Blog Post 19- TEDEd Lesson Plan

Figurative Language Lesson Plan Link of TEDEd:

http://ed.ted.com/on/iWUojYDW

As I was able to create a lesson through TEDEd, I was amazed as to how detailed the lesson can get to have students focus on specific details. I have seen these kinds of videos, and have used them myself in different occasions in the classroom with my fifth graders and have always wondered how to create one. Now that I know more in detail as to how and what I can do with them, I have come up with different ideas as to how videos in general, and TEDEd can be used in the classroom.

            One idea that I can come up with is to create a lesson plan through TEDEd. In my fifth-grade Reading class in specific, I would definitely create a review lesson of something we have already covered in class and have, have them watch a video and answer some questions along the way. This would help all the ELLs who are transitioning from the language because the visuals help them a lot. As a dual teacher, I have embedded a lot of videos within my lessons for my ELL learners, but it has always been a hassle to have them watch it and them printing out questions to assess their understanding. However, by having the questions within the video, then I can allow them to recall and refer back to the video if they were unsure of the answer.

            Another idea that I would use videos in my fifth-grade Social Studies class is by having the students pair up and create a video based on a topic that needs to be covered and explain the certain topic. For example, I would have the students act and explain the amendments of the constitution. By having the kids explain themselves why they are important, it is more engaging to them than to have the teacher explain them one by one as a whole class. If the students have to create a video acting and explaining the amendments, then the students are not only required to know what they are, but they are also being asked a higher level of thinking because they are asked to interpret and fully understand what the amendments entitle and how they would look like in a real-life situation.

            The last idea that I can think of using videos in my fifth-grade ELAR classroom is to record all the mini lessons that we have covered in class and upload them to Google Classroom so that the students can have more resources and practice of specific skills they know they are lacking or struggling with. By doing this, the students are also being required to auto-evaluate themselves in the proficiency of each strategy.

            One of the useful video channels that I have used in my class to teach social study content is MrBettsClass Channel because he sings new songs with Social Studies lyrics. It is super funny and engaging for the students to watch.

Blog 18- Using Google Photos for teaching and learning

For this week, I had never used Google Photos before, I don’t think I had even heard about it. After playing with it this week, I was able to have a lot of great ideas as to how I can implement this Google resource into my classroom.

            Again, for this application, I would use it for my fifth grade ELAR and Social Studies classroom in a way that students will benefit from the storage space that is given. I would have the students pick an expository research topic they want to write about and gather pictures in a Google Photo album. Once they are able to gather a variety of pictures of their topic, then they are able to start writing on that specific topic. For example, the students might choose to write about volcanoes of fossils, in which they need to search for pictures to find a several pictures of that specific content. Once they are able to gather some pictures, then they can start writing about the features, description, etc. of the topic of their choice. Then, after they are done writing, they need to add the pictures that they had previously chosen and placed on the Google Photos and drop them in their final draft of their topic.

            Another idea to use Google Photos that can be used for the classroom is to have the students add pictures throughout the year that are of different school related activities that the students participate. This idea is mainly for a sixth-grade classroom and it wouldn’t really be for a specific grade because having the students gather all their pictures in one same album helps so that at the end of the year, the teacher can gather all the pictures of that class and have the resources to be able to make a slideshow of the sixth-grade class that is graduating and moving on to middle school.

            One last idea that I would use Google Photos in my fifth-grade ELAR classroom is to take pictures of all the anchor charts that we have gathered around the room, upload them to an album in Google Photos and share it with the students through Google Classroom so that the students are able to see it through the link. Many times, the students feel overwhelmed with so much information, especially in Reading class, that they don’t retain every single thing that is done inside the classroom. However, as they are in the classroom, they can refer back to them since they are posted on the walls. But having the notes that they have in their notebooks and the information posted around the classroom will help the students refer back to a single place and find all the notes and content covered in class.

Blog Post 17- Google Photos

Google Photo Album:
https://goo.gl/photos/KX53iVPrgiN4Sjt58

This is the Google Photo Album that I have created. The story that I have created is about humble worker that lived in a very old shoe house taking care of his beautiful daughter. The daughter was beautiful and very generous with everyone she met.

One day, as she was helping an old couple, the princess started to cry because she was worried because they were not making enough money to eat and her father was requiring medicine because he had gotten ill.

But as the daughter is crying, two fairy godmothers appear and tell her she needs to travel to a far away land to get the medicine, but they will keep her company through this journey because out in the journey is an evil witch that kidnaps children and keeps them in her evil mansion.

Blog Post 16

As I was looking over the different subscriptions that I have in Feedly, I ran across one that was called iLearnTechnology. Even though I was not following that subscription, it called to my attention because there was an article called “Using Technology to Differentiate Instruction” and it was something that I could definitely use inside the classroom. As I started reading, I just loved the whole article because it focused on differentiating the instruction in the classroom due to the variety of students inside the classroom. Not only does it simply talk about the differentiated instruction, but it gives a variety of resources that allow the reader to use in order to assign depending on the kind of learning the students need. The article itself is divided by the students learning styles which are visual, logical, verbal, musical and bodily. It serves a lot to have these varieties of resources by category, and not only the link, but it also gives an insight on what the link consists of, what it does, and how the kids are able to use it in a way that helps them learn according to their style.

            Another blog that I came across as I was reading on Feedly, was one that is called “Is a Master’s Degree in Education Right For You?” I chose to read this blog because I was curious as to what facts and information it had to say. Being a first year teacher, mother of a five-year-old and a graduate school student in UTEP is very hard thing to do at the same time that during the course, the main goal or the purpose is forgotten or lost along the struggle. I enjoyed reading this article because as I was reading, it helped me remember the main goal as to why I’m going through hard times now. The article talks about the different steps and benefits that you receive if you were to pursue a Master’s in Education. There are some facts, statistics, and benefits that I was well aware of earning a Master’s education, but there were some things that I was not aware such as the amount extra that you earn for having a Master’s rather than just having a Bachelors. Because my Master’s concentration is Educational Technology, it has helped me greatly in my workplace because as I am learning about different technology applications, I can immediately apply them with students and learn even more in depth of what my concentration is.

Article Links

http://ilearntechnology.com/wordpress/?p=5552

http://www.edudemic.com/masters-degree-in-education/