Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Blog Assignment #9
I admire his strong will; not caring what the other educators think of him. As a student I did not care what my teachers thought of other teachers, all that mattered to me was: do I like them, am I learning from them, and are they nice to me and everyone else?
He also talked about how he ended up relying on his old lesson plans and finding himself boring. I could always tell when my teachers were bored with their own subject, and I always wondered if they are bored with it then, why do I need to know this? I want to be sure that I am always interested in what I am teaching my students. I also want to have a fun interactive way to show them how much I enjoy math.
He found that communication was a big deal in his first year. He says it is very difficult to communicate and to try to build relationships with fellow teachers. The next thing he pointed out is to be reasonable. Many teachers hold their students to a higher standard than the students do themselves. Do not be too hard on them when they do not meet your expectations. “Our job as teachers is to simply pick them up after they fail, dust them off, and encourage them to try again.”
Another thing he pointed out is to listen to your students. Take interest in the life of your students. One day you might see them all grown up. You may have been the one who changed their life, or you may be the one who put the fire of a certain subject in their heart. Unfortunately I will not see the teacher who did so for me, but I believe he is looking down on me as I come closer to my goal.
Lastly Mr. McClung says Never stop learning. You can always have a different outlook on things that you used to feel so strongly about, or you can change your style of learning or even teaching. There are always more things to learn. Do not stop soaking in the information around you. We expect children to continually do so, why should we stop?
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Project #10 - My PLN
Monday, October 15, 2012
Blog Assignment #8
In Richard E. Miller’s This is How We Dream Part 1 and Part 2 Mr. Miller emphasizes how important it is for technology to be incorporated in the classroom. There are many tools available today to use that can enhance the learning experience. I wish he had gone more into depth about it because I am still having a hard time seeing how it will work. I understand using technology is important, and I understand that students need to learn how to use it the right way. However, I do not think everything should be done by technology.
I still think it is very important for a student to be able go pick out a book and use it as a source. You cannot always guarantee that the information you are getting from the web is creditable.
Since I know Carly Pugh on a personal level, her indecisiveness did not surprise me! She is a very upbeat person, and she always has an idea. She was given the task of creating her own assignment and she went far beyond what Dr. Strange thought she might do. She wanted them to make a YouTube playlist that covered 10 things. I thought it was neat because YouTube videos can be useful when used effectively. You can also learn from them a lot faster if you are anything like me. When I'm reading, I tend to lose my train of thought and forget what I'm reading.
EDM310 is Different
In the Chipper Series, Chipper thinks it is okay to do her work whenever she wants to and at her own pace. So she opens her own school where people can do their work as fast as they want or how slow. Well, the problem with this is that you can’t learn this way. You need structure, due dates, and a set time to complete things. Some people would get it done in just a few weeks like the girl she brought in the talk to Dr. Strange, but most people would never finish.
In EDM310 for Dummies, I cracked up. This video is so funny but true. At the beginning the girls are so frustrated with what to do. Then it shows the book EDM310 for dummies. It has tutorials for the different things we use in EDM310. If there were actually a book like this, I probably would have bought it.
I would like to create a video that actually describes a lot of what we are doing. There was so much to read and go through when we first came into this class that I felt so overwhelmed. I went through the entire instruction manual after the first day of class. I read everything and went to all of the videos suggested (not the ones for assignments.) It took 4 hours just to do that. Then later Dr. Strange was talking about C4C, C4K, and C4T and I was just like “C4WHAT?” So, I think an Introduction to EDM310 video would be awesome! I would define the acronyms Dr. Strange uses, quick tutorials on blogger, Prezi, Timeline, iMovie for sure, and a few others.
Learn to Change, Change to Learn
In this video, there are several people talking about how schools should change. They talk about what, in their opinion, is working and what is not. I agree with the fact that schools need to be more up to date, as far as having books for all of their students, and they should at least have a library with computers. There are schools that cannot even afford books for everyone let alone computers. Do I think computers need to be at every student’s desk? No, I do not. However, that is basically what the people in this video want. They want children to not only learn from school but from the Internet and from other places. I completely agree that students should learn from everywhere possible, but I do not believe pushing technology down their throats is going to be good for anyone. There needs to be some fundamental things children need to learn about the Internet and other resources before they are allowed to explore them.
Scavenger Hunt!
Prezi is a fun and useful tool for presentations and more. They have a special deal for students and teachers! Their normal “Enjoy” package is $4.92 a month. That is about $59 a year. For students and teachers it is free! Their normal priced “Pro” package is $13.25. That is about $159 a year. For students and teachers it is only $4.92! By being a teacher or student you can save $100 a year on the “Pro” package for Prezi. Sounds like a good deal to me!
Make believe comics let you make your own comics!
Edmodo is a social networking site for teachers and students. It provides teachers and students a secure place to connect and collaborate, share content and educational applications, and access homework, grades, class discussions and notifications. Students can specify whether they are an auditory, tactile or visual learner, and they can specify their career goal by choosing from a pre-defined list of career areas.
Teachers can create groups that way each class is in a separate group. He or She can post homework, quizzes, grades, and more. They can also add co-teachers, and create “badges” to award students for their great efforts.
Parents can also create accounts. This is a great way to keep parents informed of classroom activities, assignments, grades, and school events. Parents will need their own unique parent code to register in which they can get from their child’s Edmodo account. This is to ensure that parents can view their child’s school activities.
C4T Summary #2
In my comment to him I told him I also love my digital camera. I vaguely remember cameras with film, but what I do remember is my parents rarely had them developed. Now, you can upload it straight to your computer and do whatever you wish with it. My high school had a class for photography, and I believe it should be offered as an art elective in all schools. It is not only fun, but students can learn how to create their own masterpieces. It will also enable them to learn how to use different tools on the computer that they may need in the future.
My comment to him stated that I agreed with him. Everyone has episodes where they do not want to pay attention, or they can not sit still. I do it quite often. However, it was never disruptive in my classes. I believe part of the problem is behavior issues. I have not once met a child who was diagnosed with A.D.H.D. that did not have issues with doing what they are told. That is just my experience though. “We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment. So we have to modify the kid.” I feel this is just wrong on so many levels. I know it is a cliche, but what about that child's rights?
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Blog assignment #7
In the video Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student the author talks about a student who is given an assignment for American Psychology that can be any topic. He attends class three days a week online, the other two online, and does not have a textbook. Also, the teacher almost never lectures.
My first reaction is: how can a student learn without the guidance of a textbook and lecture? I had to listen to this video twice as well as rewind several times. I can see this working in a college class but not middle school or high school. If this was a class assignment given to me in middle or high school I would feel so overwhelmed.
The video described many ways for the student to find information about the topic he chose, and all of them were online. When I was in high school my teachers encouraged us to use sources not on the web. In every paper for English class, we had to have at least one or two book sources. I do not believe all of the information students are receiving should be from the web. Anyone can post anything, and it can all be wrong.
I do believe that starting young with learning the tools to do an assignment like this would be helpful. That way when the student is older and given an assignment like this, they will know what to look for, where to look, and will not be so overwhelmed.
It makes me wonder how much students are actually learning in school now. Our teachers, parents, and grandparents all worried about how much we were online. Now, there is a huge push for everything to be done by technology. I am not sure what to think about this. I am going to need actual physical proof that this works.
In the video Welcome to My PLE! a 7th grade girl shows how she does her school work in her science class. She has pulled everything together on a person page that has her music, Facebook account, and many other things. Her science class is paperless, and she uses many different accounts to keep her projects and work organized.
My “PLE” is not so high tech. I use sticky notes on my MacBook Pro dashboard to keep all of my passwords and usernames straight. I also have a datebook that I write all of my assignments in. If I knew how to use something like what this girl has explained I probably would. However, before this class and before this video I have not heard of such a thing.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Blog Assignment #6
When children have fun while they are learning something hard, they learn without realizing it. As Randy Pausch called it, it is a “head fake.” One of his major topics in his lecture was about a class he taught that was all project based. He said his students surprised him by doing exceptionally well. He had no clue what to do. After talking to his mentor, he told them, “That was good but you can do better.” By telling them this, they continued to succeed and go passed the limits he had imagined. By hearing this I learned that as a teacher you do not know what limit any child has. So, push them to do better, and hopefully, they will push themselves to do better in the future.
He also talked about “brick walls.” When you go out and try to reach a goal and run into a brick wall do not give up. “Brick walls are there to let us prove how badly we want something.” If you just give up then obviously you did not want it that bad. Find out what is needed to improve on the skills you need to continue. This is something I would like to portray to my students. No matter how many brick walls you run into there will be a way to crawl over them.
“Don’t lose your child like wonder.” If you are around a group of young children you will notice they ask about everything! If they do not know what it is or how it works they will ask. In this day and age, people are afraid of being wrong or looking “stupid” because they asked. Be like a child and ask questions when you do not know the answers. We should be learning constantly throughout our lives.
Lastly, “Find the best in everybody: no matter how long you have to wait for them to prove it.” More often than not teachers get information about the incoming class from the teachers who have already had them. All too often teachers have already made up their minds about a certain student or two. I want to be sure I give all of my students the chance to show me who they are themselves rather than taking word from other. I want to believe in each and every one of them, and let them prove even to themselves what they are capable of.
At the end of the lecture Randy Pausch revealed that this lecture was for his own children. He knew his life was coming to an end do to the cancerous tumors in his body. He will forever be in my heart, and I will do my best to stick to his advice even though it was not for me but for his own children.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Summary for C4K September
#1 In Room 7 at PES Tells Tales' blog September 4, 2012 Mitchell used lots of descriptive words in a story about an octopus to paint a really interesting picture!
I told him how interesting his story was, and how much I liked it. I also told him to keep up the great work.
#2 In History Class Kaylee was told to bring items that mean a lot to her. Some of the many items she brought were a rosary which was given to her by her great grandma, a stuffed tiger that she got from the hospital after she went through surgery, and some pictures of her and her family. She has posted a picture of these and many other things that are important to her.
I told her that I love that she has so many things near and dear to her heart. Treasure the memories she has, and enjoy being with her family as much as she can.
I told him how interesting his story was, and how much I liked it. I also told him to keep up the great work.
#2 In History Class Kaylee was told to bring items that mean a lot to her. Some of the many items she brought were a rosary which was given to her by her great grandma, a stuffed tiger that she got from the hospital after she went through surgery, and some pictures of her and her family. She has posted a picture of these and many other things that are important to her.
I told her that I love that she has so many things near and dear to her heart. Treasure the memories she has, and enjoy being with her family as much as she can.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Blog Assignment #5
In Travis Allen’s videos The iSchool Initiative and ZeitgeistYoungMind's Entry, Travis is trying to show how technology can help cut costs in school, and help children learn. He pointed out that the school would be able to lock things on the iSchool and the Internet would be limited access.
I can see how this would be helpful, but we cannot completely get ride of pencil and paper in schools. Like I said in previous posts I will not believe that technology is the only way to go. Not everyone learns the same way. Yes, I believe that it is helpful, but I refuse to believe it should be the only thing we use to teach our students.
Virtual Choir
Jennifer Chamber’s posted Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir. I find it very neat that this is possible. I have seen things like this before like a virtual band. My question is what happens when someone’s Internet connection fails? We all know it happens. Mine does it every day.
Teaching in the 21st Century
In this video there is so much information and questioning. What it comes down to is: what do we, as teachers, need to teach these students to be successful in whatever they want to become? We need to get our students engaged and hungry to learn. We need to teach them not only facts but skills they will need throughout their lives. Even though it is easy to look it up, I do believe some facts are important to know, but skills are essential to life: how to cook, how to drive, how to write, and etc. Watching this video really makes you think about what you have been taught and how.
In Katie Gimbar’s Flipped classroom videos she talks about how she has completely changed how she teaches. Here is a link to videos of questions people have asked her. Dr. Lodge McCammon’s video Dr. Lodge McCammon's FIZZ - Flipping the Classroom shows the same type of process Katie Gimbar uses I’m almost positive she got the process from him. Ms. Munafo, Flipping the Classroom - 4th Grade STEM, has also flipped her classroom.
Katie Gimbar posts a video about what is going on in the classroom for the students to watch for homework. Then, they apply what they learn on the video in the classroom. Through doing this the students can watch the video how ever many times they need to, to understand the material.
I find this process very interesting and possible to apply in my future classroom. I feel that it is very instructional for the students, and they can learn at home and apply the material in the classroom. That way if they have questions while doing their problems they can ask right then. I am very interested in trying this method in the future.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Summary for C4T#1
What Now? What Next? So What?
Micheal Fawcett's 9-year-old student planted trees for Arbor Day. He didn't get to talk to his student afterwards. So, he tweeted him later the same day to ask how it went, and the student replied, "I'll make a Doc."
I commented and let him know how awesome I think it is that a 9-year-old little boy would volunteer his time to plant trees. I love that he keeps in touch with his students, and it amazes me that a 9-year-old is on twitter. Thankfully he has parental consent. Lastly, it made me giggle that he said, “I’ll make a doc.” I had no clue what that was until the beginning of this semester!
In his next post, he says it was supposed to be a comment to someone's blog, but his iPad was not cooperating. Her post was about PaCT, and how they are trying to make all teachers teach the same and think the same and coordinate it to where all teachers are teaching the same thing at the same time. That way a student can move from one school to another and the new teacher can pick up where the last one left off. So, in his "comment" he explained that teachers are the only ones who can stand up and say enough is enough. If they continue silence and claim no responsibility for the destructive effects these policies will have on a generation of students then they only have themselves to blame.
My comment was expressing how I thought that the concept of PaCT was insane. Not every student thinks the same way. So, how can they expect every teacher to? If it was not for some of my teachers who thought differently than others, I never would have made it out of my math classes with passing grades.
Micheal Fawcett's 9-year-old student planted trees for Arbor Day. He didn't get to talk to his student afterwards. So, he tweeted him later the same day to ask how it went, and the student replied, "I'll make a Doc."
I commented and let him know how awesome I think it is that a 9-year-old little boy would volunteer his time to plant trees. I love that he keeps in touch with his students, and it amazes me that a 9-year-old is on twitter. Thankfully he has parental consent. Lastly, it made me giggle that he said, “I’ll make a doc.” I had no clue what that was until the beginning of this semester!
In his next post, he says it was supposed to be a comment to someone's blog, but his iPad was not cooperating. Her post was about PaCT, and how they are trying to make all teachers teach the same and think the same and coordinate it to where all teachers are teaching the same thing at the same time. That way a student can move from one school to another and the new teacher can pick up where the last one left off. So, in his "comment" he explained that teachers are the only ones who can stand up and say enough is enough. If they continue silence and claim no responsibility for the destructive effects these policies will have on a generation of students then they only have themselves to blame.
My comment was expressing how I thought that the concept of PaCT was insane. Not every student thinks the same way. So, how can they expect every teacher to? If it was not for some of my teachers who thought differently than others, I never would have made it out of my math classes with passing grades.
Blog Assignment #4
I went to Judy Scharf’s Podcast selection and watched the video How to Create a Podcast using Audacity. Since I have never heard of a podcast before, this video was very overwhelming. I have to download a lot of stuff to my computer from the Internet (not something I make a habit out of). It is very neat that you can remove backround noise and trim certain things from the recording. My luck if it did not have this option, the neighbors would come home and my dogs would start barking. Then, I would have to start all over. This is definitely a program I will have to play with for a while before I need to use it.
In the video Podcasting in The Classroom by Mr. Joe Dale, he mentions (among other things) that podcasting is a good idea for when students are sick. I never really thought about this until he said it, and it made me think about it a little more. I want to teach math. We all know that not everyone is good at math. By the time I got to Algebra I had surpassed my mother in her math skills, and I surpassed my dad at about geometry. So, neither one could help me anymore. If math teachers would podcast their lectures, the parents could learn along with their students, and they would have a better chance of helping their children with their homework.
I also went to Langwhitches Blog and read Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting. I loved that she was not making this assignment all about podcasting. Each student recorded his or her sentence. The teacher made sure all of the recordings were out of order. That way her students had to listen to each one, do the editing it needed, and put them in the right order. She even thought about pulling it up on the smart board in their classroom so they got the hands on experience of doing this. I wish I had something like that growing up! I would not be so confused now!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Blog Assignment #3
The videos What Is Peer Editing?, Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial, and Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes, were all helpful videos to help learn how to peer edit or how not to peer edit. What Is Peer Editing? and Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial were very similar. Both described the steps in which you should take when peer editing.
1. Start with a compliment. Let your peer know what you think they did well.
2. Make a specific suggestion. Suggestions can include: a different word choice, their details, their organization, their sentences, and their overall topic. Be specific about what they should do to their paper to improve it.
3. Make spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence corrections.
It is very important to stay positive. Let them know when they did something well and be specific of what it was. Example: I really loved your topic! As the video Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes expresses, do not be a “Picky Patty,” “Mean Margaret,” or a “Defensive Dave.”
Technology in Special Education
Our lives are based on all sorts of technology. If we can teach special education students to use it, then they may be able to live more of a “normal” life. In this video the teacher explained how she has changed her classroom. Laptops have changed how she teaches and how the students interact in her class. One student needs help during silent reading time so he is taken into the hall and is read to there. Now, he has an iPod that can read it to him while he is in the classroom with everyone else.
Chris is a mute student who can type out what he wants to communicate. The students like using computers, and they themselves believe it is helping them. I am thrilled that these students are not being swept under the rug and are being cared for. In my class I hope to have a way to help students with needs. With Math it may be a little more challenging than English and reading. However, I will rise to that challenge and do what needs to be done for my students.
In this video a little boy named Brad is doing some homework on an iPad with his mom and dad. First he used the app called Toddler counting. In this he used it to learn how to count. He would touch each object and it would tell him the number. In the end it would repeat X amount of what ever it was he was counting. He also used apps for learning sight words and a righting pad to help with how he writes his letters.
After watching this I looked to see what kind of apps I could use in the field I want to teach, Algebra. There was Wolfram Algebra Course Assistant. It is made for Algebra I Algebra II, and College Algebra. The Wolfram Algebra Course Assistant solves your specific algebra problems, and it will show you how to work through the problem step by step. However, this specific app would be used more for those who are just looking for how to do it and turn it in, not to actually learn how to do it.
So, I kept looking and ran across the Algebra Touch app. It lets you drag numbers and letters from side to side in an Algebra problem. Say you have x + 7 = 10. You can drag the 7 to the other side of the equation. You can drag to rearrange, tap to simplify, and draw lines to eliminate identical terms. You can switch between lessons and randomly-generated practice problems. Also, you can create your own sets of problems to work through in the equation editor, and they will appear on all of your devices with iCloud. So, you do not have to use just an iPad.
Right now, this app covers Simplification, Like Terms, Commutativity, Order of Operations, Factorization, Prime Numbers, Elimination, Isolation, Variables, Basic Equations, Distribution, Factoring Out, and Substitution. I believe this app would be very helpful for every student, not just the special needs students. In the classroom it would be helpful if there were a way to record what the student has done on the iPad. The teacher could make his or her own set of problems, and record what the student can do and what needs work. They could then set it up to where they can send practice problems to the parents, and have their child practice in addition to their assigned homework. We all know practice makes perfect! As of right now, I feel as if pencil and paper is the best way to collect homework and such in a Math class. However, I do believe this app could aid in learning the process of Algebra.
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Mrs. Davis made a very important point at the beginning of her video. “ I don’t have to be in front all of the time.” I think it is important for students to learn from each other. Once you teach something to someone else, you yourself have a better understanding of how to do it.
I have never seen a high school that had that type of technology to teach in such a way. My high school was all pencil and paper. We had to use our own computers at home to type up our English papers. Personally, I like pencil and paper for some classes, but as she said, “Only some will succeed that way.” Her students have had the opportunity to learn with people all over the world!
Friday, September 7, 2012
Blog post 2
After watching Did you know? 3.0 – A John Strange 2012 Version based on Did you know 3.0 by Karl Fish and Scott McLeod, I realized many facts I had not before. China is huge! For one of us, there are 1,300 of them. The Chinese are more likely to be bi-lingual, and they can speak better English than us Americans. India is even bigger. They have more academically privileged children in their country than all of the children in ours.
1,097,220 people use YouTube per minute. Just think of how many that would be in one day! Not only that, but 48 hours of video is added in the same minute. There are 1,393,519 Google searches per minute. That tells me too many people rely on Google. On average one year ago EDM310 students reported they spend 1 hour and 16 minutes text messaging other. This number is not much less than the high school average at just short of 2 hours. On top of all of that statistics show that almost every home has at least one computer.
These videos made me realize how technology is growing. Fisch and McLeod’s video stated that a college student going for a four-year degree would have outdated information by their third year of college. That just amazes me! As both videos stated, we will be teaching students for jobs that do not even exist yet. In Dr. Strange’s version he asks if we are ready? What is our role in preparing our students to use technologies that do not exist yet? As a math major I am not sure what other types of technology would be used for math than what is used now. I am interested to see over the next ten years what that may include.
Mr. Winkles Wakes by Mathew Needleman was a cute little movie about an old man, Mr. Winkles, who had slept for 100 years. After awaking he went to an office. Not knowing what anything was because of all the machines made him feel ill. So, he went to the hospital. In the hospital he was amazed to see there were machines keeping people alive. He did not think that the hospital could help him. He went for a walk and came across a school. Going inside everything was as he remembered. There was on machine, but it was dusty and not in use. It comforted him to know that after 100 years everything in the school had remained the same.
The movie made me think, how could schools stay the same that long? How can they not change what is being taught in schools when everything in the real world is changing so fast? The answer: schools are changing but not as drastically as the real world. Schools do not have the funding they need to change as fast as the real world, and it would be impossible to follow a curriculum that changes so quickly. I have always been taught that grade school/high school is to prepare for college and college is to prepare for the real world. In some aspect this is true. However, think about all of the students who drop out or do not go to college. Those students need to be prepared for the real world right out of high school. How are they supposed to be prepared if the schools have not changed in the last 100 years?
Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
He also said, “children are not afraid to be wrong. If they don’t know they will have a go.” In this I find myself realizing how many times I have not spoke up in class or some type of instance because I was afraid of being wrong. Creativity is something most children do not keep through high school. They may not get out of elementary school with it. Then when there is a project to be done they feel lost as to what is “supposed” to be done. There are still jobs out there for creativity such as billboards, commercials, websites, and graphics for shirts or commercials and such. The list goes on once you start to think about it. We just need to find a way to incorporate them into the school curriculum.
Glass
At school, the roof was made of a solar type of glass to gain energy from the sun. In the classroom the teacher used the same type of technology as the closet door to teach her class. Each student had a tablet in front of him or her, and they could see up close what the teacher was doing. With this in the classroom it could solve an issue of children who are visually impaired. They would be able to look at their screen in front of them rather than trying to focus on the one farther away.
The most amazing thing in the video was the doctor on a video conference. One doctor was in the U.S. and another in China. These doctors are collaborating on a patient.
There are many other types of technologies used in this video that I would like to see some day. The crazy thing is they are already making them. Eventually we will have them on the market. However, I fear they will not be cheap. All of the Technologies used in the Corning video are explain in Corning’s narrated video A day Made of Glass 2: Unpacked.There is also a demonstration video Project Glass: Live Demo at Google.
I am really interested in seeing all of this happen in the future. However, Mr. Winkle would not, and that is okay with me. As the times change our technology changes, and as technology changes we do too. Why should our schools and classrooms be any different?
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