iTunes U has an abundant amount of resources for educators. There are thirty different courses available. These courses are written by classroom teachers that are Apple Distinguished Educators and also by the Apple Professional Development team. The courses are free and provide information that you can use in your classroom. A few courses that interest me are; Primary Language Arts, Primary Math, and Primary Science. To discover these resources go to iTunes U. Under Learning Resources, click or tap on For Educators. The first row will include the Inspiring Lesson Ideas, then click or tap on see all to see all thirty courses.

There are other courses, such as Best Practices and Professional Development. There are four courses under this title. The course I read through was Building Self-Advocacy.

This unit has seven readings that focus on developing self-advocacy skills for primary grade students using iPads. There are assignments that go with each reading. The course is outlined by introducing the topic, building understanding, and applying learning.
This unit focuses on educators ensuring the students are cared for and that they feel safe so that the students can learn at an optimal level. Another focus is to provide opportunities for the students so they can establish and refine heir own skill set. Another focus is having the students identify their own stregths and needs. By understanding both, students can evaluate what they need to achieve their goals.

To use this course in my classroom, I would like to implement the assignment of the reading of Chrysanthemum. While reading the book, I would have the students consider reflecting and answering these questions. Reflect on the main character’s challenge at school,
write about a particular challenge you have faced at school, what things did you do to solve your problem, and did you get help from someone?

I read Creative Teaching and Learning Blog by Maisie Gould. This blog was really interesting, it talked about how implementing blogs at school help improve the students’ writing.
Many teachers are launching class blogs as a way of giving their students the space to share their work with parents and peers, and an incentive to improve. There is some evidence to suggest that blogging sparks pupils’ interest and enthusiasm for writing. Maisie writes about a teacher who started to use class blogs. The teacher says that he thought it would be a good idea because writing is not on the SATs, so this would be a good way to assess. He sets up a blog post for the students to respond to. It is usually based on the theme of their reading class.
The teacher noticed that the blogs have given the students more freedom with their writing and that their writing has improved. However, some students state that like writing their thoughts and ideas on paper first. They say this helps them feel more prepared and allows them to reflect on their ideas. Going to the blog right away does not give them enough time to think about what they are going to write. The attraction of blogging is it was not subject to the same constraints and the same detailed assessment as writing in literacy books. There was not the same emphasis on the need to include ambitious vocabulary or good sentences full of adjectives.
Maisie also writes about three blogging paradoxes. One, blogging improves writing despite the laid back approach to accuracy. Two, teachers are less concerned with editing and revising students’ posts despite the potential global audience. Three, despite the possibility of reaching people all over the world, students are more concerned with what their peers think of their work.
This blog gave me great insight on the effects of blogging in the classroom. Even though there are some negatives, there are more positives.

Life of an Educator is a blog written by Justin Tarte. I read his post “Schools Need More Legos and Fewer Textbooks.”

His post was interesting. His school is purchasing Legos for students as a tool of learning. He states that the integration of Legos have a direct benefit in exploration discovery, hands on learning, trial and error learning, and cause and effect learning. Even the University of Cambridge is implementing Legos.
I’ll ask the same question he asks, will you add Legos to your students’ educational experience?

This week I discovered another Edublogs user. His name is Larry Ferlazzo and his blog title is Websites of the Day. He posts great resources and ideas for English Language Learners. He posts about other topics as well, but seems to have a great amount of passion for ELL.
In his post, titled The Best Fun Videos For English Language Learners In 2015-So Far. He writes about videos that are beneficial for ELLs. At first he lists a plethora of video links and write a sentence or two about how he would use it. Then he writes about an activity that he does with his learners. He shows a video to help explain idioms and then has them draw a picture of the idiom and verbally show it to the class. Lastly, he mentions Jimmy Fallon and some of the games he does on the show are great games to do with ELLs, for example Pictionary.

I like this post because right now in Education Psychology we are talking about ELLs in the classroom. I find this post helpful because I am sure that any school that I would be in will have students that English is not primary for them. What he has posted is a great resource for teachers and learners.

This week I explored the Cool Cat Teacher Blog, by Vicki Davis. Her blog site is really easy to navigate to find out more about her, her podcasts, and even a top ten blog list. On her top ten blog list, I discovered the QR Code Classroom Implementation Guide.

Her blog was really interesting and helpful. She writes about how to use the QR codes, then how to teach students how to use the codes, and finally how QR codes are being used in the classroom. I really liked that she provided reviews on free code readers and ways to set it up on your mobile device and computer. She also writes about common issues you can run into when trying to scan codes, such as, lighting, shadows, slow reading, and mobile websites do not show all features. She writes about how she has her students cut out and glue the code on their assignment and how the codes become difficult to scan because they get crumpled. I am still learning about QR codes, but I find it odd that there is not a way to embed the code into their assignment.

I think using QR codes is a great idea to use in the classrooms. When used in powerpoint, students can follow a link that will help reinforce what the lesson is about. You can use it for homework tasks and in class tasks. I think it is great that the students can generate their own code that can link to their finished work. There is a downfall if your school is not one to one with iPads or other tablets. The students that do not have a mobile device that can scan codes, can leave them feeling left out even if you pair the student with a device that can. Hopefully the teacher is sensitive to those situations and does not assign homework that involves a QR code reader. However, it is a great idea if your school is one to one.