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.

Comments 4 Kids (Assignment #2)

kiana is that stuff u digg...

This week I visited Kiana's blog. I left her a comment on her blog about where she got her native American name. She said she got her name when she was just one year old. She says it means sneaky Lil' girl. She likes the rapper Lil Wayne and she loves to listen to music. I told her that I listen to music all the time and that's what gets me through long boring days. I thought we had things in common because we both enjoy music and I like the Lil Wayne like her. She says she is very creative and very funny. I think she would be a really fun girl to meet. She seemed smart and very easy going. I told her to keep up the good work and stay creative.

ACCESS

Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide or ACCESS is a program that lets students take web classes. This program was designed in November of 2004. It allows students to take advance placement classes or AP. The goal for the ACCESS website was: to create equity through additional educational offerings for all Alabama public high school students. Access reaches the needs of all high school students. This program provides students with courses and teachers through the use of technology.

A plan was developed and presented to Bob Riley in September of 2006. Access had twelve objectives to focus on. Access' support centers consisted of Madison City Schools, University of Alabama, and Troy University. The mission of the distance education program in Alabama is to provide an infrastructure that delivers equitable, quality learning opportunities for all citizens.

ALEX

I just recently visited the Alex website for my EDM 310 class. I have heard a little about this website but really didn't know much about it. Only from what people have said. After visiting this website I found this could be a very helpful resource for future teaching. It would be great for students, teachers, and parents to use. It mentioned that the Alex website is still a work in progress but it still has a lot already to offer. There are tons of lesson plans for different grade levels and different links to use for students and teachers. I also found many podcast to watch for different subjects you teach.

Alex has a Thinkfinity training that can teach, teachers, students, and parents how to use the website. Therefore, your not blind sited when you go to the site. I found that very helpful. I think more programs should have this training on their sites. I also liked the personal workspace where you can save all of your ideas and lesson plans so you want loose them. I think I will benefit from this website when I become a teacher.

Comments 4 Kids (Assignment #1)

As a class assignment for my EDM310 class, I visited Mr.Goerend's class blog, read five of his student's blogs, and commented on each of the five students. I read Maddie, Matt, David, Grace, and Noah's blogs. They were some really interesting blogs.

Maddie's blog was titled, " The Big Game." She described all of her senses that she used at the football game she went to. It felt as if I was at the game because she did such a good job on her description of the game. The game she talked about was between the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes. She made sure at the end of her blog to say that the Cyclones won.

Matt's blog was Laugh Like a Witch Day. I thought this holiday was good because in a couple of days it will be Halloween. He said on this day everyone will laugh in a high pitch sound and they will do it all day long. I don't like the idea very much because high pitch isn't a good noise to hear all day but he did a good job of using his imagination on this blog.

David came up with the holiday called International football day. This holiday is celebrated on September 27Th and on this day all you do is play football. On this day school is out and everyone all around the world will play football. I thought this was a good day to have because I love some football.

Grace did her blog on her first plane ride. She wrote about her first plane ride to California. She wrote about how she was a little scared of riding in the plane but she was excited about going to see her brother who was in the marines. She mentioned her ears popping and she felt sick to her stomach. But in the end she really enjoyed it. She said it took a really long time to get to their destination but she couldn't wait to ride in a plane again. I told her that I have never rode on a plane either. I told her I am scared and do think I will ever ride on one.

The last blog I commented on was Noah's blog. His blog was called Eating like a Sumo Wrestler. On this day everyone could eat as much as they wanted. They could also eat whatever they wanted. I told him I would love this day because I love food and I love to eat.

I loved doing this assignment and commenting on all of these children's blogs. Their blogs were so interesting and they each came up with good stories. They have just great imagination. Good Job Students!!!

Dear Kaia

After watching and listening to my assigned readings and videos, I was so amazed. I can not believe a three year old knows how to use a blog. I am twenty-two years old and just recently in my EDM 310 class, found out what a blog was or even how to use a blog. I had heard people talking about blogging but I had no idea what they were talking about. I was so shocked that Kaia has her own blog. Technology is going to be the only way of communicating and teaching eventually, I think. If a three year old is already learning how to use technology then yes this is the way we will be teaching when we become teachers. I like how Kaia's dad is encouraging her to use the computer and use the different ways to interact with others. I believe learning how to use technology is a must in today's society. So why not start young.

I love all of Kaia's pictures. It is so amazing how good she is with taking pictures. I like how her dad video tapes her telling what each picture means. I like the quote her dad says about even if something is ugly, it can look beautiful if you look at it a different way. Her dad seems so great. It is so important to have parents in a child's life like hers.

I also looked at a blog titled Singing Hearts. This blog used twitter. It let Kaia and and eight grade class communicate about a book her father was reading: The Last Child in the Woods. Kaia wanted to discover the outside world. So her and her father go out in the desert where they live and take tons of pictures and then he records her telling what each picture meant to her. He then put it on a blog post for everyone to see.

I just found these blogs so inspiring. I really loved this little girl and I don't even know her personally. But she is so amazing and I love how she is using technology and doesn't even know she is doing something so good. This is great.

Personal Learning Network

As a class assignment in my EDM 310 class, we were asked to create a PLN. PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. A PLN is a group of people that you will contact, via the Internet, and then share information about different topics. You can create a free PLN yourself at Free Technology for Teachers. My topic I chose to ask was about technology in the classroom. I contacted five different people and asked each of them about how or what they thought about technology in the classroom.

The first person I contacted was Mrs. Cheyette, she is a kindergarten teacher at Westlawn Elementary. I asked her if technology was very useful for using in the kindergarten classroom. She suggested if I was wanting to be an kindergarten teacher then I should start teaching my students in this grade before they progress into higher grades and not know how to use the Internet. She said technology is very important and it is going to be very helpful for students, as young as kindergarten to start learning how to use computers. She says she has a lesson on the computer every week. She first shows them how to use the mouse and keyboard and then later on in the year she takes a trip to the computer lab and let them show her what they have learned.

The second person I contacted was Mrs. Munn, she is a fill-in teacher. She is retired now, but she was a teacher at Wilmer Elementary for many years. She taught many grade levels, but taught second grade for the longest period of time. I asked her about using technology in the classroom and she responded by emphasizing on blogging. She said use to she didn't see much use in technology because she was use to just writing on the chalkboard but her last view years of teaching she really encouraged the students to blog. She said she would put topics on her blog then the students would have to comment once a week on the different topics. Then other students were encouraged to comment on each others comments. I really found this a helpful tool for when I start teaching.

The third person I contacted was Shannon Whitwall, she is a sixth grade, science teacher in Birmingham. I asked her what she thought about technology. She thought technology was a must in our society today. She loves using different types of technology in her classroom because it gets the children moving around and encourages them to learn. She says she uses the smart board a lot and has the students do different presentations and assignments using it. They love to come up and answer questions when she puts multiple choice questions for test and etc. on the smart board.

The fourth person I researched was Kelly Hines. I looked at her ideas and different thoughts about PLN on Keeping Kids First. I loved when Kelly stated, that she found other educators who thrived on conversations about learning, teaching, technology and leadership in education under her topic PLN's Redifined. I found this so true because there are so many educators out there that need help and different ideas of how to teach and they just don't know about a PLN. I can honestly say I had no idea what a PLN was until I took this class EDM 310. I was really impressed on Kelly Hines ideas about using PLN in the classroom.

The fifth person I researched was Joe McClung. He really likes blogging. He gives a lot of different links on his blog to help future teachers and to also help individuals who are already teaching. He believes that everyone should work together to help students succeed. You can do just that by having a blog and giving and receiving different ways to teach different subjects.

I found a lot of useful and helpful ideas about technology by speaking with each of these individuals. I really thank them for taking the time and letting me have such useful information. Now I really can't wait to use technology in my classroom.

New Media Literacies Projects

The New Media Literacies Project is made by a group of staff members. Their goal is to build upon social skills. They emphasize on the best ways to equip young people with social skills and cultural competencies required to become full participants in an a media landscape and raise public understanding about what it means to be literate according to the New Media Literacies website. They are now looking at the consumer point and producer point.

How to interact with culture and the surroundings of an individual are very important to the staff members. Students must know these media literacy skills to become something in life. It is very hard these days to go on in life without using these media skills: judgement, negotiation, appropriation, play, transmedia navigation,simulation, collective intelligence, performance, distributed cognition, visualization, and multitasking. They are not just skills for the classroom they are skills that let students express creativity. These skills connect people together upon the individual levels.

The New Media Literacies by the NML Staff

I liked the New Media Literacies. I found it helpful and very straight to the point. It flowed very fast through all the information it wanted to point on. It really emphasized on all the things a person needs to know to survive in our society. I think all of the skills mentioned in this video are needed to be effective in the future as a teacher. These skills are used everyday.

To be an effective artist, citizen, and worker, I believe that we will need all of these skills to succeed. Judgement will let us know where our information is coming from. Negotiation is also important for teachers because to learn to become better teacher you are going to have to collaborate with other teachers. Multitasking is a skill I accidentally attempt everyday. I could not imagine how my day would go if I did not multitask. I am constantly doing my blogs and writing papers for other classes and holding my son at the same time. I think in our society, multitasking is very essential because our society is moving so fast, multitasking is the only way to keep up. Navigating the Internet is certainly a new skill for the 21st century. Play would relate to one's surroundings as a form of problem-solving. Performance is the speed or strength at which someone progresses. That is a couple of the media literacies listed in this video. All of these literacies are IMPORTANT.

The Networked Student: by Wendy Drexler

This video was networking in the twenty- first century. Ms. Wendy Drexler's video was also inspiring. The video was helpful and she was very knowledgeable about what she was discussing. Learning has changed compared to ten years ago.

I have a lot of learning to do. I know the basic computer skills but I am not big on technology. I am learning something new everyday in my EDM 310 class. I have no ieda how to use Skype, Delicious, or Wiki. The web has more information than any book could ever have. I do believe this class is preparing me to teach a networked student. As I learn about each one of the topics in my EDM class I will be able to then teach it to my future students.

But as for now, at this time, I do not believe I am ready to teach a networking student. I feel that there is so much to learn about technology. I feel like I am new to all the different types of technology. Don't get me wrong I have learned a lot from my EDM 310 class, but I still have a bunch more to learn. I do like this new style of teaching/learning. It offers so many different opportunities.

Richard Miller: This is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

Mr. Richard Miller video explained creative writing with visual interpretation. Miller also spoke about how we can now communicate globally. I think that it's so weird that when I post a blog the blog shows up on the web for anyone to see. He first starts out talking about how he grew up working with books. He mentioned that you can buy the virtual version of a book online for a much lower cost for a book that you might never even open.

Before listening to Mr. Richard Miller I had no idea of how are society is learning. We no longer read an write, instead we watch videos and just listen. Instead of taking a trip to the library to look up information we can look it up on the Internet in two seconds. I can honestly say I have only been in the library on campus once. When I write papers or do homework I look up all the information on the computer. I think it is very true, when Mr. Miller states that an article was more likely to be read on the web than in a magazine or book.

I found this video to be inspiring. I also find that our world is becoming technologically based. I think the old way of reading and then writing down notes is eventually going to be dead. We now can listen to information then collaborate with others work's and make new modified works. Multimedia is growing and multimedia writing should become more common among students and teachers.

ipods in Instruction

iPods are becoming more and more popular in the classroom every year. Many students and teachers use them. I didn't know much about ipods until viewing this website and seeing all that it can be used for. I thought ipods were used only for music but they can be used in so many other ways.
In 2004, Duke University gave 1600 incoming freshmen brand new ipods. They did this in regards to their digital initiative. The students had access to many lectures and other helpful things through the ipods. The students could access their school information with their ipods. Many classes are now incorporating ipods in their classrooms. According to Duke University the results of giving ipods to their freshmen has been so great. I agree with this website about the use of ipods in the classroom.

Itunes U.

Honestly, I have never heard of itunes u or itune university until I had to do this assignment. I thought it was so cool. I really didn't know a lot about itunes to begin with but itunes U was very interesting and helpful. Itunes University had so many different categories to click and explore. It has so many cool podcast too. You can listen to different professors all around the world. I just found it so cool how you could pick a chapter then a topic and listen to a professor lecture.
I believe there could be many ways, in which, I could use this site when I begin teaching. When we are discussing a specific topic I can look it up and have things saved and ready to pull up in my classroom. I could also show students different pictures relating to the topic I am teaching. I was really pleased with this site and I think I will use it in my future teaching.

Dr. Christie's Website

I enjoyed Dr. Christie's website. I like her classrooms and workshops. The information on her website is helpful for anyone going into the teaching field. I like the information on the virtual field trips. I have never heard of this or even knew what is was until clicking on it. But after clicking on it, it became very interesting.
Virtual field trips is a way of taking field trips without all the expenses. This way the students can even learn about technology at the same time. Instead of getting out into the "real world" they can use the computer to take a field trip. Good way to save money for low income schools.

"What I've Learned This Year"by Mr. McClung

I really enjoyed reading this post. It was a great article for upcoming teachers. Throughout my education to become a elementary teacher, my professors have encouraged us to be effective teachers. They teach us different ways in which to be effective teachers. I think it is very important to be an effective teacher and to motivate your students in many ways. He gave a lot of helpful information on how to be an effective teacher.
Mr. McClung listed several different ways to help future teachers. One thing he feels strongly about is collaboration. He believes communication is the best medicine. He thinks you as a teacher should communicate with each of your students individually and help each of them in different ways or techniques. I really liked this article and I found it so encouraging for future teachers. Teachers should never stop learning, according to Mr.McClung.

Is Wikipedia a trusted source for information?

I do not think Wikipedia can be trusted, after reading the Wired Story and listening to the NPR Podcast. I just think its crazy that just anybody can be edited on Wikipedia. I don't think Wikipedia will ever be reliable. I do not use Wikipedia very much because of all the negative things I have heard about it. Most of my teachers at south have told us not to use Wikipedia due to this problem.I thought it was cool that they do monitor who changes information on Wikipedia. But I'm still not a big fan of it.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

I really enjoyed watching Mr. Pausch's video http://tinyurl.com/mvy4oq. At first I thought it was going to be a long one hour video. I couldn't imagine myself sitting through an hour long video of lecture when I wasn't at school. But I was very shocked when I began watching this video. I liked how he started off talking about himself and that really grabbed my attention.I was really into it when he said he only had a few months to live. That was so sad but you couldn't tell anything was wrong with him throughout the video. He was so happy about his life. I was really amazed.
Just listening to him one time, really made me admire him. He has so much going on in his life and he still tries to encourage people. He mentioned in the video to make dreams and make a list of each of them. I liked how he made it his mission to enable childhood dreams. Mr. Pausch was so excited about the subject he was teaching. This is the type of teacher anyone would love to have.
I liked how he made his own curriculum and didn't use the same as every other teacher. He let his students come up with their own assignments. He seemed like such a great teacher.
Mr. Pausch started his speech by introducing his main topics he was going to speak about. His topics were: childhood dreams, enabling dreams of others and lessons learned.
The first thing Mr. Pausch listed as one of his dreams was being in zero gravity. I was happy he got to achieve this goal. His second thing was playing for the NFL. He never got to play for the NFL but he did get to coach a football team and this really showed him a lot through life. The third dream he mentioned was being an author in the world book encyclopedia. He also accomplished this dream. Another dream he had was to be like his idol, Captain Kirk. He got to meet him but never got to actually be him. This video and this awesome man really encouraged me to not give up on my DREAMS!!!

Web browsing alternatives

Mr. Sullivan's presentation was really interesting. It really got my attention. I can't believe all the technology that there is for people with disabilities. It is amazing how much technology can help someone with a disability. There are a lot of different laws also that I was unaware of that protect people with disability. I didn't realize there was so many.
There is screen magnification which makes the text larger on the screen and reads out loud for the person. There is the voice recognition which a person with disability can give commands by talking into a microphone. Then there is the HAL software which reads text and uses braille. I just can't get over all of the things to help those with disabilities.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a very inappropriate thing to do. If you use anyone else's work you should always give them credit. It is a must. Students can get in really bad trouble if your suspected of cheating. Which plagiarism is considered cheating. Copyright is what protects a person's information or work from anybody trying to use their information as their own.
You should always give credit where credit is due. If you use someone else's work you must site his/her name or give a specific website. You do not have to site anything that is common knowledge or your own thoughts. It is very easy to plagarize because it is hard sometimes to summarize something with out using the words that are writtin out. The student doesn't mean to do this but doesn't catch themselves. So you should always write down all your OWN words>

Is It Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

Mr. Fisch gets right to the point he is trying to make in his video. I think it is not OK for teachers to be technologically illiterate. I believe that teachers should know how to use technology. Technology is getting more and more important in today's world. But I also think teachers should be able to teach even if they do not have technology.

Teachers should not just depend on technology they should know how to teach students just in case something happens to the technology in their classrooms. All teachers should know how to use computers. But you do not have to have technology in your classroom in order teach. There are still many teachers that teach really well and do not use technology in their classrooms. In order to be a great teacher I think you need to know the basics of technology. Therefore, teachers can input students grades and communicate with parents through email and such.

"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines

I strongly agree with Kelly Hines on her website/post http://www.eduratireview.com/2009/04/its-not-about-technology.html. It was very real. I liked how she emphasized on how teachers should be educators as well as learners. Teachers should help students learn and find different ways in which their students learn. Everyone learns at a different pace and in different ways. I think the teachers should put out a effort to learn how to use different technology in the classroom and teach the students how to use them also. Because our world is coming to technology only. We need to start teaching our children and students early how to use different types of technology because it is going to be very important in the future.
I think teachers should use technology in the classroom as more fun ways in which to learn. By educating the students through technology and not just writing and lecturing. Some students learn better by doing hands on and by using technology the student will be able to do this!!

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

The website http://is.gd/2c0V0 was very interesting. I found everything the students were writing to be true for most students (younger generations) in school. Students really do spend most of their time on the internet. Students are addicted to facebook and myspace and websites like that. So therefore they dont spend as much time studying books or reading, they rather just look information up on the internet. Technology is used a lot more now and it controls some people to much, to the point were people can't learn with out it. I think it is kind of sad. But it is definitly true that students bring different types of technology to school and play with it rather listen to the teacher lecture.
I don't think anything needs to be added to this video. Everything the students write are very accurate to students these days. But I think the students should be out in his/her field more and experiencing the future career instead of sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher. I think a lot of classes students have to take are a waste of money and the subject area of some classes are not even needed for his/her career. So what's the point in taking the class? Money, Money , Money!!!

Resources for Podcasting

The site http://practical principals.net/ was a really great site to listen to. A lot of these episodes were really long and got really boring though. So, I just listened to the first bit of a few episodes. They all were kinda helpful. But this is all new to me so it is a bit confusing to listen to. But that may just be me?
This site had tons of information. The speakers in most all the episodes knew what they were talking about and stayed on their topics. This site also had a lot of different links for educators to go to. All of the speakers were very professional acting. They had a bunch to talk about, but they were very knowledgeable. They were very casual and down to earth when they talked. I liked that about this website. I really wish I could do this good on videos or presentations in the future.

Former Student's Vieocast Work

The Technology Literate Teacher podcast was very good. These students did a great job and they stayed interesting throughout the video. The students were clear in their speaking and very easy to understand. I liked how they were talking to each other about a topic as if they were just sitting around having a conversation. You would never of thought this was an assignment for a class. It looks like just a couple of students talking. I also thought they all contributed throughout the video.
One thing I saw that the students were doing was being a little nervous, but not to bad. But no one can really help that. It is very hard to speak in front of people. And I know it is not going to be easy at all for me. I know that i should not use "verbal fillers" and try not to talk real fast or real slow. The students also did not look at the camera. They looked like they were talking to the microphone on the table. I also think they shouldn't just keep their hands in their laps, but should move around a little. Over all I think the students did a GREAT job!!

PODCASTS

SmartBoard Lessons Podcast is a really great podcast to listen to. It was easy to listen to and very interesting. The speakers were very funny and sounded happy about what they were talking about. It talks about different things to do at the end of the year with your class. I like that the podcast incorporated everyday movies in to the conversation. Like they used the movie Mean Girls and how in this movie there was math used in it. Mean Girls had math formulas on the blackboard in the background and this podcast mentioned was to use movies during your math lessons. It told us to go and watch movies and try and find math in them. This podcast also mentioned a website called teachersconnecting.com which let teachers talk back and forth about helpful ideas and resources to use in the classroom.

KidCast had a lot of information to share. this podcast was talking about conferences mainly. KidCast allows teachers to have conferences as a media channel. This way everyone at the conference can participate and give ideas and resources that they have. This is another way for teachers to help each other. This podcast was spoken more professionally than the SmartBoard Lessons Podcast. I liked how this podcast gave us ways to teach. Like using visual aids to teach word problems which are a hard subject for students. I really enjoyed this podcast and the information will be helpful in teaching.

This Week in Photography was like a talk show. This podcast was recorded in Canada. The hosts were really excited and friendly. This podcast seemed as if it was planned out. The host got right to the point on what they were going to talk about. They told the audience straight forward what they were going to speak about and didn't jump around and make you get lost. I think that this podcast will be very useful. It gave helpful information about different cameras and how to use them.

MacBreak Weekly was another talk show type podcast. But this one did not get straight to the point of what they were going to speak about, like This Week In Photography did. It was a bit confusing and I was lost. It was hard to follow ans wasn't very helpful to me. It was like the hosts were talking and joking around the whole time and forgot they had to speak on a topic. They never got to a direct point. I didn't really like this podcast!! SORRY!!

After listening to each of these podcasts, I found that podcast will be an important tool to use throughout education. It helps to communicate with other teachers and find new and exciting was of teaching. Podcast are FUNNN!!!:)

Next Generation Learning

Harry makes a very good point on this video. It really makes since about learning and how technology helps students learn. Technology, I believe, is going to be the number one tool for students in the future. Technology will become very important in the future for students. As Harry mentions technology improves concentration because the students have an opportunity to get up out of their desks and actually explore and research using technology.
Digital cameras are very helpful for capturing creative learning opportunities and music increases skills and understanding with technology. I also think blogs are helpful by letting others blog to your reflections and students get to help each other learn. I really thought it was cool that Harry's school let their students check out laptops if they did not own one. That would be really useful for children in low income homes. Digital cameras are also cool to use cause as Harry says they bring projects to life!!

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

I enjoyed the talk from Ken Robinson and I agree with some of what he points out. I believe schools do kill creativity. Schools do not let their students express themselves creativitly.They also do not let students use creativity to learn. Therefore, some students may not learn good the way not learn good the way a specific teacher teaches and needs another way to learn. Therefore, I believe there should be more movement in the classrooms.
This would help some students, that learn by doing hands on things, do better in the classrooms. So arts and music should still be just as important as any other subject taught in schools. Students should be up and moving instead of just sitting in a desk all day taking notes. Creativity is a MUST.

Did You Know? 3.0

This movie was about technology and how it is used more and more each day in the United States. I was shocked at all the information given from this movie. I didn't know things like India has more honor students than america. Or there are thirty-one billion searches on Google every month. This movie shows how much people really use technology. Its an everyday tool for everyone around the world.
I believe that eventually in the future, technology will be the only form of communication in the united states. Technology will be used for everyday use and everyone will own some type of technology. From computers to ipods everyone will have something.

A little about ME!!

My name is Heather Shelton, I live in Wilmer, Alabama.

I'm attending the University of South Alabama to receive a degree in elementary education.

My birthday is November 18, 1986 and I am 22 years old.

My favorite color is GREEN.

I have a 14 month old son, named Grayden.