First week of school and already filled with a valuable lesson

My assortment of wonders.

Well the first day of school has begun as with it the heavy load of traffic and book bags. With this semester has begun the normal stresses of college life. The endless frustration of parking for starters. As with every start of semester the epic battle for a parking spot begin a little more intensely then previous semesters. Unlike my past start of semesters though was the quick decline in competitors. On the first day, I was left "Parking Stalking" students rather impatiently as my time for class ticked sooner.  Quite oddly though was by my Friday class  how eerily filled the parking lot was. I found parking space and loads more! The same went for my classmate size, where on the first day every seat in the 100+ capacity room was filled but by today half was empty. I was shocked! Normally I see that mid-semester where the drop class date has come way too close and students look at a calender long enough to realize they haven't been to a single class (except to get the syllabus of course) and they need to drop that pesky class. After that we never see them again. Aside from the normal stresses of University life a new one has arrived (One where I can hear Dr. Strange in the back of mind talking). South has decided to switch from all the glory that was ecollege to something called Sakai. This program is still "in the works" as my teachers point out. Which shows as teachers (in this case students as well) that we are indeed lifelong learners (Right here is where I see Dr. Strange talking). In our field there is always a new program, email system, computer, etc. In the normal world you can chose to stay with the same phone or T.V. (A few of my relatives have). In our world you cannot. Well you probably can but you might just lose your job due to the fact that you never got the email about the uber important staff meeting that was yesterday at 6:00 a.m. and that it was mandatory and that you were responsible for supplying the doughnuts as well. With this new system it comes equipped with the  feelings of "I hate it". This is something that we as educators need to remember. This feeling we are having, well guess what our students will feel the same at least once while in the classroom. This feeling of "I don't understand", "I cannot figure this out", and "this is just too hard". The same frustrations we have they feel as well. As with what we both feel we have to both go through the process of figuring it out. It is not an easy road and we don't all take the same drive but we have to do it. Just imagine if we didn't.

My Final Reflection Scripted in 3 mins 51 secs

I have wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a little girl. I created tests, bathroom passes, libraries, projects, rewards, and more. Everything a real teacher would do but I had to use my imagination when it came to my chalkboard. In fifth grade my dreams came true. My dad got me a real chalkboard. It was not an easel. It was a real to scale chalkboard. I would write on it every day. Teaching my stuffed animals and my collie Silky. I was in love with everything about it. What it meant. The power it held. That was in the year 2000 and now 12 years later Smartboards have taken over. At first I was 100% against them. What is this thing taking over my chalkboard? Something I have dreamed about having since I was six. I was just as apprehensive and straight up against it as I was about EDM 310. I had it in my head that EDM310 would be a waste of time and money. I will not be able to use any of this "technology" in my classroom. I was seriously misguided. With my chalkboard I had to learn to let go of the past and embrace the future. Everything I did as a child has set me up to for my journey as a teacher. Although it is more then the love of one thing it is the love for everything it represents. When the teacher is at the chalkboard they are in control, brilliant, creative, and passionate. Those are the things I want to be. I know now I can be those things without my chalkboard. This in its' own says so much. As a teacher I cannot cling to old ideas, traditions, or teachings. I have to create my own. I have to embrace change. Be open to the future. Discover new things and bring them into the classroom. Once you do it will change everything about you. I have accepted the death of the chalkboard and the birth of the smartboard. The rise of technology.

Now that I have accepted these things it will be much more beneficial to the students. They emerged in technology. They thrive off of it. I cannot honestly expect them to learn and grow if I am stuck in old ways. Being in EDM 310 has opened me up to a world I used to think did not belong in the classroom. When I was in elementary school hearing technology in the classroom you thought of three things: A. Being dragged into the computer lab (like once) being forced to draw something on paint and write something on word. B. Being sent to the library to take accelerated reader tests. C. Having a television and VCR being drug into the classroom to watch a movie. This is what technology meant when I was in school. Now it is a whole new universe waiting to be explored. I plan on sampling this universe in my classroom. I am now fully committed to technology being in my classroom.

To start things off we have a class website. This is the root system where everything else stems off of this. In here you will find such things as: class assignments (if you happened to miss class), homework assignments, extra practice quizzes, class polls, books we are reading, our class blog, other's blogs, mom approved websites, a place to show case our art, access to videos or podcasts of the lessons being taught in class, a calender, lunch menu, a place to email me, and so much more. From here comes our blogs. We will have a class blog that I will monitor.  It will have what we are doing in class. What we have learned. What we are exploring. Etc. Then each student will have their own blog (just their first name will be given to protect privacy). My goal is to have the students post to their blog and post a comment on someone else's blog once a week. I have learned that this is very beneficial to the students. It gives them an audience, a purpose, feedback, connections all across the globe, and feelings of worth. I would like to do Skype sessions as well. This will help the students learn about other cultures and traditions. It will teach them how alike and different they truly are. I will true to do movies, podcasts, and even book trailers. All of this though is sadly hard to do when you only have four computers in a classroom. My dream is to one day have an Ipad in access to every student. Imagine the possibilities. All they can learn and explore. Everything that the APPs have to offer. The solar system at your finger tips. So much more is possible.

All of this came from this class EDM 310. I have grown so much. Learned so much. I now know to never be closed minded. Be open. I now know as a teacher I must always be an active learner. No one can ever stop learning. I must not get to a place where I am comfortable. I have to always strive to be better. Push myself a little harder. Do more then teach "burp back education." Most important ALWAYS ALWAYS keep the children a priority. Keep them in your heart and in your best of mind.

Thank you Dr. Strange for inspiring me.  

Blog Post #14 Final Reflection

Project #16

For our final project The Royal Court: Laura Holifield and myself decided to do a class website this included a class blog. This is definitely something I will have in the classroom.  It contains a student section( The Court Jesters password is u5drwh) and a parent section(Parliament's password is mblt4t)  that both needs passwords to get into. They are required to remember these passwords and not to give them to any one else. This is to ensure safety. I think this is one of the reasons Laura chose edmodo. It contains a newsfeed similar to facebook so I am sure the students will be familiar with it.  In the newsfeed you can post a status, quiz, poll, assignment, or alert. It also has a place for grades and a calender. At the top you will find something called the library. In this section you will find a chunk of websites we found beneficial to our students. This is a good place for everyone to connect. Parents, students, and teachers all stay in the loop. Along with sending home important flyer after important flyer you also have this to back up what you have been preaching about all week long "bring extra pencils". In the library you will find a link to our made up class blog. In it contains just one post of some mandalas I created. We had already used blogger for our very own blogs so we just stayed with something we already knew.

Project #13

My group was The Royal Court. It contained me and Laura Holifield.We had to collaborate for project #15 and 16 with out face to face contact. This was a challenge. The best way to get anything done and clear is via face to face contact but be the powers above said no. So that being the rules the main way me and Laura communicated was via SMS messaging. It was quick and easy and since I have an IPad and she has an IPhone free for me. YAY! Of course this was long, drawn out, and lengthy (all kinda mean the same right?). We didn't try skype or factime and I am not sure why. We had talked about it but never gave it a go. I think we did quite well without those added frustrations. We did a lot of communicating via Gmail. Thank you Google for pulling through for us. We also used Google Docs. Thank you again Google. It got a little confusing and at times I wanted to pull my hair out. Many times the whole sharing thing got mixed up and then Laura couldn't do something or I couldn't.  Yet this seemed to be the most efficient way in getting a lot said at once. At times we even used the telly. I think it worked well but it was hard to conquer. It is easier and faster to get things done in person but we may not always get to see the other in person. These are skills we need to keep in our back pocket.

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.

Project #11 Short Movie

Blog Post #8

This Is How We Dream

This video is created by Doctor Robert Miller. It shows video and pictures in the background with text in a movie format. This video described how writing has changed. It has went from paper/pencil and going to libraries to using your laptop for everything.  He says how he created some projects without ever stepping foot in a library. He describes how an article goes on in print but once online it lives on forever. Unlike in the library once you check it out to read there is still copies available for the next person to read.

Ideas are there and they do not belong to us individually. Ideas belong to us in a culture. As teachers our job is to share ideas freely with everyone. One thing we must do is provide this information in a captivitng way. A way that grabs our attention and we learn without realizing w
e are learning. He goes to say that. "restrictions are largely ones that we out on ourselves."  He tells us that in a print model something such as the ideas in this video would have taken years to reach as many people as this video did being uploaded to the Internet in just the months.

This video at first was hard to grasp what he was saying. I had to watch it two more times to fully grasp it. I believe that the end idea here is to provide information that we are teaching as interesting as possible. Its' idea is that everything is out there but it is up to us to make it interesting and able to grasp the minds of who we are teaching. I believe the way he presented his information is an amazing idea. To create videos that teach the lesson with fun pictures or videos and then adding text so you know the key points is a wonderful tool. The students can go back in this information time and time again. I believe in my classroom I will spend time to create these videos but upload them to a class website. I feel like I might use them from time to time in the classroom but overall I use these as a form of review. I am very strict on allowing my daughter to watch television. I have relaxed some but my main beliefs stay the same.  I feel like the best way to teach is hands on first and then do other forms. I feel like if I help them create something will teaching something it will stick more and they will not even realize they are learning something they will later be tested on.

Blog Post 12 Carly Pugh

This blog post is by a fellow student at South named Carly Pugh. In this blog she describes an assignment given to her by Dr. Strange. She is to creat a playlist of YouTube videos that lists all of these characteristics given to her by Dr. Strange. In this blog post are several videos that you must click on to understand what she is talking about. My favorite is the one about creativity. I feel as a teacher it is our job to nurture creativity and make it flourish in our students. I feel that the children that harvest this trait that still hold this true when they become adults go farther in life then those that did not. I think it is so beneficial and can help you in so many ways throughout life. She points out how important it is to get these kids to think. I think that most of these kids nowadays do not have to think. They are told what to write and what to do. When they are given something where they are free to create they are lost. I feel that she made many interesting points. She did upload one video directly so that you didn't have to click a link. It is six questions that shows what little I got from Dr. Miller. It shows a video that has pictures with a dialog. This is the only point that I got from "This Is How We Dream" videos is that things we need to say need to come in a brilliant way that gets the audience's attention and keeps it. I think this little video is fabulous and does exactly what Dr. Miller would want.  

I really liked her blog post. I feel like we agree on so many levels. I feel like it takes so much to captivite the minds of young ones. I want to allow the kids to do so much creatively. I want pictures to be drawn as well as words to be written. I want them to do projects mainly with paper and cardboard but I am opening up to the idea of doing things online. The only issue I still run across is how are these kids going to be able to do it? I did my field experience at Fonde Elementary and there was only four computers in the classroom. Also with low income families I am sure I am going to run across one or two students that will have no way to get to the Internet at all. I love the idea of allowing them to do some of these projects but expenses stand in our way.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 For Dummies

These are two videos created by students in EDM310. This is the class that I am currently in and the whole reason behind me doing a blog. The first video is about a girl named Chipper. She is on a quest basically to get by in life doing the bare minimum. It is about a girl that goes to her professor Dr. Strange and tells him in updates about what is going on in her life. She starts out by saying she got an email saying she hasn't done her work. She says that since in the future she sees her work done and since the future is the present then her work is done. Dr. Strange sticks by his thoughts that her work is not done. She leaves and comes back and says she going to redefine procrastination to "work can be turned in late". Dr. Strange does not agree with this but she leaves and comes back on a different day. She comes back and tells Dr. Strange that he is not doing his job. He is not "teaching" her. She says her parents spend thousands of dollars in tuition and he should do his job. She wants to be taught so she doesn't have to learn. She says if he doesn't change his ways she is going to drop out and she does. She then decides she is going to make her own pilot school where they can come to stimulation and class when ever they chose and for however long they chose. They then get their degree. Well the FAA shuts her down since they never set foot in an airplane. So she decided she going to go teach and Dr. Strange helps her get a job. Well she gets fired since she didn't step foot inside the classroom since she just had too much going on in life. She then decides to be a waitress, then a nanny, and a garbage collector. She gets fired from the first job, didn't get hired in the second job, and in the third she had a coming of heart. She decides to change her ways and go back to school. The second video is a short commercial demonstrating what you need to pass EDM310. It asks you questions like "Does EDM310 have you down? Are you going crazy?". It then offers the solution to your problems EDM310 for dummies.

I enjoyed seeing what other students have created in EDM310. I really don't have many creative ideas when it comes to technology. The only thing video wise that I see myself creating is video of me teaching or going over a lesson so that my students can have it when they are sick. I just do not know if once I am in the classroom I will be able to do all that I want in my spare time. I have a daughter who is 20 months old and she comes number one in my life. I do not want her to suffer just because I am spending so much of my free time doing extra activities for my classroom. She has a speech delay and there are certain things that we need to do with her all the time. It is already hard enough doing the things she needs with a full course load and all things I need to do at home. I am going to be stretched even more thin when I start teaching.

Learn To Change, Change To learn

This is a video about how education should change as the environment it is in has changed.  One point is that children are having a more stimulating environment at home rather then at school. Kids are communicating through social networking, SMS, email, and many other technological devices and all of these devices are are banned in schools. "Every turned off device is potentially a turned off child." School is not the only place where these children are learning. They are emerged in education at home, the library, museums, and online. Schools major function should now be for social networking, joint projects, and a guide for learning. Right now it is a solo experience where as this could be turned into a community. We need the best quality teachers regardless of where the student is. The student can collect data wandering around the city using his or her cell phone regardless of being in a classroom. It is about opening doors for these students. They can see what NASA is doing and experience what people are doing in the labs at MIT. It is connecting them to opportunities that will change their education experiences and shape them for college and life itself.  All of this needs to start with the teacher. They need a place to swap ideas and a place that allows them to grow. One person spoke about standardize testing. He says that it is foolish to do have this type of testing. These children are not going to have jobs in the future that needs a vending machine answer.  Another person says that when no child left behind fades away that creativity will take its' place. These students will have work that is artistic, created of teamwork, applications, and needs them to be multicultural and multilingual. They need to be able to know how to find information and prove that it is correct. They need to be able to problem solve. The last speaker gives the quote "Death of education, dawn of learning".

I feel like everything in this video is correct. Education as a whole needs an uplift. Everything that is in the classroom is either outdated or the wrong method. I strongly dislike standardize testing maybe because I am an awful test taker. I was in honors chemistry in high school. I knew all of the material. I stayed before and after school tutoring other students but every time I took a test I would fail it. When it comes to most testing there is only one way to do something. If you don't do it exactly right you fail. My teacher knew I knew the material and I passed the class with an A mainly because she gave me bonus points for tutoring. It was just the way the tests were written. I feel like there is so much more then that one way of testing. I don't see why a project can not be considered a test. It meets multiple objectives and they experience real life situations. Yet for some reason we still go back to multiple choice questions. Even jobs give you questionnaires to fill out. I highly doubt that if you were in a real situation you would chose only one of four choices. No you would not because there are hundreds of factors that go into one situation.  Education needs to get with the times and throw out standardize testing. There are hundreds of different way you can measure a schools progress. Why do we stick with something that not everyone can excel at. My daughter has a delay and it worries me nonstop about whether or not she is still going to have by the time she starts public school. The fact that (what I've heard from another mother with a student in MCPSS) kindergarteners have to take E.Q.T.s is absurd. I heard that for them they are oral. Which frightens me because Leyna has a speech delay but she is smart in everything else. I don't feel like this is fair but is something I will deal with when the time comes. To get to the point I don't feel as though standardize testing is good for our students. Just because a piece of paper tells you that 85% of the kids passed doesn't mean anything. They all could of been really lucky and guessed right. They could memorize the answer but not be able to apply it. I will get off my soapbox now and go on to the next part of my blog.

scavenger hunt 2.0 Using Web 20.12

1.) Find a video tool.
  
 I chose PhotoPreach.com. It is a place were you can create slide shows with polls or quizzes added in. You can share, create, and embed your slideshows. They have it available for anyone but they also have it special for educators. In the educators premium you have many things that make it worthwhile. It is all ad free. As an educator you can create and manage the students access. The students do not need an email to sign up. you. Can download unlimited shows in burn able DVDs and mpeg for showing online. You have adjustable controls for privacy and the site helps protect against the students seeing improper images. You can organize projects with tags. Can publish publicly. You can add your own MP3s to personalize your slide shows. You have unlimited space for albums and photos. You can customize transitions between slides. For this program its cost is for one educator and fifty students is nine dollars a month and for one educator and around one hundred and fifty students it is twenty-five dollars a month.

2.) Find a community tool 


edmodo.com

This is a social networking device similar to Facebook. I only gather some bits and pieces of information from it since I don't want to fully set it up until I have my own classroom. In it you can post to your feed similar to Facebook except you click how you want it to read. Your choices are: note, alert, poll, quiz, or assignment. I feel like I can use this in my classroom to submit assignments online as well as in class take home folders. With it being online as well students that have missed class have a chance to see what it going on and can catch up before they come back. It makes it easier to keep due dates all the same. It will help me with organization as well and proof of what I have assigned where as a folder then can lose it. They cannot lose the Internet. I can see me using the poll feature to ask questions to see if everyone is understanding a lesson or to see if we need to go back over things. You can also add to something called the library. It has a place for google docs, files, and links. This is a great tool to keep interesting websites together to where the students can always look back and find them. From what I can tell the students can write posts to you. I think this would be great in keeping in touch with students after they leave my class and if they ever need help in the future they have a way to ask.

3. Create a poll.

Create interactive meetings at Poll Everywhere

Project #10a PLN

My journey to Personal Learning Network.

So far on my journey I am still in limbo. I am still trying to figure out the correct path to chose. I have made one decision and that is to use Symbaloo. I love the colorful blocks and how everything is together. I am still exploring this option. I am still trying to figure out how everything falls into place. I am struggling to find tools and people to include into my PLN. I feel like so far at my time at South that there is not a lot of teachers that I can back to and ask for guidance. Most of the teachers I have encountered at South have not even really been helpful while you were in the class. I have only encountered one fellow student in my degree area that I feel like I can go to throughout the rest of my life and bounce off ideas and seek guidance. I still have a lot of growing to do and I feel like by the end of this semester I will find more ideas and more people I can turn to. I have a lot to accomplish and discover in a very short amount of time.

Blog Post #7

The Network Student By: Wendy Drexler

This is a short five minute video on networking. It tells of a student learning American Psychology (you can use this with any subject.) where he has a mixed class of personal meetings and online. The main topic of this video is building your network. In one way it is to build on your PLN (Personal Learning Network). This student uses Google Scholar. He posts URLs and searches for others that have done the same. He looks for blogs that others have written on the same subject. He then takes all of his information that he has gathered and in turn makes his own blog. This student also love his MP3 player. He doesn't just listen to music on it. He downloads podcasts and videos from itunesU. ItunesU has lectures from actual professors. His teacher is there to help him build his network and guide him when he gets stuck. All of this work creates what is known as his network.

In all honesty this video makes very little sense to me. I understand it as a whole but to help me with building my own PLN it gives me nothing. I really feel like this blog out of all of the ones we have done is a waste. The only thing I feel like I got from it was learning about the itunesU which seems like a really cool idea. It is definitely something I will look into and even tell my grandfather about. He is really big on taking online courses he wishes he was able to take. I was highly disappointed in this assignment.

The idea of networking is in itself a good idea but it does seem like extra work. I don't feel like it is easy to find other blogs for instance. It may just be because I am not a master at Google or in all honesty if it isn't on the first ten pages of Google I usually give up looking. It all seems like a good idea, being able to find all this information on a topic and then writing a blog about what all you found and then in turn having someone else find it all. It seems rather helpful. I just really need to see the end product and then figure out the steps to get there. Networking is rather tricky topic.

7th Grader's PLN

This video gave me a lot of ideas. I realize I really need to look more into what a PLN can look like. I was more envisioning a list and to see all these colorful little blocks it really inspired me. I think judging from the video that she used a site that helped her create a PLN. I really need to discover more about what I need to include into my PLN. It was helpful to see how she used her PLN. It appeared to me that she uses this site that she created as a starting point to when she goes online. It seems that she goes here every day and uses this to stem off what she is going to do the rest of the time she is online. It is all in one spot so she doesn't have to search or type in an URL. I really liked her format and how she uses it. It gave me a lot of ideas.

Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch: The Last Lecture

This is a lecture given by Randy Pausch. A very optimistic fun loving guy that was listed as terminally ill given the fact that he has 11 tumors in his liver. His talk is based on a good number of ideas but I am going to focus on the lessons learned. To give a little back ground he showed the audience a list of his childhood dreams something that should be important to everyone and with that list he completed everything on it. I am going to mention the certain things that have stuck with him his whole life. The first of many is that when someone stops riding you and giving you criticism then that means they have given up on you. This is something you never want. It is a good thing when your teacher or coach pushes you. It means they care. "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." Brick walls are not there to keep you out, they are there to show you how badly you want something. Brick walls will rule out the people that don't want to work hard enough to get what they want. It shows that they didn't really want it to begin with. Make sure you enable the childhood dreams of others. A good thing to tell someone is, "Guys that was good but you can do better.'  They used video game type things to show useful skills to New York Firefighters. The goal you should have is to get your students to become self reflective and to be able to take your critiques and listen to them. "People are perceiving you this way. It is going to limit what you accomplish.' Never lose the childhood wonder. Help others.

I learned so many valuable things while watching this lecture. I discovered even more values and skills that I need to encourage my students to have. I love the quote about guys you can do better. I think that is a good standard to set. When you give a student free reign on a project and they come at you with something that just blows you mind then I think it is important to push them to achieve something even greater. He gave a lot of good advice. Something I need to take to heart is the listening to feedback but I also find myself in a place where I receive no feedback and I am lost. I think it is so important to give feedback so people know where they stand and what they need to do to become great. I also really like how his mentor told him people are viewing you this way and it is going to limit you. So many people go on living their lives unaware of how people see them. They are then in turn limited and they never know it. This inspires me to be more forward with people and more honest. Honesty was a big thing with Randy Pausch. He strongly suggested about karma and how it is going to get you in the place you deserve. I strongly believe in this. I feel that everything you do happens for a reason. Everything you do is going to have a consequence whether it is good or bad and you really need to be on the look out for it. I learned so much from this video. I strongly recommend you watch it and see what you take from it.

C4K February

Week 1 Emma

The first blog I was assigned to was by a little girl named Emma. She wrote about her love for animals. How she feels as though she cannot live without them. She is incomplete without them in her life. She has two dogs named Tildy and Finn. She also has what appears to be two ponies named Maggie and Annie. She is strongly passionate about her love for animals. She feels as though they are just like humans with emotions and personalities just like we have. She feels like every person and animal loves someone or something for some reason. She goes to describe what makes each animal special and why she loves each one.

I feel so close to Emma as I read this. I feel the exact same way to my animals. I feel as though they are human with many emotions. I have a Pit Bull mix named Marty, a tortishell long haired cat named Ava, and a Betta fish named Kevin. These are my babies my first born children. I feel as though they are my world and I already know that they are my daughter's world as well.

Week 2 Melissa

This blog is from a girl named Melissa who wrote about her APGovernment class. It is her first integrated online class. She talks about how terrified she was about taking a completely online course. She says she had so many things to download onto her computer but in the end all the programs but one were not difficult. She enjoyed her online class. The main thing she liked is that she feels she received more communication with people  then in a regular classroom setting.

I can relate to Melissa. I am terrified of my EDM310 class. There is so much technology that I need to become comfortable with. I jumped right in with my technology course at South. She states how her online course has been a positive experience where mine has not been. Every online course I have taken at South has been tough to say the least. There is little communication and everything is memorization to pass a test. I am glad Melissa was able to communicate with people outside of her school. I feel like she learned a lot.

Week 3 Brooklyn 

This blog is from a girl in Canada. She recently skyped to some students in New Orleans, La about a historical tradition called Mardi Gras. She described some things she learned about the parades. I in turn told her how Mobile intruduced New Orleans to Mardi Gras and how Mobile had the very first parade. I told her about what we throw in our parades.

Project 8 Podcast

Blog Post #5

Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?

This is sort of a poem by Scott McLeod that tells you mainly good reasons on why not to let your kids on the internet. At the end it states that if you listen to what I just said than my kids I teach will get the leg up. Scott Mcleod  is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky. He is frequent blogger and someone that is admits our project in EDM310. 


 I am half and half on this argument. I believe that there are many reasons to keep children restrained when it comes to being on the internet. It can be a dangerous place and any child left unattended with free roam with no guidelines can get hurt. I do however feel like children do need access to the internet. They can see far away places such as seeing Broadway without being in New York. They can talk to people in different countries. They can create so much, and do so much more. The possibilities are endless. 
The iSchool Initiative / Zeitgeistyoungminds

This video was created by a high schooler named Travis Allen. The video tells about how the traditional classroom can go completely digital. In the video it tells how the itouch can change the way a classroom functions. The itouch is an Apple product that is virtually in a way a tiny computer that has a touch screen. On it you can buy things called applications that are basically programs. In the video he gives a long list of apps that would be beneficial in the classroom: email, Chemical Touch, U.S constitution, World Wiki, US, presidents, Starwalk,  Formulae, Recorder, Scientific and graphing calculator, Notes, Calender, Classics, and iHW. All of these apps can allow you to essentially have the classroom in your hands at all times. The second video is essentially a commercial stating what the iSchool initiative is and that you should join.  


I was beyond fascinated when I watched this video. It inspires me to want an iSchool classroom. I can only imagine the impact this would have on my students and the things we can learn and discover. I really hope by the time I am a certified teacher that this will be in place in my future school. I see no faults in doing this. I only see the many benefits it can provide. I feel that if this does take hold then many more teachers can be hired and class sizes can be lowered. I think our administrators need to get on the ball and adopt this idea. 


Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

This is a video of many videos of people from all walks of life singing together. Everything is done Virtually. I found myself to be pretty apprehensive about this. Somewhere inside me kind of doubts that this is possible. The sound sounds like a choir put together on one stage. I feel like it is very possible that it could happen given the amount of technology out there but then again being in band my whole life I know that a wonderful sound doesn't come the first time around. It is very rare for any form of art to be able to get together and create an epic sound on the first go. I do however feel like maybe the singers sounds may have been altered so that it all fits together well. I love this creation and shows that anything can be created.


Teaching in the 21st Century

This is a Prezi turned video that goes over what it is to teach students in the 21st century and brings up some nifty questions. It talks about how students have access to any information via the internet and how as teachers we need to approach it. It lists Bloom's Taxonomy and at the very top is create but where does things like blogging fit into Bloom's Taxonomy. It lists tons of things you can do on the world wide web. There are so many lessons that can be built, things created, and things to explore. It mentions many things that I myself need to explore and become familiar with.

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Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets is a website dedicated to "teaching kids to read and helping those that struggle".  It contains information for parents, teachers, librarians, principals, and even other professionals. The site even comes in Spanish. It has outsources in Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and contains podcasts. "It contains a wealth of reading strategies, lessons, and activities to help young children to read and read better."

I decided to further research (under the teachers tab) classroom strategies: vocabulary. It offered many suggestions such as word walls and word hunts. On the site it gives a chart stating when you can do this activity either before reading, during reading, or after reading. I found this very helpful. Even more helpful is when you click on an activity it shows a new chart with the same information but also with whether this activity can be used solo, in a group, or as a class whole. It lists the activity, gives you a small example, tells you why to use it, how to use it, examples in all subjects, books to use with this activity, and even resources to back up the activity. I feel like they really used their resources and the site is well thought out and put together. I will definitely come back to it when I am in my own classroom.

C4T #2

Michael Kaechele Concrete Classroom

Recent Blog: My Christmas Bonus

In this blog Michael talks about what it feels like to get recognized for  basically doing his job. He talks about how his school is PBL. He says how the PBL coach came by to check their progress and gave him the statement, "You don't really follow the PBL model, but don't change anything." . He states how in his previous job as a concrete worker he would receive bonuses and how that compliment meant more to him then all those bonuses did.

I may not know him but I feel as though he did deserve this compliment. I feel as though any teacher doing his or her job deserves a compliment. They need the pick me ups just like children do. If you give someone a compliment it makes them feel as though they are on the right course, that they do matter. In this world it is so hard to be a teacher and anything that puts a little spark back in you is definitely needed.

 "I don't know either"

This blog is about how with a recent project on Genocide he tries to take the kids from teacher centered learning to student teacher learning. He decided to let the kids create mini-documentaries. His kids after much struggle he decided to create a template. When he asked the students what they struggled with they said it was not the research but the end product that gave them issues. They said I don't know what you want and his reply was " I don't either."

I found this to be really powering and inspirational. I think it is okay for the teacher to not really know what they want the end product to look like. I think if the teacher knows exactly what they want the end product to look like then the students can never meet that standard. If the teacher has no idea what they want then it gives the student more room to be creative and come up with their own ideas. I think in this aspect then the teacher may just be surprised with what they get handed if they allow the students free roam.

Blog Post #4

The of Podcasting in the Classroom by Joe Dale

This video tells briefly about what a podcast is and gives a couple of ideas about the benefits of podcasting. One benefit is that if your child is sick then they can go online to listen to lectures. Also you can hook up your ipod in the car and relisten to lectures. It also gives parents insight about what their child is learning in school. One good thing is having the students create podcasting is found on the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy which every educator strives for.

I unfortunately did not like this video. It was jumbled up and all over the place. I did find some good tidbits from it about if a child is sick and so forth. Things I had not thought of but I feel as though it said a "title" then gave very little details to go with that tittle. It had things that didn't really seem to fit in there such as the baby with the lullaby. I also feel as though I am no where closer to understanding what a podcast is. I am still baffled.

First Graders create Podcast

This blog describes in detail the steps it took their first grade class to create a podcast. They did a podcast in an interview type process on a Magic Tree House book called Vacation under the Volcano. The teacher read the book aloud in class then chapter by chapter set up questions and answers for them to do in the podcast. The students were very into critiquing their work and making it their best.

I found this article so interesting. I never would of thought to do this process with early elementary children. It just goes to show exactly how in tune students are to technology. I am learning more and more about how vital technology is in the classroom and I am becoming more and more open to using it in my classroom.  

Podcast Collection

A podcast is a "radio style" audio clip. It can be used on itunes or other podcasting service. Podcasts can contain any information that you want. It can be listened on a MP3 player or other devices. They give some good tips on completing podcasts such as making sure you know the software you are working with and give yourself plenty of time to complete the project.  The site also gives a generous amount of idea topics, time schedule, and even a rubic for grading.

I found this blog insightful and full of good solid information. It is good to finally understand what a podcast is. I was so confused on whether or not it contained video. I am still a little shaky on how I can use this to do  my lectures as it has been mentioned. I see wonderful ideas on getting the kids to create podcasts. I think creating the podcasts will be such a wonderful skill for the children to mastery. I think they will have fun and learn a lot of facts.

Project 6 This is my Sentence

Project 9

Bullying on Prezi

C4T #1

See Mary Teach

Paper Reinforcers


Mary Worrell is a teacher from the U.S. in the Netherlands. Her most recent blog is called "Paper Reinforcers". She starts off talking about how she spent a great deal of time fooling with office supplies. She would go through phases where she would change her penmanship.  All of that was when she was younger before she was a teacher. Now she has a powerful love for technology that has taken over her previous obsessions. Her organizing hides the things that she lacks. She goes on to talk about how she came from a family of ADD and ADHD. She herself was never diagnosed but she suffered never the less. She can do almost anything except handle a deadline of writing. Which become problematic being she has professions of being a teacher and journalist. " Anyone can write, but to be a writer, you have to sit down and write. You can’t just think about writing and expect a piece of work to appear." She avoids writing altogether. Yet with her students they write daily in journals and practice freewriting. She states that it is the act of writing that is so important. You may not understand yourself until you start writing and maybe why she avoids it is because she is not ready to see those things. She has much creativity and ideas yet doesn't put anything to paper. She says she is going to go into the new year different and challenge herself to change her old ways. "remind myself: every lesson is a draft."

I found a couple of things that I really connected with in her writing.I have ADD and ADHD. I believe it plays a huge role in how I am going to teach my children. I know what it feels like to be restless and unable to sit down. I am going to provide as much physical activity as I can. I am not going to just lecture at the front of the classroom either. I love how she said “your notebook is your textbook”. I find that so very true. I feel that I would be lost without my notes to guide me. I feel as though they are more important than the textbook. I love how she engages the students with freewriting. I believe it is so beneficial to the students. I feel as though it really helps the students express their feelings and get them out so they can see them.  

Your PLN gives you more people to disappoint

She is a new teacher, teaching in a different country, and building up a new school. Her Personal Learning Network contains teachers from around the world. With so much stress from being brand new she constantly finds herself questioning everything she does. She is thankful that she has all of the teachers behind her to help through all of this but she also finds an added disappointment attached to it. She holds these teacher in a higher royalty then the others that surround her. She feels as though they are the experts.  She goes to them for advice but still feels as though she to branch away and do this on her own.

I know very little about Personal Learning Networks. So I can only imagine what they do or how much stress they could cause. I feel pressure just being in the classroom with one experienced teacher, I couldn't grasp the stress I would feel if I had a whole network of them. I do feel though that they must offer some web of confidence.