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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

C4K Summary for March

Week 1 March 25

This week i was assigned a student from Bradford Schools. The name was not really given on the post but I was assigned the fifth comment on the page. This child talked about a day when she witnessed several different kinds of weather on a walk. I asked what city he or she was walking in and then went on to talk about the weather. I have never been in a blizzard and cannot imagine how cold it must have been. I also have never had a day that changed weather four different times. I would be just as confused as the child was not knowing whether to bring out an umbrella or enjoy the day when it was nice.

Week 2 April 1
Percy Jackson and Lighting Thief movie poster


I was assigned Curtis S for the World Blog Challenge. His post was titled Character. In his blog he talked about Percy Jackson. He started off asking Percy questions he was interested in knowing. He then listed the flaws of Percy Jackson. I replied to his post and asked him what book he was reading. I also complimented him on his great questions.

C4T 3

Comment 1

I was assigned Melissa B this time for C4T. Her blog post had a picture of a brick fence with the title shadow dancing on it. I replied and told her I loved the picture. I also love being outdoors and always like to look at the shadows of objects and see the difference between the shadow and the actual object. If you were to look at the shadow of the fence you would have no idea that it was a fence. I cannot wait to see if she posts more artwork and see what shadow picture she comes up with next.
brick wall with a shadow on the ground



Comment 2

Melissa B posted a new blog. This time her picture was of a snowman on a mailbox at the start of spring. I replied and told her that I think that people leaving Christmas decorations up all year is tacky. I think that it shows how lazy people in our country are becoming. The picture was titled "Wordless". I believe this is a perfect title because the picture is so comical it does not need words to explain.
snowman on a mailbox during the spring

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Blog Post 8

Dr. Richard Miller's "This is How We Dream Part 1 and 2"

Dr. Miller starts off in his presentation in Part 1 explaining how we have learned. He says we have learned through books and grown up in places full of books and we have researched through books. However, times are changing and now you can do all your learning through a computer. He goes on to explain that he was asked to do a paper on the Virginia Tech shooting and he explains that he was able to write his paper with all the research needed without having to go to a library. He was able to go onto the web and see how candidates voted on a certain issue where you cannot do that with a book right after the vote is made. He also explains that his paper is not only available in print but also online. He also explains that we are able to collaborate projects now without ever having to meet in person. He uses the project he did on Martin Luther King Jr. as an example. The paper is not only text but also has audio and video that was found on the internet and from talks on campus. My favorite thing mentioned is the movable voting map that news channels are now seeing as a necessity. Theses maps show, as it is happening, who people are voting for in the presidential election. The one thing he emphasizes is that all of these are incremental changes not fundamental changes.

Dr. Miller continues to explain these changes in Part 2 by explaining where we work. In this video he starts off showing we research on the laptop. He goes on to give examples. One he uses is of a whale hunt and how it depicts the energy that goes into a hunt by showing to video documentary. He also explains that iTunesU is used for academic lessons and lectures and people are starting to realize that ideas belong to our culture not just an individual person. I think the most important part of this video is when he states, "We as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely." He also says that the limits and restrictions are ones that we largely put on ourselves when it comes to sharing information. The internet also helps with publication. Dr. Miller explains that if he was to try to publish this video through a publishing company it would have taken longer than it took to put it on youtube. Dr. Miller than explains what is ahead. He talks about Johnathon Harris and how he is composing with the web, not using the alphabet or images but using aggregating bots that search certain topics. He then sums it all up by saying for us to achieve this we need inspiring teachers, spaces for collaborative learning, pedagogies, and ubiquitous technology. He finishes his second video with saying "We can do this, we should do this!"

After watching this video I am excited to see how technology will change by the time I graduate. I think by the time I start to teach my students will be able to write with multimedia. I hope that I will be able to keep up with the technology. I am prepared to take classes if I need to and also keep up to date through the internet. I am already starting to write through multimedia so in the next few years I think I will be able to fully write in multimedia.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post 12

Carly's post is extraordinary! I know Carly personally and this post is so her. I have a love for English like she does and all the details are just amazing. Dr. Strange is right when he commented and told her she took what Dr. Miller said and applied it. She doesn't just come close to Dr. Miller's idea I think she goes beyond. If she just posted the videos with a title description anybody watching the videos would know what kind of teacher she wants to be. They would also know what her interests are and type person she is. I hope that I will be as creative as this post when I am a teacher.

EDM 310 for Dummies and The Chipper Series

I watched both of these movies at the beginning of the semester and really did not take them seriously. Now that you have had us rewatch them I wish I would have taken them seriously and applied what they were trying to teach us. I would love to make a movie about how to approach this class. I would include my idea of an easy way to organize the assignments for each week. That was the hardest thing for me this semester is to not let everything pile up on Sunday. I think this video would be very helpful and informational.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

The first thing that came to mind when I was watching this video is that EDM 310 is exactly like the classroom they are describing. I got a smile on my face when I thought the classroom they are saying we need is one that I am in now. In the video they talk about the technology that is banned in schools. I agree when they say we are taking a part of learning away. One of the speakers said schools is only one place they are learning, they are also learning in the community, at home,museums, and especially on the internet. I am excited to see if classrooms will change in the future. I think it is time for a class to become more technology literate. Students already know how to use a lot of the material, but they do not know how each of the things they use now can be used for education. I think this type of classroom will really have children want to engage more in the learning process.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0

3. Make your own Comic strip



4. Animoto.com/education- this video tool lets you bring lessons to life. This tool lets teachers make videos and they can share them in a classroom, through email, on a blog, or through any social network. This tool lets teachers use there pictures, music, and videos to put together a fun and new way of giving a lesson to students.

5. Make your own poll

Friday, March 9, 2012

Blog Post 7

The Networked Student
Wendy Drexler


This video is different then any other video I have seen. In this video they use artwork drawn out and just wipe it away when they get done with one piece. I honestly do not know if I am ready to be a teacher to a network student. I am still learning technology myself. I am afraid that a student will come and ask me how to do something and I will not be able to answer them correctly. I guess that first thing I need to do before I become a teacher like this is have a good PLN. A PLN will help in so many ways. I will have access to websites I have used in school that helped me answer questions I did not know. I will also have access to other teachers, so if I need answers then I can ask them and hopefully one will have the answer.

I was home schooled my junior year of high school through an online program. I had all my assignments and reading material on the computer so I did not need actual books. The only negative thing about this program was when I emailed or called a teacher for help on something I did not understand they never replied. I had no idea about PLN or all the things Google offers till this year. I think if I would have known about this technology and has a PLN I would have been fine. I guess I had a negative look on online learning till I started this year with EDM 310 and had help from a lot of different sources.

I do not know if I agree with Ms. Drexler doing this with middle school students. I worry that they do not know enough of the fundamentals behind each subject to be self-lerners. I am very interested to see how it turns out and maybe I will be more persuaded to give this network student a try. I understand that the network student needs a teacher. If this is what schools are going to I think that colleges need to spend more time on teaching us how to be this type of teacher so we are better prepared when we step out into the teaching world. I hope that I will be able to teach my students how to build a network and I hope I will be successful as a network teacher.

Personal Learning Environment

This video explains the advantages of being able to have a PLE and a paperless class. The 7th grader explains how she uses her PLE for her science class. I really see no difference in her PLE from my PLN. Both are used to help keep track of websites and tools that are useful. They also both let you search right there and add it to which ever tile you need to. I really like the idea of having a PLN and think it will be very helpful in my first years as a new teacher.

Project 9b Time Toast Instructional Timeline

Thursday, March 8, 2012

PLN Progress Report Project #10

a screen shot of my symbaloo for the PLN


I am going to use Symbaloo for my PLN. I am not currently following anyone but I will add my twitter follows and my C4T and C4K to the symbaloo. I really like this website because it is very visual and you can see all your follows in one place. All you have to do is click on a tile and it takes you to the website of that tile. With this website I will be able to stay up to date with teachers and other sources I will use throughout teaching at the click of a mouse. I have included a screen shot of my symbaloo and when i finish all the empty tiles will be filled and hopefully will have a Webmix for each different kind of source I use in my PLN.

C4T #2

Comment 1
I was assigned Larry Ferlazzo and his post was part four of a five part series where he is answering questions using professionals that have written books on the topics or teach the topics. The post was really short but had a link to the article he has written. He has four professionals answer the question "What is the best advice you would give to teachers trying to help their students become better readers?" They all use different wording but two things they state that are really important is to make the students read, read, and read and also to show the students how you comprehend a passage when reading it. The way they suggest to show the students this is to illustrate or quote a passage an then tell the students what you, the teacher, thinks the author is trying to say. I commented on his blog website. I told him how I had a hard time with comprehension through school. This article really gave me great ideas to help my students not have the trouble I had in school.

Comment 2
emoticons showing happy, sad, and so-so emotions



Mr. Ferlazzo posted a blog about a website "Making Faces" that lets people make faces to show emotions. I commented to his post and told him I found it a great website for elementary teachers to use. This website will help children to learn different emotions and the words for those emotions. If I teach a kindergarten or first grade class I will definitely use this website to help my students learn about emotions. You can fins Mr. Ferlazzo post and my comment on his website

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
Randy Pausch's title page for his last lecture: Achieving Childhood Dreams


This lecture really surprised me. I kept putting this assignment off because I was thinking to myself great I have to watch a video for over an hour and then write four paragraphs on what i learn. Wow! I was wrong. This lecture was absolutely amazing. I will admit I cried at the end. Dr. Pausch is a wonderful person for all educators to look up to and dream about one day looking at life as he did in his last few months. I found so many techniques from his lecture that I want to teach my students.

The biggest thing I believe all children need to learn is Pausch's idea with brick walls. Throughout the whole lecture Dr. Pausch brings up his memories with brick walls. He said brick walls prove how badly you want something. These walls let people show their dedication. This technique to me can be used in a classroom. If a child is turned down for an audition in a school play or choral group or not accepted to go on an academic trip, and the child still tries everything possible to be a part of that play, choral group, or trip, then you as a teacher knows this child really deserved the spot he or she was not given. If a child persevered towards the dream he was denied at first, then I would make sure the next time he went for this dream I would back him or her up completely. I would make sure this child's dream came true.

Another huge thing Dr. Pausch talked about was his dream to play NFL. He talked about Coach Graham and the first first football practive with him. There are several things to take away from the section of his lecture, but the one that stood out to me the most is "you have to get the fundamentals down first for the fancy stuff to work". This is something that should be used in classrooms everyday, but students are getting short changed. The fundamentals of all subjects is crucial for a child to improve throughout school. For example, you have to know how to count before you can add or subtract. Also, when you get into upper level classes the fundamentals that are supposed to be taught to you in grade school overlap in courses. For example, you have to know algebra to be able to understand chemistry. So, me being an elementary education major, I have to make sure I teach my students the fundamentals while as Pausch also says "kids have to have fun when learning something hard".

The final technique I see as something I will use is "the best gift of an educator is to have someone become self-reflective". This is something that both Pausch and EDM 310 see as crucial in a learning process. The first things that came to my mind is how can I have someone show me self-reflection is they cannot write? Then it dawned on me. Children in Kindergarten and First grade show you self-reflection through pictures, how they tell a story, and show and tell. I did not realize till taking EDM 310 and watching this video that children of all ages show you self-reflection. The key is you have to know what to look for and then encourage your students that self-reflection is a good thing.

Friday, March 2, 2012

C4K Summary for February

Comment 1

The first week I was assigned Brandon from Mrs. Barks's 4th/5th grade class at Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand. The first post I stumbled on was about his vacation. He talked about going on a steam engine and getting a piece of coal. He went through a Victorian Village in a cart and he was not able to ride the Voyager. He then went on a tram to the air crafts. I replied to his post asking him to explain what M.O.T.A.T. means. I also related to him by telling I have been on a steam engine before too. i also wanted to know if he drew the picture in the post because it was great and had a lot of detail.

Comment 2

The second week I was assigned Emily from Mrs. Hubener's 5th grade class at Sioux Rapids, Iowa. The newest post of Emily's was about her upcoming weekend. She discussed in her post about going to visit her grandparents in South Dakota. She explained that her family would leave on Friday and stay till Monday. She also talked about the weekend before she was having a friend come over and they were going to the store to talk to the Australian guy. I explained to her that I love spending time with my family. I also asked her what her grandparents and her did for fun.

Comment 3

The third week I was assigned Taylor from Mr. Salsich's 3rd grade class in Connecticut. She included in her post a video. She talked in her post about a Flash Mob group she was in. They performed a dance to a song in "The Sound of Music." I responded to her post by telling her I was in "The Sound of Music" too when I was in third grade. I asked when the play was and also suggest another movie she might enjoy.

Comment 4
firefighter talking to children about fire safety



The fourth and final week in February I was assigned Mrs. Yollis's Class in California. This week was the first week that I was not given a student of the class. I really enjoyed the blog this week. Mrs. Yollis likes to have her students interact through her blog posts. This week she had a firefighter come in an teach the class about fire safety. Throughout her whole blog she includes photos and descriptions to the photos and my favorite thing is she includes questions throughout to let her students interact. I commented on her blog and told her I thought having the firefighter come into her class really seemed to have an impact on the children.