Final Blog Post :(

Project 16: Final Project

Final PLN Report

This is my final PLN report. My PLN has come a long way but it is great and helpful. I use Symbaloo to keep track of all the websites I use regularly. These include the EDM310 blog, South Alabama, Google, Facebook, and many others. I also have found that Delicious is a life saver. I use it for just about everything and consider it important. I also use twitter to keep track of what teachers have to say. This helps me to see what’s going on in the educator community. I read their status’s about three times a week and have found that they have much to say. I also use tweet deck to really keep everything on my twitter account organized. I think PLN’s are very resourceful and helpful and I plan to continue using mine!

Last C4K's for EDM

 Last C4K's for EDM

My first blog post for September was for Mrs. Yollis’s class. She had posted a post about November being family month. That means that on the children’s blogs family members get to comment on them. I told Mrs. Yollis I thought family month sounded like a great idea. It allows family members to get involved with the students. I also told her though we in EDM310 don’t get a family blogging month, we get to comment on great blogs like theirs.

My second comment was for Room 8 at Melville Intermediate School. The had a post that was about a photo challenge room 13 participated in. They had the class mascot (which was a donkey) and had to take random pictures of it at different places. I thought this was a great idea because I love photography. The kids seemed to have a ball. The challenge only lasted a few minutes but that made it even more exciting. I would love to do this with my future students.

My third comment was for a boy named Sam at A Cary Academy. His blog post was amazing. He wrote a story called “Reversed Egyptian History” which was so wonderful. It was about him going back in time as
Ramses II Pharaoh of Egypt. He was in the pharaoh’s place but the spirit of the pharaoh was telling him what was going on. The story is amazing and I advise anyone who reads this comment to read Sam’s story. I told him that his story was great and I was very impressed. They also did a self reflection and I told him he did reach his goals. Also, I told him to keep striving with his goals and he’d continue to write great stories. Read Sam’s story! http://discovery.caryacademy.org/sams780/2010/11/trimester-writing-assessment/

My very last C4K for EDM310 was for a girl named Rachel in Ms. Naugle's 5th period math class. She did her post on storytelling. On November 4th, her class had a speaker come and talk to them about storytelling. The storyteller talked to the children about inspiration. At the end of the speakers speech, he got all the kids to make a story together which turned out great. I told Rachel I thought it was wonderful that they learned about storytelling and inspiration. I also said I'm sure that her class's story was amazing!

Blog Summary for C4T #4

My C4T #4 was Jason T. Bedell. His blog was very interesting. The first post I read was titled TechMeet NJ. It was about a meeting where teachers from different states come together and share ideas. The teachers get to have different sessions and meet each other. They also have presentations and interactive activities. I told Mr. Bedell in my comment that I thought this was a great idea. It's great to get to know different educators and share ideas to see what each other offer. I also said that when I become an educator maybe I can attend the meet.

 My second post for Jason T. Bedell was on a post called "Detoxing Education".  This post was on how he thinks education should be changed to make it better. He also had a video on the post which was RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms. I really enjoy RSA Animate videos. This post was very good and I appreciate his attempt to get people involved to make a difference. Because it may not effect educators now, but it will effect us that are in school right now to be future educators. He also talked about having a teacher boot camp so teachers could join together and share ideas. I thought this was great and that when I become an educator I would like to know there were things like that to do. I also told him I liked the video and I enjoy his blog. I will be keeping tabs on this blog! Check it out!   http://jasontbedell.com

Blog Assignment #14

For this blog assignment, we commented on a young girl named Yasmine's blog. The post I was assigned to was a video about a three year old little girl riding and training her pony. I told Yasmine that this was a very cute video. It was amazing that a three year old could ride and train her own pony. I also said I liked the website she got the video from and I would have to remember it. Yasmine seems like a great young girl with a bright future and a huge love of horses. I'm glad we got to make her day and comment on her blog!

Project #15 - What's Your Sentence?

Additional Assignment #5

 Tom Johnson's Adventures in Pencil Integration.

~While reading Mr. Spencer’s post, I did realize all the metaphors he uses throughout his writing. Though, I may get the wrong picture from the metaphor, at least I’m recognizing they’re there. I tried to get the big picture from the stories but I could be wrong. The first post I read was “The Medium Shapes the Learning.” In this post Spencer talks about changing the mediums. Mediums would, to me, be the form of technology because he mentions the film studio. It’s a different tool than just using a pencil for example. I think here he is talking about technology in general. Change is good and it should happen but not just for the fun part of it. Learning should be looked at carefully when choosing new tools to add (technology).  The next post was “He Just Likes the Class for the Pencils.” This post was about technology and respect. The child in the story didn’t just like the class for the computers or the “pencils”, he enjoyed it because of the over all class. The Nice Guy Teacher got to know the child and gave him a fun way to experience learning, and that is something all teachers should do
.
~“Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils”, was the next post I read. This post became kind of “sketchy” for me. It talked about pencils then it talked about a child being mouthy to a teacher. Spencer goes on to say that it’s not really the kid’s fault, but the other teacher can be angry and he understands. Spencer understands but he also see’s that the kid is in eighth grade and he is wanting to be treated like a child and an adult. His last statement is very good though, “She’s writing the world in ink and I’m sketching it out in pencil”. I think this is talking about how the other teacher is seeing just the black and white . She’s not seeing all the other things that matter besides being literal and permanent things in life. Spencer is sketching the world in pencil because there’s so many different shades and ways you can use a pencil. He’s saying that he learns from his students not just embraces being their teacher.

~The last post was “Just Teach Them to Solve for X “ which was very good. I liked that it was explaining metaphors with X. I like that the kids are sketching pictures to understand X.  The story is about math, the teacher wants them to understand how variables work by using metaphors and sketching. Learning and life is dangerous. They both change beyond our control. I like that the author says he wants them to see that language shapes our perceptions of reality. This post to me is hard to explain, so I’m very sorry if it’s far fetched. I really enjoyed this post though, it was my favorite.

Blog Assignment #13

Alabama Learning Exchange, also known as ALEX, provides teachers with a great safe place to get information.  When you first type in http://alex.state.al.us/index.php it takes you to their home page. Then you will see all the different helpful icons ALEX provides. These helpful tools consist of Courses of Study, Web Links, Lesson Plans, Search, Personal Workplace, Professional Learning, Pod cast Treasury, and ALEXville. When you select the Courses of Study icon, it takes you to a page with a lot of different subject icons. Then you click on a subject and it shows you different lessons for your students to learn, links you to websites, and lesson plans on that subject. The Web Links page is a page with a lot of different resources such as teacher, administrator, student, search, and recommend a web resources page. ALEX also offers a lesson plan page that has a lot of subjects and grade levels to choose from. You can also use the Search icon to find anything that ALEX offers that isn’t on the other pages. Personal Workplace is my personal favorite. You can create an account on ALEX and have your own workplace. The Professional Learning page is also helpful for teachers. It has tips, tricks, and tutorials on a variety of technology tools. They also have a Pod cast Treasury which is super great. You can find just about any pod cast to go with any subject to show your class. Lastly, there is ALEXville. This is the ALEX community with post about important subjects. This page lets you know what’s going on in the teaching world.

I think ALEX will be very helpful when I begin teaching. I really like that it has lesson plans ready to go on pretty much every subject. I will most assuredly be using the Personal Workplace on ALEX to stay organized and professional. The Pod cast Treasury is another outstanding feature of ALEX I want to use. After being in EDM I want to incorporate pod cast in my lesson plans, and ALEX is a safe website to get pod cast to use in my classroom. This website is so helpful and resourceful!

Another website that is great is ACCESS ( Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and
Students Statewide program). It’s a distant learning website for the classroom, educators, and students. It has many different features of online learning. I think online learning is great. I personally have taken a lot of online classes and have enjoyed them. This website is great and I encourage those of you that have not looked at ACCESS to check it out!

Progress Report on Project 16

My group , Carly Dougherty and Haley Riviere, and I are doing our project on Technology in Inner-city Schools. We plan to make a video interviewing children and teachers in a few inner-city schools in Mobile. The participants will answer questions about the use of technology in their schools or how they would use technology in their schools if they do not have any access to technology. We have began planning what schools we will interview and how we will construct the interview. It seems to be coming along nicely.

Questionnaire Project: Summary & Results

My survey was on music. I had 22 responses for my survey. I found out that out of my 22 participants 82% listen to Rock/Pop, 59% Country, 59% R&B/Rap, 55% Christian, and 23% Metal, so there is a good variety of music listeners in my participant group. I also learned that many of my participants listen to music while they are exercising, studying, and driving; that was 55% of the results. The other half, consisted of 18%  listen to music while exercising, 5% studying, 36% driving, and 27% other. I asked my participants how they liked to hear their music, and their responses had a tie between radio and ipod at 55%. The other results were 50% live, 41% CD, and 9% other ways of listening to music. The next set of answers were quite interesting. This question could have more than one answer as the questions above. The question was what do you listen for in your music? The responses were 77% lyrics, 23% bass, 64% rhythm, 55% melody, and 5% a specific instrument. I found those results interesting.

The next set of results started with the question how many hours a day do you listen to music? The answers were 36% 2-3hrs, 23% 1-2hrs, 23% 3-4hrs, 14% under an hour, and 5% 24/7. My participants then answered what time of day they listen to music. I found that more people (82%) listen to music in the morning rather than in the afternoon (64%). There was a tie between evening and night (50%). I also asked the 22 participants if they liked cross over music such as Taylor Swift which is country/pop.  Out of the 22 people 16 said yes, 5 maybe, and 1 said no to cross over music.  I found in this questionnaire that most of my participants listen to their favorite song to make them happy (71%). The rest of the results were 43% excited, 14% romantic, 0% sad, and 0% depressed.

The last two questions I have skipped around to put the results together. The last question was have you heard any of these songs: Hey Soul Sister by Train, Kiss from a Rose by Seal, Something Beautiful by Needtobreathe, Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses, or None of the Above. The top song that has been heard by my participants was Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses at 82%. I am also proud to say that Hey Soul Sister by Train was the second most heard at 77% (I love Train by the way).  Then  Something Beautiful by Needtobreathe has been heard by 36%, Kiss from a Rose by Seal 59%,  and only 9% chose none of the above. The next question was a fill in the blank that asked my participants favorite song. I found that most of the results were in the Pop/Rock genre. There were very few Rap, Christian, and Metal genres of songs but I did even have one Classical song. I found my results very interesting and I hope you do as well.

Blog Assignment #12

As you watch RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us think of the video in terms of education. After watching the video answer the following questions: ~Do you think grades are a reward? ~Do you think people/children do better when there is a reward present? Why or why not? ~
Why do you think people/children do worse on creative task rather than straight forward task? ~Do you like Mr. Pink’s points on autonomy and mastery? ~Do you agree or disagree with Dan Pink’s final statement about if we can get past the ideology of treating people poorly, we could make the world a little bit better?~What do you think of this video in terms of education?

Do you think grades are a reward?  
I think after watching this video that grades , in a school situation, are rewards for good deeds. When I say deeds I mean a good assignment or test. Sometimes rewards can be over used though.
Do you think people/children do better when there is a reward present? Why or why not?
I think for simple task, if you get a reward you do tend to do better because you know you’ll be getting something. But when it comes to creative task, sometimes people don’t do as well because they aren’t pushed in education to become creative thinkers.

Why do you think people/children do worse on creative task rather than straight forward task?
Kids do better on straight forward task because it’s easier and inside the box, but when a child has to be creative sometimes the task becomes hard. This is because kids aren’t learning much creativity in schools. Sure some schools I’m sure are more creative than others but as a generation a lot of kids have issues with being creative.

Do you like Mr. Pink’s points on autonomy and mastery?  
I did like Mr. Pink’s points. Autonomy stuck out because he said “If you want engagement self directed is better.” I liked that sentence. When you get money out of the picture and then let people collaborate they seem to do a better job. This is because they are self directed. They get to choose who they want to work with and what they want to create.  Mastery is so very true. We all do have the urge to get better at things. Mr. Pink had an example of a person playing a musical instrument. People play music not always for the money but because it’s fun and satisfying to get better at it. I liked they way he mentions mastery as being a purpose motive, and I also liked when he mentioned the founder of skype and said “Our goal is to be destructive but in the cause of making the world a better place.” I think in many ways that statement is true.

Do you agree or disagree with Dan Pink’s final statement about if we can get past the ideology of treating people poorly, we could make the world a little bit better?
I agree with Mr. Pink on making the world a little bit better. I think if we do treat people like people and let them be self direct they will be more creative, productive, and successful.

What do you think of this video in terms of education?
This video has a lot to do with education. We as teachers reward our students with grades instead of money, but it has the same effect. Students may would do better if we cut grades because then they could do something they would be proud of not just to get a passing grade (I am a fan of grades but sometimes they aren’t necessary). I also think autonomy and mastery is also very big in education. Kids do like to be self directed and do things on their own. They also try and try until they master a task. We as teachers are there to push them to succeed! This video was very educational and I really enjoyed it.

Blog Assignment #11

First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class & Skype with Ms. Cassidy

I think Ms. Cassidy’s approach was great. The video of her students really explained a lot. After watching the video and listening to the children made me appreciate technology more. Her students seemed so exited to share what they were doing in class. This video made me want to learn more about technology to bring it to my future classroom so my students will have that excitement as well.

Ms. Cassidy’s approach that I might would use in my classroom would probably be blogging and skype. I thought the kids blogging and commenting other students was great. That gets the students involved with other students not just in their class but at another school or even another state. I think blogging is a great opportunity. I also really liked Ms. Cassidy’s idea to use skype. Skype is a great tool. I thought it was so great that her students skyped a geologist. It’s great to think if your studying a certain subject with children that you can skype an expert and let the kids hear about it first hand. There would probably be obstacles when and if using technology in the classroom. But I would keep pushing forward and would not give up. If I give up on technology my students might do the same, and it’s too important for their future to give up so early.

The benefits that would come along with using Ms. Cassidy’s approach would be getting children ready for whatever comes next. Technology is a big deal today, and if teaching a child to blog is a step toward the future then do it! I think using technology in front of us is a great benefit towards the future. I’m not saying that I want the future to be all technology , but I think it would help future generations to already be one step ahead by using technology.

Blog Summary for C4T #3

My C4T #3 was Daneah Galloway. Her blog is called The Thinking Chick (which I thought was super cute). I commented on her blog post "Magic Wand". It was a reply to a tweeted article. She was amazed at how things had become obsolete just in this decade. Galloway mentioned her Stylus, land lines, boundaries, and the VCR. I agreed with her that everything is changing. I mean who has a VCR anymore? Land lines are also becoming out dated and more people are just using cell phones. The paragraph on boundaries was different. I hadn't even thought about that but it was true. She also mentioned another link she read. This link was pertaining to what would be obsolete in 2020 in the classroom. Two things that she mentioned were desk and paper! How crazy is that, but I guess it could happen. She also mentioned that she feels education changes slowly (which I also agree with at times). Overall it was a very good post and I enjoyed her blog!

My second post for Daneah Galloway was on her post called "Murky Waters." The post was about Galloway explaining to her 6th grade class about copyright. Some of her kids just couldn't grasp the concept that you can't take something that belongs to someone else. One of her students explained it by saying it allows people to steal a person’s passion. That's a good way to look at it! After Galloway and her students discussed copyright she thought about it for awhile. How do you teach a child that they can't take something that they can download? She feels her kids frustration with this issue as do I. She also posted a video that was funny about copyrighting. I told Galloway that I agree with her on the whole issue, and I have enjoyed visiting her blog! If you haven't visited Ms. Daneah Galloway's blog check it out!!

Blog Assignment #10

  

An Open Letter to Educator's by Morgan Bayda
Morgan Bayda wrote a post on her blog titled “An Open Letter to Educator’s. She opens with talking about a video by Dan Brown where he explains why he dropped out of school. His reason was that schooling was interfering with his education. The video really spoke to her so she posted it in this post. Bayda goes along by saying she too feels cheated by her university. Then she says that she learned so much in her Ed Computers class on collaborating with others. She liked Dan Brown’s video, but she wouldn’t have dropped out of school. Bayda is not afraid of change and is willing to embrace new ways of learning.

My experiences are much like Morgan Bayda’s experiences. I too have set in a lecture hall and have a hard time staying focused. It doesn’t do anything for us for the teachers just to recap what was in the book. If that’s all they’re going to do they should just talk and we shouldn’t have to read chapter after chapter. But wait, if they do just lecture we still have to buy the books right? Right. That always happens to me. Bayda mentions that a lot of professors don’t encourage you to speak to any one, and in my experience as well this is true. Professors don’t push for us to get involved with each other, and for shy people like me it’s hard to get involved if we’re not encouraged to. EDM like Bayda’s Ed computers class is a great class that encourages us to get involved with our classmates. We not only get to use our ideas but we get to collaborate with other’s ideas and make a GREAT idea! EDM teaches us how to collaborate when not in person as well. This consist of a number of great websites like Twitter for example. Our PLN’s also are great to keep the information we need at a click of a button.

The attitude of Bayda is a lot like mine as well. The attitude of feeling cheated by a university is mutual between us. When we spend long ours in a classroom my enthusiasm normally turns to boredom when we listen to the same thing over and over again. My grateful attitude for gmail, my PLN, and other internet collaborative sources are just like hers. Over all I think my attitude towards being educated is a lot like Morgan Bayda.

Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home

I enjoyed reading this post. It was very informative and insightful. I think that if a child wants to play a game with a pencil at least they are collaborating and learning with others! Some teachers are just so negative if they don’t agree with something. I thought this post was great and I will be subscribing to it!

Two Questions That Can Change Your Life

I loved this video, absolutely LOVED it. I have never thought about summing what I want to do in one sentence ,but I think it is a wonderful thing to do.

 I am trying to become a great educator to make a difference in my student’s lives, so they can one day make a difference in the world.

C4K October Summary

The first C4K for October was on a 4th graders class blog from the PT England School in Auckland, NZ. The post was titled “Playing with my Cousins.” Asena was the student who wrote this post. She wrote about a day she spent with her cousins. They played a skipping game, ate, played dodge ball and word scramble. Then her dad called her to go pick up her mum, and she had a fabulous day! I told Asena that I thought it was great that she likes to spend time with her family. I also said I loved her blog and she used interesting words. I really thought her blog was super cute!

My second C4K was on a 6th grader’s blog named Jade. She had written a short poem about herself. It said she loves birds, has 2 dogs, 1 fish, 1 parrot and 1 Avery (in the Avery there is 1 bangles finch). Jade also said she is 11. She lives and goes to school south of Tasmania. I told Jade that I really enjoyed reading her blog. I told her that I also had pet dogs and I also have a parrot. I thought it was great that she has so many pets.

The third C4K I had two assignments. I read a senior’s blog post called “The Other Side of Learning” which was about the most important things she had learned in school. She made a lot of excellent points. I told her that I thought her post was very interesting and informative. Education is a journey and it’s a great journey. I also said that I thought it was sad that not all children get to have the opportunity to experience the journey.
For the next part of the assignment, I had to comment on Miss W’s 7th grade student from Australia. My student was  Kyle Par. He had written a post called “Decission.” His decision was to do a passion blog about video safety so he would be safe when using you tube. I told him that a passion blog sounded like a great idea. I thought it was great that he thought about video safety because a lot of kids need to know about it. I told him I was very impressed!

My fourth C4K was on Mr. Goerend and Mrs. Quam’s 6th grade class blog. I had their student Piper C. Piper wrote a really cute poem that had a very good rhyme scheme. Piper used words such as lamb, Sam, clam, and spam. I told Piper that I loved the poem and was very impressed with their rhyming skills.

My fifth C4K was on Mr. McClung’s class blog. The post was called “Global Pool of Money.” He summed up what his class had been talking about the week of Oct. 7th. They had been talking about economy and the recent economic recession. In this post he wrote the cliff notes from the discussions they had on this topic. Mr. McClung then mentions to keep in mind that the cliff notes are for 8th graders and may be over simplified. I told him ,in my comment, that I didn’t think they were over simplified. They were simplified enough to make sense to a 12 or 13 year old.  I thought the cliff notes were very understandable and got the point across. I enjoyed reading his post.

Additional Assignment #3

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

What do you think is the most important thing Sir Ken Robinson says in this presentation?

 In my opinion, when he talks about kids are fed medicine to make them stay focused is a big issue and a very important problem. I think in some cases this is true. If a child can’t sit still give them a learning experience that involves getting up and moving!If they get into games try to bring an educational game into the picture and get them learning.

Is there anything you disagree with in this presentation?

I pretty much agreed with everything. Sir Ken Robinson is such a great speaker it makes you want to agree!

How congruent are Sir Ken Robinson's positions with those which you are being taught in the College of Education. In other words, where is there agreement? Where is there disagreement?

I think the different positions he presented are a lot like the College of Education in my opinion. I feel that they both agree on how students should learn. I think they want to wake kids up to see what’s inside themselves. At the College of Education they want kids to feel like they have a chance to be someone and so does Sir Ken Robinson. There may be some disagreements somewhere in this but as of right now I can’t think of any.

What can you do to address the issues Sir Robinson raises?

I can be a good teacher to my future students, and make others aware of Sir Robinson’s opinions and my own.

What do you think of the presentation? If you had to do a presentation with others like this, what role on your team would you like most to play?

I LOVED the presentation! I thought it was so interesting. If I had to do this type of presentation I would probably want to be the designer. Because the designer would have to know the order of things and be organized. I’m very particular when it comes to being organized and how things should look, so I think that would be a good job for me!

Project #14: How to Carve a Pumpkin

I chose to teach Andrew ,my boyfriend, how to carve a pumpkin. I hope that after watching this you will want to try it out!! Happy Halloween!!!

Smartboard Presentation

I did my smartboard presentation with Carly Dougherty. We chose to do our presentations nouns and verbs.

Blog Assignment #9

 

What I've Learned This Year

Mr. McClung posted on his blog an article that was about his first year of teaching. This post was simply inspiring. He spoke about his experience and his advice to other teachers for their first year. The article was by far one of my favorites we’ve read, and I plan to keep it as a reference. I think this is a great article for future teachers to read to get a glimpse on what to expect and look forward to. I hope everyone enjoyed the article as much as I did.

McClung tells us that we need to know how to read the crowd. I completely agreed with that ,and that our lessons should be student centered not just centered around how we want to teach the lessons. He also said we must  be flexible and reasonable. To be flexible we must not always just do things the way we want to do them. We always need to consider  our students in our lesson plans which is very true to me. To be reasonable is probably hard for some people but we have to be that way when being a teacher. McClung said so! I agree though that we must be reasonable and not have our expectations so high that we get very disappointed in our students and discouraged with ourselves. Communicating was also mentioned. To me this is very important. We have to be able to communicate with our students and building a strong relationship with them is essential to me. McClung mentions technology as well. After being in EDM no one should be deathly afraid of technology (ha ha), but if you are don’t let it scare you just do what Mr. McClung said jump in head first! Listening to our students is important too. We need to let our students know that their opinion matters and it’s not all about us, the teachers. Mr. McClung’s last point was never stop learning. I believe that is very true. We shouldn’t stop learning because there will always be more things to learn. If you don’t want to do it for yourself do it for your students!

Skype Interview: Breast Cancer

For my skype interview, I interviewed my cousin Carolyn Lewis about her experience with Breast Cancer. This is very important in both of our lives because it is in our family history. I hope this informs you on how it affects someone's life and how you can help fight the battle with us!

Blog Assignment #8

Watch Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

In part 1, Mr. Miller talks about incremental change and I completely agree with that statement. Part one was about how the computer is an incremental change. That books are pretty much out, but if you want to find one most are published online as well and they will always remain there. It amazes me how much you can do if you find the right sources online. Mr. Miller’s Martin Luther King information sheet was very good. I liked how he incorporated the video onto his information. I also had never thought about being able to access government documents! But with the web just about anything is possible.

During part 2, one point that really stuck out was that ideas don’t belong to us individually they belong to us culturally and that is very true. With computers anyone and everyone can access information. Educators should share information and keep bringing new findings to that information. Mr. Miller is so right about the use of the technology he presented. It gets ideas out there immediately and that is great if it is good ideas, but an idea is going to appeal to at least one person and that’s all it takes for an idea to spread. We as teachers should push ideas to our culture and children! It’s our job! This video should interest us and we should carry what interest us to others. This video was really interesting to me.

I really enjoyed the two videos. I would like to go back now to the statement about incremental change. If you don’t know what that is here is a short definition: something added or gained; addition; increase. In my opinion, that is just what all this technology is as Mr. Miller had said. Its not fundamental because it’s not really apart of our former thoughts on education and learning. It is new and changing things. It’s added on to our ways of learning and helping us find new ways of sharing that information.

EDM310 is Different

I would like to participate in videos like these. They seem like they were fun to make and they are informative. I’d like to do one like the EDM310 for dummies on blogging or something like that. Doing a series on something informative would also be fun as well. The Chipper Series was cute and informative. I got a really big kick out of it. I’m sure there are actually students like this. The points Dr. Strange make are very good and informative. EDM310 for Dummies was also informative and probably helped some people out when they watched it.

Why Smartboards Are A Dumb Initiative & Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards

These two articles were different. I agreed with the first article more though. Smartboards are a good thing and they can help teach. If a teacher knows how to work it then it should be very interesting. The second article was right about teachers should learn how to work it. If a smart board just appears in a classroom and a teacher doesn’t know how to use it then it is a waste. I did like the quote from the second article. The quote was by Sylvia Martinez and said, “You can’t buy change. It’s a process, not a purchase. The right shopping list won’t change education”. As much as I agree with that I also disagree. She’s right you can’t buy change it is a process, but the right shopping list may help the process of education changing.
Here is an article that is the opposite of the others. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/06/67710

Short Movie: The Tiny Snowflake

For my short movie, I decided to read The Tiny Snowflake. I hope you enjoy it!

Project 9b "Hairstyles 1900-2000"

Additional Assignment #2

 How Kids Teach Themselves

1. What do you think? If learners are motivated, can they teach themselves?
       I think learners can teach themselves. If they have the material and are motivated , I fully believe they can teach themselves.

2. If those motivated learners are kids, can they teach themselves?
        Yes, I don’t think it matters if it is adults or kids. Kids are interested in things so I think they would probably be able to teach better than some adults. This is because they get so excited when learning something.

3. What conditions are necessary for kids to teach themselves? For anyone to teach him or herself?
       I think the conditions would be to have the materials for them to teach themselves such as books, computers or both.

4. What role do computers and internet access play in the process?
       Kids trying to teach themselves have a world at the touch of their finger tips with computers. Internet gives them the opportunity to find out pretty much all they need to know about something. Computers teach the kids what they need to know to teach themselves.

5. What role does motivation, a desire to learn?
      Motivation is key when it comes to learning. If a child doesn’t have the desire to learn then they won’t try, but if they are motivated their capability for learning is endless.

6. What roles do a problem, a question or multiple problems or questions play in the process?
    If they have a problem they use their motivation to want to find the answer, and they use the computer and internet to find the correct answer.

7. How do you motivate someone to learn?
     Well for me, if someone were to tell me I did something good but I could make it great that motivates me. I guess it all depends on the person.

8. How are you motivated to learn?
      Grades motivate me a lot, but besides that I think if I’m interested in something it motivates me to learn more.

9. Can anyone who is not motivated to learn learn?
     In some cases they probably can I would think.

10. Do you teach yourself? When? Why?
      I do when it comes to math. When I was in Pre-Algebra in high school I was doing very poorly because I didn’t understand my teachers methods. I then really read my book and finally ended up passing with an A.

11. What role does a teacher (either answer generally or use a specific example) play in your learning?
     A teacher to me is there to show me how to do something, and to share their knowledge with me about something.

12. What is the most important idea, question or emotional response you take away with you as a result of watching this video?
    That there are kids in the world that have no choice but to teach themselves if they want to learn. It makes me feel privileged to have schools and knowledge available.

13. What other questions or issues are raised by this video that should be considered and discussed by aspiring teachers?

Why do teachers rarely do things like travel to poor countries to teach? Why can’t we get these kids some learning tools!

PLN #1

My PLN has been developing pretty well I think. I’m using Symbaloo to keep track of everything. I’m still working on filling in all my blocks, but I really like this site. I have many sites on my Symbaloo including: google, blogger, South Alabama, twitter, etc. I use my twitter account to see what other teachers have to say about different things which is very interesting. On twitter I’m following a lot of different teachers. I also use tweet deck to keep up with the teachers I find most interesting.  I also use facebook to keep in contact with some of my classmates and for personal interest. I really think my PLN is coming along nicely and hopefully will keep expanding!

Blog Assignment #7

 

 

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture

While watching Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, I thought it was so sad that it was literally his last lecture. The lecture was about his childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and the lessons learned. The first technique I noticed was humor. Throughout the entire lecture he used humor to interact with his audience. The next method that stood out was his powerpoint. Pausch’s powerpoint really helped emphasize his points. Lastly , I thought his use of quotes should be considered a method. It ,to me, brought an emotional tie or aspect to the lecture. Overall I really enjoyed this speech and I hate that it is his last (I also thought what he did for his wife was really sweet and I started to tear up at the end when he said the speech was for his kids ).

Throughout most of the lecture Pausch used humor as a teaching method. During the first portion of his speech , about his childhood dreams, he used a lot of humorous references to keep the audience involved. Also, in the second portion of enabling the dreams of others he did the same. He made statements and would pause to get laughter or a reaction from the audience. The last portion of his speech had humor as well and you could tell somewhat that it was covering up the sad underlying message of the lecture.

During the entire lecture, he used a powerpoint. The powerpoint gave his points emphasis and the listener could figure out the important points. He used this during all three points. Pausch would list his main points on some slides and show pictures on others. This really helped me as I watched the video to keep up with the main points of the different sections of the lecture. The pictures he showed also helped emphasize his points on the slides. He also showed videos using the powerpoint method.

In my opinion, one of the techniques he used were quotes. His quotes throughout this entire speech really turned the emotional side up a notch. I really believe that if he didn’t have all the quotes from him or other people throughout his life this lecture would not have been as powerful. I wrote down many of the quotes because I really enjoyed them. There were too many to list, but I really advise everyone to go back and listen for them. They are really inspiring.

Blog Summary for C4T #2

My C4T #2 was Jabiz Raisdana. The blog I commented on was called “School Should Not Be Considered Work. Wmchamberlain had sent out a link to a students blog about learning. Raisdana wanted to comment but didn’t want to over step his bounds so he wrote how he felt about the student's blog on his blog. He had many good points that students shouldn’t think of school work as success for the future they should figure out what it does for them now. The things that students learn in the classroom won’t just benefit them in the future but it will during the here and now. I like how Raisdana said that we should apply what we are interested into what we are learning. Raisdana had the student’s comments on his blog and he wrote how he felt about each statement. I enjoyed reading this and it made me realized that school isn’t just work. On my comment I wrote that Raisdana made a lot of good points. I also said my favorite one was that teachers live off of questions. I think if more teachers made the effort to say that then more students would feel comfortable asking them.

My second comment for Mr. Raisdana was about his most recent blog on a video he had watched. The video was called “The Age of the Stupid”. He watched the video and put his review on his blog. I told him that I agreed that we are getting closer to scary times and we should be getting kids ready. He was very opinionated and I really enjoyed that. We all do need to understand climate change and other things that affect our lives. I really enjoyed commenting on his blog.

Group Podcast on Online Storage

Blog Assignment #6

The Networked Student

This video was very real. Since EDM has started I have realized technology is taking over in a lot of ways. This video verifies that thought. It was interesting to see the different connections students can make with this type of learning. It seems as if this concept has already surfaced and it is beginning at full speed. Being a student in the 21st century won’t be easy but it will eventually become the norm.

The Networked Student was a very cute video and it did have a lot of good points toward becoming this type of student. Connection with classmates, professors, and others are very valuable tools for a students success. I like how it makes connections more accessible. Students also learn a lot of very important websites that they can use (most likely) forever. Delicious and Skype were on the video and I have to say I love those two sites!

“Why does the networked student need a teacher?” well that is simple, to help them learn. Teachers will hopefully always be needed but for now they are still needed for the networked student. The video said the teacher is a learning architect, modeler, connected learning incubator, network, Sherpa, learning concierge, synthesizer, and a change agent. So with that, teachers are very much still needed for many things. That makes me feel better about going to school to be a teacher!

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)

I really like that this student is so excited about her PLE. I need to take some of her enthusiasm to my PLN. Her PLE was very organized and interesting. I was trying to read all her little boxes and she had some things I didn’t know you could put on there. My PLN is a work in progress. Most of my boxes are filled but not all of them yet (I’m still learning!). She talked about a lot of things that I think would be fun to do like the poster she did on jellyfish. Overall, it was a very well done PLE.

The Machine is Changing Us

Dr. Wesch is completely right when he makes the comment school is not about the students. He showed a picture of an American Idol audition and a classroom and there is a big similarity. School sometimes does make you feel disconnected. I sometimes feel that way in my larger classes. You don’t get to know the teacher and you feel like just a face in the crowd. He is also right that you have to create your own identity because if you don’t you won’t have one. He had many good points about the mediums through which we communicate. While using these mediums we don’t necessarily know who we are talking to. He says it does bring up self awareness which I think could be true. The videos were so funny on this topic. These videos do give us a new understanding on who we are. The unmasked hero was very good it was very sweet. It was interesting as well. The hand videos were very neat and powerful.

My life follows his comments by the comment made about creating your own identity. At school or in college you have to make your own identity or teachers will never know you. I tend to stay in the back and be a good student, but I do wish sometimes I would let my teachers get to know me. As for the future of my teaching career all the things he stated will most likely have a huge impact on it.

C4K #1 Summary

For my first C4K, I had girl named Daisy Jacobo from Noel Elementary Class of 2011. My comment was on her about me. She is a very interesting girl! She’s a lot like me in the way that she has two well older siblings. I commented and said her blog was very good, and I loved her name. She has a really good head on her shoulders from her blog post. I told her it was great that she considers her family and friends to be very important because they are. Math has been easy for Daisy in the past but she is struggling a little with algebra. With that being said, I told her math does get harder but if she studies hard and ask questions it will become a lot easier.

My second post I commented on was Daisy’s manifesto blog post titled “Daisy Jacobo” . She promised in her post to be responsible, not to be tardy, behave, and get better grades. My response to Daisy said that she had set very good goals to try to accomplish. Trying to be responsible is great ,and not being tardy is good for her and her teacher. Also, behaving is a very important promise. Lastly , I told her trying to get better grades is a great goal to strive for and I hope she keeps these goals.

Project 9a "Nicole Kelley's Dance Life timeline"

Blog Assignment #5

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom

This was a very educational video. After watching this video, it makes me want to one day do podcast with my future class. I think this is a fun experience for students. Making videos for kids is always fun even for the shy ones. Also listening to podcast seems like it would make learning more exciting. The upside to podcast mainly to me is if a student is out they can still get the notes. I’ve always been one to never miss a day of school because of the fear of missing something important, but with podcast if a student is sick or has a good reason to miss class they can still catch up.

I think from this video it makes me want to bring more creativity into my podcast. I am creative but hearing how students benefit from them makes me want to make this experience everything it should be. I want to get and put forth all I can into this podcast. That way, for my future students, I will be willing and excited to bring podcast into my classroom.

Eagle Nest Radio & Class Blog

These podcast by the elementary students were so cute. I couldn’t help but smile the whole time. The podcast was a really great thing to do with the young students. It sounded like it gave them confidence as well as learning experience. I will use this technique in my classroom hopefully one day. It seems like such a great learning experience.

The thing I learned that I would use in my podcast is the children’s confidence. They were so enthusiastic! I want to bring that enthusiasm to my podcast as if I were a wide eyed child not scared of the world. I want to make it as interesting as possible.

The Education Podcasting Network

The Education Podcast Network is a great thing to get started. It’s good to have resources available for teachers. This seems like a great network that they are starting. It will be nice for teachers to have one site to go to find the podcast they need for their lessons. It is also a good thing that the producers of these programs will be educators. This ,in my opinion, is great. If podcasting is going to be as big as it seems then teachers should have a network of safe podcast to let their students hear or see.

I’m not sure what to bring to my podcast from this site , but I will remember this site for the future. This will come in handy for teachers and us future teachers. I enjoyed seeing the involvement of teachers trying to get podcasting up and running.

Blog Assignment #4

#1 Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

This blog by Mr. McLeod was very direct in an indirect way. By putting the focus on not doing the things that should be going on with students, it makes you think about what if children didn’t have access to technology. He tells parents, teachers, administrators, and board members to not let kids do a lot of important things. The first two things are to not let them read or write, and with those two statements it automatically hits home. Everyone knows you have to know how to read and write, so that it is where you pick up the real message to this blog.

I thought this was a good blog and was very true. My position on his argument is I would probably be like him and teach my students all of the items he listed. If students aren’t taught anything they will be too far gone. All the points Mr. McLeod listed are things that should be going on in classrooms. Students should have to learn how to read, write, and connect. Kids aren’t always doing bad things on computers like parents worry about, and at school they have safety blocks for the children. It is true if students aren’t exposed to this they won’t have the leg up they need.

*Scott McLeod is an Associate Professor and Director at Iowa State University. He has been employed there since August 2007. His hometown is Reston, Virginia. McLeod has also worked at University of Minnesota and Cincinnati as an Assistant Professor. He attended The College of William and Mary, University of Iowa, and graduated high school from South Lakes High.

#2 The iSchool Initiative

All I can say is wow. The senior that made this is very intelligent. I never thought about stuff such as an iSchool in high school. The video was interesting and very go green. Which is good but it’s kind of crazy to think of school at the palm of your hands. It would be convenient , but I’m not all for throwing out all the paper and pencils. I may be old fashion for 19 but I enjoy writing and not just staring at a computer screen all day. The computer and it’s applications are important and I’m all for it, but I don’t think that’s all that should be going on.

If schools were to go to this I would hope the school would pay for it. I’m pretty sure they would it would only make sense in public schools. It sounds like an incredible idea, and with the way things are going I’m sure it will become a reality. The computerized world is coming at us fast, and it will be our children’s future. So I guess the iSchool would be a good way to go about it.

#3 Watch The Lost Generation.

I loved this video, end of story. This was very touching and it really got to me. It was sad to listen to the girl read the first time through, and when she read for the second time I smiled. We are not a lost generation and there is hope. Hope will be there when nothing else is and we are not a lost generation unless we give in to hopelessness.

This video shows we can let the world change for the worse or for the better but it is up to us. It is up to us to have hope in the future. I also loved the part where she says happiness comes from within. Which is true and with that statement it made me smile. The technique of this video was well thought out. With it being put the way it was it made you really think.

#4 Eric Whitaker’s Virtual Choir

The virtual choir was amazing. The sounds of the voices were so pretty and soothing. It was very incredible it didn’t even look real. As amazing as it was, I would hate for school to come to that. Yes, I know it probably will though. I would hate to think of band being taught in such a way and same goes for choir. If you were in band or choir you would know there is nothing like feeling music with a lot of people playing, and hearing the music after you played it is not the same as being there. I don’t think it would be fair to teach a musical class this way. As neat as it was, I would rather my children experience the real thing in person.

This video was good and I enjoyed it, but as I said before I just don’t think music should be taught this way. I’m kind of worried about the world after seeing this video. Are our future children and/or students going to ever experience real music in a real room. I surely hope they will.

Additional Assignment #1

A.) Google Squared is very educational. You can find so much out about a country. If they don’t have what you need you can type the word such as “population” into the chart and it comes up. I found out a lot about the Philippines which is where my aunt and uncle have been, so it was neat to see all the different facts about it!

Populations looked up using Google Squared: United States- 298,213,000
Europe- 731,000,000
Philippines- 83,054,000

B.) WolframAlpha is also a great educational site. If you want to look up one certain country or other things you can get to it with just a few clicks! It tells you basic information, location, demographics, and a lot more. I will definitely use this from now on if I need to know something.

Populations looked up using WolframAlpha: Singapore- 3547809
Africa- 986,000,000

C.) I didn’t know about Google Squared before this assignment but I wish I had.

D.)I didn’t know about WolframAlpha before this assignment.

E.) My response to Did You Know is still the same. Dr. Strange didn’t really alter my thoughts. I just know that populations are crazy. I never guessed that the United States were so small! We’re big to others but most of the country’s we talk about regularly are way bigger.

F.) Statistics fascinate and scare me all at the same time. When I looked at all the numbers during this activity it was absolutely scary to think about the US being so small compared to India and China. At the same time, it really blew my mine to think about that many people in the world. That I’m just one tiny speck in this huge world. It was really neat to compare the statistics and I’m glad we had this activity. I will definitely be using this two websites from now on!

~*~Food for thought was great! It is magical that a 6 year old can work a computer without any instructions and being completely illiterate about it.

Blog Assignment #3

#1 Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

A Vision of Students Today was a very good video. I like the beginning with the sentences written on different things in the class room to make you notice them. The survey’s that the students had done in this video had results that were very true. Most students have to deal with all the stuff that was presented in this video. For example, where it said they would pay so much money for books and never open them. That’s true for some, and it has happened to me as well.

The one thing that didn’t apply to me was the average of students in a class being 115. I’ve only had one class so far that was over 100 people, but besides that most of it applied. I wouldn’t really change anything about this video except maybe holding the camera on the student’s papers a little longer. That kind of went with the feel of the video though so maybe not. I do have to say I do like chalkboards though when you have an interesting teacher to bring what they write to life.

#2 "It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines

“It’s Not about the Technology” by Kelly Hines was a great blog! I am still processing everything and that’s good. I loved that she thinks 21st century teaching is not about the technology. I completely agree with her on that if teachers are creative and willing to learn as well they are doing justice for their students. A lot of teachers do misuse technology; they sit back and let technology teach things for them. Students still need that human connection to make things click. Maybe not all students but a lot of them do.

This was, again, a wonderful blog. I agree teachers should be willing to learn just as they are willing to teach. Hines did a great job with this topic. I hope that a lot of people read it , and get a little insight on how 21st century teachers should teach (in Kelly Hines opinion). She did have a list of core outcomes for students from The Partnership for 21st Century Skills which has published framework for learning for the 21st century, and if you have not read this you should!

#3 Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
Karl Fisch’s blogs and videos always amaze me. He’s so one of a kind. I enjoyed this blog. He is right to ask the question is it okay to be a technology illiterate teacher. Even though he had a bad day when he first wrote part of this, he is still right. Teachers should at least have a basic knowledge of technology. If they don’t they are holding their students back from something that will be very valuable to them in the future. Considering the future is scary, but we have to put our fears aside of staying in the past/present and look toward the future.

I loved his quote “If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write”. This is daring but a great thing to think about. It certainly left me thinking, and I will probably carry this thought with me. I want to one day be a great teacher ,and for my students I hope to be able to teach them what they need to know to help them be successful in the years to come. If that means learning more about technology them I’m on it!

#4 Gary Hayes Social Media Count

The numbers on the media count were crazy! I was going to put one of the numbers and seconds on here that amazed me but the numbers changed so fast I couldn’t keep up! It’s crazy to think of the world and think that I’m sitting here doing this blog while there are all kinds of stuff happening. Like things being bought, sold, made, sent, or etc.

The world is a crazy place, and I know I keep referring to it all as crazy but it stuns me. With everything always changing and adding up I can’t imagine what the future holds. It will probably look like a lot more numbers than on the social media count right now! For me as a teacher , I’m not quite sure what this all will mean for me in the future. I know it means technology will be used a lot! This social media count really opened my eyes to what is going on, even right this very second!

Google Presentation : Frances Nicole Photography

Blog Summary for C4T #1

#1 My first blog to read by Karl Fisch was "Math on the Rocks: Skyping with Professor Garibaldi". This post was about Mr. Fisch getting in touch with Professor Garibaldi about skyping with his class. Professor Garibaldi uses math for out in the world things such as rock climbing. Mr.Fisch thought it would be a good idea to have Professor Garibaldi skype with his class about using math/learning in the real world. Mr. Fisch came up with questions to ask the professor, and he had a few very good points on why he wanted to do this with his students. The points were to show students when they will actually have to use math, have someone who is passionate about math/learning to get them more excited about it, and to expose the students to professionals with a variety of different backgrounds.

In my comment, to Mr. Fisch, I told him that I thought this was an excellent idea. I think this would help a lot of students to have a real world example by a real world person. It would be very beneficial for students to have this experience with teachers,such as Professor Garibaldi, and I think more teachers should think this way about reaching out to their students.

#2 Dear Denver Post - You're the Disappointment by Karl Fisch was an excellent blog post! The Denver Post wrote an article called “Back In Action”. The article had an awful comment about school.

Summer is almost over, and the disappointment about returning to class . . .

With that being said, Mr. Fisch wrote about his opinion on this horrible article. He said that many of us are excited about school and that is very true. For most of us school has already started; students and teachers alike are ready to get back to school. Though a lot of students won’t admit it and they may not be ready for everything about school, but they are excited for school in general. Fisch said in his town they have a great community, great teachers, great students and they are doing important things with everyone. For example, football season is here and everyone comes together for that. With all that said the Denver Post still writes an article about school being a disappointment!! Fisch was very upset about the article.

My comment to Fisch was that I completely agreed! He has the right to be angry with such an awful article. When I was in high school I always looked forward to going back to school. The Denver Post apparently doesn’t remember what is like to be apart of a school. They need to wake up and realize that the article they posted needs to reevaluated!

Blog Assignment #2

1.) My reaction to Did You Know 3.0 by Karl Fisch was wow. I had no clue about all the incredible things that go on in seconds that most of us never know about. It was scary in a way to think of a computer being made to be a supercomputer. Knowing that an object is compatible to the human brain scares me. Technology is great but I think it is a little much to have a supercomputer.
When I watched the video and saw how the numbers of technology has changed and it was amazing! To know that hundreds of babies are being born in the very few minutes it took to watch the video is crazy. Also, you know, none of us really think of a life without things like google.com ,and it took a minute for me to realize there was a time without such things. Text messages are another one of the things we can’t live without ,and the number of texts that go out each day are insane! Life was much simpler before technology took over, but in some ways it is a very good thing and in others possibly not good.
2.) Mr. Winkle Wakes was a cute video on the change of the world. I can see after Mr. Winkle’s 100 year sleep he would be startled at all these changes. The computer probably would be a very scary thing if you had never seen or heard of it before like Mr. Winkle. All the workplaces and offices with these machines that print pictures and words would be overwhelming! Mr. Winkle will have to get used to all these changes.
I did really like how it showed that school stays the same. That is one of the comfort qualities of school that it never really changes. Classes may change or subjects but the roll of the student stays the same. But in a world of changing technology, Mr. Winkle will eventually have to except this new scary world. The sooner he does the easier it will be for him in this busy body universe.
3.) The Importance of Creativity video by Sir Ken Robinson was amazing. He is so right about creativity. Educators do push children to do better in academics rather than the arts. This is wrong when there are some children that will never be proficient in academics even if they try very hard, and some children won’t ever be proficient in the arts but parents and teachers need to consider this. They need to consider that their children could be smart in academics, creativity, or even both.
Sir Robinson was amazing and his points about creativity were outstanding. His speech really hit home with me because I love to dance. Dance is important like he said. We all have legs and arms so we can all dance. When he talked about children sometimes being diagnosed with things that didn’t even exist years ago it made me think about how true that is. People today see problems when if they opened their eyes they would see maybe their children aren’t meant to be the worlds next scientist, but maybe just maybe they were meant to be the next Broadway star or Picasso. Creativity needs to be looked at the same way academics are.
4.) Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts was a great video. The kids in Georgia are very lucky to have Vicki Davis as a teacher. She not only teaches her students, she also lets them teach her as well. Davis seems to be very in touch with her teen students , and the students on the video seemed to be having fun learning about technology. Which ,in my opinion, is very good in this day and age.
The programs of technology are very tricky if you don’t have an instructor there to help. In my high school we had a computer class but it wasn’t recommended. After watching this video, I think students should have a mandatory class on the world of technology. Not only should it be basic for students to learn to type but they should learn how to work with the computer as well. This was a very good video and a very good website. If you haven’t watched it yet check it out!