Week 10

Morgan Bayda and Dan Brown "An Open Letter to Educators"

Morgan Bayda's post is a video about how lecture forms of learning are becoming extinct in schools and universities today. With new technology, it can be extremely hard for teachers and professors to keep students entertained. This is mainly true because most teachers teach by forms of essentialism, which is where students are extremely passive and learn mainly by memorization. Students disengage and mentally drop out, which eventually leads to physical dropout. This is sad because it does not necessarily mean these students are stupid or lazy; in most cases, they are extremely bored. I have to admit I have been bored to death in quite a few lectures because most teachers do not get their students actively involved.

When students are not actively involved, they do not want to attend class anymore. Most students feel the majority of classes they are taking are unrelated to their majors, which is normally true in the first two years of their college education. This means they have to get through these classes first; the problem is most students drop out before they ever get past these classes. I agree that we will finally be able to change the way lessons are taught if we choose to in our classrooms because we are the generation with

Comment4Kids Week 10

This is Gabby's post I was assigned to leave a message on:

For my science fair project I am seeing if the spread of your hands on the lacrosse stick affect the distance the ball travels. So far what I have tested mt hypothesis is wrong because when my hands were close the ball went farther.

My comment:
I think you have a good idea for your project. I am guessing your hypothesis is that you think the ball will go further with your hands spread apart? Please keep us informed with your results.

Week 9

ACCESS is an Alabama program whose mission is to provide equal opportunity educational distance learning experiences to all Alabama students. This program is offered to all Alabama public school students so that they can better their education. One of the best features ACCESS offers is 14 advanced placement courses; they are approved by the College Board. ACCESS even offers ChemLab, which is a specialized simulation software for chemistry courses. On ACCESS's website, an Alabama virtual library is for teachers, students, and all citizens of the state.

ACCESS is an awesome program for high school students in the state of Alabama. I have never taken a distance learning course in a classroom; I have taken online courses. This program offers opportunities to students that would otherwise not be available. Funds are limited in many individual schools, and many courses are not offered because of the funding. Therefore, ACCESS is most students' best bet for bettering their education, especially through the advanced placement courses it offers. I am from Mississippi, and it would have been great if I had the opportunity in high school to take these type of distance learning courses.

Week 9

ALEX is the Alabama Learning Exchange, which is a program created by educators for educators. This program has many sources available to educators so that they can better their classroom. First it tells the teacher exactly what curriculum they are required to meet that year in his/her particular subject area. It also has links to various websites--students', teachers' and administrators' sites so that the teacher can interact with various people in the educational system. The ALEX website also has links for lesson plans; a teacher can view other teachers' lesson plans or create his/her own by using ALEX's website. The site also has a section dedicated to podcasts in every subject area as well as latest news stories involving the educational system.

ALEX can prove to be a very useful resource and tool for Alabama educators. It is amazing how much information is packed into this one website and is at the fingertips of many educators. The lesson plans can truly help out other teachers, especially new teachers who might be stumped and need a little push in the right direction. The podcasts are invaluable because the teachers can learn from them, and they can even show them in class so that their students can interact and not have pencil and paper handed to them every day. The website had a space for personal workspace, and I am not quite sure exactly what this area is for because you must sign in to view it. I am sure it is for notes, lesson plans, and favorites on the site though; if this is the case, it would be great to have everything backed up online so that the teacher can view it from anywhere with internet access. ALEX has taken educational criteria and sources above and beyond.

Comment4Teachers

Week 7:

I commented on Mr. Schrange's blog about an event he attended with his son in kindergarten which involved high school students displaying their time and knowledge. He posted a video of his son at the event, and I commented as follows:

I am required to read a few of your posts for my college course EDM310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. This event that you attended with your son was both rewarding and educating. It was rewarding for the high school students who donated their time to give information to these younger students. I am sure it was also rewarding for you to see these high school students because most of them were your former students. It was educating of course for the little ones but also for parents who attended.

I also agree that it is important for students to get involved in their community. I think it is awesome that the high school has a community service requirement to ensure that students take advantage of these experiences. Thank you for sharing the video of your son at the event; he seemed really intrigued.

Week 8:
This blog post was on Educon 2.2, a conference held for educators.
My comment:

I am not yet an educator, but I do believe it is important to attend conferences and events to discuss progress being made in schools. I am glad you had a great time at Educon 2.2, and I hope when I have to attend conferences, they are nearly as interesting as this one was for you. I think it is awesome that it was streamed virtually as well so that people who could not make it to the event could still have a part in what was being discussed. I liked that you said it made you feel as a part of a community rather than a stranger. It is hard to attend events where you do not know one another, and it is great to hear that this event helped to make everyone comfortable outside their own skin.

Week 9:
This post by Mr. Schrange was about the first week of school and what he did to break up the monotonous first day schedule.
My comment:

I know you posted this a while back, but I have been helping a friend with ideas for her classroom and thought it was relevant. I am really glad to see that you have taken the initiative to be different, especially on the first day of school. Throughout my secondary education, I always dreaded the first day of school simply because it was always the same procedure in every classroom. We were forced to read a quarter of the handbook in every block so that by the end of the day, we were finished and had no excuse not to know the rules of the school. You did not stick to this monotonous schedule, and I applaud you for that. I have often thought of what I will try to make my students break apart from their comfort zones with students they have not met, and I believe I might have to use this "Group Juggle" game. Thank you for the great tips!


Week 10:


I am now reading the blog for Teacher Voices by Teacher Leaders Network.
This post was about a the book Metaphors and Analogies by Rick Wormeli the teacher read that has helped her in her classroom.
My comment:

I am a student at the University of South Alabama in the course EDM310, http://edm310.blogspot.com/, and I am required to read posts made on this blog. My blog is http://greeneangelaedm310.blogspot.com/.

Thank you for sharing this book and letting us know how inspired you were by it. I completely agree that teachers want their students to think analytically and at the next level. Students should learn to "think outside the box" and not be afraid of this way of thinking being the wrong way.
I agree with chapter 8 saying that it is important for students to mold and defend their own ideas. This creates an entire new way of thinking, and it is important for students to explore this type of thinking.

Week 11:

This post also came from the Teacher Leader Network. It is about caring teachers and confident students. My comment:

It is extremely important for students to be confident. It is just as important for educators to be confident in their students and push their students to do their very best. Students need someone to show them that he/she cares; if they do not have this someone, they will not strive to accomplish everything they are capable of accomplishing. Teachers should be active not passive; they should be involved in their students' lives and show their students that they can achieve anything they put their mind to. A little bit of encouragement goes a long way.

Week 12:

This blog was on voice recognition software, Dragon Naturally Speaking.

My comment:

I have never heard of this software program, but it sounds very interesting. I am a math major, and I know it would definitely come in handy writing English papers simply because I am a "talker." I am very quick at typing, so I do not know exactly how much I would use it for writing papers. My absolute favorite use of this program that you have made is recording what you say for projects so that it is typed word for word. This is awesome so that there is no discrepancy about what you did or did not say. Hopefully one day you will get one of those wireless mics! :) Good luck with this program.

COMMENT4KIDS:

This week I was not assigned a new child. I had the same as week 8. So I commented on another child's post that was assigned to someone else in my class. This student's post was about organization in writing. My comment:

I am also a student at the University of South Alabama in EDM310. Staying organized will take you far in life. No one likes reading any material that is unorganized. I am a math major, and I try to keep everything extremely organized so that my professors can easily understand what I am trying to say. You have a great idea on how you like to organize things, and I am sure you will continue to do great in life!

Week 8

Comment4Kids:

My comment4kids assignment was for a blog post on the French Revolution. The student gave a quick description of the three social classes and what lead to the peasants' revolt. The student asked if the peasants were justified in their revolt. My response:

I completely agree with the peasants. Their revolt was extremely courageous, and they should be applauded for what they accomplished. I believe people should stand up for what they believe in if it means anything to them. Unfortunately, society will always have classes and social statuses unless people keep revolting and fighting against it.

Skype Project

This semester I was required to download and use Skype. Before this class, I had never used Skype and had not planned to use Skype. I downloaded it in my EDM310 classroom and began to play with it along with my friend and classmate, Lauren Germany. Using Skype was probably the funnest project I have done so far in EDM310. Lauren and I used it to work on our podcast so we could write out our scripts. This made our podcasts super convenient because we were not always available at the same time as one another. We also took snapshots of each other, which turned out to be interesting. Lauren found out the sex of her unborn baby today, and she held her ultrasound picture up to the camera to show me that she is having a boy! :) I really feel Skype could be a useful tool in the future between my students, friends, family, and co-workers. One big plus is that Skype is extremely user-friendly for me because I have a built-in webcam on my computer. I am looking forward to using Skype again and again and again! :)

Comments

Comment4Kids Feb 22
Staphon wrote a blog on saltwater fish. It was really interesting because he had some of the same beliefs I did. The neatest part about corals is that they are not rocks or plants; they are actually animals. This took me a long time to realize when my boyfriend got a saltwater aquarium. They are one of the most interesting parts in it though because we can see them flow with the current, but we never see them move. God's creatures sure are amazing!

Week 8

Dr. Randy Pausch's Video "Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"

Have you ever known someone to want pity from everyone at all times? Have you ever met someone who uses their weakness or illness to get something from someone such as attention? Those people drive me crazy because they do not hold their head up high and try to be content with what they have been given; instead, they have given up. Dr. Randy Pausch is the complete opposite of those people! During this video, he announces at the beginning of his speech that he is dying of Pancreatic Cancer. Rather than letting his audience have a moment to pity him, he says that is not at all what he wants. He tells his audience that he is in great health--even better than most people in the audience and does push-ups on stage to prove this.

Dr. Pausch takes us on memory lane discussing various dream jobs he had as a child such as being an astronaut, being a professional football player, and being an imagineer. He then jumps to years ahead and leads us to the question "How do we enable the dreams of others?" Being a new teacher, he was astonished at the projects his students presented him with. He told his mentor the students were past the point he had planned on teaching them, and he asked his mentor what he could do. His mentor told him to raise the bar--tell his students they did good but they could do better. I agree with this to an extent. As a student with excellent grades in secondary school, the last thing I ever wanted to hear was that I could do better. This made me feel as if someone was trying to tell me I did not do good enough because I did not put forth enough effort. I believe we should push our children, but when we see they are doing their absolute best, we should congratulate them and let them know.

The part of his lecture about brick walls is neat. He basically tells us the brick walls are not there to keep us out. Instead, they are there to show us exactly how bad we want whatever it is they are keeping us from. If it is really important to us, we should do whatever it takes to break this wall down. This is true in so many instances--relationships, school, and careers. Anything is possible if we set our mind to it, and I truly believe God never shuts one door without opening another. We should fight for what we believe in and what we want if we truly believe in it with all our heart.

Dr. Pausch tells us throughout the video that we should: build the fundamentals, correct students, and encourage students. He tells us that if we do not make our students understand the fundamentals, we cannot expect them to build knowledge on top of it. They must have this foundation. We should correct our students because when no one is correcting them, no one is caring about their success. As educators, we should correct them so that they can better themselves. We should definitely encourage our students. He believes we should always set the bar higher than students set for themselves. These are three extremely important responsibilities of educators.