Blog Post 2

Mr. Dancealot

The video, Mr. Danealot, was a creative way of showing that it's one thing to teach material, but it's another to actually allow students to practice it themselves. The creator of this video portrays a dance class with a teacher who teaches the dance moves via a slideshow. He demonstrates the moves himself, but the students cannot see what he is doing because he stays behind a desk/counter the whole time. When it came time for the students' final, none of them were able to effectively execute the moves discussed in class because they had not had any practice with them. I don't agree with the way the teacher in this video taught because it is not a method that allows students to be able to try things on their own and learn from their own mistakes. I believe that students should be allowed to put what they learn in class into practice so they can get a feel for how different concepts work when actually executed.

Teaching in the 21st Century

In the video, Teaching in the 21st Century, Kevin Roberts thinks that if teachers are to effectively teach in the 21st century, they need to embrace the multiple internet sources students can use to gain information. Roberts talked about how teachers have almost become students' second source for gaining information due to the abundance of information that can be found on the internet. He says teachers should start utilizing those other sources in the classrooms because students are going to use them no matter what. Teachers should teach students how to properly use those sources. I agree with Roberts' view of teaching. I observed in a classroom this past semester for the first time, and I noticed that students we're allowed to use iPads and laptops in class. The teacher I observed under even had them use Google to search for different kinds of poems they felt related to them. If Roberts is correct on how much students use secondary sources for their information, I believe that I will be a teacher who accepts those sources in my classroom. I will teach students to use those sources to find valid sources and not just pull the first thing they find and use it.

The Networked Student

The video, The Networked Student, presented many interesting concepts and methods that I have never thought of. My personal favorite is that once students find a helpful website, they should share what they found with their fellow classmates. I find this interesting because I have always been competitive and if I find something I really like, I want to keep it to myself. The concept of sharing websites with my classmates is something I want to try because I know that I would appreciate the same in return. It is incredible how many places students can pull information from. The student discussed in the video contacted a movie director himself because he liked a documentary the director had made. I would have never thought of that as an option until I watched this video. The teacher who taught this student is the type of teacher I want to be. In relation to connectivism, I want to help guide students in creating many different ties to help gain information they need.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

In Vicki Davis' video, Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts, she says that she tries to create a class of students who are comfortable with any and all aspects of technology. She encourages students to use the internet to look up concepts and terms they do not understand. This helps them learn how to properly use search engines. I agree with this method of teaching because it allows students to discover things on their own.

Flipping the Classroom

The video, Flipping the Classroom, introduces the concept of sending home a "preview" of what will be covered in class the next day so the students can come to class already somewhat prepared. This is not really new to me because I do this same thing with different studies we do in my college group at church. We are currently doing a study out of "Gospel in Life" by Tim Keller. We have a reading that we do from the book before we meet on Wednesday nights, and then we discuss what we read during our meeting time. I like this approach because it allows people to get ahead and develop their own views and questions. So when the students meet the next day, the class is filled more with discussion than instruction. This saves the teacher considerable amounts of time that he/she could use doing more productive activities with his/her class.

Practice Blog Post

My name is Marisa Farnell. I have lived in Mobile, AL all of my life. My major is Secondary Education with a concentration in English. I attend the University of South Alabama. My dad is an alumni from South so that contributes a lot to how I became a student here myself. I have a younger brother, Christopher, who just graduated from high school last week. I decided to go into the field of education because I find that it is important to influence our future generations in ways that will help them become successful. I believe it is our jobs as educators to be positive influences on students. Many students in today’s society do not have good home lives and struggle with many hard things. I believe teachers should provide an environment that allows some relief from whatever hardships they are going through.

This is the logo for my church. I enjoy spending time volunteering and serving others with them. I am a small group leader for the 10th grade girls in the youth and I love every minute of it. It is these girls that helped me decide my true passion was in teaching. Beyond my church, I enjoy spending time out and about with my friends. I find I am the more straight-forward one in our circle. I am not afraid to tell someone when I think they should do things a different way. However, I only say that if I truly believe that my opinion is for their good. I don’t say things to tear people down. I have discovered that I have a little less patience than I would like. I strive to make that better every day. I enjoy trying out new things and meeting new people. I guess that’s all there is about me!

Blog Post 1

Upon entering EDM310, I was (and still kind of am) nervous. I have been told by numerous people that this will be the most challenging education course I have to take. These same sources say that the material is not hard to understand, it just takes a lot of time to learn and do it. These claims made me quite apprehensive about entering this class. I have never been in a class where most of my learning will be done through self-teaching. I purposefully took this class by itself in the summer so I would have no other classes to distract me from the work load this class requires.

EDM310, as I stated earlier, is much different from all other classes I have had before. Many teachers teach materials that are just memorized, spit out on tests, and then forgotten once the test is over. This class is quite the opposite. Dr. Strange considers himself more of a coach because he doesn't feel like the title of "teacher" truly describes his methods of teaching. I fully appreciate this because I have found that I relate better to "teachers" who encourage me to find out how to do things on my own and who guide me in the right direction without fully telling me the answer. This class is also different from other classes I have taken because of it's project/group based learning. We learn all we need to know for each unit by doing different projects and activities that help us learn what we will be needing to post in our blog for that unit. I find this "hands on" learning a lot easier because I can actually see myself doing what it is I need to know how to do.

I believe the most difficult thing for me in EDM310 will be the strict time management this class requires. I always start the semester off strong as far as time management goes, but as the semester goes on I begin to slack and do assignments last minute. I am aware that that type of behavior is not an option in this class if I am to pass this class with the grade I want (an A). I have already began addressing this difficult aspect by printing off the Checklist that has all of our assignments and their due dates. Each time I complete something, I put a check mark by it so I know which ones I still need to complete when it comes close to their due dates. As this class progresses, I'm sure I will establish more ways to manage my time and workload for this class.

With this being just the first week of class, I have yet to come up with any questions that I feel need to be answered. I'm positive that will change as the semester goes on, though.

My Test Post Title

This is my first post. I clicked the HTML button which I should always do in EDM 310. I am now a blogger!