Blog Post #13

"My Teacher is an App" is a wonderful article written by Stephanie Banchero and Stephanie Simon. This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal a week or so ago. There are plenty of interesting facts you can choose from this article but the one that really stood out to me is "Nationwide, an estimated 250,000 students are enrolled in full-time virtual schools, up 40% in the last three years." That quote is awesome and alarming at the same time.

I'm going to the University of South Alabama to get my degree in Physical Education. I plan on also getting certified to teach Health and Drivers Ed, too. But like all the teachers before me, My generation of teachers faces a serious dilemma. We group learning how to use computers and now that we are in college, it's becoming a key ingredient in how our Universities operate. We use them everyday for our personal lives, but at the same time, we were the last "generation" to have that "public school experience" that everyone else before us has had. As a coach, I don't want the next superstar player to never have a chance to showcase his skills because his mom didn't want him in public school and chose online learning instead. One thing no one is touching on so far is how sports are affected by all of this. I hope that if I'm fortunate enough to get a job coaching high school football/baseball that I'll have a better chance at some job security than that of a regular teacher, but I'm starting to get off topic.

I'm in-different on all of this. As a student, I LOVE online classes and online learning. It's getting to a point now where it actually works and I know it's only going to get better in the future. However, and this is a huge however, as a former student and future teacher, I'm scared to death. Scared student's won't get to have many of the great memories and times that public school brings. Forming bonds and lifetime friendships, connecting with your favorite teachers, competing in sports, etc. And from a teaching perspective, My parents and I, aren't forking out all this money, only for me to be replaced by an online teacher only. Everything I've done to this point career wise, could potentially all be for nothing.

That brings me to my last point which is, I think the answer to all of this is a mix of things and choice. Online schooling isn't going to go away just like technology isn't going anywhere. There needs to be physical interaction with other students. There needs to be that big football game on Friday night with a pep rally at the end of day. There's so much public school offers that so many kids might miss out on. At the same time, public school needs to get with it and show that it can offer both physical instruction with a solid online counterpart, while maintaining that school pride, clubs, sporting events, community feel, that almost all of us got to be a part of. Hopefully it will all work out in the end and future teacher's and student's alike will both benefit.

Special Assignment #1: Metaphors

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. Another definition of a metaphor is a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, esp. something abstract.

Project 15: Smartboard Instructional Video

Skype Interview Project #14

Final Project: Project Report

The name of our group is called London Plays. For our Final Project, we've decided to do a survey type project. We'll gather up four to ten questions that we feel relates closely with the use of technology in the classroom and from that, we'll be able to obtain a lot of questions from that main topic. We're planning on focusing on 2 counties: Mobile, and Baldwin. I just got done subbing at Foley High School this past week so I know for a fact I'll get some up close and personal opinions from some good teachers pretty quickly and I'm excited to hear what they have to say. We're going to use an online Survey Software and e-mail the school principals in the area with our survey requesting it be handed down to the teachers. The survey will be anonymous. Towards the end we'll gather up all the results and prepare a report on our findings.

C4K #10: Special Assignment: Ms. Yollis' Blog

After visiting "Ms. Yollis' Class Blog"
I was absolutely blown away. Not so much by the content, because most really successful blogs have relatively the same amount of content. What I was impressed by was the mind boggling level of detail, thought, and layout of the entire blog. The media count really opened my eyes. What was amazing about it was that so many people from so many different parts of the world have viewed it. More people viewed it than our class blog, and that to me speaks volumes considering this is a 3rd grade class, not a college institution. Beyond that, there are just so many things to be impressed with. How about her own personal website to learn more about her? How about showing those newcomers/parents that don't know squat how to comment? How about the activities and games for parents and kids to play? Speaking of kids, you can learn more about them too!

I think the thing I enjoyed the most about her blog, is the professionalism and the layout. You can tell she knows exactly what she's doing and she put in a lot of hard/smart work so that others (parents/student's) wouldn't have to. The links being easily viewable at the top of the page, her information on how to contact her being in visible spots is how all similar sites should be organized. Then there's the different time zones for the student's and others alike to learn about. Believe it or not, there are 3rd graders out there that struggle with the concept of time, and for them to understand and have a global understanding of how the world works (whether it be time zones or internet in general) will only benefit them greatly in the future. She also has a link for learning about html code. How awesome! You can view it here: "Learn HTML Code". You have no idea how useful and helpful that is and wil be for her student's and their parents. Then there is the facts about learning how to shoot digital images, learning about the state of California, and then blogging resources for teachers! I could write forever about her blog. It truly is the most professional blog I've had the pleasure of viewing. It has everything and more a student, parent, or just casual visitor of the site would want to know about herself and her class, while making it easy to navigate in the process. She truly has set up her student's up to succeed not only in her class, but in life. Saying I'm impressed by it is an understatement. I'm flattered by it.

Blog Post #12

I decided to do something a little different. A survey. Yes, we've taken a survey or two in this class before, but not one like this. This one will be very useful for us, our university, and for the education field in general. Below our the steps you'll need to complete. When done, copy your URL and post it to your blog for your classmates to also take part in. This will be a good way to see what the class thinks while also getting some very useful data to help improve the future.

Directions are as follows:

Step 1. Create an account on "SurveyMonkey" Make an online survey.

Step 2: Make it relevant. Whether it be about EDM310, how it can be improved, technology in schools, etc whatever it is make sure it fits in with what's been going on in the class.

Step 3: Make it anywhere between 5 and 10 questions.

Step 4: Upload it to your blog for your student's/classmates to take part in.

Below is the survey I compiled. It has some very interesting questions that cover multiple and different topics.

"My Survey Questions"

"My Survey I Completed"

Blog Post #11

Little Kids, Big Potential & Kathy Cassidy's Skype Conversation

I enjoyed watching "Little Kids...Big Potential" in addition to "The Skype Conversation". It amazes me what all kids, LITTLE KIDS, can do on computers these days. When i was in kindergarten the internet, blogs, etc didn't exist. That to me is the biggest difference between my generation and this generation. We are using the same technology, but they are growing up with it while we didn't as much. I think Mrs. Kathy using Nintendo DS's in the classroom is brilliant. Being a gamer myself, that's something I've thought about doing myself. The biggest issue with it is trusting the student's to use it for it's intended purposes. As long as you keep a close eye on things it could be a true asset to helping your student's learn. I personally think more so than the internet, blogs, etc, that games are the real future. Those who are inventing great learning games that actually keep kids interested and don't bore them to death are ahead of the curve.

The fact that Kathy has been doing this for so long is what surprised me the most. I wish I had her when I was a young student! Based on some of her comments in the Skype conversation, I believe her student's will be ahead of the curve and ready for whatever is thrown at them. She also changes with the times. Something we will all have to do as teachers. I am fascinated by all of Mrs. Kennedy's work.