C4K Summary Post

My C4K Summary Post for March

This is the main picture on the class blog:

I was asked to post on class 12's blog and I chose Kaitlyn's post. She is a very interesting girl and I was glad to get to read and comment on her post. Class 12 does a lot of blogging they have posted so many new things since my first visit its amazing. The post by Kaitlyn was "Are Christmas Present". In her post she talked about the excitement she felt and seen as she visited class 12. She talked about how happy the children were to share their stories and how she enjoyed listening to them. the class also gave everyone nicknames and she loved her nickname. She doesn't mention it though in this post. She also mentions the singing that she heard and how she wanted them to take care of her and keep her update on what the class continues to learn and the things they choose to do. She had a few grammatical errors, but all around her post was great. I respond by showing my interest for what she had posted and how excited she was with class 12. I also let her know my interest and the things I enjoyed. I agreed with the nickname part because me and my friends always love giving each other nicknames and them sticking with us forever.

Link to Class 12's blog

C4T#3

My C4T:)
The teacher I followed was Mr. Bernia and these were his two post and my responses.

Be a leader!
His first post that I commented on was Be a Leader! In this blog post this is what he mentioned This morning, I had the opportunity to speak to a room full of high school students who are leaders from all over our county to kick off their 2012 regional conference. When I thought about what to say to these young people, it occurred to me that their groups, whether they are a student council, honor society, or leadership class, were all non-profit organizations. In that spirit, I spoke with them about how the groups we lead are different, and that we needed to be aware of that reality when we do our work.Contrasting what non-profits do with the private sector, I urged all of the students to “think of ways to deliver exceptional services to our consumers efficiently.” I went on to define our “consumers” as their peers, their local community, or even the global community. While I am confident that some working in industry would agree with my ideas and see some similarities to what the principles that lead corporations or small businesses, I tried my best to talk about how leading a non-profit organization is unique.
He also included a youtube video that you can watch: His presentation

My Response:
Mr. Bernia,

I’m a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class and will be commenting on you post and then posting them to my blog April 1st. I really enjoyed your prezi.It was really neat and very informational on the leadership topic. I think you did a great job explaining how leading non profit organizations are different from all the rest. Thanks for all the information it was very motivating and helped me gain more knowledge on leadership.


His second blog post was about Respect the process!

In this post he mentioned that the truth is that the collaborative nature of our profession does not lend itself to top down mandates. In addition, while educators have opened doors and shared more with the arrival of PLCs, teaching remains a private practice. Commitment to implementing a strategy or idea is still ultimately the decision of each teacher, making engaging them in a process and building consensus even more important.Whether it is planning for professional development, instruction, assessment, setting up a school committee or making an important organizational decision, respecting the process will always get us closer to solutions rather than mandating change. There are 60 miles of road between the great idea someone comes up with and its implementation. Respecting the process allows everyone to travel that road and sets us up for success.

My response:
Im Joy Eady and I have already commented on one of your blog post and now will comment on this one and publish it to my blogger today:) I would like to thank you for allowing me to comment on your posts. I really appreciate you pointing out that all the teachers need to come to one agreement on the teaching methods that should be the most effective to use through out the year. They might not have much uniformity,but they will be effective in the learning process. Thank You

Project#14

Project #12

Book Trailer

Project # 11

My Short Movie

Blog Post #8

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

Richard Miller is a man full of excellent ideas. He mentioned a lot of great points in his video.One of the main things he elaborated on was the changes of how we write.He offers very useful tips that can be used in the classroom.He makes a point to address how today's writing has really changed. We have evolved from using paper and pencils to now using the computer. He also mentions how communication with someone way away for example, like on another side of the world is now possible.

I really liked this statement where Dr. Millers said "that Ideas don't belong to us individually, but belong to us as a culture." This is so true because everything we write or share on the web is available to anyone anywhere.Technology allows us to share our opinions and knowledge on things and then team up with others and discuss the topics in more depth.I think that all educators should take a little time and freely give some useful tips and information on the web to help out other teachers or students. I don't think that I am ready to write with multimedia yet. Although, one day I hope to be fully equip and have a lot more knowledge of this and hopefully be able to use this in my classroom. I would love for my future students to gain knowledge of this technology.
Another statement that also caught my attention was "technology is an incremental change, not a fundamental change." There are so many different types of technology being created everyday and they are all very beneficial and helping make things easier and simpler.The computer basically does it all for you these days. It will correct and fix grammar mistakes and basically you can search anything and everything, so there is really no need to step foot in libraries anymore. The internet is basically one giant library full of knowledge.


Carly Pugh Blog Post #12

Carly's blog post was very interesting and I really enjoyed reading it. She really took her time and really put in a lot of hard work an effort into that assignment.She was very informational on sharing her ideas and where they actually came from. She went into great depth on explaining the assignment that she assigned, which is a very helpful thing to do. She also gave an example of what the completed assignment should resemble.She explained how the use of multimedia can help expand and express feelings and knowledge. She really took pride in presenting herself as a very interesting and inspiring teacher of the new media.I believe teachers should be able to know and tell their students what they expect from them.All the videos she used throughout her post were great and i really enjoyed them all.

The Chipper Series/ EDM 310 For Dummies

Both of these videos were extremely funny. I really enjoyed watching them both. Yes they had a funny side to them, but they were also very inspirational as well.I have yet to experience some of the hard frustrating times that Chipper has experienced.These videos allow for the expression and different opinions that people have.I would enjoy making a video where I am acting out a book I have read. This video will help show my creativity and give my viewers a better understanding of the story.
The Chipper Series
EDM310 For Dummies

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

This video was amazing. I really liked how it mentioned that society needs to have an impact on education.It was extremely crazy to see how many people could care less about technology or even bother to be concerned with education. Technology should not be look at or viewed as a bad thing because it allows for tons of new things to happen and to help sty connected globally. Technology can provide the best quality in classrooms.To me the best learning is hands on and getting to actually experience it. Technology can help students learn to apply the facts they need to know instead of just memorizing them for the moment then forgetting them later down the road.
I think that all teachers and staff members should stay up to date on all the new technology and not be left behind. It is the job of the teachers to further their learning, so that they can teach what they have learned to the future students. If there are privacy settings and non school sites blocked, I think that there would be no problem in using technology for the students to learn.


Scavenger Hunt 2.0 by Justin Cometti
This activity was interesting and actually fun to create.It allows you to explore and learn different sites that will be useful in teaching. Its just a little time to actually complete.
Introductory Video

Edmodo
This website was created in 2008, when Nic Borg and Jeff O'Hara set out to create a tool that closes the gap between how students live their lives and how they learn in school. For this site ,Teachers and students are able to sign up and create a account for free. There is no premium membership offered to the site. Edmodo.com is recommended for all teachers.

Edmodo.com is a great site for teachers to help their students advance in all subjects. In this teachers put all their classes in groups. This tool allows the teacher to post grades, quizzes, homework and classroom assignments. The calendar provided can help teachers and students now when assignments are due and what events are coming up.The site even allows it where you can reach out and communicate with other teachers. Teachers are able to create discussions that all students are involved in. I really enjoyed this site.
edmondo

Prezi

This architectural visualization tool was created by Adam Fischer. This tool offers a license to students and teachers. People can create an account for free. Edu Enjoy subscription allows us to create our own presentations without having the Prezi logo watermarked on our presentation. Prezi can store up to 500mb of presentations.
This is basically how this tool works. Text, images and videos are placed on a canvas and can be grouped together in frames. Users decide the relative size and position of the presentations. People can pan and zoom in and between these objects. To create linear presentations, users can construct a prescribed navigation path.
Prezi

Animoto

This app lets teachers create videos for structural learning. There are three different packages to chose from the lite, plus or pro packages. The lite package is free, plus package is thirty dollars a year and pro is two hundred and forty dollars. Educators can apply for the plus package for free.

With this site any subject matter can be covered by using this tool. Educators have unlimited amounts of videos. This app will enhance the digital classroom and help bring the lessons to life.
Animoto


Comic Strip

my comic

Kids' Vid
The site was by a professional videographer and instructor named Mike Keating.He developed a manual for integrating video into the classroom as part of his Master's thesis at Montana State University. This site offers teachers and students assistance in further and enchancing their learning through the power of digital media. This site provides the tools that teachers and students need to create a video production in the classrooms.This site provides the tools for students to create and show their work in a new, fun and exciting way. Kids' Vid is appropriate for all age groups. Kids' Vid creates a network of classrooms around the world that instigates joint productions. It has four sections scripting, editing, making, and showtime.

Creating a Poll

Try this audience polling system at Poll Everywhere

Blog Post # 7

Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student

The Networked Student video was straight and to the point. I think it was very easy to understand and follow. I thought the video was very cute and creative and a great way to capture attention. The video was about connectivism which is a theory based upon the internet and connecting to people and information around the world.This is basically taking your learning into your own hands and having to find and follow people within the same interest and learning experience.I think it is great that students are taking part in this learning opportunity, which allows them to learn independently and create a very large personal learning network. The video list several different sites and things they can visit and learn from. An example is itunes U, which you can subscribe to podcast and see some of the best lectures out there.

The students build their pln and expand it daily with new information. PLN's are a great way of communication and a great way to keep track of all your resources. It is also a great way to learn things from other people who have plns. You can always learn more from other people. Its better to have more knowledge about a topic then just what you think. Blogging is also a great way to share ideas and get different information and opinions on many different areas of things.

It seems as before long, the world will not need teachers because everything can be done through the internet and all on the computers. I do not want this to happen at all. I think it is very essential to still have teachers available for the students. Connectvisim still allows teachers to be part of the students learning experience. Teachers need to stay up to date with the new technology and never assign something they know nothing about. The teacher as well as the students should further their learning and have continuing education. The teachers play a huge role for students, I mean what if they get stuck or unsure about an assignment, they are their to help assist the students and help them when needed. I think that it should always be an option to have a teacher if that is what the students want. Teachers are the guides and role models that help shape our students and help them with their learning experiences.

Wendy Drexlers ideas are very interesting. I do believe that this type of learning can be incorporated into the curriculum and meet its standards. The students will be able to create topics and still follow the rules at the same time. However, there needs to be settings and privacy created for different sites and different types of topics and access allowed for different age groups. A teacher can help protect the children from inappropriate content on the web. That is their job keeping the children safe and away from bad sites. Teachers need to take the time to do organizing and planning for the websites they want their students visiting.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)

ThisSeven Graders PLN was extremely amazing. She is way more organized and has tons of information on her PLN. I really hope to have my PLN as organized and as informational as hers. I just started out with this,but maybe I will get to where she is in her PLN. I want my PLN to have every possible resource I need available.

Project # 10 PLN

My PLN

This is a screen shot of my pln so far. It will continue to grow more and more. I was already familiar and part of some of the tiles presented. I recently joined twitter for this class and I think it is a great way of communication. I think the more I venture out and the more things I discover the more tiles I will add. I think this is a great way to have all the things you need in one place, so you don't have to search around. It is very convenient and very organized way of keep track of the things you are interested in. I can't wait to continue adding and learning way more about things you can do on symbaloo for my pln.

Project # 9b Timetoast

C4T#2

Joe Dale: aPlanet Project

I was assigned to follow Joe Dale which we have read and listened to some of his stuff in our last blog post number 4. He is a very talented man and always gives very useful and beneficial information. In the blog I read and commented on was all about the aPlanet Project. Basically he explained everything broken down little by little of what the aPlanet Project was and every detail about it. This basically covers everything mentioned in his post. Summary

* introducing the aPLaNet project and explaining what the acronym stands for
* explaining the reasons for launching the project as a way of bridging the gap between those language teachers who use social media and those who don't
* promoting the concept of using a PLN and particularly Twitter as a professional development tool and showing the benefits of doing so
* piloting a mentoring and self-access approach
* explaining what is a personal learning network, the origin of the concept and the value of having a PLN
* maintaining contacts and support through a PLN instead of being tied to a PLE, VLE via an institution
* ways in which PLNs can help professional development
* the target audience for aPLaNet - language teachers who are experienced and inexperiend users of social media
* the challenge of finding mentees
* involving colleagues through face to face workshops as well as online mentoring
* becoming a mentor or mentee by joining the aPLaNet Ning and going on to the next step
* explaining the self-access option and carrying out a webquest
* translating the resources into a variety of languages and encouraging MFL teachers as well English teachers to get involved
* making the Ning the hub of the project
* where the idea for the aPLaNet project came from
* bringing together seven partner institutions for the eu bid
* asking for associate partners in January 2010 and seeing a great reponse
* the benefits of the partner institutions meeting up face to face and agreeing on the first steps
* preparing for the life of aPLaNet after the end of the project in order to make it sustainable for years to come
* explaining the resources in more detail: (Mentor and Mentee support guides, feedback questionnaires, teacher diary template which can be completed online or on paper, 150 page teacher reference guide, series of online workshops which will be recorded, webquests, video tutorials)
* explaining the differences between the mentor and mentee questionnaire and the importance of collecting data about the use of social media by language teachers to update resources and improve the effectiveness of the project
* explaining what are the markers of success?
* creating a cycle of mentees who become autonomous mentors themselves
* presenting the results of the project at an aPLaNet themed conference in Istanbul in September 2012 and feeding back on what has been achieved
* following the progress of the project and involving associate partners via webinars to maintain interest
* the importance of creating a community spirit around the project and drawing on members' PLNs
* sharing Twitter lists of UK language teachers and world language teachers in the first mentoring workshop webinar
* creating a report on the use of social networks amongst language teachers based on the feedback from the July 2011 survey which fed into the section on social networking in the teacher guide
* crowdsourcing colleagues for recommend resources and links before creating the mentor guide and seeing a great response
* drawing upon the "generosity and volunteer spirit of all of these wonderful language teachers all over the world"
* clarifying that during the life of the project, mentees are expected to be from the European Union due to the nature of the funding, but mentors can be from anywhere in the world
* rewarding mentors with different blog badges (bronze, silver, gold and platinum) which denote the number of mentees each mentor is supporting
* giving a t-shirt prize to the first mentor who mentors eleven mentees and achieves platinumn status!
* presenting aPLaNet at the Virtual Round Table conference 2011 and trying to connect with as many language teachers as possible and keep their interest
* explaining how the Language Resource Filter is designed to work as a way of crowdsourcing useful language specific resources and making them available on the Ning
* finishing off with some thoughts on quotes from Joel and Marisa about the value of PLNs
* seeing a PLN as a virtual staffroom full of connected, helpful and sharing language teachers
* giving a heads up to the MFL Twitterati!
* find a world of opportunities arising by simply posting on Twitter
* getting involved in the iTILT project about helping language teachers make the most of interactive whiteboards
* being asked to speak at a conference through Facebook
* using Twitter can open up a whole new world to language teachers and broaden their horizons exponentially - they can find answers to pressing questions 24/7, help another colleague in return, gauge opinion and discover a neverending stream of useful information from their online community
* concluding remarks
I used his summary of the main points so I would cover it all and to basically leave nothing out because all this information is very important.



aPlanet Project

This was my response
You presented a great deal of information in this post I was very overwhelmed, but all of it was very useful and beneficial in every single way. I greatly appreciated all the links you provided within your blog post. Links come in very handy when you have no idea about the information being presented. I think that the aPlanet project is a great project and so glad that is was able to get up and running and have so many supporters and people that wanted to be involved in a great idea as this one. I think it is amazing all the things that have came out of this project. I loved all the testimonies from people who this project has helped. It is really a remarkably project. Thanks for introducing me and filling me in on basically everything there is to know about the aPlanet project. I really enjoyed learning about it.

Dr Lid King on Lingu@net Worldwide

The Second post I commented on was Dr Lid King on Lingu@net Worldwide. This post was basically about introducing the online resources for adult learning styles and languages. There are different sections and things to you can access. In the first section you determine your language level and this helps you evaluate the resources you will need. The next section allows them explore information about language styles and the experiences of other language learners. The third section suggests how learners can keep in contact with each other and the final section lets them search through nearly five thousand free online resources which have been quality assessed by the Lingu@net Worldwide team.

My Response
I basically just thanked him for allowing me to know about this online resources and how beneficial this information was. It is a great way to communicate and I think that learning new languages would be very interesting and fun. I think that learning new languages and styles are really great for educators, students, or basically anyone who will take their time to explore them.

Project#8 Podcast

Blog Assignment #6

Randy Pausch

The Last Lecture

This was a very informational video. Mr. Pausch presents some very beneficial information on how to work with the students and to help push them academically.In this video he talks about achieving your childhood dreams and how to enable the dreams of other people.He mentioned how there will always be brick walls that will get in your way and try to veer you off your course and away from your dreams and goals. Not all brick walls that we encounter are bad necessarily, but they help push us and show us how bad we want to succeed. Brick walls will really help show ones dedication and determination when it comes to fulfilling their dreams. This video was truly inspiring and well worth the hour.

Mr. Pausch gives some inspiring advice on how to set goals. He mentioned that he had six childhood dreams/goals and was able to accomplish them all. He happened to become an author of an article in the world encyclopedia. He mentioned that he did not manage to become Captain Kirk, but he did have the opportunity to actually meet him.He talked about all his winnings of different things at amusement parks. He also had the chance to work for Disney Imagineer. Which I think is incredible. He joined the football team when he was nine, however he never got the chance to make it into the NFL. One of his coaches really pushed him and rode his tail and basically gave him a very hard time. The other coaches stated that this was because he really cared about him and all he wanted was for him to succeed in life and become successful.

As a teacher, you should always push your students and enable them to accomplish their goals and dreams. You have to let them know that they can acheive anything with hard work and dedication.They just have to have the mind set to accomplish their goals and try to stay on track no matter how many brick walls they encounter during their journey. He said that as a teacher, you should always set your expectations to a high level.He mentioned that even if the students happening to be learning something challenging, they can still find a way to have fun while doing it. This will help the students reach for a higher level of education and continue building their knowledge. He also talks about motivators, they are the people that let you know when you are doing something wrong because they are the ones who support you and will not give up on you. They let you know the truth even if it hurts because it will make you want to succeed and continue to get better every day.

The best support system out there is the teachers, family and friends of an individual. These support system will be continuous motivation for the student and they will help guide the students and keep them on track of their goals and dreams. One should never complain on the journey to accomplishing your dreams and goals, the road may be a bumpy and rough one, but happiness and successful will lie at the end. This lecture explained how you should never give up on your goals and dreams, if the times get tough then try harder, push yourself farther and just keep in mind in the end I will succeed! After watching this video, the best tool I believe is encouraging your students and helping them realize their value and worth and letting them know that their dreams and goals are not far out of reach. That it will just take determination to make it to the finish line.

If you have never seen Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams You should really take the time to check it out. It will be well worth your time.