Skype Interview

I choose to interview my parents for this project. They are both teachers in the Shelby County public schools system in central Alabama. Dad, Jon Bubbett, is the band director at Thompson High School and Mom, Jeannie Bubbett, is the choir director at Thompson Middle School. This is just a short discussion about how they use technology in their classrooms. Check it out here, or just watch it below.

C4K #6

     Lately I've been commenting on Paul's posts in Mr. Englehard's class. Paul was asked what his favorite song was, and he chose "The Hippopotamus Song" as his favorite. He said it's one of his favorites because when you start to sing it you just want to sing louder and louder and it makes him laugh harder and harder! To make his post even better he found a video of a hippopotamus in a zoo that is making a really loud laughing sound for all the people watching him play in the water.
    I told him I have never before seen or heard a hippopotamus laugh until I watched his video. I also mentioned how it would be really cool if there was a part in "The Hippopotamus Song" where everyone laughed like a hippo, but I'm not sure which version of the song he's talking about. After looking around online I found many different versions.
     Paul's latest post is a letter written to the manager of a fake restaurant called Rusty's restaurant. In this letter he addresses his dissatisfaction of both the food and the service. Probably the most disturbing about this make believe restaurant is the fact that they mixed up his order of a hamburger with liver and onions, and it took them four hours to get their food! It was to much relief when he explained how the experience was fake and not real.
     My comment about Rusty's stated that I was glad to know that Paul didn't really sit at a table for four hours and get the wrong food! I couldn't imagine going to a restaurant and receiving that kind of service!

Post #9

     Mr. McClung is standing on the other side of one of the things I'm most nervous about. After his first year of teaching he reflects on the past year in his blog post What I've Learned This Year. I imagine that lots of things change from the time we first step into a classroom to the time the spring semester ends for summer. Mr. McClung shares how he grew in those months during his first teaching experiences.
     He begins by stating how he along with many other teachers have lost the point of our lessons, the students. By becoming consumed in our deliverance and how we present materials, we lose track of the main factors sitting right in front of us. This idea slides right into his next point of being flexible with your lessons and your class.

     The lesson you teach and the lesson you plan are always different.

     Personally this is my biggest challenge. Things won't always go the way we plan them, and we cannot let changes or unexpected events hold us up. Mr. McClung also explains how communication is a vital skill we must learn in our school settings. It sounds silly to mention it, but communication skills can often be the most difficult to develop. In school setting they are the most important to grow relationships between both students and our coworkers, because simply letting the students know you care about them can make the biggest difference. Another aspect of teaching is to be reasonable. We set goals for students, and sometimes they don't meet them. And that's ok. Our job is not to scold them, but to encourage them to try again. We must also not be afraid of the ever changing world of technology. It will be in our students lives so we should learn how to embrace that in the classroom. And as always, we must continue to learn. We should learn things as we listen to our students and interact in our classrooms. We must continually strive to learn new things to relay to our students and together we will grow in many ways.
     I'm nervous about those first experiences. It's one of those terrified/excited deals, but I hope I remember Mr. McClung's thoughts. I have a feeling those will be of great value while standing in front of a classroom. Every individual aspect holds vital importance to being a inspiring educator, but what is amazing is how they connect. If you are centering the lessons around your students, you're most likely listening to them. If you're listening to them, you will probably learn about technology, because they will be talking about it all the time. If you're talking and reacting to them, you're communicating and learning becomes a two way street, and if you're being flexible you're most likely being reasonable with your class.
      The hardest part is not starting this shift, it's keeping it. Staying positive... even when your house of cards falls with the slightest movement. It's a challenge to continually strive for.
Thanks Mr. McClung,
              ~ Miles

Smart Board Lesson

Randy Paush's Last Lecture

    Where to begin...? Randy Paush's message is one to digest, and to be completely honest I don't think it's one we ever completely swallow and be done with. Randy Paush has left this world leaving behind a challenge. A challenge to live one's life to the fullest, to live for others, and to live to have fun. He lives his lessons and before he leaves, encourages us to do the same.
     While most of the world would tell children to stop dreaming in class, I think Randy would encourage it. He would encourage you to dream and then ask you to bring the ideas, the projections, the technologies that bounced around you head and let them flow throughout your classrooms. Why shouldn't they? The title of his lecture is called "Chasing Your Childhood Dreams," so that should tell you he places lots of emphasis on mixing the innovations of technology with students individual creativity.
     Tangled in his use of technological jargon are the hints of much bigger and deeper messages. Messages to follow your dreams, but live for others. Live a life of servitude, but do it through your own innovations, and never give up when obstacles appear in the path. He describes the "brick walls" in life, not as a hinderance, but as an opportunity. An opportunity to show how bad you want whatever you are trying to achieve. A chance to prove you can rise to their level and overcome problems that stand in the way.
     Although he seems to address the individuals, he speaks to teachers. He explains how these ideas must be fostered in classrooms throughout the world. We are here to show them their potential and then help them achieve it. We are the ones who must encourage them to dream and then to chase. We are the ones who must challenge them to stand again, after they hit a brick wall. We are the ones who must live for them... so they can see the day their dreams come true.
     Finally he drops back to another aspect he called the "head fake." Pulling on his years of playing football he describes how this was a way of teaching an aspect about the game, but representing a much deeper message about life in general. In other words, teachers aren't here to teach about one particular subject. Teachers are called to teach a way of living that will challenge their students to flourish in their future. At the end he reveals the "head fake" of this specific lecture. He reveals the lecture is not about simply chasing dreams, but about living a full and joyous life. And he closes his last lecture leaving everyone with a stirred set of emotions... he closes his last lecture with a dedication. A dedication to his three children. Because he will not be around to see them through it, he leaves his guide through life in a lecture. Leaving behind words of wisdom that we should all strive to reach everyday.