Playing with Google for Educators

There is a lot of writing and information to overwhelm any person that has an attention deficit disorder. There are also some sites that you have to download in order to use that application. This site has a lot information to offer teachers in many different areas such as science, astronomy, reading comprehension, along with classroom ideas, and activities.
I myself might one day use this site for resources in my own classroom. I am just not sure how as of yet since I have never actually taught a class before.

Educational Philosophie

This week we were to work on our educational philosophies. Then we were to look at a few different sites and go over other educational philosophies and see what we could understand and figure out. A lot of the philosophies seemed to have some similarities and a fair amount of the blogs had complaints regarding the educational system today. Of all the philosophies I could most understand and relate to David Truss's you can find it at http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com . He originally wrote it May 23, 2007. He then revised it on May 2, 2009. He did not write any specific pedagogy in his philosophy, however from what I gather he supports and inclusive multicultural, and diverse form of philosophy. He supports engaging his students and giving them the supports they need to become responsible, successful, lifetime learners. He believes that all teachers should be actively involved with their students education. I also think that he believes in the use of Blooms Taxonomy in regards to becoming creative and critical thinkers.

A few things I am greatfull for this semester

I have had a lot of frustration this semester learning a lot of new technology. I am also grateful for some of this knowledge and technology. I have been able to set up and use the wiki for another class. It enabled us to get an A on our cooperative learning project. The wiki made it easier for us to communicate and cooperate rather than send multiple emails and phone calls. The information that we needed to share was right in front of us. I still have a lot to learn in regards to the wiki but am willing to spread my wings. I do not care for twitter. I am not sure what purpose it could be used for in an elementary classroom. However I have learnt more about it and am able to make an informed decision regarding whether or not to let my children to use it.

video blog

Hi all this week we are supposed to talk about video blogging. Let me tell you it is not an easy thing to do. I had a difficult time with this project. I had to keep redoing the video. I was having techinical difficulties. There is not enough room at the desk so that I could use the webcam. The quality from the webcam is not great. It was not the best experience for me. I do not think I will be creating any of these for my classes. however they are now doing web classes for children that are ill so that they can still have a education while obtaining treatments to try and get well from things such as cancer. Which is a good thing.

I just wish it was not such a difficult thing to do and I had equipment that would do a better job and I could just pause it instead of having to redo the whole thing. Well enough about my complaining. I hope you will be able to see and enjoy. Missy

Schools Kill Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson was funny and whitty. I was going to prepare myself for another boring video but again for a second time in a row I was impressed and my interest was kept. Sir Ken said that our children are the future. We have been teaching them to be school professors instead of creative individuals. I like and appreciate his take on the lady that is a famous choreographer that was a young girl that was unable to sit still was a dancer and went to dance school instead of being diagnosed with what is known today as ADHD. I agree with what he said but also disagree with what he said about medication and turning the creativity off. I have ADHD and now that I am on medication I am finally able to sit down and read a chapter in a book for school. I also do not keep my husband awake all night any more with my shaking in my sleep. I am not on so much medication that my creativity is hindered. I never had much talent to begin with. I sing off key, have poor balance, and cannot draw worth dirt however I do like to sew and do needle work. My creativity is making things with my hands. Give me a quilt to sew together any day. My daughter also has a disorder that makes it so that she would never sleep and her mind was always on the go 1,000 miles an hour. She is now on a dose of medication that would put a full grown male to sleep. However because of the chemical imbalance in her brain it slowes her down enough to start to listen and pay attention to others. However my husband and myself watch her to make sure she is still herself. That is one of the important things for us. She can sing, and draw, and act. She is able to write the story's she creates in her mind now on paper where she could not do that before. We do not want her over medicated but we do want her happy and healthy. She will watch a movie and suddenly pause it and start drawing a panther or a horse or a dog. She even draws our pets. I do agree however that sometimes a standard school is not right for every one. She could not make it threw a regular school day in a standard school system. The school system finally agreed when she was in 7th grade to send her to an alternative learning school. She is now thriving at school also. I agree that there are a lot of children that are out there that are having their creativity stifled. Music and art are of the first programs to be cut with this no child left behind program. However that is another thing to blog about. I have my opinions and they do not belong here at this time. Hooray for Sir Ken. Keep up the good fight to keep our children healthy, moving, and creative.

Bad Power Points

This week we are supposed to blog about our experiences with bad power point presentations.

I have to say I have been subject to some bad power point presentations that made me want to go to sleep. They were basically a lot of notes that someone was reading to the class. They did not ask questions or make it interesting.

Another power point that I have to say was one that was too distracting. Words were all over the place spinning and moving around. They used rainbow writing and funky shaped words. It also had flashing pictures. This power point was a little over the top and then some.

In our studies they talked about the 3+1+1 rule. Do you think that teachers should explain this rule to their students if they are going to create a power point presentation?

Blog about Hans Rosling's Presentation

Mr. Rosling's presentation in my opinion is by far the best video you have had us watch in class thus far. He makes you laugh and keeps the material more interesting. He was talking about data bases and how we need to get the publicly funded data bases more accessible on the Internet without our having to pay for it. He also mentioned the big advancement from the UN where it is no longer impossible to do this but that they cannot. He also talked about the child mortality rate in the different parts of the world and how if used properly the data bases can tell us so much more. Looking at a big lump number does not tell us as much about an area as looking at the different values that make up that number.