Blog Post #10

Do You Teach or Do You Educate?
This video explains the difference between being a teacher and being an educator. Teaching is just giving students the information they need to know. But being an educator means so much more. Being an educator is about being a mentor and an advisor.
The reason I chose to be an educator is because I just want to make a difference in someones life. If I could change one childs life, all of the time and money spent on school would be worth it. I want to give my students my all and be more than just a teacher to them. Everyone has that one teacher that they always looked up to that made a difference to them and I want to be that teacher.

Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home
With every problem, there is a solution. I think that this blog post proves that statement true. If you find a solution to the problem it will make things much easier. With the hangman example, we as teachers should be willing to let our students think and learn a little however works for them. I think this was also meant to show how people feel about using computers and technology for school. Like students being distracted and not focusing on the assignment. Students who use the "pencil to play hangman" will probably learn something from doing so in some way. And teachers worry so much about test scores which is not what simportant. Whats important is that these students are LEARNING and GROWING.

C4T #3

My first assignment was to comment on Dr. Paige Baggett's blog. Dr. Baggett is an assistant Professor in the College of Education here at the University of South Alabama. Her post about a man named Mr. Ricky who was blinded from two accidents, but he still paints! It is amazing that despite his blindness he never gave up his talent and love for painting.

She also said that he used some sort of technology that helped him to identify the colors. It is absolutely amazing that we have came so far with technology today that a blind man can use a machine to find paint colors.

The next post of Dr. Baggett's was a video about students getting payed for good grades. An elementary school in Ohio pays their students for good test grades. This is not a good idea because students will expect a reward. And when the reward is not given anymore the students most likely will give up or stop trying so hard. Students should want to work hard to get good grades to go to college or get a good job in the future.

Blog Post #9

May 27, 2009 What I've Learned This Year (2008-09)
In Mr.Mcclung's post he shares what he learned in his first year of teaching. His first was how to read the crowd, meaning you have to make your lessons student centered and check for student comprehension. Next was to be flexible. Mcclung says "NO LESSON IS EVER PERFECT. THE LESSON YOU TEACH AND THE ONE YOU PLAN ARE ALWAYS DIFFERENT". Sometimes things will not go as planned but you have to learn to work with it. Next was communicate. Communication is a big key in success in the workplace, with fellow teachers and your students. Be reasonable was the next. This means that we cannot set standards for our students and set them up for disappointment if they fail. We as educators must know that nobody is perfect and all we can do is encourage them. Next, don't be afraid of technology. Computers are a big part of todays society and we can not be scared to use them. Next was listen to your students. Getting to know your students and being a part of their lives is really important. We need to listen when they talk. Lastly is to never stop learning. It is never too late to learn. The more you want to learn the more you will gain. He states that we work in a learning environment so we should learn while we can.

June 23, 2011 What I Learned This Year (2010-11)
In this post, Mr.Mcclung wrote what he learned. First you should know who your boss is. He says that we should not get caught up in pleasing people,but to remember why you are teaching in the first place.....for the students. Next was don;t be afraid to be an outsider. Mcclung connects with the students and differs from the other teachers. He also connects with the students on a different level. Don't touch the keyboard is the next thing he learned this year. By this he means that we should give the students a chance to do the work for themselves. DO not do the work for them or take over. They need to learn for themselves. Lastly was don't get comfortable. We should change up our routines by doing something you would not normally do. Do not coast through the day bdoing the same old things. Branch out and learn from doing so.

Project #13 Smart Board Presentation

Project 12 Book Trailer

Blog post #8

Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2
In Richard Millers video This Is How We Dream parts 1 and 2, he talks about sharing knowledge infinitely. I think it is so much easier to use a search engine instead of books at the library. this will become much more convenient over time because everything is based around technology. Also adding a visual and audio to text makes it much more interesting.

I am prepared to write with multimedia because I believe that I learn something knew with technology every day, and if I want to teach my students to use it I must learn and perfect it now.

Miller states that "We as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely". I agree with this because teachers should share their knowledge and ideas so others can learn as we do. One day I hope to teach my students to use this form of writing as well as using pencils and paper, just so I can expand their ways of learning.

Blog Post #12
Carly Hayes's blog post was an assignment to create your own assignment. Carly suggested to make your own YouTube playlist to expand your learning and what we would like to teach. She used some ideas that DR. Miller shared in his videos. She gave links to videos which helped you to create your own opinions. This was a great assignment and I would love to create my own playlist for my classroom consisting of things to help my students learn.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies
In the Chipper Series, Chipper believes procrastination is turning your work in regardless if it is late or not, it is still turned in. Chipper also decides that Dr. Strange is not doing his job because he is not teaching, so she creates her own school and fails at all of her other jobs. In the end Chipper ends up back in Dr. Strange's class. This video is a way of showing that EDM310 does not just prepare you for your career but also prepares you for life.

In the EDM310 for dummies video its starts of by showing the students getting angry because they do not understand the assignments. When they were in the lab and understood the assignments they started to enjoy it. This class can be frustrating at times, but it is a great learning experience!

Learn To Change, Change To Learn
This video states the we as educators have to accept technology as a way of life, it is no longer just a choice. Children learn through communities, and through their homes, and even online. School for them is where they come together. School should become a community system where they are connected to make them better prepared for college and prepared for life. Students now have the chance to learn outside of school using technology. These teachers in the video believe that it is not just about what students learn in the classroom, but what they learn outside of the classroom as well. It is our job as teachers to prepare our students to learn how to use technology outside of the classroom.

Blog Post #7

Randy Paush's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams was a very inspirational video. I honestly did not think I could watch a lecture on You Tube for an hour, but Paush made this very interesting. He first started off by giving his story about his cancer and that it was not going to discourage him, but he was going to help others to dream big.

He talks about his childhood dreams of working for NASA, playing in the NFL, and working for Disney. None of these dreams were accomplished, but he explains that he got a lot from not accomplishing them. He also says that experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted. I definitely agree with this statement because you learn a lot from being let down.

He also says "brick walls are there for a reason, they let us prove how badly we want things". To me this is very true. I believe that because if we are let down, it only pushes us to work harder to achieve our goals.

Pausch says it is important to have fun and help others. It is a good way to get people to help you. You can not get to where you're going alone. Pausch says to apologize when you screw up, tell the truth, and apologize when you screw up. When you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening. Its not about how to achieve your dreams. its about how to live your life.

In the end of this video Pausch says that the video was not for the audience watching, it was for his kids. This video was truly inspirational and a joy to watch. I learned a lot about reaching my goals and achieving my dreams, as well as how to help others do the same thing.

Timetoast Project 9b

Project 11

Project 10 PLN

My Personal Learning Network is growing daily. I chose to use Symbaloo to keep me organized. I use most of the websites I chose every day. I used to just bookmark my favorite websites, but it started to get a little confusing so this is much easier! I am adding and deleting different sites on a daily basis. I like the idea of a PLN because it is a great way to stay organized and keep track of my websites. I look forward to building more of my PLN.

Project 9 Timetoast

C4T Summary #2

For this C4T I was assigned to Mrs. Ripp.
The first blog post was "I Can Change The World". I loved this post because it was about how we should set an example for our students. We can not change the world but we can change the classroom and how we teach our students. She says we can change the way kids think of teachers but first we have to change ourselves. I enjoyed this post so much and I hope to have this attitude when I have my own classroom one day!

The second post was "Student Blogging Resources to Get You Started". This post was about why student blogging is a great resource to use in classrooms. She gave a story from her own experience about a kid in her classroom who moved away and kept in touch with her through the blog. This post helped show me how it helps the students to learn and grow through technology.

Blog Post #6

The Networked Student
This video by Wendy Drexler was definitely an attention grabber. The use of the visuals made it easy to follow and understand. It talked about creating a PLN which we will hae to do in our class as well. It helped me to learn better ways in gathering information and sources for my PLN.

The theory of "connectivism" is where students can collect data and information from other students and people of interest, while also sharing information with them. Students can learn a lot from networking

So why does the networked student even need a teacher? Because the teacher helps provide the student with knowledge he or she will need to search content. She teaches what information is good and what is not. She teaches them what they will need to know to use these skills when they leave her class. A teacher is there to lead you in the right direction. Since technology is changing every day it is important to stay up to date. I am prepared to be a teacher of a networked student, but I myself am willing to learn everyday so I can teach my students what I know.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
This 7th grader has everything organized appropriately and it is very important to stay organized! I love that her teacher gives them the freedom to be responsible and not waste their time on social networks. It teaches students to stay on track and use their time wisely.

It is very easy to get off track and not be on time with assignments but with the way she has her PLE set up she can see what she is doing in her class. For my PLN, I will need to stay organized and research more like the girl who created this PLE.

C4K Summary Post

I really enjoyed reading both of my kids blogs! It is really amazing that we can communicate with other kids across the country and see what they are learning.

My first student was Adam. His blog posts were very creative and funny. I loved reading his posts because they were always interesting. One was about how he got to miss school for a county fair, and he even had an educational paragraph on using proper vocabulary words in sentences. He is really interested in video games just like any other elementary school boy.

Connor was my second student. His blog post that I read was very informative and was part of the international blogging contest that is held twice a year. He used links in his posts as well as pictures to make it more engaging. I really enjoyed reading his post.

I love this assignment because you can interact with the kids and see what they have to say about many different topics. They are able to express themselves through their blogs and their writings.