Blog #10

An Open Letter To Educators

This video and post were just confirmation of what I already believed. Dan Brow said, "Information is not only free, it has been liberated". Meaning It has be unlocked to anyone that wants to take the time out to just read and understand it. All you would need is just access to an internet and BAM!! You can research almost anything you want.

Sometimes It feels pointless and counter-productive in school, but we've all been taught that if you don't have an education you won't make it too far. But in a sense, they're absolutely right. Many Jobs require a degree of some sort, in order to be hired. That's sort of where Dan Brown lost me when he said he dropped out of school.

Most classes are focused on memorized facts and repeating them on tests. Don't get me wrong, in some fields a lot of the things we memorize are to be remembered. But so much of the class work don't really have to. Morgan Bayda said in a comment that she's not afraid of change, and that inspired me because I'm a little nervous about all of the new things that are coming into education these days.


2 questions that can change your life

I like this post because it's very motivating and allows me to feel creative and able to think I can actually make a difference. And I CAN! I believe my sentence would be: I'm trying to change the world through attempts of spread the gospel through my lifestyle as a young christian man (no offense to any other religion). I was better today than yesterday.

My Interview With Tj Vigneulle

Capture your screen in seconds

The Cow That Clucked

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Blog #9

Mr. McClung gave his thoughts about the things he encountered in his first year of teaching. He listed the things he did wrong, and what he learned in the process. One of the most important tips I received in this post was explained one of the roles as teachers. As teachers, we should always listen to our students. Many teachers think they know everything about everything, and that the students don't really understand whats going on. When in some cases the teacher might actually be wrong and all they would have to do is listen for a change.

We should do everything in out power to try and help them with their intellectual journey. If we don't, who will? When students feel that you care and that you're trying to understand them, they tend to get more involved and more motivated in class activities. Mr. McClung said it best when he said, "It's never too late to change your way of thinking, learning, or style." Determination is the key.

Blog #8

Richard Miller

Dr. Miller explained how the use of technology in the classroom is developing. He’s right about the need for developing a curriculum as how to teach the use of technology in the class. When students are using technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of the receiving of information transmitted by a teacher, textbook, or broadcast. The student is actively making choices about how to obtain or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons.

Also, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals, making design decisions, and evaluating their progress. With technology, academic information is amazing. Dr. Miller explained how people understanding that the ideas don’t belong to us as an individual but as a culture.

“We as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely” said Dr. Miller, and I agree 100%. By doing so, we not only help others, but we’re learning in the process as well. Educators should also be still in the “learning” mode also. We should never think we know too much, but be willing to learn more. My student will be able to do the Multimedia writing, because I’m preparing for it now.


Chiper

I would like to create a video that will show how two students interact on a regular day after school and also how they talk to and about the teacher. I like the creativity of the videos, because it shows how we really act as students sometimes in actual situations. I think Chiper actually had some pretty good points when talking to Dr. Strange. I go through a lot of difficulty in this class but I manage to pull most of it off. Many things would go that way of Chiper if we don’t get it right in class right now.


Smartboards

I love used the SmartBoard for two main reasons. 1) It allows you to save all your work and be able to print them off to your students who were absent. 2) It keeps the students engaged in the lesson. However the video did present some very good points. I've seen money spent on Smartboards to have them just act as very expensive screens. Even if they are used as "interactive" it's only one student at a time. This video was very helpful and influential and helped me a lot.

Additional Assignment #2

I believe if learners are motivated, they can teach themselves. That's a big reason why people lose focus on the things they desire. If people were more motivated to learn, more people would learn. I do believe if kids are motivated to learn they would not only teach other kids, they would probably teach parents also! For someone to teach themselves, they would just have to know what they're teaching. In order to be a good and effective teacher, they should not only know what they're teaching, but also be motivated and have that desire. Computers and internet would have a big effect on the teaching kids simply because of the entertainment of learning that way.

I also believe if a person have a problem, they should be able to contact a teacher. If there's no teacher to be found in the mist of a problem, they might lose interest in the activity. Most of the time, it's hard to motivate someone to learn because it requires creativity and everyone doesn't learn the same. I'm motivated to learn if I'm interested in the activity and theirs an entertaining way of doing it. If you're not motivated to learn, or forced to learn, they would still learn but probably not as much.

We constantly teach our self things simply in life. If we apply these methods to school related activities, learning would excel. As a result of watching this video, I get "If children have interest, education happens". I believe teachers should use this video as a tool to help and guide them in the direction of motivation, in order to become better teachers.

My PLN

PLN is really helping me to learn a different type of learning. Before I got in this EDM class, I knew nothing about Blogs. I had a Twitter page but rarely went on it. I'm really learning more and more about technology as this class helps me. Sometimes I might get a little behind because of confusion, but I'm trying hard to pass. I'm realizing that PLN gives me more freedom in learning, allowing me to expand my thoughts and ideas. I plan to continue learning more about technology in this technical world.

Blog 7

Professor Randy Pausch Last Lecture

Proffessor Randy Pausch was a very determined man that seems to have lived his childhood dreams. Not only did he lived his dreams, he encouraged others to live theirs also. At the beginning, he listed a couple things that he wasn't going to talk about in the lecture. They included: Cancer, His wife and kids, and spirituality and religion. I could tell he was in a little pain about his time to live (who wouldn't be). But he did an amazing job of hiding his tears.

I do believe it is possible to achieve ones dreams. My way of achieving dreams are a little different from his way though. I believe God would guide me in the direction I should go in. I think i've been this way from a child. My childhood dream was to become a pro basketball player, and I still believe this day that I can. I'm just more focus on different things, and don't even have the desire for it anymore.

In one part of the lecture Professor Randy stated, "Most of what we learn, we learn indirectly." I deeply believe that. As I grew up as a child, many people told me that experience is the best teacher. Now that I'm older and wiser I thought about that phrase. I think experience can be the teacher of fools; Because a wise man will learn from another mans errors and apply that to determine what he should chose.

Another thing that stuck out to me was the example of the coach and player analysis. He said, "If your coach gets mad at you, It's a good thing. If you're messing up and no one says anything, that means they're giving up on you." I really like that. Because I went through that on both ends when I played basketball. Just as my coach was getting tired of me messing up he didn't try to correct me anymore. But that's when I began to shine!

As people grow old they feel that their dreams can no longer be possible, but I beg to differ. The only way a dream can not happen is when you give up in your head. That's why it's better to surround yourself with positive people that are behind you 100%.

It's sad to know that the speaker had passed, but we all will one day. The lesson he brought was amazing, and I would suggest anyone that's anyone to check it out. He has a lot of wisdom and experience in many things. Lessons Learned: How you can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams or others.

Comments 4 Teachers #2

Becky Goerend elaborated on the importance of reading to kids. I believe she's right on target when she said that it was important. I work with kids almost everyday, and most of them read a lot at home away from school. I think that is awesome because when I was in school, I only read to get by. Now I think reading is so beneficial to a kids mind.

In Kim Cofino's blog, Jane Goodall spoke at YIS on her whole life story. Most of her story centered around her supportive mother. Her mother helped her in a way that wasn't scornful, but of pure concern and comfort. The example was: She had a handful of earthworms to bed as a toddler, and her mother's reaction was not of disgust but laughter. Being honest and concerned, she taught her that the earth worms simply needed soil to survive. I think the way we talk to out children and also peers can have a huge effect on the outcome of a situation.

Comments 4 Kids

I always enjoy things kids do. They remind me of the younger days of no worries and all play. Even though we also had to get our work done from school, there was nothing like hearing your mother scream, "Come in, street lights on!" The creative minds of these kids are amazing. Their learning to draw and make movies also. I can't wait to see whats to come!

Blog 6

Network Student

The video Network Student shows an idea of not having a teacher and being able to control their learning. The blogs were talked about and was showed how they reflect on opinion's rather than facts. I do think this gives students more time to be creative and innovative.  Blogs are also a pretty good social network and enter-act with other students also. Depending on the age group, I think the idea is okay but not the best.

Why does the Network student even need a teacher? The video explained how the teacher builds the network, take advantage of learning opportunities, and also organize information. Teachers of a network student shows how to differentiate between good information and propaganda. They also help the students in-case they're struggling in a particular subject to get a resource.
 
I believe all students need a classroom, teacher, and students to enter-act with. By just having a classroom, students can get surrounded by positive themes and they won't be distracted as easy. By having a live teacher in front of you, you will be able to ask questions at the exact point of confusion leaving out time for forgetting. By having students in the classroom to enter-act with, you could get immediate social advice on thing and explore ideas and creativity.



7th Graders Personal Learning Environment

This 7th grade video was pretty good and helpful to me. It showed how to find information online and how to pull it together on a personal page. I believe that word be very useful to anyone with a personal web page or blog. This video shows how students could possibly have more freedom in learning, while enjoying what they're doing. It also shows how someone could get swayed away from school work because of the many applications that someone could add. Including to popular Facebook. I believe that's a good idea especially from 7th graders.



The Machine is Changing Us

This video made me think of many situations that occurred in my life and how I use to handle them compared to how I handle them in a mature state. We have the power to forgive anyone we want, but we are so blinded by situations that we put our pride in front of our happiness. I said pride in front of happiness because with pride, we block the way of forgiveness which leads to baggage and unhappiness. I didn't say we will forget it, but we can forgive.

Youtube is changing interaction for better and for worse. It's getting addictive which pulls people away from school work. But it also helps people get famous if they put up the right video. I just found out that Youtube have informative information on here also, and that's always a plus. Internet can be just the same as t.v. and technology will just continue advancing.