Blog Post #7

How Do We All Become Learners?

Summarizing the different videos:

1) How to create a QR code:

     In this video we are shown two different websites that are combined in order to make a QR code. A QR code is also known as a Quick Response code. This code allows anyone with a QR reader to quickly scan it and be brought to the link or photo that the creator of the code has established. In this video we are shown first, how to make a voice recording by using Recordmp3.org. We are shown how to record the voices we would like to put on the code. Then we are shown QR-monkey.com. QR-monkey is how we actually create the code itself and then copy it to print. This can be very useful for classrooms because you can have the students use this as a project on technology and then bring it to an image of a famous painting where they could hear a voice recording on it, and then write a summary on how they got there, where it took them and what they learned from it.

2) iPad Reading Center
      This was a very cool little activity demonstrated at Gulf Shores Elem. The students are in kindergarten and are recording themselves reading their phonetics. This allows them to listen to themselves and play it back to see if they missed anything. The students video, watch and learn from their mistakes, and then reread and rerecord. What a great way to see to it that each student is taking in positive criticism and learning to be self helpers!

3) Poplet as a Center
   In this video, we are taught how to make a Poplet. A Poplet is a virtual web stemming from a center that the students are doing their projects on. The video itself is very informative about how to make one but is kind of short. The poplet is a great (FREE!) app on the app store that can be taught in the class about foodwebs, different careers, types of cars, etc! It is a great tool that also allows them to work together in groups and collaborate!
  
4)AVL
    In this video we are shown yet again that sometimes, the students will surpass the SOON TO BE teachers! AVL stands for Alabama Virtual Library, and it is a research tool used by students of all ages. In this center, the students are given a set of vocab words that they must search using AVL and then draw a picture of it. The following week they draw a picture and write a sentence about it. This shows the teacher they are paying attention and taking notes to keep learning, and not just goofing off.It holds the students accountable for their work and also incorporates art into the classroom.

5) How to Build a Board
   In How to Build a Board, we are taught how to make a board on DiscoveryEd. Making these boards can be a great way to show self teaching and learning. The students are given topics to cover and then use the DiscoveryEd search engine as they would the AVL and find videos and photos to add to their board. The board video reminding me of making a poster board project, without all the mess.  

6) Ms. Tassin's 2nd Grade Board Builders 
     So this video was actually a little different. In this video, the students were showing off their board and explaining all the work they came up with for Whales, after taking a "virtual field trip" to Glacier National Park in Alaska. The two students explained where they got their info and how to add it to the board.

7) Student's Sharing Their Board
     This video was adorable. It was a board builder about one of my favorite animal shelters, The Haven. These girls were raising money to donate to The Haven so that the animals there, would get more blankets, food, sheltering, pillows, toys, etc. The girls did a short presentation on why it is important to donate the loose change to the organization and all three seemed very excited about the project.

8) Using iMovie and the AVL
   This video is  conversation between Dr. Strange, Ms. Bennett, and Ms. Davis about AVL and using iMovie. Kindergarten students are using imovie to create book trailers exactly as we did not but three weeks ago. It seems a little intense to think that children that are under ten years old have better knowledge of the same project that we are doing and how to do it. As far as the AVL goes, most of us have been using this since high school. I love that students k-12 are using it all of the time now too so that they are used to it by the time they reach our grade levels.

9) We All Become Learners
   This video is probably the best of the nine. This video focuses on the fact that everyone becomes a learner.  We are learning that students and teachers are constantly learning. Many students know how to use a lot of technologies in the classroom and are proving that even the teachers need to be retaught sometimes. Ms. Bennett talks about using Padlet, in the classroom. We have recently used Padlet in our classes so that we are doing the same thing. Each of the students using Padlet becomes a learner by teaching one another something new each day. Technology is constantly evolving and now, learning is as well. As Ms. Bennett says, it changes the dynamic of the learning.