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.