Blog Assignment 5

ischool

In the video, ischool initiative, Travis Allen a seventeen year old high school student from Georgia describes his vision for the school of the future. Travis begins by remind us of the problem education is currently facing, Travis says in his school “teachers are being let go and classroom sizes are becoming increasingly larger.” Unfortunately this is not only a problem in Travis’s school, but in schools across the United States. So, what is the solution to this problem?

Travis suggests by using the technology we already have we can reduce spending within the schools. He says this technology can be found in the smart phones we already carry around like an extra appendage. Travis gives a list of apps that are already available for download that would eliminate costly items used daily within classrooms across the globe. Apps such as: email, chemical touch, U.S. constitution, star walk, formulae, recorder, calendar, and ihomework are just a few of the apps that are ready to be used in classrooms today. By using these apps and apps like these to eliminate costly items such as books, copiers, and paper Travis estimates schools can save about $450 per day per student. That’s an impressive amount of savings if you ask me.

After watching this video I was faced with a few questions: why aren’t we using these apps to save money in our schools, why aren’t we incorporating the technology our students are familiar with into our classrooms, and why did it take a seventeen year to point out these ideas that should be painfully obvious to us. There is only one answer I can come up with to these questions, we are afraid of change. I think as humans we are fearful of things being different and because of our fear we do all we can to avoid change. This has been a great problem in our nation’s schools for far too long, and I for one am grateful to Travis for opening my eyes to this fear and the idiotic idea that is a bad thing.

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir

In the video, Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, 185 people from all over the world come together to perform a song. Without ever meeting or even being in the same room each member sings in perfect harmony with the group. To say the least I was amazed, in awe, in shock, and just blown away by the sound of this choir. I honestly watched this video three times and had chills all three times. It is amazing to me that through the internet this can be accomplished. I tend to think of the internet as a place for email, google, facebook, and a homework tool, so to realize that it can be used for so much more makes me a little bummed I’ve wasted so much time misusing it.

Teaching in the 21st Century

In the video, Teaching in the 21st Century, I was reminded of the story of Mr. Winkles. Like Mr. Winkles I’ve always felt uncomfortable with too much change, and I too also found that our schools seem to change the least. After watching this video I came to this conclusion I have a choice to make. As a future educator I can stay in my comfort zone, hide from change, and continue to teach the old fashion way handing out facts; or I can step out of my comfort zone, embrace change, and enable my students to have the skills they will need to be successful. When I thought about my options the choice was easy, I am going to have to embrace change, step out of my comfort zone, learn new things, and go after the skills my students will need for the future.

It was stated in the video that our student can find the facts anywhere (google, facebook, blogs) but the skills they will need to find the facts, that’s what we must teach them. I had never thought of it in this way before, and yet it is so true and obvious. I can remember being given assignments in high school that involved research and if the answer didn’t pop right up when I typed my question into google I was lost. I was never taught how to find information, how to research, how to look for reliable sources on the internet, or even how to word my questions. All of these things were skills I needed to complete the assignments given, yet I was never given those skills. After watching this video it has become painfully clear to me how important it is to provide our student with the skills they need to be successful, to find the facts, and to be prepared for an ever changing world.

Classroom Flipped

In the videos, Why I Flipped My Classroom by Katie Gimbar and Flipping the Classroom by Ms. Munafo, a new way of teaching was proposed. By prerecording lectures that the students would watch at home they are freeing up valuable class time to be spent on applying the applications learned. Gimbar says “in my old classroom I would spend 90% of the time going over content and only 10% of the time on application,” by flipping her classroom she is able to spend 90% of the time on application and 10% of the time going over content. So why is this important? Ms. Munafo says this is important because “it allows those students who need to spend a little more time on a certain concept the time to do so, while those students who have mastered that concept can move ahead and not become bored.”

Although this approach to teaching is completely new to me, I think it would be worth a shot. I do have a few concerns with this approach, such as students without computers falling behind, or a parent not making sure their student is watching the videos as assigned. Overall I think this concept is very interesting and after a little more research on the success of this approach I’d definitely try it out in my future classroom.

Blog Assignment 4

Langwitches – First Graders Create Own Read along Book

In the blog post “First Graders Create Their Own Audiobook” by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano a first grade class reads a story aloud then composes a script and then records it to create their very own audiobook. These first graders come up with a story line to summarize the book they’ve just read, proving they have comprehended the book they’ve read. They brainstorm to compose a script, bouncing ideas off of each other. Finally they use creativity when recording. It’s easy to hear the creative juices flowing through their little bodies as their voices get bigger and louder, or softer and smaller, as they sequel with excitement, or shiver with fear. The teacher then bound each script together and formed a book that they students could read along with as the recording played; because the students were able to read along they were able to pay closer attention, and work on reading skills.

I love, love, loved this idea. I had not heard anything about podcasting until this class but now I don’t think I’d ever try to teach without incorporating this into my classroom in some way. This idea brought together so many key skills in learning and made it a fun way of learning them. I enjoyed listening to the sound clip of the children and listening to the enthusiasm and accomplishment in their voices.

Flat Stanley

In the blog post “Flat Stanley” by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano her class has just finished reading the book Flat Stanley, and they have mailed their paper Stanley’s to friends and family to take Stanley on adventures and write back to them about where/what Stanley did. Many of us did this same project as a child, I did. It was thrilling to see what your Stanley did and find out what all the other Stanley’s did as well. In this post Tolisano takes it a step farther by allowing her students to become Stanley.

Each student is given the chance to research a place they would like to visit. They are told to name the place and where it is located, tell what they would do there, and figure out how they would get there and back. The students are encouraged to do research by using books from the library, or looking for information on the internet. Students then brainstorm and write the story of their adventure as Stanley. Once all the stories are written the children then recorded their individual stories making one big story. Each child had the chance to tell about their adventure as flat Stanley. They told where they were going, how they would get there, how they felt while traveling (in an envelope, on a plane, across the ocean by ship), what they did when they reached their destination, and how they got back home. They were able to use their creativity to come up with the adventures they went on, as well as the information they gathered while doing research.

I really enjoyed this new twist on flat Stanley. I have already shared it with two of my teacher friends. I can’t wait to get a chance to do this with my own class. I love that with this one activity so many valuable concepts were covered: brainstorming, creativity, writing, research, reading, and public speaking. I absolutely loved the story the students came up with and all the adventures they went on. I even made my husband come listen to it after I listen to it the first time. I am a huge fan of creativity and using it to make learning fun and more interactive and that is exactly what this project did.

Benefits of Podcasting

In the video Benefits of Podcasting by Joel Dale podcasting is said to be an “effective way of communicating with students outside the normal everyday classroom.” Dale states that we are now teaching students who fall into the category of millennial’s, or students who were born after 1980. In the video these students are described as “students who have grown up with personal computers and technology.” Simply stating that technology and the use of computers is what these students know. As educators we must utilize this. We can’t keep teaching the way we once did, because our students are not what they once were. Podcasting is an amazing tool for teaching those students who are millennial’s. By podcasting we are bring the technology are students consider the norm into our classrooms, we are making learning more relative and interesting.

There are many benefits to podcasting, many of which draw our student’s attention to learning. By podcasting we are using project based learning, we are using the higher Bloom’s levels, and we are encouraging our students to be creative, as well as forcing them to go more in-depth in their learning. Podcasting is also a great tool for when students are sick, which is going to happen from time to time, by post lectures/study guides to a podcast students will always be able to keep up with assignments. Parents will also be able to see/hear what their children are doing in school by watching/listening to podcast that have been recorded in class.

Like I mentioned before I had not really heard of podcasting until this class, and now I can’t imagine teaching without it. I honestly wish my teachers would have used more of the technology like this when I was in school. I think by using podcasting we are allowing out students to be creative, and learn in a way that they are most comfortable with. I believe that by using podcasting to teach a lesson we are allowing our students the chance to really become the things we are teaching them (such as flat Stanley) and by doing so they will remember what they’ve learned much longer than if they memorized the answers for the test.

C4T Summary #1

Comment One

In my first C4T assignment I was assigned to Michael Keachele, a teacher from Michigan. Kaechele teaches Social Studies in problem based learning high school. In his blog “Concrete Classroom” he says he gives his ramblings about whatever is on his mind about education.

In the first post I read from Michael Keachele “I hate standardized testing so why am I choosing to start the year with a test on standards” he discussed the problem with Michigan’s state standards. Keachele was lucky enough to have been with the same students for three years in a row and because of that he realized there was a great deal of information that was being taught and retaught each year, an overlap if you will. Keachele decided that since there was such an overlap of information being taught he could speed through the things the students already knew about and spend more time on the things they were interested in and were less familiar with.

In my comment to Keachele I expressed my amazement with this approach to teaching. It is unlike anything I have ever heard of, yet I was interested to see how things would go. I mentioned that I have several friends who teach here in Alabama who complain about an overlap of state standards as well, I told him I would be interested in seeing if they too could benefit from this type of teaching. Keachele replied to my comment letting me know he will be posting his progress/struggles throughout the year and I will most certainly be checking in on how this goes.

Comment 2

In the second post I read from Michael Keachele “All kids are born geniuses” Keachele reflects on an interview he watched with Michio Kaku. In the interview Kaku says “all children are born scientist” he says we are born with the curiosity of where the stars come from, why the sky is blue, and what makes the sun rise and then we enter the danger years (middle and high school) and our curiosity is crushed killing our interest in science.

Keachele reflects on this interview saying we must stop this awful trend. We must stop making science a memory subject and making it more fun. He says we need to stop planning rigged labs that we as teachers know the outcome to, but plan activities that will allow students to apply the scientific method to problems/issues they actually care about.

In my comment back to Keachele I thanked him for opening my eyes to this problem. I told him about myself and how I can see that I personally lost interest in science because of these same reasons. I lost my curiosity. I told Keachele that it was my goal as a future educator to apply these ideas when teaching and do all I can to never squish my student curiosity but to do all I can to light a fire underneath it and watch it burn out of control

Project # 5 Presentation

Blog Assignment 3

Peer Editing

After watching the videos and going through the power point presentation I have come to a better understanding of what peer editing is and how to be successful when editing. In the video What is Peer Editing, there are three steps listed to find success when peer editing. The first step is to compliment your peer on what they’ve done correctly. I think this is just as important as any of the other steps because allows the person who is being reviewed to see what they have done correctly and feel like they have made some accomplishments before being told what they need to work on. The second step is to make suggestions. There were five areas in which the video listed as areas of focus when making suggestions: word choice, details, organization, sentences, and topic. Suggestions may be needed in these areas to ensure the paper/blog/assignment is easily read and understood. The third and last step is correction. In this step there were four areas of focus given: punctuation, grammar, sentence, and spelling. After following these three steps, as well as staying positive and being specific peer editing is a breeze. These three steps however simple they may seem were really helpful in finding the balance between being mean and being helpful.

In the video Writing Peer Reviews Top 10 Mistakes, I was amused by the entertaining way each type of editor was depicted. Although the video was meant to be amusing it helped me realize the common mistakes we make as peer editors. It made me think back to elementary school even high school and how I would behave when he came time to do peer reviews. In this video they give a list of ten categories in which we tend to fall into when providing peer reviews: picky Patty, social Sammy, whatever William, Jen the generalizer, mean Margaret, loud Larry, pushy Paula, off-task Olivia, speedy Sandy, and defensive Dave. I know personally I could find myself in each of these categories at one point and time or another, but after watching this video it really made me evaluate myself when I am editing for my peers.

Finally after reading through the power point presentation,Peer Editing with Perfection, I feel more confident than ever I can be a helpful and successful peer editor. Through the power points step by step help in working through examples and applying the skills I obtained from the videos I now feel as if I can and should provide my peers with more than a good job or it needs some work feedback when peer editing. I now have a clear understand of what my job is as not only the editor but as the edited.

Technology in Special Education

In the video Technology in Special Education,Cook tells of how she uses technology in her classroom for the benefit of her special needs students. Cook says she uses technology to “to help facilitate student participation.” Cook’s students are nonverbal or suffer from a physical or cognitive disorder, but because of the use of technology are able to take part in and do things they otherwise wouldn’t be able to do. Throughout this video Cook gives examples of how she is able to use technology to grab the student’s attention and to prepare them for the world.

I was personally unaware of some of the ways technology is used in the classroom. I loved the idea using the ipod for audio reading during silent reading time for those children who have a hard time reading on their own. This seems so simple to those of us who can read with ease but to a child who has to be sent in the hallway with an aid to have help during silent reading time this can be such a great tool. Not only will they be able to stay in the classroom and not feel singled out, they will be able to follow along in the physical book while having the help of the audio reader. This is such an amazing use of technology to me personally because my little brother has a learning disability and I know what a difference this would have made in his academic career.

Apps for Academics

When looking for an app that could be used in the classroom I found apps in varying price ranges doing various task all claiming to be the best. I tried the free version of a few different apps but I ended up falling for an app called Alphabet Machine. In using this app students will be able to learn their ABC’s. For each letter of the alphabet there is a screen with that letter, a picture of an everyday item that starts with that letter, and a voice recording saying the letter. Seems simple enough right?

I currently teach at a preschool and in doing so I am responsible for making sure my students can recite the alphabet. This app uses the same method I use to teach countless preschoolers every year their alphabet. I believe this app would be beneficial in the classroom of a kindergarten class as a fun way to review and/or teach the children their alphabet as well recognizing the letters. This app can also be used as a way for the students to test their knowledge since the sound can be turned off so that a student could say what they believe the letter to be then check to see if he/she is correct by turning the sound back on.

Harness Your Student’s Digital Smarts

In the video Harness Your Student’s Digital Smarts Vicki Davis, a teacher and IT director at a rural school in Georgia, uses all kinds of technology to teacher her students. She is getting her students involved in all different forms of technology such as: blogs, wiki’s, and other software. Davis says “by teaching with only paper and only pencil only certain types of students will succeed.”

By teaching in this manner Davis says she is still accomplishing the set curriculum but she is “teaching her students to learn to learn.” When I first heard that statement I thought what an oxymoron teaching them to “learn to learn” but the more I thought about it I found the meaning in that statement. By teaching her students to “learn to learn” she is preparing them for the real world and providing them with life skills that many of us weren’t taught in school, I certainly wasn’t. She is giving them the chance to find the answers on their own, to explore their options and make decisions.

Davis is also providing her students with the opportunity to explore things many students in a rural Georgia town wouldn’t have the chance to explore by having them engaged in digiteen and flat classroom. By using these two programs the students are able to work with students from all over the world and collaborate together to finish a single project. I think this amazing. I know as a kid growing up in a small town in Alabama I never thought of the world being anything more than the United States and for these students to be able to work with other students their age in the Middle East to complete a project is amazing to me. How empowering that must be for all the students involved. I think this also provided students with many much needed life skills. We will all be required to work with other people in our jobs and they won’t always be just like us and we will have to find a way to make it work out and this is an amazing and fun way to teach students that lesson while infusing it with another lesson.

I give Ms. Davis two thumbs up for allowing her students to have the chance to explore so many different things and still accomplishing the set curriculum. I will most certainly be applying some of these things to my future elementary classroom.

Projcet 2 - Wordle

Blog Assignment 2

Did you know?

Did You Know by John Strange was a very insightful video full of fun facts. Throughout the video I was astonished by the statistics given. More people in China will be speaking in English than the rest of the native English speaking world combined by 2025, that’s amazing to me. There are more people in only the top 25% of India’s population with higher IQ’s than the whole population of the United States, that’s mind blowing. Every minute 48 hours of videos are uploaded to youtube, I would have never thought that. Did I know? NO!

Although the facts given throughout the video seemed to be unreal, it was a real eye opener for me. I learned that as an educator we must be up to date with the latest information and using the most recent tools available to us, otherwise we are setting our students up to fail. How, will our students be able to adapt to the newest technology if they are unable to work the old technology? How, will they be ready to face an ever changing world if we don’t learn to change with it? How, will they be prepared for jobs that aren’t even invented yet if we don’t give them the basics needed to go after those jobs now?

Technology is all around us, and it’s steadily changing. That is the one and only thing that won’t change, there is always going to be change. I can see the change that happened throughout my short lifetime and I can only dream of all the changes that will take place in my children’s lifetime. When I was little no one had computers, cell phones came in a bag that stayed in the car, and video cameras were the size of small child, now we have cell phones that are like mini computers that contain video cameras. As the video said 85% of high school students today have cellphones and with that kind of technology in your back pocket today the options for what you can fit in your pocket in the future are endless.

Mr. Winkle

In the youtube video Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needleman Mr. Winkle wakes up after being asleep for one hundred years to find many things have changed. He goes to an office building where he finds people working on strange machines (computers) and talking to business associates across the country through video chat on these machines. He wonders into the hospital and finds that people are being kept alive by machines that are breathing for them. Mr. Winkle is overwhelmed by all the changes that have been made everywhere he goes until he finally wonders into a school where he finds that not much has changed in the hundred years he has been asleep. Students are still listening to their teachers lecture and taking notes with pen and paper, sure there is a computer in the back of the room but it’s old and dusty and no one uses it. Mr. Winkle finds comfort in the school because it is where there is the least amount of this new technology that he is so overwhelmed by.

Although this story may seem farfetched at first when I gave it a little more thought it really has a lot of truth to it. All around today’s society is technology: in doctors’ offices there are no longer paper charts but electronic charts, you can renew your car tag online so you don’t have to wait in line, you can video chat with someone in china using a cellphone, yet our schools still depend on the old fashion way of teaching. We spend all this time educating our children yet we don’t provide them with the tools needed to educate them with the things they will face in the real world. It’s sad really; we are setting them up to fail, by not providing them with the newest technology in our classrooms. Mr. Winkle should have felt just as uncomfortable and overwhelmed in the school as he did in the office building and the hospital, yet he didn’t because nothing had changed.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

In the video, The Importance of Creativity, Sir Ken Robinson explains the need for creativity within our school systems today while giving many examples of why it simply doesn’t exist there. Throughout this witty and entertaining speech Sir Robinson reminds us that creativity is just as important as literacy. The purpose of education is to prepare one for the future, a future we know nothing about. So how do we prepare our students for a future we know nothing about? It’s simple, creativity.

Sir Robinson makes a remarkable point in this argument for creativity by telling the story of a girl who was drawing in the back of the room. The teacher said this girl never pays attention and so when this assignment (which involved drawing) was given and the girl jumped right to it she question the reason. The teacher walked to the back of the room to ask the girl what she was drawing and the girl replied God and the teacher said but no one knows what God looks like and the little girl looked up from her work and answered well they will soon. You see this little girl still had her creativity she had the ability to take a chance and draw God, sure she might be wrong since we don’t know for sure what he looks like but she took that chance. That’s what Sir Robinson describes creativity as the ability to express yourself without the fear of being wrong.

Sir Robinson goes on to address the problem, not only in the United States but all over the world, we educate children out of creativity. We tell them to forget that side of themselves and become more intellectual. We remind them daily that there is no room for arts. We tell them other subjects like math and science are more important. We tell them there are no jobs for people who are solely interested in arts. We, as educators, forget that everyone expresses themselves differently and given half a chance with a little encouragement a child who likes to dance can be just as successful as a child who loves to read.

While I watched this video I thought about how judgmental we can be as adults, and how much influence we have not only as adults but as educators, and I realized that I don’t want to end up like Jillian Lyn’s teacher. I don’t want to place a child who expresses themselves differently in the category of ADHD because they need to move to think. I realized through watching this video that I as a future educator want to encourage creativity, encourage my students to go after the things they are passionate about, even if it is the arts they are passionate about. I want to remind my students that the future is full of unknown things and what today’s society says isn’t worth going after maybe exactly what the future is all about.

The Future

After watching A Day Made of Glass and Project Glass I feel a little like Mr. Winkle. It has really made me think about what life was like when I was little, not only was gas less than a dollar a gallon there were no cell phones, no social networks, no flat screen tvs, only rich people had computers, there was no e-mail we had snail mail, and there was no tagging someone in a picture you had to get doubles printed and send a copy to them. In my short 26 years all of these things have changed. We can send e-mails, check the price of gas, take pictures and tag someone in them, join a social media network, watch a movie, and make a call all from our smartphones.

In 1986, when I was born or even in 1991, when I started elementary school no one would have dreamed any of these things were possible. The truth is the future is unknown and it is full of unknown technology. I for one am excited to see what the future holds, not only in my personal life but in my teaching career. The options are endless. Today our teachers are using smart boards to do things that just weren’t possible with overhead projectors in the future I hope to be doing this with new technology that just aren’t possible with smart boards.

As technology changes and what society considers being the norm changes it is our job as educators to change too. Mr. Winkles should never feel welcome in my classroom after a hundred year nap. It is my hope and prayer to be teaching with the most up to date resources available to me so that I will be able to prepare my students for the ever changing future, otherwise I am setting them up to fail.