Blog Post #10

Adventures in Pencil Integration

I kind of took a different interpretation of Mr. Spencer's pencil artwork. I feel as though it may have been a way of saying that you don't have to buy the fanciest things in order to get the job done. Papermate pencils make break more than the Ticonderoga pencils, but they are inexpensive and work just fine. They may be of a lower quality but they still get the job done. Also, the higher end pencil could be considered technology. Technology versus old school, to be exact. Pencils versus technology. I believe that hits the nail right on the head.

Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?"
It is very important to engage student's minds in the classroom. Though to some teachers and administrators, the main goal is to get those empty slates full of memorized information for the standardized tests at the end of the quarter. Soon to forget everything that was in the slate. Burp back education at it's finest.
Games should not be pulled from the curriculum. Any thing that allows the students to actively participate in a lesson or activity is great! When students actively participate they have better chances of remembering the knowledge and truly learning it. Not just learn it for the test and soon forget it. 10 Points on Pencils is another one of his blog posts that I read. I really like his view on pencils and new technology. He actually made me chuckle a bit in this post. I believe students should utilize whatever source of technology they choose in order to further their knowledge. Becoming more familiar with any item of technology is great. Students should become more familiar with these items in order to gain knowledge.

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?
To say the very least, Dr. Scott McLeod is one of the leading experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues in the nation. His article about technology and what not to teach your kids has a lot of validity to it, in an opposite kind of way. His post has a valid argument of parent issues and concerns with technology. Though, many parents facilitate their children with cell phones, computers, and other electronic devices, they still have concerns about the use of the internet.
His post states many things that parents say like "they're probably looking at porn" or bring up the issue of cyber bullying. Technology is very important today in collaboration with education. The key to this is proper supervision.

Project #11 Green Screen

Project #14 SMART board basics

Project #12 My First Book Trailer

Blog Post #9

"At the Teacher's Desk"
I loved reading Mr. McClung's reflections of each new year of teaching. Of course, I chose to read his first account because the first year of teaching, or at any new job, you learn the greatest amount of information.
His first year teaching in an Elementary school, he learned that there is no such thing as a perfect lesson and the lesson you prepare and the lesson you present are never the same. He also touched on the subject of teachers losing focus on the most important things, the students. Lessons become more teacher focused and less student centered. It just goes to show you that people tend to get comfortable.
In his most recent blog post, year 4 reflection, he states two things: 1)you must please yourself, students, and superiors- don't worry about your peers. 2)Challenge yourself!
Like I stated earlier, teachers become comfortable in their own ways. This can really hurt your classroom. I'm not saying you can't reuse lesson plans but be sure to keep them interesting, creative, and up-to-date.

Blog Post #8

This is How We Dream
Technology allows us to visually see things that are occurring right now across the country. You no longer have to explore the world in order to view it. There are so many items shared online that are simply a click away. People compose and share things on the internet. They can share as little as text filled with valuable information to live streaming video of an adventure or documentary.
This allows us to explore our world in ways that were not available previously. Videos can be shared with millions of people. Statistics, graphs, or plots of information can be shown as they rapidly change. The amount of information you can find is phenomenal!
The world around us is rapidly changing. This allows us to actively participate in these changes. We can also, as educators, show and educate our students about how the world has developed into the technologically advanced world it has become.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post
Carly's idea of an assignment was an excellent idea for any grade level! It can be altered to accommodate different grade levels. What I love most about this is it allows students to be creative and use their own personal preferences. Even if the student is indecisive or unorganized, this assignment could work out perfectly for them. Youtube can be suitable for any age group as long as the student is monitored by an adult supervisor. That may be one issue with incorporating youtube videos off of the internet. All in all it is a fantastic way for students to show their individuality or even teachers to show what traits aspire them to be educators and what ideas or practices they would like to follow and incorporate into their own classrooms curriculum.
She comes so close to Dr. Miller's desire for multi-media in the classroom by incorporating student research to collectively bring together videos which they find useful to their personal needs or desires.

Chipper Series
I actually laughed a lot during this series! "I want you to teach me so I don't have to learn…. I'm doing all the work!". I love this. Students literally have the mentality that it is your job to force feed them information and basically wipe their butts for them as well.
Chipper wanted to change the definition of "procrastination" on Wikipedia so that she could turn in her work late and it still count. But there is a reason why a deadline must be met. You must have a reachable goal that still challenges you.
She then creates a school where the student is free to decide when they come to class, how long they stay in class, and how they interact in the classroom. To say the least, her school fails.

EDM310 For Dummies
This made me laugh! This basically tells you how to survive EDM 310 account. It shows the students at the beginning of the course when they are very frustrated with the course load and how unfamiliar they are with each of the different websites and programs associated with the class. "I feel like my 8 year old!"
Once the students worked through the class and became familiar with the different sites and programs they used in the class, they love them. This class introduced them to things they can incorporate into their education careers that are free and quite useful.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
Students have become so involved with technology outside of school but these specific methods are banned in schools. Students can not email, blog, instant message, or use social networking sites in most schools. This discourages student learning because it takes away from the students desires. It is less student focused which is a deterrent to student learning.
Student's jobs are not to weed out the wrong answer and produce us with the correct one. They will not be given a "vending machine" type test on their job. It is economically incorrect and inadequate. Scavenger Hunt
1. For my social media type tool I decided to use Edmodo. Edmodo is great for sharing resources with other teachers, students, and parents. It is a social networking site and is practically set up just like Facebook with a newsfeed and all. Instead of just statuses and pictures, you can post assignments, alerts, and even notes so everyone or just your parents can see. It is a very useful website and can be used for a plethora of educational ideas!

2. A tool i've never used before would be Smilebox. Smilebox allows you to take your pictures and form sldieshows, collages, scrapbooks, and more! You can make comics for your students, coloring sheets, and invitations. You can even add music!
3.My first poll : My Live Poll

C4T #2

iPads/iPods in PE – Practical Workflow with Edmodo

This PE teacher was using iPads and iPods in PE. You can stream assignments, videos, or pictures on phones or ipads with your classes. You can upload polls and quizzes as well. It is very useful not only in the classroom but also during PE or even sports.

"Hello, my name is Angela and I am a student at The University of South Alabama in EDM 310. I really enjoyed this blog post! It is really helpful to me and such a great tool to use in the classroom as well as in PE or with any sports. I am very eager to use this in my future classroom. Feel free to email me ang.vanvliet@gmail.com Thanks! Goodluck implementing this into your curriculum. I will be sure to keep up with your blog."

"Cricket Scoring on Ipad"
I know nothing about cricket. So I was kind of confused when I read this. I thought the scoring application was called "cricket". Instead, it is used for cricket. It allows you to organize everything dealing with the game: runs, strikes, manhattans, etc. I said: "Great post. I love seeing technology running into sports now days. It is awesome to be able to get immediate feedback after a game."

PLN Progress Report

I am using Twitter as part of my Personal Learning Network. I chose Twitter to start off with because I am very familiar with Twitter and it is easy to follow educational tweets in my tweets (or newsfeed). I not only follow some of my professors but also classmates and educators/educational sites. Many tweets have websites attached to them and make exploring that much easier and faster!

C4Ksummary for February

ibshannonm13 C4K #1 the students blog I read, was a for a 9th grade History class. They got to choose a historical topic for their Historical Novel Project. This student wanted to read about the Salem Witch Trials. I enjoyed reading this book and watching the film as well. Therefore, the blog was enjoyable as well.The student has completed the first prologue of the story where the girls go meet with Tituba. Tituba does magic and can see into the future. The girls are not supposed to ever go talk to her. In the beginning of the story, they go see her and she performs some of her witch craft.
 "I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the Salem Witch Trials when I was in high school. We also watched the film in class once we finished the book. I highly recommend you watching it once you complete the book. The beginning of the story is very thrilling and quickly gets you on your toes wondering what is about to happen. The fact that they are breaking the towns rules and going to see Tituba sets up the story perfectly."

Max S C4K #2
Max wrote a short incomplete sentence about being a goalie. It was his very first post! He was very excited about making a few saves during a game. He also enjoyed being cheered on for his accomplishment.


Room 6 C4K#3
I was assigned two students, Lucy and Junior. I looked back at their prior work from 2012 and it was great! They looked like they had fun doing their artwork and assignments that were posted online. I told them both that their work looks great and I hope they enjoy room 6. To the class I said "Hey Room 6! My name is Angela Van Vliet and I am in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class. All of your work looks great! It looks like you are all having a lot of fun in class. Enjoy the rest of the school year!"

James C4K #4
James is a 10th grader at Baldwin County High School. He has a fascinating hobby of woodwork. He said that it takes hard work and effort but it relaxes him and makes him very happy.
I said: "Hey James! I am a student in EDM 310 at The University of South Alabama. Does your school offer any woodwork classes? If so, are you taking a class that promotes your desired hobby? I wish I had taken a woodwork class in high school. Do you want to pursue your hobby and possibly make it your future job or career? Best of luck with all of your future endeavors."

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch said, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." This quote particularly stands out to me because he did such an amazing job teaching his story to so many people. His "Last Lecture" was based off of his book which he wrote in order to teach his sons how to grow up without having a father figure. His book was to help them when he couldn't physically be there as a parent.  I like this quote because he was told he would not live much longer, something that he could not change, it was out of his control, but he still bettered himself when most people would have become depressed and feeling a bit of worthlessness. Make the most out of the time you have here, because everyone dies, but not everyone lives.

"Failing to plan is planning to fail." and "You can always change your plan, but only if you have one." What can you do without a plan? Planning helps map out your day, week, month, or just short schedule. This will help you stick by a guide and help utilize your free time rather than wasting it. We are too forgetful to go day by day without a good schedule for ourselves. Planning ahead is a great task and teaches you great time management skills. It makes you make time for the important things and manage your time effectively. 

"The key question to keep asking is, 'Are you spending your time on the right things?' Because time is all you have." What are you doing with your time that is bettering you or someone else? You should not waste time, every second can be used in betterment. Achieve your dreams, no one can do it for you. As an educator, I will most likely have some of his quotes in my classroom. Randy Pausch is so motivating to me. His story truly touches me, as I know it does for many others as well. His story can be sad to you or it can be a motivational story. His story can help push you to better yourself for you and others who depend on you. As a teacher you must leave your mark somehow. I hope that I leave mine as the teacher who always challenged her students and encouraged them to be the better person they know they can be. Guide your students in the most positive way you can, encourage them to be individuals, originals, not a copy, and help them achieve their childhood dreams.