Project #8 Group Podcast

Our group is entitled "Ball Till We Fall" or as Dr. Strange has us labeled, "Bail Till We Fail".

Our assigned book is by Rafe Esquith and is called "Teach like Your Hair Is on Fire" and we are assigned the Prologue, Chapters 1, 2, 12 and the Epilogue.

C4K February

My first C4K was an eighth grader who is in Mrs. Behm's class. Her name is Teresa and she is from Mexico. She has only posted twice. One was a short autobiography and the other was about "The Giver". Judging by the post, I believe the assignment was to either make an alternate ending or guess the actual ending.
I commented on the post about "The Giver" and told Teresa that I have not read the book in many years but that she seemed interested in the book. I also left my blog link and told her I was interested in what her class read next!

My second C4K is a student in Ms. Muhammad's fourth grade at Robbins Elementary in Prichard, AL. She has only posted twice but her latest post was about the AR book she was reading in December called "To Market, To Market". She said it was one of her favorite books and said a brief description of the book.
I left a comment on this post encouraging her to continuing reading so that she will become a better and more accurate reader. I also left my information and blog site so that she may visit it if she would like too.

The next C4K I did in February is a student from named Dartanian who attends Pt England School in New Zealand. She is a student in Room 14 with Miss Ouano. She has just started the fifth grade. I am a little confused as to how the grade levels work because as of December she was year 4 and February she is year 5. She is pretty active within the month of February with her blog. I did explore the class blog and I did like how excited the students were about using the netbooks and what all they could accomplish with them!
In my comment I left my information and told her how I noticed many differences between New Zealand and the American students. I mentioned how I liked that she included her family in her post. She also was pretty descriptive in her post with I complimented her on.

My final C4K for February is Teresa again from Mrs. Behm's class in Mexico. She has added a new post since my last visit to her blog and it includes what I believe is a wordle in the shape of a heart! As I mentioned before, Teresa is in eighth grade. Her latest blog post is entitled, "My New Vocabulary". Judging by looking at the paragraph and the title, I can guess what the assignment was. Most of the words are white but a few stand out in magenta and some in black. The words in magenta and black are the words that Teresa (and her class) were focusing on. Her paragraph was about a boy named Alex and his life.

I left Teresa a comment telling her I enjoyed her story about Alex and her high vocabulary word usage. She also had commented on my last comment I left and thanked me for visiting which was a nice surprise to see!

Project #10

Finding the Right Tool

For project #10 when I first began thinking about a technology tool I thought about what and whom I would be using it for. What would the purpose be? After I went through a few that are on my "favorites" list, I decided on one that I thought would be useful for this purpose that was not covered in this class. This was a little difficult because three of my top five tools are already covered in this course. My tool is called Groopt. Groopt is used to create free groups to privately communicate, schedule and share with the people and groups that matter most to them! This site can be used from a study group, to family, or any other group that wants to connect while still being private. It is a site that also has an app through the Apple Store and it is free! I currently use this site for my sorority (Alpha Omicron Pi). When I imagine what I could do with this tool for students or student's parents, I was excited! This site could be used for class information, updates, field trips, how the students are doing, and all while still being private. I did not have to do much searching because this is a tool that I already actively use almost daily. When I looked through some reviews they were positive (not a surprise)! I asked other members of my sorority how they felt about the site and everyone thinks it works better for us as a group compared to other sites we have tried in the past.

In order to be a part of this site, all you have to do is sign up. If you go to the website then click sign up then you select the kind of group you need. This site is free but there are options to upgrade available. I do not have the upgraded version. I use the free version and it is plenty.

C4T #2

My second C4T is on a teacher named David Truss. Right when I go to his blog I can see he updates it often and there are many interesting sites and information within his blog. He is also active on Twitter @datruss.

For my first comment I browsed through the blog and decided to comment on January 25, 2013. This post was about "7 Ways to Transform Your Classroom". He further explains the ways to transform and gives his incite on the topic.
For my comment, I introduced myself to David and then noted that when I first came to his blog, I noticed that he is very up to date. More up to date than many other blogs I have commented on which is great! I commended him on finding the time to teach, blog, and have personal time. Then I left my name and Twitter: @Miss_ShelbyD and Blog: http://dayshelbyedm310.blogspot.com/

Below is my first comment
"Hi David! My name is Shelby Day from the University of South Alabama. For my class EDM310 I was assigned your blog to follow. When I first came to your blog, I noticed that you are very up to date. More up to date than many other blogs I have commented on which is great! I commend you on finding the time to teach, blog, and have a personal time. It took me some time (and re-reading) to fully understand some of these concepts but once I understood, they were great! I look forward to future post on your blog! Shelby Day Twitter: @Miss_ShelbyD Blog: http://dayshelbyedm310.blogspot.com/"


For my second C4K comment I commented on David's post "Still the same conversation". He discusses if we need change in the schools. Then he list questions related to if we need change in the schools. At the closing of the post is a video that is a great resource to changing in the schools!

On my comment I left for "Still the same conversation" on David's blog, I reintroduced myself and stated how I felt about education and the technology associated with it. There was also a video that was interesting that I commented on. I left my blog information and my contact information.

Below is my second comment
"Hello again David! To reintroduce I am Shelby Day from the University of South Alabama. For my class EDM310 I was assigned your blog to follow. I agree that education must change! A reason instructors may be afraid of change is because they may not know where to start. I think that education should be more technology based and more interactive with online tools. The video is great and so spot on! Thanks David! Shelby Day Twitter: @Miss_ShelbyD Blog: http://dayshelbyedm310.blogspot.com/"

Blog Post 6

1. When I pulled Wendy Drexler's video "The Network Student" up to watch it, I honestly had no idea at all as to what to expect. As I watched it the fist time, I could only think how it related to EDM310. Then I realized it is EDM310, but only a different subject. At first I as not all about courses set up such as EDM310 but I knew I had to do it. Now a few weeks in, I believe it is a great learning process that should be a standard for all teachers not just South Alabama students. These course are a great way of learning about resources and how to find them rather than reading a chapter and being tested on it. These courses teach skills and knowledge rather than memorization and reading a textbooks, which makes it all the more interesting.
The first thing I realized is that this is a high school not college student. I could not imagine doing a class like this in high school. I would not start such a heavy course in high school, I would have to wait until college. Comparing this course to EDM310 again, I think it is to much to ask for from a high school student when the student has many other classes and other activities they are a part of. This class only meet three days out of the five, what about the other two days? It is high school, legally students have to be at school five days a week.
As I watched the video a second time I was thinking of the question "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?". The teacher is necessary to be a learning tool between the student and the online resources. For the first couple of weeks students will be learning how to operate the networking systems and since it will be new to the students, they will need help on navigating through the site. In conclusion, the teacher is there for guidance and a communication as well as a resource tool. She is teaching him skills rather than useless information he will not remember in two years.

2. After watching A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment I found that everyone does things differently. The student in the video was very organized with her bookmarking and keeping things on track. I personally use my history and a bookmarking bar to keep track of items/ links. I also like Google Drive to save documents so that you are able to view them from any computer with internet. Dropbox is also a useful site to store files so that they are viewable from any internet server.

Project #6

This is my sentence.

Project #5

Blog Post 5

1. After reading Krissy Venosdale's post, If I Built A School it opened my eyes to new ideas. Krissy Venosdale is a teacher who is very passionate about, well everything. She wants students to always have excitement and fun while learning in her classroom which is ideal for all teachers but most teachers are not this passionate about everything they do.
Once again, I can tell that Mrs. Venosdale is very passionate about this idea and would LOVE for it to happen to her. This school would be for the students not just an institution of learning. Everything from her Tree house Library to the lunchroom informal chats would be based around the students and their way of learning.The idea of how the classrooms are set up is also something I like.
For my school I would look into Mrs. Venosdale's idea of how classrooms are separated. I think this is an interesting idea but it also could create problems because there are no standards in place. I would make everything possible very hands on and lead/ teach by example rather than lectures in the classroom. I would focus on life skills not dates and information students will not remember or relate to. Students would be able to sign up for courses they are interested in and have a passion for rather than trying to teach them information they do not have a desire to learn.

2. Watching Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir I was simply amazed. I had no words on how this group of people could have and did complete this task. I subscribed to Eric's page on YouTube and watched about 6 videos about Virtual Choir or the Virtual Choir itself. This videos are simply amazing. My reaction to the video was shocked. I never even thought about how this could be done much less from 12 different countries and people that do not even know each other. I feel like if life had a song, This would be it.

3. It was interesting listening to the NPR interview of Eric Whitaker on making the Virtual Choir. To listen to the different voices separate and then together.

4. When I watched "Teaching in the 21st Century" by Kevin Roberts (John Strange version)it was pretty insightful. The title in itself is intriguing. I love that Prezi was used to create this presentation because it is already such an interactive presentation tool. Robert emphasizes the use of technology and all of the different sites that educators could use for resources. I agree with the video mostly. The slide that says "Teachers are not the main source of information, we are a filter" is very true in today's classroom. This presentation is accurate in the sense that teachers are there for questions but the way educators teach is being changed dramatically.

5. The flipped classroom videos were very informative and each one in its own way.
a. Katie Gimbar's video "Why I Flipped My Classroom" begins with introduction of herself and that she has been teaching math for 5 years and that is the reason why she flipped her classroom. She begins with the demonstration of how class time was not being used effectively in her classroom. This information would be very helpful in my classroom considering it is true. This is a great theory but i would like to see how the outcome was because I think this could only work on some subjects and grade levels.
The FAQ section was very helpful and answered many of my questions.
b. Dr. Lodge McCammon's video is more of teaching educators how to Flip a Classroom and the benefits but it is still fully effective in the lesson. This video is very similar to the previous video but more to the point.
c. Ms. Munafo's "Flipping the Classroom" is very busy on the slides. It is almost to busy to pay attention to everything. I like how she explains the definition and tips for flipping a classroom. She names the benefits of flipping so that parents and other educators can understand.

C4T #1

My first C4T was on Becky Goerend.

Becky is a fifth grade teacher she can be reached by Twitter @MrsBMG or by her blog.
Her most recent post is about a checklist her and her students created that they will use for writing. Instead of using a rubric for grading, Mrs. Goerend used the checklist that the class created. After the class completed the checklist the students each went over the narratives using the checklist to find and fix mistakes. After the students realized they needed to write with this checklist in mind, Mrs. Georend assigned another writing assignment. Giving the checklist to the students before they turned it in was helpful because they were able to compare their writing to how the teacher would grade it. In the post she list an example of her checklist the class created.

On her post I commented about how I think the checklist instead of a rubric is easier for students to understand. Sometimes when you give students an assignment to be graded, they will become nervous. With this checklist students will be focused on what to look for and fix so that they will receive a positive grade in the end. At the end of my comment, I thanked her for the helpful resource.


My second post for the first C4T was on a later post by Mrs. Goerend. In July 2012, her post was about how student always asked "How long does it have to be?" and teachers always think this means students are trying to do the least amount possible but what Mrs. Goerend found was that her students were only trying to get more information about the assignment and wanted to excel on it.

In my comment I introduced myself and told her how I always thought students were only trying to get out of the assignment without doing a lot of work rather than trying to improve their work. I also noted that this is a good point to think about.

Blog Post 4

My first podcast I viewed was Langwitches 1st Graders Create Own Read Along Book. As I listen to these first graders read the “Dinosaurs Before Dark” script, I could tell that they were trying to get into the story. It is great that at such a young age students are introduced to technology. The podcast was rather long for first grade but they kept the energy up! These could be a good tools to use to read books to students without actually reading. A teacher could play this podcast while showing the "Dinosaur Before Dark" book and then possibly make their own podcast with the class.

The next podcast I listened to was Langwitches Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting. First thing I noticed was that the video included another language other than English. I believe this was Hebrew. I can not speak or understand Hebrew but these young second graders do a great job of getting involved in the story and having such emotion. The second graders amazed me at how well they speak Hebrew for such a young age! The only word I really could understand was Ester but the students were great with such a new language and energy in the recording.

The final podcast I watched was Langwitches Flat Stanley Podcast. This was my favorite because these first graders are so energetic even in reading! The students speak so clearly and have such emotion in the recording. They used great description and I learned many new facts from their travels. This project is great for younger students because it is very creative and they can use their imagination. I liked Flat Emily who went to the University of Alabama and she learned to say "Roll Tide". She described the beaches and how the sand felt on her feet. This is a great project for the classroom and a way for students to use there imagination.

I would love to be able to use all of these ideas in a podcast for my classroom. I would even use these as examples to encourage my students to be enthusiastic and have such a positive attitude.

Special Blog Post #1

When I searched WolframAlpha for "Compare Populations of India, China and the United States" I found many more statistics. More importantly, I found statistics about populations in India, China, and the United States all compared. In 2010 it was estimated that India had 1.21 billion people, China had 1.35 billion people, and the United States had 309 million people. These state that China was in the lead of population followed by India then the United States. This was not new information to me or surprising. In my previous blog post I commented on how I thought this would be the population order.

For my two example searches I searched for "united states coffee consumption" first. I found a breakdown with charts, number, and any statistic I could need. My second search, I used "5 most popular girl's names" and nothing came up so I tried again with "Elizabeth, Rebecca, Jennifer". After the results came up, again I saw charts, numbers, and any data I could want comparing the three names I entered.

WolframAlpha is new to me therefore it is difficult to write how I would use it in my classroom. I did some research on the site to learn a little more about it so that I could answer this question. The definition of this site is a free online computational knowledge engine that generates answers to questions in real time by doing computations on its own vast internal knowledge base. I found that WolframAlpha can be used to solve math problems and general information like science topics too. They also have lesson plans for educators to use. I believe that with time this could be a successful learning tool to help explain lessons to students.

Watching Gary's Media Count website, again, I am not surprised. I actually expected the numbers to be higher. I see what the sight has done is gather the data then divide it by the allotted time. There, it is not completely accurate, but I see the point. Yes they are moving up at an astounding rate but that was a statistic collected in June 2012 and the media usage I would think would have gone up since then. Also, New websites with be in use and sites we are currently using now will be overrated and not used heavily anymore.
As I said before, I do understand to process and the outcome of this website and I do believe it gives good insight on how much we as a society rely on internet and social media usage. For my professional career as a teacher I think these social media numbers will not affect me in a negative way. I would use the social media to help educate the class as Dr. Stage has done with EDM 310.