My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now complete

Well class it was a fun semester! I hope you have all enjoyed reading my blogs and getting a little inside on what I think. I hope that we can all keep in touch and help each other grow as future teachers! I wish you all the best of luck!

The things I have learned in this class

This class was nothing like I expected it to be. We learned many interesting things that I think will be useful to me as a teacher and have already been useful to me as a individual. The first thing that we learned about in this class that I have already been able to use is the presentation part of google documents. Unlike powerpoint you can open it from anywhere! There are many times if you use power point and you go to open it somewhere else the versions are different and it does not work. THis is something you do not have to worry about with presentation. Another thing that we did in this class that I felt like I could benefit from a lot is the spreadsheet. I have already bought a house but I used this spreadsheet to go in and just look at our monthly bills and to also see how much I would have to pay and when I would ahve to pay it in order to pay off my house by a certain time. Picasa was a great tool that I have not yet used at home but I am use that I will! I love taking pictures! I have beautiful children to take lots of wonderful pictures of and I am sure this program will come in handy! OH and lets dont forget google earth! That program is just amazing! WHen I looked at my moms house I could see every little detail! I could read her tag on her car that was sitting in the drive way! How cool is that? I could see me really using this program in the classroom to allow the students to have a virtual tour of something and we would never have to leave the classroom and we would save a lot of money! That is always good! I think that is the best thing about all the things we learned about in the classroom, all these cool things and none of them cost you any money at all. I think as a future teacher I will start to appreciate free things a lot more and each day I will always be thinking of ways to better teacher my students while keeping it cheap and I think that all the things that we have learned about in this class will help me to do so!! HAD FUN!!

Twitter

Twitter was something completely new for me this semester! Actually it was something that I had never done until the day you told us to in class. I have not really read much about it. I have talked to a lot of people about it since then. I am more of a person who has to just experiment with it myself rather than go read about it. I usually do not get what they are talking about if I just read about it. I learned about twitter and I am still learning just by messing around with it and discovering all the things that I can do with it. I do this every week. I wont say that I do it every day becuase I would not be telling the truth. I am a very busy person and it is very hard for me to do it everyday but I do do it at least a couple times a week.

Every time I get on twitter I like to read everything that everyone is saying. I am like that with facebook and myspace as well. I do not see myself twittering everyday jsut because I enjoy just reading what others are talking about more than I do actually getting involved it it. I have though twetted a lot and I have directly sent people messages and got involved in the different tweets. Twitter is a cool thing but I do not see myself really sitting down and doing this a lot. Maybe like a weekly thing but not every hour of everyday.

Suggestions on our Podcast

There were four podcast that I listen to that our class produced. The first one was the podcast that I was in that was about good websites for teachers. The second was about the pros and cons to using wikipedia. The third one I listen to was Itunes and google earth. And the last one was about Technology in the classroom and they were interviewing Dr. Feldman.

All four of theses were very good podcast. I hate saying that there was anything wrong with them at all because I know that we all worked very hard on them. If we were to do them again I guess we could all find somethings that we could or needed to change. I never want to have to do this again because I do not like recording myself and then hearing me speak. We had to do ours twice which was not fun at all and I still hope that we get a few bonus points for that, it was not our fault it sounded like there was a train in the background.

The first thing that I think we could have all, well not all but most of us, could have worked on was the volume of our voices. SOme of us you could hear very well and then others you could barely hear at all. Another thing was that some of us talked like we hated what we were doing and did not care a thing about what we were talking about. I think that those people need to show a little bit of expression in your voices. At least act like you care. The people who interviewed someone I think they need to add in a little bit more details about the person that they are interviewing and let us know more about them. Also you guys let him do a lot of talking. I think next time maybe you should try and ask him more questions about his answers to your questions, if that makes sense. Another thing I noticed is sometimes people would say something but they would not sound very confident about what they were saying. It was almost like you were scared to say what you were about to say. If you are going to say it just pretend like you know what you are talking about even if you dont!

Overall though we all did a great job in my opinion! I think we all worked very hard on these and the outcome showed it! THe best part is that our podcast are over!!!

+/- of blogging (read Heathers)

After using blogger for a few months now I have seen that you are able to get ideas from others from everywhere! There are people every where that have blogs and you can access at any time! With doing this it is easy to learn about different things that are going on in people's life and how they think or feel about the subject. When I become a teacher and even right now while I am studying to become a teacher this will be a great opportunity for me to learn even more then what I would usually learn in a normal classroom. This gives me a chance to open my education to an endless world of opinions and different things for me to learn.

After reading over Heather Klein's blogs for the entire semester I realize that there are many things that we feel the same about. This could be an advantage because we might be able to help each other see even more clearly about something that we both feel strong about. Also as we continue through our classes here at south there will probably be some times that we need each other to encourage us and get advice about what the other person thinks. I think this is a great opportunity to do this.

Although there are many great things about blogging I also feel there could be a down side to blogging as well. I think that there may be some people out there who may use someone else's blog for purpose that may be very important but maybe the blog that he or she is following does not have very accurate information on it. I see this a being a real problem. There are many times that people will purposely do and say things to lead people in the wrong directions. So I think that people need to be very careful when using peoples blogs to get information. Instead it needs to be used just to see what people think about things not necessary to gather information.

Another thing that I could see being a down side to blogger is that many times there is a lot of personal information on it. On Heathers, and everyone elses in our class, we have things about ourselves. There are some crazy people in the world who may take this information and use it in a way that it was not meant for it to be used. THis is true for any kind of new programs on the internet where people are telling people about themselves. Blogs are fun but at the same time I believe that people need to be a little bit careful about what kind of information they are including in their blogs.

When using blogs in the classroom I think that it could be good thing. Heather and I both seem to agree that this is a great way to share with people what is going on in the classroom. This could also be a great resource for students in the classroom to have an opportunity to learn more about a subject that he or she is learning about in the classroom. This is so because the teacher could use the class blog to give students places to find more information about the subjects being covered in class.

"Growth" vs "Fixed" mindset

When a student has a fixed mindset he or she think that there is always a right or wrong answer or solution to a problem. These students are often afraid to think for themselves and try new ways to approach things. If teachers continue to teach students how to learn and do it in a "fixed" mindset kind of way then how will those students be able to survive in the real world. In my opinion they won't.

The other type of mindset that was discussed was a "growth" mindset. This is when students are able to see that there are many different ways to approach a problem and there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer as long as you can back it up. These students realize that it is okay to make mistakes as long as you learn from them and make sure that you do it different the next time. These students will be able to make it in the real world because they will realize that the world is changing and he or she will always have to find a different way to solve a problem as the world changes.

As a teacher I believe it is very important to make sure we are encouraging our students to have a "growth" mindset. When a student has this mindset he or she is able to think for him or her self and not just learn a right or wrong answer. In order for students to be able to perform on the high level of blooms then he or she must be able to think for himself and always have an open mind.I think this is a very important concept that all teachers need to work on and help their students achieve this mindset.

Why doesn't the moon fall down?

This podcast was about how the moon moves. It explains, in very clear english, that the moon does fall down just like every other object. The lady explains the fact that the moon never hits the earth because it is always falling so fast that gravity keeps it just continuing to go around the Earth. There was a great visual example of this that you could show your students to help them get a better picture of what was being explained.

I think that podcast like these could be used in your classroom all the time as a teacher, especially an elementary teacher. During this age there are so many things that children are curious about. Podcast such as these could help to explain to the students something that would not be as easy to show them in class. It gives them a visual example while telling them about it.

Not only do I think this will help the students to learn about different things that he or she are interested in but I think they will also like to do it. Children love the computer and usually love to do anything that involves the computer. Therefore I think if you are able to engage them in learning that is on the computer they will love it and want to learn more. I think teachers should use things such as these to their advantage.

Edutopia

These podcast were great! I think that every future and maybe even current teacher should watch them. They inspired me to be a better teacher! It should me that if a teacher takes a little time to be more then just a traditional teacher then the children will love it! The actually enjoyed the activity that they were doing and I believe that they learned more from it. It was not just about memorizing something for the test. They actually did it and knew about it! I am more inspired to be a hands-on teacher.

A Night in The Global Village was a great podcast to teach the children to work together. They all had different types of supplies and they had to use a little bit of what everyone had to make things work. Not only did it teach the child to work together but it also showed them how things were in other parts of the world. Many times children think that everyone lives the same way they do. What they do not realize is many times they are a lot better off then many other children around them and around the world! This activity taught the children a lot about our diverse world.

I have to say that the Edible Schoolyard was my favorite out of the two! I loved how the teacher allowed the students to actually grow their own stuff. I think this allows the students to really get involved in what they are doing. Not only are they involved in the activity but they are actually LEARNING what is going on. They learn about the steps it takes, how it works, and about the products it produces. I think if every teacher took the time to allow their students to learn like this there would be more students who loved learning and attending school.

iTunes University

Taking education and turning it into something that is already common and interesting to the students is very important. Students today are very familiar with technology and use it in their everyday life. Most students these days, no matter the age, have either an ipod or an iphone. They think by having these they are just cool and have what everyone else has. What they do not know is that they are holding the world at their hands.

Teachers have taken this bit of information and expand it. Now these students are able to get more then just game, songs, and text messages, they can get the whole lecture that they missed that day because they over slept. Teachers are able to put everything on itunes. They can put their lectures or just a quick video on how to do something. SO now the teachers have it on their but to make it better all the students have to do is pull out their iphone and pull up itunes and its there! Their life is made that much easier just like that.

Many universities are using this great tool to help better suit their students. Now the students are able to go over the lessons and really learn what is going on in the class anywhere and at anytime. I think this is a great step that universities are beginning to make in order to better suit the lives of busy college students.

I know for myself, as a student, this would be great. I am a full time student, mother, and employee. THerefore my life is always very busy and I have to take full advantage of every minute I have. Therefore I could begin reviewing what we went over in class at every red light on airport due to the fact that my lessons are online. I am also a shy person and do not like to ask someone to repeat their selves so I could use this to just have it repeated for me with no one having to ask anyone. If you would like to read a little bit more about it you can visit the same site I did by click here

iPods In Educations

When I began my research, oddly enough the first article I pulled up was about Duke and there use of the iPod. This article explains the reasons that they chose to start using the iPods in the classroom and all the different things that they used it for. The main thing that it was being used for was recording lectures and conversations within the lectures. This article explains that they found this very helpful in planning future lectures for that class. It also helps the teacher to know who is participating, at what point there is not any participation, and just to monitor the class overall. This is still an ongoing project at Duke University but things seemed to be going well. If you care to read the article that I read on this just click here

We are familiar with this experience at Duke, but I found that there are many different schools using iPods in the classroom. What surprised me was that even elementary schools are trying this new thing out. An article I found on this had a very good way of explaining it. One point they made that I really liked was that teachers cannot continue to teach the way they have done it in the past. Students these days need more then in the past generations. I feel this is true because they are exposed to more. Students are exposed to technology such as iPods so why continue their education and not incorporate this technology into it. Not only does it keep the students from getting bored with their school work but they believe that it could possibly help those students who are not the average learners. Those students who need to hear and see things, the iPod will have them covered. After reading these different sites it has changed my opinion about using them in classrooms. I think it is a great idea, but only if the teachers know how to lead the students to use them in an effective way. If you are wanting to learn more or read a great article you can start by going to this site.

What Dr. Christie Showed Me

Dr. Christie's page was amazing. There were a million different things that she has to offer to anyone who is willing to take the time to learn about it. I think that it is very important for teachers to be up-to-date with the latest technology at all times, and what better way of doing that then letting her help you. Not only does she teach you how to use technology but how to use it effectively as a teacher. I think many times teachers will avoid people and things like this because they think that they already know how to work the technology. This maybe true but just because someone knows how to work something does not mean that he or she knows how to use it to make themselves a more effective teacher.

I found Dr. Christie's Educational Technology guide very useful. On this section of her page she talks about and explains ways to use all different types of technology in your classroom to make this better. I feel like to make myself the best teacher I can be I need to stay up to date on things such as these. There are many things that she was describing on here that I never thought one could use effectively in a classroom to help you teach your students. I can see myself using resources like this and many more when I become a teacher.

The Truth about Wikipedia

When it is time to do research on something, especially when it is something you do not particularly care for, it is often easier just to take whatever is easiest to come across. Many times one will find that wikipedia is the first thing that always pops up when someone searches for something on the internet. I think that students a lot of time will read what it has to say and will use that to try and back up whatever he or she is trying to say. What many students do not realize is that Wikipedia is not a reliable source. The reason for this is because ANYONE can go and change anything that they read. Therefore you might find people changing things just to do it, or just because it sounds better on their part.

I personally have never used Wikipedia for any research just for the simple fact that my teachers always make it clear that it is not allowed, but I think that when teachers state that it is not allowed they should explain why. Many times students will just think that the teachers are trying to make it hard on them. Maybe if the teachers took the time to show the students why they do not want them to use Wikipedia the students would understand and appreciate it. If you are a teacher wanting some information to share with your students you can review the same sites i did which were:
Blog
Article
Wired Story

Randy Pausch last lecture

As a child we all have dreams that we want to do when we grow up! Some of these dreams are achievable and some are some that will only be in our dreams. Randy points out that some of our dreams will only stay in our dreams because we do not have the determination to make them come true. When he was a young boy he had many dreams, some that were easier to achieve then others and some that he never quite got but he tried and he gained a lot of experience in doing so.

I think that he attitude about life and everything he goes through is great. In trying to achieve all his dreams he never gave up. There were many times that he was turned down or things did not go just the way he wanted them to but he still managed to try something different and he was able to achieve it one way or another. He believes that one of the best thing that one can do in life is achieve his or her childhood dreams and he wanted to do something that would help them do that and understand why it was important.

Another thing that he speaks about is "head fake". I think this is a great concept and if everyone who dealt with children would understand this I think that the children would be that more successful. This idea is that you teach the students something through making them think that he or she is doing something that they would enjoy doing. He uses the example of him playing football. Although he never got to actually by in the NFL he is very confident on the football field. He is this way because he had a coach that helped him and pushed him to be the best he could be even though he was not the best player.

He also speaks of always having fun. He wanted students to have fun and fulfill their childhood dreams. He did this by creating a class at a college that would allow the students to have fun and learn things when they did not really realize what they were doing. I wish that everyone could have his attitude in life. He is dying but you still see that he has a great attitude about life and his enjoying his life and is having fun.

The Fischbowl Again

This time I chose to read the February blog, the title of this blog was "A Formula for Success." In this blog the lady is discussing the fact that many test require the students to have one "right" answer, when some times the right answer is not really waht is most important. Many times the students are focused on the right answer and do not really understand what it is that they are really doing. Or more than that how they can apply that math skill to a "real life" problem.

I think this is a really GREAT point. When I was in high school many of my math teachers would not take off if we did the problem right but got the wrong answer. It was the process that was most important. I think that this is very important because there are many tiems that people and students will make mistakes in doing a math problem but if a teacher can look at the work and see that he or she knew what they were doing and just made a mistake in the process then I believe that the student should still get credit for the problem. This is where standardized test would have a problem though. In this case there is no way to check for the process only the "right" answer.

Podcast

The two podcast that I listen to were "facebook for educational use" and "websites for elementary teachers". I think that both of these podcast were very good. I am not a very critical person because I knwo taht I would probably not do much better knowing that what I am about to do is going to be on the internet for everyone to see. I think that something I will make sure that our group does is practice and knwo what is going to happen and who is going to do what. I think that that will make the podcast run a little bit smoother.

Getting To Know Me!!

the Fischbowl

This blog is mainly about the fact that she believes that teachers should be required to know the technology of the day. I have to say that I agree with her to a certain extent. I think that all teachers should be require to go to the training, which I think most schools to do require it, in order to get trained to use the different types of things that require new technology. Many times the new technology will only make their job a little bit easier if the teacher knows how to use it correctly. But I also think that the teacher needs to make sure that he or she is not relying to much on technology. I think that sometimes students and teachers both rely too much on technology and stop doing things they should do themselves and therefore never know how to do them.

In her June post she talks about preparing students for life and as a human being. This again helps me to restate the fact that students should be taught how to do things on the computer but also the old fashion way as I like to think of it. I think in order for someone to be successful in the world today he or she must know how to use the technology of the world but also paper pencil way as well. Computers and what not to break and you have to have a back up plan. Therefore if teachers are only teaching the new way how will students get by if the technology fails, which does happen every now and then.

All about the Podcast

Podcast are something that you can do for educational purpose or just for entertainment. There are so many different things that you can do while doing it. There is no one there to tell you what the podcast can or can not be able. It is a subject of your choice. And to make it better it is open to everyone! There is no one telling you who can do it and who can't. All you have to do is have the right tools and the time to do it and your podcast can become famous.

Although most of the podcast that I looked at were not very popular, and if they were it was probably because of a class assignment there is still that chance. Most podcast are free but anyone can decided to charge whatever they want for the podcast to be viewed. One of these days, probably soon, there will be nothing that is free in this world. But for right now there are still many podcast that you can view for free.

On most of the podcast I see that they all have one thing in common, most of them have music playing in the background of the podcast. Most of them also start off with the music as well. There are many different things that you can do in order to make your podcast unique and special. First like we just talked about you can specialize the music to fit the podcast. You can also add in pictures and sounds to it. And of course there is your own voice in the podcast. That's right YOU are the one that gets to do the talking.

Something that Podcast are being use for that I think is great is for educational purposes. Many times when children get home they forget how to do something that they learned in school and possibly that they need to be doing for homework. When this is the case, if the teacher does this, the student can get online and the teacher can have podcast up reminding the students of how the problem works. Also podcast can be made by other teachers for other teachers. I think this is a great way for teachers to share their ideas and technology. Oh where the future will bring us...

Blogs From around the World

This blog page is from Australia and the address to get to it is http://mrcsclassblog.blogspot.com/. Just like all the other websites that I have found the teacher is using it more for a "look what we are doing/ have done" kind of thing than teaching the class through it. This blog page was very detail and to my surprise even had things about Obama's inauguration and the students had paper signs they had made I guess to celebrate the big day. I guess this was a very popular event, that is probably why we did not have internet signal huh?!? Something that this blog page had that I have not seen yet is videos of the class participating in different activities.

**And I have looked for like an hour and half and I can not seem to find another one....three of them was hard enough to find....

Blogs in Schools in the US

This picture is taken from Mr. McClug's sixth grade class blog. The link to his page is http://mcclungsblog.blogspot.com/. On this blog it seems that they use this more as a way to just show what is going on in the classroom. I personally do not see the benefiting the children as much as it would the parents. I see this more as a "parent letter" to keep the parents to know what is going on in the classroom each day. You are also getting to see the children do it not just read about it. I also think this is something that teachers want the students to be actively invloved in but in reality you probably are not going to have that many students involved in this. He also has the class notes listed on this page, I think this is a useful thing because when a student misses a day of school he or she does not have to wait to the next day to catch up. He or she can catch up before they come back to school.

This is Ms. Babin's third grade class. The link to her class blog is http://itc.blogs.com/babin/. On here you will see that she is doing the same thing that the other teachers are doing. It is a basic over view of what the class is doing. The thing that is different on this class's blog page is that she has all the students listed on the page with a link to their blog page. I believe this teacher's blog page is a little bit more involved with the class as a whole than the first teacher we looked at.

Shift Happens...

After watching this video, it will have your mind going in a million directions. It will jump from one thing to another. In the beginning starting off with the amount of college graduates really surprised me. I think that shows that people in the United States take for granted what kinds of technology they have right at their finger tips. Whereas people in other countries who might not have everything right there for them actually takes advantage of what he or she does have. They also make sure that the things that they can learn, like English, they make sure that they do learn it.
This movie also makes you see how fast the world is changing all around you. There is so much technology that is being invented and improved everyday. I think that people really do need to make sure that they are preparing our students and children for the generation. I believe that everyone needs to take advantage of all the technology that we do have and make sure that you are using it to the best of your ability. Who knows where we will be in ten years, you better make sure that you and your children/students are ready for it!

Access

I think that access is a great opportunity for students. This offers students a chance to take their education further than what could usually happen in a normal classroom. I went to a school that offered AP classes and was able to take advantage of this. Not only was it a great learning experience but it gave me a chance to get ahead in my college career. This also gives the students a chance to communicate with other students from around the world. The teachers can do the same. I think that computers have opened a world of learning for teachers and students, and anyone who does not take every opportunity to use computers to their advantage are really missing out.

All about ALEX

ALEX is a website that has many different ideas and requirements for teachers. Even though it has Alabama's state requirements, it is open to the public to use and get ideas from. When you get to the main page you will have many different options; which include: viewing the course requirements, seeing lesson plan ideas, professional learning, web links, and distance learning. With all of these things available it makes it easier for teachers to get the information he or she will need to better himself and help the students. Not only is there stuff to help you with you lessons but also to keep you up-to-date with all the new technology and how things work.
I believe this is a great website and everyone in the teaching field should take advantage of it. One way to look at it is that this is FREE education, there is not much in the world today that is free. I know without a doubt that I will be using this to help me in my classroom and with my plans when I become a teacher. I also think it is a great opportunity to see what other peoples' views are on things and how they would do something. I hope everyone realizes how great this page is!!

About Me

^---The Men of my life!!!

My name is Kathleen. When I first began at South I was not exactly sure whether I was going to major in elementary education or physical therapy. Either way I went I was sure that I wanted to work with children. Shortly after my second semester at South I found out that I was going to have little boy, whom I named Brock. After Brock was born I took two semesters off from school when I then decided that I was sure that I wanted to major in Elementary Education. So now I am here, beginning my educational classes. I am a mother of a two year old little boy. I am now expecting another one; hopefully it will be a girl. I also have a wonderful fiance named Randy. When I am not at school or spending time with my family you can be sure to find me at work. I work at Hooters and I have been there for almost two years, but I absolutely hate it. I can not wait until I finish school so that I can begin to teach!

Hello Class! Welcome to my Blog! Hope you enjoy!