Blog Post 4: What questions do we ask? How do we ask?

     Asking questions is something teachers should do all of the time, but they need to be mindful of how they ask questions and exactly what questions they ask. Andi Stix says, in her video Open Ended Questions, that teachers should try and always ask open-ended questions versus close-ended questions. I completely agree with her, because this allows for the student's mind to start working and thinking of an answer instead of just a quick yes or no response. The lack of student involvement during classroom discussions can be a problem and in the video, Asking Better Question in the Classroom, Joanne Chesley says that we (teachers) are getting what we asked for by asking close ended questions. Teacher's should always try to engage their students and involve them in discussions and have them create questions or answer them a little more in depth, this can only help the students further themselves in their education.

     How might one go about asking such intriguing questions? The article, Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom, gives three very good ways to come up with questions. The first way they say is to prepare your questions. You, the teacher, should go into your lesson with some questions already written down so that you do not have to think of how to word it or present it while in the middle of teaching. The second way is to play with good questions. This is when you present a question maybe at the beginning of the lesson just to stimulate the student's minds, but do not answer the question until the end of the lesson. The third way is preserving good questions. This does not mean only preserving the questions that you asked the students, but also preserving their responses. This may help you rethink or revise your original question.

     

How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback to Your Peers?

     These videos and slideshow taught me a lot about peer editing. I have always been the type of person that never really wanted to call someone out on a mistake or correct them. Peer editing is something I am usually not very good at. These presentations about what it means to be a peer editor showed me the correct way to go about helping people see their mistakes and correcting them. The video, What is Peer Editing?, tells you all of the things you should be looking for. For example, the author's word choice, organization, using details, etc. The slideshow, Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial, says that three important steps to remember are: compliments, suggestions, and corrections. As a peer editor you do not want to attack the person or their work with mean or hurtful comments, instead, use compliments and then make some suggestions on how they could change or correct their work.

     The video, Writing Peer Review Top Ten Mistakes, was so cute! I love all the names for the students. They described the top ten types of peer reviewers and I would say that they did an excellent job. This shows exactly how to not review someone’s work and I like that it also shows the reaction of the student whose work is being reviewed. This video helps you realize how your actions or words you use while reviewing someone else’s work can really affect them. You really have to follow the three steps (compliment, suggest, and correct), stay positive, and be specific while trying to help a fellow student better their work.

Blog Post # 2: What Will Teaching in the 21st Century be Like?

1)      1) Mr. Dancealot shows what happens when teachers do not teach their students properly. He is teaching a dance class and none of his students actually practiced the dances until their final exam, that just does not work. The author makes his case for this conclusion by showing the students during their final exam. They all looked lost and like they had not learned anything from his class, because they had not. I completely agree with the conclusion, a teacher cannot half-way teach their class and expect them to excel, it takes a lot of work. Teachers should be asking questions during their lesson, not just blurting out information and having the students write it all down.

2)      Roberts seems to think that to teach in the 21^st century you need to be more than just a filter for your students. I love that he used the term “filter”, because once they have gone home and used Google or any other search engine, then it is the teachers job to make sure that they obtained accurate and useful information. I agree with Roberts that teaching is changing all of the time. Teachers should stay up to date with society and new technologies, because that is what their students will be interacting with and using. As a future educator, I will try and keep myself as relevant as possible. I do not want to be one of those teachers that do not know how to do things; if the students have to use/deal with certain technologies, then so will I.

                                I.            Information is Everywhere

·         Whatever

·         Whenever

·         Wherever

                              II.            How would your students use this information?

·         Remember, apply, understand, analyze, evaluate, create

·         Responsibility, reliability, integrity

                            III.            Reevaluate tools used in the classroom

·         Discussion

·         Reliable sources

·         Publishing and evaluating work

·         Collaborating

·         Benefits

                            IV.            Entertainment vs. Enagament

3)      I did not care for this video as much. I think that this is the exact opposite of what Roberts said about not using search engines and just letting the teacher act as the filter. The teacher is made out to only be his filter and not give him any other input. I would not be happy if I went to a class where the teacher did nothing except tell me if my information is credible or not. The 21^st century student will definitely be overwhelmed with all of the technology that is available to them, but they need to know which to use and not use. This teacher, I suppose, did help him decipher that information, but that also makes her seem like just a filter.

4)      I like that Davis is teaching her students in order to make them more confident in using technology. I think there should be a happy medium between the teacher teaching and her students leading a lesson. Having the students teach requires them to truly understand what it is they are learning about, not just memorizing. The teacher should stay involved by correcting any misleading information. Having said this, I do not think that the students teaching should outweigh the teacher’s.

5)      I believe that the first graders definitely have a leg up on the under grads and grads. The older people have grown up with the development of the technology, whereas the first graders have never lived without it. Therefore it makes sense for them to be learning more and doing more with the technology at such a young age. Society is so dependent upon technology that you almost have to know how to use it now. For example, the cell phone companies have almost completely done away with any phone that is not a smartphone.

6)      Flipping the classroom is very new to me. I really like this idea. The fact that the students would have the little bit of knowledge and questions already prepared would really save a lot of time in class and allow more time for in depth learning of the lesson. I like how she said that they could bring strategies that they used the night before and share them with the other students. Flipping could be great for other subjects besides math. Teachers could use this as a springboard for the next day’s class and just jump straight into the information.  

Blog Post #1: What About EDM 310?

I am going to be honest; I have heard terrifying things about EDM 310. Previous students have told me that it is hard to pass and that the teachers are very intimidating and scary. Hearing these things has obviously made me a little scared and intimidated by the class. I had to remind myself, however, everyone has a different experience in a course and if I allow myself to go into this class already scared to death, then how will I ever do well in it? Starting on the first day of class I already realized that this would be very different from any other class that I have taken. Mrs. Vitulli’s class, which I took last semester, was the first class that really required me to explore new resources and be able to use them and I really enjoyed her class. I feel that this class will do the same, just with different resources. The most difficult thing for me in EDM 310 will probably be just learning how to use Blogger and also videoing myself, I am usually pretty shy and definitely do not like seeing myself in a video. I will address this issue by simply conquering my fears and devoting myself to doing whatever it takes to get to my graduation and degree.

Practice Blog Post

My name is Brittany Slay and I am an Elementary Education major. I am from Birmingham, but moved to Elberta last summer and got married in November. I am one of six children. My parents just could not take living four hours away from me, so they are actually moving to Foley this week just to be closer. I have developed a love for hunting and fishing ever since my husband has started teaching me. I worked at an elementary after school care program when I lived in Birmingham. I loved getting to see “my kids” every day and making an impact on their lives. I have parents of children that added me on Facebook just to tell me that their child misses me, and that just melts my heart and makes me feel so loved. I chose to become an Elementary school teacher because it is such a rewarding field and I absolutely love children. I cannot wait to start teaching children. I just want to help make a positive impact in their lives, because that is what I feel teachers should do during their practice. A teacher can be so much more to a student than just their teacher. There are some students that might view their teacher as a role model, someone they can talk to, someone who pushes them to better themselves. That is the type of teacher I want to be, I want to really push my kids educationally and morally. My future students will leave my class with better manners, social skills, positive views on their education, and hopefully much more knowledge than when they came to me. My passions are to make a difference not only in the lives of my future students but also in the field of education. I hope to bring, or maybe further, the ability to teach in a variety of ways versus teaching in one particular manner. I want all of my students, whether they are visual, audio, or however they may learn best, to have the opportunity to learn the way that they like best. This quote by John Steinbeck is one that really describes my passion for teaching,

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.

Citation for quote: John Steinbeck. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved May 27, 2015, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnsteinb122146.html Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/citation/quotes/quotes/j/johnsteinb122146.html#bB5j3WoK73bjSeCi.99

Second Post

Second Post

My Test Post Title

This is my First Post. I clicked the HTML button which I should always do in EDM310. I am now a Blogger!