All about the Prezi

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

First off I would like to say a congratulations for making it to the end of the Spring 2013 semester for all my fellow students, and another congratulations to all the graduates. This week I would like to talk to you all about my personal favorite Web 2.0 tool that I have learned about over the past semester.
While Web 2.0 has several tools that can enrich your personal learning as well as a students learning, I have realized that I enjoy Prezi the most.

This unique website is very similar to using the traditional PowerPoint, but instead of basic designs, layouts, colors, etc. it offers you endless option choices to spice-up a presentation. You can literally create a "PowerPoint" from scratch and add different animations to make it more interesting for the students to watch. Of course Prezi has generic layouts and colors you could use but on the opposite end you can create your own layouts and color schemes. The navigation is fairly simple, for me I just went into the system and played around with the different mechanics of the site.

I had the opportunity to actually create my own Prezi presentation, and I must say that I loved every second of it. I was able to create a fun and interesting Prezi that received many great reviews from my current professors. I was extremely proud of my understanding of the site and overall presentation that I shared it with any professor, student, friend, peer, etc. that would listen. Since learning about Prezi and all that if can offer individuals I can honestly say that I plan to use it in the future. I would like to encourage you to create an account or just browse the website yourself. It is just another creative tool that can enhance any presentation you may come across. If you do not like Prezi, then what Web 2.0 tool do you like the most? How do you plan to incorporate technology in your current or future classroom? If you are not a teacher or education major could you see yourself using any Web 2.0 tool at all in your profession?

Until next time darlings,

April N. Avery

Reading Gap

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I hope you all have had a wonderful week. Can you believe that finals are right around the corner? It is amazing how much time passes by without us ever recognizing it. Anyways, this week I would like to talk to you about an article I read over the gap in reading. The article discusses how there is a large gap between girls and boys when it comes to reading with the girls being ahead. Of course everyone has probably heard about the mathematics gap that is between boys and girls with boys taking the lead so I found it a little surprising when the article mentioned the gap for reading.

The article states that this gap is not just happening in America, but instead it is occurring world-wide. While teachers focus on closing the gap for mathematics, they are only looking at half of the problem. Boys are missing out on learning to read and it is hindering their overall performance. As a future educator this concerns me. I do not want there to be a gap for any subject, let alone mathematics and reading. After reading this article it made me think about what could be done to help reduce the gap and make all subjects a priority. In my own opinion I think tying together reading and mathematics will help. When you intertwine subjects it makes learning more interesting for students, and for some it is easier to grasp. There is no question that the gap on reading should be closed, but how can we do that is the question. 

So, read the article and come up with some suggestions on how to help fix this issue we are currently seeing. No child, boy or girl, should be struggle with reading or any other subject. We as a whole have too many resources and wonderful teachers to continue to let the gap grow.

Until next time darlings, 

April N. Avery

Is less really more?

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I hope everyone has enjoyed this week. We only have a couple of weeks left believe it or not. Anyways, I would like to talk to you about the changes that have recently been made to the Texas curriculum for high school students. I stumbled upon this article earlier this week and while I knew that there was a possibility that the graduation requirements would change I did not expect a bill to already be passed by Texas House of Representatives.

The article goes into detail how recently the House of Representatives have passed a bill to reduce the number of end-of-course exams need to graduate from 15 to 5, also the years of mathematics and science has been decreased from 4 to 3. While the entire country has been watching this decision closely, it surprises me that Texas would make a change like this to the curriculum of high school students. In the article it explains that parents and teachers from our Lone Star state have been the most outspoken on whether or not the curriculum should be decreased or not. Surprisingly individuals outside of Texas are concerned by the actions that have been taken. It is believed that with the reduction of curriculum the students in a lower socioeconomic environment will end up suffering instead of flourishing.
Another question that is raised is with reducing the number of required years for mathematics and science will freshmen college students need more remedial math courses? The number of first year college students needing a remedial mathematics class before proceeding to college algebra is on the rise. So, my question is with our legislators knowing that more students are needing remedial courses during college why would they change the curriculum? Yes I agree that testing has become excessive and is focused on a little too much, but I do not agree that the years of required mathematics and science should have been reduced. There are too many students that are already struggling with those two subject areas to decrease the exposure that students have in high school.
My question to you is do you think this was a smart move by Texas? Would you do it differently? As a future or current educator would you still advise students to take those four years of math and science? Is there another way we can reduce the number of students in remedial math classes in college? What are your opinions about this article?

Until next time darlings,

April N. Avery

A world without Cursive

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I do hope you all have had a fabulous and productive week. Surprisingly we only have about three to four weeks left of this semester so let's make them count.

This week I thought we would talk about cursive handwriting. I found an interesting article about if it's really important to teach cursive writing to students. The article basically stated that cursive writing is not a valued way of writing due to the use of computers and e-mail. All of this makes sense, but as an individual who was taught cursive handwriting in elementary I wish it was not a "fading art". The article continues to quote opinions of other educators and administrators from early childhood to college professors. Some individuals agree that cursive is not necessarily important while others say that cursive is important and will help students in the long run.
For the most part though, the decision to teach cursive is left up to the state, district, school, and/or the teacher. One part of the article talks about cursive writing helping students with dyslexia because it reduces the chance of them mixing the letters up since every letter is connected. Another issue that is causing cursive to diminish from the curriculum is that teacher's do not have the "time needed" for proper cursive instruction. These are all valid points as to why cursive is slowly fading out of the classroom, but I'm still a firm believer that cursive should be taught to our students.

There are benefits of cursive writing one of the most widely known reasons is "it's fancy" or "looks pretty" but those are not the only benefits. Students who know how to both read and write cursive normally score higher in reading and math classes. Also, students with dyslexia are better able to understand what they are reading and writing. So, I guess my question of the week is how do you feel about cursive leaving the schools? Do you think it's still important for teachers, schools, districts, and/or states to include cursive as part of the curriculum? As a future educator would you mind taking the time to teach your students proper cursive handwriting? Put some thought into it and let me know your opinions.

Until next time darlings,

April N. Avery