Blog Post 2

Mr. Dancealot

By: Linda Check, Meagan Freeman, and Tim Johnson
      In the video "Mr. Dancealot," we witnessed how a dance class should NOT be taught. Professor Dancealot is a satire of classroom where strictly teaching the subject does not mean actually teaching the subject. To start with, the professor read directly off the power point that told about each dance step by step, but never once looked at the students. He then proceeded to show the students moves and hand placements. When a student stood up to see what his professor was demonstrating, the professor yelled for him to sit down. The entire semester spiraled downward as Mr. Dancealot continued to confused the students by: playing both the male and female role, never providing the opportunity for the students to get out of their seats and actually practice the dance, and not allowing the students to actually see his “dance moves” because he was constantly behind the desk.
      To top off this ridiculous class, the final took place in a ballroom where the students had to pair up and dance. When two of the students paired up, they talked about how they tried to practice at home, but lacked the proper room. When the male asked what dance they were performing, both members stopped to check their notes instead of continuing to dance. This satire explains why reading about certain topics is not enough to actually learn the topic. It is nearly impossible to learn dance moves by just listening, and not practicing. This video shows that nothing can be learned by just listening and watching, you have to “make a move” and practice what is being taught. The “Dali” group agrees that this professor should change his name to DanceaNOT!


Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts

Summarized by: Linda Check
      This week I watched the movie "Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts" on Edutopia, and I not only learned a lot about new advancements in digital technology, but also learned about the amazing woman who made it all possible. Vicki Davis is a blogger, IT director, but first, and foremost, a teacher in rural South Georgia. Davis said, “If you only have paper and pencil, then only certain types of children will succeed.” This statement is what made me like Mrs. Davis and her ideas, but if was the fact that she lets her students teach the class and the fact that she makes the students work for the information that made me LOVE her ideas. Her genius, however, does not stop in the walls of the classroom.

      Davis, along with the help of Julie Lindsay, founded the global collaborative project- “Digi Teen,” where students all around the world study digital citizenship by reading, writing, and posting work on two digital portals. The first portal is Teen-Wiki, which the students post work on assigned topics. The second portal is Digi Teen Social Network, where students and teachers from around the world can connect, blog, and share ideas.
      Davis and Lindsay also founded “Flat Classroom Project.” This allows students to study trends in information technology by collaboratively writing reports with other people and creating videos where they have to outsource part of it to other students. This way the students are able to experience the trends and learn about the trends with students all over the world. Overall, the part that amazes me the most is how hands on the students are, and they not only learn the material, but also teach other students the ins and outs of computing technology.
      I also explored Edutopia further, and found some great materials that I could use in my future classroom. One thing I found was the large number of free classroom guides and educational downloads, that ranged from “A Parent's Guide to 21st-Century Learning” to “How to Thank a Teacher” to even “Top Ten Tips for Assessing Project-Based Learning.” Some other materials I found, that I could use in my adventure to becoming a special education teacher, were the massive number of blogs that Edutopia has in its library. I looked through several blog posts giving advice to special education teachers on what works and what does not work in the classroom. Overall, Edutopia is a wonderful resource that all teachers and parents should know about!


The Networked Student: Why does the networked student even need a teacher?

Summarized by: Meagan Freeman
   After watching “The Networked Student” by Wendy Drexler, I heard about connectivism for the first time. Connectivism seems like it could be very overwhelming, but beneficial. It is great to connect with other people to learn. I believe a main component of learning is to have as many connections as possible. This is exactly what Connectivism learning does.
   By using connectivism, you have the access to connect with people and professors around the world! Many students, including me, did not even know that was possible. Through connectivism, teaching and learning have no limits! Students should know how to connect with others through various sources, instead of looking at a powerpoint and reading your textbook. It gives people the opportunity to teach new things, and get the word out there. Connectivism opens many doors to learning, and gives so much opportunity!
   I can see how connectivism needs a teacher, but I also see how the teacher is not primarily useful. Without a teacher, the knowledge connecting all over the world would not ever be available. The teacher is there to guide you. He or she is the one explaining what connectivism is, how it works, and what opportunities are available. Conversely, It seems as if any teacher could teach any subject, without much knowledge of it when using connectivism. The teacher does have to know how to connect students to resources, but not how to actually teach the course.


Teaching in the 21st Century

Summarized by: Tim Johnson
    Kevin Roberts video “Teaching in the 21st Century” is trying to break away from the traditional, “pens and papers” way of teaching into a modern technology friendly format. In the video, he ask how a teacher can teach a student anything if that student could easily find the information that the student wanted simply by looking it up. He wants to move the focus onto teaching students how to use technology to get the information they need instead of a teacher teaching one thing, another teacher teaching something else, and the third teacher teaching the last thing. Roberts suggest we teach children to use the World Wide Web to its full potential by seeking out social media, collaborated websites, and search engines to build our knowledge on things.
    Foremost, I agree with Roberts video for the most part. I especially believe in the engagement versus entertainment. I think we should engage students more, but is technology the true wave of the futures; yes in the long run or even sooner than I suspect, but as of now, no. Technology is progressing too quickly in my opinion which I don’t blame them, but how are we suppose to teach students when back when we were kids, we weren’t even allow flip phones till we were teenagers, or at least that was my case. I think we should learn how to teach students to gather information, sift through websites for correct and positive information, but I still feel we need lecture base, pens and paper type classrooms. I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t take notes, but I know the process of doing so and how it beneficial. What I don’t like is taking a web course, having no idea what I doing, trying to contact my professor, and waiting for a reply. I understand a teacher has a hundred students to teach, why should I get a respond the second I ask a question? I don’t, but I would like the availability to meet him face to face which could be impossible if he’s ten states way. The video asked, “Where are they learning Responsibility, Reliability, Integrity? Where are they learning this? Friends, strangers, or themselves?” The internet is a wandering invention bringing us so much closer, but yet farther apart. My mother told me, “We were doom as the human race when everyone is talking to each other with their laptops all in the same room,” which we did. I think we should learn what Roberts has to say and start implying it, but let’s not drop the ball on pen and paper just quite yet.

Blog Post 1

After reading Krissy Venosdale’s blog Venspired and watching Sugata Mitra’s video, I feel that the current school systems could learn and improve much by taking their ideas and administering then to individual schools. In Venosdale’s blog If I Built A School, after reading, I felt like I wanted to get up and go to school right then and there! I felt like her ideal school was exactly how my ideal school would be! Your school level grade would not be dependent on age, but on what you know; the 20% time where teachers signed up to teach activities based on their passion; the giant tree house in the library where students came lose themselves in other world adventures; the school would be bright and colorful, most important, welcoming! I just absolutely loved it! Mitra’s ideas are brilliant, too! He started with a hole-in-the-wall, but after much innovative thinking, he used technology to prove that students can learn much more than we know!


What do you want your students to know?

In my dream school, it would be a school for kids with all different types of disabilities/ special needs, like: autism, down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, blind and hearing impaired, ect. I would want my kids to know that everyone is different in some way or another; every person is special inside and out. I would want them to know just how strong and brave they are and with all the obstacles life has put in front of them, they impress everyone every day with their superhuman strength to push on. I would want them to know, also, that education is important for each and every person. I would want them to know, that whatever dreams they have, they can achieve, and my school will be the one to help them accomplish that!

What do you want your students to be able to do?

I want my students to be able to be creative and independent when they get to my school. I want them to be able to express themselves in a way that they usually are told is “weird.” “Weird” or, as I like to call it, uninhibited is a major “must be able to do” for me! At Camp SMILE we, as counselors, are required to be “weird!” It allows the kids to open up and realize that it is okay to be different from everyone else! I would also want my kids to be able to have access to technology, such as iPads, because they might not have access to it anywhere else. Technology greatly increases the ability for people with special needs, who are non-verbal, to communicate with everyone else!


What will be the primary way of teaching your students?

Well, since this is my dream school, I’m allowed to get needy, right? I would have many, many teachers who have had experience with children with special needs. The classrooms would be very small and divided by the child’s level of help they require. They would have unlimited access to iPads and the teaching method would compose of much one-on-one time. The teachers would use different apps to help the students on the current topic. They would also have group activities that would be appropriate for the children in the class. Outside learning time to the children that are more independently mobile, would definitely be a must!


What tools will you use in your classroom?

As I’ve said, I would use mainly iPads/tablets. I would also use smartboards to show powerpoints from time to time. I would use picture cards for non-verbal students, who cannot use the iPad, to help them communicate what they want/need. I would have coloring tools available for all my kids to express themselves. I would, also, have a large collection of videos for every subject to help my kids learn better.


What role will the students play in your classroom?

The children will play the biggest role in my classroom! They will be the deciding factor in how the classroom and lessons run! According to how the students learn and at what rate, will decide the “lesson plans.” Depending on how they learn best, will decide on what tools the classroom uses. If the students learn best in groups, groups it is! School is all about the students, so their role is a vital piece of my dream school!

Practice Blog Post

Hello! My name is Linda Check. I am twenty-one years old. I live in Theodore, AL with my younger brother and my dad. I was born in Pensacola, FL, but my dad was offered a job as a police officer in Mobile when I was six years old and we moved. I attended Theodore High School and graduated in 2010. I was so lucky to have received the Joseph Treadwell Foundation scholarship for the University of South Alabama and that is what made my decision easy in picking a college! This last year was my first year at Camp SMILE. We were asked what our passion was and this is mine. Volunteering at Camp SMILE changed my life for the better. The campers had such an impact on my life and they made it so that I knew my switch in majors was the right decision.

I switched my major to K-6 Elementary Collaborative, but I was not sure whether I wanted to be a kindergarten or special education teacher, now the choice is obvious! Special education is such a diverse field and working with kids with special needs, I feel, is what I am meant to do. I feel that I am very good at taking care of others, but I would like to better my skills at helping people with special needs. This last summer was my first real time ever working with people with special needs, and it made me realize how little I know about different kind of diseases that affect people every day.

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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!