Final Post Video Reflection

Final PLN Report

I really wasn't as active on the computer as much as I normally am. I only got on the computer to do my work for this class. However, before the class started I would be on the internet hours a day doing any and everything. My PLN helped me so much this semester because it was something I used to use on a regular bases. It wasn't something I had to learn how to do and that was a sigh relief lol. I think my Personal Learning Network will be something I will always use and can introduce in the classroom to my students.

C4K Summary

Lessons learned... In Mr. Clung's class at woodland they have a club day. Club day is when students participate in a club based off of there interest. This particular club day the students played on the Wii. It is a nice break from their normal routine and the teachers also get to build relationships with the students.

Hayley is a student in student in ms. Thompson class. her blog post was about the Japanese Tsunamis. That week they leaned about the tsunamis and she made a picture collage using photos out of the newspaper. She also identified and explain other natural disasters.

Mrs. Yollis is a California teacher. She has been teaching for 24 years. She is currently teaching 3rd grade but in the past she has taught 5th grade. She recently received her Masters in Integrating Technology in the classroom. Her and her husband love to travel when she is not teaching in the classroom. Above all she loves being being a teacher and a student.

Hannah Hacienda is a student is Mrs. Yollises class. Her blog is very nice. She has a jelly bean back ground and it really stands out. For a 3rd grader her blog is very advanced. The post I commented on was when she participated in an Iranianina celebration called Seezdah-Bedar! In this post she explained what the holiday is and when it was celebrated. She was very informative in her post. She had pictures of the celebration and she explained her whole day. I thought it was a very good post because I learned something new.

Final Project #16

Summary of C4T #4

My teacher was Mary Worrell and the name of her blog is See Mary Teach. The first post I commented on was named Giving myself room to learn..and my film making debut. Basically this post was about how she was a teacher who wanted to use technology in the classroom but did not have the resources. And after realizing that using the digital camera/ video in the room would be a lot of work she was a bit happy that she did not have resources. After participating in a collaboration with other teachers she was introduced to video techniques in the classroom. She then saw how easy it was to use and was amazed. She then summed up that if teachers like her would just take the first step and try, they will learn that all it takes is to be brave enough to fail, get back up , and try again.

The second blog post is named the Reading the gender binary. In this post she is talking about the language difference in books that are made for girls to read and boys to read. This blog explains that that the language used for each gender does not always fit. There are girls who are more than boyish and boys who are more than sensitive. These kids are noticing their gender differences at an earlier age and are becoming more comfortable with letting the world that. And the language that we use (in the books for reading) must start portraying that.

Progress Report on Final Project

Our final project is going well. We have picked a topic/ idea and are working on it. I have amazing group members who make every group project worth while. Its actually kind of sad that this will we be our last project together. Anyways I hope you like our final project.

Special Assignment- Mr. McClung's World

Mr. McClung is an 8th grade History teacher in Arkansas. He is in his 3rd year of teaching. He loves to incorporate technology is the classroom as much as possible. He is also a huge sports fan and coaches cross county at the school he works at. As an educator I think he is one that exemplifies how technology should be used in the class room. I think he cares a lot about teaching students. I think that his students is the primary focus. As required I read the class room rules and I must say they are very different. However, I do like them and think they are a great set of rules to have. I never understood why teachers always wanted students to be quiet in the class room. I like how he lets the students know that they must communicate. I think these rules show that he is a very involved teacher and he wants his students to be involved as well. I think everyone needing a calender is very important. Obviously Mr. McClung is VERY organized, by having a daily planner it will help the students become organized. Students need to know how to prioritize their time. I think that Mr. McClung's penalties for homework being late is a little harsh, however, it helps the student learn how to be on time with their work. It will eventually help them for when they get to college. I think that he is doing a wonderful job. his teaching strategies are the best that I read about so far. Many teachers get away from the fact that students learn differently. I think Mr. McClung on the other hand is a great addition to the education system. I only hope that I can be as affective of a teacher as he is.
For my C4K I Lesson Learned 2: Club Activities. I think my child name was Tyler but they had a day each week called club activity. During this time the students would complete their activity. The activity was wii sports. This was a great idea for the students and teachers because it gave the students time to bond, relax, and engage in a positive way. It allowed the students to have a more laid back day and enjoy the students engaging positively.
Mr.McClung's blog is very useful and helpful for teachers, administrator's, parents and students. It allows everyone to see what the classroom is like. It also helps everyone know what is going on in the class room. It keeps everyone updated. Essentially the class blog is an open book to the class room. I think the reason why Mr. McClung's blog is different is because he doesn't mind sharing his ideas with others. He wants others to see what he is doing and wants to show them it can be done. I think its more of him taking a chance to let people know that changes in education is necessary. I think he is not afraid to show what his is doing in the classroom and I thank him for that.

Project 14 Teach Someone Something

Blog Post 11

First Graders is Ms. Casidy's Class. I thought this video was too cute but it showed a plethora of techonlogy. There were smart boards, laptops, computers, projectors, camera's and headphones. I was very suprised that these were only FIRST GRADERS!!!! They are to be very smart and technology savvy. Blogs in first grade is amazing!! Very different from when I was in first grade (coloring, matching, etc). I love that they use the technology at a first grade level, It is very age appropriate. I love how they use skype to talk to other classrooms. That is such a great idea. I think that in my class room I would like to use blogs and skpye. I think as a soon to be science teacher it will be very helpful to my classroom. I think technology has a very huge part in science and should be interesting and exciting to use. I think skype would be great to use as a prohect mechanism and blogs as a daily or weekly diary. If given the resources I would love to incorporate the things we learn in EDM 310 in my classroom.

Blog Post 10

When I finished reading Morgan Boya post i agreed qith her. The way students are learning these days is not helping. If anything it is harming the students. We can not use teaching styles from over a hundred years ago to teach the students of 2011?? It doesn't make sense. And for colleges and universities to be the same way. How do we expect to get ahead when we are still going backwards?? I thought Dan Brown's video was exciting. he explain s how the way WE teach today is not affective. We must change our learning styles in order to become better educators. Edm 310 is a great example of the type of learning not just college students should receive but middle schoolers and up. Every one should be allowed to participate in their learning. By doing you learn more because it helps you know if you know what your doing or not. And when you make a mistake it allows you to learn from it. I think the way Dan portrayed this information in the video was very entertaining. I think more people should watch and learn from this.

Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home! I thought was a great read. It was a great message as well. I thought it was great to focus on how to alternativelty handle the "pencil" situation. I think that the message this gives is that you should not always place blame nor should you try to take away from a child, but learn how adjust the situation or compromise to where it is beneficial for the child.

Blog Post 9

As I read Mr. Clung's post I began to smile. As an employee in a highschool setting and a soon to be teacher I could not agree with his post more. I really appreciated the insight from his expeirences. As it is coming to a year of me in education I must say that teachers do get away from their purpose as to why they got into education. Many have forgotten that it is all about the student because with out them the teachers wouldn't have a job. Many have forgotten that what the student thinks does matter. Also many have forgotten how to communicate with the staff and the students. I like the poin that Mr. McClung made when he said you must know your audience (the students). I think this is very important because it helps you as a teacher with your teaching style because students learn differently. Furthermore knowing your students make them feel important and know that if no one cares, you do! I think this will help us future teacher a lot, this is something that we do not learn in the classroom. I think that he has learned a lot in his firt year of teaching and to admitt his faults shows that he wants to be a better teacher. I wish him the best of luck and I hope I learn as much as he did in my first year of teaching.

Summary of C4T #3

My teacher was Tyler Rice. The first post I commented on was ttitled "It is better to burn out than fade away". He took this phrase from Kurt Cobain. This post was about how he feels about his place in education. I think that this post explained a lot of the things he was doing in education and wanted to do. He applied for and received an entrepreneurial award from the WWashington STEM. He has applied for a lot of grants so that he can get better resources to teach with, however, he does the best he can with the resources he has. He believes working hard towards a goal is important but it the goal can not be reached that he believes it is better to move on than to burn out doing something that is not going to work.

The next post from Mr. Rice was how he feels about his blog. He wants his blog to go in a different direction. he has been writing informative, persuasive, or motivational blogs, but now he wants to write reflective blogs. He hopes that he doesn't lose his followers but choosing to make this sudden change. I think that as long as he is happy with what he does than that its most important. You cant always please everyone. You have to please yourself first, you have to know who you are.

Summary of C4K

Darius is a student in Ms. Jaunita Gardens Class. In his blog he was excitement about receiving netbooks. I was excited for him because he is in elementary school and he is already doing class blogs and they were receiving netbooks. I think this is a wonderful advancement in technology.

Tyler is a student in Mrs. Phares class. In his blog post he talked about friends. He doesnt have a best friend because he has meany friends. I commented letting him know it is only to many friends but infomed him that there will be people who he becomes closer to because of the things they have in common.

Blog Post 7

Randy Pausch's lecture was amazing. He was very interesting. He spoke about his childhood dreams. He let the audience know that it was important to have specific dreams. The way he spoke to the audience was intriguing. He spoke to them as if he was having a conversation with each of them.

Pausch said that experiences are what we get when we didn't get what we wanted. When he said this it made think about what he said. This is a very true statement. Pausch had six childhood dreams that he wanted to achieve. However, he did not achieve them in the way he wanted to in some way he was connected to it.

I liked how Pausch spoke about the people who inspired him and about his parents. At the beginning of the lecture, he spoke about how when he was going through his childhood pictures and not once did he find a picture with him not smiling. I think his upbringing is a major part of his life and has allowed to always push forward and strive for his dreams.

At the beginning of the lecture Pausch informed the audience that he had 10 tumors and about six months of living left. He was not said about it in fact he let the audience know that he has had a wonderful life and it is what it is. Through out the lecture his seemed very happy. The most important part of the lecture was to inform the audience that you must have childhood dreams. They should a goal that you are trying to reach and you should never give up. Paush lecture was a truly inspirational lecture.

SmartBoard Presentation

PNL project 10

After watching the video i immediately thought of my phone. I don't always have time to pull out my lab top and research things. I have a t mobile Sam-sung smart phone. My phone have 7 screens that allow me to load them up with apps. I have have all my apps that are for school purposes only on the 5th screen and all my entertainment and personal apps on the 3rd scree on my phone. My phone t me in my laptop. It allows me to type, format, and send. It allows me to browse, search, or save data. To me my PNL is not limited to just a home based on school based computer it is something that is on the go and allows my learning environment to be everywhere I am.

Summary of C4T #2

To be honest when I first seen this blog I was very confused. It has so much going on i didn't know where to start. it was very overwhelming. For the first 10-15 minutes i just stared at the blog because I didn't know what to do. As I began to navigate through the page I saw a lot of videos, pictures and comments. The blog post I commented on was a conference on ICT or Information and communications technology. It was about 30 sec long but it included pics of the conference. the blog is very nice and show how ICT in working in the Language classrooms.

Timetoast Instructional 9b

C4K Summary #1

C4K#1
The first student that I responded to was a girl in Ms. Naugle's 4th grade Math class. The students were learning about Geometry and wrote a response about what they learned in class on that particular day. Rachel S. commented that she loved the slides, flips, and turns. It is wonderful to see kids who are excited about MATH!

C4K#2
Terine and Tauwhare created a podcast book review of Caught in the Sea by Rosemary Keating. The most fascinating part of this review was the style in which the students created the podcast. One student interviewed the other asking questions about the book. I found this interesting because it took the students from the traditional pen and paper book report to allowing them to expound their communication and listening skills. It is even more effective because the students can share the information with other students in the classroom. This podcast came from Room 15 at Pt England School in New Zealand.

C4K#3
This blog also came from the Pt England School in NZ. The student's name was Asena and she had spent a vacation attempting to learn how to surf. This blog assignment seemed to be a writing assignment encouraged by her teacher Mr. Marks. I liked how descriptive she was as she told about her experiences.

Blog Post 6

The Networked Student- I found this video to be very interesting.  This video accurately describes how our class, EDM 310, is designed.  We are the networked student, but we have been set up with all of the resources and materials to learn.  The networked student needs a teacher, because the teacher serves several roles, as the video outlines, that help make the entire experience a success.  Without Dr. Strange's organization of the class materials, we would not be learning a multitude of information this semester. 
I feel that by the end of this semester, I will be prepared to be the teacher of the networked student.  My students are only going to be limited to the experiences that I require and expose them to, but the possibilities of their educational practices are limitless.  There is not one thing that I have learned this semester that could not be appropriately incorporated into any classroom.  The most rewarding part of being a networked student is the ability to learn from your peers and classmates.  This is a learning style that needs to be incorporated into all classes.
Being a networked student's teacher means being prepared, organized, and efficient.  Dr. Strange has adequately exemplified  all of these behaviors which makes our class and learning experience a success.  The networked student can appreciate this teaching style because he or she is responsible for the level of personal success received in this type of classroom.  This type of classroom setting also makes it easy to recognize and assess the progress being made by each student. 

SN:Although the material presented in the video was very interesting and useful, I did not like the way the information was presented.  The little pieces of paper were irritating. 

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment- I loved this PLE video!  This is so awesome and amazing.   I wish that I had a class like this in middle school to learn about science.  I wish that science classes in public schools today were set up this way.  Teaching students how to use the Internet and social networking to expand their knowledge and learning is so important.  It teaches them positive ways to use the Internet at school and at home, which promotes them to become life-long learners.

SmartBoard Critiques- After reading a few of the blogs that I found on  http://www.teacherslovesmartboards.com/, I am not sure how Staton and Ferriter could use the words 'hate' and 'dumb' when speaking about SmartBoards.  The teachers on this page really, REALLY love the SmartBoards.  I feel that Staton and Ferriter need more training on the many possibilities that their board has to offer.  Ferriter has given his board away to someone, so maybe this would not be beneficial for him.  The website linked above is a network for teachers to share assignments and interactive lesson plans that teachers and classes have designed and developed.  It is an interesting way to incorporate the SmartBoard into the classroom and get kids excited about using it.

Project 9a Timetoast

Blog Post 5

Eagles' Nest Radio- This was the cutest podcast. I love the idea that the students are responsible for sharing the things they have learned with the rest of the world. You can tell that they spent time organizing what they would say on the podcast. This seems to pull together many different skills including writing and communication. They also seemed to complete the assignment in groups. Each one responsible for their own radio segment: architecture, history, biography, etc. I would love to hear the podcasts that the other groups in the classroom created.

100 Ways to Use You iPod to Learn and Study Better- This lists offers a great number of resources that are interesting and accessible directly from an iPod or iPhone. When looking at technology today, it is easy to assume that since you are able to reach the internet from your phone or mp3 device, then any resouce is right at your fingertips. We use handheld devices for all sorts of daily problem solving: mapquest directions, searching phone numbers or business locations, and social networking. We can also use them for some of these suggested ways: study guides, tutorials, and educational podcasts and videos.

Langwitches- I am so amazed at some of the creative ideas these teachers are blogging about. I think that this is a site that I will keep under the favorites tab because the ideas are so unique and could be used in different curriculum areas. It is amazing how far technology and education has come, and to think that it is still growing! This site definitely makes me want to use podcasting in my own classroom one day. When teachers talk about "not reinventing the wheel" they are talking about websites and ideas like this one. This site will help other teachers begin to formulate positive ideas about incorporating podcasts into their classrooms.

project 8 - Podcast

Blog Post 4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? When I first read this post I laughed. I thought he was crazy and over reacting, until I realized the sarcasm. I think that it was a warning to parents and teachers to not let their children fall behind. Without technology the children will become illiterate. Even though technology is important it was a warning that pen and paper (the fundamentals of grammar) is important. As a future teacher it is important to learn how to not rely on technology or pen and paper but to integrates the two together. Dr. McLeod is the co founder of the Did you know videos. Dr. McLeod is an Associate Professor of Educational Administration at Iowa State University.

The iSchool Innovation. I was very impressed. I thought this was an awesome idea. Since the iPhone is used for everything else, why not make it school appropriate. I really thought that formulae was very interesting in the way that it works. The ischool includes features such as emailing, wikis, electronic libraries and much more.  The ischool enables every student to have an effective way of communication with teachers and students.  However, since schools are broke and laying off teachers and classrooms are being over populated how would each student be able to afford the iphone? for the ischool? The big issue with the school system these days is the money. The financial system would hinder this amazing idea from happening, but if the funds were all there it would a wonder upgrade for learning for the students.

The Lost Generation. The video was great. I was speechless after the first minute or two after watching it. When watching the video I was thinking "oh my goodness, what a heartless person" but as the words she was saying started to reverse with the video I began to get chills. It was very eye opening. It reminded me that the state that we are in as society. We must stay committed to our true values and morals and be an individual not what someone else wants us to be.

Eric Whitakers Virtual Choir. I thought that this video was simply amazing. As I write this post I am listening to this video again. I am still in shock that this video was composed through the internet. I think that technology has come a long way. This choir has 185 and people from all over the world that have never met each other physically but because of the internet they were able to form this choir. I am happy to be in apart of a generation that has these types of technological advances. So may people have so many negative things to say about the internet. This video is a very positive advancement. Objects can only be used in the way the person uses them. I think this goes for technology as well. if you use it for negative use than you get negative results. The internet is more helpful in ways people will never know, until they try.

Teaching in the 21st Century. I think the information in this video is very very very..did I say very?? TRUE!! As future teachers we must start to think of better ways to relay the information. We are not the primary source anymore. In addition, I think that only a handful of us had great teachers that not only taught us the content and facts but the skills to apply that information in everyday life.

As i entered elementary school I believed my teacher knew it all. They were my primary source of information. As I entered middle school I began to see that my teacher did not know it all, as I began to start doing research projects. As I went through high school and prepared for college, I realized that not only did my teacher convey the factual information and content to me they taught me skills of  how to. How to find the information I need and more, how to apply the information I learned to a particular situation, and how to inform others because now with so much technology and easily accessible information teachers are not the primary source. So to me to teach means that a student learned how to  do something and apply it.

My Sentence Movie

Blog Post 3

Michael Wesh: A Vision of Students Today. I so believe this video has been my exact college experience. I think there is nor enough time in the day to do all the things I need to do. Or is it that I did not use my time wisely?? I think that this video definitely was interesting to see. Being in a regular classroom sitting in desk and listening to a teacher lecture is very boring and not does not help everyone learn.
I, myself like most people learn by doing. I think that now that I am older and working on a second degree I am much more serious about school than I was before. So I can say that my class room experiences now differ a little bit form the video. However, I would add to the video that some professors are hard to reach and may not as people friendly as you would like them to. Which intimidates you as a student and enables you to learn, therefore causing another problem to the education system.

"It's not about the technology" I really enjoyed reading this article. I thought it was right on point with teaching in today's society. I think that the for principles Ms. Hines touched on was right on target. I do believe that as teachers we must always learn. We must be able to provide the student with the most accurate information. Of course we as teachers will not know everything, however, the little statement" No I do not know the answer to that. Lets find out." Encourages us as teachers to always be willing to learn. I think the most important information in this article in that teaching and learning are not the same thing. Once we as teachers realize every student learns differently then we are on to a great start as becoming successful teachers.

Furthermore, I think it is a no brainier that anything is useless without a good teacher. Information is always available but without a good comprehension or someone to explain it to you to understand the information it is useless. My favorite principle in the article is the last one. Be 21st teachers without technology. I think by achieving this it will be inevitable to not produce smarter and more well rounded students and teachers. And with this technology will only enhance the student and not become the student.

Karl Fisch: Is it okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher? I thought that this was a very interesting read. It started off a little bit confusing and straight forward. However, I enjoyed the honesty. When I was a high student I do believe that technology was not encouraged in schools the way they should have been. After receiving my first degree I believe that it is still not encouraged in Universities as it should be. Now working on my second degree and with this degree being in education I do see a change. However, this change needs to me made in all degree sought programs not just education.

The students that we are producing today will no more smarter than I was when I was in high school almost 10 years ago. Learning to accept than technology is a part of society needs to start soon or else the students of today will not be able to handle the demands of the jobs of tomorrow. So when I ask myself, "Is it okay for a teacher to be technologically illiterate? The answer is and will always be NO! In order to build a better society we have to start in our education system. We can not allow teachers to not use tools that are apart of society, it is only harming the student and setting them up for failure. We as teachers must ALWAYS be LEARNERS. It is not acceptable for us to settle.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count. Wow this is very crazy. Its changing at an outstanding rate. I'm shocked by this information.  Does this means students are using these various social sites in classrooms, driving, during conversations, at dinner, etc?? And the answer to that question is yes. Technology is changing drastically and for my career it can mean so much. Change is inevitable, therefore I must always be willing to learn and stay technologically literate.

C4T # 1 Summary

I was assigned to Morgan Bayda. She is a  new teacher in Saskatchewan with Bachelor of Education with a specialization in Early Childhood Education. In the first I commented on she was explaining how she never thought that she would receive as many comments on her blog and the things she post on it. She is very excited about the response that she has received. She also highlights the post that received the most attention.
In the second post I commented on Ms. Bayda was experiencing her first volunteer travel. She had a lot of pictures that showed different projects they were working on. Fromn the pictures, I gather she is having a wonder time and that it is a rewarding experience. I think that she will be a well rounded and very informational teacher.

Blog Post #2

Did you know? I actually thought that the video was quiet interesting. The statistics very astonishing. However, to a certain degree it is to be expected. As we progress through the years with technology we are expected to change to a certain degree. It was not surprising to me that we (the United States) are further behind other countries. If we continue to use ways of teaching students that were developed over a hundred years ago then the results we will produce are going to be people with outdated knowledge.

I think that as a teacher the challenge will be to actually be able to become as technological literate as the students in other countries. Once we as teachers can progress to that level than maybe we can start to make a change in the educational setting. Technology is what the world is moving to. And to be able to produce kids that can sustain in the United States or in other countries than we need to start in the education system. It will mean that we will have to integrate technology more in our schools as a start.


Mr. Winkle Wakes. I thought that it was a cute little video. I felt sympathy for Mr. Winkle. Waking a hundred years later and seeing that everything around you changed can be a very overwhelming feeling. I understand how Mr. Winkle felt. If it was me i would just want to go BACK to sleep and not deal with the ever so changing world. LOL

The importance of this video to me is that technology is taking over whether we like it or not. Now we can either agree with it or disagree. However, disagreeing is only going to cause one to fight a losing battle. In order for a person to get in the real world and be successful and understand technology, it much be integrated in the classroom. Children need more technology in schools. If not they will get in the real world view it just like Mr. Winkle.


Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
I think that he was a great speaker. He had excellent points on creativity. I like the comment that he made stating that every child is creative. I believe this to be true. What makes every child different is how they chose to express there creativity.


Cecelia Gault. After reading the article and watching the movie, i can't agree with Ken Robinson more. Technology should be used in the classroom setting more often. Creativity to me is another way of doing something. It doesn't have to be much more than that.

To insure that the Cecelia Gualt's in my classroom get the education they need, I would definitely use more technology in the classroom. I would allow the children to be themselves and not restrict them of their thinking. I would allow them to be innovative, be creative, and to be wrong. Because by making mistakes is how we as a person learn best.


Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students Digital Smarts This video was very interesting to me. Every Student Can Learn. I agree with this statement on so many levels. I think that when children are restricted is when they are prohibited from learning. When given just pencil and paper only certain students can learn. And this puts restrictions on certain students.

I like that she doesn't have to stand in front of the class and teach everyday. I also like how the students can teach the class. It is important that everyone knows that teachers do not know everything. And the fact that teachers and students can learn together is a great idea.

Blog Post 2

Project 2- Wordle

Well my name is Samera Johnson. I was born in New Orleans, La. I have two younger brothers. I have lived in 3 different states because my dad was in the military. I love everything about track and field. I ran at the University of South Alabama and the University of Southern Mississippi. I was a hepthathlete ( if you dont know what that is, it means I participated in multiple events at one time) but, my favorite event is the hurdles. My first degree is in Criminal Justice.

I decided to go back to school and major in education because I feel like the kids in today's society needs young and positive energy in the school settings. I think that being a student athlete from middle school all the way through college, I can provide the youth with valuable and honest information. I am working on a degree in science and physical education. I have hopes of being a track coach at middle or high school. Once I gain more experience in coaching and with kids I plan to venture out into the College setting or something of that nature. Right now I coach a track and field summer league team and also coach at a local high school here in Mobile, Al.

Practice Post

My first post!!!!