COMMENTS FOR TEACHERS 4

I was assigned to report on Jenny Luca's blog, Lucacept intercepting the Web. Jenny is Head of Information Services at Toorak College in Mt.Eliza in Melbourne, Australia. I love her blog. She has a lot of really informative posts along with a lot of just for fun stuff.

The first blog I responded to was Google' s Book to Help Us Understand the Web. 20 things I've learned about Browsers and the Web. This is an online book which explain how the web works. My response to her post : I thought that it was a great online tool for anyone that has any questions about the Web. A lot of people just use the internet but do not really know a lot about what is behind it. This online book goes into great detail explaining what’s behind the different concepts like malware and cookies, and what exactly they mean. I think that it is safe to say that computers really are so much a part of our lives and predominantly will become more so over the years. Everyone should know as much as they can know about it, especially because for the average person, our personal information is out there.

In her second post..one of the "fun" ones..she posted several videos pertaining to Flash Mobs. Now I have never heard of Flash Mob before coming across them in her blog. Apparently a group of people just break out into a performance anywhere. In these cases they were at the food court in the mall and at an airport. Another one was a spoof of a flash mob from the TV show "Modern Family" Here are two from her blog that I thought were post worthy. It made me feel really good just watching them. I couldn't imagine how it would have been to actually be there. And the best part about it was how happy the people seemed to be in the midst of all of it. It seemed as if it were a really inspirational moment to be apart of. 

 

ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENT #5

Tom Johnson's Blog Pencil Integration is brilliant. This is an amazing middle school teacher who truly cares about his students and understands their learning processes. He takes the time to get to know his students and identify with them in a way where they have sort of a mutual respect for one another. He uses the idea of pencils to describe his teaching. Somehow he manages to make a metaphor for pencils in everyone of his blog posts. He uses one idea to explain several different ones. For this assignment we were asked to comment on four of his posts.
Just Teach Them to Solve for X  is a post in which Mr. Johnson asks the question, should we simply teach the facts or teach the process behind the learning. He states that memorizing doesn't help a student to understand. There is a quote that I really took to. "Confusion is a process which leads to clarity." In this post, he explains how a fellow teacher questions his teaching techniques on the variable "x". Why not just teach them the facts, she asks. Why not teach them the concept behind it?
Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils    is about how a middle school aged child's life is constantly changing, their moods are constantly changing, and they are struggling to find who they are. They want the independence of being an adult, yet still yearn for the acceptance like a child. "In a fourteen year old's mind, everything is temporary and just about everything is changing." Just like a pencil. A pencil's marks can be changed, shaded, texturized, erased..same with that of a fourteen year old's life.
 He just like the Class for His Pencils Tom Johnson is often viewed as the "nice guy teacher." He is strict when he needs to be. He wants his students to enjoy learning but understand the importance of it and take it seriously. He takes the time to know his students and they respect him for it. This post is about a conference with a student, teachers, and parents, and Mr. Johnson was asked to sit in on it. The other teachers are criticizing him, shaming him, to the point where it brings the student to tears. "But he doesn't act out in my class", Mr. Johnson says.."it's because of the pencils" says the other teacher. "It's not because of the pencils" says the child, "it's because, well I don't know why, but its not the pencils" says the child.
The Medium Shapes the Learning
This blog post was a little harder to grasp the concept behind. So I am not entirely sure.  Here is a statement he makes in this post "Educators often believe that they have the power to wield each tool to fit their own purpose.  They assume that a lesson can remain virtually unchanged when a new medium is added." What I think he means by this is should we use every new technological device for learning? Just because something is fun, entertaining, flashy and new..can it be useful in a learning environment? And how?

BLOG POST #13

ALABAMA LEARNING EXCHANGE (ALEX)
ALEX is a website for educators or aspiring educators. It contains a variety of different resources. On the Alabama Learning Exchange website, you can access a collection of lessons plans for all grade levels and subjects. They also have all courses of study and the content standards for each. On ALEX, there is a link to a podcast gallery, where you can listen to podcasts from other educators or make your own. They have several web links with resources for both teachers and students. You can also build your own personal workspace where you can store lesson plans and web pages for future access. You can broaden and build your professional development and stay up to date with the latest trends in education by visiting any of the resources available from the Alabama Department of Education.

I think that ALEX is a great tool with a ton of information. I encourage anyone going into the education field to explore what ALEX has to offer.  It is a great resource for new teachers to ask questions and get different ideas and approaches for their own classroom. And with the personal workspace, it helps you to stay organized. I have already been using ALEX and will continue to do so. I have gotten so many different ideas for lesson plans already and I really like the fact that you can access any standard, at any grade level for all subjects. That has been really useful to me. The podcasting gallery is rich with information and ideas, which I had never known about until now. Collaboration is key in the education field and ALEX is a good website that enables you to do that.

SURVEY RESULTS

FOR THIS PROJECT, WE HAD TO CONSTRUCT A SURVEY AND DISTRIBUTE IT TO A GROUP OF PEOPLE. MY SURVEY WAS ON HEALTH AND FITNESS. IT WAS DISTRIBUTED TO 23 PEOPLE. THE MAJORITY OF THE RESPONDENTS WERE ALL IN GOOD HEALTH, PRACTICED HEALTHY EATING HABITS AND CONSCIOUS ABOUT THEIR OVERALL HEALTH. HERE IS THE SURVEY:




THE RESULTS WERE AS FOLLOWED:

PROGRESS REPORT ON FINAL PROJECT!!!!

For our final project in EDM, our group is going to do the ABC's of Technology. We will find a word, technologically related, that corresponds to each letter of the alphabet. We are going to screen capture simple clips of these programs for the video with a brief explanation of why it is important or useful.

PROJECT #15

Our group did a movie project about a guy, a college student, who gets lured into temptation and temporarily falls away from his faith. After realizing his mistakes, John turns back to his faith.

BLOG POST #12

ASSIGNMENT:
watch the video Future, Technology, and the Next 50 years
write a post on your thoughts of the video, whether you agree or disagree. If these changes are made during the next 50 years, will they effect us in a positive way or a negative way? Are you prepared for the changes discussed?



POST RESULTS:
As interesting as these innovations are, I don't know that many of them are realistic in the sense that they will happen within 50 years, or even at all. But you really never know, look how far we've come in the last 20 years, so I guess that anything is possible.The most questionable ones that I found were LCD contacts, Robots, nano robots that are injected into your bloodstream to cure disease, and 1 billion earth-like planets in our atmosphere. They are all very fascinating ideas and if the world really comes to that, who knows what we are capable of. On a positive note, having a water powered car would be pretty awesome, but what happens when the water runs out. I am ready for just about anything. I would like to think that some of these things are possible and that they will make our world a better place to be. When I am 80 years old and they are able to inject a little robot into my bloodstream, I will remember this post..and say "wow, it really happened." Until then, I may be a little skeptical. Lets be realistic. But like I said, anything is possible.

PROJECT #14-TEACH SOMEONE

COMMENTS FOR KIDS #3-7

#3- I commented on a student in 2nd grade at Pt. England School in Auckland, NZ. This was a new student in the class and we were to say hello to her. Here is my commment, "Hi Akaiti! What a beautiful name! My name is Margeaux Estevane. I am a college student at University of South Alabama. I just wanted to say hello and that I hope you have a great year this year and you meet lots of wonderful friends in your new class!!!!"

#4- Isabella is a year 6 student at a school in Sydney, Australia. She blogged about a recent trip she made to China. This girl was an extraordinary writer. Very descriptive. Here is what I wrote to her, "

Hi Izzy. My name is Margeaux. I go to college at University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I am reading your blog as a requirement for my educational media class. Wow! Shanghai!! I have always wanted to visit China. How exciting. Do you visit there often? I take it that you have family there. After reading your post about Day 2 in China, I felt as if I was there with you. Such vivid details. You are a phenomenal writer. Great Blog!"

#5- This was a high school student who writes a post about a book called Poisonwood Bible. It is a book about how girls are rejected in education and the oppression of women. Here is my comment, "

Hi! I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at University of South Alabama. Great Post. You are a fantastic writer. It is plain to see that you have a lot of confidence in your abilities as a student. I think that is vital. I enjoyed the section on the Poisonwood Bible. Sounds like an interesting book. But I agree, it is time to break the cycle. Generation after generation are just repeating what they learned growing up and it is time to break free from that. So many different issues in life reside in the same phenomenon. If half of the kids had the same will and confidence as you, I think the situation would shift. Great post! Great Writing!"

#6- On Comments for Kids #6, we were asked to comment on a 6th grade student from Iowa. This young man, in his blog, writes a story with the letters backwards and asks if we can make out what the words say. He also wrote a "What If" poem, what if there was no sky, what if we couldn't say hi, what if we couldn't cry..there were 15 "what if's" Here is what I said, "Hi Josh. I am a college student at University of South Alabama. I thought this post was really cool. Very different. It took me a few minutes to figure out the words but I was finally able to get the gist of it. Also, I enjoyed your “What If” Post. Very clever. I liked how you made everything rhyme. You sound like a very creative writer. I find myself asking some of those questions sometimes..What If? Very good job on your blog. Keep up the good work!!!!"

#7- I was asked to comment on Mr. McClung's blog. Mr. McClung is an 8th grade teacher at Woodland Jr. High located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. This is a clipping from Mr. McClung's "about me" section of his blog. "I focus centrally about team/partner work. I believe that it is hard for every student to learn from traditional teaching methods. I try my best to keep things as fresh as possible and FUN for my students." He is very down to earth and seems very dedicated to his students. Mr. McClung does a "band of the week" post. The particular post that I commented on, the band he had listed was called Arcade Fire. Here is what I wrote, "Hi Mr. McClung. Im from Dr. Strange’s EDM class. I love this idea of Band of the Week! What a down to earth teacher you seem to be. I actually remember hearing this song, Wake Up, on Where the Wild Things Are. I listened to a few of their other songs as well. Cool Band. What in the world is a hurdy gurdy?! I am going to google that right now! I look forward to seeing next week’s band!"

BLOG POST #11

LITTLE KIDS...BIG POTENTIAL
Ms. Cassidy is a first grade teacher in Canada. She has developed a technology program within her classroom in which her students get to experiment with all different aspects of technology, to include blogging, skype, wikis, and many more. I think that this is amazing. What Ms. Cassidy is doing is preparing her students for their future and opening them up to a whole new world of learning. She is so lucky to have the resources available to her to do so. These first graders are being given the opportunity to use new tools and how to properly use them, and they look like they are having so much fun doing it. Keep in mind that these are six and seven years olds, blogging like a pro. They know how to do more online than I do! Not only are these students being able to interact in their daily lessons, but their parents are able to actually see for themselves their children's progress in school. In the video, the lesson that Ms. Cassidy used that I thought was so cool, was when they used Wiki to find out different holiday traditions and rituals from across the country and the world. I think that would be a really fun lesson because it teaches the students about different cultures and customs. I really admire what Ms.Cassidy is doing with her students, check it out and see for yourself. Hopefully you can take away from it what I have, that the possibilities are endless and a child is never too young to be opened up to the world of technology.

COMMENTS FOR TEACHERS 3

The third teacher I followed was Beth Still. She teaches Social Studies in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Beth Still is an exceptionally dedicated educator. She is a go-getter and she is really absorbed into her role as a teacher.

In the first blog post I commented on for Ms. Still called the Still Family Laptop Initiative, her and her husband are doing an incredibly honorable thing. They have organized a non-profit project in which they are trying to help low income students attain a laptop for education purposes. She starts with the students in her class. She has found an affordable laptop,  around $500, for the students and in return, the students are required to do 25 volunteer hours in a community program, for which they will receive a $100 credit. They can also volunteer an additional 25 hours to receive another $100 credit. She is also offering the students attendance incentives. So, by volunteering in the community and attending class regularly, they can receive up to $250 credit towards their laptop, which leaves only $250 for them to pay out of pocket. She is working with local business and agencies, who will benefit by the volunteer work, and by doing so, also getting the students involved in the community.

In my second response to another blog post titled "Googlizing my Students", Ms. Still is experimenting with Google Apps in her classroom. For most, if not all, of the students, this was their first experience with any of the google applications. She had them setting up their own pages, accessing classes, inputting in the calendar and grade book, calling from google voice and video chat (which the students thought was so cool) and also experimenting with Google Earth. She has set up a project for the students to pick a National Park in the US and use Google Earth to record a virtual trip of different landmarks throughout the park. All of which the students were thrilled to learn about.

I admire Beth Still's initiative she has in her classroom and her dedication to her students. She is going above and beyond with the Laptop Initiative. Not only is she helping students attain tools that will advance their education but she is instilling a great value into them by getting them involved in their community, something that they will carry with them throughout the rest of their lives. She is getting her students involved in daily lessons which will engage them profusely. Being personally involved in something brings great value to learning it. If she were to say, "ok, everyone go to the library and do a research paper on a National Park", how excited do you think the students would be to do that? Not very much. They'd probably think, "ugh, another paper." Instead, she is introducing new and exciting ways to explore different resources and using new, mind-stimulating tools in which her students will be more intrigued by. I hope that I can have half the dedication she has, when I become a teacher. She is really doing these kids a wonderful service, and her community too.