Blog Assignment #7

How do we all become learners?

For this blog assignment I had the opportunity to watch several videos that offer some great advice on becoming a better learner. Along with becoming a better learner, the video teaches us ways to collaborate leading to learning experiences from students and other teachers around us.

Ms. Bennett, Librarian, Gulf Shores Elementary School

Video Summaries

In the video, Using iMovie and the Alabama Virtual Library in Kindergarten, we listen as Dr. Strange, Elizabeth Davis and Michelle Bennett explain how eager and excited the kindergarten students are about using the iMovie application.  Ms. Bennett explains how she will help the students make book trailers using the iMovie application. She also explains how they only need to be shown how to do these particular projects once to twice and then they become little experts. She is so excited about the reaction from the kindergarten students and excited about the new things they can do. Ms. Davis speaks about the Alabama Virtual Library where she tells us how great of a resource it can be for all students and how it can provide accurate and relevant information to all students, and best of all it is a free resource.

In the video, We all become learners, Ms. Bennett talks about her job at Gulf Shores Elementary School where she explains how she and the students work together on various types of project based learning tools.  An example, padlet, teaches us to learn together and enhances our learning abilities. She tells the story of one of her kindergarten students showing her the proper way to hold the iPad. She makes the statements over and over that she learns from her students, and that we are all able to become learners.

Keynote Presentation is a video from Ms. Bennett's google+ site. This video is published by two young female students from Gulf Shores Elementary who display their abilities to use the iPad and the Keynote application. Not only do the girls do a wonderful job providing details about their science lesson, they also show great collaboration skills.

Planet Earth by Lauber's Class is a video from a group of students that collaborate to make an iMovie. This iMovie describes the Earth and many of its characteristics. The students added audio to the iMovie, which has each student saying and explaining their part in the lesson. The students have learned how to use these application tools effectively and even better they have learned to work together toward common goals.

Ms. Tammy Shirley is sharing her first grades students success, in the video, Tammy Shirley sharing first grade students becoming leaders of their own learning.  Ms. Shirley displays a graphic organizer that she, other teachers, and students have created by collaborating together. She also mentions how she wanted students to do a research study on adventures, and the students were so eager to work with their technology, they didn't waste a minute before pulling out their notebooks and researching the information. The collaborative effort and the use of these technology tools enhances the learning experience, bringing it to a whole new level.

Mrs. Munoz's  kindergarten class at Gulf Shores Elementary also works with technology to create projects using applications like iMovie. In the video, Predictions about seeds, her class created an iMovie where an image of each child is displayed and you hear the audio of their voice. The audio added to the movie is a prediction from each student about what they think will grow from the planted seeds.

My Summary

We have watched all kinds of videos in this blog assignment. Videos that range from teaching us about project based learning to videos of kindergartners showing us how to use an iPad. While viewing all of these videos, I began to worry a little. While I am learning how important it is to use technology in the classroom and throughout the school, and realize how well it engages and enhances the way our students learn, my worries and concerns are that I am not prepared to handle all of the technology.  And, when I do teach, I may teach the available technology wrong or ineffectively. Growing up in a time where students didn't always have a computer in every classroom is very different than that of what we face today. In the county where I live and hope to teach, every child is provided a computer and is expected to use it in their class assignments.  It is just a way of life and something that us "older" kids need to come to terms with. I realize that I am from a generation of students that was only becoming introduced to some technology when I attended high school. Now, as a college student, I have the privilege of taking EDM 310 which provides us an introduction to and instruction of the use of many of these programs.  My basic weaknesses is that I am afraid of putting myself out there and trying some of these new programs and techniques due to my discomfort with changing technology. Another fear is that I will never know as much as some of my students will about technology. Yes it is sad, but it is true.  I think together, there will be things that I will teach my students and there will be things they will teach me. As Ms. Bennett says, "We we all become learners." I think that as I continue my studies toward becoming a teacher I can keep myself up to date on current tools and programs. I can also find more resources and amazing people to work with to gain ideas and insights about how to effectively use project based learning and technology in the classroom.

Resources/ Videos:
Using iMovie and AVL in Kindergarten
We all become learners
Keynote Presentation
Planet Earth by Lauber's Class
Tammy Shirley's graphic organizer
Predictions about seeds
Ms. Bennett's Google+ site