Blog Post 15

Part One:
When I become a teacher, I would want to help each student as much as I can. Like I said in the beginning of the semester, I know every person doesn't learn the same so I would hope that I could aid to each individual as uniquely as they are. I would also like to have as many hands-on learning activities as possible. From experiencing all the different hands-on learning throughout the semester, I am eager to bring all of that to my classroom. Learning should be fun and I want to create an atmosphere where each student wants to come to school. I really want my children in my classroom to have the urge to learn, I know that there is always that one kid that just doesn't want to be there and doesn't want to learn. But children like that I want to change their way of thinking of school. This really makes me think about Anthony Capps' third grade class, he had a kid in his class that never showed up for school in her previous years at school and when she came to his class, she always showed up and become one of his best students. If I can just help one kid love school and make an impact in their life then I will be okay. In the beginning of the semester, I said that I don't think I would use more advanced tools other than a white board and a marker and that I will probably make up learning games that the children can do. But I think I have evolved. I would really like to have my students have iPads or computers in the classroom. I've noticed that adults remember things better from elementary if the information was put into a song, that is probably another tool I would use, I would use this along with other technologies in the classroom. As for what will go in my classroom, I love flowers and girly stuff but that probably wouldn't be the best things to put in there. I love colorful items and furniture, so that's most likely what I'll do. I want to have something where the children can relax and not stress out about whatever is going on in their life. So I will try to have a place where they can read their AR books and just relax. I really want to base my classroom activities or lessons off of Mr. Capps' classroom. I love the atmosphere that he created and how all his students wanted and crave knowledge. I really want to teach third grade, although I heard you don't get to chose what grade you want to teach. But I will be more than happy to teach any grade.


Part Two:

Project 15

Blog Post 14

Teacher Knows if You've Done the E-Reading
CourseSmart has come up with a digital textbook. This allows teachers to track what a student has read and the key components they have highlighted. A problem has that has come up is that one student was doing ok on his quizzes but when the teacher looked at his textbook tracking, the student had only opened the book once. Another problem is that the software was having problem. For instance, one student had opened the book more than once but it was reported that the student only opened it once. By the end of the experiment, Mr. Guardia, who was testing the digital textbook, realized that his students tests scores were higher but their engagement into the textbook was still low. Maybe the textbook is too easy or maybe the course is too easy. Mr. Guardia is confused on this.
As a teacher I would love to have this in my classroom then I would know who is doing their work and who is working hard. But questions would arise when a student is regularly reading the material but not doing well on my quizzes or tests. Or like what happened in Mr. Guardia's class, a student who does ok on my tests and quizzes but only opens the book once. Or what about the students that don't actually read, they just open the book to make it seem like they are reading.
If this applied to me now as a college student, I would think it would be very dumb. I'm already paying my money to go to school and get my degree but now my teacher needs to know if I'm doing my readings every night. I would feel like my teacher should trust me enough to do my readings at night and if I don't then my grade will suffer.
A question I would ask the teacher is would he use it again? If it's worth it.
A question for the students would be if they felt like their trust is being challenged.
A comment I would write would be, although CourseSmart made this book out of benefit to the teacher, I think it draws a thicker line between the teacher and student and makes a relationship more business-like. Instead of the teacher actually caring about the student and the student wanting the teachers approval.

C4T 4

Krissy Venosdale
Ms. Venosdale's class is in the NASA Zero Gravity program. Because they were chosen to do this they get to make up different experiments that would be taken out to space. For instance, they experimented with different fabrics that would be used out in space. Ms. Venosdale mentioned that this experience has taken thinking and learning to a whole new level and I completely agree with her. I think students should be engaged in more activities that involve the real world.

Final Report on PLN

First starting off with this PLN, I was very overwhelmed. Thinking that I had so much to do on every network. But as time went on, I became more comfortable with it. I still believe that PLNs should be for older people, like high school or college age, maybe even middle school. Because having a PLN takes a lot of time, dedication, and focus which I don't believe children should be doing right now at least. As I said earlier, as time went on my PLN became easy and I can maneuver around anything! Practice makes perfect!

C4K April

Vanessa L
Vanessa was approached with the question what does she gain as a student blogging with other student in and out of her school, and is it worth her time? Although she never really stated if it was worth her time, I am going to assume that she does because she enjoys meeting new people all around the world. She also said that she learns about real life by blogging. She learns that even though you blog someone, you may never meet them in real life. I guess this shows Vanessa the more realistic side of life.

Megan O
Megan lives in Nebraska and her post was all about state facts. She mentioned Nebraska's state insect which is the honey bee, their state fish which is a catfish, their state drink which is kool-aid, their state dance which is square dancing. She also goes on to talk about the state tree, grass, fossil, and bird. She said Henry Dorly Zoo is a great place to visit in Nebraska. I never knew there were so many different state symbols but her post was very informative.

Clancy
This week, at the Leopold Primary School, a 5th grade class had a one week project to do. Clancy, the 5th grader I was assigned, did his project on thorny devils. A thorny devil is a desert animal, it has a fake head that grows back when attacked by birds. Female Thorny devils are bigger than males because they have to carry babies.

Progress Report on Final Project

Since my group is the "special" group, we already pretty much know what our project is going to be. It's just a matter of getting it all together. I am so thankful that I was put into this group because each person is so hardworking and dedicated to what they do. We already have an idea of what our project 16 is, we just need to meet up and get it done.

Blog Post 13

Paul Anderson
Mr. Anderson uses a blended learning cycle for his classroom. Blended learning is online, classroom, and mobile learning and blending them together. The learning cycle is engaging, exploring, explaining, expanding, and then evaluating. Putting together blended learning and the learning cycle, that is in fact the blended learning cycle. Mr. Anderson begins this cycle by asking his students a question, which is like a hook. He then has them investigate on the question. Next is video, it allows him to review with his students and it help students go back and which his lecture as many times as they want. Then, elaboration, this is when he assigns readings about the specific topic. Review is after that, this allows him to check the students understanding of the topic and the students are not allowed to move on to the final step until they fully understand. Finally, the summary quiz, this tests them on what they know. After Mr. Anderson has given a couple of this cycles, he then gives a unit test. I think Mr. Anderson's strategy is awesome. It really makes the students be engaged in what they are doing, they can't just half do the work. It really fits the field that he is in. With that being said, I think that it could fit any field that someone is in if tweaked a little.

Blog Post 12

1. Visit Occupational Outlook read though each tab on the page.

2. Write a brief summary about what you looked at. What did you find that you didn't know about already? Is the work environment what you expected? Is the average pay what you expected?

3. Look through this Similar Occupations

4. Write a post about what you found on this tab. Which job is close in pay to the one you want? Would you want to further your education for a similar occupation?


My response:

Occupational Outlook
On this website, it tells you all about what you need to know about being an elementary teacher. While on this site, I looked at what kind of degree it takes to become an elementary teacher, the type of on-the-job training it takes, the number of jobs that were available in 2010, and what the pay was. What I found on the site that I didn't know already was the pay. I thought that most teachers got paid like 30,000 but actually, they get paid on average 51,380. With that being said, the average pay is not what I expected it to be. The working environment seems to be exactly what I thought it was going to be. What I like about this site, is that it tells you about the positive and negatives of teaching.

Similar Occupations
There are a lot of similar occupations to that of elementary education. Some that I didn't even think about. For example, teacher assistants, career and technical educational teachers, instructional coordinators, and postsecondary teachers. Middle school teachers are the closest in pay to what elementary teachers get paid. This actually surprises me because I expected middle school teachers to get paid closer to what high school teachers get paid because they have to take the same amount of classes in college. As for wanting to possibly furthering my education, I would want to become a principal after teaching for a while. For that to happen, I would have to get my master's degree.

C4T 3

Larry Ferlazzo
Mr. Ferlazzo had a guest post this week by John Thompson. In this guest post he was talking about how people are worrying about scores and bad teachers that just teach the test. Colleges are now not taking standardized tests as seriously in Texas because teachers are only teaching the test. So school systems are weening out the bad teachers and poor working students. But John with a bunch of colleagues started fighting back because as school systems are worried about getting the bad teachers out, they have ignored the good teachers and students. They are fighting for those teachers.

Well it seems as though I have Mr. Ferlazzo again. This week, well actually today he made a post with recent articles and posts of the educational policies. He has included links to Valerie Strauss’ blog at The Washington Post, Linda Darling Hammond being interviewed, John Prosser's post on the overall educational policy, Diane Ravitch’s blog post about raising concerns about teaching in America.

C4K March

Dilan
Mrs. Goerend's 5th grade class were writing posts about amendments. Dilan said if it weren't for Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks, his life would be totally different. He said that he wouldn't have his friends Ian and Bradley.

Chloe
This week Chloe had volleyball tryouts. She was so excited about the tryout and the tips the coach gave her. When the day was over, she rushed home to her computer to find that she had made the first cut.

Hosannah
Hosannah had to write a ten sentence story based on a picture. Her picture was of a dog on a surf board in a body of water. She starts off her story be wondering why the dog is on the surf board, but then all of a sudden, the dog falls off the surf board. He paddles back to the surf board, gets on, and shakes off the water. He decides to face his fears and swim to the shore. That is when Hosannah finds him and comforts him.

Blog Post 11

Ms. Cassidy

This first video was about how first grades use technology. They are learning how to use the internet and how to blog. They mention that each time that they blog they get better and better at writing. One of the first graders talked about what to say when commenting on someone else's blog. They also use smartboards for interactive learning and more hands-on learning. As for further learning and ideas, they will look up thing on wiki or other web pages. They use skype to talk to other children from other classrooms to help them understand anything they are confused about. I know that it usually seems that I am completely against technologies but I'm really not. I just don't believe it is right for technology to take the place of a teacher. With that being said, I wouldn't be totally against having my students blog. That would be one of the technologies that I would use in my classroom that Ms. Cassidy talked about in her skype video. It would be a way for them to express themselves or like Ms. Cassidy's first graders, it could improve their writing skills. It would also show them how to look things up on the internet.

Project 14

Project 11

Blog Post 10

I believe that this cartoon is explaining that although something looks nice and is cheap, like the papermate, it may not always be affordable. The ticonderoga has more of a cheaper look because he has a t-shirt and jeans but is also the most expensive thing. I think the underlying message is don't judge a book by it's cover.

John Spencer
Spencer explains in his post "Why Are Your Kids Playing Games" that he is teaching his kids various scenarios and solutions in a factory setting. This approach is more hands-on. The principal on the other hand, sees this as a game. No matter what is being taught, he strictly does not permit games. At the end of this post, the principal tells the Spencer what should be taught instead of his silly games. Spencer takes this as his way of changing the game. I see Spencer has a rebellious side, honestly. Most teachers would have just agreed with the principal and went on lecturing students. Spencer took this as another challenge.
The post that I chose to read was "The Con Academy"
The Con Academy


Scott McLeod
Scott McLeod travels to different schools. He likes to visit schools that "live on the cutting edge of deeper learning." I think that McLeod makes a strong point in this blog post by stating all the wrong things that are out there for students. He goes to the extremes by saying kids should be locked away from all sorts of technologies. Normally, I would disagree with technologies taking the place of teachers in the long run. But in this case, I don't think kids should be shut away from how to read hyperlinks, or RSS or how to maneuver around the web. I believe it is important for kids to be exposed to everything out there, the good and the bad.

Project 12 Book Trailer

Blog Post 9

Mr. McClung

Mr. McClung's blog post on what he has learned volume 4, talked about how he wanted to write something that he hasn't said in the previous blog posts. But he realized that he hasn't learned as much as he did his other years of teaching. One of the things he learned this year was remember what you came here to do and who to please. He said he spent most of his year trying to get his peers to like him. He had already tried to please his superiors and students but he really wanted to worry about what his peers thought about him. By trying to please his peers, he ended up changing who he was as a teacher. He realized that nothing positive ever came out of adult's opinion of him. All that matter to him was the students that he had. The second thing that he learned this year is that it is really easy to have a routine once you start teaching for a while. But whenever you get a routine, you as a teach become lazy and the classwork becomes boring for the students. Therefore, the students are uninterested. McClung was offered a higher level grade to teach for next year and he decided to take it so he can always challenge himself and not have his lesson plans become routine and boring. In Mr. McClung's first post about how his year went, he first talked about how when being a teacher, it is not all about you. It is about the student. The students comprehension is the biggest thing to worry about. Next he talked about being flexible when making lesson plans. He said he would get mad, when plans didn't go his way. But what he learned the most was to cope with the situation and make the best of it. Another thing that he has learned is communication is best for any situation, talk it out if you have a problem with someone. In addition to that, don't scold children when they don't meet your expectation. Pick them up after they fail and encourage them to do better. All of Mr. McClung's posts where very informative. He said things that oncoming teachers don't really think about. By reading his blog posts, it made me realize that I might do something that he talked about not doing.

Blog Post 8

Richard Miller
Miller was talking about how writing can be in more of a creative way. There will be new ways of telling stories and getting information out. He believes it is fundamentally different. This kind of technology doesn't bother me when I think about applying it to elementary students. It's a way to get their creativity out. I wouldn't solely rely on this for my students for them to develop writing skills but I would definitely use it as a project.

Carly Pugh
Carly was talking about how she was being lazy and that was unusual for her. But they she decided to do her blog post. She quickly got excited because she realized she could right about anything she wanted to. She was talking about her approaches when she becomes a teacher. I think Carly did come really close to Dr. Miller's thoughts on multimedia technology.

Chipper Series and EDM for Dummies
In the Chipper Series it was about a girl who was in Dr. Strange's class and she didn't like his teaching ways. So she drops out of school and starts her own school, it was a fail. She gets a job as a teacher but ends up getting fired because she didn't show up for work. Then she became a server and that didn't work out. Her next jobs were being a nanny and a garbage collector. All in all, she goes back to school to get her masters degree. EDM for Dummies is like a commercial that has students that are going crazy before they had got EDM310 for Dummies, the book. After they got the book, their life was so much better.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
I don't believe that they were "attacking" the way that we know of schooling today. I think they were gently telling us that the work is changing and new technologies are forming out there. They were saying that we, as educators, need to be aware of what is going on and be able to apply that to the classroom. What also was said is that school is one form of learning but so are our communities, libraries, and internet. I like that this was said but it's not forgetting that teachers need to teach. Nowadays, teachers don't even teach and I think they are losing their credibility this way.

Scavenger Hunt
Emdodo could help me connect to parents and also other teachers and allow them to talk to me whenever. It's like facebook but more with more class.
The link for my poll is http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/6sWwUvIRLDxvQ43
The link for my comic is http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/?comix_id=8770580C938026

C4T 2

Michael Vaughn
Mr. Vaughn was discussing the new free apps available on an iPad for students. The new app is called inClass. InClass allows students to organize and keep track of the notes they take in class. It also has built in calendars and schedules for reminders. Michael prefers to use Evernote because it allows you to integrate with different networks.

Larry Ferlazzo
Mr. Ferlazzo had a guest post this week by John Thompson. In this guest post he was talking about how people are worrying about scores and bad teachers that just teach the test. Colleges are now not taking standardized tests as seriously in Texas because teachers are only teaching the test. So school systems are weening out the bad teachers and poor working students. But John with a bunch of colleagues started fighting back because as school systems are worried about getting the bad teachers out, they have ignored the good teachers and students. They are fighting for those teachers.

Podcast Project 8