Short Movie Project

Final Reflection on EDM 310

Summary Post C4K

For these last couple of posts, I was once again very impressed by the quality of work that each youngster showed. Throughout this entire comments for kids process, I have not seen any work that was poorly done. Although some of the posts that I have read have contained minor typos, I feel that these types of things are to be expected with children who are at these young ages.

For these last few posts, I have seen things such as children writing about staying drug free and that is something that I really enjoyed reading about. I feel that it is always impressive to hear a young person speak out against bad habits and stand up for what they feel is right. One of the students who I was assigned to did just that and stated that he would always stay drug and alcohol free. In my comment to him, I told him that it was great to see a child with a goal like that and that it is incredibly important for him to stay with his goals so that drugs and alcohol do not mess up his future.

The final post that I commented on was one that was posted by a student who had been on a class trip to the fair. This student explained many of the things that she and her classmates had seen and experienced while at the fair. She even said that they got to milk a cow! Another part of the trip that she had really enjoyed was looking at old homes that were there and getting to see how things were done in the old days. Because of the things that this student said that her and her classmates had experienced while on this trip, I commented by saying that it sounded like a wonderful place to go with a class. This field trip sounded like it was both entertaining and educational at the same time, and in my opinion, things don't get much better than that!

Final Report on PLN

Wow! Looking back, I seriously cannot believe that before taking this class I had never even heard of a PLN. This course has taught me more things than I ever would have expected, and I know that my PLN has been created and enriched because of the things that we have had to do for this course. I am completely motivated and thrilled to become a student who collaborates with others now because I have been introduced to doing just that through EDM 310.

The labs that were held for this class were amazingly helpful and a perfect example of the way that I like to operate my PLN. Sitting around and discussing the challenges that you are facing with people who are facing the exact same thing could not be more helpful for me. With this being said, I will constantly strive to do this when I become a teacher so that I can see the same benefits in my workplace as I have seen throughout this course.

Blogs and the internet are a wonderful way to integrate collaborative learning into my PLN, so I will certainly continue to use these things after this class is over. I have marked many of the teacher's blogs to whom I have been assigned to comment on and added them to my Symbaloo account, which is another important part of my PLN. Overall, my PLN is based off of the things that I have personally benefited most from in this class. I know that this is one of the many things that will help me to succeed on my path to becoming an educator.

Summary Post C4T- Teacher #4

The fourth teacher that I was assigned to was Mrs. Ann Carnevale. I really enjoyed reading and commenting both of the posts that I was assigned to read of Mrs. Carnevale's. Both of the posts that I read of hers were posts that were related to technology and the ways that we as teachers can make it useful to us and our students in the classroom. The first post that Mrs. Carnevale put up that I commented on was one where she mentioned many different websites that can be to the students' advantage. She said that the websites listed were the ones that she found to be the most useful for her students. I explored all of the websites that she had listed and enjoyed looking through everyone of them.

The second post that I commented on was explaining to teachers some of the ways to make computers useful in the classroom.In this post, Mrs. Carnevale explained some of the ways that she integrates computers into her classroom and gave tips to other teachers about how to be successful when doing so. She posted pictures of things that she has done in her classroom, such as putting notes on the actual computers to remind students how to do things like printing or saving their work. She also told us how she works it out so that all of her students have time to be on the computers and it is a fair process to everyone.

The things that I learned from reading and commenting on these two posts were abundant. There were things in each of the posts that I plan on using in my classroom when I become a teacher. From the first post, my favorite website was one where students were instructed to create comic strips so that they would have practice using proper grammar and spelling. The thing that I enjoyed most about the second post were Mrs. Carnevale's suggestion to make computer time in the classroom an equal opportunity for all students. I am so glad that I have read both of these posts because they were full of useful information that I definitely plan to use in my own classroom.

Final Project

Blog Post Assignment #13

Alabama Learning Exchange, also known as ALEX is a program that is used by teachers in the state of Alabama, so it is important that aspiring teachers become acquainted with it so that we have an idea of what it is before we begin to teach. Before completing this assignment, I had done a little bit of research on this program for some of my other classes at USA, but I am now definitely more informed about this program and the many ways that it can be used as a benefit to the teachers in Alabama. After completing this assignment, I decided that I would add the ALEX website that I found most useful from Google to my PLN on Symbaloo.

To explain in a brief description what ALEX is to a teacher who has never heard of it, I would first tell them that it is something that they will find very useful. In reviewing ALEX, you would find various course of studies for many different subjects. On the sites that you can find ALEX, there are many web links that teachers are likely to see as beneficial. One of the greatest benefits, in my opinion, of visiting a site like this is that you are able to view lesson plans that have been made up for different subjects. Another very useful thing is that any teacher can also create their own lesson plans that can later be viewed by different teachers. There are many great things that go along with ALEX, and one of my favorite things about it is that it is not difficult to use even if you are just being introduced to it for the first time.

Project #15

Blog Post Assignment #12

For this blog post assignment, I explored the internet in search of sites that were dedicated to teachers and technology. I found that the sites that interested me the most were the ones that showed examples of ways for teachers to integrate technology into the classroom and those that made me think of ways that I might be able to use all of these fun ways of teaching in my classroom when I begin to teach. If I were to have to make up a blog assignment for future teachers, I would send them to the site Technology Tips for Classroom Teachers. I felt that this site was fun and interesting to explore, so I would assign the students to do just that. After exploring this helpful site, I would tell them to write a summary about the thing that they found most helpful from this site.

The thing that I liked the most about the site was the area labeled Fun PowerPoints. I had so much fun looking at these power points and they gave me so many ideas of things that I will be able to do in the classroom. These presentations were all made to be fun and exciting for the students who would be learning from them, and this is one of the things that appealed to me the most. I believe that classroom instruction has to be interesting enough to keep a student's attention, otherwise the teacher is not as likely to get his or her point across. Looking at these presentations has given me many ideas that i cannot wait to try out when I become a teacher! These power points will also be exciting and neat to use with the SmartBoard, which makes them even better to me and other future teachers!

Progress Report on Final Project

As of now, I have only just begun to work on my plans for the final project since I am still working on completing project #15. It is interesting the way that this project is set up because we have not been given many guidelines, which will make us think a lot harder about what we are going to do. I know that it is good for us as future teachers to be required to come up with things like this on our own, but it will definitely call for more time and work. I am meeting with my group to finish our project #15 on Monday, and plan to brainstorm with them about the topics that will be focused on for our final project. Once I have completed the project that I am working on with my group now, I will spend all of my extra time working on this final project.

Summary and Analysis for Project #6

For my questionnaire, I created questions that were related to the parking at the University of South Alabama. I have heard many complaints about the parking since I started attending this school, and I was interested to see how some people might react when they were presented with questions about the parking situation at our school.

The first question that I asked was simply to see if the person filling out the survey was currently a student at the University of South Alabama. Seventeen people answered my survey, and all of those people said that they are currently students at USA. My next question was asked to see what time of day these people were at the university the most. The most popular answer to this question was that they were at the school mostly in the morning time. Some people also reported being at school in the afternoon and evening times, but none said that they were here most commonly at night.

My third question on the survey was to see how common it was for these students to have troubles finding a place to park. The responses to this question varied fairly widely, ranging from very common to not common at all. After this, I asked how many times these people had received citations from University of South Alabama because of parking infractions. Eight people answered that they had never received this type of citation, two people said that they had gotten them once, four people said that they had received them twice, and three people reported that they had gotten tickets for parking incorrectly more than twice. When asked if their citations had been paid or not, nine people answered yes and five people answered no.

Six of the seventeen respondents to my survey claim that their vehicle has received damage while in one of the parking lots at the University of South Alabama, while eleven said that they have not been damaged. Twelve of the seventeen people who responded to this questionnaire said that they have known of parking problems at USA for more than a year, and eight of these people say that they have never heard of plans to improve the parking situations.

In conclusion, the responses that I received from the people who answered my questionnaire were fairly varied. Because of all of the complaints that I have personally heard being made about the parking here at South, I expected the responses to be a little bit heavier on one side of the scale. Doing this survey helped me to see that not everyone is having a terrible time with the parking situations at the University of South Alabama. I am glad that I conducted this survey so that now I know how some of my fellow classmates feel about this particular subject.

Summary Post C4K

All of the posts that I have had to comment on for these kids were very nice, given the grade levels that these children are performing at. I wish that I would have had a blog when I was in elementary or middle school, because I know that the benefits of this kind of thing for young people are great. One of the posts that I commented on was about a boy having to say goodbye to his father for a little while because he was having to go to Australia to do something for his job. This post just showed me that a blog is a great place for children to express their emotions about personal issues as well as things that are going on in their school lives.

Another post that i had to comment on was more related to school. In this post, a girl named Jessica talked about what happens at her school during parent- teacher night. In the same post, this girl talked about the awards and accomplishments that she has experienced throughout the year. Opposite from the personal post, this proved that a blog is a great way for young people discuss what is going on with them in school.

The posts about school and personal life can also merge in some ways, as it did in a post that I commented on that was about red ribbon week. In this post, the student acknowledged that his school was celebrating red ribbon week and that he had vowed to be drug and alcohol free. The boy then went on to list the goals that he had for his future and the reasons why he would not be using drugs or alcohol. He also told what might happen to him if he were trying to fulfill his dreams and he did start to use these things. This was a very neat post to read, just as all of the other ones were.

As a future teacher, I hope to allow my students to post things to their blog that are not only important to me, but are important to them as well. For one thing, I feel that this will encourage the students to want to work on their blog more and I also think that this is a great way for them to express themselves. While incorporating the many new ways if technology into my classroom, I will almost certainly use blogs as a way to enhance my student's learning. Reading these posts just makes me want to use them in my classroom more, because they reinforce my beliefs about them being both educational and fun for young people.

Blog Post Assignment #11

This was yet another enjoyable and informative video to see and think about. I really appreciate what Mrs. Cassidy is doing with her students simply because they are still so young in my opinion. I think that introducing technology and its benefits to children in the first grade is a wonderful idea because they will certainly benefit from getting an early start with it. Doing simple things such as teaching these youngsters how to get on the internet is a great start to getting them comfortable with technology. I never would have thought that students at this age would be using technology, but this is once again a change that has come about with all of the new technological advances that we are seeing in today's world.

I hope that I will be able to introduce technology to my students from the very beginning like Mrs. Cassidy did, because this is really what all teachers should be working towards these days. Although some teachers do not feel like these types of things are necessary, I feel that it will be very beneficial to the students in the long run. No matter what grade we are teaching, we have to remember that our students  will have to be comfortable and familiar with technology in their future in order to advance through the world that they will be growing up in.

Summary Post C4T- Teacher #3

I was assigned to comment on <a href="http://keepingkidsfirst.wordpress.com/"> Mrs. Hine's blog </a> for these two assignments. The first post of hers that I commented on was a post summarizing a lecture that she had recently heard. She had some great points in this post that I really agreed with. The first thing that really caught my attention was that Mrs. Hines mentioned differentiation and its benefits in the classroom. I agree with her that differentiation creates self confidence among students, therefore it is a very important factor in the classroom. The second thing that I really enjoyed from this post was Mrs. Hines' summarization from the lecture about how teachers must make sure that their students always learn as much as possible. This is incredibly important so that we always make sure that we teach our students to the very best of our ability. In order to be sure that our students are learning as much as possible from us, we must make sure that they completely understand the content of what we are teaching.

The second post that I commented on was one in which Mrs. Hines discussed how important her PLN is to her. She stated that she had to leave her PLN for a few days, and this is what made her realize how important it is to her. In this post, we see how necessary it is for teachers to have collaboration with a group of people. Mrs. Hines shows us how important it is to have a PLN and have access to using it regularly. The main part of this post was the realization of the sum of the parts. It is seen in this post that having connections with an entire group of people is far more beneficial than communicating with those people one on one.

In conclusion, these two posts were incredibly beneficial for me to read. Before this class, I had never even heard of a PLN and now I am really seeing just how important it is for me to have one. As a teacher,  feel like this will be one of my greatest benefits. Mrs. Hines' post simply reassured this assumption for me. I also know that I will be responsible for bringing differentiation into my classroom in order to build self confidence among my students. This, along with all of the other points made in these two posts, boosted my confidence in what I am planning to do with my students when I finally become a teacher.

Teach Someone Project #14

Blog Post Assignment #10

Morgan Bayda's blog post was very nice to read and it inspired me in more ways than one. In this post, Morgan discussed the ways that she is faced with boring lecture classes in school. She says that in these classes, she and her classmates are almost never encouraged to discuss the things that are being studied and that she struggles to stay awake during these types of classes. This reminded me of many of the classes that I have been through in my past, and this encourages me to not teach this way when I become a teacher in the future.

Like Morgan has stated, she is encouraged to constantly interact with her classmates in classes such as her computer class. This also reminds me of myself because of the things that we are assigned to do in this class. It seems to me that students will almost always enjoy collaborating and learning from their classmates, so why not incorporate these things into all classrooms? I definitely agree with her last statement: we cannot be afraid to change things. In order to give our students the best education possible, we almost have to change things so that they are being educated for the world that they will be living in and not a world of the past.

The video Two Questions That Can Change Your Life was very thought provoking for me. I never thought about every person in the world having their own personal sentence, but I believe that this kind of thinking can inspire many people to want to make a difference in our world. My sentence would be that I am trying to make the world a better place by encouraging young people to love themselves for what they are good at and not strive to be something that they are not. It is so easy for students to beat themselves up over what they cannot do and not even realize all of the wonderful things that they can do. I think that this is something that is very important to help young people see- that they are all great at something.

The second question in this video was also wonderful. Simply asking yourself if you were better today than you were yesterday is a great way to feel like you have accomplished something. There is no need to try to save the world, because you will just become discouraged and upset when you continue to fail. As long as you have made a difference in even the smallest way, even if it is only in your own life, you have accomplished something that is special. Remembering this question at the end of everyday is a great way to lift your spirits and to have the motivation to continue to make a difference each and every day!

Smart Board Instruction Project #13

Additional Activity #3

The presentation Changing Educational Paradigms by Sir Ken Robinson was a great presentation! I have never thought about things such as ADHD in the ways that he presented them, but his argument seemed to make sense. I am not incredibly familiar with disorders such as this one, but I do know that children affected by it tend to get bored and distracted easily, which would make his point make valid. As Sir Robinson said about himself, I am not educated enough about the subject either to make too many decisions about the things that might be affecting these children, but I agreed with what he had to say still.

It seems so logical to get our students excited about learning instead of boring them with things such as constant standarized tests. Even if the students are not diagnosed with ADHD, it is still very possible that they will become bored at some time or another while learning in the classroom. As teachers, we should all try to encourage our studnets to want to learn as much as possible and we can do this be getting them interested in the things that we want to teach them. As stated in the presentation, the Arts do seem to be the victim of or current epedemic. Incorporating the Arts into our teaching more and more is sure to get young people interested in school and happy to learn.

I really liked the way that this video was put together, and I think that it is sure to get the attention of more people than if it were just someone standing up and talking in front of an audience. The video itself was a great way to keep people more interested in what was going on and keep them from becoming bored by the facts that were being presented. If I were to participate in making a presentation such as this one, I think that I would most enjoy the job of being the narrator. All of the jobs invovled in making this video were probably fun, but I think that I would enjoy narrating it most!

Blog Post Assignment # 9

Mr. McClung's post, What I've Learned This Year , was very helpful and neat to read. This post has reminded me of things that I know I will have to keep in mind in my years of teaching, especially my first year. I realize that it might be easy to forget to practice some of the things that we know we should be doing, and posts like this one remind us to do those things.

I really took to heart what Mr. McClung had to say about technology because I am one of those people who have never really used it a lot. While I am slowly becoming more and more familiar with technology, I still fell a little bit overwhelmed by it sometimes. When I become a teacher, I will be committed to allowing my students all of the educational benefits that technology can provide us with even if it takes me extra time to learn how to use that technology. In this class, I have learned to embrace technology and its place in the classroom instead of being afraid of it because I am unfamiliar with it.

The other thing that really stood out to me in this post was that we should not set our students' goals too high. It is going to be our responsibility to set our students up for achievements so that they do not become discouraged and quite trying. I have seen teachers scold their students for not accomplishing a goal when that particular goal was not really in the student's reach to begin with. This is not fair to the student and will probably end up hurting their self esteem. As a teacher, I will try to follow all of these tips that Mr. McClung has given us, but I realize that I definitely will not be perfect. Each year I will be able to learn from my mistakes like Mr. McClung has and use them to become a better teacher the following year.

Timetoast Timeline Project #9b

Blog Post Assignment #8

Richard Miller's presentations about the ways that we can us technology today were both very interesting. It is still a little bit shocking to me to see all of the things that can now be done simply by using your computer. I know that our world continues to advance everyday, but I sometimes have to watch videos like these to be reminded just how much technology is changing our lives. I enjoyed seeing the different things that Mr. Miller has been able to do with technology.

I know that a career in writing, such as Richard Miller's, is more prone to be affected by the advancement of technology than a lot of other careers are. I was shocked to see that Mr. Miller was able to write an entire paper without ever stepping foot into a library. Even with our newly created technology, I still find myself using other resources as well as the new ones. I guess that this is probably just a habit that I will eventually grow out of. I have yet to write an entire paper using only my computer and its sources, but I will not say that this might not happen in the near future.

At this point, I would have to say that I am not completely prepared to write with multimedia, but I fell that I am on my way to being able to say that i am. I hope that my students will be able to learn from me all that I know about topics such as this one, but I almost feel like some of them might know more about it than I do. I guess that we will just have to share our knowledge with each other so that we can all end up knowing as much as possible about our ever changing world of technology.

The Chipper Series and EDM 310 for Dummies were both fun to watch because I felt like I knew exactly what the students in these videos were talking about. I especially liked Chipper and Dr. Strange's discussion about procrastination because this is something that I unfortunately have had a few problems with in the past. The main thing that I took away from watching these videos concerning the ones that I will be creating in the future was the mood seen in them. I would typically try to be serious when making a movie for EDM, but now I know that I can be just as effective by simply having fun and being creative. This will also increase my chances of my fellow students watching and enjoying the videos that I create.

The critiques about the Smartboards were so neat to see because I have never looked at them from that point of view. All of the teachers that I know have always enjoyed using their Smartboards, but I now see that not everyone shares the same opinion about them. In my opinion, the advantages of such devices far outweigh the negative effects that they might bring into the classroom. Our students are being exposed to all sorts of new technology outside of the classroom, so why not bring it into the classroom as well? If a teacher feels as though they can teach a certain lesson better using a regular chalkboard, then I feel that they have the right to do so, but they probably should not shut out the Smartboards completely. I feel that one of the greatest benefits of Smartboards is that they increase the chances of the students interaction and also their desire to pay attention to what is being taught.

Additional Activity #2

The idea to place computers in villages like these was absolutely amazing! It was so neat to see all of the things that the children were able to learn by themselves with the help of only the computers. In the video The child-driven education, you can see the children's eyes light up as they use the computers. This definitely proved that children can learn how to do anything they want to do given the right opportunities. Computers are so helpful in our education these days, so why not introduce them to other parts of the world so that they can receive the same benefits that we see here. I feel that anyone who is motivated to learn something will learn it simply because they have the desire to do so. Even if these people happen to be children, they will still be able to teach themselves whatever they want to know.

I feel that the best way to motivate someone to learn is to tell them about the benefits of learning. Learning brings us so many rewards that anyone should be able to find joy in learning something new. I am motivated to learn simply because I realize that in doing so I am bettering myself. For example, I learn in college everyday so that I will be able to eventually become a teacher. By becoming a teacher, I will be able to show others the great rewards that come with learning new things. In my opinion, a teacher always has a role in learning because even people who teach themselves will still at times need a guide to look to. If you are trying to teach yourself to do something and you get confused or mess up, then you can look to a teacher to help you. This is always a better option than just giving up and moving on because you can't figure something out.

My emotions after seeing this video were happy because I loved seeing the kids get such a joy from learning new things with the help of computers. They seemed to be both pleased with what they were learning and proud that they were able to teach themselves how to us the computers. I teach myself on a daily basis, but not without the general guidance of a teacher or mentor. I feel that EDM 310 gives me the opportunity to be able to teach myself new things, but we as students are still given general guidance and rules to follow when teaching ourselves. The power of knowledge is so great and it feels even better to become knowledgeable about something on your own terms. The best motivators to self teach are the rewards that come from doing so.

Timetoast Timeline Project #9a

Blog Post Assignment #7

Randy Pausch's last lecture was very touching and inspiring to watch. At the beginning of his lecture, Mr. Pausch tells everyone that he has cancer in his liver and he states that he will not live much longer. While most people probably feel bad for Mr. Pausch when he says this, he urges his audience not to feel bad for him. He does not want anyone to pity him because he says that he is living life to the fullest. He knows that we cannot change the cards that we are dealt in life, so he and his family have pretty much decided to just deal with his cancer. This was the first touching thing in this video. In my opinion, it takes a lot of strength to go on living your life to the fullest when you know that your days are numbered no matter what you do.

One teaching method that Mr. Pausch talked about that really struck me was the indirect learning method. This is when people think that they are doing only one thing, but they are learning another thing at the same time probably without even realizing it. The reason that this appealed to me so much is because it seems so obvious and effective, but I have never actually thought about using a method like this. One example of indirect learning is when children play on sports teams. While a child is aware that they are playing football, they do not usually think of the things that they are learning by playing it unless those things pertain to the sport itself. In reality, children playing on a football team together is actually teaching them very valuable things such as team work.

The positive attitude that is seen throughout this entire lecture is something that really stuck me as being amazing. Mr. Pausch speaks of his happy childhood and states that all of his dreams that he had as he was growing up have come true. He urges his listeners to work hard, cherish feedback, and never give up on anything. He also goes on to say that we should keep things fun for our students and support the things that dream of. Perhaps the thing that will stay with me the most from this video was when Mr. Pausch says that we should always enjoy the company of our students.

At the end of the speech, Mr. Pausch tells us that his lecture was not really made for the benefit of the audience, but rather for his three children. It really touched me to hear him say this because I know that the things that he was telling his children were the things that he would have told them in person as they grew up if he were still alive. All in all, this video really mad eme think about my future career in the teaching field and I now look at a few things from a totally different point of view than I did before I watched it. I will always try to remind myself that even though being a teacher will be hard work at times, I should not really view it as work, but instead as a pleasure. It is a gift to be able to touch the lives of young people and I hope that I will always remember to enjoy each and every one of my students and the time that I have with them.

Progress Report for PLN

After looking over both Symbaloo and Netvibes, I decided to keep track of my PLN with Symbaloo. While both of these sites seemed pretty helpful, I was more drawn to the Symbaloo site. A friend of mine who took EDM last summer suggested Symbaloo because she said it was so easy and extremely useful. After creating my account on Symbaloo, I realized that she was definitely right! I have always been someone who likes to stay very organized and this site just helps me to do that even better. I love how everything can be color coded also because that makes it even more fun! Using Symbaloo was very fun for me because I had never created anything like it before and I look forward to using it very often in the future. This is one of the things from this class that I will definitely be taking with me to use throughout the remainder of my college career and even after that when I become a teacher.

Comments for Teachers Summary #2

The second teacher that I was assigned to comment on was Dr. Strange. The first post of his that I commented on was on that referenced the things that had gone on in lab on a particular day. On this day, when Dr. Strange asked our lab assistant, Anthony, how lab had gone that morning, Anthony replied that it had been "great". Dr. Strange then posted about what had happened during lab that caused Anthony to say that it was great. In summary, what happened that day in lab was that students were helping other students learn how to do things because they had also had troubles doing the same thing. By helping each other learn, the students who were in lab went from working independently that day to interacting with one another to form a learning community.

The second post of Dr. Strange's that I commented on was a follow up post to the first one that I had commented on. This time, our EDM lab was described as being quiet. While students sat quietly doing there work, it was apparent to Dr. Strange and the lab assistants that learning was taking place. This realization came from the fact that students were now completing there work with less questions. Dr. Strange then went on in this post to summarize what students had commented about the "Great" post. All of us who had commented on the first post had roughly the same feelings. Although we all felt fairly nervous and frustrated at the beginning of our EDM class, we now feel reassured that everything is going to be just fine because we have so much help if we need it.

All in all, what I commented about the two posts was what I felt like before this class began and what my feelings are about the class now. I used to be so scared about the things that I would have to face in order to do well in this class, but all of those worries are gone now. Each and every time I have a question, I go to the lab and there has always been someone there waiting to help me with anything I need. I know that all I have to do is ask when I need help, and I think that this class will continue to be one of the most enjoyable and beneficial ones that I have taken so far.

Blog Post Assignment #6

The video The Networked Student was very interesting and neat to watch. I agreed with all of the things that were stated as being benefits of being a networked students, but I have often thought about what will happen to us teachers in the years to come. If technology is such a wonderful teacher, then what are we going to be needed for? Well, this video answered that question quite nicely and it made me fell a lot better about my worth as a teacher in the future.

I know well that all of this new and coming technology is able to provide many, many benefits to our students, but they will also need time in the classroom in my opinion. Even if classes are given online, the students should probably meet in a classroom setting at least once a week so that the teacher can check up on things such as all of the students' progress. Of course students will always have questions about how to use the technology, how to organize the information that they are given by the technology, and how best to take advantage of the different opportunities that they might be presented with through this technology. Classroom meetings with the teacher will be a great time to get all of these things straightened out.

Finally, it is very important to remember that teachers provide a mentor for students to follow and look up to. I feel that it is very important for all young people to have good influences in their lives, and teachers can be just that to many students. Teachers not only provide the initial instructions on things like how to use the technology properly and what they are looking for in an assignment, but they also provide a relationship that many students enjoy having. Many of my teachers have taught me things that are so much more important than academics, and all students should have the opportunity to have that in their school career.

The video A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment was a very well put together video. While I did not ever have any classes such as the one that she was describing in the video in middle school, it seemed like a great way to have a class. Many of the things mentioned in the video were things that we use in EDM 310, and that is why I am so grateful to be learning all that I am in this class. As mentioned in this video, freedom in learning is a great way to motivate students because it allows them to learn in the ways that best suit them as individuals.

Dr. Wesch's video The Machine is Changing Us was very informational and funny at the same time. I could relate to many of the things that he mentioned in his talk, especially when he mentioned that technology can make us feel more self conscious. This is so true because you never know who is going to read what you are putting on the internet. Anybody has access to the work that you do on the internet, and that makes feel a little bit more concerned about the validity of the work that I do. This video reminds us that we have to remember that we do not truly know who we are showing our work to when we do post it on the internet, so it is good to always do it to the best of your ability.

Comments for Kids Summary #1

The first blog that we were assigned to comment on was the manifesto, and I really enjoyed reading the one that my assigned student had written. In her manifesto, she pledged to make her eighth grade year a great one because she knew that the younger children in her school were probably looking up to her. I thought that this was such a nice thing to think about because she was aware that her actions were possibly going to influence others. One of the things that she promised that she was going to work hard towards this year was timeliness. She stated that she was going to do her best to get to school on time every day and that she would also try to turn all of her homework assignments in on time.

The next post that I commented on of this student's was one that talked about ways of staying safe while using the internet. I thought that the best thing that she included in this post was an acronym for remaining smart when you are on the internet. This was a great way to help others remember the rules of being safe on while working on the internet. She also stated that she has learned to never put personal information about yourself on the internet. This means to leave things such as your phone numbers and house address off of the internet.

I enjoyed reading and commenting on both of these posts. I feel like the student who I was assigned to comment on did very well with the posts that she made. It was good to see that both of the assignments given to her by her teacher were things that really made the students think and put their best foot forward in things that involved their academics and the internet. After these two assignments, all of the students in the class will now know what to do to stay away from possible dangers of the internet, and they will also have goals to keep up with throughout the rest of their school year. I thought that both of the assignments caused the students to think creatively, and that is always a wonderful thing in my opinion.

Blog Post assignment #5

The Eagle Nest Radio podcasts that were done by third graders were excellent! All of the podcasts that I watched on this website were done very nicely and they made me think more positively about doing future podcast assignments. When my group completed our project for project #8, I was very nervous and I think that it probably showed on the video. These third graders did not seem nervous at all, and they were making there own podcasts! I am really surprised to see that some elementary school children are doing things like this because when I was that age, I had never even heard of a podcast. Visiting websites like this one gives me so much more to look forward to when I become a teacher.

The Education Podcast Network website was incredibly educational and nice to read. Unfortunately, I had already completed my first podcast assignment when I read the information on this website, but it will definitely be helpful for me in the future. One of the things that i liked most about this website is that all of the information given on it was easy to read and understand. This website went from the most basic questions about podcasts and went right through things dealing with them that tend to be a bit more challenging. I was glad to read all of the information on this website because before taking EDM 310, I had never completed a podcast before. Now I will have a great resource to refer back to next time I need to make another podcast.

The final website that I visited for this blog post assignment had The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom video on it. It was neat to watch the video and to see the list of benefits that were posted below it. Although I am just now becoming familiar with podcasting, I definitely agree with all of the benefits that were mentioned during this video. I think that it is great for students who might miss class for an extended period of time, because all they will have to do to catch up on their missed work is watch the lessons on the podcasts. There are endless possibilities and benefits that podcasting can bring to our classrooms.

Podcast Project #6

Blog Post Assignment #4

I enjoyed reading Dr. McLeod's post because it made me think of technology for our students in a way that I had not thought of it before. He pointed out the potential dangers that children can face by using things such as the internet. While the dangers are present, he also made the point in his blog that our students pretty much need to be taught with technology. It is so true that students should be introduced to technology for he sake of their future, but as future teachers we must make sure that they are protected as possible from the dangers that they might face. In my opinion, it is also our responsibility to be sure that our students do not become entirely dependent on the use of technology. I really liked the way that Dr. McLeod a the Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Iowa State University.

The The iSchool Initiative video was very interesting. I had never thought of having all of those programs available to us on a single device. Having all of those things so readily available seems both convenient and actually a lot of fun to use. I think that students might be more willing to do their school work if it involves technology. With the way that we are transforming so quickly, I would not be surprised if something like this were to actually happen in the near future.

The main benefit mentioned in this video was the fact that it would save money, and we all know that many of our schools are in desperate need of doing just that. The one thing that I would worry about is what would happen to those students who were unable to afford a device such as the iTouch. While I know that things such as graphing calculators in school are just as expensive, they are not always required because some people cannot afford them. If everything related to school was on a device such as this one, many people could potentially be left out.

I really liked The Lost Generation video. It was almost a little bit sad to me because I feel like many of the things that were said to begin with were so true. It sounds nice to say that we can reverse these things, but is it really possible? Our world is changing so much everyday that I don't think that we can change some of the things that were mentioned. We can try to change these things as individuals, but it won't truly fix anything unless everyone is on the same page. The technique used to make this film was amazing! I never would have guessed that it was going to turn out the way it did simply by reversing it!

The virtual choir was also quite astonishing! I had never seen anything like that and I thought that it was so neat! I am still amazed that we are actually living in times when things like this are possible. It all seems so surreal to me sometimes. I never would have guessed that these things would be changing my world right in front of my eyes. Sometimes it seems like I am watching a movie from the future and I have to remind myself that this is now! I cannot wait to see what technology brings us in the next few decades or so.

Additional Activity #1

Before doing this activity, I had never used Google Squared or WloframAlpha. I found both of these sites to be very helpful and informative. I wish that I would have known about them before now because I can think of so many times in the past that I could have benefited from these sites! Students might find these sites incredibly helpful when completing an assignment such as a Geography assignment because their searches will provide them with more than enough information about places around the world. While the sites are incredibly helpful for things like this, they can also be used to gather many other types of information. Another thing that I particulary liked was the set up of graphs and charts provided as a result of searches done on these sites.

After completing some searches on Google Squared and WolframAlpha, my views on the video Did You Know? have changed a little bit. It makes a huge difference when you realize the population differences between China, India, and the United States. At first I felt like these countries were sort of racing past us in education, but now I do not feel that way so much. Of course they have more honor students and english speaking students, because they have more students period. I now realize how important it is to analyze information when you are given a statistic before jumping to conclusion about the facts that you have been given. Even if the things that you have been told are true, they might not be what you think they are.... do research before being totally amazed is the lesson that I got out if this!

Presentation Project #5

Comments for Teachers Summary #1

The teacher that I was assigned to comment on for the first time was Mrs. Kathy Cassidy. The first post that I commented on was one that explained what her ideas for her classroom setup were for this year. In this post, she stated that she was changing the setup of her classroom for many reasons. For instance, she wanted to provide a comfortable place for her students to curl up with a book, so she was going to be bringing in a love seat to add to her classroom. Her post also stated that she had changed the plans for her room many times and she still was not quite sure exactly what she was going to decide on yet. My favorite part of this post was the way that she came up with to view her different ideas without having to actually move the furniture and things around each time she changed her mind. The way she did this was by creating a paper model of her classroom. This way, she was able to move things around easily and she could still get the effect of each new plan that she came up with. I think that I will definitely be using her paper model idea the first time I decorate and set up my classroom because it seemed so convenient!

Mrs. Cassidy's second post that I commented on was about using videos in the classroom to help you to teach. In this post, she put short films up that showed teachers how to make movies and what advantages they could have in the classroom for your students. The post stated that she found videos to be very helpful in her teaching and she explained the reasons for this. Mrs. Cassidy says that children will love to watch the videos over and over again if they are featured in the film. It is clear from this post that the students enjoy seeing themselves on camera, and that gives them an incentive to want to see the video many times. By viewing the video regularly, the children are continuously being exposed to and learning about  the topic that was being covered when the film was made. Another one of Mrs. Cassidy's valid points made in this post was  that videos are a very effective way of teaching because children learn largely by visual senses.

I enjoyed reading both of these posts and agreed with the points that Mrs. Cassidy had in both of them. Both posts were very helpful to me and gave me new tools to use as a future teacher. When I commented on these posts, I made sure that I told Mrs. Cassidy how much I agreed with what she had said and that they were definitely going to help me when I become a teacher. In conclusion, I was very glad that I was able to gain knowledge about ways to set up my future classroom and also how to keep my students interested in the ways that they are learning what I teach. Reading these posts was incredibly helpful to me! These posts and my comments can be found on Mrs. Kathy Cassidy's blog.

Blog Post Assignment #3

The video A Vision of Students Today was very interesting and reminded me a lot of the things that I have experienced in my college career so far. It is very true that many people who take their laptops to class with them are not working on school work during class, and I have seen this happening in some of my classes at South. While most people probably simply laugh this off, we have to remember that some of our classmates who are doing this are future educators. One of the other things that really caught my attention in this film was the point that was made about even though some people pay for the class, they never bother to show up for it. What will they do when they are teachers? Just stay at home whenever they don't feel like going to work? It's really something to think about!

If I were to add something to this movie to make it more accurately represent my experiences, I would have it include people texting during class. I know that technology is a great thing in the future of our classrooms, but it can also cause problems for some teachers and students. A great example of this is students texting in class while the teacher is giving a lecture. I have seen this happening many times since I began college, and it can be very distracting for all of the people in the classroom. Like everything, technology will bring its ups and downs into our classrooms.

Mrs. Kelly Hines' post was also very nice. It was refreshing to see a teacher who appreciates technology but also realizes that we as teachers should be able to function without it also. I thought that it was great for her to say that we should continue to do some teaching without the use of all of the new technologies, even though they are available to us. It is so true that technology is useless without a good teacher behind it. No matter how much new technology classrooms might have, our children are still in need of having great teachers.

One thing that I have thought about after reading her post is that parents might not be able to help their children as much as they used to because they might not be familiar with what their child is doing at school if it involves new technology. For example, if a student is given homework on a computer, their parent might not help them as readily as they would if they were doing homework by hand. I worry that the parents might become intimidated by the new technologies used by their children's teachers because they were not ever introduced to them when they were in school. It would be a shame if something like this were to keep a parent from being involved in their child's schoolwork.

I definitely enjoyed exploring Mr. Karl Fisch's blog. I really like the things that he says in many of his blogs and I am becoming a big fan of his through seeing his work through this class. For me, the answer to his question, is it okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher, seems incredibly complicated. The first answer that comes to my mind when hearing this question is of course it is! Why should we have to use technology to teach our students if they can understand what we are teaching and are successful without the use of technology?

After I thought about my initial reaction to this question, I became a little bit puzzled by my own thoughts. While I do not think that it matters how you teach as long as your students understand you, in today's world it might actually not be okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher. There are many things these days that are required of teachers that force them to use technology. For example, all grades are now kept on the computer instead of on paper- this is not an option for teachers as far as I know. Secondly, our job as teachers is to prepare our students for a prosperous future. If a student is going to be successful throughout his or her life, they will almost certainly need to be familiar with technology, so they might be at a disadvantage if they are not introduced to it at a young age in schools and at home.

The changes that I saw happening on the social media count really impressed me. It is so amazing to actually see the numbers of things changing every second! It is obvious that technology truly is taking over our world. This to me means that we as teachers have the responsibilities to learn it and become familiar with it if we want to or not. When I first saw the statistic about how what we are learning now will be outdated in a few years, I could not believe it. Now, after seeing things like this, that fact is becoming more and more real to me. People, the world, and our classrooms are all changing at an alarming rate and we have to commit ourselves to keeping up with all of it!










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Blog Post Assignment #2

The video that was created by Karl Fisch, titledDid You Know? was incredibly interesting! The numbers and statistics that were shown throughout the video were facts that I never would have believed to be true. While I am well aware of the fact that things such as the internet are becoming a huge part of everyone's life in the United States, I never realized how much of an impact the rest of the world was experiencing also. I truly cannot remember what my life was like without the internet, and that proves to me that it has significantly impacted my entire life and way of thinking. Any time I have a question about something, all I have to do is go to google, type it in, and I will have the answer within a matter of seconds- that's pretty amazing to me.

It was also quite surprising for me to see that numbers about population that were shown on this video. It is so amazing that so many Chinese people are English speakers because I personally do not know any Americans who can speak Chinese. This just proves that these people are opening up tons of new opportunities for themselves, such as job offers in the United States. I have been told that the English language is one of the hardest languages to learn, but that obviously is not discouraging them. I feel like it would be great if there were more strict rules set up in our school systems about learning and becoming fluent in a second language. This video really made me think and I am glad that it was assigned for us to watch!

The video Mr. Winkle Wakes was also quite interesting and very unique. I had never thought if schools in such a way until I saw this video. It is sad to me that many teachers would still lecture and have their students take notes all day long instead of opening up to some of the many opportunities for teaching that we have available to us these days. Teachers like this are more likely, in my opinion, to cause their students to become bored and withdrawn from their school work, which in turn will likely negatively affect their grades.

While it is not a good thing for teachers to have their students become bored with learning, I do not really feel like this is a problem these days. It seems like almost all of the teachers that I have known or who have taught me are embracing the new ways of technology and using them to their advantage. One perfect example of this would be the new Smart Boards that are going up all over in schools. I think that teachers are thrilled to have these types of things to assist them in teaching and to get their students more excited about learning!

The Importance of Creativity was a nice video that made me laugh, but it also taught me a few things and made me think about ways to encourage students to use their creativity. I know that creativity is an incredibly important thing for children to keep as they grow older, but it seems rather hard to get them to do this. It is so true that children are born with a ton of creativity, but then they seem to begin to lose it as they age.

I totally agree with the point made in this video when Mr. Robinson stated that children are afraid of being wrong. This could completely ruin a child's creativity because they might be scared to react in the way that they want to in fear that they will be told that what they have done is incorrect. It is very important that we as teachers did not discipline or scold a child for being wrong because this could unintentionally hurt them in ways that we are unaware of at that time. I feel that teachers should encourage all of their students to let imagination run wild, even if they feel like what they are coming up with is silly or not accurate.

Mrs. Davis' way of teaching with technology was something that I have never seen before. While almost all teachers use some form of technology to teach, I had never seen anybody use it as much as she did. I wish that all teachers posted blogs like she does because it helps students to connect with their teacher on a different level. Most students will think that posting blogs to their teachers is fun, therefore will be encouraged to do so.

This class is actually the first course that I have ever taken that was so involved with technology, and it almost reminds me of the way that Mrs. Vickie was shown teaching in her video. All of her students in the video seemed connected to what she was saying and how she was using technology to teach. As I stated before, probably the biggest advantage to using technology when teaching is that students are so interested in it that they will be happy to learn by using it!