Blog #13

I think ALEX is basically a new teacher's best friend. It is designed to provide teachers with the most recent, best resources for teachers to use in their classroom. This can be from sample lesson plans, to interactive activities. It would be very helpful by showing you what other teacher's lesson plans look like and allows you to piggy back off of it rather than starting from the ground up. ALEX has received the 2007 Honorable Mention as well as the 2008 and 2009 Digital Education Achievement Award. You can choose from any subject you can think of. You can even create your own personal page of workspace. There are endless possibilities with it. If you think about it, ALEX has it and can do it.

I think that ALEX is extremely beneficial for new teachers because it gives them an example to work from. New teachers don't know the ropes when they first start out and ALEX allows them to have a good start and an example to refer to, rather than trying to figure everything out on your own. I think as a teacher I would definitely use the resources as templates or examples and create my own. I love that I have a reference to look at while trying to plan things. But, I don't think teachers should make the mistake of using every lesson plan as it is. I think teachers should only piggy back off of it but implant their own methods and plan.

Additional Ass. #5

I believe Mr. Spencer had many valid points with this post and found this blog very interesting. I love math and although we can use metaphors for many other aspects of teaching, I think starting with the subjects students tend to shy away from is a great place to start. I personally was taught in school that this was the way to do it because the teacher said so. I was never given a reason or explanation just a formula and a piece of paper. Although some things are hard or "dangerous" to explain, we as teachers should feel obligated to try and try our hardest. Simply not explaining and not making them think is more dangerous if you ask me. Thank you so much for all of you post.

Blog #12

1. Watch this video of Charles Vaught Poem and summarize your thoughts about it. Think about what he had to say, and tell if you agree or disagree with him.







I really agree with most of the ideas he had. He once said, "It's scary to know we once survived without technology". This is so true. But now it's like we totally depend on them for almost all of our enjoyment. I do believe the goal of technology was originally to free us some time. Being lazy, we took that idea and applied it to almost every aspect of life. By having so much technology, people are becoming less and less patient. People can't even stay in line at a red light for a long time without getting upset. When "back in the day" they didn't have lights. So it seem this impatience turns into being ungrateful. Although technology is yet advancing, who knows what it will implant into our blind minds?

How to Draw A Flag

How to teach on smart board

C4K

Meredith N. is in the 6th grade and likes her freedom of speech and expressing her thoughts. She reminds me so much of myself and in my way of thinking. Although all my thoughts aren;t mentioned on these blogs, I do feel this way myself. She talked about how excited she was about how she felt, and I think that is awesome for a kid her age.

JK McClung had a blog in "keeping the switch turned on." Teachers need to do all they can to keep the attention of out students ingaged in a lesson. We need to keep the atteention of our students to ensure that they get the best possible benefit from the lesson. To do that, we must keep the students involved in the lesson to help them stay interested in learning the material. Mr. McClung said, "We as teachers need to be aware of how challenging and relevent our lessons we present to our students are."


Mrs. Yollis 3rd grade class talked about good times in Italy. In Italy, they measure in kilometers and not in miles there. Kilometers is a little less than a mile (which is called the metric system). This means their towns are smaller than ours and living conditions ofcourse are different. Many things are done the "old fashioned" way. They make their shoes and repair them, they deink out of pumps, and pump water then have to take it upstairs to take baths.

C4T

C4T #3

Kim Cofino had a video on her post of Jane Goodall. She spode at YIS about he life story. The story centered around her supportive mother and the help she provided to her as a young child. She helped in a way that wasn't scornful, but of pure concern and comfort. This is actually the right way of parenting, but many parents don't have positive role models of parents growing up, therefore, their parenting skills would show sometimes.

An example she gave was: She had a handful of earthworms to bed as a toddler and her mother's reaction was not of disgust, but of laughter. Being honest and concerend. 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 big effect on the outcome of a situation.


C4T #4

Jeff Utecht wrote a post on his thoughts of technology. His guess was, every mobile device in 3 years will have the built-in ability to connect to a cellular network. Their already doing it, but it will just become part of the hardware of every mobile device. I believe this to a certain extent. I don't belive their will be connection to every device, but I do believe it will be to most of them (more than present time).

He also said we need to stop making excuses for all the time spent connected to the internet and realize that this is actually the world we live in now. This is so so true. We are in a technological world and technology is only advancing. People should get with it or get left without it. We live in a socially connected world. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Skype, etc... 92% of employers now are or plan to use social-networks.

Blog #11

Ms. Cassidy's Class

Ms. Cassidy's approach to the classroom is a very needed addition to every classroom. Because technology is getting so advanced, technology should be implanted in every class for educations sake. If I was a skills teacher I would definitely put this technique in my class. For kids to be equipped with the proper skills they would need for learning in future tense, technology is a must. By having these skills and learning them so early, advancement will definitely take place.

There is no telling what jobs will be availible in the near future, but we know that technology will be apart of them. Theirs no reason a teacher should hold back a students education of technology. Most teachers are teaching "ol fashioned" but that should soon die out. Ms. Cassidy Is preparing her kids for the future, but will teachers to come help or hinder? We know how creativity seems to fade away with age because of education. By older teachers not being knowledgable of technology, will they help students loose focus of future?

Additional Assignment #3

I would have to say that this video kept me in tune the whole time. I thought everything he said in this video was atleast partly true. He asked, "Why seperate kids by age groups in schools when they don't all think the same?" This question is a great debatable question. I agree with the consumption though. Their are many kids that think on higher levels that others their age, but their just known as the "smart kids". Teachers and mostly everyone thinks everyone and every kid should all be on the same learning level. Which is not true. Instead they are classified as having a disability or extremely smart. I believe their can be absolutly nothing wrong with a student but they might just learn slower or faster.

What can I do to address this situation? It might sould strange but I feel we all should come into the knowledge of this idea and open a variety of minds up to come together with an idea that can unplug the "ol-fashioned" state of learning. I believe this idea of transformation in schools should be put into direct effect.

If I was given the task to complete an opinionunated idea as this sort, I would base mine on schools. It would be sort of the same as this one but I would add more input on arts and how the schools don't focus as much on them. I like to draw and I would probably play the artist in the group along with input on the message.

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

Just Enough

That's Music

You Like Telephones?

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.