Blog Post 6

Randy Pausch last lecture: Achieving your childhood dreams

Randy Pausch is such an amazing man! I was amazed by every second of it and learned a lot from it. If you have the chance to watch it, DO IT! Randy was so positive about everything going on in his life whenever he gave this speech. I cannot imagine standing up in front of hundreds of people giving his last lecture. This lecture was about his childhood dreams, enabling dreams of others, and lessons that his learned throughout his life.
Randy had several goals as a child. He did not achieve all of them, but he learned a lesson throughout every one of them. Being a child I also had several dreams. Although I have achieved most of the ones I have set, I learned a lesson from most of them also. Pausch stated, 'Experience is what you get when you did not get what you wanted', this could not have been said any better. Being a first year teacher is sometimes difficult and everything will not go as planned and will seem like everything is falling to pieces. If I gain experience from something that goes wrong, I will remember what was done the first time and what needs to be done the second time to succeed.
Pausch mentioned ways that we could enable other's dreams. At the university Pausch taught at he was a pioneer of a virtual world class. He taught students how to create their own virtual world. This was never done at the university. He said that whenever you pioneer something, what will go wrong-does go wrong. Pausch made this class fun for his students and it made their learning experience better. I want to make learning fun for my students so they will want to come to school. If school is fun for student then they will not realize that they are actually learning new skills everyday and in return they will want to learn.
Two of the lessons Randy learned during his life were, learn from your students and have fun. It is important to listen to your students, because more than likely you will learn something new from them. Having fun while doing your job will allow you to enjoy your job and look forward to making a difference in your student's life.

Blog Post 5

Travis Allen's ISchool Initiative
As a senior in high school, Travis Allen made a YouTube video about utilizing technology in the classroom to save money and natural resources. He later formed the iSchool Initiative and a group of 25 students at his university to travel the world and inform teachers, parents, and students about the future of education. Through many already existing applications on iPhones and iPads, students and teachers can gain access to any book or textbook without the expensive print copies and hardback covers. Parents can also view grades through applications like these just by having access to a phone or a computer. I think it is much more economical and environmental to get rid of the pencils and paper and take advantage of the technology available to us today because there is a lot of technology at our finger tips.
Technology not only entices children and is more fun than pencil and paper, but it is a useful skill they can use throughout their lives. If we continue to teach like we have in decades past, and Mr. Winkle would still be comfortable coming into to our classrooms, then why do we have this technology? We have made use of it in daily life, by using cell phones, tablets, computers, GPS systems, etc. We use technology to order pizza or buy movie tickets, so why not use it to teach our children? I think you should support this, and get ISchool in schools.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
In 2010, Jennifer Chamber introduced EDM 310 to Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir. The virtual choir sang "Lux Aurumque". The video was revealed on Early WKRG5 Early Morning News.The choir was put together entirely online. The choir had never met or practiced together. All the singers followed the same guidelines that Eric Whitacre provided. They were singing from all over through the use of blogs and videos. The fact that this choir was developed entirely online is important to future and current educators.

Teaching in the 21st Century
In the video, Teaching in the 21st Century, Kevin Roberts believes that teaching is turning from the old method of pencil, paper, and text book to computers. I believe that Mr. Roberts is saying that students no longer need teacher’s to hold their hands through lessons anymore because they can now search it out for themselves. We as the educators now need to take our places and begin to help them learn how to use the internet wisely. This means that our projects and homework assignments should now consist of using the internet to gain the answers. I believe our future will consist of becoming technology teachers, so therefore we need to become more knowledgeable.

Why I Flipped My Classroom
In the video Why I flipped my class room, I think this is very helpful to students who don't learn as fast as others. I would definitely use this procedure in my classroom. Students will do so much better if they can rewind a part of a lesson that they didn't understand. With kids that have learning disability it gives them a different way to learn and to remember things for class. I like the idea of the teacher standing in the middle of the classroom and the children around her, so the teacher is not preaching to them, they are learning together, It will also be helpful to the teacher not having to repeat themselves, over and over.

Presentation Project

Blog Post #7

The Networked Student

This video/presentation was very interesting. I honestly have never heard of terms such as 'connectivism' or "a networked student". Since this is true, it is hard to believe that students now, in high school, are having hybrid classes. When I was in high school I could not imagine having to learn online at my house, because if I am not in class I do not learn as well. It is very interesting to see how far advance some schools have become in just a few short years.

Naturally, every student in their life thinks what is the point and big deal about having a teacher in the classroom. In EDM 310, the teacher is more of a guide for the students to help them with their work instead of the only source of knowledge. The teacher instructs the students on how to decide if a source is credible or not. She teaches the polite way to ask experts for help. She can clear up any confusion the student may have. As you can see, teachers are still a necessary component in the learning process for connectivism.

The Networked Student encourages students to be self learners. The video shows how a student will build a database on the subject from various online resources and then share the information with fellow classmates and teachers. The student must learn to find information using tools such as Google, Skype and other online resources. The student can connect with professors and other students from all over the world to gain information on any particular subject. The way this class is conducted verses traditional teaching techniques proves to be most useful in the limitless access to information available through modern technology.

A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment(PLE)

This video really inspired me. I had no idea what a PLE or a PLN was until I watched this video. A PLN is a much easier was to get you organized, on track and is a great way to obtain information about something specific. This 7th grader showed me how to become more organized and how playing on the internet is a lot of fun. If she can do it I can do it!

podcast video part 2

Podcast video part 1

Blog Assignment 4

Listening Comprehension Podcasting
In the reading Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting a second grade teacher by the name of Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano uses podcasting to teach her 2nd grade class another language. She explains how convenient a podcast is compared to a word processing program. She expresses how using podcasting help language learners understand the words better because they get to see, hear, read, and manipulate the words. I do agree that podcasting is a great way to teach new languages. It is more interesting and creative than the standard way of learning. It allows the learner to interact with the podcast and makes learning easier and interesting.
The benefits of podcasting in a classroom
This video posted by Joe Dale, The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom. Students are allowed to become the teacher and they can decide what is important and what exactly needs to be taught. I really enjoy how podcasting brings the story to life. Podcasting can be used for many different things but one that I really enjoyed hearing about was the project based learning approach. I have to agree with Mr. Dales approach on how it demonstrates higher thinking skills. I also love the fact that the parents can have a better view on what is been taught inside the classroom. This is a excellent way to expand our knowledge as a teacher or a student, and its a great way to keep the classroom filled with motivation to succeed.
Podcasting with first graders
According to Langwitches, podcasting with first graders is a positive way to relay information to kids. They love that what they are doing can be received by anyone in the world, showing that they really do matter. In these student's podcast, they did a question and answer series from a popular children's book series, The Magic Treehouse. The students were very interested in making the podcasts perfect. If there was even the slightest sound in the background, they told the teacher they wanted to do it over. For the students, it was kind of like they were in acting class, and they enjoyed it tremendous.< br/> I thought that it was cool that the kids began to deconstruct their voices and the way they sounded. I believe that podcasts will help students speak more clearly and even correct speech impediments. The kids seemed to enjoy critiquing their voices to improve. This trait is hard to grasp, but I think podcasts will help. The podcast was so good that sounded like someone from a audio book company compiled it. This teacher did a great job with these kids and I will definitely try and interweave this concept into my curriculum whenever I become an educator.