Sunday, October 31, 2010

Blog Post #10

Response to "An Open Letter to Educators" by Morgan Bayda:

I totally agree with the comments by Dan Brown in his video as well as Morgan's article. I too find it incredibly hard to stay awake, much less give the instructor any of my attention. Classes today are so... expected. 99% of the classes today are basically the same. Students show up, teacher talks, students take notes, and then class is dismissed. The teachers do almost all of the talking and I feel that this is mainly because the students are so busy taking notes that they do not have time to think about what they are 'learning.' Students are allowed to ask questions or come up with their own thoughts because there is so much required material that must be covered. I feel that classrooms should be sort of like an open forum where students are able to interact with each other and gather thoughts. Thanks to technology the instructor could even create a website where students can ask questions or continue discussions online outside of the classroom. School is also hindering my education because the subjects have been taught the same way for decades. Granted that some subjects cannot be taught in a different way, but teachers can find something to spark students interest. I completely understand and agree with Dan Brown. I have no problem with people quiting school because in some cases the education can far exceed that in the school. Students today aren't given near enough opportunities to open their minds to... the world!


Response to "Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home" by Tom Johnson:

This was a really interesting post and I am also hard to find it very hard to comment on. The one main thing that I have realized is that teachers and administration need to realize that we all expand our knowledge even when 'playing hangman.' Learning comes in many forms and many individuals do not realize that they are indeed learning something.


Blog Post #10



Response to "Two Questions That Can Change Your Life" by Daniel Pink:

I really liked this video and it has made me think more than most post that we have looked at this summer. It took me quite a while to come up with my sentence, but I did come up with one. "He made the best out of every situation and life." I say that because it is true. I don't have the best life and I'm not perfect, but I try my hardest to do well in all that I do.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Blog Post #9

blog post 9


In blog post #9 we were supposed to summarize Mr. McClung's article, "What I've Learned This Year.":

Mr. McClung explains what he learned after his first year of teaching at an elementary school in Missouri.
First, he explains that while in school getting his degree he lost track of what his job was as the one given lectures or instructions. He began worrying more about what his fellow peers/teachers thought about him instead of what the students were getting from him. I feel that this is for the most part correct, but unlike Mr. McClung I feel that many teachers do not realize this after just one year.
Next, he talks about how he realized that he was trying to teach the perfect lecture and forgot about him most important role as a teacher. He explains that teachers must learn to become flexible with their students because often they will not understand everything you cover and after re-teaching some of the material you will lose track of the 'perfect plans.' I feel that this can be worked around if teachers have a general outline of the things that need to be gone over for a particular day. If this material is not covered on that day then I will make sure to plan the next day around what was missed so there is no material missed.
The next point he talks about is communication. Personally I have learned that by communicating with someone about problems make things so much easier in the long run. It may not be easier at the time, but by talking things over it really does make things go smoothly as Mr. McClung has pointed out.
Mr. McClung's next point is one that I feel we get from college professors and take it with us back to grade school as teachers. Some teachers really do make their standards too high while some remember those days when they were students and recall the situations students' faced in school. By being 'reasonable' as McClung puts it you will have a much more positive reaction from students and they will be much more productive in your classroom.
The next point is one that I have really learned a lot about this semester thanks to this class. Teachers must learn to use technology and not be afraid of it. It has been created for us to use and benefit our students so that they may learn in easier/more exciting ways compared to a text book.
Being in college with over 100 students in classrooms it becomes much harder to know each student personally, but McClung talks about how good teachers listen to their students. By having their classmates or teacher there for them when they need to be heard it makes students feel important and cared about. It also makes students more likely to talk about personal problems in those particular situations.
McClung closes with what I consider to be him most important point of the entire article. As teachers we never stop learning. There are so many things he learned in his first of teaching and I am not a full-time or even part-time teacher yet, but in thinking like a teacher I feel that I have learned many great things that some teachers never realized. By learning from other teachers and reading articles like Mr. McClung's I have learned how to be a much better teacher than I could have ever imagined. By looking at other's experiences I have learned what the many pitfalls are and how they can be avoided so to Mr. McClung and the many others sharing their reflections I say, "Thank you."

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Project #11

Blog Post #8

Response to Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2:

Mr. Miller's first major point that really made me begin to think is when he talks about growing up with books. I never really thought about it before, but I always imagined growing up that I, as well as my children, would use all though school. Growing up I never dreamed that most of my homework would be completed on these things called computers. It never crossed my mind that I would not use a book to gather the necessary information needed for a research paper. Mr. Miller explains that he composed a paper after the Virginia Tech shootings without stepping foot in a library. This really made me start thinking about what all is really out there on the web.

Another great point he makes is that teachers must understand that technology is a phenomenal tool that they must learn to use. Therefore, teachers must work with each other and share ideas over the web. Sharing ideas makes EVERYONE'S life easier. It is also cheaper to post ideas through blogs or other websites, than to travel to conferences where the same material could be covered. This is also where Skype could be implemented. By sharing these thoughts between one another it would greatly improve the quality of teachers out there today.

One point that Mr. Miller does not directly discuss, but he crossed my mind while watching this videos is the idea that as the population grows each day. The number of students in schools gets larger and larger and the number of teachers to teach these children is getting smaller and smaller. This creates a larger number of students per classroom and the quality of teaching can only go down. How can teachers today keep track of all these students? Hmm.... I wonder?! Maybe by using computers to complete class assignments things might be easier and overall better. If only teachers knew how things could be different for the better.

That being said I feel that personally I am prepared to teach students by using the multimedia/technological sources. I also feel that my students will be more than capable of using them as well. The future generations will be able to completely blow the minds of my generation when we become teachers because they will understand how to do so much more than we do now.

2.

I think it would be really cool to come up with a video like this, but I do not have any ideas to throw out there. Given some serious time (weeks) to think about it I know I could come up with something. Nonetheless, it would be a really cool project.

3.

Aaron's Blog Post #8


I understand that if there are smartboards and they have problems they will encounter, but overall they are cheaper than books. The article I have found that counters the original blog post by Michael Staton is listed below. This article makes contains many bullet points FOR the use of smartboards. Some of the most important of these points being that they accommodate many learning styles and they are "a colorful tool. Research indicates that students respond to displays where color is employed." All reasons, in my opinion, that smartboards should be used in schools.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Additional Assignment #2

Aaron's additional assignment #2


1. Yes, I feel that if someone is motivated enough they can teach themselves or search for information so that they can learn.
2. Yes, I do not feel that age has anything to do with if one is motivated or not. For example, in the video the children not only taught themselves how to use the computer, but within two weeks they were playing a game on disney.com.
3.  I feel that kids can learn in any sort of conditions.  You just have to grab their attention and spark their interest for them to be teachable by someone.  This also holds true for themselves, they just need to become interested.
4.  Computers can be a great teaching tool for teaching as we have seen.  The internet opens up so many doors for its users.  If a question comes about all that has to be done is google search and the answer will be found as well as new question yet to be answered.
5. Motivation is how our knowledge expands.  Without having motivation we don't learn anything and we have no desire to expand our minds.  We must have desire to do something and learn all we can about it so we thus are motivated to learn.  The two really go hand in hand.
6.  By being presented with a problem the student then becomes motivated to answer that question.  They then take the question and research it through google.  Like I said before this not only may answer the quesiton, but also creates many more questions that students wish to answer.  Simply the question opens up the mind of the student by using technology to find answers and more information.
7.  Like I said before, to motivate someone to learn you must find something that sparks their interest.  One student found interest in the Hindu religion and created a report on it.  As long as they are interested the students will find new things to learn.
8.  I am motivated to learn by not being good at something.  If I struggle to understand something I find myself motivated to find out more and grasp whatever the topic is.  I also am motivated when something that I already know a fair amount about or find myself interested in has changed or been updated or has somehow reached the news (such as sports).
9.  These people can learn, but it is much more difficult and they will learn tremendously less than students that do want to learn.  These students may have difficulty learning because they could have disorders, but many times they have found nothing that sparks their interest and thus do not want to learn.
10.  Everyone teaches themselves in some form or fashion.  I teach myself how to play selections of trumpet concertos or how to attach files to an email.  We teach ourselves something new everyday in many various ways.  We may not realize it, but our inner teacher comes out to teach ourselves something daily.
11.  Teachers play a major role in my learning.  Without teachers to teach us new things and to expand our minds and introduce us to many different things we would not find near as many things that sparked our interest and motivate us to learn more.
12.  Technology cannot replace the teacher, but technology can work with the teacher in educating the students.
13.  What about American children?  If the same studies documented in the video were done in the U.S. would the same results be concluded or would there be drastic differences?  I say this because we have technology around us compared to children of India that do not.

Monday, October 11, 2010

PLN 1st post

My PLN is slowly coming together.  I have the usual sites such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Skype.  I also have several school websites in my PLN.  Lately I have begun using igoogle, google documents and gmail to connect with my fellow classmates rather than Facebook.  When I started this class I didn't really look to the internet as much as I do now to work on my assignments.  Since we have started doing the C4_ comments I feel that I have began to reach out to other people by commenting when I need help or have questions.  My PLN has grown so much recently and I cannot wait to see how it will continue to grow with time.

Aaron's 1st post on his PLN

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Individual Timeline

C4T#2 Summary

Post #1

My teachers post was about a program she had recently found a free program that can edit pictures. Being a teacher she knows that some students do not like to be photographed and when they do get photographed the picture can not be used because they are in it. This program makes it easy for teachers (or anyone) to edit pictures and remove unwanted things from the original.

"Thanks Ann! This is such a great find because it is so versatile and can be used for any photograph. I am in the process of getting my music education degree, and I am also in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 course. I know how frustrating it can be when you can't photograph a student for a class picture since my mom is a retired kindergarten teacher. It may not be perfect, but it is still free and free is always good."

Post #2

The 2nd post was about her discovery of bookmarking pages in pdf files. She explained, in detail a step-by-step description of how to bookmark these pages. She also explains how she also discovered how to easily open a new page while keeping the original page open as well.

"Thanks again for another great post Mrs. Carnevale. I get so annoyed at having to search through page after page when dealing with a pdf file. I knew that bookmarks are available online, but it never crossed my mind to use bookmarks for pdf files. You have made my life so much easier and I will be sharing this breakthrough with my fellow classmates.

Aaron
Student at the University of South Alabama"

Blog Post #7

aaron's blog post #7
Response to Randy Paush's "Last Lecture":

Since I have began college I have had to watch this lecture for one of my classes each year. Every time I watch the lecture I find new things to think about. I feel that through his speech he makes his one 75 minute lecture fun and keeps the audiences focus consistently on his speech. Not only is he an amazing public speaker, but he also uses many great teaching techniques thorough his speech. While giving his speech he also talks about different teaching techniques that he uses in his classroom.

I really enjoy Randy's speech because he is such a great speaker which helps. He seems very confident with his lecture and knows where he is going with every topic which keeps our (the listeners) attention. He also brings humor in and out of his lecture which can be a great technique when trying to keep the students attention.

Randy uses technology in several great ways with his lecture. First of all he begins his speech with a short introduction followed by his first major point and an outline over the projector. Personally I feel that having an outline to go along with at the beginning of a lecture keeps me from getting totally lost. He also puts pictures on the projector so that the listeners can stay interested and also get a better understanding of topics (i.e. childhood, pictures from events along the way).

The biggest point he makes in his speech is his 'head fake'. By getting his audience to focus on one thing he indirectly gets his listeners to learn or think about something else. By learning how to use this teaching technique you can teach students so much more. Using Randy as an example he gave this lecture to his audience. However, he in fact 'head faked' everyone. He ended by saying that people have been asking if he is leaving anything for his children. The 'head fake' was that the speech was written for his children.

By watching this speech a teacher can pick up several teaching techniques that can be, when used in the proper ways, very effective with students. From Randy's speech we gather the uses of technology can be greatly helpful. He used technology to show the listeners his outline as well as photographs and graphics to aid in his lecture.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Blog Post #6

Response to "The Networked Student" by Wendy Drexler:

First of all I thought this video was one of the coolest that we have seen thus far this semester. To answer the question of whether I am ready to teach a networking student? Well... I am not entirely sure. Since I am a student now and I consider myself to be somewhat computer savvy I can easily teach these networking students.

Being a music education major I feel that we (music majors) can be considered more networking students' than most students of other majors. I say this because we use use technology to complete many of our assignments. When the video says that the students uses social networks to "connect with other people to strengthen the learning process." Well I recently had a first hand experience of this. After a guest artist came to perform at USA. After the concert I was talking to one of the band members and we are now talking through email and facebook. He has helped me enter a whole new world of art and music and maybe one day a potential employer.

I also already use many types of search engines when completely my personal assignments. My fellow classmates do not go to the extent as to share our links with one another, but we do talk about the the things we do find. We also use itunes and other forms of media other than audio in my classes just like the 21st century student.

The video does explain many interesting ways that students can use technology, but in many different ways we are already living in this age. People need to wake up and realize that the future really is now and that is not just a saying. It is really easy to do all of this if one knows what they are doing with the computer. There aren't very many courses at South that work quite like this students' class, but teachers need to begin setting their curriculum around technology because it how the world works these days.

Response to "Welcome to My PLE"

One thing that I realize is that when the students mentioned having the 'freedom' to do the assignments through the internet. So does this student mean that they enjoy doing their homework since they have the freedom to conduct their research online and many interesting methods to gather facts. I feel that whether it is a 7th grader or a college student there really is not that much of a difference in their PLE. At least for me personally it is much of the same as the student discussed in the video.

Blog Post #6


Response to "The Machine is Changing Us"

There really is rapid change happening. For example, look on tv and you find more and more shows that give people self-fulfillment and the new media is changing us in many ways. We are getting bored or "meh" with the now and we are using youtube and facebook to change everything around us. I really have never thought about how much youtube and these other outlets have changed how we view and receive things. Especially i.e. choosing which school to go to, but people are truly much more open because it is so much easier to explain things and open up to a camera rather than face-to-face with a real person. Another example of this opening of people today? The "Free Hugs Man!"