skpe interview

Blog Assignment #9

What I've Learned This Year:

  This was a post written by Mr. McClung that is about his first year of teaching. He is giving advice to future teachers but it can also be good advice for current teachers. Mr. McClung wrote about how he was thinking all throughout college about himself, what he could do to keep himself up to standard and what his superiors were expecting of him. When he began teaching in his first year he realized that he needed to be student focused, not focused on himself. He needed to be sure that the students were comprehending his lessons and were learning. Mr. McClung also said that he learned not to get upset so much over lessons or activities that didn't go the way he planned, there is always room for improvements in every lesson. Another important lesson he learned was to listen to his students and try to learn more about their personal lives, this helps to build respect for each other. The students and teacher respect each other.

My Family Timeline

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/84348

Blog Assignment #7

This Is How We Dream:
  I thought what I saw on the video was interesting, but I was also confused during the video. I am confused about how students can do this in humanities, I understand what he was saying but I don't understand how this can be done for papers.
  I thought his presentation was entertaining and was well organized. I liked the idea of having a totally green building that is not based on the automobile, with parking lots taking up most of the space.
  I think from what I did understand on the video, was that he is trying to make humanities more interesting and less paper and pencils, more multi-media and digital work.

Student Films
  I liked both videos I thought the EDM 310 for Dummies was funny. The message I got was to not procrastinate and spend time , like 9hrs in Edm, and you will not be behind in work you can stay on schedule. 

Smartboards
Both of the videos that disagreed with using smartboards in the classroom, I agreed with. I don't think that smartboards in every classroom is improving learning, it just looks a little cooler than ordinary projectors. Schools should be spending money on things that are more beneficial to the classroom learning environment.
http://smartboards.typepad.com/smartboard/page/3/ ,  this link is to a blog site about teachers who love smart boards. This particular post says that their are many good lesson plans that use the smart board that is effective in the classroom.

Additional Assignment #2

How Kids Teach Themselves:
  I thought that this was a very good speaker and that his research was very interesting. I think that if learners are motivated that yes, they can teach themselves. I think it was proven in the speaker's research. If the learners are children, I think it might be somewhat easier for them to teach themselves, and I think they can do it, like all the different children did in the video. I think the conditions that are necessary for kids to teach themselves, is motivation and the opportunity to learn, and proper encouragement are key. It seemed to me that the computers were a faster and easier way for kids to teach themselves, it allows them to learn from teachers across the world. If kids are motivated and encouraged about learning they will have a desire to learn. From the speaker's research and video clips, I got that if he asked the kids a question,that they had no clue what the answer was, they searched on the internet found it , then he asked a harder question , but the kids already knew from the previous question on how to find it so it became easier to find the answers. You can motivate someone to learn by being a "grandma" like the speaker said, watch the kids and encourage them and tell them they are doing a great job, also if you capture their interest that will motivate them. I am motivated to learn by encouragement and interest, if I am really interested in something, I will try harder to learn about it. I think if someone is not motivated to learn they can still learn, but maybe not as well as someone who is motivated. Well for this class I have taught myself a lot about computers and the internet, and it has helped me out a great deal, I have learned so much that I was clueless about.  I think the role of a teacher in a child's learning is to motivate and spark an interest in the child to want to know more. I think the speaker's idea of the teach themselves groups is a great idea, it seemed to me like that worked really well, children learn better in groups.

C4T #2

I was assigned to comment on The Fischbowl blog. Mr. Fisch is an algebra teacher. The first post I commented on was about a baseball player cheating and getting away with it. Mr. Fisch said if students see that a baseball player can get away with cheating , because it's part of the game and it is important , than they can cheat on tests because they are important. So the newspaper should not have put that article in the paper and the baseball player needs to recognize that he did cheat.
 The second post I commented on was about parent/teacher conferences. Mr. Fisch says that at his school they have 2 meeting in the fall and 1 in the spring. The teachers are all in the gym and they have 5-7 minutes with each parent. He says that that is not fair because different students have different problems and some meetings may need to last longer than others. He suggests that students should also be present and lead the conference. He decided to send home a letter with students that they could talk over with their parents about what they should be thinking about before the conference, and encouraging students to come to the meeting. I agree that students should be present in meeting that are about them especially. Why have a conference about your child's school and not have the child there?, that makes no sense. I also think Mr. Fisch paper he sent home telling students what they need to be thinking about was also a good idea.

Blog Assignment #7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

  I thought that this video was very good and entertaining. Mr. Pausch was a good speaker and kept my attention the entire time. For someone who is so ill you could not tell by his speech and actions. 
   I thought that it was neat that Mr. Pausch was basically able to reach all of his childhood dreams. We need to encourage students to reach their dreams and goals. I thought it was very cool that he got to be a part of making the Aladdin Carpet Virtual ride. I also liked how he talked about his football coach told him that he shouldn't worry about him always riding on him , that you should worry if you were messing up and he didn't ride on you, because that meant that they gave up on you. This means that as educators we should keep on telling our students when they are wrong, otherwise we are giving up on them.
  This man is very inspiring to everyone and especially teachers. He gives great stories on why we shouldn't discourage student's dreams. He was able to get his dreams fulfilled and if he could do it then anyone can. He is an inspiration to me because with his death sentence he got with the tumors , he just didn't go lie in bed until he died he was giving lectures and telling everyone not to pity him, we should try to be like that.

C4K #1

  I was assigned to Keith Tweedy an 8th grader at Noel Elementary School. I really enjoyed reading Keith's posts.
  The first comment that I left for Keith was about his "About Me" post. The About Me assignment was to right about yourself and what problems you have had with Math in the past and what the teacher could do now to make it better. Keith told about how he had 3 siblings and a mom and dad. He really didn't right much about himself. He did write that he liked Social Studies and Science, and that he has always not liked Math. I told him that I really liked Social Studies too and I asked what his favorite type of history was, like mine is Western Civilization. I also told him that science was not my favorite subject, but that my fiance loves Science and is going to school to be a doctor. I also commented on that I struggled with Math in school but when I got to my junior and senior year I did more of my homework and tried harder to study more and got better grades in Math, I told him that he should work really hard in school so he can get into college. I only wished that Keith would have wrote more about himself, like what he enjoys to do, what his hobbies are and stuff like that. 
 The second comment I left was on the " Student Manefesto". Keith's Manefesto mainly consisted of trying to do better in school so he could go to college. I told him that his goals were very good and that is was important to do your best in school so you could have a college education. I told him that from my own personal experience I wished I would have done all of my homework and assignments in school because those points add up and eventually effect your grade in either a good or bad way. If I would have done better in school I might have gotten more scholarships to pay for college.
 The last comment I left Keith was on the Mineral Assignment. I think the assignment was to pretend like you were a mineral and talk about the changes they go through in a story. Keith had a interesting story about being gold. He said he first formed in the bottom of a volcano, got picked up by someone, which led to a bathroom, then somehow he ended up being back to a mineral. I said that his story was interesting, but the bathroom part was kind of gross. I noticed that he had some grammar issues but overall it was a good story about gold.
 

Blog Assignment # 6

The Networked Student: by Wendy Drexler
   I thought this video was very good and gave an insight into what the future of teaching is going to be. The 21st century student is a networked student. They spend a limited amount of time in the classroom and an unlimited time on the web, according to the video. Students are rarely lectured and have more assignments and work on the computer. 
  This seems to be very true already. Almost all of my classes have more work, readings, and assignments online than in the actual classroom. Especially this class, EDM 310. All of our work is online and is basically what this video was describing. We have Dr. Strange who is the professor of the class that is guiding us on how to network with others and be able to be connected across the world. We learn how to teach ourselves and how to communicate with others about what we have learned. I also liked how the student can ask a scientist a question like for example the example given in the video about American Psychology, he asked them a question and then he could get the scientist to skype the class and let them talk about what they do and give their opinions. That would be really neat to have in the classroom.
  I really think that having a networked student will be very good, sometimes it is challenging to do some of these things online but in the end I learn a lot more by doing it. I have learned so much about technology and how I can do something other than lectures and powerpoints in the classroom. Having your class be full of networks students , makes the classroom much more entertaining and students learn more. 

A 7th grader's personal learning environment (or PLE)
I thought this video was very interesting. I have not seen something like that before, I don't know if I was supposed to already see it? I liked how she could have all of her class related links on the bottom and her own favorites on the top of the page. I also liked how she said for her science class she could watch videos and read about what their lesson would be on that day. She also said that the class was mainly about animals and she could do research on an animal and send that information to the rest of her class on the blog. It's just another more entertaining way for students to research and learn.

The Machine Is Changing Us: Michael Wesch
  Mr. Wesch made a very good presentation, it kept my attention the entire time. His use of video clips was entertaining. It sounds to me like his class would be a lot of fun, and very interesting. He said he had a group of his students do research about the YouTube phenomenon. I remember how one of his students said that by making videos on YouTube to talk to people it makes it an easier conversation and that you do not have the uncomfortable staring and glaring like in person. I don't have a lot of personal experience with what Mr. Wesch was talking about because I am just now getting into all of that stuff because of EDM. I am really enjoying it though. I think his idea of getting people to stop caring about only themselves and start caring about doing whatever they can for an issue is great. By having the technology to spread messages across the world, we can create change and create awareness about issues in this world to everyone that has access to it.