Blog #5

The iSchool Initiative and Travis Allen's Zeitgeist Young Minds entry
At 17 years old, Travis Allen produced his idea of the iSchool for the world to see. This young man is dedicated to helping the world to see his side of the argument on America's education problem. Travis states how expensive it is per student for school supplies and how high the expenses are per each school. Also, he says his school's budget is being cut, teachers are being let go, and their classroom sizes are getting larger.
His proposed idea is to have public schools use the iSchool on iPod Touches. The iSchool would allow students' and schools' costs to drop dramatically. The iPod Touch already comes with classroom ready apps but other apps could be installed for use as school use as well. Basically, using the iTouch in place of all other resources such as books, paper, computers, and calculators. It's a universal way for teachers, students and parents to stay in touch and up to date on the current schedule. Travis Allen is pursuing the dream of revolutionizing education in America.
Travis has an amazing dream! I believe he is capable of doing whatever he sets his mind to. I personally think his idea is fantastic but I do have some questions regarding the iTouch such as 'What happens if a student loses or breaks it? Will they lose all their information they've stored on it?' The iTouch can only connect to the internet if there is wireless internet available. Therefore, this could potentially be a problem for a student to do homework if they do not have wireless internet at home or it goes down. Nevertheless, I agree with him on saving everyone money. Using technology on a daily basis helps the students grow with ever changing technology. Many local schools in my area are already using iPads and Macs in place of paper and books. If and when the student graduates high school they are allowed to keep the Mac/iPad, this helps keep the young adolescents working towards graduation.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
This video was absolutely astounding! The first 2 and a half minutes I kept thinking to myself 'is this real?!' It's unbelievable how these 185 people can come together to produce such a beautiful piece all while not being together to make it. It made me raise questions for the singers; such as 'Do they miss the experience of being able to come together in one room and practice?'

Teaching 21st Century Video
Kevin Roberts made the video to bring new topics to teachers' minds. His video was quite long but it got his point across. He brings to the table topics such as with new technology students are able to find any information they need on the internet whenever they want. So, why are there still teachers? Are teachers actually teaching students something they'll retain and use for a lifetime? Even with all the new resources people have to find information teachers will always be needed. I agree with him about teachers needing to change up their styles of teaching to incorporate life lessons. We as teachers should show our students new ways of searching for information online such as knowing how to use [brackets] in google to narrow searches.
An example Roberts gave was if your connecting flight is cancelled what should you do? and how will these things fit into Blooms Taxonomy? Simple answer, we teach our students more life scenarios then they can evaluate, apply, and execute what to do. I feel it's all about critical thinking, if we can teach them to critically think well they can use that skill for the rest of their life with any problem. Teachers don't need to fret about new technology, they just need to learn it, use it, and find ways to incorporate it into the classroom. Like the old saying goes, "If you can't beat it, join it."

Why I Flipped My Classroom
Katie Gimbar made a quick video explaining her reasons for flipping her classroom. Her classroom time was once spent mainly reteaching students the foundation needed for her class or reviewing material. Now, since the flip she spends the majority of her time actually teaching her lessons. Ms. Gimbar is a math teacher and I certainly can see the need for her to do this. Math is a difficult subject for many students therefore they need more time and there's students that just pick up on math quicker than average so they're bored. With Ms. Gimbar posting the lessons to be taught ahead of time her students that are having difficulty with math can have more time and can also go back and re-watch the videos. Those that were advanced can advance to another lesson. I remember being a high school student and this specific scenario was a daily thing for my class and my teacher. Now that I'm in college I can say my last 2 math classes were the same as well, with the exception of one teacher posting websites and some videos to help students. That one teacher of mine that posted those few videos did have more time on some days to spend teaching rather than reviewing.

Dr. Lodge McCammon FIZZ Video and Flipping the Classroom-4th Grade STEM
Dr. McCammon came up with the "Flipping the Classroom" videos that teachers produce for their students to watch at home before their classes. Flipping is a new approach for the 21st century learners. It allows the students to watch the class lessons before class, raise questions they may have to bring to class, and they can re-watch the videos again whenever they need a re-fresher. This allows the teacher more time to engage with the students in the class room and allows each student to work at their own pace.
Mrs. Munafo made the 4th grade STEM video. She explained to parents and others the need for the flipping and what it entails. Her explanations were the same as Dr. McCammon and Ms. Gimbar's. Mrs. Munafo stated she's currently using this for her math class and hopes to begin using it for other subjects as well. Like I've said earlier, math is a very difficult subject for many and I feel if a teacher was going to use this style it would definately benefit the math lessons. I most certainly would not be opposed to using it for any subject!

Project #6

Blog #4

Langwitches

Podcasting With First Grade
The teacher tells how she had her students do a podcast as if they were interviewing the characters of a book they were reading. The students seemed to have really enjoyed doing it and it improved their reading, public speaking, and confidence. Since the podcast is over the internet people from all over can hear these children and respond back to them. This testimony shows how podcasting with young children can further their experience with technology, allow children to come out of their shell and improve their reading skills.

Flat Stanley Podcast
These first graders read the book "Flat Stanley" and were inspired by the other first grade class' podcast. The students decided to make a podcast about each of them being a flat stanley and each one of them were from different locations throughout the world. They rented books from the library on their selected locations to learn about what the place was like. From there they told on the podcast what their location looked like, the noises it had and what kind of smells it had.

Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting
These second graders made a podcast on another story they read. These second graders were the ones that had previously made a couple of podcasts in first grade, so they had plenty of experience with it. This time the purpose of the podcast was to help them use their comprehension, listening skills, speaking skills, critical and logical thinking skills, plus many more. Not only did these students use and empower those skills they also better their knowledge with the smartboard and other technology.
When I first began this class, I really had no knowledge on podcasts at all. It does surprise me a little bit to see this many teachers using all these different technology techniques to teach. I think it's wonderful and the children really seem to enjoy themselves. I wish when I was younger I could've gotten that headstart! I personally am all about creativeness and the arts and using these techniques really help bring out a student's creative side.

Project #5 Presentation

C4T #1

My assigned teacher's name is Heidi Siwak, she lives in Ontario and teaches 7th graders. Before a comment can be publicly seen on her blog she must approve it first.

On her September 4, 2012 post it was about setting a collaborative foundationin a classroom. She shared an experience she had with her students, she put her students in random groups and gave them a 'meaty' topic to discuss amongst themselves first and then with the whole class. Asking her students to do this she was able to help them better learn critical thinking skills, communication skills, and collaborative skills.

Afterwards Ms. Siwak saw how each of her students were engaged in their conversations. They each handled who would do what task of the group and many of the groups gave moral and skilled responses. I admired Ms. Siwak's creativity. She told her students they needed to look like a group, meaning they should gather around in a circle and not have stragglers. I had not thought of that before, she made a good point because it would be hard for all members of a group to collaborate together if some were not fully focused.

I wrote to her how I enjoyed reading her posts and how she has helped give me some ideas for when I begin teaching. Also, I mentioned how I really agreed with her last paragraph; as a child I loved when my teacher would ask us to write or discuss a touchy subject because we all were anxious to say our opinions on it. I was so excited to finally see that she approved my comment and also commented back to me saying it was nice to meet another EDM310 student and she was happy that her blog intrigued me so much.

On September 18th, Ms. Siwak posted another blog. This blog goes into the elememts of a thought. She made a very colorful hands-on bulletin board for her students to use. It's broken into 7 parts, 2 of which are labeled "purpose" and "assumptions". Ms. Siwak read to her students statements about a person, the statements gave assumptions that the person was bad and good. Examples were: "He smokes and drinks." "He was arrested for stealing." "He stole baby diapers and formula." "He has a girlfriend and a 1 year old child." One could see how those statements couldn't directly enable someone to tell what kind of person this was.

Ms. Siwak then asked her students to discuss assumptions they had about this person, of course this led to a rather rich discussion. She is trying to get her students to become more aware of their thinking. Making assumptions can be productive but making assumptions too quickly without deeply thinking them through can lead to the wrong conclusions.

I commented back telling her that once again I thought she did a great job coming up with a fun hands-on activity to intrigue her students to be involved in the exercise meanwhile they are un-noticingly learning. I don't recall being a young student and any of my teachers ever teaching me to make assumptions like she does. Many teachers teach just the main academic subjects but fail to teach their students life lessons. When I become an educator I will definately remember to help teach my students life lessons that will help them evolve into a critical thinker.

Click on her name to view her blog. heidisiwak

Blog #3

Thoughts on Peer Editing Tutorials

Dr. Strange gave us a list of videos and a slideshow to learn from. They are:What is Peer Editing?,Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial, Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes. The video "Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes" was my absolute favorite!! It was adorable! It's a short quick video with young children acting out all different types of peer reviews. I thought it was hilarious! There were 2 children acting out each situation and they did an outstanding job on the lines they said.
"Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial" was a slideslow informing the readers on how to perform a great peer review and gave suggestions as to what to look for and say. I know I'll refer back to this again throughout the semester for ideas and tips.
Lastly, "What is Peer Editing?" was a video that said almost verbatim what the slideshow said. It was a good reference to use if you're an auditory learner but the video only showed one or two words at a time and could be hard to keep up with.

Technology in Special Education

This video was very touching. The teacher of a vocational class shows how each one of her students have different special needs and they use technology to help them learn. She gave a few different examples of how a special needs student would use certain technology to help with their specific need. Such as, one boy had trouble reading small print so his laptop had a program to magnify his text for him to be able to see it better. Technology such as laptops, iPads and iTouches help keep the student engaged while she is teaching the whole class. Many special needs students aren't able to communicate easily and these products help give them the voice to say what they need.

I really want to teach special needs students so videos and other references I can take advice and learn from would definately benefit me. When teaching these students I would do just as that teacher did and find any product or technology that would personally benefit my students. Not only am I trying to educate them about academics but I'm also helping them grow as a person and find what helps them with daily living needs when they aren't in a classroom.

How the iPad Works With Academics of Autism

The video shows a young boy with austism using his iPad to learn how to count, write, and say words. Autistic students have an exceptionally shorter attention span than students without it so having this iPad interact back with them keeps them engaged. I recommend Proloquo2go for anyone needing an app for a special needs child or adult. This app has many different phrases and items the person can pick from and then it will read aloud what they want to say. After watching the young boy with Austism use the iPad it made me interested on seeing more special needs children interact with iPads and the different apps they offer. I went on YouTube and watched other children interacting and realized how useful iPads really are!

Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts

I'm actually a follower with this @CoolCatTeacher on Twitter! This video is really cool. Ms. Vicki Davis teaches her students how to use technology to broaden their horizons. She has over 6,000 followers on her Twitter and just won blog of the year!! Ms. Davis is from a rural part of Georgia but her students are being educated world wide by their teacher's love for technology. She mentioned that teachers don't have to already know things in order to teach, the students can learn some stuff on their own and then teach it to the teacher. I've personally taught one or more of my teachers something over the course of time and I've seen other students teach also. This gives the students a feeling of self accomplishment when they learn something on their own!

Project #2

Blog #2

"Did you know? 3.0" -A John Strange 2012 Version
Watch video here
Dr. Strange made this video listing some interesting facts. The video was short but informative. He gave some insight to students' lives around the world. Dr. Strange's first fact he listed was "The 25% of the population of India with the highest IQs outnumbers the entire population in the United States." That made me begin to wonder how large is India really? and what makes them become so much smarter than our entire nation?
Towards the end of the video he began to mention technology facts about how many students have a computer and/or cell phone. Also, including how many students text. It's astonishing to see how much our nation has progressed technology wise. Technology would be a great tool to use in a classroom and not only to show powerpoints or watch a video. Now younger children are growing up using Ipads, tablets, cell phones, computers, and playing video games. It's as if it comes naturally installed in the younger generation.

"Mr. Winkle Wakes" by Matthew Needleman
Watch video here
Matthew Needleman created this video to show how the world has constantly evolved with new technology. The character Mr. Winkle was a little old cartoon man that had awoken from a hundred year nap and saw the change in the world. The way the narrator spoke, slow and calmly sounded as if he was speaking for children to understand. I have a couple of different opinions about the video.
First off I do agree with what he said about the way the world has changed with the new technology. Our way of life has benefitted from it; we're able to save lives when several years ago in certain situations people would have died. Secondly, I disagree when the narrator said school has remained the same. That might be true in rural parts of the nation or impoverished areas that aren't able to keep abreast. As for most populated areas the schools have started incorporating computers, LCD projectors, smart boards, and Ipads into classroom settings.

"The Importance of Creativity" by Sir Ken Robinson
Watch video here
Sir Robinson's video was extraordinary! He speaks of how educators are suppose to prepare students for the future when we can't even predict what will happen in 5 years. That is so true! He is absolutely hilarious. I quote from him, "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." that sentence means so much. As students are being brought up through school they are taught that being wrong is the worse thing in the world and they become scared to be wrong. We should teach our students that it is okay to be wrong as long as we find out the solution. Sir Robinson questions whether students are educated out of their creativity.
When he mentions that all schools teach the 4 main subjects but they have arts, music, and dance at the bottom of the totem pole. I could not agree more, when the school system has to make a budget cuts they always cut sports, art and music first! We all have bodies and want to dance and have an artistic side. There so many students graduating from college and many of them can't get a job because now you need a masters or a doctorate to get above the other competitor. There is an inflation of students with degrees.
Lastly, Sir Robinson shares a story about a famous choreographer who choreographed many famous shows on Broadway. When she was younger she couldn't sit still in school and would fidget. Her teachers spoke to her mother about her possibly having a learning disorder. Her mother took her to a doctor and the doctor said she's not sick she is a dancer. This is one of millions of examples that show school is not for everyone. Her mother put her in a dance school and she excelled! That little girl that someone would've put on medicine and told her to calm down is now a multi-millionaire! We as human beings need to take heed to Sir Robinson's lecture and notice if you have a talent to explore it and use it! Our job as educators is to educate our students about the world and help encourage them to find themselves and like Robinson said we may not see the future but they will and they need to be prepared for what is out there.

"A Day Made of Glass 2"
Watch video here
This video was really awesome. It displays the future with the possibility of most electronics made of glass. It looks similar to the Ipad, the glass was thin and touch screen. The school the girls went to had a solar pannelled roof, I find that very eco-friendly. In the morning when the young girl woke she was able to pick out her outfit on a built in wall computer made of glass. It's like something I've only seen in movies, I would be ecstatic if I had one. I'm sure one day in the far future our homes, cars, and the majority of our classrooms will look like that in the video. As a future teacher I think having that kind of easily accessible technology teach my students would really help further their ability to be technology savvy. The table and small glass Ipad tablets would motivate them to stay engaged, help children with visual disabilities as well as other disabilities. Also, some children learn hands-on while others are audible and visual learners this would condense all the learning differences together.

Opinion
These 4 videos were all completely different yet they all stem from one topic, education. I thoroughly enjoyed each video, the makers of each one did a fantastic job getting their point across. In order for one to have an opinion on each video they must watch it first. My favorite was Sir Robinson's, I admit when I first sat down to watch it the video just looked old and I thought it was going to be boring. I was proven wrong with his sense of humor and recommended it to family for them to enjoy it. To sum the videos up in this blog, Dr. Strange's facts about India's population with such high IQs have me researching and questioning how they have become so smart. I disagreed with Mr. Winkle's statement that school has stayed the same over the years and Sir Robinson had enlightened my night with humor and educated me that academic school is not for every student. I also agreed with him about the creative subjects are always taken away from the students first and we must ask our government "Why?" because everyone has a creative talent. Lastly, the glass video was awesome, it gives one an imagination about the future that we could only hope one day we become so advance as it has shown us.