Sunday, April 28, 2013

Final Report on PLN

My PLN hasn't changed much. I added a few more things to it. As far as my personal liking's. I did add a few more educations apps to it.

C4T 4

April 14, 2013

August 10, 2012
Lisa Thurmann Blog Post
Yesterday, with the support of SGEI and Kean University, where I work, I hosted edcamp Common Core. The idea was to gather NJ educators to discuss a common theme.
Here’s what I heard from attendees in the morning before we shared opening remarks in the auditorium:
Why weren’t the sessions posted ahead of time?
Where are the experts?
I did not come prepared to talk.
I just came to listen.
Don’t you have any handouts for us?
Am I going to learn anything?

I was nervous for a bit in the morning before the session board filled. Thank goodness Ann Oro did such a good job at settling the nerves of some of the attendees and even got some of them to post sessions.
Once we all got into the auditorium I went over some basic notes on the facility and then reviewed the concepts behind an unconference. I also went over the schedule with them so that they could see what types of discussions were going to occur and possibly even add an idea of their own on the way up to the first sessions.

I ended with these rules for the day:
1. Listen. Everyone has something to contribute.
2. Participate. You have something to add to the conversation.
3. Think with your feet.
4. Have a good time.

My Comment:
Hello Lisa. My name is Chelsea Strong and I am a student at The University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed reading this post. Although I am not a teacher yet I will take what you have mentioned not only in this post but others also. I want to know what you mean by "think with your feet?" Thanks for sharing! Chelsea Strong

May 17, 2012
April 28, 2013

Lisa Thurman blog post
Today I had the pleasure of presenting to a group of faculty/staff from Fairleigh Dickinson University in NJ. I promised them that I would post the slidedeck and resources while at Starbucks soaking up wifi in-between meetings. Unfortunately, I could not get to a Starbucks, but I was able to find a Panera and write the post. I had originally presented this information at WETech Symposium back in March. Using this blog post, I gathered stories from educators from around NJ regarding how they were using technology in their schools.
My Comment:
Hello my name is Chelsea Strong and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange EDM 310 class. Before I started this class I never knew technology had become this big in school. You have shared a ton of information in this post that i can use when i become a teacher. Thanks so much!

May 15, 2012
Lisa Thurman blog post

On May 2, 2012 Google hosted its first conference using Google Hangouts On Air. During the 8-hour conference, there were over 40 presentations on everything from robotics to 1:1 initiatives to using Google Apps in schools. The presenters all donated their time to try this new way to present, interact and archive professional development. I have supported this form of PD over the last few years as I truly appreciate the archiving so that educators can go back at any time and watch again. Other organizations have been practicing this for a couple of years including Classroom 2.0 Live and The Global Education Conference. Speaking of professional development. Did you read the article about the possible discontinuation of the 100 hours in NJ? I’m concerned about how the new standards for professional development are going to be determined in NJ. Though I strongly believe that teacher assessment should be driven by evaluations and student achievement gains, I also believe that there has to be a standardized directive from the administration on how much and what type of PD teachers should participate in. What are your thoughts and concerns on requiring professional development hours for educators? How should the hours be counted? Who should determine what type of sessions are attended?

My comment:
I agree with the comment above. Smart Boards are also great going along with ipads and powerbooks.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Post Progress Report on Final Project

For our group Introduction we will all be sitting in chairs, when giving advice to future EDM 310 students, current EDM 310 students, and outsiders that are trying to understand what EDM 310 is all about! We will explain why we are making this video, going into depth about why we encourage students to stick with the class, who it will be helping and how it will help future educators, and last wish those taking the class the best of luck! We have been using Google+, Google Doc and Google Doc Instant Message to discuss what we are all going to talk about. So far, so good. There are a couple of things that we need to come to an agreement on but for the most part everything is running along smoothly! Starting on Monday our group will be meeting at 2 pm so that we can start videoing ourselves for the project. However, this week we are working on finishing our project 15 so that way we will be on time with project 16 and will have it posted hopefully by next Thursday.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Blog Post 12



For this assignment go to Funbrain.com. This is a safe and fun educational website that can be used during school or at home by students. You need to go to this website and find at least two different games that you could use in your classroom to help reinforce lessons that have been taught. List these games and give a brief description of how they can be helpful in your classroom. At the bottom of this site, there is also a Teacher Resources link with some useful information. Check it out. Explore and have fun!

For my first game I picked Math Baseball. With this game you can choose addition, subtraction, division, or multiplication. You can also pick any level from easy to super brain. The student will be given a math problem and if they answer correctly, they will get a hit. FUNBRAIN will decide if the hit is a single, double, triple, or home run based on the difficulty of the problem. If the answer is wrong, they will get an out. The game is over after three outs. This game will help reinforce basic math skills that are being taught and you can pick the skill based on the grade level or lesson being taught.

The second game I picked was Spellaroo. Spellaroo is a spelling game that gives you a sentence with two or more words underlined, depending on the difficulty level. You have to click on the word that is misspelled. When you get twenty correct you move on to the next level. I think this would be a helpful game for any student that is having trouble with spelling.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Blog Post 11

Skype Interview with Ms. Cassidy

Dr. Strange set up a Skype interview during one of his classes in the Spring of 2010. During the Skype interview with Ms. Cassidy, Dr. Strange asked her about using technology with her students and about how receptive and supportive her principles and co-workers were to the technology she was introducing to her students. Ms. Cassidy said that although not everyone had been completely supportive, no one has ever tried to stop her. Ms. Cassidy mentioned that not using technology handicaps your students and yourself.


When I first started this class (EDM310) I would have never imagined children blogging. Once I started exploring the world of blogging and technology my perspective began to change. I see it as a way to learn and interact with others from around the world. I have said from the beginning of my college journey that I wanted to teach first grade. I wondered if it would be possible for first graders to learn and benefit from the blogging world. Thanks to Ms. Cassidy I now have a new perspective on blogging in the first grade. I have definitely been inspired by what Ms. Cassidy is doing with her students. To sum up a comment from Ms. Cassidy in her interview with Dr. Strange, why write on paper for one to see when they can write on a blog for the world to see.

I'm sure I will encounter fellow teachers and principals along the way that may not be as open or perceptive to the idea of using a blog in the class room. I hope that I will have an opportunity to share with them some of the blogs and videos that we have seen this semester and possibly change their minds. I think most people are scared of things they don't know and Ms. Cassidy's class would be a perfect example to show how blogging and other technology can be useful in the classroom.

C4T 3

March 22, 2013

I wanted to share an activity called, The Marshmallow Challenge, that has been popularized by Tom Wujek’s Ted talk called, “Build a Tower, Build a Team.” After watching his presentation last summer, we performed this activity at a faculty meeting early in the year and I though it was a great way to have some fun and launch some great discussions. We have worked very hard over the past few years to build a collaborative culture and I knew that this challenge would lead to a great discussion about the power of teaming.
At the end of the day, I was not disappointed. The marshmallow challenge was a great way to reunite with colleagues after the summer break and the activity generated some great discussions about learning in our school. Here are some of the main points that faculty members brought up during our debriefing conversation.
- Manage your time – time is always a limiting factor and it is important that you are aware of the time that you have available to you and plan accordingly
- Team building – working with a team can be very complex but this challenge allowed for everyone to have their voices heard and play a role in a collaborative process
- It’s okay to take risks – this challenge reinforced that it is okay to think outside of the box when trying to accomplish something. The simple fact that no one had ever attempted anything like this previously meant that we were all immediately outside our comfort zones
- Learn from our mistakes – it is important to use prototypes when following a creative process. As teachers, this can be in the form of formative assessment. We constantly need to be monitoring our students learning and using that information to make our instructional decisions
- Set reachable goals – it is important to set goals that are attainable and measurable.
- Group size matters – although the activity calls for groups of 4, we completed the challenge in our departments which meant that our group size varied. It was discovered that the smaller groups seemed to be more successful with their towers than our larger groups.
- High stakes can lead to decreased performance on creative tasks – Tom Wujek outlines how the performance of groups in this challenge decreased when he introduced significant rewards. As our faculty continues to introduce more creative tasks in our classes, we need to ensure that we are setting our students up for success in their learning
- Fun – this was a fun, exciting activity and was a great way to kick off a new school year!

I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile Alabama. Although I am not a teacher yet but am going to school to be one this post spoke to me. This is a very helpful information. This will be on my agenda when I become a teacher.

April 7, 2013

Mark Hardeman says he loves the poem "Fire" by Judy Brown.

What makes a fire burn is space between the logs, a breathing space. Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a pail of water would. So building fires requires attention to the spaces in between, as much as to the wood. When we are able to build open spaces in the same way we have learned to pile on the logs, then we can come to see how it is fuel, and absence of the fuel together, that make fire possible. We only need to lay a log lightly from time to time. A fire grows simply because the space is there, with openings in which the flame that knows just how it wants to burn can find its way.

Mr. Hardeman says:
I know that many people attend conferences to take advantage of the open spaces that are provided to connect with colleagues and share ideas. This is a wonderful opportunity and I always return to school refreshed, reinvigorated and inspired. I also know that these conferences are not the only way for me to share ideas with other educators who are seeking innovative and creative strategies for our schools. As David said this morning, it is the open spaces that can re-ignite our flame or passion for learning. How amazing is it to realize that we have access to tools that allow us to share spaces and keep that fire burning on a daily basis?

Mr. Hardeman, It was great reading your blog. I love the poem.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

C4K March

March 3, 2103

His name is Lance and he says I express my self through working hard at everything i do. It dont matter where im at or what im doing i always try my hardest. If im on the field i do what ever it takes to win to help my team. I am a leader on the field, in school, and out of school. I work out hard as i can. I take pride in everything i do to.

Lance,
My name is Chelsea Strong and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. This is a great post. I admire you and am proud of you. People like you are hard to come by. I am also the type of person that I work hard at whatever I do. Great post! Keep up the good work!

March 5, 2013

Hello to start you off with my information I will say I am Abby NOT Ted, but I will be talking about what Ted said and also some other stuff. The basis of what he said is you can do anything if you work for it. This man built a wind turbine and he dropped out of school. Now I’m not saying drop out of school because that’s not the point. The point is even after he couldn't go to school he said I want to continue learning and that’s what he did. He read a lot of books and learned about wind turbines and math and stuff like that. He liked the idea of a wind turbine and wanted to make one himself so he used recycled materials. He used a tractor fan, shock absorbed, bicycle frame, PVC pipes, PVC blades after melting, and a bicycle generator. Everyone thought he was crazy even his mom. It ended up working. In fact he would have a line at his house to charge peoples mobile phones. He also installed some lights. Now think about how hard he worked. All it took was some perseverance. I think that Ted was succesfull with his first try. I think so because it helped him fix his next try. It also gave him a place to start. I think the important thing is that he tried his best with his first attempt and then worked to make it better. If I had the chance to fix something about my school I would improve our energy source. I think that we should look for a renewable energy source like Ted did. I might think about solar for Vermont or maybe wind for Williston. I really like that Ted took his situation and made it better and I think that we can do that too. I think we could make that change to solar and or wind.

Hello Abby. My name is Chelsea Strong and I am a student at the University of South Alabama and I was assigned to comment on your blog. I enjoyed reading your blog post. It very encouraging. This goes to show you that we all have dreams and we can achieve them if we just set our minds to it like Ted did. Keep up the great work. Good luck on achieving your dreams.
Chelsea Strong

March 28, 2013

Why does people celebrate Easter for? Easter is celebrated in many different ways. Greece loves to celebrate the honour Jesus blood. In other countries people use Easter eggs for romantic things, or the rebirth of Jesus. Also celebrating a new life. Chocolate is made out of eggs which is very yummmy! I love my chocolate Easter eggs!

Hello Turuhira, my name is Chelsea Strong and I am a student at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile Alabama and in one of my classes I was selected to comment on your blog. Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Here in Alabama, Easter represents the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins and three days later he arose from the dead. I agree with you on the chocolate eggs! I LOVE chocolate. Nice reading your blog. Keep up the great work!!

April 4, 2013

Hello,
My name is C.J. and I am 14 yrs old and in 8th grade. I have lived in Iowa, USA for my whole life. I enjoy doing hunting, fishing, football, and farming. My favorite subject in school is history or math. I spend my free time playing video games or going outside. When I get older I plan on becoming a farmer. I have a pet dog and his name is Jack. Do you have pets? What do you want to do when you get older?

Hello C.J. my name is Chelsea Strong and I go to the University of South Alabama in Mobile Alabama. I have lived in Mobile my whole life. I am studying Education at University of South Alabama. I enjoy spending time with my husband, fishing, going to the beach, and four wheeler riding. I spend most of my free time either working or doing homework. I also have one dog. He is a Husky. He is all white with one blue eye and one brown eye and his name is Rauca. When I grow up I want to be a Teacher. Nice reading your blog.
Chelsea Strong