My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

I have truly enjoyed this class and the people in it. We will have to keep up on twitter. : ) I hope to continue with a blog and wish everyone well in the future.

What I learned in EDM 310

1. When I started in EDM 310 I had never heard of a podcast of Google Documents. Of all the things I learned in this class I will use Google Docs. I feel it is a great tool to use in my classroom because it is free and my students can access it from home, as well as school. I think blogs are a great way for my students to express their feelings and opinions. Podcasts are a great tool for communicating information to my students about subjects we are dealing with in our classroom. Itunes is a wonderful thing to use. It can also be accessed by my students from home. ACCESS and ALEX are very useful for all teachers.
2. One thing I wish we would have done more of was learning what the best way is to keep a gradebook on-line and in Google Spreadsheets.
3. Twitter is one thing I didn't find useful in this class. It is a bunch of status updates.

"Finding you passion changes EVERYTHING"

I completely agree with Sir Robinsons' statement that to be naturally good at something is not enough. You have to love it. He said when you find your passion you will never work again. I believe that happiness cannot be bought. Happiness comes from within. If you are not happy with your career, then it will reflect on the rest of your life. People cannot go through life trying to please everyone else when they are not happy themselves. I agree with what he says about it affecting the rest of our communities when we do not love what we do. Talent is buried deep within is another argument I agree with. Most people never use their true talents or discover them. Kids are steered away from doing things that they want to do because they are told that they will never have a successful career in it. Life is what you make of it, and we only get one so don't be unhappy the whole time you are living yours.

Twitter

I first heard about twitter on the radio, but was never curious enough to look it up on the computer. I have a facebook and a myspace and I feel that they are more useful than twitter. I haven't been able to grow to love twitter. I do have an account and check it on a daily basis for class, but probably won't use it much beyond this class. To me twitter is just a bunch of status updates. I won't be using twitter in my classroom. I feel I would get more use out of facebook, and it has the same features as twitter and more.

Podcasts

After listening to my groups podcast and three other groups as well. I have general suggestions. While listening I noticed that there were a lot of pauses and downtime. This could have been prevented by doing more research and knowing what you wanted to say before you started recording. Another thing I noticed was some of the podcasts were too rehearsed. My group did not get together and rehearse for that very reason. We wanted it to be more like a conversation than a scrip being read.

Some groups had a problem with just one person talking more than the rest of the group. This was a group project and should have been divided equally. The only other suggestion I have is to speak up. It was hard to hear some people talking at times. Overall, the content of the podcasts were wonderful. The spokesperson in the group seemed to have their facts together.

Blogs in the classroom

I believe there are pros and cons to blogs in the classroom. I think if I did something with blogs in my classroom, I would want as much as possible to be completed in class. Not every one of my students may have the internet or even a computer at home. I would love to use blogs as a way for my students to express themselves and learn how to use the computer for more than just games and playing.
Before taking the class, I did not know a lot about blogging. I had no idea it could be used a tool in my classroom. Whether we realize it or not, technology is being used more and more everyday in every aspect of life. If we as teachers do not start getting our students on board with it, then who will?

"Growth" vs. "Fixed" Minds

In this particular video podcast, Carol Dweck developed a workshop for students, where they we placed into two different groups for eight sessions. One of the groups learned study skills.The other group learned study skills and a growth mindset. The students that were placed in the study skills group grades declined because they had no motivation. On the other hand, the group that was taught the study skills and the growth mindset showed improvement in their grades. The growth mindset sessions included teaching the students that their brain develops everyday and were taught how to apply it to their school work.

In my future teaching, I want to teach my students that they learn something new everyday that can be applied to their school work and everyday life. I believe in a growth mindset because the more you grow the more you learn. Just having study skills isn't enough.

Why doesn't the moon fall down?

The video podcast I watched was called Why doesn't the moon fall down? I found it in the K-5 grade level. The podcast was a lady explaining why the moon does not fall out of the sky. As she was talking, there were visuals such as pictures demonstrating what she was saying on the screen.
I feel this particular podcast would be a great tool in the classroom to teach students about gravity and because of the visuals could even be used for very young children. Things usually make more sense to kids when presented with something they can physically see. I have always been a visually learner and if my teacher had shown me something like this podcast, the rotation of the moon may have been a little clearer. I plan on using activities and visuals in my classroom to teach my students about every subject.

Edutopia

I loved these videos! They were teaching kids about real life and letting them experience it, while still doing the required standards. For children who are hands on learners and don't do well in the classroom the experience on the ranch would be a great way for them to learn about how people in other countries live and how fortunate they are to live in the United States. The students growing the garden were gaining knowledge of where their food comes from and they were more apt to eat healthy because they grew it with their very own hands.

Videos and podcasts like this can be very helpful to teachers. I am a very hands on learner and want to make learning fun. I feel students learn and retain more by actually experiencing things. I want to do things like this in my class, or at least show them videos like this so they can see students just like them experiencing something they are learning about.To see these videos and more visit:www.edutopia.org

iTunes U

ITunes U is a wonderful tool for students and teachers. It is a free website where audio and video files can be put up for classroom use or outside the classroom. In iTunes U if you want to allow access only to members of your campus, you can host your own password-protected iTunes U site. This enables you to create and manage the content available on the site, while controlling who can access and download resources from it.

As a teacher, this is a wonderful tool to use with students. The teacher can record the lectures from that day and put them up on their iTunes U site. The student can then see what they missed from the comfort of their own home. However, iTunes U will only be beneficial for the student if the student makes the effort to use it. To find out more about iTunes U visit: http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning/

Ipod use in the classroom

When looking through Duke Universities use of ipods in their classrooms, I found a music class that was using an ipod to test students when playing music. The instructor would pull up the sheet music on his computer and the student would then play the song on his/her ipod.

I found lesson plans using ipods on apple's website. Most of the lesson plans involve using an ipod as well as a voice recorder. There were lessons that could be used on field trips, drama class and many more. The link to the website is:http://www.apple.com/au/education/ipod/lessons/

Dr. Christie's Internet Resources and Tools: IM

When I started looking at what she had on IM, it took me back to being in high school and writing notes in class. When we would write notes and the teacher would take it up in class, there would be some "IM lingo" and the teacher would have no idea what it meant. When I started reading the lingo and abbreviations there were some I have never even seen. I think this would be a useful tool for teachers to use to understand what their students are talking or writing about. It could also be a bad thing though because students have started using this lingo in professional papers, and we as teachers have to make them understand that is not appropriate for papers for school.

Wikipedia

After reading these articles, I don't think I will ever be able to trust Wikipedia again. I had no idea that anyone could change information on Wikipedia. Things can be very misleading when you read the many different versions that have been out there.From this point forward I will not be using Wikipedia as a source for anything I am looking for, especially papers for school.

Last Lecture

I loved this lecture! It has always been hard for me to stay focused during lectures, but he kept me focused the entire time. My favorite thing he said was, "when people stop caring what you are doing, then that means they have given up on you." It moved me. I never want to be the one that gives up on my students. I think that is a very good philosophy for teaching.
When he discussed the analogy about brick walls it made me think. Brink walls really are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. I want to in a sense put up some brick walls for my students to overcome. Students should want to try their hardest and do their very best. When I stop and think, I remember the teachers who made school challenging the most.
"Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you." This is a quote to live by. This not only applies to school and teaching, but everyday life. This can be applied to relationships, parents, or siblings. People come around in their own time and we have to respect that. Life is too short to hole grudges and be angry with one another over little things. You never know when your students will do something to surprise you.
I love that his program was a project based program. I think students learn more just by experiencing things. I plan on implementing hands on activities and projects to test my students. I feel learning should not be boring. That's why students lose interest in school. We as teachers have to be the ones to find the best ways to get to out students. This lecture is something I will refer back to in the future.

My Life & the People in it

Customer Service

The Fischbowl blog I chose to write about is "Customer Service". In this particular blog, the guy is a tech support for a high school. He is the main person the staff and students come to if they are having difficulty with any of the technology in the school. He started noticing when someone would come to him for help, instead of showing them how to fix it themselves, he would just do it for them. He referred to this as bad "customer service".
I agree with everything he says in this blog. As a teacher, we are required to teach our students how to do things, not just do it for them. We really are providing a service to our students and owe it to them to make sure they are successful. I will save this blog and come back to it to remind myself what I should be doing as a teacher.

Podcasts from last semester

The first podcast I listened to was a podcast done by Ashley Cleveland, Erica Sledge, and Shyane Fant. This podcast was on different websites useful for teachers and to use in their classrooms. Overall, this was a very good podcast. They spoke very clearly and loud enough to hear them. One way this podcast could have been better was less use of the word "um". Another way would have been to have more interaction with each other and responding to each others websites. I will do my best to keep these things in mind when doing my podcast. This is the link to the podcast: http://edm310fall08podcasts.blogspot.com/2008/12/useful-web-sites-for-elementary.html


The second podcast I listened to was a podcast done by Kathryn Bentley, Kerrie Owens and Hanna Nolan . This podcast was about how technology was used in their classes. Foliotek was one of the sources of technology talked about. In this podcast the individuals doing this podcast were more interactive with each than the last group I listened to. They talked about USA Online as well. This is a very good podcast to listen to if you are considering going to The University of South Alabama. This was a very good podcast. This is the link to the podcast: http://edm310fall08podcasts.blogspot.com/2008/11/college-of-education-classes-and.html

Podcasts

The first podcast I listed to was This week in Photography. They were discussing taking photos at the inauguration ceremony. This podcast would be a great one to listen to in a photography class. They are being very informative about different angles of taking pictures. Instead of taking a bunch of pictures of the president, he choose to take pictures of the people around him and their reactions. I enjoyed this podcast because I absolutely love to take pictures.


The second podcast I listened to was Kidcast. He was actually talking about students making podcast's. He feels like students aren't doing podcast's for the right purpose. We need to teach our students why they should do podcast's and what their use is. Push the students to do research on something they like and make a podcast about it. When students are researching something they like, they will catch the concept better.

The third podcast I listened to was Smartboard Lessons. I was particularly interested in the podcast because I have been substitute teaching in classrooms with smartboards. I was curious to learn more about them. In this podcast they were giving great websites and software that teachers could use in their classrooms with the smartboard. I love the smartboard's because you can write notes on it and they show up on the board and can also be saved and used at a later time. Technology is a wonderful thing. We should all take advantage of it.

The last podcast I listened to was Macbreak Weekly. As I was listening to this podcast, it truly hit me how great they are. It is like having a audio handbook on almost anything, right at your fingertips. When I was in high school I had no idea what a blog was, much less a podcast. Times are changing every day and we have to change with them. They happened to be talking about different levels of technology with computers and other things.

The Fischbowl

When reading this blog I went back to the thoughts of a conversation I was having with my mom just the other night. I was explaining to her how helpful technology can be in teaching and how these days four year old children know more about technology than some adults. It is sad to me when I hear an older teacher say "well that's not how we did it". Times change and people have to change with it in some ways.

It is almost impossible to find a job that does not use technology in some way. Even fast food restaurants use technology. I think the Internet is a great tool for students. You can find almost anything on Google. If a student leaves their book at school and needs help with their homework, all they have to do is go to the Internet and search. I think it also teaches students how to do research. How will we ever better ourselves without doing research? Technology is a wonderful teaching tool.

International Schools using blogs

The first international school I found that uses blogging was Sandaig Primary School in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The school posts pictures and updates about what is going on in the school. It seems a lot like schools in the United States. On the particular day I found this blog, there was a post about a talent show and a picture of the little girls that won. This blog is very informative.

http://www.sandaigprimary.co.uk/pivot/

The second class blog I found was Kathy Cassidy's first grade class in Moose Jaw, Canada. She had videos with educational strategies. She had a list of all her students in her class. There was a student section with all the blog entries from the students. It was very fascinating for me to see what first graders think about. I think it's a great way for children to express their feelings that sometimes would just be held inside.

http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337

American Classrooms using Blogs

The first classroom blog I found was Mr. Langhorst’s 8th grade American History classroom blog, at South Valley Junior High in Liberty, Missour. This is a wonderful blog. There is a parents page to keep them informed, as well as a page to keep the students informed. The podcasts he has for the students are very beneficial because then when the children go home and don't take very good notes they can get on the class blog and look at a podcast on that subject from the day. He has contact pages and many ways to stay connected with parents and students. Here is the link to his class blog: http://www.liberty.k12.mo.us/~elanghorst/blog

The second classroom blog I found was Mr. Miller's English 10 classroom blog at BHS in Branford Conneticut. He provides them with different ways to get in touch with him, as well as lists of their assignments for the upcoming months of school. The class does assignments through the blog, which is teaching them about technology at the same time as English. Here is the link to his class blog: http://millersenglish10.blogspot.com/

Did you know?

That movie really opened my eyes to a lot I had no idea about. I never realized just how far technology and education have come. It always amazes me, when I am doing something on the computer and my mom will be mesmerized by it because, when she was my age she didn't use technology like I have. Myspace is also one of the most amazing things right now. It is the easiest way to keep in touch with people. Now, if you want to see how someone is doing, instead of calling, you just email or text them. I believe children really are the future. As teachers, we have to be the ones to open there eyes to the world and teach them about technology and how it is going to benefit them in the future. After watching this movie, I made my mom watch it too and she was amazed. It blows my mind how The United States is a free country yet other countries have double the college graduates we do. People aren't taking advantage of the opportunity they have to get an education and better themselves. I believe one day there are going to be very few jobs that don't require a college education, due to technology.

ACCESS

ACCESS is Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, & Students Statewide. ACCESS is a wonderful program providing "Advanced Diploma" Courses, more courses, college credit classes, remediation or tutoring courses, and tools with technology to enhance teaching. ACCESS is a great way to prepare students for college, because students have to work in the book, as well as online. This program also introduces something called distance learning. Distance learning is where instructors and students can be in two different places at two different times and communicate through technology like the Internet and multimedia.

In my eyes, ACCESS is a wonderful program. I remember being a senior in high school and only taking one college credit course,because it was one of the only two offered. Three years later there are college credit courses offered in every subject. I believe ACCESS played an important role in this.

ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is a large database of K-12 course plans from the state of Alabama. ALEX also provides distance learning. ALEX provides a place where teachers can go and prepare lesson plans, as well as search for lesson place. Each teacher can make their own personal workspace. Teachers are able to share lessons with each other. ALEX provides lessons plans not only for traditional subjects, but many other parts of education. Most of the lessons even have a time listed with them as to how long they will take to perform.



As a teacher I would love to utilize this website. It is a wonderful way of seeing someone else's point of view of teaching something. It is also very helpful that a time is listed with them. The web links that ALEX provides are also a useful tool for teachers. I knew lesson plan websites existed, but I never knew one with such a broad rang of types of lesson plans was out there. I will definitely use this website in the future.

A Little About Me

My name is Lonni Stewart. I am a Junior at South. I went to Faulkner for my first two years of school on a vocal music scholarship. I will be twenty-one years old on October 17 of this year. My favorite thing to do is sing! I have been singing since I could talk. I still live at home with my parents and little sister. I have a wonderful boyfriend of two years named Matt. My major at South is Elementary Education. I came to South because it is close enough to my parents house that I can still live with them while I am still in school. If there is anything else anyone would like to know, all you have to do is ask.


Lonni : )

Welcome!

Hey! Welcome to my blog! I hope everyone enjoys future readings.