My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete!

To my fellow classmates I would just like to say GOODBYE! It has been real fun getting to know some of you. I learned a lot, at a real fast pace, but I'm GLAD its OVER!!! Hopefully I will see all of you again someday!

Last Post

I can honestly say that while I knew quite a bit about the internet, and microsoft office. I still learned ALOT as well. I think I will mostlikely take the use of podcasts and blogging with me. I like the idea of useing them as a journal of what the class is doing, it is a great way to keep parents updated as to what their children are doing. I haven't heard of Google docs, before taking this class and I don't think I would ever use them for the fact that I didn't like the functions they offer.

I would have liked to have learned access and publisher alittle more I have played with them for work and other classes but never been taught all the things they can be used for.

I can't really think of anything else, I don't think it was very beneficial to me to take a computer class one night a week. I feel like everything was crammed in and once we got started with one project we jumped to the next. One night a week classes have worked well with other classes for me but I don't think I will be taking anymore.

WGBH Teachers DomainPodcasts

In itunes U you can view a wide variety of podcasts. You can also view these videos by going to Teachers Domain. Where they have thousands of videos that are helpful to teachers.


I watched a podcast Observe Clouds that was just streaming video of clouds floating in the sky. They ask the viewer to watch and see if they can see the clouds changing shape in the sky. I think this would be a good podcast to view and then take students outside to view clouds moving for themselves. I think it would be a good break from the class work and they could use their imaginations when viewing.

You could also make it a writing lesson and when the kids come back in have them blog or podcast what they learned about clouds. The things they observed, and then draw a picture of a cloud changing/ transforming as it floats in the sky.


The second podcast that I watched was What is a Planet? This podcast told what a planet is, what defines a planet, and also talks about the controversy with Pluto which was recent said to be not a Planet but a Dwarf Planet.

I think that these types of videos are excellent examples to be seen by students in a classroom and then give them an assignment. It would also help with retention of information by students.

Edible Schoolyard and A Night in the Global Village

The Edible Schoolyard is the baby of Alice Waters a Chef, who in 1994 wanted a way to improve upon school lunch progams. She said of children "if they grow it, cook it, then they'll want to eat it." It is a non-profit organization at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California. The teachers at MLK Jr. are able to use the Schoolyard as a way to integrate social studies, math, science, and life into their classrooms. Everyone is a learner in the Edible Schoolyard, each person does their part, from planting to picking.

The intrgration takes a very common sense approach, they learn about plant species, and where they can be found in science and social studies. Math comes in the kitchen, where they are preparing the food, mixing ingredients. These all come together to build life lessons that the children take with them. I liked how they used the most common materials for tools in the kitchen; the children were using wine bottles as rolling pins. I would have never thought about using them for that. I like the idea of children tasting the fruits of their labor.


A Night in the Global Village was very interesting as well, it is located at the Heifer Ranch in Arkansas. This shows the Rocky Mountain Middle School from Denver, Colorado learning about different countries and the poverty that they live in. The children pick numbers, shown around the ranch,where they have four living conditions set up; Guatamala, Tailand, Apalacha which is a Refugee camp and Zambia.

Each location has different amenities Guatamala gets all the water, and have the nicer beds, the others get food, with the exception of the refugees, they get nothing food, wood, and on top of that they can't communicate with the other villages, which is just carrots, potatoes, onions, nothing special. The experience is to allow children to see how other countries that have nothing live and survive. It will also make them think about all that they have, and maybe change them and their feelings.

I think showing classes podcasts like these would be helpful, these kids are changing the world with the things they learned from both of these experiences. I would like to see public schools in Mobile doing something like the Edible Schoolyard, especially some of the schools like Chastang, Mae Eanes some of the ones that the children don't care and the parents don't care either. I think it would teacher some of the students what it would be like to take care of yourself, I remember taking a cooking class in middle school and I loved learning how to make different foods, it also lets you experiment with different flavors and spices.

iTunes University

As a student iTunes U would be helpful when you miss a class, you could just upload the information you missed from the iStore. Keeping you up to date, like you never missed the day. It would also keep you from pestering your Professor with questions. iTunes U creates a different learning environment from the conventional style we are used to today. It would open doors for different styles of learning. It would allow students like me, the visual learner would be able to see examples of lectures not just notes.

The other opportunity that iTunes U would make would be the fact that students would have access to the classroom 24/7 all they would need is a computer, iPod, iPhone, etc. It would also allow you to take the classroom outside, on days like to day when its warm and the sun is out NO ONE wants to be inside, they would rather be outside.

As a teacher iTunes U would make the classroom more enjoyable. You could teach a variety of subjects, and styles. While on a field trip you could have the students looking at other examples, or take them outside on the school grounds and let them identify the different birds, trees, flowers etc that they just learned about. Then upon returning to the classroom have them blog about their findings.

iPods as Learning Tools

The two articles that I read for this blog were very informative. The first one is on Apple.com, this site explains Apple's implementation of new tools that will help teachers and students alike. The second website that I read was titled Duke Gives iPods to Freshman. In 2004 Duke University gave 1,650 incoming freshman a 20GB iPod to "foster innovative uses of technology in the classroom". They downloaded the freshman orientation info for the students to listen to at their leasure, with the hopes that they will download course information, lectures, lessons and much more.

I had never thought of an iPod being used for anything more then to play mp3's, but both of these sites gave a new look. I wish South would give there students an iPod. it would have been alot more useful to students to have that fee tacked on to tuition, rather than a new football team(sorry to the players). I think it would be very useful when dealing with handicap children, who may not be able to take notes. They would be able to learn the same things as someone who took notes and then use them for a review. It could be very useful with speech classes, they could her pronouncation of the words and then be able to repeat. Newer iPods have more capabilities then the older ones and they are advancing everyday.

Dr. Christie

Dr. Alice Christie has a PhD. in Educational Technology and Language and Literacy from Arizona State University. She taught in K-12 schools for 25 years. She was also taught in the College of Teacher Education and Leadership at ASU, currently she travel nationally and internationally doing workshops on "How Technology can Enhance Teaching and Learning". From her website you can tell that she is a woman of knowledge and she enjoys learning and teaching.

The thing that caught my eye on her site was the section on photography. She gives a little explaination as to why she takes pictures and then some of her photos. This could be useful to me as a teacher because you can give a child a camera, tell them the assignment and let them use their imaginations. Then have them view the pictures pick one and write a journal entree about the picture and their inspiration.

You could make this a morning activity while, you are calling roll, taking up lunch monies and all the what nots that you have to get together. Photos are something that each person views differently, they have to power to jog a memory, or spur creativity. So you can also have the students review a classmates work and write a comment or two about what they liked about the picture. Then at the end of that assignment make a collage for the students to view their work.

I liked this website it was full of information that I can use later on in my career or even now. I am doing an arts and crafts lesson each month at the library for the children who come in, and this gave me inspiration for a lesson that would be two parts. One week they could go outside and find one thing they find intriguing. The next week they can find their picture and frame it and display it on the wall.

Wikipedia

The question of whether Wikipedia is a trusted source is something all future teachers should know about. I read an article in an English class last semester and the creator of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales says, that you should not use it as a source for papers. Due to the fact that anyone can change the information. I will admit that Wikipedia is easily accessible, and is normally at the top of the list when searching on the Internet. I knew that anyone could change the information however, I did not think about companies and even members of congress changing information. I like the fact that even though you may have remained anonymous it still kept a log of you IP address. For a few facts on who can change wikipedia visit the NPR website.
I like Wikipedia, I think it is a great place to start research because it is the first site. However I wouldn't allow my students to use it as a source because of the lack of validity. They could however use Wiki as a jump point many topics have sources listed at the bottom of the page that link to the site where that author got the information and you could go to that site. I was taking a Tech and Learning class for teachers when Wiki first came out and the Professor thought it was so great, he only wanted us to use Wiki as a source for his papers. Then he found out that anyone could edit the information and he changed his mind. A word to the wise, if you do use it back up the information with more credible sources.

Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture"

Randy Pausch was an inspiring man, author of The Last Lecture Really Achieving your Childhood Dreams. He had a PhD. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. He also taught computer science and human-computer interaction at CMU.

The Last Lecture was an awesome show, and very well put together. He had stated what he was NOT going to talk about and that was "The elephant in the room" his cancer. The presentation was broken down into 3 parts: His Childhood Dreams, which were being in zero gravity, playing in the NFL, winning stuffed animals, being Captain Kirk, and being a Disney Imagineer. Next was How to achieve your dreams, and lessons learned. Throughout the entire lecture he never once felt sorry for himself, it was all about how happy he was to be alive.

In October of 2007 Randy appeared on Oprah, which is not something that I normally watch however I had to the TV on and heard him telling his story so I watched. I was glued the whole time it was very moving to see how positive he was even after knowing that he was going to die soon. He said Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things. To hear a healthy person tell you something like that is somewhat moving but when it comes from someone who has 3 little babies, and is losing everything, it makes you think.

The one quote that I will take with me is "Experience is what you get, when you didn't get what you wanted". It was amazing to see just how much he loved his family, his friends, and his work you could see it in the pictures of the presentation. He had a lot of "experience" in his life and he doesn't really tell you until the end that he didn't get into Brown or Carnegie Mellon right off the bat. Those were the lessons that he was sharing. My favorite part was the very end he said the other head fake was this wasn't for you (meaning his students and colleges)it was meant for his children. For their viewing when they get older to see that their father lived life to the fullest which is the greatest lesson he could teach them.

The Best of the Fischbowl 2007

This is a picture taken from Karl Fisch's blog, it is of 9th grade students holding a video conference and live blog session with Daniel Pink author of A Whole New Mind. I read the post from the Best of the Fischbowl 2007 it was for the month of October intitled Two Steps Forwardand More Thoughts on Filtering and Even More on Filtering by Karl Fisch. This post was dicussing internet filtering, Mr. Fisch doesn't like filtering because it blocks out a lot of resources that might be needed for projects due to pop-ups or the category of website. He also feels that there should be levels for overrides to unblock the sites, for example the teachers at Arapahoe High School (where he works)in Centennial Colorado were given an override to unlock sites that can be used for educational purposes. And then the Administration also has a higher level of override that allows them to view more sites. Both of these overrides are logged to see what site was viewed and from what override. Filters also keep classrooms from connecting with the outside world and prevents the expansion of ideas, for example the filters at Arapahoe kept students from viewing Pangea Day

The library uses the same type of filter that Mr. Fisch's school uses the 8e6, and I can understand his frustration with it. I find it frustrating because before students come in to do their homework that is normally what you will find me doing, I always hit the dead end when I go to my blog, email, and facebook because they are considered social sites. Its not that I don't know the override its just a pain to type it in everytime you click on a link or go to another site.

Filters are a pain when doing research because children want current information but half the information is blocked. When a child younger then 18 comes into the library to research they aren't allowed overrides, so the only way they can get information needed is the old fashion way through books. Even then those are hit or miss. For example students have been coming in looking for information on famous African Americans, there are only so many books and when almost every school requires this the books have all ready been checked out, then you add that to the filter and the student can't do their project.

I think that at every level of learning there should be a lesser degree of censorship. If we give all the students the same punishment, then we are telling them as a whole that we don't trust them to think on their own. Filters are equivalent to the banning of books, some of my favorite books are banned because one person didn't like the message that it sent to our youth. Banning websites because of the pop-ups makes it that much harder for our students to get there work done.

EDM 310 Fall 2008 Podcasts

I listened to two podcasts done by Dr. Strange's EDM 310 Fall 08 classes. The first podcast I listened to was "Burp Back Education", by Patricia Robbins, Megan St. Amant, and Courtney Morris. The next podcast I listened to was titled "What I learned from Randy Pausch's Last Lecture", by Brandy Wimberly, Amanda Bentley, and Daniel Griffin.

Monday October 27,2008
"Burp Back Education"
I thought this podcast was very good, it gave loads of information and tips for a teacher to use when expecting students to retain information for long periods of time and not just for a test. I thought this podcast was more like a conversation then, the other one I listened too! The speakers had knowledge of classroom experience and teaching skills. There were a few distractions that were a nuisance, for instance you could hear clapping in the background and laughing. I also thought that each speaker talked on a different level and it made it hard to hear them. I found myself continuously adjusting the volume for the three of them. Other then those few things the overall podcast was good, they gave a more conversational feeling then a lecture.

Monday November 24,2008
"What I Learned from Randy Pausch's Last Lecture"

This podcast the students introduced themselves before they gave the talk about Mr. Pausch's Last Lecture. I didn't like the fact that they said um and like a few too many times, and their pronunciation was off. The first speaker Brandy Wimberly babbled a bit about her thoughts and then let it open for the other two students to put in their thoughts. At first this one sounded more rehearsed and not conversation like. I didn't like that all of the students knew what they were talking about, it sounded like one did more research and looking in to find out facts and the other two just watched the video. I did like the that they gave quotes that had an impact on them.

Of these two podcasts I now have a better idea of what to do and what not to do! I know how important it is for the groups to all be the same distance from the microphone so that the listener will be able to hear all on the same volume level. I like the idea of podcasting and think that it would be a great way for a class to learn from because it is something that would make a child remember the lesson and not just regurgitate back for a test.

Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

After reading the blog Is it Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher? by Karl Fisch, in his blog he talks about the accountability of teachers to learn how to use technology and not just say "Im not good with computers". I can understand his frustration with this, I work at a branch of the Mobile Public Library and it is housed within a Lutheran School. One of the teachers is going back to school and frequently comes into the library to use the computers however, she doesn't have a clue what she is doing. The really bad thing is that she doesn't want to learn she just wants you to show her how to do it for that assignment.

The library also has a Goodwill Easter Seals volunteer, she is in her early 60s tries to learn how to use a computer but from one day to the next she can't remember even how to turn one on. I do give her credit for trying, but it gets old having to figure out how she pulled the security system up, which then locks the computer making it inoperable for the rest of the day.

When I think back to my childhood I feel lucky, because I remember going to computer class in kindergarten and learning where to place your fingers on the keys. I also remember my Dad who had a computer that he played with and then when we got old enough he built us our own. I know how to use a little of everything on a computer, but then I look at the kids that come to the library and they seem to know way more then I do NOW. These kids come in and use proxies or anonymizers to override our security system to access myspace, facebook, and other sites that are restricted for anyone with out parental consent and under the age of 18. When I first started working there I had no idea what these were, but I quickly became formiliar.

I think that as an educator one should know how to use a computer to its full extent. Especially if their classes are going to be expect to know and use the information. One of the comments that Mr. Fisch made will stick with me for a while. He said "If a teacher to day is not technologically literate- and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more- it's equivalent to a teacher 30yrs ago who didn't know how to read or write".

Podcasts

I have never listened to a podcast before this experience, so I was kind of wondering what they were going to be like. I'm not sure if they were supposed to be interactive or not because my computer didn't want to work to even play them with sound. I thought some of them were very informative however, there were a few that just went on for a good while about the speakers lives.

The first podcast that I listened to was Smartboard Lessons Episode 126. It was broadcast by Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger the title was Cause and Effect Commercialism, they gave the link above right off the bat for references. It was an interesting conversation, talking about Flicker, smart recorder, and notebook 10. I think to understand what they are talking about you really have to know what these things are.

The Next Podcast was Kidcast Episode 53 He was talking about ways to re-energize a field trip, I found the idea to set up a podcast for group discussion a great idea. He also said that field trips are what children remember the most and you have to place hooks to connect the memories, and build exploration. With his idea you can have the children interview, reflect back and make observations, make it more then a brochure or display. The next was Ed tech talk With Clive Goodinson he was in Kenny Bumport, Maine(sp). He is a comic strip drawer and has a website for kids to go in and create there own. The website is called Pixton, callers were discussing the security of the site for their children.

The next podcast was Connect Learning 91, David Warlick was at a workshop in North Carolina with area Librarians. I liked this one because it was helping them to see how they could or have been using a podcast in their work. One Librarian said that she uses podcasting with EC children who can not read or write very well, because it gave them a chance to express through voice. The example was one of her students that can't write an he created a rap to help him remember his work.

The last two podcasts were Mac Break Weekly and This Week in Photography (TWiP?. Mac Break was dicussing the iPhone; shooting videos and then posting them to sites like You Tube. TWiP was discussing the Nikon SDK which stands for software development kit. This podcast is on photography, new inventions and making digital photography better. They also were talking about the Senator who wants to pass that camera phones to make a clicking sound before the picture is taken, he says that this will make them safer for anyone who might have their picture taken without there knowledge. Even if you make it illegal to have a silent camera people will find a way, this reminds me of the law in Mobile that you can't walk downtown in high heels! I get the safety issue but it is still pretty stupid.

International K-12 Blogs

The first international blog that I found is for Sandaig Primary School in Barlanark in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The school uses this site to provide information for anyone who visits. It offers a variety of pictures and videos for the viewer to see what the students are doing. It is very interesting to see just what the children of the world are doing and what the teachers put emphasis on.


The second international blog that I found was for Room 9 at Nelson Central School in New Zealand. It is a classroom taught by Rachel Boyd, she has 23 6 & 7 year olds. Mrs. Boyd uses the blog to post the children's work for the other classes, parents, and students to view what the class is doing. Also to reach other classrooms as a teaching tool. The most recent post is movies that the students made, "The Lorax Speaks for...". This blog has inspired me to teach outside of the box, one of her blogs shows a project in which they took a bath tub and used it as a flower bed which they call a Legacy Garden it is very cute.

U.S K-12 Blogs

The first blog that I found was for a 7th grade math teacher in Decator, AL. Her name is Jeanne Simpson, and she teaches at Cedar Ridge Middle School. Her blog is called Seven West Math.She uses her blogs to connect with parents and students for things that they are working on, what happened in class for that day, and concerns that parents might have. She also has a blog that she talks about different things, life helpful tips for teachers, games etc. She also has a blog that students go to, to get homework assignments and they have links to help sites.



The second example of teachers useing blogs that I found was an article in the New York Times about Marisa L Dudiak in Frederick County, Maryland. She is a second grade teacher who had her students write about the field trip, where they had gone to the Native American Farm. Her students were so talkative about the day they had that instead of facilitating a class discussion she had they tell about it in the blog. They wrote about learning to use a bow and arrow, sitting inside of a tepee, and petting a buffalo.

Did You Know 2.0

Did You Know 2.o video creates a conversation and makes you stop and think about your own daily routines. It gives you statistics on the technological advances we use today on a daily basis. I know that since I first got a computer I have always checked my email, IM's and since Facebook has come about I am usually on that at least 3 or 4 times a day depending on how bored I get.

It was very shocking to see the different numbers that were given. I would have thought that Great Britain would be the richest country, would have the biggest military and many other things. Or that Today's learners would have 10- 14 jobs before their 38Th birthday, I'm 25 and I have only had 6 and 2 of those were after I graduated from the Abbey, but I do know people like my sister who gets sick of one job 6 months after she starts it and moves on to another. I thought it was shocking to see that the average 21 yr old American has watched 20,000 hours of TV, played 10, 000 hours on video games, spent 10,000 hours on the phone and sent 250,000 IM's or emails and that text messsages sent exceed the population of the planet. But it was also incourageing to find out that 70% of U.S 4 yr olds know how to use the computers, I thought that this went great with the idea of ACCESS because that meant that they would at least know a few things about a computer. I can say from working at the Library that while it is good to have this knowledge, it is also somewhat dangerous for students to spend to many hours on the internet especially when it is not doing homework but trying to get around security blocks that are set up for their own safety.

ACCESS

Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS) gives students an opportunity to take park in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and other courses that their school may not have the funding for. ACCESS was first implemented in 2007 by Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, and State Superintendent of Education, Dr. Joseph B. Morton with the mission of "To provide an infrastructure that delivers quality learning opportunities for all citizens". ACCESS site consists of links for students, courses, parents, educators, and resourses. There is also a link for more information that takes you to a word document that tells the you all you need to know about how they plan to put ACCESS in to action.

The powerpoint on ACCESS was very interesting. I am very impressed that our legistalators are trying to provide a better education and bring Alabama's standards of education up with the rest of the nation. I also can say from experience that a distance learning classroom creates a totally different environment for both students and educators. ACCESS will also get students involved more in the world around them and will help with technological advances due to the fact that students and teachers will be useing various resources like video-conferencing, two way audio/two way video, intrenet based instruction etc.

Alabama Learning Exchange

ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange, the site is broken down into eight parts that you can click on and lead to other parts of the site. These eight parts consist of the course of study, web links, lesson plans, search, personal workspace, professional learning, distance learning, and help. Alex is for educators and administrators, it has resources that would be useful for someone just graduating to the most seasoned instructor looking for new ideas to spice up their classroom. It can also be helpful to students who are looking for something to add to their learning experience.

Through the course of study you can choose from different subjects, and grades allowing you to view what students should know upon entering the different grades with in the school system. The web link button has Educational sites for teachers, administrators, and students which they can view for help with homework or ideas for projects.

Another resource that is very useful to a teacher are lesson plans, when you enter the lesson plan room you can create your own personal account and then make your own plans and save them to the site for future use. Other options include finding lesson plans by Author, Title, or School. If you are not sure what you want to look for you can search under the subject and grade level to find some ideas that way.

Educators also have an opportunity to log in to their own workspace, and upload or create their own personal lesson plans and submit them. Along with this there is a button to professional learning that links teachers to websites that will help them to maintain and build upon their own learning process, making them a better educator.

Other links include ACCESS distance learning and help. ACCESS stands for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, Students, Statewide; giving students an opportunity to take part in courses not offered at there school. For those who are somewhat technologically challenged the help button answers a few questions on how to help with documents, lesson plans, trouble shooting, and a few other issues that one might have.

Alex is an amazing web site that I have found very useful and can see myself useing it in the near future. Not just when I become a teacher but even while taking classes here at South to give me some ideas to better my own work in the field of education.

First Post

This is a favorite website that I like to dream about shopping from! dream clothes

My Name is Erin O'Rourke, I am a senior at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. I have a BA in Educational Studies from Belmont Abbey College, which is a very small liberal arts college 15 minutes south of Charlotte, North Carolina.

I am a native Mobilian. My favorite holiday is Mardi Gras, it is more then just drunk people throwing moon pies and beads off a float. While I was in high school, I worked as a float leafer. I glued the gold and silver leaf to the floats, I loved it however because leafing is the last thing to be done before the parade hits the streets, your fingers are numb from the cold. I also love Mardi Gras because I was raised with my uncles and father in a mystic organization, so we always went to the parades and the tabluos.

Currently I am not married, no children, I do however have a bunny rabbit named Chocolate Chips he is about 5 yrs old. I also have a black kitten named Murphy because I went to Murphy High School and the mascot was a Panther. She is very smart and sometimes thinks she is human, she has to have fresh water from the tap and it has to be in a glass or she will sit in the sink and wait.

I like stars, the shape not the people!

I have an amazing boyfriend Bradley, who deserves all the credit for me going back to college. When I moved back home after graduating, I found it hard to get a job, I wasn't picky I would have taken anything. However, due to the fact that I had a degree I was over qualified for alot of the positions to which I applied. So when my boyfriend and I started dating about a year ago I was working at Hallmark, toying with the idea of returning to school and getting my teaching license. He supported the idea completely, and here I am!