Sunday, February 27, 2011

Project 9b Instructional-Timetoast

Blog Post # 6

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler


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I enjoyed watching The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler. I myself am in a learning stage when it comes to using different sources of networking. Networking allows an individual to communicate with different people of similar interest and ideas.  Networking also allows us to work together to come up with new ways of learning and teaching. After watching this video, I learned what Connectivism is. Connectivism is a theory that presume that learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties. This network is made possible through many tools of technology.

"Why does the network student need a teacher?”
 I believe a teacher is needed to show the network student the proper and most effective way to use and understand networks. Teachers have more experience and may know better ways to find certain resources and excellent ways of organizing data. Networks can be very beneficial and I want to learn more about them. This way, I will be able to teach my students the benefits of networking.


A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Experience




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A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN). The student  in this video has her PLE very organized and has everything she seems to need on it.  She is able to pull up links that associate with her classwork, and links of social interest. She has everything well organized and color coded. In the video she showed us, step by step, how to get to certain cites through her plan. Her class is also paperless just like our EDM310 class. I find that going green is better than keeping up with a stack of papers and finding places to store them all. My PLN is similar to this one. I have all of my links color coded and sectioned off according to importance. I use my PLN for almost every website I visit.

Critiques of Smart boards


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Michael Staton's, Why Smartboards Are A Dumb Initiative and
Bill Ferriter's, Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards and Why Are We STILL Wasting Money on Whiteboards are all opposing views of the use of Smartboards.
I personally disagree with Mr. Stanton and Mr. Ferriter's opposed opinion of smart boards. I feel that using smartboards is a great way to get students to interact with the teachers lesson and bring a little excitement into the classroom. I first used a smart board during my first semester of college and found it very interesting to use. I think I was more excited to be able to go to the front of the class and use the smart board than I was excited about actually being in the front of the class. I think children will actually pay attention and learn better with smart boards, because they are amazed of the effects and the things a smart board can do.

In a post by Dr. Mary Ann Bell, she states her views using IWBs. She list 13 reasons why she enjoy using interactive electronic whiteboards. Her reasons are as listed: 1) They great for demonstrations. 2) They are a colorful tool. 3) They accommodate different learning styles. 4)All ages of students respond favorably to board use. 5) Distance learning is an excellent setting for interactive whiteboard use. 6)One-computer classrooms can maximize the use of limited computer access by using the whiteboard. 7) They are excellent tool for the constructivist educator. 8) The boards are clean and attractive tools there is no messy chalk dust or other by-product, which can limit use. 9)Students with limited motor skills can enjoy board use. 10)It is interactive. 11)It can interface well with other peripherals. 12)The board is great for meetings are lessons where the participants need printed copies of the proceedings. 13)It is a kid magnet!

C4K 1,2,3

Summary 1


Photo by ChapendraPhoto from www.ceasethegreasentx.com/images/sizzling_bacon.jpg


I was first assigned to a student by the name of Braydon from Comax Valleys Vancouver Island. He did a post on Crispy vs.Soft greasy Bacon. I found this post to be awesome. It was interesting to know a kid his age really find interest in things such as the texture of their bacon. He personally like his bacon crispy and I totally agree with him.  

Summary 2
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During my second Comment 4Kids post, I was assigned a student by the name of Sola from room 13 at Pt. England school in Auckland,NZ. She talked about the earthquake of Christchurch Auinckland, NZ. She discussed the number of people that was killed and how bad the building was damaged. She wrote with great remorse and seemed very informed of her topic.


Summary 3



My assigned student was Lola T. also from Pt. England school in Auckland, NZ. She was a student of room 16.  Lola wrote a story of her as a super hero. She described her super hero as spider woman. She became spider woman by one day picking up and throwing away a spider that climbed onto her bed. She looked in the mirror and realized the spider had bitten her. When she arrived at school she noticed the same spider climbing up her leg and as she flick it off, the spider land on another girl in the class. suddenly the class screamed into fright and she then notice they was afraid of her because she had transformed into super Woman. Her story was very interesting. she has a wonderful imagination.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Blog Post#5

Eagle Nest Radio & Class Blog



I listened to the Eagle Nest Podcast entitled " totally terrific Time Travel with explorers", created by a group of third grades. My first impression of this podcast was mind blowing. I really enjoyed the theme of going back in time. They seem to have great confidence and was well knowledgeable of their topics and information. They had very little if any hesitation throughout their podcast. This was a wonderful podcast.

The Benefits of Pod casting in the Classroom by: Joe Dale

Joe Dale talks about the benefits of podcasting in the classroom. These benefits are as listed:

  • an effective way of interacting with students outside of the classroom
  • a form of learning students of today are familiar with and therefore makes it relevant to them
  • it allows for differentiation and project based learning
  • students can access the higher order thinking skills in Bloom's taxonomy
  • it promotes creativity and innovation
  • it can offer distance learning opportunities for absent students
  • the process of creating and uploading audio files is easy
  • students can record role plays in character making their learning more memorable
  • parents can see and hear what their children are doing at school
I myself believe podcast can be used to our advantage in many ways such as, being able to listen to lectures outside of class, get ideas to topics of assignments, and just a great simple way of teachers communicating with students. Podcast to me is also great because of the benefits of talking and less, typing and writing.

The Practical Principle- Episode # 25




I enjoyed this podcast setting as a discussion board. I really enjoyed how they incorporated music at the beginning. Mr. Elias and Ms. Miller's podcast seemed to be a way they catch up things that goes on in their life and things they find interesting. It reminded me of a radio station when I first listen to the podcast, but found some of the things they discussed quite interesting.













Project #9a- Timetoast

Monday, February 14, 2011

Project # 8 Podcast Tech Literacy




Group 1 discussed if a teacher should or should not be tech. literate. We all agreed, with supportig details, that teachers should be tech. literate.

Monday, February 7, 2011

C4T Summary

First Post:
I was assigned to Mr. Brian Crosby's post, A Four Year Anniversary To Remember

The post was about how he incorporable his student by the name of Celest into the classroom using Skype. Celest was sick with leukemia and was not able to attend class with her classmates. I thought it was a very kind thing to do by skyping Celest into the classroom so that she would not miss out on her school days and was able to learn just as the other students. Brian went on to state how he was on the morning crosswalk and recognized Celest and her mother after not seeing he for four years. He was not able to talk much with them but was very excited to see them. Celest is in the 8th grade now, has put back all the weight she lost, and has a thick, full head of hair. She is in full remission and doing really well. She even helps counsel kids that have cancer based on her own experience. 


Every year now Mr. Crosby tells this story of Celest

Second Post:
I was assigned to Mr. Brian Crosby's post, So How Could I Still Teach My Students If School Was Cancelled? Reprised

Mr. Crosby wrote this article because of an idea he thought of back in 2009 when the H1N1 Virus was going around causing the students to miss school. He thought what if every student was connected to the internet at home, there would be many ways he could continue to teach his students when the school was closed down. He mentioned using Google docs and the students blogs to upload the assignments. This way he could leave discussions and communicate with them back and forth. He also mentions going on field trips and having guest speaker through Ustream or Mogulus they use for chat.

 I thought this was a very out of the box idea and may very well be possible on day with the way technology is rising in todays society.

http://learningismessy.com/blog/?p=1040#comments

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Blog Post #3

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today 


This Video has so many true facts starting with the class sizes. Lets take my geography class for instance with over 115 students. I get really afraid sometimes to get called on or ask questions in class because I do not want all 200+ eyes looking at me. Also with classes this size, nine times out of ten the teacher will never remember my face or name.

The video also make statements about the price we spend on books and computers. I find this true to have to spend over 600 dollars on books that I hardly ever open. When its time to sell the books back I never get over 150 dollars back; thats if they decide to take all the books back.When it comes to buying computers there are advantages and more disadvantages. Technology, I believe helps students in great ways of research, note taking and many ways of preparing for the future ahead of us.  We as students spend more time socializing online than anything. I feel that if teachers made some classes a little more interesting using more exciting was to incorporate technology into our lessons, we as students will probably actually pay more attention and be interested in learning by choice.

"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines


Mrs. Kelly Hines wrote an article entitled  "It's Mot About the Technology" that was very interesting. She made four points in her article which were: Teachers Must be Learners, Learning and Teaching are Not the Same, Technology is Useless Without Good Teaching, and Be a 21st Century Teacher Without the Technology.Check the article out at http://eduratireview.com/2009/04/its-not-about-technology.html/

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Techologically Illierate Teacher?


Check out Karl Fisch's article at http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html. It is filled with interesting statements. Mr Fisch talked about teachers being able to get in front of a class and teach technology, when we hey are illiterate themselves.  This segment of his post was very interesting to me because I feel that no one is able to give very accurate and legit information if they are not knowledgeable of the information them self.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count


To see the rate these counts increase is so mind blowing. It is a must do process of keeping up with technology in todays world because technology will increase more in the future at a much a faster rate than it is doing so now.

Uniquely Me!!!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Blog Post #2

Did You Know? 3.0
This video shared some very interesting facts.I was shocked to find out that China will soon become the number one english speaking country in the world. CHINA!!! To know that students are currently being prepared for jobs that do not yet exist is mind blowing to me. This mean new technology is constantly being born and soon there will be no point of the going green commercials because everything we do will be generated by a computer in some sort of way.

I look forward to the new things in technology to come forward each year. It never seems as if there is nothing that can replace the current invention until something better comes out. for instant the X-Box 360 with cordless controllers. Who would have thought your actual body would become the controller. Each of the facts really amazed me.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
This video is a prim example of how the world changes within the blink of an eye. Mr. Winkle wakes after a hundred years and finds that technology has taken over. People can now talk to each other over the computer and actually see one another. But as Mr. Winkle discover some things do not always change. Education is somewhat still the same as one hundred years ago. Classrooms still require long lectures with notes being taken on paper and boredom from listening to a teacher talk on an on. I feel that the the way education is being taught in classrooms have come up a little in technology but it is not yet on the same page as the world outside of the classrooms.


Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson says school kills creativity. A true stamement was that stood out to me the most was that kids will take a chance and if they don't know the, they will have goal. They are not afraid of being wrong. If you are not prepared to be wrong, then you will never ocme up with anything orgininal. This takes away the creativity in individuals.

Sir Ken also gave the example of the little girl who does not pay attention in class, draws a picture of God in her own image. The teacher makes the statment that "Noone knows what God looks like" and the girl comments and say, "They will in a minute." This was very fasinating to me. Who is to say what God looks like, but who is to say that the imiage the little girl painted was not actually God?

I have learned a lot from this video that I teaach my kids one day!

Cecelia Gault(Young Student in Findland)Interviews Sir Ken Robinson
Cecelia is a very smart girl. She intervied Ken Robinson with such confedence and maturity. She also stood with great posture and focused most her attention on her person being intervied. It hi clear she was taught by and excelent teacher.I will be sure to incoorperate activities such as intervieing in my classroom and bring out the inner confidence in my kids.

Viki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Wow!!! These are the skills I want to be able to teach my kids. These are the skills they will need for the real world both now and in the future. I think Viki Davis is doing a very good thing with her students and they will greatly appreciate it ater they go further in life!!!