Sunday, December 12, 2010

Final Reflection

This is my goodbye for now but i will continue blogging even after EDM 310 course has ended. Below is my reflection of the course. Sorry if the audio is not that clear I am battling with a cold so my nose is a little stuffy and my throat is sore. T.T.F.N. see you soon :) !!!!



Final PLN Progress Report

Throughout the semester i have been using symbaloo to create and organize my PLN. I have been able to organize websites that i found intersting while reserchong for other courses as well as for EDM 310. My PLN is still a working progress but I will continue to search, reach-out, and expand my learning. My present PLN :

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Blog post # 14

 kids spelling out kids corner


Comment for Yasmine
Yasmine posted a Wordle she did for Christmas. The background color is red and the words were other colors. She used words such as trees, cookies, presents, and cold to describe Christmas.

I commented:
You did a great job!All those words in your Wordle really sum up Christmas. You got me in the Christmas spirit. Thanks for sharing.
-Amberli

Summary Post C4T teacher #4




Comment 1

My teacher Russ Goerend posted the following:


Reflecting on Learning: Author's Purpose
One of our essential leanings from the 6th grade Language Arts curriculum for this quarter is:

Identify author’s purpose and provide support from text

This is a review and refine (I totally just made that up) skill for them. They've worked on author's purpose previously, so I wanted to take them to a deeper level.

The first day, we spent about 10 minutes together working on author's purpose. I brought in four sample texts to align with the four purposes we study (inform, persuade, entertain, describe). Each student had a sheet of paper on a clipboard, and they wrote down which purpose they thought the text represented and defended their response. I collected the responses at the end.

This was a preassessment. We didn't define the purposes before going through the sample texts. Students did not discuss their decisions with partners. We did not talk about primary and secondary purposes. I wanted baseline info on what each student remembered about author's purpose.

That night, I scanned their responses and put them into Evernote, tagging them with beginning, developing, or secure (BDS).

The next day, during independent reading time, I worked with small groups based on the BDS level from the previous day. I had the texts with me and we talked through each of the texts and discussed their reasons for choosing the purposes they chose.

Each student handed in an exit card that day answering three questions:

1. Why do author's write for different purposes?
2. What does that mean for me as a reader?
3. What does that mean for me as a writer?

The following day, students partnered up. Each set of partners had a sheet of paper that had been split into fourths. Each fourth was for one of the purposes. In partners, they defined each purpose. Then, the partners combined with another partnership to form quads and they refined their definitions. Then, the quads split back into partnerships and created new quads to refine again. After that, we got together a whole group to create one class-definition for each purpose. Each of my 3 classes did this.

On day three, I gave each student a sheet that had the three definitions (one from each class) for each of the four purposes. Their directions were to evaluate which definition was best and defend it in the space provided.

After the assessment, students reflected about the process up to this point. They noted they enjoyed the pair/quad/quad/group day because they always felt like they were part of the group. A student attributed this to starting out in pairs and staying small until we got to the large group. (Thanks to Jerrid for the idea.) Another student said she was confused by the evaluate-and-defend assessment. I asked her to clarify what she meant by "confused." After thinking aloud, it turned out that by "confused" she meant that the answers weren't obvious ("because it was just my opinion I had to defend"). It seems that "confused" can be sixth grade code for "You made us think!"

At this point, I felt the students were ready to begin differentiating between primary and secondary sources. On day four, we had a discussion of what the words primary and secondary mean. Responses: there's a secondary in football; we've studied primary and secondary sources in social studies; primary and secondary colors. I wrote those examples on the board and students discussed what those examples had in common to come up with a definition in their table groups. After defining the terms, we gathered as a large group to talk through a sample text and decide what the primary and secondary purposes were.

Today, we did pair/quad/quad again on three other sample texts looking for primary and secondary sources.

Tomorrow students will take the common assessment to assess their ability to "Identify author’s purpose and provide support from text."

I'm curious what this reads like to someone who was not in the classroom while these activities took place. Thoughts?


I commented :

Hi, I am a student of Dr.Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I will be responding to your posts for the next two weeks. I liked how you use groups to make your students think and work together. I also like the strategies you use to see if the students understood the objective. I wish I was there to see the activities because it was a little confusing to read. You seem like a very caring teacher. I hope your students appreciate all your work to be sure they are learning. Thanks for sharing.

Comment 2

My teacher also posted about Evernote on IPad. He was very unorganized between his three class and needed something to help become more organized.He posted the following:

A vital component of The CAFE is what The Sisters call "the pensieve." In an elementary classroom, it would be one three-ring binder with a section for each student. In each student section there are sheets for reading conferences with which teachers help students set goals for each of the categories of CAFE: comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary. We moved accuracy into the fluency column and replaced it with application in an attempt to move up on Bloom's Taxonomy.

I'm not paper organized. Never have been. It's not an excuse, because I'm actively working to find other ways to get organized. I'm not just throwing my hands up, going, "Welp, looks like I'm just unorganized!"

So, when I saw that The CAFE suggested using three-ring binders with tons of copies for each student, I went mentally-fetal. It wouldn't just be one three-ring binder I'd need to organize. I have three classes!

Knowing that much paperwork would overwhelm me, I set about devising a system that maintained the integrity of the pensieve set up by The Sisters, but gave me a fighting chance to keep it all organized.

I settled on Evernote with an iPad I've borrowed from my district's IT department. I want to lay out a few screenshots of how it works and why I like it. Note: Everything that I do currently is with the free version of Evernote. One reason I'm considering paying the $45/year for the premium version is the offline access the premium version offers. So far, I haven't had any problems where I've needed to access a note and haven't been able to, but it does make me nervous. The free version also allows only 40 MB of upload data per month, while the premium version allows 500 MB. 40 MB is a lot when you're mainly uploading plain-text notes, but -- as you'll read -- I'm recording the audio of my conferences and that can quickly add up. Premium accounts also make it so each individual note can be larger in file size. I could easily get around that by creating more notes for each student, but it would be nice to keep everything for each student in one note.
Inside Evernote, I have set up a notebook for each of my classes (one each for reading and one for writing) and a folder where I keep blank copies of forms and other quick reference materials. I carry the iPad with me all day, which gives me access to each student's note whenever I need it. If I'm in a meeting, I can quickly pull it out to so give progress reports on students. When students are presenting, I can subtly pull it out and make notes (imagine trying to be subtle with a 3" three-ring binder!). I did that while students were presenting handwritten quizzes about themselves on the ELMO. A student who was presenting obviously had trouble spelling, so I quickly opened up the iPad and noted that in that student's note.

When I meet with students, I use Individual Student Reading Conference Forms. It's my plain-text conversion of a document from The CAFE. Being limited to plain-text on the iPad was frustrating at first, but it has worked just fine. It's turned into one of those cases where simpler is better.

With the iPad, I can record the audio of my conferences with students. The recording is ... it's pretty terrible. I can hear it, though, enough that it makes it worth it. I'm very new at one-on-one conferencing, so as I'm gaining more experience, I really appreciate being able to have that recording as a backup. Plus, each student reads a few paragraphs to me during the conference, so I'll have a record of their read-alouds.

When I sit down with each student for the first time, I show them the iPad and Evernote and the form I'll be using. I explain what I'm doing with it and I show them how I'll be recording our conference. Some have thought it was really cool. Others haven't shared my excitement. Ahh, sixth graders.

I lobbied hard last year to get the scan-to-email function turned on in our copy machine. Now, I can set a stack of papers in the copier, hit a few buttons (beep! boop!) and have the stack emailed to me. I can get them as one big PDF file or each paper as an individual PDF. While we don't have a ton of access to computers, this helps to build a higher-quality portfolio of student work. I can put exit slips from students in their Evenote notes and keep a record of those as well.

I haven't yet, but I could email the notes to parents. I like this idea much better than sending home report cards. I think it would be a great system to move away from quantitative grades and toward the kind of assessment portfolio I think is more beneficial for parents and students.

3-ring Binder vs. Evernote on iPad

The three other members of my Language Arts PLC (Angie, Laura, and Amy) all use 3-ring binders. Do I razz them about that? Sure. Do they make fun of my iPad? Of course.

I wasn't looking to reinvent the wheel when I set out making a pensieve that would work for me. I haven't pushed them to ditch their binders.

At this point, the iPad is a better choice for me for a couple of reasons. It's more portable and more easily accessible. And for someone just starting out with one-on-one conferences, recording them so I can listen back to improve my questioning skills is invaluable. I don't imagine I'll record all of every conference the whole year. I'll probably record when students read aloud, though, as that's a data point I can't miss out on.

I'd love to get my students involved in adding self-assessments to these notes. At this point, their blogs will have to do in that department.

Note: I haven't received anything from Evernote for writing this post, but I wouldn't turn down a premium account being thrown my way.

I'm always looking to improve. If you have any suggestions for this set-up or thoughts on a different set-up that would be better or more efficient, I'm all eyes and ears.


I commented:
Thanks for the post. I have never used Evernote. Put it seems to be a great tool for organizing. I am currently in school to become an elementary teacher is this will be a good resoucre for me to use.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Project #16 The ABC's of Tech Literacy

The ABC's of Tech Literacy by Me,Amanda Bosarge, and Margeaux Estevane

Part 1


Part 2

Sunday, November 28, 2010

C4K #8-11


Comment #8
This post is from Ms. Cassidy's first grade class blog. My student posted a vocaroo of him saying words that start with a "z". Here is a link

I commented:
Hi! My name is Amberli, I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. You did a great job pronouncing words that begin with a z. WOW you are reading good to only be in the first grade. Keep up the good work and thanks fro sharing.

Comment #9
This student posted this on her blog:

Hello my name is Alma Selimovic i am here to blog about my baby sister she is a little brat also shes the devil every morning she takes a book or some wort of thing and hits me in the face with it to wake me up every morning. she says wow if you dont give her what she wants shes so cut but shes a little devil.

I commented:
Hey!
My name is Amberli Chastang,I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University Of South Alabama in Mobile, Al. I have two little brothers and they still do things like that to me too. She is just a baby :). That may be a way she like to play with you. Well thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.
-Amberli


Comment #10


This blog is owneed by Kaipara Flats Room 2 News. It is a class blog. The class posted:


On Thursday Mrs Parris told us to plant some cress seeds at school in the class. We were finding out about slow change and how seeds start to grow.
We used cotton wool and seeds and water and a saucer for each group.
We split into eight groups and first we got a saucer and then we got cotton wool and then we put the seeds on and sprayed water on it.
On Saturday and Sunday they all grew.
plants growing drawn by children


I commented:
Hi, my name is Amberli Chastang and I am in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I really like your post. I also enjoy growing plants myself . It is amazing how plants can grow from a tiny little seed. I also like the cute picture of the plants. Great job! Thanks for sharing.

Comment #11
This was a post on a student's blog from Mrs. Huebner's class:

Instead of being in science for 45 minutes we got to Skype with Christopher Lee. He talked about the Boal Museum and Christopher Columbus. The Boal Museum is located in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. He talked about the sayings for 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He said that was the second grade way and there was a fifth grade way. Christopher Columbus died the year of 1506. His sons name was Diego Columbus. The story back then was really, but now it’s just made up. The person we talked to was a relative of Christopher Columbus.

I commented:
Hi, I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile,Al. Wow,that is very interesting to know. I bet it was a lot of fun being able to skype compared to doing your regular science lesson. Just think you got the talk with someone who actually talked to a relative of the famous Christopher Columbus. Yeah, growing up I have heard many versions of the Christopher Columbus's story. It's good that you got to hear the real story. How Cool ! Thanks for sharing.
-Amberli

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Additional assignment #5

 72 pencils intertwined







Just Teach Them to Solve for X
In this post Mr. Spencer allows his students to use metaphors to understand the meaning of the variable "x" in mathematics. I think the students will be very confused but in the end I hope they will appreciate their teachers efforts to make them understand how "x" can relate to real world problems not just an symbol in math that has no true meaning. The students were also given a better way to learn math before they get to just the memorization of that skill to solve for "x".

Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils
In this post he uses a pencil to describe a fourteen year old's life. I never would have made the connection but after reading the post best a pencil is the best description for a fourteen year old student. Mr. Spencer describes the student life at that age is always changing and is temporary. At that age the student want to be treated as an adult as well as viewed as a child. This is like the gray shade of a pencil. The student's life is like the pencil because a pencil mark can be temporary, changed, textured, and smudged. Mr. Spencer co-worker view the students creative ways of thinking as being rude and having attitude. While, Mr. Spencer view it as an opportunity to self reflect.

He Just Likes the Class for the Pencils
Mr. Spencer is also viewed as the "nice guy teacher" but he is just an effective teacher. He is strict just when he need to be.All he want is for his students to have fun while taking learning serious at the same time.So if his students need more freedom to accomplish that then he allow it. In a meeting with a parent the other teachers were saying that the student was good in his class just because of the technological resources available to the students. But in the end, the student liked his class the best for his willingness to care for him instead of blaming him for their failure to teach. I applauded Mr. Spencer for being that teacher that make an impact in a child's life. I hope I can became an effective teacher and make a difference in a student's life.


The Medium Shapes the Learningg
In this post I was a little confused. But, I think he is saying that just because there is some new hot technology device out that doesn't mean it would be useful to a lesson for students.

Blog Post #13

alex website logo





ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange. ALEX is a great website for future teachers and educators. On the home page there are four main categories. The main categories are course of study, web links, search, lesson plans, personal work space, professional learning, podcast treasury, and ALEXville. The course of study section have all the standards organized by grade level and subjects. There are numerous of lesson plans for every standard. The lesson plans can be very good resources or ideas for how a teacher can teach that particular standard. The podcast are broke into different sections by subjects. There are also many useful links provided by ALEX that educators can easily find. The personal workspace section allows an educator to organize all their resources. There is also a professional learning section broke down into useful websites that an educator can explore to receive help in certain areas. The web resource section is broken into six different categories three of which are specially for students,teachers, and administers.
While exploring the ALEX website in the professional learning section there were links to request training on profession development. There was also a link on grants opportunities. There were a power points explaining the process of grants and tips on writing grants. I also like how there was more than one lesson plan for a certain grade level or subject so there are plenty of examples to help me as a teacher come up with my own lesson plans. I plan to use this website a lot well still in school as well as during my professional career.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Blog Post #12

Assignmnet:

Watch this video on technology in special education. I do you feel about technology in special education? How will you use technology in the classroom differently with special students than with other students? Would there be a difference? Write a paragraph answering these questions and your reaction to the video on your post.







Post:

WOW! Technology is so important to those kids it make their life a lot easier. I never really thought of technology in that way as a life functioning skill. In the video, using their laptops to communicate was easier and it also made learning fun. In my classroom I would always use technology in anything I do with all my students. But, there will probably be some times when my special students will receive extra help. I would help them through technology when needed.

Final Project Progress Report

alphabet of technology





I will be working with Margeaux Estevane and Amanda Bosarge for the Final Project. We will find a word for each letter in the alphabet that relate to technology. With those words we will provide a screen capture about the word and an explanation to why teachers will find it useful to use in the classroom.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Results from questionnaire

Video of summary



Link to Summary



I sent my qusetiinaire to some follow classmates in EDM 310, thses are the following results:


1.What does fashion mean to you?

comfortability 8 40%
cool and hip 4 20%
professional and mature 1 5%
expressing yourself 7 35%

2.Where do you purchase most of your clothing?

malls 16 80%
designer boutiques 5 25%
department stores 7 35%
fashion shows 0 0%
retail stores 10 50%
Other 2 10%

3. What is your favorite accessory for a winter outfit?

scarf 8 40%
long socks 1 5%
boots 11 55%
leather jackets 3 15%
hats 4 20%
ear muffs 0 0%
gloves 5 25%
other 1 5%

4. What trend are you loving the most right now?

skinny jeans 5 25%
colorful scarves 4 20%
animal prints 3 15%
short hair cuts 2 10%
polka dots and stripes 2 10%
rock star look 1 5%
Other 3 15%


5.How much do celebrities' styles influence your own style?

1 - Always 1 5%
2 1 5%
3 6 30%
4 6 30%
5 - Never 6 30%

6.What are your favorite colors to wear ?

rainbow colors 5 25%
nude 1 5%
black and gray 13 65%
Others 4 20%


7.Which fabric do you prefer?

Cotton 16 80%
Polyester 2 10%
Jean 1 5%
Silk 0 0%
Linen 1 5%
Lyrca 0 0%
Spandex 0 0%
Other 0 0%

8.What footwear do you most commonly wear to class?

flip flops/sandals 11 55%
tennis shoes 7 35%
boots/uggs 1 5%
house shoes 0 0%
flats 1 5%
loafers 0 0

9. How often do you updated your wardrobe?

every 0-6 months 11 55%
every 1-2 years 6 30%
every 3-5 years 3 15%
Other 0 0%

10. Do you wear men's fashion or women's fashion?

I am a man. I wear men's fashion 4 20%
I am a woman. I wear women's fashion. 14 70%
I am a man, but I wear women's fashion sometimes. 0 0%
I am a woman, but my style is "unisex". 1 5%
I wear both. 1 5%

Number of responses: 20


My response:
My survey was all about fashion. I was inserted in fashion on campus because so many people dress with different styles when coming to class. I sent my shivery to 26 students and only 20 responded. Most of the students said around the same thing I would have said. I asked what does fashion mean to them and 15 students responded to be comfortable and a way to express themselves. Majority of the students shop at malls fro their clothing and change their wardrobe at least every six months. Most students like to wear gray and black. Almost all the students prefer cotton.Some big trends around campus are skinny jeans, colorful scarfs, and boots for the winter.Also the students are not influence much by celebrities fashion. I learned that most of my recipients were females too. Google forms is a very easy way to send surveys and received accurate and fast results. I also like how Google provided charts for the result summary to compare answers easily.

Project #15

Monday, November 8, 2010

Summary of Comments for Teacher #3

 apple with worms






Scott Elias is a newly appointed principal.In the first post he talks about how his staff complained that there were too many meetings.He writes:

know this will come as a huge shock, but most people despise meetings. When I ask staff about things that are holding them back, almost to a person they have said, “Too many meetings.”

When it comes right down to it, though, these are rituals that are deeply ingrained in the culture of our school. Most schools have a similar situation.

Long, low-energy meetings tend to distract and mute the day. – Martin Fowler

The trouble with throwing out meetings completely is that they do have some value. According to a few papers summarized here, meetings can help achieve the following:

* Shared commitment
* Communicate daily status, progress, and plans to the team and any observers
* Identify obstacles so that the team can take steps to remove them
* Set direction and focus
* Build a team

Being a new leader and getting to know my staff, I’m not willing to cut out all meetings. But what I am committed to doing is making sure that every minute we spend in some kind of meeting serves to move forward the school’s mission and agenda.

Zero-Based Meeting Budgeting
We’re going to get back to basics. At the first regular, monthly meeting of our leadership team, we will remove every meeting from our calendars and begin adding back in those meetings that make sense and will move us toward our goals. We will no longer meet four times per month if we can accomplish the same objective in two highly-productive, focused meetings.

Less meeting time focused on dissemination of information
Since my first day on the job, I’ve made some changes that I hope will whittle down the sheer volume of meeting time. Depending on the sensitivity, items that are “information only” in nature go into an email to team leaders or onto our school blog or wiki. Weening people off email has gone well so far, in no small part thanks to my very flexible group of teacher leaders who have been willing to jump into some new ways of doing business.

Two things I’ve learned in trying to bring this level of change to the day-to-day business of an organization are (1) stop trying to use the “inducement” approach to improving processes and systems (see letter B of Scott’s post on RSS for PD), and (2) stop asking questions like “Do you use Google Docs?” in favor of questions like, “To which email address should I send the invite for this document we’re working on?” It’s all about positive presuppositions. Of course we’re using Google Docs! I mean, who isn’t?

I’ll let you know how it goes, but it’s a start! Look for an upcoming post with more detail on the process of paper-reduction in a 40-year-old middle school.

I commented:


Hi Scott. My name is Amberli Chastang and I am visiting your blog for my EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I will be commenting on your blog as well as posting a copy of your blog with my comment on my blog.I think that meetings can be effective if they have specific purposes. I agree with your resource that standing up will make the meeting more effective and more focused on the main purposes.If you can accomplish what you need to in fewer meetings, then your team will probably be more appreciative of the content shared.

In Scott second post talks about his nervousness to speak in front of the school for the first time as principal. He writes:



Tomorrow is the first time I’ll speak (officially, formally) to the entire staff at my school as their principal. I’ve been thinking and stressing a lot over the last week about how that might go. Then I picked up Rework, which was one of the books I read this summer, and found a passage I’d highlighted a few days before I was asked to be a principal:

Don’t be afraid to show your flaws. Imperfections are real and people respond to real. It’s why we like real flowers that wilt, not perfect plastic ones that never change. Don’t worry about how you’re supposed to sound and how you’re supposed to act. Show the world what you’re really like, warts and all.

So talk like you really talk. Reveal things that others are unwilling to discuss. Be upfront about your shortcomings. Show the latest version of what you’re working on, even if you’re not done yet. It’s OK if it’s not perfect. You might not seem as professional, but you will seem a lot more genuine


I commented:

Hi,I am a student at the University of South Alabama and I am always nervous to give a presentation in my class too.Although I know exactly what I am going to say and I feel comfortable with the other students in the class, I still get butterflies when my name is called to present especially if I have to stand up and speak. I really like that passage you shared also. It's true people will appreciate you more if they see you speaking from the heart and when you allow some of your imperfections to show. I think you will do a good job. Thanks for sharing.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Summary of Comments for kids #3-7


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Comment #3
This post comes from Pt England School in Auckland,New Zealand.Sateki is a second grade student there. The students wrote and recorded their paragraphs all about Kupe.Kupe was a great chief of Hawaiki who arrived in New Zealand in 925 AD. Sateki has been learning all about Kupe. Sateki was very proud of these 3 paragraphs. So much so, he slowed down so we could all hear him clearly.I commented I love his post. He did such a great job of telling his story. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing.


Comment#4
This post is from student's private blog in the fifth grade:

Hi,

Today in maths, we learnt about ROMAN NUMERALS. It was really funny because there was this funny song saying “III” which means 3 in Roman Numerals. You should listen to it. I think it is on YOUTUBE. Here is a Roman Numerals chart:

Bye

Olivia


I commented:

Hey!
My name is Amberli Chastang,I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University Of South Alabama in Mobile, Al. I like your blog it is cute. I also love all your little animals. Learning Roman Numerals is fun and make sure you pay attention because you will see them again throughout life. Have fun learning and I hope you do well in school also. Thanks for sharing.
-Amberli


Comment#5
This post a student's private blog in the seventh grader in Miss W's class in Australia. Brooke wrote a poem about romance movies:

This is my thoughts on romance movies

Romance definitely makes us happier because it makes us forget what has happened or is happening around us and it really makes you feel like it could happen to us!

It sort of puts you in that actors shoes, like all the feelings that the person acting is feeling gives you those feelings and like how you would feel if you was in that position.

Everyone wants to have that person who will always be there for you no matter what!

In movies romance makes you get your hopes up like well maybe that could happen to me.

I commented:
Hi, I am a student at the University of South Alabama located in Mobile,AL. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I really like your blog. Anything is possible it could actually happen to you. And having unconditional love is an important factor in romance. Romance doesn’t necessary have to be like the movies may make it seem. It could just be something nice someone will do for no reason.



Comment #6
This post a student's private blog in Mr. Goerend and Mrs Quam's Classes 6th grade in Iowa.Hannah C wrote a poem about the stars:

My Shining Star

The light is shinning

In my heart

For I need to be guided

With you in my hands

you go up

And I go down

and we meet

in the middle

at the heart!!

I commented:
Hi! My name is Amberli, I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I really like your poem. It is so creative and expressive. I also enjoyed other post on your blog. So, keep up the good work and continue writing poems because you are really good at it. Thanks for sharing.






Comment#7
This post is from a student at Alba Middle School who created blog. Friendship posted:

My Photograph



I selected this picture because it shows many different shapes and captures the essence of the ship.

This is a picture of anti-aircraft guns on the USS Battleship.I took this picture from the stairs as I was going up to the next level of the ship.
What would you name this picture?
Please leave me a comment.

I commented:
Hi, I am Amberli Chastang. I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I really like this picture and the angle of the picture is also good because you can see the guns, water, and the sunshine.I would name it " guns of peace" because the guns are no longer being used. Thanks for sharing.

Blog Post #11

baby sitting in front of a laptop


Video: First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class
and Interview with Ms. Cassidy


Ms. Cassidy used a lot of good techniques for using technology in the class. Her students seem to really enjoy the use of technology as well. Her use of blogs and the class web page is also a good way to allow parents to check their child's progress. I also like the that the laptops become a center in the classroom. The kids seem so confident and proud of their work being showcased on the internet. In my classroom I would most likely try to use all of Ms. Cassidy's techniques. The blogs seem really fun and allows people to leave comments on the student's blog which is a good way to motivate them to do better. The web page would be a useful tool in the class so the students will know what is expected of them and if a student is out one day all they have to do is check the web page so they want get behind. I don't even know what a wiki is myself so that is very impressive that they created their own. I would use wiki in my class too because it is a good way to allow the students to teach themselves. I would also love to use skype in the classroom for guest speakers.I would incorporate the videos with the flip camera by using it in the students' projects as well as some instructional videos for the students to view on the class's web page. Ms.Cassidy is doing a great thing with those kids and seem to really enjoy it. I wish her the best and hope that her students continue to learn through technology.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Additional Assignment #3



Sir Ken Robinson: Changing Educational Paradigms
The video was very entertaining.I love the creativity of the video. The cartoon made it easy to follow what Sir Ken Robinson was addressing.Sir Ken Robinson talked a lot about how eduction is lessening the children creativity.The most important point that stood out to me was that the kindergartens scored 98% genius in divergent thinking. But to my surprise doing the longitudinal study the more "educated" they were the less they used divergent thinking.I don't disagree with anything in the video it just made me think of education from a different view. I agree with the point he made about ADHD. I feel personally those drugs don't necessary always help the student succeed academically. I would address some of these issue in my future class by allowing students to work with the arts as much as possible. And I would also allow as many group projects as I can. I believe group projects are so much more creative and socially than doing a project alone. To me the more people working on a project the better the outcome will be. If I was to do a presentation like this I would like to be the idea generator.I really loved this video it was short, had visuals, and some interesting valid points.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Blog Post # 10






Morgan Bayda and Open Letter to Educators

Morgan Bayda is a new teacher working in Canada. The experiences in her post and in the video by Dan Brown really hit home with me and my experiences with school so far.I agree with Morgan completely. The classes I was taken were so boring and the professor was just rereading the notes and going over power points. I really enjoyed the video.But I would not have dropped out of class either. It may only depend on your major. Before I changed my major to elementary education it was biomedical sciences. I felt as Morgan and Dan did in almost all my class and never opened my book. But now the classes I am taking in the educational field are much more smaller. And the professor don't just read the PowerPoint but they teach you through telling their personal experiences and setting up scenarios for us to learn from. Also in the classes I am taking I know just about all my classmates name and we talk in person and through e-mail unlike before I didn't even know the person name who sat by me every day in class. Now we also get into groups and work together as a team. So in my opinion I think it all depends on your major and university.








Two questions that can change your life
by Daniel Pink


The video was really short but made me think. The video presented the idea that a great man is a sentence. So ask yourself "What's my sentence?". And to better your life ask yourself "Was a better today than yesterday?". So my sentence is ... She is always helping,learning, and living life.


Project #13 SMART Board

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

My PLN report

I am still searching for people to follow and resources to add to my PLN. It was kind of confusing to even understand what i was suppose to do to my PLN. I am currently using Symbaloo to organize my PLN. Here is a screen shot of my PLN so far:


Thursday, October 21, 2010

Blog Post #9

An important decision I made this year is... stay positive.

"What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung
Mr. McClung post on "What I've learned This Year" was very interesting. I love hearing first hand what it's like to be a teacher for the first time. Just by hearing some stories my professors tell about their experience when they were elementary teacher let me know that the points Mr.Clung made are very important. I must agree that as a teacher you have to be flexible. Like Mr. McClung stated no lesson plan is ever perfect. Another important point is to be reasonable. It is great to set high exceptions for students but, just because they don't met those exceptions as a teacher we should still only encourage them to do better and try again. The most important point he made to me personal is to listen to your students. The students view the classroom as their family so as a teacher you must have a good student teacher relationship. It may only take a little time to maybe do a home visit or attend one of their sporting events, but that little time would mean a whole lot to those students. Being able to read the comments of someone new to this profession is really inspiring and encouraging.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Blog Post #8

 little boy dressed as a doctor



Watch Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2
Mr. Miller talks about how people use to actually write with pen and paper. And how we use to research things by looking up information in a book at a library. Now we use technology to do just about all our writing and research. We are able to share information all over the world. The information is not only shared through text but also through visual aid. We can now not only read about things happening but actually see the process of things happening. Mr.Miller also stated that as educators we should ideas and use technology as resources to further education.We can not only see the information be we can also get behind. We can see how it is produced and how we can copy or alter the resource. Mr. Miller also presented a new idea that seen students would be producing their ideas not through word processors but through a new idea digital idea. The new idea is fundamental different. He stated that their are people using the web to present ideas not alphabets. I look forward to use and experiment with the new publication idea.
Part 1
Part 2



wordle




EDM for Dummies and Chipper Series

The videos were very cute and entertaining. The Chipper Series made a good point on being on time with the assignments. The video also show that excuses doesn't matter or make a difference.You must still do the work on time. The videos gave good examples of how important it is to be organized and to met your deadlines. As a teacher if you are not organized your future students will not be organized. The video EDM for Dummies is about students being confused and frustrated with trying to understand EDM 310 assignments. But once the students got some help and figured out the class, they were grateful for the opportunity. In the end, they learned a lot and enjoyed the experience. In my video I would like to go out and maybe pretend to be a talk show and interview formal students who are now teachers.


 a little boy in a wheelchair at the SMART Broad


Critiques of SMART Broads
Micheal Staton argued that the SMART broad in the classroom is a wast of money. He felt the the interactive whiteboard was purchased just for "show". He says the whiteboard do the same thing his old computer could do using other resources as well. Bill Ferriter argued that the interactive whiteboard are not affected in increasing the student's independence and academic levels. He says that an administrator wants one thing but go out and purchase ineffective whiteboards that just waste money. He also said that he gave the whiteboard a chance but it only made about three or four lessons easier for him as a teacher. I found a website that list the positive attributes the interactive whiteboard gave the classroom. The list is below:

Presentations and Projects. Students can present multimedia projects with the whiteboard, controlling the entire presentation without touching a computer keyboard.

Web Streaming and Video. Teachers can show streamed or downloaded video clips using programs like Windows Media Player and QuickTime. Clips embedded into multimedia presentation programs can easily be shown as well. The interactive features of the whiteboard allow users to pause, circle, annotate, highlight, and more. Of course, a DVD or VHS player can be connected to the projector, too.

Printing and Saving Notes. Interactive whiteboards let users print or save anything they've written. Teachers can put notes in a file on a shared server for students to download or post notes on a Web page or blog. Notes can also be printed out and distributed, allowing students to participate in the presentation instead of simply copying from the board.

Encouraging Critical Thinking. Interactive whiteboards encourage critical thinking. Imagine using the whiteboard with concept-mapping software like Inspiration or Kidspiration, for example. Students' ideas could be written directly on the whiteboard; if the teachers switches to outline view, the class can brainstorm together in an organized fashion.

For Students with Special Needs. Interactive whiteboards may be beneficial to students with special educational needs. The large fonts and bright colors might be helpful for both visually impaired students and those who have trouble staying on task, while students who respond well to kinesthetic learning will benefit from touching the board.

The website

In the end, to me they all made good points about the interactive whiteboard. I feels it all depends on the teacher and which is more beneficial to the teacher in the classroom. I personally like the whiteboard and would love to have one in my future classroom.

Short Movie Project #11

9b

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Additional Assignment #2

How kids teach themselves?

1. Yes I do think if learners are motivated enough they can teach themselves.

2.Yes, I believe they can learn about by themselves just because of their curiosity as children.

3.In order for children to teach themselves they need to be opened minded and focus on learning.

4.If we need to find the answer to a question the first thing we would do is search for it online using a computer.

5. Motivation plays a very important role in the process. Without motivation we would not have the energy to focus harder on our ideas or problems.

6.In trying to teach yourself there will always be problems or question you will have. It all depends on how the person look at theses problems as challenges or brick walls ion their learning process.

7. You motivate someone to learn by praising them and encouraging them.

8.I am motivated to learn because in order to graduate and lead a better life for me and my daughter I need to learn in order to get a job.

9.I believe someone who is not motivate to learn can still learn. They can still learn but the process will be much difficult.

10.Yes I teach myself all the time. I also use other as a resource when I can't figure things out on my own. In order to grow as a professional you need to know what tools are available to help you teach yourself because there will not always be someone there to help you along the way.

11.A teacher plays a big role in my leaning process.I like the interaction face to face of a teacher when I am learner. I will be more focused in a traditional classroom setting with distractions.It also help that I can see how passionate my teacher is about teaching , then I will be more motivate to learn.

12.That you should not judge a book by it's cover. Anyone can learn with the right motivation and materials.

13.How can we incorporate self-learning in the classroom ?

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Blog Post # 7

Posh begin his lecture describing his childhood dreams. He goes on telling how he accomplished or modified each one of his dreams as a child. He also express the difficulties that came along with achieving his dreams. He was a professor at the University of Carnegie Mullen with a PhD. He specialized in teaching about creating virtual reality.

His lecture was so motivational and inspirational. He talked about the brick walls you will face in trying to reach your goals in life. But those brick walls are just there to challenge you to work harder to overcome any set backs. He also made a point that you will need other people to help make your dreams a reality you can't do it by yourself. People may be mean to you but you need t0 just use that person to help you. You will eventually see the good in all people.

In the end he gave some good quotes and remarks in never giving up. He advised to get a feed back loop to help learn from your mistakes. You need to be prepared for any thing. He close with a very important quote :"Its not about how to achieve your dreams but to how to lead your life.".

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Summary of C4T#2

The first post I commented on was about Washington.During Mr. Langhorst visit to Mount Vernon this summer he was a participant in the 2010 Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminar he spent time studying Washington's actions as a farmer. He stated Washoington did some amazing things on his farms and was on the cutting edge of technology for his time. On a visit to Mount Vernon you can visit a reconstruction of the 16 sided round barn he built and designed to thresh grain. During the seminar Mr. Langhorst created a lesson plan to help students analyze why Washington made this decision. The lesson is created primarily for a middle school or junior high history class and can be conducted in one 45 minute period. The students will also use a couple of primary resources from George Washington. The podcast describes the lesson plan and the blog post includes a full description and materials in PDF format.The blog entry also included a short video shoot at Mount Vernon with Daniel Purkey, Lead Interpreter for Historic Trades at Mount Vernon, describing the reasons for Washington's decision.I commented I loved your lesson plan, it made the students see Washington in another perspective than being the most famous president. The handouts were organized well and would be very useful in the classroom. I know I learned something new. I hope to see more interesting lesson plans in the near future.

The second post was about a video conference his class did with a famous author.Mr. Langhorst 8th grade American history classes in Liberty, Missouri participated in a live video chat with Pat Hughes, author of Guerrilla Season. Guerrilla Season is a book with a focus on Clay County (the county in which they live) in the years just before the Civil War. He used G-mail video chat,which is free to visit with Pat from her home in Philadelphia. He also used a Flip cam to record the conversation for students who missed it and wanted to watch it. Pat spoke with them from her sun room and then took them upstairs to show them her office and shared some of the resources she used to write books about Civil War era Missouri.I commented that I love how he incorporated technology into the classroom. I did not know that having a conversation with someone miles away can be so easy.And recording the video for the other students was also a good idea.









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Sunday, October 3, 2010

Blog Post #6

The Networked Student
This video show has great and amazing technology is today. I do not know all that was possible and so simple that a student can do it. This video is a good tool to creating a personal leaning network. The student was able to find a lot of good resources and material through networking with other strangers interested in his same int rest.

The question is "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?". The teacher is needed for many reasons. First the student would probably have never took his assignment this far if he had a textbook. The teacher is there for support. The teacher teaches him how to begin his journey of his search by telling him how to find credible work, reliable sources, and so on. The teacher is there when he has hit a stomp and has given up. The teacher will be there for motivation and encouragement. The teacher also there as a guide to make the student go father into the research and how to accomplish their goals in their findings.

All in all, the video was informative. It showed me as a furture teacher the capabilities of my future students and a good way to incorporate technology in the classroom.


A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)
WOW! Her PLE is amazing and she is only in the seventh grade. Her PLE is filled up with great resources. It is well organized and very inviting. I love her poster on the box jelly fish . Her PlE gives me some ideas to add to my PLN. Her PLE at this moment puts my PLN to shame put it is still a working process. Looking at her PLE motive me to do more on my PLN.


The Machine is Changing Us
The video was very interesting. It made me think about how much we are changing. I liked in the beginning with the meaning of the word "whatever" and how it has changed over the years. I also like how at the end he wanted the word "whatever" meaning to change to be effective in the future.The video clips he presented throughout the presentation were also effective. The clips made his presentation entertaining. Then, he started talking about You Tube and how it has greatly changed over the years. I mean, you can post any and every thing on You Tube. You tube can be used for so much more than home videos. Some people use You Tube to vent or confess things they can't say face to face. He also made I good point on who are we really talking to when we post things on the internet. It was strange to think about or even answer. How are we talking to? The video was good, interesting, entertaining, humorous, and informative all in one.

Summary of C4k for Comment 1&2

My first comments for kids was to comment on a student at Noel Elementary School in Noel Missouri class of 2011. The students had two assignments that I was to comment on. The assignments were ABOUT ME and MANIFESTO. Unfortunately, my students did not post ABOUT ME. So I first commented on her MANIFESTO. A learning manifesto is a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives,or views of its issuer.The students were told to write a student learning manifesto. In their manifestos write three or four positive actions they can take to be a better student. In my student 's manifesto she wrote she promise she will learn to read better in class and read every day.She promise she will learn to write better in class and write everyday.She promise she will come to class on time and be prepared.She promise she will be very safe on the internet.She promise she will listen to the teacher and don't talk to friends.In my comment to her I told her the goals she wrote about on your manifesto are very important to become a better student. Reading everyday will expand her knowledge and it will help her to become a better student. I told her it is very important to listen to her teacher. If she listen to her teacher instead of talking to her friends, she will hear information that will help her with her school work and make her a better student. I also told her to try to stick to all her goals and she will succeed in the classroom. The next assignment I commented on was titled 'Cause That's How I Roll (Like a Rock!). The students will be extending their learning about rocks and minerals from science. The students were to be a mineral molecule and they were about to take an incredible journey through the rock cycle. After doing their information gathering they will write monologues.There was a video there explaining what a monologue is if they didn't know.My student's rock was a basalt. She wrote : "This rock has gas bubbles.These bubbles form when hot lava from a volcano contains gases that escape from the rock at the lava cools.This is basalt.Usually very dark in the color,basalt is the most common rock type in earth's crust and make up most of the ocean floor".I commented that I never knew what type of rocks were on the ocean floor. I liked how she pretended to be the rock and she described it very well.I also told her thanks for the facts about basalt rock she did a great job :). I like that students are blogging it give them a chance to use technology to learn.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Blog Post #5

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom by Joe Dale
By watching this link I learned a lot about how a podcast can make a lesson interesting for students. Podcast allow the students to use higher levels of bloom taxonomy when creating their own podcast.The students have a more in depth learning experience because, they are acting as a teacher. The students also get to be creative in how they will produce their podcast. On the other hand, podcast are great because you can upload them on the internet and they can be accessed by anyone at anytime. I learned that in your podcast you can pretend to be a tour guide, an explorer and much more to make it interesting not just something that spill out facts about a certain topic.


Eagle Nest Radio & Class Blog
This third grade class did a great job in this podcast. I got the facts about Ancient Rome as well as a storyline while they each took turns in different scenarios explaining things about Ancient Rome. They were creative and also use some humor along the way. The podcast was very organized and the students expressed what they had learned while putting together the podcast. I learned that podcast can be more interesting if you incorporate a storyline into the podcast.


The Education Podcasting Network
This website was very informal.According to the website, The Education Podcast Network is an effort to bring together into one place, the wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century. I learned that a podcast is the merger between a blogger and a radio. The website was organized but many of the links had an error and would not allow access. There were subject specific podcasts as well as student and class podcast.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Additional assignment #1

Google squared was my favorite of the two although, I will begin to use both when researching anything. The educational implications of searching on Google squared is that everything is categorized for you in one big chart. You can also easily add things that you would like to see that did not appear at first. The educational implications of WolframAlpha was the different charts and pictures it provided. It is good for comparing things as well as having a visual of the statics given. I did not know about either Google nor Wolframalpha before this assignment.My comment about Did You Know ? did not change much because in my opinion we should still be more technological updated as a country. Although, it now make me look at the statics more in depth. From this exercise it made me learn that I should not just here the numbers given in the statics, but think more into it. I will now ask myself why and research the static myself before I react to it.





Food For Thoughts: That is magical! That little boy is so intelligent to pick up that ipad and explore on it, learning as he went along.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Blog Post # 4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? by Scott McLeod
I love the format of the post. The topic is so interesting. I have to agree that children need to experience things for themselves and make their own mistakes on the internet. Although, the parent should limit what sites their children should go on to limit the danger they may be putting themselves in.Technology is such a big deal these days students should have the right to explore with it. According to his website, Scott McLeod is an Associate Professor of Educational Administration at Iowa State University. He is also the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE).He is the co-creator of the Did You Know? videos, which I watched for the last post.According to his twitter account he is also a blogger,an idea generator, a solution builder, and an agitator.
The iSchool Initiative
Travis had some great ideas about making the classroom green. I loved the idea of having the textbooks online. I also liked the organization of the assignments and homework. It is a good way to allow parental involvement as well. Ischool is creative and very convenient.
Although Travis had some good points to why his idea would save money I still have some other concerns with ischool. My first concern is would the phones have some type of insurance on them. Those phones can be easily broken if you don't handle them with care. The screen can crack if dropped or water damage can occur. Will the students be allowed to keep the phone after they have completed a certain grade level or will they have to return it? What about the students who come to school to get the phone then later drop out of school that would be another phone to be replaced? My other concern is the teacher. It would be a lot of work trying to answer every student's questions, because all students have different leaning styles one of which the application on the phone may not address. The idea of ischool is great but I think it would be a great challenge trying to produce the idea.
Watch The Lost Generation
I like the way the information was presented. The message in the beginning was very distributing and depressing. I love the way everything can and should be easily reversed. The message sent give motivation for our generation to prove those experts wrong and change the world. The format of the presentation made the message have a bigger impact on my life as I watched.
Jennifer Chamber’s post and Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir
The song itself was very relaxing.It is amazing that 185 people any different places cam come together through the use of the internet and create such an amazing choir. The internet open the doors to all possibilities. The internet can allow you to do just about anything you put your mind to.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

C4T#1 Post 1

The first post titled "My Litmus Test" is about Mr.Spencer's frustration about the current state Superintendent of Public Instruction. Who is a former lawyer turned board member turned superintendent of the wealthiest school district who is now running for State Attorney General. Mr. Spencer, feels that this is a political stepping stone. So he came up with a list of questions he feel needed to be answered by the candidate before he could listen to their speeches or ideas. I commented that I agree that all the points he made are reasonable and is a good checklist for considering the position that candidate is running for. The person for the job do need to live a reasonable lifestyle as most normal caring public school administers do.

The second post titled "Is this Science?" it's about a experiment Mr. Spencer's students are doing over there extension time. The experiment is to provide his students with the challenge of creating a non-electric, solar-powered coffee maker.The students broke into groups and came up with many different ideas on how to make the coffee maker, what materials they would use, and they needed to find scientific answers to their question such as "what heat faster hot water or cold?". Mr.Spencer was concerned that it did not met the science standard. I commented that I think it is engineering, science, and much more. The students are using social skills debating over ideas also. They are using language art skills in witting their experiments/ideas down. The students have a chance to think critically. The project is a great idea because there is no wrong way of succeeding as long as coffee is being produced. The experiment is creative and seems exciting to do and figure out.

Blog Post #3

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today (4:45)

This video is right on the point in many cases. I mean yes technology in the classroom is every important but it is very distracting at times. Some professors simply read notes off there power point word for word and in the end i have wasted timed and learned nothing.If I wanted to just read slides I could do that at home. I am currently in the college of education hoping to become an elementary school teacher yet the school system is steadily letting go of teachers.

The cost of school is so high right now I will be in so much debt when I graduate and still have no job. I spend so much money on books I never open either. Most professors use notes or slides three is no need to actual read your book. There is all kinds of online activities one must do to go along with a class that one may not need a book. I have even sold books back to the bookstore after the semester with the plastic still on them. The only big positive thing to technology in the classroom now would be the SMART board.


"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines

I must agree with Ms.Hines, today teachers need to be more creativity and skillful in there teaching and stop depending on technology to full that gap. Technology is so important in the classroom but it should be used properly to get the appreciation for it. We should not allow technology to take over the classroom as well. I also agree that teachers don't always now everything, they are also learning as they grow in their professions.

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

I agree with some of what Karl Fisch said. I do believe that technology is so important these days. In being a teacher one shouldn't be proud of being technology illiterate. As a teacher one need to keep up with all new material being provide to enhance their teaching. I feel that those students whose teacher is technology illiterate are messing out on some great things they could be learning.

I do feel kind of sorry for those busy teachers who want to learn but don't have the time to. But those teachers who don't even care to make a change in that area should be ashamed of themselves. If those teacher only took the time out to learn about technology themselves they may see how technology can not only improve their teaching but save them valuable time in doing other clerical work for their classroom such as, entering grade and organizing their classroom.Teacher benefit greatly through technology.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

I feel so behind already while I'm sleeping things in technology are steadily involving. It so weird. Just when I think I am kind of getting ahead I realize I am so far behind. By the time I enter into my teaching profession I will be so behind. Students who graduate after me are more advanced in technology than I would be. This motive me try to stay caught up in technology as best as I could on my on.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

My reaction to videos

Did you know 3.0


This video was very enlightening. I had know clue that technology is so important worldwide. We use technology for everything. It seems like every day there is something new in technology. I also didn't know that the United States was so behind in technology.


It don't make since that we are a free country, yet we are so behind. It makes me want to get more involved updating my cellphone, computer, and all. It's kind of scary too. I mean technology is growing so fast I hope by the time I graduate a computer or robots haven't taken over all the jobs.


Mr. Winkle Wakes


We really depend a lot on technology in everything we do. We get the most updated machines and computers for everyday life activity. Yet, our schools are one hundred years behind in technology. How can we expect the best of our children when there is no technology in the classroom. If we don't teach the children with updated materials , then they will never get ahead in life.


We need more funds for our schooling and teacher need to teach with technology in every lesson possible. As teachers they should also updated themselves with new technology. Without technology we are only setting the children up for failure.


Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity


I love the video it was funny, interesting, and taught me some things about creativity. Sometimes I feel my creative ideas are wrong because there different or not what someone else expected. I also feel that it is very important to encourage all levels of creativity in education. One reason is because very one is not the same and maybe that one person is not meant to be an A plus math student rather the top dancer in the school play. Education is important but it should not control your success in the life.


The school system is so stuck on academics they look over or cut-out things like art and dance. In my elementary school days we only had a music teacher once a week and that was it as far as creativity. That was some years ago, now students may not even have that small opportunity due to the economic crisis in the school systems.


Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts


That was such a refreshing video. I mean that teacher was great and she wasn't even doing much teaching. She allowed the students to teach themselves she was just there for guidance. The opportunity those students had was great.


The only down side would be is finding the funds to provide the students with the required materials necessary for them to explore with. Giving the students the responsibility to teach themselves is such a great idea. They have so much fun using technology they don't even realize they are learning in the process.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Things about me

Hi, my name is Amberli Dekayler Chastang. I live in Mobile, Al. I have lived in Mobile my whole life. I have a two and a half year old daughter. Her name is Kaylie. I also have two younger brothers, Nick and Noland. I began continuing my education at the University of South Alabama in the year 2007. My original plan was to become a pharmacist. At that time my major was Biomedical Sciences. My back-up plan was to become a secondary science teacher. I recently changed my major to Elementary Education. I have i great interest in young children. I also enjoy coloring, drawing, and playing. I play a lot with my little brothers and daughter.