Thursday, January 30, 2014

Blog number 3

I have gathered some decent pointers from Paige Ellis' Blog Assignment #12, What is Peer Editing,and Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial. To start off I would like to talk about peer editing. Peer editing is when two people edit the work of one another. These two people are normally classmates around the same age. What are some things a student could edit? Well first remember that it is not your paper, so do not become a "Defensive Dave" if the other student chooses to ignore what you point out. Some of the topics a student might look at in editing are; punctuation, clarity, grammar, and sentence structure. Also when peer editing, it is a good idea to stay positive. Honestly in my opinion that is the most important rule.

Being positive leads me into the next topic that was covered. To sum it up I would say it is the attitude you take into the room with you. Being positive helps, imagine if negative feedback was coming your way. Would it not be helpful if the reviewer stayed positive and showed you what you did wrong? Generosity can be shown and given. For the person reviewing you, listen, they are taking time out to help you! In return, as a reviewer, make corrections, point out what the problems are, but do not pick at every little error. If you tell them "oh punctuation might be an issue." they can go back and figure out what they did. Peer Editing is not hard, there are just some simple rules that need to be observed!
video game poster

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Second Blog Post

Mr. Dancealot
After watching Mr. Dancealot by Mrs. Johnson, I flashed back to all of the teachers I have had that would have benefited from watching it. I feel like the Mrs.Johnson's case was that maybe there should be a Dummies guide to teaching next to "College Planning for Dummies". My point is the Author shows how to be a bad teacher in many ways. First was the teacher reading off a power point. Doing this sends a message to the students that maybe Mr.Dancealot does not even know the material that well. Another mistake Mr.Dancealot made was the suppression of student interest when he got up to try dancing himself. The biggest mistake, in my opinion, is when Mr. Dancealot sets the class up for the final and leaves. As a student with a former teacher like that it made me feel like he or she could care less. Having experienced a teacher like that I would have to agree in the negative teaching styles, as I would never want to take a course with that teacher again.
College Planning for Dummies


Teaching in the 21st Century
I feel like Mr. Roberts recognizes a need in change with the role of the teacher with his video on Teaching in the 21st Century . With the new technology out there the Teacher needs to become more like a moderator of learning. Meaning they need to teach the students on how to utilize what they have at their finger tips, give them a task to accomplish, and then get out of the way. Of course staying close making sure the students are staying on task, because that game of Mahjong sure is tempting.

Following that intro is a outline of the arguments and points Mr. Roberts is trying to make:
A.) Teaching will be different in the 21 Century.
1.) Teachers can not get away with just teaching the content.
2.)The students have access now to unlimited information via.
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Youtube
  • Wikipedia and so much more!
B.) How do teachers instruct students on how to use the resources?
  • How to validate.
  • How to communicate with iformation.
  • How to problem solve with information.
C.) What skills are best taught?
D.)Learning to create.
E.)Teaching moral standards.(professionalism)
F.)Rethink the classroom entirely.
  • How to test the student.
  • Reliable source using.
  • How to publish and evaluate work.
  • Student collaboration.
G.) Know the difference between engagement and entertainment.

Since education is going to the internet I could not agree with him more. I am also torn by this as well. My interest in teaching comes from seeing that spark of understanding in the eye of the student. If the "new teacher" becomes more like a filter it might take away that motive. Utilizing the internet will change me as a teacher though. The part where he talks about engaging the student really made sense. Too many teachers want to entertain, and get frustrated when the student snoozes in class. If a student was more engaged I doubt the teacher would have that problem.

Networked Student Ms.Wendy Drexler introduced me to a term I had never heard of before in her short video Networked Student . This term that she introduced was connectivism. Connectivism is the idea that a student can learn from connections he or she has made all over the world with help from the teacher. These connections can be made anywhere, Ivy League Schools, to universities abroad, and can include any technology that is available. Within the idea of connectivism the teacher is more like a filter or moderator. One may think the teacher is not needed, but that is quite the opposite. The teacher is there to teach how to use the technologies available such as skype , google, teachers' blogs, and sites like Itunes. I am totally for the idea of sharing, but I do have one issue on the topic. Will the student truly understand the material? From personal experience I have reviewed several articles and topics on the internet. One such topic is the 3-D printer, I understand that it can print out any object, but I have no idea how it actually works. Also in Biology, say a student looks up the attraction of genders. He or She may understand the very complicated levels to it, but will they understand the chemical make up that drives it?
people making connections


Harness Your Students' Digital Smartness Ms. Vicki Davis shows her belief, in her short video Harness Your Students' Digital Smartness, that it is important for students to collaborate with others. I agree that this has it's place in the educational system, but I do not believe that it should replace everything. Within the video she states that she is for the movement, because some students may be be limited by pencil and paper. I agree with this, but could this very same argument be made for the opposite? Is it not possible that some children may be limited through this new process? My opinion of what she said about the teacher knowing everything is that, yes as a teacher you do need to know the material. Do you have to be an expert? Not by any means, but if you are going to teach something you need to know it.

Flipping the Classroom Ms. Munafo's , youtube short film Flipping the Classroom, 4th Grade Stem , brings some really interesting aspects to the educational table. It is new to me I will admit, but the ideas behind it are excellent. The whole idea to flipping the classroom is for the student to do the core learning at home via recorded video. The student watches the recorded video of the teaching. He or she then fills out an outline, and prepares questions for the next day. This way the teacher can get straight to the material at hand, meaning no wasted time on homework, and more quality learning. One word that came to mind was accommodation. the fact that if the student has no access to a computer at home it will not be held against them. knowing this is really comforting, it shows that the teachers behind this idea understand that not everyone is the same. I think that flipping the classroom is a positive innovation to the learning enviroment. I would also be thrilled to see the same innovation applied on the college level.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Thoughts on EDM310 before the class started.

Going into EDM 310 I was nervous from what I heard about the teacher. I heard that the class would be tough, and that it would not be a walk in the park. Knowing that classes get a bad reputation due to students getting accustomed to burp classes, I went in expecting anything. My biggest fear is that, despite the hard work, I may not be as talented as I thought. EDM310 shows a lot of promising aspects though. One of the features is that it is paper clean. Do not get me wrong I enjoy literature and English classes, but it will be nice typing rather than writing. Compared to the American Literature 252 course I went through last semester it will be a nice change. I may not learn some of the regurgitated, interesting, facts but I will get my hands on some of the newer technology the education world has to offer via the internet.

I think the most difficult objective in EDM310 will be time management. That difficulty is already being fixed. For example I started working on this post a lot quicker than my high school self would have. The hard part will be to stay on task all semester. I find it very easy to start getting "senoritis" and to get impatient for the summer. To stay on top of that it will take staying focused and not getting distracted by niceties. One important question I have about EDM310 is "will it last?". What I mean by that is will it die like the education through the radio did. How to address that would be to test if it is better than the norm. Pencil and paper may seem archaic but it was proven to still be the best way for the education system.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Practice Post

What a bold statement. these words are slanted. This is underlined.

I am tired of writing on the line above.

I am originally from Montgomery, Alabama, I have also lived in Coosada, Alabama. I am a veteran video game player along with a good bit of sports under my belt. I also like to travel, I have been to many states some of which i do not remember due to my age. I have also been to one other country, Guatemala. I came to the University of South Alabama because the campus is nice and I enjoy the environment around the campus.

Education is in my heritage, that fact has a lot to do with why I entered the education field. My Grandfather and my Grandmother, on my Mother's side of the family, are both teachers including my Mother. My Father was in a different ball park altogether with an education in business. My personal interest in education came with my trip to Guatemala. When I was there I taught a child how to pitch a baseball, and getting to see him learn really made me happy. As previously stated, one of my passions is playing video games. I understand though that there is an unhealthy amount one can play.

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