C4K Last Summary

Vitulli and Santoli: Eyes on Ireland

I read and commented on Dr. Viitulli and Dr. Santoli's blog post Now For The Conference. Drs. Vitulli and Santoli are visiting Ireland for the Ireland International Conference on Education. This post was an interesting read that included pictures from the conference. Dr. Santoli writes in this blog post how she and Dr. Vitulli have met many people from all over the world. Each day of the conference, there is a keynote speaker. The speakers have raised questions such as, "How has technology and access to information challenged notions of academic integrity? What can we do in our K-12 classrooms to make students aware of academic integrity issues and of our expectations in this area?". The conference they attended seems educational and inspiring.

My Response:

Hello Dr. Santoli,

My name is Elizabeth Mims and I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. I really enjoyed reading your post and others that you have penned about your trip to Ireland. I really like how Dr. Cooper asks that we refer to people with learning disabilities as those who learn differently. After all, we all learn differently, so why should some be labeled as having a learning disability? I think attending a conference with the focus on education would be fascinating and so informative! Thank you for sharing your experiences from your trip with us!

ibBethany07

The blog post I read was written by a young girl named Bethany. Her post was titled, Napoleon and Josephine. Her post gives readers a brief history lesson on the lives of Napoleon and Josephine. From the time they courted and were married to their divorce, and everything in between. The post included a couple of images to look at while one read.

My Response:

Hello Bethany,

My name is Elizabeth Mims and I am a student at the University of South Alabama, which is in Mobile, Alabama. I was assigned to comment on your blog as part of an assignment in my EDM 310 class.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post about Napoleon and Josephine. I never learned much about Napoleon and Josephine in high school, so I was intrigued when I began reading your post. What a disaster their marriage was! In a way, I feel very badly for Napoleon, however he should of just divorced Josephine. Again, thank you for the history lesson.

Kayla K's Blog

Kayla is a student in Mr. Boylen's class. Her blog post that I commented on is called, Hobbies. In her post, Kayla talks about the different hobbies she has. She plays sports, cooks and bakes, and makes jewelery. The sports she plays are volleyball, basketball, and track. She mentions in her post, how important it is to communicate while playing. She has a very busy life and seems to enjoy every minute of it.

My response:

When I commented on Kayla's blog post, I told her how I used to play soccer and run cross country in high school. I love baking, as well. I told her to keep up with playing sports because it is good to have an active lifestyle. I told her see had a good head on her shoulders and to keep blogging.

Final Reflection

Project #13

For project #15, we were assigned to create a SmartBoard lesson. This project was to be completed without meeting our group members. At first, I thought this would be challenging and an epic fail; however, we made it work and our lesson was really cute and educational. My partner, Melissa Willis and I, communicated through Skype, email,and text. We only met once, and that was to film us teaching the lesson. This project really taught me that you can work together in a group and complete assignments without meeting to collaborate on them. There are so many tools out there to use. Skype, Google Docs, email, and text are just a few examples of the many forms of tools students can use to communicate while working on projects without meeting in person. Technology makes it possible!

C4T Last Summary

A Geeky Momma's Blog

I was assigned to read and comment on Lee Kolbert's blog, A Geeky Momma's Blog. I found her blog to be very interesting and I enjoyed reading her blog posts. Her first post that I commented on is titled, "Are You Driving A Race Car Or Horse And Buggy". This post addresses the issue of teachers and schools using technology in the classroom. Many refuse to make use of all the technology out there to teach their students. Mrs. Kolbert refers to these teachers as driving a horse and buggy, instead of a race car. If they want their students to succeed then they need to adopt 21st century teaching methods.

My response:

Hello,

My name is Elizabeth Mims and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed reading this post. I thought your analogy was clever and interesting. I feel like if teachers and schools do not want to make use of the technology out there, then they do not support giving their students the best education possible. Times are changing and the world is advancing. Our schools need to support 21st century teaching because the future depends on it. Our students depend on it. Thank you for the eye-opening post!

Second Post:

The second post I commented on was titled, Sexist or Silly? and it bright attention to a controversial school assignment on gender bias. The assignment required students to put the list of toys into categories based on whether they are for boys, girls, or both. One little girl forced all of the items in the category labeled "both". In response, her teacher gave her an F on the assignment. The girl's father was outraged by the assignment and grade his daughter received. He took his anger to Twitter, thus gaining media attention. The question Mrs. Kolbert asks are whether the father overreacted, did the teacher do anything wrong, and how could this situation have been handled better? She welcomed comments with reader's own answers and opinions on the matter.

My response:

Hello,

I felt as though the father should have spoken to the teacher first, before he turned to Twitter. In fact, I hate how people turn to the internet more and more to make a statement or get attention. He didn't know the teacher's full intent for the assignment. The teacher in return, should of given more detailed instructions for the worksheet. Also, I don't see how the student should have failed the assignment when, in her opinion, the toys can be for both boys and girls. There are girls who are tomboys, which means they probably don't play with Barbie dolls. While I don't completely agree with this assignment, I don't think it's something to make a big deal about. Also, the whole situation should have been handled better.

Elizabeth Mims

Final Report on PLN

Since posting a progress report on my Personal Learning Network in October, I have been busy exploring different websites on the internet and adding to my Symbaloo. I have found and am following several blogs from great educators. One blog, in particular, that I enjoy reading through is called Venspired and it belongs to Krissy Venosdale. Twitter is a great tool to use for finding and following bloggers whose passions are educating and using technology in schools. I also have been exploring Pinterest. This site is great for finding ideas for classroom crafts and activities. I would recommend Pinterest to everyone. I am sure as I continue to explore the web I will find more fascinating websites and tools to use in the classroom.

Progress Report on Final Project

For our final project, my partner and I decided to do the iBook. We met up at school on a Saturday morning to work on our project. My partner, Melissa Willis, has a Mac so we decided to make the iBook on her computer. We gathered all of our individual components and put that part of the iBook together. We have most of our group components completed; however, we are working on it individually and I plan on emailing her my parts of the group component. She is putting the final touches on our iBook and is going to work her magic to make it look awesome!

Project #15