Blog Post #5

PLN is short for personal learning network. As Dr. Stange explains in his document "Developing a Personal Learning Network",  a personal learning network is "people, places, organizations, and activities that enable you to learn." Dr. Strange also explains in his document that PLNs are worldwide and that they change frequently. Examples of PLNs are twitter, Facebook, youtube, and blogs. 

PLNs are an important tool for teachers and educators. Michael Fawcett discusses in his video "PLN", that PLNs serve as a tool for collaboration with teachers and educators around the world. PLNs are a way for teachers to share ideas and resources. Personal learning networks play a vital role in teachers' professional development.

Dr. Strange further explains in his document "Developing a Personal Learning Network" that the way to form a PLN is to first identify what interest you, and then form a series of questions in order to extend your network. He then tells his readers to build their network by searching for people, organizations, places, and activities that relate to the subject matter that interest you.

I have already created my own PLN. Thanks to EDM310, I now have a class blog. I also use twitter, youtube, and Facebook to collaborate with others. My PLN will give me insight into ideas and resources shared by educators around the globe. My first addition to my PLN will be to follow good resources and teachers in order for me to stay up to date with education. I have recently followed and recommend my readers to follow Edutopia, Edudemic, and Google for Education on twitter as resources to help build their own personal learning network.

Link to this video and other information about PLNs

My Sentence Videos

My Sentence is...

Link to my sentence video

My Passion is...

Link to my passion video

Search Engine Project

I chose WolframAlpha, Bing , Yahoo! Search, IceRocket, Alibaba.com, ChaCha, Kayak, and Picsearch as my eight search engines for my search engine project. I am going to be providing information about each search engine and also provide the link to the site.


First, I chose WolframAlpha. WolframAlpha provides free access to numerous computational resources. This search engine is mostly used for numerical problem solving and mostly gives numerical data. This site contains an extended keyboard, image input, data input, and file upload into the search bar. Some subjects that can be searched using WolframAlpha are mathematics, words and linguistics, dates and times, sciences, education, and music. I personally like this site. I wish I would've known about when taking statistics and other math classes.

Click here to visit WolframAlpha.com

The second search engine I chose was Bing. Bing is a Microsoft owned search engine. Bing is known as the "decision engine" because it narrows down and filters results. Bing can be used to search any type of information. When searching for information Bing provides videos, location services, related searches, and related pictures. I really don't like Bing because of its layout.  I am so use to using google, and I feel like that has a little to do with why I do not like Bing.





Click here to visit Bing

The third search engine I picked is Yahoo, and it is the second largest search engine on the web. Yahoo finds information on the internet by taking the key words entered in the search bar and finding articles or websites that match the criteria entered. Yahoo also provides you with top news, location services, and trending news along with many other great features. I like yahoo because I am
familiar with it, and I find it easy to use.






Click here to visit Yahoo! Search



The next search engine I chose was IceRocket. IceRocket is a search engine used to search blogs. It can also be used to search Twitter and Facebook. This search engine filters its information by listing the most recent posts first. Icerocket also has an advanced search bar. The IceRocket home page includes top posts and top searches. I like IceRocket because it lists your results based on what is most current. That gives its users the opportunity to stay up to date on the information they are gathering.



Click here to visit IceRocket

The fifth search engine I chose is Alibaba.com. Alibaba is based in China and is the world's largest database of supplies. As a marketplace of imports and exports, Alibaba offers a variety of options to buy and sell merchandise. Listings on this site include merchandise from around the globe. I personally would not use this site, but I think it is neat. It is somewhat similar to amazon. If you are into international goods and merchandise; then you need to check this site out.


Click here to visit Alibaba.com


My next search engine is ChaCha, and it is a question and answer based search engine. It uses a technique known as social searching by paying human "guides" to answer questions for users. I like ChaCha. It is an easy way for me to get a quick response when asking a simple question. I would not used ChaCha if I was doing a research based project.




Click here to visit ChaCha
ChaCha Itunes App
ChaCha Android App

The seventh research engine I chose is Kayak. Kayak is a metasearch engine for travel. Metasearch engine means that Kayak uses other search engines to produce the results. Kayak searches 140 travel sites at one time in order to find the best deals possible. Kayak allows you to buy tickets and make reservations. I like Kayak because it is an advanced search, and it finds you the best deals. You can search locations based on how many persons to a room you have. Kayak also provides good deals for buying flight tickets.

Click here to visit Kayak

The last search engine I chose is Picsearch. Picsearch is a web search used to search images. This search engine provides more than 3 billion pictures to search through. I like this site because it has so many pictures that you can search through. It is like google images, and it will take you to the website the picture is located.






Click here to visit Picsearch

Project #2

Click here to view Team Glue's Rubrics

C4T #1

I was assigned "The PE Teacher" for my C4T #1 and C4T #2 assignment. The author of this blog is Joey Feith, and I think he does an excellent job at providing beneficial information for Physical education educators to improve their practice. 

The first blog post I commented on was "#PEChat Summary: The Flipped Classroom." In this post Mr. Feith provided different twitter posts made by several different physical educators covering the flipped classroom. Some of these comments included positive information about the flipped classroom and others were negative. Mr. Feith also included posts that had some very neat graphics containing information about the flipped classroom. I found this post very helpful for Physical educators wanting to incorporate the flipped classroom into their lesson.

Below is my comment for C4T #1:

I am a student at the University of South Alabama, and I was just introduced to the flipped classroom this past week. It was interesting for me to read how others feel about the flipped classroom. This post helps me better understand the flipped classroom.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcmanus_kaley

Gmail: kaleymcmanus2016@gmail.com

URL for class blog: http://edm310.blogspot.com

URL for class: http://mcmanuskaleyedm310.blogspot.com

The second article that I read by Joey Feith was "The #PhysEd Calendar." In this article Mr. Feith tells his readers that he has created a #PhysEd calendar. This calendar includes events, workshops, and conferences for physical educators. It also includes twitter hashtags for physical educators wanting to connect with other educators around the world. I think Mr. Feith's idea for creating this calendar will benefit educators across the nation by allowing them to connect with other physical educators. Mr. Feith also included information on how to join and on how to add posts to the #Physed calendar.

Below is my C4T #2 comment:

This is a great article and great read. This is also a brilliant idea for connecting Physical education educators around the world. It is amazing how twitter is now used in the classroom and used to connect teachers across the nation. I think that the #PhysEd Calendar is a great idea. It will make sure that all physical educators have an equal opportunity to attend events that will benefit their practice. I also like that everyone has the opportunity to add their own events to the #Physed calendar.



Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcmanus_kaley


Gmail: kaleymcmanus2016@gmail.com


URL for class blog: http://edm310.blogspot.com


URL for class: http://mcmanuskaleyedm310.blogspot.com

Click here to view #PhysED Calendar

Link to Blog: http://thephysicaleducator.com/blog/

Blog Post #4

• What we need to know
• Teachers do not know everything
• Do not assume students know nothing
• No leading questions
• What questions to ask
• Prepared questions
• Specific questions 
• Ask different types of questions
• open-ended
• closed-ended
• How to ask those questions 
• Don't give students a "last chance" question
• Pause 3 seconds
• Ask additional questions, with yes-or-no questions
• Play with question
• Use techniques
• share and pair
• random calling

I chose to use many sources when answering the question, "What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?" In the article "The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom" the author Ben Johnson stresses that educators need to come to terms with the fact that teachers do not know everything. Sometimes students can be mislead into believing that teachers have all the answers. Thus, it can be very confusing for a student when a teacher starts questioning himself or herself. Ben Johnson also believes that teachers should not assume that the students know nothing when answering questions. Some of the students could have prior knowledge about the subject being discussed, and that could lead to a very benefiting discussion on that topic. In the article "Asking Questions to Improve Learning" the authors tell the reader to make sure to avoid leading questions. A leading questions is asked in such a way that it predicts its own answer. This type of questioning discourages individual and creative thinking.

It is important as educators to know what kind of questions need to be asked. In the article "Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom" the author Maryellen Weimer explains the importance of asking prepared questions. Weimer feels that prepared questions help you ask the best possible questions at the right time to help students to have a clearer understanding of what is being discussed. The authors for "Asking Questions to Improve Learning" encourage teachers to ask specific questions. They feel that questions should be asked in sequence from simple to more complex to build discussion depth and complexity. These authors also believe that teachers should ask a mixture of many different types of questions. Teachers should ask open-ended and closed-ended questions. Closed-ended questions test students understanding and retention. Open-ended questions are most effective at encouraging the students to be actively engaged in what is being discussed and what they are learning.

There is many different ways and techniques to simply ask a question. In Ben Johnson's article, he discourages "last chance questions." Last chance questions close off any chance of further discussion. These type of questions make students feel "cut off." Ben Johnson also found through his own research that pausing three seconds after asking a question encourages the students to really think about that question. The authors of the article "Asking Questions to Improve Learning", want educators to make sure to ask additional questions when asking a yes-or-no question. For example, the educator would get the yes-or-no answer from the student and then ask for that student to explain their answer. In Weimer's article, she encourages that educators play with the question. This meaning to leave a question unanswered in order to promote class discussion. Many different techniques are shown in the video, "Questioning Styles and Strategies", one of these techniques is share and pair. In this technique students write down their own ideas and then discuss their ideas with their partner. Another question technique is random calling. Random calling on different students is used to encourage students' engagement in the discussion and to make sure the student is paying attention to what is being discussed.

Click here to view information on Questioning Skills

Blog Post #3

• Peer editing 
• working with someone your own age
• editing their work
• Composed of compliments, suggestions, and corrections
• Best way to approach peer editing
• stay positive
• start with compliments
• make suggestions
• not demands
• Be specific
• Peer editing my classmates
• Do not be picky
• Be specific 
• Peer review accurately
• Stay on topic
• Be kind
• Do not be pushy
• Importance of peer editing 

Peer editing is working with your peers to help revise or edit their writings. Peer editing is composed of three elements. The three elements of peer editing are to always start with compliments, give suggestions, and make proper corrections. It is important to always approach peer editing in the best way. Remember to always stay positive when peer editing. Positive criticism goes along way when  peer editing. It is really important to make suggestions and not demands. When we make these suggestions it is important to be specific. Specification of mistakes can help the writer clearly understand what they need to edit or revise.

Checklist for Peer Editing

It is important for me to peer edit my classmates the way I would want to be peer edited in return. When peer editing my classmates I will always try to stay positive and not be so picky.  I also need to make specific suggestions when peer editing. I need to make sure I accurately and effectively review my peers. I will do the best I can to point out all the mistakes within my classmates' writings because I want them to make the best grade possible. It is important to me that my peers properly edit my paper, and I would do so in return. When peer editing I will focus on just telling the writer what they need to revise, and not start talking about something completely off topic. It is also important to always be kind when peer editing and not be pushy.

Peer editing is very important. It allows our peers to read our writings, and give suggestions or comments on things that need revising. Peer editing is important because sometimes it is hard to pick out your own mistakes within your writing. Personally, peer editing makes me more comfortable when I turn in any written work. We are all humans and we all make mistakes. That is true and evident in our writing. Mistakes will be made, and peer editing is a good process in making those corrections.