C4T#4 Summary

I was assigned to comment on a blog by a teacher in Sydney called "Classroom Chronicles."

The first post that I commented on was titled, "Thinking in the Classroom."  In this post she discussed how her students have begun blogging and using a class blog to open their minds and get the students to think for themselves.  Over the past summer she had attended a conference in New Zealand where a speaker talked about using smart phones and other technologies in the classroom.  Through her blog she asked her students and their parents to comment and give their opinion to this idea.  She listed a few of the comments that both teachers, students, and parents have given and they were all valid points.  She concludes by asking what we think can be done with this teaching tool.  Should we continue to ban them?  If not how can we use them while making sure the students are not youtubing or texting their friends?

I responded by saying:
"I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama.  This is a great idea and more teachers should be open to using ipads and other technologies as well because it can be such a great teaching tool.  However, I do understand where people come from when saying that those that cannot afford an ipad will not see the benefits.  That is why I feel that if a school is open to the idea of using these devices for teaching then they (the school) must be the buyer and provide them for their students.  This way every students has access to one.  When should these devices be used?  Well like everything in the world there is a time and place for everything.  These devices should be kept away until the time when they were needed.  And personally I feel that if it was ok to have smartphones and ipads that it will continue to be a problem, but not to the degree that it is now."


The second post that I commented on was the bloggers' personal picks for the 2010 Edublogs awards. The awarded areas that edublogs recognize are: Best Individual Blog, Best New Blog, Best Class Blog, Best Student Blog, Best Resource Sharing Blog, Most Influential Blog, Best Teacher Blog, Best Librarian Blog, Best Educational Blog, Best Educational Wiki, Best Educational Podcast, and Lifetime Achievement.

I commented with:
"Thanks for sharing these great blogs. I have not looked at all of these blogs (YET!), but of the ones that I have looked at I can see why you have nominated these are your personal picks. These are all great places to find lots of useful information for teachers."

C4K #8-# Summary

C4K #8:

I was assigned to comment on a student from Bryant HS named Rikimaru's blog. In the blog post they took a picture of some big guns on a ship and made the picture in black and white. The student ask what we would name the picture. I responded with:

"Hello,
I am also a student from the University of South Alabama. This picture is awesome! I like taking photographs on the side sort of as a hobby. Black and white pictures are my favorite simply because of the cool effects it creates. As for a name for your photo I would say, "A Look From the Past." I just get the sense that because it is black and white it is old and way back in history.

Great job!!!"

C4K #9:

I responded to a post by a girl name Nicole. In her post she blogged about a book that she recently read called "Welcome to the Club" by Martyn Godfrey. In the story the main character is asked to help this new nerdy person around school. The new student gets the main character in trouble, but in the end they become great friends.

I responded with:
"Hey Nicole,

I am a student from the University of South Alabama where I am learning how blogging and other types of technology are used in the classroom. In the class we are assigned to comment on students' blogs from all over the world, which I think is really cool. The book you read sounds like an event that happened in my life. I was asked to help a new student out if they needed help. The problem was is that I thought they were really odd and we would not get along. Surprisingly we became the best of friends and still are years later."

C4K#10:

In this post the students were asked by their teacher to complete an assignment through a blog post answer the three questions specified. Two were serious question related to the class. The final question however was just a simple question asking what they were thankful for to get the students to respond.

"Hello Kacie,

I am a student from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. It has been a long time since I have learned polynomials, but your response is very clear and easy for me to understand. I also totally agree with you. I am always thankful for the great friends I have!"

C4K #11:

I commented on a student named Melissa's blog. She posted about how her school had canceled for the day because it had started snowing. I responded with:

"Hello Mellisa,

I am a student from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I am 22 years old and all through school I can remember only one day that we got off for snow. That one day was last year. The crazy about it was that only about an inch and a half of snow and they canceled school. It really did make me laugh considering it was so little yet there were so many accidents. It continues to amaze me how drastically different across the world."

Yasmine's Blog Post:

She blogged about a picture of her feeding a horse and all the adventures should went on that day. However, she forgot to post the picture into the blog so we only had the text to comment on.

"I am also attending the University of South Alabama. We can't see the picture, but from the way you talk about the experience it is very obvious that you had a great time. It is always nice when you can get out and take a few minutes from the busy world to 'stop and smell the roses'"

Blog Post #13

ALEX stands for the Alabama Learning Exchange where teachers or even students can go and find very helpful and useful information. For teachers they even have lesson plans for subjects of all sorts. The program was started by the Alabama Department of Education as a way for teachers to share different types of educational materials and information all at one location.
Teachers are able to communicate with one another through the site. The site not only offers lesson plans, but also there are links to interactive resources for the classroom. Under the courses of study portion of the site the subjects are broken down from arts education to physical education to driver education and many other courses. Under each division there are smaller, more specific subjects. The site even has material for all levels of students. Each course has available web resources, lesson plans, and a section for podcasts that can be used. The site has a section for teachers title personal workspace where they can have their own space to share their own personal ideas and teaching plans.
Personally I really like that program and I am completely astonished at all the available material to the public for FREE! Now that I know this site exist I am bookmarking it on my computer for use when I have finished my degree and get a job of my own.

Project #15

Progress Report for Project 15

For project 15 I am working in a group with Len Jenkins and Jameson Branch.  We will create a video explaining how we will each use technology in our classrooms.  By having a group discussion we will be able to give feedback to one another and other ideas that they give us that we can incorporate into our classes.

Project #6

In my results for project #6 I learned many surprising things. I sent a form asking questions concerning the parking situation at the University of South Alabama and if they thought a parking complex would be a good idea as some students have voiced interest in.

I found out that 18 of 22 of the responses I received were from females. 82% (or 18) of those that responded were part of the Junior class. This was an interesting stat in my opinion because I am actually part of the Senior class where there was not a single responder. By far the most surprising thing I learned in doing this summary is that all but 3 of the 22 responders have housing on campus. I also live on campus and thought that this number would have been much higher.

Not surprisingly however many of the students park in the south parking zone. On a scaled answer from 1 to 10 the majority (82%) of students say that parking in their zone was a 4 or higher (10 being the worst). 64% of students (or 14 of 22) think the University should construct a new parking garage, but when asked where the garage should be located no two people had the same location in mind. Being that parking is a problem and it is free at the Mitchell Center I was surprised when only 8 students (36%) said they did utilize this facility.

As seen through my form analysis students think that parking is a problem and a new garage would be appreciated. However, no one agrees on where a garage needs to be placed to help ease the pains of parking at South.

Response Summary

Blog Post #12

Assignment: Look at this list of blogs on the topic of technology in the music classroom. Look at several of these blogs. Pick one of these blogs and find one article to give comments on. I recommend looking for a blog post that gives a few programs that can be used to aid in the teaching of music in the classroom.

http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-15-music-education-blogs/

Now I am completing my created assignment:

I choose an article from the blog be a techie. In this article the author Carlos Broos talks about some of the programs and new technologies that he used over the summer of 2010. The first product on this list is the ipad. He uses this in the classroom as well as meeting and conferences to take notes and show videos. He uses a website created by Dr. Joseph M. Pisano called Music Personal Learning Networking where music educators can share different ideas to implement in their classes. He list several more programs and sites that he used and how they can be used by teachers to make their jobs easier and a better teacher.

Blog Post #11

First of all let me say that these kids totally amaze me. They are talking... like adults! I would have never guessed that these kids are 1st graders. It made me laugh when one child said that they wrote in their books, but they really like writing in their blogs. Another thing is that these kids are from Canada.

Should the U.S. re-think the way they look at education. This video makes it seem like these kids are far beyond American first graders. How many American first graders can create a wiki or even know what a wiki is. These kids are learning how to direct videos, teamwork on projects, and how to put their ideas together to make videos. Does anyone else find this a little crazy? And what is this... they are using their Nintendo DS' to learn? Is that possible? Would schools in the U.S. even consider the thought of using "video games" in their classrooms for education? More than likely not. In the interview with Ms. Cassidy I really like the part where she talked about how she has had several principals and they have all allowed her to continue the program. It really makes me happy to see that there are several principals out there that will listen to their teachers.

Project #14

C4K #3-7 Summary

I have really found that these comments on kids blogs are actually fun. I enjoy how the teachers seem to comment on every one of the students' post. In C4K #3 I watched a video that a student put together. I have forgotten how wild and crazy children's imaginations can be. In post #4 I was assigned to a student that posted about her dog. She even posted a picture of her dog. This student is in the 6th grade and I was shocked at how well the student wrote. The post was very well written and honestly much better than my writing at her age. C4K #5 the student posted on how they wanted to start using sites such as glogster to start following some of her favorite bands. This post made me happy because I felt like because of the student blogging and using technology in the classroom she was able to come across sites like glogster. In post #6 the student post what some of her favorite things were. I commented by telling some of my favorite things. Post #7 was a class blog where the teacher had posted the study guide for one of their upcoming test. I told him that being a student as well it was very much appreciated when study guides and other important materials were posted online.

C4T #3 Summary

Post #1:

In Lisa's post she blogs about easybib and how it has been added to the applications on Google Marketplace. She gives a few reasons why easybib is so great and especially now since you can now sign on through google. She has also embeded a youtube video showing what easybib can do. I commented by saying:

"Great post Lisa! I am glad to see that there are educators out there that like easybib. I have used it in the past and really liked the site. However, some professors are against students using easybib on assignments. I feel that by having it added to the Google Marketplace it says something about the site."

Post #2:

In the second post she talks about how the week before she was supposed to give a session on a tool that she had been using, she found out that the tool was about to be shut down. She ask if this has ever happened to anyone and what they did in that situation. I responded with:


"Hey Lisa,
Another great post Lisa! This post has really made me come to a major realization. What would I do if some of the important sites I used suddenly shut down? This semester I have used dropbox and other tools quite a bit. Obviously this has never happened to me before, but it is really something I should start thinking about. People really do need a Plan B in emergency situations.
Thank you for possibly saving my life from a possibly major technological situation."

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.

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.

Skype Interview

TimeToast Project: Instructional Timeline

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

Individual Timeline