Final Reflection

Final Reflection

Project #13

We have used so many types of technology in this course! We have had the best opportunities to learn about Skype, Facetime, Google Docs, SMARTboards, PLNs, YouTube, iMovie, iPhoto, iBook, blogs, and so many other collaborations. I have used Skype prior to the class and loved it from the beginning. I love how we can integrate it into our classrooms and connect with teachers and students from around the world. Facetime is one of my favorites as well. I have used Facetime prior to this class and thought it was great how you can talk to someone like they are there in person.I have used this to collaborate with my group this semester and it was very helpful. Google Docs is amazing! I love how you can share documents with anyone you want, whenever you want and it is accessible anywhere! I am so glad that tool is available for us as teachers. SMARTboards are awesome! I can't wait to learn and do more on those in the classroom. They are so interactive and engaging for children to apply their learning. I can see so many things I can do on the SMARTboard in my classroom to get the students motivated! I am also glad to have found my PLN (Personal Learning Network) and to be able to add teachers and experts to it as I find them for future references. I'm sure it will benefit me in the future when I'm teaching. YouTube is such a huge part of this class and I feel very lucky to have used it so often and see how to embed videos or share them in different programs. iMovie, iPhoto, iBook are all wonderful programs!! I have really enjoyed creating movies, videos and the iBook. I have learned so much like how to insert pictures, videos, text, charts, hyperlinks, make movies, detach audio from a recording, upload photos, import, export, edit, crop, resize photos, etc. I must say the possibilities are endless when it comes to technology! I am so fortunate to have learned so much in this course and to have all these technologies to use and get for my own classroom. The students will be so excited to start learning about them! All the blogs we had to visit and comment on were great experiences and showed me how there are so many educators out there willing to share anything you want to know. I can only hope that the school I become a teacher in has as many great technologically advanced devices to utilize as we got to learn about in this class! 

Final Project #16 Option C

Final Project #16 Option C

By: Annie Turner & Kayla Szymanski

Final PLN

Final Personal Learning Network Summary

My Final PLN looks a lot different from my original one. When we were first assigned to do this my goal was just to fill up the tiles. After the entire semester between all of the wonderful and helpful videos we were required to watch, the people we followed on Twitter, and all of the blogs we viewed, it has vastly grown. I see now how helpful and useful Symbaloo and a PLN in general is ! I am also in EDU301 and Dr. Vitulli gives us so many amazing resources, thanks to Symbaloo I can easily keep track of those resources. They are right the in my PLN anytime I need them and from here it can only grow throughout the rest of my educational journey! One of my favorite tiles on my PLN is to www.storyline.net this is an amazing website that Dr. Vitulli showed me, and I have already started using it with my Preschool students this semester.  It is a website that has tons of children's books that are brought to life, and even some with celebrities reading them! Great site! 

Blog Post #13

Blog Post #13

Back to the Future

 This is a video of Brian Crosby during a seminar about how he utilized technology in his classroom. The majority of Mr. Crosby's class was made up of students who used English as a second language. That sounds so challenging to me!He talks about how his students were taught on a narrow curriculum which hinders their learning capabilities. A narrowed curriculum only brings down the student's level of creativity. Each student is required to have a blog and record everything they do in it. He also required his students to set goals, but not just for themselves. They set them for their community, their school, and their country. He challenges his students to better the world around them through their own goals. He then conducted a hot air balloon experiment with his students, this experiment captured attention from all over the world! Mr. Crosby's class then constructed their own hot air balloon,it flew into the atmosphere until it exploded. They put all the recorded hopes inside the balloon. This experiment made students want to learn on their own. It also helped break the language barrier because so many students had to learn how to interpret written and spoken English. Mr. Crosby even had a student brought into his class via Skype because she had leukemia and she was treated as if she were a normal day-to-day student. Mr. Crosby's classroom was very inspirational to me, as an educator. His balloon experiment created a higher sense of confidence in the children and an overall sense of importance. It showed what kind of an impact an ordinary sixth grade classroom can make. With each assignment we are given in this class I more clearly see the importance of blogs in the classroom. With a classroom dynamic like Mr. Crosby's the possibilities are endless. With teachers that are like Mr. Crosby, there is a better future
 for our students.

 A Vision of Students

 
 This video very clearly illustrated every thought of every college student ever. It covered topics ranging from professors never learning your name to spending thousands of dollars on textbooks deemed important but are never used.Which I happen to have two of from this semester alone, myself! However, the assignment very clearly stated not to view this video from a students prospective, but to view it from the prospective of teachers or University presidents. In that case, I'd feel very poorly about my performance as an educator and a leader. It's one thing for a student to pay for a class and never show up, that's their decision. But assigning material that is irrelevant to their field of study or not adapting to today's lifestyle is a problem for the administration. I actually can relate to this, I had a class this semester sadly at our school that I took online, which cost more than a regular class at the school, in which the professor merely assigned a forum and a 10 question quiz every week. The class was easy, however what did I get out of it? Also, how much money was wasted on a poor excuse for a college level course? In the case of this video though we must ask, why? Why is this student ignoring a class that he or she paid a lot of money to be enrolled into? This is a question Dr. Strange mentions at almost every class meeting when students do not show up. This makes perfect sense to me, why waste your money! Is it because they are lazy? Most, I'm sure would assume so. Maybe it's because the instructor never covers any relevant material. Maybe they never teach. It is possible that the instructor is not giving quality information. As said in the video, college students are multi-taskers because they have to be. They have to make sure the time they spend is productive. As an educator you cannot waste a student's time, just as much as they are expected not to waste yours. Instructors and educational leaders need to be thinking of the needs of the student. Sadly, this is almost never the case when dealing with a University. It's always about money. That's why textbooks are so expensive. That's why you cannot graduate from a college or university without taking at least 36 hours first. It's all about money.

Project #15 Lesson Plan

SMARTboard Lesson

C4T Post #4 Comments #1 & #2

C4T Post #2

This week and next week  I was assigned to comment on a very clever and creative blog called "WhatEdSaid," you can find the link to this blog here: 
WhatEdSaid Blog

Comment #1

The most recent blog post on this blog that I commented on was Titled, "What is Creativity?"

The blogger posted a video of himself asking several students what Creativity was to them. It was completely unscripted and very neat, you can find the video below.

This was my comment :

"My name is Annie Turner I am a student at The University of South Alabama majoring in Elementary Education, I am in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class and was assigned to comment on your blog. I LOVE this blog post!  I have a daughter who is four and just last week I asked her what she thought imagination and creativity was, and her response was so perfect! She said," Creativity is when you can make things from your very own ideas! And Imagination is when your brain helps you pretend things that aren't real, so you can have fun!" I thought it was first of all amazing how she knew in her own little words what these two things meant! I love how you unscripted asked several children what Creativity was to them! SO impressive and so neat! The mind of a child is such a beautiful thing!"

Comment #2 

The second most recent blog post on my assigned Blog :

WhatEdSaid Blog

was titled, "Who chooses your professional learning. "

It is a post that talks about,"Teachers taking ownership of their learning." Attached to the blogpost was a sample of a survey that would be given out at their schools and asked blog followers and viewers to also take a moment to fill out the survey. The link is below:

TEACHER SURVEY in Google+

This was my comment:

"My name is Annie Turner I am a student at The University of South Alabama majoring in Elementary Education, I am in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class and was assigned to comment on your blog.This is a great, very valuable and usable survey I am adding a link to this post on my blog, as well as a link to the Survey! It is a must for teachers to take control of their teaching and learning styles ! Thank you !"

Blog Post # 12

Blog Post  Assignment #12

1. Go to Autism Speaks Website and look around, just to familiarize yourself with the site as well as what they do. http://www.autismspeaks.org

2. WRITE one paragraph about what you learned about AUTISM that was valuable to ANY teacher, that you could apply to your classroom.

3. FOLLOW Autism Speaks on Twitter. Send Them a thank you tweet hashtag #EDM310 in your tweet so I will see it. @AutismSpeaks

4.Blog Post must contain pictures and be written like a Quality Blog Post, using correct grammar and punctuation.




Blog Post #12.
The Official Autism Speaks Website

Autism Speaks is a non-profit organization that dedicates it's time solely to helping Autistic children connect to the world as well as their own parents. Autism Speaks, funds the research related to Autism and working with Autistic children and young adults.

"Autism appears to have its roots in very early brain development. However, the most obvious signs of autism and symptoms of autism tend to emerge between 2 and 3 years of age. Autism Speaks continues to fund research on effective methods for earlier diagnosis, as early intervention with proven behavioral therapies can improve outcomes."

Autism is a serious disorder that is sadly, all too often something people are far to quick to label children with. There is a major difference in a child that is being a child and a child with Autism. On the same note many signs of Autism are often over- looked by parents as well as teachers. That is exactly why it is so important to learn the signs of Autism as an Elementary Education Teacher or a Special Education Teacher. If teachers can learn the signs, they can be that much more prepared to help an Autistic Child through their educational journey. Another big thing to remember when dealing with an Autistic child is, the parents' feelings. No parents ever want to admit or learn that something is wrong with their child. With that being said, they eventually have to come to grips with the fact that something is wrong. As  educators we MUST be prepared to help support the children and the parents through a tough disorder, such as this. Learn the signs, visit AutismSpeaks.org.

Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy's studetns are so lucky to have such a thoughtful and wonderful technologically modern teacher! These children get to blog and communicate with other students, and teachers. The children are told only to use their first names not last for privacy concerns, also to be safe on the internet.  When critiquing work you should be nice and not hurt another friend's feelings.  Wiki's are used in Ms. Cassidy's room to find out information about a topic.  The children use the smart board and Skype to enhance the technology in their room.  Video taping for individual portfolios and for classroom use are seen in the classroom. These children are not limited and can be whoever they choose to be, and they know it! All thanks to Ms. Cassidy!  My favorite thing I noticed about their classroom was on the door, it said " College Graduating class of 2025." I thought that was very inspiring to children, and adults alike.

Skype Interview with Ms. Cassidy

 Miss Cassidy utilized technology to the fullest in her classroom with the tools she was given! She was given five computers to help in the classroom.  As she explains when you have five of anything, there is a need to make a center.  Her mission then was to see how she can incorporate learning into the computer technology.  She was asked if she had any help with incorporating technology in her room.  Ms. Cassidy said she had a great technical teacher who helped with explaining the use of blogging and technology in the room.  Administrators were alright with the use of technology.  Parents can look at their child's blogs and see their progress.  Online portfolios help with progression in the classroom. I like the fact that Ms. Cassidy included technology in her curriculum so  the students are able to learn skills needed to use technology in their everyday lives. In the SKYPE interview with Dr. Strange, Ms. Cassidy talked about how long she used technology in her classroom, how she got her ideas and how the parents responded to their children using technology in school. It is so neat to know that when I have my own classroom how much technology will be available to use! If our students understand why they are learning specific skills in school they will better know how to use those skills and carry them with them in there ever-growing toolbox for eternity! Our students our teachable, and impressionable, and they can and will learn if we help them. Technology is what modern children know, they are programmed to understand it from birth, and if we learn utilize that technology, our students can better grow.

Special Blogpost Assignment

USA TODAY was celebrating its 30th anniversary and commemorating this event, some of the USA's greatest visionaries were interviewed for an article titled "A World Where Grades Will Be Left Behind". Mary Beth Marklein, the author of the article, asked these people to talk about the world of tomorrow as they see it.

She first interviewed Sebastian Thrun who is a "Google vice president and Stanford research professor best known for his role in building Google's driverless car." He is the founder of Udacitywhich is a free online educational company. Udacity offers courses like Programming Languages, Design of Computer Programs, and Artificial Intelligence.
The next visionary Marklein interviewed was Sal Kahn. He is best known for flipping classrooms. Flipping a classroom is where students learn the lesson at home and then do activities, homework, or further learning in the classroom.

The article mentions Kahn's thoughts on the future of education, or the way he would like education to look in 30 years. He mentions that grades are "the failure of the education system". I have heard that many people want to get rid of standardized tests, and I agree with that. Yet his thoughts on getting rid of all grades caught me off guard. Kahn said he would like a system to be on mastery of a concept or skill. The student would be able to take as much or as little time as needed to master the skill. I honestly do not know how I feel about this. All I think about is the simulation lab in nursing school. I wonder how mastery of a skill would be tested. Would it be tested?

Another thing that struck me was that Kahn is "aim(ing) to make an online college education as affordable as a cellphone bill," and Thrun has a free online college. I am with the rest of college students out there wanting cheaper tuition cost, but I am a realist to a point. I wonder how it is that there is enough money to pay teachers and other staff if the cost is as low as a cellphone bill or lower. I do not see this happening. I wish it would, so I would not have to save up for my children's education. 

Blog Post #10

I'm a Papermate. I'm a Ticonderoga. Mr. Spencer's cartoon made me laugh! I knew right away that the titles were two types of pencils. Ticonderoga pencils are commonly used in elementary school classrooms. The thick ones are great for teaching younger children how to hold their pencils correctly. My initial thought was the cartoon was about pencils, which seems ironic since this class is all about technology. After reading the comments on the cartoon it made much more sense. This cartoon was not about the pencils, it was a metaphor. Mr. Spencer explained that this was mocking the "I'm a Mac" and "I'm a PC" commercial. The Papermate is less costly than the Ticonderoga thus, the PC is less costly than the Mac. To say "you get what you pay for" could never be more true than when dealing with technology. The PC is great because it was an original, a base for the technology world, however the Mac is in a class all it's own. The very first computer I ever owned was a  "Gateway 2000," and at the time I though it was amazing! I later advanced on to a laptop, it was about as big as an anatomy textbook and weighed as much as an Atlanta phone book. Eventually I got an HP and then an ACER. Finally, after wasting ALL that money on new computers every time mine crashed, I got a MAC. And I have to say I believe that once you go MAC, you never go back. I could not imagine NOT having one now.


Why Were Your Kids Playing Games? 
This post made me laugh! The principal wanted to see Mr.Steven in his office. He had concerns about Mr. Steven's students playing games in his class. Mr. Steven's talked about the strategy of using advanced simulation as one of his teaching techniques and further explained on how physicians use the simulation strategy to learn to operate. The principal was not happy with that explanation and reminded Mr. Steven that he needed to follow the state based methods of learning. The principal lectured Mr. Steven  on focusing on memorizing information so his students could pass the tests. This just goes to show that principal had very old fashioned teaching styles. He suggested Mr.Steven the use of other methods of worksheets and algorithm information to help his students. Mr. Stevens found a solution-  another game, called the "The Factory Game" including algorithm into a Conflict Oriented Reading and Writing Project. This was great solution to the problem and funny too. I bet that the principal did not like this, however I think that Mr. Steven's  methods were far more effective in the modern classroom. Mr. Steven's was very brave to challenge his principal like this.

  Remember Pencil Quests? 
Mr. Stevens talks about one of his junior year teachers and the scavenger hunt ("Pencil Quest") she took them on. Instead of looking for different items, the students were looking for specific pages of materials to read. The students had a map with locations marked on it. The teacher said the quest was called a "moving textbook" and the students had to finish the quest. He remembered this activity because it was one that was different and more exciting than other assignments he had done while in school. He still uses the pencil quest activity in his classroom.One of our EDM 310 class projects a few weeks ago had a scavenger hunt activity where we went to different sites locating specific items. The pencil quest activity reminded me of our assignment. It was interesting and broke routine of reviewing videos and reading blogs for an assignment.

 Mr. Stevens was telling us not to throw away all of our pencils because they are still useful. The writing in books are still captivating for some people.  Some old techniques are still relevant and technology being all the rage now is not the end all to everything. Ibooks are still written words, maybe not written with a pencil, but still written .

  Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please?

The blog post by Scott McLeod called Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please? looked  slightly strange to me as I opened the post. At first I thought my web page did not load correctly and so I reloaded it. I loaded the same way a second time. In this post the parents and teachers are asked to not teach their children to use computers, write on line or anything related. He digs at people who think the internet is bad and tells everyone not to teach their children because he is teaching his children and wants to see who will be more successful later in life. This post is full of snide remarks.Mr. McLeod mentions students taught the correct use of computers kills will have an advantage in life. He pokes fun at parents and school board members that believe the internet is evil. His thoughts on the subject really peaks my interest. 

The students should be taught internet skills. I've never had a class on using the internet and I am self taught. I am of the generation that did not grow up using computers, iphones,ebooks, etc. My young friends taught me to use Facebook, Skype, and Facetime. When you teach yourself sometimes you learn the wrong way and in this class, I have learned the right way to do some things I learned on my own as well as many new things. The material I have learned has many benefits to my professional life and to my personal life too.Scott is fervent about using technology in the classroom. He has received many awards centered around technology leadership as stated on his blog. He has a continuous challenge to introduce schools to technology in the classroom. His career has been focused on helping school integrate technology into the schools. Mr. McLeod is also a blogger.

C4K November Summary

C4K Ms. Vitulli's Ireland Blog
Link to Vitulli & Santoli: Eyes on Ireland Blog

My Comment on most recent post:


"Hi, Ms. Vitulli,

My name is Annie Turner, I am in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class and was assigned to comment on your blog this week. I am also in your ART class on Thursday night in Fairhope. I am looking forward to hearing about your trip! I really enjoy reading your blog. I wanted to answer your questions that you posted at the end of your blog post:



How can classroom teachers ensure that they are not neglecting human development issues as they ensure that they are teaching as well?

Teachers have a responsibility to make it a priority to educate their students this means in anyway possible , going the extra mile for individual and all students. If a teacher is not capable or willing to do this then they do not need to be an educator.


What resources might help teachers in this effort?
ANY resource available to them. Technology, is an asset to the modern classroom for sure. However, a good teacher will develop one heck of a PLN so that they are prepared and fully stocked on fresh ideas and different ways to teach any type of student.

Is this an area where elementary teachers have opportunities that secondary teachers may not?

Oh Absolutely, because in Secondary education your students are already set in their ways in their study habits and educational patterns, it is much easier to mold a young mind and get them excited to learn, as well as instill good study habits.



Do teachers have a responsibility to do more than teach content?
YES! If I had more teachers who went the extra mile and made sure I was learning I would have been better prepared. Rather than just being required to make a 60 to say I "passed." Test memorization that is forgotten as soon as the test is turned in, is a joke. I feel I would have been a better student then, if before arriving on college's doorstep with no clue how to truly study or learn, I had a teacher instill study habits in me.

CONTENT is important obviously, but a teacher knows through experience if other information will be beneficial to know . If a teacher will take the extra time to share those items with the class, along with the content items, students might come out a little wiser and stronger."



C4K Post # 2 November
Mr. Boylen's Classblog

I was assigned to comment on student : Blake B. 
Blake's ;ast blog post was on October 31st and it was titled
"Were the red grows.."
Here is the link to his blog :
Blake B's Class Blog


This student did not seem to really complete this blog post correctly, the class blog was for 8th grade students, and he did not use correct spelling, grammar, or punctuation, and his post was one incomplete sentence long.
Here is my comment: 

Hi Blake,

My name is Annie Turner and I am a student at The University of South Alabama. I am in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class, I am studying elementary education. This week I was assigned to comment on your blog, and most recent post. I have to say of all the posts I have been assigned to comment on this semester yours is the shortest. This class blog seems to come from the middle school aged students, so I must say I was disappointed with your post. You spelled "Where," wrong, and the post is entirely to short. If the assignment was to describe the book you read and why you liked it. You did not use any punctuation, and "I" should be capitalized. The title is : " Where the Red Fern Grows." When writing about a book always be sure to Capitalize the title and underline it. Also, be sure you word it correctly. If you did not read the book, you should have just stated so. I see that your interests include sports, even professional athletes have to go to college and maintain certain grades to play, before they go pro! Keep your head in the game and you will go much farther.

Thank you,

 Annie Turner

C4K Post # 4 November
Ms. Nelson's classblog

This week I was assigned to comment on  Ms. Nelson's 4th grade Alabama History's class blog , on their trip to the Capitol to meet Governor Bentley. This was  a really neat posting because I remember my field trip to the capitol, in the 4th grade to meet Governor Riley.
Below is my comment on the blog:

My Comment:

Hi,
 My name is Annie Turner, and I am a student at The University of South Alabama and in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class, this week I was assigned to comment on your blog. This was a very neat blog for me to view. I grew up in Alabama and I remember my own trip to meet Governor Riley, many years ago! Of course we did not have all of these wonderful technologically advanced tools to document our trip! One of the first things I noticed when I look at the picture above is that, half of the students are holding up iPads, how neat is that. The EDM310 class is all about technology in the classroom and I always think that, our local schools are not there yet, and then I see your blog. At the school right down the street from where I work and live, students in 4th grade on a traditional field trip, that is a part of Alabama History, technology being used all the way! I love it! The video I was assigned to watch was : The State House. This was such a neat video, I like how pictures taken on the trip were used in collaboration  with the recording of actual students talking about the things they saw and learned! These students actually learned something and had fun! What an amazing method of teaching and helping students to truly learn! Please follow my blog at http://turnerannieedm310.blogspot.com .

Project #14 SMARTboard

Project #11 green screen

PROJECT #10 PLN

My PLN thus far :

My PLN is vastly growing each day. My teachers are all very helpful in providing links to useful websites. Sometimes they are just favorites of their own and sometimes they are resourceful pages I will be able to use throughout my educational and professional careers. YouTube, TeacherTube, Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, SKYPE, Timetoast, and Goggle are just a few that I use everyday. Some other helpful sights that I have found are Scholastic, Crayola, Pinterest, PBS, and Alabama Virtual Library.
Symbaloo is the easiest way for me to keep up with my PLN, although there are other options. I can simply type in the website I want or create a new tile of a website that I find helpful. Learning can be so fun and technology certainly helps keep us on our toes and up to speed. Just a few years ago one would have been required to keep a list of websites to hold on to all of this useful information.

C4K October Summary

October 7,2012.
Ms. Dunlop and Monighan's 4th Grade Class Blog
Click here to view Class Blog
This students' blog post was about a trip to Oklahoma. It was short, only 3 sentences. One sentence made up the majority of the information. She had a few spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors, which is probably common for a fourth grader. However, her post seemed a little rushed and lacked details.
Raven's Post:
"oklahoma September 13, 2012 @ 3:45 PM 1 Comment Hi its Raven and I want to tell you about my trip to oklahoma.When I went to Oklahoma I was a little scared because I diddent know who would like me or not,but then I found out that it would be really fun cause I got two new dogs and made a new friend named Ella.It was really fun.So if you ever move dont be scared cause it will turn out to be really fun. "

My comment to Student:

Hi Raven,
My name is Annie Turner. It sounds like your trip was really, "Fun!" I am glad that you made a new friend. Moving and making new friends can be a lot of fun. Two new dogs, that sounds like a lot of responsibility. I love dogs! I have two myself, Atticus and Marley. What did you name your dogs? I enjoyed reading your post today, Raven. The only thing I would change is your second sentence, it's a little long!




October 28, 2012.
Danielle Spencer's Class Blog

Click here to view Class Blog

This particular blog post was very different from any other blog that I have commented on this semester. The blog post was a collage of items not a structured paragraph. The entire blog was like this almost all of the posts. It was however very neat and unique, I liked that. The link above will take you to the students' blog directly so you may view her post.

This was my comment to the student:

Hi Jazmyn,

My name is Annie Turner I am a student at The University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I am in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class. I really enjoyed viewing your blog! It is unlike any other blog I have viewed this semester. I like how you used a collage of information for your blog, and how every week's post is created different. I noticed you had one post with a WORDLE, I love making wordles! I did notice that your most recent post had a few empty items. This may be intentional or because you just have not completed the post yet! Either way, keep up the good work! 

Annie Turner
EDM310
@ATur8916

C4T Post #3 Comment #1 & #2

C4T Post #3 Comment #1
Wesley Fryer's Blog


Wesley Fryer's most recent blog post was about an Honor Flight in Kansas. This is actually something that I hold a great interest in because I was fortunate enough to be allowed to help with the Mobile Honor Flight back when I was working at Eastern Shore Toyota. Recently, my daughter got to go and meet her Grandpa and his father (her Great Grandpa) at the Mobile Regional Airport as they landed from the honor flight mobile. Wesley Fryer talked about how neat this experience was, and this is a piece of what she wrote:

"Last week my father had an opportunity to serve as a ‘guardian’ on a Kansas Honor Flight to Washington D.C. Approximately 25 World War II veterans flew from Kansas City and 25 from Wichita, Kansas, to our nation’s capitol to visit the National World War II Memorial as well as other historic sites."

In her blogpost she added a slideshow which I have embedded here for you to see:

For those of you who do not know what an Honor Flight is I have listed the definition below, as well as a link to the: Honor Flight Website.

"The inaugural Honor Flight took place in May of 2005. Six small planes flew out of Springfield, Ohio taking twelve World War II veterans on a visit to the memorial in Washington, DC. In August of 2005, an ever-expanding waiting list of veterans led our transition to commercial airline carriers with the goal of accommodating as many veterans as possible. Partnering with HonorAir in Hendersonville, North Carolina, we formed the "Honor Flight Network." Today, we continue working aggressively to expand our programs to other cities across the nation."

 C4T Post #3 Comment #2
Wesley Fryer's Blog

This blog post was very different from any of the others that I have been assigned to in EDM310. Wesley Fryer got sucked into the latest frenzy; the song and the videos for "Gangnam Style".
She admits to finding them amusing and post several of her favorites onto her page. This was her post :

         "I’m a bit embarrased to admit a recent lack of YouTube cultural literacy: I didn’t follow or know about the “Gangnam Style” song and video sensation until a few weeks ago. I remember hearing the song in early October when our family went to “FrightFest” at Frontier City (our local amusement park in Oklahoma City) but I didn’t know what the song was or why it was significant. Today during his presentation at EduCause, Kyle Bowen mentioned the Forbes article, “How Much Did It Cost YouTube To Stream Gangnam Style?” and it inspired me to watch a few videos this evening. My mom had mentioned these US service academy remakes of the Gangnam Style video to me a few weeks ago but until this evening I hadn’t watched them. As a USAFA grad, I found the third one in this series (below) particularly amusing. See what you think."

This was my response to her post:

"My brother asked me if I had heard of this song awhile back, and I had not until he showed me! My first thought was , is this a joke? Of course this was in response to the original video. Then I had just about forgotten about it when I heard the song come on the radio. I could not believe that it was so popular, the song seemed so silly and I don't know about you but I cannot understand a word he is saying. Soon after that all of the videos started coming out of people doing it here and there and they featured it in an episode of Saturday Night Live. The video that you said was your favorite it cute! It just makes you laugh and smile. Which is the purpose of comedy anyway, right?"

Blog Post #9

What I've Learned This Year

“NO LESSON IS EVER PERFECT. THE LESSON YOU TEACH AND THE ONE YOU PLAN ARE ALWAYS DIFFERENT."

The blog post  What I've Learned This Year (2008-2009), written by Joe McClung reflected on his first year of teaching. He talked about his first year accomplishments as well as those things that he learned from. Reading his reflections gives you a firsthand look at his personal experiences. These experiences can be related to when you are going through your first year of teaching. I think it is important to notice that he did not have a PERFECT first year. He was human and he LEARNED as much as he TAUGHT in that year. This blogpost was reassuring and made me feel less worried and more confident about being in the modern technologically advanced classroom. He gave advice on how to read a class or crowd of people, this is a very vital and important lesson to learn and remember. Mr. McClung thought teachers were often too worried about pleasing the administration and staff rather than focusing on the students, and the the lessons at hand. He included in his blog a reminder to teachers to be flexible, this is very good advice. Students lives and classroom disruptions are unpredictable and change on a day to day basis. Communication and interpersonal skills are very important when building relationships with children and adults, with students, parents and staff members.

  What I Learned This Year

What I Learned This Year was Mr. McClung's third year blog entry. He spoke of his second and third year teaching in the same school.  He spoke about really knowing who you report to and to focus on the students and not on impressing other teachers. If you spend your energy worrying about other teachers or staff members opinions, you lose focus on your students. Your goal as a teacher is not to be a people or student pleaser, your goal should be to TEACH your students and help make them truly learn. It is very important to remember that focus. Mr. McClung also commented on not getting too comfortable and how experience made his job easier. However, if you become too comfortable in a classroom setting you are more likely to fall victim to routine. Don't get me wrong routines can be great habits to form, but routines are boring. Routines cause us to lose focus. Mr.McClung warns us of this habit in his blog posts. I enjoyed reading these posts very much, they are very helpful, and honest.

Blog Post #8

Carly Pugh - Blog Post #12

Carly did an excellent job with this post. It is a very creative and motivational assignment that also provides a lot of freedom in the workspace. It's kind of like having a playlist of music that describes your mood, but instead it's videos that describe your goals and thoughts on teaching. Carly demonstrates Dr. Miller's hopes for writing with multi-media by being creative and using the unlimited resources on the web to teach something not only to herself, to others. I never thought about all of the possibilities that were right at my fingertips and a mouse click or iMovie away. With this assignment, I can show my teaching techniques through videos. This post was definitely an asset to my list professional blogs, videos and people to follow.

This Is How We Dream - Parts 1 and 2

In Part 1 of this series, Dr. Miller states that we are living in one of the greatest times for communication technology.  He is absolutely right! He makes the point that with the internet we constantly and instantly have access to information. While, if we were in a library, people check out books on a daily basis, therefore that book (reference) is inaccessible until the borrower returns it! Books have only just recently gone digital, the majority of us have grown up on real, paper books! The new technologies that are merging their way through our society are very promising and will greatly enhance the way our students learn. Dr. Miller also points out that the internet has given us the power to collaborate on work, or projects without ever actually having to meet in person. Everything can be handled through the internet, this means that teachers can collaborate with other teachers from around the world. And students across the nation and around the world can read one another’s blogs and collaborate as well. 

In Part 2 of this series, Dr. Miller states how our methods of research have changed. It could take years for usable material to reach the libraries shelves, or archives. Information on the Internet is updated by the second, however this information might not always be as reliable or factual as a book form the library.  The Internet is more reliable  in terms of being up to date, but anyone can post anything at anytime on the Internet. Unfortunately, some schools feel that they don't have "room" to teach classes based on this. I feel that if we could teach students these things at an early age then they could make a huge difference in the future. As teachers, we need to take the initiative to broaden the horizons of our students and show them the possibilities that are out there. I f students do not use the Internet to their advantage in every way possible to keep them involved and excited about learning then we as educators are not doing our duty to show them the proper way to learn from the Internet. “We put limitations on ourselves and we have the power to take them away.”

The Chipper Series

EDM310 for Dummies

These videos made some very good points. The Chipper Series tells a story of a student who dropped out of college because it was to hard and time consuming. She ended up working as a garbage collector. Stories like this happen more than I would like to imagine. Students think that the problem is the school or the professor, but the true problem is within the student. In order to be an effective student, you need to be able to follow the instruction of a teacher. Getting your degree isn't going to be a piece of cake. You actually have to work at it. These two videos made me think of a video that I would like to create explaining how YouTube can change your life. So many videos that I've watched in this class have changed my opinion of things. I want people to know that whatever your searching for in your life, there is probably video talking about or showing someone going through the exact same thing... or worse. YouTube is a wonderful website for soul searching.

Learn to change, Change to learn

This video talks about the importance of change in our school systems. Students need to learn how to be modern students. If learn by doing, and practicing rather than memorizing facts and reciting them, They need to know how to find those facts on the web, make sure they're legitimate, back the facts up with learned knowledge learn how to communicate it. Technology is going to keep on advancing whether we decide to learn to advance with it or not. One of the speakers stated that, "Technology is not a choice." This is so true! We now have technology like smart phones and iPads, and practically everyone owns one of the two or both! We could show students how to use these devices in education. We could teach them about communication throughout the world. In doing this we open our students minds up to new opportunities and allow them to learn about other cultures. Learning shouldn't solely be about education, but about building a community and new relationships. Practically everything I learned while I was in grade school was memorized and forgotten as soon as I turned the tests in or took a final exam. This type of learning in no way prepared me fro my intellectual journey, college, or the real world. This new teaching style, will truly prepare students for the real world, higher education and a successful intellectual journey. We need to instill in ALL of our students, or we really cannot call ourselves educators.

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