Sunday, February 3, 2013

Blog Post #3

Peer Editing

When it comes to peer editing I sometimes find it difficult in catching spelling and grammatical errors because I am bilingual. For my C4C assignment I was assigned Jennifer Whitley’s blog. I honestly could not find any obvious mistakes in that aspect. However if I did find spelling errors or grammatical errors I would have contacted her personally. The reason I would contact her personally with this is I can be a little sensitive about my grammar.

I would suggest that she type up her blog in word then copy and paste it into her blog, then change the pasted contents to HTML. If Ms. Whitley’s blog was to be off topic I would suggest that she write down what her response would be in bullet format then expand on each comment, ensuring that her responses actually correspond to what is being asked. I would publicly post for misalignment of a topic and response to help others that were to possible read this blog post to understand there was some kind of miscommunication somewhere and it could be corrected with positive suggestions.

Assistive Technologies

WOW!! I would have to say I have never seen or heard of a device such as the Mountbatten brail writer this tool is really impressive. As a future educator I would have to place the brail writer near the computers that I would have in my group work center. This would allow classmates’ assigned group projects to work in class without any student feeling left out. This would also help my other students in class to learn to work with fellow classmates with impaired abilities. This would help build character in my class as a whole.

The three million touch pad is a very unique piece of equipment. I would have to say, I would probably make a small modification to the design of the scanner. I would have make the scanner flat like a mouse pad with a supermarket scanner versus the hand held scanner simply to make it a single motion when it comes to scanning and placing the tile on the board.

The iPad Usage for the blind is also something I would use in my class. I am in awe at the advancements in technology to accommodate our extraordinary student. This is truly taking a step in the technological direction when it comes to making the class environment more conducive for students with impairments. These devices really lend themselves to the no child left behind policy. Now all that’s left is to better equip and sync all devices once the students enter the classroom.

All of these devices are wonderful but an issue that comes to mind is the sounds being a distraction. If a student is in class taking notes while the teacher is talking or instructing the class there will be an audible distraction to the students around the class and this can also cause for missed information. I would either adjust the volume on the device if possible or provide head phones. If these proposed augmentations of the devices could not be utilized I would then incorporate breaks in the instructional periods to allow my student to take notes or have them record and play back the information on headsets.

Harness your students’ digital smarts

I love this approach! The students are able to work together, figure things out and teach themselves their classmates and their teacher. This approach to utilizing technology in the classroom really allows the students to be more hands on and more interactive. I really like the idea that the teacher can really get around the room and supervise what’s going on and is able to see who would need more direction and or assistance. My main concern with this approach is how to keep the students on task and on the right sites for the class lesson.

Blog Post #2 Wordle

Wordle: yollette battiste

Blog Post #2

Did you know? 3.0- A John Strange 2010 Version

Did you know youtube video was very informative. In watching this short video I thought of how my children utilize technology. My girls utilize their Nintendo Ds to text each other back and forth. My son is an electronic butterfly fluttering from his handheld games to taking over the television in the living room with his PlayStation games. It’s amazing how they can pick up on how the basics electronics work to utilizing the more advance electronics that I myself have to ask my six year old what input is the cable on after he’s done playing angry birds in the living room.
It is amazing to learn that the top jobs ten years from now don’t even exist. At the rate of technology’s advancement something’s might cease to exist or be on their way to becoming obsolete.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

This short video, to me, covered a lot about the change in technology and the applications in the surrounding environment. After 100 years Mr. Winkle awakes to a world of technology in an office setting. He then isn’t feeling well and decides to go to the hospital and in doing so he finds that the hospital is filled with electronics. The one place Mr. Winkles decides to go is to a school where everything seemed to be familiar.
What I got from this video is that the world has evolved technologically but the schools are left behind in the “stone age.” The classroom that Mr. Winkles was in had an old computer in the back of the classroom that didn’t appear to be in working condition. I have a very busy schedule with all the hats I wear and one of my hats is the substitute hat. I have been to schools here in Mobile County that has limited technology in the class rooms and the machines are in the classes, half the time, don’t work.
Plainly put, future jobs, not created yet will be more technology driven than the jobs today that require all the bells and whistles. The way classrooms are set up today with respect to technology is not creating the opportunities children today will need for jobs tomorrow.

The Importance of Creativity

In watching the video The Importance of Creativity with Sir Ken Robinson, it has opened my eyes as to how things are and have been perceived by the education systems. I agree that we as educators are “educating children out of creativity.” There are different styles of learning and there should be different styles of teaching when it comes to the classroom. At some point in a child’s day their creative ability needs to be nurtured. As Sir Robinson mentioned inflated academics is what is plaguing today’s ability for college graduates to locate jobs in their field of study.
The questions that come to mind are how can educators today better prepare children for the world tomorrow? If we as educators tailor the children passing through our classes annually to the current academic goals, how then do we expect them to reach their full potential? How then do we begin to customize or adapt if you will, the classroom environment so that it is conducive for creative learning geared towards a more rewarding future.

Pinterest

I found initially that Pinterest was a bit overwhelming but the more I played around with it the more I can see it potential usefulness in my near future. I think as a future educator Pinterest will be extremely useful in lesson planning and sharing information with my team teachers. This would definitely help me in pinning up resources for teaching my future science student. I could pin up charts and find pictures of how to dissect frogs. The possibilities are endless with Pinterest.
In being a parent of three elementary students I chose to pin several different reading articles. I have two well read seven year olds and one struggling six year old. These pins could help me this quarter with my son.
If I could use Pinterest in my class I would require my student to go on and register for Pinterest and have them pin science articles to help them find resources that could be utilized in completing a science project for my class.

Blog Post #1

About ME

Hello everyone, my name is Yollette Battiste I am married to my best friend Cyrus Battiste and we have three children. We have two daughters and a son that keeps us very busy from sun up to sun down. I am an officer in the Alabama Army National Guard. I already have a BS in Geography from South Alabama but I have returned for my teacher’s certificate. My plan is to teach General Science at one of our inner city high schools here in Mobile County.
So far this semester has been a bit hectic because of my military training over lapped the first week of school. I’m feeling my way through the first few weeks and trying to play catch up and jump ahead at the same time. I look forward to being a student in this class because I find myself to be a bit behind on all the social media. I can navigate facebook ok but twittering and blogging will be my challenges.

My Future Classroom

When I grow up I want to be a General Science Teacher for secondary education. I want to teach in a high school that has a JROTC program because of my military back ground. I want to be able to bring the two things that I love to do together, and that is to teach and work with future military leaders. My method of teaching would be similar to how I teach some of my military classes. Tools that I would use in my classroom would be the power point; the smart board and something close to a clicker system to have students interact at certain points during class.
At the beginning of each class I would have my objectives on the power point and allow the students to read and acknowledge that they are aware of the day’s objectives. Then I would designate the first thirty minutes of class on a lecture type section. The second thirty minutes of class would be some type of hands on activity or group activity to have the students put the lecture portion of the class into action. And the final thirty minutes of class would be what the military calls “check on learning.” At that time I would put two questions on the smart board for the students to respond to, and depending on how the responses are would let me know if the class really met the learning objectives for that class session.

Time Management

Randy Pausch addresses time management as complex issues that can be broken down and categorized. He goes over setting goals, prioritizing them and planning to succeed not failing to plan. Pausch also makes a great point about doing things the right way and doing the right thing. In uniform I am always planning and prioritizing things and tasks that need to be done but I realized I have been in the process of crossing this application from my work environment to my everyday life. This video just pointed that out for me.

Time Management Exercise

The Penn State time management exercise was very informative. It seems to have quantified qualitative information that I already knew. In being a full time parent spouse and student and a part time but full time some of the time guards woman I have the uncanny ability to not only multitask but also multi-think. I am in a constant state of working an un-prioritized to do list and some things get pushed to the way side. The most important and big things are always in the for forefront and take precedence over most but it is never the big stuff that adds up it is all the little things. So I would have to say the biggest thing that I have taken from the time management exercise is concentrate on one thing at a time.