Final Exam--EDU 597

I’ve been familiar with many of the tools we’ve studied for quite a while; however, I have learned a great deal about incorporating them in different areas. For example, I learned how to embed several items, and I think it is so cool to dress up my wiki and blog. I’ve found that writing a blog isn’t as tedious as I had found it to be on an earlier try. Also, teaching my students to use technology isn't always easy, but having them figure some things out for themselves may be beneficial for them. Many of them have created blogs, tricked them out, and are adding to them even as I write this. I know that following their writing on the web will save time and paper. Some of the tools we've used that I had previously discarded from use, I've revisited and found that I could and should incorporate them in my life and classroom. From previous experiences with Apple products, I had definitely become anti-Apple, but I believe that I'm beginning to rethink my position. After using an iPad, I can see how beneficial it would be if my students had them to use both at home and at school. I had previously dreamed of a 1:1 environment utilizing laptops, but I now know that iPads could also work quite well. All in all, this class has been a wild ride through tons of cool tools for educators, and I've enjoyed it tremendously. 

Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship means the responsibility that we all have when using digital media. According to the article on the Edorigami wiki, there are six tenets of digital citizenship:

1. Respect yourself, 2. Protect yourself, 3.Respect others, 4. Protect others, 5.Respect intellectual property, 6.Protect intellectual property. These six tenets are similar to the rules in my classroom. In fact, I believe that they are things we all should follow in a digital and real world. By respecting yourself, you will protect your digital profile and you will abstain from posting inappropriate information which stays on your digital footprint. Respecting and protecting others means that you refrain from posting information that is hurtful and that may do harm to someone even if it seems innocent. By respecting and protecting digital property, you give credit to someone's published ideas and research, which we expect in any other media. Through websites and curriculum like i-safe, students can learn how to use the Internet appropriately. Students don't need to be blocked from the Internet, but need to be taught how to use it in a safe way. Internet safety instruction needs to begin early, and students also need to learn to cite the information that they use from the Internet at an early age. As educators we must teach our students to follow these rules of citizenship.

Apple News

The Apple video was exciting to say the least. I would love to use iBooks or iAuthor with my classes. The interactive aspect of the texts would be great, and I believe if the students had an opportunity to see great photography, watch interesting video, and listen to better audio they would be much more interested in what we're reading. I really like the idea of choosing the stories that my students need, rather than including a bunch of stories that they won't even be reading. I like the idea of students carrying IPads rather than books, and we'll be saving trees! Students of all ages (adults too) like to be engaged with whatever material they are studying; therefore, I believe we'd see some great advances through the years working with the Apple products, and truthfully, I've never been a big Apple fan. Maybe I'm beginning to see the light.

Mobile Learning

The article titled "Five Ways Readers are using iPads in the Classroom" included some very practical and sound ways to incorporate IPads in any classroom. Finding ways to use them for intervention, like Taunya's RTI folders, or for enrichment activities in small groups would be sound practices. Assistive technology apps could be used with autistic students or with students in the autism realm, especially those who are included in regular classrooms. Actually, any student who benefits from a different learning style could use them to augment their instruction. Teachers can find many uses for IPads, especially in the area of organization. We've learned how to use Endnote, and there are other apps that could be used in much the same way. It seems like teachers who take the time to search for great apps would find that the Ipad would be beneficial and practical in their classrooms.

Superintendent Interview

We watched Mr. R from Gwinnett, GA interview for the MCBOE superintendent job a few nights ago. Truthfully, I wasn't overly impressed with this interview. However, he did say one thing that really impressed me,  "There are two types of employees in our school system: the teacher and those that support the teacher. If you're not one of those, we do not need to be in this field".  Most of the people interviewing for these types of jobs use politically correct material, but I believe he was sincere in his message. I just don't believe that test scores are the most important part of education. Although I don't believe that my students would disappoint me in this area, I believe that standardized tests are only a small part of what a child must accomplish to become successful adults. Therefore, the idea that 70% of a principal's salary should be based on test scores seems ridiculous to me. A superintendent should be able to articulate his or her beliefs and answer questions in a straightforward manner without invoking the royal "we" within every answer. I'm intrigued by some of his ideas, but feel that MCBOE is really headed in right direction. I'm not sure that we need a superintendent that wants to overhaul our system. I plan to watch all the other interviews as soon as they are posted on the web.

Blogging With My Students

     This week I began asking my students to set up blogs for English and/or Novels class. They will be writing about the books they are reading, about what we're doing in class, and about their thoughts on school in general. I'm hoping that writing for an audience will help them become more focused as writers. Therefore, this blog is becoming one for both my students and my Samford class.
     I've read three pretty good books this week. The first book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, written by John Green and David Levithan. WG, WG is about two Will Graysons whose lives unexpectedly become intertwined. Anyone who has read John Green before knows that his books can sometimes be over the top, but they are always funny and often insightful. The story centers around the first Will Grayson and his best friend Tiny--who is actually extremely large, extremely gay, and who is writing a fabulous musical for the Gay-Straight Alliance at their high school. Green continues to examine social issues in ways that relate to  teens, and Levithan's writing is very good as well. I came away with a good laugh and had a lovely time reading this book. This book may not be suitable for immature students who are unable to issues such as homosexuality or other "high school" topics, but many students will love it.
    I also read John Green's latest book The Fault in our Stars this week. This book just hit the stands this month. My goodness, I don't know where to start with this one. Although this book focuses on a difficult theme (dealing with teen illness), it may be one of my favorite books by Green. He continually finds ways to interject humor into the lives of his characters no matter what the circumstances are surrounding the story. I LOVE students who are like so many of his characters. Hazel Grace, the protagonist, is one exceptional young lady, and her boyfriend Augustus may be an even greater character. They meet at a cancer support group and soon the adventure begins. For Green lovers, this book will rank right up there with Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines.
    The third book of the week, Entwined by Heather Dixon, is about a seventeen year-old princess named Azalea who becomes involved in a magical plot that threatens her family and her friends. Set in the half magical world of Eastbury, Azalea must find the clues to restore order to her family and her father's kingdom. This book had some pretty good reviews on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I did enjoy it, but I'm not SUPER exited about it. I do think that students who enjoy a bit of magic and a historical romance will devour this book.
    I recommend checking John Green, David Levithan, and Heather Dixon out on the web. John and his brother Hank also produce some wonderfully funny podcasts ( Vlogbrothers on YouTube).

Why I want to become an administrator...

I suppose the truth is that I'm not sure that I do want to become an administrator. I'm very afraid that I'll miss sharing my literary friends with my students. I've enjoyed working on the Continuous Improvement Plan, and I've also enjoyed sharing new ideas and technology with my co-workers; however, I'm not sure that I would be up the disciplinary part of  administration.  I've heard that members from earlier cohorts have felt the same way, but have eventually decided that they could do that part of the job.  I'm definitely uncomfortable with the financial portion of the job. I'm just not great with numbers. I think I would like a job working with teachers to streamline their jobs and to provide them with inspiration for new and improved lessons. I would like to help them feel less frazzled and more excited about teaching. I love learning which is probably the most important reason that I have for pursuing this degree. I would probably have fifty degrees if I could afford to continue my education to that extent.

Flipping the Classroom

Wow! The videos identify several ideas for making education better. Khan's video about "flipped" classrooms excites me the most. If I could have a 1:1 classroom, I can only imagine the possibilities! Not only could I incorporate several activities based on video instruction, but I could go much more in depth with my students. One of the most distressing trends in education is the "mile wide, inch deep" way that our course of study, graduation exam objectives, and other expectations force us to teach. We can no longer spend large amounts of time examining the intricacies of the subject, but must move on to the next topic. Khan's ideas allow the teacher to use videos to introduce new material or provide instruction via video that then creates more time in class for working together in creative ways to improve understanding. The Khan video also ties into the Forest Lake videos because those children actively study their topics. The passive nature in many classrooms (even my own) drives me crazy sometimes, but I don't have the technology available to insure all of my students can work on individual projects. I'm forced to keep them mostly working together. I despise that I can't spend more one-on-one time with the students who need it, and I can't allow the other students to work on innovative enrichment projects that might make them develop a passion for language or reading (or the topics we're studying). Students teaching and helping one another discover the beauty of words, the politics behind the literary ideas, the enormity of self-expression could light a fire in the English classroom. Instead, we underline a verb, circle a phrase, and box in a direct object. Yuck! I've personally moved away from much of this in my class, but if my students could take their own literary field trip, blog about what they've read, write to an author, and study a political movement, then take it back to their classmates during class, oh what fun we could have while we learn! I know that many teachers just can't bring themselves to change, but some really do want to change. Can you imagine a school where the teachers are able to utilize the materials that are available now because they have computers for all of their children? I can.

Blogging Students

 After watching the videos for this class, I want to stretch my students writing capabilities through technology. I've known for a while that my students write much better when they know that they have an audience. That is what led me to have them blog last year. Last year I used Edublogs with my students because I knew that it would be a safe environment for them; however, the ease of use with blogger is making me re-think the situation. I know that if it were easier, many more students would blog...and they'd be more creative with their blogs and blogging. I dropped the wiki this year because so many of them liked Edmodo better. The students thought the wiki was much less user friendly.  Spring semester is the time that my PreAP students begin their blogs, so I'll have to make a decision soon, and this year my novels class will be blogging too! :)

Saturday School

Saturday school is a drag...most of the time. Although I do LOVE to sleep, I also enjoy learning, so I'm happy to be attending class rather than teaching it. :) Now I'm considering all the ways that I could use elluminate or a similar program to make my classroom more interactive. I'm looking forward to using the camera and learning about Picnik, so that I can "take it back" to my classroom. I'm not sure what else we'll be doing, but Ms. Vickey always has a plan for us. This mini-mester is going to fly by!

Dr. Buck's Webinar~ a reflection.

Dr. Buck's webinar on iGoogle, Dropbox, Google forms, and reQall helped me decide to begin using Dropbox all the time, rather than keeping track of all these memory sticks!  I often use Google forms, and iGoogle is my homepage, but I had never heard of reQall. I'm super excited about it. I've already added reQall to my phone and iGoogle page. I need to concentrate on moving my files to Dropbox, and I plan to work on it next week.

Yippee! I'm blogging!

Tonight we're beginning a blog for our Samford Technology class. Ms. Sullivan has asked us to begin blogging about our school experiences.

This picture reminds me of my friend Brenda. :) Just joking--I'm actually excited about learning more about using blogs and all the other technology in this class. I was so excited about reQall that we learned about during the webinar!