Blog Post #16

Part 1
Looking over blog post #1 was like a blast from the past for me. I even remember where I was when I wrote it! I remembered how much I loved reading Krissy Venosdale's blog about her dream classroom. It sounded like a wonderful place that I would still love to teach in. EDM 310 has made me realize that this is possible! My classroom can be a wonderful, bright place that my students can love walking into each morning. This can be made possible by incorporating technology!

When I looked over blog post #1 I realized how vague I sounded. Now, at the end of the semester, I feel like I can definitely elaborate on some different types of technology I want to incorporate into my classroom. I know that I want to use green screen technology in my classroom. This is a great way for my students to express themselves and have fun while learning. I also know for sure that I am going to take full advantage of the use of blogs in my classroom. I think that they have been a huge asset to EDM 310 and I know that they will have the same benefit in my classroom. I have loved the educational journey that I have been on with EDM 310 and I cannot wait to have some of the same experiences with my students! Thank you Dr. Strange!

Part 2

Final Project #16

Blog Post #15

The video iCurio with Anthony Capps really helped me to better understand the use of  iCurio. I did some research on it earlier in the semester but hearing Anthony talk about it seemed to make it more real for me. iCurio is a tool that allows students to research topics on the web safely. It filters out the bad sites and leaves the good ones. Anthony also said that iCurio allows students to save and sort what they have researched into folders. I think that this is a great feature! Anthony also pointed out that iCurio has a search by criteria feature that allows students to type in a vague description of what they are looking for and it finds it automatically. This is great if you are researching a specific person but can't remember anything specific about them. iCurio even has a read aloud feature! This is great for students with certain handicaps. I learned so much about iCurio after watching this video and I can't wait to try it out in my own classroom!

Anthony Capp's video, Discovery Education, made me wish I was making a lesson plan right now! I knew that Discovery Education was a great tool but this video made me love it even more! To actually get to hear how Anthony was incorporating it into his classroom was great! Discovery Education allows you to put visuals to text. It allows you to "bring experts into the classroom." This is great because teachers definitely do not know everything. Discovery Education makes it possible for your students to learn from people who a extremely knowledgeable in the topics you are studying.  Using this tool, children can bring their text to life. It allows them to view the subject in a completely different light. Dr.Strange said, "Kids listen and watch far more than they read and write." The more I thought about this, the more it really resonated with me. This was a great point! Overall I know that my students will be using Discovery Education.

Use Technology Don't Teach it- Hannah

The video Use Technology Don't Teach It was great! Technology is everywhere and a big part of children's daily lives. Allowing children to use technology in the classroom just enhances their learning experience. Anthony Capps introduces technology in stages. They might not get to the core of a certain piece of technology in one day but they will definitely skim the surface. Technology is an amazing way for children to express themselves and it is also green, mostly affordable, and very shareable. Anthony also emphasized that we should not expect perfection. These children are going to make mistakes because everyone makes mistakes. The most important thing is that we learn from these mistakes. It is also a good idea to try out the technology yourself first. This will make it easier to understand the questions that your students ask. Overall I thought that this a great video that helped me better understand the use of technology in the classroom.

Dr. Strange's Tips For Teachers- Amber

In this video Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discuss tips for being a successful teacher. He begins with by saying, “Teachers should also be learners.” I believe in this as well. If you are not willing to learn how can you expect your students to learn? A teacher must also be flexible and creative. Dr. Strange gives the example of Anthony’s class when they could not use their computers because the servers were down. So the whole was on the floor painting. Anthony had to be creative and come up with a backup lesson for that day. As a teacher you can not be committed to one way of teaching and lesson planning. Things are constantly changing. Anthony brings up the fact about teachers being able to reflect on themselves. I believe this is true and needs to be done. Self evaluation is key as well. This is something we all can never get enough of but if we do it often it’ll make our work and the way we learn so much better. I will definitely use these tips while trying to become a successful teacher.

Additional Thoughts About Lessons- Brittnee

In the video Dr. Strange has a Skype session with Anthony Capps and they talk about how a teacher should plan their year with the standards, projects and other things that need to be done through the year. Anthony tells us the lessons should be at least four layers thick. The first layer is the Lesson. This is how it fits in with your year. Anthony mentions that you should have a plan and make sure that you fit in all of your standards that you have to teach. Most importantly is that you make sure that they each get covered. The second layer is the Unit. You should plan on making sure that you start with a certain aspect and by the end of the unit the students should have complete mastery of the task you have given them. Units are usually 6-8 weeks long. The third layer is the Week. Divide up your week so you make sure that everything is getting done. Make sure that you have your week planned so that you can accomplish your goal that you have set. The last layer is the Daily lesson. It is just as important as the other layers. Find something that can grab a student attention and use it while you are teaching your lesson. At the end of the lesson measure what they have learned that day so you know where to start the next day. These four components make up one lesson and all have to be done to have a successful one.

Project #9 PLN Final Report

My Symbaloo has really come in handy. It makes getting to my most visited sites much easier. I recently added a link to the EDM 310 blog. I don't know why I did not think of this earlier but it is up there now. I have organized it into sections the best that I can. The top is mainly for social media, research, and news. The blue and remaining bottom left corner is specifically for blogs and teaching websites. I will hopefully organize it more clearly the more I use it.  I also added the two blogs Langwitches and William Chamberlain's blog. These two blogs have been very helpful and informative and I see myself using them as a reference in the future. I am so happy that Dr. Strange brought this tool to my attention. There are also plenty of empty spaces left that I am sure will start to fill up when I begin teaching.

C4T #4

The blog that was assigned to me was Langwitches run by Mrs. Tolisano. This was a great blog and I enjoyed reading the post. The first post that I read was called More iPad Workflow Scenarios. This was a very informative post on the use of workflows in the classroom. Mrs. Tolisano talked about an app that allows you to create workflows using the iPad. I had never put much thought into workflows before this post and now I cannot wait to use them. They are a great way to keep you organized. She also supplied some really good pictures of some workflows that you can create on the iPad. Another thing that I really liked about this post was that she mentioned some really great sites that I can use in my classroom. I had never even heard of most them. My comment for this post was...

Hi, my name is Hannah Still and I am in Dr.Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed your post! I plan on getting a tablet (hopefully an ipad) in the very near future and this looks like an app that I will want to download. These workflow charts seem to be very helpful and well organized. You also mentioned some sites that I have never heard of and I am interested in researching them. Thank you for a great way to organize my commonly used social media sites and apps and I cannot wait to see your next post!


The second blog post was a guest post by Karin Hallett called Upgrading Traditional Reports to ebooks. This was my favorite post of the two. I loved the lesson plan that Mrs. Hallett used. She let the students choose a nonfiction book about an animal and write a report on it. This was not just any ordinary report though. Hallett let them make a paper report and then they transformed it into an ebook report using BookCreator and Explain Everything. The reports turned out amazingly! It was a long process but it was worth it. Hallett said that she was worried the students would lose interest but they stayed engaged the entire time. This was a fun way for the children to learn about their animals and also share them with the world. I will definitely be using this lesson plan in my classroom. My comment to this post was...

This was a great post! I know it is a guest post but I am so happy that you include it in your blog. First of all Iove the lesson plan. Even without making the reports into ebooks it is great. Making the reports into ebooks however makes it even better. I am truly amazed at what these students accomplished! I love how the sites Explain Everything and BookCreator was included in this post. I checked them out and they are definitely tools I want to use in my classroom. This whole lesson plan is wonderful and I cannot wait to give it a shot! Thank you and I am looking forward to seeing your next post.

Blog Post #14

For this blog post you will go to the Mind Shift blog. Read all of the web tools and pick one that you think will be the most beneficial in your classroom and explain why you chose it. Answer the question in a post that adheres to the standards found in the ACCRS and in Writing A Quality Blog Post.

I really enjoyed the website Poll Everywhere. Poll Everywhere allows the teacher to ask students a question and the students can respond to that question via text message. I think that this will be useful in my classroom for a couple of reasons. The first reason I want to use Poll Everywhere in my classroom is because the age I will be teaching lives through texting. Many children are getting phones now in the fourth and fifth grade. I know this because I have two brothers in the fifth grade. My brothers are constantly on their phones. Poll Everywhere gives the students an opportunity to use their phones in the classroom! Although many children are getting phones at young ages I did consider the possibility that every student will not have a phone by the fifth grade. For this reason I will more than likely be using Poll Everywhere in groups. Another reason I want to use Poll Everywhere is because the answers are displayed in poll form and polls are used everywhere. Polls are all over the news and television. This gives the students the opportunity to actually be involved in polls while learning about the material we are going over in class. I also think that this will be a great activity for study sessions. I really enjoyed the Mind Shift website and can't wait to explore it further.

Project #15

Blog Post #13

Arvind Gupta: Turning trash into toys for learning - Hannah

The video I chose was called Turning Trash into Toys by Arvind Gupta. I enjoyed this speaker very much. The reason that I chose this video was because I work at a Montessori school and one of our beliefs is that we should have toys, which we call work,  made from natural materials. I know many teachers that have made tons of pieces of work out of recycled materials. Arvind Gupta is an amazing toymaker. He has been making toys for the past 30 years. I could not believe some of the toys he made out of just matchsticks, straws, and some tape. He even made an interactive model of the food chain out of just paper. One of Gupta’s goals is to incorporate this toy recycling into the classrooms. Why buy these things when you can make them for a fraction of the cost? One of the things that Gupta said that really stuck with me was, “ children want to make things, children want to do things, “ and he is exactly right. This is an amazing way for teachers to get their students involved in the lessons. Overall I found this video to be informative and inspiring. It really hit close to home. I know that I will definitely be making some of these toys in the near future.

Alison Gopnik: What do babies think?- Amber

This video is all about babies! It’s my favorite thing to discuss. I love children. Alison Gopnik does a great job explaining her views on how babies think. I agree with mostly everything she says in the video. She starts by saying that 18 month old babies actually learn quicker than we do. A question that she asks is “How do babies learn so much in such a short period of time”? My theory is because they have to! Right? The way they process information is just amazing to me. If we as adults think as babies then maybe we can learn more than we know. She did some tests on children and it showed that they even know how to experiment using hypothesis. They even test them. Children learn the most during childhood through differents ways. From experiences and playing they can learn many basic motor and mental skills. Babies learn through all of their senses – touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell. They explore things and want to handle objects and put them in their mouths to learn about them. Babies are constantly taking in information when they are awake, which means that they are learning all the time. I learned from Alison Gopnik’s video that a baby’s brain is twice as active as an adult’s brain. The first three years are of special importance. At this time the brain has the greatest potential for learning. An infant’s brain is like a sponge soaking up everything around them.  

Shane Koyczan: To this day - Brittnee

The video that I chose was To this day by Shane Koyczan. Wow! This is really an amazing video to watch. Shane Koyczan really had a hard childhood all the way until his late teenage years. It’s never nice to pick on people, even though it gets done on a regular basis to people around the world. He was left by his parents at a young age because he was told that he was not wanted. He was raised by his grandma and still picked on in his late teenage years for being overweight. He had to basically bribe people with his knowledge to have friends. Then one day he came to the realization the he didn’t need to give people the answers on homework. He gave one boy that called him names a paper that had all the wrong answers and he was happy to outsmart the boy. What can we learn from this video? We can learn that just because you are bullied or you yourself is the bully doesn’t mean that you are not worth anything. Ever hear of the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”? This statement is NOT true, words do hurt people and especially children. I work with small kids and no matter what another child has said to them they run and tell on them. Even at a small age kids know when other kids are being mean. This is something I really want to watch for in my future class. I want to be the kind of teacher that the students can trust and wouldn’t mind telling me that another child is bullying them. Kids never forget just like Shane has not forgotten to this day.

Blog Post #12

How to Escape Education’s Death Valley- Hannah

I was really excited to watch this video because my friend had told me about Ted Talks just two weeks ago. She kept raving about the videos and told me that I have to get on and watch some of them. Well she was right! I have loved most of the videos we have watched in EDM 310 but this one is by far my favorite. Sir Ken Robinson is an educational genius and a brilliant speaker. Robinson said that “children prosper best with a broad curriculum that celebrates their various talents, not just a small range of them.” This statement is huge! One of the reasons that our school systems are so unsuccessful is because we are limiting our curriculum. The school systems have based their curriculum on some cookie- cutter imaginary child and geared that curriculum towards every student. We are doing our students a huge injustice. I also really enjoyed Robinson’s views on standardized tests. He thinks that they have a time and a place, like in a doctors office. He said that when he goes the doctor he wants his results to be compared with with everyone elses but this is not always appropriate for a school setting. Robinson thinks that we have a lot to learn from other countries that actually have successful educational systems. Those schools focuses are individual teaching and learning, recognizing that it is the students who are learning, realizing that you can't improve education if you don’t get great people to teach, and delegating responsibility to a school level so that we can get the job done. Overall I thought this was an amazing video and I am excited to get more involved in Ted Talks and to see what else Sir Ken Robinson has to offer.

The Importance of Creativity- Brittnee

In the video The Importance of Creativity we listen to Ken Robinson speak about why he thinks that schools kill creativity. Sir Ken Robinson keeps the audience entertained by telling stories and saying quotes that he had heard or read on somebodies shirt. He tells us that “Education is meant to take you into a future that you can’t grasp.” I think that he is trying to say that no matter how much we learn we will never catch up to all the new advancements that are being made. He even points out that in the future jobs that would normally want a regular degree will start wanting a master degree and where jobs that want a master degree will start wanting something higher. I really like that he thinks that creativity is just as important as literacy and that we should treat them with the same status. The arts are at the bottom when it comes to school, of course the main subjects are at at the top but arts should not be thrown to the side. I enjoyed the part where he said that children that have ADHD could learn through others ways like Gillian Lynne did. When she was young she turned to dance to help her so her mom put her in dance classes after going to a doctor about why she was not doing her work and paying attention in class. In todays society kids would be diagnosed with ADHD and sent home with medicine and that would be it. I really enjoyed Ken Robinson’s video and learned that the arts are really important and shouldn’t be tossed aside like they do not matter because they really do.

Changing Education Paradigms- Amber

In the video Changing Education Paradigms Ken Robinson speaks about how he would change the current standing of education. He takes every aspect of education and criticizes it. But in a good way! I must say I totally agree with him. For example, he asked why do we still put children in grades according to their age? Who made up the standard that all children of the same age think the same way? I don't think they do. U think if we put children in grades according to their intellectual progress that there will be no more “failing”? (Such a harsh word.) He brought up the issue about ADHD. Who's to say these children are hyperactive and have a problem? I mean what is normal anyway? Ken says, that we should be waking these children up instead of putting their minds to sleep with all the medicine they have to take. We should be waking them up letting them use what's inside of them. I think it’s a ridiculous situation. To me, changing education paradigms could mean no more standardized tests. As our class motto says, “No more burp-back education.” Our current education standard was designed for its day and age. We are past that now! Most children don't even think the same way as children did 50 years ago. But yet education has not changed. Here is a short question and answer I took from Ken's blog: Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that, “It's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers.” This is so true. We train ourselves and our children to be good workers and shun any creativity. Why? Because creative people aren't normal to us? "We are educating people out of their creativity." Ken Robinson.

How to Escape Education’s Death Valley- Hannah

I was really excited to watch this video because my friend had told me about Ted Talks just two weeks ago. She kept raving about the videos and told me that I have to get on and watch some of them. Well she was right! I have loved most of the videos we have watched in EDM 310 but this one is by far my favorite. Sir Ken Robinson is an educational genius and a brilliant speaker. Robinson said that “children prosper best with a broad curriculum that celebrates their various talents, not just a small range of them.” This statement is huge! One of the reasons that our school systems are so unsuccessful is because we are limiting our curriculum. The school systems have based their curriculum on some cookie- cutter imaginary child and geared that curriculum towards every student. We are doing our students a huge injustice. I also really enjoyed Robinson’s views on standardized tests. He thinks that they have a time and a place, like in a doctors office. He said that when he goes the doctor he wants his results to be compared with with everyone elses but this is not always appropriate for a school setting. Robinson thinks that we have a lot to learn from other countries that actually have successful educational systems. Those schools focuses are individual teaching and learning, recognizing that it is the students who are learning, realizing that you can't improve education if you don’t get great people to teach, and delegating responsibility to a school level so that we can get the job done. Overall I thought this was an amazing video and I am excited to get more involved in Ted Talks and to see what else Sir Ken Robinson has to offer.

Project #14

Project #13

Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy is an amazing teacher who incorporates the use of technology in her classroom. I thought that Ms. Cassidy's classroom was brilliant! This would be a dream classroom for me. She incorporates tools that the students use at home into the classroom. Every student in there looked like they were having fun while learning.

Ms. Cassidy uses blogs, websites, wikis, and Skype to enhance her classroom. I would love to incorporate all of these into my classroom. The one that I would be most inclined to use would have to be Skype. Skype is an incredible tool because it can allow your students to talk to any students around the world. This is so important because it promotes cultural awareness and diversity. The only problem that I can think of with Skype are technical difficulties. It might just be the Skype on my computer, but I run into connection problems every now and then. A way to fix this is to test your connection or have technical support look into it.

There are so many benefits to Ms. Cassidy's approach to teaching. Like I said earlier it promotes learning while having fun. I think that is when students are really retaining what they are hearing. It is a great way to prevent "burp back education." Ms. Cassidy is also providing these children with skills that they can use for the rest of their lives. Like Ms. Cassidy said in her Skype interview "it's not going away it's here to stay." She is showing these children to embrace the amazing tools that they are given. I also checked out Ms. Cassidy's blog and it was great! There were so many tools that her students have used. I have learned so much from Ms. Cassidy.

C4T Assignment #3

Mr. William Chamberlain

For this C4T I was assigned William Chamberlain. His blog post was about his concern that he was becoming and digital luddite. I immediately had to look up the word luddite. What I found was that they are people who oppose technological change. This post really made me think. It even made me question myself. At one point, before this class, was I a digital luddite? I am not so sure about myself but looking through Mr. Chamberlain's  blog I knew that there was no way he could be a digital luddite. In my opinion he seemed to embrace technology. He also asked the question if teachers who are new to online tools have the advantage on not having to deal with online baggage? I don't think they are at an advantage. I think that teachers with more online tool experience have the upper hand. Overall I thought this was a great post and it got my brain working. My comment to William Chamberlain was...

Hi Mr. Chamberlain,
My name is Hannah Still and I am in Dr.Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I agree that it is hard to keep up with all of the new technology these days. Before EDM 310 I had no clue that there were so many different online tools used to enhance student learning. I know I have barely scratched the surface but I am excited to continue learning. As for you becoming a digital luddite, I don't think so. You have your own blog! I think thats worth some points. Thanks for the post and I can't wait to read more!

The next post for Mr. Chamberlian was equally as interesting. In this post he talked about a site called Whispersync for Voice. Whispersync for Voice allows you to sync your audio books with your ebooks. This means that if you are reading your ebook inside and then hop into your car, you don't have to look for where your stopping point was in your ebook on your audio book. The two books will automatically sync together. I thought that this was really neat! I listen to audio books a lot so this is a tool that I think will be very useful to me. The only thing that I need to do now is get a tablet so I can read ebooks which will hopefully be happening in the near future. My comment to Mr. Chamberlain was...

Hello again,
Whispersync for Voice sounds great! I like to read but I love to listen to audio books. I travel quite a bit so they really come in handy. I have yet to purchase any ebooks but I have been wanting to get a tablet for a while now. When I get one I am definitely going to use Whispersync for Voice. I hate having to get into my car and search for my place on the audio book. I am so happy you posted this!  Thank you and I can't wait to read your next post.