My PLN

I have found my PLN discovery a very challenging one. There is sooo much information and tools out there its almost overwhelming. Ive taken it one step at a time. I am really excited about using the skype in my future classroom. The possibilities are endless there. I do think that the gmail has a lot of great qualities that can replace windows applications and the gmail is free! Ive found the reader helpful with keeping up with the new posts on the class edm website.

Comments for Kids/Teachers

-Comments for kids:
+Shalom,
Your post really sounded delicious. I have never had homemade butter and bread before but from your description it seems like it would be great! Thank You for sharing.

Hi room 14,
Thank you for sharing your video with me I really enjoyed the message that you shared. What a creative way to get a message accross. I'm going to show this to my children and hope that they will Stop and Think on a daily basis.

+03/23/10
- Commented on Alyssa's Blog in Mrs Shelters class. She had some great points about elctronics.
_ Commented on Annita's spuf of American Idol they did. It was cute.

-Commented on Ananistasia's description of her first day back to school in the fifth grade.
02-28-10
-Commented on Mellville Room 8- I just commented at what great music facilities they had
-Commented on Oswart Bolgspot - They had beautiful pictures of floweres and vegestables that the students had grown and then taken photos
-Commented on avaco37.blog- this had students indiviua blogs about books that they had read and lectures they had listened to. My student was number 42.
-Meresideblog- From my understanding this was a tutorial of how to teach children to locate diff places on the earth

Comments for Teachers:

-Comments for Mr.Tom Whitby-

+Great Post! As an elementary education major in about my junior year of college, I still have not mastered the IWB. Many of my professors use this but I personally have not had any instructions or experience on it. I'm a hands on learner and look forward to the opportunity but with IWB's becoming such a big part of our educational system, shouldn't I have some instructions on how to operate one. I am taking an EDM class, which this post is part of, but we have not had any experience with IWB's.

+I think your comment that we should have indiviualized IEPs for every student instead of lesson plans is very insightful. It really seams like thats what education is comming to and it would be ideal in the long run but not time realistic. Looking at education as an industrial product is a new concept to me. I don’t see how that point of view can be productive. It does seem like that’s what society is doing they want a big payout with little investment in the educational industry. So, do you think teachers will receive a pay increase for a successful classroom or just a pay decrease for failing children. Enjoyed it!



03/27/03
-Commented on Mr Swoshi's Blog. He was infomoring everyone of prezi and asking for suggestions on how to get student's attention when using power point. Prezi is similar to power point put it doesnt consist of slides. The only thing bad about this tool is you have to pay for it.


- Following my teacher today and she found a really neat website that helps you develop your own. Its at snappages.com and its free. She shared another site to help create hotmail forms. This one is found at formsight.com. I tried to comment on her blog but for some reason it wasn't allowing me too. I am following her tweets now. Yea another teaching source added to my twitter.


02/28/2010


Update on my kids/teachers Comments

-I have commented on Dainne Krauses Blogs, there was a lot of information on her blog look forward to learning all the new information.

-

class Presentation

Week 6

Re: Richard Miller's This is how we dream

http://is.gd/2cfNk

I really enjoyed watching these movies. I found them to be very informative. The longer I'm in this class the more appreciation that I develop for technology. I've now came to the conclusion that its a necessity and not just a privilege to stay up to date with technology development.

One thing that really struck me was the comment that he made about the library. For the past three years of my college education I've only visited the library once. I can remember back in the day learning how important learning the Dewey decimal system was. I wonder what the librarian from twenty years ago feels about the filing system today.

The concept that the humanities and sciences needed to come together was really profound to me. I never consciously thought of them as different species but this really made me aware that they are viewed like that. What a great way to keep up with history and information and adding a since of attitude or feelings towards cold hard facts.

Our ideas are not our own they belong to society. I loved this. This gives us/me the freedom to put my opinion out there (hopefully educated) with the understanding that I'm not the only one with this thought or opinion. If it is a wrong opinion of offensive idea then there is a way to get feedback. I think the main thing to keep in mind with this statement is to keep an open mind and what better way or tool to use to discover the different cultures, opinions, and etc, than the net.

Re: Wendy Drexler's Watched the Networked Student

http://is.gd/2cgBb

For this video we are asked to explain why we need a teacher for network learning. The first reason would be because there is sooo much information out there. We need a teacher to help us contain it all and organize it to support or create a thought or theory. We need to know how to tell what information is correct or propaganda. A teacher that is network learning informed can help us learn to to those things.

Another reason a teacher is needed in using network learning is to teach us how to find the information that we need and to inform us how to ask for help from professionals.

Re: Micheal Welch's What ever


http://is.gd/3WVVZ

Great video, I really have a lot of thoughts after watching this one. I hope I can get them all in with out rambling. I want to address the narcissistic references, social anonymity, and industrial revolution.
There were several references to today's society being narcissistic. I think that term is thrown around way to much today. With today's awareness of the debate nurture v/s nature, i think society is in control of their own behavior to a great degree. A lot of narcissism are just a misconception to low self esteem. Some people have insecurities so they tend to overcompensate and then come across at the other extreme. We push our children to be narcissistic either as a parents and teachers. We are extensions of our parents and we all know they (usually) can see no wrong in their child. From a teacher's point of view, the student that exceeds the standard qualifications, either educationally or extracurriculars, those are the ones we are proud to say we taught.

The social unanimity that u-tube, blogging, and twitting gives us opens the doors for social exploration with out the consequences of being judged face to face. For someone that has social anxiety its a great tool to practice expressing themselves and receiving feedback. Now I'm aware that a lot of feed back is probably negative but it helps that person deal with confrontation. Not everybody is liked and on the same end one person is not disliked by anybody. Great idea for dealing with insecurities and grasping social information.

I just had to add this comment in here. This video really cemented my idea that has been creeping in my head. In world civilization we learn about the industrial age. How it was and still is such a controversial subject. But with out industry we would not have the conveniences today. True our air might be a lot cleaner but whatever. I think the technology revolution has really hit and I don't thing the older generations are aware. I'm glad I'm getting in now cause you know what they say, "better late than never".

Week 5

The Wikipedia is great source of information. But you do have to keep in mind that the information in it is ever changing. My thought is it can be used as a source of reference but not to make it your only source. Find other documents to back-up or argue the point your trying to get across. The blog did inform us that there is a source that is keeping track of who has made the changes on the Wikipedia subject. I think this is a great source of holding people that are careless responsible for purposefully misleading information.

Mr. McClung has a great idea in doing a journal. I think this is a great reference for new teachers and teachers that have taught for years. It just gives you a tool for reassuring yourself or getting ideas. This blog just lets you know that your not the only one going through a tough class or if your stuck on how to present a lesson you might find a fresh idea. Great Idea!

week 4

I watched a couple of the blogs and pod casts that were suggested. In the blog Langwitches it explained that people are sometimes reluctant when learning new things. It also informed us that when dealing with technology its not the program that we use that is important but its the skill that we learn as we use the program.

In one of the pod casts I reviewed it gives us great and common scenarios where new technology can be used to make life and information more accessible. The using skype for a child that is sick at home and doesn't want to miss important information is just a common sense conclusion. Pod casts also makes information adapt to your lifestyle instead of trying to adapt yourself around your information availability.