Blog Assignment #4

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? 

Some may think that asking questions is not effective. That is not true. By asking questions to the students, we effectively can assess the knowledge of the students. According to Ben Johnson,  the goal of a question is not just to ask the students if they "understand." If we do this, then it just becomes a yes or no answer, and then we are not getting a true assessment of the students. So, how do you ask a question in the right way? Ben Johnson says that, as a teacher, we should ask a question, pause for three seconds, and then say a students name in order to get an effective response. This way, the children will all be thinking of an answer because it is totally random with whom the teacher calls on. I agree with this total physical response because I believe that having each child thinking they may be called on will make them listen better overall. 

According to Washington University's Teaching Center in St. Louis, you must keep in mind the course goal while asking questions, aim for specific questions, and respond effectively. A teacher should never interrupt the student in their response. This will only lead to the student not wanting to answer questions because they know they will get interrupted. You should also show interest in all students' answers, and always develop a response to keep the students thinking. This helps in their critical thinking skills as well as keeps the student intrigued in the lesson. 

There are three ways to ask better questions in the classroom according to Maryellen Weimer, PhD Teaching Professor Blog. She believes that the key to asking effective questions is to prepare, play, and preserve good questions. I agree with her that questions should be prepared. I think they should be prepared because that way we can go ahead and prepare for some answers the students may give. I also believe preparing is important because we can review content and make sure it relates to the current topic. By playing with the questions, we see that students' answers can lead to other questions and answers which can present a good conversation for the class.

I believe open ended questions are a better approach to asking questions in a classroom because it leaves the student to come up with a variety of responses and provide more information just as  Joanne Chelsey stated in her YouTube video, "Asking Better Questions in the Classroom Pt. 1."

I believe it is very important to know how to effectively ask questions in the classroom to be an effective teacher!

Blog Assignment #3

Peer Editing

After viewing the two videos and the slideshow, I have realized that peer editing is a critical part of blogging and everyday writing. After reviewing the blogs of each of my group members, I saw some great positives that they have written. The format of each of their blogs makes them very easy to follow. By keeping the different sections separated, it keeps the clarity of the blogs. I don't see any grammatical errors in their posts. Grammar is part of everyday life, and there should not be any errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation. If there is a lot of errors in a post, the reader or the other blogger may not believe in the author of the post or the actual post.

In Writing Peer Reviews, we see that there are common mistakes made by peer reviewers. We do not need to be a Pick Patty. This means that we point out every single detail. When peer reviewing, do not generalize over the entire blog. While giving a good review, we should strongly suggest changes and editing, but never tell the author they must do something. It is the author's paper, therefore, it is their ultimate responsibility as to what they blog and how they blog. To edit effectively, we must give a detailed review on the material in a respectful and caring way. I believe that it is best to offer suggestions privately through email rather than publicly on the blog post. This is because I do not want to embarrass the author or make them feel like their blog is not good. I would rather a peer review suggestion through email because it keeps the suggestion private as well as being a more professional suggestion.

Blog Assignment #2

Mr. Dancealot video 
The central message of this video is to teach the basics of the Foxtrot, Waltz, Swing, and Tango. Professor Dancealot will not let the students participate in this class while he is teaching. He only lectures and expects the children to understand it. The message I got from this video is that students do not learn unless they are able to practice the actual dance moves during class. The author makes a case for conclusion by stating that the final will be next week, and it is open notes. When the students get to the final exam, the professor makes them preform the moves he has taught. It shows that the students do not do well when they have never practiced something before. I do not agree with his conclusion and the way he went about teaching this class. It is not right of him to expect the students to perform a final exam when they have never had a chance to practice the material. Everyone should be given adequate amount of time to learn the material.

Teaching in the 21st Century
Roberts says that teaching in the 21st century means that teachers are only filters. In today's world, teaching consists of Facebook, Google, Blogs, Twitter, YouTube, and many more media outlets. Students must learn to network, link, upload, and comment. Plagiarism, copywriting, and professionalism are all concepts students must understand. Students need to learn how to collaborate with things such as Skype. Students must justify, explain, and evaluate. Below, is an outline of how this may be accomplished.

TEACHING IN THE 21st CENTURY OUTLINE
A. Be familiar with what is out there (understand social media outlets)
     1. Facebook
     2. Twitter
     3. YouTube
     4. Skype
B. Start Small (learn each website step by step)
     1. Create one account at a time
     2. Understand your first account
     3. Create your second account
     4. Explain, justify, and evaluate each site and account
C. Collaborate
     1. Work with others
     2. Collaborate on Skype
     3. Search video lessons (be prepared to learn by watching a video online)
D. Take a risk
     1. Don't be afraid to post to a blog or any account.
     2. Search the terms and conditions of the site before working with it
E. Understand the differences between entertaining and engaging
     1. Entertaining
         a. Enjoyment
         b. Passive
         c. Creativity of others
     2. Engaging
         a. Active
         b. Long-term
         c. Creativity of the participant

I feel that Roberts way of describing teaching is somewhat true. I do agree that technology is advancing and will always continue advancing. I do not agree that everyone needs to know how to do every kind of social media there is, and that everyone needs to know how to create blogs and links. People got along just fine before all of the internet and social media sites were created. Yes, I think a good knowledge of certain sites and technological ways is necessary, but not to the extreme as Roberts described in the video.

The Networked Student
I do understand the concept of this video, although I do not agree. I really do not like the way of teaching when the teacher is only there to help you develop onto technology. I would rather the teacher take each task step by step instead of saying, "Here is the information, and now you go explore." I would rather have a structure to the course, instead of just being thrown out there with materials to explore on my own about something I have no clue about. In this type of class, the teacher is there only to help with organization of the mountains of information, turning web searches into scavenger hunts, and develop a modeler. I understand how this is helpful and beneficial to the student, but I do not like this way of learning.

Harness your Students Digital Smarts
Davis's thesis is, "It is important to teach children how to accomplish curriculum by collaborating effectively and teaching students ways to effectively use technology."

I was very interested in Ms. Vicki Davis's way of teaching. I agree with her thesis. It is really neat how the students are able to teach the teacher through a program by finding out new ways the program works and functions. Ms. Davis did walk around her classroom and teach the students different ways to perform different functions which I did like about her teaching style. She did let the students figure out how to do some things on there own, but she also gave them a guide as to how to start the projects.

Flipping Classrooms
I have never heard of flipping the classroom. This is a new concept to me. I think this teaching strategy will be useful for me as a teacher because I will be able to do more activities in the class and hands on activities rather than just lecturing. This provides more thinking on the students part as they must watch the lesson at home the night before and come with questions to class the next day. We are really able to see who is understanding what as the teacher when they come with questions from the video assignment. This will be a useful teaching tool when I become a teacher.

Blog Post 1

I have heard that EDM310 is a very involved course. Some students have shared with me that this class is very time consuming. I have also heard that EDM310 requires the student to do ALOT of work. The best advice I have received, from former students, is to stay on top of the work and do not procrastinate. I have heard that if you are not very good at time management, you will not be able to keep up with EDM310.
I do not necessarily have fears about EDM 310, although I am nervous about all the assignments and projects in this course. The first day I came to class I was very overwhelmed because I had no clue what was going on. I felt as though I was extremely confused as the class went on. Today, the class was better, and I am beginning to slowly but surely understand what this class is really about. When Dr. Strange told us we were to create a blog, my first thought was, "What does blogging have to do with teaching elementary school?" I am also a little nervous that I may not be as tech savvy as I thought I was. I have never blogged or even read many blogs before, so this is a whole new experience for me.
EDM 310 is unlike any course I have ever taken in college or high school. I have taken computer classes in college and high school, but we did not do anything related to EDM 310. I would say that EDM 310 is different in that it requires you to create a blog and post many things to the internet that many students are not used to doing. EDM 310 is also very different because it is a class that you mostly teach yourself. In any other class I have taken, the teacher explains the information and students take notes. EDM 310 is not like that. You must keep up with your own work in this course to pass. EDM 310 is similar to a radiology class I took last semester just because they both required many hours a week to understand the material. EDM 310 is sort of like some of my online math classes I have taken too because they require you to stay on top of the material yourself just like EDM 310.
The most difficult thing for me in this course is going to be keeping up with the assignments and making sure I get them in on time. I am not a procrastinator, and I am pretty well with time management. I believe it will be hard just to learn things about blogging on my own because I have never done anything like this before.
The best way for me to address this most difficult aspect is to ask questions when they arise. I believe if I ask questions at the time they come up, I will be able to better understand the concept and not get behind in turning in the assignments.
As of right now, the only question I really have about EDM 310 is, "What is the main objective of this course, and why do we have to learn about blogging to become an elementary teacher?" I could go about addressing the answer to this question by looking at the student blog site and reading other students posts about this course. I could also ask questions to Dr. Strange or the teacher helpers.

Practice Post

My name is Savannah Price, and I am 21 years old. I am a junior at the University of South Alabama. I am an only child, and I have lived in Mobile, AL my entire life. My first semester of college I went to the University of Alabama. I came home after that semester to go to South. I am a very family oriented person, so being away from them was tough. I have had four majors while I've been in college. My first major was biology at the University of Alabama. When I got to South I changed my major to EMT. I realized that was not my cup of tea, and I then changed majors to Radiology and applied to the program for fall 2013. I was in the program for the first semester, then realized this was just not where I was supposed to be. I am now majoring in Elementary Education, and I hope this will be the road to success for me! I am very interested in educating children, and I really want to make an impact on children's lives.
Like I said, I am very family oriented, so family vacations are something I like to do. Some of my other hobbies include hanging out with friends, crafting, and hunting with my dad and boyfriend. I also enjoy participating in runs around the city. I am very interested in making an impact on kids lives, so hopefully by entering the field of education I can be an example to my students through my actions.

New test

This is my second test post.

My test post title

I am now a blogger! This is my first blog for EDM 310!