Project #9 PLN 1st Post

My PLN Beginning Stages:

I have recently downloaded Symbaloo, and I love it. I have found it to be very helpful and much more organized and accessible than bookmarking or adding to a tool bar. I have set Symbaloo as my homepage. It has helped me organize both personal and professional resources.


At this time, my professional PLN contains access to and information regarding:

Twitter, where I have a separate account for academics. I am currently following several inspiring and knowledgeable educators and seeking more.

Links to University of South Alabama, my online classes, PAWS, and the university's library. I often use the library's online database to access the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) journal, The English Journal. Which offers many articles for helping English teachers in the classroom.

Mobile County Public Library

National Education Association

Prudue Owl I frequent this site.

Grammar Girl

Contact information for Larry Beason and Nicole Amare, prior professors of mine at USA who are very helpful resources.

Learnist, which is supposed to be a Pinterest type site for education. I have just recently found this. I am not sure how helpful it will prove to be. I will update later.

Lesson plans and activities I have created.

Of course there are interchangeable resources in my PLN, such as Amazon, Google Drive, and Pinterest.

C4K#1 thru #4 Summary February

C4K#1
Mai Lee Yang has posted that she was born in Thailand and moved to the United States when she was five years old. In her post, she embedded a map showing her homeland. She speaks Hmong and little English. Mai is 14 now and is taking an 8th grade English language learning class. Judging from her post, she is doing well. I commented on Mai’s use of English and noted that it looks as though she is doing well. I also thanked her for embedding a map. I let her know that I had never heard of Hmong and that she had taught me something.

C4K#2
In her post Why I Like My A.R Book!, Chelsea recommends a book to her friends that she enjoys reading because it is mysterious. In her post Chelsea does a good job by not revealing who the secret admirer is to future readers. I commented and told her that was a good choice. I also asked how her AR reading is going and encouraged her to continue to read to reach her goal of “reading like a rock star,” which she mentioned in another post. I am not familiar with what 4th graders know about book titles and punctuation. So, instead of correcting her misuse of quotation marks around the book title, I was sure to use the title and italicized it. Maybe she will notice and ask her teacher why the difference.

C4K#3
Shaitarn is a year 5 student at Pt England School. He is just starting his blog and has posted an about me presentation. His presentation includes slides of his favorite characters, his imaginary friends, his favorite car, and more. I commented that I see he is just beginning his blog and that I hope he will enjoy blogging. I also remarked on his good presentation and the cool car he included.

C4K#4
Brandon is a 1st grader at a school in Theodore. I enjoyed looking over his and his classmates' blogs. I have a kindergartner and a 2nd grader, and I wonder what my 2nd grader would think of the blogging process. I knew from the C4K assignment spreadsheet that Ms. Vannoy's class is a first grade class, but I wanted to pose a question to Brandon that may generate a response. So, because I didn't see it on the blog anywhere I asked him what grade he is in. His post is about how he loves Christmas, and he says he received cars and trucks for Christmas. I wanted to relate to him. I told him that I have a 6 and an 8 year old and that they love Christmas, cars, and trucks also. I hope to hear back from him. His age and blogging intrigue me.

Blog Post #7

Remarks on Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture

At the end of his lecture Randy closes by asking, “Have you figured out the second head fake?” He then says, “The talk's not for you; it’s for my kids.” These words gave me chills. Randy Pausch was an amazing speaker. As an English major, I could not help but consider the rhetorical components of his speech, particularly the five cannons and three proofs. His speech is a prime example of the use of ethos, logos, and pathos. The use of rhetoric in Randy's speech makes it extremely powerful. His use of invention itself is inspirational. Through his creative use of composure, organization, and word choice, his message gains a powerful tone. Randy does a wonderful job addressing many audiences including his students, colleagues, family, and unknown listeners. I mention this because of the nature of his lecture. Randy wanted the lecture to be inspirational and he wanted to inspire people to embrace their dreams.

What better speaker to tell about how to explore your dreams and help others to do the same than one who has been successful in doing so? Not only does Randy acquire the credibility of achieving his dreams, but he also uses his positivity to inspire others. At the time of his speech, he knew he was dying. He used his experience and his emotions in a positive way to show how the support he has received over the years has enabled him to achieve his dreams. As a result, it has also lead him to strive to help others to embrace and work toward achieving their own dreams.

I feel there are many lessons to be learned from Randy's message, not only those obviously addressed in his lecture,such as dreams and education, but lessons for life in general. In the beginning of the lecture, he apologizes for not seeming as depressed as he should be about having such a short time period to live. He mentions that we have to play the cards we are dealt. This statement is true in all aspects of life; there are some things we just cannot change. However, the journey through life can be enhanced by striving to reach our dreams.

Randy’s last lecture shows that regardless of how superficial, simple, or extravagant our childhood dreams may seem, they can mold us into the person we become. He says we should not lose sight of them and that it is important to have a specific dream. According to Randy, we should embrace our dreams and our childlike sense of wonder. We may not achieve the actual dream, but an adaptation of the dream may prove to be beneficial. Randy says experience is what we get, when we do not get what we want. I believe it is what we do with experience that makes us who we are.

Inspiring others is equally as important as achieving our own dreams. Randy emphasizes that we should help other people to acknowledge and embrace their own dreams. It appears that Randy has worked at achieving this goal as a professor, a husband, and a father. In the lecture, Rangy gives tips and testimonies that can be applied both professionally and personally. Tips I found intriguing in Randy’s last lecture are listed below.

In order to assist others (particularly my future students, as well as my children)in achieving their dreams:
Don’t put off creativity; encourage it.
Teach the fundamentals first; the fancy stuff will follow.
Push students to do more and try harder.
Raise the bar or students may never reach higher.
Allow students to see where they stand among others, in hopes of encouraging them to do more.
Give feedback and listen to any received feedback.
Be loyal.
Show gratitude.
Most of all, have fun!

Randy felt the need to promote a nontraditional classroom, and he found the results of doing so important enough to share. His nontraditional type classroom helped his students both realize and reach for their dreams. I noticed similarities between the class Randy explained and EDM310. I believe all students should have access to this type of education.

In the English classroom students are provided with an opportunity to be creative while also following fundamental rules. As a teacher, I can provide my students with assignments that allow them to explore their dreams through writing. We can learn a lot about ourselves in our own writings, especially in journals and in personal narratives. I can provide students an opportunity to view their dreams seriously as well as playfully. I would like to put together an assignment that facilitates exploring one's dreams. This would send the message to my students that their dreams, no matter how big or small, are significant.

Project #10: Finding the Right Tool

A Tool in My PLN

A valuable tool or resource in my PLN is the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) journal, The English Journal. The English Journal offers many articles for helping English teachers in the classroom. I recently ran across the article "The Students Are the Living Authors: Publishing Student Work Using Print on Demand." In the article, Zachariah L. Heyer tells about how he used a print on demand service in order to publish his students' work. Giving his students the opportunity to become published authors provided his students with “an authentic way to learn the value of a published final copy.” He states that his students really took an interest in the finished product. He also adds that they grasped a sense of value of writing for an audience, and they became interested in improving their writing and following conventions.

I found the idea of print on demand and the values Heyer's students seemed to learn interesting, and I put together an idea for a senior project. I have ran the project by Dr. Beason an instructor at USA and a contact in my PLN. I have outlined some of the details below.

Seniors become Published Authors

This senior class project is aimed at helping students to see themselves as real authors, while allowing them to understand the importance of conventions and writing for an audience. The assignment emphasizes the importance of meeting a deadline and the significance of a published copy. By using a print on demand service, teachers can utilize affordable technology to provide their students with a meaningful reason to write and allow them to become published authors.

Students will create a senior memento. Students will be given a deadline to meet. Before the deadline, each student is to submit a high school themed writing that is in publishable state. Students may choose any style of writing. When presenting this assignment, I will bring in examples to help students develop their own ideas. There will be several class meetings that allow students time to work on the assignment, as well as to address any concerns they may have. Students will take part in peer revision and turn in a draft.

Students who meet publishing requirements will be published in a book that will be available for purchase via the internet. Publishing requirements include both submitting a final piece and returning a parental slip form granting consent. Publishing is not a requirement; however, seeking parental consent for publishing is. Parental consent forms will be sent home for parents to sign either declining or granting consent for their child’s work to be published.

There are several websites available for print on demand services. I suggest choosing one closer to the time of assigning the project.

Blog Post #6

Networked Student is an informative and creative video. The video wonderfully illustrates the benefits of networking that are available for students to take advantage of. The video also illustrates how a teacher can enhance the classroom and learning experience by promoting networking. I feel, in a minute way, education has is already moving to this. Except, it seems the average network is made up of tools instead of people. For example, students have been using the internet for years to access journals, peer reviewed documents, and other resources for assignments. However, students' educational networks are often lacking people contacts.

In most occupations, networking has become a top priority. But with the world so busy and preoccupied with their own interests, how does a teacher help her students build a network of experts and such? In order for the teacher to promote student networking, he or she will need to have established his or her own network. A great place to start, of course, is your inner circle including friends and family. Where do you go from there? Blogging and social networks provide the perfect grounds for becoming acquainted with contacts across the globe. Luckily for EDM310 students, once we complete the class we will have established some valuable connections. One day these connections may lead us to others that will help enhance our classroom and pave the way to communicate with experts, authors, and other valuable information holders.

Blogging and social networks provide the perfect grounds for teachers to network in order to meet experts who are willing to help students build their own connections. Even though a networked student has virtually an unlimited amount of resources to utilize, I believe a student still needs a teacher as an appointed guide. I support nontraditional learning and moving away from the highly standardized learning system that is predominantly in place; however, students need a familiar individual to look to for guidance, praise, and criticism. I believe students need some sort of consistency in education and that turning them loose to explore, experience, and learn on their own without any guidance would not result in a well rounded education.



When I first viewed A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN) video, I thought the screen the student had was from a MAC. I was happy to learn that it was a website I could utilize on my PC. I have now created an account with Symbaloo and have started using it. This is a great way to organize bookmarks and frequently visited sites. It is much more organized than my tool bar.

The student in the video has an extensive amount of resources perfectly organized right at her fingertips, including both tools and contacts. I have started a list of my contacts including instructors who I can reach out to, as well as both veteran and new teachers I am personal friends with. I believe my PLN should also include quick links to Owl Purdue, which is a site I often visit for grammatical and mechanical information. I will be on the lookout for additional tools to add to my PLN.

Personal Post

I thought I would pass on this photo shared by Teacher Time 123 on Facebook. Thankfully, we can use technology for a quick laugh as well as a resource. I guess this is what we as future teachers have to look forward to; I look forward to it all!

My Sentence Video

Blog Post #5

If I Could Build a School

Krissy Venosdale is an inspiration! On her Twitter account, Krissy refers to herself as an elementary teacher who is always learning and is "continually working to inspire kids." Krissy's ability to inspire extends beyond kids. As a future teacher, I am inspired by her lively blog posts. Her posts are enlightening and positive. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her posts and have subscribed to her blog. The positive attitude she promotes is something every teacher should possess. Krissy's If I Built a School post details a dreamy school that all students would want to attend and all teachers would want to teach at. The creation of the school itself would be an innovation. Practically speaking, we know this dream is far fetched, but the ideas and goals in the post should be addressed in other ways. Let's face it, a tree house in the library would be awesome! I agree that students need a school that inspires creativity and makes them not only want to attend school but to succeed. Bland walls, uniforms, non-flexible scheduling, state curriculum, fluorescent lightning, and practicality do not provide a good basis for inviting our students in and inspiring them to think creatively.

Physically, I would want the school to be inviting, modern, and comfortable. Why not offer students the chance to learn in a relaxed environment as opposed to one that is so structured and uncomfortable? Every chair would be padded. Tables would be used as opposed to desks, in hopes of promoting collaboration and discussion. The entire school would be integrated, and teachers would collaborate and work together by having students do projects that require knowledge in several areas, such as making a movie or composing a book with illustrations. There, of course, would be a studio for making movies. The classrooms would be arranged for engagement and not simply to make the best of available space. Students would sit in a semicircle with the teacher in the center. The library would be a lounge area complete with device charging stations and a coffee shop. Students who could not attend class would have the option of joining the classroom virtually. The cafeteria would offer several chain restaurants in order to give students a choice. The cafeteria would be designed more like a sit down restaurant with cozy booths and pleasant lighting, as opposed to a prison cafeteria with straight line folding tables. Uniforms would only be mandatory for those students who failed to meet a relaxed but appropriate dress code.

With the day dreaming out of the way, I would like to say that my goal would be to build a school that goes beyond the typical student-passive curriculum we see today and that promotes student constructivism. A school where educators and students work together to enhance the learning process. A school where teachers view their students as contributors to the classroom and not merely buckets to dump information in. I can only start in my classroom, and I believe “flipping the classroom” is a great way to begin.



Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir (6:20)

This video is an amazing piece of work. At first glance, the virtual choir seems somewhat impersonal. But after listening to the story and the testimonies the virtual choir has a different feel to it. The use of technology to fulfill dreams and connect people to produce such a magnificent piece is very moving. Utilizing the internet in this way offers people the experience of being part of something truly special, along with 184 other people, without even leaving home. Such a project would be a great way for a music teacher and a computer teacher to work with one another to create a technology based assignment for students.



Teaching in the Twenty First Century

Kevin Roberts believes educators have to teach in a way that is engaging and challenging, as well as relative to life. While there is a wealth of facts and information at our finger tips, anyone searching for information must be able to synthesize and process the information found, before it can become knowledge. Today, students do not struggle with obtaining information. They need to learn the skills of processing the wealth of information available, checking a source for credibility, and actually applying the information they have learned. I do agree that teachers are now a filter. While, the textbook and teacher are no longer the only sources of information, students still have to be taught the skills of processing, analyzing, assessing, applying, and synthesizing.

As an educator, I believe it is necessary for me to teach my students how to apply available information to their daily lives. As an English teacher, a great way to help develop these skills is by having my students blog and tweet about real life situations. I could assign students a scenario such as, “Which checking account would best suit my needs?” I could have each student research and write a blog post describing the information they have found and how the information is relative to them. Such an assignment would enhance writing skills and critical thinking, as well as help students learn to research real life situations that they will soon face.



Flipped Classroom

At first, I had concerns about whether or not the students would actually watch the videos and those students who may not have access to the videos. After watching the FAQ videos, I fully support the idea of flipping the classroom. Requiring students to watch a video and take notes for homework in preparation for the day’s activities is not much different from having students read a chapter before coming to class. I believe a video would be more helpful than an in class lecture because students have the option of rewatching, taking notes, and researching the information on their own. I like that students will come to class already knowing what the day’s lesson is about and have the chance to work with and learn from peers on a similar pace. I could use this approach inside my classroom in the areas of grammar, writing, and literature.

I believe the biggest concern is access. Though most students have access to the videos at home, there has to be a way for several students to catch up on the videos if they by chance do not have access. As a mommy, if we did not have internet access at home, catch up time would not be during my child’s lunch time. If my child simply neglected to watch an assigned video, that would be a different story.

I believe a flipped classroom can be beneficial and is a way to engage the teacher, students, and parents.

Blog C4T Post and Comment Summary

C4T#1, comment 1

In her blog post Schooly Non-Discussables Andrea Hernandez reports reading Miguel Guhlin's post The Undiscussables of Tech Leadership. Hernandez states that she has spent years working to be the best educator she can be by trying to understand both in a pragmatic and an academic sense. However, there are a few things that she does not understand. Hernandez poses the question "Are we too obsessed with technology, gadgets, and devices?"

Her question sparked me to share my views on the recent BYOD (bring your own device) day my boys’ school has adapted. While my kindergartner's class is attempting to utilize the technological resources a tablet offers to the classroom, my second graders class is simply playing popular games while waiting for the dismissal bell to ring. In my comment, I told Hernandez about these recent events and how a weekly BYOD day at an elementary school, which calls for a 5 year old to bring a $200 device, supports the theory that we are obsessed with technology. While I am not against the idea of my boys taking their tablets to school, I am not particularly pleased with the usage in my second grader’s classroom. I expressed my concern that our obsession is allowing students to bring toys to class which in turn end up being a babysitting device.

C4T#1, comment 2

In her post Rockin' the PD- part 2: Hatzatah, Hernandez explains that Martin J Gottlieb Day School is trying out new learning styles and tools. The school purchased 20 iPads for student use in 2011. In addition to enhancing students' learning with technological tools, the school aims at engaging teachers in professional development through new ways. The school has adapted the popular presentation format hatzatah, in which each presenter has 5 minutes to present an idea. The presentation consists of 20 slides that advance every 15 seconds. Faculty meetings are opened with a hatzatah, which lead to a hatzatah competition in which teachers answered the question, “How have iPads impacted my practice?” The presentations not only helped teachers learn how to overcome challenges related to iPads in the classroom but also helped teachers relate to their students. Hernandez quotes one teacher who says she wanted to drop out of the competition, but she did not and she was able to overcome her presentation anxiety.

I commented that the hatzatah format sounds like a beneficial format. I like that the method is used to open faculty meetings because it provides teachers with a formal method of relaying information and ideas quickly. I also stated that it seems as though the competition was inspiring to the teachers. The competition prompts teachers to talk about how iPads are used in their classroom and share these ideas with their coworkers, and it allows the teacher to use technology as a way of sharing his or her ideas. The competition also puts teachers in the role of a student by giving them a prompt to answer in a presentation during an allotted time-frame. One teacher stated that she felt she could relate to her students better after completing the competition. To me, that is more important than the technology used to present the presentation and the technology discussed in the presentations.

Project #5 Presentation: The Story of AC

Special Blog Post Assignment #1

Video from Blog Post #2

Though the rhetoric of the video, Did You Know?, is deceiving, I did not misinterpret the information as meaning that the US was behind the other countries mentioned. Such a determination cannot be made with one sided figures. Numbers, like all rhetoric, can be manipulative and used to show one side of the table. We can gather nothing with percentages alone. Percentage of what? According to WolframAlpha the population of China is 1.35 billion, the population of India is 1.21 billion, and the population of the United States is 309 million.

318 million people in China either know English or are learning to speak English. Assuming they all learn to do so 23.56% of China’s population would speak English. While the amount of English speakers in China may be more than the entire population of the United States, the percentage of English speaking Americans is higher than the percentage of English speakers in China.

And while India may have more honors students than the United States, it is expected as they have three times the population.



Two WolframAlpha searches:

“Compare Mississippi and Alabama high school enrollment”
Mississippi 171522
Alabama 258284

“Compare Mississippi and Alabama test scores”
100% of Mississippi high school graduates take the act; their average English score is 18.6.
82% of Alabama high school graduates take the act; their average English score is 20.4.

WolframAlpha offers students a resource of information regardning statistics, geography, media, genealogy, chemistry, and so on. The spectrum of information offered on this site seems to be endless. This site would be helpful to English students in gathering research for a variety of different types of papers. WolframAlpha can help students not only locate information and data but the site can also help students interpret and compare data.



Social Media Chart

Gary Hayes Social Media Chart is amazing to watch. It is astonishing that the numbers increase continuingly. It is incredible that Hayes has put all this information together into a chart that continuously updates the data. I was surprised to see that the amount of new android phones activated is more that the amount of iPhones sold. I would have guessed the numbers would be fairly close. According to this site, there are about 7 times as many new android phone activations as there are new iPhones sold in one minute. This chart proves that technology is steadily increasing. Not only is technology enhancing but it is also spreading throughout society at a steady rate. More and more people are using social networking sites and tools such as Blogger and Google. As a teacher, I will need to stay up-to-date on the resources available to me both inside and outside the classroom. Twitter, Pinterest, and blogs are a great way to stay informed of technology that is enhancing the classroom.