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Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Blog Post 5
What are Personal Learning Networks (PLN)? How can they help you as a
teacher? How are they formed? How can you create your own PLN? Who will
be the first additions to your PLN?
A PLN (Personal Learning Network) is a quality list of a set of tools, resources, and people that you can rely on to help you, collaborate and consult with, and assist you with just about anything you could possibly need when doing research for a project or any kind of learning experience. When I first came into this blog post assignment, I had no idea what a PNL is. I had never heard of it in school growing up, which truly shows how technology in school systems has advanced, considering that elementary through high schoolers rely on these for research. When I began looking in to this post, I found the sources Personal Learning Networks Are Virtual Lockers for Schoolkids within Vicki Davis's blog, Developing A Personal Learning Network by my EDM310 teacher John Strange, and Welcome to My PLE! very helpful in discovering what a PLN is, how to set one up for myself, and how to use it.
When I began to look in to PLNs and how I was going to begin to create my own, I decided to use Symbaloo and see how it could all work. So far I have an account set with Symbaloo connected to my Google account, in fact, I went ahead and made it my official homepage because of how useful I found it. Within Symbaloo, you can pick and choose your own icons and, what they call, Webmixes that are quick links to practically any social media, news, research, and entertainment website out there. For example, I have all of my social medias that I am a part of on mine along with ABC, NBC, and CBS news, The New York Journal, The Huffington Post, and other basic things such as Google, Google drive, and Gmail. When I saw that I can pick basically anything to help enhance my learning experience, I figured why not have every possible link on there for my to access. The more links I acquire, the more opportunities I will have to learn and find new information. Here are actually some pictures of my Symbaloos:
A PLN (Personal Learning Network) is a quality list of a set of tools, resources, and people that you can rely on to help you, collaborate and consult with, and assist you with just about anything you could possibly need when doing research for a project or any kind of learning experience. When I first came into this blog post assignment, I had no idea what a PNL is. I had never heard of it in school growing up, which truly shows how technology in school systems has advanced, considering that elementary through high schoolers rely on these for research. When I began looking in to this post, I found the sources Personal Learning Networks Are Virtual Lockers for Schoolkids within Vicki Davis's blog, Developing A Personal Learning Network by my EDM310 teacher John Strange, and Welcome to My PLE! very helpful in discovering what a PLN is, how to set one up for myself, and how to use it.
When I began to look in to PLNs and how I was going to begin to create my own, I decided to use Symbaloo and see how it could all work. So far I have an account set with Symbaloo connected to my Google account, in fact, I went ahead and made it my official homepage because of how useful I found it. Within Symbaloo, you can pick and choose your own icons and, what they call, Webmixes that are quick links to practically any social media, news, research, and entertainment website out there. For example, I have all of my social medias that I am a part of on mine along with ABC, NBC, and CBS news, The New York Journal, The Huffington Post, and other basic things such as Google, Google drive, and Gmail. When I saw that I can pick basically anything to help enhance my learning experience, I figured why not have every possible link on there for my to access. The more links I acquire, the more opportunities I will have to learn and find new information. Here are actually some pictures of my Symbaloos:
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Blog Post 4
What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?
In a classroom, asking questions is one of the most important things a teacher can do for his or her students. As a teacher, you want your questions to make students think and encourage them to ask more questions and participate. In order for this to happen, you need to ask good questions, not just everyday, average questions. When preparing to write this blog post for class, we were given a few good resources to read over and get some answers. The two sources I found most helpful are The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom by Ben Johnson and Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom by Maryellen Welmer, PhD.
One of the main purposes behind asking questions in the classroom is to check for understanding from the students This can benefit the teacher and the student. Perhaps one of the least affective question to ask to check for understanding would be, "Does everybody understand?". When a teacher asks this question, we all know that the student will most likely just answer this question with a "yes" or no response whether they actually understand or not. When you ask a yes or no question, such as this one, they know that the teacher is wanting to hear a "yes" in return or a positive response, so, that's what the student responds with. Like Ben Johnson stated in his blog, when you ask this type of question you are basically stating "This is your last chance. If you do not have question, then i assume that you understand and I can move on to the next subject. I am absolved from any lack of understanding on your part because I asked this fair question, and gave you a fair chance to answer." A problem with this is that the students may not know that they do not understand, therefore, they do not know to ask questions to help them better their understanding. The question to answer now is, how do we appropriately check for the students' understanding? We need to ask specific questions that do not require a yes or no response.
In The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, Mr. Johnson makes another great observation. When a teacher is giving a lecture and stops to ask a question, the classroom is then divided into basically three different groups of students; the smart kids who try to answer every question, the not as smart kids who rely on the smart kids to answer, so they don't have to, and the kids who simply do not care to answer. Johnson went to numerous classrooms to observe this and saw that students usually assumed one of these roles by the fourth grade and acted accordingly in the classroom. I, for one, can understand this 100% because I was one of the students who assumed one of these roles growing up. I put myself in the group of students who were not as smart and were okay with the smart kids answering all of the questions. Looking back at my those days now, I see that I had to study much more outside of class because, by not answering or asking question in class like the smart kids, I did not learn as much as I could have and I understanding things less. Some teachers see this happening in their classrooms and are okay with it because they reason that the rest of the students are learning from the answers that the other students are giving. This can be true in some cases, but it is very rare because students who are not answering the questions are usually sighing in relief that they do not have to answer and lose interest in the question completely. Other teachers try to mix it up by trying to call on a specific students to answer the question, so the rest of the students can think about their answer, but in reality, the students are once again sighing in relief that they did not get called on. Mary buds Rowe had a simple and effective solution to this misunderstanding. Mary suggested that teachers should ask a question, pause for a few seconds to give every student in the class the chance to think about the question and of an answer, and then call on a student by name at random and sometimes more than once. By doing this, it allows the students to ponder for the answer, instead of instantly being relieved and zoning out the question all together.
Maryellen Welmer discusses some great ways to asking affective questions in Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom. Like I mentioned earlier, a wood question can and will make a student think and anchorage them to participate and dig further for the answer than they usually would. Welmer suggested three easy ways or steps to asking successful questions. First, you should prepare your questions ahead of time. By doing this your questions can be much more clear, not only by clear wording but, also, concept-wise as well. It will give you a chance to ask yourself ahead of time if this is a question that needs to be asked, if it is relevant, and when the best time to ask this question would be. Second, you should try to play around with some questions. Questions can lose their power to encourage and engage the students as soon as it is answered. One way to prevent this would be to possibly leave a question unanswered for a while. For example, you could propose the question at the beginning of a presentation or lecture and leaving it to be answered at the end of class, giving the students plenty of time to really ponder the question and figure out an answer or even another good question of their own. Another way to play with a question would be to ask a question and allow the students to discuss amongst them and write down all of their possible answers and ideas to give to the teacher. The teacher can then discuss each possible answer's merit and detriments to ensure that every student understands why an answer is correct or incorrect. Lastly, a good method is to preserve the good questions whether they are your own questions or questions students ask in class. If you want to keep a good question fresh and relevant throughout a series of lectures on a subject, then a good way to do that is to perhaps rephrase and reword the same question and state different versions of the question in each lecture on a certain topic. Another way to do this is have the students thinking on your question while you discuss another question that was raised by another student in a different class. By doing this, it will show the students that you appreciate and value their questions and input and, possibly, encourage them to put their opinion out there. Like Maryellen stated, "The best questions a student can ask are ones we [as teachers] can not answer."
Like previously discussed, questions are very important to the classroom and learning experience. We, as teachers, need to ask questions so students can see the importance of questions.
In a classroom, asking questions is one of the most important things a teacher can do for his or her students. As a teacher, you want your questions to make students think and encourage them to ask more questions and participate. In order for this to happen, you need to ask good questions, not just everyday, average questions. When preparing to write this blog post for class, we were given a few good resources to read over and get some answers. The two sources I found most helpful are The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom by Ben Johnson and Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom by Maryellen Welmer, PhD.
One of the main purposes behind asking questions in the classroom is to check for understanding from the students This can benefit the teacher and the student. Perhaps one of the least affective question to ask to check for understanding would be, "Does everybody understand?". When a teacher asks this question, we all know that the student will most likely just answer this question with a "yes" or no response whether they actually understand or not. When you ask a yes or no question, such as this one, they know that the teacher is wanting to hear a "yes" in return or a positive response, so, that's what the student responds with. Like Ben Johnson stated in his blog, when you ask this type of question you are basically stating "This is your last chance. If you do not have question, then i assume that you understand and I can move on to the next subject. I am absolved from any lack of understanding on your part because I asked this fair question, and gave you a fair chance to answer." A problem with this is that the students may not know that they do not understand, therefore, they do not know to ask questions to help them better their understanding. The question to answer now is, how do we appropriately check for the students' understanding? We need to ask specific questions that do not require a yes or no response.
In The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom, Mr. Johnson makes another great observation. When a teacher is giving a lecture and stops to ask a question, the classroom is then divided into basically three different groups of students; the smart kids who try to answer every question, the not as smart kids who rely on the smart kids to answer, so they don't have to, and the kids who simply do not care to answer. Johnson went to numerous classrooms to observe this and saw that students usually assumed one of these roles by the fourth grade and acted accordingly in the classroom. I, for one, can understand this 100% because I was one of the students who assumed one of these roles growing up. I put myself in the group of students who were not as smart and were okay with the smart kids answering all of the questions. Looking back at my those days now, I see that I had to study much more outside of class because, by not answering or asking question in class like the smart kids, I did not learn as much as I could have and I understanding things less. Some teachers see this happening in their classrooms and are okay with it because they reason that the rest of the students are learning from the answers that the other students are giving. This can be true in some cases, but it is very rare because students who are not answering the questions are usually sighing in relief that they do not have to answer and lose interest in the question completely. Other teachers try to mix it up by trying to call on a specific students to answer the question, so the rest of the students can think about their answer, but in reality, the students are once again sighing in relief that they did not get called on. Mary buds Rowe had a simple and effective solution to this misunderstanding. Mary suggested that teachers should ask a question, pause for a few seconds to give every student in the class the chance to think about the question and of an answer, and then call on a student by name at random and sometimes more than once. By doing this, it allows the students to ponder for the answer, instead of instantly being relieved and zoning out the question all together.
Maryellen Welmer discusses some great ways to asking affective questions in Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom. Like I mentioned earlier, a wood question can and will make a student think and anchorage them to participate and dig further for the answer than they usually would. Welmer suggested three easy ways or steps to asking successful questions. First, you should prepare your questions ahead of time. By doing this your questions can be much more clear, not only by clear wording but, also, concept-wise as well. It will give you a chance to ask yourself ahead of time if this is a question that needs to be asked, if it is relevant, and when the best time to ask this question would be. Second, you should try to play around with some questions. Questions can lose their power to encourage and engage the students as soon as it is answered. One way to prevent this would be to possibly leave a question unanswered for a while. For example, you could propose the question at the beginning of a presentation or lecture and leaving it to be answered at the end of class, giving the students plenty of time to really ponder the question and figure out an answer or even another good question of their own. Another way to play with a question would be to ask a question and allow the students to discuss amongst them and write down all of their possible answers and ideas to give to the teacher. The teacher can then discuss each possible answer's merit and detriments to ensure that every student understands why an answer is correct or incorrect. Lastly, a good method is to preserve the good questions whether they are your own questions or questions students ask in class. If you want to keep a good question fresh and relevant throughout a series of lectures on a subject, then a good way to do that is to perhaps rephrase and reword the same question and state different versions of the question in each lecture on a certain topic. Another way to do this is have the students thinking on your question while you discuss another question that was raised by another student in a different class. By doing this, it will show the students that you appreciate and value their questions and input and, possibly, encourage them to put their opinion out there. Like Maryellen stated, "The best questions a student can ask are ones we [as teachers] can not answer."
Like previously discussed, questions are very important to the classroom and learning experience. We, as teachers, need to ask questions so students can see the importance of questions.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Blog Post 3
How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback To Your Peers?
Peer Editing can be a little tricky for some people. This is true in my case. I have always found it difficult for me to peer edit because, like in Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes, I worry about being too picky or not insightful enough. I can read a paragraph or two and notice many things that are either incorrectly spelled, have poor word choice, or just a bad sentence, but it is important for me to remember that they might think differently than I do and thought that the word was a better choice than I did. That blogger could have chose that word or sentence structure for a reason and we, as readers, can not predict what that reasoning was. That is why I struggle with peer editing. You have to keep a good balance in order for you not to offend someone by being too harsh or picky when critiquing, but also, not to be too lenient and let things slide that shouldn't. If you become too lenient on someone or scared when editing, then they will not be able to learn and correct mistakes, you will not be enabling them to improve.
Peer Editing and Peer Edit with Perfection! Tutorial both teach you an exceptional three step system to be a successful peer editor. First, you need to compliment the writer. It is important for you to stay positive and be specific when complimenting someone's work. How would you feel if someone was negative and only pointed things out that were wrong and need to be changed? You wouldn't appreciate and you might even be offended by it. In light of this, always be sure to emphasize the good things they did. An easy way to do this would be to pay a compliment for every negative critique or two you mention. Second, be sure to give suggestions. When finding something incorrect or simply in need or improving, it is important that you give some suggestions on how to make the work better. An example of this could be something as easy as suggestion some words that my be better word choices that can add something a little extra. Lastly, there is making corrections to your peer's paper. This simply means checking spelling, grammar, punctuations, and sentences. If you see mistakes in any of those areas, then do not be afraid to nicely correct them. Peer editing can really be an exceptional learning tool, but it is important that you remember these three things: stay positive, be specific, and complete all three steps.
Peer Editing can be a little tricky for some people. This is true in my case. I have always found it difficult for me to peer edit because, like in Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes, I worry about being too picky or not insightful enough. I can read a paragraph or two and notice many things that are either incorrectly spelled, have poor word choice, or just a bad sentence, but it is important for me to remember that they might think differently than I do and thought that the word was a better choice than I did. That blogger could have chose that word or sentence structure for a reason and we, as readers, can not predict what that reasoning was. That is why I struggle with peer editing. You have to keep a good balance in order for you not to offend someone by being too harsh or picky when critiquing, but also, not to be too lenient and let things slide that shouldn't. If you become too lenient on someone or scared when editing, then they will not be able to learn and correct mistakes, you will not be enabling them to improve.
Peer Editing and Peer Edit with Perfection! Tutorial both teach you an exceptional three step system to be a successful peer editor. First, you need to compliment the writer. It is important for you to stay positive and be specific when complimenting someone's work. How would you feel if someone was negative and only pointed things out that were wrong and need to be changed? You wouldn't appreciate and you might even be offended by it. In light of this, always be sure to emphasize the good things they did. An easy way to do this would be to pay a compliment for every negative critique or two you mention. Second, be sure to give suggestions. When finding something incorrect or simply in need or improving, it is important that you give some suggestions on how to make the work better. An example of this could be something as easy as suggestion some words that my be better word choices that can add something a little extra. Lastly, there is making corrections to your peer's paper. This simply means checking spelling, grammar, punctuations, and sentences. If you see mistakes in any of those areas, then do not be afraid to nicely correct them. Peer editing can really be an exceptional learning tool, but it is important that you remember these three things: stay positive, be specific, and complete all three steps.
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