Discussion 2 - The Need for Change

In reference to the comment made in the video about how we live our lives, I have met people
and know people that are the same way, enduring their lives.  They are always counting
down to something, wishing the day or week away. When you do this, you are wasting
your time by just living for the weekends or living for that next moment.  You have to enjoy
your life now. You have to make the best of a bad situation. It is a motivator to look
forward to something exciting, but not enjoying where you are at the current moment is a
waste of time.  

My grandma used to say, “You are wishing your life away.”

That was a very interesting point about the wrist watch.  I am sure there are other things
that we all used to do that the young people don’t do anymore.  

Sir Ken Robinson said, “Life is organic.”  I agree with him about not everyone needs to go
to college or not to go right now.  You are not the same person when you are 18 than you
are at 30. Your opinions, wants, believes, and outlooks change as you get older.  It is
hard to know what you want to do for the rest of your life and the young age of 18.
Not everyone is ready to make that kind of decision when they are a teenager.  Some
people are lucky and know what they want like the fireman in his example. That is a
shame that a teacher would tell a student not to be a fireman. The world needs fireman!
 

When we are busy doing the state standards it is difficult to give the students freedom
to explore their own talents, likes and dislikes.  For example, we teach them to have
an opinion and give them a choice when we review graphing. One of the questions
is: Do you like to color?  On the graph we have a “yes” and a “no” side. The students
are allowed to vote or choose which one they want. So we are teaching them about
choice at a young age.  As they get older we may ask them what they want, but do we
do anything past that? Most of us would like to, but with admin breathing down your
back about standard, being “on schedule” and doing all the things they deem necessary,
it is difficult to allow the student freedom to do things their way. He also said, “Human
communities depend upon a diversity of talent.”  This is so true. Not every student
needs to be a professional. If that was the case, who would fix our cars, who would
pick up our trash, who would clean the schools, etc.

The comment of kindergarten is very important.  I know that education is important
which is why we are teachers.  It needs to be about quality not quantity. Not
everyone has the same talents, desires, or like the same thing.  That is a good
thing. We are all different and passionate about different things. This is what
makes us all unique and special.  

Children need to be children. We are always pushing them so fast and so hard
because there are state standards and there isn’t time for them to be children.  
The brain develops in different ways and student should be allowed to develop
those talents and learn at their own pace. Some students are ready to read at
4 or 5 other students might not be ready until they are 6 or 7 or even older.

He also said, “If you are doing something you love, an hour feels like five minutes.  If
you are doing something that doesn’t resonate with your spirit, five minutes feels like
an hour.”  This is very true. I love to do crafts, make shirts, etc. I can spend all day in
my craft room creating things.  When it come to cleaning the house, it seems like it
takes forever.

The students in my class are like this.  When they are at the play dough center or
the Lego center they are disappointed when time is up and they have to move to
another location.  When they are at the math center or the alphabet center, they
are ready to go. Two of the centers are creative and open ended, the other two
have requirements and a task to complete.  At this age, they want to express
themselves and explore.

REFERENCE

TED. (2010, May 24). Bring on the learning revolution! | Sir Ken Robinson. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I&feature=youtu.be

Christmas Gifts for my Class

It's that time of year again!  

It is time to think about what to give "my kids" for Christmas.  I am going to do the same thing that I have done the past 3 years....... SCARVES! This was a fun activity that my dad helped me with the first couple of years.  He always had fun helping me with my school projects! 

This picture is the last time we made them together.  We were trying to pass the time at his dialysis treatment.  Daddy, age 90, was a very good "scarf holder".  He took pride in his "job", although he used to always say, 'I don't work after 5pm".  LOL  I MISS HIM SO MUCH!!

These scarves are always a HIT and I am sure these little four-year old Pre-K students will love them too!

I bought the FLEECE blankets at Wal-mart for $2.50 each.  Each one makes 6 scarves.  That is about 42 cents each!  Make sure to be the fleece ones.  The other ones will not work.

After making the scarves, then you need a little HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl) from either Ante Up Graphics or 651 Vinyl  if you need to order on line.  If you are local you should visit the Country Gone Crazy in Baytown, Texas.

This is an easy and simple project.  

FIRST and FOREMOST...........
Enlist a helper.

STEP ONE
All you have to do is unroll the blanket.

STEP TWO
Take off the thread/hem on the edges.

If you cut it right, the thread will come off in one piece.

STEP THREE
Cut on the folds.  Sometimes the blankets aren't really 50 x 60 so measuring really isn't necessary.  They will be about 50 inches long and about 10 inches wide (maybe 9).

STEP FOUR
Cut slits in the end.  I cut "eyeball" it.  I don't measure.  Cut about two inches up from the edge.  Just enough so that you can tie a knot.  You can make as many or as few as you want.  I make about 6.

STEP FIVE
Use a Cricut or similar machine to design the names of your students.  Iron on the HTV.  YES, I just used my handy-dandy SUPER HOT iron.  No need to break out the heat press for this.



STEP SIX
Give to the students and they will LOVE THEM!  (Parents will love them because they are washable! Plus with their names on them, they hopefully will keep up with them.)

Discussion 1 - Disruptive Innovation (5305)

Technology does give us endless possibilities but we have to know how to use them as tool and do it correctly.

I like what Clayton Christensen said about technology being disruptive and how it affects  the marketplace. He talked about why disruptiveness is a virtue. He said that when using new technology it needs to be a better quality than in the past and old lower in price/cost than it was previously.  He goes on to say something like the transformation of technology has gone from things that used to be complicated and expensive and then it is affordable and accessible so that more people have access to it.  

This makes me think about how the phone has changed.  In the past “car phones” were in the car and only businessmen used them.  They were expensive and had to be hooked up to the car and were very expensive to use.   Fast forward to the phone today and now we all have phones. They don’t have cords, we don’t have to be in the car to use them, the plans are cheaper.

Michael Horn says, “Every student has different learning needs at different times.”  The three things that people agree on when it comes to learning styles. He said, “people learn at different paces, every student brings different levels of background knowledge into a learning experience, we all have different working memory capacities or aptitudes and therefore can absorb information in different way and different rates.” (Horn, 2013)  If we agree on this and we know this, why aren’t we teaching differently?

This reminds me of the quote by Ignacio Estrada, “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”

I see this every day in my classroom with four year old students.  Some students are ready to come to school for a half day and other students aren’t ready at all.  Some students have been prepared by their parents and know there are rules at schools and have the support at home.  Some students just go with the flow. Others throw a fit, cry, scream, and won’t do as they are told. Some fall asleep, some play nicely with others, some want to be first all the time, some are just happy-go-lucky little humans.

In the Blended Learning video he talks about rotations.  We do that kind of thing in Pre-K. I have centers that are different learning styles and one is technology.  The technology is a tool to assist with learning not a method, trend, or fad. Since all students learn differently, they need more options. Using technology is a helpful tool that could motivate students.  Students need to connect real life in the class and out of the classroom.

I like that he mentioned about starting backwards.  That is what we do when planning activities for the students in Pre-K.  When we are planning we think about different questions. What is the purpose?  What are they going to learn? What do you want them to get out of this? What vocabulary do we want them to know?  What is the best use of the time allotted? We try to individualize the learning so we incorporate the audio and visual learners so that everyone has a chance to learn their way.

REFERENCES:

Clayton Christensen Institute. (2014, June 05). Part 6 -- Technology as a Disruptive Force in
Education. Retrieved November 20, 2018,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ENX-GTUf4&feature=youtu.be.

Edmentum. (2013, March 05). Disrupting Class - Part 3: Disruptive Innovation in
Education. Retrieved November 20, 2018,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX2hOF5YkfQ&feature=youtu.be

Edmentum. (2013, March 05). Disrupting Class - Part 4: Blended Learning.
Retrieved November 20, 2018, from https://youtu.be/-TGmqeWprqM

Horn, M. & Staker, H. (2005). Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve
Schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Brand.

Class 3 - One Step Closer

It's time for class #3!  This means that I am one class closer to the end!  Looking at the positive side.  The next few weeks are going to be super busy at school and with my school work.

We have four weeks between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break.  The kids are going to be wound up and ready for Santa.  We are doing a two-week theme of Gingerbread and then a two-week theme of Christmas.  Thanks to my INSTANT INK HP printer I have almost everything I need for our centers and fun activities.  I am sure that I actually have everything I need, but I say ALMOST because I am sure that I will find something else to print.  I usually do!

If you need my HP referral code, it is hQhvH.  You will get a FREE MONTH and I will too.

(YES IT IS PUPRLE!  It has worked great! I have printed about 500 pages a month for a hear and a half now and it is still going strong.  It is great to have ink at your fingertips and never run out!)

Off to do a little bit of my classwork and house chores.  Gizmo is keeping me company by "hanging around".  He loves for me to carry him around in this tote bag.

I guess it reminds him of when daddy (passed away July 2017) carried him around with him.  He carried him in a small tote bag around his neck so he was right by his ear.  Gizmo was so good at announcing (barking) things to him since he was so hard of hearing.  (This picture was when we went shopping on year after all the crowds were gone.)

Looking forward to the Christmas break!!!! Even tough I am on Thanksgiving break now.  I love the winter weather!!

Grades - Applying Educational Technology - Class 2

The grades have been posted!
500/500 - WOO HOO!

GREAT WEEK

This is the final week of class two in the Masters Program at Lamar and my final blog post for this class.  I am glad that I managed to blog at least twice a week (three this week) and include this final blog post.

It was a good week in Pre-K this week.  It was my birthday and we celebrated!  Some of the student brought in a few presents for me.  They were all super sweet and we celebrated all week.

The PM class earn their "attendance" reward and we had our "Glow-in-the-Dark Dance Party" as they called it.  I wasn't really sure what we would do for a (required) reward, but when I mentioned a dance party, they loved the idea.  I found glow-in-the-dark bracelets on sale at Target.  They were a hit!

I also picked up my AWARD from the radio station, 100.3 "The Bull" for the "Greatest Teacher Ever" contest.  I won two gift cards, a Star Furniture gift certificate, and a plaque.  They will be mailing the plaque in the next few days.  I am looking forward to receiving it soon!

More Technology in Pre-K

Pre-K students are good at using technology.  They don't know what it is like to not have technology.  It has become second nature to them.  Technology is all they see.  It is all around them.  They look forward to using the panel each day.  It is now a staple in our routine and they are doing well at using it, taking turns, and helping each other if there is an issue.

The students are learning a little bit more each day.  The more that we use the panel, the more they like it.  The best part is, they are learning new skills while they are having fun.

We worked on ten frames again and drawing a shape.  They have to match up the ten frame to the number/digit.  We have numbers 1-5 on one slide and 6-10 on the other slide.  Ten frames are part of subitizing and this is something that is required in the upper grades, so I am helping build the foundation of their math skills.  This is a skill that is hard for them, so we go over it often.  I want them to master this skill in order for them to build their knowledge when entering kindergarten next year.

During our "Morning Meeting" we do a review of different skills such as letters, sounds, date, day of the month, months, numbers, and shapes.  We sing songs and do the matching body movements.  We make it interactive by using the panel and Note software.  This is a routine we now have established and they know what to expect and what to do each time.

I hope they retain all their knowledge while we are gone on our Thanksgiving break!

Week 5 of My Class

This is week number five of my second class in the Digital Learning and Leading program at Lamar.  We have been given the opportunity to work on our ePortfolios and provide helpful hints to our fellow classmates.

This week we had to share our ePortfolios with the other students in our class, not just our group.  That was a little scary because I wasn't sure that I wanted everyone to see mine.  I wasn't so comfortable having so many people see it at this point.  I like having people check it to make sure the links work etc, but having them read everything was a challenge I had to overcome at this point.

I plan to keep up with my ePortfolio and use it in the future.  I will add, change, rearrange, edit, or delete things as needed in the future.  I want to keep it going and let it be a complete collection of my work while in the program at Lamar.  I will put it on my resume to show prospective employers my work, thoughts, and ideas.

The professor also let us turn our link in early so that she could send us some recommendations before grading it.  I really like hearing from her and getting a list of ways to make an improvement.  I was using my Growth Mindset at this point.

I think having a Growth Mindset is very important in school and in life.  You have to have a positive outlook on every situation or you will cause yourself unnecessary stress.  Life is stressful enough just facing every day challenges, you "don't need to borrow trouble" as my grandma used to say.

I looked forward to hearing what my professor had to say about my ePortfolio.  I wanted to know if I was on the right track and was glad she was willing to share her opinion on it.  She was so gracious to send detailed remarks about ways to improve it.

Immediately I started working on those changes and look forward to getting a grade on it.  I have worked countless hours on it.  It has been fun doing it and I hope we have time during the end of the program to tweak it again.

Reference:
“I Have a Growth Mindset.” Pinterest, Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/375206212688759770/

Here is the link to my ePortfolio.
Angel Herring, Future M.Ed

This Week - Panel Training

Last year I was part of the pilot program for my district.  We were to use the ClearTouch Panel and document how we use it in our grade level.  I was teaching kindergarten last year.  The class loved using our "magic panel".  They were fascinated with all the things that were possible.

My campus technology instructional specialist helped me create a "morning meeting' for the class.  They loved being interactive with the panel.  We did our whole group lessons as well as used it for centers.  It flips down to make a table and can be split into four sections.

I have the panel in my classroom this year while teaching pre-k.  I have introduced it to the class and we use it daily.  They love "taking attendance" on the panel.  They move their name from left to right.  (home to school)

I attended some training this week and learned how to create lessons that we can use on the panel.  It was a great experience and I enjoyed it.

I worked with a kindergarten teacher from another school and we really had fun making lessons that we both can use.  We added tags to the lessons so other teachers in our district can find these lessons.

The site that we used was https://lessons.nuiteq.com/