Blog Post #5

Imagination

This weeks blog to pay attention to is Krissy Venosdale's. Krissy is a teacher who seems to look for the inspired everyday. Her blog is full of interesting thoughts and ideas. There are great free poster and information on the what she loves to do and teach.
She has one blog post in particular that talks about what she would do if she built a school. She has some very brilliant ideas about what she would include in a school. She focuses on creativity, innovation, character, and instilling the desire to learn, which I think are the most important things to teach.
I have said for a long time that if a child is eager to learn something you should give them the means and opportunity to do so. A child is going to retain more knowledge if they have a passion for a particular subject. Educational desires and passions should be nurtured and encouraged so that the child feels secure in their abilities to learn and discover new things.
I was asked to share what I would do if I were able to build a school, and honestly the question baffles me, because I would have no clue where to start with educating the masses. I think the one thing that stands out in my mind is more individual attention and helping a child figure out how best they learn. I was never taught that in school, ever and I am still constantly figuring out things about the way I learn best. It has made school somewhat of a struggle over the years. Also, I would probably focus on community with my teachings. That is something we have lost a society. How can I do what is best for me, but at the same time how can it benefit my community. People use to help their neighbors, now most people don't know them. I guess it boils down to how can I make my world a better place for myself and those around me.

New Frontier
Virtual Choir
Interview with Eric Whitacre
This is something that blows my mind. That is the one thing I miss from high school is choir and maybe if I would have known about this years ago I wouldn't have missed it so much. I think this is just amazing on so many levels. It gives you a sense of how music connects people on so many levels. What also blows my mind is that someone actually sat down and took the time to do all that editing. That is a big task if I have ever heard of one.

Teaching in the 21st Century
Teaching in the 21st Century is something that Kevin Roberts is very much spot on about. Although I will not be teaching in a class room setting I do feel very strongly about teaching skills instead of just facts. In America we spend 13 years of a child's life cramming facts down their throats and a majority of them will not be retained. The basics will stick, but unless someone is a scientist then they probably will not remember symbols from the periodic table of elements. That is unless you can make a corny joke about them. I feel we spend too much time on facts and not enough time on important things like sorting through the facts and how to make the best decision with the information that you have. Those are the types of things that they will use throughout life.

Flipping the classroom videos Katie Gimbar
Dr. Lodge McCammon
Ms. Munafo
We were asked if flipping is something that we could use in our classrooms when we become teachers, personally this is something I would not use since I am not going to be in a classroom setting, but I do think it is a good idea. I think there would be some technical issues you would have to work out like what do you do with those students who never do their homework, not because they can't, but because they don't want to. I would be interested in seeing an example of it working. The whole concept makes sense to me.

C4T Post and Comment Summary

Learning in the new age

Jenny's Learning Journal

I recently read a post that Jenny She posted most recently her thoughts on her class' new adventure. iPads in the classroom. She said she was a little overwhelmed and excited about the idea.
So far it has turned out that over all she is enjoying them. She has been able to use the many different resources that the iPad offers. She has also been able to use them as a way of rewarding her students for good behavior and for meeting goal.

This is the comment I left for her.

Personally I think the use of devices such as the iPad offer some more individual type attention. I may not be a person standing there with them, but the computer is able to tell them if it is right or wrong. If it is right then it reinforces the correct answer and gives rewards. If it is wrong it will inform them that it is incorrect and encourages them to try again. If they still struggle it will so them the correct answer/way a task should be done.


At an earlier date in time she took the time to share her thoughts on the use of google+ in the classroom. It is worth the read and this is the comment I left for her.

Ms. She,

I don't have a whole lot of personal experience with google plus, I use different applications for my social networking. I will say this, that google+ has been very beneficial in this EDM310 class. It allows us to meet only once a month and still keep in touch with each other, the lab assistants, and Dr. Strange. It has definitely been a learning experience and a pretty enjoyable one at that.

Blog Post #4

Podcasting with kids

Podcasting. It is something I never thought I would find myself doing let alone reading about 1st graders who were doing it. Ms. Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano gives a good example of how she has used podcasting with her 1st graders and how successful it can be. Check out 1st graders creates their own read-along audio book.

Podcasting is something that really is not that difficult, but it does require you to give it lots of attention. You can accomplish many things via podcasting such as audiobooks, as Ms. Tolisano shows us, lectures, and recording personal thoughts and feelings about a given subject. Podcasting makes you very aware of yourself, your voice, your word choice, and even the subject matter your covering. I think it can be a very self-reflecting process.

I can see using podcasting in classrooms because it lets your students engage in something new and exciting. It would make students want to participate and put their best effort into something so big and wonderful. It also lets them reflect on the things that I spoke of above.

And I also must say this I am personally nervous and not looking forward to podcasting because I do not like hearing my voice recorded. So the upcoming projects that require us to do podcasting are going to be interesting.

Special Blog Post #1

Found on Wolfram|Alpha

Number 2)
India’s population 1.21 billion, China’s population 1.35 billion, (speaking English in China 318 million), U.S. population 309 million

Number 3)
I searched for the Earth’s population, which is 6.79 billion, and the English-speaking world is 2.31 billion.

Number 4)
I have personally never used Wolfram|Alpha before, and I had actually never heard of the website. Playing around on the website shows me that you can gather lots of calculations on just about anything you could possibly want to know about. For example, I searched the word apples, and what came up were values relating to its nutritional information. I found that very interesting.

I think it could be used as a great resource for looking up the answer to those types of questions that no one really knows the answer to. We all know that kids are full of questions about everything, and they are not afraid to ask, I think this is just another wonderful tool you can use to fill your students and your own heard with knowledge.

Number 6)
Technology is constantly changing around us, everyday more and more people become involved in using it in some new way. One way to know for sure is to look at how “The Count” that Gary Hayes has taken time to show us. Each seconds there a numerous contacts being made via social media. I always new that these were a huge part of our lives but I didn’t realize quite how much until I did take the time to watch “The Count.”
As humans in general we will be constantly watching the face of these technologies, including social media, change, but as educators we will need to be more than just watching. Keeping up with the times becomes more and more important because these technologies change the way we approach are everyday lives. We will need to be able to use new technology so that we are able to teach our students how to be efficient in the use of them. We should never forget as educator that just because we are the “teacher,” it doesn’t mean we can’t learn something new.

Blog #3

Peer Review

I can honestly say that the tips we watched, read, and were asked to put into practice about peer review where very simple to the point and helpful. I will honestly say that even with those helpful hints, I still don't know that I do it correctly. Peer review has never been my strong point, probably because writing isn't my strong point. I usually end up spending hours upon hours writing, reading, editing, rereading a blog post before I ever publish it.
I think one reason I struggle so much is because I am a rambler. I have a hard time clearing all the junk from my head to get to the point. Even when I talk, I can see in people's faces when I start to loose them. I have to stop what I am saying and either just tell them the point I am trying to make instead of giving an example, or I have to start all over. So I will say this. If anyone I do a peer review on feels like I didn't make a point or help them out in anyway, please feel free to email me and be like I didn't get it. I will then try again.

Assistive Technologies

The advances in technology never cease to amaze me. I remember how exciting it was when we got our first computer for my dad's business, I was in the third grade. All it was really good for was doing his books. Now I am almost twenty-five sitting on my couch surrounded by three "computers," my actual computer in my lap, my iPad, and my iPhone. The great thing about there current items I have is that with just a little bit of setting changes or software installs these items can be changed into assistive technology. People who don't have the ability to see can do anything on the computer that I can do, even read books.
I think assistive technologies are a very big deal and I think we will continue to see huge leaps and bounds made in these areas. I have personally seen how items such as iPads have been great with teaching. My family friend's son is not blind, but he is autistic and they have been using and iPad with him for many years now. She says he works with it great and they do see him actually learn with it. I think all aspects of assistive learning falls into being able to keep up with technology and finding the best available resources to help the children you will be "teaching."
For myself and my future career I do see myself working with a variety of children who have some sort of challenge they are facing. I am really excited because I believe that I will get to do a lot with hands on with assistive technologies.

Harnessing your student's digital smarts I really don't have very much to say about this, because I think it speaks for itself. What I would like to say is if more teacher took this type of approach of let's all learn together, instead of the idea of I am the teacher listen to what I am telling you, then children would actually learn what they are doing instead of just faking it to get a grade. I say this because that is what I personally did in most all of my education until the last 5 years.