C4K Summary for March

This month I commented on two different students from the Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand. I would like to share with you what their post were about, and what my comment on their post said.

First, I had a little girl named Meliana. She is from the Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand, like I mentioned above, and is in Mrs. Jenny She's second grade class. Her post was a short video telling everyone about her weekend. She talked about how she went to the beach with her family and had a picnic, as well as, building a sandcastle. My comment I left for her stated many things. I simply mentioned how I always loved going to the beach with my family, and that we always had picnics and built sandcastles, too. I did let her know that her sandcastle was probably the prettiest one out there! Then, I told her that I enjoyed watching her video and I'm looking forward to visiting her blog again to read more.

Second, I had a little boy named Esrah. He is from the Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand, as well, and is in Mrs. Wua and Mr. Banks first grade class. His post was about equivalent fractions. He was asked the question, "What is 2/4 =4/?"He told us how to figure out the problem. Esrah said the pattern is 2x because 2x2=4, so that would mean the denominator of the completed fraction would have to be timed by 2, which would equal 8 and the answer is 2/4=4/8. On my comment on his post, I stated how much smarter he is then I was when I was his age, and that I enjoyed learning how to do a math problem. I, also, told him that I look forward to reading more of his post.

Project 15

Project Calender:
Title: Dinosaur Clay Modeling and Presentation                             Duration: One Week

                                                                WEEK ONE

Notes: This week will be full of leaning about dinosaurs! Starting on Monday they will choose a dinosaur, research it, make a presentation on prezi (around 2 minutes in length), and design a clay model of their dinosaur and present their presentation and model at the end of the week. 

Monday   

Today I will draw dinosaur names and give to each student. I will set aside an hour for them to research their dinosaur.

Tuesday

Today I will set aside another hour for them to work on their presentation and start their clay model (no more than 15 minutes on their model).          

Wednesday

Today There will be another hour for research and to work on their clay model. This is the last day for them to ask me final questions about their presentations and to make sure everything they need is in their presentations. 

Thursday

Today we will start presentations (10 students will go today) and they will also show their clay model they designed and afterwards will get to take home to keep!

Friday

Today we will finish presentations (10 students will go today) and they will also show their clay model they designed and afterwards will get to take home to keep!

Project 12A

Blog Post #10

There are many things we can learn from Sir Ken Robinson in his video Bring on the Learning Revolution.

First, is that people go through their lives not knowing their true talents or may think they don't have any. Well everyone has their own talents, and these are things we have to figure out about ourselves as we get older. Knowing our talents will help us figure out what we want to do for our profession, or throughout life.

The second thing I feel we can learn from Sir Ken Robinson is that education does not need to be evolved, it needs to be revolutionized. We keep trying to reform the same education system, but clearly is not helping. Education needs to be revolutionized to capture students interest.

Lastly, Sir ken Robinson mentions that he met a guy at a book signing, and asked what he did. The guy said he was a fireman. Mr. Robinson asked when he knew he wanted to be a fireman, and the guy said since he was a little boy. The guy went on to say that when he was in school, one of his teachers told him it wasn't a real job, that it would be a waste of his time, and that he should go to college. Well, this guy ended up being a fireman anyways, and actually saved his teacher's life along with his teacher's wife's. Students hold adults responsible to help nurture and foster their dreams. We should never tell a child their dreams are a waste of time, we should help them reach their dreams.

Blog Post #9

After watching the First Graders in Mrs. Cassidy's Class, video, it gave me a good sense of how technology is used in the lower grades. Really, their doing exactly what we are doing now, as college students, which is crazy to think about. Their smarter then we are, and could probably show us college students even more tools that we don't know about! Mrs. Cassidy's class skypes with different people, and even different students in another school. This is something I want to try and do in my classroom one day!

Mrs. Cassidy really stressed the importance of technology in young children in the video, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1. She tells us that kids are all about technology these days, which is true, so it's our job to help them pursue their education with the help of technology. Mrs. Cassidy was given five PCs for her classroom, but they prevented any software to be downloaded to them. This is when she began exploring different ways to use the internet, which led her to find out about blogging, youtube, twitter, and even skype. We have been given many tools, unlike Mrs. Cassidy, but it is, also, our job to explore and find even more tools, we have to broaden our personal learning networks.

In Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 2, Mrs. Cassidy believes that we should start using technology, especially in our classrooms, with something we are interested in. For example, I like the videos more, so youtube, skype, iMovie, etc. are along the lines of tools I would use. Some people like writing more, so you may want to go the blogging route. I want to help my students, one day, find their interests, then introduce technology to them using that interest.

One thing that really interested me the most in the video, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 3, is all the ways to use technology in physical education. There were a few Physical Education Majors asking questions, and one is, "How can we use technology in physical education?" One idea Mrs. Cassidy proposed was having a working blog, and if something came up to where the coach needed to let his/her students know immediately they could post it on their blog. Another question that came up is, "With blogs being more accessible to the internet, do you fear there is more cheating going on?" She stated that things are becoming more collaborative, and professors should get more creative with the way they want us to present things. She said to use others as guidance and just present ours in a different way. If we were asked open ended questions, it allows us to be more collaborative and there will be no one (correct)answer.

Blog Post #8

This week we were told to explore the web and find our own 21st century tools we could use in our classroom one day. i have found a few that I want to share with you. I want to teach either Kindergarten or first grade so, most of these are for little kids.
First, is this tool know as Voki. Students create their own personalized speaking avatar. They are able to customize their character, design their own background, you even record your own voice so the avatar will talk. Voki avatars help children improve listening and speaking abilities. Teachers are able to make one as well for introductions, activities, and even things to help pronunciation of vocabulary.

Secondly, there is this tool I will definitely be using known as Voicethread. This is a tool to involve technology with storytelling. It allows students to add images, text, audio, and video to create a digital story. Once a child has created their voicethread others can comment either by text, recording, or filming. This tool is great to collaborate with not only other students in their class or school, but all over the world. Students can draw their own pictures and talk about it, or create their own story and record their own voices while telling others about it. This would be a good project for them to do and share with the class.

Lastly, their is this tool called Edmodo. My senior year of high school, my school system started using this in K-12. This is a tool where teachers can post homework assignments, ask questions to their students in their class only, the students can get on and have a conversation with their classmates, and the teacher can have online parent and teacher conference. This is laid out just like facebook. I guess it is sort of like Sakai for all of us here at South. the main reason I would want to use something like this in my classroom, is because students don't always tell their parents the truth if they have homework or not. This way the parents would have access to check to see if their child has homework for that night.

Project #14

For my lesson plan this time, I have decided to allow my students' to choose a small topic to do a presentation on from the broad topic I will give them: American History. Giving my students this topic allows them to do their own research to find their own topic. For example, they could pick something such as: Christopher Columbus's Voyage to America, The Revolutionary War, the Boston Tea Party, or even President Kennedy's death. My students have multiple choices to choose from and plenty of information to gather on each. They will have 2 weeks to complete this project, and the last 2 days of the second week, they will present. I ,also, would love to invite their parents to watch and listen to their child's presentation, and to see the great job they will do on them!

Project #13

Date:              February 24-28                                   Project Based Learning                                                Technology Lesson Plans

Weekly Objective:  BPL Introduction Implementation Reading: R3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. Language: L 3.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. Speaking & Listening SL3.6 Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification. SL 3.1d explains their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion. SL 3.1b follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).	On-Going Objectives Reading: R3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. Language: L3.2  Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.  Speaking & Listening: SL3.4  Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace. Writing: W3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Monday:  BELL RINGER: List the project criteria. Direct Instruction: “I DO”-  I Curio demonstration on gathering information Guided Practice: “We Do”- decide with your group the topic of your project Let’s Practice: “You Do”- complete the role assignment and begin the research Assessment: teacher observation
Tuesday:  BELL RINGER:  Review roles and responsibilities of group members Direct Instruction: “I DO”-  Answer questions and discuss ways to complete a quality production Guided Practice: “We Do”- review material before publishing Let’s Practice: “You Do”- determine rubric criterion Assessment: teacher observation
Wednesday: BELL RINGER:  Publish rubric and complete final step in the project publishing Direct Instruction: “I DO”-  view demonstration on previous quality presentations Guided Practice: “We Do”- review procedures for full credit on the performance rubric Let’s Practice: “You Do”- complete oral presentation with power point or slideshare Assessment: teacher observation
Thursday:  BELL RINGER:  Write a reflection about pros and cons of PBL and group work. Direct Instruction: “I DO”- read reflections about project and brainstorm ideas for improvement. Guided Practice: “We Do”- develop t chart for pros and cons Let’s Practice: “You Do”- administer questionnaire evaluating performance of group members. Assessment: teacher observation and questionnaire, project submission
Friday:  FIELD TRIP to the computer lab to compile presentations to disc
Students that struggle will be identified through the check list and provided intervention.  Students who have mastered the objective will be assigned the enrichment materials.

C4T #2

Training and Coaching

In David Truss's blog post "Training and Coaching," he starts off by talking about his daughter's synchronized swimming, and how she trains 22+ hours a week, and how her aerobic and anaerobic conditioning is exceptional, then a routine is over and done with in 5 minutes. He combines his daughter's synchronized swimming with inquiry learning, and wonders "what kinds of structures can we build to help train our students as they do their inquiry learning dance." He believes educators should use an inquiry model, and think of ourselves as coaches. He says this, "The conditioning is cross-curricular, the practice needs to be purposeful, and tehy training is ongoing, with opportunities to improve many skills throughout the process."
In the comment I left under this post, I mentioned how I haven't really thought of coaching and teaching being similar. I gave this example, "Especially in the lower grades, such as Kindergarten through second. These students are just learning how to write their letters and numbers and learning how to read. We have to coach them on how to do this, and they have to practice over and over in order to memorize how to say and write those letters and words."

Learning and Failure

David Truss talks about learning sprouting from failure. "Failure can be very unproductive," he says, but also says, "Failure can also be an amazing tool for learning, and perhaps one that every student should experience before graduation." He mentions that everyone should do something big, as well as meaningful, beyond classroom walls, and even if they fail they will have a tremendous learning experience in the process. David also mentions that if students have only met success and accomplished every assignment, project, and task then they weren't pushed hard enough, and it is the programs fault not the students.
In the comment I left under this post I said, "If we don't fail, then how are we suppose to learn our mistakes?" I shared with him something my parents used to always tell me about failure. I also let him know that I agreed with him on if a student doesn't fail sometime before graduation, then it is the programs (sometimes the educators) fault. Go check out David Truss's Blog

Project #9

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch was a professor of Computer Science and Human-Computer and Interaction Design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Randy found out in September of 2006 that he had Pancreatic Cancer, and in August of 2007 his diagnosis was 3-6 months of good health left. During these months Randy gave his Last Lecture. His last lecture was about achieving his childhood dreams and how he helped enable others to achieve theirs. Then, sadly, in July of 2008 Randy Pausch passed away. In Randy's, Last Lecture he states this, "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, I'm sorry to disappoint you." With this being, we know he is not happy with his cancer, because he is leaving a beautiful family behind, but he is happy to leave with the many blessings he has left in not only his family's life, but his students and colleagues as well.

This is not only an inspirational video (which I took a lot from), he also shares with us "head fake." This is one way he taught in his classroom, and also one way I want to teach in my classroom one day. Head fake is when students believe they are learning one thing but in fact learning something else that is not in obvious sight. When talking about this, he is really talking about football. When he was a child he wanted to play in the NFL (along with other dreams: being in Zero Gravity, Being like Captain Kirk, winning stuffed animals, and being an imagineer at Disney). But in football, you learn some many more things than your stance, how to read plays, or where you need to be at on the field. Football teaches its players perseverance, teamwork, sportsmanship, etc., and these are the head fake. You teach students these ideas as well, even though they may not know it, and they use all of these throughout life! This is why I want to use this in my classroom.

Randy also mentions brick walls, and what they are. "Brick walls are not there to keep us out, they're there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something!" With this being said, I want to teach my students that when they hit a brick wall, all they have to do is persevere through it, and show it who's boss.

Project #8

Blog Post #6

What is Personal Learning Networks (or PLN's)? I didn't know at first either. I watched some videos and read a few blogs and the video, Building Your PLN - A Primer for Anyone gave me a clear understanding of the definition. PLN's are new tools (twitter, skype, pintrest, facebook, blogs, etc.) we can use to broaden our global network to share our knowledge and passions with people around the world, and also gain knowledge from them as well. There are multiple ways PLN's can be useful to me, as a teacher. It could be as simple as using pintrest to find fun and creative ways to decorate my classroom, so that it is a nice, comfortable enviroment for my students. It could also be something like skyping former teachers and getting advice from them, or skyping teachers from all over the world to share ideas of what we are doing in our classrooms to expand our students PLN's.

So, how can we start forming our Personal Learning Networks? Well, it's like Steven Anderson mentioned in the video stated above, we already have started forming our PLN's! Almost every person in this world has a facebook, twitter, etc. or even uses text messaging. You may not know it, but this is part of your personal learning network. All we have to do is broaden our friends list or followers, and get more networks such as skype or a blog. Doing this may have you talking to a scientist from somewhere in the world like a seventh grader did in the video, A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment.

As for Symbaloo and Netvibes, I will definitely look into these more. I have not yet created an account, but will be doing so here shortly. I'm hoping these will help expand my personal learning networks!

Project #7

Blog Post #5

In the videos, Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a Third Grade Teacher and Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a Third Grade Teacher, the main thing I will always remember is that project based learning is not a review for students, we have it so they can learn new things from it. I always had teachers just give me projects to do on the stuff we had just learned that week in class, which, obviously, did not teach me anything new. Anthony taught me one major quality, he stated, "With project based learning, you're gonna get more than you expect, so never limit your students by giving them exactly what you want them to do. Create an opportunity for them to go beyond what you want them to do, and they will." When he said this, it made me want to start teaching right now just so I can get my students involved in project based learning right away!

I had never heard of iCurio until watching the iCurio video. If you're someone who doesn't know what it is, like me until this video, it is an online tool that schools use because it pulls and filters media (videos, websites, images, etc.) from all over the internet, and everything pulled is only educational. It allows students to organize videos, images, etc. in their own online folders. I plan on going on iCurio soon to view and hopefully figure out how to use it!

In the DiscoveryEd video, Anthony didn't really explain what it is, but from the information I received, it is a web based program teachers can use to show videos on lessons only in Science and Social Studies.

There are multiple tips given to us in the video, The Anthony-Strange Tips for Teachers Part 1, but I am going to focus on the tip Anthony Capps gave, "It's hard work, but exciting." I believe this is so true! Teachers are constantly having to learn new standards, new ways to teach, new ways to engage their students everyday, while also going home to take care of their own family each night. So, yes, it can be hard at times, but going to school everyday and seeing your students faces, and them telling you stories, and what they learned is so exciting and reminds us as to why we love our job!

Technology is becoming the most popular thing to use in the world today. In the video Use Tech Don't Teach It, Mr. Capps is right, you can't teach technology and shouldn't. You have the students learn on their own, while you GUIDE them. Technology has to be an interactive learning experiences.

In Additional Thought About Lessons video, Anthony gives us his thought on how to make successful lesson plans. He wants us to include four "layers", as he called them, which are:
1. Yearly plans
2. Monthly plans
3. Weekly plans
4. Daily plans
He mentions that to him, daily plans are most important because each day your have to think of innovating ways to engage, entertain, and encourage your students.

All these tips will surely help me throughout my teaching career!

This image is from Google Images.

Project #3 Presentation

C4T #1

For my C4T #1 (Comment for Teacher), I had Dr. Paige Vitulli.

Dr. Vitulli's first post I commented on was about mask-making. She brought up two very great points. One, Masks are an universal art form produced by cultures world-wide to fulfill a variety of purposes. Two, Student's can learn about mask making in various cultures. Here Dr. Vitulli let her students' produce their own mask. After making their masks, they had to answer these questions in their own description of their mask:

1. What cultural influence did you use as inspiration for your mask?
2. What were the authentic purposes for the mask in that culture?
3. What materials did you use in the production to simulate authentic materials?
4. How were the elements of art used to create the mask and represent the culture?
5. What did you learn?
6. What might you do differently next time?
7. What did you do best in the process?

Dr. Vitulli posted a few pictures and descriptions of her students' masks on her blog. They are very interesting to look at and read. I will post a link to her blog at the bottom of this post!

On my first comment I left on Dr. Vitulli's blog, I clearly stated how I loved her idea of letting her students learn about different cultures by creating a mask. I also went on to say, that this is something fun and creative, but also educational. I loved the fact that they had to research all these cultures to pick one to make their masks, and not just given a culture automatically. I also let her know that reading her students' descriptions was very interesting and that I learned a lot of new, cool facts about all these different cultures.

On her second post I commented on, it informed me about International Dot Day. I have never even heard of Dot Day until reading this! Dot Day is a global celebration of creativity, courage, and collaboration. Dr. Vitulli mentions this, "The Dot is the story of a caring teacher who dares a doubting student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to make her mark! What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in confidence and courage, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing, which has gone on to inspire countless children and adults around the globe." Her classes, here at the University of South Alabama, took part in this day. They used white copy paper and crayons. Each square (sheet of paper) was crumpled and smoothed out multiple times to break down the stiffness of the paper and crayons, making a fabric-like texture. They, then, hole punched it and tied yarn to each piece creating a Dot Quilt! I highly recommend you go look at all the pictures she has posted on her blog! Their really neat to look at!

For this comment I simply stated that I thought her idea of making a quilt out of white copy paper and crayons was interesting and innovating. Also, that this let her students' be creative. I mean drawing something from one small dot on a sheet of paper is being pretty creative!

Here is the link to her blog, feel free to go check it out! She has a lot of interesting posts and pictures on here! Simply hit "Blogger" below to be redirected to her blog.

blogger

Blog Post #4

When asked the question, "What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?" I thought to myself, "To be honest, I don't really know." How sad! I know I want to be a teacher, but I need to know how to ask effective questions as well. So, I started using resources given to me and doing my own research to figure it out.

I simply googled, "How to ask effective questions as a teacher," and multiple things popped up. I just randomly clicked on one, and a PDF file named Asking More Effective Questions from William F. McComas and Linda Abraham from Rossier School of Education, is what showed up. I started reading, and there were two things that caught my eye. One, the 1860 edition of Barnard's American of Instruction States, "to question well is to teach well." Two, "Questioning plays a critical role in the way instructors structure the class environments, organize the contents of the course and has deep implications in the way that students assimilate the information that is presented and discussed in class" (McComas and Abraham from Rossier School of Education). Both of these statements are so true! It is up to us, as future teachers, to learn how to ask questions to be effective teachers.

There are two types of questions: low order (close ended) and high order (open ended). Low order questions are typically the "what" questions, these are usually questions about meaning. High order questions are those that ask us "why" and "how", this type of questions let students use their critical thinking skills, and makes them think more in depth of the concept in order to find an answer. An example of a low order question would be, "What color is that dog?" An example of a high order question is, "Can you give an example of this?" Of course we want to ask the high order questions!

When thinking about how to ask questions keep in mind these ideas giving to us by the Teaching Center at Washington University in St. Louis:
1. When planning questions, keep in mind your course goals.
2. Avoid asking "leading questions."
3. Follow a "yes-or-no" question with an additional question.
4. Aim for direct, clear, specific questions.
5. In class discussions, do not ask more than one question at once.
6. When you plan each class session, include notes of when you will pause to ask and answer questions.
7. Ask a mix of different types of questions.
8. Wait for students to think and formulate responses (usually 5-10 seconds).
9. Do not interrupt Students' answers.
10. Show that you are interested in students' answers, whether right or wrong.
11. Develop responses that keep students thinking.
12. If a student gives an incorrect of weak answer, point out what is incorrect or weak about the answer, but ask the student a follow-up question that will lead that student, and the class, to the correct or stronger answer.

If we use these ideas as a teacher we will know how to ask questions to be an effective teacher.

Blog Post 3

In the video What is Peer Editing and the slideshow Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial, both explains that a peer is someone of your own age and editing is making suggestions, comments, compliments, and changes to writing. With both of these being stated, the definition for peer editing is working with someone of your own age-usually a classmate- to help improve, revise, and edit his or her writing. When peer editing, you need to keep in mind the three steps: 1. Compliments, 2. Suggestions, and 3. Corrections. While doing these three steps, be positive! Remember, you are helping improve someones work, how would you feel if someone were telling you how to improve your work? Also, be specific! When you're giving suggestions or corrections, make sure you tell what sentence or word could be changed. Don't just say "I think you should say this," you need to say, "Maybe instead of this sentence, you could say this." When making suggestions think about these areas: word choice (Did the author choose interesting words?), using details (seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling), organization (Can you understand what the author is trying to say?), sentences (Are the sentences too long or too short?), and topic (does the author stick to the topic or talk about things that don't really fit?). And for corrections make sure to check for spelling and grammar mistakes, missing punctuation, and incomplete or run-on sentences. So, remember, stay positive (try to make suggestions and corrections in a positive way), be specific (give the author specific ideas on how to improve his or her writing), and complete ALL 3 steps (compliments, suggestions, and corrections). If you do all these you will be very effective at peer editing!

The video Writing Peer Review:Top 10 Mistakes is too funny. This video consist of young students' showing us how NOT to be a peer editor. There is Picky Patty, who points out the tiniest details. For example, she tells her classmate that half a centimeter of the title is not underlined and that there is too much space between her comma and the next word. Picky Patty doesn't care about the process. Next we have Whatever William. His partner is sharing with him ideas that he could use to improve his paper, and he says whatever to it all. Then we have Jean the Generalizer. She tells her partner somethings that he could change, but she isn't specific as to where the changes need to be made. Next is Mean Margaret. She doesn't know how to put words kindly and makes her partner feel bad. Off-Task Oliver is next, and his partner is trying to give him valuable advice for his paper, but he cannot concentrate on the paper. Last we have Defensive Dave. Dave's partner is trying to be helpful, but Dave takes offense to everything. When being a peer editor we must always remember to compliment the good things in the paper, and make suggestions and corrections in a positive way, while also being specific. We don't need to be to picky, we don't need to speed through and not be specific, we don't need to be mean about it, and we definitely do not need to be defensive. Remember our peers are trying to help us become better writers, we need their criticism!

Blog Post 2

Mr. Dancealot

The video Mr. Dancealot shows excellent reasoning to why it is important to have interactive learning not just lecture. During the conclusion of this video, everyone meets in the ball room and Mr. Dancealot turns a video camera on, tells them to start dancing, and he leaves. Obviously all the students' cannot even imagine how to begin because they weren't shown basic skills in the classroom. For this video, I agree wholeheartedly on the conclusion this author chose. He explains what I mentioned at the beginning, that you cant just have teacher show their students' a power point, you need to interact with and explain to them why and how to make your students' understand.

Teaching in the 21st Century

In the Video Teaching in the 21st Century by Kevin Roberts I now see why it's so different teaching now then a few years ago. Roberts is seeing how technology is becoming a part of our everyday lives. Most everyone is just using technology to stay entertained, instead we should be embracing all the qualities that technology has. Roberts believes that to teach in the 21st century students must be more engaged rather than entertained. I agree with Roberts, teaching is absolutely changing. It is true that "students can find information on anything, anytime, and anywhere." With this being said, little by little we lose a student's attention day by day in a classroom. If we do not embrace technology in educational and useful ways, then how are we going to be good educators? One part of being a good educator is by teaching students whats used in today's society and how they learn from it.

The Networked Student

Wendy Drexler's video The Networked Student explains what is evolving now and what will be in the near future. He explains that you have many connections, not just in your classroom but worldwide. Even though the network connections help us connect to more people, we loose sight and connection to the people around us. There needs to be a limit to social connection, so we don not loose our connections to the people that are right next to us. We were asked this question, "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" Well, we need a teacher to guide us, be a model, and be there for us to ask he/she questions. Teachers are here to help us learn and to be mentors, without their guidance we would be nowhere.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
In the video Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts by Vicki Davis, she gives extraordinary reasons to why using technology nowadays to learn is the best way. When Vicki says, "I believe every student can learn, every child can learn, but where children have trouble is when you only have paper and only pencil, then only certain types of students are going to succeed," I could not agree more. Children these days are more involved with technology then ever before, and it's up to teachers to teach in the way that society works. Of course we shouldn't go overboard to where we use technology in every subject. For example in science or chemistry I still believe we need hands-on demonstration labs to learn some aspects of how both science and chemistry work that you can't learn from a computer.

Flipping the Classroom
After watching the video Flipping the Classroom I thought to myself "This may or may not be innovating." I don't see how this would work very well on young students' compared to, lets say, high school or college students. Young students' have the attention span of Daffy Duck, especially when their at home and want to have fun and relax from seven hours of school. On the other hand, flipping the classroom would work very well on the high school level or above. It would give them a chance to learn more difficult material and spend more time in the class to go over it. For me, as a future teacher, I don't believe it would be very useful because I am teaching at an elementary level, and do not believe that my students' would take much out of it or even really pay attention to it.

Blog Post 1

I have heard so many different things about this class, both good and bad, that it was hard to grasp what the class was really about. Multiple girls have told me that it was one of the best classes that they have ever taken. They did mention that at first they were terrified because of all the horror stories they have heard about the class, but at the end they had walked away with new information they would carry with them through life, as well as their teaching career. On the other hand, many students would tell me that I would absolutely hate this class and I needed to prepare myself not to do as well as I would hope to do. All the people who had said something about this class, did give me some advice. They told me to stay focused, and turn in all work on time. After hearing all of this I had so many mixed feelings about the course. Here is a link that tells us why EDM 310 is different: 9 Differences:EDM310 is Different

Some fears I have include: not understanding a blog post or an assignment, forgetting to turn in a post on time, that I will not do something the correct way that Dr. Strange wants. My main fear is that I will not put as much effort in EDM 310 as I should, which will leave me with a non-passing grade in the course. Although, all of these are avoidable, these will still be a fear throughout the semester. I just need to learn how to pay attention to all assignments I turn in and make sure I go down my checklist to see if everything is completed before I hit the "submit" button.

This course, EDM 310, is completely different than any course I have taken in high school or college. There are two main reasons. One, I have never completed a course where all assignments are due online. Two, never in my life have I posted on a blog, created a blog, or even thought about creating a blog. There are few similar aspects between EDM 310 and other courses I have taken. One of these aspects being that in other classes I do have to turn in some assignments and discussions online. Another being to better our writing skills. Lastly, All classes that i have taken, that I'm in now, and that I will take in the future have and will better prepare myself for my profession.

I believe the most difficult thing for me in EDM 310 will be the blog posts. Never in my life have I done a blog, so this is something extremely new to me, and probably just as new to every other person in my class. Why will this be the most difficult for me? It will be difficult to me because with it being new, I have to learn all new tools to be able to use the blog. Also, blogging involves a new way to communicate with others. This is something that just takes practice, and I have to make the time to make myself practice using it.

When you think about it, we all have to start with something difficult in order to make it feasible for us to do in life. For example: When we started learning how to read, we would strive everyday to accomplish a new step just to learn how to read. This is what we have to do when it comes to blogging, so we don't make it as difficult on ourselves. I have to approach this with a positive attitude, and prepared to learn new and exciting things about blogging. If I do this, I feel as if it will not be as difficult, as well as relieving a lot of stress because of the thought of it being difficult.

There are a few questions I still have about EDM 310. One is, What kind of group projects will we be doing? Two, Do we get to choose our groups? Three, Will I get to add my classmates as friends on my blog (if that's possible)? Four, When do we start our group projects? To approach these questions I could first go look in the syllabus and see if that answers any of these questions. Secondly, I could send an email Dr. Strange, and lastly I could easily ask Dr. Strange, or one of his two assistants in class.

Practice Post

My name is Brittney Kent. I am from a small town called Arab, Alabama, which most of you (if not all of you) have probably never heard of. It is 6 hours north of Mobile. I have went to Arab City Schools my entire life, but lived in three different cities (Blountsville, Arab, and now Guntersville). I played volleyball and softball from sixth grade up till eleventh grade, and that's when my sports career ended. My cousin and I got in a go-kart accident, which left me with my right elbow and right wrist dislocated and my right wrist fractured, and my cousin got away with just a few bruises. After wearing a cast for sixth months, a full arm brace for sixth months, and a year to completely straighten out my arm again... I now have Osteoarthritis in my entire right arm. If I write, type or drive with my right hand a lot of times I just have to let that arm rest and start using my left hand. There are times when it hurts so bad, I just want to put everything to the side for awhile, but my family has kept me strong and has told me that I cannot put life on hold even for a second just because of this. They are my biggest support system.

My parents got divorced when I was just 2, and I live with my mom and stepdad. My real father, along with my stepmom, and I do not get along much at all. I have one real sister, one half sister, one half brother, and two twin stepsisters. I also have 5 dogs, and 2 cats. We have a husky (Nala), a yorkie (Tanner), a mutt (Sam), a porkie (Sophie), a golden lab (Holley), and my two cats names are Uno and Stella. Some of my interests include: playing with my animals when I am home, cooking, I absolutely love watching football (ROLL TIDE and GO SAINTS!!), I still love volleyball and softball, and to go on road trips. Growing up my mawmaw, pawpaw, mom, sister and myself would go on at least ten road trips every year, and those are some great memories I will always cherish. Also, growing up I always thought I would go to the University of Alabama, and that's where my family wanted me to go. Well, I got accepted into UA, but also at South and I loved both. In April of my senior year, I still hadn't decided on where to go and I was leaving for college in 4 months and didn't know how I was going to choose. Well, a couple days later I attended a scholarship dinner and I started talking to this older man, and he asked me where I was going to college, so I explained to him why I haven't decided. This old man said to me, "I am not trying to persuade your decision, but my son went to Alabama and absolutely hated it only because no one really liked him because he didn't party." Right then I knew I needed to go to South because I'm not big on partying and I wanted to make friends that liked me for me. I wanted to make lifelong friends.

When I was a little girl I would always pretend like I was teacher, and while growing up I always thought it would be fun to be a teacher, but I wanted to keep my options open. I started helping everyday after school at the elementary school for Extended Day (Which is where kids could stay at the school until six at night because a lot of parents worked 30 minutes or more outside of town and they would not get off until five at night. We would plan music time, arts and crafts, recess, time where they needed to do homework, and some other activities as well). Every since then I have known that I wanted to be an elementary school teacher! Not only because of this reason, but throughout life, so many people have told me that I would make a wonderful school teacher. I have had a lot of inspiration, and I am extremely grateful for all of it! It also helps, that I love children!

I have two main passions in life and they are volleyball and cooking. Of course I can't play volleyball like I used to, but my accident has not stopped me forever. I still hit the ball around with friends, and strive to do better every time. I do have to take breaks to rest my arm, but so what? I cannot let that come between something I love to do. I always would help my mawmaw in the kitchen when I was little, and even through high school I would ask my mom to let me cook supper. Everyday I think of new ideas that I could try to make, and sometimes I just start throwing stuff together, and it actually comes out pretty tasty. There is never a time that I don't want to play volleyball or cook.

There are a few interesting things or fun facts about myself. One is that I am terrified of needles. I pass out every time I get a shot. Second, I love jacked up trucks. One day I will own a $72,00 crimson f-350 with at least a 6 inch lift. Third, my goal in life is to make someone smile everyday. If I can do this, I feel a sense of accomplishment. Lastly, I absolutely love deer meat, I could eat everyday of my life.

TEST POST!

This is my first test post!

My Test Post

This is my first post. I am now a Blogger!