Additional Assignment 3

What do you think is the most important thing Sir Ken Robinson says in this presentation?

         It is telling us how education has become and still becoming. We are not taught to really problem solve or to think there may just be more than one way to skin a cat. All we are taught are the basics. It kind of makes me look at it as he put it a factory, or maybe we are a heard of sheep, sheep are dumb you know. I kind of feel like kids are just being directed by the teacher, Shepard, down this narrow tunnel of schooling. So we go from this big open field to this small little fenced in piece of grass.  

How congruent are Sir Ken Robinson's positions with those which you are being taught in the College of Education. In other words, where is there agreement? Where is there disagreement?

          I am not far into my teacher courses but it seems to be headed that way. So yes I agree.

What do you think of the presentation? If you had to do a presentation with others like this, what role on your team would you like most to play?

Designer?
Artist?
It comes down to these to I tend to be a creative person. it is actually how I take notes most of the time. If I can doodle out what they are saying it seems to make more sense to me later than to sit and read notes over and over again. If I draw it I can see it in my head.

Blog 10

An Open Letter to Educators

This blog and video was seriously like a smack in the forehead for me. You know kind of like a wake up call. That time when it all seems to come together and make sense. We as a society are moving forward, we are constantly discovering new things and inventing amazing creations. BUT, we as a school are not following these improvements fast enough. We are falling behind! We live in a world where you do not even have to leave your home to  be successful. It, all the information, stores, work, all of it can be done by simply walking up to your computer and turning it on. Now I know not everyone can work like this but it is an option. We as a school needs to take a big step into this and see that there are other ways to educate ones self. Instead of pushing these new things away we need to grasp them and use them to reconstruct the school to where it is somewhere to really learn and not somewhere to go to remember facts. Yes, facts are important but you can learn the facts at home and then come to school and learn how. School should be a place where learning the stuff you memorize is put to practice so that when you go into the work force you know what your doing. You are not just sitting there like I know all this stuff, but I do not know how to use it. 

Do NOT Let them Take Pencils Home 

It is kind of strange that anyone would think that taking pencils home would be a big deal. It was in this case "affecting the standardize test score". It is ridiculous. I really do think that it was right of him to question the research that was given in this situation. Yes he recognized it as a problem, but instead of it just staying a problem he did something about it. We should all be problem solvers, find the best way to do things. Also find ways to make objects more efficient for the best.   

What is your sentence?

My sentence is: She has made a difference in many children's life and will continue to do so.

Chimps Don't Wear Glasses

Mr. McClung

             "An important decisions I made this year: stay positive." This is the opening of his blog and I can not tell you how important that choice is. Like my mom always told me if you go into something with a good attitude and the thought that no matter what this will be greatness, it will be. Although same goes for the opposite of that if you go into something with a negative attitude then nothing you do will go right. "Why does the toast always seem to fall butter side down?" So as teachers we not only affect us but will affect many other people as well so it is a good idea to but a big smile on and see everything in a happy way. 

He talks about "Reading the Crowd" this is important also. Let me just say as a teacher if you do not teach the kids your just wasting air. The students are the reason you are there not the supervisors so please do everyone a favor and do your job of teaching. If you teach it and the students are learning it is going to be hard for the supervisors to find something wrong.

            "Be Flexible" the things you do may not always go as perfect as you wish but do not let it get you down. This ties into stay positive. Do not give up be flexible change that messed up project into something you can use. Even if it is to show the kids what not to do. If you stay positive nothing can go to bad.

Communication, communication this is what life is made of not all life but I would say a good bit of it. We communicate on a daily basis and still there are people who have trouble with it. No, it is not always easy but it is necessary and it really helps in the long run. No one should have to keep all their worries and strives to themselves sometimes it is best to just let it out. Communication is "muy importante".

            "Do not be afraid of technology" this is a good one too. The world is going to progress and no one likes to be left in the dust. It is becoming a bigger and bigger part of school and we as teachers need to be on top of this so that not only us but our students will not fall behind in this world of technology. As he said, "jump in head first, the water is fine."

            Be reasonable with your students and your goals for them. It is important to have faith in your students and to believe that they will achieve great things, but if they do not reach those achievements do not be disappointed. Not everyone is going to be president or land on the moon. It is their lives let them set their own goals and go where they want to go. We are here for support and to give them the foundation to do whatever they want to do.

            Never stop learning is the last point he makes. As we were talking earlier the world will progress and we do not need to get behind for the sake of our students. We need to become life long learners and to be open to new things. The closed minded never got anywhere. 

Blog 8

This is How We Dream

          This is quite the statement. "This is how we dream" I know that I have daydreamed through many, many classes, but I do not think that I would have ever dreamed about the things we have now. The luxuries technology allows us is remarkable and it amazes me that we have them.

We are now capable of all types of things because of the technology we have and because of the people who dreamed and made true. As he pointed out we no longer have to even go to the library to research a certain subject. We no longer have to copy what is in a book. All we have to is go to the internet and click then we have what we need to have all the information of what we are researching.

We are now also capable of talking instantly to anyone. It does not matter how far away we are. I am now capable of talking to someone in the next house all the way to someone in another country. I now have friends in Germany because someone had the idea to make it happen. It is truly amazing what we can think up when we dream. 

Smart Boards

 Smart boards are just really high tech chalkboards. They are expensive and at times not worth it. It is still taught by the same teacher and if the teacher can not teach then the smart board is not going to help her any at all.  It is still the same amount of work on the teacher if not more and a good many time the software does not work. What do you do then? You have 20+ children sitting there with nothing to do just because something did not work because they are not always reliable. Sometimes it is good to just get down to the basics.

EDM 310

Ok, this is so totally how I feel sometimes in this class, it just gets over whelming. Anyway watching these videos have just cracked me up, it is kind of like "oh so they do know how we feel". This class has stressed me out several times this semester, but I am going to say I am thankful for it anyway. My mom is a kindergarten teacher and she went out of town for a day or two and had to get a sub. She asked me to help her get everything set up so I did and it came time for her to go and she was not done with some of her Smart Board lessons. So I took over and did the lessons for her and got everything ready. Well the next day I get a call and it is not the sub but the other two teachers that work next to her. Comes to find out that mom takes care of all the technological stuff in kindergarten and they did not have the lesson and they did not know how to get it from one computer to another. So I had to go up to school and move everything around for them. At that time I realized why we have to have this class. It is because no matter if we want to progress or not the world is going to progress. We as teachers need to progress with it so that whenever things like this come along there is not only one person able to fix it. This class is stressful and irritating sometimes, but there is no doubt in my mind that it is well worth it.

Blog 7

This was truly an entertaining video. I did not get to finish it, because half way though it would say "Google chrome not working" or it would just shut off, I have watched up to 45 minutes of it about three times. Any way, it was fun to watch and he was fun to listen to. He talked about his childhood dreams and how he has achieved them, or not, and how he got there. He talked about all the trials he went though to get there. The one thing that I totally agree with is when he said, " brick walls are there to keep the people out who do not want it bad enough". This is true there might be things in your way trying to keep you out and it might seem that it will never work, but in all honesty those things are there to divide out the people who do not want it. This way they get the people who care enough to work for the best outcome. He is telling of all of the great things that he has accomplished in his life and how technology was a huge part in his career. Especially seeing that he was a Disney Imaginer. He used it everyday and he really did love it. He loved making technology fun for him and his students. It really was an awesome video and I am sad I could not watch it all the way though.I hope you all enjoyed it also!

Additional Assignment 2

"If  children have interest education happens."  I really do agree with this statement. If anyone has an interest in something it is simply natural for them to want to learn about it. It is the curiosity of human nature, this occurs at all ages, especially childhood. Children use all types of things to teach themselves about what they want to know books, computers, etc. If a child does not have any previous knowledge about computers and want to learn about them they are able to teach themselves. As with everything else it is trial and either failing or succeeding is how they are capable of teaching themselves how to use it. Once they learn to use these things it is easier for the child to learn other thing, such as, language, how to do things, or about things. The biggest part of this learning is motivation, one has to have motivation to do anything if there is no motivation there is a good chance that a lot of things today would not exist. One is motivated by personal interest or by other people. If people do not want to learn it, I hate to say it, but they will not learn it. People have to be open for things if anything is going to happen. Everyone teaches themselves by experience, trial and error, it is the most common way to learn something. The question is how are we as teachers going to take that extra step and make it to where the child wants to learn. It is not the teacher forcing the student to learn it is simply the child wants to learn it from interest, it is something they want to learn so therefor they will. The question still remains, which is the best way to encourage certain interest?

My Timeline

lincoln informative

PLN Summery

Okay I have to admit it, PLN are awesome! I do not have everything completely on mine yet but this is defiantly worth using. Instead of having to go all over the world looking for stuff it is all right there on one page. Yes, I said one page! It is so easy to use and it is going to save me so much time on my homework, if I can stay off Facebook that is. I am really enjoying learning all of these new things even though it is at times frustrating. It is so worth it! 

Summary Post C4T #2

My teachers name is Dianne Krause. I have really enjoyed reading her blog. She does these blogs called Daily Digital Discoveries. They are places online that help every day teachers. She has found places where you can create test, song writing tools, find resources, and read newsletters. It is really interesting and I have truly learned a lot from it. If you ever have time you should stop by her website and check it out! http://diannekrause.edublogs.org/

Blog 6

The Network Student

First of all I just want to say that it is amazing the different possibilities for learning that are now offered because of the internet. I was always told that networking was the one thing that was a must do in college. We meed to make connections for the future, besides you never know who will be your employer some day. These are so many different ways that you can do just that only on a larger scale. It gives you opportunities that have not even been seen yet. Although, I will say this teachers are a must keep in this world even though it seems that students do not always need them. Just think about it what happens when a student is on their own. I know a lot of students do not have the motivation without someone there to give them a push in the right direction. Then there are those of us who get confused, we do not want to do the wrong thing because we did not know the right way. Yes technology is awesome and helpful at times but you need the people in your life to help you with the stuff you do not understand and that, my dear, is where teachers come into play. 

Personal Learning Environment

This is so cool! It makes me want to go make one. It is like a planner on the computer. I personally need help getting organized and I believe this would be a big help seeing that all of my stuff would be right there at the click of a mouse. It is defiantly a new way of learning and a great way to network and connect!

The Machine is Changing Us

To begin with I did not want to watch this video. It was long and I was just being lazy. I watched it and I honestly enjoyed myself. Listening to him and what he had to say was not that bad and I apologize. What I got from this is that technology has a middle area it is not like right or wrong. It is kinda like telling a woman that she does not look fat in a dress even if she does a little. It is not all bad it at least had good intentions. Technology does have it's good and bad points but it is that middle area that shows that it has potential. There are good reasons to have it even though there are bad points to it also. I loved the video!