Project #16

Special Metaphor Assignment (Blog Post #14)

1.) Why did you miss the metaphor?

When I read the post about the pencil, I was a little confused. I actually read it a couple of time trying to make sense of it. I did not receive a comment on missing the metaphor, but I think that was because I did not refer to the pencil throughout my post. After Dr. Strange had made this assignment and said if we changed the word "pencil" to "technology" it would sound completely different. I believe I had written the word "pencil" one time and I changed it and it still made sense. This post made me realize to pay more attention to what you are reading before jumping to conclusions.

2.) What metaphors have you encountered?  

The metaphor that I have encountered is one I am sure we have all heard of. There are plenty of fish in the sea. Meaning, if we break up with someone that we care about there is other single people out in the world. I actually used a metaphor tonight. I told my friend Justin that if he kept on eating he was going to get as big as a house. I am sure that we all use metaphors in our daily life, but we just don't realize it. 

3.) What other things can we do as educators to help our students to understand and to use metaphors?

I think we could go over metaphors in the classroom. I would make sure that the students fully understand a metaphor and how to use it. Then, I would have the student's create a list on metaphors they have heard or make up their own. The student's could also find metaphors in the book that they are reading.

4.) Why do we use metaphors?

I think metaphors are used to confuse us or at least some of us. Metaphors can add humor to people writings or even every day communications. It also can help open up our mind of thinking. Some metaphors make you think, especially if you don't understand it right away much like the Tom Johnson post. It also spices up your writing. 

Comment for Teachers #4

Comment #1-For my fourth "Comments for Teachers" I was assigned to Dianne's Digital Discovery blog. In her blog, she writes how most educators hope that their teaching touches students in exciting ways. There are many great tools available to use for your classroom to make teaching more entertaining. She list that wikis, Twitter, blogging, comics, and video are great tools to use to make teaching more interesting.

My Comment: Mrs. Krause, I am student in Dr. Stranges's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I agree with you that one way teachers can engage the students is to make it fun for them. I am taking a class now that teaches you how to incorporate activities within the classroom. I have learned many ideas from that class. There are activities that you can incorporate in the classroom that I would have never thought of. Children can learn while having fun and that is what I want in my classroom. I want my students to come to my class because they are having fun and learning while doing it. Thank you for sharing your post.

Comment #2- Mrs. Krause had a short posting about using wordling. It is a lot like using wordle and all you do is sign in under your facebook or twitter account. So, if you liked doing the wordle assignment you may want to check this out.

My Comment: My name is Jennifer Hackney and I am student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class. This is a great website to use. Our first assignment for this class was to create a wordle. I thought that it was cool, but I liked using the wordling also. Thank you for the post and I have really enjoyed your blog.

Final Report on PLN

For my final report on my PLN, I decided to color coat it because I wanted it to be easier to navigate through. Blue is more of social networking and email accounts. Brown is for school and tools I will need for education. I added some teacher blogs and class blogs that we have commented on. For pink, I chose to do fashion. I love purses, so I added some of my favorite designers also. Red is miscellaneous stuff that I use on a regular basis. The black tile is sports and news broadcast are orange. I really have enjoyed working with symbaloo and I will continue to use it and also add to it.

Blog Post #13

Alex
Alex stands for Alabama Learning Exchange. I have never heard of this website, but it is very handy. The first part that I visited was the course of study. It broke down each standard for the course. Standards are important as far as what we have to follow as teachers. So, I thought that it was great that it broke down each subject and grade level. It was also easy to navigate around and finding information. Under professional learning there is a resource for English Language Learners. It gives you some tips and information for teaching ELL students. I thought that was handy because I will be able to teach ELL students when I graduate and I can refer to this for information.

I personally, liked how it shows individual lesson plans. I love searching the internet and finding fun and creative activities that I could use for my future classroom. Usually, if I find a lesson plan online I like, I can add my own twist to it because I can elaborate more on it and add some of my own ideas to it. One reason why I liked searching for the lesson plan on ALEX was because it was easy to find age appropriate activities. For example, I search sixth grade science and it gave me an activity for making lip balm. This website was great and I will use this for my future classroom.

ACCESS
ACCESS started on November 1, 2004. This website was great and provides access to high school students to have an advanced diploma, dual enrollment and other great opportunities for the students. The mission of ACCESS is to provide all citizens with quality learning opportunities.  Under the student tab was information for advance placement course. It gave sample test that the student could view and study by. I think that was a great resource for the student because it would help prepare the student in case he or she chose to take AP courses. The website was great not only for the students, but also for the parents and teachers. It provided a lot of useful information and resources.

Comments for Kids #7, #8, #9, & #10

For my seventh "Comments for Kids" I was assigned to Mr.McClung's class. I commented to Lesson Learned Four - March Madness. In this post he writes about the March Madness. Basketball has dominated conversations at schools and workplaces all over the world. People and students are obsessed with their brackets. He says, "That he will be joining others doing their bracket, watch basketball, and watch his brackets fail."

My Comment: Hey! I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at The University of South Alabama. I am commenting on “Lesson Four – March Madness.” Basketball is my favorite sport to watch, but I did not do a bracket. It is so funny to watch the people who get all worked up about their bracket. People also get disappointed when the team they choose to win loses. Although, my team Duke did not win; I am still interested to see who is going to come out on top.

For my eighth "Comments for Kids" I was assigned to Ms. Thompson's Room 13 class blog in Adelaide, Australia. I commented to Amelia blog. In her post she writes about her family moving into a new home. Their new house has a tennis court, spiral stairs, and three bedrooms. She writes that she will miss her old house, but the new one is better because it has more space.
My Comment: Hey Amelia! My name is Jennifer and I am student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange's class. I have really enjoyed reading your post. Your new house sounds awesome! I have never moved, but I do know it is a lot of hard work. You don’t realize how much stuff you have until you have to move it all. I wish you all the best of luck in school and in your new house and enjoy the tennis court.

For my ninth "Comment for Kids" we were assigned to Mrs. Yollis' class blog. This class blog was awesome. You can tell that a lot of time and effort goes into this blog. I loved how she taught her students to use proper grammar and punctuation. I also liked how she involved the student's family members. I personally think it was a great idea to have family blogging month, so the parents can be involved with the students. Parent involvement is important because you want your parents to know what is going on in the classroom and blogging is a great way to do that.

For my tenth "Comment for Kids" I was assigned to Adia's blog. Adia is an excellent writer. She has great writing skills and I personally think she will make it far with her writing techniques. I can tell that she really likes blogging and that shows on her personal blog. She seems to have a true passion for writing. I thanked her and her other two classmates for the comment that was left on our class blog. I also told her that I enjoyed reading her post on the Japanese culture. I gave her a few encouraging words and told her to keep up all the great work.

Project #15

Progress Report on Final Project

For our final project, I am working with Kristan Steele, Kenneth Nelson, Miranda Tidikis, Jenna Baxter and Ashleigh Skelton. We are doing our project on the importance of using the EDM lab. I have found that using the lab has helped me a lot during this class. So, I am excited to show everyone how the lab can help you succeed successfully in this class. I am looking forward with working with all the group members and seeing how this video plays out. Although, we do not have all the details planned out for the video, I am sure that we will all come up with some unique ideas.

Blog Post #12

Watch the video on a Brief History of Technology and write one paragraph on your reaction to this video. How do you feel about using technology in your classroom and what ways can you use technology?

My response:
I thought this video was great. I think it showed how technology has changed over time. Technology has many great benefits in our classroom. I think it is important to use technology because the students can interact. It also gives them an opportunity to learn all the great uses of technology. I plan to use smart boards in my classroom. I love how you can have your students interact and also gives them visual of what you are teaching. I also like blogs in the classroom. Blogs are a great tool to use because it gives students a chance to show off their work and communicate with others.

Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy's Class
I really enjoyed the video produced by Ms. Cassidy and the Skype interview. The students were involved with many tools of technology, such as, blogs, wikis, webpage's, Skype, etc. I loved how the student's had their own blog and it allowed them to communicate with their parents, teachers, and even EDM 310 students. I could tell that the students loved to receive comments from other people. I am sure that receiving positive comments from others helped build up their confidence. I know it personally makes me feel better when I receive positive comments from people on my blog. It makes me feel like I am doing a good job and doing something right. I found it to be great that the students learn what to say and not to say to other peoples blogs. You always need to provide positive feedback because like the little boy said, "you do not want to hurt anyone's feelings." I also liked how the blogs helped the students improve their writing skills. The blogs helped make them better writers and also improved on sounding out words. I thought these kids were awesome and I loved to see how involved they were with all the uses of technology. When I first seen that the students used Nintendo DS video games, I was wondering how can that be education in the classroom. I would have never thought about using it in my classroom, but there are tons of educational games you can buy for the Nintendo DS. I think that is great way to use technology and the kids are having fun and learning. I also liked Ms. Cassidy approached internet safety. Internet safety is major concern for our children because of all the negative resources on the internet. The parents are provided with a form at the beginning of the semester that gives the student permission to be on the internet. I think that is important and you do not want to let any student be on the internet that does not have parental permission because it can be a liability on you. Also, she only uses the student's first name and I think that also helps protect the student. If she puts pictures on the internet she does not match the picture with the student's name. I think that internet safety would be a concern in my classroom, but as long as I follow Ms. Cassidy's internet protocol it will be fine. I will ensure my parents that internet safety is important in my classroom and that the children know how to use the internet properly. I would love to have blogs in my classroom. I think blogs are a great way for students to interact with other people. I like how you can post your work online and everyone can see it. It also lets your family members, teachers, classmates, etc. a chance to comment on your work. Blogs also help improve children's vocabulary and their writing skills. I also would like to incorporate Skype in my classroom. Our Skype interview project was the first time I have ever used Skype. I thought Skype was awesome because you can carry on a conversation and see the person from any part of the world. I could use Skype to go with my lessons. For example, if we were discussing weather we could interview a meteorologist. I think that the students would love to do that. I will definitely use Ms. Cassidy's advice in the Skype interview with Dr. Strange. In the interview they discuss is it ok to be technology illiterate? She discusses that technology is not going away and as a teacher we need to keep up with what is going on with technology. I agree with her 100% because technology is always changing and improving. Technology can have many benefits in our classrooms and students love to use it.

Special Assignment

1.) Mr. McClung is an 8th grade teacher at Woodland Junior High in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I have noticed that Mr. McClung keeps it fun for his students. He uses many different teaching strategies, which I think is awesome because all students learn in their own way. Mr.McClung has a true passion for teaching which is evident through his blog. He uses technology in his classroom which I feel is beneficial to all students.
2.) Mr.McClung is a teacher that has his act together. He knows what he wants for his students and expects them to get the best out of their education. Mr.McClung demonstrates a true passion for teaching and I think that is what it is all about. An educators must have a passion for what he or she does. Teaching is not just standing in front of a class lecturing or reading off slides. It is about turning a traditional classroom setting into something fun and exciting for your students. I believe Mr. McClung has excelled at this.
3.) I personally liked Mr.McClung class rules. He only has five rules for his classroom and I think that is great. I also like how he has expectations for his students. Stay positive is one of those expectations. I believe this is outstanding because you will have some students that look down on themselves and they think they are going to fail. I know as a future educator, I want to stress to my students they can do anything if they put their mind to it. I also liked how he expected his students to communicate with each other. I think that is great because it prepares them for being able to work with others in group work or working with a partner. It will also help them develop good communication skills with others.
4.) The day planner was the first thing that his students need. I think that is the first requirement because he wants his students to stay organized. I think staying organized is important, so that way you know exactly what assignments are due. If it was not for the checklist in this class, I would be lost. Dr. Strange broke down each assignment and that made it much easier to keep up.
5.) In Dr. McClung class, there is a letter grade loss for each day an assignment is late. I think that is great because it teaches the students responsibility. They were given enough time to complete the work. If I learned something from Dr. Strange, he does not like late work at all. I learned the first day of class lateness is his biggest pet peeve. Work must not be late and you must be on time.
6.) His blog is great because it involves everyone the students, parents, and teachers. It keeps everyone up to date with what he will be doing in the classroom, such as, assignments, projects, experiments, etc. One of my goals as a teacher is to make sure I involve my parents in everything. I never want my parents to feel that they do not know what is going on in my classroom.
7.) I looked at the "Plagiarism Checker" and I thought that was fantastic. You copy and paste your children's work into the box and it will tell you if it is plagiarized or not. I think he put this in his useful links because he can tell if he students are really doing the work or not. The other link that I viewed was Discovery Education. This was a great site for teachers because it gives you free lesson plans. It also has a puzzlemaker that you could use to make assignments for your students.
8.) His internet safety rules are excellent. Internet safety is something that I feel should not be taken lightly. I have a little sister who is 11 and likes to get on YouTube. She can view videos of Justin Beiber and some of her other favorite artist. I have to stress to her all the time not to get on YouTube without supervision because if you are not careful you can pull up inappropriate videos. I think internet safety should be taught and our  students should be reminded of the safety rules for the internet each day.
9.) I was assigned to the "March Madness" post. It was a great post and talked about how people get worked up on their brackets. I like basketball, but I did not complete a bracket. The team I wanted to win was Duke, but that did not happen. Mr. McClung completed his bracket and he said he was going to watch it fail, but I am interested to see who is going to come out on top.
10.) Some things that I liked about his blog was the tabs at the top. I personally think it was easier to navigate that way. I also liked how there was an archives tab on the side where you can access previous years work. I thought that was very interesting. I found that you could chat with Mr.McClung when he was available. One other thing that I liked was the music on the blog. You could make it personal or for a class blog like this you could put the schools song on it.
11.) I thought this class blog was awesome. It was easy for anyone to navigate through it. I liked how he involved everyone the parents, teachers, and student. He keeps his parents involved and they are aware of what they are doing. I think parent involvement is very important because you want your parents to have a part in their child's education.
12.) This class blog was by far one of my favorite that I have visited. You can tell that Mr. McClung cares a lot about his students and his class blog. He involves everyone in his blog and I think that is awesome. I think that Mr. McClung has a great teaching method and I love how he is involved with his students. He makes his classroom environment fun and exciting for his students.
13.) There is not really any more comments that I would add to this blog. I think this assignment was great and I learned some awesome ideas to incorporate in my future classroom. When I become a teacher I just hope I have as much enthusiasm as Mr. McClung has for his classroom. He is a teacher that knows exactly what he wants for his students and his classroom and makes it happen. This is a great blog to keep in mind while I am in school and even after I graduate.

Project #14

Blog Post #10

Morgan Bayda Post
After reading this post by Morgan Bayda,  I could relate to her. There are many times I feel cheated at Universities and I am glad that I am not the only one that feels that way. There have been countless times that I sat in two or three hour classes and come out learning nothing. Most of the time, the professor is reading off the slides or out of a book which makes it  hard to stay awake and learn. My education courses are where I learn most of my materials. I know that EDM 310 is a great example of that. We are learning materials and tools that we will use throughout our education experiences and in our classroom. At the end of this course, we are not going to walk out feeling like we have learned nothing.  Although, Dan Brown made many interesting points, I cannot say I agree with him. I personally think that dropping out of school is never the answer to anything. This post and video was great and I am glad that we were given the opportunity to comment on it.

Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home

I thought this post by Tom Johnson was awesome. I do know that students take advantage of tools that they are given. I think we should teach children proper ways to use their educational tools. If students want to play hangman, then they should. Hangman is a great way for students to work on their vocabulary and reading skills. Like the post says, "Children are learning even when we don't think they are." That is true because children are always learning in their own individual ways. If kids are playing games, having fun, and learning from it, then why can't they play games? I thought this post rocks and took an interesting approach on the use of technology. I will keep this post in mind on my educational path and for my future classroom.

Comments for Teachers #3

Post #1- I was assigned to At the Teachers Desk blog. I commented on Creating a Textbook Based Reading Class You Can Live With: Part 1 by Mr. Chamberlain. In his post he writes about how he decided to experiment with his reading program. He was required to use a particular series and was expected to use the workbooks. He decided to add a twist to the reading program because he noticed that the students were bored and so was he. The students were reading a non-fiction story on ghost towns in the west. In his lesson, he added visual components, which I personally think is great. Each student was given a checklist of the assignments for that week and also listed the day that it was due. Here is a few of the assignments he added to his list to make it more interesting. His students would chose two out of six different activities for vocabulary and they would also view a map of McDonald County. The students would then label the ghost towns of Coy, Wylie, Saratoga Spring, and Erie and explain why they think they are no longer there. His students had different note taking techniques that they could use also.  I liked how he used checklists to make it easier for his students to stay organized and broke down each assignment.

My Comment: My name is Jennifer Hackney and I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I think what you are doing in your classroom is great. I like how you took the initiative to create a fun and exciting reading program for your students. The checklist that you created was a great idea because it is a great way to keep your students organized and let them know what assignments are due.  I like how you incorporated activities to go along with your reading assignments to make them more interesting and fun for your students.

Post #2-This is part two of Mr. Chamberlain's Creating a Textbook Based Reading Class You Can Live With a series on modifying a textbook based classroom. In this post he listed different approaches he uses for vocabulary. His students were to choose two of the approaches and here is what they could choose. The students could create graphic representations of each vocabulary word, write definitions of each vocabulary word, write definitions, create flash cards, use in graphic organizer as outlined in skills section, create a word web with synonyms of the vocabulary, or create a word web with antonyms of the vocabulary. Mr. Chamberlain says,"That only one out of four students choose to write the definitions and the ones who do are the student's who grasp vocabulary the best." Flash cards allowed his student's to have social interaction with a partner because he allowed them to practice that way. Creating a synonym or antonym word web worked best for many students. Many of his students would use visuwords to find synonyms and antonyms. Visuwords is a website that makes connections between words visual. I found this to be interesting and awesome. Before he changed to this method his average written test scores were in the mid 60's. Now, his average test score is in the high 80's. I think this is awesome!

My Comment: Hi, My name is Jennifer Hackney and I am student in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I have to say I have really enjoyed your post. What you are doing in your classroom is great! You have given me many ideas on ways to incorporate vocabulary in my future classroom. I also find it awesome that your students test scores went up. That just shows that you are doing a great job in your classroom and you really care for your students. Thanks for your post. You can see a summary of your post on my personal blog at htttp://HackneyJenniferedm310.blogspot.com

/