Project based learning assignment: Mitosis and Meiosis video presentation

Hello all,

Please check out my rubric and lesson plan located on my website!

Rubric:  https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxlZG01MTBjYXplYXV4fGd4OjNiNGM4OWM3OTFjMTgxYTQ

Lesson plan:  https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxlZG01MTBjYXplYXV4fGd4OjZhZmE4MTJmMDM2ODU2ZTM  

Thanks so much!  Comments are welcome!

Leslie

Blog post #8: what did you learn from this video

What I learned from watching this video

Dr. Strange has made available a few videos of conversations with Anthony Capps.  I think it is refreshing to hear and listen to a relatively new teacher relate his experiences in the classroom.  So many times, we are inundated with the opinions of seasoned teachers, some of which are completely burned out, and forget the wonder that teaching can bring to both student and instructor!  

The #1 take home idea for me while watching this was:  TAKE YOUR TIME!  Any new technology is going to take awhile to become familiar with, and you don’t want frustration to enter the classroom atmosphere because you haven’t familiarized yourself with all the functions of the program that you are using.  What did Anthony say?  You can learn it overnight, but it has to be every night.  The ability to model technology, so that it can be used fluidly in the classroom comes from an adept use of the tool.  That way, any questions that arise from the students can be easily answered and dealt with.  Will we know all of the answers?  Of course not.  We will have to be elastic in our learning as well; understand that we as teachers do not always know how to accomplish something and allow for that community learning opportunity from the students.  

Another point that stuck with me:  GIVE OPTIONS.  Students will naturally gravitate toward their own interests and talents.  The ability to use them will encourage learning in a more natural way.  Music, multi-media, graphics, art, essays, power points, dance; all of these can be used to access learning in a creative way.  

I can see why the assessment process of project-based learning can be somewhat of a transition for parents.  We have been conditioned to wait for the progress reports and end of quarter grades in order to see where our kids are excelling and where they may need a little help.  We also depend on structured grading for any way to argue on behalf of our children...

Of course, this isn’t the way all parents react to project-based learning or grades in general, although it is wise to keep in mind that this is a very different way of learning for older students and parents to understand.  If we can make PBL a norm in the classroom, we will ensure that innovation, hard work, and discipline make it into the next generation’s tool box for life.  

Blog #7: 21st century learning and communication tools

21st Century Learning and Communication Tools

In this blog, I will talk about classroom technology tools that facilitate teaching and learning processes in the classroom.  As teachers, we need to constantly be on the lookout for new and exciting ways to engage our students to do the best work that they can possible do.  The key word here is ENGAGE.  The resources that we have within our grasp not only make lesson plans easier, they also make them more fun to create and implement in our classrooms.  

Let’s start with Schoology.  It is a social network for the classroom and has a user interface very similar to that of Facebook.  Logins are required, and the ability to link to a certain school is available in order for teachers and students to see what the entire school/department is doing.  This is more than just a social platform though.  This site aids in the day-to-day management of a classroom, be it tracking grades, online discussion, or taking quizzes and tests.  The App center provides access to tools like Evernote (this can be very useful in student collaboration) and Remind101 (this is a secure way to instant message students and parents).  

The next interesting tool that I found was Open Study.  This is a social study site where students can ask questions, get tutored by their peers and offer assistance to others.  There are also study groups available per subject area and students can enter any one of these and discuss and study in a forum manner.  This site seems to be fueled by advertisements, which shouldn’t be too much of a distraction because we see them all the time on our free phone apps, but could potentially be a deterrent for advocation by administration.  Still, this tool is very handy when it comes to students accessing each other globally for homework/project help.  The problem I found is that it automatically links to Facebook, and your personal profile picture is visible.  This can easily be changed by going to profile settings, but for teachers, it may be something that sneaks in without notice.

The last, and in my opinion, the most interesting tool that I found was GlogsterEdu (short for graphic blog).  This is an interactive, poster-like way to ‘Blog’, but really it can be a tool for project information, lesson planning, and homework assignments.  It creates a visually attractive format for organizing information.  It is currently $95 for 1 teacher and up to 125 students, or $390 for 10 teachers and up to 250 students.  Although quite pricey, it is a stimulating interface which I believe will keep students’ attention throughout the course.  It can be set to private, with the administrator deciding what content will be available for public viewing (certain projects or blogs).  Wikipedia states:  “Glogster is a part of the Creating category in Bloom’s Technology Taxonomy. Students create a digital poster with interactive elements such as video, images, and audio. This allows students to express themselves individually.”  I couldn’t agree more.  The utilization of digital media is important in education today, and will prepare students for a more competitive working environment in the future.  

Alabama Virtual Library

As I do not have access to an iPad, and truly do not anticipate that the majority of my Title I students will have access either, I will focus this project essay on the Alabama Virtual Library.  

The Alabama Virtual Library is a group of online databases that has been made available to teachers and students for aid in classroom research and instruction.  It also has a few resources on career seeking and employment opportunities for adults located in Alabama.  

How can you make sense of it?  The best way to identify what to search for is to first identify what exactly you need.  Students can readily use this website to access anything that they may need for a project:  images, websites, magazines, statistics and even differing viewpoints on certain subjects.  The website itself is very easy to navigate and leads you to both simple and advanced forms of searching for what you need.  

For example, a high school science class could be assigned to review certain journal articles on the research topic of their choice.  There would be no way to access these articles through the internet alone.  The Alabama Virtual Library contains the EBSCO database system which houses hundreds of journals from science to history and language.  Through this website, peer-reviewed journal articles can be accessed, allowing students to be exposed to real-world, current scientific progress, and be able to get a feel for how the scientific community exchanges information.  

There are a variety of other databases that can come in handy as well.  For Alabama history classes, there is Alabama mosaic, a resource that contains different archives that students could use as a reference for a project.  Britannica offers Ebooks for reading, on topics from history to science.  Discover America is a book collection that covers all 50 states.  My second grade daughter is doing a project this quarter on Mississippi and I plan on accessing the eBook for it.  Illustrated science is another collection that discusses different organisms and has full photos to accompany the information.  This could be be used to supplement a lesson plan in a middle school biology class.  

One of the more interesting databases I found was the Opposing Viewpoints tab, which led to a site that has links for differing viewpoints on subject matter, statistical information, news, journal articles, magazines and websites.  It seems very extensive and helpful no matter what a student might be searching for in a project.  

For images that are needed for projects or presentation, EBSCO hosts an image collection database, where a student can search for an desired image and also pinpoint which journal they would like it to come from.  

The Oxford English dictionary is available here, as well as Encyclopedia Britannica; there is a student research center, a medical search engine, and a history reference center.  All of these databases could be useful to students, and as the class utilizes this tool, more and more can be achieved through the use of it.  

The thing that I most like about the Alabama Virtual Library is that students in any Alabama school have access to a bevy of information all in one location that they might not know how to search for in a traditional search engine.  Also, as far as journal articles are concerned, a subscription is needed to access most articles, and a database such as EBSCO allows free access to otherwise blocked information.  It is imperative that students have access to current research in the humanities and sciences in order for them to understand how these subjects are approached in the professional world.  

Blog #6: What can we learn about teaching and learning from Randy Pausch?

What to say about Randy Pausch?  The words amazing, charismatic, funny and sincere immediately come to mind.  In 2007, his “Last Lecture” was all the rage.  He appeared on Oprah, tED talks, and many other televised interviews.  I never actually sat down to listen to the lecture, so much of what I heard about it was impressive enough, and everyone that spoke of the man couldn’t help but tear up.  

I, like many of us, have an exceptionally busy life.  Full time student, full time waitress, full time mommy, seriously part-time girlfriend (my boyfriend is writing his dissertation, I’m just trying to keep up with homework), and these are just the immediate pressures, not to mention extended family, friends and associates that may need any myriad of things done.  

When I finally (and forcibly, since this was a homework assignment) sat down to listen to this wonderful man speak, I was blown away.  My favorite quote:  “Always have fun.  I’m dying and I’m still having fun!”  How can we enjoy life with all the stresses and responsibilities if we don’t continue to have fun and view life with a childlike wonder?  How can we as teachers, take from what Pausch is trying to tell us and communicate that to our colleagues and students?

I’m going to skip right to the first head fake, forgive me for ruining it for anyone that hasn’t seen the lecture.  The lecture is about achieving childhood dreams, and at the end Pausch tells us that it is really about living life, because if you live life to the fullest, your dreams will present themselves to you.  I cannot agree more.  For any of us to become a successful teacher, it needs to be a part of a dream of ours.  It needs to click, to feel right, to be an organic part of our journey.  I didn’t intend to become a secondary teacher when I was a freshman in college (which was a long long long time ago), but my journey to achieve my goals and dreams has naturally led me to the place I am today.  I could not be more delighted.  I am a life-long learner.  I can’t stop it, wouldn’t even if I could, and with this delight of learning comes a compulsion to share the knowledge that I have, the excitement that I feel about my subject of study.  This, paired with an almost annoying optimism, is what makes me excited about teaching.  

So we’re all frustrated, busy, end-of-semester freaking out.  Pausch talks about brick walls as well.  Sometimes a brick wall can be a failed exam; financial aid that was cancelled; the death of a loved one; the abuse occurring at home; the car breaking down; the child getting a viral infection; an administrator that won’t allow you to move forward with an idea...any small thing can seem insurmountable under stressful situations.  Are you being called?  Is the brick wall insurmountable?  Pausch states that “Brick walls are there to stop people who don’t want it badly enough.”  I am in complete agreement.  When we graduate and become teachers, we will also have brick walls that rise up to obstruct our progress.  How will we deal with them?  

Dr. Pausch gives a list of ways in which to deal with brick walls, or in other words, live life:

• be earnest
• apologize
• focus on other people
• get a feedback loop and listen to it
• show gratitude
• don’t complain just work harder
• be good at something
• work hard (didn’t he say that already) :)
• find the best in everybody

He went into detail about each bullet point (I won’t give it away, watch it for yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo  ), but what struck me the most was that every point has a few common threads:  humility, hard work, and grace.  Too often, when we think of success, we come up with an image of gleaming teeth, dollar bills, maybe a fancy car (or ten).  I think we have lost touch with the small, everyday successes that come from chipping away at those brick walls:  the AHA moment of a student, the accomplishment of just one more homework assignment in the pile of twenty, a sandwich brought by a loved one when you are too busy to eat, the smile of your healthy child.  

As teachers, it is our job to enable the dreams of others.  We are not just transferring information back and forth like unfeeling computers.  Also, we are not meant to meet just the basic requirements that our jobs provide for us.  We are meant to go above and beyond for the pure delight of learning and teaching something that we love.  If we are not on track to attain our own dreams, how are we ever going to garner inspiration from our students?  Day to day life can be very grinding.  The strongest willed can be whittled down by stressors and the only thing that can overcome the stress, the brick wall, is this:  humility, hard work, and grace.  Pausch understood these things long before he was diagnosed terminal.  His “last lecture” was not presented because he was dying, it was presented in order to show how to best live:  have fun, surmount those brick walls, and live a life filled with dreams.