Blog Post 10

Adventures in Pencil Integration

This picture is about two different brands of pencils. However I think the picture represents the two different brands in everything you can buy, for example a Mac or a PC. A Mac is going to cost more but it allows users to be able to use features that a PC doesn't have. While a PC will be cheaper but it might break more. Or another example could be when buying groceries. The off brand is going to be cheaper but it might not provide as many nutrients as the name brand items. Or fashion when people pay 50 dollars for a t-shirt, that t-shirt might be awesome but you can get a t-shirt that might rip a little easier for 10 dollars. So I think the Image just represents the choice between paying more or settling for less. 

Why were your kids playing games

In Why were you playing games it is a blog post that tries to show how schools are to worried about standardized tests scores and not actually learning. In the post he is in a scenario where his students are doing a simulation and having fun and learning. However, the principal calls him in and tells him that he thinks it is a game and he should stop. The teacher tries to explain that it is not a game like tic tac toe it is engaging the students and allowing them to learn and have fun at the same time. I think this post is a pretty comical way to address a real problem in the education system. In which all teachers and administrators care about is results on tests instead of the students. With little comical stories like why were your kids playing games, hopefully more and more school systems will try and adopt the student first not test scores first theory. 

The other post I read was Are Pencils making us narcissistic? In this post it is another story about how a teacher and his principal don't agree with how the teacher is teaching in the classroom. In the story the teacher is saying pencils but he really means the interenet. The principal is saying that he doesn't like the new way and that they should stick to the old way of doing stuff. The teacher however believes that it is better for the student to be producing for a larger audience. He finishes by saying it is essentially the same thing as when people used to write letters to their friends in the social network. The difference is this social network just allows students to write to more friends faster. 

Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?

Scott McLeod has a PHD., which makes him a doctor, and currently works as the Director of Innovation for Prairie Lake Area Education Agency 8 in Iowa. Also he helped create the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education. His post is a sarcastic post that is about how he is telling teachers the disadvantages of teaching about computers. But he ends with saying go ahead don't teach your students but I will and we will compare where they are in ten to twenty years. I like the post because it stresses the importance of preparing our students by teaching them to be the most technologically literate they can be because we have no clue what will happen in the future. 

Smart Board Project #14

Blog Post #9

Mr. McClung Volume 1

I decided that since I really have no clue what to expect in my first year of teaching I would read Volume one of Mr. McClung's Blog. I really enjoyed reading it and I kind of want to read it before class everyday of my first year of teaching. He talks about how when he first arrived he was to worried about what people were going to think of him, which seems to be a big problem, and that it affected his performance trying to impress everyone. He said he learned that the key to being a good teacher is to let your audience guide you in the correct way. This sounds to easy but I think he is extremely right. You could be the smartest professor in the world but if your students can't learn the way you are teaching you will be a terrible teacher. The next point he goes to is to be flexible. Don't let your determination to have the perfect lesson plan get in the way of teaching. He said bad things happen and sometimes you have to stray off the lesson plan, but good teachers except this change and are able to change with it and still be able to reach the kids. His peace of advice is to change with a smile :). He said he learned that communication is a huge part in teaching not just with your students but with the faculty as well. He advises to communicate with everyone that a way people will be able to help you become a better teacher. He said he learned that teachers have to be reasonable. Every teacher wants to go in everyday and change a life but people aren't perfect so that can't happen. He says that when students don't meet your expectation don't get upset learn and change they way you approach teaching them. Another thing he learned, which I am learning right now, don't be afraid to use technology. Technology is there to help us teach and to make learning fun for students. Mr. McClung knows computers are difficult but he also knows that teaching with them has huge advantages. He gives the advice to listen to your students. That they are the ones you are there for so listen to what they have to say. He also says that the key to being a good teacher is to know about your students. The more you know about your students the more respect you will receive. Finally he says he learned to never stop learning. He says that we live in a learning environment so why not learn. After reading this post I think it is probably the best advice I have heard about being a teacher. I agree with Mr. McClung and I hope I can learn from his lessons.

Mr. McClung Volume 4

In this volume Mr. McClung said that he learned two very important things this year, and that they were to teach to who you are assigned to teach and never settle. I think these two lessons are extremely important because as I was reading them in Mr. McClung's Blog I was thinking to myself wow I feel like that is exactly what I am going to do as a teacher. The first lesson Teach who you are assigned to teach refers to how he tried to impress his peers when he was teaching this year. He got so caught up in how he thought the other teachers viewed him as a teacher that he forgot to be a good teacher to the kids and not just his peers. I feel like this is an extremely important lesson to learn because I feel I have the same problem now. I always worry about other people perceive me instead of doing the best job that I think their is. Reading this blog has hopefully made me realize that I can't be concerned with how other people view my styles, as long as they work that is all that matters.

The second lesson he learned, which I am scared this is going to happen to me, is he realized he was becoming a lazy teacher. He started using old lesson plans and not trying to figure out cool new ways to teach the material because he had already done it three times. I know when I get into a habit of things that I tend to stay in that habit especially if it has brought success before, but as Mr McClung found out that isn't fair to your students. Teachers should always try to improve their methods because that way students will realize that their teachers are working hard for them so the can learn better. Reading this blog post has taught me that no matter what we can't stop improving because if we do its not fair for the future.

Project #12 Book Trailer

Blog #8

In Honor of spring break I decide to make my picture the beach

Richard Miller

Richard Miller is a professor at Rutgers University and he has two very interesting about writing in the multi media. His videos writing in multi-media talk about how important it is to start writing in the multi-media this way your writing will last and be able to be ready to be read a lot quicker. In his videos he shows how the multi-media works and exactly what all of the positives can be. In the video he explains about how if he were to write an article that it would have to then be published in a newspaper that would then only get delivered if a certain person orders the newspaper then might be thrown in the trash before it is even read. While on the other hand he could post it online and this way it will be ready to read in a matter of minutes and will be saved forever for anyone who wants to read it.

I definitely think I am prepared to write in the multi-media, especially if I want to make sure something can be read by anyone. writing in the multi-media allows someone to be able to link videos and sound to a project other than just pictures and text. With this advantage it not only allows the text to be more engaging but it makes the text get the point across in a clearer way too. With the multi-media it also allows for the up to the minute results instead of sitting and having to wait days or weeks to know what is going on. Anyone who is not prepared to write in the multi-media is not prepared to stay on top of facts with the quickest and most precise way of information.

I definitely will be teaching my students how to write in the multi-media. With me being an english teacher it is even more critical to teach my students the importance of getting their assignments online. This way they can have a bigger audience and hopefully will allow them to be recognized. Also the more that my students know about how the multi-media works the better off they will be in the future, which is ultimately where the employers of the future will be looking.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post 

Carly's Blog is a really good example of working in the multi-media. With her idea to create a youtube playlist of how to be a good teacher it is making people research and select videos online to stream something for the classroom. This is a wonderful idea it helps people understand that websites such as youtube aren't just for fun, that they can be used for a learning experience and to express what matters to certain people. I think Carly has really good ideas for when she becomes an english teacher and I definitely am going to steal the idea of having my students imagine themselves as characters and create their own autobiography. I think Carly understood the assignment perfectly and realizes the importance that multi-media visuals can bring to a writing that just plain text can't.

EDM310 Is Different

The Chipper Series and EDM 310 for Dummies  are actually two pretty funny videos, that have a serious meaning. I enjoyed watching them because it was an example of every students reaction when they start this class. The videos are a funny joking way to get across the serious matter that to be successful not only in this class but in real life a person has to be dedicated and be able to meet deadlines not procrastinate and be responsible. If i had to make a video about EDM 310 I would like to do a before and after video. Have me before EDM 310 looking spiffy but showing up late to class and disturbing the class by answering my cell phone. I would want the teacher to say that we had something mandatory to do that weekend, but while I'm on the phone say, "oh no, this weekend yeah I'm free nothing planned." then have a montage of a clock and me stressing out over late work then at the end have an after EDM 310 where I look more tired but I arrive in class on time prepared turn my phone off and take solid notes. I think this would be a funny video but would also allow future students that this class will make you focus on school and teach you how to be an organized and scholarly student if you are willing to learn.

Learn to Change and Change to Learn

In Learn to Change and Change to Learn it describes the importance that we need to start emphasizing on education. The U.S. department of Commerce ranked 55 department sectors, and education came in last place. This absolutely blew my mind to know that education ranked last on this board. This video really inspired me to want to be a great teacher and to want to teach my future students not only to do things well but to find out how to do other things well as well. It really just got on my nerves that educating our youth which is the future of america came in last place on this ranking when it should be in the top 5 at least. I strongly recommend watching the video and seeing and hearing for yourself what the country need to do and as teachers what we need to do to make sure that our future is in capable hands.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0

1) The social website I found was edmodo. It is a site where teachers and students can have a virtual classroom. I think that this website could definitely be useful in the future because I am planning on being an english teacher and the website allows you to have a class library. With this Library I will be able to share all the books I assign to my class online so this way they won't have to spend all of there hard earned money to buy them. Also this website allows the teacher to have a class calendar. I also think this is a good idea especially for high school students. I know that while I've been in college having a planned out syllabus has allowed me to better prepare for all of my classes so if my students will be able to know what assignments are coming up it will help reduce procrastination. Also this website allows you to create quizzes and assignments online so I will be able to assign online quizzes for homework or online assignments so no more my dog ate my paper excuses. All in all I think edmodo is a great website and if it is still around I will definitely try and incorporate it in my classes.

3) I found a website to create your own comic strip and I had a lot of fun with it. I decided to create a comic about my everyday life and how my mom is always trying to feed me.

5) So I created a poll on probably the most debatable question there is which drink is better chocolate milk or orange juice. I created the poll using www.PollEverywhere.com and I really would like your feedback on my poll. At first I thought I wasn't going to like doing this scavenger hunt but I had a good time doing it and I'm glad that Dr. Strange added it to the course.

C4T #2

Post #1

My teacher I was assigned is Greta Sandler, her blog is titled "About a Teacher." In her latest blog she writes about how great and helpful blogs are. She writes about how when she was at the young age of 9 that she would have long conversations with her great uncle about poetry. Then when she got older, for some reason she developed writers block. She goes on to explain that one day her friend, Pernille Ripp, asked her to write a guest post on her blog. After she wrote the post, she began getting bombarded with comments, questions, and thoughts. This is how her blog was born, and ever since she has been continuing to write posts and she claims it has helped her become a better teacher. This is the reason I really enjoyed this post, because it made me realize that blogs can not only be fun, but also help people learn.

Comment #1

In my comment I wrote about how when I was young that I didn't like to write, but once I hit college I enjoyed to like it. So I wrote that I'm happy that she found something that rekindled her interest in writing. I told her that her story made me realize that blogs aren't just posts on a website that for some people blogs can open up the doors to what they love and how to do things better.

Post #2

Mrs. Sandler unfortunately did not post since the last time I had checked so I went to the post before hand. This post was on kids teaching other kids how to blog. I think the best part of her blog was she had a bunch of quotes from different kids talking about blogging and how much fun they were having. The main focus of her post was telling that she was really excited and how excited her kids were about the idea of blogging. I definitely recommend everyone reads it. Mrs. Sandler's Class Blog

Comment #2

For my comment I just wrote about how awesome I thought it was that she had all of her kids comments on her post. It really showed how excited the kids are and where the kids get their inspiration from. I also told her that I wished she would have posted again because she hasn't posted in a very long time. I finished by telling her I loved her blog and that I was happy that I had a chance to read it.

Project #8 Podcast