Blog Post #16

Project #16 Professional Reflection

1. How does this lesson build on the technological literacy of your students?

Our "Shapes in Art" lesson plan required the use of a smart board. Most of the time the teacher was using the smart board. However, there were certain activities that required the students to come and place shapes into vortexes or draw things on the Smart Board. Thus, the students are using the technologies of the Smart Board. Also, there was a Little Learners Shapes app that the students who finished early could play.

2. In what specific ways does the project engage your students?

This project engages our students the entire lesson. Whether they are being called on the draw a different shape or watching a catchy video, this project is full of student engagement. In the lesson, the students get called on to put certain shapes into vortexes, they get called onto identify different shapes, they get called on to draw different shapes to make on whole object, and they get to create their own work of art using the different shapes that were discussed during class.

3. What additional technologies and/or networked information resources may have further enhanced this lesson?

Some other technologies that we could have utilized a little more are the iPads. We had the students do one activity on them if they finished early. However, I think that the iPads could have been a very useful resource for the students in learning their shapes. There were many apps and games that we could have had the students use a little more.

4. If I/we had the opportunity to present this lesson again to the same audience, would I/we do anything differently? What? Why?

I think the one thing I would have done differently was address the audience more instead of just Dr. Lomax. I talked directly to him a lot because I was nervous about speaking in front of the class. Also, I would have practiced what I wanted to say a little more and written it down.

Blog Post 5 Part 2

    My PLN was nonexistent before I started this class. I did not even know what a PLN was. Now that this class is almost over, I ma happy to say that my PLN has grown so much! I have numerous people that can help me with my career. All the teacher's blogs that I have commented on have gotten in touch with over twitter or email and given me advice on furthering my career with teaching. One teacher, David Truss contacted me over the blog that I posted summarizing my visit to his. He gave me some advice and guidance on the future. It was very exciting and helpful to hear from him. David Wees also got in touch with me over twitter. Twitter has been a very useful outlet for contacting people and gaining information on the technology topic. I follow numerous teachers and kindergarten themed twitter accounts. I have also been able to meet with some teachers and talk with them about what they use, as far as technology goes, in their classrooms. My PLN is grown so much over the course of this class and I can't wait for it to get even bigger as further my career as a teacher.

Technology and Teaching: My Philosophy

   Before this class, the thought of technology being integrated into a classroom never crossed my mind. Now it is something that I will definitely be using, if I am able too, in my future classroom. It is the ultimate tool to have because it opens students up to new world of learning. Also, it keeps them engaged because they love playing on their computers or on their iPads. When I went and observed in  a public school for one of my classes, I was talking with one of the teachers that I knew there and she said she gave the students the option of watching a movie or playing on their computers for the rest of the day and they chose their computers. I thought that was pretty amazing and the games they were playing were educational. If you have the tools to keep students so engaged and interested in learning why would you not use them? I love that technology brings so many things to the table to help better the student's learning experience. If you get them hooked on learning at a young age they will turn out to be more educated individuals and be a better part of society.

Project #16 Blog Post

C4T #4

Jonesy The Teacher

Comment:
Brendan,
My name is Jesse and I am a student at the University of South Alabama studying to be an elementary school teacher. I enjoyed reading your post! I remember in my 5th grade class the teacher would always take us out on Friday afternoons and let us play dodgeball. I don't remember it being violent or hurting anyone. The new game that you and your students came up with sounds really fun and I want to try it!

Thanks for sharing,
Jesse Reed

Summary:
In this post Brendan Jones talked about the stereotype that everyone has for dodgeball. He says that most people think that dodgeball is very dangerous and he said he could see where they are coming from. In response to this, he and his class created a newer version of the game of dodgeball. They would use soft volleyballs and you were out if you got hit below the waist, not above. If you hit someone above the shoulders were thrown out of the game. You could also be allowed bak into the game of you got out if one of your teammates hit the basketball backboard. I really liked the dodgeball that they came up with and I thought it was creative and safer way to play dodgeball.

C4K for April

First Comment:

Mrs. L's Awesome 7th Grade Class

Hi Braxton, 


I am student at the University of South Alabama in the College of Education. I really enjoyed reading your post! I am not a sports fanatic but I do enjoy watching baseball and football.I thought you did a great job at explaining the book without giving the ending away. I think it’s great that you want to read for fun! Reading helps strengthen your mind and keep it sharp. Keep up the good work! 



Thanks, 


Jesse Reed

First Summary:

Braxton did a great job summarizing the book he read, "The Big Field" by Mike Lupica. He summarized the book without giving away any of the really good parts! I can tell that he really enjoyed reading the book and that is an awesome thing. More students need to be excited about reading. It helps stimulate and keep your brain sharp. I thought that he had good grammar for a 7th grader as well. 

Second Comment:

Mackenna C's Blog

Mackenna, 

Happy late easter! I am a student at the University of South Alabama studying to be an elementary school teacher. That galactic egg looks pretty cool! I have never seen one before. I also got something for Easter too! I got basket full of candy and a shopping trip with my mom. Hope you enjoy your gifts!

Thanks for sharing, 

Jesse Reed

Second Summary:

For her blog post Mackenna talked about what she got for Easter. I just now realized that the galactic egg was a chocolate egg. I thought it was a toy! Anyway, Mackenna talked about how excited she was that she had received an Easter gift. There was not much writing in her post so I could not tell about her writing skills. She seemed very excited about her egg and the other candy that she received.

Third Comment:

Mrs. Gardner's Class

Hi Cayla,

I am a student at the University of South Alabama studying to be an elementary school teacher. That is an interesting choice of lunch for your teacher! I think if he were to eat that he would definitely get sick! I laughed pretty hard at the baby vomit! I can tell that you are very creative person. Keep up the good work Cayla!

Thanks,

Jesse Reed

Third Summary:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Cayla's post. She came up with what she would feed to her teacher for lunch and I want to share it because it made me laugh. For salad she would serve him baby vomit, for soup it was blood soup, for the main course she would serve him worms ice cream, to drink it would be sea salt water, and then for dessert it would be raw eggs and raw fish! I could tell that she put some thought into her post and came up with some pretty creative items to feed to her teacher.