my edm 310 blog assignments are now complete

hey ya'll!! forever later, im finally done! hope everyone has a great summer! I'm taking the summer off school for the first time and im sure I wont know what to do with free time! I'm sure I'll be seeing most of you in sequence, good luck!!!

edm in a nutshell

I can't exactly say I didn't learn anything in this class, because I did...it was just all about google and the internet and things that I was not expecting. I thought this class was about the features of microsoft, like excel, outlook, word, and powerpoint. Instead, we spent all our time on google and barely touched on any of these except for during exam time. I would have liked to have spent more time on the concepts of microsoft, which is something that I can acutally see myself using in the future. I do not believe that students should have that much freedom on the internet, even if it is supervised, and it should not be encouraged by the schools either.

WikiPedia

I think i first learned of wikipedia in high school while doing my exit research project. If you search for anything online, a definition from wiki comes up with so much information, you think it has to be true. We were warned of this early on, though. Our teachers made us well aware that wikipedia was open to anyone, and I learned that on my own quickly as well when I saw misspelled words and incorrect dates. I think that it should be made known that wikipedia is a misleading source. Some people, mostly children, use wiki as a reliable tool and they learn the incorrect information. I think that if wiki were ever to be used, the information found should be doubled or triple checked by other sources before being used.

fixed minds vs growing minds

The idea of a fixed mind basically means that one is brought into this world with a certain capacity of knowledge and cannot learn or retain more than that. On the other hand a growing mind is considered one that is always adding more to the mix. I believe in growing minds as opposed to the idea of a fixed mind. I see a fixed mind as some excuse for a student or person to say they can't do something. It is important, especially being a teacher, that I convey the message to my students and their parents that no matter what their background or how they were raised, they have just as much capability of learning as anyone else.

WGBH

I watched the elementary video on clouds, which was pretty much just that...clouds. It got faster and slower, but really nothing much to it.
The good thing i saw, though, was the Educator's Guide, which included a summary of the video, and pretty much a lecture outline with surface and thought question, information on the video, and other links.
Maybe one day this Itunes thing will become a big thing in classrooms, but maybe it won't. I'm not banking on it becoming anything big in an elementary setting considering the costs of the equipment and everything else. I can see how the techonology might be useful in higher education, but I think it is going way too far to use it on small children.

iTunes University

iTunes U is a program in which students and teachers use the iPod to transmit classroom lectures and work without being face to face. There are some perks to this program, mainly that students can review classroom lectures and work while on the go, 24 hours a day. Lectures are made available online and can be downloaded at the student's convenience at all times, which is nice considering the busy schedules of students today.

IPods at Duke

The "Duke Digital Initiative" is a program for new freshmen at Duke University that enables students to be issued a new ipod for use in the classroom. First, using an ipod for instruction? Computers are bad enought allowing students to check email and myspace between doing work. With an ipod a student has unlimited ability to explore technology instead of doing their work.
The uses for the ipod in the class range from digital podcasts to visual memory to downloaded information to be tested on. With all this in the palm of your hand, why do you even need the teacher? One student could attend class and send it to everyone else to watch at home in bed. I think the more colleges get wrapped up in technology, the more they get away from what really matters.

The Fischbowl

First I would like to say that I agree, computers are an important technilogical resource to have in the classroom, and if not in the classroom then in the school for research and learning. I think the basics should be tought in school. In 4th grade, I started learning how to type. We had computer class for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, and then in junior high we were required to take keyboarding. In high school the only other required class was intro to computing. I think this is all that should be focused on in school with children. Teach them to type, then to type with efficiency, then the basics about all the programs that will be helpful to them.

Having said this, I think that is all that should be taught to children in school. I feel this way firstly because knowing too much about a computer gives a child insight to too many ways to get in trouble, but mainly because I feel that spending too much time on a computer takes away from why the teachers are there in the first place; to teach. Yes, a computer is a tool that must be used in this day and age and in the future, but I do not want to see the day when every class is taught through a comptuer and children sit and stare at a screen all day. I believe that no more than one class three days a week should be spent in the lab. After that, I believe that teachers should be teaching fundemental subjects that can't be left behind because of new technology.

Pictures with Modifiers in IMG tag

International Blogging

The first site i found out of the US is set up almost like the USA online courses are. The teacher, Mrs. Robertson in Ontario, gives her class reading assignments and has them respond to the reading and answer questions one the blog so that they can interact with other students. This also helps with students that are shy because they can say what they want without having to speak in front of the whole class. this is the link to her site but I don't think that she has a picture of her class on it.





The second site I found was a teacher from New Zealand who has her 2-3rd grade students on blogger, and it is amazing what she has done. She taught her 6 and 7 year olds how to make a video on blogger and publish it. Also, each of the students have their own blog and a link to it. This site is really fun and it is also interesting to see how creative the kids were with their videos. cool stuff This is a picture of a student looking at how many visitors their class blog has from around the world. They have a map on the site too that you can put your location on so they know where you are from.

Teachers Using Blogs in US

The first site I found is by a fifth grade teacher named Gordon Brune. His home page has a picture of the class, and links to all of the students in his classroom. There are also links to helpful sites for students such as scholastic news and time for kids. In addition to research and news he also uses the site as a journal for the students. The coolest entry is the letters the students write to themselves when they are seniors. I think this would be a really neat activity to do, plus when you open it as a senior you can see how much you have changed as a person. This is the link to his site, it's neat you should check it out. click here!


The second site i found that uses blogging in the classroom was Mr. C's class in Missouri. I really like his site and all the things he has on it. There are videos to encourage students to do their math and to inform them about other things. The link he has to dictionary.com would be really useful to students. He also has a link for every student's individual blog and a class calendar with due dates posted. I think this is a good idea for when students miss class because they can still continue with their work at home online. check it out!

my slideshow

sorry I had to delete my slideshow because my entire page was messed up when I put it on there...hope you saw it in class!

ACCESS

After viewing the slideshow on the ACCESS website and reading about the small town of Tarrant that is offering online classes to those who have previously failed, I must ask myself firstly, how do they expect these children who are said to be living in poverty to have a computer at home. Next, doesn't it seem almost like a reward to a student to have the ability to make up a class that they failed online? And at that, in my previous experience, web based classes are much easier than those that are in the classroom. This program almost seems like a teacher offering extra credit to a student who is failing because they didn't do their assigned work.
Don't get me wrong now, I'm all about having every student succeed, but it just seems like teachers and education leaders are doing whatever they can to get the A. Unless it is earned, I don't see why a child deserves it. I also don't understand why they are rushing students to graduate early. It is hard enough to release an 18 year old out into the real world with college and jobs and bills. Why would anyone want to put that responsibility on anyone prematurely?

Learning Exchange

I can definitley see myself using the Alabama Learning Exchange my first few years of teaching simply for the lesson plans that it has to offer. Once I get used to what I am teaching, I'm sure that I will make more and more lessons of my own and I will upload to the site to share with others.

ALEX

Wow, the Alabama learning exchange site is really cool. It seems like it would be very helpful to teachers, especially new teachers who don't have the previous lesson plans or web sites.
The lesson plans part is what seems really helpful to me. It is broken down into subject and grade level, which makes it really easy to search for what you need. There is also a search bar at the bottom in which you can search for specifically what you are looking for. I really like this site.

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January 13

The video was very interesting to me. A lot of the statistics on it I would have never thought of. I suppose that is because all the years I have been in school, we have had computers. And as soon as I was old enough to need a cell phone they were known enough to have one. Now that I look at it, all of these things became more and more popular during my lifetime. Who knows what technology will be out there when my children are in high school and college!

1/9/07

it works.

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