Podcast

Blog Post #5

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

Dr. Scott McLeod is an associate professor and a blogger. He wrote the post called "Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? In the post he was making an argument about technology replacing simple pencil and paper.Technology is evil and computers has a lot of bad things on them. Dr. McLeod mentioned that technology can be a distraction to children; they could ended of on porn sites and hook up with predators. He also say children do not need a computer 24/7, or cellphones. Lock all technology down and keep your kids away from it if you want them to be safe.

I found this post entertaining and he has some good points. I agree with Dr. McLeod to a certain point. There are a lot of bad things on the Internet; parents and teachers should monitor what their children or students look at. I would not say technology is evil and we should keep children away from it. Technology has a lot of benefits to it. Children are becoming more involved in learning and having fun with it. Back in the days, some children found learning boring and they did not want to go to school. Since technology has entered the schools, children are eager to go to school to find out what is next for them to learn. To keep children safe, the answer isn't to take away technology; if we monitor what they are doing on the computer and with technology I don't see a problem. Keeping kids safe goes beyond technology.

iSchool Initiative

This video was made by a man named Travis Allen. At the time that the video was made he was a 17 year old high school student on a journey to encourage schools to adopt his ischool initiative. The ischool initiative is having your classroom in your phone. The ischool has a lot of applications design for classrooms. Applications where students can take notes, use calculator, upload recordings from the teacher, and so much more. Not only would students be able to use the ischool but so would teachers and parents. Teachers can keep track with attendance, notes, lunch schedules, field trips, and more. Parents are able to see what their child has due on certain days and keep track of their grade. The ischool would only be used for school work, the internet access that will be use for the ischool will only let the students get on certain web sites. Travis Allen made a point in the video about school paying $600 per students using supplies but with the ischool, schools will only pay about $150 per student. That is a big difference. 

I think that all school should adopt this concept because we are in the era where technology plays a big part in our lives. Children are becoming dependent on technology and there are so many uses for it. Teachers would have a lot less papers to deal with and their classroom would be at their finger tips. Parents would know what is going on in their child's classroom. School would have to pay a lot less money with supplies needed for classrooms. 

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

The video made by Eric Whiteacre. Watching the virtual choir was an unreal  and an eye opening experience. The virtual choir contains a series of 185 people from You Tube videos. Mr. Whiteacre zooms in on some of the people and it looks as if they are on the stage singing together. They are singing an opera song and it sounds really good. Eric compose all of these video into a choir and he was in the front as if he was the conductor. This video was made solely on the computer and it shows how much one person can do with technology. 

I am personally amazed because I think about how was Eric able to put together this video and make it sound and look so real. 

Teaching In the 21st Century 

This video was made by Kevin Roberts. His thought on teaching in the 21st century is teaching has changed a lot due to technology being introduced into the classrooms. He feels that now teachers are not teaching in classrooms, technology is doing most of the work. Teachers are becoming filters to technology. Children are learning the basic foundation of learning on the internet, because they are googling every thing instead of opening a book and trying to find the answers.  Teachers aren't teaching how to site book articles instead they are teaching how to site internet articles. Teachers and students have totally became dependent on technology. 

My opinion on this video is technology plays a major role in schools and classrooms but we have also benefited from it as well. In the 21st century, technology has grown and everything has became dependent on technology and it will continue to grow. We should not be scared of the change that has came with technology but only embrace it and encourage our students not only is there technology resources out there but also other resources that may be used. 

Timeline

Blog Post # 4

The benefits of podcasting in the classroom

I watched the video "The benefits of podcasting in the classroom" by Joe Dale. Mr. Dale 's video is about how to use podcasting in the classroom. In this generation, we use technology a lot, through ipods, computers, game systems, phones and so much more. Podcasting is a way that teachers can communicate with their students outside of the classroom. Mr. Dale states many different benefits podcasting has on students. It is a very effective way for teachers to interact with their students; it promotes creativity and innovation; and parents can see and hear what their children are doing at school. 

Podcasting can be used if a student is sick or misses many school days, the student will not get behind in class and has a way of knowing what is done in class. A scenario used in Mr. Dale's video was of a girl that was sick and she had a test to take. She needed to get her study guide but she did not want to infect the rest of the class. The girl remembered that her teacher uploads all of his lesson so that his students are able to download them a watch them at home. Podcasting is also a way that parents can help their child with their schoolwork better because they can see what is going on in the classroom. I will definitely use podcasting in my classroom. 

Judy Scharf Podcast Collection

I read and watched the video from Judy Scharf's Podcast Collection. Her website had a lot of different ways to use podacsting in the classroom. Ms. Judy has lesson plans and projects that teachers can use to incorporate podcasting in the classroom. She lists some tips to succeed in using a podcast,grading rubic, research, and some suggestions on podcasting. One video that she has on her website goes step-by-step on how to install and use podcasting on the computer. The other video shows how to make a podcast. 

This is some great information to use when starting and using a podcast. This she a great website for teachers to use when they want to use podcasting in their classrooms. 

Langwitches Blog

Langwitches' blog was a series of blogs about podcasting. The first blog was of a teacher who used podcasting in her classroom. This teacher said her first grade students missed a lot of school days due to a volcano. Her and another first grade teacher got together and did a podcast with their class. These podcasts consist of a read along booklet and the video. One teacher wrote the script while the other teacher took three students at a time and recorded their voices for the video. By the time the teachers got done with the lessons they had ten recordings with the students. By the students having the booklet, they were able to keep up with the lesson if they were to lose their place.

This a great thing to do to get the students interacting with the lesson and podcasting. Also, it is a way to use other teachers and their ideas to help their students learn better. The students from this blog really enjoyed having their voices recorded for the podcast. 

Project 6 "This is My Sentence" Video

Google Presentation

Blog Post # 2

1. Did you Know? 3.0; by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod;  Did you Know? 3.0. This video was about 4 minutes and 56 seconds long; and it was about how the world is changing every second in technology. Most of the technology that we used today in the year 2011 we did not know what it was a few years ago. Many other countries are becoming as technology advance as we are in the United States. In the video, we were listed as #19 on the list of technology countries and  Bermuda was #1.The video also talked how China is becoming an English specking country and many many other things.

The video was very informative. There were a lot of things that was in the video that I didn't know. I didn't know that the internet was just invented 4 years ago and the first text message was sent in 1992. We are becoming more and more technology advanced every second. Something else that I found interesting was that the people who are planning to go into technology as a career by the time they are in their second year the technology that they learned about will be out grown. That was amazing to me. This video really opened my eyes to how much things change in a matter of seconds.

2. Mr. Winkle Wakes; By: Matthew Nettleman; Mr.Winkle Wakes. This video was about 2 minutes and 51 seconds. It was about a man named Mr. Winkle and he awoke from an 100 year sleep. When he woke up he saw that the world had changed around him. He woke up and walked up a building that had a lot of different technology in it. The building had busy people, fax machines, printers and computers. Mr. Winkle did not like that so he went to the hospital because he was feeling sick. In the hospital, there was those same machines that he had seen earlier so he went to a school. In the school he saw that everything was still the same; the students were sitting at a desk taking notes from the teacher. Mr. Winkle felt comfortable there and that is how the story ended.

This video put out a point that even though everything around us is changing, something things are still the same. Mr. Winkle did not feel comfortable around things that did not make sense to him or the things that he did not understand. There are a lot of people in this world who are the same way and they just rather not deal with it. As the world changes we have to change also but no matter what some things will never change.

3.Importance of Creativity; by Sir Ken Robinson; Importance of Creativity. This video is about 19 minutes and 29 seconds long. Sir Ken Robinson talks about how children are educated out of creativity. He states that art should be as important as math. He says that all children are born creative and as they get older they become so scared of being wrong that they end up not wanting be creative anymore.

As educators we should encourage children to be creative and draw. School should not be all about books, it should be about expressing yourself and having fun.

4.Interview of Sir Ken Robinson and an article written by Cecilia Gault; Interview of Ken Robinson. This interview is about Sir Ken Robinson saying that creativity is very important. He also says that children need to become more into technology. He believes that there are 3 myths to creativity: all people are creative, everybody have creative ablilites, and creativity can be taught.

The article is about how we, America, need to take a lesson from schools overseas. Even though they have shorter school days their drop out rate is less than 1%; while in America its 25%.

5.Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts; by: Vicki Davis; Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts. This video is about 4 minutes and 49 seconds. Vicki Davis talks about how she uses all types of technology in her classroom. She uses technology to capture her students; also she do not have to be in the front of the classroom all the time. Technology helps her to relate better with her students.

Project # 2

Project # 2 with ALT and TITLE modfiers

C4T Assignment

 I had the pleasure in reading Eva Buyuksimkesyan's blog was called "Becoming a Teacher". She talks about some things that up and coming; new teachers may go through or come across when entering the teaching field for the first time. Things such as wanting praise from the principal of the school and support from fellow co-workers. She explains that sometimes as new teacher we expect the principal and the other teachers to support, praise and lend a helping hand. Sometimes you will not receive that; principal may ignore you and fellow teacher may not help you. As a teacher, we have to be life-long learners and self-motivators. She tells new teachers to always find online courses and seminars to stay knowledgeable. She talks about how we should not give up on the slow learners because they need a little more help, it is easy to teach the smart children but it takes a good teacher to teach the not so smart children. Also, get feedback from your students to see what are ways you can improve. I suggest that all up and coming; or new teachers read this blog.

I commented on her blog thanking her for that blog and how I had heard bad things about teaching, it made me a little nervous. She motivated me to continue on my journey in becoming a teacher and to motivate myself.

Post #2
The second blog I read by Eva Buyuksimkesyan's was "24th Edition of EEL/ESL/ELL Blog Carnival". The theme of the carnival was "Warmers, Fillers, and 1st week activities". In this blog, she included blog from other teachers. I view the other teacher blog and they had some really great ideas on things to do with students during the first week of school. There was also a link inside her blog were you could download the carnival and you can look at what the teachers put together.

I commented on her blog stating that her and the rest of the teachers had some really great activities to use inside the classroom. I also told her that it was a really great idea for her to put the carnival inside her post so others can view it and use some of these ideas in the classroom. I thanked her and left my twitter name.

Blog Assignment #1

About Me
Hi my name is LaVenia Curtis, I am 23 years old and I have a 6 month old son. I currently live a home with my parents,and my sister and brother, hopefully not for long.  I live here in Mobile,AL. I just transferred to USA from Auburn University Montgomery, where I studied Elementary Education. The curriculum has just changed in the spring semester, so a lot of my classes that I took I can't use so I'm having to re-take a lot of classes. It is a little furstrating that I have to start over but I know that everything happens for a reason. My hobbies or interests are raising my my son, shopping, and having fun.

My passion is children and I love children. I believe that every child should have a great foundation in learning, this foundation are important keys to succeed. I want to be a part of this success. I know the pay isn't going to be all that great but I'm not in this profession for the money, I'm in it for the children. I hope to begin working in an elementary school as soon as I graduate from USA.
Time Management
Watching Randy Pausch's video on time management, I learned that you should always have a plan. You can plan each day, week or even semester. Break your plans into small steps and do the biggest thing first. Procrastination is a bad thing to do because it will cause you to get behind and mess things up.If you do not plan you can become stressed and things can fall apart. Its ok if the plan changes but at least you have a plan.

Practice Blog

This class is very confusing.....