Blog Post #8

This is How We Dream

Dr. Richard E. Miller's video "This is How We Dream" is just another example of the amazing and rapid changes in technology. He begins by discussing how writing has changed. Not long ago, writing was done on paper, and if you wanted to read something, you bought the book. This is rarely the case now. Where we work now is on laptops and word processors. Books are purchased on computers and tablets. Work is now a collaborations of print, photo, and video. We are now working with a new kind of material. This material is updated instantly.

Miller states, "We as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely." I believe this is one of the greatest parts of technology. We can share our thoughts and bounce ideas off of other educators. We can work together to inspire one another and build off of each other. Miller talks about how the only limitations we have are the limitations we put on ourselves. I completely agree with this. With every research tool possible being just a click away. We are the only things holding ourselves back.

As we look ahead with Dr. Miller he discusses a project that Jonathan Harris is working on that is composing with the web itself. He has created a project that searches blogs around the world and then creates an emotional profile moment by moment. This blew my mind a little. The things we can set technology to detect is incredible. This video is just more proof of the incredible opportunities that technology has to offer.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12

I really enjoyed Carly Pugh's blog post. It is a great demonstration of exactly what Dr. Miller discussed. You can tell Carly has thought of many wonderful ways to implement technology in her classroom. I really liked her idea for the playlists. I'm certain Carly's students will not only learn a lot from her, but they will really enjoy the way she teaches and interacts with them.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies

I loved both of the videos. The Chipper Series is about a girl who takes procrastination to a whole new level. She eventually drops out of school. After many failing jobs, she realizes the importance of working hard. I can completely understand struggling with procrastination, but in the end, your hard work will pay off.

It's easy to relate to the girls at the beginning of EDM310 for Dummies. As most classes can, EDM can become very overwhelming if you do not stay on top of your work. Sometimes you just want someone to tell you how to do everything; however, if someone just spoon fed us the information, we would not really be learning anything. EDM310 is not only teaching us how to use technology to teach in our classroom, but it is also teaching us to use technology as a resource to learn. Both of these are of huge value now and will continue to be in our future.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

Learn to Change, Change to Learn is an incredible video. As educators, we must get past the fear of the distractions of technology and see if for what it really is. Technology is not what is really distracting our students. It is boredom. They are used to playing on technology for everything else they do, yet they are expected to walk into a classroom and check the technology at the door and listen to someone lecture all day. This is not how these children communicate. If we want to really get through to them, we must get on their level. Technology is opening doors for students and schools are closing them. The 21st century set of literacies do not look like the model most of us were raised under. Learning has changed. Are we willing to change to learn?

Scavenger Hunt 2.0

The scavenger hunt is such a fun way for kids to learn, while also having the opportunity to choose what interest them the most. The first thing I found was the tool that most likely produced the video. I feel like Animoto.com/education was most likely the tool they used to create their video. Animoto offers teachers a free plus account. This is such a great deal for teachers and an awesome resource. Animoto allows you to pick your photos, add text, pick videos, and highlight important sections in your video. I think this is a great tool for teachers.

My second find was the Makebeliefscomix. This is a fun tool for teachers to use to add comedy to the lesson. You could easily make a comic that goes with the lesson being taught or just add a funny little brain break in. I chose to make a little brain break joke.

Last but certainly not least, I chose to create a poll using PollEverywhere. There are so many possibilities for this tool. You could poll the students to find out what their favorite part of the lesson was or maybe to find out what type of technology they like using best. You could even do a poll for the parents. There are so many options.

Project #11 Short Movie

Project #12 Book Trailer

Project #9b Prezi

This is a Prezi presentation that I might give to help parents or administration understand the importance of technology in the classroom.

Tech in Class on Prezi

Project #3 C4T #2

Mr. Robbo- The P.E. Geek

Top Apps for PE Teachers- Part 15

I have really enjoyed reading the blog Mr. Robbo- The P.E. Geek. Jarrod is a physical education teacher from Australia with a passion for technology in teaching. His first post that I had the opportunity of reading was a list of apps that can be used for physical education and their descriptions. He talks about many useful apps such as the sprintstart, which enables users to measure their sprint start reaction time from the starting blocks, and slopro, the easiest way to produce slow motion videos that explore movement and sports action in any context.

I commented on his post and thanked him for sharing these apps. I shared with him that my favorite suggestion was the actionshot app. This app is not only one I can use in my classroom, but at the dance school I teach for as well. I look forward to reading more as he post other useful apps for teachers.



I'm Just a Teacher & I've Just Made an App

In Mr. Robbo's second post, he discusses how he had the opportunity to present at the ICTEV state conference. His session was entitled "I'm Just A Teacher and I've Made an App." He shares the video of his presentation at the conference. In the video he discusses the difficult routes and the easy routes to creating an app. There are websites such as ibuildapp.com and appbuilder.com that walk you through how to create an app, and simply allow you to enter the information you would like included in your app. Your app can contain things such as links to videos, contacts, maps and even calendars. These apps are what they call web apps so they are available not only on iPhones, but will work with windows and androids as well.

I commented on his post thanking him for sharing this information. I would definitely be interested in creating an app for my classroom or even my school one day. I had no idea how easy it could be to create and app and his video walks you through it step by step.

Project #10 Personal Learning Network Progress

Below you can see that my Personal Learning Network is just getting started; however, I believe I am finding many great resources that I can use now and in the future. EDM 310 has given me a great base to build my network off of. As I watch different videos and follow different blogs, I discover other pages and people to follow. One resource I have found very helpful is the blog What Ed Said by Edna Sackson. This was the first blog I was assigned for C4T. Ms. Sackson always responds to my comments, and I feel she will be a great resource for years to come.

I chose to use Symbaloo to layout my personal learning network. After setting up some of the sites that I use often, I was able to search for and discover other helpful links. One website I have found is TeacherTube. It is a great source for videos, photos, and many other things. I look forward to finding many other useful links to add to my personal learning network.

Blog Post #7

The Networked Student

Wendy Drexler's video, The Networked Student, takes a brief look into what learning for a 21st century student looks like. In the 21st century high school, there are no text books and the teacher almost never lectures. Some may ask, "So, how do they learn?" They are students of connectivism. Drexler defines this as, "a theory that presumes that learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties." These ties are made possible by various types of technology; however, the tools are not as important as the connections made possible by them.

The teacher encourages the students to take control of their learning and make connections by creating a personal learning network. To begin creating this personal learning network, the 21st century student uses search engines such as Google Scholar to locate scholarly peer reviewed articles. From there he can look through shared bookmarked ideas and blogs. Once he builds a knowledge base, he may make his own blog to share what he has learned and begin his own discussions. His network includes a wide range of connections; each one with a new learning opportunity.

So if the student is doing all of this research and learning on his own, what is the point of even having a teacher? The teacher is no longer in a classroom to lecture and teach facts. A teacher's job now is to teach a student how to discover and learn on their own. A 21st century teacher is one that teaches the students how to build their network and take advantages of learning opportunities. Offers guidance when students are struggling or get stuck. She teaches her students how to communicate properly and how to tell the difference between quality information and junk. A teacher is no longer a lecturer. She is a learning architect, a modeler, a learning concierge, and a change agent.

I feel this video is a great illustration of what school is like for some already and what it will hopefully become for others very soon. This not only opens doors for students to learn using different types of technology, but it also allows them to be creative as they discover different interesting ways to find information.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment

I was completely impressed by the video, Welcome to My PLE. This 7th grader has already built an incredible learning network. It is amazing the things that students can do at such a young age with the help of technology. This student has created a network of resources that will assist her for years to come. I thought it was great that she addressed the fact that there are the distractions of social networks when she is trying to do work, but because she is enjoying what she is doing, she has the inclination to be responsible. She is still responsible for all of her work, but she gets to decide how to do it and when to do it.

My personal learning network is still a work in progress. I guess to be fair, it should always be a work in progress. Although it is just getting started, I feel like I am finding useful resources that will help me for many years to come.


Thomas Suarez: A 12-year-old App Developer

Seriously?! Thomas Suarez: A 12-year-old App Developer is an incredible video. Thomas Suarez is only twelve and has already created multiple apps. It sounds a little crazy, but the fact is, this is what technology allows to happen. Through technology, kids have every bit of information right in front of them. If they want to create an app, with hard work and research, they can. One of Thomas' goals is not only to create more apps, but to help others who want to create apps as well.

All of the videos in this post work together to show the opportunities that technology offers to students. Students are not only learning, but they are discovering and creating. They are taking full advantage of the resources that are at their fingertips.

Blog Post #6

Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Dr. Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams was an inspirational video. It was not only informative, but it was heartfelt and touching. As I was watching, I was not only captivated by the information he was sharing, but also by the passion he had for what he was speaking on. You could tell how much he cared about his students and his profession.

Dr. Pausch begins his last lecture by informing the audience that he has ten tumors in his liver, and he has been given three to six months of good health. His attitude about this news is not what most people would expect. He states, "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." I could not agree with this statement any more. The inevitable is that everyone faces tough times in their lives at some point, but is how we deal with it that speaks to who we really are. Dr. Pausch is a professor, a husband, and a father that has received bad news, but he has decided to enjoy each minute he has left and not waste a minute.

The topic of his last lecture is "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." Dr. Pausch begins by talking about his personal childhood dreams. Although some seemed like impossibilities, he achieved most of them, and the few that he did not, he learned a lot from. He goes on to talk about enabling the childhood dreams of others. The common factor in both is the brick walls that will come when trying to achieve any dream. He states, "Brick walls are for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things." This is such a great point. Obstacles are a part of life, but they are what push us to be great. I know that the obstacles or "brick walls" in my life have been a key driver to my success. My sentence actually stated, "She proved them all wrong." I chose this because in my life I have had many challenges and obstacles. Many people have told me what I cannot do; however, I have chosen to prove them wrong. Obstacles are not always easy, but if we will preserver, the reward will be even greater.

Dr. Pausch gives some wonderful advise such as, "help others, loyalty is a two way street, and never give up," but I think my favorite two are, "have fun and never loose the childlike wonder." What an excellent piece of advice for a teacher. If we can remember these two things, not only will our students enjoy learning, but we will enjoy learning with them as well. There was so much good advice in his lecture, but another I feel like I cannot go without mentioning is, "Don't Complain. Just work harder." When people challenge you, accept their challenge. When things seem impossible, continue to push a little harder. When people say you can't, prove them wrong. Your hard work will pay off.

Dr. Pausch concludes his speech with admitting his secret, that it is not really about achieving your dreams, it is about how you lead your life. How will you lead your life?

Project #8

Project #9a Timetoast

A Brief Timeline of Courtney's Life




A special thanks to my mother, Admoni Photography, and the University of South Alabama's website for the photographs.

Blog Post #5

The iSchool Initiative

In his first video, Travis Allen is a seventeen year old high school student from Georgia that believes he has a solution to America's education problem. His school, like many others, is experiencing major budget cuts. Teachers are getting cut and classes are getting larger. Someone may wonder how it's possible to implement technology in the classroom when budgets are being cut every time we turn around. At first thought, this seems to make sense. Technology is expensive, but when you look at the big picture it actually saves money.

Schools spend money on many things such as copiers, paper, ink, maps, projectors, and calculators. The cost of these and other things for students and classrooms add up very quickly. Travis Allen offers one device that encompasses many features and would cut classroom cost by approximately $600 per student. It is the iSchool. There are so many applications already in place for the iTouch that would aid in making the iSchool possible.

Three years later, Travis Allen posted another video. This time informing us of the progress of the iSchool initiative. He has formed a team that is traveling the globe to share his revolutionary idea for schools. I believe the iSchool would be a wonderful tool for schools. I really enjoyed Travis' quote, "If we are going to thrive in the information age, we must rethink, retool, and rebuild our educational institution to better prepare our youth for the digital world they were born into." He is right. If we do not find ways to keep up with the times, our students will fall behind. It is our duty to prepare our students for the future, and that is technology.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

Whitacre's virtual choir is just incredible. I was simply amazed at the way he used technology to allow 185 people from 12 different countries to perform together without ever meeting. It is simply wonderful. This video alone shows the amazing opportunities that technology offers us. The most obvious being the opportunity to interact with people on the other side of the globe as if they are right beside you. After watching this, I went to visit Eric Whitacre's website, www.ericwhitacre.com, and on April 2, 2012, he posted the latest virtual choir, Virtual Choir 3. This time with 3746 videos from 73 countries. Simply breathtaking.

Teaching in the 21st Century

Kevin Roberts' Prezi presentation poses an important question. "What does it mean to teach in the 21st century?" We can see that the tools in the classroom are changing, but what about the roles of the students and teachers. How will we change to fit the new technology that is taking over the classroom.

Most have heard the quote, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." I think this says it all. If the classroom is changing and educators continue to do the same thing over and over again it is, well, insane. As educators-to-be we will not be successful if we continue to teach the way teachers taught fifty years ago. It will not work. With the internet at every student's fingertips, teaching facts is not valuable. We must teach our students how to problem solve, how to use their creativity, and how to think critically. We must teach them skills.

The Flipped Classroom

Flipping the classroom is an innovative approach to teaching started by the Friday Institute at NC State University. Before flipping, majority of the class time was spent on delivery and review of the content with very little time actually being spent on application. Flipping the classroom changes things up for the better. It allows teachers to make instructional videos for the students to watch at home. That way, majority of the class time can be spent on the actual application of the concepts. This not only makes the class more interesting, but it allows the students to move at their own pace. They can watch the videos as few or as many times as they may need to. From there, they can gather any questions or topics of discussion they would like their teacher to cover the next day. I think it is a great idea for teachers to flip their classroom.

Blog Post #4

Podcasting with First Grade

Often times we underestimate what young children can do. Someone may think that a first grader may not have the ability to do something as complex as a podcast. That is almost true. They have the ability, they just have not discovered it because they do not have the knowledge. No one has taught them yet, but they are willing and excited to learn. Langwitches post shows us that with a little assistance, 1st graders can make their own podcast.

Often when listening to a podcast, you can tell when someone is simply reading straight from a sheet of paper or book. I thought it was neat how the kids picked up on this, so they were able to practice each sentence and deliver them just one at a time. If the kids could not remember the whole sentence, they could break it down even further to just parts. This would make the end result much more fluid. This is a great skill to remember when podcasting. The sound of the end result should definitely be a key focus when podcasting.

1st Graders Create Their Own Read-Along Audio Book

I can only imagine how much more excited the kids must be about reading when projects like this are in place. I know that as an elementary student, reading was never my favorite subject. I didn't mind it, but it just was not that exciting to me. Using this technology brings books to life for students. They are getting to play a role in the books. As they read along, they get to hear their own voice and the voices of their classmates. This makes reading interesting for all students, even if it is not their favorite subject.

This project is also teaching these first graders a great lesson. This semester I am also taking a speech class. Each week we give our certain assigned speeches, and then we go over as whole what needs work before getting our grades back. Each week without fail, one of the issues is voice variation. These first graders are already mastering a skill that a college class is struggling with. They are hearing their voices and knowing what needs work. They are only six and seven and know what sounds interesting to them. When their voice doesn't sound good, they want to redo it. I have a feeling that they will do very well in a speech class one day.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom

Joe Dale makes many wonderful points to how podcasting in the classroom is beneficial. One opportunity that podcasting provides is for a student that has to miss class. Unfortunately, all of us get sick from time to time. With a class of even just twenty students, there will be many days a teacher will be missing at least one student. Podcasting offers a great solution to keep students from getting behind while they are absent. They can view the podcast from home and return to class without missing a beat.

Podcasting is beneficial in many other ways as well. It opens the door to creativity for students and for the teachers. Because the podcasts are different and interesting, it makes the lessons more memorable to the students. Podcasting also gives parents the opportunity to be more involved in their child's education. The parent can get on and hear what the kids are learning about and see what projects they are doing. As many other forms of technology, podcasting is a great tool for education.

My Sentence Video

Blog Post #3

Peer Editing

Paige Ellis brings a very important subject to our attention in her assignment 12. She expresses a concern because she was assigned to a classmate that had multiple errors in their blog posts. Out of concern for her classmate, Paige wanted to help them; however, she did not want to over step her boundaries or offend her classmate. It is easy to relate to her concern. We should definitely want to help the other students in our class. We are educators in training so hopefully it is natural for us to want to help; however, we do not want to hurt their feelings either. The presentation and videos review some important information that will help us when critiquing our fellow classmates.

First of all, it is important for us to know what peer editing is. Both "What is Peer Editing" and "Peer Editing with Perfection" define it as working with someone your own age to help, improve, revise, and edit his or her writing. Also, they both give three key steps to peer editing. These important steps are compliment, suggestion, and correction. The main element we need to focus on when peer editing is staying positive. I was taught in a coaching training once to use "hamburger criticism." This is to sandwich your correction between two positives. We must be encouraging with our critiques so that they won't simply give up. Our goal for our classmates, and future students as well, should be to build their confidence, not to rip them to pieces. With a positive perspective we can encourage our classmates while helping them improve.

Technology Meeting the Needs of Special Education

Lacey Cook's video "Technology in Special Education" is inspiring. It is quite amazing to see the opportunities that technology is offering these students.  The technology that is being offered to them makes the students more dependent. Instead of sitting around waiting for a teacher to come and help them or read to them, they each have their own computer that works with their need to assist them with their assignments. It allows them to work at their own pace while building their confidence by letting them be able to do it without the teacher every step of the way. The technology offered to the special education students makes their class much more enjoyable to them.

I feel like this goes back to a comment I made in an earlier post. "Technology is the future, and if we cannot teach it, we are doing our students a huge injustice." This could not be more true for this special education class. Technology offers them so many more opportunities that they have never had. The different computers offer specific options to meet each student's specific needs. This is huge for these kids! Who are we to deprive them of that? If we are not willing to teach using technology, it simply would not be fair to these students. They deserve the opportunity to learn and communicate, and we should be willing to do anything in our power to allow them that opportunity.

I really enjoyed the Autism Epicenter's video "How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism." The video follows an autistic nine year old by the name of Braden as he studies with his father and an iPad. It goes through a few different apps that assist him. One helps him as he counts while another lets him practice writing. The apps are wonderful tools for any student, but are crucial for autistic children.


An app that I would like to use for teaching autistic children is called Word SlapPs. It would actually be a great application for any child to use. Word SlapPs is a great tool for teaching and testing vocabulary. It uses pictures to teach nouns, verbs, sight words, who's who, opposites, and even identifying differences in items. You can set different levels, add your own pictures, and even record your own voice. The control is yours. I believe it would be a great teaching and studying tool for children.

"Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts" is a video about an innovative teacher from Georgia that uses technology in her class in a great way. Vicki Davis believes in using technology to customize the curriculum for each class. Sure she may teach the same general objectives from year to year, but she allows the process to change with each class. Her goal is to empower her students and to teach them to be thinkers.

Every group of children is different, so why would you attempt to teach them all exactly the same way? I really enjoyed Vicki's statement that if we use "only paper and only pen, then only some students will succeed." We must adapt to the different students in our classroom each year. Sometimes you have very different students in the classroom. Technology offers different ways to appeal to the varying learning styles. Also, through the internet students can work with kids on the other side of the world that may have the same ideas and learning styles as they do. The opportunities are endless.

Presentation Project #5

Project #3 C4T #1

What Ed Said

"Are Adult Learners Different from Young Learners?
For my C4T, I had the opportunity to visit Edna Sackson's blog "What Ed Said." The first post I read was titled "Are adult learners different from young learners?" In this post, Sackson discusses whether or not adult students are similar to young students. She is currently in Thailand for training to become an IB workshop leader. In this training, she is learning that issues, tips, problems, and strategies used in teaching the adult workshops are much like the ones in the classroom. She goes on to discuss the different values that adult learners have such as valuing the opportunity to interact with other learners and valuing enough time to talk, reflect, and construct meaning. She also talks about things the adult learners do not enjoy such as being passive while a presenter lectures and lack of support and follow-up. She even gives a link to a list of characteristics of adult learners. I wrote to Ms. Sackson about how as an adult student, I really enjoyed this post because I could relate to the different characteristics and values she discusses. I explained that although I feel like I appreciate the opportunity to learn more as an adult, I do still technically learn the same way I did as a young learner.

"Learning by Doing: An Inquiry into Inquiry"
In Edna Sackson's post on June 7, 2012, she discusses an assignment she is given while still training for her workshops. They are sent in groups on an exploration of Thai culture. Their mission is not to go out and find facts but to focus on the process of inquiry. It is a journey of inquiry into inquiry. Through their journey they realize that inquiry is not linear, and it is rarely cyclical. Sackson states that, "the process moves back and forth between asking, investigating, reflecting, connecting, constructing meaning..." She describes inquiry as having "no map, no set pattern and it can be messy." They learned not only about the Thai culture, but about the process of learning itself. I responded to her that I think this process of inquiry is great for students and teachers alike. It encourages their creativity to continue to ask questions. I think this also ties in to what Sir Ken Robinson said, "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." This process inspires to be ask questions, to get it wrong, and to try again.

I was so excited to see that the first day after my comment, Ms. Sackson had responded and even said she would check out my blog. I believe she will be a great resource now and in the future.

Blog Post #2

Did You Know?

I knew that technology was advancing very quickly, but I had no idea how quickly until I saw the statistics in the "Did You Know" videos. "Did You Know" by Dr. Strange as well as "Did You Know" by Karl Fisch and Scott Mcleod, discuss different statistics of education and technology. It is hard to believe that anyone could watch these videos and believe that educators do not need to be computer literate. Technology is the future, and if we cannot teach it, we are doing our students a huge injustice.

One of the first few slides shown in both videos discusses the high IQs and the number of honor students in India. It is crazy to think that they have more honor students than the US even has students all together. US students are behind, and as educators in the making, it should be our goal to do something about it. Another thing the video discussed was the extremely large numbers associated with google, youtube, text messages, and cellphones. These days almost every child has at least one of these and knows how to use it. If we do not know how to communicate to these children through those devices, we may not communicate with them at all. We must be able to incorporate technology into our classroom to teach them more and to keep them interested.

The final point the videos discussed that really got my attention was that the top jobs ten years from now do not even exist yet using technologies that have not been invented yet. We are teaching these kids and do not even know what we are training them for. We must be creative, think outside of the box, and challenge ourselves if we plan on challenging our students. Technology is advancing at an incredible rate. We must do our best to keep up.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

"Mr. Winkle Wakes" is short video created by Mathew Needleman. At first glance, you may think it is a cute little video, but the video is hardly funny. It is actually quite sad because it is true. In the video Mr. Winkle has been sleeping for 100 years. He wakes up to find that everything he remembers has changed. He first arrives at an office building that is filled with machines that spit out paper and screens with people from across the world talking on them. He is so disturbed by this that he feels sick and must go to the hospital. Unfortunately, when he arrives at the hospital, he finds even more machines. After wandering around the town, Mr. Winkle finally finds a school. To his delight, in 100 years nothing has changed at the school.

What is this saying about our schools? Obviously this is not a true story, but it is the just of what is happening around us. Businesses, hospitals, and other organizations are using technology to better themselves and their surroundings, yet schools are fighting the inevitable. If we don't use technology to teach our students, not only will they not be prepared when they enter the work force, but they probably won't learn much from us. We must do our best to give out students the resources they need to succeed.

The Importance of Creativity

I cannot help but begin by saying that I loved the video "The Importance of Creativity" by Sir Ken Robinson. Robinson discusses many great points about creativity in education which I believe is very important. Way too often, we crush a child's creativity and imagination. One of the first points Robinson discusses is that we squander children's talents. Sadly this is very true. We have a way that we believe that children should think and act, and if they do not, they are wrong. Some children are brilliant in math or science, but some children are not. They may be brilliant in art or dance. Is there talent any less important? I do not think so.

Robinson also says that, "creativity should be as important in education as literacy." Many educators would not agree with this statement, but why not? If we kill children's creativity, we are creating robots and setting them up to fail. Their creativity is what makes them unique. Their ability to think differently just may be what makes the next great inventor, artist, or dancer. In the video, Robinson discusses that at a young age children are not afraid to be wrong. They are willing to take chances. He states, "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." How true is that? If we take a child's creativity, we are stealing their opportunity for innovation. Finally, Robinson says that we should "see our children for the hope they are." You never know who exactly you have sitting in your classroom. Maybe it's the next great scientist or maybe it's the next great ballerina or artist. Challenge their creativity. Do not destroy it.

Classroom Disruption

When watching this video, there really should be no question to which class any student would want to attend. The first classroom is filled with technology and interactive ways to learn. Students use websites to take virtual tours of places they are studying. They can access different articles about the subject being discussed. They can even learn at their own pace with the lesson designed online. The objective for this class is obviously for the students to experience and learn things that they will not forget. The second classroom is like many classes many of us have attended. It is filled with boring books the students will not read, charts the students will not understand, and paper articles that will more than likely end up in the trash can. The objective of this class is to memorize and pass a test and then move on with no real recollection of the material.

It is my goal to never have a class that even closely resembles the second classroom. If I do, I will have a class that walks out of my door remembering nothing. Money alone can not fix the problems of the second classroom. You must have a teacher that is willing to use technology to reach the students on their level. It is important that as educators we work hard to keep up with the constantly changing technology. It is how we will reach our students.

Wordle Project #2

I love the wordle project! I cannot wait to do another.