Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Blog Post #14
Fasting. Not many people realize how addicted to our media we have become. In this day almost everyone has a computer, ipod, electronic reader or who knows what. To think that it is easy to go without all of our fabulous gadgets for 24 hours really is laughable.
I chose to try to do the media fast. I started at 10 p.m. on Friday night. That part was easy. I had my children in bed so I didn't have to worry about them wanting to watch something. My husband was supportive and hid my phone. But it started to get difficult pretty quick. I sleep at night with one of the music channels playing on my TV. Since I was unable to use the TV it took me forever to go to sleep. Saturday was very difficult. My kids were not happy with going without TV. This actually made me feel like a bad mother because I was faced with how much TV I allow my children to watch. But I kicked them outside for a while and started working on school assignments that needed to be read. This helped pass the day and I was able to concentrate on what I was reading. But of course it could not last. I needed to call my mother and I had to use my phone. So I broke the fast. To be honest I don't think I could have made it much longer. I continued to try not to use any technology but it was very difficult. I have to admit that I like to just sit and watch a movie whenever I want to. It seemed to be like being on a diet. When you tell yourself that you can't have something it makes you want it 10 times more and that is what my e-media fast felt like.
I learned quite a bit during the 24 hours though so I am glad that I tried. I have decided to limit the amount of time that my family uses media. I want my children to be active and feel that if I turn the TV and computer off and go play with my kids more it will be better for all of us.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
C4T#4
On my last Comment for Teachers I was Assigned Ira David Socol. The post that I first read was about how people change certain things about themselves in order to "fit "in with a certain group. He starts by talking about the movie PYGMALION
and how Eliza is not seen as a person by Dr. Higgins till he has changed her into his creation. But she is not able to go back to being the flower seller that she was before because she no longer fits into that group as well. He then goes on to discuss how this is apparent in our country as well and had been for years.
In response to him I shared my own experience with this as a Southerner with a bit of a thick accent. I have personally seen how "educated" people look at someone who sounds country. When giving a report once I noticed that my audience tuned me out after about a minute. At first I thought it was because I was boring. But after a lecture in another class about how different dialects are looked on I wondered if maybe it was my speech that was the problem. So when I had to give to presentation again I fell back on the lessons learned in my voice classes many years ago. I tried to lessen my accent as much as possible. I noticed that my audience actually listened to me. To me people who do not use Kings English are thought to be ignorant. Unfortunately on a whole we seem to see see people who are different than us as less than us whether it is skin color, birth, or speech.
In the second post of Mr. Socol he is speaking about the problems in the world. he starts by showing a speech of JFK in Houston. He explains that the people in power after WWII saw that our country need to grow and change for the better. Even though they know it will require sacrifice they would create a better place for future generations. But now governments are spending their time saying what they can't do instead of saying we are going to do it and finding the way to do it. Mr. Socol says that we need heros like the JFK's of the past who were not afraid of the challenge and how to invest in our future. I completely agree with him. We need people who can be heros. We need people who say this what is wrong and we are going to fix it. It will be hard and it will take sacrifice but we will create a better world. When our heros step up and are willing to change the way things are and actually start making changes we will see a better world for our children.
and how Eliza is not seen as a person by Dr. Higgins till he has changed her into his creation. But she is not able to go back to being the flower seller that she was before because she no longer fits into that group as well. He then goes on to discuss how this is apparent in our country as well and had been for years.
In response to him I shared my own experience with this as a Southerner with a bit of a thick accent. I have personally seen how "educated" people look at someone who sounds country. When giving a report once I noticed that my audience tuned me out after about a minute. At first I thought it was because I was boring. But after a lecture in another class about how different dialects are looked on I wondered if maybe it was my speech that was the problem. So when I had to give to presentation again I fell back on the lessons learned in my voice classes many years ago. I tried to lessen my accent as much as possible. I noticed that my audience actually listened to me. To me people who do not use Kings English are thought to be ignorant. Unfortunately on a whole we seem to see see people who are different than us as less than us whether it is skin color, birth, or speech.
In the second post of Mr. Socol he is speaking about the problems in the world. he starts by showing a speech of JFK in Houston. He explains that the people in power after WWII saw that our country need to grow and change for the better. Even though they know it will require sacrifice they would create a better place for future generations. But now governments are spending their time saying what they can't do instead of saying we are going to do it and finding the way to do it. Mr. Socol says that we need heros like the JFK's of the past who were not afraid of the challenge and how to invest in our future. I completely agree with him. We need people who can be heros. We need people who say this what is wrong and we are going to fix it. It will be hard and it will take sacrifice but we will create a better world. When our heros step up and are willing to change the way things are and actually start making changes we will see a better world for our children.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Final Report on PLN
I absolutely love my Personal Learning Network. As people that I follow post sites on twitter that I think will be a benefit to me as a history teacher, I add them to my Symbaloo web page. I am at this time trying to organize my tiles on Symbaloo into different web mixes. I will have one for the family and church things that I need. Next of course is the page for college. This one contains not only the web sites for the college but also all the sites that I feel help me in research for my different classes. Then I have the page that is just sites that I see as being important for me when I start teaching. Each of my web mixes are constantly changing. And my twitter account is changing as well. I am figuring out ways to create lists for the people that I follow so I can go to one for history and another if I am reading for stuff about pod casts. I think that my PLN will be constantly growing and changing. I have already started talking to my oldest child about starting a PLN. I really feel that this has been one of the best things that I have learned in EDM 310. Thank you Dr. Strange!!!
Blog Post #13
The top ten list that Jose Picardo has compiled should be a short list that every teacher keeps with them on the different types of media that can be used in the classroom. There are several that I plan to use if available in the school that hires me. First if the class has a smart board then I will need to find ways to make it worth the money that was spent on it. I can create whole lesson plans that basically use the smart board. The class calender can be done with the smart board and also roll call. There is a template that can be used that the students can move their name into the present category as soon as they walk in to the classroom. I see the smart board as becoming my class hub. Since they take up so much room you might as well use them.
I also think that music can definitely be used in the classroom. It can be used to help teach lessons or to create a calming atmosphere. Streaming video will be very useful. Such sites as Khan Academy will be a great help and also other educational sites that have videos that can be used to teach a topic. I can't wait to be able to use skype with my students. I would like to create a universal classroom where my students can keep in touch with classrooms all over the world. I feel that this could be used to help to teach about different cultures.
I plan to create podcasts of each class so that students who missed or who may have a learning disability of some sort will be able to get the information at the touch of their fingers. I also plan to use a class blog. I want to have an overall blog for the class that parents, students, and administrators can go to to see what is happening in our class. Also I would like to have blogs for the students as well so that they can have a type of portfolio of there work for the semester.
I really want to try to use all of these tools when I find it appropriate and when the administration will allow it. I hope to continue learning how to use these tools so that I can create an exciting and eclectic class that the students will enjoy being in but will also be able to learn the information that is needed for them to learn.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Progress Report on Final project
Oh the final project. I am happy to report that my group who is made up Bobbi-Jo, Regina, and myself, have outlined our project. We are making a movie on forms. We are wanting to take an entertaining view of the issue of forms by make a silent movie style teaching video (if there is such a thing). We hope to show someone how to create a form while making it interesting to watch. We each have different parts of the production that we are responsible for and are excited to get it done.
Blog Post #12
Since I was suppose to come up with an assignment that Dr. Strange should have given us I was a little stumped. How could I come up with one? I didn't have a clue. So after thinking about this for a few days and looking back over all the things that we had done, and how we had discussed what technology that teachers are using I thought "Do teachers think they are technologically literate and do they even care?"
So here is the assignment that I came up with:
You must interview an active teacher who is in the same discipline as you (a social science major would interview a history teacher and so forth). This interview must be recorded and posted to your blog. The form doesn't matter. It can be a skype interview, audio or video recording. You will need to ask the following questions:
1. Do you know what a technologically literate teachers is?
2. Do you consider yourself a technologically literate teacher?
3. What types of technology do you use in the classroom?
4. Does your class use blogs?
5. Do you think that classroom blogs can be beneficial to your students?
6. Do you have a PLN (Personal Learning Network)?
7. Do you think that your students should be taught about PLN's and encouraged to create one?
8. If you were allowed to use any type of technology in the classroom what would you use?
9. This is a question that you make up on your own.
Record the whole conversation. If they don't know what something is explain it and then get their answer. Write a summary about what you learned from the teacher that you interviewed about technology that they use.
I interviewed a teacher in Alabama. From the questions that I asked I got the impression that not only does the school system that she works for use technology in the schools, she seems to be well versed in the usage of the tools. Not only does the school allow the use of smart phones in the classroom they use blogs as well. She uses the students blogs to start discussions for the class. She asks a question and the students must comment an answer and then must comment on each of the other students comments. She thinks that PLN's are an important concept to be taught to students. She believes that we should teach students how to find knowledge for themselves instead of just teaching them a a bunch of facts.
Overall I feel that the system she works for an open minded one. She is a teacher who is sees the benefits from technology and is not afraid to learn how to use them to the benefit of her students. I hope to be able to follow her example in the classroom and am willing to try new things that will be a benefit to my students as well.
So here is the assignment that I came up with:
You must interview an active teacher who is in the same discipline as you (a social science major would interview a history teacher and so forth). This interview must be recorded and posted to your blog. The form doesn't matter. It can be a skype interview, audio or video recording. You will need to ask the following questions:
1. Do you know what a technologically literate teachers is?
2. Do you consider yourself a technologically literate teacher?
3. What types of technology do you use in the classroom?
4. Does your class use blogs?
5. Do you think that classroom blogs can be beneficial to your students?
6. Do you have a PLN (Personal Learning Network)?
7. Do you think that your students should be taught about PLN's and encouraged to create one?
8. If you were allowed to use any type of technology in the classroom what would you use?
9. This is a question that you make up on your own.
Record the whole conversation. If they don't know what something is explain it and then get their answer. Write a summary about what you learned from the teacher that you interviewed about technology that they use.
I interviewed a teacher in Alabama. From the questions that I asked I got the impression that not only does the school system that she works for use technology in the schools, she seems to be well versed in the usage of the tools. Not only does the school allow the use of smart phones in the classroom they use blogs as well. She uses the students blogs to start discussions for the class. She asks a question and the students must comment an answer and then must comment on each of the other students comments. She thinks that PLN's are an important concept to be taught to students. She believes that we should teach students how to find knowledge for themselves instead of just teaching them a a bunch of facts.
Overall I feel that the system she works for an open minded one. She is a teacher who is sees the benefits from technology and is not afraid to learn how to use them to the benefit of her students. I hope to be able to follow her example in the classroom and am willing to try new things that will be a benefit to my students as well.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Blog Post #11
I feel that Ms. Cassidy should be commended for stepping out of her comfort zone and developing the use of technology in her classroom. It takes a brave person to step out like that and try something new. It speaks well of Ms. Cassidy that she was willing to try to help improve the quality of her students education.
I like that she is using a class blog for her students to have portfolio of their work. This allows parents to see on a weekly basis the progress that their child is making . This will usually make parents happy.
I myself would like to have a class blog where all important information for the class can be found by students and parents. I would also like for my students to use class blogs to turn in assignments. I think one of the benefits that I could anticipate in doing this is just getting to the students interested in doing the work. Of course some parents might not like this. It is sometimes hard to get people to try new things. Parents and administrators both will have concerns about what a student may be seeing or doing on a computer.
I am still thinking about ways that I can address concerns of parents and administrators. Some of what Ms. Cassisdy uses would be very beneficial. First parents would have to sign permission slips. Also I would show examples of ways the blog would be a benefit in the classroom. There would hopefully be ways that the system could be made to work. I plan to continue to look at ways to implement class blogs and ways to maintain student protection. Hopefully I will have a starting plan when I get my first class.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
C4T#3
On this go around with Comments for Teachers I have been assigned Mr Fisher. The post that I read first or I should say watched is a video that Mr Fisher had made at ISTE 2011. He had interviewed a young man that everyone in EDM 310 should be familiar with. The iSchool Initiative creative was his person of interest. So basically I commented on the interview. Mr Fisher asked him questions about the iSchool Initiative and how it came about. Also he answered questions about what his goal is with the non-profit organization. I found out that the state of Maine has determined that all middle schools students should have a portable education device. this was a little overwhelming to me. So I asked him how would teachers and parents in a community like where my children attend, where you a not allowed to bring any type of technological device from home, can try to start a campaign to allow students the use of these types of media.
In the second post that I read by Mr. Fisher he was discussing ePortfolios like the one that we are required to have in the College of Education. He interview Mr. Z.(this is what he called him) who seems to be the leading person on the topic. One of the points that he brought out was that this is a way for someone to show there best work. They would have a actually portfolio of there work in the cloud that could be seen by them, their teachers, parents, administrators, and future colleges, and possible future employers. I feel that this is actually a very good concepts for schools to look to for a way for students to see what they are doing and what they have accomplished. I feel that it may be something that I would like to use in the future for my students. I much to learn about setting it up and how to run it but I am interesting in figuring it out and hopefully using it to benefit my students.
In the second post that I read by Mr. Fisher he was discussing ePortfolios like the one that we are required to have in the College of Education. He interview Mr. Z.(this is what he called him) who seems to be the leading person on the topic. One of the points that he brought out was that this is a way for someone to show there best work. They would have a actually portfolio of there work in the cloud that could be seen by them, their teachers, parents, administrators, and future colleges, and possible future employers. I feel that this is actually a very good concepts for schools to look to for a way for students to see what they are doing and what they have accomplished. I feel that it may be something that I would like to use in the future for my students. I much to learn about setting it up and how to run it but I am interesting in figuring it out and hopefully using it to benefit my students.
Blog Post #10
Do you teach or Do you Educate?
Being tasked to think about why I choose education as a major, I am able to say that my reason runs in line with what this video has to say about being an educator. I don't just want to be a teacher. This implies just imparting information. You use methods of gifting, punishing and intimidation to make sure the student learns or memorizes the material put forth. This isn't the type of person that I want to be.
I want to show my students why learning things are important. I want to try to lead my students in wanting to learn and how to learn. I want to impart to my students the skills that will help them in my history class but also will stay with them through many years of school then into their careers and even farther into their family years. This is why I want to be an educator.
Being tasked to think about why I choose education as a major, I am able to say that my reason runs in line with what this video has to say about being an educator. I don't just want to be a teacher. This implies just imparting information. You use methods of gifting, punishing and intimidation to make sure the student learns or memorizes the material put forth. This isn't the type of person that I want to be.
I want to show my students why learning things are important. I want to try to lead my students in wanting to learn and how to learn. I want to impart to my students the skills that will help them in my history class but also will stay with them through many years of school then into their careers and even farther into their family years. This is why I want to be an educator.
Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home!
First I must say that I love Gertrude's title. Also if she really thinks that taking a pencil home is going to lower test scores then her title has gone to her head. But enough of that.
Mr. Johnson uses his post to show that burying your head in the sand is not going to help a situation. To me the "pencil" in this blog represents all that is wrong in schools today. The lack for ways to engage the students in the lessons. If student do not see that what teachers are trying to impart to them is important they will have no desire to learn the topic. It will be like the student playing hangman with their pencils.
But instead of bowing down to useless statistics, Mr.Johnson came up with a war plan. He initiates a plan to combat the "don't care" attitude of students. He involves the parents of his students. This in itself is a great leap forward. If you can get the parents on board and show an interest then you are half way to reaching most of your students.
So as educators we must admit there is a problem in schools and then start trying to find solutions. But if a solution is not working go back to the drawing board. I think the future of our children is to important to take an "it is what it is" attitude. What about you?
Special Assignment #2
Part I
Khan Academy
The Khan Academy is a free website. Just by gazing at the homepage you seem to be able to find a video in everything that almost any student can use plus other information such as banking and credit information. They have videos about investing and venture capital. These videos go into detail about the subject. It is almost like a one on one session with the teacher. They are a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide a "free world-class education to anyone anywhere." Anyone is allowed to use the site. They also have exercises that can be worked that can be broken down step by step.
iTunesU
iTuneU is part of iTunes. So you have to download iTunes to be able to use it. It contains lectures and other videos that have been done by actual professors. The videos come from colleges and universities all over the world. You can choose a college and then sift through what they have posted. These are free lectures of different classes.
TED
This is a non-profit organization that is devoted to what they call "Ideas worth spreading." It is a place where knowledge is free and covers many different areas. Some of the areas covered in this site are technology, entertainment, design, business, science and globel issues. The videos can be short or long. They seem to have quite a bit of information but seems to be a little harder to navigate than the other two.
Part II
Khan Academy
They have video teaching lessons in just about anything that you need to learn in school or college. They also have practice exercises in some subjects such as math. They are continually growing and adding more videos to the ones they already have. Mostly this side is dedicated to education. I think that this site would be fantastic for teachers to use with students who are having problems with understanding a concept. They can spend extra time on a topic by getting extra instruction with out the class teacher having to do it. They can also work the lessons that the site has to help them with the concepts.
iTunesU
This site isn't just lessons. It covers things that have been posted for K-12 but these are not just lesson geared toward the student. There are sections that are resources for teachers. There are also the sections that is for colleges level information.. You can choose a college then the category that you are interesting in. This site could be helpful to a teacher who is looking for more information than the regular textbooks offers. Some of the videos could be shown to the class to go in hand with whatever lesson you are teaching.
TED
This site does not seem to be as in depth enough for the topics I would need. As a teacher I will need history and social science type of videos and there just isn't that much to choose from and only a couple of the videos would be any help in the classroom to me and I am not sure how they could help other teachers.
Part III
TED
Aaron Huey: America's Native prisoners of war
Mr. Huey gave a very impassioned presentation on the injustice of the treatment of the Lakota. He made his point very clear as to the fact that the reservations were prisoner of war camps and the Indians themselves prisoners. I feel it was in depth with out being boring. All of the matters discussed were accurate. I feel it was a well done presentation that got to the point with out any unnecessary fluff.
iTunesU
Unfortunately I was not able to figure out how to put a link for this video. I watched the Temple of
Diana/Anatomical Votive. This video lends itself very well to education. It was short and to the point which is what I like. It discussed the Temple of Diana and votives that the people would leave as gifts. It showed samples of the votive that they were talking about. It gave good information about the topic and was extremely informative.
Khan Academy
Appomattox Courthouse and Lincoln's Assassination
This video is basically a learning tool. I think it is fantastic. It is very informative. If gives the basic information that is needed for students for understanding the things that took place at Appomatiox. It also discussed the issues that led up to Lincoln's assassination. Very informative and easy to follow and understand.
Part IV
When it comes to how I can use each of these sites a s a teacher, I can honestly say that I do not think that I will be using TED. I thought that this site was hard to navigate. If did not contain the type of information that I feel that I will need teaching history. I am sure it may be of some use to others but it doesn't fit me.
iTunes could be a good supplemental source of information that I can present to my class. Also it can be used as a research for student who are working on projects. The Khan Academy is my favorite of the three sites. It is made for education. The information is very informative. if has great depth into the subjects that it covers. The lessons would be good to use as a teacher. If a student misses a class they can get the information that they missed from this website. It can also be used by the students to find more information than can be gone over in the classroom. Of the three this is the one that I like the most and will plan to use in my class.
Part V
This assignment has shown me that there are many assets in the cloud that can be used by students and teachers. It has really opened my eyes to the fantastic tool that the internet can be for schools. I can hear all of the "old school" believers say that the internet is just to dangerous for children to be using. I understand that it is dangerous but so is a school bus. As adult we have to use common sense to protect the children while giving them as many advantages as possible. I am very glad that I have been introduced to this information. I feel that it will come in very handy in my future as a teacher.
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