Blog Post #3

After reading "Page Ells' Blog Assignment #12" and "Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial", I realized you can peer edit someone's work in three easy steps. The three steps are compliments, suggestions, and corrections. By using these three steps you can successfully edit a peer's work with out them feeling like they are being picked on.

The first step is to compliment the author of the work. Make that person feel like they did a good job and accomplished a lot. The options are endless when it comes to the amount of compliments you can give. Whatever you say, make sure you say it in a positive light. The second step is to suggest to the author how he/she can improve their writing. This step still needs to be said in a positive light so the author does not take your comments negatively. You also need to be specific when giving the author your suggestions. Don't just tell them they have bad sentence structure; tell them where they can improve the sentence structure and how they can improve it as well.

The last and final step to peer editing is corrections. To make corrections to a peer's work you need to check for grammatical mistakes. Any type of spelling error, incomplete sentences, or missing punctuation would be a grammatical mistake. The main part to remember through out the peer editing process is to stay positive in your commenting. If you stay positive the author will feel as though they have gained a good critique from a peer instead of being put down.

Blog Post #2

In the Mr. Dancealot Youtube video, the central message is that students need to experience and practice what they have learned to fully understand the concept. This idea can be used with anything someone is learning. If you read the book and take notes in a math class all semester but never work a math problem, how will you be able to do well on the final that consists of only math problems? You most likely would not do well at all! The same idea goes for Mr. Dancealot's class. He taught them many different types of dance and the steps that go along with each dance but they could never see his feet nor would he allow them to stand up and practice the moves. When the final came and all they had was their notes from class, they had no idea what they were doing because they were not allowed to practice the steps as they were taught. I agree with the author's conclusion because as a dancer myself I know how hard it is to be taught dance choreography and not allowed to practice it first and the teacher turns on the music and expects you to know exactly what she just taught. That is how it works at dance conventions with famous choreographers but I believe, with out practice you will never fully understand the concept at hand.

After watching Kevin Roberts video about teaching in the 21st century, he thinks that to teach in the 21st century you will need to integrate technology as much as you can into your teaching strategies to benefit the children. The rate our world is advancing in technology, our students would be missing so much of information and learning opportunities if they are not taught the many different ways to use technology. I completely agree with Roberts that teaching is rapidly changing because we have so much technology in todays society. I think it will greatly affect me as an educator because not only will the students be constantly learning new things but I will be learning along with them. I also think that technology should not be the main point of a students learning journey, it should just be an extra resource.

In the Youtube video The Networked Student, they are explaining why a student that takes a mostly online class, with no textbook, needs an actual teacher at all. When I first think about the question I would say well of course he needs a teacher because no matter how much technology is used, it is not a class with out a teacher in my opinion. But after watching this video it really makes me think more about the question. I agree with the video when they say "the reason the student still needs a teacher is because she teaches him how to make those connections" and use the many aspects of technology. In a way, I think of the teacher as the link between the student and the knowledge and opportunities waiting in technology. Without the teacher, the student would learn things but not near as much as he does with the help and knowledge of the teacher.

In Vicki Davis' video she is talking about how she is teaching her students to grow in knowledge through technology but also helping them connect with other students all over the world. She is not just the speaker of boring facts, she is now a teacher that aids these students in unlimited amount of learning opportunities and teaches the students so much more than they could ever learn from a book. I agree 100% with her thoughts of technology and how the students are much more enthusiastic about coming to class and learning when they do not have to sit there for an hour and stare at a boring book.

I have heard of flipping a classroom before but I have never actually seen a class do it nor have I done it myself. I personally do not like the idea of flipping the classroom at all. I think, especially in younger grades, the students need to learn the lesson with the teacher in front of them and in the classroom setting. I know this idea would have been awful if it was used when I was growing up because I had dance everyday after school until late and then I would come home and try to stay awake while doing my homework. What if I had to come home and not only do my homework but learn and practice a new lesson for the next day in class? I think that is too much self learning for the child. It also seems as if flipping the classroom is like going through instructions out of order. I like to start at step one and go from there but if I used the flipping method I would start at step three or four in the learning process and I feel it would be less efficient and useful in my classroom.

Blog Post #1

I have heard many things about EDM310 both good and bad. I have heard that EDM310 is a lot of work and you will spend a lot of time outside of the classroom working on all of the projects. I also have heard that they learned way more than they expected to learn from EDM310 and even enjoyed some of the projects. I would not call them "fears" I have about EDM310. I have a fear of spiders, not EDM310. But I would say that I am slightly worried about the work load right now.

EDM310 is not like any other class I have ever taken in high school or college. I could compare it to my computer class I had to take one semester in high school but, that class consisted of us typing weird sentences from a computer book and making pointless power points. It is different in the aspect of not using any paper at all. I cannot think of a class I have taken in high school or college that I have not had to take notes of some kind.

The most difficult part of EDM310 for me would be to make sure I begin assignments in advance. I always turn assignments in on time and start fairly early on them but in this class I am going to have to begin each project as early as I can so I will not get behind. I think that is the best way to address this aspect of EDM310. I do not have any questions right now about EDM310. But I know if I do ever have a question I need to speak up and ask someone!

Practice Post

My name is Sarah Carl and I am 20 years old. I was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama and I am a Elementary Education major. I am a junior at the University of South Alabama but it is only my second year here. I attended the University of Southern Mississippi my freshman year of college, majoring in nursing. I quickly changed my major because of my busy schedule I had to keep. I was a Dixie Darling and I was a member of Delta Gamma sorority so my schedule was packed. I loved Southern Miss but I missed home too much so I moved back home and began classes at South Alabama.

I live at home with my mom, dad, and two miniature schnauzers. I have one brother and one half brother. My brother's name is Dallas and he lives in Mobile with his wife and son Jack. A few of my favorite things are dance, yoga, traveling (Italy is the best), shopping, going to the movies, and getting my nails done. I have the world's greatest friends! I have competed in dance and pageants for as long as I can remember and was the 2010 National International Miss at the pageant system called International Miss Youth Development Program.

I want to enter the field of education to make a difference in children's lives. I want them to learn from me but more importantly, I want to learn from them. If I could choose any grade to teach I would want to teach Kindergarten because I would have many opportunities to impact their lives in and outside of school. Even though I already do yoga regularly, I would like to get better at it. If I had to choose one thing as my favorite thing it would be dance because it is my life!

That is a few things about me!

Test Post #2

Just making sure this post goes through.

My Test Post Title

This is my first post. I clicked the HTML button like I am supposed to do every time in EDM 310. I am now a blogger!