Goodbye Everybody

It was an awesome adventure with everyone of ya'll. This class has opened my eyes to new things and it has been a semester i will never forget. Hope to see everybody soon and good luck in life and career's to ALL my classmates.

Thank you Dr. Strange for your NO "Burp Back" EDUCATION.. Your class was such a relief! Great Teaching!!

A Review of EDM310

Hmmmmm...what have I learned??
Blogs: I have never blogged before and i have to admit im not a big fan of it yet but i do see the importance of it and the impact it makes.
Wikis: still confused about those
Presentations:Those was very interesting, i liked them alot!
Google Docs: LOVED it..it was very fun and interesting
Google Spreadsheets: It was okay, im not a spreadsheet person.
Picasa: That was a very awesome picture program. Very neat!
Podcasts: Very beneficial and educational
Videocasts: Those were fun and neat, i like videocasts alot.
Youtube: I LOVE youtube..im a huge fan!
Posts:There were alot of posts i read and some stick out in my memory and some i can't remember.
PLN: It's still growing and Dr. Strange has helped increase mine with all the assignments he has given.
Twitter:Too confusing
Comments4Kids:One of my favorite things we did in the class, it makes a huge impact when you reach out to a child on their level.
iTunes:Love it
iTunesU:It's amazing what is on there that i didn't know before.
Html tags:Thank you for teaching us how to do that...lifesaver!!!
Google forms:never did one before and it was pretty fun
data bases:kinda understood it, im still a little lost
Google Earth:VERY neat and fun but you need patience for that program!!
Delicious: Helped me with research and it was very useful
ACCESS:I have used this website before with my mom.
ALEX:Very educational when i need help with lesson plans or projects.
Foliotek: Weird, pointless, and annoying
Technology literacy:Im still a little "in the dark" when it comes to technology but i have improved very much.
the future of schools:I hope it gets better by the time i get into a classroom and it goes back to teaching the materials and not teaching the test.
My "intellectual trail":Im not quite sure about this one

2. No not really, i learned about stuff that i didn't know was even out there.
3. I will still use every information and learned but i will not use twitter.
4. Yes this class was very exciting, i was very happy when i learned and understood something new about technology.
5. The blogging was challenging for me because i am more of a visual student who loves posters and graphs and art, it was pretty difficult for me to write out my opinions and feelings in a blog.
6. I was never bored in this class, it was hard to be bored. I was just trying to stay afloat.
7. Im a project person, independent and group, and i would add more because i learn better when doing projects.
8. I think im in the middle about being techonlogy literate. I know some stuff but i still need to learn alot.
9. The more i experiement on the internet and find stuff out on my own the more i will improve. There is so much good education out there waiting to be found.

My PLN..It's still growing

My PLN was something that was very interesting to create. I work in a daycare so im surrounded by teachers, it may be pre-school grades but it is still teaching. Some of the children's parents are teachers so we have a common ground when it comes to interests. They give me good tips and advice, educational resources and even some lessons. But my PLN does not stop there, At the Teacher's desk is one source that is incredibly useful. Our EDM 310 class, Glenn Beck, Dr.Alice Christie, and so many more that have changed my perspective on social networking and reaching out to the world which makes my PLN just gets bigger everyday.

Project #2...This is Me

One of our assignments was to create and present a google document about something special about ourselves. I wrote about myself and who i am, and some of the crazy incidents that have happened in my life. Hope you enjoy! If you have any questions, let me know.

Project 11

Project 11 was a group project where Kimberly, Laurin, and myself had to research advanced search techniques. We each added a little bit of information that way we all had a chance to learn all the ways ourselves. This was a very educational project that i learned alot from. Thanks Dr. Strange!

At the Teacher's Desk

I think it is very important to have this kind of outlet for teachers. Blogging is a way to express yourself and your ideas, and when you can do that and connect with other teachers at the same time that is a wonderful tool. Teacher's on this website are always available for advice and tips on any problem someone might have. Some of the blogs were about how teachers need to become socail networking students and using technology for communication. It is so awesome that teachers can comment on these posts and share their opinions back and forth and that all makes us better learners. While browsing around i found some interesting things on here, like the comments4kids blog and a link to the worldwide visitors of the blog. Dr. Strange's introduction video and blog to EMD310 was posted by Mr. Lamshed, and it said that Dr. Strange is the most active commentors on the whole page.

The Networked Student

I liked watching the video because it resembles alot of what we are doing in EDM. The networked student learns alot from the teaching styles of his professor and that can help build his PLN. All it takes is one click of the mouse and your whole view of education can change. Researching, Skype, Blogs, Videochats are all apart of increasing that PLN and teachers are the ones who are there to motivate and inspire. Teachers are there to show us how to do it and how to thrive from that knowledge and use it later on in your career.

Comments4Kids

WoodTech Edublogs,
I had to post a comment on Trever's blog. His blog was about video games and he wrote which ones were his favorite. He is a pretty cool kid because i left him a comment asking him what was worldofwarcraft game and which wii game was his favorite. We have been commenting back and forth to each other about video games because that is one of my hobbies during my free time. But i would have to say this was my favorite comments for kids assignment. Thanks Dr. Strange for assigning this one!



Mr. Brown's History Class,
His Class posted a video on the Panama canal, its a time lapse video but it still has the same affects. It was very neat to watch how it really works because i have never been to the canal, and pretty much every person that left a comment had said the same thing. I also watched a couple different videos on the website and i think its a very educational technique process with all these awesome videos he is showing his class.


Mr. McClung,
Mr. McClung's class posted a blog about their discussion about how the Placebo Effect can change the outcome of data. I think its wonderful that he is teaching his class at such an important age the different effects that change experiments and how no matter what the outcome is always up to them. Good job Mr. McClung.



MrToft.ca
I had to read Calysta's blog about herself and how she has one little brother and has a brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu. It's very cool that she in participating in that kind of a sport. I also liked how she used word coloring when she listed her favorite colors and how many pets she has. I hope she keeps posting blogs because they were very cute to read.




Mr. Lamshed
I had to comment on the "cooking" blog, and it was about how each week they are teaching the boys how to prepare and cook a meal. Each week is a different theme to the meal so they split up into four groups and different sides. Once it's all completed they all sit down to a four course meal and talk about what they learned that week. I really liked reading about this because i didnt learn cooking until my senior year of high school. They are teaching these boys wonderful skills. I hope they keep up the good work.

ACCESS

ACCESS distant learning is joining high school students and educators together to help the learning process in education. It has a tool that lists how to help review for the 10 AP exam that students take and even how to look up your textbooks in advance. There is advance placement tests that are college approved that will challenge the student for exellence. There is links to ALEX, ChemLab, and even AVL which are excellent resources for information and knowledge. The Testimonials is very cool because you can read how the students and teachers feel about the ACCESS program and hopefully connect with them for future references.

"ALEX"

The ALEX website is full of useful tips and resources for every teacher. Each category offers a different tool on this website that will help any educator find lesson plans or web links they need. There is lesson plans that will help you find what you need in the exact subject, grade, and areas of resources. The courses of study helps you find the teaching objectives in the area needed and gives a brief example of what should the requirement should meet. I really like the web links sections because it offers a student web link search that gives a good variety of choices for all subjects in every grade K-12. The podcasts treasury is a gallery of selected podcasts by students and by some teachers that contains videos on technology, science, and even art. One of the sponsors is the Gulf Coast Explorium, which is pretty cool because its close to home. This website is a very useful tool in teaching and i know that we will see more of this website when we go through student teaching.

How we dream

This video discusses all the ways that researching and writing have evolved with time and technology. Hours spent in the libraries searching for books, taking down notes, and making copies of information found is something that rarely happens anymore. Now you see students on the web looking up videos and blogs for information and not just have their heads buried in books. Webpages now have videos and sound on them which makes it more of a learning experience than just to research. I think that all the classrooms should keep sending their children to the library because books are full of knowledge but they should encourage their children to research on the web too and combine both experiences to create the best learning atmosphere possible.

Mr. McClung

This post was really interesting to read. I try to get all the advice i can about how to make through the first year of teaching alive, and his post had some very inspirational advice. He did not let the negative critisism from his other employees get him down and he did not try to do things the way they wanted him to. His message in this was to not sweat the small stuff and dont try to plan every detail to perfection, because nothing will ever go as planned. Enjoy your class and get to know them because they are what make teaching and learning more rewarding than actually trying to go with the plan. The students learn from the teachers but the teachers learn from the studetns as well and that is what makes an excellent teacher. His words and advice is something i will carry with me and always remember when i start my teaching career.

Wikipedia??

I have never used wikipedia before in my school education simply because of this "untrustful information." I have known about this for years since middle school and i dont think it should be an acceptable source for references. There are better educational websites out there that contain more reliable knowledge. In my opinion i think that wikipedia is only going to get worse and less creditable and the only way for it to improve is to make it a self-authorship website instead of a research engine.

Practice

Kelly Hines

Kelly Hines made some really good points in this blog. She talked about how teachers need to be better learners in order to become better teachers. Your teaching career will be more ease and enjoyment if you learn how to adapt to new concepts of teaching. A teacher needs to take new directions and risks in the classroom that way you can find out what works and what does not work. The children need to be shown how to learn at their own understanding and not just giving the tools to do it. Technology is an aide and can further their education if its used correctly, and that is where the teacher steps in. and that is why the teacher needs to be perpetual learners.

A Vision of students today

This video was very awesome because it is so totally true about college. My experiance has been somewhat the same, but i still feel like most teachers dont really take the time to know your name because they are too worried about teaching the materials and getting the students to pass that way they can say they did their job. Students are more focused on their lives and surroundings and memorizing the materials for the tests, than actually learning the info so they can carry it with them in their career. I think that since students are multitaskers and cannot go one minute with the use of cell phones or computers, teachers need to find new teaching methods that appeal to students using technolgy. we need more of an interact classroom where the students get out of their desks and participate than a lecture classroom where the teacher talks the whole time. College would be more fun if the students got to take part in their own learning.

ICT in the MFL Classroom

I watched the Intergrating ICT into the MFL Classroom. This video was very educational on how podcasts and videocasts are now becoming the new generation of T.V.. Some teachers have introduced podcasts to their students as a way of enhancing their learning and keeping them interested in their studies. The children enjoy it as much as the teachers do because it lets them take part in activities in the classroom, which has shown to improve kids learning skills and it also helps increase test scores.

It will be very interesting to see how often podcasts are done in the classroom years from now, that number will be impressive im sure. It was also neat to know that in elementary and middle schools, children who are out sick or for other reasons can get their assignments online through their classroom podcasts. thats a wonderful idea because it doesnt let a child get behind on their studies or miss a part of their education.

Tech Literate Teacher

The Videocast from last semester was very well done on how they presented the information on how to be a Tech Literate Teacher. The ladies spoke very well and were well prepared to do this Videocast. I think it would have made it better if the ladies looked at the camera when they spoke and each had a fair turn to speak. Two ladies sat there very quietly and looked like they felt uncomfortable, while the other two ladies spoke from their opinions and own experiences. It was a educational video to watch but it would have been better if the ladies had more energy and excitement.

PodCasts

In all of the Teacher's Podcasts, all of them had the same feel as to how they were done except for one of them. They were all audio podcasts using skype or someother type of audio. The Teaching with Smartboard was audio and video because they had to demonstrate how you can use the smartboard in your classroom. I like these podcasts because they can record their audio messages from thousands of miles away and its not even noticable until they said something about it. They were very casual about delivering their message. Most times it has that lecture feel to it where every minute is about the lecture, but they had a very laid back and comfortable feel to them. They were very interesting to listen to but also very helpful about how to introduce podcasts into the classrooms.

In Kidcast, Dan was talking about the difference between audio and video podcasts. He mentioned that audio is safer for children and it also enhances children's listening skills. Video podcasting takes more time to set up because of the worries about lighting, sound, and rehearsing your information because you have to make sure your giving your attention to the camera. Audio is portable and can be accessed where ever there is a radio. The 80/20 ratio is a very creative way to help kids with their pocasts, 80 percent content and 20 percent production. This ratio will help kids in the long run because they will have learned more information because they didnt have to waste time on setting up for a video podcast.

EdTech Talk was a bunch of people communicating on skype discussing what it takes to a professional in the classroom. Listening to the other podcasts and then listening to a Skype call was very interesting. All of the guests gave their opinions on how to become a better teacher and mentor.It is better to have a routine in the classroom, that way everything in the lesson plan will get taught. Helping kids is the most important role you can take to become more professional, helping them study and answer any questions they may have. Kids look up to teachers and trust them that they will help them succeed and further their knowledge.

This Week in Photography was about new technologies available and if its right for you and your kind of work. They discussed different brands and the pros and cons of each brand. This podcast was sort of interesting to listen to because i had no clue some of these devices were even available. They are very laid back and casual too about how they are doing their podcasts, very funny about how they relate James Bond to technology.

MacBreak Weekly is a couple of guys getting together talking about new technologies of Mac. They discuss how technology has increased for podcasts and the different tools available to help the process of podcasting. The App on IPhone lets you record the audio for podcasts, but the newer version lets you record videos now. Snow Leopard is the newer version of Leopard for Mac and they said its cheaper and faster to get at the Apple store rather than Amazon. There is always going to be updates to computer software and its important for teachers to learn and use these updates to help better educate their kids on new technolgy.

Did You Know 3.0

When i was watching this video alot of the information was overwhelming to understand the first time, but the second time i watched it, it made me think about what is happening to our future. Our country is moving at a slower pace than the rest of the world which makes are future more uncertain. Technology is taking over our lives and if it doesnt slow down or stop it could possibly be running our lives for us. I mean it has gotten to the point where instead of going out and dating, people are looking for their spouses online on match making websites. Instead of going to hang out with friends, people are texting and using myspace to communicate. Instead of going to doctors and therapists, people are researching their problems on medical websites and google. Why is everyone realying on technology to solve their problems? What is gonna happen when we have more technology devices than we do people? It needs to slow down so we can adapt to the changes going on around us, but technology is enhancing so quickly that we are having to adapt to it.

Hey everybody

My name is Lauren, im 21 and i grew up in daphne and have been here my whole life. I transfered to South this semester from Faulkner and so far i love it. Im majoring in Elementry Education and i want to teach anywhere from 1st grade to 5th grade. My mom and my older sister are teachers so i pretty much know my way around a classroom. I work at a Daycare in Spanish Fort and i teach the 24 months to 30 months and i love everything about my job. I work full time and go to school full time but i will always find a way to have fun in between. The beach is my favorite place to be, flip-flops are my addiction, and cooking/eating food is my stress relief. I go to church at Cotes: Church on the Eastern Shore in robertsdale and its a very down to earth, low key kind of church and i love going there to worship. Anything else you want to know about me just ask!

Fall 2009 Blog

Hey my name is lauren!