Final Project - My First Classroom

Project # 15

Special Assignment - Mr. McClung's World

In looking at Mr. McClung's blog, he has constructed it in a very organized manner. Mr. McClung gives the student's in his class every resource they will need in order to pass a class. He tells the students what materials they will need, gives study guides, procedures for doing an assignment, and so much more.

Mr. McClung as an educator, shows his students how important it is to be organized and the meaning of hard work. He is also training the students for the future. All teachers should visit his site and see what he has done. Mr. McClung is a supporter of teachnology in the classroom.

I like the way Mr. McClung had laid out his rules for the class. Every student should know what is expected of them. In rule number five he says "Keep your dear teacher happy." This is a good rule for any student to remember. He shows how he uses teaching strategies that focus centrally about team/partner work, with rule No. 2, "I expect you to talk in class, communicate with your classmates."

I thought his procedures were great. I loved the way he wanted student's to responde to him with the gestures. I also thought the way he got their attention was very interesting and something I might use. The one that was nice to me was when he says "'Teach - OK". When I say teach you say O.K. After you say O.K. you then turn to your neighbor and teach them what you have learned. This method would keep students engaged in the classroom.

Under Everyone Needs, the first thing you see is a Day Planner and the supplies a student will use for this class. Every student needs a Day Planner, to stay organized. Mr. McClung is showing his students that it is their responsibility to know dates that assignemnts are due, and preparing them again for the future.

His penalties for being late on assignments are about average for eighth graders. I like his make up work policy and the way he keeps hand-outs from class in a file folder in the right coern of the classroom. This is a good way for the student, he knows where to go to get his work, when missing a day of school.

I think Mr. McClung is trying to show how important technology is in teaching. Technology can make learning fun for students. Technology can also make teacher's jobs better. He is showing the many ways technology can be used in the teaching field and that all teachers should be involved with technology for their students. Teachers that are not using technology must change.

I visited two of the links provided by Mr. McClung. The first one was his Biology Corner. This link was amazing. In taking Biology at the University of South Alabama four years ago, I would have loved to use this site. It would have helped me to get a better grade. The Biology Corner had worksheets by topic such as Anatomy, Other Organisms, Frog Dissection, Evaluation, Ecology, Plants, DNA, Cell Parts, and so much more. He uses puzzles to challenge them to answer questions. He has websites students can go on to compare and contrast parts of animals and plants. It was unbelievable. This teacher really shows how much it means to him, for his students to succeed. The other link was Hisotry. This link had notes/past papers, worksheets, syllubus, History resources, and exercises for the students to do. The site covered just about any history you wanted to know about such as European and Maltese History. Both of these links were unbelievable. I could not find his rules for Internet Safety, but would guess that they would be awesome.

In Mr. McClung's blog anybody could use it. In taking Biology four years ago at the University, I would have loved to have known about his blog. There are so many resources on his blog that any student would be blessed knowing about his blog. Most teachers usually just put up their student's assignments and due dates. They usually put up slides or notes, but his site is so much more.

Instructional Video

Blog Post 12

Learning about the iPad 2

Write a post about how the IPad2 could be used by a teacher in education. In your post tell whether as a college student, if you would benefit better by buying your books from the University book store or by downloading them to the iPad2. Last, tell us whether you would buy an IPad2, and why you answered yes or no. You may view information on the IPad2 on http://www.apple.com/education/ipad/.

Apple says that with the IPad2, "the classroom is always at your fingertips" and "that iPad apps are expanding the learning experience both inside and outside the classroom." The IPAD2 has a feature on it that I think would benefit any student. On Apple's iTunes U there are more than 350,000 free lectures, videos, books, and pod casts from learning institutions all over the world.
With iBooks, it's a convenient way to browse, sample, and buy books. When checking the price of a math book at the campus store, the price was one hundred and twenty-five dollars. When I checked the price to download the same book it ran forty-nine dollars and ninety-five cents, a saving of seventy-five dollars and five cents. On the average a college student usually buys four books a semester. To me this alone is would be worth buying an iPad2.
With video mirroring and the Apple digital AV adapter, Apple says "your HDTV or HD projection screen becomes a bigger version of your iPad." Video mirroring makes it possible to teach using educational iPad apps, movies, videos, and more.
The iPad is great for students that have a vision impairment or have a hearing impairment. It comes with a screen reader, support for playback of closed captioned content, and other universal access features.
The i Pad also has a calendar for staying on track. You can take notes in class on it with maps, you can view maps from above with high-resolution satellite imagery, or up close with street views.
The iPad2 in my opinion. is great for the teacher in helping her in the classroom, and yes I will be adding it to my list of things I need.

Blog Post 11

First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class
To me, this was the best video I have watched out of all the assignments we have had to do in EDM310. When the video started it showed you when these students were to graduate in 2025. It was amazing to me to see the first graders so interested in learning. They were using lab tops, writing on blogs, and so many more things. I didn't write on a blog until I was in college.
These first graders were also using the internet to learn about traditions and communicating with others through the internet about ways to learn. I could not believe that in the first grade this was becoming a common thing all over the world.
What really impressed me was how engaged they were in learning. The students looked so excited about what they were doing and the way they were learning. This made me stop and think if they are learning this in the first grade now, what will the be learning in the first grade in 2025?

Ms. Cassidy Skype in EDM310

Ms. Cassidy's approach to the use of technology in the classroom is wonderful. I think she has the right idea about not matching pictures of the students with their names on the internet. This is a very good safety strategy. Having parents sign a permission slip is also a must for all teachers.
She brings out a very good fact that children love an audience, and by blogging the students get to have the whole world as their audience. As she also reminds us, kids like to be seen and heard. It really surprised me , that the parents liked the idea of their children being able to use Skype at school.
I feel one of the problems a teacher may have is no support from their principals, or a helper as Ms. Cassidy had. But as we are reminded every day, technology is not going away, so our school administrators have to accept this and stop handicapping their students.
Technology today is part of every students life, whether they are at school or home. It is up to teachers like Ms. Cassidy to get the program going in schools all over the United States, so as the government says, no child left behind, will really happen. Because, without technology in our scholls, our children will be left behind.
As a fellow learner, I will urge students to develop their PLN's as soon as possible, so they can learn and communicate to others anywhere in the world.

Blog Post 10

An-open-letter-to-educators

In Morgan Bayda's video she says "that she is glad that she is not afraid of change and is willing to embrace new ways of learning." I would have to say until recently I was one of the ones who didn't want to embrace change. After taking EDM310, I am now aware of how important it is in society for change. In the class of EDM310, I am encouraged constantly to collaborate in multiple ways with my classmates and other widespread members of my PLN through blogging and other ways. Even outside of school, the digital forums I've learned about have opened up so many opportunities for me.
As Morgan states that she sometimes struggles to stay awake in class, I think this is true for a lot of students. A lot of classes do need to be changed, but I still think all classes should have a teacher available for help, when students need them. A good teacher could make a big difference in a student's life.

Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home

The question that Tom Johnson asksis, What really is Education? Mr. Johnson drops out of school because he says that his schooling was interfering with his education. I agree the world is changing and that schools must change in order to keep up with the world, but I don't think dropping out of school should be the answer.
Mr. Johnson has a lot of good points that are made in the video. One, is that the Internet is the best thing that has ever happened to the human population. Second, that text books do not cost a lot of money and a lot of times are never used. Third, grades are usually given on how many facts you can memorize and not what you can do. Education should be changed in some ways to prepare students for our changing world.

Blog Post 9

What I've Learned This Year
In watching "What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung, I would have to say that I agree with almost all of his comments. An important decision he made in his life was to stay positive. Staying positive in any case can definitely change the outcome of the situation.
Mr. McMlung has the right suggestions for teachers. Lessons do not need to be student centered and teachers need to check that their students are comprehending what they are teaching. The advice, no lesson is ever perfect, the lesson you teach and the one you plan are always different, they still should be taught with a smile on your face.
The best part of the video to me was about communication. Every teacher needs to know how to communicate with their students, the students parents, fellow teachers, and everyone that is working with them in the community. Mr. McClung says, "Communication is the best medicine, it can resolve any issue in the workplace", or any place for that fact.
Mr. McClung also says "Our job as teachers is to simply pick them up after they fail, dust them off, and encourage them to try again." To me so many teachers forget students are in their classrooms to learn. I would hope that all of my students will be able to come and ask me questions and that I will never make them feel stupid or left out.
In closing Mr. McClung states it all "Don't be afraid of technology, technology is our friend and is essential to living in our microwave society of today." You should never stop learning.