C4T #3 Mr. Howard Rheingold

For this C4T, I was assigned Mr. Howard Rheingold again. I was happy to see this because I knew I could share his updates on the 2012 Digital Media and Learning Conference. His most recent post are on members of the conference committee.






Mitch Resnick: The Role of Making, Tinkering, Remixing in Next-Generation Learning

The first blog that I read was entitled, “Mitch Resnick: The Role of Making, Tinkering, Remixing in Next-Generation Learning”. This blog is about conference committee member “Mr. Mitch Resnick” who develops new technology to engage people, especially children, in creative ways. His “Lifelong Kindergartner” group developed ideas that are used by millions of young people around the world. His group also developed the “Scratch” programming language and online community which allows young people to create and share stories, games, and animations to learn to “think creatively, learn systematically, and work collaboratively.” Mr. Resnick says that he and his team have seen that the best learning comes when people are actively engaged. By doing this they are able to express themselves. However, we can’t just give them the opportunity and technology to use, we must get involved also. In Mr. Resnick’s after school programs, kids who are unsuccessful in traditional settings are often very successful when give the opportunity to create something. He says that he thinks “there are lessons for schools from the ways that kids learn outside of schools, and we want to be able to support that type of learning both inside and outside of schools.”

I completely agree with Mr. Resnick. With all the technology that is available for young kids and students today, we should use these tools to help promote their learning. Technology is only going to continue to grow and the sooner the students become familiar with it and know how to use it, it will benefit them in the long run.

Democratizing Learning Innovation

The second post I read was entitled, “Democratizing Learning Innovation”. In this post Mr. Rheingold talks about “Mr. Mark Surman”. Mr. Surman is a community technology activist and is the current executive director of the “Mozilla Foundation”. This foundation focuses on finding new ways to promote opportunities on the Internet. Mr. Surman is actually leading a sub-theme for the conference called “Democratizing Learning Innovation.” Mr. Surman believes that learning can be freed from its industrial roots. Mr. Surman says that people are starting to organize their learning and the way that they do learn. He also says “Technology itself lets us create things, and creating things is a great way to learn.” He then names a perfect example of democratizing learning: “Hachasaurus”. Hackasaurus is set learning activities, like workshop, for student’s used to help them learn how to use the web productively. This process uses the idea that everyone is participating but they are also creating a learning environment that we want to model what helps us move forward.

Blog Post #9

Mr. Joe McClung: At the Teachers Desk

The first post I read by Mr. Joe McClung's was What I’ve Learned This Year 2008-09. In this post he talks about what he has learned after his first year of teaching. Mr. McClung lists seven things that he learned in his first year of teaching. First he says he learned "How To Read The Crowd." He says that when he first started teaching he was worried what his superiors thought and his delivery. He realized what really mattered was not his delivery of the content but the students comprehension of the material. Next he says we need to be "Flexible". Mr. McClung states how it is okay if mistakes are made. He says we shouldn’t stress if you make a mistake, we just need to work through the problem. The third thing he learned was "Communicate." Mr. McClung says "Communicating is the best way to resolve any issue in the workplace." The fourth thing he learned was "Be Reasonable." Teachers don't need to have high expectations for their students, they to encourage them. The fifth lesson was "Don't Be Afraid Of Technology." Technology is here to stay; there is no doubt about that. He says we should not be afraid to use it. The sixth lesson was "Listen To Your Students." He says we need to listen to our students and take interest in what they are doing. The last thing Mr. McClung says he learned was to "Never Stop Learning." He says we need to never stop being open and to not be afraid to learning new things.


Mr. McClung’s second post I read was entitled What I’ve Learned This Year 2010-11. Here he talks about his third year of teaching. He says how this year was the first year he has taught at a school for more than one year. He talks about the changes he went through in this year. He lists five lessons he learned. The first lesson is "Know Who Your Boss Is." Mr. McClung says, " Instead of focusing on how you are serving the administration, focus on your students and how you are serving them." His second lesson was "Don't Expect Others To Be As Excited About Change As You Are." Here, Mr. McClung talks about how not to expect students to be as excited about changes like you are. He says this shouldn’t get us down, we need to keep teaching. The third lesson is "Don't Be Afraid Of Being An Outsider." I think this lesson is a great one .Everyone should be true to who they are as teachers and we don't need to be influenced to follows actions. The fourth lesson he talks about is "Don't Touch The Keyboard." In this lesson he says how we should not do the work for the students if they are having troubles. We need to simply guide them. The last lesson he learned is "Don't Get Comfortable." He means that you shouldn't get to comfortable with your work; you need to be open to trying new things every year.

After reading about Mr. McClung's first and third years as a teacher, it makes me feel more comfortable about becoming a teacher. I enjoyed reading about the lessons he learned and I feel they will be helpful to me when I start teaching.

C4T #2 Mr. Ira David Socol

My teacher for my C4T is Mr. Ira David Socol, and the first blog post I read by him was entitled September 11, 2001: History Remembered, History Forgotten. This post was about how some historical events that seemed so important when they happened are now forgotten and how students can learn from them.

He says history can be like story telling. He then lists six historic events that students can explore. First Mr. Socol talks about September 11th. He states that these stories are recent and on the minds of every American, but other catastrophes from the past might also give us hints as to how history is told through storytelling. He asks the questions, “How do we understand a previous event or why is an event no longer recalled? Might the event have impacted your community in some way, or the families of other students? How did things change or not as a result of the event? If we were writing history, how would we decide whether to include the event?” He wants the groups to consider how the stories of these other events were “constructed” and how those stories have changed over time.

He wants his students to think of all the ways that events are remembered. Newspapers, magazines, journals, articles include many stories around big events. By comparing what seemed important on the day an event happened and when it was first reported to what we know of it today, will help the students construct a sense of how history is written, and how it can change over time.

His six examples.

1. The General Slocum Fire. This occurred on June 15, 1904, and 1,021 people died when a steamboat caught fire.
2. The Prison Ship Martyrs. During the Revolutionary War, over 11,500 American soldiers and sailors who were prisoners died.
3. The RMS Lusitania. This occurred on May 7, 1915 and 1,198 people were killed when a German submarine torpedoed the British ship
4. Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941 and 2,402 Americans were killed in an attack by Japanese aircraft on Honolulu, Hawaii.
5. The Oklahoma City bombing that occurred on April 19, 1995 and 168 Americans were killed.
6. The Attack on Blair House on November 1, 1950. Only a White House Police Officer was killed when two terrorists attacked the temporary home of President Truman.

Mr. Socol has made a very good point. I personally had not heard of many of these events. It makes me wonder how September 11th will be remembered. I think that United States history is very important. This is our country and we live here, we should know the important events that have happened. Even if they happened 10 or 235 years ago.

My second blog post was entitled If school isn’t for collaborating, why doesn’t anyone come? In this blog Mr. Socol talks about how school needs to incorporate ways for their students to “collaborate, connect, build knowledge and understand together. He states that if students wanted to learn by sitting at a desk and only “checking in with expert” when they have a problem, they don’t even need to come to school. With free WiFi everywhere these days students can check in anywhere and anytime. He states that “If school isn't about doing things together, just about everyone has better places to spend their day.” I completely agree with Mr. Socol.

He next says that the work world has moved forward, but the educational structure, slowly crawls along. For companies, it doesn’t matter what they do or make because they are constantly collaborating. They are able to talk with customers or clients across the world, and employees can communicate with each other anywhere also.


Mr. Socol says that educators think the best way to teach in with paper and pencil.
That is best learning environment is quiet children sitting at wooden desks and a huge book in front of them. This is simply not true. Mr. Socol then states what a classroom, and school needs of offer students.

1. First, the students need a learning environment where they can make decisions. They need to ask themselves questions like where they will work, what will they use how can they get help they need and will they work with others. It’s important to remember that this is not without guidance.

2. Second, students need to learn to work with a schedule. He states that we “have to create schools based in Project-Based Learning where students can work toward their goals in a "natural" human learning environment.”

3. Third, students need to have technology that helps with collaboration. He says that if you don’t have open internet access, and don’t allow student devices you are robbing your students of their basic needs. Students need to learn how to function in the world they are living in, not the past. People are using so many different devices these days, Skype, Twitter, Texting, Google Docs, and building their social networks. I am a firm believer in learning is doing. Mr. Socol states, if students are not learning how to do all these things, your school is a failure.

4. Forth, the environment needs to be free of honor rolls, class ranks, and treating some sports as less important than others. If these are not taken out of a system then, a school can become segregated within the students, bullying can start up, and it can prevent students from see the talents of their peers. He states that educators need to let students build their own social networks. Mr. Socol then makes a great example of how when 5,000 people attend a football game and only 50 show up for a Soccer game, we are sending a destructive messages. I thought this was a very good example. Mostly because that is exactly how my high school was. It was also the same with the clubs.

I agree with Mr. Socol that school need to be about collaborating. Students learn so much from school, and it is very important that they learn how to work with other people. Almost all jobs today have their employees working with people from around the world. It is important to know how to do things on their own, but working with others is the way to go.

Project #13 - Smart Board Instruction

Blog Post #8

This Is How We Dream Part 1 and 2
In the video, “This Is How We Dream Part 1 2”, Richard Miller discusses what can happen if students watch or listen to a lesson being taught. Mr. Miller is a professor at Rutgers University. He uses multi-media to teach his students. He starts with the incremental changes before he gets to the fundamental change. He states he will change that there are no more pens, paper, and visits to libraries. He then says how desks won't be important unless the students’ computer is on it. He wants students to learn multimedia for word processing and doc sharing. He shows an advantage of using multimedia where you can search in all libraries across the world for resources.

In part 2 of Mr. Miller's video, he talks about how the material is different and changes constantly. He says there much more learning done with the new program. He talks about the academic information you can obtain when using iTunes U. He states, culture and our background is what helps form our ideas. I agree when he says that "us as educators need to and must be in the business of sharing ideas freely". He then states four things that are needed to start this program: Ubiguitous Composing Technology, Inspiring Teachers of New Media Composing, Spaces That Foster Collaborative Learning, and Pedagogues That Foster Creativity and Collaborations.

I liked watching Mr. Miller's video. I do think it will be quite so time if this conversion will happen. I think his example about the libraries was great, however, I don't think if I could do away with books. I have heard of, and used, iTunes U and I found it to be helpful, but I did have a book to use as an extra reference.

Carly Pugh Blog Post #12

Carly Pugh's blog post, was great. Her playlist assignment was a great idea. She put a lot of thought into this blog and you can tell be her end results. Carly's playlist that she created is a great example of the multimedia usage that Mr. Miller was talking about. Her playlist examples show what Mr. Miller wants when using multimedia by showing that you can still learn about important people without books and paper.

Chipper
and
EDM for Dummies

After watching the videos, Chipper and EDM for Dummies, I believe I would make a video about Podcasting. I really do love the idea of podcasting and had fun learning about podcast and how they can help in the classroom. In my video I would explain what a podcast it and show why and how I would use a podcast in my classroom. I would explain how you can have an audio or video podcast and tell that I would I mostly use an audio podcast. What I would do is record all of my lessons for students, so they can listen to on their own time. I love podcasts so much because it is a great way for students to stay caught up and to review something if they miss a class or didn’t completely understand at first.

Learning to Change, Change to Learn

This video starts out with different individuals talking about how there need to be a charge when it comes to learning in the classroom. One man states that "schools are like factories." Another man says “It’s all about control and order." Another man talks about how kids are "having a more stimulating and rich environment out of school then in school". I do agree that kids today are doing more learning out of the classroom then in. Kids are using technology out of school and while there are in school they barley work with technology at all. They have too much fun out of school which makes them dread coming to class. Having things that kids use every day out of school, like their social networking sites and phones, being banned from school doesn't help them at all. I agree with what one educator said in the video, "as educators we have to accept technology....." We don’t need to only accept it, we need embrace it also.

Project 12 My Book Trailer: The Rainbow Fish

Project #11 Short Movie

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Randy Pausch's lecture video was amazing and very inspiring, but also a little sad. Sad in the sense that, Mr. Pausch’s tell the audience that this will be his last lecture; he has cancer and probably will only live one more year. He talked about his childhood dreams and how important they are. He says they are imaginative and far-fetched, but tells how he achieved these dreams throughout his life and how these experiences have helped him learn and gain many good experiences. His dreams framed how he became so successful. One example he give is from his high school years. When he was young, he always loved football. His coaches taught him life lessons, such as to never give up and always know that someone may criticize you. They also taught him about the importance of enthusiasm and that hard work is what people need to succeed. He says as teachers, we have to encourage students to have dreams and work hard to accomplish them. He points out that with every goal comes a challenge, but the challenges are not there to stop or discourage us, they are there to let us prove we want our dreams to come true and how hard we are willing to work for what we want.


In the next part of his speech, he begins by asking, "How can I enable the dreams of others?" He tells of when he finally made the move to Carnegie Mellon University and how he taught a course where students worked groups and made a type of virtual reality. He says he was blown away by the quality of the students' work, but he always pushed them farther. Their work became so good that they had presentations where people from all over the university could attend and see the final product. It is clear that Mr. Pausch has a passion for teaching. I can tell he knows how to keep students motivated to learn. You have to make lessons and learning fun to get kids motivated and actually do a task.


Next, Mr. Pausch talks about how he made the Dream Fulfillment Factory, which is where the drama department and the computer science departments would collaborate on projects. Graduating from this program would give a student a Masters of Entertainment Technology degree. Mr. Pausch and his co-director, Don Marinelli, had complete freedom to do whatever they wanted. This program became so successful that students were actually guaranteed a job if they graduated. No other college in the world does this. CMU has even expanded the ETC program to Australia and Singapore. This led to Randy designing Alice. A program in which students learn to program. However, they think they are just making movies and games. This makes the learning experience more fun and interactive.


Lastly, Mr. Pausch talks about lessons learned. He places great emphasis on the influence of parents, peers and mentors as great source for learning lessons. He tells a story about how his mom and dad truly inspired him. His dad fought in World War II and even won the Bronze Star for his bravery. His mom was always there for him and always gave him the best advice. It’s not hard to see why Mr. Pausch turned out to be so successful with great, loving, supportive parents like his. After that he talks about his lifelong mentor, Andy Van Dam. Mr. Van Dam was the one who actually convinced him to go to graduate school and become a professor. He then proposed the question, "How do you get others to help you?" His answer was rather simple - tell the truth, be earnest, apologize when you mess up, and focus on others instead of yourself. I agree 100%. He ends by giving many valuable lessons, the last which spoke to me personally, "Lead a good life. If you are good throughout your life, the dreams will come to you."


I truly believe that Mr. Pausch is a very inspiring man. Anyone and everyone can learn lot of valuable lessons from him. I hate that he has passed away because I'm know he would have went on to accomplish even greater things in his life. I would have also loved to have met him.

Project 10 My PLN

My PLN

Before this assignment, I had never heard of a PLN, Personal Learning Network. I chose to use Symbaloo for my PLN. I love that you can personalize every tile. I usually just use my bookmark tool on my tool bar, but I think this will be much easier. I have started with a few of the tiles that come with to get use to it. I really enjoy that I can keep up with my C4T’s, C4C’s, and C4K's all in one list. It will definitely make my summary posts easier. I feel that I will continue to use Symbaloo for other things than my PLN also, it too convenient not to.

Project 9b Mr. Steve Jobs

Blog Post #6

The Networked Student

This video, “The Networked Student” by Wendy Drexler, is about a boy who attends 21st Century High School three days a week and on the other two days he takes online classes. He doesn’t use a textbook and his teacher hardly lectures. His teacher believes in connectivism, which is a theory that learning occurs through social network. His insist teacher that her students use the internet to research what they are studying.


“Why does the networked student even need a teacher?” was asked towards the end of the video. A networked student needs a teacher, because when they need help they can ask for it. The teacher can show them how to build a network explain how to create one. The teacher is mainly there for guidance. The teacher can help sort out information that is needed for the student network.


This video helped me better understand network learning in the 21st century. It showed me that you still need a teacher to help guide you. It also shows that you can still learn without using a book and hearing a teacher lecture. This also helps prepare students for their future, by using more technology instead of relying on teachers for everything. Just like EDM310. We are responsible for all our work, but Dr. Strange and the staff are there if we need any help.


A 7th Grader’s Personal Learning Enviroment

In the video, a 7th grade student explains what she learns and has done with her network learning. She shows us the web page she created with all the links to the websites she uses for her science class. It shows that networking can be very helpful and benefit students by preparing them for their classes. I liked learning about how this students’ personal learning and it think I would definitely want my students to use this method too. I think this a great to teach kids how to use the web and learn how to build a network.

Teach Like Youre Hair's on Fire Project 9