Blog Post # 14

1. I missed the metaphor in Tom Johnson's post because I took the assignment to serious. I didn't know that phrases like food for thought was actually called metaphors. I have to say as I read the article I was puzzled why a teacher didn't want students to take pencils home.

2. Food for thought, apple of my eye, you light up my life are metaphors I often use when talking with my daughter. When my mom was in ICU for two weeks and had a ventilator once she was out of ICU and off the ventilator, I remember telling my sister "hearing mom's voice was music to my ears".

3. As educators we can help students to understand metaphors by teaching students a lesson about metaphors, and ask students if they can give examples of metaphors to see if the students really understand what a metaphor is. I don't recall learning metaphors when I was in school. I happy to say now that I understand what a metaphor is and why it is used.

4. I think that metaphors are used as a way to understand what is acutually being said. Using metaphors helps readers visualize or see what happens in a story or poem.

Final Report on PLN

I choose symbaloo as my PLN .  It's a great resource to use to organize sites that I use frequently.  I have added Picasa and Photobucket.  I used these two sites to find pictures for my Blog Post.  I have added Skype and Wordle both are amazing sites.   I wish I would have used Skype sooner.  I also added Mr. McClung and Mrs. Yollis as teacher sites these two teachers are amazing and it shows on their creative Blogs.  I added Alex to my PLN this site is a must for all teachers.  I have added the states where I have  lived during my husband military years.  I have also added some famous landmarks my family  and I have visit.   My PLN is something I plan to continue to use.  You're welcome to view my PLN using this link: http://www.symbaloo.com/

C4T # 4 Comment For Teachers

This article is titled "Calling All Political Junkies Who Care About Kids".
Aaron Eyler is expressing his feelings about how he's been reading political articles and arguing with commentators on their blog over the interpertation of different issues that articulate the effect on the youth of America.
I respond by say that I think that this would be an awesome project and that it will surely help children better understand the issues that may effect their future.




This article is titled "You Got One Shot At This" Aaron Eyler talks about how we live in a world of instant gratification and how educators need to start discussing failure and the need for kids to learn persistence when facing adversity. Aaron also says that we can’t ignore failure as something that needs to be discussed with kids, and that if they the students “fail” at an assignment, why do we prevent them from being able to redo it to improve their work?
I responsed by says that I agree we live in a time of instant gratification, which hurt students later in school and sometimes later in life. Failure is a learning process. It took me several years to realize that failure is truly a learning process. I'm happy that as a future teacher I have a better perspective about "failure". I think that students should be able to redo an assignment because it gives students a chance to reflect on what they didn't understand the first time

Final Project #16

Blog Post # 13

Alex is a project of the Alabama Department of Education. ALEX stands for Alabama Learnig Exchange and  is design to share many types of educational materials and information as a resource to educators, parents, and students. Alex has several different types of  resources such as Lesson Plans, Web Links, and Interactive Activities. You may view this website at  http://alex.state.al.us/index.php.        

ACCESS which stands for Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students was launched on November 1, 2004.  I like this website because it provides teachers with additional multimedia and technology tools to enhance instruction, ACCESS also assess initial technology skills of students who are enrolled or who plan to enroll in distance education courses in order to provide the appropriate level of support to the student. You may view this website at http://accessdl.state.al.us/aboutaccess/

When I log onto the ALEX websites my mind was racing faster than a race car.  I was thinking of the ways in which I could use these resources in my class in the near future.This website has so many great resources for teachers to use.  I like the lesson plan section as I viewed some of the lesson plans I came across a lesson plan about Hurricanes, I thought this would be a great lesson using the smartborad presentation. I was amazed at the lesson plans that included technology where K-2 grade does a lesson on learning the basic parts of the computers. I am almost certain I wasn't introduced to computer at that grade level. I also like the web resource where teachers and students have access to websites links about different study areas. For the students weblink I liked the Cool Math.Com website. Most of all I like the Alabama's Podcast Treasury Gallery 360. 

Dr. Strange thank you for introducing me to this website.  I have attached ALEX under favorites on my personal computer and I will definitely add it to my (PLN) Personal Learning Network.

Progress report on Final Project

For our Final Project my partners Taylor Williams, Monsenya Chatman, Jordan Sellers and I are doing our final project Titled: Creating A Wordle With Students. We will describe the steps and talk about the different components in creating a worlde.

Project # 15

Blog Post # 12

Watch this video A Vision of K-12 Students Today. This video was created to inspire teachers to use technology that engage ways that help students develop higher level thinking skills. After watching this video write two or more paragraphs about you thoughts or comments.


MY THOUGHTS:
I like this video. Students nowadays are tewnty-first century learners. They are exposed to technology at an early age. In the video students use technology to listen to music using ipods, spending time on the computer, and have parents who uses email, technology is around students all the time. Students are expected to be able to create and share information with others, but how can they do this when 76% of teachers has not used Wikis, Blog, or Podcast.
Teachers play a huge role in how students react to technology. When teachers include and engage students in the learning of technology , we will have students who will know how to think, create, apply, evaluate, and analyze.

Project # 14 Teach Someone

Special Assignment

1. Mr. McClung is an eighth grade teacher at Woodland jr. High in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Mr. McClung teaches social studies and computer application and uses blogging as a tool to share what's happening in the classroom. Mr. McClung also uses blogging for his cross country team.
2. Mr. McClung likes to use technology in his classroom. Mr. McClung is a dedicated teacher who encourages his students to do their best. He also tries his best to bring high energy to the classroom everyday, engage students with team and partner work, and tries his best to keep things fun for his students.
3. I really like the gestures/rules that Mr. McClung uses, rules are important especially for first year teachers. Rules are establish to lets students know what is expected of them.
4. Using a planner is a great resource for students to write down when and what assignments are due which helps keep students on track.
5. Late work for Mr. McClung is usually a decrease in a letter grade for the number of days late, in comparsion to Dr. Strange's late work, failure to complete assignments and projects not posted on time will earn an individuals an F in the course.
6. Mr. McClung hopes that his blog will be the main resources of communication between parents, students, and teachers about what is happening in his classroom.
7. I reviewed the articles Arkansas History which is a curriculm of what students will learn such as the geography of Arkansas, and Fayetteville Public Schools. Fayetteville Public Schools is a site that shows what is going on in the schools such as curriculum updates, activities students participate in like recycling.
8. To ensure the safety of the students' identity Mr. McClung tells his students never use their last name when posting comments or creating a profile.
9. In the C4K blog my post was Susan G. Komen For the Cure. In this blog Mr. McClung and his class is a part of a fundraiser to help with the research for cancer. This is Mr. McClung's second year participating.
10. Mr. McClung has many blogs that I would like to use. I like the way he post blogs about his students work. I would like to start a blog for Lupus. My mom has Lupus and it would be nice to get feedback from others who has friends and family with this disease.
11. Mr. McClung has a blog with a daily newsletter that will keep parents, students, and teachers informed about the current happenings in class including: experiments, projects, deadlines, assignments, and of course school news. Mr.McClung also has a variety of resources that are available to parents, teachers, and students that will be further explained as the school your progresses.
12. The students work on Mr. McClung blog demostrates great work and work that is well put together. The pictures are dynamical!

Blog Post # 11

Ms. Cassidy has several great technology tools she use for her class. Ms. Cassidy students use blog and seem excited when they receive comments on their blogs. One student commented that her writing gets better every time she writes on her blog. Ms. Cassidy said that students can see who is reading their blog and who comments about what they write on their blog.

Ms. Cassidy students uses the webpage this helps to enhance their learning skills like sight words and math pages. Ms. Cassidy students use Wikis as a resource to learn about traditionals like christmas and Thanksgiving. Ms. Cassidy students uses skype to talk with other friends, and Ms.Cassidy students uses nintendo DS to enhance their cognitive skills.

I would like to use skype and blogging with my students, because the students seem fully engage in the activities and I want to use technology in my class to keep the interest of learning fun and because using skype and blog helps to develope good communication skills. Having this type of technology in my class gives the students hands on learning skills. Ms. Cassidy believes that technology and students go hand in hand and goes on to say technology is part of their world.

Ms. Cassidy believes that technology is not going away and that teachers can not teach children in this generation using the tools that worked ten years ago. Ms. Cassidy believes that teachers handicap themselves and their students when they don't take advantage of new technology. Using these approaches is what makes Ms. Cassidy successful in her classroom.

C4K # 7, 8, 9, & 10

Comment For Kids # 7
This article is about Susan G. Komen For the Cure.  McClung talks about his friend Mr. Lamshed whose students participated in an annual event called Clipper for Cancer.  His students raised money for the McGuinness McDermott Foundation for childhood cancer.  Inspired by Mr. Lamshed, McClung has decided to get involved for a second year in a row.  McClung's and his class will be joining the supporters of breast cancer.   I responded by telling Mr. McClung that it's great that he is part of a fundraiser that has helped so many women, men, and the research for cancer. It's also great how he has encouraged his students to get involve with the fundraiser. I told Mr. McClung that i'm quite sure that his students will always remember this event.


Comment For Kids # 8
This article was written by Trevy who wrote a persuasive writing. Trevy had several topic to choose from. Trevy chose the topic " Animals shouldn't be kept in Zoos". Trevy gave some good reason why. For example Trevy says that "it's cruel to keep defenceless, scared and fascinating animals in zoos". He says that the animals could become domesticated and wouldn't behave how they should in the wild". I didn't know that when animals die in the zoos it's by law that they must be cremated, and that in captivity elephants live only for sixteen or seventeen years, whereas in the wild they live for over seventy years.
In my response I told Trevy that he had an outstanding persuasive blog and that his views were very persuasive and contained arguments that were very concrete. I also told Trevy that the information he wrote was very knowledgeable.





Comment For Kids # 9
Ms. Yollis has been teaching for twenty-four years. She currently teaches third grade, and has taught fifth grade and combination classes too. Ms. Yollis has a Master's degree in Integrating Technology in the classroom. Ms. Yollis loves to travel. I viewed Mrs. Yollis blogs which are all beyond awesome. I was speechless as to how involved she is with her students, parents, and her blogs. On her post How to Comment I thought this blog was a great review especially for students and even parents if students can use blogging at home. Mrs. Yollis explains what to do in a blog for example students can complement to the writers response or ask questions. She keeps her students identity safe by encouraging the students to use first names only. Meet the bloggers, Mrs. Yollis students seems eager to learn and it's great how the students hobbies include a variety of sports. I also like the concept she use for math it was the Hershey Candy Bar where students could perform fractions by dividing the hershey bar into parts or as a whole. Learn about California is also a great web site. I like how she gives some history about California. This would be a great geograpghy project for students, especially the students who are from another state or country. I wish I had a teacher like Mrs. Yollis when I was in school.






















Comment For Kids # 10
Adia talks about what her and the other girls in her girl scouts meeting experience with a visit from her friend's grandmother who is from Japan. Adia shared what she had learned about the dolls hair piece. Adia said that the hair piece clip, is gorgeous, but powerful and that women wear it in their hair in case they ever get attacked. This way they can defend themselves. Adia also talked about how they got a chance to try on a Kimono which is a cultural Japanese costume that women wear at fancy celebrations. Adia also talked about how they learned to make sushi. Adia asked if I knew any facts about Japan. I talked about the use of the bicycle.

My response to Adia I told her that It's great that she is a girl scout. It awesome that you and the girls in your troop had the opportunity to learn about interesting facts about Japan. I had the opportunity to visit Japan five years ago it's a wonderful place. I met a friend who is a native of Japan our children were in the same Judo class. We would make sushi using the BAMBOO SUSHI-MAT I thought it was so cool to eat the seaweed while making the sushi. While visiting friends who were also military I had the opportunity to buy and bring home several of the beautiful dolls. I did not know the purpose of the hair clip. It is a clever weapon! The Kimono is attractive and elegant. My daughter has two kimonos, she wore her kimono to an school event which was called "Celebrations of Cultures around the World" she enjoyed wearing her kimono too. A fact about Japan is that bicycles are the most common form of transportation in Japan. Most people in Japan own at least one bike and uses their bike to go to the local market. I think that's Awesome! Adia I have enjoyed reading your blog. Keep up the excellent work!