PLN - Final Progress Report

Since my first PLN post, I have discovered more wonderful things about webmixes.  One of my most favorite webmixes is just for education and another is just for mommies. I also realized that I could do more personalizing with my background, instead of the boring black one.  I love color, so I would say that this one suits me better.  I believe with the first one, I was just trying to fill up space, but how I am using it now is very different.  First of all, I have multiple webmixes that other people have made and have found a variety of wonderful ideas and information through.  It's all about communicating with others in a way that is productive and efficient.  This has been a wonderful tool for me and will continue to grow and learn right along with myself.

Project #15

C4T#4 - Summary

Dianne Krause

Dianne Krause is a Technology Staff Development Specialist and Classrooms for the Future coach in the Wissahickon School District in Ambler, Pennsylvania.  She has a blog titled, A Whole New Dianne, which is probably one of the best resources that I have found so far in EDM310.

During my first visit to her blog, I commented on a blog post she titled, Daily Digital Discoveries 04/11/12.  In this post, Dianne lists two links.  The first one is for The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.  The second link is for Digital Citizenship Education, which is a website where you join (for free) and have access to different curriculum.  I became a member and have briefly reviewed some of the material within the site.  

In my comment, I expressed how I felt that I had hit the "jackpot" with her digital discoveries.  She seems to do a great job of posting regularly with new "discoveries".  Both of the website have creative content, that will be beneficial to me as a future educator of America.  

My second comment was directed at another, Daily Digital Discovery post on 04/18/12.  This posts focuses on a website named, iKeepSafe.  This website is organized by a non-profit group of consultants, industry leaders and international government leaders to develop and distribute K-12 educational materials.  This site is easy to navigate and has information for both educators and parents.  As a parent, our children's safety is one of our many concerns.  This website provides materials that parents and teachers alike can use to help enforce and demonstrate safety online with students.

My goal is to share resources, such as iKeepSafe, with educators in my community in the hope that they will strive to integrate technology more in our classroom.  I feel that it is such an important step that needs to be taken.  By reading blogs like this one created by Dianne Krause, I feel more confident and comfortable discussing and demonstrating technology tools in the classroom and in my everyday life. 

  

Creativity and Curiosity: My Thoughts - Special Post #12A.

Dr. Strange asked us in class the other day a series of questions.  They are as follows: 

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

Children, in general, are all creative in some way, whether it be dance, music, art, sports, or other creative outlet.  Today's education system around the world places those talents at the bottom our our curriculum.  I think that this happens because our education system focuses on subjects such as math, science, language and history.  All of these are important, however, I do not think that they are more important than art class, music class, or computer class.  I believe there are several factors as to why this happens.  One, these four components have been the core focus of education since our education system was first founded.  Second, when you have a financial crisis in the education system, like the one we have now, the "arts" are one of the first things to get cut.  The education system has to change because the world is changing.  How can we expect to prepare these students for the future when right now we see that the world is becoming a world where jobs of creativity and becoming more prevalent.  Our kids are not all perfectly square packaged boxes.  Some of them have color and extra "pizzazz" and this needs to be embraced, not grayed out.  There has to be change.  As Sir Ken Robinson states, "we need an education revolution". 

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

Curiosity is an emotion related to natural inquisitive behavior such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and many animal species.  Yes, I do believe that a curriculum can be developed to increase the curiosity of students.  That, to me, seems as if it would be one of my main goals as an educator.  I will encourage a curriculum that stimulates my students' natural inquisitive behavior.  I think that we all learn better by doing, exploring and actually "thinking" with our minds instead of assembly-line education.  The key components would be visual and hands-on learning.  Also, communicating with other educators who have the same focus as you and coordinate lessons together to increase learning and stimulation at school.  

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

Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new (a product, solution, artwork, literary work, joke, etc.) that has some kind of value.  Creativity should most definitely be encouraged in the classroom.  Creativity equals originality which equals a new way of thinking.  Where would our world be without those who were creative?  Our species would seize to evolve if it were not for the creative mind.  I believe that key components of such a curriculum would involve more "free" style learning.  Exposing our children to new culture, the arts, and other forms of creative learning are all necessary when trying to encourage creative thinking.  Also, the environment of the classroom will also increase creativity.  Having bright colors, windows (if at all possible), and art work on the walls will encourage creativity.

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

Absolutely!!  If we, the teacher, explore and investigate solutions then our students will also be more apt to do the same.  Lead by example.  If we encourage curious behavior in the classroom early on, those students will more than likely continue to explore and discover as they grow.  I believe that a teacher shouldn't just give an answer and do the thinking for the student, but should help explore the answer together with the student to the solution.  It's all about the process, not the outcome. 

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

Just as I believe curiosity can be increased in a student if the teacher exemplifies these actions, I also believe a creative teacher will have the same results.  

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

I personally am a creative person already.  I own a photography business, so I encourage the arts in my own home with my own children.  My kids and I are always doing some form of "project".   I believe that project based learning should be encourage more in the classroom instead of "burp-back" education as Dr. Strange says.  Teachers play a major role in the creative process.  However, if the school doesn't continue to encourage the same creative behavior then I believe the process will dramatically hinder the outcome.  It would be optimal for the staff of a school as a whole to work toward the same goal in acquiring more creative/curious learning.  

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

I could become more curious just by doing more exploring with ideas in the classroom.  This year, I became almost addicted to Pinterest.  This website is absolutely amazing for the ADD mom, such as myself.  There are so many things that you can explore there, one being different lessons and creative projects for the classroom.  I have "pinned" a variety of projects that I would love to do in my future classroom.  This class has exposed me to several new learning tools, such as my PLN.  Twitter is also a social networking site that I am continually learning with.  There are so many possibilities out there.  You just have to stop and look. 

Curiosity Fuels Creativity

Elli is a writer for InGoodMeasure.net.  Her blog post, Teaching your kids to be curious, describes the importance of curiosity and creativity in our youth.  Kids need to be "confident and comfortable with their curiosity at a young age".  If we have a student in our classroom come up with a unique idea and we squish it, then that child will in turn will probably not want to express many new ideas that they may have.  Congratulations people, you just put out a light in a child's mind.  Is that really what you want to do as teachers? NO! Encourage creativity and curiosity.  Kids are full of it -- encourage it!  If you would like to get in touch with Elli, click here.  You can add her to your circle on Google+.  I did.

Final Project Progress Report

For my final project, my group "The Green Girls" will be making a movie regarding technology in the classroom at Bay Minette Elementary School.  The ladies in my group are Joy Eady, Eva Stringer, and Brandy Douglas.  We have permission to interview the technology teacher and show different ways that the school uses technology in the classroom.  We will also examine how technology will be used in the future.  I am excited about this project.

C4K Summary for April

The month of April has been extremely exciting in the C4K world here in EDM 310.  We were asked to be a part of the World Blog Challenge.  My summary for the month is as follows:

I had the privileged of commenting on Cheyenne's blog for the World Blog Challenge.  Cheyenne is a student in Vermont.  Her first post that I commented on was a post where she described where she lived and her favorite things about her state.  One of the "cool" things that she likes about Vermont is Lake Champlain.  She also described other elements of their environment such as the mountains and how crystal clear the water was in the lakes.  Cheyenne shared her love for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream in her posts, which is located within her state. After all is said, she makes the comment that Vermont will always be her home no matter where she lives.

My comment to her first post can be found here.  I was very impressed with how descriptive she was in her post about her state.  I commented to her that it sounded like a wonderful place to live and expressed how I would love to visit one day.  Being female, I also have an affinity for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.  You just can't go wrong with any flavors.  They are all so good.  Also, I was excited that Cheyenne commented back to my comment.  She said that she would keep up the good work and she did.

Her second post was a photo of a sunset.  I asked her if she took the photo.  Below is the image from her blog.

My final comment to Cheyenne was regarding a post that she made about pollution.  In her post, she asked us to imagine a world where the sky was gray and dull. She described how that's how our world will be if we do not all work together to help diminish pollution.  I replied by saying that I do not want to imagine a world where the skies are blue.  However, I do believe that we all have to do our part to help take care of our planet.  I told her how this summer, my kids and I will be riding our bikes to do small errands and go to the pool.  Thankfully, we live in a residential area where this is possible.  There are so many things that each of us can do to help preserve our beautiful planet.  It was so nice to hear her thoughts and her concern for our planet.  Overall, I believe that she did an excellent job with her posts.  Her thoughts were complete and well organized. Job well done!

Blog Assignment #12

The Assignment

Watch Sir Ken Robinson's speech, Changing Education Paradigms.  Write 2 or more paragraphs discussing the video.  What do you think about what Sir Ken Robinson says about ADHD? 

My Post

First of all let me start out by saying that I love listening to Sir Ken Robinson speak.  He has such a simple and revolutionary ideas about education.  I was first introduced to him in Blog Post #2. in this animated speech, he discusses ideas of how our education system needs change.  We need to raise the standards of our education system. Our country is using a system that was developed centuries ago.  The students of today are of a complete and different, well, I guess race of their own kind.  They were born into a world of computers, internet, iPods, and hundreds of channels on the TV.  Then they go to school and they become bored.  So what is the solution?  Medicate them to calm them down and bring their focus back. 

ADHD is becoming so diagnosed, and according to Sir Robinson the diagnosis gets worse as you head to the east of the United States.  As previously stated, I am the mother of a child who is ADHD, or so the doctors have told me.  What happened to the kids in the animation, is exactly what happened to my son.  He started Kindergarten at the age of 5 and was expected to sit quietly to do his work for 8 hours.  Not a solid straight 8 hours though.  They do get recess and have physical education class.  The majority of his day, was spent inside of the classroom.  It was a MAJOR change from our family life -- which is rather energetic.  After all was said and done, and after several meetings at school, it was discussed that we should look into testing for my son.  He was put on medication and it completely wiped his personality out.  This broke my heart.  After several attempts to see what would work best, we found a doctor that understood my concerns, as well as, the schools concerns and found something that helped my son focus on school and still be himself.

No matter how much the material changes, a 5 year old boy is going to act like a 5 year old boy.

Sir Ken Robinson states, "the arts are the victims of this mentality.  Aesthetic experience is when the senses are operating at their peak."  What we are doing to our children is giving them a prescription and shutting their senses off.  They are not able to operate at their full peak.  So what do we do?  The options are this:  Keep medicating our children, and allow teachers to have a more "peaceful" classroom or not medicate our children and have teachers teach in a way that "wakes" them up.  

Having been around children for years, in a classroom and in my home, I will say that it is quite challenging at times when you have 25 six year old kids running around.  As teachers, we have to be able to channel that energy into productive, challenging, and most importantly engaging learning.  This is not such a simple task, but these are our kids.  They are our future.  Why wouldn't we take the challenge and turn it into opportunity.  

Everyone can see that our public education system needs change.  Change is never easy, but as my grandmother says, "anything worth having is worth fighting for".  I believe that I will "fight" for my own children and for the children in my future classroom.  Will you? 

Blog Assignment #11

Kathy Cassidy

Canadian First Grade teacher, Kathy Cassidy, shares her enthusiastic approach to technology in the classroom in her blog.  She shared a YouTube video, Little Kids, Big Potential,  which lets us take a peek into the wonderful things that her six year old students are doing.  They are blogging, using Wikis, Nintendo DS, and computers daily to help expand their learning structure.  I was so impressed with how well-spoken these first grade students were.  Their knowledge of blogging at the age of 6 just amazes me.  

Mrs. Cassidy also did a Skype interview with Dr. Strange and answered questions and gave several wise tips for us, the up and coming teachers.  One tip that she had was for us to go ahead and start developing our online networking system.  Dr. Strange stated that 100% of his EDM students are currently using Facebook, and many of us are a little leery of using Twitter.  I would have to say that before this class I did not have a Twitter account.  I have not taken the time to really stop and explore this networking system, however, I hope to have more time this summer to dedicate to doing more research on a variety of networking tools.  She also suggested that we start by using tools that we already find interesting.  If we like videos, then do some research on YouTube.  If we like photography, such as myself, then try Flickr or other site to try to make some connections.

When I eventually am blessed to have my own elementary classroom, I would love to be able to implement several of the same tools that Mrs. Cassidy uses in her class.  I believe that blogging will be a wonderful tool for my students as it will help with so many areas of communication.  It is important that we teach skills such as writing, sharing, and researching at a young age.  It teaches students to be more responsible and more culturally rounded.  This is an extremely important aspect in helping our children develop into more diverse characters.

Growing up in the "South", I have been around so many people who are very close minded when it comes to accepting different cultures.  That's not to all all, but some.  I was very blessed to have a childhood where we traveled to many places around and out of the country.  I believe that this early exposure to other environments and cultures made me more optimistic.  It actually made me more eager to learn more about people and their culture.  By blogging and commenting in the classroom, we give students opportunities that some may not be able to have.  

I also believe that I will use iPads, should they be available, in my classroom.  My son's class has two iPads at least in his classroom.  They use them for a variety of projects.  He feel very very comfortable using this type of technology.  So unless teachers want to be left behind in the dust of their students, they need to hop on board of the tech-yes-train (my made up word) and open some new doors!

Blog Assignment #10

Teach or Educate

Do you Teach or Do you Educate? is a powerful video that promotes what it mean to teach versus what it means to educate.  To teach by definition means to show or to explain to someone how to do something.  To educate is to give intellectual, moral and social instruction to someone.  So what do I want to do?  I want to educate!

My purpose is not to cram my students nor my own children full of facts that they will not even retain.  My purpose is to educate, guide, inspire and advise them in life.  That's my main goal.  I want to be there for my students to help them find their way to the solution to a problem.  The feeling that I get when my son figures out something is just priceless.  The light-bulb that goes off in his head once he puts the pieces of the puzzle together glimmers through in his eyes and spirit.  Each of us should strive for that goal.  We are a major facilitator in charge of preparing our students to be able to stand on their own two feet in the future and to teach them to navigate their way to any solution should it be with school, with work, with family or any other challenge.  I intend to use the many skills that I have acquired through parenting, as well as the ones I am currently obtaining here at the University of South Alabama.

Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home

John T. Spencer, a.k.a.Tom Johnson's Blog, Adventures in Pencil Integration, discusses dialect between himself and an academic specialist at the his school and the topic of pencils being sent home.  She is rather ridiculously upset because he sends pencils home with the students.  The academic specialist says that according to her research that students who take home pencils have lower standardized test scores.  Tom, replies with how he has met with parents and has been able to demonstrate positive ways to utilize pencils.

Basically, what the conversation boils down to is testing.  I for one believe that standardized testing is not the best way to measure a student's academic abilities.  I know that I refer to my own child many times while writing my posts, but he is the one thing that I see first hand in dealing with a variety of situations at school.  He is ADHD and has a variety of elements in his learning that are not the "standard".  For one, he has a difficult time concentrating on one thing for an extended period of time.  Secondly, the time and "speed" of the testing would create a high stress environment for him and he would more than likely put his pencil down and not even attempt to take the test.  However, he is unbelievably smart.  I am not just saying that because he is my child, but because he has been evaluated by professionals in other ways of testing and does an excellent job in showing his skills.  He is excels in math and in the arts!  I cannot wait to see what the future holds for my little guy.

With that said, I do understand that he will have timed testing situations arise and he does almost weekly now at school.  Thankfully, we have a principal and teacher who work with Brady and his unique situation and allow him to excel to his full academic ability.  I hope in the future that we will be able to come up with another way to test students knowledge more effectively and in a way that those with special needs will be able to receive the score that most accurately reports their academic knowledge.

C4T #3 - Summary

Andrea Hernandez - EdtechWorkshop

Andrea Hernandez is a 2nd grade teacher in Jacksonville, Florida.  In her blog post titled, Using iPads to create eBooks with 2nd Grade, she gives her experience with her students on their creation of an eBook.  The students decided to write their book on "A Week in 2nd Grade".  The students all brainstormed different ideas and jobs that each student has.  It was then decided that each student would be responsible for writing and illustrating one page in the book.

By using the Book Creator app, available on iTunes, the students were able to easily create their eBook to share with friends, family and teachers.  Don't you just LOVE technology!!  How exciting for these students to be able to create a book and then have it easily accessible to those that they love and care about.  I can just feel the sense of accomplishment for these students.

Although, I was not able to figure out how to embed the eBook on this post, I am able to share the link so that you may view the book yourself.

My comment to Mrs. Hernandez discussed my excitement for her students and how I would love to be able to do some of the same projects with my son who is currently in 1st grade.  His class is currently writing a book, however, I am not sure if they will be using the iPads to finalize this project.  I will most definitely be sharing this app and idea with his teacher.

The second comment that I made on Mrs. Hernandez's blog was on her post titled, "Who Moderates Comments on Student Blogs?".  She had a situation where a parent sent her an e-mail asking for reassurance that her child's school blog had adequate spam filters.  Apparently, the student received a product advertisement and the student deleted this post as she should have. The parent asked Mrs. Hernandez if she could approve/disapprove all comments before they became visible to the student.  All of the student's blogs use Akismet as a spam filter, which seems to be very successful in filtering material that should not be viewed on their blogs.  However, as with almost anything, there are on rare occurrences advertisements and such which make it past the filters.  The occurrence with the particular student discussed in the post was one of only a handful that had inappropriate comments.  So what did I think on this subject?  Should students be set as administrators over school blogs?

As stated in my comment, I think that students have to be given more responsibility when it comes to internet safety.  Children of today were born into a world of technology, whereas, most of their parents were not.  We all know that there are internet dangers, however, it is the responsibility of the parents and teachers to guide them to make the appropriate choice.  The child, for example, in the scenario given knew that the comment in her blog was inappropriate and took it upon herself and deleted it.  The child then told her parent about the comment and the parent, immediately sent an e-mail, expressing her concern.  However, I do believe that setting students as sole administrators would have to be determined by age and maturity level of the class.  I would not want my 1st grader to be the sole administrator for obvious reasons.  If I were teaching or the parent of a 6th grade, I may reconsider.  Mrs. Hernandez handled the situation very well though.  She was able to actually speak to the parent at a school function and were able to determine that the spam situation was only a one time occurrence for the student.  EdTechWorkshop has some great techniques at discussions on the blog.  As Mrs. Hernandez says, "Learn. Reflect. Repeat".

C4K Summary for March

The month of March left us with one student to comment on in EDM 310.  Spring Break and such put our normal commenting a bit off track, however, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed commenting and reading about the student and classroom that I was assigned.  I was assigned to comment on a post written by Georgie, who is a student of Mr. McLoughlin's in Class 12.

Class 12 had a new "fish" friend arrive around March 13, 2012, and they named him Flapper.  Georgie wrote about Flapper's first and second day in the classroom.  Just as any new member of a classroom would be, Flapper seems a little excited and scared all at the same time.  He seemed to hang out at the bottom of his fish bowl the majority of the first day.  However, on the second day, Flapper seems a little more comfortable with his new surroundings.  Georgie seemed to think that if Flapper had some new gravel and plants it would make it a bit more happy with his new home.  

My comment, to Georgie & Flapper shared in the excitement of going to a new school.  I asked if Flapper was settling in and also asked if he was able to get the new gravel and plants.  Below is a picture of Flapper shared by Mr. McLoughlin.  This teacher is doing a great job in engaging his students with fun blog assignments and other reading assignments.

Blog Assignment #9

Mr. Joe McClung

Joe McClung's blog, At the Teacher's Desk, is full of insightful  ideas for future educators and those who are already in the teaching profession.  In his blog post, What I've Learned, Joe shares his experience of what he learned after his first year of teaching.  The first thing you see when you open this post is a picture with a simple message from Mr. McClung.  It reads, "An important decision I made this year is to stay positive."

For me, I think that teaching and parenting have many of the same qualities and techniques used.  As parents, we are our children's first teachers, so in the "parenting" field I have 7 years of experience.  This makes me a little more open to what to expect, because as many of us know you cannot expect your day to go as written on your planner.  With children things are constantly changing and you have to "go with the flow".  This correlates with Mr. McClung's tips: be flexible.  He talks about the perfect lesson and how much we all want to strive for it.  Sometimes, things don't go as planned, and that's okay.  Just do the best you can and make notes of the adjustments for next time.  We just have to stay positive and do the best we can and make the best of any situation.

Another tip that Mr. McClung discusses is to "listen to your students".  This is so important!  I have worked as a substitute for a little while and I serve on the PTO at our school.  One thing that teachers need to be more in-tuned about it listening to their students.  Some students, unfortunately, do not really have a positive atmosphere at home.  I know no one really likes to discuss this, but school is a safe-haven for some children.  When they come to school, they need to be able to talk to their teacher and to have someone who actually listens.  Also, by listening to our students we earn their respect and can build a relationship that has a positive lasting effect.  That's exactly what we all want isn't it?  We want to make a positive life-long effect on our students.

After another year of teaching, Joe McClung decided to write another blog about what he learned.  The first things he writes about is being able to adapt.  All of us should be aware of the fact that our education system has undergone several financial cuts the past few years.  We cannot all expect to graduate and find a job at the exact school we want to teach at, teaching our dream grade.  We have to all be willing to adapt.  Joe found this out and had to step out of his comfort zone to teach 8th graders, instead of 6th graders as he taught in the previous year.  He had to make adjustments with the style of teaching as there is a huge difference in the mental maturity of a 6th grader and an 8th grader.

This blog will be saved on my PLN, as I believe that the tips and ideas shared on this blog will be beneficial for me now and in the future.  As with any job, you have to get in and get your hands dirty to know what's going to make you better.  We all should learn from our mistakes.  As Mr. McClung said, "check your ego at the door".  You cannot bee-bop into a school as a first year teaching thinking that you know everything.  You don't.  You have to be willing to learn and grow continuously -- all while keeping a smile on your face.