Blog Post #14

1) I like many people, I assume, tend to do my blog post all at one time and like Dr.Strange suggested in his post on the EDM blog I believe I miss understood “Don’t Let Them Take the Pencils Home” because the other parts of that blog post had different themes.
2)My cup runneth over
He has a smile that can melt your heart
She’s everything to me
out like a light
she’s a little queen-bee
she so sweet
cute as a button
snug as a bug in a rug
3) First off teachers can explain metaphors thoroughly. Second they can use metaphors regularly in their classrooms. Finally teachers can require their students to use metaphors regularly themselves.
4)The world comes in shades of gray not black and white and metaphors are the perfect way to describe those shades of gray.

C4T #4 Summary

For C4T #4 I was assigned to Jeff Utecht blog. As a international educator he has had quite an array of experiences. Also Mr. Utecht is the author of Reach. The first post I commented on he was discussing the Laptop Institute and the fact that he was going to be the Keynote speaker. In my comment I simply stated that I have never heard of the Laptop Institute but he made it sound interesting so I thought I would look into it. So, I did look it up and according to their official website first off I found out that it is a conference and this year it is being hosted by Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, Tennessee. In addition, I found out that it is basically a conference for schools using or considering laptops or tablets as tools for learning. Mr. Utecht might not have meet his goal to be a principal by 30 but he is quite an inspirational person and I will definetly be adding to my PLN. The second post I commented on was his first blog post from his brand new iPad 2. Needless to say I am a little jealous that he got an iPad 2, and I did tell him that. But, besides telling us about his new iPad 2 he was discussing how he does not have enough down time. I can absolutely relate to this. With end of the semester drawing nearer and final projects being due and three final exams to worry about I have not had any down time lately. However, there is a little light at the end of my tunnel because like I said before the end of the semester is almost here and that means a nice long summer break for me. :)

C4K Summary

Keeyah, Adia's mascot.

The first C4K blog I commented on was Mr. McClung. I was assigned to the Lessons Learned segment. In the segment I was assigned to he was discussing that at his school are currently hosting tryouts or accepting applications to a variety of organization for the next year and that the students were highly anxious to find out the results and that he was glad that the decisions were almost made. My comment simply was that I remembered those days of anticipation and that at least I would be able to empathize with my students if I ever came across this situation.
The second blog I commented on was Erin’s. She was assigned to write a persuasive paper. Her paper was on “animals should not be kept in the zoo.”
She was very successful in being persuasive. However, I did see a few errors. First she ramble a little bit and second she sometimes would say things that were unrelated to her main topic. But other than those few things her persuasive writing assignment was overall very good. My comment was simply that she made valid points in her argument and that she seemed to be a great animal rights advocate.
The third blog I commented on was Mrs. Yollis and she has a very interesting blog. I really enjoyed all the informative video’s. The video’s on “how to comment” and “Learn HTML code” are great especially for first time blogger’s. Besides being informative I also enjoyed that her students got the opportunity to participate in the video because most of these types of informative video I have seen only involve the teacher. These videos will be more relatable to younger students. In addition, I also enjoyed how Mrs. Yollis has a tab for time-zones of the places of frequent “commenters” this is a great way to involve other students internationally.
The last C4K I was assigned was Adia’s blog. Adia is in Mrs. Yollis's class. The blog post that I commented on was all about the new addition to her blog, her blog mascot. Adia created a monkey at Build-A-Bear and named it Keeyah. Adia had the wonderfully creative idea to make her new found friend her blog mascot she even took pictures of it and made a presentation. In addition, she had a few questions for any viewers to answer. I simply commented that even though I did not have a blog mascot, I thought it was a creative idea. Also, I told her about a bear I made at Build-A-Bear many years ago, the answer to one of her questions. I concluded my statement with complimenting her on such a good post. These C4K’s were a little different from the past C4K’s. However, I learned a lot with these C4K’s and got a lot of great ideas.

Project #16

To be able to see all the options PLEASE GO HERE

Final PLN Summary

Since my last summary I have added a variety of people. Some I found on my own and some I found through EDM.
I found six from EDM in various ways. Including through project, C4T and blog posts
Daniel Pink- this is Daniel Pink's website and he is the creator of "This is my sentence" videos and author to the very well-known book Drive.
Dianne Krausse blog who I found through C4T she has a very interesting blog her post mainly consist of links to great technological finds.
The Fischbowl blog which is Karl Fisch's blog who was the co-creator of the "Did You Know?" videos.
Spencer Scratch Pad blog which is John Spencer's blog who is the author of Pencil Me In, Drawn Into Danger, Sages and Lunatics, and Teaching Unmasked
The Cool Cat Teacher Blog which is Vicki Davis's blog which I found through C4T
and The Thinking Stick blog which is Jeff Utecht blog who is an international educator and author of Reach.
The rest I found through on my own through Twitter:
Kyle Pace blog and Kyle pace is a Instructional Technology Specialist.
Jabiz Raisdana blog and he has a variety of teaching experiences.
Rush the Iceberg blog which I found through Stephen Davis on Twitter

Blog Post #13

ALEX
ALEX is an amazing resource for both students and teachers.
ALEX is helpful to teacher's for variety of reason's including:
1)ALEX has a section for lesson plans which can be narrowed down by grade and subject.
2)Educational Podcast that are great for the classroom.
3)A section for professional learning section which has a variety of links arranged by subject to provide you with more information on professional development opportunities. Also, links to advice and tutorials on how to use new technological tools.
4) A helpful search center that can help you narrow down your search by category.
5) A variety of helpful web resources
ALEX is also useful to students for a variety of reasons including:
1) The helpful web resources which are categorized by subject and will be especially beneficial if the student is doing research.
2) The podcast treasury that has many educational podcast and can be very beneficial to students
ALEX seems to be a tool I could practically use in my classroom. However, I do wish there was a little more for the students. I do find the tools for teachers very useful but for the website to even more successful there needs to be more tools for students.

ACCESS
Well ACCESS did seem very helpful for students. However, ACCESS is only for high school students and since I am a elementary education major it does not really apply to me.According to the official ACCESS website the purpose of ACCESS is "to provide high quality instruction through distance learning." ACCESS is basically online classes for high schools. ACCESS wants to provide the students to learn how to work as professionals. ACCESS provides techniclogical help for any students who plan to enroll for the students individually. ACCESS seems like a great program and they need to create something similar for middle and elementary age students.

Progress Report on Project #16

I am working with Whitney Greer and we are making a Glog about the history of Mardi Gras. It includes a video which we already recorded at the Mobile Carnival Museum and it also includes authentic photos of Micheal Kraft, Joe Cain, and an invitation to a Cowbellion ball. In addition, I am lucky enough to know one of the famous float makers in Mobile and he has graciously lent us some of his original sketches. We are actually very close to completing the project more than likely it will be completed by the end of this week.

Project #15

Blog Post #11

These kids are amazing! They are using tools that I was not even introduced to until college and some of the tools they use I have not even used. I really loved the idea of using a Nintendo DS as a way to learn to read. That’s such a great way to learn especially for kids at this age. I know that the kids I babysit would love this because they love their DS’s and they are practically glued to those things. So, this is such a creative way to get a student’s attention and to keep it. Also, this video opened my eyes to why comments4kids is so important. The kids love to get comments on their blogs and they really need that encouragement to keep going. Also, I never really thought of all the beneficial uses of Skype. The idea of using Skype to bring in experts into the classrooms was great and I will definitely be using this in my classroom. I loved this video it gave me so many great ideas. Thanks for sharing this awesome video Dr. Strange!

I think her techniques are great. The only problem is that a lot of schools do not have even one computer in their classrooms much less five for students to work; most of the time this is because of financial restraints. Hopefully if I do get into a situation like this I could set up a fundraiser and with some luck I will raise enough to purchase computers for my classroom. In today’s world computer skills are crucial and should be required for students of all ages. Technology is here to stay and it should not be treated as just a little add-on. But, if I do teach in a school that has the technology available I sincerely hope I will have a supportive administration that will support my ideas to bring in technology to my classroom. To insure parent-teacher support I will send out notification at the beginning of the year as Mrs. Cassidy does to notify them of my uses of technology in the classroom. I know that I will encounter many privacy obstacles along the way but I think with Mrs. Cassidy’s techniques those obstacles can be easily avoided. In addition to Mrs. Cassidy’s techniques, I will also instruct my students to follow internet safety guidelines like Mr.McClung's. Overall, I enjoyed the interview it was very informative.

Special Assignment: Mr. McClung

1) The first thing I learned is that Mr. McClung is first and foremost a great teacher. He is very interactive with both students and parents. Also, I discovered through his blog that he has a love of sports and music.
2) As I stated before Mr. McClung is a great educator. He is interactive with the parents he is trying to keep them as up to date as possible on their child's academic life. Parent-teacher communication is crucial and it seems to me that he has mastered it. He is very interactive with his students and truly cares about them. He expects a lot from the students and is making them decide now whether they are going to memorable or just average.
3) His rules say a lot about how he runs his classroom. It sounds like there is lots of debates and free-discussion occurring in the class. In addition to this although his rules show him as the definite authority figure, he does keep an opened mind.
4) A day planner that can be bought from the school. I think he has this as the first requirement because he expects his students to act as professionals and to stay organized.
5) A letter grade is dropped for everyday the assignment is late. His penalties are much like your penalties, Dr.Strange, in the since that if you turn in your work late it will highly affect your grade and if you are continually late turning in your work then you will not do well in the course.
6) The purpose of his blog was clear it is to keep his students, parents, and others updated on the school and his classrooms events. I imagine that the purpose of his blog would be very similar to the purpose of my blog, if I ran a class blog.
7) Well, I did not pick just two I found five that I really like. The first being Purdue: OWL which was not a new discovery for me , I actually use this resource quite often and it is great for both students and teachers alike. The next resource I found was The Plagiarism Checker which I really liked because I think it is important for children to learn what plagiarism and that it is wrong from a very early age. I thought Ant was great it is perfect for students when they are trying to research a topic. Also, I liked ToonDoo the only way I could think to implement it the classroom was through a history lesson. The students would use a historical figure as their "character" and the "thought bubble" could state something that the person is famous for. Lastly, my favorite find was Scholastic Story Staters it is a GREAT way to teach creative writing not to mention its pretty fun.
8) I thought his Internet safety rules were great all teachers should have a page for this in their blogs. The only thing I would add to his rules would be not to identify your age.
9) I had "Lessons Learned." I thought Lesson One - April Fools was pretty funny the students managed to pull off a great prank. It was innocent and all in good fun though. But, that kinda makes me wonder if the coach thought it was as funny as I did, I mean that was a lot of post-its to take off. I hope those girls weren't running laps in the gym the next day. My hat tips off to you young ladies it was a funny but innocent prank.
10) Now I have some questions for the EDM staff { I know that's shocking:) }: Are EduBlogs free? And do they work like Blogger does? Are KidsBlogs free? And lastly, how do you put a song on your blog?

C4T#3 Summary

For C4T#3 I was assigned to Dianne Krause blog. She is a instructional technology specialist so, her blog is very technologically advanced. This blog has many helpful post. However, the post are not what you typically expect out of a blog post. The blog post mainly consist of many links. For example, the first post I commented on had a excellent link to a webpage for teaching music. I found this post at a very convient time because I am currently working on my very first smartboard music lesson plan and I will definetly be utilizing this website. The second post I commented on was just really cool. It had a link to an image with the google tools formatted into Bloom's Taxonomy. As you can see from above it is pretty awesome. Overall, I really liked my C4T#3 assignment, her blog was unique. This blog is unlike many other blogs. Most blog post just have people's opinion's which is important for many reason's but I liked this blog because it gives us easy access to helpful tools. I will definetly be adding Dianne Krause to my PLN. Thank you, Dr.Strange!