Blog Assignment #10

What can we learn from Sir Ken Robinson?

     After watching the video, "Bring On the Learning Revolution", I was very interested in Sir Ken's video. He really put education, teaching, and learning into a different perspective. I agree with his talk in that education is constantly changing. We, as teachers, must also constantly change with the times. I constantly hear people talk negatively. I am sometimes guilty of that as well.  Sir Ken Robinson said that he often hears many people think they are not good for anything as well.  This is a common problem in our society. Many parents and teachers push their children and students to become someone they are not.  We can learn from Sir Ken Robinson that everyone has talents. Everyone is good at something, and everyone has something that they enjoy doing.  This is a very hard concept for some people to understand.  When I become a teacher, I will definitely try to help every student find their talent and use it to the best of their ability.

     Sir Ken Robinson explains that there are some people in the world that enjoy what they do, and some people who don't.  I agree with Sir Ken Robinson when he said that if you enjoy what you are doing, then the time will go by much quicker.  Talent is about passion, and time takes a different course if you love what you do. If you do not enjoy what you are doing, the time will seem to drag.  If you do something that you love, an hour seems to only be 5 minutes.  This even happens to me. Whenever I am doing something that I am not very interested in, the time does seem to drag.  To be happy in life, one must enjoy what they are doing.  To enjoy what you are doing, you must find your talents.  There are many people who go through their life without using their talents.  It is a struggle sometimes to find your talents, but you have to remember that humans are diverse and your talent is different than anyone else's.  Many people are constantly waiting for the weekend.  I can not tell you how many times I hear people say that they can not wait for the weekend to be here.  I am guilty of this as well. Sometimes, weekly activities seem to just get overwhelming and the weekend is relaxation.  If you find time during your week to share your talents and do things that you like, then the week would not be so bad.  I understand that we, as humans, have to endure life as it comes, and sometimes we do not enjoy everything we do at every moment.  That is fine, but if you fill your life with some things that you enjoy, then it will definitely be more fun.  Life is to short to not enjoy the ride.

     Sir Ken Robinson makes it clear that human resources have to be found.  He says that they are not on the surface.  We can learn many things from this concept.  As humans, we must go deeper into ourselves to develop our talents and create our lives. We need to push ourselves to become the best we can be.  I like how Sir Ken said that we need revolution in education rather than reform.  This is a great way to look at education in today's world.  I agree that we do not need to change education. We need to build upon what is already established, and transform it into something else.  As humans, we get into a groove of doing the same thing every day, and it is easy to take things in life for granted.  Education seems to be taken for granted in some ways as well.  Humans involved in education get so used to what they are doing and teaching, that it becomes like a fast food restaurant; just doing the same thing over and over again with no nourishing.  If we have a revolution for education and change it to an agricultural model, we can continue to add to it to help it flourish rather than change it. Just as you nourish an agriculture field, we need to nourish education and personalize it to the students you are teaching. I think that Sir Ken Robinson has a great view on an educational revolution. I hope all those involved in the field will take time to listen to this talk and continue to grow and nourish the children as well as the subject. "Tread softly because everyday children are spreading their dreams beneath our feet."

Project #15

In this Project Based Learning Lesson Plan, the students will create a book of drawings using Kid Pix Software.  This lesson is for a kindergarten class.  They will be taught the importance of the moon as well as what it is made of, how long it will take to travel there, how they should prepare to go on their trip to the moon, and how they will feel when they arrive at the moon.  Once we have had a discussion about the moon as a class, the students will work in groups of four to develop drawings and make them into a book.  At the end of the week, the group will present their book to the class. This lesson incorporates technology as well as creativity in the kindergarten student.

Project Overview

Project Calendar

Project Rubric

Project Essentials Checklist

Blog Assignment #9

What can we learn from Ms. Cassidy?

Ms. Cassidy is an elementary teacher. Her class is very involved in using technology to learn. In "Little People...Big Potential", Ms. Cassidy's students talk about everything they do with technology to help them learn.  The students love posting to their blogs, and their favorite part about blogging is that they get comments from people they know and often people they do not know.  Their class blog is known as their online portfolio where they keep all assignments done in their class.  The key to writing a quality blog post, according to Ms. Cassidy's class is that you should never say "bad stuff."  You should always be positive when writing a blog post.  The students also use web pages to find things on the internet, practice sight words, and continue to help themselves learn.  The class also uses Wikis when they want to learn about traditions or rituals, for example.  They are able to ask people from around the world what a ritual is, and the others post different things they do to show how they practice rituals in their country as well as traditions. Videos are also made by the students about things they learn, as well as the use of Skype.  The students were able to talk to a geologist about rocks.  What an awesome lesson that is! Nintendo DS's are also used for the students to help them read words, problem solve, and practice sharing skills.

I really enjoyed listening to the interviews with Ms. Cassidy.  She has some great ways to incorporate technology into learning.  She said that her technological advancement started about 10 years ago when computers were introduced into her classroom.  She took this as an educational opportunity to teach the children through online learning and programs.  She began blogging, developing web pages, and establishing professional development.  Ms. Cassidy explains that she has had great support from the administration at her school, and they are excited at the way she has began teaching her students.

I agree with Ms. Cassidy when she said that technology is never going away.  We have to continue to change with the world today.  I believe blogging is the best way to get students involved for many reasons. Just like Ms. Cassidy said, students have an audience when they blog.  This really enhances their learning because they have someone who actually will read their blog that they do not even know rather than only the teacher reading their assignment.  I believe that this helps out with social emotions as well as school emotions.  I will try to use class blogs when I become a teacher because I think it is a great way for students to collaborate with others around the world and develop relationships.  It is really neat that the students have a cluster map on their class blog to actually see where the people are that comment on their posts.

I think privacy could be an issue with blogging, as well as students looking at non educational websites.  I would handle this aspect of it just like Ms. Cassidy does.  She said that she has to teach the children to only click on things in the middle of the website and not the things that are blinking and flashing on the sides. She said that she explains to them that we only look at educational things.  Also, I would explain to my children to only comment positively on blogs because we do not want anyone to have hurt feelings just like Ms. Cassidy said she always explains to her children.  We have to let the students experience the world because technology is always growing.  We also have to teach them the good and bad aspects of everything they do along with using the internet and blogs properly.  Some people may worry about cheating when giving students access to the internet.  Ms. Cassidy explains that it is called collaborating because we are using the resources available to add to our own ideas to create lessons.  Because of technology, we are have to switch the way in which we use information we find.  If we teach our students the importance of it, we will not have privacy issues or any issues relating to improper site searching and cheating.

I think I will try to develop my own online learning network when I become a teacher and use Ms. Cassidy's advice.  She said that to begin a positive technological environment, you must begin collaborating on your own personal learning network.  I will try to get more involved with Twitter and Blogger with teachers in hopes of piggy backing from what they have taught.  I can then use their ideas as well as my own to develop an educational lesson.

 

Project #14

     For this project, I decided to do a lesson plan on Square Dancing.  I used the PBL Essential Elements Checklist as a guide.  In this lesson, I decided to let the children use the internet as a tool for research.  I will have the students research a little history about square dancing and share it with their group and class. The students will then practice each move and learn the introductory calls.  After that, each group will make up their own dance using real calls, and they will video their groups performance.  In the second week, one group will perform each day.  Once we are finished, we will have a class discussion of the overall achievement and performance of the students.
     I believe that this lesson will be a good way to incorporate self performance as well as group performance.  This lesson will enable the students to learn how to work with each other in a group assignment.  Physical activity will be involved in the lesson by actually performing the dance. History will be involved in the lesson because the students will research the history of square dancing, and math will also be involved in this lesson because the students will be required to count the dance by eights.  Technology is also being incorporated into this lesson because the students are required to research facts about square dancing on the internet, and they are also required to use some form of recording to record the video of their performance and share it with the class.  I think it is very important to be able to incorporate more than one subject into your lesson because it allows the student to think critically while still having fun!

Project Overview Lesson Plan

Project Calendar

Project/Group Rubric

Project #9

Blog Assignment #8

21st Century Learning and Communicating Tools

     I hope that one day I will be teaching an elementary grade between kindergarten and third grade.  I know that technology will be in full force, even more than it is now, and I hope to use some of the learning and communicating tools that I have found while researching the internet for this blog post.
     When I watched Katie Gimbar's video on, "Why I flipped My Classroom,", I realized that I will probably try to do this when I become a teacher.  I feel that by flipping a classroom, it is easier for each student to work at their own pace and level.  Many teachers have to teach at the middle level and hope the students
from the bottom come up.  Then, the students at the top become bored and cannot accurately perform activities and achieve their goals.  With flipping the classroom, the students can pre-load the information outside of class.  This way, the students can develop questions to bring to the next class session. By having the information on a video, the student is able to pause, rewind, and even reflect on what they have just watched.  Some students are able to listen to a lecture one time, and absorb the information. Others need to hear it multiple times to get the right concept.  Either way of learning is fine, and by providing the lectures online, the students can then work at their own pace.  I agree with this teaching style to a certain extent.  I will definitely use this in my classroom for the older age children because it gives the student a since of responsibility to actually do the work themselves while also helping them by working at their own pace.
     Another learning tool I found useful is SMART Board.  I believe that the SMART Board is an excellent learning tool for the classroom.  Some of my high school teachers just starting using a SMART Board when I was a senior.  Now, in college, teachers are using them much more frequently. My Math 201 teacher strictly uses a SMART Board.  I believe this is a great way to engage the class. He writes examples as well as notes on the SMART Board.  Then, after class, the notes that were taken are saved as he writes, and he posts the notes on Sakai.  He writes it as if he was writing note cards which makes studying the notes much easier.
     SMART Boards can be extremely useful in elementary grades as well.  At the elementary age, students love to be involved in the lesson, and the SMART Board offers a wide range of options for the students to get involved. The SMART Board also offers a wide range of opportunities for teachers.  For example, SMART Board offers the 10.8 SMART Notebook feature.  This allows the teachers to easily share lesson plans and collaborate ideas. I believe the SMART Board is a great way to teach in the classroom.  It allows the student to be involved in the lecture by coming up to the board and using their finger or an electronic marker to write the answer.  It is wonderful that the lessons and whatever is written on the board can be saved for future reference.  I will definitely use the SMART Board in my classroom when I become a teacher if the opportunity is available.
     I enjoyed searching the web for different communicating and learning tools for this blog post.  There are so many options with technology today, and it just continues to grow.  

C4T Comments and Summaries #2

My First Comment
"Terie,
     I am a student at the University of South Alabama in EDM 310. We are assigned a teacher to comment on every couple of weeks, and I was assigned to you!
     I really enjoyed reading your post. I have been very interested in laptops lately. I have been pondering as to if I should keep my iPad or go to a Mac or another laptop. By reading the pros and cons on the Acer Chromebook, it has helped with my decision making. 
     The pros you have stated would also be pros I would enjoy with this Acer. Lightweight is a huge plus for me. Having students use a lightweight device is a lot more comfortable for the student. 
     The cons are also a big concern to me. The no installing software is an issue for me. I really enjoy using iTunes and other softwares, so this would be an issue for me. 
     I really enjoyed reading your blog, and thank you for the wonderful information on the Acer Chromebook. I believe that this would be a good option to use in an educational or classroom setting. 
     I look forward to reading some more blogs in the future if I am assigned to you."


My First Summary
On Sunday, January 19, 2014 Terie Engelbrecht posted to peoplegogy blog that she recently got an Acer Chromebook. Terie is addicted to Google, and the Chromebook is strictly a Google laptop. She said that the pros of this laptop are that it is lightweight and portable. Some cons are that they do not allow any installing or downloading unless it is Google. You can not use iTunes on this laptop. I would not want to use this laptop for myself, but I think it would be a good one to use for educational purposes in a classroom setting.

My Second Comment
"Dr. Will, my name is Savannah Price, and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed reading your post about edcamps. This sounds like a great opportunity for teachers to discuss different ways they are teaching in the classroom. I think I will definitely try to attend one of these events if I am able to when I become a teacher. I enjoyed your blog, and thank you for working towards the technological opportunities for education."

My Second Summary
Monday, March 3, 2014, Dr. Will posted to the peoplegogy blog about Edcamps. He explains that these are unconferenced get togethers where teachers socialize, discuss, and connect with each other about what is going on in each others classrooms.  Dr. Will attended his first unconference in Jackson, MS on March 1st.  Dr. Will enjoyed this unconference because he said that it made him feel like he was part of something bigger.  He believes it is important to use technology to transform education.  In this post, Dr. Will thanks all of the sponsors who donated "door prizes and swag."  This entire blog was actually created out of Dr. will's mission to explore and share educational applications of web 2.0 tools.

Project #13

Project Overview


Project Calendar

Project #8 Book Trailer

My Sentence Videos

My Sentence Is...

My Sentence from Savannah Price on Vimeo.

My Passion Is...

My Passion from Savannah Price on Vimeo.

Blog Assignment #7

Teaching and Learning from Randy Pausch

      Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnigie Mellon University. He delivered a famous "Last Lecture."  Randy was diagnosed with reoccurring pancreatic cancer.  Pausch described how he achieved his childhood dreams, while also working hard to achieve obstacles and live generously. He said, "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” This was a very inspirational lecture. It really put life in perspective. 
     Randy starts off by telling about his life. He describes that he was just diagnosed as to have only one more month of healthy living. He does not want to start of talking about cancer, his wife, his kids, or spirituality and religion. Randy talks about achieving childhood dreams. He explains how
we can enable the dreams of ourselves and others.
     Randy's first dream was to experience zero gravity. He experienced it, and realized that it was nothing as special as it seemed. His second dream was football. At 9 years old, Randy realized fundamentals. He talks about how his coach drilled him all of one practice. He realized that was a
good thing, and he was told that when no one is telling you anything, you are doing badly. That means that they have given up on you. That's a bad thing.  Randy always wanted to be in the World Book Encyclopedia. He says that Wikipedia is a fine source of information now because he know where sources came from!

     We learn quite a bit from Randy Pausch about teaching. He taught his lecture in a way as though he was just having small talk with a friend. He engaged the audience with his teaching. I liked how he told funny stories and serious stories. This really kept me engaged in the lecture. He told inspirational stories to make an impact on the listeners life. I really enjoyed how he was such an inspiration and kept my attention through the entire lecture. Randy tells us to dream big and never give up. When I have a classroom, one day, I will always tell my students to never give up. That will be the number one rule I have. Some other important teaching tools Randy said was that you should always tell the truth and show gratitude. What awesome advice from someone who, you would think, has many reasons to be made at the world. Yet, he is extremely happy with the world and the life he had been given.
     Randy Pausch also has a great view on how to learn.  Randy's cancer went into remission, but in
2007 it came back. Randy then learned and realized there was nothing he could do about it. He quickly learned that life wasn't all about what he wanted. Now, it was time to make a difference in the
world through his life experiences. It is very important to live everyday as it is your last, according to Randy Pausch. It was absolutely amazing to me how inspirational Randy was in his lecture. What an awesome lecture to hear because it has really made me appreciate my life, and helped me understand more about how those with a terminal illness may react.
     It is so inspiring to hear Pausch say that he is lucky. You may thing, "how can a man with terminal cancer be lucky?"  I thought that too.  Randy said that it is much better to have cancer than be hit by a bus because this way he can achieve his childhood dreams and do everything he has ever wanted with his wife and family before he passes. Randy said that he was able to have conversations with his wife that he never would have had if he'd not being diagnosed with terminal cancer. The "Last Lecture" is a truly inspirational lecture, and I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to watch the lecture or read the book. Randy Pausch has left such an amazing legacy for many people, and I was truly inspired by his story.

C4K Summary for February

Comment for Kids

Kaylea's Blog
On February 3, 2014,  Kaylea posted a comic review to her blog. She created her comic strip by using Toon Doo. She liked using Toon Doo better than Make Belief Comix because it was colorful. She
tried making a comic in Make Belief Comix, and since it was a free site, she did not have to log
in. The only thing about this site was that it was not very colorful. I did not know anything about
creating comic strips, so by reading Kaylea's blog, I learned which sites to use if I ever want to create my own comic strip such as Kaylea and the other students of Mrs. Reuter's class.

Nova the Soccer Girl
On January 8, 2014, Nova the soccer girl posted a poem to her class blog called, "L.A.X."  Nova is in third grade at Hong Kong International School in Mrs. Little's class. Her poem was about being famous. She said that she would love to have the paparazzi pick her up in a limo everyday, but
instead, she walks out her door to the bus. Nova used onomatopoeias in her poem. I like how she said
"flash, flash, flash," to describe the paparazzi. It is amazing how technology is advancing everyday and that students in third grade are posting assignments on blogs.

Jojo
On February 12, 2014, Jojo posted a blog about film vs. text.  She is a student in Mrs. Miller's class in
Baldwin County.  She said that she liked the movie because it was easier to understand to watch it rather than read it. She didn't know if the film had any similarities to the text because she was absent for the text. She only read the story. I believe that reading a book and watching a movie are the best ways to full understand a story completely.

Tatiana
On February 3, 2014, Tatiana posted a poem to her class blog. Tatiana is a student in seventh grade at Bode Middle School in St. Joseph, Missouri.  She used figurative language to describe color like the meadow mist. Figurative language helps give the poem a more real life image. Tatiana's poem vividly described the meadow with a lot of colors. Tatiana did a good job using figurative language in her poem.

Blog Assignment # 6

Personal Learning Networks

A personal learning network is a set of people or tools that you call upon for help to collaborate and consult with. You can also ask for other assistance. PLN can help a teacher in many ways. They can help by allowing the teacher to consult with other teachers about lessons. Teachers can relate their
lesson to other lessons and build upon them to best suite the class that they teach.

PLN are created by different tools. You can use Twitter as a starter. You can use Twitter to come up with a list of people that are in your same field and create a network with them as educators.  By reading the C4T blogs we are assigned to, as well as the C4K blogs we are assigned too, we can
become aware of different teachers who may be able to be part of our own PLN.

By listening to a seventh grader's view on a personal learning network, we can see how you can find information online and organize it on one page. This makes it easier, and helps the children stay
organized. All of her information collected on websites is kept on the PLN. This student has her
research and educational sites at the bottom of her network.  The top of her online network consists
of her social media environment. By having a PLN, it enables the student to have her own freedom in everything she does online. This is a great tool for the students to learn how to be organized and
productive. It requires a lot of time management. This is because since everything is in one place, you can get very distracted with Facebook while you should be doing a science experiment. You have to
be dedicated to what you are doing at the time. Other than that, this is a great way to have students be their own boss and keep up with their own work and assignments.

Stephen Anderson says that a PLN is just a way of extending your network of people to communicate with other educators across the world.  With a PLN, you do not have to feel like you know
everything. The PLN is a way of having someone else to talk to and collaborate with about certain
topics. "It really helps to have a PLN to extend a teacher's learning beyond the four walls of the school," according to Stephen Anderson.

I have never created a personal learning network. I believe it would be very beneficial to have all of my sites to visit in one area, except it could be hard to keep focused on school work if I
have Facebook available right in front of me. I think it is just as easy for me to create bookmarks on Google Chrome.  I have stared using the Google Chrome app on my iPad for EDM310, and it has been very helpful to just have all the websites I need right there. In a list, I would say my PLN
consists of Facebook, Pinterest, Google, and Blogger.  Like I said, I am not into technology as fast as it is approaching our world, but I have began to broaden my horizons. I hope that by the end of this semester I will have created a thorough PLN for myself to add to and continue using.

Blog Assignment #5

Conversations with Anthony Capps 

Project based learning really engages children in the overall aspect of a topic. In Anthony Capps video 1 and video 2, he discusses some projects he has done with his third grade class about PBL. Ideas about project based learning are constantly evolving. Capps explains that the goal of PBL is one that has an authentic audience, student interest, involves the community, and most importantly is driven by content standards given by the state.

One project Capps had his students do was write a letter to Joe Bonner. The students wrote what they thought about women being allowed to be in combat in war. By doing this, students had to find female figures that show female success in history to use the info to incorporate into their letters.
They found these figures by using iCurio.  Capps said his third grade class was really interested in this because many of the students had parents in combat. Only eight were sent to the the congress
man's office, and the students actually critiqued each other's letters. They picked the ones to sendoff. Capps said that this actually made the grading process easier as well because he was able to use
the students critiques to grade by.

Anthony Capps believes that iCurio is an online tool that allows students to safely search the web for
subjects that fit along with the state standards.  You do log in to use this, but then use it as a search
engine. This also has a place to organize the information they find online. You do not have to worry about seeing something online and forgetting where it was located. iCurio allows you to drop that
information in a folder and come back to it later to finish the project. This tool also has a feature that
will read the text off of a website to you. This is a great tool for students to learn and become familiar with for educational purposes.

From all of these videos with Anthony Capps, he discusses the importance of project based learning. I agree with him in the goal of the PBL. I also agree with him in that the best way to teach technology is to use it. By exposing the students to project based learning and different ways to use technology,
they are able to better understand and learn the concept. I am a much better learner when I actually get to do something myself. It helps me to learn the material when I can actually perform the hands on activity. Students are becoming more technologically advanced every day, and the more they use the technology, the more they will understand. Students will begin teaching teachers.

Project #3 Presentation

C4T Summary Posts and Comments

My first C4T Comment: "I am a student the University of South Alabama, and I am enrolled in EDM 310. We are assigned a teacher to comment on, and I was assigned to you. The Manaiakalani Film Festival seems like a very fun event. The students seem to really enjoy this festival. I am amazed at the confidence these children have while speaking in front of all the other students. These students are very talented in the arts.
Keep up the good work with this film festival!"


First Summary of C4T
The Manaiakalani teacher blog is about "living local learning global." November 13, 2013 marked

the sixth year of the Manaiakalani Film Festival. 3,000 students visited this festival that expanded to two theaters over a 12 hour span. These students came from schools around the town to visit and partake in this event. It is a very elaborate learning festival for children to engage in film making. Some students even partake in this festival by showcasing in movies. It is very remarkable to see how  much courage these children have to get up in front of the audience and perform. I think this is a very neat festival for children to attend, and I hope that Manaiakalani will be able to continue this festival for years too come. 






My second C4T Comment:

"My name is Savannah Price, and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I have commented on your later post, and for my EDM 310 class I am assigned to comment on another one of your posts. I think it is awesome that Pt. England has "gone Google". It is really amazing to me that the students in the elementary grades know so much about the internet and technology. It is awesome that these young students are able to teach their parents about such things as Google. Google Docs is a great tool to help students enhance their learning on their own, and collaborate with other students and teachers. Technology has come so far, and I know it will just continue to keep advancing. Congratulations to all of the students and teachers who have taken the time to learn about the technology of Google, and good luck with technology in the future!"


Second Summary of of C4T

On Wednesday, October 16, 2013, Manaiakalani posted a Google video. This video talks about how
Manaiakalani advances with Google. A team of Google experts came to Pt. England School to make
a video with them and their learners. These young people really received an amazing experience
because they got to work with these experts, and their video was published on YouTube. Everyone
had the privilege to learn how certain people have to work together to create a film.  The Google education helps children and teachers work collaboratively. The teachers have seen that students with access to the internet are able to manage their own learning. I think it is awesome how the students of Manaiakalani have enhanced learning through this Google experience. 

Blog Assignment #4

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? 

Some may think that asking questions is not effective. That is not true. By asking questions to the students, we effectively can assess the knowledge of the students. According to Ben Johnson,  the goal of a question is not just to ask the students if they "understand." If we do this, then it just becomes a yes or no answer, and then we are not getting a true assessment of the students. So, how do you ask a question in the right way? Ben Johnson says that, as a teacher, we should ask a question, pause for three seconds, and then say a students name in order to get an effective response. This way, the children will all be thinking of an answer because it is totally random with whom the teacher calls on. I agree with this total physical response because I believe that having each child thinking they may be called on will make them listen better overall. 

According to Washington University's Teaching Center in St. Louis, you must keep in mind the course goal while asking questions, aim for specific questions, and respond effectively. A teacher should never interrupt the student in their response. This will only lead to the student not wanting to answer questions because they know they will get interrupted. You should also show interest in all students' answers, and always develop a response to keep the students thinking. This helps in their critical thinking skills as well as keeps the student intrigued in the lesson. 

There are three ways to ask better questions in the classroom according to Maryellen Weimer, PhD Teaching Professor Blog. She believes that the key to asking effective questions is to prepare, play, and preserve good questions. I agree with her that questions should be prepared. I think they should be prepared because that way we can go ahead and prepare for some answers the students may give. I also believe preparing is important because we can review content and make sure it relates to the current topic. By playing with the questions, we see that students' answers can lead to other questions and answers which can present a good conversation for the class.

I believe open ended questions are a better approach to asking questions in a classroom because it leaves the student to come up with a variety of responses and provide more information just as  Joanne Chelsey stated in her YouTube video, "Asking Better Questions in the Classroom Pt. 1."

I believe it is very important to know how to effectively ask questions in the classroom to be an effective teacher!

Blog Assignment #3

Peer Editing

After viewing the two videos and the slideshow, I have realized that peer editing is a critical part of blogging and everyday writing. After reviewing the blogs of each of my group members, I saw some great positives that they have written. The format of each of their blogs makes them very easy to follow. By keeping the different sections separated, it keeps the clarity of the blogs. I don't see any grammatical errors in their posts. Grammar is part of everyday life, and there should not be any errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation. If there is a lot of errors in a post, the reader or the other blogger may not believe in the author of the post or the actual post.

In Writing Peer Reviews, we see that there are common mistakes made by peer reviewers. We do not need to be a Pick Patty. This means that we point out every single detail. When peer reviewing, do not generalize over the entire blog. While giving a good review, we should strongly suggest changes and editing, but never tell the author they must do something. It is the author's paper, therefore, it is their ultimate responsibility as to what they blog and how they blog. To edit effectively, we must give a detailed review on the material in a respectful and caring way. I believe that it is best to offer suggestions privately through email rather than publicly on the blog post. This is because I do not want to embarrass the author or make them feel like their blog is not good. I would rather a peer review suggestion through email because it keeps the suggestion private as well as being a more professional suggestion.

Blog Assignment #2

Mr. Dancealot video 
The central message of this video is to teach the basics of the Foxtrot, Waltz, Swing, and Tango. Professor Dancealot will not let the students participate in this class while he is teaching. He only lectures and expects the children to understand it. The message I got from this video is that students do not learn unless they are able to practice the actual dance moves during class. The author makes a case for conclusion by stating that the final will be next week, and it is open notes. When the students get to the final exam, the professor makes them preform the moves he has taught. It shows that the students do not do well when they have never practiced something before. I do not agree with his conclusion and the way he went about teaching this class. It is not right of him to expect the students to perform a final exam when they have never had a chance to practice the material. Everyone should be given adequate amount of time to learn the material.

Teaching in the 21st Century
Roberts says that teaching in the 21st century means that teachers are only filters. In today's world, teaching consists of Facebook, Google, Blogs, Twitter, YouTube, and many more media outlets. Students must learn to network, link, upload, and comment. Plagiarism, copywriting, and professionalism are all concepts students must understand. Students need to learn how to collaborate with things such as Skype. Students must justify, explain, and evaluate. Below, is an outline of how this may be accomplished.

TEACHING IN THE 21st CENTURY OUTLINE
A. Be familiar with what is out there (understand social media outlets)
     1. Facebook
     2. Twitter
     3. YouTube
     4. Skype
B. Start Small (learn each website step by step)
     1. Create one account at a time
     2. Understand your first account
     3. Create your second account
     4. Explain, justify, and evaluate each site and account
C. Collaborate
     1. Work with others
     2. Collaborate on Skype
     3. Search video lessons (be prepared to learn by watching a video online)
D. Take a risk
     1. Don't be afraid to post to a blog or any account.
     2. Search the terms and conditions of the site before working with it
E. Understand the differences between entertaining and engaging
     1. Entertaining
         a. Enjoyment
         b. Passive
         c. Creativity of others
     2. Engaging
         a. Active
         b. Long-term
         c. Creativity of the participant

I feel that Roberts way of describing teaching is somewhat true. I do agree that technology is advancing and will always continue advancing. I do not agree that everyone needs to know how to do every kind of social media there is, and that everyone needs to know how to create blogs and links. People got along just fine before all of the internet and social media sites were created. Yes, I think a good knowledge of certain sites and technological ways is necessary, but not to the extreme as Roberts described in the video.

The Networked Student
I do understand the concept of this video, although I do not agree. I really do not like the way of teaching when the teacher is only there to help you develop onto technology. I would rather the teacher take each task step by step instead of saying, "Here is the information, and now you go explore." I would rather have a structure to the course, instead of just being thrown out there with materials to explore on my own about something I have no clue about. In this type of class, the teacher is there only to help with organization of the mountains of information, turning web searches into scavenger hunts, and develop a modeler. I understand how this is helpful and beneficial to the student, but I do not like this way of learning.

Harness your Students Digital Smarts
Davis's thesis is, "It is important to teach children how to accomplish curriculum by collaborating effectively and teaching students ways to effectively use technology."

I was very interested in Ms. Vicki Davis's way of teaching. I agree with her thesis. It is really neat how the students are able to teach the teacher through a program by finding out new ways the program works and functions. Ms. Davis did walk around her classroom and teach the students different ways to perform different functions which I did like about her teaching style. She did let the students figure out how to do some things on there own, but she also gave them a guide as to how to start the projects.

Flipping Classrooms
I have never heard of flipping the classroom. This is a new concept to me. I think this teaching strategy will be useful for me as a teacher because I will be able to do more activities in the class and hands on activities rather than just lecturing. This provides more thinking on the students part as they must watch the lesson at home the night before and come with questions to class the next day. We are really able to see who is understanding what as the teacher when they come with questions from the video assignment. This will be a useful teaching tool when I become a teacher.

Blog Post 1

I have heard that EDM310 is a very involved course. Some students have shared with me that this class is very time consuming. I have also heard that EDM310 requires the student to do ALOT of work. The best advice I have received, from former students, is to stay on top of the work and do not procrastinate. I have heard that if you are not very good at time management, you will not be able to keep up with EDM310.
I do not necessarily have fears about EDM 310, although I am nervous about all the assignments and projects in this course. The first day I came to class I was very overwhelmed because I had no clue what was going on. I felt as though I was extremely confused as the class went on. Today, the class was better, and I am beginning to slowly but surely understand what this class is really about. When Dr. Strange told us we were to create a blog, my first thought was, "What does blogging have to do with teaching elementary school?" I am also a little nervous that I may not be as tech savvy as I thought I was. I have never blogged or even read many blogs before, so this is a whole new experience for me.
EDM 310 is unlike any course I have ever taken in college or high school. I have taken computer classes in college and high school, but we did not do anything related to EDM 310. I would say that EDM 310 is different in that it requires you to create a blog and post many things to the internet that many students are not used to doing. EDM 310 is also very different because it is a class that you mostly teach yourself. In any other class I have taken, the teacher explains the information and students take notes. EDM 310 is not like that. You must keep up with your own work in this course to pass. EDM 310 is similar to a radiology class I took last semester just because they both required many hours a week to understand the material. EDM 310 is sort of like some of my online math classes I have taken too because they require you to stay on top of the material yourself just like EDM 310.
The most difficult thing for me in this course is going to be keeping up with the assignments and making sure I get them in on time. I am not a procrastinator, and I am pretty well with time management. I believe it will be hard just to learn things about blogging on my own because I have never done anything like this before.
The best way for me to address this most difficult aspect is to ask questions when they arise. I believe if I ask questions at the time they come up, I will be able to better understand the concept and not get behind in turning in the assignments.
As of right now, the only question I really have about EDM 310 is, "What is the main objective of this course, and why do we have to learn about blogging to become an elementary teacher?" I could go about addressing the answer to this question by looking at the student blog site and reading other students posts about this course. I could also ask questions to Dr. Strange or the teacher helpers.

Practice Post

My name is Savannah Price, and I am 21 years old. I am a junior at the University of South Alabama. I am an only child, and I have lived in Mobile, AL my entire life. My first semester of college I went to the University of Alabama. I came home after that semester to go to South. I am a very family oriented person, so being away from them was tough. I have had four majors while I've been in college. My first major was biology at the University of Alabama. When I got to South I changed my major to EMT. I realized that was not my cup of tea, and I then changed majors to Radiology and applied to the program for fall 2013. I was in the program for the first semester, then realized this was just not where I was supposed to be. I am now majoring in Elementary Education, and I hope this will be the road to success for me! I am very interested in educating children, and I really want to make an impact on children's lives.
Like I said, I am very family oriented, so family vacations are something I like to do. Some of my other hobbies include hanging out with friends, crafting, and hunting with my dad and boyfriend. I also enjoy participating in runs around the city. I am very interested in making an impact on kids lives, so hopefully by entering the field of education I can be an example to my students through my actions.

New test

This is my second test post.

My test post title

I am now a blogger! This is my first blog for EDM 310!