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.