Goodbye to All

At this point in time I have made new friends and have learned many new things. I would like to thank Mr. Sullivan for all that he has taught us this semester. I would also like to say goodbye to him and the rest of my classmates. It has been fun getting to know all of you and working with you. Dr. Strange I would also like to say goodbye to you. Your post,and video-cast were very helpful throughout the semester and without them I don't think that I could have passed. Thank you to all who have helped and good bye for now. I know that will see many of you in the future as teachers and colleagues.

Things I have learned this semester.

At the beginning of this semester I thought I was going to be severely overwhelmed after hearing what we would be doing in this course (EDM 310). However, once I began to get use to the idea of blogging everyday and learning the process of blogging, I began to like it. I now have three blogs, which I never thought possible, but I enjoyed doing it. There were many other things that I enjoyed doing throughout this course; such as Twitter, Google Earth, Google Docs, and other Google Apps. Each of these things will definitely remain with me as I continue throughout the course of my educational career, and teaching career. Furthermore, I enjoyed using Itunes, and the thought of possibly using these in my future classroom amazes me.

At this point in time, I do consider myself somewhat technologically literate. After the things I have learned I feel that I can compete successfully against many other teachers with innovative ways to motivate students. I also understand that I must remain vigilant to changes and/or new advances that may further expand my knowledge. I would currently rate myself a medium to good.

There is however one change that I think that should be made. Having been in the classroom many times as a substitute and as an aide. I feel that it would have been very helpful to understand such programs that we will use in the classroom. Not that nothing we have done hasn't helped. I feel that we should have learned some of the programs involved in online grade books, STI, and other similar programs that teachers use on a daily basis. I also feel that we should have gone over the Smart Board and how to use it. These are in almost every classroom I have been in and I think that these should be a priority to learn.

Beyond those thoughts, I have learned a great deal, and will appreciate the time Mr. Sullivan took to teach us these things. I plan on continuing my learning through the things I learned and apply them to new ones. Furthermore, I plan on learning new things from the processes I have already learned, building on them.

Three List; The Two from each I think are most imoprtant.

The first web post that we were required to look at today was from Doug Johnson, entitled Seven Stupid Mistakes, the second was another post from Mr. Johnson titled 7 Brilliant things a Teacher can do with Technology. From this list we were asked to pick two from each that were most important to us. On the first post, Seven Stupid Mistakes, the two I chose, or I that I thought were most important were;1)Not supervising children while they are using the computer. and 2) Teacher's teaching styles do not need to change. Here is the reason why I chose the first one. I feel that it is very important to supervise students while they are on the computer. Their skills on the computer are very advanced, and they can get into anything they need to while on a school computer. Therefore it is important that teachers not allow children to have free range on their own. The things they could find could not only harm them but you as well. The second one I chose, Teachers shouldn't change their teaching styles. Anyone who has this opinion should definitely pick a different career. Teachers must constantly change up the way they teach, not only to make sure that the children are understanding the information, but also so that the children will stay engaged in the learning process.
On to the things smart teachers do. The two things that I thought were the most important are Accepting the role of co-learner, and using the kids devices against them. I chose the first one because no one is perfect, and for a teacher or teachers to remain at the top of their game they must constantly strive to be life long learners. In order to get the latest information to them they must keep up themselves,teachers that is. Furthermore, the second rule I chose for smart teachers is to use the childrens' own devices against them. The teacher must use technology in the classroom, due to the fact that a majority of children are involved with some sort of technology. If a teacher were to use these devices then they are going to be prone to be more involved and apt to learn.
Finally, the last list we were required to read, New Rules of the Classroom, by Education Innovation. The two new rules that I thought were most important were Come to class everyday, unless you plan on going online. I chose this because, I think with the advancement of technology it is very easy to stay home and learn. I think that times are changing and the schools need to catch up, with today's fast paced society. The second most important rule that I thought was important was Use polite speech while in class, and on all online devices. As we have seen in the past many have observed the emergence of cyber bullying and other forms of rude communication. I think that it is very important to keep in mind that there is no need for this type of action from any party that would put down another. That is why I chose these different rules and suggestions as the most important in my eyes, feel free to comment and give me the reasons as to why you feel otherwise. Here are the sites to read the following information, check it out.
New Classroom Rules
Seven Stupid Things, and Seven Smart Things

Teacher's Desk

After reading through many of the blogs on this site it amazed me how connected these teachers were. I have set up similar accounts (Twitter and Delicious) and have had many ideas brought to my attention that I plan on using in my future classroom. I hope that when I become a teacher I can also put in my two cents and help some of them the way they are helping me with ideas now,I am keeping a notebook for the good ideas. I also enjoyed reading about he idea of having students Skyping and talking to others from a different country allowing them to speak in the language that they are learning.I see this as being a very important aspect of future teachers as well as experienced ones. However, I see the difficulty in using some of these technologies, due to the time constraints.
If the teachers were allowed to schedule what they do and their time, I can see how worth while a lot of these technological advances would be. I hope that the school system will begin to allow the teachers this freedom to expand the minds of the children. Collaborative teaching is very beneficial because different aspects of subjects are brought to the attention of all, therefore expanding on topics and educatin the children further than what they normally may be exposed to. I appreciate the technology and hope that my accounts, such as twitter and delicious will help me the way that so many others have been helped.

Editorial comment on this weeks assignment.

I have to say that this video started off to be very boring, and I was asking myself what is the purpose and meaning behind what he was telling me. As the video approached the end, and he had gone over his research and his findings it became a little clearer and the video made a little bit more sense. It is very difficult to find myself as one of the makers of a video because I am just not the type of person to put myself out there, but I do find it interesting watching others, and the sociological implications that his study presented. The aspect of sociology, presented here in his blog video or vlog, was that each generation has a different perspective of "self", and as the generations passed it was more evident that the idea of "self" was or is changing to "we". Through the use of technology we can find ourselves put out there in cyber space and sometimes people need the anonymity (even if we can see them, they do not see us, as stated in the video), to discuss things that are not really discussed. So the implications of You-Tube and other technological outlets are expanding the ways to communicate messages to each other or masses in order to reveal, inform, or humor people. The only advantage I see for this information is its use in the classroom. As a teacher I can see myself using You-Tube and other sites to inform children and expand their little minds of the world around them and not just the biases of the news or other outlets. However the schools of today are going to have to a little more lenient when it comes to technology, otherwise the children are going to miss out on what we teachers have learned to present to them, and the different ways we are capable of presenting said material.

Blogging Importance

There are many reasons as to why a teacher should allow students to post their work and achievements to the web. The students can recieve feedback from a variety of sources to build up their self esteem and know that their work is worthwhile. Here is a link to a great site that provided one little girl the opportunity to show her creativity to the world. It further allowed her to communicate with individuals that she may have never spoken to in her life time.
Click here To view a link to see how published blogs and post are effective to this little girl and others around the world.

Furthermore, if you look at this video you can see at what a amazing job this chorus did in singing the cover song.



Here is a great website where the little children of this classroom read a story, and publish drawings of their artwork for the world to see. The little boy that I was assigned to was Jonson. I have also submitted his artwork to show what a wonderful job he did. There is also a link to listen to him tell the story of Hansel and Gretel.

Link to Little Voices Little Scholars











The most important thing to remember is that we as teachers would connect students that would not normally be connected. Furthermore we would offer more positive feedback to the children, encouraging them, knowing if they work hard, present well, and educate others, that the praise they get as feedback is very rewarding to them. Another aspect that I just realized is that the more you do post and attachments and pictures the easier it becomes. If a child can aster these skills at an earlier age then he/she will be a step ahead of others when the world has become technology dependent.