Blog Post #13

Option #2

My Teacher Is An App

Online Education

Online schools are becoming the way of the future. Many jobs require the use of a computer in some way or another. Whether is recording, receiving or sending data, by hand held, laptop or desk top computers everyone at some point in their lives will have to become computer literate. What best way to prepare the future workers and leaders of tomorrow to becoming familiar with them than to require hands on training during their formative years. For many years the traditional classroom has prepared students for the real world and has provided students with the resources that will have to be used by them upon graduation. Requiring students to take at least one virtual class prior to graduation is a great way to introduce this technological dimension into their lives

Students and parents choose partial or full virtual classrooms for many reasons. Through personal experiences I have gained new appreciation for the ability to be able to learn through the virtual class curriculum. At age 5 after only 5 months of kindergarten my god-brother was stricken with a debilitating disease that caused him to miss almost 2 years of school. With the help of home bound teachers and virtual classrooms he was able to catch up with his peers and allowed to return to traditional school in his correct grade level.

Each summer during high school, I also took the opportunity to enroll in virtual school for several reasons: it allowed me to take additional classes that my hectic schedule wouldn’t allow during the school year, to make up grades in classes which I thought I could do better and to take classes that were not offered during the year due to class size restrictions. The ability to combine traditional and virtual schooling has not hindered us in any way, actually it has done just the opposite. Those who fail to take advantage of the opportunity do so are giving themselves a clear disadvantage in the workforce of the future. I sternly believe that all students whether full or partial should be encouraged to use the virtual schools that are being provided.

Special Assignment

According to Dr. Strange I missed the metaphor from the article Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home. Even though I clearly knew that Tom Johnson was not really talking about a pencils, I still used the word "pencil" in my comment. EDM310 is a class about learning the different kind of technology and how it could be used in the classroom to enhance the teaching process. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. In this case the pencil is a metaphor for a computer. The only reason I refereed to a pencil is because that was the term Mr. Tom Johnson used in the article. For example if a friend and I were talking about apples then why would I want to change it to oranges?

Next, metaphors are meant to disguise a hidden meaning or to be creative or funny. However, they are not meant to be taken seriously. Daniel Pink says that "you discover metaphors your world will become richer and more vivid and that you will be inspired to create your own metaphor in writing, thought, or other parts of your life" To help aware us from missing metaphors again, Dr. Strange gave us a special assignment.

Smartboard Part 2 Lesson Plan

C4K # 10

Ms. Yollis blog was very informative and descriptive because it displayed information and pictures on interesting topics. There was a wiki on fuel cells, and how fuel cells are used and how they work. As of November 13, 2011, Ms. Yollis has 75,679 visits on her class blog; and on the class blog for EDM310, there are about 51,308 visits. The visits are from all over the world. Ms.Yollis honored the Veterans by having a video up and a flag, she also had Halloween stories. Also there is maps, capital building pictures, animations, and how to video's for the students to look at. There is a link to all the kids blogs.
While looking at Ms. Yollis blog I saw a link to one of her students blog and I left a comment for Nick. Nick took a trip to Spain and had a great time. He went to a Fiesta and told us about the bullfights. I told Nick that if I ever went to Spain I would love to go see a bullfight and go to a Fiesta. On the front page of Ms. Yollis's blog there are several links to different places. For instance; there is a link to Meeting the Bloggers, Time Zones of Friends, and a Video: How to Comment. The most informative part to Ms. Yollis's blog for the students is the Welcome to Mrs. Yollis' blog. There is a link to the spelling words, math help, homework, reading, and much more. This blog is a way to enhance technology in the classroom.

Final Project Report

For our final project, my group members and I have been working on integrating all of the technology we worked on in class such as; Skype, smartbored, imovie, blogger ect, and come up with a movie. Also to help communicate throughout the group we have created a document spreadsheet, where we can leave each other comments and ideas by using Google Docs.

Blog Post # 12

1. Watch this Video: Productivity Future Vision (2011) 6:17
Write two paragraphs explaining how this video will effect education in the classroom.

Productivity Future Vision is a video that expresses the new world of technology, and how it could be used to become more organized. This relates to education because being an educator or a student causes for more organization. Meaning, one has to have time management and have discipline to do the assignments and finish the work. The video expresses how the new system pad can manage a days work with direct access to anything you want to know.
Since technology is becoming more advanced and is growing all over the world, technology should be a big part in the classrooms. A school should not be how it was 50 years ago when everything was done on paper and pencil. Sadly most of the schools still do have the same tendencies from back in the day. I feel that if everything around the school system is based of technology then the school system should be apart of the same transition. Also I feel that the reason school's are so behind in not having a lot of technology, is because of the money issue.

2. Watch this video: The Magical Classroom
Write how this video can change education.

This video expresses how powerful a smartboard can be and how useful it is in a classroom. When used right, the smart-bored can be used to teach any subject you want the students to learn. Smartboards bring a new error in teaching and can be change education as a whole. Most people think that during school you learn nothing that has to be toward what you want to do in life. And I feel that this is true. Education is behind in the new world of education and it needs to be fixed. Education should be very creative and express different personalities while learning the curriculum.

Skype Interview

Blog Post #11

The video Little Kids...Big Potential is an amazing video about first grade students in Ms. Cassidy class who want to learn. The students like to write in the our books, but they like to do blogs the most. One of the boys in the class said the reason he likes to do his blogs is because "people see it and they give us comments." I feel that that is a good way to get the students interested in writing. It gives them hope and freedom. The students want to become better writers and they want to learn. The students blogs are online portfolio's of their work. It shows how the students are doing and how much they grow each day just by writing and interacting with technology while incorporating that is the lesson plan. The way the students comment on the other students blog is to " never ever say bad stuff, only say nice stuff".
Next, the students use their webpage to find things on the internet. "You can click on the pictures and it will take you to the places you want to learn." The students really want to get involved with the activities because it is very fun to them. On the webpage the students can learn many different subjects from working on the alphabets to counting coins for math. I feel that the webpage is a great idea because it allows the child to learn on their own with the help of technology to guide them in the right direction. We are know in the age of time where technology is becoming the main source of learning. By starting the children out using the different technology in the classroom, you are automatically getting them familiar with the new idea of learning and with the world. Not only do the students do their work in the classroom, they can also go online at home and practice more to become better.
Next,the students also use wiki's in the classroom. The students use the wiki's when they want to learn about tradition and other things. The students asked other people around the world what traditions are such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, and people commented to give the students a better idea of what they are. The same concept went for what is a ritual. The students also make videos on the thing that they have learned. It helps them to understand the topic better and they are able to upload it on their blogs. Incorporating technology in the classroom is very important to me. Technology is a big part of our society and it is good to get the younger children involved at an early age just like Ms. Cassidy did with her first grade class.

Ms. Cassidy's Skype Conversation
Ms. Cassidy is a first grade teacher who incorporates technology in her class. She lets the students blog, skype, do wiki's, and many other things that deals with technology as wee seem in Little Kids...Big Potential. Ms. Cassidy got involved in technology about 10 years ago because she was suddenly given five computers in her class room. She wanted to incorporated computer in her classroom so she did a little research and found different blogs. Ms. Cassidy also got a federal grant to work on her technology journey, which was very helpful to her. In order to make sure the students are protected with their identity, Ms. Cassidy never post last names, only first. Also she sends a letter home letting the parents know what they student will be doing in the class. The parents like to see their child's progress through their blogs and online website. Ms. Cassidy feels that technology is not going away. Blogs make a difference in students learning because it creates an audience. The students develops relationships with other student around the world through Skype.

The other teachers at Ms Cassidy school does not want to adjust to the change in teaching. Ms. Cassidy also thinks that all teachers should be technology literate. Students need to start developing their own online networks. Collaborating is very important when it comes to education and technology. Ms. Cassidy has really helped me to get idea's for my classroom. Her approaches in teaching is very useful and will go a long way in everyday life. I would really like to use as much technology in my classroom, that will help my students understand what is going on.

C4K October Summary

Jacey
Jacey is a 5 year old little girl who loves school and her family. Her project was to create a wiki, and she did an amazing job. Jacey's wiki was able to talk and look around. She is very talented and creative. I told Jacey to keep up the great work just like she is already doing know.

Mr. C's Art Class
On Mr. C's blog, he posted pictures of his 7th grade art class. The pictures I saw were very creative and descriptive. The students were able to draw a picture of anything they wanted. One boy drew a picture of a green dragon.

Charm
Charm's assignment on his blog was to give a logical and creative thinking challenge with using only five objects. Charm's topic was that He was stuck outside on an snowy day, how would you protect yourself? Although Charm and his partner failed the assignment, I still encouraged him to continue the hard because it will pay off one day.

Mr. McClung World
My assignment was to leave a comment on 10/26/11 Writing a Letter on Mr. McClung's World. The students are learning how to write professional letters, along with writing letters to the community and the local schools, and other places while using the same method they used for writing professional letters. Mr. McClung is doing an amazing job with his 8th grade class. I thanked him for his hard work and dedication to the students.

Blog Post # 10

Do you Teach or Do you Educate, was an eye opener video for teachers. It gives a reality check on who are the real "teachers" by explain what to teach and what to educate means. The video gave several descriptions on the definition to teach which are:" show or explain how to do something; give information about or instruction in; cause someone to learn or understand something; induce by example or punishment to do or not to do something." Then the video went on to say or are you an educator? An educator or to educate is to enlighten or empower. "One who gives intellectual moral and social instructions; mentor, experience, trusted, advisor, and guides a person and shows them the way."
As I become a teacher I would much rather educate my student than to teach. I feel that if we educate the students they will have the knowledge and the skills to do anything they set their minds to.
The quote in the video that really sticks out is by Peter Brougham, and he said "Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave." To me this means that with education anything is possible. You can't stop anybody from accomplishing their dreams and that is what "impossible to enslave" means to me. When you give a person education that is like giving someone freedom, and I really believe that.

The article Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home was a very good article by Tom Johnson. I feel that giving the student's the option to learn is good by allowing them to take pencil's home. It is sad to see the quote "It's not that, either. I have a journal article about how students who use pencils at home have lower standardized test scores. So, for the love of test-taking, we need to stop our students from taking home pencils." Most teachers only teach so far by only teaching the material that is required and that's it.
Yet "we" the student's miss all the important information in between and are left out on whats needed to know for the real world. It was good to see that a solution was made on how the pencils could help educate the students better. The author even wanted to work out a parent pencil program, so the parents could also educator their children while they were at home. I believe that if the parents got more involved in their child's education, then the child would succeed farther beyond the child who had no support. I am not saying this is going to be true for all the students, but theoretically it would work that way.

C4T #3 Summary

My teacher this week is Mr. John Mikulsi. He has a degree in secondary education for English and a master's degree. Mr. Mikulsi had to do a project for his EDU599 class. It was very interesting to watch because it was not a normal portfolio, he added his own style that made it stand out to me. The title of his video is called "My Split Personality" and indeed he achieved the name.

Making Connection with Blogger
Mr. Mikulski post was very enlightening on what exactly a Blogger can do. He said " Blogging is all about making connections, finding (and sharing) resources, and developing collegiality that extends far beyond the physical boundaries of geographical locations. Also Mr. Mikulski noticed that "blog subscriptions through Feedburner have risen nearly 30 percent since the beginning of September. I feel that, that is a wonderful thing especially if the majority of the 30 percent are educators. At the end of the post Mr. Mikulski posted a video created by Tim Holt. Tim Holt is the Director of Educational Technology.

Blog Post #9

What I've Learned This Year (2008-09)

After reading What I've Learned This Year by Mr. McClung, I realized that some good teachers still do exist. Mr. McClung is very inspirational in the teaching world to me, he shows leadership and other good morals. He made an important decision by staying positive for the year 2008-2009. While reading the post made by Mr. McClung, he highlighted seven main points in his blog. The first main point is How to Read the Crowd. Mr. McClung states that "I felt so worried about how I was being assessed by my superiors, that I lost touch with my audience when I delivered a lesson." What I got out of what he said was instead of worrying about what other people think, focus more on the students and their education. The most important aspect of teaching for Mr. McClung is checking for student comprehension. The second topic is Be Flexible because "No lesson is ever perfect. The lesson you teach and the one you plan are always different." When teaching a lesson that does not go how you planned, don't make a big deal out of it. It is the concept of learning something new. I feel that nothing happens perfectly anyways.
The third main topic is Communication. Mr. McClung said that communication is the best medicine. To me communication is the ultimate way get something across, weather it is from the internet document to an advertising commercial. Communication is the key to success. Mr. McClung "definition" to communication is the pathway to build that much desired rapport with fellow teachers. The fourth main point is Be Reasonable. Don't hold high standards for a student if it is not reasonable to pass. "Often we build our expectations to high for students and become upset when they do not meet the expectation." And I feel that he is right. I had a math teacher that though we should already know everything and not make any mistakes, well that is already setting me up for failure because I am not perfect. I could not possibly already know everything.
The fifth point is Don't be Afraid of Technology. Mr. McClung is right, technology should be our friend since the world we live in revolves around technology. Education can really be at a higher level with the right technology in play. Mr. McClung view on technology is that "technology is our friend and is essential to living in our microwave society of today." And I feel that he is right. The sixth main point is Listen to Your Students. I think that it is good to listen to your students because it makes the student feel comfortable in your prescience, I know I would. One student in Mr. McClung's class said that "I know my teacher cares about me as a person when he listens to what I say." That is so true, teachers should take more interest in a students life since how they are the ones teaching us. The last main point is Never Stop Learning. It is never too late to learn. We do work in an learning environment and I feel that it is a good thing to learn something new every day.

What I Learned This Year (2010-11)

This article is about what Mr. McClung learned in his third year of teaching. Mr. McClung has learned many new things is his years of teaching and it is good that he is taking his own advice on learning new things. The first think Mr. McClung talks about is Know Who Your Boss Is.
Mr. McClung said "If you are not careful you can become completely consume with trying to please many individuals, that sometimes your own students get left out of the picture". It is important to know that students come first because that is what education is all about, and how it is catered to the students. Also it is bad to let outside factors affect the students performance in the classroom. The second topic was Don't be Afraid to be an Outsider. In other words, don't be afraid to be yourself. I feel that it is good to bring your personality to the classroom because that show individuality, and individuality is what a teacher should want for a student.
Next is Don't touch the keyboard. Mr. Mclung said "this means that our students will struggle a little bit in the front end but it will help them excel in the end game." I would not want a teacher who did it all for me. I want a teacher like Dr. Strange who gives us a task and we figure a way to achieve it instead of babying us. Dr. Strange knows that we all have to grow up and figure things out, so I feel that he is preparing us for success. The last topic is Don't Get Comfortable. Mr. McClung feels that the biggest fear for a teacher is becoming comfortable. He said, "while routine are good in the sense they allow me to be more effective, they can also be bad because they can foster apathy." I feel that if you do the same thing over and over the exact same way, there is no room for growth and change. Change is good when it is for the better.

Project #13

Blog Post #8

While watching the video Richard Miller: This is How We Dream Part 1, I found it interesting to see how the world has changed with the use of technology. The writing in academy and culture has changed. Mr. Miller said that this is the greatest change in communication in human history" and he was right. New ways to communicate is one of the greatest change. You can skype, facebook, twitter, email, and so much more. Also the way to communicate is unlimited it is instantly global in the matter of seconds. One can also talk to some one in China and have business meetings with people from India without leaving their homes.
Also Mr. Miller talks about an incremental change where we can work at home from a computer. He also states how everything far as written documents are starting to disappear and how now in this day an age everything is appearing online through the form of web documents. This is the form of sharing knowledge infinitly. We collaborate know by networking and creating technology to compose the web base documents with images and films.
While watching the video Richard Miller: This is How We Dream Part 2, I learned that where we work is the distal environment. Material will change in front of our eyes instantly. Know a day we can compose and find anything on line from whale hunts to academic lectures. Mr Miller said that "Ideas don't belong to use individually, they belong to us as a culture", and I feel that he is right. Students know a days will compose not with word processor but with digital composing materials.
I like what Mr. Miller said about how educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely, and he is right. There will be a point that teachers will have to come to the point where they can learn new ideas and teach with the use of technology. Not how they did it twenty years ago with paper and a pencil. We have to attempt to make sense of the world we live in, and make things better in the education aspects.

Carly's blog post was amazing, she came really close to what Mr. Miller was saying in This is How We Dream Part 1 and 2. I like how she included videos to demonstrate what she was saying. And the fact that she took the blog assignment to a whole new level. I like the video disability means possibility because it give a whole new meaning of having a disability. The guy in the video is just another person and we as people should STOP looking at other people as "if" they are different. Also it is good to have inclusion in the classroom, it make it easier to children to see that they can become anything they put their mind too. Carly was being very creative in her post and I think that it is good because it give an opportunity to show who she is. Not many teachers allow there students to be an individual so thank you Dr. Strange.

The video Chipper is a amazing video to watch. In the beginning Chipper thinks that she can tell the future by telling Dr. Strange that the future is the present and the present is the future. She says that even though she did not do her work now she can see that she did her work in the future by saying it was already done. Then Chipper come back to Dr. Strange and says that she will turn it in LATER. This is a form of procrastination. Also Chipper feels that Dr. Strange should teach instead of her teaching herself. I feel that it is good for us to learn individuality as well as dependently. Then Chipper tells Dr. Strange that she is going to drop out of school. She creates a school called Timeline Pilot school. One person named Amelia graduates but she is not allowed to fly and actual plan. The FAA shuts down Chipper's school, so know she wants to become a teacher. Dr. Strange refers her to Ms. Wright's. Ms. Wright is a Principal at the elementary school. Ms. Wright gives Chipper a job but four days later Chipper gets fired from never coming to work. Know Chipper becomes a waitress, and gets fired from that job. She becomes a nanny and never get hired, then she becomes a garbage collector and has a change of heart. Chipper decides to go back to school and not procrastinate anymore. Dr. Strange is very happy at Chipper's decision. I think if Chipper just watched the Video EDM310 for dummies, she would have never went through so many steps.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
Learn to Change, Change to Learn was a great video, because it demonstrated the change society needs to have on education. Education was ranked 55 out of 55. It was below coal mining. To me this shows that many higher people don't take education seriously. Technology is not a choice it has created a new world. A world were more technology is put to use in the classrooms. Where a student can use the internet freely or use other technology to learn new things at school. Yet schools restrict the use of communication and technology in the classrooms. Cellphones and other devices are restricted. Technology will also provide the best quality in classrooms, it is a great way to learn. Also one of the guys in the video states that classes today are big on standardize test and other big test, but in the real world jobs don't require that. Jobs are more of an artistic ability and understanding new idea, not memorizing problems.

Think About This! Will we be ready?

Project #12

Project #11

Project #9b

For project 9b I have created a wiki. My Wiki

While creating my wiki wasn't easy I plan to build it up the best way possible. The purpose of a wiki is to organize information and data. Also it is a way to communicate to different people while planning something, or what ever it might be. Also wikis can be very informative.

Blog #7

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dream's

Randy Pausch was a wonderful Professor at Carnegie Mellon. He inspired so many as he gave "The Last Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon annual school lecture. He first began telling the audience how he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was given three to six months to live. He didn't want the audience to feel sorry for him or to pity him because he had something more important to do, which we find out at the end of the video was for his children. The topic for the lecture was Achieving Your Childhood Dreams under three sub-topics which are;"My childhood dreams, Enabling the dreams of others, and lesson learned how you can achieve your dream or enable the dreams of others.
Randy Pausch was a happy little boy who always smiled. His first childhood dream on his list was to being at zero gravity. He was able to achieve this goal by having something to bring to the table. He was faced with a brick wall but overcame the obstacles by having determination. His second dream on the list was to play for the NFL. Although he did not accomplish this dream he got more stuff valuable then playing for the NFL. "Experiences is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted" He learned the power of enthusiasm and fundamentals. He also achieved another childhood dream by writing an article that was put in the encyclopedia. Randy wanted to be like Caption, but instead of being like him he actually got to meet him. Randy said "It's cool to meet your boyhood idols, it's even cooler to see him come to you." Randy won many stuffed animals throughout his time. The last childhood dream on the list was to become an imagineer. He was able to help create a virtual attraction ride named Aladdin for Walt Disney World. Through out this process he realized that brick walls are there for a reason. Randy learned several things from Jon Snoody, who later inspired him for other reasons.
The next main point in the video was helping others enable their childhood dream. Randy was able to help others because he used his profession as a professor to help. The first person Randy helped was a guy named Tommy in 1993. Tommy wanted to help write the next Star Wars movies and believe it or not he ended up accomplishing his dream with the help of Randy. Randy wanted to help more than just one person at a time so he created a course at Carnegie Mellon called building virtual worlds. The class was made up of 50 students and each project lasted for two weeks. The class was a big success. But this wasn't good enough for Randy he wanted something bigger, so he created this program called Alice, which is a novel way to teach computer programming. Where kids make video's and games; the "head fake" is that they are learning to program. Alice is a very successful program. There are over one million downloads, eight textbooks, and 10% of the U.S. colleges are using it right now. So millions of kids are having fun while learning something hard.
The last point made in the video lessons learned. What lets you get to achieve your dreams? The role of parents, mentors, and students are very important in lessons learned. Andy Von Dam is the person who influenced Randy to get his PH.D and become a professor. Loyalty is a two-way street because believing in someone is the most powerful thing that can really make a difference in someones life. Also never give up on any dreams or goals. Randy mentions how to get people to help. First you can't get there alone, tell the truth, be earnest, apologize when you screw up, and focus on other people rather than on yourself. He also said that "Brick walls let us show our dedication, they separate those who don't really want to accomplish their childhood dreams." To get where you are going its good to not complain, instead work harder, find the best in everybody, know matter how you have to wait for them to show it. The important thing to remember about this lecture is how you lead your life.
In conclusion, Randy Pausch was a very successful man and had many people behind him to support anything he did. The important thing to remember is to never give up. Have faith in yourself and always believe. Randy Pausch has really inspired me in many different ways. He will always be remembered.

Project #10

My Personal Learning Network is a mixture of all of my school work and personal fun. I have inquired everything needed for my EDM310 class such as; blogger, twitter, EDM310 Blog, and many more. Also my Personal Learning Network is in a working progress. Each icon represents something I needed to help me with my everyday needs. As my networking grows so will my PLN.

C4T #2

While reading Watching the Red Flag by Mr. Bernia, realized it is very important for teachers to be in contact with their students and actually be concerned with their attendance records. Some students decide to drop out if school at an early age because they have no motivation or anyone telling them to go to school. Both the teacher and students should have equal responsibility within one another to stay on track if any class periods were missed. Mr. Bernia mentioned how it is important to motivate students to attend class. He also said how one of the students that dropped out of school dropped out because the teachers did not care if he even came to class. Alle he wanted was a hi or nice to see you today. The pricipal at Mr. Bernia's school organized a meeting for all the students who had attendence problems the following year. I felt that, that was a good idea because it showes how the pricipal and the teachers are interested in the students life.

While reading Setting the Tone , I was really inspired at Mr. Bernia had to say. It is also nice to see how the principal actually cares about the students instead of just doing his job and nothing more. Mr. Bernia starts his day by reading a poem by Dr. Ginott. He also likes to work with the faculty and staff at the school to make sure everything is going good. The one thing that inspired me is how Mr. Bernia takes an interest in the students and how he really cares about them. In the comment I left him on his site, I told him how nice that was and how I wished I had teachers like that. I had a teacher once that was not very nice and that they didn't care if I understood the material or not. That to me can be very frustrating and hard. Also it was good to know that Mr. Bernia wants to create an environment where the staff can be creative. He feels that it shouldn't just be the way he wants it to be, he takes an interest in what everyone wants as well.