Blog Post #16

As i re-read what I wrote in my first blog post I found that there isn't much that I would change, if any. As a second grade teacher I would challenge my students to go above and beyond when it comes to learning. Teaching is never about the instructor, but always about the students. I would encourage all of my students to be independent learners and critical thinkers. Every lesson would be engaging, in some way or form, for my students. If any of my students have a hard time learning I would take my time to makes sure they understand. All of my students would be happy to learn.
I would still use group work, class discussion, and individual students as methods for my students to learn. Group work has been very helpful to me so I would emphasis that in my classroom as one of my primary ways of teaching. This would be a great way for all of my students to not only get to know each other, but express their own ideas and thoughts to others. Learning would be

very easy when doing group work/projects. Students would also gain a sense of being independent while working in group. How? Well each student would be expressing their own thoughts and implementing them into the assignments. Class discussions would take place daily to let students share thoughts or concerns that they have about the material that we are learning. Each student would also have their own turn to express to the class that they learned the assignment and can help others if needed.
The iPad, SmartBoard, and Macs/ Computers would be a major supplement to my teaching and my students learning. All of these tools are great ways to keep students engaged in the learning process. Every student would most likely be familiar with these tools, but I would show them that there are more ways to use them then they already know. Using this technology in my classroom would be very exciting to my students because they are familiar with it. The most exciting part of using this technology is that I would show them more ways to use it. Every student would be happy to know that they can learn while using technology that they use regularly.
My classroom would be a very calm and open learning environment. Every student would be familiar with each other so no one would be shy when it comes to presenting. My students would use technology to find new ways to learn or assignments that think would be interesting to do. I would challenge my students mentally to be critical thinkers. As a teacher I know that there are more things to be learned and my students can play a part in teaching me new things.
The methods and tools that I said I would use at the start of the semester has not changed. However, since writing that post I have learned more ways to use those tools previously stated. There are always new things to learn and these tools would be the best way to show it. The SmartBoard is capable of doing things that I has never heard of. I still think this is a good way to engage my students.
EDM310 has shown me many new ways to use technology. Blogging, iCurio, Prezi, iBook, iMovie and much more would be implemented into my classroom. All of these tools are very useful for student learning. Just about every tool used in EDM310 would be used in my classroom. Why? All of these things I found interesting/useful and I am pretty sure that students would feel the same.

Blog Post #15

Assistive Technology in the Classroom

Tools for Students with Sight and Reading Disabilities- My Post
Teaching students will always be a challenge. One of the more difficult things to do is teach students with learning disabilities. Learning disabilities can affect every aspect of learning, like writing, reading and math. There are many assistive tools that can help make these disorders a little easier to manage. Braille embossers convert text into Braille output. This tool allows teachers to convert things into Braille for better assistance with blind students. There is also software tools designed to make text-based materials more accessible to assist students with reading disabilities. Options can include scanning, reformatting, navigating, or speaking text out loud; this is a very good tool for students who have problems seeing or maneuvering print material. Prufrock Press is a word prediction program that requires a few keystrokes to generate word lists. This can help

students with dyslexia or dysgraphia that has severe spelling problems, which do not benefit from spell-checkers.
Dyslexia
Microsoft

Touch Screens for Students with Autism- Michelle's Post
To know what assistive technology is available to you as a teacher, you must first know what it is. Assistive technology is any piece of technology that helps students learn with a disability. As elementary teachers, we will come into contact with students with disabilities that are just learning how to learn with that said disability. One newer form of technology is the touch screen on many computers and tablets. This is an extremely useful assistive technology for students with autism. Students with autism may struggle to grasp the concept between the mouse and the actions on the screen. When they are able to use their finger on the screen as a guide, they learn more easily. A great website with a few tips on how to use assistive technology for autism is specialed.us

Tools for English Language Learners- Miriah's Post
There are several ways to accommodate children with disabilities in your classroom. A great form of Assistive technology would be a program called “Read and Write Gold”. This program allows students to do several things to help them with their education. One feature this program allows you to do is convert speech to text. This program also allows you to translate foreign languages to English, if your student happens to be an English language learner. This can be easily downloaded to a Mac, PC, iPad, or tablet, so it can usually be easily accessed in your classroom. I would use this program for any student that could benefit from it and I believe it would be rather useful. For more information and uses of Read and Write Gold, visit texthelp.com

Blog Post #14

Explore
Visit and explore these websites. They all offer many valuable resources and supplements for students and teachers. Choose the website that you would most likely use in your classroom. Write a blog post giving information on the website you chose and why you would use it.
Mr. Nussbaum
Fun Brain
Turtle Diary
Fuel The Brain

My Post On Using The Website I Chose
The website I chose was Turtle Diary. This website is free and it has many resources to supplement in teaching. Some of the resources this website has are games, worksheets, interactive books, videos, puzzles, and biographies. One thing that stands out the most is the experiments. It is very important that your students have hands on activities. Turtle Dairy has a list of Science experiments that give your students an opportunity to test theories while having fun. It also has a wide range of art and crafts projects. The biographies also are very important. All of the famous people that kids need to

know about are listed. Scientist, writers, artist and many more are on here. Your students will love it.
Using this website will help your classroom stay interactive while learning and having fun. Another fun resource this website offers is interactive online book. Since my classroom will most likely have a Smart Board this would be a great thing to help students learn to read. From games to worksheets this website has it all. Every subject is covered on this website. Your students are guaranteed to love it just as much as you do.

C4T #4

Summary #1
The title of this post is The Future of (Less) Work. Mr. Fisch starts by telling everyone that he is not an expert when it comes to economics, he doesn't think anyone really is. He then goes on to talk about the very slow recovery from the Great Recession. Unemployment is still high, but corporate profits are doing very well.

A reason Mr. Fisch gives for this is the nature of work changing. Technology, in the form of automation and connectedness, makes it very profitable to employ only a select few. We are in a transition state when it comes to technology. An example given is the “self-driving car.” Mr. Fisch talks about how people would be very skeptical at first, but eventually they would adjust to it. This would make the unemployment rates sky rock. The use of self-driving cars would exclude the need for truck, bus, train, taxi, and other transportation drivers. This would also cause for more unemployment in many other areas, although creating a few job opportunities. He also explains that he fears for the education of the upcoming youth. If the work force is mainly left up to technology then what will they need to know? One thing Mr. Fisch says we need to know how to do is create. “Whether that is creative in the sense of ideas, creative in the sense of solutions to problems, or creative in the sense of making things, I think it’s going to be an integral part of the future of work.” He then closes by asking, “If the future of work is really "less" work and perhaps more "creating", then what should K-12 education look like?”

Comment#1
My name is Demetrius Hamner. I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, Alabama. I have been assigned to comment on your blog now and again later in the month. As a student I have first-hand experience of the rapid changes in the classroom. I also agree that most students are not able to be completely creative in the classroom. This would take time for the school systems to be able to incorporate worldwide. As far as the work force I am excited to see what that would look like 10 years from now. Everything is changing all over, but all we can do is adapt to try and keep up.

Summary #2 The title of this post is Modern Learning. Mr. Fisch starts off by telling us that when discussing the future of k-12 education with a few friends they all came back to the same idea “modern learning/learners.” He then returned to his school to further discuss a presentation he did called “Do Better Things.” Many that were a part of that conversation wanted to put it into action. After meeting again Mr. Fisch did another short presentation with modern learning/learners as a jump off point. The presentation was embedded but it wasn't as useful without what he said along with it.

He then goes into a deeper discussion of slide 15. This slide visually showed the changes of modern learning in a timeline. Their program, Connected Learners, had been recently expanded. Now the entire freshmen class would have a laptop and each year another class until the entire student body had one. The timeline on this slide reinforced the idea that the freshmen of the class 2020 would know nothing about the world before Facebook, Twitter, and the iPhone. These students would have been using laptops since the age of 7. A few cultural references were used to enhance this ideal class. Some of those references were: 9-11 has always been the twin towers, they’ve always known what a blog and a wiki are, and “Like” has always been something you did on facebook.” Mr. Fisch then closes by explaining that a challenge educators, parents and citizens face is that no one can grasp the concept of what learning looks like today. Learning and schools must be put in a modern context, but that would be nowhere near what we are used to.

Comment #2 This is a very interesting post. The technology that today's students are exposed to is amazing and with that being said the way they learn has changed. Modern today and modern 10 years ago are very much different. The more technology that kids are exposed to the more they learn, but in a very different way. We all have to adapt to these changes in order to further educate our students. This will only lead to more questions like "How?" "What do we use?"

Project #2 Final PLN

My Personal Learning Network
Over the short time period in this course my symbaloo has grown. At first I only had my blog and a few other sites that I used on a regular to stay connected; now I have added more educational sites for teachers. The sites that I have added to my symbaloo help me stay informed on new information. I also have found places to help construct lesson plans and activities. As time goes on I will continue to add more to my symbaloo. You can never have too much information or sources to help stay connected. Learning is a lifelong process and I will embrace it every day.

Blog Post #13

My Post
The video Kakenya Ntaiya: A Girl Who Demanded School was very touching. Kakenya is a woman from Kenya that wanted to make a change. She refused to keep the tradition and be married at the age of 12. Kakenya had dreams of becoming a teacher. Unfortunately, Kakeya had to undergo female circumcision as a compromise for her father to let her continue going to school at the age of 12. This was not at all an easy thing to do, but she was very determined to be a teacher. She did everything she could to get to America in order to attend college.

The knowledge that Kakenya acquired when reaching America devastated her, and she decided to do something about it. After Kakenya graduated she went back to Kenya and started an all-girls school. This helped changed their lives for the better. We can learn a lot from this video. One thing we can learn is that it only takes one person to stand up for what they truly believe in to make a difference. Kakenya knew nothing about being a teacher, besides the fact that it looked easy, when she was young. The knowledge that she gained empowered her to do great things. Knowledge should make everyone want to make a difference. This video showed us that it only takes one person to create an opposite path that will help change the lives of many. You may start off with a very small dream, like becoming a teacher, and along the way help others reach dreams that you couldn't imagine.

Michelle’s Post
Number Eight on Sir Ken Robinson’s list of favorite TED Talks is by a man named Shane Koyczan called "To This Day...for the bullied and beautiful". Shane is a poet as he delivers his speech to a full house. He talks about his childhood and how he tried to become himself. As a child he “hid his heart under the bed because his mother told if he wasn’t careful with it, someone would break it.” He claims we

have to define ourselves at such an early age now. He continues telling about aspiring moments from his past. He talks about everything children have to deal with: bullies, finding yourself, and staying true to yourself. As future teachers, we need to remember what it was like for us to be the child. Shane made me remember that every child has the same problems. They want to define themselves. As a teacher, I will give my students room to grow and become the people of the future they deserve to be. Children are often put down by adults, because they think their problems trivial. Remember being that kid that got called names? Bullied? This video taught me to remember that for my future students. If you haven’t watched this, I would highly suggest it. It’s a lyrical reminder of childhood and why we as teachers need to pay attention to every child.

Miriah’s Post
On the list of Sir Ken Robinson’s favorite TED talks is a video called Teaching one child at a time by Shukla Bose. In this video, she tells how she started the Parikrma Humanity Foundation from her kitchen table. This is a program that helps the “slums” of India by focusing on teaching one student at a time.

She explains that one of the schools she went to was a school that held 165 students and no roof on the building. Her dream, as she says, is for children to live to be educated and to live peacefully in the “kaotic” globalized world. She not only organized the schools that these children now had access to, but she chose a very difficult curriculum for them as well; which made her receive many crazy looks from outsiders. She explains that the students did more than adapt to this curriculum but excelled with it. Shukla Bose is a very inspiring woman. She shows us that every student has potential, they just need the right materials to succeed; and that “one student at a time” makes a difference. Like she says, “Educating the poor is more than just a numbers game.” It is people like this that should inspire educators around the world every day.

C4K Summary for November

Childs Name- Jesse
Summary- The title of this post is Four Shot Movie Plan. Jesse drew four scenes for his storyboard and included the type of camera shot it would be. The first scene was a long shot of a boy standing in front of the computer looking at a football. The second scene was an over the shoulder shot of the boy looking at the computer. The third scene was a mid-shot of the boy’s hands reaching into the computer screen. The final shot is a close up of the boy’s hands grabbing the football out of the computer screen. Under the drawing of the four shot movie plan Jesse writes what the whole story is.

My Response- My name is Demetrius Hamner. I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, Alabama. I loved your drawing of your movie plan. When I was in high school I took a TV production class and I had to draw storyboards. Storyboards can be a hard thing to do, but you did an amazing job.

Childs Name- Amelia
Summary- The title of this post isAmelia's Story about the origins of the Chinese New Year.In this post Amelia created a comic picture on the origins of the Chinese New Year. The comic picture consisted of a dragon, fan, lantern, and a noodall. She was also recorded on video telling her story of the origins of the Chinese New Year. Amelia told how the people of the village were scared of a monster that ate the animals and crops. A wise man of the village told them how to scare it away. The village people listened to the wise man and made loud noises. That scared the monster away and so the village people celebrated.

My Response- Hello. My name is Demetrius Hamner. I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. Your comic picture was great. I also loved you video. Your story was very good. Keep up the good work.

Project #12B

SmartBoard Lesson

Blog Post #12

My Post
The video Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms starts off by telling us about the two reasons countries are reforming public education. One reason is economic, which poses the question: “How do we educate our children to take their place in the economies of the 21st Century?” The second reason is cultural, which poses the question: “How do we educate our children so they can have a sense of cultural identity so that we can pass on the cultural genes of our communities while being part of globalization?” Mr. Robinson also reinforces the

fact that the school systems are still trying to teach students the same as the students were taught in the past. This is unacceptable, and we must change that if we truly want to educate our children. He also tells us about how students are going one way in the school system and they really should be headed in the other direction (change the paradigm). I learned from Mr. Robinson that every student has the means to be a “genius”, unfortunately that slowly fades away due to the school systems of today. We must change this quickly. In school, we are taught that we should not collaborate on the majority of our work, but in reality, the best learning is done collaboratively. This video taught me to look at school systems differently. We tell students to attend school, go to college and get a degree. In todays society, that is no longer enough to get and keep a well paying job. I learned that things must change if we truly want our upcoming students to be educated and obtain a good job.

Miriah's Post
How to Escape Education's Death Valley is a hysterical but informative speech by Ken Robinson, a man who moved to America twelve years before. He tells us that whoever thought of the title "No child left behind" truly understood irony, because it's leaving millions of children behind. He says that America spends enough money and enough resources, but it is all going in the wrong direction. He believes the problem is not enough educators are focusing on Teaching and Learning but, instead, testing. He expressed that education is not a mechanical system, it's a human system; it's about people, and there are condition in which people thrive. He then clarifies why "Death Valley" is in the title by explaining that it is a place where nothing grows because it doesn't rain. Meaning that if we do not provide children with appropriate teaching climates, they will not thrive for success. He tells us that we must do these three things in the education system: We must individualize teaching and learning, we must attribute a high status to the teaching profession, and see Professional Development as an investment, not a cost, and we must make schools responsible and autonomous to get the job done. Centralized decision making is not the way. He concludes by saying that if we all were encouraged to be moved, it would start a revolution, and that is what we need. This man made some valid points about the education system.He made me believe that I can truly make a difference as a future teacher. It is a big process, teaching and learning; it relies on many aspects. If we can provide these aspects to schools, we are setting students up for success, which will lead to a “revolution”.

Michelle's Post
In Ken Robinson’s TED Talk, How Schools Kill Creativity, he discusses how education is diminishing children’s creativity. He starts the talk with stories of how education is meant to prepare children for the future. He considers creativity to be just as important as literature in education. I am going to second him on this. Teachers spend so much time on literature and language arts but very little on evolving a child’s creativity. Creativity is one of the most extraordinary abilities we as humans have. I loved when Sir Ken said that children are born creative, but they grow out of it. They are taught out of it. The arts are no longer taught in elementary school like they are in secondary schools. Why is that? While watching this, I remembered Dr. Vitulli’s arts class. She stressed the importance of incorporating the arts in your lessons. Many teachers don’t do this. Teachers and parents tell the students to not do art or music, because they won’t be either as adults. Creativity and intelligence go hand in hand. So why not teach it? If you incorporate it into your lesson, it won’t take you any longer to teach it. It may also help students remember it easier that just a boring lecture and demonstration.

Project #15 Learning Plan #3

Project #10: Interview Movie

Project #12 Part A

Blog Post #11

The interview with Ms. Cassidy, a first grade teacher, was very interesting. She starts by telling us that she first got involved with technology because five computers were given to her classroom. These computers were nothing like what we are used to using. They were Sun Ray computers and although they had access to the internet you were unable to download programs to them. She then searched the internet to find different ways to implement the use of these computers (i.e. blogs, webpages, videos, etc.) into her classroom with funding from the government and help from a developer. Ms. Cassidy had not been discouraged when it came to using technology in the classroom, but she had been the only one at the time trying. Along the way she had help and support from others. Some of those supporters were the parents and the technology coordinator.

The success of the use of technology in Ms. Cassidy’s classroom came because she was so passionate. She was excited to explore technology for her first graders to use. Ms. Cassidy also feels we will not be successful in educating students using the same methods as twenty years ago. The world has changed and we must change also, I agree with this. Ms. Cassidy’s approach to technology is basically explore it and do not be afraid to use it. That is a method in which I would conduct my classroom. As educators we have to keep up with new technology and use it if possible. There is nothing wrong with implementing technology into your classroom as long it is safe for your students.

It is always important to protect your students. Some parents or administrators might question this. If this was to happen I would ensure them that my students are safe by showing them some of the rules and guidelines that I give my students. Each student would have a set of rules to follow when using technology and if they did not follow these rules disciplinary actions would be taken. The first action taken would be they would not be able to use technology for a while and if it continues after that they would not be able to use it at all. I would also ensure them that the students are safe by consulting with the technology coordinator when using any technology. Each parent will also have a list of the technology coordinated things used in the classroom and no student would be able to use it before they signed off on it.

There would be many benefits to using Ms. Cassidy’s exploring and developing techniques. As a teacher we would always be up to date with things that our students use on a regular and using those things in a classroom setting would be exciting for students. Each student would no longer dread going to school, instead they would be excited and ready to go back. Since technology is ever-changing our students would be not only learning but advancing beyond belief. No teacher should deprive their students of the use of technology in the classroom because they aren’t familiar with it. We are responsible for exploring new things for our students to enhance their learning experience. In my classroom there would be no limits and every student would be encouraged to excel.

C4T #3

Summary #1
The title of this post is Algorithmic Education. “Any teacher that can be replaced with a computer deserves to be. -attributed to David Thornburg.” Mr. Genereux’s post revolves around this quote. He explains that if professional educators are willing to let technology predominantly do the teaching for them then they should be replaced by technology. A classroom picture of kids taking their accelerated reading test on an iPad was posted on Facebook (on the local school districts page) and this sends Mr. Genereux into deep thought. He then thinks back on the time when his child's school was slow to adapt to incorporating technology into the classroom. Now that schools were comfortable with showing the world kids using technology in the classroom Mr.Genereux wasn’t sure how to deal with this. Ultimately he decided to post that he felt they were wasting mobile technology. Within moments Mr. Genereux deleted his comment because it was truly out

of context. He then thought that he should respect teachers a little more because they are teaching his kids. Using technology is a tricky thing and teachers should restrain from letting technology “run” the classroom. Every teacher should gain complete understanding of technology (iPads, computer programs, etc.) before using it. The goal of this is to “program not be programmed.” He then discusses the “intelligence” of the computers that we use even if we don’t understand them. An example given is Google’s auto-suggest, without even knowing we are being greatly influenced. If we first had knowledge of the computer program we would notice this and wouldn't be so susceptible to it. Mr. Genereux says when a school adopts a technology like Accelerated Reader, it is accepting the embedded intelligence and limitations of the computing environment used as well as that of the technology’s creator. We then no longer have room for students who reading interest are outside of the Accelerated Reader Program. So in turn Mr. Genereux think teachers should only use Accelerated Reader as a supplement to teaching. An irreplaceable teacher will understand that being creative with technology is a must, but we should not let technology define us. Only using technology to administer test is a “waste.” Mr. Genereux stresses that just because something is on a test doesn't mean that it’s valuable. He also says that the teaching position has become less creative and personalized. Why? This is because of the rules made by people “far away from the classroom.” He also fears this will happen not only for teachers but doctors as well.

Comment #1
This is a very interesting post. Technology is being used more and more in the classroom, but it is up to the teacher on how to use it. Since teachers are given "rules" on what they can and can't do using technology in the classroom can be tricky. I agree that any teacher that can be replaced by a computer should be. Technology is a very good thing but teachers should learn how to use it in supplement to a lesson. The teaching position should be more and more personalized instead of the other way around. We are all still learning as technology evolves, but we should also make sure we understand it before using it.

Summary #2
The title of this post is A New Word and A New Pope. Bill Genereux explains that the word “selfie” was recently added to the online Oxford Dictionaries. A selfie is a photo

that one has taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website. Mr. Genereux also tells about how the new pope took a “selfie” a few young people. It is debated that since this wasn’t just the pope in the picture that is not a “selfie” it is a “groupie.” He then explains that years ago the photographer was never in their own picture, but with new technology on mobile devices a rear-facing camera makes this possible. The comparison of “blog” and “selfie” is also made in this post. Mr. Genereux says that neither, a blog or a selfie, has to be from a self-involved, narcissistic point of view.

Comment #2
As a "young person" I tend to take selfies all the time. They typically are of me only, but some moments cause for multiple people to be in the picture. A moment like meeting the pope is unforgettable so why not take a selfie. Most selfies are taken as a spur of the moment thing anyways. I also agree that selfies and blogs do not have to be from a self-involved, narcissistic point of view.

C4K Summary for October

Childs name- Sadie Pickle
Summary- In this post Sadie gave the link to informational videos on Little Angel Service Dogs. Service dogs are not just for the blind. These dogs can be for people with diabetes, seizures, or a number of other things. Sadie also asked a few questions about service dogs. Some of the question asked where: What other jobs do dogs do for people? What are some things you can do to help when you see a service dog? She also answered questions on the chapters she had to read for class.

My Response- My name is Demetrius Hamner. I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I loved the videos on service dogs. I never knew all of different rolls they could play. Dogs are not only there to keep up company , but they also help us in any ways. Your questions are really something to think about. I will be sure to look into this more.

Childs Name- Izzy
Summary- In this post Izzy drew a tree with animals to describe levels of the forest. The tree was colored very well and every animal drawn was labeled. The animals drawn where the Magpie, Northern Flicker, Ground Squirrel, and a Beetle.

My Response- My name is Demetrius Hamner and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, Alabama. I really liked your drawing. The tree was very colorful and I liked how you labeled all of the animals. Very good job.

Childs Name- Armando
Summary- The title of this post is Sinking the Words. Armando describes what the earthquake at Church Christ was like for him. He was eating lunch when everything started to shake. He then gives his three wishes on the changes he would make to the rebuilt Christ Church. The first wish is tourist attraction which consists of an amazing water park. The proceeds of this would help rebuild houses, buildings, and save jobs. The second wish is to have more support on tall buildings. Armando thinks of this because he doesn’t want the Christ Church to have to get rebuilt again. His support for the new building would be having wheels or solid supports that go deep into the ground and are stuck to the foundation. His final wish would be more transportation. The transportation would be to help tourist get to the waterpark or other places around the Church Christ.

My Response- My name is Demetrius. I really enjoyed reading your speech. If your three wishes where to come true I think it would help a lot. The water park wish was my favorite because I enjoy going to water parks. I am so sorry that you experienced an earthquake I know that was very scary. I hope the Christ Church is rebuilt to your liking.

Childs Name- Chloe
Summary- The title of this post is Out of My Mind: Reading Response #2. Chloe gives her second response to the book Out of My Mind. She briefly explains problems of the character, who is unfortunately restrained to a wheelchair, Melody. One problem is that Melody gets frustrated about not being able to change the channel on television. Chloe says that things would be better is she just had a remote control. Another response Chloe gives is that maybe Melody could have a button on her wheelchair that lets people know that she is frustrated. The last response Chloe gives is that maybe Melody could have new words on her board to expand her vocabulary.

My Response- My name is Demetrius Hamner. I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, Alabama. I liked your suggestions to help Melody. Each suggestion was very thoughtful. Although I have not read the book it seems very interesting. Good Job.

Project #14

Lesson Plan Overview created by Group Dufy
Above is the link to our Project Overview. This lesson plan focuses on Grade Level Standard 3: Writing narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. It is intended for Grade 2. The project duration will be approximately six days with 45-60 minute sessions a day. After they finish this project, students should have an understanding of what an autobiography is and how to write one.
Project Calendar by Dufy
Project Rubric by Dufy

Blog Post #10

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture is a very inspiring speech. Randy was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who suffered from pancreatic cancer and was given only a few months to live. This however, didn't stop him from making an incredible speech on his childhood dreams coming true. Some of his many dreams were to: Win stuffed animals, be Captain Kirk, and be a Disney imagineer. Each dream of his didn't come true in the way he thought it would but with time and hard work he came as close as possible. Pursuing his dreams was very complicated, but no matter what he followed his heart and learned from each dream.

As we mature and become adults we should let nothing stop us from being all that we can be. Randy showed me that no matter what dream we have, little or big, we should let nothing or no one get in our way of achieving it. As a teacher we will have students that will want to give up, but we must inspire them to do well and continue to try. He also helped his students learn hard things while having fun, this is a legacy he doesn't mind living with. Randy stressed the fact that each student should learn to be self-reflective. Self-reflection is something I am learning currently learning to do and I find this to be very important because we need to learn to be honest with ourselves. We must also respect authority, but also question it.

What did I learn about teaching and learning from Randy Pausch? I learned that teaching will always be a little complicated, but as teachers we should always stay positive and try to motivate our students. Learning is very complex. The way we learn is up to us. Randy learned by pursuing his dreams. Each dream gave him great experience and he always kept a positive composure. Life experiences will always teach us something we should just be prepared. Life also gives us things that we cannot change, but must learn to live with. Randy had to deal with his cancer and he couldn't change the fact that he had it. He did stay positive, pursued his dreams, and taught people worldwide. In the end life is all about how we deal the hand we were given. Will you be the one that gives up because someone said it was impossible or will you continue to reach the goals you set out for yourself?

Blog Post #9

Back to the Future is an educational video in which Brian Crosby, a fourth to sixth grade teacher at Agnes Risley Elementary School in Sparks, Nevada, discusses the ways he improves student learning in his classroom. When this video first started, it confused us a little. Why? Well, Mr. Crosby informed us on the background on his students and just how little they were exposed to. The majority of his class came from low income homes and had very little knowledge of their surroundings. Less than half of his class knew which city, state and country they lived in. This video shows the difference in the knowledge of students from middle-income and low-income schools. He has students use technology to connect with the outside world and learn from it. The students have their own blogs that they use to post their classwork on to meet state standards. Mr. Crosby reinforced the fact that every teacher should be creative, passionate and imaginative. We learned that you shouldn't judge students on where they come from, because with the right methods of teaching, every student will be able to become an A+ student. They are more than capable of learning the advantages of technology and utilizing it.

Blended Learning Cycle is a video in which Paul Anderson, a high school AP Biology teacher in Bozeman, Montana, teaches us what a blended learning cycle is. A blended learning cycle is a combination of the blended cycle and the learning cycle. The blended cycle consists of three parts: mobile, online and classroom. The learning cycle consists of five parts: engage, explore, explain, expand, and evaluate.

An easy way to remember the steps in this cycle is the acronym QUIVERS; Question, Investigate, Video, Elaboration, Review, Summary quiz. Mr. Anderson uses this in his classroom to help his students learn. Each step of this method was to confirm the understanding of the students answer to a driving question. If the student was not able to complete one step of this method, then they were not able to move on to the next step. What can we learn from Mr. Anderson? We learned a new method of teaching. Every good teacher knows to ask a good question. Mr. Anderson’s steps make it easy to make sure students understand your questions. QUIVERS is a method we would use in our classrooms to keep our students engaged and check their understanding.

Making Thinking Visible is a video by Mark Church. He starts by putting his class into small groups. He wants them to think about the topic of human origins. He lets them interpret the topic on their own and create a headline, or question, that helps them start their thinking process. After further discussion of that unit, the students will go back to their headlines and see if their view on the topic has changed. This is a very good method of learning to help students become critical thinkers. What can we learn from Mr. Church? We learned to let students think for themselves. If you pose a question, the students will find a way to answer it. This is a method of learning that we all could use in our classrooms to encourage our students to think critically and learn to combine their thoughts with others as well.

By: Demetrius Hamner, Michelle Detar, and Miriah Grantham

Blog Post #8

My Post
As I searched the internet I came across two very good learning websites. One is called Eduplace and the other one is called Jump Start. Eduplace is a basic site, specifically for second grade, that gives tools to help plan your lesson. It consists of a glossary, manipulatives, graphic organizers, and of course games. All these tools are specific for second grade learning. This learning tool could be used often in my classroom mostly for the games

and manipulatives. Jump Start has educational resources for pre-K through sixth grade. Some of the resources are games, worksheets, lesson plans, and much more. The movie Madagascar and How to Train Your Dragon are some of the themes used for the different games. Each game is available not only online but on a number of sources like the iPad, Nintendo Wii, Mobile Device, and Nintendo DS. As you can see Jump Start stays up to date on 21st century learning and that is why it grabbed my attention. This is something that I will use in my classroom on a daily basis to reinforce what we have learned or even introduces something new. The many worksheets, lesson plans, and activities will be of great help in my classroom. Each curriculum is based on national and state standards so my students will always be learning efficiently. Jump Start is also a great way to keep my class interactive in learning. This site will help make the boring or more difficult topic fun.

Miriah's Post
One of the great sites that I stumbled upon was called Tech4Learning. This is a great place that encourages what we are learning in EDM310. It can be accessed by Parents, Teachers, and Administrators. It gives you all sorts of interesting information including “How to create a 21st Century Classroom”. It offers guides of common core standards that must be followed and “award winning” programs to download and use in your classroom. There is also a “connect” tab on the homepage that allows you to connect with other teachers, see lessons, and the work of other students. Another interesting site that I found was called The 21st Century Teacher. Here you can find articles, blogs, and videos that offer tips for 21st century learning. I would use both of these websites as an educator. Not only do they offer you great advice, but they also allow you to connect with other educators from all over and share ideas, which is very helpful for creating your own “21st Century Classroom”.

Michelle's Post
I am currently observing in a third grade classroom for three of my other classes. My mentor teacher, Ms. Williams, told me about some great sites that she uses to get worksheets and activities from. One that she told me about was Teachers Pay Teachers. I created an account with Teachers Pay Teachers so that I could access the tools that it provides. Teachers from all over can sell their original works to other teachers. You can sort your options by grade level, subject, or price. This is a great tool to use when you need extra help on certain subjects. My mentor teacher uses it in reading, because many of the students have a hard time grasping how to find the main idea of a passage. I would use this tool whenever I wanted my students to have a little extra practice on what we have already learned. The prices are cheap, and its quality work that you are buying. Some other great tools that it provides are: bulletin board ideas, classroom decorations, PowerPoints, rubrics, and so much more! Teachers Pay Teachers is an excellent site for teachers in all aspects.

Project #9

Podcast by Group Dufy

C4T #2

Summary #1
In this post, Digital Storytelling 106: Open, Participatory, Student-centric, Socical...the Future Mr. Rheingold addresses the online learning community for students. He also uses works of Jim Groom as a “platform” for the way he thinks the future of what online learning should be like. Every student has a digital identity and that is very much important, but is the way today's students learn online really the “future?” Mr. Rheingold says no, in fact he speaks on a new way for students to learn online. Since there isn't one kind of knowledge there shouldn't just be one kind of pedagogy. He includes the work of Jim Groom and says that it should be well known. Mr. Rheingold uses many of Jim Groom’s thoughts on student learning some of which include students creating their own WordPress. He even goes on to talk about students creating their own assignments if they don't like the original one assigned. Mr. Rheingold gives a quote from Jim Groom, “Twitter became the platform for everything that is missing in online learning – that hallway space, the space where you are joking around, the interstitial spaces that aren't tested on and aren't assessed – but it's where all the learning happens. I don't care if it's Twitter or Google Plus – you create your own tool – but being in a space where you feel you can invite and engage a community is very important.” This post was really to get everyone to think about just what the “future” of students learning would be like. Should things change?

Comment #1
When I read this post I immediately thought about my professor Dr. Strange. In our EDM310 class we are learning how to create a positive digital identity also. I would have to agree with all of your points on today's digital learning. The thing that stood out the most to me about this post is your proposed improvements. Being able to create your own assignments would be very interesting. I hadn't heard of Jim Groom before this post, but now I will make sure to read into his work further. I think I will be able to learn a lot from him.

Summary #2
In this post, When Students Say They Want to Change the World Listen: Angela Maiers, Mr. Rheingold says that teaching matters and that doing something that matters is being someone that matters. He then goes on into explaining the works of Angela Maiers. Ms. Maiers started a movement called Genius Hour. This movement takes “show and tell” to another level. It is very important that each student knows just how important they are. Genius Hour lets students take on a topic that is important to them. This allows each and every student to be able to make a difference and change something. Genius Hour is now being implemented in schools all over. In Mr. Rheingold’s video you actually see how passionate Ms. Maiers is about helping students make a difference.

Comment#2
Genius Hour seems like a great way to help students be more independent. I agree that every student should know that they matter and should express that to the world. I think that as educators if we help them do this then each student will be able to leave their mark somewhere in the world in a positive way. A student will never know what they will be able to change until they try.

Project #13

Investigating Insects

Lesson Plan #1 Created by: Miriah Grantham and Demetrius Hamner for Project #13
Above is a link to my Project Overview. This is a lesson plan on a Science Project called Insect Investigation. Students gather their information by identifying strange insects in a mini-investigation. They are to present their finding to the classmates and the rest of the school. This is targeted for 1st grade students and it takes about two – one hour sessions to complete. This plan covers many 21st-Century standards as well.


Link for my Project Calendar
Link for my Essential Elements Checklist

Blog Post #7

By: Demetrius Hamner, Michelle Detar, and Miriah Grantham

In Project Based Learning Part 1, Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps discuss the usage of project-based learning. Anthony Capps is a former student of EDM310 and is now a teacher in Baldwin County. Projects were once viewed as something you did at the end of a lesson to show what you had learned. Now, they are viewed as a way of teaching the material. Project-based learning is when you use actual projects to help students learn their objectives. Projects shouldn't just be used to reinforce what you have learned, but it should be a tool to learn. One example that Anthony gave us was a letter that his students wrote to Congressman Jo Bohner. He explained that each student wrote an individual letter and peer reviewed each one of their fellow classmates letters. They then picked the eight best letters and mailed them. This was a great way to show the importance of peer editing, collaboration, and project-based learning, which are very important tools to bring to the education system.

Project-Based Learning Part 2 gave great insight on all aspects of a classroom. As a teacher not every parent or student will agree with your choice of teaching, and we have to expect that. There are no limits to learning, so we should never limit our students. Always encourage them to go above and beyond. Project-based learning is a great tool for students of all levels. Simple projects such as writing a narrative script can be useful in retaining information about certain subjects. Students have fun while they learn, and they actually want to learn the material. I think that students will be more eager to learn if the learning process presented is engaging for them. Project-based learning is just that. Students are learning to think for themselves. It’s like you’re handing them a lemon, and they make amazing lemonade out of it.

In the video, iCurio, Anthony talks about what iCurio is. iCurio is a great tool for students to use and help them stay organized. Students can use iCurio to search websites that have been filtered for educational purposes. Students look up information on the internet all the time, but most of the time we forget where we got our information from. iCurio puts a stop to this, because it is a great way to retain information about the subjects we searched for. iCurio is a great program for students, because it will give them acceptable results when they search for information, and it is safe and secure. iCurio is also a great way to find course standard related topics.

In Discovery Education, we learn what Discovery Education is and why it is useful. Discovery Education is used for student searches, and teachers can use it to find fascinating videos that correlate to their lesson. Anthony says that by giving a child a video that goes along with their text, they are retaining a lot more information. Visual demonstrations help students retain the information. One of us has actually seen this program being used by one of our mentor teachers. She used interactive models, songs, and stories to help explain her lesson. The kids responded very well to this. This is definitely something we could benefit from in the classroom setting.

My Post
In Additional Thoughts About The Lesson Anthony tells us about the components of a lesson. Looking at a plan we must break it down into yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily. There are a few questions we should ask ourselves when constructing a project for our students. Is this project meaningful? Will it cover the material needed to be learned? Can this project get my students attention? Will I be able to meet all of my goals? What can I do to measure their progress? Creating projects for a lesson plan is hard work and it is not to be rushed. As a teacher we should take our time and do it the right way.

Michelle's Post
In Use Technology- Don't Teach It, Dr. Strange and Anthony talk about how to use technology in the classroom. Anthony tells us not to teach technology but to use it for assignments. Students in this century have the ability to learn how to use technology on their own. We learned this in the beginning of the course when we watched Dr. Mitra give children in third world countries computers, and they quickly taught themselves how to properly use them. Technology is something that children now are very familiar with. Most of them could probably teach adults a few tricks. As a teacher, I would much rather use technology than paper supplies. Technology is free. Students who may not be able to afford paper supplies can definitely benefit by the classroom technology. They have a vast variety of different tools to use. It’s beneficial because they are learning the course objectives and learning to use those tools. We can show them how to do it, but we should let them teach themselves with their assignments. Students will be proud of what they have accomplished, and we will be proud that they have learned a new skill!

Miriah's Post
In this video,The Anthony- Strange Tips For Teachers Part 1 Dr. Strange talks to Anthony Capps once again. They both discuss the things that we, as educators, should prepare ourselves for when we become a teacher. They both give great tips, such as, we must constantly learn and model that behavior, be flexible, and get your student engaged. The one that stands out to me most is: It is hard work, but it can be fun if we let it be fun. This is an statement I completely agree with. While observing classrooms for my other classes, I have seen all the work that goes into being a teacher. I have heard a lot of people say that teachers just sit there and do nothing when their students are not there( for example, when they are in P.E. or at lunch), and I have personally seen that is not true. They are preparing for the student to come back, grading papers, rearranging the classroom, etc. This requires a lot of creativity, which is where the fun part comes in. Both Dr. Strange and Anthony Capps gave us some good tips to bring with us to the Teaching Field.

Project #2

My Personal Learning Network
Staying connected is very important as a teacher. A Personal Learning Network gives you quick access to the many tools that you use for educational purposes. To show the progress on my PLN I created a symbaloo. Symbaloo is a website that lets you create links (as tiles) for the tools you use on a regular. Along with creating your own tile you can also search for tiles to add. My symbaloo has links to my blog, the class blog, and more. This is just the beginning and I can't wait to add more.

C4K Summary for September

Childs Name- Dark Chocolate Delight
Summary- "This I Believe" was the title of my students post.He started by giving a quote by Bruce Lee. "I say empty your mind be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put water in a cup it becomes the cup, you put water in a bottle it becomes the bottle, you put water in a tea pot it becomes a tea pot. Now water can flow or it can crash be water my friend." He then went on explaining, that this quote ment for him, no matter what continue to strive for the best and never let the negative things get to you. This student had been transferred from New York to Alabama and was having a hard time adjusting because he wasn't able to play football anymore. Although he was having a hard time he still stayed positive. Negative rumors were being passed around to the point he started to loose focus and get in trouble. When that started to happened he just looked up to his role model, Bruce Lee, and got back on track in school.

My Response- My name is Demetrius Hamner and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. When I read your post I was brought back to memories of my high school days when I had to transfer schools. Leaving my friends was a very hard thing to do, but unfortunately I had to deal with it. I applaud your positive attitude on not being able to play football, staying positive is very important. I love your encouraging quote from Bruce Lee. Adjusting to different situations is a part of life and although you are hearing rumors never let that stop you from being the best that you can be. When you are feeling discouraged just think “What would Bruce Lee do?” Also, reading you post, I saw a few errors that I make from time to time. Example “..i don’t agree with or just do it..” Make sure to capitalize all “I”s and proof read. Overall your post was great!

Childs Name- Scarlet
Summary- In this post Scarlet was asking if anyone read the "The Very Bad Book" by Andy Griffiths. Scarlet also asked how everyone would rate this book because she needed help on her book report answering one last question.

My Response- My name is Demetrius Hamner and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I am a student at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, Alabama. Although I haven’t read “The Very Bad Book” I have heard it was a great. Everyone I know gives the book high ratings.

Childs Name-Maroroa
Summary- This student posted a "wanted post". Maroroa created a wanted poster for Jack (from Jack and the Bean Stalk). In his wanted posted he included a description of Jack and what he was wanted for. He also gave facts like the place Jack was last seen, that he is fast and a physical description with a picture. Maroroa set a $1,000,000 reward for the capture of Jack.

My Response- My name is Demetrius Hamner. I am a student in EMD310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. Great wanted poster. I liked how you gave facts about Jack and what he was wanted for. Nice picture of Jack.

Childs Name- Ariana
Summary- The title of my students post was "Once a Luddite, Not Always a Luddite". Ariana talked about how she was new to taking online classes. She loved to use the traditional way (paper and pencil) of learning. When it came to using technology she struggled. Ariana decided to step outside of the box and try online classes and she is loves it. She was introduced to Google docs, drop box, and more. Google docs are one of her favorites because it helps her stay connected with her group members that are in another country. Ariana is learning to be more patient and open-minded to new ways of learning.

My Response- My name is Demetrius Hamner. I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. If anyone would have asked me, back in my high school days, about online classes I would have reacted in the same way. I love technology, but when it came to learning I needed to be in an actual classroom with a teacher. Now I understand just how important technology is in the classroom. Learning how to use “unfamiliar” technology may sometimes be difficult, but it will pay off big time. I am very happy that you stepped outside of your comfort zone and took an online class. It is always good to be open-minded to learning things. Google docs are also something that was introduced to me a few weeks back and it truly is a life saver.

Blog Post #6

Why do we ask questions? Teachers generally ask questions to make sure students understand the material being taught to them. Another reason questions are asked is to help the class be more interactive in the lesson. Most students have a hard time paying attention and questions help keep them on task. The questions asked ultimately depend on the material being taught. You should always ask questions pertaining to the material and try your best to stay on topic.
What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher? Teachers should avoid asking “yes or no” questions. If asking a “yes or no” it is important to have another question as follow up. Planning the questions that you intend on asking is a great way to help with this. Open ended questions are the ideal questions to be asked in a classroom. These questions help students be more interactive and get them thinking. Asking one question at a time is also very important. Bomb rushing students with different questions will leave them confused and they won’t know where to start when answering them.
Try to be specific in asking questions. Since there is a goal in which you would like to meet when asking a question never be vague. Vague questions will only further confuse your students. I cannot count the times a teacher asked question that no one in the classroom understood. In one of my English classes this is all my teacher did. We once spent a week talking about one person, but then my teacher asked “Who is he?” Well you can see that there would be many answers to this question.
As an educator it will be crucial that you plan ahead the questions that you want to ask. The questions asked will depend on a lot of things like your class, the goal of the question, the material gone over, and much more. Sometimes, if questions are asked in the proper manner, the students will start asking their own questions. This is always a good thing because every teacher should aim for their class to be interactive.

Project #8 Book Trailer

A House for a Mouse by Rebecca Westberg

Blog Post #5

My Sentence Videos

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post #4

Benifits of Podcasting
What is a podcast? Podcast is a multimedia digital file made available on the internet for downloading to a portable media player, computer, etc. In the video, Podcasting In The Classroom by Joe Dale, many effective ways of using podcast in the classroom were given. A few effective ways of using podcast

are: it promotes creativity and innovation, it is an effective way of interacting with students outside of the classroom, students can record role plays in character making their learning more memorable and it can offer distance learning opportunities for absent students. Having your students utilize technology, something they are already used to, like podcast in the class helps them be creative and keeps them engaged in school work. I also like the point made about a student missing class, but luckily with podcast she was able to stay up to date on her assignments. Typical classroom learning is a thing of the past and with podcast classroom learning will always be up to date.
Podcasting with First Grade
This post was very interesting to me because I had never heard of first graders being so attentive. Their enthusiasm for creating podcast was very much exciting and whether they knew it or not they were obtaining very useful skills. Some of the skills they addressed where listening, speaking, presenting, and comprehension. All of which are important when learning to read. This post showed me kids as young as six could patient and completes a somewhat difficult task. When creating their podcast these students made sure to re-work it until it was at its best. Using podcast in this classroom also helped some students some out of their "shell." Every student was excited and very hardworking.
Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting
Learning to read is one thing, but learning to read in a different language is something totally different. It amazed me how these students were able to construct a podcast that was completely out of order then put it in the correct order. Learning another language can be very difficult, but using podcast can make it somewhat easier. These students successfully constructed a podcast in Hebrew. They also used another form of technology, a smart board, to help create a good interacting classroom while putting the podcast together. I have learned, from this post, that there are many factors that play in learning another language. It is important that you hear the words consistently, obtain a feeling of the word, and actually comprehend the word in a sentence. Learning with podcast will always be a good way to help students, teachers, and parents stay connected in and outside of the classroom. When used properly podcast can be very useful in the classroom, therefore podcast will be one of the many tools used in my class.