EDM Final

Miles Bubbett's EDM310 Class Blog: EDM Final

Miles Bubbett's EDM310 Class Blog: EDM Final

Comments for Teachers

http://gret.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/blendedinstructionwithblogsandwikisforyounglearners/#comments

I was assigned to Greta Sandler's blog for the past two weeks. She is an EDU teacher. She is very supportive of the uses of blogs and technology in her classroom. She believes that through blogging and social media, they can help improve education. Blogging opens the opportunity for opened conversation. Different people can put in their opinions and knowledge and enlighten others through their ideas and beliefs. Great Sandler seems to have an awesome grasp on the powers and usefulness of technology.

Blog Assignment 13

http://alex.state.al.us/webresources.php

    ALEX is the Alabama Learning Exchange. It is an online tool that allows access to many different awesome educational materials available. When you visit this website, you will be able to view courses of studies, different web links, view lesson plans, create your own lesson plans, and so much more! You can create your own personal workspace. By creating your own ALEX account, you can store and submit your lesson plan online. ALEX is a tool that replaces huge binders full of lesson plans. Everything you need can be organized and stored into one neat personal learning network. ALEX offers many helpful tools such as ideas for lesson plans and specifies by subject matter and grade levels.
    As a future "new teacher" I can see myself absolutely using ALEX to help me with things such as lesson plans. It is easy for a very experienced teacher to quickly come up with lesson plans and activities. As a new teacher, I see this as being harder with less experience. ALEX can help me organize all of my work and explore web links that are relevant to my lesson. Tools such as ALEX are so incredibly helpful and available, so why not take advantage of them?

Comments For Kids

Comment#7
We were assigned different posts on Mr. McClung's blog. I was assigned
"Just Like Riding a Bike"
http://mcclungsworld.com/2011/03/06/just-like-riding-a-bike/#comments
He talks about how he had a student teacher for 6 weeks. This allowed him a lot of time off. He was initially excited to get some work done and have some time off. He goes on to say how much he missed his class and was anxious to get back to them. I loved this post. It is so obvious how much he cares about his students and wants to be there for them. I hope that I am a teacher like this one day! It is so important to truly care about your class. It is healthy for you and your students to get along and appreciate each other. When this occurs, optimum learning can take place! Mr. McClung seems to be an excellent teacher and I have learned quite a bit about his teaching methods.

Comment#8
http://ehpsblogs.com/kiana6p/wp-comments-post.php
For this comment, I was assigned Kiana from Ms. Pike's class in Sydney, Australia. Her blog was about Earth hour. This is once a year and for an hour, the whole community turns off everything electronic: phones, computers, televisions, etc. I thought this was such an awesome idea! I wish we had something like this. For an hour the world could just slow down. I think this is something we need to look into! It's only an hour, once a year, I think people could handle that.

Comment#9
For this comment for kids, we were assigned to Ms. Yollis's class blog. We were to explore her class blog and note how she involved the parents, students, and family members. She did an excellent job with this! She incorporated all of her students and spotlighted them for different things. This makes the student  feel special and important. The parents can access the page and see what is going on in the classroom. Tools like this are so helpful for the teachers and the parents!

Comment#10
http://hannahshacienda.blogspot.com/2011/02/leila-donates-her-hair-to-locks-of-love.html
I read Hannah's blog from Ms. Yollis's third grade class. Hannah is one of three girls who has earned a blog because of things like having a good attitude, being responsible, posting great comments, etc. The post that I read was about her and her sister, Leila. They take turns every year donating their hair to make wigs for children who need wigs. This is such an awesome thing! I am currently growing my hair out for this purpose as well. It was so encouraging to see these students do this! I also think that Ms. Yollis is doing an awesome job in her classroom! I love the fact that the blog is a privilege.

Progress Report on Final Project

For my final project, I am in a group with Cherish Hamner and Miles Bubbett. We have met a couple times and we have come up with several ideas for our final project. Our ideas include working with children in the inner city, PLNs and creating websites and blogs, problems at South and providing solutions, etc. We will decide on what we are doing very soon and are continuously thinking of ideas!

Project #15

Miles Bubbett and I submitted a video into the First Gift USA contest. We did a video in which Miles recorded what we wanted to say and we illustrated his words. We sped up the drawing process so that as we drew, it kept up with his words. The video will be posted if and when it is approved.

Special Assignment

1. From his class blog, Mr. McClung seems to absolutely put his students first. He also seems extremely passionate about his job and takes it very seriously.
2. As an educator, he seems to be a very creative and "hands-on" teacher. I love how he tied to "Prosser's Gabriel" song into his lesson. Things like this, kids can relate to!
3. His rules are short, few, and to the point. Rules like this keep order in the classroom. They may seem strict but the strictest teachers I've had, caused me to respect them more. Order in the classroom and respect from your students are crucial in a classroom.
4. Day Planner is the first thing that every students needs in Mr. McClung's class. I think this is first because education is key in success! This also is a way for students to learn to become organized.
5. I think that Dr. Strange's penalties for late homework are similar to that of Mr. McClung's. If our work is late, this opens up the possibility for receiving an "F" in the course. A "D" will be received if we are consistently late with our assignments. Mr. McClung's is similar. The later it is, the more points will be deducted.
6. I love the way Mr. MrClung has set up his classroom. I love his attitude about teaching as well. I hope my passion for teaching never burns out! He seems to have a high energy and engaging way of teaching.  I love that! I love his nontraditional views on homework. His goal is for students to learn and enjoy it! Their focus should not be on just trying to get the homework done, but grasping the material! I want this to be the same in my classroom.
7. The two links that I chose were The Arkansas Runner and The Lightening Explorer.
www.arkansasrunner.com
http://thunderstorm.vaisala.com/explorer.html
The Arkansas Runner is a webpage that has many of the road races that are available in Arkansas. This is such a cool concept! I was very impressed with it and I hope we have something like that for Mobile! It's an awesome way to keep up with the races that are available around you and the races that are coming up.
The Lightening Explorer was also very cool! It showed the lightening that was happening across the U.S. I'm not sure why he chose this, other than the fact that it is a very awesome tool! Why not stay informed of the weather that is coming your way?!
8. His internet rules were great! I wouldn't add or subtract any of them! I think teachers are often scared to create class blogs because of the dangers of the internet. This brings back up the pencil metaphor. You can't be scared of the few negatives that come with the internet compared to the so many positives it has to offer! I think his rules were safe and he can easily monitor his class's blog.
9. I was assigned his "What I've Learned This Year" post. It was awesome! As a new teacher he has already learned so much. I love that part that emphasized the importance of realizing nothing will go exactly as planned and your resilience as a teacher is crucial! He also mentioned that kids aren't perfect and shouldn't be held to perfect students! Lastly, he explained how we may not understand everything about technology, but it is important that we at least give it a shot! You are capable of so much more than you may realize!
10. So far, my encounter with Blogger has been positive. I do love his "Song of the Week" through Grooveshark. I don't know if this is a capability of Blogger but I do love how songs are often incorporated into his lessons. This is a great way for students to grasp the concept that he is trying to get across to them. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be much that Blogger can't also do.
11. Mr. McClung's blog is useful to everyone in that it is accessible to everyone, it is informative, and it is entertaining! It is accessible to everyone yet the safety of his students is not compromised! It is informative in that it shows what they are doing that week, homework and assignments are posted for students and parents to see, his class rules are available. The little bio about himself is also helpful to new students entering his class and for the parents of these students. His posts like what he has learned through teaching and his classroom concepts are helpful to students like me because they are a picture of what a great teacher does and expects in his classroom. It helps us learn from the things he has experienced in his classroom.
12. His students seem more mature and engaged in the classroom than other eighth graders. Their spelling and blog posts are very well written. I think the difference has everything to do with the teacher. Mr. McClung "gets it". He teaches and seems to have complete control of his classroom. He realizes his students aren't perfect, so when a mistake is made, he corrects it and explains why it its wrong. He seems to have patience! So many of my teachers have lacked this and it is such a difference when you do get a great teacher with patience and passion!
13. No more comments for me other than that he seems right on key with what he's doing in his class. I would love to be a teacher like this one day.

Blog Assignment 12

A blog assignment that I would have like to have completed would have been something along the lines of this:


In one to two paragraphs please explain what grade or grade level you would like to teach, why you want to teach at this level, and what subject you would like to focus on (if it's anything besides elementary education). Also include who or what inspired you to go into the field of education.

I would have enjoyed this project early on in the semester because it would have allowed me to connect with students who are headed into the same area as me. Comments for Classmates was completely helpful in this as well, but a blog post like this would have allowed better understanding of what my peers planned to do with their lives.

     When I graduate I hope to teach physical education at the high school level. I am currently doing my observation hours at Westlawn Elementary. I love this age group but I think I would enjoy the higher grade level. My desire is to educate older students on how to keep their bodies healthy and active! This is  started even at the elementary level, but the students don't always seem to understand the importance of this until they get older. At the high school level, the students will be preparing for college. With college comes poor sleeping and eating habits, and often weight gain is associated with these things. Stress also causes weight gain. If I can help them with their eating habits and physical activities, I can help decrease or eliminate the chance of too much weight gain in college. It seems to be downhill once a college student begins to gain excess weight. They keep getting older and less active when things like school or activities come up that they would rather be doing. From there, your metabolism slows if you do not maintain a healthy one and weight gain is inevitable. Students as the high school level can understand these consequences and are close to the college age to where they can relate to what I will be teaching. I also would love to coach soccer at the high school level. I think the best way to go about doing this is to already have a physical education job with a high school.
     The person that inspired me to go into the education field was my first grade teacher, Mrs. Martin. I went to Mary B. Austin for elementary school and she was my teacher! The way she set up her classroom and truly cared about us, is hard to explain unless you were actually a part of her class! Her teaching, for the majority, was hands on. We did things like wear our pajamas on the 100th day of school. We were learning about traveling and she set up the classroom seats like we were on an airplane and served us pretzels. We dressed like tacky tourists that day. I will never forget activities like that! Although I don't want to teach at the elementary level, she made me realize what an impact I could have on my classroom one day, and also what a big responsibility you have as a teacher! I will never forget her and if I am 1/3 of the teacher she was, I will feel like an accomplished teacher.

How to Execute the Perfect PB&J

Blog Assignment 11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvPZtTej0jQ&feature=player_embedded

In the video by Ms. Cassidy's class, I was truly impressed! These kids are only first graders and they can already blog and navigate on the internet! In my own classroom, I think that the blogging is an excellent idea! They can connect with other students and experts around the world to heighten their learning experience. Blogging also will only improve their spelling and writing techniques! Sure, there will be mistakes, they're only in first grade! Constantly writing and correcting and reading other students' blogs will help them learn so much! Not to mention, they're computer skills and typing skills will be much more advanced than other students who don't have access to such a hands on computer learning experience! I also would use Skype in my classroom. Before this class I never realized the full potential of Skype! You can connect with anyone worldwide! That's mind blowing! The kids will learn other cultures as well as teach others about their culture! Since they are first graders, it is important to keep them focused and engaged during lesson plans. What better way to do this than through Skype and/or blogging! I would probably face some parents who aren't at ease with things like video cameras in the classroom or access to the internet. To help this, at the school's Open House, I would introduce the technology that I would be using, show them their student's blogs, and show them that they have full access to their student's blog. I think informing them and guiding them through the amazing benefits of these tools, they will be more comfortable with their children in my classroom. I think that Ms. Cassidy is an awesome teacher and her students seem to be learning and enjoying her class so much! They seem like very bright students and I can't help but think that technology has contributed to what they can do at this young age.