Pinterest in the Classroom

As you all know, Pinterest is a huge collection of ideas and information. It's basically like Google, but with pictures. Pinterest allows it's users to bookmark links to websites with memorable pictures. Because of all the resources that it offers, there are many unique ways it can be used in the classroom. One unique use of Pinterest in the classroom would be having students use it as a tool for brainstorming. Having students search for ideas can get their creative juices flowing in order to come up with their own ideas. Another unique use for Pinterest in the classroom would be to have students use it as a research tool. They could pick a topic and find out all about it by using Pinterest. Pinterest could also be very useful for project based learning and doing lessons with arts and crafts. These types of lessons from gathered from Pinterest would be especially helpful for hands on learners.

Here is a link to the activity that I created for students from recycled Pinterest ideas.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zc_Un4jPdITGPjqPD657IQOHiEJj_xjcy6C8c8hxtqs/edit?usp=sharing
I completed this assignment by first finding a standard that I could use for project based learning. Then I did some digging on Pinterest to find different activities that I could incorporate into my project. After finding some good ideas, I wrote out the assignment and made a rubric. I then completed the actual projects and took pictures. Through making a project based assignment for students, I learned that it takes more planning and time than I expected. I had to plan everything out and create guidelines that were aligned with my standard. Now I see that teachers who make relevant and good lessons have to work really hard to do so. I completed this project to make sure that students could follow the directions and because it was the final project assignment in Ed. Tech. I also had a refresher of the material that I learned in my Anatomy courses through making these models.

Organ System Projects

Nervous System: Spine

I decided that I wanted to make a model of the spine using a pool noodle, pony tails, and rope. First, I gathered all the supplies that I would need.

Our spines have 24 pieces, so I divided the noodle into 24 pieces and marked where I would make the cuts.

After cutting the noodle into 24 pieces, I cut a piece of rope that was slightly longer than all of the pieces put together.

Then I strung together all the parts of my spine. I used the pattern: one piece of noodle, one pony tail, one piece of noodle, one pony tail, etc.

After I had my spine all put together, I started to label all of it's parts. The pony tails represent the discs in our spines.

The green rope represents the Spinal Cord.

The pool noodle represents the vertebrae.

Final product of the spine.








Brain:

I decided that I wanted to make a model of the brain using play-dough. First, I gathered enough play-dough to represent the 6 different regions of the brain.

I began by molding and shaping the lobes starting from the left side.

I molded and molded until I had all 6 regions accounted for.

Then, I made labels for my brain

Finished brain with labels

Final Product: THE NERVOUS SYSTEM








Circulatory System: (Blood)

I decided that I wanted to make my blood model using marshmallows, cheerios, water, food coloring, salt, and pompoms. First, I gathered all the supplies that I would need to make my blood model.

I put some yellow food coloring and salt in my water first to illustrate that our blood has plasma and chemicals in it.

Then I put some cheerios in a bag so that I could add food coloring.

After adding the red food coloring, the cheerios represented red blood cells.

When I added the red cheerios to the bottle, the yellow water became red which indicates that we have more red blood cells in comparison to plasma in our blood.

Then I added mini marshmallows to represent white blood cells and mini purple pompoms to represent platelets. There are fewer marshmallows in comparison to cheerios because our blood has more red blood cells than white blood cells. There are much fewer platelets than both cheerios and marshmallows because they are the least plentiful in our blood.

I made labels for the parts I used and took a picture because I couldn't include them in the bloody bottle.

Final Product: BLOOD










Digestive System:

I decided that I wanted to make my model of the digestive system using cake and candy. First, I gathered everything that I would need to bake a cake and make my model.

First, I actually had to bake the cake. TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK

Then I had to wait for it too cool. TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK

After the cake cooled completely, I frosted the cake as a base for my digestive system.

I added all the parts of the digestive system to my model.


Mini Marshmallows: Teeth
Blue Twizzler: Esophagus

Red icing: Stomach
Yellow Candy: Pancreas
Big Marshmallows: Large Intestine
Sour Gummy Worms: Small Intestine

Purple icing: Liver
Green icing: Gallbladder

Then I made labels for the different parts of my model.

I put the labels in the proper place.

Final Product: DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Web 2.0 Tools

PrimarySchool T.V.       

 

Primary School T.V. is a website that allows teachers to find educational videos on many different topics for their classroom. The website provides children’s educational videos for free on the internet. It is a filtered website which ensures that only appropriate content shows up. I could use this tool in my classroom to show students a topic that we are covering rather than just telling them about it. This tool can provide visual examples which would help keep the children’s attention.

 Kid’sVid              

Kid’s Vid is a website that teachers and students can use to make video productions for school. Some of the website’s features include scripting, making the video, editing, and show time. The website is also kid friendly and easy to navigate. I could use this tool in my classroom for various video projects. I could have students research a topic and then create their own video. 

 Gabcast                                                                                         

Gabcast is a podcasting and audio blogging platform that provides an easy way to share voice threads. After a recording has been uploaded, a newsfeed is automatically updated so that your followers can see your new post. This is an easy to use and kid friendly site that works well for presentations. I could use this tool in my classroom as a way for younger children to be able to present their ideas. Because most young children haven’t fully developed writing skills, it would be easier for them to present something to the class using their voices.

 Sketchcast                             

Sketchcast is a program that allows teachers and students to record a sketch with or without voice audio. Your sketch can be embedded to any webpage or uploaded to your sketch channel. This is a program often used for more complex presentations with many steps or for drawing. I could use this tool in my classroom as a fun and creative outlet for the kids. I could have them draw and record something about what we have recently discussed in class.

 StudentPublishing                      

  

Student publishing is a website that allows students and teachers to create their own paper back or hardcover books. This is a free website which offers turning every student’s story into a book. The website also offers a book for the classroom in which all students would be listed as an author and illustrator of the book. I could use this tool in my classroom to promote writing. If students get to make a real book, they will become more excited about reading and writing. 

 ClassTools                                                                                       

Class Tools is a website that provides many organization tools such as priority charts, jigsaw diagrams, Venn diagrams, post its, a timer, and a flash card generator. The programs can be embedded into any webpage and are kid friendly. Class tools makes organization easy for teachers and students. I could use this tool in my classroom to teach organization through different lessons with multiple parts or to teach the lesson on Venn Diagrams. This tool could also be used for reviewing for tests by using the flash card generator.

Create A Graph         

 

Create a graph is a website that allows student and teachers to make their own graphs. The five types of graphs available include bar, line, area, pie, and x,y coordinate plane. These graphs can easily be printed out, but cannot be embedded into a webpage. I could use this tool in my class to introduce students to graphs. They could also use this tool to represent and organize their data after researching a topic, such as different colors of M&M’s. 

             

 

What2Learn

What2Learn is an interactive learning website that provides revision games and educational resources. This website is a great tool for increasing literacy proficiency and can be easily navigated. What2Learn also provides games to make learning more fun for children. I could use this tool in my class to help students to understand and work on literacy skills. They could play games while learning to keep them engaged in the lesson.

 Voicethread           

Voicethread is a tool used to make video or image slideshows. Voicethread can be embedded into any webpage and allows others to comment by video, photo, or text. This is a great program for school presentations because of the wide variety of its functions. I could use this tool in my class in order to have the student’s complete projects together. Because the program allows voice comments, it is more kid friendly.

 Bubblus                                                                                                       

Bubblus is a tool that helps students brainstorm and make mind maps online. This program can be used for many educational purposes and allows you to share your mind map or embed it in a website or blog. Bubblus gives users the capability to email, print, or save mind maps as images. I could use this tool in my classroom as a warm up for writing exercises. This would help students to get their thoughts flowing and in order.

Social Networking

1. First this article discusses the new trend of food photography. It has been found that many people who are obsessed with viewing food photography have mental disorders or weight problems. I don't know if this is entirely true, but I can see where it would cause some problems. Looking at food on the internet all the time might make a person more hungry, which could lead to weight gain. Rapid weight gain has been linked lead to eating disorders. The next subject in this article was the effect of social media on our relationships. Research has found that children who are connected with their parents on social media sites have better relationships with them offline too. I think this is true because if a child knows there parents can see anything they post, they are more likely to stay out of trouble. Research also says that jealousy and lack of privacy due to social media sites such as Facebook is very common. The third subject covered in this article is narcissism. The article states that in order to be on social media you have to love yourself very much. It says that we often post good things about ourselves to make us feel good about our lives. I don't think that everyone who uses social media is a narcissist, but some people do develop those tendencies in order to have something to post. The article also mentions self esteem issues associated with too much social media time and an increased risk of depression, lower grades, psychological disorders, and future health problems. As a society, we do stay connected the majority of the time, and I can see where the constant connection could cause serious issues.
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/science-you-and-social-media/


2. This article discusses many aspects of social media in today's world. The first issue mentioned is the issue of privacy and scams. It discusses the tricky setbacks of a supposedly "secure privacy setting." This article points out that many social networking sites update the privacy regulations so that users will have a hard time keeping up with what they have set as private. The next problem discussed is health problems associated with hyper networking. Research has found that more screen time and less face to face interaction has been linked to increases stress, aggression, anxiety, and other mental issues.
http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/Negative_Impact_of_Social_Networking_Sites

In my opinion, the effects of social networking is different for every individual and their usage time. Personally, social networking has had positive influences on my life because I can connect with family members through Facebook that I would not otherwise ever be able to talk to. My grandmother is from Spain and she has several relatives there that like to keep in contact with us. I am able to talk to them, send pictures, and keep in touch with them through Facebook. On the other hand, I understand how social networking can lead to many problems without the responsibility and limitations that were discussed in the articles above. I think it is important to have face to face conversations, but social media makes it easier to avoid that. I think it would be good for us to try to limit ourselves with social media time and to get out, exercise, and enjoy actual people every once and a while.

Introduction

My name is Emily Lynch. I am 20 years old and from Hot Springs, Arkansas. I transferred to Henderson from National Park Community College last semester. I have recently changed my major to Physical Education. I grew up in Hot Springs with my mom, sister, and brother. I am the oldest of the three, which makes me the guinea pig.
Both of my parents are teachers, so I have been surrounded by education my whole life. When the school day ended most kids went home, to play by play, or the YMCA. Not me. I just went to my mom's classroom and helped or played on the play ground until it was time to go home. Before I could drive, I practically lived at the school with my mom because of her hard work and dedication to teaching. She is the hardest working teacher that I know.  Both of my parents have inspired me to change lives through being an educator.
I love soccer, basketball, and bike riding. I also run 6 days a week because I love dessert and peanut butter. I enjoy getting out and doing new things.
This is a blog about my main passions: Jesus, family, friends, sports, dogs, peanut butter, and M&M's. Family and friends are so important to me. I love to just spend time with the people I love. I played basketball for four years and soccer for 5 years. I'm not very competitive but I enjoy just playing the game for fun. Dogs are my favorite. Lily and Dixie are my furry friends. I couldn't do life without dogs. I am a huge fan of peanut butter, M&M's, and dessert in general. I love all things peanut butter, especially desserts that contain peanut butter (like peanut butter M&M's).  I am staring this blog because it is an assignment of course, but also because it will be another outlet to express myself and to discover new things that interest me.

http://www.worldsoccer.com/

http://www.somethingswanky.com/6-peanut-butter-desserts/

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/food-cocktails/a6765/m-and-m-treats/

Lily

Dixie