Final PLN

C4T#4

I left a comment on Aviva Dunsiger's blog post. Her blog post is talking about letting students do things themselves. I think that her blog post is very motivating and gives us hope that what we are teaching our students is sinking in. One of her fellow teachers had 2 students that were trying to get a slide show together. After running into many different obstacles, they never gave up. They worked together and communicated and in the end, their show was a success. They never got mad an never wanted to give up. That is very motivating to me. The teacher even admitted that he would have given up long before they ever finished. I think this is a great post so I am putting the link up to share it with you.  http://adunsiger.com/

Today, Aviva's post again talking about stepping back and letting students do their own work.  She had some video's posted of students counting out the coins.  She caught herself helping a student and wished that she had let them do it on their own.  With the next student, she did, and they were able to work it out on their own.  I think that Ms. Dunsiger is a great educator and I hope soon that I am able to record myself with my students as well.

C4K #3

C4K #10
After looking at Ms. Yollis's 3rd grade blog page, I am amazed at how she involves so many people for her class to communicate with. Our class blog has over 48,000 visits and their blog only has more than 3,800. Even though they don't have the traffic on their blog, it is still amazing that they have hit that number for a school in California. I also think it is really neat that she has the different time zones of friends that they blog with in other parts of the world. There are also great links that explain how to take great pictures and how to leave good and proper comments. I can see that Ms. Yollis takes a lot of pride in her blog. She will only let the correct and well written blogs be posted for her students to read. I think that is great. If the students are able to read the incorrect grammar and spelling, they might feel susceptible to use it. I have high hopes of having a blog for my class and will have the same requirements for my blog posts as well. I think that everything she does for her students is great.

In the blog post I was assigned for Mrs. Yollis, the students had done a skype interview with Georgia. I think that it is great that the students are able to communicate with other students in another state or even in different parts of the world. I think that skype is a great tool and will definitely use it in my classroom.



C4K#11
Today I left a comment for Eleva, a sixth grader in Auckland New Zealand.  She posted about the Rugby World Cup.  She is a very descriptive writer.  She described what she saw and had a link up to watch what she described and the video was right on.  She is a great descriptive writer and obviously likes Rugby.  I don't know much about the sport but it looks like fun.

Blog #14

Here are the top ten tips for using technology in the classroom.

1.  Use streaming video.  Take advantage of the free resources such as YouTube for your students.

2.  Use music more often.  Your students are always listening to music so why not add some of their favorites to the lesson plan. 

3.  Use teleconferencing tools.  Using Skype is a great resource that allows students to communicate with people all over the world.

4.  Create your own interactive exercises.  Make your lesson plans to fit your students.

5.  Use your interactive white board more effectively.  Use the free tutorials that are available to learn the basics and enhance your students interaction.

6.  Create your own podcasts.  There are several ways you can make a podcast of your day and post it to your class blog.

7.  Start a blog or a wiki.  The class blogs are my favorite.  They are a great way to motivate the students to do their best work and show it off to the world.

8.  Use social networks.  Facebook is a great way to create a closed group for the class to communicate together.

9.  Use internet tools.  There are a huge amount of free games and products for the students to use.  USE THEM!!!!!

10.  Make the most of your pupil's gadgets.  Have the students use their phone to record or use their iPod for the music in your next podcast.  

Additional Post #1

1.  I consider myself to be a very literal person.  I am gullible and believe almost everything that I hear.  While I realize that this is a bad habit, I don't look outside of the box as much as I should.  

2.  Since Christmas is right around the corner and I have 2 small children, Santa Claus has been mentioned a lot around me lately.  I would definitely add that one to the top of the list.  

3.  I think that we, as educators, can come up with games that involve metaphors.  I love to play games to learn and I think that the students can learn a lot from them.  I think that it would be fun to act out metaphors and have the students guess what you really mean by them.

4.  I think that metaphors can be used to add humor to something serious of for a fun way to learn and remember something.  Metaphors can be a lot of fun and show your creativity.

Blog #13

For blog post #13, I chose to read the article out of the Wall Street Journal entitles "My teacher is an app." I chose this because it seems like an article that I can relate to after taking this class. After reading this article, I have been made aware of some interesting facts about Cyber Schooling. Schooling done strictly by internet has increased by 40% in the past 3 years. That shows that it is definitely going to be something of the future. While the enrollment is up, the test results are down. There is also a decrease in the cost which also causes a decrease in teaching jobs.

I am against the full cyber education. I think that the hybrid classes are a great idea. It gives the students the freedom to have online classes yet they must still prepare for class. I think that the students should meet at least once a week to make sure that everyone is up to speed and understand what is being taught to them. It is amazing that this is what our future in education could be.

Project #16

Blog #12

This blog assignment really had me thinking.  I know this is what Dr. Strange would want.  I thought that a great blog post would be about the technology we plan on using in our classroom.  Out of everything that we have seem, what do we like the most and what do we disliked the most?  What would we do to change something that we don't like into something that we would like to use?

I think that the most favorite thing I have learned in this class is the importance of class blogs.  I think that the students learn communication skills which are important in life.  They always strive to write their best work, be the most creative and go above and beyond because they know that others all over the world can see their work.  I think it is great how we do our C4K and I will do my best to contact a professor from another part of the world to communicate with my class.  I also like using Skype in school.  Skype also enhances their communication skills.  I believe that I will definitely use these tools in my classroom.

Final Project Progress Report

Shelby and I are doing our final project together.  We are going to make a still frame movie on the Do's and Don'ts of EDM310.  We are going to take several different pictures illustrating what to do and not to do and make it into a movie.  We have hopes of future students watching our movie so they can know what to expect.

Project #15b

Blog #11

In the video Little Kids...Big Potential, I was amazed at how much the students know about technology.  Before taking this class, they knew more than me.  The blogs are great for the students.  I hope that the school that I teach at will allow my class to have blogs.  The students that use blogs love them and learn more and more from them with every entry.  It helps their writing skills, creative skills and use of technology.  Not to mention that they love getting the comments.  The wiki's that the students created were great as well.  I think it's awesome that the EDM310 students were a part of that.  Also incorporating their Nintendo DS into their learning is great.  They want to play them and are OK with playing games that they learn from.  I think this video was great and I hope to be that same type of educator.

In the Skype Interview, Ms. Cassidy seems to be really excited about her students ability to use technology.  I like her determination.  She is supported by her principal and other staff but she is the one that does this.  The students would not write on blogs, make wiki's, learn how to use their DS in an educational way and so on.  I think that what she is doing is great and it takes an educator like her to make a change in the future for the students.  I have high hopes of making a difference just like she is doing.  I hope that I have the resources for my class to have a class blog.  I think it is awesome for the students.  They strive to do their best because they know that others will be looking at what they have done and they want it to be their best and most creative work.  After so long, that is the work skill that they develop.  I think that Ms. Cassidy is great as what she does and should keep up the good work.

C4K Summary #2

C4K #5
I just left a comment for Ms. She's class in Auckland, New Zealand.  John-Amour did a video explaining how he  can take charge.  I talked about how important the timing of taking charge is.  You don't want to take charge of something at the wrong time and cause any problems.  I am sure that John-Armour will make great decisions about when to take charge.

C4K #6
I just watched a video made by Elizabeth in Ms. Burnes Room 10 class in New Zealand.  She made a video about the World Cup.  She did a great job and I hope she continues to show her creativity in making more movies and sharing them with us.

C4K #7
I just left a comment for Terry, an 8th grader in Ms. C's 7th hour class.  He likes to write and his interests are scary stories.  I left a comment wishing him luck in all of him future writings.  He seems to be very creative and have a humreous personality and I am sure that he will make a great writer.

C4K #8
Today I left a comment on Room 17's blog.  They play a game called Maui and Matau.  I have never heard of this game before.  It sounds like a fast paced game and also one that I would like to try.  I think it is interesting to learn the different games that people of different cultures play.  They have the same goal in mind but how they achieve them can be different.  I like it.

C4K#9
Today I left a comment for Mr. McClung's 8th Grade Class.  They have been discussing their thoughts and opinions on what the effects of the conference of Berlin will have.  They are also discussing how Africa and Europe became so imbalanced over time.  Thursday, they are discussing what happens next after Africa was cut up and divided.  I think it is great to read about other continents and countries and how they are tied in with other countries.

Blog #10

In the video "Do you teach or do you educate?", I answered the question before I ever watched it.  My response was an educator because I want my students to look up to me as a mentor and and someone they trust and want to learn from.  After watching the video, I was right.  I want to have a relationship with my students that allows them to trust me, believe me, believe in me and want to come to school because I make learning fun. After watching this video, I have the same outcome to the question yet my feelings are somewhat deeper.  I think that we should all want to be educators.  Otherwise, burp back teaching will never go away.

After reading "Don't let them take the pencils home.", it makes me realize that teachers often focus to hard on the problem.  As teachers, we have got to focus on coming up with solutions that have the students best interests at hand.  I am always trying to find the positive in things.  I think this is a great characteristic for a teacher to have.  I feel that it is important for us to keep as positive of an environment as we can in the classroom.  It will more than likely contribute to higher test scores.  If not, it can't hurt them.

C4T #3

Post #1

Mr. Arvind S Grover has  introduced a LMS in his blog called OpenClass.  It seems to be a great introductory LMS.  He mentions that there is not much room for flexibility.  I would assume that once you figure out how a LMS works, you would upgrade to a more efficient program that would better suit your needs.  This is a great starter program though.

Post #2

In this blog post, Mr. Grover discusses how we are so wrapped up in making healthy choices for children for Halloween that we don't take the time to consider their costumes.  Are they racist?  I had never really thought about that.  If you are going to go in costume as someone that represents another culture, make sure that you are tactful about it.  

Blog #9

In the blog post "What I have learned this year (2008-09)", Mr McClung makes some great points about being a first year teacher.  I really like what he said about the student writing that the teacher really cares because he listens to me.  What a motivation!!!  This is something that needs to be done for the respect that you are going to want from your students.  I agree with his points on flexibility.  You have to flexible when handling children.  They are way to unpredictable to know what will really happen next.  I likes his thought on setting reasonable goals for your students.  You don't want them to be discouraged for not reaching a goal, you want them to challenge themselves to where the goal is reachable with some hard work and dedication.  I couldn't agree more with the never stop learning post.  People are always making new discoveries, trying new things, coming up with new ideas or programs to make something better.  You will never know these things if all you do is go to the classroom, open the book, teach and go home.  Keeping up with the technological world that we live in is a constant learning process but with hard work and dedication, your students will shine and reflect from what you teach them.

In the blog post "What I have learned this year (2010-11), I can see how easy it is to get in a routine and forget about why we are here and what our purpose is.  He makes some great points about how to stay focused.  I can relate to his comments about knowing who your boss is.  I am always trying to please everyone around me.  I really like the comments about don't touch the keyboard.  I am a true believer in thinking that you will only learn it if you do it yourself.  My children get so mad at me because I will not tell them the answer.  I will help them find it but they have to do it.  I think that also teaches them the research skills that they will need to get through life.  You don't always have the answer right there, but can you find it?

Project #13

Due to time restrictions, we put our video in two videos. Please visit the link below for the rest of our video.

http://youtu.be/xWfOaNx3O8c

Project #11

Project #12

Blog #8

In the videos, This is how we dream Part 1 and 2, there is a lot of information.  I think that every time I watch a movie about technology, I learn something new.  Technology is changing and growing, not only daily, but every second.  There is no possible way to be fully updated on the web.  There are so many different teaching techniques that I can incorporate into my classroom by sitting at my desk and playing with some programs.  I want to make teaching different.  In several years, once I get into a classroom, the information and programs that I am learning now will be outdated and new programs will be around.  I do believe that knowing how these programs work today, I will be able to understand more about the programs of the future.  I am going to be prepared to write with multimedia and my students will be able to do this as well.

In Carly Pugh's blog post, she did a great job of demonstrating Dr. Miller's hopes for writing with multi-media.  She has great links to demonstrate what she is illustrating through her writings.  She is also a great writer.  She mentions that she likes to write and is creative.  You can see that in her blog.  She has a great way with words and getting the reactions that she is shooting for.  She shows a great passion for wanting students and others to love some of the stories an authors that she does.  She is able to understand the at not all people love to read like she does and is determined to make a difference and teach from an angle that gives the students what she feels they deserve.  I really liked her idea of having the students rewrite the ending to a famous story or novel.  That is a great idea and it will make them think outside of the box.  There will be no wrong answer, just their ideas and creativity.  I LOVE IT!!!!

In EDM 310 for Dummies, you are taught that you are not the only one, in the beginning, that doesn't understand this class and want to quit.  I know I did.  There is such a large amount of things to remember and work to do but it is all a great in the end (or at least half way through). I think that this video really puts into perspective that all of the hard work and dedication will pay off in the end and you learn so much.  Not only do you learn about the different FREE programs that are available to you, but you also learn how to use them in MANY different and useful ways.  The Chipper Series is a great example of my life.  I went to school and played and partied.  Now that I am a mother and a wife, I realize how important it is to provide fro your family.  I have had several jobs as a server and a couple of hourly jobs and they have paid just enough to provide a roof over our heads and food for the table.  While I am happy about that, I want more for my family and so I am enrolled AGAIN in school and will graduate with my degree in 2 years.  I have learned that you will get further in life if you go ahead in your education but, you won't be successful at it until you are ready.

In Learn to Change, Change to Learn, they do a great job of showing how technology is a way of life and it has been banned from schools.  We can not get away from technology.  It is how this world works.  I have the hope of incorporating technology into my classroom on a daily basis. The lesson plans, the learning tools, the games we play and other ideas.  You must also have that interaction time as well.  You don't want them sitting in front of the computer all day.  Have them make movies and experiment with technology so that they are still active.  I believe that when I am teaching, the technology not allowed in school will change.

Project #9b

The 50 States