Tuesday, April 8, 2014

C4T Rotating March/April

Week #5

Beth Still at Nebraska Change Agent

Budding Artists Project
Beth Still is a Social Studies teacher in Nebraska who is eager to see her students learn. In this post, she writes about how she requested some art supplies in December through donorschoose. The supplies arrived in February and she gave the students a break from lessons for a few days to create some art. During this time, she was able to spend time bonding with the students while working on their art. She hung the artwork in the halls of the school and dedicated each piece to a different donor.

Donors Choose Logo

I commented to Beth that I liked reading that she took the time to give her students a break from their regular schedule to allow them to create and to allow her to get to know them better. I told her that I'm a future teacher and I like to hear that it's ok to give students a break occasionally. Also, I wrote that I liked learning about donorschoose, and that I will definitely remember this organization when I become a teacher. I thanked her for her encouraging post.

Week #6

Jenny's Learning Journey
Jenny She wrote about a day in her 2nd year class in which a student took initiative and photographed Mrs. She while she was helping another student record a movie of sentences that she wrote. The student did this all on her own.

I commented to Mrs. She that she is doing a great job incorporating technology in her classroom. I wrote that I'm sure she loves it when students like Tatiana take initiative and use what she has taught them to create something new. I told her that I visited her class blog and left comments for some of her students, and that I continue to be amazed how such young students can use technology. I also wrote that I think it is great that students can write, video, and share what they create, even at only 6 years old, and I encouraged her to keep up the good work.

Week #7

Wesley Fryer at Moving at the Speed of Creativity

The Evolution of BYOD for our Church Session
Wesley wrote about how his church board meeting is evolving with the use of technology. The board members are beginning to bring their laptops and tablets to meetings, and instead of printing copies of the 15 documents that they need, they are beginning to use Dropbox to distribute the handouts.

Bring Your Own Device

I commented to Wesley that in my EDM class I am learning about how technology is used in the classroom, but this excites me to see how it is used in church meetings as well. I told him that I'm on a committee at church and although it's a small committee, using technology like Dropbox could be beneficial. I also wrote that this is definitely the future for meetings, even in churches, because as our children learn to use technology in their schoolwork, they will expect to be able to use it in the rest of their lives.

Week #8

Silvia Tolisano at Langwitches Blog

Flipped Writing Videos - Production Techniques
Silvia writes about Emily Vallillo, sixth grade Humanities teacher at Graded, The American School of São Paulo and how she is creating videos to teach writing in her flipped classroom.

I commented to Silvia that this post was very informative to me, as this is my first semester in education classes and the concept of the flipped classroom is new to me. I told her that I think the story about Carol was creative and I like that students can rewind the video if they need to while they are writing. I also asked her a couple of questions, do you know how long it took Emily to create the six minute video? Do students actually go home and watch the video for homework, so that the flipped classroom works? I told her that I ask this because in my recent experience in a middle school classroom, the teacher had trouble getting the students to do homework, and I also commented that it may have just been the school though, because other teachers in the school said the same thing.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Sarah. Your blog looks great! I haven't posted any of my comment summaries yet, but I enjoyed reading through yours. I especially liked the one about donorschoose.org. It is really important to take time to get connected and learn about your students. I love that teachers idea of allowing students to let their creativity flow for a few days. If you can earn students' trust and show them you care, it will help you a great deal.

    I also liked the last one about the flipped classroom, and I can tell you from experience that it is not just the school. It can be very difficult to get students to do homework. I taught different grade levels, in different states, and in different socioeconomic environments, and the struggle to get homework turned in was the same. Some students will always turn in their homework, and some students will never turn in their homework. You'll quickly figure out who is who! Good luck with journey to become a teacher!

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  2. Sarah,
    I like how you are incorporating pictures in your summary posts. I need to take the time to make mine more visually appealing. I have donated to teachers using DonorsChoose.org and I have seen some examples of Flipped Classrooms. What interested me, surprisingly, was the Week 7 post from Wesley Fryer. It just hit me! I have been emailing a spreadsheet of baseball stats for my son's team to the coaches, when I could just put it in Google Drive and share it and allow them to edit! That was an Ah-ha moment for me.
    Keep up the good work!

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