Blog Audit

When I was looking over all of my blogs that I had post. I say somethings that I don’t know if anyone else really saw. I know that when I first started to write my blogs I didn’t usually make it to the 400-word count mark. I did struggle with that for the first couple of weeks. I also struggled with reading all the assignments or watching all the videos we needed to watch. I can say tough that when I started to ready the comments that people were posting on my blogs is was making me feel better about how my blogs were. I also would try and comment right back if someone posted something on my blog. I had a trouble time at the beginning in waiting till the last day to comment and then reply to people on my blog post. People may think that it’s easy to get 400-words, but really it’s not that easy. I didn’t want to copy things out of articles that I had read or words that were said in Ted talks, but sometimes I had to and then I have to remember to cite my sources so that it didn’t look like it was plagiarized.

Growth on my writing and also growth in my tweeting. I saw growth in my blog post after mid-terms was over and I got feedback saying that I needed to write more. So once I started to write about the blog post that we were assigned I figured it out that if I think of something that I don’t want to say in the blog post that I can post in twitter and that will help with my tweets for the week. For the tweets you can only write a certain number so I found it helpful that if I had a lot to say about one things that I put a bunch of tweets about that one thing. I also tried and did better in the second part of the semester about looking at the questions that were assigned under the tweets and start tweeting about them. My tweeting grew by me answering those questions that were assigned in multiple ways and multiple times. Also my growth in the overall class I felt that I started to comment more on my peer’s blog posts and also reply back on the feedback that they had given me. When I was taking notes about what growths I had through all the weeks. I believe that I have really grown in the writing part with my blogs. I know that at the beginning like I said I didn’t write a lot, but once I had that feedback. I feel like I was able to put more effort into my writing. I mean I did put a lot of effort into my writing before, but I feel like as the weeks were winding down I started to think of more things to write and it just started to flow.

The things that I have learned over the course has been a lot, I have really enjoyed learning about everyone’s Independent learning projects and see how everyone has been progressing of the course from when we first started them. I know when I started mine had learned a lot, because I didn’t think that there were any states that still had cursive in the schools, but when I did my research and found out that there were seven states that still had it I was very surprised. I also was surprised by how many people were agreeing with me when I said that cursive should be in the schools. I also have learned from all the Ted talks and other articles that we read or even watched that this can be implemented into our own classroom someday. I know that when we did the daily creates that if I ever teach in an upper elementary setting that I might have my students do that for part of their language arts. I think that it would be interesting to see what they come up with. Also with learning from everyone else blog posts that they did I have learned some new things that I could possibly take and to when I become a teacher. I know that I can have the students do a blog post every week and then have their classmates comment on them for feedback. That would not only help them, but it would give them something other than writing in journal. They would be able to keep a blog. Some other things I liked about from this course is that it was a very interactive course. Whether is have been through when we were blogging, or when we were tweeting. We were always commenting on others post and I think that is what helps people become better at things. I know that is what has helped me with this class.

Other things that I had saw while had been doing the work in this course is that I didn’t want to rush what we had to get done for this class. I know that we were told that we could take our time, but I didn’t want to take too much time and not get everything done that I needed to get done. I also noticed that when my peers commented back on my blog post that it was the same people commenting each time. I don’t know if that should be a good thing, but I enjoyed what they had to say about my post. I took what they had to say and turned around and tried to write another blog post that could be just as good as the one that they read before.

When I first started this class I thought that it was just a lot of busy work, but once we started to do things and we were getting feedback from each other I didn’t think that anymore. I really enjoyed this class and I know when I become a teacher that I will probably have my students do some of the things that we learned in this class. I also really enjoyed following other educators other than the people in the class. Then we could see what they said in a blog post. I enjoyed learning and had a great time blogging and tweeting.

Zen stones in water

Innovative/Unlearning

I have been an innovative learning by remember what my talents are and put them to the test. By putting them to the test I have been making sure that I keep and always try and write more when writing my blog post and also writing all of my papers that I have had to write.

Being an innovative learning you are making sure that you are focusing on what is possible today and what it could lead to for tomorrow. When being an innovative learning you have to make sure that you have leadership and that you are always trying to take risks and also explore new opportunities.

 A quote that I thought was interesting in the article from the mindset of innovative learning was, “I listen and learn from different perspectives, because I know we are much better together than we could ever be alone. I can learn from anyone and any situation.” To me this quote is saying that being an innovative learner you have to be up for different perspectives and also any situation is something that you want to learning from by anyone. Also this quote is something that i want to look at and remember when working on my work.

Unlearning something isn’t about what you have been learning it’s about seeing the things that are different. It’s also about how technology works and helps transform our own learning to practice. Something that I’m going to be remembering when I go into teaching is that students will need to practices at the same pace. This will show how students that love to learn at their own pace that they will excel at the things they like to do.

A quote that I liked from this article was, “we need to unlearn the practice that teaches all students at the same pace. Is it any wonder why so many of our students love to play online games where they move forward at their own pace?” This quote says a lot about what teachers need to look for in their students. I feel like that if you let your students work at their own pace you will see how well they understand the concept that you are teaching.

When reading these two articles I feel that it has helped me a little bit on what I need to be looking for when I start teaching. I will remember to let me students work at their own pace, but making sure they are understanding what they are doing is something that is very important.

Classroom Metaphor

When thinking of what I could do for my classroom metaphor. I really wanted to express something that would help with hands on students. So I was brainstorming ideas that could work. I came up with a couple of them, but the one that I thought would really work is art studio on the classroom.

With the art studio idea I thought that kids could work on homework with using colors or even paint their homework. This way we aren’t just using a pencil we are doing things in color. This will also help hands on students they can finger paint and be able to fell the paint and see that its cold and has a different texture than what pencils or crayons have.

I want my classroom to feel like an art studio because it will help students become more creative and they will also be able to work with different art supplies to do their homework. I think having an open mind and being creative is one thing that I will make sure is happening in my classroom. I don’t want no student to not understand something or not be able to come up with an idea for a project. Having a creative mine and being creative are two different things. Not everyone is creative. So for my students that need a little help with the creativeness this is a way that will help them.

My ideal classroom would be set up so that the students don’t face my desk they will be facing the whiteboard. Then in the back of the room not to class to my desk will be station that they will be able to work at that will help them have an open mind and that they can be creative. That were they “art studio” will be at. I think that this will help them students, because it won’t be set up like a normal classroom would be. I would have different stations each quarter that represented a different thing in an art studio.

Hyper linked is my digital story that I did about the art studio. I hope that you guys like it. I added some pictures in there so it wouldn’t be so dull. Since its all about being creative and having an open mind. I know that it was hard for me at first to come up with something to do my digital storytelling over, but once I figured something out it was easy to roll with it.

Reflection on ILP

What I learned about doing the Independent learning project is that it would be great to do with like this in my classroom if I have third grade or even fourth grade. I think that if you do anything younger they might not understand what they are supposed to do. I also learned that when you pick something for Independent learning project that it should be something that nobody else has done before and that you are willing to put forth the time to do it.

It wasn’t easy trying to stay motivated when working on my ILP, because it was something that I haven’t done and that meant I need to get right into things and figure out what I was going to do and also how I was going to make sure that I kept doing it. I know that some other people probably had harder ones than me, but trying to reteach yourself how to write in cursive isn’t very easy. I don’t always write in cursive so this was a challenge for me. Also making sure I did research to what I was doing and things that I said, like when I said in one of my blogs that there are states that still do cursive. I had to research and find those states. I didn’t want to give people unknown facts or facts that weren’t true. I would say that my independent learning project was very challenging. I was looking up on google most of the time how to write a certain letter in cursive, because I either didn’t remember or I just need to refresh my memory on how to right that letter. I know some of the letters were more challenging than others. I thought that when writing out an entire sentence was going to be easy, but it wasn’t I had to take my time and make sure you could tell what letters were what.

The best part about this project was that I just retaught myself something that I did when I was in either third or maybe fourth grade. Now I will be able to teach my students in the future. I think that with teaching students how to do this it will be easier for them to sign their names and if they have to write something out in cursive it will be easier as well. I thought this projects was a great way to reteach your mind. I really enjoyed working on this project and I’m going to try and keep writing in cursive so I don’t forget how.

Online creation tools

When I was looking at the two articles that we had to read and all the different things that each of them had on there. I knew what a few of them were. I think for my independent learning project I’m going to try and create a comic strip that will show how students learn how to use cursive. I think that it will be a fun and interesting way in showing how to use cursive. For each of the word bubbles I will write things out in cursive just so show my progress and how I have been working on getting better. Then I might as friend to do maybe just a two different bubbles and then we will be able to compare their cursive to mine cursive.

I thought that by using a comic strip I could use that in my classroom when teaching different things to students. We could make it look like the people in the comic strip are learning the exact same thing as what we are learning or something that we may learn later on. Something that was challenging about doing a comic strip I think is going to be able to find or draw well enough that people understand what I’m trying to do. Also I think that it’s going to be challenging just trying to make a comic strip. I don’t know if I will use the app or if I will go and print off a template and draw in my pictures on the template. Then I will be able to write in cursive on the piece of paper and just take a picture and post it in my blog or on twitter for everyone to see. Something else that is going to be challenging is that I don’t have a Mac so when I clicked on the comic book app one I would have to pay $2.99 for it and also download itunes on my computer. So I went to the app store on my phone and found a comic book app that was free to use. I didn’t find one that I could make a comic strip. So I think I’m just going to print one off for when I use it for my independent learning project. But I did however make a Bitstrip. I made myself a bitmoji. I think these things are so cool. My friends and I all have one and so do my parents and brother. We send them to each other all the time. I would use bitmoji in my classroom to allow my students to make of there own on their Ipads that are give to them by the school.

I thought that this really showed cursive and also how back then they also used feathers for writing.

Digital storytelling

When I was reading the first article about What Teens are learning from ‘Serial’ and other Podcasts. I thought that it was very interesting that a teacher would use a public radio podcast in his classroom. That to me seemed very gusty. Also I think that it’s a good thing that the students are learning something when they are using the podcast. I thought that the article was very helpful and I enjoyed reading it.

I thought it was good that when the teachers in the article used the podcast that the students were learning. That is something that you don’t hear everyday. I think that when using a podcast to teach your students is a great way to find which motor skills work for each of your students. This will help some of your students that need to listen when teaching them something and they learn by listening. Others it will help them understand what you are teaching them. I think that teaching with a podcast is a great way to change up the classroom work. Your students are always focused on books and worksheets, but if you through in a podcast a few times I bet that every teacher will see a jump in their students with how well they are listening to you. Some disadvantages that I would think there would be is that your students are just going to want to listen to podcast instead of learning a different way. Another disadvantage would be that your students don’t like learning from podcast and they get nothing out of it. So really it’s a win, win for everyone kind of. Your students are either going to like it or they are going to dislike it.

The other article that I read was Teacher’s guide to digital storytelling. I think that it’s cool that digital storytelling can help students define clear understanding of problems and also help them with discipline and help organize thoughts clearer. I know that when I was in high school my senior year we had to make a video for a class as a group. Let me tell you there was only about seven of us in this senior class. So when making a digital story it was a little hard coming up with something, but we did it and our teacher like it. We almost got to show it at our graduation, but that didn’t happen because our advisor told us that there were some parts that she didn’t like in it. I think that digital storytelling is a great way for all students to express themselves.

I think that digital storytelling can really help in an English classroom. It would help the students be themselves and create something that really shows what they are thinking.

Some things that surprised me about both of the articles that i had read was that they both are ways that students can learn. That is something that we as future teachers need to remember. 

ILP

As I was working on my ILP this week. I thought to myself how it has been helping me out when I write my signature. I also have noticed that it’s helping when I write just normally. I am taking my time more when I write something. Also when I asked my roommate if she would help me with this. The look I got from her was like are you crazy. She said that nobody can read her handwriting now and what makes me think that someone is going to be able to read it when I write it in cursive. I have enjoyed relearning and also reteaching myself about cursive. I think that by reteaching myself about cursive is helping me when I become a teacher and if I teach my students then I will be able to teach them more effectively.

I think that when writing in cursive it’s kind of like a stress reliever, because I’m having to focus on each letter and making them the correct way. Also if I miss spell a word then I will be able to see it better. We were talking in one of my classes that if you read or even change the font on something that you write you will see your mistakes. I think that also goes for when you write something on paper. I have written a paper just on plan lines paper and didn’t check my errors then I had a teacher look at it and that teacher caught my mistakes and then had me read it and had me look at it again but backwards and I saw the errors that she saw. I think when it comes to writing you should be able to write in either print or in cursive. Most of our teachers that we have and even our professors write in cursive. So with learning how to write in cursive will help you read it better and know what the teacher is saying.

Mindfulness

I started by reading Simplify the Internet. When reading that something caught my eye it was the words-it never ends, and our connection to it is consuming more and more of our time. This caught my eye because how it talks about the Internet and how it is consuming more and more of our time. That to me is very true. When you look at someone that hasn’t had the internet there entire life they are the people that grew up with typewriters and used snail mail to communicate with people. Now a days all we would have to do is either get on our Facebook page and send someone a message or we could even get on our email and email that person. Also we are getting to the point where we are trying to go paperless. What that means is everything is now on the computers. This site also had a list of complications that made people demand their time on. The list that they have kind of surprised me with some of the things that they have on there. One of the things that they have on there is tools for learning like Code Academy, Khan Academy, Duolingo  .

Disconnecting from tech for three days-

This title caught my eye and I wanted to know more about it. I think that it’s going to be interesting to see how teens did being disconnected from tech for three days. I wonder how many of us could be disconnected from our tech devices for three days. When reading this article something stuck out to me when I read the first paragraph and how it said that many adults could remember when they didn’t have digital devices and that in the younger era it would be hard for them to give it up and actually socialize. It would show all kinds of emotions.  I think that it would be hard for our generation to go three days without a device. I know it would be hard for me, because then I wouldn’t be able to call my mom whenever I wanted to and I also couldn’t text her. I know when I was growing up I always talked with my friends and we always talked about what kind of phones we would want to get. Well then some of those friends had phones before me and that made me feel really sad.

Ted Talk: Paul Miller. Paul had disconnected from the internet for a year. He was 26 when he had done that. He had felt very overwhelming. He was 12 when he first started using the internet. I thought that his talk about quitting the internet was very interesting. I think that if you are feeling very overwhelmed or something that you feel you don’t have time for then you should stop doing what you are doing.

How the internet uses me is that I use the internet to help me come up with lesson plan ideas and also I can stay connect to people that I don’t really see all the time.

 

Daily create week 3

Week 3

I know this is a bit late, but I was working on it and had to finish it. Hope that you all like what I did with my daily creates

Streetview or interesting spot in the world that you may never visit. For mine I picked a street view in Florida. Because I have never been there and I don’t know when I will be able to go.

Monday: 10-24

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 10-25

Trip to the moon

Wednesday 10-26

daily-create

Thursday 10-27-activating Fleming college

Don’t do it! Learn it! Learn better by interacting and having hands on material. #diglitclass

Friday 10-28: finish the sentence

A dentist is found dead in a locked room. Next to her is a grand piano and a courageous orc. Can you explain what happened?

The dentist was a grand piano player and was very courageous what she did. She died of a heart attack doing what she loved best.

Saturday 10-29:cute clowns

Sunday 10-30:

Komorebi
Language: Japanese
Meaning: The interplay between light and leaves when sunlight shines through trees.

Digital activism

I didn’t realize how using social media would make a difference in peoples lives. That was until I started to learn about it. Teen activism is every where on social media. That is part of the reason why their are some many issues that are bringing attention to people. When people are creating a twitter page, facebook page or any other social media site. Some people use them to hurt others and that is not what they are supposed to be used for. I can tell you this that when you watch the news you see things come up about someone being bullied on facebook by their friends. I don’t really watch the news all that much unless I’m at home and that’s what my dad has the tv at that time.

When thinking about all this I didn’t really think that I would be part of it, but I am part of some of the digital active areas. I do post on facebook. I have seen people donate to Gofundme accounts. I however have never donated to that. I know that in some cases I should have, but if I would have donated to the person that had the gofundme then I would donate to them personally and not threw an online site. I know that it might get the the person, but I still don’t trust some websites.

I also learned that Digital Activism can focus on a lot of issues whether those issues be small ones or big ones. The ones that we see now a days are bigger than usually and have to do with cyber bullying. When thinking about other issues that are happening I think a lot about the election coming up and how people are acting with who is running. You will see on social media sites people expressing their own opinions and things that could be wrong about the candidates. We never see what is good. I think that we should all try and not be so negative on social media sites for a week and see how much positivity we can get.

So I have a challenge for everyone and that is to post at least one nice thing on a social media site that you use for at least a week. Lets see is we can block some of the negativity out. Or if you don’t want to do that and you can’t think of something nice to say just don’t say anything mean at all.