Goodbye, Farewell, Adios....

In this post I would like to say that I have really enjoyed the learning experiences offered in EDM 310. I would like to thank Dr. Strange for all of the cool tools he has found for us to use and take advantage of and I would like to thank Dr. Tashbin for being such a wonderful and helpful instructor. I really feel like I have learned a lot especially when compared to what I knew coming into this class. I would also like to say to my fellow classmates, it has been a fun and interesting adventure and I hope that you all have benefitted as much as I have. Good luck to you all and I hope to be seeing you around! Peace out!

May 2nd Blog Assignment

This weeks blog assignment is suppose to basically be a reflection on this semester. What I have learned, and what I think I will carry with me to my future in becoming a teacher. Honestly, I feel like I learned a lot from this class. I will use some of the tools that I learned in this class for years to come once I have my own classroom. Some of the tools that were my favorite include: Timetoast, Vocaroo,Blogger, Google Presentations, Google Earth, and many more. Im so happy to have learned about these products not only because I believe they will honestly help me and my students in the future, but because all of these programs are free. Everyone knows no one who is becoming a teacher does it for the money, so it really is a tremendous help knowing about all the cool things we have and can take advantage of with out having to worry about money. Especially considering that we will be wanting students to use these tools as well. I really can't think of anything else that I could have learned but didn't. That could also stem from the fact that I knew nothing coming into it and am leaving with what I consider a pretty good knowledge of what is out there and available to me. I feel like in taking this class I only benefited from leaning these tools. I also feel like i am significantly more technology literate walking out of this class than I was walking in. I plan to continue growing my technology information base by keeping my mind fresh and continuing to use all these tools and more that I may find on the way. I wouldn't say this course was too hard or too challenging for anyone, after all these are all programs that we should expect children to be able to work I really think that most of the difficulty came from the way the course was set up. If I were going to change the course I would have it set so that every week the students would be responsible for one project. For example, Week one could be how to blog, week two could be how to use google earth, week three how to create a google presentation, and so on. I honestly believe this set up would help future students of EDM 310. Rather than doing a little of everything all at once maybe just hitting one project at a time. I know that would help me more anyway. Over all, however I would have to say that EDM was a positive experience and I truly feel like it is very necessary as a class and also very helpful and knowledge filled.

How to make a Google Presentation

For Project #8 I chose to teach my Fiance' how to create a Google Presentation.

1st You go to http://www.google.com/

Once you get to the site you click the tab that is titled Gmail. Then a screen will come up and you will have the option "Create Account" (you have to have a gmail account to create a presentation). Then you fill in your information. Click and Agree with their terms of use and now you have your gmail account.

2nd Now that you have your Gmail account, Log in and Click The Documents tab at the top.

Once you get to your documents click the tab "Create New" at the top left. When it drops down Click the Presentation option. You are now ready to start creating your presentation.

3rd Put your presentation Title and your name on the first slide.

4th To add another slide click the "slide" tab then "new slide" and choose the type of slide you like.

5th To change the fonts color, style, or even to add a picture look at the tool bar across the top and choose what you want to do. Then repeat step 4 until you have created as many slides as you want.

After you have created your presentation save it. After you click save it will remain in your google docs until you choose to use it or eventually remove it.

Oh yeah it is completely FREE and you can make as many as you want. FOR FREE!

Substantive Presentation: How to use Timetoast!

I did my Substantive Presentation on how to make timelines on Timeline Toast.

April 25th Blog Assignment

Personal Learning Environment

The first thing you notice when you watch this video is how it is set up. I loved how organized everything was and how it was all set up on one big screen. It just seemed like it made everything so much easier to access and easier to use. It also allows so much detail. I think having PLE's and PLN's set up this way would help tremendously as far as technology is concerned.

TWO QUESTIONS

I absolutely loved this video! Even though it was short it was so inspiring! Especially to someone who is an education major that will be working with kids. I thought the question "Whats My Scentence?" was such an awesome concept. It really makes you think about what kind of impression you want to make. You want to leave a legacy for people to remember you ny for forever and that is a big deal! The second question was awesome as well. It was "Am I better today than yesterday?" and that alone speaks volumes. everyday is a new clean slate and you make it based on how you react. Im so glad I got the chance to see this video it really does just inspire and reminds us to strive for better.

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

Interview

Interview

I did my interview with Mr. James Moody who is a teacher in the Mobile County School System. Before the interview I told Mr. Moody this was an interview about technology in the school systems and what his opinion of this subject is. Some of the Questions I covered included:

1)What does being a technology literate teacher mean to you?

He answered: Being a technology literate teacher is when you use and take advantage of the technology available to you, and you make it work for you in the classroom. It also helps to encourage your student to be more technology literate and it makes learning more fun and easy.

2) Is it important to be a technology literate teacher?

He Replied: Yes, I would say that it is important.as prominent as technology is, and is becoming in this day in age it is very crucial. If you don't know how to use the technology that your students are using then how would you expect to teach them with it.

3) What should a technology literate teacher know?

His Response: A technology literate teacher should know everything the student knows. Everything a student is expected to learn, and MORE! The teacher should always know and thing=k a level above the students. How would a student learn from someone who only knows as much as they themselves know.

4) What are some ways you use technology in your classroom?

He answered: One of the main ways I use technology is through google presentations. I create google presentations to present lessons and also allow my students to create their work in this style. Any project I assign my students, they are given the choice of making it it google presentations.

PLN Final

I am an active member and user of Facebook

Podcast I Subscribe to include:

Middle School Matters

SMARTboard Lessons

ED Tech Weekley

World News for Children

Stories for Kids

Teaching with SMARTboard

The Teachers Podcast

Blogs that I follow include:

The Follis Files - Candace Follis

Nebraska Change Agent - Beth Still

Keeping Kids First- Kelly Hines

April 18th Blog Assignment

VOCAROO!

For this weeks blog assignment we got to choose one of the tools we have learned about and like in EDM 310. The one I choose is Vocaroo! I just think it is so awesome you can go and record whatever you want and on top of that its free. There are so many different ways you could use it, personal or in the classroom. You could use it to leave yourself voice reminders, or leave voice messages quickly to a friend, family member, or co-worker or anything of that nature quick and easily. You could use it in the classroom to get your children to have a recorded journal or their work, you could make lessons with instructions for the children on assignments and many other things. It is just amazing the things we could do with Vocaroo.

Comments4Teachers Part 3 (weeks 13 and 14)

Backchannel Gone Right (Week 13)

In this blog Beth is a prime example of how technology in our schools can help tremendously. She blogs about how she used Skype to have another educator present in the classroom. The good part about this blog is that she didn't even mean for it to happen the way it did. She was simply using skype to personally talk with the other educator and then realized she was up for her annual teaching observation. Even though she was worried about something going wrong or what the principal would think, she left the skype up anyway. The outcome was awesome! The students communicated and were helped by someone who wasn't even in the classroom. Beth says it was like having an assistant to help her out. She also states that the principal loved this idea and everything turned out wonderful.

My First Workshop (Week 14)

In this post Beth is talking about how excited/nervous she is to be in charge of her first workshop. Her audience is a group of teachers from Nebraska whom want to learn how to stay connected with each other. They also want to know ways to make their lessons more easily accessed, shared, and web enhanced. She talks about teaching them about all the wonderful tools offered by Google. Programs such as spreadsheet, and power point, basically the same ones we use in this class. I really liked reading this post because it sheds light on the fact that everyone is starting to see the big picture. For students that are in school now, they are learning about these tools as they go and for the teachers who are older and do thing the old way, well they are learning it too. It really goes to show how much technology is growing!

Google Form/Survey

Google Earth Tour

Places I want to go!

Vocaroo

TimeToast Timeline

Timetoast Timeline Project

I did my Time Line on my favorite band Incubus. On my timeline I have their albums and the date they came out. There is also a list of the songs on each cd.

SKYPE!

Im still really new to Skype but I think I have it figured out for the most part. I mostly only use it for a few different things. I use it to talk to my Best friend Megan. Me and Megan have been best friends since the 8th grade but we don't really have time to hangout anymore because we are both so busy with school so it makes it super easy to keep in touch with her.

Also I use Skype to communicate back and forth with my little cousin Elizabeth. She just recently moved to Tuscaloosa for college and it is a really nice way to just check in on her and make sure everything is good her way.

Last but not least I use Skype to communicate with my friends who live really far away. I have a friend that lives in Texas who I never get to see. Literally the only time I get to talk to her is when I am using Skype in fact it has been probably over a year since I have seen her any other way than Skype I also use skype to talk to my friend who lives in France named Clement. He is my Best friends Boyfriend and we skype with him all the time just to say hello and see hat is going on over in France.

Comments4Kids #10

ANAHERA'S CAMP THOUGHTS

This week my comments for kids was a video post by a girl named Anahera. In the video she is talking about a camp she is getting ready to go to and she tells about all the activities she will be doing there. She also says that she is really excited and thankful to get to go on this camp trip!

April 11th Blog Assignment

DR. SUESS- THE ZAX

I loved this video! It describes the school system almost exactly in my opinion. Or some teachers rather. I mean what some don't realize or just don't want to accept is that things are different now than they were 10 years ago. Things are way different than 50 years ago. Why should we still be doing the same things we were doing then? The world has changed and school systems should too. Our culture these days is so complex and advanced so why shouldn't our learning be? There are so many ways technology can work with our school systems to make learning more fun and more advanced. When you have all this technology helping you it makes everything faster and if everything is faster there is more time to learn more things that maybe we didn't have time to learn before. We need to take advantage of our resources because we are so lucky to have them.

ANOTHER PS22 VIDEO

This video was amazing! It was so touching and I absolutely loved it! It really speaks to us to see children coming together like this and making things work, especially when it is a video like this one. You could just see on their faces how important this was to them and just how much it meant. I love the song they were singing but I had never though about it being tied to the learning system. It is so right though, people these days are so afraid of changing even when it is for the best. They are so set in their ways because thats how they learned it and thats how they think it should be done that there isn't any room for new stuff.

I believe for a child to blog about or post their work is very important. It gives educators around the world a look through the eyes of the children. You get the chance to read what the kids write hear what they think and even see and read how they see things. This is so awesome to me. Every child is different and to see all the differences through blogging is a wonderful opportunity that teachers these days should take advantage of.

Some examples include pictures where the child made art on the computer that goes along with the assignment they were given. For instance all the blogs we see in our comments for kids. There are also the videos made by children recording what they are doing in science and they record their data and learn from trial and error in a lab setting. This helps because children and teachers in the future can go back and see these experiments and what did and didn't work. Last but not least teachers can make videos to help teach their students. By using a recording or video a teacher can remember things or projects that went well and their outcome, when teaching new students they can use past students videos to teach them how to do the projects also.

Comments4Kids #9

NIBBLE NIBBLE

My comments 4 kids assignment this week was by a boy named Henry. He drew a picture of a turtle eating vegetables. He said that the turtle loves eating foods like this. The picture was so cute and I really enjoyed seeing it!

Comments4Teachers Part 2 (Weeks 10 and 12)

OPERATION MULLIGAN (Week 10)

I completely LOVED this post! Kelly Hines did an amazing job at looking at things a whole different way. She somewhat "reset" her and her students mind set and I thought that idea was so neat! It's like even though everything was the same as before time wise and the students were literally only gone a day, by redoing the class room and playing the role of a whole new class the students actually gave in to this mind set too. The reason I really liked this is because it makes me think of how I feel as a student. Everyone is so tired of doing the same old stuff over and over again, week in and week out. I mean think about it the first few days or even weeks of school its very exciting. New classes, new teachers, new people, new material and so on and so forth. Then about half way through you just feel completely burned out and don't even want to really listen to it anymore. I believe this is one factor of kids dropping out of school. It isn't fun for them anymore, they feel like its nothing new so why even put up with it? I believe if there were more teachers who took Mrs. Hines out look there would be many improvements in students attitudes. I really feel like this post helped me and showed me to stay fresh! If you are getting tired of class then chances are your students were long before it got to you, then its too late.

TEACHER LEADERSHIP: OSTRICH SYNDROME (Week 12)

This post by Kelly really just talks about how as teachers we shouldn't be afraid to take risk in leadership positions. She uses the analogy of an Ostrich. An Ostrich sticks it head in the ground when it is scared or intimidated, leaving its whole body and neck exposed. This is ridiculous if you think about it! As teachers we shouldn't be like this. When given opportunities we should either admit that we aren't ready and respectfully decline or if we do take the challenge we shouldn't be scared to lead and make decisions because as teachers that is what we are suppose to do, lead. Kelly even left a helpful outline that I believe hits it right on the head when being in a teacher leadership role. First she says is Determine an area of need. Here she explains that when taking on something so big to start with the smaller ideas that you know more about and move on as you learn. Next is Asses yourself, we should check and make sure we are doing what is right and we should know what we can handle and how to handle it. Otherwise don't take on something you can't do. Third, Gather information and sources. Know your area! How can you possibly work on or with something you know nothing about? Here Kelly encourages us to know everything we can before tackling a project were there can be no element of surprise that might hinder your goals. Next Make a plan, pretty self explanatory. Find something, know about it, do it! Last but not least, Stick your neck out. After you have done everything you can with your idea present it. Take the risk. This post was so inspiring and uplifting to a future teacher. It helps not to worry or be afraid to take risks.

April 4th Blog Assignment

DEAR KAIA

I thought everything in Dear Kaia was so true. So often people just glance at something and either like it or not without even looking more into it! I think we need to slow down a bit these days. Why rush? There is so much to enjoy and I'm sure there is so much we are missing because we would rather rush than figure things out. I mean don't get me wrong I find myself rushing through things all the time, we all do, but in some instances to rush is only to rob yourself of life's benefits and extras.

These post also opened my eyes to how much we really do take advantage of and miss use technology. We, these days, have so many tools and resources readily available to us there is no reason why we shouldn't put them to use. Even in the miss use of these tools is ridiculous. It's like we like doing things the hard way just so we wont have to work with something new! I myself am guilty of doing something in a basic way, when I could do extra and make it better. I think everyone has done it before. After reviewing these post though it really makes me as a future teacher want to learn all I can and teach all I can. When I have my own classroom I am going to take advantage of all the resources I have because I feel I would be cheating the students otherwise.

Comments4Kids #8

GIRAFFE

My comments 4 kids assignment this week was of a giraffe drawn by a little boy names Henry. Henry said that the giraffe enjoyed eating carrots! This picture was so cute and I enjoyed getting to see it!

March 28th Blog Assignment

I thought this blog made some great points about pointless time in class and the way class should be. There are so many things I have learned with hands on experience in my computer class that if I wouldn't remember after just being told. I have sat through many lectures in my life and I cant even think of how many times I walked out of the class asking "ok what was that all about again?" I believe that with all of the technology we have today that we should take advantage of it. Why should we keep doing things the way that we have been doing it for years? if we are so much more advanced these days shouldn't our learning be more advanced too? I mean it just seems like such common sense. I mean most professors put their class lectures online with power point any way why would anyone want to go listen to a lecture on something they already have. I mean I understand lecture time for students who might need extra help or that might want to know more but if thats the case then why can't

My PLN so far....

So far on my PLN...

I am a user and active member of Facebook

Podcast I am subscribed to include:

Middle School Matters

SMARTboard Lessons

EDTeck Weekly

Blog I follow:

The Follis Files

Comments4Teachers Part 1 (Weeks 7,8,and 9)

WAITING AND TEACHING (WEEK 7)

This post was AMAZING! In this first post by Mrs. Follis she talks about how jobs in her past taught her things for her teaching career! She was a pizza girl and her job was to serve the customers that came in. She compares this to things she does now by stating the students are like the customers, even though they might need something they may stay quiet. She alerts teachers that we shouldn't just sit at our desk and wait for student that have questions but that we should know by looking at them. This post really hit home for me. As a student I was always so scared to raise my had and ask questions, I was scared my classmates would think I was stupid or that what I might say was the wrong answer. I would sit at my desk in complete confusion about my work and not do anything. Sadly I didn't have a teacher like Mrs. Follis. My teachers never noticed I was struggling because they weren't looking for it. They sat at their desk and expected me to come ask. The reason I loved this post so much is because it really opened my eyes to how important it is a a future teacher to pay attention to the children. I never really thought about this issue until I read this post. As teachers we are suppose to do everything we can to make sure every student has an equal learning opportunity and if that means walking around and asking every student that looks confused then thats what we should do. No more waiting at our desk for students to come to us, we should go to them!

COLLABORATION AND COOPERATIVE LEARNING (WEEK 8)

Another amazing post by Mrs. Follis. In this post we are reading about group work for students. I completely agree with everything Mrs. Follis is saying. When group work is assigned a think it is very important to allow the children to choose their groups. This is because as stated in her blog children will choose other kids with the same mentalities as themselves. This make the group work setting about as fair as possible. The danger of the teacher assigning groups is there will always be students who try hard and want their A and work for it and there will also be students who don't care as much or don't want to try. When these two very different students are paired together disaster strikes. Often there is one student who does all the work while the other student sits back and collects the benefit of a free A. However if the student choose their own groups the over achievers will pair with other over achievers and get everything done together and the students that don't care so much will be paired with other careless students but will have no choice but to do their work for fear of the other student not doing it. This is such a simple but true logic. Im sure anyone who has ever been a student knows the difference in choosing their own group and being assigned one. I know I have been there! I in some cases got lucky and was paired with over achievers that wanted everything done right and perfect so it was easy to work with, but I have also been in groups with the people who didn't care so I had to do EVERYTHING! Also after reading this post I came up with another idea. If a teacher insist on choosing groups for whatever reason why not make the projects in parts to make sure student workload is fair. Any project can be easily tweeked to where all students have a part and then the final result equals GROUP work. The example I used on the Follis Files was for a literature project. If students read part of a story and are told to predict or make up the end the assignment could include for each student to come up with a section then the group work would be to put everyone ideas in the final draft. I believe things like this could work wonders in group learning settings! I know that when I teach I will always allow students to choose their own groups and if I don't I will be sure to make all the projects fair work load to where every student must play a very important part and if they chose not to do so it would effect their personal grade only and not the student who might actual be hard workers!

NEW FAVORITE READING HANDOUT (WEEK 9)

This post explained a new strategy Mrs. Follis is trying with her students. I completely agree with the way she is coming up with new ways for her students to learn. If more teachers were like her and would use their brain rather than just going by the books we would be in a better place as far as the world of school goes. Mrs. Follis talks about how she is using group work to teach the different sections. say there are 5 parts to an assignment. why make every student do all five parts at once? it just makes more since to do this activity on parts. you get your groups and and assign each group a part. after every group has alternated and done every part you go over it as a whole and make sure everyone understands from not only personal experience but from what their fellow students discovered as well! I love this idea and will most certainly be using it in the future!

Comments4Kids #7

FIRST DAY

My comments4kids assignment this week was about the first day of school. I really enjoyed reading this post because as I was reading along it reminded me of when I was young and experiencing my first day. I remembered all of the emotions of not knowing who was in my class, and how it would go! I was a bundle of nerves! This post was so detailed and it made it a lot easier to identify with and to know exactly what was going on. I really enjoyed reading it!

March 12th Blog Assignment

ALEX

I believe this could be a VERY useful source to teachers. There were so many different topics covered such as Course of Study where you find a list of all possible subjects, incase you want to specialize in a certain one, in this section it also allows you you be very specific right down to the exact grade level of your choice!

There are also sections labeled lesson plans, professional learning, podcast, web links etc. That offer even more helpful information. You can search for already made lesson plans which is a HUGE deal to teachers and future teachers. You go to professional learning and learn about how to use different tools to enhance learning and you can even watch podcasts created by teachers and students from all over the place. There is even a section called personal workspace that is basically an online planner that will be a major help to people who are less organized and need that extra reminder and back up plan book.

Every thing offered here is very good helpful knowledge. Places like this can work wonders for teachers and we are so lucky to get to know about all these cool things. It just makes it easier for us. Teachers in the past have had to learn through trial and error and we just get to sit back and learn from their mistakes. I am so thankful to have such great incite!

ACCESS

This site also would be very helpful and useful for future teachers. There are tabs that include courses, where you can register and take test. There are the tabs educators and students where either educators can go and put all of their resources, and the student section offers questionnaires, tech support, and other teacher policies etc.

The section I found most interesting and thought could be the most helpful and useful part of the whole thing, was the resources tab. This tab offered so much. It had a place where students can go and get help and learn how to do the things they might not understand in class. I know exactly what it is like when you don't get the material in a class. It is horrible! Students panic when they don't understand. We start flipping pages, calling classmates, doing anything to try and understand before we are tested. This tab however offers an answer to all problems. I would have loved to have something like this when I was in school! In my opinion it just makes learning so much easier and more affective!

Comments4Kids #6

EXCITEMENT

My comments4kid post for this week was by a little girl named Emelia. Emelia's post was a video showing the emotion excitement. Emelia used how it feels when you run a race and win as her example. She made a video of her and her friends racing. At the end of the video when she has won the race she does an excellent job showing her excitement by jumping and celebrating.

March 7th Blog Assignment

RANDY PAUSCH'S LAST LECTURE

I really enjoyed this video! Randy was so funny and had such a good attitude and personality. I really love that he started off talking about having a list of childhood dreams. I believe it is so very important for children to have dreams and actually work towards them! Most kids these days have dreams but don't ever work towards them. They just leave it at a dream not something they could actually do. Some children are even discouraged about dreams they have and thats just sad! I think as future teachers we should always encourage kids to be all they can and that if they work for their dreams they can accomplish them! I also love that he stresses the fact that he actually did everything on his list and learned from every single experiences even if they weren't exactly what was on the list.

My favorite part of the whole post would have to be when he talked about his old foot ball team. The main message was "when people stop correcting you they have given up". That statement alone just speaks volumes. It was so encouraging and it reminds us that we should never give up on anyone! Just try, try again. This I believe is a very important for teachers around the world to understand. Not just because it is our job, but because every child should have someone that believes in them and if you just give up on a kid they too will stop trying!

Another part of the video I like was when he was talking about the students learning from making things and doing things. Not just book learning. This idea caught me because I am a firm believer in the fact that children will remember things they experience for themselves better than something they are just told or taught. I think as teachers it is important to take advantage of every bit of hand on activities we can for students. The difference comes from the children actually doing activities and learning from experience rather than just memorizing information for test them forgetting about it after they get the grades.

I absolutely agree when he talks about how important it is to just have fun with it. These days I feel like there are more students that wake up in the morning dreading having to go to school. This isn't just in older kids but even young kids these days! This is so sad to me. Kids should enjoy going to school not feel like its a chore. So many children get discouraged at school and it is a pity because the younger they are when they start hating school the less likely they are to ever graduate high school, let alone college! Kids should enjoy learning and it is up to us as teachers to keep their interest growing! Watching this post was just so amazing and encouraging to me as a future teacher. I think if there were more teachers like Randy there would be much more success in schools these days.

Comments4Kids #5

MONKEYS

My comments4kids assignment this week was a post by a girl named Cindy. In Cindy's post she wrote a poem about Monkeys! She did such a good job describing the different characteristics of the monkey. I really enjoyed reading her post! This is a really good example of one way technology can be used in the classroom. Its basically the same things we do by posting blogs about everything we do for class!

February 28th Blog Assignment

WRITING IN MEDIA

I really enjoyed the information in these videos. Richard Miller talk all about the different ways of publishing works and producing information world wide. For instance rather than just actual book libraries, virtual libraries! I think this is an awesome concept and I also think it could be successful. One reason I think this could be so successful is the fact of information sharing alone. Students and teachers alike would be able to share views, opinions, and helpful information on a global scale. Something like this could really advance education if available in my opinion. I also think that being able to interact on such a wide scale could make school more fun for kids and maybe even spark their interest in education.

Am I ready for this? I mean I really like to think that I am ready for such a challenge. I'll be the first to admit I don't know everything about this subject, but I am willing to learn! Thats why I think classes like EDM can be so effective for future teachers. It prepares us for what we will be working with once we get out into the real world. Which in my opinion is way better than just throwing us out there and expecting us to learn at the same time we are suppose to be teaching it!

As far as my students being able to do this, I think they will be able to! I plan to use all of my knowledge to help them learn the best they can and to their full potential. I plan to do this by knowing and learning all I can where I will be fully prepared for anything they might need help understanding. I also plan to teach my students through all means available to me both electronic or written. After all you are ripping the students off by not giving them full advantage of all material.

THE NETWORKED STUDENT

The video by Wendy Drexler, Im not sure if I totally agree or not. Maybe I am reading too far into it but it really made you think for a min what school is all about. Almost like what if technology takes away from what school is all about. Im all for technology being a big tool in learning but I also believe there still has to be a balance between student teacher learning and technology learning. I think the most effective method would be making technology and what school always has been coexist. It would benefit the children so much in my opinion!

I believe that teachers and students alike should be trained in this subject but I don't think that school should revolve completely around technology. I think the definition of a good teacher would have to be one who is well rounded in all areas of technology and non technological learning methods. A good teacher should be able to make both and every method work for them. Not all students learn the same way so having different methods would only benefit everyone!

A NEW FUTURE OF WHATEVER

Just another one of Mr. Wesch's videos thatI really loved! I completely agree with him on how the use of blogs and facebook and other social networkings could benefit learning. Another part that I really loved was when he talks about how much it means to present yourself and make first impressions. Really when you think about it first impressions and how you present yourself to someone can make you or break you. Its really scary to think about! I really hate the way I sound recorded on audio and I always think to myself gosh I'm going to sound like an idiot and everyone is going to hate listening to this. I guess its really something I am going to have to work on getting over. I just feel like I will get nervous and stutter or something! But its ok i'm learning!

Comments4Kids #4

WORM FARMS

For this weeks Comments4Kids I watched a video of children learning how to use worms to make soil more fertile for gardens. They are learning to do what is also called a "worm transfer". Their Vice Principal Mrs. Bleaken is the one helping and teaching them to do this. I really enjoyed watching this video! I also believe this is another great example of how technology can be use in the schools. What is also good about this is that it isn't only beneficial to the teachers or students but to both at the same time. The teachers by filming projects and experiments can learn what to do better and also can use the past videos for the future students. It can also help a teacher to look back and possible examine any other possibilities that could make experiments better in the years to come. I believe the students benefit from this in general as a hands on project. I think it is very important to have things for children to do rather than just making them listen. I think they would get such a better grasp on things if they actually had to work on it themselves!

February 21st Blog Assignment

DR. CHRISTIE

One of the sections I looked at on Dr. Christie's site was her section about integrating digital media. I think this is a wonderful idea and that teachers could get a lot of use out of it. Digital Media could be used in the classroom in many different ways. Pictures could be taken of a variety of projects to teach future students and give them examples. This could also be used for the teacher, if they wanted to remember a certain way they did or taught something. Filmed video or tapes on a camcorder could be taken for documentation and future learning. I just really believe that digital media could change and help things in a lot of ways.

Another thing I really enjoyed on Dr. Christie's website was her emphasis on internet safety. This is such a big deal and so very important. The internet is huge and can be accessed by anyone in the world that wants it. This is a VERY scary thought! Especially when we are talking about kids being on and using it constantly. Dr. Christie however gave many good example on how to make the internet a safer place for our children and how to be aware of what might be out there! Reading this was very helpful in my opinion.

ITUNES UNIVERSITY

Well on this subject I have to start off by saying this could be both helpful and hurtful. I however believe that if you use this the right way it can be very successful and helpful. The only bad thing that could come of using this is, if all lectures are done by podcast and class is just voluntary, who is to say a student will actually watch them? Ill be the first to admit if all my lectures were available online and I didn't have to go to class I probably wouldn't. Now I know not everyone would abuse this, but I would stand to say it would happen a lot! Another thing is if you are only watching podcast, and aren't actually having a class period how are you going to ask important questions that need to be answered right away and you can't wait for and e-mail response? You would be so stuck!

On the other hand I believe iTunes U could be very helpful if used the right way. By this I mean if a teacher were to do all their lectures by way of podcast, the teacher could also hold a class period once or however many times a week just for questions and further explanation. Or maybe in a college setting make one day a week no class for watching podcast and the second period a week be mandatory but focused on building off what the students already watched and answering any questions they might have.

IPODS IN THE SCHOOLS Dukes iPod Article

I found this very interesting. I think that students and teachers could both greatly benefit from the use of ipods in the classroom. Students could use and listen to the podcast to make sure they didn't miss anything in class or just to refresh their memory. Something that you first think of is how can schools afford this. This is tough but I believe it is possible. I mean think about how many kids already have or have access to an iPod. If i were going to do this in my schools and needed to cut dow on expenses you could simply have available ipods for student who might not have one, and for the students that do have one or access to one could just use their own. Though I really believe there would be more to work out than just that, I do believe it could be useful and beneficial!

Comments4Kids #3

On this comments4kids I read a post by a student named Brennan. He was talking about the plays him and his classmates were working on. After the class was split into groups and worked on the plays they had to perform them in front of the other half of the class! It sounded like so much fun and even reminded me of some of the plays I use to be in when I was younger! I remember the excitement and practices to make everything perfect. I also love the idea of helping kids learn literature through getting them to cat it out. I think it is a very effective way of teaching because instead of just reading a story the child actually gets to interact as the character and experience what they went through. I believe this gives them a better look at what happened in the stories!

February 14th Blog Assignment

WIKIPEDIA

Wikipedia << Link to Wikipedias website.

I actually like wikipedia. Although I know it isn't a good source to use for stating facts, I think it is otherwise pretty useful and accurate. I also find it very interesting that just anyone can change it. I honestly had no idea until freshmen year when I cited wikipedia in a paper and got major points taken off! Wikipedia actually kind of reminds me of a blog site where everyone in the world puts their posts. I mean really there is no telling what some people might put on there. I have never really used wikipedia much but I have heard a lot about it. I think though it might nit be very reliable all the time its still a pretty good source for personal use. If I need something a little more factual i'd probably just google it.

MR. MCCLUNG'S FIRST YEAR

I really loved this post! I have always imagined how it will be my first day alone in my own classroom. There are so many things that go running through my head like what if this and what if that. Although i'm sure my first year will be a blast I'm sure it will also have some interesting moments too! That's why you gotta love kids, and everything that comes along with being a teacher! Post like this one really help future teachers. Its kind of just a reminder to laugh and go with the flow because you never know what will happen!

Comments4Kids #2

BABYSITTERS CLUB!

The post I read was by a little girl named Maya. In her post she was blurbing about a book she was reading in "The BabySitters Club" series. She talked about how this was a really good mystery book and she goes on to tell about what takes place with some of the characters. I really enjoyed reading this post because I remember when I was younger I loved reading the babysitters club books! It brings back fond memories and I think it is really cool that kids these days are still reading the same stuff we use too!

All About Me!

February 7th Blog Assignment

100 WAYS TO USE YOUR IPOD TO LEARN AND STUDY BETTER

Wow... This post was so crazy! Just about everyone has and ipod they use regularly it really makes you think about what a difference it could make if everyone used it in at least 1 of the 100 ways listed. I personally have been an ipod owner for years and I have never even entertained the thought of trying to use it for school and studying. When I think about the technology available to kids these days compared to when I was in elementary school it absolutely amazes me. If using something like an ipod were available for me when I was that young I honestly believe it would have helped more. Im sure anyone even any kids these days would agree that listening to a podcast or reading passages on the web and then doing an assignment on them is way better than having to just read, write, and do book work.

Another thing I liked about this post is that you know exactly what to do. Even if I were a new ipod owner and didn't really know what I was doing, its good to know there are post out there like this one. I feel like just from doing this assignment that if I ever needed help in studying or understanding something I could just come back to this post and see how to do it. I really enjoyed looking over all the different tools available. I feel like this post or this topic in general should be pushed in schools these days.

Comments4Kids

INSULATORS V.S. CONDUCTORS

The video I watched was a video of Mr. McClungs class. The Video was of two boys in the class doing an experiment and documenting it via podcast. I absolutely loved this video! Not only were the kids so funny, but it was just nice to see children having fun in school again. I really loved Mr. McClungs way of using technology in his classroom and he really seemed to know how to make the technology work for him and the kids advantage. You can tell the children were learning something from this and at the same time still being kids! I myself feel like I have learned something about how I would like to use technology in my classroom when I am a teacher!

January 31st Blog Assignment

SMART-BOARD LESSONS PODCAST

I listened to the podcast about DimDim.com. I think this concept is so awesome! It is really neat how teachers can go and use ideas from other teachers around the world. I also think sites like this are very important in the aspect of broadening learning. It opens the door to so many opportunities for teachers and the students they are teaching.

KIDCAST

The podcast I listened to was "some thoughts on video pod casting". I thought that this was a very informative pod cast and really did a good job a demonstrating some of the different options you have when doing your own pod cast. It also informs you on some big points like to know who your audience is and it also offered good ideas on keeping it interesting. Personally I think that there should be video with certain pod cast to help keep the attention of listener/watchers.

ED TECH TALK

I chose episode 90. This was about using podcast to connect whole schools and communities. I think is a good idea in the works. I think it will bring about great opportunities for teachers and learners alike. I also think it would make problem solving easier and more helpful because instead of hoping one person knew how to help you, you would have a whole community and I think its safe to say that surely someone had the right answer!

IPHONE BEING USED BY A ONE YEAR OLD

This was completely shocking to me. I mean I know how advanced technology is these days and how important it is but I honestly never even thought about a one year old being able to do it. I mean I know some adults that cant even use todays technology such as iphones and it just makes me laugh to see this baby doing it!

January 24th Blog Assignments

MICHAEL WESCH: A VISION OF STUDENTS TODAY

I think this video is very realistic. It is very similar to some experiences i have had in college. The part when the papers said "I spend money on books I never open" "I only get 7hrs of sleep a night" "I work everyday after class" and so on and so forth. I'm not exactly sure if technology can "save us" but I think it is important and could definitely benefit in areas such as time management and what not.

The part where students were saying "I'm on my laptop in class not doing school work" or "I'm on facebook through my whole class period" that I believe is true also! I have seen plenty of times where kids bring their personal computers to class and do nothing but play the whole time. I don't know why it is a problem though because universities can have blocks put on certain websites. If universities want students to be doing online class work during the class time there should be blocks on certain websites during class hours. This would ensure that students were doing what they were suppose to be doing not goofing on the net all day.

"IT'S NOT ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY" BY KELLY HINES

I agree with what Kelly is saying. Its kind of hard to try and eliminate technology though because of how much of todays living is based on it. I do however think that it is very important for teachers to know how to use this technology. After all, how are we supposed to teach the kids about something we don't know how to use? If we don't understand the technology our students are expected to learn or know we will never get anywhere.

However I do also agree that technology shouldn't be the only thing. Sure technology is great and very helpful, but in some cases it can rob children of their imagination. I mean really, it is so much easier to google pictures and problems for homework but whatever happened to drawing your version of an english poem? Or drawing out a cartoon using your vocabulary words? As I look back on my elementary and middle school years that kind of stuff is what made school interesting and challenging. I agree technology is important but so is children using their imagination and thinking for themselves.

KARL FISCH: IS IT OKAY TO BE A TECHNOLOGICALLY ILLITERATE TEACHER?

I agree with Mr. Fisch 100%. I believe that teachers should be embarrassed to say the are technologically illiterate. Especially in todays society! Computers and technology run just about everything. I'm not saying a school teacher should be able to do programming and tech support for computers, I'm just saying teachers should know the same programs and skills the kids they are teaching know. You can't expect someone to teach something they do not understand. You also can't expect children to learn from someone who knows less then them.

GARY HAYES SOCIAL MEDIA COUNT

This is insane! The numbers grow so fast. It's like I know how much technology I use, and it is a pretty fair amount. I also see how much my friends and peers use technology but I guess to see how fast the numbers grow on a wider scale is just amazing. This really emphasizes how important it is for teachers to know how to use basic technology. These numbers are doing nothing but skyrocketing and they will only get worse in years to come. Teachers beware! This is the age of technology!!!

Jan 17th Blog Assignments

DID YOU KNOW 3.0 BY KARL FISCH

I found this video very interesting! It was weird to actually see, in researched numbers, how much more some countries are advanced than America. India and China more than tripling our number in birthrate per year and also how technologically advanced their students are. It really makes you wonder how or if America can keep up with the rest of the world because it seems we are already so far behind!

Something else that I found very interesting, is how much technology in general has sky rocketed! It seems like living in these times I would have realized exactly how much it had changed but really I had no idea. I think the part that made me think the most was when it said "the knowledge students are learning today will be outdated by their third year of college" and that's a big deal! We are advancing in technology faster than we ourselves are advancing. It really just furthers the thought that computers and technology really are going to rule the world someday.

MR. WINKLE WAKES BY MATTHEW NEEDLEMAN

I think this video symbolizes how much everything in the world has advanced in the past 100 years or so. However, it makes the point that even though everything seems to have changed school remains the same. It seemed like in the video, school had been left out of all these advances and it makes one wonder if maybe this is a good thing or a bad thing.

I think it points out the important fact that if the outside world (the world after school and education ends) is so advanced and using technology as a way of life, then why aren't we teaching these things to our children in our schools? It makes it almost seem like our children will be unprepared for what awaits them after school. This is because the skills we are teaching in school, and the skills needed in real world life are two worlds apart.

KEN ROBINSON SCHOOL KILLS CREATIVITY

I absolutley loved this video. I agree 100% with what Robinson is saying. When he said "children arent afraid of being wrong and they arent afraid to take chances" he hit it right on the tip of the nose! One of the reasons I decided to become and elementary education teacher if for that reason. I love hearing what children have to say. They are so pure and honest and at times actually quite funny. I do believe that school sometimes can rob them of this quality. They are told how they are suppose to think, what the outcome is supposed to be, and if they dont think of a particular answer they are wrong. I believe the only wrong is this logic. If everyone always thought the same we would be missing out on so much! Originality and creativity is a true gift and it should be uplifted not covered up.

Something I think sad is the fact that when Robinson said "our education is being prided on academics" this is sad to me because it just isnt fair. Not all children are academically gifted. Some are good at math and science, and some are good at music, dance, or art. Why should the "artsy" student automatically assumed less of or arent expected to succeed in life as far as the ones who are good at the maths and sciences? This is sad to me on the level of being a future teacher and future parent. I would never want my child to be taught their natural talents should be underminded because they are different.

VICKI DAVIS: HARNESS YOUR STUDENTS DIGITAL SMARTS

I think Vicki has the right idea! If there were more teachers like her, there would be a greater number of prepared students. If more teachers would take a chance, and try and help students get as technologically advanced as possible, I think it would be easier for students once they got out into the real world. This is because of how advanced we are this day and age. If we are going to continue to advance as fast as we have in the last few years, then we as teachers, should be prepared to teach our students how to do these things. If the world weren't becoming so advanced so fast this wouldn't be such a big deal. The fact of the matter is, we are that advanced, and it is happening this fast!