My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

Fellow Classmates,

I had a great time in class with all of you. I enjoyed learning a little bit of each of you through the power point presentations. Good luck in the future and I am excited to be working with all of you in the future!

EDM 310 Review

I learned many things in this class this semester. I never thought I would learn so much about Google, Twitter, Blogger, Spreadsheets and many more. Before this class I did not like the computer very much. Now, I like exploring and learning as many things as I can. I learned that google is amazing! I made a google account and I learned how to open documents and power points in this neat website. I learned how to Blog, which is very cool! I like communicating with my peers and posting things on my wall. I enjoyed learning about Pod casts. I was very excited to learn that my voice will be on the Internet for everyone to hear :) Overall, this class was a great success for me. I will continue to use most of this information I learned this semester in my future classroom! There is not much more I would want to learn in this class. I think we covered information beyond my expectations.

Twitter

Twitter was a very interesting thing to learn about! I practiced Twitter every night when I got home and this is what I learned. I learned that I could communicate with my classmates about their day, what they are doing, and many more things. I love being in contact with my friends through this website because I do not like using the phone very much. I followed the tweets of my fellow classmates very often. I liked "spying" on them (just kidding). As a future teacher, I would like using Twitter for many reasons. One reason is I can post assignments, important dates, and fun activities on my page that my students can look at. This will offer a more fun way of learning, rather than being in a classroom environment. I also would like to use this because parents can be reminded about important dates and events and help their children remember also.

Podcast review

I know for me doing the podcast made me very nervous. The thought of having my voice out there for everyone to hear was a scary thought. I loved my group I worked with. I am glad we had Rachel "the fearless leader" in our group because she was not afraid at all. I thought our topic on how technology is used in the classroom was a great one! We all had something interesting to say and I am pleased on how it turned out. The only thing I would say we could fix was the length of our podcast. I thought we could have expanded it a litte bit.

I loved all of the other groups podcast in our class. I thought they all did a good jot and was very knowledgeable about their topics. The only thing I would reccomend to all of us would be to not be nervous and expand on our topics.

iTunesU:WGBH Podcasts

The WGBH link through iTunesU was a great find for me. The podcast range from different topics as well as grade levels. I liked viewing many of the older grades podcast because it was full of information and I really learned alot.

I would love to use this website as a teacher to give a new fun way of teaching a certain subject. I can introduce this to the students and get them fired up about the upcoming lesson rather than dreading it. It offers the students with a fun exciting new way of learning.

iTunes University

Exploring iTunes University was very interesting and fun for me. As a student it offered many neat things. I was able to look up Literature, Science, Political and other useful topics. I clicked on the Literature link and it gave me links to many books on tape, poetry and even pod-cast reviews about certain literature works. It also offered a list of top selling novels.

I also thought it would be useful as a student to explore iTunes University because I could keep in touch with the outside world! It offered a list of what different Universities around the country were doing and gave insight on what kind of programs each school were involved in.

Edutopia & A Night in the Global Village

I absolutely loved this site! This was the most interesting way of teaching and learning I have ever seen. I love how there are so many hands on activities to incorporate what the lesson was about and how to actually put it to use. To see your knowledge grow and actually get rewarded makes children want to learn and try their best all of the time!

A Night in the Global Village was interesting also! The students get to take away real life lessons and solutions. By living life completely differently then they are used to, makes them work as a team and rely on each other for survival. This lesson can be used throughout everyday life.

The Truth About Wikipedia

I was very shocked when I discovered that Wikipedia is not a well recommended site to visit. I learned that not everything on the site is true and anyone can go in and edit information. Also, anyone who has the right skills and nerve can go in and erase important information found on Wikipedia. In order to catch these people, digital fingerprints, or a computer tracker must be set in place. Personally, I will think twice next time before visiting Wikipedia.

iPods In The Classroom

The use of iPods in the school setting is occurring more and more often. In today’s time, technology is growing every day and iPods are a new and exciting form of information and technology. Schools encourage students to use technology and have accommodate students with alternative styles to learn in the classroom. By using iPods, teachers can download information to the devise and make learning more interesting and convenient for students.
Duke University is a university that promotes the technology of iPods. Duke is distributing each freshman student with a brand new iPod! The school is planning on pre downloading freshman orientation information, an academic calendar and even the Duke fight song! Students also will be able to use the devices to download course content, recorded lectures, foreign language lessons, audio books and music from a special Duke website modeled after iTunes. Duke believes that by doing this, students will become more technology literate and believes this will be a new and exciting way of delivering information through technology. http://cit.duke.edu/pdf/reports/ipod_initiative_04_05.pdf

Dr. Christie's Site

I had the chance to research Dr. Alice Christie's website. In her website, she discusses many topics that she wants to share with educators and future educators as well. It reflects her interests, experiences, and commitment to being a lifelong learner. The topic I chose was searching the web. She quotes "To use these tools effectively, teachers and students need to familiarize themselves with the variety of tools currently available."

In her web site, she talks about numerous tools that are available to us during this day and time. She gives specific links to online research sources and also search engines and subject directories. For instance, I could go to her web site and find hundreds of links to databases commit ed to kids. I could help my students by giving them useful websites that is in relation to their school work and topics. Thanks to Dr. Christie, teachers have a way to narrow the search on particular topics and subjects!

Fischbowl: A Formula for Success

In this blog, the author made many important statements. The first point was that we need to expand our math lessons further than just the simple boring memorization manner. He suggested that we make learning fun and relate it to every day situations and problems. For instance, ask the students to relate a math problem to a candy store or to a popular clothing store. This way, math will be used in a way that students will know why math is important and want to do it more often.

Students need to take joy out of learning, not fear it. Math was one of my hardest subjects in school. If I had a teacher who made it fun, I would most likely have succeeded it that subject. I believe that by making a hard subject like math fun, children will take away only good from it!

My trip to St. Jude

Fischbowl

I enjoyed viewing this blog. I agreed with many aspects the author was talking about. I believe that it is very important for teachers to be up to date on new technology. As teachers, we need to be able to put to use the technology that is presented to us in the classroom. Today, we have so many more things in the classroom that we did not have before like web based classes, and internet help for students. With all of this new technology, we do not need to be afraid of it, we need to embrace it! Teachers should not stand up in front of a class with chalk and a textbook the whole day. They need to learn and take part of this generation.

Teachers also need to keep up with thier students. So many students and children know how to access new technology every day. Times are changing and it is so important for teachers to learn about these changes and take part in it also!

Podcasts

I thought this assignment was very interesting. I did not know what I was expecting when I looked up all of these podcasts. I honestly did not know what a podcast was untill this assignment! I learned that there are many types and many approaches to podcasting.

The first podcast I explored was EdTechtalk #92. This was very easy to lisen to because the podcast was right on the page for easy access viewing. I liked this one because it was very upbeat and sounded like a radio talkshow. The hosts had a special guest named Liz Davis who was a head person in an independent school. The hosts asked her about her self and what accomplishes her school has made over the years. I really liked this podcast.

The next podcast i explored was This Week In Photograpy. I loved this one! It was very visual and supplied pictures and a step by step process that was easy to follow. The basic principle was to learn how to brighten up pictures by using Photoshop. I am not an photograpy experct but I know how to use Photoshop now!

The final podcast I listened to was SmartBoard Lessons Podcast. This was not that interesting to me. It was in a conversation manner between two people. I guess i was not interested in the subject but if I was, they did a good job explaining smart boards.

Overall, I enjoyed learning about podcasts. There are many types and some are very interesting. I would not mind looking at them more often.

http://isb.ac.th/Head_of_School_s_Blogs

International School Bangkok had a website with a specific blog. This blog belonged to Bill Gerritz. Bill is a man who is commited to this school and its programs. In his blog, he states that he and his team will be participating in a project called Culture Center Project. This project will allow a new building to be built in Thailand. This is huge for this community because it will allow more learning space and capability. In his blog, he describes all of the features in the new building!

A 4th Grade Blog

I found an example of an elementary class using a blog for their classroom. At Shepard School in Columbia, Missouri, a 4th grade class uses an interactive blog for many purposes. When a student enters the site he or she can choose to click on homework listings, upcoming projects, new information and also a chance to chat with other classmates. This blog also lets parents check the homework calendar and project calendar! I thougt this was a great idea because instead of only handing out paper work, the students and parents can have an alterative way of accessing information. http://www.columbia.k12.mo.us/she/mvillasa/blogpage.htm

Another example I found was http://georgehall.wetpaint.com/page/Class+Blog+for+James+and+the+Giant+Peach
at a school named George Hall Elementary School in Alabama. This blog was unique because it is a book review of James and the Giant Peach. This second grade class got the chance to post their comments on the book on the website. Also, other students were able to view the comments and respond to their fellow classmates! I loved this idea because it gave the students an opportunity to read and respond to comments and everyone learns from it!

Fishbowl

This was very interesting to me. I could not believe that we are in the lowest percentage of people who attend college. I also could not believe that China will be the largest English speaking nation on our planent. I found it interesting that as a community, we have been relying on the computer and the internet to do our every day tasks like buying products and interacting with friends.

I agreed when the video informed us that we are teaching our students to come up with soultioins to problems we do not even know exist yet. Our world is becoming more and more advanced everyday. Most kids these days do not even know what the world would be like without the internet. They would have a hard time imagining a world that comprised of telephones without caller id and radios instead of T.V.'s. It is a great thing to be involved with our new technology. Hopefully one day we will find a cure for cancer or even the common cold!

ACCESS

Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS) provides high quality courses and teachers all though technology! This program is perfect for an alternate resourse for students who attend low-income schools that do not offer higher education classes. The goal and misson of this program is to provide an equal access to all students taking part in highschool courses.

This program will have many features. Videoconfrenceing and internet based courses are two features. Videoconferencing is a visual link between two or more locations. Some benefits of this are that students get to interact with other children from other parts of the world! Another is that students will get to be involved in courses that are not offered at his/her own schools, as well as having more teachers visually present in the schools. Another feature is internet based courses. This means that the course is taken only online. The perks of this is that students will have easy access to work, and notes. This has also been proven to raise test scores. E-teachers are very well qualified and have an opportunity to connect with kids. There are also buit in quality courses. For example, AP classes! Overall this program is a great way to expand the horizons of young students. It provides a way for students to learn out of the classroom setting and could also promote their test scores!

ALEX

Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is a very useful and intresting thing to have as a tool for education. This is a database that is created by teachers. When someone visits this site, many things are just a click away. There is a Web Link search that links you to some of the most useful sites for education. The Courses of Study button allows you to select which subject you would like to choose. If you choose 5th grade Science, lesson plans pop up and you can view them all! Personal Workspace allows you to manage your lesson plan book and keep great ideas and tips all at your finger tips. Overall, ALEX is a great resource for teachers and is very useful!

I have many positive thoughts about ALEX . As a new teacher, I would love to search new ways on how to present a lesson and even come up with a lesson on a particular subject. With this database, it is not only at my finger tips, it is also very reliable because it is submited by other teachers! This is a great oppertunity to get outside advice and guidance about ways to present materials and to manage my lesson plans. I also would enjoy having the search engine that allows me to get fast access to many of the most informative education sites!

All About Me

My name is Katelyn Lilley I am 20 years old and I was born in Mobile Alabama. I attended St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School growing up unill I went to Theodore High School. I was in many clubs and organizations at Theodore. My main love was volleyball. I started playing when I was in the 4th grade and did not stop untill my sophomore year at college. I was given a scholorship to play at Faulkner State CC. Faulkner was without a doubt the best decision I could have made. I met so many wonderful people and I consider many of them a part of my family. Last semester was my first semester at South Alabama. I am an Elementary Education major and I enjoy every minute of learning about this field! South is very diferent from Faulkner because I basicly knew everyone at Faulkner, South is HUGE! It has taken me a while to get used to how big this school is but I like the atmosphere very much. My family is amazing! I have two loving parents and one brother who is 16. It was hard on me to move back home last summer but it is working out well I guess. I am still hoping to move out again soon:) I'm not a complicated person, I consider myself to be easy going and I get along with everyone. I love meeting new people and having a good time:)

Blog 1

This is my first blog!