Project #16

Final Reflection Video

C4T #4

My last Comment 4 Teachers was Larry Ferlazzo. The information he finds and posts on his blog vary from things I would use all the time information that I have never even thought to search for. I think this is what makes it so unique. He mainly focuses on technology and incorporating technology in the classroom. He is big on PLN's and on social networking. Larry Ferlazzo was extremely helpful especially regarding this class. His posts on PLN's were extremely helpful and I was assigned to him around the time I was trying to finish mine up. He add tips and advice on how to do it.

Another aspect of his blog that I have never used but will come in handy is Google Earth. He has a tutorial for beginners and for advanced users. This is great! I have never used Google Earth but I can see myself getting on it often from now on. The tutorial was very helpful and easy to use. He is a beginner at it as well so he knew how to explain it to the newbies like me.

My favorite post from Larry Ferlazzo was probably "20 Interesting Images to Use in the Classroom". It is created by Tom Barnett. The pictures are awesome. He describes what pictures to use for what kind of explanation. For example, he said to use optical illusions for metaphors. I thought that was interesting. It is also one of those things that I'm not likely to forget. I will follow all of the teachers I have been assigned to in this class. Laryy Ferlazzo will be one of the most helpful ones for me, however. I feel like his aim is more towards teachers instead of students. His blog will definitely help me in so many ways.

Completed PLN

My completed PLN was easier to complete than I thought. I used many more links and applications than I realized! I also realized how much I actually use it! Each tile takes you directly to the website that you want. I even made my PLN my homepage for easier access! I know in the future I will add even more to my already almost filled up PLN. I am so glad I am able to use this tool!

Special Metaphor Assignment (Blog Assignment #14)

I clearly missed the metaphor example in the previous post. I'm not sure why. For the most part, I think of myself perceptive to metaphors and other examples. I think that maybe I have taken this class too seriously which concerns me because I am usually the one with a great sense of humor. Looking back on it now, I understand the metaphor in the assignment. Maybe it was so easy that I overlooked it. We may never know

Over the weeks, I have encountered countless metaphors. Kids seem to have the best metaphors. The kids I nanny for come up with great ones. Last week I heard countless times, "You're being a big baby". I also heard from a classmate, "That girl is one hot fox". Others I have heard this week: "What an airhead", "He is a bump on a log", and "You're a smelly goat". The list goes on and there are tons that I could name and I am still dwelling on the fact that I missed the first one.

In our future classrooms, I think we could use metaphors as wall decoration. I could have examples of them all over. Depending on the grade level and the subject, you could make your students incorporate them in a paper or in sentences that they must write using certain words or letters. There are many options. Using them frequently as a teacher is also key! That is a great start and gets your students used to hearing them all the time.

We use metaphors as a type of exaggeration or to get our point across. From the one I heard from my older sister after I got back from a run "You're a smelly goat" got the point across that basically said to me, "Hey you need a shower. Immediately." I got the point across. It got to me better than if she were to say, "Hey, you sweated a ton!" The point I'm trying to make is that for the most part metaphors are helpful in their own exaggerating way. Obviously, I'm not a goat or else I wouldn't be typing this up right now. I did smell like one though. I'll give her that. It got the point across in a descriptive way. Metaphors are a great tool to have. I hope that in future times, I will catch the metaphor much more quickly than the previous post.

Summary Post C4K #7,8,9, &10

The seventh C4K was The Unicorn Blog. This blog was a classroom blog with a teacher named Miss Pike. The blog is very organized and efficiently set up. The school's name is Epping Heights and it is in Sydney, Australia. I think that my favorite thing about this blog is that they have a little "visitors" box and it shows all the different people from different countries that have visited their classroom blog. I think that just shows the power and advantage of blogging. This is a class worth following.

The eighth C4K was perhaps my favorite C4K that I have followed this semester. It was Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog. Besides being a useful technological tool, her class blog is so interesting. I have seen some of the neatest pictures and posts from her and her students. The fact that she is so enthusiastic about learning and can put that same energy and charisma into her blog says a great deal to me. She wants to hear from others, her blog isn't just for her classroom purposes, I truly believe it is to help an inform others as well! I still to this day use her how to use correct html code post. That is bookmarked on my computer and I am sure I will use it for years to come. This is a teacher I would model my classroom blog after.

The ninth C4K was Hello World! by Kyle. He also attends Epping Heights. Unfortunately, there was not much to his blog. I left a comment with no response. He didn't have any blogs posted yet. I think something must have just gone wrong with his. I still saw some amazing students from EHPS.

The tenth C4K was Adia's Babble Blog. This blog was my favorite's next to Mrs. Yollis' blog. Her blog looks like someone my age did it. She has such great grammar and punctuation that it blows my mind. It makes me want to better my blog even more when I see what she can do and share. She has such neat experiences on her blog and you can tell she is eager for more. She has a solid blogging foundation and I truly hope she continues on blogging! She is way awesome. I hope to hear back from her sometime soon. She is a talented and gifted young girl. Adia can make a change for the better with the use of technology and her blog. We all should be able to say that!

Blog Assignment 13

I have never heard of this site ALEX before. ALEX stands for the Alabama Learning Exchange. It was actually a very neat site and very easy to maneuver around. What I found, were a few very important uses for this site. This will absolutely come in handy when I become a teacher and have a classroom. The homepage has 8 tabs on it. The first one is Alabama Course of Study. This includes all of the standards in the Alabama course of study. This site is the easiest access I have experienced with trying to review the standards. The second tab is Lesson Plans and it leads you to lesson plans already made and suggestions for some. This is also a handy thing for those that are new at this! The third button is the Search button. You can search all of ALEX or you can narrow your search by the Alabama Course of Study standards etc. The next tab I couldn't access. It was Personal Workplace and you had to have an account with them. I hope one day to be able to access this. The next tab was Professional Learning. This had everything from info about Special Education to Library Media to School Improvement. This would be a great tab to further explore when I have a classroom of my own. I think it would hold even more meaning to me than it does now. The seventh tab was the Podcast Treasury. This tab was for sure something that many teachers can use to incorporate technology in their classroom. You could choose a content area and then search different podcasts for that area. That is a rockin' tool. I don't care who you are. The last tab was ALEXville. The clickable icon is a globe with surrounding houses called ALEXville. The information on that is unlimited. You can do everything from subscribing to the ALEXville news to the Alabama Teachers of the Year.

This site was a neat one to explore. I will absolutely use it as a future teacher. I will also recommend or show this to teachers and future teachers. They need to know about this if they don't already. This is a tool that we shouldn't take for granted. Schools in Alabama and teachers could benefit from this greatly. I am thankful for resources such as this. I already feel like I am being pointed in the right direction through sites and guidance like this.

Blog Assignment 12

Watch Salman Khan's video Let's use video to reinvent education. What are your thoughts on his ideas for using video to reinvent education? How effective would this be? Does this take the teaching aspect out of education? What would you change about The Khan Academy? Could this work in the school systems today? He says, "Anything that can be taught can be taught using this concept." What are your thoughts on that statement?

Write 3-4 complete paragraphs that state your opinion and thoughts on your response to this video.

Final Project Progress Report

For my final project in EDM 310, I will be joining 5 other students in doing a puppet show at St. Elmo Elementary School. Anthony Capps headed this project up and I am more than excited to be doing this. We will be doing a puppet show of Where The Wild Things Are and the puppets will be huge! They are to be 3 feet and Anthony will be Max himself. This will be tricky to hold and maneuver the puppets with ease. That will be all part of the handiwork to acommodate these problems. I can't wait to get started on my monster puppet this week! The final show will be so fun to do and an awesome way to gain experience. We will be presenting at the end of this month. I can't wait to see how this turns out!

Project #15

Project #14- How to Hang a Hammock

Blog Assignment 11

The youtube video I watched about Ms. Cassidy's Class was so awesome. First graders blogging and writing books? What an inspiration. Her first graders really seem to enjoy it. I noticed that they use Nintendo DS's to practice with letters etc. I have never thought about doing that before! I think most teachers automatically assume that those would be distracting for students, but if you think about it, they would be more interested in learning letters on something they can relate to and enjoy! This is a huge part of being technology literate. Like Ms. Cassidy said, you can't be "technology literate" and only know how to use Word or do a spreadsheet. That is not technologically literate these days. The students will not want to learn if you use those techniques. Technology is constantly changing. It only makes sense that students and the classroom need to keep up with it. Before this class, I definitely was anti-technology. I'm glad I took this class or else I am sure I wouldn't have a job for very long!

The techniques that Ms. Cassidy suggested to use in a classroom included countless sources. Twitter and PLN's are a big hit with her. Twitter is such a neat tool. I have discovered more daily every time I log onto Twitter. The resources are quite endless. I love that this an available tool and that teachers are using it. I will absolutely use this as a resource when I am a teacher. I want my students to be able to blog and have access to all sorts of technology. Fortunately, Ms. Cassidy didn't hit any major bumps in the road with anyone that tried to stop her from doing this with her class. She didn't always have support, but at least no one tried to shoot her ideas and techniques down. I know that is a huge risk when I have a classroom on my own. The principal and higher powers may not always agree with technology in the classroom. I am not sure what I would do if this became an issue. I know that permission forms to even use a computer is an absolute must and I know that they may not see my side of the issue. I think the best thing we can do is inform the "unbelievers" and show them how awesome and useful technology really is.

I love the safety precautions that Ms. Cassidy takes. I also love how in her youtube video she made the students recite a few rules back. Never using the student's last name is absolutely imperative. Also, making sure the students know what not to write on their blog. Never say mean things is also a big no-no. I think that the students in her class know and follow these rules. They really need to fully understand the importance of the safety rules. When I use blogging in my classroom, I will use these rules for sure.

I want to continually polish up on my "technology literacy". I know that I am miles away from being where I should be. I also know that before this class, I was miles away from where I am now. That is encouraging and makes me want to better the skills I have. It really is a fun thing to learn about technology these days. It will be even more fun to teach someone the things I now know! And I know for absolute certainty, when I teach my students this awesome stuff, I will be learning right along with them! That is so exciting to me!

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT

1. I have found that Mr. McClung is extremely organized and extremely eager to teach and have his students learn. His blog reflects hard work and time spent on it. This lets me know that he didn't just throw some instructions on a blog and tell the students to have at it. The blog is set up so that all his classes can go to the appropriate tab for the appropriate class.
2. While I have never hear Mr. McClung teach, he seems to have effective methods of teaching. For example, When he says "class" the class responds with "yes" and also how he says class. This helps with listening and making sure the students are paying attention. I have mastered the art of pretending to pay attention, but if I wasn't paying attention and a method like this was used on me, I would fail it miserably. So, yes, this method and his way of teaching seems solid. He also seems excited to teach. This also can make all the difference!
3. I like his rules. There aren't many of them. I think the less rules that you have, the more likely it is that the students will follow those and have a generally larger respect spectrum for him. His first rule is, "Follow directions quickly." This rule from an outsider would seem hard to decipher at first, but it makes all the sense in the world to me. In a classroom setting where time is limited and the students are in surplus, the teacher will not have time to work with each individual student and give him or her each individual instructions. This is why following directions quickly is key. Each student must be on the same page and this leaves little room for those who fall behind because of lack of listening etc. I think that less rules is key in any classroom. I want to incorporate the less is more strategy in my classroom too. It is effective and the students don't feel like they are under a microscope and constantly being watched.
4. The first thing under Everyone Needs was a day planner. I think that this is because due dates can get messy and confusing if you have more than a couple assignments due close to each other. In EDM 310, I  don't know what I would do without the checklist that we were given. That acts as my planner for this class. It is so important to have that. I can see where it is the most important thing for the class to have as far as materials go.
5. For each day that your homework is late, it results in loss of a letter grade. I think this is more than fair especially since you know ahead of time that it is due and when. This is similar to Dr. Strange's way of grading as well. The loss of letter grade is what he uses to grade his assignments with as well. I think it is a fair and effective strategy.
6. I love that the blog is for students and parents both. This cuts out paper in the classroom much like in EDM 310. Parents can also see what's happening in the school and forgotten notes and flyers won't be a problem. The students learn to find things for themselves as well and better equips them in this area.
7. The first link I went to was Guys Read. This site interested me because we are learning about this in Human Growth as well. Studies show that boys can be as good as readers if they truly are interested. I love that there is a site for this and that Mr. McClung posted this. The second link was Steve Spangler's Science Toys. This was a fun site! It has countless science toys available to students, teachers, parents, etc. It also has fun experiments you can do with them. This is definitely a site I want to write down to remember for my future classroom! The fact that Mr. McClung took the time to find these sites and post on his blog for his students to go to shows what kind of teacher he really is!
8. His internet safety tips are excellent. I think it would be easy to feel safe all the time on the internet especially if I was in 8th grade and was doing this for school. His rules aren't sugar coated and that is a good thing. They are also easy rules to remember and these rules probably aren't taught at home to all the students so this is extra effective
9. I was assigned The World Language Festival that had Coleman and Connor doing a ShamWow commercial in Spanish. It really was hilarious. I laughed the whole way through and was sad to see it end. They did such a great job redoing this infomercial. Huge props to them and to Mr. McClung that assigns such great projects for his students. I aspire to be as effective as he is one day! This was awesome to see. I recommend this to anyone. It shows the talent it took, their language skills, and also the time they spent on it. Great work!
10. I would love a reason to have a great blog. A classroom would be one. I feel like at this point in my life, I am too busy to have an effective blog where I could dedicate x amount of hours per week for it. However, I do spend over 15 hour a week in EDM on my blog so I could find the time if needed. Blogger has seemed to work for me. When I look at Mr. McClung's blog, it is so organized but also full of fun stuff and links and projects his students did. I don't have these resources that he does so it is hard to say what I am missing out on in Blogger. What I need for mine is available. That being said, when I have a classroom of my own, I would consider learning what else I can from Blogger. I would also look into other blogging sites available to see what else is out there!
11. As I stated in number 6, this blog is extremely easy to navigate around and so simply set up. Any parent that can get to this website can easily navigate around to see what their child is doing. The search box at the top is also a great tool if they were looking for their particular child on the blog. There is no secrets or privacy. What the students do, the parents can see. This probably eases many minds of parents and the principal.
12. This blog is completely different than other 8th grade classes that I have viewed. I think in part it has to do with the Mr. McClung. He seems so enthused about learning and he has such a fire for teaching his students the correct and safe way to use technology and the internet. If I was in his class, I don't think I would view my assignments as work in this class and that is a huge statement. I think he just has an effective teaching method that grabs the students attention and holds them there making them eager to learn and eager to blog. This makes me want to do the same with my classroom!!
13. Mr. McClung's blog is one I wish to follow throughout this class and beyond. I know I have said that for a few teachers already, but there's something different and more inspirational than the others. It is all reflected in his work and the work of his students. I think that's the difference. He has so much posted on his blog of his students work. It isn't just a post once a month on an update of the class. In March alone, they as a class had 23 posts on the blog. That is about a post a day give or take a few! That is incredible! A huge thanks to Mr. McClung and his class and to Dr. Strange for allowing us to do this assignment. I have learned so much.

Blog Assignment 10

1. An Open Letter to Educators
In this post by Morgan Bayda, I felt relieved that there are others that feel cheated through school. I have rarely felt like I am not wasting my time throughout my college years. Besides my class Arts in the Elementary School (EDU 301), EDM 310 is the only class that I have actually learned anything worthwhile or useful. It is the sole class other than EDU 301 that I will continue to apply what I have learned here throughout my life and classroom. Too many schools have lowered their standards of education. I don't feel like classrooms actually teach you anything. To me, learning is doing. I absolutely have to apply what I learn or else it goes in one ear and out the other as soon as I take that class's exam. This has got to change. We are wasting time and money on school if things don't change soon. It is comforting to know that this problem is realized. Now, we have to do something about it. I think that Morgan and I have had a similar experience. In Dan Brown's video, it hit the nail on the head. Thank you to both!

2. Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home
This post by Tom Johnson rocked. I loved the casual banter between the characters that had a deeper message embedded. We do not need to smother the students' creativity anymore than standardized testing and the schools already do. There is too much riding on standardized test scores. What's wrong with a game of hangman? I love hangman. If the students still are applying skills through that then I see no harm in that! We need to definitely let students know how to be creative. "Taking their pencils away" is no solution to this problem. We need to let them "take their pencils home". We never know what sort of creative things kids are capable of coming up with! I love posts like this. I get so much out of them. Creativity is a must in classrooms!

C4T #3

For this Comments 4 Teachers I was assigned to Eric Langhorst who is an eighth grade teacher in Liberty, Missouri. His blog is Speaking of History. In his blog, he focuses on familiarizing people of all ages of the advantages of technology. He explains much in great detail with few words. He has a gift of explanation. Mr. Langhorst focuses on twitter and skype and other social networking programs. The benefits of these are huge. Another thing that he focused on that personally interested me was the facebook vs. twitter slide that he did. It helped me understand twitter a little more. I have been on twitter for a few years now, but through posts like Mr. Langhorsts and other teachers' blogs I have really honed in on my "twitter-using" skills. I am thankful for all this free advice I get from teachers like Mr. Langhorst. He also has a slideshow he created for building a PLN. We are doing that now in this class, so that was kind of like an added bonus for me to get assigned to him. He really is a wise teacher to be teaching his class the importance of technology. I am extremely glad that this class is required to help turn the non-believers of technology in the classroom into hard-core technology gurus. I am not sure that I am there quite yet, simply because of my lack of knowledge. However, each and every day that I look at teachers' posts such as Mr. Langhorst's and discover something new that I can do with my computer, I am overjoyed and I feel my success rate going up just a little more each time. I have three semesters before I have a classroom of my own, I am already wondering how far I will have come by the time I reach that point. The word "eager" doesn't even touch what I am feeling towards reaching that point!

Skype Interview Project

I interviewed my sister that lives in Chattanooga who is a new mother and has just begun working from home. She describes the advantages and disadvantages of the job.

C4K #4,5,& 6

C4K #4
I was assigned Mr. Harris's 7/8 year old class at PT England School. They are a talented bunch of kids! They just got netbooks to replace their textbooks. They were extremely excited about them! To me, this was a huge display of how technology really is changing in the classroom. It was encouraging and it made me excited to see what will be available in a few weeks, a few months, or a few years! I have enjoyed following Mr. Harris's class. They seem like such an intellectual group of 7 and 8 year olds that are eager to learn! I am glad they got netbooks for their usage! They deserve them and I can't wait to hear about an update on the netbooks!
Mr. Harris' Class

C4K #5
I was assigned Jenny She's five and six year old class from PT England School as well. They are so cute! Their blog is called Little Voices Little Scholars. They are a creative bunch of five and six year olds. They make many movies and clips about everything from their weekend to a story that they wrote. This class is an example of using technology in many different ways. They don't take it for  granted like I so often do. They know how valuable technology is and they use it in so many ways. It blows my mind that these kids are six years old! When I was six, we got our first computer at home. We never had the technology in the classroom available today. I am glad they realize the importance of what they are doing!
Ms. She's Class

C4K #6
I was assigned Room 14, a group of five and six year olds from Tauranga, New Zealand. These kids rock. The thing that hits home the most for me is that these kids are the age that I want to teach. They are five and six and are making videos. I need to step up my game if my class is going to do things such as this! I hope that they do! I need to further inform myself of the technology available so I can make things happen in my classroom! These kids are so awesome. My favorite thing that they did was an integrity slideshow! They made a slideshow of what integrity means to them. Each student held up a sign of what integrity is to them. It was much like the "This is My Sentence" video that we did earlier in the semester. I am so glad that I am able to follow these inspiring kids. It gives me more hope for my classroom! Below is the integrity slideshow link.
Integrity slideshow
Room 14

Puppet Project

This is our Puppet Project for EDU 301! I am posting it just for fun!

Blog Assignment 9

What I've Learned This Year
By: Mr. McClung

In this post by Mr. McClung I received some amazing insight and practical advice through his blog. I am not even sure if he meant for this to be more than a reflection, but I know that I for one received much more than was probably intended from the beginning. One thing that I especially liked that he reflected on was to be flexible. Of course your lessons aren't going to be taught word for word that you originally had written up and thats fine! It is also a great way to work on your improv as a teacher. It will only cause more stress if you freak out over not being in total and perfect control. I also like how Mr. McClung touched on technology and how it is our friend not our enemy. Of course many teachers are skeptical of technology! I was extremely skeptical of technology before this class. It isn't really that it's scary, it just is intimidating because to many of us this is some new material that we are unfamiliar with and that in itself can be scary before we even give it a second chance. This point of technology leads me to my final and favorite point that he made. It was the one that said never stop learning. I cannot agree with this more! We are constantly going to be learning new things as teachers and that's an awesome thing. I love to learn and it is comforting to know that our learning isn't going to end even when we are the one teaching. This is so refreshing! This post by Mr. McClung easily ranks in the top ten favorites of mine that I have read thus far over the course of this semester. I look forward to follow him throughout the semester and beyond! What a solid foundation schools could have if all teachers thought like this!

Blog Assignment 8

This is How We Dream Part 1 and 2 
By: Dr. Richard E. Miller





In this two part video by Dr. Miller, there was further confirmation in my faith with technology taking over "old school" paper books. There is so much that is possible to do online now or at your computer without ever opening a textbook or newspaper. It is "going green" at its finest. Dr. Miller wrote an article on the one year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting and he didn't have to even touch a book or newspaper for information. The power of this is in our fingertips. We just have to figure out how to use it to its full potential.
I think this needs to be taught. Teachers nowadays are trying to keep up with this ever-changing technology and that's not an easy thing to do. I think it is important for the teachers of today and the future teachers to learn this. I want to be educated further on this so that I can teach my classroom this. Realistically, in 5 years or so technology will be completely different than it is now. I don't want to be left behind without this knowledge
Teaching this would require someone who is up to date on all of this to come in and maybe teach a workshop or two to a few different schools at a time to just get a general knowledge of the available technology and media out there. This wouldn't be difficult to do at all. Then from there, the workshops could become more specific to subject matter and schools. I just have this desire to learn all about the technology that is constantly advancing and changing around me!
Before I took EDM 310 I absolutely was dreading it. Even the first day of class I thought I was going to hate it. Is it a lot of work? Heck yeah. Do I sometimes want to hurl my computer across the room? Absolutely. Have I learned some of the most valuable information from all of my college years combined within a few months that makes this all worth it? Without a doubt. I want to take this yearning that I have for learning more and transfer it to my future classroom and students.

In The Chipper Series and EDM 310 For Dummies, it definitely got my wheels cranking for some ideas that I could use. The videos were great and informative even though they were silly. I think that I would like to keep along the lines of this. As silly as they were, they kept my attention and the messages in each were very clear. I think that is one of the most effective ways of teaching. I am not sure of what the video would be about yet if I were to make one, but the formatting would be along the silly lines for sure.



In the video Learn to Change, Change to Learn, it was sad to see how many people don't value education and technology. We need to know that technology is always changing and advancing and we can't be stuck in the past in classrooms. I think the classroom needs to mold with the new advanced technology. It can only benefit the classroom! Why be left behind if you are given the chance to advance? We need to apply standards if we are to have standardized testing in the classroom like they stated in this video. Students don't need to just memorize facts, they need to know what to do with it, how to apply it, etc. I'm glad we were shown this video. I am definitely more aware of the problem now, and I as a future teacher will do everything in my power to make my future classroom a true learning environment.




In this video, The Secret Powers of Time by Philip Zambardo, it shed light on the situation of how hurried we must do things nowadays. Everything is down by the second and not the minute. One that I am guilty of is getting mad over my computer rebooting or downloading something. I bet I could clear up some serious acne if I would just chill out for two seconds and be patient. This whole video was great. That part was one part that particularly jumped out at me because I am guilty of doing that very thing all the time. We should absolutely take technology as far as we possibly can, but I do think that there is a point that it eventually comes to that we need to take a step back and just take a deep breath and remember that the world isn't going to end if my computer doesn't reboot in two minutes on the dot.



In this video, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, goes to show how we will do anything if we have an incentive. We are driven by rewards. Money is a huge motivator. If we take money out of the equation so that the workers can focus on the work. It leads to autonomy, mastery, and purpose. It's kind of sad that we have to have money to make us do things. We are extremely purpose-driven. This can be a good thing, but it is almost too overpowering. Money is the center of most things for most people. This can get dangerous in my opinion. No wonder the economy is so down. We can make the change! We can stop doing a good job for money and we can start doing a good job just because that's the right thing to do! We are so purpose-driven. I'd like to see this change in many of us!

Smart Board Presentation

Smart Board Presentation Form

Rebekah Lloyd's EDM310 Class Blog: Smartboard Presentation: "Check out our Smartboard Presentation about the days of the week! After watching this could you please take our survey? It would mean SO ..."

PLN

 For my PLN I used Symbaloo. It seemed to be the less complicated and more efficient one of the two choices. I have only 18 tiles as of now, but it has been fun organizing and sorting through them! This is such a neat thing to have. Everything is right at your fingertips to search. This seems to help me eliminate the use of tabs! I am glad this was an assignment for us to do. This helps expand learning and networking to a whole new level. I am constantly learning new things about this! This is the coolest thing. I am constantly amazed at the tools such as Symbaloo that are available! This rocks. To view my PLN you may click on the link below!

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/sarahnellyorkspln

Short Movie Project Sarah Nell York EDM 310

Summary Post C4K 1,2, and 3

Before I begin summarizing the posts of the great kids that I commented on, I want to stress how much fun this was. It was way cool to see that kids this young and all around the world are blogging! I hope that they see the value in this and aren't doing it just because it is a required assignment for their class. This was so cool to see. The schools that did this are so wise to allow and/or require their students to do this. I only have seen three classes so far and I know that there are many more out there. That rocks!

The first comment 4 kids blog that I looked at was Zach. His class lives in Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. It is located on the West coast of Canada along with beaches, mountains, and forests. Zach's class blog is called Building Blocks and they use their blogging to reach out and to stay in touch with students across the globe. They are also working with other classes in their school to help each other out with the blogging. They call themselves Division 17 and post all sorts of things that the students create. They had a stick figure dance challenge where they created their own stick figures on the computer that danced! You can view the different dances made at http://bcarmi.edublogs.org/classwork/. They also have a spot on their blog where you can go through the steps provided to make yourself a stick figure or an avatar. You can check that out at http://bcarmi.edublogs.org/blogging/. I also posted Zach's blog on my blog previously. This was such a neat school. I'm glad they are encouraging blogging.

The second kid that I was assigned was the Sebastian. He went to Pt England Primary School in Auckland, New Zealand. The students at this school produce a weekly podcast called KPE which stands for Korero Pt England. The students that create this podcast are between the ages of 9 and 11. They work with their teachers to promote reading in their classrooms. They read lots of books by New Zealand authors and their podcast is to promote these authors. You can view the podcasts at http://www.ptengland.school.nz/index.php?family=1,871. This link also will lead you to the class blog. They love feedback and commenters. You can do this at kpe@ptengland.school.nz

The third kid I got assigned to was in Mr. Wolfe's class. This blog was different than the other 2 blogs I read. The students here didn't have names, they were a couple letters then numbers. I assume they are their initials and 2011 which is obviously the year. This was interesting on how it was set up. The homepage blog http://kidblog.org/MrWolfesClass2/. It is set up with the blog title and who the author it is whether it is student or teacher. This was a neat way to do it because you can scroll down and go directly to that blog post and to what student wrote it. I didn't get as much information on this school as the other ones simply because the information was limited. I was encouraged to see that the students blog regularly though! I think this is very important to keep in the classroom. Mr. Wolfe's blog that he keeps himself further explains each particular blog that his class does and some extra posts as well. You can view this at http://kidblog.org/MrWolfesClass2/author/MrStephenWolfe/.

Blog Assignment 7

This video really was worth every minute of watching it. Randy Pausch made some amazing points. Just listening to him talk about his life and dreams he achieved was extremely inspiring. The fact that he is dying and has the attitude and outlook on life that he has says enough. If you were to look at him and listen to him, the last thing you would think is that he has cancer and has a few months to live. This man is such an inspiration. Throughout the video, he made some awesome points and stated some eye-opening quotes. I love when he stated,  "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." This rings true. I can think of many times in my life when this statement was proven. If you always get what you want, you wouldn't necessarily see your achievements as anything more than accomplishments. The experience aspect would be overlooked. Another statement that hit home for me was, "If you are being corrected and criticized, it is a good thing. It means you are doing something right." If they aren't correcting you, it means they have given up on you. I never thought of it like this, I know constructive criticism is a great thing, but even harsh criticism can be looked at as a great thing. It just means that your critics still have faith in you and are still holding out on you.

When Dr. Pausch spoke about his childhood dreams and one was to be an Imagineer at Disney World, he spoke on the brick walls that came in front of him. "Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things." One brick wall for him was the rejection letters he got from Disney at first. For most, that would have been the end of trying. Dr. Pausch actually went on to work on the Aladdin Virtual Reality and got an offer to be a real Imagineer at Disney World. This just goes to show the extent to which we can succeed if we honestly try! Brick walls filter out the ones who don't really want to achieve their childhood dreams. Brick walls are useful tools. Helping with the Aladdin Virtual Reality led him to create a course at Carnegie Mellon called Building Virtual Worlds. 50 students are chosen and every 2 weeks you do a new project. You do a total of 5 projects. This was a huge accomplishment. When it came time for the students to present, they would bring their parents and friends and roommates to watch their presentation. They soon moved to the room he gave his talk in, and filled that up too!

Dr. Pausch summarized with a few points. The first one was, we learn from our students. This is a true statement. I have learned this in EDM 310. We have watched countless videos on students actually teaching their teachers things they discover through technology, and this is just one example. The next point he made was to always have fun. Through his life journey, he always had a good time even through the bad times he still looks back and laughs. Even while he is dying, he is still having fun! This is such a mind-blowing thing. He is dying, yet he still manages to live everyday to the fullest. Thirdly, he says to never lose the child-like wonder. He is basically a huge kid and wouldn't change anything. We need to keep that child-like wonder at all costs! It is our sanity for some days. Lastly, he stated to help others. This can mean so much, whether its helping someone at school or work or over in Thailand like he and his wife do. This means so much to so many people. He probably doesn't even know how much he has helped people or how many lives he has touched!

This video opened my eyes and my mind to so many things. His talk was titled "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." Throughout his talk, he brought up numerous "head fakes". At the end of his lecture, he asked if we discovered the head fake of this talk. The head fake was: It's not about how to achieve your dreams, it's about how you live your life. That was the first big surprise to me. The second was when he said there was a second head fake. The second head fake was: The talk is not for us, it's for his kids. That was huge. I thought the whole lecture was about achieving my childhood dreams and that the talk was for the viewers. It wasn't about that at all and it definitely wasn't a talk meant for me. I still learned so much though. Dr. Pausch said you learn the best through head fakes. This is so true. It was proven as I watched this video. I am so glad we were assigned to watch this. I want to share it with so many people! This lecture rocked.

Blog Assignment 6

1.The Networked Student
I found this video to be very helpful in explaining the "networked student" to me. It is a good deal of information to process especially when we were raised in a "traditional" student and teacher learning environment where everything is taught off of the chalkboard and the internet was used for research papers. This is a whole new ball game we have entered.
Students in this century must have the skills to be able to master technology. That is their learning tool! The future is now. The tools available to the students and to the teachers alike are so useful and should not be wasted. This is so important to grasp. In this video, the networked student basically built his own online textbook. He had no psych book for the class. His networking and web searching helped him build his own. This is so helpful to him and also to his classmates. His classmates can see the information he has gathered. What a powerful tool this is! This way of teaching is so very different, but so very opportune if taught the correct way!
It is the teacher's job to teach a networked student in a few ways. For starters, the networked student is not going to know where to begin. The teacher is there to help him or her to begin with building their network. The teacher's job also is to help him with any questions he may have with setting up his network, adding onto it, etc. Also, the teacher is there to help him distinguish what is a reliable site and what is not. The guidance of the teacher is so important.
I think my favorite part about this is that the student makes his or her own textbook while learning to network and search for information. To me, the best kind of learning is when you do it yourself. So, if the student would like a text for the class, he or she must go out and basically build it. They will learn so much more doing that than being given a textbook that they probably wouldn't open anyway. If you decide not to build yours, then it only hurts you, the student. This is so great. This is such an imperative thing to teach and to prepare our students for!


2. A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
This is awesome. I can't believe she is only in 7th grade. Looking back on my 7th grade year, we had to sign permission forms to use the internet at school. This is how she learns at school. This is amazing. She is so organized. Her PLN is so organized, thought-out, and efficient. I will definitely use some of her techniques if not many to do my PLN. She made me want to make my entire one today. I know it will take some time to get everything in your PLN, but it made me eager to get a jump on it! She is inspiring. This can and will take learning to a whole new level.


3. Critiques of Smartboards
Why Smartboards are a Dumb Initiative
Michael Staton in his stand against smartboards argues the cost efficient side. He says they are too expensive for what they are and that you can do the same thing with different programs.

Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards
Bill Ferriter also thinks that interactive whiteboards are too expensive and that don't do any thing positive for the students or the teacher. He gave his away after using it for a year. In his post he quoted:
"Most of the time, interactive whiteboard programs are, in fact, nothing more than vain attempts to buy change. Rarely paired with a clear vision of the classrooms we’d like to see, a set of tangible objectives that can be measured, or any systematic attempts to evaluate outcomes, these high-priced contraptions are sad examples of the careless decision-making and waste that
are crippling some of our schools and systems."


I found a site that promotes Interactive Whiteboard use. On this site, Dr. Mary Ann Bell, Assistant Professor of Library Science at Sam Houston State University in  Hunstville, Texas has a list of a few reasons why interactive whiteboards are so great. The website is http://www.waukeshaschools.com/WIT/smartBoard/benefits.htm. On this page, she also gives a link for the full text of reasons instead of just the points. I went to this site and it is very interesting. She makes a great argument towards the use of IWB's.  http://teachers.net/gazette/JAN02/mabell.html 

Timetoast Timeline- Vincent van Gogh

The Facebook Debate- Podcast

My Individual Timetoast Timeline

C4T #2

  

The teacher that I followed for these past couple weeks was Howard Rheingold. His website is http://dmlcentral.net/. He is a very well educated man. To be honest, the first post I commented on was

Wikirriculum: Curriculum in the Digital Age

 I was completely confused as to what he was trying to say and I told him I was confused. He responded with another post to me in an attempt to clear things up and it didn't help too much. That wasn't his fault. I think that I just have a lot of learning to do!

The second post I commented on was

On Paranoid Parenting, Media and Education

 This post was very interesting to me and I did in fact understand this one. Parents are scared to let their kids learn as much as their is to technology. The movie he made reference to was Dogtooth, which won best foreign film. The movie is about a father who shields his 3 children from the outside world completely. They are adults, but they still have children minds. He literally doesn't let them outside of the gates. He doesn't even give them names. It is child abuse for sure and it was all to shield them from the outside world. That's kind of extreme for sure. I really don't think parents today would go to the extremes like they did in this movie, but the fear is still there. Before this class, I was afraid of technology taking over the classroom and students no longer needing a teacher in the classroom etc. No longer do I think that way, I know technology presents us as future teachers with so many tools that we need to grasp and hang onto! I still have so much to learn and I am eager to do it!

C4K #1

Zachs blog

A blog for people

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Sup World – eight random thing about me

January 14, 2011

Hello everybody, this is my first post on my blog so im going to post eight different random things about me.
1.I learned how to ride a bike when i was two years old on an adult bike without training wheels
2.I have only moved 3 times in my life
3.I have never broken a bone
4.I only wear jeans
5.My favorite show is Naruto
6.I have never been out of canada
7.Megan Fox is my favorite actress
8. spend most of my time hanging out with my friends

Posted by zachbb17

Sarah Nell York said: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
February 8th, 2011 at 4:57 am

Hi Zach!
My name is Sarah Nell and I am a student at the University of South Alabama! Have you ever heard of it before? For my microcomputing class I was assigned to your blog to read. It’s an awesome blog. Do you enjoy school? I have never been to Canada before but I hear it rocks. What’s your favorite subject? Keep up the good blogging!

So far, I haven't gotten any feed back from Zach yet. He seems like an interesting kid with not too many cares in his part of the world, which happens to be Canada. I am hoping he replies to my comment though. I am eager to learn more about his school and blogging.

Blog Assignment 5

Eagle Nest Radio & Class Blog

This is awesome! The third graders that did this are pretty unique. The Roman podcast that I listened to was so cool. I actually learned a lot about Rome by listening to this. I thought it was neat how they were "journeying" to ancient Rome and narrated history and sites as they went along. I also enjoyed how the music changed as the setting and mood changed. I could definitely use ideas from this to put into my podcast. The different combination of voices that I heard as it switched from student to student also kept me intrigued and it kept my attention with it constantly changing. I could also incorporate that idea in to my podcast. These kids rock!
Langwitches
This was extremely cool to me that she helped the Language Arts teacher upgrade her unit. The upgrading with the podcast idea was a great idea to mix things up. By "redoing" short stories read by someone with a different point of view was a great way to put a spin on things. This was in part also to inspire other teachers to try something different in their classroom and to do something new. I'm sure it was refreshing to both student and teacher alike! This could also reach more students in this way. I think this was such a neat, fun, and needed idea!
Education Podcast Network (EPN)
This is such a neat set-up! This is so helpful to teachers now and also to future teachers like me! To have a podcast site specifically made for a teacher's benefit is awesome. You can get new ideas and content through this podcast side. It's just podcast after podcast of everything you could hope for. It's like Disney World for teachers. (Well maybe not that great, but you get the idea). The directory will grow as people share their stories and ideas! This is awesome! I will definitely use this as a teacher!

"This Is My Sentence"

Blog Assignment 4

 1. Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? By: Scott McLeod http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2009/08/dont-teach-your-kids-this-stuff-please.html/comment-page-5#comment-58919
Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Educational Administration Program at Iowa State University. He is also the director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), the nation's only academic center dedicated to technology needs of school administrators. He blogs regularly. (http://scottmcleod.net/bio/) This was an awesome post. At first I was unsure of what Dr. McLeod was getting at, but it hit me at the end. It was extremely creative. It's true that technology can be harmful in many ways. However, if we were to look at anything else we could say the same about that thing. Everything is potentially harmful in one way or another. If used in the right way, technology is our greatest tool we can acquire and it is up to us as future educators to help enforce this.
2. The iSchool Initiative
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68KgAcx_9jU
I'm going to be honest, when I first started watching this video, I was skeptical and jumped to conclusions. I thought there was no way that would be good for the students or teachers. I am all for technological advances in the school, but when is it too much? Well, the truth is, I never answered that question. Just as quickly as I had jumped to conclusions, my mind was changed. iSchool could be an awesome thing! It could save your school and yourself close to $500 per student! That seems to be reason enough.

Students today rarely touch their textbooks as it is, but how many students reach for their iphones or ipods? Almost all of them! If we put schooling into the iTouch and strictly enforced rules that went along with it, it would yield great results! There would be no more excuses for assignments or lost emails. This piece of technology will go far! I hope to see this in the schools one day!
3. The Lost Generation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA&feature=player_embedded
This video was awesome! I was disappointed when it started because I thought she truly believed all the things the "experts" say. When it was reversed, it really spoke to me. This video was extremely affective.
4. Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 

http://techliterateteacher.blogspot.com/2010/05/eric-whitakers-virtual-choir-lux.html

I got extreme chill bumps watching this video! Wow! These people never met and performed as a choir completely via internet!! Words cannot even describe what I felt when I saw that! It was so awesome and powerful!
5. Teaching in the 21st Century
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmskHM0V2Ig&feature=player_embedded%23 

This is an eye-opening video! It is true in a sense that teachers are now only filters for the teaching. I think that this can be an awesome thing. Technology is our most powerful tool. To teach in the 21st century is to teach technology! I think keeping an "old school" way of teaching in the classroom can be important, but my view of that has already changed just from being in this class for a few weeks. I am realizing with each video I watch and with blog post I read from these intellectuals that the age is now that the technology is the teaching and we need to learn to use the tools given to us to teach our students how to "properly use google". We need to take full advantage of the power we have in our hands.

Google Presentation

Summary C4T Post #1

My teacher that I am following is Henrietta Miller. Her blog is Classroom Chronicles. Her blogs are very interesting! Her first post I read was about her goals for this year. She is a very talented teacher. Her main goal this year is to be selected for the Google Teacher Academy in Sydney, Australia. This would be a huge honor. Her other smaller goals consist of expanding technology in classrooms and schools! There is a lot to be learned from her! She keeps her classroom student centered and tries to make school and her classroom unique to each student she has. What a role model she is!
The second post I read was about her advice to new teachers. Her advice was solid, reasonable advice. It was on being a planner as a teacher and also a learner. You must teach with a learner's mindset. A few other pointers were to keep smiling because it does get better and to ask for help when you need it! The only way to get the help you need is by asking. She seems so down to earth. One day I would like to meet her. She is so inspiring and a great teacher. I would like to model my future classroom after her. There is so much to be learned from her and she is still learning. The goals she sets for herself are perfectly attainable for her. I have complete faith in her that she will reach the goals that she sets. I have great respect for her and I haven't even met her. I feel like I know her just from reading her blogs. I will continue to read her blogs even after this assignment is complete.

Blog Assignment 3

1. Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

This movie was fairly accurate for the most part in capturing my college experience. I felt like I was spending hundreds of dollars on books that I never touched. Much of the knowledge I received from college I feel like I taught myself and much of the material that I have learned, I have forgotten.

My college experience did have some differences than the video as well. I was fortunate enough to have teachers that knew me personally. There were a few exceptions to this, such as my enormous biology classes that had more than 120 students in them, but even then the professors made an effort to get to know you. To some extent you as a student have to make the effort to get to know your teachers. If I were to add to this movie to make it more of my college experience I would add to where it says your neighbor pays for class but never comes. I would insert maybe why they never come. There are many factors such as partying or no motivation but that varies from school to school. For the most part, this was extremely accurate.
2. "It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines
I absolutely agree with Kelly Hines about this post. She is right about technology being a huge part of teaching, but in the end it's not the technology after all. Teachers must be learners and they must teach with learning in mind. You must as a teacher be continually learning yourself. You can't assume that just because you've taught the students something repeatedly that they have necessarily learned it. You have to have learning in mind as you teach.
The truth is, we need technology in the world today. At the end of the day, it isn't technology in the schools that help the students learn, it is the teachers. The technology can be a very helpful tool to expand the learning and the teaching, but it is ultimately left up to the teacher to help the students truly learn and understand. It is easy to get caught up in the technology today. It is powerful stuff! Technology  doesn't teach the students, teachers do.
3. Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
I totally understand Karl Fisch's view on this topic. I do however think it is a bit extreme. Nowadays It is true that you can barely do anything without technology, but technology is constantly changing. It is near impossible to keep up with it. The older teachers for the most part, have even more of a challenge with this issue. Many of them can barely grasp the concept of a computer much less all the other technology that comes along with it.
I think that absolutely teachers must have some knowledge of technology and should be able to use and teach with the technological tools that are given to them. However, to say that everyone must be technologically literate is a huge statement. I don't consider myself technologically literate yet. I am striving towards being technologically literate but I know I have a ways to go. I know that I have far more knowledge about technology than many teachers that I know and they get along just fine in the classroom. Teachers should be learners and should grasp what is available to them if they so choose to. I think if they feel like they can do just fine without it, then more power to them.
4. Gary Hayes Social Media Count
This means so much to my professional career. It is a little intimidating to be honest. It is also very eye opening. The future possibilities of this are amazing. I still have another year left in school and these numbers are changing every single second. That blows my mind. I can't imagine what the numbers will be in a year but this is some powerful stuff.

Blog Assignment 2

1. Did You Know?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
This video was extremely eye opening to me!! The power of the internet and technology today is absolutely mind blowing. We are even preparing ourselves for the future of the internet. We don;t even know what will be available to us in the future, but we are already preparing ourselves to solve future problems that we don't even know are problems yet!
I think that most people are aware of the power of the internet, but not to its full extent. This video for sure heightened awareness for me. I'm not completely sure that I can even grasp the extent of this video, but it sure has opened up my eyes and mind.
2. Mr. Winkle Wakes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm1sCsl2MQY  
I thought this video was done in a really cute way! I really enjoyed it. It was very creative and the point was clearly made. It is very comforting to know that even though technology is changing faster than we can keep up with it, education is staying fairly consistent for the most part. There is a good bit of comfort in that for everyone I think. Technology is extremely helpful, but at the same time, it is nice to know some things do stay the same.
Technology is an awesome thing, but I think it is easy to get wrapped up in it and to lose sight of the importance of standard education in the classroom. Even today, online classes are a great idea and can be helpful for working parents or students with other full time jobs etc., but more and more traditional classes are going online and it is easy to get caught up in that.
3. Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
I never thought of creativity in schools like this until now. Creativity is being minimized in many ways. Ken Robinson made a great point in saying that most kids nowadays are afraid of being wrong and that leaves no room for creativity in them. Schools do push the "important" subjects such as math or science far more instead of dance or art. This is hurting the children more than helping them As he said, dance is just as important as math.
I really enjoyed the video! Creativity is a must in children. It is important for them to not "grow out of creativity". If the schools continue to minimize the need to keep creativity in children as they grow, it is in a sense taking away their individuality. That is unacceptable. Each child is individual in his or her own way and we need to teach them how to grasp their individuality instead of blocking it out with math and science.
4. Cecelia Gault Interviews Sir Ken Robinson
This was a great video! She is a very bright little girl. She seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say. It seemed like it was more than just a school interview for her. You could tell her creativity wasn't stripped from her. In my future classroom, I hope to keep creativity in all subjects, even in math and science so that my students can fully get in touch with their creativity.
5. Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
This was a very informative video. Vicki Davis seems like such an awesome teacher. She has a passion to connect her students and she is very hands-on. She lets the students teach her as well. This helps the students become technologically informed. Standard classroom learning is very important, however, this is so important as well. The possibilities of students blogging to other students and learning programs and sharing with each other are endless! It empowers the students to connect and share and to teach themselves.
These students are the future. This is so imperative to have available to students in the schools. They can express their creativity and learn things at a young age on the computer that most of us probably have no idea what it even is! So many great present and future outcomes are coming from this. The students in this video inspire me to get out and learn new technologies and programs and to blog just because I can!

Wordle Project

Blog Assignment 1

I was born and raised in Mobile, AL. I graduated from Murphy High School in 2008. From Murphy, I went to Jacksonville State University for two years. I really enjoyed my time there in Jacksonville, but I really missed my friends and family in Mobile. I decided to move back home in the summer of 2010 and applied and got accepted to USA. I chose Elementary Education as my major. I chose this major because I have always loved children and I have always loved teaching them. My first grade teacher had a huge impact on my wanting to be a first grade teacher as well.
I come from a huge family. There are six kids in my family. Five of the six kids are girls and only one is a  boy and he is the youngest. I loved growing up in a huge family and that probably has something to do with my love for kids. I currently am working two jobs. The first job I work is during the week and it is as a nanny to two of the most precious children you will ever meet: Hannah and Hampton. Hannah is five years old and Hampton is three years old. The second job I work is usually on the weekends only. It is at Cold Snap Frozen Yogurt. It is a laid back, enjoyable job that helps pay the bills.
I have many interests in life. One of them being almost anything that has to do with the outdoors. I love running, hiking, biking, kayaking, etc. the list goes on. Anything challenging that is outdoors is something that I tend to love. This pretty much sums me up!