Saturday, May 31, 2014

Blog Post #2

Mr. Dancelot
In the video, Mr. Dancelot is teaching a dancing class. Throughout the semester he teaches his class different styles of dance, but instead of actually dancing, the students are sitting in a lecture hall writing notes. If you want to learn how to dance you need to actually practice and be able to see a demonstration. Mr. Dancelot gives a demonstration, but he is behind a counter and the students cannot see what he is doing. When it became time for the final the students, Mr. Dancelot turned music on and told the students good luck. It seemed that none of the students knew what type of dance to do when the music came on and they did not know how to perform the dance either. The two students at the end of the video were talking while trying to figure out which dance to do and one of the students said that his notes did not make any sense when he tried to practice the dances. The message that I took from the video is that for some classes you not only need to visualize different things but you also need hands on experience and practice. I completely agree with this conclusion! Students should be able to learn by actually having demonstrations and having the chance to actually practice with hands on for things. When you actually do something, it sticks with you longer.

Teaching in the 21st Century
Kevin Roberts believes that teaching in the 21st century will involve technology in pretty much everything. I can see that in the future technology will be used in everything when teaching students because it is already true. There are schools that use technology now for everything in the classroom. Some classes do not have textbooks because the student have to go online to read the material for class. Technology is taking over schools and our lives. With technology in schools it greatly affects me by becoming an educator. Educators do not only have to learn material but also have to learn how the technology works. After learning how technology works the educator has to be able to put the material into presentations to present to the students in the classroom.

The Networked Student
While watching the video, The Networked Student, it made me think about how EDM 310 works. We are networked students in this class and this video is great to watch because it gives us ideas for this class. When the student in the video found a website with great information on it, he shared it with his classmates so that they could also use the website and use the information. A networked student does not really need a teacher to give them lectures on things but to really just be there and help them when they are stuck and to also show them how to set up logs that they will need for the class.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
The thesis in Vicki Davis' video is to have students be able to be comfortable with technology and be able to use it. I agree with part of her argument and disagree with other parts. I like the idea that she uses new words and expects students to look up words that they do not know to help expand their vocabulary.  I do not like that she thinks that you should not know how things work before you teach it and that the students teach you how to do it. How are you going to help students if you do not even know how it all works? Yes keep an open mind and if the students figure something out and they show you but you have to know something about things before you teach it. When sharing blogs with teachers and other students you are able to get others opinions and they can also help you. It is another way to get help with things you do not know how to do.

Flipping the Classroom
Flipping the Classroom is a way of letting the students see what they will be doing in the classroom the next day, but seeing it the night before so they will be prepared for class. This is concept is both new and old to me  because some students already read and look at things that they will be doing in the classroom the next day. For previous classes that I have taken, part of the homework was to read some material that we would be talking about the next day and sometimes we would even have a quiz when we walked into to class to see if we actually read or not. It is new because teachers would actually be sending things home to look at, but sometimes the students already have a textbook that they read the material in. This would not be useful to me as a teacher in the future. I would rather talk to the students in the classroom and have the students ask questions as we go along in the lessons. Some students may not understand any of it if they listen to it beforehand and you might have to just reteach it to the class. I, personally, would not use this as a teacher.


Middle school students using laptops in class


Thursday, May 29, 2014

Practice Post Blog

My name is Jamie. I have lived in Mobile for most of my life. I lived in Texas for seven years. I moved back to Mobile after my mom passed away in 2008. My dad passed away in 2005, so I moved in with my grandparents when I came back to Mobile. I am planning on going into Elementary Education, probably will do Kindergarten. I decided to come to South Alabama because it was near home and I would be close to my grandparents. At the moment I live at the Grove and I will be moving when my lease is up, but I have not found another place yet. I will be living somewhere near campus so that I do not have to worry about burning a lot of gas. The reason I entered the field of education is because of my mom. She was a teacher and she has inspired me to be a teacher. After school I would go back to her classroom and I would play teacher and do my homework like I was teaching a class. I can not wait to just have my own classroom and teach students. My boyfriend is in the Marine Corps so I am very supportive of the military. I love helping my grandparents and spending time with them. My grandparents and I love working jigsaw puzzles together. My grandparents are a huge part of my life. They have taken care of me for pretty much my whole life. There seems to be nothing I can do to express to them how thankful I am for them but I thank them for everything they have done every time I see them. So You can say that my passion is helping others. I love helping other people, not just my grandparents. When I travel and see other people and family members I love helping them with things. Something I wish I was better at is being creative. Art in the Elementary did help me see that I can be creative, but I would like to actually make things for people. I would love to be able to be more crafty. My mom was a great crafter and almost everything in the house that was decoration was something she had made.


 Marine Corps logo

 

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Blog Post #1

I have heard some bad things about EDM310. Last semester I had a couple classes with people who were in EDM310 and they said it was alot of work and it took more time than usual classes do. I am, however, happy it is more hands on type things, like posting and talking to others, instead of sitting there with notes in your hand trying to remember all of the material. I am one of those type of students that likes to see what grade I have throughout the semester so that I can keep working hard to make sure I keep a good grade in the class. One of my fears is that with the grading being different,I will not be able to see how I am really ding in the class and that I might end up with a lower grade than I was hoping to get. At the same time, not being graded on every little thing is a relief because I had teachers that even when I would do what I was suppose to and get it done early, I would not receive full credit and I got a grade that pretty much ruined my GPA for that semester. Another thing that is better about not being graded on every little thing is that it makes me want to work even harder than I normally would just to make sure I keep up with the work and do my best. I already like that you have to do everything on your own and you have to put the effort into it to understand how everything works. I do not like sitting in a lecture and just listen to the professor talk for an hour and then get tested on it. What I think would be the most difficult thing about this class is making sure I put enough time aside to get everything done and not procrastinate. There have been a couple of online classes that I procrastinated on and would do the last day we were able to get everything done. I have improved on not procrastinating as much, but considering that this class is during the summer and I love to go to the beach and travel during the summer it will be a little hard to make sure I get everything done before the last minute. The best way for me to address this difficulty is to try to stay ahead of the game and make sure I keep up with everything and get it done before the last day. If I actually start on an assignment early I will be able to keep up with it and get it done. One thing I have learned is that if I get something done early, I will have more time afterwards to enjoy and if I think of something that I could have messed up on, then I can go back and fix it. If I wait until the last minute I do not get the chance to go back and fix what I messed up on.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

My Test Post

This is my first post. I clicked the HTML button which I should always do in EDM310. I am now a Blogger!