Final Reflection!!

Blog Post # 14

Sounds Familiar

Box of Tricks is the blog of Jose Picardo, it is a great resource for current teachers and aspiring teachers. I really enjoyed looking over Jose's blog and learned a lot of different things. I know I will continue to visit his blog, because I appreciate his organization and ability to share useful advice for educators.

Top ten tips for using technology in the classroom is a video by Jose Picardo that enlightens you to a variety of things to help integrate technology into your classroom. When watching the video I was pleasantly surprised and proud that I was familiar with most of his tips. From podcast to interactive whiteboards I feel like I have learned a lot about each of his tips in EDM310. The only tip that I was least aware of was music, however I think that music is an excellent way to teach. I like Jose's tip and can really see myself using it in the future. I am going to teach at an elementary level and see one day doing something along the lines of writing a song with my class and then using a program like Audacity to record it so the children can play it for themselves and learn from it. While Jose talks about teenagers in the video, I think music can be just as effective with young children. Songs like the "The alphabet song" and "1, 2, 3 count with me" have been around for years and have been very successful. I think that allowing the students to use technology and their imagination is a great way to boost learning. I think things that get the children interacted tends to help them learn, and I believe technology is a great way to build interactions with the children.

Jose points out many different things that I know I will soon be using. I will be adding Jose blog to my PLN just in case I forget any of these excellent tips. I think that his tips are something to treasure and store for the future. I know that each of these things are not something that can all be used on a daily basis, but I would like to have a part of technology incorporated daily into my class in one way or another. I love the idea of using each of Jose's tips in my classroom one day. While watching the video I couldn't help but to think of different ways to use each of the tips in my classroom and how to connect each of the tips to a child's level. After the video it dawned on me that it was a lot like Dr. Strange, he gives us all of these different resources to interact with and through each of them we learn. Overall I think that Jose gives a lot of good tips to help many different teachers at all different levels. I think this video is a great resource for the people who have not had the opportunity to take a course like EDM310.

Final Report on PLN

My PLN

My PLN has had a few more tiles added to it recently. I have been shopping for a car over the last month and added a few tiles to help me with that. I love my PLN and even though I don't use it strictly for school, it contains a lot of useful sites for my day to day life. I am getting married in a few months so my PLN also contains things to help me with the wedding. I continue to add tiles and love to watch my PLN grow.

Here are some of my tiles:
1. Pinterst
2. Living Social
3. Bookit
4. The University of South Alabama
5. Edmunds
6. Kelly Blue Book
7. Wells Fargo
8. WebMD
9. EDM310 Class Blog
10. Facebook

Just to name a few!

C4K November Comments

C4K

My first comment for kids was on a class blog called "Enjoy the Exquisite Education of the Excellent 4E! The class posted about a game called "The Invisible Maze". The post included the rules for the game and also a video of the class playing the game. I commented and said the following,
"Hi Class, my name is Katelyn and I am a student at The University of South Alabama. I am taking a class called EDM310. The invisible maze looks like a lot of fun. Activities like this can be fun, but can also teach you important things about working as a group. Keep up the good work!"

My second comment for kids was on the class blog of a little girl named Francis from Pt. England School. She wrote about Ice Cream Comets and how to make them. I commented and and said the following,
"Hey Francis!
I am a college student at the University of South Alabama. Great post about ice cream comets, I would love to try one someday! Sometimes the foods that get our hands sticky are the tastiest, wouldn't you agree?
Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Katelyn"

My third comment was on Mrs. Yollis' Class Blog. The post I commented on was about Mrs. Yollis' Skyping with a class in the state of Georgia. I commented and said the following,
"Dear Mrs. Yollis and class,
I enjoyed you posting about all the things you learned about the state of Georgia. I think that it is always neat to connect with other people, even when they are miles away from you. I am a student at the University of South Alabama and am taking a class called EDM 310. I live in lower Alabama which is often referred to as "LA", but not to be confused with the LA from your home state:) Georgia is a very special place to me for several different reasons. Georgia is important to me because my older sister lives there, it is also important to me because it is where my fiance proposed to me. My fiance, Michael popped the big question center court at an Atlanta Hawks game last year! Atlanta is one of my favorite places to visit, there are so many things to do and I have such fond memories of it! Keep up the great work Mrs. Yollis' class!
Sincerely,
Katelyn"

Project #16

C4T Post #4

Thanks Ed

My C4T was on the blog called WhatEdSaid. My first comment for teacher was on a post called "Observe Perpetually". Ed talked about how he has walked by a sign all year that read "Observe Perpetually" but he had never noticed it. He encourage everyone to take time to pay attention and also asked things that other people had missed that was right in front of them. I commented and said the following,
"Dear Ed,
I enjoyed this simple but challenging post. I am a very busy student and employ, but this has inspired me to look further into things. Life can seem like it is going to fast sometimes it is important to pay attention to the things in front of us, because if we miss them they are gone!
Thanks for the post, I look forward to reading more,
Katelyn"

My second comment was on a post called " Where Do Great Ideas Come From". The post was about all the different places on the internet that you can use as resources along with yourself and classmates to create great ideas. The post including a short video listing the resources. I commented and said the following,
"Hi, My name is Katelyn Callahan and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am taking a course called EDM310, we use a lot of the same sources to get ideas for our class. I never thought that these things could be used in such a way, but have taught me so many things!
Thanks for the video!
Katelyn"

Special Assignment

Rock Your Socks Off
I, like several other classmates missed the metaphor in the blog post Don't Let Them Take The Pencil's Home. The blog post is about the students taking home the pencils and it effecting their test scores. It is a argument between the author and a narrow minded coworker. The blog post is obviously a metaphor about technology in education today. For this special assignment Dr. Strange wanted us to focus on metaphors and to pay attention to them in our everyday lives. I did exactly what he asked and got the perfect response. I was on vacation this past week with my family, including my sweet nephews, a 7 year old and a 3 year old. Me, my sister and dad overheard a conversation between the two while playing and it went as follows. Brye: (7yrs) "Asher this is going to rock your socks off!!!" Asher:(3yrs) " But I not wearing socks....." Brye: (laughing) "Asher it's a METAPHOR. I'm not really going to take your socks off" Asher: "Well mines going to be soooo bigger, Im going to rock your socks off, take them outside and throw them in the tree!!!". I loved it, two sweet little boys understood what a metaphor was, which made their Aunt Kate feel a little ridiculous for missing the metaphor in the blog post. I think that it is something I will defiantly expose my students to no matter how young they are. My little nephew is a great example that young children can understand metaphors. So exactly what is a metaphor? here are a few:
"Time is Money"
"It's Raining Cats and Dogs"
"He Kicked the Bucket"
"I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse!"
"His Money Went down the Drown"
"I'm Dead Tired"
"She is The Apple of His Eye"

Blog #13 Option 2

Out With The Old, In With The New

The article My Teacher Is an App is about online public schools, which includes students that take online classes ranging from one class to their entire course load online. Online schooling is launching nationwide and accounts for 250,000 students from grades K5-12. The article goes on to talk about the negative and positive results of online schooling. Standardize test scores were poorly represented of some of the online schooling, while others excelled. One thing mentioned in the article is that the students that stayed enrolled for longer than a year saw an increase in their test scores. The article also covers how it effects budgets and also teachers. It covers the unions opinion on it, which isn't a very fond one. The overall content of the article is how much online schooling can vary, from school to school and also from student to student.

My thoughts on online schooling is very positive. I think that options always produce better end products. The article talks about how it is an option for parents who want to provide their kids with their idea of a safe surrounding. It also talks about students and parents that use online schooling as a last resort. I think just like in traditional school settings that test scores, learning styles and opinions are all going to vary in online schooling. My sister chooses to homeschool her children, while she only has one school age child she uses the computer for a lot of his curriculum. My nephew test far beyond his grade level. He read at a 1st grade level and did simple math at age 4. While my nephew is very advanced in his education, he is a very hyper little boy. I believe that online schooling is the perfect option for him because he is able to do school work and play at certain amounts that helps him focus on school when he needs to. Even though I am in school to become a teacher, I in no way feel threatened by online schooling. I actually would love for this to be an option for my children one day!

Project #15

Project 16 Progress Report

I am really excited about the process me and my teammates, Jessica and Brittany have made on Project 16. We met this pass week for about 3 hours and made a lot of progress. We recorded a lot of the film we needed for what we are planning and wrote the things we needed for it. All that is left now is editing and finishing touches.:)

C4K Assignment part 1

Mrs. Yollis' Class
I watched Mrs. Yollis' class blog video on commenting. I felt a little intimidated before exploring her class blog because of all that I have heard. After watching the video I feel a little more confident that as long as I am careful of what I post and proofread it I should be fine. I learned several things from the blog about her and the students in her class. Mrs. has her masters and also loves to travel, something else that I observed from her class blog is that she likes to use videos one the post and also uses Skype to let her students communicate with other students around the world. Mrs. Yollis' blog has around 22,000 more visits than EDM310 class blog, and her visitors look like that are very wide spread. I am excited to visit Mrs. Yollis' class again and comment on one of the post!

Skype Interview

My Skype interview with my sister Gaylen, you can watch it here Here

Blog Post # 12

Teach Me Something

For this assignment I wanted to do something different than our average assignment that we do on a weekly bases. I was thinking it would be neat to find some kind of poll that we could give to a student in our family or a friend's child who is 5k-12 and see what the results might be. In my search for a technology literacy test I came across a website called Science Kids, it is a website with games, activities, lesson plans and much more. One thing that caught my attention is the quizzes. I saw the technology quiz and knew actually what I wanted to do as my assignment.

I would present the following: Go to the technology quiz take the quiz yourself and post your results, and talk about the things you knew on the quiz and also the things that caught you by surprise. The answers are the bottom of the page (so no peeking) once you complete it check your answers. There are 20 questions so they are worth 5 points each. Once you have completed the quiz explore the website and blog about how you can use this website in the future as a educator.


My Stab At The Assignment:

I made an 80% on the quiz on technology, some of the questions obviously took me by surprise but the question that took me by surprise the most was which car company that humanoid robot ASIMO? I was very confident about the questions to do with Apple products, because I love my Apple products!
The website looks like it is a really neat website for all ages and is appropriate for students and helpful for parents and teachers. It has lesson plans for science but more importantly on technology including things like website making and movie making. The website also has videos for technology and also a section on fun facts about technology. I think that this website is a really useful resource for teaching technology to students.

Blog Post #11

Mrs. Cassidy's Class

Mrs. Cassidy is a first grade teacher who teaches in Canada. Technology is a big part of Mrs. Cassidy's classroom. Little Kids, Big Potential is a video that explores all the different ways she incorporates technology into her classroom. Mrs. Cassidy uses blogs, videos and many other things to stay ahead with her class. I admire Mrs. Cassidy for the time that she puts into staying up to date with technology. In Mrs. Cassidy's Skype interview with Dr. Strange , she talks about how she spends most of her evenings on the computer, but with the snow in Canada I'm sure I'd spend a lot of time cozy on the couch with my laptop too:) The neatest thing about Mrs. Cassidy class is how blogging allows her students to interact with other students and even family members all around the world. I think that children are extrinsic, and by blogging they receive a lot of outside praise. I would like to incorporate blogging into my classroom one day. I would like to use blogging because it is something students, parents, grandparents and myself can access from any computer. I like that the students are able to share their work with others. I like that in the interview Mrs. Cassidy talks about how you have to continue learning as a teacher, and she goes on to talk about using and doing what fits what you are teaching. Mrs. Cassidy encourages me to one day be a teacher that incorporates different things into my classroom. I took many helpful things from her interview with Dr. Strange. I will also teach ways to protect the children and their names. Teaching Technology is a huge responsibility in for many different reasons. It is important to teach technology because it is the future and will ensure success in students and make them diverse in their ways of learning. I also think that another important thing when teaching technology is safety, it is important to ensure students are protected from things on the internet and also from unsafe individuals on the internet. I hope to one day be a very strong teacher and learn successful ways like Mrs. Cassidy to teach technology.

C4K October Post

C4K

My first post was on Wyatt's blog. Wyatt wrote about 4 ways to relieve homework stress. I commented and said that I was in college and that his advice would be helpful to me. I also told him that I liked to study in quiet places like the library. I finished the comment with keep up the good work.

My second post was on a Katlyn's blog. Katlyn wrote about different ways to make homemade ice cream. I commented and told her that my family had always used an ice cream machine, but that I wanted to try and make it in a bag like she suggested. I also told Katlyn to keep up the good work!

Both of these blogs can be found at Mrs Gregory 6th Grade Class Blog

My third post was on Amelie's blog. Amelie wrote about the Coops Shot Tower in Melbourne. I commented and told Amelie that I was a Student at the University of South Alabama. I told her that her post was very informative and well written. I told her I had never been to Melbourne, but according to her post it sounded really neat and like there were a lot of fun things to do.

You can Find Amelie's Blog Spot here.

My fourth post was on a video by Rosie and DJ that they posted to their blog. The video post was about different places at their school. I commented and told Rosie and DJ that I had also done many video assignments like this for my class. I told them that they did an awesome job. I asked if they planned on making more videos like this? and then I finished by saying keep up the good work!

C4T Post #3

C4T

Both of my comments for teachers was on the blog Connected Principals,

Comment #1:

my first comment was on blog post Teachers As Advocates by George Couros. The post was written to address teacher's and how they need to put out there what is working for them, their students and classrooms. I commented and said the following "Mr. Couros,
I am a Student at the University of South Alabama, I am taking EDM310. I completely agree with you! It is important to get it out there what is working and the different changes in classrooms! I have read so many different things about education, teachers and schools! I have found all of it useful, just like this and know that others do also!
Thanks, Katelyn"

I do believe that Mr. Couros is correct about teachers needing to publish advice and practices that they have. I know through out this class writings from educators has been so helpful!

Comment #2:

My second comment was a post by Shawn Blankenship called How Do You Learn?. Mr. Blankenship's post talked about how you need to put yourself into different learning conditions and strengthen your ways of learning.

I said the following "Hi, I am a student at the University of South Alabama and I am taking a class called EDM310. This class has put me in conditions for new learning. I know that classes are suppose to broaden my learning, but this class is not only teaching me new content but also a new way of learning. It has been unlike any other class I have taken. I am using blogging as a essential way of learning, Twitter to connect to respected educators and gmail for so much more than email! I love your approach on learning and I like how you are not only concerned with the students at your school learning but also your educators. I think that one should never stop learning! Thank you for such an enlightening post!
Katelyn" I was happy to receive this comment back from Mr. Blankenship "Thank you Katelyn for your response. It is refreshing to read such a comment. Continue to rethink the way you learn throughout your life. Blogging and Twitter are currently outstanding tools, but who knows what the future will bring. Good luck in college and may your choice in career bring much happiness.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin"

I enjoyed both of these post and they challenged me to think about different things!

Blog #10

Don't Let Them Take The Pencils Home


Don't Let Them Take The Pencils Home is a post by Mr. Spencer which talks about a teacher whom approaches him concerned about the students taking home pencils because it has a chance of affecting the standardized tests scores. However contrary to the teacher, Mr. Spencer focuses on the solution rather than the problem. The other teacher believes that the children in low income area's look at pencil's as entertainment not learning, so she opts out of allowing to let them use the pencils at home, to not chance low test scores. Mr. Spencer gives the following solution to the other teacher, that he has set up a pencil program encouraging students to use pencils for learning purposes and also learning activities to do. The other teacher is reluctant to believe that his solution will work. This is what I took from this post, Mr.Spencer has a positive outlook and sometimes just some encouragement goes a long way. Teachers get to involved with what makes them look good, (test scores) it is clear what the other teacher is concerned about, the test scores! I think Mr. Spencer is refreshing because he is actually concerned with his students learning!

I think as a teacher it is important to focus on positive things and not every little thing and especially not test scores. I believe that if you are innovative with your students and creative with ways to help them learn then that will show on test scores! I think Mr Spencer is portrays himself as an educator who truly cares about his students and learning and not just test scores! I appreciate this post because I know one day as a teacher I will have to be reminded to not blow the small things out of proportion and to always remember that my student's should always come first. While I understand test score are important, I believe that trusting students and encouraging all types of learning is also important.

I Want To Be An Educator!

Do You Teach, Or Do You Educate? is a video about the differences of "teaching" which can often be just dates and facts and truly educating! When watching this video I was reminded of my mother and Father. My mom and dad have always used the word educated. Like I have mentioned in previous post I am getting married in March! While preparing for the wedding we have also looked into house buying and also am purchasing a car for me. My father in the last week as said multiply times have you educated yourself on this? Have you educated yourself on that? My parents have never wanted anything more than for me and my siblings to be excited about being educated on things. I think being raised to be educated on a wide range of things not just math and english, though it is important, I think it is also important to have an excitement to be educated about life as a whole! I think it is important to be educated on what its like to actually be in the room during a birth of baby, or what its like to go rock climbing, finding your way home using a map, or in my case purchasing a home. I think its important to not just read about things but seek ways to live them out! I think that apart of being educated on something is experience. I think as a educator is important to be encouraging, inspiring and to also help experience happen! I am so excited to be an educator, I owe so much to my parents and also to God and I personal think the world is so beautiful and I cant wait to share my excitement with children!

Project # 13

Blog Post #9

What I've Learned

Joe McClung is a fairly new teacher who has been teaching for a young 3 years. For each year that Mr. McClung has taught he has followed the school year with a blog post called "What I've Learned This Year". Each of the blog post summarizes his year as a teacher. He has done 3 post for each year, his 3rd year, 2nd year and 1st year. I chose to focus my attention on Mr. McClung's 2nd and 3rd year post's. I learned a lot from Mr. McClung's post, but more so he made me excited to one day be experiencing these things for myself. In college we think about teaching in a light, we as students think we are going to be perfect teachers with perfect students, schools and colleagues. I think most of us picture our careers different then they actually turn out to be. I think that this is something that he covers in his first post. Things turn out different than we expect, but what is important is that we learn something positive from it.

I appreciated that Mr. McClung says in his 2nd year post that it is important to sell what your teaching. I couldn't help but recall Randy Pausch's Last lecture when he was talking about of his first boss. He said his boss told him that he was a good salesman and what better to sell than education. A salesman can be described as someone who is aggressive, motivational and believable. I think all of these things are vital to teaching. It is important when selling something to make it sound like a good thing,and to make it sound life changing. Education is both of these things. I now look at education as a item I am excited about selling and know I will make a gratifying profit in return (seeing children succeed). Next in the post I really enjoyed reading about Mr. McClung's "school mom" or (moms). I couldn't help but be reminded of a woman who I am currently taking a class with Amanda Lloyd. I have done projects with Ms. Amanda, but also call on her and communicate with her outside of class. I feel like Ms. Amanda, with no offense to age, is like a "class mom" to me. I feel like she has mentored me in ways she might not even realize. I have had a difficult time throughout my engagement of people telling me what a mistake I am making by being so young. When working on a project, Ms. Amanda told me she enjoyed getting married and having her children young. She was encouraging to me not only because she supported my choice of marriage, but because I can recognize similar beliefs in me and her. I can see where Mr. McClung advice can come in handy it is important to cling to people that can be these figures to us.

In Mr. McClung's post after his 3rd year I enjoyed reading about how one of his "school mom's" told him about training someone when she worked for an airline. She talked about how they had a no touching the keyboard policy when training. Like he says in his post, it is important to take this approach in teaching. If you take over and end up doing the work for your student they will never master the skill. I experienced this just last week while doing some field experience. I was asked to help a sweet little girl finish her math work. We were rush by 13 other 7 year olds who were waiting on us so they could go to PE. While it would have been easier to take over the reigns and assume she would catch up later, I had to sit back with patients and help her master the math problems with what help I could offer other than the answer. Taking time and showing her different ways of resolving the problems, she would move on and would use methods on her own.

There are a lot of different valuable things to take from each of these post's. I realize after reading the comments on the post's that there will always be different opinions of what is right and what is wrong, but something that is clear throughout Mr. McClung's post is that what matters is the Students! I think it is important to take everything with a spoon full of sugar and filter it for what fits you best. I think as I mature throughout life and as a teacher I will have to find what works for me and what benefits my student's the most. I am excited to experience my own classroom and appreciate the attitude that Mr. McClung has put out there. I feel like he did a good job of being realistic and also focusing on what matters most, Students!!

Blog Post #8

Movie Productions
The content of The Chipper Series and of EDM310 For Dummies is something I think all EDM310 students have felt. In the beginning of the semester it was so overwhelming, but EDM310 has become one of my favorite class's. I like the points that Chipper makes in her video. It is hard to be self motivation and to have good time management in this course. I Found EDM310 for dummies humorous. I think it is important to laugh about things that stress you out. If you cant look at the light of things then you will never manage to make it through it. Videos that I think would be cool in reference to EDM310 is one that maybe is like the book trailer project we did for class. One thing I like about this course and look forward to is all the content that we cover. I never viewed Youtube as an educational tool, but have learned so much from the videos we watch. I honestly believe I am a changed and inspired person from some of the things I have learned. I think a video would be neat to produce that was like a movie trailer, but shows what content is covered in EDM310, but of course only a sneak peak! I think it could look really neat and exciting. I think that another video that would be neat to produce would be to talk about time management. My biggest struggle has been TIME, I know chipper covered this somewhat in her video, but I think a video with pointers would be great!

Project #11 Short Movie

Project # 12 Book Trailer

My PLN Progress

I chose to build my PLN on Symbaloo. I like this website because it allows you to make personal changes to the tiles. A PLN is a great tool to help you keep your education organized. Symbaloo is a wonderful system that reaches a variety of people but also meets individual needs of each person. I like this assignment because it is so helpful and helps me stay organized. I have seen PLN prior to EDM310 but never knew exactly what it was. The personal learning network, is exactly what it sounds like. My own personalized learning network that meets my needs!

C4T Post #6

Comments for Carrillo

Mrs. Carillo post always have the best advice. This post was about Awkward Classroom Silence.

Mrs. Carrillo gives pointers for when you get an awkward classroom silence after asking a question. I commented on her post and told her a few things and also what I liked about her post. I told her I had felt the awkward silence before and also that it is important for a teacher to stay positive. If a teacher embarrasses a student or makes them feel stupid infront of their peers they are not likely to try and answer again.

Instructional Timeline #9b

Blog Post #7

Finding Inspiration

When I logged on to my computer to see this week's assignment, I found a video that lasted 1:16:27. This video was not only longer than the average assignment, but touched me beyond any other assignment thus far in my college career. Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Childhood Dreams is a bitter sweet video, that touches your soul. I had hoped before even pressing play that I would find the inspiration to have enough to say when writing this. After the video I had to take a minute to take the whole video in and even had to review parts of it because I liked the content so much. I was overly impressed and inspired by this video. Randy Pausch says in the beginning of the video it is not about cancer, however it was still heart breaking to watch because his wife's tears shows how hard it was on his family. I felt sad after this and even found myself crying at the end. I felt sad for his family, but I found it beautiful to witness a man with such a great legacy. The lecture was motivational,and after watching it I felt refreshed and delighted to have the opportunities that I do in front of me. I am not sure what we were suppose to take from this video in regards to EDM310, but I learned valuable life lessons from it.
when watching this I kept thinking about quality not quantity. This saying best describes what I took from Randy Pausch's life. It is sad that he died at such a prosperous time in his life and only a couple of years after his 80 year old father died. His life, however was filled with achievements and he left a wonderful legacy. I found it neat how many people he talked about and how they each effected his life, and also how many different lives he helped shaped.

Randy Pausch talks about childhood dreams and achieving them. He gives examples of different childhood dreams of his own and tells about how he reached them. He goes through the people who helped him and also the people he helped along the way. There were things that he did not achieved but this didn't mean he didn't achieve something valuable. He says experience is what you get when don't get what you wanted. He also goes on to talk about "head fakes" or indirect learning, how sometimes when we learn something through doing something else. He says "all that is well, ends well." this is fitting to his life. It is apparent that he had a well life and according to this lecture his life is ending well.

I think that Randy Pausch is inspirational, not because he died of cancer, but because he was humble and honest. I loved how he gave credit to every person who deserved it, even to his father for winning a particular stuffed animal. He seemed so loved and this is shown not only by his support but also by the looks on the faces of the audience. He was so personal and addressed and credited everyone whom he talked about. One of the most inspirational things to me is when he is talking about his first boss encouraging him to go to graduate school. He says that Van Dam tells him that he is one heck of a sells man and what better to sell than education. Randy actually seems to get choked up at this point. I think this is a beautiful part of the lecture. Randy Pausch taught me new things through this lecture and also refreshed things I already knew. I learned that it is important to have dreams and to be persistent. It is important to know the different ways of saying what you need to say to someone. You need to be good at something to be valuable. If you have a gift you need to pursue it and embrace it.

Lastly I enjoyed the end of the lecture when he ask what the head fake was of the lecture. The first one he says is that the whole lecture can be applied to your entire life and the second one is that the lecture was intended for his children. This touched me the most, as I sat there and grieved for the lost of these children's father I began to think, Randy Pausch had such a wonderful legacy, but what is the best part of his legacy? I believe that the greatest legacy you can leave is children. I noticed several times throughout the lecture that he referenced how he was raised. I believe his parent's had a huge part in making him a respectable and successful person. Dylan, Logan and Chloe have a dad whom they can grow up proud of.

Even though Randy Pausch is no longer physically here with his children, his words and legacy can still lift them up.

Comments for Kids September

Interview Book Report

Elise and Cade have a video post on their class blog, "Reflections, Questions and Discoveries". The video is a interview book report. Elise interviews Cade about a book he has read. I commented on their video and told them that the questions were clear and that they were well spoken. I also told them to keep up the good work!

To Infinity And Beyond

Tyler wrote a post about a new invention. His post told me about the invention, the status of it and also the plans to use it. Tyler use a big vocabulary and very good grammar. I commented on the post and said that he had a good vocabulary. I also told him it was important to keep up with things happening in the world. I also told Tyler to keep up the good work.


Amirah And Kim

This post was about what Kim and Amirah did over their holiday. The girls made a list of the things they did. I commented on the post and said I would love to go to England one day. I told them I had been to some places on their list. I asked them what their favorite thing on the list was. I got a reply from Kim. Kim's favorite place was fish mania. Kim also told me that she thought England was Amirah's Favorite thing.

Project #8 Podcast

Blog Post #6

Teaching Networked Students

Wendy Drexler's the The Networked Student is an instructional video on how a networking class works. After watching the video I was knowledgeable of what a networked student is. I think that being a networked student gives the student a wide range of information in which they can take in. I think that it allows the student to share the information, so that others can receive it also. Being in a networking class gives each student the responsibility for their work,unlike the traditional classroom kids will have freedom to decide what they want to work on and when they want to work on it. Networked students have to learn time management and also how to take the responsibilities to ensure they learn. However, I think that even though a networked student takes a lot of the responsibility for their learning, I still think that teachers will hold an important job.

Teachers are important because they guide networked students in the right direction and also filter the content they are viewing. Teacher's hold students countable and are also there to encourage them to succeed. After watching this video, some might would think that teachers jobs are threatened by networking classes. I think that this is important for me as a future teacher to entertain the idea of a networking class. I think that the way students are learning are changing so it is important for me to change my idea of a traditional teacher.

My sister lives in north Alabama and her oldest son just started school. My sister recently educated herself on different educational options for him that are offered near them. During her studies she learned that many of the high schools there offer networking classes. The students go to class part of the time and do the rest of their work online. The high schools near her also offer classes that are done completely online. The students that choose this option are still giving the same educational options, and are also given the opportunity to participate in sports, dance and so on. I think this is wonderful, it offers different types of learning and allows families and students to choose which fits them best. While other schools and places might have a different name for it or way of doing it, I think the idea of a networked student is exciting. I wish that through out my education there would have been options like this. I think a networked student is allowed freedom to become a well-rounded and responsible individual.

My PLN

My Personal Learning Network consist of many different things. I am a student in EDM 310 and also Human Growth and Diverse Society, all of these classes require amount of time on my computer. My PLN consist of my blog, USA Online, EDM310 class blog, class instruction manual. I also use YouTube, Gmail and many other websites in my PLN. Me and the 7th grade networked student share a lot of similar things in our PLN's. We both use some of the same websites, something else that is similar is the process in which we do our homework. She goes to her science agenda, while I go to my google documents and also to EDM 310 class blog. I enjoyed the video and seeing how organized the student is.

Comments For Teachers

Mrs. Caren Carrillo recent post Preventing "Dumb" Homework is a post in which she includes a guideline to assigning homework. Mrs. Carrillo gives 6 points to help give meaningful homework. I commented on her post and told her what I appreciated about it. I think that it is neat how she takes family time and play time into consideration when assigning homework. I believe that she will receive respect from her students because she respects their time. I think that when you respect family time you also get the respect of parents. By making homework meaningful it makes students remain on top of it, and this is because they are not overwhelmed by it.

Blog Post #5

Don't teach your kids this stuff, please?
Scott McLeod gives a very intellectual take on teaching kids technology. I would almost call it sarcastic, but would hate for it to sound like an insult. I think his approach on this post is brilliant. The post captures your attention, and also demands you read it again. The post's structure is good, but what about the underlining meaning and who is Scott McLeod? Scott McLeod is an associate professor at the University of Kentucky, but McLeod might be more commonly know for being the founding director of UCEA The Center For The Advanced Study Of Technology Leadership In Education (CASTLE). So why exactly would an advocate for technology tell you not to teach your kids about it, this is where the sarcasm comes in. McLeod is trying to make a crucial point for the sake of kids, parents, educators and society as a whole. If you read anything about McLeod, you know he uses technology with his students, especially from his comment at the end of his post "'cause I'm doing all of it with my kids, can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two, can you?". So here is my conclusion on what McLeod is trying to say, Technology has bad parts of it, but so does a lot of things in this world. If we do not advance ourselves as educators in technology and teach our kids technology, THEY WILL GET LEFT BEHIND.
I support McLeod in teaching technology. I believe technology can support creativity, I believe that it is a helpful tool and that it builds life skills. I would hate to say that being technologically illiterate can be hurtful, but I honestly believe it can be. Most jobs now require some kind of experience with computers and or other technical uses. I believe apart of being a teacher is raising up students that become wholesome citizens. I believe teaching technology is a responsibility of a teacher. I hope to have leg up in a decade or two, along with Scott McLeod and Dr. Strange.

ISchool Is The New School

The iSchool initiative (Mobile Learning) is a video by Travis Allen. Travis was a senior in high school when he made this video. The video contains futuristic ideas for education. I was astounded by the video and also how advanced and organized it was. Travis did an excellent job presenting his idea, which has become successful. Schools are slowly switching over to a green classroom. In the glory of this video, I want to believe it would work flawless, however I see a side to it that is doubtful. I do not completely disregard the proposal, but consider the following.

Apple product's seem perfect, I love my Iphone4 and my family contains 5 people with Iphone's with no complaints. My nephew's think I'm cool, because my phone is cool. My point is that no matter how much I love my Iphone, it doesn't change that fact that I demolished the screen in one drop to the ground. I am an adult and have made the mistake. Children at a younger age are more likely to drop an Ipod, whether it was to the ground or in milk. My point being would this be to much of a responsibility to give young children. My other point is that technology can always have flaws, what are children suppose to do on test day when they can't get their I-pod on or they have "forgotten" to charge it. I do think it is a wondrous program if it can be successful with all grade levels. I feel that it defiantly deserves a chance, everything has bugs that need to be worked out. I believe in Travis and know he probably has solutions to these problems I have mention. I wish him and his team the best!

Virtual Bliss

Jennifer Chamber shared a video on her blog called Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'. What makes this video so special is that the 185 singers have never met and the whole performance was put together through the internet. I really enjoyed this video, I closed my eyes and could have thought I was in a large theater production. The performance was beautiful, but knowing that these people had never met and it was put together on the internet is enthusing. This video is a beautiful example of the wonderful things technology can do. I do not believe this takes a way from the beauty of performance in person, but yet amplifies it. This video will reach the homes of so many people and I hope they also find it as beautiful as me.


21st Century Teacher
Teaching In The 21st Century is a video by Kevin Roberts. This video is insightful for me as a future teacher. I want to be a technological literate teacher and this video answered several questions for me. Kevin Roberts believes that our job as teachers' is no longer to teach facts and information, but to filter the information that students are receiving. Since I began this class I have wondered in this world of "Words With Friends" and Facebook, how can you be a productive teacher and have successful students. Technology can be seen two ways, Entertaining and instructional. I really learned that is important to make projects engaging. If you engage students to learn they will respond well and also be productive. Roberts makes the point that when you are engaged by something you are likely to remember it and also to use it. Entertainment is something used to pass time not instruct.

It is also important to teach skills not facts. Technology gives us the ability to teach life skills and also show a variety of content. We have to be equipped to help children use technology to the best of their abilities. I learned from Roberts that it is important to be engaging, challenging and exciting when planning lessons. I learned that it is also important to teach responsibility, reliability and integrity to students. I plan to continue even after EDM310 to pursue ways to teach using technology. In better words, Google Chrome's new slogan is "The web is what you make of it." this is so true, as a teacher, I plan to make the best of it!

Project #9 Personal Timeline

Blog Post # 4

Podcasting The Future

This generation has been exposed to more than our grandfather's generation could have ever imagined. The generations to follow will only develop a even more reliance on technology. It is so important for teachers to not only educate themselves in technology but incorporate into their classrooms. On Langwitches Blog she talks about podcasting with her first graders. One point that she makes is that the children enjoyed recording and listening to their own voices. The children even attempted to get their "voice" just right. I think if you give children a task or responsibility to create something they will respond well to it. Podcasting is not only fun for students to do and a way for them to interact, but there are several other benefits like Joe Dale points out in "Integrating ICT into the MLF classroom". This generation is used to having access to computers, it makes most sense to integrate education into their access. Some of the benefits that Dale points out is that if a child is house stricken because of sickness, they can access the podcast of their class easy. Another point he makes is if a child has an issue comprehending something from the lesson, the podcast could be listened to repeatedly to help the student and or a parent could listen to it also. The parent could help the child and or follow along with what they are doing in class. "100 ways to use your Ipod to learn and better study" gives different ways it can be used along with podcasts to help you learn better. Podcasts overall are a wonderful invention. Podcasts can be helpful for all ages, and for all kinds of subjects.

My Sentence Video

Project #5

C4T Post

C4T #1
Caren Carrillo posted "motivating for testing" to her blog in April. She wrote about visiting Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles. While she was visiting there, she came across a dedication wall in one of the classrooms. The students put the names of parents and guardians on the wall, so they could be motivated to work hard. The children are reminded by the wall of the people which they make proud. I asked Mrs. Carrillo if she has incorporated anything like this into her classroom. Mrs. Carrillo responded and said that she used candy even in high school. She also lets her students choose which way they want to do an assignment. I really enjoyed reading this post and have incorporated this into some of my assignments this semester.
It is important to have a positive vibe in classrooms. I have, even in college responded well to a classroom and teacher who was welcoming. The vibe of the classroom is not the only important thinf though, it is so important to keep family are apart of it as well. Children need to be reminded of love ones even though they can not be with them every physical step of the way. I look forward to one day using incentives to help motivate my students.

C4T #2
This past week Caren Carrillo posted "Avoiding Teacher Burnout" to her blog. I absolutely loved this post. The post was a list a ways to avoid a teacher burnout. The post is extremely helpful, I can imagine it would work well in helping you avoid getting tired of your job. I know we are all in love with the idea of getting our own classroom and our own students, but the reality is that it is going to be hard. You think you will love every child and that they are all going to be heaven sent, when in reality we are going to deal with bully's that we cant control. As teachers our stomaches are going to hurt when we see a child get mistreated or neglected at home. There are going to be times as teachers that we come across parents that it is going to be hard to hold our tongues. All of these things along with the stress of school work and our personal life it is going to seem like to much to bare. I appreciate the post from Mrs. Carrillo and know I will reference it often. This post even got me thinking in a personal way too, Teaching is much like a relationship. As I have said, I am currently planning my wedding, it is completely overwhelming! when we first got engaged we were giddy with excitement. As we move closer to the wedding and as more people hurt my feelings and my sisters argue over bridal luncheons and showers and the decisions, oh the decisions, the stress has become unreal! We have to sit back and look at the reasons we are putting ourselves through this,because we are in love!! As a teacher, I think there are times that we will say "why did I get myself into this" and we will sit back and have to say I am doing this because I wanted to be a teacher and because I love children!

Blog Post # 3

Peer Editing:
I was excited to see that this assignment came from Paige Ellis. I have the joy of having Paige in my Diversity in Society course this semester. During my education, I have, like others, been asked to edit other classmate's papers. I just have never known, like Paige, the correct way to go about it. The slideshow "Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial" gives 3 useful and clear steps to follow when peer editing. Compliments, suggestions and corrections is the 3 steps to follow. The 3 steps are helpful, because they help you stay organized and focused on the purpose of peer editing. I like how in the video they say to stay positive. I have had people act like it was a competition when editing my paper. When peer editing, I would also keep in mind that everyone has their own opinion and creativity. It is important when peer editing to not criticize someone's imagination or originality.

Peer Editing is a adequate way to catch errors in a paper. When writing things sometimes we have in our head what we want to say and when we actually read it back, we read the way we are thinking it. When we let other people read over our papers, they catch things our eyes would not. When you are a student writing a paper, you spend an excessive amount of time focusing on it. When someone else edits it, the material is fresh and new to them. I like this assignment, and know that the tips will come in handy as i finish my college education and as I become a teacher.


It's Not About The Technology:

After reading "It's Not About The Technology" by Kelly Hines, I've come to the conclusion that my college degree is not the end of my education, but only the foundation of the things I will learn. Technology is continuously changing, so we as teachers must continue to learn. We need to better ourselves to ensure that we better the future, through our students. Technology is not the most important thing, but yet the most important thing is that we stay educated as teachers. We need to never stop learning.
Teachers have a tendency to stuck in their ways. We need to stay on top and take our students with us. The world has so much to offer and we need to give students the full advantage of it. So I have taken two things from this assignment. 1. We never stop learning 2. It is important to keep yourself, as a teacher, educated!

Is it okay that I can't read!?
I found "is it okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher?" by Karl Fisch to be very enlightening. I have never looked at technology in this way, especially from a teacher's aspect. I have found myself annoyed when walking into a class room which didn't use power-point but instead the good old chalk board. I know this is harsh, but I have felt the same frustration as Mr. Fisch before. I sat in a class room my sophomore year at South with fellow classmates for 45 minutes. The reason we sat there with nothing to do, is because my teacher didn't know how to turn the sound on and insisted on doing it herself. This teacher would not let anyone in the class try to help, when majority of us knew a quick solution to the problem. I have to say I completely agree with Fisch, We should begin to look at people like they are crazy when they do not how to use a computer in basic ways. Come on it's 2011 people, if you don't know how to use computers, you are going to get left behind. I have not started my career as a teacher, but I know every job I have had during college has involved a computer.
I would like to use my dad as an example. My dad has told me before that when he started his career as a CPA everything was done on paper, and took forever! He now updates his computer software yearly before he starts each tax season. My father's clients would think he was a joke if when they came in to get their taxes done he begin to do them on paper, no one would come to him. In this time and age no one wants to wait. Teaching and educations are not a joke, so why do we not look at people in education the way my father's clients would look at him, if he were technologically illiterate. Teaching is no joke and neither is being technologically illiterate, so YES I think we should be held to some kind of criteria.

At This Rate
As I sat here and watched the numbers of Gary's Social Media Count, I am amazed at how high the numbers are and also how fast they change. This count can mean many different things to a teacher. As a future teacher I think two different things, my first thought is how children are rapidly learning to use technology. It is important to stay on board and use every advantage of these social media outlets. My second thought is wow,this is a lot of information going out into the world that can never be taken back. I think as teachers it is important to teach children the proper way to use social media. I think it is important to become more familiar with social media, so as a teacher I will know what is going on in the media world. I need to know how to use them to my advantage and also to encourage students to use them in a educational way.

Blog Post #2

Creating more creativity

Ken Robinson's video "Schools kill creativity" is enlightening. In this video Robinson talks about how children do not learn to be creative, but yet learn to not be creative. As young children we are given a pen and paper to behave during church, a coloring page at the table in restaurant and we paint pictures to give to our parents on holidays. When and where do we lose creativity as a part of what we praise children for. In school, like Robinson points out math and english become most important and arts fall to the bottom. I have always been Complimented on being a well rounded young woman. Growing up my parents took me traveling, I also took sewing, painting, piano and violin classes. I grew up with parents who blessed me with these opportunities. I am aware that most children do not have the opportunity to embark on such creative outlets. This is where the public schools come in, arts needs to become important once again. Painting and dancing is not the only type of arts we have, we now have technology as an art outlet.

The schools need to make art apart of school work and make extra art activities available to k4-12th grade students. Art can be integrated in so many ways, teachers could implement it in math and english. Teachers could have students make a colorful chart of time tables or write poetry and draw a picture to go along with it. Students need to be using their hands and challenging their brains in a way that only an art can push it. Teachers need to become responsible for praising children once again for what they do, no matter a child's age. We need to remember that there is no wrong question and that children need to be encouraged to explore their minds and to not only cling to the test that we teach them. Teachers, however can not be held completely responsible. Parents need to also encourage their own children to explore their brains and this beautiful world.

The Video "Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts" featuring Vicki Davis shows her powerful teaching techniques. In the video Davis shows how important technology is in her classroom and also how important it is in connecting the world to one another. One good techniques that Davis shares is that every teacher shouldn't try to know everything before they try to teach it. She feels like it empowers children when they learn things for themselves. This statement reminded me of growing up almost weekly my dad would bring a trivia question to table at dinner time. Whoever of me and my siblings figured the answer out felt this way exactly, empowered! Like I have said in my past post's, children like to be praised, and this trait is carried into adulthood, everyone likes to do a job well done. A part of feeling like you have done a good job is to learn about what you have accomplished. In my college experiences, lectures, tests and essays, I have always done better when teacher's give me guidance, but still give me room to learn things on my own and to be original.

Technology is a excellent area to give kids the opportunity to explore on their own. Teenagers are often technologically savvy with networks like facebook, twitter, Youtube and many other websites, why not teach them in a school setting a successful way of using these websites. Computers and internet make communication instant, with the ability to contact millions of people. It is so important to make use of the advantages of technology. My sister's mother-in-law lives in Slovakia, the only way she gets to see my nephews on a regular bases is Skype. Technology has so much to offer, so we need to make sure that students get the opportunity to learn as mush as they can about technology.

The video of Cecelia Gault interviewing Ken Robinson shows not only intelligence and maturity, it shows a special talent that she has. In the video of 13 year old Cecelia it is very apparent that she has a gift of speech. For Cecelia's age she is well spoken and portrays good posture and body language. There is something very important to take from this video, as teachers we need to recognize special talents and gifts that each child holds. The world is a glorious place in the way that it flows. Children are a big part of this world, they grow up to be adults and need a place to fit in. A way to approach teaching children is to take it on as a puzzle, each child is a important piece that needs help being molded and shaped for their special talents and gifts. We as teachers need to pull these talents out of children and encourage them to pursue them. Children spend many hours a day with children, we need to stay positive for children and help them flourish.


Did you know 3.0 is an eye opening video about how fast the rate of technology is changing. This video by far is one of the most impressive videos I have seen in a long time. The video itself was face pace, but I kept my eyes glued to it to catch each clip of information. The world as we know it has changed, communication is different, school is different and jobs are different. It is important that we become different also. We need to adjust ourselves so that we can keep up with the technology.

We have such opportunity because of technology. America seems minor when watching this video and to see the statistics of China and India. It is hard to think about ranking with China and India when their population blows us out of the water. As far as education goes in America compared to China and India we need to take some ideas. India is obviously doing something right. We need to educate on technology and well prepare our future teachers so that they can ensure quality workers as well in the this fast changing world.

Mr. Winkle Wakes is a video that talks on a level as if it is for children, but it is defiantly for adults. The video talks down to adults in a way, but is something America needs to hear. How sad is that everything in America is technologically advanced except for our schools. How can we expect the future workforce to be successful in technology if the first time they are exposed to it is in college or worse their first job. In the Video Mr. Winkle wakes up after years of being asleep and goes to offices and hospitals but is overwhelmed by how the technology has changed. A school is the only place he can find that has not CHANGED!

So what this is saying is that the school is sleeping, we are letting schools slip through our hands. Technology is just as important in our schools as it is in our jobs. We are letting school aged children down just as much as we are letting the future down, because these children are our future. We need to WAKE UP. My 2 year old nephew can use my I-phone to play games and my 7 year old nephew can go further and even send a text. Children are not the ones that are not capable of learning technology, we are not giving them the opportunity to advance themselves in it. Technology is fast pace and is always changing so the longer we wait to integrate it in our schools the longer we are hurting ourselves.

Blog Post #1

About Me

My name is Katelyn Callahan, I am 21 and I was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama. I have a fairly large family consisting of five sisters and one brother. Growing up my parents made it a priority to travel. I have been to almost all of the US states, Canada 3 times, Mexico and many of the Caribbean Islands. My parents taught me so many things growing up. I like to think I am a well rounded person because the different places and cultures I have seen. Many of my interest as a young adult has been centered around what I grew up doing. I love to travel and spend time with family and friends while doing so. I love to try new things and me and my fiance, Michael always like to do different things. We have been to sporting events, fishing, repelling and a cave adventure during some of our trips. Michael Actually proposed to me center court at an Atlanta Hawks game this past April. I have been lucky enough to be blessed with the opportunity to do exciting things. My parents taught us to be hard working and persistent in what we want.

When it came time for college I decided to stay near home. I have lived away from my parents most of my college career, but at this time in my life I am exactly  where I want to be, five minutes from campus and a little drive further to my mom and dad's. So to say the least I thought a lot about family when choosing South Alabama. I struggled in the first part of college deciding what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. I have always had a passion  for children and once I became an aunt, teaching became ideal for me. I want to watch and help children in their crucial years learn things about life. I am passionate about learning and I hope to one day be able to use my knowledge to help others learn also. I am getting married in March of 2012 and know that this journey has been easier because of Michael. My family, Michael and friends have always been so dear to me. One day I hope to be special to children and their parents and touch other people's lives. I have lived a very blessed life and can't wait to share that in a positive experience with eager children ready to learn about life.

Time Management

Dr. Pausch is a wise professor who referred to his "kids" several times in the video. Dr. Pausch is trying to help this generation not make the mistakes that generations before us have made. He points out that from experience comes good judgement. If you never plan to try something or complete it, how could you ever learn from it. Another good point that he makes is "fail to plan, plan to fail" this is brutal yet it is the truth if you plan on not doing anything during college, then you can plan on failing. Dr. Pausch points out simple things for better time management like to do lists, but commonly we overwhelm ourselves with a large list. Dr. Pausch taught me something, to take one day at a time, do what needs to be completed and bite the bullet. If you get the major projects of out the way you will have more time for others and you will be happy you did!