Blog Assignment 8

Richard Miller- This is How We Dream

In the videos This is how we dream part 1 and 2, Richard E. Miller discusses writing and the changes it has had due to technology. Writing, publishing, and communication is all changing right before our eyes. Miller states that “we are living at the moment of the greatest change in human communication in human history”. He explains that this is the most important time for people who have the profession of reading and writing.

I strongly agree with Miller’s statements in these videos. Everything that we do is now technologically based and it is becoming global. As teachers our profession will consist of plenty of reading and writing. Not only are we learning this for ourselves, we are learning this to better our students. The future of our students strongly depends on us, therefore we must stay up to date with how technology changes. Reading and writing in the classroom will never be the same again.

I believe that I am still in the process of learning all of the technology features I will need to know as a teacher. The video explains how as educators we must be willing to not only learn new things, but share them freely also. Technology consists of so many things in education today. In the end we must learn more to teach more to our future students.

 Carly's #12 Blog Post

Carly’s #12 blog post was amazing. I could tell that there was a lot of time and effort put into this post. Her playlist by assignment consisted of many videos that she found inspirational. This was important because being an inspiration to your students is a key factor. Carly’s way of teaching meets the standards that Richard Miller was discussing in his videos. She states how videos, podcasts, and visuals can all be helpful. She has plans to use technology to benefit both herself and her students in the classroom.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 For Dummies

 After watching the two videos, The Chipper Series and EDM310 For Dummies, I thought of many ideas for my own video. These two videos were creative and funny. I believe a sense of humor always makes a video seem better. These videos had humor, but at the same time were informative.  The purposes of these videos were to catch student’s attention but to also inform them at the same time. In my opinion both videos did a great job at this. In creating my own video I would consider these factors to make the video interesting. In my video I would inform others of how important technology has become in our society.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

I agree with the points being made in the video Learn to Change, Change to Learn. The title speaks for itself. Many people have a problem with the way that technology is taking over the classrooms. We must face reality though. Our future students will not strongly depend on us for knowledge but on computers and internet sites. The video is explaining how teachers and schools are blocking out the use of technology when it is becoming a necessity in the classroom. The students were required to find information on the internet, but now they are expected to do “more” with this information. How they find information is not the factor anymore, what they are going to do with the information using technology I more important now. As teachers, we need to prepare them for this at an early age.  Technology is our future and so are our students.

Emodo

I found a social networking site that parents, teachers, and students can all use. I found this site very interesting because I did not know social sites like this existed. This site is emodo.com. This site is free for both students and teachers. It allows the teacher to post grades, assignments, and stay connected with the students. I think this site would be beneficial in my classroom. It is designed for students and teachers so the worry of outsiders is decreased. It also teaches students to use networking in a positive way for school.

My first comic strip

Here is my comic strip

My first poll

How often do you read a book?
	once a day
	once a week
	once a month
	once a year
	never
pollcode.com free polls

Book Trailer

Project #11 Short Movie

Project 10 PLN

So far my PLN was easy to create. I thought this was going to be a difficult task, but it was far from that. I included you tube, twitter, gmail. I feel like these are very important to have on my PLN because they are the main sites I have used in this class. I'm working on what other people or sites will be helpful to include.

Project 9B Timetoast Timeline

Information on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Blog Assignment 7

The Networked Student is a video displaying a student using networking frequently in the classroom. It is a change from our traditional classroom settings. Classrooms in the past and some present classrooms use the traditional setting with the teacher lecturing for an hour at a time. The students have no involvement besides listening and taking notes. They read from a text book for hours at a time, learning little to nothing sometimes. This is changing for the best of our future students.

In this video the student has a teacher, but her job is not to lecture the students and drill them to read their textbooks. Her job is to teach the students at a different level involving networking. Networking involves the students blogging, commenting, and using the web to connect to others around the world.  This reminds me a lot of what we are doing in our classroom today.

This way of teaching allows the students to become more involved. If the students are involved more there is greater chance of an increase in learning. The students are able to learn things that they have never learned before that will possibly be interesting to them. Students have a lack of interest in school and this may change that for the future in a positive way.

Seventh Graders PLE

This seventh grader’s PLE was beyond amazing. I’m in the process of learning how to do my PLN, so in comparison this student is beyond my experience in this.  This student has so many links that will always be useful for them in the future. The teacher has set this up for the students use and I’m sure it has a great impact in the classroom. I believe the PLE is great for any student. It is also very beneficial to use for other assignment or activities.

C4T #2

For this assignment I was assigned to read the blog Connected Principals. The blog actually consists of blogs being posted by principals from different schools. The first blog post I read is by Jeff Delp. He is the Assistant Principal at Willis Junior High School in Chandler, Arizona. His post was titled “Think you have arrived? Think again.” Delp was pointing out how we must prioritize, time, and lead in a positive manner not only in the classroom, but also in our daily lives. He says that we need to have certain goals in the classroom for our students. Learning how we are going to reach these goals is the factor we must accomplish. He used teaching and educating in comparison to baseball. He stated that no one hits a home run every time at bat. I agreed with this blog in my comment. I realized that some lesson plans and activities will not always work the first time. We will have to change things in the classroom every year to make it more effective.

The second blog is by Brian Nichols.  Brian Nichols is the Executive Director of School Leadership for Newport News Public Schools, located in Newport News, Virginia. His blog was titled “Leap before you look”. In this post he was explaining the phrase “look before you leap”, and how he changed this. He was stating that maybe we should leap before we look in the classroom. We should allow changes to be made in the classroom without being afraid to do so. I also agreed with this blog post. I commenting saying that we are often afraid to do things because we are told to watch out before we do them. We must think about the possible positive outcomes, and not always the negative. We have to be willing to make changes for not only ourselves but our students more importantly.

Blog Assignment 6

After watching this lecture by Randy Pausch, I grasped the concept of having faith and pushing forward. Right now at this time I’m struggling with what I actually plan to do when I finish school.  I am stuck between the military and becoming a teacher. I believe having a passion for something in life is very important. I loved the fact that Randy kept faith and pushed forward with anything he did. He had such a positive attitude, regardless of his circumstances. I took these points in his lecture and applied them to my own life.

There was one quote that he used that became a favorite of mine from that moment. He stated that “we cannot change the cards that we are dealt just how we play the hand”. This quote meant so much to me. As a teacher I believe this quote can be very helpful. Teaching most likely will not be a walk in the park. We will come across many things that we find difficult but we must deal with them. We have to learn how to “play the hand” and overcome these strategies.

As a teacher our students will look at us as a leader or hero. The students will watch our every move. It is best to have a positive attitude like Randy and lead them in the right direction. Their future can rely on us as teachers.  The world is changing dramatically, and we must prepare them for this.

Randy had goals and dreams and he tried to accomplish them all. I believe as teachers we should not only do the same, but teach our students that also. Goals for ourselves will help us make positive changes for our students. We should have students set goals and work towards them not only inside but outside the classroom. Making them feel important is a very positive factor in the classroom.

C4K Summary

C4K #1 My first child that I was assigned to was Paula. He was from a four year class Auckland, New Zealand. Paula’s blog post was titled “Someday”. This was a video that he made about what he wanted to do someday. Paula wants to travel to the Eiffel tower one day. I commented telling Paula that I was very impressed with his video. I found it amazing that at such a young age these students were blogging and making video.

C4K #2 The second student that I was assigned to was Elisa. Elisa blog was posting about a government and politics class she was in. I found that their class was similar to ours. They were using Skype and blogging in their classroom assignments. I commented telling Elisa that I was once again shocked at the use of technology in the classrooms today. She is a senior in high school and they are learning things that I am now being introduced to. I told her that her knowledge in technology will lead her to a greater future. After commenting I was so excited that Elisa commented back. Not only did she comment back, she read my blog post and left a comment on blog post assignment 4.

C4K #3 My third studentassigned to me was Raena. Reana was a student in Ms. Eppele’s class. This blog post was about Reana’s cat. Reana described how the cat drinks from the toilet and ate all of the treats once. I found this blog post very cute and funny. Reana did a good job this blog post. I commented telling Reana about my dog who also does the same thing. I received a comment back from Reana, which was another exciting moment.

C4K #4 My last comment was actually for two students, Danieland T-Jay. These students were Ferry Lane Primary School. Their last blog was about a football festival that they were participating in. I commented telling them that I could tell that they seemed to have good sportsmanship. I enjoyed reading their blog, which had other post about their football festival.

Podcast by: The Nameless