I can't believe we've finished already! I've learned so many skills that I will use both in my professional and personal life. Here's my voicethread reflections on our journey through Education 552 at Peru College. Shalom everyone!
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Cinquain Curriculum Video
Both my experience as an English teacher and my experience as a paraprofessional to kids with specific learning disabilities inspired the creation of this video. This video would be so valuable to learning disabled kids who tend to struggle with reading and writing. I broke down the task over and over again. The video format allows them to replay the instructions over and over. I made sure I gave students many options. The particular project I chose moves from concrete to more abstract ways of thinking which is important for all students.
This project also helped me envision what a flipped English classroom might look like. I could record the instruction for the students giving them many examples. I might also create a handout to go with this video that gave the steps in print. Students could bring their drafts to me the next day. I could help them refine their word choice and help them correct grammar and writing giving me an opportunity to really coach editing skills.
Recording these types of lessons would also be a great to leave for substitutes. The substitute could work through the video with students and collect some rough drafts by the end of the hour. In a sense, you could be your own substitute. The substitute could also view the lesson ahead of time and feel so well prepared to step into the classroom and actually teach instead of just babysit. You could also use videos on those days when you lose you voice with a cold virus. This movie making tool is valuable in so many ways.
This project also helped me envision what a flipped English classroom might look like. I could record the instruction for the students giving them many examples. I might also create a handout to go with this video that gave the steps in print. Students could bring their drafts to me the next day. I could help them refine their word choice and help them correct grammar and writing giving me an opportunity to really coach editing skills.
Recording these types of lessons would also be a great to leave for substitutes. The substitute could work through the video with students and collect some rough drafts by the end of the hour. In a sense, you could be your own substitute. The substitute could also view the lesson ahead of time and feel so well prepared to step into the classroom and actually teach instead of just babysit. You could also use videos on those days when you lose you voice with a cold virus. This movie making tool is valuable in so many ways.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Twitter is one of the most valuable skills I have learned in this class. I had an account before I started the class, but Twitter remained a bit of a mystery to me even though I did some reading on it. I love Tweetdeck. It's helped me make sense of the information and people I find on twitter. I didn't realize it's potential to "make friends" with other educators around the world. One of the most interesting people I have met on Twitter is the author of the blog, Teen Whisperer. This woman works with teens from tough and troubled background in East London. She provides great insights into how to work with difficult kids. I work some kids with learning and behavior disorders. These kids present all kinds of challenges. This blog provides me with ideas about how to mold their behavior and make them more productive in the classroom. I found some ideas about how to reach a student who was particularly passive/aggressive. This student has lately begun to allow me to work with him and started to share a little about his life. There's a lot of wisdom to be found. Now I can find it worldwide!
freetech4teachers review
Like my exploration of youtube, I think I got a bit carried away by all the fun you can have viewing videos and playing games. I am a vocabulary nerd and got lost a while in vocabulary.com. I had to wake up and say, "Wait, I need to finish my homework!" Most of my teaching journey has been in the high school English classroom. I could do so much with so many tools on this blog; my problem would be not overwhelming myself or my students with projects. Here are the highlights of my tour through the blog:
Drawing Applications for Smart Boards: I am a bit old school when it comes to teaching grammar. I like diagramming sentences. These apps are interactive. I could have students diagram sentences or contribute their ideas of how the sentences could be diagrammed. I also like adding color and pictures to vocabulary words to help students remember definitions. Drawing apps mean I could have students working in pairs on drawing various vocabulary words then sharing their drawings with the whole class.
Make a comic sites: On the Byrne blog, I found several great sites where students can create their own cartoons. I think creating a comic strip recapping the major events.in a book would make an great book report option for students, particularly the artistic types. I could use this tool to create a fun visual add to teach plot development in short story. That's just a couple ideas.
Vocabulary.com: I think this might rival my solitaire app as my new electronic addiction. I moonlight as a freelance writer so I am a word nerd. This site is great vocabulary practice for the ACT or SAT test. I could see myself blogging about this in a classroom blog or sending out to parents in a email as a suggestion. You can log into this application using your facebook page. You could also have vocabulary.com linked to a classroom facebook page. Great site!
Video Creations for the Classroom: This post features a slideshow outlining all the ways you can make classroom videos online. Of course, these sites would offer me options to create videos that fit into the lessons in my curriculum . In addition, students studying a play or novel could create documentaries about various aspects of a novel or play. Another idea would be to have students create biographies of authors in a unit. These projects would give the English teacher an opportunity to teach students about copyright, fair use, and creative commons. English teachers should lead the way in helping to prevent online plagiarism
A class blog would be obviously very valuable in the English classroom. I would use it to publish the best of my students writing. Students would pick the best of their writing from perhaps a quarter. They would need to polish that piece making sure grammar and spelling were perfect. Parents and other family members would have access to the blog so that they could see what their kids have been writing. Over the four quarters, parents could see how their children are progressing in writing. Students would be provided with an audience for their writing that is meaningful to them and an audience that would motivate them to do their best work!
Drawing Applications for Smart Boards: I am a bit old school when it comes to teaching grammar. I like diagramming sentences. These apps are interactive. I could have students diagram sentences or contribute their ideas of how the sentences could be diagrammed. I also like adding color and pictures to vocabulary words to help students remember definitions. Drawing apps mean I could have students working in pairs on drawing various vocabulary words then sharing their drawings with the whole class.
Make a comic sites: On the Byrne blog, I found several great sites where students can create their own cartoons. I think creating a comic strip recapping the major events.in a book would make an great book report option for students, particularly the artistic types. I could use this tool to create a fun visual add to teach plot development in short story. That's just a couple ideas.
Vocabulary.com: I think this might rival my solitaire app as my new electronic addiction. I moonlight as a freelance writer so I am a word nerd. This site is great vocabulary practice for the ACT or SAT test. I could see myself blogging about this in a classroom blog or sending out to parents in a email as a suggestion. You can log into this application using your facebook page. You could also have vocabulary.com linked to a classroom facebook page. Great site!
Video Creations for the Classroom: This post features a slideshow outlining all the ways you can make classroom videos online. Of course, these sites would offer me options to create videos that fit into the lessons in my curriculum . In addition, students studying a play or novel could create documentaries about various aspects of a novel or play. Another idea would be to have students create biographies of authors in a unit. These projects would give the English teacher an opportunity to teach students about copyright, fair use, and creative commons. English teachers should lead the way in helping to prevent online plagiarism
A class blog would be obviously very valuable in the English classroom. I would use it to publish the best of my students writing. Students would pick the best of their writing from perhaps a quarter. They would need to polish that piece making sure grammar and spelling were perfect. Parents and other family members would have access to the blog so that they could see what their kids have been writing. Over the four quarters, parents could see how their children are progressing in writing. Students would be provided with an audience for their writing that is meaningful to them and an audience that would motivate them to do their best work!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
How to Use Quizlet Screencast
One of the most difficult things for the learning disabled kids I work with to do is to learn terms. This website helps them to create their own flashcards. It will even read the flashcard to them which is very valuable to them. In this screencast I show them how they can use quizlet to study the terms from the science text they use. Here is the screencast:
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Physical and Chemical Change Animoto Video
My training and certification is in English, Speech and Drama, but in order to work part time hours, I work as a SPED para at Papillion Junior High. I spend much of my day tutoring learning disabled and mentally handicapped kids. I made this video as a review for them as a review for their physical and chemical change quiz. Pictures are so great for mentally handicapped and dyslexic kids. This method is probably faster than cutting, pasting, and laminating. I could make even better use of these tools working with kids if I had an iPad handy so that my electronic library of images to improve vocabulary and to review key concepts would be right at my fingertips.
Physical and Chemical Change
Physical and Chemical Change
Is the Flipped Classroom a Better Version of a Bad Thing
My second article, Is the Flipped Classroom a Better Version of a Bad Thing?" by Hope Gillette, is a bit more critical of the flipped classroom. The main criticism is that by switching homework to watching videos of instruction or lectures, the teacher is still relying to heavily on the lecture method. The lecture method has been under fire for years as being archaic and for making the student a passive learner. They also thought students might too easily get way with not viewing the teaching at all. On the other hand, the article noted the obvious advantage of students being able to work through curriculum at their own pace. Also noted is that all students got to go home with an expert, not just students with educated parents.
The example of the Physics teacher in Texas addressed this criticism nicely, I thought. His interactive button provided both accountability and an open door to interact with the teacher about the ideas presented. I thought the videos to be a bit different than the traditional lecture. They were shorter, breaking information into chunks, inviting students to interact after each chunk. I think science and math lend themselves to the flipped approach very nicely. I'm interested to see how teachers of other grade levels and other subjects flip their classrooms.
The example of the Physics teacher in Texas addressed this criticism nicely, I thought. His interactive button provided both accountability and an open door to interact with the teacher about the ideas presented. I thought the videos to be a bit different than the traditional lecture. They were shorter, breaking information into chunks, inviting students to interact after each chunk. I think science and math lend themselves to the flipped approach very nicely. I'm interested to see how teachers of other grade levels and other subjects flip their classrooms.
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