Blog Assignment #13

A Vision Of Students Today

The video, A Vision Of Students Today demonstrated things that I see every single day of my life. I am one of those students. I sit in classes full of people, half of which are asleep, and the rest of them are completely checked out. I see plenty of people on Facebook and Pinterest, but not many working on class work. I've often been guilty of this. I am also the student who pays close to 600 dollars per semester on textbooks that I only open occasionally and end up selling back at a fraction of the price after finals. I get about 6 hours of sleep each night. I study at work because I work almost every night. I know that I spend more time online then I do doing anything else. Technology can save us, but only if the system we are in is willing to change. If our schools embrace technology, maybe our education will be more useful to us in real life.

Back To The Future With Brian Crosby

In Back To The Future, Mr. Crosby's class is engaging in learning. They are having so much fun and they are sharing that fun with other schools all over the world. Kids WANT to be in this class! I hope that I can make my classroom so much fun that my students don't even realize that they are learning.

I liked the point that Mr. Crosby made in this video about learning vs being taught. As students, from the time that we first started school when we were about five years old, we have learned how to be taught. We have learned that if we want to be in a class, we must sit quietly, raise our hands, write notes, and read the textbook. Now we face the challenge of learning on our own! We must make the transition from being taught, to actively searching for knowledge on our own through our own curiosity and use of resources. This transition would have been a lot easier when we were kids.

I plan to teach high school so this is crucial. High schoolers don't care about anything. The challenge is to make them care about school. Make them want to learn more.

Final Reflection

Blog Assignment #12

Create An Assignment!

Based on the technology tools we have learned about in EDM 310, what are some tools or websites that you believe could be used in your area of speciality?
Explain why you would use these tools.
Give examples of how these tools would be used.

YouTube

Why YouTube? Well, I plan to teach History/Social Studies and I believe that YouTube and other video sharing tools, like Vimeo, would be very useful in this subject. At my high school, it was a trend just catching on to create fun video projects for the area of history we were studying. Often these video projects were students acting out an elaborate drama on subjects such as, The American Civil War, The French Revolution, and The American Revolution. We also used these in our Government and Economics classes. They were an entertaining way to get into the stories and work together. My fondest memory is of one particularly entertaining group of boys whose colorful adaptation of the American Revolutionary war involved Molly Pitcher in drag and a little too much fake blood. But it was a wonderful way to top of the chapter, and I guarantee anyone from my graduating class still remembers it, and remembers who Molly Pitcher or Nathan Hale were.

Unfortunately I couldn't get my hands on the above mentioned video because it is no longer on YouTube, but I did find this one and I thought it was pretty good!



Wordle

Wordle is a fun and easy tool that can be used to create exciting images out of text! We have use Wordle before in EDM and I quite like it. It is so easy too. All you have to know how to do is copy and paste, and do a screen shot. From there it's just having fun and playing around with all of the settings. In Wordle, you can manipulate the shape and color of your text and you can choose which words are prominent and which are small. This site enables you to turn an ordinary paragraph into a fun eye-catching work of art. This would be a fun go-to tool for students to include in presentations and even papers. Below is an example of a Wordle that I created about the American Revolutionary War!

There are so many amazing tools that we have learned about this semester that it was very hard for me to decide which ones to include, but these are definitely my favorites so I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Blog Assignment #11

First Graders In Ms. Cassidy's Class and Skype Interview With Ms. Cassidy

The video Little Kids...Big Potential was wonderful! The video takes us inside Ms. Cassidy's first grade classroom and gives us a look at all of the ways in which Ms. Cassidy's young students are utilizing technology in their education. I was so pleasantly surprised by how much these first graders are able to understand and use technology to learn. They are really having fun with it and they seem very engaged which is extremely important. All of the children in Ms. Cassidy's class also seem so well behaved and mature. I'm sure that the daily experience of using and sharing computers and the Nintendo DS is helping with that.

In the Skype interview between Dr. Strange and Ms. Cassidy, she describes her classroom a little more in depth for us. She discusses the way that her kids use their class blog to connect to website which they can use in their daily learning and the way that they use their own personal blog. I am glad that Ms. Cassidy addressed the issue of being the teacher of an elementary class which uses the internet and how she "endeavors to protect the identity of her students." That will, of course always be an issue (as it should be) with parents. Parents should be somewhat hesitant to let their children, especially small children, use the internet because it can be a potentially dangerous thing. However, people like Ms. Cassidy are demonstrating that it can also be an extremely valuable tool and when used properly, can open so many doors for students.

Ms. Cassidy also explains how her classroom runs on a rotation of activities. Some students will use the computers, or practice reading with her or with the resource instructor. So each subject (such as reading) is approached in a multitude of ways. That is great because not every child learns the same way.

I plan to teach history/social studies at the middle school or high school level so I will definitely be using technology in my classroom. I can see my class using blogs and various presentation tools to collaborate on projects and papers. I can see how technology can be distracting, but for the most part I think it will be useful.

Blog Assignment #9

Mr. McClung's reflection post detail his experiences as an educator following each school year. In Mr. McClung's Version 4 Post (2011-2012) he decides to keep it short and simple and focuses on only two topics which he titles, "You Gotta Dance With The One You Came To Dance With", and "Challenge Yourself."

In this post McClung describes how he has never really cared what his fellow teachers thought of him, but rather, has only been concerned with whether or not his students were enjoying themselves. I think this is a great mentality to have as a teacher. After all the students are the most important aspect of education. But I did think it was great that Mr. McClung also admitted that he had become bored. He was referring back to previous lesson plans and he says his "creativity started to slowly vanish." Because of this he jumped at the opportunity to teach a new class at a new grade level.

I know that as a teacher this is something I will struggle with. I like to be comfortable and I don't care for change. I would definitely be hard for me to leave a grade I was comfortable with and start over in a new one. But I do recognize how extremely important it is for the teacher to stay enthusiastic about the subject matter because if they aren't, then why would the students be? They are watching for an example and it is our job as teachers to give them a good one. One that is excited about learning something new every day.

Next, I chose to read Mr. McClung's What I've Learned This Year (2008-2009). It is probably obvious why I chose this one. I wanted to know how he described his first year of teaching! The first year of solo teaching is a daunting thing to imagine and I was curious.

In this post, McClung lists the first thing he learned as "Read The Crowd." I think he makes an excellent point when he says, "In order to be effective you have to be able to let your audience drive your instruction." As a teacher, one has to pay close attention to the audience (the students). It doesn't matter in the slightest if you spent three days of meticulous work on the lecture you plan to give, if all of your students are sound asleep. I think it is far better to be in front of the room rambling off the cuff about the subject if your students are engaging in the conversation with you.

The next point that I liked was, "Be Reasonable." Here McClung discusses the idea of expectations. It is important as teachers to never set our expectations for our students TOO HIGH. When the expectation is too high to be met, the students get discouraged and give up. I know this to be true because as a student I find myself here quite a bit. Now, there is a difference between setting an unreachable expectation and constantly raising the bar. We should always try to employ the tactic Mr. Randy Pausch mentions in his last lecture. Set the goal and when the students meet it, praise them, but make it clear that they can do even better. And then raise the bar a little higher. I like this method. It encourages hard work. It does not discourage, demotivate, or frustrate.

Of course I appreciated Mr. McClung's mention of embracing technology. After all, that's why were here right?
The last point that struck me was "Never Stop Learning." As I mentioned before, it is important for us to set the example of being excited about learning in order to motivate our students. It is also incredible important to our usefulness as teachers. The inventory of our knowledge can never grow stale. We should always be informed. Sometimes we gain more knowledge form our students than they do from us. And that is okay.

Blog Assignment #8

This Is How We Dream

In Richard Miller's video series, This Is How We Dream, he discusses the growing world of technology and all of its many incredible uses in education. Technology is being introduced into the classroom now more than ever. In EDM we have learned the many technological tools that are accessible to us. We can collaborate on projects without leaving our homes, we can communicate with educators and other students all over the world with one click, and, just as Mr. Miller says in his part 1 video, we can gather an entire project worth of information without ever setting foot inside a library. Personally, I am a little old fashioned. While I embrace the idea of using technology and the internet in these positive ways, I still feel it is important for students to know how to use a book or magazine as a source as well. I also happen to love libraries. Overall, I think this video series was very informative.

Carly Pugh Blog Post #12

Carly's blog post was wonderful! I love the way she communicated her ideas and admitted that they are often scattered. I think her idea to create a YouTube playlist was brilliant. I think YouTube can be a powerful learning tool, especially for visual learners like myself. I enjoy reading, but I often find it hard to sit down with a textbook and read for hours. Though I may absorb some of the information, much of it is lost on me when my mind wanders, as it always does. The videos Carly chose were fantastic. She did a great job of combining humor with serious and sincere topic like diversity and bullying. I found the whole thing entertaining and educational, so I would say she succeeded in creating a very effective assignment for herself.

EDM 310 Is Different

In the Chipper Series, Chipper is a student who struggles with procrastination. The video chronicles her many misadventures as she fails to abide by deadlines and standards. Chipper decides to create her own school where her students can do their work at their own pace without any due dates or supervision. This kind of school sounds ideal, however, most people wouldn't feel motivated to do the work at all if no one was checking up on them. Chipper eventually learns the value of hard work and responsibility and decides to return to graduate school. I thought Jamie Lynn Miller did a great job on this video.

I loved the video EDM 310 For Dummies. I can definitely relate to their frustrations. And I actually wish that there was a book like that for us to reference. It would definitely make life easier. I would buy this book. I think that should be Dr. Strange's next project. And make it iPad and Kindle friendly of course.

I think if I had to create a video for this class, it would be one that decodes all of the "EDM speak" and gives helpful suggestions for overcoming each maddening assignment. Suggestions that only first hand experience could provide. I would also include a user-friendly Mac handbook because I did not know how much I would be using a Mac in this class, and being a PC person, I tend to get lost and frustrated fast.

Learn To Change, Change To Learn

In the video, Learn To Change, Change To Learn, several educators discuss the revolution of learning that we are currently experiencing. They talk about how children are constantly collecting data and creating through their use of cell phones and social media. They are doing most of their learning through these media, yet these things are banned from schools. I think this video perfectly echos the message of EDM 310. We are learning to integrate technology into the classroom not because it is fun, but because it is absolutely necessary! Technology is what the children of today use. They learn how to use it early. So why not harness this inevitable knowledge of technology?

Scavenger Hunt

For my scavenger hunt in Web 2.0 Tools, I chose numbers 2,3 and 4. The tool used in number 2 is called Prezi. It is an exciting presentation tool that is very cool. Everyone can use Prezi publicly for free. By using the public Prezi you get core features and 100 MB of storage space. From there, you can move up to the "Enjoy" or "Pro" packages. The Enjoy package is $4.92 per month or $59 annually. The Pro package is $13.25 per month or $159 annually. Prezi offers great deals for students and teachers! The Enjoy Edu package is totally free! This comes with 500 MB of storage and enables you to create private presentations. The Pro Edu package for students and teachers is only $4.92 per month and comes with 2 GB of storage space and enables you to create private presentations, work offline, and much more. This is a great tool to take advantage of as a teacher.

For number 3 I had to find a tool to make my own comic strip. The tool is called Make Believe Comics! This was a lot of fun.

Lastly, I chose PhotoPeach. PhotoPeach is a photo sharing program that has very useful classroom features. With PhotoPeach, teachers are able to create multiple student accounts without the students needing to provide email addresses. Teachers can also organize students into groups for photo projects and view and share their finished work with parents and other teachers. Photo projects can be customized with music of your choice and stored in unlimited album space. The best part is, students' photos are never visible on the net through PhotoPeach. If your'e like me and love photography as much as I do, a site like this would be a blast to use in the classroom!

Blog Assignment #6

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

What can I say about Randy Pausch? What an amazing person. I will admit that at several points during this video, I teared up. When Randy Pausch gave this inspirational lecture, he was dying of liver cancer. He had just learned that he only had a few more months to live. As the video begins, Pausch stresses that he is "not in denial," but that he simply realizes that there are things that are much more important. He also encourages his audience not to pity him and follows this command with a few push ups and a lot of humor.

In this lecture, Randy Pausch discusses three points:
1.Childhood Dreams
2.Enabling the dreams of others
3.Lessons learned.

Pausch grew up in the 1960's, which he describes as "an easy time to dream." Pausch lists a few of his childhood dreams which include, playing in the NFL, authoring an article in the World Book Encyclopedia, and being a Disney Imagineer. While Pausch did not accomplish all of his childhood dreams, he learned from all of his attempts. He explains, "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." I think this statement is profound. He is absolutely right. When we don't get what we wanted, we are upset and disheartened, but we learn and we grow. He describes his repeated encounters with brick walls throughout his life. These brick walls, he explains, seem impossible to defeat at the time, but they help you realize how bad you really want something. They also separate the people who are willing to work harder to achieve the goal, and the people who aren't.

In his second point, Pausch discusses enabling others to achieve their dreams. I thought this point was wonderful because, as educators, we are in the business of helping people make their dreams come true. Teachers help their students gain the skills they need to become exactly what they want to be. I think this is one of the things that attracts me to a career in education. Pausch mentions watching his students get excited about something and have fun while they are learning, sometimes without them even realizing that they are learning. This is exactly why I want to teach. That gratification is worth all of it.

Tigger or Eeyore?
The majority of this lecture was focused on lessons learned. Pausch discusses his many wonderful life experiences as well as his failures, but it is things he learned from all of it that struck me the most. In addition to learning to help others, he also learned about what is important. Things like, letting your children paint on the walls of their bedrooms, and always having fun. Pausch says, "I don't know how not to have fun!" Even in the final months of his life, he knew how to laugh and find joy in everything. He explains how valuable it is to hold on to your child-like wonder. I find this to be incredibly true. It is healthy to be silly. Silliness will be a must in my classroom. Pausch explains the value of earnestness, honesty, willingness to apologize when you are wrong, and gratitude for the things you have. He encourages everyone to listen to feedback instead of being defensive about it, and never complain. Instead, work harder.
I thoroughly enjoyed the full hour of this video. There is so much truth in Randy Pausch's lecture. I think this video is a must for every student and I plan to watch more of Pausch's lectures in the future.

Final Report On PLN

My PLN is still small, but it has proven very useful recently. I have added many new tiles to it and I am still finding things to add. It is very convenient to have everything I need all together in one place where I can easily and quickly access it. I was even able to add a tile for the USA home page! The Symbaloo program is a dream for people like myself who love organization. I know I will continue to use my PLN after this class.

Last C4T

I am following Eric Langhorst's blog, Speaking of History. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Mr Langhorst's posts. I recently read one of his older posts from August entitled, My Six Goals For the 2012/2013 School Year. In this post, he lists six goals which he hopes to achieve throughout the new school year. I loved this post because I identified so much with it. In my comment I explained that I am also a list maker. Checklists specifically. I think that it is tremendously helpful when you have a lot to accomplish, to write it all down in front of you. I also like the satisfaction of crossing something off of my checklist. Mr Langhorst also hopes to reduce the amount of paper used in his classroom, and share more of his class material online for student and parent access. I thought these goals were great because they echo some of the goals of EDM 310.

I am so happy that I was assigned to this blog. The first post I was assigned to comment on was Watching The Curiosity Rover Landing With Friends On Twitter. I enjoyed this post because I thought that Mr Langhorst's explanation of his experience was so interesting. I was intrigued by his observation that during the Rover landing, his Twitter feed was buzzing while Facebook was silent. I commented that I felt like this was further evidence that Twitter is being used, not just as another social media toy, but as a learning tool.
I cannot wait to read more posts by Eric Langhorst in the future.

Project #13 Interacting Through Technology

For Project 13, my group and I decided to use Skype and Google Docs to collaborate. We were able to communicate away from school and share source material that we had found. I use Skype regularly with my sister who lives in Florida, but this is the first time I have ever used it for a class. I have to say, it is very convenient! We used the Screenr program to record the conversation and post it to our blogs. We also used Google Docs to share files with the group and the class.

Project #13 Using Skype

Project #15 Smart Board Lesson