C4T #3

For my C4T #3 posts I was assigned to comment on Matthew Tabor's "education for the aughts."

The first post I read was titled "The Education Community Can't Read or Researach". I would highly suggest going and reading this post by Mr. Tabor. It is so unique and there is a lot to this aritcle that I think would be beneficial for aspiring teachers to see!

This is the comment I left for Mr. Tabor:

Hi Mr. Tabor,
My name is Kristen Phelps and I’m currently in Dr. Stanges’ EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I’ve been assigned to comment on your blog! I have to say that this was one of the most interesting and straight forward posts that I’ve seen this semester. I have to admire how subtle yet blunt you are. We have done several projects this semester about how extremely important it is for us (as prospective teachers) to make sure that we do research and lead our students to credible sources. I find it interesting that so many teachers jumped on board with this topic with out doing SOME research first. I really enjoyed reading this post and all of its comments. Thanks for sharing!

The second post of Mr. Tabor's that I commented on was "Best Education Sites Maps College Web Design, Utility". In the post he talked about colleges using social networking and the internet in general for marketing to students. He included a website- "Best Education Sites". I would highly recommend checking this website out! It has a lot of cool stuff on it in regards to internet usage, what colleges have the most "followers" on Twitter, and things like that!

This is the comment I left for Mr. Tabor:

Hi Mr. Tabor,
My name is Kristen Phelps and I’m currently in Dr. Stanges’ EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I’ve been assigned to comment on your blog! Considering that I'm still in college, I understand this article oh, so well. It was only 3 years ago that I had the joy of being harassed via snail mail by colleges! :) I have noticed though, that colleges have really jumped on board with social networking through things such as Facebook, Twitter, and their own personal websites. Sometimes I feel like everywhere I turn I have a "Check us out on Facebook" sign staring me in the face! I checked out the "Best Education Sites" link from your post and I have to say that I thought it was REALLY interesting! I'm going to put a link to it on my blog for my classmates and hopefully my teacher to take a look at! I think they would all find it interesting as well. Thanks for sharing!

Blog Assignment #10

"Do you Teach or Do you Educate?"

I found this video to be very interesting. I think the question "Do you Teach or Do you Educate" is very, very good question that all educators should ask themselves. In order to be in this profession we need to be able to teach. But, maybe some people that already are or plan to go into the "teaching" profession don't always intend on educating.

Educating to me means that I will give whatever it is that I can give to my students to ensure that they LEARN and SUCCEED. In order to do this I'm sure this will take a lot of time. Probably a lot of the time it will take my personal time. Not the the designated school time from 7:45 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. I'm sure I will have to knock down some of my learning boundaries so that I can find new ways for children to learn. Educating to me also translates into caring. You truly have to love your students and want what's best for them. It means taking a personal interest in their lives. In order to educate I plan to give as much love, support, and time as I can possibly give to make sure that my students get the EDUCATION they deserve!

Tom Johnson's- "Don't Let Them Take The Pencils Home"

I really enjoyed reading Mr. Johnson's post "Don't Let Them Take The Pencils Home". Personally, I thought his writing style helped to make the post clear and fun to read. I believe that the point of Mr. Johnson's post was that so many teachers almost "give in" to the (ever scary) Standardized Testing monster and for-go the day to day reason for "teaching". Mr. Johnson didn't have Standardized tests in mind when he came up with his "pencil project". What he had in mind was something so much more than that.

Mr. Johnson was looking at the bigger picture (Not to say that Standardized test are not important). He was trying to find a way to help the kids (and parents) in his class look at pencils as TOOLS not TOYS. He said that he tried to keep his students busy with projects and assignments so that they could use the pencils but then he was questioned with "what if they play Hang Man with them?" I loved his response to this which was, "But if they choose to play Hang Man or go on the pen pal networks, I'm okay with it. There's probably some learning that's taking place that we don't realize." Yes, you heard it! Straight from the EDUCATORS mouth!

Blog Assignment #9

Mr. McClung's "What I Learned This Year (2009-10)" and "What I Learned This Year (2010-11)".

For this blog assignment I chose Mr. McClung's June 15th 2010 "What I Learned This Year (2009-10)" and his June 23, 2011 "What I Learned This Year (2010-11)" to read and write on. I think the concept of the "What I Learned This Year" posts is such a good idea. Not only because its a great way to self reflect but it can also help other teachers and prospective teachers out by giving them an idea of what to expect. I loved Mr. McChung's honesty in his posts. He wasn't afraid to admit when he was having a hard time with something.
It was clear to me that Mr. McClung grew a lot as a teacher from the "What I Learned This Year (2009-10)" to the "What I Learned This Year (2010-11)". Although, there were significant differences between both years. One being that in the 2009-10 school year he was a social studies/history teacher and in the 2010-11 school year he was a computer applications teacher. It was interesting to me that though teaching history/social studies and teaching computer applications, are two very different "subjects" Mr. McClung still had the same enthusiasm. Personally, I think that's what makes an amazing teacher. That no matter what subject you happen to teach, you need to be enthusiastic. If we as teachers don't act excited or interested in teaching a certain subject...how can we expect students to be excited about learning it?

Blog Assignment #8

"This is how we dream Part 1 and 2"

I thought the video by Dr. Miller was really interesting. I especially loved that it wasn't just a video of a man standing and talking into a camera. The whole time both of the videos were playing he had things up on the screen. He was showing what he was talking about, not just describing. I think the way he conducted the video shows greatly what exactly it was that he was trying to say. Which was that there are so many things going on constantly on the Internet. We as educators should take advantage of that!
Dr. Miller said, "Ideas don't belong to us individually but, they belong to us as a culture." He also said, "We as educators must be in the business of sharing ideas freely." Both of these statements really stuck with me. In the beginning of the video he talked about how people throw books, magazines,ect., out but you can't really throw something that's on the Internet away. There are so many ways to enhance both teaching and learning styles in the age that we are living in. Today, we don't have to learn by staring at a book. We can be watching, interacting, and conversing with people from around the world to learn.
I think writing with multimedia is amazing and I personally would love to be able to do so. As far students go I think that whether or not they would be able to write with multimedia or not will depend on their ages. But as far as middle and high school students go, I think that with the opportunity to do so they would be able to write with multimedia. I can only hope that they get the chance.

"Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12"

Carly's Blog Post #12 was truly amazing. I loved her writing style of mixing serious topics with little bits of humor. Carly and Dr. Millers ideas are scarily close in meaning. I agree that by using all the elements that are available to us we can only positively influence our students. By mixing unconditional and new tactics to get our students attentions we can influence them to look any and everywhere for information to inspire them to learn!

"The Chipper Series" and "EDM310 for Dummies"

I remember watching these videos at the beginning of the semester. At the time I was kind of scratching my head thinking, "what in the world?" but now they make a little more sense! Obviously "The Chipper Series" is sort of a "what not to do" in EDM310 or really in life, type of video! You can't blame others for your lack of doing! You also can't just make up your own rules and expect that everyone is going to jump on board and follow them! If you don't put in any effort, you're not going to get any results! I thought the "EDM310 for Dummies" vido was really funny. I have to admit that the first few weeks of class I felt like the girls in the beginning of the video did! I would have been thankful for a copy of EDM310 for Dummies! Thankfully after the girls put in some effort they ended up really enjoying EDM310 and understanding what it was really all about! I think that creating or participating in more of a "what not to do" in EDM310 would be fun and helpful to students in the future. In the video people could act out instances that would be less than ideal for getting their EDM310 work done. It could showcase people (not in their best efforts) doing their C4K's, C4C's, C4T's, Blog Assignments, the Checklist, and other parts of the class. This way it could really show people what not to do, while at the same time giving them an idea what the class really entails.

"Learn to Change, Change to Learn"

I think that the arguments in this video were absolutely valid. One of the speakers in the video said in regards to standardized testing, "the jobs that these kids in school will be having do not call for the kind of right answer, vending machine approach." I couldn't agree with him more. A lot of what is being taught in schools today is not going to be beneficial to the students once they step out of the schools doors. Most of the jobs that students in school today are going to have, have nothing to do with memorizing passages out of textbooks. Sitting in classrooms, staring at books is not going to help the youth of this nation/world grow into active members of the technological society we are currently living in. We need to wake up and realize that the information that can help our students learn might not be on paper, it might be on/through a screen.

Project #12 - Book Trailer

Project #10 - Personal Learning Network (PLN or PLE)

The progress of my PLN is exactly that, progress. I am slowly but surely gathering people and tools to better my educational experiences and sources. I'm doing this through Symbaloo and also Google Chrome Bookmarks. I'm following a couple of blogs of teachers, principals, and classmates that I find to be helpful and interesting. Such as The PrincipalsPage.com, MindShift-How we will learn., and Paige Ellis's Blog. I have a lot more THINGS on my PLN compared to people so my current focus is finding more people to add.

Blog Assignment #7

"Randy Pausch's Last Lecture"

This video/lecture was so inspiring. In the video Dr. Pausch talks about his childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and so much more! He also talks about "brick walls" which to him are "there for us to show how badly we want something". Brick walls are things that get in the way of our dreams. Dr. Pausch also says that, "brick walls are there to stop the people that don't want it badly enough." I found both of these comments to be refreshing and very motivational.

Dr. Pausch said, "Most of what we learn, we learn indirectly (or by "head fake"). In my opinion this couldn't be truer. When people are having fun and are really interested in something they soak up everything that surrounds that certain "thing". I think this was defiantly one of Dr. Pausch's teaching methods. Let the students have fun and they will learn in return.

I also think that Dr. Pausch had a similar motto to EDM310's "I Don't Know. Let's Find Out." He mentioned in the lecture that there's a good way and a bad way to say "I don't know". When you approach something you don't know with a positive attitude and with the willingness to actually find out what it is that you don't know, you are much more likely to find the answer. When you approach "I don't know" with negativity and frustration, most likely the road to the answer is going to be a bumpy one.

One comment Dr. Pausch made that I will certainly remember for a very long time was, "I, like Moses, get to see the promise land but I won't get to set foot in it. And that's OK because I can see it. And the vision is clear. Millions of kids having fun while learning something hard." This was just so eye opening to me. Dr. Pausch knew that he wouldn't be around to see all of the amazing things that his students and people everywhere would create or accomplish. And that was OK with him because he knew in his heart that it was going to happen, he knew the possibilities were there, the possibilities are HERE.

Project #11-Short Movie

Project #9b - Instructional Timetoast - The Making of The Statue of Liberty

C4T #2

For C4T #2, I commented on two different posts from Michael Smith's Principals Page - The Blog. I absolutely LOVE his blog! I spent hours looking at his posts and literally laughing out loud! I would highly recommend subscribing to Mr. Smith's blog and following him on Twitter.

The first post I commented on was "Kindergarten Kids Remind Me of Las Vegas". In this post Mr. Smith talks about how excited Kindergartners are to be at school. How they love to color, play, and count! Mr. Smith jokes that it's an unwritten practice that anytime an administrator is having a bad day, they head down to the Kindergarten classrooms. There's just something about their excitement and innocence that can make someone in the worst mood feel better!

This is the comment I left for Mr. Smith:

Hi Mr. Smith,
I am a student in Dr. Stranges’ EDM310 course at the University of South Alabama and I was assigned to comment on your blog. I want you to know that I absolutely love your blog, I think you’re hilarious. I read several of your posts but I picked this post to comment on because I hope to teach Kindergarten. Like you said, there’s just something about Kindergartners and all their enthusiasm that warms my heart! Thank you for sharing! I will definitely be back to check out more of your posts!

Mr. Smith actually wrote me back and said:

Thanks for the comment.
My wife and I love South Alabama.
Good luck with your class and if there's ever anything I can do to help, please let me know.
Michael Smith

*This is actually the first response that I've gotten back from one of my C4T's so I was really excited about it!


The next post of Mr. Smith's that I commented on was titled "Unrealistically High Self-Esteem". In this post Mr. Smith talks about his daughter and how she really shows no desire to fit it with her classmates. One comment he made really stuck with me and made me smile, he said, "She prides herself of going down a path where she’s the only traveler." In the rest of his post Mr. Smith talks about how his daughter is at the age when most children (especially girls) just want to fit in. They want to be like everyone else. But she just doesn't care.

This is the comment I left for Mr. Smith:

Hi Mr. Smith,
I’m back! This is Kristen from Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama!
The fact that you call your daughter “Evil Spawn” literally made me “laugh out loud”. Take my advice: Be thankful she doesn’t care! This is coming from a girl who (not too long ago) went down “I Have To Be Like Everyone Else” Road and “What If I’m Not Like Everyone Else” Boulevard. They are awful, awkward, and scary streets! Unfortunately, I felt the pressure to be like everyone else. I would like to think that I didn’t always give in but sometimes I did. My younger sister on the other hand, “dances to the beat of her own drum” and I admire her so much for that. She simply “doesn’t care”. Even now that I’m older and don’t feel those pressures as much…I still wish that I had her carefree attitude! So again, BE THANKFUL! Hopefully (for you), she will have this attitude throughout her teenage years as well! If not, good luck!

Blog Assignment #6

Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student

I absolutely loved this video! I think the possibilities of being a networked student or teacher are endless and exciting! If students will enter these opportunities with open, determined minds I believe only good could come from this. As I watched this video and other ones that we have watched this semester, I can only help but think "what if?" What if I would have had these opportunities when I was in middle/high school? How would I have handled it?

I know that discipline would probably have been a problem for me. BUT in my opinion this somewhat answers the question, "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" Discipline, Encouragement, and Direction! That's what the teacher is needed for! To help guide the networked student and encourage them to keep going. Like the video said, the teacher helps the student weed out bad information. The teacher shows the way when the student reaches a dead end and doesn't know where to turn. The teacher can show the networked student how to communicate properly and celebrate with them when they make amazing discoveries. I believe that I am ready to be a teacher to a networked student if or when the time comes. My goal as a teacher is to help students learn in the best way that I can. If that way happens to be mostly through a computer, that's fine with me!


A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)

I thought that the girl in the video did an amazing job! I can't believe that at the time of the video she was only in the 7th grade! There were actually a lot of similarities between our PLN's(PLE's). The major similarity was the way that things were organized. I have a lot of my things organized by line and top to bottom like she does. More than looking at just her PLN, I was amazed by how organized and efficient she was. I can only hope that the children I will be teaching will be as mature and organized as she seemed!

C4K - September Summary

In September I commented on 3 different students blog posts. I absolutely love getting to explore and comment on the "kids" blogs! I catch myself smiling every time I start to read one of their posts.

The first student I was assigned to was Moses. Moses is a Year 8 student at Point England School in Auckland, NZ. The post I commented on was about "Silly Sports". In his post Moses described how each of the classes at Point England were divided up and participated in like a P.E./set of obstacle courses. This was my comment to Moses:

Hi Moses!

My name is Kristen Phelps and I am also in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama, USA, like Gina above. We were both assigned to comment on your blog. I want to start out by saying that I love your blogs background and layout. It looks like you really put a lot of work into it!
I really enjoyed reading your "Silly Sports" post. I wish that they would have had such fun activities at my school when I was your age. I really liked how you started out your post by saying, "Squishy, muddy, sweaty, screaming. Those were my thoughts from yesterday. Silly sports! Who would of thought of that?" That was a great way to get your readers attention. I know it got mine! I also liked the way that you described the 3 legged race. I am 21 years old and I have never done a 3 legged race but, your post makes me want to try! Thanks for allowing us to look at your blog, I am truly impressed. Have a great week. I can't wait to see what you post next!

The next week I was assigned to Alyssa. Alyssa's post was titled "Places I'd Like To Go". In the post she listed a couple of different places she'd like to visit and why. This was my comment to
Alyssa:

Hi Alyssa!
My name is Kristen Phelps and I’m in Dr. Stranges’ EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. As part of my grade for his course I get to comment on your blog!
Those are some really awesome places that you picked! I have actually been to the beach, Disney World, and New York! I am very fortunate and actually live only about 15 minutes from the beach. It is so beautiful and something I hope you get to see one day. I actually got to go to Disney World for the first time a couple of years ago. Disney World is one of those places that no matter how old you are it is still so much fun! I actually just went to New York for the first time in June. It is a place that you have to see to believe! There are so many huge buildings and so many people everywhere! It was definitely the best trip I have ever been on! Hopefully, I’ll get to go back someday.
I’m sure if you study hard and keep focused that one day you will be able to visit all of these places and many more! Thank you so much for letting me read your post!

For my last student in September I was assigned to Kevin. Kevin is apart of the "St. Elmo's Explorers" who just recently, thanks to Ms. Lucy Buffet, were given some iPads to use in their classroom! I read and commented on Kevin's "Thank You" letter to Ms. Buffet. This was my comment:

Hi Kevin,

My name is Kristen and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama and I was assigned to read YOUR letter to Lucy! It was so sweet of you to take the time to write Lucy a thank you letter and I'm sure she appreciated it! It looks to me like you and your classmates are really enjoying the iPads. I wish I would have had access to iPads when I was in school. I know you guys will have tons of fun with them! Keep up the great work!