WEEK 7

"This is How We Dream" Richard Miller: Parts 1 and 2.

These were interesting videos but a lot to watch at one time. It was kind of distracting when images are popping up on screen and your trying to listen and take in what's going on visually. Blut what he is saying is that we will go from writing with paper and pencil to writing with multimedia. Richard Miller calls it the "new humanities", a technological convergence of visual, audible, textual, literacies that represent in his view the future of human communication.

We already as students do most of our research without stepping foot into the library. You can do your research using a Mac or whatever computer you have, write it, print it,add images, use a power point, whatever you want to do by having these resources at your fingertips. Then you can even post it on the web and reach more people than you ever would in print.

I hope as a teacher one day I can use all these resources available to me. And I hope I can get my student's to use these resources also. Since I will be teaching younger kids I don't know if it would be practical but I hope to somehow integrate this technology in my classroom.

Comments for Kids Week 7

I had a little girl named Jordana in Mrs. Kolbert's class. She had just written that she liked blogging and wanted some comments on how everyone else did. I just mentioned that blogging was new to me , but I did like it. I look forward to reading her posts in the future.

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

This is a true story of a teacher named Wendy Drexler and her high school student who is a student of connectivity. He is studying American Psychology and is working mainly of his own. Using a pln and social networking sights to gather information. He also uses blogs to learn and then he starts his own to report his findings.

I think this is a great idea for high school age students depending on how self motivated they are. This is similar to our own EDM310 class and I don't know how willing a student is to study on their own, but like the video says the plus is that he can access Itunes U
and learn from the best professors at the best universities.

Do we still need a teacher? I think we definitely do. We still need the teachr to help us when when we need support, and help organize the information. Maybe even for moral support. But most of all to keep the student on task.

Toward a New Future of Whatever by Michael Wesch

He started by talking about George Orwell's book 1984 and how this book challenged the youth of 1984 what are you going to do about being politically active? Nothing. We would have thought the media scape of today has changed the way students are engaging and becoming more politically active, but it hasn't. He used American Idol as an example. How we haved moved to suburbia and become disconnected. We have all relied on the television for information. And we think that being on T.V. is the only way to have a voice.

He says that our culture is ruled by trivialities and narcissism and we are disengaging. I think our culture is moving in this direction. We don't go out and talk to our neighbors we get on Facebook and talk. We don't go out and meet people anymore, we join Matchmaker websites. We don't even have to talk to someone we can just text. I hope we can prove Mr. Wesch wrong.

My Personal PLN

For my personal PLN I have my own blog and I have started using Twitter. I post to my blog and I comment on the other students blog also. Twitter is new for me and I'm trying to learn how to use it. I'm commenting and asking classmates to follow my account. I want to expand the people I follow and who follow me . I am also trying to follow some of the educators that are on Dr. Strange's PLN Mr. McClung's World and Michael Fawcett.What Now? What Next? So What?

Comments For Kids Week 6

This week I had a little girl named Eden who wrote a story called Waves and the Lost Mum. It was a story about Waves who was a sea unicorn and she was an orphan. She left her home one day and went on a journey to find her mother. This was a really creative story and I enjoyed reading it. The best part were the voice thread comments on the side that were from the other students commenting on the story. These kids are adorable and they have a lot of great commentary on Eden's story.

WEEK 6 February 21

I Tunes U

I never knew about Itunes U, I'm learning something new everyday.http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/ I think this would be really beneficial for teachers or professors to post lectures on similarly to the podcasts. Especially for kids that are ill or even online courses. This would be something I would use in the future for information for a paper or even if I was traveling to an area to check out the museums or locations before I go. I'm going to introduce this to my daughter to use in the future for papers etc. If she can actually visit a location on her ipod touch than she is going to get more out of this than looking at some pages in a book.
I think my son is using this at the University of Alabama for some of his classes. I also like the fact that this can be mobile learning. You can plug your ipod into your car or be on a treadmill and be learning and studying for a class. What will they think of next!

Duke at Itunes U

I think Duke University's program of using Ipods in the classroom is great. Here is the link to the article I readhttp://news.duke.edu/2005/12/ipodupdate.html. They even have gone so far as to give Ipods to students to use for each semester. They even created an Ipod Core Project team to teach students how to use thier Ipods, share ideas, and problem solve. Students would use thieir Ipods in a number of ways from downloading their lectures to enhance thier class notes to using them as a PDA and personal calendar to keep track of sporting events and even exams.

Getting the faculty and students to come together and use this digital initiative was successful. This experiment even showed how student behavior changed because of this experiment. Wearing both earbuds meant that the student wasn't to be disturbed. Wearing one earbud mean't that the student was listening to music but could engage in conversation. It is a way to be around alot of people but not have to interact socially. I think using the Ipod outside the classroom is a great way to learn. I'm working on trying to link my notes to my Ipod Touch so when I go walking or on the treadmill I can listen to them. This may take a while but I'm working on it.


Technology Literate Teachers

Ok I'm completely confused by this Wiki. I don't really know how to use a Wiki and hopefully I will learn how to add to the discussion. As a returning student I'm learning new things everyday about technology and becoming less scared to try new things. I'ts pretty bad when I have to call my son at college and ask him how to add a link to my post! But I think It's my responsibility to become technologically literate because my student's will be way more advanced than I am.
I that podcasting is great and our comments for kids in other countries is something I want my sixth grader to do now. The technology student's have at their fingertips today is incredible. I will be looking forward to incorporating these skills in my classroom.

WEEK 6

Dr. Alice Christie

I really connected with Dr. Christie's blog on geocaching. I have been geocaching with my kids and it's like a treasure hunt. I would have never thought of using this with a class. I liked the fact that Dr. Christie would take her students to national parks and historical areas and use geocaching and gps systems to help them learn about the location. She would use teams and color code the teams giving them clues and use the contents of the geocache to understand the curriculum.
I know with my kids it was helpful even for them to learn to read gps systems and even with direction. It takes the students from a classroom to a exciting environment to learn and explore. Students use cooperative learning and work together and if they are successful they are rewarded with a prize from the geocache.

Comments For Kids

I really enjoyed viewing the animoto and all the pictures in Mrs. She's class. Those kids are amazing. Especially since most opportunities are not available to them because of thier living conditions and because of this they are so eager to learn. They appreciate what most kids in the States take for granted. I had the student Elizabeth U. and she was adorable. She drew great pictures and I look forward to blogging to her more.

"What I've Learned This Year" By Mr. McClung.

This was a great blog and was very inspiring. I learned in my classroom management class that the four stages of teaching are Fantasy, Survival, Mastery, and Impact. I thought that was so funny but the more I talk to experienced teachers I think it's accurate. I love the fact that Mr. McClung saw that his version of teaching was not working and he made a change. My daughter has a sixth grade science teacher and the class is very advanced for sixth grade. Most of the kids are not doing well and the last test 75% of the class failed the test. The sad part is that if she changed the way she taught the class these kids would get it. Instead it's negativity and constantly blaming the kids. When something isn't working it's time to change the game plan and that's what Mr. McClung did. Also like Mr. McClung it's important for your student's to respect you and hopefully like you. You can still be a stern teacher and the student's will know that you care about them. I feel it's not only important for you as a teacher to teach but it's just as important to build self esteem.

Week 5

Wikipedia

I didn't realize that someone could actually go into Wikipedia and change the information. I know my sixth grader uses it all the time for her reports and I guess we won't be using this as a resource any more. The things I learn in this class!! There is so much information out on the internet today sometimes I wonder what is and isn't true. You can't even trust the so called reliable sources, like the major news stations anymore because it's almost as if they have all changed their format to entertainment news. Any ideas for a reliable internet source since I won't be using Wikipedia anymore? According to an article I read supposedly Wikipedia has revised it's anyone can edit policy. I believe one day it will become reliable as a source of information but just like anything it needs to revamp some of it's policies.

Week of Feb. 7

Podcasts and More

I watched the Youtube video on how to make a podcast and it was really informative. I'm probably going to watch it about four more times along with the others. The podcast Roaming with the Romans was adorable. That is such a great idea to do with a class with any subject they may be learning. I think getting them involved and doing research for their podcast is a great way to learn. Along with doing the Podcast they can improve thier speaking skills and all the other computer skills that go along with it.

Week ending February 7, Resources for podcasts

Podcasting In The Classroom

This was a really informative podcast it was easy to watch and had some great ideas of how you can utilize podcasts in your classroom and how it can help students. The scenario where the girl was sick and she didn't want to miss class because she had a big test coming up hit home because I have an eleven year old and her classes are so difficult I'm guilty of sending her to school when she's not feeling well just to get the information for her test.
Even though I'm not the most Tekkie person I really am excited to use this in my classroom. Not only to give information for students that are absent or even need a refresher from thier notes. But also to send messages to my students even if they need an optimistic word from their teacher to give them motivation. I also am excited to get them involved doing podcasts. One day I'm sure I can get more savvy to use this technology that I didn't know existed.