Project 16

Final report on PLN

My personal Learning network has grown tenfold over the semester and is increasing everyday. I am in touch with teachers all of the United States along with several overseas. I think that my PLN will continue growing as I continue my education. We have to keep our eyes and ears open. I mostly still use twitter and my Facebook page to keep track of these other networks. I hope that in my future classroom I can look back and refer to just a few of the many of my networks and use some of the information I have gained to help my students be the best of the best.

C4K- 9, 10, 11

#9.
After watching Ben Folds singing and then reading over the lyrics and his blog several times, I finally came to the realization of what he was trying to tell us. After we begin teaching we shouldn't let other teachers or our student change who we are and our ideals of what education should really be all about. There will come a time that every ounce of our patience is tried and we will have to remain true to who we are.

#10.
After looking all over Mrs. Yollis' blog and spending quite some time there I realized that this kids are having a great time learning all kinds of new things. I was assigned the October 4 blog entry which was a Skype session with kids from New York. They traded all kinds of important information regarding their state. I think learning this way is definitely much more fun but I think it will allow the kids to remember the information for a much longer time. I would much rather learn from other students and through finding out interesting information by researching than listen to a teacher stand in front of a classroom and lecture on something.

#11
Hayley is from New Zealand. In her post she talks about how her dog loves to play in the water and sand and then shakes off all the water when he is out of it. It drives her crazy! I told her that I love dogs and that my dog also does that but after a bath and gets water all over me and all over the bathroom!

C4T-4- John Burk

#1
Mr. John Burk commented on November 9 about a student that had posted a depressing comment on a social network. This comment streamed from being about this student to how school systems have tried to intervene and prevent teacher/student relationships outside the school. Currently there are many school that do no allow teachers to have those "networks" because it allows more chance for suits against the school system, or so they think. I agree completely with Mr. Burk, with him saying that social networks help encourage relationship beyond just student/teacher but in each student's future. It allows the students to learn how to communicate with adults which is greatly needed. I think it is necessary to maintain a relationship where the student can also see that the teacher is also a person and has good and bad days much like the students do. I hope that the school systems can see this involvement between teachers and student on and off school property is actually a good thing and allow teachers to have these interactions. Had Mr. Burk not commented back to his student that was depressed who knows what might have happened. He might have prevented this student from doing something extreme.

#2.
In his second blog posting that I read was so far over my head I actually had to spend the time and read it three times, which is quite embarrassing to admit. It was about an application that is several years old and pretty much phased out but he loves it and uses it frequently. This application is called "Algadoo". As I was reading his post I thought this application was pretty neat with all the functions it could do and could help in many circumstances. It is all about interactive physics. Check it out for yourself, I thought it was neat and you might too. Interactive Physics-Algadoo .

Blog 14- Picardo

Joes Picardo suggests 10 tips that he considers the most important when trying to integrate technologies into the classroom. I think his “Top Ten” are wonderful ideas and I hope to use them in my future classroom. Although I would probably list them in a different order his top ten are as follows:
1.Streaming Video
2.Music
3.Teleconferencing
4.Interactive exercsies
5.Interactive whiteboard
6.Podcast
7.Blogs and Wikis
8.Social networks
9.Internet tools
10.Gadgets.
I think that the use of blogs/ Wikis/ social networks/ personal websites are the most important from this list, although all the others can be adapted and be just as useful. I had not thought about music being much of a learning tool but I can see how it could bring some students back into focus along with streaming video. I would definitely make use of the personal gadgets and the interactive whiteboards. I really think by not making students “unplug” at school will allow learning to take place not only on school campuses but students would be more willing to study and be active in their own learning process.

As for Mr. Picardo’s website, I was amazed at how much information was contained on this one website and all the wonderful useful resources that he has collected for those of us just getting started. Although when I first opened the page I was almost overwhelmed by the amount of material on the page, I actually “x”ed out and then went back and slowly looked a good many of the links and even went to his personal website, josepicardo.com ,and read a few of his posts that I found interesting. If it weren’t for people like Mr. Picardo we, as upcoming teachers, would have to find out all the resources for ourselves and he has already put forth so much effort, all I can say is “Thank you!”

Special Assignment #1

Part 1. I missed the metaphor in Tom Johnson's post most likely because I was reading too much into it. I knew he was not talking about the actual pencil but at the same time I did not express in my blog what I though he was talking about. Part 2.Metaphors I have encountered since I started keeping a log. Well there were several pages among many of which Dr. Strange had listed in his blog so I will not repeat them. I am sure I over looked many that are used on a daily basis. But until you actually sit down and analyze everything you see and hear you are bound to miss some. Part 3. Part 4. We use metaphors to make life more enjoyable. To make reading not so bland and for many other reasons.

Blog 13- E-media Fasting

I like many other in my class chose to complete the E-media fasting for my Blog 13 assignment. I however did allow one phone call to my husband as he is out of town on business. Other than this I completed this task without difficulty. Leaving the electronic media out of my life for 24 hours was actually easier than I expected it to be. By not being focused on my computer I was able to "gut clean" my house. I also played with my almost 8 year old. I have decided after doing this fasting I will permit myself "x" number of hours on the computer, a number to which has not been decided yet, and most likely it will be after I have the kids to be. The only time this may be altered is when I am working on school work. The only thing I really did miss was the radio. I love to sing along with the radio while cleaning my house.

I knew this assignment would not be hard because besides the computer and cell phones I don't use many electronic devices. If I had to go more than 24 hours however without my phone it would be much harder because that is how I stay in touch with all of my family whom live more than 6 hours away.

Project 15- Smartboard Part 2

Project 16 - Progress

We have six people in our group. We have decided to divide into three subgroups to put together an informative short video over why smart boards along with other technologies are important to the student in the classroom and what advantages there are for these new technologies.Also how these technologies help bring together the student, the teacher, and the parent.
Our subgroups are divided into the following:
#1 smartboard
#2 Blogs/ websites
#3 podcast

C4K- Mrs. Yollis' Blog

I spent hours looking over the blog Mrs. Yollis and her class has created. I have also been following her on twitter. Looking and clicking through the links I have gained a respect for Mrs. Yollis, she has really put in some hours working on this project. Her motto “Learning and Sharing Together” is one that most classrooms should adopt, I know that this will definitely be in my future classroom.

I think being able to connect the student to their families is awesome. This allows familes to seewhat the students have doing in the classroom. Also at the top of her blog you will find several links. One of which is to her classroom website which allows not only the parents but the students as well to flip between the two “safely”. On her website she has links to many other links that are fun and educational both for the parent and the student.
I thought it was amazing that her blog had over 72,000 hits from all around the world which was more than I can say for our blog. Mrs. Yollis has made her blog informative, inviting, creative and easy to work with.

Blog 12- create an assignment

An assignment idea might would be to have each student to reflect on technology literacy and see how their ideas on this subject might have changed thus so far. After reflecting write a short summary on this topic. Also after learning about many of the technologies that we can use maybe which ones we like the most and how we would use in the classroom to connect to our students/parents.

I still think that it is very important to know not only about technology but how to use it. As it is said by Ms. Cassidy in her skype interview technology of 5 years ago is not good enough but you need to stay current. Today technology changes nearly every day.
Of the technologies that we have learned about in the class I think that the blogs and smartboards are the most beneficial along with having a website in which you can incorporate podcast and skype interviews with professionals the kids might not otherwise get to talk with. Blogs are beneficial to keep in touch with parents as well. Websites allow you to gather all your links to one "safe" place for the students to be able to go to and gain the information you want them to get without so much risk for "bad" websites.

c4k: poll, 4,5, 6, 7, 8

POLL
I voted to keep the current flag because I would like to preserve history.
#4
My original assigned student's blog was not up and running so I chose to check out Mariana's avatar. She chose hers to resemble her. She also mentions how she loves animals so she put a pair of binoculars so she could see the animals better.She also has maps with her avatar because she is adventurous. I told her that I also love animals and that I am adventurous too. I suggested that she always keep a little bit of the adventurous nature about her and that she stay a great friend and never be afraid to make new friends.

#5
For this post I listened to 2 poems from the winners of a Poetry recital. One poem was read bu Krishant and the other by Sienna. Both students did a wonderful job telling their poetry while being recorded. Krishant had lots of hand movements that went right along with his poem.
#6
On c4k 6 I had two different students who I responded to. The first Katlyn loved ice cream and on her post had given a recipe for homemade ice cream. I told her how I loved it too. And that this recipe was good but a little messy and a little more complicated than the recipe made it look. The second student was Cayleigh. She had written a post on hair and how it helps insulate our body. I told her that her statement about bees having hair on their eyes was fascinating and then I continued to ask her if she knew what hair was made of and then I answered it.

C4K # 7
I commented on Wesley's blog. He had to give a lesson in front of his class about absolute age of rocks. He said at first he was extremely nervous and that he wasn't able to find much information about his subject. Afterwards the teacher told him he did a good job, Wesley also said he learned more doing it that way than he felt like he would listening in class. Wesley also replied to another person's comment saying that he realized he wasn't afraid of public speaking anymore. I gave him a suggestion to help reduce the anxiety before speaking in front of a group of people and also suggested that he do it as often as he can the more the better he will be.

#8
I was assigned Enyahlee for this week’s assignment. She blog post this week was about the Aukland sky tower and how some people like to jump from the top of it. She said that she would be too scared to jump off the top of the building because it is the tallest in the city. I told her I most likely would not jump off of the top either. I also told her she did a great job creating the animation for her post.

Blog 11- Mrs. Cassidy

Ms. Cassidy teaches a first grade class in Canada. She incorporates several technologies into her curriculum for her students. She uses blogs and web pages and in her video I saw a smart board. She teaches the children how to keep themselves safe first and eliminates many of the hazards of getting on bad web pages by having her own website that acts as "hub" that has all the links to educational games and other websites. She also says that technology literate of today is not the same as it was even 5 years ago. She encourages us to stay on top of the new technology coming into the classroom so students of today do not have to "turn off" to come into the classroom.

In her skype interview with some of the EDM 310 students she asked how often her students blog and how she keeps them safe and how technology has affected her personal life. Her response to each of the question where:
1. How often do her students get to blog?
She said it depends on how many students she has and how much time they have. She added to
this saying she does have several topics that she requires them to post on. Some of the
students also post from their home. Her main reasoning for using this resource is to allow
the connection with the parents to see what the students are doing and to see the
progress. It also helps elevate writing skills.
2. How she keeps them safe?
Ms. Cassidy said that she first teaches to never post a last name and don't post pictures
with even your first name. After that she also has her own webpage with links to games and
other education sites helping eliminate the risks of the students ending up on bad
websites.
3. How has the technology affected her personal life?
She admits that before starting the use of blogs and web pages she did not do much on the
computer. After she started she started using it more and more and is now an every night
event. She uses it to find more links for the students to learn things off of. She also uses
it to enhance her own personal learning networks. She even opened her own Facebook account
due to the fact some of the pages she wanted to view you had to be an account holder.

I hope that I can use some of Ms. Cassidy's ideas and incorporate them into my own classroom one day. I thought the use of the Nintendo DS was an awesome idea. I know that there are many different things out there and it will be interesting to see what the future hold for me and for technologies.