Reol533_01BriscoeBlogWeek4

Tacy Briscoe

REOL 533_01

Blog 4 Comprehensive Assignment

3/26/11

I did a PowerPoint for my niece who is a gifted student in sixth grade.  I don’t teach yet and had to go this route.  She was very helpful and had some really good points and ideas for teaching a sixth grader.  She also is very capable and aware of what works and does not work for average students in her grade. 

I asked her what a good PowerPoint would be for her class.  She said they were learning a lot about earthquakes right now in school.  So I presented one to her about earthquakes; what they are, why they occur, some history of earthquakes and what you can do in the case of an earthquake.  It had 15 slides and a video inserted from youtube.com.

I was most proud of a video I inserted in the PowerPoint about earthquakes I found on youtube.com.  I made sure to document where the video came from and its producers. 

Upon completion of the PowerPoint I asked my niece what she liked and disliked about the presentation.  She said she liked the video and that it changed up the presentation with something else, not just slide after slide.  I thought this was a good idea and helped the overall look and feel of the presentation. 

She also said the PowerPoint made it easier to memorize the material.  That it was interesting and kept students’ attention more than if it was just in the book. 

Lastly I asked her what she did not like and would change about the presentation.  She said there were two very similar photos and she didn’t quite understand what they were for a moment.  She said they needed captions to describe what she was seeing.  She was referring to a picture of a mountain before and after an earthquake.  I would definitely go back and add captions and thought this was an oversight on my part.

I enjoyed the PowerPoint assignment and have really learned about what makes an effective presentation.  The themes and colors can be fun but also what a learning tool.  Not to mention the addition of videos and pictures when we used to have to pull out the slides or turn on the VCR or DVD player.  Now it is all right here on one technological vehicle. 

53301_Briscoe_lesson3_Blog3

Blog Week 3

I really enjoyed the videos and learn very well through this educational tool.  The video discussing standards and lesson plans was interesting in that it compared lesson plans for standard review.  I like that you can see a good example and not necessarily a bad example but an incomplete lesson plan according to standards.  It also discussed the value and importance for teachers to emphasis standards.  I thought this was a great means to understanding how to correctly apply the standards.

  

The resume is such an important document at times throughout ones’ life.  I like the idea of introducing the resume to students early on so they get a feel for it and can play with ideas and get their own personality.  I did not know what a resume was when I graduated high school and that is what I would try to avoid for my students.  I have recently been job searching and sent my resume to be critiqued.  The advisor came back with some very easy and crucial ideas for making my resume stand out and easy to read.  Her first and most important thought was to make my name bold and much bigger font.  Next I added a template that allowed for various symbols ∙● and a professional looking format.  I made the main points bold and also the job titles so they would not be hard to find.  What appeared to be a boring, everyday resume turned into a highly effective and professional looking document thanks to word processing and its many abilities. 

1800 Main Street Williamsburg, Ky. 40769

(713)201-3800 tacyjane@hotmail.com

Tacy Briscoe

Objective	Seeking a position as a clerk in transportation.
Experience	2011 Harris County Independent School District  Williams, KY Substitute Teacher - Daily classroom instruction for grades 1-12 due to primary teachers’ absence. - Recorded individual class behaviors and administered proper care and instruction to students. - Asked repeatedly to return to certain schools because of good rapport with students and classroom management. 2008-2010 Staff Realty Friendswood, TX Real Estate Agent - First year sales greater than three-quarter million. - Studied property listings, interviewed prospective clients, accompanied clients to property site, discussed conditions of sale, and drew up real estate contracts.
	2004-2007 Horse Cat Ranch Patt, TX Equine Exhibitor - Competed for 2005 and 2006 National Cutting Horse World Championship. - Provided daily care for health and physical fitness of +25 horses and 50 head of cattle including vaccinations, pasture rotation, transporting animals, daily exercise. - Maintained a detailed account of earnings, cost, expenses and mileage.
	2002-2003 University of Kentucky Lexington, KY Standardized Patient - Administered and performed training assessment scenarios for first through fourth year medical students. - Extensive training to learn the physical makeup of the human anatomy. - On the “first to call” list because of ability to be timely and thorough.
Education	1998-2003 University of Kentucky Lexington, KY - B.S. in Agriculture, Education, Communication and Leadership - Minor in Agriculture Economics - Last four semesters on Dean’s List

53301_Briscoe_lesson2_Blog2

53301 Briscoe Lesson 2 Blog Entry

One of the more interesting concepts I found was the motivation students receive from EXCEL.  They talk a lot about this in the webpage, “Excel in the Classroom: What’s the Hype?”

http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/excel/.  I can relate that if a teacher comes at a student with the same, dry teaching techniques it will be hard to retain.  As opposed to the teacher that starts up the smartboard, turns on the computer and has a graph, chart, etc. to demonstrate the teaching.  We know students learn better visually and what better way than though the computer with graphs and charts.  The webpage, “EXCEL-lent Middle School Math Lessons” http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech079.shtml, talks about how easily and relevant spreadsheets can be used in math.   I very much like Ms. Halls’ idea to relate it to the housing market because we have seen such fluctuations.  Also, how interesting to do predictions and watch what happens.  This is the excitement and progressive learning that so many of us miss until college and sometimes not even then.   

This leads to one of the more surprising things I found in the reading and that is how much more students will learn with EXCEL.  I had not actually considered the next level learning EXCEL allows for but now understand how beneficial it is for students and faculty.  The website talks about how students really learn to interpret the data and I can appreciate that EXCEL can do this for us.  They are not simply in a classroom writing down numbers and trying to memorize something.  This is real world learning that will actually pertain and be retained.  How 21st century of our educators and administrators, I want to be a member of that school system. 

Personally I have not used spreadsheets very often but did find them very useful as a real estate agent in another life.  I would input all my clients, customers, contacts and business associates addresses into a spreadsheet and group them.  I could then print address labels off very quickly without any writing and in certain groups for whatever marketing letter I was sending.  It was a tremendous time saver and looked very professional.  As far as using it in the classroom, I could quickly advance my special education students up levels with spreadsheets with graphs and charts.  That simple concept could be what makes the difference between a student remaining in special education and continuing on with their class. 

53301_Briscoe_lesson1_Blog1

Tacy Briscoe

REOL 533_01

Blog Assignment Week 1

3/11/10

• What did you learn this week that you will use immediately in your classroom?

A major idea that seems very useful to me was to create a webpage and blog for my students.  We can create the page together at the beginning of the year.  The students will know where to look for assignments, paper due, homework, etc..  I am a substitute teacher and would love it if the teacher had actually left me a blog page to look on for instructions.  That way they would not even have to leave the comfort of home if they were sick.  What a novel idea. 

I also like the idea of the students having a protected, supervised blog page.  I know personally my niece is not allowed to blog because it is so unsupervised.  This would allow students to be technologically advanced and in a professional manner. 

• What steps will you take to implement this in your classroom?

I will write  a lesson plan for students to produce their own blog page and submit “journal” pages every week.  Long gone are the days of composition books and think of how much easier grading could be for the teacher.  Much less paper to bring home as well. 

• What challenge(s) will you face when using this in your classroom?

I think the learning curve is always difficult for everyone.  This is like the learning curve for Angel Learning and how every professor has a different way of conforming to the Angel Learning webpage.  As a student it can be frustrating to submit homework one way and have class discussion a certain way and by the time you figure it all out, class is over and you have a whole new professor with different ways!  That said, I realize this is all teaching us different ways to produce the same outcome and hope to have this for my students.

• What will you do to overcome the challenge(s)?

I would like to think I could effectively teach and layout the directions for a blog.  Also, we would initially make me, the teacher, a blog page and they would get to see how we developed that page.  Students really benefit from a step-by-step guide and I would include this in my lesson plan.  The time it takes to make it will be time saved later in writing assignments, grading, etc. for both the students and the teacher. 

First Post

Hey All,
First post on new blog, niece is making fun of my very original post title :)