Monday, July 20, 2009

Final Thoughts

This class has been a great experience for me, not just as a student but as a future educator. Technology is a great resource to bring into the classroom as it is constantly changing. Students love technology as seen in the texting blog and a great way to get students excited about school again is to bring in more fun, new technology that also educates. I loved learning about access and alex as they will be great resources to me when I start my career. Podcasting was very fun. I didn't know it was so easy and now it allows me an option when my students need an extra resource. I also liked working in groups and getting to know my classmates. Overall, I feel that the class was extremely beneficial and it was also a blast.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Podcasts

I listened to the podcast Using games as educational tools. I loved this podcast because it was somehting completely different that I had never thought of. All of the people's ideas flowed well together. The podcast created a interesting listen and was alos very educational in itself. I can't wait to hear my classmates version of this topic.
The other podcast that I listened to was Can Youtube be used as an educational tool? I liked the fact the members of this podcast were very knowledgeable on the subject. I chose this one because it is my topic and wanted to see how to proceed in making an effective, educational podcast about youtube. I found it very helpful.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Texting?

I believe that this article is somewhat true. I have friends even in college who can text through a class without anyone knowing. Texting is a hinderance to education when students are doing it in class. Even if a student is not texting other people might be and that is a distraction in and of itself. I believe that graduation however is a different story. The students are finished and most of them are legal adults age 18 paying their own bill so taking away their phone is taking away their right. When a student is in class however they belong to the educational system which has a right to at least make them somewhat pay attention and not distract other students who want to learn. Texting is a growing obstacle in the classroom. However, some teachers have turned it into a positive learning strategy. For example, http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/10/13/australian-schools-to-make-texting-a-subject/

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

I am an optimist, also!

In this blog, Mr. McClung gives hope to all of the future teachers that education is still thriving and changing for the good. As a future teacher, I hear all of the negative associated with the career that I have chosen. I want to hear positives because being positive is what makes a great and successful teacher! Students should be allowed to dream BIG! As a student, I was told that I could do anything and I chose the best career for me. Other students, even in today's world should be allowed to dream of a career that fascinates them and they CAN achieve that career.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Being Unique!

I believe that every school has unique things to offer however they need to be shared so that they are no longer unique but become things that help every child everywhere succeed. I believe that great ideas should be passed along for everyone to enjoy. If I were teaching, I would love to have random party days with weird, unique themes. Like on November 3 just have a classroom holiday where the students get to decorate the whole room with their ideas and pictures. They can have the freedom to build a party day menu, decorations, music, activities that they find fun. The party would then be centered around them as a class (family) and not around a societal holiday.

Why I love teaching!

This blog entry was beautiful and inspiring. The author gave new concept about the great parts of being a teacher that I had not considered when choosing my career. The reason I love teaching would have to be the entertainment that students provide. The students always know how to say the cutest and funniest things with the greatest sincerity. Students open the teacher's mind to very innocent ways of thinking about concepts. We tend to over think and over analyze everything when sometimes a basic, simple, innocent approach would have been better all along.

Brave Things!

I loved this blog entry. I believe that all teachers and future teachers have things that they would love to do but are not able to because of limitations. Every teacher has to be BRAVE in order bring new and exciting educational practices into the classroom. If I were brave...., I would have all of the students pick a controversial topic such as racism or politics or religion and do a presentation on their beliefs. After the presentation, I would then open the floor to all students for a debate. By doing this, all of the students would be able to give opinions and create their own sense of self. They would be able to research and come up with their own opinions, beliefs, and ideas because they are all bright and should not just be followers.

Friday, June 12, 2009

6 c's response!

I completely agree with Dr. Strange's evaluation of the future of education. The three r's are of the past and the 6 c's represent what we should be teaching the new generation of upcoming leaders. The world is changing and we must catch up or be left behind forever. New information is available is new ways that feed a student's curiosity. As teachers, we should all push our students to think critically and evaluate information for themselves. In this new technologically advanced society, there are new questions and varying answers. Students must be allowed to learn using the six c's rather than the simple 3 r's.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Burp-Back education

I 100% agree with Dr. Strange about the issue of burp-back education. Students do not learn skills or facts for life; they learn how to memorize information in their short term memory instead of their long term memory. I believe that students need to think for themselves and discover how to learn things for the future. If a student can gain this skill, they will be lifelong learners and wise beyond their years. Students will be able to be critical thinkers with their own perspectives on issues not just what a teacher states is the "right" opinion. Dr. Strange's view on burp-back education should be read by every new and future teacher so that we may break the cycle and teach leaders not followers.

Friday, June 5, 2009

International Blog #2

http://ambritrome.blogspot.com/
This blog is for a school in Rome, Italy. The school is Ambrit Rome International School and the blog features Mr. Evans' classes. The blog contains video and pictures from the classes trips into Florence and other famous cities. Mr. Evans teaches 6th grade and 7th grade for the school. The school teaches early childhood, primary, and middle school levels. The school offers all different types of technology to help their students learn to their maximum potential. Along with blogs, the school offers computer labs to each age group, smartboards, and laptops. The entire school runs on Mac instead of Windows. The blog is set up to provide students and parents access to the school and to the instructors anytime they wish to contact them. The blog also shows how well the school provides access to other cultures as shown in the slideshows from various trips taken. If I could afford to send my children abroad to study, this would be the school I would choose.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

International Blogs

http://blog.greenschool.org/?p=8
This blog is for a school called Green School in Bali, Indonesia. Surprisingly enough, the blogs is entirely in English. It is for years 7 and 8 in Indonesia which is equivalent to Grade 7 and 8 here in America. The blog posts what the teacher is looking for in homework and what the student needs to study in order to do well on the assessment. The blog also gives links to the school homepage and other links such as student handbooks. The blog also allows readers of the blog to post comments on how to improve the site or to leave just a simple thank you to the author of the blogs.

Blogs in the US

http://jmyrmel.edublogs.org/
This link will send you to a third grade blog for Bauer Elementary in Michigan. The teacher that hosts the blog is Mrs. Myrmel. She uses math, poetry, and science blogs to engage the students in learning using new technology. Technology such as blogs is an objective here in Alabama that teachers must meet in the classroom. The blog uses video and text to help the students to grasp concepts that may need extra time outside of the classroom. The students can also post information to the blog to show there understanding not just of the subject matter but also to demonstrate computer literacy. She also uses something called a voicethread that I had never heard of before. It is really awesome how she brought new and fun technology into her classroom.

http://www.liberty.k12.mo.us/~elanghorst/blog
This link will send you to a History blog in a Junior High in Missouri. Mr. Langhorst's 8th grade American history blog to be exact. He uses text blogs, podcasts, and studycasts in his blog to help his students succeed. He also post pictures to help aid the class in learning historical facts and posts projects that the class did for other students or parents to see. Mr. Langhorst posts contact information and a weekly parent newsletter to keep parent's involved in their student's education. His blog is definitely one that I would love to model someday in my own classroom.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

No More PC?

The article I read was "Google plans to make PCs History." The article discusses the GDrive or Google drive that is rumored to replace the hard drive in PCs. The GDrive allows users to place their data onto the Google servers for storage rather than an OS hard drive. They believe that this will help people if their hard drive was to crash. The user would have all of their data stored in an online database. The problem that people are most concerned about is privacy. If the government wanted information from Google, they could very well obtain it.
I believe that most people will probably use both, hard drive and GDrive as a safety net. It would also allow students, like myself, to obtain papers or projects saved to the GDrive for courses if something was to happen to my jump drive. I like the idea of the GDrive. The only concern I have is for the people who use it as their only means to store data. It would be a catastrophe for these people if the Google servers crashed and their information was lost.

Changing the way we think?

In this article about the internet and its impact on the brain and our neurological mapping, several views were stated. The views differed greatly from one another as some people opposed such search engines like Google and other hailed it as a great resource for the next generation. Nick Carr, for example thinks that internet has destroyed such stimulating brain activities such as reading War and Peace. Carr states that why read the book when you can get the story in a condensed version via Facebook or Twitter. Although he opposes the advances, many people advocate the technology.
In my opinion, I believe that the internet and all of the resources that are provided enhance knowledge and promote learning and advancement. I know that without the internet I would not be able learn as much knowledge because time would not allow it. The internet speeds up the learning process by being readily available. Unlike Carr, I see all of the resources such as Google as a great advantage. We should embrace change and I would like to read the research by Susan Greenfield about the neurological changes that have occurred due to technological advancements in this generation. I believe that our brains are changing but for the better.
http://www.schoolinfo.ca/connectingeducation/googleApps.htm
is a great little article with video showing how google and education can connect students with great education resources!

Friday, May 29, 2009

ACCESS (what a great resource)

ACCESS stands for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide. This program allows the student to view courses and teachers using technology. This program uses distant learning through technology to bring new and more advanced courses into classroom that do not have the resources (teachers or funds) to offer the courses. It uses websites and video conferences to connect to students statewide. This resource allows to internet to connect students to teacher and students to new educational opportunities.
ACCESS seems great. I have never had the opportunity to use or see ACCESS in action but I can imagine that it is detrimental to helping all of the state's communities get more educational needs met. I would love to see ACCESS in an actual classroom setting. Anything that brings more technology into the classroom is an important and valuable asset to our state education program.

ALEX (It's a life saver)

ALEX for anyone who does not know is the Alabama Learning Exchange. This probably still does not clear anything up. ALEX is a amazing resource for any and all teachers. ALEX is a website dedicated to lesson plans and to Alabama Course of Study requirements. Teachers can post their lesson plans on the ALEX website for other teachers and students to view. You can view the plans by subject or grade level. This sorting method helps to target the specific item you are looking for. An example of this of ALCOS MA3.2, which is Alabama Course of Study for mathematics in the 3rd grade objective 2. Then, you will be able to find lesson plans on how to teach that objective.
ALEX is a wonderful resource for teachers and student teachers because everything is laid out so organized. Anyone can navigate the site and find what they are looking for. I have already used ALEX in my classroom management course to help me learn to develop great lesson plans. All teachers have different styles and ALEX has so many varieties of lesson plans that every teacher could find something useful from this resource. The web address is alex.state.al.us. Make sure you check it out!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog for the Summer!