Interview

Here is our interview with Mrs. Molly Gualandri. I hope you enjoy, please leave us a comment to let us know what you think.

So Long, Farewell

There's a sad sort of clanging
From the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple, too
And up in the nursery
An absurd little bird
Is popping out to say coo-coo
(Coo-coo, coo-coo)

Regretfully they tell us (Coo-coo)
But firmly they compel us (Coo-coo)
To say goodbye (Coo-coo)
To you

So long, farewell
Auf Wiedersehen, goodnight
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight

So long, farewell
Auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu
To you and you and you

So long, farewell
Au revoir, Auf Weidersehen
I'd like to stay
And taste my first champagne
(talking to the captain) yes
(Captain) no

So long, farewell
Auf Weidersehen, goodbye
I leave and heave
A sigh and say goodbye
Goodbye

I'm glad to go
I cannot tell a lie
I flit, I float
I fleetly flee, I fly

The sun has gone
To bed and so must I
So long, farewell
Auf Weidersehen, goodbye

Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye

I will miss all of my classmates the most! You all have made this semester so easy, we all have worked as a team to get everything done. I wish everyone all of the best in their teaching careers. So long to Ms. Averitt and Dr. Strange. Goodbye!!!

Professional Blog

Here is a link to my professional blog. Please check it out and leave me a comment!

Project 8

For my project 8, I chose to do a Google presentation. I wanted to teach elementary age students how to multiply. When I was in 3rd grade, learning how to multiply is was really scary. I do not want any student to feel the way that I did. Hence, why I made a Google presentation on easy and fun ways to learn how to multiply. I hope this helps anyone that has difficulties learning to multiply.

Final Post

Here are the things we covered in class and what I learned and how it will be useful to me as a teacher and as an individual.

Blogs- This will be useful to me as a teacher and possibly as an individual. I hope to have a class blog in the future.

Wiki- I think that this is like a blog. I did not learn anything from it and I will not use this as a teacher or as an individual.

Presentations- This was one of my favorite parts of class, everything that we had to give a presentation I learned so much. I will definitely use this as a teacher and not so much as an individual.

Google Docs- This was really neat to learn about. For a person that is in a hurry it would be a great tool to use. I on the other hand, prefer to use the Microsoft Power Point, Excel, and Word. As an individual and as a teacher I will not be using this program.

Google Spreadsheets- For a person that is in a hurry it would be a great tool to use. I on the other hand, prefer to use the Microsoft Power Point, Excel, and Word. As an individual and as a teacher I will not be using this program.

Picasa- This was really fun to learn how to use. I like having the ability to “play” with the pictures. I will not be using this as a teacher but definitely as an individual.

Podcast and videocast- I only had the chance to do a few of these and they were ok. I did not really learn anything from them. I will not be using them as a teacher or as a individual

Youtube- I am so glad that I learned how to upload videos onto this site. Hopefully, I will be able to use it in my classroom and in my personal life.

Moviemaking- I did not learn anything about this. I do not see myself using this as a teacher or individual.

Post I read- I learned a lot from all of the different post that I read throughout this course. Some of them gave some challenging thoughts and I hope to continue to read as many as I can.

PLNs- This enabled me to learn a lot from different teachers from around the world. I will hopefully, continue to keep in contact with them as much as I can so that I can continue to learn. I will not use as an individual because I do not see a need for it.

Twitter- This was a little difficult for me. I do not like just “tweeting” about myself and what I am doing. I don’t see myself continuing to use this as a teacher, but I may continue as an individual.

Learning from Other Teachers- Being able to learn from other teachers from outside of our region was really cool. I hope to be able to continue to keep in touch with them and continue to learn from them both as a teacher and as an individual.

Comments4kids, Comments4classmates, and Comments4teachers- I had a lot of fun learning and commenting on all of these different posts. I may continue as a teacher if time permits. I will not continue as an individual because I feel that it should continue to be professional.

iTunes and iTunesU- These were both easy to use. I did not use either one, all that much in this class. I will not use this as a teacher, but I will continue to use this as an individual to get music, movies, etc. for my ipod.

Who I am as a Professional- I am getting ready to start my professional career and I feel that having taken this course as well as a few other courses, they have started me off as well prepared.

Google forms- For a person that is in a hurry it would be a great tool to use. I on the other hand, prefer to use the Microsoft Power Point, Excel, and Word. As an individual and as a teacher I will not be using this program.

Google earth- This program was difficult to use. I will not use in the future as a teacher or an individual. I feel that this program is more geared towards other professions like engineers.

ACCESS & ALEX- Both of these programs were great to learn about. They both offer so much for both students and teachers. I will be using this as a teacher to find different lessons plans and other services that they provide. I will not use this as an individual because it does not apply towards my everyday life.

Technological literacy- I feel that as a person I have improved technologically. I will continue to maintain and possibly improve what I have learned in both of my teaching and individually.

Future of schools- So far during this course, I have learned that the future of schools is to become more technology oriented. There is 1 school that is completely SMART, in our area, and I think that every school surrounding us should work towards becoming.

“Intellectual trail”- I learned to only put things on the internet that I would not be embarrassed by. I will continue to only post good things in both my professional and as an individual.

Things I learned: How to blog, how to compose a power point and spreadsheet using Google forms, how to share a document, how to Twitter, how to Skype, how to upload a video to Youtube, how to make a podcast, how to how to use Google Earth, how to make a wordle, embed a picture or video onto my blog, how to enhance and change pictures using Picasa, how to use Vocaroo and CamStudio, and construct a PLN.

2.)Things I would have like to have learned but did not: None

3.) Everything that I learned in this class will be possibly useful sometime in the future.

4) The things that I learned that were useful and “excited” me were: Skype, comments4kids, and blogging. Skype was a thing to learn how to use because it is something that I can use outside of class. I am able to talk with my fiancé and my family without running up the phone bill. Comments4kids was probably one of the best things that I learned and was able to do. It was exciting to be able to connect with students from around the world. Blogging on my personal was fun, it was really cool to be able to turn in my work there. I have changed my view about being a pen and paper kind of girl. I have found that I do like turningin my work online.

5.) I did not find anything during this course to be “intellectually challenging.” However, I did find some things to be user challenging!

6.) I was definitely not bored. Between the blog post, projects, comments4teacher, comments4kids, and comments4classmates there was no time to be bored. Needless to say, I stayed busy.

7.) The only thing that I would suggest to change for this course would be the syllabus. For me, it was hard to read and unorganized. I would have liked it to “flow” more easily and to include all blog assignments as well. Having all of the links was great, but I think was the source for the confusion.

8.) I would say that, now, I am good when it comes to being technology literate at the moment. This class has definitely helped me improve my technology skills. I feel that I am more confidante in myself to be able to walk into a classroom and begin to incorporate technology into a classroom.

9.) To maintain my technological literacy between now and the time I graduate, I plan to keep using Skype, Youtube, and Google docs., and possibly continue blogging. To maintain between now and the time I start teaching I will probably continue the same thing.

Week 15

PLN vs. PLE

This week I watched a video by a 7th grade science student. The student showed us a tour of Personal Learning Environment (PLE). Using her PLE, she can organize everything that she uses for class and even stuff that she does not use for class, like her Facebook account. One great thing about having a PLE or a PLN is the ability of the classroom to be virtually paperless. By having this PLE, it has given the student the ability to work at her own pace and access from anywhere she has internet connection. She is able to come straight into class and begin working on her work for the day, which is really neat. The only problem that I have with this is that it does take away the one on one interaction with the student and teacher. I think that a PLE would be great for a college class like EDM310. It appears to be very organized and easy to use. I think that it would be a great thing for college professors to try using.

Two Questions

I also watched a video this week that really got my gears turning. Daniel Pink wrote a book called "Drive," and in this book there are two questions that every person needs to ask themselves. They are:

1.) What's my sentence?

2.) Am I better today than I was yesterday?

In the video it says that "a great man is a sentence." It means this, every man has sentence that is a window into their character. I want people to think and know that I have great character. So, after thinking question #1 over for awhile here is my sentence, " She is a great teacher, that has impacted the lives of many." For question #2, I can not answer. I feel as if I have lived each day the same, almost, and so from now on I will make a conscious decision to improve myself somehow for the better each day in the future. I challenge everyone to do the same.

Final post for my PLN

For my Personal Learning Network, I have began using different resources to get in touch with different teachers from around the world. As I have mentioned in my first PLN post I had created a Twitter account since that time I also set up a Skype account. My username for both Twitter and Skype is danillepitt. To view my profile on Twitter or leave me a message, click here. Through Twitter I was able to contact Mr. Lamshed and Mrs. Kelly Hines. These two teachers are amazing when it comes to incorporating technology into their classrooms. I asked Mr. Lamshed how he used technology in his classroom; here is what he had to say:

"jlamshed

@daniellepitt use technology in lots if ways. Blogging is the obvious one. Has changed the way I teach. Provides a real and amazing audience"

"jlamshed

@daniellepitt for kids to share learning with. We are a mac school so we use that suite of software a lot. ILife is fantastic for..."

"jlamshed

@daniellepitt everything multimedia. Podcasts and video casts are used a lot now. We have a soundproof room for recording as well."

"jlamshed

@daniellepitt I use a lot of video to record experiences, for reflection and increasingly more for media literacy. Boys in particular will"

"jlamshed

@daniellepitt write with alvie project in mind. We also have an interactive whiteboard in every classroom. Hope that helps!"

When asked what technology she used, Kelly Hines said the following:

"kellyhines

@daniellepitt podcasting, SMARTBoard, Discovery Streaming, wikis and Skype"

"daniellepitt@kellyhines what is discovery streaming?"

"kellyhines

@daniellepitt it is a paid subscription service that's part of the http://discoveryeducatorsnetwork.com services - many of which are free"

When she said that she used the Discovery Education website, I had never heard of it before, so I checked it out. This website is similar to the Alex or ACCESS programs that we have in Alabama, but for anyone to use. There are several services on there that are really cool. A teacher can search through lesson plans and they also offer a puzzlemaker. I think that the best part of the website is the fact that many of their services are free!

The last teacher that I contacted was my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Angela Benson. She made a huge impact on my life and is the reason that I am studying elementary education. I was able to contact her through email. She had some amazing things to say about the SMART board and all of the programs that she can use through the SMART board. Here is the conversation that we had:

"Hello Mrs. Benson,
I am not sure that you remember me, but my name is Danielle Pitt. I was
one of your students at Rockwell and also Kim Pitt's daughter (she use to
work in the cafeteria). I am in college now at the University of South
Alabama studying to be an elementary teacher! For one of my classes that I
am taking I have to put together a Personal Learning Network of teachers
that I have talked to about being a teacher and how you use technology in
your classroom. I was wondering if I could include you in this and ask you
a few questions? You may email me at dep701@gmail.com.
Thank you,
Danielle Pitt"

"It is so nice to hear from you. I would love to help you."

"Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! I guess I will start by asking the obvious question: How do you use technology (ex. Computers, Internet, Smart Board, class blog, etc.) in your classroom?

Thanks,

Danielle "

"Oh my, that is such a broad question. I love my SMART Board and use it daily in all subject areas. In reading, I use it to go through this great web site that has the weekly story’s vocab, purpose for reading, and comprehension questions. There is also links to spelling activities as well. I also use it to practice choral reading for fluency, rate of speed and accuracy. I put a passage up and we read it together. I also use it in literacy centers and let a rotating group go up and do a reading based website/game for practice. I really use my board in math. The kids love coming up to work problems with the pens. Fortunately, they had a board in second grade, so they have been showing ME how to do some really cool things. I love the different interactive websites for math and enjoy working problems for the group with different color pens and effects. In language I use the board for sentence correction. I put up several incorrect sentences and they laugh and then write them correctly on their paper and then I call several up to correct them on the board. I also use this as a projector in social studies and use movie clips off of “United Streaming” to go with an area of study. I wrote a grant recently for a Lumens Document Camera which I LOVE!!! You can do experiments under it and project them up on the SMART board, or put up a magazine clipping with a science related picture, graph, or chart for them to see. This has greatly reduced my need to run to the copy machine every time I want them to see something or do a worksheet.

I hope this helps. If you need more, just ask me some specific questions."

"Wow! I had no idea that that could have been such a broad question, I do apologize for that! Thank you so much for this insight I will definitly be using all of this information! This gives me a great start and I will probably be emailing you again soon! Thank you so much for your help and time!

Danielle"

Overall, I have really enjoyed getting in touch with all of these amazing teachers. They each use technology in such a big way in their classrooms. They have all given me some great ideas to use in my future classroom. I wish them all the best of luck!

Google Earth Project

I did my Google Earth Project on a tour of Mobile, Al.

It's Time For Technology Talk

Five International School Blogs
Tracy Traylor, Brittany Heiss, and Danielle Pitt

Click here to go to the home page, for a list of all of the class podcasts. You can get to our group podcast that way or you can click here.

During our podcast we reviewed the following blogs. Check them out!

• Class 3L at Millgrove School in Spruce Grove, Canada
• Grade 2 class from the International School of Tahganyika
• Room 8 from Melville Intermediate School from New Zealand
• Mr. Lamshed's class from Adelaide, Australia
• Green School from Bali, Indonesia

Substantive Presentation

Week 14

When I first started taking EDM 310, I will be honest, I thought that this class would be the biggest waist of my time and money, I mean why do I need to learn how to incorporate technology in my future classroom? I did not understand in the first few weeks, why we had to create a personal blog and turn everything in on our blog. It took me a couple of weeks, (o.k. I will be honest, it took me at least a month), to figure out that it is not about having a personal blog to have a special place to turn everything into, it was to prepare me to have a classroom blog for my future classroom.

I have gone back and forth, this whole semester, about if teachers should have a class blog or not. I have come to my final conclusion that a true teacher would want to help his/her students learn in the best and most fun way possible. That way, to me, would be to have a classroom blog so that the students could showcase their artwork, parents would be able to stay up to date, and it would open so many doors for the students to meet other students from around the world. Why would a teacher not want to be involved with all of those perks? The only answer that I could come up with was that, that is not a true teacher.

So, now if you asked me, "will you have a classroom blog in your future classroom?" My answer will be, ABSOLUTELY! I want to be a true teacher and help as many students as I can to be creative, and to help them learn while it being fun for them and fun for me to teach. My final question to you is, "will you have a classroom blog in your future classroom?"

Comment4Kids

Week 13

This week I watched a post by Jessica, Maru, Mary L., and Sesalina in Room 14 at Pt England School. These girls made a video about playing sensible games. It was a great video with them playing on the play ground and in the classroom to make sure everyone was included in the games and that everyone had fun.

Here is what I commented:

"Hello, my name is Danielle too! I am in Dr. Strange's EDm 310 class at the University of South Alabama. This video that you girls did was awesome! Keep up the great job and play safe with one another. Please visit my blog http://pittdanielleedm310.blogspot.com."

Week 14

This week I saw a drawing that Evan from Mrs. Cassidy's class. He drew a picture of himself with two different shirts and blue glasses. I really like his glasses that he drew, check them out for yourself. Here is what I commented:

"Evan,

Hello, my name is Danielle and I am in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. Your picture that you drew is really good. I love you glasses that you drew. Are your glasses really blue? I wear glasses too, but mine are just black. Keep up the great job!"

Week 13 - Finally got the right week!

The Zax

I have to hand it to Dr. Seuss. He always has a lesson about something and he wrote it to where anyone can understand what the heck he is talking about. I can be a little like the Zax, a little stubborn in my ways, but at some point I have to take a step to the East or West. Some of the comments left for the video suggested that this was to show how there are teachers that don't want to except that technology is becoming a major part of teaching students. I don't agree with this. I think that this video could truly apply to anything in everyday life, but when it comes to applying it to this class in particular I think that it applies to teachers being stubborn in changing their teaching ways. What I mean by that is, these teachers who do not want to adapt to different students and each of their different learning needs. What I think these teachers don't understand is that, even though a student does not learn whatever it is that he or she needs to learn, that student will build a bridge over the problem for the rest of his or her life and he or she may never learn something that that one teacher could have stepped to the East or West for that student.

PS22 Video

"Why is it important for students to post their work to blogs (or in other ways)?"

It is important for students to post their work to blogs or in any other ways because when they do they open up all of the doors for opportunities. These kids were just singing in their auditorium one day and the next they are being offered to sing with Fleetwood Mac! Having students post their work makes the saying "anything is possible" really come true. It is not only important for students to post their work to blogs; it is also equally important for other teachers to post to their blogs so that other teachers can learn from them. Three examples other than the PS22 student video are:

1.) Kaia's blog

--- Students in Mr. C's class saw her blog and then in return after skyping with her dad they made a voicethread for her to listen to their comments.

2.) Mr. McClung

--- He made a post about everything he had learned in his first year of teaching. This helped me to better understand what I may expect my first year of teaching.

3.) Wendy Drexler's: The Networked Student

--- This post helped me with, once again, understanding what I am up against as an upcoming teacher. I will be teaching children that may be more technologically advanced and better connected with other students around the world, than myself. It is a little scary to think that my future students will have PLN's.

This video was really awesome! Anytime that kids get together and sing, they all perform really well. The emotions in their face and the way that they really got into the music was the best part for me. They showed that they understood the words and the meaning of the song which was inspiring.

Comment4kids and Vocaroo

This week I read Rebekah's post about her class going to the swimming pool and all of the fun that she had. I left her a voice comment. Just click below and you should be able to listen!

Google Doc. Form - Survey

Survey - "Have you traveled?"

I did my survey on if people have traveled around the world or not. There was 15 questions in the form of multiple choice, fill in the blank, choose from a list, and various other forms. I had a total of 21 responses returned to me. You may click here to see graphs of the responses.

Summary

I am not sure what happened with the very first question's graph, it only shows 8 responses and they were all no. On my spreadsheet there were 13 people who have traveled outside of the United States and 8 people who have not traveled outside of the United States. Question 2 asked how many countries a person had visited outside of the U.S. There are 38% who have never traveled to another country , 58% who have traveled to 1-5 different countries, 5% who have traveled to 6-10 different countries, 5 % who have traveled to 11-15 different countries, and none who have traveled to more than 16 different countries. Question 3 asked if they had ever traveled to one of the following countries: Mexico, England, France, Greece, China, or none of the above. The responses to this question were across the board there were some who have never been to any of those countries to 29% of people who have traveled to England. Question 4 and 5 were both fill in the blank and had a wide variety of answers. Question 6 asked if a person had traveled before 9/11 and all of the responses were equal 7 people had traveled before 9/11, 7 people had not traveled before 9/11 and 7 and not traveled outside of the country. Question 7 asked if a person had traveled after 9/11 . The responses were 57% had traveled since 9/11 and 48% had not traveled since 9/11. Question 8 asked "If you have traveled since 9/11, did you notice a change in security?" There were 48% yes and 52%no. Question 9 asked if the person had traveled since 9/11 did he or she notice any change in security. Some of the answers that I received were "did not notice", "checking your car before you arrive", and "longer time in security." Question 10 asked when a person did travel, what did he or she travel by. Plane 57%, Cruise 10%, Car 10%, Bus 0%, Train 0%, None of the above 24%. Question 11 was on a scale of 1 to 10 how much fun did the person have, 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest. Most of the responses were above a 5. Question 12, 90% of people would travel outside of the U.S. if they had the chance. Question 13 and 14 were fill in the blank asking which country people would travel to and why and if they chose no to question 12, why. The final question, I asked people for their opinion on what country out of Mexico, France, China, and Canada they thought was the most traveled destination. There was a tie between Mexico and France with 38%. No one thought that China was the most traveled destination. Only 29% of people thought that Canada was the most traveled destination.

I had a great response from people. Thanks to everyone who did respond!

Project 6

Skype

When I first started this class, I will be honest I did not know what Skype was! Now, however, I have learned how to use it and it is a great and fun tool! I started using it only when I needed to do something related to class and now I have gotten my fiance to start using it! Now we get to talk a lot more often than we did before without worry about running up our cell phone bills.

Some examples of how I used it for this class were that I talked with Tracy Traylor from class F about our project that we are doing together. I also instant messaged with Heather Ludwig, also from class F. She helped me a great deal with learning how to do several of our projects. In one of our class times, the whole class skyped Dr. Strange from Brittany Heiss's computer, so that he could answer some of the questions that we had. I am certain that after this class is over I will continue to use skype on a regular basis. Anyone who wants to skype me, my username is daniellepitt.

Comments4Teachers

These next few weeks I will be following Mr. Ferlazzo's blog. I am very lucky that he does sometimes post several times a day, but at least once a day, so I know that he will put up new post up over the next few weeks.

Week 13

This week I read an interview that Mr. Ferlazzo did with Carrie Rose from the Parent/Teacher Home Visit Project. This project is really neat because teachers in the Sacramento, Ca. area are taking time outside of the classroom and going into the homes of students to help and tudor them. It was shown that by going into the home, it formed a way to build trust and respect between the parents, students, and teachers. I am hoping that schools around here will eventually be able to start a project like this. Here is what I commented:

"Mr. Ferlazzo, My name is Danielle and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I will be following you blog post for the next few weeks and at the end I will post an overview onto my blog. If you would like to drop by my blog before then, I would greatly appreciate it. My website is http://pittdanielleedm310.blogspot.com and our class blog can be found athttp://edm310.blogspot.com. Your interview with Carrie was really great! I am amazed that teachers would take time out of their busy schedules to go to a students home and help, not only the students, but also the parents. I am on the local literacy council here in Daphne, Alabama and if we could get our teachers to go into the homes of students to tudor, I think that amazing things would begin to happen as it has in Sacramento. I know that if my parents had a teacher come into our home to help them understand what was going on with the exit exams, graduation, etc. it would have helped all of us greatly. Thank you for sharing this interview with all of us! I will be trying to implement something like this for our literacy council tudors. Thanks again!"

Week 14

This week I read a post by Mr. Ferlazzo about recycling. He had a test that you could take to see how wasteful you are. When I took the test I scored a 544, which sounds good, but compared to the national average of 1207.8 it was not so good. Everyone should take this test, it will open your eyes to simple things that you could be doing to be "green."

Here is what I commented on his blog:

"Mr. Ferlazzo,

I love this quiz! It was so much fun to see how wasteful I really am compared to what I thought I was. I recycle paper and plastic water bottles, but after taking that test it showed me all of the other things that I could be doing. My score was a 544 compared to the national average of 1207.8. Some of the things that it said I should be doing, like driving only when I have to travel more than a mile because I live a mile from everything. Thank you so much for opening my eyes to this. Please visit my blog at http://pittdanielleedm310.blogspot.com."

My time toast timeline

Please visit my timeline on "Hurricanes During My Lifetime."

Week 11 (I think)

Between these three blogs an amazing thing has happened! A dad decided that a great way to share his daughters childhoods with not only, family members but also, the whole family was to create a blog for each of them. While sharing with all of us everything that both Kaia and her sister have learned and are learning; a teacher, (Mr. C), found Kaia's blog and shared with his students the amazing photos that Kaia and her dad took outside of their home while learning that everything is beautiful, even the ugly stuff. The class ended up Skyping one another and Kaia's dad Jabiz, suggested that the class put their comments on a video or audio. This amazing teacher and his class put together a VoiceThread and sent it to them! This is such an amazing thing, people from two very different countries connected over the technology that is made available to all of us!

As a future teacher this example is very exciting to me! I hope that I will have an opportunity like this one to be able to connect with other people from around the world. Even though Jabiz did have some reservations, in which every parent should, I think that his decision not to keep Kaia to himself and share what a special girl she is is amazing. What he did shows how much the classroom environment has changed and will continue to change in the future.

Below are the comments that I left on each blog:

Mr. C's Class Blog:

"Mr. C and class,

I am from Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. Thank you so much for sharing this Voicethread with not only Kaia, but also with all of us! You all did an amazing job! I am trying to create my own Voicethread and so far I am not having any luck with it. Keep Up the great work!"

Kaia's Blog:

Sweet Girl Kaia, I am in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. You are an amazing, smart, beautiful girl! Your pictures that you took all by yourself were fantastic! Keep up the great job and be sure to tell your dad how great he is for helping you share you pictures with all of us.

Jabiz's Blog:

Jabiz, I am in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. I am not yet a parent, but hope to be one someday and I can see where you would question yourself on wether or not to "share" her on the internet. There are always going to dangers in everything you do with her. If you show her as she gets older how to be careful and I think that she will understand the dangers and how to steer clear of them. I commend you on being actively involved in you children's lives because so many parents today are not. She will treasure this time you and her have spent together and she will grow to appreciate everything you have done for her. Good Luck to all of you!

Comments4Teachers

I have been assigned for weeks 10 and 12 to follow Dr. Scott McLeod's blog called "Dangerously Irrelevant."
Week 10
This week I watched a video posted by Dr. Scott Mcleod called "You Can't Be My Teacher." Here is what I commented:
"I watched the video "You Can't Be My Teacher" and I found it very entertaining. Teachers and students becoming teachers, like myself, should know how to use the Internet as well as be able to show children how to use the Internet properly and safely."
Overall, this video was really cute to watch. The questions that the little boy asked were "do you know how to use the internet?" and "are you going to teach me how to use the internet safely?" and other questions to the same effect. If a teacher does not know how to use the internet or how to teach the students how to use the internet safely then according to the little boy you could not be his teacher.

Week 12

This week I watched a video called "The School of One." It was about a school in New York that is catering towards the needs of the students. The proposed mission is to provide a way to achieve an individualized personalized instruction to the students so teachers can be more focused on the quality of teaching. Here is what I commented:

"I believe that this will be the future of schooling. I do know that some schools here in Alabama have already started implementing a simular version of this in the high schools. I think that it will work and it will be very successful."

Week 10

Morgan Bayda's An Open Letter to Educators

This week I read a post by Morgan Bayda called An Open Letter to Educators, I also watched a video that was included on the post my Dan Brown. Morgan and Dan expressed their views about University teaching. They both thought that having a professor standing up at the front of the classroom lecturing facts and then giving tests was the wrong way to approach teaching. Dan actually dropped out of college, not because he is a dead beat or because he was failing but because he believes that his "schooling interfered with his learning." They both mentioned how numerous times they had bought books for classes and never even opened them. According to filife.com the average student spends $634 on textbooks per semester! I know personally I have spent more than that. That amount begs the question "how many of those textbooks were actually used?" It is crazy to think about how much money was wasted on those books when you can get the same information for free from the internet like Dan said. Here are my thoughts on what was posted and what I commented: "As I was reading your post and also watching Dan Brown's video the only thought that kept coming to my mind was "this is deja vu." What I mean by that is even though I am a part time student the classes that I take are with approx. 20 students and 1 professor. There is a little more one on one interaction between the student and the professor, but the professor is still standing up and teaching with a power point, overhead projector, white board, etc. We are still required to learn the "scribbled notes of facts" and take a test to receive a grade. Call me old-fashioned or a person who does not like change, but I like the fact of having a teacher teach me facts and testing me on them to receive a grade. The part that I like about Dr. Strange's class is that when he his trying to teach his students he is being interactive with us. He is teaching us how to become a great teachers in the future by not necessarily showing us step for step how to do something. He gives us the tools to use while also giving us a chance to be creative while interacting with the other students in EDM310 and from around the world.

I have felt cheated several times, in the past, when I have paid hundreds of dollars on text books and I don't even crack them like you! In my opinion, some things do need to change in our education system, but then again there are a few things that don't need to change.

This was a very challenging post. I encourage all educators both current and future to read this post to understand what is going to happen if we like it or not. Technology has already changed our lives, but it is not done yet!

Comment4Kids

This week I commented on Hannah's blog post about her cat. The post was actually a little poem about her cat that chases a rat, and he is a fat cat! Here is what I commented:

"You did a great job on your poem! I love the fact that your words at the end of each line rhymed. I also have a cat, but he is not fat. He likes to run after birds! Keep up the great job!"