Blog Assignment 5

The iSchool Initiative

Travis Allen, came up with a solution to the problems in public education that America faces when he was just a senior in high school. He prompts, in his video The iSchool Initiative (Mobile Learning) the question "Does technology belong in our classroom?" He proposes that schools get rid of books, copy paper, printer ink, and even pencils in order to make the digital switch. Allen points out that the current iTouch is already equipped for many educational uses. You can use the apps that come standard with the iTouch such as the calendar and calculator, as well as downloading apps from Apple's App Store. He proposes that all students and teachers can use this technology for learning in class as well as taking tests.
I agree with Allen in that this will tremendously decrease carbon footprints and contribute to schools going green, but I'm not sure it is the smartest for test taking. If a student takes a test on an iTouch or iPad, how are we as educators able to determine whether or not they are cheating. Allen said himself that you can email notes to other students through the devices, and there is also Internet access through the devices. Who is to say that the students will not try this during an exam? I feel like this would be a great tool in the learning process, however when it comes to test taking, there needs to be some other solution. I agree with him completely in that he believes that students now need to be prepared to learn in the digital world they were born into. I would definitely use the iTouch or iPad for my students in order to further their knowledge of this amazing, new digital world.


Virtual Choir
After watching Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir, I was completely amazed! This was truly a magnificent thing to watch. At first, after reading Jennifer Chambers' post, I was a little confused as to what I was fixing to to watch. How incredible is it that someone can compile all of these videos and voices into one? I think that it is amazing that we have the technology now to do this. It was truly magical just listening to the performance, and it made me wish I had been apart of it.

Teaching 21st Century Students
In the John Strange version of Kevin Roberts' Teaching 21st Century Students, Roberts makes it clear that teachers in the 21st century should be teaching skills rather than only facts. His presentation explains that all of the knowledge that our students need to know is out there, and it is our job, as educators, to be filters. He explains that teachers should show students how to use the information that they find outside of the classroom through analyzing it, paraphrasing it, and even uploading it to share with others.
I completely agree with Roberts. His view that teachers should be helping students to learn skills is very important. Teaching a child to correctly use resources is extremely significant. As an educator, I hope to be able to incorporate as much technology as possible in my classroom. I will focus a lot on helping children to learn how to find significant information and use in correctly. I feel like the simplest way to get children involved in new technology is by blogging. If I blog daily or even weekly, and make it a requirement for my students to do the same, and I make a point to have them try new and different ways of getting their information out there (much like this class,) I feel that my students will be well learned in different aspects of the digital world and the many things that can be done on a computer using the Internet. I want to be able to engage them in as much as possible by using technology. When I do become an educator, I can only hope that I will be "relevant, challenging, and engaging."

The Flipped Classroom
"Flipping" the classroom is a way to get students to learn lessons at home and to come to school the next day and work on the application part of learning. It is a way to extend the time that students have with their teachers in the classroom applying the knowledge that they learned at home via video. The YouTube video Dr. Lodge McCammon's FIZZ- Flipping the Classroom gives a little information about what exactly flipping is, and the video Why I Flipped My Classroom is a teacher's firsthand account of the success she had when she flipped her own classroom. The third video, Flipping the Classroom- 4th Grade STEM, is a teacher's message to her students' parents addressing the idea of flipping her classroom. They all seem to think that flipping the classroom is a great idea.
I agree with them to an extent. I feel that it is a great idea to have children watch their lesson before coming to class in order to bring in questions that they may have, and to extend the application time needed in the classroom, but who is to say that the children are actually going to watch these videos? I feel that it could be a waste of time if the students are not going to put forth any effort with this idea. I would love to record my lectures and have them available online for remediation, for the students who need it. I probably would not start out by teaching in a flipped classroom, but if I saw that I needed to try something different, I would definitely try this method out. I think it is a great idea, if you have the right kind of students, and parents who will actually monitor their child's work and who are okay with this method.

My Sentence Video

C4T Comments For Teachers- Project 3

C4T Post 1
For the first C4T comment, I read and watched the video that Jenny Luca posted on her blogpost, My TEDxMelbourne Talk: Education Leadership. After watching her talk, it was very clear to me that my elementary, junior high, and high school education was severely lacking in new technology. Luca talked about different ways to get students involved in technology and different ways to create their own digital footprints. Having children do something as simple as blogging weekly will help them to understand the shifts in technology as well as teaching them ways to use the resources that are available to them daily. I really enjoyed listening to the things that Luca had to say. She really understands how important it is that the learning process for children should involve new technology.
The comment I left to her was simply just thanking her for bringing certain issues to my attention, and telling her that I very much enjoyed what she had to say.

“Hi Jenny,
I really enjoyed your talk! I agree so much with you that not enough teachers “get it” when it comes to the shift in technology. I am a student learning to become an educator, and I can only hope that I will be one of the teachers that I so wish I had had. As I listened to your talk, I kept flashing back to my days in high school and could honestly picture how my learning experiences would have been significantly better and more meaningful had there been an incorporation of more technology. The technology was there, it just wasn’t used. Now, I am in classes that stress this so much, and I am grateful. Thank you so much for sharing your talk, and inspiring me to help my future students create their digital footprints.
Take good care, Victoria”

To my surprise, she commented back telling me that she valued my comment.

“Thanks Victoria. I really value your comment. It sounds to me like you’re well on the way to becoming the kind of educator we need today in our schools.
Jenny”


C4T Post 2
For my second post to Jenny Luca, I had to travel back a month in her blog. She had only been posting “housekeeping” posts since I last commented on one of her posts. I went back a month and found one that she posted on August 22, and I really enjoyed it. She posted a video by John Green that explained what teachers should be teaching in the classroom as well as what skills will need to be taught to children in order for them to be successful in the future. The post was titled You are special…and we’re counting on you. The video, An Open Letter to Students Returning to School, by Green was just a way to get students to think about why they are in school. He closes the video stating that the reason he teaches is because essentially, one day his students will be taking care of him. They will be the ones to create drugs to extend lives, and invent things that he will use every day, (as well as coming up with a microwave pizza that has an actual crispy crust!) I really enjoyed the video, and his comedic way of coming across to his students, and students everywhere. He also has a YouTube channel with his brother, Vlogbrothers, that provides interesting educational videos that keep students’ interested and engaged in the material.
I left a comment for Jenny under this post telling her how glad I was that she introduced me to the Vlogbrothers.
"Hi!
I am so glad that you introduced me to the Vlogbrothers! I really enjoy their way of communicating with students in a way that isn’t quite so boring. In An Open Letter To Students Returning To School, I especially loved his parting message as well. It really makes you stop and think about the many purposes there are in schooling children. Oh, and a microwave pizza with actual crispy crust would be amazing!
Thanks again for sharing, Victoria"

Project 5 Presentation

Blog Assignment 4

Flat Stanley Podcast

After reading about the Flat Stanley Podcast, I realized what a great idea it is to do in the classroom. I have heard of sending Flat Stanley around the world, and always wanted to do it myself, but I never thought about using it in a classroom in this way. A group of first graders read the book Flat Stanley by Jim Brown and decided to send their own Flat Stanleys around the country to their relatives and friends in order to receive letters and pictures of Flat Stanley's journey. For the children who participated in the podcast, just sending Flat Stanley around the world was not enough. They decided to put themselves in Flat Stanley's shoes and send themselves around the world. The children picked a location that they would like to be sent to and researched it. They then made a podcast to record what they thought their reactions would be to the different places they were traveling.
I thought that this was such a neat idea, and a great way to introduce a new form a technology to children who probably have never made or even heard of podcasts before. Introducing Flat Stanley to a class, as well as podcasting, is a great idea for all ages. This idea was blogged by Langwiches author, Silvia Tolisano.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom
Joe Dale blogged about The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom, which included a video by Doug Saunders. After watching this video, I saw the importance of podcasting with my future students. When children get stuck doing their assignments in the same ways all of the time, they will start to dislike what they are doing, and probably will not learn what is needed. By podcasting in the classroom, the children will feel as if they have actually produced something that is relevant to their generation. Podcasting also gives the students a way to be more creative with their assignments.
Dale makes a summary using bullets to show some of the main points given in the video. One of them is that podcasting in the classroom "can access the higher order thinking skills in Bloom's taxonomy." It is hard to think of good ways to incorporate synthesizing things in the classroom that students will not get bored with. Podcasting is an awesome way to do so, and can be used in many different ways.


First Graders Create Their Own Real-Along Audiobook
Langwiches author, Silvia Tolisano blogged about another way to utilize podcasting in the classroom. In this post, she tells about how her students created their own read-along audiobook. The teacher helped her students to record the scripts from a book, and then they posted it to their class blog as well as to iTunes. After uploading it to iTunes, the teacher wished to do more with it, so she found a way, with help from someone on Twitter, to make it into a read-along audiobook to use with iBook for iPads, iPods, and iPhones.
I think that this is a wonderful idea, and will be something that I definitely will want to try with my class. I love that the children can be the characters in the book, and get to bring those characters voices to life bu using the voice of the students. This is something that the children can get very excited about. When I try this in my classroom, if I teach children older than first grade, I may have them break into groups to record more than one book. I really love this idea.

Blog Assignment 3

Peer Editing
After viewing and reading the information provided by Paige Ellis I learned that peer editing is an effective way to help improve students' writing. In the powerpoint presentation Peer Edit With Perfection as well as the What is Peer Editing? video, being positive is really stressed. I think that it is very important for peers to be positive while editing each other's papers. Carrying this activity into the classroom can also be very helpful, but it is even more important that the students remain positive. As adults we usually do not get too embarrassed about mistakes we make while writing, so it isn't an issue when one of our peers makes suggestions. Children are a little harder on themselves and want to do their best and sometimes get embarrassed about mistakes they make while writing. Staying positive is the easiest way to help someone with their writing while critiquing it. I feel that someone will be more willing to listen if the editor is positive while pointing out problem issues in their peers' writing.
I loved the Top 10 Mistakes video. The children in this video were great! It was a very humorous way to show younger students what not to do during peer editing. It also is a simple way to show older students. I've always felt like a "Picky Patty." I just really hope that I don't come across that way! All three of the sources were very helpful in peer editing for my C4C assignment.
For my C4C assignment I made public suggestions instead of private ones. The student I was assigned to really didn't include his/her opinion much in their blog posts. They also didn't really summarize anything from the sources given. I chose to publicly make suggestions because I did not feel that what I had to say would be embarrassing to the writer. I simply suggested that he/she summarize the materials a little more and encouraged them to include more of their opinion in future posts.

Technology in Special Education
I feel like it is very important to include technology in teaching Special Education. Using computers to help students to speak, or using an iPod to read to students through audio books can mean a world of differences to a child with special needs. This can be seen in the video Technology in Special Education. The teacher in this video does an amazing job of incorporating technology into her classroom. She uses laptops and iPods on a regular basis to help her children do things like speak, write, and read. It was so much easier for her to gain the attention of her students when she used technology.
In the future I will definitely use technology in my classroom, especially when teaching children with special needs. I feel that it would make things so much easier for the student. Being able to get their assignments done quicker and being able to take part in normal activities with the help of a computer will make the children feel more a part of the class, which is wonderful. One of my favorite uses of technology that was used in this video was the audio books on the iPod. Using an audio book in class would be such a simple solution for children who have trouble reading.
After watching the video How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism, and looking for an app that I could use in my classroom, I chose to research the Speech With Milo app. Speech with Milo is a series of apps for the iPad and iPhone that go together in learning parts of speech. To take a close look into the application, I chose to look into the installment that focused on verbs. The apps were created by a speech pathologist and they focus on teaching language skills to children at an affordable price. Milo, the animated mouse guides the child by acting out different verbs so that the children using the app gain a better understanding of the word as well as hearing the word being spoken which helps with reading skills. In this demo, Speech With Milo, the creator of the app shows how the app works and how it is helpful for children with special needs. To learn more about the Speech With Milo app you can go to the Speech With Milo webpage.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
After watching the video Harness Your Student' Digital Smarts, it was clear to me that teacher Vicki Davis cares so much about introducing her students to new technology. She encourages her students to learn using many types of technology, and Davis herself learns with them. I like that she said in the video that she is learning with her students, because technology is ever-changing and it is nice to know that not all teachers know everything.
The Edutopia website has a lot of useful information on it about the digital generation. There is a lot of information about introducing your students to technology as well as different ways students can use digital media.

Wordle Post

Blog Assignment 2

Did You Know?
In Dr. Strange's version of Did You Know? 3.0, developed specifically for EDM 310, based on Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod's version, Dr. Strange informs viewers about how important technology currently is to future educators. His video is full of facts about the uses of technology, not only in the United States, but around the world. This video stresses the importance of educators being in touch with the latest technology for the sake of their students.
In the video, Dr. Strange included facts like "The 25% of the population of India with the highest IQs outnumbers the entire population of the United States." He then continues to explain it in a way that ties it to educators by stating that by assuming 25% of Kindergarten through 12th grade students are designated as Honors Students, then India has more K-12 Honors Students than the United States has K-12 students period. Another statement that stood out to me was "The top jobs 10 years from now do not exist yet." This means that as an educator, I will be preparing my students for jobs that won't even exist at the time. And the technology that will be used in these jobs has yet to be invented as well. I believe that as a future educator is it very important for teachers to understand this and to keep up with the ever increasing technological advances. Dr. Strange closes his video by encouraging viewers to think about their role as a future educator by asking if they are prepared to do so knowing that as a teacher they will be readying students for jobs in 2022.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winkle Wakes is a short video about a man named Mr. Winkle who wakes up from a 100 year slumber to find that the world around him has changed drastically in many ways. the video follows Mr. Winkle around as he journeys into the world and discovers the invention of the computer as well as advances in health care. The one thing that Mr. Winkle finds to be the same is school. The students still sat in desks and the teacher still stood in front of the classroom to teach the students. This was a comfort to him, that through all of the changes that had been made throughout his 100 year sleep, school was still pretty much the same.
While people do take comfort in lack of change, the fact that learning in a school setting hadn't changed in 100 years is a little disturbing. With all of the advances in technology made within the last 100 years, shouldn't children in schools be able to take part in all of those advances, or use them to their advantage by learning in new ways, not to mention learning new things. Educators should use these technologies to help the students grow. This video does an excellent job of illustrating the fact that the lack of technology used in school systems today should be addressed.

The Importance of Creativity
Ken Robinson, states in this lecture his views about school systems killing the creativity of students. He says that creativity is just as important as literacy in education and that it should be treated as having the same status.
Robinson states "If you're not prepared to be wrong you will not come up with anything original." He explains that when children grow up it is embedded in their minds that mistakes are not allowed, whether that be through their job etc., thus shutting off their creative abilities. He suggests that education focuses on teaching children from "the waist up" meaning that all of the focus is put on teaching mathematics and language, leaving the arts out. I feel that it is important to incorporate not only the arts in teaching, but creativity as well. It is important to stress that by using creativity there is no wrong answer, instead of instilling a fear in children that they need always be right.

Think About Glass
The video A Day Made of Glass 2 gives viewers a glimpse into the future by showing a product that could impact not only a person's everyday life, but could also make a huge difference when used in the field of education. This invention and use of highly engineered glass could redefine the way students learn and interact in the classroom. By watching the video A Day Made of Glass 2: Unpacked you can get a better understanding of the intentions of the company Corning.
The first video follows a young girl throughout her day using a glass tablet to perform a numerous amount of tasks. From everyday things such as viewing her daily schedule to using the tablet to identify what type of animal left a specific track in the forest. The tablets interact with other objects such as glass walls and tables. It showed the interaction with students and their teachers in a classroom and the many uses that the tablet and glass wall could have.
This will be one thing that I will definitely look forward to in the future if I live to see it, or can afford it.
After watching the video about Google Glass, it is apparent that advances have been made in glass and there are computer glasses that can be worn to capture images and video. It is clear through highly engineered glass that the world will one day be the futuristic place that has only ever been available in our minds.