Project #10 Finding the Right Tool

readwritethink.org
I found many websites to add to my PLN this week. I really enjoyed readwritethink.org. It offers help to the teacher, students, and the parents. The teacher can find lesson plans, print outs, interactive for the students, and many more useful tools. The teachers find strategy guides to help them teach different techniques. The website allows you to search by grade level, learning objectives, and theme. There is a section for parents and after school activities. The students can get extra practice and even play games to reinforce the lessons they learned. There are projects and activities for the students.
I really enjoyed this website. My degree will be in elementary education meaning that I will be placed in the grade level that is available. This website allows you to search for any grade level. Since my grade level will most likely change often I can continue to use this same website, as well as others, often. I plan on using the activities on this website for my son that is in the fourth grade.

Blog Post #6

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler:
The video was about connectivism. I researched the definition on Wikipedia so that I could understand it a bit more. It is the theory of learning based on the premise that knowledge exists in the world rather than in the head of an individual. This is very true. There are countless amounts of information and ideas in the world. We can look on the internet to find out how to do anything. Technology has become a necessity in our everyday lives. We should all learn to have a social network for our own benefit.
I really enjoyed how the presentation was presented. The simple hand placed designs kept my attention. It was simple yet very informative. The students are learning how to explore useful websites and blogs. Blogs often give you opinions and you can ask them questions. Students are able to contact and sometimes Skype with actual scientists. Things of this nature can make students very interested and keep them motivated. The students are learning to use a learning network so that they will be able to teach themselves anything. They have the tools to find out anything they want to know. The teacher in this class is used for guidance. I like being able to explore and learn on my own but I am thankful that we still have someone to go to for that reassurance.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)
This video presentation was great. As I was watching this I was thinking of how amazing it is that a 7th grader produced it. When I was in 7th grade I didn’t have a clue how to do anything of this nature. I want my students to be able to do this. I had always hoped to teach lower elementary but the more I learn of the possibilities I am thinking upper elementary. I am really excited about using all of the technology that I have learned in my classroom. I feel like I may be able to do more of it with older students. I would like to have my students create a PLN at the beginning of the year and I would grade them on how well organized and how often they use it. I am excited to see how my PLN continues to grow as this semester goes on.

Blog Post #5

If You Built a School
Krissy Venosdale is very passionate about teaching and her students. She wants her classroom to be the most exciting place her students ever visit. Could you imagine students being excited to return to school on a Monday? I imagine her students are. She wants her classroom to be like the world: busy, chaotic, and always in motion. She wants her students to remember their time together. I hope to bring this excitement and joy to my classroom.
If I was able to build a school it would be big and colorful. I also would like signs welcoming the students in. I would want every teacher to make the students feel welcome at all times. I would require creativity and technology in every lesson. Students could be creative while using technology or have a separate activity using some type of art. The students would be allowed to make serious suggestions on what they would like to learn. I think it would be a good idea to have the students have a chance to teach a lesson at least three times a year. I would hope to make my students want to be at school and learn.

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir
This virtual choir was just pure brilliance. It is amazing that things of this nature can be achieved with the technology we have today. I would like to see this shared at every high school. There are so many possibilities with technology and each student needs to be aware of the possibilities.

Katie Gimbar on Flipped Classroom
The idea of flipping a classroom seems to be a great idea. I like how she focuses on each learning group. You will always have the three levels higher, middle, and struggling levels. The higher fast paced learners usually like to help teach the others. It is always a positive way for students to interact when they can help each other. In her flipped classroom she has the students engaged and actually working ninety percent of the class time while she is only lecturing for ten percent of the time. Students tend to get bored when a teacher lectures for too long.
The students are required to watch videos and take notes. This allows for the students to work at a pace that is right for them. If students do not watch the videos at home then they are allowed to make time during the day to watch them. Most students like to come to class prepared. If they are prepared they will be able to get in their groups to work collaboratively.

Dr. Lodge McCammon Dr. Lodge McCammon's FIZZ - Flipping the Classroom
Dr. McCammon states that we have to much lecture in the classroom. This is very true. Sitting in a classroom listening to someone is very boring and inefficient. We lecture the students and send them home to their no teacher parent. Most parents complain they can’t help their child with homework because they do not know how to do the work themselves. Having the videos would help the parents learn about what their child is learning. The students are able to work at their own pace and review the video again if they need to. This helps to create classroom time for the students to be hands on.

Ms. Munafo Flipping the Classroom - 4th Grade STEM
Ms Munafo expects students to watch the videos and fill out a form pertaining to the video. The students will watch the video and work a few problems. They will be able to ask questions and address problems they encountered while trying to work the problems. Some students may even come to class with ideas on how to help other students. I like the way this works. The students are able to get the lecture at home then going to school for the help. Most students today are getting bored during lecture at school and by the time they start their homework they have forgotten how to work it. The videos will be around for the students to review as needed.

Project #6 My Sentence

Blog Post #4

I loved the post Langwitches - Flat Stanley Podcast. I love the way she made the students choose a location and research it. The students were learning many different subjects at the same time. The students made their own Flat Stanley and mailed him to relatives or friends in the location they chose. The students were required to research many aspects of the location they chose. They had to decide how they arrived at the location. They had to decide what they did while they were there and how they came back home. They had to come up with things to do that were at that location. The students were creating an audio recording so they were required to think about the senses used while there also. I enjoyed reading about this project. This is something that I would like to do with my students. I feel that this would be very interesting to the students and when they are interested then they learn more.

Langwitches - Podcasting with 1st Grade was very interesting. I am eager to have my own classroom. I am excited that first graders are learning how to do these things. The students had watched podcast from a second grade class. They were amazed at all of the comments from around the world that it received. They were then eager to do one themselves. The teacher read them a book and the students had to act as if they were interviewing two of the main characters. The students were using many skills. They were listening, speaking, presenting, and using comprehension just to name a few. The students were more excited about hearing themselves on the web than anything. They wanted to listen to it over and over.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom by Joe Dale was also very interesting. The students are able to be more creative in my opinion. Students today are aware of computers and the internet and things like this are normal for them. When I was a child we didn’t have things like this but kids today use computers on a daily basis. My children Skype often with my dad while he is away working in Canada. Podcasting makes it easy for parents to see what their child is learning in school. The students are usually very proud to show their parents what they do. This is a way that students can show everyone their work even if a parent or relative lives out of town. I definitely will be using podcasting in my future classroom.

C4T #1 Post and Comment

C4T #1 Comment #1
Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano’s blogersphere is called Langwitches. Learning in the Classroom Part 2 is the first post I read. She is teaching her students about collaborating, participating, communicating and creating. The students learned about Mike Fisher, a poet. The students were assigned a poem to illustrate. They were able to learn about skyping when they skyped with Mr. Fisher about their individual poems. They were given the opportunity to ask him detail questions about their poems so that they can fully understand what it means. While the students were asking questions other students were tweeting about the skype call. Some students were creating Google documents to share about the call. It was very interactive. The students were learning many techniques at one time.

I was very impressed that the students were figuring out how to use Skype. The students were learning to tweet and learning how to do it correctly. They were also opening, creating, and sharing documents. I am amazed at how technologically advanced they are. They are completing tasks that I am just now beginning to figure out.

C4T #1 Comment #2
The second post from Langwitches was Assessment in the Modern Classroom Part Three - Blog Writing. This post was explaining that she uses a rubric to grade the blog post that the students post. She still expects the students to have correct writing skills by using a traditional writing assessment. The students are to post pictures and the pictures must support the content of the post. The post must be fluid and detailed. The students are required to post to blogs and they are still at times expected to write in their paper based journals.

I hadn’t thought about using a rubric to grade a post but I feel that it is most likely the easiest way. I was excited to see that the students at times are still required to write in their paper based journal. I really like and enjoy technology but feel that students should be taught how to write and use writing skills.

Project # 5 - Google Presentation

Special Blog Post #1

Many Students Misinterpreted the Data in Did You Know?

I found the WolframAlpha website to be very interesting. I found out that China is the most populated country at 1.35 billion people with India being second at 1.21 billion people. The United States ranks third by population with 309 million people. The facts from the video show the population difference of the two top ranking countries to the third top ranking country. Knowing the population difference I would hope that their numbers are bigger on some calculations.

I did a comparison of the population in Mississippi and Alabama with a college degree or above. Only 28.6% of Alabama’s population has a college degree or higher while 27.1% of Mississippi’s population has a college degree or higher. Those numbers to me are very low. I wish more people had the opportunity to continue their education. I also did a comparison of Mississippi and Alabama’s population. The population in Mississippi is 2.979 million people. Alabama has 4.803 million people.

WolframAlpha is very useful for anyone needing to look up anything. I found it very interesting that you can compare anything even apples and oranges. We often do not think about how many people actually live in the world. The world population is 6.79 billion with a life expectancy of 64.8 years. This website will tell you anything like that. I would like for my students to use this website at least once a week.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

This was also very interesting to me. I sat there amazed as I watched the numbers change so very fast. I was amazed but at the same time knowing how many people live in the world not that surprised. This goes to show us how fast technology is. We as teachers must stay up to date with everything when it comes to technology. Our students will be eager to learn the newest bit of technology available and we must be there to teach it to them.

Blog Post #3

Peer Editing
Peer editing is something that I plan on using in my classroom. I feel that if you use the techniques that Paige Ellis uses then you can be very helpful. I like that she starts off with compliments. I feel that if you start with being positive that your peers will be likely to listen to your ideas and opinions. Suggestions are always a good thing also. If you feel someone hasn’t done something just right I believe you should have suggestions to offer on how to improve it. Corrections can sound rude to someone if you aren’t positive and polite when you offer them. I do not feel comfortable in correcting someone openly about their mistakes so I will stick to private messaging on those issues.

Assistive Technologies
I enjoyed learning about the assistive technologies. I was amazed at the Mountbatten and the way they used the iPad to teach the vision and hearing impaired students. They are many different apps out there to help them learn. I really liked how the in one video the mom was learning to use the iPad as her child does. It is hard for impaired students to learn but sometimes t is even harder for us to realize how hard it is for them until we put ourselves in their situation. As a teacher I will take the time to research and understand the impairments that a child has in my classroom. I feel that before you try to teach someone with an impairment you should first understand their impairment. I will keep up with the latest devices and support to be able to help them reach their fullest potential.

Digital Smarts
Vicki Davis has her rural area students communicating with people all over the world. This is amazing. When I was in high school I remember taking a computer class but it was nothing like this. She teaches them about wikis, podcast, blogging, and many other media tools. I feel so far behind the college students of today because I was not taught these things in high school. I will admit all of this new technology is intimidating to me. I am not sure how to use it and I am sometimes embarrassed to ask for help. I want to use every piece of available technology that I can in my classroom. I want my students to be up to date on their technology skills so they don’t fell left behind.

Blog Post #2

Did You Know? 3.0 – A John Strange 2012 Version
Every student that was enrolled in EDM 310 in the fall of 2012 had a cell phone. That is amazing to me because I can remember when cell phones were in a bag in your car. People of all ages this day and time think that they cannot function without a cell phone or some type of technology that will text. I have a fifteen year old that thinks she will not survive if she doesn’t text someone after each breath. My nine year old has an iPod and he will text me while we are in the same room. He mainly uses his for games but is learning about all the free texting apps available. My soon to be two year old even knows how to work my ipad. He insist on playing his games all of the time. I am amazed at how quickly they all learn how to use this technology. We are in a very fast world today and we need to learn to adapt to it or we will be left behind.
The video talks about how the top jobs that are ten years away haven’t even been created yet. I can’t even begin to imagine what those jobs will be like. In colleges today we have online classes. I hope that the future doesn’t take us to having online kindergarten classes. Technology is an awesome tool to have but if you don’t know how to use it then it becomes worthless. It amazes me how fast the Chinese are wanting to and actually are learning how to use the English language. I believe that we need to somehow incorporate more technology into the classrooms so that our students will be able to find jobs as they graduate.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
I almost felt like Mr. Winkle when I enrolled back into college. I graduated high school in the year 2000. I went to a junior college for two years before putting my education on hold to start a family. When I came back to school a lot had changed. I walked into classrooms and everyone had laptops. The teachers were using smart boards. I was shocked and amazed at the smart boards but also embarrassed that I hadn’t ever seen one. I felt so old and out of place in the college world today. My junior college years we had to take notes fast because the teacher would talk and we would write. I came to south and the teachers just email you the notes. This helps me because sometimes I just couldn’t write fast enough.
In the video everything except the school had changed. The hospitals had machines helping people live. The business people were using computers to talk to each other across the world. I believe from my experience that the schools have changed over the years but not nearly enough. Once I was introduced to a smart board I asked my daughter if she had ever seen one and she said a few classes had the promethean boards. Today I asked my nine year old if he had ever seen a smart board and he didn’t know what I was talking about. I wish that all schools could afford and would make it a priority to have these things in each classroom. I feel that each student needs the opportunity to learn how to use one.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
I love when students use their creativity to learn. I feel like students learn better when they get to create something. They are actually using their mind to think how they want it to look when finished. Students today are so fast paced with video games, cell phones, and text messaging that when it comes to sitting inside in a classroom doing pencil to paper work they get bored. I feel that technology has them wanting to learn in a faster different way than we were taught as children. We need to step up the creativity level and help the children of today learn in way that their minds require us to teach.

Pinterest
I love pinterest! I have never pinned anything but have liked many things. I am still learning how to use it but I am eager to figure it out. I think pinterest can be used in each profession you have. Pinterest is even made for the homemakers of today. Anything that you need help with or ideas on how to do it better you can find on pinterest.
I will use pinterest in all four ways shown in the link. Lessons plans from pinterest is a great idea because you are getting ideas that actually work from teachers that have actually tried these. I love how they show you pictures of what they used with their lesson plans. They give you step by step how they taught it and it if was effective. Sharing ideas is also great to do on pinterest. Everyone was created differently and think differently so when we can have ideas from everyone on a website for all to share that is wonderful. I often find ideas that I love and are super easy but would never have come up with on my own. Organization is something else that I plan on using in my classroom. I love to have everything organized and love all of the ideas I find on pinterest. I love the idea of using pinterest for student use also. They can use it in group projects in ways that I never would have thought of.

Project #2 Wordle

Blog Post #1

About Me

My name is Marie Allgood. I was raised and continue to live in Lucedale, MS. I love the rural country life. I have four amazing children. My step daughter Bailey is fifteen. I also have three boys. Kase is nine years old, Chase is six years old, and Westin will be two years old in March. My kids are my life. They keep me busy and on my toes. They each have a very different personality which makes things interesting.

My love for children made me realize I wanted to become a teacher. I first attended college straight out of high school many years ago. I later decided to put my education on hold to begin a family. The year my step daughter started kindergarten I became an assistant teacher for a first grade class. I loved it. Children at that age are priceless. They are so loving, innocent, and eager to learn. A few years later I decided to continue my education to become a teacher myself instead of just an assistant. I also chose to be a teacher for the schedule. I like to spend as much time as I can with my children and feel this is the best choice to do that. I chose to attend USA because it is close to my home. It has been a slow process with four children but it will be rewarding in the end.


My Future Classroom

I hope to be placed in a first or second grade classroom. I will explain my classroom rules and expectations the very first day and many times throughout the year. I will stand firm on my rules. I believe children like rules and routine. They may not admit it but it does make them feel secure. Many students that we will end up teaching do not have rules or expectations at home. I feel that we should praise our students when they have accomplished something big or small. I want to make our classroom feel like it is ours and not mine. I hope to make each student feel welcome and comfortable so that learning will be easy and fun. Each student in my class will have a job that they are responsible for. Teaching children responsibility is very important to me.

At the beginning of the school year I will make it a priority to determine how each of my students learns best. I hope to use at least two hands on activities a day to engage the students. I will also start the day with an icebreaker type activity to reinforce the lesson of the week. This will also get them ready for the day by engaging them. I want my students to enjoy learning. I will also have them give suggestions for our hands on activities. They will be able to research activities that they would like to try.

I plan on using many tools in my classroom. I hope to have at least one computer for the students to use. They will be able to type stories, engage in blogs, and play educational games. I will bring outside tools into the classroom when appropriate. If we are learning about food then I will bring in that food for us to see, feel, smell, and taste. If we are learning about for example firefighters then I will ask one to visit our classroom. We will take many nature walks to explore. I love watching the students find out how many different types of leaves there are. I hope to make our classroom interesting and be able to use many different tools. I do not want my students to be bored with just pencil and paper.

I want my classroom to be colorful and inviting. I hope to change the bulletin board and such things regularly. I want them to be excited to come to class each week. I want my students to know that they have rules and are required to be respectful to everyone. I want my students to feel safe in the classroom and not embarrassed if they need help. They will be taught that we are all in the classroom to learn together.


Randy Pausch on Time Management

Time management is very important in every aspect of life to me. I have to manage my time wisely with four kids and college. I often make a to do list. I have notes everywhere in my house reminding me of things. I like everything organized so of course the most important things go to the top of the list. I do not always complete them in the order that is planned. As a mom most of my homework is completed after the kids are in bed and usually at the last minute. I strive to not be a procrastinator in this class.

Randy Pausch gave me a few things to think about in his video. He said “failing to plan is planning to fail.” I really like that statement and would like to implement it into my classroom in an age appropriate manner. Students need to learn at a very young age how to manage time. This is the first time I recall hearing of Randy Pausch or seeing him in a video. He was interesting to watch.

Test post #1

Test post #1