Sunday, November 20, 2011

Blog Post #13

By Stephanie Banchero and Stephanie Simon

"My Teacher Is an App" is a very interesting article that was recently published in The Wall Street Journal. This article explains how education is radically changing for some school districts in our country. Traditional classrooms are being replaced with "cyber classrooms." Students are learning from the comfort of their own homes using their computers. "Nationwide, an estimated 250,000 students are enrolled in full-time virtual schools, and more than two million students take at least one class online." The main states mentioned in the article with online schooling programs were Virginia, Idaho, Georgia, and Florida. Some of theses districts are running their own online schools, but others have hired technology driven corporations to run these online programs for profit. These programs are in the experimental stages and they seem to be "fueled by budget constraints within districts, parental dissatisfaction with schools, and the failure of even top performing students to keep up with their peers in other industrialized countries." 

Critics of these cyber classrooms quote test scores that show full-time online students are performing below that of the students in the traditional classrooms on standardized tests. Another complaint seems to be that online students sometimes have difficulty contacting the teachers of these online programs to get the extra assistance they may need. Teacher unions are also criticizing these programs for affecting teachers' jobs because an online high school teacher can supervise over 250 students where as a traditional classroom high school teacher can only handle about 150 students. There is also always the question of socialization. How is that occurring if the students are not personally interacting?

It seems that there are still lots of looming questions about the future of K-12 online education. I do not think you can just give a student a laptop and they will be able to guide themselves through their own educational journey. They still need a teacher or a parent to closely guide them. One of the teachers at the Georgia Cyber Academy even said, "Letting a child educate himself is not going to be a good educational experience." Computers can not do it alone. I do think technology needs to be a major part of our classroom, and it seems that the classrooms that they spoke of that were most successful were the blended ones. These classrooms were a combination of online learning and in-person instruction. This is where I feel the education system would be more successful, and that is the direction in which I think we should be headed.  

students on laptops in a classroom

Special Assignment #1 - Metaphors

A metaphor is a type of figurative language that is used in literature, history, and everyday life. The actual definition of a metaphor is "an implied comparison that is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common." Metaphors are especially beneficial when you are trying to "express the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar." They make concepts that are difficult to grasp more understandable and obtainable. That is why they are so often used to explain and describe.

The examples of metaphors used in literature are extremely numerous. One example that comes to mind is Emily Dickinson's metaphor for death in her famous poem, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." Death is being personified and compared to a person who comes to pick you up when you are at your busiest. Death does not wait for us to finish our life. He comes when we least expect him.

"Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility."...

Another example of a metaphor used in literature would be the famous comparison that William Shakespeare used in his comical play, "As You Like It."  "All the world's a stage and men and women merely players.” In this metaphor the world is described as a stage, and the humans who reside in this world are described as the actors and actresses who perform on it. This is probably one of the most famous metaphors ever written! 

Metaphors have also been used throughout history. Many authors and politicians have tried to explain history through metaphors. "History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies" is a metaphor by American author Robert Penn Warren, and British author George Meredith said, "Memoirs are the backstairs of history." Prime Minister Winston Churchill tried to describe how easily the Nazis invaded Poland with this metaphor, "The Nazis invasion of Poland was food colouring entering a jar of clear water." Ronald Reagan tried to describe how the American people fight for freedom and independence in this metaphor, "We have been a bastion of freedom". 

Metaphors are also used in everyday life. We use them all the time and some of us may not even realize type of figurative language that we are even using. "Let me throw some light on the situation," "It's raining cats and dogs," and "She was the apple of my eye" are all metaphors we hear on a regular basis. Metaphors are used to teach like the ones that overflow from the Bible, and they are used to entertain like the ones we enjoy reading in literature. Metaphors are everywhere, and if you are really paying attention, you would see that we are truly surrounded by them. We have even seen metaphors in the many videos and blog posts that we have been assigned in EDM 310. Metaphors make life more comprehensible as well as enjoyable.




A metaphor from Stephen Crane's Red Badge of Courage

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Project #15 - SMART Board Instruction Part 2

Mrs. Yollis's Classroom Blog

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Mrs. Yollis's Classroom Blog. It was very impressive! I just can't get over all the amazing things in which I found this third grade class involved. The blog contains so many interesting things that I added her blog and her wiki that instructs teachers how to get started with classroom blogs to my Symbaloo account. I feel certain that I will want to keep up with what Mrs. Yollis and her class are doing.
The first link on her page was Meet Mrs. Yollis. It told all about how she has been teaching for twenty five years, and she primarily teaches third grade but has taught fifth grade as well. She really enjoys teaching and that is surely evident just visiting her blog. She enjoys travelling the world with her husband, and she just recently received her Master's Degree in "Integrating Technology in the Classroom." She attended a Google workshop for teachers called Geo Teacher's Institute and she was involved in a project with Giant Travelling Maps through National Geographic. My favorite part of this link was the picture of Mrs. Yollis as a third grader. I'm sure her students enjoy seeing their teacher the same age as themselves.
The next link on her page is Meet the Bloggers and it is all about the students in Mrs. Yollis's class. She has twenty-two students and their school is located in a suburb of Los Angeles, California. A list of all the different activities that these students enjoy is on that page as well as a picture of her class.
The next link is called  How to Comment. Here Mrs. Yollis and her class made two videos. One explains in detail how to post a comment on the class blog. The other video has her students explain how to write a quality comment. The students did a great job with this project.
Mrs. Yollis's Website was the next link, and I just loved her fall inspired class page. She has a link to every subject she teaches with great sites to play games and get more information. She includes links to homework, projects, and even some sites for parents to peruse. This page is also so very impressive. I want to be Mrs. Yollis when I grow up or at least try to do all of this in my own classroom .
Next is the link called Learn HTML Code where she makes learning how to write in code very simple for beginners. She advises users to keep a copy of the code near your computer, so you will always have it when you need it.
Then she has a link called Time Zones of Friends where she has clocks for all the different schools in which they keep in contact from all over the world, and she has a link called Learn about California in which she made a video all about her state with a program called Photo Peach. She seems to make most of her videos with this program, so I added it to my own PLN.
Her next link is Learning to Shoot Great Digital Images where she and her students have created a video that gives step by step instructions on how to take great photos with a digital camera.
Mrs. Yollis's last link,Educational Blogging Resource for Teachers, is a wiki page that she made for teachers who want to use the same great technology she is using. It explains all about setting up a blog for your classroom. What a great idea!
If you check out the links on the side of her blog, you will find that Mrs. Yollis's class is also involved in Our World, Our Stories where they connect with other classrooms around the world and Yollis's 365 Project where her class takes picture of different things and they create interesting blog posts about them. What great practice for her students. Checking her Cluster Map, I found that she has had 75,679 visits and EDM 310 had only 51,308 visits. You can also see all the different well-deserved awards her blog has received in the three short years it has been around. I don't think I have ever seen a teacher do anything like this. I didn't realize this kind of thing was possible, but it makes me want to start the same type of thing for my own classroom. Thanks so much for bringing this great site to our attention.

I Love Blogging picture

Blog Post #12

Assignment:
Watch the following video entitled "The Times Are A Changing." Think about the images you have seen and the music that accompanies the video. Respond by writing two or more paragraphs following the requirements in Writing a Quality Blog Post about how education is changing regarding technology. What message is being sent to teachers? In your opinion, is education changing in a timely manner, or do you think advancements in the field of technology need to be moving faster as far as education is concerned?


Response:
The video entitled "The Times Are A Changing" depicts images of how students and classrooms have progressed through the years. They show students passing notes, and then they show students texting. They show the old classrooms with desks and the traditional chalkboard hanging in the front of the room,  and then they show classrooms with computers on the desks and a interactive white board at the front of the room. They use Bob Dylan's classic song "The Times Are A Changing" to accompany the video. It fits perfectly because education is definitely changing. Anyone can walk into a modern classroom and see that computers are slowly but surely becoming a requirement for students in this age of technology. I believe the message this video sends us is that teachers must embrace technology and incorporate it into their classrooms because technology is here and it is here to stay.
I think the problem here lies with how slowly technology is being incorporated into education. This problem has to do with inadequate funding for technology in the school systems and that veteran teachers are not willing to make changes to the way they teach. Budgets for technology must be increased and professional development must include technology. Curriculum and standards must be changed to include the various forms of technology. Lesson plans and course of studies should include some form of technology with each lesson. Administration must back these new techniques because the times, they are a changing. The video ends with a great inspirational quote from John Cotton Dana, and it says, "Who dares to teach must never cease to learn." I think that should be a teacher's mantra. We must always continue to learn if we want to be great teachers!

Students using computers


Check out this video called "The History of Technology in Education" about the advancements made in technology over the years in regards to education. It is really an advertisement for the company that makes the Smart Board, but it is interesting to see the changes through the years.

Progress Report on Final Project

top secret sign



Our final project will include Mary LaCoste, Angela Pitts, and Owen Gill, and we will be doing our final reflection on the ups and downs of EDM 310. We plan on utilizing the green screen to enhance the effect with some really cool videos and pictures of software programs we have utilized throughout the semester. We don’t want to give too much away because we don’t want our idea to be hijacked due to its awesome originality!! Stay tuned for more details!!

Skype Interview - Project #14

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Blog Post #11

Mrs. Kathy Cassidy's Class

For Blog Post #11, I watched two videos about some really exciting things going on in Mrs. Kathy Cassidy's first grade classroom in a small town called Moose Jaw, SaskatchewanCanada. The first video was called Little Kids, Big Potential. This video was very impressive. This little class of first graders is accomplishing some really big things. You could tell when you were greeted at the door of the class and a sign said "College Graduating Class of 2025" that this class is destined for great futures. These students are writing on their personal blogs and commenting on others, working on their class webpage, and using Wikis to learn new vocabulary. They are making videos about what they are learning and skyping with professionals to learn about new concepts. Mrs. Cassidy is also having them bring in their Nintendo DS game systems to play a game called Nintendogs. The students learn problem solving from playing a game they absolutely love. This is truly the way school should be. I also watched a Skype interview with Mrs. Cassidy and Dr. Strange and his class. Mrs. Cassidy is embracing the world of technology. She says that what she is doing in her classroom seems perfectly normal for her first graders because they have never lived in a world without technology. Mrs. Cassidy is such a forward thinker. She has been using this type of technology in her classroom for over ten years now, and things seem to have been very successful. Her administration does not hinder her approach but they haven't pushed for this technology either. It seems she and the technology coordinator at her school are collaboratively adding technology into this first grade curriculum. I would love to see all classrooms run like this one. How sad is it when these first graders go to a second grade classroom next year, and there is no technology being used. We need more Mrs. Cassidy's in education.

First Grade Class Skypes

C4K Summary Post (covering October comments)

During the month of October, I had the pleasure of commenting on several classroom blogs. All of them proved to be very interesting. On October 2nd, I was assigned to Milika's blog. She is a student from Point England School in Auckland, New Zealand, and she had designed an avatar for her blog. She explained why she put certain details in her avatar. Her avatar carried a basketball because that is her favorite sport and she also included a puppy because she loves dogs. I told her that my avatar would have to carry a baseball because that's my favorite sport, and that I would include a cat with my avatar because that is my favorite animal. I told her she had done a great job and to keep up the good work with her blog. On October 2nd, I also had to submit my vote for the New Zealand flag on the same classroom blog. I voted for the traditional flag, and that flag actually won by a very small amount in the contest.

On October 9th, I visited another classroom blog from Point England School. This time I read about a group of children going on a field trip to meet their blogging buddies. Both groups of children had a great time, and they explained all the fun things they did like playing on the playground and having morning tea. I told them that my school has another type of Buddy Program. The 6th graders pair up with the 2nd graders to do crafts and play on the playground. However, I told them that we sure would like the idea of having morning tea together, and I asked it that was comparable to our morning snack time.

On October 16th, I visited two students' blogs. First, I was assigned to Cayleigh's blog. She had shared a science report about hair and its importance to the body. I told Cayleigh that she had done a good report and had included lots of interesting information. Then using the random selector, I was sent to Dalton's blog. He had written a science report on the esophagus. I told him that he had also done a good report and had included many interesting facts. He also included a picture of an esophagus, and I commented on how cool that was. I told both students that they were doing a great job with their blogs and to keep up the good work.

On October 23rd, I was assigned to comment on a student named Blake's blog from Mr. C's class. His post was about the reasons he liked to write. I told him that I liked to write as well. I also told him that his blog was very cool with the fiery background he chose and I liked the way he had added quotes from Michael Jordan on his blog as well as a picture. I told him to keep writing and keep learning and that he was doing a great job with technology.

My last post was on October 31st. It was from Room 9 at Point England School, and it was for a child named Zaphanta. She had created an interactive presentation using Hyperstudio of the Australian Outback. I told her that her presentation was very creative and that I really enjoyed the cool music she used. I also liked her animals and I learned that Australia is the 6th biggest country in the world. I told her that I was very impressed with her work and that she seems to know a lot about technology.