Summary C4K comments 1,2, & 3

O.K. So the beginning of this summary isn't going to be very well written. I thought that after doing all three I would have no problems with going back to them, reviewing, and coming to write a summary about them all at once. Boy was I wrong! I remember going to Ms. Naugle's class blog and counting down to my number. I remember the blog being about Math and was very well written. I commented and proceded to check that off my list for the week. BIG MISTAKE! Obviously I should have come to my blog and went ahead and summarized that week and continued doing so until I was finished with all three weeks. I have looked back and can not find my comment anywhere. Sorry for the mishap on C4K # 1, but i can assure you all that I have learned my lesson....the hard way at that!

The second blog I checked out several podcast made up by various students on one teachers blog. I was assigned episode 336 which was a podcast by two beautiful little girls Senolita and Mary. They read a book called Ollie's Bubble Brother by Julie Mitchell. I think my favorite part is how I was able to check if I thought their podcast was cool, interesting, or if my class or group listened. I told them my first experience with podcasting was just recently with our project for Dr. Strange. I also told them that is was great that they were already getting some experience with podcasting because it would be a valuable tool in their educational journey.

The third student I looked at and commented on was a girl name Ane. She was a Year 5 student at Pt England School in Auckland, NZ. She had not blogged very much, only adding a picture of herself and stating that she had been up to some great stuff in previous years. I introduced myself and told her how great I thought blogging was. I let her know it was a way to let other people know your thoughts and feelings on different things happening to you. I told her to keep up the good work and to remember to make learning fun!

All in all I think I am going to really enjoy Comments-4-kids because it gives us a chance to reach out to children all over the world. Not only that, but as a child I loved receiving a letter in the mailbox and commenting on a blog is just the current version of that!

Blog Post 6

Why does a networked student even need a teacher?

I think that it is absolutely crucial that the networked student has not just a teacher, but a teacher who knows their stuff when it comes to todays technology. The internet is full of countless learning possibilities, but just like the video stated, you have to learn how to weed through what you find and pick out what is most useful to yourself.

Teachers are responsible for helping to convey this information, otherwise the student may never know about some of the tools available that will make their educational journey easier. Without having an up-to-date on technology teacher, lots of children will never be given the oppurtunity to be exposed to this type of learning. My mother and father only know the basics when it comes to using the computer and would have never been able to teach me the things I have learned about the internet, it's funny because I find myslef teaching them about social networking, emailing, and blogging.

I will admit that there are many things that I was not familiar with until taking this class and am happy that I have been exposed to many of these great tools. I am excited that I now have the knowledge and can successfully pass this along to my future students.


Welcome to My PLE

This video was about a seventh graders personal learning environment, and boy did she have it all together. I loved how she had one page that arranged all the tools that she used throughout the day and for her class. It is sad to say that a seventh graders PLE looks and is better than mine, a sophmore in college. That just goes to show the difference and the ever changing learning structure being taught to children today. I wish I would have had the oppurtunity and been taught about some of these tools when I was in seventh grade, sure would have made my life easier. But for now, after watching this short clip, I realize that I need to step up my PLN and definitely expose myself to more outside resources so that I can be prepared to teach my future students through the use of technology. Oh yea, I love paperless classes.....never a need for a pencil and is so great for the environment!

Smart Boards....Useful or Wasteful

After reading the two negative articles about smart boards I was shocked. I have just recently learned what a smart board was and am currently learning how to use them effectively. I am super excited and hope and pray I have one of these in my future classroom. The possibilities are endless with the proper knowledge of how to use them. I think they allow students to have fun while learning and give a change of scenery from the old style, note-taking, overhead projectors. As a matter of fact a Smart Board is like an overhead projector on steriods. It has so many more features!Today's children are becoming more and more technically inclined and the smart boards help by allowing the teacher to get the information across to their students on the students level. I found this website especially useful and gave great tips to using the smart boards inside the classroom, take a look at
Teachers Love Smart Boards I also found a blog created by Angie, a teacher in Oregon and profound user of the smart board. You can access her blog at Smart Board Blog, I recommend everyone go check it out, she offers alot of valuable websites and ideas.

Blog Post 5

Podcast~ according to iPodder a podcast is no different than a webcast, a show that is broadcast over the web and is broken up into parts or episodes. Most podcasts are similar to news radio programs and deliver information on a regular basis, while some podcasts are comedy shows or even special music broadcasts. Podcasts are most popular on Apple's iPod and iPhone devices, hence the name podcast, but a podcast can be enjoyed from a number of different sources and can even be listened to directly on a computer.

That being said, this last week was the first time ever I have had any experience with podcast. I personally believe that it is a unique way of teaching and can be much better than just pencil and paper. I guess thats because I am a millenial, a person born after 1980 with no knowledge of life without computer or technology. At least that's what Joe Dale said in his article of The benefits of podcasting in the classroom. I strongly agree with so many of his beliefs. Poscast is a form of learning students of today are familiar with and therefore makes it relevant to them and it does promote creativity and innovation. I checked out a few other sites on podcasting such as The Education Podcasting Network. Now this was an intresting site. I could have been on there for hours watching and listening to other peoples thoughts. I loved the fact that it had a How Do I section as well as the breakdown of podcast. They were catagorized by level of school, student & class podcast, as well as individual subjects. How cool is that! I wouldn't have to spend all day searching for a podcast about a particular subject. A sight like this allows us, as educators, to share knowledge, insights, and passions for teaching. Just for fun, because I don't own an iPod, I check out 100 ways to use you Ipod to learn & study better. There was so much that I didn't know was possible on this site. I narrowed my list down to my 3 favorites of uses for the Ipod to help with learning. I loved that you could now get Spark Notes on it. Where was this at when I was in high school? I also loved the Teach kids valuable lessons with free Sesame Street Ipod videos. What kid doesn't like Sesame Street and now there is a way to incorporate valuable lessons into a childs tv program? That a definite plus in my book. There was also a Brain Quest, a game for children in grades 1-7. As a parent, teacher, aunt or anyone involved with children this is a fun and educational game that can help to keep children occupied while sitting in the doctors office or wheeling through the grocery store.

All in all I learned alot about podcasting and can not wait to use this form of technology in my classroom one day!

Project 9~A "Our Life as Husband & Wife"

My Sentence Video

Blog Post 4

Scott McLeod Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?
Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Educational Administration program at Iowa State University. He is also Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education or CASTLE. He created the country’s first graduate program designed to prepare technology-savvy school leaders.He regularly blogs about different technology issues going on in todays society.

WoW! What a unique way to catch someones attention. At first I thought this guy was crazy and definitely out of date. I could not understand why Dr. Strange would want any of us to waste our time reading such a negative post about technology. As I continued reading it, I realized that he was being very sarcastic. Yes, I agree. There is the possibility for children to run into bad internet behavior and that is why children should always be supervised when using modern technology. In a perfect world this behavior would be non-exsisting. However, since it's out there, our only option is not to shelter them, but to monitor them closely and try our hardest to make sure they never have to cross this path.


The iSchool Initiative
Oh.My.Gosh. I am stunned. I have an Iphone and did not know all the things it would do. He showed us applications that are already available that could be a tremendous help in school. Some I am looking for to download now! My favorite was Formulae, a math app that had every formula possible on it....Where was this App when I was in school?

This just goes to show us how great technology can be. His argument was the school of the future would be so much cheaper through the use of any type of Apple I touch platform. There would be no need for books, paper, copy machines, or pencils. Children would have limited internet access. Teachers, parents, and students could easily view their test, grades, assignments, and lunch menus. Therewould be no need for expensive graphing calculators either. This would save everyone a ton of money! I am super excited just thinking about what an I-School would be like. Let's Go Green!

The Lost Generation by Jonathan Reed
This video was super cool. I am usually just watching comedy videos or how to's on you tube. I am so glad that through these assignments I have broadened my YouTube followings. I sure hope for the sake of my life and my future childrens life that we do do something about this era. I can not imagine a world where we celebrate divorce and money is more important than family. I loved how the creator of this video spoke along with the words. I also thought it was really neast how she revearsed the words through the second part of her video. I love the creativeness that was put in and although the video was very simple, it really was heart felt.


Virtual Choir by Eric Whitacre
WoW! I don't even think there are words to describe how incredible this video is. It isn't that it surprises me that something like this could be done, but to actually see it is amazing! This video is just another great example of how the internet can be used. How else could you get 12 countried and 185 people all together to sing this song. Amazing, absolutely amazing!


Teaching in the 21st Century
This video is so true. Information is readily available to todays children. I completely agree that teachers are no longer the soul responsible party for what children learn. The possibilities are endless with the inernet. It is our job as an educator to "filter" the knowledge that can be obtained through the use of a computer and to teach children how to properly find and use the information they are looking for. I am not saying that a teachers job is not as important anymore, I actually believe the opposite. A teacher who teaches the proper use and technique of the internet is laying the foundation for that childs life. In today's time, everyone has some dependability on a computer. Every person in today's society needs to have knowledge of how to properly work a computer and the internet. Someone has to be there to teach this, so why not? I hope that in my future classroom I will be looked back upon as laying a solid foundation in the lives of so many children.

Project 5 ~ Love Makes the World Go Round~

Blog Post 3

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
WoW! Did this video hit it right on the dot or what? There were so many parts of this video that I have personally experienced in my time here at South. I hate buying over-priced books, especially ones that you never use or don't use enough to justify the price. I hate being in a classroom that has so many students you are nothing but a number to the teacher. I think it is unfair to not be able to recieve the attention that you deserve for the money that you are spending. Being in college and managing your time is hard at 18 I'm sure, but even harder at 27. I now have to worry about family, work, and bills, along with my heavy class load and maintaining good grades. Sometimes I am glad that I waited to go back to school because I am not sure that at 18 I would have been mature enough to effectively do this. I no longer worry about what I am wearing to the latest club, instead I concentrate on when I can slip into my p.j.'s and crawl into bed.

If I could add or change anything to this video I would have to change the paper that said "I'll be $20,000 in debt when I finish to $45,000. I would probably also ass a piece of paper after this that said and I won't make but about $26,000 a year. I would also talk about parking on campus, because it's awful here!


"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines
This post was awesome. I love the fact that Kelly knows and voices the difference between learning and teaching. This brings me back to the burp back teacher. If a child is nt actually learning, are you really teaching? I also love how as an educator she admits that a successful educator is always learning themselves. That is so true. A teacher has to remain up to date on the latest technology and trends in order to provide the education that our children so much deserve.

Technology is all around us. I agree with her,with the proper tools and learning can be fun and creative. However, not knowing how to properly use these tools can harm the whole educational experience.


Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
What can I say? I am glad to know that I am not the only one that feels this way. I agree with Mr. Fisch, being technologically illiterate today as a teacher is like being unable to read or write 30 years ago. The world is constantly changing. The use of technology is not going to go anywhere. Instead it will always be changing and hopefully improving our way of living. Computers in todays society are not a privilege but more like a necessity. They are a useful tool to use in the classroom for the teachers as well as the students. I hope to use his insight as a reminder to me in my classroom one day and remember that anyone should be embarrassed to publicly admit to being coomputer illiterate. ;)


Gary Hayes Social Media Count
These numbers were changing so quick that it was almost hard to keep up with it. That just goes to show us that the world is full of technology. I honestly can not figure out what I did before I had a computer, I-Phone, Facebook, and You-Tube. Yes, I do believe that my life was simpler when my Mom would page me and I had to stop at a pay phone to call her back. However, I wouldn't trade that for my everyday use of technology for nothing in the world. It allows us to do so much from the comfort of our home.

As far as the role in which these number will play on my future career, it's simple. This is proof that as an educator I must stay up to date on the latest technology and know how to properly deliver the intended messages to my students. It is NEVER going away!

Comments for Teachers Summary # 1

This post will be a summary of a few of the ideas from the teacher blog that I was assigned to follow. I am following a teacher named Caren Carrillo. She is currently going back to school and working on her second set of graduate classes. During this post, she talked about how her master level teacher basically bullied her for asking questions and sharing her opinions. She was unsure how to handle the situation because the teacher made her feel so uncomfortable that she considered dropping the course. This led her to reflect on herself as a teacher and how she made her own children feel. Her theory is that a teacher should always make a child feel comfortable and feel good about learning. I commented back simply agreeing with what she already said. It is sad that a student, no matter the age, would ever feel uncomfortable or singled out because they ask questions or voice their opinions. At the very least, this shows that the student is paying attention to the material being taught and attempting to learn it. As far as the teacher goes, if it is a required course, my advice was to make good of a negative situation and learn from that teachers mistakes and in return become a better teacher herself.


The second blog post that I commented about was quite intresting. During this post, Caren talked about how a Florida lawmaker was trying to have a law passed where teachers would grade parents. This grade would show up on their childrens report cards in the form of satisfactory, unsatisfactory, or needs improvement. Throughout her post she weighed the pros and cons of this bill. Would it really be fair to grade all parents? I agree with Caren that students should not always be held accountable for the actions that are taking place. Her example was children being on time to school. An elementary child can not help if they do not make it to school on time. It is the responsibility of their parent to wake them, help them to get ready, feed them breakfast, and make sure they arrive on time. I agree, a child can not help if they are late. However, I do not see where grading a parent would make any difference. If they are lazy and uncaring now, a grade is not going to make any difference. She also talked about feeding the child a good, healthy breakfast. This is hard for so many parents. In today's economy there are so many parents that work daylight to dusk just trying to make ends meet. Not every Mom has the chance to be a housewife. As horrible as it sounds, I do not see anything wrong with a child grabbing a pop tart as they are heading out the door to catch the bus. I guess because my mother always left early for work and thats what I did, and I made it through school just fine. So, as intresting as parent grades sounds, I just think in the long run it would be a flop. It would create more stress on the teachers and administrators because of the extra paperwork and that one parent who shows acts out because they do not agree with the grade.