Monday, September 30, 2013

Project #2 - Progress report #1

          I am really starting to like this whole PLN thing. What is a PLN you ask? A PLN is a personalized learning network. Basically a network with endless possibilities and connections to any information and any person around the globe! We will start by breaking it down. Personal, the first word in this acronym. Personal means anything that belongs to you, or something relating to yourself; another word of personal is yours. The "Personal" part of the PLN is how you decide customize it. The fact that it is personal means you are the rule maker. You decide where items are placed, which items are displayed, what your favorite site will be...it all depends on YOU.

          The L obviously stands for learning. The internet is home to millions of sites that can be found at a click of a button, not to mention how much information is contained in those sites. The possibilities are literally endless. If you searched the anatomy of a frog in Google, thousands of diverse web pages would pop up. Within these web searches you can find videos, activities, information, research, and informed opinions; anything you are searching for can be found painlessly right at your fingertips.

          And now, last but not least, the N. The N stands for Network. A network can be describes as a group or system of interconnected people or things. So in this case, the network mean anyone that you can obtain or share information to anyone you decide is part of your learning network. Exchange information with an Educator half way around the world. Or connect with your classmates just a few blocks down the road. If you find something interesting that you would like to share, can be easily viewed through blogs or other sites developed for the sharing of ideas.

          8/27/2013: Because I am a new blogger, just recently I was introduced to a new website called Symbaloo. Symbaloo is a website that organizes all your favorite websites and displays them all on the home screen so that each tile/website can be opened with a simple click. Symbaloo lets you organize and customize your tiles heading, picture, and color. Basically any site you desire can be put onto your Symbaloo home screen. Here's a screen shot of my own Symbaloo (be minded that I just started my Symbaloo, so it isn't very lively yet...it's just a little bare).




            Along the top row I have all my necessities from my EDM 310 class including my blog, EDM 310 class blog, YouTube, Twitter, Google Drive, and the instruction manual to EDM 310. I haven't added all of them just yet. Once I grow and discover more materials to share with others is when my other tiles will begin to fill up; but I have decided that around the edges I am just going to put all the educational stuff, and all the non-educational and miscellaneous tiles go around the center.

           Feel like changing the arrangement? No problem, the tiles can easily be dragged from one place to another for quick and easy navigation. Also the sites comes with tiles after you sign up free of charge! Oh and not to mention the whole thing is free! So next time you get flustered with opening a home page then typing in the address...and then find what your looking for, consider Symbaloo and organize all your favorite sites and have them just a click away.

          9/30/2013: 

          As you can see from this picture, I have done some house cleaning and added some new tiles onto my Symbaloo. Notice I still only use the top rows but this time I added a second row that also had to do with lessons and blog assignments from my EDM 310 class. I have added the checklist for my EDM class, Sakai, iCurio, ALEX, "Learn that Book", and some other tiles that I click on from a day to day basis and need a quick and easy reference to while I am working. 

          I have gone from using Sybmaloo to once or twice a day to it becoming my homepage as I open Google Chrome. I am so glad I have made the switch to use Symbaloo; it has all your important tabs right there and there's no way I'm going back to the way I used to do things! As time goes on in EDM 310 I am sure that my PLN will grow even more.

       

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Blog Post #6

The Effective Ways of Asking Questions



           Questions, question, questions. I've asked, and been asked at least a million questions in my life time; and a diverse group at that. Rhetorical questions, leading questions, evaluation questions, and let's not forget the most reoccurring questions...test questions. But besides that fact think back to the times you were in class, remember the times in elementary, middle and high school, or even college, when you were asked useless questions; the type of questions that spark no activity in your brain, the type of questions you've been asked time after time or while you've been daydreaming all day. It's perfectly alright to admit it, I'm sure we all have; and I'm sure we've all had those teachers that lecture us into a daydream.

           Now  let's be a little more specific on the type of questions that those teachers asked. Here's an example, "Grass is green, isn't it?" Or, here's another example, the dreaded, "Do you understand?" What kind of questions are these?  I can tell you what kind of question it isn't; it isn't a question that motivates students to learn. It isn't a question that captures the attention of it's audience. It isn't a question that helps a students grow and learn. So if the questions are so ineffective, why are we still using them? It's clear that they don't work. Or perhaps maybe, we are asking the wrong types of questions.

          Question and questioning can be a powerful tool in learning. They can be used in a multitude of contexts, this is where we need take a step back and evaluate the questions we are asking and the questions we should be asking. So this brings us to the question of the hour.....what do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? Well, Dr. Strange and I have done some research and I have found the answer...or at least some of the answer.

          It begins with effective listening and interaction; if your students are half asleep during class time, and you wait till the end of discussion to ask questions, they will have no value from the start. Effective questions are powerful, thought provoking, and not left open ended. Instead try integrating them into your lesson. You've got to make sure your students are engaged in what is happening. Second, change the way you are asking these questions. Chances are, your either asking a rhetorical question, or a leading question; these questions will be the death of you!!

            From what I learned from doing the research, ask questions in a way that gets the brain fired up and gets students to want to answer the question. An example would be, "What is that steaming, red hot, liquid rock that flows from volcano's?" Wait a few seconds between each question, to make sure the student has in fact thought up an answer instead of hoping the teacher will not pick him. Also, teachers need to put enthusiasm into their questions, if the students see that the teacher is generally interested and excited about the topic, students are more likely to be excited too! Teachers can't just assume that because they lectured us for over an hour that we retained everything we heard. Questioning throughout lectures is a way of keeping your class interested, attentive, and alert.

          Now I just want to take a little time and talk about questioning from the students perspective. Almost every great scientist or philosopher who discovered something great, started from a question; whether it be Plato or Issac Newton, they both asked how and why. I know when I was in grade school I really didn't ask a lot of questions. Why? Well I can think of a few reasons; one, I was too afraid of being mocked by my peers. Two, I was afraid of being made fun of by the teacher or embarrassed in front of the class. Three, I was afraid of what people would think, period.

          I remember once when I was in geometry class every time I asked a question someone would sigh or the teacher would ask why I didn't understand and get angry. Teachers should openly accept questions as an opportunity to personally help a student succeed. The students cannot do it alone they need OUR help. We should be embracing questions in the classroom not shaming them. Teachers often get offended when students ask questions because they feel like they have been incompetent. I am not saying this is every case, but in most cases I have seen this happen. Take this time to work with the student personally and make sure that they really understand. This is also a great opportunity to ask the right kinds of questions.

          One of the class quotes for EDM 310 is "Never Tell. Always Ask". We often find ourselves giving lectures or spitting out facts like we know it all. But the truth is, everyone you meet knows something you don't. Asking questions is a way to learn, not a way of saying your a failure. What would we have done if Copernicus didn't question about our Solar System? What would we have done if Newton didn't ask why the apple fell from the tree?  Questions are not a sign of weakness, they are a window to understanding. This comes to show, that asking question, whether you're a student or teacher, should spark learning and creativity, if not, it just becomes another memory that is soon to be replaced.





Monday, September 23, 2013

C4K Summary for September

 September C4K #1:  

       Getting involved in students lives as early as you can is one of the best ways to prepare for your classroom in the real world. C4K is a project for my EDM 310 Class that stand for "Comments for Kids". For my first C4K assignment, I was to leave a comment for Jamie Lynn Martin's 2nd Block class; although it was not specified what grade Ms. Martin teaches.

        I was to comment on the most recent post, however, this was the only post on this blog. The blog post was titled "This I Believe." I wasn't necessarily a blog post; it was more of an assignment. It was also published on September 8th, 2013, so it is a fairly new post . Looking at the title I'm sure you already have a few ideas. The instructions that proceeded the title explained everything. The students had just finished a "This I believe" unit, and after they finished, they wrote down a belief statement, a belief statement is ones opinion about a certain topic or principle After each of them wrote their belief statement, they were to include a personal story that explains how they came to believe this. She then stated that anyone was welcome to leave a comment about their belief statement and explanations for them.

       For my own personal belief statement, I stated that there is not standard of beauty; and I believe this because I have seen so many different types of people in my life that I consider to be beautiful. I expressed that there can be no standard of beauty because no one in the world looks or is exactly the same in any concept. If we all looked the same, no one would be different. Therefore, everybody's different, everybody's human. Everyone holds their unique opinion on beauty, and someone else's opinion of beautiful may not be yours. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone's eyes are different. 


http://kidblog.org/english2ndBlock/



September C4K #2:

       For my second week of C4K's, everyone who is enrolled in EDM 310 was assigned to a specific teacher's blog. Within this blog there was a list of 5th grade students each with their own blog. We were assigned to read and comment on an individual student's blog. The goal of this week's C4K was to try and figure out what the "object" was from a poem that the students had written themselves, that gave you cues as to what it was. To get a better idea, here is a snap shot of my students poem. 


Can you tell what it is?


       At first I wasn't sure. I thought that the student was maybe talking about his life (?). I assumed this because his profile picture was the face of the villain from the series of horror movies called Saw. Don't judge me for this but, if it weren't for the comments placed ahead of me...I would have gone the idea of "it's his life" kind of thing. But then it all makes sense; have you thought of the answer yet? I'm sure you have thought up a few things. However the answer is.....(since you are jumping out of your seat in anticipation).....it's a bus driver! Ah! Now it all makes sense. This seems like a fun activity and really forces the students to get creative. When you give the students an exercise like this, it sparks deeper thinking and reinforces literature. This exercise is a package deal. I enjoyed the satire in this piece. Honestly...that's how I would feel if I were a bus driver. I remember when I used to ride the bus;oh those were the days, weren't they?

       If you are interested in viewing the page, here's the link! http://kidblog.org/SCRebels/3069703b-8eb3-4001-be28-a64029e8197f/what-am-i/#comment-333


September C4K #3:

        This week's C4K took place in a school's blog located across the world in Auckland, New Zealand. I was excited that I have the ability to so easily connect with an entire school, a classroom, or a single student from somewhere so far away. We were actually assigned to a specific fifth grade classrooms blog; that classroom number was thirteen. In that classroom we were assigned a certain student; my student was a young boy named Kyan. Kyan said his goals as of now is to achieve good work in his studies which I think is an excellent goal.

        When I looked at Kyan's blog it was very warm and inviting. The background was made up of colors, designs, and drawings that he made himself that has his name going down the side. He has many projects on his blog ranging from a Google Docs Presentation to a a timeline of growth represented by a video game character, which to me  is extremely impressive. The fact that a fifth grader can run a blog like this is very fascinating. I commented on his most recent blog post. I wasn't sure what it was about exactly but it was a Google Docs Presentation. It was mainly pictures but had a few words scattered about. Here are some examples:




       He says it is from his Life's a Stage presentation. Again I'm not sure what it is about but I can see some similarities. I really liked not knowing what is was about because it was more of a puzzle to figure out and it still remains a mystery. Any ideas? However, I am very impressed by this presentation. The comment that I left on Kyan's blog first stated who I was and where I was from . From there I told him that I was proud to see him this technologically literate, and that most fifth graders are not that far advanced.

       I told him how much I appreciated looked at his blog and his blog posts. I explained to him that this blog helped further my knowledge in teaching, and gave me insight as well. Therefore, I am learning from him as much as he is learning in his 5th grade class. I told him to keep going, that he is making more of an impact than he thinks. If he can make an impact on a college student that is halfway around the World, then I'm sure he can make a change wherever he is at.



September C4K #4:

 I was assigned to a Mr. Rhodus's sixth grade class's blog located in RoberstdaLe, Alabama. Once on the blog we were assigned to comment on one student's post. In this blog post the students were telling us about how they had just read an article about how much the sky weighed. Each student has to comment on their own personal section of the blog about their experiences and their thoughts on the article. I was assigned to a young lady named Mary Kate who seemed very excited about this newly learned information. I can also say that I walked away from this weeks C4K learning something new.


          If you have ever wondered how much the sky weights, well, these students have the answer! Mary Kate informed us that the sky weights about five billion million pounds. However I wish she would have been more specific as to why that is, not just stating facts. Another thing I liked about Mary Kate's post was she told us why the sky does not crush you if it weights so much. She said because the air is around us and inside us when we breathe. I liked that she made a point to say this in this because it is a very unique fact. I don't think many kids would include this fact in their post.

         For the comment I left her stated my name and that I attend South Alabama. I told her this post was awesome how crazy it was that the sky weighed that much. I told her I had never heard anything like that in my life. I talked to her about how crazy it is that we never really take the time to stop and think about how the air is in us as well as all around us; and how without it, we could not sustain life. I encouraged her to keep up the good work and that she can use these blogging skills later in life. And I wished her good luck on her continuing educational journey.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Blog Post #4: Podcasts

Let's talk about Podcasts!
       Podcast's are a great way to learn and also a great way to teach. Podcast's are very convenient and are easily accessed. Podcast's are simple to record, create, and listen to. For those of you who do not know what a podcast is, Google.com describes a podcast as a multimedia digital file made available for download on the internet, portable media player, personal computer, etc. In a nutshell, a podcast is just a recording of someone talking; there are no visuals as opposed to just a video. Podcasts can be used to inform you on new topics, enhance your educational skills, learn about worldly issues; you can basically find any podcast on any subject that is available for download. If you want a quick pick-me-up on a subject you are confused about, you can conveniently search the internet, iTunes, or iTunes U. Databases for podcast's such as iTunes U, lets you search for lectures and lessons taught by professors from colleges around the world!

       For this weeks blog post, we are researching new information on podcast's to further our knowledge on the subject, and expand our technological skills. Dr. Strange gave us some links to a blogger who goes by the name of Langwitches. Langwitches runs a variety of blogs and accounts dedicated to podcasts that she creates interactively with her students! Out of the list we had to choose three, to check out, read and learn about, new ways to take advantage of modern podcasting. If you want more information on podcasts, here's a link to a informing video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugIh7DqKwdw.

       Podcast 1: Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting: If you look at the title, it describes the three things that this podcast is about; obviously, learning, comprehending, and of course...podcasts. This page starts off by discussing vocabulary. Did you know a child has to hear a word 70 times to commit it to memory; and not only the word, but the word has to be used in a certain context that refers to the definition of that word. So for this particular podcast, they were focusing on the Hebrew language and certain vocabulary. The class used the SMART Board and their own voices to make a podcast of Hebrew words following their definitions. This is just another example of how podcast can be used in the classroom to explore and learn about a variety of subjects and even learn a new language. For this podcast, they were exploring new languages and how to commit those new languages to memory.

       Podcast 2: Flat Stanley Project: I'm sure we all had the Flat Stanley Project while we were in elementary school. If not, it is very simple to explain. Flat Stanley is about a boy who once was real, but was flattened by a bulletin board filled with pictures and information about places around the world. He then uses this to his advantage; he slips under doors and can easily fit in an envelope and travels the world. For this project, students are to pick any location, then choose a book from the library about their location. Proceeding that, they were to write a story about their chosen location, how he got there and what his experiences were. The podcast was a collection of the student's voices describing where they took Flat Stanley and what happened during their adventures. This podcast is a great way to get your students to improve their reading skills, and improve their knowledge of different places in the world, and it also encourages imagination, creativity and exploration. 

       Podcast 3: Podcasting with 1st Grade: The students had just read Vacation Under the Volcano from the" Magic School Bus Series". For the students podcasts, a group of them were acting like they were interviewing the two main characters about their experiences. This is a great way to really reinforce what the students have read, as well as promotes literacy, problem solving, making predictions, communication, working together, technology, imagination and creativity. 

        I did not know podcasts could be manipulated in so many ways. When I think of podcasts I usually think of boring, uninsightful, lectures from colleges classes that extend too long. I also had no idea how useful podcasts were and are in the classroom, and I did not think to actually get the students involved in the process of making a podcast! This is my most insightful blog post yet. So many learning experiences for your students can come from creating podcasts. Like discusses in the paragraph above, podcasts promote many areas of cognitive, and kinesthetic development. Also, it guides the students to become technologically literate which is so important in today's culture. Podcast can be used for many other areas of learning! You do not just have to sit there and listen to a podcast, you can get involved, and that is what I learned are are taking away from this weeks blog assignment.
       

     

Monday, September 9, 2013

C4T #1

    As part of my blogging experience, we are given an activity called C4T. C4T stands for "Comments 4 Teachers". I am assigned a specific teacher/ fellow educator and I am to read, review, and comment on that specific teacher's blog. For my teacher, I was assigned a man named John R. Sowash. Sowash runs a blog called The Electric Educator. In his About Me section, he tells us that he has been interested in technology since he was ten years old, and has been taking new opportunities to learn and broaden his horizons in the field of technology. His blog posts are primarily about new technological opportunities and how to take advantage of them. The slogan he has created for his website says, "Thoughts, ideals, and comment on educational technology." So that pretty much sums up what all his posts are about.



    For our first assignment, we were instructed to comment on our latest teacher's blog post, then write a summary about their blog post, what we read, and the comment we left. A week later we are to comment on their most recent post, if they have not posted a new one, comment on the next recent post. Then we are also to summarize that blog post and our comments.

First Comment:  My teacher, wrote about new setting from Google chrome for teachers titled, "5 Chrome Settings that will Make Teachers Smile". In this post, he lists, describes, and gives explicit instructions and tips for each of the five changes. This blog post starts off  discussing how Chrome is his browser of choice and how many other browsers adjust themselves to changes made by Chrome. He then tells us that Chrome is an amazing browser for teachers, then proceeds to tell why and list the changes and instructions. (These are a summaries of his post).

    Number one: Launch Tabs on Startup. Google can automatically load your bookmarked and favorite websites each time Chrome is opened. Just simply click to open and there are all of your favorite websites at your fingertips. The directions he gave seem painless and are very easy to comprehend: To enable features: Setting > Show Advanced Setting > On Startup. His tips for this one told us not to add too many pages, and that you can change your settings to a student, so if a student logs in, there are all their favorite tabs!

    Number two: Bookmark Sync. We as teachers love to bookmark pages, and Sowash informs you that you can now synchronize any of your bookmarks to any device, once you sign into Chrome anywhere. For this setting change his directions were: Settings > Sign into Chrome. It's that easy! 

    Number three: Tab Sync. Tab Sync is a setting that allows you to view any tab that is open, on a different device, as long as you sign into Chrome. So if you are on your laptop at work and its time to go...you can just sign into Chrome and BAM! There is your tab right there. The instructions for this setting are: Settings > Sign into Chrome. Once again....it's that simple.

    Number four: Zoom. Most people do not know about the zoom tool in Chrome, so I found this one to be most helpful. There wasn't really much to say for this one except you press ctrl and + to zoom in and - to zoom out!

    Number Five: Settings Search. Have you ever wanted to change a setting but you just don't know where to go to change it? Now Chrome has a settings search that allows you to search for anything in settings. For this one he did not give instructions you just simply activate chrome, go to settings, then settings search.

    For my comment, I expressed to Sowash that I found this MOST informing. I told him that Google Chrome is my basis for anything web related, and that everything I perform in my EDM 310 class starts out through Google Chrome. I use Drive, Blogger, Gmail, Google Search, and just about anything that Google offers I take advantage of. I also told him that I was definitely going to take advantage of these new settings. Being an education major, the use of technology is crucial, so I must be able to access Chrome 24/7 easily without restrains. These settings will help me out more on the go and I wont have to spend so much time thumbing through different websites and tools to get to where I need to be.


Second Comment: I am so very grateful that I was assigned the to comment on this blog. His blog is totally relevant to this class and it couldn't be more perfect. His second blog post was titled "Cleaning Up YouTube for your Classroom". As a fellow educator, before this post, the thought of using YouTube as an open sight in the classroom makes me scared a little bit. Vulgar and inappropriate videos can be searched with a click of a button. This is what the Electric Educator believes also, until he discovered and published a few tricks up his sleeve to make YouTube classroom friendly!

        You can take control of your classroom YouTube with just two options. Option 1: Don't use YouTube.com! If you use the domain sight, students can easily access these inappropriate videos. Instead, he tells us to embed the videos we choose onto a website, that way is it not directly leading you to YouTube. He told us that this may require a little extra work but it is worth it! After he is done explaining option one, there are a few tips along with a video. The first tip was to utilize playlist! You can create whole playlist on just about any subject you would like. They don't even have to be in the same subject. You can create a YouTube account for you classroom and create eclectic playlist. Then, you can embed that playlist onto your site as well, so instead of just placing video by video, you can embed a whole playlist. Another one of his tips explained that you can disable types of content from Google; this setting will be your best friend! All you have to do is check a box that says, "Do not show related videos."

       Option 2: YouTube for Schools. YouTube for Schools is a site just for school teachers, so when you go in, it already has the bad stuff blocked! Imagine that. It only allows students to see selected videos that have been enabled by a school network administer (basically the school runs this site); so you could have your personal YouTube, then the school's. He also gave you a link to the YouTube for Schools which was insightful. The next tip he gave was to become a curator of your own channel. Take charge and create a fun and fabulous website for your students to enjoy. Again he posted a link to some examples of teacher's YouTube channels.

       My comment expressed my gratitude for this post. I told him that this post couldn't have related more to the class that I am taking right now, which is strictly about technology and how to use it the further my education and the education of others. YouTube can be such a great learning tool. There are thousands of educational videos on practically any subject. I told him I was also scared to use YouTube and I had no idem how to use it for my classroom. The options he gave us were so insightful and I can't believe I was going to brush YouTube to the side. I told him with these new options, there was no way I was going to pass up an opportunity like this. Thanks Josh!

O

Friday, September 6, 2013

Food for thought

I just wanted to share these quotes and photos with you guys because they are just too beautiful not to share.

"Peace is the result from understanding and sharing."
-Unknown

"We're not the same people we were a year ago, a month ago, a week ago. We're constantly changing. Experiences don't stop. That's life"
-Unknown

 "Be Soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the the bitterness steal you sweetness."
-Kurt Vonnegut









Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Blog Post #3: Thoughts on Peer Editing

Some Thoughts on Peer Editing


       When you hear the words peer editing, what comes to mind? Do you cringe? Do you get nervous? Or like myself, afraid to correct someone else paper that's your age? Well, if so then we have a few things in common. For my 2nd post of EDM 310, Dr. Strange assigned groups. Within these groups we were to write our 2nd blog post "The 21st Century Student", and then upload and share our documents in Google Drive. Lucky for me, and unlike many groups in the class, I only have two other members in my group. After we uploaded each of our unique documents we were to read, review, state opinions, and correct our peer's posts. 

       If I were to be completely honest, I am still not over the whole "fear of correcting a peers paper"...and this is my fourth year in college! But what is it about peer editing that scares us so much? Is is the editing part? Because I'm pretty sure no adult would have any problem correcting a student or adolescent's paper. So lets try the only word left in the phrase - peer. I have heard peer throughout my lifetime. Since I was an early child and while attending elementary, middle, and high school assemblies about "Saying NO to Peer Pressure!" (Side Note: In my opinion, forming the diligence of saying no to your peers, has to be a type of maturation and a desired trait, it isn't something that can you can just be convinced of in a forty-five minute assembly). 

       Sometimes it doesn't matter what is said there's just something about our peers that gets us a little shaken up. Perhaps we could turn the dial and look from a different perspective. Our peers are also our colleagues, our best friends, our husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc. Nearly everyday we encounter our peers, first in pre-school, all the way up to retiring. We date our peers, fight with our peers, grow with our peers. We have been around our peers our whole lives, constantly being compared against each other. Peers are also the connection to your social lives. Fourteen year-old's don't get a twitter to tweet at their grand parents all day! Social networks connect people to their peers, the group of people who's opinion is likely to matter most.

      So, with all this being said, lets move on to the assignments to this weeks blog. Dr. Strange gave us some videos, a slideshow, and a blog posts to watch, read, think and write about - all related to peer pressure. (a) Video - What is Peer Editing?, (b) Slideshow - Peer Edit with Perfection!, (c) Video - Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes.

       (a) The video was painless. It was a video that was only displayed black and white text with audio. In a nutshell it gave you three steps to peer editing. 1. Compliments, 2. Suggestions, 3. Corrections. The number one rule about comments, stay positive! Next was suggestions; giving the writer specific ideas about how to make their writing better. It told me to look for things like word choice, details, organization, sentences topic. Last is corrections; look for punctuation, grammar, sentences, and spelling. (b) The slide show was quick and simple, consisting of only fifteen slides. Again stating the three steps to peer editing but being more descriptive than the video and you were able to carefully read each slide.

       (c). The third was a humorous video, Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes, of 5th grade students acting out ten different types of peer editors. Using types of names like "Jean the Generalizer", "Picky Patty", "Social Sammy", "Speedy Sandy" and "Loud Larry"; this video gave you a feel of what it is actually be assessed by a student who is making one of those top ten mistakes. 

       I wouldn't say I had a huge learning experience with this section, but it served more as a reminder. A reminder that by helping my peers through peer editing, I am also helping myself. Often we are afraid to assess our peers because they are the same age as us and of course we want to be liked. As far as commenting goes, I think is one of the best steps to editing, I think comments are not as assertive and students can easily share their opinions. It is also important to guide our students on how to write a helpful comment, as opposed to a hurtful comment. Suggestions, in a loose term, means hinting at the student, so when giving suggestions you want your fellow peer to not feel pressured, like the videos and slideshow said...stay positive!! Dealing with corrections, you must make sure your corrections are in fact...correct. It is someone else's and we would hate for them to feel like they have made a mistake. 

      Peer editing, just like a game of scrimmage with your team, you learn, grow, and excel with and from each other. You are on the same team, but how are you going to get experience in playing a game if you do not practice. We as students, and I am mainly talking to myself here, do not realize how much of an impact peer editing can have on our future teaching careers. Helping someone else edit and revise their paper that is our age quite difficult, especially when you want that person to admire you. Think of peer editing like doing reps with a twenty-five pound weight, the next time you pick up a ten pound weight, it won't be so heavy. Peer editing gives you proper training on how to edit your paper, and also your future student's papers.