Blog Post 15

Part 1:
I am currently majoring in elementary education while attending the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I moved From Lucedale, Mississippi to Mobile in 2012 to attend the university. I have loved each semester at South Alabama because I have been taught new and interesting ways to teach my students. I consider myself to be a life long student because I am always willing to learn about new methods and resources I can use later in my career.

Since I am majoring in elementary education my ideal grade to teach would be second grade. I enjoy teaching this grade because they are still willing to learn about what is being taught. They haven't gotten tired of the school idea. Many teacher who teach this grade would be hesitant to expose their students to technology and the internet. I on the other hand do not mind exposing my students to those things because I believe they will eventually get to where they use those resources so why not teach them how to use it properly at an impressionable age.

In my elementary classroom I will use a variety of technology. Some tools I would use is apple products, pinterest, blogger to keep parents up to date with progress throughout the year, other teacher blogs, and SmartBoard. My students would have internet access via computers to update their student blogs. they would also be able to access search engines and YouTube for research based needs. The students would be required during small groups to effectively use the SmartBoard.

As an educator I strive to have a classroom with an atmosphere of learning. This classroom would be equipped with the proper technology and internet access. The students would know when to access these technologies for researched based needs. As an elementary educator I would enforce the rules set aside but also make learning a memorable and exciting experience. As far as my room's decorations I would put what is needed to properly teach my students instead of entertaining them. I believe each item in a classroom should have a purpose for furthering a students education.

After reading Blog Post #1 I have found a few things I would change.
1) iPads would not be used to take quizzes
2) iPads would only be used at one learning station

Part 2:

C4K Summary for April

C4K # 9

For C4K#9 I commented on Casmira's blog post, Where I Live. This particular post was about Casmira's home state, Nebraska. I loved reading her post about the state because I have never gotten the chance to visit it. Her post was very descriptive and informative because she wrote about the different features in the state.

C4K#10

Yunus was the student I have been assigned to for C4K#10. This student wrote a post titled Term One Holidays and what adventures would take place. Yunus informed me about going fishing, swimming and seeing movies with the family. I encouraged Yunus to continue the great writing and I hoped she had a great holiday.

Project 13

Project#16

Final PLN Report

Throughout this semester I have enjoyed creating and using my personal learning network(PLN) via Symbaloo. I became very interested in using my PLN because, as an educator, it is important to keep web resources organized. To help keep my web resources organized I found that when color coding each item in the grid Symbaloo provided. While working on my PLN, I noticed there was a link to make Symbaloo my home page when I open up the internet. I have also been able to add more tiles to my grid, which allows me to instantly be connected to my frequently visited sites. The sights I have added to my Symbaloo was History Channel, VUDU, Pandora, some shopping sites, a bible app website, and Discovery Channel. I know as an educator I would use this resource on a daily basis.

Blog Post #14

2. In the article Teacher Knows if You Have Done the E-Reading, David Streitfeld tells his readers about an electronic textbook called CourseSmart. He described CourseSmart to be beneficial for teachers who desire to help students improve their study habits. This tool can be benefitial to studying because it can allow the student to high light and make notes when at important points. CourseSmart can also help teachers improve in their teaching methods by showing them the students engagement index's, which shows their usage of the electronic textbook.  Further in the article Streitfeld told about how some students had insisted the textbook had "software bugs". He explained how this reaction from students can be comparable to "the dog ate my homework".  With many positive aspects of CourseSmart there are many negative outlooks of using this resource. At the end of the article a man named Mr. Devine says, " We'll ultimately show how the student traverses the book. There's a correlation and casuality between engagement and success".  He began this article by saying many positive aspects of CourseSmart then lead his readers to think about the negative aspects and see if CourseSmart is worth using in the classroom.

3. As an educator I think this this technology could be beneficial to young students who have not learned how to study effectively. This is a great way to see if students with low grades need help with their study habits. Also it is important to remember each student has their own unique way to study. This may not work with every student but it might make a difference in the ways some students study.

4. As a student I would not have a high engagement index. I am the type of student who would rather study from my own notes made in class. I would not be opposed to using CourseSmart because I do believe it would help me stay organized when I need to refer back to the textbook. As a student I would like using CourseSmart because it does not require me to keep pens and highlighters with me at each class meeting.

5. Questions I would ask the teacher:
1. How did you introduce CourseSmart to your students?
2. Do they frequently complain about using this technology?

6. Questions I would ask the students:
1. Do you find CourseSmart helpful with staying organized?
2. Do you think this technology is easy to use?

7. I think this unique technology could be beneficial to young students who have difficulty studying productively. This would give the student an idea of how to study and may help them find a technique that suits their learning needs. With an older student, who has mastered his study technique, there should not be regulations on how their study habits.

Project #15

Blog Post #13

#1
Today I was introduced, via blogger, to Brian Crosby who teaches at Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada. In his blog, he posted the video Back to the Future, which encouraged me to never think a narrow curriculum is the only way to teach students. He began by identifying his students as second language learners who were at risk, and also students of poverty. After learning this, Crosby immediately made a questionnaire for his students with questions, such as, where they lived. Many of the students were not able to answer the questions correctly because they were taught the material needed to pass a test.

In Crosby's classroom, the students were able to work with computers and write in their personal blogs. Crosby informed the audience, in the video, how he was able to get the students excited about learning science and other subject areas. The students enjoyed being able communicate with other students and people around the world about what they were doing in the classroom. This enhanced the students writing and communication skills.

I love learning and hearing about teachers, like Brian Crosby, who are willing to take time and extra effort to
make a difference in their students. Brian introduced his students to technology in a way they were able to shine. His students improved tremendously and became active learners. The students went from being taught how to learn to a teacher who challenged them to learn on their own.  Brian Crosby taught his student to be connected, empowered, active, collaborative, and motivated.

At the end of his lecture, Crosby shared how his students were able to connect with their new classmate who was not able to attend class.  This particular student was diagnosed with Leukemia, but that did not stop Brian. The student was able to interact and learn with her classmates by video feed. I enjoyed learning how Brian Crosby was able to overcome the obstacles in his classroom, and also his determination to teach his students.



#2

Today I watched the video Blended Learning Cycle created by Paul Anderson. Paul introduced this strategy by breaking the words down into blended learning and learning cycle. Blended learning is a combination of using online, mobile, and classroom learning to teach. The learning cycle consist of exploring, expanding, engaging, explaining, and then evaluating. When blended learning and leaning cycle are combined students answer questions, investigate, elaborate, review, and take summary quizzes. I feel the blended learning cycle can be a positive improvement on how teachers present a subject, involve the students, and assess students. As an educator I will be more than willing to implement this particular strategy in my own classroom, and I believe it will help students comprehend what has been taught.

Progress Report: Final Project

In this progress report, on the final project, I would like to describe what my team, the Pigskins, will be creating. As a team we decided to create a movie about surviving the class EDM310. This survival guide will include the top 10 most important steps to surviving EDM310. The team members and I created a list, from the least to the most important, to help future students prepare for the class. The list includes going to class, having proper equipment, making positive comments, working with others, thinking for yourself, not procrastinating, having enough time set aside for classwork, keeping an open mind to new technology, writing grammatically correct, and staying positive. We hope our survival guide will help enhance future students prepare for this class.

Blog Post #12

This is my proposal for a blog post assignment for EDM 310.


For this assignment you will have to be creative and open minded to new ways of taking field trips.

1.Visit the Education World website and write one paragraph about what you have learned about using virtual tours in the classroom. Also, find a virtual tour on the internet and write one paragraph about your experience.

2. Go to the National Museum of Natural History website and take a virtual tour of the Smithsonian Museum. When clicking on the link you will have to click on the device you are using to view the tour. Write two paragraphs about what you have learned while taking the tour and how you would  implement virtual field trips in your classroom.


My Turn:
1. After visiting the Education World website, I now understand why teachers prefer to take virtual field trips with their students. Virtual field trips can be fun for the students and teachers. I personally have never experienced a virtual field trip and I wasn't sure how it would do in a classroom. As an educator I plan to continually learn different ways to teach my students and have them explore, and virtual field trips are a great way of doing this.

As I researched and learned how many different virtual tours there are I found a website called Panoramas. This website is filled with many ideas for virtual field trips all over the world. The locations I decided to view were the seven wonders of the world. This includes the Taj Mahall in India, Great Wall of China, Colosseum in Rome, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Petra in Jordan, Machu Picchu in Peru, and Rio de Janeiro.  I was able to see these amazing locations without having to leave my living room and under each panorama is a description of the locations.

2. While taking an amazing tour in the Nation Museum of Natural History, I was overwhelmed with the number of exhibits and size of the museum. There are three floors of the museum to view and they are all different. The ground floor has Western Cultures, Soils, Orchids, Rastafarian  Coral Reef Crochet, Cyprus's, and gardens. The first floor is filled with information about creatures and their fossils. On the second floor there is a variety of insects, bones, geology, and an incredible IMAX theater.

As an educator I would use this and many other virtual tours throughout the year. Virtual tours, like at the museum, have the ability to give the students schema of history, social studies, and science. Since virtual tours are accessible from any computer with internet I would assign homework to students, have them do classwork for their assigned computers in the classroom, and have a class discussion about the location we are visiting as a class by using a SmartBoard. Virtual field trips are wonderful to implement in the classroom and I will be using this technology in my classroom.

blog Post #11

Today I was able to learn a different approach to teaching by Ms. Cassidy from Moose Jaw, Canada. As a first grade teacher, she used the technology given by the school to provide her students with a background of writing and communicating with technology. As an educator I will use this technique Ms. Cassidy used to teach students how to write complete sentences. She provided the students with blogs and gave them guidelines on what to write. On their blogs, the students were able to see the large amount of people who visited their page. When teaching children about the internet and blogging, there will be parents who are concerned about their child's safety. This is a reasonable and common concern parents have, so as an educator I am to provide the parents with comfort and guidelines which will keep the student safe. There are many benefits to teaching children about technology and its uses. Students who learn at an early age to properly use Blogger, Skype, and other tools, will be responsible and have a schema of technology.

C4K summer for March

This month's comments for kids was entertaining to read and watch. The students were personal in their writings and willing to share their thoughts. The student's post I commented on for C4K#5 was Karnell, who showed his excitement about his birthday as he wrote. The next student I was assigned to, for C4K#6, was Kayla. This student was to inform the reader the connection between her and the character, Lucy from the book A Shade of Vampire. For C4K#7 I read a post written by a young girl named Lilly. She informed the reader about a man who was an inventor then explained the changes she would like to make to her school. Kaylee is the student I was assigned to comment on for C4K#8. Kaylee and her friends created a video about students being bullied and how students are bullying others. I have enjoyed learning about the students and what is important to them.

My comments to the students:
C4K #5
Karnell, Happy belated birthday! I hope it was a wonderful day for you and I hope your birthday wish came true. I love the cake picture because cakes make a birthday fun and delicious. Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work!

C4K #6:

Kayla,

This is a well written post about the connection between you to your character. I often enjoy reading about how characters connect to the reader. Thank you again for writing a great post and sharing about you and your character.  Keep up the great work!

http://kidblog.org/MrSeyfertsClass/f3fe53e3-59a3-450c-ac2c-6cc0fa31a8af/character-to-self-a-shade-of-vampire-by-bella-forrest/#comment-1309

C4K #7:

Lilly,

I enjoyed reading your well written post. I agree with your opinion of William being a successful man. Instead of using expensive materials he improvised and used what he could find. I also enjoy knowing your opinion of school lunches. Changing the schools lunch menu would make an impact throughout the school. Again, I enjoyed reading your post so keep up the great writing!

http://kidblog.org/Harbor7/d57592ab-d1b9-491b-8926-b9711bfbe0c9/ted-talk-3/#comment-719

C4K #8:

Kaylee,

This is an amazing video! I am very impressed with the creativity and technology used to make the video. This video has shown me different ways students are being bullied and bullying others. Thank you for a wonderful video and keep up the great work!

http://kayleescs17.edublogs.org/2013/01/21/bullying-video/#comment-42

Project #14

Blog Post #10

1.
The cartoon to the right, 'I'm a Papermate I'm a Ticonderoga', was created by John T. Spencer. His cartoon is creative and humerus to those who have a technological schema. This drawing is meant to mock of the commercial, "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC".  This is a commercial which shows viewers the positive aspects of buying a Macintosh and negative aspects of buying a PC, but Spencer's cartoon identifies an issue many individuals have. Purchasing technology on the basis of price can be an unwise decision.

2.
When looking at John Spencer's blog I found some extremely interesting posts. I noticed that every post on his blog spoke about pencils, but it didn't take me long to realize that Mr. Spencer was using pencils symbolically to depict the use of technology in the classroom. I read Mr. Spencer's post, Remember Pencils Quest?, which depicted a classroom scenario in which students researched pages of information. Mr. Spencer, through his post, illustrated the need for technology in the classroom, and he depicted the benefit that technology provides the researcher. Dr. Strange was right, I did enjoy all of the posts on John Spencer's blog.

4.
I would like to introduce you to Dr. Scott McLeod. He is currently the Director of Innovation for Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency 8 in Iowa, and he is a specialist in the areas of educational leadership and the use of technology in the classroom. In fact, he blogs regularly about the use of technology in the classroom. His blog, Dangerously Irrelevant, is filled with posts about technology in the classroom. One of his posts, Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?, lists the excuses that misinformed individuals use against the idea of including technology in the classroom. I feel that technology is an important aspect of today's classroom. Without technology being taught in the classroom students leave school unprepared to be successful in the modern world.

Project #11

Blog Post 9

First Year:

Mr. McClung’s reflection posts can be very helpful references to refer back to when writing my own reflections. Mr. McClung begins his first post by introducing a common theme which has robbed the classroom of its creativity. This theme is when teachers prepare lesson plans to quote rather than to teach. McClung provides proper methods of teaching such as, be flexible, communicate, be responsible, don’t be afraid of technology, and never stop learning. Each point made in this post is wonderful advice to all teachers. As educators we should continually want to learn and enhance our teaching methodology.

Fourth Year:

In the post about Mr. McClung’s fourth year as a teacher he explained how he found himself struggling to appease his fellow educators. McClung continued trying to appease his colleagues which negatively affected his teaching methods. Later in the year he began to realize his main purpose as an educator which is to teach students rather than appeasing colleagues. McClung found himself in a rut as he taught the same lessons each year, and he found no challenge in this method of teaching. McClung is an educator who continually has an urge to learn and challenge himself.  Many educators do not have the urge to challenge themselves which will ultimately be a disadvantage to them in the classroom. As an aspiring educator I find McClung’s reflection posts encouraging and motivating. Teachers who reflect upon their years of educating will find ways to improve their teaching methods as they learn new ways to handle situations.

Project #12 Book Trailer

C4T Post #1

C4T

This afternoon I visited the blog Keeping Kids First, which was created by a teacher from North Carolina name Kelly Hines. On the website there was a post titled Pencil Metaphor which caught my attention. Kelly Hines wrote about the different characteristics teachers have when being introduced to new technology. There was a drawing of a pencil which had different tabs by each point of the pencil. I began to read through the tabs and found the descriptions true. I consider the metaphor to be creative, humorous, and flexible. The metaphor is flexible because it can be used to discuss numerous topics. One topic I, as a teacher, could use in my elementary classroom would be cooperation. The students who are working with their group would be the sharp end of the pencil because they are willing to help finish the task. The students who have the mentality of "their way or the high way" would be considered the eraser part of the pencil. I enjoyed reading Kelly Hines post about the Pencil Metaphor and cannot wait to read further in her blog.
Here is the comment I left for Kelly Hines.
"Hi, I'm Katelin Brown from EDM310 at the University of South Alabama and I think this metaphor is wonderfully creative and very accurate.  It's very difficult to explain the characteristics of people who are introduced to new technology.  After reading all the points in the photo, I also began to remember certain people, whether it be positive or negative.  I enjoyed reading this post and Thank you so much for sharing!!"

C4T #3
Today I was given the opportunity to read and comment on an exceptional blog post written by Kelly Hines, who is also an educator. Her post was very informative about the author, Peter Reynolds, and ideas to use in the classroom. Kelly provides a link to Peter's website where an individual can learn more about him and what he does to help students. I have heard many educators comment on how his book has made a positive influence in the students. The Dot book has made such an impact it is celebrated on September 15th each year. I appreciate Kelly Hines for informing other educators and I about this great book. As an educator, I will introduce this book to my students and celebrate Dot Day each year.

C4T #4

Frank Nosches is an educator who loves to teach science and shows his passion through his blog Action-Reaction. He has many resources for other educators looking for activities, worksheets, or ideas on teaching a science lesson. I wanted to learn more about what his lessons entailed so I began to search through his blog and found something very interesting. Frank had posted a video clip titled Physics of Angry Birds Lesson on CUNY-TV, which amazed me because he was using technology, not specifically created for the classroom, to teach physics. I was so excited to hear of an educator using the application in the classroom I had to leave him an encouraging comment. I congratulated Frank on his technique of teaching his students about the laws of physics. I also thanked him for creating a lesson which incorporated a popular application that the students are familiar with. I enjoyed learning about Frank Nosches and his enthusiasm to make science fun and educational for his students.

Blog Post #8

#1 Dr. Richard Miller is a professor at Rutgers University who created a two part video titled, This is How We Dream. 
As I watched the video I began to understand what he was speaking about. Dr. Miller makes excellent points about technology advancements throughout the years and societies benefit from these advancements. Miller's main point is the impact that technology has had on writing.
In this two part video Miller communicates his belief that we are experiencing the greatest change in human communication. I agree with Dr. Miller because people are now writing and communicating quickly by the use of technology. Individuals are able to express themselves intellectually through multimedia. As an educator I can use multimedia to communicate with employers, students, parents, and other educators.
This type of writing is not traditional but it is beneficial.  Students are writing blogs, creating videos, and posting pictures while receiving feedback from other people in the world. In my classroom the students will be given the opportunity to communicate using multimedia. Students should be given the chance to write and receive feedback from others. I also believe that writing blogs and using media will teach students to be cautious of their writing technique. As a future educator I understand the need for using multimedia in the classroom.

#2
Carly Pugh's blog, number twelve is wonderfully written and extremely informative. This post is almost overwhelming because of the mass amount of information and insight she gives to teaching. She challenges educators to find their teaching philosophy and present it by creating their own playlist on YouTube. Carly creatively developed an idea to make educators pause and reflect on their teaching technique and how to constructively use multimedia.


#3
The videos The Chipper Series and EDM 310 for dummies were entertaining and creative. The first video depicts an individual who wasn't capable of keeping a job, arriving on time, or being respectful to those around her. This character is known to procrastinate and not finish the tasks started. The second video is humorous because it could be a potential commercial for edm310 to sell a book called edm310 for dummies. The two characters in this video illustrate how unhappy they are with the class and all of the work they are having to do. I enjoyed watching the videos because they have something to teach individuals who will be taking the class.  If I were to create a video for the class I would compare procrastinating students to students who finish their work on time. Before enrolling in edm310, many individuals warned me to not procrastinate and try to stay ahead. I knew the classwork would take a great deal of time to finish but as the semester started I began to understand this fully.

#4
The video Learn to Change, Change to Learn took my breath away because it had educators being completely honest about what needs to happen in a twenty first century classroom. The students are now learnin outside as well as inside of the classroom. They also made clear that students should bring what they learn to the classroom. There have been students in schools who have been handicapped by a school system which believes in a 'vending machine approach', which is an approach to learning that involves a student delivering information rather than processing information. This type of approach reminded me of how Dr.Strange spoke to our class about Burp Back Education, which is when a student is fed a tremendous amount of information then expected to recall the information. I am excited to hear about educators willingness to incorporate a new teaching method.

#5
Today I am participating in a scavenger hunt. In this scavenger hunt I am to fulfill five tasks through using Discovery Education's Web 2.0 Tools.
1. The first task is to create an account and social platform for other teachers, parents, and students to communicate with me and each other.  The website I signed into is Edmodo, which is an excellent resource for any educator. This website is filled with appropriate educational materials, and it is simple to use when communicating with other teachers, parents, and students.
2. The second task was to locate a website which has an amazing tool to create videos like Teaching in the 21st Century. The website with this feature is ANIMOTO,which allows people to create fascinating videos.  There are three different packages available for anyone who wants to create videos, as an educator I will be utilizing the free package. This package allows students and teachers to create thirty second videos with limited video styles and limited music tracks. This is wonderful for the classroom because it allows the students to be creative and gives them restrictions. 3. The third task was to create a comet strip on the website Make Beliefs Comix. This website challenged me to be creative by only providing a small amount of characters and backgrounds. This is the comic strip I created which tells students how to deal with bullying.

4. The fourth task is to find a video tool on the Discovery Education website. The website I found with a wonderful video tool is VoiceThread.  This tool has many features which will enhance your video perspective. This site provides ways to have conversations over the internet by using a variety of media options. VoiceThread also has the ability to hold a conversation. This allows the individual to leave and return to the conversation without losing any information. There are many aspects about this website that I really enjoy, and I plan this resource in my classroom.
5.  The final task is to create a poll at Polleverywhere.com. This site made it easy to create a poll but deciding on a question can be tricky.  Here is the poll I created, enjoy! poll

Last C4T

I enjoyed reading Angela Maiers post, Even Oscar Winners Want to Matter, because it touches on a topic many teachers and individuals overlook. I didn't know of Choose2Matter and had learned of it by this post. I have become a fan of the revolution because it caters to the needs of students and children.  The way it caters to children is by treating them as though they matter.  Her post was enlightening and had shown me the impact the words you matter can make in someone life.

In the post, 5 Ways You Can Be An Innovated Genius, the teacher wrote about the book, Red Thread Thinking: Weaving Together Connections for Brilliant Ideas and Profitable Innovation by Debra Kaye.  This post included a description about how the book reveals different ways to activate an individuals own knowledge and resources make connections for different ideas.  She discussed the five topics which are look for new ideas within those that already exist, ask unexpected questions, look what can play into people’s existing behavior, sleep on it, and think that you are a genius.  After reading these points, as an educator I felt very motivated.

While searching through the blog created by Kelly Hines, Keeping Kids First, I found the post Will You Rondee?!, This posts caught my attention and curiosity because I have never heard of a Rondee. Kelly explained the different aspects this tool is used to communicate, which is similar to Skype. This tool, Rondee, allows people to participate in conference calls online or from a cell/home phone. Rondee can also be used in the classroom to show students how to set up a study group. Teachers can use this tool to have meetings with the grade level team or converse different teaching ideas and methods with other educators.

On the blog Action Reaction, I had read a post titled Learning Analysis. This post  was humerus because it depicted a conversation between a mother and son reading the results of a computer-base math test. The results were not helpful to the student and his mother because it did not explain why he was struggling in his algebra class.

C4KSummary for February

I was given a students blog post by the name of Lyesha.  She wrote about a few sentences about herself and family.  The student showed how much she loved and enjoyed her large family and friend.

The second student, Aidan, had posted a video on his blog. The video had members of his class telling about themselves and things they liked.  At the end of the video they created their own Harlem Shake video which was created in the classroom. I enjoyed watching how creative the students decided to be when recording the video.

The third students blog I have read was Kaleb's.  He wrote a simple post about his family and how much he loved them.  He also wrote about how he like playing with remote control cars.  I congratulated him on writing a great blog post and encouraged him to continue posting.

Project #8

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, and Randy would often lecture on time management.  His last lecture, on achieving your childhood dreams was amazing and inspiring. While teaching at Carnegie-Mellon he taught students about virtual reality, but he wanted to leave behind something more. Randy would also teach his students about life in general.
Randy was a brilliant man who had accomplished many things, but he did accomplish things which were unplanned. Some of the dreams he wanted to achieve from his childhood were not accomplished for various reasons.  Instead of interpreting this as failure he viewed it as a learning experience. Randy taught people how to be optimistic through his own personal optimism.  He taught his students to have fun and be happy with whatever happens in their lives. Randy even made the comment "I'm dying and I'm having fun" because he wanted people to stop being an "Eeyore", as he called it, and start enjoying life.
I also noticed that Randy taught his students to respect others. He gave his students the opportunity to grade one another based on characteristic issues such as team work. Randy enhanced his students awareness of professional conduct because he saw the great benefit of professionalism. The first video I watched of Randy Pausch was about time management. While watching his last video I began to realize that this lecture seems to connect back to his lecture on time management. Randy taught many people about time management and achieving their goals. As an elementary teacher I would implement these teaching methods in my classroom as often as possible. I believe young students should be taught about optimism, respect, and time management.

Project #9 PLN

In developing my personal learning network I realized how organized it can make someone. I decided to sign up on the website Symbaloo to start my PLN. I chose this cite because it neatly organizes everything with logos and color scheme.  The logos make it easy to see and locate on the screen. I added different types of education and entertainment textiles to the grid provided.  In the future I plan to add and learn more about this tool so I can be aware of how to use it in my classroom.

Blog Post #6

#1
The Networked Student is a video about the twenty first century student who is learning about network learning. This type of learning is different from traditional education which is obtained through lecture and text books.  Network learning encourages students to learn from networks such as Google Scholar. In the video the question is asked, "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" This question is asked because it seems as though teachers are not needed in the classroom. Teachers are needed now more than ever, and this is because students should be taught about credible networks and how to use resources in the classroom.

I think students should learn for themselves in order to be successful. Teachers who feed their students information are actually hindering them more than helping them.  Students have the capability to learn about technology and its resources without a teacher, but they will need guidance on how to handle this unlimited amount of resources. I also think teachers in the twenty first century should teach students how to be responsible while using networks. The twenty first century student has the ability to directly discuss information with an author or professional over the internet.  I like this method of teaching because it will ultimately make an impact on students in the twenty first century.


#2
The video, A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN), was very informative and enlightening! Watching this video taught me new ways to use the familiar resources. In the video a student was correct when stating that technology helps keep information organized. I personally do not like having to keep up with papers that can be transferred to a document online. I really enjoyed watching this video and learning  ways to use resources efficiently in the classroom!

Project #10

When I begin teaching I will be an elementary teacher.  A tool I would use in my classroom would a Document Camera, sometimes known as an Elmo.  This tool is used to show students visual aids and other three dimensional objects on a SmartBoard.  I would use this tool in all subjects because it is a very resourceful tool.  

For example, the Document Camera would be a great tool in a science lesson. This tool could be used to look through a microscope at a plants cells and such. Some benefits from using this tool is that anyone can operate it! It is extremely easy to use and very helpful when having to do visual aids! Another factor to having this resource in the classroom if the teacher is handicapped for a short time.
Some links for this amazing tools is Smart-schools.com and Smarttech.com.

Blog Post #5

#1
Krissy Venosdale is an educator with many wonderful ideas! She created a blog titled Venspired in order to help educators make their classroom a fun learning experience. Vensodale's post,  If I Build A School, is about a dream to build the perfect school.  This dream involved many wonderful ideas about teaching creativity and capturing a students interest. Krissy wrote about abolishing grade levels in the school system which would create a focus on student preparedness and academic ability.  Another idea worth mentioning is that she is in support of using technology in the classroom because, as she put it, "it’d just be part of the day." In other words, she saw such a benefit in using technology in education that it should be a regular part of the day. I would love to be apart of the school Krissy Venosdale wrote about because it wasn't focused on meeting state standards. The school that she wrote about focused on the student’s appetite to learn.  I would build a school like Vendosale's because of the creativity and opportunities which are given to students. If I were to create a school the students would go on many field trips because I feel that teaching students outside of the classroom will increase student curiosity and creativity.

#2
Music has been entertaining people for many years with its diversity and emotional elements.  Technology has helped to advance and improve music, and this improvement is made evident in Eric Whitacre's video, Virtual Choir-'Lux Aurumque'.  This video astonished me because the individuals who sang in it have never performed together nor have they met one another. Through technology this diverse group of people was given the opportunity to sing together in perfect harmony. Jennifer Chamber, through a comment on the YouTube video, explained how this choir was able to perform together without having met one another, and she basically wrote that each performer uploaded a YouTube video of his or her self singing in one specific key. The editor put all of these singing videos together in a specific order which resulted in a finished product that is absolutely stunning.

#4
In Kevin Roberts video, Teaching In The 21st Century, he explained that teaching in the 21st century involves teaching students skills and life decisions by using media. Roberts also presented the idea of teachers being the filter for their students. He believes that it is the teacher's job to examine social media and search engines.  He feels that educators should teach students reliability, responsibility, and integrity by using technology. Students are capable of learning not to plagiarize nor pirate media in the classroom, and this would result in not doing so outside of the classroom.  I think Kevin Roberts is correct in his video because students can attain useful knowledge through the internet.  It is my responsibility, as a teacher, to teach students to wisely choose and use the internet as a tool.

#5
Quality teachers are known to use multiple techniques in order to teach their students.  The videos: Why I Flipped My Classroom, Dr. Lodge McCammon's FIZZ - Flipping the Classroom, and Flipping The Classroom-4th Grade STEM showed unique ways to present and teach math lessons. I think this program is a great way to get the students ready for the next math lesson.  The reason I really like this program is because it allows a struggling student to review an assigned video multiple times until he or she understands.  As an elementary teacher I could use Flipping the Classroom in any grade that I might teach because it would give the student more time to ask questions in class.  If used in an elementary classroom it will be essential to review any video that might be assigned for the next day before handing out the math problems.  Flipping the Classroom is a great program and can be used in any school at any grade level.

My Sentence Video

Special Blog Post #1

2.
On the website WolframAlpha I typed into the search engine, “Compare Populations of India, China and the United States.”   The results revealed that the population of India is 1.21 billion, and the population of China is 1.25 billion.  The United States, which is comprised of the smallest population, has 309 million people.

3.
On the WolframAlpha website I searched the phrase, “Compare the population of Mississippi and Alabama.”  The amount of people who live in Mississippi is 2.979 million, but the population of Alabama is 4.803 million.  On the website I also searched the Distance between California and New York,  which is 2444 miles.

4.
The website, WolframAlpha, is a wonderful resource to use in the classroom.  As a teacher I can use this website because it seems to be more beneficial than Google in certain ways. Google provides multiple websites to choose from, and many of these websites have little relevance to the original search topic; however, when conducting a search on WolframAlpha the search engine instructs the researcher to “enter what you want to calculate or know about.”  This instruction gives me the impression that the question asked will be answered directly, therefore the researcher will be directed to the exact answer that will be relevant to the question asked. The answers provided by WolframAlpha has an example tab that provides the researcher with examples to ensures comprehension of the content.  The website also provides pictures, and when you click on an icon a name, question, or some information about the topic will appear underneath. I consider this website to be a great resource because it provides students with a safe way to search facts about content such as history, science, music, art, and math among others.

6.
The Gary Hayes Social Media Count was created to inform the public about the amount of change which occurs in social media every second.  The site has listed many different modes of social activity with the number of usage per second.  Through viewing these statistics I realize the significant amount of people who visit social media  in a moments time, and even the amount of people who are  reading a newspaper.
For my professional career as a teacher it is important for me to learn about and be aware of new resources which are being created.  Teachers should be capable of using technology, and  should be aware of websites that are acceptable to be used  in the classroom.  Students will only learn from a teacher if the teacher is confident using and teaching with the technology he or she chooses. Before teaching students how to succeed in a technology driven world, it is important to be informed about new resources, websites and statistics.  

Blog Post 4

After reading three different blog posts, which include 1st Graders Create Their Own Read-Along Audiobook, Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting, and Flat Stanley Podcast, I have learned many ways to use podcast in my classroom.  The first post I read was about using podcast to help teach students to read fluently.  This process had students' eager to record themselves in order to improve their reading skills.  The second post had students reading a story and afterward each student would be recorded reading a sentence from that story. Once the story was completely recorded the students worked together to arrange the sentences in the correct order.  So far podcasting has taught the students skills such as listening, comprehension, collaboration, speaking skills and fluency.  The post Flat Stanley Podcast, is a wonderful activity to use in classroom.  The teacher read a storybook about a character named Flat Stanley, and the students then created and sent their version of Flat Stanley off to friends and family. Finally the students were to portray themselves as a Flat Stanley and discuss what they had experienced while traveling to and from their destination.  I loved reading all three posts because the students were taught skills they could use with or without technology.  For my podcast I would like to use the tool GarageBand because it seems to be a very useful tool and easy to operate.

Google Presentation

Blog Post 3

#1
Page Ellis's blog on peer editing was very informative and provided other resources to help understand how to properly peer edit. The first resource was a video titled What is Peer Editing. This video provided steps to take when editing another classmate's writing. The three steps to complete when peer editing is provide compliments, suggestions, and corrections. I enjoyed the slideshow, Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial, because it discussed each of the steps and offers examples of paragraphs that need editing.
The video, Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes, is very creative and humorous. The students gave examples on what not to do when editing another classmate's paper. Throughout the video they played different characters, and in doing so they relieved their poor editing techniques. Some of these characters were picky, bored, mean, loud, pushy, off topic, speedy, and defensive. I learned a lot from these resources on how to edit a peer's work properly. I also learned that when peer editing it is important to stay positive.

#2
The Mountbatten Braille Writer is an amazing tool to use in a classroom because it was created for students who are blind. This tool is a modern day type writer with the ability to save files, transfer files to a computer, and receive files from a computer. The Mountbatten is a great tool to learn from because it produces braille, and it can be used to teach students braille. As a teacher it is important to introduce new technology to the classroom and I believe the Mountbatten Braille Writer would be a great tool to introduce.

#3
In the video, Teaching Math To The Blind, Professor Art Karshmer spoke on the issue blind individuals have when given a math problem. For an example, he used a two dimensional math problem. When a blind student is given this type of math problem they would see it on one line instead of two lines. The device was brilliantly created to help the blind student understand the math problem like the other students. This device was built with grids to help place the small, numbered blocks in the right location for the math problem.
An iPad is a touch screen device that is very helpful with almost anything. As an iPad owner, I am very impressed with the numerous tasks you can accomplish without having to use the computer. Since I have gotten the iPad it has been a learning experience, especially after watching iPad Usage For The Blind. The iPad would need to be equipped with Voice Over, which is build into the iPad, to be accessible for a blind individual. This tool can open the door for so many possibilities when dealing with disabilities like blindness. When addressing this in my classroom, I would show the students the many possibilities technology has to offer.

#4
Vicki Davis helped to reinvent the way students look at computers. In the video, Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts, the students would learn how to use different techniques on the computer and make discoveries. Vicki introduced her students and other educators to many computer programs with learning tools. She showed the students in her classroom ways to be creative with avatars and encouraged them to figure out something new they can do with the avatars.
She also introduced the rural students to people around the world by using blogs and other internet cites. The students were able to accomplish projects by the aid of another student they have never met in a different country. Technology has opened a door of communication throughout the world.

Blog Post 2

#1
Did You Know is a YouTube video about information and statistics involving technology and its uses. The original video was created by Karl Fisch, but Dr. Strange made a version specifically for his EDM 310 students. The YouTube video is comprised of information about the modern world. Technology was once a tool which was used by small amounts of people, but now there is a mass population which is using technology.

Technology has been growing more advanced for years, and now, due to the technology, the knowledge of language and literacy is increasing daily. The video indicated that there are more people in China who have learned the English language than there are English speakers in the United States. The use of cellphones was also mentioned in this video.  Teenagers are notorious for over using their cellphones, and this video revealed the large amounts of teenagers which use cell phones. This video is very informative and interesting because of the statistics which it provided about the use of technology in the modern world.

#2
The YouTube video Mr. Winkle Wakes was about the exclusion of technology in the school system. This video began with an elderly man who just woke up from a long sleep. He began to walk around and explore the world which had grown and developed while he slept. He found an office and a hospital filled with technology, and the man left because he didn't understand how these pieces of machines could do such miraculous things. He entered a school and was comfortable because he recognized things as he remembered them.

This video was interesting to watch, and it made me think about the lack of technology in the classroom. I was under the impression schools were using technology everyday in every classroom. There are some teachers who are against having technology in their classroom, and this can hinder the students significantly. In the video there were pictures of students who had blank faces and who obviously did not want to be at school.  School should not be a place of boredom, but it should be a place where students are encouraged to be active and become interested in what is being taught. I believe technology is a way to keep the students interactive in the classroom.

#3
Ken Robinson's speech on The Importance of Creativity held my attention because of the accurate points he made and his humor throughout the video. He is very passionate about keeping creativity in the schools by not letting the students grow out of being creative. Robinson quoted Picasso by saying, "all children were born artists', the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up". Children are being taught that they should have a fear of being wrong. Before a child is brought into the school system they are not afraid of being wrong, and this kind of thinking can lead to some original ideas and creativity.

Robinson stated that "creativity is just as important as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.” At first I didn't agree with Robinson’s quote, but after continuing to listen I began to understand. Math and language are the top subjects in every country around the world, and the arts are considered inferior to these core subjects. Ken pointed out that teachers are concerned with students from the waist up, then only on their heads, and finally only on one side of the brain. If a student does well in the arts, then they should be encouraged to excel in it. There should be a change in education because not every student will learn and achieve the same way.

#4
B) The Pinterest website has become a very popular resource for anything. This website could be used to do numerous amounts of things like collect ideas for crafts or home decorating tips. There have been educators successfully use Pinterest in their classroom. There is an article online called Four Ways to use Pinterest in Education, this article lists and describes different ways to use Pinterest for teaching. The listed ways to integrate Pinterest in education would be lesson plans, sharing ideas, organization, and student use. I would use each listed to make my classroom more efficient because the ideas seem interesting and fun, this would also help introduce different ways of learning.

C) Now that I have a Pinterest account, it is time to follow some boards that will help me learn different ways to teach and present subjects to my students. The first person I am following would be Patricia Brown, on her EDTECH board, she has introduced different ideas to use technology in the classroom.  TeacherVision is another I began to follow and its board called Educational Technology. This board has thirty nine pins of technology being used in the classroom like, Twitter, Skype, iPads, Google Maps, and many others.

The third Pinterest account I am now following would be Kristin Brynteson. She has a board named Ed Tech, with plenty ideas for the classroom also. The pins on her board are very interesting and seem to have been used in a classroom setting before. The last account I am following is K S and this person's board is named Technology in Education, which holds 188 pins as of right now. I was able to look at many of the pins and click on it so I could learn what content the website processed.

D) Pinterest can be used form many different reasons but as an educator I would use it to introduce new ways of learning and teaching to my students. My students would have to opportunity to learn and use Pinterest. This website can have many different resources to use on research papers other items. I enjoy Pinterest because other teachers used it to come up with ideas and some educators would share their lesson plans. Educators are constantly wanting resources for their classroom and I consider Pinterest a wonderful resource.