Blog Assignment #10

An Open Letter to Educators
I thought that this post by Morgan Bayda was a very good way of saying that our education system needs to change. I really enjoyed Dan Browns video. He made some great points as to why the current way of teaching and learning at Universities has to change. We now have access to all these facts that we are told to memorize just by getting on the internet so we should be spending that time collaborating and thinking and learning. I definitely agree with Morgan about trying to stay awake sitting in a class listening to someone read off a power point. When she said how her computer class taught her ways of learning and collaborating that changed her way of doing research, I thought about how that sounds like EDM 310 for me. It is so different than most college courses and I think that all Professors need to start moving towards this type of teaching and learning.



Two Questions That Can Change Your Life
This video was really inspiring. I think that everyone should see this video before they graduate high school. It really makes you remember that everyone has a purpose and that we really can make a difference in this world. I love the idea of asking yourself "Was I better today than yesterday?" Because everyday should be an improvement of our lives.
My Sentence: I plan to create hope and inspiration for children who come from unstable home lives and to make sure all children know that they are capable of anything and that someone believes in them, by using education as my guiding light.

Smart Board Video

Skype Interview

Blog Assignment #9

What I've Learned This Year
In this blog post Mr. McClung describes his first year as a teacher. He shares some of the problems he ran into as well as what he learned through the year. He makes some very good points about what it means to be a teacher and about how to avoid common mistakes and make it better for your students. He explains that through college we are so focused on being assessed by superiors that when we begin teaching sometimes we forget that the audience is the important part. Another good lesson he shared is to be flexible. He says that a lesson will never turn out exactly how you plan it and you should make the best of it instead of getting upset. He also says that communication and being reasonable with expectations of students are very important.
 My favorite quote from this post is, "Our job as teachers is to simply pick them [students] up after they fail, dust them off, and encourage them to try again." This is such a good way to look at teaching because it isn't about us but about the students and making sure they get a good education. The parts that most relate to this class are "Don't be afraid of technology," and "Never stop learning."  I thought this blog had great advice for future teachers and even teachers who are having trouble with some of these aspects of teaching. It was helpful of him to share his experience with us and he gave great advice. I am very happy that i got to read his blog and I will definitely use his advice. 

Short Movie

Short Movie

Blog Assignment #8

This is How We Dream
These two videos showed how different writing is now than in the past. It also shows how much different it may become in the future. Dr. Miller explains that the times of libraries and paper books that are printed and borrowed or bought is pretty much over. He shows how he wrote an entire speech without using anything but his resources on the computer, and how that same document is shared today.
I do not think that at this moment I am fully prepared to write with multimedia. There is constantly some new technique to learn when using it to do projects. But I do think that with every assignment I receive in my classes I get a little closer to being perfectly comfortable with using multimedia to produce a document. We really have no choice but to become prepared to write using multimedia, especially in the education field. It is definitely more convenient to be able to produce as well as access information all in one spot.
I think that my future students will be able to do this, maybe even better than me. This is because their generation is already being exposed to this sort of writing at a young age. By the time I am teaching I think that it is safe to say that multimedia writing will be the common way of producing a document. Its possible that the students may not even remember the days of going into a library and using paper books to do research.

Chipper and EDM For Dummies
If I were to create a video like  this I think it would be a good idea to make one about the benefits of going to college. Another idea would be to make a video about a technology illiterate person trying to keep up with our society. The chipper video was about a girl who was not devoted to school and did not think she should have to put any effort into anything she did. I thought the video was funny as well as a good example of why this class is important. The EDM for dummies video was showing EDM 310 students who were panicing about the class. Then they have the book EDM for dummies which contains tutorials for most of the tools we use in EDM. I think this book would have been very helpful!

Smartboards
The first two posts were against smartboards and they argued that they were just an expensive version of the same thing we already have. Both posts said that the schools should be focused on improving the style of learning for the students not a more technology savvy way of doing the same old thing. The third post was for teachers who were in favor of the smartboard and want to get  them in more classrooms. This post was representing smartboards as a good tool for teachers. I can see where the first two posts are coming from and also why the third post says smartboards are a good thing. Here is the link to the third post.
http://smartboardrevolution.ning.com/profiles/blogs/why-smart-boards-wallwisher

Additional Assignment #2

The Child-Driven Education

The children in this video are proof that if learners are motivated, then they can in fact teach themselves. I think that kids are just as capable if not more than adults to teach themselves. I do think however that the kids need motivation as well as support from each other to learn on their own. Its like Sugata Mitra said, if a child sits in front of a computer by himself, he wont learn as much as if there is a group discussing the topic. It is clear from this video that internet access is very important when the kids are teaching themselves. It gives them a place to search for information and helps  them use their creativity to the fullest. I don't think that a child or adult could teach themselves if there is no desire to learn.

  Problems and questions play an important role in self learning because it gives the learner something to search for or to solve. I am motivated to learn be being challenged and also be being told that I can or should know something. I think people are motivated by the idea that they have the power to better themselves or their life. I think that most everyone who is motivated can teach themselves to a certain extent, but of course there will be some people who can go further than others.

 I feel like I do teach myself sometimes, especially in online classes or if I miss a certain section of one of my classes. In my learning teachers play the role of motivating me as well as giving base knowledge if it is a subject I am not familiar with. The most important question that I take from this video is that if this much success in self teaching is being found in these conditions, how long is it going to be before teachers are no longer a significant part of learning? We as aspiring teachers should be considering how we can fit into this cycle of learning and still be an important contribution to education.

My PLN Summary

I use symbaloo to create and keep up my PLN. I am still working on developing it. I use youtube for viewing video assignments as well as looking for ideas. I use gmail and facebook for contacting and communicating with classmates and group members. Blogger has helped me to get lots of great advice from other teachers and educators. I am still growing my PLN and hope to get lots more!

C4T #2 Summary

Post #1

This post was called "6 Ways Teachers Can Improve Education This Year". Matthew Needleman gave great suggestions on how to make the year more successful for students and yourself. Some examples of these are say hello at the door, eat in the teacher cafeteria, and teach art as a disipline. In my comment I told him that i felt that these were great suggestions for all teachers and I would definitely use these in my teaching career. I also told him that I like his idea of doing things that are more beneficial for the students.

Post #2

This post is called "The Right Way to Show Movies in Class". In this video Mr. Needleman explains things you can do to to make showing a movie much more productive for the students learning. He also explains things that you can require from the students to keep them focused and interested. In my comment I told him I especially like this post because I can remember in school when teachers would put a movie in and people would go to sleep or do other things. These were good tips that show that showing a movie doesnt have to just be a "friday fun activity".

Timetoast Timeline

Blog Assignment #7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
This video was inspiring and educational about life and success. Randy Pausch is a very positive and inspiring person and its easy to tell that he really cares about making people happy and helping them to become successful. He did many amazing things and changed many lives by his actions as well as his personality. I really enjoyed his lecture because I thought it was so great and inspiring that some one in his condition was standing up there talking about having fun and how you can achieve your childhood dreams. His story and all the things he achieved were very inspiring.
I think that Randy gave very good advice for aspiring teachers. One of the techniques he explained is to make it fun. He used humor all through his lecture, whether it was to make a point or to keep it interesting. This shows that he feels it is important not to treat things like the cant be enjoyable. He was very good at explaining things to where they were relate able to everyone.
Another technique that Randy used was listening to others and their criticism. He gave many examples of how he did this. One example was his coach in football when he was a kid telling him that when people stop criticizing you that means they stop caring. Another example was Andy Van Dam and how he helped him. He also explained how he had his class use peer evaluation to tell people how easy they were to work with.
Another important piece of advice Randy gave about reaching your dreams is not giving up the first time and also believing in karma. He gave examples of his own life and how he didnt get into the schools he wanted the first time. His successes are very inspiring for anyone who feels discouraged. One quote he used that I really liked was, "Brick walls let us show our dedication." He also stressed the idea that if you live your life a certain way then your dreams will sometimes come to you. He also said that if you focus on other people first then the favor would be returned. I think that his life story is very inspirational and I am so glad he chose to do this lecture and that I was able to see it.

C4K Summary #1

My student was Kyle from Noel Elementary. I commented on his about me and his learning manifesto. His about me was about his family and his hobbies. He also included that he has a learning disability and that his favorite subject is math. I responded by telling him that my favorite is also math and encouraged him to keep trying hard.
His learning manifesto was about how he was going to try to be more focused and how he was going to try to do his work on time. I told him that his goals are very similar to mine and that he would do great.

Blog Assignment #6

Networked Student
In this video Wendy Drexler shows what a PLN is and how a student uses it. This was very helpful for to to understand what a pln is and how to develop and use my own. I thought that the narration and paper visuals were very creative and interesting. I liked the fact that she listed so many examples of helpful things on the internet that students have access to.
This video was very well thought out and is a good tool for anyone who needs to know how technology can help their learning. I think that the teacher she shows in her video is in our near future, and may be us. I like the idea of going from a book and a lecture to making connections that will better benefit your education. I think that we can learn more from each other than  from a book.
I hope she does try this type of learning with her middle school students. They will benefit greatly from having a PLN that early in their education. Maybe she will make another video about how it went. Her video was very informative and I will probably reference back when creating my PLN. I am glad I got to see this video.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
This video was a 7th grade girl showing her PLE and explaining why it was helpful and how she used it. I think it is great that she has so many resources to choose from when doin work. I also like the fact that her science class is paperless. I think that more classes need to be paperless and more middle school students should be developing PLEs. Her PLE is much like my PLN in the way that I use my sources to find out information that I am interested in as well as to do the work I have to do.

The Machine is Changing Us
This speech by Dr. Wesch was entertaining and eye opening about the cultures of the past and the options we have for the culture of our future. This can relate to my personal life because I agree that media has made us unattached and careless. I also found his history of whatever very interesting. When he was talking about his college class and the lack of interaction and public debate I can relate because in larger classed I sometimes feel detached and uninterested. As far as my future as a teacher I think the end of his speech is very important because he gives a new definition of whatever that says, "I care. Lets do whatever it takes... by whatever means necessary." It will be our responsibility as future educators to carry this definition and encourage the next generation to keep it true.