Blog Post #15

Project #13

The ABC group used google docs, text messaging, and Skype for most of our project. We used text messaging to schedule times to meet and to elaborate on things that we may have misunderstood or disagreed on. We used Google Docs a lot to write our script and talk about our project. Google Docs was a tool that I had never used prior to this class. After using Google Docs, I've realized that this can cut down on a lot of unnecessary emailing or calling when group members are unavailable to use their phones or check their emails. Google Docs allows us to voice our opinions for group members to see and contribute feedback. Skype was a tool that we used to talk to each other if we all couldn't meet in person, to discuss ideas on our project that was too detailed to write about. Overall, these three technological tools were the keys to our group being successful and completing our projects on time.

C4T fourth Post

My seventh C4T was for Jeff Utecht "The Thinking Stick". Utecht talked about how technology has to be taught in schools. He talks about how the skill should be taught as opposed to the program. Utecht also talks about how the set point in achievement is not as important as teaching the skills and insuring that all of your students master this skill. I replied by saying that I agree with the fact that teaching a skill is better than teaching a program. When you teach a skill you allow to student to learn to use the skill within different programs as opposed to learning the program and not being able to navigate other programs that could potentially be operated using the same skills if you learned the program instead of the skill. I also commented on the set achievement point by saying that not all students learn at the same pace or achieve goals at the same time so the set point is definitely not as important as mastering the skill of technology. The skill will intern allow the student to work towards the goal of the set point once they've learned what they needed to learn.

My eighth C4T was for Jeff Utecht about Why K-12 schools are failing by not teaching search. Jeff talks about how frustrated he was to come to the realization that college professors cannot even search education things correctly. He starts off by talking about how students come to college not knowing how to search correctly because their K-12 teachers haven't taught them correctly. He goes on to realize that these teachers aren't teaching these skills or challenging students with their skills because they don't even know the skills themselves. I commented on Jeff's post by saying that I definitely agree with what he is saying because I can count on one hand how many professors I've had in four years that actually use modern technology inside the classroom. I told him that in high school, I wasn't taught how to properly search things so I definitely see where his frustration is coming from. I told him that I appreciated his post and that all teachers need to read and learn from this post.

C4T Third Post

My fifth C4T was for At the Desk teachers William Chamberlain. He talked about how he can remember the first time that he felt an emotional connection with a story a teacher told him. He said that he can still remember when the news was delivered to Bambi that she wouldn't be with her parents again. He says that his youngest daughter had the same experience with the movie Frankenweenie. He says that a teacher's goal should be to make a qualitative difference in their students and want students to attach an emotional feeling to the time that teachers spend with them. I replied by saying that I agreed with him. I told Chamberlain that I can remember the first emotional attachment that I had with a story, which was Freckle Juice. I told him that my teacher read it to the class as if it were really happening. I can still remember being able to feel how badly the kid wanted to fit in that he bout a freckle juice marker to put on his face.

My sixth C4T was for LiveScribe William Chamberlain. This blog post was about the LiveScribe pen and his firs time using it. It was really cool because I had seen it before but I didn't know what it was called. After being exposed to the actual program on this blog I was really interested in finding out how to make them for myself and know how to use them in my future classroom. This was a really cool and beneficial blogpost.

Second C4T Post

My Third C4T assignment was to Howard Rheingold. He posted a blog about Restoring Creativity in the classroom. Rheingold talked about how his mother was an art teacher and how she gave her students the permission to play and express themselves. He says that these activities in school are of a distant past and I couldn't agree more. I responded by saying that I definitely understood where he was coming from. I told Rheingold that I went to a performing arts elementary and middle school and they have now closed the elementary school down because of budget cuts. I told him that I agreed with him about them always focusing on academics and not enough of self expression. This is something that we need to focus more on because not all children are good at math and science some are great at music and art. I thought that Rheingold's post was very informative and I really enjoyed it.


My fourth C4T was about Ipads. Rheingold really explained the technology behind ipad and other mini tablets. He talked about the pros and the cons of these tablets and I thought that this was some very helpful information. I replied by thanking him for this sort of comparison. I told Rheingold that he really helped me because Apple recently released a statement about the new iPad mini coming out and I was seriously contemplating buying one. Reading this post really helped me weigh my options.

Project #16

C4K Summary November

My 8th C4K was for Filip. Filip talked about the leaning tower of Pisa and how it leans at 1.5 inches a year and that they actually shut it down before because they were afraid it would fall. I replied and told Filip that I didn't know anything about the Leaning Tower of Pisa and that his post taught me a lot. I also told him that he was a great writer.

My 9th C4K was for Halinka L. Halinka talked about the monster bash she participated in-in her class and Mr. Spicer's birthday. She said that her class had a monster bash where they participated in different experiments like the ghost eggs and vampire veins. She described each experiment in detail. Halinka also talked about Mr. Spincer's birthday. She said that they had Razbataz flavored Jamba Juice and she also made him a animoto for his birthday. I commented by saying that she was a great descriptive writer and that I could imagine how cool her experiments were just from her detailed descriptions. I also asked her if she enjoyed the monster bash and told her to keep up the good work.

My 10th and final C4K was for a 10th grade English student named Alexis Guthrie. Alexis wrote a reflection post about a story she read and related it to her life in high school. I commented by saying that she was a great writer and asked her which story did she read. I told her that I read other posts on her blog and she was a great writer and keep up the good work!

Project #15

SmartBoard Instruction Part II

Final PLN Report

Final Personal Learning Network

My personal learning network, as shown above, is composed of various things that I thought would help me throughout my career not only as a teacher, but as an adult. My PLN is in no particular order because everything on my network is connected in some sort of way. As you can see above my PLN is not "complete" so to speak because I plan to continue to network and make more connections throughout life that i'm sure will benefit me in some sort of way. The task of creating a PLN was definitely something that I needed to do to organize all of the things that benefit me.

Progress Report on Final Project

For our final project we have decided to go with option C, a ten minute video about EDM 310. My partner, Brittney Phinesee and I have decided to do a reunion show theme. We will set up the scene as a talk show to bring on a former EDM 310. The student will give advice on what to do, what not to do, and show some flash back videos of them having a nervous breakdown. It will have the feeling of one of the reunion shows of reality TV today. We have wrote the script,made the props, and plan to record our video some time this week.

Blog Post #13

A Vision of Students Today

A Vision of Students Today is a YouTube video about the feelings of students from their perspectives of the progression of education in a college setting. After watching this video from the stand point of a fellow student, I would have to say that I can definitely relate to the video. Some of the things in the video made me question how important it really is to have a traditional classroom setting? I mean is purchasing a $300 textbook and never breaking the seal really worth the debt? Is sitting in a classroom and listening to a professor lecture about something that at the end of class makes you even more confused really what college is about? It makes me wonder if all professors want to migrate from the traditional classroom setting or do they really enjoy the "Charlie Brown" methods that have created a complacent pattern within the art of teaching? As a student it bothers me that there are YouTube videos, teacher evaluations, as well as so many other forms of complaints about the methods of teaching, yet nothing has been done to improve them.

As a future educator, I look at this video as an outcry from students. Students want to see a transformation into the 21st century classrooms. Classrooms that don't involve chalk boards and discouragement of technology. Students want their professors to embrace Facebook and use it as a help site. They would like for smart boards and other technology that makes learning interesting, to be welcomed openly to the classroom and the learning setting. As future educators it is our jobs to make this happen. It is our jobs to remember that we were once struggling college students and that the cost of education alone is a penny pincher and the cost of books only increases the debt that we were once in. We have to becoming the driving force that can find alternate solutions for the traditional textbooks. Maybe we can send PDF files of the 20 pages that the students need from the 300 page text book that we would usually assign each of them. Maybe we can become more of a blended setting that meets only once a month to make sure that everyone is on track with everything. Maybe incorporating these changes can boost the excitement of education and the learning experience overall.

A Vision of Students Today was a great YouTube sensation that made me really open my eyes to the direction that education and technology is headed. Technology is indeed taking over the learning experience and it is time that students, teachers, administrators, and school systems as a whole began to embrace them for what they are: Educational Boosters!

Blog Post #12

For this blogpost we were asked by Dr. Strange to create an assignment that caters to our field of specialty.

My concentration is English/Language Arts. For my assignment, I would:
1. Instruct the class to watch this youtube video on How to Avoid 10 common grammar mistakes.
2. Write 1-2 paragraphs on one of these mistakes that you are guilty of commonly using incorrectly.
3. Write one paragraph on how you intend to correct this mistake
4. Write 1-2 paragraphs on how you intend to reinforce these important rules to your future students.

One of the common mistakes from this youtube video that I am definitely guilty of is dangling modifiers. I tend to put modifies in the wrong place and confuse the meaning of sentences. For example: The coffee spilled when Heather tipped over the cup; Instead it should read, "Heather spilled the coffee when she tipped over the cup." The first sentence would be wrong because it gives the spilling action to the coffee not Heather.

I intend to correct this mistake by practicing using the correct way more often. I also have to learn to think before I write, that would help tremendously. If I can catch my mistakes as I write then this task can be a lot less difficult to correct. I plan to also read my sentences aloud and allow myself to hear the dangling modifiers in order to catch them and correct them sufficiently.

As for my future students, I intend to teach the lesson of dangling modifiers all year long. I will start the year off with these sentences to see if anyone can identify whats wrong with them, teach the class why the sentences don't make any sense, use these sentences as periodic ice breakers at the beginning of the class period. This will allow me to teach and reinforce the lesson throughout the year. Because dangling modifiers are something that most people struggle with and are not able to correctly identify their mistakes, I think this is something that should be taught all year long. This will ensure that the students get ample amount of practice and opportunities to ask questions if they are confused with the subject matter.

Blog Post #11

Mrs. Cassidy's Classroom

Mrs. Cassidy's classroom is definitely inspiration for how I could incorporate technology in my future class room. In the YouTube video the students di blogging as well as used Nintendo DS video gaming systems to engage in different learning activities. I thought that this was a cool way for students to learn to use the computer for fun things can be educational as well. As far as the video game goes, I never knew before this video that a Nintendo DS could be used for things that are educational. Hand held games like this will create a learning environment for a child anywhere and make children want to learn.

Mrs. Cassidy's Skype Interview with Dr. Strange and some students from EDM 310 was also interesting. Being able to Skype with a teacher whose students are assigned to you to comment on their blog is cool in itself. Cassidy says that she started her own web page about ten years ago and blogging about five years ago. She also talked about how she began the blogging process with her students. she says that she began with five computers and initially used them as a center where students would exchange a certain times or on certain days.

Cassidy says that she got federal funding too further develop the blogs and educational programming for the computers. She says that she also has support from her administrators and a technology coordinator. Cassidy says in response to a security question asked by Dr. Strange, that she sends home a syllabus at the beginning of each year to parents stating the details about the blogging and other online components that their children would be engaging in and how she intends to maintain their security in the process. One way that does this is by posting only students first names and if pictures are posted, the face doesn't match up with the name. These are definitely techniques that are clever in trying to maintain safety of the students and I intend to use in my future classroom. Cassidy also says that parents tend to have very positive feedback on the idea that their children will be on the internet because they like the idea of being able to go online and see the progress of their child's learning experience; the students enjoy it of course, because they are already exposed to technology. This just teaches them that technology can be very educational.

One thing that stuck out to me that Mrs. Cassidy said was "Why would children want to write on paper for the teacher to see it when they can write on a blog for the world to see." Things like this are very exciting to students because they get to interact with people from around the world that they never would have been able to do without this blog.

Mrs. Cassidy suggests for students who want to learn more about blogging and developing a PLN to start their own network like a twitter, blog, or YouTube to cater to what interests you. She says that it's sort of hard in the beginning but the benefits from interacting with these people and connecting with people that can help in your career is great! Overall, this skype interview as well as YouTube video was great. I definitely learned a lot and plan to use her advise about the PLN very soon.

A World where Grades will be Left Behind Blog Post

A World where Grades will be left Behind

The USA today published an article about Sebastian Thrun, the man who built Google's driverless car, and how he feels about grades in the classroom. Thrun has created a learning network called Udacity.

Udacity is a learning network that allows its students to work at their own pace, determine the time that they spend on mastering a lesson, and has no grades. Thrun says these classes will involve the lessons becoming increasing more difficult as the student progresses in the classroom, just as a regular classroom is set up. This network also allows thousands of students to sign up for just one class opposed to only being able to fill the amount of seats in the class.

Thrun stresses that Udacity is not something that he created to take place of a traditional classroom setting but sort of a revolutionary alternate approach to learning. He also believes that grades are the death of education. Thrun says that the classes will be free but fees for things like tests, which will be taken separately, will be things that the student is responsible.

Reading about Thrun's revolutionary classroom made me feel excited about learning. I definitely agree with his opinion on grades in a classroom. Often times students are so obsessed with grades that they forget the learning experience. Students become slaves to grades and only do the work sufficient enough for the master's approval. This is not a healthy way of learning and obtaining information for the long haul.

Another thing that I loved about Udacity was that it was free with the exception of some outside fees for tests and things of that sort. This means no more spending $300-$400 on one book that you can sell back for only a fraction of the price. This program will allow a lot more students to sign up for a class instead of waiting til next semester because a class was full. Overall, I thing Udacity is a great alternate learning approach and I hope i'll be around when it makes its impact on education

C4K Summary October

My third C4K assignment was for a fourth grade student named Thomas Riker @thorik954. He wrote a letter to Santa asking for some toys, a RedSox sweatshirt and some Buffalo Sabres Hockey Cards. He goes on to tell Santa that he's been a good boy except for getting into a fight with his brother. He even asks Santa how Mrs. Clause is doing. His post was too cute for words! I commented by saying that I really enjoyed his post and that I was a baseball fan so having that sweatshirt would be nice. I told him that his letter warmed my heart and to keep up the good work

My fourth C4K assignment was for a 10th grade student named Mike @MikeGwantley. His post was about blogging. He started off by saying that he was new to blogging and I told him that blogging was something sort of new to me as well. He talks about how he had the opportunity to talk to an exchange student about her opinions on the chinese government. He also stated a very important statement! He said that blogs are peoples opinions based on their experiences or upbringings. I told him that I definitely agreed with this and proceeded to tell a story of my experience with this subject and relationship views. I told him that his post was great and to keep up the good work.

My Fifth C4K was for a student named Alison. Sh had a blog called a weebly. Alison's weebly consisted of her about me, journals, and other segments of genre that she's interested in. She loves to bake and read.In her most recent journal post she talked about her definition of a true hero. Alison believes that a hero doesn't have to be in the spotlight or wear a special cape to be recognized. She says that a hero is someone who goes out of their way to help people, are good citizens, and helps others in their time of need. She says they could be anyone like a policeman or a chef who gives out free Thanksgiving meals. I replied to her journal entry by saying that I totally agreed with her about the definition of a hero. I told her that my mom was my hero because she does everything in her power to keep me safe and happy. I told her that Ii really enjoyed her entry as well as her weebly page. I told her that she was an awesome writer and to keep up the good work. I also asked her if she could pick a hero, who would her hero be?

My 6th C4K was for Patrick in @akp Mrs. Peterson's class. He did a characterization of Dally from The Outsiders. He summarized the character and then broke down the action, his words, and the views of others. I commented by telling him that he was an awesome write and that I liked hoe he broke down the summary and explained in detail and that I especially loved the part about the action. I told him that I could picture this scene happening in my imagination.

My 7th C4K Assignment was for some students that traveled to Ireland for a week. I was assigned to the blog post "Home away from home." The students talked about the hotel that they would be staying in for the length of their visit and embedded an access link to the website. The students said that they were grateful that the hotel could find them a room since they checked in a lot earlier than the check in time. I replied by telling them that Ireland was on my list of places to see in the world and I really enjoyed reading their blogpost. I also told them that the pictures that they posted were beautiful and that the hotel seemed like a lovely place to stay. I told them to stay safe and have a blast on their trip!

Blog Post #10

Adventures in Pencil Integrations

John T. Spencer has a blogpost/Cartoon about the argument over whether Papermate or Ticonderoga would be the better choice.:
Character 1: I'm a papermate, I cost less, but Break all the time
Character 2: I'm a Ticonderoga, I'm the most expensive purchase a hipster will ever make.
My first reaction was that obviously papermate was the most reasonable choice and Ticonderoga would be the choice for more serious writers. However, after reading the comments of others and starting to look beyond the surface I have also come up with another theory.
Maybe the point of the story is one that someone I know repeatedly tells me all the time:"sometimes a good investment is better than a quick fix." It's not that using a papermate is bad its that investing in a good pen for the long haul would be the smarter choice. If you constantly buy cheap things and they break, one would probably spend more money to keep replacing it instead of buying something that cost a bit more but lasts a lot longer. Cars, for example are things that people constantly are spending money on. If you cant afford to buy a BMW and you know it costs 3x's as much as your annual salary to be repaired then don't buy it. You can buy a Honda that does the same thing and is more affordable to fix and is more dependable than a BMW. Invest in things that are dependable but affordable. I thought it was a cute cartoon that forces you to think outside the box.

Why were your kids playing games

This dialogue about a teacher and her tactics it sort of interesting. It definitely shows some of the things that are required by law for teaching environments such as the open door policy and some that should be retired like the "slate based education." This type of education is sort of robotic and non-responsive to the students of this generation. Students of today are technology driven and need new fresh learning techniques to encourage them to want to learn. If children sit in classrooms and aren't engaged in learning then they certainly won't be absorbing the information that is fed to them. If this doesn't happen then the children are not learning.
Remember Pencil Quest? is another one of John Spencer's blogs about teaching. This blog talks about a quest that one of his teachers sent him on as a child. The quest would involve a map and some pencils. He was so excited to go on the quest, not because it was involving looking for pencils, but because it was something different, This would be something that he would always remember. As a future educator, I can only hope that I can do something with my students that would make a lifetime impact on them. I want my students to remember the fun educational time that they had in my class. This was a great blog about teachers and students and I really enjoyed it.


Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?

This blog post by Scott McLeod is about not teaching your children the tricks and trades of the internet. Not teaching your kids how to blog, goggle search, social networking, or making videos are things that they probably already know. However, these are things that school systems tend to push away. They try to push away all these things only seeing the bad side of them not the good side of them. They don't collaborate education with the internet. The internet has so many beneficial sites for educational purposes. Apps on apple computers have so many different learning collaborative tools that students could use. Yet school administration chooses to shoo them away. It's kinda sad because unlike time, education is standing still. This is not a good thing because in the long run our students will be left in the dust to technology.

Project 11

Project #14

SmartBoard Project Part 1

Project #12

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Book Trailer

Progress Report for PLN Project #15

For my Personal Learning Network (PLN) I decided to use Symbaloo.com. So far I have used resources through twitter and blogger that was recommended to me. My list below is a little vague. However, I am currently working to connect with more people on this list through the people on the list. Im hoping to come in contact with more English majors this week.

On my Symbaloo I have separted my template by using color coding. Like Brown for my search links, red for important links that came highly recommended through EDM 310, and orange for specific blogs that have inspired me this semester.

Blog Post #9

Mr. Clung's World

For Blog post assignment 9 we were instructed to read Mr. Clung's end of the year reflection blogs about lessons that he learned throughout the year while teaching. I found these blog posts to be really inspirational for me as a future educator because it gives you insight into the real world classrooms.

In Volume 1 2008-2009 of Mr. Clung's world he reflects on his first year of teaching in Noel, Missouri. Clung realized that he had begun to teach based on impressing his superiors instead of his students. He says that letting your audience guide your lesson is most important. Clung also says that no lesson is perfect and that although you have lesson plans you sort of have to plan for a rainy day. He also says never to be afraid of technology, which im sure Dr. Strange would agree with this theory. Technology is our friend and the components of future teachers! And the most important thing that he says was to never stop learning.

This is something that I have to constantly tell myself. Just because you've learn to cook something one way, doesnt mean you can't begin to learn the 50 different other ways to cook it. Volume 1 was a blog post that really made me realize that you wont ever be fully prepared to teach because your students will teach you things, plans don't always turn out as scheduled, and you cannot put your students up on a higher pedestal of standards when they won't always sustain your achievement level.

In Volume 4 2011-2012 of Mr. Clung's world he reflects on two very important topics: "You Gotta Dance with who you Brought to the Dance" & "Challenge Yourself."

"Who you Brought to the Dance" talks about how Clung had become so concerned about how he evaluated his peers as a teacher that he had sort of lost his core reason for teaching which are the students. He wanted to impress his peers so badly that he was making lesson plans based on their liking instead of the effectiveness of the lesson for the students. He then realized that he cannot rely on the impressions of his peers to guide his teaching career. he has to remain true to the reason why he teaches, which are the students.
I thought that this topic was particularly interesting because oftent adults in the work force, not just teachers, become so wrapped up in how others view them, that they forget their role within their jobs. For teachers, this can especially become a problem because it effects your students. If a teacher is making a lesson plan based on the opinion of their peers, then chances are, they won't be learnable for the students. And in that instance, if the students can't learn then what exactly is the purpose of the instructor? Students have to want to learn, but teachers have to be willing to teach it to them on a level of understanding, comprehension, and retain-ability.

"Challenge Yourself" is a topic that I think that all current and future educators should read. It talks about how a teacher can become complacent in the classroom. Often times teachers figure out a system of teaching within the classroom that is effective but they never tweak it to fit current times. Teachers depend on lesson plans that are maybe 5 years old and no longer interesting to the students. Clung says that he was noticing himself doing this and losing his creativity. Clung says that when he was assigned to teach something new that his creativity was then introduced again because it challenged him. He says that one can come to a place in their teaching career where they can become satisfied with their teaching methods or become more creative by challenging themselves.
I think that this is so important for teachers to know because educators often do become complacent and as a result the students wont retain as much out of the class as they would have if teachers would challenge themselves the way that they want students to.

C4T First Post

My First C4T summary was to Miguel Guhlin. Guhlin had written a blog post about his first computer and how it impacted his life in such a positive way. He even goes so far to say that his first computer cost about $3000. I commented on his post and talked about my first computer. I talked about how my first computer was a grey HP desktop with word perfect and AOL dial-up internet. I used this computer mostly for game and others fun things and learned to type more efficiently on this computer. I also learned how to use the internet for more educational purposes on this computer. I was around the ages of 11-13 when I received my first computer so i'm unaware of the cost but I do know that this was one of the best gifts that I've ever received from my mom. Guhlin replied to my comment saying that this computer was the exact computer that he bought as his kids' first computer. That was a cool bonding moment for me!

My second blogpost to Miguel Guhlin was about free virus software. Guhlin is a huge software guru and responded to another blogger's email about getting the most efficient software for their PC. I responded to Guhlin's post by thanking him for this information. Before his post I had no previous knowledge on free virus software. I thought that the only way out was to purchase it and there was no way around it. His post about virus software was a huge help for me since i'll be stuck with a PC for a while!

Blog Post #8

Richard Miller: This is How we Dream Parts 1 and 2

Richard Miller: The Schools of Tomorrow is a youtube sensation about how we have evolved in learing, reading, and writing as a culture and around the world. Miller talks about the different types of changes that occurred such as Incramental and Fundamental changes.


During his videos phrases like "How we write, Where we work and How we research graze across the screen. This visual took my mind on sort of a time zap back to 3rd grade and made me compare that time to current times. Miller explains that incremental changes are those like the way we write and research compared to the way we used to write and research. I can remember that third grade was when I really learned how to maneuver and work a computer efficiently. We wrote all of our papers by hand. The only thing that was digital was an overhead projector in my classroom. Everything we accomplished was done by hand. Now having a computer at home is sort of expected and writing papers by hand is not an option.

Miller also talks about visual, sound, and web documents. Visual documents are like magazines and books. Books are becoming more and more outdated, especially in the genre of educational purposes. For example, by the time an encyclopedia is reviewed and published, it takes about two years, by the time its published, its outdated. Web documents are constantly updated and are usually current with times and research done. A lot of companies and magazines have resorted to what Miller calls dual life printing, where they print a visual copy and also create an online copy.

Miller says "being able to share knowledge is infinite through the web." I couldn't agree more with this statement. You can access information from practically anywhere that internet access is available! This is so important when students need to access podcasts from class, or access documents that was emailed by your teacher. He says that teachers should accept that information no longer belongs to individuals but to us as a culture. He also says that the restrictions that are presented with information is often something that we put on ourselves!! I thought that he was reading my mind when he said this. These documents were awesome and it makes me excited to work with digital technology to educate my future students.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12

In Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12 she talks about what he teaching philosophies. I thought that her idea of a playlist was awesome. This is definitely something that we as future educators should be thinking about. Knowing what works best for our classrooms as future teachers will be the key for children reciprocating the knowledge that we are issuing. I also loved her video at the end. It really made me question where I was in life and my purpose. It made me want to go start lesson plans and I haven't even learned how to do them yet! Her blog post #12 really awesome and I'm really glad that Dr. Strange realized that all students in edm310 should really view this blog.

The Chipper Series and EDM 310 for Dummies

The Chipper Series and EDM 310 for Dummies are two great videos about EDM 310 and the importance of this class. The video about chipper shows how this class forces students to grow up and learn time management. It reinforces the important aspect of getting rid of burp back education. This class really forces students to learn as they go along because they have to figure it out. These videos made me think about what type of video I would like to to do for this class. I would like to do a video about the little tricks that make edm 310 fun and most importantly more efficient! I would show all of the short cuts that you can take but stress the importance of learning both ways. For example the paragraph break code "< / b >" that we should write after each paragraph can be put into a short cut by simply going in and adjusting the settings. Little shortcuts like these can help edm 310 students in this class as well as save time in the classroom and preparation outside of the classroom. I would entitle this video "10 Shortcuts EDM 310 Purposely Omits" or something like that. Overall, I thought these videos were funny but really informing.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

Learn to Change, Change to Learn is a youtube video about the world of technology. The arguments made in this video are all head on! This video talks about how schools are sort of shunning technology. They block twitter, facebook and blogging in school computer labs. Using these networks can be distracting I agree, but they can also be educational. In edm 310 we use all of these sources to communicate with Dr. Strange when we have questions and clarification on assignments. Technology is something that schools seem like they don't want to accept but we as future educators should try and push the issue and encourage school systems to look at technology as a benefit instead of a hindrance to
the class room. I diffinitely think that this video shed some light on something that, if not spoken about, is going to harm our school systems instead of hurt them. Our nation complains that other countries are so much more advanced than ours in terms of technology but we are constantly placing restrictions on our students in terms of embracing and using technology. Technology is the present and future of education and we are going to have to learn to accept it.

Scavenger Hunt

Edmodo.com is a website very similar to facebook that I found on the Web 2.0 Tools website. I thought that this would be a great controlled environment online to keep my class informed about changes to the schedule and where students could interact with each when they needed help.
I would use this site to upload the tenative schedule for the year, documents that they would need, and a list of pointers and instructions to help my students with their work. I would also post a daily status informing the students for the plan of the day. This is a great tool to use to keep my students informed on everything that they need to know in class and when things are due soon.

Photopeach.com is a great site to create slideshows, polls and quizzes. The quiz and poll creator is really what drew me in to this site. I thought photopeach.com was awesome and it would be a great benefit for my future classroom. I thought that it would be a great way to create a bell ringer with the quizzes and polls.

I also created a comix @ makebeliefcomics.com. I thought that this would be a creative and fun way to end a class with an educational joke. my comic strip

Project 9b Prezi Project

The Writing Process on Prezi

Project #8

Podcast for ABC Group

Blog Post #7

Wendy Drexler:The Networked Student

Wendy Drexler's video about The 21st Century was very interesting. Drexler talked about how a student went to class where a teacher hardly ever lectured. He attended class twice a week physically and three times a week online. The online component sort of helped the student to learn and teach himself with the guidance of the teacher.

Drexler talks about the theory of Connectivism, which means that learning occurs as part of social network with many diverse connections and ties. This theory is practiced through technology of course. This theory allows the student to become proactive in the learning process. The student is given a list of tasks to complete and explore on his own. The instructor is simply there to help him build his network, organize the info, offer guidance when the student gets stuck, show him the difference between good information and propagandam, amongst many other duties listed within the video.

This video overall taught me alot about the 21st century classrooms. In many ways similiar to Drexler's theory, this is how EDM 310 is conducted. This type of learning teaches the student time managament and shows the student that a teacher is merely a resource when one gets stuck, not a crutch to ween answers out of to questions that one is fully capable of finding out themselves. Im sure the connectivism theory is one that will be maybe modified for different school systems and grade levels, but definitely incorporated into learning sometime in the near future for every classroom. Students today are already so dependent on computers to gain access to information that learning from teachers through simple classroom lectures is something that is quickly becoming ineffective. Connectivism will soon be the only way that teachers will be able to "connet with their students.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

This video was really nice. A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is about a student in a paperless science class. She explores all the different aspects of the internet and how much they benefit her. This student talks about how she has a webpage that she visits everytime she goes to class to see what the assignments for the day are. She even has links to pages that she is required to view and write blogs about before she can hold certain animals in her class such as the leopard gecko. The student is allowed to used skype as well as email to communicate with other teachers around the world for research and other assignments that may interest her that are science related. She goes on to say that the internet can be distracting at times but it also allows them to show how responsible they are.

This video was awesome. I jotted down some of the things that she talked about in the video in hopes to incorporate them in my language arts or creative writing class one day. This is a sensational idea that I believe will soon sweep the nation. Hopefully all teachers will soon see how helpful the internet can be with going green, more effective learning, and other classroom techniques!

Project #9a

The Evolution of Communication

Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams was absolutely phenomenal. His lecture taught the lessons of life that aren't often taught in classrooms. Pausch's lecture taught the lessons of life. This is a lecture that I have bookmarked in my favorites because no matter how old, educated, or whise I become, this lecture will always be of some inspiration and instruction for my life.

One thing that Pausch speaks about is Brick Walls. He says that "Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how bad we want something. Brick walls let us show our dedication." These sayings couldn't be more spot on if I had read them in the new testament! Brick walls are something that we all hit in life. Brick walls allow us to stumble and fight harder. They force us to correct our mistakes want to prove our worth to others.

Pausch talks about "bringing something to the table." Pausch says that if you're good at something then it makes you valuable. Being valuable makes you more competitive. I've always belived that being good at something shows the fighter within yourself. Being good at something doesn;t necessarily mean that you were born with talent or inherited genius-like smarts. Being good at something means that through all odds and negative things that are thrown your way, you still make it your goal to become good at something. This is a concept that I plan on drilling into my students brains when I become a teacher. Grades can neither define or defeat a person. Grades should be used as simply motivation for students to want to do only their very best at a subject or talent.

"Always help others" is a topic that we can all relate to but we dont always want to cooperate with. Pausch says that we should always help others. Helping others creates good karma. I've always been taught that we should help others and never look for anything in return. If something good comes out of helping another person then that is simply a blessing. Helping others is something that we as humans should always strive to do more often. We all need help. When someone helps us then we are always more than appreciative but we dont always feel the need to return the favor. That is the part that we all need to work on.

The topic that I felt most connected to was when Pausch talked about "experience is what you get when you didnt get what you wanted." This is something that I have often thought about but ive always felt like that was an excuse for failure. This is something that we as future educators will have to teach our students. My mother always tells me that if you don't get an experience out of everything that you attempt to accomplish, whether good or bad, then the goal is pointless. Sometimes we recieve bad experiences, which are usually the ones that teach us the best lessons. Other times we recieve good experiences, which usually encourage us to do better but keep up the good work. Experience is something that life will teach us the bulk of. Pausch talks about experience in his lecture alot expecially when he talks about getting into graduate schools and how he went to visit and experience the feel of the colleges. Everything in life is an experience we just have to stop and embrass the experiences.

Pausch's most touching subject was when he says "focus on someone else instead of yourself." This is something that I struggle with as im sure most 21-year-olds do. We tend to want everything for ourselves. We dont intend to step on other people's toes when we go out to get what we want but we often feel as if nobody else cares but us about our future. We all should focus on others and help them. Pausch says that if we live a good life then the good karma and blessings will come full circle to us.

Overall, this was a great assignment and it definitely gave me some great pointers on life. It also taught me some great life lessons that I intend on passing to my students as a future educator.

C4K Assignment Summaries for September

For my First C4K assignment. I was assigned to a student from Australia. Their school was on Spring Break that week but she posted about Dot Day!. I had no clue of what dot day was before I viewed her blog. Dot Day is celebrated every year around September 15th and is a way for educators to encourage their students to be creative and make their mark on the world. She also had a class video up for bloggers to view of her class participating in Dot Day that was really awesome. I responded to her post by saying that before reading her blog I had never even heard of Dot Day so she taught me something cool!. I also told her that I enjoyed her video and I hope that someday ill get the opportunity to celebrate Dot Day with a class of my own.


My second C4K assignment was for a student named Auri K. in New Zealand. He wrote about going to his cousin's 21st birthday party. Auri talked about how he had to wait on his family to get ready before 5:00 and how cool his cousin's house was. I commented on his post by saying that I enjoyed his post and that I was also 21. I also told him to keep up the good work and asked him where he found his cool background template.

Blog Post #5

The iSchool Innitiative

The iSchool Innitiative by Travis Allen was great. The idea that he came up with about transforming classrooms and learning into a mobile access situation was awesome! Allen thought of every possible idea there was to think of for students and teachers to successfully learn online and also for teachers to be held accountable for their actions and teaching methods. He talked about the availability of practically everything offered in the tangible world being offered all on one simple mobile device. Allen calculated the total cost of everything and it was almost astonishing at the amount of money that the school system would save on.

In Travis Allen's campaign video he's asking for people to support his quest on convincing schools to embrace mobile learning. Although Allen had some great ideas, I did have some concerns. I'll start off by saying that I have not looked into this mobile learning idea other than watching his YouTube video. However, some things that concerned me were about the underpriviliged children who go to school to get a hot meal because sometimes thats the only meal that they will eat. Or the children that are abused or feel trapped at home, that school would be their escape for the day. Will the mobile learning be taught in controlled settings like an auditorium or will the school have to pay thousands of dollars for the rights to use these apps and other gadgets to teach professionally?Besides those concerns, I think that Allen's idea is great! All ideas come with downsides but im sure when all of the kinks of the program are worked out, mobile learning will become a viral sensation all over the world.


The Virtual Choir

Jennifer Chambers's post about Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir was the coolest thing ever! It is amazing how much you can do virtually now. What is even more astonishing is that these people are total strangers. This was a great way to incorporate totally different sounds and pitches to create a sound that was simply beautiful. The use of the internet to incorporate things that are positive like this is awesome! It just confirms my thoughts of how the internet can help improve education for students in classrooms all over the world.




Teaching in the 21st Century

In Kevin Roberts's video Teaching in the 21st Century he talks about what it means to teach in the 21st century. Roberts believes that the most important thing about teaching is not to entertain but to engage students. He explains the differennce by saying that engagment is meaningful, solves problems, and is relevant but to entertain means to pass time, escape from problems and is obsolete. This was the coolest way to break to words down that are used interchangably but both can mean totally different things when it comes to educating students. Roberts believes that teachers are the filters for students. Sure students can get anything they want to know from the internet but who's gonna show them how to validate information or check sources. It is our job as future educators to teach our 21st centurty students how to check these things. We have to show them why wikipedia isn't a reliable source and the proper way to avoid plagerism. It is our job as teachers to educate and assist students with the proper skills of using the internet for educational purposes and safely for social purposes.

After watching this video I realized that he was right. We can no longer be the "Charlie Brown" teacher feeding students information that they probably already know. Our job is becoming the teacher that shows students the capabilities of their knowledge. In the words of Kevin Roberts we have to become the "Engaging teacher" not the entertaining teacher. Becoming an engaging teacher doesn't mean that you can't make learning fun; it means that we have to come uo with ways to teach that are like appetizers for the brain. We have to teach in a way that students can obtain and KEEP information that they can actually use in life.


Concepts of Flipping the Classroom

Dr. Lodge McCammon's idea of flipping the classroom is one that definitely enforces the engaging part of learning. His concept involves students watching podcasts or videos of lessons that their instructors have provided prior to attending class. Katie Gimbar's Why I Flipped My Classroom & Ms. Munafo's Flipping the Classrom are YouTube demonstrations of how these teachers successfully "Flipped" their classrooms. This activity allows students to work at their own pace in learning and understanding the lesson. After they've viewed and practiced the lesson, attending class becomes a review session where the teacher can answer questions and spend most of the class period practicing the lesson.

This is a great way to use the maximum class period time for learning and engaging! This would be a great way to teach my students about the parts of speech and how to create bibliography pages by providing students with activities to practice doing and recognizing these things properly. Flipping my classroom is something that I can definitely considder doing in my classroom some day.

Project #6

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Project #5 Presentation

Blog Post #4

Listening and Comprehension Podcast

The topic of this podcast was listening and comprehension. Ms. Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano is a former world language teacher who created this blog about effective learning of different languages by creating podcasts. Tolisano talks about how important it is to attch feelings to a word in order to make it mean something. I thought that this was a really cool way to think of a word when trying to learn it in a different language. Like the word "love" for example; Without meaning love is just a word, but if one associates the word to a passionately happy feeling, then the word begins to mean something to someone when they use it.

Tolisano also talks about the recording and editing process of podcasts. She talks about how the creation process of the podcast gives the learners a chance to interactively learn by reading the sound and hearing their voices say the words. I thought that this would be a cool way for learners to correct themselves. Sheesh why wasn't this invented when I was learning a foreign language?!

Podcasts in the Classroom

This was a video podcast by Joe Dale about how podcasts work well in the classroom. Dale refers to the learners in our classroom today as "millinials." These are kids typically born after 1980 and have not lived much of their life without some sort of technoligical influence. Podcasts in the classroom is a great way to use technology for educational influence. Dale shows us how using podcasts inside the classroom can graps the attention of the learners more efficiently. There is also an interview with Harry Dell, a middle school history teacher, about how podcastiing has effected his teaching methods. Dell uses the podcasts to animate characters during reading lessons from different exerpts in his lessons. He uses the different voices to make the podcasts more engaging for the learners and more interesting to listen to. The students also gave feed back about the podcast. They all seemed to really enjoy the idea of this interactive learning method through podcasts.

Podcast Collection

This podcast was by far my favorite. It is a podcast by Judy Scarf that gives you great tips on how to make a great blog. There were even two website included, How to Create a Podcast and Podcasting, that showed you step by step instructions on how to create a great podcast. This podcasting tip collection lists all the tips to succeed. There was something that was a list of periods to creating a podcasts. It states that every period is 42 minutes, there are 9 periods devoted to using audacity(the podcasting program) and a total of 17 periods to successfull create a great podcast. This podcast was something that I idefinitely bookmarked to my favortites because it is a very useful site and I know tht it will benefit me in the future with EDM 310.

Wordle Post Project #2

About Me

Blog Post Assignment #3

Peer Editing and Reviewing

This week we were assigned to watch YouTube videos on Peer editing. The first video we were assigned to watch, What is Peer Editing?, was about constructive criticism and knowing how to approach critiquing in a positive yet effective way. The video explained how important it is to compliment as well as criticize your peers. This was a great short video on how to know how to effective help someone with their writing without offending their work.

The second slideshow, Peer Editing with Perfection, was a slideshow reinforcing and breaking down all of the things that were discussed in the previous video. It emphasized the importance of complimenting before criticizing and demonstrated the proper way to critique someone's work.

The final video that we were assigned, Writing Peer Reviews Top 10 Mistakes, was a video with an elementary school child leading a video on how to teach her peers good skills on critiquing. It was a rather cute video that had some information within it that was very helpful. It explained how the way that you say something can come across as something either rude or constructive. Word choice plays a huge part in something being portrayed as either helpful or hurtful. Overall, these three videos/slideshows were very effective and will help me effective complete my future assignments in this class as well in my own classroom someday.



Adaptive Technology

Technology in Special Education was a great video! This video is about a teacher named Lacey Cook who is a special education teacher. She takes a video camera around her classroom to show how helpful technology has been in her classroom. Cook talks about how much easier is its for non-verbal students to communicate on the laptops and how something as simple as headphones and an ipod could keep disturbance levels down in her classroom during silent reading.

This video really put technology into a perspective that I had never really thought about. Technology has become a necessity in life especially in special education programs. Educational electronics can read to students who are blind or magnify words for students who cant see very well. Technology can allow students to communicate to teachers instead of teachers assuming things for their students. Technology has made a great impact on the special education community in the most positive way. Computers are instruments in the classroom that have become things may be second nature in a regular classroom but heaven sent to students who could not otherwise communicate or function in a classroom as efficiently.

Ipads for Autism

Autism is a growing condition within children in the upcoming generations. As a future educator, there is no doubt that I will have to teach children that are effected by autism.How the Ipad works with Autism is a video about how children with autism can learn with education apps on the ipad. This particular video shows how a young boy with autism is learning to count, read, and write with different apps on the ipad.

The Apple Education App store has all sorts of options to download for students in classrooms with or without learning disabilities. One app that particularly stuck out to me was one called "Sentence Maker. I am an english/education major so I thought that this would be a great way to teach my students the structures and parts of sentences. The apps that have been created to be compatible with technology and learning in the classroom is a great breakthrough for parents of students with learning disabilities that have not been able to effectively teach them before.

Digital Smarts

Harnessing Digital Smarts is a youtube video about a teacher, Vicki Davis, teaching her students how to blog properly, use social networking effectively, and use technology to their advantage. The biggest lesson that I took from this video is to get rid of the perception that you have to know everything about a subject before you teach it. She allowed her students to teach her certain things about technology that she had never even heard of. I thought that-that was a powerful tool to teaching, learning from your students. This was a video that I thought was cool and made me want to change the way english is taught in most classrooms with just physical books, pens and paper. We should become more hands on in showing our students how to cite sources, use the internet properly and know how to identify whether or not information is outdated or not. This was an awesome video!

Blog Post Assignment #2

Did You Know?

Dr. Strange created a version of Did You Know? for EDM310 students. The video focused mainly on the effectiveness of great teachers in the world. The video informed me of how behind our educators in this country are as opposed to other countries such as China and India. It amazes me to know that chinese students that are just "learners" will be more intellectual by being bilingual and more dominant in the world than the entire population of native English speakers that exist today. The video also talks about the importance of google, and how important and influential technology and computers have become to education and for the entire world. It informs us that our jobs as educators is to prepare our students for jobs that don't even exist yet!

Towards the end of the video Dr. Strange asks "Are you ready to be an educator?". This was a pretty heavy question after being informed of how heavy our job will be to educate the future of our country. This made me question my abilities and finally acknowledge the obligation that we as future educators have to impact the future for this country.


Did You Know 3.0

Did You Know 3.0 is a video created by Karl Fisch and Scott McCleod. This is the original platform video that was used by Dr. Strange as a platform for his very own "Did You Know Video." Did you know 3.0 was a video that talks about all sorts of cool things. This video takes you on a journey of how the world has evolved so quickly with the invention and production of technology. It talks about how when the first text message was sent and how there are more text messages sent per day than people that actually exist on the planet. The video talks about how 25% of India's population has a higher IQ than the entire United States' population. What really shocked me was when the video talked about how most of the information learned during a student attending a 4 year university's freshman and sophomore year will be outdated by the time they graduate. This made me question the whole reason to even be in school for that long if that information is useless now! This video is an eye opener for anyone, not just educators, looking to expand the way they evaluate and look at life and the significance of technology.


Mr Winkles Wakes

Mr Winkles Wakes is a short video about how the world has evolved over 100 years. There is a man, Mr. Winkles, who awakes from a 100 year nap to a world that is all very unfamiliar to him. He travels to a business office that has videos, computers, printers and all of the normal modern technology that has become useful in this century. However, this is all foreign as well as uncomfortable for Mr. Winkles. He then goes to the hospital and realizes that they cant help him either. Finally Mr. Winkles arrives at school. He finds this familiar territory and realizes that students are still learning reading, writing and math just as he remembers.

I thought that this story was a great way of showing people that not everything has to change to remain relevant and effective. Reading, writing and math are all essential subjects that we need to know to learn and grow effectively with technology and wealth. Sometimes consistency is the key to success.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Education

Sir Ken Robinson spoke about The Importance of Education in this short film. Robinson talked about how education seems to damage a child's imagination and creative abilities. He talks about how education is basically teaching students that making a mistake is one of the worse things that one can do. Robinson goes on to say that mistakes are what make creativity interesting but educators are frightening children into thinking that making mistakes is the ultimate crime.

Robinson also talks about how ironic it is that all around the world the significance of subjects in education are all ranked the same; 1st math, 2nd languages and sciences, 3rd humanities and on the very bottom is the arts with preferences of music first. I found this part of the speech shocking because I had never really thought about how society has dictated and influenced education so much. It seems as if society doesn't see it as a necessity to learn then it isn't listed as a priority in schools. Robinson even goes on to say that educators have seemed to kill dreams if a student focuses on arts instead of math. Sort of telling that student if you aren't good in one of the essential subjects then you wont be successful.

Another point that also stuck out to me in this film was the part about how education is slowly becoming an "inflation." Having a Bachelor's degree is merely a stepping stone to actually becoming what you wanted to be but the ultimate goal is your Ph.D. Overall, this film was a definite eye opener for educators as well as all college students pursuing their dreams. This was a great video!
P.S. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do something.



A Day Made of Glass

A Day Made of Glass is a film that was assigned by Dr. Strange for EDM310 to watch. This film was absolutely fascinating. It was like a glimpse into the future and pretty much how we as educators will be teaching within our own classrooms someday. It shows how technology almost dictates the lives of two young girls through the day. They use these touch sensitive glass tablets to find what they want to wear, listen to music, and express their creativity by changing the templates to pink. The video shows dad using his touch screen sensor to control the dash board within his car. It also shows how technology with the classroom is touch sensitive.

Another thing that was cool about this video was how they informed you of the different types of glass such as fiber optic or weather proof. It also showed the importance of glass within hospitals and Dr.'s offices' when it comes to the latest technology and detecting things accurately and efficiently. This video was uber cool and a neat way to envision the future.

Blog Post Assignment #1

About Ashaunte Gaillard:

Hello my name is Ashaunte Gaillard. I am a native of Mobile, Al. I am a senior at the University of South Alabama. My major is secondary education with a minor in journalism. Upon graduation I plan to attend graduate school in Tennessee for journalism and pursue my dreams of becoming a book editor.
I come from a family of educators. My grandmother is a retired teacher and she inspires me so much. It came natural to me to want to become a teacher. I wanted to teach journalism because it is something that I am passionate about and would like to share with others something that I love to do.
I have recently developed an interest in crocheting. So thats something that I'm working on learning to do. The things that I love to do in my spare time are reading, zumba, swimming (when I have time), and spending time with family. Something that I shocked myself in doing was actually being good at cooking. My favorite dish to make is baked chicken. I also enjoy painting in my spare time. It helps me take my mind off of things and de-stress.


Randy Pausch on Time Management:

Dr. Pausch's clip on "Time Management" was something that I needed to hear. I learned that time management is something that everyone struggles with but most of the time it's not something that you HAVE TO struggle with. I learned that if you have a task list then always start with the most difficult task first; so that when the end is drawing near and you wanted to slack off then you will have some cushion because the leftover tasks will be small easy ones. I also learned to classify my goals and prioritize them. And also to always ask yourself why you're doing what you're doing. Another thing that I learned and most important thing that I learned was knowing that it doesn't matter when do everything right but it matters when you do the right things. Doing the right thing is so much more effective and genuine than doing the wrong thing the right way.
I googled Randy Pausch and discovered that he died from pancreatic cancer and while he was alive he was an advocate for raising awareness about this disease. He was a computer science professor at the University of Virginia. He is also a father of four, which he dedicated his "Last Lecture" to.