Blog Post 5 Part 2

    My PLN was nonexistent before I started this class. I did not even know what a PLN was. Now that this class is almost over, I ma happy to say that my PLN has grown so much! I have numerous people that can help me with my career. All the teacher's blogs that I have commented on have gotten in touch with over twitter or email and given me advice on furthering my career with teaching. One teacher, David Truss contacted me over the blog that I posted summarizing my visit to his. He gave me some advice and guidance on the future. It was very exciting and helpful to hear from him. David Wees also got in touch with me over twitter. Twitter has been a very useful outlet for contacting people and gaining information on the technology topic. I follow numerous teachers and kindergarten themed twitter accounts. I have also been able to meet with some teachers and talk with them about what they use, as far as technology goes, in their classrooms. My PLN is grown so much over the course of this class and I can't wait for it to get even bigger as further my career as a teacher.

Technology and Teaching: My Philosophy

   Before this class, the thought of technology being integrated into a classroom never crossed my mind. Now it is something that I will definitely be using, if I am able too, in my future classroom. It is the ultimate tool to have because it opens students up to new world of learning. Also, it keeps them engaged because they love playing on their computers or on their iPads. When I went and observed in  a public school for one of my classes, I was talking with one of the teachers that I knew there and she said she gave the students the option of watching a movie or playing on their computers for the rest of the day and they chose their computers. I thought that was pretty amazing and the games they were playing were educational. If you have the tools to keep students so engaged and interested in learning why would you not use them? I love that technology brings so many things to the table to help better the student's learning experience. If you get them hooked on learning at a young age they will turn out to be more educated individuals and be a better part of society.

Project #16 Blog Post

C4T #4

Jonesy The Teacher

Comment:
Brendan,
My name is Jesse and I am a student at the University of South Alabama studying to be an elementary school teacher. I enjoyed reading your post! I remember in my 5th grade class the teacher would always take us out on Friday afternoons and let us play dodgeball. I don't remember it being violent or hurting anyone. The new game that you and your students came up with sounds really fun and I want to try it!

Thanks for sharing,
Jesse Reed

Summary:
In this post Brendan Jones talked about the stereotype that everyone has for dodgeball. He says that most people think that dodgeball is very dangerous and he said he could see where they are coming from. In response to this, he and his class created a newer version of the game of dodgeball. They would use soft volleyballs and you were out if you got hit below the waist, not above. If you hit someone above the shoulders were thrown out of the game. You could also be allowed bak into the game of you got out if one of your teammates hit the basketball backboard. I really liked the dodgeball that they came up with and I thought it was creative and safer way to play dodgeball.

C4K for April

First Comment:

Mrs. L's Awesome 7th Grade Class

Hi Braxton, 


I am student at the University of South Alabama in the College of Education. I really enjoyed reading your post! I am not a sports fanatic but I do enjoy watching baseball and football.I thought you did a great job at explaining the book without giving the ending away. I think it’s great that you want to read for fun! Reading helps strengthen your mind and keep it sharp. Keep up the good work! 



Thanks, 


Jesse Reed

First Summary:

Braxton did a great job summarizing the book he read, "The Big Field" by Mike Lupica. He summarized the book without giving away any of the really good parts! I can tell that he really enjoyed reading the book and that is an awesome thing. More students need to be excited about reading. It helps stimulate and keep your brain sharp. I thought that he had good grammar for a 7th grader as well. 

Second Comment:

Mackenna C's Blog

Mackenna, 

Happy late easter! I am a student at the University of South Alabama studying to be an elementary school teacher. That galactic egg looks pretty cool! I have never seen one before. I also got something for Easter too! I got basket full of candy and a shopping trip with my mom. Hope you enjoy your gifts!

Thanks for sharing, 

Jesse Reed

Second Summary:

For her blog post Mackenna talked about what she got for Easter. I just now realized that the galactic egg was a chocolate egg. I thought it was a toy! Anyway, Mackenna talked about how excited she was that she had received an Easter gift. There was not much writing in her post so I could not tell about her writing skills. She seemed very excited about her egg and the other candy that she received.

Third Comment:

Mrs. Gardner's Class

Hi Cayla,

I am a student at the University of South Alabama studying to be an elementary school teacher. That is an interesting choice of lunch for your teacher! I think if he were to eat that he would definitely get sick! I laughed pretty hard at the baby vomit! I can tell that you are very creative person. Keep up the good work Cayla!

Thanks,

Jesse Reed

Third Summary:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Cayla's post. She came up with what she would feed to her teacher for lunch and I want to share it because it made me laugh. For salad she would serve him baby vomit, for soup it was blood soup, for the main course she would serve him worms ice cream, to drink it would be sea salt water, and then for dessert it would be raw eggs and raw fish! I could tell that she put some thought into her post and came up with some pretty creative items to feed to her teacher.

Blog Post #14

    For this blog post we were assigned to read Teaching Can Be a Profession by Joel Klein and list the problems and their solutions that Joel mentioned in his article and whether or not we agree with them.

Problem: Virtually anyone with a degree can become a teacher
Solution: Recruit from the top third of graduates

   I disagree and agree with him on this one. Recruiting from the top third of graduates would put a lot of people out of job. I know that we as teachers need to be held to a higher standard but requiring that teachers will only be hired if they are in the top third of their class is a little harsh. I know that my mother was a wonderful teacher and I bet that she was not in the top third of her class. I do agree however, that teachers need to be held to a higher standard. Makes me think of the saying, "those who can't teach". That is not true at all. However, I do think that schools should be as lenient when it come to who they accept into their education programs

Problem: Seniority (The most recently hired teachers are fired over the ones who have been at the school for a while regardless of performance)
Solution: Professionalize teaching so that excellence would be the guiding hallmark

    I totally and one hundred percent agree with this. This topic is something that has bothered me for years and I do not understand why it is in place. I know that when I start working at a school I am going to be so excited to try out new things with the students and try my best. Sometimes, older teachers are very set in their ways and longer try to be the best that they can be and try new things because they are comfortable and know that they are not going anywhere. I do not like the idea of tenure and I have pondered for a long time why all schools use this policy. As a result, the incompetent teachers are not able to be fired. 

  In conclusion, I love Joel Klein's idea of professionalizing teaching to an extent. I do believe that teachers should have higher standards but recruiting teachers that are in the top third of their class is maybe a little but too strict. Humans are human and we make mistakes. I know I have missed a couple of assignments in my college career and it has brought my grades down slightly. Recruiting from the top third really doesn't leave any room for human error, in my opinion. However, his idea to professionalize teaching is very innovative and I strongly agree with him on that. Cutting out the idea of seniority and hiring teachers that are well equip for the job is a great idea. 

C4T #3

First Comment

Hi Dean,

I am a elementary education student at the University of South Alabama in EDM 310 and I will be visiting your blog this week and again in two weeks. I am going to summarize my visits to your blog on my blog, reedjesseedm310.blogspot.com on April 4th! In EDM 310 it teaches us how to use technology in the classroom and why it is so important that we do. I agree with you that change needs to take place. I have learned that when technology is implemented in a classroom the students are able to take that learning into their own hands therefore making it more personal and geared toward their style of learning. I have also learned that a lot of teachers are not ready to make that change. The methods and techniques that teachers used 10 or more years ago are not going to work on the 21st century students. EDM 310 is teaching us that technology is a necessity for learning.

Thank you for sharing,

Jesse Reed

First Summary

In this post Dean talks about the changes that need to take place when it comes to the way that we teach. He says that 21st century technology should be implemented in the classroom as soon as possible.  He challenges teachers to change. His post touched on a couple of things thatthis classes really stresses. For example, the use of technology is necessary for students of today to become adequate learners

 Second Comment

Hi again Mr. Dean, 

I really glad that I chose this post to comment on and read because I am so excited and amazed at how much my personal learning network has grow since I started blogging and using technology. My professor requires us to comment on teacher's blogs and I have had different conversations with each of them and they have helped me grow and be more confident in the career path that I am choosing. I have had so many people tell me that teaching is going to be miserable and that I should do something else. I am happy to say that I am so excited to purse my teaching degree and be able to implement everything that I have learned about technology in my classroom!

Thank you for sharing, 

Jesse Reed

Second Summary

In this post, Dean shares his story of how he built up his personal learning network. He started constructing it when he made a Blog account and a special needs teacher that is very influential in the technology world commented on one of his posts. I feel like his story is similar to mine because through these C4T comments I have had every one of teachers i was assigned to comment something back. The comment was always helpful and encouraging and I love to hear from someone older than me and more well-established!