Comments for Kids #4,#5, and #6

For my fourth "Comments for Kids" I was assigned to Miss. Garden's class in Pt England School in Auckland, NZ. I was assigned to Maru, a sixth year student in room seventeen. In his post, he writes about his class receiving netbooks. Each student was given a netbook and was able to take it home also. Maru is super excited about receiving his netbook and said it was like receiving a Christmas present.

My Comment: Hey Maru, I attend the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I am a student in Dr. Stranges EDM 310 class. I think that it is awesome that your class received netbooks. You will see what a great benefit that they are for your education. Technology has many great benefits and it is great that you have it at your finger tips at all times. I wish you all the best of luck with continuing your education and make the most out of the great uses of technology.

For my fifth "Comments for Kids" I was assigned to Mrs. Lagitupu class in Pt England School in Auckland, NZ. I was assigned to Mauina, a year eight student in room twenty-one. In her blog, she writes about the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Christchurch, NZ. She describes the event as people having lost their lives and many have no place to live.

My Comment: Mauina, I am student at the University of South Alabama. I am in Dr. Stranges EDM 310 class. I really have enjoyed reading your post. I feel for the people affected by the earthquake. The magnitude of the earthquake shows how powerful an earthquake can be. It is really sad to think of all the people who were injured and lost their lives on that tragic day. That is why we need to be thankful for our lives each and every day and not take it for granted. Living on the coast, I have seen my share of what nature can do. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Many people lost their homes and had no place to go. Though we were affected by a natural disaster the community as a whole pulled together to rebuild.

For my sixth "Comments for Kids" I was assigned to Mrs. Phares' class. I was assigned to Shawnee blog a student in Mrs. Phares fourth period class. In her blog she writes that cyber bullying is wrong and it is sad when people bully each other.

My Comment: Hey Shawnee, I am student in Dr. Stranges EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I have enjoyed reading your post about cyber bullying. I agree with you that it is wrong and I don’t understand why people do it. Maybe it makes them feel in control of that person. Bullying is a major problem in our society today and that is sad. My motto is treat others how you would like to be treated. No one likes to miss treated, so we should all try to get along.

Blog Assignment #9

What I've Learned This Year

I really enjoyed reading this post by Mr. McClung. In his post, he writes about his first year of being an elementary teacher. Here are some of the points that he learned. Be flexible because there will be obstacles that come along and as a teacher you have to change your plans. I liked what he said, "No lesson is ever perfect. The lesson you teach and the one you plan are always different." When things may go wrong, we have to work with it and turn it into a positive situation. He also writes about communicating and that it is the best medicine. I agree with him 100%. We need to have positive communication with our students, parents, co-workers, and also our bosses. If we have issues you need to talk it over to solve any problems. I will take Mr. McClung advice on communication. He suggests that you practice good communication skills because it is the hardest skill to develop. I do not have the best communication skills with others because I am very quiet and shy. I know that communication is something that I personally need to work on. Another point that he made was listen to your students. I think that is very important. I personally think that teachers should take time to learn each and every individual student. I want my student's to trust me and come to class ready to learn. I want to make a difference in my student's life and be the teacher that they look up to. His last point was never stop learning. As a future educator we have to be open and willing to learn. We might be an educator, but we are still not going to know everything. I have learned so much reading Mr. McClung post. He pointed out some great points and I know we will all probably feel a little over whelmed our first year of teaching. So, we could all take the advice that he wrote and use it.

Project #12 Skype Interview

Blog Post 8

This Is How We Dream, Part One and Part Two

This video by Richard Miller was interesting and it was done in a unique way. I liked how he showed the information in the background of the presentation because it keeps your attention and you are able to see what he is talking about. In the beginning of his presentation he pointed out some great points. With technology you are able to instantly communicate globally with others. Dr. Miller believes that we are at the greatest change in human communication and in human history.

I personally like the idea of multimedia and I think it can have a tremendous impact on our education. Multimedia can give a person a chance to show off his or her creativity. I think creativity is important because it gives you an opportunity to think outside the box and come up with something unique. Dr. Miller has done work with his team and they not only used text, but also images, films, Skype, etc. to make a more unique project. He also showed a document that he shared with his students that he had handouts and also a visual available.

 I thought the presentation on Dr. Martin Luther King was great. It was done in a creative way and I liked how he used text, video, and sound in the presentation. That shows that we can make presentations creative if we put our mind to it. Dr. Miller said,"Large restrictions are the ones we place on ourselves." I agree with him 100%. As a future educator, one thing that I do not want to hear in my classroom is "I can't do it." I want to stress to my students that they can do anything if they put their mind to it. Overall this video was great and I learned a lot of useful information from it.

Chipper Series and EDM310 for Dummies
I thought these student produced videos were great. EDM310 was a great example of how I felt the beginning of the semester. There was plenty of times I wanted to pull my hair out and pick up my computer and throw it because I felt overwhelmed. Once you start to get the hang of the class it is not that bad as long as you keep up with the work and don't get behind. I think I would like help create a video. It would be interesting to go around campuses not only at the university, but also in town and talk with teachers about technology. It would be interesting to know how many teachers use a smartboard in the classroom and if they actually know how to use it. I believe there are a lot of teachers who don't use a smartboard because they don't know how to use. I love smartboards and I want to learn how to use it more because when I graduate I want to be ready to use a smartboard in my classroom.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
This video was awesome and had many great points. Technology plays a tremendous role on our students. Children are living now through twitter, facebook, email, and text messaging. Children learn not only in the classroom, but also through the community, at home, in libraries, in museums and on the web. We have classroom systems when we could have a community system. One point that stuck out to me was about the standard testing. Economically, it is a foolish idea because the jobs that our students get are not going to call for a right answer approach. Instead, they are going to look at how you work with teams, synthesis, how you use content, etc. This is why we need to learn to change and change to learn to better ourselves.

The Secret Powers of Time by Philip Zambardo
This video is awesome and was done in a creative way and I liked how he drew what he was talking about. He pointed out some great points in the presentation. He pointed out there are people who dwell on the future, past, and present. I liked how he said that in different cultures people have a different pace of life. People from the North are more future oriented than the people in the South. One statics that is scary to me is that he said,"That every nine seconds a child drops out of school." Children don't see how important education is for their future and to know that every nine seconds a child drops out of school is sad. Another point that I liked was about family values. Now, only 20% of Amercians have sit down dinners with their family. He said," You can't have family values if you don't have sit down dinners." I think family dinners are important because it gives everyone in the family an opportunity to come together and communicate with each other.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by David Pink
This video was very interesting and had many great points. This video pointed out that people who are paid more money in the workforce did a poorer job than the people who were paid less. If people would pay their employees enough to get the issue of money off the table they will do better. Three factors that lead to a better performance is one autonomy which means is desire to be self directed. Second, is mastery which means to urge to get better at stuff. Purpose is the third factor that leads to a better performance. More and more organisations want to have a purpose because it makes coming to work better and also better talent.

Project #13 Smartboard Instruction

Driving Lessons

A Smartboard Lesson by:

Jennifer Hackney, Kenneth Nelson, Ashleigh Skelton, and Miranda Tidikis

I personally think that our group did a great job on the smartboard presentation. We did a short presentation on driving lessons and after the lesson we then had a quiz. We used a device called a clicker and they were able to answer the questions using the clicker and after the quiz they were able to get immediate feedback on how they did. The clickers are great to use because it was fun and it was a great way to get students to interact with the smartboard.

I learned so much from this project. All though no one in my group knew much about a smartboard we were all able to come together to create a unique lesson. I am so glad that we used the clickers for our lesson. I have used the clickers before at my junior college because that is how one of my teachers did her test. So, it was cool learning how to construct smartboard questions using the clicker device.

Here is the results of the google form. The two young ladies that took the quiz did a great job. They seemed very interested in the clickers because it was something new to them and they also did excellent on the form. I know our lesson was basic and they knew the information anyways it was still great to have them interact with us.

2responses

Summary

What should be worn by the driver and all passengers at all times?

seatbelt seat belts

What is a cushion in motor vehicles that inflates upon impact. It cushions people from being thrown into the wheel, dashboard, and windshields.

airbag air bag

When someone is tailgating you, this is what you should do
	speed up 0 0% slam on breaks 0 0% if you feel uncomfortable pull off the road and let them pass 2 100% fix your mirrors 0 0% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

A pedestrian is walking across the street in your path of driving you should
	A pedestrian is walking across the street in your path of driving you should 0 0% slow down and come to a complete stop and allow them to clear your vehicle 2 100% bump them with your car 0 0% all the above 0 0% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

When there is no traffic at all, it is okay for me to text message.
	True 0 0% False 2 100% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

A yield sign is red because it means I should stop.
	True 2 100% False 0 0% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

_____________________ is dangerous driving that can result in accidents.

High-risk behaviorHigh-Risk behaviors

_____________________ is any violation of the current traffic code.

Traffic ViolationTraffic Violation

_____________________ is any display of aggression by any angry or impatient or passenger of a motor vehicle.

Road rageRoad Rage

Untitled Question
	True 0 0% False 2 100%

Progress Report on PLN Project #10

For my PLN, I used Symbaloo. It was very easy to use and to understand. I tried to color coordinate my PLN. For fashion, I used pink and had the websites of my favorite purses, clothing, and shopping places. Orange was for news broadcast, such as weather, local news channels, and global news. The black is for sports. I am not a huge sports fan, but I wanted to be somewhat up to date with the news. I have Nascar, ESPN, and Dukes basketball home website on my PLN.  The brown represents everything that I use for school. For example, our classblog, timetoast, USA home website, and Sparknotes. I used blue to represent for social networking. I have Facebook, Twitter, class blog, Skype, and my email accounts on it. Red is for all other websites that do not fit into a category, that I use on a weekly basic.

Blog Post 7

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhootd Dreams

This lecture is awesome and is worth the time to watch it. Randy Pausch is a great role model. He did not let the hardships of life bring him down. Randy Pausch was diagnosed with cancer and he passed away in 2008. I watched more videos posted about him and he truly was a great person. He has made a great impact on people and has made a tremendous difference in education. His story has made a great difference in my life. The doctors only gave him a few months to live, but he still keep on living for the time he had left. Dr. Randy Pausch was a husband and a father to three small children. He was such a great person and he will always be remember. I would defentitally check out more videos on him because they are great.

In his presentation, he pointed out many of his childhood dreams. I like how he said, "That you need to have specific dreams." I agree with him. Everyone should have childhood dreams. Although, you may not acomplish some of your dreams it can still have an affect on you. For example, Mr. Pausch did not accomplish the dream of playing for the NFL, but football still was apart of his life. He was ok with not accomplishing his dream of playing with the NFL, but he probably got more stuff more valuable. One of the points he made was that experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. I think that is well put because we can all learn from our experiences.

In his lecture he gave many great techniques that you can use for teaching. I noticed throughout his speech he used a lot of props for his lectures. I thought that was very interesting because it actaully keeps your attention. He used technology, videos, and group work. He used technology beyond searching the internet for information. Here is an example of what I mean. Alice is a program that teaches computer programs and this is his professional legacy. The children were able to make movies and games. They also are learning how to program and yet they don't realize it. One thing that he said, "Millions of kids having fun while learning something hard." That is a great concept because we should want our students to learn, but also have fun while doing it.

In the closing of his lecture he gave some great tips. Here is few of his tips: Get feedback and use it, show gratuitde, don't complain just work harder, be prepared, and find the best in everybody. No one is all evil because everyone has a good side. He pointed out, "That it is not how to achieve you dreams but how to lead your life." If you live your life the right way, the dreams will come to you. Again, this lecture was awesome and was worth every minute of watching it.

Comment for Teachers #2

Post #1-Manaiakalani Research
I was assigned to Manaiakalani blog. Manaiakalanin Project is research that has been collected from 2008-2010 based on e-Learning. The focus question of this project was "What is the impact of the Manaiakalani Project on literacy teaching and learning? There are seven schools in New Zealand given the oppurtunity to particpate in this project. The research focused on the achievement of students in Literacy, including speaking, reading, and writing. It also focused on the use of technnology for students. Here are a few things that were found from the Manaiakalani Research: Students achievement levels had risen by 2010, it took two to three years for teachers to implement the project, and took about two to three years for teachers to full integrate e-Learning. Here is a link to the blog for more of the data collected through this project:

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 really have enjoyed everything in your blog and it has some great information. The Manaiakalani project is awesome. Sounds like you and your team are making a tremendous difference in students lives. As a future educator, I want to be the teacher who makes a difference and I want my students to be eager and ready to learn.

Post#2- T.E.A.M

This post is from Manaiakalani on the New Zealand earthquake. TEAM stands for together everyone achieves more. This is so true, because if everyone works together it will come out better in the end. Team work is the best for anything. In this post, she writes that on television they showed streets coming together for cookouts and encouraging each others in this devasting time. This was a great example of team work.

My Comment:
I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. The recent disaster in New Zealand is devastating. At times like this is when team work is effective. Like you said, "Together everyone achieves more." I have never been in an earthquake, but I have experienced a hurricane being on the coast. When Hurricane Katrina came through my hometown in Mississippi, it was destroyed by the storm. Everyone in our community came together and supported each other and helped with the clean up efforts. This is just an example of how teams are great. In natural disasters it is best when everyone in the community works together to rebuild. I send all my prayers to New Zealand because they have lost so much and are in need of help. My personal blog is http://hackneyjenniferedm310.blogspot.com if you would like to check it out.

Project #11 Short Movie