C4T #4

Brian Cosby, an upper elementary teacher and STEM facilitator in Nevada, blogs about innovative teaching and learning. In his post, With all the talk about how much we value teachers, and especially great teachers... he talks about how athletes and pop stars are world renown, but teachers are rarely recognized by the media. He makes valid points about the importance everyone puts on "education" but then no one acknowledges the teachers who give students that education. Although I agree with Crosby and feel like teachers are taken for granted, I know the same holds true for nurses and firefighters. Somewhere there is a teacher who finally got through to an at-risk student and helped them get to college and that teacher will never make the headline news. Somewhere there is a nurse who literally saved someones life, and that nurse doesn't get a cover story either. It is sad that these positive, real life stories are not publicized.

Unleash the Learning Power of Blogs By Actually Using Them Consistently! talks about the effectiveness of blogging in the classroom when used on a regular basis. Cosby compares blogging to an exercise machine, it only works if you use it. I really feel like blogging will be one of the most useful tools I take away from this semester. Using them as online writing portfolios for an English class will not only motivate students to improve their work, it will also make it easier to track the progress of each individual student, rather than having to keep up with every writing assignment turned in on paper.

Post 13

Project based learning and technology are not used as much when teaching English/Language Arts. In high school especially, the focus is on reading and responding to literature in essay form. What are some tools/methods/ideas that could be used to bring technology and projects (other than essays) into an English classroom?



Two very effective projects that were done in EDM310 could be transferred to a high school English class. Creating a book trailer via iMovie and creating a virtual book via iBook Author are two great ideas for mixing up the mundane in a literature based class. Students could create book trailers of their summer reading assignments as opposed to only testing and writing essays about them. Virtual books could be used not only for practice with poetry, grammar, and other technical purposes but also as a sort of community service project-students could be required to create iBooks for younger children.
My favorite education app of all time, EduCreations, could be used in an English classroom to make reviewing conventions a little more interesting. The class could be broken into groups and each group given a lesson on conventions to teach (commonly confused words, fragments and run-ons, commas, letter writing, etc.). Each group would create their lesson using EduCreations and then teach the class. This would require students to research their topic and make sure they were teaching it write, come up with creative ways to make it interesting, and understand the material well enough to explain it to others. Reviewing conventions is a necessary evil in high school English classrooms, so I may as well take advantage of it as an opportunity to get students engaged and build a friendly, comfortable, team-based environment.

Post 12

As a teacher, one will most likely at some point have a student with some sort of disability. Whether it be physical such as blindness or mental such as Attention Deficit Disorder, there are many assistive technologies available to help. As a prospective English teacher, I can see difficulties with reading presenting a problem in my future. Luckily, there are software programs that allow computers to read text aloud. Narrator for Windows and Text-to-Speech for Apple will read the text on a screen. This is optimal for students who either cannot see or focus on a computer screen well.
There are several assistive technology applications for the iPad available via the Apple App Store. One that really stuck out to me was iCommunicate. It lets you design visual schedules, storyboards, communication boards, routines, flash cards, choice boards, and speech cards. This can be especially helpful for students with Autism. One characteristic of Autism is needing a strict, unchanging schedule. iCommunicate allows you to create these schedules and could be very useful in keeping the classroom together.
Assistive Technology can be something as complex as an augmentative communication system but it can also be as simple as categorizing using different colored paper. The most important thing to remember is to tailor your methods to your students. Every child has different needs and as a teacher you must be willing to work on different strategies and helping those with disabilities.

C4K April

Antonia writes about her team going to the aquatic center and taking swimming lessons. She likes to swim because it is good for her health and is a fun hobby. Antonia likes the different types of strokes they learn at the lessons. She really enjoys swimming!


Noah from Pt England School did his Term 1 2014 Chromebook Reflection. He enjoyed using Chromebook because he could learn faster than with pencil and paper, but he didn't like how the wireless internet sometimes went out. Noah found Math Whizz most interesting and he had an awesome term overall!

Project 12 Part B

Group Athens presents a Smartboard lesson.

Project #15

My project based learning plan, Rewriting the Story, can be found here.

C4T #3

Andrea Hernandez is a Google Certified teacher in Jacksonville, Florida. She writes a blog called EdTech Workshop. Her post 5 Things I Wish Everyone Understood About Educational Technology was really beneficial to me. I always talk about the importance of face-to-face contact and communication skills and Hernandez points out that there must be a balance between this and technology. She makes the statement, "The students in my 4th/5th 1:1 iPad class do not need lessons on using their iPads. They are faster and more adept than I am at using most of the apps. However, they are young and still have a lot of learning to do when it comes to using these devices in a balanced, useful way. They have a lot to learn to become literate users of these powerful tools." My students will be using technology whether I like it or not, so the best I can do is teach them how to use it effectively and responsibly.

Hernandez uses a 1:1 iPad program with her language arts classes. In her blog post, Personalized Learning in a 1:1 Classroom, gives a tour of her inbox and shows a glimpse of what her students are doing in the classroom. They are creatively taking initiative and responsibility for their own learning. Her students email her with questions and drafts of their work. Hernandez uses the technology for personalized learning. With the 1:1 iPad program, she is able to asses and assist each child individually. She makes the statement, "We read. We write. We edit. We discuss. We think. We reflect. We create. Why would this look identical in a group of unique individuals?"

Teaching Interview

Post #11

Blog Post #11
Athens group blog post via Google Slides.

C4K Summary March

In Ms. She's class, they are learning to write explaination storys. Here Te-Manea explains why she wears a hat. She wears a hat to keep from getting too hot and to look pretty!

David from Ms. Walter's class made a Google Slide presentation of a pirate map. View his presentation here. He uses a map and gives directions for the pirate to follow to get to the treasure. David gave great directions telling whether to go north, south, east, or west and how many blocks to go.

Mohammed in Mrs. Clark's class wrote a blog post about a species of snakes found in Australia. You can read his post here. Mohammed gives us a lot of interesting information about the Taipan snake, although his favorite type of snake is the Anaconda. He likes Anacondas because they are so big.