Goodbye

Ms. Averitt and classmates,
I really enjoyed having you as my teacher and each and everyone of you as my classmates. This semester flew by but we all made it through it. At the beginning I know a lot of us were overwhelmed with all of the work but we pulled through it. I enjoyed all of your presentations and learning about each and everyone of you. I am going to miss coming to Thursday night class but I'm so glad it is just one step closer to becoming a teacher. I hope each of you have a Merry Christmas and a safe New Years. Ms. Averitt you are a really great teacher and I love how you encouraged us to keep on pushing to finish all of our projects. You had faith in us at the beginning and you always said we could do it.

Thank you,
Heather Shelton

Summary Of EDM 310

When I first entered the EDM 310 thursday night class I was so scared. We were handed the syllabus and I could not believe my eyes. There were more projects on this one syllabus than I have ever complete the whole entire time I have been at South. I did not think I could accomplish everything in one semester. There was also so many different topics that I didn't know anything about. I thought all we needed to know was the basic computer skills and how to type. But later on in the semester I found out we had a great instructor and she would help us through all of the work.

Overall my EDM 310 class taught me all about using technology in the classroom. I really enjoyed blogging and learning about it. I didn't know what blogging was until this class. But I found it very useful to use in my classroom as a future teacher. It will get my students more into their work and get feedback from their peers. I think this will be something I will carry on into my classroom.

When I first read the syllabus I saw we had a lot of presentations. I was so scared. I hate doing presentations and speaking in front of people. But in the end I think I did a great job and really enjoyed getting in groups. I loved doing our podcasts. It was so much fun. At first I didn't think my group was going to do a good job but when we finished I thought our podcast was very interesting. This was my favorite project.

The excel project we did in EDM 310 was very helpful for the real world of teaching. Excel is a spreadsheet that many teachers use. It is going to be helpful in grading and staying organized with our students grades and work. I liked making up my own names and acting like I was a "real teacher."

EDM 310 ended up being my favorite class this semester and I really enjoyed going to class every thursday night. I can't believe I didn't miss any days throughout the semester. I was so proud of myself. I would not change anything about this class. All of the projects and activities are very helpful for future teachers.

Technology

We had to read three lists for our EDM assignments. They were titled Seven Stupid Mistakes and seven Brilliant Things Teachers Do with Technology and last New Classroom Rules. We then had to pick out the two most important from each of the three lists. I chose two rules from New Classroom Rules by Education Innovation and two things from Seven Brilliant Things Teachers Do with Technology and two from Seven Stupid Mistakes by Doug Johnson.

I liked rule number one and rule number two from New Classroom Rules. The first rule was "come to school everyday, unless you would rather just go on line" by Education Innovation. I think this rule is very important. I believe it is stating that you should go to class everyday or don't sign up to take a class. It is very important to go to class everyday because the teacher covers so much information and you need to be there to hear everything he/she says. The teacher can not explain material through email as well as he/she may be able to do in person. Another reason to go to class everyday is because teachers count participation points into your final grade. Therefore, if you are not there you can not receive these types of points.

The second rule on the list of rules from New Classroom Rules was "Come to class on time, or log into your online class anytime day or night, whenever it is most convenient for you." I think this is a great rule because students should always arrive to class on time or earlier than class starts. It is so disrespectful to walk in a classroom when the teacher is lecturing. Coming to class late affects the teacher as well as the other students. You should always remember to show respect to your classmates and your teachers. Therefore, show up on time!!

In Doug Johnson's list of Seven Brilliant Things Teachers Do With Technology, my two favorites are number four and number six. Number four on his list states, "Put kids in touch with the world." I think this statement means that students should communicate with the whole world. They should not just be focused on one culture or their own world around them. I think students should be encouraged to learn about different cultures and learn to respect people of other cultures. Technology is a great way for students to communicate with other people from around the world. Students should be networked!!!

Number six from the Seven Brilliant Things Teachers Do with Technology states, "Use the kids' own devices to teach them." I believe students are the most up to date users of technology. The students usually know a lot more about the different types of technology than the teachers do. Therefore, encourage the children to use all the different types of technology to learn. Let them teach you and vise versa. Using the technology that students already know about will make it more exciting to learn because they already know how to use the technology. They just have to put it to use in the classrooms.

On Doug's list of Seven Stupid Mistakes Teachers Make With Technology, my two favorites are numbers three and five. Number three from the list states, "Not supervising computer-using students." I think this is true. A lot of teachers do not supervise their students while they use the computer. I think this is a very bad mistake. Some computers do not filter out all of the bad information or bad pictures. Therefore, the students will be watching things they should not be watching. Teachers should tell the students what to exactly look up and monitor them the whole time they use the computer. Number five from the list states, "Believing that one's teaching style need not change to take full advantage of technology." I think this also true. Most teachers that have been teaching for a long period of time do not use technology. I think this is a very big mistake because technology is very important in today's society. Teachers should learn how to use technology and incorporate it into their lectures.

All three of these list were very helpful and very interesting. You should go to these websites and view all of the statements in these lists.

At the Teacher's Desk

At the Teacher's desk was a very helpful resource for teachers. I liked how this website has different blogs about different ways of teaching. It is a great way to find new ideas to use in the classroom.

The first one I liked was the one about facebook. This blog is titled Using Technology for Effective Communication. It talks about different technology to use in the classroom to communicate with students and parents. I like how it uses facebook. It points out that many parents of children in school have facebook and they check it everyday. I would never of thought about using facebook to communicate with parents. But after reading this blog I really think it is a great way to communicate with them.

The second blog I liked but do not agree with was Pencils and Crayons to be Banned in Schools. I don't see how they are going to banned pencils and crayons from school. I think it is important for students to use pencils and crayons especially kindergartners. This is a way to express themselves through coloring or drawing. They have already taken recess and nap time away from them, I can't believe they now want to take this away from them. This is a way of showing that technology is a big part of today's society.

The next blog I found interesting was Scary Statistics. I thought this was so crazy. It talks about girls and boys in school and how they succeed. It shows that more girls succeed than boys. I think we should work harder to help boys succeed after reading this blog. It was kind of heartbreaking to read these standings about boys and girls. I think we, as teachers, should encourage our boys and give them a lot of positive feedback.

I really enjoyed reading these blogs throughout this website. I believe I will continue to use this blog as a form of finding new ideas to use in the classroom.

The Future of "Whatever" by Michael Wesch

This video by Michael Wesch really amazed me. He pointed out so many interesting ideas. I liked how he points out that media has become another language. He says it is controlling how we communicate. Everyone these days has a cellphone. During my classes many students use their cellphones while lecture is taking place.

Throughout Michael Wesch's video he talks about where our culture is going in the future. He emphasizes on the "WHATEVER" attitude. He believes we only care about ourselves and we do not care about others. He says there are no self-to-self conversations these days. I believe him to be true. So many people are now using the internet or their cellphones to have a conversation. Most students hate talking on the phone and would rather text a conversation. I believe as a future teacher that texting and emailing is going to hurt my students in the long run. They are not going to know how to communicate in front of their peers.

Why should students post?

I think it is a great idea for students to post. Posting helps them get more comfortable with technology. It lets them learn how to use the Internet and more. There are many different types of ways a student can post. There are also a lot of different programs that are associated with posting. Posting is a great way of communicating with others. It also is a great way of sharing resources with others. Comments4kids was a great example of students posting their ideas. This helped the students post on their topics and then comments were left on their blogs. Another type of blogging is Facebook. Tons and tons of people are posting and they don't even know it. Through Facebook people chat and make comments to each other everyday. I think blogging is a very creative way to incorporate learning in the classroom and outside of the classroom. Students can use their imaginations and then get feedback on their posts.

Comment 4 kids (Assignment # 3)

I recently visited Mrs. Goerend's class blog and wrote a comment on Callie's post. She wrote about going to the chemistry lab at her school and doing experiments. She said that the students were asked to get a sheet of paper and poke a hole into it. Then you would have a sharpie marker of any color and color around the hole. Next she said each group got to pick different colors. Her group picked red, blue, and black. She said she really liked the black marker the best. Jackie, Brett, and Caleb were in her group. After you color around the holes then you would role up another (smaller) piece of paper and stick it through the hole. Then, once you put the rolled-up paper in the water,which should be in a glass beaker, it might take a while but the marker should spread around your hole paper. It sounded like they had a lot of fun. After the whole class had done their papers they got to keep them and hold them up for everyone to see all the different colors that were made.