My Reflection on Blogging

When I first started this blog project, I had never tried to blog. I have a friend that is an avid blogger, but it didn’t seem like something that I would be interested in. We were required to post reflections, articles, and our own thoughts to the blog. We also had to comment on each of our group members’ blog. I think I enjoyed reading the other blogs the best. It was great source to find out information that they had gathered and to read their reflections about the projects that we had completed together. I think that uploading the pictures was the hardest part to learn, but eventually I got the hang of it. Blogging is definitely something I plan to share with my staff and hopefully implement with the next year in at least one grade level. I look forward to becoming a blogger.

PBL Article

This article was one of the best articles that I have read in this class so far. I was confused about the project-based learning activity and this article was able to clear the confusion for me. The author starts of by defining project based learning. Jones (2007) defines project-based learning as “the in-depth investigation of a real world topic that will motivate students to explore and learn.” She continues to explain in her article how to help your staff to become more comfortable with integrating the project-based learning idea into the curriculum. Her first suggestion was give the teachers time to become familiar with the standards and become comfortable with them.
Jones then gives suggestions on how to choose a project. She suggests that four primary questions must be answered to determine if a topic will make a good project-based learning. She continues to give examples of ideas that would not make a good topic and things that would make a good topic. She reemphasizes that standards must be met, but that teachers can meet the standards indirectly by project-based learning activities. However, it is up to the teacher to create a web to identify if there is enough information to develop the project. Then it is up to the students to drive the project by developing questions and generate ideas to answer those questions. All the steps seemed overwhelming to me at first, but after reading this article I feel that this is something I would like to implement in my classroom.
Jones, R. (2007). Project-Based Learning and Early Learning Standards:
Making the Connection. Exchange: The Early Childhood Leaders'
Magazine Since 1978, (174), 8-11. Retrieved from ERIC database.

Educational Value of Blogging

I feel that blogging could very beneficial in any school setting. The first benefit that I can see is that it encourages children to communicate with one another. Children that would not normally speak up in class could blog sharing their ideas and express their views about the ideas of others. Another benefit that I can see is that it allows the children to step outside the walls of their own classroom. They could do a book study and actually share their ideas with the author of a specific book, or share ideas with children from another part of the country. Often are ideas are limited to our environment, so including students in different parts of the country helps to expand our ideas. I believe teachers should monitor blogs, but should not intrude in the conversations. Teachers should teach their students about appropriate discussions and language and ensure a safe environment for discussions.
Teachers can also use blogging for communication with parents. Newsletters and/or experiences that happen in the classroom can be published to the blog. Parents could reflect on learning that they see happening in the classroom and question new learning as it is occurring. The teacher could provide websites to help with student learning at home. I think parent communication on a blog would be a benefit for teachers.

Features of Blogging

The feature I enjoyed the most was the sharing of ideas and articles that we found. By commenting on each other blogs, I learned about an ELMO, Flip cameras, and many websites that I will be able to use in the future. I was able to see what other people felt about the projects that we have completed and how they planned to implement those projects in their classroom. If we had not been required to comment on each other's blog, I don't know that I would have ever read any of those ideas. I think blogging creates a safe atmosphere for sharing ideas and thoughts.

Knowledge Gained From Blogging

First and foremost, I learn to set up a blog. This was my first ever attempt to blog. I have heard about blogging, but I had never read or created one before this class. I learned that blogging can be used to journal new learning and or reflections of on going projects. I think I was was surprised by how easy blogging is. It is so easy, I believe that even elementary students could benefit from blogging. Blogging creates a safe atmosphere for students that normally would not speak out in class. Blogging can also be used for communicating with parents, sharing ideas with other students in different classes or in different parts of the world. There are unlimited ways that blogging can be used in the classroom.

Reflection of Project Based Learning Activity

Now that we completed our planning of our project based learning activity, I can see how this project will support our objective of getting them to see math being used in real world applications. However, after studying and reading what project based learning truly means, I have discovered that this is really not a project based learning activity. The first step in a project based learning activity is that students identify a problem and they research and develop a solution to the problem. However, as students in this class we identified this as a problem in this Math I class and developed a solution to the problem. So, for the purposes of this class it could be considered a project based learning activity.
We started the project by planning for college. This gave the students an opportunity to research possible occupations that they may be interested in and the amount of college needed for that occupation. They will also research colleges and compare tuition prices and decide what college will fit into their financial budget. From this activity, they will use the information to plan a budget. They will include details such as automobile repair, doctor visits, and many other monthly expenses that they will incur each month. They will then move on to the next three activities using the budget they have created. They will purchase a car within their budget; plan a vacation, and a special event. I think that the students will enjoy these activities and appreciate their parents more when they realize what they have to pay just for them to have the things that they have.
I like the activities that we have planned and would love to see this actually taught. However, I am a kindergarten teacher, so I doubt I will ever benefit from seeing this project actually carried out. I think our group worked well together, in fact I felt that this project was the best that we have completed so far. Keri was an awesome group leader and we had great communication. I would be willing to work with any of these people again on a group assignment.

Project Based Learning Description

Our group has decided to focus on improving the basic math skills of Math I high school students. The problem is that students have a hard time with relating math to real world applications. We have designed activities that will be implemented over a ten week period of time. Each activity will build to the next activity. The activities will include planning to go to college, creating a budject, buying a car, planning a vacation, and planning a party or event. The information gained from each project will be used to complete the next project. I believe that this project will show them how we use math in everyday life and the importance of continuing their education.

Blog Entry #10 - Emerging Technology That Supports eLearning

Antifaiff is the coordinator of technology and learning for Qu’Appelle Valley School Division in Saskatchewan, Canada. She wrote this article to inform the readers of Ebooks. Also, she provides a couple of websites that the reader can explore. The first is http://www.globalschoolnet.org on this website students can go on virtual expeditions or virtually travel around the global. This website also letter writing capabilities and shows examples of Ebooks. The next website is http://www.saskschools.ca/~ebooks. This website has pre-made Ebooks and templates to create new Ebooks. The downfall of this website is that the Ebooks need to be read by the classroom teacher to make sure the content fits their classroom. These books were made in Canada, so the book that shows money displays Canadian currency. However, the templates are very beneficial for teachers in creating their own Ebooks. I think the templates are so easy that even a kindergarten student could eventually create their own Ebook.

Antifaiff, Gloria. (2005). Ebooks for young readers. School Libraries in Canada, 25(1), 57.Retrieved November 7, 2009, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 940309351).

Blog Entry #9 - The Arrival of an ELMO

The arrival of an ELMO caused my principal some concern earlier this week. Someone from our technology department just showed up and handed it to my principal. She had no prior knowledge of this arrival, so she called me to her office to find out what to do with it. I told her I would love to have it in my classroom, but that I thought until everyone was trained that I think it should be housed in the library. Later, we found out that our librarian knew it was coming but she has no clue what to do with it. So, I am now in the process of learning more about it so I can provide some inservice training on it in the future. I look forward to learning more about it!!