Blog Post #10

Do You Teach or Do Your Educate?
I decided to become an elementary education major because I know I work well with kids and I am more than confident I can be a great educator. I questioned if I should be a teacher or not two years ago because I was concerned about the low salary. I know now that is the profession I want to be in. I know I will enjoy my job because I love kids and I would rather make less money enjoying my profession than make more money and be miserable. I have had many teachers make an impact on my life and to me that’s worth more than a ton of money.
This video was ridiculously dramatic in the music but it got the point across. There are many teachers in the country that only teach and don’t educate. That is what we are trying to steer away from. I know I want to be a teacher and I want to be able to educate students. I want to go the extra mile. I want to be the teacher that students feel comfortable to ask any question what so ever, who will inspire them, and whom they feel comfortable around. I not only want to teach students their core subjects, but as well confidence, belief in themselves, and to not be afraid to ask questions.

Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home
I thought the blog post on pencils very humorous and it also sends a great message. As teachers, we should focus on finding a solution rather that meditating on a problem. This gets us nowhere! We can only guide them as much as possible and hope that they use the tools we give them in the most beneficial way. Kids are constantly learning and, believe it or not, kids can teach themselves a thing or two! We cannot go home with the students and make sure they don't visit any non-educational websites and we can't keep them from such a useful tool such as a pencil just because of our fears!
I also agreed with the message it had on standardized testing. So many teachers are worried about test scores rather than the actual learning of a child. In today's school system that is easy to do. Many teachers' jobs depend on their ability to make sure the students learn the test. By only teaching the test teachers may not actually educate their class and the class as a whole may suffer and miss out on many lessons that they need to carry on to the next grade level. This is a sad but realistic system. This makes educators jobs a little harder. We must focus on the child and not the test. I know I will remember this lesson and keep it in mind when I have a classroom of my own.

C4T #3

C4T #3

These past two weeks I had the chance to read 2 posts by Mr. Kemp at: UNFILTERED AND UNFINISHED

Oct. 23
Mr Kemp’s first post I commented on was about needing a learning revolution in the schools, at home, and in the workplace. He states that all of the advances made over the decade have been restricted and need to be used and shared. I commented back telling him I was a student in EDM310 and I shared my views on his post. I agreed with his post and told him about Richard Miller’s Video This Is How We Dream, Parts 1 and 2 only because it is related to Mr. Kemp’s post. I posted how Mr. Miller’s video talked about how we could be some of the first educators in the process of that fundamental change in human communication and we should want to be apart of that. A fundamental change in human communication could lead to a learning revolution.

Oct. 30
The 2nd post by Mr. Kemp that I commented on was very brief. He stated a quote via twitter by Simon Sinek saying, “The more you talk about what you believe, the more everyone will know what you believe.” Mr. Kemp also states in his post that we have to step outside of our comfort zones to better ourselves. I commented back by agreeing with his post and stating that information is largely spread by word of mouth and if we share our beliefs to others then more and more people will hear.

Smart Board Presentation Project #13

Blog post #9

What I’ve learned this year 08-09
Mr. McClung started off by noting that in your classroom, it’s not 100% about delivering the content, it’s about checking for student comprehension. I think that is very true. Although teachers should be able to deliver the material well, the students have to be able to understand what they are being taught. He also talks about being flexible because your lessons will not always go as planned. I feel that with lesson plans there is room for adjustment for the lessons because it may take longer for your class to comprehend one topic longer than another. Mr. McClung next talks about communication and how important it is within the work place. Teachers should always communicate with other teachers and staff for help, questions, and teaching advice. Communication is the best way to have a better work environment. One of the most important points he makes is to not be afraid of technology. I have truly conquered that fear while in EDM310. I know that technology can be overwhelming, but I’ve learned that I’m a lot more knowledgeable of computers than I give myself credit for. Another point Mr. McClung makes is listen to your students. I feel that the more you know your class the better the learning experience will be for both the student and teacher. The last thing he talks about is that teachers should never stop learning. As a student I learn something new every day and it makes me a better person. As a future educator I know that I am going to learn so much from my students as they will from me. Allowing ourselves to learn only makes us more mature and intelligent.

What I learned this year 10-11
The first point Mr. McClung makes is to remember the reason we are in this profession. As teachers we are here for the students, not to please the other staff in our school. The next thing he talks about is change. Although some teachers may not jump on the new ideas for teaching methods, it shouldn’t influence your way of teaching. I know that when I start teaching I will always be open to change. There is always going to be something that changes within our lives, instead of fight it, why not go with it and see how much more you can improve your teaching methods. We may surprise ourselves. One very important thing Mr. McClung states is that he is happy with the teacher he has become. He accepts the fact that he may sometimes be an outsider compared to the other staff, but that only shows him that his focus is on the student. He also states that it is very important to resist the urge to take control of how a student learns. If a student has a harder time grasping a topic, teachers should put more effort into making sure they master the topic. If teachers just do the work for the students then they haven’t learned any thing and will continue to get further behind causing the teacher and student to have to work even harder. Lastly Mr. McClung states that teachers shouldn’t get too comfortable. Although routines do help in certain aspects, it’s sometimes better to change things up and have more variety within the classroom.

Blog post #8

This is How We Dream/Teach: The first video I watched began by talking about the traditional way of learning. It showed a library and books. It spoke of publishing paper copies and other traditional things. Then Richard Miller speaks of a new way for learning: Multimedia. One great part of this multimedia is that it is never checked out and can therefore be shared always.
He calls it "Sharing knowledge infinitely". Now not only can we learn by sight, but we can learn by many other senses as well. Print, sound and visual learning can all be combined into only one document. The speaker gives a great quote when speaking on becoming a multimedia teacher. "This is the idea to push forward our learning. Why wouldn't we be on the front line for that?" What a great point! I feel that I am on the fast track to being able to teach multimedia. Then my students will also be able to use multimedia to its fullest.

I very much enjoyed Cary’s blog post. She showed great amounts of creativity by suggesting a You-tube playlist as the assignment. She states in her post that “good teachers teach by example.” This statement is much related to Richard Miller’s ideas in his video How we dream, parts 1& 2. I think the idea of doing videos for an assignment is fantastic. My mom loved how one of our assignments was a book trailer and she is going to try to start making them for her class. She even said that her kids pay so much more attention to anything that deals with a computer. Videos would be a great assignment for students.

I enjoyed the Chipper series and I thought that the EDM310 for dummies video was absolutely hilarious, but I definitely felt like I could relate. This semester in EDM310 hasn’t been easy by any means. I totally wish this book would get published because I would have definitely read it before taking this class. If I could create a video it would be called Freshman 15 for Dummies. I would talk about my experiences and how I gained my freshman 15lbs. Admit it, we all have probably put on a few pounds since the beginning of high school. I would also talk about ways to prevent gaining the freshman 15 and how to stay at a healthy weight.

Learning to Change: One of the first arguments made was that children enjoy their time more outside of school because then they can access technology resources. If we want children to enjoy school then technology needs to be incorporated. I know that classrooms in Mobile County have smart boards and computers, so the availability of technology is definitely there. I also agree with the point made that technology isn’t a choice. This is the way people learn today and it has to be introduced and used in the classroom.

Project #12

Blog Post #7

Before beginning this lecture I was very nervous I wouldn’t be able to keep my attention on the video long enough. I first noticed how many views this video had and then knew that it wasn’t going to be a boring video by any means. This video had almost 14 million views, now that’s impressive.

In Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture Achieving Your Childhood Dreams he first starts out by saying you can’t change the cards you are dealt. He begins the lecture very up beat and happy. Pausch announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer and he only had a short time to live. He made it clear in the very beginning of the video that he wasn’t going to let his situation discourage him and just wanted to really teach people how to live their lives to the fullest. He knew he couldn’t change his situation, he decided he would deal with it, make the best of it, and learn to make in impact in the short time he had.

Pausch begins the lecture as if he really wanted to make an impact on peoples lives. One of his first dreams he talks about was playing for the NFL. Although he didn’t fulfill that dream he says he got more out of that dream in not accomplishing it than he got out of any other dream. He said what he got out of trying to achieve that dream was more valuable. That is a very important statement to me. Although you can’t achieve your dream, you can still learn and achieve so much more even if you just try.

Although some of his dreams were very silly like winning stuffed animals, he was still very proud of that dream and enjoyed sharing all of his stuffed animal experiences with the audience. Pausch also states in the video the meaning of brick walls and that they are there for a reason. He wanted to become an Imaginer for Disney and was immediately turned down. That was his first brick wall he had faced with his dreams, but he didn’t get discouraged. He stated that these brick walls let us prove how badly we want things. I agree with Randy Pausch on that, if we are once turned down for anything it makes us strive even harder to get what we wanted. Although Mr. Pausch was turned down at first, he finally was able negotiate a contract with John Snotty and got to work on the Aladdin project. Just like Mr. Pausch said, “Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.” He never gave up on that dream and finally was able to fulfill it.

Mr. Pausch next talks about wanting to enable the dreams of others. Pausch began a course named Building Virtual Worlds. He was blown away by the 1st assignment given to his students. He stated he could have easily given all of his students As in the very beginning of the class, instead he told them that they could do better so that he could see what else they would bring to the table. After each assignment they continued to impress him just by his encouragement to do a better job.

Randy Pausch's last lecture was incredibly inspirational. He wanted his students as well as his two young children to live out their dreams just how he was able to. I feel that his last lecture will be one that will be remembered for years to come. I never thought that I would watch a You-tube video that I really felt like it was well worth sharing with someone till Mr. Pausch’s Last Lecture.

PLN Project #10

For my PLN I used Symbaloo. Right now it is a work in progress. At first I thought developing a PLN was going to be very difficult, but Symbaloo was very easy to use and navigate. I currently have 38 tiles. When organizing my PLN I put all of my useful resources and website tiles for EDM310 along with other important South Alabama tiles at the top. I also added a tile forMobile County Public School System to keep up with recent news. At the bottom of my PLN are the various tiles for websites I like to visit and shop at in my spare time. I think having a PLN is great especially since everything you need to access can be found in one place. This is a great way to eliminate having multiple windows or tabs open at one time! I am still working on my PLN and will continue working on it for a long time. I hope at some point to create a perfect PLN for all my educational needs. Here is my current PLN:

Project #9b

Short Movie Project #11

C4T Summaries

For my C4T I was to read and comment on Mr. Steve Miranda’s Blog. I thoroughly enjoyed reading many of his posts and have challenged my opinion on a few issues we face within our schools. The first post I read was, “The high school transcript is the most nefarious force in education that no one is talking about.” In this post he briefly states a few scenarios of students and the grades they will receive for their class. One student he talks about doesn’t get the best grade due to not turning in assignments on time, but is one of the finest writers he has had in his class. Mr. Miranda states that the high school transcript is unbelievably powerful and it shapes how students spend their high school years and beyond. If transcripts could show more than just grades then more students would succeed in higher education. I agree with Mr. Miranda. Transcripts should show how students excelled in other aspects of high school, not just their GPA and course grades. There would be more opportunities for non-straight A students that have just as much a chance of success in college.

The next post I commented on was, “Certifying 14-year old poets.” Mr. Miranda thinks that numerical grades should be eliminated and that the grading system turns education into places of certification. He believes that students should focus more on course material and content instead of striving for the highest grade. He also poses the question, “Should a 14-year-old who is forced to take a required class in poetry be subjected to a process of certification?” In my opinion poetry inspires students to think more, write more, imagine more, and be more creative. I don’t think poetry is something to be graded because it’s a form of art. Teachers should look to see if students have mastered the concept of poetry rather than writing the best poem. I agree with Mr. Miranda completely that students focus more on the grade they will receive rather than comprehending the course material. I don’t know if grades should be eliminated completely, but I do think that teachers should encourage students to strive to achieve something more ingenious than just earning an A in a class.

C4K September Summaries

The 1st child ‘s blog I commented on was Tule. She was very excited about her school’s soccer team for being the champions for New Zealand. I told her that was such an amazing accomplishment and that she should be so proud of her team! It’s great for kids to get involved in sports, it teaches them to work together.

My 2nd comment for kids was Brianna. She was in a video for her class. In the video each student said how he or she are similar and different. I told her it is great that she can relate to other students but still shine on her own by being different. I also shared with her how I am similar and different to others. I discovered that She and I are both creative.

The last kid’s blog I got to look at was Simone. Simone talked about her avatar. Each student had to make an avatar character for his or her blog. Instead Simone made her avatar a picture of her cat Bille. She also told a story of how Billie came to live with her. I told her about my cat Lilly and a silly story of how I got her as a child.

Blog post #6

The Networked Student

I thought this video was very interesting. In this short video we were given a sight into what 21st century teachers should know. Until this semester I had very little knowledge of a lot of the resources the student used in this video. Some of the resources mentioned were Skype, Delicious, Google Scholar, and iTunesU. I just learned about iTunesU for the first time last week since it was my podcast topic.

If we all could learn how to properly use all of these resources then we would be prepared to teach students how to be productive in a 21st century classroom. I think that the teacher still plays a very important roll in the 21st century student’s life. I liked how the teacher got excited when the student finds good or new content. I'm very nervous about being a 21st century teacher in the future but I'm willing to do all that I cant to be prepared.

The PLN was amazing! I can’t believe that a 7th grader put that together with the assistance of Wendy Drexler. How impressive! She did a very good job explaining how to use and access information for her PLE. She makes is seem very easy to use!

Project #8