Reflection Video

final project

Blog post #13

Instructions (3rd grade English, creative writing) 

Think of a super power. Any super power you can imagine. What would it be? Why did you choose this power? Would you want anyone else to have this power? How would you use this power?

I would choose total brain/mind control. I'd be able to control what people do, say, think and even see. I need an A on a paper? Done. I need this cop to rip up that ticket and let me go? Done. I want the hottest girl in school to go to prom with me? Done. Not very ethical reasons but that's just the fun stuff. I'd use it for good. If I'd see two people about to get in a fight I'd make them walk away. If I was witnessing a hostage situation I'd make them release the person. If I knew someone had a drug addiction I could make them kick it. Basically I'd use it to help any situation that I could help for the better. I wouldn't want anyone else to have this power because I don't know how they'd use it but I'm guessing it wouldn't be for good.

Blog post #12

          As time has come and gone, the methods of teaching have evolved tremendously. The days of paper are vanishing right before our eyes while technology is taking over. Today we have many teaching aids that can help us teach everybody including the impaired.

        The first is the iPad. iPads come with voice commands and are tone/sight impaired-ready. When voice command is activated the iPad will guide the user through it with voice commands such as "double tap for" or "tap and drag" etc. making it easy and usable for handicapped people. A feature that is purchasable is called iBook. iBook is very helpful for blind people because it can simply read books out loud to the user.

              Some teaching aids found in video 2 were: speech to text/text to speech devices, text telephones, sensory aids, screen magnifiers and flip cameras. All very helpful items that will most likely find their ways into educational institutions very quickly.

       The Mountbatten Typer is a type writer specifically used for audio and tactile feedback. It's a keyboard with keys that says what the person is typing out loud. This device can also save, send and receive files from other computers.

         

You can watch the video here

Project #12

Smart board presentation

Blog post #11

You can watch the video here

Project #15

Project #13

Blog post #10

           In Sir Ken Robinson's lecture he discusses the "human resources crisis". He starts out by quoting Jeremy Bentham in saying that there are two types of people in the world. Those who divide the world into two types of people and those who don't. The two types of people that Robinson sees are; people who simply endure life and wait for the weekend to party, and those who enjoy their lives and live with passion. With that being said I believe it's in connection with his next point. He says that education distances people from their natural talents. By this he means that not everyone is meant to be a highly educated individual who will go onto be a professor at Harvard or a speaker at Ted Talks. He tells a story about a fireman he met. He asked how long he's been a fireman and the man said "always. I've always been a fireman". He said he's wanted to be a fireman since he was a kid. His teachers hassled him about it constantly. One particular teacher told him that he was throwing his life away if that's what he chose to do with his life. His teacher said he should go to college, be a professional person, that he had potential and that he was wasting his talents in his pursuit of becoming a fireman. The man said Robinson made him think of that man because he saved his life six months ago along with his wife's from a car wreck using CPR. 

      I think the biggest lesson to take from Robinson's lecture is that education isn't always black and white. Education doesn't always necessarily go hand in hand with success. You don't have to receive your masters degree and then practice what you studied for the rest of your life. Sometimes you have to blend your natural talents in with what the educational system has taught you in order to be not only successful but happy while achieving that success.

You can watch the video

Blog Post #8

A very useful resource for education is Ted Talks. Ted Talks are lecture based discussions used for learning and they are given on a very wide variety of topics from in-class education to how military drones are impacting society. Ted Talks are very accessible as well on the internet. 

        In Rita F. Pierson's discussion she emphasizes the importance of a strong teacher-student relationship.  She says students only learn from people whom they have built trust in.  A colleague of hers said "I don't get paid to like the kids, I just gotta teach them" and Pierson was at a loss for words. Pierson later said "well, they don't learn from people they don't like". Pierson then quotes James Comer with "no significant learning will occur without a significant relationship". 

       

You can watch the video here

Blog post #7

      In Randy Paush's lecture he brings up many good points about not only learning, but teaching as well. When giving this lecture, Pausch was currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments. He made it a point to make sure that no one felt sorry for him or pitied him. He said that he was not only in phenomenal shape but that he was in better shape than most of the people in the audience. He then proceeded to do various types of pushups in an effort to emphasize his health.

          One of Pausch's first lessons is "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you want." What he means by this is no you may not have achieved your goal, but look back at everything you've learned on the way and apply it wherever you find fit. Pausch talks about how a childhood idol of his was Captain Kirk from Star Trek. Pausch was so attracted to Kirk because of his leadership role on he show. He talks about how, even though it was a television show, he led his team and said he wanted to have that leadership role. Pausch later goes onto talk about the figurative "brick walls" that people hit, saying that brick walls only stop people who just simply don't want it bad enough. Pausch says he was taught that everyone has good in them no matter how evil they may seem. He says "wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you".  

           When attempting to get permission from Disney to work on a project the man he spoke with quickly and aggressively pretty much said "screw you" and he was told to ask the head man in charge. When he asked the man he simply said "I'm not sure exactly what it is but I'd like to learn more about it. Pausch said that even though both men said the same thing, it was how each man answered that was most important. As a professor Pausch used numerous techniques he used to further his students' education. Two of which in particular were trickery and project based learning. Pausch told a story of students who came to him about the progress of their project. Pausch said it could be a lot better when in fact it was very good as it was but he wanted his students to surpass their own expectations. He says, as an educator, you're doing your students a disservice by setting a bar.

            

You can watch the video here

Blog post #6

       A personal learning network is a internet-based learning system of social networking (e.g: gmail, Facebook, twitter, YouTube etc.) Personal learning networks have become a cornerstone in the evolution of teaching and learning. Through personal learning networks, teachers are able to construct various and unique methods of teaching. A crucial element of this concept is that the people involved, whether it be teachers and or students, never have to meet personally and can collaborate together from any two locations on the planet.  I personally will be contacting past teachers and guidance councillors for my personal learning network. I know they will have my best interest and will be a great help in assisting me in becoming an educator.

You can watch the video here

Project #8

Sentence

Passion Sentence

This is my Passion/Sentence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb3mnkexH7g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbrF1A8QkjI

project #3

Blog post #4

          Finding good teachers these days is very hard. Finding great teachers is even harder. This generation of students are at a disadvantage because their teachers do not truly engage their students mentally and challenge their students to absorb what they're teaching. One of the most important elements of learning are questions. When we were young, we assumed teachers literally knew everything simply because they had the label of "teacher" when the reality is, they're human and they in fact do not know everything. 

           A very useless question is "does everyone understand?" I use the word useless because it can be extremely intimidating. No student, especially in the middle school-high school range, wants to feel stupid and be embarrassed in front of everyone in the class room so they just don't say anything at all. With that being said teachers carry on with their lesson and knowledge is missed out on. To further prevent this from happening, teachers should ask students about what they say to make sure that they have truly grasped it. Teachers should be encouraged to give the students time to process the questions that they're being asked. Approximately 5-10 seconds to process the question and formulate an intelligent answer. If the students can't come up with an answer their teacher should rephrase the question so the student can understand it better. 

           Educators of all grades should expect "yes" and "no" answers if the questions they're giving dont challenge the students. These are known as open or closed ended questions. Open ended questions are questions that require a well thought out response while close ended questions only require a one-word answer. The teacher should show interest in a students answer whether they're right or wrong. Although they may be wrong, it encourages students if they're asked "that's not correct but what made you feel that way?" Interrupting students is also a terrible thing to do. It discourages them from wanting to attempt to answer another question, it prevents the teacher from knowing if students understand or not, which is ultimately holding them back from learning.

               Another approach to this issue to to have questions already prepared for your students. This way there's more organization, the questions can be pitched and made more clear to the students and they'll be easier to understand. Also, play with the questions. Make them fun. Ask the students how they would ask them. Ask them in a variety of different ways. Enticement is also a good method. If you give 4th grade students a question for homework and tell them that whoever answers the question correctly will get a Reese's peanut butter cup I would be willing to bet that most of them, if not all of them, will answer the question correctly. 

             In conclusion, teachers need to step it up and engage their students in an intelligent knowledge-based learning system. Although it sounds impossible, they need to make learning fun for their students by any means whether be orthodox or unorthodox methods. 

You can watch the video here

Blog post #3

          A quality peer review consists of constructive criticism and honesty. When doing a peer review you must stay positive and be considerate. You don't want to rip them to pieces while going over their paper. Compliment your peer on the things that they've done right such as using "fancy" words, or remembering punctuality etc. Be specific. Make sure they know what they've done wrong when reviewing their paper or they won't know what to correct. Make suggestions but don't be overbearing and try to change every little thing about their paper because it's their work, not yours. Word choice is very important. You don't want their paper to sound like a 3rd grader wrote it so, again, make suggestions on certain words if you feel it's necessary. 

 

          Organization is key in an essay, article, peer review etc. Make sure your peers paper is organized in a way that people can understand without having to try. If the essay doesn't flow good then the reader will be lost and will eventually give up on reading it. The topic sentence is one of the most important things in an essay. Without it the reader won't know what they're reading about so make sure the topic sentence is very clear and concise. Making corrections can sometimes be a little sticky. You don't want to offend your peer but you also don't want to let anything slide for the greater good of your peers essay. When making corrections make sure to be very specific. Underline and circle exactly what needs to be fixed and make little foot notes if necessary.

      

You can watch the video here

Blog post #2

You can watch the video here


Mr. Dancealot: the central message for "Mr. Dancealot" in my opinion, is that teachers can't always just lecture about things and expect students to grasp it. In the video Mr. Dancealot was showing instructions on the overhead on the proper steps to various dances such as the waltz as opposed to having the students practice them with one another. The teacher is very clueless. With things, such as dancing, teachers can't simply tell students what to do and expect them to be ableto perform well. At the same time, teachers also can't do the work for their students. In the video one student said she tried to practice the steps at home but kept tripping. Regardless of whether she was successful or not, she took the initiative to practice the dances on her own which is important. I agree with what the author is saying about teaching methods 100%. As a student I demand that my professors don't simply come in and go through the motions and not teach me anything especially since I'm paying as much money as I am. I expect them to come in and be eager to teach.

What it means to teach in the 21st century: in this video, Roberts main point is that teaching has evolved drastically in the last 10 years. Going from books in the library and newspaper articles to onlineresearch using search engines such as Google, Bing etc. Roberts makes arguments such as, what is more important to a curriculum? facts and content? Or life skills such as how to fix a car, how to mange financials, how and where to invest etc. I agree 100% with Roberts. Students in the 21st century have access to almost unlimited resources throughthe Internet. I personally don't believe I'll be affected but his technology era because I will be a gym teacher and I will engage my students in physical activity.

The networked student: this video made some very good points. Points such as how students can access and learn information at any given moment as a result of Google, Bing etc. students can share what they've learned with other students as well by using social media such as twitter, Facebook and Skype. With that being said, students can only learn so much without teachers. Yes we can explore the Internet and discover things on our own but it's our professors who guide us through them and help us grasp the material to the fullest extent.

Harness your students digital smarts: In this video, Vicki Davis explains that she can reach the students better by catering to their interests. Davis explains that she uses every type of technology that she possibly can to spark the students interests, ultimately encouraging them to learn and discover new things. Davis reiterates that yes she does follow the curriculum but in a way that not only her students can learn from her, but that she can learn from her students. Her ultimate goal is to open small doors by teaching her students how to operate new software which ultimately open limitless doors for them to learn.

Classroom flipping: this is indeed new to me. I have never heard of the concept of skyping with students. The goal of this is to prepare students with knowledge of what they will be learning in class so they can prepare questions and ideas the night before to conserve classroom time. I personally agree with this method. I agree that it conserves precious classroom time but gives students an advantage to prepare for what's ahead. I personally don't see myself using this method as a gym teacher because I will like to surprise and challenge my students to not only succeed athletically but to challenge the,selves.

About me

I go by "Zeus." I'm from a city called Revere in Massachusetts. It's 10 minutes away from Boston. I love to play football. I've been playing since i was 14. I play here at South Alabama and will be playing in the NFL in a few years. I went through foster care when i was young and i have 3 sets of brothers from different families and out of which i am the oldest, middle and youngest child. This is my second semester here at South Alabama and i love it down here. Everyone's really friendly as opposed to being in Boston where everyone's kind of gritty. The heat is a little unbearable but being a football player i've had to adjust to it. Obviously being from a high-profile city i'm used to things moving at a pretty fast rate where things down here move not nearly as fast so i'm still adjusting to how things move down here but I'm looking forward to making the best of my time here

my test post title

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