C4T Post#2 Comment #1

Comment For Teacher #1
My First Comment was on Tom Schimmer's Blog.
Click Here to view Tom's Blog

This blog post was titled, "Don't be afraid to lead." It was posted on September 11, 2012. He starts by stating that leadership matter. I believe that is true. Even if you are not a "follower" there will always be someone who looks up to you and mimics your beliefs and behaviors. Especially for us as educators, and myself in particular as a mother. Tom says that the most common and worst type of leadership is "ineffective leadership," this is the kind of leader that sets a bad example for people to follow. Even worse than that, being an ineffective leader yourself. If you try to tell a group of elementary children not to say words that they hear you say, they will think that is behavior is acceptable, and mimic it. ACTIONS speak volumes more than words ever will. I see this effect at home with my own daughter. She says things everyday that sound like me, more and more. Usually it is O.K. things such as big words that she does not know the meaning of. For instance today she said,"Mommy, Marley(our dog) is not cooperating." This made me laugh because she is four and hardly believe she knows what that word means. Earlier in the day I said, " Riley, please cooperate with me!" This situation of leadership was O.K. Had I said a curse word and she followed my lead, that would have been a result of ineffective leadership. I think that our president(s) sometimes are prime examples of ineffective leadership. They represent our country, yet term after term we watch out nations leaders devalue their position of power with mistakes they make or scandals they get wrapped up in. This is ineffective leadership at it's finest!
A quote that Tom had on his blog was by Steven Covey, who once said,

"It doesn’t matter how hard you climb the ladder of success if your ladder is up against the wrong wall."

Tom himself later in the post said this,

"The real question is when; when can a leader be the leader and lead? It really comes down to two things: trust and credibility."

This is such a valuable post that everyone could learn or revisit from time to time. To be a follower you have to Trust your Leader. And to be a valuable leader you have to be a credible human being. Credibility is a huge part of our character, as people and as teachers. As a teacher especially your students' parents are putting their trust to educate their children in your very hands. At that moment you have to decide are you trustworthy, and credible? Are you worthy of teaching, or are you an ineffective leader?


Comment For Teacher #2

My Second Comment on Tom Schimmer's Blog.

Click Here to view Tom's Blog

Tom Schimmer's Second to most recent blog post was title, "Real Strength." He simply listed a few points of what strength is or is not to him. Then he asked, "What is strength to you?"

This is how Tom described Strength:

"...means being able to admit you were wrong.

…means being as happy for others’ successes as you are for your own.

…is allowing yourself to be vulnerable.

…means giving more credit than you take.

…means saying more with your actions than you do with your words.

…is liking yourself despite all of your imperfections.

…is never allowing others to determine what’s possible for your life.

…is choosing happiness instead of waiting for it.

…is believing you can when others say you can’t.

…means using every experience as an opportunity to learn & grow.

…is not needing to be the loudest voice in the room.

…means respecting the disrespectful.

…is recognizing when your ego is taking over.

…means trusting people’s intentions.

…means believing in your greatness without needing to prove it to others.

…is about being grateful for what you are instead of desperate for what you are not."

This was my response.

"Strength to me is somewhat unmeasurable. All people can be strong for a number of different reasons. You could be strong from something specific that you have been through in your individual lifetime. You could be strong for a medical reason, a survivor of cancer, or a medical disorder. You could be physically strong, or spiritually strong. Strength to me is the one thing that makes you special, makes you stand up and stand out. Strength is something that makes you a better person, teacher, friend, or neighbor."

Project #12 book Trailer Project

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qvKuWOeOP9o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Blog Post #7

The Networked Student

The Networked Student. Is a video that shows us that teachers are prime examples of people who can really get the most of out having a networking program. It is absolutely imperative that in today’s classrooms our teachers be 110 % up to date in technology, so their students can become 110% technology literate. There are many teachers out there who earned their certifications and degrees many years ago, they did not grow up on technology like we all have, and probably do not use it too often if they are not very familiar with it! If a teacher does not understand technology, how can the students learn to or be expected to utilize? Everything about our society links back to technology. This is why we all must be up to spend on the latest and greatest methods. Networking is so very important for teachers, a necessity truly. Because Networking makes students and teachers and even parents lives easier. When teachers use Networking apps with students it allows the students the opportunity for students and teachers to have a closer relationship. Teachers can meet with parents as often as needed using a networking medium. This promotes good parent teacher relationships and that's good for the students. This opens many doors for the students’ educational sources. Networking is a fabulous source that can integrate the arts and academics. This whole idea is so powerful, it allows people to communicate and hear others ideas. These sources are a great way to keep students and teachers current on ever- advancing classroom tactics.

        The student in the video is a 7th grader. I was very impressed with the student. I'm sure this student was trained prior to using the Symbaloo application and not left to figure it out on her own, however the fact that she was so great shows a lot of hard work on her part. Her teacher has done an excellent job engaging her in learning, and insuring that this student really got all she could out of the Symbaloo APP. I hope to be able to use Symbaloo as well as she does by the end of this class. I am just starting my PLN at this time and really have nothing to compare to what she has done!

Podcast Project

Timeline Toast - Project #9

TIMELINE TOAST
Preschool By the Bay

Preschool By The Bay is where I work, where I am a PreK-3 Teacher Full Time. This is a summary of events that the school has gone through in it's short four year journey to SUCCESS.

Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch
"Achieving your Childhood Dreams."

In Randy Pausch Last Lecture, he spoke about his childhood dreams and all of the things that he’s accomplished. This was his last lecture because he was only given 6 months to live due to tumors in his liver. This Video was filmed at Carnegie- Mellon, where he actually received his PhD. When the title of this lecture was created ironically he was not ill and after he become ill he said how ironic. The title,” The Last Lecture” was intended to be motivational. If you were going to die and had one last lecture to give, what would you say? I think it was very neat how he took that and ran with it, he made his last lecture the most motivating, funny, and spirited of all of his lectures. Randy Pausch was once told, "You're such a good salesman. You should be selling something worthwhile, like education." That is precisely what he did. He touched on the subjects that matter and focused on, “Achieving your childhood dreams.”

Wow, I mean if we thought like that as teachers more everyday it might really help us be more active with our students and hands on. I can count on one hand how many teachers that I had as a child who pushed me and made it known that they cared about me, as their student. The educators who pushed me towards my dreams and believed in me are the ones that I still remember today. Those are the teachers whose voices and encouragement stick with you throughout your entire life. That is what teaching and learning is all about and what a world we could have if ALL teachers were that powerful and encouraged students’ childhood dreams! One thing that he said that really hit me hard was,“When you screw up and no one says anything to you about it, then they've stopped caring.” This was one of my favorite quotes in the entire lecture. This is true. I am a teacher, and I sadly have done this with a difficult child. Never permanently but in the moment in one awful day, I know I have thrown my hands up and said today, I give up. I am going to remember this quote throughout my entire teaching career. And I will never make that mistake again.

Randy Pausch's childhood dreams were: Being in zero gravity, playing in the NFL, authoring an article in the World Book Encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk, winning stuffed animals at the fair, and being a Disney Imagineer. He was able to experience zero gravity with a student group, but he had to pretend to be a journalist. He said, “Do you know how easy it is to get a Press Badge?” He never played in the NFL, but he did play football and learned several valuable lessons from it. He did write for the World Encyclopedia, he became like Captain Kirk (He REALLY liked Star Trek , and referenced “Captain Kirk A LOT)by being a leader in a virtual reality project, and he manage to win A LOT of bears. Pausch says that, “Brick walls are there for a reason; they let us prove how badly we want things. They’re there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.”By “brick walls” he means obstacles that everyone will run into at some point. If you can get through it, then it proves how badly you want what’s on the other side. He worked on a virtual reality program at Disney. It was a virtual Aladdin flying carpet ride. They asked him to become a permanent “imagineer”, but he said no and became an imangineer consultant. He asked the question “how can I enable the childhood dreams of others?” My absolute favorite thing Pausch said was,

“To always keep the child-like wonder.”

Mr. Pausch really inspires me to have fun every single day of your life, in everything you do, and do to it with your whole heart. He is a prime example of life being too short and fragile to ever waste a minute of it not doing what you love, and being the best you can be. To me, that motivates me to be the best teacher I can be every single day, because you never know what kids have going on at home, but you want to all you can for them at school. Shape their futures, promote their dreams and believe in them, even if no one else does. Sometimes, that is all any of us need if just one person to believe in us, and what we DREAM to be.

“ Be a Tigger, not an Eeyore. Tell the truth. Be earnest. Apologize when wrong. Focus on others, not yourself. Help others.”

This reminds me of a country song called, “ Love Like Crazy.”

In this video Pausch discusses the highlights of his life and he tells you what he took from his experiences. then he tells you what you can expect to get from your own life. This lecture teaches you how to help someone else achieve their dreams, without letting you sell yourself short of achieving your own dreams at the same time.Paunch also talked about his time at Carnegie-Mellon. He mentioned that in his graduate class he did not use a single textbook. It was solely a project based course. He was so surprised by his students work he thought they all did a fabulous job. However he still told them all,"That was pretty good, but I know you all can do better." He was a great teacher he pushed his students because he believed in them. he pushed all of them and they surprised him and rose to the challenge, and became amazing.



Pausch had four main points to live by:
1.) Be good at something, find out what it is , and go after it because it makes you valuable.
2.) Work hard at everything you do, impress people, impress yourself, give your all, do your best.
3.) Find the best in everyone you meet no matter how long it may take to find, and show people the best in you, be awesome.
4.) Be prepared because luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

If you live your best life, and follow your dreams, respect others , and learn all you can, SOMETIMES your dreams follow you. Be a good person, AND a great educator. LIVE your dreams and inspire others to do the same. I was really dreading this “ Last- Lecture Video,” simply because it was an hour long but I must say it was one of the most spirit- filled and inspiring videos I have ever had the pleasure of viewing.

C4K September Summary

Comments for Kids #1 Comment #1

"Iron's cousin had a birthday!"

Iron's Blog Post:

On Saturday we celebrated my little cousins birthday. I felt so excited because I wanted to eat cake. In a loud voice I shouted "WOW" as soon as I saw the big beutiful cake. My cousin is a girl and she turned 3 on Saturday. As soon as she blew her candles that were on the cake, she started to clap and we sang the happy birthday song in english and samoan. It was time for us to cheer and we said "hip hip horray, hip hip horray, hip hip horray." We ate the cake after we cheered and we said in samoan "Manuia" which is "Take care". We started to eat and when we all took first bite, our faces looked so so suprised because of the prettyness, awesomeness and tasteness of the cake! We were happy that we got to go to her birthday. My favourite part of my cousins birthday was eating the TASTFULL cake!!!

My Comment:

I was assigned to comment on a 5th grade students blog. The student I chose blogged about his little cousin's 3rd birthday! He does a great jobs describing the cake and how it tasted, he included a picture that he drew on a computer in the post. It was a short and concise post about the birthday party and one fabulous cake from a 5th graders perspective!

My comment went as follows :

"WOW! I really want a big slice of cake now! Your description of your cake was wonderfully worded! I could almost picture the cake myself! It is very cool that you got to sing "Happy Birthday," in English and Samoan! I wish I could speak two languages. I love the picture of the cake that you added to your blog, did you draw that yourself ? I hope that your cousin had a wonderful 3rd birthday, and enjoyed her cake as much as you did! Keep blogging, you are doing so good!"

The student's blog can be viewed below:
Click here to view students' Blog Post

Comments For Kids #1 Comment #2

I commented Iron's most recent blog post again to follow up with him. Here is his latest posting:

During the beginning of our holidays, we had to start rehearsing for white Sunday because its coming up in the second week of the holidays. I am looking forward to our White Sunday! I like doing speeches in front of people and dancing. I wondered how many speeches was I going to do? Hmm I am doing 2 speeches and they are short. I have got my speeches off by heart and I know how to do the dance. I am feeling enthusiastic for next week on White Sunday. Hooray!!!

My Comment:

Hi Iron, This post is much longer than your previous post I read. Your blog is coming along fabulously! The picture you drew is beautiful. I like the quote, God is great and good! I love that you used the word enthusiastic, what a great descriptive word! Now, I am dying to know what is, "White Sunday?" Also, I just learned recently that when you are typing number words one thru ten, apparently you are supposed to spell them out! When the number is bigger than ten you can type them. Keep up the good work Iron! Annie Turner EDM310 @ATur8916