Project #15

Instead of doing Math on the SmartBoard, we decided to use handwriting because it will benefit both the students and the teacher like using it for role. I hope you enjoy!

Creativity and Curiosity: My Thoughts - Special Post #12a

Dr. Strange asked us a series of questions to answer on a later date. In this assignment, I am going to answer these questions.

1. Do schools in the United States systematically destroy (or inhibit) the development of curiosity and/or creativity in students? If yes, why does that happen? If no, how do you counter the argument of Sir Ken Robinson that schools do undermine the development of creativity in students?

Answer:Yes, because some teachers do not believe in allowing their students to be creative. They believe in just zooming through the curriculum and "teaching" the students rather than "educate"!

2. Can a curriculum be developed that increases the curiosity of students? If so, what would be the key components of such a curriculum?

Answer: You could create a curriculum as such, all you need is time and materials to be creative like art projects and videos, podcasts, and ask questions or better yet, get your students to ask questions by giving them hints throughout a lesson and then allow them to try and figure it out while asking questions.

3. Can a curriculum be developed that increases the creativity of students? If so, what would be the key components of such a curriculum?

Answer: The same as curiosity. All teacher need to do it take the books away and give them arts and crafts materials and projects. They also need technology with videos, computers, knowledge of websites to help brighten that creativity. Students also need the freedom to creative assignments while having the right technology.

4. Can a teacher's actions increase the curiosity of students? If so, what would be those actions?

Answer: Yes, make lessons fun and exciting! Have them want to learn it and educate your students through their creativity! If you give students the freedom to be creative about an assignment, the curiosity will appear on its' own.

5. Can a teacher's actions increase the creativity of students? If so, what would be those actions?

Answer:Yes, students have to complete assignments and assignments that are fun and that allow them to be creative will increase their students ability to be creative and think on their own. Also, it is always a good time to learn something new!

6. What would help you become more creative? What role would teachers and/or schools have in that process?

Answer: The right tools and my own creativity for art and technology will help. EDM310 helped me in finding tools that will help. My teachers could help by allowing me to do assignments and allowing me to be creative with my assignments. Schools need to be behind every teacher and supply them with the right materials to be creative!

7. What would help you become more curious? What role would teachers and/or schools have in that process?

Answer: Doing exactly what Dr. Strange has done for this class, allow the students to be creative, explore new things, and give the basics of an assignments and force us students to figure out how to do the assignment and allow us to actually do the assignment ourselves because if it was just taught to us, we wouldn't remember; I know I wouldn't.

Final Report On PLN

My Symbaloo PLN!

My PLN

I have a home webmix with facebook,twitter, gmail, youtube, craigslist, ebay, etc. (personal things). For EDM310 webmix tab, I have blogger, Randy Pausch, Youtube, and the class blog. I then have EDU mentors/tools and that consists of a bunch of people on twitter, youtube, etc. and then I have picasa, dropbox, teacher guide to interactive games, google sketchup, ETV streamline, class.io, math game times and others. I also have have one webmix that is just EDU tools and that consists of delicious, teachertube, moodle, viocethread, skype, twitter, OC S.T.E.M., and more. Finally, I have a games/toys webmix of just games and a Food/recipes webmix with food network, recipes and such on it.

Blog Post #13

To start off, I have been without a cell phone for a little under a month now and it is very aggravating because if I need something or need to speak to someone while I am away from home, I can't. Also, if I break down or get into a wreck or some accident where I am injured, I cannot call 911 or anyone else because I have no cell phone. With that being said, I love watching T.V. and specific shows come on almost every night of the week. I also love to play games on facebook and check it every once in a while. I also like the convenience of email!

So, for this assignment, I went 24 hours without any of this(I picked a day that my shows were not on T.V.), no technology, and I found myself pulling weeds out of the flower beds, trimming hedges, cleaning house and much much more to occupy myself. I also hung out with a couple of friends later that evening since I couldn't watch T.V. and I called them from my house phone. It is hard to imagine how it was like before technology because even though this assignment allowed us to see how it is without technology, it is always surrounding us. Go to the store, you have to use technology to swipe your debit/credit card. Cashiers have to ring you up through the scanner and it pops up on the computer monitor. There is also technology in appliances now like the ice machine in your fridge. I used to wish I lived in the old days, but now that I see what it is like without technology and I see how technology makes our lives easier, I would not want to live before technology came around. I love technology!

C4T#4

C4T #11 - Free Technology for Teachers is a blog post by Richard Byrne. In his new post on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, Collaborative Writing Across Multiple Grade Levels, he describes how we went to Brad Wilcox's presentation on inspiring kids to have quality writing skills by allowing high school students fix elementary students writing errors. This will benefit both parties because high school students don't want to give wrong corrections and elementary students will be enthusiastic about someone else grading their work that they will work harder to not make mistakes. He also talks about Google docs and how great of a tool it is for virtually everyone! He even has a 40 page document showing step by step how to use Google docs and some of its tools within it. I commented that Dr. Strange made us use Google presentation and gave us a checklist that we could edit ourselves and much more involving Google docs! It is a great tool to have.

I just realized I have the same C4T as last month, but I already begun, so I will continue to use this assignment with newer posts. Plus, he has great websites and other tools we can use in the classroom and blogs about a different one every week.

C4T #12 - His post on April 24, 2012,Build Your Own Video Games on Sploder talks about what Sploder is and why it would be good for students to use. He discusses that Sploder is a website where you can create your very own video game. It has different elements you can use repeatedly throughout each scene of the game. There are only four templates you can use to begin the creation of your game. This will allow students to use logic and create sequence because they use this to create the game. I commented that I agree that this is a great tool for students to learn how to plan and organize what they are about to do and it helps them think ahead. Also, it helps students understand the use of technology and why it needs to be in the classroom. I also commented that students will be creative and have fun at the same time and they won't even know they are learning logic ans sequence.

Progress on Collaboration and Project #15

We are group Educators of the Future and we have been chatting through Google chat via email/video and mic. We have collaborated about projects #15 and so far we have decided to do a mathematics lesson for kindergartners. On the SMARTboard, we will use funbrain.com and it has all kinds of math arcade games for SMARTboards. There is a game called bumble numbers that kids can play that has three flowers with addition problems on them and the bee has to hit the cloud to blow the wind to catch the answers from the little flowers and put the correct number in the correct flower. There are other games as well we plan to use.

Blog Post #12

the assignment would be to create a lesson plan according to the Mobile County School System based on an individuals profession. This is not the same lesson as a SMARTboard lesson and should differ from the one an individual creates for the Smartboard project.

I am receiving a degree in PreK-6 Elementary Education and I hope to teach kindergarten. For an example, my lesson plan would be to create one based on science. I am going to do the seasons of the year; Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

For all the seasons, I would create an art project the students did in class and it consists of pictures of the seasons or things in the season and they would have to create a background to match the pictures with.

For example, for Spring I would have blooms of flowers on every plant and a tree with fresh blooms and they would have to create a background to match the pictures of plants like adding a house, pretty green grass and what every else they choose to add. I will have cut outs of houses, dogs, cats, gardens, etc. and they would have to be creative and make what they think the season looks like.

For Winter I would add snow on everything like the top of the house and I would add a dog house with snow if the students wished to add a dog. It would be fun, creative, and educational. For Summer I would have beach balls and other accessories of the beach. Of course for Fall, I would make the students add leaves to a tree and make a pile underneath the tree or somewhere in the yard.

For this assignment, you must do the following:

1. Create a lesson plan based on one grade level you wish to teach when you become an educator.

2. Pick one lesson from the curriculum and create a lesson you would teach to your students.

3. Write what you would do for this lesson and find pictures you would use to help imagine this lesson plan.

4. Post it on your blog and tell how you would conduct your lesson along with the pictures.

Blog Post #11

Little Kids...Big Potential

The little kids in this video really do have big potential! Ms. Cassidy has done an outstanding job with incorporating technology into her classroom and her students are always being creative and they always seem to want to learn in her class. This is the type of classroom environment I will have when I become an educator. This is a prime example of what the education system needs to convert to because it keeps kids interested and they have fun while learning and they learn new things about technology as well as the subject material they are being educated about. This is exactly what I was talking about in one of my previous blog posts. I find it so fascinating that someone has accomplished this in the classroom! When they talk about Alabama, they are referring to elementary students from a school in Alabama, not EDM310 students. I'm glad that some classrooms have taken the initiative to have technology in their classroom and actually use it! I believe that sooner rather than later, there will be more and more technologically literate educators in the school system and really soon, the school system will have no choice but to convert to technology in the classroom. I can't wait to become an educator and hopefully help other educators move to this technology movement into the classroom!

Ms. Cassidy on Skype

I have to say, Ms Cassidy is very nice and very inspiring! I used to live in Virginia and it snowed almost every winter and it is very fun to play in. I do miss the snow now that I live in Alabama, but I was never a big fan of the cold anyways. So, Ms. Cassidy gave very clear answers to the questions and I did not know about not posting blogs or anything with the students last name to protect them. I was very glad that you did this Skype video with Ms. Cassidy because it answered a lot of questions I had. When I become an educator, I plan to have my students blog at least twice a week if not every day as a warm up exercise in the morning. I would of course have a class blog and a SMARTboard so my students can learn other things like handwriting, the alphabet, mathematics, reading, science, and history. Since I will probably teach second grade or under, I can teach my students things they will need to know for the next grade level. There is many improvements that technology can bring to the classroom if every teacher would become technologically literate. You have to know what to do before you send your students into the internet/technology world.

I would have to use more than one of her techniques, but if I had to choose one to use, I would use the video alphabet with other students around the world. I would pick a letter each week that we would learn vocabulary from and Skype with other classrooms one a day and allow the students to interact with other students about the letter of the week. I think it is very important to use all tools of the internet and technology because kids are more advanced in technology than the teachers these days, I have seen it first hand. If teachers do not get involved with technology soon, students are going to be teaching the teacher everything. I'm not saying that students teaching their instructor is a bad thing because it isn't, but teachers need to be prepared to teach their students the uses of technology and what to stay away from on the internet. There is always something we can learn from out students, but us as educators should be prepared to teach them more than they know about.

Blog Post #10

I want to start off by saying that I became an educator to educate, inspire, innovate, and much more than just teach. This video, Do You Teach or Do You Educate? has very few words, but they are truly inspiring as a future educator. When I become an educator here in the near future, I want to give my students more than they really would appreciate. What I mean by that is that I want to educate my students about things like morals and values, learning experiences they never thought could be possible. I also want to make every lesson intriguing to them and fun, that is why I plan to use a SMARTboard as much as possible and have arts and crafts projects. I am currently taking ARS 101-105 and it is not a requirement for my major. I took this class so I can be better at art and educate my students by giving them projects and being creative! I want my classroom to be a fun environment for them, but first and for most an educational environment where they can learn and be creative.

I truly want my students to grasp the concepts and if I give them creative projects to do or allow them to play SMARTboard games in any subject, they will be more likely to KNOW the material and not just memorize it. I was in Elementary before, we all have and we all know that doing something artsy and creative was more fun and easier to comprehend than reading text out of a book or just having it read to you. Act out the characters, allow your students to create radio stations and podcasts about a book. These lessons will take just as much time as any other lesson. The only difference is that students are being EDUCATED and not TAUGHT something. This video really did get me thinking about how I am going to create my lesson plans and how I am going to fulfill my duties as an educator. I truly feel more confident now about what I plan to do.

Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home

I like Tom Johnson's blog because he is not hypocritical or misjudging about the argument. Gertrude read one research article on pencils and automatically assumed that students taking pencils home will lower test scores. How? I agree with Tom Johnson, even if they play hangman with the pencil and piece of paper, they are learning something and with this example, they could be learning vocabulary word because they have to think about what the word is and spell it out before you hang the stick figure. I found this post to be somewhat amusing and funny because he is sarcastic about why Gertrude would not want students to take pencils home like stabbing themselves in the scrotum or damage of property. He sets his argument up that way and creates a good one too!

His argument is that pencils have a bad reputation that they are just used for entertainment for students and not to do work. He continues to argue that even if students are using then to "entertain" like playing hangman, they are learning something in some kind of way. Also, he doesn't hold his students accountable for the pencils and paper, he tries to keep them on interesting projects. I believe his main point to his argument is that students used pencils to take that "drill-and-kill" bubble test to get the research and to take bubble tests in school too. Why can't students take pencils home to do work? It's not like the teacher is taking the test and they only learn in the classroom. Students learn at home as well as in the classroom so why retain their learning environment to just the classroom?

C4K for April

Scott's Blog

C4K #8 - Scott's blog post,Racism was this post about the actual word RACE. There is a lot of history behind this word and it actually created racism among whites, blacks, Hispanics, etc. He has a video from the American Archaeological Association that created the video to inform people about the word race and how we are not so different and that skin color is only skin deep. You shouldn't judge someone based on their skin color, it goes deeper than that. They have feelings, morals, values, expectations, and much more. On his blog as well, he has two website you can view to learn more about race and racism. I commented to Scott that I found his blog inspiring because he chose this topic to blog about. It was very detailed with a lot of background information that you could look at. I also talked about the fact that I did not know the actual word race began all this slavery and such, even though I did know about slavery for blacks, Chinese, Japanese, etc. I also said that the video was very informing and I actually learned a lot about the word race. This was a very good, informative blog post and I look forward to reading more of his blogs.

C4K #9 - His new post, Volleyball and Injury, he talks about how he strained a "tenant" (tendon) and the restrictions he has because it happened right before the season began. He switched to a less strenuous activity and joined a volleyball team. I commented that I believe it is tendon not tenant and that I bet it really hurts to strain one of those. He didn't say where it happened on his body or how so I asked him in my comment and I talked about how I'm sure it is very frustrating because from what I have read, he loves sports. I told him I used to play softball and baseball before that and that I am very active in my life as well and how it is a good thing to be very active.

C4K #10 - This week we had to comment on one of Ms. Cassidy's students blogs. They are first graders and I had to comment on haydn's blog about the hockey Wii game with the hockey stick Wii. He did not say much about it, but I stated that I have never owned a Wii, but I bet a hockey Wii is really fun! I also stated that it was nice that he got a Wii because they allow you to be very active and such.