Book Trailer Project

Blog Post #9

Mr. McClung
Mr. McClung writes his blog post "At the Teacher's Desk." Volume One states how he learned to read the crowd, be flexible, communicate, be reasonable, not be afraid of technology, listen to students, and never stop learning. As a educator, you should not focus on evaluations to be made by your superiors more than your class. He also stresses about communication because it is one of the hardest skills to develop. Learn how to communicate with your fellow teachers as well as your students.

Mr. McClung also explains being reasonable in a classroom is important. He uses goals to describe the classroom aspects. Remeber that you are working with children. Another idea that caught my eye was never stop learning. Educators work in a learning enviroment and they should absorb as much as they can.Adapt your methods, lesson plans, thinking, and style in any way that could possibly help your students.

As I was reading this, I found this to be extremely great advice especially for incoming educators.What our students have to say is important, so listening and getting to know our students better should be the number one top priority. He had some great valid points. I think it is a wonderful idea to keep a summary of reflections at the end of each school year. By doing this, it can show the teacher what he or she has accomplished and not accomplished over the school year. It is very important to learn from your mistakes instead of dwelling on what you could have done better.

The most recent post is Volume 4, it reflects on 2011-2012 school year. There are two underlining main themes that really stuck out to him this year. The first being that he became worried about what the other teachers thought of him, and the second was that he found himself becoming stuck in the same routine he had done in past years. He explains that teacher's should make the class interesting and interactive. It is important to help kids not resent school.He discovered that taking care of his students is what is important and that worrying about what others think of him has never resulted in anything positive.

I discovered after reading this that not only do teachers constantly learn, but they grow. As teachers, it should be our main goal to concertrate on our students. I want my students to enjoy coming to class and looking forward to learning. It is really important to never get stuck in the same routine. Learning should be a wonderful thing to stundents especially learning in many different creative ways. We must remeber our students futures are at stake. After reading volume one and four blog post I really began to have a new prespective all around.

PLN Progress

For my personal learning space, I have created a Symbaloo. This tool is very convienent to use since it can organize everything together in many different catergories. I really enjoy opening up my home page to see symbaloo, because within a click of a button I can go to any websites instead of searching around. Also I love the fact that it is free and I will always be able to have it! This is hands down one of the best organization tools for the internet!

Project #9B Prezi

World War II on Prezi

Blog Post #8

How We Dream
In the video This is How We Dream Part 1 and 2, Dr. Richard Miller tells how modern literacy and language has changed globally. He explains about incremental changes, which is completely different from working with a piece of paper and a pencil. Instead students carry laptops around and write in Word processor. Today, we work on laptops with a variety of programs at our fingertips. He explained that the material we use for research can be updated in a blink of an eye.

Dr. Miller emphasizes in the second part of the video, on how important it is to share ideas with others. Miller also at the end, stresses on how we need be inspired to move forward with technology. We are able to do these things easily due to the global technology change in the past decade. The internet has several different communication tools that allow us to video chat or even simply email. We are allowed to communicate with everyone across the world.

I thought these videos were very helpful especially for EDM310. I will admit, it is sometimes difficult and confusing teaching students through technology. This is a new way of learning not just for the younger students but for every student learning in the 21st century. At this moment, I do feel prepared enough to write or use multimedia.I have a lot of learning left to do before I will be able to use it for the benefit of my students. I also feel writing with multimedia is imperative in today's society. This method of learning is changing the world drastically, and we have no other choice besides becoming familiar with this method. Multimedia is what our society has grown dependent upon whether people like it or not.

Carly Pugh

I absolutely loved reading Carly's Pugh Blog Post# 12. Carly did a great job with writing in multimedia. She definitely has the same idea as Dr. Miller with using YouTube and different visual aids. All sources are online, and since her post are published it will never disappear for viewers. Not only did she go above and beyond with this assignment, she made a creative playlist using YouTube. I will be using this in the future, she did a excellent job on her blog post.

EDM310 is Different
After watching the video The Chipper Series, I felt like this video was on how many of students in EDM310 feel. The Chipper series is about a student who is not willing to do the work that is due for the class. She continues to procrastinate until she takes matters in her own hands. This sends the message that you have to work for what you want in life. The only person that will succeed is the person willing to learn. Otherwise, you end up right where you began in the first place.

In EDM 310 for Dummies, two women talk about important things that you will learn in this classroom. My first month of this course, I felt overwhelmed and frustrated and at times I still do. While it can feel like you're going crazy upon entering this class, the help of others is always useful. Both videos emphasize that when a student puts forth an effort it increase their chances of success.

Blog Post #7

"The Networked Student" By Wendy Drexler

For decades, we have been taught that school is a place where students come together and listen to a teacher lecture in front of the class. However now in the 21st century education is taking a whole new level.The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler is a short informative video about the preparation for online learning. The teaching method discussed in this video are similar to what we are learning in Dr. Strange's class. The teacher is a simple guidance for the students that are willing to explore their own way of learning within networking. This video by describing connectivism, which is a theory of learning based on the premise that knowledge exists in the world rather than in the head of an individual. These students gain tools to utilize by making connections within their classmates. With this teaching method the student becomes more self-reliant and more interactive with their peers.

One important question was raised in this video. "Would a networked student even need a teacher?" Accoriding to the narrator, the student needs a teacher for many different reasons. A teacher is more than a lecturer. These students need the teacher for a various amount of varieties. Among these reasonings are instructions on how to build the student's personal learning network. The creation of a network of learning is extremely larger than a classroom and easier to connect with students.

Teachers are a important part of student's life. Students need to be encouraged,motivated, and guided through the learning process. The teacher is a resource that a student can ask questions and recieve help through networking. This allows students to be pointed on the right path if they are taught the correct direction. I feel like this method would be very beneficel to use in a middle or high school level. This approach to learning seems so much more exciting and interesting than a normal lecture style classroom. However, with freedom defiently comes responsiblity, and that is a outstanding skill to teach students especially helping the students out for college.

Personal Learning Enviroment
After watching this video, Welcome to my PLE, I must say I was very impressed! This video walks you through the tools used in a 7th grade science class. She created a social bookmarking account for example: collect information onto special note taking tools, posting reports, reflection of the classroom, and utlized this PLE in several different ways all in one day! These students are learning in a way very similiar to EDM310. Students are expected to conduct a research and present the information in a project. Like our class, she has a checklist to let them know when everything is due.This is a skill that they will have to use not only in college, but in life as well. I believe this is the future of our education system.

Project #8 The June Girl's Podcast

C4K Summary for September

A Day In A Life with Maddy
For my C4K assignment, I chose Maddy's blog post about her pet. In her post she explains this cat that is really precious and her name happens to be Maxi. She received Maxi from her mother on her birthday day when she was a little kitten. She describes Maxi now as a old grey cat that always goes for a walk and comes back home when she is hungry. Maddy ask at the end of the blog if we had any pets and which one do we believe is the better pet?

In my comment back to Maddy, I introduced myself as a student at South Alabama.I replied first, saying how much I loved the name Maxi she picked out for her cat. I explained to her that I own two dogs myself and they are very adventurous and also loves going to the park. I informed her that I read most of her recent post and really enjoyed reading and learning all about her. Her cat seemed well behaved but perhaps Maxi would like a friend to play with while she is busy at school. The end of my comment I wrote, "You are doing a great job and you should keep up the great work in your blog!"


Lee at Pt England School
My second assignment, I was assigned Lee. His profile is very eye catching and I also enjoyed learning a little about him and his personality. One post that really stood out to me was the one about Usain Bolt's Story. This was a short video clip about the fastest men on Earth. Lee and some of his friend reenacted some things that Bolt would love to do.

In my comment also, I introduced my as a student at the University of South Alabama.I told him that I really enjoyed learning something new about Bolt, I loved when they acted out his favorite sport. This clip was really amazing especially to see children work technology like it is nothing. I am really thrilled and told him to keep up the awesome work!

Blog Post #6

Randy Pausch Last Lecture

After watching, Randy Pausch's Last Lecture at the University of Carnegie-Mellon. His last lecture was very inspiring to me. My first reaction was that I would dread watching this hour long video but once he began talking I became interested into his speech. I really enjoyed learning a few things from Randy Pausch. At the beginning of this video he explains his childhood dreams, how to enable the dreams of others, and the lessons he had learned. Randy Pausch was a very enthusiastic and inspiring professor during his lectures. He talks about helping others and what people need to know to achieve their dreams.

Pauschs' did a lot of dreaming as a child. One of the dreams that really caught my attention is when he said, "I wanted to play in the NFL." Although he never played in the NFL, he did learn something from the hard work that his coach introduced to him. He believed football helped him get through life because of the fundamentals he had learned. He goes through a list of childhood dreams and he proceeds to tell how he accomplished them all. The most outstanding part of his lecture is about the brick wall. He says, "brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things." His perspective is if you want something badly enough, you should go after it. Just because something is standing in your way does not mean there is not a away around it, you will just have to search to find it it. Sometimes in life everything that can possibly go wrong will go wrong, so it is better to prepare for the worse.

In my future classroom, I believe this is something that I can learn from him. I know I will have many bumps and difficult obstacles on the road towards success as a great teacher. I have highly believed in, "if there's a will, there's a way." This is something else that I consider really important to instill in students and also in all different areas of life as well. I want to teach students that it is very important to go after what you believe in or dream about. Every single person has to work hard to achieve and fulfill their lifetime dreams. I want to be the teacher that my students consider fun, I believe it is extremely important to make learning fun. I also think that students retain more information, when they are interested in what they are doing. We as elementary educators should never lose our child like wonders.

One last thing that I certainly agree on with him is on feedback. This is a great piece of advice to accept and appreiciate corrections. As a teacher I find it highly successful and valuable when he says, "we should focus more on others than ourselves." We as teachers are there to help students to achieve their lifetime dreams. It is my goal to never give up on my students or complain about anything. Instead of complaining I will only push harder. I want to be the teacher that the students will remember later on down the road. Overall, I really enjoyed watching this inspiring video. I gained some great knowledge for teaching as well as life in general.

Project #9 Timetoast