Instructional Video

My last blog for my class. Maybe I'll continue. I don't know. Right now I need a mental break from writing. Within the last week, I have written a 20 page paper, two 9 page papers, and a 2 page paper. Thank God for thanksgiving break! This is my last semester of classes and student teaching in the spring then graduation! I'm so excited!

Anyhow, time for the blog about my... instructional video! We were told in class to make a how to video and have it be between two to three minutes. It's crazy what happens when you allow students to do things on their own. You tell a student to have liberty and do what they want and it seems as if all the walls come. The student wanders what to do and literally has no idea. For me, it was hard because I wanted to do something that no one else would but that would also be helpful.

So today, I went to make the video and had a hard time. I finally decided on teaching "How to Learn another language" because I'm good at that. But then when I went to do the video, I felt like there was so much more I could do. I was satisfied with my video but also wanted to do something more. I feel like I can never include enough. I feel like I can always do better. But that's my life.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project and this class. It was fun and interesting and my classmates were crazy but it was funny. I was the only senior, the rest of them sophomores. It was amazing what two years does. I remember being that care free in class. Then I became a senior and I had too many papers to write to be care free haha.

Well to conclude, have a wonderful thanksgiving! I know I'm ready to rest :) Goodnight and God Bless!

"To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." - William Shakespeare

Insightful Woman

WebQuest Reflection

The past blog you saw was what we educational people call a web-quest. Basically that is an electronic way of teaching/homework combined. It's pretty cool. At first it was difficult to do. I had no idea if I was going to go to a web-quest site or do it on here. Finally, I came to the conclusion that it would be best to put it on here just so I can have everything in one place. So i began the project and it was actually kind of fun to make it. I really enjoyed finding videos and activities to do for the web-quest. Afterwards, I looked back at it and there was probably more I could add, but what I had was acceptable to me. I will probably use this in my classrooms in the future when I expand on it, so this is a great starting point. It was fun to do and it did take some time, but it was all worth it. I have to admit, I did not really understand web-quests until this project. Yes, I have been through the education program but it was never really explained. I thought that our professor not really explaining what we were to do would be horrifying but it's actually allowed me to learn more because I was able to explore it myself. I'm the type of person where if there is an assignment, I want to know the ins and outs. But this project has only confirmed that students can learn without you teaching them specifically. Students can learn when you allow them to explore for themselves. I will definitely use this in my classrooms and allow students to explore the English language for themselves.


"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."–Mark Twain

-ThoughtfulWoman

For 9th Grade Students in an ESL Class

Exploration Time!!!

Task

The Student will...

• Watch the videos concerning the explorers of the Western world.
•  Answer the questions on the worksheets attached.
• The student can print the worksheet or write the answers on a separate sheet of paper.
• The student needs to add at least one point to the chart at the beginning of the paper.

Process

The worksheets and videos are posted below. Follow these links and complete the worksheets as described in the task. Be accurate and have fun!

Francisco Coronado

Samuel de Champlain

John Cabot

Worksheets:

        Instructions for these:

1. Click on the link below
2. Scroll down the page until you see Materials
3. Download the graphic organizer for John Cabot, Samuel de Champlain, and Francisco Coronado. 

European Explorers

Extra Credit:

1. Complete the worksheet for Robert LaSalle.
2. Find a youtube video about him.
3. Include the url to that video on your sheet of paper or worksheet.

How you will be graded:

If you want an A,

•  All questions are answered on the worksheet in complete sentences.
• One point is added to each part of the chart at the beginning of each worksheet.
• All answers are insightful and do not repeat information.
• The worksheet and or piece of paper is neat (so I can understand it)

If you want a B,

• All questions are answered on the worksheet in semi complete sentences.
• One point is added to almost every part of the chart at the beginning of each worksheet.
• Some answers are insightful and some repeat information.
• The worksheet and or piece of paper is semi neat.

If you want a C,

• Some questions are answered on the worksheet and are in semi complete to complete sentences.
• One point is added to a few parts of the chart at the beginning of each worksheet.
• A few answers are insightful and there is a lot of repeating information.
• The worksheet and or piece of paper is not neat.

If you want a low grade,

• Turn in one worksheet.
• Don't do the assignment.
• Copy answers from another student.

 You all can do this, it's not that hard. Remember there is extra credit! Have fun and enjoy learning :)

Clickers?

Hello again,

I had another assignment and this time we were told to use the turning point technology to create a presentation for a class, which could be a test, lesson, or anything on those lines. For those who don't know, turning point technology is accompanied with clickers that are used to input answers. In other words, imagine this...

You are sitting in class and after finishing a unit, the teacher tells you to pull out a clicker. You pull it out and the teacher through a PowerPoint has a quiz concerning the material that was just gone through. You go slide by slide answering questions and at the end of each slide, a teacher shows what the class guessed and what was the correct answer. No individual answers are shown so no student is humiliated.  You finish the quiz and you now know what you got on the quiz but also the answers to the questions you did not know. No paper was involved and the grades are done electronically. 

I love this technology for those reasons. As a student, I am always the one who wants to know what I got on the quiz or exam as soon as humanly possible. I remember when professors would give a quiz on a sheet on paper then we hand it in and then the answers are gone over during the lecture and I am sitting there trying to calculate in my head if I got the answer correct or not. I know I may have students like this so I loved being able to learn more about it. The crazy part was that the more I learned, the more difficult it actually was to set it up. It's very easy to set up the PowerPoint through the turning technologies; however, when it comes to saving it and trying to use it on another computer... that's a different story. I saw how many people's were not working and how frustrating it was for them. I think moving forward that is one thing I need to learn and accomplish so I won't be frustrated. That or don't change computers. I might lean towards the second just because it's safer but I will eventually have to learn how to use it so might as well start now. 

This assignment at first seemed not challenging at all. I have learned not to underestimate people. You hear that saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" all the time. Well that not only applies to people, but homework assignments as well. Something may look easy until you take a closer look. I learned the hard way. I hope this helps someone else so you are not thrown off like my classmates or I was. 

"Better three hours too soon than a minute too late." - William Shakespeare

-Inspirational Woman

First Blog

This is one of the first blogs I have ever written. It seems easy enough, create a blog and start writing. This has started off as an assignment for my education class but may continue afterwards if i like it.

Just wanted to share some thoughts to begin. In my class, we completed a project with the smart board technology. We had to find a game to include in a lesson plan whether it is the lesson itself or an assessment to range how much the students have learned. I came up with a game that would be used as an assessment. It was hard trying to find a good game and one that would challenge the students but would also be easy to understand. It took me some time and I had to eliminate a lot of games. After I finished, I still had doubts about it. It's difficult when you are a perfectionist and a little OCD to be a teacher and plan lessons. I saw that the game was fun and was set to present it. When I did, it was fun because the class had trouble figuring it out. That let me know I chose the right game. The only thing I would've done differently would be to show the students how to play before they actually play. I did the thing that I hated when my teachers did it. I told them to play a game and gave no directions so they learned as they went. That works for some students but for those learning English as a second language, it is a little more difficult. I enjoyed the game and the reactions and want to use it in a real class setting.

This was all we were asked to do. Write a reflection. Seems simple enough and it really is. I like writing informally like this. With each blog, I will conclude with a quote to sum up my feelings or just something that has caught my eye. Today's quote is one that caught my eye.

"You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation." 
     - Brigham Young

By yours truly,
     Insightful Woman