Tuesday, May 4, 2010

I think I have become a Blogger

Check this out - just amazing! A choir ensemble of 185 people peformed Lux Aurumque. That in itself doesn't seem special. Until you realize the singers never met or performed together. The entire performance was put together through the internet and posted on You Tube. This was on the WKRG 5 Early Morning News today.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

See ya around

Good luck to everyone. See ya around.
Jen C : )

Final Blog Post

1. Ok I am going to roll through the list, Blogs are a good gateway to open communication. I liked how you could limit your exposure to a group of professionals and people of the same interest as you – education. Unlike Twitter and You Tube where you are put out there for everyone. Wikis, I did not work a lot with this one and can’t remember a lot about it but have heard if I post a classroom blog I will need a Wiki (looks like I will be referring back to my syllabus for the tutorial)?. Google Docs – COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT, thank you, thank you. How awesome, an on the go access to your word processing material along with presentation capabilities with no jump drive or CD to keep up with. I use Google Docs for my other classes too. For presentations, if it we were not required to gather these presentations I would not have learned anything. We learn by doing. Picasa, my new image application. Podcasts, Videocasts, and Movie Making, what can I say, I learned most here. How to make a movie, post to You Tube, use my video cam, and embed video to my blog. This totally changed the layout of my blog. Out the window went photos and hello to all the great videos that were shared with us by Dr. Strange. These videos changed my perspective on many things and opened my eyes to a world of technology in education and now I am an active part in this world. We were given the opportunity to be introduced to great videos: Randy Pausch, the Miller guy, Dr. Christie, What is Your Sentence, PS22, Zax, and the list goes on. PLNs are a work in progress and I will continue to broaden them. As for Twitter and FaceBook I will probably not be an active part of these social networks, at least not for now (never say never). I prefer a more limited audience. I enjoyed my travels to the different countries and being introduced to different cultures in education. Comments4Kids, classmates, and teachers were not my favorite but I see the point. iTunes of course for my music and iTunesU for research. The use of html tag modifiers were awesome to find out how to use. If I find myself needing to compile a survey for any reason I will use Google forms and the data base. I can see myself using Google Earth and Time Toast in the classroom. We also covered Audacity and Vocaroo. I used Audacity to record my teacher interview in EDF 315 and Vocaroo in the last of my blog posts. I have become quite favorable of audio and video in the recent days.

2. I would have liked to have been introduced to the SmartBoard. I will begin Pre-Sequence in the Fall and we begin going to a classroom 2 days a week. I was hoping to have the opportunity to work on a SmartBoard before I began going to the classroom so I would not be totally green.

3. Twitter and Facebook for the mere reason I see these sights as social networks. Maybe not comment on classmates and kids every week, alternate the two.

4. After it is all said and done I would say yes. The ability to make movies and presentations with all the visuals that are available is exciting.

5. The layout of the class was challenging. It took sometime getting used to the class being a hybrid and being required to learn such new things via tutorials.

6. I definitely was not bored with the class. The one thing that did get boring was posting to the Comments4Classmates.

7. What would have been beneficial to me would have been to introduce the applications that we downloaded to our computer with a brief explanation of what it was used for and how we would be using it and setup our computers together application by application.

8. Yes, I am technologically literate for the moment. I would say I am in the medium range.

9. I plan on following the EDM 310 Class Syllabus from semester to semester to keep up with what is going on. So Dr. Strange would you please put me on the list every semester to send me a URL to the class syllabus. I am sure many workshops and of course following my PLN, the Alumni Blog and distant collaborators.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Google Earth and Professional Blog

Summer is coming, cool off at a Water Theme Park. Take your pick, Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Texas is the best, has something for the kiddos and the adults or splash around with the sharks at Typhoon Lagoon in Orlando, Florida. I selected to display this as a map instead of the Earth view. If the Earth view is preferred simply click on the Earth option to the top right of the map.


View Water Theme Parks in a larger map


Professional Blog

I have joined the EDM 310 Alumni Blog for my professional blog assignment.

Two questions that can change your life?
Call me Kennedy because I have so much going on that I can't summarize it up in one sentence at this stage of my life. As far as am I better today than yesterday, actually I am but this is not the case everyday. I am going to think about my sentence and I am determined to be better the next day because I have not heard this motivational question and I am going to apply this to my life immediately - thanks Daniel Pink and Dr. Strange : )

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.





7th Graders PLE
Very impressive individual, great communication and organizational skills. She jumped off the page. I will take a number of ideas away from this 7th grader. Good job to her and her educators.


Monday, April 26, 2010

Interview

I interviewed a student of the University of South Alabama. We discussed ways technology is being incorporated into the classrooms and the classroom instructional environment of the University of South Alabama. We also touched on improvements that could be made and how the University measures up to larger Universities in Alabama. (This interview was done at the Rec Center during raquetball and there was a small finch bird in the Rec Center bouncing off the glass walls that I could not keep my eyes off of-ha, ha)

TimeToast

My time line reflects the major hurricanes that have landed in Mobile, Alabama since Camille in 1969. I hope we do not have an entry for the 2010 Hurricane Season.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Assignment 4/25/2010

Wordle: EDM Applications
Wordle Demonstration

Vocarro Demonstation on using Skype

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

EDM 310 Questionnaire



Summary of Questionnaire
The majority of the responses were elementary with 5 secondary majors. Half had performed service hours and half had not. During their service hours only 2 said the teacher used technology during lesson and they used a podcast and google docs. The majority favored Google Docs and I am sure it is because of the convenience issue. The response reflected an interest in SmartBoard applications, cutting and editing with movie making applications and further knowledge in Google Earth.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Substantive Presentation

I used Windows Live Movie Maker to generate my presentation.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Blog Assignment 4/18/10

Blog Assignment 4/18
Another voice thread.



PLN Update
I have been gathering contacts during this journey to add to my PLN. As I have journeyed through this semester I have reached out to more local resources. My PLN network has branched off to many local educators, technology specialist in the Mobile County School System and other professionals that are using technology in the business world. I have different PLNs for different areas of interest or business in my world. I have 3 different networks. One is my classmates, the second is of Professional Educators, and the most important to me is my personal money maker contacts that I utilize for a personal business.

Comments 4 Kids
Brooklyn posted a detailed description of herself. She used great descriptive words and one of her comments were from her Mom, how awesome. This is an example of how to encourage descriptive writing via technology.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Blog Assignment 4/11/10

PS22



I am experimenting with recording my blog comments on vocaroo, pretty cool actually.



Dr. Seuss, The Zax



Blog Assignment 4/4/10

Dear Kaia
No, the risk of exposing ourselves and our children online are not worth the connections that will be made or the lessons that will be learned. Nothing is worth the safety of our precious children. They are our gift and responsibilities as teachers and parents to protect them in all aspects. Yes, Kaia could share her photo album and make connections and learn lessons without being exposed. Have a privacy thinking mind and select photos that do not show your child or students face, make selections of photos of the hands or photos from the rear to gain personalization and share. We can experience this unique way of learning worldwide from one another and allowing people into our lives and still not let go of our identity.

Comments for Kids
I commented on a 3rd grader presenting a Mihi greeting in Maori. This language is being lost in New Zealand.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Blog Assignment 3/28/10

Morgan Bayda/Dan Brown
This form of education rebellion could become more main stream if we as future educators do not present our lessons in a manner that jumps off the page. Not only is presentation the key, the information itself needs to be modified to incorporate the knowledge of technology and the new ways of learning the students will need for their future. I believe this trend in technology will spark charter schools in our near future.

Dan Brown states that education, knowledge, and the liberated highway of information available today is free to all. This is far from the truth. Who pays for this child's computer and accessories that allows him to create his broadcast, who pays for his internet connection, who supplies him with an environment where he can video? Most likely his means comes from his parents or guardian. Not all parents have the means to make this available to their children. Yes it is liberating yet not "free".



Comments 4 Kids
I commented on Mrs. McGeady's blog whom teachs at Leopold Primary School. She posted a video of an assembly where a group of girls performed a dance and two boys demonstrated a simple science project. The science project was to determine if things would sink or float. The audience voted. What fun.
This was not an assigned post but one of the post was about earth day. She had a countdown clicker on the site counting down to earth day where her classroom will go paperless.

Comment 4 Teachers
No wonder this guy, Welsey Fryer is part of Dr. Strange's PLN. He is all about apple products and the iPad. He has photos of his adventure to the store to get his iPad, too cute.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Comments for Kids
St. Pius X Room #6 was to create a movie utilizing the skills they learned throughout the year, much like us in EDM 310. A group of 6 students presented in movie form "Pop Idol". They presented an act they created and the teachers were the judges. This group of 10, 11, and 12 year olds have movie skills well underway.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Blog Assignment 3/7/2010

Video Cast - EDM 310 for Dummies





Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
Randy Pausch, what a motivator and inspiration. For someone to be terminally ill he was full of life. He spoke on dreaming, helping others, and life experiences.

He state experiences are learned form the brick walls we run into while conquering our dreams. Hurdling over these walls to conquer our dreams separate us into the determined. He was definitely a dreamer and conqueror of his dreams, how impressive. He also stated we should help others and the rewards are endless. Helping others to reach their dreams is a necessity to reaching our own with fulfillment. One of my dreams is to help under privileged children beware of what is out there to dream about and give them direction to help them conquer their dream. I want to help these students to be aware that anyone can go to college, NO MATTER WHAT, you have got to be willing to hurdle over those brick walls and keep going.

After viewing this you can only walk away with a can do attitude.



Comments 4 Kids
This week I was assigned Gerardo in Mrs Shetler's class. It looks like she uses her blog as a source to motivate her students to write and learn language arts. This is one of the ways where I see blogging is useful and how I will incorporate blogging in my classroom.

Comments 4 Teachers
It was nice to hear someone in cyber world concerned about our students protection and reputation from the internet. Thank you.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Personal Learning Network

I have set up my PLN with Twitter. I selected some of my EDM classmates for my network; Poppy, Jamie Lynn, Denise, Brooksey, and Tiffany. Right now these guys can help me the most. I will most likely end up with several PLNs depending on my needs. I will increase my PLN contacts as I progress.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Blog Assignment 2/28/2010

Richard Miller: This is How We Dream Parts I and II
Richard Miller is right on target with the path of education. Education and information in general has become more visual and auditory. Technology has become so advanced (even from when this video was made to today) that with the right knowledge of the tools that are out there for you to use "composing of the future with the web" has become fairly easy. I am glad to hear the word visual and beautiful again in education. Creativity is finding its way back into the classroom.

I am more prepared to write with multimedia today than I was a few weeks ago. I am sure my future students will be able to even educate me further. We are moving in the right direction. The internet has many inspiring roads. We as future educators need to make sure we know the legend and give our students the directions they need to explore the world safely without ever leaving the classroom.

Richard Miller also touched on the green issue. We need to protect our environment. Books are great and I am so a person of the book but our forests are taking a hit. The wave of the future is definitely helping the future for our environment. I have used a minimal amount of paper in this course and all of my information has been available via internet. Think about how many pages a book "This is How We Dream" would have been and how many publications he would have had to produce to reach as many people as he did through the internet. Wow.





The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler
I am majoring in Elementary Education. I will incorporate the PLN in a less detailed and formal manner. For my boys a PLN of other kiddos to gain codes to their PSP games and for girls, well I do not have girls so I will have to see what is going on with them at that time, maybe what is up and new with other girls in the way of Vera Bradley.

Does the networked student even need a teacher? SURE. Children have all of this information at their fingertips yet need proper instruction and organization skills to be able to present in an educated manner. I know this holds true for the elementary and middle school aged children. This is one reason I selected Elementary Education as my major. I feel that over a period of time your high school years could very well become a total self learning situation, especially if our economy continues the way it is going.

Toward a New Future of Whatever, by Michael Wesch
This is not the first time I have heard media technology mediates our conversation, who-what-when-where. The second semester I returned to college my English 102 professor had us explore the idea that what you see on television is actually what you will see in the future, true or not true. What we all found out that this was actually true to some degree. How scary is that.

This video touched on recognition. I definitely experienced this when we did our video for the class podcast project. I noticed I sit on the edge of my chair, I want to change my hair, I do not like the way my voice sounds and my face has gotten more round. I was like the young girl that was noticing how others see her. So, whatever. Oh, don't name your child Charlie.




Comments 4 Kids
This week I commented on Eric from Mrs. Kolbert's class. They were to blog on what they did over the weekend. Mrs. Kolbert supplied the students with a laundry list of things they could choose from. Eric selected Olympics. He had been following Vonn. I have note been able to keep and this little guy had a link to his post to an article detailing Vonn's missed gate. Vonn is a great role model and inspiration for our kids.

Comments 4 Teachers
Innovative commercial setup. I like the ingredient, recipe format. Just enough information and demonstration. This educator was pitching a Smartboard type environment using Wii components. Good idea.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Blog Assignment 2/21/10

Dr. Alice Christie, Digital Pencil
I have taken note of the Digital Pencil in my Portfolio I generated in Classroom Management for future use. This application enables the teacher to incorporate a lesson plan that will be completed by the students completely digitally. They have a worksheet to complete along with all research material needed for the lesson. This could be used for all grades K-12. It appears to have science, geography, social studies, economics and other subjects from basic to more advanced for your upper grades. I believe students are more excited about completing assignments on the computer rather than with pencil and paper. Click here for a sample overview of Digital Pencil.

Dr. Christie's site that explores art is a must have too so the students can have the opportunity to view art that otherwise they would not be able to see. Seeing art is inspiring and sparks one's creativity. Take a walk on the River, Then, Now and Future.

itunesu
I have been using itunesu for assignments in other classes. Of course, I still use Google for research but what I like about itunes is the information is more education specific and useful to me. It still takes me a little while to find what I am looking for but it is time well spent. This is still all a learning to curve for me.

The Smart Board podcasts that we commented on for class I haved shared with teachers that are just receiving Smart Boards in the classroom.

i Pods and Duke University
Duke University began distribution of i Pods to students in 2004. This was part of the DDI (Duke Digital Initiative). Any courses that required the device the students would receive an iPod from the Help Desk and of course the student would be held responsible. The number of Duke University students using iPods in the classroom has quadrupled and the number of courses incorporating the devices has doubled within the past two years. You may click here to review the article.

This is neat technology but where is this going to leave our professors? Where you have many professors to teach a required course you might only need one or two to generate online lectures and instruction. Class size will not be an issue.

Wiki, Hosted by John Strange, Who is a Technologically Literate Teacher?
Yes, every teacher must be technologically literate to a certain degree. The evolving classroom has gone from the Black Board, which is extinct, the White Board, which is on its way out, to the all mighty SMART BOARD. In a year or two the Smart Board will be all that is in the classroom.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Blog Assignment 2/14/2010

Wikipedia
Science entries in Wikipedia are no less reliable than those of an encyclopaedia per NPR. You are going to find most of your edits occur in political and social entries. Wikipedia is an option for research but always go out and find another more reliable source.

"What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung
Sounds like Mr. McClung had a successful first year. Reading your students and finding out how they learn best will change every year. Flexibility, communication skills, being reasonable and listening are areas that we all deal with every day. Having reasonable expectations is my down fall, I tend to expect more than I should yet I feel nothing is wrong with high expectations. I hope my first year is this successful.

Comments 4 Kids
I commented - The boys were so accurate, I like how they noted 244 rather than rounding, great attention to detail. It really makes a difference when students are allowed to see and understand measurement hands on rather than from a worksheet. Great project. I am a future teacher attending the University of South Alabama located in Mobile, Alabama. I will note this project, simple yet very effective.

Blog Assignment 2/7/2010

Google Docs Presentation

http://practicalprincipals.net/ - Practical Principles 22 - Tools

Liked introduction-the jazz music, forecast, where they were located, etc. Love these two. I listened to the entire 44 minutes. They gave themselves 2 minutes to talk about 22 favorite tools they used. In the 2 minutes they told what the tool or application was, what it did, and how they used it themselves. Of course the #1 tool was the iPhone. You know, Dr. Strange should listen to this and take the list of downloads we downloaded to our computer and give a 2 minute explanation, similar to these guys' format, of what the downloads are, what are they used for and how will we use them in this course, and maybe how Dr. Strange uses the application,etc. This would be helpful to us beginners that might not know what some of these applications are used.

Comments 4 Kids
I commented on a 5th grader's writing assignment. The blog appeared to be a place for the students are able to practice their writing skills. This assignment appeared to be descriptive. I like the idea of using a blog as an option for writing lessons.

Podcasts 1/31/10

Kidcast 60 - The Mini Series
I will take away several pointers from Kidcast 60 -
Branding Issues - Come up with music/labels specific to your series or anything for that matter.
Umbrella - The Big Idea and find one or two important questions to explore.

I like his idea to present 1 series a day or 1 a week so the students have time to listen and soak up the information rather than overwhelming them and they learn nothing.

Smart Board Lesson #2: DimDim.com
Do not say uhh! First thing I learned in Communications is to watch saying uh during presentations. This guy is all over the place with no organization.

EdTechTalk #64

I felt like they should have introduced themselves, not so much by name yet by their title to gain my interest to listen to them, something to get my attention because if this was not an assignment I would have not continued to listen to get the idea to use Valentine Day Hearts as a way to teach symmetry - how fun and what a cool lesson plan.

ConnectLearning, Edisode #90
All I heard on this podcast was the day, date and some very annoying music. Be careful of music selection.

MacBreak Weekly
Boring, I found myself watching SpongeBob SquarePants during this podcast - too commercial.

This Week in Photography
This is more like This Week in Travel I was expecting photo tips.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Blog Assignment 1/31/10

Media Literacy
The hands on the children are getting is great. My K5 child can even navigate around on the computer to play Fun Brain and other educational games and is beginning to search as his reading skills increase. It is amazing. As far as am I ready, sure, because technology is an everlasting learning curve. Who knows how we will be communicating among one another in a few years, blogging will probably be a thing of the past.

Little Kids...big potential
Technology is a great way to improve kids writing, reading and communicating skills in a way that they do not even realize they are learning. I see the classroom turning into an exploration of learning, creativity and excitement for students. These children are excited about learning and that is what offers them big potential. On a different note I do have to wonder what class level these children stand? Are the children that are not as privileged progressing at this rate?

iPhone used by a 1 year old
We all learn to use the phone sooner or later. It doesn't matter if it is an IPhone or a cordless phone. This is what our society is adapted to. I do not find this out of the norm.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Blog Assignment 1/24/10

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
This video does not represent my overall college experience. These guys seem to be complaining mostly of the lack of time they have while in college. Welcome to college - if they have 2 hours to talk on the cell, 2.5 hours to listen to music, time to email and facebook during class I do not think technology will solve all there problems. Technology in the classroom could help there boredom yet simply time management would work wonders for these guys.

Kelly Hines, "It's Not Simply About the Technology

Ms. Hines is right on target. Teachers have to be learners and learning is not the same as teaching and technology is useless without good teaching. If time is not taken with those that need to be brought up to date than all the technology in the world is useless to them.

As for our elementary students, technology is great and I definitely think they need to be able to navigate around yet I do not think we need to forget about teaching them the basics and problem solving. Problem solving never goes out of date, especially with the age of technology.

Fisch: Is It Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
First off, this guy was really frustrated when he wrote this blog. He needs to remember that to a student or co-worker in question that no question is a dumb question! With the teachers that are just starting out in the field I do not think many will not have a BASIC understanding of today's technology. For those that were not products of the technology wave everyone needs to remember Ms. Hines' comment, "technology is useless without good teaching." Yes, it is okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher as long as you are a teacher willing to conquer your illiteracy.

Gary Hayes, Social Media Count
This encourages me as a future teacher to stay abreast on technology. I will incorporate this usage and highway of information in my daily lesson plans. On the flip side it looks like the majority of this usage is for personal or noneducational purposes. How many hits are your major research sites getting versus You Tube. I can see where this will become a challenge to future educators to regulate this highway for educational purposes and not be abused for entertainment by the students especially when laptops become mandatory in the classroom.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Blog Assignment 1/17/2010

Did you know? by Karl Fisch
No, I did not know. Technology growth is new and exciting yet overwhelming and scary. How can we keep up? I feel our governement is having a difficult time keeping up with regulating the progression of the Internet and technology as a whole. For instance, how to regulate Internet purchases to include state and county taxes so our school systems have the proper fundCheck Spellinging to keep up with our growing technological times.

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Matthew NeedlemanBold
After 100 years Mr. Winkle still finds himself comfortable in school away from the technology and hustle and bustle of the outside. To me this is good and bad. Good in the way that schools are still a comfort zone for our studentsBold yet not good due to education not progressing as rapid as the times. We need to give our schools a chance to catch up. Technology has exploded overnight. The schools need proper funding and guidance to catch up. As future educators we have a huge task in front of us to help in transforming the system.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson is a brilliant hoot!
Creativity is a necessity for children's mind, body and soul. Creativity is an outlet for a child to exert energy. Sir Robinson comments on a situation where the doctor of a child prescribes dancing instead of Ritalin for a hyperactive child before ADHD was created.Italic More of this needs to occur in today's society. I see when a child is given an outlet to express themselves creatively there grades improve. Here lately it all seems to be about the grade and not the total package. A well educated individual is thought to be a well rounded person which usually includes something of the arts.

Vicki Davis: Harness Yours Students' Digital Smarts
Hats off to this educator. She has the opportunity, resources and desire to turn students into tech savvy individuals. I have only been to my EDM 310 class a handful of times and have already had my eyes opened to the many avenues you can take in your classroom with technology. Awesome stuff out there.