Friday, April 30, 2010

Technology Interview

This is an interview I did with a teacher on her views of technology in her classroom. You can download a copy of it here. We talked about what she uses in her classroom and some other ideas that she could add.

Happy Trails!

Two Dogs with Luggage: Good-bye!
So long. Sayonara. Chao! It's the end of the semester and I'm sure many of us are scrambling around, trying to make sure that we've turned all of our assignments in. I must say that I have enjoyed this class, though I've lost sleep and probably melted many brain cells trying to get the loads of assignments done. I have enjoyed working on the assignments when I could take the time to relax into it. Farewell and good luck!

Final Post

The End
I really would like to use blogging in my classroom. I like the idea of my students using the internet and communicating with other schools. I also like the idea of having a place to put extra classroom materials and information for my students to look at whenever they have the need using blogs, videos or recordings, or even iTunes U. Their parents would also be able to look at what we are learning, if they were interested.
I know the Google is going to be a big part of my education world. Both my students and I can use Google Docs, Spreadsheets, mail, Forms, et cetera in my classroom for projects. I already use Google Presentation in my classes whenever I have to do a presentation. I love that I can work on it with my group members no matter where they are.
I came into this class knowing only who to use Microsoft Office. I leave knowing everything that I thought I needed and more. I cannot imagine trying to forget anything that I have learned in this class. Though I do not feel that everything will be a huge benefit in my class, I do think that it might come in handy, such as ALEX.
I did get excited in this class. After looking at some posts from my Comments4Teachers, I wanted to hurry up and graduate so I could start trying out these ideas. Looking at the Comments4Kids was, though and assignment, was fun to look at. I loved looking at what the kids would say. Overall, at various times in this class, I would read about doing something in the classroom, and I would get excited just because it sounds like something that my students would enjoy. I get excited about using things that would make my future students want to learn.
I have to say that trying to come up with paragraphs every week was somewhat challenging, especially when I felt like that a topic was similar to the previous topic. I did not like fluffing up paragraphs just to have more to write about and I have had to do that a few times, both in this class and others. I also found it a little challenging getting time to get all of my school work done in time and trying to breathe. My dad said that college life is supposed to be the best time of my life. I hope that next semester will be better. I can say that I have never been bored in this class. Though I still think that our class had a lot of work, I do believe that everything we learn should still be taught for the future classes. I cannot pick out anything that I think should be removed.
I am not technology literate nor am I technology illiterate. I think that I am somewhere in the middle. I know a good bit of information but not near everything. I plan on using what I do know both while I am learning and teaching. Hopefully I will be able to stay on top of the new technologies that will be coming out in the future.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Project 14- Substantive Presentation

This is my project 14 presentation. Since I had thought that making a website was hard and complex, I thought that other people might think that same. I wanted to show just how easy it really can be.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Week 15

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
I that screen for my homepage. I love how she can see all of her special sites on that one page. It would be much easier for me to get to my sites with that. I noticed a couple of sites that we both use (besides Facebook and such.) It is great that she seems so excited about this style of learning and that she enjoys the responsibility of making sure she does her own work.
I don't know if she uses Twitter, but if she could find the right pages I think it could be helpful for her also. I think that our Networks/Environments are basically the same. We both use experts to learn more about whichever topic we want to know about.

Walking Towards Sunset
Question Marks
Two Questions That Can Change Your Life
This two-minute video really makes one think. What is your sentence? How do you want to be remembered? What is the one thing that you want people to think of when they see you? Mr. Pink points out that it was said that "a great man is a sentence." Instead of trying to achieve everything in the world, try for just one thing that will make you stand out. I have all of these plan to really do something important in peoples' lives. I guess I want my sentence to be something along the lines of "She pushed me to achieve my dreams."
The second question was, "Was I better today than yesterday?" I think that I do ask myself this question from time to time, with school related topics. I try to get better at finishing school projects earlier than the time before. I also try to better my grades from the time before until I can do no better. I think this is what he means for us to do with our entire lives. We need to try to better ourselves everyday in every aspect of our lives.Hopefully, this way whenever we get to the end our lives, we know that we have achieved what we wanted.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Project 8- Teach Someone Something

This is my Google presentation on how to use one of my favorite technologies. We have used this in our class to talk to other teachers. I use it to keep up with my big sister and my boyfriend who both live four hours away from me. I also hope to use it in my classroom to really get my students involved in learning.

Google Earth

Our class was told to make a tour using Google Earth. I had fun with this. I loved that I could change my views of the locations.Check out my project!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Week 14

Girl playing softball
Comments 4 Kids
This week for my Comments 4 Kids, I read a post from Tokorima in New Zealand. She told us about her day at her sister's ballgame. She even explained some of the terminology that she used, which was extremely useful for someone like me. Check it out.
BLOG
Week 14 Post
For this weeks blog assignment, I have decided to write about blogging. I had seen the place to blog on my Facebook and Myspace profile but I had never used them or really paid attention to it. I did not really know what they were for. Enter EDM 310.
The first thing we did in this class was set up our own blog accounts. Each week, we were to blog on some assignments given to us. A little later on, we started looking at other blogs. We commented on blogs of grade school students. We saw they were learning the same thing we, the college students, were working on. We commented on a few teachers' blogs. I was excited to learn some new ways of teaching with technology through my blog searches. We have learned how to add links, pictures, videos, slides, et cetera. Though I know that some of us may have been irritates with all of the blog related projects we have had to do (everything?) it will be worth it.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Comments 4 Teachers: Week 13 and 14

Week 13 and 14 Summary
I am assigned What Now? What Next? So What? for my Comments for Teachers for a couple of weeks. Did you know that the Internet was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize? The post I looked at showed a video from BBC. A "person of the Internet" explained how her people are so helpful. The Internet is probably one of the most used tools for learning and communication and I do think that it deserve recognition for all that it has helped us do.
The next week I learned about a printer. Normally when we think about printers, we picture a machine that prints out copies of photos or papers for class. This pinter can print out wine glasses or foosball players. Sadly, it costs about $950.

Robot
Week 13 Comment
Hello! My name is Kathleen Cosgrove. I am a student from the University of South Alabama. I never thought about the Internet this way before. I would prefer for a real flesh and bone person to actually receive the award but I do see why the Internet is a good nominee. I agree in what Miss Eaton said about how the Internet has had a negative impact in to world, but, overall, I think that Internet has done more good than bad. I think that it is how the person using the Internet is using it that determines whether it is good or bad. We rely on the Internet for a great deal of our learning and communications. It would be hard to imagine a world without Internet. Grandparents can see and talk to their grandson five states away. A three year old can share pictures of her world with people throughout the world. I can learn fun and new ways of teaching information to my future students. The Internet deserves recognition for all of the good that has come from it, but I would rather recognize the people who do good.

Futuristic Printer
Week 14 Comment
This is extremely cool. It would be fun to see what kind of ideas students could get using this for projects. With all of the technology being invented, I guess it is about time that something like this came out. I wonder what’s next…

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Vocaroo

Record Player
In class, we have learned about different ways to teach in our future classrooms. We have learned that making voice recordings would be a wonderful aid for both teachers and students. Teachers could make recordings of lessons and post them on class blogs, as I am doing. You can either click on this link or the green box below to listen to one of the recordings that I have made that I deemed fair enough to post.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Week 13

Comments 4 Kids
I visited a blog from a class in New Zealand today. I looked at their post Listening to the Sounds Outside. I was very surprised of Jacobs vocabulary. It is very nice for a forth year student, I though. He tells us about a class outing where he and his classmates laid in the sun and watched the clouds roll by. It sounds very peaceful.
Dr. Seuss The Zax
The Zax
Dr. Seuss is great teacher. His stories can have some great morals. Though written for children, we can definitely get something out of them. The Zax tells us of two creature called Zax who accidentally walk into each other. Each refuses to move the the other side. They never move.
This video was shown to us to make a sort of statement about open mindedness. We need to be able to move forward and make compromises where needed. We talked about technology illiterate teaching and this video shows us what we look like if we do not try to adapt to different situations. One thing is different. The Zax only hurt themselves. Technology illiterate teachers could be hurting the learning that their students could be experiencing.

Student Blogging
Posting work for other people to see is a wonderful way for students to reach out beyond their classroom. As a student, if my work is going to be seen by other people I try to make it even better. I go over the material more than usual, therefore, I learn the matter better. Students posting their works can be better for other students. We can put our spin on the works and make it easier for other students to understand. We can also point out things to help other students, like The Zax from above.
Students can show us something interesting for their class assignment and our entertainment, like Lee's class post about Butt Glue. Some students can show off their hard work to the world. For instance, PS 22 Chorus posted a video of them singing Landslide from Fleetwood Mac for their teacher. Other posts can be students just posting their day (and working on their spelling and typing) like Jacob from my Comments 4 Kids this week.

Timetoast Timeline II

United States of America

I bet you can't guess what my timeline topic is! I pondered what next to make for this timeline. I did not want to make something that would be too boring or strange so I chose this. My new Timetoast Timeline is each American states joining the United States of America. Check it out!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Professional Blog

I have made another blog. It will be my professional blog. It does not have much on it yet but I will slowly add on to it as the year winds down. I think I might use it to record what I have learned throughout my education course here at the University of South Alabama. That should make it pretty full by the time I graduate. Even then, I should be able to use it to help me whenever I start teaching. Check it out.

New PLN!

Since I have last posted about my Personal Learning Network, I have added a few more. My second Comments for Teachers was Mr. John Stange's post. His blog had a new and interesting post every time I looked at it. I also added a site that I had to use in my last education course. It is ed.gov. It gives new news in the world of education. Two other sites that share news are AEA and ALSDE. I used these site frequently in my EDF 315 course so I looked them back up for my PLN to see what is going on in my field.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Week 12

World Connected
Comments 4 Kids
I read Aroha's post this week. Aroha is in her second year at her school in New Zealand. Her class is using iMovies to tell us about her day. In her last post, she tells us her Grandmother came to visit the class. Aroha is doing a great job!

Connecting Across the World
Mr. Chamberlain and his class in Missouri, USA, Skyped to Mr. Raisdana in Doha, Qatar, in September 2009. The class used VoiceThread to talk to Mr. Raisdana's now four year old daughter, Kaia. Kaia, too, uses the internet and has her own blog. She takes pictures and tells us about her day. With Skype, VoiceThread or blogs, students, friends and family can learn and communicate with each other in an instant. It is kind of neat to think that only a couple of decades ago this type of communication was not even thought of. We really did not even start using the Internet until the 90's and now we are talking to people thousands of miles away. With this technology, we can feel like we are actually across the world. I wonder what we will be seeing in two more decades.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Comments 4 Teachers (Week 10 & 12)

Edustange
Week Ten
We are learning about technology and how to use it in our classes. I knew how to integrate technology into classes. I learned that it can be helpful and boosts interest from students into the lessons. This video went further into depth about getting students into classes. I guess as a future teacher, I should try to used the time that students will use on technology anyways as a learning experience.

Week 12
I loved this video. I have heard horror stories of teachers not being able to be creative in their classrooms. I have heard that we will not be able to really get students involved because we will be so regulated and have to focus on teaching the curriculum. What I have been learning in my EDM 310 class, through you and other teachers, should help me put creativity and deeper learning into my classroom.
I had not thought about elements in education being outdated or replaced like some of the things you have pointed out correcting fluid, remote controls, and pay phones. I really would love to be able to use technology in my future classroom to really get my students to learn.

Summary
The more that I have learned about teaching through technology, the more excited and hopeful I get about getting into a classroom. I cannot wait to be able to help put that spark back into learning. I really like how Mr. Stange is so into teaching. He is one of the teachers that I would have loved to have when I was in high school.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

My First EDM Form Results

Form
From thirty-three responses, I have found some interesting facts about my classmates. The majority of the responders gave their education classes an eight out of ten. The majority of us are sophomores with juniors coming in close second. We all have a passion for children and/or the topic we are going to teach. Many of us want to teach here in the south and have a pretty good idea of what type of place we would like to work. Check out my results.

Timetoast Timeline

For one of our projects in EDM 310 we have to make a timeline of something we know. What topic would I know more about than my life? I decided to make a short timeline of certain milestones in my life starting at my birth and ending at the present. Timetoast Timelines are actually fun to make. Actually seeing my big points in life was surprising. I saw the high, and dry, points of my life in one glance. Please enjoy my Timeline!

Skype

Skype Icon
I have been using Skype since about mid November. I talk to my sister and boyfriend in Birmingham. I love being able to see and talk to them when I normally cannot. It is also fun and helpful to be able to share my screen with them and let them see that I am doing 250 miles away. My boyfriend has checked some of my papers for problems and was able to point out exactly where the problems were through Skype. He also helped me find websites for researches that I have had to do. I love it. If Daddy did not mind putting stuff on the computer back home, I could be able to see them more than once a month.

Week 10

Comments 4 Kids
This week for my comments for kids, I read Mikala G.'s post. Mikala explained some of the dangers of littering for animals. I agree. Save animals and stop littering!

An Open Letter to Educators
One thing that struck me at the beginning of the video was Mr. Brown saying that universities were a place where great minds gathered to learn. The first thing that popped into my head was all of the empty seats that I normally see in my classes from people skipping. The other thing that he said was education is now free. We have seen evidence of this through some of the things we have been learning and researching. One of the biggies that pops into my mind is iTunes U where anyone with internet access can learn just about any random topic. We could also use Google or Yahoo search.
Mr. Brown suggests leaving the university to get a free education. I do not think that many places would give me a job if I said that I dropped out of school to get a free education instead. If they did take me, I would receive less pay than my other co-workers who did pay for their education. Thought I do understand that I could learn all that I am learning here for free, I cannot see myself succeeding without that college degree unless I could come up with my own company or something brilliant. I do plan on stoking creativity and helping my students show their individuality. I just want to go to a school that will take me and teach children that need me.
I actually do have classes where my teachers make an effort to know my name. They also want us to speak to them and each other. They encourage us to say how we thought about something because it gets students involved in class and the lecture. I think that they know that students being involved in the classes learn more. I might just be lucky to have good teachers. I do think that blogging and networking can help students and people even more that just plain talking or researching on your own.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Week 9

Comments 4 Kids
This week on comments for kids, I got to see the geometric shapes the the students were learning. This was one of my favorite things about math. I have to say, the music made it all seen hard core.

ALEX
Alabama Learning Experience, or ALEX, is a site for people involved in education, whether administrator, teacher, or student. For teachers, one of the things that stuck out at me was lesson plans. When I have talked with teachers in high schools, they always emphasis how important the lesson plans are. They even have links for different subjects then lesson plans for the different grades in those subjects. ALEX have a link for teachers to make puzzles for their students. They have Podcast treasury where teachers can put up podcasts for their students or assign their students work to learn new things. The podcast treasury has links for different subjects.

This would be a very helpful and technological tool for not only teachers but students, too. Most information that one could think of needing for a class is in this site. ALEX has research and news to educational puzzles or tips. This is definitely something we should keep up with.

ACCESS
Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide has its history and goals on the About ACCESS links along with staff information and spotlights. It lists its courses and has test preps and a resources link. You are supposed to be able to read what past teachers and students say about ACCESS, though I could not get through the link. ACCESS also has certain courses for teacher to help them teach their best through ACCESS.

I think ACCESS is a great program for students. They would be able to take courses from other schools that their school might not have by web based courses and videoconferencing. Students would be able to interact with other classrooms and teachers across the state. Not only will this help students socially and academically, but they get to advance in technology just by taking an ACCESS course. This also means that students in a poorer school could take classes from a richer school (which sometimes mean better teaching). Students could even take some college courses.

For me, if I was a teacher using ACCESS, I would be happy knowing that I could reach out to students beyond my own community. I have already learned about videoconferencing or blogging or such for classes, but this would be me staying with those students for the entire semester and helping them progress. Teachers also have CAST, Connecting ACCESS Staff and Teachers. Teachers can talk to each other and give tips or even blog with each others classes. We have talked about blogging with other schools. ACCESS just helps you find the other schools to blog with.

PLN

This is an introduction to my Personal Learning Network. I am using both Twitter and Facebook. I also have a few podcasts that I listen to including: Lords of Education, Teachade for teachers, Englit.com, and Teaching Strategies for the Everyday Teacher. I am excited about the Englit.com podcasts since I am going into Enligh Education. I was assigned speakingofhistory.blogspot for my Comments 4 Teachers and really enjoyed learning from it. Another site that I use is called edutopia.org.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Week 8

Comments 4 Kids
This week for comments 4 kids, I read Samary's blog about slavery on his class blog. Samary hit the high and low points and did a very good job summing everything up.

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture
I have to say that this is my favorite video out of all of the videos that I have had to watch for this class. I had not even realized that an hour had gone by until Dr. Pausch finished his presentation. Dr. Pausch was a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University. His work with technology is amazing but how he taught was even better. Dr. Pausch was sick at his Last Lecture with only a few months left to live according yet he remained witty and upbeat the entire time. In this video, he tells us about how he accomplished his childhood dreams. Through telling us of his dreams, we learn through what he called "head fake." "Head fake" is learning something while you did not even know you were learning. One example of "head fake" that he shows us was through football. While you do learn how to block, dodge, or catch, you also learn teamwork, perseverance, and sportsmanship.

One of the things that you see throughout his speech is a brick wall. He said that brick walls are there only for you to see how badly you want something. If you really want it, you will not let the wall stop you. He showed us, throughout his presentation, that he kept trucking to get where he wanted to be. If he wanted something, he would keep pushing until he got where he wanted to be. For example, when he was not accepted to work at Disney, he kept going until he found another way. This is a great way to teach your children or students perseverance and hard work. He has also said that his childhood idol was Captain Kirk. Thought Kirk was not the smartest character, he showed the best leadership and was very stubborn in doing what he thought needed to be done though he did take advise. (Yes, I do read Star Trek.)

Dr. Pausch had really wanted to help other's achieve their dreams. He was heavily involved in three different technological advances at Carnegie Mellon: Building Virtual World, Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), and Alice in which he hoped to do this. Building Virtual World was a new class that he taught at the University. He had fifty students in the class. The students were split into groups of four and had two week to do a project. After two weeks, the students was shuffle groups. After he had seen the first weeks projects, he was blow away by what the students had done, but he still pushed the students to do better. The course grew in stature on the campus until the students did a show of their group works and all of the departments came to see, completely filling the auditoriums seats and aisles. He made a chart to show how well the students thought each of their classmates was. He said you could tell how well the group was going by looking at how close the student were to each other.

Dr. Pausch really wanted the best out of everything: himself, his life, his students. That is how we all should act. Not only would we be pushing our students but we would be giving them a role model to watch. He wanted his students to achieve their dreams like he had and get every last drop out of life. He will be remembered both by his students whom he helped to grow and persevere and by the works he has done. (Dr. Pausch died July 25, 2008.)

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Week 7

ThoughtBubble
This is How We Dream
This video really hits me just because an English professor is telling us that technology is the future. Dr. Miller says we are now in a "digital environment" and we need to use the new materials that we have at hand. He says that as educators, we have to share our knowledge and the internet is the easiest and fastest way to get it all out for people to find. I completely agree with him. One of my teachers said that the best way to hide something is to print it. Many people do not read any more. Much of their information comes from electronics. Dr. Miller shows us iTunes in his video which is an excellent way for people to find everything. As he says, instead of going to the library, you can stay in the comfort of your home and find any information that you need.

As Dr. Miller mentions, the internet can be the easiest way to do research. I just finished a research paper. My reference sheet show three books and about seven internet sites. Items are easier to find on the internet than a book. For books, first you must find a book that has the information that you want. Then you must find the information that you want in the book. With the internet, you can just type in what you want and "click" you have it. Not rustling through dusty bookshelves for something that may or may not be there.

At the moment I am not competent enough to completely work with multimedia, but by the end of this class I hope to be. I cannot see myself working quite like what he shows us but I do hope to be able to work decently with it. I believe that once I start teaching, my students will have a greater knowledge of technology than what I am trying to grasp now. And if they are not, then I plan for us to work together in building our knowledge, because as many are saying now, technology or "the new humanities" is the future.

The Networked Student
This sounds like my Microcomputing Systems class, thought it seems like the teacher is used a little less. We meet two or so times a week but everything is done online and we have to use blogs and PLN. The teacher does not really lecture and we have even have a YouTube video maker Skype with our class. And of course, we have the wonderful no book rule. iTunes U was be a great help with that.

This type of class is different from what I am used to. I enjoy having a class where the teacher lectures some and I see them at least twice a week. I like a personal touch over the technology but technology is a great way to get in touch with other people. The PLN is a great help.

I hope I could be a decent network teacher. I have a lot more to learn before I could guide anyone in technology, but a network teacher is still a teacher. It especially showed when they said she hopes that they use what she taught them when they leave the class. All teacher wish that.

Toward a New Future of Whatever
I liked how Professor Welsh showed how people open up more through technology. I agree. In anything that I have done publicly through technology, whether Facebook or blogging, I am much more open about how I feel or think. I feel less self-conscious. When I write some of the things, though, I also want more attention, which is where the narcissism comes in. We want and expect people to look and pay attention to what we say when we write on Twitter, YouTube, or our blogs. I can see how people believe that the best way to be heard is to be in the media. Technology truly is getting to be a bigger part of our lives.

Comments 4 Kids
Have you ever heard of Secret Life of Scientists? This student introduces us to this site and tells us a little bit about Erika Ebbel, biochemist and Beauty Pageant Queen on his class blog.

Comments 4 Teachers(Week 7, 8, 9)

These are the comments that I posted for my Comments 4 Teachers

Bringing the Novel to Life
Wow. I adore reading and have thought about joining or making a book club but I never thought about any details. This makes a book club sound so much more organized but fun than what I really thought. Since I plan on being an English teacher, this sounds like it would be very helpful for me.

A Dozen Ways to Incorporate Technology into the History Classroom
I really liked this presentation. Though I am going to be an English teacher instead of History, I still see this as very helpful. This may be goofy but I got really excited about what I can use in my future class and how I will use them when I saw all of your ideas. I think that I could have fun making some lessons and my students could have fun and really learn with technology in my classroom.

Walden University Video- Using Technology to Expand the Classroom
I loved that you said that you do not want your class to just exist just during class time. I really want to be one of the teachers that interests their students in what they are learning. I want learning to be fun for them. If I take what you have talked about, I sure that I can succeed. Thank you so much!

Summary
The posts that I read were so inspiring and interesting for me. I really enjoyed this project. Mr. Langhorst is now officially on my PLN. I learned so much from him. I am extremely excited to about being able to actually put what I have learned into some use. Unfortunately for me, I have a while before I can.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Week 6

Comments 4 Kids
This week I watched a video by year 4 students in Mr. McCafferty's class. They learned a catchy little ditty that can help them with problem solving. The students were so animated while they sang (or shouted) that I watched the video a few times. Because of the students' animation, i.e. the clapping, stomping, and yelling, the song repeated itself in my head for a while afterwards. For me, things like this (simple and catchy) help me to remember answers or information

Dr. Alice Christie's Web Site
My favorite part of Dr. Christie's web site was in the tab called Searching the Web. I think that out of all of the useful information on her web site, the is the most useful. With all of the things that I have been doing in school and observed from some teachers, this is wonderful. The tab contains information and links to information about the web. It also has links to dozens of search engines and research resources. This is a great place to start of research.

As a student, I have research papers to worry about all the time. I always use Google or Yahoo search just because I do not know any other. I think one of my favorite search engine on the page is HotBot. It shows the website's home page so I can see what the site looks like before I click on it. Another good page that I can use or send my students to is called High School Ace. It has link to any subject a high schooler might have. It also has links to see what is on the new today or difference references. Those are just two of the links that I can use. You should check it out.

iTunes University
Before this class, iTune use to just be a way for me to listen to music or maybe watch some videos. It was just for entertainment. Now iTunes is a place for me to learn. What a difference, right? iTunes purpose is no longer just entertainment but also education. Now I can see lectures(some for fun, of my choice, and not graded) and other course material from universities on iTunes U. For anyone involved in the field of education, this is a great help.

iTunes U has browser that you can use to find different subjects for you purpose. As a student, you can find lessons online for whenever you need it or other lesson that can help you understand. As a teacher, you can post lessons or problems online for your students to use. You can learn a different languages through the language link or just learn more about the English grammar. In the education section you can see things like Guitar Hero to Microsoft Excel. As iTunes U says, "Learn anything, anytime, anywhere." Thank you iTunes U.

iPod Use in the Classroom
iPods are much more than mere music players now. They are now tools for educators. iPod can be used for just a single class to classes across the globe. They are students very own pocket classroom in which they can stop and replay over and over. From kindergarten to university levels, iPod used is rapidly expanding. The Chapin School uses iPods for their foreign languages, computer proficiency, and music classes. Georgia College & State University created iVillage where their students can virtually learn and communicate with each other.

In 2004, Duke University gave iPod to all of their first year students for the students to use in their classes. They now give iPods to students only in certain courses. Duke expected twelve hundred students to use iPods for lectures and the like for some of their Spring 2005 courses. Duke Digital Initiative, formerly known as iPod First Year Experience, is a program in which students work on mastering the use of technology through use strategies, teaching, and curriculum enhancement. If you would like to see some uses of the iPod in classrooms, check out Education World.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Week 5

Wikipedia
We all have heard that we should not used Wikipedia as a source in any paper. Anyone can change facts and the "facts" can be any range of fact (or fiction.) I have never used Wikipedia as a source for any of my school reports or researches. I knew that people change the facts for fun or for benefits. One of my friends has actually told me that his friends in high school used to change facts to something ridiculous just to see how long it would take for someone to notice and change it back.
These articles that I read tell us about a man named Virgil Griffith and some of the work he has done with Wikipedia. Griffith wanted, after hearing that politicians change up their facts on Wikipedia, to see who else changes Wiki information. Griffith found a way to trace Wikipedia changes back to the groups who changed them. We can actually see exactly why our teachers have told us to never use Wikipedia.

What I've Learned This Year
This is a great blog for anyone who wants to be a teacher. Mr. McClung highlights and describes some if the major points that many future teacher may worry over or make mistakes about. He writes about what some of my best teachers have. They have to listen, be flexible, communicate, and learn.
We need to listen to our students and fellow workers. Hear what your students say like what problems they may have or what would help them further. Take advise from others. Your ideas may be good but another's may be better. Being a teacher does not mean you cannot learn from others, including your students. In fact, being a teacher just means that you have a bigger responsibility to learn. Any teacher who starts off thinking that they know everything and do not need to listen are going to get the shock of their life when they find out otherwise.

Comments 4 Kids
This week I visited Mrs. Cassidy's Classroom Blog and commented on Ryland's blog at this link. Ryland is learning how to read and write. I am so excited for him. Though I had always hated learn how to read and write, I now find them to be two of my favorite hobbies. I hope that he learns to enjoy them also!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Week 4

Comments4Kids
I admit it. I am a huge fan of this. I read Taryn's blog of his week at this link. The poor boy's week was full of tests. A baby visited their class and he was pretty excited about it. He sounds so sweet. He and his classmates get to talk to other children their age all over the globe through blogging. I think that this is a great idea for the children.

Eagle's Nest Radio
Podcasting is a great way for children to learn. They know that they are going to be recorded and then posted where everyone can listen. They actually have to know some of the material beforehand. I love how so many of the students participate in this. The students all have to cooperate with each other. They seem to be enjoying themselves. Since my class has to do the same sort of thing, it was fun hearing these students.

Podcasting does not seem as hard as I was making it out to be. I would need to pick out some fun music for the introduction and ending and more sounds for effect. All that is left is to pick out who else is working with me and then find a good interesting topic. The students topic are educational but they were taught in a fun entertaining manner. I enjoyed listening to them explain some of history like the gladiators or explorers.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Blog 3

iPhone Used By One Year Old Baby
This baby is adorable. He is one year old and knows how to use an iPhone! His motor functions are not quite as advanced as an adult's would be and he gets a little enthused but he still manages to get where he wants to go. The phone actually looked like a very fun toy for him.

My teachers keep telling us that the younger students that are coming up today know more technology than their teachers do. This child is a great example. He will be starting school when I start teaching. He will have grown up using the newer technology. The use of technology starts almost from birth. New games use for children to learn to read at an earlier age or just something to keep them entertained are coming out several time a year. Children stay inside more and more often and keep themselves entertained by playing with technology. Click here for iPhone Baby video

Podcasts
One of the Podcasts that I listened to was called Kidcast. The segment that I listened to talked about Videocast. The man explain how to make Videocast and their pros and cons. I prefer his podcast, where the talker speaks to the listeners, to the podcast where there are two talkers and they talk mostly to each other.

David Warlick had a podcast where he talks to several different teachers and they discuss podcasting in the classroom. The teachers help their students podcast or post lessons so students can look back and look over what their teacher had taught earlier. They also used class chat room to go over lessons. This just shows how much farther technology is heading in education. Education is really moving with the times. Using technology can really help students get into learning. In another podcast, EdTechTalk, a teacher tells us that some of her students used Wikis to communicate with each other to do some out of class work. Her students were even exercising their leadership skill by answering each others' questions online.
Another podcast tell about the new iPad. I just find it amazing that all of this new technology is popping up everywhere. You can buy one thing that is top of the line and brand new, but two months later something else could come out that new newer and supposedly better.

Media Literacy in the First Grade and Little Kids... Big Potential
These kids are amazing and adorable. I actually did get a little confused doing something on their web page and had to remember what they said to do to comment. I made my roommate watch this video with me and it surprised us both to see such young children doing so well technologically. I am a sophomore in college and I have to catch up with first graders. I never would have thought that would happen.

It amazes me to see how well these children can use the computer. It is great to see how much fun the children have learning. This is great for them. They are in first grade and can use the internet. While they are using technology, they are also learning how to share at the same time. Hopefully they will keep learning as they get older.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Blog 2

A Vision of Students Today
Part of this video is much like my college life. I spent most of my days in my room. If I am not in my room I am in class or getting groceries. My twenty credit hour semester keeps me fairly busy. So many hours have to go into each class for homework and studying. Once one is done, another is waiting.

I know that college students spend much time and money but it surprised me to see exactly how much is spent. I personally know people that have spent hundreds of dollars on text books only to find that they will never use it in the class. The needless waste of money like this is a part of the reason why students are up to twenty thousand dollars in debt by the time they graduate.


It's Not about the Technology
Thank you Mrs. Hines! I had just read that what I learn about technology now will become obsolete by the time I start teaching. Since I keep hearing that technology is the future, I worried that my technological deficiencies may affect my ability to teach. Thank you for telling us that teaching and learning can be done with or without technology.

Having the ability to teach is the most important tool. I also know first hand that a teacher may know the subject he or she is teaching but they must be able to teach the subject to others. Throwing information at students is not teaching. Teachers must find a way to instruct in a way students can understand. Giving the teacher costly equipment will not help students learn if the teacher cannot teach.


Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
Technology is everywhere and growing. There are newer iPods and iPhones, smaller computers, and applications galore for all of them. Homes, businesses, and schools all have and use technology increasingly but we can still work well without it.

Although I do think that technology is very useful in teaching, I cannot see being technology illiterate as such a terrible thing. I do not think that I will ever be my definition of technology literate but I do plan on using technology to aid in my teaching. I do not believe I will fail as a teacher just because I am technology illiterate.


Gary's Social Media Count
This was amazing. I did not realize just how much people use technology to communicate. The video "A Vision of Students Today" showed how many hours a college students averages on Facebook but this shows how much people use technology to communicate with each other. It also shows many different ways people can communicate with each other without being near.

The money and time people put into technology is amazing. The numbers shown on this does indicate that using the internet would be a great way of advertising. People can have a life and live well without actually leaving their front porch. I do wonder how people would react if they were pulled off their computers,cells, and iPods.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Blog 1

Did You Know? 3.0
I loved this presentation!It gave random bits of information about technology and humans in general. The graphics were great at emphasizing the bits of information and all of the data was easy to understand. The information surprised me but it made sense.
I found some of the facts amusing, like "there are 31 million searches on Google every month," because I am guilty of being a part of that 31 million. As a future teacher, it vexed me when I learned that all the technical information I learn in college will be outdated by the time I start actually teaching.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
I thought that this was a cute video for children. Poor Mr. Winkle really did receive a shocker. I can't imagine waking up to see my entire world changed.
I think Mr. Winkle might have notice a few more differences in the places he visited. One thing that might have stood out was female workers. The number of female workers probably equaled the number of male workers, which is very different from one hundred years ago. Mr. Winkle might have seen that instead of blackboards and chalk, teachers use white boards and markers and projectors to teach their students. The number of students in the school might have also alarmed him. Students are now required to go to school whereas one hundred years ago, students might have skipped school to help out their families with work around the house. He might have noticed that unruly children in school are not disciplined as they were in his time. He might have also learned that random people cannot wander around a school campus unauthorized without some type of consequence.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
I thought that this video was great. I really hope to use this teacher's technique of teaching. She was teaching not only technology, but cooperation. The students were working together and teaching each other which only helps to reinforce what they have learned.
She also expected the students to try to learn. She said she would use new words and not explain what they mean. Students have to look up the word themselves. I have learned the hard way from my father that this also is a better way of remembering something instead of just being spoon fed information.

Schools Kill Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson shocked me. His humor was fascinating and his speech was brimming with sense and marvelous ideas. I have never thought about some of the things that he spoke of. The thought of children growing out of creativity by being taught to fear doing something wrong scares me.
I loved Gillian Lynne's story. I had heard it somewhere else and thought about it often but I was never told who the little girl was. I had already disliked the idea of children being diagnosed with ADD and Gillian Lynne's story just strengthened my disapproval.