Educational Assignment

    For my Educational Technology class we were asked to create our own lesson plan by utilizing Pinterest. I thought at first this would be one unbelievably undo-able feat. Well once I started exploring and seeing all of the various ideas and crafts on Pinterest I realized that this would be a cake walk. Pinteret is without a doubt an essential tool that teachers should take advantage of. For this assignment I chose to create a lesson that would inform students on how a bill becomes a law.  I have listed below my assignment as well as the project I asked them to complete.
Reflection Assignment

Step 1. You will first need to locate the steps of how a bill becomes a law from your notes, worksheets, and/or video. 

Step 2. You will secondly write those steps down on your sheet of paper.

Step 3.  You will thirdly take your pencil and sketch out the steps in the order they happened on your paper. Keep in mind that your drawings will need to be small enough to allow room for labeling. Your drawings should be small enough to fit on your paper, but large enough to be detailed.

Step 4. You will fourthly take your crayons and markers and add color to your drawings.  Do not add so much color that I cannot read your steps. I suggest simply tracing your pencil lines with markers and/or crayons.

Step 5.You will finally write your name and the date on your assignment and turn it in to me. I will allow you to submit your work early, but keep in mind you have two days after the assigned date to turn it in.

Resourceful Web 2.0 Tools

Resourceful Web 2.0 Tools

Kerpoof
Kerpoof is a a fun Web tool because it allows you to become an animator. This tool gives you access to various characters and environments so that you can craft your own movie. I love this tool, because I love implementing creativity into both my future classroom and job.

Voki
Voki is neat because it allows you to speak to text. The cool part about this tool is that it enables me to be able to help my students from afar. For instance, if a child cannot read what I have assigned for them they can simply click on this tool and hear me say the words to them.

Create-A-Graph
Create-A-Graph is a intriguing tool, because it allows teachers to implement graph training at home. Students can log on and start making their own kind of graph. By suggesting this to them you are implanting the seed so that they can have a broader understanding of it further down the road.

Yack Pack
Yack Pack is cool because it operates a lot like a voice-mail system. You might be wondering how this could be handy, but just like an infomercial there is more. Teachers who don't feel comfortable giving out their phone number and parents who can't ever find time to schedule an appointment with their child's instructor can simply utilize Yack Pack as a communication method.

Animoto
Animoto is deep. It allows students to create presentations solely out of images. Yes no words would be used in the making of these presentations. The point is for students to look further than what they are being told. Let your students choose what the million words being said are.

Glogster
Glogster is ideal for social media fans. The reason being it allows students to share presentations, information, create group presentations, and simply communicate. I like this tool because it allows students to get into contact with their group partners from a far. In this day and age you can contact anyone, so long as they are not a group partner. I think Glogster could really help the world wide dilemma of dead beat partners.

Blogger
Blogger is ideal for students to express themselves. It is in a sense an online diary. The bonus side of this is that it allows students the ability to communicate, share their ideas, and promote reading and writing.

Google Docs
Google Docs is ideal for students who lack access to Word at home. Word is pricy and not everyone has the luxury of owning it. Google docs can enable students to do their homework. Some students actually fail to turn in their work due to their lack of utensils. You can't write a paper without a pen, so why expect someone to do an assignment without the program?

SkypeSkype is an awesome web tool that many people simply write off as social media. Well in an essence it is social media, but it is also so much more.  Students could utilize this for group work, tutoring, and even one on one time with their instructor. I believe this tool could truly change students life's. 

PicMonkey 
PicMonkey is a fun editing picture site. Students in yearbook who despise the complexity of photoshop can utilize this tool to help them discover their imagination. Not to mention this site is FREE. Some schools lack the funding for Photoshop, thus the reasoning for PicMonkey. 

Social Media Article 2

 Ten ways schools are using social media effectively

   Hello, it is I the great and powerful blogger here to deliver another article for your pondering. I know social media is always a hot commodity as far as schools and minors go, but as a teaching major I find myself pondering if social media is truly detrimental to the school system.  eSchool News believes that social media’s pros outweigh its cons . For instance, teachers can utilize social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and various free networking sites for professional development, community outreach, course assignments, distance learning, tests, studying, language learning, integrating real-world applications into teaching, collaborative learning, and networking with colleagues.  However the cons are quite severe. The cons include: student teacher relationships, bullying, unsavory googles, and exposure to tantalizing distractions. 
   I personally believe in this day and age we are ready to integrate social media into our schools. Do I think we should cast children into a room and say enjoy the sofas, laptops, Wi-Fi, and Facebook kiddos? No, I do not. I do however think that it would be very resourceful for a teacher to have a Facebook page, because students would be able to be reminded about assignments, events, and perhaps studying tools.  Let’s face it, social media has already integrated itself into the youth of today’s daily life, so instead of pretending that social media is going to get swept away and disposed of in a swamp somewhere in Louisiana let’s start talking about how to utilize it.  By withholding information from the youth of today we are handicapping them. I say “Let them have social media.”

 Source: "Ten Ways Schools Are Using Social Media Effectively | ESchool News."Ten Ways Schools Are Using Social Media Effectively | ESchool News. Ed. Meris Stansbury. N.p., 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

 

 

 

Social Media Article 1

In the digital age, breaking up is hard to do

N.p.,n.d.Web.

  As an RA you will see countless breakups. Be it in the hallway, outside, or social media. Anytime you hear the cookie cutter phrase or see the single status pop up; you know a break up just happened. You also know that someone’s life just got that much harder. You also know that every time they get on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and etc. that they are more than likely going to see their former boyfriend or girlfriend. Needless to say, it is vital for an RA to help residents whenever possible even when there are tear streaks and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s involved.

  This article I found to be insightful on this issue, because it really lets one see what a person in that situation truly has to go through. After reading this article I found that this guy truly struggled erasing this girl from his life. She was everywhere. He could not log on to any social network without seeing something related to her. Even after deleting her from his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and iPhone address book he could still see her. The reason being they shared a lot of friends. She was constantly being mentioned in his feed or suggested as a friend. So what did this man do? He vowed celibacy from social networks. His reasoning was that it was his only option for escaping her.

  I find this information both shocking and insightful. I find it shocking that a person in this day and age has to visit the little dipper and be dubbed ruler of a nation to simply separate oneself from another. I find this knowledge insightful because I know that my residents talk to their friends primarily through texts and Facebook. I then know that their social life would almost completely be kaput if they follow this man’s example and simply avoid all social media. Therefore, I know that to help address this problem I can simply incorporate some events outside of my building for social gatherings. Social gatherings that did not entail me to have to send out an RSVP list to my entire contact list via Facebook.  I made my resident’s life sweet and simple by simply paying attention and researching their needs.

Source: Rodriguez, Salvador. "In the Digital Age, Breaking up Is Hard to Do." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

Programming Blues

  As an RA you're expected to make a zillion people show up to a program that cost a nickel. Most of us will find this premise an impossible feat, but thankfully the world has bestowed us with some witty and creative people.

  As you all know I am an early childhood education major. Well this week in my Public School Art class we were asked to create paper beads. At first look I thought I was never in a million years going to be able to complete this task. Luckily for me this project is as easy as winking.
  The materials needed for this project are a pencil, glue, toothpick, magazine paper, ruler, a pair of scissors, and some string.

1. The first step is to select the paper one wants to use. 
2. Take your pencil and ruler and make one inch marks on the left side of the paper. 
3. Take your pencil and mark every half inch on the right side of the paper. 
4. You will then move your ruler and align the first half inch mark with the first half inch mark, and draw a line. 
5. You will now align the next one inch mark with the third half inch mark, (you will skip every other half inch.) 
6. You will continue in that pattern until you have completed the entire page. Once this is done you will start cutting out each strip.
7. You will then take a strip of paper, (starting with the wide side) and start rolling it onto your toothpick. You want the paper to overlap itself. 
8. Once the paper is all rolled up it should look similar to the picture above. You will then take some glue and rub it onto the bead. 
9. Let it dry and slide it off of the toothpick. 
10. You have crafted a recycled bead as well as an affordable program.                

   I really like this program idea, because it is cheap, it promotes recycling, and it is a keepsake. Residents as well as bosses are sure to fall in love with this idea.

Setting the Mood

This spring break I asked my residents to take a Waldo cut out with them. I then asked them to snap a picture of Waldo in a location of their choice, and upload it to our Facebook page. It was neat getting to see all of the various places Waldo got to go, but most importantly my residents got to view the other photos and connect with the neighbors in a more hands on manner.

Another neat trick one can do to promote communication amongst residents is to pass out door props at the start of every semester. A good way to obtain door props is to visit one’s local lumbar store. All one has to do is ask a worker if you can have the left over blocks of wood. Chances are they will give you them for free. The reason being the pieces are too small for them to sell, and you are doing them a favor by extracting it from their hands. Once you have obtained your door props you can start distributing them. You might think or assume residents will simply toss these aside and render them useless; well you would be wrong. Residents will use this door prop for a couple of reasons, such as smelly roommate, their room is too hot or too cold, or simply because they like to people watch. The wickedly awesome part about this is that your residents will get to meet other residents. You see you cannot say hi to a door. If you find your residents are not using their door props enough you can turn it into a reward system. Perhaps you say the room that keeps their door open the most will receive a bag of candy or something of that nature.

        

       As an RA you’re going to want your residents to feel comfortable not only with their roommate, but with everyone else on the floor. If your residents don’t get along , then Pandora’s box will fly open. Residents might inflict horrific pranks on another or perhaps play music loudly without consideration for their neighbors. If all of the residents get along then issues like this can be avoided. 

Entering Stage Left

  My name is Elizabeth J. Kolb. I am from Mountain Pine, Arkansas. My home town's population is right under seven hundred. My hometown was not the most conventional or enticing place. I suppose it is for that reason I stumbled upon my current career choice. Like most college students I came to school with an idea of what I wanted to do with my life. It wasn't until I had a page soaked with tears and a mind throbbing from the stress of my Pre-Nursing courses that I thought perhaps my heart wasn't in my current career choice. After some soul searching I realized the answer was in front of me. I love children. I love flooding their minds with thoughts, ideas, and facts they never knew existed. Needless, to say the next day I changed my major to Early Childhood Education.
   I'm a firm believer of if you're on the wrong path then all hell will break loose on you. That's how my life had been going prior to switching majors. It was as if overnight everything seemed to fall into place. The job I didn't get hired for called me a week later and asked me to join their staff. Needless, to say that is how I became a Henderson State University Resident Assistant.
   When I first started my job as an RA I learned some things very quickly. For instance, I am responsible for sixty people on my floor alone, paper work sucks, pulling program ideas from one's bum is kind of impossible, maintenance takes their time, and that my residents are some amazingly humorous individuals. I created this blog to give other RA's who are struggling to stay afloat and maintain a dazzling GPA wisdom and ideas. I hope ya'll will enjoy this ride with me. Here's to my first blog post!