Blog Post #9

This week for our blog assignment, we were to read the blogs of a teacher, Joe McClung. In these blog posts, Mr. McClung reflects on lessons that he learned throughout his year as a teacher. I thought it would be most interesting and most informative to read and reflect on his original post(from his first year teaching) and his most recent.

In the first , he speaks of how he was scared and unsure what the year held for him. He give so many examples of things that he experienced throughout the year that either, reassured him that something he thought was correct or corrected a misconception he had. One of my very favorite 'lessons' is one that I hope I can remember has a teacher:
"While I always plan to have that elusive perfect lesson, I don't let it get to me and I do not kill myself over my mistakes any more. When things go wrong, simply work with it and try to better the situation.....and make sure you do it with a smile on your face"
Flexibility is a hard thing to have, especially when you feel like as the teacher you should always be in charge, and I, like Mr. McClung, will have to work to maintain it.

I was very interested after reading his first post, to see if he maintained his open mindedness onto his 4th year. I also wondered if any of his "lessons" were still things he was working on, or maybe even things he no longer believed. In reading his most recent post, I saw that he himself admits that after 4 years he didnt have as much left to learn. I loved seeing how quickly he settled in and became confortable as a teacher, and yet still maintained the ability to look outside of himself and see where he improved or needed to improve. My favorite part was the end statement:
"I really feel like I am at a cross roads in my life where I could be satisfied with what I have already accomplished as a teacher/coach and begin to coast. Or, I could take this opportunity to snap out of my funk and challenge myself to become a better teacher…I choose the latter"

I hope that when I reach this crossroads as an educator that I too, choose the latter.

My PLN, Project #10

When I first heard the term "PLN" I was puzzled. I thought it was this complex system of archiving websites that you would use for teaching, however as I continued in this class and explored websites on my own I realized it wasn't anything other than making a list of websites I found useful. I have encountered a couple so far in this class that I otherwise was unaware of including different teachers blog that I have used on CFT's. What really surprised me was the list of resources I already had on my own. I had wordle, and Sporcle. This realization is what encouraged me to continue searching, and as of right now, I have a list of links on my drive saved. I do wish that I had a more permanent way of saving it. So, if anyone reading this knows of any...send them my way!

C4T #2

The second teacher I was assigned for my C4T was a teacher that I am beyond excited to add to my PLN. She is a frequent poster and almost always has something that will be signifigant to me as a educator. I feel very lucky to have been assigned Eva for this assignment.

I commented on way more than just two of her posts, they were almost all about different, new or upgraded forms of technology and how it could be used in the classroom. The most recent one I comment on was a review on a software called "smore". The above picture is a sample flyer she created with this software. For any aspiring teachers, I very much suggest her blog A Journey in TEFL as a PERMANANT and frequently used resource.

Blog Post #7

As I watched the video "The Networked Student" by Wendy Drexler, I found myself thinking, "How would I have used these techniques in High School and how would it have affected my learning style today.

This video explains a different approach to teaching, that takes into account the differences in opportunity and requirements of the 21st century. It is a program where the teacher does not do the majority of the "teaching" through lectures, instead assigns a topic and allows the children to create their own 'learning guide', using reputable educational sources almost like a virtual text book.

The question asked in our blog post was "Would a networked student even need a teacher?" and I believe the answer is, not as much as a regular student, but yes.
A teacher is more than just a lecturer. These students would need a teacher for many reasons. Primarily, for accountability, just because a student has access to all of these wonderful resources does not mean they will use them correctly....or even at all. They need someone to make sure they are taking the time to complete these projects and to do them to the extent that will ensure learning.

On that same note, another major thing a teacher is needed for is to hold the sources accountable. The students could learn and retain incorrect information just as easily as accurate information. An educated teacher is need to go back and fact check the students work to make sure that the student themselves are not being misinformed. Not only this, but in a system involving networking, a misinformed student could very easily pass incorrect information on as fact, a teacher is need to prevent this.

We were asked to watch a second video that is the opposing side of being a networked educator. It was called "Welcome to My PLE" this was by a 7th grade student showing her own personal learning network, which is a collection of websites used to further her education. I found her PLE(while admittedly, and embarrassing to admit, was a bit more extensive than my own) was quite comparable to mine and what many uses I hope to either create for my class or allow my students to create for themselves, dependent on their ages.

This is one aspect of technology that I find EXTREMELY useful. I love the way it can create a permanent archive or learned facts so the students can use both resources they've found before and their own papers to back up opinions that choose to share in the future.

Project #8 The "Triad" :)

This is Podcast that our group "The Triad" did reflecting on lessons learned from the book Lighting Their Fires by Rafe Esquith.

Blog Post #6

Our assignment for this post was to watch The Last Lecture. This is a lecture given by a man who was a fabulous educator, inventive and innovative, even before what really set him apart occurred. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He then gave as many lectures as possible, and this is considered his most famous.
The Last Lecture


As I stated in an earlier blog post, this is not my first interaction with the materials of Mr. Pausch. This man was an inspiration until the day he died and I am sure I am not the only one in the "future generation" of teachers that gives him the credit, if not for giving us the dream, of at least showing us what kind of teacher we should aspire to be. He overcame obstacles that most of could not even imagine overcoming while sitting in a hospital bed...and he did while smiling and continuing his mission in life, teaching. While many of us would allow the troubles he faced to get him down or change anything about his life other than, if possible bettering him as a person. 1:11 seconds into this video he calls his killing disease the "elephant in the room" and flippantly mentions it, almost as if to get it out of the way for the 'real issues', his lesson. He then continues to talk about the fact that when things in life happen(bad things), if you continue to move on as if they haven't happened, you aren't in denial you are simply strong enough to allow life to happen, not let life happen "to you".

That in itself is one of the most important things I feel I learned from him, aside from just the personal lesson of overcoming ones obstacles, is simply that in order to be a successful educator you must either, set aside you troubles and not allow them to harm you, or even better: do as he did and allow them to BETTER you.

One other especially important thing I learned(not just from other explorations of him but specifically from this video was the way he allowed just the right level of personal information to make the students love and make him a "real" human in their eyes. He manages to do this in small ways, discussing his family, showing personal pictures and props, or even doing "young" things like light cursing. The most important part of this 'lesson' is that he manages to do this all while maintaining a level of appropriate to his students.

The last thing I learned from him was the way he validated himself to his students. This is a difference between his audience and my own future 'audience' while he had to think of the "skeptics" or ("cynics" as he puts it) because that is the way high school, college, and maybe even middle school. I will be in elementary school, where for the most part the kids still think their teacher can do no wrong. I will still want to implement these techniques, however. He uses real life stories and confessions, along with pictures and props. My favorite example of this is when he shows the giant stuffed animals to the audience to "prove" he won them. Another great way he does this is is by saying "I know this is the way to success because I told others to do this...and look where they are now". He shows this when he shows the video of the students in zero gravity, and also the students at the "hello world" seminar.

All of these techniques are things that make me even more eager to become an educator. I know I will not make the type of difference that Mr. Pausch made, his audience was all ages and world wide. However, if I can make the same level of affect on my small, local, young audience, I will consider my life well lived.

C4K Summary

I unfortunately had a summary typed and saved discussing what an amazing experience it was to read the blog of such a young child (5th grade) and see her interpretations of things in the world. However I failed to fave it correctly and can no longer access the list to re-access her blog.

I will still summarize as much as possible.
In my first C4K her blog was about writing a story and making a creative twist. She did this by making a witch come and "steal" her brother turn him into a chicken, and instead of saving him she allowed her mother to cook him and they ate him for dinner!! I told her what a great imagination she had and that she had a great mind for using descriptive words!

In the second post it was just a post about how she and her friends had a fall harvest festival coming up and how they were going to help with the facepainting and she was so excited. I thanked her for giving us a look into her personal life and told her again what a talented writer she was. I encouraged her to look into creative writing corse, competions and ever Journalism when she was older. I regret not saving the link. However here is the link to her entire school's blogs. Please have a look and leave an encouraging compliment these kids are obviously going places!

Henry VIII Timeline

Henry VIII was my favorite Tudor ruler! This is his quest for a son.