Blog Post #5

Dreaming Up Schools



After exploring her blog, I found that Venspired by Krissy Venosdale is an excellent site to be used by teachers. I absolutely love her blog, in fact I subscribed to it by email already. I discovered a post that I believe every teacher and every future teacher should read, What's Not Written in Our Curriculum. In this post, Krissy basically says to do what you love and help students find their passion along the way. I also found a post which spoke directly to me, Day 3: Photography in the Classroom. This post called out to me because I love photography, so I began reading. Krissy introduces ten ways to incorporate photography in a classroom. I love this idea! The projects sound amazing and so much fun, allowing the students to play around with photography and get behind the camera.

In If I Built a School,Krissy talks about what her school would be like if she was able to build one from scratch. This is quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever read! Throughout the post, you can sense her passion she has for learning. Her vision for what a school should be goes right along with mine. The feeling that kids wouldn’t be there by force, but because learning is so stinkin’ awesome they would want to be there, all the time. Being handed over a property and being told that I can build a school of my own there and that anything I say goes, is something that I have actually thought about beforehand. I can honestly say I wouldn’t even know where to begin. However, since we are only dreaming. I would want my school to be, in a word, EPIC. Everything would be colorful and give off a happy vibe. Much of the school I have created in my mind is almost the same as Krissy’s, a treehouse indoors, café set up cafeteria, and different classes the kids chose themselves to take. The thing that I struck me as most special in Krissy’s imaginary school was the teachers’ parking spots. I absolutely love the idea of each teacher having “a sign decorated by a student that would tell them what they mean to them. So, it would be the first, and last, thing that teacher sees every single day throughout the school year.” That is just beautiful. I know that it would be my favorite part of everyday as a teacher. I also like the “grade levels” that she created. Each student “leveling up” based on their readiness, not their age. Reading this post made me want to go back to elementary school even more than usual. As long as I can go to her school!


Using Internet in a New Way

After watching and listening to Eric Whitaker's Virtual Choir and the NPR Interview, I couldn’t even describe my thoughts. This was the most amazing and cool thing I’d ever seen! I knew the internet brought people from across the globe together, but this was even better. I loved the way Eric Whitaker said it in the interview, “all of these individuals… alone in their rooms… brought together… so that we can BE ALONE TOGETHER.” Through this choir, not only was beautiful music made, but these people from all different countries were instantly connected. I could have never imagined something like this or thought it possible to create. This completely blew my mind and truly amazed me.

As far as Jennifer Chamber's blog post goes, I completely agree with the title. “I think I have become a Blogger.” I have wanted to start a blog for a long time, but never had the time or the knowhow. Through this class, however, I have learned not only how to blog but how much fun it is to get your ideas out into the world. I am currently compiling a list of ideas for my future personal blog.


Teaching: That's SO 20th Century

In Teaching in the 21st Century, Kevin Roberts presents the tough question all teachers and future teachers are asking themselves, “What does it mean to teach in the 21st century?” The role of teaching has drastically changed in the last decade. With the amount of technology in everyday life, students… actually anyone can have the answer to any question in their homes, hands, and pockets. Anything can be “googled” in a matter of seconds. If that is the case, what is the point of teaching facts, dates, theories, information, etc.? Kevin Roberts shows the different skills which need to be taught and the different questions which need to be asked. Instead of prohibiting the use of technology tools, we need to teach students the skills of how to use them correctly.

I personally believe that he is correct and this is the approach we as educators need to take in the classroom. This presentation brought up many homework questions and activities that I would love to use one day in my own classroom. We must ask students to use the technology available to find the answers, but ask them to also evaluate and analyze why the answer they find is correct. This abundance of technology also allows students to create for themselves, rather than just looking at what others have created. This “theory” will change the classroom forever.


Flipping Classrooms

Why I Flipped My Classroom taught me some very valuable information. I really enjoy the idea of flipping a classroom. After watching Katie Gimbar’s video and her FAQ videos, I would really like this to be the way my future classroom is set up. A lot of the questions she answered were questions I had while watching the original video which was extremely helpful. However, I am still a little skeptical of how this would work in a classroom which teaches multiple subjects. Dr. Lodge McCammon's FIZZ and Ms. Munafo's Flipping the Classroom both presented the same information as Katie Gimbar’s video. This style of teaching is wonderful and what I would love to do one day.

After watching all of these videos, I decided I might as well explore the website they all were suggesting. I found that the Friday Institute website not only had an area for teachers, but also for undergraduates. The FIZZ program trains both teachers and undergrads to flip their classrooms. Both current teachers and students can apply and complete assignments to receive a certificate for teaching in a flipped classroom. This is a program that I am extremely interested in applying for in my future.

However, then I think about my future. What I am planning and would love to do is to teach the deaf. This approach is something that would not work in this type of classroom. If I instead end up in a “normal” elementary classroom, I will absolutely implement this teaching method. This is something that I will remember in the future and consider if it can be used in my classroom.

My Sentence Video

Blog Post #4

First Grade Podcasting

I have never made a podcast before, and I would never think it was something to be used in a classroom. In 1st Graders Create Their Own Read-Along Audiobook and Podcasting with First Grade, I learned exactly how it can be used in a classroom. This seems like a project which allows the students to learn while they enjoy themselves quite a bit. I found it very interesting that the “shy and quiet students were coming out of their shell.” I was a very shy child, and still am, but I love to break quiet and shy children out of their shells. Podcasting, according to these articles, seems to be just the trick!

The Flat Stanley Podcast was my favorite. I love Flat Stanley and enjoy making them too. Listening to the children talk about different places around the universe was awesome. Of course, I loved hearing about Alabama, although I think they should have learned to say “War Eagle” instead. This shows an amazing way to use podcasts and fun activities to teach children about other places.


Podcasting Language

While reading Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting, I couldn’t help but think of my senior year of high school. My friends and I were taking our fourth year of Spanish with the same teacher. I loved our teacher, and loved the language. In my third year of Spanish I was pretty good at speaking Spanish. Then because there wasn’t enough room or time in the day, our class was combined with Spanish 3. Our teacher would have to spend one or two day with Spanish 3 and the next one or two days with us. It got to be very confusing. At the end of the year I had given up on Spanish, and ultimately lost the majority of my Spanish-speaking abilities. This article talks about using a podcast to teach language through listening- comprehension, speaking skills, and fluency. After reading, I think that if we had spent our year of Spanish 4 creating podcasts and editing them, I would have been able to practice and keep the language easier.


Education: Podcast Style

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom taught me many different ways that podcasting can be used in the classroom. This generation of students is very technology based, “they haven’t experienced life without technology.” Joe Dale proves this with some shocking statistics. 10,000 hours are spent playing video games, 10,000 more hours spent on the phone and 20,000 hours spent watching TV. Students today need a technology based learning which they will be familiar with. Podcasts can be used in all sorts of ways to help students learn, from them creating their own podcasts, podcasts being used to help sick children keeping up, and parents being able to know exactly what is happening in the classroom.

Judy Scharf Podcast Collection is a very helpful site which covers all the ins and outs of podcasts. First off it explains what a podcast is exactly, which is nice. It also gives some benefits of podcasting in education. For example, podcasts are available 24/7, it isn’t a learning tool which can only be accessed in the classroom during class time, and therefore there are no excuses for missing anything. Podcasting also allows for students to enhance their communication skills. Communication is used in everyday life. Thus, it is pertinent to be an effective communicator. Students creating their own podcasts can help them to learn how to communicate; what to and what not to do. There is also a lot of information on how to start a podcast. This is something that will be very beneficial to me when starting our podcast for EDM310, because I have never made one before.

Project #5 Presentation

C4T #1

Flexibooks?

I read and responded to 2¢ Worth’s post The Purpose of Textbooks. The one I read was “The Purpose of Textbooks: Part 2”, therefore, I felt I also needed to read Part 1. Throughout both posts, David Warlick talks about textbooks and how the purpose is changing. Years ago when the availability of information was scarce, education was based on remembering. Today however, because of the abundance of technology, education is based on being “skillfully, resourceful and responsible learners.” He goes on in Part 2 to say how we don’t necessarily need textbooks, what we need is “flexible digital textbooks.” Ones that can grow and change with the student as he learns new information, something that can be kept for life to constantly change and adapt. “Learning tools need not be turned in at the end of the course, but carried on, edited, adapted and grown.” When I commented, I focused first on the idea of a “flexible digital textbook.” I wish I could have a ‘textbook’ that changed with me and showed the knowledge I have gained. However, textbooks cannot be completely thrown out; they serve as an excellent springboard for deeper research. Also, many students aren’t motivated enough to be without a given text to know. Maybe these students need a flexible textbook rather than, as Dr. Strange would say, burping back the information put into their heads.


Taxes for Kids

When I went back to David Warlick’s blog 2 weeks later, I read “World Tax Comparisons” by Ryann Warlick. In this post, Ryann gives an excellent conversation starter to be used in a classroom. She gives a link to an infograph (photo above) and instructions of how to use it in the classroom. First, discuss with students why taxes are needed, what sort of things tax money is used for, and think about “what would the world would be like without the government having money.” Then show the students the infograph. She then poses questions to ask the students and find ways, other than taxes, which the government could use to gather the necessary funds. I found this extremely interesting. I would love to hear what sort of things the kids would come up with. Even some adults could come up with some funny stuff. After exploring this blog a little more, I found there are tons of fun activities like this which could easily be used in a classroom. I plan to keep up with this blog and use some of the methods demonstrated in my own classroom.

Special Blog Post #1

Searching WolframAlpha

When I searched WolframAplha to “Compare the Population of India, China, and the United States” I found that India and China have even more of a lead on the U.S. than I had previously thought. China has the largest population with 1.35 billion people. India isn’t far behind China with 1.21 billion people. The United States only has 309 million people. We don’t even have half a billion people, and China almost has one and a half billion! That’s incredible. WolframAlpha also showed the life expectancy of each country. I found it really interesting. The people of India are only expected to live to be 69.9, and China’s life expectancy is 73.5. What I found the most interesting is that although the U.S. has the smallest population, the life expectancy is the highest with 78.1. I’m not sure what this says about these countries, I just found it cool.

I continued to use India, China and the United States for my second and third comparative searches. For my second search, I compared the number of students in each of these countries. WolframAlpha gave way more information than I ever expected. I not only found the number of students total in each country, I also found the number of students specifically in elementary school and high school and college. I was also told the number of teachers for elementary and high schools and also the student-to-teacher ratio. In total, India has the most students with 251.3 million people in school. China follows with 233.3 million people. Again, the U.S. is last with 67.62 million. But again, we must consider the population. By doing some math, I found that this means, 20.8% of India’s population is considered a student; 17.3% of China’s population is considered a student; and 21.9% of the U.S. population is considered a student. So it may appear that we have the least amount of students, but the U.S. has the highest percent of the population in school right now. I think that’s pretty cool!

For my third comparative search, I compared the number of internet users in India, China and the United States. Again WolframAlpha blew me away with information. In one second I knew how many people in 3 countries across the globe were paying for internet. I also was able to know the number of people in each country which were using all different types of technology. For example, cell phone plans, television/cable users, even newspaper subscriptions. China has the highest number of internet users – 516.1 million (that’s more than the entire population of the United States!) 243.8 million people use the internet in the United States. Only 125 million people use the internet in India. Another thing I thought was cool about WolframAlpha was that it also gives you graphs and charts so that visual people can understand it easier and more information can be shared. For example, I learned that although China has the most internet users, this huge spike only occurred in the last four years.

I feel that WolframAlpha could be used greatly in a classroom. This site has information on anything you could possibly imagine! Which means it is great for personal use and learning, and also for students. I was already somewhat familiar with WolframAlpha, because this is the site used by Apple’s Siri. There have been many questions my friends and I have asked Siri, and a WolframAlpha search pops up as her response. This site is great for students of all ages. It is very easy to use and holds a ton of information. Kids could easily and quickly use this site to find information for themselves or for school projects.


Social Media Changing the World Forever… and FAST

Social Media Count is a website which shows in real time the number of all sorts of social, mobile, gaming, and heritage things happening around the world. Above, I’ve included a screenshot of how many things happened in one minute on all different social websites. Going to the site and watching how fast the numbers change kind of made me dizzy! But it’s interesting to see. In ONE MINUTE, there were 2,237,038 likes and comments made on Facebook!!! I can’t even wrap my mind around that. Social media is taking over the world! And it’s not something we can stop. Instead, we have to go along with it and find ways to include these things in our classroom in an educational way. Honestly, this stresses me out a little bit to think about.

Blog Post #3

Peer Editing

Peer Editing is a video used to teach students how to peer edit. I found it nice that they chose to define “peer” and “editing” separately before defining “peer editing.” Peer editing has been an important part of most of my education thus far. However, I feel this video would have helped me grasp the correct way to peer edit faster when I was first learning. This is a great tool I can use in my own classroom. The teacher who created this presentation also used it to present the kids assignments. Tutorial Peer Editing presents the same information as the video above, but in a slide show that would be very easy to use in a classroom, where you could slow down and make sure the students understand the information.

My favorite was Writing Peer Review TOP 10 Mistakes. First of all, those kids did some great acting, I know my 4th and 5th grade classes wouldn’t have been able to pull off this video at all. Aside from the cute kids, this video makes great points. I know that I personally have been Picky Patty, Whatever William, Jean the Generalizer, Mean Margaret, Off-Task Oliver, Speedy Sandy and Defensive Dave at some point. That’s seven of the top 10 mistakes that I know I have made. What about you? Peer editing, like everything, takes practice. It isn’t something you can automatically do, it must be mastered. I’ve been peer editing for about 13 years now, and I still am not fabulous at it. Sure, I can tell you most things that are wrong with something, but am I doing it right? Am I being nice? Or am I taking it nicely? It’s definitely something to think about and work on.


Assistive Technologies

This section of the assignment really called out to me, because I would like to teach a deaf classroom. After watching these videos, I am also thinking about the possibility of teaching a blind classroom. I had never thought about the technology options available to hearing or vision impaired students. The Mountbatten is a marvelous invention which allows blind students to type, take notes and keep up in a classroom. I believe that all students should be taught about these types of disabilities. Technology like this could be used in a normal classroom in order to teach all children about disabilities, and also how to use this technology.

As a math lover, I found Teaching Math to the Blind extremely interesting. It never occurred to me that learning math is tremendously difficult for blind students. This device which Professor Art Karshmer developed is amazing. Blind students can now learn the basic math which otherwise would be very hard for them, simply because the way math is written isn’t “standard” for them.

The VoiceOver option, used in iPad Usage For the Blind and Teaching Mom What Her Deaf/Blind Child Is Learning On the iPad, wasn't completely new to me, I have seen this used before. However, I played around on my personal iPad to view all the features available to students with different types of disabilities. I discovered, not only are there options for the blind, there are also many options for deaf students, and handicapped students, who may not have complete motor skills.

These technologies will be used in my classroom. Even if I don’t end up in a disabled classroom, I would want my students to learn about these cultures so that they may know how to react in real life. Also to learn the adaptations which the deaf and blind must adjust to, in order to accomplish what “normal” students find so easy.


Student's Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis brings up many great points in Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts. I really liked her take on looking at the students’ strengths and interests and adapting the flow of the classroom to each group of students. Each student learns differently, therefore, there must be a way in order for each student to be taught. As Davis says, “When you have only paper, and only pencil, then only certain types of children are going to succeed.” Linking the students through the internet with people across the world was really cool too. Kids need to learn how to collaborate with others. That is a part of every “real world job” out there. Students might as well get used to it now. Having students work with other students from other countries not only helps their “people skills,” but also teaches them about other cultures.

After exploring Edutopia a little, I discovered amazing tools I can use now to get ready for my own classroom. They have blogs, videos and guides for anything a teacher could think of needing. There is even an option for looking by grade level. I even found a couple of parenting guides, summer ideas and ways to help your school go green. I also found a classroom guide which I feel pertains directly to EDM310, Classroom Guide: Top Ten Tips for Teaching with New Media. This is an awesome website, which I will use for my own classroom.

Blog Post #2

Did You Know

The video Did You Know? brought up many facts that I did not know, but I wasn’t completely surprised by them. The world is changing so fast. Technology is changing every second. Someone is always coming up with new things to “better our lives.” The video brought up the fact that “we are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist; using technologies that haven’t been invented in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems.” In all honesty, that scares me; I can’t even imagine that.

I personally know two mothers who parent in very different ways. My best friend’s mother is what some call old-fashioned. She is an older mom with seven children, her youngest being seven. Her kids have so many restrictions on what technology they can use at what times. All of her many children are great students. They make wonderful grades and are all readers. On the other hand, my cousin, who is a newer mom, her oldest being seven this week, shows a whole new side of parenting. Her son is constantly watching tv, playing Wii, or playing on his very own iPad. I am not criticizing his mother; it is simply the new age of parenting. That seven year old is brilliant (which he always has been - knowing the difference between an orca whale and a killer whale when he was two.) He read more novels in one summer than I have in three years. He even read the King James Version of the Bible twice! I don’t know how much the presence of technology has affected him, because I know that a lot of it comes naturally to him. However, I do believe that it has had some major impact.

Technology is becoming more and more an active part of everyday life. We can’t even hang out with friends without constantly checking our cell phones. Many children nowadays have some sort of access to a computer, smart phone, gaming system, or some sort of technology 24/7. I feel it is our job as teachers and parents to teach children the smart ways to use these “smart” machines. Technology will have an impression on our kids’ lives, and we must decide if it will be for the good or the bad.


Mr. Winkle Wakes

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Matthew Needleman talks about how much in 100 years technology has changed. Mr. Winkle goes throughout a city full of office buildings and finds that all the technology and frustration (haha I liked that! Because technology is often very frustrating) was beginning to make him feel bad. Therefore, being a wise old man, he goes to the hospital. The hospital makes him feel worse! Technology is everywhere! Everywhere except school. Mr. Winkle finds that school is much like it was before his slumber. I really liked the comment that school “went on without interruptions from the outside world.”

However, this video is a little out of date. This video was only made four years ago, and already a lot has changed. While school is pretty much the same, teachers lecturing while students take notes. In the technology aspect, it is much different. In almost every classroom now there is a SMART board and at least one computer, if not many. Just look at EDM 310. Almost everything we do is online, where Dr. Strange can see it instantly while we aren’t even near the campus.

This isn’t happening only at the college level, this is also happening at an elementary level. While babysitting one day, the kids and I were watching the Disney Channel. A ten year old boy was being interviewed about an app HE CREATED. He made an app all by himself, at TEN! I wouldn’t even know how to begin something like that. His app was currently being used in his own school and he was gradually working on it being used nationally. His app was demonstrated on his iPad in his classroom. The teacher could post assignments, the students could submit their assignments (if the teacher chose), and they could take notes. This program reminded me of Sakai at South Alabama; however it was kid-friendly, created by a ten year-old. I would have never imagined this as a kid, much less known how to create it. The world is changing; therefore the people in it are too.


The Importance of Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson discusses many interesting thoughts in The Importance of Creativity. In the beginning he states, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” However, in our school system, and even in life, we are constantly putting pressure on those around us, especially kids to do the “right thing.” We don’t want to be wrong; we always want to be right.

He also talks about being “educated out of creativity.” When he said this I immediately thought of my all time favorite Broadway musical, Wicked. In this musical, my favorite character, Fiyero says, “The trouble with schools is they always try to teach the wrong lesson.” In a way, that is very true. Sir Robinson goes on to tell the story of Gillian Lynne and how if she had been in school in this day and age someone would have given her some pills and told her calm down. However, that wasn’t the case, she was a dancer. I think that is a powerful statement. Constantly more and more children are being medicated for a “condition.” Many of the cases are simply kids being kids. When I was working at Dauphin Way, we had one little girl that was very strong willed and hyper. The teacher came and talked to me about how the mother was having her tested. “That isn’t her problem,” she said, “She is only being a little girl.” I feel as though we give out these medicines too easily.

Sir Ken Robinson goes on to say when children are in school, there may be things he is very good at or enjoys. However, because these things aren’t in the top tier of the hierarchy, they are besmirched. As Sir Robinson says, we are given a great gift of human imagination. We need to use this gift wisely and also teach how to use it wisely. The video ends with Sir Robinson talking about the need to educate the WHOLE being, so that they can face their future. “We can’t see the future, but they will. Our job is to see that they will make something of it.”


PINTERESTing Classroom

Pinterest is a site that I have been using almost since it was created. I absolutely love it! I use it to organize everything. One of the first boards I created was “Teaching Corner,” in which I pinned things for my future classroom, or neat ideas for teaching.

In Four Ways to Use Pinterest in Education, I learned a new way to use Pinterest in my classroom. I never thought about allowing my students to use Pinterest to help with their class projects. It is perfect even for group projects because of the collaboration tool that is available.

From the article The 20 Best Pinterest Boards About Education Technology, I began to follow many new pinners. I chose the following: ‘Vicki Davis’ because she has more than 20 boards dedicated to teaching inspirations; ‘Edudemic’ and ‘Students Like Tech!’ because both of these pinners had a lot of infographics, and I am a huge fan of infographs; ‘Patricia Brown’ had 3 education boards and many other boards I love for my personal life; ‘Twitter Resources, Apps, and Tools’ which has a lot of information about twitter which I could use for EDM 310 and beyond; and ‘Ed Tech Articles’ and ‘Technology’ simply because I liked many of their pins to use in my own future classroom.

I plan to continue using Pinterest for myself and pinning things I want to remember for my future classroom. In addition, I also plan to use these new found ideas in my classroom. I really like the idea of students using Pinterest to work on projects, “break the ice,” display their own artwork, etc. I also like the idea of using Pinterest to organize my classroom and allow the parents to stay up-to-date with what is happening in our classroom and what they need to know or remember.

Project #2 Wordle

Blog Post #1

About Me

Hi friends! My name is Katelyn Fleming. I was born and raised here in Mobile, Alabama. I attended Cottage Hill Christian Academy for 18 years, and am currently a sophomore at South Alabama pursuing an Elementary Education degree. I am a God loving Christian, raised in a good ol’ large southern family. I only have one sister; however I have many aunts and cousins which I am just as close to, if not closer. I am attending South Alabama mainly because of the location. I couldn’t stand to live far away from my family and miss out on our many parties (my family looks for reasons to have a party, from birthdays to surgeries to “We haven’t seen y’all in about a week!”). I love children and always have enjoyed working with them, which is why I am studying to become a teacher.

I like reading (always looking for new authors, series, or books), watching movies (mostly Disney classics), spending time with my best friend, Annie Hii, crafting (I LOVE crafts!!!) and sleeping (I love my naps). I also have a passion for being behind a camera. Ever since I was little I have loved playing around with a camera. For my sixteenth birthday my family gave me a Nikon D60 and I’ve been attached to it ever since. I especially love to take pictures of my many little cousins. In my opinion, children are the best to photograph because no matter how many poses or smiles we try to force on them, their true feelings will always show instead; therefore, a great picture will always be genuine. I am presently trying to learn to play the ukulele. I have never been musically inclined, but when I found a cheap ukulele online, I just had to get it, but I am finding that my lack of music skills is difficult to overcome. I also enjoy singing (I sound terrible, but I love it nonetheless).

This past summer I worked as a counselor at Dauphin Way Baptist Church’s summer camp program. I loved it so much I continued working throughout the past semester as a floater in their daycare department. I absolutely loved working with the children and getting to watch them grow and learn. I unfortunately had to quit because school was getting put on the back burner a little bit. I walked away from that job with new wisdom and many lessons learned. Aside from the experience, this job reassured me of my career path. I now know without any doubt that teaching is my calling and where God wants me to be.


My Future Classroom

I hope my classroom will be a little different than most students I graduate with, simply because I plan to teach the deaf. When I was younger and finally old enough to attend “Big Church,” I would rarely hear what the pastor was even saying. Instead I would be focused on the interpreter for the deaf section. I would watch that lady the whole time, trying to pick up on words that I could use every day. As I’ve grown, that hasn’t left me. One of my friends actually minored in ASL (American Sign Language) and has been teaching me a little. Since South Alabama doesn’t offer a minor in ASL, I plan to take all of the courses available to me, and work after graduation toward a Master’s degree in deaf education. However, this is something I am still thinking and praying about. I am not positive this is the road I will take, but for now it is a wonderful plan.

Other than ASL, I have a passion (a strange passion, some may say) for math. I have been fairly good at math throughout my many years of schooling. I can still remember the day we learned short division in third grade. My teacher held a competition of who could solve the division problem on the board the fastest. I was among the five to compete against my teacher! Of course she won, because we were all using long division. Amazed, we all took our seats and Mrs. Martin continued to describe how to use short division. I have many moments like that which I remember quite vividly of different techniques my own teachers used to teach us new ideas. I plan to take those memories and inspirations to use in my own classroom. Since I can remember the enjoyment I got out of learning short division through a competition, I plan to use that one day to teach my students.

I want my classroom to be a fun and happy place. I have had a teacher stand on her desk and sing and dance for us. I hope one day I can be as crazy and fun and surprising as she was. I hope that my students will enjoy learning as much as I did. I have been told, and experienced that if the teacher enjoys the subject matter, the kids will too. There are areas (like history and science) which I have hated all my learning days. These are the areas I feel I need to work on personally to figure out how to enjoy myself so that the children will not end up struggling through like I did. Because I am such a “crafty” person, I feel there will be a lot of arts and craft time in my class. English is also important to me because I am a stickler for good grammar. And as I said before I am a math person. I would like to teach 3rd or 4th grades mainly because this is when they get into what I consider “fun math.”

I think I am still stuck in my childhood days of playing school at home. I love a good old-fashioned chalkboard. However, technology is taking over. Don’t get me wrong, I like technology and enjoy playing with the SMART board in my cousin’s classroom. With the way technology changes so fast, I can’t positively say what my classroom will be like or how I will cope without colored chalk. What I do know is that I plan to put everything I have into being the best possible teacher I can be with whatever tools I am given. I want to inspire my students like so many of my teachers did for me.


Randy Pausch and Time Management

Randy Pausch talked about many interesting things in this video. I actually had to watch this clip twice before all of the information fully sunk in. The first thing he talks about is asking “Why am I doing this?” No one ever stops to think, why is this so important that it made its way onto my ‘to do list’? His next question goes hand in hand with this one “Why will I succeed?” This part is somewhat skipped over, but it’s an interesting thought. Not only why do it, but why do you need to do a good job? It’s something that I think everyone needs to figure out, even in the simplest of tasks. Pausch goes on to say it is much more important to do the right things, “It doesn’t matter how well you polish the underside of the banister.” You need to focus on the important things, instead of doing a fabulous job on something that doesn’t even matter. He says it is important to plan each day, each week and each semester. Personally, I am a lists fanatic! I make lists for everything; I wouldn’t be able to function without some sort of checklist for everything that I have to accomplish in the day! I even have a list for going to bed and what I need to do every night. But I never plan out a semester in advance. I have my calendars and syllabuses from my classes but I don’t look at them until the week before usually. This was an interesting concept that I am going to try to work on starting now. Another thing he pointed out was tackling the big tasks first. This is a common sense thought, but rarely put it action. It’s more comfortable to forget this and start off easy, accomplishing the small things. This is another area in which I plan to work on my personal habits.

A couple of years ago, I was introduced to Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” I laughed, cried and have tried to put his teachings into practice. I enjoyed it so much and learned so much from this one video. In fact, I watched the lecture again after watching this time management clip. When I first saw it, the idea of “enabling others childhood dreams” really stuck with me and helped along my decision of becoming an elementary teacher. I had planned on buying the book about his Last Lecture, however a few weeks went by and it was out of sight, out of mind. So, thank you, Dr. Strange, for reminding me about Randy Pausch and his book which I have purchased and awaiting its arrival.


Penn State’s Time Management Page

Many of the suggestions made in this article I was happy to find were things I was already doing. In the beginning of this week, I had already made a weekly schedule for myself and have been sticking to it. Some of the topics covered were things I hadn’t thought about and things I plan to include in my future study sessions; for example, keeping an extra notepad next to you while studying to jot down random thoughts in order to focus on the subject at hand. Another area which I am personally working hard on, is saying no. I have a hard time saying no when someone asks me to join them for lunch, help them or just hang out. If I am going to cut my procrastination habit and manage my time better, however, I am going to have to learn to say no. This page made a number of very helpful suggestions which I needed and will learn to implement into my personal life.

Test Post #1

Test Post #1