C4K #3

This week I had the privilege of reading Ava's blog post The President Has Been Shot . Ava's wrote about John F. Kennedy's assassination and how it affected his family. In her writing she included step by step descriptive details of how the shooting of JFK happened and also included other incidents that happened after the shooting. Ava also mentioned that she thought the shooting was very sad and scary. In my comment to Ava I mentioned exactly who I was and where I was from. I wrote that her writing was very informative and descriptive and that I agreed with her comment about the shooting being very sad and scary. I was overall very impressed with Ava's post and writing style! This was a great post!

Project 15: Search Engines

It was very interesting to see all the different and useful search engines besides Google. I am a Google user all day everyday but it also intrigued me to start using other search engines because they also offer different and successful ways to search the Internet. Some of these search engines include:

1. WolframAlpha.com is a different search engine from all the rest. According to reliable soft net they market this search engine as a computational knowledge engine. This search engine gives you pages and pages of facts and numerical data for many topics. It does calculations as well! It is relatively easy to use once you pull up the page, just type in what your looking for or wanting to calculate and it brings up many useful pages regarding the topic. I think this site can be a really useful tool once a person learns more about it. 
2. Bing.com is another form of Google that Microsoft has created. Bing is a very useful and easy to use tool. The home page is set up along the lines of Google but also different in its own ways. When the page pops up for Bing, all you have to do is type what you are looking for and it will show you numerous useful pages on the topic. I personally love using Bing, especially on  my mobile device because it has a voice operation that allows a person to voice search what they are looking for. 
3. Yahoo.com is a program inspired by the search engine Bing. It is mostly popular because of its email provider but in 2011 Bing launched the new Yahoo Search. This search engine is also inspired by Google and Bing but it makes it easier on people who have email accounts with them because they can launch a search right from their email. Even if you are not a Yahoo user, a person should definitely check this engine out! 
4. Ask.com was formerly known as Ask Jeeves, but changed to Ask.com for easier use. Ask is a question and answer based search engine. Most of the things people are searching for are answered by other people or polls done on the subject. The engine also has a general search option but from experience the results that it produces have not been very useful. This site is very user friendly. 
5. ChaCha.com is a search engine similar to Ask.com. Where users can ask or answer questions once a search on that topic has been preformed. The answers produced from searches on this site are very precise and to the point. They have a really cool feature that allows you to take quizzes that helps you decide on a number of topics to choose from, 
6. Blekko.com is a search engine developed by the people who are against using Google. They have a promise that their search engine is spam free. This engine is better suited for webmasters and people who need data more than people of normal use. I found this search engine to be easy to use but hard to navigate around once a search was performed.
7. AOL.com is an older search engine but works just as good as Google or Bing in my opinion. It was very easy to use and provided a lot of useful answers to things that coordinated to what I was searching for. 
8. DuckDuckGo.com I found this search to be my favorite. Not only does it have a very cool name it also has a lot of advantages over the other engines. It's interface is very clean and doesn't track its users. It has very nice features including only one page of the best results that they site could find on the subject being searched. It is very user friendly and unique. 

Blog Post 5

PLNs What Are They?

According to Edublogs Teacher Challenges PLN stands for "personal learning network" and it is a set of people and tools that can help a person call upon help, consultation, collaboration, and other assistance, when needed as an educator. There are three parts to PLN: personal, learning, and networks. The personal is about connecting and building personal relationships with other teachers, school administrators, college professors, and other experts around the world. The learning is about sharing new creative ideas and resources using new tools with people around the world. That is where Networking comes into play, it is the defining feature of PLN because it is the global network of learning. It allows people to tap into and share diverse teaching strategies and educational technologies. There are many reasons one can come up with as to why a person would want to create a PLN and explain how it helps you as a teacher... One important reason is that it is a unique and empowering transformation process which transforms your professional learning and teaching approach. A connected educator is also a connected learner, and if a teachers can use this process to better themselves in the classroom, then I'm all for it!

A great way to start your own PLN is:

1. Join Twitter
2. Participate in Twitter Chats
3. Start your own Blog
4. Subscribe to other useful and informative blogs
5. Use bookmarking tools
6. Join a community
7. Attend Web seminars 

The first additions to my PLN are going to be Twitter and YouTube! I'm excited and cannot wait to start my own journey towards my personal learning network! 

C4K #2

In Mikayla R's recent blog post from Mr. Boylen's 8th grade class, she explains her love for reading. In Mikayal's blog she tells us that she reads everywhere all the time! She explains that reading for her is an escape from the real world. Mikayla likes reading science fiction and also a little fantasy. In her blog, Mikayla also mentioned that she started really enjoying reading when she was in the 6th grade and ever since then has read 50 books! She also states that she wishes other people will find reading as enjoyable as she does one day!  

In my comment to Mikayla's post I informed her who I was and where I was from. I also informed Mikayla that I too share her love for reading. Mikayla's blog post was interesting to read because it was very detailed and informative and shed some light to who she is as a reader. I mentioned in my comment that I agreed with her statement about reading being an escape from the real world because it is for me as well. I stated in my comment that I was really fascinated that Mikayla loves reading so much at a young age! I also wrote that I was very proud of her for reading 50 books since she started reading in the 6th grade! I wished her luck with reading and expressed how much I hope she continues to love reading as she grows older. 

Project 7: My Sentences...

My Sentence

My Passion

Blog Post 4

Asking Questions: What questions do we ask? How do we ask them? 

As I was reading the article: The Right Way to Ask Questions I couldn't help but to be shocked at how much the article was spot on. I was reading it while saying to myself I remember doing and saying all of those things in the classroom. I always thought it was me just being shy and not wanting to be embarrassed if I answered the wrong thing but looking back I would say that the teachers really had no intentions of getting me to answer questions, so I did nothing to prepare myself for getting called on or really cared about answering the questions. I agree with this article and it portrays the honest truth when it comes to educators moving on without fully knowing if their students understand the content they are teaching. I believe that it is extremely important to that teachers make an extra effort to ensure their students fully understand the material he or she is teaching. I agree that there is a simple and very effective solution that teachers struggling with this can try. Start by simply asking the class a question and pausing for at least 3 seconds and then say a students name. By doing this in a classroom, it allows all of the students to automatically think about an answer and once another students name is called they can start sighing in relief for not being chosen. Of course this does not fix the problem teachers face about "questions" but it is a effective start.

It was very interesting watching the video Open Ended Questions because it is a great way to approach questions in the classroom. My college professor for EDU 330 asks her questions in class using this technique and it really allows the us students to open our minds and think about the answer. A lot of students do not get the opportunity to answer the questions teachers are asking because they are so vague and they only allow the students to answer vaguely. Once a teacher starts this technique in the classroom then it allows more students to answer that one question. I agree with this video and the information she provided and will definitely think about this strategy while I'm teaching.

My Sources Include:

The Right Way to Ask a Question
Open Ended Questions

C4K #1

 

In Kayleigh W's recent blog post from Mr. Boylen's 7th grade lit class, she summarizes the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I was impressed with summary she wrote for the book. The summary went into great detail and and it only took her one paragraph to write about the characters and book. Although it was a great summary, there were some spelling mistakes. Overall look and creativity of the blog post was great! 

I commented on Kayleigh's blog post and informed her who I was and where I'm from and that I am also writing a blog for one of my classes at school, so that was cool! I wrote in my comment how impressed I was with her ability to write a book summary in just one paragraph. I also informed her that I actually read this book when I was in the 9th grade and the fact that she is reading it at the 7th grade is amazing.  There were a few spelling mistakes that I located in the blog but I told her it is okay that I'm in college and I still spell things wrong. I also mentioned that she made a very good point at the end of her post when she said that the book shows that "there is adventure out there". I told her that this is a very true statement and that I hope she keeps reading and experiencing the adventures of the world. 

C4T 1 & 2 Summary

First Blog Post:

In Eva Buyuksimkesyan's blog page A Journey in TEFL she breaks down her experience and what she found interesting during her visit to the venue: #Bett2015. This venue is located in London and gives people the opportunity to up-to date their knowledge in education, attend seminars, workshops and talks, listen to people with practiced experience with things and get inspiration from students and teachers who were there to present their projects, experiments and ideas. She goes on to explain that her favorite part about #Bett2015 was visiting the stand Creaza; which is a tool to help teachers and students create projects. She continues on about how Mindomo; which is a tool of the program Mindomo. Buyuksimkesyan writes about the new different things that the program Mindomo provides and how its interesting and easy to use.

First Blog Post Comment:

In my first comment on the blog post, I wrote that I am a student from the University of South Alabama and how it was a privilege to be able to read and comment on her blog. I shared that I writing a blog for my EDM 310 class and left the link for in it in the comment as well. I wrote that I come from a traditional background in teaching and that all of this new technology can be overwhelming. I explained that at one time, one could call me technologically illiterate and how that has drastically changed after I started college. Also in my comment I included that access to this blog has given me great insight to new and interesting programs such as Creaza and Mindomo. I also noted that I will keep this blog in mind as I start my teaching career!

Second Blog Post:

The second post I commented on in Eva Buyuksimkesyuan's blog is a Lesson Plan for Valentines Day. The lesson plan is very interesting and creative. It allows the students to coordinate their learning of words and phrases and what they mean, with Valentines Day.

Second Blog Post Comment:

In my second comment on the blog post, I informed Mrs. Buyuksimkesyan who I was and where I came from again and I have been given the chance to follow and comment on her blog. I wrote that I loved the lesson plan idea and how cute and creative it was. I especially commented on how she coordinates Valentines Day with the children's need for learning words and phrases and there meaning. I noted that I would definitely keep this lesson plan in my mind for future reference in my teaching career.

Blog Post 3

Peer Editing

Peer editing is working with someone who is in your own age group, usually in a class setting, to help improve, revise, and edit your work. The best way to approach peer editing is to have a positive and helpful attitude. While peer editing, it is very important to remember that you are helping to change someone else's work, so being nice and suggesting useful changes is the best way to go. Giving compliments, making suggestions, and also making corrections are three easy steps to remember while peer editing. The post important thing to remember while peer editing is to always stay positive and to think about the other persons feelings and how you would want another person to edit your writing.  

When I peer edit my own classmates blog posts in EDM 310 I will remember the three steps: give compliments, make suggestions, and also make corrections. Giving compliments is the first step I will use while peer editing my classmates blog because who doesn't love a compliment? A compliment consists of telling the person whose blog I am editing what he or she did well in their writing. Making suggestions while peer editing is very important, suggesting consists of giving the person I am editing specific and detailed ideas about how to make their work better. Correcting is the last step I will use when peer editing my classmates. Corrections consist of checking my peers blog for any spelling or grammar mistakes, missing punctuation, and sentence structure. I think that the importance of peer editing is to allow people to correct and improve each others work so that they can be the best they can be. It is important for children and for adults too, to learn constructive criticism so that they can take it and improve themselves and make themselves better not only in writing but with other things as well.