Blog Post #15

My Final Reflection

Project 16 - Final iBook - Sparta Group

This iBook was out final project for the semester in EDM310. It is a compilation of all of our work that we have done in the class. It includes videos, blog posts, photos, and other projects we completed during the semester. It is also now published and available for free download in iTunes.

C4T #4

C4T #4

Comment #1 - 4/15/14

Jabiz,

I am an education major at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL in EDM310 taught by Dr. Strange. I enjoyed this post because I believe that some teachers and parents are out of touch with what their students and children are learning and reading about. The simple remedy is to “read the books your students are reading.” In high school I really felt this was the case with my teachers, but here at USA, all of my professors read the books that they have assigned to us. I think this is a great approach and makes the class run smoothly. Thanks for the informative post!

Mitchell

Comment #2 - 4/29/14

Jabiz,

I really like this post, especially the third story that you told. I remember doing projects like this at my high school with younger students and how rewarding it was for me and I can only imagine what it meant for the younger kids to be able to work with upperclassmen. It was also great to be able to get a different point of view from them as well. I bet that they really enjoyed that project.

Mitchell Lane

C4K Sumamry for April

C4K #9

Lanzie – Pt. England School, Auckland, New Zealand

Hello Lanzie,

My name is Mitchell Lane and I am an education major in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I really liked this post because we also do reflections, a lot of them. I think it is great that you relate well with others and that you are caring. It is also cool that you like to help others. Great post!

Mitchell Lane

Lanzie had posted a reflection on his competencies which included being caring, relating well with others, and helping those in need. I commended him for possessing these values and that he should continue to practice at them.

C4K #10

Lotu – Pt. England School, Auckland, New Zealand

Lotu,

I am a education major at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class. We use a blog as well. I like how you put the link in your post for the Cops and Robbers game. I played it and it took me 7 guesses to find the robbers. I agree that you are an expert for finding the robbers in only 2 guesses! Great post and keep up the good work!

Mitchell

Lotu’s post contained a picture of a game and a link that took you to the website so that you could play the game yourself. She found the robbers in only 2 guesses and it took me 7. I commended her for using a hyperlink in her post that directed me to the game and she also included a picture of the game as well.

Blog Post #12

What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher? Select a few and discuss how they may be useful to you.

Assistive technology comes in many shapes and forms. Last semester I did a site visit to the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind for EDU400 and I got to see and actually use some of these tools. My guide that day was a man named Stephen Sullivan and he has been legally blind his entire life and has worked at the institute for 20 years. He uses a lot of the technology there to help him with his daily tasks. In my research for this blog post, I stumbled across a great website called EnableMart. It is kind of like an Amazon for assistive technology. It has things as simple as large print keyboards and magnifiers for computer screens as well as more advanced tools. The large print keyboard and magnifier would be very helpful in a classroom that has a student with vision problems. An example is the Headmouse Extreme, which “provides precise and efficient head-controlled access to computers” (EnableMart.com). This particular tool would be extremely valuable with a student with sensory and motor disabilities. This website provides assistive tools for people with a wide range of deficits and disabilities. It has tabs for speech and communication, learning and instruction, vision, hearing, sensory and motor skills, and even assistive technology for the elderly. I would encourage everyone to take a look at this site just to see how much technology is out there that can be used in the classroom or even at home. Some of these tools can make a huge difference in a child’s education and all teachers need to at least be aware of them. – Mitchell Lane

There exist plenty of assistive technology for blind students. There exist Portable Notetakers. They’re lightweight devices that use a speech output rather than a visual one. They can be connected to printers and computers and are usually equipped with a special, braille keyboard. However, there do exist QWERTY keyboards for those who prefer that style of keyboard. There also exist screen readers which reads aloud everything that is on a computer screen. This includes text, icons, and even drop-down menus. There are also digital book readers which are sort-of like audiobooks and there are also various magnification devices that help those who may not be blind, but are still considered visually impaired. Here's a link to all those devices mentioned as well a list of well-known products that are commonly used by the blind. - Jeffrey Brazeal

The concept of teaching mathematics to the blind seems a little far fetched, but is something that should not be overlooked. As teachers, we may encounter students with special needs and we will have to figure out how to handle that. In the video (How to teach math to blind students) they explain how that even numbers have their own braille symbols and all it takes is just a little extra mileage to help the students understand the concepts. This is more true with Trigonometry than anything else, as having to feel the shapes takes a little longer than simply looking at the object. Texas is one of the leading areas in the teaching math to the blind thanks the efforts of Susan Osterhaus, a Secondary Math Teacher at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Susan brought this to the attention of the 10th International Congress on Mathematical Education, which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark on July 4-11, 2004. As we can see, this is something that became a huge deal in the teaching community and is something that needs to continue to be looked after. The end of video, however, had a statement that affects children of all kinds. The statement is that when a student has positive feedback and encouragement, then the student will do better in school. - Gregory Olsen

In the Video “Teaching a Mother What Her Deaf/Blind Child is Learning on the iPad” was an interesting view, and rather hilarious. It is a teacher, I assume, teaching a person, a mother I assume, how their child uses the iPad. First off, it is interesting to watch a normal person trying to figure out how to use it for the first time even when it is just sliding to the next screen. The difficulty that she was experiencing is only increased drastically by the fact that the student is blind or deaf. I remember when I first got my HTC One, I had no clue how to handle any of the devices or even get it to sign into the internet. Turning it on was a chore, I couldn’t find the button for 30 minutes. It is amazing that there are students out there that are figuring out how to not only navigate an iPad simply by touch and sound alone, but also can figure out how to type on the device. - Gregory Olsen

There are a lot of assistive technologies out there for use in the classroom as a teacher. I have found a program called word talk that I think would be useful when using Microsoft word in the classroom. This software can help students with reading and writing difficulties. Some of the features of this software is that it reads the text in the document as well as highlighting the text as it reads allowing for the student to follow along. There are numerous options that allow for customization. For access to this software go here: http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/Home/. - John McPeek

Another interesting assistive technology that I found is called speedtype. Speedtype is software that is used to make typing easier for those that struggle with it. Speedtype is an abbreviation expanders otherwise known as shorthand. With this software those who have difficulty with typing or those that are slow can increase their output of word processing. By decreasing the time in which it take them to put a word document together this program could potentially help self-esteem and give them time for other projects. – John McPeek

Project 12 Part B

Blog Post #11

What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From These Teachers?

A Collaborative Blog Post

1. I watched the 1st one, and it has some awesome stuff discussed. To begin with, he talks about how he deals with students that are not high in knowledge, not just because of their grade level (4th) but instead because most of them did not even know what country they lived in. He talks about a weather balloon project that they did in class and the different aspects that went along with it. Not only did it have science and math, but also some language arts and literary aspects. The students were engaged throughout the entire project, and learning became a serious experience to them. Using the web to talk to people, conduct research and even give presentations about the project to other classes across the globe the students had their work cut out for them.

2. Paul Andersen teaches AP Biology at a high school in Bozeman, Montana. His video may only be ten minutes long, but it is packed with valuable information. He introduces his style of teaching as a blended learning cycle. He combines blended learning and its three components: online, classroom, and mobile with a learning cycle that aims to engage, explore, expand, explain, and evaluate. He created a mnemonic device to remember the steps of his blended learning cycle. He uses the word quiver. First he presents a question. Second, he encourages inquiry/investigation. Third, he uses video to further explain his topic. Fourth, he elaborates upon the material. This step involves reading and being able to pull valuable, relevant material from text. Next, he reviews his students in small groups so that he can verify that they fully understand the material covered. Finally, once all other steps are reached, he tests his students with a summary quiz over a few units. This was a very helpful video that I'm sure I will be looking back to for inspiration in the future.

3. This video by Mark Church is a promotion for his book Making Thinking Visible. In this video Mark has put his students into groups and encourages them to talk about what they have learned up to this point. While they are discussing the topic the students are to come up with a headline about what they have learned. Mark then states that after a couple of weeks they will revisit the headlines and see what headline they would now come up with. This was a very interesting way of getting students involved in a project. I believe that this would be a good way to get the students interested at the very beginning of a project to see how time and a little more learning about a subject can change their outlook on things.

4. Sam Pane is a 5th grade teacher at Wilson Focus School in Nebraska, Tennessee. In the video, Sam Pane is teaching his students on how to be good “digital natives”, denizens, or, frequent users of the internet. To teach his students how to be good digital natives, he has his students create their own webcomic that stars a superhero that they themselves create via a online program that allows you to create a superhero. I think that is perhaps the best idea for a lesson EVER. Seriously, I wish I could have done neat stuff like that when I was in elementary school. Shoot, I make my own superheroes every now and again already, it’d be something I’m already awesome at, heh. The hard part though is coming up with a good name for your hero or heroine. This just further reinforces the fact that if you make lessons fun, it’ll make children become much more engaged and passionate about whatever it is they’re learning, mostly because it won’t really feel like learning. Also, by having your students create something, it instills a sense of ownership, a sense of pride in whatever it is they’re creating.

5. In a video called Project Based Learning by Dean Shareski, we get to see yet another classroom that is fully utilizing Project-Based Learning. In this classroom, multiple subjects are actually combined. So, students aren’t participating in a class that is divided up into “periods” or “blocks”. It’s all one classroom that is being taught by three or so teachers. It’s a very interesting system, though the teachers do talk about how difficult it was to put such a system in place. But, it was worth it. This video further proves just how effective Project-Based Learning is (as though you really needed more proof, heh).

6. In this video Roosevelt Elementry highlights their Project Based Learning teachers and students. They talk about all the aspects of PBL that help the children grow. One of these aspects that they highlight is that of public speaking. PBL really helps in these lower level classrooms to get children comfortable speaking to groups. Another thing that is highlighted in this video is collaborative work. This skill is a great thing to teach at this early level of learning because it’s what most adults have to do at work anyhow and to learn how to do it effectively and efficiently at this age can only help the students as they grow and learn. The last thing that is highlighted is how much the students enjoy it. The video has parents of children that are in the class tell of how it is helping their child and how much their child is learning using this method as well as how much they enjoy PBL. The aspect that children are loving PBL is what has brought me to believing how powerful a learning tool it can be.

#1: Gregory Olsen #2: Mitchell Lane #3 and #6: John McPeek #4 and #5: Jeffrey Brazeal

C4K Summary for March

C4K #7

Jarreka – Pt. England School, Auckland, New Zealand

I had commented on Jarreka’s post when it was assigned but for some reason my comment never showed up so I just commented again. She had shared a video that her class had made. They named things and attributes that they felt coincided with the Pt. England Way. I said that I greed with all of the things that her and her classmates named and that if they did all of them to the best of their abilities, they would be well on their way to becoming model students.

C4K #8

Mohammed – Pt. England School, Auckland, New Zealand

Mohammed had most recently posted on his blog about a game he played while on holiday. It was called Base Wars and you control a tank against other tanks and infantry. I told him that I liked the background of his blog as well as the game that he played. I asked if he was on the green or yellow team.

C4T #3

Steve Wheeler

3/16/14

The first blog post of Mr. Wheeler’s that I commented on was from March 16, 2014 and the title was Taking up Residence. This post was particularly interesting because he was discussing Marc Prensky’s Natives and Immigrants. He was comparing this view of technology to another one held by David White of Oxford University. White refers to these same people as Digital Residents and Visitors. This theory is much easier for me to relate to and to understand. I commented about this and received a response from Mr. Wheeler.

4/6/14

The most recent post that I commented on was about a recent keynote speech that Mr. Wheeler gave in Barcelona, Spain. One of his key points was that future education would be “both richly social and intensely personal.” What he means is that technology allows us to connect with people all over the world and at the same time it allows us to personalize things to fit our needs and tasks at hand. I told Mr. Wheeler that I could not agree more and that I hope this happens sooner rather than later.

Blog Post #10

What Can We Learn From Sir Ken Robinson?

After watching the video of Ken Robinson's speech at the TED conference in 2010, there are a few key points that can be taken away and applied to our future endeavors as teachers. I would also recommend checking out TED's website here.

1. Not just evolution, but a revolution is needed in education. It must be transformed into something else, completely different.

2. Human resources, or natural talents show themselves under the right circumstances. It would seem that education should promote this, but a lot of the time it hides it. Robinson also compared these talents to natural resources and the fact that both are usually hidden deep within.

3. Education needs to feed your spirit and passions. This stood out to me because this is the type of education that I have been seeking for a long time. Like he mentioned earlier, I felt that my education at earlier institutions hindered my learning because it did not feed my interests.

4. “Cannot predict the outcome of human development, all you can do is create the conditions under which they will flourish.” We must personalize education to the person/people that we are teaching. He compared this to a farmer and his crops. All he can do is provide the proper conditions and then rely on the environment to do what it will. All of those variables affect development.

Project #12: SMART Board Presentation

Project #9

Blog Post #9

What Can We Learn from Ms. Cassidy?

Ms. Cassidy uses every piece of technology and tool that she can to get her 2nd graders to learn more actively and eagerly. She uses tools such as blogs, wikis, Skype, a class webpage, and even a Nintendo DS. They played a role playing game where a group had to share and take care of a virtual pet. The students are also actively involved in the production of their videos. They can be seen holding the camera and also they are the stars as well. I like the idea of a secure class webpage for safe searching and links. I also plan to utilize blogs and Skype in my own classroom some day. One drawback I can think of is the use of the Nintendo in a 2nd grade class. These students shown seem to handle the responsibility very well, but other children this age may not be able to handle it yet. It could end up being a distraction instead of a tool. However, I would make it clear that the use of it was a privilege and if it was abused, the Nintendo would be taken up and the whole class would be penalized.

I feel that using these techniques would be a great way to get students more engaged and responsible for their own work. This would also get them to take more pride in it as well.

Blog Post #8

Find some 21st Century Learning and Communicating Tools. Tell us about them. Tell us where we can find them. Give a thorough review of at least one of them.

A tool that I stumbled across this semester was called Sportplan. I found it while doing a C4T assignment for EDM 310 on a P.E. teacher's blog. He provided a few links and I checked it out. Sportplan is a very helpful tool to both P.E. teachers and coaches. You select your sport or type of activity or drill and you are presented with various choices. This software would allow a teacher or coach to project these images and videos and save the time it would take to draw them up. It has exercises for agility and fitness and general athletics so it would be ideal for a physical education teacher. This is a European site, so there is no football as we know it on here yet, but there are drills that can be applied to it. This tool would be a change from a blackboard and might grab attention better as well. It would save valuable time during preparation and allow more time for other tasks. Here is a link to the Sportplan blog, which is full of great information. As well as one to their FAQ page.

Dylan Blain, the P.E. teacher I learned of this tool from, mentioned that an app was in the making for this software, and I hope there is. But I'm sure that there are many others like it out there already. This was just one that I stumbled across and really liked.

C4T #2

Comments for Teacher #2

For this assignment I was paired with Dylan Blain, a Physical Education teacher and coach in the United Kingdom. His first blog post I commented on introduced software called Sports Plan. I introduced myself because it was my first post and commented on various aspects of the software. It allowed for a coach to create drills and practice plans with just a few keystrokes leaving valuable time for other things. He also mentioned that an app was supposedly in the making as well.

Mr. Blain had not made a new post so I looked at his entry that was previous to the one above. He introduced Google Drive and Edmodo as tools he uses everyday in his Physical Education classes. I commented that we used Google Drive as well in our EDM 310 class and that I agreed that it was a very valuable tool for students as well as teachers.

C4K Summary for February

C4K #1

http://kidblog.org/MsToalsClass/

Callum

The students had recently done a Skype chat with a woman named Jillian. She was a marine biologist that talked to them about sharks and how they were harmless and should not be viewed as man-eaters.

C4K #2

http://kidblog.org/Grade5Days1-2/

Sahara

The students recently had to create a survey in order to better know who was viewing their blogs. I took and commented on Sahara’s “All About You” survey and also mentioned one of her earlier posts as well concerning the question: “What would you do if you were locked inside your favorite store?”

C4K #3

http://kidblog.org/MsRuizs3rdPeriod/

Levay

Levay’s class has been reading Of Mice and Men and they are in the process of posting synopses of the second chapter to their class blogs. I commented on Levay’s post and told him that I had read the book also and remembered having some of the same feelings about certain characters and that I also liked his proposed title for the chapter.

C4K #4

http://kidblog.org/MrsLongsClass-6/

Jeff

Jeff had recently posted in his blog what sacrifice meant to him. I agreed with what he said about it. I also told him that a lot of the time it is the things that we like the most that we need to sacrifice sometimes.

Project #8 - Book Trailer

Blog Post 6

What are Personal Learning Networks? How can they help you as a teacher? How are they formed? How can you create your own PLN? Who will be the first additions to your PLN?

A Personal Learning Network is a method by which we can continue to learn and improve upon our own skills. A PLN is made up of both people and the various tools and other aids available. They are primarily done virtually and aid in global connectivity and allow ideas to be shared from all over the world. This is what makes a PLN great: the flexibility. Since they are primarily online, members of a PLN can respond at their convenience rather than having to get together and meet in person. They also provide an opportunity for a key element of teaching, reflection. They also encourage thinking and learning outside of the classroom. In this video, Steven Anderson describes a PLN and its importance to educators everywhere.

A Personal Learning Network can help me as a teacher because, as I mentioned earlier, they allow for reflection, which is a very important part of teaching. This reflection period allows for those within the PLN to asses and critique my work and also to give suggestions that will help me to do a better job in the future. A few ways to create my PLN include using all of the tools and resources at my disposal. Next, I would look back on my past semesters at South and at other institutions and try to remember influential professors as well as fellow students that taught me something new. I would try to get in contact with these people and see if they would mind lending their expertise when they could to help me become a better teacher. The beauty of a PLN is that I do not have to meet face to face, but rather online, so that the members of my PLN could respond at their leisure.

The first additions to my PLN would probably be the members of my group, Sparta, from this course. They are the people that I work with the most and by the end of the semester I will know them even better. I guess I already have a PLN in the works as I regularly bounce ideas off of my mother who was a teacher, as well as some of my former high school teachers for advice and inspiration. I would also have to think back to professors in my past that have really challenged me and engaged me and try to pick their brain for ways to do that myself. It's funny how at the time I could not stand certain teachers, but looking back on it, I am so much better off because of them.

Blog Post 5

What did I learn from these conversations with Anthony Capps?

These videos were all very informative and helped to better understand Project Based Learning. The first video, Project Based Learning Part 1: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher, introduces Anthony Capps. He is a former student and lab professional in EDM310. He currently teaches 3rd grade at Gulf Shores Elementary School. In this video, Capps emphasizes that projects do not just demonstrate a learned ability, but also as a way to put a sense of ownership on that ability. This way of learning allows students to seek out answers, mastering sets of skills, and then demonstrating them. Capps also stressed the reflection period after sharing, which allows for peer editing and for mistakes to be corrected. During this period both the students and the teacher are learning from each other.

The second video, Project Based Learning Part 2: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher, begins with the reminder that not everything is going to go well. Anthony told a story about a parent that was uncomfortable with a certain subject and he had to honor belief. He also explains that you are going to get a lot more than you expect from your students. Do not hinder their creativity with strict guidelines. “PBL is not only a means for evaluating, but also a powerful method by which students learn” (Dr. Strange). Capps also praised student choice because it led to more pride and ownership of ideas.

iCurio was introduced in the third video. It is essentially a curated search engine that allows students to safely search the web for criteria that has been filtered strictly for educational use. Students can use it as a search engine but it also has storage capacity where they can work on projects together and save their work. This allows for the development of virtual, or online, organization. This is critical for both the students and teachers.

The fourth video was dedicated to Discovery Education and it is provided to all Baldwin County teachers. It basically brings experts into the classroom through videos to help bring texts and other subjects to life. Capps stressed the importance of engaging students both through audio and video.

Video #5 was a Strange List of Tips for Teachers. It was a combined effort between Dr. Strange and Anthony to compile a few tips for teachers. A few that stood out were: to be interested in learning as well, that teaching is hard, but it can be fun and rewarding if you allow it to be, and to always allow room to share and reflect.

The sixth video encouraged educators: Don’t Teach Tech – Use It. This video encourages us to avoid putting too much time into teaching technology. Instead, we should scaffold what technology we are using to eventually allow the desired results to happen. Focus on one type of tech at a time and gradually combine various tools until a desired goal is reached. Allow time for reflection and corrections of mistakes and eventually these skills will begin to be mastered. Asking questions and problem solving are essential to Project Based Learning.

The final video was a quick introduction into a lesson and how there were for levels to each lesson. The biggest level is how it fits into the year. Big picture stuff here, like state and federal standards. Next level is how it fits into a unit. This is where the scaffolding takes place. On the next level, how it fits into a week, is where the individual steps of the scaffolding are being built. Finally, the smallest level is how that lesson fits in a day. It is just as important as all of the other levels. This is how you deliver content and material to your students. It also must be measurable in some way in order to know where to begin the next day.

My Sentence Videos

My Sentence Is...



My Passion Is...

Project # 3 Presentation

C4T #1

Comments for Teachers #1

The first blog post I commented on by Brendan Ryan was from December 15, 2013. It was a post in which he reflected back on his previous year and what he had learned as a teacher. He also looked forward to what his future might hold for him and for education as a whole. I commented by introducing myself and telling him a little about me. I then commented on something particular that he said. He talks about how he used to focus only on the tools and not the teaching. But he said that he realized “tools are fine, but good teaching and learning environments are key.” I told him that this really stood out to me because of what we were learning in EDM 310. The tools are out there and can be used by anyone, but they must be taught how to use those tools to decipher what information is reliable and trustworthy.

Brendan had not written a new blog post so I commented on his previous one. He describes how he was interested to see if other PE teachers engaged in marking and feedback, and if so, what type of material were they marking. He created a survey that he posted online for his peers to complete. While he did not get as much feedback as he expected, he did get some. I commented first by saying what a great idea the survey was and commended him for having the initiative to create it and post it.

Blog Post 4

What Do We Need to Know About Asking Questions to be an Effective Teacher?

When I first read the assignment for this blog post I thought that it was going to be difficult to answer. But after looking at the links provided and doing a little research of my own, I realized that it was not going to be that hard. After reading "The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom" by Ben Johnson, I thought back to my earlier days in high school and how much I dreaded it when a teacher would ask a question. Looking back, I was one of the students that didn't really care, so I avoided any and all opportunities to respond. But at the same time, my teachers were asking questions like "Do you all understand?" To which we all nodded our heads because we were either bored or ready to go to our next class. The teacher was not truly engaging us with a question like this. However, I remember one teacher that routinely posed a question to the class as a whole and then after a few seconds, called on a student to answer it. As one of the comments to Ben's post points out, this allowed the entire class to ponder the answer without any pressure and got everyone thinking, even if it was just for a few seconds until we relaxed because she did not call our name. This teacher found a way to ask a question that would get the entire class involved and engaged, even if it was just for those few seconds until someone was called on.

Another thing that I remembered from high school was that there were some classmates of mine that were really shy and were uncomfortable answering questions out loud. In this instance, the teachers knew about this and instead of orally responding to the questions, we wrote down our answers on paper. This allowed everyone a way to express themselves fully but without drawing attention to themselves by speaking out. As I teacher, I think it will be very important to understand who I am teaching and how my students learn. That way, I can alter and modify how I teach so that my students will be getting the best possible results and learn in a way that suits them the best. I know that I will constantly be learning new things from my students while at the same time teaching them new things. We need to ask questions that will engage and stimulate our students and try to stay away from those that may distance some students from being active participants in our classroom. We need to look at these questions from both the teacher's perspective and the student's. Only then can we ask engaging questions that will help us to become more effective teachers.

Blog Post 3

How Can I Provide Meaningful Feedback to My Peers?

All three of the links provided were very helpful in better understanding the process of peer editing. While I have done some of this in the past, I never received any formal education in the process of peer editing. The first video, “What is Peer Editing,” was a Prezi that was a very helpful and simple way to explain what a peer evaluation is and a three-step way to go about them. The slideshow titled, “Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial,” was also very helpful in that it outlined everything presented in the previous video as well as elaborate upon the three steps: Complimenting, Suggesting, and Correcting. The final link was a video named, “Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes.” It is a humorous, elementary school take on the practices to avoid when peer editing. While it was performed by young children, it still contained relevant material that can be applied to my own peer editing.

The main things that I learned from these various links are: to stay positive with my comments at all times, to concentrate and pay attention when editing, to be specific as I can and avoid generalizations. Something that really stood out to me is the need to be receptive to the criticism that is given to me. It can be one of the best tools for improving my work so I need to keep an open mind when reading the critiques of my own work because one of my peers may catch something that I missed or they may have way to improve my blog post as well. The last video was pretty funny, but it brought up situations that apply to us all. All three links were very simple and easy to follow, but full of valuable information at the same time.

Blog Post 2

What Will Teaching in the 21st Century be Like?

1. This video was illustrating how certain courses, such as a dance class, cannot be taught effectively through a lecture-only environment. There must be a practical portion of the class in which the teacher demonstrates and the students get a chance to practice. The author’s conclusion is that regardless of the amount of lecture or the experience of the teacher, without a practical setting to actually learn the technique, nothing is actually being learned. The professor seemed to bore the students instead of engage them.

2. Roberts thinks that teaching in the 21st Century means acting as a filter for all of the information that is available to students and also to teach various skills that will enable them to utilize the tools that allow them to access the information. Roberts also stresses engaging students as a way to make sure they are active participants in class. I totally agree with Roberts and his take on how teaching is changing. This is intimidating because everything I say can be fact checked, but if I use the same tools and resources I can find the right answer in the beginning.

3. After watching The Networked Student, I realized how much the teacher’s role has changed since I was a student in high school. Never in my life did I expect to use blogs, Facebook, or Twitter in my classes. But, here I am doing it for the first time. The response to the question of why the teacher was needed made perfect sense. The teacher is present to help synthesize the information gathered, to help design and usher the students along their path to mastering the skill-sets needed to sift through the endless amounts of information they will come across. I totally agree with this point of view and hope to use these tools myself in a classroom one day.

4. Vicki Davis in her own words “turned the school upside-down.” She was referring to her new style of teaching which involved using every bit of technology she could to get her students connected with the world around them. She is also constantly learning from her students and adapting and changing her style of teaching to best suit their needs. She is trying to get the best possible environment for her students by engaging them with tasks that are fun and challenging at the same time. I hope to one day be this flexible with my own students and allow them to learn in their own ways, not just the way I expect them to. She is not always the center of attention in the classroom and allows her students to do some of the teaching aided by the technology at their disposal.

5. Flipping the Classroom is a new technique to me as well one that I could definitely see myself using in the future. It would just be a change from the everyday routine of in-class teaching or lecture and would definitely allow for more time for students to problem solve and allow their creativity to grow. They would also be able to focus on things that they did not understand and need more help with as well as those things that interest them. It would also be beneficial to the teacher because of the change of pace and the feedback that would be received from the students.

Blog Post 1

The first time I heard anything about EDM 310 was while I was meeting with my adviser to plan out my classes at South. He didn't tell me anything scary about it but just to be prepared for the workload and not to pair it with another difficult course. I heard other things here and there in my previous education classes but nothing to deter me from taking EDM 310 this semester. Considering that I had not heard too much about the course I did not have any fears about it, but rather looked forward to the opportunity to learn some new things. The first day of class I was a little intimidated at first, but once I got the hang of it, I was comfortable.

Judging by the first two days, EDM 310 is very different from any other courses I have taken in the past. The most difficult thing for me in this class will be my time management. While not terrible, it definitely needs some work. I just need to plan out my time wisely and not allow myself to get behind at all. I will add important due dates to my calendar and stay on top of all assignments.

Practice Post

About Me

My name is Mitchell Lane and I was born in Columbus, Georgia where I lived for eighteen years. After graduating from high school I attended the University of Georgia in Athens where I played football for a year until I injured my hip. A year and a half later I had reconstructive hip surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Once I had recovered I moved to Auburn, Alabama where I worked at a SCUBA shop and also helped teach SCUBA lessons through the Auburn University for the next four years. I soon decided to continue pursuing my education after this and applied to South Alabama. I moved to Mobile in December of 2012 and began at South the following spring. I picked South because I liked the idea of living so close to the water and because I eventually want to coach as well as teach and there is an abundance of high schools in the area. My time as a community football coach at my high school and as an assistant SCUBA instructor really opened my eyes to how much I enjoyed teaching and coaching and watching students and athletes take in the knowledge I was giving to them and to eventually be able to perform those skills on their own.

I enjoy SCUBA diving as well as spearfishing, hunting, and fishing. I love college football and basketball, as well as professional baseball, particularly the Atlanta Braves. I have been to Cozumel, Belize, and the Bahamas, to SCUBA dive. I could not survive without seafood which was another reason why I like it so much down here. I also enjoy history, which is what I plan to teach, and yet another reason why Mobile is so appealing to me because it is so rich in history.

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This is my first post on my first blog ever. Always use the HTML button when posting in EDM 310.