C4T #3

Blogging and the Literacy Curriculum
My first teacher I was assigned for this blog post was Kathleen Morris. Kathleen has been a teacher for 6 years. I loved reading her blog post because it gave me great ideas on how to use blogging in the classroom. She explained how you don't need to try to squeeze blogging into your curriculum. When allowing the students to blog they need to receive the full benefits from it. So to do this blogging needs to be planned out for the classroom to use it in the curriculum. I explained to Kathleen how I loved her idea of creating digital portfolios instead of allowing the students to write journals. I love this idea because it is now 2014 and technology is too great for students to be using pen and paper. I also explained to Kathleen that I 100% agree with her that using blogging in the classroom keeps the students engaged because they are excited to learn by using technology.

There's Blogging and There's Blogging...
The second post that I read by Kathleen Morris was about using blogging in the classroom. She explained how there are two ways. There is the Unrestricted program and the Structured Program. I explained to her that I see myself using more of the Structured Program in the Elementary classroom. Blogging is integrated into the literacy program when using this program. I also loved the pointers she gave for teachers when using blogging in the classroom. I will defiantly take all of them into consideration. She said that we as educators should set high standards, provide feedback, and integrate into literacy program. I also like that she said to allow the students to express themselves while improving their educational outcomes. I learned a lot of tips from Kathleen about using blogging in the classroom. I look forward to reading more of her post.

C4KSummary Month of March

Little Voices, Little Scholars

The student that I was assigned to comment on this week was Mata. Mata did her first video recording in her blog for this week. In her video she talked about her swimming lessons. Mata was learning how to write simple sentences correctly and independently. In my comment I told Mata how proud I was of her because she used technology to record herself talking. She did a great job and I was so glad she shared this video with me.

Bio Poem

The student's blog that I was assigned to comment on this week was Marama. Marama wrote a poem about herself in her blog post. A couple of things she talked about in her poem were things she loves to do, her fears, things she hates, and scared of. I told Marama that we like to do some of the same things because I love going to the beach and eating ice cream. I also explained to Marama how I also hate spiders, snakes, and sharks. Marama wrote in her poem that she is determined to succeed in school and that she is proud of being herself. I told her that I loved what she wrote and she did a great job on her poem.

Going to Rainbow's End

The student's blog that I was assigned to comment on this week was named Muamua. Muamua talked about her trip to Rainbow's End with her family. I told her that I had never been there but that it sounded like lots of fun. Muamua's sister wanted to ride a roller coaster but she was not big enough. Her little sister got upset when she found this out so Muamua bought her an ice cream. I told Muamua how sweet of her that was because she ended up buying her entire family ice cream. I told Muamua that I was glad she enjoyed going to Rainbow's End and that she did a great job on her blog about it.

Project # 15

Project #15 Lesson Plan

I did my lesson plan on MyPyramid this week. The lesson will last 30 minutes a day for one week. The students will learn about healthy foods and what categories they fall into. They will get into groups of fours and create a menu that follows the guidelines of My Plate. Their menus can include different foods that they have never tried before. At the end of the week the students will present their menu to the class. Technology will be included into this lesson by Icurio.

Project #12 Part A

Blog Post #10

What can we learn from Sir Ken Robinson?

I would like to start off this blog post by saying, "Wow!". I have loved and learned a lot from all of the videos that we have watched in this class, but this one has taught me the most. In this video, Bring On the Education Revolution, Sir Ken Robinson explained how their is a climate crisis for human resources and that we make very poor of our talents. He said that so many people endure their lives instead of enjoying it and are just waiting for the weekend. This stuck out to me so much because I hear people complaining all the time about their job and how they can't wait for the weekend to get here. People nowadays go through their lives simply just going on with it and they get no pleasure from what they do.

Sir Ken Robinson explained that every education system in the world is being reformed and that is not enough. Being reformed is no use because that is simply just improving a broken model. Our education systems don't need to be reformed, what we need is a revolution in education. He explained that their are things we are enthralled to in education like the idea of linearity. We view education as something that starts here and you go through a track and if you do everything right you will end up set for the rest of your life. He said that life is the opposite of that; its not linear but organic. We should be creating our lives as we explore our talents and find out what we are passionate about. We should be doing something that we really love. We as humans have became obsessed with linearity and think the point of education is getting you to college.

I loved the story he told about the guy he met when he went to his book signing in San Francisco. The guy told Sir Ken Robinson that he was a fireman and had wanted to be one for his entire life. He explained how when he was in school he had one teacher that told him that he was throwing his life away if all he wanted to do with it was become a fireman. The teacher told him that he should go to college and become a professional person; that he had great potential and was wasting his talent to do this. The guy said the same day the teacher said this to him he applied for fire service school and was accepted. He explained to Sir Ken Robinson how he was thinking about the teacher that had said this to him during his speech at the book signing. He said about six months ago the teacher and his wife were in a car wreck and he saved both of their lives by pulling them out of the car and performing CPR on the teacher. This story is so inspiring to me and I agree with Sir Ken Robinson that this story shows the fact that human communities depend on a diversity of talent and not just a singular conception of ability. Sir Ken Robinson explained how the heart of this challenge is to reconstitute our sense of ability and intelligence.

I loved how Sir Ken Robinson explained the issue of conformity and how we have built our education systems on a model of fast food where everything is standardized. He said that we have sold ourselves into this model and it's bringing down our spirits and energies as much as fast food is depleting our physical bodies. This so true because no one is the same and everyone has different talents. Your passions are important also because you can be really good at something you don't care for. This is true for me, I am really good at cooking but I don't enjoy it. Being that I'm not passionate about cooking I would not take the career path of being a chef. We as educators need to inspire our students to do what they love. If you are doing something you love, an hour will feel like five minutes and you won't be waiting for the weekend.

The last thing that I would like to point out that Sir Ken Robinson said was that we have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process - that it is an organic process. Educators can't predict the outcome of human development, all we can do is act like a farmer and correct the conditions under which they will flourish. We need to encourage our students to explore their talents and find their passion for what they love. If you are doing what you love, you will not have to work a day in your life. We can do this as educators by using the technologies combined with our teaching talents to revolutionize education.

Blog Post #9

What can we learn from Mrs. Cassidy?

In the first video, First Graders in Mrs. Cassidy's Class, the students talked about all the different ways they learn through technology. I was shocked by all the things the students knew about technology and how to use it. The students like to write on their blogs because everyone can see and comment on it. The students were saying how their parents and grandparents leave them comments. I love how the parents can see how much the students are learning and their progress by reading their blogs. The students explained how using blogging improves their writing and they get better each time they write a blog. I think that it is awesome that the students are seeing improvement in themselves by using blogs. The students also use webpages to find learning tools on the internet. They use Wiki to ask questions and learn about traditions around the world. One students explained how they use Wiki to learn about the alphabet. Another tool the students use is Skype. They use Skype to talk to other students from all over the world. This allows the students to learn from different students and cultures. The last thing the students talked about in this video was using Nintendo DS's in the classroom. I have to say I thought this was a great idea and I hope to be able to do this in my classroom one day. The students explained that the Nintendo DS's help them become better problem solvers and also learn how to share.

Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1
Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 2
Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 3

Above are the next three parts to the Skype interview with Kathy Cassidy. Cassidy explained how she got involved with using technology about ten years ago when she was given five computers in her classroom. She gave some great ideas about using technology in the classroom. I liked the first tip she gave about sending forms home the first day of school to the parents for permission for the students to use the internet. She said that the parents always like the students using technology because it allows them to to be able to see their child's progress anytime without having to have a meeting with the teacher. Cassidy also explained how technology is not going away and that it is here to stay. She said that educators have to change and learn to use technology in the classroom because their are so many opportunities for the students to learn through using online tools. If we as educators don't allow technology in the classroom we are handicapping our students. She explained how her students love using technology in the classroom and how it makes them excited to learn. Using blogging allows the students to have their own personal audience because the whole world can see it. Cassidy explained ways to start using technology in the classroom if you are new to it. I love her idea of starting from what you are most interested in. An example she gave was if you are interested in videos you could start by signing up for a YouTube account. When I become an educator I would love to start by using Blogging in my classroom. Blogging is so beneficial to the students in so many ways. It can be integrated into every subject.

In the last Skype video with Cassidy, she answered questions from Dr. Strange's students. One response that stuck out to me was about using technology with your students if you are an Physical Education major. She gave some great ideas that I had not thought about. She recomended using a blog to tell students if practice is changed or use a cell phone to text each of them. I have to say that each video I watched about using technology in the classroom makes me more excited about becoming a teacher. Technology is advancing more everyday and allowing so many opportunities for the students. I learned a lot from each of Mrs. Cassidy's videos for my future classroom.

Project #14

Project #14 Lesson Plan
I did my lesson plan on plants for this project. This lesson plan addresses the Alabama State Standards for 3rd grade Science and Writing. The students will be learning about plants and will be able to identify the different parts of a plant. They will be using the computer of iPad to research about their favorite flowering plant. The students will have to write a paragraph about the plant of their choice and give a brief summary of the plant to the class. The students will also grow their own plant and will learn what a plant needs to survive and how to take care of it. This lesson will be covered for 30 minutes a day for a week.

Blog Post #8

Find some 21st Century Learning and Communicating Tools? Tell us about them. Tell us where we can find them. Give a thorough review of at least one of them.

The first learning and communicating tool I discovered was LitPick. LitPick is a website that provides electronic books for students. One thing I loved about LitPick was that it is free. The teacher can contact the website and set up accounts for all of the students. On this website the students can not only read the books but they can also be a book critic and post reviews anonymously that can be read by others. One thing that I found very useful about LitPick was that it has a list on the homepage that will show the students the top books and new releases. LitPick is a website that the students can use at home to do their AR reading so they don't have to carry home their books. I think this a great website that will be very useful for my classroom once I become an educator.

After researching many learning and communicating tools, the one I feel will be very useful for me as an educator is QuadBlogging. QuadBlogging is a website that allows teachers to connect their students with three other schools so the students can blog with each other. The teacher can connect their students with schools in the same area or with schools around the world. I think this website is great for elementary teachers because it allows the students to connect with students all over the world from different cultures. One thing that I like about QuadBlogging is that each cycle lasts four weeks. After four weeks the students switch and blog with three other completely different schools. I like this because the students are constantly connecting and learning from different students.

I had no idea there were so many learning and communicating tools that I could one day use as an educator. I found multiple tools from ala.org while researching but these two stuck out to me the most. They are both great tools to use in the lower grade levels. I will defiantly take advantage of all the tools I found today to use in my classroom to make learning exciting and fun through technology.

C4T #2

EDpuzzle: Like Video in the Classroom 2.0
My teacher that I was assigned to this week was Kelly Tenkely. I explained to Tenkely how I learned a lot from reading her Blog because I have never heard of EDpuzzle. I think that EDpuzzle is neat because it will show you when and if the students watched the video they were assigned. Edpuzzle also will show you your student's progress by the embedded questions they are asked from the videos. I also explained to Tenkely how using EDpuzzle as a guided reading center would be a great idea for me as a future educator. I learned a lot from reading this blog about EDpuzzle.

The next blog that Kelly Tenkely wrote was about Stoodle. I have also never heard of Stoodle until reading Tenkely's blog. Stoodle is an instant online classroom that is free. I like how Stoodle can be used when reviewing or tutoring in the classroom. I also like how students can use Stoodle to connect with other piers and also allows the students to connect with other classes. I explained to Tenkely how I learned a lot from her blog post and would love to use Stoodle in my future classroom. I love how Stoodle will walk the students through their projects and also the parents. I explained to Tenkely how I am excited to use Stoodle when I become a future educator.

Project #9

Project #13

Lesson Plan #1 Created by San Francisco Group for Project #13

For this project, we created a PBL lesson plan on the Solar System. This lesson plan addresses the Alabama State Standards for second grade Science, Technology Education, Visual Arts, and Dance. The students will be learning about Earth and Space. They will be able to identify the basic components of our solar system including the sun, planets, and the Earth's moon. The students will develop an improvisational movement activity to understand how the planets orbit around the sun. They will also create a 3D model of their assigned planet with their group. This lesson will be covered for two hours a day for a week.

Blog Post #7

I loved watching the video for this blog post, Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, it was very inspiring. Randy Pausch found out that he had cancer and was told he only had three to six months to live. He died at the young age of 47, only a couple months after giving "The Last Lecture". On the video he showed a picture of his x-ray and he had more than ten tumors at the time he gave "The Last Lecture". When watching this lecture you would never know that Randy only had a few more months to live. He was happy and excited to share about his childhood dreams and accomplishments. Randy stated that one of the most important things for children is to not lose sight in the permission to dream. This is so true, students need to try to achieve their dreams and also enable the dreams of others.

Randy Pausch talked about his childhood dreams during the lecture. I loved how he described his dream of playing in the NFL. He said that he received more from this dream without even accomplishing it. I like how he explained how his coach showed up for the first day of football practice without a football. He explained how it was all about the fundamentals or otherwise the fancy stuff isn't going to work. This is something that is true all throughout life and important for us to learn as educators. I also like how Randy Pausch explained being critiqued and how it was a lesson that has stuck with him his entire life. He said that it was a good thing when the coach was screaming at you during football practice telling you what you are doing wrong. If you are screwing up and no one says anything to you anymore that means they have gave up on you. This is something that I need to remind myself as an educator. When critiquing a student we are showing them that we love and care about them and only want what is best for them.

I love how Randy described how he learned that sometimes you run into a brick wall. Brick walls are in our way as dreamers so we can work harder to prove how bad we really want something. Everyone hits brick walls a couple of times throughout their lives, I know I have hit a couple already. The brick walls are there to make us stronger and to get us to work harder for what we really want. As I am beginning my carer as an educator I am sure that I will hit multiple brick walls along the way. I believe these brick walls are what will make me a stronger and better educator.

One thing that stuck with me when watching this video was what Randy said about presenting yourself. He explained how he went to his Dean at the time and explained to him about the once in a lifetime chance he had to do the Imagineering project with Disney. The Dean did not know if it was a good idea so he did not want to work out any agreements with Randy. So Randy went to the Dean of Sponsored Research and Randy asked the Dean if he thought it was a good idea. The dean responded by saying, "I don't know if it's a good idea but all I know is one of my star faculty members is in my office and he is really excited so tell me more." Both of the Deans said the same thing but presented their answers in completely different ways. This is very important for educators to learn about. You can present yourself in a good or bad way. You need to listen to your students and learn more about what they are saying before jumping to conclusion.

Randy taught me so much through his lecture. He is a true inspiration and I hope all educators have the opportunity to watch his lecture. The last thing I would like to point out that I loved about his lecture was how Randy responded to his students work. He was blown away by the assignment the students did in two weeks in his course called Building Virtual Worlds. He said that he would have given all the students A's for the class if he had given them a whole semester for this one assignment. He had no idea what to do next so he called his mentor for some guidance. His mentor told him to tell the students, "you all did pretty well but I know you can do better." This was something that I found very useful for myself as a future educator. He explained that you don't know where the bar should be for the students and you always encourage them to do more. He said his students just kept going and blowing his mind more and more. Randy taught me that a dream is never too big and that there will always be brick walls along the way but to never give up!