Project 13

I wasn't in a group this semester. Actually I was but I got sick and had to be in the hospital and couldn't be in a group any longer. So I didn't use Skype or anything to talk to anyone in my group. I did use Google Docs all semester with Dr. Strange and I've used Skype before.

C4K April

My Child was Erika K this week. She is in the 4th grade in Mrs Geldes Class in Nebraska. Her latest, and only, post was asking if we had ever had a snow day.
My comment: Hi Erika, My name is Ashton and I live in Mobile, AL. I go to school at the University of South Alabama. It stays pretty warm around here so I can't say we get a lot of snow. BUT I have had ONE snow day in all 15 years of school I have been in. The Snow didn't even stick but because we, as southerners, do not know how to drive in the snow they cancelled all the schools and most businesses were closed. I didn't do much, except watch tv and drink a lot of hot chocolate! Do you love your snow days?

This week I had Chole. She is from Australia and is in the fourth grade. Her latest post was about her Easter activities. "On Monday the 15th of April my class worked on holiday writing.
My goal was to use interesting words. Here is the work I did. Play date Georgia came over to my house and we did lots of climbing on my mattress. In the hallway a mattress fell over while we were sitting on it.
Nan’s I went to my Nan’s on the holidays for a sleepover and I slept in the lounge room. In the morning I watched TV. Then we made earrings.
Luna Park I went to Luna Park with my Mum and Dad and also my friend. My favourite ride was a ride that spins upside down. I was a bit dizzy after it but I still had fun. We all thought the Ghost Train was boring. very one knew that something would jump out at you. The rollcoster is 100 years old so it was very bumpy but it was fun."
My Comment: Hi Chole! It sounds like you had a great Easter Break! We don't get an Easter Break here in Alabama BUT I got to see all my family on Easter. We hunted eggs and all kinds of fun stuff! Keep up the great blogging!

Blog Post #15

Part One:
For blog post fifteen we were supposed to look back and look at our first post about our future classroom and what we would change and what we wouldn't. Here's my first post:

My Future Classroom When I become a teacher, I will be very organized and I will use a lot of technology in the classroom. I've learned, by volunteer work, that children with special needs usually learn better if they can be very hands on with the subject. David, the little boy I babysit, learns a lot faster on his iPad then when he is just sitting with paper and a pencil writing things down and answering questions. I also am a very hands on learner. I, myself, do better when I am seeing how things are working and I am actually doing the "experiment" then just studying and taking a quiz or a test. I feel like I can relate to the students in that sense.
I hope by the time I am a teacher all the students will have their own iPads or tablets instead of paper and pencils. I think that would help reduce the amount of paper used in the classroom and also will help those children who are mute or cannot speak ask questions and communicate in the classroom. I will teach using many different methods, such as: demonstration and some lecturing. I do not learn very well from lecturing so I don't plan on using tons of lecturing.
I am going to be teaching secondary level special education. In my classroom I will have the students split up into different groups. There would be 3 groups. They would be 1. highly functioning and those who are the most independent 2. the kids who need some one on one work but can still do most of their work on their own and 3. the lowest functioning students who need the most attention. I would hopefully be working with two or three other teachers and we would rotate the groups from class to class so the students still feel like they are in high-school and make them feel as normal as possible.
I will be a dedicated teacher and I plan on mastering in Special Education. I also plan on teaching English and Comprehension. I know I will make a great teacher to the students because I wont treat them as if they have disabilities, but as if they were normal children and will not baby them. I plan on having a very vibrant room and display the children's work and artwork around the room. I am very excited to start teaching my future students.

Honestly, re-reading this I don't think I would change much. I would still use technology and use iPads a lot. I feel like technology is going that way anyways. I feel like I would put the students in groups and rotate them. I feel like I might use blogger to keep my parents up to date and keep up the "green" classroom. Important dates, pictures, and other things would go on the blog page and I'd be open to letting the students all have one blogger and they all having an hour or so working as a class on one large class blog.

Being a special education teacher and teaching these children who are so delicate is my passion and I know I can do anything I put my heart into and these future children already have me heart. I'll make sure to keep my blog updated and out there, so look for it! (I still have like 2 years so wait a little while) But my future classroom will be fun and bright and filled with artwork from the children and tons of other little things. Including technology and iPads!

Part Two:

Project 16

Project #9 Final

Posting my success on my PLN. I have loved learning new things in this class. My PLN is just as fun to set up and to learn about. I think the things I've used the most on there would be my twitter account and blogger. It is so interactive and I can reach numerous amount of people in such a short time. With one post or one tweet. I've really enjoyed learning more and more about my PLN.

Final C4T

This week I had Bill Ferriter's blog. His latest post is about Anti-Bullying. He says that technology is the easiest way to get the word about bullying and the dangers out from it spread. He tells us that the idea is Speak up, Salem. "The notion of creating influential visuals ties directly to several of the language arts goals in the sixth grade curriculum -- and learning to use visuals to be persuasive is probably one of the most important skills for grabbing attention in today's information-soaked world."

My comment: Thank you so much for caring about a matter as big as this. I think that it is very grand of you to do something such as this and show the world the dangers and the warning signs of bullying. People think children just have to weak of skin these days but if anything I believe with all the technology and social media sites, bullying is becoming an epidemic. And it must be stopped.

This week I had Bill again. He posted about schools having limited budgets and every time that we make careless spending choices, we tie our own hands behind our backs. He says "As a result, I've worked HARD over the past several years to encourage both teachers and school leaders to think systematically about just what they want to see happening in classrooms before they spend ANYTHING on technology."

My comment: I loved your stories! I loved the idea of this and how we should think before we have to spend money on something we may not need. Thank you!

Blog Post #14

David Streitfeld's Blog Post is about a new digital textbook. The e-book helps the teacher keep a track of the student, almost like a "Big Brother" kinda thing, as joked about in his post. The teacher can check the students "engagement index" which includes opening the textbook, skipping passages, taking notes, or highlighting important things said from the passages. It helps the teacher see why the students aren't doing good on his or her tests, if it's because the student isn't studying or reading or maybe the teacher isn't lecturing enough.



My Thoughts as a Teacher: If I were a teacher I think this would be a good program but I could see it having some problems. As stated in David's post the students could open the textbook every night but do something else while it is open. The student could take notes under a different program. Some students don't have access to a computer at home. I think it could be very productive for the teacher but I could also see a lot of excuses come up as to why their engagement index isn't up to par.

My Thoughts as a Student: If I were a student and this was a program at South Alabama, I think it could help me push myself to be a better engaged student. If EDM310 hasn't taught me that already, then this program could work. But I'm not sure if I like the idea of the teacher really being able to see if I have read or taken notes. Students don't learn the same as others. Some are better at taking notes and some are better at attending lecture and just listening. Some students like to read the whole chapter and some like to just highlight stuff the professor say. I just don't think it would be fair to punish people who learn differently. Some people don't even buy textbooks. It would have it's bugs for sure.

Questions to the Teacher: How well did this program work for you? Did the students complain a lot about this new program? Was it very successful? Was it hard to learn how to use?

Questions to Students: Did you like this program? Did it work well for you? What troubles did it have? Was it complicated to learn? Was it beneficial to you, or would you have had a regular textbook?

Comments: I think there are pros and cons to this program. I think it would indefinably depend on the student to make it work. If all the students didn't like it and decided to not use the program at all then there's not much the teacher can do. Just like if the students don't buy the hardcover books now. I believe it would have it's ups to the teacher and the student but I think it would also have some downfalls as well.

Progress On Final Project

I plan on doing an iBook. I don't have a group, I'm an independent. I have all of my stuff together and I plan on starting and hopefully finishing sometime this week!

Blog Post #13

Mr. Paul Anderson created this video about Blending Learning and the cycle he created to do with it. We have learned about Blended Learning in which teachers take online, mobile, and classroom and joining them. He tells us that the best cycle he uses in his AP science class is Engage-Explore-Explain-Expand-Evaluate. He then goes into detail saying he uses the acronym QUIVERS. QUIVERS stands for: QUestions, Investigation/Inquiry, Video, Elaboration, Review, Summary quiz. He uses an oilers disc and a mirror as his example.


I think this is a very effective way to teach and to learn. I feel like EDM310 is a Blended Learning classroom, even though we spend most of our time out of the classroom. I like using technology and I like being able to teach myself new things everyday and I hope I can do that with my future students. I believe technology is a great thing and every classroom should have some sort of technology in it, whether it be a SmartBoard, an iPad, or the whole classroom taught on computers. We can't escape technology, it's growing everyday, so why not just take advantage of it?

Blog Post #12

For this blog Dr. Strange wants us to make our own assignment. Create a blog, with instructions, and then follow the instructions. Following our subject we plan to teach, of course. And if you haven't realized or you're new to my blog, I plan on specializing in special education. So, here goes nothing.

Blog Instructions:

Go to Top 50 Special Education Blogs. Pick 3 of the 50 to visit. Tell me which blog you went visited. Hyperlink it. Write a couple sentences about what was on the blog. Tell me if it was a sped teacher or a parent of a special needs child or even maybe a student etc etc. Tell me why this blog would be used to help you teach.

"Blog Post"

1. I went to Special Education Strategies. This blog is a blog where teachers and parents come to learn things that can help their student learn at their level. It also has helpful hints about helping the child learn social and emotional growth and strategies. You could use this blog to improve the social behaviors of your students.

2. For my second blog I went to Teaching All Students. This particular blog was under the technology tab so I was really interested in this blog. On here it shows you many apps you can download onto your iPhone or iPad or Smartboard. They range from how to count money to easy typer. This blog would be very useful for the apps and watching videos of how they are used to teach.

3. For my last blog I went to The Shut-Down Learner. Sometimes when students have a disability, whether it be mental, learning, or physical, school and learning can be harder and not fun. This blog helps BOTH parents and teachers to help make learning fun for these students. I think this would be a great site to go to to send homework or just helpful papers home for the parents. Also, you can use the tips in your classroom to make learning for exciting for these students.

C4K March

My first student was Javon. He was in the first grade in Mrs. Vannoy's classroom. Being a first grader he doesn't say much in his blog posts, but I think they are just getting them used to using a blog. Some of his posts just have random letters in them. One in particular says h hc and the students commented on them saying "cool" "awesome". Like I said I think they were just trying to get them used to using blog and comments etc.
My comment: I was unable to leave a comment as the page would never load for me. I will continue to attempt to comment, until then I could not comment.

My second student was Brittany Lee. She is in Mr. Boylen's English Class in Conn. She writes to a question if she believes blogging is important in the classroom and outside of school and if it is a waste of time. She answers "I do think this is worth the time because you get to meet new people and interact with them a you still learn things while doing this blogging. I gain knowledge from this and met new people from a different country and I thought it was cool an also learn about there country and things."
My comment: I left her a comment agreeing with her saying that I was in a blog inspired classroom and even though it is different it teaches me new things every time I go to class.

My third student was Jenna in Mr. Seyfert's 6th grade class in WI. She's a very bright student. She uses her blog for her book reports and describes the book in great details. She has the usual 6th grader posts about Christmas coming and Veteran's Day and what that means to her. She seems to really like puppies!
My Comment: I decided to comment on her post about the differences between non-fiction and fiction books. She was very descriptive and I really enjoyed reading this blog. I thanked her for being such a smart cookie and that I enjoyed her blog a lot.

My fourth student was Tyrese. He is a student from GA. His latest post really warmed my heart. His post is below
Dear, Larry and Tracey you 2 are great men by traveling the world, changing people’s thoughts, and sharing what it is like to have autism. I think it is sad you can only speak a few words. You communicate by typing and sometimes I have to do that because I have asthma and it can effect my throat. The film you made about autistic people was great because you were inspiring people all around the world to have hope, autistic people can be intelligent, and they can be theirselves. At first I really didn’t pay attention to autism but now that you came to Williston Central School, my school now I pay more attention. You inspired me about autism.
My Comment: I told him how special he was for writing this post and how happy it made me to see someone be inspired by people who are usually looked upon as not as high up on the toe-tom pole. Tyrese really warmed my heart.

Blog Post #11

Ms Cassidy's Classroom"

Ms. Cassidy is a first grade teacher in Canada. Her first grade students are astounding. They are amazing on computers and especially the internet. She is teaching them how to use technology effectively instead of using the internet just for social media. I respect her for teaching these kids, at such a young age, how to use technology. I really believe in technology in the classroom. Her children are on the same level as some of my peers and myself. She shows them how to use the blog sites, classroom website, and Wikis. I'm still not even sure what a Wiki is. These children are using the blogs as ways of communication and they are learning writing, audio, and visual skills.

She tells us that the students love to use the blogs because they get feedback from all over the world and having an audience other than your teacher is a very exciting thing, especially when you're in the first grade. Honestly, I wish I had a technology class, such as EDM 310, in high-school because when I got into this class I was very lost. But with some self- teaching and self-learning I believe I am doing very well. The only downfall to technology would probably be that sometimes it isn't reliable. Just like our bodies they can shut down for no reason at all. I agree to using technology in the classroom and I respect Ms. Cassidy for proving all her peers wrong.

Blog Post #10

John T. Spencer wrote the above comic. At first I was slightly confused, but then I read some of the comments and it made it a little more clear. I believe he is mocking the PC/Mac commercials. The "Papermate" is supposed to the be the PC that's more affordable but might not be the best computer in the long run and the "Ticonderoga" is supposed to be the Mac that's slightly more expensive but is probably the better choice in computers. Even though the Mac is the better computer it does come with a hefty price. I found it pretty amusing, once I got the actual joke.

Why Were Your Kids Playing Games was also written by Mr. Spencer. I believe he was trying to show that we aren't teaching to teach anymore. We are teaching so kids pass their state given tests. Memorize the material and as Dr. Strange says "burp it back up" on a test. I believe testing your skills are more important than acing a test. Such as my EDM310 class. We don't have a test every week or every two other weeks. We have to SHOW we know how to do things on a computer and show that we are learning. At first I didn't know how I was going to handle this class, but as the weeks pass, I really appreciate the work we are doing.

Spencer's Blog has tons of story posts like his previous one. I read Do You Remember Pencil Quests post and he talks about a scavenger hunt he used to do during school and the whole point was about how teachers changed the pace of learning. They got the students out of the classroom and got them to interact outside of the classroom. They took a big leap of faith doing these because at the time it was not "normal". BUT what fun is it to be normal? None. I really enjoy Mr. Spencer's blog and I followed him on Twitter!

Reading Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please? really was a precious post. Scott Mcleod wrote this "poem" or poem style post about the reasons why people don't want their children using computers in the classroom, or technology in general. He says things like they are just going to look at porn or hook up with pedophiles and yes, he probably is right, BUT using the computer/technology in a classroom isn't going to change that. Children are going to do what they want, no matter if they have the tools or not. Some way, some how they'll find it. I think technology in a classroom is a good idea. Period. Honestly, I think soon pencils, pens, and paper aren't even going to be in a classroom!

Book Trailer

Blog Post #9

Mr. Joe McClung has wrote a blog after his years of teaching. He writes a new post every year after the last day and discusses what he has learned from that year of teaching. I read His blog post from his Fourth year and his Third year.

In his third year post he tells us that he learned to remember and know who your boss is. He says that it is very important to remember the reason that we started teaching, and that was the children. He explains that his students are his primary focus and that's how every teacher should be. "Don't Touch the Keyboard". I think there is a very important message in the paragraphs below that header. When you are being trained to do something the best way to do it is to simply, just do it. He tells us that the studets WILL struggle and you should, as a teacher, have them work it out and not take over their problem for them. McClung says that it's okay to be an "outsider" in the teaching world. He is an outsider at his school and clearly does not care what his peer teachers care about him. He is close to his students and cares more about his relationships with the students and if they are enjoying class. He isn't afraid to do things differently and eat lunch with his students instead of in the teacher's lounge.



In his fourth year post McClung was a lot shorter than his other blogs. He gets straight to his two main points. His first one is "You Gotta Dance with Who You Came to the Dance With." He reiterates that you should not care about what your peer teachers believe or what they thinks about you. He says he got himself that far and he wasn't going to change because the teachers looked at him differently. The only people you should care about are your superiors and the kids that you are teaching.
His second point he made was "Challenge Yourself". This paragraph hit home with me. In my high-school most of my teachers my senior year were on their last year of teaching and became pretty comfortable with the material they were teaching. They didn't do anything but talk to us for about 30 minutes of the class, tell us to read independently, and we'd take quizzes on the material. They didn't make my senior year classes, such as government and economics, exciting so it was brutal to sit through. He tells us that we can't get comfortable with teaching the same subject over and over. He tells us to challenge ourselves. His goal is to ensure his students enjoy class and not resent school like he did as a child.

C4T #2

Dean Shareski: He is the Community Manager for Discovery Education Canada and is currently on leave from Prairie South School Division in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada. He specializes in the use of technology in the classroom and hold a Masters of Education in Communications and Technology through the University of Saskatchewan. He also is a sessional lecturer for the University of Regina. His blog site is http://ideasandthoughts.org And he has many many blog posts. The most recent one I read was on Feb 15 about Evernote. He tells us that the it is a sharing tool, but it has different tools than Google Docs. It has an audio feature where you can actually record your voice and send it to the student.
My Comment I thanked Dean for showing me this tool. I think this is a great thing to use. It is so much more personal than just reading an email or a comment. I think I could use Evernote daily as a teacher. I believe that it is a great tool to use.

Dean #2 He tells us "This entire series was sparked to remind myself that I see the world through my own lens and my enthusiasm for change is often narrow. As much as we talk about diversity, we tend to create and share repetitive images and stories that actually do the opposite of our intent. These posts serve more to challenge my own stories and perspectives. I’m guilty of all these notions from time to time and value when my own presumptions are challenged. That’s how I learn."
My commentI agreed with him on these things. I told him that he was inspiration and that I really appreciated his work. He is an inspiration and I'm glad I got to read his blog posts.

Blog Post #8

Richard Miller: Richard Miller tells us in his video how he believes that writing is done will be done in the future. In the beginning he tells us that the place where we write and compose our writings and papers used to be done with pen or pencil and paper. Now we do most everything, communicating, writing, editing, everything with our computers. Whether it be a lap top or a desktop, Miller believes this is how composing will evolve.
He tells us that the digital world is rapidly changing and growing, and that that is a good thing. It gets updated every second. Every second someone somewhere is putting something on the internet for personal, educational, or work related reasons. And lucky us, we get to access it. He tells us not only can you compose on the computer, but you also can add sound and visual components to your work. Once it's in an online library or any virtual place it can be accessed and sometimes people can leave their opinions about your work on your site or blog or whichever you are using.
He also tells us that people are using YouTube as a way of publishing. Some people like hearing what they're watching or reading and that component of video is very helpful. Soon, he believes, you will be able to use the web itself for composing. Not just the resources found on the internet, but the actual internet to compose. He tells us that students in the future won't be bringing things such as paper and pencils to class but instead their laptops. I'm very excited to be growing up when technology is growing everyday and I have the privilege to teach our future generations in this growing environment.

Carly's Blog Post: Carly's blog post was amazing. She is very thoughtful and intuitive. She is organized, which is clearly expressed in her blog. Her assignment was pretty creative and challenging. She's going to make a great teacher for our future generations. I enjoyed reading her blog and following her links. She is such an inspiration and I wish I could be as organized as she is.

Chipper Series & EDM310 for Dummies: In the Chipper Series Chipper is a lazy student who procrastinates and doesn't really care about her school work. She ends up dropping out of school and becoming a garbage lady after countless failed jobs. She has an awakening and decides to back to school and be a good student. She learned that in real life you can't procrastinate and never show up when you have to be somewhere. I think this video, even dramatic as it was, is a real perspective of doing your work. You eventually have to grow up and teach yourself how to do things and I believe EDM310 is doing a great job in teaching me that. I think I would like to do video like this. Showing what happens if you just dilly-dally around and do not take school seriously.
In EDM310 For Dummies The students need help and they have "EDM310 for Dummies" which I thought was pretty cute idea. I enjoyed watching this and giggled when I saw it. I think they could make some money if they really invented this ;)

Learn to Change, Change to Learn Change to Learn, Learn to Change is a very inspiring video. The teachers on here are very correct with their arguments. They tell us that children live in technology these days and it's banned at school. We are living in a social networking, technology communicating, growing community and I agree that we need to adapt to this. They said "technology isn't a choice, it is evolving everyday" and I couldn't agree more. Everywhere you look there is the next best iPhone or Samsung phone or a thinner and faster computer being made. These teachers arguments are all very clear and I think I've made myself very clear that I agree with them and I can't wait to see what technology has in store for my future students!

Scavenger Hunt We were given this assignment and told to do a scavenger hunt on Web 2.0's website.
1. The site I found called Edmodo. It is JUST like Facebook, but its for educational communities. You follow different topics such as Special Education, Social Studies, English etc etc. You can use this to communicate with your fellow teachers or students. I would use this to share things with my students because it is set up like Facebook, which I'm sure they will have heard about.
2. I haven't used many video tools besides iMovie. Animoto Education is a great site to use for videos. It's free and seems pretty easy to use. Being free helps many teachers who don't have a lot of school funds.
3. PollEverywhere.com is a great source for the classroom not only for the obvious reasons but it makes learning fun. You can use these to create quizzes and have the students poll on if they feel ready for the tests or not.

Project #8 - Podcast

Originally I was in "ball till we fall" but due to scheduling issues, I was told I had to this project alone. Sorry if it isn't as "jazzy" but I did the best I could do with no help.

Project #9

To start my PLN I looked at Symbaloo. The site is www.symbaloo.com I do believe this is going to benefit me in many ways but I am not quite sure how to use it 100%. I think the more I use and play with it, I will understand and the videos on the instruction manual were a big help. I think this will help me become more organized and help me in the long run.

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch
Randy Pausch is a professor at Carnegie Mellon and is well known for his last speech. He is a inspirational teacher and speaker. He gave this speech before he lost his battle with cancer and I must say I sure did enjoy watching this speech. He is a hardworking and dedicated man. And I wish I could be half the person he is.
In his speech, "How to Achieve Your Childhood Dreams", he tells us how he achieved his childhood dreams. He tells us numerous things to keep in mind such as: have fun, help others, never loose your child like wonder, never give up, and "it is always fun to do the un-imaginable". The statement about it is always fun to do the un-imaginable, is very true. I have done the un-imaginable with a student and when I broke that brick wall, it was the best feeling in the world. I volunteered with a student who was told he would never be able to speak correctly and he would have a difficult time getting along with members in society because of his lack of communication. Being told this I took it as a challenge. Every time I would speak to this student I kept getting told he's not going to respond to you unless you know a little sign language. That defiantly didn't stop me from communicating verbally. I always spoke to him and asked how he was doing, daily, and he always told me "fine" in sign language. I would always verbally say "fine" and sign it. One day, just like any other, I asked how he was and he verbally said "Fine, Thank you". And though it wasn't much it was the best feeling to see the teachers come over to me and the student and see how happy that student got when he got praises.

He tells us that brick walls are there for a reason. They are there to prove how bad we want something, not to keep us from achieving our goals. I completely agree with his statement. With teaching and the process, especially if you have special cases, there could be many brick walls that we can run into. Maybe the student cannot read very well, or cannot write to his/her potential; Does that mean we stop teaching them because they cannot do these two things well? No. We push through this brick wall and show how much we believe in the student and get the task completed.

Randy says that there are some steps on "How to Get People to Help You". He says "You can't get there alone. You must tell the truth. Be earnest. Apologize when you are wrong or screw up and focus on others, not yourself." He is right about not being able to do it alone and telling the truth. I've never been scorned for telling someone the truth or admitting I screwed something up. If anything I was praised for being brave and showing that sign of maturity. I would stress this over and over to my students. Sort of like my teachers always stress "there is no such thing as a dumb question".

Lastly, he says to work hard, be prepared, find something you're good at and be great at it because it makes you valuable. He tells us to get a feedback loop and listen to it. My mom is my feedback loop. She reads and re-reads everything before she lets me send things out or post things. She makes sure to be a constructive critic and not just mean or rude. My mom and Randy have a common motto: Don't complain, just work harder. I have heard that numerous times through out my 20 years and I plan on teaching that motto to my students and my children as well. Randy Pausch didn't want to be remembered for his cancer or what he had to face going through that, he wanted to be remembered for how hard he worked, and how caring he was. He wasn't afraid to push boundaries and do what he had to do to get to his goals. In my opinion he was a brave, caring, and faithful man. He admitted when he was wrong, instead of blaming others and did what he had to do. If people were more like Randy this world would be a brilliant place.

Finding the Right Tool - Project #10

Finding the Right Tool: Working with the special education students you learn new things everyday, especially with technology. I did tons of research to find an app that you can use in the classroom. I found one an app called Autism Classroom App".It is intended to provide tons of easy to understand info that teachers, para-professionals, administrators, parents, babysitters, and family members quick access to ideas for meaningful lessons and activities for young kids with autism. It also has a behavior tab help users to critically think about current behavior interventions, while highlighting different ways and solutions for challenging behaviors for children and teens with autism.

Blog Post # 6

Wendy Drexler: A Networked Student
This video opened my eyes for sure. It truly amazes me how fast these students in the 21st century are learning new technology. I honestly believe that in a couple of years we will be completely online in the classrooms. I feel like that this could be good and also, much like everything, has it downfalls.
I think the pluses of a networked student would be that the student would learn and be prepared for college level classes such as the EDM310 class or the online classes that universities offer. I believe that the downfalls would be that people will just become anti-social. Afraid to ask questions, in person, or to even go to classes if they are taught online mainly. It looses the personal "student-teacher" relationship. My role models and the people who helped me though the tough times in my life, were in fact my high school teachers. So if you loose that face to face interaction, I believe a lot of relationships will be halted.
I believe in technology in the classroom, but I don't believe it should be a strictly online class. I'm 20 years old and probably could tell you my senior and junior and possibly sophomore year teachers, because we worked one on one and saw each other everyday. I think that relationship is important to students. I like online classes, but I am also 20 years old and in college. BUT! I would MUCH rather an actual sit down, listening to a teacher teach, type class.

Wendy's 7th Grader PLE
First of all, WOW. This 7th grader is more organized than majority of people in my COLLEGE classes. It's a very neat thing to be able to use. Her's is very organized and I'm sure that's going to help her in the long run. I like how she can go and talk to experts about different subjects and they help teach her new things! I'm pretty jealous of this girl. I'm a pretty organized person, I have 3 planners, but this would help me out a lot more also!

C4K FEBRUARY

February #1:

I read Michelle's blog. She is a 10th grader at Baldwin County High School. Her English teacher is Mrs. Miller. She has 3 posts on her blog and she only has one written post; the other two are picture posts. In her written post she talks about Tom Walker. She says he's a cheating man who was very selfish. Shes not very detailed about who this person is. I'm not sure if it's a book character or if its an author.
My Comment
I left Michelle a comment stating that I enjoyed reading her posts but I wasn't sure who Tom Walker was and maybe she should have put who he was in her post.

February #2

I read Precious' blog. She is a 4th grader in Ms. Muhammad's class at Robbin's Elementary School in Prichard. The post that I read was about how Precious wanted to be President of the US. She stated a few reasons why she wanted be president.
My comment:
I left a comment stating that she was brave and smart for wanting to be president. I asked her what she would do if she was President. What laws would she change? What laws would she keep? She seems pretty intent on being the first woman president.

February #3:

I had the pleasure of reading Paris' blog from Auckland. She is in the "4th year" there and she is loves Spongebob. Her favorite food is pizza and she is a spunky girl. She doesn't have much on her blog, but I believe she is just getting started.
My comment: I also love Spongebob and pizza. I told her to keep up the great work and to strive for excellence.

My Sentence

This is my sentence

Blog Post #5

If I Built a School

Krissy Venosdale wrote how she would build a school if she had the opportunity. She said the library would have a tree house with lights and the cafeteria would have be like a modern day coffee house with big sofas and comfy seats. She said she would end state testing, which I believe is a great idea.
If I built a school I would build a school for special education students. We have one here in Mobile, Agusta Evans, but to get in your IQ has to be pretty low. I wouldn't have any requirements for them to have to get into the school. Special needs is special needs in my eyes. All the doors would have wheelchair ramps and automatic open buttons. The walls would be filled with the students artwork and other things they make through-out the year. The cafeteria would be a big comfortable place for everyone to come in and join. I would have wheelchair swings on the playground and each student would have their own iPad. We would have movie Fridays for the students who earned all their points for the week, but we all know no-one would be left out. The state testing wouldn't exist because, as Dr. Strange says, all that is teaching the students is burp-back education. They would be taught things that they need to survive in everyday living. They would learn their telephone numbers and where they live and their birthday and who to call in case of an emergency. The children, would have nap times, because who doesn't get tired at 12:30 after lunch? I would start school later. I would start school at 8:30 and let the students out at 3ish. I've actually thought a lot about getting a business license and owning an after school care facility for these students. I think that would be a great idea!

Virtual Choir:
Eric Whitarce's video of the choir is truly astounding. I don't know if I've ever really seen anything like that, but I'm glad I have now. It's pretty amazing what technology can do these days and it's only progressing. I wounder how long it took him to get all those videos together and match pitches and everything? I would like to know that!

Teaching in the 21st Century
Watching Dr. Strange's version of Kevin Roberts Prezi of teaching in the 21st century was quite interesting. The main quote that stuck out to me was "Teachers are no the main source of information, we are the filters". Roberts tells us that there are many different online resources that could be used but we are here to help them LEARN how to really use them to their full potential. The presentation helps me realize that technology really is changing how people are learning. I'm learning new things in this EDM310 class that I couldn't learn with paper or pencil. I think it's a good thing, but then again students have a lot easier way of finding answers the "quick and dirty" route than to actually learn what they are supposed to be learning.

Flipping the Classroom
I'm not sure if the children I personally would be teaching would find this method of classroom effective as much as a "normal" student, but I think it's worth a try. The kids could get prepared for college classes this way. How we have to prepare before the class and know our material for lecture and the teachers answer our questions when we come in prepared. I like the idea of these techniques but then again how can you be sure the child watched the videos? How can you enforce the child to watch videos if the parent does not believe or have a computer? There is always a problem somewhere I suppose, but if it could run smoothly I think it would be a great learning tool!

PROJECT #5

Blog Post #4

I got the opportunity to listen to 3 podcasts from first graders. At first I was wondering what could this teach children besides how to read a script and act? BUT as I dug deeper and listened to all three podcasts, I realized that this activity would teach the students the following skills: listening, speaking, presenting, comprehension, storytelling, performance, voice acting, media and technology.

The first podcast I listened to was "Langwitches 1st Graders Create Own Read Along Book". The first graders read "Dinosaurs Before Dark" and you could hear the excitement in their little voices. They were getting so into the story and you could really tell how much they were enjoying themselves. This book was pretty long, but the kids kept up and the same energy through out the entire podcast. The script would help the other students follow along with the voices. It sure helped me.

The second podcast I viewed was "Langwitches Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting". The first thing that you notice if you listen to this podcast is that it is in a different language. A lot of the reading are in Hebrew. I personally don't know Hebrew, but it was very fun to listen too. These second graders really surprised me with their ability to speak Hebrew. I wondered if they were in a Hebrew class for Jewish beliefs or if they are learning to just learn it? Either way it was very exciting to hear this!

The final podcast I viewed was "Langwitches Flat Stanley Podcast". The children told a story about Flat Stanley who travels the world. The imagination behind this project was astounding. These little kids put so much enthusiasm in this story and kept their energy levels up the entire time! The student, Emily, who visited AL was absolutely adorable. She talked about Tuscaloosa and learning how to say Roll Tide. She talked about our beautiful beaches and the whole time I listened to their stories I couldn't help but to smile.

C4T ASSIGNMENT #1

Post was written on December 14, 2012:

I read Beth Still's blog on January 25th 2013. Beth had her husband write a post about the safety of students in the classroom in case of the instance of a shooter on campus. Kris Still, Beth's husband, has talked to schools about increasing the safety and how to prepare for the worst. He told them to remember the acronym ADD which means AVOID, DENY (entry), and DEFEND. If you can avoid the situation and get out, safely with your students then take that chance and get out. If you can not get out, deny entry to your room. He told us some tools we can use for this, such as: tactical wedges or doorstops and also tactical straps. He also suggests that you take all the furniture in your room and board the door. Shooters main goal is to kill quickly and as many people as possible and if you stop them before they get in, then they would most likely go on to try a different door. Lastly, he says to defend yourself with whatever you can find that can be used as a weapon. He suggests chairs, fire extinguisher, coat rack, a trash can, etc.

My Comment

I commented on the post and said that I agreed in these tactics of preparation and that all the incoming and outgoing teachers should know how to prepare in the worst case scenario. I also said that not only would it help me as a teacher, but as a fellow student at a major university. I could react and know how to try my hardest to help with the ADD method.

Post written on December 29, 2012:

Beth wrote about her new project for the new year. She called it Photo365 Project. You are supposed to post a picture a day of the year (hence 365) but it is always hard for her to keep up with it. So she said "This year is going to be different because I have come up with a twist that is going to help me stick with this project for the entire year. I have collected a lot of things over the years and the time has come to get rid of some of it. There are lots of things that I want to part with, but I never seem to get around to it. This year I’m going to get rid of one thing each day. Some of these items will go directly to the dumpster while I will donate other things to my local Goodwill. Before I get rid of each item I will take a picture of it for the Photo365 project."

My Comment

I told Beth that it was a great idea to do a photo a day challenge. I also said that it was an interesting idea that she had come up with about doing the "trash" photo each day. Not only is it fun to go threw the memories, but it's good that she is giving things to goodwill. That way it can be new to someone else and they can make new memories with it!

Special Blog Post #1

Comparing the populations of India, China, and the US
In this special blog post we were told to read Dr. Strange's blog post "Many Students Misinterpreted the Data in Did You Know". In that post we were told to use WolframAlpha.com and compare the populations of India, China, and the United States. I found out that the US is ranked the 3rd largest population in the world, compared to India and China, who are ranked the second and first. The US has 309 million people, China has 1.35 billion people, and India has 1.21 billion people. Clearly, they out rank us in the United States, so of course they are going to have higher numbers of people who speak English than us, because they have almost 5 times the people of us!

Using WolframAlpha.com

We were told to use the search ourselves and compare two sets of information. On my first search I typed in "compare the populations of Alabama and Mississippi" and found out that Alabama has almost 2 million more people than Mississippi. While Mississippi has 2.979 million people, Alabama has 4.803 million people. In my second search I typed in "compare the number of boys and girls in the state of Alabama" and found out that there are more women than men in our great state! Women win with 2.427 million and then men have 2.286 million.
I don't think my students would use this search engine as much as I would. I find it a very valuable tool and I can use it pretty much everyday. I can use the graphs and figures in slides and I can compare and contrast things very easily with this. (I even downloaded the app!)

Social Media Count

I visited Gary Hayes Social Media Count and saw that social media (and pretty much everything else)is changing at a scary rapid pace. Its unreal how fast things are changing and how fast our social media is growing every second, let alone minute. I think this will help my future children I teach. Twitter is becoming bigger and bigger, which I love because I use Twitter a lot actually.
The only thing I think that could hurt my future career as a teacher is that its going to be harder to keep up with the changing social media. I'll use my parents as an example. They know about Facebook but they do not know a lot about Instagram and Twitter, which are the three top social media sites. As technology grows and social media grows the harder it is going to be for them to catch on to the latest trends. I'm afraid that might happen with me, BUT the great thing about working with kids, is staying in the loop!

Blog Post #3

Peer Editing:

I was told to watch two videos and a slideshow on peer editing. I learned that peer editing is a easy process but it does have some rules. All three of the sources told the viewer that you three important rules. The first rule is compliments. You need to always start with compliments and stay positive through out the whole peer edit. The second rule is your suggestions to the writer. Again, you need to stay positive. Lastly, the third rule is corrections. You need to be positive and also very specific.

When you start on the second rule, suggestions, you could give the write suggestions on word choice, using more details, their organization, and if their topic matches their writing. You also need to check their sentence structure. Do their sentences run-on? Do they need revisions? When you work on the third rule you need to check for their grammar, sentences, spelling, and punctuation. All in all you need you be specific and positive through out the whole peer edit. Also, remember if someone was peer editing your paper, how would you want them to edit?

Assistive Technologies
I'm pretty excited we got to learn about these. My junior year of high-school I got the opportunity to work with a student who had cerebral palsy. He was wheel-chair bound and had use of his fingers and his arms 50% of the time. He could speak, but it wasnt very fluent. It took a lot out of him to speak as you and I would. He got a text to speech device and it worked miracles for him. He told us he felt much more independent and he cried the day he graduated. I promise there was not a dry eye when he gave a speech to our classroom. He helped me make the decision to become a special education teacher.

Mountbatten
I have never seen anything like this device. It offers the student immediate feedback which is very good for students with disabilities. It is a device used for the blind. It is a braille writer that as the student types in braille it writes the braille and also produces an audio of what is being typed. Its also very advanced because it saves, transfers, and receive files to and from computers for the teachers and students. I would like to have this in my classroom, being as I will be a special education teacher. I've never been in contact really with a blind person, let alone a student. I'd really enjoy it though!

Teaching Math to the Blind and iPad for the Blind

In the video Teaching Math to the Blind by Art Karshmer, he tells us the problem with braille and math is that braille is linear. For example the math problem would read 123+4567 to the blind student instead of how we read and see the math problem lined up on top of each other. He invented an easier tool for the blind to do simple to more complex problems. He took small blacks with braille on front of the blocks and also the visible number. You scan a bar code and the box is connected to a computer. It verbally tells the student what number they are on and the problem aloud in case they need verbal assistance also. I would like to have one of these in my classroom. Anything to make the child's learning more adaptable to their disability would be great to have in the classroom.
In the video iPad Uses for the Blind Wesley Majerus demonstrates how a blind student, or blind person in general, would use an iPad in the classroom. Personally, I think iPad should be in all classrooms, especially in classrooms with children who have disabilities. There is a program on the iPad called iHooks. It is a mainstream iReader. Kindles do not have this feature. It not only reads the book aloud but it describes pictures, if there are any. Also, voice over is a feature that is a screen access package that is built in the iPad. Siri, a new feature, I believe could also help.

In Vicki Davis': Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts (4:49) she tells us about how she uses technology in a classroom. She teaches a class much like EDM310 being based on the internet and no, as Dr. Strange says, "burp-back learning". She teaches the students to be self-thinkers. The students also teach each other and help each other as much as possible. Davis does not baby the children. She wants them to be technologically advanced, being as they leave in rural area. Even though she lives in a rural area, she does not let that stop her or her students.

I wasn't aware that other teachers taught this way. I have never encountered a class that was completely taught on the internet, until I got to college. I have heard of Wiki but I have never really used it. I wish I would have had a class such as Mrs. Davis' when I was in middle-school or high-school. I'm going to be teaching special education so I'm probably not going to be able to do a class based of straight technology but I plan to use as much technology as possible in the classroom.

Blog Post #2

"Did You Know"

I was told to watch Dr. Strange's Did You Know? 3.0 - A John Strange 2012 Version. I did not know how fast technology is growing. I did not realize how many people use YouTube and also had computers in their homes across the world, let alone in the United States. I think it is an amazing thing how fast technology is growing and that the students I will be teaching are growing up, or going to be born, in a generation that is rapidly evolving. Like I said in my last post I am going into Special Education and have seen first hand how helpful technology can be in the classroom.
I think it is a great thing that technology in the classroom is also evolving. Children who cannot speak, due to disabilities, have resources that can speak for them or help them get their point across. I do believe that students can learn without technology in the classroom. How else would my parents or your grandparents have made it through school if not? Technology, I believe, opens many doors to many other resources that can help us teachers!

Mr. Winkle Wakes

"Mr. Winkle Wakes" is a short animated video created by Mathew Needleman. In the video Mr. Winkle wakes up from a hundred year nap and sees all the new technology used in the world today. Businessman using webcams to have discussions about whatever business they had with each other and from half way across the world. All of this new-ness scared him and made him feel sick, so he went to the hospital. The hospital did not make him feel any better because when he got there was all the new technology there also. He left and went to a school and saw that the students sat and took notes as the teacher lectured and he realized that somethings still remain the same and this made him at ease.
I believe, yes, students can learn without technology and I think some peoples point of views are going to be hard to change. This rapidly growing evolution of technology is a good thing in my opinion. I, myself, learned from reading and taking notes and taking tests, but I am a hands on learner. When I got to college I had to teach myself how to use all these new websites and different things on the internet that I had NO idea how to use and that was challenging, but now it helps me and I'm a better student for it. Technology is growing and I think its about time people get on board with it!

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

Robinson fights for creativity in his video. He says that creativity is as important as literacy and should be treated as such. He tells us that he believes children aren't afraid to be wrong and make mistakes, but as a society and us teaching them, they learn to be afraid to make mistakes. BUT how else do you learn? How do you learn to ride a bike, without falling off the bike first? You make mistakes to learn from them. He also says that as we grow, we grow out of creativity. I agree with him because we are taught to learn material and then test on the material. That's what school is now a days and they are trying to take music and art out of the school systems.
Robinson says that there is a known hierarchy in the school systems across the world. Math, Languages, Sciences and then Art and Music. He's very right. In high school you take 3 or 4 "core" classes such as math, science, foreign language and maybe you get to take 1 elective. Maybe an art class. He tells us that intelligence is diverse, dynamic and distinct. I agree on what he says about creativity being pushed out the school system. Creativity is a strong thing people should keep!

Pinterest

I've used Pinterest for about 9 months now. I'm pretty crafty so I love it. I followed all of the 20 because obviously they made the best educational boards to follow, fora reason. Kathy Schrocks account shows all the different ways to use technology in the class and different ways to make great presentations.

Pinterest will help me in my classroom by keeping new ideas coming in! It will also help me decorate my classroom and also teach me new ways to stay up-to-date on the latest crafts that deal with whatever lesson I'm teaching that week. I think its a great idea to use crafts and technology and Pinterest can show me how to make this a simple activity.

Project #2- Wordle

Blog Post #1

About Me

My name is Ashton DeMouy. I am twenty years old and I attend the University of South Alabama. I moved to Mobile when I was in the third grade from Pascagoula, Mississippi. I am majoring in Special Education and have a deep passion for helping and teaching the special needs. I have volunteered for almost six years with special needs children. I worked in my high-school's special education program my sophomore, junior and senior year. I got to help teach many of the kids one on one and also I got to help all of the teachers and students everyday with things in the classroom. I grew up with a down syndrome neighbor who is such an inspiration to everyone she comes in contact with. She pushes herself to be the very best every single day and lives with her disabilities as if they are non-existent.

I have faced and overcome many challenges in the past 10 years. My family's house was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. We had to tear down our house and start from scratch when I was in the eighth grade. We lived in a FEMA camper for three years in my front yard. I feel like if my family and I have conquered this, we can take on anything. I've always wanted to teach since I was little. I am in the second class of sign language here at South. I enjoy learning new things, such as sign, and I think Im pretty good at it. I also babysit a five year old autistic boy, who is my absolute heart. I know I am going to make a great teacher because I am not afraid of the challenges that face me in my coming years and also because I am so excited to teach these future students and help them learn something new every single day!


My Future Classroom

When I become a teacher, I will be very organized and I will use a lot of technology in the classroom. I've learned, by volunteer work, that children with special needs usually learn better if they can be very hands on with the subject. David, the little boy I babysit, learns a lot faster on his iPad then when he is just sitting with paper and a pencil writing things down and answering questions. I also am a very hands on learner. I, myself, do better when I am seeing how things are working and I am actually doing the "experiment" then just studying and taking a quiz or a test. I feel like I can relate to the students in that sense.

I hope by the time I am a teacher all the students will have their own iPads or tablets instead of paper and pencils. I think that would help reduce the amount of paper used in the classroom and also will help those children who are mute or cannot speak ask questions and communicate in the classroom. I will teach using many different methods, such as: demonstration and some lecturing. I do not learn very well from lecturing so I don't plan on using tons of lecturing.

I am going to be teaching secondary level special education. In my classroom I will have the students split up into different groups. There would be 3 groups. They would be 1. highly functioning and those who are the most independent 2. the kids who need some one on one work but can still do most of their work on their own and 3. the lowest functioning students who need the most attention. I would hopefully be working with two or three other teachers and we would rotate the groups from class to class so the students still feel like they are in high-school and make them feel as normal as possible.

I will be a dedicated teacher and I plan on mastering in Special Education. I also plan on teaching English and Comprehension. I know I will make a great teacher to the students because I wont treat them as if they have disabilities, but as if they were normal children and will not baby them. I plan on having a very vibrant room and display the children's work and artwork around the room. I am very excited to start teaching my future students.

Time Management

Dr. Pausch talks about planning your days out then your weeks then your semester. He also says that when you make a to-do list to make sure you narrow things down and to always start with the "ugliest" task first. That makes sense because I always feel more accomplished when I have done the hardest thing on my list and less stressed when it is out of the way. Pausch says to ask yourself WHY are you doing something. WHY will you succeed and what will happen when you DO NOT do something on your list.

practice post 2

practice post 2