Blog Post #9, my fave concept: PLN

 The concept that has stayed with me is the Personal Learning Network.  Maybe I'm not so crazed about plunging into the virtual professional network but I do feel my students can greatly benefit from being aware of and utilizing social media for professional development.  The world is fast paced these days, globalized communication is rapid fire quick.  Looking beyond the creepiness of apps like Twitter and Instagram there is an undercurrent of valuable resources.  Most of us have been aware of the need to have your resume out there, read articles and watch TEDtalks maybe, keep up with the latest in our field.  But the discussion about proactively looking for people and organizations to connect with makes perfect sense.  Yeah, the PLN is definitely my favorite concept that I will choose to avoid.

Movie Project or Whatever

Preposition Video Challenge

Laura Yang and Melodi Crowson

audience: university students

Assignment:  groups of 3~4 make a video composed of video clips acting out prepositions;

15 points towards final grade

 Requirements:

• 1 minute ~ 3 minutes, 1 point for every 10 seconds over or under
• Use a variety of prepositions; at least 6 prepositional phrases used properly & variably
• Email or post your video before the beginning of the next class 
  

 video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6aR91pzZtQ

Blog Post #8: My Kahoot! lesson redifined

This semester I made the bold, very bold attempt, to incorporate an interactive quiz app called Kahoot! into a review lesson...one lesson...one time...and was totally surprised it worked.  It falls under "redefinition" because I have never been able to get everyone one involved and keep tabs on student activity.  This semester it was a one shot thing for many reasons; i.e.. technical glitches, time constraints, learning the program... but it was definitely a good experience and task previously unmanageable.  Instead of a total 1:1 I allowed teams of two on one phone.  I'm not going to go through every detail but considering my students are low level adults letting them pair up is a way to help build confidence and get a little teamwork going.  Will do my best to get a few more going next semester.

My Web page

http://crowsonmelodi.weebly.com/

1:1 Classroom Expectations

Cell phones!!  They drive me crazy.  We sometimes need them in class, they're important tools.  But most of the time they're there to distract students.  I have a rule:  on the desk, at the top, I can clearly see them, face down or case closed.  If a phone rings in class I get to answer it.  That part can be fun! Except the one time it was a male student's girlfriend (remember I teach university)...awkward.

So students need their smartphone.  Activities are usually one phone/two students as some students have shattered faces or for the students who don't have the latest, greatest tech.  We rarely have phones scheduled in lessons.  If we do I give a week's advanced notice to have phones charged then I also send a mass text the day before class as a second reminder through our school portal.

here's how I word it on my syllabus:
handphones: 
I know you have one!  please place it at the top of your desk face down or case closed, always on silent.

If the lesson requires use of your phone I will give advanced notice in class and send out a class SMS the day before reminding students to bring phones fully charged.

Audio Project

My audio file is straight from a get-to-know-you lesson I give my students.  Three questions, fill in the blank:
1.  If you had to choose between _______________  and  _____________  what would you choose and why?  (two things comparable, either one difficult to live without)
2.  If you saw ___________________________  what would you do? (try a tough decision)
2.  Have you ever  _______________________ ?  (funny or surprising)

in the audio:
 1. choose between beef and chicken, 2. if you saw someone drop 50,000W, 3. pet a dolphin

audio:  https://soundcloud.com/crowson-m/get-to-know-you

Blog Post #7: I like Prezi

 Prezi! My favorite tool so far has been Prezi. I've been stealing from co-workers, *cough* Ian Pollard *cough*@hermanator1023 (thank you buddy). After he and other coworkers took this class they so graciously shared their wealth. We've been teaching a lot of the same stuff for so long it was great to vamp up the old Power Points with Prezis. This Modern Family intro before watching the show is a gem. We are fortunate enough at my university to be trusted with a certain amount of multi media in the classroom. It often seems like wasting time to put on videos, can easily be a lazy class. Showing the Prezi first gives a fun summary helping hold the students' attention. I found that after incorporating the warm up Prezi into the lesson the students were more engaged during the show, more completed their worksheet, and we had better class discussions.