Additional Assignment 3

Ken Robinson's Changing Educational Paradigms


What do you think is the most important thing Sir Ken Robinson says in this presentation?


Well, it really stuck out to me when he talked about the ADHD issue. I had no idea that it was so prevalent in the south. I think it goes hand in hand with the stereotype that people from the south are stupid. My husband is from Iowa and I've been the butt of many jokes. I also am not sure if ADHD is real or not. If something is boring, it's boring. So you are going to take a pill to make it less boring?

It also stuck out to me that he said people work best in groups and that when you separate people, you are taking them out of their natural learning environment. I could see this being true during discussions. But writing papers, I find it much easier to work alone because I have to really get in the zone and focus.
Is there anything you disagree with in this presentation?

How congruent are Sir Ken Robinson's positions with those which you are being taught in the College of Education. In other words, where is there agreement? Where is there disagreement?

Well, the university (and almost every university) is set up the way he describes. It is just the format of the system. There are CLASSES that don't operate in the traditional matter. But as far as how departments and majors are grouped, it is the same. I hadn't heard his position on education until this semester. Two of my teachers have similiar views. I was totally unaware of this issue/problem until this semester.

What can you do to address the issues Sir Robinson raises?

Well, the debate of "i'm just one person" comes into play here. That is true, but in history it is often that one person that makes a difference. We have the ability to ignite change. If we all helped each other, we could definitely see it in our lifetime. We just have to be sure of what we believe and why. The first step to solving a problem is recognizing there is a problem. So I'd say we are headed in the right direction, if change is what you are after.

What do you think of the presentation? If you had to do a presentation with others like this, what role on your team would you like most to play?
Idea Generator?
Author?
Narrator?
Designer?
Artist?
Sound Effects?
Other?

I really liked the presentation. Having the drawings put to words gave a lot more emphasis and real understanding of the point he was trying to make. It helped me to focus on just the video because not only was I listening, I was also reading and watching simultaneously. I would like to watch more videos like this. If I had to be a part of a group doing this, I would most likely want to be the narrator. I'm a social person. Art is definitely NOT my strong suit. Even my stick figures are ugly. So any art related jobs would definitely be out of the picture.

Blog Post 10

http://morgbayda.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/an-open-letter-to-educators/ by
Morgan Bayda.

I like the fact that she added other opinions into her blog post so that you can compare and contrast more than what one person believes. Like I said to Morgan, I can't agree with something without knowing in detail what it actually looks like. Its like with President Obama. When he is making a huge, sweeping statement, it is easy to agree. But beneath the surface, what does that statement actually mean? What does this "change" actually entail? I want to know what these people (including you Dr. Strange) want to happen. I don't want to know the goals, I've read and heard plenty about that. I want to know what you are actually going to do everyday that is different. What does this new school look like? What is an example of a normal day of work from start to finish? What are the assignments? What is the structure? What is the teacher's role? These are questions that need to be answered before I can hop on the train. I want to make an INFORMED decision based on what is actually going to be DONE, not just sweeping statements about the outcome of the change.

Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take the Pencil Home

We must be able to consider other viewpoints. Like in this post, learning should be about our students. We should see what works for them. How? find their strengths and weaknesses and tailoring the curriculum to their needs. For example, if a student's strength is visual learning, find an educational clip or video and watch it in class. Then let students discuss that viewpoint in class and make their own opnions about the material. They can then blog about it as a way of further incorporating technology.

Two Questions That Can Change Your Life

Very, very much liked this video. I loved inspirational ANYTHING! It speaks to me in a way that nothing else can. It penetrates deep inside me and touches my soul in some way, and I love how it feels. This video is about how we need to focus on one thing and be good at it. If we try to do it all, we end up not doing any of it at all. We end up with what looks like a bunch of half-hearted attempts or just one big mess. Developing your own sentence helps you to focus one thing and do it perfectly. This way we are improving others lives as well as ourself. I decided I wanted to be a teacher because I wanted to change peoples lives. My sentence will be a reflection of that.

My sentence:

She effectively educated ALL of her students and they went on to be the most successful, contributing members of our society.


Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

Blog Post 9

What I've Learned This Year by Mr. McClung


What a great person. A lot has to be said for someone who is able to learn so much, so early in their life. As I read this post, I felt as if I was reading a teacher's blog that had been teaching for 30 years and was retiring. Yet, this is a first year teacher. I believe his school is very lucky to have someone like him and I hope I am as self-examining and inspirational as him one day.

In this post, he talks about his experiences in his first year of teaching and what he has learned in the process. He learned that teaching isn't about you, it's about the students. You have to learn how to read the crowd. You have to be flexible. Don't beat yourself up when the lesson plan doesn't go exactly as you thought it would. He also touches on the importance of communication. Where ever you go, there are going to be misunderstandings. It is always important to talk about your issues so that you can work through them. He also talks about the importance of being reasonable. You can't set to high of expectations on your students because if they are unable to achieve them, they will feel as if they have failed. You must always lift up and encourage your students. He also realizes the importance of technology. We shouldn't be afraid of it. It is just a tool to help further education. Also, listen to your students. He realizes the important role he plays and builds a sense of community, family, and trust. Lastly, he recognizes that we should never stop learning. Life is a journey and learning should taking place every step along the way.

This post made me inspired. Maybe it's possible not to spend your whole career trying to figure it out. Maybe we can all start out good and just get better and better. I hope that I can be open to learn and take it all in, just as Mr. McClung did.

Timetoast Project B

Additional Assignment 2

Answers to Questions In Response to the Lecture by Sugata Mitra’s titled “How Kids Teach Themselves"


1. What do you think? If learners are motivated, can they teach themselves?


Yes, like he said, if children have interest, education happens. This statement is backed up by an experiment he conducted in South Africa.

2. If those motivated learners are kids, can they teach themselves?

Definitely, why wouldn't they be able to?

3. What conditions are necessary for kids to teach themselves? For anyone to teach him or herself?

What is always necessary is RESOURCES! If children don't have access, they can't learn information. I like whe he said this: Education is a self-organizing system. It shows emergence and starts to do things it was never designed to do. It seems impossible. Learning is an emergent phenonmenon.


4. What role do computers and internet access play in the process?

Computer and technology plays a huge role. Access to the internet is virtually synonomous with access to education/learning.

5. What role does motivation, a desire to learn?

Motivation plays a HUGE role. If a student isn't motivated it is extremely hard to make yourself learn something. Motivation makes learning fun and much more productive.

6.What roles do a problem, a question or multiple problems or questions play in the process?

Problems are a learning experience that teach you to overcome difficulties. In order to overcome them, you almost always learn something in the process.

7. How do you motivate someone to learn?

By teaching them something that they are interested in. If someone doesn't care about the subject at hand, or see anyway it relates to them or their every day life, then it is extremely hard to be motivated.

8. How are you motivated to learn?

I am motivated because I have a goal. To me, I want to do the best I can to have a positive impact on tomorrow's society. I want to educate children in a REAL way. A way that is effective and changes the current statistics. I want to teach students things that they really need to know and help them to be successful in today's society. In order to accomplish this, I first have to educate myself. I also need to keep in mind that there is always more to learn and I can always be taught something new, no matter what position I may be in.

9. Can anyone who is not motivated to learn learn?

Yeah, I think my hearing or seeing it they can. But they will take much less away from the experience and they may be unable to tie what they learned to the big picture.

10. Do you teach yourself? When? Why?

Yes. Being in this class is an example. You have to teach yourself how to do things you have never done before. Every day, living life, you are always teaching yourself. You do this by people you meet, things you see and read, experiences you have.. etc. Everything, every day is a new learning experience.

11. What role does a teacher (either answer generally or use a specific example) play in your learning?

A teacher is a guide. They play different roles depending on the structure of the particular class. They are there when you need help and give opinions and resources to help build your learning experience.

12. What is the most important idea, question or emotional response you take away with you as a result of watching this video?

That the educational system is going to and needs to change and we have to be ready for it. But, that doesn't mean I like every aspect of it. I don't deny technology can seriously improve our system. BUT, I don't think it should be done from one's home. I think we should still go to school to get the social development while still benefiting from the technologies.

13. What other questions or issues are raised by this
video that should be considered and discussed by aspiring teachers?

What worries me is that we won't need near as many teachers if this all goes completely technological. I really want to teach. It is my life-long dream. I can go with the change, but I want us all to have a place in society to help make a difference while simultaneously supporting our families.

Blog Post 8

Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

I think this can be extremely beneficial for learning for several reasons. All information is updated around the clock, so the information you are currently viewing, is completely up to date and the most accurat information available ANYWHERE. You are never exposed to outdated, innaccurate information. The facts are always right, and always a click away.
What I really like about the multimedia writing is that film is such a powerful tool to convey messages, infinitely more powerful than text. Watching a video that is interactive and eye catching that you can manipulate as you go along, always keeps the learner on the edge and makes it possible for the learner to follow whatever facet is of interest concerning the topic. You are learning by your own freewill and tailoring your learning experience to your own particular strengths and interests making for a better educated individual thuc creating a better society.

It is so interesting to me personally to be able to see the "mood" of cities and as our country as a whole. That means when something happens, globally, politically, socially, anything- we have the power to see how anyone and everyone else is reacting to it. No longer would we have to rely on news stations to accurately or inaccurately portray people's stances. News reports are most always reported with a specific party or agenda in mind. Being able to have access to the truth for yourself is a liberating and enlightening accomplishment.

Also, one cannot deny the power of collaboration. No one has all the pieces to the puzzle. Not one person has all the answers, but here is the deal: we all have a piece, a way or perspective that helps things make more sense when looking at the big picture. If humanity has the opportunity to put all of our knowledge, our puzzle pieces, together in one place- we have the power to uncover great things. One piece from one person can uncover a whole domino effect of answers that we previously didn't have access to before. I don't think it's a question of if we are able to do this, or if our students are able to. The question is how will our society change when we are no longer in the dark and everyone has equal access to all knowledge?


The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies

I took away from these videos that you can try to find away around doing things the right way, or try to cheat the system- but you can't. It's frustrating when you don't understand how something works and you don't know how to use something. But that is the purpose of this class. It is for us to discover new and useful tools to make our educational experience as productive and effective as possible. It also shows us some of the advances being made in the educational realm so that we can be ready for change. It gets easier, but it requires you to learn. You actually have to learn how to use the sites because this is a project based course and you have to do the work alone. So EDM 310 is a different kind of learning experience. It's not based on memorization or tests, its based on learning programs and completely assignments.

For me, I think a good video to make would be like "Where in the World Do You Find That?" There are so many things that I know we are supposed to do, that I can't find anywhere. Or I'll find it once, then I won't be able to find it again. For instance, I heard that we are supposed to put pictures in all of our blogs. I also heard this is in the instructional manual. BUT I can't find where it says to do this ANYWHERE! It's like a link comnnects to a link that connects to another link that connects to another link. Then 50 links down the road, you forget where you even are or what you are even looking for. So, I think it would be useful to put all the common questions and problems in a video and address them with step-by-step instructions.

Critiques of Smartboards

Even before watching these critiques, I have NEVER seen what is so great about them. Aren't you really doing the same thing as writing on a chalkboard with a fancy pen? To make matters worse, ALL the teachers that I have ever had, did not even know how to use a smartboard and the students had to come up and assist them. If the primary goal of a smartboard is to 'wow' the students, how do you do that when you don't even know how to use it? Here is my link to a pro-Smartboard user blog: http://smartboardchat.blogspot.com/. I definitely agree that there are much better ways to spend the schools' money. I know from a learning perspective, Smartboards do not make any difference. It may make you look technological (if you actually know how to operate it) but still, in the back of everyone's mind- it's just a fancy chalkboard and let's face it- we all know WAY too much about those.

My Timetoast Timeline

My PLN Progress Report

My PLN is coming along pretty well considering I had no idea what a PLN was before this class. Who knew Twitter was good for things other than following celebrities? I also attached my blog to my Twitter account so the people that follow me on Twitter have access to my blog. I am following a lot a new people and organizations involved in education. It is really neat because I feel as if I am getting the inside scoop. I feel like I am having information given to me without even having to look for it. I find this very useful and it makes me feel more educated. I know that sounds cliche, but it feels good to be exposed to things that you had no idea was going on. In education, it is our job to know what is going on and be ahead on the curve. So, I find Twitter useful in keeping me up to speed with current events and issues that surround our nation today. I would prefer to keep Facebook more personal. I would like to use it mostly for keeping in touch with family and friends. I like to have my priorities separated and organized rather that piled all into one place haphazardly. Although, from time to time I do post information on Facebook that I feel people need to read. I try not to, but sometimes it just slips out. I am looking forward to building tne image of who I really am. It gives us the opportunity to show people how we think, one situation at a time.

Blog Post 7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

This assignment is 1 day late because my daughter (that just turned 1) got a virus that made her unable to keep any food or fluids down for 3 days. Needless to say, as a young first-time parent, this was terrifying. To make matters worse, I contracted the virus and have spent the past 2 days vomiting uncontrollably. So with that said, I apologize my assignment is late. It won't happen again.


This video was good for multiple reasons. It taught you valuable life lessons while making you think, "What would I do if I knew I was about to die?" That to me is an incredible position to be in. You know you are about to die, so what do you do with your life? How would you live like you were dying? He was surprisingly light humored for someone with a deathwish. I hope that if I were ever in his shoes, I could leave as gracefully as he.

Randy always wanted to be an Imagineer at Disney. My dad has an office in Orlando so I must say I am no stranger to Disney or it's magic. I think one of the most valuable lessons I took away from him has to do with his rejection. All the schools and programs he wished to attend, he got rejected. But for Randy, that was never the end. He had his dreams and he wasn't giving up on them. For me, my mindset would have been, "Well I got rejected from that school, so it's out of the picture. What other schools do I want to apply to?" But not Randy. He achieved his dreams, but that doesn't mean that there weren't people that stood in his way. I liked when Randy said, "Walls were built to keep the people out who didn't want something bad enough." I have a totally different mindset than that. Hearing his perspective, enabled me to rethink a lot of things and made me realize that if something doesn't work out the first time, I shouldn't give up. I should just try harder.

I also like when he said, "Be good at something, it makes you valuable". You don't ever really think about it that way, but he is right. In order to make the world go round, we need people to be good at different things. Together, we make up all the pieces to create the whole picture-the puzzle. But in order to be needed, you have to hold a piece to the puzzle. Whether that means trade school, college, or grad school you need to be specialized in something. Randy got the highest education he could with the mindset that he could not possibly get rejected frm Disney. But, he still did. Imagine how that must have felt? But he didn't give up. Eventually he went on to work on a project with them and was later offered a job. Surprisingly, he turned it down but agreed to work in the lab 1 day a week. He went on to do so for 10 years.

Randy then started a program at Carnegie. He had a curriculum that looks a lot like EDM310's. It was a project based course with 4 major projects. What he really achieved through this program was teaching these students to do something really hard, and have fun doing it. He actually taught his students so well, that he didn't have a problem finding a replacement for himself. He found someone that he believed in when no one else did. Randy went out on a limb for this guy. In the end, Randy said his successor was better than him and would go on to take the program to do bigger and better things. That shows humility to be able to make a statement like that about something so near and dear to your heart.

I took away from this video that no dream is too big. No wall is too high-You just have to want it bad enough. Never lose your childlike wonder-it's a good thing. Don't let others bring you down and most importantly, one person CAN make a difference and change the world.

Summary Post for C4T Teacher #2

The blog I was supposed to comment on was ELT, Good at English. I had a really hard time with the assignment. I am the kind of person that can't lie about my opinion. If I don't agree with something and it bothers me on an ethical level, then I have a hard time. I just didn't agree with a lot of the things this teacher was saying. I didn't want to comment because I felt it wasn't my place to share my feelings and it would be innapropriate to have that discussion with a licensed teacher. I also don't want to make any enemies. I am in college, so I realize I don't know much in comparison. But if I were forced to comment on this blog, this is what I would have submitted. With that said, keep in mind I find this very innapropriate on my part and I would not be comfortable submitting this comment.

The post was titled, "Maintaining Oral Standards". It about the current controversy surrounding oral testing. It talks about problems with the grading scale, since different teachers have different opinions. It also talked about how she believed her students to be "weaker learners". I had a problem with this because I feel that it is your job as a teacher to educate and uplift your students, not talk negatively about them. I also don't think that oral testing is right, which reflects my issues with dialects being discriminated against. If you would like me to elaborate on this subject, just email me and I'd be happy to share with you my opinions. Here is what my short response would have been:

Hey, I am in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I was instructed to comment on your blog. Our class blog is http://edm310.blogspot.com/ and my personal blog is http://blackjennyedm310.blogspot.com/.
Although I am not a teacher yet, I can understand how and why it might be frustrating sometimes. But, I was just thinking.. What if one of your students or their parents happened to see this post? How do you think it would make them feel calling them "largely weaker learners"? I know that if I heard my teacher say that about me, it would really hurt me. I really cared about what my teacher thought of me when I was younger. I also believed what they said about me. Thanks for letting me read your blog and if you'd like to reach me, feel free.
Thanks again,
Jenny Black

I have also read over a few other posts of hers. I tried to leave a comment and the site would not let me. But the second post I read was titled, "A New Meeting Place for ELT Professionals." This post is about how these teachers are using Twitter as a way to communicate ideas, problems, and more. I really think that is a very beneficial way to use technology. Again, the site wouldn't let me post my comment, but this is what it said:

Hey, I am in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I was instructed to comment on your blog. Our class blog is http://edm310.blogspot.com/ and my personal blog is http://blackjennyedm310.blogspot.com/.

I think it is really cool to utilize technology in this way. I think it is very beneficial to be able to communicate with teachers outside of your school district and state about issues. This way, you can see what our nation's issues as a whole are and see what is working for other teachers. As a new mom, I enjoy being able to talk with other moms and find out whats "normal" and what other children are doing at the same age as my daughters. I think learning from other teachers experiences and successes can save one a lot of time, errors, and improve one's overall teaching quality. I also think it is a good quality to possess to be open to learning from others.

Summary Post C4K Comments 1 and 2

I commented on DavidL's blog in Mr. Chamberlain's class. The first post I commented was "All About Me". It just talked about David's life. David has lots of brothers. He loves playing video games and he is working to safe up for a computer! I think it is really neat that he is working for what he gets. He is learning valuable lessons and he seems to be a very responsible young man. He has a tough time with homework. But let's face it, does anyone really enjoy doing homework?

The second post I commented on was David's "Learning Manifesto". In this post David goes into greater detail about his issues with homework. He plans on changing his habits. He has a plan in place to help him and he has set goals. I think this is a very good start to the year. I think a lot can be said for a young boy that can already identify his weaknesses himself and work towards improvement. On top of that, he is earning money to get his own computer. Everyone struggles in some area in school. I admire how honest he is.