Blog Post 15 - Final Reflection

Final Project 16

For this project, Brandon, Whitney and myself tackled Wikipedia, blogging, and podcasts in an educational setting. We went with advantages and disadvantages of each, as well as our own opinion.

Blog Post 14

Box of Tricks is the blog of Jose Picardo, who is the head of head of Modern Foreign Languages at Nottingham High School. Mr. Picardo's tips are use streaming video, because there is a wide variety of videos out there about any subject. Use music, because you can relate it to your students in any way, shape, or form. Use teleconferencing tools such as Skype; I think with Mr. Picardo's classes, because they are foreign languages, this would be a great idea! Especially if you could get them to speak with native language speakers. Create your own interactive exercises using websites; learn how to use your whiteboard (I'm guessing he meant SMART Board) more effectively. These go hand in hand in my opinion, because you can do so much with a SMART Board. Create your own podcasts using Garageband and Audacity. Along with that, create blogs and wikis to display your student's work. If you going to spend great deals of time on teaching how to use these tools, why not showcase them on a blog? We saw this first hand in all of our C4K assignments. Use social networks like Facebook. He says it is controversial, but nowadays groups are closed and it is a perfectly viable way to connect with students. Lastly, he says to use internet tools, because there are loads out there and it just takes time to find them and lastly, make the most of your students gadgets like phones and iPods.

What I really enjoyed about the video was that Mr. Picardo geared the tips in his video towards students. He knows that students like music and tells you to use it in your lessons. I like that he gears his lessons towards students, which should happen anyway. However, he is using things that students already have familiarity with. I would definitely use Facebook with my students and have podcasts that they can listen to on their iPods. All in all, I really enjoyed this video.

C4T #4 Summary

For this month's C4T, I was assigned the blog of Bill Genereux. I really like this blog and am grateful for the opportunity to read through some of the posts. The first post I commented on was titled Taking Risks While Teaching which was a really awesome post. Mr. Genereux was talking about how some of the oldest teachers will tell you things like, not to let the students see you smile before Christmas and don't ask a question you don't know the answer to. He quickly began to argue against the latter, saying that just because we don't know the answer to things, doesn't mean we shouldn't go outside of our comfort zone. Why can't you discover the answer as student and teacher? I instantly thought of the class motto for EDM 310, because that is what it reminded me. What do we do if we don't know the answer? We go and find out. I especially like Mr. Genereux has no fear when it comes to teaching. He is teaching a programming course with nothing but an interest in games and a rudimentary understanding of programming. I like that about him, because he is not afraid of the fact that he may not have all of the answers. Instead he said that there is the book and then an endless stream of sources online.

For my second C4T, I commented on the post titled Unemployable Generation. This post actually fascinated me, because it is being noted that people who have gone longer without being employed have a higher chance of not finding a job, than those who are moving from one job to another. Then Mr. Genereux talked about how some of the 20 year-old students he advises tell him that they have never held a job, full-time or part-time. I found this shocking, as did Mr. Genereux. Then I politely replied that I was in both categories. I had my first job at the age of eighteen, but I have also held this job all throughout college while having a full course load. This was my favorite part of the post: "I realize there is a difference between enrolling in a course and holding down a job, but character is character. You can’t turn it on for work and turn it off for school. It doesn’t work that way." I think this speaks volumes, because these students aren't getting the same valuable lessons until later in life, when they aren't likely to take it as seriously. No matter what, I think eventually these students will have the real world experience they need. However, in this day and age, they really cannot afford to lose out on it.

C4K 9, 10, 10 Summary Post

C4K #9
For the first November C4K, I was assigned the blog Mr. McClung's World and the post I commented on was about Ben Folds. Ben Folds is a songwriter and the lead singer of the group Ben Folds Five. Mr. McClung had a song posted called Philogosphy. The song lyrics have a really deep meaning behind, especially when he says "my philosophy keeps me walking when I'm falling down." I said that when you apply that to teaching, it's really hopeful. I really enjoyed this song and blog.

C4K #10
For the second C4K, I was assigned Mrs. Yollis' blog, which I really loved exploring and looking around. I commented on day 304 of the 365 Project she is doing for the blog. The post was about a game called Wari in Ghana. We know it in the United States as mancala. The object of the game is to get the most stones into your mancala. I loved this post, because I played it with my friends and brothers when we were younger. It was a good way to keep us entertained on rainy days and we weren't destructive while playing. I liked being able to see something that I recognized in a blog post.

C4K #11
For the final C4K of the semester I was assigned to Sesalina's blog. Sesalina is in Year 6 at Pt England in Auckland, NZ. I commented on her post about Mars. This was a very fun blog post to read as she described how we were looking for new place to live and so we journeyed to Mars. She accurately describes the journey, with the moving and shaking of the ship and even how Earth would look from Mars. I really loved how she said she would school, sleeping, and her friends. She sounds just like me!

Final report on PLN

Here is a look at my final PLN. It has expanded greatly since the first PLN summary we had to do. Now it contains more articles and videos that I have liked, as well as link to all the C4T blogs I had to comment on. The blue squares are all of my C4K assignments. It will be interesting to see where these blogs are a year from today. Even next year I will be expanding on my PLN and adding to it, maybe taking things away from it. As a teacher it would be good to always have resources that you can go to if you need ideas or questions answered. I really like the PLN I have established this semester.