Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Final Report on PLN
Monday, April 25, 2011
C4T #4 Summary
Blogging About the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom
First I commented on Skype in the classroom in which I am a huge fan of! This post was mainly about how Skype is a valuable tool that many teachers discovered can break down the walls of their classroom. Steven Anderson, the creator of this blog, is looking toward getting teachers started with Skype and connecting their classroom to the outside world. A short and sweet (but helpful) Skype video accompanied this post to further explain the benefits of Skype. I totally concur with the points Mr. Anderson was making and how well Skype can be used for collaborative educational purposes. I believe it can truly broaden the horizon for children and administrators who are willing to accept and work with it. For example, one thing I plan to do with my kids is get them communicating with a person (student/teacher) from another country! Not only will it be a friend, a peer, or an advisor for certain things, but also an educational tool to experience and hopefully break language barriers, chance to see other cultures, etc. and so forth! The possibilities are endless! So, guess you can say I'm pro Skype!
Next, I read a post titled What's wrong with Google telling me everything?. Love this post! This one really striked my fancy because I Google EVERYTHING these days! I google definitions of words for school papers or just socialization purposes. I google meaningless things or religious things, health facts and calories, holidays, recipes, anything imaginable! The possibilities are endless with google and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing as long as you search thoroughly and properly. However, I am concerned about relationships and the effect it may have on peoples connections with one another. For example, before google I would just go to my parents for answers to my questions, and if they didn't know then I would go to another person (friend, family member, wise elder, etc) who I thought would know. Sometimes I would even seek out a stranger for information, leading to a new friendship/acquaintance. Whether significant or not it usually led to a great conversation of some sort or more information that I didn't know (either about that person or the topic at hand). Interesting none-the-less. Isn't this what life is all about? Connecting with people, bonding, building relationships, learning from someone more experienced? I think it is and believe it to be a crucial part of human development. If we go to google (I'm guilty of this) those connections or lack there of, are only made with the computer thus not fully reaching the potential that the "question asking task" could reach... taking away our bonding, relationship building, and even friendship establishments. With teachers, if the child came to ask a question, you may learn important information about the child that you would never have otherwise surfaced. It's a window of opportunity (the question asking to a person as opposed to a computer that is).
So... I guess what I'm saying is that Google has it's pros and cons (just like everything in the world). We should just be weary of the extent to which we rely on the internet, and always search for a useful source!
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First I commented on Skype in the classroom in which I am a huge fan of! This post was mainly about how Skype is a valuable tool that many teachers discovered can break down the walls of their classroom. Steven Anderson, the creator of this blog, is looking toward getting teachers started with Skype and connecting their classroom to the outside world. A short and sweet (but helpful) Skype video accompanied this post to further explain the benefits of Skype. I totally concur with the points Mr. Anderson was making and how well Skype can be used for collaborative educational purposes. I believe it can truly broaden the horizon for children and administrators who are willing to accept and work with it. For example, one thing I plan to do with my kids is get them communicating with a person (student/teacher) from another country! Not only will it be a friend, a peer, or an advisor for certain things, but also an educational tool to experience and hopefully break language barriers, chance to see other cultures, etc. and so forth! The possibilities are endless! So, guess you can say I'm pro Skype!
Next, I read a post titled What's wrong with Google telling me everything?. Love this post! This one really striked my fancy because I Google EVERYTHING these days! I google definitions of words for school papers or just socialization purposes. I google meaningless things or religious things, health facts and calories, holidays, recipes, anything imaginable! The possibilities are endless with google and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing as long as you search thoroughly and properly. However, I am concerned about relationships and the effect it may have on peoples connections with one another. For example, before google I would just go to my parents for answers to my questions, and if they didn't know then I would go to another person (friend, family member, wise elder, etc) who I thought would know. Sometimes I would even seek out a stranger for information, leading to a new friendship/acquaintance. Whether significant or not it usually led to a great conversation of some sort or more information that I didn't know (either about that person or the topic at hand). Interesting none-the-less. Isn't this what life is all about? Connecting with people, bonding, building relationships, learning from someone more experienced? I think it is and believe it to be a crucial part of human development. If we go to google (I'm guilty of this) those connections or lack there of, are only made with the computer thus not fully reaching the potential that the "question asking task" could reach... taking away our bonding, relationship building, and even friendship establishments. With teachers, if the child came to ask a question, you may learn important information about the child that you would never have otherwise surfaced. It's a window of opportunity (the question asking to a person as opposed to a computer that is).
So... I guess what I'm saying is that Google has it's pros and cons (just like everything in the world). We should just be weary of the extent to which we rely on the internet, and always search for a useful source!
Flag
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Blog Post 13
Alabama Learning Exchange
The Alabama Learning Exchange is a website for educational purposes. This website can assist you in so many educational areas. Teachers can post and share their lesson plans to ALEX, to broaden and expand their learning world. I have already used this tool to create a lesson plan for my future class and I'm not even a teacher yet!. It also offers "courses of study," allowing you to choose the grade and subject for further detail and shows you the basic curriculum of what they should be going through. Secondly, it has all sorts of weblinks for teachers, administrators and even students to lead you in the direction you would like to go. Furthermore, ALEX has a "personal workspace" option for you to add whatever it is you want, a search engine to maximize your assistance, "professional learning," where you can go to the ends of the educational systems and which ever department you might need, and last but not least a "podcast treasury" with any kind of podcast you can imagine... and it's free! So as you can see, ALEX is such a professional, reliable and available source for helping, informing, entertaining, teaching, learning and so much more! I love this website and think it absolutely brilliant! I am so thankful to have a site where anyone can go and leave or post a lesson plan, find a lesson plan, clear up any confusion about the educational system, help manage a classroom and teach closer to the curriculum. It is such a beneficial website, everyone should check it out!
ACCESS Distance Learning
"Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide" is incredible! This website provides classroom courses and teachers via technology. Its' goal is to create equity through additional educational offerings for all Alabama Public High School students. It has announcements, and support centers and like ALEX has weblinks to offer. This site is very informative, easy to navigate, and figure out what you're looking for. Like ALEX, I feel it was well created and does a great job of getting it's point across to the public... which I believe to be a positive and helpful educational tool to the outside world.
The Alabama Learning Exchange is a website for educational purposes. This website can assist you in so many educational areas. Teachers can post and share their lesson plans to ALEX, to broaden and expand their learning world. I have already used this tool to create a lesson plan for my future class and I'm not even a teacher yet!. It also offers "courses of study," allowing you to choose the grade and subject for further detail and shows you the basic curriculum of what they should be going through. Secondly, it has all sorts of weblinks for teachers, administrators and even students to lead you in the direction you would like to go. Furthermore, ALEX has a "personal workspace" option for you to add whatever it is you want, a search engine to maximize your assistance, "professional learning," where you can go to the ends of the educational systems and which ever department you might need, and last but not least a "podcast treasury" with any kind of podcast you can imagine... and it's free! So as you can see, ALEX is such a professional, reliable and available source for helping, informing, entertaining, teaching, learning and so much more! I love this website and think it absolutely brilliant! I am so thankful to have a site where anyone can go and leave or post a lesson plan, find a lesson plan, clear up any confusion about the educational system, help manage a classroom and teach closer to the curriculum. It is such a beneficial website, everyone should check it out!
ACCESS Distance Learning
"Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide" is incredible! This website provides classroom courses and teachers via technology. Its' goal is to create equity through additional educational offerings for all Alabama Public High School students. It has announcements, and support centers and like ALEX has weblinks to offer. This site is very informative, easy to navigate, and figure out what you're looking for. Like ALEX, I feel it was well created and does a great job of getting it's point across to the public... which I believe to be a positive and helpful educational tool to the outside world.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Progress Report for Final Project
Friday, April 15, 2011
C4K #7,8,9,10 (Summary Post for April)
C4K#10
Jaden's Awesome Blog
This kid Jaden is awesome! Hence his "awesome blog." He demanded quality posts on his blog which I respected tremendously, on his 3rd grade level. His post was about a Clippers vs. Mavericks basketball game that was pretty exciting. The Clippers were winning when the game started off but then the Mavericks took the lead making a final score of Mavericks 106, Clippers 100 (so close). You could feel the excitement through Jaden's post which made for a great topic and post in the end! Plus he added questions for his readers at the end to ensure their connection and engagement to the material! He did a fantastic job!
C4K#9
Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog
Mrs. Yollis is an inspiration, even through my computer screen! She has been teaching a combination of classes and grades for 24 years and exudes this happiness on her blog! She currently teaches 3rd grade and says "she enjoys working alongside parents to bring out the best in their children!" I loved this! Most teachers say, "I love kids" or "I want to better the educational system" or "I want to help the intellectual growth of our future generation" but I have never heard of it in a way as this, in COMBINATION with parents. Like teamwork or a partnership! Beautiful! Her blog is very neat and organized with links at the top to direct you to what you are looking for. There is an intro to her and to her bloggers (her 3rd grade class), a video on how to comment, and some other helpful links to show a little bit of what they do in class and how they go about it. So, Mrs. Yollis uses her blog to teach students of course, and to get them blogging and technologically advance them for this 20th century, but also to communicate with the parents of her class and show them the work their children have been doing, and projects, or books they're reading, etc. Mrs. Yollis' instructional purposes for and on her blog are very informative and easy to follow (which I love) and also direct and to the point for her liking. She is straightforward with correct grammar, punctuation, etc and stresses the significance for this on her blog. Mrs. Yollis not only involves students and parents in her blog but also classes and people from around the world. She posted clocks of specific timezones of contacts that they communicate and/or keep up with! For example she has a clock with Los Angeles' time, and underneath that is a separate clock of Mr. Salsich's time, and then under that one is the time for Tanzania! How cool is that? If I were a 3rd grader I would love that part of the blog! This blog is very professional in that it appeals to the student and parent involvement, while also connecting them to technology and communication of peers, people, places and things around the world! What a great window of opportunity for these student's educational foundation!
C4K#8
I was assigned to take a look at a Voki which is a free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile and in email addresses. You can make one that looks just like you and then add a message for it to speak! So cool! You better believe I'll be utilizing this Voki so be looking for it to miraculously appear in the near future!
C4K #7
I also was assigned a link to an Australian student's blog where she only had one video, so I just commented on that one, unsure of what else to do...
Anyway 2 female Australian students posted a video of them singing a "Rainforest Song" about the importance of it's health and existence on this planet, the beautiful things it has to offer, and how it's a home for so many plants and animals and all sorts of living creatures! They also brought to the table the pain that the Rainforest goes through, making it's devastation very real to me as a viewer! I commented back how much I enjoyed their singing and piano talents, the words that were sung, and being able to feel for the Rainforest. Not only was this a project in which they learned a lot from, I'm sure, but also they have the ability to inspire people and ideas with this tiny school project and anything else they encounter in the future! It was great!
C4K #6
I just watched a video on German Gnomes from Mr. Mclung's class blog! Two male students in his class provided intermission entertainment for a World Language Festival that their school held! They danced around for a few minutes, dressed as gnomes, and got the audience involved. I couldn't really hear the music or the singing over the audience, but the audiences entertainment and involvement was the purpose of the gnome dance, so I have to say... mission accomplished!
This kid Jaden is awesome! Hence his "awesome blog." He demanded quality posts on his blog which I respected tremendously, on his 3rd grade level. His post was about a Clippers vs. Mavericks basketball game that was pretty exciting. The Clippers were winning when the game started off but then the Mavericks took the lead making a final score of Mavericks 106, Clippers 100 (so close). You could feel the excitement through Jaden's post which made for a great topic and post in the end! Plus he added questions for his readers at the end to ensure their connection and engagement to the material! He did a fantastic job!
C4K#9
Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog
Mrs. Yollis is an inspiration, even through my computer screen! She has been teaching a combination of classes and grades for 24 years and exudes this happiness on her blog! She currently teaches 3rd grade and says "she enjoys working alongside parents to bring out the best in their children!" I loved this! Most teachers say, "I love kids" or "I want to better the educational system" or "I want to help the intellectual growth of our future generation" but I have never heard of it in a way as this, in COMBINATION with parents. Like teamwork or a partnership! Beautiful! Her blog is very neat and organized with links at the top to direct you to what you are looking for. There is an intro to her and to her bloggers (her 3rd grade class), a video on how to comment, and some other helpful links to show a little bit of what they do in class and how they go about it. So, Mrs. Yollis uses her blog to teach students of course, and to get them blogging and technologically advance them for this 20th century, but also to communicate with the parents of her class and show them the work their children have been doing, and projects, or books they're reading, etc. Mrs. Yollis' instructional purposes for and on her blog are very informative and easy to follow (which I love) and also direct and to the point for her liking. She is straightforward with correct grammar, punctuation, etc and stresses the significance for this on her blog. Mrs. Yollis not only involves students and parents in her blog but also classes and people from around the world. She posted clocks of specific timezones of contacts that they communicate and/or keep up with! For example she has a clock with Los Angeles' time, and underneath that is a separate clock of Mr. Salsich's time, and then under that one is the time for Tanzania! How cool is that? If I were a 3rd grader I would love that part of the blog! This blog is very professional in that it appeals to the student and parent involvement, while also connecting them to technology and communication of peers, people, places and things around the world! What a great window of opportunity for these student's educational foundation!
C4K#8
I was assigned to take a look at a Voki which is a free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile and in email addresses. You can make one that looks just like you and then add a message for it to speak! So cool! You better believe I'll be utilizing this Voki so be looking for it to miraculously appear in the near future!
C4K #7
I also was assigned a link to an Australian student's blog where she only had one video, so I just commented on that one, unsure of what else to do...
Anyway 2 female Australian students posted a video of them singing a "Rainforest Song" about the importance of it's health and existence on this planet, the beautiful things it has to offer, and how it's a home for so many plants and animals and all sorts of living creatures! They also brought to the table the pain that the Rainforest goes through, making it's devastation very real to me as a viewer! I commented back how much I enjoyed their singing and piano talents, the words that were sung, and being able to feel for the Rainforest. Not only was this a project in which they learned a lot from, I'm sure, but also they have the ability to inspire people and ideas with this tiny school project and anything else they encounter in the future! It was great!
C4K #6
I just watched a video on German Gnomes from Mr. Mclung's class blog! Two male students in his class provided intermission entertainment for a World Language Festival that their school held! They danced around for a few minutes, dressed as gnomes, and got the audience involved. I couldn't really hear the music or the singing over the audience, but the audiences entertainment and involvement was the purpose of the gnome dance, so I have to say... mission accomplished!
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