Blog #4 - Lesson Plan with Digital Camera

Lesson Plan
I. After talking about how to keep a betta fish alive, the students are going to make their own betta fish aquariums. They will not contain real fish, but it will give them an idea of how to make the environment safe for a future betta fish (this could be a surprise for the classroom)
II. Making an aquarium
A. Materials
1. [Pre-made] Paper aquariums the students need to cut out (white and a color)
2. Rocks for the bottom of the aquarium
3. Zip-lock Bag
4. Staplers
5. Fish stickers
B. Sequence
The students are given the white pre-made aquarium to cut it out.
Then take the fish tank rocks and put a few in the Zip-Lock Bag. The fish stickers can be placed on the inside of the bag before it is sealed shut. This must be sealed securely.
I will go around and staple the zip-lock bags to the white aquariums. (Fish facing the front)
Then students then cut out the colored pre-made aquarium. The colored aquariums are glued to the front of the white aquariums to hide the staples.

On the handout it has five ways to care for a betta fish:

How to care for Betta Fish

1. Have a clean glass/plastic container
2. Have a flat surface on the bottom of the tank. Have nothing that will trap your fish.
3. Do not place in a tank with another betta fish.
4. Must have fresh/clean water.
5. Tank must have a cover because betta fish can jump.

Blog #3 - Terms and Phrases

The terms that define my philosophy on teaching are:
Patience
Understanding
Organization
Attention
Creative

Blog #2 - Gardner, Bloom, and Dale

1. Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory is basically about different ways a person can learn. Everyone has different abilities and find ways of memorizing or learning different from everyone else. Howard Gardner proposed eight different ways of learning.
Benjamin Bloom's idea of Taxonomy is about three different ways of learning. Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor. These are learning behaviors and can be thought of as "the goals of the training process." People will have gained new knowledge at the end of each learning session.
Edgar Dale developed an idea called the Cone of Experience. This idea is related to a picture and it's shape is a cone. It starts with school experiences like reading and watching educational films to everyday life experiences. This idea is to be used to help guide a teacher into using certain activities/resources in the classroom.
2. All three ideas were developed before computers were even used in every classroom in an elementary school building. These theories were developed in the 50's, 70's, and 80's. The only method that could possibly have been developed with computers in mind would be Gardner's Multiple Intelligence's Theory. Several ideas in that theory can be related back to computer use. For example: linguisitc (more people during this day and age are using computers as a way of journaling or writing stories) Musical (music is now being produced using computer software and students can use programs to learn about site reading) Gardner's Theory, whether of not he planned it this way, does relate back to integrating computers and technology into the classroom.
3. Gardner's Theory relates back to Type III. Technology is a tool in this matter because there are so many different aspects it can help with. All the subdivisions of this category can be used to help children learn. The would more than likely be able to use the software by themselves and learn from it.
Bloom's idea of Taxonomy is Type I. The teacher would use this idea as an aide in the classroom. It would be a helpful resource to use because it helps the students become effective learners.
Dale's Cone of Experience would be labled as a Type II. This should really be used by the students and not as an aide to the teacher. The point of this idea is to have it relate back to an experience to help the children remember the details of what they have learned. This developed idea can be used by itself without the teacher giving instructions.
Websites
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
http://www.officeport.com/edu/blooms.htm
http://thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm
http://web.utk.edu/~mccay/apdm/selusing/selusing_d.htm