Blog Post 15 - Final Reflection

EDM310 Rap - Project 16

EDM 310 RAP
By Brandin Brosh and Justin Hyde


LYRICS:

This one goe s out to Dr. Strange and the EDM crew,
‘Cause this wouldn’t be possible with out you.

Working hard 9 hours a week
I could do EDM310 in my sleep
Sometimes I see Dr. Strange when I blink
Yeah, I know what you think/
It is a bit scary
His beard is so hairy
When it comes to technology He knows what to do
If he taught me, I promise he can teach you
At the beginning I didn’t have a clue
Now I blog, tweet, and use Symballoo

Technology and education
feed it to our kids like medication
Today’s school system is like probation.

Most teachers won’t let kids think critically
They run their classrooms so politically.
If you go against the norm you brew up a storm
And other Teachers will start to stare and scorn.

This semester in EDM310
I learned so much I can’t even begin
A lab that is open at all times.
ask any question that blows your mind
More lab assistants than you can count
They will answer your questions without a doubt

EDM310.blogspot.com
It’s where you can find the class blog
It’s got all the information you’ll need to help you succeed
When you’re there you will see that we are going green
That’s all thanks to technology
‘Cause it’s the 21st century.


I don’t know, let’s find out
Don’t worry, we’re gonna get this figured out
Make sure you bring your brain
Don’t forget to turn it on/
This journey is gonna be a lot of fun

C4K C4C C4T,
Whatever it may be,
You better get it done weekly if you want a good grade like me.

The one class it’s impossible to procrastinate
if you do your work will be late.
Dr. Strange ain’t gonna let that skate
So there is no need to try and debate


Education and technology is a MUST
If you’re not with it
You better jump on the bus


Technology is the key to the future
Let your voice be heard
Don’t let ‘em mute ya.

C4T #4 - Teacher Tom's Blog

I was assigned to Teacher Tom's Blog

Teacher Tom is a preschool teacher who obviously has a WONDERFUL gift. I have gone back to read his blog even when I was not required. He is the first teacher that I was assigned to that i felt I could connect with. He talks about things he does in his classroom to inspire and encourage children. He is always doing something fun and exciting with his children. THIS exact reason is why I want to become a teacher.

The first blog that I commented on was That's How Powerful We Are. This was a blog about being nice to one another. It had the basic idea of, "Smile, and the world will smile back." Each time a student complimented another student they added a paperclip to their chain. This compliment could be something as simple as, "I like your shirt." to something such as, "I love you." They continued to build their chain every day. The chain gets so long that it runs across the entire classroom ceiling! I thought this was pretty incredible!

This is what I said to Tom:

"Hi, my name is Brandin Brosh and I am in Dr.Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama.

I think what you are doing in your classroom is great! It's funny how something so simple can become so big. I love the fact that you created such an original idea to teach such an important concept.

I remember when I was in elementary school my teachers would say, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." This is a great way to encourage children to be nice to one another. Something as simple as telling a child that their shirt is cute can make their day! Since everyone is included it helps children not to feel left out too!

AWESOME."

The second blog post that I commented on wasThe Superhero Team. It was about allowing children to use their imagination to create stories. Silva communicated with the class via the "communicators" they wore around their neck. Silver called and told Tom that the animals needed rescuing. Tom responded by saying, "We're on it!" From then, Tom allowed they class to create the story from there using their imaginations. He has everything documented with pictures as well! Really cool!

I replied by saying, "This was such a great post! Imagination can be so empowering! I love this! The classroom ceilings are really cool, by the way. This a great way to teach children the little things, like weapons are "against the rules." How neat! This is why I want to be a future educator. Children are so wonderful and they have the ability to brighten your day so effortlessly.

I love that you have pictures for each part of the story. It really brings things to life!"

Final Report on PLN

I began creating a personal learning network at the beginning of the semester. I used Symbaloo to create this network and have found it extremely useful. I have set the Symbaloo website as my home page so that when I open my Internet browser my connections to the world are immediately there. During the semester I have added and removed connections. I added ones that I thought were useful and removed the ones that I found weren't of much use. I have connections to all of my social networking sites, workplace connections, my e-mail, tons of different blogs that I have viewed during the semester that I enjoyed, stores that I like to shop, and other sites that I visit often. I think that even after this class is over I will continue to use my PLN. It has been very beneficial to me and has kept me organized during the semester.

Blog Post 13

The Alabama Learning Exchange, also known as ALEX, is design to assist teachers. It has eight different components. ALCOS is the first one. This stands for Alabama Course of Study. ALCOS provides links for all of the subjects in the state of Alabama. After you choose a subject you choose the grade level and this gives you the Alabama state requirements for what is to be taught on that subject during that grade level. Web Resources is a link to other resources, which are directed toward teachers. These links are meant to equip teachers with proper tools to help them become a better teacher. Lesson Plans is also included. This link teaches you how to properly write and carry out lessons in the classroom. Other links includes professional workplace, professional learning, Podcast treasury, and Alexville.

The Alabama Learning Exchange is something that all teachers should take advantage of. Even if you are not planning to teach in the state of Alabama this website provides adequate information on many subjects that could be of much interest to teachers in general. ALEX is also very easy to navigate. You don’t have to visit it 100 times to understand how it works.

The Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide also known as ACCESS program’s goal is to create fairness through offering additional education programs for all of Alabama’s public high school students. This website has things such as test preps, website resources and even has certain course offerings. This website is a great way to engage students in their learning. It has TONS of useful information that is available to students, parents, and teachers. This website was also quite easy to use.

C4K 7,8,9, and 10

Mr. McClung's World
Investigative Reporting

Investigative Reporting was a video that talked about the controversy of a reporter being "sneaky" to retain evidence against a political figure. This reporter was investigating this person and caught him on tape bashing everything that he was supposed to stand for. Under the video he asked for people to comment their feelings as to if there were right or wrong. This is what I said:


"My name is Brandin Brosh and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am currently enrolled in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 course and was assigned to read your blog. I think this is a very interesting and highly debatable subject. In my opinion, O’Keefe didn’t do anything wrong. These political officials never say how they really feel on camera or on interview so how else would you ever find out the truth? It’s like when you catch someone in a lie and they get defensive and blame you. These are supposed to be honest people and there is no excuse for him to say those things. It’s not O’keefe’s fault for catching him. It is his job to catch these people in lies just as it is the public officials’ job to represent NPR or any other organization well, which obviously was not being done here."

Visit the link to the blog above, watch the video and tell me what you think!


Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog

April is Family Blogging Month in Mrs. Yollis' class and everyone is working on writing quality comments! Many wonderful conversations are going on in comment sections! Everyone is learning! We were assigned to explore Mrs. Yollis' classroom blog and leave a quality comment about what we thought. Here is my comment:


"Dear Ms. Yollis and Class,

My name is Brandin Brosh and I am a student in Dr.Strange's EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. One of my assignments was to analyze you blog which I will be writing about on mypersonal blog.

I have really enjoyed looking at your class blog. It is amazing to see how much students can learn with online blogging. Blogging also makes learning fun and interesting. This is my first semester having my own blog and so far I really like it.

After looking over your class blog, it reassures me that I will definitely be having one for my students when I become a teacher.

Thank you so much for allowing our EDM class to look over your blog."


Jaden is a student is Mrs.Yollis' Third Grade Class. You can see his blog here!

Jaden's recent blogs were written on going to the Celtics VS. Clippers game and about his new blog Mascot. Jaden inspired me to choose a mascot for my own blog. I chose my dog Zaylah!

I wanted to make sure that I thanked Jaden for giving me such a great idea for my blog. I will also use this idea when I become an educator and have my students create their own blogs!

" Jaden,
My name is Brandin Brosh and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I am studying to a future teacher and all I can say is WOW! Your blog is quite impressive! I didn't start blogging until recently, but I have really grown to love it.

I really enjoyed reading your post about the Mavericks versus the Clippers. I love watching NBA basketball. Playoffs have just started and I am rooting for the Miami Heat! I love Lebron James. I used to be a Cavs fan until he switched teams. I have never been to a Clipper's game, but when Lebron was still playing for Cleveland, I watched him play in New Orleans versus the Hornets! It was such a blast! I think that the Mavericks scored 27 and the Clippers scored 24 in the third quarter. I hope I am right!

By the way, I love your idea of having a blog mascot! That is so unique. I have commented on many blogs of both teachers and students and no one has ever had a blog mascot! I think if I had to choose a blog mascot, I would choose my dog. Here name is Zaylah. She is about eight pounds and she is black and white. She is a Havanese. You can see her if you visit my blog.. She is on my "About Me" slide show
here."

Project 15 - Book Trailer - "It's My Turn!"

Progress Report on Final Project

I have been thinking about what I was going to do for my final project in EDM310. I finally decided what I am going to and have recently just started on it. My partner, Justin Hyde, and I are working collaboratively in a group to create an original video "song" about EDM310. I wanted to do something that we could have fun with and we both agreed that this was a perfect idea. The idea of the song is to inform people of what to expect when enrolling in EDM310. I can not wait to see how it turns out.

Special Metaphor Assignment (Blog Post #14)

1. Why did you miss the metaphor in Tom Johnson's post, or, if you "hit the nail on the head", why do you think you understood the metaphor and why do you think that others in the class missed the metaphor?
I think that I missed the metaphor because I took the post at face value. I read it as if were literally pencils that the students were taking home. After I read on the class blog that I was supposed to take the world pencil and replace it with computer, everything made much more sense.

2. What metaphors have you encountered since I asked you to create a log of them?
“Britain’s recovery from the worst recession in decades is gaining traction, but confused economic data and the high risk of hung Parliament could yet snuff out its momentum.”
"Her positive attitude is a lighthouse for the hopeful."
"Money is gateway to possibilities."
"Procrastination is the thief of time."
"Ace in the hole."
"All that glitters isn't gold."
"The ball is in your court."

3. What other things can we do as educators to help our students to understand and to use metaphors?
Metaphors are often so common that some people don't even pick them up. I think that by continually using them in our daily lives as well as in the classroom, they will be much easier to understand. Sometimes we take things at face value and don't find the humor in left. I think that if we as teachers are able to find the humor in life while education our students that it could be a big accomplishment.

4. Why do we use metaphors?
Metaphors are used as way to "Spice things up" so to speak. They help to spark interest in reading and writing. I think metaphors make things less boring. Poetry for Everyday Life is a great way to explain why we use metaphors.

Blog Post 12

After watching the video write a blog post and explain why you think this is happening. Why are our brains becoming so much more active online rather than while just reading a book? How, as future educators, are we going to adapt?



personal blog.

I think that this video is just another piece of evidence to the puzzle of why in fact, technology is a must in the classroom. Our brains are twice as active online as they are when we are just reading out of a book with pencil and paper. The internet has so much more to offer. I think our brains are much more active online because the internet has so much more to offer. The amount of information that you can get from a book is limited. When you search online for a subject the information is endless. Not only is the information endless but the illustration is as well. It is the 21st century and soon enough classrooms will not even be using books. I believe that children need to learn to become more "Internet Savvy" at a young age so that their brains can learn to adapt. The internet holds many more opportunities and if we can get these opportunities rolling in the classroom I feel that the possibilities will be endless. You can take Ms.Cassidy's first grade class as a prime example of much more active students will be in a classroom of technology. Take a look at Ms.Cassidy's classroom here.

Project 14 - Teach Someone Something

I chose teaching someone how to tie their shoes. The reason I chose this was because as many of us will become elementary teachers after we graduate we will encounter many students who do not know how to tie their shoes. While I was doing my field experience last semester I noticed that about 75 percent of the first graders in my classroom didn't know how to tie their shoes. I think that this would be a fun way to teach children how to tie their shoes. Kids love having songs to sing-a-long with and it will also help them to remember how to do it!

Blog Post 11

First Graders in Ms.Cassidy's Classroom

I think what Ms. Cassidy is doing in her classroom is absolutely incredible. It is amazing that first graders know how to do all of these things. This goes to show for all the people who say first graders are too young for technology that they are not. I thought it was really neat that parents, friends, and other family members could comment on the students’ blogs. I think that getting comments on their blogs helps them build confidence and makes them feel special. I also think that it is something for them to be proud of. Blogging is a great way to connect school with their home life as well. I liked how the students used Wiki to learn new things. I also liked the idea of the students working in groups to create videos and things. Working in groups is a part of life and learning it at such a young age is very important. Skype is a great way to teach students about different parts of the world. It also teaches them that we can be connected with all parts of the world. I think that blogging is a vital part of teaching in the 21st century. Skype is also a great tool that we can use in the classroom. Staying connected is important and technology is going to continue to grow. Technology is a great way to grab a student’s attention and helps a lot with learning. I think that Ms.Cassidy’s classroom is a PRIME example of how technology can greatly affect a classroom in positive ways. When I become a teacher I hope to do the things that Ms.Cassidy is doing. I liked the part in the interview when Dr. Strange asked Mrs. Cassidy if teachers should be technologically literate. She said teachers should be because technology is getting better and better. I couldn't agree more. Children today are being born in to a world of technology and if they don't learn it, they are going to be left behind! I want the parents of my students to understand the vitality of how the use of technology in the classroom can be a wonderful learning tool if used correctly!

Additional Assignment - Mr. McClung's World

1. What do you know (or have you found out) about Mr. McClung that is reflected in the way he has constructed his class blog?
The first thing that I noticed was how organized he is and you can tell that from his blog. It is important for teachers to be organized. You can tell that he is dedicated to his students because of all of the time and effort he puts in to his blog alone.
2. Comment on what you would say about Mr. McClung as an educator.
I think that Mr.McClung is not there for the paycheck. As any person who goes to school for education, it obviously is not for the money, but he seems to always go above and beyond for his students. He seems like he actually wants to be there and is excited for his students to learn from him.
3. I asked above that you read Mr. McClung's "rules" and think about them. What do they say about Mr. McClung, his teaching, and his connection with his students? What is your reaction to these rules (and guides) as a student and as an aspiring teacher?
Less is more! I really like the way he has set up the rules in his classroom. “Follow directions quickly” was my favorite rule. I like the fact that he doesn’t have many rules. It is basically like do what you know is right. Teachers who have a lot of rules constantly have to stop class to get on to students about things. This takes away from others students’ learning time.
4. What was the first thing under Everyone needs? Why do you suppose that is the first requirement?
Everyone needs a day planner. I can really relate to this because I personally use a planner. I think that this was the first thing because sometimes it can get difficult trying to keep up with due dates, homework assignments, and everything else too. In EDM310 I use our checklist as a sort of planner. I do not know how I would even keep up if I didn’t have that!
5. Note the penalties for being late (under Homework). Compare them with my penalties for being late. Comment.
Every day that your homework is late you lose one letter grade. I believe that this is a fair way of doing things because students know way ahead of time when their work is going to be due. I believe this will teach students responsibility as well.
6. Read carefully his paragraph about what he hopes to accomplish with his blog. Comment and apply to your own aspirations as a teacher.
I really like how the blog can be beneficial for both students and parents. I also really like the fact that it helps the classroom “Go Green.” It is much like our EDM310 class. Parents can always know what’s going in with their child’s school and it also helps the students to become more independent.
7. I asked you to review at least two Useful Links in depth after reviewing all of them. Which two did you review in depth? Describe each of the two. How might each be used? Why do you think each made Mr. McClung's list.
The two links that I chose were Science Toys by Stephen Spangler and Guys Read. I chose Science Toys because it was such a fun and interactive site. Parents, teachers, and students could use this site. It included different science experiments and everything. Great site! The second site that I chose was Guys Read. Studies show that boys are just as capable of being good readers as girls are. The boys just have to be interested in reading. I think it is great that Mr.McClung took the time to create this list. It shows how productive he is in his classroom.
8. Under Internet Safety I asked you to read carefully the rules Mr. McClung sets forth for safely using the Internet. Comment on these rules. Are there any you would add or subtract?
I really like the set of rules he created for the Internet. I think this is a good way of letting students know that they can feel safe while using the internet. Some parents may not talk to their children about Internet so I think it is great that he laid out some guidelines.
9. In the C4K part of this blog I asked that you look carefully at one of the categories under which you assigned post was filed. What did you find? Select one of the posts in the category and review it for me.
Investigative Reporting was a post that I found. It was about a reporter spying on public officials. The reporter recorded a conversation without permission of the public officials conversation. The public official was bashing the committee he was supposed to be leading. We had to talk about whether we believed this was right or wrong.
10. Mr. McClung uses Edublog as his blog host. In some ways it may seem more "advanced." But Blogger has many abilities that we have not covered in EDM310. This leads to this question: Is there anything (or things) that Mr. McClung can do with his blog that you would like to do in Blogger?
I really like the organization of Mr.McClung’s blog. I hope that when I become a teacher that my blog will be just as easy to navigate, as his is. You can tell that he spends ample time making his blog a great educational tool and I can only hope that as an aspiring teacher that I will do the same for my students.
11. In what ways does Mr. McClung make his blog useful to parents, teachers, administrators, students like you, and others?
It is easily accessible which is really important. I can remember forgetting to write down assignments a time or two. With this blog, if you have access to the Internet, you have access to a major part of Mr.McClung’s classroom. I also love how easy his blog is to navigate.
12. How does Mr. McClung's 8th grade blog differ from other blogs you have visited including other 8th grade blogs? Why the differences do you think?
This blog is unlike any other 8th grade blog that I have visited. I think that his blog is on a much higher level. He spends ample time with his blog. You can tell that he is just as eagar for himself to learn just as much as his students. You can tell this is not some required blog that someone is making him create. He is passionate about learning and about his students and you can see that through his dedication and blog.
13. Add any additional comments you think would be useful in analyzing Mr. McClung's World in depth.
I think that this could be a great reference and teaching tool for when I become a teacher. I would love to have something like this for my students when I have my own classroom.

Comments for Teachers #3

I was assigned to the DML Central Blog

Is the Virtual World Good for the "Real One" By: Joseph Kahne

Joseph Kahne wrote a blog which talked about the issue of the internet and how kids are being exposed to media via the internet and television for almost eight hours a day. He and some colleagues did independent research by studying high school children from 19 different counties in California over a three and a half year period. You can find all of the results of their research. You can find their research results here

This is what my comment read:

My name is Brandin Brosh and I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I think that the online world is going to continue to increase in popularity whether people agree with it or not. It is the 21st century and things are not as they were 20 years ago. There is a whole new world on the internet and I believe that we need to continue to take advantage of all of its benefits. The internet plays a vital role in today's society. If children are going to be exposed we need to make the best of it. Common Sense Media, iCivics and factcheck.org have the right idea!


Humans, Technology, and the Digital Future By: Barry Joseph

I ready Barry Josephs blog about her demanding technology is becoming in today's society. In his blog he stated that 85% of Americans 18 or older have a cell phone. This was insane to me. He talks about how education via cell phone apps and youtube videos is becoming so prevalent. This is a very interesting video that he included as a part of his blog post. Watch it and tell me what you think.


This is the comment that I left him:

My name is Brandin Brosh and I am a student in Dr. Stange's EDM 310 course at the University of South Alabama. WOW! 85 percent of Americans 18 and older own a cellphone. That is insane. It just goes to show the technological world that the 21st century is laying upon us. Children today are being born in to the 21st century which is a completely different world that what used to be. I believe that since we cannot change the rapid increase in our dependency on technology, social networking, and the internet in general, we need to embrace this. Since cell phones are so demanding in today's society I think things like iPhones are wonderful. We can use the educational apps to help our children learn.

Blog Post 10

An Open Letter to Educators


Morgan Bayda found a video by Dan Brown titles “An Open Letter to Educators” on her Delicious account as a shared link. In Dan Brown’s video, he discusses how “schooling” has affected his education. He attended the University of Nebraska with class sizes that ranged from as little as 40-50 people to as large as 200 people! He complained about how his professors will regurgitate facts that he reads off of a power point and then he tests you on the information. Dan Brown believes that schools are not exercising technology to its full potential. Dan Brown dropped out of school because he didn’t believe he was receiving the education that he deserved.

I can relate to Dan Brown in multiple ways. I too, have had teachers who like to sit and lecture for the entire class period. Sometimes I feel like I am being taught things that my professors wouldn’t even know if it were not for the power point sitting in front of their faces. As Dr. Strange explains in the beginning of the semester, I feel like teachers pour facts in to students’ heads just long enough to remember it for the test. If a student had to retake that same test one month later, would their score be the same? I know from experience that many of my classes that were taught like this, I would not be able to reflect on much of anything that I learned from them. I feel the same way about online classes. Online classes are supposed to be “self-taught” for the most part but how much do you really have to learn when you have you book right in front of you for every test?

I learn best when I teach my self. I know that now because I am in EDM310. I feel like I have never had to take in so much information in one semester before. The best part about EDM 310 is not only that I have learned SO much but it’s that I remember all of it because I had to do it by myself. I do not have a teacher sitting next to me every step of the way saying, “do this, now do this, this is the answer.” Hands on learning, in my opinion, is the best way to learn. When I become a teacher I will do my best not to deny children the right to actually learn instead of just memorizing.

Don’t Let Tem Take The Pencils Home

Mr. Johnson shares how an administrator at his school did not want the students to take home pencils. He believed that it would affect the test taking skills. The most important detail of this was the facts that it shows teachers do not focus on the problem but instead focus on how to solve the problem. It is important that as future educators we learn early at how important problem solving can be. Sometimes we focus too much on the problem itself rather than what we can do to create a solution.

Blog Post 9

"Mr. McClung's What I Have Learned This Year"



Mr. Mcclung talks about some very interesting points on what he has learned since he began teaching. He wrote this blog post in 2009, after he completed his first full year of teaching. It is basically like a list of “I wish someone would have told me these things before I started teaching.”

I feel like I can relate to this list because soon this will be me. The only difference is that I have this list to keep and remember. He had to learn all of this through experience.

Mr. McClung brought up a few major point about what he wish he had known, throughout his blog.

1.How to Read the Crowd
This is about keeping in touch with his audience, the students. He said try not to get caught up in trying to please people such as supervisors, but instead worry about the delivery of your lessons to your students. Student comprehension is the most important things. Your audience has to drive your instruction.

2. Be Flexible
When you are teaching a lesson do not expect it to go exactly as planned. Different situations come up and you kind of just have to go with it. Try to make “Teaching Moments” out of the situations that do not go as planned. You can’t be in control of every situation. Smile and just move on. ☺

“NO LESSON IS EVER PERFECT. THE LESSON YOU TEACH AND THE ONE YOU PLAN ARE ALWAYS DIFFERENT.”

3. Communicate
“Communication, as Mr. McClung states, is the best medicine.” In order to avoid workplace drama it is important to communicate. It helps resolve issues that are unneeded at your place of business. “Communication is the pathway to building that much desired rapport with fellow teachers.” Communication is something your must work on. It is also one of the hardest, yet most important skills to master.

4. Be Reasonable
Hold high expectations for your students but do not be discouraged if they do not meet those expectations every single time. No one is perfect and we must remember that that includes our students. When they don’t meet your expectations tell them it’s okay and encourage them to do better next time.

5. Don’t be Afraid of Technology
Students today are born in to a technological world. Technology is our friend and it is vital that teachers stay technologically literate.

6. Listen to Your Students
Form relationships with your students. It will help them excel in the classroom. By listening to your students it lets them know that you care.


7. LASTLY … Never Stop Learning
It is never too late for change. The world is constantly changing and as teachers we need to go with it. Don’t be afraid to branch out and try new things. Just because we are teachers doesn’t mean we know everything. We are pounding into our students’ heads how important it is to learn while we, as teachers, continue to sell ourselves short.

I really enjoyed this article and would recommend it to any teacher, not just a first year teacher.

Skype Interview Recorded - Project #12

Comments for Kids #s 4,5,and 6

C4K #4
RM2011 - 4th Grade - Mr. Wolfe



I was assigned to RM2011's blog. She wrote about her passion for running. I really liked it because I used to run a lot back in high school and could relate to her.
She said, "I absolutely love running! Running is something good to do when you are feeling down. It helps you get a good source of vitamin D. It also helps you to get outside and run as much as you want instead of staying inside and staying inside and munching on vanilla wafers. So always stay healthy and QUIT munching on Vanilla wafers. I love running. Running is awesome. I don’t like being fat!!! Stay healthy!! Forever.!.!.!"

I replied by saying,"Hi. My name is Brandin Brosh. I am a student at the University of South Alabama in EDM310. I also love to run. In fact, I ran cross country when I was in high school. I love to run because it makes you feel so good afterwards. It also helps me to relieve stress! I like your attitude! Keep with it! It a wonderful hobby and habit to have!"

C4K #5
Shaniah - 8th Grade - Mrs. Nua



Shaniah is an 8th grade student who lives in Auckland, New Zealand. The title of her Blog post was "Gum is Dumb." She made a video expressing how she thinks that gum is dumb and you shouldn't have it at school. You can watch the video on her blog here.


C4k#6
Grace - 5th grade - Mrs. Engelhard

In Grace's blog she wrote about a story she is reading called "Darling Duckling." She gives a brief overview of the characters. Here they are:

Hello, I’m Darling and I’m going to tell you about all the characters in the story! Pay close attention, because some of the characters are going to be unfamiliar and will be in the parts of the story to come.

Darling Duckling is the cutest duckling imaginable. She gets into tons of trouble though, when she is captured by the Hand.

Ebbie Duckling is the mother of Darling and tries everything in her power to protect her young.

The Hand is a wealthy businessman who wants the best for his spoiled daughter.

Suzie is the spoiled daughter of the Hand and becomes Darling’s human pet.

Sister Susan is Suzie’s baby-sitter with a sweet heart and is very kind to animals.

Libby is Suzie’s wiener dog and is surprisingly very sneaky.

Ellie is Darling’s closest friend, because Ellie was captured by the Hand too and is very much like Darling.

Hope you enjoyed the cast of characters that I put together, with help.

This is what I commented back. "Hi Grace! My name is Brandin Brosh and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I have a blog as well if you would like the follow. It is href http://www.broshbrandinedm310.blogspot.com I really enjoyed this. You did a really good job describing all of the characters. Keep up the good work. I hope to hear from you soon!"

Blog Post 8

This is a perfect picture to sum up my blog post for this week!

Richard Miller – This is How We Dream

In Richard Miller’s “This is How We Dream” he talks about how communication has changed over the years. He talks about how communication has evolved and we now have the capability of communicating with or from anywhere in the world, instantly.

He goes in to great detail about the writing process and how it is now possible to complete research papers without ever stepping foot in to an actual library. He gives the example of how he was asked to write a paper for the one-year anniversary after the shooting at Virginia Tech. He uses a screen recorder to show how he can use things such as Google Docs and online libraries to create his entire research paper. Everything can be researched on the World Wide Web and once published it stays on the Internet forever. He goes in to detail about how it easy to collaborate on papers and other things via sharing documents through Google Docs. This is much easier than creating a document to send through e-mail and creating more copies of the same document multiple times.

Richard Miller believes that this is the method that students will use when writing. Technology and society is changing constantly, and I cannot stress that enough in each and every blog that I write. The 21st century student is evolving and it’s important that they know all of these skills. Becoming the 21st century teacher or the 21st century student is going to be a process but that process has already begun. Soon students will access all of their work all over the Internet and use applications via iPads and e-mail to access their books. Virtually, everything is going to end up being done online. Richard Miller’s dream is obviously achievable and his dream has already started to become true.

My favorite part of this video was when Miller stated, “The largest restrictions are the ones that we put upon ourselves.” That statement couldn’t hold any more true.

EDM310 is Different

After watching the Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies at the beginning of the semester I was kind of worried that EDM310 was going to be a hard class. I have come to the conclusion that EDM310 isn’t necessarily “hard” because of the assignments that are given but because you have to be self-driven. The assignments are time consuming and make you think but if you take out the nine hours per week that was asked of you before you even entered the class then it’s not as difficult as you would expect. The Chipper Series reiterates this message. She tries to just get by all of the time and it never works out for her. You cannot just “get by” in EDM310. It’s sort of an all or nothing type deal. You can either A) Choose to do the work that is assigned to you and complete it in a timely manner while doing so OR B) You can slack off fall behind and make it extremely difficult to catch up.

The Chipper Series is a video that is about cheating yourself. If you don’t do the work you’re given and you don’t set goals for yourself how will you ever become a responsible teacher? If you cannot complete assignments on time how will you expect your students to do so? I think that this class is not only wonderful because you learn so much about teaching in the 21st century but it also teaches you about responsibility. It would be quite hard to hold a job in the educational field if you were irresponsible and unorganized like Chipper was in this video.

EDM310 for Dummies was funny as well. Sometimes I feel like there really should be a book for this class because it can be so confusing. The great part about it is Dr. Strange’s favorite quote, “I don’t know. Let’s find out.” If there is something you don’t know how to do and you can’t figure it out on your own there is ALWAYS someone on the EDM staff available to help you.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

I was in awe as soon as this video began. How is it possible that education was ranked the lowest, even below coal mining? People would not even know how to coal mine without someone teaching them to do so! Education is so important and our classrooms today are not engaging students enough. They need to be able to be creative and to express themselves in school. They should enjoy school with their friends just as much as they enjoy being with their friends while they are not in school. Technology is a major factor in today’s schools. The world’s technology and how we learn is constantly changing, but the classroom is staying the same. Why is this? This video reminded me of Mr. Winkle Wakes, where everything changes over 100 years, with the exception of education. These students are growing up in the 21st century! We, as educators, need to educate them like we are in the 21st century as well.

RSAnimate – The Secret Powers of Time

This video was very interesting. It talked about how people live three different times. These three times are the past, the present, and the future. The people who live in the past are the ones who are always pondering on what has happened to them. They think of all of the good time and the bad times as well. The people who choose to live in the present choose to live for the moment. They don’t like to plan, but they just sort of go with the flow because they belive their life is lead by fate. There are two types of people who live in the future. The first are those who have learned to work hard instead of playing. The second types are those who believe eternal life begins after their physical death.

The narrator draws pictures to represent everything he talks about in the video. He talks about how different cultures each have their own place of life. I couldn’t agree with this more. He wants to take kids who are “past oriented” and show them how to be “future oriented.” I thought the question about having an eighth day of the week was interesting. If I had an extra day in my week I would probably choose to spend it with family. I never get enough time with them because I am an hour away from home. I am always busy on weekends working and finishing schoolwork. I would definitely make my extra day a day designated to relax with the most important people in my life. Speaking of family, I couldn’t believe only about twenty percent of families have dinner together. I have done that with my family my whole life. It didn’t matter where I was my mom always made me be home for dinner.

This overall was a good video. It was hard to follow during some parts because it moved so fast but I definitely enjoyed it.

RSAnimate – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Hence the title, this video was about motivation and what motivates us. He opened the video with the quote, “We are not as endlessly manipulated and predictable as you would think.” People like to be self- motivated. We naturally want to be better at things. For instance, someone who has a love for sports is going to continue to work harder and harder to get better and better. They have the motivation to win that keeps them wanting to achieve more. He talks about rewarding people for their accomplishments and how it is better than punishing someone for their mistakes. Don’t rag on someone for doing the wrong thing but instead praise him or her for doing the right thing. When he spoke about how higher incentives lead to worse performance I was dumbfounded. I would definitely expect the total opposite. After listening to him speaks about it I had a better understand. From listening to him, my understanding of what he said was that people like a challenge. Challenge motivates people to do well, however, people want to feel like they are making a contribution as well. When people feel like they have contributed to something positive they feel more successful.

I think this goes back to the idea of becoming an educator. Being an educator will always be a constant challenge. The challenge of educating children and helping them become successful. I feel that becoming an educator will be worth the challenge because the contribution I will be making is a far greater feeling of accomplishment than anything else I can imagine.

SMARTboard Presentation - Counting and Identifying Coins

Here is a screen shot of my results.

Blog Post 7

On September 18, 2007, Randy Pausch stepped in front of a crowd of about 400 people to give a lecture on “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” This lecture later became known as “Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture.” He tells the audience about the cancer that is eating him alive and will claim his life within the next few months.
If you had to choose what your last lecture would be on before you died, what would it be? Randy Pausch makes many valid points that make you realize how much we take life for granted. He want’s people to see the value in their life and try to make them appreciate what they have.

At the beginning of the video Randy tells us he was given three to six months to live because he has ten tumors in his liver. His favorite saying was, “You can’t change the cards that are dealt, we just have to play the hand that we’re given.” He begins to reflect back on to how happy his childhood was. He said that every memory and picture that he has of his childhood was when he was happy. No matter what is thrown at him, he has a way of never giving up. He then starts speaking about how he has dreams of becoming a player in the NFL, being in a zero gravity, meeting Captain Kirk, working for Disney, and winning tons of stuffed animals.

After reflecting on all of these dreams he then goes in to detail about each one and gave a reason for them. He says that not making it to the NFL worked out better for him. He talks about how not fulfilling his dream was better because he got more out of life that way than he would have, otherwise. On the first day of his football practice, Coach Graham didn’t bring any footballs to practice. He said that by his coach doing this, it helped him to realize the fundamentals of football. He then goes on to say that he realizes fundamentals are one of the most important things in life. He quotes, “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.” This statement couldn’t hold any truer. I think I have reached the age where I am wise enough to know that you can’t always get what you want. As I have gotten older I have realized how grateful I am for what I do have. I have a family that would give me the world and friends that support me now matter what. I think that it is the important things in life that matter most.


Later in the video he talks about how he has dreams of meeting Captain Kirk. He acknowledges that Captain Kirk may not have been the wisest person on the ship,, but he was what you would call a leader. He said that by watching Captain Kirk he realized what leadership was and how important it could be in life. He says being smart is not always everything. He became a leader in his own life and fulfilled his dream of becoming his own “Captain Kirk.” He also became a day-a-week consultant for Disney as an imaginer. This lasted for about ten years of his life. He said that his memories of his childhood were great but he wanted to enable others to have the same great memories as well. Being a professor was a fantastic way to enable childhood dreams. He talks about one of his students who dreamed his whole life of working on Star Wars Films. This particular student that he talks about goes on to work on all three of the Start Wars films. Randy also created a course called “Building Virtual Worlds.” He created this course by drawing fifty students from different departments all over the university. He chooses teams randomly with four people per team. They worked on projects of all different types and eventually the course became a big hit. It made everyone want to become more involved. He said that audience reactions were such a big impact on the students’ drive to do well. He also did this for ten years.

Lessons Learned was the last discussion of the video. He says that there has to be a reason that people achieve their dreams. Parents and mentors can have a huge impact on a child’s own fulfillment of his/her dreams. That is a reason that I have chosen education as a major. I want to be able to impact children the way he impacted me through this video. “Never Give Up!!” This was one of the most important quotes in the entire video. He never gave up and he wants people to know if they choose the path of never giving up they can enjoy the same success and happiness that he did.

Randy Pausch’s video has become a phenomenon. There is now a book out based on all of the ideas in this lecture. Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008. His legacy will continue to live on through his “last lecture” as well as all of the people he has impacted throughout his lifetime.

Short Movie Project 11

Project #10 - First PLN Progress Report

This is a picture of my Personal Learning Network, so far!






My PLN has been coming along really well, in my opinion. I have chosen symbaloo to keep track of all of the websites and links that I haven picked to include in my PLN. Symbaloo is difficult to use but I think I am getting the hand of it. Not all of my blocks are filled in, but I will get there eventually. I have included links to sites such as my personal blog, EDM310 class blog, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and some of the teachers that I have followed. I like having a PLN because it is easy access to whatever website that you want to use at the time. I think it makes keeping up with school easier because you can have everything all on one page instead of having to flip from one website to another. I think PLNs can be useful for teachers as well. They have lesson plans sites such as Teachertube that could be quite useful for a teaching career. I will continue using my PLN and adding to it regularly. I believe that even when EDM is over I will continue expanding my personal learning network.

C4T #2 - Jabiz Raisdana

The teacher that I was assigned to was Jabiz Raisdana. He has a B.A. in creative writing and graduated from San Fancisco State University. He continued his education with a masters degree in TESOL. He has eight years experience over seas and taught for two years in high needs schools in New York city. He is currently teaching a seventh grade English as a second oral language course at the Sinarmas World Academy.


Jabiz Raisdana says,"I love teaching and cannot think of any other job that I would rather have. I far more enjoying spending time with young adults than grown ones, and I feel sorry for people who do not have the time to spend with kids."


My teachers first blog was about a gadget that he found and thought was neat. It was a 3D rotating image cube. He asked for suggestions on how you could use this is you classroom. This is what I replied with. "Hi. My name is Brandin Brosh and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in EDM 310. It is a technology bases course and everything is done online. I will be following your blog for the next month and creating a blog to summarize your posts at the end.
I love this picture cube and I think it is a wonderful idea. I think a good idea for use of this in the classroom is to make a bio about yourself and use each side of the cube to tell a little about yourself. It could be used sort of like a powerpoint but more unique. If there was not a way to type text on to each side of the cube you could make a power point and screen shot each slide and make it in to a picture. I love this idea and will imbed this in to my blog and share it with my fellow classmates in edm310."

I decided to make one of my own 3D cubes with the suggestion that I made. Here it is:




If you would like to make your own 3D cube or think that it would be a great idea for you classroom here is the link. http://swfspot.com/swfspot/samples/flash8/3d_Rotating_Image_Cube


The second blog that my teacher wrote about was the idea of engaging students in their blogs by letting them individualize their blogs and make them their own. He talks about letting students make their own blog headers.


This is his personal header for his blog


I replied by saying, "I think being able to customize your blog is a great idea! At that age, kids are always trying to express their individuality and trying to find out who they are as a person. Allowing them to customize their blogs to make it more like “home” is a great way to engage them in their blogs and help them enjoy it a little more.
I just recently created my first blog this past January. I post in it weekly for school but have not yet found the time to write personal blogs with my busy schedule. Each week I also comment on other teachers and kids blog as part of the class that I am in. I think it is always interesting to see what you can find out about people just by using the internet.
I was reading someone of the comments about kidsblog.org. Some of the “Comments for Kids” assignments that I do have classes that use this blog. I agree that it is extremely plain and would be difficult to try to express yourself on a site such as this."

Comments for Kids - Posts 1, 2, and 3

Comments for Kids #1
Georgia - 6th grade - Ms.Lurgin's Class




The blog that I was first assigned to was a student in Ms. Lurgin's class. The class is in 6th grade and they use kidblog.org for their class blog. My student's name was Georgia. Georgia wrote about her snowboarding trip to Asessippi.

Georgia wrote, "Snowboarding at Asessippi was exciting. It was exciting mostly because we had a few wipeouts. You never knew what the person was going to run the chairlift let me tell you some were terrible. They wouldn’t stop if you fell off. The little bumps were quite dangerous. Well besides these things I had a lot of fun. I would definatly go back anyday."

I replied by saying, "My name is Brandin Brosh. I am a student at the University of South Alabama in EDM 310.
I have never been snowboarding before. I went skiing one time in Lake Tahoe and it was a blast. When I went they told my snowboarding was very difficult and that if I hadn’t snowboarded before to stick with skiing. Needless to say, I took their advice. Skiing was still difficult though. You’re lucky that your parents take you on trips like that! Most kids do not get to have those type of experiences until they get a lot older. I really enjoyed reading your blog and hope to hear from you soon."

After getting my comment, Georgia wrote me back. She said, "I have to say it takes a long time to get the hang of snowboarding. This is my third year and I’m only good now. Well I guess they are right when they say practice makes perfect. Many people in my grade never went skiing before, when they did they loved it and wanted to go back again. I would definatly suggest this to anyone who never went before.
Write back soon!
Georgia."

Comments for Kids #2
Justin - 5th Grade - Mr. St.Pierre's Class



Justin asked, " If you had 1,000,000 dollar’s what would you do answer this question?"

I responded to Justin by saying this, "Justin this is a tough question. If I had one million dollars I believe that I would invest it. Before I invested it, I would buy a nice house and keep about $100,000 as spending money in a checking account. The rest of the money would be put in to a high interest savings account so that my money would make money while sitting in the bank! How awesome is that, Justin? Did you know that by putting your money in the bank and investing it you may have the ability to earn what is called interest! Interest is when the bank pays you money for letting them borrow against money that is in your account! My million dollars would eventually turn in to two million! Then I would have to decide how to spend that as well!

How would you spend your million dollars?."

Justin has not written me back yet to tell me his response.

Comments for Kids #3
Wyatt - 5th Grade - Ms.Squire's Class



Wyatt is a 5th grade student who lives in Auckland, New Zealand. In his blog post he wrote about his family meeting his teacher.

Wyatt's blog post said, "Greetings! It’s the 22nd of February 2011. It’s a very special day because my parents and whanau are going to meet my teacher. My teacher is Ms Squires. I’m very excited about all the neat things we’re going to do this year. It’s not secret at Pt England that my teacher comes up with very creative ways of sharing our learning. Watch this space! 2011 here we come!"

In response to Wyatt, I replied by saying, "Hi Wyatt. My name is Brandin. I am a student at the University of South Alabama in the United States. I am in a class called EDM 310 and we get to explore children's blogs and comment on them as an assignment.

What a great attitude you have towards learning, Wyatt! I hope your family meeting your teacher was a good experience. Creative learning is always the best learning because it keeps things interesting! Continue doing well in school. Make your family and whanau proud! By the way Wyatt, I have a blogger as well. My link is http://broshbrandinedm310.blogspot.com/ "

Blog Post 6

The Networked Student



This video is based on the gradually increasing idea of the 21st century student. The video talks about a student of connectivism. Connectivism is a theory of learning based on the premise that knowledge exists in the world rather than simply in the head of an individual. Its contribution to the field of education is however better understood when treated as a branch of the movement of open education that puts a special emphasis on social interaction. Connectivism is made reality when people utilize the technological tools given to them.

I believe there is always room for learning. Technology is a constant change and as a 21st century teacher it will be my job to keep up with the changes that occur. It is important that I do this because if I want my students to be able to have the best education I need to be able to provide the proper tools and be able to explain these tools to all of my students.

When the video asks, “Why does the networked student even need a teacher?” I believe the answer is this. Teachers of the 21st century and going to be different than the teachers I had when I was going through grade school. I believe that the purpose of a teacher in the 21st century will be to educate children on how to use the Internet and various other technologies to learn rather than pounding facts in to students heads all the time. Already, students are taking online classes without ever meeting teachers. Communication is key. If students can learn to communicate and navigate via the Internet nothing will be impossible anymore. Education has not limits and as long as social networking, E-mail, and podcasts are openly available to students, all the student needs is a guidance teacher. The 21st century teacher will no longer need to be in a classroom all day every day with their students.


A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment




The 7th grader’s Personal Learning Environment seemed quite similar to our Personal Learning Network. She used her PLE to include all of her links for school as well as things such as music she likes to listen to and links to her Facebook account. I like how she had it organized so that everything was included in one page. I think that is much easier than having to click and navigate to find various links on a PLN.



Critiques of Smartboards

The link that I found shows the benefits of Smartboards in the classroom. http://newdorpvoice.com/?p=705 is the link to the website that I found. I think Smartboards are a great tool for classroom use. Smartboards started becoming popular when I was in high school. I thought they were the neatest things but my school only kept them in a few of my classrooms. When I got in to college they became even more popular. One specific thing that I can remember is how advantageous it was in my algebra class. On the Smartboard you can keep a record of everything that you write on it. There are page forward and page back buttons and so anytime students would have questions he could go back to the previous problem without having to rework the entire problem.

One of the only disadvantages that I see to the Smartboard is that it is not wide like a typical white board. They only give you so much space to work with before you have to go to the next page or page down. Many times students cannot write as fast as teachers do and it is hard for them to keep up. The student may not have enough time to copy everything down before the teacher can move on.

I think that the as long as teachers are trained on how to use the IWB, they are capable of being a wonderful tool to have in the classroom. Smartboards have endless possibilities and if a teacher knows how to use them it can be a great way to engage students in the classroom.

Project 9B - Instructional Timeline of USA Presidents

Blog Post 5

100 Ways to use your iPod to Learn and Study Better



100 Ways to use your iPod to learn and study better is a website that is dedicated to all of the different features that your iPod has and how to use these features to your advantage. This website is geared toward sending the message that an iPod is more than just an MP3 player like it used to be. The latest technology for iPods is insane. There are countless things that you can do on such a small technology-geared educational tool. The 100 ways to use your iPod website has it broken down in to categories so you can go to exactly what you’re looking for. These categories are: study guides, podcasts, tutorials, applications, classroom help, iPod learning support, tools and sites, iTunesU, and a miscellaneous section. Each section is geared toward helping students in education. It gives links to things like Sparknotes Applications, podcasts on different subjects, and iTunesU. Most applications are free and inexpensive. Your iPod can make learning easier than it has ever been. It is more than just a music player, it is an educational tool and this website gives you ways to transform your device as such.

Eagles Nest Radio and Blog



Eagle’s Nest Radio is a 3rd grade class blog. The blog includes podcasts on the different subjects that the students are studying in school. The most recent post was entitled, “Roamin with the Ancient Romans.” This podcast was about Rome and its history. It contained information about Julius Caesar, great Roman architecture, Roman gladiators, Cleopatra and more. Another podcast was “Totally Terrific Time Travel with Explorers.” This podcast had one student playing the narrator who traveled back in time to meet great explorers. When he met the explorers they each gave a short biography of themselves and some of the great things they did.

The blog is separated by date and section. It amazes me that these third graders podcasts are so wonderful. They are so well put together. What a neat thing to do with a third grade class! I can imagine that if I were in third grade I would have loved this! It is a great way to engage students in learning. I never thought about podcasts being recorded by children at such a young age but these podcasts would even be great to use as a learning tool in my own classroom. How Neat!

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom



This is a video/blog about the benefits of podcasting in the classroom. It gives reasons why it is advantageous to the students as well as the teacher. Podcasting is an easy way to stay connected. In the video it shows a little girl who is running a fever and is forced to miss school. It was not as big of a deal that she had a big test coming up because she could access the lesson via podcasts on the Internet. I really liked how the teachers use enthusiastic voices to keep it interesting and grab the students’ attention. The video also includes students giving reasons why they like podcasts and how they help them in the classroom.

Under the video, Joe Dale, summarizes in bullet points the advantages of why he thinks podcasts are beneficial to use in the classroom. This is what he listed:

• 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

I think that podcasting is great. I recently created my first podcast with a group of students in my EDM310 class. It was on the use of iPads in the classroom. You should check it out on my blog.

Project 8 - iPads in the Classroom

Timetoast Timeline - Project 9A

Blog Post 4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

Dr. Mcleod is a professor at Iowa State University. He has helped to establish a program for national technology called CASTLE. The program is for secondary and college education. He helped to create this program to be sure that students were meeting technological requirements that had been made.

I really enjoyed this blog post. I have heard countless times people pass comments about situations like this. They even have commercials on TV about it. The reality is that this situation is uncontrollable and it is bound to happen. Technology is a part of our generation and it is constantly changing. Children need to have experience with the Internet, and up and coming technology because if you fall behind in this constant changing technological world it will be extremely hard to catch up. Though there are things like porn, sexting, and R-rated material that no parent would want their child to see, there are more advantages than disadvantages of things such as cell phones and Internet service.

The iSchool Initiative

I feel that the iSchool Initiative would help provide a better budget for our school while also spending the money more wisely than not. School systems spend tons of money each year making paper copies for our students. We could use the money that we save to give our teachers bonuses for all of their hard work considering teachers do not make near what they deserve. If we did this teachers would have something to look forward to and something to work harder towards.

The iSchool Initiative would be an incredible step in education as far as saving money but I also feel that there would be set backs as well. Some people may not be able to navigate an iTouch as well as school books. Some students may not learn as well by means of technology. If there were a balance between the two I believe that it would sounds like a better deal. I think that there would be trouble with the iSchool also because if students were to break their iTouch who would replace it, or would they just be without their school books, not to mention completely out of touch with the whole school system, if they didn’t have the money to replace it? You can loose one book and have it replaced but if you loose or break your iTouch you have lost everything that has anything to do with your schooling. I do think it would be a great way to help involve parents in school work. Having everything right there in one handheld iTouch would be neat.

Within the next week I will be posting a podcast about iPads in the classroom. If you find this topic interesting follow my blog so you can listen when I post it!

The Lost Generation

I think this video is really neat! This video begins talking about our generation with only negative aspects of it. As the reader finishes the writing she says “it will become true unless we reverse it” and she then continues to read it backwards. When she reads the sentences from the bottom to the top it changes the entire perspective and the meaning of it. The way he went about creating this video was incredible and I think that it really has a way of grasping your attention. I imagine writing and creating something like this could be extremely time consuming but the finished product was well worth it.

I do feel that it is somewhat stereotypical to presume that our generation will be completely immoral if things do not change; however I do feel that positive change is needed in today’s generation. Children being born today are born in to a world based around technology. They will know nothing of having to go to the library to write reports and only having a house phone. It is important that we familiarize ourselves with technology as a whole so that we can have a chance to catch up with other countries that are already ahead of us.

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir

This video was breathtaking. I know how so many things are possible thanks to the Internet but never did I imagine anything like this. The most wonderful part of this video is that this is only the beginning of a really long journey through the technological world. These people had never met before and performed amazingly together. They choreographed this all via the Internet. I think it is so awesome that the Internet allows people to come together like this. With the Internet, people from all over the world can come together and with this accomplish many feats.


Teaching in the 21st Century

Teaching in the 21st century is a message depicting why it is important that educators use classroom time to teach empowering and meaningful information. I believe that technology is a MUST in the classroom these days and this video is an example of why. Any student with Internet access is able to find out just about any information that they desire. You can find everything on the Internet. Things like encyclopedias, printed books, and newspapers are no more. Those days will soon be over. Instead of having teachers repetitively teach easily accessible information, it is more important for educators to teach students how to access information via Internet and use technology to their benefit.

My Sentence

Blog Post 3

A Vision of Students Today:

“A Vision of Students Today” was filmed in the spring of 2007 by an Anthropology class at Kansas State University. This video focuses on the current problems students have today. These problems are things like students who go to class but spend their time on Facebook and other Internet sites rather than learn the material being taught. Another problem is that students are spending tons of money to go to college and then they do not show up to class because it isn’t required. I believe that a point that this video is trying to make is that students do not make the most of their money and time that they spend in college. If you are paying for a good, not to mention expensive, education you should make the most of it and actually get the education you deserve instead of wasting your valuable time and money.
The second focus of this video was to make people aware of how technology really affects our everyday lives. A study was taken by 200 students to calculate how much time they spend doing specific activities each day. The students that completed the study spent on average almost 27 hours a day on technology. The fact that between the Internet, Facebook, listening to music, talking on the phone, texting, and other daily activities, students are spending 26 ½ hours per day just goes to show how technology is affecting our lives. Things that use to not exist have now been invented and unless you are a multi-tasker there just aren’t enough hours in the day to be able to fit in all of the activities of students’ everyday lives.
I do feel that this video is accurate. The estimates of how much time students spend on technology instead of inside of a book. I can say for myself that I spend hundreds of dollars on books each semester and still use the Internet to do my homework. I feel like get so caught up in their job they forget their real purpose sometimes. I believe that forming relationships with your students is extremely important and I am lucky to have small class sizes to where most of my teacher knows me by face and name. The one thing in this video that I couldn’t relate to was the fact that students had over 100 classmates in their class. At the University of South Alabama I believe our average class size is about 25-30.

“It’s Not About the Technology” by Kelli Hines

In Ms. Hines blog she states four important qualities the each teach must possess in order to be an effective teacher that portrays a positive impact on her students.
These four things are:
1. Teachers must also be active learners
2. Learning and Teaching are not the same thing
3. Without good teaching technology loses a lot of its purpose
4. If you can teach effectively without technology then you can teach effectively with it but that statement does not work both ways.
To have an effective education system we need good teachers. Good teachers must be good learners. Ms. Hines points out that if no learning is happening in the classroom it is simply because no teaching is going on. I believe that the point she was trying to make is that technology can be a useful tool in 21st century learning but it is not the only tool. More important than advanced technology is advanced teachers. Teachers who know the importance of education and learning and how to make learning happen instead of pounding facts in to a student’s head long enough for them to pass the test. She says it is not about having a Smart Board in the classroom but about how that teacher can use that Smart Board to intrigue her students.


“Is it Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate teacher” by Karl Fisch

In Karl Fisch’s blog he states multiple times “If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write.” This could be considered to be a harsh statement but I believe it is 100 percent true. If our teachers are not technologically literate how will they ever teach our students how to be tech-savvy so to speak? Within the next decade I believe that many schools will have resulted to classroom work online and all classrooms will have Smart Boards for example. If a teacher is not technologically literate how will he/she teach his/her students to survive in a world that is resulting to everything being technological? I think it would be an unfair disadvantage to students to have a teacher that was not technologically literate. As for the teachers who have been in the system for years and never felt the need to catch up with the latest technology they should be trained so that they can be persuasive in the classroom
I do agree that it is an embarrassment to brag about being technologically illiterate. Although I do feel that being technologically literate is important it is also almost impossible because technology changes every day. With the rate that technology is changing there is no way to tell what the world will be like within the next decade but what I do know is that technology is here to stay and is only becoming more advanced each and every day.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count


The picture above goes to show how fast technology is moving. It is one of those things where everything happens so fast that once you're behind it's going to hell trying to catch back up. Technology is a significant part of life in the 21st century and as educators we need to be up to par with being tech-savvy because if not, our students will fall behind and never catch up either.