C4T #4 Summary

My teacher for C4T # 4 was Larry Ferlazo. The title of his blog is Larry Ferlazo's Websites of the Day. In the first post I read published on November 15, 2010, Larry provided a website for Bloom's Taxonomy. The website he gave can be seen here. My comment on this post was this: My name is Morgan Mohler and I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I really enjoyed looking through your blog and all of the helpful links you have posted here. I think it is a really neat idea to post at least one helpful website a day! This link is especially helpful to me because for the first time in my college career almost all of my classes have been focused around this Bloom's Taxonomy! I will be posting my thoughts on your blog on my blog (mohlermorganedm310.blogspot.com) in a couple of weeks if you would like to check it out! Thanks again for sharing! On the second post I read he provided a link for the 10 best iPhone Apps for eBook Reading. The list included B&N eReader, iPDF, Kindle for iPhone, Read lite, Stanza, BookShelf LT, Wattpad, Wirdy, eBooks by Kobo, and Quick Reader lite. He also included a link for tips for beginning iPhone users. For this blog I commented the following: My name is Morgan Mohler and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I think this information provided is very useful for educators, students, and leisure users alike. One eReader I thought to be particularly interesting was the iPDF. A lot of my classes involve looking through PDF files and it can be a rather tricky task trying to do so on my iPhone. I also liked that you included a link for beginning iPhone users. Since the phone doesn’t come with a manual it can be rather difficult to try and figure everything out on your own! I will be posting my thoughts on your blog on my blog (mohlermorganedm310.blogspot.com) in a couple of weeks if you would like to check it out! Thanks again for sharing!

C4K 8-11 Summary

C4K #8: For assignment number 8, I was assigned to read the Alba Middle School Blog. This blog was simply a picture of two holes on the USS Alabama and the student was wondering what they should title the picture. My comment for this post was: Hi! My name is Morgan Mohler! I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class! I am so excited that you are blogging and also taking an interest in photography! I love taking pictures, it's such a fun way to capture your thoughts and now you can share your pictures AND your thoughts through blogging! Keep up the great work!

C4K #9: For assignment number 9, I was assigned to read Eliza's blog. This blog post was titled "The Funny Times I had at Queensland." In this post, Eliza talks about her trip to Queensland with her friend Bethany. She got stuck on one ride called the 'Aqualoop.' On this ride, you go into a little box and then the floor falls out from underneath you and you go plummeting down  a water slide very fast. Instead of crossing her arms and legs like she was supposed to be, they were uncrossed because she was so scared thus she got stuck in the water slide. Luckily, it happens all of the time so there was an easy and safe way for her to get out. My comment on this blog was: Hi Eliza!My name is Morgan and I am a student at the University of South Alabama here in Mobile, AL. I was assigned to read your blog as a part of Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class. First of all, I have to say that you are a very brave person! There is no way I could have ever gotten on that ride! It sounds super scary!! Second, I am glad that you are using blogs as a way to keep up with your memories! Blogging is such a good habit to pick up and it will definitely help you both now and in the future! Keep up the good work!!

C4K #10: For assignment number 10, I was assigned to read Amy's blog from Mrs. Huebner's class. The title of the post was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and it was published on November 12, 2010. In this post, Amy discusses how her class used Skype to talk to another school, Our Lady of Blessed Sacrament, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania about various things. They talked about famous foods, and the students at Our Lady of Blessed Sacrament showed her class the song they use to remember the 50 states in alphabetical order. My comment for Amy was: My name is Morgan and I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama! I think it is great that you and your class are getting in to blogging! Blogging is such a great way to enhance your writing skills, and express your thoughts and opinions. It is also exciting to hear that your class is using Skype to communicate with other schools! Skype is such a good tool for students to use to learn about students in other areas! You are doing a great job, keep up the good work!

C4K #11: For assignment number 11, I was assigned to read Clare's blog from Mrs. Haugen's Sixth Grade Class. Her post was titled "The Chalkboard Kid." In this post, Clare gives a brief summary of the a book she has read called The Chalkboard Kid. Basically, the book is about a boy and his father who are forced to get a new home when his dad loses his job and his uncle ends up moving in with them also. My comment for clare was: Hi Clare, My name is Morgan and I am a student of Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed reading your blog post! It just goes to show how useful blogs really are! You were able to give a summary of your book that you read using your blog and you will always have this to go back and read if you ever need to be refreshed about the book! Your blogging looks great, keep up the great work!!!

Final Post on PLN

    I created my Personal Learning Network using the website Symbaloo. The picture above is a screenshot of my PLN. The general concept I ended up with for my PLN was to create a place where I could keep track of all of the helpful information that I came across during the course of EDM 310. By compiling all of the information into one PLN, I can access it easily without having to try to think of the website or tirelessly google something until I find it.
    The two columns on the far left are the areas designated for free tools and helpful websites that I have come across during this semester and wanted to keep track of for the future. These include: the Alabama Learning Exchange, Alabama State Department of Education website, ACCESS, Google Squared, Wolfram Alpha, Scribd, Screenr, iTunes U- podcasts and helpful information, TimeToast for creating timelines, 100 ways to use your iPod to learn, SmartExchange- Smartboard lesson plans and other useful resources, and Teacher's Hub- information on how to use Smartboards and enhance your current skills. The three columns in the middle section are devoted to videos that I came across during the course of this class that I really enjoyed and wanted to have handy to go back and re-watch in the future. These videos include: Randy Pausch's Last Lecture, Michael Wesch- The Machine is Changing Us, Sir Ken Robinson Changing Education Paradigms, The TED Website, Sugata Mitra, Virtual Choir, the iSchool Initiative, Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student, and Daniel Pink- Two Questions that can Change Your Life. The top right hand corner of my PLN is made up of blogs. This includes my blog, the class blog, and teacher's blogs that I enjoyed- The Nerdy Teacher, Mr. Chamberlain's At The Teacher's Desk, Lisa Thumann's Thumann Resources, and Mr. McClung's blog Mr. McClung's World. Finally, the links on the bottom right hand corner are websites that I visit daily, with the exception of the class blog of course. These websites are gmail, South Alabama website, USA Online, Facebook, Twitter, CNN, AL.com, AOL, and Yahoo.

Project #15

Blog Post #13

     The Alabama Learning Exchange is a website full of resources and tools for teachers to use. One of the sections on the website is called Lesson Plans. On this section, teachers can access lesson plans made by other teachers so that they can get ideas for their own lesson plans. Another section available is the Courses of Study section. This section allows teachers to search information about curriculum details at all different grade levels, or you can select by subject. A teacher can use their Personal Workspace section to prepare for class by putting their ideas on the site for reference. Teachers can also store their lesson plans and teacher webpages here. Other sections on the exchange include Web Links which have web resources for teachers to access, Profession Learning which includes links to teach teachers how to use a variety of technology tools i.e. internet/email, multimedia applications, google tools, etc, a Podcast Treasure which contains multiple podcasts for all of the subjects that students cover in school including mathematics, history, and science, and lastly a Search section which can be used for obvious reasons.
     I think that ALEX is a very resourceful website to know about. When I begin teaching I will be definitely be using it for ideas and to compare/contrast the materials in my classroom against those in other classrooms in the state of Alabama. It will also be helpful to use the Professional Learning page just so I can assure myself that I am staying as up to date on technology as possible. This site is one that every teacher should know about.

Additional Assignment #5

In Sketchy Portraits, I think the main ideas were that technology and the ways we teach students are changing and we, as teachers, must adapt to these changes and make changes ourselves. What made me think that is the line where he talks about accepting the duality of the students vs. accepting the rules and the structure of school. I think the meaning behind He Just Likes the Class for the Pencils was that students will exhibit better behavior and respect, if they are treated in the same way. Teachers cannot expect students to be respectful to a teacher who appears arrogant and does not show any confidence in their students. In the final post we were to read, The Medium Shapes the Learning, I think the message was that while some tools are appropriate to enhancing education, some only serve as a bigger distraction. We have to be careful what technology we bring into our classrooms, and be positive that they are actually going to help the students learn more and learn easier. 

Project #16 Report

My group for project 16 is myself, Kristen Hayes, and Kathryn Buchanan. We are going to do our project on how technology can be helpful to educate students about other cultures. We are going to explore the ways blogs, Skype, and wikis can be used in the classroom to educate students on cultures from around the world. We will also talk about how we will use these tools and other technology in our classrooms. Once we get all of our information and videos together we are going to compile it all together using Glogster.

Google Forms Analysis Project #6

    My Google form asked students several questions regarding the parking situation here at the University of South Alabama. I got a total of seventeen responses to my form. The most popular parking zone was East, which 29% of the students selected as their parking zone. Majority of the responders(76%) said it only takes them between 0-5 minutes to find a spot in their designated zone. However, only 47% of the students had classes that start between 8:00-10:00. I personally think that 8:00 classes are the easiest to find parking spaces for. Only 24% are late to class because they have had to circle the parking lot so many times trying to find a spot. Almost exactly half of the responders gave USA's parking situation a rating of 5 or below, on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being "very satisfied." Only 48% rated it as a 5 or below, but 65% agreed that the JagTran system was not a good solution to the parking problems. 71% agreed that South needs to add new parking zones but the majority of the responders were satisfied with the system of having one parking permit per student.
    In my analysis, I found some of the statistics to be contradicting/surprising. Four students from the survey have housing decals, but only 3 of the 4 say they are late to class because of parking. I feel like I have heard so many students that live on campus complain of being late because they could not drive to class with out getting a ticket that I was expecting the housing students to be the most disgruntled with the parking system. Another thing that I did not really understand was none of the students really showed that the parking situation as is had any significantly negative effects on their daily activities but the majority agreed that South needed to add more parking. If parking is fine now, why should we add more?

Blog Post #12

Instructions: Watch Adora Svitak: What Adults Can Learn From Kids (8:13)
  Write a post in which you discuss the main points of this video and include the following information as well. While watching this video, pay attention to what Adora says about how adults think compared to how children think. If teachers were to begin thinking more like children, how do you think that would affect the classrooms? Also pay attention to what she says about kids being the generation that will bring the world forward. How do you feel that technology will play an impact in this movement forward? Where do you think our classrooms will be 10 years from now as far as the use of technology? How old is Adora? Find out more about this child prodigy and her book, and post this information on your blog as well.

Project #14

One thing that I feel like is an important tool in this class is Twitter. Dr. Strange has mentioned Twitter on countless occasions in various assignments. And I admit, after finally getting one and figuring out all of the logistics of it, it has been a very useful tool especially for my PLN. Twitter is a way of connecting with other people who share your interests. But it is more than this, it is a way of connecting people from different countries and cultures and bringing them all to one place communicating to each other. Some have even called Twitter a "microblogging tool" since it is a way to get your opinions out on the internet, but it limits you to an 140 character post. For Project #14, I decided to create a .PDF file of instructions on how to operate a Twitter account effectively. These Instructions can be found below.

Project 14

Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy is a First grade teacher in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. In the first video we were assigned to watch, the different techniques that she uses in her classroom were described. Those methods were blogging, webpage, wikis, videos, Skype and Nintendo DS. The blogging improves the students' writing and promotes positive feedback amongst peers. They use their webpage to find information about different things and in the video they used Wikis to learn about different things like traditions and rituals by posting questions and having responders. Skype allows the students to speak to different people from all over and have virtual face to face contact with people that they would normally never come into contact with. Videos are used to help the students learn different information, for example they used a song to help them learn the alphabet and the letters using a video. The last way was the most surprising to me and that was the Nintendo DS. The students use these popular game systems to become better problem solvers while learning how to share at the same time.
    The technique described that I would really like to see used in my classroom is the Nintendo DS or the popular game system equivalent at that time. Nintendo DS is a very popular item amongst children and there are several educational games that can be purchased to go along with it. This way, children are learning quite a lot about role playing from games like the one the children played in the video and also from more educational games and having fun at the same time. I think some impediments I might encounter with this method are funding and keeping the students focused. I would have to come up with a plan to provide these for my classroom and I could try to get a grant like Ms. Cassidy did, or have a fundraiser of some sort. Also, since it is a "fun" gaming console, the children would probably be easily distracted or tempted to want to play games that are less educational than others. I would have to have only educational games in the classroom, and rarely mention other games other than what is already in the classroom. Children have an innocence that can be really beneficial in this area mostly because if you don't constantly mention it, you have a greater chance of them not even knowing there are other game options.
      In the Skype interview we watched, Ms. Cassidy mentioned a lot of eye opening points for me and shared a lot of information about the technology in her classroom. She has been using Webpages in her classroom for about 10 years and she has had a classroom blog for about 5 years. She did mention that she is constantly adding technology to her classroom which is a sign that she is constantly changing her routines. One thing that she mentioned that really stood out to me was her response to Dr. Strange's comment about students' opinions that they are not going to be using technology in their classrooms. She really emphasized that technology is not going to go away, and we cannot keep teaching students in this day and age with methods that were used 20 years ago. 

C4T Teacher #3 Summary

The teacher that I was assigned to for C4T #3 was Jenny She. The title of her blog is Jenny's Learning Journey! The date of the first post I read was September 26, 2010 and was titled "We had  a Dragon Dance at the Cultural Festivals at our School." In this post she discussed how she volunteered to make a cultural item for her school's Cultural Festivities in September. The idea that she came up with was the Dragon Dance which she worked on with Helen Squires. To make the dance even more festive, they added Kung Fu and an Umbrella Dance to the performance. Below is the video that was included in her blog:
In my comments for this post I said the following: "Hi Jenny, My name is Morgan Mohler and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am currently taking EDM 310 with Dr. Strange. I think that it is really neat that your school has cultural festivities and they sound really fun and educational! When the content the children are learning is fun, they actually want to learn it! I also think that it is really important for students to learn about different cultures! Is this something y'all do once a year or once a month? It sounds like a really fun way for everyone to get involved!! If you would like to contact me you can via my blog: mohlermorganedm310.blogspot.com!"
When I revisited Jenny's blog for comment #2, she had no new post so I commented on the post prior to this one. It was dated July 7, 2010 and was titled "We Should Listen to the Kids."In this post she discusses how when she went to school, the students opinions were never really important to the teachers. However, when she became a teacher in the 21st century, she was required to use a Mac computer and had no idea how to. Even though she had no idea, she was embarassed to ask her colleagues because she did not want them to know that she did not know how to use it. The only way she was going to learn was by asking her students, so she did. They successfully taught her how to operate the Mac computer and she has now become quite skilled at it. She was surprised by the fact that whenever she asks them for help, they never ask why she doesn't already know how to do it or make remarks like that. She describes the students as having a collaborative learning nature which adults still struggle to achieve. In her blog post, she included a video that friend recently posted on Facebook. I have attached it below. In the video it shows a child discussing her feelings on how children are viewed today.


My comments for this post were as follows: "Hi, My name is Morgan Mohler and I am in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama! I really enjoyed this post, and the video as well! It is so refreshing to see adults not afraid to admit that they need help from younger people! Children are definitely a lot smarter than we often like to think that they are! I am so glad that you posted this video because it was a very touching video indeed! I think I will use it for my upcoming project in EDM 310 where we have to make a blog post assignment! If you would like to read my summaries for your post, or even my upcoming post about this video you can visit my blog at http://www.mohlermorganedm310.blogspot.com!"

Summary Post C4K 3-7

C4K #3: For this assignment, I was assigned Miss Walters' year 4 and 5 students from Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand. The post which I read was about a video the students created for something they call Fia Fia Night. They included the video that the class created together. It was an animation about Justin Beiber's song "Never Say Never." In my comment, I told the students that I was not sure what a Fia Fia Night was but that I really liked their enthusiasm about it. I also told them that I was impressed with the way that they worked together to create this video.
C4K #4: For C4k #4, I was assigned to read Shara's blog. The date of the post was September 1, 2010. In this post she discussed her fondness of playing Netball and her team. Most of the post consisted of her just naming all of her friends that were on her team. She also mentioned that Her team had won all of their games except two. In my comment I told her that I was glad to see her taking an interest in blogging. I also stated that I thought it was good that she had an activity that allowed her to get some exercise while having fun with her friends. It sounded like she had a pretty good team, which is of course a bonus.
C4K #5:  For this assignment, I was assigned to read a student's blog from Miss W's class in Australia. The student was in the 7th grade. In his post he discusses how he sees whales from the school bus on his way to school in the mornings. He talks about how big the whales are and how exciting it is to see them. In my comment I told him that the closest beach I lived to was over an hour away and that I had never seen a whale in person before. I said that I bet it's really a neat thing to be able to see every day just on a whim and to keep up the good blogging techniques!
C4K #6: I found this comment for kids to be exceptionally touching. This assignment had me reading a young boy named Colton D's blog and the particular post was titled "War in Afghanistan." In this post, Colton discusses the fact that his brother will soon be leaving his family to go off to fight in the war for our country. He heard on the radio about a roadside bombing killing some American soldiers, and that really upset him. Right now his brother is signed up for the infantry, but he might be a scout for snipers. Also, they have purchased a computer and web cam for him to take with him so that he can stay in touch while he is away. I spent a lot of time thinking of the right comment to leave on this particular post. Basically, I told him that I knew it would be hard to have his brother be so far away from the family and that it would be scary but that he was doing a very noble deed for our country. I tried to encourage him by reminding him that he would still be able to see his brother thanks to technology and that before he knew it his brother would be on his way back to the States!
C4K #7: For student number 7, I was assigned to read a 5th grade student named Molly's blog. The title of her post was "Red Ribbon Week." In this post she discussed her views on drugs and drug users. She feels bad for people who do drugs and thinks that they need to change their lifestyles. Her ultimate goal is to put a cap on drugs. In my comment I told her that I was very inspired to see someone her age taking a stand against drugs and drug use. I encouraged her to keep up her mindset and to keep working towards her goal of putting a cap on drugs! I also mentioned that her blog looked really nice and that she should keep up her blogging because it is a good way to spread her message!