Friday, April 27, 2012

Project 10 (Final Post)

This is a woman holding a sign about PLNs.
My PLN
My PLN probably isn't as large as some, but at least I have one.  I'm sure my PLN will keep growing.

These are the people in my PLN:
  1. Becky Goerend
  2. Ms. Cassidy
  3. John Spencer
  4. Ira David Socol
  5. Mr. McClung
  6. Richard Miller
  7. Abbey Cooke
  8. Karl Fisch
  9. Randy Pausch
  10. Scott Mcleod
  11. Sylvia Rosenthal Talisano
  12. Gary Hayes
  13. Michael Wesch
  14. John Strange
  15. Rebekah Coleman
  16. Drayton Rodgers
  17. Joseph Ross
  18. Taylor Clark
  19. Erica Palmer
  20. Logan Manus
  21. Lee Salter
  22. Theresa Salter
I also have many other people that I follow on Twitter, and I learn from all my friends on facebook and my family.
    These are the gadgets in my PLN:
    1. Facebook
    2. Twitter
    3. Google
    4. Blogger
    5. Youtube
    6. Delicious
    7. Google Docs
    8. Instagram
    I'm sure I use other gadgets besides these, but these are the main ones I use.

    I hope to keep expanding my PLN!

    Thursday, April 26, 2012

    Project 3 (Final C4T)

    This says teacher.
    Post 1
    My final teacher was Becky Goerend, a fifth grade teacher from Iowa.  The first blog post I commented on was entitled Another Lesson from the Garden, and it connected gardening to life.  Mrs. Goerend explained how people need to get rid of old ideas in order to accept new ideas just like old plants have to be removed in order for new ones to flourish. This is my comment:

    Hey Ms. Goerend,

    My name is Susie Salter, and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. This post was very interesting. I like how you compared life to changes in the season and plants. When you mentioned getting rid of the old to be able to bring in the new, I automatically thought of my closet. I am a self-proclaimed shopaholic, and I really need to get rid of some old fashion to make room for new stuff. This concept also works with ideas. We has to get rid of certain biases we have in order to accept new ideas.

    I look forward to reading more of your posts,
    Susie Salter

    Post 2
    The second post I commented on was entitled Creative Juices, and it explained how important it is to have a niche and be creative.  This is my comment:

    Hey!
    My name is Susie Salter, and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I commented on another one of your posts a few weeks ago. I really like the fact that you understand that everyone needs a niche. For most people, sitting around doing boring schoolwork is draining. I wish there were more teachers who understood this. I personally hope to come up with a lot of creative activities when I become an English teacher. Creative writing is the best. Kids get to experience a freedom that will help them in all aspects of life.

    Blog Assignment 13

    This is a computer attached to a toilet.
    Banned Technology Outcome
    For this week, we were assigned to try and not use any electronic media for 24 consecutive hours.  Every time we broke the rules, we had to start over and try again.  We had to try three times.  I already knew what the outcome of this was going to be.  I'm always glued to my smartphone.  When I get up in the morning, as I'm eating breakfast, I always check my email and get on facebook.  There is no way for me to remember that I'm on a media fast when I wake up unless I put sticky notes on the fridge and the table reminding me.  Using technology is just a force of habit.  I've been using the internet and social media too long to give it up.  Also, another challenge for me was not watching television.  When I get home from work at night, I usually turn the TV to some mindless sitcom just to relax.  It's nice not to have to think at some point during the day.  I think I would go insane if I didn't have some sort of media to distract my thoughts.  Everyone has to have a cool-down period, a time in the day where you just let go of all your troubles.  For me, that time is when I'm watching TV, playing on my phone, or shopping online.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot my shopping addiction.  When I'm bored (well, I don't even have to be bored), I go to Victoria'sSecret.com and browse the latest fashion.  Yeah, you know you're addicted to shopping when you work in the mall every day, and on your free time, you shop online.  I admit I have a problem.

    Even the time in between classes causes me to get online.  For one of my classes, I have to use Spark Notes right  before the class so I can understand the material.  I can't say I just use the internet for educational purposes in between classes though.  Of course, I have to see what's up on facebook.  Sometimes I check the weather to see what a beautiful day I'm missing or am going to miss because of school/work.  I also play scrabble with my boyfriend on my phone.  Something I've been doing lately that is new to my routine is quite shocking.  I have found some cool people to follow on Twitter, and I actually check my Twitter every day now.  I didn't even have a Twitter before this class.  I thought it was dumb half the semester, but now, I think I'm getting into it.  I still don't like it as much as facebook, but I'm not going to talk bad about it anymore.

    I've named off most of the things I do with electronic media EVERY day.  Obviously, technology is vital to my (our) existence.  We could survive without it, but it wouldn't be any fun.  I think back on the days when I had a regular cell phone, and I think how those were the "dark ages."  I got along fine then, but now, I would be devastated if I had to give up my technology.

    Project 15 Smartboard #2

    Wednesday, April 18, 2012

    Final Project Progress

    This says work in progress.
    Since we have started using Google docs, my group and I have been bouncing ideas around about what to do for the final project.  We have a pretty good idea about the kind of project we would like to do, but we haven't worked out all the details yet.  We will definitely have everything together before it is due though.

    Project 7 (C4K April)

    These are handprints.
    Post 1
    For my first comment this month, I commented on Lizzy's blog.  Lizzy is a 7th grader in Canada.  Her interests are listening to music and drawing.  She had written about a snow day in her blog post.  This was my comment to her:

    Hey Lizzy!
    My name is Susie Salter, and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. It is very odd for me to think about a snow day because snow is very rare where I live.
    I read that you like listening to music. I also like listening to music. What is your favorite song?

    Sincerely,
    Susie Salter


    Post 2
    For my second post this month, I had to get an alternate student.  His name is Dwight P., and he is from Vermont.  He wrote a lovely post about deer and hunting.  This was my comment:


    Hello,
    My name is Susie Salter, and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I could really relate to your post. Hunting is very popular in Alabama. Most of my family and friends hunt. Actually, I have hunting land right behind my house. My boyfriend and I will go hunting and sit in the tree stand during deer season. Have you ever killed a deer? If so, how big was it?


    Post 3
    For my third post this month, I commented on Dwight P.'s blog again.  His post this time was entitled Nuclear War.  Dwight was advocating world peace in his post.  This is my comment:


    Hey Dwight,

    This is Susie again. I commented on your other post last week. I definitely agree with your concerns about nuclear war. I hope we never get so deep into a war that we use nuclear weapons. It’s not a good idea at all.

    Great Post!
    Susie Salter
    EDM310

    Post 4
    My fourth comment this month was made on Ms. Jenny She's Blog in New Zealand.  This post was a video of the class's first Skype experience.  This is my comment:

    Hello,
    My name is Susie Salter, and I am a student at the University of South Alabama.  I really enjoyed the video! It is amazing that students are learning technology at such a young age! Keep up the good work! I look forward to viewing more of your blog posts in the future!




    Creativity and Curiosity: My Thoughts - Special Post 12A

    These are handprints.
    Curiosity and Creativity
    Dr. Strange asked us in class about curiosity and creativity.  Are schools in the U.S. destroying curiosity/creativity?  Yes and no.  The reason that students seem less creative and/or curious is that they have adapted to be this way.  We have learned over the years what we have to do to get by.  We know exactly how much effort we have to put into a class to get the grade we want.  When we seem less "creative," it is not that we cannot be creative or curious.  In elementary school, we want to learn for the sake of learning, but as we move up the ladder, we have more social responsibilities.  The work for school also keeps piling up.  By the time we reach college, we realize that our lives will be so much easier if we can weed out tasks that are unnecessary.  Contrary to what some teachers think, most people have other things they would rather do than sit around and philosophize all day.  Yes, we do the minimum, but I say that this behavior is adaptive.  If we did every school task to the maximum, we couldn't get a higher grade than an "A," and we would lose all social communication.  We have to communicate with others.  It makes us healthier as individuals.  We can't just sit at a computer all day (most of us).

    What can teachers do to fix this "slacker behavior?"  Nothing really.  No matter what kind of work we have given to us, we are going to figure out how much effort we have to put into it.  That is a survival instinct.  The only suggestion I can give to teachers and to myself is to give less work.  Make the work students do meaningful.  Nobody wants to spend hours doing busy-work.  If I had a lighter workload, I would feel more inclined to put more effort into a task.

    Honestly, I am more creative/curious when I am doing things for me.  If I feel like I am being forced to do a task, I do not want to put much effort into that task.  When you think something is a chore, you don't spend a ton of time on it.  People who like to clean could spend all day doing it.  People who don't like to clean get the cleaning done as quickly as possible.  If there was some way to make kids see learning differently, I think that would help students be more creative.  Most students view school as a chore, and that may have a lot to do with teacher mentality.  If the teacher doesn't want to be there, why would the student?    

    Blog Assignment 12

    This says censored.
    Build Your Own Blog Assignment
    This week we were assigned to create our own blog assignment based on our major.  I'm an English major.  English is all about creativity.  For my blog assignment, I want to give a social question that relates back to technology and creativity.  I am going to give an open ended question that will spark a lot of different opinions.  This is my assignment:

    As a technologically advanced generation, we are bombarded with media every day.  Some people consider some of this media bad or not educational.  Do you think this is true?  Do you feel children should be sheltered from this type of media, or do you feel this media helps kids think in different perspectives?  Be sure to tell specific reasons for your opinion in your argument.  Follow the requirements in Writing a Quality Blog Post.

    My Answer
    A lot of media today is considered bad or not educational.  Why?  The main reason is that people turn away from anything that is different.  As a society, we don't view many television shows as educational unless they explicitly point out they are educational (Sesame Street, Discovery Channel, etc.).  What about the other stuff?  What about the science fiction and horror movies?  What about the HBO movies and shows that are so controversial?  Should children be sheltered from this type of media?  My answer is no.  If children never experience media that is over the rating of PG, they are going to be hit with a rude awakening when they experience the real world.  I believe it is better to just lay things on the table.  I was never sheltered as a child, so I didn't feel the need to try to sneak around and do things behind my parents' backs.  I also wasn't surprised when everything didn't turn out right.  It made me a realist.  It also made me more creative.  Experiencing media that is not "age appropriate" makes you think.  It made me question things more than others who had been sheltered.  This is probably the real reason that children are sheltered.  Adults don't want conflict.  By keeping some things reserved for adult eyes only, teachers and parents maintain power.  I was always that kid that felt I was my teachers' equal.  Some didn't like this very much because I wasn't afraid of a challenge.  That's what not being restricted does to a child.  It makes them more mature.  I learned what not to do in a lot of situations by watching it played out in movies and television.  My parents didn't have to explain to me why I shouldn't get into a car with strangers because I had seen the consequences first hand on television.  Adults don't realize that by keeping kids sheltered from certain things, they harm them more than the media would.  It is like a parent that makes sure her child never gets sick.  Well, when that kid grows up, he is going to be sick all the time because he never built up an immunity.  It is the same thing with media.  You eventually build up an immunity to certain vulgar or obscene things.  Isn't it better to let kids view what reality is than making them think everything is candy-coated?





    Tuesday, April 10, 2012

    Blog Assignment 11

    These are little kids sitting on the ground.
    Ms. Cassidy's Use of Technology
    Ms. Cassidy is a first grade teacher in Canada who uses technology in her classroom.  In First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class and Skype Interview with Ms. Cassidy, I was able to see some of the ways she uses technology with her students.  Her students have blogs that they comment on every week.  They also Skype and use Nintendo DS educationally.  Ms. Cassidy is very concerned with her students' safety.  She makes sure that they only use their first names on their blog.  Also, she makes sure that their pictures are not attached to their names on the blog.  The way Ms. Cassidy uses technology with her first graders actually reminds me of how technology was used when I was in first grade.  Even though that was ages ago (14 years ago), we were still allowed to use the computer in some of the same ways.  We would go into the computer lab several times a week where we would work on our spelling words and play educational games.  I don't care how advanced technology gets, there is only so much that a six-year-old can learn about a computer.  That is why I feel a connection with the methods Ms. Cassidy uses.  I think Ms. Cassidy even agrees that first graders can only do so much with computers.  That is probably why she doesn't have to worry about her students ending up somewhere on the web they don't need to be.  They are so young that they only do what she tells them.  I know when I was six that I didn't know how to do enough things on the computer to "explore."

    Even though I like a lot of the ideas Ms. Cassidy had, I got irritated with some things.  First of all, the first video with the first graders is set up to make the viewer think that computers perform miracles.  The students in the video seemed extremely intelligent for their age.  They had good vocabularies.  They also looked like they were making lots of progress with technology.  After the Skype interview we find out that all the "success" in the video was just a sham.  She cut and pasted the best parts of her classroom throughout the years.  She didn't even use real first graders as the speakers in the video! The speakers were her "former students."  That means they were probably third graders.  I just don't like how people try to sugar-coat technology and make it into a magical thing instead of facing reality.  Yes, technology is helpful, and it is not going anywhere.  I just don't think it's right to fabricate results.

    Another thing I didn't like was Ms. Cassidy's response to a student's question on the Skype interview.  The student asked if Ms. Cassidy felt that there would be a problem with cheating if everything was done on the internet.  Ms. Cassidy answered that when you use someone else's work in your own work that it is really collaboration and not cheating.  I would love to see the reaction of my English professors if I cut and pasted something from the internet, turned it in, and called it collaboration.  I just feel like some people want to support their argument so much that they say things that don't make much sense.  I think a lot more people would be more open to technology if everyone was realistic.

    Friday, April 6, 2012

    Blog Assignment 10

    This is a circle of colored pencils.
    Do You Teach or Do You Educate?
    After watching Do You Teach or Do You Educate?, honestly, I was a little bit irritated.  People try so hard to put labels on things.  Yes, we, as teachers, should inspire our students.  We should also be great mentors to them; however, we will not keep a job if we just mentor and inspire.  Let's be honest here:  teachers have to TEACH as well!  Why do kids go to school?  They go so they can learn information that their parents cannot teach them.  Teaching morals and giving guidance should be a job that primarily belongs to the parents.  I understand that a lot of parents don't do their job.  I also understand that teachers should be setting a good example for the students.  I just don't understand why this video acted like learning knowledge was a bad thing.  We would be very dumb individuals if all we ever learned in high school was morally and socially related.  How would a child ever learn to think outside the box if they never learned what was inside the box.  People have to know some facts to be intelligent.  Without these facts, we would never be able to learn social rules because we would not understand what the conversation was about.  We have to know grammar to speak and to write properly.  We have to know history to understand how we got to where we are today.  I just hate when people try to put down traditional teaching.  We need that tradition, too.

    Getting back to the comment I made earlier about losing our jobs, how will our future principals grade our teaching performance?  The answer is tests.  If students do poorly on standardized tests, we are not doing our jobs.  How will students do better on these tests?  They have to learn information.  You would never be able to do a math problem if you did not know the formula.  I remember the first time I took the ACT.  I thought to myself that my teachers could have taught me more.  All my skills were excellent, but it wasn't because my teachers taught me so much.  Most of the information was either taught to me by my mother, or I learned it on my own.  I have always been fairly good at writing as well.  Was that because my teachers showed me what I needed to know?  No.  I learned through trial and error.  I think about my fellow classmates, and I feel bad that our teachers did not teach as much as they could have.  Some students are not blessed with a mother that can teach them things they need to know.  They get all their education at school.  I just hate that attention is being taken away from learning.  Yes, teachers should be good role models.  I believe that whole-heartedly.  That is why they don't allow convicted felons to be teachers.  All I am saying is that someone needs to be there to teach the facts.  Kids can learn the other stuff through experience.

    Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home!
    When I read Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home!, I was a little bit baffled.  It is strange to think that some teachers actually have this kind of mentality.  So, if bringing a pencil home causes lower test scores, we should ban pencils.  This is just weird.  I know I talked about test scores in the first section of this post, but I didn't mean that teachers should do everything including making students stand on their heads to ensure good test scores.  Some teachers do think of "learning" in this way though.  They act like learning is some sort of magic trick.  If they read an article that students who fasted for three days every week did better on tests, they would want to try it.  What happened to just doing what is rational?  Everyone tries to get around doing what they are supposed to do.  I think about someone who is on a diet.  Everyone knows that the key to weight loss is eating right and exercising, but people will try any dumb trick to get around this.  They will listen to anything they hear on television.  If a commercial says you can lose ten pounds in a day by taking a diet pill, they will try it.  We have to use our brains.

    We owe our students a good education, even if that means actually teaching them.  Yes, actually finding ways to make learning easier for students might be difficult, but that is the field we are going into.  We have to realize also that creativity is a form of learning.  The woman in the blog post acted horrified because students might play hangman with pencils.  They are using their brains!  If the students like to play hangman, a teacher could use this as an educational game instead of just saying that it isn't helping anything.  Learning can be fun, too.  If we, as teachers, can find ways to get students to learn and have fun at the same time, we are doing our job.