Summary Post C4K April

C4K #7
In the talent show, Josh showed off the tricks he can do with a yo-yo. It was a great performance and Josh is very talented. He didn’t mess up even once in the whole video. I ended up watching the rest of the videos from the talent show because I was so impressed with Josh’s. I congratulated him and told him he did a great job.

C4K #8
I was assigned to comment on Amelia’s blog. Amelia wrote about how she and her family had just moved from one house to a bigger house in another part of town. Her new house has a tennis court, a spiral staircase, three bedrooms, and three bathrooms. She said that it took them a while to get everything moved over to the new house because her parents had lived in the other one for 18 years. In my comment, I told her about when I moved for the first time. I told her how awesome it is that she has her own tennis court, and how I’m taking a tennis class this semester. Lastly, I told her that I was happy to hear that she likes her new house.

C4K #9
I really enjoyed looking over Mrs. Yollis’ class blog. It was very informational and a wonderful example of how technology can benefit elementary students. It proves that technology is a necessity in our schools, not an option. I liked how Mrs. Yollis posted information on HTML code and how to use a camera properly. I appreciate how she promotes reading so much because it seems to me that children don’t read as often as they should anymore. Also, I love the idea of Family Blogging Month and how it allows students’ family and friends to comment on their work and show support.

C4K #10
Adia is one of the students in Mrs. Yollis’ class. Her blog post was about what she learned at her Girl Scouts meeting. A friend’s grandmother visited and taught them about her Japanese culture. They learned about the hair clips women wear in Japan, various articles of clothing, and how to make sushi. In my comment to her, I thanked her for the comment she left on the class blog, and I told her how well her post was written. I thanked her for teaching me something new about Japanese culture that I didn’t know before. I also told her that I was never in the Girl Scouts, but I thought it sounded fun to be a member.

Blog Assignment 13

The Alabama Learning Exchange, also known simply as ALEX, is a development of the Department of Education. It is a website that shares many kinds of educational tools for both students and teachers. It doesn’t only provide resources for the core classes in schools such as English, social studies, math, and science, but also has information on the arts, health, technology, physical education, foreign languages, and driver’s education. The website lists the courses of study with the grades they are usually taught in, and then it provides links to other websites and lesson plans to further education on those topics. There are also places for podcasting, creating lesson plans, finding lesson plans that other educators created, and communicating with other teachers. It is a way to exchange knowledge and information.

When I become a teacher, I think it will be very useful to use ALEX as a teaching tool. I can have my students use it to help clarify what I teach, especially if they’re having a hard time understanding the material. Also, I can use it to get ideas for my lessons and help my planning of the lessons. Since I will be able to talk with other teachers, I can get opinions and advice on how best to present topics that will be more interesting to my students.

Now, ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, & Students Statewide) I am more familiar with because in my senior year of high school I took Latin I and Latin II using it. It was set up similarly to the USA Online website with the dropbox and other various tabs. Students are able to take classes through ACCESS that normally wouldn’t be available to them in their own schools. Their teachers may be teachers at a nearby school, and the students can be from any other public school in Alabama. Since it is completely online, you are given assignments at the beginning of the day with all the instructions of what to do and when to turn it in. If you need help, there is a moderator that supervises and is specially trained to answer questions and help out when necessary. In my case, it was a wonderful experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is unsure of whether or not to participate in ACCESS.

Project 15

Final Project Progress Report

For my final project, so far I have set up a group and we have decided on our topic. We chose to do a film interviewing students on their thoughts of technology in the classroom and its presence elsewhere. My group and I are going to meet up throughout the week to discuss the project more in depth and start the filming process.

Blog Assignment 12

For my blog assignment, I decided to find a new blog about technology and education that wasn’t on the Comments for Teachers document list and comment on it. I found the blog “Beth’s Thoughts on Technology in the Classroom” by Beth Knittle. She is a K-12 Technology Integration Specialist and former middle school teacher in Massachusetts. She has great posts pertaining to technology and education. I highly recommend it!

Project 14

Teach Someone Something

I decided that I would teach someone how to plant a tree. I've gotten very good at growing things over the years since my family and I have planted vegetable gardens, flower gardens, and countless fruit trees and bushes in our yard in Athens, Alabama. We have enjoyed many different kinds of delicious foods as a result.

How to Plant a Tree

Special Assignment

Mr. McClung seems like an energetic and positive person, so he likes to reflect that in his teaching and his blog. He is a very dedicated teacher and puts a lot of work into his blog. He is also straightforward about his expectations for his students.

I really liked the rules that Mr. McClung uses for his classroom. As a future teacher, I think it would be great for people to come into class with a positive attitude, because it’s not easy to be excited about learning when you can tell that others don’t want to be there. Also, I like the rules as a student because I learn a lot by other students’ questions. If someone asks a question, I may have been wondering the same thing, so my questions get answered as well. That also goes with the listening part.

Under “Everyone Needs,” the first requirement is a day planner. I suppose the reason for this is so students can learn to be more organized and to try and plan things ahead of time and not procrastinate or forget about things.

I think Mr. McClung’s penalties for being late are very reasonable. Since the homework assignments are to be completed in class, the students shouldn’t have a problem with turning them in. If they don’t, that means they weren’t using class time effectively, so they deserve a drop in the grade. Dr. Strange’s penalties are a little more severe, but to consistently be late with projects, posts, and other assignments is unacceptable.

Mr. McClung’s blog is to keep the information about his classes up-to-date. Also, it is to post about other things that he thinks are interesting. I think it would be nice to have a blog when I am teacher because then my students would always be able to be kept informed and would be able to see any information I post that I may consider to be important for them, or just fun.

One of the links I reviewed was the World War II Propaganda link. It explained what propaganda is and how the Nazi’s used it during World War II. The link contained many other links that went into more detail about Hitler’s propaganda and the war in general. I think this made Mr. McClung’s list because he is a social studies teacher, and this website explained a lot about World War II and went into detail, and it even had a timeline for the whole war and events that happened during it. It is a great website for learning. I also looked at the Plagiarism Checker. This is a really awesome link because it checks your work to see if it is copied from somewhere else. This would be very helpful for students because sometimes they don’t realize that they are plagiarizing, and the penalties are very harsh. It is a great way to prevent students from getting into trouble.

I think Mr. McClung did a good job explaining the Internet safety rules. It’s great that he allows his students to make up names so they are still able to participate in online activities. It is smart to create one e-mail account that only he has access to, so the students so they can use the public websites. He has taken all the necessary precautions and I don’t know of anything that I would want to add or subtract.

I was assigned to post on a video from a talent show. The student’s act was amazing! Then I checked out the rest of the performances, and all of the videos of the others acts were incredible! Every student was very talented. I particularly liked the ones with the students playing the piano because the music was beautiful and flawless. I really enjoyed the one where the student played the Journey song. I love that song and I was singing along with everyone else when I watched it!

Mr. McClung’s blog certainly does seem more advanced. However, he has had years to get it going and add to it whereas this EDM 310 class has only had one semester. If I kept going with my blog, I would like to make it more fun and personal and add more links. It would also be helpful to have a search tool to make it easier to find everything. I would not have found Mr. McClung’s Internet safety rules if I hadn’t typed it into his search bar.

Mr. McClung’s blog is useful to others because it keeps them informed about current events that are going on in the classes, and it has all the information that people need about assignments and when they are due. You can basically find everything you need to know about his classes right on his blog.

I think Mr. McClung’s blog is different because it isn’t just about the students’ posts. It is also about him and staying informed on what’s going on in his classes. There are links to help both students and parents, and it’s a great way for everyone to keep up with Mr. McClung. I think Mr. McClung made it this way so that everyone could easily get to know him his expectations, and so his students could navigate through it to answer any kinds of questions and still find it everything interesting and exciting.

Blog Assignment 11

I think Ms. Cassidy’s approach to the use of technology in the classroom is great for the first graders. If I were an elementary teacher, I would like to use technology the same way she is using it. I think it’s wonderful that she is having her students post blogs in order to improve their writing and spelling skills. Also, it allows parents to watch their child’s progress throughout the year rather than just checking in with the teacher at scheduled times during the school year.

An impediment that I might get concerned with is the safety of the children. However, it seems like Ms. Cassidy has it all under control with the safety measures she has taken. It is smart to leave out last names and to not match up pictures with names. Ms. Cassidy has a foolproof system.

There are many benefits that come with Ms. Cassidy’s approach to the use of technology in the classroom. One benefit comes from the games the children play. When the students can play games, they are having fun and learning at the same time, so the students actually want to learn and aren’t bored by it. A benefit to the blogging is that the students can get comments and encouragement from people from around the world, rather than just the teacher. I think Ms. Cassidy’s students are very fortunate to have been placed in her classroom.

Blog Assignment 10

I agree with what Morgan Bayda said about not wanting to drop out of school. Dan Brown’s decision does make a point, but it’s still the case in today’s world that you need the piece of paper saying you have a degree in order to get basically any kind of job. Even if you learn more while out of school, dropping out only hurts your future. However, I enjoyed watching Mr. Brown’s video. He is a great speaker and very energetic, which made it easier to follow what he was saying. He was very persuasive on the topic of changing education.

Also, I know exactly what Ms. Bayda is talking about when she says it’s hard to stay awake sometimes during class. When all you do is sit there and try to copy all the notes the teacher is writing on the board, it gets difficult to keep yourself from dozing off. But classes like EDM 310 are thankfully never boring, and everything is always relevant to me. It’s great to be exposed to all this technology that I wouldn’t have learned about otherwise.

In response to “Don’t Let Them Take Pencils Home,” I agree that multiple choice tests can’t completely evaluate authentic learning. With that kind of test, students can just make guesses, and even though it may not always work, they can make the right guesses. They don’t show the students’ thought processes or how they came to their conclusions. Also, I think it would be nice if all teachers went above and beyond what they are required to do, instead of saying, “It is what it is.” It’s great when teachers try to come up with new ways to learn and keep the students interested, and also when they try to solve problems instead of leaving things the way they are.

C4T Summary Post

I was assigned to comment on “The Scholastic Scribe” by Melissa B. The first post I commented on was a poem. The rule for the poem was to write one with each line starting with a letter of the alphabet in A to Z order. It was written very well and was extremely creative. I said that if I was given an assignment to come up with a poem like that, I would be so stressed out.

The second post I commented on was about Melissa B.’s “blogoversary.” It was a full three years since she started writing her blog. I congratulated her on her accomplishment and I told her how much I liked the metaphor she wrote at the beginning of her post. It was a beautiful metaphor about the start of spring.