Project 15

Blog Assigment #13

For this assignment, we were to go technology-less for 24 hours!! Needless to say, I failed miserably. I do not know what life was like before technology. I have never noticed how much I actually use and depend on my phone and computer. The longest I made it without picking up my phone was about 10 hours. I was asleep for 6 of those hours. I can live without the TV and such for a whole day but definitely not my phone. I have an iPhone so everything is in the palm of my hand. I use Facebook, Twitter, and text the most. I do not think that I have an adequate reason as to why this is so hard for me. Maybe it is habit? I do not really remember a time when I did not have access to a phone or the computer. It is almost like breathing for me. I do it and not even realize. I wonder how many people honestly succeeded at this?? I am not sure how my students will react when they come to my class. I hope to let them engage with technology throughout the day so hopefully they do not go into technology withdrawals. I think it is great that we encourage and teach the use of technology in the classroom. Depending on the age, as soon as they step foot out of school, they will turn to either a phone or a computer! So let's engage what they know with what they learn!

Final Report on PNL

C4T #4

The teacher that I got to read to posts from this week is Jenny from Auckland, New Zealand. She is a primary teacher who has been blogging since 2009. In her most recent post, she mentions taking up photography. She was inspired from a Facebook friend about using her iPhone to snap some pictures. She displays some beautiful pictures of flowers she took using her phone. They look great! The moral of her story was about the differences between simple cameras and expensive cameras. "The happiest people don’t have everything, they just make the best of everything." This is a great quote to remember. We should all remember this in our future classrooms. We need to make the greatest impact on our students with whatever resources we have available.

Jenny also posted about Google+. She overheard a family member having a hangout session with her class. So Jenny started thinking about how Google+ could be used in her classroom. Do you think it would be a good idea? I think it's great to introduce new things to the classroom. You could add the students into your "circle." I want my students to be well rounded in all things. I would love to introduce them to this!

Creativity and Curiosity: My Thoughts - Special Post #12A

I do not think that schools in the United States destroy curiosity and creativity as much as they use to. I think that the reason there has been a change in the way teaching is approached, is the use of technology. Computers allow for a lot more curiosity and creativity than any other teaching device. Curiosity and creativity go hand and hand, in my opinion. When you are curious about something, you tend to be more creative in the outcome. If you have no desire in the project you are assigned, more than likely, you will have zero effort in making your presentation creative. I am not really sure how much curriculum has to do with curiosity and creativity. I think it is more to do with the teacher and how he or she approaches it. I most definitely think that a teacher can change the way their students are curious about something or not. I also think that a teacher can encourage their students to be creative. It is important to be lead by example. I will not expect my students to put effort into something and make it have a personal touch, if it is not something that I would do myself. I will choose to be curious and creative so that I can have some affect on my students.

Elspeth Bishop is the author of Curiosity Fuels Creativity. She is a writer from Colorado who loves the outdoor. You can get in touch with her through Google+.

Blog Assignment 12

Engage Me (2:40) Watch this video about how elementary students feel about using technology. Write a opinionated response to how you agree/disagree with the students and why.

This video is great! If you have any doubt as to why we should use technology in the classroom, maybe your opinion has changed now. Have you ever thought about what our students think about technology in the classroom? Through the video you see that our students use technology EVERY day outside the classroom. Why not integrate it into a learning aspect of the classroom? The more I see on the subject of technology in the classroom, they more I am on board with it. Why are we not teaching our students how to succeed outside the classroom? The best part about this video is that our students WANT to learn all of these things. The ideas shown in the video came straight from the students. How amazing is it that our students want to be engaged?? They want to be apart of their learning career. I think it is our jobs as teachers to help them thrive with this type of energy. We need to be the ones to introduce things such as blogging, pod casting, and all other sorts of tools.


 I am really glad that we got to make our own assignment. I just spent a hour on YouTube looking at such great videos. They were all so different it was hard to choose one to make an assignment out of all of them. I think that a great assignment would be to just play around on YouTube, see what you can find. Of course, there would have to be an assignment behind it, but there is just so much out there! Go to YouTube, type in your field and technology and go from there! You will be amazed at the place you end up!

Final Project Summary

For our final project, my group tends to make a video of how to create a website. The website is simple and easy enough for our students to do on their own. The video will be detailed instructions how how to teach our students to create their website. With these websites, we have in mind that it would be used for certain major projects and assignments. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

April C4K Summary

The student I have for the World Blog Challenge is Reece. He is a student from Canada who loves collecting rocks and coins. In his first post I read, he talks about how he loves sports, particularly soccer. He plays on a team has won tournaments before. When I responded to him, I asked for information about soccer! I've never played so I am curious to see how the game works. I wanted to know how points were scored, when the game is over, and the different rules the game has. I encouraged him to right more because he only has one post this year! I hope to see a new post when I return next week!

Unfortunately, Reece did not post again. So the next student blog I got to visit was Lillian! She is a student here in the USA who loves math, the piano, drawing, and sharks! She wrote a post about planes. She has a goal to be a pilot in the Air Force one day. The best think about her post is that she admits to being highly claustrophobic. It shows that she is a strong person who can push past this to help serve her country!

The third student that I got to comment on was a student who loves the outdoors. He made a post about drug dealers and littering. He mentions how the drug dealers are littering and how others are picking up the habit too. In my reply, I asked if his school participates in drug free and litter free programs. I also suggested that if they did not, he should suggest a campus cleanup. Every small bit helps!

The last student that I got to view this month was Aaliyah. She is a first grade student from Canada. She posted about the class trip to the art museum. During their trip, they got to make their own teepee and the learned about buffaloes. I think it is great that first graders are blogging. Although their post can be hard to decipher, they are learning and trying! That is all that matters. In my response I asked if she learned who lived in the teepees and if they learned what the teepees were made of.

C4T #3

The teacher's post I am reading this week is called Think Thank Thunk: dealing with the fear of being a boring teacher. The author is Shawn Cornally. He is a teacher in Iowa who is really trying to change the way he teaches. He posts often and in quite detail. The first post was titled Scheduling Experiments: Open Periods Make Me Seethe. At his school in Iowa, the students get an 84 minute open period each day. The period is suppose to be used for homework, studying, and things of that sort. But it is often used for anything but school related material. One of the big problems is that the students strive for getting that free block and it is not because they cannot wait to study! Is giving these students a "free" period teaching them that just simply being at school is important? Do they not get enough free time once they get home? Mr. Cornally suggests that something wise be done during their open period such as an art class or even learning Japanese. I think if an open period must be given, at least an extracurricular activity could take place during those 84 minutes.

In his second post that I viewed, he talks about reconstructing the way standards are approached. He wants his students to be apart of the way things are done in his classroom. For example, he gives them a choice as to take a quiz or to do something different. If they choose on Wednesday that they want to take the quiz, they will take it on Thursday. I have never really enjoyed taking quizzes but I would probably to choose to take one like some of his students do! I think quizzes help you out in the end. Mr. Cornally stated that "My kids will know stuff, and they’ll know how to figure it out." This statement really says a lot about the kind of teacher he is. You can truly tell the he sincerely cares about his students. I think there should be more teachers like this! We should all really want our students to succeed. We need to do what it takes to reach that outcome.