Final Reflection

Project #13

Final Report on Collaboration

Collaborative tools played a key role in our group's functioning for Project #15, which was the second part of the SMARTboard project. For this portion of the project we were not allowed to meet in person so my two group members and I used the tools Dr. Strange gave us to communicate with each other. Claire Langham, Jenna Barnes, and I focused in on using Google Docs, Google Presentation, Skype, and group texts. Google Docs is by far my favorite collaborative tool. I just love that you can keep up with the work that each other has done, and help each other out at the same time. Through this, we were able to add to our work and edit it while never seeing each other face to face. The collaborative tools that Dr. Strange has shown us has completely changed the way I will do group projects in the future, and I'm so thankful to him for that! I truly will miss this class, and all of the great friends I made in it.

Project #16 Surviving EDM310

Blog Assignment #13

Back to the Future

"Back to the Future," is a video made by an elementary school teacher named Brian Crosby. I really enjoyed this video, and I think thats partially due to my new appreciation for technology because of EDM310. Mr. Crosby uses technology in his classroom to help his students become more interactive. I love what Mr. Crosby did with his classroom. He didn't just teach his class, he let them teach themselves too. My favorite part of the video was the balloon experiment. I love that he incorporated so many subjects around this one topic. I thought this was such a cool experiment, so I can't even imagine how excited his class was! They got to see a giant balloon get filled with helium, and then watch it take off with a camera. The students were able to watch it in real time with Google maps, and then they blogged about it. Mr. Crosby turned learning something that may have been boring for some students into something that is fun for everyone.

Another thing I really liked about the video was all of the different experiments. I remember looking so forward to Science class when we would have experiments. The only problem was that it rarely happened. Making the classroom an interactive place where students look forward to going can enhance the learning experience dramatically. Mr. Crosby's video gave me so many ideas that I want to implement in my classroom one day. It's so inspirational how much passion he has for his students, and what he does.

A Vision of Students Today

The video, "A Vision of Students Today" by Michael Wesch, is about an average student's feelings about college. A document was made in Google Docs that was sent out asking the students what it's like being a student today. There were 367 edits made to the document by the time they were finished. College is so expensive, most students start off their careers in so much debt. Students don't get one on one time with professors either. I think three out of my five teachers know my name, but that is because I try to make it a point for them to know me, so I don't get lost in the crowd. Students are also spending so much money on text books that are sometimes never needed in classes. I could completely relate to almost every cue card that was held up in the video. Especially the one that said, "I will be $20,000 in debt after I graduate", this will most definitely be true for me.

From a teacher and a student perspective technology is key to success in the classroom. Teachers should use the free tools that are available online to try and get students more involved. The more interaction students have with stuff that is considered "cool" the higher chances we as educators will have engaging with them. I think the main point of this video is that through technology students can be way more engaged and more passionate about going to class. Filling in as many people as possible into a room to watch one teacher at the front is crazy. Why not use technology, and make the classroom a more interactive place?

Project #3 C4T #4

Post #1

For C4T #4 I was assigned to Justin Tarte's blog titled, "Life of an Educator". Mr. Tarte is the Director of Curriculum and Personnel in the Union R-XI School District in Union, Missouri. Before he had that job he was an assistant principal at Poplar Bluff Junior High School in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and before that he taught German at Seckman High School in the Fox C-6 School District in Arnold, Missouri. The first post of Mr. Tarte's that I commented on was called, "A Powerful Lesson in Leadership." In this post, Mr. Tarte tells a story about three blind men that happen to meet each other. One of the blind men says that he heard elephants are very strange animals, which sparks up all of the mens interest in wanting to feel one. A merchant just happens to be walking by, and overhears the conversation. He tells them that he will let them feel one part of his elephant, one at a time. Each blind man got his turn, and then returned to the others. None of them said a word until they all felt the elephant. After the merchant was gone, the three blind men each discussed what they felt. All of their descriptions of the elephant were completely different, because they felt different parts of it. This then brings up Mr. Tarte's question, how can anyone describe the total units of something until they have learned every part?

I wrote back to Mr. Tarte, and told him that if you only have a limited perspective on a subject then your line of thinking is limited to only what you know. Since each one of the blind men touched different parts of the elephant, then each of their views are going to be different. If three foreigners came to the United States, and one went to Texas, one went to New York, and one went to Los Angeles, then they would all have a different perspective of what the United States is like.

Post #2

For post #2 I commented on Mr. Tarte's blog post titled, "A New Essential Curriculum." Mr. Tarte starts off his post by asking if we think students feel like they enter school in morning as a simulation of the 1990s, and then leave at the end of the day in the 21st century. Mr. Tarte then directs us to watch a video that he posted, Rigorous Curriculum Design. This video is about Larry Ainsworth discussing why he wrote the book and seminar Rigorous Curriculum Design. In the video, Ainsworth says the curriculum being used in the classroom hasn't been updated in years, and it is crucial that we change this. He also says that the curriculum needs to be relevant to our rapidly growing environment. I believe he means that society is constantly evolving, and the curriculum we teach our kids should as well.

The next thing on Mr. Tarte's blog post is a second video called, "Education and the Changing World of Work." This video is about the left and right hemispheres of the brain. In the video, it says that for years the workforce has generally been geared to "left hemisphere" workers. As of lately, research is showing a shift to people using their "right hemisphere" more. The video then discusses how the majority of children that have been "left hemisphere" thinkers is now moving towards "right hemisphere thinkers", and that maybe we need to update our SAT and ACT tests to be directed more towards the new age.

I completely agreed that the curriculum needs to be updated. Just like I said above about what the main point of the first video was, If the world is constantly evolving we need to be constantly evolving our education as well. To be honest, it took me a long time to figure out what to say back to Mr. Tarte about the second video. I took in so much information from his post, and I just didn't know where to start. After, a lot of thought I told him that I didn't know much about the research being done about the change in the brain hemispheres, but if that is the case than standardized testing should be updated with it. I've always felt that standardized forms of testing were more geared towards linear problems than to any kind of artistic thinking outside of the box problems. I believe if our society is switching over to the "right hemisphere" way of thinking, than maybe our teaching should as well.

Final Report on PLN

This is my final report about my PLN in EDM310. My PLN has been extremely useful for me throughout this semester. I have all of my most used websites in one place, and can access them all with just one click. This is especially helpful for me, because I have a strong need to be organized! I also love it, because having all of the websites I use in one place was also a reminder for me to view them at least once a day. When I first started using my PLN I didn't really know what I was doing, and to be honest I wasn't using it very often. Now that I know so much about it, and I am using it daily, I have found it to be very resourceful. A few of the sites that I have added to my PLN are the EDM310 class blog, Sakai, blogger, and twitter. I'm certain that I will continue to use my PLN throughout my schooling, teaching, and I'll be having my students use it as well!