Final Project Progress Report

Progress Report

For my groups final project, we will be doing an iBook. We all agreed that we would work on our individual iBooks first. My iBook is coming along great. I plan on putting photos of the people that matter the most to me and things that I enjoy. As far as the group work, we work together pretty good. We have done 3 projects together and they have turned out great, and I believe that this one will have the same outcome!

Blog Assignment 12

Assignment:
Watch the video Engage Me!. Do you think the students have a valid point? How do you feel about technology in elementary classrooms? Are you going to incorporate technology in your classroom?
Write two or more paragraphs about your thoughts of this video and how you will conduct your future classroom.

I really loved this video! The video show students of elementary grade level holding cards that challenge teachers to incorporate technology in the classroom. In the video they are explaining the technologies they use in their everyday life, such as, laptops, PSPs, email, iPods, blogs, and podcast, and wondering why these technologies can't be used in their school. They explain that lots of things, like writing stories on the internet can be done and seen by not only their teacher but by thousands of people. These students are explaining that they want to participate and be involved in their own learning. They want to become apart of students that learn and communicate globally through film, blogs , and wikis, and to also be taught to think, analyze, and be creative. They want their classroom to become apart of the many classrooms that are conforming to become more technology friendly classrooms.

I most definitely will include technology in my classroom. I think it is essential for a 21st century classroom. I think it is important that technology be taught in elementary grade levels because, they will remember it and they will become familiar with being surrounded by technology. I think it is the teachers job to teach the students how to use each item that may be used in the classroom and explain what the uses are. Starting to teach students the importance of technology in elementary schools is doing nothing but preparing them for the future to come.

C4T #3

My two comments for C4T #3 were to Mr. Burrows blog. His blog was only pictures of drawn portraits. There was no words, only drawings. My two comments were left on post that had multiple drawings, tat looked like they came from different people, I was thinking that they were probably drawn by his students. These are the two comments I posted:

• Hi Mr Burrows,
  My name is Kayla Johnson. I attend the University of South Alabama. I really like the pictures you have posted. Are these portraits drawn by you or your students? Is this blog strictly for portraits? I really wish that I had the talent of being able to draw.
  Kayla Johnson
• Hi again Mr. Burrows,
  Once again I really admire your blog fascinating. You really make me wish I could draw. The portraits drawn are beautiful and unique in their own way. I encourage your students to keep up the good work.
  Kayla Johnson

Check out Mr. Burrow's blog here!

Blog Assignment 11

Little Kids... Big Potential

I really like the title of the video Little Kids... Big Potential. In this video the students of Ms. Cassidy's class show how they use different technology in their classroom. I think that it is great that the students who are only in the 1st grade are learning what I am just now learning as a 3rd year college student. In Ms. Cassidy's class, the students use blogs, a classroom webpage, wikis, videos, Skype, and Nintendo DS to connect with other people and classrooms around the world. Throughout the video the students talk about each form of communication and explain how they use it in their class. The students stated that blogging was their favorite. They enjoy blogging the most because people all over the world can read them and leave comments. The students also added that they can see and sound out words better on their blogs. The students even had a tip on how to be safe on the Internet, "just put your first name, not your last name". The students enjoy using their webpage to help guide them to places on the Internet to learn things. Videos are used to add to their blogs, and Skype is used to talk to different classrooms and also experts.

As for the Skype interview with Ms. Cassidy, I found the interview pretty helpful. Ms. Cassidy explains that she began using technology in her classroom when she was assigned five computers and decided to make a center. In the interview she explains how she set up the video, "Little Kids... Big Potential. She talks about how some teachers feel that they don't have to change to teaching with more technology, they feel like their way of teaching is just fine. She states that she does think that all teachers must be technology literate. Teachers must keep up with what is developing in technology, because as she states, "it isn't going anywhere". Along with teaching her students how to use technology, she teaches them rules on how to be careful on the Internet. She also teaches them proper etiquette for leaving comments on others blogs. I love the way that Ms. Cassidy conducts her classroom. I think that it is the way to teach in the 21st century to prepare students for their future!

C4K for October

My first C4K for the month of October was to a student who's blog name is ellnas954. The class blog is for Mr. Wirth's 4th grade class. The blog I commented on was entitled Cats & Dogs. This blog discussed the differences and similarities of cats and dogs. Here is the comment I left;
Hi Ellnas954,
My name is Kayla Johnson. I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I loved reading your blog post about dogs and cats. I do not have any dogs and cats at all. How many dogs and cats do you have? I really like how you used big words like “affectionate” and “solitary”. Your blog post was very informative on telling people how dogs and cats are alike and different. Keep up the good work!
Kayla Johnson

My next comment was to KW who's post was entitled "Moderation to the Extreme". KW's post talked about his hatred for extremist and how he is always agreeing or disagreeing with both sides of a conflict. He says instead of him being an extremist for either side, he calls himself an extreme moderate. I really enjoyed reading this post. Here is the comment I left;
Hi KW,
My name is Kayla Johnson. I attend the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed reading your blog post on “Moderation to the Extreme”. I enjoyed it because that is how I am in most cases. Being moderate in my case is “playing it safe”. I am a very safe person, I really don’t express myself much, that is why I am always agreeing with both sides. I would have liked to hear more about you being on the fence with gay marriage and abortion. With those two I would have to say I agree more with the Church, how about you? It was also nice that you had a working link and two pictures to go along with your blog post topic. Keep up the good work.
Kayla :)

My last comment was to Anna Kate who is a student in Miss Mac's Outstanding Owls. Her post was just of a picture of a polar bear and a question about the polar bear. The fact was "Did you know that polar bears have 42 teeth?" You can see her blog here. This is the comment I left;
Hi Anna Kate,
My name is Kayla Johnson. I attend the University of South Alabama. I like the picture of polar bears you have posted. I did not know that polar bears have 42 teeth. That is so cool! Thank you for posting that interesting fact along with the cute picture. Do you like polar bears? Do you know anything else interesting about polar bears?
Kayla Johnson

Project #14

Blog Post Assignment 10

Honestly, when first seeing the drawing I didn't understand it. I then looked up what Ticonderoga was and I found it was a more expensive type of pencil. After reading the comments about the picture, and the explanation left by Mr. Spencer, which explained that the picture was a mock toward the Mac and PC commercials. In the picture, the papermate pencil would be the PC and the Ticonderoga would be the Mac.

Why Were Your Kids Playing Games

This blog post written by John T. Spencer is very interesting. In this blog post, Mr. Spencer's boss, the principal, calls him into his office, to address him about playing games in the classroom. The principal is questioning Mr. Spencer about the reasoning behind him playing games in the classroom. He basically is telling Mr. Spencer that he should not be playing games, that he should be teaching. In my opinion playing games could definitely be considered teaching. It is very important, as educators that we keep our students engaged, and games are definitely a way to keep them engaged. In this case, the principal is not focused on if the students are actually learning anything. If students are bored in the classroom, it is less likely that they will learn or remember anything the teacher is talking about. Students want learning to be interesting. Things like games, speeches, etc. make learning more fun, and allows the students to not only memorize content, but actually understand it.

The additional blog post I read by John Spencer was Should Schools Be More Boring? I totally picked this blog post from the title. It really made me think. You can read it here!

Scott McLeod

Scott McLeod is known mostly as one of the nation's leading experts on K-12 technology issues.He currently holds position as Director of Innovation for Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency 8 in Iowa. He is also the director for UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE). In 2003, he and his co-worker of CASTLE created the country's first graduate program designed to prepare technology-savvy school leaders. He has received many honors and rewards. Source:(http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/bio)

Like in the comment left on Mr. McLeod's blog post Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?, I feel that technology is not going anywhere, and it is always improving, therefore we need to prepare students for the technology to come. By students being able to use technology, it is preparing them for future jobs that do not even exist yet.

Project #11

Project #12