Task_3-1 Reflection

What roles did the members of your team have this week?

Kortnee was our group leader for this week's Task and she did an AWESOME job in communicating with the entire group and keeping us informed on what the task is about and what type of information we needed to gather. The rest of the pandas (Rose, Sarah, Randy, and Landa) along with Kortnee, contributed by researching for information on Problem based learning and shared these information with our group leader to construct a paragraph on what the task required. 

Given your role in the group this week, how did you contribute to group?

I believe that I contributed equal amount of research information as our group on what Problem Based Learning is and the benefits of it.  Communicating ideas and information with our group leader in helping her to build a paragraph for our assignment this week. 

What worked well this week?

I thought our group leader Kortnee really did a wonderful job in setting up a typewith.me where our group could meet and work together in creating this weeks task.  This worked really well for me because not only could we see the entire group's contributed work but we could chat at the same time.  It was really neat.

What will you do differently next time?

I don't think that I would do anything differently, everything worked out well. 

Task #2 Deliverable - Web 2.0 Tool

The web 2.0 tool that I thought was great to use is the Arcademic Skill Builders because it provides fun interactive and educational activities for students to be more engaged and interested in their learning.  I think the only downside of it is that it is designed mostly for elementary aged students but then again, I feel that it could also be used for older aged students who are struggling in the classroom.  Teachers can check student work to see their progression and what area they may need help in and students are able to see what they may need to work on more.  This tool also allows for parents to be able to see what their child is learning in the classroom and they are also able to participate in helping their child in the area the child may be struggling in.

http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/

     

• After completing this review of a web 2.0 tool, I will most definitely continue to use this tool in the classroom.  It's a very helpful tool to engage student learning.

• Prior to this activity, I really didn't know much about the different tools that were available and easy to use, I would usually just google everything.

• I think that technology has come a long way, it has continued to become more easier, reliable, and very helpful for the use in the classrooms.  The selection process for these tools have become less complicated with so many options to use.  So far, I think that the selection process for using these tools are great but I'm sure that people are going to continue to find ways to improve the use of these tools as time goes by.

Current Event Week 8

Huh?  What is Web 2.0?

This was my facial expression before this assignment…lol.

“Web 2.0 typically means the development of internet applications that emphasize sharing in inner activity” (mikewelden).

Group Panda has found many informational and great resources for using Web 2.0 to capture student works in the classroom.  However, it came down to finding what website offered different and free options online that would apply to the classroom learning.   

http://onceateacher.wordpress.com/

This website offers 10 free web 2.0 tools for teachers to try in the classroom.  These tools are helpful in creating online classrooms and allows for the learning interactions between student, teacher, and parents as well.

  The tool that we found most interesting is the knowitall.org tool because it was specifically designed for the classroom and it applies to grades k-12 students in learning.  All students can benefit from this tool because it allows students to use the different options offered to create, interact, collaborate, and the tool provides evidence of student work.  The site includes different ways of learning, different topics, allows for virtual field trips, interactive and educational games, and so much more.

 There are a number of featured sites and resources that can be found here that will allow for educational interaction and collaboration.  The different type of tools applies to many areas of study (Math, English, Social Studies, Health) and towards different ways of teaching and learning.  This is a great tool for teachers to use in the classroom because it provides evidence of student work and allows teachers to see the progression of students, it engages students to learn, and it also provides evidence to parents of what their child is learning in the classroom and that is a huge step for getting parents more involved in their child’s learning.

When you see the evidence of student work, you know that they have come far and mastered the skill of Learning.

       

TEAM PANDA

Task 1 Deliverable

Hello!  Here's my assignment for this week.  I'm getting the feel of things now, I find it a bit easier and I enjoy doing these assignments more and more.

Prior to doing this assignment I never used ScreenR before.  I was able to use my twitter account to keep updated with the latest "teacher news".  I found it very helpful and there is a lot of information that is very useful not just for teachers but students as well.

I do plan on continuing to manage the news resources that I have gathered in my personal learning network.  It motivates me to keep learning and knowing what is going on in the 21st century of teaching and technology will help me to understand how I am able to help my future students as well as my own children.  It is always good to know what's going on in the educational world.

I think that a refined personal learning network can be very beneficial for a new teacher and for students.  Teachers are able to keep up with many of new approaches towards teaching, teachers are able to get professional advises, find various resources, lesson plan ideas, helpful solutions, and many other things.  This will help teachers become more effective in teaching and students more effective in learning.

So here's the assignment I had to do, I'm still learning but this was kind of fun and it really helped me to understand how important and helpful it is to use these type of tools.


http://www.screenr.com/user/landa