Blog Post # 6

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

Think back to your elementary, middle, or high school experiences. Doesn't matter which one, the question is "How many thought provoking questions were you asked"? It's okay if the answer is zero, truth is many students aren't given the chance to allow their thought process to start working. Often times teachers ask close-ended, unproductive questions, disallowing students to develop higher order thinking skills. As a future educator, I have no intentions of carrying along this tradition. So, how do we go about ending this tradition, by learning what questions to ask and how to ask these questions.

The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom

This issue is addressed in Ben Johnson's blog post "The Right Way to Ask Questions". He states that perhaps the most important question to ask is "What does a teacher asking questions of a class expect the class to learn from the questioning process?" Some teachers don't often think about what they want their students to learn from class discussions. They typically ask their students general questions, such as, "Does everybody understand?". The fact is, general questions are not a basis for assessing whether or not students understand. To appropriately check for understanding among students, teachers should ask specific questions. Well, how do educators go about doing this? There is a simple and effective strategy, researched by Mary Budd Rowe, that all teachers can use in their classrooms when asking questions. When using this approach teachers would ask a question, pause for three seconds, then call on a student. This particular approach allows for all students to begin the thinking process, because they are unaware of which student the teacher will call on. Waiting at least three seconds is important due to the fact that when a teacher calls on a particular student over 1/3 of the class has tuned out or is relieved that their name was not called. Therefore all names should be called at random, allowing all students to be engaged in the thinking process and class discussion.

Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom

Maryellen Weimer, who is the Professor of Teaching and Learning at Penn State, lists three ways to better ask questions that promote learning among students. The first action she recommends teachers to do, is to prepare questions ahead of time. Teachers spend so much time preparing content for instruction that they fail to address what types of questions they will ask their students. When teachers fail to prepare questions they may end up asking their students mundane, irrelevant questions that are not clear and only confuse their students. When a teacher takes time to prepare questions, they are able to write out the questions and check for clarity and revise the question if need be. Preparing questions also allow teachers to decide if the question needs to be asked and the appropriate time to ask the question. Her second suggestion is to play with questions. Playing with questions allows students a longer time frame to think about their answer. Rather than immediately accepting an answer, let the question go unanswered for a while and encourage your students to think about it. An example of this would be to ask a question at the beginning of class and then wait until the end of class to ask for student responses. Collect many different answers and discuss each response before stating which responses are correct. The third approach is to preserve good questions. These can be questions you asked or questions that a student has asked. Good questions can be revised, refocused, or used in another class. When a teacher keeps and shares a question proposed by one of their students, he or she shows their class that they are interested and care about what their students have to say. Ms. Weimer states that educators should also improve their questioning techniques so that students are able to see the importance of questions and how they help us learn and think. "Eventually students may start asking better questions themselves, including ones we can't answer. And those are the best questions of all".

Asking Questions to Improve Learning

In this video Joanne Chesley, MSA (Master of School Administration) Program Coordinator at North Carolina A&T State University, explains how teachers can improve their questioning skills. She focuses on open-ended versus close-ended questions. Close-ended questions are unproductive and "structures a response for the student and can be answered with one word". Open-ended questions stimulate discussion and "leaves the form of the answer up to the person responding, eliciting more thinking and yielding more information".

Asking Effective Questions

Here are some examples of types of questions that are fruitless and unproductive and questions that stimulate discussion and involve higher order thinking skills.

Teachers should avoid asking unproductive questions such as:

• Recall Questions - Obvious Answer
• Rhetorical Questions - Solely for dramatic effect
• Yes or no Questions - Doesn't inhibit discussion
• Leading Questions - Aren't open-ended 

In order to stimulate discussion and engage students, teachers should ask questions that involve higher order thinking skills such as:

• Questions that ask for student inputs - What should ___ have done? What would you do in this case? 
• Questions that ask how and why - How might this argument be made more persuasive? Why do you think that ____ made this argument? 
• Prediction Questions - What will happen next?
• Ask students to bring their own questions to class. 

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?

Future and current teachers need to know what type of questions to ask, how to ask those questions, and when to ask those questions. While teachers should focus on content they should also allow time for planning questions. During class discussions, teachers should ask one clear and specific question at a time, making sure not to confuse their students. The questions teachers ask should be thought provoking and stimulate discussion among the students. We should not ask unproductive, general questions and then expect our students to be engaged and give thoughtful and insightful answers. 

Project # 8 Book Trailer

Sofia's Dream



Mr. Land Wilson's Website

Project # 7 This is My Sentence

Project #7 This is My Passion

Blog Post # 5

Blog Post # 4

Podcasting

Why Podcasting?

Podcasting offers creative learning to students in and beyond the classroom. Podcasting enables teachers and their students to communicate with other classrooms around the world. Students are able to go back and explore what they have learned and created in class.

How do we Podcasts?

Here are four example of how a teacher can implement podcasting into his or her classroom: 1.Engage parents by sharing their child's work., 2.Assign collabrative assignments., 3.Keep absent students up-to-date on material they have missed., and 4.Allow students to create podcasts and showcase the work they have created.

Langwitches

Author, Silvia Tolisano, was born in Germany, raised in Argentina, and now teaches in São Paulo. Throughout her career in education, she has been a World Language Teacher, Technology Integration Facilitator, and a Academic Technology Coordinator.

Langwitches - Flat Stanley Podcast

I thought that the Flat Stanley podcast was a wonderful way the teacher let her students explore their imaginations and express their creativity. I loved the vivid details and enthusiasm each student expressed as they brought their journeys to life. The students were asked to choose a location, any location that they would like. After finding their location, students were then asked to research information about that particular location and write their very own script. The podcast allowed students to take a journey around the world through their own imaginations and right from their classroom.

Judy Scharf Podcast Collection

Judy Scharf is a former accountant/programmer who now teaches 7th grade Computer Applications in NY. She says that she loves teaching because, "there is always something new to learn and teach the students." Ms. Scharf's "Podcast Collection" is an excellent source of information for those who are new to podcasting and can be used as a source of information. In her post she explains that a podcast is "a cross between a broadcast and a iPod". Podcasting enables information to be shared worldwide via the internet. Podcasts may be used to relay information on any subject matter, allowing any teacher who attempts podcasting the ability to succeed. She offers tips on how to succeed when making a podcast. Tips to succeed include, making sure you spend enough time learning the software you plan on using to feel comfortable with, giving students a choice of topics, allow students to choose who they would like to work with, have students listen to some exemplary podcasts, a list of criteria for researching, and to allow students plenty of time to complete the project.

Langwitches- Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting

In this blog post Ms. Tolisano focuses on podcasting helping to improve listening, comprehension, and speaking skills. The second graders were each given a part from the story of Purim and recorded the story as a podcast. The trick in this podcast is that the students were recorded out of order. After all students finished recording their parts, they had to edit the podcast and move the clips into the correct order. These exercise allowed students to think critically and work collaboratively to present the story in the correct order. This exercise did not focus on the actually making of the podcast but rather the student's listening, comprehension, collaboration, speaking skills and fluency in the target language.

Information for My Podcast

Although I found all of the posts to be informative and interesting, the most helpful would be Judy Scharf's "Podcasts Collection". This particular post offered suggestions for podcasts topics, suggestions for researching those topics, and helpful tips for succeeding at producing a podcast.

Project # 3 Presentation

Blog Post Assignment # 3

How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback to Your Peers?

What is Peer editing?

Peer editing means "working with someone your own age, usually in your class, to help improve, revise, or edit his or her writing. When editing someone's writing there are three important rules one must follow; compliments, suggestions, and corrections. When you are editing a peers blog make sure to be positive through out your response and offer constructive criticism in a respectful manner. Start by giving a compliment, state whether or not you like their topic or if they have stayed on the topic at hand. You may also compliment on word choice, usage of details, how well their writing is organized, and sentence structure.

The second step in peer editing is suggestions. Offer classmates suggestions on examples such as word choice and sentences. When offering your suggestions, remember not to be pushy and rude. It may seem like you are helping, but being negative and mean will offer help to no one and only create a difficult environment while working together.

The third step is corrections. Again be positive and remember to be specific. You may feel as though it is rude but offering corrections can help improve your classmate's overall grade. All students should remember that just because the advice is offered doesn't mean it is correct or the best, yet always be thankful and respectful.

Blog Post # 2 Collaborative

What Will Teaching in the 21st Century be Like?

Dr. Dancealot is an extremely humorous video. In this video, Dr. Dancealot gives poor instructions to his students that are learning complicated dances, such as the Foxtrot and Waltz. This video pokes fun at how some teachers throw information at students in an uninteresting way, and then expect students to be able to perform difficult tasks based merely on the information they are given. For example, at one point during the video Dr. Dancelot is giving dance step instructions behind his desk where students are unable to see. When a student tries to stand up and perform the steps to grasp the concept of the dance, the student is scolded. This example shows how important hands on learning is in the classroom. No one can expect a student to perform a task perfectly without having practiced it first, no matter how much instruction they are given. Even though the Dr. Dancelot is a bit extreme, it definitely shows the need to have group interaction and hands on learning techniques in the classroom.
By: Cathleen Inker

I think that the Dr. Dancealot video is an exemplary example of the importance of hands on learning and project based learning. Dr. Dancealot says that he has taught dance for 12 years but seems to barely know the dance moves himself. Why would he if has only read about the dances and has never actually performed them himself. He spends the class time “teaching” his students about dance through powerpoint slides and “showing” them steps while he is behind his desk. I think the video is trying to express or relay the fact that students do not learn through watching and listening, they learn when they are able to perform the tasks or skills themselves.
By: Jasmine McCall

One word describes Mr. Dancealot, boring. I laughed a lot. His teaching methods was unreal. He was the only one interested in his dancing instruction.
By: Edna Montgomery

Jasmine McCall

Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student

Wendy Drexler is an instructor at the University of Florida. She designed the university’s first blended Moodle course. Moodle can be used as a platform to construct fully online classes. Ms. Drexler also facilitated students in developing their personal learning environment, demonstrated in the youtube video ‘The Networked Student’.

The video explains what it means for students to be 21st century learners. The male in the video explains how connectivism, “the theory that presumes that learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties made possible through various tools of technology”, empowers and enables students to be in control of their personal learning environment. Students are allowed to make connections with others who will help these students in strengthening their learning process. I found the use of an mp3 player as an educational tool interesting, as it enables students to have access to lecture recordings from professors at Berkeley, Yale, and other universities. This may come in handy when a student is researching information for a projects. Students are also able to use sites such as twitter, skype and blogger. These sites enable students to go outside of their classroom, they connect students with different people around the world.

An important question proposed in the video is “Why does the networked student even need a teacher?”. This question is pretty much answered in the video, while a networked student is allowed to be in control of their learning process and is an independent learner, he or she would still need guidance from their instructors. As described in the video a teacher is a ‘learning architect’ and is their to aide students in building their personal learning network and to take advantage of learning opportunities presented to them. The teacher should also help students get excited and motivated about new information that they find. Teachers also offer guidance and assistance in helping students to communicate more effectively..Teaching and “learning” as we know will cease to exist. Traditional methods of teaching will soon be phased out, technology is transforming learning and teaching. While students are rapidly becoming independent learners, I do believe teachers will still play a vital role in their educational journeys.



Cathleen Inker

I was assigned the video, “ Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts” by Vicki Davis. This video can be found on the Edutopia website. The video is a great example of how to implement technology into the classroom and step outside traditional teaching methods. Vicki Davis’ students were sharing their thoughts and work with students all over the world! She has created a website called “Digi Teen” where students and teachers can comminucate through blog posts and share their ideas. They also have assigned topics they post their research and writings, that other students from around the world can comment on and pull information from. In addition, students can not only critique and comment on each other's work, but they can also collaborate on assignments together, even though they are thousands of miles from each other. Davis also includes her students in the teaching process. She allows them to stand in front of the classroom to share their work and not only instruct each other, but Ms. Davis herself. For example, in the video she says that her students taught her how to use Tetherraform, which she was unaware of how to use until her students showed her that day. Davis utilizes technology in her classroom on a daily basis.

Edna Montgomery

Mr. Roberts thoughts on teaching in the 21 century, focuses on technology making the classroom an interesting place. I feel his thoughts of technology is great because of the ability to involve the students in learning more about the world. As a educator, interested in learning would mean a lot to me.

My Test Post Title

This is a test post.

Project # 8

Blog Post # 6

Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student

Connectivism is "the theory that presumes that learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties made possible through various tools of technology". The video demonstrated how important that theory is to 21st century learners. Ms. Drexler gives details on how a student is able to take control of their learning and make connections that will help them as their learning progresses. 

The question proposed is "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?". This question is pretty much answered in the video. While a networked student is an independent learner he or she still needs guidance from their teacher. The teacher helps the student build this network and take advantage of learning opportunities presented to them. A teacher is also there to help his or her student get excited and motivated about new information that they find. This process allows students to be in control of their own learning and effectively communicate with others.

Am I ready to be a networked teacher?, the answer to this question is currently no, although I plan to become a networked teacher in the future. I hope to teach kindergarten of first grade and definently believe in my students being hands on learners. Hands on learning enables students to think about what they are learning and apply what they have learned. My students may not understand connectivism, but they should be introduced to this type of learning and what it means to be a networked student. 

Blog Post # 4

Joe Dale -  Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom

The video on Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom helped me to understand the importance of podcasting in the classroom. Podcasting opens a student's imagination and increases their thinking skills. Podcasting is a great form of technology to use when a student is ill and miss days of school. It creates a way for these students to gain access to information and lessons they missed by being absent. Parents also have access to this information and this allows parents and their children a chance to explore together, what the student has learned in class. 

Flat Stanley

I thought this podcast was a wonderful way this teacher let her students explore their imaginations and express their creativity. I loved the vivid detail and enthusiasm each student had as they read about their journeys. The students were allowed to choose any location they would like, then find information about that particular location and write their very own script. This project allowed students to go on a journey around the world right from their classroom. 

Special Blog Assignment # 1

WolframAlpha Search 

When I searched compare the populations of India, China and the United States, I found that the United States is ranked 3rd in the world with a population of 309 million people, India is ranked 2nd with a population of 1.21 billion people, and China is ranked 1st with a total population of 1.35 billion people. The search also provided the number of people per square mile for each country. The demographics from 2010 showed that India has 1058 people per square mile, China has 376 people per square mile, and the United States has 87.3 people per square mile. 

I then searched, compare the number of students in India, China, and the United States. From this search I discovered that India and China each have more primary students alone than the total number of primary and secondary students in the United States. India has the highest number of primary and secondary students with 143.3 million primary students and 107.7 million secondary students. China comes in second with 101 million primary students and 99.2 million secondary students. The United States comes in third with a 24.39 million primary students and 24.19 million students. 

Lastly I searched most spoken languages. I found that Mandarin ranks number 1 with 1.1 billion people speaking Mandarin. Mandarin originated and is most spoken in China, and 875 million people are native speakers. There are two countries that use Mandarin as an official language, China and Taiwan. The second most spoken language is English with 760 million people speaking English. English originated in the United Kingdom, but is most spoken in the United States. There are more than ten countries that use English as an official language. 

I believe that WolframAlpha could be a very useful tool in the classroom. I found the site to be very interesting and fascinating. The site takes no time to provide data. I think the site can be explored by the teacher and her students as a group. WolframAlpha can also be used as part of a learning center in a classroom. Students can work individually or with a partner to explore the site and write about what they found. 


Gary Hayes Social Media Count

Gary Hayes' Social Media Count tracks real-time stats of social networking sites. There are twenty different combinations that one can choose from will visiting the site. The Social Media Count consists of four categories: social, mobile, games and heritage, you may choose one of these along with a time frame, ranging from the present moment to over a year ago. The Social Media Count goes beyond social networking sites such as facebook, twitter, and youtube. By clicking on the Heritage tab, you will be able to view how much money is being made at the present time or how much money has been made in the past at the United States post office and from music track downloads and you are also able to view how many people have read a newspaper or been to an orchestra. 

I found it fascinating to watch the numbers increase at such a rapid rate. I could have never imagined those numbers being so high and the unbelievable rate at which they increased. I believe that as an educator, I should be up to date on technology and it's ever changing ways. However I also think that technology in the classrooms should be limited. While social media such as facebook and blogs can be useful tools for a teacher and his or her students when used in the proper way, they do not need to be consumed by it.  

Project # 2 Wordle

Blog Post # 1

About Me
Hi everyone, my name is Jasmine McCall. I was born in Mobile, Al and I currently reside in Semmes, Al. I am 24 years old and a junior at the University of South Alabama, where I am majoring in Elementary Education. I chose to attend South mainly because the university is close to my family. I have two wonderful loving parents and four siblings, one brother Hartford Jr. an electrical engineer and the father of my two nephews Xavier and Hartford III. I also have three sisters: Nikita, who is a sergeant in the army, Simone a photography major at the University of Montevallo, and Makayla whom is the mother of my beautiful two month old niece Kylee Rose. I chose to major in elementary education, because I have always had a passion for working with children. I want to be a role model and confidant for my future students. In my spare time I enjoy reading,doing latch and hook kits, and spending time with my wonderful niece. I have never been outside of Alabama, so I would love to experience and immerse myself in other cultures. In the future, I would love to travel to Barcelona, Catolonia, Spain.

My Future Classroom
My classroom will be a place where my students will feel comfortable expressing themselves and their creativity. I want my students to be motivated and have the ability to strive further in their quest for knowledge on their educational journey. One teaching method I plan on using would definitely be enthusiasm. My behavior will set the overall tone of the class, therefore I should model the same behavior I will expect from my students. Expressing my interest and excitement about what I am teaching will in turn have my students excited about what they are learning. I would also like to have learning centers and small groups set up in my classroom, this will provide my students a way to individually and cooperatively discuss and explore the concepts they have learned and to build effective communication skills.

Randy Pausch on Time Management
While watching the Randy Pausch video, I learned that "being successful doesn't make you manage your time well, but managing your time well makes successful". Having time management is great because if you manage your time correctly you can also have fun in life. I also learned that there three keys to time management: goals, priority, and planning. Mr.Pausch stated you must always have a plan, even though you may have to make changes to that plan. A plan is a great stepping stone. One should remember, when making a plan, he/she should break the plan down into smaller steps and start with the biggest, ugliest one first.In the video Mr.Pausch demonstrated another great way to manage time is to make a to do list. This particular To-Do list is known as the Covey four- quadrant to-do. When making to-do list.The first quadrant should be your due soon and important, and second should be important and due soon, the third should be not important and lastly your not important and not due soon quadrant.By creating this quadrant you will relieve the possibility of procrastination and also a huge amount of stress.

I learned that Mr. Randolph Frederick "Randy" Pausch was born on October 23,1960 in Baltimore,Maryland. He graduated from Oakland Mills High School which is located in Columbia. After graduating high school, Mr.Pausch went on to attend Brown University, where he received his bachelor's degree in computer science in May of 1982. Six years later,Mr.Pausch received his PH.D in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University in August 1988.Later he became an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University and developed the Building Virtual Worlds course, which he taught for ten years. In 2007, he was inducted into the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), where he received two awards for his achievements in computing education. In 2008, Pausch succumbed to his pancreatic cancer. He was survived by his wife and three kids: Dylan, Logan, and Chloe.Another thing I learned was that he never let his cancer get the best of him. You would have never known of his struggle with cancer because, he seemed to always have a smile on his face.

Test Number 1

This is test number 1.