Blog Post 3

1. Watching the video's and slide show were very interesting and informative for me. The children were funny but also taught me the right ways to avoid being a bad peer reviewer. I have heard of some of the ways to avoid being too straight forward or not helpful enough but the children's examples of the wrong peer reviewing made it more clear for me to understand. I was taught all through high school and my first couple of college composition classes how to peer review. I was taught to mainly stick to grammatical errors but I was never told to give compliments. I think that is great to add in compliments and suggestions along with the grammatical corrections. It makes seeing your errors much more approachable and not so embarrassing.

I chose to comment on my classmates blog with their grammatical errors rather than emailing them. I think it is okay to have your work out in the public that way other students can read it and maybe have a better understanding of whatever they are confused on. I think that me commenting on the blog with corrections and comments allows other students to see what I saw and they can also comment if I have over looked something. I don't believe there is such thing as perfect writing so posting suggestions can only make the person's post better.

2. Watching the video about The Mountbatten completely blew my mind. I had no idea that there was such a machine. I think it is absolutely amazing that technology has become so advanced to help our seeing and hearing impaired students become just as advanced as our other students. If I had this type of machine in my classroom I would definitely learn to use it so if my students had any confusion I would be able to help them with it. I also think it would be good for the other students to learn the basics of this machine so when doing peer review the impaired student doesn't feel left out from his or her other classmates.

I am so interested and surprised by the technologies for the blind. There are so many different uses for blind students to choose from. The IPad for blind is such a great tool for students. I think its amazing that the blind can now use advanced technology and applications with little extra effort. I never thought about how blind students study math until watching the video. The grid that is available for blind math students seems to be a great tool. With having the braille and printed number on the front of the block the teacher can see what the student is working on with out having to actually learn to read braille. With the advancement of technology in the classroom the impaired learners shouldn't be held back because of their disabilities. I think it is a beautiful thing that people are finding ways for the impaired learners to keep up with technology and creativity.

3. Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
EDM310
Vicki Davis
Ms. Davis reminds me a lot of Dr. Strange. Both professors are attempting to make education more creative and diverse rather than the typical taking notes/ lecturing. I think both teachers are succeeding too. Ms. Davis is using technology in her classroom because she thinks that not all students learn the same way. She is using technology to connect her students with other students around the world and I think that is amazing. How many classrooms can you do that in? Not many that I am aware of. Not only is Ms. Davis educating her students in a creative way but by connecting her students to other students from different countries, those other students are educating us as well. She says that her students teach her new things all the time as well. I think its great that Ms. Davis and Dr. Strange are taking a leap of faith by changing the typical way of education into a more diverse and creative way of learning and hope that I get the opportunity to do so in my own classroom as well.

Blog Post 2

1. Did You Know? 3.0 - A John Strange 2012 Version
 EDM310 Class Blog
 Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod
In Dr. Strange's version of Did You Know 3.0, he elaborates on how technology is growing more and more each day. In the video, he starts with statistics and predictions on how American educators are being passed up other non-native English speaking countries who are educating their students on American language. One slide say's that if the Chinese "learners" do learn English then there will be more people in China speaking English than in the United States. What does that say about our educators? The video also explains how India has more K-12 Honors Students than all of the K-12 students of America and that 25% of India's population with the highest IQ's outnumber the entire population of the U.S. So, with that being said, apparently American educators are doing something wrong.

Technology is taking over our world. I do believe that Twitter, and Facebook can be a distraction to students but with those distractions I believe teachers need to find a way to keep hold of their students attention. Technology will continue to be a part of our every day lives so teachers need to learn to grow with it rather than just letting it pass them by. I think its a great thing for other countries to learn our language but with that shouldn't we keep the race going and learn theirs as well? Allowing other countries to out- educate the United States does nothing but set our country back even further. If this is how our world is going to continue to grow, can you imagine where we will stand 50 years from now?

2. Mr. Winkle Wakes 
EDM310 Class Blog 
Matthew Needleman 
When watching Mr. Winkle Wakes, I couldn't help myself but to laugh. What a silly video on how to educate how much the world has changed. It does make some valid points though. Mr. Winkle wakes up after being asleep for 100 years. He is amazed at the technology in office buildings and hospitals. One thing that he recognized was a school and the computer that he had seen in the office building and hospital. This computer wasn't being used in the classroom though. Mr. Winkle was happy to see that after his 100 year slumber that one thing remained the same; school.

 After watching the video I came to the conclusion that I agree and also disagree with Mr. Winkle's observations of how the world has changed. I do agree that we have come a long way with technology in the past 100 years. With the growth of technology, our world has become a more advanced and convenient place to live. Mr. Winkle was glad to see that school and education has remained the same and I disagree with him. I think that our field of education grows everyday. Now, students have access to internet and computer that allow them to search the web for anything they are curious about. With the growth of technology, people aren't just getting educated in classrooms listening to their teacher lecture. Technology has allowed us to educate ourselves daily through the internet and other available sources.

3. The Importance of Creativity 
EDM310 Class Blog 
Sir Ken Robinson 
The Importance of Creativity video was very witty and educational. It opened my eyes to see just how important it is to allow young students to embrace their creativity rather than shutting it down and telling them its wrong. Sir Ken Robinson hit a lot of key points that I found should be crucial for educators to focus on. He says, "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you"ll never come up with anything original." Teachers around the world teach the same subjects regardless of the country. So if the world is educating people on the same subjects everyday then how can someone be comfortable expressing their creativity? Teachers need to educate students that it is normal and okay to be different. Sir Ken Robinson says, "We don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it." I found that to be very intriguing in terms of education. Children have such vivid imaginations and parents usually embrace it, but when we enroll them in school that creativity and imagination gets turned into a disorder or learning disability.

 When watching The Importance of Creativity I couldn't agree more with Sir Ken Robinson. When I teach my future English classroom I want my students to be able to write creatively without fear of a bad grade. When it comes to creativity I don't believe there is a right or wrong answer. Its about producing original ideas that have meaning and value. So if creativity focus on valuable diversity then why is it being discontinued so often by our educators? Sir Ken Robinson says that intelligence is diverse, dynamic, and distinct. All three of those definitions are somehow based off of creativity and originality. I believe that if educators continue to deny creativity within education then we have no choice but to fail at our goals and dreams.

 Mr. Winkle Wakes movie focuses on pointing out how much the world has changed within the past 100 years. 100 years ago they didn't have computers, printers, internet, hospital machines that help save your life, or x-ray pictures. Schools had no use of technology. Now that we have advanced into a technological education system, schools have more room to develop and grow. Students have more resources available and can further their education with the help of technology. When thinking about how far the world and education has advanced within 100 years it makes me wonder what our world will be like the year of 2113. What resources will teachers be using to educate their students? What will technology look like and how will it work? We have absolutely no idea how far we will come but I like to believe that change is a good thing. As long as we are keeping up with technology and allowing it to make us better, I believe the education system will continue to grow and make light of the resources available for us.

4. Pinterest: Using Available Resources 
EDM310 Class Blog 
Kaitlyn Burgess and Bethany Griffith 
I've been on Pinterest for about a year now. As soon as I got the hang of the website I immediately fell in love. There are so many categories to choose from and creative things to search for. Pinterest can be useful to teachers and students in many different ways. I've found that Pinterest is a very organized way of remembering things that seem meaningful or useful to you. I want to express creativity in my personal classroom and showing my students how to use Pinterest may help them to open up and find their own creativity. I think sharing your ideas on Pinterest with other teachers can be helpful as well too. When it comes to education I think that creativity is the key to success; thankfully technology has introduced us to Pinterest and we can now use that resource to help educate in a more original and fresh way!

Project 2-wordle

Blog Post 1

About Me

My name is Gabby Williams. I was born in Biloxi, MS on April 7, 1992. I am only child and was raised by my parents. I've lived in Biloxi my entire life and recently moved to Mobile, AL to peruse my degree in English Education. I graduated in 2010 from d'Iberville High School and started my freshman year in the fall at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. I cheered there for the two years and graduated in May of 2012. Summer of 2012 I decided to move to Mobile to cheer and start my degree in English Education. I don't have a job because my time is consumed between school, cheering, and trying to maintain a social life. As my first year at South Alabama I've grown to love the city, my new friends and teammates, and the school its self. 

I want to enter the field of education because I want to help educate the children of our future and know that I've done my part in helping our world today. My passions are my family, friends, and boyfriend. Cheering is a passion for me on the good days. I love to cheer and support my school and teammates but at times it gets a little rough and tough. I love living on the water at home in Biloxi so in my free time being in the sun is my calling. I used to run track in high school so I've never lost my passion for running. 

Future Classroom 

When in my future classroom I plan on being a unique and fun teacher. I want my students to come to class always prepared and eager to learn. When I teach my high school English students, I not only want to help them with their grammar skills but also help them to open up and enjoy writing. I feel that every student is entitled to his own self-expression when it comes to writing and English, and he should feel comfortable enough to express their diversity. As teachers I feel that part of our job is to help students become confident enough with their writing and also with revising others writing. Teachers should focus more on correcting not criticizing and that’s what I plan to do.

I like to think that I am going to be a pretty easy going teacher. My main teaching philosophy is I want students to feel comfortable enough in my classroom to be able to write freely and creatively about any topic, whether assigned or student chosen. I want my main focus to be on self-expression, creativity and feeling comfortable with revision. I believe in peer review but not every student will care enough about someone else’s paper to analyze it correctly and provide acceptable feedback. To me, peer review is old and boring but group review can be an easy and productive way for students to grade each other’s work.

My students will be high school juniors and seniors so we will be working with literature and writing mostly. I want my students to learn the proper way of writing and revising their work and others as well. I want my students to be able to write honestly and without fear of a bad grade based on creativity. My students will learn the proper ways of writing through hands on activities and assignments rather than me lecturing to them daily.

The tools that my students will employ as a part of their learning process is being able to be hands on with writing and grammar. I want to use fun activities and games to show students that writing can be fun and isn't boring or as tough as they believe. I want to test my students through our activities and document their learning process so I can show them how far they have come from their old styles of writing. 

I want my classroom to be an open and welcoming environment. I don't want to be the teacher in school that all the students are afraid of. My classroom will be set up in a fun and exciting atmosphere. I don't want my classroom to feel like a typical white, brick wall, classroom. I want to have my classroom bright and vibrant so the students can feel free to be their selves and open up with their writing and grammar. 

Dr. Pausch

When watching Dr. Pausch's video on time management I've learned that procrastination is the absolute worst and Americans are the worst about stress and procrastination. I learned that I should focus more on goals, priorities, and planning. I learned that instead of doing the right things that I should focus more on doing things right.

I learned that failing to plan is planning to fail. I took that as if I don't plan my days, weeks, and months then I will fail at whatever I'm trying to succeed at. I learned that organization and planning my schedules and to- do list is crucial in succeeding. Watching the time management video I hope will help me in this class and others as well. 

Practice Post #1

Practice Post #1