Project #13

Group Jaks collaborated on both projects using Skype, Google docs and texting. The majority of our collaboration for the project was done through Google docs. We met in person to put together our ideas. We used Youtube to add background music. I movie was used to finalize the projects. For our final project we wanted to be creative and show others how to change a boring class into a classroom filled with technology.

Blog Post #13

The purpose of this blog post was to give a reflection of how it was going 24 hours without using technology. For me, it was very hard. The main thing that I had a problem not being able to use was my cell phone. I live four hours from home and I always have my phone with me. I never know if something is going to happen or if my family may have a emergency and need to contact me. Also, I am a nanny for 2 children in Fairhope after school and not being able to communicate on the phone with their parents made it hard for me to find out what days I had to work or what the children had planned for that week. Going without the television was not particularly that hard for me. I am a type of person that can go without watching television. I find that I can accomplish more if I do not have the temptation of watching the television.

I believe that going 24 hours without using technology was a hard thing for me to do but it did make me realize how I do not spend time for myself or the time that I should for homework and/or studying that I need. In my future classroom, students will be allowed to use some technology for some classroom assignments or projects, but the whole classroom by no means will be ALL technology composed.

Final Report on PLN

This is a updated screen shot of my PLN. Since the last post, I added EDU 2.0, Education, PBSTeachers and TeacherTube. With adding the last four I believe that these will help me in my classroom in the future!

C4T #4

Angela Maiers Education

Personalized service is such a rarity in the marketplace. In a sea of automated recordings, generic emails, and anonymous service representatives - true customer Service is not only a luxury; it is often a shock to the system.Case and point. I recently stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston. I had a minor (and I emphasize the minor) mixup with my online reservation. The staff was wonderfully accommodating and took care of everything when I arrived. Quick, immediate, apologetic, and done. Great customer service right? Imagine my surprise when, I came back to the room later that evening to this beautiful site. My first I thought – this must be a mistake. Somewhere in another room, a guest is going to receive a wonderful treat. I called the front desk wanting to make sure the”intended guest” still had time to enjoy their gifts. As I was dialing, I glanced at the card and saw my name. In shock, I hung up the phone. The front desk rang me back (of course) again apologizing for any inconvenience this minor incident caused me, wanting to make sure I knew how valued my patience and consideration was. What…they valued my patience and consideration??? I had long forgotten the “incidence”. I thought I was being “punked” by my husband or friend. Nope…they meant it. Imagine that; someone going out of their way to make sure I left happy and satisfied with their service. WOW- almost unheard of these days! Glad they put this in writing, or I would think it was a dream: Although, I appreciated and loved these special gifts; she ”had me at Angela.” I was a return customer at, “I’m Sorry.” So few brands take the time and energy for those basics. That is all people are looking for- to be noticed and acknowledged; to matter- right? Luxury is no longer defined by the quality of your product or zeros on your price tag. It is defined by your ability to meet and exceed the needs of customers. How do you provide “luxurious” service to those you lead and serve?

I said...Mrs. Maiers,

I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama and I was assigned to read and comment on your blog. After reading this blog post, I realized that there aren't many places around today that would take the time to do what the hotel did for you. I agree with the sentence that you said about luxury is defined by your ability to meet and exceed the needs of customers. That is a very true statement.



In the second post that I commented on Mrs. Maiers stated Thanks to Tim Stokman for reminding us all how fun education and documentaries can be!Remember those good old times when the teacher used to roll the television set into the classroom, to play documentaries about biology and geology and physics? Well, “good old times” seems a little bit too nostalgic here, especially for a kid from the 80’s, because I’m pretty sure they still play them every now and then, using more modern media like DVD’s. When the teacher pressed the play button and the video started rolling, the whole class literally went mute. Before we could realize what happened, we were all sucked into a world where David Attenborough was our teacher, and the tropical rainforest our classroom. We visited laboratories, museums and even went inside plants to see how chlorophyl worked, and we still had time for supper that day! Most kids, including me of course, were hungry for more by the time the credits started rolling. What makes documentaries great? What makes documentaries so engaging and captivating? What made all us kids sit down and watch in awe for more than one full hour? If you have a child, you know this is something impossible to do, right? No child can sit silent for even one minute, let alone an hour. To understand this better, let’s look at what a documentary really is. A documentary is a montage of sights and sounds from different sources, ranging from radio and television to rare footage from extreme and unreachable places, all with the aim of documenting reality. The key concept here is “reality”: A documentary feels so real and concrete, unlike a chalkboard, which only portrays the abstract. Add to this special effects, and you truly have a unique experience here. It appeals to all five senses: Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. The latter three are generated by our own brain, our imagination, our sixth sense if you will. Documentaries spark interest and enthusiasm, precisely because our brains are completely engaged with the material being presented. Learning becomes easy and fun, because our attention is fixed while our senses are constantly being stimulated. We form (emotional) memories of what we like, so the stage for future career choices and future creativity for you children could be set here. Education with documentaries
Documentaries are a great supplementary tool for educators and teachers alike. As a documentary buff, I’ve been using them for myself and my kids for years with amazing results. However, they are not there to replace you. Like I said: They are just tools, and like any other tool, they should be used
with caution and skill. Documentaries have a couple of crucial shortcomings, and I will discuss them here. First, the problem of objectivity. A good documentary filmmaker will always document reality as objectively as possible, but some can be very subjective as well, especially when they have some kind of political agenda in mind. There is no such thing as peer review in the world of documentaries, so
anybody can produce anything. Always watch a documentary yourself before you show it to your kids. I know from experience that many can be misleading. Another problem is that watching documentaries is a very unsocial activity. Keep in mind that documentaries will never offer real valuable human contact and warmth. Always limit the amount of documentary time to your kids and students. Once or twice a week should be enough. Fill in the rest of their time with more social activities.
A third problem I see with documentaries has to do with passivity. It’s no different from watching tv, because it offers no interactivity at all. It’s all very linear and absolutely no engagement is required, which kind of dulls the little brains a little bit. We don’t want our children just sitting there and
watching all the time, right? We want to keep their minds sharp, and this can only be done with more interactivity. Fortunately, this problem is tackled by interactive web documentaries which I will cover in another post. Tim Stokman is the founder of DocumentaryZ.com, a website where you can watch free documentaries online. In his spare time, he raises three kids and watches documentaries.

I commented back and said,
Ms. Maiers,
I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. After reading your post, I can honestly say that I am one of the students that got happy when the teacher would roll in the tv for that day or say that we were watching a movie in that class today. I believe that some teachers just show movies to students because they don't feel like teaching that day. But others have other movies that are more interesting and the children can actually sit and pay attention to them. Great post.

Project #15 SmartBoard Instruction Part 2 Collaborative Video Lesson

Creativity and Curiosity: My Thoughts- Special Post #12A

Schools in the United States, I feel do kill some development of curiosity and/or creativity in students. The reason being is because teachers tell students to do a project and they tell the students that the ideas are endless, but yet on the grading sheet there is a list of "dos and don'ts" on there. If the teacher wants the student to be creative and think of things to do on their own then they need to let the possibilities be endless. Students need to be able to do anything they want to with a project as long as they have the main points or ideas that needs to be in there incorporated some how.

I believe that there is not a curriculum that could be developed that could increase curiosity or creativity of a student. Students are born with curiosity of things and also with creativity. I agree that some students are more creative and curious that others. But I do not believe that there is a set "curriculum" that could be made up to increase this. That is something that students are born with and it grows as the child grows. However, I do believe that a teacher's actions can increase the curiosity and creativity of students. The teachers could ask the students a specific question with no restrictions on what the answer could be. After the students have had time to think about the question, with hearing the answers, that shows the teacher's question increased the curiosity and creativity of those students. They did not have a "guideline" to follow and was able to come up with anything that they thought would answer the particular question the teacher asked.

Something that would make me more curious and creative is if the classroom was filled with endless things that the students could learn about. If you give them a fish, small children could think of hundreds of questions and creative ideas about that specific fish. Teachers and/or schools have a large role in the process of children becoming more curious and creative. Teachers have to allow students to think on their own and not tell them exactly what to think and memorize about something. Like I stated earlier, when giving a students something as simple as a fish, they could think of hundreds of questions to ask about it or could come up with endless amounts of story lines for the fish.

Blog Post #12

How will you teach me in the 21st Century?

Watch this video posted from a student at Full Sail University where she he completing her Master's degree in Education Media and Design Technology. After watching the video, give a short summary of what you got out of the video. Also, give some of the technology that is in today's world that you could incorporate in some of your own classrooms in the future.



After watching the video, "How will you teach me in the 21st Century?" I learned that there are many many many uses of technology in the classroom as well as in the world today. Everyone uses technology in some sort of way. You can teach a classroom using many things from the technology world today. From email, surfing the wed, phones, ipods, ipads, academic computer games, and even something as simple as microsoft word. When using just the normal pen and paper, some children's creativity does not get expressed very well. But if you use the computer, the possibilities for the work to be created by the student is endless. In my classroom in the future, one major thing that I am going to use is the internet. I will have some sort of activity at least three times a week for each and every student to complete on the computer. That way when they get older, they will have some sort of some computer skills already and will not have to learn them all at once.

Progress Report on Final Project #16

Characters:
Teacher, students, 1 super hero

We are creating a movie about how students seem like the day is dragging on and on and they are bored with the "normal lectures" that teachers give. We all know that sitting in a classroom for 7 hours a day can seem like forever especially when all it is is lecture and note taking. Have the superhero come in and show how a normal lecture could be turned into a fun, interactive, and creative day for the students.

We collaborated on this project by using the following tools:
Google Docs: To gather ideas and plan the video
Telephone/Texting: To plan meeting day to record video
Email: To write up the movie script
Flip Camera: Use to record the video
iMovie: To finalize the movie and add music to the background

Sara Cardwell
Allison Cullars
Katelyn Gill
Jonathan Freeman

C4K Summary of April

Eli's Blog


I love to play football. It is a big deal for me because my dream is to be a NFL football player, as you can see in another one of my posts. I play for the Vikings. Every fall, at the beginning of September, we start practice, and we end at the beginning of December. But during the summer I do a four day camp that keeps me up to par with my skills. Every morning at camp we would wake up at 6 and stretch. Then we would eat breakfast, have a 3 year hour practice, eat lunch, have a 3 hour practice, eat dinner, have another 3 hour practice, then we would go to bed. This happend for four days straight. Then at the end of camp they would select the all stars of that age for there specific position, and who ever was selected would go to Dallas and play in Cowboys Stadium. I obviously was selected and had a lot of fun in Dallas. I am looking forward to this years camp, and the upcoming season.

I commented back and said
Eli,
I am a student from the University of South Alabama and I was assigned to comment on your blog. After reading your blog, I feel as if I was reading something that my brother would have written. He played football 2 years in high school and then went to Mississippi College and played for 4 years. If it is your dream to play NFL football, then do everything that you can to achieve that goal. I give you props for the long 4 day camps. I could not imagine practicing that much in one day. My body would be exhausted. I hope you are very successful in this upcoming football season.


Eli's Blog


This week for the Week Four Blogging Challenge we were asked to think globally. My teacher posted a number of organizations to look at and I randomly picked this one and really liked it. This organization helps provide clean drinkable water for people in need. Have you ever thought about not having water? How about having to 3 walk hours for it. Or having to drink non – sanitized water. Did you know that there are almost a billion people in the world that don’t have clean water? Charity Water is an organization that helps provide clean water in developing countries across the world. 100% of the public donations fund the water projects. Diseases from unsafe water and lack of general sanitation kill more people every year that all forms of violence, including war. “In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours a year just walking to find water” as charitywater said on there website. The walk is also unsafe, there are attacks, and the long walks take a hard toll on the peoples spine. When was the last time you had to walk to a river, pond, or lake, to find water? A way we can help is, we can pledge to give up our next birthday to provide clean water to people in need. We can do this by, instead of asking for gifts your next birthday you can ask for donations and help change peoples lives. We can help change lives. Just 20$ can provide clean, safe, uncontaminated water for one person in need.

I commented back on Eli's blog and said, This is week 2 of my commenting on your blog. I find it interesting that some people have to walk for water. I have heard about it in other country’s but I did not know that it was three hours they had to walk just to get water. I could not imagine having to walk all that way just to get water. When you mentioned giving up our birthdays so that other people would have clean water is a awesome idea. I think that if at least 100 people did it, it would help out more than we could imagine. Keep up the great work. Your research is detailed and well put together.


Eli's Blog

20, 15, 10 he’s tackled after a 63 yard kickoff return and is down on the 10 yard line. He catches his breath, and goes to the huddle. Sweep left is called which means the ball is again going to end up in his hands….again. Its the fourth quarter 7 seconds to go. The defense is scared and tired. The offense is loaded with confidence. If they can get the ball into the endzone they will win the superbowl. The crowd is on there feet and is going crazy. Millions of people are watching the game and the stakes are high. Coach calls time-out so we can catch our breath and re-group. 40 seconds later and we’re back on the field. Ready set hit go and they’re off. The QB pitches the ball to there number 1 played and hes gone. The offense blocked perfectly, the only thing he has to do is beat the corner and score. He meats the corner at the 7 yard line jukes him, 5 yard line and dives over the pilon, knocking it down. Touchdown it over, we had won.

Thank you Mr. Ferlazzo,
For giving me a list of websites to find the perfect picture for me to right about.

I commented back on Eli's blog and said, Eli,
While I was reading your post, I felt as is I was actually there at a game and living in the moment. Your description of the game and each detailed action that was taken was fantastic. Keep up the great work.
Do you play football in school now?.

Jasmyne's Breakfast
In the C4K I was assigned a blog in which a little girl named Jasmyne drew a picture of what she had for breakfast as well as a video describing it. In the video, she said that she had toast and strawberry jam. Her mom made it for her before she went to school.

I commented back and said,
Hey Jasmyne!
I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I enjoyed watching your video of what you had for breakfast that morning. It sounded very tasty. It is a very good thing that you get up and eat breakfast in the morning. It makes the day go by better and gets your brain working early in the morning. Keep up the good work! (:
Best Wishes!
Sara Cardwell

Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy is a first grade teacher in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada who allows her students to use different types of technology in the classroom to help with there studies. For example, the smartboard, skype, computers, and even their Nintendo DS. Ms. Cassidy was introduced to technology about ten years ago when she was randomly given five computers for her classroom. They were the normal computers with a monitor, tower, and keyboard. They did have internet access but were not able to put programs onto the computer. She started her webpage ten years ago and she started blogging five years ago. She did a lot of this on her own. There is a technology coordinator there to help her with the things that she needs help with, but she tries a lot of things on her own and has great supporters behind her. The children's blogs have so much of their writing work posted on the blogs. She said that the children feel better with doing things on the blogs rather than on normal pencil and paper. Technology is not going anywhere, so we need to make use of it.

If a teacher does not allow children to use the technology, he or she is in a way handicapping them from the things that they will be using for the rest of their lives. No, they may not have a "blog" for their job, but they will most defiantly have some sort of technology they will have to use.

I believe that in my classroom in the future, I will allow my students to create a blog and have them do some sort of "weekly work" on it. I believe that students today are more technological literate than most of today's adults were. With having the students use the computer to have a blog will allow the students to post their ideas that they may have on a specific subject and to also view other children's blogs around the world and collect ideas from them. I enjoyed watching the SKYPE interview with Mrs. Cassidy and learned lots of ways to incorporate technology into my classroom in the future.

Here is the link to the interview if you would like to watch it.
SKYPE Interview with Mrs. Cassidy

Blog Post #10

Do you Teach or Do you Educate

After watching this video, it did make me sit and think about if I teach children or do I just educate them. In the video, the definition of teach is (1) to show or explain how to do something. (2) encourage someone to accept something as a fact or opinion. (3) give information about or instruction on. (4) cause someone to learn or understand something. (5) induce by example to do or not to do something. With seeing all of those definitions that describe the word teach. It is something to think about before you enter the education field. Do you want to just explain how to do something or do you want to actually engage with the student and make sure that they fully understand the concept of what you are telling them. Also, the definition of educate according to the video is illuminate, enlighten, inspire, and power. Those are some very strong words that describe educate.

I believe that teachers are doing a small part of both teaching and educating in the classroom. I feel as if the kids look up to the teachers in a sense that they are teaching them the things that they will need in the upcoming years of school. The major reason that I became a education major is because I want to make a difference in children's lives. I feel as if a teacher has a very large impact on the student and will make "changes" in their lives. I can still remember some of the teachers that I had in elementary school and the impacts that they had on my life. Some of those impacts are the reason that I want to become a teacher and change the lives of our future today!


Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home

Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home is a post about a School Curriculum Instructional Interventionist Academic Specialist who talks to Mr. Spencer about allowing his students to take pencils from the school to their home. She had recently posted a journal article stating that children who use pencils at home instead of pens have a lower score on the standardized tests that they have to take in school. Mr. Spencer took a different approach to the situation at hand. He thought that it would be good to meet with the parents and have them filled in on what the students are doing in the classroom and some of the things that they could learn from using something as simple as a pencil. Educators today need to worry more about the solutions to the problems that the schools have more than the problems at hand.

Blog Post #9

Mr. Joe McClung started teaching in fall of 2009. He started out in Noel, Missouri where he worked closely with Mr. Chamberlin. After his first year of teaching, he went to Fayettville, Arkansas where he started teaching junior high. At the end of each year, he wrote a blog post describing his reflections on his accomplishments and learning. Here is a summary of two of the three blogs that he posted.

At the Teacher's Desk
A important decision I made this year is stay positive. Mr. McClung started out the year very nervous and did not know what to expect being a first year teacher and especially in elementary school. Seven main things that he learned throughout the year was how to read the crowd, be flexible, communicate, be reasonable, don't be afraid of technology, listen to your students, and never stop learning. With these seven things Mr. McClung thought that it was a very successful year in the elementary school.

After reading his post for his first year of teaching, it gave me several helpful suggestions to keep in mind during my first year of teaching. I am not teaching in the classroom yet, but when I do actually get into student teaching I have those seven things that Mr. McClung learned with his first year of teaching. I also learned how important it is for teachers to blog their ideas and other materials. I feel that if teachers can share their ideas with one another, it will help others around the world.

At the Teacher's Desk
One major thing that Mr. McClung had to do this year was adapt with his students. He went from teaching elementary students to junior high students. That is a very different atmosphere. Also, Mr. McClung found his "school mom". A school mom in his eyes are the ones who have been at that specific school to help him with any problems that he may have throughout the year. One thing that helped Mr. McClung out tremendously was to "check his ego out at the door". He sometimes had to make a fool out of himself so that he students would listen and pay attention to what he was saying. Don't lose sight of what it important is something that Mr. McClung kept in his mind everyday. He would keep the big picture fresh instead of the small pictures that he had to achieve to get the big picture.

After reading his second post,I find it to have changed a little bit from the first one. He went from teaching elementary school to junior high. Which for me is a huge change. I thought that was a big step for him to make. His flaws and strengths both changed when he moved schools. I think that Mr. McClung is a great teacher and has many more years to go with his teaching career.

C4K Summary of March

In March, I was assigned to a student by the name of Anna to comment on her blog. Here is the link to her blog Class 12 Blog.

In her blog she wrote, Once there was a boy called Plop.Plop was 11 year old,his father dead and his grandma was ill because his father dead.So Plop’s mom told him to give some food to is grandma,and he did. At first,Plop didn’t know the door wasn’t locked,and he’s knocking the door,but his grandma was too ill to stand up,and she said.”Oh!Plop dear,I can’t stand up,just open the door,I didn’t lock it.” Plop try to open it but just befor he going in,an UFO fell off from the sky and fall front of Plop and blast him away. When he felling,he grab on a tree and …fell down from the tree.The good thing is he’s not dead but he’s crying because he break his finger on a branch and he go home with his mom.

I commented back and said,
Anna,
I loved reading your story. At first I thought it was real but after I read the whole thing I figured out that it was a dream. It was a very exciting and had a unexpected ending! (:
Best wishes,
Sara Cardwell

C4T #3

For my C4T #3 I was assigned Marthe Yim from The Parent's View. In her first post, she was talking about how she got a chance to hear some very disturbing stories of how her friends child was being treated at school. From teachers who were not being fair, to not knowing school polices and being suspended for defending himself. So goes on to explain how when she was in high school, she just walked out of the classroom and did not want her parents to get involved with things in school. At the end of her post, she asks the question, "do you think that it is good for children to experience all of the complications of school or to shelter them from this environment so that they can get the best education possible?"

I commented back and said
Mrs. Yim,
I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. After reading your article, I went and did a little research on the subject. The Institution for Education Sciences said in a article published in December 2008 that 1.5 million students were home schooled in the United States in the year 2007. Some reasons that parents chose to home school their children were as follows, to provide more religious or moral instruction, concern with the school environment, and last but not least dissatisfaction with academic instruction available at other schools. The website to this article is http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009030.pdf. Thanks for the interesting article.


In Mrs. Yim's second post she was talking about all of the requirements that the teachers are supposed to fulfill within a year of teaching. The State gives each teacher in each grade a Course of Study and expects the teacher to follow that throughout the year. She states, "I love the fact that a piece of paper is supposed to determine the rate that the information in the classroom moves. Not the students actually understanding the information, not the students having plenty of time to really soak in the information so that it stays for life and not just for a few months until they forget it."

I commented back and said, I am Sara Cardwell and I am currently enrolled in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. A big thank you should be given to you because you got straight down to the facts. I do not believe that a piece of paper should tell you how the pace of classroom learning should go. It is all based on the students. I do understand that there are specific materials every class has to cover within a year, but it is important for the children to understand what they are learning, not just to memorize it for a test and move on. Thanks for the post!