City of Fairhope Timeline

C4K#1, #2, #3 Summary

Owen T, The Most Amazing Camp in the World

I just finished reading my first C4K blogpost by Owen T. Owen is a student at Crozet Public School in Charlottesville, PA. His teacher is Ms. Paula White who enjoys teaching children about technology. Owen's blogpost was about a summer camp in the area called Summers Best 2 Weeks, also titled, The Most Amazing Camp in the World by Owen. I was very impressed that Owen included a link to the camp in his post in which he directed his readers to watch the movie trailer. I watched the movie trailer. He was right. It was amazing. It made me wish I was in the fourth grade again so I could go!!

The Million Dollar Project

Mr. St. Pierre's Class is doing "The Million Dollar Project" in response to Governor Cuomo cutting New York's state budget that will directly affect their school. During this project, students will be competing to win one million dollars. The catch? The one million is imaginary and the monies must be spent on school improvement.

These students are eleven and twelve years old, so some of them may be accustomed to saving and spending an allowance. However, experts recommend weekly allowances to be no more than the child's actual age. So, with that current trend in mind, I would be very eager to see the children learn the actual value of one million dollars. I can picture the children working on the project. They will transition from imagining a figure of one million dollars in a very abstract way, to becoming acquainted with a real, tangible figure. I would be very excited if my child came home with a project like this.

Mohammed, "Sailing the Pacific"

Mohammed is a five year student who goes to school in New Zealand at Pt England School. At first, I was a little hesitant about blogging because of the recent earthquake in Christ Church, New Zealand. After a map quest, I realized Auckland, New Zealand, the town where Mohammed lives, is six hundred and sixty miles from Christ Church. It also appears to be on a separate island. After reading a couple other posts from some older children at his school, it appears they all are okay. However, they are very concerned about and praying for their fellow citizens in Christ Church.

Mohammed's blog post was an amazing picture of color and animation about the Vikings. I enjoyed viewing the beautiful stars that fell to the ground, the cutest pink pig traveling in the midst of the Vikings, and a vibrant green fish that buzzed in the ocean. I also learned that Vikings would bring coconuts as part of their provisions.

Blog Assignment 4

Don’t teach your kids this stuff. Please?

This is an interesting poem on Dr. McLeod's website, dangerously ! irrelevant. Dr. McLeod is an accomplished associate professor who specializes in developing technology courses for education professionals. He addresses the need to let children explore and develop their computer and networking skills. His poses a thought about what will happen if he allows his children take advantage of the new computer age and you do not?

It makes you think you may be holding your children back from being competitive in the new age if you do not allow your children to do the same. I agree. We must not hold our children back from learning. We should stay involved in their technological learning and networking so we can monitor and guide them. We must not assume the worst every time a child gets on the computer, just like when we let them go play in the neighborhood with their friends. We must teach them and trust them to use their good judgment.

The iSchool Initiative

In this You Tube video, Travis Allen, a seventeen year old high school student, believes he has the answer to the budget cuts that are taking place at his school and around the country. He believes each student should have an IPod Touch because the apps and technology available to its users will eliminate the need for copiers, maps, paper, pen, calculators and other items that a school uses every day.

Travis states that the current public school system is broken. We can see and hear these same concerns about our public school system on television, on the radio and on the internet. I applaud Travis who is trying to give good answers to these concerns. I believe taking action with some new initiatives is a step in the right direction. We will learn what works and does not work with new initiatives like this one in our schools. We will be closer to the new education reform that everyone is asking for if we are only willing to try some new things. Try this in one school and something else creative in another. What are we afraid of?

The Lost Generation

I enjoyed watching this video, which had a very creative ending. I would have never thought you could write a statement, then read the statement backwards and it would still be relevant to your first message. Very amazing, obviously, AARP thought so as well. It looks as though the video had their endorsement.

I am impressed the author placed a high importance on family life. Our society places such an importance on self, which can be very good at times. However, I think the message of family could be highlighted more in our media. Being in a family teaches us that we do not always need to put our needs first to be our best selves. In fact, we can learn love, humility and self-control by putting others needs first.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

I do not know exactly why, but of all the video's I have watched this semester, this one seems to be one of the most stunning. I will want to share it with other people. In a weak effort to try to describe why, maybe the first thing that comes to my mind is I feel like I am witnessing an authentic virtual experience. The sheer logistics of the whole thing seems enormous. Which reminds me once again, this exact choir may be able unable to be duplicated in real time due to scheduling conflicts of its participants.

Teaching in the 21st Century

I agree with the positions expressed in this video. I particularly liked the idea of using new technology to teach students how to gather and use information to solve their everyday problems. I agree with the author that as teachers we should work to create lessons that engage our students. Engagement will lead to more learning than mere entertainment. I look forward to creating lessons that will be engaging, original and useful.

Summary Post C4T#1 (Post 1&2)

C4T#1-post#1
My first Comments4Teachers (C4T) assignment is to follow the blog of Liz Davis, The Power of Educational Technology. Liz Davis Blog Link She is getting geared up for her favorite conference of the year, EduCon. I have included EcuCon's guiding principles below.

What is EduCon?

EduCon is both a conversation and a conference.

And it is not a technology conference. It is an education conference. It is, hopefully, an innovation conference where we can come together, both in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools. Every session will be an opportunity to discuss and debate ideas — from the very practical to the big dreams.

The Axioms

Guiding Principles of EduCon

Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members
Our schools must be about co-creating — together with our students — the 21st Century Citizen
Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around
Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate and collaborate
Learning can — and must — be networked.

Liz explains this is her 4th conference. How I wish I could go! She makes it sound so fun to be surrounded by other teachers who are coming together to discuss meaningful ways to improve teaching in the 21st century. I believe a teacher is speaking volumes about him or herself when they take their personal time to attend these conferences. Not only do I read between the lines that they are still very interested in their profession, but that they care enough to keep improving upon themselves as well.

I just can't explain how excited I am to be a part of the EDM 310 class! It is the most labor intensive college class I have ever been in, but also the most rewarding. I have been time warped into different awareness level in my profession and am most appreciative for it. I keep thinking, I hope all education majors around the nation have a chance to learn and use communication tools like we have here at University of South Alabama.

C4T#1-post#2

I just posted my second comment for Liz on her blog. She has returned from the EduCon Conference and had some conflicting feelings about it. While she still believes in the significance of the conference, the materials seemed a bit of a repeat for a fourth time attender, like herself.

What I love is that she was very open and honest about sharing her feelings. It's not always easy to say what we feel, especially when it is not always positive. This brings us to the source of her discontent with the last conference. She felt as though there could have been more positive information about what the schools were doing right. Maybe more examples, instead of the same rhetoric, "We must bring our failing schools into the twenty first century with technology."

Congratulations to Liz who is so ahead of the technology curve that she is starting to circle back around! I am going to make sure to follow Liz, so I can go with her on this next trip!

Blog Assignment 3

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

This video seems to be very similar to my college experience. Some professors still use the chalkboard, especially in my math class. Some professors, however, do a mixture of the smart board and the chalkboard. Since I am a returning student, smart boards are new to me. They seem to have a lot of potential in making the classroom more interesting. If a professor chooses to use the smart board, I enjoy it more when videos are used in conjunction with class notes.

If I were to change anything about the video as a producer, I would include an additional survey for the students. I would not only ask about the critiques of the current classroom, but I would also ask for suggestions on how to make the classroom experience more productive. How would the students improve the classroom experience and make it more hands on and more interesting? Could the professor use the smart board to add more pictures, movies and possibly music to teach the subject? Could the professor ask the students to post comments, questions and answers on their blog, face book, etc. for the class? Would this make the class experience more memorable, more enjoyable?

"It's Not About the Technology"

I am especially interested in the comment Ms. Hines made, "technology is useless without good teaching." I agree. For example, if a teacher uses a smart board to only read off class notes, the lecture starts to lose interest very fast.

The best class I have this semester (besides my EDM 310 class of course!) has been the one with a chalk board, a smart board, a map, and a seasoned teacher. The class is Geography 102 with Mr. Glenn Sebastian. I can't help but to think this teacher has taught this same class several times, but still, he loves what he does. And you know what? Because Mr. Sebastian loves what he does, and has an excitement and an energy for the subject; it

makes me wonder why he loves it so much. I can't help but to perk up in class and want to listen to what he says is so awesome about Geography. I have even caught myself thinking, wow, I could see myself teaching this subject!

I come from a sales background. So, I understand in order to get someone excited about or sell your product, you must believe in and love it yourself. When we love what we do it will show and people will want to be around us and be a part of what we are doing! Thank you, Mr. Sebastian, you have sold me on Geography!

Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

I agree that all teachers would benefit from being lifelong learners in technology. For that matter, I think all people would benefit from being lifelong learners in technology. Whereas, some people may be able to get away with not incorporating several means of technology in their daily lifestyle, I am surprised to find out that a teacher would be able to get away with it.

I wish I could have read about some of the specific frustrations that Mr. Fisch has with his fellow colleagues. Such as, they refused to teach with technology, they do not like to email, twitter, etc. Being a new education student, I would like to hear Mr. Fish's opinion also on what he feels would be a technologically competent teacher. I feel very fortunate that our program here at USA is preparing us to teach with several different technological methods.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

The Social Media Counter's count is astounding! Thinking about what all of these new avenues of technology mean to us as a teacher is also astounding. First, we must come to terms with the fact that yes, we will be using new technology to teach, and yes it will be a good thing. So, the sooner we learn to use it the better.

From everything I have observed so far, students learning technology are being brought together, not distanced from each other. Blogs, Twitter, Google Docs, etc. are excellent tools for young students to express and share their ideas that make them unique and special.

As a parent, I am looking for a school that promotes state of the art learning in a healthy, nurturing environment. I do not think any parents would disagree. However, if anyone is worried about technology becoming so advanced that it will replace a healthy learning environment, I do not believe that will be the case. I believe parents would only choose that option if the learning environments they had to choose from were not healthy for their children.

Who I Am, But Mostly, Who I Want To Be, Project #5