Friday, April 30, 2010
Farewell
Well, it is all coming to an end!! I cannot believe it!! The semester is finally over and it has gone by fast! I have learned a lot from EDM 310 and I have never been in a class as active as it was. The people in my class were awesome and I pray that they will have a bright future!! I thought that Dr. Strange taught the course really well. He was really good teacher and I believe that he will continue to do so. I will miss this class very much as well as the people I have met! So Farewell to all and God Bless You!!
Tiffany
Interview with John Vallas
Denise Vallas and I interview her son John Vallas through Skype; however, I had trouble converting the AFL file into a link to upload on youtube. So he video himself for us and we thank him for doing this for us!! Enjoy!
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=1c464878ce&view=att&th=12851652cc71f65e&attid=0.1&disp=attd&zw
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Final Post of the Class: Honest Reflection
This post is in reaction to Dr. Strange's Honest Reflection Questionnaire:
http://www.johnstrange.com/edm310/FinalPostSpring2010.pdf
I have learned so many things in the EDM 310 class. I have learned a lot, that I honestly thought I would lose my mind!! These are the things I have learned: Blogging, Google Presentations, Google Earth, Timetoast Timelines, Videocasts/Podcasts, Vocaroo, iTunes, PLN, Twitter, Movie Maker, Google Docs/Forms, Delicious, YouTube, ACCESS/ALEX, and Commenting on other blogs. The purpose about learning these things is to incorporate them into education. These tools are very useful and should be use more often. In my future as an educator, I would definitely some of these tools because it will help benefit my class better. Out of all of these, I would probably use Movie Maker and Google Presentations/Docs/Form the most. Movie Maker is more fun than the rest of them and I think it would be more beneficial for children with hearing disabilities. The only thing I have left to learn for this is how to add close captions when uploading the video through YouTube (which I am still trying to figure out). Google Presentations would definitely be helpful because it will show visuals. Many children rely on visual learning as well as I. Google Docs will allow me to share anything I do to others, so they will have a copy of the materials. Google Forms are a great way to make up quizzes. Also, another thing that I think I will use the most is probably a blog. This way, I can post everything we do in class online and if students miss school for some reason, they can check the blog and not get too far behind. This will also allow parents know what is going on in the classroom and enhance communication skills between the students, parents, and me. I do have a feeling that I will use ACCESS/ALEX to help will lesson plans and guide me through teaching my students. I may use timelines and google earth when necessary. I will definitely keep up with twitter, just for fun, and continue to build up my PLN and Delicious. I will use iTunes to download videos I could use for my class. All of these are great ways to help enhance education.
There are things that I wish were included in the EDM 310 Curriculum, but they are not: how to add close captions in videos, how to incorporate audio into text for the deaf community, and how to incorporate text into audio for the blind community. There are probably many more things I wish I could have learned, but I cannot think of them right now. I would love to learn how to do these things because I am a Special/Elementary Education major and I want to teach to children with hearing and seeing disabilities. It would be very important to add close captions to video or incorporate audio into text so that deaf students can understand what is going on in the video. So if I make a video myself, then I need to add the text into it to help the deaf children. It would be the same way for the blind. I think it would be beneficial if these three things were added to EDM 310 curriculum.
If there is anything that I wish I had not learned in class, it would probably be the vocaroo voice recording. I do not think I would ever use this tool if I am planning on teaching to the deaf community or anybody with disability with the exception of the blind community (I would rather read out aloud to them than for to listen to a voice recording). I do not think that a voice recording is reliable in education because it does not benefit everyone in the world; therefore, I do not see a point in using this particular tool. Vocaroo is probably the only thing I wish I had not learned, even though it was kind of cool.
At first, I was thinking what have I gotten myself into when I signed up for this class. I started hating the class in the beginning, but when I got to the Substantive Project using any tool in class, I decided to make a movie and it was so cool. After that, my attitude changed right away. I was beginning to have fun with the class. When I was making the movie for my project, I was learning things outside of what the class taught: Editing Music!! I was playing around with this particular tool and fell in love with it. I tried using this attitude towards the rest of the projects and I was having more fun. Everything I have learned in class are useful to me and I will use them in education!
I believe that this entire class is intellectually challenging because I was learning some of these things almost at the same time. I believe I was doing four projects at the same time at one point. It was so stressful that I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown. Eventually, I got through it. I made it through. Come to think of it, I always like a challenge because it pushes me to work hard and be successful!!
I was never bored with this class. This class kept me busy everyday. It feels like a 8-hour job. Every night I was working on something in this class, whether it is small or big. Again, I was never bored with this class.
If there is anything that I would choose to change this class in any way, I would probably choose alternatives videos for students who have disabilities that may be going into education as a major. I would make sure that this class could be beneficial to EVERYONE, not just the people who could probably handle the class.
I would not say that I am 100% technologically literate. I am sure I have a lot more to learn in the technology world. However, I would say that I know a lot more than just researching for a paper, emailing, facebook, downloading musics, and typing papers for school. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best), I would probably be a 7 in the technology world, unless there is something I do not know about that I have not learn yet. Just in case, I would say a 6. I do not think I would ever be 100% and I do not think it would matter as long as I am willing to keep learning about the technology world.
I think that keeping in touch with Dr. Strange and being active in the EDM 310 Alumni Blog will definitely help me improve my technology skills. I would be willing to keep on learning and being part of the Alumni blog will help me to do that. If I stay active on the blog, then I can always get help whenever I need to!
Overall, I am starting to like this class. I wish there would be another one like this as a follow up to help me be an expert in this. But I can always ask around if I need it. I really did learned a lot and I did not expect to do so. This is a really useful class. Yeah, it is a lot in one semester but in the end, it is all worth it.
http://www.johnstrange.com/edm310/FinalPostSpring2010.pdf
I have learned so many things in the EDM 310 class. I have learned a lot, that I honestly thought I would lose my mind!! These are the things I have learned: Blogging, Google Presentations, Google Earth, Timetoast Timelines, Videocasts/Podcasts, Vocaroo, iTunes, PLN, Twitter, Movie Maker, Google Docs/Forms, Delicious, YouTube, ACCESS/ALEX, and Commenting on other blogs. The purpose about learning these things is to incorporate them into education. These tools are very useful and should be use more often. In my future as an educator, I would definitely some of these tools because it will help benefit my class better. Out of all of these, I would probably use Movie Maker and Google Presentations/Docs/Form the most. Movie Maker is more fun than the rest of them and I think it would be more beneficial for children with hearing disabilities. The only thing I have left to learn for this is how to add close captions when uploading the video through YouTube (which I am still trying to figure out). Google Presentations would definitely be helpful because it will show visuals. Many children rely on visual learning as well as I. Google Docs will allow me to share anything I do to others, so they will have a copy of the materials. Google Forms are a great way to make up quizzes. Also, another thing that I think I will use the most is probably a blog. This way, I can post everything we do in class online and if students miss school for some reason, they can check the blog and not get too far behind. This will also allow parents know what is going on in the classroom and enhance communication skills between the students, parents, and me. I do have a feeling that I will use ACCESS/ALEX to help will lesson plans and guide me through teaching my students. I may use timelines and google earth when necessary. I will definitely keep up with twitter, just for fun, and continue to build up my PLN and Delicious. I will use iTunes to download videos I could use for my class. All of these are great ways to help enhance education.
There are things that I wish were included in the EDM 310 Curriculum, but they are not: how to add close captions in videos, how to incorporate audio into text for the deaf community, and how to incorporate text into audio for the blind community. There are probably many more things I wish I could have learned, but I cannot think of them right now. I would love to learn how to do these things because I am a Special/Elementary Education major and I want to teach to children with hearing and seeing disabilities. It would be very important to add close captions to video or incorporate audio into text so that deaf students can understand what is going on in the video. So if I make a video myself, then I need to add the text into it to help the deaf children. It would be the same way for the blind. I think it would be beneficial if these three things were added to EDM 310 curriculum.
If there is anything that I wish I had not learned in class, it would probably be the vocaroo voice recording. I do not think I would ever use this tool if I am planning on teaching to the deaf community or anybody with disability with the exception of the blind community (I would rather read out aloud to them than for to listen to a voice recording). I do not think that a voice recording is reliable in education because it does not benefit everyone in the world; therefore, I do not see a point in using this particular tool. Vocaroo is probably the only thing I wish I had not learned, even though it was kind of cool.
At first, I was thinking what have I gotten myself into when I signed up for this class. I started hating the class in the beginning, but when I got to the Substantive Project using any tool in class, I decided to make a movie and it was so cool. After that, my attitude changed right away. I was beginning to have fun with the class. When I was making the movie for my project, I was learning things outside of what the class taught: Editing Music!! I was playing around with this particular tool and fell in love with it. I tried using this attitude towards the rest of the projects and I was having more fun. Everything I have learned in class are useful to me and I will use them in education!
I believe that this entire class is intellectually challenging because I was learning some of these things almost at the same time. I believe I was doing four projects at the same time at one point. It was so stressful that I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown. Eventually, I got through it. I made it through. Come to think of it, I always like a challenge because it pushes me to work hard and be successful!!
I was never bored with this class. This class kept me busy everyday. It feels like a 8-hour job. Every night I was working on something in this class, whether it is small or big. Again, I was never bored with this class.
If there is anything that I would choose to change this class in any way, I would probably choose alternatives videos for students who have disabilities that may be going into education as a major. I would make sure that this class could be beneficial to EVERYONE, not just the people who could probably handle the class.
I would not say that I am 100% technologically literate. I am sure I have a lot more to learn in the technology world. However, I would say that I know a lot more than just researching for a paper, emailing, facebook, downloading musics, and typing papers for school. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best), I would probably be a 7 in the technology world, unless there is something I do not know about that I have not learn yet. Just in case, I would say a 6. I do not think I would ever be 100% and I do not think it would matter as long as I am willing to keep learning about the technology world.
I think that keeping in touch with Dr. Strange and being active in the EDM 310 Alumni Blog will definitely help me improve my technology skills. I would be willing to keep on learning and being part of the Alumni blog will help me to do that. If I stay active on the blog, then I can always get help whenever I need to!
Overall, I am starting to like this class. I wish there would be another one like this as a follow up to help me be an expert in this. But I can always ask around if I need it. I really did learned a lot and I did not expect to do so. This is a really useful class. Yeah, it is a lot in one semester but in the end, it is all worth it.
Week 16 Blog
PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
I thought this video was really informational. This video about a girl creating a Personal Learning Environment, which helps her keeps track of information and being able to share information into her blog. It organize the information for her. This is similar to what a Personal Learning Network is. My PLN is pretty much similar to her PLE except my links are beneficial for me for college, while hers is beneficial for her class in 7th grade. Other than that, the PLE and PLN both have the same purpose.
TWO QUESTIONS THAT COULD CHANGE MY LIFE!!!
1. WHAT IS MY SENTENCE?
Honestly, I have not really thought about this. I guess my sentence could be "I made a difference in someone else life." I think it would be somewhere around this sentence because I do want to make a difference in the world, whether it is in someone else life or in the environment. Either way, I have a desire to make a difference to influence positive effect on things.
2. WAS I BETTER TODAY THAN YESTERDAY?
I would say yes, I am better today than yesterday because I learned something difference. In fact, I learned something different everyday. It could be life lesson, school lesson, or whatever it wants to be. The point is I am getting better everyday because I am growing up and as I am growing up, I am maturing and learning how to live life the best way I can. I have made mistakes, but I learned from those mistakes to be a better person. Not everyone is going to be perfect, but everyone can be better.
I thought this video was really informational. This video about a girl creating a Personal Learning Environment, which helps her keeps track of information and being able to share information into her blog. It organize the information for her. This is similar to what a Personal Learning Network is. My PLN is pretty much similar to her PLE except my links are beneficial for me for college, while hers is beneficial for her class in 7th grade. Other than that, the PLE and PLN both have the same purpose.
TWO QUESTIONS THAT COULD CHANGE MY LIFE!!!
1. WHAT IS MY SENTENCE?
Honestly, I have not really thought about this. I guess my sentence could be "I made a difference in someone else life." I think it would be somewhere around this sentence because I do want to make a difference in the world, whether it is in someone else life or in the environment. Either way, I have a desire to make a difference to influence positive effect on things.
2. WAS I BETTER TODAY THAN YESTERDAY?
I would say yes, I am better today than yesterday because I learned something difference. In fact, I learned something different everyday. It could be life lesson, school lesson, or whatever it wants to be. The point is I am getting better everyday because I am growing up and as I am growing up, I am maturing and learning how to live life the best way I can. I have made mistakes, but I learned from those mistakes to be a better person. Not everyone is going to be perfect, but everyone can be better.
Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.
Project 8: Teaching Something
Here are some more links to learn Sign Language from:
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/ASLweb/browser.htm
http://www.lifeprint.com/index.htm
http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
New Blog
Hey Everyone, I just started my Professional blog. It is a work in progress but here is the link:
http://clarktiffanypb.blogspot.com/
http://clarktiffanypb.blogspot.com/
Final PLN
When I first started my PLN, I had no idea what I was doing. Now I am understanding it a little bit more each day. It is just a way to help me keep track with all of my links. I started out by following people on blogging (I followed people that I know), then, I opened up a twitter account. With twitter, I followed a few classmates, my professor, few news stations, charities, and some celebrities. It is sort of interesting to know what is going on with people around the world. I haven't really use twitter that much, but I am hoping to get into it more as part of my PLN. Finally, I opened a Delicious account and I started bookmarking some websites that are beneficial to me. So here is my PLN on My Delicious:
http://delicious.com/dancalanche10
Of course, my PLN will still be a work in progress because I will continue to develop one until the day I retire.
http://delicious.com/dancalanche10
Of course, my PLN will still be a work in progress because I will continue to develop one until the day I retire.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Google Earth Project
These are the places I have been on vacations just to get away from the house!!
Google Earth Practice Project
This is just a practice tour of places that I want to go. A friend help me with this one! Thanks, Zak!!
My First Experience with Skype Use
This past weekend, I have finally experience Skyping with a deaf friend. I was able to see him through video and hear some of his feedback (if he uses his voice). I only wish I could have recorded it, but the version I downloaded only allow limited features, including two video calls. I guess you have to pay for such services. Anyway, this friend of mine do not use skype anymore because he thinks ooVoo is better, which is similar to skype. However, I was able to encourage him to do one skype session and he agreed. Basically, we just talked about some of the stuff I have been doing in class. Not only did we talk about school, but he recently got married, so we talked about how his marriage life was going. His name is Heath and he is married to my very best friend, Holly. They are both deaf and I have to use sign language to talk to them. I do not have to sign too much to Holly because she is really good at reading lips. Heath, on the other hand, can barely read lips. I also have to keep telling Heath on Skype to slow down with his sign language because I could not catch what he was saying. He has a habit of signing 90 miles per hour, knowing that I cannot read his sign language that fast. Sometime I wonder if he is doing it on purpose because I tends to look at him funny when he starts to sign fast. Anyway, it was cool to be able to talk to him through Skype, using sign language.
EDM 310 Survey: Life in General
Here is the Questionnaire:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEtsQ0JZVUdoMGtuRS1vaktTdnU0YlE6MA
Here are the two different format of the Survery:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEtsQ0JZVUdoMGtuRS1vaktTdnU0YlE6MA
Here are the two different format of the Survery:
Sunday, April 18, 2010
April 18, 2010
This week we were suppose to talk about one of the things we have done in EDM 310. I decided to talk about my favorite thing I did in class: Making Movies. I did this through Movie Maker. Enjoy the video and the song!!!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Week 14 Comment4kids using Project 8: Voicethread
Here is my Voice Thread for Comment4kids:
Here is what I said:
This week on Comment4Kids, I was assigned to read Makerita's blog. She attends PT England School and she is 9 years old. Her class has been learning about "Early Europeans" coming to New Zealand back in 1814. She had an assignment, in which she wrote a script as if she was one of these Europeans and recorded it with her animation of the European ship arriving in the background. Makerita play Elizabeth, who was 15 years old. Elizabeth was born in England and her family moved to New Zealand due to her father's missionary work. Makerita did a great job in doing this video.
Here is what I said:
This week on Comment4Kids, I was assigned to read Makerita's blog. She attends PT England School and she is 9 years old. Her class has been learning about "Early Europeans" coming to New Zealand back in 1814. She had an assignment, in which she wrote a script as if she was one of these Europeans and recorded it with her animation of the European ship arriving in the background. Makerita play Elizabeth, who was 15 years old. Elizabeth was born in England and her family moved to New Zealand due to her father's missionary work. Makerita did a great job in doing this video.
Project 14: Substantive Project
This video is about certain problems that needed to be address, so that other people do not have to face the same problems I am facing now.
Note: I am still working on trying to get the close caption on, but until then, here are the three dreams that the students have: Kiara wants to be an Elementary School Teacher, Joshua wants to play football for Florida State, and Marc wants to be a police officer. I think this is the only part of the video you may have trouble hearing.
Note: I am still working on trying to get the close caption on, but until then, here are the three dreams that the students have: Kiara wants to be an Elementary School Teacher, Joshua wants to play football for Florida State, and Marc wants to be a police officer. I think this is the only part of the video you may have trouble hearing.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Week 14 Blog
DR. SEUSS: THE ZAX
This video shows how the Zax never wants to change. This is true in today's world. I wish the world would not change so much because every once in awhile, life gets confusion. But the world does change as well as life. I just have to go along with it even if it is scary. I am willing to change along to do whatever it takes to make education easier on the students. I will do whatever it takes to make sure that my future students will get the benefits they need to make it in life. It will not be easy because life is never easy. I believe that changes are good because what would life be without change?
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS TO POST THEIR WORK ONLINE?
At first, I would not be one of those who would have posted work online because of exposure. But being in this class and seeing all of the works of young kids online has really change my mind a little bit. I mean after see the video with Keia: http://dearkaia.blogspot.com/2009/09/first-photo-essay.html, a young
child is learning to take pictures and posting them online with the help of her father;
and the video by Dan Brown:
a student reaching out to the world say how educators are wasting time teaching
things that are irrelavant to us; and a couple of kids' videos: http://pesteam2.blogspot.com/,
a bunch of kids learning how to use blogging.
Seeing all of these works open my eyes to see that it is important to post works
online because it shows that all of us can learn how to use technology. It also
shows that technology can help us improve our education: it helps come up with
better ways to teach to students. It helps us research things faster, communicate
around the world, and provide better opportunities for everyone. There are probably
many more reasons, but I believe these are the three main important reasons why
students' work should be posted online.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Comment4Teachers Week 13 through 14
For the past two weeks, I have been following Jenny She's blog for Comment4Teachers. She is a primary school teacher in Auckland, New Zealand. She loves her job because she believes she can make a difference.
FEBRUARY 6, 2009: PICASA (FOR MAC)
Jenny found this video and put it on her blog. It is about how to use Picasa. This video seems very informational to me. So for all of Mac's user, I hope this is helpful for you too.
FEBRUARY 27, 2009: THIS COULD BE THE FUTURE WAY OF READING: WE COULD READ WITH ONE HAND.
This is another video Jenny found talking about ebooks. It sounds interesting that you can put so many books into one ebook and it has a lot of different features on there. One of the features I heard was that it will read the book out loud to you as you are reading along with it. For me, this is would be really helpful because I understands better when reading aloud. Plus, it would be nice to read with just one hand. This video is a little funny too. You'll see why.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Jeff Bezos | ||||
| ||||
MARCH 20, 2009: DON'T FIGHT AGAINST TWITTER
This video is about a young man who has never heard of twitter and can care less about it. Sounds like me.
MARCH 30, 2009: TWITTER IN THE CLASSROOM: COULD IT BE A FUTURE TREND?
The next video Jenny posted was talking about using twitter in classroom. It talked about how twitter can engage more participation from the students in classrooms. I think I can agree with this statement because students tends to be more interested in stuff like facebook and twitter. Using them in classrooms could possibly help encourage students to be more willing to learn. I would not mind using facebook in classroom but twitter, I probably do not see the point in it. Since I have created an account in twitter, I have only been on it 3 times and that is it. So I will probably use something that I use more frequently like facebook. I am constantly on facebook. Here is the video:
MAY 23, 2009: TWITTER ADDICT!! COULD YOU BE ONE?
This is another video Jenny posted. I am not a twitter addict for sure because I do not twitter very much! This is video is just a comedy of twitter. I did not like it but you may.
Twitter Addict - watch more funny videos
JUNE 27, 2009: SONG ABOUT TWITTER THAT JENNY LIKES
So I come across more posts about Twitter!! I'm sorry for saying this, but what is so special about twitter? My opinion? Nothing. All you do is update the status and read what is going on with other people. I don't know; I am not a fan of twitter. I think it is insane that there are some people that will be willing to change their status every two hours or so. I do not have that kind of time. I have facebook, but I only get on it twice a day: when I wake up and before I go to bed... if I get on it more than two times on a particular day, then it is probably because I needed to send a message to a person, whose email address I do not have.
So Jenny loves to twitter!! Here is the song about twitter she loves:
APRIL 9, 2010: ARE TASK BOARDS USEFUL IN CLASSROOMS IN THE CLASSROOM?
Finally, something that is not about twitter! Jenny is talking about how to use Task Boards to keep the children from year 1 to 6 on track with their learning. "The task boards are essentially a list of rotation activities that the children can do while the teacher carries out his or her mircro teaching groups. Why micro-teaching? Well, the little children can not handle whole class teaching. They get lost easily and many can't bear listening to a teacher talking in front of the class for a long duration of time. The next reason which could be a more valid reason is that the children are of different abilities or levels right across the curriculum areas from reading and maths and social studies. Because of this, the children are sorted into different ability groups and hence there are small groups teaching."
Here is how the task boards work: the children's names are listed under the names of the activities and when they are asked to change activities, they look at the chart and go do the appropriate activities that they are assigned to do. In this way, all children have something meaningful to do while waiting for their turn to be called to the teacher.
Task boards were very helpful for Jenny and the children she teaches. They help manage the class in which the activities are helpful and kind for the children. "Nowadays, I have progressed so much in use of integration of e-learning that I have found the constant interruption of the rotation cycle actually break the link in e-learning," Jenny wrote. She also wrote that many children do not like leaving the computers and coming back to them later when they lose their great ideas in their heads. Because of this, she has modified the task boards in a way that the children ar allowed on the computers till they have finished the projects.
Not only did she modified the task boards, so that the children can finished their computer project, but she also changed the way task boards work. "The task boards that are just lists of things on the charts that the children can do. They are encouraged to choose wisely --like attempting different activities, never overcrowd an activity (Max:4 persons). " So far, this technique is working for her class and it allows more flexibility.
I find this post very helpful. Since I changed my major to special/elementry education, I will probably use this technique, especially if I want to teach at the Regional School for the Deaf and Blind or any other schools for deaf and blind children. I think this technique will help the deaf students to keep track of what they are suppose to do and what they have or have not done. For the blind students, I would create their own task boards in braille. Either way, I would probably use this technique in my classroom. Not only will it help the students keep track of their activities, but it would help me keep track of their work.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Comment4Kids week 12-13
Week 12: Japati's Mihi in Maori
This week I was assigned to welcome Japati into Room 9 of Afio Mai. This was his first blog post and he has been learning to speak Maori. I think he did really well. He looks like he is around 10 years old. That is a young age to be learning a language, which I think is amazing. I did not learn French until I was in my junior year of high school. My brother started learning several languages in middle school.
Week 13: Mao makes butter for Fairy Bread
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehsasnz/4435863425/
The video of making butter for the fairy bread is Mao's first post of the year!! To watch the video, you can click on the link above. Basically, she talks about what they did in class on friday, which was to make butter for fairy bread.
This week I was assigned to welcome Japati into Room 9 of Afio Mai. This was his first blog post and he has been learning to speak Maori. I think he did really well. He looks like he is around 10 years old. That is a young age to be learning a language, which I think is amazing. I did not learn French until I was in my junior year of high school. My brother started learning several languages in middle school.
Week 13: Mao makes butter for Fairy Bread
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehsasnz/4435863425/
The video of making butter for the fairy bread is Mao's first post of the year!! To watch the video, you can click on the link above. Basically, she talks about what they did in class on friday, which was to make butter for fairy bread.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Week 13: All about Kaia
First of all, I think the relationship between Mr. Jabiz and his daughter Kaia is very sweet. He seems like a great father and wants the best for his child. He was helping her with her photography project and introducing her to the technology world. She is only three years old and I think that it is amazing that she is learning and experiencing news thing at such a young age. This taught me that kids can learn anything at a young age. You know, I just remember something. I remember seeing a commercial sometime on TV showing a 6-months baby already learning how to read. I remember thinking it would be impossible. But as I continue to watch, they showed a particular program (I cannot remember the name of it) that parents can get to start teaching their babies words whenever they feel ready to do so. So I suppose if a 6-months-old baby can start reading, then I would be guessing that by the time this baby turns 2- or 3-years old would have a lot of experience in technology.
Secondly, Mr. Jabiz made a comment in his Singing Hearts Blog post about being a little bit afraid of exposing his daughter's connection online all over the world. I can understand the feelings he was going through because there is always that risk of internet predators. But now I am learning is that we do not have to be afraid to use technology to connect with the world because there is some protection. We all just have to be more careful. If we let something like internet predators stop us from online connection, then how can we be improve our technological education?
Finally, Mr. Jabiz asked this question: Is the risk of exposing ourselves and our children online worth the connections that will be made and the lessons that will be learned? Here is my thought to this question: I would say yes because there are a lot of opportunities out in the world through technology. It may take awhile to get where you want to go, but technology can help. Connecting to the world can help us learn the things we need to know to get through life.
So what is your answer to this question?
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Video Project
This is a video that Denise Vallas and I created for our podcast project. It is about choosing textbooks or ebooks. Hope this will help with your decision making for next term before buying books.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
WEEK 11: An Open Letter to Educators by Morgan Bayda
This is an interesting piece of reading and the video by Dan Brown that went along with the reading was crazy (which by the way, I was able to turn on the close captions). Both of these pieces made a point about being in class listening to lectures and determining whether students are paying attention. Morgan talked about how some lecture tends to put people to sleep because it's boring. I agree with that. There have been days where the professor will talk in a monotone voice during the entire class and my mind seems to drift away into another world that seem more entertaining and my eyes seem to trying really hard to close while I try really hard to keep them open. During these times, I am having to give a little slap on my face just to wake up. Dan made a point that it would be easier to learn online because it is more efficient and it would not be as boring as it is to listen to the professor who is teaching nothing but facts. Facts that may or may not be relevant to us in the real world. I am having trouble to decide if I agree with this philosophy or not. I think that learning in classrooms provide a good deal to prepare us into the real world. It may not be what we want to know but it could help us. But either way, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and Dan made some really good points. I believe that teachers should really look at their lesson plans and see if there is a way to make their lecture more interesting and not putting students to sleep. If they can do that, then maybe everyone will be a happy camper.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Comment4Teacher Weeks 10 and12
BACKGROUND ON SHARON ELIN
Over the next 3 weeks, I have been assigned to read some of Mrs. Sharon Elin. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and has a passion in educating students in the most creative, inspiring, engaging, and effective ways possible. That includes using technology along with or instead of direct instruction. Otherwise, technology can step back and allow free-flowing interactions between communities. She is also a tech integrator, specializing in language arts in middle schools. The mission is to help other teachers plan their lesson and show them how to take their lesson up a notch. Then, She will interacts with the student, showing the teacher what to do. After that, the teacher will start doing what Mrs. Elin did without her. Otherwise, she loves technology and she loves helping in providing teachers and their students more opportunities to explore, dig deeper, collaborate and create.
HER POSTS
DON'T FORGET THE NEWBIES AT NECC 2009
There was a NECC Conference held on June 28, 2009. This was an educational conference that expand knowledge on technology. This post was basically giving tips to help others how to get through the learning process at the conference. It was advising that speakers should take into considerations of their topics based on the audience's knowledge and newcomers should speak up if they do not understand anything. Not everybody will be an experts. It also advised that people be polite to new presenters because it takes a lot of nerves to get up and speak in front of people. Finally, it advised that Mac users should not show off to non-Mac users. "The apple logo can be intimidating to PC users, especially because Mac people talk in a different language sometimes. It is like traveling in a foreign country. We need translations to understand what you mean when you mention Mac-specific applications such as Keynote or Garage Band," Mrs. Elin posted. She also hoped that every participant will put forth an effort to communicate and share with everyone else without staying to themselves.
TECHNOLOGY GRAVEYARD: WHY SCHOOLS NEED INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATORS
Mrs. Elin was talking about how the school needed to get rid of the old "clunky technology" because it is taking up too much space and keep the school pinned to the past. Technology are advancing everyday and she thinks that the school needs to update along with the technology. She also believes that they need tour guides for the technology world. She calls them "instructional technology integrators, technologists, and ITRTS (Instructional Technology Resource Teachers." I agree with her about these tour guides should be well experience and tech savvy. She said that the integrators with great expertise would be challenging because of several reasons: 1) In the old days, the internet services were web 1.0 and the schools were limited to the connectivity. After this, technology begins to advance like crazy that many school districts were paralyzed in their technological advancement. Also, many teachers and administrators were overwhelmed. 2) Budget problems in schools. 3) Many people believed they can do without the experienced help of technology integrators. Those are just a few reasons and there are probably more outside of what she says. "The secret to managing change and staying grounded in the midst of evolution lies in having the luxury of time to adjust to the newness and having time to reconcile old mindsets and habits with new ways of thinking and new approaches. At today’s pace of change and innovation, school systems need “tour guides” to help with this process." With technology advancing as fast as it is, it would be very important to have real expertise who keep up with the advancement of technology to become tour guides for all over the world. Many people may do without the tour guides, but for some of us, there is no way we can do without tour guides to help us get by in the technology world.
DELICIOUS BINGE AND PURGE: AN INVITATION TO A BOOKMARK MAKEOVER
Mrs. Elin has a delicious page that has all of her bookmarks. "Delicious Binge and Purge" is her way of saying that she needs to clean up her Delicious page. Apparently, she had so many bookmarks that they add up to at least 4,000 or more, according to her video. She used some of them, accidentally click on sites without meaning to do so, or click on them and never return to them again. So basically she "binge and purge" her Delicious site to organize the bookmarks according to whether she uses them or not. So if anyone needs to clean up their Delicious page, all you have to do is "binge and purge."
IMBEDDED LEADERS
The first thing that she said was that "As educators,we are all leaders." I like this because it shows that educators are role models for the generations rising up. It gives the children and teenagers someone to look up to. Educators are leaders because they can make a different in children's and teenagers' lives. She talked about educators have responsibilities to claim their positions as part of the leadership team that officially presides in their districts. And that educators need to think about how they will lead and commit themselves to improvement. I agree with the whole thing. I will apply this to myself because I believe that it is important to take up responsibilities for leadership. It is also important to know how to lead others and be willing to improve your way of commitment. "Voice" is the important way of showing leadership. The education system needs to adjust its views of leadership to include all the voices — from the teachers, the students, the teachers’ aides — and not just the administrators and school board office personnel and state or federal politicians. "There are several fundamental paradigm shifts that must take place, at all levels, among district leaders, administrators, and teachers. Our beliefs about leadership must change."
1) Leadership is more than "authority."- Some educators will view themselves as "in control" and considered it leadership, but it is not; it is management. It also ineffective and counterproductive.
2) Leadership is learned — and earned — from the trenches.- A leader should be able to do any jobs that his or her followers are asked to do and do it better than they can. "No mediocre teacher should be allowed to rise to the ranks of school leadership." Leaders should be able to pass their passions on to others.
3)Leadership does not isolate itself.- Leaders should always keep in contact with others.
4.)Leadership goes both ways.- Leaders should reach out to others and others should reach out to leaders. Either way, it will show leadership.
So basically anyone who is making a difference in others lives is a leader. Reaching out to others, being considerate to others, and giving a helping hand will show that leadership can do anything. It is not a bad thing; however, there will be some that will abuse its power. It will up to the true leaders to show exactly what leadership is, just like what Mrs. Elin had done.
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE: INTERNET ADDICTION
She was writing in response to the "Read Write Web blog, Jolie O’Dell struck a defensive nerve in her daring post “Should Tech Get a Turn-Off?” In her post, she confronts the geeky world of internet addiction and wonders if the seductive lure of the internet makes it much too easy to go missing from reality without being aware of it." She was asking if what O'Dell said is true. If you ask Mrs. Elin's family, they would say that the only thing they see of her is the back of her head while she is sitting at a computer desk.
The wonders of internet making it too easy bring people away from reality without being aware of it is a really good questions. It doesn't bring me out of reality because the only reason I am on the computer is for homework purposes. I do get on facebook and check emails, but I only do it for at least 10 minutes. Otherwise, I do other things that doesn't involve the computer: dancing, cleaning, and hanging out with family and friends. However, my brother is a different story. He is on the computer all day. Or at least he was, until mom took it away till he brings his grades up. His room is a mess and instead of cleaning, he just sits on the computer and play games instead of doing things he could be doing.
So I guess this question will depends on who you are as a person. I am physically active and I just cannot sit on the computer playing games or reading news for hours and hours. Plus that, I always tend to want to be in the reality instead of being stuck with something that does not apply to me. I get bored and sick of it. My brother has no problem whatsoever to be on the computer all day that he forgets about reality. He could care less about reality.
So what about you? Does the internet draw you away from reality?
FEAR OF ROTARY-DIAL PHONE (OR, HOW TO BE GENTLE WHEN INTRODUCING TECHNOLOGY)
Mrs. Elin talked about fear of technology. She was explaining about how some people are afraid of change. She uses a 1930’s-40’s video showing a Grandpa grumbling about rotary dial phones. He was not used to the idea of using a rotary dial phones. In fact, he was afraid of it. Eventually, he let go of his fears and got really curious about the new use of technology.
Here are some of the lessons that Grandpa learned:
* Resistance to change is instinctive.
* Defensiveness is a first step toward progress.
* Patience and respect = allowing new learners to struggle and standing by them while they do.
* Learners are comforted by hearing rationale for change.
* Learners feel more like part of a team when they hear what trainers and technicians do behind the scenes to prepare for change.
* The human touch is absolutely essential for progress.
Here are a couple of videos:
I guess I can understand some of what the Grandpa is going through. I am a little afraid of change in technology but only because I am scared I may not keep up with it. Technology is advancing pretty fast and I am actually a slow learner. It is not easy keeping up with technology. The only I can do is try my very best to keep up with it.
WEB 2.0 COST MORE THAN YOU THINK
This post expresses Mrs. Elin's opinions about websites that once used to be free will start charging a fee. To begin with, many websites were free until it gets to the point where it is popular that services will begin to start a subscription fee. Not all websites do this yet; only a few of them like "web companies such as Blinksale, GoToMeeting, CrazyEgg, Jott, and many others have chosen to eliminate their free plans (or switch to free trials).” — PollEverywhere.com. Unfortunately, Mrs. Elin explained that she will have to make some decisions about a few sites that she uses, including Jott.
I think this is a pretty good post for everyone to read because it shows that not all websites are fee like Myspace and Facebook, etc. I guess I have always known about this because of some of the websites my brother gets on. He tends to subscribe on to games that have fee without him knowing it. We have tried to teach him that it it not always a good idea to download or subscribe things without our permission, or in this case mine. All of the games he has downloaded in the past were on my laptop and cause it to go wacko. After having problems about that, I forbidden him from downloading games onto my computer because I did not want his games screwing it up.
A PASSIONATE CRY FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM
Everyone remember the Dan Brown video? If not, then it is posted down below. Mrs. Elin is responding back to this video encouraging educators to listen because obviously the teaching style right now is not working. She is encouraging everyone to think about what educators can do to change the way they teach to children. Hopefully, the plan will follow.
Here is the Video:
You know, I already did comment on the video but I left something out. In my other post, I said something about how educators need to improve their way of teaching to make things more interesting to students but I never gave some suggestions. One suggestion is to teach something more meaningful and relevant to the students' lives. Another suggestion is to make the class more fun than usual: use hands-on experience instead of just lecturing. Or maybe let the students teach the class based on what they know or experience and this will spark open discussion with the teacher. These are a couple of suggestions; I do not know if any of these could be valid, but they could work. Do you any of you have suggestions of how to make education more relevant?
Over the next 3 weeks, I have been assigned to read some of Mrs. Sharon Elin. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and has a passion in educating students in the most creative, inspiring, engaging, and effective ways possible. That includes using technology along with or instead of direct instruction. Otherwise, technology can step back and allow free-flowing interactions between communities. She is also a tech integrator, specializing in language arts in middle schools. The mission is to help other teachers plan their lesson and show them how to take their lesson up a notch. Then, She will interacts with the student, showing the teacher what to do. After that, the teacher will start doing what Mrs. Elin did without her. Otherwise, she loves technology and she loves helping in providing teachers and their students more opportunities to explore, dig deeper, collaborate and create.
HER POSTS
DON'T FORGET THE NEWBIES AT NECC 2009
There was a NECC Conference held on June 28, 2009. This was an educational conference that expand knowledge on technology. This post was basically giving tips to help others how to get through the learning process at the conference. It was advising that speakers should take into considerations of their topics based on the audience's knowledge and newcomers should speak up if they do not understand anything. Not everybody will be an experts. It also advised that people be polite to new presenters because it takes a lot of nerves to get up and speak in front of people. Finally, it advised that Mac users should not show off to non-Mac users. "The apple logo can be intimidating to PC users, especially because Mac people talk in a different language sometimes. It is like traveling in a foreign country. We need translations to understand what you mean when you mention Mac-specific applications such as Keynote or Garage Band," Mrs. Elin posted. She also hoped that every participant will put forth an effort to communicate and share with everyone else without staying to themselves.
TECHNOLOGY GRAVEYARD: WHY SCHOOLS NEED INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATORS
Mrs. Elin was talking about how the school needed to get rid of the old "clunky technology" because it is taking up too much space and keep the school pinned to the past. Technology are advancing everyday and she thinks that the school needs to update along with the technology. She also believes that they need tour guides for the technology world. She calls them "instructional technology integrators, technologists, and ITRTS (Instructional Technology Resource Teachers." I agree with her about these tour guides should be well experience and tech savvy. She said that the integrators with great expertise would be challenging because of several reasons: 1) In the old days, the internet services were web 1.0 and the schools were limited to the connectivity. After this, technology begins to advance like crazy that many school districts were paralyzed in their technological advancement. Also, many teachers and administrators were overwhelmed. 2) Budget problems in schools. 3) Many people believed they can do without the experienced help of technology integrators. Those are just a few reasons and there are probably more outside of what she says. "The secret to managing change and staying grounded in the midst of evolution lies in having the luxury of time to adjust to the newness and having time to reconcile old mindsets and habits with new ways of thinking and new approaches. At today’s pace of change and innovation, school systems need “tour guides” to help with this process." With technology advancing as fast as it is, it would be very important to have real expertise who keep up with the advancement of technology to become tour guides for all over the world. Many people may do without the tour guides, but for some of us, there is no way we can do without tour guides to help us get by in the technology world.
DELICIOUS BINGE AND PURGE: AN INVITATION TO A BOOKMARK MAKEOVER
Mrs. Elin has a delicious page that has all of her bookmarks. "Delicious Binge and Purge" is her way of saying that she needs to clean up her Delicious page. Apparently, she had so many bookmarks that they add up to at least 4,000 or more, according to her video. She used some of them, accidentally click on sites without meaning to do so, or click on them and never return to them again. So basically she "binge and purge" her Delicious site to organize the bookmarks according to whether she uses them or not. So if anyone needs to clean up their Delicious page, all you have to do is "binge and purge."
IMBEDDED LEADERS
The first thing that she said was that "As educators,we are all leaders." I like this because it shows that educators are role models for the generations rising up. It gives the children and teenagers someone to look up to. Educators are leaders because they can make a different in children's and teenagers' lives. She talked about educators have responsibilities to claim their positions as part of the leadership team that officially presides in their districts. And that educators need to think about how they will lead and commit themselves to improvement. I agree with the whole thing. I will apply this to myself because I believe that it is important to take up responsibilities for leadership. It is also important to know how to lead others and be willing to improve your way of commitment. "Voice" is the important way of showing leadership. The education system needs to adjust its views of leadership to include all the voices — from the teachers, the students, the teachers’ aides — and not just the administrators and school board office personnel and state or federal politicians. "There are several fundamental paradigm shifts that must take place, at all levels, among district leaders, administrators, and teachers. Our beliefs about leadership must change."
1) Leadership is more than "authority."- Some educators will view themselves as "in control" and considered it leadership, but it is not; it is management. It also ineffective and counterproductive.
2) Leadership is learned — and earned — from the trenches.- A leader should be able to do any jobs that his or her followers are asked to do and do it better than they can. "No mediocre teacher should be allowed to rise to the ranks of school leadership." Leaders should be able to pass their passions on to others.
3)Leadership does not isolate itself.- Leaders should always keep in contact with others.
4.)Leadership goes both ways.- Leaders should reach out to others and others should reach out to leaders. Either way, it will show leadership.
So basically anyone who is making a difference in others lives is a leader. Reaching out to others, being considerate to others, and giving a helping hand will show that leadership can do anything. It is not a bad thing; however, there will be some that will abuse its power. It will up to the true leaders to show exactly what leadership is, just like what Mrs. Elin had done.
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE: INTERNET ADDICTION
She was writing in response to the "Read Write Web blog, Jolie O’Dell struck a defensive nerve in her daring post “Should Tech Get a Turn-Off?” In her post, she confronts the geeky world of internet addiction and wonders if the seductive lure of the internet makes it much too easy to go missing from reality without being aware of it." She was asking if what O'Dell said is true. If you ask Mrs. Elin's family, they would say that the only thing they see of her is the back of her head while she is sitting at a computer desk.
The wonders of internet making it too easy bring people away from reality without being aware of it is a really good questions. It doesn't bring me out of reality because the only reason I am on the computer is for homework purposes. I do get on facebook and check emails, but I only do it for at least 10 minutes. Otherwise, I do other things that doesn't involve the computer: dancing, cleaning, and hanging out with family and friends. However, my brother is a different story. He is on the computer all day. Or at least he was, until mom took it away till he brings his grades up. His room is a mess and instead of cleaning, he just sits on the computer and play games instead of doing things he could be doing.
So I guess this question will depends on who you are as a person. I am physically active and I just cannot sit on the computer playing games or reading news for hours and hours. Plus that, I always tend to want to be in the reality instead of being stuck with something that does not apply to me. I get bored and sick of it. My brother has no problem whatsoever to be on the computer all day that he forgets about reality. He could care less about reality.
So what about you? Does the internet draw you away from reality?
FEAR OF ROTARY-DIAL PHONE (OR, HOW TO BE GENTLE WHEN INTRODUCING TECHNOLOGY)
Mrs. Elin talked about fear of technology. She was explaining about how some people are afraid of change. She uses a 1930’s-40’s video showing a Grandpa grumbling about rotary dial phones. He was not used to the idea of using a rotary dial phones. In fact, he was afraid of it. Eventually, he let go of his fears and got really curious about the new use of technology.
Here are some of the lessons that Grandpa learned:
* Resistance to change is instinctive.
* Defensiveness is a first step toward progress.
* Patience and respect = allowing new learners to struggle and standing by them while they do.
* Learners are comforted by hearing rationale for change.
* Learners feel more like part of a team when they hear what trainers and technicians do behind the scenes to prepare for change.
* The human touch is absolutely essential for progress.
Here are a couple of videos:
I guess I can understand some of what the Grandpa is going through. I am a little afraid of change in technology but only because I am scared I may not keep up with it. Technology is advancing pretty fast and I am actually a slow learner. It is not easy keeping up with technology. The only I can do is try my very best to keep up with it.
WEB 2.0 COST MORE THAN YOU THINK
This post expresses Mrs. Elin's opinions about websites that once used to be free will start charging a fee. To begin with, many websites were free until it gets to the point where it is popular that services will begin to start a subscription fee. Not all websites do this yet; only a few of them like "web companies such as Blinksale, GoToMeeting, CrazyEgg, Jott, and many others have chosen to eliminate their free plans (or switch to free trials).” — PollEverywhere.com. Unfortunately, Mrs. Elin explained that she will have to make some decisions about a few sites that she uses, including Jott.
I think this is a pretty good post for everyone to read because it shows that not all websites are fee like Myspace and Facebook, etc. I guess I have always known about this because of some of the websites my brother gets on. He tends to subscribe on to games that have fee without him knowing it. We have tried to teach him that it it not always a good idea to download or subscribe things without our permission, or in this case mine. All of the games he has downloaded in the past were on my laptop and cause it to go wacko. After having problems about that, I forbidden him from downloading games onto my computer because I did not want his games screwing it up.
A PASSIONATE CRY FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM
Everyone remember the Dan Brown video? If not, then it is posted down below. Mrs. Elin is responding back to this video encouraging educators to listen because obviously the teaching style right now is not working. She is encouraging everyone to think about what educators can do to change the way they teach to children. Hopefully, the plan will follow.
Here is the Video:
You know, I already did comment on the video but I left something out. In my other post, I said something about how educators need to improve their way of teaching to make things more interesting to students but I never gave some suggestions. One suggestion is to teach something more meaningful and relevant to the students' lives. Another suggestion is to make the class more fun than usual: use hands-on experience instead of just lecturing. Or maybe let the students teach the class based on what they know or experience and this will spark open discussion with the teacher. These are a couple of suggestions; I do not know if any of these could be valid, but they could work. Do you any of you have suggestions of how to make education more relevant?
Comment4Kids Weeks 10
Week 10: Leopold Primary School Cross Country
This school was involved in a cross country run that involved students from Prep to Grade Six. The course (picture above) for the run was about 1 km long. The boys ran first then the girls. Everybody did their very best. They also took pictures of the kids at the Run and they are so cute!! To view the good times the kids had, you can check out the slide show on the website: http://2kmblog.globalstudent.org.au/
Just click on Cross Country Run.
This school was involved in a cross country run that involved students from Prep to Grade Six. The course (picture above) for the run was about 1 km long. The boys ran first then the girls. Everybody did their very best. They also took pictures of the kids at the Run and they are so cute!! To view the good times the kids had, you can check out the slide show on the website: http://2kmblog.globalstudent.org.au/
Just click on Cross Country Run.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Week 9 Blog
ALEX AND ACCESS
ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange program. It is designed to help teachers plan their lesson on a particular material. It has the course of study, lesson plans, web links, and anything else that could help the teacher teach his or her class. ACCESS stands for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide. "The purpose is to continue the work of the Governor’s Task Force on Distance Learning. The central vision of the Alabama Distance Education Plan Task Force is to provide equal access to high quality instruction to improve student achievement through distance learning opportunities." http://accessdl.state.al.us/aboutaccess/
Both of these programs are designed to provide a better education for students and to help the teachers do their job as educators. It also allow parents to know what is going on with school. They also enrolled more students and the students were interested in these program.
I will definitely use both of these programs to help me teach to my students. It is better to have other ideas from other sources along with my own to present the materials more clearly. They are also easy and simple to use.
ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange program. It is designed to help teachers plan their lesson on a particular material. It has the course of study, lesson plans, web links, and anything else that could help the teacher teach his or her class. ACCESS stands for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide. "The purpose is to continue the work of the Governor’s Task Force on Distance Learning. The central vision of the Alabama Distance Education Plan Task Force is to provide equal access to high quality instruction to improve student achievement through distance learning opportunities." http://accessdl.state.al.us/aboutaccess/
Both of these programs are designed to provide a better education for students and to help the teachers do their job as educators. It also allow parents to know what is going on with school. They also enrolled more students and the students were interested in these program.
I will definitely use both of these programs to help me teach to my students. It is better to have other ideas from other sources along with my own to present the materials more clearly. They are also easy and simple to use.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Comment4Teachers Week 7 through 9
My teacher for Comment4Teacher that I was assigned to is Lisa Nielson. She is known as the Innovative Educator. Of course, I just started reading her blogs around first week of March because the first teacher I was assigned to had nothing but housekeeping posts. So here are some things I learned for the past three weeks.
WEEK 7
SCHOOL INNOVATION FIELD TRIP QUICK GUIDE
On March 1, I read her blog about her guide to Innovative Field Trips. This is when a group of students will visit each classroom and observe what is going on with the students, teachers, and environment. Each student in a group will have a different task whether it is videoing the classroom, writing reports of what is going on, taking pictures, or creating a spreadsheets. Each group will visit different classroom each day. This part is interesting because we can see the differences of how each class is taught. There will be different feedbacks. To read more about her guide about innovative field trip, you can click on this link: http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/03/innovation-field-trip-quick-guide.html#comments
WEEK 8
MARCH 2: WHY SOCIAL MEDIA CURRICULUM IS CRITICAL IN SCHOOLS- 140 CHARACTER CONFERENCE
The Innovative Educator talked about how many schools failed to have teacher/student relationship. She thinks that this need to be modified a little bit, so that students can communicate with their teachers about the materials they are learning. Many schools do not use technology to help improve education, or at least they didn't when I went to Baker High School about 4 years ago. Ms. Nielson believes that socialization is very important in students' lives. It will help them communicate all over the world and they can learn so many things outside of school.
MARCH 5: SPEND SATURDAY WITH THE TEDxNYED EDUCATION, NEW MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY WEBINAR
TEDxNYED is an organization that organize events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience; its motto is "ideas worth spreading." It is organized by the New York Educators and it works like a conference. At TEDxNYED, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connections. Individuals are invited to share their ideas and inspire the future of educations.
WEEK 9
MARCH 7: CAPTURING THE GOOD STUFF BY DANA LAWIT
Dana Lawit was writing in response to Lisa's blog in 140 Character Conference in NYC. She believes that it is "essential for schools to not only show kids how to safely consume internet content and social media, but show them that the web is a place for them to contribute quality content for both praise and feedback." The school she works for has embedded technology to document and share the "good works" that are done by students and teachers. They were trying to make it easier for teachers and students to use, so it do not takes up too much time. If it is hard to use certain things in the technology world, then it is unlikely the teachers will put forth the effort of getting what they need because they do not have that much time to do so.
I think it is a good idea that her school started this. This will provide better educations and better communication relationships between the students and teachers.
MARCH 8
Ms. Nielson was listed in the 50 Best Blog for Education Leaders. Congratulation to her!!
MARCH 9: JOIN THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION'S INNOVATION PORTAL
An innovation portal was created for people to come together to identify the best ideas to improve schools. It serves as an online forum where educators can share their innovative ideas and collaborate to turn those ideas into a new reality. It is a site to connect ideas across the nations together into a marketplace of ideas that show how educators can ensure that every child gets an good education.
I like the idea of combining ideas together. I like that it will help educators to ensure that every child gets an education and help them succeed.
MARCH 11: THEY'RE HERE...THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS
I am having trouble understanding what she is talking about. She seems to be talking about her concerns. Maybe someone else can explain to me what she is talking about. Here is the Link: http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/03/they-here-common-core-standards.html#comments
WEEK 7
SCHOOL INNOVATION FIELD TRIP QUICK GUIDE
On March 1, I read her blog about her guide to Innovative Field Trips. This is when a group of students will visit each classroom and observe what is going on with the students, teachers, and environment. Each student in a group will have a different task whether it is videoing the classroom, writing reports of what is going on, taking pictures, or creating a spreadsheets. Each group will visit different classroom each day. This part is interesting because we can see the differences of how each class is taught. There will be different feedbacks. To read more about her guide about innovative field trip, you can click on this link: http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/03/innovation-field-trip-quick-guide.html#comments
WEEK 8
MARCH 2: WHY SOCIAL MEDIA CURRICULUM IS CRITICAL IN SCHOOLS- 140 CHARACTER CONFERENCE
The Innovative Educator talked about how many schools failed to have teacher/student relationship. She thinks that this need to be modified a little bit, so that students can communicate with their teachers about the materials they are learning. Many schools do not use technology to help improve education, or at least they didn't when I went to Baker High School about 4 years ago. Ms. Nielson believes that socialization is very important in students' lives. It will help them communicate all over the world and they can learn so many things outside of school.
MARCH 5: SPEND SATURDAY WITH THE TEDxNYED EDUCATION, NEW MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY WEBINAR
TEDxNYED is an organization that organize events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience; its motto is "ideas worth spreading." It is organized by the New York Educators and it works like a conference. At TEDxNYED, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connections. Individuals are invited to share their ideas and inspire the future of educations.
WEEK 9
MARCH 7: CAPTURING THE GOOD STUFF BY DANA LAWIT
Dana Lawit was writing in response to Lisa's blog in 140 Character Conference in NYC. She believes that it is "essential for schools to not only show kids how to safely consume internet content and social media, but show them that the web is a place for them to contribute quality content for both praise and feedback." The school she works for has embedded technology to document and share the "good works" that are done by students and teachers. They were trying to make it easier for teachers and students to use, so it do not takes up too much time. If it is hard to use certain things in the technology world, then it is unlikely the teachers will put forth the effort of getting what they need because they do not have that much time to do so.
I think it is a good idea that her school started this. This will provide better educations and better communication relationships between the students and teachers.
MARCH 8
Ms. Nielson was listed in the 50 Best Blog for Education Leaders. Congratulation to her!!
MARCH 9: JOIN THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION'S INNOVATION PORTAL
An innovation portal was created for people to come together to identify the best ideas to improve schools. It serves as an online forum where educators can share their innovative ideas and collaborate to turn those ideas into a new reality. It is a site to connect ideas across the nations together into a marketplace of ideas that show how educators can ensure that every child gets an good education.
I like the idea of combining ideas together. I like that it will help educators to ensure that every child gets an education and help them succeed.
MARCH 11: THEY'RE HERE...THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS
I am having trouble understanding what she is talking about. She seems to be talking about her concerns. Maybe someone else can explain to me what she is talking about. Here is the Link: http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/03/they-here-common-core-standards.html#comments
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Week 8 Blog: Randy Pausch Last Lecture
Randy Pausch seems like a really good guy, who is trying to make the best of his life. He seems to be funny, which is why I am really happy that this video is closed captions. Now, I will have the opportunity to see and hear what is going on.
He started out talking about childhood dreams. He said that inspiration and permission to dream is huge. I totally agree with him on that. I think it is important to dream because it allows creativity and imaginations. If kids begin to share their dreams right now, imagine how many different images we would get from these kids. It would be really interesting to see exactly how creative one kid can be. Also, each dream has a lesson to make a point, whether it is just a dream or if it is a reality. One lesson Randy learned from his dream of being in the NFL was when he was at football practice with Coach Graham. Randy was one of the smallest kids on the team and Coach was riding him really hard. The assistant coach asked randy if Coach was coming down hard on him and he said yeah. Then the assistant coach told him that it was a good thing because when he is screwing up and nobody is saying anything, then that means they have given up on him. I thought this was really important because we always need someone to keep us on the right track. We need people to show us that they do care and not someone who can care less about what we do.
One of his other dreams was to be a part of Walt Disney Imagineering. He got the chance to work with the Aladdin project with virtual reality. "Walt Disney Imagineering is the master planning, creative development, design, engineering, production, project management, and research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company and its affiliates." http://corporate.disney.go.com/careers/who_imagineering.html "Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-simulated environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality Virtual Reality and Imagineering sounds like a fun thing to do.
These two were some of his childhood dreams. He became a professor so he can help enable childhood dreams to other people. One way he did that was by creating a course called Building Virtual World. Basically, different small groups of students work on a virtual project for two weeks. Every two weeks, they will do different projects and work with different students. They create their own little virtual world video. It was really interesting to see the video that one group did, called "hello.World". It was really cool and cute video. I would not mind doing something like that.
He ended with video with a really good wise advice. "It is not about how you achieve your dreams, but it is about how you lead your life." This is really important. Just like the song "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus: Life is a climb. It is not about how fast you get there or what is waiting on the other side. It is about how you get there. Leading your life the right way will help you achieve your dreams. As long as you stay on the right path in your life, dreams will come to you.
He started out talking about childhood dreams. He said that inspiration and permission to dream is huge. I totally agree with him on that. I think it is important to dream because it allows creativity and imaginations. If kids begin to share their dreams right now, imagine how many different images we would get from these kids. It would be really interesting to see exactly how creative one kid can be. Also, each dream has a lesson to make a point, whether it is just a dream or if it is a reality. One lesson Randy learned from his dream of being in the NFL was when he was at football practice with Coach Graham. Randy was one of the smallest kids on the team and Coach was riding him really hard. The assistant coach asked randy if Coach was coming down hard on him and he said yeah. Then the assistant coach told him that it was a good thing because when he is screwing up and nobody is saying anything, then that means they have given up on him. I thought this was really important because we always need someone to keep us on the right track. We need people to show us that they do care and not someone who can care less about what we do.
One of his other dreams was to be a part of Walt Disney Imagineering. He got the chance to work with the Aladdin project with virtual reality. "Walt Disney Imagineering is the master planning, creative development, design, engineering, production, project management, and research and development arm of The Walt Disney Company and its affiliates." http://corporate.disney.go.com/careers/who_imagineering.html "Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-simulated environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality Virtual Reality and Imagineering sounds like a fun thing to do.
These two were some of his childhood dreams. He became a professor so he can help enable childhood dreams to other people. One way he did that was by creating a course called Building Virtual World. Basically, different small groups of students work on a virtual project for two weeks. Every two weeks, they will do different projects and work with different students. They create their own little virtual world video. It was really interesting to see the video that one group did, called "hello.World". It was really cool and cute video. I would not mind doing something like that.
He ended with video with a really good wise advice. "It is not about how you achieve your dreams, but it is about how you lead your life." This is really important. Just like the song "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus: Life is a climb. It is not about how fast you get there or what is waiting on the other side. It is about how you get there. Leading your life the right way will help you achieve your dreams. As long as you stay on the right path in your life, dreams will come to you.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Comment4kids Week 8 through 9
WEEK 8: BORMAN BLOGGIG WITH GERARDO
He wrote a poem called Poem About Rain. It is about struggling through stuff. People have bad days when it is raining is an example he uses in his poem. I thought it was a good poem. To read the poem, click on this link: http://mrsshetler.edublogs.org/2010/01/21/poem-about-rain/
WEEK 9: ST. PIUS- ROOM 6'S CREATION: ROBERT
This week I got the chance to watch a video that Robert and his classmates made. The video was called "The Christmas Bullies." It was a creative video showing that bullies will never win. To see the video, here is the link: http://spxroom6.blogspot.com/search/label/Robert
After clicking on the link, just go to "The Christmas Bullies" which was posted on Monday, December 7, 2009.
He wrote a poem called Poem About Rain. It is about struggling through stuff. People have bad days when it is raining is an example he uses in his poem. I thought it was a good poem. To read the poem, click on this link: http://mrsshetler.edublogs.org/2010/01/21/poem-about-rain/
WEEK 9: ST. PIUS- ROOM 6'S CREATION: ROBERT
This week I got the chance to watch a video that Robert and his classmates made. The video was called "The Christmas Bullies." It was a creative video showing that bullies will never win. To see the video, here is the link: http://spxroom6.blogspot.com/search/label/Robert
After clicking on the link, just go to "The Christmas Bullies" which was posted on Monday, December 7, 2009.
Comment4kids Week 4 through 7
WEEK 4: MS. DEYENBERG'S CLASS BLOG
I read Braidyn's blog. It was Science Week in his school. He was talking about a science project he was working on in his class. He had an assignment to make something on a motor. He made a carousel with plates and cardboard. He also talked about basketball and a sleepover at his school to communicate with people from all over the world, which I thought was cool. Here is the link: http://13dds.edublogs.org
Here is what I said to him:
Sounds like a fun and complicated project! I remember those old days where we had to be creative and artistic!! It was fun. I am not really a basketball fan but i could get into if I am in the right mood. Sleep over at the school? HMM, sounds fun. I have never had a sleep over at my school, but I have had a sleep over at the dance studio, where I am taking dance at. it was fun. We just played around; we did not do anything that involve talking to people across the world though. That will be interesting!!
WEEK 5: WELCOMING ROOM 7 IN LITTLE VOICES, LITTLE SCHOLARS
I got the chance to welcome Maroroa into Room 7. He is a cute boy!!
To meet him, click on this link: http://littlevoiceslittlescholars.blogspot.com/search/label/Maroroa
Hello Maroroa!!!
First of all, Congratulation and welcome to Room 7!!!! I love your basketball picture!! It was very colorful!!! Keep playing basketball and keep up the good work!! Believe in your self and never give up!!!
GOD BLESS,
Tiffany Clark
http://clarktiffanyedm310@blogspot.com
WEEK 6: JUMPSTARTING LITERACY
Developing sentences are really easy once you get the hang of different types of words. Adverbs are useful when you need to confirm the when and how aspects of the activities you are talking about in a sentence. Interesting, confusing blog. http://year4divers.blogspot.com
WEEK 7: HUMOROUS PLAY OF PURIM! (HAHAHA) PART 2
This is a joke by Eriel about an uncle and another man whose names were Mean Dude, Old Dude, and nameless. The man was trying to get the uncle to bow to him, but the uncle said no and started teasing him. It is really cute joke. Here is the Link:
http://kidblog.org/mrskolbertsclass/Eriel/humorous-play-of-purim-hahaha-part-2/
HaHaHa!! That is really cute!! I like that!! It is very simple but it is still funny!! Good Job Eriel. I probably would not bow to the OLD DUDE either! LOL!!
MARCH 5, 2010
Commenting on kids' blog is really fun. I get a chance to see exactly how bright kids are in today's world. As I am reading the kids' blogs, I am seeing that they are smarter than I was at their age. Young kids are learning things at earlier age and it is great that they do. The younger you start learning, the better knowledge you have as you get older. These students are brilliant.
I read Braidyn's blog. It was Science Week in his school. He was talking about a science project he was working on in his class. He had an assignment to make something on a motor. He made a carousel with plates and cardboard. He also talked about basketball and a sleepover at his school to communicate with people from all over the world, which I thought was cool. Here is the link: http://13dds.edublogs.org
Here is what I said to him:
Sounds like a fun and complicated project! I remember those old days where we had to be creative and artistic!! It was fun. I am not really a basketball fan but i could get into if I am in the right mood. Sleep over at the school? HMM, sounds fun. I have never had a sleep over at my school, but I have had a sleep over at the dance studio, where I am taking dance at. it was fun. We just played around; we did not do anything that involve talking to people across the world though. That will be interesting!!
WEEK 5: WELCOMING ROOM 7 IN LITTLE VOICES, LITTLE SCHOLARS
I got the chance to welcome Maroroa into Room 7. He is a cute boy!!
To meet him, click on this link: http://littlevoiceslittlescholars.blogspot.com/search/label/Maroroa
Hello Maroroa!!!
First of all, Congratulation and welcome to Room 7!!!! I love your basketball picture!! It was very colorful!!! Keep playing basketball and keep up the good work!! Believe in your self and never give up!!!
GOD BLESS,
Tiffany Clark
http://clarktiffanyedm310@blogspot.com
WEEK 6: JUMPSTARTING LITERACY
Developing sentences are really easy once you get the hang of different types of words. Adverbs are useful when you need to confirm the when and how aspects of the activities you are talking about in a sentence. Interesting, confusing blog. http://year4divers.blogspot.com
WEEK 7: HUMOROUS PLAY OF PURIM! (HAHAHA) PART 2
This is a joke by Eriel about an uncle and another man whose names were Mean Dude, Old Dude, and nameless. The man was trying to get the uncle to bow to him, but the uncle said no and started teasing him. It is really cute joke. Here is the Link:
http://kidblog.org/mrskolbertsclass/Eriel/humorous-play-of-purim-hahaha-part-2/
HaHaHa!! That is really cute!! I like that!! It is very simple but it is still funny!! Good Job Eriel. I probably would not bow to the OLD DUDE either! LOL!!
MARCH 5, 2010
Commenting on kids' blog is really fun. I get a chance to see exactly how bright kids are in today's world. As I am reading the kids' blogs, I am seeing that they are smarter than I was at their age. Young kids are learning things at earlier age and it is great that they do. The younger you start learning, the better knowledge you have as you get older. These students are brilliant.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Hi Guys n Gals
I have created a Wallwisher wall. It is a simple webpage where we all can post our messages easily.
So simply go to http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/tiffer and post your message there.
Happy Posting!
Tiffer
I have created a Wallwisher wall. It is a simple webpage where we all can post our messages easily.
So simply go to http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/tiffer and post your message there.
Happy Posting!
Tiffer
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Personal Learning Networks
February 28, 2010:
Personal Learning Networks? I have never heard of this until now in my EDM 310 class. I still do not understand PLN, but I think it is suppose to help you keep track of what you are learning each day. I am beginning to understand PLN's purpose, but I am slowly understanding how to do it. In my PLN, I started by creating a twitter account. Then I added some stuff that I will be following: CNN, Breaking News, any music artists, and some other educational stuff. Like I said, I am beginning to understand, but as I keep learning about PLN, I am sure I will get better at it.
March 1, 2010:
As of recently, a friend of mine better explained to me how to do PLN if using Twitter. Basically, she said that if you are using twitter, all you do is follow people that you would want to learn from. It does not necessarily have to be people; it could be a website. So with a better understanding, I just recently started following Lisa Nielson, The Innovative Educator. I decided that I would follow her as part of the assignment in my EDM class. I will post further information later on in weeks to come about what I have learned from her.
Personal Learning Networks? I have never heard of this until now in my EDM 310 class. I still do not understand PLN, but I think it is suppose to help you keep track of what you are learning each day. I am beginning to understand PLN's purpose, but I am slowly understanding how to do it. In my PLN, I started by creating a twitter account. Then I added some stuff that I will be following: CNN, Breaking News, any music artists, and some other educational stuff. Like I said, I am beginning to understand, but as I keep learning about PLN, I am sure I will get better at it.
March 1, 2010:
As of recently, a friend of mine better explained to me how to do PLN if using Twitter. Basically, she said that if you are using twitter, all you do is follow people that you would want to learn from. It does not necessarily have to be people; it could be a website. So with a better understanding, I just recently started following Lisa Nielson, The Innovative Educator. I decided that I would follow her as part of the assignment in my EDM class. I will post further information later on in weeks to come about what I have learned from her.
Week 7 Blog
DR. RICHARD MILLER: THIS IS HOW WE DREAM
In all honesty, I do not think I will be prepared to write with multi-media. I would to try though because I think it will be interesting. As for my future students, I think they will be able to do this considering how children are learning at earlier ages now. If they believe in themselves, then they should be able to do it. I would probably be able to write with multi-media if I had more faith in myself with technology. I only know enough about technology just to get by. I will have a lot to learn in the future.
In the video, I think I heard Dr. Miller saying something about getting away with reading and writing and do more with listening and watching. If he did say something like that, then I am not sure how I feel about that. I think we should rely on all four techniques no matter what. Being hearing impaired, it would be hard for me to listen considering how I cannot comprehend what is being said. I rely so much on visual learning than I do on listening learning.
I also think it is important to keep the writing and reading skills as well as gaining listening and watching skills. All four technique will help advance our knowledge all together. However, I think many people will probably choose listening and watching because they are faster. Yeah sure, listening and watching may be faster, but how is the pace of learning going to make any difference? It should not matter which technique is a faster way to learn as long as you not only learn it but understand it as well.
WENDY DREXLER: THE NETWORKED STUDENT
This may be an interesting video. I am not sure how I feel about this. The only thing I like about the video is the word connectivism. This type of learn is where students can connect and learn from other people all over the world. The only reason I like this word is because I think it is important to learn from other people, whether it is educational or personal. It will help students to gain knowledge about what is going on around them.
I do not think I can handle teaching the networked students. I am more of a hands on kind of person. When I say hands-on, I meant I would rather teach students in person than from online because this way I can help students immediately in classroom if needed. Beside, I would like to make sure that students understand everything and are doing their work.
Another reason I would not teach the networked students is because it is not guaranteed that students are motivated to do the online work on their own. Some students may be motivated to do homework, but what about the others who are not interested in doing homework. Plus, only going to school 3 days a week is probably not effective for students in high school and lower. Unless they are really active, how can we protect them from doing wrong things? Unless I am hearing this the wrong way about the networked student, I probably would not teach networked student.
TOWARDS A NEW FUTURE OF WHATEVER BY MICHAEL WESCH
It seems that Mr. Wesch was talking about the future is becoming a whatever evolution. That is an interesting thought. He goes on talking about how the media is changing the culture and each generation is different from the other generation. I think he calls my generation the MTV generation which is understandable and true. It make sense to call us the MTV generation because we do have short attention spans and we are narcissistic. This generation is changing based on media because we tends to learn from it and it affects us.
In all honesty, I do not think I will be prepared to write with multi-media. I would to try though because I think it will be interesting. As for my future students, I think they will be able to do this considering how children are learning at earlier ages now. If they believe in themselves, then they should be able to do it. I would probably be able to write with multi-media if I had more faith in myself with technology. I only know enough about technology just to get by. I will have a lot to learn in the future.
In the video, I think I heard Dr. Miller saying something about getting away with reading and writing and do more with listening and watching. If he did say something like that, then I am not sure how I feel about that. I think we should rely on all four techniques no matter what. Being hearing impaired, it would be hard for me to listen considering how I cannot comprehend what is being said. I rely so much on visual learning than I do on listening learning.
I also think it is important to keep the writing and reading skills as well as gaining listening and watching skills. All four technique will help advance our knowledge all together. However, I think many people will probably choose listening and watching because they are faster. Yeah sure, listening and watching may be faster, but how is the pace of learning going to make any difference? It should not matter which technique is a faster way to learn as long as you not only learn it but understand it as well.
WENDY DREXLER: THE NETWORKED STUDENT
This may be an interesting video. I am not sure how I feel about this. The only thing I like about the video is the word connectivism. This type of learn is where students can connect and learn from other people all over the world. The only reason I like this word is because I think it is important to learn from other people, whether it is educational or personal. It will help students to gain knowledge about what is going on around them.
I do not think I can handle teaching the networked students. I am more of a hands on kind of person. When I say hands-on, I meant I would rather teach students in person than from online because this way I can help students immediately in classroom if needed. Beside, I would like to make sure that students understand everything and are doing their work.
Another reason I would not teach the networked students is because it is not guaranteed that students are motivated to do the online work on their own. Some students may be motivated to do homework, but what about the others who are not interested in doing homework. Plus, only going to school 3 days a week is probably not effective for students in high school and lower. Unless they are really active, how can we protect them from doing wrong things? Unless I am hearing this the wrong way about the networked student, I probably would not teach networked student.
TOWARDS A NEW FUTURE OF WHATEVER BY MICHAEL WESCH
It seems that Mr. Wesch was talking about the future is becoming a whatever evolution. That is an interesting thought. He goes on talking about how the media is changing the culture and each generation is different from the other generation. I think he calls my generation the MTV generation which is understandable and true. It make sense to call us the MTV generation because we do have short attention spans and we are narcissistic. This generation is changing based on media because we tends to learn from it and it affects us.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Help
Anyone know how to make the letters look right on my blog posts? They are weird looking!!
Thanks!!!
Thanks!!!
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