C4K February Summary

In this wonderful month of February, I was given four wonderful kids to evaluate.

 



 

             My C4K post #1 was to a girl named Jenna M. from Nebraska. That week, the Winter Olympics were going on, so she wrote a dissertation about Gracie Gold, an ice skater for the United States. She wrote in her blog where she is from, how old she is, when she was born, and other fun facts about her, like the fact she started skating when she was two years old and that she has a fraternal twin named Carly. She also gave some information about the Olympics themselves, like where it was taking place and the extreme ticket prices!

            My comment to her was this: "Hello Jenna! My name is Kaitlyn Wyman, and I'm from Mobile, Alabama, and I am studying to become a teacher. I came across your blog, and I can just tell you are excited about the Winter Olympics! The tickets are very expensive. You are right about that! Thank goodness for televisions so we could simply watch it from home! I liked that you gave some interesting information about Gracie Gold. She is an excellent example of a hard-working, high achieving, and successful woman. The most astonishing thing, I felt, is that she is only eighteen years old! I can see how that can be an inspiration to girls of all ages. Thank you for sharing some fantastic facts about the Winter Olympics and one of its biggest stars!"

 

       

         My C4K post #2 was to a young girl named Brooklynn from Canada! In her blog, she told the story of Hana, an ordinary girl from the Holocaust whose suitcase was found after the Nazi takeover and preserved in a museum. Then, a woman who worked in the museum where it was held, Fujiko Ishioka, took it upon herself to try to find family members of Hana so that she could return the suitcase to them. She eventually found Hana's brother George, and she sent a letter to him asking if she could meet with him. That's where her blog post ended. I didn't know whether Ishioka ever got in touch with George! 

         So my comment to little Brooklynn was: "Hello Brooklynn! I am Kaitlyn, and I'm from Mobile, Alabama! I love learning about the Holocaust. Your blog post really interested me. I think it was quite unique that the museum in Tokyo, Japan had the suitcases of one of the victims of the Holocaust, Hana Brady. Indeed, she was no ordinary girl, because Fujiko Ishioka, a worker at the Holocaust museum, searched high and low for her to get the suitcase back to her personally. I wonder, though, if she ever got around to talking to her brother, George Brady. I know she sent a letter, but did he ever reply back to her? Either way, your post was very interesting! Thank you for sharing."

 

       

 

       My C4K post #3 was to Jenna M. of Nebraska again! It was great revisiting her blog. She wrote about birthstones and which one she has! She then asked which birthstone I had and what month I was born in. She also explained that they made tellegamis, but I sincerely wished that she explained how to make them. So in my comment, I told her that my birthstone was Opal just like hers, since we were both born in October, and that I told her that I would love to know how to make tellegamis one day!

 

      

 

          Last but not least, my C4K post #4 was to a girl named Kristen. In her post, she wrote about how she was reading the Hunger Games and that her class was assigned to determine the theme of the book. She made a PowerPoint of her research and posted it to her blog. I was very impressed with her. She pointed out that the theme of the Hunger Games was how a tragedy can turn into a success in a book.

        My comment to Kristen was: "Hi Kristen! My name is Kaitlyn Wyman, and I am a student at the University of South Alabama! I am studying to become a teacher, and my professor assigned you to be my school student that I comment on each week. I would first like to say that I liked your book report on a PowerPoint! I love the Hunger Games too, and I loved how the tragedy of Katniss volunteering as tribute to save her sister turned out to be a complete success! Keep up the good work!"

 

 

Blog #7

What Can We Learn About Teaching And Learning From Randy Pausch?

 

 

 

         This week, we had the privilege to watch a fantastic video about achieving our childhood dreams, with speaker Randy Pausch. Randy was a former computer science and virtual reality professor from Carnegie Mellon University battling pancreatic cancer. In knowing that it was a terminal illness, and time was of the essence, he delivered a highly inspirational lecture entitled "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". I would first like to point out how incredible it felt to watch him speak! This man was basically on his last leg in life, but he kept such a positive outlook and was so optimistic about everything life had to throw at him! I envy him to no end, because I know if I was faced with a tough roadblock in life, I wouldn't know how to handle it. This was the absolute most redeeming video I've ever had to watch. It taught me so much about life, and I am so glad that Dr. Strange had us watch it. I've included a link to the video so anybody can take time out and watch it. It is worth every minute. The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

 

         In the video, Randy went on to talk about his adventures in life, and how sometimes he ran into "brick walls" that inhibited him from pursuing his dreams easily. He explained that those brick walls were there for a reason, and when we are faced with them, we have to make a choice, but to more so look deep within ourselves. His simple remedy for that was to keep in mind that if you genuinely wanted something in life that bad, then you would break all barriers (including the brick wall) to get to that dream in some way. If you did not make the effort to break the wall, then it is simple, you did not want that dream bad enough. From experience, I know exactly what he means. I have been faced with big, fat, brick walls, especially in college. But being persistent and slow to irritate, I have accomplished so much, academically and personally. He reiterates that if anything, those brick walls should further motivate us to chase our dreams, and that it should motivate just about anybody to make that brick wall tumble by just working hard for what's on the other side. If we can teach our future classroom the importance of persistence like Randy points out, we can be sure that our kids will carry that philosophy with them for the rest of their lives.

 

         Randy then went on to explain the importance of "head fake". Yes, I know, it sounds like a ruse teachers use to trick kids into learning something, but it is the total opposite. For a good example of head fake, think about football. When you register your children (or future children) into a football team, the football coaches teach them to throw, pass, tackle, and the list goes on. Most of the time, the kids get good at it when they play and end up enjoying it. But, what the kids are not particularly aware of is that they are also learning the value of teamwork, sportsmanship, responsibility, perseverance, etc. I would love to use EDM310 as another perfect example of head fake. Sure, we have all these projects to do, and some of us may be a little apprehensive to do some of the work, but when we take the time to look back at what we've really learned, we can become satisfied. We've learned to make and edit videos, write blogs, work with groups, and some life lessons too like time management, flexibility, and other useful things needed to be a teacher. The same goes for classrooms of all kinds. As long as we can take Randy Pausch's head fake theory with us to our future classrooms, children get out of the class a great deal of general knowledge as well as life's lessons that will stay with them the rest of their lives!. That's what a head fake is, learning more than you originally bargained for, but it is worth it in the end.

 The most important thing that Pausch talks about in his lecture is the idea of not learning by the books alone, but by learning through one's own efforts. In other words, doing more hands-on learning and finding things out on your own. It can be fun and rewarding, and he explained that learning through fun mediums can help you learn the absolute toughest subject if you play your cards right. He taught in that way to his virtual reality class that he designed himself, and the results were astounding. He showed the audience a clip of a girl from his class using the virtual reality headset and creating a "world" for the little creatures, and he told us that the kids did that on their own and was excited to show other people. He also explained that it is imperative to ask questions or get with people who are just as lost as you are in a subject and try to work together to figure it out. Being alone while trying your hardest to understand something is not where anybody should have to be. EDM310 definitely teaches us that, and so far I've gotten more out of this class than every single class that I've taken in college, because it is so hand-on and allows us to figure things out on our own. I hope to somehow implement this technique in my classroom so that it will show kids that they are smarter and more motivated than they think they are, and will challenge them to be more productive human beings.

 

       All-in-all, Randy Pausch gave us some incredible tips about learning and teaching, and it really opened my eyes to new methods. How can I say no to someone so wise as an actual professor himself. He didn't get where he was in life by pure luck, he got their using this own theories and a little bit of hard work. Students and educators alike should take his advice and run with it, and run far in life.

 

          



Blog #6

Personal Learning Networks!                     

   

                     This week, we had the opportunity to learn about PLNs, which are Personal Learning Networks. These are characterized by a set of people or tools that I can call upon for help and assistance when it comes to teaching a tricky lesson to my future students. They are cost-effective means for educators, like me one day, to grow in their professional lives. This means a FREE professional development available 24/7 from anywhere! Without PLNs, we would most likely have a little trouble teaching an intricate lesson or trying to explain to a student what is what.

                                                  
                         From what I've heard and what I've researched myself, there are numerous mediums we can use as teachers to gather a list of people and/or experts to help us in our future careers. One extremely useful network is Twitter, believe it or not! Yes, Twitter allows you to connect with other educators, teachers, scientists, etc., and have conversations with them in real time. On top of that, Twitter provides links you can click to go to different conversations and read them, or even engage in the conversation with them. It's and easy to use, and it is so far the most information savvy site. Facebook is also a helpful tool to build your PLN. You can add other teachers as your friend on Facebook and observe what they post on their pages to gain knowledge about what you want to teach.

                                              
                         Another great site to use to build your PLN is Pinterest! Pinterest is a visual discovery tool people of all ages can use to collect ideas for their different teaching methods, project ideas, and other practical ways to keep kids interested, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic about what they are learning. Pinterest provides many sites to click on from professionals themselves, who post their ideas from other professionals and so on and so forth! It's like an endless cycle of experts right at your fingertips! I personally love this site with all my heart because you can SEE what you are interested in and everyone on that site is friendly. Plus, it's is a very creative site and I am all about creativity in my future classrooms.

                         As for my future list of teachers and experts to contact, it all depends on who I meet in the future! I can attend workshops, conventions, parties, and even attend different schools to build my PLN. It all revolves around who you know, and how they can help you in your level of expertise.

Project #8: Book Trailer

Martha Walks The Dog

Project #7: My Sentence Videos

My Sentence Is....







My Passion Is.....

Blog #5

                             This week, we were shown a few videos in which Dr. Strange interviewed a third grade teacher and former student, Anthony Capps about project-based learning. I was quite impressed on how highly he spoke of project-based learning. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing, and he seemed to enjoy it as well!

                               The first point that Anthony talked about was that having students do projects that revolved around the current subject materials they were learning about made them more excited and motivated to do the work. He recalled an example of a project he had the children do a few months earlier. He had them write a letter to the congressman of Baldwin County about different issues, like what he is doing right, and what he might be doing wrong. They sent them off, and within a couple of days, they received a reply, and just the fact of the letters having the state seal stamped on them, indicating that it is from the official office of Joe Bonner, made the children so eager and excited to do another project like that one. Also, instead of solely counting on the students to complete little worksheets here and there, he at least includes some type of collaborative session in which the children work together and do more hands-on things to make the lesson stick in their minds. Not only is it exciting and motivating for the kids, but it also makes the kids excited about learning in general, and makes them realize that there is more than one way to learn about something! It encourages them to use their own brains to figure things out, rather than relying on someone else all the time.

                                    
                                 Anthony then went on to talk about the programs that he and the students use to look things up when implementing their projects. They are called iCurio and Discovery Ed. iCurio is a search engine that has been programmed to filter out any inappropriate material, and only show material that is consistent to what they are looking up. For example, if a student types in the word United States Presidents, the search engine with only pull up links to safe, good websites, rather than sketchy, inappropriate websites that has questionable material. It helps to marrow their searches and provides a safe environment to do so. Also, if the student wants to look up a highly specific topic, like frogs who are poisonous, who live in South America, and who are the color orange, iCurio will also do that for the student. It encourages students to think outside of the box when it comes to project topics and such. Discovery Ed does almost the exact same thing that iCurio does, except it also shows appropriate pictures, videos, and other engaging, interesting things that kid would enjoy learning about. In some sense, it brings experts into play when the teacher is not an expert in some things! That, in my opinion, is revolutionary.

                                                          

Project #3 Presentation

Blog #4

What questions do we ask? How do we ask them?

 

 

 

 

               I am going to be one-hundred percent honest. I, Kaitlyn Wyman, am so ready to be a teacher to little children. I can't wait to see that glimmer of natural curiosity in their eyes. I long to feel the pang of wanting to know everything from every child, and to know that I am the one that will be able to provide their little hearts with anything they want and need to know. In vice versa, I can't wait to learn from the kids themselves! In order for me to do that as a good teacher though, not only do the kids need to ask questions, but I must ask them questions too, to make sure they understand, and to also engage them in what they're learning. I can just hear it now, "But Kaitlyn, you're the teacher! You shouldn't be asking the questions, you should be the one answering them!". While at least half of that is true, questioning the children on what they have learned or even might have not learned is the most effective teaching method in my opinion. There are many helpful techniques to follow when asking questions in the classroom.

 

                        In order to understand the way questions work in the classroom, we should first take into account the children's mindset, because it is a fact that there are at least three kinds of students in a classroom: Smart and outgoing kids, shy and introverted kids, and kids who simply do not care at all. For example, after I teach my lesson about the life cycle of a butterfly to my classroom, I will ask the class as a whole what the first life cycle of a butterfly is. The highly outgoing and naturally smart kids will be the ones raising their hands so high that it seems that they're entire arm might just pop off. The shy ones will be the ones who most likely know the answers, but hide behind the ones who want to answer the question. The problem with these type of children is that as a teacher, when you see them not raising their hands, you don't know for a fact that they actually understand or not! Last but not least, the kids who don't care are extremely hard to pick out. They are the most misunderstood kids, I feel, of the class. In their minds, they don't want to raise their hands to answer because they simply don't care, but we as teachers don't really know that do we? We can misconstrue them as shy kids who might know the answer, rather than kinds who genuinely do not want to answer. It is a tremendously dangerous situation because, well, we could quite easily assume that after the question has been answered by an outgoing and smart student, the entire class listened and comprehended it simultaneously. That is completely wrong.

          While it is good for students to answer questions in a classroom, we must analyze how we are asking them and the effect it has on the classroom as a whole. Are we asking open or close ended questions? Are we asking the entire classroom, or one particular person? Is the entire classroom engaged, or not? When these intrapersonal questions are raised after a lesson, we as teachers should address them, and hopefully improve our ways of asking them. I feel like one of the most effective ways to engage the entire class is to ask individual kids at random. It gives every student the opportunity to think about the question so if they are called, they can give an educated answer or even guess. It prevents shy and uncaring kids from hiding behind the outgoing kids, and even brings them out of their shell to an extent! It also promotes thinking on their own without relying on someone else to do it for them. I was a shy girl myself, and one of my teachers used that technique and it really works.
         Another way to ask effective questions is to refrain from asking close ended questions. Those are the questions where the only answer is a "yes" or a "no", or other fifty-fifty questions. Not only does it limit the student from actually comprehending what he/she just answered, but there could be a situation where the student guessed the answer without really knowing and got full credit! That is not real learning to me. Instead of asking the generic close ended question, ask something to the effect of "Do you agree with the speaker's opinions? Answer yes, or no. Then, explain.". Have the student explain why he/she feels that way. It opens the door to free thinking, forming an opinion, and taking a stance in different situations. It goes a long way in school, and in life!
         Positive reinforcement also goes a long way! Letting a child know that you are happy that they answered a question correctly, or even just attempted a question builds them up to want to answer more questions and participate in class. You can give them full attention, and praise them for their answer, or you can give them candy, let them pick something from a treasure box full of little trinkets, or even let them do something special that they've wanted to do! You can only imagine what one little piece of candy or small trinket can do!

 



         All in all, we as teachers can learn so much more by asking questions to our students! It's a win/win situation when we know how to ask questions the right way! It helps us as educators, as well as helps our students tremendously. I will carry those principles with me through the rest of my teaching days!