Blog Post #9

What Can We Learn From Mrs. Cassidy?

First off, Mrs. Cassidy is a futuristic First Grade teacher in Moose Jaw, Canada. In the first video we were assigned to watch, called "First Graders in Mrs. Cassidy's Class", we are introduced to Mrs. Cassidy's class and all the exciting ways that they are using technology in their classroom. I really love that this video is narrated by the student's themselves, because you can really tell how much they enjoy the things they do to learn in their classroom. One student talks about how they use blogging as a form of learning and how her writing skills improve in every post. Other ways that they use technology in their classroom is through Nintendo DS, webpages and Wiki. Mrs. Cassidy's students talk about how they use Wiki to ask any question they want and people from all over the World answer them.

The next three videos we were assigned to watch was a three part interview that Dr. Strange had with Mrs. Cassidy. In Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1, Dr. Strange and Mrs. Cassidy discuss how she got started with technology in her classroom. Mrs. Cassidy says in the video that she has been doing this for ten years and started blogging five years ago. She also talk about how blogging affects not only the student's but the parents too. Instead of parents having to meet with the child's teacher about their progress they can easily look at their blogs instead. In Part Two of the interview Dr. Strange and Mrs. Cassidy talk about where to start as a new teacher and ways to create new PLN's. The main source of social media that they talk about in this video is Twitter. Mrs. Cassidy says that she really does not use much social media for her personal life, but that it helps her connect with other teachers and their teaching ideas and thoughts. Dr. Strange talks about how Twitter changed his life, played a major role in his PLN's and introduced him to many other great teachers. Mrs. Cassidy also talks about how each person is different and how we should pick certain technologies that suit what we are interested in. In Part Three of the interview with Mrs. Cassidy, Dr. Strange gets students from his class to ask her questions. One of Dr. Strange's students asked how often Mrs. Cassidy had her students blogging. Mrs. Cassidy also talks about how she protects her students from harmful things on the internet and talks about how Facebook is also useful in collaborating with others. As a future teacher, I really enjoyed learning from Mrs. Cassidy and getting new ideas on how I can be a great teacher as well. When I become a teacher I hope that I will have the resources necessary to involve my students in as much technology as Mrs. Cassidy does. I want to use the same enthusiasm that she does about having her students be bloggers. Having my students blogging in my class will benefit them by helping them improve in many ways. Also blogging can help parents keep track of their child's progress, and I think it is a great way to keep them involved too!

Project #9

Lesson Plans Project #14

Project Overview

Project Calendar

Blog Post #8

In our blog post for this week we are supposed to talk about different tools that we can use as teachers of the 21 century. Luckily for future teachers such as myself, we have a tremendous amount of teaching tools to choose from. Just to start, there is Prezi, Teacher Tube, iCurio, Discovery Ed, and Teaching Channel. All of these sites and tools are a network of teachers coming together to share their ideas and learning experiences.

As a secondary education major I feel that it is a little more difficult for me to find tools to help me teach the older students. One of the tools I researched that I found more age appropriate for secondary education was TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. This Website is kind of like a blog but with videos instead of written posts. These videos are very inspiring talks and speeches by some famous and some non famous people. I feel that these videos are great ways to inspire anyone, especially students and teachers. Students in the higher secondary level grades may sometimes feel lost or may not have as much drive or motivation as a younger excited student. This TED site is a good tool for teachers to use when they feel like a student needs a good boost of positive energy. It is also a good site for teachers to learn new things about education and ways to teach in the 21st century.

C4T #2

My assigned teacher for our C4T assignment was Mrs. Vicki Davis. She also refers to herself as the "Cool Cat Teacher". The blog post I commented on of Mrs. Davis's is called "Daily Education and Technology News in Schools". In this post Mrs. Davis talks about different types of tablets, apps and mind mapping tools. She explains a new type of Belkin tablet and how it benefits classrooms and education. She also talks about an app called the Life Noted App that enables students to be able to capture their notes and share them with others. She also shares a link in her blog that has 24 essential mind mapping and brainstorming ideas that can help teachers learn how to teach their students how to brainstorm more effectively. At the end of Mrs. Vicki Davis's blog she shares several other links that are useful to students and teachers. I really enjoyed reading Mrs. Davis's blog post and love seeing teachers like her that are excited to share their wisdom!

Project #13

Ireland Myths and legends Lesson Plan

Ireland Myths and Legend Calendar

Blog Post #7

Throughout life you meet, know or learn about certain people and their stories, and they stick with you forever. Randy Pausch's story is one of those for me that I will always remember. Mr. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and doctors told him he only had 6 months left to live. After he found this news out he prepared a message that is known as "Randy Pausch's Last Lecture". Randy was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and was also married with three children. In the beginning of his lecture after he tells about his diagnoses he says, "We can not change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand". I loved how he said that with such optimism given the situation he was dealt. Mr. Pausch's speech is divided into three parts: His childhood dreams, enabling the childhood dreams of others, and lessons learned. Throughout each part of his lecture I felt I learned so much from this man and the perspective he puts on life and how we should live it. I am a huge believer in always helping others to be there best and Randy Pausch is such a great role model not only for me but everyone else.

Randy Pausch starts his lecture by telling about his own childhood dreams. He says that when he was a child he wanted to be in zero gravity, to be in the NFL, wanted to have an article in the World Encyclopedia, to meet Captain Kirk and to be a Disney Imagineer. He achieved all of these things except for playing in the NFL, but did play football in high school and says he learned about fundamentals and had great coaches. While talking about playing football and having a head strong coach Pausch said, "When you are screwing up and nobody's telling you, that means they've given up on you". I love that quote for so many reasons, I think it is so important for individuals to always have people guiding them and pushing them to be their best. Also Pausch talked about the importance of how people in the Education field should and should not talk to their students. After telling about a incident he had with a past professor of his Pausch states, "Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things".

The second part of Pausch's lecture he talk about ways to enable the childhood dreams of others and how he help enable the childhood dreams of his students. Mr. Pausch started his enabling by creating a class at his university called Building Virtual Worlds. This class had 50 students who all grouped up and had 5 projects a piece a semester. His student's did such good jobs every project that he did not know what he should say to them and a friend of his told him, "Do not set the bar for student's or the will not keep getting better". This really stuck out to me as a education major because it is very true. If we set standards for our student's they may never reach beyond that to their full potential. Pausch also created the Dream Fufillment Factory at his University that got student's jobs in their field fast. Pausch also states that "It is important to focus on people and learn how to work in groups", which is true not only for student's but for every person in their daily life. The Alice program was also another program Pausch created that teaches millions of kids learn hard things while they are having fun.

In the last part of Pausch's lecture he talks about lessons learned. Pausch talks about the roles of parents, mentors, students, family, and friends. He says to make sure whatever your doing with your life to always have fun and to never lose the child like wonder inside of you. He also talked about how to get other people to help you, by being loyal, earnest, truthful and apologetic. Pausch said that it is important to think of other's before yourself, saying "When you do the right thing good stuff has a way of happening". Being a true believer in karma myself, I totally agree with the way Pausch thinks.

At the end of Pausch's lecture he tells the audience two things they did not realize about his lecture. He says that the lecture was not about how to achieve your goals but how to lead your life and he says that the lecture is for his children and not them. I am so glad that Dr. Strange assigned this video for us to watch, it was such an uplifting and moving experience. I think that the main thing I learned from Pausch's story is to always be grateful for what I have and to life every day to the fullest. I am so glad I watched this lecture and strive to now lead my life how Randy Pausch hopes that other's will from seeing his lecture.