Project #11 Green Screen

Smart Board Project #14

Blog Assignment #9

What I've Learned This Year

Mr. McClung's first year of teaching was a period of growth and maturity which proved to be an invaluable experience. He explains that it's important not to get too caught up in your own appearance. As a teacher, making your students successful is your first priority, not impressing the boss and other co-workers. I have to agree with him. If you're too focused on how you look to others, you won't likely realize whether or not your own students are comprehending. You've got to remember who the audience is!

He also expresses the need to be flexible. While it's important to have a lesson plan to follow, things aren't always going to go as planned. It's more beneficial to everyone if you take the time to make sure the whole class understands, rather than rushing to cover the material in a certain amount of time. I think you have to be able to adjust. If you don't take the time to make sure the students are following along, then you're wasting your time anyway. Lesson plans can always be changed.

Communication is another important factor. Mr. McClung believes that it is the best way to solve any problems that may arise. You're going to see your students and fellow teachers almost every day, so it's better to resolve any issues and figure out how to prevent them in the future than it is to avoid it and let tension build up and make the situation worse. I think if you want your co-workers and students to respect you, then you have to be willing to make sure everyone is on the same page. Good communication skills are the only way that will happen.

He informs us that it's crucial to remember who you're dealing with as well. Students are going to make a lot of mistakes, and they won't always reach the bar that you set for them. That doesn't mean that they should be punished; as a teacher it's your job to keep encouraging them and to help them do a better job next time. I have to agree, sometimes you have to let the students set their own bars. He stresses not to lower standards for yourself either. Don't be afraid of something as powerful as technology just because you haven't mastered it yet. In my opinion, you have to look at it as an opportunity for you to learn along with your students. You don't have to know everything!

Mr. McClung has learned first-hand how valuable it is to listen to your students. You're a vital part of their learning experience; just hear them out. You may be the only one willing to help them, and they'll be grateful that you did. Taking an interest in your students is the only way you'll really get to know them and be more equipped to guide them to success. Not only that, but you have to be willing to do the same thing that you're asking of the class: learn. He says if you can't grow as an educator, then students won't be able to reap the full benefits of your teaching. I'd have to say that he's right on target; you can't expect students to rise to a challenge if you can't even do it yourself.

What I Learned This Year - Volume 4

At the end of his fourth year teaching, Mr. McClung explains to us that for most of the year he still worried way too much about what his superiors thought about him. All of that unnecessary added stress did nothing but affect his mood in a negative way, and that in turn was taken out upon his students. He finally realized that it didn't matter one way or the other whether or not his peers approved of his teaching, as long as his students were benefiting from it. If the kids are enjoying the class and come in eager to learn, changing tactics just to impress others is only going to take away from their learning experience. I plan to make sure that my students are always put first. I'll feel better about the end result, and I will have helped them to reach their full potential. Changing even one life for the better will make it worthwhile; that's what teaching is all about!

The bottom line is: if your students aren't enjoying the lessons that you give them, they won't learn. It's easy to fall into a routine and form lazy habits. Mr. McClung was enlightened when he found out that he would get to teach different classes his fourth year. He noticed that he had relied too much on lesson plans from previous years, and also that he hadn't come up with any creative new ideas to keep his students on their toes. While it's easy to teach something that you've become comfortable with, it's even easier to become boring and monotonous without even realizing it. If kids resent going to class because they hate the experience, then you're setting them up to resist knowledge in the future. As teachers, we should want our students to enjoy learning and be ready and willing to share it with others; not be the reason they are afraid of it.

Blog Assignment #8

C4T Summary

"Leading nations will found their success on their ability to develop their intellectual capabilities, and by creating and innovating to solve problems that don't even exist yet." This quote by Steve Wheeler pretty much sums up his first blog post. He warns us that success in the future is going to depend on the education systems that we have in place, rather than the amount of natural resources and monetary capital. In essence, weak minds will lead to weak nations, which will end up in poverty and eventually lead to collapse. The future will be based on uninvented technology, and we have to have intellectual minds that are ready and capable of processing and utilizing this new information so that it will be beneficial to us. I agreed with him that students who aren't prepared in the classroom to utilize their minds to think for themselves and create a better future will be the ones who fall behind in such a technologically advanced world.

In his second post, Steve tells us what a gold mine social media really is. For one, it allows for what he calls "active learning". What he means by this is letting students express what they've learned, whether it be through blogposts, podcasts, or something more advanced; rather than feeding them the information with no chance for them to reproduce the new knowledge. These are effective tools to use because they allow the students to share their work with others and gain valuable connections and feedback. He reminds us that this can only happen if teachers are willing to utilize these tools for what they're really worth, and if school districts will be willing to unblock these resources. I definitely concur with his thoughts. Spreading the knowledge that they have learned gives them a valuable experience that they will be more likely to remember in the long run. Not only that, learning how to share information early is vital to success in future endeavors.

Project 9: PLN Progress Report

My PLN is coming along quite nicely. Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, and YouTube are the websites I frequent the most to learn new information. Pinterest and Twitter are my two favorites. On twitter, there are so many different people to follow, and I love how I can search a particular hashtag and find out everyone who has used it. It's very beneficial to me because in allowing me to find other people who have used the hashtag, I can follow them and see all of their other tweets that give me even more information and connections that might be useful to me. Not only that, but Twitter allows me to communicate with those people instantly if I have a question or if I'm trying to find something out. Even if none of my followers can help me, many of them may have connections that can! I like Pinterest because it's very visual. It gives me plenty of ideas on how to make my classroom a fun place to be in, as well as visually appealing. Pinterest also allows me to repin the things that I like so that I can have them safely stored for use in the future, and so that I can share the ideas with everyone else. All of these websites are great tools, and I'm looking for even more!

C4K Summary

Thomas told us what he thought YouTube would be like if it existed in 1912. He believes that there would be a lot of propaganda because it was right before the first world war. However, the common people would post goofy videos like we do today, and the working class would be advocating better wages and working conditions. I agreed with him, because YouTube is a great place for advertising. Also, people post about things that they can relate to in their everyday lives, and all the things he mentioned occurred during that time period.

Neal loves hockey, and his favorite team is Pittsburgh. When he plays, he likes to have a snack and power drink on hand. He's pretty good at playing hockey too, he scored 20 goals! I asked him if he scored all of those goals in one game, and what kind of snack he likes to have. I also wondered if he had any other favorite teams, and told him that he would have to show me the ropes; I don't know too much about hockey!

Paikea and Skye are just starting a new school year in Room 6. I told them that I hope they have a good year and learn many new things. I also wish to see more of their blogs soon!

Aries Group Podcast Project #8

Blog Assignment #7

Randy Pausch's last lecture "Achieving the Childhood Dream" embraces the idea of maximizing the creative potential of all kids. I love how he says that he learned that the bar can never be set too high. When you do set a bar, you're assuming how far the kids can go. If you don't really know for sure how much they can do and you set it too low, they will never be able to reach their full potential. Another thing he emphasizes is to never give up on your dreams. Brick walls are placed in front of you not to keep you from your achievements, but to see who will be willing to work hard enough to overcome all of the obstacles placed before them.

I have to admit that I was fascinated by Dr. Pausch's lecture. The biggest, or at least what I believe to be the most important thing that I learned from him, is that the only boundaries you have are the ones that you set for yourself. Yes, there are going to be road blocks along the way and people are going to tell you no, or that you can't do it. However, we have to remember that other people aren't the ones guiding our path. If one way doesn't work, there's always a second option. You just have to be willing to find it. Even sometimes when our dreams don't work out exactly the way that we planned them to, such as Dr. Pausch not being able to play in the NFL, the lessons that we learn along the way and can pass on to others are well worth the journey.

As an educator, I know that my job is not to limit my students, but rather to give them all the tools that they need so that they are ready for any challenges that they may face. Dr. Pausch helped me to realize that the language I use is a big factor in their success as well. Saying "I don't know" to a student versus saying "I don't know, tell me more" can make all the difference. Just because I don't know how to do something or how to help them get started doesn't mean I can't encourage them to pursue it and help them to get the connections they need so that they can move in the right direction. When I teach, I plan to encourage all my students and give them helpful advice rather than tell them I can't help and blow it off. Sometimes that little extra push can be the difference in whether they choose to pursue their dreams or not.

Dr. Pausch made some revolutionary changes at Carnegie-Mellon. Not only did he help to make a new program where kids could create amazing projects that were devised completely from their own instruction, but by sharing it with the rest of the school; he allowed fellow students, parents, and teachers alike to get a taste of the amazing things that creativity and imagination can produce. In my classroom, the students will be able to venture down the paths of their mind that they didn't even know they had. I won't set a bar, because letting them do projects where there are no guidelines forces them to think and use their own creative judgement. It's easy to follow a set of instructions and do homework or a project. However, it's not so easy to create something when there are endless ways to complete the task. It's not the end result that's so important, but rather finding the path to get there and knowing how to do that in all aspects of life that makes the ride worthwhile.