Blog Post #10

I'm a Papermate. I'm a Ticonderoga.
I reviewed Mr. Spencer's cartoon and read the comments left by everyone else. At first glace I wasn't sure how to take the picture. After reading over the comments, I found one left by Mr. Spencer that explained it. It's a mock of the old "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials. That makes complete sense to me. It's saying that Papermate is the more economical choice, like the PC. In being more economical, it is not necessarily the most dependable choice. The Ticonderoga is the equivalent to the Mac. Stereotypical "hipsters" are the ones that spend outrageous amounts of money on Macs and Apple products.

Why were your kids playing games?
Mr. Steven's post was quite the comical one. He is called into the principal's office to have a serious discussion. He is interrogated about his student's playing "games" during class. Mr. Steven's explains to the principal that he was using advanced simulation as his teaching technique that day. He then tells his principal that doctors use simulation to learn how to operate. His principal then rants about how his school isn't a hospital and that Mr. Steven's needs to adhere to the slate-based learning method. He is also told that he needs to focus more on his students' memorization skills so they can pass a test. His principal then recommends that he use worksheets and algorithm packets to help his students. Mr. Stevens then finds his solution, "we'll create an algorithm factory and integrate it into our Conflict-Oriented Reading and Writing Project (a.k.a. The Factory Game)."

I thought this was hilarious! It sounds exactly like something I would do if I were a teacher and someone told me I needed to take the fun out of my curriculum. A principal should never tell his teachers to take games out of learning. Students will never learn anything if they aren't engaged in what they are doing. I think Mr. Steven's stubbornness as a teacher might get him into a bit of trouble, but it will certainly benefit his students more. Kudos to him for standing up for himself.

Remember Pencil Quests?
Mr. Stevens reflects on his junior year and how one of his teachers took them on a "Pencil Quest". They ran from site to site reading pages and pages of material. Each site we predetermined on a map. The teacher described this quest as a "moving textbook" and the conflict driving the quest was to finish it. Stevens says he and his fellow classmates loved the quest. He also mentions that this was his first recollection of a teacher doing something differently: integrating excitement into the classroom. He says even now, his own students look forward to pencil quests, plogs, and pen pal letters.

I believe Mr. Stevens is trying to point out that pencils are still relevant in today's society. In a day when everything is "going green" or becoming paperless children still become excited about the written word. I guess he's trying to say that technology isn't everything and we shouldn't entirely throw out old techniques of learning. I do like the idea of "plogs". It could potentially become something that students or their parents hold on for years.

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

In Mr. McLeod's post he tells parents and teachers to avoid teaching their children how to use computers, write online, and anything of the sort. He goes on to mimic simple-minded thoughts saying the internet is evil. At the end McLeod says he wants everyone else to avoid teaching their children these things because he is teaching these skills to his kids and he wants to see who has the advantage later on. His post is completely sarcastic.

He's saying that students that are taught computer skills correctly are going to have the greater advantage later on. He's mocking the thoughts of parents and school board members who believe that the internet is nothing but "evil" and "a bunch of crap". I thought Mr. McLeod's take on the subject was executed in an interesting way and I enjoyed it immensely. I agree with him completely that the internet should be taught to students. Students need to be taught how to effectively utilize their resources. For instance, almost everything I know about the internet I taught myself. I grew up using AIM Instant Messenger which taught me how to type. In middle school I had a Myspace. Myspace taught me a little about html and embedding information onto a social network. I would have learned more in a school setting. In this class we are taught how to utilize the information not only to benefit our future careers, but to benefit the education of the students we will one day teach.

Scott McLeod appears so passionate about using technology in the classroom because that's what he's literally centered his life around. This man has received numerous awards for his work involving technology leadership, according to his About Me. He is also a man of many important titles. His work of introducing technology into the school systems is never-ending. He is dedicating his career to helping schools move into the 21st century. He also blogs regularly. You can read his blogs yourself by clicking here.

Project #12

Project #10

I created my virtual PLN using Symbaloo.com. I'm considering this a "work-in-progress" right now. I'm sure by the end of the semester I am going to discover new tools and new contacts to add. Using Symbaloo made this project much easier than I was anticipating. It's a good way to organize your thoughts and tools into one location. Symbaloo also allows your to share your tools with others over the internet. The only issue with it that I've experienced so far is that it only gives you one size option. The original size was entirely too large so I cut the pixel size in half manually. In doing that, my project now has scroll bars. Hopefully I figure out a way to fix this before the final project.

Blog Post #9

Mr. McClung

Volume 1.

In Mr. McClung's first section he states, "In order to be effective you have to be able to let your audience drive your instruction." Lectures should be students centered. As an educator, you should be less worried about what your superiors think of you and more worried about the comprehension of your students.

In his next section he stresses, "NO LESSON IS EVER PERFECT. THE LESSON YOU TEACH AND THE ONE YOU PLAN ARE ALWAYS DIFFERENT." No lesson will ever go perfectly. You have to learn to work around the kinks and just work with the situation.

His third point is to learn how to communicate. Communication is the best medicine for any situation. Learn how to communicate with your fellow teachers as well as your students.

Mr. McClung's fourth point of discussion is about being reasonable as an educator. Do not get upset if your students do not live up to your exact expectations. Remember that you are working with children. They are just as imperfect as you are.

The fifth point of McClung's post is about technology. Some adults and teachers believe technology to be equivalent to the plague. Technology in the classroom should be embraced. You're not going to learn computer skills over night, and shouldn't expect to. You just have to continue to put in the effort.

The sixth very important topic McClung brings up is listening to your students. He uses a great example from his classroom where a student wrote in that he knew his teacher cared about him because he was listened to. One should take interest in the lives of their students. That helps build a stronger sense of respect between teacher and student.

The last idea brought up in the post is to never stop learning. Educators work in a learning environment and should soak up every ounce of it they can. Adapt your methods, lesson plans, thinking, and style in any way that could possibly help your students.

In conclusion, Mr. McClung focuses on 7 main points to remember as a first-time-teacher:
1.)Learn how to read the crowd
2.)Be flexible
3.)Communicate
4.)Be reasonable
5.)Don't be afraid of technology
6.)Listen to your students
7.)Never stop learning

I thought this was an absolutely fantastic idea! However, I would've done it differently. I would blog about the school year as the year went on. That way I could reflect on each situation specifically instead of trying to recall the school year after it has already passed. I loved Mr. McClung's posts though. They were very insightful and made me think about how I would need to conduct myself and my classroom.

Volume 4.

In Mr. McClung's first paragraph he goes into short detail about his thoughts on pleasing your co-workers. He feels that worrying about how you are perceived by your peers should be the last thought on one's mind. His main priority is always "are the kids having fun?" He says he needs to stay true to himself and who he is as a teacher and not worry so much about his peers.

His second paragraph is all about not getting comfortable with where you are. He says he noticed himself getting lazy. He used old lesson plans. He could feel himself becoming less of a teacher. Your teaching methods are going to start to "suck", as he puts it, when you become comfortable. He then got offered to teach a different course at a different grade level which changed things up for him. He said that could not have come a better time. The change gives him the opportunity to develop new lesson plans and learn new material. It's a challenge, but in the end it's worth it.

I thought this blog was very helpful. The idea of making your thoughts through the year more concrete so you can go back and reflect and improve for the next year is brilliant. I hope I remember this blog when I get my first class room so I can attempt to do the same. I never took the time to think that the teachers I've had over the years took something out of it as well. As students we all have experiences, but I've never stopped to think that the teachers experience things as well. Is that self-centered, or what? Really though, when I was in grade school I guess I always assumed teachers had a routine and never strayed or took anything away from the school year. This blog showed me a new perspective.

Blog Post #8

Richard Miller: This is How We Dream
In Richard Miller's videos he discusses, what he believes to be, the "greatest change in human communication and in human history." The way we communicate today is very different than the way people communicated 50 years ago, or even 100 years ago. We can now communicate globally in an instant. We no longer have to work or conduct research with a paper and a pencil. We just need our laptops. The need for books is decreasing as well. Virtual books allow information to be spread to the masses rather than one at a time. Sharing information is now becoming infinite. And there is now a possibility for visual, auditory, and virtual documents rather than just printed information.

In the second part of Richard Miller's videos he discusses many different areas of virtual information. Virtual information allows for instant updates. He also mentions that "ideas don't belong to us individually; they belong to us as a culture." He believes educators should share ideas freely. He foreshadows to a time when students will not compose using word processors. He says publications should now pay more attention to the visual and auditory experience rather than just the information itself. Virtual ideas are spread throughout more rapidly than printed ideas.

Then Miller mentions a new and upcoming mode of composing: composition using the web directly. This method includes using the web as your processor instead of the alphabet or images. This work was discovered and performed by Jonathon Harris. Harris wanted to present the affect of the globe. He used aggregations of the web to produce visualizations from blogs around the world. This then determined the profile of the world moment by moment. This method allows for instant information.

Miller's videos opened my eyes to new and upcoming forms of information processing. The possibility of maybe one day being able to conduct research by using the web itself interested me greatly. What I took away from his videos was that virtual information is more useful and, should be, more entertaining than printed information or documents. As a hopeful educator I should be thinking about the ways communication and processing is changing and I should adapt accordingly. An educator's teaching environment changes when technology changes. And as an educator, you should be able to teach your students how to use the new forms of communications. I remember taking computer classes in high school. I also remember working on computers in kindergarten. We used the old Macintosh computers that probably couldn't fit five of the songs off my iPod on its hard drive. In that ten year span from kindergarten to high school the technology changed rapidly. If technology continues to change at that pace we have to be able to keep up for the sake of our students.

Miller did have a few points that I did not agree with. The idea that "ideas don't belong to us individually, they belong to us as a culture" is nonsense to me. If that were the case, then electricity wouldn't have been discovered by Benjamin Franklin. The colonies would've founded it. If ideas were just thrown together in a socialistic pool no one would ever get credit for anything. Another point I did not agree with was the idea that publications should put just as much emphasis on the visual and auditory aspects of a virtual document to "make it beautiful" (2:50 Part Two). A work does not need to be "beautiful" to be compelling. State your facts in a compelling way and there won't be a need for smoke and mirrors. But those two little insignificant remarks were all I had an issue with. The rest I found to be very informative and interesting.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12
I thought Carly's post was a great example of combining everything we've learned in Dr. Strange's class. I will also add that I was overwhelmingly relieved to figure out that I did not have to actually carry out her assignment. But her idea of using YouTube as a medium for education is a great idea. Practically every student in every grade knows what YouTube is and has used it before. Her idea is modern and even lets the student put a personal touch on their finished product. It offers creativity, thought, and computer skills. It is an exact model of Miller's idea of composing with multi-media. Kudos to Carly for a job well done!

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies

The main message behind the The Chipper Series was to help students realize the importance of an education. Chipper overreacts to Dr. Strange's curriculum and doesn't understand his teaching methods so she drops out of school. She then opens up her own school and unknowingly uses the same basic premise as her teaching method: hands-on learning with technology. In the long run, Chipper realizes the importance of an education and goes back to school after waiting tables and picking up trash. No one wants to be a "Chipper". Get your degree while you're in school now and don't slack off.

This video wanted to relate to other EDM310 students. They wanted to show a sense of "you're not alone" in this hectic class we're participating in. Just making time in your schedule to attend to all of the assignments each week is hard enough. It's easy to become overwhelmed. This video took a comical approach at showing that this class is worth the work. You learn new and interesting ideas on how to construct your future classroom. You virtually meet and interact with people, educators, and other students around the world. This video was a good representation of what you're feeling when you're currently taking the course and the beneficial outcome once you've finished.

The Video I Would Assign or Create
Ever since I edited the podcast video on the Mac in the Lab, I've been recording and taking pictures of everything. I downloaded the iMovie app onto my phone and I've already created two little movies on my own. You can see one of the videos below.

To incorporate this into a normal classroom setting, iMovie could be used at the beginning of the year, or semester, as the "introduce yourself" assignment. I know every year in grade school I was forced to fill out a bland questionnaire about my hobbies and interests. Even in this class, our first blog post was to write about ourselves. I'm sure this was just to get eased into the blogging environment; but, an alternate assignment could be made out of that: the option to create a movie about you and your life. It offers a wide range of options. You could make a slideshow. You could dramatically demonstrate important parts of your life. It would more clearly portray someone's personality and it offers a more creative option.

Learn to Change. Change to Learn.

This video discusses the fact that the education system is not utilizing the technological resources to the extent it should be. "The US Department of Commerce ranked fifty-five industry sectors by their level of IT intensiveness. Education was ranked number 55, the lowest, below coal mining." Schools today are based on administration, control, and order. Schools are places where students are required to turn off any technological device. Those devices allow for a multitude of communication opportunities. "Every turned off device is a turned off student." This video stresses the importance of bridging the gap between students using the internet and educators using the internet to teach and instruct students. The jobs students are going to be applying for are not going to call for the "right answer, vending machine" approach." Those jobs are going to require artistic skills, understanding, and teamwork. They are not going to be asked to regurgitate information. They are going to be asked to find information, use information, and to solve problems with that information.

I agree with everything in this video. I know my high school experience taught me extremely little although I did very well. This was due to the fact that almost every class was based around doing worksheets and looking up, and copying definitions out of a textbook. I would never run my classroom the way I was taught in high school. I plan on being a secondary teacher. Teenagers are brutal, and most of all, lazy. You have to teach in a way that will relate to those students or you're never going to grab their attention. For me, that is a big deal. I want to be able to teach them something and have them retain it. If that means my job becomes a little more difficult, so be it. You have to incorporate subjects you know they enjoy into something you know they may struggle with. Have students communicate through Twitter or Facebook and find images of the subject off of Instagram. Have students look up projects off of Pinterest that relate to the subject. Allow them to use social networks in the classroom. Allow them to use technology and apply that to their school work.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0

3.) I created my own comic using Make Beliefs Comix.

4.) Animoto is a video tool that can be used by teachers to create elaborate presentations for their classroom. The heart of Animoto is its cinematic technology. This system organizes and analyzes all of your music, photos, and images together to create your presentation all by itself. Animoto is also available as an App so you can take the tool where ever you need it on your mobile device.

5.)I created a poll using Create a Poll.


To watch the tutorial for Web 2.0 yourself, please click here.

TimeToast Timeline Instruction Project 9b

TimeToast Timeline Project on Prezi

Project #8

C4K Summary for September

jacmor954's Blog Post on January 7, 2012.

In jacmor954's blog post he wrote a short story about a boy named Tim. Tim was surprised by his parents with a trip to the lake. When he arrived at the lake he saw a big zipline and Tim got scared. His sister called him a "scaredy cat" so Tim decided he had to conquer his fear. Eventually, Tim went down the zipline and realized it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to.

I loved this little boy's story! I used to write short stories when I was in fifth grade. It's so refreshing to read stories written by children. The psychological part of me wants to analyze the story and dive deeper. It's great the little boy writes the ending so the main character accomplishes a goal! I love that! I was so impressed. I commented back telling him I hoped to read more of his short stories; but, seeing the post date is so far back my hopes are not high. I was genuinely taken back with this though. I love children's imaginations.

To read jacmor954's blog yourself, please click here.

Clara Beau's Blog Post on October 2, 2012.

Judging by the first picture on this girl's blog post, I know she has a sense of humor and I like her already. She's a junior in high school and her entire post was about her problem with procrastination. As you read through it though, it doesn't sound like she has a problem with procrastination at all! She is staying ahead of her work, finishing everything on time. She's probably performing better in high school than I did. I waited until the last minute to do everything. I commented on her post saying how funny I thought she was and how much I enjoyed reading her blog. I also commented that I hope she gets her school work all together like she wants. I intend to keep up with her blog. I really enjoyed it. She seems quite entertaining.

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

Blog Post #7

Why Does the Networked Student Even Need a Teacher?

The connectivism video we watched shines a light on a new type of teaching. The teaching method discussed in this video is similar to what we are doing in Dr. Strange's class. Within this method the teacher is simply an instructor that guides the student along their own path of learning. There is no text book. The student gains tools to utilize by making connections with his classmates. He builds his own network of information and shares it through blogs with his classmates. With this teaching method the student becomes more self-reliant and more interactive with his peers. He learns to navigate and search through the information on the internet more accurately.

The video brings up the question, "If a student is becoming so self-sufficient in the classroom, why is a teacher even necessary?" The educator becomes the guiding hand that shows the student how to build his network. The teacher offers assistance when the student becomes stuck or lost. The teacher helps the student differentiate between reliable information and propaganda. The teacher also helps the student organize his thoughts and information so he can better understand what he is learning. More or less, the teacher is there for support and guidance. I am beginning to believe this is a more effective approach to teaching.

Honestly, when I first heard about Dr. Strange's class I thought it was going to be a complete waste of my time. As I move through the assignments and watch the videos and read the material that is being assigned to me, I am starting to see why he runs his class the way he does. His classroom is a good example of how "connectivism" works. I have learned more about my future profession through this class than any course I have taken so far in my college career. I am learning how to express my thoughts more clearly than I did when I took English Composition as a freshman. The point of this rambling is that you don't need a text book to learn. You don't need a teacher standing over you. All you need is to be given the right tools and guided in the right direction and let yourself discover the rest. The networked student can learn far more than a textbook student because they are not being taught just to regurgitate information. I am moving through this course on my own, with some help from my peers, and I'm retaining the information.

A Seventh Grade Student's PLE

This littler girl walks us through her personal learning environment to show us how her seventh grade paperless science class is conducted day-to-day. She uses a personal page to organize all of her educational information and social networking cites. It is very similar to how we conduct business in Dr. Strange's class. We organize all of our thoughts and opinions through Blogger. To access our class assignments, we have to go through our class blog just like the little girl in the video. I am growing more and more partial to this type of learning environment. I feel I have learned, and retained, more about my field of study through this type of learning than I have with any other class. The students in that seventh grade class will benefit greatly from that PLE. Whether or not I would be able to manage a classroom with this type of style is still up in the air.

Time Toast

Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Randy Pausch was once told, "You're such a good salesman. You should be selling something worthwhile, like education." And that's exactly what he did.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was very inspiring. You're getting to witness a man discuss the high points of his entire life and have him tell you what he took from his experiences and what he thinks you should take away from your own life. His lecture was not just to teach you how to help someone else acheive their dreams, but to help you realize what you should do to better your own life while achieving your own dreams at the same time. He also pushed that, "Most of what we learn, we learn indirectly." He used the term "head-fake" method.

Pausch talked, for a bit, about his time at Carnegie-Mellon and how he conducted his classroom. For his graduate program he didn't use a single text book. It was completely project based. On the first project he assigned to his students, they completely astonished him and he wanted to give them all A's. But, Pausch being the skillful genius that he is, told his students, "That was pretty good, but I know you all can do better." That statement alone pushed his students further and further and their achievements were boundless. That is the staple of a great professor.

It was also required in this course for all projects to be theatrically presented in front of the class. Each project lasted two weeks with 4 members in a group and the group members would change for each project. I thought this was a great method to teaching a difficult subject. It got the students involved with their classmates and taught how to work well with others. At the end of each project the students would poll their classmates on their experience with working with them. At the end of the term a chart was presented with the data taken from over the semester. The students then saw a physical representation on their ability to work with others. I thought this was brilliant! It held students accountable for their participation, progress, and interactions throughout the course. Getting accurate feedback on something like working in a group environment makes the students more self-reflective and helps them know they should consider readjusting their actions. The program ended up becoming a campus-wide event and would eventually sell out. Pausch said this gives the students a chance to experience what it feels like to make other people excited and make them happy.

Pausch had four main points of advice on how to live your life:
1.) Be good at something because it makes you valuable.
2.) Work hard at everything you do.
3.) Find the best in everyone you meet no matter how long it may take to find.
4.) Be prepared because luck is where preparation meets opportunity.
Most of all, Pausch wanted his audience to take away that if you lead your life in the right way then karma will take care of itself and the dreams will come to you. He wanted his audience to take away that they shouldn't strive just for being great educators, they should also strive to be great people as well. He stressed on showing gratitude and having perseverance. To me, Pausch seems like a real modern-day saint and I am pleased to have watched his last lecture.