Project #11 Green Screen Project

Project #14 Smartboard

Project #10

Personal Learning Network
In this project I have learned how to create a PLN. I am currently using twitter with several of the recommended teachers from the list we have received. I have made a delicious account to collect links from twitter. I have joined Symbaloo and added teachers' blogs that will be helpful in my future teaching career. I hope to find more sites to add to Symbaloo. Having information I could use that I may need in my future classroom,all in one place, like Symbaloo, is awesome. If I have a question I can simply ask and possibly get several answers from different perspectives. I have included a few pictures of my PLN. I will continue to learn how I can change this to better suit me in the future.

Project #12

Blog Post #9

You Gotta Dance With Who Brought You to the Dance

In, “What I Learned This Year – Volume 4”, Mr. McClung has written a reflection about his fourth year of teaching. Mr. McClung has written a reflective blog post each year, beginning with his first year of teaching. In this post he said he did not learn as much as he thought he had.

Mr. McClung wanted to define himself as a teacher, but took the wrong approach. He started caring more about what the other teachers thought of him rather than caring what the students thought of him. He is there to make it a fun learning environment for students to learn. His superiors didn't have a problem with him, so he shouldn't have changed the way he was teaching.

I agree with Mr. McClung in this post. This is why we are striving to become teachers, to teach students, not worry about what other teachers may think about us. Students learning should be the most important thing to a teacher. If it takes stepping outside the box to teach students, then a teacher shouldn't fear what others think. I hope to become a teacher who doesn't care what other teachers think about how I teach, but that I am teaching the students in a fun and educational way.

Challenge Yourself

In this part of Mr. McClung’s post, he talks about how he has fallen into a rut because he has used the same lesson plans too many times. He has taught the same subject for three years. He figured out that becoming too comfortable causes his lesson plans to suck. Luckily he was given the opportunity to change grade level and subjects. Now he will be able to come up with new lesson plans. Even though it will be difficult and timely, it will be beneficial.

The valuable lesson that he learned was that getting into a routine can make him a lazy teacher. His creativity started to vanish. He didn't want this to happen, so he said he will strive to do better next year. This has given him an opportunity to help his students enjoy school in a way the he did not.

I think it is great that he shared this information. When I become a teacher, I will be more aware that things like this can happen. I will strive to stay up-to-date with new ideas to keep my class interesting for students. I will also, like he said, want to challenge myself to become a better teacher each year.

”What I’ve Learned This Year (2008-09)” In Mr. McClung’s blog post “What I've Learned This Year (2008-09),” he shares some great advice that he has learned during his first year of teaching. Mr. McClung said to remember who your audience is and not teach to impress your superiors. He also said to be flexible with the lesson plans that you prepare. Things need to be able to change to fit what the students need. He said not to stress over how the lesson plans should have gone, but work on improving them. He mentioned that communication with other teachers and students is very important.

Mr. McClung continues to say that we shouldn't expect students to be perfect, because we are not perfect ourselves. Don’t set the bar too high. We as teachers should be motivators. He advises that teachers should not be afraid of technology. These are tools that we can use to enhance the students' learning process. He says to listen to what students say. Students sometimes just want to be heard. He had given a survey, and one student responded that he felt like his teacher listened to him. This speaks volume that we should listen to students in our future classrooms.

He ends this post of his first year by saying that teachers should never stop learning. He said, “We owe it to our students.” This is very true, and I think that this is great advice for first year teachers. Just because you start out a certain way doesn't mean that you can’t change and try new and improved strategies for teaching.

C4T #2

C4T #1 I posted a comment for "Richard Byrne" on his post about "ScootPad". The ScootPad is a free program that connects teachers with students and possibly with parents. Teachers can teach common core curriculum on mathematics and reading using this program. Teachers can post homework assignments with activation and deactivation dates. It monitors students and their progress. ScootPad shows charts and scales of students assessments. Parents can see what their children are learning. I told Mr. Byrne that I think this is an awesome way for students to do homework. I think this is a great program and I would love to use it in my classroom when I become a teacher!

C4T #2
I posted a comment for Richard Byrne on his post about "Six Multimedia Timelines Creation Tools for Students". In this post he mentions six timeline programs. One that he mentions is Time Toast that we have learned about in EDM310. The other programs are Meograph,Dipity, XTimeline,myHistro, and TimeGlider. These are different from Time Toast. In Meograph you can create a timeline that not only timeline based, but also map-based. Using Dipity, the timelines you create can include text, images, and videos. The program myHistro also can include maps with the timeline like Meograph, but using google maps. He said that XTimeline would be better for teaching high school students. TimeGlider compares to XTimeline and it accepts A.D. and B.C. dates. I told him that I wasn't aware of all of these programs, but I had learned about TimeToast. I told him that I was excited to try some of the timeline creators that included the use of maps and videos! I think these will be great tools to use when I become a teacher!

Blog post #8

This Is How We Dream
In this two part video,"This Is How We Dream" by Richard Miller,he discusses how writing with multi-media will soon be the common thing to use like word processing is now. Not so long ago the common thing to use was books, pen, and paper to read and write. We still use them, but now we are using word processing programs to write and the internet to research information. Within a matter of seconds, information can be accessed on the internet, without having to step foot in a library.

When we go to the library, we can check out books. Once those books are checked out, they are no longer able to be read by another person until the books are returned. Reading documents on the internet makes it easier to share information. When a person is accessing the information on the internet, it can still be accessed by others at the same time. This is what Mr. Miller said is an incremental change.

A multi-media document can be composed collaboratively with video, text, and audio. I think this is an awesome way of teaching students because it teaches with three different learning styles. Instead of just reading information, students can hear it or watch a video to understand it. Students can learn not only history from a multi-media document, but they can be created to show current changes of information. For example, the presidential election can be shown on multi-media document and can show reactions of the voters when the election is over. The information can change right in front of you. I think that is an interesting way to use a multi-media document.

Dr. Richard Miller says, “Ideas don’t belong to us individually, they belong to us as a culture. We as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely.” This is such a true statement. I think that teachers should share helpful information with other teachers. When I become a teacher and find a new idea that will help me teach or my students learn, I will be glad to share it. He also said, “The only limits we have are the ones we place on ourselves.” The possibilities of technology are limitless, we just have to be creative and try the new possibilities. Students will eventually compose in this collaborative way and not use word processors. This is fundamentally different. This idea has taken off very fast. There are people that are composing by using the web without the use of the alphabet. These concepts of working in this way are mindboggling. I’m excited about this new way of learning and processing. I will try my best to not limit myself in learning new ideas and stay on the leading edge of technology.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12
In "Blog Post #12" by Carly Pugh, she makes a playlist of YouTube clips and pieces them together in her post. This is a great example of what Dr. Miller described about writing with multi-media. Carly added video clips in multiple sentences. These were of examples for her ideas or thoughts she wrote about. These video clips from YouTube totally brought her post together. Like writing with multi-media, Carly’s post is great for students who learn by different learning styles. Some students learn more by audio or video than just reading. This makes learning more interesting for them. I think she did an amazing job on this post!

“The Chipper Series”
In the video “The Chipper Series” I learned some valuable lessons about EDM310. Some of these lessons I already knew, but I learned about other concepts from watching this video. We don’t need to procrastinate like Chipper does in this video. We need to get our work done on time. The excuses that we use about why we procrastinate are always going to be around. They may change some, but there will always be something we can blame. If we change our habits now, then we have a chance at being better teachers. Teaching jobs are demanding in terms of time and effort and have deadlines much like EDM310. This class is like crash training in the teaching jobs we all want.

In the video Chipper says that she can predict the future, and that the future is present. From that, I understood that we don’t know exactly what tools (technology programs) we will use when we become teachers, so gather all the tools you can in this class. They will come in handy when we become teachers. We shouldn't waste time and money hoping for a chance to win the lottery. Getting an education will be a more sure way of getting a job.

Chipper mentions how her pilot school wasn't going well because the pilots couldn't get their licenses unless they actually flew the plane and not just completed the simulation. This made me think about how the programs that we use in EDM310 are the same ones we will use in our future classrooms. If we don’t understand and learn how to use them now, how will we expect to just walk in a classroom and figure them out? This is like a crash course on the leading edge of technology for the classroom. We will understand more if we do something rather than hearing about it and not trying it.

Even though this class seems overwhelming at times, Dr. Strange is giving us all the tools available to succeed in the future when we become teachers in the technologically advanced times we are living in today. All the excuses about why we can’t do something now will still be there when we become teachers and have to put in diligent hours of work. They may not be the same, but if they don’t change others will take their places. When we become teachers we will have to be in classrooms Monday-Friday and spend extra time at home to prepare for class. If we can’t do what we learn in EDM310 with the nine hours recommended, then will we be able to do what we need to do to teach a class? The habits concerning self-discipline we create to get our work done in a timely manner, meet deadlines, and do it right, will carry on throughout our careers as a teachers. If you quit like Chipper did in this video, then that is the pattern you will continue until you decide that what you were pursuing is what you wanted all along. You then have to make up for lost time. So fix it now and make time to continue with what you started.

This is a list of helpful ideas I learned from this video:

• Make punctuality a priority.

• Get as much out of school as you can.

• Don’t procrastinate and go to school when required and on time.

• Go above and beyond what is expected of you.

• You are training yourself for your future job.

EDM310 for Dummies
In the video "EDM310 for Dummies” I sometimes feel the same frustration demonstrated by the girls in the beginning of this video. They said they were going crazy and didn’t know much about the programs that were mentioned. Unlike them, I do know about some of the programs that we are learning, but did not have the desire to use them. I now understand the importance of these programs and I’m beginning to see the potential these tools have to enhance my future teaching ability.

I would like participate in, or create a video of how students in EDM310 feel when they receive comments on their blog post from Dr. Strange. We learn in peer editing to leave comments with encouragements and how to fix mistakes on our peer’s posts. When we receive comments from Dr. Strange they are not always encouraging. They simply point out our mistakes, and how to fix them. You can’t tell tone in text or e-mails. It sometime seems like he is being harsh, but in reality he may just be in a hurry. This sometimes can be discouraging. With this video I could assist others in understanding how his constructive criticism is beneficial.

"Learn to Change, Change to Learn"

In the video, “Learn to Change, Change to Learn” suggested by Christie Odom, many teachers from different backgrounds talked about how we need to change the way we teach to reach students.  Students are already using many types of technology for learning.  Most of these are banded from the schools.  Teachers need to be able to meet the students where they already have interests and use it for teaching purposes.  In this video, they said, “the U.S. Department of Commerce ranked education at the bottom of the list of I.T. intensiveness.”  This is even below coal mining.  I was shocked to hear that education was ranked number fifty-five out of fifty-five.  We need to change that.  Education should be more towards the top for sure.  

These teachers were talking about how we need to teach students by using technology. Standardize test are no longer preparing them for jobs they will have in the future. Students may be tested on their artist abilities, their creativity, and many other technology based abilities for jobs. Students will need to know how to find information, how to use it, and how to problem solve with the information they find.    They said this is a different style of learning than how we were raised.  Teachers also need to learn how to use these different programs and connect and share with other teachers.

"Scavenger Hunt 2.0"
In this scavenger hunt I found three tools I can use when I become a teacher on "Discovery Education 2.0 Web tools". I found a tool similar to Twitter/Facebook for teachers, parents and students called "Edmodo". I think this would be a great site to connect students with teachers and with parents. Most students already have a Facebook account. I could use this in my future class for the students to be able to connect with other classmates and me. If they needed help with a homework assignments they would be able to ask questions from home. I could ask random questions on this to possibly spark the students interests of what they would be learning for the next day. If parents had questions they could ask me on this site. Grades could also be accessed by parents and students. I think this is a great tool to use when I become a teacher.

The second tool I found on this scavenger hunt to use in my future classroom is "Slideshare". Their prices are kinda high, but teacher the pricing is 50% off. The silver plan for the education pricing is $114 a year. This isn't a bad price for this use of technology. If you want the next level, which is the gold level it's only $294. The platinum level is more expensive at $1494. I think that the silver level would be enough for a teacher to use this in his or her classroom.

The third and final tool I found on "Discovery Education 2.0 Web tools" was how to create a poll anywhere and at anytime. You can ask a variety of questions. This would be a great tool to use as a teacher to ask students questions and teach them about polls.

These are some interesting tools that I hope to use when I become a teacher. I think it will be useful and fun for the the students to use. With the tutorials they provide it makes it easy to learn how to use these programs. I'm glad I had an opportunity to experience this scavenger hunt.

Blog Post #7

A Networked Student
In the video "A Networked Student" it showed how a twenty-first student used networks to learn. I think this is a great way to learn. This 21st century student is not only connected to other students, but connected to great college professors around the world. Learning from being connected to other students gives him a more rounded view of many topics. This student knows that some of the information from the internet are opinions. He can form his own informed opinions and post them on his blog. It can start a sort of debate or discussion about a topic simply adding to the learning experience of the topic posted. I think he will be able to keep up with the comments he posts on much easier by subscribing to them. His research on Google Scholar will be a more reliable source to use while learning from the internet. I think it is a great idea to share certain sites that he finds that are valid and post them to a central website to share them for other students to use.

With his mp3 player, he can subscribe to podcasts from some of the greatest professors in the world. I have thought many times, since I drive an hour to and from school each day, that it would be awesome to be able to study while driving. That is an hour wasted each way, every day, that I could use this lecture style mp3 player system. Instead of listening to songs on the radio, or talking on my phone I could be learning valuable lessons that pertain to subjects that I’m already studying.

Teachers are important part of a student’s life. Students need to be guided, encouraged, and motivated in the learning process. Teachers also teach the students proper etiquette for asking authors questions and encourage them to ask questions. The internet can be overwhelming sometimes. Teachers can help students refine their topics so that searches are more effective. They can also help students use a variety of search tools other than Google, especially Wolfram Alpha and other specialized search tools that can be found on this list. The student can still branch out from there, but the teacher would give a student a good place to start.

Connecting with other students from many different states and countries can be an interesting way to learn. Teachers are still going to be needed, even though the internet has many ways of learning. Not all parents teach their children respect and the proper way of asking questions. Parents usually work and don’t have much time to motivate their children everyday like teachers do. Teachers can teach children without boring them with lectures and the students can feel that they are accomplishing many things on their own with some guidance. I understand some of the challenges that a networked teacher faces are difficult. I'm not sure if I am ready to be a networked teacher, but I am open-minded to the opportunity.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
In the video, "A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment" the student is learning in a very similar way to the way we are in EDM310. She is a networked student in her science class. At the beginning of the year, she learned how to find certain information using the internet. Then she has learned how to blog the information. This is same thing we do, other than the fact that the sites have already been determined for us. Like our class, she also has a checklist to let her know what is due and when. She is using many of the same technology tools that we are learning about and using in EDM310. This student mentioned that if she does special reports, she can be certified to hold certain classroom animals. In EDM310 we don't have special reports to do and animals to hold. I'm sure that is a motivation for her to learn about an animal, to be certified to hold and physically learn more about them. This is awesome that a 7th grader is basically learning in the same way we are in EDM310. She will be better prepared for the future and especially if she goes to college to become a teacher.

Project #8

Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture
In the video, ”Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture”, I learned some valuable lessons that I can use in my classroom. When I become a teacher, I need to have a positive attitude. Not only towards the students, but also people who are giving me constructive criticism. I should take to heart and express to my students that we should listen to people who critique us. The people who give us constructive criticism, do it because they care. I will try to be earnest and listen to a "feedback loop", which are suggestions that others may have.

We all will come to “brick walls” in life. "Brick walls" are there for us to realize how much we want something. I need to teach my students that when we come to a brick wall, figure out a way around it or over it to proceed with our goals in mind. I need to be a leader and work hard. Randy mentioned that teachers need to learn how to "head fake" students. This is while teaching students one thing, they do not realize that they are learning something completely different. Sometimes they might think that they are merely having fun.

I will try to not get into an argument with a student. There are ways to tell a student they are wrong in a nice way. I need to motivate my students when showing them how they are wrong, by using different words. There is a good and bad ways to say, “I don’t know”. Sometimes it's not what you say, it's the way you say it that matters most. When I don’t know an answer to a question, I can offer to help them find the answer. As a teacher, if I am wrong about something, I am human and should admit my mistakes. Loyalty is a two way street and I need to be loyal to my students as they should be to me.

As a teacher I will need to encourage children to think about their goal and dreams they may have. I can give them projects to work as team mates and spark their interest. Being a teacher I need to set the bar of expectation high and the children will hopefully to achieve the standards I set. If you are patient enough with a student and believe in them, they will soon impress you. I need to look for the best in everyone and focus on the good not the bad. When my students do projects or something worth sharing, I need to share it with many. The classroom as a whole needs to bond with one another.

Randy mentioned using a video game technology to teach students. Making learning fun is a positive way of teaching. As a teacher I also need to help students have fun when they are learning something hard. I need to listen to my student’s ideas they may have and learn from them. I need to have fun and help others. I will pay attention to what my students do and not just to what they say.

My reaction to this video is that I am sad that this was his last lecture. Although it was his last one, he went out with an awesome lecture. He made some very valuable statements that I hope to use when I become a teacher.

Time Toast Time Line Project #9

C4K Summary for the month of September

C4K #1
I posted a comment for "Ajani's Diver Story". Ajani wrote a detailed story about how a deep sea diver named Tom, who fought an octopus for a treasure. Ajani wrote how Tom shared the treasure with his friends. I told him, I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class and that I enjoyed reading his story. I told him that I could picture Tom fighting off the octopus for the treasure. He did a great job!

C4K #2
I posted a comment for "Kennedy" a seventh grade student in Iowa. She posted a picture of a piece of a "Kentucky Coffeetree". I told her, I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class and let her know that I thought it was a cool picture she has posted. I also let her know that I checked out the sweet search that she mentioned. This is a great way to have students research and blog about plants they are learning about.