Blog Post 6

The Networked Student

by Wendy Drexler

As I watched this video, I realized it is almost identical to my EDM310 class experience.  The student is learning how to use countless networks to maximize his understanding of the material for his class.  By using these networks, he can have access to the best teachers in the world.  I am finding this to be true in my class.  Like this student, I am blogging and researching every day and I have met teachers from all over the world who are more than willing to help guide me to a better understanding of the true meaning of being a teacher.

During the video I started to think about how much the student is learning on his own without his teacher and textbook.  I was about to give up on the classroom all together and then they asked, “Why does the networked student even need a teacher?”  The narrator then gave a list of reasons to still have a teacher in this classroom.  Some of these reasons include, but are not limited to:

·         To help teach the student how to build his/her network and take advantages of learning opportunities.

·         To give the student guidance when stuck.

·         To teach the student how to communicate properly and ask respectfully for help from experts.

·         To explain the difference between good information and propaganda.

·         To help the student organize mountains of information.

I thought about these reasons for a while.  If I did not have Dr. Strange and the EDM310 staff, there is no way I would be able to successfully do my best.  I can read the directions for our assignments, but without their positive feedback and help, I would be completely lost.  I chose the picture above because this really is more of the networked teacher than the networked student.

I have found that even the students are teachers when it comes to networking.  We teach ourselves and our classmates what we are learning from our teachers, as well as teach our teachers and mentors better ways to teach us. 

Teaching someone these skills is important for them to be successful.  I know that, with practice, I can one day be able to teach this to others.  I just don’t know how long it will take me to get there.  

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment

by Wendy Drexler and Mr. H's 7th grade student

The first time I watched this video I was overwhelmed to say the least. I was astounded that a seventh grade student made such a great Personal Learning Environment, or PLE.  I actually watched this video during the first week of class and, at that time, I honestly had no idea what a PLE was.  This video was posted as a helpful tool in our project 10 instructions for our own Personal Learning Network, or PLN. 

I started working on my PLN at the beginning of the semester.  I have come a long way, but I am nowhere near this student’s level.  I have learned that it is more of a trial and error type of learning experience.  You find websites and build websites to add to your personal learning network.  Some will work and some will be replaced.

I hope that one day my personal learning network can be filled with many helpful teaching tools.  I have found a few websites that are amazing, but I know that things change every day and there will always be new material available.  I will just have to keep working at it and do my best to find the right materials for my personal methods of teaching.

Why Smartboards Are a Dumb Initiative

by Michael Staton

 

Mr. Staton was a high school US History teacher for two years at the Houston Independent School District. He said that if he were still a teacher he would only like SMARTBoards because he is a “gadget geek” and he would prefer if the education system would look toward re-imagining what’s possible before turning to SMARTBoards.

Mr. Staton makes two arguments:

·        Smartboards don’t change the model that’s broken. They just make that model way more expensive.

·        Smartboards are an administrative cop out. Administrators like Smartboards because when they spend money on technology they need to spend a lot of it and it needs to be on things they can point to and count.

He made two good points, but I was still curious to find out more.  I have never used a SMARTBoard and I have not heard anything about how "good" or "bad" they are.  Actually, I was quite intrigued by the conversations that followed on this blog page.  There were people defending the SMARTBoard, and there were those who absolutely loathe it.  My favorite responses were those made by TimeOutDad.  He gave specific reasons to why SMARTBoards are effective.  However, Ms. Nielson kept coming back with the same attitude “you can do that on a projector.”

I did, however, find an article by Silvia Tolisano on Langwitches,org where she explains that teachers who use SMARTBoards have a responsibility to use it “beyond a glorified projector screen.”  Her article was very detailed and explained ways that teachers can use SMARTBoards more efficiently. 

and  Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards

by Bill Ferriter

Mr. Ferriter makes somewhat of a similar argument to Mr. Staton.  He too believes we are buying SMARTBoards as a “PR tool” for supervisors and parents. 

Heaven forbid that you run a school without whiteboards if your colleagues down the street have taken a big bite of this 21st century fruit. You’ll look like a hayseed at the next PTA meeting, won’t you?

All joking aside, is he right that schools are buying SMARTBoards as a vain attempt to buy change? 

Mr. Ferriter also gives an example of what a principal may explain as the best classroom environment, such as promoting independent discovery and collaborative work, to persuade his reader the SMARTBoard does little to promote what was described.  He then asks the reader why we waste so much money on interactive whiteboards when they are not helping with either of these.

I had a hard time finding something to refute that, but I did find a video by TeacherTrainer that made me believe differently.

I am currently doing early field experience with all of the first grade classrooms at a local elementary school.  I have seen both the highest level readers and the lowest level readers read this story on a computer using Starfall.  I have seen them all struggle with different parts of the story, and it doesn’t help their moral knowing they have to read it three times for their lesson. 

However, the student in this video was extremely enthusiastic about using the SMARTBoard to read the story.  You can see by the way the story is read, as well as how the student interacts with the moving characters, that the student is excited to read this story.  Even the better of my first grade readers did not look nearly excited when they had to read it on the computer.  This, to me, proves that there is something magical to these boards in the eyes of the students.  Therefore, we should not cast this technology aside because of cost, but enhance our abilities to teach students in a way which truly engages them.

Project 7 Comments4Kids # 1,2,3

Comments4Kids, Comment 1

My first comments4kids was a great experience.  I was not sure what to expect.  The first student I visited was Georgia, a sixth grader in Ms. Lugrin’s class.  Ms. Lugrin teaches in the small town of Saskatchewan, Canada.  Her assignment was to summarize the ending chapters for the book Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker. 

              

I have not read this book before, so I read through Georgia’s older posts about this story before reading the post about the ending.  She did a very good job summarizing the different sections of the story.  She did a great job illustrating what the author had written.  She also gave her personal thoughts and predictions on what would happen throughout the story.

After I read her conclusion I made a comment about her summary and predictions.  I asked her if she had read any other books about slavery and gave her my personal thoughts about literature on slavery, having been raised in the south.  I was interested in how the opinions may be different to children who live in Canada from those who live in the south.  I then asked her a few questions about the end relating to her predictions.

I was surprised to get a response so quickly.  She suggested that I read this story or have my teacher read it as a class.  Georgia said that she had read other books about slavery, but they were all picture books.  She then answered the questions I had about the end of the story and thanked me for my comment. 

I thought it was interesting that she had seen other books about slavery.  Even though they were picture books, her previous teachers had also thought it was important to expose her to that piece of her country’s cultural history.  Ms. Lugrin had given her this assignment and she took it seriously. 

I remember reading The Yearling in the seventh grade and did not realize how important that was to my cultural history.  I wonder if she feels the same way?  Either way I was impressed by her understanding viewpoints of this material.  She tried to relate emotionally to the characters and that is amazing!  If not now, one day she will realize how big of a deal it was for people from her country to help slaves from America through the Underground Railroad.

 

Comments4Kids, Comment 2

This was an interesting change of pace.  My second comments4kids lead me to a fifth grade student, Julianna, in Mr. St Pierre’s class.  She attends Terryville Elementary school in Port Jefferson Station, New York.  In class, they have been reading the book Food Rules by Michael Pollan.  Mr. St Pierre posted a comment for students and parents about Michael Pollan visiting the Oprah show about eating like a vegan.  He announced that they had been learning about this and disusing it in class and on their blogs.

This lead me to Julianna’s blog post “Being a Vegetarian” where she was documenting her week as a vegetarian.  She wrote about the experience as being difficult and noted her body’s reaction to abstaining from meat.  She said that she had not given in yet, and she was going to see how long she could make it without eating any meat. 

The end of her post mentioned that her family was having chicken for dinner that night and she was not going to eat any.  She said she would tell everyone how that worked out for her the following day in class.

Then I read her other comments about this blog post.  Some of her classmates said that they had to give up certain foods to test for allergies.  They talked about their personal struggles with not eating their favorite foods.  I then left her a comment asking her how long she thinks she can stand not eating meat.  I told her she was a stronger person than I am because I would not be able to make it long on that diet.  I also told her about my food allergy and how that has affected my diet.

I then said I would be interested in hearing how her personal experiment with this would turn out and left my class blog site.  I have not heard back from her and she has not posted anything new on this topic.

Comments4Kids, Comment 3

My third comments4kids assignment took me to Martha in Auckland, New Zealand!  She is in Ms. Squires’ fifth grade class at Pt England School.  This year the students are learning to make their own blogs.  They are excited to start working everyday on their new netbooks!

Martha’s blog post only contained the picture above.  Judging from other student’s blogs, the assignment was for the students to create a picture on their computer about one of their own holiday adventures.

I left her a comment encouraging her to explain her picture.  First I told her what I liked the most about her picture, such as the colors and how happy the people looked.  I then asked her a few questions about who the people are and where they were.  Hopefully she will respond to my comment. 

This was her first blog post and I really hope that I could help motivate her to continue blogging.  As a first time blogger myself, I know that it is hard in the beginning and any positive remarks and feedback really help. 

Project 9a Timetoast Timeline

I have created this timeline by providing pictures and brief descriptions of my life.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I have enjoyed looking back on all of these wonderful memories.

Blog Post 5

Please let me begin by saying that this week I have learned so much about podcasting.  I did not even know what a podcast was before this class.  Reading and listening to the list of assignments for this week’s blog post really gave me inspiration and confidence to make our group project.

Eagles' Nest Radio Podcast
by a Third Grade Classroom

The first podcast I listened to was from a third grade classroom.  It was radio podcasts by students, called “Eagles’ Nest Radio,” and it was unbelievably amazing.  These kids took what they were learning in their class and made it into four sectioned radio shows.  They were confident and showed a lot of expression in their voices.  It was interesting because they were professional about every subject.  You can tell that the class had a great time learning each subject because they were enthusiastic to share it with the world.

Their confidence gave me confidence to make a podcast.  I thought if these bright third grade students can make such a great radio podcast, then I can make a commercial podcast too!  After I started on our podcast, I began to wonder how long it took them to make theirs.  I could tell that these students had put a lot of time and effort into their podcast, but I had no idea how much of both it takes to make something as perfect as theirs were. 

My personal favorite podcast moment came from the shark podcast.  One of the students, Daisy, was reporting for the section Making Change.  She gave facts about how people kill sharks and how it is affecting the world.  She then left a comment to encourage other people to make a podcast of their own about why we shouldn’t kill sharks.  The announcer, Anna Catherine, then came back on the radio and stated “kids’ voices matter.”  Their statements stuck with me.  These kids did a fantastic job of making multiple podcasts and were urging others to do the same.  They were truly impressive. 

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom
by Joe Dale

In this podcast, the instructor is explaining the benefits of podcasting and uses examples featuring his students.  Mr. Dale starts off by explaining the new generation; he called the millennial generation, as people born after 1980 that have grown up with personal computers and other technology. 

I am part of this new generation, but I did not grow up with technology.  Mr. Dale points out that this generation needs a form of learning that is relevant to them.  I completely agree, which is why I need to learn as many helpful forms of technology as I can.

Regardless of your generation status, his message is important.  Mr. Dale brings up great reasons why and how to have your students use podcasting.  He briefly lists them after his podcast video.  His list includes:

• an effective way of interacting with students outside of the classroom
• a form of learning students of today are familiar with and therefore makes it relevant to them
• it allows for differentiation and project based learning
• students can access the higher order thinking skills in Bloom's taxonomy
• it promotes creativity and innovation
• it can offer distance learning opportunities for absent students
• the process of creating and uploading audio files is easy
• students can record role plays in character making their learning more memorable
• parents can see and hear what their children are doing at school

In the podcast he shows examples of these benefits and has guest speakers give their opinions as well.  One of the best reasons to use podcasting in the classroom is for students who are sick and are unable to come to class for long periods of time.  This is a great way to keep them up to date with the class material. 

Podcasting can also be beneficial to some students to use as a review, even if they did not miss class.  By doing this, students who may need more help on the subject matter can view it as many times as needed and they do not have to worry about what the class thinks or feeling that they are the ones who are holding up other students.  This gives everyone a fair chance to take their time and not feel pressured.

This podcast gave me a better understanding of how a podcast should work.  It should get the general message across through distance learning.  This is why our group chose to add students’ thoughts about EDM310 at the end of our commercial podcast.

Podcast Collection 

by Judy Scharf

I wish this would have been listed first on the blog post assignments.  Ms. Scharf explained what a podcast is, how to make a podcast, and how teachers can help students with podcasting. 

She starts with instructional videos, which are very helpful for people like me who have never made a podcast before.  Then moves on to how you can teach someone to make a podcast.  She even gives lesson plans and topics for your students.

This blog showed that Ms. Scharf is an expert at podcasting.  At first I was severely intimidated and didn’t want to read the whole blog.  After I pushed through the initial shock effect, I found that it was a great read.  I think I learned the most about how to effectively use podcasting in classrooms.

It is hard to pinpoint one particular thing that helped my group podcasting experience because it really was the entire blog.  I think the videos helped a bit, but her links Creating a Podcast and her students’ Exemplary Podcasts were the most helpful.  These laid out the how to and gave a demonstration of how to as well.

I didn’t know what to expect with our group podcasting.  I originally wasn’t too excited to work in a group based on the youtube videos I watched, but after reading these blogs I was thankful to have help and people to talk to about what we were doing.  Podcasting is a fun and creative way to express thoughts and opinions, but it is difficult when you are first starting out.  I look forward to making another podcast video soon.