A New Year and a New Semester!

I don't know about you, but I am super excited for 2015! 

This year will be the year I graduate from college and boy has it been a long time coming. 

 I will graduate in December and will be completing minors in both Educational Technology and English Language Learners. I utilized this blog for my ED Tech classes last semester and it appears I will be doing the same for my classes this spring. I hope you enjoy learning along side of me. One day I may finish adding all the bells and whistles on my blog, but for now, please bear with me and remember I work and go to school full-time. There is only so much time in the day y'all. 

This semesters courses you can look forward to learning more about.

EL352 Management Strategies

EL 320 Children's Literature

HPE428 Physical Education for Elementary

ED 404 Methods and Materials for Teaching English Language Learners

Human Growth and Development

Math 232: Math for Teachers

Problem and Project-Based Learning

My most recent ED307 project was all about Problem-Based and Project-Based Learning. I learned a great deal about the similarities and differences and I would love for you to watch my video. I will warn you, it is a bit long (sorry). One thing you won't find in either.. worksheets! I love that both methodologies are hands-on and student centered.


WATCH MY VIDEO HERE >>>>>>>>>>Problem and Project-Based Learning Presentation

Student Improvement with a Partnering Pedagogy

The book Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning by Marc Prensky is a wonderful resource for teachers. As a pre-service teacher, I found there was a great deal of useful information. Prensky did a great job of explaining how our world is changing and how technology is a key component of that change. He included wonderful and explicit ways to use technology in the classroom and to give digital natives what they are asking for in the classroom. 

One thing that stood out from the book, was the way Prensky discussed student and teacher improvement. Teachers want to see their students improve and with partnering, there are several ways to help students see continuous improvement. Prensky tells us there are levels both for students and for teachers. 

PARTNERING LEVELS FOR TEACHERS

(as stated in Teaching Digital Natives:Partnering for Real Learning)

Level 0	All teaching is done by lecturing (i.e., telling, direct instruction), and all student practice is done using worksheets.
Level 1	In addition to lectures, other presentation modes, such as DVDs or videos, are introduced periodically. Worksheets are still the primary mode of in-class practice for students.
Level 2	The teacher lectures while using interactive whiteboards and showing PowerPoint presentations and videos. In addition to worksheets, some computer and search-based student activities are introduced in class or in computer labs.
Level 3	The teacher tries to keep lectures short, using a rule of no more minutes per lecture than the grade level. Students do a variety of in-class activities, many on the computer.
Level 4	Partnering (i.e., guiding questions given, students work on their own, followed by presentation and discussion) is done on some days, with some topics. Lectures, explanations, and worksheets are still used for some material.
Level 5	All teaching is done through partnering. The teacher never tells or lectures, even when giving instructions. Students always work on their own or in groups, always have clear goals that they know where to find, and accomplish the goals regularly using a variety of tools. Discussions and critiques are student led, fully participative, and lively.

PARTNERING LEVELS FOR STUDENTS

(as stated in Teaching Digital Natives:Partnering for Real Learning)

Level 0	Students are expected to listen, take notes, hand in assignments and homework on time, and pass frequent tests.
Level 1	Students engage in some active doing, non-listening-only activities in addition to those from Level 0.
Level 2	Students spend at least half their time doing partnering activities, finding their guidign questions and goals on their own, and selecting activities from a teacher-provided menu.
Level 3	In addition to the activities from Level 2, students discuss upcoming lessons with the teacher, help create guiding questions, suggest activities and tools, and do their own research. There is still some listening and note taking.
Level 4	Students are expected to, and do, find or create guiding questions, do research, make presentations, self-form into groups when necessary, complete self-designed projects, and lead and participate in critiques and discussions.
Level 5	Students do everything from Level 4 and also help the teacher design classes for maximum engagement and teach their peers whenever necessary.

Partnering Pedagogy

Marc Prensky's book Teaching Digital Natives: Partnering for Real Learning is a great read. I am inspired by this new way of thinking about a classroom and hope to implement partnering in my own classroom soon. If you are a teacher or a pre-service teacher, check out this video to get a quick overview of Prentsky's Partnering Model.

Flipped Classrooms

This week I learned a lot about flipped classrooms. I also got to use some new tools to make an animated video. I won't on on about all of the details about flipped classrooms because I hope you will watch my video which I have added below.

I will take a moment to say that I think it is important to embrace new technology and know what tools work best for what you are doing (in and out of the classroom). As I was undertaking the task of making this animated video, I tried out several different programs before making the decision to make it with powtoon. There are better programs out there for sure, and of course there are easier programs. I had to make some decisions about what would work best for me and help me achieve the end result I wanted. I feel like this is a great lesson about technology. We all too often look for the first, the most extravagant, or the easiest option. This is just a reminder to "work smarter".

Using Glogster to share what I learned about 21st Century Skills

Although I consider myself competent when it comes to technology, I am always learning something new. I had never heard of Glogster before last week. Glogster is a website that allows you to create a digital poster with text, photos, web links, videos, graphics, and music. Watch the video below to learn a bit more about Glogster and how glogs can be valuable in the classroom.

I hope you found that as inspiring as I did. I am constantly amazed by how technology can be used in the classroom. Students need to be challenged to use the tools we have available to aid with authentic learning.

My glog was about 21st Century Skills in the classroom. When I first thought of 21st Century skills, I immediately thought of technology. However, technology is far from the only important skill that students need in a 21st Century world. My project was researching the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) and what they found to be needed of students of today. As part of that research, I took a look at a report "Are 

Check out my  21st Century Skills Glog!

Summer Programs

There are many great summer programs in the area and I was lucky enough to help with one in Tanner, AL for the past two weeks. Our theme was camping and we had a great time learning about animals and all things camping. Here are some pictures of the wonderful artwork our students made for the hallway.