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