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.

Brilliant Things Teachers Do and Stupid Mistakes They Make With Technology

Doug Johnson discussed things teachers do with technology. The first one was to make conferencing real-time. It is one important component of networking. This encourages parental involvement. Particularly, I enjoy e-mails. This is a way of allowing parents and teachers to keep in touch at their own discretion. It is very easy to get behind in everyday tasks and e-mails are accessible anytime.

Also, accepting the role of co-learner is very important. It has been addressed in EDM 310 that willingness to learn is an important part of becoming a good teacher. The teacher can learn from the teachers as well as teach them, too.

They can make stupid mistakes. First, not monitoring student's behaviors on the web is a bad mistake. As a teacher, you have to control what the student is accessing on the web. There is still a small chance that students can get around internet blockers on the school computers. If the student does something he or she should not, it can be traced back to your e-mail address and you can be held accountable.

Secondly, another mistake is believing online communication is private. Personal messages can be posted and will appear on the web for a long time. This situation is very common on my Facebook page. For instance, the chat history shows everything that has been exchanged between chatters for a long period of time. If you would like to view Doug Johnson's post,click here.

At The Teacher's Desk

At The Teacher's Desk, there were many ideas discussed about the use of collaborative learning in the classroom. First, skyping was a collaborative way to spark student's interests in class work. It gives students and teachers a new way to come up with new ideas from outside resources. Also, it may be useful to skype a place being discussed in the class and listen to what the local students there have to say from first-hand experiences. For example, if my class is reading To Kill a Mockingbird, I could plan a skype visit with students in Monroeville, Alabama and get insight from them.

Second, Teachers Need to Become Social Networking Experts discussed how the networking tool can be used to collaborate with other teachers, parents, students, and other educational professionals. I have only been on Facebook about 4 months and my network has grown drastically. I am already a member of my senior class alumni and a Facebook family tree. I read the post about the teacher who had a Facebook page to collaborate with his students' parents. The idea sounded good, but I don't think Facebook is private enough for that type of networking.

Also, I liked the presentation of The Fundred Project. The idea and the way it was advertised to other classrooms was very organized. It explained the project and posted a power point demonstrating the reason for it. The project encouraged other teachers and schools to collaborate to succeed in this project's completion. Also, I want to know if President Obama makes the even exchange for the template 100 bills. If you would like to read about the fundred project click here.

What Ever It Takes

In Michael Wesch's video, he made several comments relative to my current experiences in college. In the past years, I have lived a sedentary, somewhat isolated life that lacked socializing. The use of blogging has encouraged me to communicate more. It allows me to tell my opinion and get feedback from others.

My self-awareness has been improving through this class. It has allowed me to see myself the way others see me on my blogs. By posting my picture, I can see how I appear to others and think of ways to improve or change it. Sometimes I see other's blogs and they have similar views to the one's that I have. This makes me think my thoughts have value and are not always wrong.

Also, Wesch discussed how media has given more meaning to "whatever." As times change, media has a big impact on the culture. Media and technology is constantly changing. He described the past meaning of "whatever" as a form of selfishness. As future teachers, we have to care and "Let's do whatever it takes...by whatever means possible." If you would like to watch Wesch's video, click here.

The Importance of Students Posting Their Work in Blogs 3

Posting assignments in blogs give students the individual attention they may not get in the classroom setting. There is a wide variety of students in a class. Some may be shier than others and feel embarrassed in front of other students. This allows those students to collaborate with the teacher and discuss unresolved issues outside of the classroom. Also, the student may become more comfortable with the teacher and increase his or her class participation.

The Importance of Students Posting Their Work in Blogs 2

Posting assignments to a blog will be useful and informative to accommodate parents with busy schedules. Today, most parents work and this is a useful way for the parent to keep up with what the student is doing in class. This will allow the parent and teacher to know when the student does homework by the date and time on the assignment. Also, it gives the parent time to collaborate with the teacher and see what improvements can be made on the student's behalf.

The Importance of Students Posting Their Work in Blogs 1

It is important to post assignments on the web. This allows students to review their work and see where improvements can be made. The more improved students become, the better their work will become to the world on the web. Also, comments made by others viewing the posts will contribute to students' success in the classroom. You can watch a video of students singing Landslide by clicking here.