BLOG ASSIGNMENT #7

How Do We All Become Learners?

My Strengths as a Future Health Educator
  1) Extensive knowledge of the subject
  2) Willingness to connect with my students
  3) Overly exciting joy to teach them about health
  4) Ability to bring real-world experience in the classroom

My Weaknesses as a Health Educator
  1) Discipline and voice quality
  2) Getting too close to the students
  3) Not practicing healthy living, ie not practicing what I teach

As I continue to learn this semester in EDM 310, I am learning more about Project Based Learning and how important it is to utilize technology tools. What I have to accomplish over the next year and a half is to fine-tune my skills on PBL. I need to constantly perform research on potential projects I can assign in my classroom. I want to be able to introduce a project on day one. I also must conquer my weaknesses and turn them into my strengths. The videos that Dr. Strange assigned us to watch will give me more tools to incorporate in my lesson plans.

How to make an audio QR Code
In this video, Mrs. Michele Bennett from Gulf Shores Elementary, explains how to make an audio QR Code. A QR code is a code that has been embedded with information and can be scanned using an device that has camera and a downloaded app. Using the website www.recordmp3.org, this is a new way of recording instead of using the hand held recorder that required a tape. Different ways to use this website include a teacher can record a book and play it back for the class or a teacher can record a lesson and allow the class to listen at home. In order to generate the code, a teacher can go to www.qrcode-monkey.com.

iPad in the Reading Center
This video shows iPads being used in a Kindergarten reading center. The iPad is set-up to record the student reading a book. After the student is finished, he or she can replay it and follow along to determine if any mistakes were made. This is a great reading tool and provides the student will enjoyment while learning.

Popplet as a Center
In this video, Mrs. Tuck's Kindergarten class is learning to use Popplet in a media station. Popplet is a tool used to make webs after a student has read a book. A web is a collection of pictures with text that gives a summary of the book. Popplet also allows students to practice taking pictures and adding them to the app. After the student has created the web, it is kept on their iPad for future references. This is a great way that students can become interested in photography or writing.

Alabama Virtual Library as a Kindergarten Center
Mrs. Tuck teaches her students how to use the Alabama Virtual Library in this video. She instructs the student to type in a word in the search engine. The search will produce pictures and audio for the student to play back and be able to gather information. Based off what the student has learned and watched, the student will be able to draw a picture and add a sentence describing the picture. By using AVL, students are able to research on their own and be accounted for what they have learned.

How to use and build a Board in DE for a Project Based Lesson
Mrs. Shirley's 1st grade class shows how to use the Discovery Education Board as a Project Based Learning lesson. Her student watched a video about the moon and was able to give written facts about it. Her student then created a board adding images and a video depicting what she learned. This is another great tool for students to do research on their own.

Mrs. Tassin's 2nd Grade Class Part 1
In the first video of Mrs. Tassin's 2nd grade class, two digital learners demonstrate a Discovery Board Builder. These students were able to take a virtual tour of a national park in Alaska. After collaborating with each other, they presented their findings using a SMARTboard. The digital learners saved the images on Safari. This also is an excellent tool to teach students to speak in front of a class.

Mrs. Tassin's 2nd Grade Class Part 2
In the second video of Mrs. Tassin's 2nd grade class, a group of digital learners shared what they learned by using Discovery Education Board for their Project Base Learning presentation. This group is collecting loose change for the Haven, an animal shelter. The resources the students used were Safari and Google for the images and HIPPO to find more extensive vocabulary.

Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten
In this video, Dr. Strange, along with Mrs. Michele Bennett and Mrs. Elizabeth Davis, introduces that Kindergarten classes are using iMovie and are really enjoying it. iMovie teaches students how to organize and edit a book trailer. It also helps with their reading and writing skills. The students read a book and organize different pictures from the book and form it into a book trailer similar to a preview movie trailer. iMovie reiterates what students are learning. The teachers also discussed how using the free tool, Alabama Virtual Library, is a great way for teachers to teach their students how to perform basic research. Students are overly enthused to do research individually.

We All Become Learners
In the final video Dr. Strange, Mrs. Bennett, and Mrs. Davis discusses how using technology in the classroom can change the dynamics of learning. Mrs. Bennett states "its teachers teaching students, students teaching students, students teaching us." She gives the example that a student taught her how to take pictures with the iPad using Padlet. Students are eager to teach teachers how to use technology. She also discusses that we are all learners and become learners through our personal network. Teachers should never have the "frame of mind" where they can not learn from their students. Everyone is a learner and we as future educators should never want to stop learning.