C4T #4

Will Richardson

I'm giving away $1,000. Interested?

Mr. Richardson wrote a book and the proceeds he got he decided to give away to somebody. The catch is they have to earn it. He asks for ideas to how the deserving person should be chosen. I chose to tell him that he needs to allow them to be creative and give them wiggle room so that you can see them really shine. I said he should come up with like one key idea that every submission should have and then judge on if they have this and how creative they are.

Wake up call

This blog post was a little tricky for me to understand. What I got from it is that he is stating that education is controlled by money. Whatever happens to it is based on the people with the most money. I felt like what he was saying also is that we as teachers can be replaced with technology. I however posted that I don't feel like this can happen. If students only learn from a computer they will like essential real world skills such as manners. I don't see how anybody would decide to do this.

Project #10 PLN

It took me a while to fully grasp a PLN. In all honesty at first I didn't see the need in this. I have a beautiful rainbow notebook special for everything teacher/education related. Any cool idea I hear or website I find I write it in my notebook. I have had this 200 page notebook since high school just waiting for me to start my education classes and become filed with ideas. I cherish this notebook and at the end of each semester I go back through my notes and right down anything and everything that was interesting. I am going to have A LOT to fill my notebook with this time. Yes my notebook is beyond AMAZING but Symbaloo does make my websites I found easier to get to. I can't click on a website in my notebook (that would be so awesome though). So in the end I decided I like this. I added things on there that really I will delete in the future. I don't honestly need links on there to Facebook, Google, or Twitter. I put them in there for the sake of the instructions for this project.  I will however keep adding to it. I do like however how it keeps my website i have discovered. It is a lot better then keeping favorites on your computer since you can access it anywhere. I do wish I could embed it so I can place it on my future class webpage. I did like looking for websites to place in my PLN. It took quite a lot of searching to find anything good but I did like the sites I found. This is definitely a useful tool.

Project 15 Smartboard Lesson

Blog Post #13

E-Media Fast

To be perfectly honest there was no way I was going to be able to do this assignment. Michael is away in Pensacola right now for training. I have a 21 month old little girl named Leyna. There is no way I could in my heart not let her call or facetime her daddy. Every night before she goes to bed we facetime Michael. It is the only way she will go to bed. I was able to stay off all other forms of electronics though. I didn't use facebook or the television. I stayed off my ipad. It was difficult not using any technology because I always check my facebook in the morning and I always check funny pics at night before I go to bed. If I am uncertain about anything I always Google it to make sure what I am saying is correct. I no longer have a dictionary and I have never had an encyclopedia. I also use my phone for Pandora Radio when I am walking or to get Leyna dancing to some Blues.

I know the students will have difficulties trying to keep electronics at the door but I don't see myself has keeping technology out of the classroom. I will teach them how to properly use technology in my classes. I will have them blogging, using Google, and playing games. I already am certain that I will have a smartboard and hopefully a handful of computers. I will use these tools to our advantage. If students have smartphones, which I am certain most of them will have by the time I have my own classroom, I will allow them to use them in the classroom. They can blog from their phone, do math, Google, spellcheck, and so much more. I am not going to limit these things in my classroom. These tools can help them so much and it is a part of there everyday life. I am sure that I will properly only have one or two students that have no computer in the home. The majority of students will not go a day without technology. We can't really expect them to. Somehow we have to integrate technology into the classroom on a day to day basis.

Progress Report on Final Project

We have decided to do a class website for our final project. We haven't gotten far just a few ideas and a few websites but we are on the right track. With more research and more time we will get far very quickly.

Blog Post #12

Create your own blog post idea.

Find any type of technology that you can use in the elementary classroom. This piece of technology can be anything but it has to be something NEW that you have found. It can not be something that you have used in any of our previous assignments. It has to be something you have never used before. After you find this piece of technology post it's link or describe it. Then you must say how you will use this in your classroom. It does not have to be something you used every day but it has to be something you will use frequently.

Teachers First is a website that has many tools available for use in the classroom. All you have to do is explore it. I will definitely use this in my classroom all of the time. I will use it to find new tools to use in the classroom. I found a search engine that is kid friendly. I found a mapping tool that combines pictures, maps, and events all together. I absolutely love this site.

Creativity and Curiosity: My thoughts Special Post #12A

Do schools destroy curiosity and creativity? If yes, why?

I feel like schools do destroy curiosity and creativity. I have been in many schools in Alabama and one in Wisconsin though I do not remember my time there. I can not assume that all schools are like the ones that I went to but given the question I am going to answer from what I have experienced. In my first elementary school it was a private school and we did so many activities. We were always outside and creating things. My school was from kindergarten through to twelfth grade. As a whole we did many activities together. I remember one week to signify unity we each created a foot print and taped them around the school. Our school was a big oval. Then one day we stood standing hand to hand in a complete oval. We created flower pots and did art every day. Then I transferred to a public school.  I remember when one of the few times we actually did free art one of my classmates drew his family as he saw it. He got in trouble by the teacher. He was told that that was not right and everything he drew was wrong. It crushed him. In middle school my science teacher allowed creativity and then the CRTs happened. Creativity and curiosity was squashed. All the science experiments that she had planned got packed up in a closet and forgotten. In high school we had nothing but again one teacher shined through it all and got an approved duel class: Newspaper and creative writing. It was the hardest and best class I ever had. All of us struggled. We were allowed to be creative and curious. We had to have original thoughts and ideas. We had to write a children's book. She also included technology. I don't recall the program but she taught two others school in Alabama while using a skype type tool. I wan in band. You would think we would be allowed to be creative. Nope. Any ideas we had would be shot down. We had to play only what he gave us. Then I transferred. I joined jazz band and my director was amazing. He taught us to improv. This was a hard thing for me. To just create music from my very being. It taught me so much. I do not understand how these amazing teachers allowed us to be free and 90%  of the other teachers tore us down. I cannot answer why. I feel like this is a choice the teachers make on there own. Maybe somewhere down the line something they created was told that is not good enough and damaged them as much it damaged me. Now that I am about to be teacher I have to learn how to be creative all on my own again. I have to let my inner child free. I also feel like maybe the people that are above us just do not understand the importance of creativity and curiosity. I do not know when or where it started but it has created a disastrous chain. Where everybody suffers.

Can curriculum be developed that increases creativity and curiosity?

I feel like it can. Depending on the principal I get I plan on doing a lot of things that allow creativity. I plan on  including technology where they have to do things from scratch. Most of all I plan on doing tons of arts. I want them to be able to draw what the feel as well as find words to describe it. I plan on doing projects instead of tests that have them hit on all of blooms taxonomy. These projects will have them be creative. I am sure though that many of them will probably just look up ideas online. As of right now I don't know how to approach that. I plan on reading as many times as I can to students. These books I plan on reading I will be able to ask questions to get them to predict what might happen next. I feel like this will get them to be curious about what happens. I think curiosity is the hardest one to develop. Children are naturally curious when they are babies and it depends on their caregiver if that has been taken away or nurtured. I really need to discover ways to make them curious. I feel like if we do science experiments they should naturally be curious about the outcomes.

Can teachers actions increase curiosity or creativity?

Yes. Those few teachers I mentioned gave us freedom to discover and be creative. They forced us to be unique. It worked. They gave us something simple and made us add on to it. One teacher every day gave us a quote and she would ask us what does it mean to us. It made us look up words we didn't know and it made us reach into ourselves and discover parts of us we didn't know were there. She would give us a topic and make us branch out on that. I feel like if the teacher just hands you everything you are supposed to know to pass the test your not going to remember it and your not learning anything. If a teacher just asks why is the sky blue without first explaining it they will get some pretty far fetched answers depending on the age. Ask a simple question that they need to know to pass the test and find out what they already think. Then just say something simple as well tell me why. They then have to find it on their own and they become curious.

What would help you become more curious and creative. What role do the teachers or schools have in that process?

I honestly don't see anything that school or teachers can do at this point to make me more curious. I am already a very curious person. I always want to know why. Why do you feel this way? Why did you get that answer? Why did you draw that that way? I don't see how that can grown anymore. On the creative side where I am entering at in school it forces me to be creative. I have to create so many things on my own now. I have to be unique and I have to be creative.

C4K Summary: April

Brain

His first blog post was on March Maddness. He talked about who he is going for which was Kentucky. He talked about how a player was suspened for his grades. I asked him if he thought this was fair. He replied with yes. His second post was about Spring Break and how he had not finished reading "The Hunger Games" for his book report. He stated that he was going to just watch the movie. I warned him how the movie was nothing like the book. He responded with how he finished the book and did his book report.

Jen

He blog post was about Pollution. She states the question why can't people just drive less. Her main outcry is why don't people just bike or walk to the places they need to go. I told her about how where I live that is not always an easy task to do since I live in Semmes and everything is in Mobile.

Charles

Charles is my final blog post and he created an Easter Egg on the Internet. He then created a short video that he says that he has many Easter Eggs that are beautiful and yummy to eat. I told him that he did a great job reading out loud and that his egg is very pretty.

Blog Post #11

Mrs. Cassidy

Mrs. Cassidy uses many forms of technology in her classroom. She has a smartboard, access to computers, and Nintendo DSs. She uses wikis, blogs, class webpage, videos, and Skype.  Since there is limited Nintendos the students have to collaborate and work in groups to play the game Nintendogs. The game is where you raise and take care of a dog. My favorite approach she has is her class webpage. She has listed tools she is going to use in the class and places the kids can visit to play educational games or just learn something new. I love this idea and I plan on using it in my classroom. I can see the kids doing more work outside of school. I can see them retaining more of the information and doing better on tests then if they didn't have this option. I also feel like since I provide them safe places to go they may not be as tempted to try and find things like this on their own. That they will have more then enough to explore then to veer off course.

Blog Post # 10

Do you teach or do you educate? 

 This assignment is a tough one. I am to write about how I will be an educator verses a teacher. I know the differences but I don't know how to go down that path. There is such pressure to pass the tests it is hard to actually do anything in the classroom. In Alabama we have E.Q.T.s (end of quarter exams). The students have to pass this. Basically if your students fail this then you are an awful teacher. So here you see a lot of teaching the test. I find it very hard to stray away from that. I haven't done my student teaching and I've only done twelve hours of field experience so I don't know much but from word of mouth this is what happens end of story.

 To be an educator with so much pressure on passing the test is in my eyes hard to accomplish. I do however strive on values being placed in my classroom. I want them to do something for themselves not because we need them to be a number. I want high moral standards. I want them to know that doing the right thing is not bad. I want them to have an imagination and grow into wonderful people. I want them to have freedom to be creative and not be critized because their sky is green or their ocean is smaller then everything else. I want my classroom to be a safe zone. Where the students can feel safe in being whoever they want to be. I want what they learn and experience in my classroom to carry on with them for the rest of their lives. I'm still on this journey so I'm not sure how to do this yet but I have big dreams.

Tom Johnson's Don't let them take the pencils home!

 When I first read this post I was a little confused. I knew from the beginning it was a little sarcastic. He tells a conversation that happened between him and this specialist women. Well she states that the students cannot take home the pencils because of lower test scores. He says that if we give them something to do with them they won't want to just play with the pencils. In my aspect I see this conversation really being about technology. So many people hear that word and freeze. They thing of only one thing entertainment.

 This argument was presented in my opinion in a sarcastic manner but it caught your attention and made you think about what is really being said. Of course you can take this so many ways but I like to think it is about technology. He makes a valid point that if you give this to the student and give them something to do with it they will be so distracted they won't even think about using it for entertainment. Technology can help in so many ways but people think it is the end to education when really it is the beginning. The students can master so many skills without even knowing it because they will be doing something engaging. People really need to take a step back and rethink every aspect of teaching. Don't be afraid! Educate yourselves and be open.

Project 14 Smartboard Presentation

C4T #3

Aviva

The first blog post I commented on was Making Writing Meaningful. It talks about how important it is for the children to have an audience and a purpose when writing. He talks about how his students wrote about a certain aspect of technology and it got around to the other teachers. The teachers acted wonderfully and asked the students for more advice and for them to even show them how to use the technology. He says how much it inspired his students to want to do more. I never realized how important these things were. When I chose selections for them to write I will make sure to make it so that someone somewhere will respond to them and have it have some kind of outcome where it has a purpose.

The second blog post I commented on was Unepexted Character Education. He says how is grade 1 and 2 students had been working on plays. He let them decided how they wanted to present it. I will also follow this path in my classroom. I will make sure to allow the students to be creative. I think this is a very important thing to foster in children. So many teachers frown on this and kill creativity. I want to allow my children to flourish. I allow Leyna so much freedom. I tell her where the trolls live and not to put her hand in holes or the dragons will find her. I want her to draw and have an imagination and create things. I feel like it so important. He tells about how his students pulled together and helped each other in making these videos of the play. It really does surprise you what things pull children together and what teaches them many life lessons all at once.

C4K March

Week 1 Mrs. Graham's Class

This class blog recently wrote about bean plants they are growing in their classroom. She wrote how they made drawings to show how their beans have grown. They say they have learned the parts of the bean plant. I love how they had drawing diaries. I love this idea. I plan on incorporating art as much as I can in the classroom.

Week 2 Amel 

This is a blog post by a child named Amel. He wrote about a visit to his uncle's house. He wrote how he played on his uncle's x-box. He went for a walk in the woods with his uncle. I told him that maybe he should try a scavenger hunt. He should make a list of animals in that ecosystem and see if he can see them or proof that they have been there.

Week 3Brian

This is a very short post about a young man named Brain. He talks briefly about March Madness. He says that someone got kicked off because of his grades. In my response I asked him if he thought that was too harsh and what did he think of it. He says that he is going for Kentucky.

Blog Post Nine

Mr. McClung

This post is about a blog created by Mr. McClung. These are end of the year wrap ups reflecting on what he has learned throughout the year. I chose to read and summarize his blog post from the year 2008-2009 and 2010-2011. I am going to summarize the tips that he listed in his posts. make sure you pay attention to your audience and let them lead your teachings. Make sure to keep things student centered. Be flexible. Nothing you do is ever going to be perfect. The lesson you plan is going to be different while it is still in your head verses when you actually teach it. When things go wrong just try and fix it and do it with a smile. Don't let your students know your stressing. One word: communicate. This is such a hard skill to master and many people have difficulty doing it. Make sure you communicate well with your students and your coworkers. Build relationships not just with your students but with your fellow teachers as well. Do not make expectations for your students you will be setting them up for disappointment and failure.  If you still find yourself doing this make sure you do not scold them if they don't meet them. Remember that your job is to pick them up when they fall and brush them and send them back in their way. Do not be afraid of technology. Listen to your students and take interest in their lives. Get to know your students. Never stop learning. It is never to late to change the way you think, learn, or even your teaching style. Everything you do needs to keep the focus of your students. They need to always come number one even when a lot is going on in your life. Keep everything that is going on in your life and place at the doorway. Do not let it come into your classroom. Don't allow other to bring you down. If you are excited about the new things you are going to learn keep it that way. Stay true to yourself and don't let other ruin it. Also don't hold others to be as into the same things you are. Not everyone is ready or excited about change as you are. It's okay to be the outsider. Stick to whatever path you chose. Hold on to your common core beliefs. Do not take over for the student when they are doing something. Allow them to make mistakes and figure it out in their own. They will struggle but in the long run the will master those skills. Don't put yourself in a rut. Keep yourself in a postive light and don't get comfortable.  

I agree with every single thing he wrote. I do not see anything wrong with anything he said. I find it all to be things we need to work on and keep in the top of our minds. I think so many teachers lose sight of why they began teaching. With all the drama and bull they have to deal with on a day to day basis i honestly don't blame them. We have to keep our students in the forefront though. If we lose our light then they are the ones that are going to suffer. I had multiple teachers that never helped me or gave me a second glance. But I had two wonderful teachers that helped me more then any one could have. One got me a mentor and a speech therapist the other gave me food and clothes when I had none. These are two wonderful ladies that have inspired me to become a teacher. I strive to be like them. I love how he did reflections on what he has learned. I think every teacher needs to read this. Maybe then the ones that need the hint will get it. All the things he said are things we tell our children every day. It is good though to find someone that is actually doing what they speak.