Sunday, May 5, 2013
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Blog post 13
Blended Learning Cycle
In this video, Paul Anderson has some wonderful ideas. He combines blended learning with the learning cycle and this increase the students' learning and helps them to learn and actually retain information. He has come up with a very useful acronym to help us remember the process of what has to be done to be successful at blended learning with your classroom as a future teacher. The acronym is "QUIVER". QU stands for question, you have to get the students' attention so you have to start with a good question, a phenomenon that really gets their attention,also known as a hook. This would get the students thinking, they would be trying to figure out the answer and make predictions for why it may be happening. Next is the "I",it stands for investigation. Let the students look around and go through what ever the question is compiled of. This investigation will turn into an inquiry. "V"is for video. As a teacher you would pre-record your lessons and lectures so that the students can watch them out of class and if they missed something they could go back after school and watch it. Using videos instead of in class lectures will free up class time so the students can have more of just a review when they come into the classroom. Next is the"E", this stands for elaboration. Elaboration can be an in class discussion that the entire class is involved in. The teacher would have them read up on and research what ever they were studying that way in class the students could have a discussion about it and learn things from each other hey may not have learned themselves. The next letter is "R". The "R" stands for review. As the teacher you will go around asking the students questions seeing if they know the answer and if you as a teacher think they are ready then have them take the summary quiz. "S" stands for summary quiz. Anderson makes a very good point that all teachers should learn from, he said "You have not learned something until you can explain it thoroughly to someone else."
In this video, Paul Anderson has some wonderful ideas. He combines blended learning with the learning cycle and this increase the students' learning and helps them to learn and actually retain information. He has come up with a very useful acronym to help us remember the process of what has to be done to be successful at blended learning with your classroom as a future teacher. The acronym is "QUIVER". QU stands for question, you have to get the students' attention so you have to start with a good question, a phenomenon that really gets their attention,also known as a hook. This would get the students thinking, they would be trying to figure out the answer and make predictions for why it may be happening. Next is the "I",it stands for investigation. Let the students look around and go through what ever the question is compiled of. This investigation will turn into an inquiry. "V"is for video. As a teacher you would pre-record your lessons and lectures so that the students can watch them out of class and if they missed something they could go back after school and watch it. Using videos instead of in class lectures will free up class time so the students can have more of just a review when they come into the classroom. Next is the"E", this stands for elaboration. Elaboration can be an in class discussion that the entire class is involved in. The teacher would have them read up on and research what ever they were studying that way in class the students could have a discussion about it and learn things from each other hey may not have learned themselves. The next letter is "R". The "R" stands for review. As the teacher you will go around asking the students questions seeing if they know the answer and if you as a teacher think they are ready then have them take the summary quiz. "S" stands for summary quiz. Anderson makes a very good point that all teachers should learn from, he said "You have not learned something until you can explain it thoroughly to someone else."
Blog post 12
Tell me about your area of specialty and then watch all of these videos looking at other teachers and what they did with their classroom and then tell me about what you are going to do with your's.
Creating A Positive Learning Environment
Clasroom Walls and Bulletin Board Ideas
The Mentor Teacher: Setting Up Your Classroom
My area of specialty is Elementary Education, and this has been my passion since I was in middle school. My mom was a high school teacher for 18 years and then became an assistant principal and has been for 5 years now. I have always loved young children, and to have the opportunity to have an impact on their lives means everything in the world to me. I want to help them become successful in their future choices. Teach them that they can achieve anything that they set their mind to.
Classroom Decorations
Something that a lot of new teachers struggle with is how to decorate their room to inspire the children and keep them engaged in all the classroom activities. The decorations in the classroom needs to create a fun, warm, and welcoming environment. Every teacher will have their own personal preferences, but some ideas work well in any classroom, for any age. I have always thought about doing a jungle room. I know a jungle room is kind of a cliche, because you see a lot of teachers try to do it, but I am going to do it a different way. One of my teachers in high school took cloth and covered up half the lights on the ceiling and then she hung christmas lights all the way around her room, she said this stimulates and relaxes the brain to where we as students could think clearer and keep us focused. She told us that the dim room helps stimulate our brain and keeps us from day dreaming because the board was the brightest thing in the room we were more likely to stare at that more than anything in the classroom. I understand her theory now, I have tried it at my house when I study and it does keep the distractions to a minimum. This picture is almost exactly what I am going to do to my classroom.
Bulletin Boards
Bulletin boards in a classroom are a definite must have when a teacher is decorating their classroom. Children love to see their work displayed on a bulletin board for everyone to see. Teachers can put the students photos, posters, charts, and even let the students create seasonal art to put on a themed bulletin board. Teachers should always let the students contribute when it comes to decorating the bulletin board. Maybe let the star student for that week pick the theme for the board and then have the class make something for the board to contribute to the theme. This would keep them all involved with each other. In this picture the students created the animals.
If you have trouble coming up with a theme for your classroom you should visit, Classroom Decorating/Theme Ideas, if you like these themes you should use them. Put your own twist into some of them or use it how they are that is up to you. Every teacher is different.
Blog post 8
This is How We Dream
Writing
With todays technology we can make writing a paper a lot more interesting for someone to read on the web. In the video This is How We Dream Part 1, Dr.Miller talks about the different things we can now do to our works that we are going to publish online and into the reach of others to read and learn from. He shows that we can embed videos on our papers we write, the technology we have now we can make our own movies and put them online for other people to use and refer to when they are researching the subject our video is on. Paper books are slowly going out and web literature is coming into play. A student can write a full paper without stepping foot into a library, the student can just find everything online with the use of web-based libraries where everything is digital.
Researching
In the second video, This is How We Dream Part 2, Dr. Miller tells us about the difference in the ways you can research and the tools out there to help you research. Most things on the internet are now interactive due to the technology we have these days. A lot of people use iTunes U, where podcasts, movies, and other informative materials can be found. He says that the people who make these materials available are "understanding that ideas do not belong to us individually, but they belong to us as a culture." He also states that "We as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely," with te technology we have now there is no reason for students to be left out and uneducated about a subject. The technology we have now is what we can use to push what we want people to know to the very front. We just have to put some time and effort into it when we put it out there on the internet. We need to make it noticeable and rememberable.
Blog Post #12
Carly Pugh's blog post #12 is outstanding. She does not come close to what Dr.Miller was saying, she is using exactly what he is talking about. The playlist idea is a very good one that most people would not think about. If a teacher had youtube playlists they could have always on hand to use with what ever subject they were teaching that day. This was a very thought out post and is very unique. I will be making me a playlist for my future references and needs.
My Idea
My idea for a video for future students will be a video about why it is so important to obey them. I will show the good and the bad with the rules. First do a video of a student not obeying the rule, and then the affects of what will happen if you don't, second I will do a video with a student not obeying the rule and what they are going through then I will do a video of a student that did obey the rule to show how much easier it is just to obey the rules.
Scavenger Hunt
Teacher Social Network
I have joined a teacher social network called Classroom 2.0 , I love this idea of teacher networking because teachers from all around the world can log in and review and share ideas of things they can do in the classroom. I will use this in my future profession, I will post ideas of things that I can do in my class for the students and for the classroom environment. Other teachers from all around the U.S, even the world, can post their comments and their reviews of my ideas. This tool can and will help all future teachers in their endeavors. I for one am going to use this and will encourage my fellow students to do also.
Prezi
The Prezi Website offers an exciting and new way to make a presentation. Teachers and students should all use it. It is completely free so there is no reason to not use it in a classroom. Every teacher is always trying to come up with ways to engage students, and how to keep their attention, this is a tool they should use. The students would constantly be guessing where the screen would move to next, and what its going to say. This FREE tool gives a new meaning to the word presentation.
Unique Video Tool
This video tool is astonishing! I will use Animoto in my future classrooms. Some of the special features are that the website has music you can pick and put on your presentation. With the video program you can put videos or pictures. The program also give you multiple themes to pick from and the music selection that fits the different themes. It is a good tool for a teacher to use when she is trying to keep her students attention. I think I'm going to use this and play different videos, that pertain to what we are doing, randomly throughout class time.
Writing
With todays technology we can make writing a paper a lot more interesting for someone to read on the web. In the video This is How We Dream Part 1, Dr.Miller talks about the different things we can now do to our works that we are going to publish online and into the reach of others to read and learn from. He shows that we can embed videos on our papers we write, the technology we have now we can make our own movies and put them online for other people to use and refer to when they are researching the subject our video is on. Paper books are slowly going out and web literature is coming into play. A student can write a full paper without stepping foot into a library, the student can just find everything online with the use of web-based libraries where everything is digital.
Researching
In the second video, This is How We Dream Part 2, Dr. Miller tells us about the difference in the ways you can research and the tools out there to help you research. Most things on the internet are now interactive due to the technology we have these days. A lot of people use iTunes U, where podcasts, movies, and other informative materials can be found. He says that the people who make these materials available are "understanding that ideas do not belong to us individually, but they belong to us as a culture." He also states that "We as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely," with te technology we have now there is no reason for students to be left out and uneducated about a subject. The technology we have now is what we can use to push what we want people to know to the very front. We just have to put some time and effort into it when we put it out there on the internet. We need to make it noticeable and rememberable.
Blog Post #12
Carly Pugh's blog post #12 is outstanding. She does not come close to what Dr.Miller was saying, she is using exactly what he is talking about. The playlist idea is a very good one that most people would not think about. If a teacher had youtube playlists they could have always on hand to use with what ever subject they were teaching that day. This was a very thought out post and is very unique. I will be making me a playlist for my future references and needs.
My Idea
My idea for a video for future students will be a video about why it is so important to obey them. I will show the good and the bad with the rules. First do a video of a student not obeying the rule, and then the affects of what will happen if you don't, second I will do a video with a student not obeying the rule and what they are going through then I will do a video of a student that did obey the rule to show how much easier it is just to obey the rules.
Scavenger Hunt
Teacher Social Network
I have joined a teacher social network called Classroom 2.0 , I love this idea of teacher networking because teachers from all around the world can log in and review and share ideas of things they can do in the classroom. I will use this in my future profession, I will post ideas of things that I can do in my class for the students and for the classroom environment. Other teachers from all around the U.S, even the world, can post their comments and their reviews of my ideas. This tool can and will help all future teachers in their endeavors. I for one am going to use this and will encourage my fellow students to do also.
Prezi
The Prezi Website offers an exciting and new way to make a presentation. Teachers and students should all use it. It is completely free so there is no reason to not use it in a classroom. Every teacher is always trying to come up with ways to engage students, and how to keep their attention, this is a tool they should use. The students would constantly be guessing where the screen would move to next, and what its going to say. This FREE tool gives a new meaning to the word presentation.
Unique Video Tool
This video tool is astonishing! I will use Animoto in my future classrooms. Some of the special features are that the website has music you can pick and put on your presentation. With the video program you can put videos or pictures. The program also give you multiple themes to pick from and the music selection that fits the different themes. It is a good tool for a teacher to use when she is trying to keep her students attention. I think I'm going to use this and play different videos, that pertain to what we are doing, randomly throughout class time.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
C4T Summary for January
Dot Day Is On Its Way
Kelly Hines wrote about Peter H. Reynolds. She talked about how his book The Dot is her favorite book. She mentioned that International Dot Day in on September 15th. She also says to read The Dot with our class and then discuss with them and find ways to have the students make their own marks. In my comment to her I told her that I also love The Dot and that it is a very inspirational bool that should be read to all students, to inspire them to make a difference in their life.
Kelly Hines wrote about Peter H. Reynolds. She talked about how his book The Dot is her favorite book. She mentioned that International Dot Day in on September 15th. She also says to read The Dot with our class and then discuss with them and find ways to have the students make their own marks. In my comment to her I told her that I also love The Dot and that it is a very inspirational bool that should be read to all students, to inspire them to make a difference in their life.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Blog Post #11
I enjoyed the video, Little Kids...Big Potential. In this video Mrs. Cassidy and class are showing how they use different technology in their classroom. The students use blogs, wikis, videos, Skype, a class webpage, and they use Nintendo DS's to connect with people in other classrooms all over the world. In the video the students tell about the different ways of communication and how they have learned to use it in their classrooms. The students said that blogging was their favorite, they enjoy this because they feel they are contributing to the world when people read and comment on their blog. Some of the children even gave tips on how to be safe while on the internet, they said "to only put your first name, not your last name," while you are doing things online.
This Skype Interview with Mrs.Cassidy, was very helpful for future teachers trying to learn how to incorporate technology into their classroom. Mrs.Cassidy tells how she started with only a 5 computer center in her classroom. She also talks about other teachers and how they do not feel that they need to change the way they teach to incorporate more technology, they think the way they are doing things is perfectly fine. She shares that all teachers must be technologically literate. All teachers need to keep up with the changes and development in technology, because Mrs.Cassidy says "it isn't going anywhere." While she is teaching her students in the use of technology, she teaches them the rules about how to be careful on the internet, and she shows them proper etiquette for learning comments on others' blogs.
This Skype Interview with Mrs.Cassidy, was very helpful for future teachers trying to learn how to incorporate technology into their classroom. Mrs.Cassidy tells how she started with only a 5 computer center in her classroom. She also talks about other teachers and how they do not feel that they need to change the way they teach to incorporate more technology, they think the way they are doing things is perfectly fine. She shares that all teachers must be technologically literate. All teachers need to keep up with the changes and development in technology, because Mrs.Cassidy says "it isn't going anywhere." While she is teaching her students in the use of technology, she teaches them the rules about how to be careful on the internet, and she shows them proper etiquette for learning comments on others' blogs.
Blog post #10
This picture by John T. Spencer is a mock of the PC and Mac commercials. I think it is still putting out the same message. I take this picture as saying that technology is the best investment for people to make. If people don't make the decision to buy a laptop now they will have to spend money on pencils and paper until they just buy a laptop that they can email assignments to their teachers and take notes on, where there is no use for paper and pencil. I like this cartoon because it shows that the decision to buy the more expensive thing can sometimes be the better choice.
Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?
On John Spencer's blog, Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?, he shares with us a conversation he and his school principal had about his class playing games. The principal was not accepting to games being played in the classroom. There are obviously rules at their school and the principal sees Spencer's "games" are breaking them. Spencer defends himself by telling the principal that these "games" are advanced simulations. Spencer has made a mock factory where the students were making their pictures and practice problem solving skills. The students would read various scenarios and describe their way that they would solve that problem. His students were playing real life scenarios, but the principal did not see it that way and told Spencer to stop. Spencer did not stop he just came up with a solution. He said his students would create an algorithm factory and integrate it into their conflict oriented reading and writing project (a.k.a The Factory Game).
Sunday, March 24, 2013
C4T Summary February
Tis the Season of Report Cards: Praising Effort and Setting Goals
My parents also did this when I was younger. I did not always make all A’s, and even when I didn’t my mom would ask me if I tried my hardest and if I truly did they were proud of me and not disappointed at all. My dad would take me out on a date and my mom would give me money to go buy what ever I wanted. I got $10 for every A and $5 for every B, I didn’t get anything for C’s but I don’t think I ever had one. My mom would praise me for a few days and then a few days later she would ask me how she could help me practice and get better at what I had received a B in. The praise helped my confidence and the help from my mom helped me with my coming to her and asking her for help because I knew she would not judge me for not knowing something. My parents were the biggest impact on my grades, and I believe that for every child in school. A parent that takes the time to help their children learn and get better grades will boost their child’s confidence and create a trust within their relationship between parents and child.
THe Matter of the Heart
I agree with you that teachers get frustrated over things that they do not understand. I know this from experience, but luckily I have a very good role model to look up to for my teaching strategies. My mother was a teacher for 18 years, she taught my husband and both of my brothers. If she had a student that was struggling or had a disability, she would research how to help them and she did her best to help. I saw the way her trying this hard meant to her students. Even the students without disabilities would help. No one was on their own in her classroom. As the students moved on my mom would inform their next teacher and suggest the ways to help that student. My mom’s students still look up to her for that, and so do their families. I enjoyed reading this series of posts, it was very informative and it needs to read by all future teachers out there. This is a huge issue that needs to be addressed while they are still learning to become good teachers.
My parents also did this when I was younger. I did not always make all A’s, and even when I didn’t my mom would ask me if I tried my hardest and if I truly did they were proud of me and not disappointed at all. My dad would take me out on a date and my mom would give me money to go buy what ever I wanted. I got $10 for every A and $5 for every B, I didn’t get anything for C’s but I don’t think I ever had one. My mom would praise me for a few days and then a few days later she would ask me how she could help me practice and get better at what I had received a B in. The praise helped my confidence and the help from my mom helped me with my coming to her and asking her for help because I knew she would not judge me for not knowing something. My parents were the biggest impact on my grades, and I believe that for every child in school. A parent that takes the time to help their children learn and get better grades will boost their child’s confidence and create a trust within their relationship between parents and child.
THe Matter of the Heart
I agree with you that teachers get frustrated over things that they do not understand. I know this from experience, but luckily I have a very good role model to look up to for my teaching strategies. My mother was a teacher for 18 years, she taught my husband and both of my brothers. If she had a student that was struggling or had a disability, she would research how to help them and she did her best to help. I saw the way her trying this hard meant to her students. Even the students without disabilities would help. No one was on their own in her classroom. As the students moved on my mom would inform their next teacher and suggest the ways to help that student. My mom’s students still look up to her for that, and so do their families. I enjoyed reading this series of posts, it was very informative and it needs to read by all future teachers out there. This is a huge issue that needs to be addressed while they are still learning to become good teachers.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Post #7
Post Response to Randy Paush
In the video Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, Randy tells the audience what all he is going to talk about in his lecture. His main three points were his childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and lessons learned: How you can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others. Randy emphasizes on these points using stories that have happened to him throughout his life and what he has learned from them. In the video he is dying from tumors in his liver, and wants to pass his teachings on to the next generations guiding them and advising them in different aspects of life and school.
Childhood Dreams
Randy goes through his childhood dreams and tells how he slowly but surely succeeded in all of them. He went through some rough times and sometimes he did not think that he was going to be able to succeed but he did not give up. He hit a lot of what he called "brick walls", which are problems that he had to go through to get what he wanted. Randy says that when you get to a brick wall it is up to you if you are going to give up. I quote "The brick walls in life are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things. They are there to stop the people who do not want it badly enough." Randy also tells us about a time that he was playing on a football team and the head coach had been riding on him all day about everything he was doing wrong. After practice an assistant coach came to talk to him and told him that "When you're screwing up and nobody is saying anything, that means they gave up." Randy goes on to teach "you're critics are the ones telling you they still love you. He tells us about something called a "head fake". It is an underlying message in what the instructor is trying to say. He uses parents putting their children into sports. Most parents do not put their children in sports to learn the sport but to learn sportsmanship and teamwork.
Enabling the Childhood Dreams of Others
When you are trying to help someone achieve their childhood dreams don't give up on them early on, if you wait long enough people will impress you. When teachers are trying to get their students to do better Randy's mentor, Andy Van Dam, told Randy "You obviously do not know where the bar should be and you would be doing your students a disservice if you put it anywhere." This tells us future teachers that we can tell our students they did a good job, but also tell them that we know they can do better. By telling them this they will see that your bar for them is obviously not where they thought it was. This will motivate them to always strive to do better and better, and they will always want to impress you. Teachers always need to push their students as far as they possibly can. Randy says "The best gift an educator can give is to get someone to be self-reflective." Teachers should make students ask themselves if they think that is the best they can do, make them strive to be the best. Randy also recommends that the teacher use a "head fake". The best way to teach someone something is to make them think they are learning something else. An example of that in the classroom is teaching the children a hard lesson, but making it fun to where they do not even realize that they are learning.
What Helps Someone Achieve Their Dreams?
Randy tells us that the roles of our parents, mentors, and students help us achieve our dreams. Parents are there to support us in all of our decisions and aspirations throughout life. He tells us that if our child wants to paint their room to let them, it will be a way for them to express themselves and do what they want to do to their room. Mentors help us make decisions that we would have never thought about making. Students teach us different ways we can present things to our future students to make them more appealing. He tells us to have fun in what we do. We all need to decide if we are a Tigger or an Eeyore in life. Are we going to have fun with everything or are we just going to sit around and mope all the time? Never lose your childlike wonder, its too important, its what drives us in our dreams and aspirations. Randy tells us that when you do the right things, good things have a way of working out.
In the video Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, Randy tells the audience what all he is going to talk about in his lecture. His main three points were his childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and lessons learned: How you can achieve your dreams or enable the dreams of others. Randy emphasizes on these points using stories that have happened to him throughout his life and what he has learned from them. In the video he is dying from tumors in his liver, and wants to pass his teachings on to the next generations guiding them and advising them in different aspects of life and school.
Childhood Dreams
Randy goes through his childhood dreams and tells how he slowly but surely succeeded in all of them. He went through some rough times and sometimes he did not think that he was going to be able to succeed but he did not give up. He hit a lot of what he called "brick walls", which are problems that he had to go through to get what he wanted. Randy says that when you get to a brick wall it is up to you if you are going to give up. I quote "The brick walls in life are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things. They are there to stop the people who do not want it badly enough." Randy also tells us about a time that he was playing on a football team and the head coach had been riding on him all day about everything he was doing wrong. After practice an assistant coach came to talk to him and told him that "When you're screwing up and nobody is saying anything, that means they gave up." Randy goes on to teach "you're critics are the ones telling you they still love you. He tells us about something called a "head fake". It is an underlying message in what the instructor is trying to say. He uses parents putting their children into sports. Most parents do not put their children in sports to learn the sport but to learn sportsmanship and teamwork.
Enabling the Childhood Dreams of Others
When you are trying to help someone achieve their childhood dreams don't give up on them early on, if you wait long enough people will impress you. When teachers are trying to get their students to do better Randy's mentor, Andy Van Dam, told Randy "You obviously do not know where the bar should be and you would be doing your students a disservice if you put it anywhere." This tells us future teachers that we can tell our students they did a good job, but also tell them that we know they can do better. By telling them this they will see that your bar for them is obviously not where they thought it was. This will motivate them to always strive to do better and better, and they will always want to impress you. Teachers always need to push their students as far as they possibly can. Randy says "The best gift an educator can give is to get someone to be self-reflective." Teachers should make students ask themselves if they think that is the best they can do, make them strive to be the best. Randy also recommends that the teacher use a "head fake". The best way to teach someone something is to make them think they are learning something else. An example of that in the classroom is teaching the children a hard lesson, but making it fun to where they do not even realize that they are learning.
What Helps Someone Achieve Their Dreams?
Randy tells us that the roles of our parents, mentors, and students help us achieve our dreams. Parents are there to support us in all of our decisions and aspirations throughout life. He tells us that if our child wants to paint their room to let them, it will be a way for them to express themselves and do what they want to do to their room. Mentors help us make decisions that we would have never thought about making. Students teach us different ways we can present things to our future students to make them more appealing. He tells us to have fun in what we do. We all need to decide if we are a Tigger or an Eeyore in life. Are we going to have fun with everything or are we just going to sit around and mope all the time? Never lose your childlike wonder, its too important, its what drives us in our dreams and aspirations. Randy tells us that when you do the right things, good things have a way of working out.
Blog Post #6
The Networked Student
In The Netwoked Student the narrator introduces connectivism, which is a theory that presumes learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties. This system is where the students do all the research and teach themselves. I do not agree with this method at all. I understand that students need to learn to use technology, but it should be limited to what they use it for.
I feel like connectivism should be taught in a class and only used in that class. If other teachers want to use the system, it should be limited to projects that they have to do and submit online, but I strongly believe that it should not be used in all classrooms. This video is supporting a system that some may call the "future". I am looking forward to the advancements of technology in the world, but I am a firm believer in paper and pencil and that students should still learn to use them. If students lose sight of the basics of life.
The video also makes a point to answer the question "why would we even still need teachers?", for us, and they explain that the teacher would be used to teach the students how to use the system and authenticate the material they get out of it. If the teacher's only use is to explain how to use this system, then wouldn't all the teachers be teaching the same thing? Why would a history teacher need to take all of history classes in college if all she is going to be doing is teaching the children how to use the internet to find information and authenticate it? It is pointless for the different fields to have to take all the classes that pertain to their field if they will all be doing the same thing. I do not agree with this system and I will not be using it in my class. My students will use pencil and paper at school, and I may assign a project that they have to use this system and talk to each other out of school and turn it in online.
PLN
In the video, A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment, the students presents how she uses her PLE. She shows past projects and where her future assignment are such as homework. She says that she likes the system and that she feels like she has more freedom. I like these types of programs, but I do not think they should be a part of every aspect in the schools. The students should have to write on paper sometimes and they should have to turn in work that the have written down and taken time on. If all we use are computers and the newest technology in schools the students will get to where they rely on technology for everything and not know how to do it themselves. The future generations should always be taught to write with paper and pencil and look up information in real paper books. If students become completely relied on technology and what if one day all the computers crash? Do you cancel school because none of the students laptops or tablets work? No, you pull out pencil and paper and you keep teaching the lessons the way they are supposed to be taught.
In The Netwoked Student the narrator introduces connectivism, which is a theory that presumes learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties. This system is where the students do all the research and teach themselves. I do not agree with this method at all. I understand that students need to learn to use technology, but it should be limited to what they use it for.
I feel like connectivism should be taught in a class and only used in that class. If other teachers want to use the system, it should be limited to projects that they have to do and submit online, but I strongly believe that it should not be used in all classrooms. This video is supporting a system that some may call the "future". I am looking forward to the advancements of technology in the world, but I am a firm believer in paper and pencil and that students should still learn to use them. If students lose sight of the basics of life.
The video also makes a point to answer the question "why would we even still need teachers?", for us, and they explain that the teacher would be used to teach the students how to use the system and authenticate the material they get out of it. If the teacher's only use is to explain how to use this system, then wouldn't all the teachers be teaching the same thing? Why would a history teacher need to take all of history classes in college if all she is going to be doing is teaching the children how to use the internet to find information and authenticate it? It is pointless for the different fields to have to take all the classes that pertain to their field if they will all be doing the same thing. I do not agree with this system and I will not be using it in my class. My students will use pencil and paper at school, and I may assign a project that they have to use this system and talk to each other out of school and turn it in online.
PLN
In the video, A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment, the students presents how she uses her PLE. She shows past projects and where her future assignment are such as homework. She says that she likes the system and that she feels like she has more freedom. I like these types of programs, but I do not think they should be a part of every aspect in the schools. The students should have to write on paper sometimes and they should have to turn in work that the have written down and taken time on. If all we use are computers and the newest technology in schools the students will get to where they rely on technology for everything and not know how to do it themselves. The future generations should always be taught to write with paper and pencil and look up information in real paper books. If students become completely relied on technology and what if one day all the computers crash? Do you cancel school because none of the students laptops or tablets work? No, you pull out pencil and paper and you keep teaching the lessons the way they are supposed to be taught.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Blog Post #9
What I Learned
In the blog post,What I Learned this year: 09-10, Joe McClung a teacher from Arkansas does a summary post every school year saying all the lessons he had learned from the previous year. I chose the second year be cause I felt that in the post he would be more comfortable in his surroundings. Mr. McClung's second year of teaching because he had some issues with the administration that year, and may mom is an assistant principal and she sometimes has to intervene and talk to a teacher about how they could change somethings and better the learning experience for the students. He tells us that we should not let the problems outside the classroom affect the classroom because the students will be the only ones hurt. I think it is very important for teachers to treat the classroom like an entirely different world! I love how he says to check your ego at the door. this tells us to not be afraid to be or look weird and ridiculous every now and then as long as its for the student's education.
Mr. McClung's most recent post is shorter than his others and almost seems to contain less enthusiasm than some of his previous posts. This post details the problems that can come with worrying about what peers think. Teachers all have a need to be liked by our peers and colleagues, but in this post he talks about not letting that need affect one's teaching negatively. The most important part of being a teacher is always the quality of the teaching. This seems like common sense, but some teachers seem to have forgotten this. In the last part of the post he talks about "challenging yourself." Mr. McClung talks about how he became reliant on old lesson plans and methods of teaching, so when he was offered the chance to teach a new subject, he took it. This is a very good disposition to have and one that can be quite difficult to obtain. Often we become stagnant in our work because it's the easy way out, and this is a dangerous mindset.
In the blog post,What I Learned this year: 09-10, Joe McClung a teacher from Arkansas does a summary post every school year saying all the lessons he had learned from the previous year. I chose the second year be cause I felt that in the post he would be more comfortable in his surroundings. Mr. McClung's second year of teaching because he had some issues with the administration that year, and may mom is an assistant principal and she sometimes has to intervene and talk to a teacher about how they could change somethings and better the learning experience for the students. He tells us that we should not let the problems outside the classroom affect the classroom because the students will be the only ones hurt. I think it is very important for teachers to treat the classroom like an entirely different world! I love how he says to check your ego at the door. this tells us to not be afraid to be or look weird and ridiculous every now and then as long as its for the student's education.
Mr. McClung's most recent post is shorter than his others and almost seems to contain less enthusiasm than some of his previous posts. This post details the problems that can come with worrying about what peers think. Teachers all have a need to be liked by our peers and colleagues, but in this post he talks about not letting that need affect one's teaching negatively. The most important part of being a teacher is always the quality of the teaching. This seems like common sense, but some teachers seem to have forgotten this. In the last part of the post he talks about "challenging yourself." Mr. McClung talks about how he became reliant on old lesson plans and methods of teaching, so when he was offered the chance to teach a new subject, he took it. This is a very good disposition to have and one that can be quite difficult to obtain. Often we become stagnant in our work because it's the easy way out, and this is a dangerous mindset.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Langwitches Blog Post #4
Langwitches, 1st Graders Create Own Read Along Book
In Langwitches, 1st Graders Create Own Read Along Book it shows that podcasts can be very beneficial in the leraning of young students. The teachers record the students reading a book, but when the students were done they sat and listened to themselves they always want to re-record it and make it more theatrical. They wanted to put more emotions into it, they wanted to make it more personalized. Doing these podcasts showed students what technology can do but not how to use it. The teacher uses technology as a tool to make learning more interesting to the children and promotes more exciting ways to read. In one of the examples the teacher uses garage band to allow the students to put animal sounds and other sound effects in their podcasts to let the students put a little more of their personality into it.
Podcasting with 1st Grade
In Podcasting With 1st Grade students make a podcast book report about a book that they read. They had to tell about the story and pretend that they interviewed the characters in the story. And in Langwitches, Flat Stanley Podcast", students make a podcast of the story they read, "Flat Stanley". The students seem to be very excited and animated with what they were reading. Podcasts are a wonderful way to get students exited about reading. Recording the students and then posting them online for all the world to see connects these students to ones all over the place.
In Langwitches, 1st Graders Create Own Read Along Book it shows that podcasts can be very beneficial in the leraning of young students. The teachers record the students reading a book, but when the students were done they sat and listened to themselves they always want to re-record it and make it more theatrical. They wanted to put more emotions into it, they wanted to make it more personalized. Doing these podcasts showed students what technology can do but not how to use it. The teacher uses technology as a tool to make learning more interesting to the children and promotes more exciting ways to read. In one of the examples the teacher uses garage band to allow the students to put animal sounds and other sound effects in their podcasts to let the students put a little more of their personality into it.
Podcasting with 1st Grade
In Podcasting With 1st Grade students make a podcast book report about a book that they read. They had to tell about the story and pretend that they interviewed the characters in the story. And in Langwitches, Flat Stanley Podcast", students make a podcast of the story they read, "Flat Stanley". The students seem to be very excited and animated with what they were reading. Podcasts are a wonderful way to get students exited about reading. Recording the students and then posting them online for all the world to see connects these students to ones all over the place.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Blog Post # 3
Peer Editing
I learned a lot watching What is Peer Editing? I have never thought about it that way. I have always just went straight into critiquing the thing that I was supposed to be proof reading. Complimenting can be hard sometimes, but you have to look for key points that you and that person may have in common. If you disagree with them still compliment the way that they wrote their paper or post.
Next is the critique part. You must read the student's work thoroughly looking for grammar mistakes, misspelled words, punctuation, and sentence structure. You may have to read it multiple times. It is difficult at times to constantly read something over and over looking for mistakes, sometimes its best to take a break for a little while and come back and do it again. When you correct the student's paper you must make sure you use the correct notations. You can find those here, Proofreading Marks.
After you critique someone's paper you must try to help them correct it. If you tell them that they have a poor choice of words or made grammar problems throughout their paper give them some advice on how to correct those problems. Do not give them the answer, give them suggestions on how to correct it. Using these three steps is a very strategic way in critiquing someone but not upsetting them or making them feel like they did poorly on their work. I learned a lot from this video and I will surely use it throughout my career as a teacher.
Assistive Technologies
The Mountbatten helps blind students type like seeing students type on laptops. The Mountbatten can transfer and save files just like a normal laptop. It spell checks for the student and it makes it possible for the blind students to write papers and do documents that other students are able to do. There is also a device that was made to help blind students with math, it helps the students with the difficulty of setting up problems the right way. Also Apple has come up with different settings that will help blind individuals on the ipad to work their way around the ipad and all the apps included. It talks to the person and tells them where they are and what they are typing. It is very advanced and extremely helpful to blind people. It makes it to where they are not left out in the technology era, it keeps them included. In the last video it showed us a teacher trying to teach a blind student's mother what her child is learning on the Ipad . She had difficulties with the entire process as the teacher was trying to talk her through it. The mother realized that the her child went through a lot more difficulties than the other students. I think everyone should have to do this in high school at least to understand what those children go through and the struggles they are challenged with.
Students' Digital Smarts
In the video Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts, the teacher Vicki Davis teaches her class about the latest kind of technology and how to use it. I think all teachers should implicate this. In the video Vicki made a statement, "Learning to learn", this statement is very essential in school. We as humans do not just automatically know how to learn. When we are children we do imitate, and some people confuse that with learning but its not. We must teach ourselves how to learn. The students have to open their mind and be critical thinkers on their own.
Like Dr. Strange has said from day one he is not going to use the burping method with us, he is going to make us learn on our own and I believe that is the best method for a teacher to use in his/her classroom. Vicki did not sit down on day one and tell the students how to do the work, she let them play around and explore it and learn how to use it on their own. Some students may need to be hands on and not have someone sit there and tell them everything, but the teacher is there for the ones that do need help. Vicki has used technology to let her students be part of international interaction. Technology like this in classrooms should be essential. Students can see other cultures and other ways of life, or maybe there is a teacher in India that can teach your students something new that you could not. Teachers are supposed to give students the best opportunities to learn and grow that they possibly can and I believe that this could be done by injecting more technology into schools all around the world.
I learned a lot watching What is Peer Editing? I have never thought about it that way. I have always just went straight into critiquing the thing that I was supposed to be proof reading. Complimenting can be hard sometimes, but you have to look for key points that you and that person may have in common. If you disagree with them still compliment the way that they wrote their paper or post.
Next is the critique part. You must read the student's work thoroughly looking for grammar mistakes, misspelled words, punctuation, and sentence structure. You may have to read it multiple times. It is difficult at times to constantly read something over and over looking for mistakes, sometimes its best to take a break for a little while and come back and do it again. When you correct the student's paper you must make sure you use the correct notations. You can find those here, Proofreading Marks.
After you critique someone's paper you must try to help them correct it. If you tell them that they have a poor choice of words or made grammar problems throughout their paper give them some advice on how to correct those problems. Do not give them the answer, give them suggestions on how to correct it. Using these three steps is a very strategic way in critiquing someone but not upsetting them or making them feel like they did poorly on their work. I learned a lot from this video and I will surely use it throughout my career as a teacher.
Assistive Technologies
The Mountbatten helps blind students type like seeing students type on laptops. The Mountbatten can transfer and save files just like a normal laptop. It spell checks for the student and it makes it possible for the blind students to write papers and do documents that other students are able to do. There is also a device that was made to help blind students with math, it helps the students with the difficulty of setting up problems the right way. Also Apple has come up with different settings that will help blind individuals on the ipad to work their way around the ipad and all the apps included. It talks to the person and tells them where they are and what they are typing. It is very advanced and extremely helpful to blind people. It makes it to where they are not left out in the technology era, it keeps them included. In the last video it showed us a teacher trying to teach a blind student's mother what her child is learning on the Ipad . She had difficulties with the entire process as the teacher was trying to talk her through it. The mother realized that the her child went through a lot more difficulties than the other students. I think everyone should have to do this in high school at least to understand what those children go through and the struggles they are challenged with.
Students' Digital Smarts
In the video Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts, the teacher Vicki Davis teaches her class about the latest kind of technology and how to use it. I think all teachers should implicate this. In the video Vicki made a statement, "Learning to learn", this statement is very essential in school. We as humans do not just automatically know how to learn. When we are children we do imitate, and some people confuse that with learning but its not. We must teach ourselves how to learn. The students have to open their mind and be critical thinkers on their own.
Like Dr. Strange has said from day one he is not going to use the burping method with us, he is going to make us learn on our own and I believe that is the best method for a teacher to use in his/her classroom. Vicki did not sit down on day one and tell the students how to do the work, she let them play around and explore it and learn how to use it on their own. Some students may need to be hands on and not have someone sit there and tell them everything, but the teacher is there for the ones that do need help. Vicki has used technology to let her students be part of international interaction. Technology like this in classrooms should be essential. Students can see other cultures and other ways of life, or maybe there is a teacher in India that can teach your students something new that you could not. Teachers are supposed to give students the best opportunities to learn and grow that they possibly can and I believe that this could be done by injecting more technology into schools all around the world.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Special Blog post #1
WolfranAlpha
WolfranAlpha search, India has 1.21 billion people, china has 1.35 billion people, and the united states only has 309 million people. I researched annual births in United States compared to China. China has 17.8 million births per year. The United States only has 4.29 million people per year.My second search was "compare the population numbers of Russia, Germany, Australia, and the United States. Russia has 140 million people, Germany has 82.1 million people, the United States has 309 million people and Australia only has 21.5 million people. I would love to live in Australia!
This could be helpful to me in the classroom when I need a visual aid of say numbers of population from different countries. The site has a line graph and that shows the progression of the populations over the past years all the way to the present days. I could pull up these charts to physically show the changes in population, this will help my visual learners. My students could also use this site for fast and easy answers. I can put it on the requirements for a project I may give them or something similar to that.
Gary Hayes Social Media Count
This is astonishing!!! Its mind-blowing! I have never thought about anything like that calculator being out there. The progression of all the categories on that calculator does not look good for my future as a teacher. Yes, maybe the future will be even more technology based then it is right now, but I stand firm on my beliefs that technology should have its limit in the school system. Our students do not need to soupy rely on it and that is the way it is looking like now. There is almost no one under the age of 50 that doesn't have a cell phone. Even the older people have iPhones and androids.
Thats incredible to me, because some of those people become so reliant on those phones that they can't even have a vocal conversation with you without being socially awkward but they can text until their fingers fall off. I like my iPhone, but I do not depend on it. If I did not have it I would be perfectly fine. As a teacher I would be scared of all of the technology effecting the students learning abilities. I would still make them take their tests on paper and not on their computers or anything else like that.
WolfranAlpha search, India has 1.21 billion people, china has 1.35 billion people, and the united states only has 309 million people. I researched annual births in United States compared to China. China has 17.8 million births per year. The United States only has 4.29 million people per year.My second search was "compare the population numbers of Russia, Germany, Australia, and the United States. Russia has 140 million people, Germany has 82.1 million people, the United States has 309 million people and Australia only has 21.5 million people. I would love to live in Australia!
This could be helpful to me in the classroom when I need a visual aid of say numbers of population from different countries. The site has a line graph and that shows the progression of the populations over the past years all the way to the present days. I could pull up these charts to physically show the changes in population, this will help my visual learners. My students could also use this site for fast and easy answers. I can put it on the requirements for a project I may give them or something similar to that.
Gary Hayes Social Media Count
This is astonishing!!! Its mind-blowing! I have never thought about anything like that calculator being out there. The progression of all the categories on that calculator does not look good for my future as a teacher. Yes, maybe the future will be even more technology based then it is right now, but I stand firm on my beliefs that technology should have its limit in the school system. Our students do not need to soupy rely on it and that is the way it is looking like now. There is almost no one under the age of 50 that doesn't have a cell phone. Even the older people have iPhones and androids.
Thats incredible to me, because some of those people become so reliant on those phones that they can't even have a vocal conversation with you without being socially awkward but they can text until their fingers fall off. I like my iPhone, but I do not depend on it. If I did not have it I would be perfectly fine. As a teacher I would be scared of all of the technology effecting the students learning abilities. I would still make them take their tests on paper and not on their computers or anything else like that.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Blog Post #2
Did You Know
I can say that China inspires me. Why should we only know one language? If they learn to take the initiative and make it mandatory that the people learn the english language then that would take out a lot of the confusion in the world between countries. We should encourage it throughout other countries and we should start making other languages here a mandatory thing so that we would all be reliable assets to our country. We should also encourage China in all that they are doing because we want to keep them close when technology takes another leap and bound and they will help us stay up to date and not be behind.
I will am going to always try and stay as technologically advanced as I possibly can at all times because you never know how the technology will be when I become a teacher, so I have to stay on top of the game and always know what's going on. By then the students could have computers in the tops of their desks that are compatible with my smart board and all I have to do is transfer it and they can practice their letters and not have to use pencils and paper. I will still ask them to bring pencils and paper to school because I am going to still use them no matter what happens to the technology in the classroom. What if it all crashes one day? All the other teachers that totally relied on the smart boards will not have anything prepared, but my work with my students will not be affected.
I am ready to educate I know that their will be some people that disagree with me in not using 100% technology but I choose to teach my students the old fashion way and no one will influence me any different. I know that the students need to be shown all the technology of this day and time and they need to be taught in how to use it, and I will do that, but I will also teach them to not be dependent on technology, because you never know what is going to happen to the technology that they relied on they would be completely lost.
Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winkle Wakes video makes a lot of sense of how some schools in this day and age are not up to par with rest of the technology in the world, but like I said in my previous post, we should not always rely on it. We need to be independent in ways. Technology is always going to be changing but we should also always learn the basics.
Students can take notes on computers, I do support that< but students shouldn't always use only computers. What if your computer dies in the middle of you taking notes, what are you going to do? I have only used a computer when it was necessary, I hand wrote all of my notes and never relied on a laptop. If we only teach our students how to use computers then how are they ever going to learn how to write, and maybe even read. They now have computers that read to you and you don't even have to look at the book. I think that technology in schools should be limited to the use and what the students can use it for.
Pinterest in Education
Using Pinterest in schools is e very good idea. Teachers from all over the country can put ideas that they have come up with that may work for other teachers, and the other teachers have free access to it. All teachers should have an account and they should post unique ideas on it to share. Pinterest is very organized too. It has separate boards for you to "pin" the things you find and like to. I have an account and one boards are for my future classroom and many other categories that have to do with my family and my future. I think that the organization on Pinterest will help with the organization in the classroom. The teacher could use the boards on Pinterest as a way to organize their classroom. They could have different stations in the classroom and the items at those centers never left those centers unless the teacher did it or the student had permission. They could also use Pinterest to help with lesson plans, they may see something that inspires a lesson, or they see a picture that wold help them get their point across in their lesson. Pinterest could also be used by the students to organize information for presentations and for projects the students may be assigned.
I can say that China inspires me. Why should we only know one language? If they learn to take the initiative and make it mandatory that the people learn the english language then that would take out a lot of the confusion in the world between countries. We should encourage it throughout other countries and we should start making other languages here a mandatory thing so that we would all be reliable assets to our country. We should also encourage China in all that they are doing because we want to keep them close when technology takes another leap and bound and they will help us stay up to date and not be behind.
I will am going to always try and stay as technologically advanced as I possibly can at all times because you never know how the technology will be when I become a teacher, so I have to stay on top of the game and always know what's going on. By then the students could have computers in the tops of their desks that are compatible with my smart board and all I have to do is transfer it and they can practice their letters and not have to use pencils and paper. I will still ask them to bring pencils and paper to school because I am going to still use them no matter what happens to the technology in the classroom. What if it all crashes one day? All the other teachers that totally relied on the smart boards will not have anything prepared, but my work with my students will not be affected.
I am ready to educate I know that their will be some people that disagree with me in not using 100% technology but I choose to teach my students the old fashion way and no one will influence me any different. I know that the students need to be shown all the technology of this day and time and they need to be taught in how to use it, and I will do that, but I will also teach them to not be dependent on technology, because you never know what is going to happen to the technology that they relied on they would be completely lost.
Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winkle Wakes video makes a lot of sense of how some schools in this day and age are not up to par with rest of the technology in the world, but like I said in my previous post, we should not always rely on it. We need to be independent in ways. Technology is always going to be changing but we should also always learn the basics.
Students can take notes on computers, I do support that< but students shouldn't always use only computers. What if your computer dies in the middle of you taking notes, what are you going to do? I have only used a computer when it was necessary, I hand wrote all of my notes and never relied on a laptop. If we only teach our students how to use computers then how are they ever going to learn how to write, and maybe even read. They now have computers that read to you and you don't even have to look at the book. I think that technology in schools should be limited to the use and what the students can use it for.
Pinterest in Education
Using Pinterest in schools is e very good idea. Teachers from all over the country can put ideas that they have come up with that may work for other teachers, and the other teachers have free access to it. All teachers should have an account and they should post unique ideas on it to share. Pinterest is very organized too. It has separate boards for you to "pin" the things you find and like to. I have an account and one boards are for my future classroom and many other categories that have to do with my family and my future. I think that the organization on Pinterest will help with the organization in the classroom. The teacher could use the boards on Pinterest as a way to organize their classroom. They could have different stations in the classroom and the items at those centers never left those centers unless the teacher did it or the student had permission. They could also use Pinterest to help with lesson plans, they may see something that inspires a lesson, or they see a picture that wold help them get their point across in their lesson. Pinterest could also be used by the students to organize information for presentations and for projects the students may be assigned.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Blog Post 1
About Me
My name is Brelyn Searcy and I am a junior at South Alabama. I live in Hurley, Ms, which is about 45 minutes away from the college. I am an elementary education major. I am a newly wed and he is truly a wonderful man. I am a step-mom to two wonderful little boys, Zeke and Peyton. They are my absolute world. I have a 7month old Siberian husky named Wolfie and he is my little buddy. He is the one in the picture. I am a volleyball coach at Resurrection Catholic High School n Pascagoula, Ms. My team of girl are my life. I love those girls like they are a huge part of my life. I want to go into the elementary education field because I want to show children that they can make a difference in the world no matter how old they are. My two step-sons have inspired me to be a teacher. My husband and I are teaching them while they are young that they can do things to change other people’s lives. This past Christmas my husband and I found a needy family and told our boys that instead of Bre Bre and Daddy getting them presents this year they, the boys, were going to shop for the needy family’s children. They were surprisingly thrilled to go get stuff for the little boys! Santa still brought them a big present, but when we gave the mom the presents for her little boys that she could buy she cried and the boys were slightly confused that she was crying. We explained to them that she was just so happy because of what they did, they were so proud of themselves. The rest of the night they were saying “Bre-Bre, we made that lady so happy she cried!” I was so proud of them. They keep asking when the next time they can do it again.
My Future Classroom
As a teacher I will be very supportive of my students and I will use mainly hands on teaching methods in my classroom. For every lesson that I do I will come up with something that the children can do to use what they have learned and experience it in their own. Say we do a lesson on the letter "A", I may bring a bag of apples that Friday,and the students would bring their favorite thing to dip apples in to school and we would have apples and what ever they brought at snack time. If we were doing math problems I could maybe use something like gummi bears and show the students how to add and subtract.
My students will learn by true experience. I will teach my students very important life lessons. My students would be very respectful to other teachers and to their classmates. I will teach them manners and how to be independent, but how to work together very well. My students will be my best friends. They will learn to be confident in themselves at the end of our year. The students will work together in the classrooms and out on the play ground. I will always try to get my students involved in things that are going on in the community and teacher them about what they are truly doing. My students will be respected around the school and the community.
I will hopefully ne a first grade teacher. I do not know really know exactly the tools I will use in my classrooms. I will come up with tools for the students to use as I go along with my lessons. I think that our main tools for my students to use will be paint and canvases. Every Friday we will have a paint day. We will use what we learned during the week to paint a picture on Friday and we will hang them up for all of the next week and we will just switch them every week for the other classes and teachers to see what they have learned about that week.
Time Management
My favorite thing Randy Pausch brought up was at the end of the video when he was talking about how to eat the frogs. He was talking about taking on the biggest and ugliest thing on your "To Do List" and do it first. He said "If you have to eat a frog do not sit there and look at it for too long. And if you have to eat three frogs do not eat the smallest one first." I take these quotes as saying that if you wait and do the biggest thing on your list last then you may not have time to get it all completed because you did not use your time wisely with the smaller "To Do's" and you can't get it all done. But if you just go ahead and "eat the frog" then you will have time to finish all of the little things on your list and you are less stressed out about not finishing on time.
Another thing I like that he brought up about asking yourself, "Why?" You should always ask yourself that question because the answer to that question may be the inspiration to finish what you are doing. He shows a powerpoint slide that has a few very good questions on it that every student should ask themselves, "Why will I succeed?","What happens if I choose not to do it?", and then "Doing things right vs. Doing the right things." He tells us in the video that your work will mean more if you do the right things adequately then if you do the wrong things beautifully. That is a VERY IMPORTANT POINT for a student to understand. Randy says "It does no matter how well you polish the underside of the banister." This video was very helpful to me and I advise this to always stay in the requirements in Blog Post #1. This is a very good and resourceful video.
My name is Brelyn Searcy and I am a junior at South Alabama. I live in Hurley, Ms, which is about 45 minutes away from the college. I am an elementary education major. I am a newly wed and he is truly a wonderful man. I am a step-mom to two wonderful little boys, Zeke and Peyton. They are my absolute world. I have a 7month old Siberian husky named Wolfie and he is my little buddy. He is the one in the picture. I am a volleyball coach at Resurrection Catholic High School n Pascagoula, Ms. My team of girl are my life. I love those girls like they are a huge part of my life. I want to go into the elementary education field because I want to show children that they can make a difference in the world no matter how old they are. My two step-sons have inspired me to be a teacher. My husband and I are teaching them while they are young that they can do things to change other people’s lives. This past Christmas my husband and I found a needy family and told our boys that instead of Bre Bre and Daddy getting them presents this year they, the boys, were going to shop for the needy family’s children. They were surprisingly thrilled to go get stuff for the little boys! Santa still brought them a big present, but when we gave the mom the presents for her little boys that she could buy she cried and the boys were slightly confused that she was crying. We explained to them that she was just so happy because of what they did, they were so proud of themselves. The rest of the night they were saying “Bre-Bre, we made that lady so happy she cried!” I was so proud of them. They keep asking when the next time they can do it again.
My Future Classroom
As a teacher I will be very supportive of my students and I will use mainly hands on teaching methods in my classroom. For every lesson that I do I will come up with something that the children can do to use what they have learned and experience it in their own. Say we do a lesson on the letter "A", I may bring a bag of apples that Friday,and the students would bring their favorite thing to dip apples in to school and we would have apples and what ever they brought at snack time. If we were doing math problems I could maybe use something like gummi bears and show the students how to add and subtract.
My students will learn by true experience. I will teach my students very important life lessons. My students would be very respectful to other teachers and to their classmates. I will teach them manners and how to be independent, but how to work together very well. My students will be my best friends. They will learn to be confident in themselves at the end of our year. The students will work together in the classrooms and out on the play ground. I will always try to get my students involved in things that are going on in the community and teacher them about what they are truly doing. My students will be respected around the school and the community.
I will hopefully ne a first grade teacher. I do not know really know exactly the tools I will use in my classrooms. I will come up with tools for the students to use as I go along with my lessons. I think that our main tools for my students to use will be paint and canvases. Every Friday we will have a paint day. We will use what we learned during the week to paint a picture on Friday and we will hang them up for all of the next week and we will just switch them every week for the other classes and teachers to see what they have learned about that week.
Time Management
My favorite thing Randy Pausch brought up was at the end of the video when he was talking about how to eat the frogs. He was talking about taking on the biggest and ugliest thing on your "To Do List" and do it first. He said "If you have to eat a frog do not sit there and look at it for too long. And if you have to eat three frogs do not eat the smallest one first." I take these quotes as saying that if you wait and do the biggest thing on your list last then you may not have time to get it all completed because you did not use your time wisely with the smaller "To Do's" and you can't get it all done. But if you just go ahead and "eat the frog" then you will have time to finish all of the little things on your list and you are less stressed out about not finishing on time.
Another thing I like that he brought up about asking yourself, "Why?" You should always ask yourself that question because the answer to that question may be the inspiration to finish what you are doing. He shows a powerpoint slide that has a few very good questions on it that every student should ask themselves, "Why will I succeed?","What happens if I choose not to do it?", and then "Doing things right vs. Doing the right things." He tells us in the video that your work will mean more if you do the right things adequately then if you do the wrong things beautifully. That is a VERY IMPORTANT POINT for a student to understand. Randy says "It does no matter how well you polish the underside of the banister." This video was very helpful to me and I advise this to always stay in the requirements in Blog Post #1. This is a very good and resourceful video.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Blog Post #5
In the video, Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir, this video gave me chill bumps. This video is an absolutely wonderful example of what the technology in this day and age can do. It is a great video to show students and what we can do with them, maybe teachers can implement this into their classrooms. The teacher could do like an animal choir where all the students were recorded doing animal noises and the teacher put it together like this, or the class could tell a story, or even make a picture. Each student would have a separate piece of a picture that the class has chosen and then hold it up in front of their computer and the teacher could put it together just like the choir was put together.
Teaching in the 21st Century
In the video, Teaching in the 21st Century, Kevin Roberts says that teachers are the filter to the students and what they learn. I do not agree with him. The way he puts it is that students should rely on the internet to get their information and says that teachers are the filter for that information to tell the students whether for not it is true and trustworthy or not. He seems like he is talking about older children and not really the younger children. Technology may can teach a kindergartener to read and write, maybe it can teach them numbers and letters, but technology cannot love a student the way a teacher can. Technology cannot come up with the catchy little songs elementary teachers can come up with to help students remember all that they learn. My step-son Zeke came home one day singing, in the tune of The Adam's Family theme song tune, but it was his days of the week. Young students look up to their teachers to guide them and teach them life lessons that a computer cannot. I do think we should put more of an emphasis on the use of technology in the schools and just make sure there are limitations to it.
Flipping a Classroom
In Why I Flipped My Classroom?, the teacher shows how her classroom was not efficiently set up. She had students in the middle of the classroom that were good and decent learners, then she had students off to the left of the rooms that did not learn as fast and had difficulties doing assignments, finally she had the fast learners in the far corner of the room, all off to themselves bored with what the teacher kept having to teach because she has to make sure all the students learn the material. Then she would send the students home with home work and the students would not know how to do the work because in class the teacher had to focus more on the teaching the lesson then she could applying the material. So she tried something called "Flipping the Classroom". She made it to where the students could learn the lessons online and at home they could learn the material at home and then go to school so the teacher can show them the application of the material. In the classroom she put the students into sections and she moved to the middle of the room. That way she could be interactive with the entire room and the individual groups. I plan on implementing this after the first few weeks of my classroom. It would take some time to learn the needs of all the students first then move them into the appropriate sections in the classroom. Its an efficient way to make sure all the students are interactive with the lessons and then they come into the classroom.
Teaching in the 21st Century
In the video, Teaching in the 21st Century, Kevin Roberts says that teachers are the filter to the students and what they learn. I do not agree with him. The way he puts it is that students should rely on the internet to get their information and says that teachers are the filter for that information to tell the students whether for not it is true and trustworthy or not. He seems like he is talking about older children and not really the younger children. Technology may can teach a kindergartener to read and write, maybe it can teach them numbers and letters, but technology cannot love a student the way a teacher can. Technology cannot come up with the catchy little songs elementary teachers can come up with to help students remember all that they learn. My step-son Zeke came home one day singing, in the tune of The Adam's Family theme song tune, but it was his days of the week. Young students look up to their teachers to guide them and teach them life lessons that a computer cannot. I do think we should put more of an emphasis on the use of technology in the schools and just make sure there are limitations to it.
Flipping a Classroom
In Why I Flipped My Classroom?, the teacher shows how her classroom was not efficiently set up. She had students in the middle of the classroom that were good and decent learners, then she had students off to the left of the rooms that did not learn as fast and had difficulties doing assignments, finally she had the fast learners in the far corner of the room, all off to themselves bored with what the teacher kept having to teach because she has to make sure all the students learn the material. Then she would send the students home with home work and the students would not know how to do the work because in class the teacher had to focus more on the teaching the lesson then she could applying the material. So she tried something called "Flipping the Classroom". She made it to where the students could learn the lessons online and at home they could learn the material at home and then go to school so the teacher can show them the application of the material. In the classroom she put the students into sections and she moved to the middle of the room. That way she could be interactive with the entire room and the individual groups. I plan on implementing this after the first few weeks of my classroom. It would take some time to learn the needs of all the students first then move them into the appropriate sections in the classroom. Its an efficient way to make sure all the students are interactive with the lessons and then they come into the classroom.
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