Last C4K Summary

For my last C4K I commented on Christopher and Tabatha's blog's. Christopher was older than most of the kids I comment for and his post was about Napoleon. I told him that I've always been interested in Napoleon, and that I thought his post was very well written.

Tabatha's post was a reflection on a book she had read. The book was about a girl who was starting high school. I told her I think all girls are a little afraid of starting their ninth grade year, and also that her post made me want to find this book and read it.

Last C4T Summary Post

For my last C4T I commented on Ms. Cassidy's blog. Ms. Cassidy's main objective seemed to be PBL (Project Based Learning). She wanted to incorporate projects into all areas of learning. In the first post I commented on she seemed to have trouble deciding how she would use PBL with social studies. She managed by letting only some students play with the class Nintendo DS while others had to sit and watch. There are only a couple of the Nintendo's so before other kids got too upset over not playing she took the games back and had the class sit down. She got them to brainstorm on what would be fair for all the students. They made up rules and came to a fair conclusion together. This was the project having them work together. I thought this was a very thoughtful way to incorporate social studies into PBL.
The second post I commented on was also about PBL. She called it "Construction Day." Ms. Cassidy had the students find random things in the classroom and create something with them. Their imaginations were the limit. This was my favorite project she did because you could see into each kid's imagination.

Blog Post #13

My TEDx Talk-Learning is Messy

This video by Brian Crosby was too cool. Mr. Crosby just showed what he does with his fourth grade students. They do many fun an insightful projects, and the hot air balloon in the video was by far the coolest. The camera they put on the balloon made it so much better. In the beginning of the video Mr. Crosby shows that most of the students in his class didn't know what state they lived in, what country, their address or phone number. Mr. Crosby used blogs and Skype and other things during this project that enabled the kids to learn so much more about the world they live in than they ever would have known. My personal favorite part of the video was where Mr. Crosby showed how he Skype's with a student who has leukemia, and he involves her in what the class is doing while they do it. She has to do her work the same as the other students even though she can't be there. That's amazing for her and for her classmates. I would recommend this video to any aspiring teacher.

A Vision of Students Today

This is a video about the average college student in today's society. We go to class and sit through lectures that most of us pay no attention to. We spend more time on our computers on social networks than we do actually learning in the classroom. I know I'm one of those students who have asked the question; what's the point? What's the point in sitting through this class and paying for it if it will not help me with my future or help me now?
I think the point to the video is, through technology students can engage and learn so much more than they can sitting and listening to a teacher lecture. We are always on the internet anyway; why not incorporate that into our learning. Considering how much free information there is on the internet for us it seems crazy not to take advantage of that. Basically education is behind our society. In order for us to keep up with our surroundings education needs to keep up as well.

Progress Report Final Project

Me and My group have chosen to do a skit about making it through EDM310 for future students. After all we have done in this class we thought this would be the best fit for us. All we have left to do is film and post it, which we plan to do this week.

Blog Post #12

1. If you are planning on going into Language Arts and Reading look over these classroom strategies, they may be an excellent source for you.
2. Tell me what you thought after reading over the strategies. Do you think they could be helpful? Would you use this in your classroom?
3. Also look around this site. There may be other techniques you find helpful.

After reading over these I think they would be helpful for reading. They break down print awareness, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing to where you would know what strategy to use in each area. I think something a lot of teachers struggle with is figuring out how to make sure kids are getting the information they need. These classroom strategies give a little insight into things that have worked for other teachers.

C4K Month of October

I posted on six different blogs for the month of October. The first one I posted was for Nikkity from Mr. Wirth's class. Her post was all about fall weather and what she loved about fall. I told her I also loved fall, and how cool was it that the leaves change colors? My next post was to an extremely busy 10th grader on wordpress.com. He was commenting on the election and all of his AP classes he takes. He really sounded more like her was in college rather than the 10th grade. I told him he inspired me to try harder for sure. He mentioned that the campaign ads were a waste of good money and I agreed with him there.

I also commented on Taylor's blog. Her post was an apology letter from Goldilocks to the three bears, which I thought was nice. I told her that we should all write apology letters from time to time. It was a neat way for kids to learn that apologizing is a good thing when you know you are wrong. Then, I commented on Hudson's post which was just a picture of an animal and he asked if we knew what it was. He said it wasn't a cheetah even though that is what it looked like. So I asked him was it maybe a jaguar.

The next post was about teachers being too focused on kids getting passing grades and high test scores. I agreed with that point, and I also mentioned how easy it was when I was in grade school to simply get information from other students without having to learn it yourself. My last comment was to Colton. Colton's post was about a book and why he liked the book. He said the book was about a person who has to find a way to survive, and how the person had to fight off a bear at one point. I told him his post made me want to go buy that book and read it.

C4T #3 Summary

For C4T #3 I commented on Julie Vincentsen's blog which is called One Principal's Musings. The first post I commented on was about ways to help struggling readers have a better learning experience with reading. I took interest in this considering I'm majoring in Secondary Language Arts. Audiobooks were suggested for struggling readers. I agreed with this method, and I will definitely keep this in mind for the future. Ms. Vincentsen also gave many options for websites to visit for audiobooks. I just told her how much I love reading and I believe kids are missing out if they are having trouble, and I thanked her for the list and her ideas.

The second post I commented on was about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and there was also a video included with the post. I read the post and watched the video. The post was basically celebrating his life and achievements, and also the achievements we have made as a country. The video was very inspiring to watch and I quite enjoyed the post altogether. In my comment I told her so and also thanked her for reminding us of how inspiring of a person Dr. King was. When you see people like that I think it inspires you to try harder every day.

Blog Post #11

First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class

Ms. Cassidy's first graders video helped prepare me for her Skype interview. It did a good job of showing me exactly what the kids do in the classroom. Then her Skype interview gave me a little more in depth view of it.

The thing that caught my interest the most was probably the wiki's. I like how the kids can get information from basically anywhere. They aren't limited to a text book or just searching. They actually get to talk to other people, maybe experts. If I used anything this would be the first thing I'd want to use. Another one I really enjoy is blogging, especially since I started doing C4K. I think this is an awesome way to grab the student's interest.

If I was to encounter any impediments it would probably be some of the things Ms. Cassidy mentioned for example administration or parents. To use technology in the classroom like Ms. Cassidy I'd need to make privacy for my students a priority. I could research other teachers who have used technology in the classroom and take notes from them on how best it's done. Then if administration approves everything move forward.

Technology in the classroom could have great benefits if it's used properly. In order to make it great there needs to be a lot of thought put into it. It isn't something that can be thrown together, but we are going to be teachers we shouldn't be throwing things together anyway. Students have an opportunity to learn from experts and interact with other students and teachers. Also, I think it would be so much more intriguing for the students to learn through technology.

Extra Post

A world where grades will be left behind

This is a piece from USA Today online about the potential future of education. Sebastian Thrun has created a free online learning program called Udacity. Udacity allows people to learn in fun ways from professors from around the world. The key word here I think is free, free education for people from real professors? That sounds pretty impressive, but what does this mean for me as a future educator? Will I even have a job? I think the idea is to incorporate the way Udacity is being used into schools. I as the teacher would guide the students through their learning experience.

The idea behind this is wonderful. Students are learning at their own pace, never getting behind, and only having passing grades. That's a teachers dream, but is this reasonable? Could this possibly happen in our lifetime? I think it could to an extent. Things like this do not happen overnight, but I think it's a definite possibility for the future of education.

Project #11 Short Movie

Blog Post # 10

Adventures in Pencil Integration: John T. Spencer

At first I have to say I didn't understand the cartoon. Then, after some research it was quite easy to understand. The Papermate is the norm; it's what the majority of people will go with. The Ticonderoga is a little more expensive and not many people will purchase it. However, the more educated person might purchase the Ticonderoga because it holds up longer and is not easily broken. If you follow the crowd you'll most likely purchase the Papermate, regardless if it isn't a quality purchase. The message I got from this was to think for yourself, and do not go with the norm. Maybe there are smarter choices you could be making if you weren't caught up with the crowd.

Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?

This was a very enjoyable post to read. The principal is angry with the teacher for "playing a game" during class time. However, the teacher sees it as a fun creative way to teach his kids rather than the same boring stuff over and over again. The part I really loved was this one, "If we want students to pass the rote memorization test, we need to focus on rote memorization skills." The principal goes on to ask him if he was sleeping during their meeting about this. The teacher tells him of course he was paying attention, but he is thinking to himself that he wasn't. I think this sums up how most teachers teach, by trying to get student to memorize when we should be learning.

Acceptable Use Committee

I found a third post on Mr. Spencer's blog that I enjoyed. The committee's goal is to make kids aware of "pencil predators." The predators send notes to kids to lure them in apparently. Then a teacher speaks up and says what if that goal isn't acceptable, and what if it's about being ethical instead? He says if that's the case we need an Acceptable Use policy for everything. His point being kids should be ethical critical thinkers. The leader of the group completely misses the point and says, "I think that's a brilliant idea. I'll bring that back to my supervisor. We should have Acceptable Use policies for all subjects."

This blog has a lot of neat posts that are funny and educational.

Dont teach your kids this stuff. Please?

This is a post by Scott Mcleod where it's pretty obvious he being sarcastic. What he pretty much says is do not teach your kids to grow and learn with technology. However, I will teach mine and they will have the upper hand down the road. I commented saying I liked the way he tried to convince people or not convince them to embrace technology. I learned that Mr. McLeod is an Associate Professor and his blog is called Dangerously Irrelevant. I've commented on his blog before and I've always enjoyed reading his posts.

Smart Board Project #14