Skype Interview Project #12

My Skype interview with Christina Sobolewski.

I uploaded it to YouTube however it still says that it is processing even though I uploaded it over an hour ago. So, I posted the link for it for YouTube as well as the link screentoaster gave me.

Capture your screen in seconds

Short Movie Project 11

Blog Assignment 9

What I've Learned This Year by Mr. McClung

Mr, McClung's post is something all aspiring teachers need to read. I haven't thought much about the things I am going to face when I actually do become a teacher. This post made me think. I think the most important information I took away from this post is to be flexible and to never stop learning. I don't want to get carried away in planning the perfect lesson and neglect the real reason I am teaching that perfect lesson, which is for my students to learn. Mr McClung said that "we have to remember that we are performing in front of a crowd the struggles remembering what they brought for lunch that day," which is so true. If our students are learning and having fun learning then we are teaching a perfect lesson whether it is the one we planned on teaching or not.

I also enjoyed the section titled never stop learning. Why would anyone want to stop learning? If we were to stop learning today then ten years from now we would still be living in two thousand and ten while the rest of the world had moved on. There is so much information out there, so many things that we can learn not only to better ourselves but to pass along to our students and inspire them. If our students see us putting forth effort to learn something, and going after something we want to more about then they will more than likely be motivated to do the same.

Mr. McClung  discussed a number of things he learned in his first year of teaching: How to Read the Crowd, Be Flexible, Communicate, Be Reasonable, Don't Be Afraid of Technology, Listen to Your Students, and Lastly...Never Stop Learning. Each title had a bit of information on what he had learned about that topic during his first year of teaching. As I mentioned before, it's a great post for all aspiring teachers to read, as well as current teachers. I definitely feel more prepared for my first year.

Blog Assignment 8

Before watching the "This Is How We Dream" series I had little education on writing with technology. It was all definitely new to me and I found it interesting. He gave interesting ways to create documents and videos. He also showed how to share those documents and videos. It was interesting to see the different ways technology will be used in the future.
I feel that there a lot of people, including teachers who do not know how to do this. As a future teacher I am interested in learning to write in multimedia because I feel that it is something I will need in my career in the future. I think it would be a good tool to get students involved in classroom activities and projects and it would also give them the chance to learn more about technology and writing in multimedia.

The Chipper Series and EDM310 For Dummies
Both of the videos were very entertaining. I think the creator did an excellent job of getting a point across while keeping the audience entertained. I think it would be great to do a video on the relevance of this class. Sometimes I read my assignments and I think why do I need this? When am I ever going to use it? But, then I watch the videos or read the articles and I see how beneficial what I am learning will be to me in my future career.

Smart boards

I must admit that I wasn't familiar with smartboards before this assignment. I did have to do some research to find out exactly what they are. While they are interesting and a compliment to the classroom I agree with Michael Staton and Bill Ferriter, they are expensive and aren't really changing much in the classroom. Bill said that he could put together the same lessons he put together using the smartboard by using the computer stations he already has as well as free online tools. I also like the quote he added by Sylvia Martinez, “You can’t buy change. It’s a process, not a purchase. The right shopping list won’t change education.”
One of the blogs that I found that is in favor of smart boards can be found here.
The other one here.
Both of these blogs discuss the ways in which smart boards can be used as well as how easy and affective they are as well as strategies that can be used when teaching with a smart board.

Timetoast Project 9b

  The History of Pugfest

My pug Daisy Mae whom I would love to take to Pugfest one day.

Timetoast Project 9a

Blog Assignment 7

Randy Pausch's last lecture was not what I was expecting at all. His lecture was very different than what you would be expecting to hear from a professor. His lecture was on childhood dreams and achieving those dreams. Although not conventional, he taught an important lesson. He started by telling the audience some of his own childhood dreams.
 
Throughout this lecture Randy discusses how he achieved his own childhood dreams. I thought it was phenomenal the way he went after his dreams. He described one by one his childhood dreams and how he managed to achieve them. Playing in the NFL was the one dream that he didn't achieve, but I loved what he said about that, "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."
Randy wanted his students to be excited about achieving their dreams as well. He wanted them to realize that they could make their dreams come true. He introduced new ways of teaching by using more technology than books as well as having students learn teamwork and work in groups. He is very big on teamwork, which I think is a great thing, no one wants to feel alone. Randy was surprised by the results he got from his students when using these techniques. He even had parents coming to class on the nights the students presented their work, which was a first for Randy.
 I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I will admit that when I saw it was an hour long lecture I wasn't thrilled, but, time flew when I was watching it and I found it very interesting. I guess I should be a bit more open minded. I love Randy's ideas and the fact that he wants to encourage people to go after their dreams. So many of us see our dreams as impossible and I think Randy reminded me that they're not impossible and as he says the brick walls aren't put there to stop us.