Blog Post # 6

I enjyed watching The Network Student.  This video gave some very helpful information for 21st Century Teachers.  I enjoyed the part when the character said "It never hurts to ask."  This is a very true statement.  I also thought that it was good that the video named ways that teachers can help students build their personal network.  Building your personal network is very important not just for friendship but also for employment.  This video is an excellent source for 21st Century Teachers.

                                                         

A 7th Grader's PLE was a fabulous video! On her PLE, she visits her science agenda to see what she is assigned to do for class, does research by finding websites, posts her report to her blog, keeps clips of small text or pictures from websites and creates glosters.  It is so amazing to see how much she can do with her PLE. I think that the gloster was very cool.  It is such a wonder to see how much you can do with technology.  Her PLE and my PLN are both used for educational purposes.  My PLN is helping me to become more technologically literate.                                               

Angie feels the opposite of what Micheal thinks about SMART Boards.  In "Why Smartboards are a Dumb Initiative," Micheal argues reasons why he dislikes SMART Boards.   Angie gave a lot of good reasons why teachers should invest in SMART Board on her blog entitled "SMART Board Integration."  I think that SMART Board is a wonderful thing to have.  I got a chance to use SMART Board in Dr. Bagget's class.  I learned a lot from using it, and I also had a lot of fun! 

http://abunday-smartboard.blogspot.com/

                                                           

C4K Summary #1

On February 12, 2011, a 5th Grade student from Mr. L's class did a blog post about sports that he likes.  He said that he likes soccer because you get to run around the field.  He said that he likes football and basketball because you get to use your hands.  I like football and basketball.  I enjoy watching and attending football and basketball games.  Football is more complex and harder to understand than basketball.  

On February 20, 2011, I watched a video of two 7-year-old boys reading a Roald Dahl classic about real witches.  They read it with such passion and feeling.  I think that it is wonderful to see children at this age enjoying to read.  In the world that we live in today, so many children hate to read.  I think that this is ashame.  Children should love to read.

On February 23, 2011, I watched and read a blog pot that a student in Mr. Kent Somerville's class had posted on their blog about a terrible earthquake that hit ChristianChurch.  This church was totally destroyed by this earthquake.  There were even some collage students that were going on a field trip that saw this earthquake.   People were still working during this time.  Some people survived this earthquake, some were trapped and some died.   I thought that this was so sad.  These people must have been scared and devastated.  I will be in prayer for these people. 

Timetoast Project 9b

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/117796

Blog Assignment # 5

I enjoyed reading the article "100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study." It gave some very interesting and useful information for future educators.  All of the applications listed would be of great use for teachers to have.  Applications like the education podcast, network iPod lesson plans, the teaching company, portable notes, Merriam-Webster Reference Dictionary and StudyGuide Guru would save teachers a lot of time when they are teaching and planning their lessons.  I do not own an iPod, but I would like to have one. 

The article "Education Podcasting Network" was very helpful when it came to doing project # 8.  I did not know what a podcast was or how to do a podcast.  I was very glad that we did the project in groups instead of independently to help each other in areas that we did understand.  By reading this article an doing this project, I have a better understanding about what a podcast is and how to do a podcast.

The article "The Practical Princals" was also a big help when doing project #8.  It also gave some good reason why podcasting is useful for both students and their parents.  I like the fact that podcasting can help students make up missed classes.  When a student misses one class, they get very behind, and they have a hard time trying to catch up.  I think that it is great that podcasting gives parents a way to keep up with their children's work.  Parents need to stay abreast of how their children are doing. 

Timetoast Project # 9

Blog Assigment # 4

I really enjoyed reading Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please? Dr. McLoed gave some very good advice in this post. There are some good and bad things about the internet. The internet is a good tool to keep in touch with friends and family and get helpful information. But, the internet has some very bad uses for children. Children get on the internet and explore sites that they should not when adults are not around. Therefore, adults should monitor their children when they use the internet and teach them what is appropriate and what is not appropriate. Mr. McLoed is a very interesting guy with a lot of wisdom.

The video The iSchool Initiative what amazing. The iSchool can help save both teachers and students a lot of money. I think that it is so cool that all of the useful tools that you use in the classroom are all programed on the iSchool. Graphing calculators are good calculators for higher level math, but they are very expensive. It is such a wonderful thing that the iSchool has a graphing calculator programmed in it and ready to use. Due to the poor economy, schools today are on a tight budget. Teachers have recieved a cut in pay and funding for school related material that they need for their classroom. School would be very different without books, paper, copy machine and # 2 pencils. By teachers and students not having to purchase these items and having an iSchool in place of them would make a tremendous differece in the lives of teachers and students.

The Lost Generation was an awesome video. I liked the technique used in this film. It thought that it was very good that she reversed a negative massage and made it into something positive. I was in total agreement with the line that she said, "tell your children that money will make me happy is a lie." This is so true. Money is not the answer to all of your problems. It will help you survive, but it will not help you emotionally. Even some of the richest of people are still not happy. Inspite of all the struggles that we face in this life today there is hope.

The video Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir was simply amazing! The people singing sounded so beautiful. I was so shocked to see everyone on the internet singing on one accord.

Teachng in the 21st Century was a very inspiring video. I have seen words used in this film like evaluate and analyze stressed in the Biloxi and Gulfport School Disticts. They use these words to unravel on school and subject area test. They encourage students to unravel on these test to help improve their scores. This film pretty much gave the full meaning of what it means to teach in the 21st Century.

Project # 6

Comments for Teachers # 1

On January 23, 2011, Mr. Joe Bower wrote a post on his blog entitled "Troublemakers."  He called teachers that oppose standarized testing troublemakers.  I commented on his post by stating that I agree with his post, but I would not call them troublemakers.  Some students just are not good test takers.  Even the smartest of students do not test well.  Some students do not take standarized tests seriously.  Every teacher has their own preferred way of testing their student's acquired knowledge.

On Feburary 5, 2011, Mr. Joe Bower wrote a post on his blog entitled "Why do we give exams?"  David Martin bosted on Mr. Bower's blog that we need exams to assess students' knowledge, help students want to learn, and teachers need to give exams for accountability reasons. Alfie Kohn said, "Classrooms should focus more on autonomy, mastery and purpose rather than achievement and marks.  I commented on his post by stating that I think exams are a necassary part of a students curriculum.  Teachers have to give exams in order to evaluate their students' knowledge of the material that they teach.  These evaluations can help teachers determine what they need to reflect on more when they teach it the next time.  If students did not have to take exams than they will not learn how to apply anything that that heard in class to real life.

Blog Post #3

A Vision of Student Today was an amazing movie.  A lot of the information given in this film applied to my college experiences.  On Tuesdays, I spend 10 hous at schools and I spend 5 hours at school on Thursdays.  I work 8 hours 2 to 3 days out of a week. I spend anywhere from 3 to 5 hours a day online completing assignments for EDM 310 and other courses.  I spend 2 or more hours talking on my cell phone to either my mother or my boyfriend.  I get anywhere from 6 to 8 hours of sleep each night.  This movie had a lot of information that is related o my daily college experiences.

Some of the information given did not relate to me.  I do not print out a lot pages from my e-mail.  Most of the messages that I recieve through e-mail are junk, and I delete them.  I do not think that filling out scantrons will not help me.  Filling out a scantron helps us learn the importance of  reading carefully and following directions.  One little mistake on a scantron can have a great affect on a student's grade.  I would add "I spend 30 minutes a day exercising" to this movie to make it accurately represent my college expriences.

It's Not About the Technology is a great post.  Ms. Hines gave some very good information.  Education is not all about technology.  In addition to application, education requires knowledge, comprehension and analysis of material learned in areas of study.  Technology alone can not help children become well-educated learners.

I agree with the point that Ms. Hines stated "Teachers Must Be Learners."  Teachers do not have the answers to everything.  They have to research for answers to certain questions that they may have to ask reliable individuals for answers to certain questions.  We as future teachers have to be teachable.

Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher is a very important post for future educatiors. Mr. Fisch gave a lot of good points.   It is not okay for teachers to be technologically illiterate.   Technology is a big part of a teacher's occupation.  Technology is forever changing and teachers must be aware of these changes. 

I totally agree with Mr. Fisch when he said that all educators who do not acheive a basic level of technological capability should be embarrassd.  This is the truth! In the world that we live in today, I see that so many young children know so much more about computers than adults.  I think that this is very strange, but it is true.  A a future educator, I want to be technologically literate. 

We as educators must stay updated with our research to help us familarize ourselves with these unfamilar changes.

Presentation Project # 5