Project #11 - Short Movie

This is a short movie I did online since my webcam did not want to cooperate.

Blog Assignment 7

Wendy Drexler

I think that for us to be teachers of networked students we are going to be those that answer questions that our students cannot find online or just to point them in the right direction. There will also be the challenge of us having to sit back and be a guiding light for our students instead of being in the front of the classroom giving a lecture to students who are barely paying attention or zoned off in their own little world like we were in school. The most difficult thing that people are going to have to get used to from this change IS the fact that teachers will no longer be in the front of the class giving lectures, instead they will be off to the side on the computers right along with students letting them figure out for themselves how to do an assignment and only stepping in on really difficult portions.
On the other hand, I think that while this type of learning is just now getting off the ground it will still be in the first steps by the time I get in a classroom so I know that I will be getting used to it right along with all the other teachers and that hopefully if it does not work there will be a way for some teachers to stay in a traditional education setting. While I have this hope, I can look around out how fast things have progressed and know that this will not be true and that everyone that is now in school to be in the education field and current teachers will need to get used to teaching from a distance.

The Seventh grader's PLE and my PLN

I learned from the video that the seventh grade student uses Symbaloo to track all of her web searches down and last semester since I had not started bookmarking my sites yet decided that it would be a good place to start. I went to Symbaloo and created an account and now I can get to everything I need to help me with this class at the click of a button, especially since I thought it would be a great idea to go ahead and set my Symbaloo as the homepage on my browser. From last semester I learned that it's important to keep a running PLN and so far I have managed to update mine every 2-3 weeks.

C4KSummary for February

There were three C4K's assigned for the month of February. Here is the summary for the three.

C4K #1 - Mary H.
In the post I commented on Mary wrote about her experiences with playing cricket. I commenting letting her know she should add more detail but that she's a great writer.

C4K #2 - Julianne
This student is studying abroad right now and blogged about how different it is. She also wrote about how difficult it is to concentrate on studying while the sun is shining and it feels great outside. I commenting telling her I have the same problems with concentrating but to keep trying and to always put her studying first.

C4K #3 - Sania
Sania's post was a reading response to the story by Mark P. entitled The Harp. She made sure to not only summarize what she read but to give her opinion on what she thought of the story and what she predicted should have happened. I commented letting her know that she needed to work on her sentence structures, but that she is a great writer.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

*Before I get started on talking of his teaching techniques I just want to say that it makes me sad that he has already passed away because it seems like Dr. Pausch would be a fantastic person to befriend.* Now back to the regularly scheduled program.

The first technique Dr. Pausch discussed in the lecture was the "head fake" which he started to learn at the very early age of 9, from his football coach. The "head fake" is indirect learning while learning something else, his example for football was that while the team is learning the game they are also learning things like teamwork and leadership. This would be used in my classroom by putting the students into groups and making sure the "quiet" one was the leader so they would learn to take the lead and have their opinions heard.
Hard work was something Dr. Pausch really focused on in his classroom and I think that that was really important because people need to put their best foot forward including in the classroom. Hard work would be ingrained into my students because you should never try to coast through with an attitude of "I got a passing grade, that's good enough for me".
To Dr. Pausch, getting feedback from the students help not only him, but also his students see what needed to be worked on and make that improvement. He got feedback through bar graphs that let everyone see how easy they were to work with and so they wanted to improve where they were if there overall score was not very high. I've been learning in my Evaluations class that keeping graphs or checklists to keep some feedback or progress on each student.
The most important technique he used in the class, at least to me, would be having fun. While it doesn't really sound like a technique to me, if you really think about it for some time, you will be able to see that it is as most teachers don't care whether their students are having fun or not so they are miserable and not really doing their best in class. I aspire to be just like Ms. Honey from Matilda with making my classroom as fun and happy as I can. I want them to feel creative in my class!

Project #8 - Group Podcast

Project #9a - Personal TimeToast

Blog Assignment 5

Scott McLeod - Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please?
In this post Mr. McLeod takes a very sarcastic approach to tell parents, administrators, board members and teachers that technology is coming but in schools it is taking too long to arrive. He talks of not worrying about teaching students to do papers on the computer, or how to connect with people online since pens and paper are going nowhere. He does show at the end of his post though, that it is all in sarcasm as he writes that he is going to teach his students everything that is thought to be corruptible in educational technology. He knows that if most teachers stick to the old fashioned ways of teaching their students than those that are taught by teachers who embrace and enhance technological learning will have a leg up in the future.
It turns out that Scott McLeod is an Associate Professor at UK (University of Kentucky) and has received many awards for his work. He blogs regularly, is an idea generator and a CASTLE director. I find the quote on his home page to be quite interesting and very true to him: "If the leaders don't get it, it's not going to happen." So the leaders of our school need to get it so that his ideas can continue to happen.

The iSchool Initiative
     Travis Allen's argument is for making school completely green by getting rid of paper, pens/pencils, textbooks, and printers & ink. To do this it would replace all of those things with and iSchool on the iPod Touch. He tells about all the learning capable features that are already on the iPod and of how much money it will save everyone if they switch. Plus it will lower our Carbon Footprint and raise how green our society is.
     My reaction was one of wonder and surprise and fear all at the same time. The wonder is that schools really could go to be completely online and over iPods and the like without teachers and students ever meeting face to face. The surprise comes from how eager this young man sounds for it to be true. Though the fear comes from both of these things and the fact that if school goes this way then libraries are sure to be next, and since I am an avid reader I would hate for this to happen. I can't stand looking at my computer screen long enough to finish writing a paper so there is no way I would be able to stare at it to finish a book.
For his ZeitgeistYoungMind's Entry Travis Allen just gives an update on what he has been doing since he made the video that started the iSchool Initiative and encourages everyone to get involved with the program.

Jennifer Chambers & Eric Whitacre
Ms. Chambers found an amazing video of 185 voices all over the country singing one song together. It was a truly unforgettable sound that doubled in cool points once I found out that the people that made that soothing song had never once met in person! I think this is one of the best ways I have seen the internet used so far. Last semester when I had to write about this video I wished that Eric Whitacre had more videos of virtual choirs. After watching the video this time, I found that he does indeed have at least one more out. He got a choir together to perform Sleep.

Teaching in the 21st Century
To Roberts teaching ultimately comes down to asking the question "what does it mean?". To him it doesn't matter the content, skills, or subject. You could be using Google, textbooks, or even just brainstorming ideas with a group or partner but Roberts will want to know what it means. What the meaning of a color is, what the meaning of being president is, or what the meaning of literature is. Like it says, no matter the content. And I think that is absolutely fabulous. I know that things will change for me as a future educator because it will no longer be knowledge getting crammed in one ear and spilling right back out of the other. The students will actually have to put in efforts on projects and assignments instead of throwing things together at the last minute since I will be using this way of always wanting to know what things mean.

Reading Rockets
I think the one resource that I would find the most valuable from this website would be the Reading for Meaning show they have on there that is aired on PBS. This is because I am a big reader myself and think that everyone should enjoy the books that they read.
The other tool that I would value greatly is the Watch & Learn videos. They take you into the classroom to actually show you if the methods, tricks, and strategies you are thinking of using will actually work with students.

Project #6 - My Sentence Video

Blog Assignment 4

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom by Joe Dale was a very interesting read. All the reasons for podcasting that I read were very true and show how it makes sense for us to have them in classes now. Some of the reasons included:
- Effective communication
- Allows for project based learning
- The parents can see and hear what their child is learning/doing at school
This showed me that I can do this even with my group not meeting regularly, which takes in the reason of "distance learning" listed on the post.


Langwitches
This was a blog post from someone that had done a project with a class of first graders in which they did their very own read along audiobook with podcasts. The children were excited to do this type of new project and were just as excited when they got to read along to the very one they had just finished. I think that this shows that if first graders can do it on the spur of the moment than with us having time to prepare that our individual groups should have no trouble doing a podcast.

Judy Scharf
She tells what a podcast is and gives you tips and suggestions for a successful podcast. This site will help me in doing my own podcast because I can just go back and look at her tips when I am unsure of what to do next.

Project #5 - The Things That Make Me Who I Am

Blog Assignment 3

Technology in Special Education
In this video Lacey Cook takes us inside her class and shows us how technology has improved the learning atmosphere. We see first that the iPod Touch has made it easier for one student to be able to stay with his class during silent reading instead of being sent in the hall with someone else since he needs someone to read the story to him. Then we see how computers have made it easier for some others students to communicate with the teacher and their classmates. Before they would have to spell out what they were thinking on a piece of paper that had the alphabet printed in blocks on it. She also has students in her class that have vision problems and with the software ZoomText they are able to read and complete assignments in less time instead of spending a lot of time trying to figure out what the assignments say.
Technology has had a positive impact on the way special education is taught. As I've already said, it makes communication easier, assignments faster, and keeps the class together when some have needs that others don't. I think I would be able to use technology for the special needs of my class in the same way. I would be able to communicate better and keep my class together. At the same time I would use it in much the same way we do here at South, with e-College. At least, I would try to do things like put grades and assignments online, and probably the notes for different subjects as well.

How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism

Gare Hayes Social Media Count
The Social Media Counter is super freaky. It is the kind of thing that gives Terry Freedman and Karl Fisch's arguments a back bone. I say this because they are all for technological literacy from teachers today and this counter shows how technical our society is. Most of the numbers on the counter were over 1,000 after only 1 or 2 seconds.

These changes for my career mean that I need to update my use of the computer, internet and social networks. To me, all of those things are going to be popular in the classroom by the time I get there so I want to go ahead and prepare myself for the future. I would think that since I want to start off all the way down in kindergarten that it would no be so mandatory but then I look at my old neighbors 5 year old daughter and remember that I sat there with her on the computer while she played educational games during the summer to keep her mind sharp for the upcoming school year. I know that this means I will be doing many things with my students both on and off the computer, becuase after all you can't get a complete learning experience on the computer.

Micheal Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
This video was much like the original Did You Know? 3.0 as it gave fact after fact of useful and insightful information. As a student, I look at this and think about how many of the things that were said that I also do or used to do. The number is quite big as I also will sit in class on FaceBook, goofing off, or reading my e-mail, anything but pay attention to the teacher and lecture being given. I also am amazed by the number of students that actually helped with the information in the video as so many of my classmates here will complain about just wanting to get class over with, and it makes me wonder if KSU would be a better place for me as the students there seem to like to help out with projects and don't mind being in class.

As a future educator however, I look at this video and think of how much different it is going to be when I am in the classroom. There will be no sitting in circles and talking about ourselves or even just telling stories, instead the students are going to want to be on the computer and may have a technological way of thinking. This means that they will want to be online and have me on the board in the front of the room walking them through the steps of a program, not doing a powerpoint which will be outdated by this time.

C4T #1 - Welcome To Ms. Lara's Jungle

Krispy Kreme Doughnut Fundraiser
In this post, Ms. Laura posted the start and end dates of the fundraiser her school did, particularly her 4-k students. The fundraiser was to raise money for the end of the year program or graduation. I left a comment introducing myself and then telling her that I hope she raised enough money and that all the kids were able to participate in a pizza party that was being held for those who sold a certain number of certificates.

Reaching out into the community, even in 4-K!
In her latest post, Ms. Lara Bishop talked about the charity work she and her class did for their community and how proud she is of her class. In my comment I told her that I loved that she got her students involved in an early age and that I am proud that they were willing to help.

Blog Assignment 2

Did You Know? 3.0 – A John Strange 2012 Version
     So many facts! That was my first thought when I finished watching the original video. In Dr. Strange's version, there were way less facts and they were centered mostly around the students of EDM310. The video made sense to me, and Dr. Strange did a great job, but while watching it I couldn't help but notice all the things that needed fixed in the video. The title bar was cut in half on many slides and the slides were going too fast to read everything that was written on them.
Besides those few problems, I found the information in the video to be very interesting and will more then likely find it useful later on in the semester as we need information about technology for this class.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
     Mr. Winkle Wakes shows that technology has come a long way in 100 years. It is present everywhere now, including hospitals, offices, libraries, and school. In the video it says that school is just the way he remembered it with students sitting there taking notes while the teacher lectured on and on. But, to me that is just not the case anymore. While teachers do still make you take notes while they lecture they have also begun to make the classroom and interactive place.
     The teachers in my high school were learning about the SMARTboard by my first semester of Junior year (2007) and by the second semester there were already SMARTboards being brought into our school for teachers to start using. And yes, while there were still some teachers that opposed it and thought that things should stay the same as they have always been, those same teachers were loving the ease at which they could lecture by the time my graduation rolled around in the spring of 2009. I think that this is the way schools should be now simply because they should stay with the times.

 The Importance of Creativity
Sir Robinson wants everyone to know that the schools now a days are killing student creativity. All schools worry about are the "fundamentals" of Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies. Everything outside of this, like dance and art, are pushed to the back and made to seem unimportant. He tells stories of his son and friends doing things that would be considered creative and how people are too scared to be creative in today's society since to be creative a lot of the times you have to be wrong.
     I believe every word of what Sir Ken Robinson said about the schools pushing creavitity out and society being afraid to be wrong simply because I am the same way. I grew up as the quiet child that did nothing but study what the teachers told her to. I never played make believe games with my friends for real and always had a book in my hand. I see now that it was wrong for me to be like that and it killed the creative side of my childhood, but luckily I am making up for it in my life now.

21st Century Learning



The main arguments made in this video include passive sitting, and memorization. For the passive sitting, students in school have a tendency to get bored and so they will sit there and daydream or hold quiet conversations with the other people sitting around them. The biggest way students learn in schools most of the time is memorization. They open their books or their computer assignments and just keep repeating the information on there until it is burned into their brains.
To keep students from “learning” this way they should be taught in an interactive way and they can get that with the technology that was shown in this video. There was an interesting game that let them explore Rome as it used to be as an example of how they can learn with it.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts   
     Ms. Davis' class reminds me a lot of this class. The students are teaching her at the same time that they are teaching themselves and their class mates and it is all on the computer. They reach out to students all around the world, and if you remember, Dr. Strange showed us on the first day of class that people from all around the world have looked at our class blog and student blogs.
     I think that Ms. Davis' idea of having everything online is a good thing and that it is teaching the students how to learn things on their own, and that it will be their responsibility and their mistake if the work isn't done on time or correctly, although she does still offer them some help and advice.

Blog Assignment 1

Hi, my name is Jenifer "Jeni" Stovall. I am a third year sophomore at the University of South Alabama. I have lived in Clarksville, IN, Orange County, CA, Louisville, Ky and am currently in Mobile, AL. My major interests are very small and consist of only reading, writing in my journal, hanging out with my friends and volunteer with animals, when I get the chance is when I'm the happiest. I am currently attending USA simply to stay close to home, it is only a two minute drive from my house and my mother is actually attending the college right now as well. Some things about my personal life include that I have always been close to my family and relied on them for support but things have been a little bizarre for me lately as my mother is now trying to distance herself so that I will grow to be a more independent young lady, I have only recently started to accept the fact that this change is necessary and have even sensed a change within myself. I absolutely hate negative people and am on the way of getting them completely out of my life, if I sense that a person will effect my life, my family or my friends in a negative way then I avoid them; it is something that has only recently began for me and am still working out all the kinks in my plan so it may take some time and I may lose many of the ones I consider to be friends but I think that it will be a change for the better. I want to be an Elementary Educator because I love getting to work with little kids and they always seem to be willing to listen to me so I am hoping that by catching them in the beginning I can make a difference in their lives and the will want to learn. Because I have seen a lack of drive in today's youth about learning, I temporarily lost faith in the profession I had chosen but I am learning to just go with things and that there are still kids today that are willing to learn and want to grow into educated adults. I am passionate about people, I know it sounds weird and creepy but I mean it in the best way. I love seeing the smiling faces of people every day and strive my hardest to make anyone I come into contact with that isn't smiling smile. Above all things I am passionate about books. If I lived in a perfect world I would be the only person that loved books that way I wouldn't have to share them with anyone! I can't think of anything else interesting about me besides the fact that you will never see me wearing matching socks, so if anyone wants to know anything else you can just leave a comment asking it. 
Dr. Randy Pausch's Video on Time Management: I learned from him that it is very important to have a daily to do list and that being able to follow it isn't always easy. His video taught me that because it can be hard that it is okay to make some changes or adjustments to your list or plan as needed

Project #2: Wordle

This is the Wordle that was created out of my Blog Assignment 1 on the wordle website. 

Final Reflection Video

Blog Assignment 14

Jose Picardo - Box of Tricks

Jose Picardo's educational blog, Box of Tricks, had many posts all about using technology in the classroom. There was one talking about iPads, another on Tripico, even one on a Voki Classroom. The only technology listed on there that I was familiar with was the iPad. So I looked up the others after finishing the posts on them and found that Triptico is an interactive resource application that teachers can use on their SMARTBoard, or as they're called in the post, Interactive white boards. Then I found that Voki is a free avatar service. It lets you create them, put your own voice with it and then post it to any profile you wish including social networks websites, and blogs. The classroom version of it lets teachers manage their classes and students as well as automatically make lesson plans. Both of these tools are something that I will be keeping in mind when I am in a classroom.
The long list of resources we had to look at included things like photo editing sites, sites to make powerpoints, sites to build your own flash games along with many other things. I made sure to bookmart that page to my browser as well as put it on my Symbaloo webmix. I am certain that I will use many of the resources listed on it in the future.
Finally we had to watch his video Top Ten Tips For Using Technology In The Classroom. In it he made sure to mention things such as podcasts, wikis, blogs, music and interactive exercises as well as a few other things. He made sure to give a brief reason why they are useful in his classroom. His final reason was the gadgets that your students have and are familiar with. If they already know a lot about it then they will find it easier to use. I think that they are a very good idea to use while teaching.

Final Project Post

The Learning Leos' Final Project


We decided to do a video on the importance of time management for this class.

Final PLN Report

As of Now I have 46 tiles on my Symbaloo and I use most of them on either a daily or weekly basis.

21Apples

Preventing Racist Halloween Costumes

Mr. Grover posted about the Students Teaching About Racism in Society (STARS) program at Ohio University making a campaign about culturally stereotyped Halloween costumes. At the end he asked what your school does to go about getting into a mess with Halloween costumes. My comment for this post told him first that I thought the post was great and then about how students here will stereotype cultures too when the girls are not dressed in revealing "animal" costumes.

Pearson's Free OpenClass LMS For Google Apps

Mr. Grover made a post about a new Google Apps for Education tool called the Pearson OpenClass LMS. He mentioned a few other the features it has and compared it to other programs such as Moodle, Blackboard, and HaikuLMS. I responded by telling him that it was a great and helpful post and that I look forward to future posts that have helpful tools in them.