Project #13

This semester I learned to use some valuable tools. I was totally amazed at google docs and how you can communicate with others. This was useful working as a group with the Fantastic Four. We could upload documents for our team members and they could view them at their own convenience. Not only did we use google docs, we used email, texting, and our cell phones.

Project #16

Blog Post #14

Teacher Knows if You Have Done the E-Reading

Colleges are now experimenting with a system that tracks when students read their books and how long. The Professor can look and see who has read and when. Supposedly, it will help them determine who will fail and who will pass. This allows the professor to digitally track the students success. It allows them to intervene if the student is slacking behind.

It is really ridiculous these are college students. If they don't want to read and they fail...it's their time and money. This is not high school it is college. As a teacher, it would just be one more thing to do and why? How is this going to benefit the students. If they are not going to read it you can't force them. We have technology that is better than digital babysitters. Let them watch video clips or do something besides read a book and take notes.

I would be very upset to take a class that stalks me. I really don't see the benefit for the teacher or student. This is just a money racket for Pearson publishers. As a student, I would probably find away around the reading. I would open the book and do something else. It is ridiculous to think someone is watching my every move. If I want to succeed I will do what it takes, but if I don't want to a digital babysitter is not going to make me.

If I was to talk to the teacher of this class I would ask:

• If my grades are good what does it matter if I read or not?
• How does this benefit you to know how often I read?
• Why can't you give us something we want to do instead of something to force us to do.
• What are you going to do with all this data?
• Is it going to benefit anyone?

What do you as a student think of digital E-reading?

• Has this inspired you to read more?
• Does it make you frustrated to know your being watched?
• Has this made you actually read?
• Do you agree with this idea?
• What do you think would make you read?
• Would you take this class again?

My comments to leave for this post would be I don't agree. This is appalling to think we are going to force students to read. No one wants a personal babysitter. Why waste money on such a ridiculous thing. There are some students who never crack the book and pass the exam with flying colors. They might have prior knowledge of the subject so why force them to read something they could explain better than the book. Maybe, the teacher needs to teach and not use an electronic babysitter. 

Final Report on PLN

My personal learning network knowledge  has grown tremendously. I have opened so many new accounts that sometimes, I forget my password. Some of my favorites are google drive and twitter. I used google drive and made a presentation with another classmate. It was amazing, we could each prepare slides and watch each other make deletions and additions. Being able to collaborate online was awesome. Twitter was another useful tool in my experience in EDM310. I have made a lot of connections with teachers through twitter. These will be valuable tools in the education field.

C4T #4

World Shaker Putting Dings in the Universe

Comment #1

Michael teaches Ed Tech. In his blog, he discusses  professors who use digital books to track students. The books allow the professor to see how often students stay on each page, If they took notes, whether of not they highlighted and if they opened it at all. Michael doesn't agree with this idea. He believes this enables professors to stick to the old teaching style lecture-test-lecture. I agree with Michael. The easiest way for a teacher to teach is lecture-test-lecture. I have been in so many classes like that. It is miserable to sit through lecture after lecture. I don't think this is the answer to motivating students to read.

Comment #2

This week Michael posted the coolest idea. It is called video notes and you use it with youtube. While you are watching youtube, it puts another screen up next to it so you can take notes. I needed video notes this semester. I will definitely be using this next semester. 

C4K April

WEEK #1

Mrs. Geldes 2013 class

Taylor E wrote a blog about her home state Nebraska. She talked about the geography of Nebraska and tourist attractions. She mentioned they have chicken shows. I'm not sure what a chicken show is, so I asked her to let me know.

Hi Taylor, My name is Kim Templeton and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. Nebraska sounds amazing. I didn't know they had the largest forest in the USA. I live in Mobile, Alabama and there are a lot of pine trees here. I would love to come see the canyons in Nebraska. I've never heard of a chicken show. What is a chicken show? You are right Nebraska has some pretty cool attractions. I would love to see the Doorly zoo. In Alabama, there closest zoo is 3 hours away. One thing I love about Alabama is the weather. It is warm year around and there is no snow. College football is very popular in Alabama. Enjoyed reading about Nebraska. Keep up the good work.

WEEK #2

4KJ @ Leopld Primary School

Liv,
I enjoyed reading your blog about your Easter Holiday. You said in your post you went to Melbourne and stayed at RACV, what is RACV? I live in the United States in a city called Mobile, Alabama. I am a student at the University of South Alabma. It was beautiful Easter Day in Alabama. The temperature was 75 degrees and it was sunny. What is the weather like in Australia, in the land down under? I’m sure you have heard that song by Men at Work. Well…I have homework to do. Great blog, keep up the good work.

Project #15

Blog Post #13

Brian Crosby: Back to the Future

I found this video of Brian Crosby to be very inspirational. I was in tears by the end of the video. Mr. Crosby is a fourth grade teacher at Agnes Risley Elementary School. He teaches in a school with numerous low income students. He gave the students a questionare at the beginning of the year. He asked simple questions such as: What city do you live in?, What is your phone number?, What country do you live in?, etc. The majority of the students couldn't answer these simple questions. I was shocked that they couldn't answer these questions. Mr. Crosby is an awesome teacher. He wanted to find a way to connect these kids to the world around them and I'm pretty sure he did.

Mr. Crosby made sure all of these kids were involved. He made the classroom exciting, creative and fun with hands on projects and technology. I loved the balloon release and it created so many activities for these fourth graders. I had to keep tell myself, these are fourth graders collaborating, being creative, and most of all learning. They were able to communicate with kids around the world not read about it in a text book. I think what Mr. Crosby is doing is awesome and  I hope I can model my teaching after him.

At the end of the video, there was a student who was not able to attend class because she had leukemia.  He decided to include her in the class through skype. It was so heart touching to watch her attend class with students her age. This is teaching...in my eyes.

Paul Andersen: Blended Learning Cycle

Paul Andersen is a high school AP Biology teacher in Bozeman, MT. He teaches using what he calls the blended learning cycle which is classroom, online, and mobile. He uses the five "E's" to engage students to explore, to explain, to expand, and finally to evaluate. He has six parts to his learning cycle. He describes them with the acronym quivers. The acronym goes like this: QUestion, Investigate, Video, Elaboration, Review, and Summary quiz. I think he has some good ideas to get students motivated to learn. He uses the review time to individually speak to each student for one on one time. I think that is a great idea. Some day, I would like to try this. Mr. Anderson is always looking for new ideas to help students gain knowledge. It is a process that will never end, we must always be searching to help kids be engaged. 

Final Project Progress

For our progress report of our final project, the Fantastic Four have decided to do option B. We have agreed on a time to meet with outlines we have each created on topics we want to talk about for future students in EDM 310.

Blog Post #12

Social Media in Education - Teaching Digital Natives in 2011

Write a quality blog post summarizing the post and describing the type of teacher you would be if given the opportunity.

This video gives some shocking facts on education in America. In 2011, SAT test scores were down. Online learners were doing better than students in classrooms. I can agree with these facts. My kids took some classes through Abeka. It is a christian based education. My kids would watch videos that had been recorded from actual classrooms. It was interesting, but still not like being online.

The video refers to this generations as "natives" to technology. They have been surrounded with computers, cell phones, ipads, and etc. Twenty years ago, technology was all beginning to explode. Most people did not have a cell phone or a computer. The video says it is time to rethink teaching. What was common twenty years ago is not so today. Technology has brought some wonderful improvements to society. Who would have though we could communicate to people around the world. When I was in school, we had to use encyclopedias. The video said only 2 percent admit to using a book to write a report and 100 percent used wikepedia, when wikipedia is as accurate as the Britannica Enclylopedia.  I would have loved to had wikipedia or google. In college, we were not allowed to use wikipedia. Of course, wikipedia was the first place I looked and used it to find other sources.

As a teacher, I want to take advantage of what students use on a daily basis. Why make them suffer through an expensive text book that is never opened. I know if I assign an online assignment there is a greater chance they will look at it. Text books are overpriced and wasting precious tax payer money. Teachers who were not raised native to this technology world are not quite sure about what to do with it. I say take advantage of it. Confucious quoted, "Tell me I'll forget, Show me I'll remember, Involve me I will understand. Why not involve them in blogs, social boards, wikis, twitter etc. We need to think and teach different.

Blog Post #11

Mrs. Cassidy's First Grade Class-Little Kids...Big Potential

Mrs. Cassidy is an awesome teacher. She is incorporating the use of technology in her 1st grade classroom. Her students told why they liked to blog. They like for people to comment and brag on them. The teacher has explained to them how to use good etiquette while blogging. She is teaching them how to be safe on the internet. They know they can trust sites on the class web page.
The class page is used as a learning tool. This would be great for posting homework and things parents need to know. It would help parents become more connected with what is going on at school. Parents like to ask, "What did you do at school today?" That is a tough question to answer, but they could log on to the blog and show their parents. This would be good collaboration for the students and parents.
I think what Mrs. Cassidy is going to really help her students. They don't even realize they are learning such valuable tools. The students find it entertaining and isn't that how society is today. I know from sitting in lectures, it is boring. If is something of interest it makes it easier, but really collaboration is so much better. I've heard people say how could you teach a first grader to blog? Well, they have learned to sit in a chair and do worksheets. Anything would be better than sitting in a desk doing worksheets.

Kathy Cassidy's Skype with EDM310

Dr. Strange and Mrs. Cassidy had a 30 minute skype discussing technology. She began her journey exploring technology 10 years ago. Her classroom received 5 computers and she wanted to put them to good use. She decided to give it a try. She did most of the discovering on her own, but collaborated with technology department at the school. Not all the teachers are using technology, but she feels you are handicapping yourself and your students by not using technology. I agree with Mrs. Cassidy, I don't want to handicap my students. You can't even apply for a job anymore without the use of a computer.

She talked about students blogging and the benefits. One benefit is they have an audience. The whole world can see the blog and that is powerful. The children can look at the cluster map and see where the visitors are from. Now, that is even cool for an adult. In the process of blogging they are using valuable tools such as, writing, video, and audio.

Next, what is technically literate? That is a good question, because most people think they know, but they don't. Ten years ago, if you knew how to use a spreadsheet, microsoft office, or something like that you were technologically literate. Today, it is about online networking and collaborating with people around the world. She talked about twitter being a good network of people with like interests. Last week, I was working on a paper and wasn't understanding phonemics. I was on twitter and a teacher had posted a link. I clicked on the link and it was exactly what I needed. It was awesome and I began to see the benefits Dr. Strange was talking about.

C4K March

WEEK #1

Mrs. Goerned's 5th grade class 
Jackson is a fifth grader in Mrs. Goerend's class. He wrote a blog about the first amendment. He descried all the things that would be different. 

I agree with you Jackson, we should all have the same opportunities. I am glad it is different today. You made some good points about friends. Can you imagine excluding certain people from being your friends. That doesn’t even make sense. I’m thankful for the role models we have as well. 

Week #2

Harbor 7

Yes, I think he was successful when he made his wind turbines.  I think this because people came to his house to use electricity. Also he had water people could use too.  I think that William is very brave to try because his mom told him he could’t do it, really he could do it and I think that is amazing.

If I could improve one thing at my school it would be the mini buses.  I have to ride a mini bus and it is very annoying.  There are too many people for that one bus.  The way I would go about changing this problem is I would change the route or put more seats on the bus.  If I could change somthing about my house/home it would be how unorganized the refrigerator is. I would start fixing this problem by making dishes that stacked together easily and hopefuly that would help it become more organized.

Clara, 
Hi, My name is Kim Templeton. I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am taking EDM310 and was assigned to read your blog and leave a comment. The wind turbines are pretty cool. On a road trip to Chicago a couple of years ago, we passed by a wind turbine farm. It was really amazing. I like your idea to improve school buses. I am a school bus driver. If I could change something on a school bus it would be air conditioning. I have the same problem in my refrigerator. Let me know when you design your new dishes. I’ll be first in line to buy them. Keep up the good work! Your blog looks fantastic!

Week #3

Sesalina at PT England School
Sesalina wrote about the meaning of Easter. She wanted to know why we celebrate Easter. I told her I thought she did an excellent job tell the Easter story. 

Week #4

Mr Boylen’s class- Kelsi D.
Kelsi wrote about the benefits of blogging. She felt like students would gain valuable social skills if they blog. She said students must want to blog or it will not work.

My Response: Kelsie,
I agree blogging is a great way to socialize even if you are a troll who sits in your room. I think it is
amazing how we can talk to people around the world. We can experience their personal outlook on their
culture. You can’t get that from a school textbook. It just makes it so real and alive. I agree you only get
out what you put into blogging. If you don’t want to do something it usually shows. Don’t miss out on
blogging. This is a chance to be creative and learn. Great post!