C4T #4 Summary

Wesley Fryer

For this C4T I was assigned to Wesley Fryer. Wesley Fryer is definitely one beyond words. I would definitely like to meet him because he writes some pretty interesting blog posts. In Wesley Fryer's first blog post that I commented on, he writes about all the amazing uses of his phone. He also writes about how he is blogging on an airplane from 36,000 feet in the air! That amazed me. He is a very dedicated blogger to say the least. He was taking a flight from a conference in phoenix back home to Oklahoma City. His post was about his first time using inboard in-flight WiFi on an airplane. He updates different airline ticket prices and other interesting things on his cell phone.

Here is my comment for Wesley Fryer: Hi there Wesley Fryer! I am an EDM310 student at the University of South Alabama. I was assigned to you blog my professor, Dr. Strange. I thought your blog was great and very informative about how technology has developed and grown thus far. I recently got a smartphone so I am now using all of the media that is made available for people. Just this weekend, I had visited New Orleans, LA and I had to use my GPS. Without the GPS, I probably would have ended up in Texas somewhere. So I am pretty dependent on my new smartphone. I love how I can receive and reply to emails from my fellow classmates and my professors. Another APP that I am thrilled to have is Skype. I have always been a fan of the standard Skype that I have on my computer, but now that I have one on my phone, I am set! Thanks for posting such a lovely post about your trip and your technology uses! An EDM student at the University of South Alabama Emilie Rinehart.

Wesley Fryer's second blog post that I commented on was very heartfelt for me. The blog post was about a video that was shared at his church one Sunday morning. The video is done by a young lady who has undergone several surgeries since birth. I can only imagine the struggles this young lady and her family have been through over the years. The video is a remake of the song by David Phelps: No More Night. She remakes this song by doing a touching sign language performance. This video really touched me because I know sign language and I have seen some of the difficulties that people go through with hearing impaired handicaps. I wanted to show the two YouTube videos so everyone could see how touching they really are. I commented to on his blog by telling him how much his blog post impacted me and I told his about my church and how we have a session designated to those who are hearing impaired.

Final Report on PLN

We are suppose to have a final report on our PLN. The PLN assignment was probably my favorite assignment in EDM310. I liked it because it forced me to become organized and to search for more useful tools. In the process I also found wonderful sites that I use daily. I am going to pass the idea of the PLN down to my future students and my future colleagues because I think it will benefit them as much as it has me. I think I will continuously be adding different tiles for my PLN. There is always going to be something out there that I can find to use daily! I thank Dr. Strange for encouraging us to search for more resources and organize them so they are right at our fingertips.

Blog Post #13

Engage in an E-Media Fast

I learned very quickly on Saturday, April 28th, that I am not the right person to take up new hobbies such as fasting. It was really hard going from using my phone every few minutes of the day, my laptop at least once a day, and usually watching one show a day, to having to eliminate all technology as a whole. I didn't realize how many electronics I used on a daily basis until I started this assignment. My cell phone is always near at all times because my family and I live in different cities. So when I decided to commit to this challenge, I had to tell my family that I would be out of touch on Saturday for a school assignment. My dad definitely had zero faith in me because he knows how attached to my new phone I am. I mean, he is the one who decided to get me the phone so I would be "up to-date" with the times anyway! I have literally everything on my phone. Everything from my Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and of course my communication from texting to calling everyone I know. So I chose to do my fasting on Saturday because I work at night from 4:30 to about 10:00. We are not allowed to use our phones at work anyway so I thought it would be a great idea to at least try. Saturday morning I woke up around 6:45 to let my dogs out and to get ready for a beautiful day without technology. I studied for an hour or so for the Praxis in the morning, which required zero media or electronic devices. After the studying, My boyfriend and I went to Wal-Mart and Lowes to get some shopping done for our house. Once I went to work, I put all of my belongings (my purse which included my cell phone) in the back and got to work. I had almost accomplished my fasting but I realized I had to ask my sister about a day that I had to take off for her baby shower that was coming up. I asked my manager of course if I could text her in the office and then get back to work. After I texted, I realized I had just FAILED my fasting assignment. I think this assignment is a great way for EDM310 students to really realize how much technology has grown and come to know how much they really use these electronics on a daily basis.

Project #15 SmartBoard Instructional Lesson

Creativity and Curiosity: My Thoughts- Special Post #12A

I personally do believe schools destroy curiosity and creativity in schools. A lot of school systems require their teachers to have a strict lesson plan and only teach on certain topics. I think boundaries are good but to really embrace the growing mind, we should expand our teaching and learning boundaries. A lot of schools allow creativity and curiosity to be destroyed because they want a black and white system with nothing in between. I think students should have a little bit of grey. The grey is a prime example of opposite of the old fashion way of learning and teaching. I do not think students are actually learning anything. They are so focused and their minds are so drilled on having things memorized to pass their chapter tests.

I definitely believe a curriculum can be developed to increase creativity and curiosity. I think it may be tough to get everyone within the system on board, but I believe it is possible! I think by incorporating short projects, games, and sideshows within the lesson plan,students could gain more prospective and stay in tune with the topic to be learned. I know there is always a more creative and engaging way to teach. We as educates just need to do a little more research to discover it. I think if the curriculum can get the students attention and allows them in interact then I believe the curiosity will be increases. I like games that you can play that include vocab words. Students like to feel like they are having fun while learning.

I truly believe teachers actions can increase curiosity and creativity. As a future educator, I think we must keep our students interested in learning and learning even more. I want to be the teacher who would spend extra time to make sure his/her students know the material rather than just get the lesson plan done on time or as quickly as possible.

Blog Post #12

For this assignment I am suppose to explore the tools in technology to make an assignment for my future classroom. I began searching the internet for sites that were similar to "Timetoast", "Edmodo",and "Animoto." I came across the site Kizoa and I wanted to explore it even more. I liked this site because you can do so much with your photos and videos. With Kizoa you can make sideshows with text, photos, effects, and music. You can also make collages and edit photos. I like how you can make collages because I want to make an assignment at the beginning of the year where each student is required to make a collage on Kizoa. This site is so easy to use and it is fun! If you have a email, Facebook, Twitter, or blog; you can upload pictures from these and use them on in the collage in just minutes. You can also upload your video to Youtube. It would depend if I would require students to upload. I would probably have an assignment where students would have to collaborate with one another in groups and make a slideshow that can help teach the class. I decided to make my own slideshow of my favorite photos. I chose family photos, pictures of my boyfriend and I, and pictures of my puppies (Sadie and Stella). I would share this with my class so they could gain some perspective of how Kizoa works. Here is the Link to it. I hope you enjoy! My Kizoa Slideshow

Progress Report on Project #16

My group members for Project # 16 are as followed: Carly Willoughby, Lindsey Edwards, and Michelle Nix. After meeting last Thursday, we decided to do our project assignment around the concept of using EDM310 techniques in our future classroom. We are going to have one of us act as if they are the teacher and the remaining group members will be the students. We will pretend we are actually learning some of the techniques and concepts that we have gained in EDM310. We will show the benefits of blogging, we will talk about timetoast and show the class one that we have constructed, we will visit the Edmodo website, and finally, we will play around with the Smartboard.

C4K Summary for April

For the Month of April we were assigned to Mrs. Cassidy's class. We were told that these comments that were reading were apart of the "World Challenge". For this challenge we were assigned to one student from Mrs. Cassidy's class and we were suppose to continue to comment throughout the month of April. However, my student that I was assigned to did not have anymore current posts so I went back and commented on ones from the past. My last comment for C4K's was a different student. My first student I commented on was Jadein who is from Vancouver, Canada and Dylan who is a first grader from Moose Jaw, Canada.

The comment to Jadein that I commented on was her blog post about a book she read. Her blog post is entitled, The Sock Monkey Blog. I thought that was so cute because I grew up having a sock money. A sock monkey is a soft monkey stuffed animal. The book that Jadein wrote about is called "Silverwing". I thought it was so neat that she made a book trailer. It was right around the same time that we were assigned to making our own book trailers. She wrote a short summary of why she enjoyed the book and then had the book trailer right below it. This is what Jadein wrote: "Sliverwing is an fantastic book about a young bat named Shade who has to battle his way back to his family. This book will leave you on the top of your chair with amazement. You won’t want to stop reading it. I can’t properly describe it with words, so maybe pictures will do it better. This book is so great I made a book trailer for you, because everything I said is absolutely true. Oh yay!"

This is my comment back to Jadein: "Hi there Jadein! My name is Emilie and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I like the title of your blog, “The Sock Monkey Blog”. I use to have a sock monkey when I was younger. I thought it was neat that you did a book trailer because I was recently assigned one for my EDM310 class. I made my book trailer on a book called, “Hidden Feast”. This book was about a barn yard party. Mine was similar to yours! You did a great job making your book trailer because I definitely would like to read the book Silverwing! Do you have any other books that you would consider making a book trailer for? I look forward to hearing back from you Jadein. Good luck with your future book trailers. Thanks for the great post, Emilie"

My Second post to Jadein was a previous post she had written on New Years Revolution 2012. In this blog post she talks about how she wants to make goals for different parts of her life. I thought it was so smart of her to break her goals down into categories so she could have a clear understanding of what she was trying to accomplish. Jadein has a personal goal, a local goal, a global goal, and a school goal. This is Jadein's blog post: "Want to hear about my New Year’s resolutions? I’m not going to make a few resolutions then fail before January even ends. 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail right in peoples’ faces because they think it’s just going to happen, so we are trying to be that 20% that succeeds. It’s going to be hard but I think I’m going to live…..”sigh”….. I should be more happy about it, right? I should think more about the resolutions. Some people are thinking more about “the end of the world”. I personally believe the world is NOT going to end and I don’t get why people are fussing about it. If the world really does, I would probably make the best of it. But I should probably talk about how New Years started, right? I have no choice, anyways. New Year’s started in Mesopotamia 4000 years ago in Sumer. Have you heard about Mesopotamia or Sumer? Mesopotamia was one of the first civilizations and Sumer was a kingdom in it. This all took place where Iraq is today. Back then New Year’s resolutions weren’t about quitting smoking and losing weight. It was mostly about growing healthy crops. We took it and made it to our own thing – all thanks to the Mesopotamians! My New Years resolutions: Personal Goal: My personal goal is to go outside more because I’m bored of staying inside all day. I don’t play any sports and don’t go to any groups that involve being out in nature. I’m just that type of person, I guess. I only like to stay inside, play video games, and be on the Internet! It’s a BIG part of my life and that’s why I want to change it. My plan is to hangout with friends more and take my dogs for long, scenic walks. Global Goal: My global goal is to make more blog posts. As I said in my personal goal, the Internet is a large part of my life, but, the one thing I didn’t say is I don’t make enough blog posts and since it is a part of my grade it would be better for me to do so. My plan is to put my posts in my own words because this blog is about about me and what I care about. The more I put in my own words the more happy I will feel, which obviously will make me less miserable. I can also teach others about global issues which can help people be aware of what’s going anywhere in the world. Maybe it could help change the world and make it a better place and more accomodating and accepting to others. Local Goal: My local goal is to recycle more because sometimes the recycling is all gross and makes my family look like we don’t care about healthy choices. We have a home and I want it to look nice and help out my neighbourhood and community. My mom gets mad when I haven’t sorted and cleaned up our recycling. If I can remember to do it more often or build a schedule for it I will be able to stay on top of what it should be like and avoid what it has come to be. School Goal: My school goal is to do more work because I don’t like being behind on my school work and leaving school with a ton of homework. Since I came to this school, it’s been better and right now I’m pretty on task, but if I can get better at it now, then I will be prepared for next year in highh school. I don’t want it to be like grade five again when I had so much homework, it hurt my back just looking at it. My plan is to stay organized with my work, like what homework should I do first or finding out what’s overdue and what’s SUPER-overdue. Writing this super long post is my first step! I have a plan. I will succeed."

Here is my comment for Jadein:Hi there Jadein! Your blog post about having a New Year’s resolution was great! It is a very good idea to have goal. I make a conscious effort to establish new goals for myself. I like how you separated your goals into categories. It is great to keep your goals organized so you will come closer to achieving them! I am definitely like you, I need to set aside a goal to go outside more. With technology evolving, we tend to stay in and serve the internet and play on play stations. I also like how you want to make more blog posts for you global goals. I am in EDM310 and we are assigned blogs every week. After I am through with this class I will definitely further my blogging. I am having so much fun commenting on other blogs and browsing!

My last blog post that I commented on for April was for Dylan's blog in Mrs. Cassidy's class. His blog was a short blog but I tried to ask him questions about why he liked to ride his bike and what his favorite art work was at the museum he went to. this is Dylan's blog post: "Me and deion went on buesugls (bikes)and we went to the ortmeuzeyum (Art Museum)toogethr" I commented back to Dylan by asking him what type of weather he likes to ride his bike in and what type of Art work he enjoyed to look at when he goes to the museum.

Blog Post #11

Little Kids...Big Potential

Kathy Cassidy is such a wonderful teacher. I enjoyed her video because it is so wonderful that children at a young age can use technology and really enjoy it! The children in the video seemed so interested and engaged. They loved to write on their blogs because it helped to polish their writing skills. It is a great thing that teachers, such as Mrs. Cassidy, are computer literate and are willing to help make a different in their students lives. I thought it was really neat how Mrs. Cassidy changes up the way she uses technology in the classroom. She wants to allow her students to be able to experience as much as they can but also meet the needs they may have within their studies. I definitely think it is a great idea for students to develop such a passion for the intelligence of technology at a young age.

Skype Interview with Kathy Cassidy

Wow! I hope I become a teacher like Mrs. Cassidy. She is very smart and she seems so passionate about technology and her students. It is pretty cool that she has had her class blog for over five years. I am glad that I am finally becoming more literate in the world of technology. I like how with only five computers, she incorporated technology into the classroom and found wonderful tools and sites for her younger students to use. She says that with fives, you can make an area for students to learn, hence the five computers she had access to. It is a great idea that Mrs. Cassidy takes safety measures in regards to her students. With her blogs, she does not match student names with students pictures. I think that passing out forms in the beginning of the year to enable the students' work to be put on the internet is a great idea and is nice for parents to get involved. Once I become an educator, I will definitely have a class blog to allow my students parents to keep up with their progress throughout the school year. I think it is very important to keep teacher and students, students and parents, parents and teachers, and administrators and everyone else connected. I think we should continuously try to incorporate ways of learning and teaching with technology into our curriculum. I think it makes learning more fun and teaching more organized, and who doesn't want that? I feel honored that I was assigned to watch Mrs. Cassidy's class video about how they use technology and also her Skype interview with Dr. Strange. She is making a wonderful difference and changing her students view on learning by integrating technology into her curriculum. These students are going to be very knowledgeable and I am sure they will be thanking Mrs. Cassidy in their future years in school. I definitely will have to say, "Well done Kathy Cassidy, you are an inspiration!"

Blog Post #10

Do You Teach Or Do You Educate?

The video, Do You Teach Or Do You Educate?, is a short video that describes "To Teach" or "To Educate". I thought the video was short and sweet but I also wanted more details. I feel like I already know the teacher I am going to be and I know I will incorporate the appropriate amount of either teaching or educating. I think a good teacher, in time, and with experience should be able to establish when to teach and when to educate.

Webster's dictionary states that to teach is "to impart knowledge of or skill in; give instruction in." I believe for one to be a good teacher, they must not "bark" at their students or preach at them, but motivate them and try to inspire them. Teachers should have a passionate outlook on educating and not just look at it as a job 5 days a week. You should always love what you do and I know by combining teaching and educating them you can make it fun and instructional. If we can learn to incorporate fun and interesting topics into our curriculum then students will be more alert and ready to learn.

I want to be the teacher that my students can look by and say that I inspired them and change their learning experience. I want to be the teacher that made learning fun and kept my students focused and engaged. I want to be the teacher that shows compassion, advices her students, and most of all helps to create the foot steps to their intellectual journey. I definitely believe one can teach and educate. You, the teacher, just has to be able to use the two in an affective way.

Don't Let Them Take The Pencils Home by Tom Johnson

After reading Tom Johnson's blog post, Don't Let Them Take The Pencils Home, I thought to myself, "wow, pencils really are important." I never really thought about how pencils could be used or thought as toys in inter city schools. It actually makes sense to me now. With these students having parents who do not supply things such as pencils would enable them to view a "pencil" as a toy. Also the academic specialist talks about when students play with pencils, their test scores become lower and lower. The specialist thinks when students take pencils home and play games such as "hangman" then they lose all test taking capabilities. I think when Mr. Johnson says he does not mind if his students play such games is a good thing. Mr. Johnson seems like a great teacher and I know test taking can make students nervous about taking these board tests. I want to allow my students to be great test takers and feel like they can always ask questions so they can accomplish these board tests to the best of their ability. Teaching is about learning and growing and I want to continue to grow and better myself as an educator.

Blog Post #9

What I Have Learned This Year

Mr. McClung is definitely an eager and enthusiastic educator. It was nice to read about someone who is going through what I am about to go through. He discusses details about his first three years teaching. He talks about the changes he has made within himself within the classroom. When constructing lesson plans you're not always going to be perfect. You have to learn to make the lesson plan and simple teach it as best as you can. The lesson does not always turn out the way you would hope but sometimes that is a good thing. He talks about how he always strived to be the "perfect" teacher, but that is not always the outcome. You should not center your classroom around your superiors but center it around your actual students. In all actuality it's the students who are gaining knowledge from your teaching! I like how honest Mr. McClung was in his blog. He is always stating how he felt and how he would better himself as an educator. I would say Mr. McClung is a true inspiration.

Communication was stated in Mr. McClung's first blog and I think that is a prime priority in education. If one is unable to communicate with their superiors, co-workers, and students then they have lost the main objective of being a teacher. He talks about how communication is one of the hardest concepts to overcome, but always practice to ensure your skills are at best use. I strive to better my communication skills in everything I do. Weather it be with my family, boyfriend, co-workers, and customers at work. Being a server, is an excellent way to learn how to better my communication skills, on a professional level and casual.

In Mr. McClung's second blog most, What I Have Learn This Year, he talks about not being a control freak. Mr. McClung says he will not be one of those teachers who because a bit batty and more and more controlling. Teachers tend to control their students without even knowing they are doing it! There are simple ways to prevent yourself, the educator, from being a control freak. Simple allow your students to get their own handouts as Mr. McClung stated and give students classroom duties that can be done by not only teacher but also students! Mr. McClung is so clever to me. I think students should have more responsibilities in the classroom so the teacher isn't so controlling and commanding. I personally would like to be an educator where students can learn from my lessons but also enjoy them.

C4T with Justin Tarte

Justin Tarte- Life of an Educator...

My second teacher that I was assigned was Justin Tarte. The First blog post I read of his was Leave a Legacy... written on March 17th 2012. I was glad that I was assigned to this post because it was quite enlightening and refreshing. Justin talks about how we as human beings do often wonder what people think of us and we spend way too much of our time stressing what others think than ourselves. He discusses how important it is to leave a positive legacy not only as an individual but also as an educator. Weather you are doing something or not people are all constantly noticing you so you must leave a positive and respectable legacy.

I commented on Justin's Blog Post by telling that his post was a well written post. He is such an intelligent educator. I hope to leave a positive legacy and one that could change the lives of others. I think everyone should read this particular blog because it is enlightening, positive, and encouraging.

Mindset: Start Making the Shift...

I read Justin Tarte's blog post, written on March 25th, about a book he read entitled, "Mindset", by Carol Dweck. The book talks about how there are two different types of mindsets, The "fixed" mindset and the "growth" mindset.

A fixed mindset avoids challenges, while a growth mindset embraces challenges...

A fixed mindset gets defensive or gives up easily, while a growth mindset persists in the face of adversity...

A fixed mindset sees effort as fruitless or worse, while a growth mindset sees effort as a path toward mastery...

A fixed mindset ignores useful negative feedback, while a growth mindset learns from criticism...

A fixed mindset feels threatened by the success of others, while a growth mindset finds lessons and inspiration from the success of others...

A fixed mindset will plateau early and achieve less than their full potential, while a growth mindset will reach ever-higher levels of success...

I comment back on Justin Tarte's blog post by telling him I want to have a "fixed" mindset and a "growth" mindset. By having a "fixed" mindset, I will have intelligence that is static and with "developed" mindset I will have intelligence that will continue to grow and develop.

C4K Summary for March

I was assigned to Bubble Bee for my March 4th C4K. The blog post was about why she thought her class and her deserved stickers from her teacher. Her blog post was short but to the point. She has a list of five items that are characteristics of good behaviors.
Her list is as followed:
1.We work quietly during tests and concentrate.
2.We get good grades because we study hard .
3.We listen in class during important events.
4.Respect teachers decisions.
5.We read diligently.

I commented back by telling her how much a great idea it is to have set goals and behaviors to earn things such as stickers. I preceded too ask her what of stickers she liked and how many she has received on a given day.

I commented on Brandon's Blog Post for March 25th. He blog post was a poem about a slug. I believe the theme of the poem was to address bulling. I told him that I thought it was a great idea to talk about bullying through a poem, especially if younger viewers are reading it. His poem could teach kids to stop the act of bullying and to never judge a book by its cover.

"One day there was a little slug called Bob so lets get this story over and done with. He lived with his sister and brother and mum and dad. He carried a big shell on his back. He got bullied a lot in school because he was slimy. He had always been slimy his whole life, but it is not nice being bullied like that. His teacher never believed him because he spent most his life drinking 5 star coffee. It’s very upsetting being a slug because you have to try your hardest to get to school on time because they go really really slow."