Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Blog Post Assignment 9

"What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung

In this post I really enjoyed reading it. It was very inspiring and it shows that teachers also learn so much in the classroom while they are teachers. He makes make remarkable comments, He starts off by saying that he has learned so much in his first year of teaching and that he did not really know what to think and expect because he was not fully "expierenced". One part of his post was titled "How to Read a Crowd" this paragraph was him basically talking about how that some teachers do not make their classrooms and lessons focused on their students so that they can succeed. He has learned this year how to connect with the crowd and his students. One paragraph is titled "Be Flexible." In this paragraph he is talking about how we need to be flexible with the students and basically meaning we need to be patient. I agree with this because not everyone is perfect and students are there to learn so we need to be flexible with them and if they need help then help them. Communication is a huge key in teaching successfully. McClung talks about how communication is a must and a major factor and that it seems to be easy but it is a task that takes some practice, but we all need to learn how to communicate! He also talks about how we need to be resonable and how we are there to teach and to pick the students up not to make them seem like they have failed. I love this part of his post, because I truly think that we are not here to beat the students up when they are wrong and make them feel like failures but if they do make a mistake just have them try again until they succeed and make them feel worthy and that they are smart!!! He then goes along and talks about how we do not need to be afraid of technology, well absolutely we do not! Technology is a great thing for learning. Listening to students is a KEY! I love the part where one of his students says that Mr. McClung cares about him because he listened to him! That is amazing! He concludes with Never Stop Learning! This is one of my favorite posts that I have read this year. I absolutely love it!

 this is a picture I got that says stay postive, which is in reference to my post

Monday, March 21, 2011

C4T Summary 3

The third teacher that I was assigned to is Lisa Thumann. Her blog is titled Thumann Resources. The post that i commented on was titled "The Purpose of Education." Thumann states that the purpose of education is to help students develop a lifelong love of learning. She discusses about how she remembers loving school and wanting to learn and how her second grader loves school also and how her student loves to research topics about information she is interested in. She asks what happened between 2nd and 3rd grade because her 3rd grade daughter basically keeps being negative about school saying she can't, she hates, she doesn't like school, it is boring, etc... This is very sad that this child hates school so much. We as future teachers need to not only make a difference and teach our children a love for learning but also teach students in work they are interested in. Thumann then asks what can we do? How can we help? She states that our teachers need to have; enthusiasm, empathy, respect, self-confidence, self-awareness, and the ability to reflect. I completely agree with this and think that our students are going to look up to their teachers, teachers will be role models to their students and we need our students to LOVE learning, but that all comes with the way we teach.
I absolutely love this post for so many reasons, I agree with everything she is saying and love how she compared two different kids that were very close in age. Great Post!

This week I was assigned to the same teacher! Her post was titled "Whatever Works- Don't Fight It"

She was talking about her as a teacher and her coming up with 6 steps to a new plan which I thought were great. Her six steps to changing the classroom and the way we learn are:
  1. It’s not a tech initiative, it’s a learning initiative
  2. Digital Portfolios (using Google Sites)
  3. Managing the 1:1 Classroom
  4. Starting a student leadership team in grades 5-8
  5. Sharing success stories with colleagues
  6. Parent/Community training and showcases

I responded to her post saying:I loved this post and I have enjoyed reading your blog posts recently. I think that the six parts of your new plan seem like great ideas! I think yes we need to make a change in the classroom and I extremely agree with your first part of the new plan saying that it is not about tech initiative its about a learning initiative, although I do feel like technology is a huge part, but its all about LEARNING. We need to improve learning and teaching in the classrooms! Thank you so much for sharing!

 a picture about teachers

C4K Summary Post 4,5,&6

The 4th kid I was assigned to was a student in Mrs. Wolfe's class.
It is called Elephants and she describes elephants in this blog post. I responded to her blog comment with telling her how much I enjoyed her writing and etc...
The 5th kid I was assigned to was a student is Marven at Pt. England School. The blog post that i commented on was a animation video that was extremely interesting and creative I think that it is great that kids can make animation videos like this.
The 6th kid I was assigned to was Grace in Ms. Engelhard's class. Her blog post was titled "Dalmatian on Vacation." This is a very good poem she wrote, it is very humorous and creative. She is a very good writer and she needs to keep up the good work!

is a wordle of blogging

Blog Post Assignment 8

This is How We Dream Part 1 and Part 2

We are living in change as also discussed in this video. He says that it is time to changed to be engaged in literacy. He spent his time in how we write, where we work, how we research and where we publish. Where we work now is with multimedia. Technology is growing rapidly, we can go on the web and within seconds we can get results. We are in a time where it is possible to collaborate using technology.

Creativity and collabration is very interesting and where we work now is with digital enviornment. He discusses where there is going to be a time where we will be using digital composing material. Technology is a way to put ideas in our culture. There needs to be a way that we can teach in the way that the world we live in. These two videos are very interesting. The goal of the technology, is it makes it possible to make our dreams and share them with others.

Are you prepared to write with multimedia. Well, I am going to be honest I think that the way that technology is growing is we have so much more to learn. I do not think I am 100 percent prepared to write with multimedia but I am learning more and more and I believe that by the time I am a teacher, I hope to be completely prepared to write with multimedia so that my students will be able to do this. I think my students will be able to do this in the time that we live in and how much we are learning about technology and how fast it is growing.

The Chipper Series
This video shows a student with Mr. Strange and she basically is going downhill taking adventure after adventure because she does not want to take responsibility, but at the end she has a change of heart and realizes pretty much for her to suceed that she is going to have to change and take responsibility.
EDM 310 For Dummies
This is a video of students that are going aboslutely crazy because of this class and how they hate this class. They creating EDM 310 For Dummies and discuss how to be successful in this class and at the end talks about how they would not have been able to do any of this without EDM 310.
The idea in my post that I can think of that I would like to particiapte in would be making a video with a group of what we have learned in this class and our EDM 310 journey. I think that it would be fun anf creative.

Learning to Change, Change to Learn
I think that the arguments in this video are great. They just want to improve the classroom and make a change. These people who are talking in this video show great concern about the classroom and how our students learn. This video is described as "Distinguished individuals in education discuss the need for change in the classroom." Yes absolutely there is a need for change in the classroom. I love this video and agree with their ideas.

RSA Animate- The Secret Powers of Time
This video is basically saying that we are future oriented. When we make a decision about the future its going to affect us. He talks about people that live in the past and the future and makes the point that time influences who we are. This video is all about time and it affects us greatly and what we learn in the world. I think that this video is great.

RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us
This video is described as " illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace." This is so very true and this video makes points that are very interesting. Yes, I completely think that stuff that happens "behind the scenes" in a way really has affect on what motiviates us a person, and what goes on at home and in your personal life but also as in the professional life. This video is great.

this is a picture of a teacher using the smartboard to teach their students, this is they way we need to be taught we need to bring more technology to the classroom

Monday, March 14, 2011

Smart board Instruction Project 13

Blog Post Assignment 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Dr. Pausch : The Last Lecture: Acheiving Your Childhood Dreams
This video equals amazing! All i can say is, WOW!! I feel like everyonw needs to watch this video. Dr. Paush is a professor and an amazing person, I fell like we all need to be more like this and become more like him. This is called, "The Last Lecture" because he was told that he did not have much longer to live but he is in great health now and that did not stop him from his positive outlook on life. He has lived his life to the fullest and he is such a positive person.

His talk is about his childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others and lessons learned: how you can acheive your dreams or enable the dreams of others. His childhood dreams were; being in zero gravity, playing for the NFL, authoring an article in The World Book Encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk, winning stuffed animals and being a disney imagineer. He talks about these dreams to the fullest and their significance of each whether he acheived them or not, he accomplished some and did not accomplish others. At the end of this video he points out some very good points in life; he mentions, never give up, do not lose your child-like wonder, loyalty is a two-way street, help others, don't complain, show gratitude, and when you get feedback from others listen to it! What great points. He truly shows us how to become a better pesron.

My absolute favorite quote in this video is," Expierence is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted", this is so true. He is a person with so much passion for others. This video is so encouraging and he is such a man of loyalty and leadership. This is very uplifting. He came up with The Alice project which is to help teach and learn program concepts. He has acheived so much and touched so many peoples lives. He has such a positive outlook on life and has obvioulsy been an inspiration to myself and others.

I want to end this post by concluding with WATCH THIS VIDEO!!! What a blessing this man has been to others and was an inspring and amazing guy!!!

this is a picture of Dr. Pausch

Short Movie Project

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Progress for Project 10

I have been putting my PLN together. I think that this is so cool. I think it is great that I can put all of my websites and information together and organized. I have many websites that I use in this class on my PLN as well of others that I use on a regular basis. This is very good way of keeping things organized! I am loving learning about all of these new tools and looking forward to having my PLN completely put together. I am using symbaloo for my PLN and I think that this is a very great tool that helps everything be right there and makes it so much easier. I have learned loving about all these new ways of technology in this class that I knew nothing about it before, it is very exciting!!!

this is a picture of symbaloo the device I am using for my PLN