Goodbye!

Goodbye for now fellow EDM 310 classmates and see you later Dr. Strange!

Final Post-The End

1.) I learned Google Docs, Picasa, podcasts, how to make a movie, blogging, PLN, Twitter, about commenting, iTunes U, about accessibility, and html code, Google forms, Google Earth, ALEX, ACCESS, Delicious, Timetoast, Wordle, voice commenting, and technology literacy. All of which I had not heard of or used before. I think all will be useful in the classroom, and I hope I get the opportunity to use each tool I learned in this class in my classroom one day. The most important thing I learned was technology literacy. I did not know completely all that terminology entailed, and now I believe I do. I understand what it means and what it takes to be technology literate, and I think that will help me more than anything else I learned.

2.) I would have liked to learn how to use the SmartBoard and how to make animations.

3.) I do not believe there is anything in this class that I will try to forget and never use.

4.) No.

5.) I found the weekly blog posts somewhat intellectually challenging, only because it required me to turn my brain on and think every week. I had to figure what I wanted to say, what I thought on a subject, and how was I going to say it so my opinion was understood. It was like writing a short essay every week.

6.) I do not believe I was ever bored.

7.) I think more feedback is needed, grades on assignments would have been nice to be sure I was on the right track with what I was supposed to be learning and be able to do. I also think more instruction, guidance, and organization is needed.

8.) When this class started I considered myself relatively technology literate, but I had no idea. I was not really, and I feel that this class has improved my skills in regarding technology. I at least feel that I'm technology literate now.

9.) I would like to keep up with technology used in the classroom by following technology literate teacher's blogs, such as Shelly Terrell's blog and others. I'm also going to keep up with the teachers I am following on Twitter, and keep increasing my PLN and RSS feeds.

Personal Learning Network #2

My Personal Learning Network is basically the same as I stated in this Post. I have added my fellow classmates' blogs, and also the three blogs I commented on for my Comments4Teachers assignments. I have also added the blogs I commented on for the Comments4Kids assignments. My Personal Learning Network will never stop growing, it shall for ever be increasing and it will not end with this class.

Interview with a 6th Grade Teacher

I interviewed a 6th grade teacher about being technologically literate and using technology in the classroom.

Technology Literate Teacher vs. Technology Illiterate Teacher Podcast

Click Here to listen to the debate!

Substansive Presentation

April 25,2010

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment



Wow, this was impressive. This student is doing and learning things with technology that are quite grand. My personal learning environment is somewhat similiar yet, different. I use Evernote as well and it is very handy to organize and store information. Honestly, I think hers is more advanced than mine. But, mine is growing everyday. I also, like the program she's using to manage her PLE. I think it's amazing that a 7th grader knows, uses, and has a PLE! I feel like I have a lot of work to do as a teacher to meet today's students needs, but I'm up for the challenge.

2 Questions That Can Change Your Life

Click Here to watch "Two Questions That Can Change Your Life by Daniel Pink

What's my sentence? I don't know how much I can decide that. People will say what they want to say about you, no matter how hard you try sometime. You can influence to a certain extent what your sentence will be by being what you want people to think of you, but again people will say what they choose to say whether you like it or not. I hope my sentence will be something like this, "She taught me ________(fill in the blank)." I don't really care what it is, as long as it is something that I contributed to another person learning. Was I better today than yesterday? I think I actually ask myself that question all the time. Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. Hey, I am only human. I can only try my best to strive for better. As a teacher, if one was to ask themselves these 2 questions I feel a lot of great and creative ways of teaching could come from it. I've heard students feed off the personality and moods of the teacher. If the teacher is feeling motivated, driven, excited, better, wanting to fulfill the sentence they want to leave behind and be remembered for, what do you think the outcome will be? I expect great things.

Google Earth Tour

I did my Google Earth tour on famous spots in The Great Smoky Mountains.



The places include:
Cades Cove
The Great Smoky Mountains
Clingmans Dome
Oconaluftee
Cataloochee
Roaring Fork
Laurel Falls
Ramsey Cascades
Mingo Falls

April 18,2010

Select a topic.....I guess I choose blogging.

I think blogging can be very great. I personally am sick of it, but that's just me. I'll get over it and will continue to use it and have my students blog when I become a teacher. So many great connections can made, and there are so many people to learn from through reading blogs and leaving comments. Even though I'm tired of it, I'm glad I learned about it and about the world of students and teachers that also blog.


Why Blogging is important

Comments4Kids-Cael

Click Here to read Cael's blog post

This week I read a post by Cael, a 10 year old at Pt. England School in Room 16. She wrote about herself. What kind of foods she liked, her favorite subject, sports, and how she didn't like worms. I wrote her saying that I think it's great she's blogging and writing and how important that is. Good job Cael!

Teaching Project

I decided to do my project where we teach someone something use technology on Google Calendar. I used ScreenToaster. I taught my mother how to use it, I thought she would find it helpful because she's so super busy all the time between work and taking care of a family and herself for that matter. So my audience is directed to older people who don't use technology very often. The outcome I wanted was for her to see how easy Google Calendar is to use and how helpful it can be to maintain organization in a busy life, and ultimately my goal is for her to actually use it. The video is below, if you have troubling viewing it you can Click Here

Free online screen recorder

I also used ScreenToaster to teach me five year old niece how to open a browser and type in an html code for a website she wanted to go to. My three year old nephew wanted to learn too so you can mostly hear his voice talking. She did great and wanted to do it several times for several different URLs afterwards. You can Click Here if you have trouble viewing it.

Free online screencasting tool

Comments4Teachers-Paula White

I commented on a teacher's blog entitled Reflections of the TZSTeacher.

It was about how everything we need to know we learned in kindergarden, and she really backs up her case.

On April 11, 2010 I commented:

Hi my name is Jessica Purvis. I’m a student at the University of South Alabama studying to be an elementary/ special education teacher and I am taking Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class.
You can visit our Class blog and leave a comment if you’d like.

Wow, just wow! I really enjoyed reading this blog post. It’s given me a great deal of insight into what teaching is all about, and that only makes me feel inspired and excited. Do you think teaching is almost like parenting?

April 16, 2010
This week's post was about teaching students to be independent and do for themselves.
Click Here to read her post

I commented saying:

I’ve been really enjoying reading your blog these past two weeks. You have a lot of great things to say and advice to give to someone like me who is studying to become a teacher. I have a lot to learn. Thank you for sharing, it gives me a perspective on what to expect and how to approach directing a classroom. It all seems overwhelming because a teacher has to be so many things. I also want to say that I think teaching a child to be as independent as they should be given their age is one of the best things an adult can provide for a child. If their capable of doing it themselves, then let them. Learning to do for yourself at a young age is crucial to being able to do for yourself as an adult.

Comments4Kids-All About Jonita

Click Here to watch the animation!
This week I watched a short animation by a girl named Jonita. It was showing her home and then school. Very cute! I told her how I liked it and how creative and well done it was.

April 11, 2010

Dr. Seuss' "The Zax"
Click Here to watch this video

Another PS 22 Video


So why is it important for students to post their work to blogs?

Exhibit A is located above. These incredible students sang a beautiful song, made a video and then posted it on the Internet. Where Stevie Nicks herself watched this video and was moved to tears. These students were given the chance to have an audience that surpassed anything that could be provided by teachers and parents locally, and this experience will be remembered and probably affect these children for the rest of their lives.

Students posting their work to blogs or to YouTube is important because it gives students a massive audience. These audiences' feedback can boost self-confidence and give students pride in their work. I also feel that it can help students believe in themselves, believe that their something special and that their work is valued, that their valued to many. It also helps them with their writing and encourages writing, as well as helps them become familiar with technology.

3 Examples:

Kaia's Blog
Dear Kaia



Mrs. Cassidy's Blog
Click Here: Their learning how to read and write by blogging!

Little Kids...Big Potential

Mr Chamberlain's "Dear Kaia: Voicethread and Video"
Click Here to read the blog post.


This blog post was about how Mr. Chamberlain's class commented on Jabiz Raisdana's daughter, Kaia, blog. Kaia's father noticed all the comments he was getting from Mr. Chamberlain's class. They contacted another and decided to have a Skype session. Since Kaia was unable to read yet, Mr. Chamberlain's class made a voicethread for her. I think this is great how people have connected in such a way due to technology. It's an absolutely revolutionary thing that's happening in our world and in the teaching society. Teachers now can learn from each other and each other's experiences in ways that were impossible before, and that is definitely a positive.

"Dear Kaia"
Click Hereto read her blog.

This is about the third time I've read this blog post and it still never gets old to me. This is a little girl named Kaia's blog. This specific post was about how Kaia's father felt it was important that she stays and plays outside due to a book he read "Last Child in the Woods." He also wanted her to learn that things that may seem ugly can actually be beautiful, it's all in the eye of the beholder. So to teach her this, they took pictures of some things that Kaia felt was beautiful, things that ranged from garbage to sunsets. I think it's great what he's doing with his daughter, and she is going to be so prepared for a world that relies on technology.

Intrepid Teacher: "Singing Hearts"
Click Here to read this blog post.

This post was about the connections Jabiz Raisdana has made with other teachers and especially the connections he has made with Mr. Chamberlain and his class. He also wrote about how the online world can be scary and dangerous and he wrote about his fears associated with exposing his child to the online world. I don't think that the negatives outweigh the positives and that the connections that are being made are extremely powerful. With children like Kaia out there a teacher has so much more on their plate then ever before I believe to provide a learning environment conclusive with a 21st century student.

Comments4Kids-Ms. Glaze's Room 6 Class

This week I read or watched a post entitled "Ambury Farm" it was by Ms. Glaze's Room 6 class.
Click Here to read their class blog!

This was a great and very enjoyable blog post to watch. It was about a school trip their class took to a farm. During this trip, they demonstrated good manners such as, politely raising their hands and sitting quietly. They also ate a healthy lunch on their trip which I thought was great that healthy eating habits are being attempted to instill in the students. It's such a very important thing to learn. On the trip, they got to see and interact with various farm animals; they saw a sheep being shaved and got to feed one very silly goat.
I commented saying how I enjoyed watching their video and how they displayed very good manners and eating habits. I also said how I wished my teachers when I was in their grade would've had us make movies or made movies of us and displayed them on blogs where the limited amount of viewers is only limited to the amount of people who have internet access in the world. Good job Room 6!

March 28,2010

Morgan Bayda "An Open Letter to Educators"
Click Here to read her blog post.
Below is the video by Dan Brown included in her blog post.



My experiences have and have not been similar to those of Morgan Bayda. Many of my classes require me to be creative and collaborate with my fellow classmates, even though they are lecture based classes. I do agree with her that my "educational computer class," EDM310, has been different than any other classes I have taken and am in the process of taking. It requires me to constantly use my brain, my thoughts, and my ideas, be collaborative, and connect with other people. It's definitely not conventional where one professor stands up in front of a class and lectures for about an hour or more, and then the student is required to memorize the information and take a test and then go on their merry way while they wait for their judgement or grade on how well they were able to spit back the information. I personally prefer the latter more conventional method but I know that's just me. Many people don't like it and feel they got nothing out of it and I completely understand why. I do however learn by the conventional method and probably prefer because for me it's less work. But, I have the up most intentions of trying to stray away from this method when I become a teacher. I know in my heart that it's better to push myself and my students to collaborate, be creative, and updated with the changes of society.

Also, I feel in a lot of ways that this video said a lot of things that I've been afraid could possibly happen to teachers and the education system; that they won't be needed anymore. Maybe Dan Brown's right, if teachers won't keep up with the changes then who needs them anyway with "liberated" information. Although, I need to be taught by an actual person talking to me even if it's indirectly like, standing up in front of classroom. I know that I can't be alone on that so therefore, I believe there will always be a place for teachers in society. As for information has become free, as in no monetary cost, I don't know I'm inclined to not agree with that statement. One has to pay for the device to get the Internet as well as having to pay to use the Internet. It might not cost the thousands of dollars it takes to get a college education at an institutionalized University, but it's not free. I guess if someone can't afford access to personal Internet, they can go to the library.

The way a person can get information has changed, and the education system does need to recognize this. The way a person can learn information has changed undoubtedly and even though it seems scary, as everything unknown does, it's time to reexamine the system and make changes.

Skype, so far...

So far this semester I have used Skype to connect with my family and friends whom I hardly ever get to see because they live several hours away. We have all definitely enjoyed it, especially my aunts and uncles who are older, they've been getting a kick out of it. I've introduced my parents to Skype and now they have become Skype fiends! They never use hardly any sort of technology and what they do use, they know the basics. So I've been happy that Skype has been bringing me and my family together once a week to talk to aunts, uncles, and cousins across the country. I also have used Skype to talk to my best friend who lives in Louisiana and who I don't get to see very often, and also to some of my friends who go to the University of Alabama and Auburn University and even though they're not too far away it's fun actually getting to see and talk to them. My class hasn't had the opportunity to Skype any teachers but I have watched all of the Skype videos that have been posted to the class blog.

I've also researched on ways to use Skype educationally in my classroom when I become a teacher, and I came across a great website called 50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom. I've enjoyed using Skype this semester! I had never heard of it before this class and honestly found it useless at first. Needless to say, my mind has been changed and I can't get enough of it.

Comments4Teachers-Jabiz Raisdana

March 25, 2010
This blog post was entitled "Last Child On The Web," it was about all the connections technology has brought about for Jabiz Raisdana and all the others who've taken a liking to his daughter, Kaia's blog.
This is what I commented about the post:

Hi my name is Jessica Purvis. I'm in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class and I'll be reading your blog for the next 3 weeks and then posting on my blog about what I've read and the comments I will be leaving.

I really liked how you expressed that technology is a way to share your non digital life digitally, and how it brings about human connection. It's great how your blog about your daughter has brought so many people together and talking.
"We must teach them to look critically at reality and find ways to share what they see with others so as to have a better understanding of the human experience. I see the Internet as the new novel, except that we are all authors and we are all constantly writing the chapters one blog post, one tweet, one Facebook update at a time." When I read this, it just really spoke to me and moved me. A truly inspiring and thought/idea provoking statement.

April 1, 2010
This blog post was entitled "Nature of War". It was about the things he has been teaching and doing with his ninth grade history class. The topic of the class is 20th century warfare and conflict. Instead of learning the who, what, when, and where, he has his students take a more analytical approach of the topic. They have to research and be collaborative. They also made a narrated video of images of warfare the class has collected.




This is what I commented:

Hi, my name is Jessica Purvis. I am a student at the University of South Alabama studying to be an Elementary/Special Education teacher and I am currently enrolled in Dr.Strange’s EDM310 class
Wow, I think it’s great what you’re doing in your class. You really make them think, analyze, and be creative. To do otherwise, I believe, would be an injustice to your students. This is a great way for them to learn, most of my history teachers maintained learning at a who, what, when, where level. No wonder I have a difficult time remembering it all. I also really enjoyed watching the video your class made, the narrator is excellent in expressing the intensity of the subject and images being shown and discussed. You hold your students to high but reasonable standards of learning, and this video shows the great outcomes that have come from that. I believe that this video is only one example of many to come of what your students will be able to do.

You can visit My Blog and leave a comment if you want.

Comments4Kids-Mrs.Goerend's 6th Grade Class

This week I commented on a post written by sixth grader, Kyle B. It was entitled "Drug Abuse is Bad For Your Health". It was a persuasive essay, and I felt that it was very well done and well researched. I was indeed persuaded to believe that basically doing drugs will ruin your life. I commented telling him that I liked the topic he chose to write about and that he did a good job on researching the subject. I also commented about how I liked his style of writing, how he writes in complete sentences and spells very well. Good job Kyle!

Results Of My Questionnaire, EDM310 students have spoken

Click Here to see the results of my survey in the spread sheet form.

Sixty eight people out of the hundred and fifty people that the survey was sent to responded to my survey. I based my survey on where people stood in the class, what they felt. I basically wanted to see if people felt the same way I did, but moreover I was interested to read what my fellow classmates had to say. One part of my survey was about how people read and what they we're reading. To me, the results were very interesting.

To begin, the majority of people who answered the survey, 18%, were in Class C. More people,17% read the class blog everyday, and only 11% of people read it once a week. 83% of people think the links on the class blog are helpful. For the people who answered that the links were not helpful, they're explanations can be accessed by clicking on the above link of the answers. 100% of people attend the majority of classes, and the majority of people, 39% attend morning classes whereas only 15% are in classes all day. 77% do not have children, and 65% have a job. I asked how old they were purely out of curiosity, the majority of people are in their twenties, but there are a quite of few people in their thirties. Most are taking between 12 and 13 hours of classes. 51% are juniors, and 49% of people spend 1-3 hours working on EDM310 a week. 81% felt that the workload was too much and when asked the question, "have you completed the majority of blog assignments given so far?" the majority 76% answered "other." 51% answered "no" compared to 49% who answered "other" to the question " do you think the blog assignments are pointless?" 69% said they have completed all of the projects assigned so far and 75% believe this class will help them become a better teacher. 81% think the assignments need more explaining and 69% wish that grades would be issued individually one week after an assignment is due. When asked "why?" to the previous question, the main answers were consistently that it helps them know where they stand in the class, if they're doing everything they're supposed, and that grades let them know if they need to improve their work. 87% agreed that they would like to see their grades for individual assignments. 56% felt that they had an A. The majority of people who answered the survey, 61%, read books over any other reading material. But, web-based material came in at a close second of 58%. Although, 41% preferred to read a book over any other kind of reading material. I next asked what was the last thing they had read. I asked this question basically because I was interested to see what my fellow classmates and possible future colleagues were reading. Yet, 34% hadn't read for pleasure for a month or more ago. When learning something new, 65% said that they would rather watch an instructional video compared to reading about it or listening to a podcast. Although, 56% (more than half) answered that they would rather read instructions, when learning something new. 72% felt it was better to be a technology literate teacher, and there were a number of responses that can be seen on the spreadsheet answers on how EDM310 can improve to better students.

So...what does all of this mean?

You tell me.

March 12, 2010

ALEX( Alabama Learning Exchange )
Click Here to go to the ALEX website.

ALEX is a database of lesson plans created and posted by teachers. You can search through the database by traditional subjects, and also by technology education and information literacy. Lesson plans are provided for many subjects at many grade levels. There is an area of podcasts and a place where teachers can create their own personal workspace. There is also a section of web links that contains educational links for teachers, administrators, and students. You can also recommend a web link to placed on ALEX. Additionally, there is a professional learning section that offers resources for teachers to enhance their professional development.

I feel ALEX is going to be a lifeline for me when I become a teacher. At the sake of sounding redundant, the resources in ALEX or undoubtedly resourceful. There are so many things for a teacher to use and benefit from, and overall ALEX is just a good idea. I did not know that this existed, and I am so glad that I do now. The lesson plans are thorough and utterly helpful. I feel that anytime teachers come together to help one another out students benefit.

ACCESS( Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide )
Click Here to go to the ACCESS website.

ACCESS is a statewide distance learning initiative that allows schools help other schools by offering advanced level courses and electives that might not otherwise be available. It combines video conferencing and distance learning and is available to all Alabama public high school students. This program is so beneficial to student achievement. They can accomplish courses or classes they would never have been able to do before in a way they most likely have not done before. They get to use technology through distance learning, and it has become by understanding that kids enjoy using technology in classrooms. A quote from one teacher on the ACCESS website was “My students think that they have reached heaven. One student said that he wanted to live in that lab . . . the other student next to him told me that this was his favorite class ever!”
Adina Stone, Latin I IVC and Online Teacher, Sheffield High School, Sheffield

ACCESS provides access to advanced diploma courses, dual enrollment courses and dual credit courses, remediation and supplemental resources. It also provides teachers with multimedia tools to enhance instruction. I'm sure how useful ACCESS can be for me when I am a teacher and to the students I will teach, because I'm going to be an elementary school teacher and ACCESS, as of now, is only available for high school students.

Timetoast TImeline

I did my timeline on famous American Artwork from 1830-2000. The information I used in the timeline comes from The Philips Collection.

You can view my timeline here.

Comments4Kids-Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog

Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog



This week I commented on Mrs. Yollis' Blog. Her students are third graders, and the blog post I commented on was about how they are learning all about different triangles. They had a video posted about equilateral triangles and different pictures posted where the students are making different triangles out of their bodies. How fun! I'm actually taking a class right now where we're learning complex geometry so we'll be able to teach it better to students such as these. I found it great how I could see the connection between learning geometry and using technology to help children understand it. I see why this blog was first runner up for the best class blog award in 2009, and if you visit it you will see why too.

March 7, 2010

Randy Pausch giving his farewell lecture.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
Click Here to watch his speech

I have to say that even though this lecture was over an hour long, it was not painful to listen to, and even though I had a hard time understanding all of the technology stuff he was talking about, I took away learning important life lessons about being honest, the power in helping others, and that brick walls give you a chance to show how badly you want something. He discussed three things; his childhood dreams and how he accomplished them, helping others, and lessons learned.

He is a professor and works with virtual reality. He's done things with Disney, such as The Aladdin Project, and teaches virtual reality classes where students make a virtual world. One of them was Hello. World. It was hilarious how the world didn't want to move on so another world could be presented. The audience could also participate and control something on the screen. I would love to take a class where we did something like this! I think it gives students pride in that they did something amazing, quite cool, built friendship and had fun doing it. Always having fun was something Pausch pushed in his lecture, and I agree with him. You only live once, so have fun doing it.

He described his virtual world course as a pioneering course and a course about bonding. He said he knew if a groups virtual world was going to be good or not if when the people got up to present the world were standing close together and seemed connected. I agree with this cause if people work hard together, are comfortable with each other and had fun it shows in the presentation. He discussed the Dream Fulfillment Factory; the Entertainment Technology Center or ETC I believed he called it. There is no book learning, they made things, and they took field trips to places such as Pixar. Sounds magnificent to me! A field trip to Pixar, I'm jealous!

In his lecture, he also explored edutainment and a project called "Alice." Edutainment is where they taught using gaming technology and how it as become a global phenomenon. He showed a bar graph on the results on what college students thought of how easy each other were to work with. He claimed that this taught students to be self-reflective and if you can teach students this you've taught them a very powerful thing. He also discussed his project "Alice" where kids make movies and games, and the head fake is that they are actually learning how to program. He gives an example on virtual reality by saying how people can see the promised land without actually stepping foot on it; experiencing something without actually experiencing it. I would love to have my students and myself be apart of something like this. Pausch calls himself the "mad hatter" in that he wants this to be infinitely scalable, where tens of millions of people can chase their own dreams. He's done great things in his life and I honestly wish I could've had the opportunity and privilege to participate in one of his classes.

Survey for EDM310 students

Please fill out this survey I would greatly appreciate it! I will post a summary of the results in a blog post later on after it has been completed by enough people. Thank you very much!

Click Here to take the survey!

Comments4Kids-Roberto

I commented on Roberto's blog. I searched the class blog trying to figure out what exactly Roberto's assignment was for his blog post but, I had no luck. He wrote:

"Outdoors is scary

When there's bears attacking

I could feel them stalking

And that's why I camp in my backyard"

I think it might be a poem. I really enjoyed reading it and thought it was very creative! I commented telling him that I enjoyed reading his blog post and that I liked how the topic was about camping. I also said how I used to camp in my backyard when I was younger as well. I also told him that he did a good job using imagery that I could really see the bear stalking and could feel the fear that would create in someone. Additionally, I asked what exactly the assignment was about. I thought his writing was very expressive and I have really enjoyed reading these students blogs its my favorite assignment we're doing in EDM310!

Personal Learning Network

So far for the progress I have made on my PLN is making a number of RSS feeds 15 so far, they are Wired Science, Whats new in the world, Twitter for teachers, wikispaces, The Educators Royal Treatment, Lastest Activity on the Educators PLN, Philly Teacher, convergemag.com, Free Technology for Teachers, Edutopia, Connect Your PLN Lab, twitter.com, and alicechristie.org. I have also been following a number of Teachers on Twitter, including Mr. Chamberlain and Mr.McClung. I manage my Twitter account using TweetDeck, and I typically read my RSS feeds once a day. I've been searching and watching YouTube videos regarding education which there are many! I have found websites to learn from by using Delicious and have used Delicious to bookmark my own findings for my PLN, and have gone back to find websites that do not have an RSS feed such as TED . There's an infinite amount of information out there and people to learn from it's hard to keep up with. But for me, my PLN helps me keep everything organized, and as Dr. Strange says lets me dip into the flowing river of information out there.

February 28, 2010

Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2
Click Here to watch the videos

These two videos were very interesting. Richard Miller says that writing has changed from being in books and on paper to word processing, and that research can be found from libraries all over the world, that a student is not limited to their school or library anymore. One can now find information in a matter of seconds, and this should be taken advantage of. Writing exists in two forms, a "dual life" as Miller says, in a print based form and a web based form. The web based form has much more advantages primarily that one can share knowledge infinitely. To me, that statement has so much power behind it because of all the capabilities of learning and growing a person can encounter by having access to infinite knowledge. Technology allows so many benefits to collaborative work, one can now add visuals and sound to their text; allowing a better experience for an audience on the topic being discussed. There are so many entries to sounds and images that one can find over the Internet that can be put together in one unit to make a very solid presentation.

Richard Miller says that "we as educators must be into the idea of sharing information freely." I completely agree with him, when you share your knowledge of things, I think the world can only benefit from it. In regarding technology, he says to not only use it but produce it, see how it's being put together, produce alternate stories, distribute information freely. He states in regards to the limitations and restrictions of technology, we place them on ourselves, but he does recognize that access can be a problems. He wants writing to go beyond word processing, and to produce compositions that are beautiful with audio and pictures. He says that technology is a way to push ideas into culture, and that we need to be at the front edge of that. I haven't exactly thought of technology that way before, so I enjoyed the way he put that. He says in order for all this to happen, the education system needs resources and inspiring teachers, teachers who teach visual literacy. The main goal being not the technology itself, but what technology makes possible; sharing and articulating dreams.

I do not know if I am fully prepared to write with multimedia but I am definitely trying to learn how; hence the purpose of taking EDM310. I'm open to all possibilities of learning; anything that can benefit my students is definitely something I'm not opposed to trying. I think my students will be able to write using multimedia probably better than I will be able to, but I will help guide them along the way and teach them with the best of my abilities how to use the tools to succeed.

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler
Click Here to watch The Networked Student

I love the simplicity of the visuals in this video, they were very effective in the overall message of this video. I believe that the main point as was stated, was connectivism. That the connections that are made and used with technology are more important than the technology itself. Teachers make students responsible for their own learning. A student can make a collection of websites or a Personal Learning Network, for a project or a subject. They can use Google Scholar to find respectable information to use and then blog to express their opinion. They can use iTunes U and have access to the best professors in the world, and then again share what they've learned with the world so others can turn around and learn from them. Students learn information management.

In this video, a question was asked and answered. "Why would a networked student need a teacher?" The answer, the teacher teaches students how to build a network and how to take advantage of learning opportunities. They provide guidance when a student gets stuck and needs help and they teach how to communicate properly. They also instruct how to distinguish between good and bad information, or useful and useless, and they can offer reassurance and make a student feel proud of themselves when they have accomplished a job well done. They also show a student how to be a scavenger of information and how to organize their information, all in hopes that a student will continue on what they have learned and put it to good use. A goal I believe of every good teacher; tech literate or not.

I am not quite sure if I'm ready to completely give in to try all these things with my students. Well, let me put it this way, I am willing to use and teach all of these resources and technology with my students, and I believe that teaching a student to teach themselves should always be encouraged and almost enforced, but I don't feel that it should replace an actual human teacher explaining a subject or topic. For myself at least, there's just something about a person actually talking and explaining something to me that helps me understand what they're trying to say better. So, I just don't feel like I will ever be able to tell my students, today we are going to be discussing the America psyche, figure out yourself what I'm talking about. Of course I do believe that my students could very well figure out for themselves what I'm talking about if I taught them how to use technology properly to do this or maybe even not, considering that the 21st century student can't imagine a world without computers, Google, and technology. If they listen better than read, they could listen to podcasts and if they're more visual they could watch a video or movie on the subject. I know that today's students do this all the time to learn about they're favorite actors or another topic that interests them, and that they could benefit very much from this approach of learning and therefore, teachers should not ignore the advantages of using technology to teach students. But again, for myself I learn very effectively when a teacher, in person, is teaching me, and I feel that I can not be alone on this method of learning. So basically, I don't feel that teachers should only teach students how to use technology to teach themselves the subject, but actually continue to teach students the subject. A teacher could finish a lesson and then pose a question to students and then have them research the answer for themselves. The student could blog about what they found, and use multiple different technological resources to make a project on the topic. A teacher could use technology in the classroom, in person, to teach students, and they are so many ways a teacher could use and should use technology to teach students. I just don't feel the teacher should be replaced with technology.

I don't feel that I am fully prepared to be a teacher of a networked student, but through this class and my PLN and my continuance of wanting to learn how, I believe I'm getting there.

Michael Wesch- Toward A New Future of Whatever
Go Here to watch this video

I am not quite sure what exactly to say in regarding how this video relates to my personal life, current experiences, and future professional work as a teacher, but I am glad that I watched it. I really don't use technology that much to make connections with people, the most I do is Facebook and Twitter; other than that I prefer a more personal method of communicating with people. But that's just me and I do realize that their are a great many of possibilities of connecting with people using technology, such as YouTube. I definitely believe I will use YouTube as a teaching tool in my classroom. Today's generation indifferent, narcissistic, self-absorbed.....never. (Hence, the sarcasm) Actually, I have mixed feelings on this topic. Although I feel that there are people whose priorities are being recognized and getting their five minutes of fame, and will do this at all costs like the parents that pretended their child was trapped in a balloon to be on t.v, and the millions of YouTube videos of people doing outrageous things hoping they will stand out and be recognized, I think there is some real genuine human connections between it all. I definitely agree that technology make a person more self-aware. Wesch says that these forms of communicating create less social anxieties, this I have to disagree with. Communicating through technology gives me more anxieties because I feel like I have one shot to show what I am made of, and since I am not exactly having a conversation I can't adjust myself and what I am saying based on the other person's reaction because I don't even know who exactly my audience is. It's also awkward talking to yourself and I definitely believe it creates "context collapse"

I know lots of people that post videos on YouTube and that use media as a number one way to communicate with others. Humans seek connection with other humans, its human nature to do so. I feel that technology makes this easier to do so, it forms communities of people that otherwise would most likely not have been formed and therefore without a doubt should be used in education.

Comments4Teachers

Alright I'm going to be honest and say for the past 3 weeks I have been commenting on Shelly Terrell's blog, and then pasting what I commented in a draft on my blog, but until today I have just discovered my comments were not being submitted correctly and so I re-commented on her blog today. I want to greatly apologize to Shelly Terrell for this. I have been following your blog for the past three weeks and have really enjoyed it and it has been truly inspiring to me.


February 23,2010
I commented on Shelly Terrell's blog. This blog post I commented on was entitled Goal: Plant A Seed
To read this blog post Click Here.
Hi my name is Jessica Purvis i'm in Dr.Strange's EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama, i'm studying to be an elementary teacher, We're learning how to use different technologies and how we can use them as teachers in Dr.Strange's class. Wow your blog is inspiring! You said everything that I've been feeling about teaching...to believe in the students, to have faith in them. It's really encouraging that someone who is already a teacher believes in believing in students. I've had people tell me to not feel this way, that the children who are falling behind are just lazy, and that I'll burnout real quick if I put my heart and soul into teaching. So it is truly motivating to read that there is someone else out there that believes a teacher CAN make a difference. Thankyou!
My blog is http://www.purvisjessicaedm310.blogspot.com

The EDM310 class blog is http://edm310.blogspot.com

March 4,2010
This blog post was entitled At A Loss for Word-le?!
To read Shelly Terrell's post Go Here.
Hi my name is Jessica Purvis, I'm not sure If I said already in another comment on another blog post you wrote but I am a student at the University of South Alabama studying to be an elementary teacher. I'll be commenting on your blog for the next 3 weeks as an assignment given for Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class where we're learning about how to use different technologies, how we can use them in the classroom, and just how to be tech literate teachers and life long learners in general. I will be summarizing what I have read on your blog and the comments I have left in a blog post on my blog by March 21st.

I'd like to start out saying that I am thankful I was assigned your blog to read! You have very interesting and useful things to say, and your blog is actually quite enjoyable to read, I look forward to reading it every week, and I have included your blog as a part of my PLN.

I'm only 22, I have a MacBook, Dell computer, iPod, cellphone, Wii, and several different accounts for websites ranging from Skype to Facebook to Classroom 2.0 and Edutopia, and I used to think I knew a thing or two about technology, but I know nothing. I'm finding this class extremely difficult and overwhelming and as soon as I feel comfortable using a certain technology it seems to become outdated and there's something new I need to learn. So I guess I'm also feeling a sense of loss with technology. I feel like I'm struggling to keep up! So it's not surprising for me to hear that twitter could be here today and gone tomorrow. But, I do feel that it is incredibly important that I learn all this stuff and continue to learn and advance to become a tech literate teacher. I agree with you that students should be opened to the world that the benefits of that are enormous, and technology allows this to happen. I think its wonderful that you are using technology in your classroom and that its having positive results. Its inspiring to me that your confident with using new and different technologies because I am not so much; something about the unknown intimidates me, but I'm finding the courage to take it head on and reading teachers blogs like yours gives me the confidence to do so; to see you all tech literate teachers be successful with using technology in your classrooms.

Glad Wordle is working again! We've used Wordle in our class, and it really entertains me, and has given me many ideas on how I could use it in my classroom one day.

You can visit my blog at http://purvisjessicaedm310.blogspot.com
The class blog is http://edm310.blogspot.com

March 11,2010

This blog post was entitled Why Do We Connect? Video Project
I did an audio comment on this blog post about PLN's. It was great! She's really doing a lot to promote educators to form a PLN.

Click Here to read the blog post and to also listen to my comment.

[riffly_audio]114567AC2D8C11DF94BCC751272CF880[/riffly_audio]

Comments4Kids-Sarah

I read Sarah's blog from Mrs.Kolbert's class. She posted a question, If you could name one attraction( like Disney World and Universal Studio) what would you call it, and she specified not to use names from books, newspapers, magazines etc. I said I would name my theme park The Lion heart, where everything in the park was based upon and modeled after a great hero. Interesting blog post Sarah!

February 21, 2010

Dr.Christie's Website
Go Here to explore Dr.Christie's site

First off, Dr. Christie's website is jam packed full of resources for teachers! There are so many to choose from it was hard to choose just one. But, I chose her Google Earth Resource Guide. It contains information on what exactly Google Earth is, how much it costs, why to use it in the classroom, examples of Google Earth lessons, Google Earth resources, tutorials, videos on using it, and how to connect with other Google Earth users and educators. But her website contains much more educational technology tools and how to use them in the classroom.

As a teacher, I could use Google Earth to simply enhance student learning. It gives students a way to actually visualize the world, and places that they have never seen or will never get the chance to see. It boosts the skills required for map reading and navigation. It also lets them see where they live in relation to the rest of the world. I feel that it makes learning more exciting and meaningful, and students get a chance to use technology. I could use Google Earth to have students measure things, such as the length of a bridge or the height of a pyramid, or even the length of the country. Another way to use Google Earth as a teacher is to use Google Lit Trips, where students can use Google Earth to learn where exactly road trip novels took place at, novels such as The Grapes of Wrath, Night, and Paddle to the Sea. With all the great resources on Dr. Christie's site, I know I will use it as a teacher!

iTunes University
Click Here to go the the Apple iTunes U website
Go Here to read about the benefits of using Itunes U

As a teacher iTunes University is a way teachers can distribute digital lessons to their students. Many students are already using iTunes to download music and videos to their iPods, iPhones, and computers, so to me it just makes sense that if a teacher wants to put educational information on the Web as tool for their students to put it on iTunes, and iTunes U is an easy way to do this. A teacher can not only put lectures on iTunes U, but also study materials and class announcements. Students and teachers alike can find high quality information in one place, and teachers can get resources for their class from other teachers across the country using iTunes U and easily share this information with their students.

As a student, iTunes University allows students to study at their own pace whenever, wherever. Students can also get lecutres anytime, anywhere. They can replay lectures or parts of a lecture that seemed difficult. They can use iTunes U to study for tests and do homework. Students can benefit from educational information without the limitations of the physical classroom or time-limited schedules. They can experience a class without actually going to class, if the teacher puts classroom lectures on iTunes U. This is helpful if students misses class for some reason, they can get all the information they need right on iTunes University.

iTunes U doesn't necessarily contain solely academic matter. It contains information on underage drinking, bullying, and advice for parents.

Educational uses for the iPod
Click Here to learn some educational uses of iPods in the classroom.
You can also go here to learn about Duke Universities findings on the benefits of iPods in the classroom

So far I have learned that there are a vast array of uses for iPods in classrooms. A teacher can not only use them in conjuction with iTunes to record lessons, but many other things. An iPod can be used to record a students progress in reading comprehension or their just plain understanding of a subject. The iPod can be used as an enclyopedia by putting Wikipedia on it , you can get the iPod ebook creator which converts web pages, copied and pasted text, rss feeds, and text files into iPod notes and then can be read on the iPod. Go here to learn more. The iPod is a great study tool, its compatible with Sparknotes, and can hold studyguides, ebooks, practice tests, classic books, and charts.

Duke University found that the iPod's eductational uses are transportable access to lectures, music, historical speeches, foreign language content, podcasts, iTunes music store, and Blackboard tools. It can be used as a classroom recording tool as well as a field recording tool. The iPod can also be used to transfer and back up file storage. Duke University also found that iPods reduced student and teacher dependence on physical materials, reduced dependence on lab and library location and hours, iPods increased student participation, and heightened individual learning needs and preferences.

An iPod plus iTunes makes for a great educational tool. A teacher could use audiobooks to enhance interest in reading, podcast classroom lessons, have students create a digital story and share it with others, use podguides where students can explain a project, have students make a documentary that includes recorded interviews with images, and students can use iPods to record themselves to see how they are progressing in reading or language comprehension.

Comments4Kids-Year 4 Divers

The Comments 4 Kids blog I read was entitled "Endless Ocean." All of the posts were so interesting. The students are learning about the ocean using technology to have virtual tours of the sea! On one virtual dive, when returning from the ocean to the boat they were greeted by a walrus on their boat, a virtual walrus. That is so awesome to me. I think if my teachers would have used this method to teach science, I might be more interested in it. What a great way to learn! I commented on a post regarding parental engagement week. I commented saying how great their blog is and to keep up the good work, and how I loved the virtual walrus blog post! Kudos Year 4 Divers!

February 14, 2010

"I WILL BE A GOOD TEACHER" or at least I'll do my best! I think my future students deserve that from me....






Wired Story
Click Here to read the Wired Story.

I believe that as long as Wikipedia can be edited, and its information does not come from educated scholars interested in solely facts, Wikipedia can never be a trusted source of information. Granted not everything on Wikipedia is misguided information edited by CEO's of companies or politicians to make themselves or company look better; Wikipedia does contain honest facts. But, how do you know what "facts" are true and which one's are modified lies? I'm not sure I want to play the game fact or fiction when I just want to find quick, short, factual information on a topic or person. So, I think it would be better to just go ahead and choose a more credible site or encyclopedia for information. Even though, Wikipedia Scanner has made these people who are editing information in Wikipedia with false facts more accountable for their actions, I still do not believe companies or politicians will quit changing things on Wikipedia to improve their image, or will stop anyone for that matter changing whatever they please on Wikipedia.

"What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung
Go Here to read Mr.McClung's Blog

I really enjoyed reading this blog! Anytime I can read or hear free teaching advice I love it and am completely up for it! What I've learned from reading Mr. McClung's blog is a number of things. He emphasizes on seven important principles: how to read the crowd, be flexible, communicate, be reasonable, don't be afraid of technology, listen to your students, and never stop learning. First off, as a teacher make your lesson student centered, constantly assess student comprehension, and your audience ( your students) should always direct the instruction. You should be flexible. There is no perfect lesson, and you shouldn't kill yourself over mistakes. Just the make the best you can out of every situation. Secondly, communicate, communicate, communicate. "Talking things out" is probably the number one way to resolve workplace drama. It builds rapport and practicing communicating makes perfect. Also, be reasonable. Don't have too high expectations of students and definitely do not get upset with students when they do not meet these unreasonably high expectations. Personally, I believe if a student does not understand something a teacher has taught them, then it is the teacher's fault that the student does not understand, and should try a different method to reach to that student. Every teacher should encourage students to keep trying if they fail, and not scold the student for not understanding., Thirdly, don't be afraid of technology. I think this speaks for itself, technology is essential to our daily lives and therefore is necessary to learn and to teach to students. Lastly, listen to your students and never stop learning. You need to know your students to build a respectful relationship with them. Teachers should take interest in their students lives. I can not understand why someone would want to be a teacher if they do not care what children have to say, and I believe that one of the biggest ways to show someone you respect and care about them is to truly listen to them. As for regards to a good teacher should never stop learning, I completely agree with this. A teacher should continuously keep learning and WANT to have ongoing learning.

Comments4Kids-Keiana

I read Keiana's blog from Ms. Cassidy's class, they're learning how to read and write, and I really enjoyed reading every one of her blog posts. I commented on her most recent post where she wrote how she does all sorts of dancing, such as jazz and tap. I told her how much I enjoyed reading her blog and how her writing gets better and better with every blog post she writes and what a good job she's doing!

February 7, 2010

Kids Podcasting

What Podcasting is All About


I listened to Eagle Nest Radio Click Here to Listen and "The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom" Click Here to listen and watch this vodcast.
Each showed me a little bit about what a podcast exactly is and how they should be done. So far I've gathered that podcasts are like a radio-style talk show where music can be added and there is typically a host. It seems almost like acting. It can be purely informative or done as an interview or you can incorporate a little of both methods. If more than one person is talking in the podcast, there needs to be an organized conversation. A script is useful for keeping the podcast organized, it makes it easier for listeners of the podcast to follow the conversation. If music is going to be incorporated in the podcast, then it definitely does not need to be overbearingly loud to where the listeners can't make out what the speaker is saying, and it needs to be appropriate and relevant to the topic being discussed. I also found it helpful when the speaker would say what they were about to talk about and what they had just finished discussing. It just helped keep me on track.

I think the use of podcasts in a classroom are such a helpful tool. I wish all my teachers would use podcasts for lectures and assignments and put them up on the Internet for students to listen to. Podcasts are instruction that can be listened to anywhere, and i just think the benefits of a teacher making a podcast of a review of whats going to be on an upcoming test far outweigh the negatives (if there are any). I could listen to the podcast not only at my computer at home, but on my iPod in the car on the way to take the exam. Brilliant. The elementary students seemed to like it and they get to teach what they've learned to others, and when you have to explain something to someone else you retain the information better, at least I think so. The students on the podcast and vodcast I watched and listened to, seemed to me, that the making of podcasts excited them about learning, and it helps encourage the honing of their creative skills. Its also useful when kids are sick; they don't have to miss any school work, and the parents can see what is going on in their child's classroom, something I think most parents can appreciate.

Comments4Kids

For my Comments4Kids Assignment I read Savannah's Blog from Ms. Deyenberg's Class. Her blog post was entitled "The Grade Five Lie". It was HILARIOUS! She wrote about how her mom bought her an ugly shirt to wear for picture day and normally she wears the ugly clothes over the clothes she wants to wear, takes the ugly clothes off for school and then puts the ugly clothes back over the clothes she actually wore without her mom finding out she didn't wear the clothes she had picked out for Savannah. Absolutely BRILLIANT. Savannah came into a dilemma though when it was picture day, she would have photographic evidence that she did not wear the clothes her mom had picked out for her. What to do? What to do? So she put on the ugly shirt her mom had bought for her for picture day, the day before picture day claiming she wanted to make sure it didn't have any holes or stains in it, she kept it on during dinner. As she was eating her pizza, she "accidentally" dropped her plate of pizza all over her new shirt, she ran to the bathroom to pretend to get the stain out of the shirt when in all reality she was rubbing the stain deeper into her shirt! Her mom took the stained shirt and cleaned the stains out by the next morning when it was time for picture day. Her poor mom. Savanna, thinking she was stuck wearing the ugly shirt, put the ugly shirt on, went down for a breakfast consisting of chocolate milk and peanut butter toast, thought to herself, Why don't I do the same thing I did last night? So she "spilt" her breakfast all over herself and did not have to wear the ugly shirt on picture day.

I told her how great her blog post was and in the most kindly constructive way possible that honesty is the best policy.

Savannah is so hilariously clever! She reminds me of myself when I was her age, this is definitely something I would've pulled, but I probably wouldn't have been as savvy as she was . She's very impressive. Not only is she funny and smart, but a remarkable creative writer. If you ask me, she writes as well or better than some adults who attend college, and I'm not just saying that to be nice. She can tell a good story and keeps you interested. She kept me on my toes as I was reading it wondering what would happen next, would she get in trouble?! would she have to wear the ugly shirt?! Reading Savannah's blog post reminded me why I want to be a teacher. I love kids and the amazing things they do. I think kids are a lot smarter than some adults give them credit for and a lot smarter than some adults period. I want to help feed into these capabilities of children and help them learn something along the way. Whether its 2 + 2 =4 or the difference between an adjective and a noun or even how to blog. I would even be happy if they just learned something about themselves, like that they actually do like to read and that they are good at math if they have self-determination.

Adding audio to blog

A message for readers of my blog

January 31, 2010

A baby using technology?! If this is what our world has come to then I say maybe we're doing something right.


Podcasts

Listening to these podcasts was painful. They were utterly boring and I felt exhausted after enduring only ten minutes of them. I think that maybe if the people who were talking in them weren't so dull and made their voices more animated and lively to make up for the lack of a visual accomplice would help dramatically. Overall these podcasts gave me an idea on how podcasts are done and how not to sound in one.

The SmartBoard Lessons Podcast I felt was the most poorly done. It was fuzzy and hard to hear and follow what he was talking about. I think he was in a drive-thru or a restaurant ordering soup and coffee and he kept talking about it and to the people he was ordering from. It was very distracting and took away from the message he was trying to portray. What I think he was trying to talk about is using dimdim.com as a teaching tool. Its an online meeting site you can use with SmartBoard. You can also use it to do call in conferences with other classrooms and record meetings. Again, it was hard to understand him and what he was trying to say between the poor audio and all the background noise.

I think the KidCast podcast was much better done. His voice was clearer to understand and there wasn't any intrusive background noise. He was discussing video podcasting or "vodcasting" a term he did not like to use; which I agree it sounds too much like podcast and can become confusing if your discussing podcasting and vodcasting in the same conversation. I'm already confused writing about it. It's not needed, just go the extra mile and say video podcasting, it can't hurt. He seemed to be more pro podcasting because it is less time consuming and the editing isn't as difficult. But, he gave useful circumstances when video podcasing is the better way to go such as, when you need to capture a nonverbal message or you need to use a visual model to demonstrate or animate something. It can also save time with the way you explain something, it makes someone have to think more on how their audience will perceive them because they're not just hearing their voice, and in doing so it also builds confidence. He said the best way to decide whether to use a podcast or a video podcast is to find the medium that best fits your message the best and ask yourself what do you have the time and resources to do.

ConnectLearning Episode 92 was also hard to understand due to the poor audio quality and had distracting background noises that took away from the message, and made it difficult to understand just WHAT they were discussing. What I got from this podcast was that David Warlick is having a conversation with another educator about how to make conferences better and to discuss how to find better ways for classrooms to work together. He wants to use technology as a teacher and for teachers to be a teacher 2.0; someone who blogs and uses twitter. The EdTech Talk podcast was more conversational, choppy, and also hard to hear and make out, but it got better as the podcast progressed. The woman who is talking in this podcast is a college undergraduate social work professor. She teaches and designs online courses. She talks about using Wiki as an email source and uses a blackboard for discussion posts. She finds the blackboard useful because her students can find assignments 24/7. She also uses Wiki for collaborative group work she assigns to her students and finds this the most effective way to use Wiki. She also states that online learning expands the learning community and I agree with her point, that for an online course the learning does not end when class time is up, it is ongoing. She also talked about how she made a question box where her students could ask for help if they needed it but instead students were answering each other's questions and figuring out that they could rely on each other for answers instead of always relying on the teacher. Which I feel is a very positive thing.

The MacBreak Weekly 177: ipad podcast was much easier to understand and follow. It was almost like listening to radio vj's. They said the iPad was going to be big, bigger than the iPod touch which was strange to me because normally technology gets smaller not regressively bigger. It's a tablet with a bright screen and you can get it in a WiFi version between the prices of $499-$599 depending on how many gigabytes you want. I think it was just a joke how they were saying the iPad was inexpensive because it was less than $1000, that doesn't make it cheap when you can get a netbook for half the price. They did though however, admit that it was probably not a mainstream product for your average income family and the originality and creativity about the name, iPad, seemed to be a debate amongst the speakers in the podcast. The This Week in Photography 126 podcast was also very conversational, but it was conversational without being confusing on who is talking and when. This podcast discussed certain cameras in which they considered racist. Some digital cameras with new technology have difficulty functioning properly when an Asian or African-American is the subject of the picture. I definitely do not think that the cameras or racist, that's just silly, moreover that they were not fully tested properly and that the makers of these cameras need to use a larger more wide range of people for there sample group to test the cameras functioning on.

Media Literacy in the First Grade
Click here to see what I'm talking about.

This film was inspirational to me to be a more technology literate person, so I can be a more effective and technology literate teacher. I think that my future students deserve that from me. It was great how the kids new and could EXPLAIN how to do all of these technological things, maybe they could find a way to make money and teach it to older less media educated people. One boy even explained very effectively the rules on commenting on someone else's blog, his main point being in so many words don't say something cruel, it's unnecessary. Agreed. According to the film media literacy was evaluating, navigating, creating, and responding, which I feel is an easy way to put the scary concept of being media proficient, an idea that sounds difficult to do but if you follow the guidelines above it seems less demanding.

As to answering the question, Am I ready? I'm going to do my best to teach students who will definitely know more than me about the technological advances of this world, but again I'm going to do my best to keep up and just keep learning it along the way. So to answer that question, yes, yes I am ready.

Little Kids...Big Potential
Go Here to watch these amazing kids do amazing things

I think the title speaks for itself on what exactly this film was about. The kids were blogging and commenting and explaining how to comment and use technology. They discussed how blogging helps their writing improve. Webpages helped them find and search for things they wanted to learn about. They also helped them learn how to use the Internet. I feel the use of technology has encouraged independent learning among these students.They even used their Nintendo DS' in the classroom.

They also used Wiki a popular classroom tool. It teaches them about collaborative learning and an easy way to get help from other people. Using Wiki, they learned about all kinds of traditions and rituals, and even different ways on how to make the Alphabet, from people all over the world. Using these tools are extremely beneficial to today's students and in a way they're getting to see and experience the world. I also liked their use of Skype in the classroom, to talk to experts and interact with other classrooms. They're doing so much with technology at such a young age and they are definitely little kids with big potential. The world needs more teachers and students like this.

Iphone used by 1 year old baby Part 2
Click Here to see a BABY use an iPhone

This kid was AMAZING! Absolutely brilliant. He could turn the phone on, find pictures, zoom in the pictures, and then even return to the home page on the iPhone, very impressive. He knew exactly what his parents were asking him to do with the phone at the age of 1, I am almost speechless by this. Between the first graders and the one year old using this technology at an expert level, I think children are born knowing how to use technology. Needless to say, if a one year old can do it anyone can. An iPhone just cannot be that hard to use. I don't have one so I don't really know, but after seeing this video I'm convinced it can not be that difficult. By the time this baby reaches grade level schooling his knowledge of technology will be expansive, but I feel keeping up with the growing technology is the key to teaching this new age generation in the most effective way possible.

January 24, 2010

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
Click Here to watch the movie.

I feel this video relates to my college experience to a certain extent. When I attended the University of Alabama, this video hits that experience right on the head with the large classrooms filled with hundreds of students most of whom would show up on the first day of class and for exam days and then you would not see them again for the rest of the semester. Which still seizes to amaze me why people would pay thousands of dollars to go to college and then not show up for classes. My experience at the University of South Alabama has been quite different. The classes are much, much smaller. One of my classes only had 10 people in it, and in even in my largest classes that are in auditoriums still have half as many people in them then there were at Alabama. At South Alabama the class discussion seems more personalized, with students asking questions and being involved in the class discussion. Although, not all classes I have attended at South Alabama have been this way, but the majority have been. A quality of a college I can appreciate.

So my college experience has been similar and different. I definitely do no get seven hours of sleep at night; try more like three to five mainly because my work seems like it is never done. I write more papers and handwritten assignments then I do emails and I open up every book I buy and read every assignment given to me and seem to find the relevance in most assigned readings because I search for the relevancy. I undoubtedly read more web pages and Facebook profiles then I do books and I watch about an hour and a half of T.V. or more a day. But I do not believe I spent three hours a day on the computer, until now since I have been taking Dr.Strange's EDM310 class.

I don't feel that technology alone can save us. Especially when students are bringing their technology(laptops) to class and then playing on them instead of using them to enhance learning. I personally listen easier to a professor lecturing and writing on the board then I do a PowerPoint presentation, and I like the fact that the movie said writing on the board forces the teacher to move around. I do however feel that teaching does need to reform to address the changes of the world and to address the varying ways students learn, and in a society where a younger generation couldn't imagine a world without cellphones and computers, the use of technology seems vital to use in classrooms. As for adding something to this movie to make it better relate to my college experiences, it would have to be more people sleeping during class, other than that I'm not sure what I would add, but there are things I would change to make it better relate to my college experience; smaller classroom with less people, a white board or projector instead of a chalkboard, and less people using laptops in class.

"It's Not About Technology" by Kelly Hines

Click Here to read her post.

This post was inspirational to me and I agree with her that teachers must be life-long learners and should be passionate about what they do. If teaching something one way is not working, try a different method, makes sense to me. Students learning something should be the foremost main goal of all teachers. I believe her view that technology will do no good if mindsets of teachers are not changed. Creativity and innovation are important life skills and I believe critical thinking and problem solving are essential for survival in this world. I agree with Hines when she says that if a teacher can accomplish to teach their students these skills, they're doing them a favor. I also feel that what good would technology do for a student if put in the wrong hands.

I could not agree with her more that technology is not needed to achieve greater learning for students, but that successful teaching is what influences students in a positive way. I think that the idea that if a teacher could have all of the qualities Hines' listed (teachers must be learners, learning and teaching are not the same thing, technology is useless without good teaching, and be a 21st century teacher without technology) then put technological skills in the hands of a teacher like that, great things can be accomplished. I want to do amazing things as a teacher and work hard to do so, I just hope I'm good enough for the students sake.

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
Go Here to read Karl Fisch's Blog post

I found Fisch's post somewhat harsh, but I understand and agree with his point. That it is NOT okay for a teacher to be technologically illiterate. I agree that "all educators must achieve a basic level of technological capability." I feel that it is extremely important that the people who are to teach our youth should be technology literate. I agree with him in that today's college students or anyone receiving a teaching certificate should graduate being technology literate, but if they are not I do not think that will jeopardize children as long as the teacher is willing to learn how to be well read in the ways of technology. Learning more about technology I feel is a constant and ongoing process that all good teachers should consistently be going through especially if they want to keep up with the twenty-first century student. Technology has become a livelihood for many people; personally and in the workplace. It is important to be technology literate and to teach it to children.

I do agree that many teachers especially older generation teachers have accepted and are comfortable with the fact that they are technologically illiterate. This is sad to me because I feel that all teachers should want to constantly learn and provide as many methods of teaching to children as they can, seeing that children learn differently from one another. Where as a book and a piece of paper works great for one child to learn with another might learn better by watching a movie and blogging about what they saw. I believe technology has boomed at such a fast rate that for some teachers it might seem impossible to keep up with. I can understand why. I myself have a hard to time keeping up with it all, but I don't mind learning about it, and I feel that it is quite alright to learn technology right along with students and may even create a more positive relationship between student and teacher. Mostly I believe that teachers who refuse to become educated in technology are afraid of it and intimidated by it, they need to break out of their shell and become fearless with it. They need to be reassured that it is not that difficult to use once you begin exploring it and playing with it, and that is how children learn to use technology so it is okay for them to learn this way as well. Most mishaps with technology can be easily fixed (unless it drops and breaks into pieces, then you might have a problem), so there is no worry about breaking it. There is a need in this society for a person to be technology literate, and I agree with Fisch that if a person wants to be on the same playing field with others that they are competing for a job with, then be technologically educated because you might be able to get by now, but in the future chances for success for the technologically clueless will be slim to none.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count
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I think this ties in with all the other assignments. I find how quickly the numbers grew to be unreal. That at the constant fast paced rate at which so many people use technology, being technologically literate is unavoidable and must be a necessity to know in order to be a teacher. Well, at least a productive and successful one. I'm nearly convinced that in today's society it is almost as important to learn as reading and writing. With so many people using so much technology at one time, it should be required to be part of the curriculum in schools to integrate the use of technology into lesson plans. At least to be able to teach a twenty-first century student in a way which they can relate to and understand. They're using the technology anyway so why not incorporate it as learning tools at school and get out of old-fashioned ruts.

I just want know though, how do you begin to teach children this technology? Especially Kindergarten through second graders, do you just jump right in?