C4T #2

Kathy Cassidy's Blog

I was assigned Kathy Cassidy for my second teacher. She has an amazing blog. the post I left a comment on was about kids bringing in their Nintendo DS' and teaching from the DS. The students were able to bring in their DS' and get to play on their DS while doing classwork. My comment mainly said that it was a wonderful idea. I did not know you could use a DS to teach first graders.

The second post I was able to read and comment about was on a thing called "Unplug'd." She mentions about how a bunch of people who are passionate about education come together for a weekend and get to learn and come together. The reason it is called "Unplug'd" is because the location of the conference is where there is no cell phone service, no internet, and so forth. This was a very interesting blog and I enjoyed it very much!

My Timeline

Blog Post 5

Dr.Mcleod

I found out that Scott McLeod is a very important person when it comes to education. When I was reading his "About Me" section on his blog, I found him to be a very interesting person. It said that "he was the founding director of CASTLE," which is "the nation’s only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators." A lot of information can be found at his blog. His post, "Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?" was interesting. It really pointed out that yes, there are bad things that can be found on the internet and that technology is not always used for good, but it is very beneficial! I found myself enjoying it, and was very glad we had to read it and comment on it.

Travis Allen Videos

I thought Travis Allen made excellent points in his videos. He started out so young making an impact on the education system. His iSchool is a wonderful idea. To be able to have everything that goes into school at your fingertips is a fantastic thing. He showed a power point presentation about what the benefits are for using the iSchool. The main thing was money. If people invested into the iSchool, it would cost around 150$. It would save students at least 600$. This is incredible!

Using the iSchool would also save the school money. This is very important, especially in today's economic situation. We need to learn ways to save money and still teach effectively. Using technology is a great way to gain the interest of students as well. Our generation needs some form of entertainment to keep us interested. We do not do well when we just have to sit and listen. When we get to use technology, our attention is so much better. I believe usin technology in the classroom is essential for kids today. This was an awesome video and really opened my eyes to the possibilities.


Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'

I actually have seen this video before. I remember it blowing my mind. It still amazes me that the people never met, and yet they are all singing together. This just shows how powerful the internet can be. If you would like to see the video you can click on the title to get there.

Teaching in the 21st Century

Watching 21st Century Students was really a video that made me think of hohw important it is that I start mastering the skills of the technology that is out NOW! If I get even more behind than what I already am, I will not be able to teach to the best of my abilities. As a young person going into the field of education, I have to realize things are different than from how I learned growing up.

I think it is essential now-a-days that people are knowledgeable about the different kinds of technology out there. I think this is especially important for teachers. If teachers are using technology in the classroom, this means the students are getting to learn about it. I think the video is a good thing for future teachers to watch and think about. I think that our generation of teachers will use technology in the classroom more than any other generation before, and technology will keep increasing in the classroom.

Reading Rockets

While exploring Reading Rocket's Website I clicked on Reading Guides under comprehension. The reason I chose to look at this one a little more closely, was because I feel as if I struggled in reading comprehension throughout school. It was never my strong subject. Because of this, I have never enjoyed reading that much. While looking at the suggestions for reading guides, I found them to be helpful. If a child is struggling, I can use the suggestions that the website offered.

The next thing I looked at was First Year Teacher information. I clicked on that because hopefully in a couple years, I will be a first year teacher. It gave very good information for people who have never taught before. This website is very useful. It has so much information and can be very helpful for teachers. If I was struggling to come up with something to help a student, this website would be a perfect place to go to help me become a better teacher.

My Sentence Video

Blog Post 4

I was so happy to see this assignment. I was excited because I did not really know what a podcast was. All of these videos were very beneficial to watch and to read about. I feel more comfortable and confident that my group will be able to put together a great podcast because of the things I learned from the information I obtained from the videos and readings.

I can not believe that children so young are podcasting. The first link that I read about was first grades creating their own read-along books. This blows my mind. I have just begun to hear about this stuff, and 1st graders are the ones producing a podcast! I think this was a good thing for us to learn more about because it is becoming more and more popular in society. If we are going to utilize blogging and other benefits of technology once we start our careers as teachers, it is very important for us to learn about this now while we still can.

The second was about the benefits of podcasting. This is what helped me the most. I am a visual learner and so seeing the benefits are more important to me than just hearing about them. I know that for my group's podcast, we will be able to utilize some of the techniques that I learned. I learned it can just be conversational or it can be many other things. I also learned that it helps teachers because if a student is absent they can out the lecture online. There were many benefits to podcasting in the classroom.

The third I watched was about what an actual podcast is. This one was very beneficial to me as well. When I first heard about the podcast assignment, I was kinda intimidated. I did not know what it was. This gave a definition and links to show useful tools to use for my own podcast.

All three links were very good. I enjoyed them, and was glad they were provided for us to learn more about podcasting.

Project #5

Blog Post 3

Technology in Special Education

I loved this video. I have never work with special needs children, and I did not know how much technology has helped them in their lives. In my mind I did not understand how long it would take a child to do their assignment before the help of technology. I think that putting the focus on technology is a great thing. Before they had technology, students were having to literally spell everything out by pointing at letters to communicate, but now they have laptops and can type quicker and communicate faster. This enables the children to be able to learn more because less time is spent on trying to communicate everything by pointing at letters to spell it out.

Technology can be used in the classroom for special needs to communicate. It can also be used in more simpler ways. One way that was shown in the video was a boy who had trouble reading small print. Because he has a computer with a special device on it, the font is enlarged, and he can enjoy reading. I think there are many possibilities when it comes to technology in the classroom and helping special need kids. This video was a great demonstration and eye opener for those who did not have a good idea of what technology can do to change someone's life.

"My App For the Classroom"

I chose an app called "Math Dictionary for Kids." I chose this application because there are so many terms when it comes to math. I could use this app in the classroom very easily. If a student had a question about a term, they could look it up with this app. Instead of me having to repeat definitions, they could look it up for themselves and have a better example than what I could give.

"Gary Hayes Social Media Count"

All I thought was "wow." Watching all of the numbers change constantly was amazing to me. The numbers mean to me as a teacher, everybody is using technology. As a teacher, I need to be able to use and teach how to use the technology that is out there. As I watched the numbers ride and rise by the second, I could not help but think "oh my goodness." For some reason the numbers just amazed me. The numbers show that the majority of people are online and using the internet. It shows how much the world has changed and relies on technology to communicate.

Facebook was at the top of the list. This number was rising quickly. Facebook has become how a lot of people communicate with former friends, classmates, and co-workers. Another number that was a high number was how many text messages that were being sent. As I was looking at the sight, I received two text. I think that the technology is going to keep improving and make our lives easier.

"A Vision of Students Today"

I absolutely loved this video. I ad to watch the video twice because the first time I watched it I thought of it as a student. It was hard not to, considering I am a student and a lot of what was going on in the video I could relate to. The video really had me thinking about each of the situations that was presented in the video. Something that stood out to me was how often they are using technology in class, but not for the class. They use it for other purposes. I think as a teacher, they should incorporate technology use for the class so that students are using technology to learn and not just blow off time.

I thought it was funny at the end of the movie when they wrote the advantages of using a chalkboard. The only advantage they showed was it "challenges the teacher to move around." The disadvantages were there were no videos, animations, etc. We are a generation who looks for the videos and animation to keep our focus and to entertain us. I think the education system will eventually be all about electronics in the classroom because people will demand for it.

C4T#1

I was assigned Julie Vincentsen as my teacher to comment on her blog. The first comment I left on her blog was about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It had a video along with it. It showed how people were treated and it gave parts of Dr. King's "I have a Dream" speech. The blog mainly focused on how times have changed and how much of an impact Dr. King has made a difference in our society. It was very interesting and really made me think of how far our country has come as a nation.

The second post I left on her page was from last semester around report card time. The main idea of the post was to encourage people to make their child feel important and like they have done something good. She mentioned about how kids want to impress and make their parents happy. My comment focused on how I thought it was important for parents to reward their kids when they do well on their report cards, and I mentioned how I was rewarded as a child for my grades. I really enjoyed both blog post that I had to read from her blog.

Blog Post 2

"Did You Know?"

When I watched Dr. Strange's video, "Did You Know?", I found myself raising my eyebrows at the statistics that were on the video. I found it amazing about how many people in China would be speaking English as a second language. It was definitely and eye opener. I also found it interesting about the statistics shown about the kids in India. I think this is a important piece of information to motivate teachers to do the best they can in teaching to the best of their ability so that student benefits.

Another piece of information in the video that I was not as surprised to see, was the numbers on how many people owned a computer. It is almost impossible to go to school now a days without a personal computer. Not only does the computer allow you to do research and do school work, most people use computers to communicate. I was also not surprised to see the number of how many students owned a cell phone. Most everyone has a cell phone. It is easy to keep in touch and you can use it whenever. They come in handy if you get stranded, or your car breaks down, or something like that happens. If you do get caught in a bad situation, you have your cell phone to call for help.

"Mr. Winkle Wakes"

Watching "Mr. Winkle Wakes" really made me think how school has not changed. It is all about getting up, going to class, and listening to a teacher talk. The world around us changes constantly, but school is always the same. It feels as if the world is upgrading in every aspect of life, except in the way we do school. I think that if the school system was "upgraded" people might not like it because people are so accustomed to the way things are done in school, and everyone knows how school works.

I think that if people from a hundred years ago could come into our world for a day and see how everything is changed, they would not know what to do, kinda like Mr. Winkle. When he did not know anything familiar, he left. Once he found something familiar, he stayed and enjoyed it. I think this video was very good, and it makes people think about if the way school is done should change or not.

"Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity"

I found this video to be very interesting and humorous. I had never thought about how the education system is the same in all countries. Mathematics and Languages are the most important, and then humanities, and on the bottom is art. Everyone thinks that if you are focusing on art, music, and or dance, they will not be able to have jobs. In today's world, you can get jobs in the arts. I found myself thinking about how often I had to take art classes; I have only taken one art class, my senior year of high school. I was never pushed to be a creative person. I was focused on doing my academics and focusing on good grades. I also played sports. I do not consider myself to be a very creative person. As I watched this video and I thought it might be because arts and being creative was not as important to me as my school work and sports were.

Even though I might not be the most creative person in the world, I am not the least creative. My mom has been a teacher for 10 years, and I plan on doing the same. I believe it is important for teachers to come up with new ways to teach and grab the students attention. I also coach a volleyball team, and when one way doesn't work, I have to come up with another way to teach it to them. I feel as if being creative is essential to teach. As a teacher, you have to be able to teach in different ways because not everyone learns the same way. Hopefully in the future, there will be more importance on being creative and the arts just as there is on mathematics and sciences now a days.

"A Vision for 21st Century Learning"

The main arguments for this video was that technology is a huge part of everyday life. It is how we communicate, learn, teach, and do what we have to do. The point of this video was that technology allows people to learn. With the new technologies we are able to learn about the past and know how far we have come. It is very important for us to use the technology we have to allow us to learn more.

"Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts"

I think that Vicki Davis is doing a great thing. She is utilizing the technology available to teach the students. This is similar to what we are doing in this class. I loved how she said she did not have to know everything to be the teacher. This is a common thought in a lot of peoples mind. If the teacher feels like they know everything and can not do no wrong, the students may feel as if they have to perform perfectly. I think it is important that when you make mistakes you should learn from them.

I liked how the students were teaching her new things. I think this makes the students very self confident of themselves. When a student gets a to teacher something new, I feel as if this makes them feel accomplished and proud of what they are doing, and make them want to do more and learn more.