Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Blog Post # 9
I chose Mr. McClung’s first edition of “What I’ve Learned This Year” because I thought it would be most beneficial to me as a new teacher. This, of course, is in addition to the required and latest version.
What I’ve Learned This Year (08-09)
In this post, Mr. McClung reflects on his first year teaching. I found this to be an incredibly nifty post. He starts out by discussing the way he lost touch with his class as he taught as lesson. His post describes him being so worried about his assessment from superiors that he forgot lessons should be student centered. He urges us to be flexible because no lesson plan is perfect, and also reasonable because as teachers we can hold very high expectations of our students. He stresses that our job is about picking our students back up after they fail and encouraging them to try again.
Another piece of advice was communication. He discusses communication regarding the workplace, as well as students. They best way to handle conflict at work is to simply talk things out. With fellow teachers, administration, and students it is imperative that we communicate. This is how we build rapport, develop strong, lasting relationships, and earn the respect and trust of our students. He also advocates technology as a friend. He even says we need it to be able to live in “our microwave society of today.”
He ends his post by encouraging us to never stop learning.
I loved this post. This is extremely beneficial to me because I have not went through my first year of teaching yet. It gave me a good idea of some problems that I am likely to encounter. I agree with everything he has to say. All of his advice is very pragmatic, and something that I will surely look back on.
What I Learned This Year - Volume 4
In this post, Mr. McClung addresses only two themes. The first, “You Gotta Dance With Who You Came To Dance With”, describes becoming overly concerned with the way that his fellow teachers perceived him. He tells us that after much reflection he came to realize that the way his peers view him is not that important. He tells us that throughout his career he has always followed one rule (or question); are the kids having fun? This couldn’t be more true. It is the children that we are here for. While it is important that we are pleasing our superiors and meeting all requirements set forth, the kids should always be our main focus.
The next theme he discusses is “Challenge Yourself”. Mr. McClung talks about how he had gotten comfortable in the school and subject he taught, which made the amount of creativity put into his lessons decline. He admits that he began to depend on old lessons and was not teaching well. He states that if we get too comfortable as teachers, we become lazy and our lesson plans become awful, which in turn makes our students suffer.
I am always looking for something new to try. I am the type of person that loves to be challenged and stay busy. I can truly understand what it is that Mr. McClung is saying here. I have had so many teachers that used lesson plans from an incredibly long time ago. Even though we have to cover the same standards year after year, we do not have to do it the same way over and over. Lessons should be subverted as needed to fit the needs of our students. I also really appreciated how honest he was with his flaws and failures as a teacher. Very enlightening.
I enjoyed reading these posts so much that I read the other two versions, and even followed and saved his blog to my Symbaloo. I was very excited for him when he announced, through an update, that he has been offered and accepted a position as an assistant principal. I’m sure only good things will come from his career advancement.
What I’ve Learned This Year (08-09)
In this post, Mr. McClung reflects on his first year teaching. I found this to be an incredibly nifty post. He starts out by discussing the way he lost touch with his class as he taught as lesson. His post describes him being so worried about his assessment from superiors that he forgot lessons should be student centered. He urges us to be flexible because no lesson plan is perfect, and also reasonable because as teachers we can hold very high expectations of our students. He stresses that our job is about picking our students back up after they fail and encouraging them to try again.
Another piece of advice was communication. He discusses communication regarding the workplace, as well as students. They best way to handle conflict at work is to simply talk things out. With fellow teachers, administration, and students it is imperative that we communicate. This is how we build rapport, develop strong, lasting relationships, and earn the respect and trust of our students. He also advocates technology as a friend. He even says we need it to be able to live in “our microwave society of today.”
He ends his post by encouraging us to never stop learning.
I loved this post. This is extremely beneficial to me because I have not went through my first year of teaching yet. It gave me a good idea of some problems that I am likely to encounter. I agree with everything he has to say. All of his advice is very pragmatic, and something that I will surely look back on.
What I Learned This Year - Volume 4
In this post, Mr. McClung addresses only two themes. The first, “You Gotta Dance With Who You Came To Dance With”, describes becoming overly concerned with the way that his fellow teachers perceived him. He tells us that after much reflection he came to realize that the way his peers view him is not that important. He tells us that throughout his career he has always followed one rule (or question); are the kids having fun? This couldn’t be more true. It is the children that we are here for. While it is important that we are pleasing our superiors and meeting all requirements set forth, the kids should always be our main focus.
The next theme he discusses is “Challenge Yourself”. Mr. McClung talks about how he had gotten comfortable in the school and subject he taught, which made the amount of creativity put into his lessons decline. He admits that he began to depend on old lessons and was not teaching well. He states that if we get too comfortable as teachers, we become lazy and our lesson plans become awful, which in turn makes our students suffer.
I am always looking for something new to try. I am the type of person that loves to be challenged and stay busy. I can truly understand what it is that Mr. McClung is saying here. I have had so many teachers that used lesson plans from an incredibly long time ago. Even though we have to cover the same standards year after year, we do not have to do it the same way over and over. Lessons should be subverted as needed to fit the needs of our students. I also really appreciated how honest he was with his flaws and failures as a teacher. Very enlightening.
I enjoyed reading these posts so much that I read the other two versions, and even followed and saved his blog to my Symbaloo. I was very excited for him when he announced, through an update, that he has been offered and accepted a position as an assistant principal. I’m sure only good things will come from his career advancement.
Project #12 - Jumanji Book Trailer
This was such an awesome project! Anthony Capps definitely deserves a thank you for the tutorial video. It was incredibly nifty! I plan to make more of these in my (currently nonexistent) spare time.
The only thing I had problems with (thanks to Anthony) was the music. My book trailer was just over a minute long, but my source music was only 46 seconds. I ended up solving this problem with a method I used to use to make ringtones in iTunes. I'm not sure of other ways to do this, but this was effective for me, and quick. A tutorial handling this problem wouldn't be a bad idea at all.
The only thing I had problems with (thanks to Anthony) was the music. My book trailer was just over a minute long, but my source music was only 46 seconds. I ended up solving this problem with a method I used to use to make ringtones in iTunes. I'm not sure of other ways to do this, but this was effective for me, and quick. A tutorial handling this problem wouldn't be a bad idea at all.
Project #9: PLN
PLN Progress Report
I love the idea of having a personal learning network (PLN). I am using Symbaloo to manage my network. The student from the video we watched, A 7th Graders PLE, used the same thing. I have Symbaloo set as my homepage. By doing this, anything that I want to access is simply a click away.
My PLN is definitely a work in progress. I am constantly adding new tiles to my webmix. I have already added social media tiles like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. These I use for both personal and professional purposes. Pandora is strictly personal, but I have to have music in order to function, so there it is! I use Diigo as a bookmarking tool. I like this one because you can highlight certain parts of the pages and add your own side notes as well.
I especially like to add blogs. I, of course, have the class blog, but I’ve also added any blogs that have been assigned and a few I have found on my own. I’ve also added a few pages like StorySpinner. I’ll add a list of them later when I post my final summary. Some of them are quite nifty. StorySpinner randomly selects a starting phrase, a setting, and four words to include. This will be great for short story exercises.
I am really excited about all the new and beneficial things I’m finding. Symbaloo is an awesome way to manage everything. I can wait to further develop my PLN.
I love the idea of having a personal learning network (PLN). I am using Symbaloo to manage my network. The student from the video we watched, A 7th Graders PLE, used the same thing. I have Symbaloo set as my homepage. By doing this, anything that I want to access is simply a click away.
My PLN is definitely a work in progress. I am constantly adding new tiles to my webmix. I have already added social media tiles like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. These I use for both personal and professional purposes. Pandora is strictly personal, but I have to have music in order to function, so there it is! I use Diigo as a bookmarking tool. I like this one because you can highlight certain parts of the pages and add your own side notes as well.
I especially like to add blogs. I, of course, have the class blog, but I’ve also added any blogs that have been assigned and a few I have found on my own. I’ve also added a few pages like StorySpinner. I’ll add a list of them later when I post my final summary. Some of them are quite nifty. StorySpinner randomly selects a starting phrase, a setting, and four words to include. This will be great for short story exercises.
I am really excited about all the new and beneficial things I’m finding. Symbaloo is an awesome way to manage everything. I can wait to further develop my PLN.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Blog Post #8
This is How We Dream
In his two part video, This Is How We Dream, Dr. Miller describes how reading and writing has changed. We have moved from using paper and pens to using technology for virtual reading and writing. Miller is discussing the importance of creativity and collaboration., as well as how cheap and accessible books and information have become due to technology. In the second part of his video he describes visual representation and academic lectures that are available on the web. He also advocates openly and freely sharing ideas, while acknowledging the challenges in creating an educational system like the one he describes throughout his videos.
My favorite thing about the first part of his video is that he points how much we can do with a virtual workspace. We can research “the riches of the world as they are stored on the web.” We no longer are limited to local libraries. With the use of technology we can research sources from all over the world without ever leaving home, or having to make a special trip to the library. He goes on to describe the ways that we can use audio and images as well as text, and collaborate with others on projects. Because technology allows us to connect virtually over the web, we can collaborate with people all around the world.
In the second part, Miller says that we as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely. I couldn’t agree with him more. I love working on collaborative projects. When you have other people working with you, you have access to someone to bounce ideas around with. You can help one another improve aspects of the project.
Miller recognizes that there are many challenges to overcome if we are to create this type of educational system. He states openly that he can barely fathom the idea. Like Miller, I find this fascinating. Why wouldn’t we want to share and push ideas into our culture? It was amazing to see what people are already composing using the web itself. It is amazing that we can see the emotion of different geographical locations. I believe we are definitely well on our way to an exclusively technology based educational system.
Carly Pugh’s Blog Post #12
Carly’s post was absolutely amazing! Not only was the content significant but her writing style is fascinating. It’s unbelievably entertaining. Her assignment truly epitomizes Dr. Miller’s dream of writing with multimedia.
Had I been given this assignment in school, we would have pulled out a sheet of paper and numbered one through ten, answering each question in written form. Because Carly explicitly states that you should use videos to answer these questions, it takes pens and paper off the table, and replaces them with technology. Most of her assignment requires no text at all. Not only does this assignment make you think, it teaches research and technological skills, self-reflection, and planning among many others.
EDM310 for Dummies and The Chipper Video
“EDM 310 for Dummies” is a video that shows you how to be successful in EDM 310. The video starts out with two students who are going crazy because they are overwhelmed by this course. This video introduces the book, EDM 310 for Dummies, which features tutorials and information for all aspects of this class.
“The Chipper Series” was hilarious! I love satire! Chipper is lazy, unmotivated, and procrastinates way too much. This video points out that these are terrible habits and you should stay on top of classwork, meet all deadlines, and follow instructions. This video was really great because it really touches on the point that school is not a joke.
I think the primary message of the videos was that you should always do your best and seek help and guidance when you need it. With EDM310 in particular, help is always available. The only possible reason someone could have for failing this class is that they did not put forth the effort required to succeed. I think Dr. Strange and the EDM staff do an outstanding job of being there for students and helping with anything we need. Their knowledge is something that should definitely be taken advantage of.
Learn to Change, Change to Learn
Education ranked lowest in IT intensiveness? Below coal mining? What?!
This video was mainly about how we teach and how technology is important in the classroom. This is so true. Just as Dr. Miller points out that we are no longer restricted to libraries for research, the same goes for schools. This is not the only place that children can learn now.
The new 21st century set of literacies are described as what one can do with information; can you find it, validate it, synthesize it, leverage it, communicate it, collaborate with it, problem-solve with it?
One of the main problems presented in this video is that technology children are using to communicate via email, text, and instant messages, are either banned or is not being utilized. We are not reaching them on a level that they are a) comfortable with, or b) can easily relate too.
We need to focus on teaching them how to use technology to benefit them. It can be used for so much more than texting and funny cat videos.
Scavenger Hunt 2.0
1. Edmodo is an amazing site. I’ve been ranting about it for a while now. I like to describe Edmodo as Facebook for teachers. Edmodo allows you to add “groups” which are basically virtual classrooms. Within these groups teachers can give assignments, quizzes, start discussions and even take polls.
There are quite a few reasons I like this site so much. The first being that this is a great way to get my students involved. It also a great way to turn your classroom into an environmentally friendly class. The main reason I like this so much is that it will allow my students access to me even when school is out. If they are at home doing an assignment, they will always be able to contact me through our virtual class.
2. I found MakeBeliefsComix in Related Links from Web 2.0. Here is my comic:
3. For creating a poll, I used PollEverywhere. You can respond to my poll here.
In his two part video, This Is How We Dream, Dr. Miller describes how reading and writing has changed. We have moved from using paper and pens to using technology for virtual reading and writing. Miller is discussing the importance of creativity and collaboration., as well as how cheap and accessible books and information have become due to technology. In the second part of his video he describes visual representation and academic lectures that are available on the web. He also advocates openly and freely sharing ideas, while acknowledging the challenges in creating an educational system like the one he describes throughout his videos.
My favorite thing about the first part of his video is that he points how much we can do with a virtual workspace. We can research “the riches of the world as they are stored on the web.” We no longer are limited to local libraries. With the use of technology we can research sources from all over the world without ever leaving home, or having to make a special trip to the library. He goes on to describe the ways that we can use audio and images as well as text, and collaborate with others on projects. Because technology allows us to connect virtually over the web, we can collaborate with people all around the world.
In the second part, Miller says that we as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely. I couldn’t agree with him more. I love working on collaborative projects. When you have other people working with you, you have access to someone to bounce ideas around with. You can help one another improve aspects of the project.
Miller recognizes that there are many challenges to overcome if we are to create this type of educational system. He states openly that he can barely fathom the idea. Like Miller, I find this fascinating. Why wouldn’t we want to share and push ideas into our culture? It was amazing to see what people are already composing using the web itself. It is amazing that we can see the emotion of different geographical locations. I believe we are definitely well on our way to an exclusively technology based educational system.
Carly Pugh’s Blog Post #12
Carly’s post was absolutely amazing! Not only was the content significant but her writing style is fascinating. It’s unbelievably entertaining. Her assignment truly epitomizes Dr. Miller’s dream of writing with multimedia.
Had I been given this assignment in school, we would have pulled out a sheet of paper and numbered one through ten, answering each question in written form. Because Carly explicitly states that you should use videos to answer these questions, it takes pens and paper off the table, and replaces them with technology. Most of her assignment requires no text at all. Not only does this assignment make you think, it teaches research and technological skills, self-reflection, and planning among many others.
EDM310 for Dummies and The Chipper Video
“EDM 310 for Dummies” is a video that shows you how to be successful in EDM 310. The video starts out with two students who are going crazy because they are overwhelmed by this course. This video introduces the book, EDM 310 for Dummies, which features tutorials and information for all aspects of this class.
“The Chipper Series” was hilarious! I love satire! Chipper is lazy, unmotivated, and procrastinates way too much. This video points out that these are terrible habits and you should stay on top of classwork, meet all deadlines, and follow instructions. This video was really great because it really touches on the point that school is not a joke.
I think the primary message of the videos was that you should always do your best and seek help and guidance when you need it. With EDM310 in particular, help is always available. The only possible reason someone could have for failing this class is that they did not put forth the effort required to succeed. I think Dr. Strange and the EDM staff do an outstanding job of being there for students and helping with anything we need. Their knowledge is something that should definitely be taken advantage of.
Learn to Change, Change to Learn
Education ranked lowest in IT intensiveness? Below coal mining? What?!
This video was mainly about how we teach and how technology is important in the classroom. This is so true. Just as Dr. Miller points out that we are no longer restricted to libraries for research, the same goes for schools. This is not the only place that children can learn now.
The new 21st century set of literacies are described as what one can do with information; can you find it, validate it, synthesize it, leverage it, communicate it, collaborate with it, problem-solve with it?
One of the main problems presented in this video is that technology children are using to communicate via email, text, and instant messages, are either banned or is not being utilized. We are not reaching them on a level that they are a) comfortable with, or b) can easily relate too.
We need to focus on teaching them how to use technology to benefit them. It can be used for so much more than texting and funny cat videos.
Scavenger Hunt 2.0
1. Edmodo is an amazing site. I’ve been ranting about it for a while now. I like to describe Edmodo as Facebook for teachers. Edmodo allows you to add “groups” which are basically virtual classrooms. Within these groups teachers can give assignments, quizzes, start discussions and even take polls.
There are quite a few reasons I like this site so much. The first being that this is a great way to get my students involved. It also a great way to turn your classroom into an environmentally friendly class. The main reason I like this so much is that it will allow my students access to me even when school is out. If they are at home doing an assignment, they will always be able to contact me through our virtual class.
2. I found MakeBeliefsComix in Related Links from Web 2.0. Here is my comic:
3. For creating a poll, I used PollEverywhere. You can respond to my poll here.
Friday, March 8, 2013
C4T #2
For this C4T assignment, I was given Mrs. Elvira Deyamport’s blog, Language Journeys. She is a Gifted Education teacher for grades 2-6. I highly suggest that you look over her blog. It contains a lot of excellent material.
Comment #1
My first comment was on her blog post, Telling Our Stories with Social Media. She starts out by sharing Diigo . Diigo is an amazing social bookmarking tool. She provides a very nifty link for a list of Diigo resources.
Mrs. Deyamport recently attend MECA, which is her state’s educational technology conference. She tells us about Eric Sheniger, who she describes as her social media hero. She continues to say that “he is the example of how school leaders can utilize social media to tell our stories and implement effective change within schools”. I have already bookmarked his web page.
Showcasing the work of her students is only part of what Mrs. Deyamport is trying to achieve. She also wants to show the world what is actually done in gifted education. When I commented, I introduced myself and thanked her for sharing Diigo. I told her that I found it very useful, and couldn’t wait to share it as well. Seriously, check out Diigo here. I also told her that I admired her approach and thought this was a good way to inspire a sense of pride and accomplishment. I ended my comment by asking if she had any other tool she could suggest. I am happy to say that Mrs. Deyamport replied to my comment almost immediately. She suggested I look into a site called Edmodo, and let me just say, wow! This will definitely be something I incorporate into my classroom. For the sake of space, I won’t go into detail, but this video is short, precise, and very informative. I’m not sure if this is something we will discover in EDM 310, but we should. I highly recommend it, on good recommendation.
Comment #2
My second comment was on Mrs. Deyamport’s post, Talking About College with Gifted Kids. In this blog, she describes the way she approach talking about college with her gifted students. She used three different projects to help them.
The first project she used was “text self-portraits”. The students were asked to draw a portrait of themselves using words that describe their personal qualities, aspirations, interests, talents, and career goals. She posted a picture of one that was incredible. Here is an example of what I mean.:
The second project she used was “Career Trees”. This is exactly like a “text self-portrait”, only the image used to display their message is a tree, or something other than their faces. She also posted a picture of one of these. Although not a very good one, here is an example:
The third project they worked on was podcasts. Her students created podcasts in the form of talk shows to help provide collegiate information. One of the podcasts was like radio show called The Do’s and Don’t’s of College, and the other provided more specific information for UAB college.
When I commented, I told Mrs. Deyamport that I loved this post, and enjoyed the podcasts so much that I had to share with everyone in my office. I told her that I really enjoy the things she posts on her blog and plan to do these projects with my students in the future. I mentioned that after I post this, my obligation to comment and follow her blog would be fulfilled, but that I plan to continue to follow anyway in hopes of taking advantage of anything I may find valuable from her blog.
Comment #1
My first comment was on her blog post, Telling Our Stories with Social Media. She starts out by sharing Diigo . Diigo is an amazing social bookmarking tool. She provides a very nifty link for a list of Diigo resources.
Mrs. Deyamport recently attend MECA, which is her state’s educational technology conference. She tells us about Eric Sheniger, who she describes as her social media hero. She continues to say that “he is the example of how school leaders can utilize social media to tell our stories and implement effective change within schools”. I have already bookmarked his web page.
Showcasing the work of her students is only part of what Mrs. Deyamport is trying to achieve. She also wants to show the world what is actually done in gifted education. When I commented, I introduced myself and thanked her for sharing Diigo. I told her that I found it very useful, and couldn’t wait to share it as well. Seriously, check out Diigo here. I also told her that I admired her approach and thought this was a good way to inspire a sense of pride and accomplishment. I ended my comment by asking if she had any other tool she could suggest. I am happy to say that Mrs. Deyamport replied to my comment almost immediately. She suggested I look into a site called Edmodo, and let me just say, wow! This will definitely be something I incorporate into my classroom. For the sake of space, I won’t go into detail, but this video is short, precise, and very informative. I’m not sure if this is something we will discover in EDM 310, but we should. I highly recommend it, on good recommendation.
Comment #2
My second comment was on Mrs. Deyamport’s post, Talking About College with Gifted Kids. In this blog, she describes the way she approach talking about college with her gifted students. She used three different projects to help them.
The first project she used was “text self-portraits”. The students were asked to draw a portrait of themselves using words that describe their personal qualities, aspirations, interests, talents, and career goals. She posted a picture of one that was incredible. Here is an example of what I mean.:
The second project she used was “Career Trees”. This is exactly like a “text self-portrait”, only the image used to display their message is a tree, or something other than their faces. She also posted a picture of one of these. Although not a very good one, here is an example:
The third project they worked on was podcasts. Her students created podcasts in the form of talk shows to help provide collegiate information. One of the podcasts was like radio show called The Do’s and Don’t’s of College, and the other provided more specific information for UAB college.
When I commented, I told Mrs. Deyamport that I loved this post, and enjoyed the podcasts so much that I had to share with everyone in my office. I told her that I really enjoy the things she posts on her blog and plan to do these projects with my students in the future. I mentioned that after I post this, my obligation to comment and follow her blog would be fulfilled, but that I plan to continue to follow anyway in hopes of taking advantage of anything I may find valuable from her blog.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Blog Post #7
There is so much to this lecture. An entire book has been derived from this lecture. I had to watch this lecture multiple times, but it was well worth it. I wanted to watch it again and again. Pausch’s last lecture was beyond inspirational and contains an extensive amount of advice on life, learning, and teaching. The overall positivity that Pausch advocates and exudes stood out to me. Bottom line, despite the odds, a positive outlook is essential to achieving anything.
“Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.” This meant a lot to me as an educator. All students have immense potential. Sometimes it may take longer to show, and some students may just need to be given the right tools. My students should always know that I would never give up on them; another of Pausch’s pieces of advice, never give up. Just as I shouldn’t give up on them, they shouldn’t give up on themselves. Dreams can be achieved if you work hard enough for them. “Brick walls are there to provide us with an opportunity to prove how badly we want something.” No matter what path we choose to take in life, there will always be obstacles. To get through these brick walls and achieve the things you want, you can’t give up.
Not all childhood dreams come true, and that’s okay. This is just as important to teach my students as not giving up on their dreams. Sometimes these are the best instances to gain experience. “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.” The things that we do not achieve are often replaced with adapted versions. In the lecture, Pausch shares his childhood dream of playing in the NFL. While that didn’t happen, he learned many things in the time that he did play football that helped him considerably in other aspects of his life.
Encouraging creativity, raising the bar, and pushing my students to do more are just a few things I plan to consider when educating my future students. There is just so much that I took from his lecture! Teaching the fundamentals and following it with fun, technology based projects will be a major method for me. I would also try to allow my students to see where they stand among others. I hope this will encourage them to try harder and do more. I want to provide them with substantive feedback, but I also want to recieve feedback from them. This will give me a chance to teach the importance of critics that Pausch emphasizes.
I will be able to provide my students with assignments that will allow them to be creative and still utilize fundamental rules of English. I would like to stray away from a traditional English class and give students a real chance to both realize and reach for their dreams. Writing can be an excellent way to self-reflect; something that Pausch felt was very important to teach.
Throughout his entire speech, Pausch focused on other people. He explicitly states “you can’t get there alone”. Networking is crucial. The way you deal with people is everything. Be loyal, show gratitude, cherish criticism, and talk to people in the right way. Word usage is key when communicating. There are many different ways to say the right thing and it’s all about the way you say it. This basically comes down to be a good person, a good friend. Always do the right thing. The relationships that you build will become a major stepping stone in the things you accomplish.
I could write incessantly about the ways Pausch’s lecture can be adapted into my teaching and personal life. His lessons apply to life, me, my students, everyone. I recently began reading the book, The Last Lecture, and I’m looking forward to finishing it. If you haven’t at least watched the lecture, you should. Pandy Pausch’s Last Lecture was amazingly inspirational, and definitely worth the hour and sixteen minutes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)