Blog Post #15 FINAL POST!!!!

Part 1.
In part one of Blog Post #15 I have been asked to refer back to my very first post and that assignment. In that first post I was asked to imagine my future classroom and what would my methods of teaching be. Honestly when reading that first assignment I laughed to myself; I thought I have no idea what I'll be doing in the classroom, I am not even sure what grade or subject I really want to teach. I have been at South for three years, working on a double major of secondary education and history. I came to South with the hope of just simply graduating. Now as I sit here today and think of what will I do in the future, things are starting to become a little more clear. I want to teach, I want to teach in a middle school classroom. I want to teach science and I want that hands on exciting, technologically advanced classroom.

While being in this EDM 310 class I have found that technology is taking over, that children of this day and age are hard wired or having a hard time. Kids know how to do more things with my Iphone than I do. That is the future and as a future teacher I have to get on board. I loved this class because it has showed me some amazing things to do with children inside the classroom, that they can even take home to their parents! Things that get everyone involved and can even improve class participation and is still so much fun. I can remember my middle school classrooms, nothing was really exciting except for getting to socialize with my friends. Now, teachers are doing things where the kids are still socializing but this time they are also learning because they are doing projects and games that tie learning into playing.

Since I started this class I have had the chance to see how classrooms all over the world work, even some classrooms that match my field of study. I have really enjoyed learning how other teachers do things. I saw how one teacher in Nevada taught his class to build fans with just regular house hold objects. Another teacher turned a game of Jeopardy on his smart board into a classroom game show. Technology has really made an impact in their classrooms, so why shouldn't my classroom do the same?

So in conclusion, what I am trying to say is that I still am not 100% sure if I want to change my major and teach science instead of history, what I do know is that I will be using all sorts of technology. I love the idea of having the type of classroom that children want to flock to and aren't miserable the second they step in the doorway. I love all the neat teaching methods I have learned in EDM 310 and I know I will be taking from this class no matter what I do. I want to get kids excited to be at school and even more excited to come back the next day! Wish me luck...I think I might need it!

Part 2.


Thanks for checking out my blog I hope you enjoy it and I had a blast learning in this EDM 310 class!

Project #13

Using technology to communicate with my group was a great tool! I used facetime to talk with Whitney and Skype to talk to Roanna. Together we all discussed a time and place to meet to work on our SMARTboard and final projects. These were great tools and super helpful. We were able to find the perfect time and made some pretty great projects! YAY GROUP #1!!!

Final Project

Blog Post #14

In the article, Teacher Knows If You've Done the E-Reading by David Steitfeld, he talks about a online text book that teachers use in the classroom called CourseSmart E-Texbooks. These books are awesome and can track the students history of when and for how long they read their textbook. It tells the teacher know who is actually studying or who opens the textbook the night before the test. They know when the students are skipping pages, not highlighting important information, or not even opening the book. This is seriously the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of! I think this new form of technology is extremely helpful because it can increase the number or students who will actually study instead of just cramming the night before the test. It also gives the option of one on one teaching with the students instead of just reading straight from the book during class. As a student, I am in love with this type of studying because it seems super interesting a great way to persuade me to actually do my work early instead of waiting until the day it is due (like I am doing right now). I like the feature of being able to highlight the important material and that it saves your place for you to come back later.

If I were to talk to the teacher described in the article I would ask the following questions..
1. Do the E-books help or hurt your students more?
2. Are the student’s grades improving significantly?
3. Do you or your students have any major problems using this online method?

If I were to ask the students in his class I would ask the following questions...
1. Do you like this system, or would you rather use the more traditional teaching way?
2. Do you think your grades are better since using E-books?
3. Is there something about E-books you like better than the old teaching way?
4. If you could change anything about this system what would it be?

I had to think long and hard as to what comment I would leave Mr. Steitfeld, and then I realized I would simply thank him. All the other comments came off extremely ill, and honestly I find that to be just rude. The man was simply sharing some knowledge and I really like the idea of an online text book where the teacher can see what the student is doing. Also, if the student can highlight some parts in the book, they could highlight something they don’t understand and go over it the next day in the class. People need to realize technology is a coming and we just got to hold on for the ride. This is an exciting new find and I truly like it.

Final C4T

This week I read a post from Mrs. Becky Goerend and her blog Live the Conversation. She is an extraordinary teacher who writes about daily life as a teacher. In her particular blog that I read "Struggles" she discussed how hard it is to get her students to calm down with the socializing and pay attention to her lesson. I left her a comment agreeing with how hard that can be because I am an after school counselor and I too sometimes run into this problem with my own class. She didn't have any replies from other teachers with suggestions, but she said she will be putting up follow up blog with results from other teaching methods that her colleagues have tried. Can't wait to read it!

SMART Board Project #2

Group #1
Whitney, Roanna, and myself are the best team in the WORLDDDDD

Blog Post #13

1. Back to the Future
What a fantastic video, the kids were using technology with their studies and appeared to really be habing fun doing so. This video showed me how the children didn't necesarily learn directly from the technology, it was just there to help them! They used that technology to help them learn and grow outside of the classroom. Mr. Crosby was my kind of teacher, he used to technology to show the children things, but then allowed them to go out and experience things first hand. The children worked with there hands and then would use technology to share their experiments with the world!!! Mr. Crosby was a great a teacher, he was the kind of man that believed in using technology but not absolutely relying on it to teach his students. He was a great man and a true inspiration for all future teachers.

2.Blended learnig cycle
Paul Anderson combines Blended learning and the Learning Cycle into something that is his very own system which he calls QUIVERS. This is an arcronym for Question, Investigation, Video, Elaboration, Review, and Summary quiz. He tries to pose questions for the class to allow them to debate and investigate the answers. He uses technology to show the answer and help the class. The class then takes the answer and tries to disect it and teach each other something they didn't notice before. This is a fun and interesting approach to teaching, it gives the students the confidence to look for the answer and even when they get it wrong they are given the chance to fix it and help their peers. I love this and I really feel like it could be good in a classroom, it gets the kids working together and not struggling on their own. If a child doesn't understand something this teaching approach shows kids that they aren't alone and can work together and fix the outcome. It's great and I know any teacher could use this in almost in classroom. (I didn't post any images to go along with this blog post because my computer has decided to be a total butt, sorry.)

C4K Assignments 5

#9 Chris S.
Chris is a 4th grader in Mrs. Geldes class. They live in Nebraska and he told his readers a story about snow. There was also a little bit about "Daisy" who had been shot, but was ok now. It was a confusing story to follow because it lacked punctuation. However, I give the kid props because I don't even remeber 4th grade stories I told and he was telling his in a blog. What a super smart kid, can't wait to see what the next C4K brings!

#10 Ava
Ava is in something called 4KM and 4KJ, she is from Austrailia and I guess school grades are slightly different. She is a very bright little girl. All of her posts were extremly well written and exciting! She has a strong love for horses and it shows all over her blog. She wrote about horses and all the different types there are, I had no idea there were like thousands of kinds of horses. It was super cute blog and I truly enjoyed reading her work.

Final Project Progress Report

This week, Tuesday, we made all of our picture slides for the project introducing the project, each other, our topics, and acknowledgements. On Thursday, we filmed all of our tips and suggestions. We also edited all the slides and videos into the order they appeared on our outline that we made last week. None of the music has been added yet and hopefully the finalization and uploading will be easy to complete next Tuesday. Be ready for a sweet Final Project!!!!

Blog Post #12

In this week's blog assignment Dr. Strange has us create our own blog assignment speacilizng in our feild of education. To be honest I am completley lost, and not really sure how to go about doing this so instead I just started Googling "history teachers with a blog" well after a few duds I found this blog called US History Teachers Blog and y'all...I was hooked. Everything I read was cool and neat, he had a few games that caught my eye that I would totally use in my classroom, like Jeopardy. This teacher's blog is phenominal! He even has helpful things for quizzes and reviewing. This teacher is on top of his game and a total help for newbies like me! Ya'll should check it out if you are interested in teaching history like me.

Blog Post # 11

This week's topic for blog was posting was pretty exciting for me. We have been given opportunities to speak to children almost every week and this week we are all meeting the same classroom and same teacher. This was great and so much fun to see a first hand account of what a teacher who uses technology in the classroom is actually thinking. Miss. Cassidy and her first grade class are such a great inspiration for future teachers. She is so positive and understands that technology and classroom are certainly beginning to integrate more and more each year. She is doing so much to help her students make it and understand technology better. She has her young students doing so much more than I ever could when I was their age, heck they are doing more than I could even do last semester! I think it is fantastic that she is doing all these things; my favorite thing that she does is the video games. Honestly I have always hated video games but I can't seem to go anywhere without seeing a child on a video game device of some sort. As an educator she has turned video games into a way for those children actually take away some knowledge from playing on them. She says in the Skype video that we watch, that as teachers we should "do it for what we are interested in," talking about the ways to relate to the students when teaching. She gives different examples of tools to teach with and I think that is great! We need to be ready to jump in feet first with technology in the classroom. She also says that technology is here and only going to get bigger in the classrooms and she couldn't be more correct. There is no reason to shut it out; she said that some of her colleagues didn't necessarily want to change the way they taught and felt what she was doing wasn't the best way. She is great and I loved watching and hearing of what her students could do, those children have bright futures ahead of them and thanks to Miss. Cassidy they won't be afraid of technology as they get older. Those kids have already had some amazing opportunities and their horizons have been broadened by learning to work with technology at such an early age!

C4T #3

This week I left another comment for Mr. Crosby and his Learning is Messy blog! I am never bored reading his blog he is always doing something super interesting and new! This week he delivered rainbow trout eggs to two fourth grade class rooms in Nevada. Every year these kids learn and track the life and growth of trout. He showed where the kids write down new information and how they knew that trout grew in cold dark climate so the class built special boxes to cover the tanks in their classrooms. I love getting to read his posts because he always has some cool project that he is sharing. I love these kinds of things so getting to read them is so much fun!

The week of March 1-April 7
The second post I read from Mr. Crosby was a little bit different than before. As usual he talks about STEM learning and how it affects the classroom. This week's post was different because it wasn't written directly on his blog, it was written on a completely different site but he gave his readers the link and I found it, read it and thanked him because I really do enjoy reading his posts because he is the type of teacher I admire. He is the hands on type that plays by his own rules really, his posts make him seem like he is just winging projects but he actually knows what he is doing and all his projects are fun and entertaining and could be great in almost any classroom. I love his ideas and think everyone should give them a chance, maybe even take what he has done and do something similar that works for your classroom and environment. JUST GIVE HANDS ON LEANING A TRY!!!!!

C4K assignments 4

#7 Matthew's awesome blog
This blog was interesting, and slightly hard to follow. I can't tell you his age or school and I promise I tried to find any information. I honestly don't even feel like any of his blogs made much sense but because I am not a heartless person and children are usually all over the place I found a post I could relate to. He was talking about a movie that I seriously just watched it was great. The post was about the movie Pitch Perfect and sadly he did not life it too terribly much. He was fun and seems full of energy so it is great that he is all about posting blogs and using technology!

#8 Madison: Genius Hour

This blog was probably by far one of my most favorite blog post I have gotten to read. It was from a 13 year old girl in Mrs. Krebs' class. She was explaining to her readers about how to paint your nails and do a special "newspaper effect." It was so neat, you paint your nails a base color and then after it drys you soak them in rubbing alcohol and then lay a news paper over them so that the lettering sticks, after a while you peel up the paper up and your nails have the letters attached. It was so cool because I am in love with painting my nails and just about every girlie thing there is. I told her about my Pintrest account and how I learned of other really cool nail painting ideas, and I even shared a few with her! I loved it and I had so much fun talking about it, it is so much fun when you can relate to the kids and I think that makes for a more entertaining classroom.

Blog Post #10

I'm a Papermate. I'm a Ticonderoga.

I have read this and the blog post and I hate to say it but I am severely lost and I am just super confused. I hate that I don’t get it. Please explain it to me. Again, I am so sorry!

Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?
In the post about Spencer readers learned that he was faced with an argument with his superiors and games used to help learn. Spencer uses real life heroes like soldiers and nurses to try and win the argument, and that was great. He said that they do the same thing to learn, and that is so true I have met so many people at the University of South Alabama in the nursing field who play fun games to help learn. Games in classrooms aren’t everyone’s favorite but I can honestly say when I get a classroom of my very own you can bet my students will be playing and having fun, and most importantly, LEARNING!

Avoid Social Networking
This post was hilarious! This has got to be a joke, teachers not even allowed to look at their students outside of the classroom! Haha I can’t even imagine trying to ignore a child outside of the classroom, the school I work at now I have children coming up to me all the time outside of work and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Kids are great and in the future I would hate to have children with teachers who act as if they didn’t exist outside of their classrooms.

Things to Think About
Mcleod is a someone that travels to different schools and in his own words “lives on the edge of deeper learning.” He pretty much talks about the things parents have thought at some point in time. Children have got to realize that not all technology in schools is bad. Parents have got to see that and recognize that these can be great learning tools. Kids need to be taught the right way to use the technologies in schools and what good they can do when using it!

Project #11

This isn't my original group but I am in this video because these groups allowed me to be in it so that I got credit for doing Project #11. Enjoy!

Project #14 SMARTboard

Hey everyone so I was really struggling today with putting this video together. It happens technology is not everyone's friend all the time. But this is my proof that I really did the work!!!! Sorry!!

Blog Post #9 (Due 3/24)

Posts By Mr. Joe McClung

Mr. Joe McClung has taken it upon himself to start a blog after his many years of teaching and is giving advice to future teachers. He writes a new post on the last day of school every year just to summarize what new things he has learned from that year. I chose to read the “What I Learned” posts from 2010-2012; this would be his third and fourth years.
In his third year post he told us it is important to remember what the reason we started teaching was; that reason was the children. He felt that the children were his main focus when it came to teaching and that this is how every teacher should work and feel about the children in their own classroom. He shares that children in the classroom will struggle and that we as teachers should guide them and not necessarily take over their problem that we should just help them to do better. Being on the outside with your coworkers isn’t a bad thing according to McClung; he says that he himself is an outsider at work but that he doesn’t care how his coworkers feel about him. He is more concerned with building a relationship with his students and trying to make their learning environment a better place. He is an outsider, and proud because he knows he is making a difference in his classroom for the children.
His fourth year post was a lot different from the others. It was shorter but it was stronger, it got straight to the point and got his message across. There were two main points and the first was “You gotta Dance with Who You Came to the Dance With.” He was again telling us readers that it is ok to not fit in with your coworkers and that you should not care what they think, and not to change who you are just because your peers look at you differently. There are only two people whose opinions should matter when it comes to the work place, the children and your superiors. His second point was was pretty blunt and simple; “Challenge yourself!” I could relate to this point much more than the others I read. I have been the victim of the boring classroom, where teachers sit and don’t push the students to do their very best, or give the classroom any fun exciting things to look forward to, it is just the same boring monotonous stuff that is dreadful to sit through day after day. He tells us that this is just unacceptable, we can’t get comfortable with teaching the same stuff day in and day out. He says we have to challenge ourselves as well as the students, we have to push them and get them excited to come to class. His goal is to ensure that his students enjoy the classroom and not resent school like he did as a child and these blog posts were written to help other future teachers do the exact same thing.

C4K Assignments 3

#5 3/8

Boy Scouts
This week I was assigned to Miss Mac's Outstanding Owls class. I got to learn about Marshall and his interests. He wrote a blog about how he is part of The Boy Scouts. I responded to his post telling him of how when I was younger I was a brownie which is like a girl scout, and how I did crafts and things. I asked if as a boy scout do they do crafts and I can't wait to see if he responds to me!

#6 3/19
Wanna Hang Out?
This week I was assigned to leave a comment for Megan in Mr. Seyfert's class. This time I had a bit of trouble with leaving a post, it wasn't physically hard I just wasn't sure how to go about commenting on this little girl's post. She wrote about wanting to hang out with a character in a book she was reading. I tried to see if other kids had written about the same book but honestly I just wasn't sure. I tried to stay positive I even asked what book was she referring to in her post. I told her that it is exciting to put yourself in the shoes of the main character and how it really makes the book come to life. I really want to know what book Megan is talking about, she seems so enthusiastic about wanting to hang out with the main character!!

Blog Post #8 (Due 3/10)

Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2
Such an interesting video! I had a hard time focusing and following along with the video, but eventually things started to make more sense. He said some pretty neat things that he and colleagues had done. I don’t think I could have come up with the things he has done. He was right when said we need to get used to technology that it is constantly changing and we have to change with it. That is a statement that could not be truer! This video was seriously interesting and it was obvious that Dr. Miller put a lot of work into this. Technology is growing more and more and as teachers we will need to be prepared for this. Idea sharing and the use of the internet are a popular way for children of today to learn and as teachers we will need to be able to show our students the right ways to use these sources. Educated comes first and teaching the basics so that the children do their very best are what are most important. The key is in the way that we teach; our students no matter the age or skill level will be watching us, learning from us and it is on our shoulders to show them the correct way to work with multimedia. That is scary for me, if I don’t know what I am doing then I am teaching another group to go out into the world and do something wrong. Practice makes perfect, so our jobs now are to learn so that we understand and can teach our students the tools to work correctly with multimedia. Getting down the basics is the tough part, but eventually we will be able to do it and share it with our students.

Carly's blog post #12
Carly Pugh’s post was super fun and full of life. I loved the video at the end because it was the type of thing that makes you think. Are you honest like a child? Are you generally enthusiastic? Those are great questions to ask yourself on a daily basis. They are a great way to stay humble day to day. This post was very similar to Dr. Miller’s multimedia guide in that she gives tips for improving given assignments. And the links…OH THE MANY LINKS!!! Oh well, over all that was a super resourceful blog post.

The Chipper Series/EDM310 for Dummies
The first video covers so many topics that practically describe my entire life. I am a horrible procrastinator, for instance this post was allowed the extra time of being due on Sunday at mid night when it was originally set for Friday. Here I am doing it Sunday night. In the “teach me so I don’t have to learn” portion is practically describing how I feel about school in general, which is absolutely terrible. In the beginning of EDM310 I felt like the work we did was just silly “fill the time” stuff, but now I realize I have learned a lot and that the things I have found in this class are great resources to use later on in the classroom with my own students. Like Chipper, I realize I need school and a degree to get through life and I certainly hope it all works out in the end.
The second video EDM for Dummies was neat, but I feel like this might have been more useful at the start of this class. I definitely could have used the insight on the class so that I could have been more confident when starting out. I was not excited for the class because all the negative things I heard through the grape vine. Now I have come to realize that the class isn’t hard, you just have to take the time to do the work, and it gets easier.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
What a straight forward, no playing around video! It was so hard to believe how low the U. S. department of education was ranked. They were 55, which put them even below coal-mining industries. The order and control are lost inside the classrooms, which is why they are struggling so much. Technology is the up and coming resource needed in the class room. Today students really don’t have a choice, it is everywhere and is a major necessity. Learning isn’t the only reason technology can be so great. It is useful in the ways of connections, socially, in the business world, and so on. This video was 100% on the money, teachers need to be willing to grow technologically and need to be able to use technology inside the classroom. We might not be able to keep up with the ever growing technologies, but it is worth a shot and there is no need to keep it from the classrooms. Right now computers and things are just seen as a source of entertainment, but if teachers can provide ways to have their students using the technology for educational resources then those students are more likely to take this knowledge outside of their classrooms and use it in everyday life.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0
List of Things to Find
1. The first thing I have found is a website called Preziand it is fantastic! This website is like an online slide show sharing network. I could definitely use this site as a secondary social studies teacher because I could use the slides of other teachers or create mine own and share it other people in the world. I could also be assisted if I was incorrect or if I was stuck another person could interact and share with me the corrections and such.
2. The website Prezi had a few package deals...

These options are super helpful and a great way for people, especially struggling college kids like myself or the less fortunate children who are still trying to get out there and make a difference in the world.
3. Comic Strip
Read my comic strip here at Make Beliefs Comix!
Animoto provides users with a variety of tools for creating videos. Its focus is for videos in the classroom and enhancing the digital classroom. Animoto offers a free unlimited video account for educators.
4. I created a poll at Polleverywhere.com. Take mine here!

C4T #2

Third Grade with Mr. Capps
This week I am reading Mr. Capps blog and is a 3rd grade teacher out of Gulf Shores and seems very interested in hands on learning. The post I chose to comment on today is called "Multiplication Magic." He posted pictures of multiplication problems for his students and their parents so that they could work on them together. I love this idea it is a spectacular way for getting parents and children working together online and on the child's homework. I certainly enjoyed reading Mr. Capps blog and can't wait to read more!

Second blog post with Mr. Capps
This week I read a blog post where the students had to write a paper on a very popular topic, The Harlem Shake. This is a silly dance that has gone viral and is almost everywhere you turn (including The University of South Alabama and its basketball games). I am not exactly in love with the whole craze, but Mr. Capps using it in a classroom as a way for the kids to learn is great! The kids had to write about the history of the Harlem Shake, or the way it was making people from Harlem feel. He had a ton of great ways to make the children of his classroom think and used a relevant topic. I let him know that I certainly enjoyed it and thought it was fantastic!

Randy Pausch Last Lecture

What an inspirational teacher and speaker! Randy Pausch is a professor at Carnegie Mellon and this video is where he gave his last speech before he lost his battle with cancer. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this speech and learning about his childhood goals and what he did to try his best and achieve them. He is hardworking man with a strong presences about him, I would be lucky to have half the determination that he demonstrates in the video.


In his speech, "How to Achieve Your Childhood Dreams", he tells us how he achieved his childhood dreams. He tells us of the many things he wanted to achieve as a child and the ridiculous amount of obstacles he endured to pursue them. He shared a quote saying "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." This quote stuck with me because it is very true and reminds me of something my dad always tells me, if you fall off the horse you have to get back up or you'll never learn how to ride it.This is so true about so many different things in this world. Failure is bound to happen, but you can always over come it by never giving up faith and trying your hardest to accomplish something you set out to do.



Mr. Pausch tells his listeners that brick walls are there to prove how hard you are willing to work to obtain a goal.This statement could not be more true, especially when it comes to teaching. Your students might not always be the best at reading or writing and might need help. That is a teachers brick wall and giving up and just letting them fall behind is not acceptable, you have to break down that wall push forward and help that child you should get them excited about learning so that they want to better themselves and reach their full potential.



He says there are steps you can take on getting help when you need it. He stresses that you can not always get where you need to on your own, you should tell the truth and apologize when you are in the wrong. Mainly he said to "focus on others and not yourself." He is so right about apologizing and speaking honestly. Why lie or stay mad and not take responsiblity for your own actions? Apologizing and honesty will take a person a whole lot further in life. His main point was focusing on others, as an educator this is a big importance. You are a teacher, you are responsible for the 15+ something students and if you are busy being self centered, you aren't noticing that they need you and expect you to be there for them.



Randy had a strong motto: Don't complain, just work harder. This was how he wanted to be remembered. He didn't want to be remembered for his cancer or what he had to face going through that, he wanted to be remembered for how hard he worked, and how caring he was. In his lecture he showed the audience a great side of him. He never really believed in just giving up he wanted things in his life time and he certainly set out to get them. It was amazing to see all his accomplishments come true. I honestly can't even remember my younger life goals, but the ones I have made for myself I have yet to stop until I get them. I will push on and work for my goals just as Randy Pausch did and hopefully I too will be successful!

Project 8

C4K Assignments 2

#3 2/24
Paragraph Michigan
This week I got a pretty awesome Child Post assignment! I got to write to a 5th grader who lives all the way in Auckland, New Zealand. Her name is Jessica and she is a bright little girl from Miss. Lavakula's fifth grade class, she loves sports and music. She wrote a post about her favorite holiday, which is Christmas. She wrote how she likes to give her friends and family presents almost as much as she like to receive them. Her blog is very bright and cheerful and she had the coolest thing on it where it told her where people who viewed her blog were from. I can't wait to read more from this little girl, she is so smart and I loved her blog!

#4 3/3
My Mom
This week my assignment was for a young man named Morgan. Morgan is a man of few words; he didn't say much but what he said spoke volumes. He loves. He loved his mom in one post, he loved his teacher Ms. Vannoy in another. The boy just loves. It was such a sweet blog, he is obviously younger but it is great to see younger kids working with technology. I cheated a little and looked at some other blogs as well and some students were extravagant but Morgan kept it simple (my kinda man haha). I love the C4Ks in this class, it really is my favorite thing to get to do!

Project #10

Finding the Right Tool


I have been looking forward to becoming a teacher for a very long time. I have been in school for three years and I can feel myself getting closer to the finish line of finally having my very own classroom. Since I starting this EDM 310 class I have learned so many more truly interesting ways to be not only a teacher but an entertainer in the classroom. One of the neat websites I have discovered is Education World and it is awesome! It gives a history teacher several different examples of games they can play with their students. I love it and can't wait to give it a try!

Blog Post #6 (Due 2/24)

The Networked Student


Having a student that is well versed in internet usage is becoming more and more common. Children know how to use the internet, they know where to go to find the answer to their questions. This video by Wendy Drexler is just pointing that out. This video shows its watchers the many different tools a student can use to find valid information when writing a paper or asking a question. Today everyone is plugged in and being a networked student is where they start. In the video we are asked why is a teacher even needed and honestly when you first hear the question there really isn't an answer(or at least I didn't have a good one). The video did however; it had some pretty good reasons as to why the teachers are still needed. Yes students know their way around the web but sometimes when the student needs help, the teacher is there. The teacher is there to encourage the student when they feel stuck, and to help keep the child organized in their thoughts. Searching the web isn't always a walk in the park and the teacher can be there to help the child see the difference in solid information and things that don't seen all too true. The teacher is there to let the student know that someone will always be there when they need help. I am the kind of person who needs a little extra time when it comes to learning a new thing, or working with technology but I know I am not the only one. The children of right now and tomorrow are already a million times better at working a computer than me, but I know if I was just starting out in a classroom or in a hybrid class environment I could not do it without a teacher. Teachers will always be needed when a person is learning something new. Children are becoming much more advanced but the comfort of a teacher will never not be needed in a learning environment. I might not be the best at working a computer and knowing all its tools, but I would never let a child think they were all alone. I will try my hardest to help them when it is my time to teach and I hope that I can help them and make learning with all the online possibilities a little easier and fun!

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment or (PLN)
First off this young girl is ridiculously organized and I am extremely jealous because I am always all over the place. I love how easy it is to access all of her things and how simple it is to come in contact with experts on subjects when you have a question. This was a neat presentation and I like the idea of paperless classrooms! (I am a junior in college who goes through three syllabi a semester because I am alway losing them...just saying)

My Sentence Project

C4K assignments

#1. 2/10
"If I had $200..."
This week I was assigned to leave a comment for Mrs. Behm's class and I got to read a post from a young man named Hung Nguyen. He was telling his readers what he would do if he had 200 dollars to spend. He was quite the practical gamer. He told his readers he would buy two video games, that I had never heard of but that wasn't it. He also said that he would buy some clothes to keep warm in the cold winter weather. It was nice to know he was also thinking of buying practical things, if I was his age I would have spent all that money on shoes and candy or something silly. Kids today are so smart, it excites me for what the future holds when they are all running the world.

#2. 2/17
"All About Me"
This week I left a comment for Ms. McKeller's 3rd grade class and I read a post by Therone. He was telling his readers about his life, and his interests. Therone likes football (one of my favorite sports), he also enjoys rap music. He shared that he has three siblings, which I know nothing about being an only child. He was cute, getting to see his interests and likes makes me wonder what he will do in his future.

Blog Post #5 (Due 2/17)

If I built a School By: Krissy Venosdale
This is the most fun, creative and fun blog I have read so far in this class, I am loving the fun ideas Venosdale has shared. The idea of making a school with all these comfortable environments to increase the want to learn is super! It is so cute to want to build her own school, yes it would be a ton of hard work but her ideas are all fantastic. I am madly in love with the idea of a tree house in the library, it is such a cute idea that could be so much fun. I think that could be so fun, especially with younger children the stories told in a tree house could be great adventures. An image like Krissy's is hard to come by but even though she says building this school is just a dream, I really hope her dream comes true because if I had had the chance to learn in a school like that I would have had an even more amazing childhood. That is the type of school that could create some of the most imaginative and creative children of the future.
I could never imagine building my own school but I would love to come up with a dream like that. I love the idea of the beaming neon sign, catching someone's eye and letting them know where the best imaginations should go to grow is fantastic. Krissy Venosdale is a true inspiration, while my dreams aren't as extreme I believe everyone is push for their dreams and see them through.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
The internet is such a neat place where almost anything is possible, and this was just one of the many examples. The idea to take over 185 people's videos singing the same song and making it into a beautiful chorus was incredible. The way everyone was matched up and placed with their style of singing, sopranos, altos, ect. was fantastic. I can't imagine the time it took to make this video but Mr. Whitacre did an incredible job, the melodies were simply beautiful.

NPR interview with Eric Whitacre
This man had such a fantastic idea and was really inspirational for some people. To hear that a woman who really didn't get out much because she lived all the way in Alaska and these virtual choirs were her way to escape was so fantastic. What a great way to give people such a fun way to get out of reality.

Teaching in the 21st Century
Wow, what an eye opener! This video really can make someone think, especially up and coming teachers. Technology really is surrounding us in this day and age and children honestly have every possible way to research just about any question that pops into their head. Roberts is right when he said it is no longer about entertaining in the classroom, but engaging. I fully support that statement because getting a child engaged in a subject and included them in the classroom is the best form of entertainment. By engaging them, you have their attention and having their attention usually means they are willing to learn the information you are sharing with them. Yes, they could easily learn the information on their own, but like the video also said teachers are merely filters. As filters we are able to feed the children the information in the best way possible. That video was incredible, I wish I could upload it onto my blog so that people who haven't seen it could get the chance. I am not sure how to go about doing that! (Dr. Strange if you read this PLEASE help me, I really want to share this fascinating video)

Fizz Flipping the Classroom
I love love love this idea! Watching videos of a classroom lesson plan the night before while at home is fantastic!!! If a teacher posts what is going to happen and basically teaches the lesson ahead of time is the perfect chance for kids to come up with questions if they are struggling with the subject. Another plus for the younger students would be watching the videos with their parents who could also help with school work from home. I know when I was in grade school I was always having trouble with things like math and my parents were a bit rusty when it came to numbers. "Flipping the classroom" could help the parents if they didn't exactly know how to do something either both the child and parent could use the video to come up with the answer to a problem if they needed it. I seriously think this is one of the most innovative and useful things I have learned and seen since taking this EDM310 class.

Project #5 Presentation

Blog Post #4 (Due 2/10)

Langwitches Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting
These seven-eight year old children were adorable! The blog was written to teach us about learning to work together,perfecting speech, and to gain better comprehension. It was really informative. I never knew that adding an emotion to a word made it easier to learn, but now that I think about it that kind of makes sense. My most favorite part of course was the recording at the end. I understood absolutely none of it because I don't know a lick of Hebrew, but I could really tell the kids were excited and it was obvious that they had worked very hard and practiced their lines. They were fantastic and did a great job making such a cool podcast.

Langwitches- Flat Stanley Podcast
These stories were so creative, getting the children to research the places their "flat" selves were going was a great way to get them learn learn fun facts about different places in the world. I loved the stories, and it showed in their voices that they did too. Podcasts are so much fun and could be a great way to teach children and keep them involved and excited about learning.

"The Benefits of Podcasting in a Classroom" By:Joe Dale
This video was pretty eye-opening, I never realized how many classrooms are already using things like podcasting. It was really neat to see the children learning and doing podcasts on their own. I also think the podcasting done by teachers and uploaded to Itunes is great for the children who become ill. It is a very effective way to keep the children from getting to far behind in the classroom. I might have to steal that idea for future teaching days, I know I certainly could have used things like that when I was in high school.

C4T #1

Learning is Messy Blog
"Long Winded Morning" was the title of Mr. Brian Crosby's first post that I have read, it talked about an activity he had done with a group of elementary teachers in Nevada. It was an interesting experiment that the teachers all participated in, and it taught them all how wind energy works. They teamed up and built machines that lifted up small washers. In response to his post I commented saying how exciting it is to see that teachers are getting involved and grouping together to learn new things to be taught in the classrooms. I have said before in previous blogs, how I love hands on learning and seeing teachers get together and come up with projects that could eventually be super fun projects in the classroom is great!

The second C4T post I read by Mr. Brian Cosby was titled "Hand Held Windmills," you would think it was just the exact same thing as the post from before, but instead of teachers Mr. Cosby and his teaching partner involved the parents. This blog was the same project but on steroids, the project was only 50 minutes instead of a couple hours and the windmills were hand held (obviously..looking at the title) instead of standing. The parents and children still had to do the same project of building a windmill that could lift marbles, but the designs were much different from what the teachers had done in "Long Winded Morning." Once again I let Mr. Cosby know that I was in love with this project, it truly is something I haven't seen before. I think it is fantastic that he is bringing these communities together through science. It is fun seeing teachers come together and also parents with their children. I loved these projects and I really might try to build my very own windmill one day!

Blog Post #3 (due 2/3)

Peer Editing
These two videos and slide show were such a cute and fun way to learn how to appropriately peer edit a classmates work. Peer editing never really had a huge impact when I was in lower school, that was never really an option. This technique is a great example of teaching children better social skills. People will be having to peer edit their entire life. It won't just be in the way people write papers, peer editing is teaching someone how to share an opinion tactfully. Peer editing will never go away and will be used in almost all aspects of life.
The video "Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes" was too precious! The children reenacting the different peer reviewers were great, and they certainly seemed to take their positions seriously.The children in the video portrayed how we should not act when helping others while critiquing their work! No one likes to be picked on, or called out in a harsh manner, the stereotypes were all in good fun but I hope to not ever come across like any of the actors when I leave a review.

Assistive Technologies
Learning about the large population of blind children was new to me. I honestly hadn't even thought that maybe one day I might have a child with that type of disability in my classroom. I realize that might sound ignorant of me but it just had not even crossed my mind. All these neat ways to keep the disabled children learning are pretty awesome. Leaving a child behind just because they have a small disability is irresponsible and it is great that people like Apple have these helpful devices. I loved the voice command that the Ipad has, it's great! The math professor who had the math brale machine thing was really cool too, these devices are what make schools so great. These disabled children need a chance to learn just as much as a child that doesn't have that type of problem.
Technology has come a long way in this day and age. People are coming up with really magnificent ways to keep disabled children learning. I love that and I now am slightly excited for the challenges that I might face with a child with an impairment in my classroom. The thought that I may one day change a child's life is really exciting. I hope that I can impact a child and make them happy to learn just as I am thrilled to teach!

Vicki Davis
What an inspirational woman! She is the type of teacher that believes in empowering her students and letting them learn the way that is best for them. I love teachers like Mrs. Davis, they are there to help but also want the students to not be so dependent on her. She is fantastic, she manged to take her small town Geogria highschoolers and show them the world. She got them involved with other children all the way in the middle east, she is a great teacher and an excellent role model for future teachers looking to be an inspiration in the classroom.

Blog Post #2 (due 1/27)

1. Did You Know?
This first video was a complete eyeopener, I had no clue so many people were using all these different technologies. I was completely unaware of the statistics where so many non US people were ahead in the learning curve. Those people are incredible and to think how much faster they are at learning things really makes me wonder why we the United States are so far behind. With that being said, you would think since over 90% of our population has smart phones and all these amazing technologies that we would be the leading country in learning.
The question of if I am ready to teach the children to be prepared for the technologies that haven't even been invented yet has a simple answer, no. I am in no way ready, I honestly don't even know what I am doing half the time when using things of this time frame, let alone what we will have in 2025! I am terrified, but I guess that is why I am still learning now and maybe I will be ready when that time comes.

2.Mr. Winkle Wakes
What a strange video! It was creative and cute, but slightly uninteresting. I found myself thinking of other things and not really paying it much attention. I did however, like the initial message behind the video. The fact that things really don't change in the classroom is so true and such a bore. A classroom should be fun and entertaining, lectures are tiring and only fun for "hundred year" old men. Technological advances really could make for a more interesting class period.

3.Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
In this video Ken Robinson says that creativity is as important as literacy and should be treated as such. He says children aren't afraid to be wrong and make mistakes but we teach them to be afraid to make mistakes. This to me is so true, and such a horrible act that we participate in, this shouldn't be our way of thinking because the best way to learn the right thing, is to make the mistake in the first place. We have to be able to learn and grow from our mistakes. Also is states that as we grow, we are growing out of creativity which is completely true, these days things with even the slightest bit of fun (art, music, ect.) is being pushed out of the school system to make more room for the things that are not exactly a child's favorite (math, history, and so on).
Robinson tells us that intelligence is diverse, dynamic and distinct, and with the schools trying to remove the arts as children get older they could very easily lose their sense of creativity. Removing the arts in schools is a horrible thing and I sincerely hope that this changes soon, or that people realize the loss of such a wonderful program.

4.Pintrest
Honestly, I have been a Pintrest girl it feels like since the day it was created, I love it and always find the neatest and most fun crafts to do when I get on the website. I have seen things from, how to decorate my class to fit the seasons, to the coolest science projects that I never did when I was younger. I love Pintrest and there is not a single thing that could be said to tell me I couldn't use it in a classroom!

Project #2 Wordle

Blog Post #1 (due 1/20)

About Me
Hello world, My name is Carmen Whitley Byrd, but I usually just go by Whitley. I have lived in Mobile, Alabama my entire 21 years of life and, I honestly do not see myself going anywhere else anytime soon. I live at home with my mom, dad, and our dog Jake and it's pretty much always a mad house. When I was in high school it was an easy decision to choose to go to South. The school is right down the road from my house, why spend more money to go far away and not go to a school that is well known for their education studies program.
Education was not exactly my first career choice, I wanted to be a lawyer (that didn't last long). Then I thought I wanted to be a doctor, then I remembered I don't do well with blood. Junior year of high school I started my fabulous job at St. Luke's Episcopal School as an after school care teacher and I was hooked! I love those kids with my whole heart and I knew from that moment on that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so here I am in EDM 310, slightly terrified and excited all at the same time. This year is going to be incredible and I can not wait until I am finally a teacher in my very own classroom!

My Classroom
Teaching can be scary and not effective if you are an unprepared teacher, especially in the field I am getting ready to venture into. I have be studying and getting ready to work with the age groups of sixth through twelfth grade. These days this age group is seen as vicious and the kind that will wear you down. I am so ready to go into these rooms and try to prove those stereotypes wrong, I want kids to want to come to my classroom. I love hands on learning, and interactive ways to get involved and make sure all the kids are understanding the material, and having a hands on learning environment is the best way to do that.
Children today get a bad rap and are seen as having bad attitudes or are thought to not be interested in what their teachers have to say. I feel like that is unfair and that those kids are only seen that way because the teachers have simply given up, and don't even expect the children to show up to class. I want to change that, I want the children to want to be in the classroom and I want them to strive to be the best. I think if the teachers had more of an activity filled lesson plan those kids would flock to the classrooms. I think the kids want a classroom that seems more like they are hanging out with their friends, and if games and hands on activities were added to teacher's curriculum the kids would just see it like they were having fun instead of being force fed information that they will honestly just forget a few hours later.
Technology is advancing and becoming more and more useful in the classroom, before it was just a chalkboard and chalk, now we have things like smart boards and the kids all have smart phones and tablets, these are all useful tools in the classroom. I will be teaching history, and yes that is probably one of the more "boring" subjects we have all sat through at one point in time, but with all these technological advances there are tons of ways to turn the classroom into a sort of "knowledge playground".
I once had a teacher who for an entire week turned our history class into a 70's style game show. It is things like that, that make learning enjoyable and memorable. I love the idea of making game shows, or board games, or even historical puzzles. Making slide shows on the smart boards, even making their very own movies portraying historical moments in time are all great examples of things I would love to do in my classroom so that the kids are having fun and want to come everyday and learn something that they didn't know the day before. Teaching the high school/middle school age is going to be a challenge but I can not wait to put all my ideas into affect and see the out come!

Randy Pausch Video
I have never, seen or heard public speaker Mr. Pausch before, but this small bit of video that I watched was quite informative, I learned that failing to plan is just planning to fail and that time management is crucial in life. I learned that the older and wiser I become the more experience I will gain and that will help me with judgment issues later in life. I also learned that when eating frogs, never start with the small one, or go for the bigger problems first when working out your life issues.

Practice Post #1

Practice Post round one.