Week 13: Major Project Progress #6 & Summary

My last baking project! I can actually say that I am sad to have to give up doing this every week. This week I wanted to go out with a bang so I decided to make this last bake, the most elaborate one yet! An Oreo cheesecake! Oreo is such a popular brand name in which all Americans know. They happen to me my favorite cookie as well. I was looking around the internet to see what kind of cheesecake would be the best, and I found Oreo and knew that was the one. I actually bought the baking kit at Giant Eagle, so I did not have to mess up such a great treat. Making the crust was the worst part for me during this session. Mixing it was easy and the Oreo's soaked up the butter to make it a nice creamy mixture. Once I pressed the crust with my fingers, it was easier to fill the bottom of the pan to make it thick. I used sprinkles on the top instead of Oreo's because I wanted to mix it up and I love sprinkles very very much. It has to refrigerate for an hour allowing it to get that cool, thick cheesecake. 

My family is going to miss my baking and will hopefully enjoy this fabulous Oreo cheesecake tonight. All of the baking that I have done so far for this course has lasted maybe two days in my house. This was a great way to end the major project! 

Summary of my Baking Experience 

I have to admit, once I heard that we had to complete a major project or task, I was not very excited. There was already a little to much work in this class to begin with and adding this to the list was something that I did not want to do. Pondering what topic I wanted to do was hard for me. I wanted to learn how to do pretty much everything. I want to learn as much as I can, whenever I can. Something that I have been putting off was learning how to bake. My mom usually bakes all the treats for my house, and I usually only help around the holidays. Lets face it, my baking skills were not all that. I always burned the bottom of cookies or mixed something incorrectly. With that being said, I was kinda nervous to start this project. I knew that I would be all alone in this task and I would have to make sure that I was doing everything right. I double checked a lot of my steps just to be sure. 

Once I chose my topic of learning how to bake, I started right away to start to get this thing over with. I started with something that I thought was pretty easy, cupcakes. My first experience went very well actually. I never missed a step and the treat came out perfect and moist. Before, I would have filled the baking cups to much and they might have overflowed all over the pan. After carefully measuring, I successfully filled them perfect! Next week was, brownies. I was very scared to try this because me and brownies never got along. Before they always were stuck to the bottom. I added some chocolate chips to them to be creative, and it worked! After they were done, they were the hit of the night. This was probably my most favorite bake. I knew my grandparents were coming over for dinner on one Sunday, so I decided to make blueberry muffins that week. They are my Nanas  favorite dessert. Those were the most simple bake that I had done, and again turned out delicious. Winding down in the semester I chose to finally think of myself and bake my all time favorite thing: chocolate chips cookies. I mean who does not like those right? I chose to make them a little on the smaller side so I could get more out of the batter. I actually made those cookies from scratch and so was proud of myself. I have never made anything with out having already mixed ingredients. Those were the most yummy treat that I baked throughout these weeks. The more I thought about it about what to make next, I realized that whatever you bake does not need to be purchased at the store, you can simply select things out of your cupboard and throw them together. So, that is what I did when I made my pancake cookies! I love breakfast and choosing pancakes was a must. But I wanted it to be sweet, so why not add some sprinkles and chocolate chips. They turned out great and were a much needed breakfast grab and go. Last but not least, was the Oreo cheesecake. I knew that my baking experience was about to come to an end so I wanted to go out with an elaborate dish. I saw Oreo cheesecake on the internet and bought the kit,the same day. This process was fun to me knowing that I could eat it later! My family has sweet tooth's so baking all of these treats were the highlight of the night after dinner. 

Before I learned how to bake, I would always burn things, or just messed them up by mixing incorrectly or not following the correct directions. This process was hard for me to learn to do by myself and I ran into some struggles along the way. However, I also had every many successes. All of the treats I made turned out edible and quite delicious if I say so myself. After learning how to bake, all of my treats tasted like they just came out of a bakery. They were enjoyed by everyone and almost all of them turned out perfectly. 

Overall, I was very happy that I learned how to master baking. I never knew the joy that it could bring to my family. They are all very upset that this was my last week in the major project. They have all been the biggest supporters pushing me to achieve this task just to have some more treats! My baking wont stop here! I will continue to bake in my house finally say that I am the one to supply the desserts! 

Week 12: Technology to Improve Teachers Productivity & Major Project Progress #5

Week 12 blog post! So crazy that the semester is quickly ending. This week wraps it up with the topic of technology. This video shows how technology could play a big role in the classrooms. Early childhood education is the most important and incorporating technology will help students later on in the real world and future careers. Technology can help me become a more productive teacher because it allows me to multi task and be able to do things for my students. I can get immediate feedback and also get involved with parents and other educators very easily. It can help me solve problems by giving me the options to have everything organized my way. I will know where all of my information is when it is needed and technology allows you to be able to be connected with the entire world. It benefits both parents, teachers and even students by allowing a better way of education.

                                  

I have never really explored the internet or used many tools to help me out with projects. PowerPoint and Word were about the farthest I went. This class has really helped me out in showing me the different types of tools and technology that I can use in my classroom. I really like Google tools just because of how simple they are to use. I will be teaching young children so getting them to be able to use the tools is important. Using those tools to get the children involved is good since they do not have to be face to face. They can communicate and share all online. 
The most striking thing that I had taken away from Jake's presentation was I liked how the whole thing was about problems and solutions. I learned that technology can be the solution to many problems and can be such a helpful aid when being used in the classroom. 


For this weeks major project progress blog, I wanted to create a treat all from my cupboards! I have learned throughout this process that baking can be anything! It does not always have to come from the store in a nice little package, but from your own home with an imagination. I love breakfast food and when I saw we had pancakes, I knew I wanted to use them. Whats the best thing to mix with pancakes? Chocolate chips of course. And of course I had to add some color in there, so rainbow sprinkles it was! Putting them on the pan was a little difficult for me. I made them a little thicker than I wanted to, so the inside took a little while to cook causing the outside to be a little dark. However, they are not burned enough to toss, which is a success in my book!

My sister and dad both were the first ones to try my homemade treat. They both said that they were delicious and needed a big glass of milk afterwards. The cookie pancakes can be a nice grab and go breakfast or they can be the dessert needed after dinner. I am loving having so many treats in my house and glad I am continually learning how to bake!  

Week 11: Blended Learning & Major Project Progress #4

This weeks blog post and weekly topic is about blended learning. Blended learning can also be called a mixed-mode course. A portion of the learning is done the traditional face to face ways of instruction then switching to a wed-based way of learning. With the rise of technology kids need to be able to know how to work a computer effectively and they can become more online independent and technologically literate. Their exposure to the internet helps them explore and learn new things all on their own. This type of learning can be effective for any kind of student. Some students need that face to face interaction while others like to work alone. It also helps teachers stay engaged with their students by getting immediate feedback and it shows where they fall with the rest of the class. Blended learning is new and is also now called 21st century learning! My philosophy on blended learning is very mixed. I like how different approaches to learning are taken, however, I feel like the whole online thing can be confusing for some children. But then again, with this day in age, children now how to use an IPhone by age 1. I will probably try to incorporate some technology in my future classroom, but keeping it simple is my specialty.  

                                                        

We have used blended learning effectively in Ed Tech by using our blogs to express our feeling and opinions. There was only a couple face to face interactions that I have personally attended, but they are always available for anyone who feels like they are struggling. It has also helped me when it came to other online classes. Now knowing how to use Blogger, and different sites, (like YellowDig) have really made me into a better student. I never knew how to use hyperlinks, upload photos, or input audio. The cool tools have also helped me by allowing me to remember which ones I can use for my major project. Feedback from my peers have pushed me to complete all of my assignments and I love to hear what they have to say. I also love looking at other peoples blog posts and especially their major project progress posts. I love to see what others have chosen to complete. Again, this class is mostly an online class, however blended learning is shown through and has really helped me get through this course. 

The most striking thing that I took away from Stacy's presentation was her definition of all of the models. There are six different models of blended learning. Face to face driver, rotation, flex, online lab, self-blend and online driver. Each of these is a different way that teachers can teach a course. Stacy says not to get hung up on these. There is always alternate ways to learning material. Choosing one may be effective but there is so many others. If teachers have their lesson plans already planned for the day, chances are they will not change them. Teachers need to understand that children are all different an need different models of teaching. This weeks topic was very interesting to me and I liked learning more about it very much. 

                                                  

For this weeks Major Project Progress treat, I chose to do everyone's (typical) favorite, chocolate chip cookies. These happen to be my favorite as well so I was extra excited to make these for myself. I live with a big family so, I should not just say myself. Anything people make is usually gone in a couple days. If you do not put your name on things around here, you'll never see them again. However, I did hide some in my special stash. They came out so good! Each week I get better and better with learning how to bake. I become more creative and like to show off to my family that I can actually do something! I was so proud of myself.

Getting the ingredients together for these cookies, were a little more troubling, just because I actually made them from scratch. Every other time I have baked something, I usually play it safe and use a boxed or bagged mix.I had to make sure that I had all of the ingredients before  actually starting the process. I must have been either very intrigued or very bored that day, but I managed to follow all directions and I accomplished yet another task of baking the perfect cookie. 

Week 10: Formative and Summative Assessments & Major Project Progress #3

                                    

This weeks topic is something I am sure, no one likes to talk about.. Assessments. I was, and still is a horrible test taker. I can study for hours straight and know the material, however, when I go to take the test, and show my knowledge, I completely freeze up and forget everything. I normally do not have anxiety but thinking of failing a test scares me so much. No one likes to fail, I know I don't. I think that assessments are important, don't get me wrong, but I think that they could be handled and given a different way. I remember taking tests in elementary school, where everyone had to be separated. You usually had something to cover up your answers,and had to raise your hand for anything that you needed. Being so young, I could not stay in my seat for that long and pay attention. It seemed like forever that we sat in silence and tried so hard to focus. Children usually learn better while doing, and while having distractions is never good, Sitting in silence forced to work alone is not the right choice either, in my opinion.

I have never heard or used PearDeck and EduCanon until now. Scott Kinkoph talks about these digital tools in this presentation, so I researched them a little more to figure out what they are all about. I think that using tools for assessments could be helpful in some areas, but with technology, you never know what might happen. Making sure that the data is downloading correctly and that students are getting full credit is so important. Always have a back up plan just in case plan A falls through. These tools are both interactive and the students will be able to have the information right on their laps. Not having the entire assessment online, and mixing instructions will help students stay more focused and motivated. 

The most striking thing that I had taken away from Scott's presentation was the learning cycle. Incorporating formative and summative assessments are both equally important to use in the classroom. Testing the students as they move along through material is important to see if they are learning at a good pace and if they understand what they are learning about. Testing students at the end of a week of material will help teachers in showing where students need more work and it show if the teacher needs to change her lessons into something better for her students to succeed. 

For this weeks major project progress, I chose to bake blueberry muffins! This pastry is my dads favorite late night snack. I saw that we had these in my pantry and knew right away that is what I wanted to try doing. The muffins called for simple ingredients but I doubled the recipe, so I am proud of myself for following the directions correctly, and not adding to much or to little of something. I now know that muffins are simple to bake and take very little time. I can now throw these in the oven before class or work and enjoy a delicious treat.

  

Baking them was easy but I was a little upset with the outcome. We had no baking cups to decorate the muffin, so I had to really spray the muffin tin. The edges were a little more brown then I wanted them to be, but it wasn't to big of an error. My family and I will still most definitely enjoy these muffins after dinner! You could say, I could get used to this baking thing.