Blog 13

For this blog post, I chose to do option one. In this assignment, I was introduced to Wolfram-Alpha. I used this site to look up the populations of China, India, and the United States between the years of 2008 and 2011. I was not aware of how easy it is to use Wolfram-Alpha, you can type in any subject and get all kinds of information about it. While doing the search, I found out that the population in China in 2008 was 1.31 billion, and today the population is approximately 1.37 billion. That is a lot of people! I also found that in 2008 India’s population was 1.18 billion, and today it is around 1.23 billion. The population in the United States in 2008 was around 304 million, and today it is about 313 million. I knew that China had a large population, but I never realized how many people that really is. I had fun using Wolfram-Alpha, and I will definitely be using it in the future! For my search next week: what percentage of the population in Israel is male and what percentage is female?

Additional Post 1

I am not sure why I missed the metaphor in Tom Johnson’s post. I have encountered many metaphors lately while reading my Bible. I feel that the Bible is a perfect place to find metaphors. As educators, we need to make sure that students know what the definition of a metaphor is. I feel that educators not only need to explain to students what metaphors are, but we also need to use them often in the classroom. I feel metaphors are used to keep students interested and thinking. Metaphors are used to keep things fun so students do not get bored.

C4K- Mrs. Yollis' Class Blog

This week for our C4K we were to explore Mrs. Yollis’ class blog and look at all of the links that she provides. Mrs. Yollis is a third grade teacher in Los Angeles, California. Mrs. Yollis has 22 students in her class, 11 boys and 11 girls. In her “Meet Mrs. Yollis” section, Mrs. Yollis shares that she has been teaching for twenty five years. Mrs. Yollis is a student as well; she just recently received a master’s degree in Integrating Technology in the Classroom. She also shares about her love to travel. I love the picture that Mrs. Yollis shared of her and her husband swimming with the turtles in Hawaii.

In the link “Learn HTML Code” section, Mrs. Yollis shares HTML tricks. I really liked this link; I thought it was very helpful and interesting. If I were a student in Mrs. Yollis’ class, I would use this link quite often.

In her “Time Zones of Friends” link, Mrs. Yollis displays different clocks that display the different times of different places around the world. I also really liked this link. I thought it was very interesting, and if I were a student in Mrs. Yollis class, this would also be a link that I would use often.

In the link titled “Learn about California,” Mrs. Yollis includes a great video presentation about California. This is a great link for visitors who want to learn more about where Mrs. Yollis’ class is located in California. I really enjoyed watching the video and learned many things about California that I did not know before.

The link that I enjoyed the most was the “Learn How to Shoot Great Digital Images” link. In this link, a few of Mrs. Yollis’ students share great tips on how to shoot digital images. I really enjoyed exploring Mrs. Yollis’ class blog and I love what Mrs. Yollis is doing in her classroom with her students. I plan to continue to keep up with Mrs. Yollis class blog!

Report on Final Project

I am a member of the September group and we have decided on a Final Project. We are still gathering ideas, but our plan is to create an EDM Talk Show and Commercial. We plan to use a lot of things that we have learned in EDM this semester,along with a lot of music. Our group will be meeting on Tuesday of this week to get started.

Blog Post 12

Voice Thread

When I did this assignment, I thought back to the first week of this semester when Dr. Baggett introduced herself by using voice thread. I remember thinking, “What a cool idea, maybe we will have a chance to use voice thread in EDM.” But the semester is coming to an end, and we have not used voice thread, so I thought it would be a good idea to make an assignment using it. I had a lot of fun creating my presentation on voice thread. I love how I was able to add photos as well as my own voice to narrate. I also love that instead of viewers leaving written comments, voice thread allows viewers to leave audio comments. I definitely will be using this tool in the future, and I think future students will enjoy it just as much as I did. So here is my assignment: Create a voice thread presentation that introduces yourself. Include pictures and audio comments on each photo explaining why you chose to put the photo into your presentation. Your presentation should be much like a story about yourself. You must include at least 10 slides. After you post your voice thread presentation, then visit two other classmates' blogs and leave an audio comment on their voice thread presentation.

Project 12 Skype Interview

Project #15 Smartboard Instruction Pt.2

Blog Post 11

First Graders in Ms. Cassidy’s Class, Little Kids… Big Potential and Skype Interview with Ms. Cassidy

The video “Little Kids… Big Potential” is a great video created by Ms. Cassidy that gives viewers a great example of what goes on in Ms. Cassidy’s class. In the video, students talk about the fun and exciting things that Ms. Cassidy allows them to do in the classroom while using computers and Nintendo DS’s. First Graders in Ms. Cassidy’s class tell of how they each have their own blog in which they post at least once a week. The students also stated that they are allowed to use their Nintendo DS’s to plan fun games that help them learn. The students in Ms. Cassidy’s class also use Skype quite frequently. During the Skype interview with Ms. Cassidy, she tells Dr. Strange and students how her first grade students are working on computers on a daily basis. Ms. Cassidy stated that when she first started teaching, five computers were given to her for her to use in her classroom. Ms. Cassidy wanted to make great use of the computers, but the computers only had internet access and no new programs could be downloaded on them. So, she started the personal blogging idea. In the interview, she explains how her first graders love to blog and parents and siblings love to read and comment on the blogs of their students. Ms. Cassidy stated that it made her students feel special knowing that all of the world could see what they were writing about. Ms. Cassidy mentioned that in order to keep students safe, students go by a first name basis on their blog, and pictures of students are not posted. Ms. Cassidy teaches her students how to be safe on the internet by encouraging them to go only to the links that she suggests and to stay away from advertisements. Ms. Cassidy stated that she does not have a lot of trouble with her first graders navigating away to other random outside sites, she has more trouble with them playing games that they are not assigned. Ms. Cassidy also mentioned “Blogging Buddies”. “Blogging Buddies” is a way for students in Ms. Cassidy’s class to comment on another student’s blog in another class, whether it is at the same school or at another school across the world. By being able to do this, students can comment on each other’s blogs and even Skype one another and discuss different things such as how that they can improve on their writing skills. I think that “Blogging Buddies” is a great idea and I could really see myself using it in my classroom. I really wish that I would have had the same opportunity that the students in Ms. Cassidy’s class do when I was in the first grade. I would have loved to blog and I honestly think it would have helped me become a better writer in elementary school. I love how Ms. Cassidy stated that Technology is never going to go back to how it used to be, so we as teachers are going to have to change with it. I think that I could use a lot of Ms. Cassidy’s ideas in my classroom, especially the “Blogging Buddies” activity. I think that by allowing my students to use blogs, it would help them tremendously in their writing. It would also allow parents to see what exactly their kids are doing at school and how much that they have progressed in their writing throughout the year. I think that Skype is an awesome tool, and I will definitely be using it in my classroom with my students. I really enjoyed watching the Skype interview with Ms. Cassidy; she had many great, interesting and useful tips to share. I cannot wait to introduce technology like this in my classroom; I feel that it is going to make learning fun and exciting for my students and something that they look forward to when entering my classroom every day.

C4K Summary Post- October

C4K #6

For the sixth C4K I was assigned to a blog post by Isaac. Isaac is a student at Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand. He is in Mrs. Jenny’s Room 6. During this week, Room six was learning how to walk in a straight line. In the post, Isaac made a video presentation in which he explained how to properly walk in a straight line. He stated that you must put your hand behind your back when walking in a straight line. In my comment, I told Mrs. Jenny and Isaac that walking in line in a straight line is very important. I stated that I knew that Room 6 is excellent at walking in a straight line, and I know that it makes Mrs. Jenny very happy.


C4K#7

For C4K #7 , I visited the class Blog of Room 10 at Pt. England School in Auckland, New Zealand. I watched a video post by Henry. Henry drew a picture of a soccer player named Thierry Dusautoir and made the picture come to life in his video. In my comment, I told Henry that I the picture he drew of Thierry Dusautoir was really awesome! I told him that he was a great artist and that I thought it was really cool how Room 10 is learning how to add videos to a blog.


C4K #8

For C4 K #8, I visited Mr. C’s Class Blog, where I read a post by Angel. In her post, Angel shares a story about how her dog was getting attacked by a coyote and her Dad tried to shoot the coyote and instead accidently shot her dog Trixy. Trixy survived the accident, but lost one of her limbs. Angel talked about how Trixy has managed to overcome being handicapped. She stated that Trixy was recently in a swimming competition where she came in second place. I commented on Angel’s post telling her that I was sorry to hear that Trixy had been hurt, but I was glad that she was okay. I told her that I thought it was so awesome that Trixy came in second place during the competition even though she was handicapped. I complimented Angel on her writing, and encouraged her to continue.

C4K #9

For C4K #9 I visited the Class Blog of Room 17 of Port England School in Auckland, New Zealand. I was assigned a post on the New Zealand Bitterns. In this post, Room 17 made a Google Presentation which they displayed many sides with many facts about the New Zealand Bitterns. The slide show was very interesting. I commented on the post thanking Room 17 for sharing and said that I really enjoyed viewing the Google Presentation because I had learned so much from it.