Blog Post #9

This week I looked explored Mrs, Katy Cassidy's technology programs she uses in her class. Mrs. Cassidy is a 1st grade teacher who has her own website that has different programs teachers can use in their classroom. In her interview with Dr. Strange, Mrs. Cassidy states that "ever teacher should be technology literate because technology is constantly changing", students are becoming more and more inclined to use technology. I will be implementing both a blog and a website for use by myself, the students, and the parents. With a blog and website, teachers will be able to receive feedback on their child's progress and see where in the lesson plan we are for the week as well as be able to tell what mandatory assignments their child should be doing and be able to ask me questions easily.

C4T #2

Summary of Post: Mrs. Paynter talked about how she was coming down with the cold but was excited to meet her colleagues out in Richmond Hill but became too sick and had to cancel her presentation. So she posted on her blog her slide presentation which talked about the use of blogging websites or other social media sites to help students,parents, and teachers stay connected.

Comment: Hello my name is Lucas Skinner and I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I enjoyed your presentation about blogging because blogging is very helpful in a teacher and students career. Blogging is an easier way for parents to feel closer to the teacher and understand what is going on in the classroom when all they have to do is go online to the class blog and see that such and such is due or ask a simple question to the teacher. Great post!

Summary of Post: Mrs. Paynter was sitting in the waiting room while her child was with the doctor and she overheard a little girl being excited about finding a red pencil to take back with her because she was in the "Red Group" at school. Mrs. Paynter goes on to wonder about what on earth the red group was and how it was decided that the little girl would be put into the red group. She then goes on to remind us that carefully planned group work will help students succeed in the classrom

Comment: Hello my name is Lucas Skinner and I am student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I have always agreed that students with similar needs should be put in groups together when it comes to group work just for the fact that it would be easier to help them all at once instead of individually. Your post made me thing about different types of grouping instead. Kids need to be diversified with the members of their group so they can all help each other. Great blog!

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch is an amazing teacher and his final lecture was nothing short of superb. He taught me that no matter how hard the obstacle gets, do not give up. Brick walls are their to weed out those who are dedicated enough to push through and persevere from those who easily give up. Another thing he taught me was that no matter how hard something may be, You will not make it alone. Having peers or parents or others who are there to help you will give you that extra strength you need to further yourself.

Project #13 PBL plan

The boston group's Project Based Learning plan was to have our 3rd grade kids study about different countries around the world then right a report and a trifold board about it then present it to the class.
"https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzW8r904E_A3UWRPRUx4RnV1aUU/edit?usp=drive_web"


"https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B06ixn_6buM9Y3YtSmk4MHh2Qm8/edit"


https://sites.google.com/site/edm310aroundtheworld/home

C4K February

My kids name I posted on was Sha Vaughn. She only had two posts. One was about how you should not drop out of school. She explains her thoughts on people who drop out end up becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol and have a child. She believes you should stay in school so you can get a good education and a good job.

Her other post was just a picture collage explaining things about her. She is a girl, her favorite color is purple, she is a picky person, fast, loves basketball, attends church, and many other things.

Project #9

Blog #6

PLN stands for Personal Learning Networks or Professional Learning Networks. In Steven Anderson's video "Building Your PLN- A Primer for Everyone", Anderson explains how PLN is a way for teachers around the country network with each other to share teaching strategies and tips that benefit the students overall education. PLN can also be used to better organize your teaching materials. With PLN you can interview other people to see if they would benefit in your circle to help further your teaching ability. PLN is a very useful tool I plan on using when I begin teaching so it can help me not only be a better teacher but more organized in my workplace. I will be using PLN for my favorite teachers across all spans of schools from elementary all the way to teachers I enjoyed in college. The first teacher I will be added to my PLN is my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Triplett. She has always been my favorite teacher and was the person who sparked my passion to teach. It has been over 10 years since I was in her 3rd grade class and I still talk to her on a weekly basis about school work or just how life is in general. She is a big part of my life and with her help I know my classroom will be just as entertaining and educational as hers was.

Book Trailer

My Sentence Videos

My Passion Is..


My Sentence..

Blog Post #5

This week I watched multiple videos with Dr. Strange have conversations with one of his old students who is now a 3rd grade teacher Mr. Capps, who uses project based learning in his classroom. In the videos he talked about multiple project and how it captured his students attention to learning and even were able to teach Mr. Capps a thing or two. Mr. Capps goes on to talk about how not every project will go according to plan. One of his project was the students had to do a project about what it would be like to be a child in Afghanistan. One of the students parents was a veteran and felt very uncomfortable with his child learning about being a child over there. So Mr. Capps, being a respectful person and teacher, had to student complete a separate project that helped the student still learn about culture since that was the topic they were on originally. Seeing how project based learning is used in a 3rd grade setting made me even that much more interested in implementing PBL in my teaching curriculum.

Blog Post #4

Asking questions is always better then just seeking answers. As educators in an evolving environment we have to constantly ask questions to our peers and students. Asking them if they enjoyed doing this activity or if they think the students will learn effectively with this approach. Every student learns differently, some are visual learners while others are auditory or hands on learners. I myself am a hands on learner and can suffer vastly if the teacher just talks the entire class. To be an effective educator one should ask their students if they understand the concept before moving on and making sure every student actually does understand it. If they do not understand the concept ask if t would be easier if they approached it this or that way.
When it comes to asking questions, it is very crucial on how you ask the question. In Dr. Chesley's video she explains the difference between open ended questions and close ended questions. IF you ask a student a close ended question, the student can answer you with a simple yes or no. With an open ended question a student cannot answer with a simple yes or no but invite them to have a discussion on the question and in turn they will learn more and better retain the information because they were more involved.

Project #3 Presentation

C4T Assignment

MiGoogle Blog: Brighton High School hosted the 2013 Michigan Google Conference and Mr. Sowash was able to coordinate the event. Not only was he able to coordinate it but it broke last years record by having over 600 attendants, being completely sold out. On day 2 he was able to give the key note speech of how teachers should be "Dot Connecters" instead of students being "Dot Collecters". The rest of the conference was showing the hottest new google topics.

My comment: Mr. Sowash my name is Lucas Skinner and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. That is awesome you were able to head the google event! I have heard about that conference last year and have been wanting to attend since I understood what it was. Your enthusiasm in involving technology into students education in today's world is very inspiring. I feel exactly like you in terms of helping students excel in the education environment by having teachers be Dot Connecters.

5 Chrome Settings that will Make Teachers Smile: Mr. Sowash makes not only teachers live easier, but any Google Chrome internet browser user. He tells of many useful tips and tricks to make Chrome even that much better of a internet browser. Two of my favorite tips he talks about is tab sync, and open tabs on startup. Being able to open up Chrome and specific tabs you always visit already being opened is what tab sync is about and makes it so much easier. If I am on a tab on my phone or iPad and need to open it up on a different device I can open up chrome on the other device and those tabs already be opened as long a I am on the same Chrome account between devices. He goes on and talks about 3 more useful tricks like "Zoom" and "Settings Search".

My Comment: Hey Mr. Sowash my name is Lucas Skinner an I am enrolled in EDM 310 at the University Of South Alabama. Google Chrome is my favorite internet browser and I never knew about these tricks. My life has become so much easier even since I read your blog and learned about "Tab Sync" and "Open Tabs on Startup". These two tricks have helped me out very much with studying and doing other school work. Keep up the good work!

Blog #3

I believe Peer Editing is one of the strongest feedback tools in school today. I say that because we have grown so accustomed to teachers giving us feedback that we eventually just stop listening to it as much. When a fellow classmate gives me feedback on things I have misspelled or just general tips to help me out with the assignment I really take notice of it and try to implement their feedback into my next assignments. Peer Editing is a very touchy approach just like the videos and slideshow said. I have had people edit my work and just blatantly tell me it is bad, needless to say I did not listen to that person anymore. Staying positive, giving suggestions, and correcting mistakes is truly the best way to help peer edit. Just make sure you follow the steps in order! People are more likely to adhere to your suggestions and corrections if you compliment them at the start of your editing. Even if it is a short and sweet compliment like "I like your topic", the peer is still more likely to listen to your advice.
The peer editing video with the children was very comical to me, I can think back to my English classes in high school and even in college where I have had at least one of those characters! The most common ones I have ran into in my days was a Speedy Sandy and Whatever William's. During my freshman year in college I was peer reviewing a Whatever William in my English Comp I class, and told him that his paper grade was a D at best. He just blew all of my comments and suggestions off and then ended up receiving a D on his paper. After class when we got our papers back he approached me and said he wished he listened to my review comments and from that moment on he began coming to me to review his work and listened to what I had to say and raised his grades up. Seeing his grades go up and him thanking me gave me that since of accomplishment and pride that any teachers get when they see an improvement in one of their students that it burned the fire inside me to teach even more.

Blog # 2

Professor Dancealot: I believe the central message of this video is that you can give lectures and power points every class session, but if you do not get the students involved and active they will both lose focus in class and also learn practically nothing, a break in the line of communication you could say. The way the author proves this is by having a dance class where the teacher gives lectures and does not let the students even attempt to practice the dance moves in class but expects them to be expert dancers for the final. I agree with the conclusion that you need to have students active in class in order to properly teach them and to keep their attention because I myself am a student and have experienced both boring power point lecture classes, and active student involved classes. I can say without a doubt that I learned and retained more information in the classes where the students where involved then sitting in the desk all day listening to the teacher ramble off of the power points.

Teaching in the 21st Century: I believe Roberts argument about teaching in the 21st century is that teachers can no longer use just paper and pencil and need to move on to teaching kids how to use technology the correct for them to excel in school, how to figure things out for themselves while citing the sources they used. I believe Roberts view on teaching could be beneficial but full immersion of students into technology would make them more dependent on it then they already are. Paper and pencil should no disappear completely because it makes students more have to actually learn the material instead of constantly using Google to find the answer. Becoming fully dependent on technology is not a good thing in my eyes. I believe technology should be used a lot more the nit is now in the school system but it should not overtake the entire curriculum.

The Networked Student: All of the networking tools available for a student is amazing and can really promote a students learning in school. Like I have said earlier in this blog, I think technology should be used but not overtake the curriculum. I like the idea of the students in classroom for a few days then in their own personal digital classroom for another few days. It is a good balance for kids to become more independent while still under the guidance of the teacher.Out of all the videos watched, I enjoyed this style of education the best. Also this style of teaching requires each teacher to become very proficient at using the web and other tools that the students will be using. That will ultimately raise the demand for teachers increasing the pay grade for teachers since there is more requirements to become one, and who doesn't like money?

Harness Hour Students Digital Smarts: The thesis of the video is that with the advancement of technology in today's society, the school system cannot just stick with the paper and pencil system that has been used for years. My reaction to the video is that I completely agree. She has the students looking things up for themselves and even teaching each other with the teacher over watching the entire classroom is a great hands now learning environment for the students the strive in. I believe that this type of teaching should be welcomed by all schools in the country at any grade level. That with this type of new learning environment the students will stay active as well as learn so much easier and quicker.

Flipping the Classroom: Flipping the classroom is a brand new concept to me, I have never heard of it before. I beleive this approach could have extraordinay improvements on students grades and over scholastics. The only down side I see about it is if you have a student who is very uninterested in a certain subject, to just skip the videos and come to class and be quiet. If there was some type of interactive video like questions the students have to click to show they are participating as a grade then I believe it would be near perfect.

Post #1

About Me

My name is Lucas Skinner. I was born on May 3rd, 1993 in Tampa, Fl. I lived in Tampa for six years then my grandmother had a heart attack and stroke and was unable to live on her own so my parents and I moved to Pensacola Beach Florida where I lived up until I began attending USA. I have two brothers who are both significantly older then I am.
My major interests are helping people, soccer, working out, and hanging out with my friends.
I am attending USA because it is close enough to home where I can go back whenever I want easily, but far enough away to get out of my parents vice grip rules.
I want to become a chemistry teacher like my mother is, while also pursuing my masters degree in school administration so I can move up and one day become a principle of my old high school. A few things I do best is ping pong, and running. My roommate and I won the advanced doubles tournament on USA's campus. I love to run and constantly am running in events ranging from a 5k to a half marathon.
Each summer I fly out to honduras with some high school friends and my church on a mission trip to help what is known as "The Jungle School" in La Ceiba Honduras.
We build new buildings or help fix things that the school cannot afford.

My Test Post

This is my First Post. I clicked the HTML button which I should always do in EDM310. I am now a Blogger!