Monday, November 29, 2010
Final Report on my PLN
Sunday, November 28, 2010
C4T # 4
I was assigned Ms. Jenna Bentleys' blog for this C4T. This particular post was titled My Nellie Bly Learning Centre. This has been a project that she has been working on for the past month or so for the Night of the Notables. I had to look at some of her previous post to understand what exactly was going on. She picked Nellie Bly, who is a feminist, stunt journalist, and a writer, because she sees her as being eminent. The project included a game. This particular game was a spin the wheel and you would land on one of four points in Ms. Bly's life. You would then be asked a question and would have to put yourself in her shoes to give the best answer. The game was put in place to start conversations about Nellie Bly.
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My second visit to her blog she posted "To Fight for Something as Opposed to Fighting Over Something." She claimed that the minority are more likely to fight for something than to fight over something. Also, the claims that the minority of the minority are the ones that actually make a statement. She give the example of the Founding Fathers. I agree with her on that and I also believe that anyone can put their mind to something that they are passionate about whether or not they are the minority. I was interested by this post also because I just got through studying the relationship between Britain and the American Colonies. I found this neat because I knew exactly what she was talking about.
My second visit to her blog she posted "To Fight for Something as Opposed to Fighting Over Something." She claimed that the minority are more likely to fight for something than to fight over something. Also, the claims that the minority of the minority are the ones that actually make a statement. She give the example of the Founding Fathers. I agree with her on that and I also believe that anyone can put their mind to something that they are passionate about whether or not they are the minority. I was interested by this post also because I just got through studying the relationship between Britain and the American Colonies. I found this neat because I knew exactly what she was talking about.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
C4K #'s 8-11
C4K #8/ I was assigned Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog as this weeks comment for kids. Her post was informing people of their Family Blogging Month. This for for the family members and friends of the students to comment on their classes blog. Included in this blog was two video's one was how to leave a comment and the other was what to include in your comment to make it a good comment. I thought the second video was very helpful due to the fact I have problems trying to figure out what to comment about. I have included it in the C4K Summary because I think everyone should watch it.
C4K #9/ This post was a video made by Room 13. It was their Photo Challenge. They took a snake stuffed animal and was assigned to take as many pictures of it everywhere on campus. They were pretty creative doing this project. Some examples and my favorite was when they put the snake on the garden hose roll-up holder and on the water fountain. I think this is a great way to get students out of the classroom and yet still doing something educational.
C4K #10/ This post was quite interesting and unlike any other post I have read so far. It was by Sam. In this post, he wrote a story about how he had spaced out and was all the sudden Ramses II. He went from one scene to another through a time warp. In the comment I left him, I asked him what sparked this idea. I was very curious because I have never really heard of a story like this before. Although, it was quite interesting and well wrote.
C4K #11/ I was assigned Ms. Naugle's 5th Period class. Her students did a Pumpkin Project on whether or not pumpkins float in water. They brought pumpkins of all sizes. The student I was assigned was Dairon. His post was well wrote. He was excited about his pumpkin floating and he even estimated that their was at least 100 seeds in it.
C4K #9/ This post was a video made by Room 13. It was their Photo Challenge. They took a snake stuffed animal and was assigned to take as many pictures of it everywhere on campus. They were pretty creative doing this project. Some examples and my favorite was when they put the snake on the garden hose roll-up holder and on the water fountain. I think this is a great way to get students out of the classroom and yet still doing something educational.
C4K #10/ This post was quite interesting and unlike any other post I have read so far. It was by Sam. In this post, he wrote a story about how he had spaced out and was all the sudden Ramses II. He went from one scene to another through a time warp. In the comment I left him, I asked him what sparked this idea. I was very curious because I have never really heard of a story like this before. Although, it was quite interesting and well wrote.
C4K #11/ I was assigned Ms. Naugle's 5th Period class. Her students did a Pumpkin Project on whether or not pumpkins float in water. They brought pumpkins of all sizes. The student I was assigned was Dairon. His post was well wrote. He was excited about his pumpkin floating and he even estimated that their was at least 100 seeds in it.
Additional Assignment #3
Sir Ken Robinson's: Changing Education Paradigms
This video was amazing. Not only the message, but the art as well. I like some of what he says about ADHD. I do believe children are getting so distracted about all the other fun stuff that they do lose track of what they are suppose to doing which is schoolwork, because sometimes it does get boring. I do believe that students may sometimes need help with focusing, but not to the point that they are not all there. Meaning, not to the point that they are so drugged up they can not think straight. It does happen, because I have seen it. He states that the system of education is modeled after Industrialization, age group, bells, etc. I have never thought of that, but he's right. I can see how schools are like industrialized factories.
Another thing that caught my attention in this video was Divergent Thinking. They completed a longitudinal test on a group of children starting at the age of a kindergarten student which scored at 98% then tested that same group every three to five years until the age of 15 and their divergent thinking deteriorated.
He makes a point that I agree with and that is "Collaboration is the stuff of growth." Sir Ken says that, "Great learning happens in groups." I believe this is true because when you put a group of minds together not only do you have an array of ideas, each person has their own talents. For example, one person could be the artist, one the narrator, idea generator, designer, author, and sound effects. All these positions are just as important as the other. Thats why I believe in collaborative projects because their are to many positions for just one person to fill. If I were to choose a position, I would like to be the narrator.
This video was amazing. Not only the message, but the art as well. I like some of what he says about ADHD. I do believe children are getting so distracted about all the other fun stuff that they do lose track of what they are suppose to doing which is schoolwork, because sometimes it does get boring. I do believe that students may sometimes need help with focusing, but not to the point that they are not all there. Meaning, not to the point that they are so drugged up they can not think straight. It does happen, because I have seen it. He states that the system of education is modeled after Industrialization, age group, bells, etc. I have never thought of that, but he's right. I can see how schools are like industrialized factories.
Another thing that caught my attention in this video was Divergent Thinking. They completed a longitudinal test on a group of children starting at the age of a kindergarten student which scored at 98% then tested that same group every three to five years until the age of 15 and their divergent thinking deteriorated.
He makes a point that I agree with and that is "Collaboration is the stuff of growth." Sir Ken says that, "Great learning happens in groups." I believe this is true because when you put a group of minds together not only do you have an array of ideas, each person has their own talents. For example, one person could be the artist, one the narrator, idea generator, designer, author, and sound effects. All these positions are just as important as the other. Thats why I believe in collaborative projects because their are to many positions for just one person to fill. If I were to choose a position, I would like to be the narrator.
Blog Post 13
ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange. This is an extremely useful site for teacher as well as parents. There are so many features that this website has. I will explain a few of them. When you go to the home website there are many choices you can choose from. There are Courses of Study, Web Links, Lesson Plans, Professional Learning, Podcast Treasury, ALEXville, and a Search. I will go into detail of a few of them.
I will begin with Courses of Study. Once you click on it, you will see another set of options to choose from. They are all subjects such as the basic ones along with technology, health, languages, etc. You will need to choose one of the subjects and the grade level or type you are interested in and you will find all the topics that go along with that grade or level of math.
Secondly, I will Lesson Plans. ALEX gives you options on how you want to find lesson plans or you can log in and create your own lesson plans. You can search by subject, grade, school,etc. Once you have made a choice go to display results. Under the results, it gives you the entire lesson laid out for you. How much time, objectives, activities you could do are all included along with so much more.
This website is packed full of ideas and helpful things you could do that I can not begin to explain all of the. The most I can do is point you in the right direction in hopes you will check it out.
I am so glad that I was made aware of this sight before I started teaching. There are so many helpful ideas that are encompassed in this site. I will definitely utilize this site when I become a teacher.
Additional Assignment #5
Tom Johnson's Adventures in Pencil Integration:
Just Teach Them To Solve For X
In this post, he is explaining to a fellow teacher why metaphor's are important to learning and life. Using metaphors are confusing, dangerous, and often times messy but he relates these facts to reality. He talks about how life is not easy and sometimes very hard, so he wants to teach his students to use metaphors to help show them that.
Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils
In this post, Mr. Spencer is referring to how the attitudes of students coincide with their confusion of how things are changing in society. He compares a fourteen year old to a toddler to prove the point. The point being that the fourteen year olds want to be treated like both an adult and a kid.
He Just Likes the Class For The Pencils
This is my favorite post of the four that was assigned. Mainly because of his way with children and how he treats them. He takes into account that he is not always right and does make mistakes, but he also apologizes which is essential in gaining a trustworthy relationship with students. I know I always had respect for teachers who acknowledges when they were wrong.
Another thing I like about this post is that he does not "shame and blame" the student. That is no way to gain respect or help the student in any way. Teachers need to try and find out what exactly that particular student is having trouble with and why in order to help them. I think Mr. Spencer is a great teacher that works hard to help his students.
The Medium Shapes the Learning
Mr. Spencer is trying to show that teaching with different mediums will give you a different learning outcomes. I completely agree with this post. I immediately compared this post to an Art class that I have recently taken. We learned many art mediums different artist of different time periods used. Each medium produced a unique outcome. Depending on which medium you teach will give you a unique outcome.
Just Teach Them To Solve For X
In this post, he is explaining to a fellow teacher why metaphor's are important to learning and life. Using metaphors are confusing, dangerous, and often times messy but he relates these facts to reality. He talks about how life is not easy and sometimes very hard, so he wants to teach his students to use metaphors to help show them that. Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils
In this post, Mr. Spencer is referring to how the attitudes of students coincide with their confusion of how things are changing in society. He compares a fourteen year old to a toddler to prove the point. The point being that the fourteen year olds want to be treated like both an adult and a kid.
He Just Likes the Class For The Pencils
This is my favorite post of the four that was assigned. Mainly because of his way with children and how he treats them. He takes into account that he is not always right and does make mistakes, but he also apologizes which is essential in gaining a trustworthy relationship with students. I know I always had respect for teachers who acknowledges when they were wrong.
Another thing I like about this post is that he does not "shame and blame" the student. That is no way to gain respect or help the student in any way. Teachers need to try and find out what exactly that particular student is having trouble with and why in order to help them. I think Mr. Spencer is a great teacher that works hard to help his students.
The Medium Shapes the Learning
Mr. Spencer is trying to show that teaching with different mediums will give you a different learning outcomes. I completely agree with this post. I immediately compared this post to an Art class that I have recently taken. We learned many art mediums different artist of different time periods used. Each medium produced a unique outcome. Depending on which medium you teach will give you a unique outcome.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Blog Post 12
Read Who says elementary students can't blog?. Write a short paragraph telling me about your thoughts on this post.
Who says elementary students can't blog?
I definitely believe that students can blog. I would have never even thought of it before this class. Edm310 has opened my eyes to so much that I did not even know was out there. I think it is great that students are involved in such things. In this post it shows. It helps them realize that their words do mean something and can be heard. Teaching this to students at such a young age will, I think, be beneficial to them as they grow and learn new and exciting things. Hopefully, upcoming teachers realize that and strive to help their students be aware of the fact that their voices can be heard.
Who says elementary students can't blog?
I definitely believe that students can blog. I would have never even thought of it before this class. Edm310 has opened my eyes to so much that I did not even know was out there. I think it is great that students are involved in such things. In this post it shows. It helps them realize that their words do mean something and can be heard. Teaching this to students at such a young age will, I think, be beneficial to them as they grow and learn new and exciting things. Hopefully, upcoming teachers realize that and strive to help their students be aware of the fact that their voices can be heard.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Project #6
How is Edm310 Going for You?
I thought I would do a survey on something that coincided with this class, so what better thing to do than to ask how the class was going. For the most part, my group was doing well. I have included a link to my Summary Results Form to show in detail all the statistics. Overall, my survey turned out to be pretty good. I only had four people that have yet to answer it.
Summary Responses
I thought I would do a survey on something that coincided with this class, so what better thing to do than to ask how the class was going. For the most part, my group was doing well. I have included a link to my Summary Results Form to show in detail all the statistics. Overall, my survey turned out to be pretty good. I only had four people that have yet to answer it.
Summary Responses
Project #16 Progress Report
I am working on the Final Project with Hailey Rascoe, Leigh Setser, and Christie Odom. We met tonight, November 8th, to discuss what we were going to do. We are not quite sure yet, but we plan to meet next week to discuss topics and how we are going to go about completing it.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Blog Post 11
Little Kids... Big Potential
I think this is an amazing video. I wish every school was able or propelled to have classrooms, such as this one, at least one in every grade level. I thought it was such a blessing for this class to have access to all the computers and technology and be able to use them. Not many schools can afford this.
For these students to just be first graders they are already technological advanced. When I was in first grade, my family did not even own one. I remember playing stick and a blocks game on a family members, but that was the extent of my knowledge of computers. I think that schools should do everything they can do get students computer savvy, because it will be a huge part of their future.
Ms. Kathy Cassidy Skype Conversation 2/17/10
This was a video of a Skype conversation between Ms. Cassidy and Dr. Strange. Dr. Strange started the conversation by asking her how she got started in technology and how long she had been doing it. Ms. Cassidy replied by saying ten years and that she had been given five computers, but she could not put any programs on them. This in turn sent her on a technological journey to learn about webpages, blogs, etc. She claims she has a lot of support from parents, administrators, and that divisions technology coordinator. He of which has helped her a lot and encouraged her blog and what she is doing with these students.
She has several comments on what she thinks about some of Dr. Strange's students views on technology in the classroom. She believes and clearly states that they are wrong. Technology is not going away and that they would be handicapping their students as well as themselves.
Dr. Strange refers back to his two questions. The first one is , "Do you believe all teachers should be technological literate?" I love her answer to this question which was if you can only do spreadsheets and word processing that is not technology today, that was twenty year ago. Teachers should continue to learn because technology is constantly changing. The questions the students asked her were pretty good questions. The one that was asked about the students safety and privacy on the internet would have been one I would have asked.
This was a great Skype interview. I think it would have been more beneficial for students to have been assigned this to watch before we were assigned our Skype interview.
I think this is an amazing video. I wish every school was able or propelled to have classrooms, such as this one, at least one in every grade level. I thought it was such a blessing for this class to have access to all the computers and technology and be able to use them. Not many schools can afford this.
For these students to just be first graders they are already technological advanced. When I was in first grade, my family did not even own one. I remember playing stick and a blocks game on a family members, but that was the extent of my knowledge of computers. I think that schools should do everything they can do get students computer savvy, because it will be a huge part of their future.
Ms. Kathy Cassidy Skype Conversation 2/17/10
This was a video of a Skype conversation between Ms. Cassidy and Dr. Strange. Dr. Strange started the conversation by asking her how she got started in technology and how long she had been doing it. Ms. Cassidy replied by saying ten years and that she had been given five computers, but she could not put any programs on them. This in turn sent her on a technological journey to learn about webpages, blogs, etc. She claims she has a lot of support from parents, administrators, and that divisions technology coordinator. He of which has helped her a lot and encouraged her blog and what she is doing with these students.
She has several comments on what she thinks about some of Dr. Strange's students views on technology in the classroom. She believes and clearly states that they are wrong. Technology is not going away and that they would be handicapping their students as well as themselves.
Dr. Strange refers back to his two questions. The first one is , "Do you believe all teachers should be technological literate?" I love her answer to this question which was if you can only do spreadsheets and word processing that is not technology today, that was twenty year ago. Teachers should continue to learn because technology is constantly changing. The questions the students asked her were pretty good questions. The one that was asked about the students safety and privacy on the internet would have been one I would have asked.
This was a great Skype interview. I think it would have been more beneficial for students to have been assigned this to watch before we were assigned our Skype interview.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Blog Post 10
An Open Letter to Educators By: Morgan Bayda
This blog post was an eye opener for me. Sadly, it was the truth. I am currently taking five classes and two out of those classes are hour long lectures with no discussion. It is very hard to stay awake in those classes. I think that every class should be discussion because you learn so much more that way. You are hearing it, thinking about it, and having a discussion about it. After doing all that you pretty much know it thoroughly. Discussing something helps me remember better because I have to think about first. I do not know if I would go quite as far as Dan went, but something needs to be done about todays education. There students should be taught more than just facts, there should be more applications involved to better understand.
Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home By: Tom Johnson
This post was a story of two teachers. One teacher was upset because another teacher was sending pencils home and apparently doing so causes low test scores. It amazes me how teachers worry so much about test scores and not so much about the students. To me, no two students are the same. Each students learns better in different ways. For example, students can be visual learners, auditory learners, kinesthetic learners, and finally read and write learners. Some students are very smart, but when it come to test they may not do as well. That why I believe that grades are not as important as how well the student participates in class.
My Sentence
Try to be a better person today than I was yesterday and encourage everyone to do the best they can and never give up.
This blog post was an eye opener for me. Sadly, it was the truth. I am currently taking five classes and two out of those classes are hour long lectures with no discussion. It is very hard to stay awake in those classes. I think that every class should be discussion because you learn so much more that way. You are hearing it, thinking about it, and having a discussion about it. After doing all that you pretty much know it thoroughly. Discussing something helps me remember better because I have to think about first. I do not know if I would go quite as far as Dan went, but something needs to be done about todays education. There students should be taught more than just facts, there should be more applications involved to better understand.
Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home By: Tom Johnson
This post was a story of two teachers. One teacher was upset because another teacher was sending pencils home and apparently doing so causes low test scores. It amazes me how teachers worry so much about test scores and not so much about the students. To me, no two students are the same. Each students learns better in different ways. For example, students can be visual learners, auditory learners, kinesthetic learners, and finally read and write learners. Some students are very smart, but when it come to test they may not do as well. That why I believe that grades are not as important as how well the student participates in class.
My Sentence
Try to be a better person today than I was yesterday and encourage everyone to do the best they can and never give up.
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