SMART board

C4K Summary for October!

I had a young man named Night as my first assignment, and he had just experienced cross country. I don't know what it is about all the students I have been assigned thus far, but they have all run cross country just as I have. He seemed to really enjoy it and I told him that it cross country was something that he really liked to continue to pursue it. I then wished him luck in the upcoming school year!

My next student's name was Sophie. I thoroughly enjoyed her post. She talked about Father's Day and the gifts she gave her dad which were sweets, lottery tickets and they went for a walk on the beach as a family. I told her that the gifts that she gave her dad were perfect, because as much as he enjoyed the sweets, lottery tickets, and walking on the beach, I am sure he enjoyed spending the day with her most of all! I gave her a word of advice. I told her that Father's Day is about spending quality time with your dad and letting him know he is appreciated.

My next student I was assigned talked about the movie Cars and I love the movie cars! She related the movie to her friendships. Her best friends name is Sarah! That’s a great name! She posted that a good quality of friendship is someone who will help you fulfill you dreams. I think she hit the nail on the head with that one. A friend will always support you in what you do and encourage you to reach for your goals and dreams.

Hannah was my next student! She talked about her mom and a trip they took together to Disney World. My mom and I are very close and I would love for just the two of us to get away on a trip like that! I told her about my last trip there. The last time I went to Disney World I was 19. I will be 21 in 1 week from today so, it has been two long years since my last trip! I hope to be able to go again soon and stay in the Wilderness Lodge just like she did! I encouraged her to continue posting. She did a great job!
Clancy was my last student, and he was from Australia. I think it is so awesome that I can communicate with students all around the world via Blogger! In Clancy's blog, he talked about a run that he and his classmates did to raise money for a school in Uganda! That is a really great thing to run for, I told him! 15 laps is a lot to run or walk for a young man. In his post he stated that after he ran he was "puffed". I told him, that in Australia you say that you are "puffed" when you are out of breath. In the United States, you would say you are "winded". I think I like puffed a lot better. He said his teacher was going to post a slide show soon of all the pictures from the run. I let him know I was excited to see the slide show. I really enjoyed his enthusiasm!

Technology in the Life of a Teacher

Capture your screen in seconds

Blog Assignment #9

"What I've Learned This Year"



First, Mr.McClung starts out by telling the reader that he had just finished his first year of teaching. He states that he didn't know what to expect but that he learned a lot.  The first aspect that he covers on what he has learned is How to Read the Crowd. He believes that you don't just teach for the sake of teaching, to meet guidelines, or to impress other colleagues. You teach to make sure your students comprehend what you have lectured them on. Mr.McClung states, "In order to be effective you have to be able to let your audience drive your instruction."  The second this McClung addresses is how to Be Flexible. He is not necessarily talking about time, he is in a way talking about your outlook. You should be able to handle any situation. If a lesson you prepare doesn't turn out the way you want, don't get frustrated, just deal with it and move on with a positive attitude. In the words of Mr. McClung, "When things go wrong, simply work with it and try to better the situation.....and make sure you do it with a smile on your face!" Where would we be without Communication? Well, according to this teacher, we would be up a creek without a paddle. If you ever have tension between you and a fellow co-worker, student, or even authority, then you need to speak with that person about the situation and have it resolved ASAP! Work in NEVER a place for drama.

As a future teacher, Don't be Afraid of Technology! The basic point I believe that McClung is trying to make is, how do you know, if you don't try? Putting yourself out there and attempting is better than never knowing at all. Mr. McClung says, "Technology is our friend and is essential to living in our microwave society of today." One of your first priorities should be to Listen to Your Students. If you want to earn the respect of your students, you must take the initiative to listen to them. You also need to form a relationship with your students. Get to know them and take interest in them. Lastly....Never Stop Learning! "We do everything short of beg students to learn on a daily basis, but sadly some of us refuse to learn and grow as professional educators. We work in a learning environment, so why not soak up as much as you can?"

Additional Assignment #2

1.What do you think? If learners are motivated, can they teach themselves?
I really enjoyed this video. I was thoroughly impressed and would have never thought it possible. I definitely do think that if learners are motivated they can teach themselves.

2. If those motivated learners are kids, can they teach themselves?
Sure! The evidence that Sugata shared through the video proved that.

3. What conditions are necessary for kids to teach themselves? For anyone to teach him or herself?
For children to teach themselves they must have access to a computer and be able to work with other kids. They can share answers and what they have discovered with one another.

4. What role do computers and Internet access play in the process?
Internet access, as shown in the video, can help children in foreign countries perfect their language and learn others. Google also allows students to research and study on what they are learning in school.

5. What role does motivation, a desire to learn?
Motivation keeps the children engaged in what they are learning. When you put a new way to learn in front of a child, the child then becomes motivated to learn how to use that piece of technology.

6. What roles do a problem, a question or multiple problems or questions play in the process?
When a problem arises, the children come together and compare their theory as to why there is a problem. They then try to find an answer by researching as a team. This is also another example of motivation that adds to the learning process.

7. How do you motivate someone to learn?
You can motivate someone to learn by taking that person out of their comfort zone and letting them find different ways to solve a problem.

8. How are you motivated to learn?
I am motivated to learn when I know that I can take what I learn and apply it to my life.

9. Can anyone who is not motivated to learn learn?
Definitely! As shown in the video, some children who had never been schooled in their lives, learned to use a computer. These children had never seen a computer before and had never been motivated or pushed to learn before.

10. Do you teach yourself? When? Why?
I feel like I do teach myself certain things. For the most part, I have tough myself many things when it comes to using my computer. Most of my computer learning experience has taken place in EDM310.

11. What role does a teacher (either answer generally or use a specific example) play in your learning?
Teachers will always serve a very large role in learning. Regardless of how much technology has advanced in education today, as of right now we still need teachers guiding us. Some teachers, even though not in a classroom, blog for us to read and share information with us via web to learn new things.

12. What is the most important idea, question or emotional response you take away with you as a result of watching this video?
Anyone, anywhere in this world is capable of learning. We can help make that happen!

13. What other questions or issues are raised by this video that should be considered and discussed by aspiring teachers?

Blog Assignment #8

This Is How We Dream

I agree with Dr. Richard Miller when he says that we write with the web and media technology. I do this on a daily basis. I write on the web for this class many many hours a week for example. If I have a paper due, a many professors will not even accept a hand written paper, generally it is required to be typed and in a certain format. I have not been able to turn in a handwritten paper since at least my junior year of high school.

I also do most of my "library going" on the web as well. I really don't think that I have EVER gone to a library and gotten a book for researching purposes. I may have for reading pleasure but not for researching. I always use valid websites to find needed information. There is really not anything in the library that you could not find on the web in this day and age.

I definitely think that in the future my students will be able to do this. There is so much technology available that it would be nearly impossible for a student to not have access or be able to do this. If I am able, and have been able to for many years, then my future students, regardless of age, will certainly not have an issue with multimedia writing.

The Chipper Series

The Chipper Series was mainly about procrastinating and getting behind in EDM 310. As Chipper, I have learned that you really need to do your work on time. I have gotten a little overwhelmed by this class at certain times. I have lost social time, but I have also learned a lot about technology and how to apply it to my future career. This video portrays well what will happen if you don't tale the time needed to work in this class, you will just end up right back where you started and that is in EDM 310!



EDM For Dummies

This was a very cute video. The point of this video, in my opinion, was that once you know how to do everything required for EDM because of the resources given to you, EDM can be easy and less stressful. The people in this video did a wonderful job of portraying the overwhelming feeling EDM can give you as well as the feeling of relief once you comprehend what is going on.

SMART board

The blogs that were provided were Why I Hate Interactive White Boards and Why Smartboards Are A Dumb Initiative. Both of these two blog posts basically state that interactive white boards are garbage and way too expensive. The one of the two bloggers stated that if your white board breaks, you can't just fix it, you had to buy a new more expensive one to replace it. A link that encourages teachers to use these Interactive White Boards is Obe Hostetter's Blog-SMART board REVOLUTION 



Timetoast 9b (The Last 10 Presidents of the United States)

Short Movie

Timeline 9a

Project 10 (My PLN)

Before this class, I did not know what a PLN was. I've come to learn that the acronym stands for Personal Learning Network. This is great for not only students but teachers as well. I hope my PLN continues to grow. The following is my PLN thus far:

1. I have been on Facebook for about three years now, and I love keeping in touch with all my high school and church friends, as well as my long-distance family and friends. It also helps being friends with you classmates, so you can get help if you miss a class or have a question on a project.
2. I have had my Myspace a little longer than my Facebook. I generally only use that account to see what people have going on in their personal lives, but I don't get on as much now because Facebook is SO much better!
3. My newest addition to the PLN family would probably be Blogger. This account is helping me "leave my intellectual trail" for my future bosses and co-workers!
4. I probably use Google on a hourly basis. If I need information about a particular subject, if I'm getting the scoop on celebrities, or whether I need to know how to spell a word for a text I'm trying to send, Google is always there.
5. If I upload pictures to my computer, I do so via Picasa. I really love editing and uploading with this source. It's fast, easy, and has so many options and enhancements.

A cool blog to go to if you want more information about PLN, and what yours is would be http://www.teachingvillage.org/2009/09/10/what-is-a-pln-anyway/

Blog Assignment #7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

This video was about a man by the name of Randy Pausch, who believed in achieving his childhood dreams and enabling the dreams of others. Randy Pausch was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, and was told he only had around 3-6 months to live. Before he died on July 25th, 2008, he made this video. After doing a little research, I found that Randy was actually making this video for his small children to watch one day. This was the only way he would be able to encourage his children to pursue their dreams long after he is gone.

The first thing that Randy goes into is his childhood dreams. The dreams he mentions in this video are the following:

• Experiencing 0 gravity
• Being a part of the National Football League
• Being Captain Kirk
• Being an author in the World Book Encyclopedia
• Winning stuffed animals
• Being a Disney Imagineer

He goes on to explain that because he was so driven, he achieved all of his dream to some extent. He never joined the NFL but he had a wonderful coach that inspired him when he was younger. One thing that his coach said that really stuck with him was, "When your screwing up and nobody is saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up." He may not have been in the National Football League but he bettered himself in a different way. A mental way. He obviously never became Captain Kirk but he did meet him. Another great quote from Randy to go with that dream would be, "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

He and his co-workers accomplished many different things that they did not expect. The had the "worlds" that the students created. In this the students (50 of them) at Carnegie Mellon University were put in groups and assigned a project. Once they completed the project they were assigned to a different group and a new project. They created "virtual worlds". Randy was completely blown away by the capabilities of the students. He them told them they did good but encouraged them to do better and they did! The project exploded and many students, all the faculty, and even parents came to watch these students preform. Some more of the many groups he created was the ETC, Java Languages, The Alice Project, and movie scripts.

During about the last 15 minutes or so of the video, Randy talks about roles. He proceeds to talk about his parents and what an impact they had on his life. "If your kid's want to paint on the walls, it'll be okay." His parents encouraged him and with that he became the man he is today. He also talks about his bosses and how you should form relationships with them so that it makes working more fun, and you can talk to them on a personal level. Students were also part of Randy'l life. The role of students in his life left a great impact on him. The main point that Randy really wanted to portray was "Have fun, help others, loyalty is a two-way street, listen to feedback and use it, show gratitude, don't complain-just work harder, and find the best in everyone-maybe their good side will come out eventually."

C4T #2 summary

In the blog of the teacher (Beth Still) that I read, the teacher was discussing how our administrators today do not accept technology as much as they should. I believe that Principals in schools today should at least give it a shot and if it doesn't work out then so be it. By saying "No" to technology as an administrator you could be missing out on some great opportunities. Why would you risk losing an opportunity to advance in the educational field?

The second post by the teacher I was assigned was called "Laptop Initiative". I am a very compassionate person and I feel as though Beth Still is as well. She is doing a project in her community where students can work a certain to earn money for a laptop. The first 25 hours they work they get $100 off. Eventually by continually working and also by having good grades, the students can get up to $250 off of a $500 laptop. I really enjoyed Mrs.Still's post and am looking forward to seeing how she and her husband's project goes.

C4K summary

Comments For Kids



Anahi was the name of the student that I had for comments for kids. This student was a 13 year old girl who participates in many activities. We both have similar interests in athletics. First the young girl talked about how she enjoyed running cross country. When I was in high school I also ran cross country. I encouraged her to do what she enjoyed. She also stated that she liked to cheer-lead. When I was her age as well as in high school, I tumbled and I absolutely loved it. She had a few grammatical error as far as spelling and capitalization. I encouraged her to work on her grammar but that she was doing a wonderful job at blogging!

Blog assignment #6

The Networked Student



 I really enjoyed Ms. Drexler's video. The creativity was clever enough in itself to be an enjoyable video. Connectivism. A very different way of learning in the 21st Century may be through connectivism. What is connectivism? It is a theory that presumes learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties. In other words, a way for students, as well as teachers, to connect and share education via the web.

Ms. Drexler will be trying this new way of learning this fall with her middle school class. She will teach her class three days a week and two days online. The class will also have no textbook and very little lecture. Tell me that wasn't your dream in middle school! First, a student must form his or her own personal learning network. The student must find valid websites. A student will know if the website is valid through training by Ms.Drexler. Whatever the students topic is that he or she is researching, can be searched on Google Scholar. Once an appropriate article is found, the student will post it to the social bookmarking cite, which is a place others have also posted URL's on that particular topic.

The next step this student could take would be to search blogs from other students in reference to this subject that the student may be researching. When reading another persons blog he or she can either take facts from this blog or if the blog was formed through opinion, the student may then wish to discuss it with the blogger. In the end, the student creates a blog and posts what results and data were gathered. Therefore, all over the world, others who are researching this topic, may see this students work and gather information for themselves that he or she has provided.

I really think that making a student do the research, and being the one who could possibly be the source that someone uses when they research the same topic could be rewarding in itself. I would love to know that someone out there, was reading my blog and using the information from it to better themselves in a certain subject. I also think that once again it would save cost in books, printers, copiers, paper, ink, and other costly school supplies. I'm looking forward to seeing the results that Ms. Drexler brings us!

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment

Ms.Drexler has done it again! She has produced another video to show how well our Internet may be used. The first thing that came to my mind while watching this video was homeschooling. In the future we may have no need for homeschooling because we may have all the access to school in our home anyway. Even if we don't immediately get access to this connectivism right away, children and teenagers who are being home-schooled could use this sort of learning experience to help make their learning more enjoyable. Home-schooled students would also have better communication with other home-schooled students and would also be able to talk to teachers through skype if need be. I really enjoyed seeing this connectivism in action!

The Machine is Changing Us

First, I must say that this video was hilarious! I really enjoyed Michael Wesch's humor. He definitely pointed out many aspects of http://www.youtube.com/ that you don't really think about, until someone brings it up. It is very true that you do not perceive yourself as others do. You do not hear yourself as others hear you. Making a video of yourself is much easier for people who are shy because then you don't have to worry about first impressions or messing up because you can always edit or start over. Editing and starting over in real life is not an option. YouTube gives the self-conscious a voice and the shy a personality. It makes hero's and heroine's of people and one of their videos can uplift or encourage others. I really hope that this up coming generation can be a "I'll do whatever it takes" generation as opposed to "whatever, I don't care" generation.