Blog Post #15

Part 1


It is so weird to look back at my first blog post and to see how far I have come! I have to say though that I am proud of my first response. I feel likeit showed the kind of teacher I want and should be. I think it went perfect with Edm 310, and now this class has just filled in the gaps with exactly how to accomplish the dreams I had for my future classroom. My goal was not just to teach my students but help them learn and take it with them!Just as in this class, I did not just learn things or memorize them for a test, I AM taking things away for my future classroom.

I would love to teach middle school math. My vision for my future classroom was to be a place of fun, hands-on learning. I mentioned in my first blog post how technology would be very important and I also remembered my math teacher turning out classroom into a bank and how excited I was. I think I was completely on track with these answers, but now I have even better ideas.

One thing I still think is important is the use of the smart board. One of the lessons I created for EDM 310 was in math, so I know how beneficial that can be! I would love to have iPads for my math classroom. During free time I could let the students have a rewards by playing fun math games. I would also like to use some kind of simulation in my classroom. I know this will give the students something to look forward too and they can learn and remember it!

The biggest thing that I got was about flipping the classroom! I feel that was made for my future math class! Now I would be able to teach to many different math levels and won't have to waste unnecessary in my class! I can spend more time on helping my students with what they do not understand! Some laptops in my class would be needed for this. I would love to have technology/project based learning!

Part 2

Project #13

Collaboration

My group used a lot of technology to communicate. We had to stay in contact with each other in order to share ideas and complete our projects. We text each other a good bit, especially to set up meeting times. We used skype in order to talk face to face about certain details. twitter was also very useful. One person never showed up for anything so we also tweeted him to make sure the message we gave him, had every opportunity to get to him! Email and Google docs were also an extremely important part! we probably wouldn't have passed without them!

April C4K

First C4K

My first C4K I read this month was by a fifth grader named Celicia. She wrote about her how life would be different without the first amendment. She wrote about how her life would be totally different. She would not be able to have friends a different race, free speech, religion, and many other things. She thinks everyone deserves their freedom! I commented an introduced myself. I also told her it was good looking around her blog and it is great to see she is so appreciative! I also told her to keep up the great work and enjoy blogging!


Second C4K
My second C4K was by a girl named Zouria. It was about a simulation game her gym coach set up called Life 101, she said it was a game to learn how to pay bills. They drew cards to see the number of kids they would have and had a gross salary of 3,000 dollars. She said taxes came out of their check too. I gave her lots of encouragement. Her word choice was also great! I asked her how the game had ended for her. I also told her great job at the end.


Third C4K

My last blog post was written by Studamyer. He wrote about the car ride he had taken with his mum. In the middle of their trip they stopped in the middle of the rode for an possum. His mom got out and scared it, then they finished their trip with happiness. After I introduced myself I encouraged him to keep blogging. I thought that his story was great and I could tell that he had put a lot of effort into it!

Blog Post #14

Teacher Knows if You Have Done the E Reading



Texas A&M has several professors using e-readers. These special text books allow the professors to see when the text book is open, when notes are taken, and when things are highlighted. This is the students "engagement index." Things can be noticed by professors like if a student making good grades only opens their book once before the test. This could show a student needs to improve studying habits instead of cramming. A "c" student can be given their index and realize their priorities may need to be different. These books are called CourseSmart. They also provide information for book companies and help them make new editions. There is also a downfall to this system. A student could easily just leave there book open or game their highlighting to raise there scores. Also, a student with good grades may have a low index only because they take notes on paper.

As a teacher I am amazed at this new technology. If I didn't have too, I would not tell my class I could see their index. I could get a general sense of how my class was. I would use this information ONLY to their advantage to help them if I could offer some study advice. I think their could be inaccurate results if I used this information for anything else!

If this applied to me now, I think I would feel more accountable for my study actions. I would just make sure I took notes in the text book for it to show up. The only thing I could see being a problem is how easy it would be to cheat. I am not a perfect student, so if I thought my index would be low I might would leave open my book. I feel though that I am in college so my study habits shouldn't be my teachers concern.

Questions to a Teacher
1. Do you use the engagement index in any type of grading?
2. Does the engagement index affect how you view your students?
3. Have you found any problems?

Questions for Students
1. Is your engagement index accurate for your study habits?
2. What is the downfall to the system?
3. Has this type of learning been helpful?

I would leave a comment on this blog thanking them for the information on this topic. I have never learned about it and I feel like it was very educating. I liked seeing the pros and cons on this topic.

Final Project #16

PLN

PLN Final Report

My PLN, or personal learning network has become one of my favorite things I can take away from this claass! I use Symbaloo,
to organize everything in my PLN. In this semester I have added, deleted, and kept several things in my symbaloo. I have found things I think I will use as a teacher, as well as others I had no interest in. I really like TeacherTube and Edublogs. I don't think I would have found those on my own. On my PLN I also have a section for my own personal social websites. I am not a very organized person and Symbaloo has made it very easy for me!

Last C4T

C4T #1

The first blog I read this month was by Mrs. Kathleen Morris. It was titled, Benefits of Blogging by Linda Yollis and Class. It was about how both of these teachers started there class of blogging at the same time and the journey and benefits of it. I left a comment to her about the school I was from and how I was in edm310. I told her how that topic had went along perfectly with what we were taught in this class. This video can help me tremendously when I have a class of my own one day!


C4T #2
The second post I read was also by Kathleen Morris. I have loved reading and looking on her blog! Tjis blog was titled, Student Blogs: Digital Portfolios. She discusses how she used to make students earn a blog in the classroom. This way did work for her. She has now changed it where they set them up at the beginning of the year. This develops a community in the classroom and helps parents learn along the way as well. I commented and said how I liked the ways she started of slower with blogging and making them earn it! It was her first try at blogging with a class too, so it was a learning experience for her too as well. I feel that will be a great technique for me as well.

Progress Report on Final Project

Me and my partner, Rachel McGuff, have worked very hard and planned a lot in advance on our final project. We used Skype to connect with each other. We also communicated through e-mail, Facebook, and twitter. We met in advance to plan our final project twice before recording our movie. We each took equal and fair parts in our final project.

Blog post #13

Back To The Future
I love seeing videos like this one of Mr. Crosby. They inspire me to be a great teacher. It also want me to put out the extra effort to make my students be able to learn in such advance ways. It is up to the teacher to provide these ways and want the best for my students! How much effort put in the video alone shows how dedicated he is! His students used all kinds of technology from blogs to Skype! The students skyped children from other places and could see how to do projects. I think kids teaching kids iss a great idea. They listen to each other better and they have to know what there talking about to teach it! I hope to research on Mr. Crosby more!




Blended Learning Cycle


Mr. Paul Anderson is a high school AP biology teacher in Bozeman, Montana. He describes the teaching style in his classroom as blended learning. This is when teachers use online material, mobile, and the classroom all together as one learning technique. The cycle he uses in his science class is engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate. He also uses the acronym QUIVERS. This stands for Questions, Investigation/Inquiry, Video, Elaboration, Review, Summary quiz. He says that since he videos his lessons, he has more time to answer students questions.

I love seeing a teacher like this! I hope to one day be this inspiring and will do whatever it takes for my students to truly learn. I love this technique. I was first introduced to flipping a classroom earlier in the semester, and have become a major fan. I think this method is going beyond just teaching and actually letting the students learn.

Project #15 SMARTboard instructions part 2

Blog Post #12

Dan Meyer


My area of specialty is math, so that is what I created an assignment about!

I think math can be one of the most important subjects, but some students just can't understand why! The phrase, "This will never help me outside of this class," always comes up. I am very passionate about math and would hate my students to think this. Dan Meyer also strongly feels this way. He presents math lessons in real life scenarios to make them, "irrestible." Watch Dan Meyer on Real-World Math. Write an 1-2 paragraphs of how you can use his advice in your own classroom. You could apply this to any subjects. Also, feel free to research on him; he has MANY great videos.

Dan Meyers is obviously such a passionate teacher. I hope to be like this one day. Some things I learned in his video, were simply to put in the extra effort in teaching and maybe the students can put in the extra effort to learn! Dan Meyers has been a math teacher and that is also what I want to be! His first example was about shooting the ball into the net. He took videos of himself, and played them with different shot angles. I think this made it personal and more interesting for the students. I want to do things like this in my future classroom! He also recorded himself on an elevator, and made a problem out of it! He is definitely an inspiration!

C4K March

The first students blog I read was Celicia. She was in the 5th grade. Her blog post was about the first amendment and how her life would be very different without it. She said she was happy the have rights like freedom of religion, speech, press, and etc. In my comment I left I told her I also think we are lucky and it's great she is appreciative. I told her how great her blog is and to keep up the good work!

The next post I read called Life 101, was written by a girl named Zouria. Her teacher set up a simulation game of life. They had a gross salary of 3,000 dollars and drew a number of kids they had. Taxes and things like that were also taken out of their money. In my comment I mentioned how good Zouria's writing was. I also asked her how the game ended for her and encouraged her to keep up the great work!

The next post I read was by a student named Studamyer. He wrote about driving with his mom and a possum went in the middle of the rode and she moved it over. I think this might have been a writing prompt. Is it rude to ask that? My comment said how well his writing style and choice of words was! I also encouraged him to keep up the good work!

Tristen K. wrote the last post I read. She answered the question, "What do you think you as a student gain from blogging with students and others outside of the school? Is it worth the time? Why/why not?" She thinks it is worth it and fun. She also thinks it will help her in the future and talk to people she hasn't met. I told her to keep up the great work and that I agreed with her!

C4T #3

Jennys Learning Journey

This month I have read posts from Jenny She. The first post I read of hers went along perfectly with what we have talked about in EDM 310. Her class was chosen to experiment with iPads. She used the iPads in several ways. She used them for educational activities in downtime, ways for positive reinforcement, and for teaching tools. She used it for it to read to her class and they also traced letters on it. She thought they were super easy to use. She also asked for advice from anyone.

I asked her about the pros and cons she found while doing this experiment and thanked her for the article. One of the comments left on her blog made me appreciate iPads even more. One was from a boy who was older but, told about when he was younger he had a reading disability. His teacher had to read aloud to him. He said how much he appreciated the iPad to help student's like him!

Mrs. She didn't post any newer post so I went to the most recent I had not read. This was a very refreshing post with the moral, "The happiest people don’t have everything, they just make the best of everything." Her teacher once told her this! He took beautiful pictures of flowers with only his camera phone but that made him happy and he liked the pictures. Mrs. She also started taking pictures of flowers on her phone and posted some!

In my comment I thanked Mrs. She for this reminder. I could always complain about what I don't have, but what is the point? i just want to be happy and make the best of everything!

Blog Post #11

Mrs. Cassidy and Her Classroom

I am so inspired by Mrs. Cassidy and her classroom! You can tell she enjoys what she is doing and she truly teaches to her full potential. The kids in her classroom seem to be using every technology possibly available. They use blogs, Wikis, SMARTboards, etc. They seem to know how to use these tools and apply them to their lessons. I feel like these children know how to use these tools even way more than I would. I also noticed using these things also helps with grammar and communication skills. These kids have inspired me to do extremely well in this class so I will be able to tech my future students how to learn to use all of this technology.

I love Mrs. Cassidy's approach. She fully believes that children should learn technology as soon as possible. I have to admit before this class and some the things I have seen, I thought learning all this about technology was stupid. I fully believe like Mrs. Cassidy that children should learn about technology soon and how to apply it because this is the world we live in today. I also love the fact that with using blogs it is not only the teacher viewing their work but many others. She also thinks it is a great way to communicate with parents. I completely agree we can't teach our children the way we did 5 years ago!

I do see a few problems with technology. I think some students might abuse it. There are ways to play distracting games and use social media and I would not want this to effect their learning. I also see a problem with myself and technology. There is an endless amount to learn and teach and I want ti provide my students with the most current information. I am going to try to learn as much as I can and the most currents to help my students succeed!

Blog Post #10

1.

What is the cartoon talking about? John Spencer wrote a series of these cartoons. He was not writing these because he liked pencils, but the underlying meaning is about computers. The two he is talking about is a PC and a MAC. The left side of the picture is about a PC and the right is about a MAC. The PC is cheaper but may break more often while the Mac is a great computer it is overrated and over priced! I have a PC and personally it is my favorite. I am glad though during this class I have learned a lot about a Mac.

2. In, Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?, the principal seemed to be more concerned with the word "game" than what was actually the outcome of it. I think that in today's world technology is extremely important. This principal was to worried about what the classroom looked like than actually helping the children learn. The principal would rather it be crammed in their student's brains! I hate to say but I think this is very true within some schools! I hope to use technology to help my students one day!

3.Dr. Mcleod is the Director of Innovation for Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency 8 in Iowa. He is one of the leading experts on K-12 technology issues. In his article, Don't Teach Your Kid's This Stuff. Please, he takes a very sarcastic stance on using technology in the classroom. I agree with him completely, I think it should be used, to help our students be more successful in the future. Yes, there are always ways to abuse things and turn them into bad. With technology there is sexting, porn, etc. While teaching kid's about technology I think we must also teach them how to be responsible with and what could happen if they are not!

SMARTboard Project #14

Short Movie Project #11

Project #12

Blog Post #9

Mr. Joe McClung



Mr. McClung is a teacher who has written blog posts to reflect on his teaching career at the end of each school year. I decided to read What I've Learned This Year (2008-2009), and What I've Learned This Year (2011-2012) . I chose to read these two posts because they are from his first year teaching and then the most recent year he has taught. I wanted to compare them to see how his thoughts would change from being a brand new teacher, to one with more experience behind them. I also wanted to read his first one because I will soon be a new teacher and wanted to know his own adventures he went through!

I think I will be able to easily relate to Mr. McClung's first blog post. He was a new teacher and this was a completely new experience. I am grateful to have read this to already know some of this knowledge and be able to apply it instead of learning it the hard way. He broke down his blog into the following sections:

How to Read the Crowd
Mr. McClung talks about the importance of focusing teaching on the students and how they comprehend it, not the delivery. I think this is very important. While I want to do my best delivering it and showing other faculty members my delivery skills, I always will remember this is why I'm teaching, not to make myself look good but to help kids learn!

Be Flexible
I think this section will help me the most in my teaching career. I have to remember not everything is perfect and I will make mistakes. I just have to go with it and not freak out!


Communicate
Communication will be essential for my students, co-workers, and myself. I think there can be an answer for everything and it takes communication to reach that!

Be Reasonable
As a teacher I must remember to set standards for must students but with restrictions:
-Don't give unreachable goals
-Remember they are just children
-some goals may not be met
-If a students doesn't reach a goal, encourage them!

Don't be Afraid of Technology
I'm starting to see Dr. Strange's point EVERYWHERE, including here. I definitely won't be afraid after this class!


Listen to Your Students
This is key to a students teacher relationship and can be the most important! I want to be someone my students can look up to and talk too!

Lastly...Never Stop learning
I hope to never get "set in my ways." Not for me, but for my students sake. They deserve all the new learning ways and shouldn't be left behind!





The next post I read by Mr. McClung is from his most recent teaching year in 2011-2012. I can really tell how he has grown as a teacher. He has figured out his reputation and his place as a teacher. He also seems to remember everything he has learned in previous years and only grow more! In this blog posts he has two main sections:

You Gotta Dance With Who You Came to the Dance With
Mr. Mcclung stated that this year he struggled with how his peers thought of him. He knew how his students and superiors viewed him, but not his peers.I hope to always remember what Mr. McClung learned from this! He stated that nothing positive came from worrying about what his peers thought! I hope I can be like this. I want my co-workers respect but I will always work on developing relationships with my students and making sure my superiors know I am doing the best job possible!

Challenge Yourself
This is one thing that has not change about Mr. McClung in his four years. He always wants to change his ways and keep up the creativity and learning ways! I hope to also do this and become a better teacher each year!!

All the comments to Mr. McClung are very encouraging and supportive. Many left were even from students of EDM 310. I'm sure some of them are even teaching on their own now and using his advise!

Blog Post #8

1.Richard Miller


Richard Miller's video, This is How We Dream, presents many great ideas and gave me a lot to think about. I am not sure I liked the way it was presented. I think it was a lot to listen to him fully, to watch and read the screen, and also to bring it all together. I do think though that what the message is completely true. Richard Miller believes that technology will play a huge role and change a classroom. He focuses on writing and reading.

Before taking this class I might have freaked out. Now, not so much. Why? Because I think Miller is exactly right. I think we have already changed though. We are flipping classrooms, using Smartboard, iPads, podcasts, and students are writing blogs. I would have never imaged half of the things that I have learned in this class. Without already being introduced to them I may have freaked out becoming a teacher and seeing all these rapid changes, but I think I will be fully prepared and have an open mind. I am willing to teach my children technology and let them learn other things for themselves. Miller talks about other places already putting this learning in place. I think we have too!

Miller also states, "Ideas shouldn't belong to us individually." I agree completely. As I know how important it is to give credit where credit is due, I also say
let students learn without this hassle sometimes! Everyone get's there ideas from somewhere. I don't think online learning should be all about citing your sources. I am excited to see how my role as a teacher will be!



2. Carly Pugh's blog post #12
I think Carly went along right with Richard Miller. I also loved that she had links to her videos that we could see. I think YouTube can be a great learning tool used in a classroom. This one even convinced me more about using multi-media with writing, because of her great examples!



3.The Chipper Series and Edm310 for dummies

The Chipper Series for dummies is hilarious! It basically is about things that MIGHT have gone through my mind at some point in the class, and basically makes me feel stupid for thinking it or doing it. Oops, maybe once I felt the need to highlight things on my checklist before it was finished, then procrastinated. I think all these thoughts have crossed our mind. I hate to say it but at the beginning of EDM310 I didn't watch this movie. I just now did. Dr. Strange, I think you should play this in one of the classes the first week!


I also firmly believe Edm310 for dummies should be shown the first week of classes! It is a life saver! I think I liked this video so much because I feel like it is making fun of myself. It also though serves a purpose to read EDM 310 for dummies. I think the other message is... It's ok to feel a little crazy and overwhelmed, everyone else has too but it gets better!


These videos do make me want to make my own! I think it could be kind of an ice breaker, while providing useful information. One idea that popped into my head is that after I'm teaching get completely honest feedback from students on a survey. I will say things like, What do you think was pointless in this class?, What bad habit hurt you the most in this class?, etc. I will then show on the video the benefits of everything and why my classroom is set up the way it is. I think it could also give my students the message... It is okay to feel how you are feeling, others did too and they never ave up!



4.Learn to change, change to learn

This video was many different people speaking about how we can no longer make students think technology is bad in a school but a chance to learn better. Students need all the technology they can get to thrive in the upcoming world they have before them. Students need to be shown how to use their cell phone, twiiter, and facebook for not only a social life but tools to learn. I agree with the arguments everyone in the video made but there must be boundaries.



Scavenger Hunt 2.0

I created a wikispace. I think it is important for students to be able to gain infomation, talk to students, and their teach after school hours. On something like a cell phone, it can be thought of as crossing the line. On wikispaces you can also share things like documents and video. I could post videos for my class to watch without them going on youtube!



I believe ANIMOTO wasI used to help create the presentation I saw. They have several prices. The first plan is free. This is only a 30 second video, but to just give it a try at first this would be great. The second plan is 2.50 a month and is billed 30 dollars anually it is the plus plan. With this the videos can be any length, are downloadable, and there are 30+ video styles. This seems like a great deal to me and a good option. Maybe you really like this and want even more creative room. Then there is the pro plan. It is 20.75 per month and include music and HD videos.


I made my comic on comix and you can see it here!

C4T #2

The blogs that I read were written by Mathew Needleman. They are great to read and you can also read them too here. In the first blog post titled, iOS App Recommendations, Needleman has a list for teachers that have apps he put on the iPads in his school. He says that while he likes several of the apps that require higher-thinking, he would like to create a new list because some of the apps aren't challenging enough. He gives examples of apps in literacy. Not that those are the only apps but he does recommends how they are used. He recommends them be used in the categories of fluency, writing, and learning letter sounds.

In my comment I told Mathew Needleman how I was in EDM 310 and we were learning about new types of technology to use in our classroom. I also told him that I hoped when I was teaching someone had a list of great math apps to help me in my classroom. That would be very beneficial to a new teacher. I thanked him also for his great blog!

Mathew Needleman did not have a new blog post so I commented on the most recent blog I hadn't read. It was titled, What Good Teaching Looks Like: Digital Research. He started off by talking about the way students used to be taught. Teachers would have to tell their students how to find things like the author, illustrator, and copyright information. These forms of methods are becoming obsolete. The computer is one of the primary methods of learning now. Now other things must be taught to help students use the computer. An example of what should be taught is teaching students to search for things on the web using keywords. This can even start being taught in kindergarten.

I commented on how eye opening this blog post was for me. I have to remember that my role as a teacher will be changing. I have to keep up with the current time and put away some obsolete teaching methods. I can not wait to begin my journey as a teacher!

C4K February Summaries

Summary #1
The first student's blog I read seemed to be such a sweet boy. His teacher gave them a prompt. It was an article about history that had a few incorrect facts. He rewrote the article by correcting the false information and providing even more on the subject.

I told him that while it was great he corrected the false information, I thought it was great that he went into more detail and gave more facts about history. I also told him that he was a great writer!


Summary #2
Sontee was the student whose blog I was assigned to read this week. His blog post was about homework. He wrote how he did not like homework because he would rather be doing things more fun. He also thought it was hard and his teacher gave to much of it. He stated he could see why it was necessary though. He thinks that students should be given one week to act like a kid.

Sontee's writing was not grammatically correct. He used lots of run-on sentences and a lot was not easy to read. The comment I left I tried to be positive and uplifting with a little corrections in a nice way. I told him I felt the same way about homework when I was younger, but I see now how important it is. I told him that his teacher could help him to make his homework easier. I gave him the advice to make sure to check for run-on sentences and read the post out loud to make sure it sounds right or he didn't leave out words. I ended it with encouraging words to keep up the good work and blogging!



Summary #3
I read Mary's blog at Pt England school.She told what Perimeter is and gave a picture that also reinforced her idea. She also provided a link for more information on perimeter.

After introducing myself to Mary, I told her how I enjoyed looking around her blog. Everything seemed even better than my blog! I told her that information could help many of her peers. I also encouraged her to keep doing a great job!


Summary #4
Jordyn wrote on the topic of hegemony. S he told about going to her friends house and telling her friend about Jesus and being a christian. The girls parents were not happy about it and made her stop talking about God. Her friend was still very interested and asked to come over so she could learn more. She ended up saving her friend.

I told her how great it was to be spreading God's word at such an early age. I thought what she did was great. I also told her how proud of her I was! She was also a great writer.

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture


I am so glad to have watched this lecture by Randy Pausch. It inspired me and gave me knowledge to use in my life as a teacher, but also in my personal life. The lecture started off by him giving some devastating news. He showed the audience a picture of his cancer and how badly it has spread, and also stated that he was told one month ago he only had about six months left to live. Now, my next guess would be that a devasting man would throw a pity party for himself and make people feel bad for him. NOT AT ALL! While it did put things in perspective for me, instead of listening to a sad man, like I thought I was listening to. I heard a man who loved his family, lived a fulfilling life, and loved the life he had lived. He never looked at anything as a failure but only as a lesson that served a bigger purpose in his life. He never sugar coated one thing, but made everything in life the best he could, even cancer.

Pausch talked about how he accomplished his dreams and then how he helped others accomplish theirs. I look at my teaching career in a whole new way now. I want to use an alternative way of teaching like Pausch. I am not doing this just to have an ordinary job, but I also want to make an impact in others lives and help them achieve their fullest potential. I want learning for my students to be fun. I plan on putting in the effort to be the best teacher ever. I really liked when people asked Pausch how he became tenure so quickly and he said," I don't know call me at 10 o'clock on a Friday night in my office and ask me." He was dedicated in everything that he did. I also want to teach my students to, "get worried when people stop correcting you when you screw up." Pausch said this and said that it either means they've given up on you, or they do not care. I want my students to ALWAYS continue to grow, and know that correction is good!

Another thing I will teach my students is how to work in groups. Not only in school will you have to work and get along with others, but in the workplace. Bickering and fighting can cause people to be unproductive. This can even be used in one's personal life I think. You must always know how to properly communicate with other's to be a successful person.

I did some research about this speech. I found out he mainly wrote this for his family. He also said that how those first three copies of this speech effected them was his goal, everyone else was just a side-effect. He put family first and then put the rest of his energy toward others. I truly have been inspired by Randy Pausch, and am sad to say that before this class I have never watched a video of him. I would recommend this to anyone. I will now strive to live life to the fullest now matter what is thrown my way, grow from every situation, and strive to make others the best they can be!

PLN Report #1

I am very greatful to have learned about a PLN, or personal learning network. I am currently using symbaloo. On mine I have a personal section and an education section. I have things like pinterest, facebook, wanelo, google, blogger, twitter, and many others. Some other resources I found on the website and they are great for a teacher! My symbaloo is only a start and I hope to grow it even more during this class and even after. One thing I never thought would be useful outside of my social life is Twitter. I have followed many people and they have followed me in the education field, and I have gotten very useful information. I asked Dr. Starange a question about flipping the classroom and he gave me people to tweet. I got several responses and lots of great information. My PLN is growing and this is just the beginning!

Project #8: Podcast

Project #10 Finding the Right Tool

Finding the Right Tool


When asked to find technology we have not covered in EDM310, for use in our future classroom, I immediately asked myself, "What tools could have made learning more easier at that time for me?" I would like to teach math for middle school, so I thought back to this time in my life. One thing I always had trouble with, was a calculator! My teacher would give out directions once and we were expected to know it for every math problem. This caused lots of confusion in the class and lots of the same questions asked over and over again, until each student had seen it done on their own calculator. I decided to research on new advancements so I could cut down on confusion and time spent on calculator questions.

The technology that appealed to me the most was the TI-Emulator. This software will allow me to have the students calculator on my computer. I could then have it on a SmartBoard, where my whole class could see at one time exactly how to use their calculator. This cuts down on having to individually go to each student and show them what I am talking about. I can also have students do examples and show how they came up with their answer on their own calculator and make sure the process they are using is right!

Blog Post #6

Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student


The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler, is a video that shows just how important technology has become as a learning tool for students. Instead of teachers giving information out of a book, students are able to get scholarly articles from web sites. Students are also able to read opinions on blogs and write their own about a topic. They can even learn by downloading audio books on their iPod's. The possibilities for learning using technology seem to be endless these days.

Will teachers even be needed with all of the networked students? My answer would be ABSOLUTELY! Students have books with all the answers in it, but do they just learn it themselves? Nope. They need guidance and direction to help steer them in the right directions. They also need help learning how to begin using this new technology to learn themselves. I do think that the role of a teacher may change some, but they will not be come extinct.

I am thankful to be learning how to use some of this technology in the course of EDM310 right now. As I did say I didn't think teachers would be come extinct, I do think some may that can't catch up and teach their students with this new technology. I hope to learn as much of it as I can now where I can pass my knowledge down to my future classes one day!



PLN

This video showed a 7th grader's science personal learning environment. I loved the fact that she could even Skype a scientist to ask him a question. That is the type of learning I think will make a huge impact on a student. Her PLE was much different mine, I think. Her's was VERY organized and seemed very easy to keep track of everything. I hope to have mine this way in the future!

My Sentence Movie

Blog Post #5

If I Built a School


Krissy Venosdale wrote, If I built a School. She is a passionate teacher. Her goal is to let her students have a blast at school while learning too. I hope to be as passionate of a teacher as she is. I can tell she genuinely cares about her students. In her blog post she wrote about if she were given an opportunity to build a school, how it would be. She described her dream school very vividly, I could picture everything in my mind. It would be extremely colorful, comfy, hands-on, tech savy type of learning environment. She did not want a strict curriculum, or grade levels by age. She wanted a school were children progressed by their knowledge and wanted to give them more options in a field of study they were interested in.

As I read through the blog post I began to think of how I would want my own school to be. I would want it to be a beautiful modern building that was filled with different wings for each field of study and each wing to have classrooms for each grade level. The wings would be math, science, English, history, music, art, and electives. All the wings would be decorated beautifully according to the subject. All teachers in the wing could collaborate together since they are interested in the same field and help each other grow in their field of study to provide the children with the best teaching possible! Electives would include useful classes like cooking, agriculture, wood shop, edicate, and a class called workplace. All of these classes could provide new interest and give the children real world skills. The class I called workplace would take the students to job sites of many different professions. I think this could be a great class that can help students save money in college. While in college many students change their major many times. Why? Because they didn't know how many job options were out there. I would also like all classes to be as hands-on as possible. Each subject will also take educational field trips. If I have teachers like Krissy Venosdale, my students would be extremely blessed!






Virtual Choir
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir has me completely amazed! I have never seen anything like this before. The fact that these people have never met or sang together speaks volumes too. I love this!


Teaching in the 21st century




I think Kevin Roberts has a very strong opinion on how teachers jobs will change in the 21st century. He thinks teachers will not be teaching the "information" as they have been. Students can find this on Google, in blogs, on twitter, etc. He thinks a teacher will teach students how to properly use this new technology to learn. I both agree and disagree with Kevin Roberts theory.

I personally do not think a teacher will never teach again. I think while we may need to implement the use of new technology in a classroom, this will not take out teaching. I think of kindergarteners, will we just teach them how to use technology? No! We must start off teaching fundamentals. The way we teach this may have more technology involved, I do think though. I think Kevin Roberts may be right on some things too. We must teach children about lots of technology and lets them explore and learn some on their own to be prepared for jobs of the future!

Flipping the Classroom

I'm starting to think I should take back about what I said in the previous paragraph, about teaching in the 21st century. Maybe I won't actually be teaching to the class, but recording my lessons for them to watch at home, known as flipping the classroom. I have to say I am a huge fan of this idea already. I would like to be able to teach math one day, and this seems perfect! Katie Gimbar's video were my favorite and has me extremely excited to begin my teaching career. I also watched the FAQ videos she had and any questions I may have had about this system working, she completely cleared them with her answers. This is the first I have heard of this teaching style and I am surprised. Last semester in college I had a math professor who taught the lesson in class and gave us his youtube channel where the lesson also was. This approach is the only reason I passed the class, because I was able to go back and review. I would deffinately like to use this teaching style in my future classroom!

Project #5

C4T #1

       I read an article by Karl Fisch. I thought it was perfect to read, especially after all I have read about how far behind our education system is. This made me rethink some things. I tell myself I will never be the "lecture" teacher and will use tons of technology. In all reallity, that may happen in a perfect world but we are not in that perfect world. Sometimes I may give a few lectures and pass out some of the old timey work sheets.
         In Mr. Fisch's blog he was stating how he's tired of reading all the time about people bashing lectures, worksheets, and notes. This bashing is not a critique, just bashing and putting these methods down. He states methods to make these critiques better. He says that being criticall will only make things better but we also must back it up. Give reasons and in depth ways to execute a plan.

         In the next post by Fisch, the message I got was, while twitter can be useful for a teacher, know that it can be deceiving too. We can look on people's twitter and feel like crap for what we are doing in our classroom. It is great for us to learn from others and try to incorporate their ideas, but we must remember instead of feeling like a horrible teacher we just have to learn to improve constantly and not everything on twitter is exactly true. People like to stretch the truth, no school is perfect. He also states there are laws we MUST follow as teachers. Don't go on strike and make the student's learn nothing. There are better ways to handle those situations!
         I have loved reading Karl Fisch's blog! They seem like confidence boosters directed right at teachers. While I'm a teacher I will use twitter to gain fresh ideas. I will not let it discourage me. The "perfect," classrooms we see on twitter, are not so perfect. Try to improve, but know that the tweet is somewhat of a lie. All classrooms everywhere need improving, not just mine!

Blog Post #4

Langwitches Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting


I find myself suprised every week in this class. I began this assignment thinking it would in no way be beneficial for me. I was completly wrong and can see myself using these methods to teach one day. In this blog I read by Langwitches I see how the teacher was not only teaching about a podcast but helping sharpen her students listening and comprehension skills. The teacher made her students create the Hebrew story of Purim, in a podcast. She also mixed up there recordings and made the students put them back in order. The students gained listening and comprehension skills, but also they learned the language easier. In highschool I took Spanish. On our test we had a listening portion. It would have made it easier if my teacher had used a technique similar to this one, to help us learn the words and also what they sounded like. I think teaching this way will make students have fun while also learning.


Langwitches 1st Graders Create Their Own Read-Along Audio Book


I loved this idea and I would have never thought of this. The teacher had the students record a Magic Tree House series book. She had different students for the characters. When she was finished she put them all in order and printed out a read-along for the students. I feel like students get bored of the same kind of reading time they always have. Either the teacher reads or students read in their regular voices and it is difficult to focus. This makes them proud of their work and wanting to listen to hear their own voice as a character. It also makes them be able to picture the story easier with all the charaters having different voices. Langwitches also had the recording make a noise at the beginning of each chapter in case a student lost their place. I think this is a great teaching method and would love to do this in my own classroom one day!


Langwitches- Flat Stanley Podcast


I can remember reading Flat Stanley when I was younger and sending my Flat Stanley off and so excited to receive him back. This gives students a way to learn about different places and other ways people live. The class I read about sent their Flat Stanleys to London (England), Antarctica, Alabama (USA), Space, Israel, Tokyo (Japan), North Pole, Illinois (USA), New York (USA), Hollywood (USA) and Michigan (USA). They then recorded what their flat Stanley had encountered. All of their voices were so adorable! They had to learn to be very discriptive and change the tone of their voice and to create pictures in the listeners mind. This includes sounds Flat Stanley, smells, and description of what he saw. Children love this project and don't even realize what they are learning!


My Podcast


Not only did I take things away from this blog post to use in my future classroom but also techniques for my own Podcast. I must remember to not be monotone and have variation in my voice. I also want to be able to paint a picture in my listeners head and not make it be boring. I can't wait to use what I have learned!

Special Blog Post #1

WolframAlpha
I have to admit that I was one of the people who misinterpreted the data from the video Dr. Strange made. I was upset we had another assignment because of this, but I think I learned some useful things! We were asked to compare the populations of India, China , and the United States. India's population was 1.21 billion, China was 1.35 billion, and the United States population was 309 million people. I loved learning about the website WolframAlpha. It had so many educational and also fun facts. I can see it being very useful in my classroom one day. Not just for my use, but also my students. I conducted two more comparative searches. I wanted to know what was the smallest city in the U.S. and what was the largest city. The smallest city came back with 61 cities having no one living there and many only having one person. The largest city is New York City having 8.175 million people.

The Count
Gary Hayes social media account amazed. It has a total of people logging into facebook, tweeting, buying iPads, sent texts, how much the post office has made and many other things. I could not believe how high the numbers would rise. You can change the different time frames to see the number rise on different types of social media. Just in 5 seconds 200,000 likes and comments were made on facebook. I think this will have an amazing impact on me as a teacher. This website has opened my eyes as to just how much social media is in people's lives. When I start teaching I would guess the majority of my class will have phones, emails, and either a Twitter or Facebook. Instead of trying to fight my students from using these things I want to be creative and use this technology to my advantage of teaching!

Blog Post #3

Peer Editing:

       Paige Ellis' Blog assignment #12, the video, What is Peer Editing?, and the slide show, Peer edit with Perfection Tutorial, all had a common theme. While teaching us how to edit, they all give similar steps on how to edit. The first step is to give compliments. We are reading the work someone else just spent a lot of time on, there is no need to start off by bashing there work. Let them know what you liked about their writing. The second step is suggestions. We are all trying to make each other better writers, so if you see a way to make someone a better writer, I say go for it!. The last one is corrections. We are not perfect and our writing won't be all the time either. This step is to fix spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Remember to always be nice and not negative!

       The video, Writing Peer Review TOP 10 Mistakes, was a funny video made by children, and show how to not peer review. Some of the stars in this video included Negative Nancy, Mean Margaret, and Picky Patty. This video shows that there is two sides of editing. The editor and the one receiving the positive criticism. The editor shouldn't be negative or picky and the receiver should fully listen and accept the help their getting. I think this video would be great to show in my future classroom!

       The classmate that I edited was Brittney Patrick. I found no spelling or grammatical errors. Her clarity was great and everything was organized. Everything I told her was very positive feedback. I loved her writing style and told her things that really made her writing stand out! In the future when I have to fix spelling errors or grammatical things I will leave them as a comment. We are all learners here and none of us are perfect, so I think it is appropriate to leave corrections in a comment. It also might help others as they write their own blogs.


Assistive Technologies:

       The Mountbatten seems like such a wonderful tool to to have for a specials needs students in the classroom! It is a very modern technology and gives student immediate feedback both audibly and tacitly. It also helps students be involved in more things in the classroom than just being left out. Most teachers are not taught braille and this will also help them tremendously.

       I want to be a teacher who can teach anyone, including the blind and deaf. It might be more challenging, but there is tons of new technology to help. I want to help the children hold prosperous futures. We have one way of thinking how to do things but as a teacher I will have to learn how to think outside of my normal comfort zone.These children deserve the education everyone else is getting.

       I found the video, Teaching Math To the Blind, to be very fascinating. It does make sense now but I never thought it would be harder for someone who is blind to struggle in math. This struggle can also limit the jobs they can get without the basic math needed. The grid seemed very interesting to me. It can help the blind set up math problems in a column formation and help then learn at least the basic algebra. This is a new technology i would love to have in my classroom. I would also like an iPad in my classroom. I never knew some of the things they did to help the blind. They can read books aloud to them and read things to them when they touch the screen. This seems very beneficial to have!


Vicki Davis:

      This was a very inspiring video. It also made me question what I watched in a video last week. The video said that we are preparing our students for jobs that don't even exist yet. How can we do that with only pencil and paper? Ms. Davis is doing a wonderful job at this I think, because you can see her students' so involved. I think they will learn with technology better because we are in such a tech savyy generation and it is more hands on.

       I would love to strive for this in my own classroom someday. The only downfall I see is the use of the cell phone. I know I am addicted to mine and couldn't focus with texting and Facebook looking right at me!

       

Project #2: My Wordle!

 

 

http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/6275104/wordle

Blog post #1

About Me:

       My name is Jana Sharpe and I am 20 years old. I attend the University of South Alabama and am currently a sophomore working on my degree in elementary education. I chose to attend South for may reasons. I wanted to stay close to home by all of my family and friends, I received a scholarship to South, and also have heard great things about their education department. So for me it was a no brainer to attend college at South Alabama! I chose education to be my field of study because ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to be a teacher! I love to work with children, especially if I can help make a difference in their lives!

          I live at home with parents and my brother, who is younger than me. My mom is a teacher and she has also inspired me in becoming one, myself. I graduated in 2011 from Faith Academy. I am engaged and will be getting married in December. I am very excited! I babysit two children on a regular basis. In my free time I like to go to the beach or be with my fiance and friends!



My Future Classroom:
           
             Anyone can just read to students out of a book, give them worksheets, or just give them things to memorize. I want to be the type of teacher that actually helps my students learn. I want to be able to best prepare them for things in their future. I want to teach sixth grade math, and I feel like especially in math this is crucial. I want to show my students how they can take the things they learn in my class and use them in real life. I will also make sure I have my students fully prepared for the math that they will endure after my class.

           There are many different approaches on how to teach things and there are also different types of learners. I think the two main types of learners are visual and auditory learners. I think students in my class will learn best if I use both of the approaches by thoroughly explaining a topic and also giving a visual aid to see what I'm actually talking about. I think you also learn by asking questions and I will let my classroom be a place for many of them. If they never ask, then they will never know!

           The tools me and my students will use to learn are a variety of them. I think if you constantly use the same thing, the students will start to tune you out. Technology is something that is around us everywhere today, and that is what children are into. A smart board is something I would definitely use often and be a way the students could learn interactively. I once had a teacher who turned our classroom into a bank in order for us to learn. I can remember being excited for class. I would also like to implement tools like that in my classroom.    

         I want my classroom to have an interactive feeling. I do not want my students to have to come in and sit down and feel like they can't move. While, of course there will have to be boundaries, I feel like there is no good use out of me talking the whole time and them just writing things down. I want it to be a fun place of learning! As I want to be a math teacher I would also like to have interactive bulletin boards for them to be able to solve something on it for bonus. Why just put a random saying on the board?

Randy Pausch:

             I have never heard Randy Pausch speak before, but I feel like I can definitely put to use many of the things he said. They will be very beneficial for edm310. Time management is crucial. Things should not be put off until the very last minute, this will just create a more stressful situation. He says how it will be a good idea to create a checklist to get things done. Something that also really stood out to me is to get the harder things done first. I normally tend to put them off until last minute. He also talks about growing wiser with age. This was a great video to get me on track for this semester!   

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