Project #15

Tom Johnson's Pencil Integration

     I enjoy reading Tom Johnson's post about using our brains rather than depending on pencils, papers, and other technology. He gives his students the freedom to use their creativity to teach themselves and show their perspectives to others. My favorite of these posts were about the math class metaphors. I have a feeling that these students were much happier and understood the meaning of "x" much quicker than students in other classes that were simply taught that the alphabet has now become a part of math and that it was a variable. Students that are allowed to express their opinions will open up and become more involved in discussions and take more away from the class.

Blog Post #13

     ALEX is a very interesting website available to teachers. I had heard of ALEX before but had never used it or looked into what it actually was. I am glad that we had an assignment to look into ALEX because I probably would have never done it on my own. The website has many different areas that teachers can uses such as Personal Workspace, Web Links, Podcast Treasury and many others. I mainly looked into the area with Lesson Plans. Lesson Plans allows teachers to look through previously developed lesson plans by picking a subject or through picking a teacher, grade level or other key words. I found this very interesting as I looked into my subject area (social science). I was able to find lesson plans from certain time periods of history as well as full subject lesson plans.

I will definitely be using this when I become a teacher. I found this site very useful but I have not had time to go through the entire of site yet but hope too soon.

Form - Dining Out

     For my form I asked about peoples opinions on going out to eat and how they expect to be treated by a server. Many people seem to be easy to please but notice the little things when it comes to leaving a tip. When asked about what would make someone not want to come back most responded with things about bugs, dirtiness or objects in food more than service issues. I think my results were somewhat biased because many people that had responded had previously worked in the food industry.
      I work in a local restaurant as a server and since I started I have learned many things. Servers are not paid minimum wage by the restaurant and rely on tips to earn anything. A few people did not realize this in my form but many did acknowledge this fact and it reflected on the amount they said they would tip.

Actual results will be posted soon.

Final Project Update

     I have emailed with Trung Nguyen about wallwisher. He has started a wallwisher for people to post on for collaboration. I like the wallwisher idea and will be making my own page soon.

Blog Post #12

Watch this video about Facebook Applications that can be used in education. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRhvnTHAqek&feature=related

Write a comment about this video.

     This video talks about different applications that Facebook provides that allows students to learn while networking. As stated in this video Facebook is here, we don’t need to fight it, we just need to use it to our advantage. Applications such as math formulas, flashcards and mind games are just a few that can help students. Many students can use the language applications when learning foreign languages. They also speak about the applications that would be considered more for electives but still help with making students use their minds to figure out problems.

Teach Somebody

For my teach somebody I am sharing instructions for a recipe that I created. I like to mix different things and see how they turn out. This became a household favorite for my family. Click here to learn how to make Chicken and Veggie Pasta.

C4T Teacher #3 Summary

     Over the last few weeks I have read and commented on the blog posts of Mrs. Hadley. She is a teacher in Philadelphia at an all-girls school. She has four children of her own that she homeschooled until the high school years. In her posts she spoke about convincing the children that it’s not all just about a grade but how they learn the information. This was the primary focus of the first post I read. She wanted the point to be made that for some assignments there is no “right way” to get to the answer. A vocabulary lesson was turned into a group activity as an example of this. Children learn more when they have to search for or create an answer. The second post that I comment on was a follow up to a post that came between these two. The middle post mentioned the importance of exercise and how it can be used between or during activities as a way to clear the minds of the students and help them get back on task. The post that I commented on however was called “Following My Own Advice”. In this post she spoke about work that she had to do but wasn’t very excited about. She went out and raked leaves to get the energy to do her work. When she took a break she went back outside and regained the motivation to finish the task she had started. This takes discipline to stop the task you enjoy and go back but is also good for the individual. Exercise as a way of motivation is healthier than coffee and energy drinks.

Blog Post #11

     I enjoyed these two videos about Ms. Cassidy’s classroom and the way she uses technology. The children in her class seem to enjoy being able to use the computers and other technology in their classroom. The interview that was done with Ms. Cassidy was something that I could get something out of. She makes several good points about technology’s use and the way that teachers should look at it. Blogs seem to be a favorite among young children because of the audience that it provides. While many principals and other faculty may not be interested in technology the parents liked being able to keep up with their children’s progress. The comments from the entire world keep the children motivated to keep their work up.

     Ms. Cassidy makes the point clear that a lot of protection is used to keep the children safe. Parents must approve of their child using the internet and even so their pictures are never matched to the child. First names only are used and the children make this point known. In the question and answer session she also mentions that they educate the children of where they can and cannot go. Ms. Cassidy uses her blog as a hub for the children so she knows the links are safe for them.

     Finally I like the point that she makes about how the use of classroom technology has become a part of her personal life. She mentions that she normally does not use technology for personal reasons but because of her PLN it is becoming a bigger part of her everyday life through connections she has made.

Skype Interview

Additional Assignment #3

     I really like and agree with this clip by Ken Robinson. Education today is not what it was years ago and therefore it doesn’t need to follow the same rules. I saw connections between this clip and his previous lecture about creativity that we watched and also connections with Dan Brown’s video from last week. Education used to be for the elite class but now it is fairly normal to go to college. Robinson is right that a college degree doesn’t guarantee a job anymore and it’s true that some students are discouraged by that fact. I personally liked the animation in this video because I get bored listening to lectures but the words and pictures kept my attention. I especially liked the part about ADHD and I completely agree that there are way too many children on medication that isn’t necessary. I sit through classes just like many of these children do on a daily basis and I am bored out of my mind. When I leave class I may have a page of notes that I could have found online in seconds but more than likely I have a ton of texts, emails and Facebook messages about how bored I was and plans for what to do after class. Does this mean I wasn’t paying attention? No, it means I was multitasking and I learned the information but it just didn’t keep my attention.

SMART Board