Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Blog Post #5

Travis Allen Aspiring to Revolutionize Education
The iSchool Initiative
The first video we were assigned to watch, which you can view from here, was made by a high school senior named Travis Allen. His idea was to revolutionize American education by making everything accessible via Apple technology. One of his main points of concern were easy access to teachers, students, and parents. Another one of his main concerns was the carbon footprint of America and the benefit of going paperless in our education system.

Travis Allen iSchool Initiative
In this video, Travis Allen discusses his progress of the iSchool Initiative over the last three years. He has had tremendous feedback as well as many followers join his cause. He now travels the country with his group of 25 other students attending Kennesaw State University inspiring students to join the revolution of mobile learning.

Even before seeing Travis Allen's videos I always assumed one day schools everywhere would eventually convert to paperless. It is almost inevitable. Mr. Allen even pointed out the monetary savings that would come to the public education systems if the programs were to go mobile. I agree with him completely on his argument that it is smarter for schools to switch to an Apple based system. However, the factor that is always an issue is money. Some, if not most, of the schools in America do not have the appropriate amount of funding to allow all students access to such technology. It is also not realistic to think that every household can afford iPads, tablets, and iPhones that would allow to the kind of interaction in the classroom Mr. Allen strives for. So although I agree with his aspirations, I do not think that Travis Allen's dream of a mobile school system is completely plausible; at least, not yet.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
Virtual Choir
Eric Whitacre takes music to another level in his video using collaborative technology to incorporate 185 different voices and 243 different tracks over the span of 12 different countries. The main idea behind Whitacre's video is very simple. Multiple individuals send in their track submissions and once all the tracks are received they are edited together into one video. I cannot even imagine the time it took for someone to edit together 285 different tracks and have all of them harmonize into one. Someone is incredibly talented.

Teaching in the 21st Century
Teaching in the 21st Century
In this video Kevin Roberts brings up the question "What does it mean to teach in the 21st century?" With the changing technological advancements of today, teachers should adapt their teaching methods to match the growing technological skills of the generations to come. Students today can access any information at anytime where ever they want. They can access information from a multitude of devices ranging from cell phones to tablets. With the numerous places to find information, teachers today have to be the filter and show them how to adequately search the internet and find reliable sources. Being in school right now, learning how to be an educator in the next few years brings with it multiple challenges. Educators today have to be knowledgable of growing technology so they can adapt and more adequately teach the upcoming generations with more up-to-date information and techniques.

Flipping a Classroom
Flipping a Classroom
An educator named Katie Gimbar made a video explaining why she rearranged the dynamic of her classroom. She started out with her classroom set in the traditional manner with the center based around the day-to-day lessons. In this video she emphasizes that the way her classroom used to be set up did not adequately meet all of the needs of her students. She had some students that were ahead of the other students and were becoming bored by the unchallenging content taught in class. She had students that were up to par with what she was teaching and she also had students that were falling behind and causing the class to fall behind as well. Gimbar eventually changed, or "flipped", the dynamic of her classroom to be centered through the internet. She posted all of her lectures, assignments, and projects online through handouts and videos. In doing this, the students can access what the need when they need it. They can also rewind, rewatch, and pause the content when they need to. Her "flipped classroom" benefits the students by convenience and also benefits her by allowing more time to discuss the needed topics in class.

I really like Gimbar's idea of flipping the classroom to be more accessible online. My only qualm with it, however, is that not all of the students may get online and download lectures and assignments. Some students may not even have enough access to the internet. If a student fails to check online lectures or online assignments they may fall farther behind than they would have had Gimbar kept her classroom the way it was. I do love the idea though. It makes the grade school experience more equivalent to the college academic experience and may even help prepare students for college more efficiently.

My Sentence Video

Monday, September 24, 2012

C4K Summary for August

Male's Blog Post on September 17, 2012
Male's Blog Post
I was assigned to leave a comment for a student from Buenos Aires named Male. In the first blog post I read that was left by Male he exclaimed his excitement for his new Justin Bieber CD. There were smiley faces everywhere and he pronounced his love for Justin Bieber's music. It was quite adorable and I hope I get a response from him.

To read Male's blog yourself, please click here.

Laita's Blog Post on September 22, 2012
Laita's Blog Post
In Laita's blog post she posted a picture of her favorite painting. She said she enjoyed the painting because "the rich and shiny sun [reflects] off the water creating a outstanding picture." I posted a comment back to Laita telling her that I, too, shared a passion for art. I also asked her if she had a favorite artist and if she had any other pieces of work that she enjoyed.

To view Laita's blog yourself, please click here.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

C4T

Comments for Teachers
Post by William Chamberlain on September 4, 2012.
At the Teacher's Desk
At the Teacher's Desk

Chamberlain's post was a video of one of his students, Stephanie, working her way through a mathematical equation. While she is working on her problem Chamberlain begins asking her questions such as, "Where did you get that number, what does H stand for?" This seems to throw the student off her quilter a bit. After a moment of slight embarrassment, Stephanie recovers and she flies through her math problem dictating what she is doing while she is doing it.

I thought this was a great example of teaching. Chamberlain challenged his student and did not hold her hand throughout her equation. He pushed her to figure it out on her own. He also asked questions throughout her thought process to deepen what she had learned.

9th - 12th Grade Search Lesson
Post by Jeff Utecht on September 11, 2012.
9th - 12th Grade Search Lesson
Thinking Stick

Utecht's post was mostly a lesson plan for high school students. This lesson plan covered how to adequately search for information using a search engine on the internet. Its main focus was the narrow the search by date and how to do so. It instructed students to play with the date range tool and to see how much relevant data they could find to their subjects. It also instructed students to watch three internet videos that he provided the links to.

I replied to Jeff's post saying what a useful skill he is teaching his students. When some of his students make it to college they will realize how important it is to be able to sift through information on the internet for research papers.

C4T #2 - Post #1: October 2, 2012
Apparently, I posted this slightly too early. I initially posted it two weeks ago. I was assigned Mr. Utecht again and he had no new posts. I did, however notice that another student in Mr. Strange's EDM310 class commented on the same post I did. This student's name was Keiko Ito. They raved about Mr. Utecht's post. They said that they "can not use technology tools, including Google well" and they learned how to narrow down their research by using the instructions in Mr. Utecht's post. I found this to be quite intriguing. The material being taught to 9th-12th graders is still relevant to college students. It just made me think that, just possibly, maybe not everything I was taught in high school was a complete waste of my time. Simple tools like learning to navigate a search engine properly are more valuable than one would think. I'm glad that teachers like Mr. Utecht are teaching young students skills that will benefit them in their later years.

C4T #2 - Post #2: October 15, 2012.
Again, I was assigned to Mr. Utecht's blog.
Mr. Utecht's Blog Post
Utecht's blog begins with him saying he's sitting in his hotel room in Ethiopia! He's been traveling and experiencing all the changes that are happening throughout Ethiopia right now. He goes into great detail that Ethiopia is on the fast track to a growing economy. He quotes some of their fiscal progress as well as their progress with construction. Then he hits a major topic: the internet. Ethiopia is in the growing stage. With that, people begin to crave the internet. And with the growing demand for internet, connections have been cut or lost, and bandwidth has slowed down. Lord knows, there's never been an individual to complain that their internet was running too quickly; so, Ethiopia is in the process of expanding their bandwidth, even with its continued growth over the recent years. China and Thailand also experienced this issue when they began growing. It's part of wiring a country. It takes time. Utecht then transfers into a discussion about a few news articles he read while in Ethiopia. Right now, Africa has the youngest population in the world. If that trend continues, in 2040 the population will reach one billion. That will also make it the largest in the world. This links in education and the internet. If all of the young students in Africa have access to online classes over the internet, what does that mean for the future of Africa once its population becomes more educated? Utecht excites in the possibilities.

I commented back to Mr. Utecht raving on and on about what a breath of fresh air it is to have gotten to read his post. It's not often in America you see positive stories about a country such as Ethiopia. If you've read any of my "About me" or my first blog post, you know I have an, almost unhealthy, obsession with all-things-Africa. It was like Dr. Strange assigned this post specifically for me. I loved it.

C4T#3 - Post #1: Jenny's Learning Journey

Jenny's Learning Journey
Miss Jenny She's post was all about the introduction of iPads into her classroom. She said she has been using them for literary and mathematical instruction. She said her students have taken very well to the change and some are even asking for more time on the iPads for good behavior. I commented back telling her what a great idea this was and that I would like to hear back from her and get further detail about the integration. Since I hope to use iPads and related technology in my classroom I was pleased to see that her students adapted so well to the idea. I believe the use of technology gets the minds of student's more involved than filling out a worksheet.

If you would like to read Miss Jenny's blog yourself, please click here.

C4T#3 - Post #2: Jenny's Learning Journey

Apparently, I am having trouble comprehending C4T assignments; but, I continue to read and post as am I told. This time I decided to re-read Miss Jenny's post about using iPads in the classroom. I wanted to think about this more deeply and think about ways I could incorporate this technology in my own classroom. I am aspiring to be a secondary special education teacher. My initial thought when using iPads in the classroom was improved motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Are there apps available specifically for educating special needs children? After a little research I found a website dedicated to special needs educational applications. This is entirely too helpful! The potential lesson plans that could be developed from this website alone are endless. I'm very glad I researched further and found this website. I have it saved on my computer for future use. I know I hardly stayed on topic with this assignment; but, Miss Jenny's blog post got the ball rolling for my small research in finding the website that could potentially help me later on in my career.

Blog Post #4

Listening, Comprhension, and Podcasting
Reading, comprehension, and podcasting
This article illustrated the use of creating podcasts with students in order to teach another language. It focused more on the function of the podcast rather than the steps it took to create it. In this classroom, the podcast was created, manipulated, edited, and finished by the students. SmartBoards were used in the editing process, which I thought was brilliant because it brought upon more physical cooperation from the kids.

I thoroughly enjoyed this article. I found it intriguing that the teachers chose a podcast as their mode of teaching a second language. They did not take a traditional reading, writing, and repeating approach as most foreign language teachers choose. I also liked how the teachers purposefully mixed up the sentences of their students' recordings so they would have to go back and edit them correctly. That makes the students think more deeply about their project and get more involved.

Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom
Benefits of podcasting in the Classroom
This video focuses on how incorporating podcasts is beneficiary to students because it offers differentiation, focuses project based learning, and can get the students more involved. Podcasting can also benefit students that become sick and have to miss school. Podcasts allow students to download assignments, lectures, and information directly from the internet. Not only is podcasting beneficial to students, but it is also great for parents because it allows them to take a look into what is going on in the classroom.

I found this video to be helpful in that it let me see how versatile using podcasts in the classroom could be. I've never used or even listened to a podcast before starting this assignment. After reading the first article, I assumed podcasts were strictly auditory. After watching this video I saw that podcasts can be made into videos as well. That offers more versatility within the classroom. The prospect of making short videos with my classroom is exciting because it will be more entertaining for my future students and keep them interested.

Podcasting with First Graders
Podcasting with First Graders
This article was written by a first grade teacher. She writes about how she incorporated podcasting with her kids. After reading a short story with her students she had them act as if they were interviewing the main characters. The students took turns acting out each part. Some students opted out of acting and chose to stay behind the scenes to edit. The teacher goes on to say that this activity really brought out the confidence in her students and unified them as a class.

I enjoyed this article immensely. In this article the teacher wrote which skills that this project helped her students with. The list was quite lengthy! That is what gets me excited. This one project got her students so excited and involved, and it worked on so many different skill sets. From technological interaction to oral fluency, this project really covered everything. I absolutely loved it.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Blog Post #3

Peer Editing
Peer Editing
The first video was a short student-made video about how to effectively write a peer review. Making a peer edit means working with some one your own age to help improve, edit, or revise his or her writing. This video takes us through 3 steps to ensure ourselves we are helping in the correct manner. The first step is to make sure you compliment the author. Tell the author what you think he or she did correctly. The second step is to make suggestions. Help the author make improvement or revisions to their work by offering your opinions. The third step is to help make corrections. There is also one important rule to peer editing: stay positive!

I learned that there is more to making peer reviews other than looking for mistakes and completing an assignment. The point of peer editing is to help another classmate understand the assignment more clearly and offer your opinions on how they could improve it in a friendly manner.


Tutorial Peer Editing Slideshow
Peer Editing Slideshow
This slideshow was basically word-for-word exactly like the video above, only in a different context. I took away from it, the exact same material. Be kind to one another, offer suggestions, and offer corrections.


Don't Be a Picky Patty!
Peer Editing
I absolutely adored this video. It was made by, what appears to be, a fourth grade classroom. The students walk you through the steps of adequately reviewing another student's work. Their major points included: don't be a Picky Patty, a Whatever William, a Social Sammy, Jean the Generalizer, a Mean Margaret, a Loud Larry, a Pushy Paula, an Off-Task Oliver, a Speedy Sandy, or a Defensive Dave. Overall the students give excellent representations on how a review should not be completed.

The students did a wonderful job acting out the characters for each scenario. During a review students often slack off or become over analytical of another's paper. This video portrayed this very accurately from students so young.


Technology in Special Education
Technology in Special Education
This video followed a special education teacher in her use of technology in her classroom. She showed how her students interacted with a variety of types of technology and also benefited from these devices. She interviewed a few of her students that directly benefit from technology. A few of her students benefit because the use of technology helps them communicate for accurately and easily. Some of her students benefit from mechanically typing out assignments instead of hand-writing because they have physical handicaps.

This video really hit home with me because I am studying to be a secondary special-education teacher. It was interesting to see the different types of ways technology can be incorporated with special ed students. I interned with a small class while I was still in high school and those students had little to no technological advantages. I really hope to get to expose my own classroom to different devices to keep them up-to-speed with the modern day to help them in the future.


Computer Applications and Special Needs Children
Special Needs Applications

iWriteWords
This iPhone or iPad application can be used to teach children, even special needs children, how to properly write out their alphabet. I chose this app because it not only takes them through the motions of writing out each letter, but it also interacts with them through game-play. I believe children of any sort would be entertained and would continue to play this game all while learning their ABC's.


Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

This video follows a teacher from southern Georgia who centers her classroom on the internet and technology. I do not fully agree with this teacher. Her approach is solely formatted to computers and different programs. She has her students interacting through virtual worlds online and blogs. Students in school need to be interacting through face-to-face socialization and interaction. Online social networking is something that should be left to do in a student's free time at home. Social networking and blogging should not be a major subject in a school system. At one point this teacher said "You do not always need to know everything you're teaching." That's insane! A certified teacher should not be teaching anything she does not know inside and out. A teach should be able to understand and adequately explain a subject to a student. A student should not learn something on his or her own then teach it to the rest of the class, including the teacher. Overall, I was quite troubled and disappointed in this video and this woman's approach to teaching.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Blog Post #2

Did You Know?
Did You Know?

In Professor Strange's YouTube video he poses the questions for the future educators of America. He brings to our attention that technology is changing at a greater pace than most consider. The students that we will one day be teaching are going to be learning with technologies that may or may not have been invented yet. He stated that in 2022 the top ten jobs available at that time do not even exist yet. He also brought to our attention that America is falling behind some countries when it comes to education and academia. India leads us with the number of high IQs. Meanwhile, China is learning English at such a rate that they are beginning to outnumber native English speakers.

With the information I have been shown, I have come to believe that Professor Strange is trying to get us thinking about what we will one day have to face as educators. In his presentation he is preparing us with the realities that we will one day have to overcome. Change is inevitable in the field in which we are wishing to enter and we have to prepare ourselves and adapt accordingly. Technology is ever-changing and America continues to lack behind in academic progress. He asks the question "Did you know" in the beginning of the video so we become aware of the facts. He asks the question "Are you ready" at the end so we can make sure we are ready for the challenges that wait.


Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winkle Wakes

Mr. Winkle Wakes is a short cartoon video about a man that awakens after a 100 year slumber and everything in his world has changed. He walks around a city searching for familiarity. He enters a hospital and is startled by the advancement in technology. He sees machines keeping people alive and machines storing various types of information. So, Mr. Winkle walks and walks as he continues to search for some resemblance of a time he once knew. He eventually comes across a school and immediately feels at ease. Students are sitting in neat rows as they listen to their instructor lecture on reading, writing, and arithmetic. He does, however, notice a similar machine as he saw in the library; but, this machine was dusty and sitting in the back of the room with no user. The machine not being in use shows Mr. Winkle that not everything he once knew had changed.

At the beginning of this video, I thought I could tell where it was going. Mr. Winkle would be shocked at the advancements in technology and it would express how much things had changed over time. However, when he enters the school the message of the story seems to change. It seems to me that this video is pointing out the fact that schools do not properly incorporate the use of technology. It is saying that schools and education systems are stuck in the "stone age", if you will. If I am correct with my take on this video, I disagree to an extent. I disagree with the fact that school systems do not have enough technological interaction. Not only do we have computers, we have SmartBoards. We have iPads. All of these varieties of technology show the advancement that has occurred within the educational field. I agree with the fact that it shows students listening quietly to their instructors during a lecture. Even in this day and age, lectures are a necessary part of learning.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

"As children grow up we only educate them from the waste up. We tend to focus on their heads, and mainly on one side." Mr. Robinson states in his presentation that every child has an amazing capacity for creativity but their abilities are squandered by their education. He says that creativity and literacy are of the same importance and should be given the same status. He used an example with a little boy improvising a line in the Nativity scene and completely missing his line to show that children are not frightened of being wrong. In that, he says that if you are not prepared to be wrong then you will never come up with anything original. He states that the public education systems came about in the 19th century to meet the needs of industrialism. When those needs of industrialism were met it brought upon educatinal inflation. A university graduate with a bachelor's degree is no longer as valuable as they were 10 or 15 years ago. The new standard is being set to a master's degree.

I found Robinson not only to be quite comical, but also very informative. He kept his audience entertained while he was informing them on his thoughts of creativity and education. His example of Jillian Lynn, who is the choreographer for Cats and Phantom of the Opera, was absolutely fascinating. He said in his interview with her a doctor told her mother that she was doing poorly in school and couldn't sit still not because she had a learning disability but because she was a dancer. Lynn was prescribed, if you will, to join a dance school. Robinson said if that situation were to happen today she would be put on medication and would be told to calm down. I agree with Robinson completely. Education systems today are in a hierarchical structure with the arts at the bottom, and it is necessary to stimulate both sides of the brain to get optimal progression from students.

A Day Made of Glass
A Day Made of Glass 2

I found this video to be quite fascinating. It showed futuristic ideas of that everyday life could be like in the years to come. The glass was shown in multiple everyday situations from something similar to an iPad or cell phone. It was also shown in an incredible situation in a park with animated animal interaction. Most importantly it showed the possibilities for a classroom.

The classroom scenario, for me, was mind-boggling. I know I had teachers in high school that would not even be able to use PowerPoint if asked to. In this short video it showed the possibility of having full-room participation and interaction with various types of the same device. The possibilities would be endless in an educational setting with technology of that magnitude. It would get students more involved and more excited and, most importantly, more interested in their activities and assignments. Even today, SmartBoards are a very small, minute step in the direction that the technology shown in this video could take our classrooms. I know, for me personally, if I had that type of technology available in my classrooms in grade school I would not have slept through as many classes or lectures. The possibility of having something like that for my own students one day excites me.