Artifact Bag Reflection =)

    I really enjoyed working with the artifact bags during class as it gave us an opportunity to first, learn about different cultures (and Dr. Smirnova's life), and secondly an opportunity to share our own artifact bags.  I do agree with the article that,  "Using artifacts, from primary documents to or items that can be held in one's hand is a motivational strategy that can tie readers to a variety of genres and bring a period of history to life in the process."  I agree with this because doing hands-on projects gives the students an opportunity to be involved with the lesson, which he or she will carry with them and remember more so than just being given a lecture about the lesson.  Using artifact bags in the classroom is not a difficult process.  Once the teacher decides upon the period of history to be studied, the first phone call could be to the library or a local art or historical museum.  Holding a real historical artifact is an irresistible invitation to learning that will not easily be forgotten.  When doing an artifact bag, it teaches the students a lesson on history while actively engaging learning and collaboration in small groups and it takes learning one step further, helping learners to better understand other people and other places from the inside out.  When I become a teacher, I will definitely use this in my classroom as I saw how much my class and I enjoyed it, it will be even more exciting for younger students to work with.

Artifact Bag

Artifact Bag!

Today in class, we shared our artifact bags in our groups.  I included pictures of movie making such as cameras, directors, and actors.  I chose to use the book and movie, Bambi, made in 1941 and the old time 1961 television show Mister Ed.  As a group, we opened each others artifact bags and tried to guess what the pictures meant.  We all included old time movie posters, movie tickets, scenes from the movie, and more!  It was an exciting way to share our artifacts with one another.  Our artifact bags related to our unit plans because we used movie making when working with BizMovie.  I will be able to tie movie making into my unit plans to teach students about working as companies, and young entrepreneurs.  This can be used to provide the students with a choice of what their movie can be about.  Economics was involved in this with the pictures of money, cameras, film strips, and movie directors pictures in my bag.  

Caitlin chose the movie The Mighty Ducks. The movie came out in 1992. In my artifact bag I included the front of the team's jersey, one of the player's jersey, a movie reel with popcorn, and dollar sign confetti. I included 50 individual pieces of the confetti to represent the profit of the movie being 50 million dollars.

Cynthia's movie of choice was Casper the Friendly Ghost. The movie came out May 1995. The artifacts I included in the bag a movie ticket for a showing of this movie from May 30, 1995, a movie poster from the movie, and a personal photograph of me dressed in a Casper costume. 

Melodie chose to use the movie, Alice in Wonderland, in her artifact bag.  She included pictures of scenes from the movie.

Voicethread!

Voicethread would be a good way to enhance higher learning skills and get the class interacted with one another through comments and voiceovers.  This would be good for an assignment and a great tool that is easy to use and easy to teach others.  Voicethread would be a good way to collaborate.  It can be a voice guide through a lesson.  This is a new technology so many may not be able to access it at home, but it can be learned while working with other students or teachers.  This would also be great because if a student is out sick for the day, he or she can catch up on what was missed by seeing what was taught in class that day.  Because oicethread is easy to use, teaching to students would be very simple.

Here is a way to access the great way to teach! https://voicethread.com/?#u1585.b223095.i1175934

Native American Lakota Tribe

Today, in class, our groups will work on our Native American project where we will explore interesting facts about the lives of the Native Americans.  I will research and learn about the Lakota tribe.

The Lakota tribe is a Native American Indian tribe that started in the 1700s and still exists today. Their society centered around buffalo hunting on horse back. There was roughly around 20,000 Lakota in the mid 18th century. When superior tribes, Arikara, Mandan, and Hidasta were damaged by the small pox and other diseases, the Lakota was able to cross the Missouri for the first time. In 1765, a Saone exploring party led by Chief Standing Bear discovered the Black Hills. In 1776, they defeated the Cheyenne and took control over the land.  The Lakota tribe lives mainly in North and South Dakota. It is the westernmost of the three major Sioux groups within the Great Sioux Nation, which also include the Eastern and Western Dakota. The Lakota people traditionally speak Lakota, one of three Sioux dialects.

Importance of Assessments!

Assessment is the means to determine a student’s mastery and understanding of the information, skills, concepts, or processes.

Assessment is an integral part of instruction, as it determines whether or not the goals of education are being met. Assessment affects decisions about grades, placement, advancement, instructional needs, and curriculum.  There are three types of assessments: formative, diagnostic, and summative.  There are many components to assessments such as feedback (from teachers, schools, and school systems), evaluation/progress, and student and teacher friendly.  It is to follow the student's progress throughout the year by giving information about the student's strengths and weaknesses, and the provision of opportunities to revise or do further learning.

Assessment is not just a matter of grading.  They grade a student's prior knowledge before new content without difficultly to analyze or understand.

What assessments should do: 
Assessment should bring about benefits for children. Gathering accurate information from young children is difficult and potentially stressful. Assessments must have a clear benefit—either in direct services to the child or in improved quality of educational programs.

In The College Classroom

Even though it is a completely different learning experience than at Bishop Dunn, learning in the college classroom I find helpful as we all share ideas with each other.  I also feel that the PowerPoint we go through during the class help me memorize (for example) the different types of assessments and what they contain.  
+Learning all together.
+Sharing ideas and concerns.
+Working as a class.
Wish: Not so much work in a short period of time.

Skyping For Peace- Article Review

I enjoyed the article review assignment as it opened my mind to new teaching strategies and techniques.  The article I read was about students Skyping with other students from different countries to share experiences in learning.  I felt that this was a great idea because the students were engaged in the lesson and enjoyed the experience.  When the students skyped with other children across the world, it opened their eyes to how different cultures, education, etc is everywhere.