Blog Post # 5

Travis Allen

In this video,Travis Allen explains many reasons why iSchool is a great thing for low budgeting. Travis made several amazing points in this video arguing for mobile learning. Travis is striving to promote a digital world in classroom today, he believes it can or will solve our educational problems especially budgets in the classroom. Higher educated students would be able to do anything on their iTouch or iPad as they would be able to in a classroom. He started a presentation about "going green", saving money and conserving natural resources. Travis also explains that is cost around $600.00 per student in a regular classroom, but it only cost students at iSchool around $150.00 per student. The application on the iTouch or iPad can assist in everyday educational learning.

I believe iSchool can be a great idea in many ways, I support going green all the way. I absoutly love the fact that Travis had such an impact on our world today. I would think the apps on the iTouch would catch the students attention. On the other hand, I do believe we still need classroom teaching. As a student I believe it is important to have interaction in between students and the teacher. Also I believe some subjects need to be taught in a classroom, instead of a iTouch. Math is a difficult subject to teach without pencil and paper, math is mainly about problem solving that has to be worked out. Also I believe the information taught over the iTouch wouldn't be the same as learning inside a classroom. I wouldn't like the idea of switching all the way to iSchool, students need to be taught other things besides just how to click a button. Some students would find other thing that would distract them from learning. This is my opinion I just believe students would learn more with a teacher in front of them teaching.


Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

Wow this video by Eric Whitacre's is absolutely speechless. This video is about people all around the world, keep in mind that have never met each other a day in their life, singing together in a choir. It is unbelievable to create a wonderful sound from so many different people. I would never have thought or imagined something like this to happen. This man that put this whole thing together is an absolute genius.


Teaching in the 21st Century In this video, Teaching in the 21st CenturyKevin Robert's made a very mind blowing presentation. He believes we should start teaching students skills instead of just making the students memorize the material. I have never realized that teachers one day will not be the source of knowledge because everything can be found within a click of a button. Technology is taking over the 21st Century and as a teacher we have to learn the latest technology. I still believe children would learn more inside a classroom interacting, it just does not seem real that technology would have a tremendous affect on our society. I personally would love to interact with my students and teach them knowledgeable learning skills that they would be able to take with them in the future. I personally as a educator have learned so much in EDM310; but as a college student you are forced to learn on your own instead of just finding answers on the internet that could be wrong.

Why I Flipped My Classroom
Katie a 8th grade teacher, makes a video called Why I Flipped My Classroom; this idea is brilliant.I think this is a helpful way to help students especially the ones that are struggling and having a challenge learning.The main idea behind flipping a classroom is to help students engage students in web videos and lectures. These students are able to work at their own pace as they are needed. I also believe it would help some parents actually get more involved in their children learning activity's. Parents would be able to watch the lectures for themselves, this would help eliminate the parents not knowing what they teacher is actually trying to teach. Students that had trouble in class can rewind a lecture and listen to it however many times until they understand. Also, if they want to get ahead and listen to a lecture before class they can do so,this will allow them to become familiar with the lesson that will be taught the next meeting. I highly believe this is a great way for students to become more interested in learning. They are also allowed to post comments to their peers or for the teacher to answer questions prior to class. This is a excellent way for both the teacher and parent to stay involved in the students life. I really look forward to using this approach for my students one day, this video was very helpful in so many ways.

Project #6

"This Is My Sentence"

Project #5 Presentation

Blog Post Assignment #4

Podcasting With the First Grade
First I read Podcasting with First Grade. This post was about a teacher that took a step ahead in reading and writing scrips. She teachers her students how to make a read-along audiobooks. Her first example was about Vacation Under the Volcano, a book by Mary Pope Osborn from The Magic Treehouse series. She began to read the short story to the class, and right after every chapter was finished the class wrote a few script about the chapter. The teacher helped her students record the script from the book, and they post it to their class blog and also iTunes. I really found this idea very brilliant, because of instead of having the same boring person speak they were actually apart of the story. As a teacher she observed the student experience with pitch, enthusiasm, speed, emotions,and fluency.

I really believe this has a giant leap forward on student engaging in interaction within the story. As a elementary education major this is something I would love trying with my students. My favorite thing about this blog was hearing the excitement in the children's voice, I really thing this would help children interact more with their classmates and not being afraid to speak out. I would be very interested to use this helpful skill in my classroom one day.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom
This video posted by Joe Dale, The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom. Students are allowed to become the teacher and they can decide what is important and what exactly needs to be taught. I really enjoy how podcasting brings the story to life. Podcasting can be used for many different things but one that I really enjoyed hearing about was the project based learning approach. I have to agree with Mr. Dales approach on how it demonstrates higher thinking skills. I also love the fact that the parents can have a better view on what is been taught inside the classroom. This is a excellent way to expand our knowledge as a teacher or a student, and its a great way to keep the classroom filled with motivation to succeed.

Podcast Collection
Another resouce I read was, Podcast Collection; by Judy Scharf. Her site consist on how to podcast, and benefits on podcasting. She gives visual direction step by step how to podcast and she also has printable handouts that are used in the classroom. She has taught be many things about podcasting since I am very new at this. A great tip from her website is to get to learn the software and began to become comfortable with it. I believe every educator should take advantage of the new technology so everyone would be more involved.

I think overall podcasting is a amazing tool to use in classroom's, and I would strongly encourage new student's learning about podcasting to check out her website. Podcasting is a great way to learn, and I agree on how it can make the class more active while learning at the same time. This just shows on how much technology can help students expand their way of thinking.

Project #3-C4T #1

For my first Comments for Teachers, I was assigned Mr. John T Spencer. The title of the first comment I commented on was 10 Differences Between Teaching and Coaching.In this post, he list 10 different reasons why coaching and teaching are different. He begins in clear visual steps throughout his post. Mr. Spencer briefly described his experience as a teacher and a coach. One out of the top ten differences that is really eye catching to me was when he addresses that, "When I coached, I was a visitor in someone else's space. I had little control over classroom culture and climate. If a kid misbehaved, it didn't feel personal. When I'm teaching, I'm part of a community." Before even reading his blog post, I never put much though into the differences between a coach and a teacher if anything I would have thought they were pretty similar.

I truly believe a great teacher has a tremendous amount of an affect on the community. I also believe it is a teacher's job to get involved to help make the community a better place, and as long as we teach children at a young age the right direction and always encourage. I understand Mr. John Spencer’s point on when he coached he felt like he was a visitor in one someone else’s space. He has little control on what happens inside a classroom, but as a coach he was a role model to his students.

In my next assignement for John Spencer, I chose a blog post on "What Does It Mean to be a Great Teacher?"As he instructs top ten reasons, he speaks out saying "He is struck that it takes years to reach." As a student teacher I sure don't have the knowledge as some teachers do with children. He even as a teacher and a coach admit he makes mistakes and he apologies, but when he succeeds he wants the student's to get the credit. This statement just goes to show on how greatly he appreciates his students' because without them he wouldn't be anything.

As I begin my comment, I read over this list and really began to put a little deep thought to what he is actually teaching especially to student like me that are still willing to learn and grab a hold of the useful knowledge. I know teaching will not be an easy road by no means because children from all over the community come from different background and are raised on how the parent is raising them. Children at a young age are very opening minded and if we can teach them the right direction, I believe we can always make that difference in their life. It is so important as a teacher especially teaching elementary to teach the students to learn how to share and manners. S a student myself I have had a lump sum of many great teachers and I have also had the teachers that just are all the time miserable. Teaching should never be looked at as just a job or a career; it is an activity every day to help the children expand their knowledge in many different ways.

Blog Post #3

Peer Editing

The Peer Editing video and the Peer Editing with Perfection Tutorial slideshow really opened my eyes on editing a classmates assignment. This video teaches the correct order to edit some ones work: compliments,suggestions,and corrections. I was afraid of editing other classmates blog post because I did not want to feel like I was critiquing anyones work but in the video it mentions to compliment first on how well the assignment was followed. There are so many little errors that can be found in writing and helping a peer understand their mistakes gets them a step closer on been a great writer.

The video "Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes" was a great example of what not to do to other peers. This video was elementary children learning on how to critique their classmates assignments. In this video word choice really stands out on how to be helpful to your peers instead of saying harmful things. Most students rush to edit some ones work but if you put in the time and effort especially following the three main objectives in editing, you could really help teach them a few things.

Technology in Special Education

This video on Technology in Special Education was very inspiring to see the different students with disability use technology in many different ways. I believe the technology is making it easier to tackle the learning disability that many people have. Chris, the first student in the video had a hard time pointing out letters to make a word but when he is introduced to the computer it is easier to tell the teacher what he needed. This just shows how technology can help special ed children advance and progress.

Overall, this video is very interesting even though it takes time and patients to teach children with disabilities there are always room for advancing. It is encouraging to see special ed children achieve their goal. Its heart warming to watch the students in this video get excited over technology and to know that they are learning something new.

Apps in the Classroom

Its amazing that we have educational apps to help anyone that is willing to advance their knowledge. Also in this video How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism is mind bloggling how his son can use and actually understand the use of a iPad. This video show how just a little motivation can go so far with children with autism. Everytime Braden did something good the parents gave him encouragement.


Proloquo2go is the perfect solution with children that have a speech or communication problem. It contains pictures that are clickable and also speaks to them. This also makes learning fun and they can learn in their own kind of way. Its truly amazing to see how technology is taking a big step in the education community.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Harness your Students Digital Smarts is a video thats about a teacher named Vicki Davis, that gives examples on how to connect to the world in technology. She is empowering students to teach themselves how to learn. They are more likely to contain all the information versus her standing in front of a class lecturing. She leaves it for her students to learn how to gain the knowledge.

Teachers like Davis make a huge impact on this earth and its fastinating to have someone understand that the children are still teaching the teacher daily. This bring many ways for different learning in the community. Technology these days are very hands on and a visual experience.Students sharing ideas with each other is a lot more affective than just having a teacher sit in front of you and lecture all day.

Blog Assignment #2

Did You Know?
This video was very mind boggling and unbelievable. It is amazingly how fast technology is taking over. Very hard to believe how many countries are compared to the United States, and to know that China will soon be the number one country speaking English language. Also that India has more honor roll children then the United States which is a little scary and to know that we have sixty-seven babies that are born just in the United States under less than five minutes! It is amazing how fast the world is growing especially in so little time.

Not only is the population booming all around the world but technology is at an increasingly dramatic rate. To know that people are getting ready for jobs that have not even began to exist yet, kind of scary thought! It is hard to believe at the age of 35; people will have at least 10-14 jobs under then! Also knowing that jobs that exist and are important today did not even exist in 2006. This video was beyond interesting and very eye opening! There is so much we actually do not know about the world today!
Mr. Winkle Wakes
I really enjoyed this video I thought it was very cute after waking up a hundred years later; Mr. Winkle discovers new technology that is used in everyday life. It's unbelievable how much technology has changed tremendously. In hospitals they use new technology to keep people alive and well. Also business workers can exchange knowledge across the world.

This video should bring attention to people that we should be very thankful we have the advantage to use this great technology. Even though sometimes it is hard to understand and it only advances every day. It's a little bit scary to think what are children will be doing in ten years or what their children will have. Only time will tell.
Sir Ken Robinson
This video illustrates the major imbalance between the sciences and the arts present in education Sir Ken Robinson states that our schools are killing students' creativity. All children are creative in their own unique way and schools do not set programs into place that encourage creative expression. The Arts are at the bottom of the educational food chain. Many students are told, "You'll never get a job doing that". Because of this popular expression, many kids give up their aspirations towards creative talents and settle into the routine educational experience.

I think the message that Robinson’s speech has for teachers is that we need to realize the potential of every child that we come and contact. We need to encourage all children to pursue what they are interested in as well as the important academic concepts that we are required to teach. Teachers need to make more of an effort to give their students a well rounded education which engages both sides of their brain.
A Day Made Of Glass
I couldn't believe this video it is amazing to think one day that the world will more than likely come to that. In this video it takes a few steps into the future of the glass world; how it can be used not only as for fun but to help save energy. So much logic is built into the glass all around the world.

Teaching in the near future seems to be a breeze in the park with all the technology. Also Doctors will have walls that are active displays and touchable glass that gathers all the information about the patient. This is a great way to keep in touch with everything in a very organized way. This video shows a shift in the future on different ways of communication and usage of technology.