Additional Assignment 5

Exploring the Adventures of Tom Johnson

After looking at John Spencer's blog a little more, I now see that his writings are a lot like a puzzle. One has to read between the lines quite often. The meanings are often a little tough for me to figure out. I think I might be on to something, and then I think "...but what if it means this instead of that?" All in all, a real brain teaser. I'm glad that Mr. Spencer has such interesting and talented writing skills as to keep our brains "ON" this way.

In The Medium Shapes the Learning, Mr. Spencer writes about how his class visited one of Edison's film studios. The kids were mesmerized by the tour and commented that having such a studio at the school would be fun. Who knew learning could be fun? There are innumerable technological innovations that can satisfy the youth's desire for excitement in their educational journey.

In the blog post He Just Likes Class for the Pencils, Mr. Spencer writes about a specific student in his class. This post really spoke to me. A teacher's students aren't just children with occasional behavior "problems" who are dropped off at your door in the morning. They are looking to you for kindness, compassion, understanding, patience, care, guidance, knowledge, and respect. Who in the world would respect someone who yells at and humiliates them regularly? Who wants that? For the children in our classes, we need to remember that they are counting on us to be the best we can be every day. I hope I can be as understanding, patient, kind, and respectful as Mr. Spencer, when I am an educator.

The post Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils also said a lot to me. I remember being full of sassy attitude and insecure confusion at the same time as a young adolescent. These co-existing, yet opposite, emotions can be quite overwhelming for a young person. At this age, I can understand feeling very gray...not defined. Life from that point on is often a sort of quest for oneself. People begin to hang out with different friends, adopt different hobbies, and change their interests. This is mostly an attempt to see what's out there and have some experiences. Some would say this is the beauty of being young because you haven't seen the world, really, and your eyes are "new" to many things. I'm glad that Mr. Spencer is able to connect with his students, so that he can better understand them (and himself).

In Just Teach Them To Solve for X, Mr. Spencer responds to "Gertrude"'s confusion with a theory I very much agree with. Gertrude wants Mr. Spencer to simply teach the student's to solve for x in their math class. She wonders why Mr. Spencer doesn't do just this, while -instead- he allows them to creatively think of new ways to define and explain x. He wants them to use metaphors. Well, Gertrude thinks that metaphors are messy and dangerous, and she wants the students to have a clear-cut path to knowledge. Mr. Spencer argues that when learning is messy, it can often lead to clarity. The confusion that is caused by different learning techniques or a higher process of understanding is oftentimes the best way to truly learn something. Even though Gertrude is still unsure of all this "metaphor" business, Mr. Spencer leaves her with a final comment: "That's exactly why we need them. Life is dangerous. Learning is dangerous. A bad metaphor can launch a war. I want my students to know this. I want them to see that language shapes our perceptions of reality." This is one of my favorite posts on Mr. Spencer's blog.

Blog Assignment 13

The Alabama Learning Exchange: What is ALEX and how does it work?

The home page for ALEX has a statement that reads "Quality for every facet of learning." There are 8 links: Courses of Study; Web Links; Lesson Plans; Search; Personal Workspace; Personal Learning; Podcast Treasury; and ALEXville. Under "Courses of Study" the site lists English Language Arts, Science, Mathematics, Social Studies, Arts Education, Languages Other Than English (Foreign Languages), Career/Technical Education, Physical Education, Driver and Traffic Safety Education, Technology Education, Health Education, and Other Courses of Study (which includes Character Education, Counseling and Guidance, and Information Literacy). This website appears to be designed in order to enhance Alabama's connectivity amongst educators or schools. This can be a way to share interesting or helpful information. Creative or innovative ideas can also be developed and shared via ALEX.

I decided to investigate Health Education, and what I found was really neat. The page for Health Ed. has "Links" and "Lesson Plans" on the right with URL links to other pages. I thought this was a really good resource for educators looking for more information for a lesson or standard. For Web Resources, they list sources (through links) for Teachers, Administrators, and Students. You can also recommend a web resource or search for one. The Lesson Plans page was absolutely amazing. The way the search is set up is very similar to ones I've used for online databases, and these usually work very well. You can search lesson plans by Author, Title, School, or Subject. You can also create your own by accessing your personal workspace. To make a Personal Workspace, you have to make an account with ALEX. The Professional Learning page is also very impressive. Here, you can explore the ALEX/Thinkfinity Training or Grant Opportunities. It also has links from the Alabama Department of Education Program website for professional development opportunities, different tools for teaching and learning, news, and advice. There are also links for tips and tutorials on various technology tools. The Podcast Treasury has a bunch of cool links to different podcasts, like one from Space Camp 2009 and another titled "Jim Crow & Me". ALEXville is really neat, too, as it has its own newspaper! That's right. Click on the globe to see the latest in Alabama Education news, like the announcement for open applications for the GEM-U & McWane Science Center Camp-In Exposition!

I think this is a great website with tons of resources that I would love to use as a future teacher! There are some great ideas for lesson plans and podcasts on this site, as well as news/updates on educational events going on in Alabama. Both could be very useful to me in the future. Also, this site is a great way to connect with other educators! If I was having trouble making connections or networking on my own, this site could give me a great start to finding other teachers in Alabama to communicate, collaborate, and share with!

Project 15: Movie Trailers for Books

Blog Assignment 12

Watch this video about a college class and their experience with technology in the classroom. Think about how you would feel in this classroom. What would your suggestion for the professor be? If you were in this professor's position, what would you do to bring more technology into the classroom (especially considering the fact that this is a class about technology in the classroom)? Think about the importance and benefits of bringing technology into the classroom. Write a post in which you answer all of these questions and share your thoughts on the matter.

First of all, I really liked this class's video. I thought it was humorous, but it also got the point across (especially for college students). I know that we're studying to be elementary and high school teachers, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't evaluate the education that we are currently receiving. I would feel a little confused in this class, especially since the class is about what kind of technology is offered in the classroom, and the professor was only using the whiteboard. I like how the student stepped in to help the professor see what the students wanted out of their education. My suggestion for the professor would be to start a class blog that each student could check and comment on for any homework, extra resources, or class updates. If I were in the professor's position, I would definitely do my homework and see what kind of technology is out there that I can use in the classroom. There are SO many resources available for bringing technology into the classroom that the professor (I) could introduce to the students. Simply put, technology offers so many benefits in terms of research and creative ways to learn, why wouldn't someone bring it into the classroom?

Progress Report on Final Project (Project #16)

For Project 16, I will be working on a team with the current members of my Project 15 group, plus two more members:

Amani Alloul
Amanda Brewton
Sarah Davis
Samantha Deardorff

Plus:
Tara Watson
May Krasovich

While working on Project 15, we have discussed possible ideas for Project 16. It seems as though it is a bunch of ideas floating around that we just need to get a hold of. I think it would be ideal if we could find a way to draw something from all of our ideas to form one BIG idea that is sure to be fun and innovative. Since we are having so much fun creating our movie trailers for books (Project 15), it's been discussed that it may be fun to create another movie or video of some sort for the final project.

Project #6: Form Results, Analysis, and Commentary

For my survey, I asked students various questions to determine their experience(s) with graffiti. I wanted to know the student's gender and age, if they have ever seen graffiti, if they think graffiti is art, why or why not, if they think graffiti has value, why or why not, how graffiti makes them feel, if graffiti is a justifiable crime, and -based on Webster's definition of art- if their thoughts about graffiti have changed.

I received nineteen responses; however, there must be an error in the first question about gender because it says that 11 participants are female while 2 are male. I couldn't figure out what the problem was, but the rest of the questions recorded nineteen responses. Based on the second question, the range for age of participants is 20 to 33. The mode for this range is 20, the median is 21, and the mean is 21.4. Of the 19 participants, all said they had seen graffiti. Sixteen answered that they think graffiti is art, while 3 did not. Some of the responses answering why or why not to the previous stated "Because it is beautiful, just sometimes in inappropriate places," "It is an expression of one's thoughts, that is art in my opinion," and "Because it is something someone took time to work on just like a piece of art. It takes talent, time, and creativity as well...." To the question of if graffiti has value or not, 14 said it does have value, while 6 say it does not. To answer why or why not to the previous question, some wrote "Because it is art," "Not when curse words are used," "I think that it can, but it generally does not in the way that it is used." When asked how graffiti made them feel, the respondents could choose more than one "check box" listing an emotion: Inspired (5), Happy (3), Indignant (0), Creative (9), Thoughtful (3), Sad (0), Impressed (3), Indifferent (4), None of the above (6). Of the 19 respondents, two think graffiti is a justifiable crime, three do not think the crime is justified, while fourteen think that it depends. When presented with the definition of art from Webster's New World Dictionary (2nd College Edition) and the belief held by many people that art is any such thing that produces any sort of emotion in a person, 17 said these two ideas did not change their thoughts about graffiti while 2 say they did.

As I'm interested in graffiti, I just wanted to see some of my peers' thoughts on the matter. This could certainly be a gender or generational study, if the pool of participants was a bit larger. I figured that most people would have seen graffiti, but what really surprised me was how many people think that it's art. I expected most of the participants to say that it isn't art. For the various responses for why or why not to the question of if graffiti is art or not, I was surprised by some of the reasons, as well. Most of the participants said that graffiti gave them positive emotions or those of indifference or none of those listed. I was surprised that no one chose a negative emotion, like sad or indignant. I designed this survey to give qualitative as well as quantitative results. As this is meant to be a study on perceptions (of graffiti), I thought the responses generally matched what I was asking for. From the results, I would say that most of the participants believe graffiti is art, but that it can definitely be hateful in nature. The fact that most respondents said that "It depends" when graffiti is a justifiable crime is very interesting to me. I would say that this connects to the fact that most of the participants believe graffiti is art, but not when it's profane or offensive.

Summary Post C4K Comments 3-7

My Comment-4-Kids #3 was for Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand. I commented on Rima's picture of a Maori mariner traveling the sea on a waka to discover New Zealand. In my comment, I wrote that I really liked her picture, and that the water was certainly wavy and wonderful.

In C4K #4, I commented on Freya's blog. Freya is in the fifth grade, and her blog post was about going to Noosa with her family. She wrote that they were planning to spend a week in Noosa just having fun. In my comment, I wrote that I liked the design of her blog, and that I also liked another one of her posts about visiting the museum. I also praised her for separating her thoughts into paragraphs in the post about the museum.

For C4K #5, I commented on Ashton's blog post about friendship. In the post, Ashton wrote about how the class watched the movie "Cars" to learn about friendship. It was apparent that Ashton learned that you can always be yourself with your true friends, and that true friends care about and accept each other always. I wrote that I thought watching "Cars" to learn about friendship was a really cool idea. I also mentioned that I think it's important to be true to yourself and others and to care for the ones you love. I also posted a question about identity in reference to "Cars": “Who am I? What do I believe? What do I stand for? Who understands me and accepts me for who I am?”

In C4K #6, I commented on Emily T's blog. Her post was about walking through Chicago. The way she wrote it was very interesting to me. She had line breaks in the middle of her sentences, and I'm still not sure why. I kind of liked it, though, because her story read like a poem because of these line breaks. She recorded her time "people watching" in Chicago as she describes how she saw a baby drop a pacifier, heard it begin to cry loudly, and noticed that the parents didn't know why the baby was crying. For my comment, I wrote that walking around Chicago must have been exciting, and that I also like to "people watch" and see how someone will react to a situation.

For C4K #7, I commented on Suzy's blog. Her post was about Red Ribbon Week, which ended up being appropriate for me because I visited the schools that week with my mom to help with the drug awareness lessons. Suzy wrote that she enjoyed Red Ribbon Week at her school, and that you should say "No" to drugs, like when someone offers you alcohol, because drugs can kill you. I responded by writing that I was happy they celebrated Red Ribbon Week at her school, and I also said it's important to learn about the dangers of drugs at an early age. In addition, I told her about helping my mom with Red Ribbon Week.

Summary Post C4T #3

For my 3rd teacher, I was assigned Mr. Bill Ferriter. His blog is The Tempered Radical, and he appropriately names it his "education blog".

The first post I commented on was called "Teacher Evaluation is Fatally Flawed". In this blog post, Mr. Ferriter used his blog as a -hopefully- effective tool for self-reflection. He mentions having doubts about his effectiveness as an educator, but notes that he has never gotten anything less than exceptional on his evaluations over the years. He goes on to say that if we really want students to succeed, the teacher is where a large part of that will occur. He adds that he can't see the reason behind having one person evaluate a teacher who they maybe see in the classroom setting maybe once or twice a year. He goes on to write that he believes that educators and administrators should be given more time to discuss strengths and weaknesses, and that, finally, the evaluation system for educators in America is quite flawed. In my comment, I congratulated Mr. Ferriter for using his blog as a means of self-reflection. I also stated that while self-evaluation is good, if no one else is giving you any sort of constructive criticism, how are we supposed to learn?

The second post I commented on was titled "What Does Technoratis State of the Blogosphere Report Mean for Education Bloggers?" In this post Mr. Ferriter writes about the TSB Report on bloggers (not necessarily those associated with education). He reports some astonishing numbers for how many people are using social media outlets, how many of them are bloggers, and -also- how much information from the media that these users trust. One report found that almost 50% of those surveyed trust the content in blogs, quite close to the 60% who trust sources such as newspapers, T.V. broadcasts, and radio shows. In my comment, I wrote that the numbers in his post were quite astounding, that I couldn't believe how much time some people spent on blogs (or online), and that I thought it was great that Mr. Ferriter uses his blog to make himself heard, form connections, and share information.

Project 14: Teach Someone Something

Blog Assignment 11

Ms. Kathy Cassidy's Class

I really enjoyed watching this video of Ms. Cassidy's class. I thought Ms. Cassidy's approach to the use of technology in the classroom is great. I saw that they use the Smart board for more than an upgraded projector. They were actually doing problems and conducting Skype interviews, as well. I also thought it was really good that she had laptops in the classroom for the children to access. The fact that the students (in first grade!) have blogs is really amazing. It was nice to hear the children say how the blogs benefit them with their reading, writing, and spelling skills. Internet safety is also a really important issue, and I'm grateful that Ms. Cassidy has discussed this with the students.

There was so much technology in her classroom! I'm honestly amazed at how she has given the students the opportunity to explore the different types of technology they may encounter in the world. I saw that the children get to use Flip cameras, which is also really great. Plus, the communication and sharing that the classroom has with other students is extremely beneficial to their learning, I'm sure. It's very inspiring to see a classroom where this kind of integration is occurring.

I will definitely use the Smart board, if I have one in the classroom. I will also seek out the proper training, so that I can use the board to the class's ultimate advantage. I think it's awesome, once again, that she was able to have a good number of laptops in the classroom. I think having classroom blogs would be a good way to facilitate further learning in the classroom. Internet safety might be a problem in this situation, but it would be something I would discuss with the students to make sure they knew the dangers of the internet. That would be another lesson about how it's beneficial to know the good and bad about something. I thought that bringing the Nintendo DS into class to learn about problem-solving, teamwork, and sharing was another good idea...however, I could see this becoming a possible problem. A system of "taking turns" could be established, though, that may help with this (rules vs. procedures).

Ultimately, I think the benefits of Ms. Cassidy's approach is that she is preparing these children for the world they are about to discover. As they get older, technology will change, and innovations will be made so often to the point where anyone may have trouble keeping up. By teaching children the skills they need to listen, adapt, and learn, they will have a very good chance for success.

Additional Assignment 3

Sir Ken Robinson: RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms



First of all, I really enjoyed this video. I liked how the animation kept time with what Sir Ken Robinson was saying, or vice versa. I have to say, I was a very active listener while watching this video, probably because it was such an active process that I had to keep up by listening and watching.

I think that the most important thing Ken Robinson says in this presentation is that education is changing/needs to change. I totally agree that the "old way" doesn't work for everyone. We need to praise students for their differences in strengths and abilities, not punish or scold them if the way they do something is different from the practiced way. I also liked the part about aesthetic vs. anaesthetic: "We should be waking them up to what is inside of themselves!"

The only thing I would not necessarily disagree with, but question in this presentation is the part about ADHD. I honestly don't know that much about this disorder, but I am aware that it is alarmingly common in schools. Many children are being medicated, and for what? In my mind, the children aren't paying attention because they aren't interested. Now, I don't think that calls for medication, but maybe it does help some students. I believe this is a case-by-case situation; although, in my opinion, I would rather a child not be medicated in order to focus.

In the college of education, I believe that they really encourage divergent thinking. In one of my classes, we are periodically given "What Would You Do?" scenarios, which allow us to think of many different ways that a certain situation may be handled. I suppose the first thing I can do to address the issues Ken Robinson raises is look at my life, my education, and my motivation and see what's going on in those areas. The first thing I could probably do is evaluate myself as a student and try to figure out what kind of education I'm receiving. So far, I feel pretty awesome about the various opportunities I've had in my life. As I said before, I really enjoyed watching this presentation, and I think the idea of the RSA Animation is really creative and different. If I were to do a team project similar to this, I would want to be the artist.