Goodbye

Mr. Wakeman and the rest of my EDM310 classmates,
It’s been a pleasure to spend the fall semester in class with you. Mr. Wakeman I have enjoyed having you as an instructor. I appreciate the way that you made an immediate effort to call everyone by name. It made everyone feel more comfortable in class as we stood up to defend our points of view in our blog posts. I know that you are once again retiring from the teaching profession. I wish you all the best in whatever you choose to do with your new found time. I wish all my classmates the best as you continue your education at USA!

Things We Have Covered in Class Summary Post

I consider myself to be in a unique situation as a student in this course. As a student who is already teaching in the classroom, I think my perspective of things is slightly different than my classmates. Teaching in a 2nd grade classroom currently, I tried to tune myself in to the things that I found most useful to me in the course. Since I graduated from college in 1993, most of the information in this course was not available to me at that time. It is amazing to think of how things have changed in a relatively short amount of time.

1)Our class blogs gave me a chance to think about my feelings on each subject. I was able to post my thoughts and feelings on each subject without worry of judgement. I did have strong feelings about Google docs, I hated them! Although I like the premise behind google docs, actually producing material on the website was frustrating to say the least. The collaboration aspect is nice one though. I was never an active Twitter user before this course. I'm an avid Facebook fan, but I still find twitter leaves me uncertain of my purpose there. My experience with podcasting was a good experience for me. As always I enjoy working in a group each time the opportunity presents itself. iTunes University was a new concept for me. I had not previously had experience with it before. I think it is particularly useful to high school students or college students. ACCESS is also a great opportunity for our high school students. ACCESS can save our states a lot of money by allowing them to listen to someone directly, instead of having an individual teacher at each school to do handle each subject. ALEX appears to be a great resource to Alabama teachers. Although we touched on many of the items listed in #1, I don’t know that I could speak in an educated manner about all of them. But I do feel as if I have enough knowledge to decide what I would like to use in my classroom. My mind has been changed in many ways about the use of some of them in the classroom. I was not in favor of using facebook in the classroom, but now I see where it could have some positive points to it. I would love to Skype with another 2nd grade classroom in the near future. We as educators have our own work cut out for us in our school systems. Trying to convince our principals and technology managers that we should have access to these programs on our school computers will be a difficult challenge!

#2. I felt as if we covered many different topics in class. I’m not sure what I expected to get from this class, so it’s difficult to say if there was something else I wish we had covered. I do know that many of the items/ideas we covered in class caused me to think about the changes that are occurring in education because of technology. It will be amazing to think and see where technology will take us in the near future.

#3. The assignments that we had to do in Google were probably the most difficult for me. The frustration I felt trying to create those made me not appreciate Google! Of course in all honesty the fact the instructions for the assignment were not the best did not help. There were instructions to highlight every other line gray, well guess what; you can’t do that in Google without manually doing each line separately. You can do it in PowerPoint, but not Google. Nice to know after you have wasted an hour in your life trying to figure that out! The directions for the assignment need to be reworked in my opinion.

#4. I’m excited about the prospects offered to my classroom from some of the things that we learned. I love the thought of a classroom blog. I’m excited about the fact that almost everything we learned to use in class was free! School systems do not have any extra funds to work with at this point. I can’t recall that anything we learned had an additional cost to it. My biggest frustration will be that fact that many of these resources are not “allowed” at school. I can understand the school systems concern about the use of Twitter, Facebook, and blogging in the classroom, but they hopefully will come to understand what valuable resources they can be to the school.

#5. Well I found the whole class to “intellectually challenging”! Since I had been out of college for over 16 years, it was hard for me to get back into college mode. It was a whole lot easier the first time around before I had a full time job, a husband, and three kids.

#6. Bored? Never! If I looked away for even a second, I missed something going on and felt behind.

#7 Keep in mind that you’re teaching this course for those trying to enter the classroom. If my school won’t allow me to access over half of these programs that were used in class, it isn’t going to do me a lot of good. While I enjoyed most of the things we learned about in class, I think you should focus more on the concepts that most teachers can use. The presentations, and the building of presentations, are probably far more useful than knowing how to use Twitter when it comes down to truly useful information.

#8. I think that I am a technologically literate teacher. I think we established in class that you don’t have to use every form of technology to be considered literate. I would consider myself to be good on the scale we were given. I think it’s important to constantly update yourself, or you will fall behind quickly. With the ever changing technology, it wouldn’t take much time at all to let yourself fall into the illiterate category.

#9. I’m not sure how to apply this question, since my situation is unique. I’ve already graduated and have a full time teaching job. I am going to continue to try to build on the knowledge I’ve gained in this class. I’d like to try to integrate a few concepts immediately into my classroom. Others, I’d like to research and build on. I’m not as afraid to jump in and start using some of these programs that are available. I think I’ll be a little more willing to put myself “out there”, if that’s what I’m going to ask of my students.

Personal Learning Network

I have actually had a small PLN for sometime now, although I never referred to it as a learning network. It is a learning network, but I have always thought of it more as an exchange of information from other teachers in my area of interest. I have long been a member of The Second Grade Teachers Club website, where 2nd grade teachers exchange and information. If you have a question, you can post it and other teachers will help locate the information you need. If obtained wonderful resources from that website, as well as helped others that needed information or ideas.

In EDM310 we were asked to build a personal learning network by using twitter and other blog sites. I followed a few blogs, and followed some fellow educators on twitter. Most of the folks I chose to follow on twitter were fellow elementary teachers. But I've also followed some others that were not elementary ed. I also follow some people on twitter that help me from a spiritual perspective since that is a huge part of my life. Listed below are some of my twitter connections, or websites or blogs that I received RSS feeds from. Most of the contacts I made were made through discussion boards on the websites listed below.

Kellycraig
iteachgrade2
TeachPaperless
mritzius
mayfieldz
paulrwood
shirley8153
speters
ReadCloud
prestwickhouse
JackieB
Joeysparks
STEMschool
MITOCW
Harvard_Press
CUPBooks

http://secondgradeclub.ning.com/
http://classroom.jc-schools.net/waltkek/
http://www.mrscarosclass.com/

At the Teacher's Desk

At the Teacher's Desk Blog

At the Teacher's Desk blog is a collaboration of several teachers that is maintained in a blog format. Wm Chamberlain maintains this blog as well as his own classroom blog. At the Teacher's Desk is a blog that features thoughts and ideas that others want to share with their fellow educators.

I read several of the posts on the blog as well as followed the various links and comments that others have made. I read through the Fundred Project and watched the video. It will be interesting to follow the idea and see if it turns out over time to bring about change in the New Orleans area. The blog provides an outlet to gain exposure to people that might be interested in helping with the cause.

Other topics on the blog covered were to how to grow and maintain visitors to your blog. Chamberlain offers several ways to help your blog succeed. Maintain the same blog address in order to build support over time. You need to be consistent with posting blogs, so that people will have a reason to come back and check your blog again. Use titles in your posts that represent your main idea. Using good titles will allow those that are searching for the information on search engines such as google to find your information. Be sure that you are a supporter of the blogs you read. Leave worthwhile comments to the poster and make appropriate links so that others can build off of the information left there.

Some of the other posts addressed important issues such as building a positive digital portfolio. We need to address the importance to our young people of the importance in maintaining their images even on social networking sites. This is something that hasn't needed to be addressed until recently. Young people don't often think before they speak and write and with all the new social networking sites, they need to learn the importance of those comments following them. I think as an educator using technology, this should be one of the pressing issues that we have in the forefront of minds while educating students in technology.

One of the last posts that I visited was the post by teachernz. The post was titled, Getting over it! The YouTube video addressed getting over our personal issues with technology. This really hit home with me as we enter in to the final stretch of our course. The thoughts of watching ourselves on video, listening to ourselves in a podcast, and putting ourselves out there in front of others is somewhat unnerving. We have to learn to get over our personal issues in order to help others work with technology. If we aren't willing do things ourselves, it will be hard to teach our students the benefits of these advances.

Toward a New Future: Michael Wesch

Michael Wesch Video

I found the Michael Wesch video interesting and thought provoking. I'm not sure that I could do, or would really want to do Michael Wesch's job. I'm not sure I could spend hours on the history of the word "whatever". His comments that referred to YouTube as 99.9% irrelevant to your life, pretty much applied to me as I watched his video. I know that these things may sound harsh to some degree, I just don't share the interest in studying human nature that these people do. It is my opinion that human beings haven't changed that much over time. There are good people and bad people in the world today, just as there were good people and bad people clear back to biblical history.

Technological mediums have changed and allowed more people to be more vocal about themselves throughout history, but I don't think basic human nature has changed. It's kind of the theory that we discussed in class about people uniting together as a group via the internet. That can be good and bad, depending on the intentions of the group. Michael Wesch pointed out a video where the girl was discussing the use of YouTube as a voyeristic tool. We are curious about people who are different from us, but we don't want to stare at them in public. With YouTube, you can stare all you want at someone! People reveal things to strangers that they would not normally do. I almost wonder if in one sense that commom manners and courtesies are lost when we sit behind a computer screen. Do we type things in emails that we would never say to a person if we were face to face with them?

I do think technology affects both teachers and students. In the same respect that I'm not always happy about the emails that I receive from parents that come across as unpleasant, there are days when I am appreciative of sending off that note via email vs. having to make an unpleasant phone call to a parent. I do think that technology has made us an impatient population of people. The advances we have in technology allow us to move about freely. Gone are the days of us sitting at home waiting on a telephone call, having to wait for mail to arrive, waiting on graded papers to come home from school, trips to the library for information, and in some cases not having to get out of your pajamas to attend school. You can do all of these things from the comfort of your home.

I think we have to be careful that we don't totally loose the rules of ettiquette. Face to face meetings with people and teachers are important. Facial expression and voice inflection cannot be shared via email. We don't want to loose the personal touch and interaction that are so important to human beings and especially our students. I think students need interactions with their teachers and other adults to learn how to be affective with others.

PS22 Chorus

PS22 Chorus

The PS22 Chorus is obviously a talented group of children. There are probably many talented groups of children out there, but because of PS22's use of technology and and a blog, we are now familiar with them. They have received the praise of many famous people on their blog. In the particular video we watched here, the chorus received the attention of Stevie Nicks. She was so smitten with the children that she offered them a spot on her stage for one of her performances at Madison Square Garden.

PS22 Chorus Blog


Stevie Nicks

The exposure that technology offers to our children in this day is not something that children or adults for that matter have ever known. I think of struggling musical artists who would fight so hard to get a break in the music business. Most would beg for their music to be played on the radio. In this day we can post our own music on YouTube, or post a blog and get exposure to people all over the world. For the most part, this exposure doesn't even cost us that much money. No price tag can be placed on the experiences that these children received from their exposure to a famous person and the opportunity it afforded them.

We have had several opportunities to read about school children through their blogs. Most recently we read about Mr. C's class, and their contact with Kaia in Qatar.

Mr. C's Class Blog


Kaia

Mr.C's class was so touched by young Kaia and her appreciation for the beauty of her country. Children in Missouri were probably hardly aware of the existence of Qatar, let alone sharing part of their lives together. I would imagine that most of those students in Missouri are still following Kaia's blog today.

I also remembered the Michael Wesch video that we were required to watch awhile back. Those college students offered their views of college life and how they were affected by it. Kansas State University continues to study how students learn and their characteristics in this day and age. They study their hopes and dreams and the goals that 21st century student's share.

YouTube Video from Kansas State

Kansas State University

I searched for elementary schools that are using blogs and came across several. The Georgetown Elementary School maintains a blog for each of their classrooms. The communication between the teacher, parent, and student is vital in the classroom today. Parent's expectations for their children's school have risen to new levels. They expect to up to the minute information about classroom activities, and if an emergency situation arises, they expect immediate notification. We have to do our best to meet those expectations to the best of our ability.


Georgetown Elementary Website

Mrs. Reagan, Principal of Georgetown Elementary School

ACCESS

ACCESS Distance Learning

ACCESS Distance Learning is part of the Alabama Connecting Classroom program. The vision is for the State of Alabama to provide equal access high quality instruction to improve student achievement. These resources are provided to all Alabama public high school students. The ACCESS program was launched November 1, 2004. Alabama has garnered some national press attention with it's leadership in distance learning.

I have long been aware of the inequites in the Alabama school system. I have nieces that were raised in the Birmingham area who have had all types of school perks that were not offered to my children in Baldwin County. I was amazed at the courses that have been offered to them in high school vs. what is offered in the Mobile/Baldwin county system. I know that some of the cities in the Birmingham area do a lot of their own funding to their local schools. I think the ACCESS program is a way to try to bring equality to the Alabama system.

For many schools it is difficult to find qualified teachers for areas such as a foreign language, or upper end math and science courses. Many rural areas can't even offer these courses at all. School systems sometimes have difficulty justifying the expense of paying a teacher in areas where only a handful of students will benefit from the course. ACCESS allows students all over the state to have access to qualified teachers in many subject areas. Advanced Placement courses for college credit are also offered through ACCESS. Alabama is one of a handful of states that offer such courses.

ACCESS offers CAST (connecting ACCESS staff and teachers). CAST offers many web tools for professional development such as NetTrekker and Curriculum Pathways to further our knowledge in our subject areas. There are also chat forums and discussion boards for teachers and facilitators.

ACCESS recommends distance learning for students who are self motivated and self disciplined. They must have access to a computer and be recommended to the program by their school counselor or advisor. ACCESS is open to students in 9th-12th grade.

ALEX

Alabama Learning Exchange

The Alabama Learning Exchange is a website where teachers and administrators can find the Alabama course of study, web resources, and lesson plans that are aligned with the Alabama course of study content standards. The Alabama Learning Exchange is referred to as ALEX. The ALEX website is made up of 8 different sections to assist you in your teaching of Alabama students.

The first section of ALEX is the course of study. You can search by grade level or keyword for all subjects to locate the course of study requirements. The second section is a Web Links section. Located in this section you have teacher web links, administrators web links, and student web links. You may even search for a web link as it correlates to the content standards. If you would like to submit recommendations for web links, you must become a registered member of ALEX. The third section of ALEX is a lesson plan section. You can have access to many lesson plans by searching for your grade level or subject. For those that want to share lesson plans with others, these can also be submitted to ALEX for approval and inclusion on the website. If you know of someone, or a particular school that submitted a lesson, you can also search using that person's name or school name. For it's fourth section, ALEX also features a search datebase for the website.

The fifth section of ALEX is a personal workspace section. This section is for those that would like to contribute to ALEX. You can register your information here, and then be permitted to make website recommendations and submit lesson plans. The sixth section is the professional learning section. This section keeps you up to date with professional development opportunities, teaching and learning tools, and the latest news in education. There is also some information for writing grants for your classroom projects available in this section. They include lists of available grants in Alabama and the U.S. This section also includes information on the Alabama virtual library. The seventh section is a podcast treasury section. Many of the podcasts featured here are specific to Alabama school children and Alabama history information. It also contains links to special places in Alabama like the Space and Rocket center. This information could be used as prepatory information for an upcoming field trip, or as a virtual field trip by itself. The final section of ALEX is a help section for troubleshooting on the website. If you have trouble registering or submitting information this section will assist you.

I found this website to be a great resource as a Alabama educator. I was not aware of this site previously. I also found a facebook page for ALEX while doing my search on Google. I became a fan as part of my PLN.

Dear Kaia/ Intrepid Teacher

Dear Kaia (and Skyelar)

Intrepid Teacher

Jabiz Raisdana is a year 7, 8, 9 English, History, and Geography teacher at the Compass International School in Doha, Qatar. As a teacher by profession, he maintains an educational blog called Intrepid Teacher. On a personal level he maintains a blog for his oldest daughter Kaia, and his recently born second daughter Skyelar. Interestingly enough, it seems as though his personal family blog has brought him attention here in the U.S. Recently, Mr. Chamberlain's class in Missouri, came across Kaia's blog. They were able to skype with Jabiz in their classroom, and created a video response with a voice thread for Kaia and her Dad.


Mr. C's Class Blog

Mr.C's class blog is maintained by Mr. Chamberlain at Noel Elementary School. Mr. C has been working with other schools in a project called Comments4Kids. There are sections on his blog page for his students to follow links to other class blogs and make comments. Mr. C is working with his students to further technology in the classroom.

Mr. Raisdana's professional blog the Intrepid Teacher follows the work of Mr. Raidana's students and their studies in Qatar. He recently posted about the difficulties that he has encountered in the system there. He is determined to teach his students about blogging and the use of the web in instruction. Recently his school shut down for several weeks because of swine flu. Mr. Raisdana posted about how he was so glad that his class was able to make progress even though he wasn't having face to face meetings with them. He also talked about teachers who were not accustomed to this type of teaching being at a loss to proceed with their classes. I had not previously thought about the aspect of emergency situations and classroom instruction. The ability to carry on by way of a class blog, or website would allow for instruction when classes are not able to meet. This led me to a completely different thought. Isn't this somewhat like homeschooling? Are homeschoolers at an advantage in this area over those that go to a conventional classroom? Many homeschooled children participate in online classrooms. They can receive their instruction from teachers that are thousands of miles away. They rarely have face to face meetings with teachers other than their own parents.

Mr. Raisdana's was recently reading The Last Child In The Woods. This led him to take his little girl outside and let her photograph her surroundings. He then helped her to put her photos together and record some narration with them. When Mr. C's class found her blog and pictures they responded to her. Mr. Raisdana had to determine if he wanted his daughter's blog to be used in this way. Of course there are always concerns over someone using the materials inappropriately. In the end he determined that he wanted more good to come from the use of her blog and photos for the good of his students. He said that we can't expect our parents to be comfortable unless we ourselves are willing to put our own selves in that situation.

As we continue to become more and more dependent on technology in the classroom, more opportunities will present ourselves for global learning efforts. What a wonderful connection that these two schools and families have made.

The New Media Literacies

New Media Literacies Video

The New Media Literacy project video discusses skills that are needed to function in today's society. The skills mentioned in the video were judgement, negotiation, appropriation, play, transmedia navigation, simulation, collective intelligence, performance, distributed cognition, visualization, and multitasking. The video elaborated on judgement, negotiation, appropriation, and play, but did not mention the other skills in detail.

As our society moves toward technological advancement, people must move along with it. This is nothing new, it's the way we have always been. We move and progress forward in every aspect of our life, or we are left behind. As long as our moral compass is not affected, I have no problem with progress in technology. Just because we possess the ability to do something, doesn't make it the right thing to do.

I feel I have the ability to make judgements, negotiate, appropriate, and play. I believe collective intelligence is what we experience when we collaborate on a project together. If I don't possess the knowledge I need to do something, I can collaborate with someone who does. Multitasking is required in most aspects of life with family, jobs, and education. As with any skill that we don't possess, if we desire it, we must use education to aquire those skills.

In my search of the New Media Literacy project I found a few helpful websitesthat further explained the concept of new media literacy.

Project New Media Literacy

Publius Project

University of Oregon Media Project

Each of these sites offer further explanation of media literacy. We must be careful to use a number of resources when searching the web. Blogs in particular can be biased and not factual. Project New Media identified three core challenges in it's research. The participation gap, the transparency problem, and the ethics challenge. These three challenges are discussed in detail in their white paper project. The white paper project can be found here:

White Paper

We must continue to research and educate ourselves on the growing resources available to us. We don't want to be left behind, or be responsible for letting others be left behind.

Networked Student

The Networked Student Video

I watched Wendy Drexler's Networked Student Video a couple of times. I also left a comment on her blog for the video. I'm very anxious to see how her middle school students achieve with this learning environment. As the mother of middle school child, I would love for my child to have a teacher such as Ms. Drexler. As a former teacher of middle school children, I can see how this type of learning environment would really appeal to this particular age set. Middle school children are eager for independence, and I think this type of learning offers them independent practice.

Why does the networked student even need a teacher? I've found myself asking this very question with several of the video's that we have been required to watch. Are we going to get to a point in society when we start cutting teachers out of the classroom and placing our students in front of computer monitors instead? How much money could be saved by eliminating individual teachers and just allowing one teacher to teach multiple classes through video? Could this be the answer for all our hurting education systems in the area?

I think Ms. Drexler addresses this question in her video. Teachers are still needed for the students, just in a different capacity than what we have been accustomed to. The teacher will be the person to teach how to build the learning network, how to communicate with others and ask respectfully for the help of others. Teachers must help students determine good resources from propaganda, and help them organize their information. Hopefully the students will retain their learning network after their course has ended.

I'm feeling more prepared each day to meet the needs of the networked student. I think most teachers of networking don't proclaim to know it all, just that they are willing to spend the time along with their students to find out the answers. They are okay with admitting that they haven't used a particular resource, but they're willing to realize that learning is a two way street along with their students. With ever changing technology, it is impossible to stay up to date on every possible resource.

Richard Miller: This is How We Dream.

Old Style Learning

This is How We Dream Videos

It wasn't too long ago that an assignment to write a research paper meant hours spent at your local library in research. You would try to find as many resources as possible and sight those sources on note cards. Many times those sources might be from encyclopedias or news articles. If you really couldn't find the materials you needed you may have to resort to searching through old microfiche. Sometimes your sources wouldn't be from anything recent, they might be years old. Composing your paper usually involved handwriting or typing your information on paper, footnoting all the resources you used.

Fast forward some years later and now that process has changed so much. Dr. Richard Miller's This is How We Dream lecture brings many of these points to light. Our world is totally different now. We can compose documents by pressing a few buttons. We may never have to leave our home to get the information we need. The web offers us countless resources at our fingertips. The web allows you to use up to the minute information when looking for resources. No more waiting for the newest information to be released in a yearly encyclopedia.

Richard Miller also discussed the importance of educators who are willing to share their ideas. Putting together a presentation involves not just words, but a visual presentation. We can produce our information and distribute it globally. Most of the limits we have, are limits we place upon ourselves. Teachers must be inspired to be new media composers. Sharing with each other and collaborating on projects.

I think we as teachers are preparing ourselves each week to be new media composers as we type blog posts. We are searching up to date information through sources on the web. We read each others thoughts and ideas through these blog posts. We have collaborated on surveys and class projects. We in turn can take these thoughts and ideas into classrooms and use them with our students. Students need to continue to be challenged in the classroom with new ideas and concepts. If we can help them with new technology to complete their requirements, they can continue to progress with technology.

New Media Learning

iPods In The Classroom

iPods for Learning

iPods have become much more than just a sound machine for listening to music. Back in 2005 iPods surpassed the 15 million sold mark. That number has probably doubled since then. New models have been introduced year after year, always improving on the product. Now many colleges are handing out iPods at freshmen registration. Duke University seemed to pioneer the use of iPods campus wide to be used as a learning tool.

Article on Duke University's iPod Giveaway

The benefits of using iPods in the classroom have been classified into five categories by Education World. One of the first benefits is it's portability. It can easily be taken to other sites and moved around to a different location. Second, it is socially interactive. You can exchange data and collaborate with others. The iPod has context sensitivity, meaning you can gather data unique to the current location, environment and time. The iPod also offers connectivity. They can be connected to personal computers to create a true shared environment. Last, iPods offer individuality with unique feature customized to each user.

Education World

I could see using the iPods for listening centers in an elementary classroom. Teaching music, foreign language, and podcasts about subject areas in science or social studies would be a great listening tool. Teachers can use iPods for lesson planning and blogging. Tony Vincent offers an excellent site offering ideas for iPod usage in the classroom. The ideas are endless.

Learning in Hand

i Tunes University

iTunes University

iTunes University is a special area of the iTunes store that was launched in May of 2007. It allows institutions to make audio and video material available for downloading and subscriptions. Podcasts and vodcasts are available from many higher learning institutions such as Cambridge, Oxford,and Stanford. Materials upload to iTunes University must be sponsored by a higher learning institution. This allows higher learning institutions to distribute their educational materials to students all over the world.

iTunes Presentation by: David Hopkins

As an extension to iTunes University there is also the iPhone University. Abilene Christian University was one of the anchor schools to start providing their college freshmen with this cutting edge media. "ACU will use the iPhones or iPod Touches to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors’ offices, and check their meal and account balances," the university said in a statement. ACU also developed 15 web applications for Apple devices.

Apple Insider Feb. 2008

iTunes University offers so many possibilities for colleges and universities to reach more students. Many of the offerings are free of charge to view. If the schools have projects that need more attention, they may be able to gain that through iTunes. They can also collaborate between institutions on projects. Collaboration would be great fromt the teachers prospective and the student. Since all materials must be through higher learning institutions, it offers some credibility to the materials found there. For more information on how to use iTunes University:

eHow: How to use iTunes University

Dr. Alice Christie

Dr. Christie's GPS and Geocaching Guide for Educators



GPS and Geocaching for Educators

I chose to review the section of Dr. Alice Christie's site on GPS and Geocaching for Educators. I am fairly familiar with the GPS system, but have never had any geocaching experiences. GPS stands for Global Positioning System. The system is a 12 billion dollar system of 24 satellites that circle our globe. These satellites are maintained by the U.S. Department of Defense. We can purchase relatively inexpensive GPS receivers that communicate with these satellites. The receivers give us latitude and longitude coordinates, and keep track of our paths.

GPS Receiver

Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game using GPS receivers to locate cache locations. Once you find the cache locations you can log your visit to the cache, take an item from the cache box, and leave a cache treasure for someone else. If you would like to create a geocache location, you first need to get a container, a log book, treasures for hiding, and a GPS receiver. Containers should be waterproof, such as a jar, tupperware container, or ammo box. You must hide your cache on public property in a place you can visit often. Be sure it blends with the environment, and record the coordinates of the cache. Be sure to log the information online so that other geocachers know where to look for your cache. If you are interested in hunting cache or hiding cache you can log it at the official website.

Geocaching.com

I feel that children would really enjoy Geocaching. It seems to be the modern day version of a scavenger hunt. Children could be taught science concepts with lessons about how the GPS system works, and environmental concepts with hiding cache. They could be taught geography skills, teaching latitude and longitude. If the teacher makes their own cache spots they can even involve some of the class in choosing the hiding spots. The cache found by students can contain any content that the teacher chooses to emphasize.

Tiny url practice

This is a practice link

this is a practice link

Wikipedia

Wikipedia Article

I can honestly say that I don’t think that I have used Wikipedia in the past at all. I know that recently my daughter was writing a research paper and was told that the use of Wikipedia was not allowed as a source for her paper. After reading a little more on the subject of Wikipedia, I understand now why she wasn’t allowed to use Wikipedia as a source. I always knew that many people could contribute to Wikipedia articles, but I never considered that people would actually “vandalize” articles for their own benefit. I guess my mind just doesn’t work in that way!

Until now I didn't really have an opinion of wikipedia. My opinion of wikipedia is now more of a knowledge of how wikipedia works. The concept of wikipedia is great. To allow people from all walks of life to collaborate on a project or topic is a wonderful resource. The downfall of wikipedia is maintaining the information that is posted there. With the amount of information that is posted, there is really no way to completely fact check what is there.

I would allow Wikipedia to be used as a source on a project, as long as at least two other sources were quoted with the same information. If the information could be collaborated with other sources I would allow it to be used. If the paper were more of an opinion paper I would allow it as a single source, since that information would fall in line with the paper.

I would not allow Wikipedia to be used be used in a biographical paper. I feel that there are too many other reliable sources for those type of papers to use wikipedia as a source. Since factual informaion could be changed to easily, it wouldn't be my source of choice.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with checking the information on Wikipedia, but I would never quote is a source anywhere. Obviously people can tweak that information any way they would like. It seems like Wikipedia is trying to crack down on the amount of information that is brought in to Wikipedia everyday, so that it can be monitored a little easier. Virgil Griffith has created a program that can track the IP addresses of those that make changes to the information, but even he pointed out that the system is not fail proof. Someone could go to the nearest WiFi café and log in and change info without being tracked. With all the information available on the internet, I would think it would not be hard to find other good sources to research in place of Wikipedia. If you choose to read Wikipedia for your information on any subject, you must remember that old saying, “don’t believe everything you read!”

Randy Pausch Last Lecture

Randy Pausch


Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

One of the first things that struck me as I began to watch the last lecture was Randy Pausch's physical appearance. Since we had discussed a little about the video in class, I was expecting to see a sickly looking man, possibly sitting to give his last lecture. Obviously, that was not the case with Randy Pausch. He looked so healthy and even discussed how well he felt. He told the audience that he was probably in better shape than most of them, as her performed push ups on stage. He briefly discussed his illness and showed some MRI photo's of his tumors to show us how sick he really was.

The next thing that touched me in the video was Randy Pausch's attitude. I could only hope that if I am ever in Randy's position that I could be as positive as he was. I think he felt as if he didn't want to dwell on the negative aspects of what was happening to him, out of fear of losing the time he left with his family. He showed photo's of himself as a child and talked about how he was always smiling. He had such a happy childhood and really thought that his parents had been a big part of who he had become.

Randy listed his childhood dreams for the audience and went through each one of them. Some of the goals he had achieved, others he felt that even though he didn't get exactly what he wanted, he had experienced something close to it and felt satisfied with the result. He talked about how he had dreamed of playing in the NFL. He never accomplished that goal, but he did play football as a youth. He felt that football, the rules of the game, and the coaches had played for, had played a huge role in his life. Other goals, such as experiencing weightlessness and becoming a Disney Imagineer he had been able to achieve. With each of these goals he was originally turned down, but he didn't take no for an answer. He continued to work toward those goals and eventually got to reach them. He talked about the lessons he learned from originally being told no, rather than getting what he wanted right away.

Randy Pausch was so successful in his field. He pioneered classes in computer science and virtual reality at Carnegie Mellon University. He felt that the best part of being an educator was making his students think that they were having "fun" instead of learning. Evidenced by the number of people that poured through his classroom he was successful with his teaching. He also discussed several times the importance of giving back and some of the humanitarian efforts he had been a part of over the years.

After watching the original video, I watched a few more video's on Randy Pausch. It appears as if he was diagnosed in 2006 and only given a four to six months to live. In the end, he didn't die until July 2008, outliving the expectation of his doctors by many months. I feel as if his positive attitude probably contributed to his lifespan. I'm sure he fought as hard as possible to win his battle against cancer. He revealed at the end of his speech that he had not made the lecture for the people that were sitting in the room. He had made the video as a legacy for his young children to know how to achieve their goals.

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

Karl Fisch's Blog

Is it okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher? Karl Fisch started this question in his blog in 2007, and it's still being debated on his blog in 2009. I think it has sparked some wonderful debate on the subject. How much do you have to know to be considered in the literate category? I guess the answer to that changes everyday. As technology comes and goes, or and evolves into something more, it seems a constant battle to keep up. There are those in the camp of refusal to adjust. Those that see technology as the enemy to our existence. Then there are those that are just afraid of the unknown, they aren't really against it, they just don't know where to start learning. Do we as teachers have a duty to use technology in our classroom? I think so.

As I mentioned in my post on Mr. Fisch's blog, all people regardless of their profession, must keep up with changes. Do you want a doctor to treat you or perform surgery on you that hasn't kept up with the latest techniques and equipment? Do you want someone to repair your car, house, appliances, that isn't certified? Of all people teachers must be willing to learn. How can we model learning if we refuse to be learners? The younger parents of today's society have expectations of teachers that will use technology. They have expectations of schools that will teach and use technology in the classroom, and to communicate with parents.

I think the biggest downfall to technology in the classroom is cost. There are many things I would like to have and use in my classroom, but if I can't afford to buy them myself I may not be able to get them. In public education we are struggling to pay cafeteria workers, custodians, and bus drivers. Forget about buying updated equipment for the classroom! As technology evolves the costs start to drop, but then something newer and better has taken its place. It's an ongoing cycle that we need to do our best to keep up with.

A Vision of Students Today

Kansas State University YouTube Video

The Kansas State University video really had some interesting information in it, but it really isn't representative of my college experience. I attended a small four year private institution in rural Arkansas. The largest classes that I can remember being a part of were probably 35 students. Since my original college experience was over 16 years ago, that probably accounts for many of the differences in my education. No one carried laptops to class in the early 90's!

I'm not really sure what type of information I would add to the video. I do understand the importance of making our education relevant, but just like my comments in previous posts, I don't think we as educators should have to put on a circus to teach our children. What is the point of a student sitting in class and surfing the web or updating their facebook status? That just shows a lack of discipline and desire to learn on their part. To me it's that lazy attitude of not wanting to work hard for anything. Somehow I think we've got to instill a desire to learn in our students. I see the points of paying for textbooks and not ever using them. Didn't EDM 310 discontinue using a text book for that reason?

I think a point that we need to consider is that not all information that we find on the internet and forums is factual. Do we know if these statistics are backed with good data? I think with the speed that technology is moving, it's going to be difficult to regulate some of the good information from the inaccurate. We have to be careful of not taking everything we find on the internet as credible information. As with everything, there must be a balance.

What I've Learned This Year

Mr. McClung's Blog

I enjoyed reading Mr. McClung's Blog about his first year of teaching. I can recall feeling so overwhelmed at times during my first year of teaching. I was single, planning a wedding, and had no children. I had all the ideals about my classroom that had been instilled in me from my instructors in college. I was going to have "the perfect classroom". My first year of teaching went okay, but not really the perfect scenario that I had imagined in my mind. I honestly never thought I would end up teaching in a middle school environment. Since I had student taught in Kindergarten and 2nd grade, I wasn't really prepared for it either. I survived 3 years before I took time off to stay at home with my own children. Honestly, being a mother has probably changed my teaching style more than any single factor involved in education.

I use to hate when someone would say to me, "your not a mother, you just don't understand!" But now that I am a mother, I hate to say it, but they were right. I don't think that you can't be a good teacher unless you have children, but it sure does change your prospective in the classroom. When I went back to teaching after 11 years of being a stay at home mother, I was a different person. I try to communicate with my parents as much as possible. As frustrating as parents can be at times, I remember that most just want the best for their children. I also remember that they are human and not perfect, just like our children. Some parents like that hard copy of the newsletter that I send home each week, while others like that email in their box that reminds them of their child's test. Is it a little more effort on my part to do both, sure, but it meets the needs of my classroom and that is what teaching is all about.

Mr. McClung sounds like he has learned many of the same lessons that I had to learn as a first year teacher. We all just have to dust off after the mistakes and move on. Try to do better the next go round. Make notes of what works and what doesn't. Try something new and different the next year, or just improve on what you did the previous year. Technology takes care of so much of that for us. I can post on blogs, forums, and internet chat rooms and immediately find out what worked and what didn't from other experienced teachers. I didn't have that benefit 16 years ago in my first year of teaching. Mr. McClung is using technology to his advantage. The more that we can share with each other, the better teachers all of us will be.

Practical Principals

Practical Principles Website


I listened to the Practical Principals podcast between Scott Elias and Melinda Miller. Scott and Melinda have never actually met, they don’t even live in the same state, but they have created several podcasts together. Both are administrators in schools in the U.S. Scott has been selected as an Apple Distinguished Educator. He attended an Apple Distinguished Educators conference this past summer, where they were exposed to all types of new technology that are currently been tested. Scott felt the collaboration at the conference was the best part of being selected for the honor. Scott said “The ability to ask a dumb question on twitter and get five responses from brilliant people along with the power of connecting and networking that bring other strengths to the table were the best part of the conference.”

Podcasts offer personal development training at the touch of your fingertips. No more traveling to faraway places to hear a speaker that has expertise in your area. For Educators, this can save time and money for school systems. Maybe your system can’t afford to send you to another state, pay for a hotel, food, and expenses for you to learn about new curriculum, but podcasting and vodcasting can offer some real relief in this situation. It also can alleviate scheduling conflicts. If you missed a conference because you had a conflict in your schedule, you may not have to wait a long period of time for the conference to return to your area.

In preparing for our podcast, I think we need to keep in mind our target listeners. We want our podcast to contain information that others can use for future needs. Scott and Melinda’s podcast kept referring to dates of conferences around the nation that were taking place. They also included information about where you could download conference information and listen to keynote speakers addresses. This allows you to pick and choose bits and pieces of conferences that you may be interested in. I think that we need be mindful of not packing too much broad information into a podcast. I think that podcast format should be fairly specific to a certain topic. There is no reason to try and cram too much broad information in one podcast. If the podcast is too broad, I think you run the risk of losing a listeners attention. If you feel the information warrants, it would be better to create multiple podcasts to keep the podcast on topic. Overall, I thought the information in Practical Principals was very useful.

It's Time for Technology

The Technologically Literate Teacher

Being able to observe the EDM310 videocast from the summer class has been so helpful to me. It's given me a better understanding of the task that is in front of us. I thought the group did a good job. I assume that this is probably the first time that most of these people had participated in a videocast. Of course there are things that I think could be improved, but that's easy for us to do since we are the ones on the outside looking in! I'm already dreading next spring when the EDM 310 class will get to watch our podcast and pick us apart!:)

There were a few things I noticed that I thought would improve the videocast. First of all, I'm not sure that the seating arrangement was the best for a videocast. It forced the ladies that were seated in the front seats to continually face away from the audience since they were looking at the instructor. I thought that maybe a straight table arrangement would have worked better. I did like how each person introduced themselves, but it would have been nice if they could have made eye contact with the camera while doing so. It also seemed that two or three people contributed to the videocast, and a couple of the the others did not participate as much. Maybe they could have split up the responses and information a little more equally between the contributors. Hopefully we can take all these ideas into account while forming our class podcasts and try to improve upon the ones done in the past.

Podcasting

Podcasting

This was one of my first experiences with podcasts. Prior to this time I had listened to a few Disney podcasts about vacationing at Walt Disney World. Other than those podcasts this was the first time I had taken the time to look at what else might be available to me as a teacher. These are the podcasts that I listened to:

Connect Learning
Smart Board Lessons
KidCast
EdTechTalk
MacBreak Weekly
This Week in Photography

I noticed that most of the podcasts were in the same type of format. All the podcasts had an introduction. Most all started with a little music specific to that program, the introduction of the speakers name, and the date of the podcast. Some of the podcasts had sponsor information and advertising. In general the speaker or speaker would give you a little information about themselves, or make conversation with the other speaker on the podcast. They usually didn't start with spouting out information, they tried to bring the listener in with the background information or personal conversation.

Once the backgound information is laid out, the information from the podcast starts to flow. The presenter(s) start to set the format for the podcast. Some are just people conversing on certain subjects. Some seem to be set up in a town hall type format such as the podcast with the 9,000 librarians. One thing I learned was that some podcasts are referred to as "vodcasts", they actually include video. I was always under the impression that podcasts were strictly audio. Those that are in a video format held my attention slightly better. Maybe that says something about my learning style!

Each of the podcasts seem to start closing comments with adding other resources for you to continue on with on that subject. The would offer other podcast #'s, email addresses, or blog spots for you to follow up with. Most of the podcasts closed with the same music they opened with. Some closed with more small talk being made between the speakers. It reminded me of watching the news when you see the broadcasters turn to each other while the program closes and act like they are chatting with each other. I think all these things are done to humanize the speakers you are listening to.

Aside from the format of the podcasts, these are some of the important points that I picked up from listening to each podcast. KidCast reminded me, as a teacher implements podcasting in their classroom, they need to remember to be concerned about privacy issues and children. Children need to understand that they don't want to give out too much personal information while podcasting. Be clear with children about what type of information is ok, and what is not. As teachers we need to allow the children to do the work themselves. Allow them to research and review the information and really work on the project themselves without doing it for them. Sometimes that is hard for parents and teachers to do. The children will learn more if left to do the work for themselves. Start simple and work your way up. One point made by one of the librarians in the Connect Learning video that I thought was such a great thought. At times we aren't the best person to teach on a certain subject. Maybe a child just doesn't "get it" from us. Podcasting is a great alternative for that child. Maybe someone else can present the same subject in a way that makes sense for that child. There is also the aspect of repetition. Maybe the child just needs the reinforcement of hearing a message again.

I think podcasting can be a wonderful resource for the classroom. Most all the edcuational podcasts that I viewed were available for free. It's not often that we have free resources at our disposal. You don't have to be a professional to participate in podcasting. People from all walks of life make podcasts. That in itself is great lesson for children to learn.

Media Rich Posts

Michael Jackson

(CNN) -- The Los Angeles coroner has concluded preliminarily that singer Michael Jackson died of an overdose of propofol, a powerful sedative he was given to help him sleep, according to court documents released Monday. Los Angeles' coroner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran reached that preliminary conclusion after reviewing toxicology results carried out on Jackson's blood, according to a search warrant and affidavit unsealed in Houston, Texas.
The affidavit outlines probable cause for search warrants of the offices of doctors who are believed to have treated Jackson.
The Associated Press is quoting a single law enforcement official, who says the L.A. County Coroner has ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide. The Los Angeles County Coroner's office told CNN they had "no comment" on the report. An LAPD spokesman says the story did not come from their department.
The 32-page warrant said Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, told a detective that he had been treating Jackson for insomnia for six weeks. Murray said each night he gave Jackson 50 mg of propofol, also known as Diprivan, diluted with the anesthetic lidocaine via an intravenous drip.
Worried that he may have been becoming addicted to the drug, the Houston cardiologist said he attempted to wean him from it, putting together combinations of other drugs that succeeded in helping Jackson sleep during the two nights prior to his death.
But on June 25, other drugs failed to do the job, as he recounted to detectives in an hour-by-hour account that was detailed by detective Orlando Martinez of the Los Angeles Police Department:

Next Generation Learning

I viewed the Next Generation Learning video with mixed feelings. It sounds like England must fund their schools differently than we do in the U.S.A. I'm impressed with all the technology equipment they have at their disposal. I'm not sure how their schools are run in comparison to ours. I would love to to have a smart board to use in my classroom.

I can see many benefits to having so much integrated technology in the classroom. I know that these children are exposed to many experiences outside of their classroom. I can also see the benefits of the communication with parents. Obviously everyone would have to have access to the online sections in order for everyone to be able to do the homework assignments. Parents could not use the excuse that "they didn't know about the assignment".

There are parts of the video that I do have issues with. There was a section in the video that the boy refers to sitting in his seat and learning as boring. He can run around and operate his IPhone, but doesn't know what his Dad does for a living! His job must also be...boring! Maybe I'm a little old school, but part of me feels that there is a certain amount of self discipline that needs to be learned. If I can't jump up and down and make something entertaining, does that make it not worth learning? Do we need to perform a circus act at school to teach our children? Do we really need Wii's in the classroom? How about we actually get up out of our seats and go outside and get our exercise that way. I guess out of all the videos, this one probably bothered me the most. I just couldn't agree with everything that was said in this one.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis has done a wonderful job in her classroom. It seems like she is really empowering her students to find answers on their own. It seems as if it is even more exciting for this class of students since they are living in rural Georgia. Can you imagine their excitement in being able to travel the world for their class. I'm sure the impression left on them will last forever. They are able to connect with other students all over the world. Some are even able to work internationally to complete projects together online.

While I really admire Vicki's classroom, I don't know that I could ever see my second graders learning all of their subjects in that manner. I do think it is great that she readily admits "she doesn't know it all". How can any of us know it all, when we aren't even sure of the jobs that will exist for our students in a few years. We need to remember to let our students know that we don't have all the answers to every question, but we can help them find ways to seek out the answers to their questions. That's a great lesson in itself from this video.

I also took the time to check out Vicki Davis' Cool Cat Teacher Blog. I enjoyed looking around at her blog and reading some of the information there. I would like to take the time to see more of her early childhood and elementary ideas. She seems to have a good grasp of what the younger age groups are capable of. I know that sometimes we sell children short. My six year old has no problems operating my iPhone and she doesn't read all that well. I know that we have to be careful not to sell these younger children short.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I feel that Ken Robinson had some wonderful things to say about creativity in the classroom. Do we value it like we should? Judging from recent years, no. The arts are the first thing to get cut when we feel like our tax dollars aren't going to stretch far enough. We (or should I say those people in education making the decisions with our tax dollars) don't see the value in the arts. I think we are doing our children such a disservice by cutting these programs.

Having recently made my classroom schedule for my 2nd grade classroom, I can attest that the State of Alabama is right in line with the thinking of the rest of the world. We are required to give 2.5 hours a day to Language Arts, 60 minutes to Math, 30 minutes each to Social Studies and Science. They also throw in some minutes for character education, P.E., technology, and a whopping 10 minutes for Health. I don't remember seeing any requirements for music, art, and foreign language. I consider myself lucky to be teaching in a private school where they do value "all" the subjects to some degree. Our budget is somewhat limited too at times. My co-teacher came from a Mobile County public school where she felt that she would be in trouble if an administrator walked in her room and "caught" her teaching a science experiment! They weren't even furnished with texts or materials to even teach Science and Social Studies. All of their time was to be devoted to Reading and Writing. Those things are very important, but they aren't going to take care of the whole child.

We have to be careful as educators not to try to put all children in a box. Sure the kid that sits in his seat and does everything that we tell him to do is "easy" for us to deal with. We love that kind of kid in general. In fact, if someone doesn't fit in that mold, we push drugs on them at times and try to mold them into that perfect student role. We all have to remember that we are there to teach all types of children, not just the easy ones. It may be that the ones that challenge us the most, get the most from us. These might not be things that we can see at the time either, it may take years before we see the impact we have on these children. There are many lessons to be learned by us all, hopefully before we have completely ruined our education system.

Did You Know? 3.0

I'm not sure what to think of these type videos. I guess my first reaction is to panic. Is our country headed down the tubes? Is the USA not on top of the game anymore? I also took the time to read some of the comments that followed the video in the discussion section. Some of those comments made me think twice about some of the things I read.
First of all, how do we know these facts presented in the video are true? Who monitors this type of thing? Can't anyone stick a video on You Tube? I'm sure some of the things presented are true, but I'd like to know where they get this information. But true or not, it really makes you think. Are we keeping up with other countries? Or is it that we were just ahead for so long, and now we are stagnant and others are catching up to us. In some cases, they are passing us by because we have become complacent.

I also wonder about the motives about those that produce this type of video. Do they have an agenda? If so, what do they want to accomplish by these type videos? Obviously from the comments below the video, some people feel really threatened by some the information. Some of those just question the accuracy of the information. "How can humans produce a computer that is going to be capable of what they claim, if humans are the ones producing it?" I personally wouldn't have thought about this on my own, but the comments of others made me question it too.

I guess as an educator the implications of this video mean that we just need to teach children critical thinking skills. Encourage them to think "outside the box" so to speak. Challenge them in each of their subjects. I see public school phasing out so much Science and Social Studies in favor of more Language Arts time. I've never understood that. Isn't the technology of the world found more in Science and Social Studies? Can't language skills be taught in a Science book too? If we aren't even aware of what the top jobs will be in the next 5 to 10 years, than we need to teach students in a way that will expose them to as many subjects as possible. It will be interesting to see where our country is in the next 20 years. I don't think we are in danger of becoming extinct!

First Post

My name is Erin Chupek. I am married and have three daughters ages 13, 10, and 6. Our family lives in Fairhope. I teach 2nd grade at Mobile Christian School. My husband stays busy with our three family owned collision repair facilities. In my spare time I am a middle school cheerleading coach, and Bible class teacher. We attend the Eastern Shore church of Christ. I'm taking this course to get my Alabama teaching certificate reinstated. My certificate expired while I was busy being a mom. I have completed all the other requirements to have my certificate reinstated except this last course! I also hope to use the technology knowledge I gain here, in my classroom. I do maintain my own classroom website through Teacher World. I try to duplicate many of the documents that I send home to my parents on my website. I still feel as though I have much to learn about technology in the classroom.

My first experience with computers was in high school. If I remember correctly we had Radio Shack computers in our lab. My Dad always referred to them as trash 80's. I don't really remember what they were called because I have heard him say that so many times. My parents were never "afraid" of technology which has been a blessing to me. My husband on the other hand, had parents that were very afraid of using a computer. He had to bring their family business up to speed or be left behind. He was up to the task. He deals with technology everyday in the automotive industry. Almost every aspect of collision repair uses modern technology everyday. If you don't keep up to date on your training, you will fall behind very quickly. I love to tease him about being a "techno geek", but he's the one that I rely on when I have a question about something. He has the patience to sit and figure it out if he doesn't know how to do something. I get frustrated easily and need to learn more patience!