Skype Interview

Blog #10

Morgan Bayda:
      "My schooling was interfaring with my education." Wow. This sure makes you think, huh? I am not sure that I can fully relate to Dan Brown or Morgan Bayda, but I do understand what they are saying. We truly are using an educational system that was designed for a different time. The world has change immensely, however education has not seemed to catch on so well.
    
        I do not have the same experiences that Morgan Bayda had, or at least I have not had them yet. She says that she often felt cheated in her university classes because they were either too big or too small for communication to be comfortable. I have been in classes as big as 300 people (literally) and classes as small as eight people. I never seem to have a problem speaking my mind. Perhaps that is just me, but class size has never seemed to effect me like it did Bayda.

      So much can be done over the internet. Dan Brown is right when he says that information is now free. If the education system does not start realizing this fact and changing the way things are done, I do believe that more students will do just what Brown did: drop out. Literally almost anything can be found online, so why would people pay to have someone tell you in a lecture?
    

Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home:


     Wow! This post was humorous, but rather sad at the same time. I am very glad that he stuck up to the woman! I have to wonder why people would think that students taking pencils home results in lower test scores? I would think that it would result in higher test scores! Apparently I was wrong? I have subscribed to Johnson's blog and it is now on my Google homepage. I looked forward to reading his posts in the future!


Two Questions That Can Change Your Life:


      What's my sentence? Was I better today than I was yesterday? These are the two questions from the assigned video. Both of these questions are simple and yet very powerful. I like when the video said that if you try to do too much, your life will become a gumbled paragraph, rather than a sentence. These two questions, if you follow them daily, really can change your life.


     My sentence: She helped two generations of students realize their potential.

Project #11

My Favorite Teacher:

Blog #9:

What I've Learned This Year:

     First of all, I loved reading this post because it gave me many things to look for when I become a teacher. These are things that I am almost certain the majority of first year teachers do or overlook and it will be nice to have a background!

     I think he is absolutely right; new teachers become so conserned with themselves and proving to their fellow employees that they are a good teacher, that they loose focus on what is most important: the students. It really hit me when he talked about making the perfect lesson plan and that it is never perfect. I often do not think about that, but I certainly should. I can make a lesson plan that seems perfect on paper, but that does not mean that all of my students will grasp the content simply based on the plan. Workplace drama.. I do not think that you can ever escape that. As he said, communication is key!

     I think that I was lucky growing up; I always head teachers who encouraged me to do my best, but never repremanded me when I did not meet their expectations. I know that many teachers do this, and it is sad. As he says, they are children, and neither of us are perfect. I do not think I have to worry so much about the technology aspect simply for the fact that we are being pushed to use it in our education now, while teachers who went to school even ten years ago were not. He ends the post with: "we owe it to our students." We truly do. Why else are we in the education field?

Blog #8

This is How We Dream:
In this video, Richard Miller made many good points. He showed some ways that technology can be incorporated in Language Arts, which really interested me because I had been curious about that prior to the video. He believes tat educators should discuss their ideas freely. I think this is very important in education! Teachers need to share their ideas in order to better their teachings and help students advance.
While I do understand and agree that technology can certainly speed up process time, I am not sure that I like the idea of almost everything being done by video. I was educated and practically trained to write, and write well (hopefully!). Now I have to wonder if my education, or parts of it, were a complete waste of time. Maybe that is exageration, and I'm sure that it is, but it does worry me.
I think that this idea could work though. Everyone, students, teachers, administrators, would have to adjust to this new technological education. We would all have to learn the types of technology and how each can be used and incorporated into education and the curriculum. Basically, in order for this idea to work, everyone has to want it to work and be willing to DO the work.

The Chipper Series and EDM 310 For Dummies:

EDM 310 For Dummies made me laugh, but it also confused me. I am not exactly sure what the point was in making this video? I assume that they are referring to the website as the "book"? I really am not sure as to what specific things I would want to create a video about. I have a wide range of interests, but I have a hard time coming up with something that I think anyone else would actually want to watch.

Smartboard:

Why Smartboards are a Dumb Initiative: This article discusses some of the disadvantages that the author finds with the Smartboard. His main argument is that Smartboards are "the least cost-effective way to improve learning." He does admit that these boards are cool and that they do have positives, however, these positives are not in line with the cost. The author believs that Smartboards are simply a more expensive way to continue on the same path that the education system is on now. He also believes that administrators like Smartboards because they make them look good, or so they think.

Why I Hate Interactive White Boards: Bill Ferriter, the author of this article, comes off as very brutal! He has very strong opinions on he subject of interactive white boards. In fact, he was given one in his classroom and only used it for a year before he decided that it was basically useless and gave it away. One thing that I found interesting, or rather humorous, was the opinion of Smartboards being nothing more than "expensive overhead projectors." Ferriter argues that many of these purchases are under-informed and irresponsible. The quote by Sylvia Martinez is what really stuck with me from this article: "You can't buy change. It's a process, not a purchase."

Using Electric Whiteboards In Your Classroom: While this website does not have a full article, it has annecdotal accounts of several different articles that I found very appropriate. This website gives several lists of the positives of using a Smartboard. Some of the positive arguments are: interactive, ability to accomodate, and easy to use and incorporate into the classroom. The link for this webiste is: http://www.waukeshaschools.com/WIT/smartBoard/benefits.htm

Blog Post #7

Last Lecture:

The opening to Randy Pausch's lecture was extremely moving and attention grabbing. I truly admire him for his strength and ability to encourage people through his story. It amazes me how someone who has literally been given a death sentence can be so positive and uplifting. I for one know that it is extremely possible for me to be so positive in many situations, much less in this type of situation.

In his lecture, Pausch tells us how to achieve your dreams and how to help others in doing so. He says that it is not so much about how to achieve your dreams, but more so how to live your life. I really like this theory. While I do think that this is much easier said than done, I do believe that it is a great quote to live by.

Pausch believes that teachers have the ability to help others achieve their dreams. I found this even more inspirational because, obviously, I want to be a teacher. Knowing and hearing from someone with such experience that I actually CAN make a differnce in a child's life is huge. I have always said that is the main reason that I want to become a teacher and simply knowing that it can be a reality and not just a dream is very encouraging for me.

The technique that stood out the most to me was "head fake". This is when you make a child think that they are learning one thing, when really they are learning something completely different. Using games to help children learn could be an example of this technique. I really like this technique and I think that it would be very useful in an elementary classroom.

Additional Assignment #2

1. I think that children can teach themselves SOME things. I was in a chemistry course my second semester of college. I earned a C in this course. What you have to understand about me is that I am certainly not a C student. My senior year of high school I was taking four college classes and I was in honors Chemistry. I earned an A in this course. The difference? My professors. My  high school teacher actually TAUGHT me chemistry, while my college professor thought I could do it on my own. On the other hand, I can obviously teach myself to use facebook and to send a text message.

2. I think it still depends on the subject and the specific child. Some children are capable of teaching themselves certain sunjects,
while others are not.

3. A person has to first be interested in the topic in which they are to learn. They must have the will to teach themselves.

4. Computers and internet play a huge role in teaching yourself. If you have access to the internet it is much, much easier
to learn something because of the resources available.

5. Motivation also plays a large role in teaching yourself. If you do not want to learn something, then you won't.

6. Problems or questions can be both a positive and a negative step in teaching yourself. It can be positive because it will
help you learn more and broaden your resources. However, it can be negative because having problems makes it much easier
to give up or get discouraged.

7. In order to motivate someone to learn, you have to tell them why it is important. No one is going to want to learn something
if they do not think it is relivant or if they think they will never use it.

8. I am motivated to learn because I know WHY I am learning. I am learning in order to become a teacher and to better myself; these two
things are very important to me and they are what push me to learn.

9. I think they will learn some things, but I do not think that they will fully grasp and understand the subject.

10. I teach myself technology all the time, sometimes because I want to, and sometimes because I have to. I teach myself
class things every now and then, but for the most part I have been blessed with good teachers. I always further my learning
on my own just so that I will have a better understanding of things.

11. Teachers give you the material and encouragement for learning.

12. Honestly, they most important thing I realized from this video is that teachers need to be more open to different areas
where they want to work!

13. All students can learn, they simply need the resources to do so.

Project #10: Progress Report

This is the first PLN I have ever created and I am having some what of a difficult time with this project. I created a Twitter account; my first one ever! I updated my profile and put a picture so that everyone would know exactly who I am. I followed people according to a few of my interests and I was able to find a few friends using the email search tool. I am currently following 15 people. I am still learning to navigate through twitter and figure out exactly what it is that I am doing. I will continue to learn and eventually I am sure I will be able to actually do something with my account!

Project 9a: Timetoast

C4T Teacher #2 Summary

I was assigned to comment on Middle School Matrix. I found this blog to be very interesting and this particular teacher made some very good points. The two posts that I commented on were: A Return to Imagination and Sometimes You Have to Punt.


A Return to Imagination focused on the fact that schools are changing and evolving and many teachers have not been trained for these changes. In my comments I agreed with the author that students need to be taught, but they also need to be guided towards creativity and imagination. It was a little hard for me to relate to this post because I, unlike the author, am being trained for the changes in schools.


I absolutely loved the post Sometimes You Have to Punt. In this post, the author gave a detailed writing of a scenario she had in her classroom. The students were doing a unit of maps and globes and she described the different activities in which they had to complete. She explained that sometimes the lesson does not always go as planned and in these cases you have to "punt": change your plan! It was very easy for me to understand this post and it was nice to read that things do not always go as planned, but that it is okay! I think that it is very important for teachers to adapt to their students; in my opinion, this is what makes a good teacher.

Blog #6:

The Networked Student:

     I wish that I was born 20 years later. That is the simplest way to put my reaction to this video. I cannot get over the technology that we have available to us today! It is astonishing, and a little scary, that students even as young as elementary students are using this technology to such measures. This video demonstrated the student using only SOME of the technology available to him, and yet it is still more than I knew before this class began.

      The question is asked " Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" The video gives many reasons, but one that it does not give that I think is a big factor is the fact that if the student did not have someone assigning them work, the likelyhood that the student would be doing it is very low. The sad truth is that many students do not learn about the braod range of technology until they are forced to. Only when students are forced do they finally realize the importance and magnitude of technology.

     I really liked this video because it showed how schools and classrooms really can be. It gives me a guideline of what my students COULD be doing, if I simply push them to learn and use technology.

A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment:

After watching this video, along with others from this course, I, once again, really with that I was born 20 years later! It absolutely amazes me the things that take place now, because of technology. Prior to this course, the most technology I had used in or for a course was probably Excel or PowerPoint. This 7th grader is using technology that I, a junior in college, did not even know existed.

The Machine is Changing Us:

     This video definitely proved his point in the sense that many people have a very short attention span. I had a hard time with this video simply for the fact that it was so long! I do find certain traits in myslef relating to the MTV generation, however I cannot stand MTV. This video will make me look a little deeper at the generation of students I will be teaching so that I can better understand their world and views.