Blog Post #15

Final Project 16

Blog Assignment #14

Upon exploring Jose Picardo's blog a box of tricks I found that he is very into finding internet websites and programs that can be useful in the classroom. On his list of resources for teachers I saw several links to resources that we have used time and time again in EDM310 like, blogger, audacity, twitter, delicious, and many more. I also found several that I found interesting. Here are just a few: animoto, Diigo, Edmodo, Go!Animate, Block Posters, sliderocket, TOONDOO, word press and Alice. Animoto is a site that allows you to upload sound and pictures to create videos that will look professional and the best part is that its free and videos can be shared online. Diigo is a social book marking service and Edmodo is like twitter in the way that it is a micro-blogging site but it is for education. Go!Animate is a site that allows students to tell stories through creating animations. TOONDOO is similar to this because it allows you to create your own comic strip with character you create. Block Poster would be useful for the classroom because it allows you to create full sized posters with any pictures of material you choose. Sliderocket is kind of like google docs because it allows you to create power point presentations that can be shared online. I recognized the name Alice from Dr. Paush's last lecture and I was glad to see it on the list of resources for teachers.
The video of 10 Tips for using technology in the classroom was neat because several of the things he mentioned like using blogs, teleconference sites, using interactive whiteboard effectively, making our own interactive activities, use streaming video, use music more often, and make the most of gadgets have been introduced to us in EDM310 so I feel completely comfortable integrating these things in the classroom. I think I just listed all of his tips for integrating technology in the classroom and I am glad that I had EDM310 to prepare me! I can see all of these resources being useful in the classroom through sparking creativity and motivation and also being a great tools for having an audience to view work. I will be adding this list and his blog to my PLN as it will definitely be helpful to me in the future!

PLN Final Post

My PLN has grown over the course of the semester and will continue to grow. I add articles to my symbaloo and websites that I find useful information on. In the brown blocks are all the educational sites and articles I have found useful to me.I have found several of these articles and sites by spending time on twitter. I have added the blog at the teachers desk to my PLN, and also a blog entitled "the inclusion revolution" that discuses the use of technology for special needs students. After reading Rafe Esquiths' book "Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire" I added the Hobart Shakespearean site to my PLN because I find the students in Rafe's class inspirational. I have also added some sites that I visit often to my PLN such as the USEA website. I still need to be more active in my PLN by contributing to it more through discussions on twitter and through comments on blogs that I find interesting. I will continue to add site, blogs and articles to my PLN because I have found what I have added to my PLN already has been very useful to me and Im sure I will find them useful when I begin teaching.

Blog Post Assignment #13

I did a book report on Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by Rafe Esquith. It was an amazing book filled with so much knowledge and inspiration. I was amazed at the dedication this teacher Rafe had for his classroom and all the neat and exciting things he packs into a year. I wish I could have had this kind of instruction from a teacher who was just a passionate about teaching as Rafe. Furthermore I wish every student could experience with the dedication and enthusiasm that Rafe approaches his classroom with. From his lesson to teaching reading and math to helping students put on Shakespeare productions that include music by his students that he taught how to read music. He expresses early in the book about his revelation of teaching and how each year he continues to grow and become better and better. This book should be a must read by all students who aspire to be future teachers. The principals he holds his students too, basing his classroom upon trust and not fear should take place in every classroom. He spends time with students before and after school, on weekends and even during school breaks. I found that most interesting how students would be at school at 6:30 ready to learn, the students found a way to get there and make it happen. Rafe made learning fun and memorable and most importantly he put meaning behind everything the students learned. I like the chapter on science and how his step daughter told him he was doing a terrible job of teaching science. That science was experimenting and making errors, not just reading from a text book. Rafe gives us valuable resources and advice on how to obtain science experiment kits. When I think back on it my most memorable memories on things I learned in elementary school are the hands on experiences. I also like how rafe allows students to "fail" in which room 56 defines failure as, "failure happens only when students stop trying to solve a problem." Its crazy to think that just one year or even a few years can change the life of someone but it truly can. I love the economics that Rafe uses in his classroom having the students take jobs that pay "money" and then having them pay rent and teaching them about owning property. He also holds auctions at the end of each month to teach students about how to manage their money and about delayed gratification. Rafe enrichers the lives of his students by exposing them to classic films and improves their writing skills by having them answer questions about the movie. One of his students who was just a mediocre student fell in love with films and ended up becoming a film maker. Rafe exposed him to something that ignited a spark that later turned into a fire and now that student has his passion in life.I think some of Rafe's students could have taken on EDM 310 and done a much better job than most of us college students and they would have done it without moaning, groaning and making excuses!I know I am missing some major parts of the book but I don't want to give it all away for those that haven't read it yet. This book will inspire you to be a better teacher, and just a better person in general.

C4T #4

For my 4th C4T I was assigned to Angela Rand's Blog,My Mind Gap. The first post I commented on was titled, "PhdChat Wordle" in which she talks about taking part in the #PhdChat on twitter. How it is great because she can interact different conversations that are taking place. She talks about the intensity and excitement that goes on during the conversations on #PhdChat. This intensity can be seen when the conversations are taking place but when going back to look at them later we sometimes have trouble seeing the excitement in the conversation. Ms. Rand says, "In an online conversation the subtext must be gleaned from the text itself. Pace, abbreviations, length, and other such textual clues need to be sifted through to see what is going on in the conversation." Through using twitter I have found some interesting articles on different education topics and links to different sites. Twitter really is a great tool for interacting, having educational discussions and finding valuable information and resources on many different topics. My comment on Ms. Rand's post was,"Twitter has made it possible to interact and take part in different conversation threads on just about any subject. I just started using twitter this year in my EDM 310 class and I have read several really interesting articles posted by others on different education topics. I really need to get more involved in using twitter and become more active in taking part in discussions. I like how you talk about the intensity and excitement that takes place when the conversations in #PhDchat are being held but later on when you read them you have to look at the "whole situation." Thanks for your post!"

The second post I read on Angela Rand's blog, My Mind Gap, was about PLNs. I found it very useful to hear her argument of how her PLN has helped her through learning. She said that she is,"so passionate about my PLN that I would like for them all to be present at my graduation when that day comes. They have contributed (very nearly) as much to my growth as an instructional designer as my professors and classmates have" I think this is a very powerful statement and just goes to show how much of an impact a PLN can have on someone. I have learned a lot through my PLN and I know that it will be useful to me in the future as well especially when I begin teaching. My comment on her post was, "Hey Mrs. Rand, I am a student in EDM and we have been working on developing a PLN throughout the semester. I enjoyed reading your post about your PLN and it has helped me to get motivated to keep working on mine. I need to give back to my PLN more and become more active with making post. I have learned a lot by adding articles and websites to my PLN. I hope to keep expanding my PLN and keep learning. Thank you for your post!"
She also that her PLN will give her feedback and tolerate her mistakes. Learning through a PLN is like having a personal group of people and resources who can hep guide you along your academic journey. A PLN helps you to grow through learning and dig beyond the surface of what you are studying.

C4K Summary # 3

My first C4K comment was on Mr.Mcclung's World a blog by Mr.McClung and I commented on his post "Lessons Learned."
There were three lessons learned that he put in his post. The first one was about the beard contest that was being held this year as a fundraiser for United Way. Teachers were given a beard using the iphone bearded app and then students who pay to vote for their favorite teacher. Mr. McClung gave his students an incentive to vote for him this year by telling them that if he won he would let them vote on what shape he would shave his beard into. The second lesson is one of my favorites. One of his students Kyle walked into in 4th period class wearing a blue tutu. Mr. McClung asked what was up with his out fit and the boy said it was just one of those days. I like how Mr.McClung replied by saying, "He could certainly sympathize." He is allowing his students to be who they want to be and I guess they don't have uniforms where he teaches. The third lesson learned was about his cross country team and their last meet. He said they had been the underdogs of the season but that his, "runners have been focused all week long and I’m expecting them to have their best race of the year." My comment to his post was, "Hey I am a student at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, Alabama and I am currently taking EDM310. I really enjoyed reading your post. I think its great how you engage and interact with your students. You also allow them to be creative and imaginative. I am majoring in elementary education and think that blogging is a great tool to implement in the classroom. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas!"

The second part of my C4K for this week was to post a comment on a post on Mrs. Yollis' blog. I was assigned to post a comment on her blog Yollis' 365 Project, which is a daily digital documentation. The post I commented on was done on October 29th and it was a picture of some colorful peppers. The peppers are Mrs. Yollis' favorite snack and she asked what your favorite snack is, and what the pictures reminded us of. My comment on this post was, "Dear Mrs. Yollis and Class, I am a student at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, Alabama. I am studying to be a teacher and I am currently taking a computer course called EDM310. This course is teaching me how to use blogs and all different types of technology in the classroom. I took some time to explore your class blog and found many really great posts. I also learned a lot! Thank you for making blogs fun and educational. I like how the picture of the peppers reminds me of warm summer days. I wish it was summer because it sure is cold today in Mobile. My favorite snack is baby carrots dipped in ranch. My horse Maddie also loves when I share my snack with her! Sincerely, Stephanie" I really enjoyed exploring Mrs. Yollis' blog and truly learned a lot about blogging and integrating it into the classroom.

My last C4K for the semester was on Zion's blog. Zion is a 6 year student in Mr. Somerville's room 16 at the Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand. Zion wrote a blog post story about an adventure to Saturn. He did a great job using descriptive words and came up with a very creative account of his adventure to Saturn. My comment on his story was, "Hey Zion, My name is Stephanie and I am a student at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, Alabama where I am studying to be a teacher. I loved reading your story about your adventure to Saturn. It would be fun to snowboard around the ring of Saturn. You had a very creative story and were very descriptive with your word choice. The story of your adventure come to life in my head and I could picture each scene that you were describing. Keep up your good use of descriptive words." This was probably one of my favorite C4K post that I read this semester because it was very creative and unique. I am glad that Zion is able to share his writing with others.

Special Assignment #1

We use metaphors in writing to show how two things are the same. According to dictionary.com, "a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance." Metaphors show how two things are related and they put an importance on why the two things are being compared. Just like in the pencil post Tom Johnson wrote he is showing the similarity between pencils and computers. Pencils are the learning tool of the past and computers are rapidly becoming the learning tool of todays world. He uses the metaphor to further drive home his point. Metaphors express creativity and give another us another way of looking at things. They enrich writing and make it more interesting. Some examples of metaphors in EDM 310 are the video Mr. Winkle wakes, we also encountered some metaphors in the blogs of students when doing our C4K's. The Bible has metaphors listed through out. Here are some examples “You are the salt of the earth.” (Matthew 5:13), "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink, (John 7:37)." The salt of the earth does not necessarily mean they are salt they mean that they are pure and it preserves things just like the disciples were to preserve Jesus' messages. Some examples of metaphor in literature would be several of William Shakespeare's plays he used metaphors in like, " All the worlds a stage" We use metaphors in everyday life and don't even realize it like, I'm so hungry I could eat an elephant, its raining cats and dogs, I would kill to have a pair of those boots. Metaphors enrich our writing and also help to show the importance of a point we are trying to making.

SmartBoard Lesson Project #15

Final Project Progress Report

My group member and I have been brain storming ideas for our final project 16. We have decided to talk about all the EDM 310 has to offer and all that we have learned in EDM 310. We are going to present this in a movie trailer format. We have started to put some of our ideas together and plan on starting to do some recording and editing on the computer this week.

Blog Post Assignment # 12

1. Watch the video Technology in Special Education and write 2-3 paragraphs about this video and how technology has effect they way special education is taught. How can you use technology for special needs students in your classes?

2. After watching this video How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism Go to Apple.Education Apps.com and find an app that you could use in the classroom with a special needs students. Explain in 1-2 paragraphs how you would use the app in the classroom and how it would improve learning.

1.In the first video there is a special education teacher, Ms. Lace Cook, talking about how technology has changed the way her classroom runs and the way her students learn. One of her students used to have to leave the room and participate in silent reading since he had to be read to out loud. Now he can listen to a book on the ipod and follow along with the text. He can now participate in the classroom and not have to leave. Another student uses the computer as a means of communicating by using a mouse to type words on the computer. Before using the computer it was not easy to communicate with Chris. Ms. Cook is able to gain the attention of her class and keep their attention when using technology. SHe hopes to keep teaching her students about technology and keep implementing new technology into her classroom.
I can use technology in several different ways to help children with special needs. Computers are an endless resource for different programs that can help students when learning different subjects. If I had a student that couldn't hear well I could pull up a video on their computer and add sub titles to it for them to follow along with the class. Smart boards are also great tools to have in a special education classroom. Engaging students in the material will be much easier when you can pull pictures up on the Smart board and actually have students be able to come and touch the actual object they are being asked to work with. There are so many ways in which technology can better the learning of all students especially special education students.


2. In the second video there is a father using an iPad to help his autistic son with learning how to count, use his sight words and even write. I think it is wonderful how he uses different apps on the iPad to help his son. The little boy was counting using a toddler counting app that would show a certain number of different objects on the screen. Every time he touched one of the objects it would count 1,2,3... and he would count along as he touched each new object. When looking online at the app store I found an app called Pro Keys which is a music application that has 14 different instruments and allows you to play and record with them. It also has some preset recording created by a professional. This app can help to teach students about the different sound instruments make and it will also allow them to play and interact with the different instruments. There are also so many great apps that can be used in the classroom to enhance the learning of both traditional and special needs students. I see the use of iPads in the classroom as a great learning tool and a great use of technology.

Part 1 of C4K #10

I never knew I could learn so much in one place. Exploring Mrs. Yollis' blog was a lot of fun and I could have spent hours upon hours looking through all her post and tabs and still discover new things. Mrs.Yollis has been teaching for 25 years and has a masters in Integrating Technology in the Classroom. She also loves to travel and in the summer of 2010 she spent 3 days at Google learning how to use things like google maps and google earth in the classroom. On the last day she spent some time with National Geographic and learned about a program they have called the Giant Traveling Maps. They are giant maps of all the continents that can be rented out by schools to use for learning. I watched the video of Mrs. Yollis' class exploring the map of North America. It looked like so much fun I wish I could have been there to experience it! The bloggers on Mrs. Yollis blog are third graders who live in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Mrs. Yollis also has a classroom website which has links to different sites and resources valuable to student learning. She invites parents to explore the sites with the students and monitor them while on the internet. She also ask them to let her know if they have anything to add to the webpage. There is a link at the top of her blog that goes to a wiki she created to help educate teachers who want to create classroom blogs. In this wiki she also states one of the reasons she created her blog, "Having the classroom blog is like having Open House all year long." Parents can see their child's work all year long instead of just at open house. This allows parents to be more involved in the learning process of students." She also says that, "Students learn about geography by tracking our visitors and sharing comments with our blogging friends. Skyping with blogging buddies brings geography to life!" There are so many benefits of having a classroom blog and those are just a few. In the right hand column of the blog you can find a list of about 20 educational blogs her class follows. There is also the map that tells how many visitors their blog has had. They have had 72,060 visitors about 20,000 more than EDM 310 and their blog count only began a few days before ours.I think that their blog count is higher because they have more of an audience to view their work and they also interact with blogs and students from around the world that in return come and visit Mrs. Yollis' blog. Her class also takes part in a blog titled Our World, Our Stories that connects students from 3 different continents and 6 different countries. Through exploring some post on her blog I learned that November is family blogging month and that Mrs. Yollis' blog just had its 3rd birthday on November 6th. She also keeps a blog titled Yollis' 365 Project which is a daily digital documentation. Her class also uses skype to interact with other students and people from around the world.
Mrs. Yollis' blog shows how learning can take place through blogging and exploring. Learning can be fun and exciting and is not just limited to the pages of a textbook or even the walls of your classroom. She has put together a blogging environment that connects students to an endless amount of resources, and to other students and environments from around the world. She also connects parents to students work by having them be able to comment on students blog posts. Students and blogs from around the world are connected to her blog. She also gives back to the teaching community by offering resources for those teachers who wish to create a blog for their classroom and it an exceptional model for teachers to follow.

C4K Summary #2

My first C4K for October was on Ms. Jenny She's Room 6 class blog from Auckland, New Zealand. I commented on a video that a student named Cruz had made about harold the giraffe. Harold was a giraffe that came and visited the class and talked to them about health and safety. My comment on Cruz's video was, " Hey Cruz and Room 6, My name is Stephanie Tyler and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I am taking a technology class called EDM310. I think it is great that Harold the giraffe came and talked to you and your classmates about health and safety. It sounds like you had a great time and I hope Harold taught you a lot!" I think that it is great how the class is continually learning through blogging and by looking through the blog I can get a sense of school in New Zealand.

My second C4K comment for October was on Ms. Wendy Burne's class blog from Auckland, New Zealand. Her class is a year 3 class at Pt England School. Ms. Burne has incorporated technology into her classroom through blogging. I watched a video that a few students made about black out day at school. It was where they dressed up in black and the video showed students playing games. The video had both still images and recorded video put to music. The students did a great job putting the video together and it was neat to see students in action from all the way around the world. My comment on the video was, "My name is Stephanie Tyler and I am student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I enjoyed watching the video you made about Black Out day. You did a great job using both pictures and video to make your movie. I also liked the music that went along with the pictures. Good job using imovie!"

I commented on a blog by s student named Edna for my third C4K in October. I went back to look at her page and my comments still have not appeared on her blog but I commented on her brain storming post and her bean project post. Her bean project post had an experiment she was testing on growing beans and if they would grow in sprite. In my comment I asked Edna what kind of affect the sugar from the sprite would have on the bean plant. I also wanted to find out the results of the experiment because it sounded rather interesting. Her brain storming post consisted of a list of all different ideas for writing a story. My comment on that post was,"Hey Edna, I love all your brain storming ideas. I know you will be able to come up with an awesome story using any of your ideas or even by combining some ideas."


In my last C4K for October I commented on the blog of classroom 17 which is a 6th years class taught by Miss Juanita Garden at Pt England school in Auckland, New Zealand. I commented on a google doc presentation about space junk it was 4 slides long and included pictures and text. In my comment I said,"Hey my name is Stephanie Tyler and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile Alabama. You did a great job creating a google doc presentation about space junk. There are so many things that can be created using google doc presentations! Keep up the good work!
I made a presentation using google docs and posted it on my blog Stephanie Tyler's EDM 310 blog google docs presentation." It was neat to see students all the way in New Zealand using google docs for presentations.

Blog Assignment #11

First Graders in
Ms.Cassidy's Class Using Technology

I think Mrs. Cassidy has really great ideas and methods for integrating technology in the classroom especially in the first grade classroom. I like how the students can improve on their writing skills through blogging and have an audience to view their work. One of my favorite technology aspects that she used was a class webpage. The class webpage has links to more resources for learning and gives the students a place to navigate from. I would love to put together a class that would have things such as homework and assignments posted. I would also have links to places where they can learn more about different subjects that we are studying. Some adversities I might face in doing this is the school administrator not wanting me to post these things on line with an independent website they might want me to use a school site to do this. I would suggest that it is easier for my students to access my webpage and that it would be easier for me to update they webpage for the students. I think that having a webpage in my classroom will help keep the students and parents engaged and informed about what is happening in the classroom.
I also think that having a class blog and having the students blog is a great learning tool. I would also like to have a class blog in my room so that the students can improve upon their writing skills and have an audience to help develop their learning network. I would probably face some concerns from parents so I would inform them of what exactly the blog is for and the safety precautions that are taken. I would also have a sheet for parents to sign giving permission for students to have a blog. I think blogging would help students to expand their learning network and also their writing skills. I think that using the technologies that Ms. Cassidy uses in her classroom will greatly help students in their understanding of different subjects being studied.

C4T #3

Bill Genereux's blog TechIntersect

I was assigned to Bill Genereux's blog and read one of his post titled "Taking Risk While Teaching." He starts off with examples of myths about how to achieve success in the classroom. They are basically about how teachers need to instill fear into students in order to be able to command a classroom. He then goes on to tell about his experience of how he has taught two different classes in which he did not have all the answers. One of those classes is a video game programing class in which he challenges the students and himself by having them do things that they don't have the answers to. They must do research and find the answers and they also are all working together to create a video game project. When a teacher takes risks with learning in the classroom, it makes the experience fun and memorable as apposed to having the teacher just spit out knowledge and have the students soak it up like sponges to then spit back out again. Something Dr. Strange calls "burp back education." My comment on Mr. Genereux's post answered some of his question at the end of his post. He wanted to know if anyone else took risk when teaching and if they always have everything polished. I can somewhat relate because I teach horseback riding lesson and there are so many things that I learn from my students. There are also things we find the answer to together which creates a great learning opportunity.

The blog post I read this week was posted on October 9th. His most recent post was just a house keeping post about pumpkins carved by his kids but he did use the computer to make the cutouts for them to carve from. The post I read is titled "Information Workers In Industrial Environments." In this post he started off talking about one of his students who is a single mother, works and is going to school to get a better education. He finds it amazing that she can balance her time like that. He then goes on to talk about how he is working on sunday morning without even realizing it and begins to talk about how it is okay to do work at home but not to do any personal work at work.Genereux states, "Organizations don’t reflect the reality that is the blending of work and play, home and career in our digital world. We still often have assigned break times. We expect that only work-related things will be done on work machines, and save the home-related things for home." In my comment I expressed how I also thought that some personal matters could be attended to at work as long as work matters were still being properly taken care of. I compared it to having computers in the classroom. How do we know that students are not playing games instead of doing their assignments? It's the final product that counts because their work will reflect how hard they worked.

Blog Post Assignment # 10

Do You Teach or Do You Educate?
This video gives the definition of both what it means to teach and what it means to educate. To teach is to just relay information, so called "burp back education" where as educating is much more. Educating is enlightening,adventurous and has no end. I will be an educator and not a teacher in my classroom because I will empower my students with the ability to explore all different avenues if learning. There a are several different ways I can do this and a lot of them I have learned in this class.
One way I can be an educator is by showing by students how to find information and resources on the interned and how to use them properly. I can show them how to create a PLN that can help them expand upon their learning and understanding of subject matter. I can have them peer review one another to learn from others mistakes as well as how to properly correct work if its wrong. Students can become educated by creating blogs and videos on different subject matter being studied. They will have to learn to work cooperatively in groups and overcome different obstacles like ones that occur in real life. Through educating students in this way that will be better prepared for the real world.

Tom Johnson's Adventures in Pencil Integration.
When I read this post "Don't Let Them Take The Pencils Home", I had to read it twice to fully understand the post. Johnson presented his argument in a somewhat satirical way. Through reading the comments left by others and viewing some of his other post I found his argument to be about technology and computers in the classroom. He is making the argument in this specific post about why students should be allowed to take pencils home and how it cannot adversely affect test scores. He is making his argument towards Gertrude, the School Curriculum Instructional Interventionist Academic Specialist, who says to Tom that students who take home pencils will have lower standardized test scores. Tom presents her with how he is on his way to having a solution for the problem. He has "met with the parents and the students and explained ways that pencils could be used for learning." This way parents can be more informed about how their children can use pencils for productive work. He also is confronted about students using pencils for fun at home such as playing hang man and not staying on task. Johnson replies by saying,
"if they choose to play Hang Man or go on the pen pal networks, I'm okay with it. There's probably some learning that's taking place that we don't realize." I like the approach he has taken by showing how ridiculous some people are about technology and computers in the classroom by using pencils in his writing, which have been a means of learning for centuries.

SMART Board Project #13

Blog Post Assignment 9

What I've Learned this year 2008-20009
What I've Learned This Year 2009-2010

I read Mr. McClung's post about his first year and third year of teaching. he made some very interesting points and gave some insight about what he learned throughout the year as he taught. one of his first points was to make lessons students centered. Mr. McClung says, "Let your audience drive your instruction." I think this is a great point because we can get caught up in trying to meet certain criteria and forget about focusing on the students. He also says to be flexible when making and teaching lessons plans. I believe that we need to be able to adapt and change as we are teaching. He also learned that we must be reasonable.He says we should not set goals that our students cannot meet and we de not need to get upset when they do not meet goals we hoped they would. "Our job as teachers is to simply pick them up after they fail, dust them off, and encourage then to try again." McClung says to not be afraid to use technology and I fell that through taking this course I will not be afraid to implement it into my classroom. The last thing he states is to never stop learning. I think it is important to be a life long learner because you can never know it all. These are things that he learned in his first year of teaching in Noel, Missouri.
In his third year of teaching in Arkansas he was a head coach for the first time and he also was a computer applications teacher for the first time. He says, "Know who your Boss is." Don't get all caught up in trying to please others that you forget about your mission and main focus. I think it is easy for us to get caught up in trying to please others because we seek the approval of others. McClung says to remember that students are always the focus. Another point he makes is that we should remain and optimist but "don't expect others to be excited about change as you are." When he goes to Professional Development sessions he gets excited about the new ideas but when he looks around the room he sees people who are completely disinterested in the ideas. He says, " You have to embody the aspects of teaching that you enjoy and not allow others to influence or steer you away from that." He also has learned that it's ok to be an outsider. We should not worry about trying to fit in with the other teachers. Do what you like, it ok to eat lunch with your students and not in the teachers lounge. He has leaned some words of wisdoms from a fellow teacher he talks to on a daily basis, "Don't Touch the Keyboard." let students do for themselves, if they are struggling do not jump in and complete the work for them, they will never learn it for themselves if you do. McClung says that although they may suffer then, they will be better off in the long run. The last lesson he has lerned is to not get comfortable with his teaching. He says that things get easier but be careful not to fall into a routine because that when things can get boring for students. we need to challenge ourselves and as he said earlier, never stop learning.
I added Mr. McClungs blog,At the Teacher's Desk to my PLN. I thought he has some interesting ideas and I would love to read his post about what he learned at the end of this school year.

Project # 11 Short Movie

Project # 12 Book Trailer

Blog Assignment 8

This is How we Dream Parts 1 and 2 by Richard Miller

This video was really hard for me to wrap my mind around because of the vast network of technology we have available to us. I had to watch the videos twice to really grasp all the information they contained. There is so much technology and resources available that are changing daily and it seems so hard to keep up. I think that it is great topic of moving from the classroom that reads and writes to a more interactive classroom that uses multimedia to write with. Things like video, pictures and articles are all incorporated into creating writing with multimedia. Miller says that documents online are now made freely available and are infinitely sharable. He also states that." An incremental change now is that we now work on lap tops where we have access to the internet with endless resources."
In today's world we are not limited by paper. There are so many ways to present a topic that is being researched. Richard Miller composed a paper about the killing at Virginia Tech without even setting foot in a library. He used resources he found online to compile his information. He also talks about collaborating and using different resources such as video and pictures to "write" with. Making documents more visual and captivating can help to engage the reader and further their understanding of a subject. Miller states, " we can collect together threads of experience and weave them together into a coherent document." Through the use of technology we can make our work available to be view by anyone, anywhere and at any time.
I do not feel that I am fully prepared to write with multimedia although I think I am on the right path to become more comfortable with it. We are learning how to by inserting different things like videos and pictures into our blogs to help enhance them. I also know that this is something that can be put into practice into the classroom and that given the right instruction students will be able to write with multimedia in no time at all.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12

I think that Carly's idea is amazing! To create a playlist of all your favorite videos, blogs, articles and all different things is a great way to put all your thoughts in one place. It reminds me of a PLN but it is more about her philosophies and views on things. I think that having a philosophy is important because it gives us motivation to keep going and reminds us what we are working towards. I followed her links and watches some of her playlist and I also liked a lot of the videos she had put up there. I had never seem any of them and I am glad I got to because they really make you think about what your views are and what philosophy you hold. I also see how it comes close the what Dr. Miller talks about with writing through using multimedia because if she were to write a paper about her philosophy and views on teaching it would end up saying pretty much exactly what the videos gave us. This visual writing probably captivated us a lot better than an entire 4 page paper would have. I think that this is a great idea and it really makes me think about my views and philosophy.

EDM 310 for Dummies and The Chipper Series

The primary message of these two videos is to teach about how import it is to stay organized and "on-top-of things" in EDM 310. They both are funny and entertaining to get their point across and in "The Chipper Series" I even detected some sarcasm. I remember watching these videos before the first day of class and they gave me a preview of what to expect and kind of ease any worries about the course. I think it would be fun to create a movie about PLN's and the importance of starting one early. I think that it would be beneficial to let other students know how much more they can benefit from their PLN if they begin early. Honestly when I saw that we needed to start on our PLN project I was like what is that and never looked at it again until a week before we had to make our first progress report post. I think making a video showing the benefits of a PLN and just exactly what it is would be a great way to help out new students in the class.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
I think that the arguments in the video are very valid ones. I was shocked that coal miners were ranked higher that education in IT development. Education needs to change because it is the foundation for everything. Some of the people in the video said that students now are using social networking, emails, text messaging and other forms of technology that are banned from the classroom because we are afraid to explore these "dangerous" avenues of learning. Some of the others in the video were talking about how we are not adequetly preparing students for jobs they will encounter out in the real world. One of the men said that standardized testing is not teaching students anything because jobs do not need people to only know the right answer. Students have to be able to find information, know how to use that information, validate that info, and solve problems. Students cannot just memorize things and expect to get by in the job world of today. I think this is a neat video with some great arguments for making education more technology literate.

PLN Progress Report

I had never heard of a PLN until I entered this class. I think that are a great way to keep information and resources you find on the internet organized and easy to access. I wanted to develop my PLN around implementing creativity in the classroom. I chose Symbaloo to organize my PLN and have also put some links in Delicious. I have added Sir Ken Robinson's website to my PLN and I have also started following him on twitter. I have added some different articles to my Delicious account that I think contain valuable information. I have also linked my PLN to my blog, twitter account, email and facebook. I will continue to expand upon my PLN in hopes of finding more resources through twitter and other sites. I know that I still have a lot of work to do on my PLN but I look forward to exploring different resources that will help my PLN grow.

Project 9b- Timetoast Timeline: The Special Olympics

Blog Assignment 7

Randy Pausch Last Lecture:Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

I read Randy Pausch's book "The Last Lecture" a few years ago and loved it. I had not watched his actual lecture until now. I think he is an amazing person who despite what he was facing made the best of his circumstances. This lecture opens up with some information about Dr. Pausch as he presents the "elephant in the room". The "elephant" is the fact that he is terminally ill and has been given the diagnosis of 3-6 months of good health left. He then goes on to talk about his childhood dreams and how he went about achieving them. He wanted to enable the childhood dreams of others and through this he expresses some of his teaching strategies. Dr. Pausch began a course that he felt would help him to help others in achieving their childhood dreams. The course was titled Building Virtual Worlds and it was compiled of 50 students from all departments within the university. During the course students were randomly put into groups in which they would complete a project in two weeks and there where 5 projects throughout the entire semester. This strategy had the students working with new people every two weeks which would teach them how to work with others.
After the students turned in their first project he was astounded with how will they did so he called his mentor Andy van Dam and asked him what to do. His mentor told him to go into class and tell the students that what they did was good but they he know they could do better, and that is exactly what he did. Dr. Pausch said that not setting the bar was the best thing he could have done for the students because they just kept doing better and producing projects that were "out of this world". I think that through not setting the bar he allowed students to use their imaginations and be creative. They were only limited by their imaginations and not by someone who told them what they had to do. Dr. Pausch taught like this because he wanted to enable the dreams of others and that cannot be done if you set a limit on students imaginations.
Another one of the strategies that I notices was how he had the students peer review one another on how they were to work with. He would take that information and put it into a bar graph that he would give to the students showing how was thought easiest to work with and who was hardest. I think this is a fantastic way to give a "wake-up call" to those who didn't work well with others. Hopefully it would make them take a step back and reevaluate how they worked and why they were deemed difficult to work with.

This course developed into a 2 year program called the Entertainment Technology Center which once completed students would have a masters of Entertainment Technology. He took one course and made it into a program with the help of many others that would allow students a chance to achieve their dreams. Through this lecture Dr. Pausch exemplified humility, not giving up,having enthusiasm for what you do, and gratitude.One of my favorite things he said was "Brick walls are there for a reason:they let us prove how badly we want things" he also said, "they were to keep those out who didn't want it as badly." Another thing he says that I really like was, "When you do the right thing. good stuff has a way of happening." In the end of the lecture he says some important points and one of them was to have a feed back loop such as a mentor or the bar graph peer review sheet he used. I was lucky to know someone who had the same kind of energy and drive as Dr. Pausch even though she was face with dismal circumstances. She helped me to see my dreams and she put me on the path to achieving them. I feel that it is important to surround yourself with those who believe in you. When you do, just like Dr. Pausch's first "head fake" you can lead your life the right way and be on the path to achieving your dreams.

Blog Assignment #6

The Networked Student

When I watched this video it really made me realize how technology is still somewhat foreign to me. There are so many tools out there in the world of technology that help us to learn. In this video it talked about a particular students PLN and how he had one topic that he researched and found all different types of on. This video also helped me to further understand exactly what a PLN is and how to go about creating one. The student found a lot of information about his topic that eventually leads him to create a blog with his informed opinions on the subject matter. He also notes that it is important to interact with people and comment on things that you research.
I do not feel like I am completely prepared to be a teacher of a networked student because I am still learning about how to become networked myself. I feel like the journey through this class is slowly preparing me. I am much more technology literate now that I was when I began this class.
The question posed in this video is "why does the networked student even need a teacher?" The teacher helps the student to become networked by teaching them about PLNs and how to create one. The teacher also helps students to distinguish between good and bad sources of information, and insures that they know how to take advantage of different kinds of learning opportunities. The teacher is the guide to help students learn and the teacher should continue to learn along with the students. I took a look at Ms. Drexler's blog and read her post about implementing her networked student model into a middle school science classroom, I think that is a great idea and I hope I am prepared enough one day to help my students to become networked!

A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment
I think this student did a wonderful job creating her PLE for her science class. I think it is awesome how she can navigate though the internet and record all the resources she finds in one location. Her PLE is similar to mine because we both have a topic that we are researching and wanting to learn more about. They are also similar because we both have social networking sites connected to our PLN. Our PLNs are different because mine is centered around creativity in the classroom and hers is about science. Watching this video has inspired me to spend more time everyday working on developing my PLN.

Project # 8 Podcast

C4K #1

1. My first C4K comment was on Hunter's blog from Mrs. Huebner's class. The blog post I commented on was his biopoem. There were many great ambitions. likes, and dreams expressed throughout his poem. In my comment I said "I like how you aspire to do so many great things in your life? I love ice cream and dogs too. Keep up the good work in school and keep reaching for your dreams!"

2. For my second C4K I commented on Allison's blog who is a 4th grade student in Mrs. Kilgo's class. She had written a blog post talking about some characteristics of raccoons. In her post she said that raccoons were nocturnal. I said that I though raccoons were neat animals with cute faces and I liked how she describes the stripes on the raccoons tail. I also posed the question of what she thought it would be like if we were nocturnal.

3. This weeks C4K comment was on a book interview that three students from Martha Yim's class produced. The students were Elise, Cade and Danielle. The students had to get into groups, and pick what book they wanted to use for their interview. Then they were shown how to use the notepad app on their iPads where they created their interview questions. Elise, Cade and Danielle decided to do their book interview on Satchel Page. In my comment I said "Hey Elise,Cade and Danielle! I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I think your book interview video was awesome. Good job on using the iPad to write your interview questions on. Keep up the good learning!" They spoke loudly and asked interesting questions that made the interview come alive. They did a great job especially since they did not rehearse the interviews first.

4. For my C4K comment #4 I got to comment on Mary's blog, a student who lives in Moscow, Russia. Her blog post was about Where she would love to visit and why. Mary said that she would like to visit England because she had been studying English and would like to put it into practice. She would also like to see London and other places that she has read about. In my comment to her I said, "I am a college student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I think it would be great if you could go visit England! I would love to visit Italy because I love Italian food and would love to see all the beautiful sights and museums. Keep practicing your English and I hope you get to go visit London, England one day." I think it is great how we are able to connect with students from around the world!

C4T #2

I was assigned to read Beth Knittle's blog "Beth's Thoughts on Technology In The Classroom." The first post I commented on was titled "Where is Learning?" The post was about a tweet she saw come through on her twitter account. The tweet read, "Tedxx Philadelphi talk should be required viewing in every teaching 101 course. All our classrooms would be such better places." From this it made her think about learning and how this tweet made it look like just because our students watch something they will learn it. Ms. Knittle did not agree with this she said we cannot just expose students to the material and expect the to know it. Learning is interactive and learners need to do something with the material they are learning. She also said that sometimes we need to take a deep breath and rethink the fundamentals. She was asked by a college of hers to help post videos on her wiki containing the information she didn't have time to teach. She thought that if the kids came and looked at it she could count it as covered material. I agree with Ms. Knittle about how learning is interactive and it needs to be so learners can be creative with learning. I think that videos are good but you need to do something with the video other than just watch it. I commented on her blog saying that I agreed with her on how teachers seem to rush through material just so they can cover it because it is on the syllabus. They just expose us to material and expect us to soak it up like a sponge. That is not enough tell us how to interact and learn from the material. Her response to me was,"Learning is a participatory activity – all a teacher can really do is provide learners an opportunity to interactive with what we learn. Video does have its place if it is part of an active learning environment. But a teacher cannot make us learn, interact or engage, that is ultimately up to the learner.
I wish you success in your course."

This week I read a post from Ms. Knittle that was titled "Wistful Reflection" in which she reflected back on her years of teaching. She said she taught middle school math and science and in 15 years she taught at 4 different schools on 3 continents. For science she had the same Prentice-Hall book edition that she would change and adapt to the local environment. She would do this by adding new tools, strategies and resources which allowed her to focus on practical effective change with her students. She is now a tech integration specialist where tools, software and hardware are rapidly changing. "Flying by the seat of my pants" is how she feels sometimes with all the changes in technology that occur. She said that she feels like she is being more reactive than reflective and wonders if she is being effective. I commented on her post by saying this : I also feel like technology is changing rapidly from year to year. It is hard to keep up with it all! I like how you said you wondered if you were being effective anymore. I think that anytime you can learn something new about technology you are becoming more effective learner and then you can pass on what you learn to help effect the rest of your learning community. Just like you do through your blog. I think that being effective is important and we all need to think about if we are being effective learners and teachers.

Blog Assignment 5

Don't teach your kids this stuff! Please?

Dr. Scott McLeod is the founding director of UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE). CASTLE is the nations only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of schools. He is also an associate professor of education leadership at the University of Kentucky and has been named a "Leader in Learning" by the cable industry. He also wrote this post on his blog about what not to teach your students. When I first began reading I though he really was being negative about technology and was expressing his dislike for it. His sarcastic style of writing really allowed him get his point across. My position on his argument is that I think technology is very important in the classroom and should be implemented in every classroom. I do also think that using paper and pencil is still necessary in some situations. However technology allows students to be even more creative and innovative thinkers as they can share their knowledge and ideas with others around the world. Technology can help to facilitate learning and those who use it now will have advantages in the long run overs those who don't.

The iSchool Initiative
and ZeitgeistYoungMind's Entry

In this video Travis Allen is proposing an alternative more technology based way of school. He has proposed this due to numerous budget cuts and growing classroom sizes. He bases his idea off of the iTouch and all the educational applications it has to offer. In the iSchool initiative plan each student would have and iTouch modified for school and there would no longer be a need for paper or pens.Some of the applications that would be used on the iTouch are email, chemical touch,US constitution, USA Presidents, star walk, formulae, recorder, calculator, graphing calculator, notes and much more. The most interesting app to me is the classics app which has textbooks, workbooks and all other kinds of books on it that are accessible to read on the iTouch for each student.
I think he has a neat and innovative idea about how to put iTouch technology into the classroom. There seem to be an endless amount of educational apps that can be very valuable to aiding in each student's education. However I do think that there will still be a need for paper and pen because not everything can be done on the iTouch and students still need to apply what they learn. Another thing is what happens if the iTouch crashes with all your school work on it, id there any kind of backup for it? I think he has a great idea and I am going to look into it some more to see just exactly how it has been put into action and how well it is doing.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

I thought it was amazing how all those people could sing the same song together and never have rehearsed it together in person before. It sounded amazing and just like they had been practicing for weeks. This use of the internet is very neat because it show cases talents from around the world and puts them all together. It is just another example of how technology can create amazing things and open doors to endless possibilities. Technology in the classroom can allow us to explore places and talk to people without even having to travel there. This is just another great example of how technology can enhance learning, even in music.

Teaching in the 21st Century

This video really had some great points about how to gear teaching towards the 21st century. Robert's thinks that teaching in the 21st century is not just giving facts, dates, and formulas because kids can find information anywhere, anytime. Do they know how to use different sources to find information? This is where we as teachers come into play by showing kids how to use different internet sources like google and twitter to their advantage. Robert's feels that we need to challenge and ask questions like: use any resource to answer questions such as how many grains of sand are in a square mile on the beach, or why does the sky appear blue? Answer those questions and use data to back them up, this is teaching in the 21st century by using technology to our advantage and not working against it. I think her position in the video is a valid one because information is everywhere and accessible to everyone. Further more we do not need to just spit our facts and content we need to challenge students to discover knowledge on their own. She also believes in engaging students in work rather than just entertaining them. Learning that is engaging is more active and will stick with them long term.
This will affect me as an educator because I will need to be creative with how I challenge students to think and answer questions. I need to teach them that there are many sources of information in the world. They need to be taught what valid information is and how to use it to their advantage in learning. Teaching will become more interactive and the knowledge base that students will be exposed to is tremendous. Teachers need to be there to guide and facilitate learning through technology in the 21st century.

Project 9a- Timetoast Timeline

Blog Assignment 4

Langwitches
This first blog post I read was about podcasting with first graders. They created their own read along audiobook for a Magic Tree House book "Dinosaurs in the Dark." As the teacher read the book to them another teacher was having students record from a script that followed the book. I listened to some of the 15 minute audio and though it was very well done. The students were talking in an interview format and used neat sound effects to go along with the story. Another podcast produced by second graders was also highlighted on this blog. The second graders were recording a story "Purim" and they were talking in Hebrew for some of the story. The blog post said that in order to internalize a new vocabulary word you have to hear and comprehend it at least 70 plus times. Through creating the podcast and editing it this helped the students to better understand the language. From the little bit of the podcast that I listened to the 7 and 8 year old students were speaking very clear and well pronounced Hebrew. I think they made podcasting very effective in the classroom and helped to keep the students engaged in the learning.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom
I didn't know a whole lot about podcasting and had never listened to a podcast until this assignment. When I watched this video it really taught me a lot about podcasting and its benefits. Most students in todays world fall under the generation know as millenial, which is anyone born after 1980. This term just simply means that everyone in this age has never had to live without technology. Podcasting allows for differentiation in the classroom and project based learning. It also focuses on Bloom's higher taxonomic level of thinking. If a student is home sick and is missing important classwork like review for a big test then they could go online and listen to the teachers podcast of the classroom review. I think that is a really great thing about using the podcasting because then students wouldn't fall behind. When they were going over what students thought of podcasts one of them said they make stories come alive. The first grade students did this with the Magic Tree House book they recorded. Another great thing about podcast is that parents can see what is going on in the classroom and help their child with learning and understanding material that may be difficult for them. Podcast is still somewhat foreign to me but the more I learn about them the more interesting and exciting they sound.


Judy Scharf Podcast Collection
I leaned the definition of podcast and where the name podcast came from when I visited this blog. Podcast is a cross between the terms "broadcast" and "iPod" and it means a radio-style talk show. I found this very interesting how the name podcast came about. Ms. Scharf was showing how easy it is to implement the use of podcasts in the classroom and broke it down step-by-step. Some of her tips to success were to get comfortable with the podcast software you are using and to also have a exemplary podcast to listen to as an example. She also included example topics and what kind of questions to ask for different topics. I think that podcasting is something that can easily enhance the learning in any classroom.

Project 6 My Sentence Movie

Blog Assignment 3

"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines
I found this to be a very interesting title when I fist looked at it. This whole class is about technology and now were are reading something that is saying it's not about technology? After reading I understand the point Ms. Hines was making. Technology is not all that needs to go into teaching. It is an important component however if we do not posses certain skills as a teacher then we cannot fully use technology as a learning tool. These 4 skills are: Teachers must be learners, Learning and teaching are not the same thing, Technology is useless without good teaching, and be a 21st century teacher without the technology. Teachers must be learners and not just through required workshops and readings we must emerse ourselves in learning. I completely agree with this because how can we expect our students to learn and expand upon it if we are only spitting out information that we learned and could be outdated. Learning is a continuous process and the effort must be put in to be good learning role models if we want your students to be learners as well. Learning and teaching are not the same thing is equivalent to a physics problem that if an object does not move, no matter how much force has been applied, no work has been done. In order to learn we must use good teaching practice to help students meet goals for learning. Each person will have different goals for learning and that is ok. Learning need to be specific to each individual. We all learn at different rates and I agree that we need to set goals for our learning. Technology is useless without good teaching because a teacher can allow a student to use technology but if they are not innovative and proactive with technology then money is wasted. This is so true for example most of us thought twitter was for people to tell about what they ate and what they were doing, but because of good teaching we found out how it can be a valuable educational resource. Teachers need to lead their students in the correct direction with technology and show them how it can be used as a valuable resource. Be a 21st century teacher without the technology is saying that we as teachers need to challenge our students to be innovative and creative thinkers even without technology. Take what you the students are learning and have them apply it to their own life. I think that it is imperative to teach students how to be creative without the use of technology. When you take a teacher who embodies all of these skills and then add technology into the mix the possibilities are endless.


Is It Ok To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher? by Karl Fisch
Karl Fisch is making a stance that all teachers need to be technologically literate. I think that he has made a very strong argument in favor of having teachers understand technology. How can we expect our student's to be technologically literate if we as teachers are not? When he says that if a school turns out students who are technologically illiterate they should have the right to their license and funding questioned. I think this statement should be changed to say that we need to help these schools have the means to turn out technologically literate students. I do see the point Fisch is making about how important it is to be technologically literate. He also goes on to make the statement that being a teacher in todays world who is technologically illiterate is like being a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read or write. He says it might be a somewhat harsh point he is making but when you really think about it, it does make sense. When new things are introduced into the realm of learning that are valuable we need to embrace them and understand how they work in order to implement them into the classroom. I think it's awesome how this post won most influential blog for 2007. I really see how it could make a lot of teachers question how technologically literate they really were and if they even implemented it into their classroom.

Gary's Social Media Count
When I clicked on the link and it opened the page I was amazed by what I saw. The numbers were changing so fast I couldn't believe it. It really makes you see how much the internet, technology and social media are used and it's broken down to the second. The numbers keep going up by the thousands every second it seems. This is evidence of how popular technology is in todays society.
This means that as a teacher we need to understand how social media networks work and how to properly use technology. This social media count means that our professional careers as teachers need to involve technology. People are using technology in their daily lives and if correctly used in the classroom it can open doors to all kinda of learning possibilities.

A Vision of Student's Today
This video was kind of similar to the "Did You Know" video we watched last week. It was definitely attention grabbing material. I thought that this video had a lot of truth in it how it depicted the life of a student. A teachers point of view on this video would vary from the student in several ways. The teachers cannot put themselves into the students shoes and really figure out how each individual student learns. Everyone learns in a different way and a teacher may look at this video and say how can technology be the answer if some people don't like technology? Teachers need to use both technology and other resources in the classroom and teach students the benefits of both. The class material needs to better relate to daily lives of students or things they may encounter later on in the future.
I didn't really understand how the video said that a lot of people feel that technology was the answer and then it showed the students who brought lap tops to class but stayed on facebook or other things not related to class. I think if a teacher implements technology into the classroom and creates a more engaging learning environment. Technology, However, is not the full answer if you look back to Kelly Hines post "It's Not About the Technology." We need to examine all avenues of how to incorporate technology into learning in a way that both students and teacher can benefit from it. This video brings up so many questions and to every person who watches it will have a different opinion about it. I read some of the comment on the video and one person said the best student is one who THINKS, another person said that every generation of college aged students are trying to make a change for something. I see this video as a way of students thinking about how to change learning and make it more interactive and relevant to life.

C4T#1

Motivating For Testing
In this blog post she talks about her visit to Robert F. Kennedy Community school in Los Angeles. During her tour of the New Open World(NOW)Academy she went into Mrs. Willard's 2nd grade classroom. Mrs. Willard's classroom was filled with cheer but one thing that stood out on the wall was a large paper tree filled with red paper apples. Mrs. Willard told them that each student had an apple for dedications. Mrs.Carrillo stated that the best thing about the apples was that Mrs. Willard had each student dedicate their work for the standardized test to them. They were also acknowledging the ones who loved and cared for them with the apples. They were committing to do their best for them and it helped to bring family and community into the school. Mrs. Carrillo had stated in an earlier blog how the flaw with standardized testing was that students needed to be motivated to do their best. With what Mrs. Willard did with her students and the dedication apples has created them to be motivated to do their best for those that love and care for them. Having them posted on the wall makes it a constant reminder for the students to do their best everyday. I posted a comment to Mrs. Carrillo and thanked her for sharing the idea of the dedication tree. I also asked her what kinds of techniques she used in her classroom to help keep kids motivated. I included my email in the post so hopefully I will hear back from her.

One Project, Nine Ways
When I went to Mrs. Carrillo's blog this week I was excited to see that she had commented me back and that she had also written a blog post in response to my question on what kind of techniques she used to keep kids motivated. In her comment back to me she said that she uses candy as motivation, for example she said she introduced test day lollipops in her classroom. She also said that she gives students the freedom to pick how they would like to complete their assignment. She goes on to further explain her method in her blog post "One Project, Nine Ways.
She tries to avoid boring assignments so this is one of the solutions she came up with. She gives the students nine different choices of how they want to complete the assignment she gives them. They have to meet to requirements for the information that she wants but other than that they can add their own creative flair. She does make then pick 3 different ways to complete the assignments so that they are not alway doing their favorite and it helps them to become more well rounded. She calls it tic-tac-toe She also covers how to grade nine different types of projects fairly. She uses the rubric to ask for exactly what you want. Then all students are beings assessed for the same thing and it doesn't matter what approach they took to answer the question, as long as they answered it. I think that what she does with allowing the students to complete the project nine different ways allows kids to be more creative in their assignments. I commented on her new blog post and thanked her for answering my question and sharing her motivational techniques. I also said that I bet it makes grading somewhat fun when you get to see your students' personality shine through their work. I really enjoyed visiting Mrs. Carrillo's blog History, Education Technology and Beyond and will continue to visit and read more of her post in the future.