Blog Post #10

Adventures in Pencil Integration

The cartoon by John T. Spencer is so true. What I concluded after viewing the cartoon is that you get what you pay for. This does not only go for pens, but for things such as laptops, TV’s, or anything for that matter. Like the cartoon says, if you buy the cheap version of a product it will break faster, because it is made of a cheaper material and you will spend more money if you keep replacing the item.

Why Were Your Kids Playing?

The blog post I read by Mr. Spencer was titled “Why were your kids playing games?” This was a good post to read, because Mr. Spencer is letting his students play games in the classroom. The games he chooses go along with the lessons he is teaching. The principle got on to Mr. Spencer once before for playing hangman in the classroom. The principle calls Mr. Spencer into his office and tells him he said “No Games.” The principle goes on and says that even surgeons and soldiers play games to help them remember things. Mr. Spencer says games are great ways to get students to remember content that is being taught. I could not agree more that games get students involved and more important, they are learning while doing something other than sitting through a boring lecture.

Don`t Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

Don`t teach your kids this stuff. Please? By Scott McLeod had me going until I got to the end. It was a humorous post, because he says he doesn`t want other people to teach young people about technology, because he is teaching his students all these things. With society being centered on technology, it is important to know some things about it. His students are a step ahead of others because teachers are scared to teach students about technology. In my opinion technology makes learning fun.

Project #14

Project #12

Project #10 PLN

Symbaloo

I decided to use Symbaloo for my PLN project. This tool is so helpful, because you don`t have to type in different sites all the time, and it is just a click away. This tool is so convenient and accessible. I am so glad I was introduced to Symbaloo. It is now my homepage, and with it being my homepage, I can access all of my favorite websites, because it is personalized to my interests.

Blog Post #9

What I Learned this Year Volume 4 

The first post I read was What I learned This Year 2012-2011. Mr. McClung is in his fourth year teaching social studies and Arkansas history in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In this post, Mr. McClung talks about two things he would change the next school year.

Mr.McClung starts worrying about what his peers think of him and says he is committing the junior high sin. He got caught up worrying about what his coworkers thought of him, but came back to reality and remembered he is not there for them but for his students. He concludes this topic by saying as long as his students enjoy and are learning what he is teaching, he is doing his job.

The second thing Mr. McClung wants to change in the upcoming years is to challenge himself more. At this time he has been at the same school teaching the same subjects for three years. He talks about how he gets lazy and gets in the same routine with his lessons. This method probably bored his students. Luckily, at the end of the year he gets offered to teach a new subject for the next school year. He says this opportunity could not have come at a better time, because this will be a good challenge for him.

I think it is easy for a teacher to become lazy, but like Mr. McClung says, you have to challenge yourself as an educator. I liked how he talks about worrying about what his coworkers think, because a lot of teachers fall under the junior high sin. I really enjoyed reading this post.

What I`ve Learned This Year 2008-2009

The second post I read was What I've Learned This Year 2008-2009. This was Mr. McClung`s first year teaching. This blog post has a lot of different things Mr. McClung has learned in this year of teaching. Some of the topics were how to react in a crowd, be flexible, communicate, be reasonable, not to be afraid of technology, listen to your students, and never stop learning.

I really enjoyed reading this post, because all these topics will be helpful when I begin to teach. A topic that I found really important is for educators to never stop learning. He talks about how teachers do everything to get their students to learn, but the educator refuses to do so as well. Another topic I really liked was that educators need to be reasonable and not to set the bar too high for students.

C4T #2

How we plan a project: the road map

I was assigned to Russ Goerend`s blog, http://russgoerend.com/. The blog post I commented on was titled "How we plan a project:the road map." In this post Russ talks about the road map to writing a short story, and all the steps you should take when using this method. I commented "I agree with the statement you made “Building in the tasks beforehand gives us a chance to make sure they’re worthwhile and deciding when to stop and assess our progress makes it easier for students to see their own progress and become a part of the assessment cycle.” This is a great method to use while teaching students how to write a short story. Your road map to writing is extraordinary."

Art Viewer

The second blog I was assigned to was Shawn Cornally`s blog, http://burrowsart.edublogs.org/, art viewer. This post showed art work sketched by Mr. Burrow`s students. The art work is phenomenal. My comment to this post said " Your blog is truly amazing. I cannot stop scrolling back up to view all the portraits over again. Your students have an amazing talent. I agree with Cassie this is like an art museum on line. Thanks for posting for everyone to see your students extraordinary talent."

Blog Post #8

This is How We Dream

In part one of the This is How We Dream, Dr. Richard E. Miller talks about how the society is changing and that we are a more technology based. He says that more people carry around laptops than they do pencils and paper. He makes a great point when he says that you search the web for a research paper and you are able to access so much more information than you would at a single library. Dr. Miller talks about how you can use to the web to interact with multiple people, which made me think of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir.

In the second part of the video, Dr. Miller starts off by saying that we live in a digital environment and how everything is always being updated. He talks about how lectures from college professors are now available on iTunes U. A great point Dr. Miller made was that people need to share their ideas with the world.

After viewing this video I began to think and I have not been in a library in a while, because now I can purchase an eBook which is more convenient for me. I even purchase my school textbooks online, which is easier because it is less I have to carry around. When he mentioned that you can post something to the web faster than you can write and publish something, YouTube popped to my head. When using YouTube, you can have a video posted within seconds or minutes. This blog post was great!

Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12 

Carly did a great job with this assignment. This is definitely a great and creative idea. Her assignment is for each student to make their own playlist based on 5 of the 10 topics that are given. This assignment is great way for your students to get more familiarized with the internet. This is a really good assignment and this would allow educators to be reminded of why they have chosen this profession and ways of how to be a good teacher.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies 

The Chipper Series is about a student named Chipper who has her own views on education. Chipper is a procrastinator who blames the teacher for her late assignments. She decides to drop out of school and start her own. When that option does not work out, she becomes a teacher for a few days and gets fired. At the end, Chipper gets her priorities straight and figures out the best way to succeed in life is with a degree and the proper education.

In the EDM 310 for Dummies, it starts out with two girls who are so frustrated with EDM 310 assignments. They buy a book titled EDM 310 for Dummies and after reading it, the assignments become easier for the students. I think most people can relate to the video EDM 310 for Dummies. I know when I first start using a new program, I get frustrated, but when I learn how to use the program it is so useful and saves time.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn 

In this video, it starts off by saying education ranked 55 out of 55 below coal mining. It goes on talking about how more students are involved in text messaging, Facebook, and twitter, and it is banned from schools. These educators talk about how we should incorporate Facebook and twitter into educational settings. These educators are encouraging educators to use technology in the classroom. I agree with these educators, we as teachers need to get our students on the right level with technology in today’s society.

 Scavenger Hunt 2.0 

This is really a great and creative activity created by Justin Cometti. I did not know how many websites that exist that are similar to Facebook and Twitter. Also, I have never created a comic strip which was really fun. This activity was very educational for me.

1.A website I found similar to Facebook or Twitter is Edmodo.com. This website is created just for students and teachers so they can interact with each other. The website states “Edmodo provides a safe and easy way for your class to connect and collaborate, share content, and access homework, grades and school notices. “

2.I created my own comic strip at makebeliefscomix.com.

3.I also created a poll on polleverywhere.com

Project 9b

3 Fundamental Techniques For Playing Volleyball on Prezi

Blog Post #7

The Networked Student

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler is a very informative short film. This video shows how networking is a great way for students to learn. In this video, Wendy Drexler`s students are encouraged to make a connection with each other to strengthen their learning process.

Student`s depend more on technology than they do books. I believe we need to teach students how to be technology literate. The video talks about all the ways students can gather information by using the internet. The video showed how students can view podcasts all over the world from different teachers.

I want to be a teacher where students enjoy learning, and I believe the best way for that to happen is to incorporate technology. I know I hate sitting through boring lectures. Teachers could make the classroom more exciting by making PowerPoint’s or letting their students watch podcasts on the lesson.

A 7th Grader's PLE

In this video a 7th grade student shows how she uses her PLE, or Personal Learning Environment. She has her page set up with all her personal and educational websites all in one place. All of the research she gathers, she makes slideshows to help others. The program, Symbaloo, seemed really helpful. Using this method in the classroom would get students more involved. I believe PLN is a great tool and teaches how to be more responsible and independent.

My personal learning network is not as good as hers, but hopefully it will get there. This is a great video to watch. It shows you more tools to use while teaching. The tools are not only great for the students, but also the educators.

C4K Posts for September

The first C4K blog I was assigned to was http://pesglaze.blogspot.com/2012/09/noahs-diver-story_4.html# . The student who wrote this post is Noah from New Zealand. He blog post was titled “Noah`s Diver Story” and in his story he tells a very descriptive story of a diver swimming in the sea looking for treasure.

For my first comment I introduced myself and said the story about Ben the diver was amazing! It was so descriptive I could imagine everything as if I was there. Good job
and Keep up the good work!!

The second blog I was assigned to was http://devenscs17.edublogs.org/2012/09/25/acs-fundraisers. The student`s name is Deven and he is from Iowa. In his blog post he talked about a fundraiser he was helping with for the American Cancer Society. Some activities the fundraiser included were a petting zoo and horse rides for the guest.

My comment for this post was “I just read your blog post and I think it is amazing that you are helping raise money for the American Cancer Society. I loved the picture that is included it helped me visualize the petting zoo. This was a great post! Keep up the good work!!”

Podcast Part 2

Podcast Part 1

Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch Last Lecture

Randy Pausch is an inspirational and motivational speaker. For someone with a couple of months left to live, he has a great view of life. He never wanted anyone to have sympathy on him. He just wants to share his childhood dreams and show how he achieved them even while encountering problems. He made his lecture enjoyable and humorous.

Randy Pausch talks about wanting to be in the NFL. He talks about how he was not the right size for professional football. Since he hit that brick wall he is where he is today. He uses an analogy about how his childhood football coach, Coach Graham, had no ball practices. During the first no ball practice, all of the players was wondering where the ball was. The coach asks the players how many players have the ball at a time and they replied one. He says well we are going to practice on what the other 21 guys are doing. Randy Pausch says the point of the practice is to work on fundamentals, because that is more important than the fancy stuff.

In the video, he calls the problems he encounters “brick walls.” When he comes to his brick walls, he just finds a way to overcome and accomplish what he has strived to do. He talks about how “Brick walls are not there to keep us out, they are there to show us how badly we want something. They are there to stop the people who do not want it bad enough.”

I am so glad I had the opportunity to watch such a great lecture. He is truly an inspiration and this is something that would be great for students to watch. They would be able to see how Randy Pausch accomplished his dreams. This would have been a great lecture to have attended.

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