Blog Post # 15 Final Reflection

Final Report on MY PLN

My PLN turned out great in the end. As you can see, I have changed a lot of it because the tabs that were on there I really did not need or use. I have all the social networks I use in the upper left of My PLN; on the lower left are two of my kids blogs I had to comment on; directly across from the kids blogs are the teachers' blogs that I had to comment on; in the upper right are the University of South Alabama networks I used for other class, such as their website and USA online; in the middle of My PLN I have some random tabs. I am really enjoying using My PLN because not only is is great for EDM 310 but it is great for my other classes that I am taking. I will continue the add more tabs on My PLN.

Blog Post # 14

In this blog post, I will discuss Jose Picardo's video Top Ten tips for using technology in the classroom. The top ten tips were: streaming video, music, teleconferencing, interacting exercises, interacting whiteboard, podcasts, blogs and wikis, social networks, internet tools, and gadgets. Mr. Picardo gives good advice in how to successfully use these ten things in the classroom.

I will use if not all of the ten technology in my classroom, I know must of them. I think streaming video and teleconferencing or Skype is really great to use in the classroom to help students to know and learn about other students that live in other parts of the world. Interacting whiteboard and exercises are good to help the students get better practice in those subjects that they are having trouble in, they not only help them to learn better but also the students have fun doing those exercises. Podcasts, blogs and wikis are good to help the students hear what they are learning. Gadgets are good as well to help students learn because there are so many different and great technology out now to make learning more hands on and fun. In my classroom, I will definitely use a lot of technology keep my students engaged in learning. 

C4K November Summary Post

C4K #1
This week I was assigned to a student named Clare. She is in Mr. Mike Gwaltney's 10-12 grade history class. Clare's post was Researching History to Understand My World. In her blog post she talks about her journey on learning about different times in history. She compares the things she learned in history to our world in the 21st century.

I commented and told her she had a really great post and she did an excellent job in writing it. I also told her to keep up the great work and I look forward to reading more of her posts.

C4K #2
This week we were assigned to Mrs. Yollis' 365 Project. I was assigned to the post 301 Skyping with Hawaii. They had a picture with Beverly in her sarong.

I commented on the blog post, saying "I really enjoyed their picture and I thought it was cool that they were able to communicate with students from another state".

C4K #3
This week I was assigned to Gloria T.'s blog. She is in the 4th grade, Room 13 at Point England School in Auckland, New Zealand . Gloria's blog post Day and Night was about how we get day and night from the sun. Gloria and one of classmate named Kashya made a video singing their song they created about day and night.

I commented telling Gloria I really enjoyed watching her video and I told her to keep up the great work.

C4T Summary Post

This week  i was assigned to Caren Carrillo' s blog History,Education, Technology, and Beyond. Her blog post for the week was A Little Seasonal Classroom Humor. This post consisted of numerous e-mails sent by a teacher named Emily, who is organizing an activity at the school. This activity was called "The Day of The Dead"; this is a Mexican Halloween.  Emily was getting the school involved by asking them to bring pictures of people in their families who passed away. She was getting the parents involved by asking them to come help decorate the alter and skulls and bring candles. In the mist of trying to teach the students about other cultures, several parents got offended and did not want their children to participate. After reading this post, I have began to see some of what teachers go through. Parents send their children to school to learn but as soon as the teachers introduce something new, parents don't want their children to participate or they get offended. As teachers, we have to think carefully about what we introduce to our students and communicate with parents on what we are doing in the classroom.

I commented and told Mrs. Carrillo, i really enjoyed reading her post and I learned effective communication between parents and teachers can go a long way. With communication more parents may be willing to help out and offer other ideas for the teacher to use.

This week I went back to Mrs. Caren Carrillo's blog and she had not updated since Halloween so I choose another one of her blog posts to read and comment on. I chose Awkward Classroom Silence on of her later posts. This post is about how to avoid awkward classroom silence. When a teacher asks students question, the students don't say anything. Mrs. Carrillo had some good advice on how to avoid this silence. Teachers can randomly pick a student to answer the question.

I commented and said in my first year I would be nervous and uneasy to have that awkward silence in my classroom with my students. Randomly picking students to answer question is a good idea and I will use in my future classroom.