Blog post #6

       A personal learning network is a internet-based learning system of social networking (e.g: gmail, Facebook, twitter, YouTube etc.) Personal learning networks have become a cornerstone in the evolution of teaching and learning. Through personal learning networks, teachers are able to construct various and unique methods of teaching. A crucial element of this concept is that the people involved, whether it be teachers and or students, never have to meet personally and can collaborate together from any two locations on the planet.  I personally will be contacting past teachers and guidance councillors for my personal learning network. I know they will have my best interest and will be a great help in assisting me in becoming an educator.

You can watch the video here

Project #8

Sentence

Passion Sentence

This is my Passion/Sentence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb3mnkexH7g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbrF1A8QkjI

project #3

Blog post #4

          Finding good teachers these days is very hard. Finding great teachers is even harder. This generation of students are at a disadvantage because their teachers do not truly engage their students mentally and challenge their students to absorb what they're teaching. One of the most important elements of learning are questions. When we were young, we assumed teachers literally knew everything simply because they had the label of "teacher" when the reality is, they're human and they in fact do not know everything. 

           A very useless question is "does everyone understand?" I use the word useless because it can be extremely intimidating. No student, especially in the middle school-high school range, wants to feel stupid and be embarrassed in front of everyone in the class room so they just don't say anything at all. With that being said teachers carry on with their lesson and knowledge is missed out on. To further prevent this from happening, teachers should ask students about what they say to make sure that they have truly grasped it. Teachers should be encouraged to give the students time to process the questions that they're being asked. Approximately 5-10 seconds to process the question and formulate an intelligent answer. If the students can't come up with an answer their teacher should rephrase the question so the student can understand it better. 

           Educators of all grades should expect "yes" and "no" answers if the questions they're giving dont challenge the students. These are known as open or closed ended questions. Open ended questions are questions that require a well thought out response while close ended questions only require a one-word answer. The teacher should show interest in a students answer whether they're right or wrong. Although they may be wrong, it encourages students if they're asked "that's not correct but what made you feel that way?" Interrupting students is also a terrible thing to do. It discourages them from wanting to attempt to answer another question, it prevents the teacher from knowing if students understand or not, which is ultimately holding them back from learning.

               Another approach to this issue to to have questions already prepared for your students. This way there's more organization, the questions can be pitched and made more clear to the students and they'll be easier to understand. Also, play with the questions. Make them fun. Ask the students how they would ask them. Ask them in a variety of different ways. Enticement is also a good method. If you give 4th grade students a question for homework and tell them that whoever answers the question correctly will get a Reese's peanut butter cup I would be willing to bet that most of them, if not all of them, will answer the question correctly. 

             In conclusion, teachers need to step it up and engage their students in an intelligent knowledge-based learning system. Although it sounds impossible, they need to make learning fun for their students by any means whether be orthodox or unorthodox methods. 

You can watch the video here

Blog post #3

          A quality peer review consists of constructive criticism and honesty. When doing a peer review you must stay positive and be considerate. You don't want to rip them to pieces while going over their paper. Compliment your peer on the things that they've done right such as using "fancy" words, or remembering punctuality etc. Be specific. Make sure they know what they've done wrong when reviewing their paper or they won't know what to correct. Make suggestions but don't be overbearing and try to change every little thing about their paper because it's their work, not yours. Word choice is very important. You don't want their paper to sound like a 3rd grader wrote it so, again, make suggestions on certain words if you feel it's necessary. 

 

          Organization is key in an essay, article, peer review etc. Make sure your peers paper is organized in a way that people can understand without having to try. If the essay doesn't flow good then the reader will be lost and will eventually give up on reading it. The topic sentence is one of the most important things in an essay. Without it the reader won't know what they're reading about so make sure the topic sentence is very clear and concise. Making corrections can sometimes be a little sticky. You don't want to offend your peer but you also don't want to let anything slide for the greater good of your peers essay. When making corrections make sure to be very specific. Underline and circle exactly what needs to be fixed and make little foot notes if necessary.

      

You can watch the video here