C4K assignment review

C4K#8: Nagrom
Nagrom posted a photograph and said that the particular photo was chosen due to the lines which go in various directions. Nagrom asked what the photograph should be titled.
I commented on how I like how the picture is supra-realistic. While the photograph is of something commonly found in daily life, it has an abstract and symbolic feel to it. I said that the beauty of the photograph is in how it can be interpreted differently by various viewers. I said that if and when the photograph is named it should be named in such a way that the title does not sway the way the photo is viewed.
C4K #9: Jacob
He discussed how each class in his school is setting up and running booths for the school's fair day. He said his class is going to have two booths: nail painting and mock-tails. He went on to say that mock-tails are non-alcoholic cocktails. His class will be serving two types of mock-tails: sunrise and summertime.
I left the following comment. "I remember fair day from when I was little... but we never had mock-tails. That sound really interesting though. I guess it was good that your class did two stands. If not, all the boys would have been stuck painting nails. :)"
C4K #10: Chase
He listed his projected Super Bowl winner. I commented that while i don't follow football my brothers and father love it. My older brother thinks the Patriots are going to win. As a devoted fan, my father still says the Dolphins are going to win the Super Bowl.
C4K #11: Jessica
In Jessica's Thanksgiving post, she told how she was visiting her grandmother's house. She says that she is their with her mother, father, and shepherd collie (Checkers).
I commented that I think that Thanksgiving is a great time of year. I said that is it so for more than just the food. It is great due to it's ability to bring families together.
Special C4K: Yasmine
Yasmine posted about what she thought was the best recess ever. She said that best she could remember was on a day that she was playing gymnastics with a group of her friends. They split themselves into two groups. While one worked on agility (through jumping from monkey bar to another) and flexibility, the second group worked on their stunts: back-hand springs, flips.
I commented that although it has been quit some time I remember enjoying the freedom of recess. I also commented that I would have liked to have a similarly enthusiastic group of friends to play with. I ended up playing with my older brother and his friends everyday. This included the mundane job of pretending to be a captured princess for my brother and his friends to rescue. It wasn't as fun as some may think it sounds.

Blog Assignment #13

I. Blog Assignment #13
  A. ALEX (Alabama Learning Exchange)
ALEX is a project resource which is designed to catalog and distribute a variety of educational material and information to  educators, students,  and parents. It includes everything from lesson plans and interactive activities to Web links. It includes a variety of podcasts which cover everything from the arts and sciences to professional development. It also offers a plethora of information about other educational programs in action in Alabama. As a future educator, I feel that this program could be utilized as an assistive tool throughout my professional career. I could use it as a collaborate tool to see how others my teach a certain lesson. It could as serve as a tool to help build my teaching capabilities through its professional development information. It also serves as a hub for educator collaboration. 

  B. ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide) 
The idea behind the distant learning program is to allow all students access to all available course opportunities made available to other students which they may not have access to in their own school. For example, a student who is required to take Physics to graduate with honors may not have a Physics teacher at his or her school. The distant learning program allows that student to take Physics with another teacher who works at another school.
II. Additional Assignment #5

Adventures in Pencil Integration
Just Teach Them to Solve for X 
This post is metaphoric for the students using computers in education. One person is discussing how the process may be confusing for students; therefore, the old fashioned, straight forward way of teaching should be continued. The others states that it is with progress that confusion will arise. But, once they work through the confusion of working the computers, the students will be able to understand the material much better.
Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils
In this post, the "pencil" is metaphorically used to describe the identity of Eighth graders. They are not in a permanent state. They are caught in the middle of constant alterations. They are growing and changing. They are misunderstood and underestimated. They are up for interpretation and perceived differently by those around them. While externally they all may seem all the same and easily put under one title or classification, they vary greatly. Their potential is sadly limited by what those around them will allow them to do.
He Just Likes the Class for the Pencils
This post introduces the idea that if students take courses which use "pencils" the students will be focusing on the "pencils." The idea is not a new one. There are plenty of people out there who believe that teaching with computers takes focus off of the learning material and puts it on the computers. But this not all together true. While the students might be drawn in by the computers, the focus is on learning. The computers are merely used as an educational tool. Like a camera, computers are not a means to its own end. It takes input to get something out of it.
The Medium Shapes the Learning
The concept that technology in a universal aid in education is an over estimation of the capacity of every element of academia to remain effective when converted into technological terms. If certain things are transferred into a technologically based style, their purpose (and in some cases, their relevance)  are also altered.

Project #15

When looking at another society or culture, a good place to start is always the religion and language. One can learn a lot about a culture from its religion. One can see what is important to the culture, what is the base of the culture, and how the culture was built in relation to other cultures.
Here, I have an introduction to the traditional Hawaiian religion and language.
Traditional Hawaiian Language 

Hawaiian alphabet

A a	E e	I i	O o	U u	Ā ā	Ē ē	Ī ī	Ō ō
'ā	'ē	'ī	'ō	'ū	'ā kō	'ē kō	'ī kō	'ō kō
Ū ū	H h	K k	L l	M m	N n	P p	W w	'
'ū kō	hē	kē	lā	mū	nū	pī	wē/vē	'okina

Hawaiian pronunciation

Vowels can be long or short. Long vowels are usually written with a macron (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū), but if no macron is available, a circumflex (â, ê, î, ô, û) can be used instead.

The letter combination kiu is pronounced [ƫiu]

The letter W is pronounced [w] or [v] after a, [v] after i or e and [w] after o or u.

The Hawaiian language uses two diacritical markings. The ‘okina is a glottal stop, similar to the sound between the syllables of "oh-oh." In print, the correct mark for designating an ‘okina is the single open quote mark. The kahako is a macron, which lengthens and adds stress to the marked vowel. For example 'pau,' depending on placement of ‘okina and kahako, can mean completed, smudge, moist or ski

Traditional Hawaiian Religion: Hawaiian Gods and Goddesses
This is a basic introduction to the lineage of the Gods and Goddesses worshiped according to the traditional Hawaiian religion. Because there are over 40,000 Gods, Goddesses, Demi-Gods, and Demi-Goddesses, this does not include all worshiped in Hawaii. This video introduces the viewer to the 4 main Gods (Kane, Kanaloa, Ku, and Lono) and their wives and the lineage to the Mother Goddess who leads to the birth of the infamous Pele and her 7 sisters.

For a English-Hawaiian translator click here

Additional Assignment #4

My sentence is...

Final Project Report

I. Topic: Educational Video Games: concentration on handhelds
II. Partner: Katherine Kirby

III. Objectives of our project:
-Introduce video games as an educational tool
-Characterize educational video games by brand, price, and academic merit

-Illustrate advantages of educational handheld video games

-Demonstrate the ability and willingness of students to utilize these tools

IV. Project Duties:

-Research educational handheld video games: brand, price, academic merit (Kirby and New)
-Interview and record parents and educators (Kirby and New)

-Interview and record a student who has and regularly utilizes educational handheld video games (New)

-Interview and record a student who regularly plays non-academic based handheld video games (New)

-Interview and record a student who is unfamiliar with video games (Kirby)
-Edit and analyze the data and videos (Kirby and New)

Blog Assignment #12

Watch Deaf students at the high school. Write a post which discusses the topic introduced by these students. Also, post how technology can assist in merging hearing impaired students into classrooms.

The students in this video are deaf. The common perception that hearing impaired (HI) students (or similarly handicapped students) have to be taught differently and separately is becoming an outdated idea. These students show that they are not so different from their hearing classmates. They demonstrate that they have the same learning capacity as the other students. The one thing separating them from the other students is merely their inability to hear. Originally, the commonly accepted idea was that the deaf were unteachable due to teachers being unable to communicate with them. Later, the deaf were made to attend separate schools from the hearing. In these schools for the hearing impaired, they are taught by educators who either are also deaf or are fluent in sign language. To date, deaf students either attend these special schools or have interpreters assist them in public schools. With technology, more and more deaf students are being able to attend public schools. This technology goes further than the advances made in hear-aids and cochlear implants. Students with hearing-aids used to have to sit in desks that allow for the best view of the teacher, but even that doesn't account for the acoustics of the classroom differing from that of their home environment. An assistive listening system allows a HI student to hear the teacher clearly and breaks background noise. There are also TDD (telecommunication devices for the deaf) which allow for communication in caption/text. HI students can use devices that convert the teachers live lesson into closed caption. Teachers and fellow students could utilize a video dictionary to learn to communicate with the HI in sign language.With these devices, a word or sentence can be typed into the device and a video will interpret the word or sentence into the selected sign language. In the age of video lectures and Skype, the HI can see their instructor or the person they are communicating with. Each party could communicate through sign. With the increase in technology, we will see an increase in assistive technology for the hearing impaired.

C4T #4 Assignment Review

I was assigned Ms. Galloway a.k.a The Thinking Chick.
Magic Wand
She posted about things that have become obsolete to date and things that could be obsolete in 2020 (according to a list she referenced). She talked about how technology allows us to communicate without being in person, without being in the same general area, and without being bounded to a land line etc. She also commented on the list of things that was to be obsolete by 2020. She says that while some of these things may be possible to replace with technology schools are typically slow to transition into new technology. For example, just because we can use a computer to write doesn't mean we don't still find pencils and paper in classrooms.
I commented on how I agree that just because technology is available doesn't mean it is being utilized in schools. I agreed it would be nice to see the innovative educational tool, but the tools listed to be obsolete might still have a place in schools.