Final Post!!!

Final Report on My Personal Learning Network

This course has been an adventure. The first week I knew I was going to forget to do something. But thankfully, Dr. Strange shared the checklist which saved my life! I can rarely accomlpish something if it isn't organized. I enjoyed the projects and blog assignments, at least most of the time. Sometimes the videos required to watch seemed so long. Other times I shared the video with family because it was interseting. I previously used Symbaloo to explain my PLN progress report earlier in the semester. I still use Symbaloo! I have YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TimeToast, Screenr, ESPN, local weather, Amazon, Ebay, my blog and the class blog. My PLN is a time saver and it makes navigation simpler and more fun. My favorite part of the class was looking at the kid's blogs. Usually this was because they were short and sweet like, "Betty got a new bunny yesterday! I am going over to her house to see it!" Not only did it make commenting easy and fun, but it also brought back the simplicity of childhood!

Project 16

Project 7: Kid's Summary

For my C4K #8 I was assigned to look at Kale's blog. He drew the following picture and said "This is me as the Star Wars guy on Halloween." I left the following message for him: I love you picture! Did you do this in the Paint program? I hope you had a great time trikc-or-treating this year! I bet you scared a lot of little kids with your Star Wars outfit! Hope you got lots of candy, and your blog is really neat, too! Have a good day.

Comment 9 was for a boy named Brian. He left the following on his blog: "These native animals helped the natives very much because they hunted them for food. These animals live in landforms,climate and vegetation is a region effect to attract animals around them (birds and fish too.)The caribou,buffalo,moose and white tailed deer are the most common animals to hunt daily. Most are located in the middle of North America. In the winter time , the common animals flee away to hibernate. So they most likely hunt bears and foxes for the winter situation. They add salt on top to let them stay the same during all winter. After winter time is finished they eat the animals they saved and use the fur to sell. The natives mostly use all the leftovers so nothing goes to waste. For an example; they use the fur to sell or clothing, food to feed, teeth for weapons (claws too). The natives respected the environment so much because they use what they only need, they don’t let anything go to waste, wooden houses. After the natives respected the animal cycle also because the food was depending on their life and they assumed that the animals were letting themselves die. The animals were causing themselves to die as if they wanted to feed them on purpose. They created strong weapons to kill animals. There are some guns to kill but it is very expensive. They also use knives with animals teeth, attach a sharp rock to a stick to stab. The natives were very resourceful."

I left the following response: You have so much information on this post about animals! It’s all very informative and well written. Hunting is a little sad to me, but everyone has to live, right? I’m glad to hear that the Natives were being resourceful and logical about their targets.

My comment 10 for kids was on Brianna's blog. She posted the following: "Whenever I have a test I study the night before. I work out different problems from the book that are the same. I check the outcome of the problem in the back of the book. Another thing I do is ask as many questions as I can. I find that that’s the best way someone learns somthing. Then I write down all of the problems and how you solve them, if I asked them or not. In the end, all people learn in many ways but whatever you do to study as long as you put the effort into it then you are bound to learn something."

My response: I used to study math the same way. Some people say there is no way to study math, but I disagree! I would always try to look for similar problems in the book as we did in class. Then I’d work them and then view the answers in the back of the book.

Comment 11 was for Amy. She said: "Rocio is coming over to my house today for the first time! We are going to have so much fun. First, we are going to play with my kittens and dog. Next, we are going to play in the snow. Then we are going to ride the 4-wheelers around the yard, then on the trail. I am going to show her my secret fort. I cant say where it is. Then if we are lucky, I am going to ask my dad if he can take us to Camp Foster. To see my horses. The horses names are, Naddie and Miracle. They’re really fun horses. WE ARE GOING TO HAVE THE BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!!!!!! :)"

And I left the following: Hi!! I bet you two had a great time! Were you able to go the Camp to see your horses? I used to have a cat but now I just have a dog named Nike! I live in Alabama so I wouldn't be able to go play in the snow at all over the year!

Project 3: Teacher's Summary

I was assigned to comment on Kelly Hines' blog titled Keeping Kids First. The following was her post: "Over the past few weeks, I have been disconnected from my regular PLN (Personal Learning Network). For reasons that are difficult to explain, I had to bow out of an online chat group that holds many of my dearest colleagues, friends and greatest professional supporters. I knew my disconnect would be temporary, and I knew that I would miss this interaction. What I didn’t know was what we would all learn from it.

I think I can sum up what I learned by saying “The value of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” This seems contrary to the traditional phrase of a similar nature, but seems to fit more along the lines of real life. Have you ever noticed that you can eat way more of those mini-candy bars than you would if it were just one regular sized one? It’s the same idea. When I left my online group, even knowing that it would be temporary, I left a parting note that I hoped to continue conversations with each member of the group. The dysfunction seemed, at that time, to fall within the lurking and misinterpretation of the group as a whole. From the moment that I posted that note and left the group, I was inundated with emails, messages and other forms of contact from the same people that I interacted with daily. I was still in contact with many of the same people that enriched my personal and professional life, yet something wasn’t right. I was carrying on a series of meaningful, individual conversations, but there was no longer a group dynamic for me. I realized that the power of this group wasn’t in the individuals that composed it. It was in the collaboration that stemmed from the group interaction. The sum of each individual chat was less than the value of the whole group. To find the same value I was seeking, I wasn’t able to carry on conversations, no matter how meaningful, with individual members of my group. It has to be the whole, not just the sum of the parts."

The following was my response: "I’m also a tad confused but that’s because I’m still learning about blogs, twitter, and other social networking on the WWW. I’m not familiar with PLNs either. Thankfully, I’ve had Dr. Strange to corrupt my brain with everything!! I do find your post interesting and informative for little technological brains like mine!"

Blog 13

The Alabama Learning Exchange is an easy resource center for teachers to use. Teachers can find many things on this site. One helpful link is a section titled "Lesson Plans." With this, teachers can get new ideas from other professionals for lesson ideas. They can add to the lesson plans provided and they can pick and choose certain areas. There's also a section titled "Course of Study" and "Personal Workspace" that assist teachers in creating more efficient class time.

I think that ALEX is a very resourceful website to know about. When I begin teaching I will be definitely be using it for ideas or use my own and then grab a few sections from other teachers. The Professional Learning area will comfort me knowing that I'm up to date with technology in the classroom. ALL teachers should be using this site, regardless of the age level.

Additional Assignment #5

Adventures in Pencil Integration

I've seen this blog many times before. This is a page I've been assined to look over through teacher comments. I really enjoy reading what he has to say next. His kids are pretty funny! He seems to really have the ability to reach out to elementary students and connect with them.

He shared four different experiences he's had. I love the sentence that he uses: She's writing the world in ink and I'm sketching it out in pencil. He uses this sentence to show that the world is changing, education is changing. We cannot have the same old practices; they will no longer work in our society and schools. Spencer is able to see the importance of change and the ability of a teacher to conform with this change. In another post, he shows the importance of teacher-student mutual respect. Your students have to be able to trust you. We have to stop and realize that learning begins with this mutual understanding and respect. I loved his post "Just Teach them To Solve for X"! This interaction is so typical. Education seems to be all about the banking system now- put information in and spit it right back. But students do not learn from this type of "education"!

Project 16: Progress Report

For our final project we have decided to do a movie. We are going to interview teachers about what they think about smart boards and how they think that smart bored are beneficial for the children. My partners are Kindra Blackwell and Stephanie Belletty.

Form Summary Response

Click the image above to view the form summary.

Project 15: The Rainbow Fish

Blog 12

Blog Post Assignment Instruction

Watch the video A Vision of K-12 Students Today by (4:09) B. Nesbitt on YouTube.com. This video is similar to A Vision of Students Today but it’s coming from another perspective. View this video and really think about what it means to you as a future educator. In your blog post, write about your thoughts from the video, how it made you feel, and state a personal technological goal that you’re determined to meet to help your future students.


Post Response

This video is so sad to me. Fortunately though, it's also a positive wake-up call. When I have children that are under the age of 10 telling me in my face that their teacher isn't updated enough for them to learn, I know I need to step up my game now. Once we get behind, it's hard to catch up. We are cheating our students if aren't capable of using new technology or features to further our students' education. Teachers are there to help, not hold back. My goal as a future educator is to become more knowledge about everything I come across. Thankfully I am in this course! Because of this course, I am more familiar with the multiple features of Google, blogs, and other things like iMovie and the Flip Camera. What I have to do now is stay determined; I won't be in the class forever. I must be involved in the latest, more innovative products.

Blog 11

This video was so cute! It's so important to use technology for the future of these students. Even one child said that it helps their spelling. The kids seem to be having fun. When kids have fun learning, you can't go wrong!

Blogs and videos would be what I would use in my classroom. Students learn from seeing something over and over again. Also, I think students learn better by seeing classsmates to something or talk about something. A teach may come across students not completing their blogs or not participating in an activity or video. If students are making a video as a group, it teaches them to work together and plan out what is going to be done.

Project 7: Kid's Summary (Comments 3-7)

My third kid's comment was for Lorenzo. He made produce a 29 second video about Captain Cook. The video directly under it was short and sweet and basically said "My video was supposed to be longer." I thought that was so cute! His mom and teacher encouraged him with both of their comments. I told him that I was glad I was asked to view his production because I know little about Captain Cook. I think Lorenzo will be known one day! He seemed eight years old and already he produced at least two videos!

The 4th comment I left for was on a blog belonging to two people: Sheridan and Margaret. The usually used this blog to write letters to eachother. Sheridan posted about a trip to Thailand! "It is Sheridan, I guess you have noticed that I haven’t been at school for a while, that is because I have been in Phuket! It is great here I can’t wait to tell you all about it! I will start off by talking about the plane, we were suppossed to be in premium economy but my mum and dad got upgraded to business class so Tara (my sister) and I went in business class too! It was the best flight ever! We had a chair that folds down to a bed, a touch screen TV and I watched about 3 movies and 2 TV shows! I watched flicka 2, diary of a wimpy kid, Toy Story 2, suite life on deck and suite life of Zach and cody. One of the men working on the plane let us have ice cream and cranberry juice! When we arrived, we went on a bus to a resort called Club Med in Kata, Phuket which was 1 hour away from the airport . On the bus was our groups tour guide, her name was Jennifer. It is a bit hard to understand what Thai people say because when Jennifer was teaching us how to say hello in Thai (which is sow-ard-i-kah, and the proper spelling is sawadee kah and boys say sow-ard-i-krab and the proper spelling is sawadee krab) I got a bit confused and said something else! As we got to Club Med we hopped out of the bus and had many staff welcoming us. They were from all over the world including Australia, France, Italy and a whole lot more. The staff gave us necklaces made from flowers. The next day we went on a safari and watched a monkey twist coconuts off trees and steal my mums thong! After that we saw how a coconut was cracked open. After that we smelt and tasted Thai herbs and foods, it was very yummy! Then we saw how our thongs and rubbers are made from rubber trees. Finally, (the exciting thing I have been waiting to tell you!) we rode on some elephants! It took about 25 minutes to go back to the start. It was a great experience! Three days after all of that we arrived at the Sheraton Grande Laguna and we got the best room you could get in the hotel (which is what the lady said!) and the bath is really cool! It’s a shower and a bath in one that has stairs you need to walk down. The water comes out of the roof from a massive shower head, oh it is so good! There are 2 baby elephants here called Lilly and Lucky and they are so cute and smart! On the second day we went to kids club and met some girls from Melbourne called Tori and Lilly. Tori is 7 which is my sisters age and Lilly is 10! The drinks are so different here they have apple smoothies and milkshakes as well as grape, mango, guava, grapefruit, coconut (served in a coconut) and watermelon juice. I will update this post with more info soon! I miss you and wish you could all be here with me in beautiful Phuket, Thailand." I responded with: "The only interesting plane ride I’ve had is when I went to Belize, Central America. Yours sounded a lot more relaxing though! I’ve never flown in business class but after reading about your experience, I look forward to the opportunity! We also saw monkies in the jungle! The only difference is that the monkies you saw seemed to be talented and entertaining! The monkies in Belize were very loud and obnoxious! We too were welcomed with open arms. It’s different being in a different country, or even just a different culture, but I hope you had a good experience as I did! Welcome back to the great USA! Have a great remainder of the year!"

The 5th comment for kids was Claire's. She wrote the following: "My mum was away druing perent teacher, but went to talk to Mrs Spencer. I don’t know what they talked about…
I reckon if mum went in to talk to Mr Clark, he would of said that i should cut down on talking in class." I responded with: "I enjoyed reading your posts! I can defintely relate to this one! It’s always a little scarey when you know mom is going to the school. Sometimes I think teachers overreact on students talking in class. Talking is natural! I think there should be more time for students to socialize during the school day! Hopefully you won’t get into any trouble Have a great remainder of the year!"

Comment 6 was for Jackson L. He posted: "Longest Word in the World!
This is how you spell the longest word in the world:
Pnuemonoultramicroscopicsylicovalcanoconiosis
It is 45 letters and has 19 syllables." I responded to the post with: "This word is crazy! My brother has always told me that the longest word is “antidisestablishmentarianism!” I guess he was wrong! I’m assuming that “Pnuemonoultramicroscopicsylicovalcanoconiosis” is some sort of disease or illness. Do you know? Your blog is very interesting!"

Comment 7 was on Ashleigh's blog. It read: "We went to the GEELONG SHOW!!!! We got in to the show and we walked around and Dad saw the tracker pull so we watched that for a while.Me,Mum,Dad and Riley went for another walk. We went to the Barwon Water tent and got free water bottles. I got a Showbag and it was NZ Style it is really cool!!! I had a FANTASTIC time!" I had no clue what the Geelong Show was! So I had to ask a few questiosn: "I’ve never been to the Gleelong Show. In fact, I’m not sure if I even know what it is! What is the show like?" She did respond to it but it still had no information about the show! So, I'm stil hanging!

Project 14: Teach Someone

Get Your Own Free Hypster.com Playlist.

Project 3: Teacher's Summary

I was assigned to comment on a history teacher's blog. Over the summer we was involved in a lengthy seminar in Mount Vernon. He documented everything through podcasts, writing, and photographs. His students were able to view these in class in August or in the summer directly through his blog. He posted everything. Even for us he gave links for the lesson he created called "George Washington's Big Decision." He did a brillant job in creating this lesson through his experience. The lesson was mainly about Washington's decision on growing and using tobacco. It's a helpful site for teachers and I suggest you see it! His blog is titled "Speaing of History" and the following is the link: http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/

Additional Assignment #3

What do you think is the most important thing Sir Ken Robinson says in this presentation?

One of the most important things to get from this video is the following: Brad Pitt may be rich, but that doesn’t make him smart. John Doe may be in the streets, but that doesn’t make him “dumb” or incapable of learning. I like that he mentioned that there are many brilliant people that just don’t consider themselves smart. Anyone can be successful.

Is there anything you disagree with in this presentation?

I don’t think I’d say that one of the two reasons for reforming education is for cultures identity. Yes, there are many different cultures in just the Unites States. Yes, the number of people who speak only Spanish is growing. However, I still don’t think this could be a top 10 reason.
Also he mentions that long ago people assumed that certain kids did not benefit from education; they’d never learn. I don’t think that’s completely changed.

How congruent are Sir Ken Robinson's positions with those which you are being taught in the College of Education. In other words, where is there agreement? Where is there disagreement?

Different classes have different arguments, even with each other. In Dr. Fregeau’s course you learn that there is so much diversity even within a classroom that there’s a course for it! This course is the most difficult one I have because of the intensity of studying this subject. Obviously Sir Ken Robinson agrees. The discussion of ADD & ADHD is very true in the college of education. We are constantly talking about modifications for students and IEPs and other “rules” we have to go by for every student. Does ADD is exist? Are we quickly diagnosing kids with this disorder just because they’re struggling? This topic is up for debate in the Ed. building.

What can you do to address the issues Sir Robinson raises?

I would really like to do more research and look into the ADD & ADHD issue. I’m not sure how to go about that, but I am definitely interested. I really like the topic of classifying kids by age and the lack of freedom they have. When they hear a bell, they go.

When they hear the next bell, they come. The next is for lunch. They can only wear blue pols, khakis. “Is that a logo on your shoe? You’re suspended.” Isn’t it stupid to take a child out of school because their shirt tail came out? Aren’t we sending the wrong message? When I really think about it, it seems so military. And yes, is age really the most important thing? I would want to encourage my students to be themselves, their “civil” selves that is. I hope they’d fight for their own rights as people. I did when I was a student and I won’t hold another back.

What do you think of the presentation? If you had to do a presentation with others like this, what role on your team would you like most to play?

Author: This is very well-written. It completely grabs you from the beginning with the choice of words. This is the person I’d like to be. I don’t have “the voice” and I am no way artistic. I am creative in my head but I can’t lay it out. I think I have good points to make about education and I’m always thinking, always thinking. I’m thinking of all my opinions about education and turning them into arguments with some authority I’ve made up in my head.

Narrator: I enjoyed the narrator’s voice. Not only the accent, but he wasn’t monotone. He had my attention for all 11 minutes.

Designer: Whoever designed or came up with this idea is brilliant! (Maybe he doesn’t think he/she’s smart.) It’s very catchy and once again, eye-catching.

Artist: The artist was great! I like following the marker across to figure out what was coming next and where. The idea of only using a couple of colors was also a positive feature.

Sound Effects: They were so real! At first I had to turn down my volume because it was like nails on a chalkboard. But I liked the realness to it.

Project 13: Smartboard

Blog 10

Morgan Bayda

This video had good arguements about education. Truthfully, I agree with Morgan.
Public school system: Why is the United States so behind in education? Why are we not more knowledgable about what to do in order to acheieve greatness in the school system? The only time you hear about education in the US is when someone is talking about how bad it is. In fact, just Tuesday I went to lunch and mom told me she knew a mom and son from Brazil. The boy is a junior at Fairhope High School and he doens't have any courses to take because he's taken all of them. Yes, the system is screwed up. What are we supposed to do to fix it? I do not have any answers!
College education: I couldn't wait for my undergrad classes to start because I was so sick of learning things I'd never use in my career. I've spent 13 years doing that. However, I guess I'm not done with classes that do nothing. This semester I am in diverse society. All I've done in that course is do history research about myself. This is never going to help me in the classroom; I don't care what anyone says! It's unfortunate that I'm spending ALL of this money for nothing.

Pencil Integration

I'm glad this blog was assigned to everyone. I've been assigned this teacher as my teacher comment guy. I tihnk his posts are very itneresting, funny, and worthwhile!

Two Questions That Can Change Your Life

1. What's my sentence?
"I do everything in my power for others to help their lives be easier and a little happier."

2. Was I better today than yesterday?
Oh goodness! This seems like a very difficult question. In fact, I kind of feel like a reject because I'm pretty sure my answer is "no." I really don't think I can consider yesterday. I think that because days are up and down for everyone, it's hard to get better and better with every passing day. Am I better than six months ago? Yes. Will I be better tomorrow than I was today? Now that I've been asked that question, I will be more aware of that going troughout my day in order ot better myself!

Project 12: Skype Interview

Blog 9

What I've Learned This Year

It's scary going into the profession. I am glad to hear that not all lessons are perfect though! I also hear that what you'll learn 10x more in the classroom than you'll learn in classes to prepare. It's encouraging to know that our nerves are not alone! Our first year of teacher will be the most stressful. We will be learning so much through experience and we will be frustrated with USA for having to pay thousands of dollars to learn stuff that did not prepare us! I am very excited and anxious to find a job and get in a classroom! It's very comforting to know that not everything we will be perfect, especially year 1!