Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy's Class
Ms. Cassidy's approach to using technology in the classroom is exactly what EDM310 is all about. She basically pioneered the use of blogs and podcast and other forms of technology in her classroom. I personally liked when she was asked how often does she let her class blog because even though we have been talking about and learning how to incorporate blogging into classrooms there hasn't been much done on how often or how much blogging is being done on a weekly or daily basis. The technologies I would incorporate into my classroom would be blogging and making a YouTube. I will use blogging as more of a bulletin board rather then for my kids that way, since I want to be a PE teacher and coach, I can post about upcoming events in the gym and about games and schedules for the sports at the school. I will allow my students to make how-to videos on sports that are not so common and post them to YouTube for the world to see.

Blog Post #10

Adventures in Pencil Integration

In my opinion this cartoon is saying that even though pencil and paper are cheaper using technology is more green. This applies to teaching because the idea of using just books and pencil and paper to teach is obsolete. We need to use technology in the classroom and although the excuse that books and pencil and paper are cheaper may seem good but in fact in the long run it is greener to use computers because you can use them for so many different things.

Mr. John Spencer 
The post Why Were Your Kids Playing Games? is about a principal that is skeptic about new styles of teaching, sitting down and talking to a teacher that is using a game to teach his students. The principle doesn't want the teacher using games because apparently the principal had gotten complaints from a parent whose child's teacher was playing games instead of teaching and the student wasn't learning. The teacher was trying to get the principal to see that he wasn't just playing games to waste time but that the games actually teaching method that was getting the students to learn while making it fun. The whole point of the post is to say that while using worksheets and other old fashions tools to teach ok. but that there are different more exciting ways to get students to learn.
The other post I read, Remember Pencil Quests? , was about how Mr. Spencer reflecting back to when he was is in school and how one day his teacher told them they were doing a pencil quest. Looking back now the idea of a pencil quest seems like a pretty simplistic idea but as Mr. Spencer stated it was a pioneer of doing something different. By that he means doing something other then book reports and worksheets. He was reflecting while also wondering that while he is doing something innovative with blog post and pen pals, what will be the kids of this generations's "pencil quest". In other words what will be the things that these kids look back on and say "I can't believe we did those." 

Scott Leod 
In this I would have to agree that Mr. Leod. He gives reasons why some might would say that kids don't need technology in the classroom while at the same time making fun of the reasons given. Dr. Scott Leod is a professor at the University of Kentucky and has lead many leadership workshops while also winning numerous national awards for his innovations in technology workshops. 

Blog Post #9

Mr. McClung - Volume 4
Mr. McClung's post is a good way to evaluate yourself. It sounds like he has a very good idea of how he wants to his classroom to go and how he wants to teach. I think his comments about not focusing on what his peer think about him and his teaching ways is very good because as he said it should be about the students and not what someone's peers think. If you want to read his blog post click on Mr. McClung - Volume 4

Blog Post #8

Dr. Richard Miller
Dr. Miller was discussing how to make writing more creative and how technology will make story telling and finding information different from how our generation did it. I think this technology will help kids be more creative but I do also think it can be over used.

Carly Pugh
I can relate to Carly talking about being lazy because I am a lazy person myself. I also can relate to how she got excited about being able to write what she wanted because I feel the same way when I get freedom to write how I want to. I do think her thoughts were similar to Dr. Miller's.

Clipper Series & EDM for Dummies
The Clipper Series is about a girl in EDM that don't like how Dr. Strange teaches. Then she decided to leave school to create her own school which was horrible, and after that failed she got a job as a teacher and got fired from that because she was never there. Her jobs after that didn't work out either so finally she just went back to school and got her masters.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
I don't think they were down grading the way school is now they where saying that we gone have to adapt to how things are changing.

C4T #2

Week 1
The first blog I read for C4T #2 was about free speech and the freedom of information and how the government was basically torturing people who were "whisleblowers" in the Army. A "whistleblower" is someone who is willing to expose the truth about improper practices or illegal actives that are being done by an organization or corporation (in this case the United States Army). Basically the blog talked about how when the soldier exposed the army that instead of the government doing something to better the process of the Army, they took actions against the soldier. My comment was that I agreed that this was unfair that something should definitely be done about it.

Week 2
The second blog I read was about how the education administration already in place at certain schools are putting children having better educations for the feelings of older teachers that do not want to change how they teach. In my comment I agreed with him because I do not think that compromising a better education is alright simply because an older teacher has taught a certain way for a certain amount of years.  

C4K

1st
My first post was about a kid doing a post on Tom Walker. He described him in great detail and made a very good blog post. In the comment I left him I told him he made a very good post and a little bit about who I was. I think it is cool that this kid is from Baldwin County and is blogging in high school. That is definitely an experience I didn't have.

2nd
My second post was to a kid who I believe is from Canada after looking at the rest of the kids' blogs in his class. After I look around his whole class's blog site and came to the conclusion that they were from Canada I now understand why his post was about Chris Neal being his favorite hockey player. Me being form the south, I don't not follow hockey much and am not a big fan of the sport but when i commented i asked him questions about Chris Neal and said he had a good post.

3rd
My thired post was from a 5 year old kid from New Zealand. He did a post about three different lights and he had a picture to go along with it. In the comment I left I complimented him on the picture and asked him which one was his favorite.

4th
My last post is from another Baldwin County student but this post was a different post. It didn't have any pictures or anything like that it was just simply talking about why people commit suicide(or at least I think that is what it was about). I didn't expect that type of topic from a 10th grader so it kinda caught me off guard and I was a little lost on how to comment. My comment was just saying that his topic was very sensitive and that he handled it well in his blog.

Podcast Project

Part 1


Part 2

PLN Progress Report

I am still trying to totally understand the whole PLN thing. I mean I get that it is group of people and tools that you can use to help you be a better teacher and share ideas with I just don't understand how to organize it all together. I think the whole concept is like having a little black book for teaching sort of but I will figure it all out.

Project #10

Finding the Right Tool
For this assignment the tool I chose to use is a website set up by the government called My Plate or Choose My Plate. This tool is way for anyone who wants to eat right keep up with their calorie intake, which directly correlates to someones health and weight. All you have to do is go on the website, create a free account, and be totally honest. Then the website will create a personal calorie plan for you whether you want to gain, lose, or maintain the weight you are at. It also tells you what food groups you need to get the calories from. Since I want to teach Physical Education this would be a great tool for me because I could tell my students get a profile and try to go by the recommendations of the website. This will not only help them be more physically fit but it will also teach them good eating habits at a young age that will help them live healthier lives. To create a plan yourself just follow the instructions below.

Instructions
1)Click on the link in the post or go to www.choosemyplate.gov
2)Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the SuperTracker link
3)Create a profile (remember to be totally honest)
4)Start eating healthier!!

Blog Post #6

The Networked Student
The video, The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler, helps me understand this class better. I know understand why Dr. Strange teaches the way he does. I kinda understood why he did before but now this just solidifies my thinking. He teaches in a way that he is like the bumper rails on a bowling lane.
Just like in the video Dr. Strange gives up different assignments to get us to use different skills that we will actually use in teaching. He also getting us familiarized with tools that we will have to use in the classroom to be the best teacher we can be. Skills and tools such as using blogger website as well as using Google for things other than just searching the web. Using these tools now will he us as teachers be ready for the new technology that will eventually find its way into the classroom as a requirement and not just an option.
As for the question "why does he need a teacher?". The answer is because as he was learning about whatever topic he was doing he still needed someone to guide him in the right direction. Again, its like having the bumpers up when you are trying to teach someone how to bowl. You are no gone simply say roll the ball down the lane and hit the pins, you should teach them proper technique and put the bumpers up until they get to a point where they can do it on there own. The same is to be said for the 21st century student, he has to be helped along while still learning how to do it for himself until he understands how to do it completely by himself.

Project #7

Blog Post #5

If I Built A School
After reading Krissy Venosdale's blog post, If I Built A School, and seeing how she would build her school I think it's safe to say no idea about building a school would be over the top. Some of her ideas were pretty out there but, like she said in her post dreams don't always have to make sense that's why they are dreams. If I could design my own school I would use some of the ideas in Mrs. Venosdale's blog such as having a the hallways be a big aquarium and have benches so the kids could sit and enjoy them. I would design each level of the school based on a different subject that way the whole side of the school would be totally devoted to that subject. The overall feeling of the school would be somewhere fun and relaxing that students would want to go to. A place where students would forget they were even learning but where excited that they are learning.


Eric whitacre's Virtual Choir Video
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir video is an amazing video. It really does show how much of an amazing tool the internet can be.

Teaching In The 21st Century
According to Dr. Strange's version of Teaching In The 21st Century by Kevin Roberts teaching is more than just giving information to students. Like he said in the video they can find information anywhere on anything at any given time. We as educators have to do more than just give information we have to present it in a way that when our students understand it they have used skills that they will use everyday to solve problems that may come about.

Flipping Classroom
After watching the flipping classroom videos I think they are amazing idea. I know when I was in school I was always an honor student so before there were honors classes for students I was one of the students that didn't have to try very hard to do good because it wasn't that challenging. With flipping the classroom it makes the classroom more evenly challenging for all students as well as doing more application the just standing in front of the room and taking most of the time. I don't think I could use this in my classroom because my classroom will be a gymnasium. However, if I was in a conventional classroom I would use these ideas because I think will help with the learning process.

C4T #1

C4T#1, comment#1
My teacher for this post assignment was Mr. Eric Langhorst and his blog Speaking Of History....... was about an experience he had when he went to a workshop at the Google Headquarters. The experience seem like something that was definitely a memory he will not forget. The way he talked about how it was sort of a campus rather than a job would make anyone wanna reconsider where they worked at. The comment I made simply said it was a joy reading his blog and that it seemed like he had a great time learning about the tools of Google.

C4T#1, comment#2
The second post I read by Mr. Langhorst was about as experience he had on twitter. One night he decided to watch the rover landing and also follow tweets being sent by people about the landing. He was basically saying that he felt as if he was in a public setting, like a bar, meaning by following on twitter it made him watching that landing a totally different experience. The comment I left was that I agree with him 100% that people don't see the quality tool that twitter is. They only see twitter as a waste of time and not a useful asset.

Blog Post #4

Langwitches Blog
The first article from Langwitches blog that I read was the one about 1st graders creating their own read along book. I thought this was amazing because, personally I am not very fond of reading and I know I wasn't when I was in the 1st grade. If there was a way I could have listened to books instead of reading them I usually would have done it. However, listen to someone random read a book was still kind of boring to me, but if there had been a way where I could have heard my own voice reading the book then I def would have been more into the book and probably would have comprehended the book better. The next one I read was about Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting which is about how podcasting can teach new words and even languages. I think it would have been cool to sit in and watch as the students went through the whole process of making a script, recording their voices, and then putting their voices into the right order so that it told the story they were talking about. I have to say that I am a little jealous that I grew up in such a technology illiterate school and that will definitely be motivation for me to use technology in my classroom so that my students will not miss out on experiences like the ones we are reading about. The last link I looked at was The Benefits Of Podcasting in the Classroom by Joe Dale. This was cool in that it not only gave tips on how to incorporate podcasting in classes but also incite on the perspective of each level of the school that was effected by it. The only thing I wish I could have saw was what parents thought about the podcast.

Project # 5 Presentation

Special Blog Post #1

Comparison
Let me start off by saying I feel like one of the students that this special blog post was meant for, but anyways after using WolframAlpha and comparing the populations between India, China and the United States I realized what Dr. Strange was talking about. I feel like he was giving the facts not as a straight comparison of one countries population to another's, but to say that the United Stated better be ready for smart, technology literate, english speaking students that will be flowing in from those competing with students now and in the future for jobs.

WolframAlpha
After using WolframAlpha I can defiantly see the uses for my students using it in the classroom. When I did my two extra comparison searches I choose to use two things I do a lot which is eat and play video games, so I compare McDonald's to Burger King and Xbox 360 to Playstation 3. When I did my first comparison I and typed in McDonald's and Burger King the search came back with information that was actually useful about each restaurant franchise, such as stock prices and annual earnings. Also when I did my second search comparing the Xbox 360 console to the Playstation 3 console not only did I find the prices but I found average price range as well as shipping weight and features. I think using WolframAlpha can be useful in the classroom because it is a more specifics search then if a student was to just u Google or Ask.com. The only draw back I can see from using WolframAlpha is whether or not it is a reliable source. It is already more reliable then Wikipedia because not anyone can just put information on there but I could not find anything about it being a creditable site. Still, it would be a helpful tool for students who are doing research papers and projects just a starting point as well as for students who are just curious about something and wants to research it without having to wonder if it's actually fact or just an opinion from someone.


Gary Hayes Social Media Count

It's astounding to think of how much is going on in just 1 day or even 10 min for that matter. It's easy to look at this counter and just think it's just numbers on a screen but it's more than that. To put it in perspective in the amount it takes to read this blog (about 1 to 2 mins) there is over 2 million YouTube videos being watched. That's crazy if u consider that a lot of videos on YouTube are at least 2 min long a piece.

As far as the meaning of these changes going on they effect the teaching profession a lot. Most social media sites target the youth to use their sites and click on their ads and what not. Which means they are going to spend a lot of their free time on these sites and learning things from these sites. We, as the people who will be responsible for teach these youth, have to make it our responsibility to teach children by any means necessary which means we was have to use these social media sites to get through to the children we will be teaching.

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Blog Post #3

Peer Editing
The video and slideshow from this past week was very informative. Although I have learned about peer review throughout high school and college, this video was more of a refreshment for me. What I learn from the video and slideshow was to always be positive when critiquing others as well as considerate towards your peer when you are critiquing them. Also you should be specific so your peer knows what you're talking about. It's important to stick to grammatical errors that the writer did and the clarity of the writing.
For C4C, the classmate I was assigned was very interesting. She had a very cool story to tell. She didn't have any errors in her grammer or spelling as far as I could tell. I chose to comment pubicly because I feel if someone chooses to post publicly then they are open for public critics.

Assistive Technologies
After watching those videos I am amazed how far technology has came. I learned so much about things I had no idea about. I never figured how difficult it must be to learn math when someone is blind. Sometimes I think we as Americans take technology for granted but this video has shown me that it can really be used to help people to learn.
If I had a blind child as a student I would do my best to make them feel as normal as possible. I would try not to show them any favortism while at the same time give them any extra help or attention they may need. At the rate technology is growing people with disabilities are becoming more able to get over their disabilities with the help of these growing technologies.

Vicki Davis
Vicki Davis' video is showing how it is possible to used technology in the classroom. She shows her students how to blog and connect with other people in the world. She believe that students nowadays can't learn without technology which is why she teaches her students how to look up words and learn how to work new software.

Blog Post #2

Did you know?
In the video "Did you know?" revised by Dr. Strange he points out a lot of eye opening facts on technology. It is astonishing to think that there are more high school honor students in India then there are total high school students in the U.S. Since I am wanting to become an educator it will not only be my job but my duty to stay up to date with the latest versions of technology and to make sure that my student are computer and technology literate. By doing this I will give them the best opportunity to succeed when they join the work force and compete for jobs to provide for their family.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
"Mr. Winkle Wakes" by Mathew Needlemen is a video about a man who wakes up from sleeping for 100 years. As he walks around this new world he first goes to a skyscraper and notices how the business world has changed because of all the technology. After that he goes to a hospital and notices how technology has changed those too. Lastly, he goes to a school and notices not much has changed in the last 100 years.
This video is saying that technology is changing the world around us everyday. Whether it be in the work force or in medicine technology has changed it drastically and will continue to change them. However, schools have not changed much even though technology is growing rapidly. If school don't keep up with growing technology then kids of this generation and generations to come will be at a disadvantage when they enter the work force.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
The Importance of Creativity is lecture by Sir Ken Robinson talks about the importance of making sure that kids keep their creativity. As teachers it is our job to make sure this happens. Creativity is the one thing that is often over looked but is very important for kids to have.

Pinterest
I personally would not use these ideas in my classroom. I don't feel like there is much educational value or that I can find much educational value from using Pintrest.
I chose to follow Debbie Fucoloro because i feel like pretty much anyone could learn something from her board. It was set up for beginners but even people who aren't beginners could pick up tips from her board. Also she has a wide variety of different pins on her board which reaches a lot of different audiences.

Project #2 - Wordle

Blog Assignment #1

About Me

My name is Julian Maleki Harris but everybody calles me Maleki. I am a 20 year old sophomore here at South. I do play football here but I like to think of myself to be than a football player. I graduated from Cordova High School which is about 20 mins outside of birmingham. However I grew up in north Alabama in a city called Leighton, about 10mins from Florence, AL. I have two sisters one is 22 and the other one is 9.
My family was a big reason why I came to South. Since USA is in state for me that is a bonus for me since I am not too far for my family to come watch my football games. Also I like only being 45mins away from the beach. My hobbies are playing sports and hanging out.

I have learned throughout my educational career that hands on teaching reaches more students in my opinion so that will probably be my most used method way of teach. I also think that independent learning skills is important for a student have to not only better themselves in an educational setting but also in when they get ready to enter the work force. However, some students do learn different from others therefore whatever method i need to use to most effectively get my students to learn.

I plan on being a Physical Education teacher so my tools will be P.E equipment. I will also use tools such as a whistle and occasionally instructional videos. My students will use a different variety of equipment such as balls and cones. They will also use tools such as tennis shoes and gym shorts.

I plan on teaching students between the 6th and the 12th grade. I want to teach these specific age groups because I feel like these years are very important in a child's life. In my opinion this is where alot of kids will learn a work ethic and I want to help them learn a good one. This is where I would use more of an independent learning method when i teach.

I also wouldnt mind teaching elementary kids. I think teaching kids how to participate in sports the right way will help them in everything they do. Also when working with young kids I have experienced that i can reach them better working hands on. which is why I would us a more hands on method when teach elementry students.

Video

I learned that planning is always a good idea No matter what. I always hate having to change plans but he made very good point about atleast you have a plan. Also when he talked about doin things right made sense to me as well. A lot of what he was saying involved good time management as well as living a good life.

practice post

practice post