Blog Post 7

How do we all become learners?

A major part in Project Based Learning is being able to use the best tools possible when it comes to technology. College students today who are studying and preparing to be teachers grew up learning very differently than today's younger students. Kids today have many more resources and opportunities to learn that I could not have dreamed of when I was their age.

Strengths:
- Familiar with iPads, computers, and some Apple programs
- Received a small taste of new technology and educational programs my last year or two of high school
- Motivated and dedicated to learning new technology

Weaknesses:
- Unfamiliar with the programs students are using today like Discovery Education, Poplet, and Alabama Virtual Library
- Have heard of and seen QR codes, but have not used them or know much about them
- Did not have these numerous online resources and technologies when I was younger like kids today

For this project we were given several videos to watch and think about. In doing this, I realized how many amazing opportunities students now have to research and access to programs that I did not even know existed. But, of course, this means that I have a lot of catching up to do. I want my students to be able to learn as much as they can, which means I need to learn as much as I can about this new stuff. With these videos, I have come even one step closer to doing that and being ready to teach once I graduate.

QR Codes:
I have never known much about what QR codes are, I have only ever just seen them on products in grocery stores. How to Make an Audio QR Code showed me a whole new side of QR codes that I did not existed. If I'm being honest, when I used to see a QR code on a product in a store, I thought that it was the security stamp that would set the alarms off if you walked out the door with it without paying. Mrs. Bennet at Gulf Shores Middle School was very helpful in showing me the usefulness of QR codes and the ways to use them in a classroom. A helpful website that she used to teach us about QR codes was recordmp3.org. This website allows you to simply record your voice and convert it into a URL. Once you get the URL, you can then take it to qrcode-monkey.com where you can insert the URL and get a QR code in return that you can then copy and paste to a document of your choice. QR codes are basically an I.D. badge for a product, voice recording, movie, or really anything. By scanning the code, you get an abundant amount of information. One way Ms. Bennett discussed in her video was for parent-teacher meetings. The parents can scan the code and get voice recordings and information about the class.

iPad Reading Center of Ginger Tuck's Kindergarten Classes:
One thing that the iPad reading center allowed the students to do was video themselves reading various things. By doing this, the kids were able to go back and listen to themselves as they follow along with what they were reading. This allowed them to see if they were pronouncing words correctly and teach them to learn from their mistakes and correct themselves. This can be very useful in the learning process for students because it gives them a clearer idea of how words are supposed to sound in their own voices. Another program, or app, that the students can use in the iPad Reading Center is Poplet. Poplet teaches students to create webs for the topic or subject they are studying. You simply put your topic in the center box and from there you have several boxes that expand out from the center that you can put various text, information, pictures, and videos about your center topic. An interesting feature that Poplet has is that you can search within the app to find information and save media about your topic that you can later insert into your web. Another part of Poplet that is useful to kids is that you can read books off of Poplet that has a voice option that lets the book be read to the student. Overall, this Poplet app can improve their reading, researching, and typing skills.

Alabama Virtual Library as a Kindergarten Center:
AVL is an app that you can learn about from lessons in the library and later download to the an iPad to help them research in class. This allows the students to search their subjects or keywords and get information they can use to help them, for example, complete worksheets and projects. In Ginger Tuck's center, she hands out worksheets to her students and each week they have a different category of words they can choose from to search. The first week, they draw pictures of the words they have chosen by searching their words and finding examples on Alabama Virtual Library. The next week, Ms. Tuck's students add a sentence to their picture they redraw that contains information about their word. By this time the kids have learned how to and are able to research, watch, and listen by themselves. It shows they actually know what they are doing within the AVL application.

Mrs. Shirley's 1st Grade Class- How to use and build a board in Discovery Education for a Project Based Lesson:
At Gulf Shores Elementary School, Tammy Shirley is introducing her students to a website known as Discovery Education. This website allows students, parents, and teachers numerous free opportunities to do research, save links and media, and many other features. One of these features that she has emphasized to her students is making boards. Once you create a board, you have the option to choose a background, title, pictures, text, and videos within a limitless amount of boxes. In order for you to safely search for information and media for you board, all you have to do is search a keyword about a topic. If you'd like to save or bookmark any specific links, pictures, or videos, you just need to click the plus sign next to the media and it is saved to your quick list. This website also saves all of your boards for you. Discovery Education has become very useful; and, from the look of Mrs. Shirley's videos, her students have become experts at this program to the point where they have taught me something new. This is, also, just another lesson of how important it is for the teacher to be open to letting the students teach us something for a change.