Blog post #2

Mr. Dancealot
(Chelsea Hadley, Anna Kern, and Kayla Christie)

While watching the video, my first impression was, “so this teacher, Mr. Dancealot, does not dance?” After trying to wrap my head around the question, the moral of the video came to me. What good is it to teach anything, especially dance, when the students are not required to honestly learn?

To learn is defined as knowledge or a skill you acquire by instruction or study, but it is really much more than that. We truly learn after we are truly taught, but what does that mean? "Mr. Dancealot" demonstrates the importance of hands-on learning. The instructor in the video is trying to teach the students (unsuccessfully) how to dance by lecturing using a power point. He then expects them to dance as their final exam. Many teachers use this method of lecturing and reciting facts to their students, and then expect them to be able apply and retain the information. The problem with this method is it does not engage the students. A better way would be to give the student the opportunity to learn hands-on, and make some mistakes along the way.

Well, unlike Mr. “undancealot”, as educators, we must get away from the basic PowerPoint presentation, and get our students involved! Let’s get those students dancing! Honestly, an open book and note test after just lectures? That is not teaching. To me, teachers make this common mistake all the time. We always wonder why students lack the motivation to do work, but we are not giving them much incentive when the only think we are teaching them is that they do not have to try.



This video brings out how to be a true “anti-teacher”, and I think that is great reason for Dr. Strange to show it to us. It reminds me of the quote we shared in class, “Never Tell, Always Ask.” We must break away from traditional teaching, and get the students involved! Students cannot absorb dancing by showing them on a PowerPoint presentation, behind your desk, or by giving them open book and note tests. STUDENTS CANNOT TRULY LEARN THIS WAY. We have to be proactive as educators and have our students involved in their own learning. We must stop spoon-feeding our students and propel them into active learning by being a part of the activity.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students Digital Smarts
(Chelsea Hadley)

Vicki has her high school level students really getting involved, interacting and truly learning. If I would have had more teachers who would have taught through technology and student interaction when I was growing up, I might have paid a lot more attention and learned much more information because hands-on is the best way of learning to me. In the video Ms. Davis talks about all the ways the students are learning and mentions how awesome it is to the students when they figure things out together and alone. I agree because when I work really hard and figure stuff out on my own it makes me feel great about myself. It makes you feel like you have accomplished something on your own instead of someone helping you and that is how this EDM310 class makes me feel. Vicki Davis states that "Not all students can learn with just pencil and paper." I so agree with her because I am one of them students. Not only does it make you learn and makes you do it on your own but students are also able to become comfortable with technology. I think making students think it out on their own and solving it on their own is an awesome strategy and other teachers should really try it.

Flipping the classroom - 4th grade stem
(Chelsea Hadley)

Flipping the classroom is a wonderful idea that I wish we had when I was in school. It gives children the opportunity to start their day prepared and ready to learn. Students can watch lectures online before the class so that they can learn and know what they will be learning about before they actually learn and talk about it in class. This opens up many doors for one-on-one learning at school. I think it is a great idea and would save a lot of time in class learning about it unless some students don’t watch the videos before class which means to me that really don’t care. This whole idea seems motivating, exciting and effective and I would love to use this in my classroom one day!


Teaching in the 21st Century by Kevin Roberts (John Strange version)
(Kayla Christie)

To me, Roberts thinks in order to teach in the 21st century, we must venture away from standardized teaching and learn how to adapt with the technological changes happening around us. As an elementary student, I do not ever remember other kids having cellphones in school, but now, it seems as if every child has one! He sees teaching changing in a way like the world. The world does not stop moving and changing and neither can we as educators. He is saying we must change our forms of teaching according to the new changes in the availability and use of technology. Along with Roberts, I agree we must make our lessons engaging with the technology as well as challenging. Roberts’s point of view tells that we should change our teaching from “why is the sky blue?” to “why is the sky blue? Explain, justify, and evaluate your opinion and research.” We have to change our forms of teaching from objective to subjective, and get the children to think about the answers to the question instead of just finding the answers. I think Roberts’s point of view on 21st century learning and teaching is spot-on, and as an educator, I will have to think more critically about my lessons as much as my students will have to think critically about their answers because of this point of view. As educators, we are constantly learning, and I think acquiring this new skill set of teaching will improve the students’ abilities to learn. I think this, because they are so easily able to look up the answers to the questions that teachers commonly ask. With this new way of teaching, the students cannot just look up any answer. They have to think outside of the box and use their creativity. In conclusion, we must stray away from being just like the economics teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day off, and become teachers of engagement!

"The Networked Student" by Wendy Drexler
(Anna Kern)

This video is a great representation of the countless learning opportunities available to students through technology. These days, many classrooms are primarily meeting virtually and don't even use text books. These students rely on the limitless possibilities of technology to find opinions and information from all over the world.

The author of this video, Wendy Drexler, describes herself as a student of connectivism, which is the theory that learning happens as a part of a network of many different technological agents and connections.

It's amazing how many educational resources the 21st century student has at his or her fingertips. The world's best instructors, limitless data and opinions-- all at the click of a button. Helping sort through this immense amount of material is one reason instructors are still such valuable assets to the 21st century student. Instructors also connect the student to new technological tools and sites, allowing the student to then make further connections. This prepares the student for a lifetime of learning and building networks. Instructors also teach proper blogging and social networking etiquette, and provide motivation and guidance.

Blog Post 1

“If I Built A School”

Krissy Venosdale is a third through sixth grade teacher who teaches gifted students. She loves technology, photography and learning. She is very creative and fun. Krissy’s blog post “If I built a school” was very inspirational. She wrote this post about her dream school. She defines every feature of the perfect school she even mentions that she would create values built on rooms and subjects. The library would have a tree house in a huge tree where students could read. Math would take place in a problem solving atmosphere. Science would take place in a real laboratory where students could do experiments. Art would be in a real art studio. Also she would advance technology in the school and allow students to be able to use their laptops, phones, ipads, tablets etc. She also mentions that the cafeteria would be like a coffee shop, which is very creative to me. Ms. Venosdale's also would not have usual grade levels in her school but would have a system where students advance based on their personal readiness and skills. In Krissy’s dream school students would love to learn because it would be a blast and the teachers would love to teach, which we definitely need more of. I think her dream school is extremely creative and that’s how I would want mine because I would not want mine like every other school. I would like for my students to have a lifetime experience and never forget it and especially love to come to school and be ready to learn because that is the most important thing. I then watched the video On Sugata Mitra’s “Build A School in the Clouds.” This video is very interesting as well. Mitra reminds everyone just how smart and amazing children are by showing their development with technology. Based on Sugata Mitra's experiments in less-fortunate, foreign-speaking countries around the world, if children are given something that puzzles their brain the children will figure out not only just how to use it, but how to use it proficiently, and teach others how to use it as well. Mitra poses an idea of a school that is computer based. Where there is only a computer, a question, and someone there to motivate them. They find the answers themselves by using technology instead of being lectured by a teacher. I believe that if we were to use the ideas that Sugata and Krissy express, we could build a better educational system for the future.

My classroom

In my Education career I would like to teach kindergarten or First grade and due to me wanting to teach them grades I would want my classroom set up with A,B,C'S, Shapes, colors, and etc. I would want my classroom to be colorful and fun because a positive and colorful classroom would be a more productive place to learn rather than a plain and boring room. I would like to have many books and activities in my room but not too many to distract the kids when I am teaching. I would want a fun, colorful, positive, and organized room so my students feel comfortable, positive, and ready to learn. I would want my students to know the essentials. There is so much in school that we have to learn that we never use. I would like to focus more on the things that we will have to use and make sure my students know them and know them well. The primary way that I would like to teach my students is by hands on. I feel that engages te students and motivates them to get involved and learn and especially at a young age. I learned in school that the more you are attracted to something the more you’re going to learn and the easier it is. There are many tools I would like to have to help the learning process but I am going to just name a few. The first one I would like to have is Learning Centers set up in my classroom. Learning Centers are important to me because while a child is in a specific learning center it keeps them focused, exploring, imagining, and learning to play with others. The second tool I would like to engage in my classroom is a seating arrangement. It is important all the kids can see what I am teaching at all times. A seating arrangement also keeps students from leaving another student out or arguing about where they want to sit and who they want to sit by. I also think it would keep the classroom organized and friendly. The last tool I am going to mention is a book area. I would enjoy a book area that I could stock with many varieties of children books. It is extremely important to me that students have a book area that is comfortable and calm so they can read. Furthermore I think it is important that all classrooms have an area to calm down and read because some students might not get that at home.

Time Management

The video by Dr. Pausch was primarily about time management and the value that time has in our life. He was very clear on how Americans do not value time management in the same way that they value money management. If we can learn how to manage our time in the ways that Dr. Pausch described, then we can reduce our stress level and live a better life. What I learned from this video is that it is very important to make a plan but also to be flexible enough to allow the plan to change and evolve. This is especially true in the field of teaching as we make plans for ourselves and our students. The main points that I took away from this video are that if we can learn to set goals on a daily and weekly basis, then we will start to learn how this process will help us reach and go beyond our goals. It's not as important to do everything perfectly, buy it's more important for us to do it from the perspective of doing things with integrity. We need to ask ourselves, "Why am I doing this?" and “What is my goal?" whenever we are setting goals as well and learn to prioritize our plan according to our goals. Also, whenever setting goals we need to understand that when making plans know that plans have a way of changing. I, personally, liked his analogy of, “If we fail to make a plan, we plan to fail" because planning is such an integral part of teaching children and it is something we must do to help our students reach their own goals.

Practice Blog Post

Hello my name is Chelsea Hadley. I live across the bay in Loxley and I am twenty two years old. I have two siblings that mean the world to me. I have one sister that is twenty and her name is Cierra. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee to precede her career in modeling. I also have one brother that is nineteen and his name is Chase and he lives in Troy, Alabama and goes to Troy. We have always been a really close family so with them gone I do not know what to do. I have the most amazing parents anyone could ask for I am who I am today because of them. They have always been there for me and supported me in anything I have wanted to do. I love them so much and could never thank them enough for what they have done for me. I also have a wonderful boyfriend named Camp and we have been dating for three years. I could not ask for a better hardworking, handsome, and supportive boyfriend. I have two dogs named Bella and Cash that I love to spend time with. I also like to swim, tan, shop, and hangout with my friends, boyfriend, and family. I am from Robertsdale, Alabama, where I graduated from high school in 2009. After graduating high school I attended Faulkner State Community College in Fairhope, Alabama. From Faulkner I transferred to South Alabama majoring in Elementary Education. I chose to major in Elementary Education because I love kids. Not only do I love kids but it is also that feeling you get when teaching and you see the children gather all of the information and actually put the information into play. It is a successful and rewarding job and I could see myself doing it for a long time and enjoying every minute of it. I would like to teach kindergarten or first grade but it really does not matter as long as I am teaching children and being the best teacher I can be.

Test post 2

Test post 2

My Test Post Title

This is my first post. I clicked the HTML button which I should always do in EDM310.