Summery Post C4T Teacher #3

Post #1 Summery
Don't quite know what to make of Mr. Bill Ferriter, an his taxie cab ride. Only coment i can make at this time is i hope her avoids this driver the next time he is in San Francisco on a convention. He may not be so lucky the next time. Nobody should drive a client that fast, no matter what.
After i left a comment on Mr. Ferriters' blog about the speeding incident, he responded by saying the cab drivers are paid by the mile, not by the minute. That explains it. I will rent a car, the next time i visit San Francisco.

Post #2 Summary
Bill and I are not happy about the way the politicians, are blaming our teachers for everything that is wrong with our educational system. The Curriculum, and school policies are voted on, in places far removed from the classrooms. Funny how people who never set foot in the classroom can regulate what goes on in it.

Skype Interview Recorded Project #12

Blog Post #9

What I've Learned This Year,

This topic is about a first year elementary school teacher(Mr.McClung), who started out with the right intentions but got a hard dose of reality. When he tried to implement his lesson plan for teaching, something went terribly wrong. He took everything he had learned in college, and had what he thought was a good plan. Only problem, the students didn't know that. After a rocky start, he came up with a brilliant idea. The idea was, why don't I ask the students what they think. That lead to his second and most important idea, not only will I ask there opinion, I will listen to there suggestions. Mr. McClung learned a valuable lesson, what good is a lesson plan, when nobody but you can appreciate it. Teachers are so worried about being teachers, they forget about the students concerns. Tragically, this happens all the time, and is the undoing of most teachers today. Mr.McClung realized early on, that if its not about the students, then who, and what are you teaching.

Blog Post #8

This Is How We Dream Part 1

Richard Miller did a great job, of wetting our lips, on where we are, and where we can take reading books, in the future. He showed, how we have come a long way, from paper-back books, to Ebooks. He explained how we've only scratched the surface, of what we'll be doing in the next phase, of the web.



This Is How We Dream Part 2

This is how we dream part two, shows all the possibilities of the web in the future. He explained how the media, and web, will not only combine to write books, but to publish them as well. Even the newspapers will be getting in on the deal. Forget words, how about books being published by media, audio, and visual effects. Imagine this, it would be much more appealing, to visually see the plot, and the characters. Thats what the teckies are experimenting with, right now. Glad to be taking EDM 310 from DR. Strange, as i will be ready, for whatever the future hold in technology.


The Chipper

Excuses, excuses, excuses. First DR. Strange, you have the patience of Joeb, in "The Chipper"story. Chipper was spoiled, lazy, and a know-it -all. I know the story is fiction, but Chipper really got under my skin. I've seen a lot of Chippers, in my day. They want something for nothing. Anything you tell Chipper to do, she will take the easy way out. Problem with chipper is, when she was being punished as a child, her father didn't reach back,with the paddle far enough. I got the point, and hope everyone else, in our EDM 310 class did, as well. I hope there aren't any Chippers, in our class. Chipper went full circle, only to find out, what she should have known, from the beginning. "THERE ARE NO FREE RIDES".



EDM 310 FOR Dummies

The girls in this video came to the EDM 310 class, with a negative attitude. Instead of finding the positives in the course, they wouldn't give the course a chance. Towards the end of the video, they found someone, with similar interest, on the blogs and twitter. Moral of the story, There is something, for everyone on the the internet, if you would just take the time and look. Don't enter the class with a negative attitude.

Summary

Both Chipper and the the girls, on the dummie video, are prime examples of what not to do, if you want to excel in class. This blog is a wake-up call, for the people, who have fallen behind in Dr.Strange's EDM 310 spring class. The Videos are a Good way, to tell you, I told you so, without embarrassing any students, who are failing the class.
I have a couple of ideas from the video, that would shake up the lazy people in class. Only thing, I don't know if I could use my words and pictures, to do it. Seriously, sometimes you gotta cut to the chase, and call a person out, to get results. Some people just don't get it!!!




Learn to Change, Change to learn

Summary

The guest, on the videos expressed some great ideas. Every single guest, had nothing but good things to say, about technology in the classroom. They all agreed, the classroom of the future, will not be, brick and mortar. How could you ban something, from the classroom, that has most of the answers, to this country's educational problems. As soon as we can figure out, how to integrate the Iphone, into the classroom, that will be the beginning. Think about it, the teacher could teach class, while being out due to sickness. Believe me, that would go a long way in covering the cost, of this idea. The next thing, would be to figure out a way, to keep the kids from damaging the equipment. How about this thought. If someone could figure out a way, to build the technology, into the students' desk. That way, the kids couldn't damage or remove the equipment, but still use it. Thats the ticket. If a student could learn, how to used the internet responsibly, under the guidance of a teacher, then students both Black and White, Rich and Poor, have an equal opportunity at success. This would truly be the public school, our fore-fathers envisioned, when they implemented the public school system.


"The Secret Power of Time"

Philip Zambardo does a masterful job of showing us what we probably already know. Give us more time, to do whatever we need to do, and we'll get behind even further. He also explains how our kids are being totally re-wired, in a digital way, which will make the traditional classroom, as we know it, become obsolete. In America, a kid drops out of school every 9 seconds. It gets worst for minorities, and even worst for Black men. Kids are growing up in the digital world, with parents wired for an analog world. Traditional classroom will become a thing of the past, because kids are now use, to controlling things, due to the invention, of video games, Iphones, and computers.



"The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us"

David Pink explains, how when you reward something, you get more, than the behavior you want. When you punished something, you get less. Seems like people do well, when they are able to make decision, on their own. This is especially true, for mechanical thinking jobs. When it comes to cognitive thinking, this doesn't work. In truth, its not the money, its the freedom. We'll work hard for free, if the money is removed from the situation. An good example of this is an Australian company(Atlassiam). The company gave its employees one day, in the quarter, to work on anything they wanted to, for 24 hrs, as long as they showed it to the employer, when they were done. The results were astounding. The ideas the employees come up with, to help the company, went off the charts. As humans, its about being self directed, not the bonuses. Studies have proven this point.

My Smartboard Project

The above SMARTboard project on "OUR SOLAR SYSTEM", was a team effort by Kelsey Robinson, Jenna Baxter, Kristan Steele, and Woodie Holloway. After a reviewing our lesson plan, with the help of the SMARTboard, we emailed the class a test. To view the test, please click the following link.

https://spreadsheets0.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHNJdkU5VG9hcTBJUjE5cHBFLVg3M2c6MQ


The results from the test were quite encouraging. Three(3), of the four four(4) students, answered all of the questions correctly. The remaining student, only missed one(1).
I really enjoyed working on the SMARTboard project, and will definitely use the training, from this presentation, to apply towards my teaching experience.

Summery Post C4K comments 4-6

Summery(4-6),

CK4
I think its wonderful that the kids overseas are really utilizing technology the way they are. For one thing it raises the bar for our instructors, here in the US. The next thing it does, is creates an
awareness about the endless use of the internet. The Kids made a "Old Scool" video that was really neat.
CK5

On this video, the children showed how serious  they were about the things we can do to help our environment. The video was not quite complete, but ran long enough to make its point. The video showed kids collecting plastic containers for recycling. Nice to see young kids doing things without any directions from adults.

CK6

The last blog i visited was about a little boy, who loved to play videos, with his friends. Problem was, he love to box with them also. I explained to him, about how he had to be careful about boxing, and the need for supervision by an adult. I mention that under the right conditions, boxing could be fun. I explained how fast a playful thing, can turn into a serious altercation. I also reinforced his strong belief, of having lots of friends, as this seemed to be very important to him.

My short movie for EDM 310 class

1st progress report on PLN project #10

Have just begun to put together a plan for using Symbaloo. I will be putting all my ideas together and completing the project this week Hopfully i will have my PLN fully operational by Wednesday of this week. I cant wait to get it up and running. I will be able to save countless hour on completing my projects.

C4T #2 Summary post for #1&2

C4T #1 post
I feel like "what now, what next", is a wake-up call for the powers to be in politics. After all, politicians are the ones who sit behind their desk, miles from the mess they created and pass these unbelievable laws for education. Statistics show that we are spending around $600 per student , on education. The iSchool presentation should make those politicians look like fools. Why don't they use the technology? Because that would be an admission of their stupid mentality. Also, why not spend the money on re-educating teachers. They would need to be educated, not only on the technology available, but to come up with a curriculum, that is more diverse. Testing, tracking and standardized test, are a joke. These policies are only oppressing people of color, and making it harder for them to go to college. Most of them drop out, or loose interest. This cycle needs to be broken.


C4T #2 post.
Nothing different from my feelings on #1 or #2 assignment. Forgot to mention how much guts, it took for Teachernz, to post on his blog site, about the evils of the educational system today. There is a lot of politicking going on, about how should we overhaul our educational system. Sounds to me, like Teachernz cares more about our children's future, than the flack from the politicians. If he really wanted to help, he should run for office.


Summary for #1&2
Again, I may not agree with the language of the messenger, but i guess something had to be done to shake-up the politicians. They sit in these offices miles away from the action, and make these idiotic decisions. There should be some type of system in place, where teachers(both white and people of color), can have a major role, in educational policies. Sh*t flows downhill, so the changes need to start at the top. You can say what you please, but the fact remains, we are falling farther and farther behind other countries, in the education of our youth. America was a leader in the petroleum, car manufacturing, and the micro-chip industry. We lost the lead because other countries, took what we invented, and made it better. In order for the US to retake the lead, we have to re-invest in our educational system, and stop putting up brick walls,when it comes to untilizing the technology available to us today.

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch was professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He was born on October 23, 1960, and was known around the world, for developing the "Entertainment Technology Center"(ETC) graduate program, at  Carnegie Mellon. He traveled throughout the country lecturing about the ETC. Despite being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer(giving him 3 to 5 months to live), he never slowed, in his quest to promote his ideas and beliefs.
On September 18, 2007 Randy Pausch gave, what became known as the "last lecture". In this lecture he spoke about his childhood dreams and how he lived to follow them. He spoke of bricks, that we all encounter when we want something, and how they are there for a reason. In his analogy he explains, that brick walls are there, to prevent or weed out the people, who really don't want something bad enough. He called them, the other people.
Mr. Pausch also spoke of teaching techniques he learned, to further his career in both life and in the classroom. He spoke of always having something to bring to the table. He says when you do, people are always willing to listen. He also spoke of communicating on the professional level. He used an example of the word "no", and two different scenarios, with his immediate boss and his Dean. His boss upset him with his use of the word, and his Dean completely restoring his faith, in his abilities, with the same word. Mr. Pausch goes on to explain why he never instituted the bar rule(setting a bar to measure students achievements). He stated when you set a bar for achievements, you are basically putting a cap on your students abilities to expand. He explains, you never know how far a student can achieve, so let them set the bar, not you.
Mr. Pausch created the ETC to help pioneer the virtual world of technology. To further his cause, he entered into a contract with the the people at Disney, who were already secretly working on virtual technology. His objectives in creating the curriculum for ETC was, for students to just make stuff. The whole Master Degree program consisted of 5 projects. No book-reading, just projects through virtual worlds. He called the curriculum " the dream fulfillment factory".

The most important thing Mr.Pausch spoke about was the "head fake" teaching technique. He explains how he hopes one day, kids will learn how to write programs by playing a game. He explains, that the easiest way to get a kid to learn, is to make whatever your objection is,  look like a game, instead of a lesson plan. He called this the head-fake. It's the same as on the football field. Kids will be learning something fun, and not know, that they are programming. Mr.Pausch stated that a newer project called "Alice", would take the same learning technique, to the middle schools. There, they will be making music video games, story telling games, and  writing software, without even knowing it. Mr. Pausch added that because of his illness, he won't see all of his dreams come true. But like Moses, he has been able to take a peek into the future. Mr. Pausch continued to work vigorously, to educate and enlighten people about the possibilities, of virtual world education. Unfortunately, he passed away on July 25, 2008, ten(10) months, after the so-called "last lecture".