Blog Post 13 (The E-Media Fast)

For this blog assignment I decided to do the e-media fast.

Thursday, November 17, 2011
I decided I would try this sustaining from all types of media for 24 hours. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. I thought that I was not that dependent on technology, but I was so wrong. I started off the day by waking up to go to school, so I grabbed everything I needed. I brought along my cell phone, you know, for emergencies. So, I got to school, and everything was going good, I made it through my first two classes successfully, but during lunch, I slipped up and checked my facebook. Back to the drawing board!

Friday, November 18, 2011
Yesterday really woke me up, so I started my day by sleeping in because I didn't have work or school. This got me feeling good, because I have a book I have to read for an essay I have to write, so I started on that. Well, 6:00 PM rolls around and I have been doing really well by not using technology, so I decide to go to a local high school playoff game since I am a coach myself. I made it through the whole game until I realized I was checking my phone for other schools scores. Fail. Back to the drawing board.

Saturday, November 19, 2011
I decided that even though I had failed the previous 2 days, that the third time was a charm, but little did I realize that it was Saturday. EPIC FAIL. College football, and I didn't even stand a chance.

Reflection: I did not see this being too hard that I could not do this assignment. The reasoning is that I do not really see myself as a person that uses technology all that much, but little do I know that I DEPEND on it! As far as my future students go, I think they will be completely reliant on technology. With that being said, I have to use that to my advantage and use what I have learned in this class to put them to work. By using blogs, and symbaloo they can be on the internet and progressing their ideas. They can go to our class blog and get assignments, and even turn them in online to cut down on the use of paper!

Special Assignment 1

In my assignment I was told to make a post about why we use metaphors. Well, we use metaphors for many different reasons. One reason we use it is in history or literature to maybe just get the reader to think about what the writer is saying and to apply it. Another example that I thought of is using metaphors in music.

Musicians rely on metaphors in today's lyrics, but nothing like they did years ago. Artist had to be very careful about what they were saying in their songs, or they might not be put on the radio, and since they were so popular they had to do what was necessary. The Beatles used metaphors plenty, and also Led Zeppelin. Here is a link to some metaphoric songs!

Skype Interview

I did my interview with Kristal Sisson. She is a teacher at East Central High School in Hurley, Mississippi. I went over how long she has been a teacher, and how she uses technology in her classroom. Special thanks to Mrs. Sisson for taking the time out of her busy day to do this interview!

Blog Post 12

For our blog post 12 we were assigned to create our own blog assignment. I got to thinking and I couldn't help but to think of something that deals with my major. The majority of the videos that I have seen seems like its geared around the elementary education and not secondary education majors like myself. I know that they are beneficial for me too, but I was just saying.

My post would be that every student should have to explain why they wanted to become a teacher, and why it is important to have teachers.

I believe that it is important that we have teachers because they are what shape our people. What I mean by this is that just about every single person out there has a teacher that has inspired them or something to that nature. Without teachers much of the society would be illiterate degenerates. I have had several influential teachers in my life and that is why I decided I wanted to become a teacher. They have done so much for me and I want to make the same kind of impact in students life just like they made so much of an impact in my life!

Progress on Final Project 16

Team Awesome has decided to do our project on the uses of Symbaloo . We are going to talk about that and show how to use it effectively. I look forward to showing you what we know about this very effective tool!

Mrs. Yollis' Class Blog

In Mrs. Yollis' Blog she shows exactly how effective a blog can be. There is literally anything that you need to know about blogging, how to blog, how to do an html code, how to comment, and she even puts links up so you can meet the students! I like that she keeps her students involved in the stories, and keeping their profiles up to date. She is also beating our class blog by some 20,000 visitors so I think we need to get our visits up so we can compete!

Blog Post 11

The first assignment was to watch Little Kids... Big World. This was about Ms. Kassidy's first grade class that is using all kinds of technology in the classroom. They use their Nintendo DS to be able to do learning techniques. They also use skype, make their own blogs, make videos, and they are only in the first grade!! They also talk about how to write a blog as well as how to comment on blogs without hurting anybody's feelings.
The one thing that I can say about this is WOW. I mean its amazing that these children already know so much about technology and they are only 5 and 6 years old. I think that by doing this at such a young age that it will revolutionize learning, and I think that is the ultimate goal when it is all said and done.
The next assignment was Ms. Cassidy's Skype Interview. I thought it was very interesting to watch her being interviewed. She really understands the use of technology in the classroom and really embraces it. She really understands that technology has become part of the everyday life of students and really embraces it. I like how she wasn't afraid to "take the leap" into technology and use it in her classroom. I also completely agree with her when she says that teachers need to be technologically literate and not just know the basic functions of a computer. The reasoning is because computers can do so much more for a teacher in a classroom. One quote that really stuck out to me is when she was talking about not knowing how to use a computer to its full capability, "you are handicapping your students and yourself." I really think that speaks volumes because it is so true. We as educators must stay up to date with technology. One thing that I like that she uses to help her students with their blog is something she said was Class Blogmeister. This video shows how to use this great tool.

C4K October

I commented on a post about a little girl talking about her favorite book on their website Kids with a view. Her favorite book was Charlotte's Web, and I talked about how I loved that book as a kid and that she did a great job of explaining.
My next comment was from Ms. Gregory's class and I had to comment on two different students. One that was assigned and one by a random checker that assigned them to me. Each one I told them where I was from, what I enjoyed, and what I was going to school for.
My last comment was from Mr. Gwaltney's class. I commented on a post by luey. He talks about the reformation of the English church and John Calvin. I found it really interesting especially because I am a history major and to see students writing such quality posts makes it great.