Project 16

Final Blog Assignment

Project 13

For Project 15 and 16, I was in the group Team Fantastic. For project 15, we did a lesson plan on second grade social studies. For our final project, we did a video on How to Fail EDM310. When we collaborated on our projects, we stayed simple and just used Email and SMS message. On our SMART board lesson, we also used the NoteBook software that we had downloaded on our computers. We had a great group and our projects went perfectly!

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.

Blog Assignment # 11

Little Kids.. Big Potential. In this video, I love the way Ms. Cassidy approaches technology. When I first started in EDM310 and was introduced to the idea of student blogs, I was a little skeptical. But now I can see the awesomeness that the blogs bring! One of the greatest things is that it helps strengthen the students' writing abilities. They are getting extra practice and having a fun time doing it! If I have upper level elementary students, I would love to have a class blog. Who knows? I might have future EDM310 students comment on my kids' blogs! I really like the idea of Skype in the classroom. I thought it was super cool that they were skyping with a geologist! I want to do something like that in my own classroom! I also would like to incorporate the types of websites the students had as choices during centers. I just think it's so cool that students are excited to learn and excited to put what they know to use. Watching her video and hearing about how she got started in technology, really REALLY makes me excited to have my own classroom one day! I just can't wait!

Blog Assignment #10

Teach or Educate? That is the question. I have never really thought of the two words as having that much of a difference. But this video really sets the two apart. According to the video, teaching is to explain something, encourage facts, give information, cause someone to learn, and induce them by example or punishment to do or not do something. This definition does not sound too far off from what a teacher does. But once you see what an educator does, hopefully you would make the switch! An educator is one who enlightens, inspires, and empowers. An educator is one who gives intellectual, moral, and social instruction. Can these things be given by someone who just gives information and facts? No! We must be educators. The kind that the video shows. Educators that are mentors, experienced, and trusted advisors. I think it is super important to be more than just the lady that knows the facts. I want my students to grow as people. I do no want to be a boring teacher whose kids do not learn anything. I want them to learn about school related materials and I also want them to learn about life. I want to help them think outside the box and help them relate things to the real world. I do not think a "teacher" can do these things. But I know strongly believe that an "educator" can! That is %100 what I want to be!

Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home
The man the writes this blog is brilliant. I spent a lot of time reading Tom Johnson's Adventures in Pencil Integration. In the particular post we were assigned to, Johnson uses pencils as a metaphor for computers/technology. In this situation, Gertrude, an academic specialist, tells Mr. Johnson to not let the students take the pencils home. She says that when they get home, they will use their pencils for entertainment purpose and end up with lower test scores. Technology in the classroom is a big topic that we have researched a lot for our class. Several times I have came across the problem of students using their computers for games and other entertainment purposes. This is where Gertrude is going with the pencils. Even if the students are going home to play Hangman, aren't they still learning while not even trying? They are thinking of words and spelling. Just because computers are used in the classroom, and yes they are also used for recreational purposes, it does not mean that they are not learning anything and their test scores will automatically be lower. I like how Mr. Johnson does not dwell on the problem. He constantly pushes solutions about students' and their pencils. I say let them bring them home! Learning does not stop the minute they leave the classroom!

Project #14

Blog Assignment #9

The First Year Mr. McClung talks about loosing touch with his audience. I can see where a lot of teachers do this when they are starting off. While we are in our student teaching, it's lesson plans, lesson plans, lesson plans. We have to a have great lesson plans because we are trying to please our teachers. The main focus should be the students. I like how Mr. McClung pointed out that it is the student comprehension that matters the most. I think that every future teacher needs to read this next line and always keep it in mind: "NO LESSON IS EVER PERFECT. THE LESSON YOU TEACH AND THE ONE YOU PLAN ARE ALWAYS DIFFERENT." This shows that being a teacher means being flexible. Leave your OCD habits at the door. In Mr. McClung's post, he mentions communication and the importance of it with fellow teachers. Communication is a great thing to have with anybody. Like Mr. McClung said, it is not something that comes easy to everyone but it is something every one needs to have a working relationship with others. He says to be reasonable. We might think we are helping our students by setting high expectations but when they do not meet these expectations, we are hurting them. When it comes to technology, Mr. McClung says that we should not be afraid. I grew up with computers so it's hard to think of people who actually repel technology. Hopefully with time, everybody, especially teachers, will embrace technology! Another main point in this post is about listening to your students. I think this is a big deal. We expect them to listen to us and do as we say. We should listen to our students opinions. We could learn something from them! Lastly, Mr. McClung reminds us to never stop learning. I never want to stop learning. Things change everyday so we can learn new things everyday. I hope to always keep an open mind to learning new things!

The Third Year I really enjoy reading what Mr. McClung has to say. He is talking from experience and he makes it easy to relate to. In his reflection of his third year, he talks about knowing who your boss is. Teachers must never loose focus of who really matters at the end of the day and that is our students! It is easy to get wrapped up in the outside world and worry about pleasing other adults. There is no need to be. Always keep your students in mind. The post also talks about not expecting others to have the same thought as you. Mr. McClung would get excited about new presentations and ideas for the classroom and others wouldn't. I hope to never cross to the dark side like he mentioned. I have had too many teachers in my life who I feel like crossed to to the dark side. I do not want my students to ever think about me like that! Another great point I will remember from this blog is to not be afraid of being the outsider if it involves your students being benefited. I never want my students to feel like I'm neglecting them or that I don't like them. I'm glad there are teachers that want to sit with their student's at lunch and like to communicate with them. When Mr. McClung talks about not teaching the keyboard, his remarks really hit home. I get so frustrated when I ask someone to help me do something on the computer and they just take over and do it. In the end, I learned nothing from them! This was a great way to relate to education. No matter how hard sometime tries, do not do it for them. They will not learn anything! We do not want that for our students. Remember to make sure that they benefit from it even if it is a little frustrating at the time. In his last thoughts on this post, Mr. McClung talks about being "movers and shakers." He wants us to not a reach a point where we are comfortable with how we teach and stop. We need to keep moving forward and I think these are great words to live by. Keep moving forward!

March C4K

The first kid blog that I commented on this week was a 4th grade student from the UK! The kids were bribed with a class party if they got to 500 blog posts by Easter! So the kids were posting about anything! The particular post I read was a short story by Neusha. The story was filled with a candy land with dinosaurs and wasps. I like to see the imagination that comes out of students mind. I enjoyed reading the creativity that came across!

Project #12

Blog Assignment #8

This Is How We Dream
These two videos are are form Richard Miller of Rutgers University. The videos are about how technology should change how we think about the future, about teaching, and about learning. The first part of the videos is about writing and how it has changed in our culture. Everything regarding writing has changed. How we write, where we write, and where we publish is all different than how it use to be. These are electronic now and available at the touch of a button. This video points out that the days of having to go to the library to research something is a memory of the past. If you have access to a computer, you can find pretty much anything you need. This goes along with how much we have learned in this class about the classroom and the importance of technology. The computer and internet makes anything possible when it comes to learning and teaching. In the videos, Miller talks about two different types of changes; fundamental and incremental. Incremental changes are such as articles always being on the web even if you delete it, it is still available. Another incremental change mentioned is that of sharing collaboratively. This is something that we get to experiment in EDM 310 with our next and final projects. Some fundamental changes are the internet downloads of lessons. We did a form of change when we made our podcast for a project. Miller also wants to see a new type of processing to be used by students when they compose their work. It was hard for me to really understand the message of this video. I had to watch it several times before I even could come up with my own opinion. I think I was too busy trying to pay attention to all of the different things on that screen that I was missing what he was saying. At the end, I can tell that he is trying to make a bigger and better future for the reading/writing aspect of learning. As of right now, I am not sure that I am prepared to write with multimedia. This video confused me on the subject more than anything. I hope to improve in that area so that I can teach my students to be efficient in this area when it is necessary.

Blog Post #12
I can only wish that I will be as creative and goal driven as Carly Pugh one day. She seems to have exactly everything planned out that she wants to project to her future students. She appears to be extremely organized and knows exactly what she wants with her career. Her blog post about the YouTube assignment sounds like a great idea. I actually want to do this to have for myself. I have never been addicted to watching YouTube videos but I feel like I may now. With Carly's post, I can understand Miller's writing with multimedia a little better. With Carly's assignment, you can put a story of your teaching philosophy together without really writing anything. Videos can come across better depicted that paper and pen can. Carly makes me want to strive to be a better student in college and a better teacher for the future!

EDM310 is Different
The Chipper Series is a great video about not procrastinating. I feel like I was a Chipper my first year at college. I did not want to do my work on time, I wanted the teachers to just tell me what I needed to do. In the end, that did not really work out to my advantage. Now I see things differently and I am doing much better at school. I think it is important for people to see this message so that they see the importance of learning for yourself. Students need to see where this can take them whether it is upwards to their masters or downwards to the garbage collector.
EDM for Dummies sums up the emotions you go through once you enroll in EDM310. I definitely wanted to throw my computer around the first couple of weeks. All of the information is so overwhelming! But once you learn how to work the programs that we use in the class, everything became so much clearer and I got to focus on the actual material instead of the programs being used. If I was to make a video to help other students in this class, I would want it to be about adding creativity. I would want to show some difference between a student's work who clearly adds no effort and show a student's who went above and beyond. I think it is important for us to remember that we are leaving a trail that any potential employer could look at. If we were to hire someone based off their blog, would you pick the Plain Jane? I bet we would all prefer the student who really got into the assigned project or post. Learn to Change, Change to Learn "We have to accept, as educators, that technology is not really a choice." This is a great statement that came from this video about technology in the classrooms. The more videos I see about this topic, the more I get excited about having my own classroom one day that is full of technology! An eye opener topic to why technology is important is the talk about what children do outside of the classroom. If what they take part in once they leave school is so much more advanced than what they do at school, which one do you think they will remember more? The children are all about texting, emailing, and Facebook. These are all highly advanced technological things. Why should we forbid these types of things at school. We need to incorporate such things in the children's learning. "It's the death of education but the dawn of learning." These is a bold and powerful statement. Teachers teaching is not the focus of the classrooms anymore. The focus is about the students learning and them learning in the most effective way.

 Scavenger Hunt 2.0
 1. Edmodo is a great site! It is a mix between Twitter and Facebook. Sign up as either a teacher or student and check out all the neat things you can do. In my future classroom, I would love to use this site. I can communicate with the students and their parents. I can also link up with other teachers to see what they are doing in their classroom. This site allows you to create groups, manage your calendar, and even keep up with grades. Students and their parents can log in to see missing assignments or notes from me! Another really cool feature from Edmodo is the quiz aspect. If I have a classroom of older students I would love to try this out. You can create, submit, and grade quizzes all in one spot. This is a wonderful site. I am so glad I found it on this scavenger hunt!
4. Photo Peach is a place where you can create and share slideshows. Music, captions, and comments can also be added to your slideshow. There is even a Photo Peach for educators where you can create an account and have a place for each student to create their own slideshow. You can choose to share their work with their parents and the community and keep it private from the public. Different versions of this site does cost per month and per number of students.
5.Poll Everywhere is a neat site. For small polls, it's free!

Create interactive meetings at Poll Everywhere

Project #11

For my video, I chose to read a story to my daughter and nephew. They were so excited to be in a video. I love to read children's books. My daughter has a huge library in her room because I cannot stay away from books at every store we go to! I enjoy reading to classrooms. I hope this is one thing technology does not take away from me.