Blog Post 9

Mr. McClung's web post was really great because it was raw and honest. You can see that he was really writing from the heart and about his feelings as a teacher. The tips he gives are also great for anybody aspiring to be a teacher. It is always nice to hear advice from someone who has some experience and can understand what you're going through. His topics were spot on to things I am concerned with.
How to Read the Crowd
It is important to know that you are teaching for the students and not for your superiors.
Be Flexible
Mistakes will be made. No lesson is ever perfect.
Communicate
Talk to students, teachers, and any one that will talk back. Communication is very important in life and career!
Be Reasonable
Don't expect too much from your students. Know they will make mistakes.
Don't be afraid of Technology
Try it out! Use it in your classroom and know technology is your friend.
Listen to Your Students
"You may be the only person that does." Students value a teacher that cares.
Never Stop Learning
Live by example. If you are encouraging students to learn, you should be learning too!

Project 12 Skype Interview

I recorded the effects of technology in the classroom from a high school students perspective. I hope to do more interviews with her in the future to see progress at her school.

C4K Summary 2

I was able to comment on Brooklyn's blog for C4K #4. She attends Pt. England School and plays tennis. The post I commented on was about her experience at her tennis match. She won the first game she played that day, but lost the second. She wrote that she was sad that she lost but was happy that she had fun. I commented that I really admired her sportsmanship and wished her luck in her future games.

For C4K #5, I commented on Sylvia who also goes to Pt England School. Her assignment was to instruct how to pitch a tent. It appeared that she did a very thorough job at telling how to pitch a tent. I could tell she put time in research into doing this blog. It was very good.

Grace from Ms. Engelhard's class was the person I had the pleasure of commenting on for C4K #6. She had written a cute little poem about brothers named Talky and Blocky. It was a very cute poem about siblings and their differences. She wrote that they were different but loved each other anyway. It was very good.

Blog Post 8

1. Richard Miller: This is How We Dream

I like how he emphasized incremental changes versus fundamental changes in education. The ideas he is proposing are wonderful bu must be learned and implemented gradually in order to keep any student from falling behind. All the new technology is great, but can be overwhelming to those not used to it. Incorporating it gradually will help students from being overwhelmed and giving up. I think teachers should understand technology incorporation is an incremental change that will soon be fundamental.
His collaboration projects can be very useful to capture students' attention and spark their interest in the subject. Utilizing video and sound in a document assignment is a very smart idea. I also liked his point about writing an article without stepping food in a library because the internet makes everything much more accessible. I can count the times on one hand I have been to the campus library and I have been attending this school for three years. Research is so easily done online in the comfort of my own home, why leave and to go to a library.
"Ideas don't belong to us individually bu to us culturally." This is very true and all of teaching comes from sharing ideas. Teachers must be aware of this to be successful. Lectures are now available online for all to hear and see whether a student for that teacher or not. It is also important to make things that are beautiful and meaningful. Publishing in a presentable manner such as video makes it more ahead of its time and more interesting. It truly makes it much more fascinating than reading text.

2. The Chipper Series & EDM 310 for Dummies

I really liked the Chipper Series. It shows the importance of initiative and motivation. It also shows the importance of a college education and using professionalism within your life in both school and work. It is important to work hard and take pride in what you do, not go through life thinking that nothing really matters because something else is always out there. EDM310 for Dummies is a good visual of how I felt at the beginning of the semester. It really was overwhelming at first, but once I got adjusted it wasn't bad at all. Another great video that would help us in EDM310 is a SMARTboard tutorial from the students perspective. I really enjoyed doing the SMARTboard project but I also realize I still have so much to learn about it.

3. Learn to Change, Change to Learn

This video sums up a lot that has been presented to us throughout this semester. It almost seems hard to comment about this at the risk of being redundant. I very much agree with the message and where education needs to go and can go. It is also very good to see so many teachers feel this way too. It will take multitudes to implement the changes we are wanting to see.

4. RSA Animate

Both of the videos present very good ideas. The Surprising Truth about what motivates us was my favorite of the two. I couldn't agree more about the importance of self direction. I believe EDM310 has given this task to us well. It really helps to have a class with the faith in us as students that EDM310 gives us. It gives us a sense of pride when we excel and achieve something without being pushed into a specific mold.

Project 13 Smart Board Lesson

Blog Post 7

"When you're screwing up and nobody is saying anything to you anymore that means they gave up." This is HUGE for teachers! Teachers should never give up on their students; although, children may thing you're being tough, they will thank you for it one day when it all pays off. I also loved his term "head fake" learning. It shows that there is so much more to a lesson than what meets the eye which is so true. Not only is a teacher teaching books and facts, many life lessons are learned in the classroom. It is important for a teacher to remember that.

"The brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things." His lecture shows how important perseverance truly is. He shows the importance of this with not only goals but people too. He is a living example of how working hard and waiting for the right time that goals can be achieved. He accomplished all his childhood goals and appeared to die happy. His last lecture was inspirational to those who feel their goals couldn't be achieved.

"Two ways of saying I don't know: a good way and a bad way" This is an extremely important to understand for people wanting to be teachers. Negativity can only crush the ideas of students. This also reinforces that teachers should be continual learners. A teacher shouldn't automatically reject new ideas on the only basis of not knowing. It is more important to be open-minded and attempt to learn with a positive attitude.

"Enabling the childhood dreams of others" He loved being a professor so much because he was able to just that. He even designed an entire class based on attempting to achieve childhood dreams through virtual reality. He also discovered that the students surpassed all his expectations. This is when he realized that you cannot "set a bar" for the students to reach. Instead it is important to let them keep growing with no limits. This only causes the students to discover more of what we would have never known. This is the only way to improve. "Good enough" is never an option.

Project 11

I chose to read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss for this assignment. Its such a good children's book and very widely known!

C4T Summary 2

C4T Teacher 2: David Wees

Wees got his degree in British Columbia then moved to Brooklyn, New York where he met his now wife. They then moved to London, England where he taught at an international school and moonlighted as a web-programmer. They then moved to Thailand with there son where he wrote his first text book. He now lives in Canada with his wife and son and he is teaching at a school where he is the learning specialist for information technology.

Blog 1:
The first blog I commented on was about things that technology has eliminated over the years. His list included things such as cd's, pencils, calculators, and several other things. I didn't think about it until he pointed it out but modern technology has made it easier to get by without these things. I don't carry a separate calculator because I have one on my phone and my ipod touch. I also don't need a calendar or planner because I can keep it all on my phone and it alerts me when something it happening. It was certainly interesting to see what all we don't use anymore and don't even realize it.

Blog 2:
To my understanding, he is discussing open license materials which pays an author to write a book but not royalties. In his proposal, Weiss suggests making books for school digitized and open licensed. This would allow millions of dollars to be saved on the costs of text books, his estimation was 20,000,000 dollars. I found his argument to be very compelling and interesting. Using the approach he suggested, any errors in textbooks or additions to the books can be made immediately. This would save time and money in getting the information to schools.

Project 10

My PLN is really coming together impressively or at least I like to think so. I've divided it into categories and sections, plus all the categories are color coded. I've dedicated an entire column to researching sites including google and South's library site. My resources section is color coded in brown. I then added my bank which is color coded green, with shopping sites below it in white. Two columns are dedicated to my personal accounts such as facebook, twitter, emails, skype, and my blog which are pink. The most helpful section I created was my school courses section which is orange. In this section is the link to my checklist, the class blog, project instructions, required activities instructions, blog instructions, and the syllabus. I also included usaonline and the university website in the same section too.

It certainly has saved me time of having to search and navigate to each webpage since its all laid out right there. It also eliminated all my shortcuts.