Last week, we enjoyed hosting some special classroom visitors. Dr. Strange and his wife, from Mobile, Alabama, were in our neck of the woods, and the two stopped by to say hello and spend some time learning with us.
Dr. Strange and Mrs. Yollis had never met face-to-face, but know each other through blogging.
Dr. Strange and Mrs. Yollis had never met face-to-face, but know each other through blogging.
Mrs. Yollis "met" Dr. Strange through educational blogging. He teaches at the College of Education at the University of South Alabama. His preservice class, called EDU310, helps teach new educators how to integrate technology meaningfully in the classroom.
As an educator of educators and a lifelong learner himself, Dr. Strange was interested in seeing how young students are using blogging and ipads to enhance learning.
First, we learn a little about the Alabamans. Students asked open-ended questions and our visitors responded. An open-ended question is a question that cannot be answered with a yes or a no response. Open-ended questions require more thinking and are generally more interesting.
After the introductions, the students broke up into groups. Some students worked on typing skills for five to ten minutes. Here we see a student giving a demonstration about how the AlphaSmart typing program works. Look how her fingers are exactly on the home row! Go girl!
Several groups of students were working on a project using PuppetPals Directors Cut. Although this version isn't free, the class enjoys the historic puppets and sets that come with the version.
Mrs. Yollis' Labrador retriever, Buck, is a popular PuppetPal puppet. Here students show Dr. Strange how they can use the iPad to copy the photo of Buck from our 365 Blog, import the photo into PuppetPals, and then trace around Buck to make him a talk show host puppet! Here you can see that Buck will be interviewing Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and President Lincoln. I wonder what the topic of the show will be? The PuppetPal video will be published soon!
Here are Two PuppetPal videos created last year!
Students who weren't creating a PuppetPal project were blogging. Some great conversations are happening in the comment sections.
Here are some links to view some fabulous conversations in the comment sections!
Family Blogging Month
How to Write a Compound Sentence (Lots of Pilgrim Facts!)
Positively Perfect Plurals
On our 365 Blog, sometimes the comments disappear. :-(
If the comments aren't visible, try a different browser or try again later.
365 Blog: Marvelous Millie (Mrs. Talley's dog)
365 Blog: Flat (The recess balls are telling their story!)
365 Blog: Tree Transformation
365 Blog : Rainbow Cake (Mrs. Morris' birthday cake!)
Alas, it was time for Dr. Strange and Mrs. Strange to leave. We hope we meet again in person or in our blogging online community!
What did you enjoy about the visit?
What would you like Dr. Strange's teacher to know about blogging?
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