Blog Post #9

What I Learned This Year , by Mr. McClung (2009)

     These are some of the points that Mr. McClung made in his post following his first year of teaching.How to Read the Crowd

• Don't lose touch with the audience. 

• Check for student comprehension.

• In order to be effective you have to be able to let your audience drive your instruction.

Be Flexible

• No lesson is perfect.

• The one you teach may be different from what you have planned.

Communicate

• Communicating is the best way to resolve any issue in the workplace.

Be Reasonable

•  Often we build our expectations too high for students, and become upset when they do not meet the expectation.

We should never forget that we are dealing with children.

•  Our job as teachers is to simply pick them up after they fail, dust them off, and encourage them to try again.

Don't be Afraid of TechnologyGrown adults everywhere are afraid of computers like it's a bad horror film and computers are trying to take over the world. Technology is our friend and is essential to living in our microwave society of today. We should not become overwhelmed by technology and simply give up before we start. We cannot expect to master computer skills the first time we attempt them, so jump in head first....the water feels fine :)
Listen to Your Students

• You may be the only person that does.

Lastly....Never Stop LearningIt's never too late to change your way of thinking, learning, or style. We do everything short of beg students to learn on a daily basis, but sadly some of us refuse to learn and grow as professional educators. We work in a learning environment, so why not soak up as much as you can? We owe it to our students.
     As future educators, these are things that we could all learn from. If you think about it, all of the things that Mr. McClung mentions are things that could happen to anyone, and that he has actually experienced, in a real classroom setting. I tink my favorite part is the last paragraph where he talks about being in a learning environment and continuing to learn, even as the teacher. He is yet another blogger that I will be adding to my PLN.
What I have Learned This Year (2011)     I wanted to skip to 2011 to see what new experiences Mr. McClung had during his third year, and to see if taking his own advice made for a better year. This is what he had to say...
Know Who Your Boss Is

• Don't get wrapped up in trying to please the adults and forget who you are really there for... The Students!!

Don't Expect Others To Be As Excited About Change As You Are

• Always give new ideas a chance.

Don't Touch The Keyboard

• Let the students learn by actually doing.

• Don't take over and do the work for them.

Don't Get Comfortable

• Dont be to passive

• If you get into to much of a routine, you are just going through the motions.

     Once again, Mr. McClung has written an extremely educational post that is sure to help any teacher, or teacher to be. What stands out to me the most is where he says that "often times when we are teaching a task to a student and they are having difficulties completing the particular task, it is very easy to take over and basically do the work for them...because we can always do it better. However, the major issue with this is that if we do the work for the students then they will never fully master the skills. No matter how difficult it may be we must resist the urge to take control of the keyboard." This is so true. I have not had this experience as a teacher obviously, but I have had it as a student. I have found that learning by doing is the best way to learn. That will definitely be the teaching method that I will use in my classroom. 

 

C4K Summary for March

Tahibah

     My C4K for March was Tahibah, from Bradford Schools, and was on the Miriam Lord 100 Word Challenge. This is where the students were given prompt words, and required to make up a story using the prompt words. My student wrote a wonderful story about a little girl named Ann who had a day off school and decided to take a nature walk and finds a spider. She then goes home, then has a dream where she uses the prompt words to describe the dream. It was actually very entertaining. I told her that it must have difficult to write a story knowing that you had to use certain words that had to be used. I also told her what a great job she had done. I think that that idea really made the children think and use their imaginations. I love that!

C4T #3

Do I Dare Disturb The Universe?

     Scott Elias is currently in his second year as the principal of Conrad Ball Middle School in Loveland, Colorado. Prior to coming to CBMS, he spent three years as an assistant principal at Loveland High School and two years as an assistant principal at Greeley West High School. He spent the first 9 years of his professional career in the Broward County School District in South Florida serving as an assistant principal, technology coordinator, and a teacher of math, statistics, and physics.
     For my first comment, Mr. Elias posted about the test scores at his school. He was not particularly happy with them, so he decided to establish a "Professional Study Group." He is against taking students out of P.E., art, etc..., and overloading them with the subject matter in which  the scores were lower. He wants something better for his school. I replied that it was refreshing to hear of such a thing. Usually, the only concern is to get the test scores up for the benefit of their pocketbook, instead of actually doing it for the children. I asked if he would respond and let me know how it was going, but I haven't heard back from him yet. 


PhocuseD 3: I'm doing this why?
     When I went back for my second comment, there had not been another post, so I looked through the older posts. I could not help but to comment on this one because I related to it so closely. It was about him getting his PhD. He talks about the difficulty, and how you can find so many reasons not to do it. Although I am not seeking a PhD at the time, I have found that returning to college after 10 years is not an easy task. It was nice to see someone speak honestly about their experience, it was actually quite encouraging. 

Blog Post #8

This Is How We Dream, Parts 1 & 2
    Professor Miller is the author of As if Learning Mattered: Reforming Higher Education (1998) andWriting at the End of the World (2005). His published articles concern developing a philosophy of consciousness that promotes transformative teaching and writing practices. He has delivered over fifty invited talks across the country and abroad on how literacy is being redefined by Web 2.0 technologies. His current research concerns "the end of privacy" and how education is being changed as a result of the proliferation of hand-held devices that enable instant publication and global distribution of anything that can be seen or heard. He now publishes exclusively on his website, text2cloud. 
     What Dr. Miller says is that we no longer need to use the paper and pencil method of communication. We are in an era of instant global communication. We are able to use a real time document to enhance the visual effects of learning. This makes learning much more interesting. We no longer have to actually go to a library to research and and write about something, we can do it right from our computers.
     Being able to colaborate virtually from anywhere in the world, with anyone, anywhere else in the world is an amazing opportunity, so why not use it? It is our job to expand the use of these amazing technologies as educators.


Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12
    Carly had an amazing idea in her blog post. She proposed that everyone create a playlist from their YouTube video's. This is exactly what Dr. Miller is talking about in his video. Making use of the collaborative tools that we have today. It was a very original and creative idea! 


    The Chipper Series and EDM 310 for Dummies were both somewhat comical videos. I must say that I have had the same feelings at some point this semester. I also must say that once you find a good strategy for time management, everything runs much more smoothly. If I were to create my own video, I would like to document the use of technology in a classroom that has never had access to any. Just say that we would film a normal day of learning in a classroom, then the next day we would introduce the same lesson using technology, weather it be an Ipad, Ipod, etc... I would love to document the difference in the learning atmosphere for the children, and how much more they learned using technology.


Learn To Change, Change To Learn

     I think that my favorite statement from this video was about the standardized testing. This is exactly what we need to get away from in our schools. He says that the jobs these children will be doing are not based on right answers. This makes perfect sense! To learn, we must do! Also, the fact that the children have so much more stimulation from places other than school. This is really sad! All of the thing that are going to teach our children the most are not being used in the classroom. We have masterminds creating video games for our children, so why cant we have them create this same stimulating learning environment for them in our schools? 


EDMONDO
     This is a social network for teachers that is similar to Facebook. What makes it even better is the fact that it is strictly for students, teachers, and parents. This would be a great tool to use in the classroom because you can get ideas from other teachers, you can get feedback from parents, and you can post assignments and make announcements to your class. It has now become an addition to my PLN!


ANIMOTO
     Animoto provides an array of tools for creating videos in your classroom. It automatically analyzes music, photos and video clips, and orchestrates a custom video, leaving you free to focus on the content and narrative of your videos. Spotlight lets you give specific image added prominence and screen time in your video. Mix relevant messaging, statistics and quotes among the pictures your videos to educate your audience and inspire them to action. Animoto makes it easy to share your videos via email, on a blog/website, exported to YouTube, or downloaded to a computer for use in presentations.

Create interactive meetings at Poll Everywhere

Short Movie- Project #11

Project # 12

Book Trailer

Project #9b

The Evolution of Technology in the Classroom on Prezi

Blog Post #7

                                                                                                     

     In The Networked Student, Wendy Drexler explains what it means to be a networked student. Being a networked student means that you will need a quality PLN (Personal Learning Network.) Having a good PLN will connect you to some of the best Professors, Lectures, Blogs, etc... in the world. When you have a PLN, and create a blog or WIKI of your own where you put everything that you have learned, you are then helping other students and may even come part of their PLN. 

     Being a networked student doesn't mean that you don't need a teacher. Your teacher will be the one that shows you how to build your network and take full advantage of the opportunities presented by your network. The teacher will be the one to help you if you have a problem, teach you how to ask properly for help, and to help you decide what information that you find should or should not be used. 

     In EDM 310, we are currently learning how to be networked students. If it were not for Dr. Strange, this wouldn't be possible. He has guided us by giving us projects and teaching us how to use the tools necessary. We do not have a textbook, and we do not meet in a classroom every day. But, we are connected through technology where we can collaborate with him, and our fellow classmates.  

     Being a teacher in the 21st century will mean that you have to be a lifelong learner, as will your students. I think with the help of my PLN alone,  I am ready to be a networked teacher. 

A 7th Grader's PLN

The PLN that this student created is much like the one that I created. Because we are both students, we have all of our links needed for school on our PLN. Using Symbaloo is an easy way to organize your PLN to where you know exactly where everything is, and it is all on one page. 

     

PLN Progress Report

A PLN (Personal Learning Network) is the set of PEOPLE and TOOLS that you can call upon for help, consultation, collaboration, or other assistance. I created my PLN using Symbaloo.com. Symbaloo is only a method of organizing your PLN, it is not actually your PLN. So far, I have began putting together a list of people and tools that I will want to have on my PLN. I have already figured out that my PLN will have to change along with me. For now I will have more resources that will help me with school, and later I can edit existing, or add new people or tools. I am looking forward to further exploring and putting to use my new PLN.

C4T #2

Mrs. Yim

     Mrs. Yim is actually a former student of EDM 310, who said in her own EDM 310 Class Blog that she thought technology in schools only took place in a computer lab. Look at her now!

     Mrs. Yim's class did a project on what they like to call, Hippie Man. Mrs. Yim hung iPad's from the ceiling with ribbon, inside a ziplock bag, over the desks of her students to record their special projects. The students did Art In Motion by videoing themselves as they put together a model using construction paper, then they created a google presentation, and edited it by themselves. I told her that I admired her for using this technology in her classroom, and also the students for their willingness to learn new things. The students seemed pretty excited about what they had done.

     When I went back for my second comment, there had not been a new post, but as I was looking through older posts, I found another presentation that the students had created. They had been on a field-trip to the Mobile Museum of Art where they examined various works of art, including collages. They were then allowed to create their own collage, but theirs was brought to life once again. There are so many advantages to this activity. First of all, the children are allowed to be creative, which is very important. Secondly, they learn how to work together and problem solve. Most of all, they are learning to use technology by actually using it!

Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
     Randy Pausch was a professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University. From 1988 to 1997, he taught at the University of Virginia. He was an award-winning teacher and researcher, and worked with Adobe, Google, Electronic Arts (EA), and Walt Disney Imagineering, and pioneered the non-profit Alice project. (Alice is an innovative 3-D environment that teaches programming to young people via storytelling and interactive game-playing.) He also co-founded The Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon with Don Marinelli. (ETC is the premier professional graduate program for interactive entertainment as it is applies across a variety of fields.) Randy lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008.
     Randy was one of the most amazing speakers that I have ever heard. The Last Lecture was such an inspirational and moving video. I was truly amazed at his positive attitude and upbeat spirit, especially with his condition at the time. The last lecture was actually for Randy's children, but ended up inspiring millions of other people with these main points:

• It is an easy time to dream when we are young (and happy) and we should never lose that spirit.
• Experience is what you get if you don’t get what you wanted.
• When people drive you hard, they care about you.  They want you to be better.  When you are doing a bad job and no one points it out to you, that is when they have given up on you.
• Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.
• Good parents are instrumental for us to achieve our childhood dreams.
• The importance of people versus things (people come first, always!).
• Never ever underestimate the importance of having fun.  Choose to have fun today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter.
• Work and play well with others: (1) tell the truth, (2) apologize (properly), (3) wait, and people will show their good sides.
• Tell the truth – integrity.
• A good apology has three parts.  (a) I am sorry, (b) it was my fault, (c) how do I make it right.  Most people neglect the third part and fail to demonstrate sincerity.
• Be patience.  No one is pure evil.
• Show gratitude.
• Don’t complain, just work harder.
• If you lead your life the right way, if you live properly, the dreams will come to you

         I could use every method that Randy described in the video, but these are the few that really stood out to me. The first thing was the importance of a "head fake." It is imperative that our children have fun while learning. If they are having fun, they don't realize that they are learning how to do something that's hard. It is easier to learn things if you are actually doing it, and are enjoying doing it. I want learning to be fun. It is also easier to remember things that are fun, therefore more information will be retained and will be easily recalled when needed.
     Secondly, to "get a feed-back loop, and listen to it!" I think that it is very important to know how you are being perceived, or to show your students how they are being perceived. Randy provided a bar graph for his students to see the feedback that they were getting from their piers. I think that if you are working with groups this is very important. Even if it is a short project, you could give a student survey after.
     Creativity is also extremely important! I loved the pictures of Randy's room from when he was a child, he painted it himself. We should let our children be creative. Let them express themselves freely, and show gratitude when they do. Praise them for it, encourage it!
     When you are an educator, especially in the elementary classroom, you have the opportunity to enable other's childhood dreams. You are not there just to teach! You have the ability to change the lives of these children. You can make a huge impact on the outcome of a chid's future if you choose to do more than just teach. As a future educator, it is my goal to have children come back to me when they are grown and tell me that I am the reason they achieved a certain goal, or that I had any impact on their life. That is why I want to be a teacher!
     
      

Project #8-Podcast