Project #8 Team Confused Podcast

C4K Summary for February

C4K #1
This week, I wrote on a fifth grade girl's blog named Asena. She attends Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand, and is in Mrs. Barks class. They just got back to school from the holidays, so she wrote about going to the beach with her family. She said it was so much fun! They had a barbecue and played volleyball and tag together. She also mentioned in her info part of her blog that her favorite subject in school is math.

I commented and told her that  I am studying to be a math teacher. I also told her that the beach is my absolute favorite place to go, and it seemed like she had a lot of fun over her break.

I also wrote on the 6th grade student, Lauren's video about the customary system. She really surprised me in how much she knew and how much she could do on the computer. I love that she was so creative and went above and beyond what her assignment asked of her to prove that she understood what she had been taught.

C4K #2
This week, I wrote on a fourth grade student's blog from Leopard Primary located in Victoria, Australia. Her name was Kayla, and she blogged about her eleven year old dog named Shari. She posted a video of Shari along with questions for anyone to answer if they commented on her post.


I told her that she really seemed to love and care for Shari, and that I use to have a dog named Fred up until about three years ago when he died. I told her that it was a hard time for my family and I when he passed away. Now, I would love to get a new puppy, but finding time to care for it is my main concern for not getting one right now. I told her that I loved her blog and to keep up the good.


C4K #3
This week, I read Amy's blog. She is a fifth grade student from British Colombia, Canada in Krissy Eppele's class. Amy is very creative and has a wonderful imagination. She wrote a story that had an unexpected ending. She was able to keep my attention throughout the whole story, and I was very impressed by it.

In my comment, I complimented her great imagination and creativity. I told her that she was very descriptive, which helped me get a feel of the scene and characters in the story. I really enjoyed reading her story, and I hope she continues to write and express her ideas.


C4K #4
I had the privilege of writing on a blog titled, Epic Dude this week. The post that I commented on was called "Domo Animate". The student talked about how he visited the Domo website and has already made four Domo videos. His favorite video that he has made is called "Domo, the Legendary Cop". Two more that he has are called " The 2012 Domo Olympics" and "A Very Domo Christmas".

Just by reading his simple post, I can tell that he is really creative and has a good grasp on technology and the internet. I told him that it was very impressive that he has already made four videos. I also told him that I will be checking out the videos that he has made thus far.

Blog Assignment 5

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

Dr. Scott McLeod works at the University of Kentucky, where he is an educator. In this post, he is very sarcastic and says that all aspects of the internet and technology, in general, are bad and will not benefit children. He later states that his children do use technology and everything it has to offer, and because of this, he says that his kids will be a "leg up" because they actually do use technology. So, the children that do use technology will have an even bigger advantage over the children that do not.

I really liked Dr. McLeod's post. He is trying to grab the attention of adults and show them just how important technology really is. Student's need to be exposed to all technology and everything there is to offer. I agree with Dr. McLeod in that technology is such a big part of our society today, and the kids who do not jump on the technology bandwagon are only going to suffer in their future careers.

Travis Allen: iSchool Initiative
Travis Allen is the founder and leader of iSchool Initiative. It consists of a team of 24 people in which they travel around to promote the use of mobile learning through the iTouch. Adopting this initiative would allow for education to be less expensive and more efficient. Students wouldn't have to purchase physical books, pencils, paper, etc. anymore because everything that they would need would be at the tip of their fingers with the iTouch.

Travis was only 17 when he made his first YouTube video, where he proposed the idea of the iSchool Initiative. I think this is a great idea. It would allow for students to be able to afford more, and the parents' of the students could keep up-to-date with their children more easily as well. We use so much technology everyday, so incorporating this into students' learnings would be wonderful.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

I thought this video was very powerful and really neat. It demonstrates just how much we can do with technology today. This choir consisted of 185 people from all around the world who had never met before, but still came together to perform a beautiful piece. Something as big and extravagant as this was able to come alive all because of the use of technology. I really like this use of the internet; it just shows that what we can do with the internet is endless.

Teaching in the 21st Century
Kevin Roberts' video describes where education is headed for the present and the future. He said that teachers are losing the importance that they use to have. They are now more of a filter for students because their students have so many more resources at their fingertips than ever before. Now, students can log onto Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Google and many more sites to get all of  the information they need and much more.

I like how Roberts thoroughly distinguished the differences between entertainment and engagement. He stated that people use entertainment to get their mind off of problems, while they use engagement to solve problems. Engagement should be fun and exciting; it makes for people to actually have to be involved and that is a great thing! I think that Roberts is point-on with his position on the changes in teaching. It will affect me as a teacher because I will have to stay very up-to-date with technology to be able to keep up with my students and to give them the best education opportunity that I possible can.

Reading Rockets
The Reading Rockets motto is: "teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle". It is a pretty amazing website dedicated to the success of children, regarding reading. It offers apps to help students who are struggling with comprehension, which is normal for children. It also offers effective ways to help students understand and care about what they are reading or have read. The site also gives information to get kids even more help, and also tells us reasons for why some students struggle with reading. A reason could be that they have received poor instructions on how to go about reading. If this (or something similar) is found to be the case early on, many times the problem can be resolved or even prevented.

This website will definitely be beneficial for me when I do become a teacher. Even though I am going to teach math, reading will still be a huge part. I will be able to find out how to teach my children with reading disabilities more effectively with this incredible site. It has a library that is there to provide teachers with strategies to accommodate their students in areas where they need help the most, and also how to use these strategies most efficiently. I really learned a lot from the Reading Rockets site!

Project #9a Timetoast

Blog Assignment 4

Langwitches

Ms. Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano is a teacher who is very devoted to technology and podcasting. She and her students make podcasts based on books that they read in class, and the students love doing it. They get so excited and want to be a part of it. They even change their voices and their fluency and pitch. In the podcasts, the students are storytelling and interviewing each other. It is very evident that they really enjoy doing this, and it helps to ensure that all students are being active in the classroom.

Ms. Tolisano proves that children are never too young to use technology and be creative. She is teaching her students great skills that will help them succeed in the future. Technology isn't going anywhere, so it is good to get students using it as early and as much as possible. She offers great ideas for the classroom that I want to try out someday.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom
Joe Dale is a strong believer of podcasting in the classroom. He points out great facts about podcasting: it allows students to be more project-based learners, and it also allows them to use their higher order thinking skills as referred to in Bloom's Taxonomy. Students today are so use to using technology everyday, so they are more willing to learn and listen when they can use technology in the classroom. Podcasting helps promote creativity and innovation as well.

Too, it becomes very useful for students who are absent, but still need to keep up with their daily assignments and class lectures. This also allows parents to be more interactive in their students academics because they can now listen and see through the podcasts.

Judy Scharf's Podcast Collection
Judy Scharf's blog gives us all of the information we could ever dream of and more for podcasting. She starts off by defining podcasting as "a 'radio-stye' talk show"; she says it's a mix between an iPod and broadcasting. Judy provides links to getting started, tips to succeed, a time schedule for podcasting, examples of some podcasts, and even suggestions for topics. There is much more that I didn't mention, including a rubric, on her site.

This blog is definitely one that I will use in my future as an educator. It will help to get students wanting to participate and be involved. Students who already use podcasting in school love it and like sharing what they have learned with others. Like Judy has suggested, I'm going to give podcasting a try in my classroom, and be the "inspiration for my students' successful careers." This site will also be helpful for me in making my own podcast for the class I am currently taking, EDM 310.

My Sentence Video

Blog Assignment 3

Technology in Special Education
This video is about how Ms. Cook uses technology to help her special education class find learning easier and more enjoyable. It really demonstrates just how much technology can help someone excel in their academics. One of her students use to have to have someone read to him outside in the hallway, but now, thanks to an ipod, he can listen to someone read him the story in his classroom where his other classmates are. Another one of her students can't speak well, so he can now type what he wants to say into his computer. She also has a student who can't see or write well. He has a program on his computer that magnifies the writing so that he can see it more easily, and the computer is also easier for him to write on. Technology has enabled Ms. Cook's class to be able to turn their assignments in on time, whereas they use to be late, and it helps them do it twice as fast. It has really made a tremendous impact in her classroom.

Technology has changed the way special needs students are taught in many of ways. They can now feel like other students in their classes because technology allows them to complete their assignments more quickly. They can also participate in projects and discussions now because they can use computers to say what they are thinking and feeling. I am eager to learn more about special education programs for my future students. I want them to be able to complete their math assignments with ease.

Educational Apps
After watching the video about the little boy with autism who uses the ipad to learn and visiting the apple website, I found an app called math bingo. I think this game would be both fun and educational. Students are given addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems and then once they figure out the problem, they look to see if they have it on their bingo cards. They collect bingo bugs for points and then get prizes. This game would allow all students to participate and strengthen their math skills.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count
Wow! Gary's Social Media Count is a real eye opener. The chart really puts into perspective just how important and much used technology has become today. There is an insane number of Youtube videos that are being watched every second, along with tweets on Twitter and iPhone apps being downloaded. Hours uploaded onto Youtube and new memberships on LinkedIn are the two lowest categories on the social media count, but they are still bringing in a lot of numbers every second or so.

Seeing this count means a lot to me as a future educator. I know that I am really going to have to stay up to date with technology so that I don't fall behind. This has also shown me the importance of technology regarding our society today; those astounding numbers show that a ton of people use technology for all sorts of things. I am going to try to incorporate and use technology in my classroom as much as possible.

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
 This video , by Micael Wesch was made at Kansas State University with the help of 200 students. It summarized the characteristics of students today. From their goals they want to reach to the kinds of experiences they will meet in their lives, they are all expressed in this powerful video. Students illustrated that they pay hundreds of dollars every semester for books that they will never open and they are assigned pages to read, but never read them. I, as a student myself, do get frustrated by the fact that we are suppose to buy all of these books for our classes, and most of the time, the most expensive book we buy is the one that we never use.

The students in the video showed that the majority of their time is spent either texting, eating, sleeping, or using technology in some kind of way. They do all of these more than they focus on their school work. We need to work technology into learning and into the classroom more. Technology is becoming a part of our everyday lives rather we like it or not. So, we need to embrace it and teach our students with it because technology is what they understand. They would probably be more interested in learning the material if technology was used too, because that is what they have become accustomed to.

C4T #1

Brian Bennett
Brian Bennett is a biology and chemistry teacher in Evansville, IN. He blogs frequently about how to incorporate technology into teaching instructions, and also comments on education policy and pushes for open-internet policies in schools.

Comment on post #1
Brian's first post that I read was titled "Don't Miss Today". He talked about how teachers are planners; they plan everything, and sometimes too much planning can turn into just an "ideal", which is discouraging for teachers. Then, he stated that sometimes he gets caught up in the future of teaching rather than the needs of his students now. He said that we should always work for a better system, but to not look too far ahead and miss what it is that our students today need.

In my comment back to him, I stated that I was a student at South Alabama studying to be a math teacher, and that I am so excited to start teaching to show students that math can be fun. I want to incorporate technology and show my students that they really can enjoy math. I told him that I really liked his last sentence about never looking too far ahead of yourself to miss what your current students need. I thought that was well said, and I hope to always be present for what my students need right then and there.

Comment on post #2
Brian's post was titled "I Can't Teach Science". It was basically telling how that "teaching" the way science works only takes the magic away from students actually seeing how it works. He states that science is suppose to be observed and questioned; it is living. There should be debates, discussions, and troubleshooting taking place. He says, if not, then we are only teaching our students letters and numbers, and this is why our test scores are so low.

I commented on his post and said that I am studying to become a math teacher, and this post really interested me. I said that just like science, math also needs to be discussed and troubleshooted in order for students to really grasp it. If this was done more often, maybe our math scores would be higher.

Project #5 Google Presentation

Blog Assignment 2

Did You Know? 3.0 - A John Strange 2012 Version
Did You Know? 3.0 - A John Strange 2012 Version is based off of the original Did You Know? 3.0 video by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod. It is a total eye opener! The video is basically showing many statistics about how technology has changed over the years and where it is going in the future, along with other statistics about our country and students of today. Some of the statistics it gave were: there are more K-12 Honors students in India than the entire K-12 population of the United States, 93% of all 8-18 year old Untied States children had computers in 2010, and the top jobs ten years from now do not even exist yet and will use technologies that have not yet been invented.

This information is just mind-boggling! It's kind of scary to think about how much technology has advanced and how much more it is going to continue to advance in years to come. This video also put more pressure on me as a future educator. Like it said, we will be teaching and training our students for jobs and technologies that haven't even been invented yet. How do we do that? Our role is so important, and this video really puts it into perspective. I am ready for the challenge of getting our future students equipped for the unknown, and am hopeful that they will have a major impact on our upcoming society because we taught them well.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winke Wakes by Mathew Needleman is a short video describing how Mr. Winkle woke up after more than 100 years and found nothing to be the same as it was when he went to sleep that long time ago. He went into a business and saw many computers and printers and people talking to one another through the computers. He felt overwhelmed there, so then he managed to find himself at a hospital where he also felt like he didn't fit in. There were machines that were breathing for people and keeping them alive. All of this was nothing like he had ever seen before. He left there and continued walking until he came upon a school. This place looked very familiar to him, so he entered. He sat in a classroom and watched as the teacher lectured and the students listened and took notes attentively. This was exactly how he remembered schools being over 100 years ago.


Why are schools still so outdated compared to hospitals and offices, when schools should be one of the top places incorporating technology? Maybe it's the budget that schools are on. It is difficult for schools to find funding for even the most necessary things. Or, maybe it's the teachers and faculty that don't want to have to use so much technology because even they do not know how to use it efficiently. Whatever the case may be, there needs to be more technology being used in classrooms. Technology is a huge part of our everyday lives, and it's only going to become even more so. There is no way of really getting around it, so schools really need to get the students exposed to learning with the use of technology. A class to keep teachers informed on the lasted technologies and how to use them would be a good idea also. 


Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson talks about The Importance of Creativity and points out that schools are killing it. He says that children are born with creativity, but as they get older, the majority of kids tend to lose their creativeness because they are being raised to think that the arts won't get them anywhere in life. Math and science are at the top of the curriculum for schools around the world, while music, drama, and other types of art are at the very bottom. When schools have to start cutting classes and programs due to funding shortages, what is the first to go? Art classes of any shape and form always get cut first. Yes, math and science and other core classes are very important in education, and one can't really succeed in the work force without them, but creativity is also very important.

Students should not have to hide their creativeness in the classrooms, but rather incorporate it into their studies. Allowing students to be more creative could heighten some students' grades because not every person learns the same way. Where some people may find learning and studying better in quiet, peaceful areas, others may need a place that is more loud and open. Every student is different, so there should be different ways of learning and teachings allowed. Children shouldn't get punished or put down for being different because they are creative, rather they should get praised for being artsy and thinking originally and not being scared of making mistakes.

A Vision for 21st Century Learning

A Vision for 21st Century Learning describes how our world is today. We seem very busy and occupied all the time, always on the move. We use cell phones, computers, internet, so much technology every single day. That is what our lives are consumed with. Since technology is so prevalent in our everyday lives, why isn't it incorporated into schools more? Schools seem to be one of the very few places today that still lack technology, or a good use of it. However, classrooms should be one of the top places that technology is at. That is where our children are learning and being trained for the future.

Do I think that technology should completely replace everything that runs classrooms now? No, some things should still be left the same. Students still need to be able to make crafty projects that illustrate what they have been learning in class, and they should still learn much of a subject like math by a teacher that is in front of them teaching it because it is already such a difficult subject for so many. Technology is meant to make things better and easier for us, not harder. Children are already using technology everyday at their homes and anywhere else they may be, so why not add more technology usage in the classroom?

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

In the Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts video, Vicki Davis, a school teacher in rural Georgia teaches her students to use technology in everything they do in her class. That class reminded me a lot of the class we are all taking right now, EDM310. Her students write blogs, tweet, make videos, and talk to other students from across the world. Ms. Davis seems to be very passionate about what she does, and really wants her students to succeed in their future careers.

Like I said earlier, technology is becoming so important in our education, and can even hinder us from doing as well in our classes if we are not technology literate because more and more classes are starting to depend on technology than ever before. As illustrated in the video, using blogs and other ways of teaching make it more fun and interactive for children. Some may even forget that they are actually learning because they are enjoying what they're doing so much.