Blog Post #11

Little Kids....Big Potential

Before EDM310, I have always had a negative outlook on technology, especially the use of it in classrooms. Watching the videos of Ms. Cassidy's first graders and the Skype interview with Dr. Strange, gave me an inside look and a new perspective of students using technology.

Ms. Cassidy started using technology in her classroom 10 years ago when she was given five computers. She couldn't put programs on them, but knew she had to find some kind of way her students could use them. She started by creating a class web page which eventually led to student blogs. Since her students are only in the first grade, Ms. Cassidy is sure to take all precautions necessary to keep her students safe while using the internet. She sends a form home with every student every year asking parents for their permission for their child to participate in technology usage in her class such as creating student blogs and being online. She tells her students to never give out their last names. She also uses Class Blogmeister to see who has been viewing her students' blogs.

Ms. Cassidy also uses Skype which enables her students to learn from experts and interact with other students and teachers. With the use of wikis, her students are able to get their questions answered from different people all around the world. They also use videos to talk to others in different places. Her students really enjoy using technology in all its different ways because it makes learning fun for them.

When I think about what I would use in my classroom, the webpage and student blogs come to mind. My class webpage would be great because parents could see what their child is doing in class. I could use the webpage to post homework assignments, notes on what was done in class that day, and introduce the next day's lesson. I could have a forum for parents and students to ask questions if needed. I could also have extra practice assignments for students who want or need extra help, which would be optional. I could include different educational links for references if needed. A class webpage would also be great if a student was absent in class one day, everything they missed would be online for them.

I think that student blogs are definitely a good way to use technology as well. With the use of blogs, students become better writers, readers, and learners. They are able to practice their comprehension skills, and as the old saying goes, practice makes perfect. The more they blog, the better their writing skills will become. Family and friends would be able to post comments and give them feedback. I think that by using blogs, this will make learning fun and exciting for my students. I think the learning process will be more personal for them and they won't see it as a "I have to" learn kind of a thing. Of course there will be parents and maybe even other teachers that will not agree with the use of technology in the classroom because of all the negatives that it can have. But I do believe that the benefits of technology definitely outweigh its negatives.

C4K October Summaries

C4K #3
In Ms. Dunlop's fourth grade class, Kate wrote about her trip to New York in her blog. She said that they went on a train to get to New York. When they got there, they went upstairs on a glass elevator. You could see everything. That night, they went to a play called Mary Poppins. The next day, her family took her to the American Girl Doll Store. She said it was three stories high. When they got back to the hotel, it was time to go home. Going to New York was her birthday present and she really enjoyed it.

I told Kate that I had never been to New York, but wanted to go someday soon. I said that Mary Poppins was one of my favorite stories, and that when I was younger, I also collected dolls. I told her that I was glad she had fun on her trip and wished her a happy belated birthday!

C4K #4
This post is a critique on politics done by a girl taking a fully online 10th-12th grade Global Issues Course at the Online School for Girls in Oregon. In the beginning of the post, two people meet who seem to have a lot in common. They enjoy the same things and it becomes clear that they are a good match. As the conversation continues on to socially heavier matters, there's a bump in the road. They have opposing views and both begin to wonder if they could really live with someone whom they felt was wrong.

In today's society, people let their political differences get in the way of their respect for each other. We allow our political views to dictate our opinion of a person's morality and intelligence. We become so focused on the differences that we forget what we are trying to do. This is a problem called blind partisianship. It turns politics into an endless competition and generates a win/lose mentality that does not allow for compromise. This is a big issue because most of today's problems require compromise. It's not a matter of who is right and who is wrong, but how can we fix the problem? The goal of politics is to find a solution. But because of differing views, a solution is never found. Maybe if people would stop associating their beliefs with truth, then more controversial issues could be resolved. We have to realize that there is more than one way to look at a problem and look beyond the differences in our values and beliefs. If we do this, we might see that we have more in common than what we thought and are able to find a solution that everyone can live with.
The two people that met in the beginning learned to tolerate their differences and celebrate their commonalities. They have been happily married for over 23 years and are living proof that blind partisianship can be overcome.

I commented and told her that I completely agreed with her. My dad is very opinionated and speaks his mind, especially about politics. Therefore, I grew up to be very opinionated as well. I said that I do think that in people's political views, we focus too much on the differences and who we think is right and what is wrong. That is why nothing gets done, and problems are never solved. Our country is still in tons of debt, many people are still unemployed, taxes are still high, and the rich are still getting richer while the poor sink into poverty. If we took a step back to look at the big picture of needing a solution and what can we do to fix this, things might be resolved.

C4K #5
Daniel is in the fifth grade and lives in Chicago. He did a blog post on the Eiffel Tower. It was built in 1889, and held in celebration of The French Revolution in 1789. It stands 300 meters tall, which is taller than a 90 story building. It was the tallest structure in the world until it was beat by the Chrysler building built in 1930. Gustave Eiffel is the man that came up with the Eiffel Tower and also constructed the Statue of Liberty's framework. It was made from wrought iron only and weighs 10,100 tons. Daniel included a link in his post to the site where he found his information from.

I told Daniel that the Eiffel Tower is definitely one of my favorite landmarks in the world. It's always been a dream of mine to one day go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower. I told Daniel that his blog post was very informative the link was helpful. I didn't know that the man who came up with the Eiffel Tower also constructed the Statue of Liberty. I learned something new. I told Daniel that he did a great job on his blog post, and that I really enjoyed reading it.

C4K #6
Elizabeth lives in Canada and wrote a blog post about Alberta. She lives in Alberta,Canada in the Rocky Mountains. She said people like to do winter sports there like hockey skiing and snowboarding. She said that she loves to do gymnastics and enjoys reading. Elizabeth doesn't have any brothers or sisters.

I introduced myself to Elizabeth. I gave her my name, age, where I was from, where I went to school and what I was in school for. I told her that it hardly ever snows here. It's hot here all the time, so I've never had the chance to go skiing or snowboarding. I've never done gymnastics before, but I have always wanted to. I asked Elizabeth if it was hard to learn. I told her that I really enjoyed going to the beach and warm weather and that's why I could never live in the mountains with snow. I love shopping and spending time with my family and friends. I have one brother and his name is Jeff. My two sisters are Heather and Linda. I told Elizabeth that my sister Heather is my best friend. We are the closest, but probably because we are so close in age. I gave her the address to my blog and told her to come visit it.

Summary Post C4T Teacher #3

Teacher #3, Comment #1

Mr. Arvind S. Grover, Dean of Faculty at Grace Church School in New York City, posted a photo collage in his post entitled, "A Photo Collage of My Learning."He said that last year he learned from many different sources and he created a visual out of all the different places he had gone to learn.

I commented and told him that I thought the collage he had made was a very creative way to display a visual of the different resources that assisted him in his learning. I told him that I liked to keep small things as well because they remind me of the journeys I've been through and the amount of progress I've made towards my goal. You did a great job on your representation.

Comment #2




In Mr. Grove's post, "Ellen Degeneras Takes BIC Pens For Women To Task," he posts a YouTube video of Ellen Degeneras. Ellen uses her sharp wit to critique BIC pen's new line for women. She was shocked that even though for years, women fought for equality and finally women became equal to men, a big company, such as BIC pens, would be so stereotypical of a man's place and a woman's place in society. When BIC asked her to do a commercial for them, she said that she would never do one for them due to view on gender roles. Then Ellen decided that she would create her own commercial for BIC and see what they said. Ellen Degeneras' commercial did a great job in critiquing BIC pen's new line of pens for her. Mr. Grover said that one of his favorite things was how Ellen uses video and social media for social critique and change. He then asked if our students were prepared to do the same things to combat stereotypes?

I commented and stated that I loved Ellen Degeneras's critique on BIC pen's new line for women. I think she did a great job of criticizing and calling BIC our for their sexist and undermining view of women in a very witty and comical way. In today's society, we still have issues to overcome because people still stereotype and label others based on their race, gender, and sexual orientation. It's our job as educators to give our students the knowledge they need and prepare them so that they know how to combat stereotype in a positive way. Using social media to promote social change is a great example of how to do this. It's good to see that media can be used in a positive way too. I think that if there was more positive media in the world, maybe some things could change for the better.

Special Blog Assignment

A World Where Grades Will Be Left Behind

Mary Beth Marklein wrote an article titled "A World Where Grades Will Be Left Behind," that was published in USA Today. This article gave a sneak peak of what education could look like in thirty years. Today, technology allows educators to personalize education and make it better. Sebastian Thrun, a google vice president and Stanford research professor says that, "you want learning to be as much fun as it is to play a video game." He founded an education company called Udacity after teaching a free online artificial intelligence course. Thrun's vision is to develop a catalog of free online courses taught by star professors from around the world. Across Silicon Valley, start-ups such as New Charter University and University Now, aim to make an online education as affordable as a cellphone bill.

With all the change that is going on now in education, how will education look in thirty years?

Learning and instruction will be free and available to anyone who wants it. No one is late for class and failure is not an option. A single class might enroll hundreds or even thousands of students. Classes will involve a series of increasingly more challenging exercises and quizzes aimed at helping students master a particular concept or skill. In this world, grades don't exist. Students will have as much time as they need to demonstrate mastery of a particular concept or skill.

Thrun says that just as film enabled people all over the world to access movies, the Internet will democratize education, which today reaches a tiny fraction of people who actually wants to learn. His vision of the future he says, offers "a message of hope and aspiration--not of destruction."

After reading this article, I can see the positives and negatives in Sebastian Thrun's vision of the future of education. College can be quite expensive, especially in today's economy. More often than not, students put themselves into thousands of dollars of debt with student loans. So before you even find a job with your degree and start working, you already have this huge stress of how you are going to pay back all of your loans and how long it will take. Thrun's vision of affordable college or maybe even free college is definitely positive. This means that anyone who wants to learn and further their education has the opportunity to do so. I also like the idea that classes will have activities that progressively challenge but also help students master a particular concept or skill. Part of the problem in today's education is that students aren't being challenged. If there is no challenge, are your students actually learning anything? Students must be challenged on different levels to demonstrate that they fully comprehend a particular concept or skill and know how to apply it. Thrun says that the Internet will make education accessible to everyone. I feel that if all of a student's classes are being taught online, then where are the hands-on experiences coming from? Seeing your teacher demonstrate how something is done and the ability of trying to do it yourself are parts of the learning process. By doing everything online and using the Internet as your only resource, you loose the hands-on experience. With online courses, you are basically teaching yourself. You have to ask questions through e-mail only and find out many answers on your own. Many people can not learn that way. Some people are visual learners. Some are auditory learners that need to hear the teacher lecture to better understand it. Others are more tactile learners who need to do it themselves. The Internet can not accomedate to everyone's learning styles.

Grades are a must in education. I really do not see how giving a students a grade won't exist in future education. There has to be some way to measure what your students have learned. There has to be a scale to measure each student's comprehension level and compare it with other students. Grades help you find each student's weak points and their strong points. They allow you to focus on the needs of each individual student so that you can strengthen their weaknesses. I think that it would be very chaotic and confusing if there wasn't a grading scale in education.

I hope that education looks different from this in thirty years. If this is what people are aiming for, then I am in the wrong profession. With everything being online, there is no need for teachers. We are being eliminated from the education system.

Blog Post # 10

1. I'm a PAPERMATE. I'm a TICONDEROGA.

John T. Spencer posted a picture of his cartoon in his blog "Adventures in Pencil Integration." After looking at the cartoon and trying to figure out what it means, I think I've come to a conclusion. It's a comparison of papermate, which is a type of pencil, to a ticonderoga, which is a computer. Pencils are cheaper, but they also break all the time. A ticonderoga may be the most expensive purchase a student will ever make, but it is more beneficial to the student to use. This cartoon is a representation of how important it is for technology to be used in education.

2. Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?
In this post, Mr. Spencer was called into the principal's office to discuss his methods of teaching. The principal accused him of playing games with students instead of teaching. Mr. Spencer said that he had his students drawing pictures, reading various scenarios, and describing their solutions in text. It was interactive and his students were engaged in the activity. The principal told him that he needed to focus on rote memorization skills so that the students can pass the rote memorization test.

That seems about right. Today's education system revolves around state testing. All teachers are expected to teach their students are good memorization skills. Students just need to know what's on the state tests. It really is sad. Maybe that's what is wrong with kids today. Maybe that is why teen pregnancy is high and why the high school dropout percentage is high. We are teaching students the bare minimum and still expect them to become successful adults.

Capturing Reality

John T. Spencer explains in his blog post "Capturing Reality," why he never takes pictures. He took a picture one day of his wife and kids in front of a water fall. Before he snapped the picture, his daughter asked him why was he taking a picture. His response was so that he could capture the moment and keep it forever. She asked him why he had to capture it, couldn't the moment run free?

In John Spencer's post, he explains that the picture wasn't of his wife and kids, but it was a picture of him. He was detached, looking through a lens, hiding behind a cloud of smoke. Since then, he doesn't take pictures. He states that he doesn't want to miss a minute of life. Technology makes it easy to capture reality in ways that we miss it. That means that we become recorders instead of participants. We don't use our memories anymore because we feel that they aren't as accurate. We allow medium to get in the way instead of being present in that very moment and living life. It's not about "what is best?", it's about "what is best for me in this current context?"

I completely agree with Mr. Spencer on this matter. We really have become the recorders in life instead of living in that moment. We have become so wrapped up in what technology can do, that I think that we have lost our way. We spend so much time editing and enhancing our photos and videos, that we completely forget about what it was that we wanted to capture. People aren't living life and making memories anymore. Instead, we snap pictures and record videos, hiding behind technology. We really have become detached from reality.

3. Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?
Dr. Scott McLeod used sarcasm to tell parents, teachers, administrators, and board members what not to teach their kids. He said not to teach kids about social networking, blogs, email, and the internet. He said not to teach them about writing in the web or how to read RSS. Don't allow your kids to have cell phones or text. Dr. McLeod said these thinks are evil. They don't need to hyperlink, make videos, audio, or Flash. He says that there are bad things out there such as sexting and cyberbullying. Do not allow them to create, share, think, or learn. Don't do any of it. Then Dr. McLeod states that he will be doing all of it with his students. He then makes a very smart comment and says that he can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two.

I love Dr. Scott McLeod's sarcastic tone in his blog post. He uses it to make a point about how important technology is in education. He also explains how technology can be dangerous and the negatives of students using technology. We can eliminate those problems though if we teach our students how to properly and professionally use technology. Teachers should not allow the fear of technology to discourage them from using it in their teachings. Technology is extremely important in today's education system and also in the world. If teachers choose not to acknowledge it or use it in their teachings, then students will fall behind not only in education but in society also. The world is advancing everyday, and we need to be sure that the next generation will be knowledgeable of it and ready for it.

Green Screen Movie Project # 11

SmartBoard Project # 14

Project # 10

Progress Report On My PLN

For project # 10, I am supposed to start the process of developing my PLN or personal learning network. I have decided to use iGoogle to create my PLN. It definitely took me a while to figure out how I was supposed to do it. After watching videos and looking at examples, I was finally able to get it started. Of course it is not finished, but I am slowly adding the tools that I will be using. So far, I have added the essentials. I have added Facebook, Twitter, Google, Google Maps, CNN news, my email, Skype, and many others. These are all different communication tools that I use on a daily basis. As I use other tools, I will add them to my PLN. It should be interesting to see everything I have by the end of the semester.

Blog Post # 9

What I've Learned This Year--Mr. Joe McClung

2008-2009

After his first year of teaching, Mr. Joe McClung wrote a blog post reflecting on his adventures, accomplishments, and learnings of the year. He stated that being young and inexperienced, he didn't fully know what to expect from being an elementary school teacher in his first year. In his blog post, he discussed everything he learned that year. There were seven main things that he discussed.

1. How to read a crowd. Many teachers are so worried about what their supervisors think about the delivery of their lessons that they forget about their audience. Teachers need to check for student comprehension. He stated that in order to be effective, you have to be able to let your audience drive your instruction.

2. Be flexible. Teachers need to remember that your lessons will not always go as you plan. They won't be perfect. So, there is no need to beat yourself up if the lesson did not go in the direct direction you wanted it to.

3. Communicate. Communication is the best way to resolve any issue at work and build strong relationships with your students and co-workers.

4. Be reasonable. Do not set extreme expectations for your students. It is our job as teachers to set goals for our students, but set them within their reach. And if they fail, be there to pick them up and encourage them to try again.

5. Don't be afraid of technology. Technology can be overwhelming at times, but don't give up before you even try. No one masters it with the first attempt. The use of technology may seem difficult at first, but eventually you will get the hang of it.

6. Listen to your students. He states that you may be the only person that does listen. It's important to develop a good student teacher relationship and take interest in the lives of our students.

7. Never stop learning. Teachers need to learn and grow as professional educators. It's never too late to change your way of thinking, learning, or style.

After reading Mr. Joe McClung's first blog post, I feel the need to print out his list of things he learned after his first year of teaching. They are all great things to keep in mind during your first year of teaching because you really don't know what to expect. I know that even just thinking about what my first year of teaching will be like, I get a nervous and excited feeling. Mr. McClung's blog post definitely gave me a great insight on what it will be like. I can't wait to be able to experience teaching myself.

2011-2012
Mr. McClung received such great feedback after his first blog post that he continued on to year two, year three, and year four. In his reflective blog post after his fourth year of teaching, he stated that two underlining themes really stuck out.

1. You gotta dance with who you came to the dance with. This means that you can not worry with how your peers view you as an educator. Their perception does not matter. Follow one rule, and that is are the kids having fun? Make sure that your kids are taken care of and enjoying the class. Remember who you are really working for.

2. Challenge yourself. It's easy to fall into a routine when you are teaching the same thing year after year. You get too comfortable and become lazy which causes your lessons to suck. You should try teaching a different grade level or maybe an accelerated class. This will give you the opportunity to challenge yourself to become a better teacher.

After reading this blog post, I completely agree with Mr. McClung. It does seem that after years of teaching the same thing, it would be easy to fall into a routine. I think that it is our job as educators to be able to grab the attention of our students so that they will pay attention. In order to do that, we must keep learning fun and interesting. We must give our students motivation, spark creativity, and give them inspiration. Therefore, we can not afford to be lazy. We are there to set good examples and be role models.