Final Report on PLN

My PLN has actually turned out to be very helpful. It has everything stored so it is much easier to go back and access links that I need.  It still consists of the major things that I use for this class and in my daily life. I plan to add more things as time goes on. This is something that I would recommend to anyone who needs to keep up with important sites.

C4T 4

My teacher for C4T for the last two weeks was Scott Jelias. Scott actually had very interesting blog post that I felt like I could relate to. The first blog post that I commented on was “Convening a Professional Study Group”. In this post Scott was explaining the problem with test scores in the schools and the way schools go about trying to fix this problem. He explained that most teachers go into panic mode trying to do anything to change the test scores of their students. Removing them from enjoyable classes and forcing them to work in those that they do not like, is not a good idea in Scott’s opinion. Instead Scott and his school is coming up with a professional study group. In this group they come together over months to try and figure what needs to be done to change these test scores. I commented telling Scott that I firmly agreed with the way that he proposed a plan to his employees. He presented the school with the issue and they developed a plan from that point. In the next blog post “PhocuseD 3: I’m doing this, why?” Scott talked about getting his Phd. He explained how getting your Phd is not an easy process. It comes with many task and thinking about why the person is doing this. He talked about how he thought about quitting many times. He states that while getting you Phd to stay focus and you may need to take a break to rejuvenate yourself. I commented telling Scott that his post was inspirational to me. Although the post was directed towards getting a Phd, I’m experiencing these problems now. I have thought about quitting many times, but I have found the strength to push forward. I thanked Scott for his message in that blog post.

Blog Assignment 13

For this assignment Dr. Strange wanted us to participate in an “E-Media fast”. We were not allowed to use in electronic or communications device for 24 hours. In the beginning I figured this would be easy because I rarely use any electronic devices. When I realized that cell phones were cut out I quickly change my thought process about this assignment. The one thing that did not bother me at all was the use of my television. I honestly don’t turn my TV on but maybe once a month, if that at all! The use of my computer was another one that really did not bother me. I only use my computer if I need to type a paper. The way cell phones are made these days the use of an actual computer is becoming very slim. Then the hard part came into play. I use my cell phone for everything. I use my phone for email, facebook, twitter, calling, texting, and web searching. We were told we could not use any of these devices. I felt like I was not in touch with the world for those first couple of hours.  I engaged in simple conversation with my roommates and sleeping to pass the time by. I was actually excited to go to work this day! In the end I realized how much I strongly depended on my cell phone for all my electronic needs. In the future my students will also strongly depend on technology for all of their needs. Teachers must keep up with this use of technology to keep their students attention. Students will enter the classroom expecting to use technology because this is what they are becoming accustomed to. 

SmartBoard Presentation #15

Curiosity gave life to creativity

Curiosity and creativity are things that our students should be able to express in the classroom every day. In my opinion schools in the United States easily take this away from our students. They don’t allow our students to express their personality. Our schools set certain rules and make sure the students follow these rules.  They teach our students in the states the way that they believe things are supposed to be, never allowing them to do what they want. 

As teachers we can change this and develop a curriculum that allows our students to express themselves. When we assign assignment we don’t have to put such strict rules on them. Instead of ruling students we can let them have freedom with their work. We have to learn to think outside of our beliefs, and consider what our students might believe. We can encourage our students to be different.  Allowing students to be different can be fun and educational at the same time.

 Teachers can be more creative by coming up with creative activities for the students to do in the classroom. We need to think outside the box with the rules in the classroom. Allowing students to sometimes make decisions and take over can help them become creative also. If we listen to our students, they can help us become more creative teachers. Students have great ideas and imagination, allowing them to express this is the problem we are running into. 

Progress Report for Final Project

For the final project I am working with my group the nameless. We have been using google docs to communicate so far. We will be working more on our project this week.

Summary of SmartBoard Project

For my Smartboard project I actually worked on it by myself. I had the help of one of my friends to record my presentation. For the next project I'm working with my previous group. Im not sure what our plans are but I'm sure we will be discovering that this week.

C4K April Summary

For the month of April I was assigned to three different students. The first student I was able to comment on his blog twice. The first blog post that he wrote that I read was about an avatar that he had created. He left a website for his readers to visit. He also explained how he had fun making his avatar. I commented back telling him that his avatar that he created was creative. I actually visited the website and attempted to make my own. I also told him to keep up the good work. The next blog post that he posted was a picture of a cottage. I’m not sure where he actually found the picture but it was very interesting. I clicked on the link and it explained that the picture was actually many pictures formed into one. The picture looked so realistic. I commented telling him that I could use this in the classroom for a fun activity for my students to play with.

The next week I was assigned to an alternate student because my student stopped blogging. My next student was Jshuana T. The most recent blog that this student blogged was a picture of multiple flowers, titled flower pop out. The student listed eight things of how this picture made them feel. I commented telling the student that I enjoyed reading the blog post. I agreed with many of the feeling that they were having towards the picture. The last student that I was assigned to was Faauiga. She is from New Zealand. Her blog post was a video of her telling us about herself. She told her favorite colors, her birthday, about her brothers and sisters, and many other things. I commented telling Faauiga that I enjoyed watching her video. I asked her how old her brothers and sisters were. In the end I encouraged her to keep up the good work.

Blog Assignment 12

For blog post assignment 12 Dr. Strange gave us the chance to choose a blog assignment that we would choose to use in our own area of education. I had to think long and hard about what assignment I could make to relate to elementary education.  I decided that since this blog post was towards the end of all of our assignments that this post should reflect our previous work.

This blog post assignment is for you to reflect on all of your previous readings and videos and decide what you believe are the most important factors to becoming a great elementary teacher. Answering the question of how you will directly incorporate technology into the teaching of elementary students. List one video or blog reading that had the most impact you after taking this class.

The most important factors to me in becoming a great elementary teacher include caring, understanding, listening, and being helpful. I have learned that teachers don’t have enough time to give all students one-on-one time, but I do believe as teachers we should go beyond the basic requirements to teach or students. I plan to dig deep and make sure my students have an understanding of everything that I’m trying to teach them.   The video “Do you teach or do you educate” was a very awaking video to me. I want to be an educator, and this video made me realize this. Being just a simple teacher is not as powerful as becoming an educator in someone’s life. An educator included all of the factors that I planned on using when I became a part of the classroom. My plan to incorporate technology in the classroom greatly includes using the smart board. My first actual time using the smart board was in the class. I learned that it can be used so many ways to teach students. For elementary students, I think it is very important to keep them involved and I believe the smart board does a great job at this. I have witnessed students doing math problems on the smart board in a first grade classroom. I thought this was a great thing that the students were able to become technically involved with the teachers. I also came across a site that can be used to keep the parents, students, and teacher all connected over the internet outside the classroom. I believe I will take this and also apply this to my classroom.

Blog Assignment 11

Ms. Cassidy is a first grade teacher who in my opinion is taking technology in the classroom to an upper level. In her classroom she uses technology to ensure that her students are learning and not using it for simple entertainment. Her students are using blogs, Skype, and Nintendo DS all for education purposes. I was very shocked to see that these young students grasped these concepts and were using them effectively in the classroom. Her students even explained how to comment on blogs in her First graders in Ms. Cassidy's class video.In her Skype interview, Ms. Cassidy explained that she is teaching her students this by choice. She was not forced to use technology in the classroom at this level. I find it outstanding that she takes this upon herself to teach her students in this manner. Upon going into the teaching field, I would take all of these techniques and use them in my classroom. Her approach was very positive and her students are benefiting from the use of technology. I believe as long as the students are learning and it is in a positive way, we should continue the path we are o using. I believe her approach would highly benefit students in the future. I am skeptical about the very young age that she is teaching these students to use Skype and blogging. Teaching them this at a young age can be either negative or positive. I do believe you have to watch these students to ensure that nothing negative is being done with the use of these tools. The positive outcome is that with them learning these tools at this age they have time to learn many more technology tools that others may not have time to learn.

Blog Assignment 10

Do you teach or Do you educate?

After watching the video Do you teach or do you educate, I strongly understood the difference between the two. In my opinion an educator is way more powerful and helpful. Our students do not need someone to only show them how to do things, but someone to actually educate them and be more than just a teacher. An educator can be a mentor, helper, and teach students all in the same aspect. I believe educators have a stronger impact on their students lives.

I now see that I became an education major to become an educator not only a teacher. I plan to be a mentor for all of my students. I'm willing to stay after school and help any students who need extra help. Going above a beyond the usual to help your students is a great example of being an educator. I want to be that one educator who gave their students that extra push. I plan to go deeper than the surface of my students knowledge.

Don't let them take pencils home!

Tom Johnson's Don't let them take pencils home, is a blog post that is considered a must read for all teachers. This blog post was based on an argument about pencils. In the beginning my thought was what is the problem with students and pencils. The academic specialist came to Tom Johnson with an demand that students were not allowed to take pencils home anymore. According to a journal article, students who used pencils at home had lower standardized test scores.

Mr. Johnson disagreed with the need to completely stop students from using pencils at home. His argument was that many students from low income places believe that pencils are for entertainment and use them as toys. Although the students had this perception of pencils, he had a way of changing that. He planned to encourage both the students and parents to use the pencils for learning in a different way. Mr Johnson never argued with the journal article, but he wanted to change the thoughts of the article.

This blog post was very amazing to me. I understood what Mr. Johnson was trying to propose to the specialist. As teachers, I believe we should all take this attitude into our classrooms. There will be many problems with things in the classroom, but we need to focus on a solution. Instead of deleting the issue, we can find a way to solve it. Mr. Johnson was finding a way to solve the problem the classroom.

Project 14

Summary Post C4T Teacher #3

My C4T assignment was not actually for one teacher this month. The blog that I visited was created for different teachers to leave sites that they have discovered. The blog was titled iLearn Technology. It has sites for teachers to incorporate technology into the classroom.  This blog will be very helpful for me when I enter the teaching field. The first blog post was about a science website for the students to use in the classroom. The site allowed students to pretend like they had a job in the science field and they would work in that on the game. I thought this site was very interesting. It was fun for the students, but included a science lesson for the students to learn from. Science is a subject that is fun when you include hands on and labs. I commented saying how I thought this is a very good site to use with the students. Students could get a clearer understanding of science terms that may be difficult to them using this site. The second site that I discovered that was post was a site that provided pictures of different animals and their habitat. I thought this site was also a good one to incorporate into science. If the students were learning about animal and their habitat, the students could actually see what the teacher is explaining. I believe visuals are very good way to keep students attention. This blog would be great for any teacher. It provides plenty of websites that can be very helpful and fun for students. It teaches students their lesson and keep technology invlolved.

C4K Summary For March

My C4K post for the month of March was a student named Malaikah. This blog post seemed to me to be a story created by Malaikah. The story was about a girl who was having a suprise birthday party with fifty guest. In the end of the story the young girl even found a white spider. I commented telling Malaikah how I really enjoyed reading this blog post. I said that surprise parties were always fun. I have never seen a white spider but I told Malaikah that I was sure that could not have been very fun. I encouraged the student by wishing them good luck with their future blog posts.

Blog Assignment 9

After reading Mr. Joe McClung’s post I had a more positive insight on the teaching field. The first post I read was from May 2009, titledWhat I’ve learned this year. At the beginning of the post he had a picture that said “An important decision I made this year is stay positive”. I absolutely love this quote in this picture. In his post he is explaining things that he has learned in his first year of teaching. Everything that he stated was very positive and encouraging. He never stated that the job was easy; instead he explained how to communicate and be reasonable. He stated that technology is our friend, and to not become overwhelmed by it. I clearly understood what point he was making.  We have to embrace the job of teaching and take it one step at a time. It will never be perfect, in the words of Mr. McClung. This is very true in every case. The second post was from the following school year, 2010.In this post he was explaining his changes that he had to make. I found this interesting because I never actually thought about the changes of grade levels. You have to be prepared to make change every year. He explained how teachers should not be a control freak. I learned from this section also. I thought of teaching as always making sure that I was in control. After reading this I understood that this does not have to be a major factor. He explained giving students jobs in the classroom such as handing out papers. Overall  I mainly learned to go into this field with an open mind, never be discouraged, and always be open to learning new things.