Final Reflections.

Project 14- Skype Interview

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.

C4T 3

PART 1
For my C4T 3 I was assigned Dean Shareski. He was actually teaching himself how to play guitar. Also on his post were links to several of his students blogs where they had been assigned learn yourself subject. One link was a student was learning how to speak Japanese. He had been struggling but was find time during the day to teach himself short phrases. Another link that was on the page was a student teaching herself how to crochet. Having attempted this myself and failed miserable I commented to her encouraging her to continue trying and working on it. I also commented to Mr. Dean that I thought it was awesome that he was self teaching himself how to play the guitar and that I was from a musical family but that I personally did not inherit those musical genes. I look forward to seeing his students progress along with his. I think his afterthought message on the post was that teachers come in all shapes and sizes and if we are open to it then we can learn almost anywhere.
Guitar Lesson 5 Dean Shareski

PART 2
I was in awe at the thought of his second post that I read off Mr. Shareski's blog. This was about not asking people what the want but suggesting to people what they want. In other words, I think he was trying to say was many people really don't know what they want until someone suggests or puts it in front of them. Mr. Shareski thinks this is also the pattern that education is following and we need to get the students involved more than they are on a normal basis. The idea of not asking what people want actually came from a blog post by the former Steve Jobs. They were questioning the public about what they wanted from a new computer. The answer were always better/faster/cheaper this also went along with what most teachers want for their students,better test scores.

Blog 10- Educate/Teach/Pencil integration

Joshua Bloom created a movie discussing the differences or the likes of two words that are used interchangeably in the education field; these words are teach and educate. Mr. Bloom, in his video, shows the definitions of each word respectively. In my opinion, I believe he thinks teaching is the action of educating. At the same time Mr. Bloom also makes me feel like educating is our main goal. We want to empower our students.
His video was short but very inspiring and could be used for those classes who have students that think they want to go into the education field for their major. It is a video that can bring up a wonderful discussion on what you think the differences are between "Teach" and "Educate". You can visit his video at Do you Teach or Education:


After reading Tom Johnson's Adventures in Pencil Integration blog, I began to think how one of the teachers focused on the problem were they other focused on finding a solution to the problem. It is important to look at test scores and try to help the students better themselves. There are some students that are wonderful and can stay involved with their education at home and at school. I thought it was awesome how one of the teachers thought of new ways to help the students in lower income areas to stay focused on their education rather than being taken down a path of drugs and violence that is so often followed in that situation. Follow his post at Pencil Integration: and tell me what you think.

Project 11- short movie

Project 13- Smart Board Introduction

Project 12 - Book Trailer

Blog 9 - McClung

As I was reading Mr. McClung's post from the very first year he taught I was amazed at how much he learned about himself and how he can have even a better year next year. I commented on his post telling him how I agree that students should be treated like the individuals they are along with making sure each student learns the curriculum. His main points in the 2009 blog was
1. read the crowd
2.be flexible
3. communicate
4. be reasonable
5. don't be afraid of technology
6. listen to the students
7.never stop learning.

Check his blog out at At the Teacher's Desk: What I've Learned This Year:

The second year of reflection blog was much like the first but at the same time he was able to learn even more about himself. Mr. McClung talks about how he had to do some major adaptations from his previous year at the middle school to a junior high mentality. Another great suggestion he makes is to find a "school mom". This is a person that you can basically buddy up, figure out how the school works, the routine of the school and all the ins and outs that a new teacher would need to know. Another suggestion is checking your ego. This is another thing that I had not even thought about but it is a very helpful suggestion. "Don't be a control Freak" is the next suggestion he adds to his list. Teachers have to learn how to make/allow the students to be a part of the lesson and to do so teachers need to be able to adapt to unexpected delays. McClung also tells us to "not loose sight of what's important". He tells about a situation he dealt with but in short leave your personal troubles at the door and focus on your students and the day's assignments. His last part of the blog basically talks about how he continues to grow as an educator and will always try to learn and improve from his mistakes.

I hope to be much like Mr. McClung in the fact that every year I grow as a teacher/educator. I want to be able to say I made a difference in every student's life.

Blog 8

We are able to multitask anywhere and everywhere. He talks about how research now can now be done without ever stepping foot in a library or actually reading physical books. We have virtual books now. Also he shows how we can communicate and and put together not only written documents but sound documents and visual documents made only of information off the web and the information that was circulated around the university.

In part two he talks about computers/laptops is where we work and do most of our research . “Ideas don’t belong to us individually but to as a culture” . Talks about a future of not necessarily composing ideas on a word processing program but composing documentary using new programs such as the one he and his partner are learning how to use. Talks about how the new technologies and the availabilities of new programs make thoughts and ideas more easily accessible and can push to a much wider audience now. In the Looking Ahead portion of his talk he talks about how people are now using the web to compose new things. New ideas and creative ways of aggregating information on all parts of the world.

I enjoyed listening to both parts of his clips. Dr. Miller has surely put much thought and reasearch time to back all of his points. I do agree with his statement about needed to create a way to develop a curriculum to help teach students how to use and how to write using the new technologies. I know that one day all this will be possible with the giant leaps we are already making it is only a matter of time.

CARLY PUGH
I really enjoyed ready Carly’s post. She is such a creative, smart, and intelligeint young lady. She has definitely raised the bar for me. I thought I had set the bar high already but reading her post I realized it still needs to be raised more. I love every single one of her video clips. I think her idea of making this an assignment is wonderful but extremely time consuming. It is a wonderful idea because it makes you look internally at what you want and how you want to help those students who you will have in your classroom. Also as a teacher you need to know you own personal philosophy that way you can grow and change as you become a more experienced teacher.

THE CHIPPER SERIES/ EDM310 FOR DUMMIES
I enjoyed both of these videos. The first The Chipper Series was cute. A little long but had a very good message at the end. The second clip EDM310 for Dummies was halarious. So far I have not had many of those frustrating times only when I “procrastinate” and then I have to do everything in one or two days. But that is no fault but my own. As for videos that I think I could create and be beneficial I would like to do something trying to show how to set up a blogger account. Doing some tutorials for different crafts that I enjoy doing. Also reading books and turning them into movies for my future students.

LEARN TO CHANGE/ CHANGE TO LEARN
All this time we have been discussing how technology is changing how we teach and learn, this video reemphasizes all this again and takes it one step further. I am going to be honest and say that before this video I truly had not been aware of how much change the school system structure with have to undertake in order to accommodate most of the new technologies we have been talking about over the last few weeks. I am not sure how most school are but I feel unless we do things to help with our own communities and unless the federal system really gets on the ball the education systems in America will go down hill. I know the new technologies cost money to incorporate so due a few test cases and see how much it helps and then start slowly incorporating into all the classrooms starting at the top working your way down to the lowest grades. I feel very strongly this needs to be encouraged by teachers of today and of the future. Computers and other technologies are such a part of children’s lives (of every one's life) that a statement made on the video “ when you shut off a computer/ cell phone you essentially shut off that student” really made me realize that this is really true and in a way sad.

C4T 2

My assigned teacher this week was Miquel Guhlin. His post this week was about a new study hall. In his post he talked about how there is a new application for Facebook that allows students to work on math and all kinds of other projects. I was really amazed at this. In fact just last week I was telling my husband how I wish there was a math Facebook so I could ask a million questions on how to finish my homework. I found out today that there is! Having two children growing up in the technology advanced age I must stay on top of topics such as these. I was very thankful that Mr. Guhlin posted this post.
The second blog posting was what blogging had meant to Mr. Guhlin. When he originally started his blog he was clueless, much like I am now, on how many people it would eventually connect him to. Mr. Guhlin states that he is now very active on his blog for many reasons. A few that he mentions is that he wants to help promote that positive change in the classroom and feels like connecting to many people that share that idea can help promote that. Also he mentions how after several months of working on his blog he became aware of the massive amount of connections that can and could be made. He tells on his blog post that he is now connected with many bright minds in the education fields of today. I really like how he ends his post with a phrase from Spiderman. And his question “Given the choice between being steady or being a rock star or hero, which would you choose?” was a very thoughtful question. To answer his question I would have to choose “steady”. I want for others to look at me and know that I am steady and confident and that I don’t always have to be center of attention.

Blog 7- Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch started his lecture by giving a brief history of what was going on his life. He was battled cancerous tumors that have taken over the majority of his body. He goes on to talk about what they are going to discuss in this lecture. Three things he mentions are his childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of other and lessons learned.
Mr. Pausch talks about his childhood dreams. On his Power-point presentation he gives a list of his childhood dreams. Pausch states that it is very important to have specific dreams. He emphasizes fundamentals by telling a story about his experience with a football coach. Randy makes a very powerful statement “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.” This is very true and a great way to put it. Randy also tells his audience about the side effects of doing team sports, not only do we learn how to play a sport but also we learn about team work, good sportsmanship and many other great qualities that are necessary as a child grows up into an adult. Randy makes a very good point about brick walls. He says “Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things”.
The second part of his lecture is talking about how to enable other’s childhood dreams. Always be open to see children’s dreams. Not only dreams but a person can help one another achieve their own dreams but listening and helping. Always be encouraging to others.
The third part of the lecture is Lesson Learned. It is a part of the parent’s role to help encourage and help the children through life. There are several other people that help us in our journey of life. He mentions four others: teachers, mentors, friends, and colleagues. He advises to never lose the
“childhood wonder”. I think this is a wonderful statement because we should always keep a little bit of a child’s spirit it will help us get through the rough patches. He also talks about loyalty being a two way street. Never give up is another piece of advice Randy gave us, and it is a wonderful piece for everyone to follow. Every person needs help. Randy also suggests focusing on others, always apologizing when you are wrong. Randy also suggested always find your critics and listen to them. Always show gratitude for the people that you work with. Never complain. Be good at something, find the good side of people, be patient, and be prepared.
I clicked on the link to tour Randy’s childhood bedroom. I found it very interesting. Randy was interested in many things and had a wonderful imagination. I think that this imagination help build his career in virtual reality.
Towards the end of the video he says another great quote by Steve “Don’t bail; the best gold is a the bottom of barrels of crap”. This is awesome! When things are not going the way I intended them to go, this statement lets in a little light and makes it not so bad.
The entire lecture is about living your life the right way and Randy basically dedicated this lecture to his three kids. This lecture was done in the fall of 2007 not knowing he would not be around in a years’ time. This video was both emotional and very informative. I hope that I can take some of the things he talked about and implement them in my life not only as a student and a future teacher but as a wife and as a mother of two beautiful girls.

Project 10- My PLN

My PLN is still a work in progress. I think that it will always be a work in progress because as I find interesting new websites to go on I will add them as I see fit. I am using symbaloo and I am finding it quite easy to work with but I still prefer to use bookmarks if they are categorized correctly. As this class continues I know there will be more and more cites that go on my symbaloo page.

Timeline Timetoast- Project 9b

Blog 6- The networked student

Wendy Drexler explains to us how our role as future teachers are broadening. We will be teaching what will be considered “networked students”. A networked student refers to students that are connected through a variety of social networks and professional sources and can educate him or herself through these connections. The biggest challenge according to Ms. Drexler will be teaching these students and ourselves how to properly manage the information we see.

Our role in this will be helping the students learn how to navigate through all of the bad information and organize the quality information they have found using networks. The video uses the term “connectivism” which is a theory that students/people learn from the social networks and connections they make through those networks.

The idea of “connectivism” and “networked students” are both excited and a little scary for me to think about. I look forward to being able to teach my students how to access, manage, and learn from all the useful information that is out there on the web. It is scary however because I still have some problems with organization sometimes.


Getting to create new things and learn new things is always exciting. Getting to do it on a computer makes it that much more exciting. Students today have many more ways to gaining knowledge. When I was a student we were simply told to do the work now as long as the work gets completed it doesn't matter how it gets done, students have a chance to do it "their" way and to used their creative personalities to get the work done.
I understand the cutting back of paper in the classroom and this is a wonderful way of doing that. Creating a PLN you don't need pencil and you don't need paper. Students are able to find all the information the need out on the web and place it on their personal page. However with the huge amount of information out there we must remind the students to stay focused and not get sidetracked.

My PLN still needs much work but I am working slowly on expanding it. For the most part I use bookmarks and keep myself organized with the categories within bookmarks. I am attempting to add these bookmarked cites to symbaloo.

Bama Brunettes Podcast - Project 8

c4k -1,2, 3 SUMMARY

My first student I was assigned to was from New Zealand. He had commented on what they considered a "Silly Sports Day". He talked about how his team won many of the events but also lost some. I responded to him by saying that I was glad that he had fun on that day. I also told him that sometimes it is okay to learn, that he can learn from his mistakes and do better the next time his school has another "Silly Sports Day". I also encouraged him to keep doing well in school and that I hope he has a great year.

My second student was a child in Mr. Wolfe's class. He left a post about how he had fun playing outside this summer and that he went hiking. I asked him in my reply what kind of activities or games he likes to do. I also told him about my little girl and how she enjoys playing outside as well. I also asked where he had gone hiking and that we enjoy that also.

The class at St. Elmos did a wonderful job on a video which described ways they (the students) were different and the same. Jenna was my assigned student this week. She is a girl. In her part of the clips she tells us that she is sensitive and energetic. Watching the video you could tell this group of students were very intelligent and worked hard in the classroom. I am looking forward to continuing following this group of students throughout the semester. Jenna also did a great job on her art work. I told her it is great to be a sensitive person and I always like to be around people that are energetic because it makes me feel happier too.

Project 9a - Timetoast time line- about me

Blog 5 - McLeod/ ischool/ virtual choir/ future of teaching

Dr. McLeod makes some great agruments about maintaining a distance from technology although I don't agree with the majority of his agrument. Children of today need to learn not only how to work with new technologies and computers but also how to safely surf the web and protect themselves from all the predators that are out there. I do agree with his opinion about keeping the pen and paper present in the classrooms. Students need to learn how to communicate with their peers without using the computer they also need to learn how to think for themselves without allowing computers to do all the thinking for them.

Scott McLeod is a professor at the University of Kentucky and also the founder of CASTLE which surprisingly is the nation’s only center that is directed at helping school administrators with current technology needs.

In Travis Allen's Utube video he talks about ischool. This is a very interesting approach on how to save money for our currently underfunded school systems. However, I would have to question how it would effect the teachers that might be replaced by this new technology. I know that teachers would still be required but would fewer teachers be needed? Also another argument I would have to say is that fewer and fewer of our children are already being affected by not having to talk with each other. they are not learning coping skills that would be required when they are older. In this case I would say technology might have gone one step to far. I understand that would save about $500 a student but what would really be the lost investement? The only way to truely know is to run trials cases at different levels in the different states to see if this new technology is truely beneficial.


The Virtual choir was awesome. As a life long choir member I thought it was amazing at how these people have never met face to face for a day of reherasal before recording this. I know that technology can really play a part of the recording of this however the video itself is amazing.


The last video of this assignment made me think really hard. How are we to teach if all the information is already out there. Here's the thing, it has always been out there just not always easily accessible. Robert says we are no longer the "teacher" but we are acting as a "filter". Which means we deteremine what information our students get to look up and research the internet for but only for school. In one of the slides he mentions who is to teach how to search the internet for the information. This is a very valid point. When I was in school we were taught how to reserach using books and enclyclopedias, now there is so much information out there we need to teach how to interpret all the data and make sure sources are reliable. While the information is ever present we must be able to teach how to use it correctly.

blog 4- preparing for podcast

Eagles' Nest radio and class blog was very interesting and educational. For third graders, the podcast was exceptional. They were able to maintain focus and kept the listener wanting to listen. Their use of different children was brilliant. It allowed the listener a different sound and brought attention back to the podcast.
http://blog.woodward.edu/ps_edmison/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/roamininancientrome.jpg

Benefits of pod-casting in the classroom was not only informational but it made a great argument for why technologies such as pod-casting should be integrated within the classroom. It would allows kids who have to miss for one reason or another not to get too far behind, it also allows teachers to encourage a higher level of thinking that we strive for. This clip also gives links to help make your own, which was extremely beneficial to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1bX1gepEc&feature=player_detailpage

The clip off Lanwitches was another interesting cast. It is yet another great way to argue how beneficial technologies can be in the classroom setting. Another great way of demonstrating how using this technology can allow the students to use a higher level of thinking.
http://langwitches.org/blog/category/podcasting/

C4C 3

I agree with most of my assigned classmates opinion on her post. She had very strong arguments that she made when voicing her opinion. She agreed with most of what she read by Kelly Hines, Karl Fisch, Gary Hayes and Micheal Wesch,but there were several statements Karl Ficsh that she did not agree with and she backed up her reasons for her disagreement.

Project 5

Blog 3 -technology

Kelly Hines

Ms. Hines seems like she is very current on the new technologies of today but also wants to do things that are best for her students. I agree with the first of the four things she listed that is a must for effectively impacting students of today's technological advances.
The first part of her list she says that Teachers need to be learners. In my opinion we never stop learning at any age. We always need to be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. At the same time the easy way is not always the best way to get something accomplished. The second item on her list is "Learning and teaching are not always the same". This is so true and the examples of pushing a rock and it doesn't move there is no work done was a great way of showing how this happens. Many times students do not learn something right off the bat. It is after teaching and reiterating the same information over a period of time the the students may finally learn it. One thing as teachers we must remember is that all students do not learn the same way or at the same speed. The third item on her list is "Technology is useless without good teaching". She mentions the whiteboards that are found more and more in today's classrooms and the fact that some teachers take advantage of the new technology and some do not. Technology itself is not what makes a teacher great it is the teacher him/herself that is great and utilizes the technology to its fullest. The fourth item on her list was "Be a 21st teacher without the technology". In today's society, people rely on computers to help them make decisions. If a teacher can teach a student to think critically and learn how to solve problems on their own than that student will be better off than the student who relies fully on technology.

Karl Fisch

It is not okay to be a technology illiterate teacher in today's world. Technology is there to help us improve our ways of teaching materials and giving the students new and different ways of learning the material we present.
Mr. Fisch makes several very strong statements about teachers that don't event take the time to learn the new technology and to actually use it in the classroom setting. I remember in I was in high school when things where really starting to move toward using technology more and more that some teachers loved using it and some had such a hard time with that they stopped in the middle of class and went back to the old way of teaching.

Gary Hayes
The counter that Mr. Hayes had on his website was astonishing. I new that the world used those items very frequently but I had no idea that that much information was being retreived and sent out in the vast amounts that was shown. It definitely shows how we have gone to a world of using and communicated with huge amounts of information very quickly.

A Vision of Students today
The clip featured here was extremely interesting. The video clip mentioned 26.5 hours which is already more hours then are in a day. When I was in Nursing School I calculated up how many hours I put in studying, sitting in class, and working: amazingly it was over 100 hours a week this did not include eating, sleeping, taking care of my child, housework or any other extra curricular that I was currently doing but still I kept my grades high. Towards the end of the clip it mentions how people don't pay attention in class and instead use those high tech toys for face-book or working on other things that don't pertain to the class they are in. This is so true in many cases I have seen people sitting in history or science classes chatting with the friends and distracting people that actually care about class. The last question the clip asks us is "writing on a chalkboard" and then asks what is it missing and list things such as animation, music, photos and other things. Education is about learning and while I like to have a little fun while I am learning new concepts the biggest and most important thing is that I (we) learn the information that is presented to us at all levels.

peer editing

I choose to leave a comment on my assigned student. Her post was enjoyable to look over. I believe that we are learning to become teachers and we need to be able to take criticism to help up become better teachers. I did make a few suggestions for her to think about the next time she makes another post that is similar.

Project 6

Blog 2 (video clips)

Did You Know
All of the information given in this clip was extremely interesting. It is amazing to see how far technology has come in such a short amount of time. One of the statements on the clip states that we are preparing kids for jobs that do not even exist yet, which is strange but so true to a point. Another interesting tidbit was the fact that by the age of 38 most kids will have 10-14 jobs which is ridiculous. If you start at 18 years old that is only 20 years of working, that is changing job every two years or even more frequently. It only took four years for internet to reach a market of 50 million people! This clip was very informative.

Mr. Winkles
This little clip was very true in a comical way. The world around is becoming more and more technological savvy and schools are so many times being left out of the picture. When kids graduate school and then enter the work force some have a hard time dealing with not only the new pressures of a new job but also learning new equipment.

The Importance of Creativity
Picasso stated many years ago "that we are all born artist but the problem is to stay an artist as we grow older." (May not be stated word for word.) There was no true public education systems until the 19th century and when it became established it was for industrialism, which in many ways is outdated now. Children are encourage to work more on Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic instead of what they are good and have natural talents in. In fact many children are lectured and stigmatized for being creative. Ken defines creativity as a the process of having original ideas that are worth value. I agree with his statement.
His opinion matches mine in that schools are getting rid of valuable classrooms such as art and music. Mostly because of the money problems. It should be the opposite, every person is put on this Earth to do something. Sometimes that something is not necessarily academics but could be dance, as he gave the example of the woman who choreographed "Cats" the Broadway production along with "Phantom of the Opera". Some people are just made to move. In order to think they have to move. In today's time most of these kids would be labeled ADH/ADD and put on medicine and told to behave and these children many times never rise to what they could have been.

Finland Interview
Ken would like to balance academic and the arts. They also talk about the three myths of creativity which include: only certain people are creative, creativity is about certain things, and that there is nothing you can do about it. The big question that I see on her blog is asked "Can the U.S. Compete?" I think that the US has a long way to go when it comes to comparing with Finland. I firmly believe with much hard work and dedication to the students that we could compete with any country.

Digital Smarts
This was a very interesting clip, mainly because I am from south Georgia, only about an hour from where this school is. The fact the students are connecting with so many different people and learning how to work the new technologies on site with the teacher helping them through but also allowing them to do most of the work for themselves is an awesome thing. When these children get out of school they will be able to go directly in to a job setting using all kinds of these new technologies. Every school, in my opinion should be going to this, utilizing every technology that is available to us.

C4T 1

My assignment for the C4T 1 was a teacher from Boston, MA. She is the director for Academic Technology. Her blog was about an article she had read out of the New York Times. This article had listed what they considered statistical data on technologies improvement of scores on test. Ms. Liz Davis did not agree with the article at all. She seemed disappointed in her blog that a professional paper such as The New York Times would even consider this statistical data when in fact the article considered only one school in one state. I agreed with Ms. Davis saying that statistical data could not truly be collaborated due to that single fact. You must take at multiple school in different states of all scoring levels on these exams to be considered a true statistical piece of data to be looked at by different school trying to decide whether or not to improve their technological advances for their own students.

Ms. Davis' second blog was about a book that she required all of faculty to read and then she presented a presentation to that same faculty on how she wanted to improve in her school. She called it the "Plus One Challenge". Basically she wants to to encourage the faculty to add one technology project, wants to keep up with peer schools, and will be meeting with each individual faculty member to see how and what they are doing and to offer a helping hand. I replied with my comment on how I honestly thing that this is an awesome idea and that I hope that it works for her.

About Me

My name is Amanda Killough and I am 27 years old. I have lived a little all over the south. For the first 18 years of my life I lived in a small town in rural south Georgia called Fitzgerald. After marrying my husband we moved to Seneca, South Carolina and spent about two years there. From there we moved to Corinth, Mississippi and live there almost three years and then moved to Millington, Tennessee. From there we moved quickly from Millington to Gulfport, Mississippi to Picayune, Mississippi to Robertsdale, Alabama over a two year period. I have changed my major once from Nursing to Education. I am attending South Alabama mainly because I have too many semester hours to attend a community college and be eligible for financial aid but also because I would eventually like to continue my education to a Master's degree.
My family consists of 2 children both girls, a 7 year old, Jessica Lyn and a 3 month old, Karleigh Deanna, and of course my husband, Joshua. My husband and I are about to celebrate our 8 year anniversary. I am a stay at home mother. Some would argue with me but that is a full time job in itself. When I am not doing housework, taking care of my children, or attending class I am usually hunting, fishing, walking, playing scrabble, or reading a book. We do most of these activities as a family and will continue doing so as long as possible.
I am in the education field because I want to make an impact on children's lives and help improve where I can. Also eventually I would like to major in nursing and then teach at a college level.