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.