My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

I am so sorry to see this class come to an end, and I hope to see all of you in future classes. I really didn't expect to learn near as much as what I have; I'm sure most of you probably feel the same way if you're anything like me. I had absolutely no clue what I was doing with a computer in January. Now, just a few months later, I really feel okay about the world turning into a world of computers. I hope that everyone learned as much as what I did from Mr. Wakeman this semester. Good luck to everyone with future classes and your future careers!

Thank you Mr. Wakeman for taking the time to teach us everything you have and for taking the time to help us...even when you were pressed for time and tired of repeating yourself! You're a wonderful teacher! Hope to see you in the future!

Knowledge Gained From My EDM 310 Class

I have learned so much during this semester that I really don't know where to start. I think that the biggest thing, the thing that is going to help me the most throughout my teaching career was Excel. I can now say that I will be able to successfully keep a grade book on my computer. This was one of my biggest concerns upon taking this class and seeing the syllabus. After this semester though, I can do not only a spread sheet, but a chart from the sheet's information as well.

The next biggest thing I learned was Power Point. I think that this is going to be a major help to me when I begin teaching and trying to put together a lesson for my class. I have also learned about the sites ALEX and ACCESS and I have learned about Podcast and Videocast. All of these "tools" are only going to make my life easier once I am the one in front of the class. ALEX and ACCESS are wonderful ways to get help with lesson plans, etc.

Blogging is something else that I had NO CLUE about when I first started this class and is another thing that I will be taking with me to use in the future. I have learned this free, unique way of keeping my classroom connected with not only myself, but with my student's parents as well.

Google docs is another free "tool" that was given to us to explore to teach us that no matter what we are provided with and no matter what our "financial allowance" is, we can still keep up with what we need to be doing to keep our classroom going. I really do hate to see this semester end in this class, but I can honestly say that I feel I have gotten more from this class in one semester that what many will get in a lifetime of "My Spacing."

WBGH Podcast

Well, my video podcast I watched was probably not the best for me...but it was probably one of the most useful. It was called Backyard Bugs. And no...I don't think I will ever jump at the chance to watch it again just because of the fact that the pictures of the bugs, especially spiders, were very close and I do NOT like bugs. The whole point of the video though, was to not only teach kids a little about all the different types of bugs we have out there and a little about their habitats, but also how to be safe around them. I think it is good for the simple fact that I don't think a lot of kids, especially city, would ever have the chance to not only learn about all the different types of insects we have, but how to behave safely around them. Plus, because of podcast like these, we can show kids a different side of life that they may otherwise never get to see.


The main thing I liked about this web-site, FULL of podcast by the way for every subject there is, is that it does not provide a video and then leave the teaching part up to you. In my classroom management class we have learned that you are suppose to give the kids a brief outline of what they are suppose to be looking for in a video before you ever even hit play. This is suppose to help them pay attention better and not get side tracked. Something about having heard what they need to be looking for and then hearing it during the video is suppose to spark their attention again and help them retain the information better. This site, under Teacher's Domain section has the objectives or subjects available for you to click on by grade, and then when the video comes up for you to click on to watch it, it also gives you some help for what you need to tell the kids to look for, and then some questions you can go over with them so that they are repeating the information back to you in a way that should let you know they understood what they watched.

This video is not only available to use in a science lesson, but it tells you that this is also a good one to use in language arts. The fact that they are doing this is a big plus in my opinion; they are teaching two subjects with one video. With the limited amount of time teachers are finding available to them, this is a GREAT thing! It is taking the time to "double up!" The language arts portion comes in with the descriptive words being used to discuss the insects. You can have your children listen out for the words to concentrate on that area, or you could have them really trying to pay attention to the habitats of the insects for the science aspect of the video. Either way you go, the children are getting some of both subjects at once. Again, what a great way to use your time wisely. This is going to be the biggest lesson I took away from this assignment...Learn how to kill as many birds with one stone as possible.

Something else I saw that was extremely helpful was that with the videos, not only do they have a short outline of kind of what to ask before, after and during the video to help the kids get the information you expect them to retrieve from it, is that there are also lesson plans to the side for them to continue the lesson with. With this one, the students can draw their own bug and fill it with descriptive words to help explain their insect. Again, they are learning skills they will need in life, along with having fun. In my opinion, having a fun idea planned to follow up with the lesson or video is a great way to have the children put their skills to use. This will help instill the knowledge they need better than just repeating a few words back to you and moving on to something else.

Along with giving you the activity, they also give you several handouts to use as well along with detailed instruction from how long to a lot for each activity, to the instructions you should give to the children. It tells you in depth exactly what skills the activities are going to improve for the students. I know I have said this on so many other sites we have been assigned before, but I really think THIS ONE is the best. Especially for all of us who will be going into the teaching field brand new. This site is wonderful in that it is providing us the information and knowledge that it has taken other teachers years and years to acquire.... All right here waiting for us to use it. All you have to do is log in, click and print. IT IS GIVING YOU YOUR LESSON PLANS. Not only am I going to use this in my classroom, but I guarantee you that this site is going to help me get through my education courses I will be taking. A lot of our assignments in our classes want us to find fun things to do with the children that will teach them as well....it is all right here. Also, when we start student teaching, we will have days that we are told to go and find things to do with the children for certain subjects for the next day, etc. This one site can take all of the stress and worry off of us when that time comes! I encourage EVERYBODY to use this site, just as I will, to help us out!

Edutopia Podcast

I was very shocked by what I saw when I learned about the Edible Schoolyard. I honestly expected this to really be more geared towards teaching kids more about just how to care for a garden, eat healthy, etc. I was wrong...This Edible Schoolyard, started by Alice Waters, was actually started to "improve school lunch programs," because they have learned that the kids are more likely to eat the healthy foods if they are the ones who grew it. But it does not stop there. This project is teaching the children Math, (you have to be able to measure,) Science, (these children are having to learn about cycles of the plants, weather, soil, etc.) Responsibility, (they have to take care of these plants, and they have to learn how to cook the food!) These teachers are using everything that is occurring in this garden, surface tension with water molecules, etc., to teach the children. And they are having fun...HEAD FAKE...This one idea is teaching these children how to take care of themselves and how to take pride in what they do. These children are learning a "sense of magic!" Is this not AMAZING!!!!!
A Night in the Global Village struck me as one of the best ideas for students I have ever heard of in my life. It has been said over and over that our kids are becoming some of the most self centered and "spoiled" than ever before. They don't see past their blessings and they don't care to look to the places all around us that are so much less fortunate. In the Mountains, there is an organization called Heifer International that has a ranch that sponsors this activity for these students. They must split up into their countries full of poverty and starving people, and live as they do for a night. These students are having to learn about poverty, etc. all over the world. They are having to learn how to survive in conditions that are not what they are use to. They are going to have to learn how to make it through the night which is going to require learning how to be independent and how to work together. They can chose to "beg" from their neighboring countries which, as part of the project, they had to find a way to communicate with others without using language. They had to keep in mind that because they don't speak the same language, they would have to find other ways to communicate.

This is one of the best ways to teach the children about problem solving skills, how to work together, and how to communicate with others. Also, it made them realize that they need to be involved in the problems going on all around our world. This is making them know why they need to get up and get involved and not just be a citizen who is here doing nothing but taking up space. I think that the students learned to give more thought about how their decisions they make on a day-to-day basis affect others. I think they learned that they have the power, even as just one person, to speak up and make a difference.


I hope that it is possible for me to have an Edible Schoolyard when I am teaching. These podcast have made me realize that there are things that you can do that are not going to just teach one or two lessons. It IS possible to use "out of the box" ideas and instill lessons with my students that are going to last a life time. Also, they have made me open my eyes a little more to the fact that there are so many ideas out there and because of technology advancing in the direction it has/is, you can actually listen to experiences and problems along with solutions that other people are trying everyday. By listening to these podcast and others along the lines of teaching and ideas, we can use their experience to make the experiences for our students even better by applying ideas that have worked so well for others and learning how to eliminate as many problems as possible.

My biggest lesson I got out of his was that there is no excuse to continue to teach unsuccessfully. There are too many resources available to us for us to chose not to use them. Who would have ever thought having students maintain a garden, they could learn more about math? I also would have never thought about the Global Night project!!! These are lessons that are going to stay with these students forever. Isn't that why we are becoming teachers??? To make a difference.. I can honestly say that I will probably LIVE on Edutopia when I am a teacher!!

iTunes U

My understanding of iTunes U wasn't much to start out with, but it's getting better. One thing that made perfect since to me as to why iPods are going to be one of the perfect learning tools to be incorporated into our classrooms is this...How many teens do you know, honestly, that don't have an iPod???? My friend's daughter is 12 and has 2. Even my husband has one, and that's saying a lot! Trust me! The site points out that it's not just that the student's have the needed tool already, it's that they already know how to use it that is a big plus. The fact that their education can be put on their iPod makes them more willingly to get in there and watch their lectures, listen to the instructors required listening material. Because their education is being put in their familiar world, learning doesn't seem like learning too much. Also, the use of iTunes U through these iPods and iPhones is going to give the nerds, like me, more help with wanting to study more often.

After reading more on iTunes U, I understand that this tool is becoming more useful to teachers who are trying to "customize" their lesson plans more. Because I have never been a teacher before, I don't know if I am dreaming or if it could happen in reality with the amount of time I would be putting into my classroom, BUT, wouldn't it be nice if you could pin-point problem areas of each student and have their iPod packed with the certain material THEY need to succeed? If Johnny needed help in one area and Jane in another, you could put Johnny's area of need on his, and Jane's on hers.

It is my understanding that each individual campus or school, would create their own iTunes U page that they can dress up with as much information as they would like. On one of the Apple i Tunes U sites, under "iTunes U: The biggest campus expansion plan ever," it talks about how you can go outside of the classroom as well. You can post various school events so that students who may be too busy with school and can't attend all of their school functions can still be aware and catch up with their school's activities. This is where I think of me being an Elementary teacher and will have parents who may want to see what they may have missed by not being able to attend all of their child's school's events.

The make-up or "content" of your page/site can be added to or deleted at the administrator's decision. Also, you don't have to let everyone in the world look at your school's or group's page. You can have it blocked with log in's and passwords so that your chosen ones are the only people who can log on and see your information and/or page. Some schools have chosen to do both. They have parts set up to only allow students who are equipped with a log in and password to see certain pages, and then they have areas set up to where everyone who wants to can see the page and use the information they chose to make available. Everything I have read keeps saying that when you set up, it is modeled after the original iTunes page and is suppose to be VERY easy to set up and maintain from the beginning.

In my opinion, if Duke University, one of the top schools EVER, is using this in their classes, maybe it won't be long before we all are. After all, again, if Duke thinks it is a good idea and thought enough of the project to really put in the effort to getting it off the ground, it must be a good idea. Also, Stanford and Carnegie Mellon are involved! That has to tell you that the incorporation of iTunes U has shown benefits. I seriously doubt that these 3 schools are going to continue with methods and tools that are not providing good results. I can say personally that when I was in Psychology and Sociology, this would have been a wonderful tool! I hope that South will do this before long. I also hope that our middle and high schools put this in before long. I would love for my nephews, my niece, and my daughter to have this available to them!

Duke's Use of iPods

Okay, once again, I am learning about something that I have never thought could be used in my upcoming career. Ipods are now learning equipment. Duke University is even using them. They did a study involving them with some carefully chosen, hand picked proffesors. This new "tool" was used to assist in a Spanish class where learning may not come so easy to all of us. The site said that Duke was pretty much THE launcher, partnered with Apple, who got iTunes U started. The site said that, "In the fall of 2004, iPod players were distributed to all 1400 incoming freshmen." South should sign up!!!

Students can put/post their stuff onto iTunes U and is available to everyone that would need access to grade it, etc. My first thought about this was MOBILITY!!!!! As college students, who isn't looking for a little more mobility with class? Especially since almost all of us have jobs, families, etc. The use of iPods would make it so that if you did not understand the lecture you watched on your system in class the first time, you would have the lecture on your iPod to watch over and over if you needed. So not only is mobility being offered, repitition is going to be a bonus feature too. If you're like me, this is what I need in order to get through. I need to hear some stuff a million times before it sinks in.

When Duke changed in 2005 and gave out iPods to only students who were enrolled in the iPod specified classes, (instead of all Freshman), enrollment was filled for the iPod classes, and hit almost a rock bottom for the non-iPod classes. I really think the mobility issue is why. But also, just as we've talked about before, when you can use new tools like this and incorporate them into the classroom, it gives students, elementary or college, something out of the "norm." Maybe just having something out of the everyday ordinary made the students go crazy for it.

Not only can college put iTunes U to good use, but it is also available for elementary and secondary education as well. Teachers can download appropriate material for their classes of all ages. According to the Apple site, "Colleges, universities, PBS stations, museums, and other cultural institutions on iTunes U have created content especially for K-12 students." So the information that is being uploaded is going to be in a variety. This, in my opinion, is important because not everyone is going to be loading information to this site and taking the same view of the subject. You will have several different aspects of the same topic. This is going to, again, broaden the information that is available for the students.

Something that was awesome to me was that this is not only text information that is being put out their. You can post videos, lectures, etc. using iTunes U. I can only imagine how the use of this could have livened up classes when I was in school. There will soon be no more boring videos from 40 years ago that have been shown over and over and over in our highschools or colleges. The development of iTunes U has just opened up an entire world of learning and modern information that can be brought to our classrooms!

Dr. Christie

When I first logged on to Dr. Christie's site, I clicked on the link titled Classes and found it to be very informational for teachers. It talks about how the Internet is a very important tool for teachers as it can connect them to their students as well as parents. My favorite point that was made was, and this is my wording, throw out the "paper and pencil" as the ultimate source of acknowledging how much the children have learned. Don't rely on it so much...Multimedia tools can help children learn to gain knowledge, and even apply their knowledge, in a variety of ways because not every one's learning methods are identical. THIS HIT HOME! As a "hands on" learner, I wish that I would have had teachers and tools like this when I was in school!

I feel that by incorporating as many tools as possible into the classroom only doubles your success rate! It can make children learn and enjoy it...the "Head Fake!"
When you begin to explore these ideas on this site, and you get under the Educational Technology site, you can get links on most of the tools to use such as digital cameras, etc..You can make art not just about seeing pictures in a book for your class to see. You can log into Bill Gate's Bil Gates' Art Warehouse. Is that not amazing?!!!

One of my biggest goals as a teacher is to make learning fun, new, and exciting. I want my students to be knowledgeable of whatever I am teaching and I want to learn to use new and exciting tools to MAKE them remember what they've learned forever! This is a great way to do it. Plus, like what we've talked about in Microcomputing as well as our other education classes, technology is advancing rapidly and we must teach our students as early as possible to get on board. Also, the best way to teach is to lead by example. By me logging on to the Internet and showing them that with the click of a button, I can take them to Bill Gate's art gallery, I would hope it would show them that the possibilities and the learning tools available to us are now endless.

Dr. Christie's Educational Portals page is full of useful links for teachers all the way to senior year of high school. With our current and new to come teachers having sources available, their is no excuse for not incorporating technology into our daily learning. When you look at the Apple Education K-12 link, it gives you several ideas and ways to do this. So what is stopping us? As a teacher, I hope that I continue to use technology to not only help me learn, but to help me teach as well. Now the Apple site is, of course, going to want to boost it's equipment, but as I was reading on this, I learned about i-tunes U...which I had never heard of before. (Quoted from the site because there is really no "re-wording" this,) "Teachers can also find digital curricula and professional development podcasts, both from state departments of education and from university education programs. So just like that, your teachers have access to plenty of new ideas." So no...there is no longer limitations to what I as a teacher will be able to do!

Wikipedia

So much talk over the free web based encyclopedia, Wikipedia...Can you trust it? Should you use it? Why do my professors hate it? The thing you have to remember with Wiki is that it IS open to the public for additions and changes, so yes..there are going to be times that it is changed and the truth is stretched slightly or completely tossed out the window and replaced with what sounds good. Even though Wiki has over 1,500 administrators trying their best to monitor the changes made to the site, that number may not be enough to monitor over 75,000 editors. So yes, people can change the information with inaccurate details and before now, may have never gotten away with it. But, as we have talked about, our technology is only getting better and before long, there will be nothing that you can do on-line and not have traced back to you.

When reading the three assignments, NPR Article, Scanner Tracks Who's Changing What on Wikipedia, and The NPR News Blog, and Wired Story, See Who's Editing Wikipedia - Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign, I had no idea that there was a way to trace the activity of the changes being made on Wikipedia. Apparently, Wal-Mart (to name just one) decided that they did not like the information published on the web-encyclopedia so they decided to fix it. They totally changed the publishing's about the wage plan for their company. Prior Montana Senator Conrad Burns' office was guilty of changing information as well to fix an article published to make him sound good.

To me this is almost crazy because even after doing all of the research I have done on Wikipedia, I would have never thought that the main people of Wal-Mart and the Senators of our country would honestly be logging on to Wiki to change their articles. To me, that was almost like Brittany Spears wanting to google herself all day to see what was being said about her. I never realized how much Wiki was really used by people for serious matters. I think that the fact that there are people out there who really do use Wikipedia as a "fact-based-source", and may really put faith in the articles published is what led to the development of the Wiki Scanner. With this tool, you can trace IP addresses back to the responsible party/parties who are making these changes.

You have to remember that our teachers are forbidding the use of Wiki as a source for a reason...and this would be it. My advice to everyone is to use Wiki the way that I have and still do. Wikipedia should be used as a "starter-site." When you pull up your subject of interest in Wiki, you will find tons of articles with tons of hyperlinks stored in them. Click on those hyperlinks and chances are that before long you will start landing on pages that have url's ending in .edu and that have authors who give references and contact information. That, in my opinion, is where Wiki makes life so much easier. Instead of searching forever just to get started, you can just log into Wiki and find great leads!

Randy Pausch

One of my blogs I did for last week on the podcast was actually on Randy Pausch, so I knew that he had recently passed away due to his loosing the battle to Pancreatic Cancer. This made me actually excited to see that this week's assignment was on his last lecture, Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. Upon coming out to give his lecture, he made his situation with cancer very open. He spoke about his cancer and told everyone up front that he only had about 2-5 months of good health left, and after doing his series of push ups, he made it very plain that he did not want sympathy from anyone for any reason! He made jokes about buying his new death bed, etc. It was so obvious that this was NOT going to be a boring video! Everybody should watch this! Not only informative, but VERY FUNNY!!!!!

Pausch spoke of several of his childhood dreams which included being in zero gravity, playing in the NFL, authoring an article in the World Book encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk, winning stuffed animals, and being a Disney Imagineer. He wanted to be in zero gravity so badly that when he heard of the competition NASA had for college students to try and win a zero gravity flight, he did everything he had to do, including posing as a journalist, to be able to take that ride! He also took footage from the flight and had a virtual reality set made for children to be able to "experience" zero gravity as well. He talks about his NFL dream, which he did not achieve, and states how he got more from not achieving that goal than he could have if he would have been in NFL! He talks about one of the lessons he learned from his coach was that if you can make mistakes and they go un-noticed, it is because no one is paying attention, or they stopped caring. He did achieve the dream of writing the encyclopedia article though. He wrote it on virtual reality! Then he addressed his Captain Kirk dream! On his power point, he showed how he changed this dream slightly.....MEETING Captain Kirk was his slightly altered dream! He did end up meeting his childhood role model when he came down to study Pausch's virtual reality center. As for the dream of being the stuffed animal winner, the pictures he had are sooooo funny! The animals he has won! No wonder he just bought a new, big house! Some of his "prize bears" were actually brought out to be on stage and he told everyone he would be giving them away at the end of his lecture because THEY COULDN'T FIT IN THE MOVING TRUCK!

His Disney Imagineer dream took a hard hit at first. But Pausch being Pausch found away around this, too. When Pausch was asked to brief the Secretary of Defense on the topic of virtual reality, he was able to have a legit reason to get his foot in the door with Disney. He was able to go to Disney to work for 6 months to work on the Aladdin Project!


After achieving his dreams, his new one was to help enable the achievement of dreams of others! As a professor, he began to try and teach the students how to become, "turned on to their childhood dreams!" He talks about how in his first class, the students turned in assignments that were blowing his mind and he had no idea what to do! He called his mentor and was told to go back into the classroom and say, "guys..this was great, but I know you can do better!" Because of this advice, the students only kept excelling. They just got better and better and better. This intrigued not just students, but parents, friends, other staff, etc. This put Pausch on cloud 9. (The hello.World virtual reality video example he shows is AWESOME!!!) The show that the students put on every year were PACKED!

One of the things he pointed out for the master's program, was that he did not have the patience for the book portion of the learning enviroment. I loved this! His class had 5 projects they had to get involved and do and they even took field trips. This, to me, makes perfect sense. If the student's can do the projects, they are either up to date with their book knowledge, or they are capable of finding the needed information. His university had people offering to hire his students even before they had been admitted...this is how accredited his program was. I also liked the idea of grading how you interact with your peers. If you can't learn how to co-exist with your classmates, how can you go into the real world and be around people with interest that may have nothing in common with yours.

He talks about his program Alice which is his "legacy." This is all about learning while having fun and having no clue that you are actually learning something hard. It's called the "Head Fake." How great is this. I know I want to incorporate this into my classroom if possible.

Towards the end of the video, he talks about his mother let him paint his bedroom like a submarine, and wow, you HAVE to see the pictures! I think his point on this one is to let kids express themselves! He also talks about how he was told others were perceiving him as arrogant and that could be holding his progress back. He tried to learn from everything, not pout! He says on the "Tigger/Eeyore" scale it is really obvious that he is a Tigger. He jokes about how there is a difference between what you do, and what your profession is. He wanted to stress about a "feed back loop," and how you need to listen to the criticism others have to offer. He also talks about Karma and how you need to be honest, earnest, etc... Maybe in fear of Karma, ha ha, he had a birthday cake brought out for his wife at the end of his lecture and had all 500 audience members sing happy birthday to her!

He wraps up his lecture with telling everyone if you lead your life the right way, Karma will take care of you and good things will happen. Then, he tells everyone this lecture was for his 3 children!

Pausch is such an inspiration and I hope that as a teacher I can display many of his qualities. Especially his belief that you should let the students be hands on! I am all about this! I have always believed that hands on is the best way to learn. I also agree with his belief about brick walls...they are there to weed out the slackers from the hard workers! His passing was a great loss in the world; I wish I could have been able to meet him or even take just one class under him before I take my leap into the world of teaching!

Fischbowl/Best of 2007: April

For my Fischbowl assignment I decided to do the month of April and I think I may have chosen one with an AWESOME message. It is discussing the school year and the time we have allotted to teach and learn. In one of the meetings, the Fischbowl
Did You Know/Shift Happens Movie was shown by Barry Bachenheimer only to receive the exact response I feel the movie was looking for. A reaction of agreeing that we need to get with it and make sure our students are ready to meet the world of technology upon their graduation. Though they all agreed to this, no one could understand exactly where they were suppose to find the time to teach their students all about the world of blogging, etc. With the questions of "How," and "When," up in the air, a new Power Point Presentation was put into use.

The 180 Days presentation is now being circulated and I think that it should be a REQUIREMENT for ALL teachers and administrators to watch before approaching the classroom. It gives a breakdown of how we are using our time in school in a way that could really leave the question of, "What spare days should I fit learning technology in?" instead of "We have no time left!" This video shows how we are losing time and blaming it on the kids not being focused. It shows how there are so many days that could be being used wisely, but instead are being cut into half days before vacations because we say the children aren't interested and they are "distracted." In my opinion, we should pull ourselves away from making the excuses and start making a point to use our classroom time wisely.

Some of the comments made to Karl Fisch's April post are bringing up some other very good points as well. The last one made by a lady named Renee says, "Many children are in school from the time they are born, (daycare), up until their mid-twenties. What we, as teachers, need to do is find a way to make learning more enjoyable." In my opinion, it is NOT hard to make computers, etc., enjoyable to students. Whether they are in second grade or a senior in high school. Karl Fisch is NOT trying to say that test are not good and he is NOT trying to say that we do not need to allot time for test preparations. The point he IS trying to get across is to just stop and look at some of the time that is being wasted. Other points that were surfaced by one of the commenter's on his blog was that you can only do so much with the tools that you are provided in school. These are not the situations that his is trying to "harp" on.

One of the points brought up in this April post is that there are many teachers who just pop a movie in for the kids to watch so that they can have their few minutes of quiet time. In my opinion, please keep in mind I am speaking from a "pre-teacher" point of view, this is not okay. I feel that you could get just as much quiet time out of explaining to the kids how to blog, and then giving them the freedom to do so. Set aside that 45 minutes you would be using to show them a movie, and let them have 45 minutes to blog about their school experiences, make post asking for help on a Science project, or even make post to offer help to other classmates in a subject they may be really good in. Teaching is not all about quiet time, it should be about teaching!

South's Class Podcast

The first podcast I listened to was about the last lecture of Randy Pausch who was a college professor who lost the battle to pancreatic cancer and passed away at the age of only 47 years old. You can see an interview with him and read more on ABC's website. In this podcast, the students were talking about the contents of his last lecture. They talked about how he discussed child hood dreams such as working for Disney, which he did get the offer to do but turned down, playing in the NFL, etc. They talked about how they could incorporate ideas from his lecture into ideas for their classroom. These were ideas such as teaching kids that obstacles are meant to be overcome, not to stop us. The students had a lot of very interesting comments to make on Mr. Pausch and his last lecture.

The one thing that I did not like was that you could tell everyone was just reading something that they had written prior to the podcast. I think that if I would have listened to this before listening to the other 6 for the last assignment, it wouldn't have sounded so awkward. But the others that we listened to sounded more like the participants had learned everything they needed to before the podcast and were so knowledgeable about whatever it was they were discussing, that they just went in for their podcast and talked freely. When I do my podcast, I hope that I can make it sound less like a book report and more like a discussion that I am well prepared for.



My second podcast I listened to was about Blogging and Teaching. This was WONDERFUL!!!! These students did not sound rehearsed in the slightest. These students talked about how they had used blogging in their class with Dr. Strange as an assignment just like we are doing. They also talked about how they planned on using blogging in their classrooms when they are teaching. They said how they would use it to post assignments, projects, etc. One idea I heard for using the blog in a classroom was a reason I hadn't even thought about...Not every parent can go on every field trip offered to their child. You could use this site to post pictures of the kids enjoying themselves so that the parents can still see what their child was experiencing.

The students participating in this podcast did an awesome job. There were a few times that they kind of got stuck and seemed to be at a loss for words. That may be where Dr. Strange could have jumped in with a question or two to kind of keep them rolling. I really hope that the group I am put into to do my podcast with sounds like this when people listen to us. They sounded very prepared. It was like the ones we listened to in our last assignment, it was a discussion. Nothing was being read off of a piece of paper.

One thing I really liked was that there was a picture of each group on the main site doing their podcast. This actually made me a lot less nervous about our upcoming assignment. You could see in the pictures that it is just the students sitting at the round tables together and talking about their subject. My main goal for my podcast is to be prepared and sound knowledgeable about my subject.

Again, I do not want to sound like I am reading a book report. I think the biggest obstacle for me is going to be not sounding nervous. I am hoping that because it is just a few students sitting around a table with me participating in a discussion, that I will feel okay. The idea of having other people in other classes listen to MY MOUTH in a few semesters to follow can be very nerve racking, though. I really hope that I sound relaxed!

Podcast

When I first read the assignment for podcast, I thought this was going to be horrible. Then, when I got into my first one which is Smart Board Lesson #3, I realized that, once again, we had been given an assignment that is only going to help us down the road as teachers. At first, you kind of wonder exactly what is going on with these people sitting and talking about the weather. But...and just go with me on this...it makes you stop and realize that these people cannot be that close in location if they are discussing how different the weather is where they both are. So, again, technology can still help us use each other to learn more and assist each other in our careers of education no matter where we are in the world. How awesome that there may be some teacher in Alaska who just happens to be having a problem with something in her classroom and logs into the internet and hears the same podcast that solved another teacher's exact same problem that lives in Alabama. Podcast could be of more help than most of us ever really considered. This one talked alot about different links that you could use in your class room which included, my favorite, the Feltron Report. Y'all HAVE to check this out. In order to donate data to schools, etc., this man is documenting every aspect of his life. EVERYTHING!!! He is leaving nothing out. He is giving his data for students to expand their capabilities in areas. They are learning how to take his condensed version of his life and expand it and even add to it and learn how to solve things by using his data. Crazy huh?

Now, when I went into Kid Cast, I fell in love with the idea of podcasting! These are CHILDREN in elementary schools, once again showing us up, doing their own podcast. My favorite one is the Stonewall Jackson Elementary Garden. These kids are playing the parts of items in the garden and talking about what they need to be taken care of. It is sooooo cute! Then you have Episode #1, Kid-Cast Presenting More Kid Casters. This is a child named Sam that is giving his "review" of the movie Meet the Robinsons. It is done like a radio show with music between intervals and everything! Awesome!

The Connect Learning Podcast Episode # 39 by David Warlich was actually really interesting. This podcast actually talked about the differences between age groups and their views, needs and uses of technology. It mentions how high schoolers are the texting group and picture group in their cell phone world. He discussed too, how they are also logging on to help with homework and assignments. The internet can be a great study tool for these kids trying to find out as much information as possible. Mr. Warlich talked about how the older gentlemen he talked to was saying how he didn't really care for the technological world, but he had to take his laptop with him no matter where he was going to keep in contact with his e-mail and clients. He also pointed out how technology's presence and advancements have caused such a great change in the world not by just it's existance, but because of the information it has made available to us as a people.

When you listen to EdTech Talk:The Flat Classroom Discussion with Thomas Freidman, you can see how, once again, people from different parts of the world are connecting again. Freidman is the author of The World is Flat, speaking of the technological world of course, and is trying to stress to the students to get wrapped in the world of technology. He uses the ipod example, because of course, what teen doesn't know what an ipod is. Freidman points out how the ipod business world started with just a computer and a big imagination from someone willing to get up and act on it. During this podcast, students are also allowed to come up and ask Freidman questions. So it is even better because it is getting students involved and showing them that with podcast, they are being allowed to talk to people that otherwise, they would have probably only seen on TV or in the papers.

When I listened to MacBreak Weekly, I found that you really have to kind of listen to several ones to find alot of serious business going on. In the one that I really listened to,
Leo Laporte - The Tech Guy 531, MBW-126.mp3, they were talking a little about when the i-phones were coming out and how they were going to need the okay from Apple. Apparantley no one thought that was happening which is sort of funny now considering they are one of the highest priced, top selling phones out. Anyway, MacBreak weekly with Leo Leoporte is actually very funny when you listen to it. It sounds like a radio show you would hear down here in the early am, like WABB in the morning. I would really suggest you guys check out his page. You can even see Leo's blog!

I was unable to see any of the podcast for This Week In Photography, but I was able to get onto the site and explore a bit. It looks as though this site is going to be the highest on our list as far as technology based site goes. It seems to be geared toward explaining things to do with cameras and maybe computers. You can definetly tell it is there to provide information and tricks to help people out. There are several comments written from people saying how they found it very interesting. I am very sorry that I could not get into the podcast because I am one of those people who will take ANY advice ANYONE has on computers, cameras, etc. Especially after these assignments we have had that have made us look at the fact that we need to learn all we can learn as soon as we can.

I wanted to let you all know that I found a GREAT site that really breaks down what goes into making a podcast. It explains just about every step of the process. Also, to get a just a basic explanation, you can look on the KidCast main page. I have a better picture in my mind of how they are done now. I think it is more along the lines as a radio show. And a podcast can be done about anything. That was my biggest mis-conception when I first began this project. I thought podcast were only geared toward computer nerds-no offense to anyone-and was not interested at all. I will never fear another podcast research assignment!

Best of 2007 Blog

Amazing!!! In every class I have been taking since at South Alabama, there has never been at least a few people mentioning how computers and technology's advancements are taking over our world. The same conclusion is always made; get with it or get left! This blog forces to the surface everything that so many of us are afraid to really think about. Is it really okay to be proud of and shrug off the fact that we really don't know anything about computers? Is it okay for us to just joke about the fact that we are being left behind in a world that, now days, doesn't have time to be concerned with whether or not you are up-to-speed with the rest? With technology only getting better and faster, do we really think it will all just go away? Do we really think it is possible for us to just wake up in five or ten years and computers are no longer?

This blog has made it clear that not only is learning technology going to be important for us to get our degree, but it is also going to be a necessity for us to be allowed to use them. One of my first thoughts was that there is no way this is the only person raising the question of how can we allow "technology-illiterate" people be in leadership positions in our community. He brings to light the example of how you can be totally illiterate of the mechanics of the vehicle, but you know enough to stay out of the road! In my opinion, there is no way to do this with technology...There is no escaping its path. Another point he brought about was how can we teach, even our own children, the do's and dont's of the cyberworld if we cannot even log in and navigate? Do we really think there is a place in the world for those with a degree and a fist full of jokes about how they are totally stupid when it comes to computers? This blogger really makes you think of just how shut out all the "technology-illiterate" people will be in the very near future. What will these people do when they are told they are going to be participating in, NOT ATTENDING, a teleconference ?

Another point of his..Modeling is the tool we are suppose to use the most when it comes to displaying the actions we want our children/students to pick up on. Just last semester in Dr. Marshall's Sociology class we must have spent two weeks talking about how you HAVE to be able to model the behaviour you want them to mimic. How can we expect our students to be prepared for what they must face after graduation if we can't even check our e-mail? How can we answer their questions if we have never logged into Google Docs or iGoogle? Are we selling our students short of what they deserve? Are we going to turn them out into a world of laptops, ipods, spreadsheets and blogs totally unprepared?
Something else mentioned in this blog that I could 100% relate to, is the thinning patience of some teachers who ARE totally up and going with our new found world of computers, etc. That was the pointing out of how wrong it is for them to turn their backs on those of us who have never been taught in the first place. I can remember my second or third semester at Faulkner State. My Spanish teacher was using an on-line supplement to help us learn the language. This was wonderful for some, but for others like me who had never done anything on a computer, I was totally lost. When I went to her and explained my situation and asked for help, I was told that the only help she could give me was to drop her class, pray it didn't mess up my financial aide, and try again with another teacher at another time. Really nice, huh? From that point on, I was always scared to death of computers. It took my Computer Basics teacher 2 years later to help me loosen up when it came to computers. Once I had someone willing to help me, I really started to like the computer world. Though I am still VERY far from not needing instruction, he gave me the confidence I needed to learn! There are too many teachers out there who feel that because they have already learned it, those who don't are just too far behind and they feel no obligation to help us out! This blog points out how that is totally unacceptable and I completely agree! I hope that upon our graduating and our coming into the world as the teacher and no longer the student, we can all keep in mind just how frustrating it can be when you don't get something right off the bat and we do need help. I hope that we can all be the ones who make the difference for our students and show them everything we can to keep them up to speed in a world that is not about to slow down!

International School Blogs

For my international schools, I found one in New Zealand. This one was pretty neat to me because it's not just one class that is using this blog. There are different classes links on here and this is also used by students as well as the teachers. There is one teacher on this site, Mrs. H, who is apparently a big time traveler who's home is New Zealand. She has been several places and is documenting it all onto this site with pictures, etc.

She is currently in Bangkok, Thailand teaching there. She is writing about her life and experiences there for the kids to read about and see. Then, the kids are responding to her with questions and comments; nothing formal, just open conversation. Because of this blog, these children are able to get an idea of exactly what it is like to be in a totally different part of the world. The pictures Mrs. H has posted of Bangkok, Thailand are incredible.

My second international school was in Brazil. The crazy thing is, DON'T LAUGH, none of the page is in English, but I still chose it. It is still shocking to me that children this young are able to blog. These are young children, and you can see where they each have their picture up and you can see on the right hand side where each child's link/post are available to click on. Again, these are young children!!!! They are already way ahead of where I was at that age! I guess when we tend to think, "technology," we tend to think of only adults and, actually I guess, only Americans......How wrong is that?

When I was really looking at this site that has NO English what so ever, I was trying to figure out what it could be used for other than connecting the teachers and students as well as connecting the students with each other as well. I see where they are posting the newsletters on this site for the children as well as the parents to be able to browse through and see what exactly is going on in the school where their children are attending.

United States School Blogs

When I did my search to find other schools using blogs as a part of their work, I honestly never expected to find ELEMENTARY schools doing the same thing I am JUST learning how to do in college. When I was in school, if we had an assignment due or if our parents wanted to check in on exactly what we were doing as a class, they had to ask the teacher when they dropped us off for school in the morning. This is apparently no longer the case. In my search, I found Mrs.Perry's blog. (Mrs. Perry is a 4th grade teacher at St. Leonard Elementary School in Calvert County.) It is completely set up to tie the teachers and parents together. She even has links posted to take the kids to sites for educational games. She also uses it to "brag" on her students. There are all sorts of pictures posted showing how the kids were suppose to create an animal which was fictional and a combination of the characteristics of several of their favorite animals put together. Upon completing the assignment, she posted some of their great art work so that everyone could see what they did! What an awesome way to encourage the kids to do their absolute best!

Mrs. Perry has also has a link to showcase the the work done by her students. You can also see, as Mrs. Perry says, "how her students are using technology." This is a wonderful way to again, connect parents and teachers, but to also really let the parents see how their children are spending their time at school. As we learned from our technology video from our last blog, technology is an unavoidable part of our future. If my child were in Mrs. Perry's class, I would feel very encouraged that my child was being properly prepared.

My second school that I found was in Central New Jersey @ AAHS. The teacher, Mr. Brian McLaughlin has done an awesome job with this blog'. His students are using this site to post comments on pretty much anything. They are allowed to just make post about whatever, and they also use the tools on his site to post about educational things as well.

Mr. McLaughlin has opened up this site for discussions to take place between his students. This is allowing them, even when they aren' t talking about school work, to communicate with each other.

Mr. McLaughlin is using his blog to, along with many other teachers, reinforce assignments, etc. He also has a map project going to let students mark where they have been in the world and is keeping track. I think this is neat because you can see exactly how many places we have all been.

Technology Video

If anyone that has watched this video does not come out with a reaction of "WOW," I will not understand them! I can not believe all of the information on this video for one, and for two-I cannot believe that this was actually created for such a small audience and is now being seen all over the world! That alone is enough to really make you take a serious look at how far we have come with our technological advances.

In this video, it is talks about how even our smallest of children are learning how to use computers now. This is the part that really hit home with me. I started to think back to just this morning when I was logging in so that I could play the learning games with my 14 MONTH OLD!!!! There are even special computers and furniture to accomdate our preschool cyber people now!


















The video also brings it to our attentions of how being a "logged-on" society has affected everything in our lives, even down to our language. It points out that you would have never heard people one hundred years ago using words like cyberspace, or google it.

I feel that this video is one that everyone should watch, and that it should really make all of us, especially parents, want to raise the questions that it discussed which would lead to answers of where the education of our youth is being steered. It encourages each and every parent to want to make sure that their children are being taught to be able to survive in the 21st century. I think that the message of this video is wonderful! Afterall, if we don't make sure that our children are being prepared...if we do not make it known that we care...then our current students and children will be totally shut out of a rapidly advancing world that is only get better with every passing second!

I am very encouraged after watching this along with a little frightened of my own weaknesses in the world of technology! This video has given me the motivation to get up and learn and I encourage everyone to do the same!

ACCESS

After looking over the ACCESS website, I am very excited about the learning opportunities we are developing with the increasing development of technologies. This program is bringing the classroom to the kids/students who can not go to the classroom for whatever the reasons may be! According to this site, Alabama is doing very well in trying to make sure that our schools are readily equipped to handle this program. After all, when you find away to offer Advanced Placement courses to a school that otherwise would have never given its students the option to learn at an advanced level , only good can come from its benefits!

I think that my biggest misconception about this type of learning was exactly how the classes would be offered. This will not only be an on-line "log in and work" sort of program; Video Conferencing is also offered. Here is a picture for an example of video conferencing so that you can get a better idea of how it would work:






There are several benefits to the video conferencing! Also, with it on video or on the web, think about this point that the site pointed out; the classes, experiments, lessons, etc., will never be just a one time hit-or-miss kind of lesson. The students can repeatedly log back on to review. Wouldn't it be nice to have that option in all of our classes!

Offering classes like this can only help our students exceed in a way that has probably always felt impossible to the very rural communities before now. Imagine having a gifted child that you know could be doing so much more than just these regular high school courses, but not being able to help them fulfill their potential because of distance. Think of all of the college applicants who needed those scholarships but could not receive them due to lack of AP courses on their transcripts. Now, maybe this will allow all students to have the exact same opportunities regardless of money or location!

The site also talks about where they are planning for 24 of their pilot sites to go to start off with. Take a look at these locations and hope there will be many more added in the future!

ALEX/ACCESS Assignment

Let me just start by saying, WOW! This assignment may very well be the single most helpful, yet mind blowing one I have ever done! My mother started homeschooling me when I was in the 5th grade and to say it was hard at times on both of us would be a HUGE understatement. We had no idea about any websites like these. I can only imagine the time and headaches we both could have saved if we would have been aware of ALEX or ACCESS or any of the links you can get to from ALEX's home page!

One thing that really stood out to me to be the main difference between these two sites is it seems that ALEX is going to be more "separated" from the classroom itself in the sense that it is for teachers, parents, students, etc. There is something for everyone; whether it is trying to make lesson plans, find activities for children on rainy days, assist your children with spelling, grammar, math, or even just trying to find educational activities for your child to do during the summer to keep them up-to-date. Do not think that it is out of the question to use in the classroom though, it covers everything. ACCESS is more of an "in class" tool for the kids who are eligible or in need of classes that are not offered in their school or even close enough for them to travel to. With this program, the student only needs a computer; you have your instructor online. If you are interested in Alabama's stand point on trying to make sure that all of our schools are equipped with this option, click here AlabamaSchoolsInfo.

Since I obviously missed the help from this site in the past, I can promise you I will not miss out on it in the future. My goal is to be an Elementary teacher, (hopefully somewhere between Kindergarten and 3rd grade) so I am geared more to the links for the younger classes. Once I started clicking on different links, I couldn't stop. The site that is themed from the children's show, BetweentheLions is amazing. It actually makes learning into an educational game. Since I am also the mother of a 14 month old and I am very determined to give her a head start, I can promise you that we will be spending lots of time on this site! I would definitely suggest ALL parents check into this as it is not only be geared to preschool ages.

Another tool that stood out to me was the grammar link. Especially with every child over the age of 2 now carrying a cell phone around and texting, our children's grammar and spelling has hit rock bottom. I know most people think that it is not that big of a deal, but these habits are not just staying in the text messages. In my opinion, the transformation from texting to writing a paper for school is almost impossible for a lot of kids. Now, there is a site for these children to go to and ask specific GrammarQuestions with a quick response. To see some of the activities for spelling click here SpellingActivities .

I believe that if we could make everyone out there aware of this site, we could help our children more than ever before.

1st Class

Today was my first experience EVER with Google doc. To be very honest I am worried about how I am going to be able to remember how to even log into this blog every week, but I am hoping that it will get easier as the semester goes. I have never blogged anything before, not even on My Space so this is all very new to me. I am excited, though, about learning how to navigate my way through the computer with ease. Our teacher seems like he will be very helpful, so I should do okay. I have learned in this first class that there is going to be alot to keep up with-especially with the assignments. My goal is to be able to finish this class in May not only with an A, but also with alot more "know how" than I have right now about creating documents if nothing else. I am getting very nervous though...So we'll se how it goes!