such as the aforementioned, that prove why students should study social studies in the classroom. From having the opportunity to socialize as historians, to learning to be a responsible and productive citizen, history should not be a subject that is easily dismissed in the classroom.

Two weeks down, 14 to go!

The first two weeks of the semester flew by! I'm finally starting to get back into the swing of things. I'm working hard on my time management skills and trying to finish everything in a timely manner. So far, so good. We'll see how I'm doing in a few weeks.


Week two was a fairly eventful week. Between classes and work, this week also was the first of many KDP events. Wednesday night was the fall induction ceremony into Kappa Delta Pi, the International Education Honor Society on campus. This was my first event as an officer - I'm the new treasurer! I'm really excited to be involved in KDP and to attend the events that we'll have throughout the semester. KDP has gotten me to be much more involved with my school and the community. 

Though KDP is something else I'm adding onto my busy schedule, it will look great on my resume when I'm looking for a job, and it's a lot of fun. We have a really great group of girls (or should I say women) who are co-officers this semester who will be taking over in January. I'm looking forward to working with them and making new friendships with them all!

As for class this week, we continued with our "about me" projects. We had a new student join our class this week as well - a boy! As an education student, having a boy in the class is rare. At a school of mostly girls, it is nice to have a boy in the mix to offer up different perspectives and opinions. 

Though we did not have class on Monday, there was still work to be done. Days off from school serve as great days to catch up on reading the textbook or work on various assignments to stay ahead of due dates. We had to read chapters 1, 2, and 11 from the textbook, as well as read an article about artifacts. 

I really enjoy the textbook that we have for this class. It has a lot of real life examples and connects to today's world. I like that it talks about how to work through a lesson plan and what the parts to a good lesson have. 

The article that we read was also a great read. At first I couldn't image reading a 14 page article, but it did not feel that long. It was really informative and provided many examples of how to use an artifact bag in the classroom. I like that it broke the activity down step by step so someone can easily recreate an artifact bag and preform the activity in his/her own classroom. 

I think that an artifact bag is a useful classroom tool, especially for an introduction to a social studies unit. In groups, students receive the mysterious bag containing artifacts. They do not know what the items are exactly, and are encouraged to use their imaginations to try and pinpoint the era and use of the unknown items. This discussion period is an important part of the lesson. Students get to converse with their peers to share ideas. I think students are more open to sharing opinions when they are working with their peers, as opposed to teacher led activities. They come up with very creative and unique ideas that sometimes the teacher didn't even think of herself. 

I also like how after the students discuss their own ideas, the teacher does not simply tell them what the artifact is. They have to research about the artifact in a book that is provided. I think this is a great method because it allows students to build upon their own discoveries and they will feel more accomplished with themselves afterwards. 

Lastly, students are to visit an assigned website that tells more about the artifact. I think that having this connection to technology makes the activity even better. Having students use the computer connects them with a virtual world that provides so much more than the classroom itself can. Students can take a tour of a museum miles away, or travel through an interactive timeline, learning new facts disguised by games. Technology can break barriers that have previously been found in classrooms if it is used properly. 

I made a Prezi that breaks down the artifact bag into steps. 

Some artifacts that could be used for the American Revolution can be found in the following picture. Primary documents such as letters and pictures can be seen, as well as money, stamps, and a horn. When creating my own artifact bag, I will try to find primary accounts to use that correspond with my assigned time period. 

Connecting with the theme of technology mentioned above, I watched New Teacher Survival Guide: Technology in the Classroom. This video was so informative and provided some great tips. 

• Anticipate barriers to implementing a new technology

• Develop a close relationship with the technology coordinator

• First define the lesson objective, then select an appropriate technology

• Build a collaborative network of like-minded educators

• Integrate technology into assessment

• Test new technologies before using them in the classroom

• Always have a Plan B!

• Discuss how the technology worked

Though this video was centered around teaching a lesson about the Holocaust, I think that these tips are useful in any subject area. This video was dated from 2012, so it is relevant and connects to today. There was mention of a website called Voice Thread in the video. I've never heard of this site before, but it seems to be really interactive and fun to use. The basic concept is similar to PowerPoint, but instead of using text, you narrate what is happening. You can use a web cam, microphone, or call in. It can also be used for a group discussion, and everyone participating creates voice comments around a picture or video. While talking, participates can also draw on the images. I think students would really enjoy using a voice thread in the classroom. 

After watching another video - A Vision of K-12 Students Today - my eyes were opened to how little technology is sometimes used in classrooms. In today's world technology is everywhere. If you don't accept it and allow it in your classroom, I think that you will miss out on an opportunity to engage your students in a way that was never before possible. 

"Students will use engaging technologies in collaborative, inquiry-based learning environments with teachers who are willing and able to use technology's power to assist them in transforming knowledge and skills into products, solutions, and new information." This quote from the video is very true. By providing students with the resources, students can expand their horizons and learn in new, creative ways. 

Two weeks of classes down, only 14 more to go. Hopefully this coming week we will learn more about our fieldwork assignments and be able to start working on our lessons. It's always a lot of fun planning lessons, especially when you get to work in a group with your friends!

Junior Year, Here I come!

Day 1

Walking into Aqu room 57, I was not sure what to expect. I've heard rumors about that class - that it is hard, that you will have to do a lot of work, that you will be so stressed out, etc. I tried to keep an open mind as I walked in and found an open seat. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised.

We started the class with an ice breaker activity to get to know our classmates. We made name tags “with love,” and answered four brief questions on the back. These questions pertained to our favorite social studies teacher and what made him/her successful, what we would define social studies as, and how to teach and learn social studies in the classroom.

Once we completed our name tags, we introduced ourselves to a partner and went over our responses to the questions. We then got into small groups or 4 or 5, and instead of re-introducing ourselves, our partner had to introduce us. I think that this was a very effective activity. By introducing your partner, you had to pay close attention and listen when she was talking originally.

After introducing our partners to the group, one person from each group then had to introduce every person and tell a summary of the groups findings.

This was a great “get to know you” activity that allowed for many people to be introduced at once. I think that this would be a good ice breaker in any classroom, from first grade through college. Though the questions would have to be changed and altered depending on the grade level and subject the class is, this can be used in all schools.

I really enjoyed the first day of class. Though there was a lot of information and assignments given to us, I think that the class will be manageable. One thing that I did learn from the first day, however, is that I will need to be very organized with my work. I will need to constantly check e-class for updates and assignments and  always keep extra space in my planner for this class.

I am really looking forward to working with Bishop Dunn again this semester. I think that the American Revolution will be an interesting and exciting topic to teach. There is so much that can be done using technology to introduce the class to this topic. I can’t wait until fieldwork starts!

Day 2

We went to the library to learn about different programs and resources that are available to us as MSMC students. I thought that the presentation was very informative. I didn’t know about all the resources that we have to use! I thought that kidspiration was a great new program that I can use in a variety of my classes. I really wish that I had learned about it earlier in my college career.

I also liked how we went through how to access and use the different databases through the library. I think that these resources will help me to succeed in this class and other classes. Not everything you find online is a reliable source, so it's great to have these types of resources at our fingertips. Look for Resources Here!

Day 3

Presentations for our “About me” projects began today. For this assignment, each student had to pick a way to introduce herself to the class using a digital media. I choose to use tagxedo, a type of word cloud. Tagxedo is a great website to use, and has many possible uses in the classroom. I really liked how you are able to create words in a variety of shapes and color themes, as well as take text straight from a website! I will definitely be using this website in fieldwork and in my future classroom!

I really enjoyed this assignment. It opened my eyes to how the classroom is changing. It's not just a whiteboard anymore. With smart boards and even laptops or tablets, classrooms are advancing with the use of technology. By equipping ourselves with these tools and useful sites, I think that we'll be ahead of the game when it comes time for us to lead a classroom.

Overall I think that the first week of class went really well. It will definitely take some time to get back into the routine of going to school, but I think this will be a great semester. Though I may be stressed out and overwhelmed at times, I have to keep my head up and keep pushing forward, not only in this class, but throughout the rest of my schooling.