Final Blog Post

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C4K Summary November

The first C4K blog to comment on was the Noel Elementary class blog. For some reason this blog says it is currently unavailable. The second blog to comment on was the shooting stars blog. The post I commented on was called Oregon Trail. The students made videos where they would list what they thought would be needed  for the journey.  I responded by saying their ideas were well thought out and they spoke clearly in their videos. The third blog was Mrs. Conlin's Flat Stanely Project. This class did a project where they make a paper person and send it out into the word and record its  adventures. The post I commented on was Flat Sophie in Guangzhou. Flat Sophie traveled to the third largest city in China and saw the Asian games. I responded by pointing out how fun and informative this project seems. Also that it will be interesting to see all the places flat Sophie will go. The last C4K blog to comment on was Mrs. Haugen's Sixth Grade. I commented on Jessica's blog post called The Red Pyramid setting. She described the setting of a book she was reading. I responded to her by telling her how well she described the setting of the book as well as what the main plot is. I told her that the book sounded like a good read and that it was a great post. I think commenting on kids' blogs was a great learning experience and good practice for the future.

Final Progress on My PLN

This is a screen shot of my symbaloo. I have found this to be essential in creating my PLN. Here I can create tiles of all the web pages that I frequently use. I have links to different blogs of teachers we have had to comment on; my favorite being "At The Teacher's Desk". I also have links to all my email accounts. I have the link for the university homepage and the EDM 310 blog because I use these the most. I have the link for ALEX because I know it will be very useful in my college learning as well as my career. I have the link to glogster, youtube, and apple on my symbaloo, also my twitter and facebook account where I can see the teachers I am following and keep in touch with classmates. My PLN has changed the way I learn as well as the way I view the internet as an educational tool. I will be continuing to develop my PLN and use it to become a more technologically literate teacher someday.

C4T #4 Summary

My C4T #4 was Henrietta Miller and her blog was called classroom chronicles. She teaches 5th grade and lives in Sydney Australia. The two blog posts I commented on were "Thinking in the Classroom" and "A Year of Firsts". In the first post she brings up the topic of allowing mobile phones in the classroom. She asked her students and their parents opinions on whether or not this would benefit the students. Her responses were split pretty evenly. Some of the points that were raised were the idea that since not all students can afford the best devices, how could you make sure they all had equal access to use these devices for learning? Also some of the students worried that it might be too much of a distraction. But there were positives to it too like how the devices could be used to take pictures, used as stopwatches, and calculators. I responded by saying that this is a tough question to solve and if there was a way to make sure all students had equal devices and monitor their use so it doesn't become a distraction, then this might be a good idea for classrooms.
In the second blog post, "A Year of Firsts" Ms. Miller discusses all that she has done this year pertaining to technology and teaching. I think it is interesting that she started blogging in January and is now speaking at conferences and teaching her fellow staff members how to take advantage of technology when teaching. She explains how her class has has used skype and podcast among other things. This reminded me of EDM. I responded by saying that her post was inspiring to me since I am learning about these things and plan to use them in my classrooms. The fact that she had accomplished so much in one year is impressive.

Project 16

Additional Assignment #5

Just Teach Them to Solve for X
Mr. Spencer is really great at making his point using metaphorical and slightly sarcastic speaking. In this post he creates a conversation that seems to represent the way some people view teaching or learning. "Gertrude" is insisting that he shouldn't make the children understand and make sense of what they are doing. Mr. Spencer is arguing that there are metaphors all throughout life and students should be taught how to deal with them and think instead of just "copy processes".

Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils
This post was confusing the first time I read it. But then I realized that he was talking about how misunderstood 8th graders can be. He shows that some teachers would rather just write them off as rude instead of considering what they are going through. I think this is a great post and Mr. Spencer really understands his students.

He Just Likes The Class For the Pencils
I really like this post. In this one you can really tell that he means computers when he says pencils. He is making the point that the way you treat your students will in turn effect the way they behave. Also I think he is hinting that a classroom should be a place of respect and purpose not shame and meaningless busy work.

The Medium Shapes the Learning
In this post Mr. Spencer is talking about mediums. Changing the medium can be tricky. He seems to be saying that you must pay attention to what new things you bring into the classroom because you may get a different result then you intended. Also that things must be added to our way of teaching but we should be fully aware of their purpose.

Project 15