My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

What I Learned!!

I learned so much in EDM310 this semester. We did so many new things that I never even knew existed and it really gave me some insight for the future. We learned about blogging which I have heard of people doing and I just want not sure about it. You always hear horror stories about people putting to much information on the internet but it has privacy controls. I think that it is something that I will definitely use in the future because I think it is a great way to interact with parents and students. I had no idea about google and this probably the most important thing that I learned so far and in this class. This is such a great tool and has everything you need and it is FREE!! You can make powerpoints which is important as a teacher and it has documents, spreadsheets, etc. This is just great and a necessity that I will definitely in my future career. We learned about itunes and their is so many things you can access as far as podcasts, ituneU where you can access college classrooms. I think that this is very helpful because it can help you and your students because it has everything on it and you can find out anything you need to know! We also learned about google earth which I have seen I hav e just never used it but I think it is a very neat tool that can be helpful to students in the lesson coincides. I think that ALEX and ACCESS are very important to keep up with in the future becoming a teacher because it has so much helpful information for me and the school system in Alabama. We did an igoogle page which was very neat and gave me a kind of homepage to easily access things that are important to me. I defiantly feel like I learned alot from this class and will benefit greatly from it in the future and can not wait to incorporate technology into my classroom. I think that to be an affective teacher today you need to be in the loop on technology because it is how students today learn and operate. There really was not anything that I feel like I missed out on learning about I will leave this class with a gret appreciation fo all the great tools and techniques I have learned in this class! I also do not regret learning about anything that we did in class I really do think that it is all great and can be used in a classroom setting as far as teachers and students. Thank you so much Dr.Strange for helping me with my future as a teacher!!:)

Conversation with Meagan Griffin

When we were assigned to find a teacher or student to contacts and interact with I was nervous because I didnt know how easy it was going to be or if they would want to talk to me. I found Mrs.Griffin through google just searching under different things. Her page is actually through blogger.com which I thought was really cool since that is what we were doing this semester. She has a blogger page about her classroom, what is going on for her parents to keep up with it and for anyone else who wants to follow it. I think it is such a great tool and I would definitely have one for my classroom for easy contact with parents and students. Mrs.Griffin is a kindergarten teacher at Blount Elementary School in Montgomery, AL. I explained to her who I was and my purpose in contacting her and she was very helpful and responsive to me. We have talked about technology in her classroom and how she incorporates and she had lots of ideas that I never knew about. She also agreed to stay in contact with me and help me with anything that I needed help with. I actually got her very interested in Twitter which I know Dr.Strange will be excited about. i just mentioned to her that we were exploring and learning about it. She wanted to know what it was and what it was used for after my explanation she wanted to use it with her parents to interact with them. I thought this was a great idea that I never thought of because I was thinking with students that wee older. I sent her some information and the link to Dr.Strange's page and let her know who would be good to follow from my Twitter page. I thought that it was neat that I gave her a tool to use in the classroom:)
Her page: http://mrsgriffinskindergarten.blogspot.com/2009/05/blog-post.html
also new.schoolnotes.com

About Me Presentation

Feb 22- Randy Paush

Twitter

I have learned a lot about Twitter this semester. Before we were assigned Twitter as a requirement for this class I had heard a lot about it but was not that interested in it. I thought that it was something that a lot of celebrities had gotten into and it was something more for them than regular people. I am very glad that we were assigned to learn about Twitter because I think there are a lot of uses for it! I have learned about Twitter by actually getting on there and exploring the website and exploring other peoples pages and seeing what they have on there pages that I did not know about before. I also read the information that was on the class blog about Twitter that other students and teachers suggested to help learn more about Twitter. I also was in class on all the days that we learned about Twitter and Dr.Strange and my classmates have helped me learn some things about Twitter. I get on Twitter pretty much every day and will post my thoughts at that time to everyone in general. I also will comment on other people that I follow comments. I think that Twitter can be very useful in a classroom in that you can have discussions with your students for classroom assignments. I was also talking to the teacher I have been discussing things with and she suggested that since she is a kindergarten teacher and her students obviously can not use this that she wanted me to educate her more on what Twitter was because she wants to use it to communicate with her students parents. I think that this is such a great idea and I never would have thought about that. She wants to update the parents on what is going on and what she is thinking coming up and getting their opinions on that through Twitter. I think it is cool that I could actually teach her something:) I definitely think that I will use this in the future when I become a teacher!

-April 19

I listened to the podcasts and I think that there are definitely some things that need to be changed or improved on some and some things that are great. I listened to my groups podcast and thought that we had a lot of good information that we provided and that of course people could go look up and find more about on their own but I think that we could have gone a little more in depth with the topics and given a little more information. It was weird hearing myself recorded and talking about these things with my group. I think that one group talked about things that were not for free but they were still helpful websites. Although we were trying to keep everything free I think that some parents and teachers will pay money for something that is going to help their child or student learn. So the pro is that they are still great websites and the con is that is costs money. I also listened to a podcast that very short. Compared to the others I listened to it just seemed very short but it was to the point. I think that the group could have gone a little more in depth with their subject to take up time and to also give a little more information. They did give the information that was required though.

Other Posts-April 12

I was looking through my classmates blogs to find one and noticed a lot of them were like mine. The majority of the people were not up to date like myself but the posts we comparable to the ones that I have written. There were a few that were blocked and said that you had to be a invited reader to look at the blog. I did find one that was up to date and had completed their blog exercises. Her blogs looked very good they had just what they needed without being to lengthy and getting boring.
I think that blogs are a very good thing for a classroom! If you has asked me about this before I would have told you that I did not see the point and that students would not want to do it but I have changed my mind. I think that this is a great way to get children to communicate with you and other students about school. This is how kids today communicate with each other in everyday life so it is comfortable for them to do this for school. I really think that I will incorporate this into my classroom learning especially with older students. I really think that it is great as long as you can control it and keep it on task as fa a a learning environment only!
The only downfall with this is that all students may not have computer access at home so it needs to be something done while they are at school with access to a computer. This is not a major issue it is just something that you have to work around with the students. I also think that it could easily change from an educational thing if not monitored correctly.
I definitely feel like the good out weighs the bad though and I will definitely try to use this in the future with my students. I think that other teachers should educate themselves on this because I think you might get more out of a child this way than in a old traditional classroom envioment and ways of doing things.

April 5

itunes University-March 8

Itunes university is a very cool toll that itumes offer. This gives you a chance to listen to different universities and professors giving lectures and presentations. It is very cool you can step into a college classroom from the comfort of your own home and listen live to their lectures. I thnik that this great becauase it gives people a chance to learn things all the time it is also cool because if you are sick and missing class and you dont want to miss lecture or need to get information that you missed all you have to do igo back and find it and listen. I think that this is very cool also because grade school and high students can listen to different presentations to help them learn more about something that they are learning about in school or that they have to do a project on. I could use it asa teacher to teach my students from to give them more information about a topic or show them how to use for the future as a reference to help them.
I just went to itunes.com and clicked on the iuniversity link and it explains all about it. You could also just google it and lots of links come up to help you and explain what it is and link you to lectures. I think the easiest way is to google and avutally go to itunes because it is the most credible.

The first podcast was the Edible Schoolyard and it is a program to educate children about the outdoors and where their food comes from. The students knew that their food came from the outside this just really educated them on the process. The second podcast was A Night in the Global Village and in this video children were separated into groups and had to live in different countries. The groups had some things at their disposal and some had none. They were expected to adapt to that environment. They were expected to do this by working with their groups and the other groups to accomplish this.
These were both very interesting and I think that children can learn from these types of podcasts. I think that this is helpful because children can learn about this stuff at home or at school. There are so many things for them to find information on it is endless. I also feel like teachers can learn so much from this because they can use this as a teaching device in their classroom and use it to get assigments accomlished.

Ipods-March 1

I googled how to use an ipod and went to apple.com and found out all the information I needed to know there about ipods and how to use them. I am actually really happy we happy we have this as an assigment because I have been wanting an ipod for 2 years now and have not gotten one because I did not know how yo use it and I did not want to waste my money on somethin that I would not use. The website sumerized the basics of the use of an ipod it takes you fom the beginning of I just got an ipod what do I do? To next uploading music to it, adding and deleting songs and about uploading itunes to youe computer.
Now that I knpw that I can buy an ipod and the website can tell me step by step how to use it and set it up I really want one. Before this class I did not thinky about getting on the internet to find out simple things like this and it makes me want to learn more and see what is out there. Now I really really want an ipod.I know that Duke University has given all incoming of their students. They want to encourage technology use with their students. Professors incorporated it into their classroom and in assigments. Their wee problems with it though but it was with the devices themselves and the information that they could hold. I think that it would be cool to get one but I dont really see the need for it.

Dr.Christie's Website-March 1

This was actually a really cool website to look at explore because this lady has a lot of really good information for teachers. She hasa section called Educational Technology. She is very informative and helpful on the things she has done and experienced. She gives you information of who can help you accomplish activities in classroom through technology. She has things for art, photography, articles, technology that is emerging that can be used in the classroom, just to give you ideas. She has spreadsheet, podcasts, researching tools, instant messaging, just everything that you could want to know and more about the internet and how you can use it in your classroom. This is also a personal website for her and what she is doing.
I would definitely use this website in the future I actually bookmarked it to my computer because although I think that I am pretty good with computers and what they have to offer She has some really good ideas that I know I could use and learn something from!

Wikipedia-Feb 29

I read the articles that were on here and while I think that is great for people to be able to share things and help others it is hard to trust. Anyone can go on here and comment and edit things on this website. I think that it is good so that people can help others and inform people of things in a manner that is for the most part and on there for the right reason but you also have to see that it can be edited. People can put up false and not credited information and it is hard to tell what is true and what is not if you do not know what you are looking for.
It discussed that someone had gotten on a messed with other peoples machines and that is not right people should not be able to do that and then change their information in hope of not getting caught for what they have done. I think that it is a very good source for quick information. I do not think that it is credible because it can be edited so it is always opened up for error. I think it can be credible only when a credible source is allowed to edit it and not just anyone.

Fischbowl- Why Wireless?-Feb 15

I read about November's Why Wireless and he talked about giving the students access to the internet while they are school. He discussed that it was a good idea because the internet has so much to offer to these students. Not only is the internet an important tool these days for students to communicate there is a wealth of information out there waiting for them to find. He defended himself by saying that the students had access to the teachers web pages that had assignments, notes, etc and online hosts such as EBSCO. He discussed their need to learn to multitask which they can do by having access to the internet and carrying on with a normal school day and all that it entails. I think that is a very good point that is made becasue he is right the most common reason for not wanting this in the classroom is that students will not pay attention to what they are supposed to be learning but I dont think that we give them enough credit because the kids this day and age can do lots of things while being on the internet and chatting with friends. They do it at home why not give them the oppotunity at school if they are learning and doing school related things?
Giving students access to the internet is giving them the opportunity to learn he says. Students these days are different than even 5 years ago they learn and communicate differently than older people do. I thin that he makes a very good argument and defends this very well.

Podcast From Fall- Feb 15

I listened to The podcast on the use of technology in the classroom and South Alabama in general and also the podcast on You Tube. The girls that talked about technology in the classroom I thought the girls did a good job of discussing what we use in the classroom and then gave specific examples of how it was used. The only critique I have about it is that they chose to talk about Foliotek which is a very controversial subject and confusing subject for a lot of students. They did not seem to know much more about it than anyone else so I feel like they could have left that part out!
The youtube podcast was good. I thought that the group did a good job explaining what it was and what it had to offer. nIthink they did a good job of explaining how it can be educational and just fun. The only thing was that it was very short and each person did not speak very long. In general I thought that they were both very good and I would not change a whole lot about them.

International blogging in the classroom

I went to http://www.connect-bangladesh.org/ this website had tons of technology resources that kids are doing in the classroom. This website is to help Bangladeshi students integrate technology in the classroom. They have blogs and videos and many others ways for these kids to connect internationally with people to help them learn global dialogues. There are many different projects that the students have done and that are posted on the website.

Blogs in US K-12 classroom

I went http://www.schoolblogs.net/wpress/ and if you click on the link created by a elementary teacher it takes you to http://www.fineskids.net/. Ms.Fine is a fourth grade teacher and she has blogs that she does with her students on there. She also has games and many other links to learning site for the children. She allows the kids to blog about what is going on in the stories that they are reading. She said that teachers noticed that kids were not responding when they would come into the classroom and have group discussion on different topics. She decided to let the kids blog their responses to the books and noticed a great difference in the response when they were allowed to blog.

I went to http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337 and Mrs.Cassidy has a website that has short blogs from her students about different topics. She also has video of the children reading what their pictures represent. It also has video with pictures of the children in the classroom. It also has different information about how that children have blog buddies that they blog with and that they get to see and talk to on the computer. This is really great website this teacher has really incorporated technology in her classroom and these kids are first grade students and are blogging and doing work on the computer. The student in the picture is blogging with her blog buddy.

ACCESS

Access is a very interesting website that I did not know existed either. It offers public high school students an opportunity to take AP advanced level classes and receive credits for them all over Alabama. This is very important for those children who do not have the opportunity at their schools on in their towns to participate in higher lever classes to challenge themselves. It offers parents and teachers lots of information to get their children involved in the program. It also informs teachers of programs that they can attend to educate and update some of their teaching practices. It gives the students all the information they need to register and the classes that offered and how they participate in them. It also offers teachers from K-12 information and videos on how to challenge their students.
I would use this in my classroom to keep up with new ways to educate my students in a way that will stimulate and challenge them. I would use the multimedia technology in my classroom because that is a very good way to get the attention of students these days. Most students spend most of there free time on the computer and will easily relate to them. This is very enticing for both students and teachers because it offers things over the internet which is much easier for people to not have to actually be in a classroom.

ALEX

The ALEX website is a very resourceful way to find lots of great ideas and help to teach your students what is important for them to know. As I explored the site I found so many great ways to teach what I needed to teach daily. It provides a course of study so that you know exactly what is expected to teach the children. It even provided the lesson plans to do that. This is very helpful in time when you don’t know exactly what to do or need new creative ways to teach the lesson. It also provides web links for administrators, students, and the teachers. This is very helpful because it gives the administrators a updated way to teach the kids in the classroom that they can pass on to their teacher and put in the classrooms at their schools. For the students it gives them website to help them when their assignments. For the teachers it gives them lots of websites to find things to teach the children and ideas and projects. It lets teachers know what kind of professional learning opportunities are out there for them to incorporate into the classroom for a better and more effective way to teach the children. It also will let you set up an account where teachers can submit lesson plans to the sight to help other teachers.
I really had no idea about this website but will defiantly be using this in the future. This is a great resource for both teachers and students. I actually have to come with a project for art and I will be checking out this website for ideas to help me complete my assignment. I will use this in my classroom to give me ideas on how to teach a particular assignment. I will also keep up to date with the professional learning programs that are out there. This is very important so that teachers can keep up with the new technology that is out there and that will keep the children involved and interested.

I am trying to finish school and get a degree in elementary education and I am ready to be done!! I have a 15 month old that keeps me very busy:) In saying that I would not trade it for anything she is the best thing in whole world! I work at a daycare with 3 year olds and I love them!! They are a lot of fun and they keep me on my toes. I love my friends and family and I would not trade them for anything. I can't wait until it warms up because I love going to the beach!!!!:) If I could spend everyday there I would~ That is a little more about me:)

About me

My name is Bryn and I am 23 years old. I have never used a blog before because I don't like people being able to read things about me with all those crazy people out there!:) I guess I will have to learn to love it since I will have to do this every week for class!