Professional Learning Network

This week in CEP 810, we have been asked to think about how teachers can use technologies to grow and evolve professionally. We were instructed to use Popplet to brainstorm ideas. I use this tool frequently in my classroom to have students organize their ideas and I find it very beneficial!

The Popplet below shows my current Professional Learning Network (PLN). I broke it up by “Where” I go to find information and “Who” I rely on to receive valuable information. I’m sure my PLN will continue to grow, and I look forward to learning about where my peers go for information!

Network Learning Project- Part 1

It is coming to the end of January, and 2016 is already proving to be a joyous year for me. I’m in the process of buying a house, I started Grad School through Michigan State University, and I’ll be getting married in September! All of these life events are wonderful and exciting, but they do tend to be expensive. I have always been a fan of saving money wherever I can so I figured why not use my CEP 810 project to try and save some pennies? Our assignment is to create a Network Learning Project. This means I will learn to do something using only YouTube and Help Forums on the Internet as my guides. Maybe I can create something for my wedding?

Now, I have never been considered a “crafty girl”. All of the artistic abilities of the family went to my younger sister. However, I have always wanted to be more crafty and creative. This Network Learning assignment seemed like to perfect way to get my creative juices flowing and to save money! What a perfect combo, right? This is how I decided I wanted to make a wedding centerpiece.

I started off by searching around on Pinterest. My wedding is at the end of September so I searched “fall wedding centerpieces” and I got a lot of hits! I have to admit, it was fun to scroll through all of the pictures to decide what I’d like to create. Eventually, something caught my eye. Maple leaf mason jars looked like a strong contender so I click on the picture to learn more about how to make them. The link took me a page titled 15 Ideas of How to Recreate the Old Jars. I found pictures of the maple leaf jar but there wasn’t a step-by-step explanation of how to create this centerpiece.

Since there was no explanation or video included, my next stop was YouTube. I searched “maple leave mason jars” and quite a few videos came up. I found a video that had the description “DIY Fall Leaf Mason Jar Decor – This is an easy DIY fall decor inspiration from Pinterest.” This video broke down the process of creating the centerpiece. The creator of the video showed herself making the product.

I’m now one step closer to creating a beautiful wedding centerpiece myself at a reasonable cost! I’ll continue to look for videos and Help Forums to walk me through creating a centerpiece. I also need to decide if I want to create something else that will compliment the maple leaf mason jar. Perhaps something made from wood? Looks like I’ll be searching Pinterest again!

Learning, Understanding and Conceptual Change Essay

What is learning? As an educator, this is a question that comes up frequently. This week in my CEP 810 class, I have been asked to write an essay explaining my understanding of how people learn and how they come to understand new ideas. I read the first three chapters of How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, by Bransford, Brown & Cocking, and my expository essay is influenced by this reading. I speak of how learning has many different layers and how in order for students to reach understanding, they should be able to show their knowledge in an assortment of ways. I also reflect on how teachers need to make conscious decisions about methods they will use when guiding students’ learning. I bring in examples from my own classroom of how I have been trying to push my students’ thinking to deeper levels. I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts in this essay about learning, understanding, and conceptual change.