FAREWELL for now...

Dr. Strange and EDM Fall 310, it was a great pleasure to grow and learn with you. There were many times I did not have the slightest clue as to what was going on in class, but I feel much better now. I am available on Twitter and Facebook, as Jennifer Bass, for anyone who wants to keep in touch. I hope everyone becomes successful in their future careers and have a wonderfully blessed life.

This is a very sad ending to our class and makes me want to cry. I am leaving these tears in memory of me. I would upload one of my very own genuine tears, but I couldn't google one up.

SUMMARY OF EDM 310 FALL 2009

Blogging has taught me a new way to communicate, share, and get feedback from people. It will be a useful tool for me to communicate with students, parents, and other professionals to learn new things. Also, I can share informative and tutorial websites with parents and students to promote their educational growth. Presentations have given me a new technique to use in preparation for English literature. I can introduce pictures, places, thoughts, and other ideas to the class prior to the lesson. Google docs can be used to have an e-mail, assignments, and other educational material accessible at any time. Podcasts can be influential in encouraging students on specific topics by listening at students and others opinions. Also, students may get the opportunity to create a podcast. YouTube will be excellent for researching educational videos pertaining to topics discussed in class and can reinforce my classroom instruction. Personal learning network (PLN) is a useful tool to obtain, share, and stay current on educational material and ideas as it arises. Also, I will add Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) to my PLN to assist me with lesson plans. A part of being a teacher is to be willing to learn and I will maintain contact with my PLN group as a part of this learning process. Twitter is being used by me to assist in maintaining part of my PLN group. Comments 4kids is a fun way to communicate and share ideas with students across the globe. Educational materials can be obtained through iTunes and iTunesU. Accessibility and the use of html tag modifiers will be a factor in my class. I will create a questionaire using Google forms at the beginning of the term to see who has internet accessibility. The ones who do not will be given ample time to complete assignment requiring internet access. Also, in my blogs and e-mail, I will include links to take students to the sites of my choice. Google Earth can be used to give virtual tours of locations and places discussed in the text. As an English teacher, I will encourage and assist students taking college credit courses through the Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS). Technological literacy is very important to the future of schools. As previously discussed in this class, reading habits of students are continuously deteriorating as schools are becoming submerged in technology. Currently, I am at the beginning of my intellectual trail and have a long road ahead.
2. Google Earth and Pecassa was introduced in class, but I wanted to learn more about them.
3. I do not regret anything I learned in this class. I really appreciate the EDM310 experience.
4. The introduction to Google Earth was exciting to me and I plan to explore it in greater detail in the near future. I enjoyed doing presentations with pictures and I plan to use Pecassa. The entire class was a very exciting experience. I got internet access at home about a year ago and was not aware of all the things it has to offer until this class. Also, it was exciting to me to learn how to search the internet for information.
5. I felt like editing html tags was "intellectually challenging." I played around with it for a long time before I could figure out what the problem was. My instructional videos would play sounds and not show pictures. So, I could hear Dr. Strange's voice, the clicking of the mouse, and no sound. I read the instructions and that was not successful. Html's looked like a foreign language at first and many of the letters and symbols were very similar.
6. I was not bored at anytime in this class.
7. I would not change anything in this class.
8. I am somewhat technologically literate to a medium extent.
9. I will maintain my technological literacy by checking educational websites I am following on Twitter and searching the web for other sites to add.

Comments 4kids

Comments 4kids was a very interesting project. Students show the world what they are learning as they learn it. We watched videos, read stories, and commented on students' blogs in other schools. There was a brief video of the Incy Wincy Spider read by a little boy named Evan. There were drawings used to make the spider appear animated as he moved up and down the water spout. There was a 4th grader who demonstrated the process of making a basket and the storyboard organization was great. Particularly, I liked Room 10 Pt England's class blog. This is their first year blogging as well as mine.

Project 11 SmartBoard Uses

SmartBoard Uses was done by Sabrina McAnally, Lindsay Sanders, and me. It demonstrated how the SmartBoard can be used by the students and teachers. We described the SmartBoard, gave statistics, and demonstrated how it works. As to my surprise, it is used mostly by English teachers, which is my major. Also, there is a webinar available with free training materials. If you would like to view our presentationclick here.

Personal Learning Network (PLN)

In my Personal Learning Network (PLN), I am following educators, professionals, websites, and some of my EDM310 classmembers. Dr. Strange, my EDM 310 instructor, got me started with my PLN. Danielle McQuieter, Quanda Atkins, Kathi Pines, and Kevin Pugh are professional college graduates I will maintain contact with for technical and educational questions as education continuously become submerged in technology. Cade Somers, Emily Carlson, and John Harville are class members who began their PLN's with me and we can share in our learning experience. Larry Ferlazzo, Shelly Blake-Plock, Joe McClung, and Jim Fawcett are educators I have encountered through the web. They share websites containing beneficial information pertaining to the education field. Edutechation, Leapfish, and Richard M. Byrne are websites I will continuously use to keep up-to-date with new technology as it arises and apply it to my classroom instruction. My PLN members are on Facebook and Twitter. I will be able to keep my PLN going by checking messages, leaving questions, adding others, and in real-time when available. Also, I will send links to my members as I encounter them.

Podcast: Our Experiences in Blogging, Good So Far

My group's podcast consisted Sabrina McAnally, Lindsay Sanders, and myself. We discussed how blogging would be useful in the classroom. There were the advantages and disadvantages to blogging. Internet accessibility, income levels, and availability were also discussed. If you like to view our podcast click here.

New Classroom Rules By Education Innovation

I like the rule "Come to school everyday, unless you would rather just go on-line." I commute to school 2 days a week. I find it very convenient to take an on-line course to prevent traveling everyday. Spring semester 2009 was my first semester back in school after 13 years. I commuted 3 days and the stress was overwhelming. I don't know of many times that I have been stressed out like that. To decrease stress, I decided to have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for as long as possible. I have 3 classes on campus and one online.

Secondly, we should "Be polite, courteous, and respectful at all times in both physical and virtual space." I think this rule is important, because perception and appearance are important parts of life. If you are a professional educator, you should dress, act, and be respectful as a part of your profession. If you would like to view the new classroom rules, then click here.