Blog Post #10

1. In the video Do You Teach or Do you Educate it tells you the definition of teaching and educate and makes it clear what the difference of the two are. The video makes it clear that teaching is the lesser of the two. It describes to teach as show or explain how to do something, encourage someone to accept a fact or principle, give information or instruct in, cause someone to learn or understand something, and induce by example or punish to do or not do something. Teaching is like what Dr. Strange says opening the students heads and pouring in the knowledge and then burping them so they can spit it back out on test and exams. When we teach the students they really learn nothing but how to memorize something and then forget it. Without fully learning it though the students are not benefiting coming to school because in their jobs they will need to learn more then just how to memorize something and spit it back out.
The video also makes it clear that to educate is the greater of the two. It shows what can happen when you educate instead of teach stating it is to illuminate, enlighten, inspire, and empower. Also the definition it gave of educator is one who gives intellectual, moral, and social instruction. When given the choice most teachers would choose to be an educator when seeing this video. Being an teachers means to impact students lives for more then just that year that you have them, but instead for the students to look back on that teacher and remember the things they taught them and not just educational lessons but intellectual, moral, and social lessons.   


2. In Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home blog post he confronts the use of pencils with his  "Gertrude the School Curriculum Instructional Interventionist Academic Specialis." This person talks to him about research that says that kids who use pencils at home have lower test scores. Also talks about how the pencil is put there for entertainment and not for educational purposes; how the students will go home and just play "Hang Man" and other games and not do there homework. Also it talks about how students parents did not use pencils in there factory jobs and did not use pencils in schools so that is why the students think it is just  used to play games with. 
After rereading this post I figured out you could really replace the word pencil with computer and it would make perfect sense. How Johnson presented his argument was he took a tool that most schools think of as safe, and the tool used in every school and classroom and made it sound crazy that it was found in there. Johnson took all the excuses that most teachers and schools use so they do not have to use computers and switched it around to show those same excuses could be used for the everyday common object in schools, the pencil. 
What Johnson's argument is is that computers should be used in schools. In writing this blog post you can read between the lines of Johnson's post and see that he is saying that all theses excuses schools use about not using computers in there classrooms is just plain stupid. Yes it does give the students a lot of responsibility to stay on task if they use a computer, but won't they have to learn how to do that when they get a job too? To stay focus and not let distractions take you away from your true task. My favorite statement that this article said was responding to "How do you keep them accountable at home?" and he response by saying, "I don't hold them accountable.  I try and find projects that keep them interested.  But if they choose to play Hang Man or go on the pen pal networks, I'm okay with it. There's probably some learning that's taking place that we don't realize." When he says this he is telling everyone that is read this that yes some students will go astray and play games on the computer and get on social networks, but in doing this they learn something in itself. Even if it is if I do not stay on task then I'll never finish or get a bad grade or they learn something in the game or social networks itself. 

C4T#3 Summarizing Teacher's Post and My Comments

1. This week I commented on Mary's blog called See Mary Teach. The posted was called Paper reinforcers. This post was about how Mary is very organized which can be a good thing but it turns into a bad thing when she is so busy trying to stay organized she looses her creative ability. She is not only a teacher but a journalist so when teaching her kids to be creative in their writing and letting their mind go free, she realized she needed to do the same. When I commented on her post I told her that her post really hit home with me because I am really organized. My room is never messy and I rarely ever loose anything. This is a really good trait, but it does hinder my creative ability. I believe this because of what Mary said about worrying about organizing her words on the page she forgets to just write what her  mind tells her and just let it free.

2. This week I commented on Mary's blog again on the post Your PLN Gives You More People to Disappoint. This post was about how Mary moved to The Netherlands to teach and to build up a school. She is still a new teacher because she did not teach for the last year because she was helping build up the school she is about to teach in. She is challenging herself because she is doing all new things in a new country; there will be a surprise at every turn. She talks about how her PLN pushes her to do her best because she does not want to disappoint anyone. I commented on Mary's post about her PLN and stated that yes PLN gives you more people to disappoint but that alone gives you positive stress to push you forward in your work and to do the best you can in all you do.

Blog Post #9

I read Mr. McClung's What I have Learned This Year (2009-10) and What I have Learned This Year (2010-11) and honestly learned a lot from them. In Mr. McClung's What I have Learned This Year (2009-10) he talks about how he had to take a transition from teaching 6th grade science to teaching 3 subjects to Junior High students. He was comfortable teaching his first year and even got a little cocky because he knew a lot about science, but when he had to teach History he did not know where to begin. At first he was simply becoming like most teachers and feeding their students notes and becoming "ghost of  history teachers past." Then he strived to make his history class relevant and interesting to the students and he learned he was passionate about history too. He also talked about how in his history classes he had a lot of discussions but during them the students wouldn't give their real opinion and instead wanted the teacher's because they assumed it was the right one. He wants his students to not only look for the "right answer" but a different approach to that answer. I loved the part when McClung said teachers had to leave the ego at the door. Teachers wound not worry about being embarrassed or cool but loose themselves in the things they are passionate about, education. Going "crazy" for your subjects makes the students interested and makes them respect you because you show how passionate you are and that you take your job to educate them seriously. Also Mr. McClung spoke about Scope and Sequence. He stated that we should not just focus on the things we are interested in and go in more depth on those things, but instead focus on also the things you do not find as interesting. I agree with this because not everything you find interesting is interesting to others. You have to assume it is all interesting to the students and be just as passionate at each and every thing.
In Mr. McClung's What I have Learned This Year (2010-11) he speaks about how he does not spend time being a teacher pleaser, but instead focuses on his students and does not feel like an outsider because his job is for the students and therefore he should be with the students. He also talks about "naysayers" who are not as excited about change as he is. He says that you cannot let that effect you and you have to keep the fire of your passion. I believe if we listened to "naysayers" then creativity would be lost. If you love an idea or a different approach to something you should go with it and not listen to the people who are negative because there will always be those people. Also a point that I thought was the most important in this post was the one about "Don't Touch the Keyboard" he talks about if you teach your class to do something and a students do not understand and you explain more and they still do not understand you should not simply give them the answer but think of a new way of explaining and reexplaining. I honestly am looking forward to continuing reading what Mr. McClung writes about what he has learned in his 2011-12 teaching year.

SmartBoard Project #13

Click on the link below to see Jessica Walker's video. We could not make it one video due to time restraint.

SmartBoard Project 2

Book Trailer

Project #11

Blog Post #8

1. When watching Richard Miller's I Have a Dream Part 1 and 2 he brought about some good points. He was taking about how when he was a student he was in the library all the time because those are where the resources were. He loves books and that is why he said he made a career of it. He wrote a book but now the book is not printed anymore. It is online for everyone to view. You can buy it on Amazon for 59 cents even. He made his knowledge in the book available to all.
He even said that he now does research without stepping into a library. All the resources he needs is available with the internet. Making documents available on the internet and not through a book gets ideas out quickly. If you wanted on a book it might take two or more years. The internet Miller says is a "way to push ideas."
Miller said that people were downloading lectures from teachers on the internet more then they ever have. That is giving people knowledge that they once did not have. Miller says, "Ideas don't belong to us, but instead to our culture and we as educators must share our ideas freely." This is so true without the sharing of ideas then we are holding ourselves back it is just like "two heads are better then one," but imagine billions of heads and how great ideas can come from those people.
I feel like I am not prepared to write with multimedia right now but I know by the end of EDM310 I will be more prepared and will continue learning throughout my career. When I learn the skills of multimedia I will teach the base line of it to my students and I will let them explore it with their own imagination and responsibility.
2. In Carly Pugh's video Blog Post #12 she has come closer then I feel like I ever could or most EDM310 students could writing with multimedia. That assignment was definitely something Dr. Strange would think up. It would teach you to expand your thinking of what internet is and does like Millers says and puts your ideas for all to see and to learn from.
3. After watching The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies the primary message of these two videos is EDM310 is possible but only if you organize your time properly. I seriously want to be those girls sometimes in the EDM310 for Dummies that throw the keyboard because I am just that frustrated. My idea for a video that I would like to create is a video that records what I have to do in a week for EDM310 and explain how I handle the assignments with what I do in all my other classes. I will not be just happy in this video I will be like how I really am and scream at the computer when I am frustrated and express my frustration and show how I get through it.
4. In the video Learn to Change, Change to Learn I feel like the arguments are very reasonable. If they were not I do not believe we would have to take EDM310 to be a teacher. EDM310 is a building blocks for us as teachers to give us the tools and showing us how to use them in a very basic way. We ourselves have to explore more before we are teachers to fully understand how we can incorporate technology and social networking into the classroom.

Project #10 PLN

I just started using Symbaloo and it is a great way to organize not only my educational websites but also my social. It helps me see all the tools I can use and all the people I can connect to. Symbaloo will help me create my PLN because it will keep me connected to people who will help me and the tools that will complete the job.

Project #9b

Blog Post #7

I watched the video Randy Pausch's Last Lecture in which he talks about the techniques he uses when it comes to achieving his dreams and teaching methods he used at MIT. Some of Randy Pausch's childhood dreams include things like experiencing zero gravity, playing in the NFL, and becoming an Imagineer. The dream about experiencing zero gravity did come true but not without what Randy called "brick walls." Those are there to give people a chance to show how bad they want their dream. Randy beat his "brick wall," by being a media person and being able to experience zero gravity.
Randy did not however complete his dream of becoming an NFL football player, but he learned more from failing at this dream. Randy then said, "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." Also he learned from this dream about "head fakes," which are valuable and can be applied to many things. Football is a head fake because it teaches you things like teamwork and perseverance without you noticing it and having fun. Randy's dream about becoming an Imagineer did come true and it forever changed him. When he had the opportunity to be hired as an Imagineer permanently he didn't take it.
The teaching methods Randy used are all based around fun. Like he said he is dying and still having fun. When he went to the one of the deans at a university he learned it is all about how you say something that can make the difference. He also didn't become a Imagineer because he new as a professor he could enable not only his childhood dreams, but also others. What he learned when he taught the Building Virtual Worlds is to keep pushing the students if they exceeded your expectations you can still always raise the bar. As a teacher he also liked how, "students had a chance to show people who could be excited about it and that's the best thing you can give somebody is what it feels like to make other people get excited and happy."
Randy also mentioned in his lecture that educators need to help students become self reflective. When we allow students to do that we give them the responsibility to better themselves. He also mentioned that what gets you to achieve your dreams is roles of parents, mentors, and students. When he said this he included how we need to allow students to be creative. Lastly what he said educators need to learn how to learn from their students.

C4T#2 Summarizing Teacher's Post and My Comments

1. My post that I commented on was Ms. Melissa B post called Out of the Frying Pan.... Her post was about how her schools district was closed down because of Hurricane Lee and she got stuck in traffic for two hours on her drive home. She also talked about how she had to go to many long pointless faculty meeting and how she has so many papers to grade already.

What I commented back was that I was sorry she got stuck in so much traffic and if she wanted to grade less papers she could incorporate technology in her classroom. I suggested that she get her students involved with blogs since she must know a lot about them since she has one. If she did that she would have much less papers to grade.

2. I posted on Ms. Melissa B post again called "Product Liability". This post was a wordless post which, of course, had no words. It was instead a picture of a back of a seat at Yankee Stadium that stated, "Be Alert for bats and/or balls." I posted a comment on it that stated I also thought the sign was pretty funny. I also said I think it also states the obvious because if you are in a baseball stadium you should be aware of flying balls whether you have a sign or not.