C4K Summary for April

Shelby!!

The first three weeks of this month, we had to do the World Blog Challenge. I had a girl named Shelby. In her first blog post, she talked about it was picture day Friday. She also mentioned that she enjoyed that wouldn't have to do homework or take quizzes during the weekends. She said that the weekends are just for the kids. I told her that I love the weekends as well. I love to relax and I look forward to seeing new movie premieres on Friday nights.

For Shelby's second blog post, she talked about The Hunger Games. She said she really liked the movie and that it was sad and scary. I told her that I fell in love with The Hunger Games Series. I also said that I watched the movie before reading the books, and that's how I started getting into it. I encouraged her to read the books, because if she liked the movie, then she would love the books. 

Alexis!!
For the last week of the World Blog Challenge, Shelby did not have another post, so I commented on a girl named Alexis. She talked about bullying and how it affects kids. She said that humans do not bully, but monsters do. She also said that it is horrible for someone to make someone to feel bad in order to make themselves feel better. I told Alexis that I agree with her. I hate bullying and I hate that it is making kids dread going to school. I told her that it is great that she is bringing awareness about bullying and keep up the good work.


Mubashshir!!
Mubashshir was my last kid that I commented on. He made an animated video about himself. He said that he likes to read, listen to music and swim. I told him that I also like to read and listen to music. I listen to my music everyday. I also told him that I liked that he added his voice to the video.

C4K Post #4 for April

Mubashshir

For this week I had Mubashshir. He made an animation video with his voice as the audio. In his video, he said that he likes to swim, listen to music, and read. I told Mubashshir that his video was great. I also said that I love to read and listen to music. I listen to my music everyday and I am glad that he enjoys reading. I told him to keep up the good blogging.

C4K- World Blog Challenge Post #3

Alexis
Unfortunately, my kid Shelby did not create new post, so I commented on a girl named Alexis' post. Alexis talked about bullying. She said that she doesn't think it is right that people treat other people bad in order to make themselves feel better. She said that humans do not bully, but monster do. She said that bullying effects how people see themselves. I commented that I totally agree with her. I hate bullying and would love to put an end to it. I hate that students are afraid to go to school just because bullying awaits them. I also said that I am very glad that she is bringing awareness to the world.

Blog Post #11

Little Kids... Big Potential

In this video, Ms. Cassidy's first grade students show us how they work with their blogs, wikis, Skype, and Nintendo DS. It is amazing how 1st grade students know so much about technology. These students did a great job explaining how they use this technology. I never thought about using Nintendo DS for internet purposes. I am still amazed at the fact that these young students are so much more advanced with blogging than a lot of adults in this world.

Skype Interview with Ms. Cassidy

I really enjoyed watching this interview with Ms. Cassidy. I learned a lot of great ideas. I feel that it is very important to protect a child's identity, well to protect the child period. Ms. Cassidy has great ways to protect each child. I think it is important not to mention the child's last name, not to post pictures of the students, and to send permission slips home to use the internet at school. I remember having to get my parents to sign those papers when I was in school. I also think it is a great advantage to have an assistant, or a technology coordinator like Ms. Cassidy has. I also thought it was funny that Ms. Cassidy doesn't use technology for her personal life. I am the same in some ways. I have never had a twitter until this class, and I only use it for this class. She said to use technology for what you are interested in. I think this applies well to students. Elementary students are fascinated with computer themselves, so I think this is why her first grade students are doing so well with blogging. I would also consider letting my students work in groups. The students that are interested in videos, could make a video for the class. The students that are interested in photography could make a picture slideshow to present to the class. Ms. Cassidy also mentioned that she lets her students blog once or twice a week. I think this would be great to get the kids excited about blogging. Maybe use Friday as free Friday. If they do well during the week, then the student can be rewarded by getting to use the computer to blog. I know when I was a kid, I got excited for Fridays just for that reason.

Blog Post #10

Do You Teach or Do You Educate?

I wanted become an education major because I want to make a difference in my student's lives. Not to just teach my students, but inspire them to do anything they put their minds to. I have never thought about the difference of teaching and educating, until I watched this video. This video pointed out that teaching is basically just explaining something, giving information, and getting someone to pretty much think the way you do. Educating is much more than that. Educating means inspiring, mentoring, and leading. I want to educate. I want my student's to trust me and be able to come to me for anything.

While educating, I hope to lead my students by example. I can tell them all kinds of stories, but they will not fully believe me until I show them. That's why I wanted to become an education major. I saw my teachers as leaders, and wanted to be like them one day. I did have teachers who would just make us read the text book and answer questions at the end of the chapter. The teachers never got involved with the students, and that is what I don't want to be. I want to make my students want to learn, instead of dread it.

Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home!

In this blog post, Mr. Spencer tells us about how Gertrude, the School Curriculum Instructional Interventionist Academic Specialist, storms into his classroom and begins to exclaim to him that students should not be bringing pencils home. She stated that bringing pencils home have shown to decrease standardize test scores. She wanted to just throw pencils out of the equation. Tom, the teacher, explains that he has meet with the parents and told them ways that pencils can help them learn. Gertrude was not happy about the situation.

I loved this blog! Mr. Spencer does a really great job on showing us that instead of eliminating the problem, to use the tool to benefit the students. Instead of fixing the problem, Gertrude wanted to get rid of pencils. The problem with this is, how can pencils make test scores go down? It is not the pencil, it is the teacher. If the teacher is not doing their job, then the student will not pass. Tom uses the pencil to "educate." He said that if his students bring pencils home and play hangman, then he still believes they are learning in some way.

We have to prepare our children for the real world. If we educate them right, then the student will know what to do with a pencil. Instead of playing around with the pencil, students will use pencils for creativity and learning. I don't think that showing our students to eliminate a problem is a good idea. They need to figure out what is wrong, and fix it. Tom does this. He gets his students involved with projects that grab their attention. I am certain that Tom's students test scores will come out successful

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C4K- World Blog Challenge- Post #2

Shelby and The Hunger Games

I am commenting on a kid name Shelby. She talked about how she went to the movies and watched The Hunger Games. I told her that I love The Hunger Games. I watched the movie first, and just had to read the books. I told her that I am currently on the third book, and that if she hasn't read the books yet then she should. I mentioned that the book was way better than the movie, and that the movie was so good, then she would enjoy the books. I just want to try to influence her to read. Our children don't read as much as they should, and hopefully this comment will make Shelby want to read, that is if she already doesn't.

C4T #3

My teacher these past two weeks was Kelly Hines. In her first blog, she uses the pencil metaphor. She talks about how groups are formed in a classroom. The base of the pencil, that you use to hold and grip the pencil, represents all the people who follow the crown. The lead of the pencil, which is the smallest part of the pencil, represents the people who are willing to lead, help others who don't understand, and steps out of the box. Last, there are the people who represent the eraser. This means that people literally act a erasers. These are the negative people who try to tear people down, criticize there work, and tries to destroy their work.

I told Kelly Hines that I would have never thought about groups of people as a pencil. I also said that this world does have few leaders, but we have a pretty big number of criticizers. We need to help each other up, instead of tearing each other down.

For my second blog reading, Kelly Hines was inviting all teachers to a free visit to the North Caroline Museum of Life and Science. She basically said that it an appreciation for the hard work that teachers put up. She also said that the teachers can experience this trip through the students eye and see what the children see.

I said that we have a place similar to that place called the Exploreum. I mentioned that every few months, they change the topics out. I think that it is great to show teachers appreciation. I think that this could give teachers an idea of how they would want to teach sciences in their class, and learn.

Smartboard Project #14

C4K- World Blog Challenge Post #1

I was assigned to a student named Shelby. Click here to see Shelby's page. Her first blog was saying that it was picture day, and that she loved Fridays. She loves Fridays because she doesn't have to do any homework or quizzes, and that weekends are all about the kids.

I told Shelby that I love Fridays as well. I look forward to a relaxing weekend, no homework, and movie premieres. I love new movies and they always come out on a Friday. I saw a few grammatical errors, and told to just be careful when it comes to punctuation. I mentioned that I look forward to seeing her next blog.

C4K for March

My kid for this month was Laiba. She wrote a story about two girls named Dawn and May. They were on a journey to find the rarest honey. Whoever found that honey, was named king or queen of the kingdom. They eventually found the honey, and was taken to the kingdom, where spiders jostled them into the kingdom.

My comment for her said that she is very creative and imaginative. I told her I wish there was more to the story, because I was curious to see what happened. I also told her that this story could give other children the inspiration to be a creative writer and to keep up the good work.

Blog Post #9

I decided to read Mr. McClung's first blog about his first year as a teacher, What I've Learned This Year (2008-2009). Mr. McClung talks about his first year as a teacher. He says that in his first year, he let the pressure of being observed effect his delivery of a lesson. He also says, that teachers lessons are not student centered,and that they focus more on how they will deliver, rather than how to connect with the students and make sure that they understand. This really is true. I know that we, as student teachers, will be watched and observed, so we will try to satisfy our supervisor. That is not a bad thing, but we need to keep our priorities set on the students as well. Also, Mr. McClung say not to set expectations on your students. I loved this part of the blog. He says that we do set expectations, but instead of getting upset at the students when they fail, encourage them and help them back up. Another thing that caught my attention was about not being afraid of technology. I think this is why we need to take this class, so we will not be afraid of technology when we step out on our own as teachers. We will be fairly prepared for what is to come with technology. We might have to learn how use some technology, but like Mr. McClung said in his post, "jump in head first, the water is fine." The last two parts of his blog is about listening to your student and never stop learning. I think that listening to your students can make a major difference in their life. Maybe that is the only time they are heard, is when they are at school. I also think that we should keep our minds open to learn more. Some people feel like they don't need to learn more, but that is not true.

For my second blog to read, I decided to read What I've Learned This Year (2009-2010). First, I loved how he acknowledged Dr. Strange and the EDM310 class in his blog. I know that as teachers, we will have to adapt at some point. Mr. McClung had to adapt from teaching 6th grade science to teaching 8th grade history. Not only did he have to change grade level, but also subjects. You never know when you will be transferred or have to move. You might start out teaching kindergarten to teaching 6th grade. We need to be prepared to make adaptations, and adjust for our students sake. He also talked about the path least traveled. He tried to get his students involved in a debate, but they tried to answer with something they thought the teacher would be satisfied with. He said he wanted his students to think for themselves. He said he didn't want his students to always look for the right answers, but to think. Mr. McClung says he will do whatever it takes to get his students to learn. Sometimes he has to act like he likes the curriculum, but he knows he is trying his best to get the students interested. I think that is great. We need to be willing to do whatever it takes to help our students learn, and I know if they think the teacher likes that topic, they will grow interested as well. He also talked about control in the classroom. He tries to let his students have a little control by letting them get their own graded papers. I think this gives the student a sense of independence as well. I remember when I was in elementary and middle school, we students loved do that kind of stuff on our own. I hated that this young teacher has to deal with horrible staff at his school. That happens everywhere, however. My dad is teacher, doesn't bother anybody, but some people just try to find something to criticize. I hate that, but you can't let other "adults" affect your teaching. Some people are just born to love drama.

Blog Post #8

This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

This video was very true about the way technology is advancing. Dr. Richard Miller talked about the way that people are using books less often and are using the internet as a reading source. I know that we, as students, find ourselves looking up information on the internet with our laptops, rather than running to the library.Dr. Miller used an example with the famous Dr. Martin Luther King. In This Is How We Dream Part 1, it show Dr. Miller sharing his information with other people, and having a chat session between the people.

In This Is How We Dream Part 2, Dr. Miller explains a little about iTunes U. It is very interesting that teachers can share lectures with their students. I loved the part where he said that ideas belong to use as a culture, and I find it fascinating that we can share our ideas with the world. Also, Dr. Miller talks about using your ideas and creativity to make something amazing. He shows us his model of combining humanities and sciences to work together. I think that this technology is great to just show us an idea from a person.

I think these two videos gives us something to think about. First, we all need to be prepared to have to learn how to work with technology. Slowly, writing is becoming extinct. It's kind of like how we used to watch movies from VHS, then to DVD's, and now we are moving to Blue Ray. We might not like the change, but it's happening. Second, we are using technology to share with the world. We can post a video, and have so many people watch the video. Dr. Miller said that in a few months time, he had over 9,000 people view his video and embed it into their blogs. That is just amazing.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12

Carly does an amazing job on this assignment. The point of her assignment is to get you to create a playlist that describes your teaching philosophy. Carly pointed out exactly what she wanted the playlist to consist of and the instructions were really good to follow. Carly's assignment comes close to Dr. Miller's hope for writing with multi-media, because she has you to use the internet to locate information. None of this requires using paper and pencil.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies

In The Chipper Series, Chipper not only procrastinates, but decides that she doesn't want to turn in her assignments at all. Chipper also blames the teacher for her failure, when she didn't put any effort into her work. Chipper drops out of school,makes a school where you don't have to do anything, and it gets shut down. Chipper tries the easy way and gets her degree online. She gets a teaching job and gets fired after four days. In the end, Chipper decides to get her education the right way after her "cleansing". That is how a majority of the world tries to function. We try to get by with the bare minimum, and in the end it doesn't work. The way I look at it is that we will be in school for four years of our lives, so we should work our hardest. If you think about it, four years is not that long. You will be working for at least 25 years, so make the most of those four years.

EDM310 for Dummies was so cute. I must admit, I did not know anything about Twitter or Blogger either. I think the point of this video is to not give up. I have a disadvantage because I am just learning about this type of technology, but I have no excuse to give up. We have a staff in the computer lab, and they have been so helpful and taught me things I didn't know. I know I need to improve on the way I see videos and interpret them, but isn't that the point of this class? To learn. I have never really used YouTube before this class, so if I don't understand the point of the video, I have someone who will explain it to me. This video did make a point that this class is time consuming, but you really do learn about technology. I would like to make a video showing how I learned about technology by being in EDM310.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

One of the first things that was mentioned was that education is ranked 55! Not out of 100 but 55! That shows were our priorities are. Something that also caught my attention was that children use technology to communicate and learn, but it is banned from schools. One of the ladies in the video mentioned that technology should begin with the teacher. Let the teachers blog with other teachers. That is true in order for teachers to teach their students. There does need to be a change in the classroom, and I can't wait to begin that change. I want to help students. Like the video said, this will help these students, not only for college, but for life.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0

1. My very first comic

2. I found a video tool I have never used before called Animoto. With this, you can make a slideshow with photos, but more in like a 3-D image. It was really neat seeing how you can make a photo album so meaningful.

3. I found Poll Everywhere. This website allows you to create your own poll.

Short Movie

I decided to read the same story I did my book trailor for. I read The Clown-Arounds Go On Vacation.

Book Trailor

I did my book trailor on The Clown-Arounds Go On Vacation.

Blog Post #7

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

This video really showed me how students are getting more involved with technology. The thought that so many podcasts are made for a class lecture. What will the world be like in ten years when it comes to technology? Technology is overpowering our world, and I believe it is a good thing.

The question that was asked was "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" That is a good question. He said that the teacher is a mentor and helps the students when they get stuck, but really? That is a scary question. Like I said, in ten years, who knows how important teachers will be. I want to make an impact and teach students. This video makes you think about stuff like that.

Towards the end, he says that teacher hopes that in her heart, she helped that student. I believe that teachers will always be needed, but to a certain degree. We are advancing to online classes, where you don't even have to show up to class, or even meet your teacher. In some ways that can be good or bad.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)

Well my PLN is not near as advanced or organized as hers. You can tell that she has more experience with her PLN than I do. I have never heard of an LPN until this class, so that shouldn't be surprising. It was also cool to see that Mrs. Wendy Drexler had her 7th grade class to work on this project. In the instructions, it said that she wanted to work with middle school students, and she got her chance.

PLN Project #10

I first started with my PLN and I have learned that it is very helpful.This is better than bookmarking your favorite internet page. This is way more organized.

Project 9b (Instructional Timetoast Timeline)

Anne Frank



Click here to see where I got the information about Anne Frank

C4T #2

My teacher this go around was Annie Palmer. I her first blog, she said that she was starting a twitter book study group. The group was going to be covering Unmistakable Impact. She then began to talk about how 12 million students will drop out of school, causing the nation to lose $3 trillion dollars. She then began to talk about how teachers need to cooperate with each other and work and as a team instead of individuals. I then said that it is a great idea for teachers to work together and see what works for the students and not themselves. I also said that I was new to twitter, and for her to have a study group through twitter is outstanding. The drop out numbers of students, I was not aware that it was so high.

For the second blog of Annie Palmer, I had to go back to the blog before. She titled it "Recognizing Effort, Not Just Outcome." She said that she reads books from different sections other than education, like in the business section. She said that you will have to fail in order to succeed. She also said that she didn't realize how tough it was on her third grade students to memorize or learn a concept, but she encouraged them anyway. I just responded that I agree with failing in order to succeed, because you would never learn if never failed. I also put that I never thought about going outside of education to learn about education, like reading a business book.

Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

It was so hard watching this video just because you know he only has a couple of months to live.It was so nice to see that he likes to make his classes fun. He said that the students spend four years reading books, so they need to have fun in the masters program. If every masters program felt that way. Your could tell that he loved what he did. He had passion to teach and went out of the way for his students. The extra time he spent with his students was amazing. He took one of his classes to Disney World for a week. I would have loved to have been in his program. I want my students to have fun in class, but to also learn. I know that if children get bored, they begin to daydream and lose focus, so why not make school fun and interesting?

"Experiences is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." Randy Pausch said this during his lecture. He wanted to go to the NFL, but he said that the things he worked for in football got him to where he is today. He said that his coach came to practice without any balls to practice with. The coach told them that techniques is the key to success. That is so true. My dad has told me that my entire life. As a teacher and mentor, we will have to get students to learn the techniques first before we can send them out into the world.

Randy Pausch also said to be careful what you wish for. He always wanted to work at Imagineers. When he finally got the opportunity to work there, he got overwhelmed and overworked. I find this so true. We want so much, but we don't realize what could happen when we get it. How can we wish for more things, when in my opinion, when have everything. We all have the opportunity to go to school, to eat, to breath, to walk, to talk, and many more things that we take for granted. We are so blessed to have the chance to be teachers and impact the world.

Again, it is sad that this video was Randy Pausch's last. Even though I was sad for him, he was so happy and beyond thankful for all of his accomplishments. He had his wife there, and he surprised her with a birthday cake. The smallest things can make someone feel so special, and you can tell that he wanted his wife to feel happy for that moment. Like Randy Pausch said, this opportunity was one in five careers. He has accomplished so much, and has changed the world of technology. He thanked so many people. Even though he is young, in my opinion, he has meet more people than I can imagine. We should all be so thankful. Even though Randy had a pancreas full of cancer, he was thankful for his career, wife, three children, and the his students, colleagues, students, and friends in his life.

C4K Summary for February

My first kid was Jennifer from Pt. England School. She had a picture of herself and a comment saying that it was their first day back in school. I replied that our school's summer break isn't for a few months. She also stated that her favorite subject was math. I told her that I enjoyed math as well as science.

My second kid was Sam. His blog was about how he has had a lot of visitors since the last time he checked. He had 103 visitors. He decided to have a contest. However visited his blog page and left the most comments, he would put the winner's blog on his page. I told him that that was a great idea and it would attract a lot more visitors. I also told him that it is good to see students like himself blogging so well.

My third kid was Naiya. For her blog, she wrote a story. It was a really good story ,too. It was about this boy how loved to play in his basement. One day, a door that has never been opened cracked, and light shined threw it. He got scared and told one of his friends. The friend said that a little girl used to live there, and she said the same thing happened. She told everybody, and no one believed her. His friend said that she thinks she disappeared through that door. So the next time the door cracked, he went in it to save the little girl that vanished. He found her, and they wanted to return, but was stuck at this castle. They finally got to go home, but when they did, they went outside and saw the same castle. That was the end of the story. I told Naiya that she was very creative and a good writer. I told her that I hoped she would write a sequel to this story, because it makes you wonder what happened next.

My last kid for the month was Shakeem. He wrote a poem. It was about a girl who went off with a man.They had fun and laughed, but the man told the girl that he was the god of death, and that she was going to hell. I told him that, like Naiya, it would be great if he wrote a second part. I also said that he is very creative and imaginative. To write a poem like that, he has to be.

That was all of kids. It is really great that kids so young are getting involved with blogging. There blog pages are way more creative than mine.