I really enjoyed being in EDM 310 with everyone, and I hope that you all learned as much as I did. I would like to say good luck to everyone as you move on through your career, and I hope that you all are able achieve you lifelong goals and dreams. I wish everyone the best in their lives and hope to see you again in the schools someday. Have a great summer!
Thank you Ms. Averitt. You were a great teacher. I really enjoyed being in your class this semester, and I thank you for all of the things that you were able to teach us. I also would like to wish you the best of luck as you continue in furthering your education.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
What Did I Learn?
Going through EDM 310 has been a very good experience and has taught me a lot about the new technologies that I will be able to use as a future teacher. Some of the things that I learned this semester include how to create my own blog, how to write and record a podcast, and how to create an iGoogle account. All of these things were fun to do and will be very beneficial to me when I become a teacher.
Blogging is now becoming a much more popular teaching tool in schools and opens up many opportunities for students, teachers, and parents. Through this course I have learned many different uses for having a classroom blog. One thing that blogs can be used for is connecting with student and teachers in different schools. I have looked at many different teacher blogs, and I can see how these teachers are connecting with teachers in different schools, sometimes across the world, and allowing their students to work together on different assignments. Classroom blogs also allow teachers to display important information for parents and students to view from home. Some things that teachers have posted on their blogs include school notices and newsletters, school or classroom awards, class assignments, online tasks, and photo and video galleries. All of these things will be great for the classroom because they will provide students with different types of learning opportunities and allow parents to see exactly what their children are working on in the classroom.
Having an iGoogle account in my classroom is also going to be a good teaching tool that I can use to help the students and parents in my classroom. IGoogle accounts allow teachers to post resources that they want parents and students to view and use at home. Some of the things that I have currently on my own iGoogle homepage include educational games, Math exercises and games, links to help student with reading, weather information, a class email account, to-do lists, and birthday reminders. All of these gadgets on my iGoogle homepage can be used to help or entertain students while away from the classroom. IGoogle accounts are easy to create and can be accessed from any location. The only thing that parents and students need to have to access these sites are an email address and a password, which I will provide to the students and parents in my classroom in the class syllabus. I have really enjoyed creating my iGoogle homepage, and I cannot wait to see how well it works as a resource for the students and parents in my classroom.
Podcasting was also a great experience that we were able to have this semester. Before I entered this class I had never heard of a podcast. Being able to write and record our own podcasts was really interesting and helped me really to think of ways that I could use this type of technology in my classroom. I believe that podcasts will be very useful in the classroom, and I plan to use them as an aid for teaching instruction. There are many podcasts available on the Internet that cover different subjects and material, so as a teacher I will be able to view different podcasts and use the podcasts as an aid when teaching a lesson. I believe that this will be a good way to gain students attention, and for me it will help to incorporate the different learning styles of all of the students in my classroom.
Overall, I think that this class was a fantastic learning experience. I learned a lot of new information that I was unfamiliar with before entering the class, and I am going to be able to take all of this information and apply it in my classroom when I become a teacher. Ms. Averitt was an excellent teacher and did a great job in covering all of the material that we are going to need to know when we become teachers ourselves. Thank you Ms. Averitt.
Blogging is now becoming a much more popular teaching tool in schools and opens up many opportunities for students, teachers, and parents. Through this course I have learned many different uses for having a classroom blog. One thing that blogs can be used for is connecting with student and teachers in different schools. I have looked at many different teacher blogs, and I can see how these teachers are connecting with teachers in different schools, sometimes across the world, and allowing their students to work together on different assignments. Classroom blogs also allow teachers to display important information for parents and students to view from home. Some things that teachers have posted on their blogs include school notices and newsletters, school or classroom awards, class assignments, online tasks, and photo and video galleries. All of these things will be great for the classroom because they will provide students with different types of learning opportunities and allow parents to see exactly what their children are working on in the classroom.
Having an iGoogle account in my classroom is also going to be a good teaching tool that I can use to help the students and parents in my classroom. IGoogle accounts allow teachers to post resources that they want parents and students to view and use at home. Some of the things that I have currently on my own iGoogle homepage include educational games, Math exercises and games, links to help student with reading, weather information, a class email account, to-do lists, and birthday reminders. All of these gadgets on my iGoogle homepage can be used to help or entertain students while away from the classroom. IGoogle accounts are easy to create and can be accessed from any location. The only thing that parents and students need to have to access these sites are an email address and a password, which I will provide to the students and parents in my classroom in the class syllabus. I have really enjoyed creating my iGoogle homepage, and I cannot wait to see how well it works as a resource for the students and parents in my classroom.
Podcasting was also a great experience that we were able to have this semester. Before I entered this class I had never heard of a podcast. Being able to write and record our own podcasts was really interesting and helped me really to think of ways that I could use this type of technology in my classroom. I believe that podcasts will be very useful in the classroom, and I plan to use them as an aid for teaching instruction. There are many podcasts available on the Internet that cover different subjects and material, so as a teacher I will be able to view different podcasts and use the podcasts as an aid when teaching a lesson. I believe that this will be a good way to gain students attention, and for me it will help to incorporate the different learning styles of all of the students in my classroom.
Overall, I think that this class was a fantastic learning experience. I learned a lot of new information that I was unfamiliar with before entering the class, and I am going to be able to take all of this information and apply it in my classroom when I become a teacher. Ms. Averitt was an excellent teacher and did a great job in covering all of the material that we are going to need to know when we become teachers ourselves. Thank you Ms. Averitt.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Access Lab Visit
The ACCESS lab that I chose to visit was the Robertsdale High School ACCESS lab. Mr. Mitchell, an Assistant Principle and head of the ACCESS lab at RHS, allowed Kristen and I to tour the ACCESS lab on Friday, March 27, 2009. Because of the earlier blog I completed on ACCESS, I knew a little about what ACCESS was, but being able to tour the lab allowed me to really understand all of the components of the ACCESS program.
The first thing that Mr. Mitchell showed us on our tour of the ACCESS lab was the computer system. He said that the system that RHS had was a Tanberg system, which costs about $85,000. Some of the things that this system includes are an instructor cam, a student cam, twenty-five laptops, a projection system, and a document cam (ELMO). All of these things make it possible for instructors to teach their classes in schools in two different areas. According to Mr. Mitchell setting all of this equipment up was not an easy task. There were many people involved in the setup of the ACCESS lab, and there were many decisions and changes that had to be made in order to make the ACCESS lab work. Everything from wall color to desk type had to be taken into consideration in order to create the optimum ACCESS lab. And of course with all of the different technical equipment, they were encountered with many technical difficulties. Mr. Mitchell said that it took almost the whole summer to get the ACCESS lab up and running properly.
Having the ACCESS labs in the schools opens up many doors for both students and teachers. With this type of technology, there are many things that the ACCESS lab can be used for. The ultimate goal for the future of the ACCESS lab is to be able to provide all students with an equal opportunity to take all courses. There are many schools in Alabama that do not provide College Preparatory or Advanced Placement classes to their students due to a lack of money for teachers, so the ACCESS program has been established to allow these students to enroll in these classes at other high schools. The problem schools are running into now with offering these courses to their students is that the schools cannot afford to purchase the equipment needed to set up the ACCESS labs. According to Governor Riley, the ACCESS budget is not going to be cut for the 2009-2010 school year, so hopefully over the next year more schools will open up these ACCESS labs allowing the ACCESS lab to move forward towards reaching its goal for students.According to Mr. Mitchell, some of the other things that they have used their ACCESS lab for have been virtual field trips and teacher in-services. One virtual field trip that RHS students were able to take was a trip to the Museum of Natural Science. Students were able to take a tour of the facility and learn all of the facts of the museum just like if they had visited the museum in person.
In my opinion, this system is a great new addition to the Alabama high schools. I hope that the State of Alabama meets its goal of providing equal opportunity to all students, and hopefully many more uses come from having this system available to students.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Edutopia Podcasts
The first podcast that I listened to was titled "The Edible Schoolyard." This podcast was recorded at the Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkeley, California. It was a video podcast of many middle school students who were using hands-on activities to learn many different important things. In this school, teachers used an "edible schoolyard" (garden) as the center of learning to help teach many subjects including social studies, math, science, and life skills. Everyday the students would start their school day working in their "edible schoolyard" harvesting their foods, and then they would move into the inside learning lab to cook their foods and learn the many different processes taking place in the garden. Having the garden allowed these students to learn life skills such as cooking and gardening while also learning the core subject material such as photosynthesis and how the water cycle works.
The second podcast that I listened to was titled "A Night in the Global Village." This video podcast was recorded at Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. In this podcast students and teachers from Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning are trading their privileged status as Americans for a night to live the life of the less fortunate of the world. This program which is called the Global Gateway Program allows the students and teachers to really feel what other families who are in poverty are faced with everyday. On the Heifer Ranch, living arrangements and conditions closely resemble those of daily living in Guatemala, Thailand, Zambia, Appalachia, and refugee camps. During this program, the students and teachers have to stay the night at one of the different sites on the ranch. During the first part of the day, the students and teachers walk around the ranch and visit these sites, and at each of the sites they talk about poverty, famine, and sanitory problems in many different parts of the world. After visiting each of the different sites, the students and teachers are assigned a location that they have to stay, and they are given minimal resources. The students and teachers go through the night having to learn how to trade their resources for resources that other families may have and learning to make due with the supplies that they are provided with. After going through the night, the students were given a time for reflection to state their feelings of being in these unfortunate situations.
Watching and listening to these podcasts was absolutely amazing. Both podcasts were extremely interesting and really showed how effective the hands-on approach to learning can be. I think that it is great that these students were given the opportunity to experience the activities recorded in these podcasts. Through having these real-life experiences, these students learned important things that impacted their lives greatly. As a future teacher, I believe using the hands-on experiences like these displayed in these video podcasts will be very beneficial for the students in my classroom because it will help provide variety in the teaching methods to help meet the needs of all of the students in my classroom.
As for the video podcasts, I really believe they are also going to be one great teaching tool to incorporate into the classroom. Video podcasts are now being used for many things including teaching lessons and collaborating with schools across the world. In my classroom, I hope to use video podcasts to do both of these things and hopefully many more things. I believe that using these video podcasts will not only provide differentiation in teaching instruction, but it will also provide opportunities for the students to become more familiar with this type of technology theirselves. As time goes on, technology is becoming more and more advanced, so I believe that it will be very beneficial for all students to learn the many different types of technology that they are probably going to have to use on a daily basis when they begin their own careers.
The second podcast that I listened to was titled "A Night in the Global Village." This video podcast was recorded at Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. In this podcast students and teachers from Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning are trading their privileged status as Americans for a night to live the life of the less fortunate of the world. This program which is called the Global Gateway Program allows the students and teachers to really feel what other families who are in poverty are faced with everyday. On the Heifer Ranch, living arrangements and conditions closely resemble those of daily living in Guatemala, Thailand, Zambia, Appalachia, and refugee camps. During this program, the students and teachers have to stay the night at one of the different sites on the ranch. During the first part of the day, the students and teachers walk around the ranch and visit these sites, and at each of the sites they talk about poverty, famine, and sanitory problems in many different parts of the world. After visiting each of the different sites, the students and teachers are assigned a location that they have to stay, and they are given minimal resources. The students and teachers go through the night having to learn how to trade their resources for resources that other families may have and learning to make due with the supplies that they are provided with. After going through the night, the students were given a time for reflection to state their feelings of being in these unfortunate situations.
Watching and listening to these podcasts was absolutely amazing. Both podcasts were extremely interesting and really showed how effective the hands-on approach to learning can be. I think that it is great that these students were given the opportunity to experience the activities recorded in these podcasts. Through having these real-life experiences, these students learned important things that impacted their lives greatly. As a future teacher, I believe using the hands-on experiences like these displayed in these video podcasts will be very beneficial for the students in my classroom because it will help provide variety in the teaching methods to help meet the needs of all of the students in my classroom.
As for the video podcasts, I really believe they are also going to be one great teaching tool to incorporate into the classroom. Video podcasts are now being used for many things including teaching lessons and collaborating with schools across the world. In my classroom, I hope to use video podcasts to do both of these things and hopefully many more things. I believe that using these video podcasts will not only provide differentiation in teaching instruction, but it will also provide opportunities for the students to become more familiar with this type of technology theirselves. As time goes on, technology is becoming more and more advanced, so I believe that it will be very beneficial for all students to learn the many different types of technology that they are probably going to have to use on a daily basis when they begin their own careers.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Electronic Contact
My electronic contact for this assignment was Mr. Jarrod Lamshed from Hackham East School in Adelaide, Australia. Mr. Lamshed is the teacher of an all-boy’s class of fifth and sixth grade students. Earlier in the semester we had to find an international blog of a teacher in a K-12 classroom and write a summary about how teachers are using blogs in their classroom. While searching the internet, I found Mr. Lamshed's class blog. I really thought that Mr. Lamshed's had a great class blog with a lot of great information for the parents and students. Some of the things Mr. Lamshed included on his blog were videos, photos, learning links, notices and newsletters, and online tasks. When looking at Mr. Lamshed's blog, I was really amazed at all of the work he had put into his blog. Mr. Lamshed wrote at least once a week about what the children in his class were working on. He included everything from assignments for the students in his class to work on to video recordings showing what the students were working on.
Because I thought that Mr. Lamshed did such a great job with blogging, I decided to contact him and ask him what other types of technology he used in his classroom. When I emailed Mr. Lamshed to ask if he would be willing to participate in this class assignment, he said that he would be more than happy to help me out. Mr. Lamshed was very helpful, and he said that the students in his classroom were really excited to know that someone from another part of the world is visiting their class blog.
My question for Mr. Lamshed was "What types of technology do you have available to use in your classroom?" Mr. Lamshed emailed me a great deal of information back. I was really shocked to see how much technology teachers are now using in the classroom. Some of the things that Mr. Lamshed talked about using in his classroom included a class website (which is a combination of three blogs, a photo page, and other general information for parents to view), podcasts, TWITTER, digital still cameras, and digital video cameras.
According to my conversation with Mr. Lamshed this is the first year that he has used a class blog. He said that he was really excited with the results of creating the class blog, and he would now make sure that he creates a class blog every year. Mr. Lamshed said that having the class blog provided a lot of useful information for parents and students in the classroom, and it also opened up many opportunities for him and his students. One great opportunity that the class blog provided was the ability to collaborate with classes overseas. He said that being able to communicate with other students and teachers across the world was really interesting and exciting for both him and his students. Mr. Lamshed also mentioned that using TWITTER in his classroom was also helpful in creating these connections with teachers in different countries and time zones.
The digital cameras are another big part of the technology in Mr. Lamshed’s classroom. Mr. Lamshed uses these things to record many of the daily activities and assignments of the students in order to post these videos to the class blog. I think that this is absolutely amazing because this gives parents the opportunity to see exactly what their children are working on in the classroom. Mr. Lamshed also said that he is beginning to try to “test the waters” with using mobile phone technology for recording purposes in the classroom. He says that mobile phones are banned at Hackham East, but he is trying to have these boundaries pushed a little because he wants to make use of the cameras and video capture capabilities that most students now carry around in their pockets.
In my opinion, having all of this technology available in the classroom is absolutely fantastic. Not only does it aid in the learning process, but it also provides the students with experience operating different types of equipment. I am really excited to see that technology has made its way this far into the school system, and I hope that it continues to do so.
Because I thought that Mr. Lamshed did such a great job with blogging, I decided to contact him and ask him what other types of technology he used in his classroom. When I emailed Mr. Lamshed to ask if he would be willing to participate in this class assignment, he said that he would be more than happy to help me out. Mr. Lamshed was very helpful, and he said that the students in his classroom were really excited to know that someone from another part of the world is visiting their class blog.
My question for Mr. Lamshed was "What types of technology do you have available to use in your classroom?" Mr. Lamshed emailed me a great deal of information back. I was really shocked to see how much technology teachers are now using in the classroom. Some of the things that Mr. Lamshed talked about using in his classroom included a class website (which is a combination of three blogs, a photo page, and other general information for parents to view), podcasts, TWITTER, digital still cameras, and digital video cameras.
According to my conversation with Mr. Lamshed this is the first year that he has used a class blog. He said that he was really excited with the results of creating the class blog, and he would now make sure that he creates a class blog every year. Mr. Lamshed said that having the class blog provided a lot of useful information for parents and students in the classroom, and it also opened up many opportunities for him and his students. One great opportunity that the class blog provided was the ability to collaborate with classes overseas. He said that being able to communicate with other students and teachers across the world was really interesting and exciting for both him and his students. Mr. Lamshed also mentioned that using TWITTER in his classroom was also helpful in creating these connections with teachers in different countries and time zones.
The digital cameras are another big part of the technology in Mr. Lamshed’s classroom. Mr. Lamshed uses these things to record many of the daily activities and assignments of the students in order to post these videos to the class blog. I think that this is absolutely amazing because this gives parents the opportunity to see exactly what their children are working on in the classroom. Mr. Lamshed also said that he is beginning to try to “test the waters” with using mobile phone technology for recording purposes in the classroom. He says that mobile phones are banned at Hackham East, but he is trying to have these boundaries pushed a little because he wants to make use of the cameras and video capture capabilities that most students now carry around in their pockets.
In my opinion, having all of this technology available in the classroom is absolutely fantastic. Not only does it aid in the learning process, but it also provides the students with experience operating different types of equipment. I am really excited to see that technology has made its way this far into the school system, and I hope that it continues to do so.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Pros and Cons of Blogging
For this assignment, I decided to read all of Kristen Younce's blog posts. Everyone in the class had the same blog assignments, so it was really interesting to see the opinions of other students in the class. Kristen and I expressed many of the same ideas in most of the blog posts that we wrote this semester. We both agree that technology has come a long way over the past few years, and we are looking forward to using this technology in the classroom when we become teachers. There are many different forms of technology now available in most classrooms (i.e. class blogs, class websites, podcasts, videoconferencing, etc.). I think that it will be absolutely wonderful to see how all of these new forms of technology help teachers suit the many different learning styles of the students in their classroom.
After reading through all of my blog posts again and reading through Kristen's, I really noticed many pros associated with using class blogs as a future teacher. A major pro of classroom blogs is the ability to communicate with parents and/or guardians and students outside of the classroom. One of our blog assignments this semester was to view two United States teacher blogs and two international blogs. Through looking at these teachers blogs, I saw many posts that incorporated important information that students and parents could view from home. Some information that teachers included in their blogs were class and homework assignments, pictures and videos of activities taking place in the classroom, information about honor roll students and students who had received special awards, etc. All of these things are great things for parents and students to be able to view from home. Classroom blogs give parents the opportunity to comment and give feed back on blog posts which allows teachers and parents to have constant communication with each other about all of the different activities taking place in the classroom.
Another one of the major pros of having a class blog is having the ability to contact other schools in the United States or internationally. One blog that I looked at in the United States (Mr. C's class blog from Noel, Missouri) connected with a class blog in Canada (Mr. Lamshed's class). Both Mr. C and Mr. Lamshed's classes were reading the book Holes. Mr. Lamshed had posted three reflection questions on chapters one through seven, so Mr. C made it an assignment for the children in his classroom to access Mr. Lamshed's blog and post a comment relating to one of the three reflection questions. In my opinion this is a great plus of using blogs because it helped these students connect across the world. The last major pro of blogging that I really see would just be its use of technology in the classroom. Through having a class blog, teachers are able to allow their students to experiment with one of the major new technologies being used all across the world. Because technology is becoming a much bigger part of the world everyday, it is very important for students to learn how to use and be familiar with the many different forms of technology that they are probably going to be able to use for the rest of their lives.
Through reading all of my blog posts, I also recognized some of the cons associated with using blogs in the classroom. One of my major concerns as a future teacher is that some students and parents will not have access to the blog at home. If blogs are used for completing homework assignments, some students will not be able to complete the assignments due to not having an Internet connection available at home. Also, parents will not have the same opportunity as other parents to view pictures of the class activities and projects or information about student achievement awards. As a teacher, I guess the solution to this problem would be making some form of alternate arrangements for these students and parents who do not have the available connection to the Internet.
Overall if I had to weigh the pros and the cons, I would definitely say that blogs would be very useful in all classrooms. They provide great information and are a great form of communication with many different people outside of the classroom.
After reading through all of my blog posts again and reading through Kristen's, I really noticed many pros associated with using class blogs as a future teacher. A major pro of classroom blogs is the ability to communicate with parents and/or guardians and students outside of the classroom. One of our blog assignments this semester was to view two United States teacher blogs and two international blogs. Through looking at these teachers blogs, I saw many posts that incorporated important information that students and parents could view from home. Some information that teachers included in their blogs were class and homework assignments, pictures and videos of activities taking place in the classroom, information about honor roll students and students who had received special awards, etc. All of these things are great things for parents and students to be able to view from home. Classroom blogs give parents the opportunity to comment and give feed back on blog posts which allows teachers and parents to have constant communication with each other about all of the different activities taking place in the classroom.
Another one of the major pros of having a class blog is having the ability to contact other schools in the United States or internationally. One blog that I looked at in the United States (Mr. C's class blog from Noel, Missouri) connected with a class blog in Canada (Mr. Lamshed's class). Both Mr. C and Mr. Lamshed's classes were reading the book Holes. Mr. Lamshed had posted three reflection questions on chapters one through seven, so Mr. C made it an assignment for the children in his classroom to access Mr. Lamshed's blog and post a comment relating to one of the three reflection questions. In my opinion this is a great plus of using blogs because it helped these students connect across the world. The last major pro of blogging that I really see would just be its use of technology in the classroom. Through having a class blog, teachers are able to allow their students to experiment with one of the major new technologies being used all across the world. Because technology is becoming a much bigger part of the world everyday, it is very important for students to learn how to use and be familiar with the many different forms of technology that they are probably going to be able to use for the rest of their lives.
Through reading all of my blog posts, I also recognized some of the cons associated with using blogs in the classroom. One of my major concerns as a future teacher is that some students and parents will not have access to the blog at home. If blogs are used for completing homework assignments, some students will not be able to complete the assignments due to not having an Internet connection available at home. Also, parents will not have the same opportunity as other parents to view pictures of the class activities and projects or information about student achievement awards. As a teacher, I guess the solution to this problem would be making some form of alternate arrangements for these students and parents who do not have the available connection to the Internet.
Overall if I had to weigh the pros and the cons, I would definitely say that blogs would be very useful in all classrooms. They provide great information and are a great form of communication with many different people outside of the classroom.
Friday, April 10, 2009
EDM 310 Podcasts
The first podcast that I listened to was a podcast called "Technology Used in the Classroom" by Nicholas Martin, Gretta Dailey, and Sarah Dockery. Overall I thought that this group did a wonderful job on their podcast. They had great information about all different types of technology, and they did a great job making their podcast sound like a conversation. Each group member seemed to have a sufficient knowledge of the subject matter that they were discussing, and they held a question-answer session to hopefully answer questions listeners had about certain technology products.
Second, I listened to a podcast titled "Source Materials for High School Teachers on the World Wide Web" by Anne Gardner and Kimberly Hinojosa. Again, I thought that Anne and Kim did a great job in gathering information for their podcast. They collected great information, and I am sure this information will be very useful to high school teachers who listen to this podcast. They covered several different websites in their podcast that all had various tools for teachers and students to use.
Third I listened to a podcast titled "What I Learned from 'Randy Pausch's Last Lecture'" by Lynda Rigsby and Jennifer Lennox. I really enjoyed listening to Lynda and Jennifer's podcast. They had a great topic, and they really did a great job covering the information in "Randy Pausch's Last Lecture." Randy Pausch really is a great role model for both teachers and students because he really shows people why they should reach out to achieve their dreams. Last, I listened to a podcast called "ACCESS Distance Learning: A Work in Progress" by Henryetta Alexander, April Jones, and Ashley Reed. These ladies did a great job explaining all of the uses of the ACCESS program. They covered the many different aspects of the program including the many different components of the ACCESS program and information about dates when the ACCESS labs would be available in different schools.
Although I thought that everyone did a great job with covering information in their podcasts, there were some things that I noticed that could have been improved. A major thing that I really noticed in almost everyone's podcast was using "um." It did not sound like the people were saying "um" because they were not familiar with the information that they were talking about. I think that the "um's" in the podcasts would have really been reduced if the students would have had more practice with recording podcasts. Recording podcasts for the first time is kind of "nerve-racking." Another thing that I noticed in most of the podcasts was that it sounded more like the students were reading rather than holding a conversation. A way to improve this is through a lot of practice, and also having a question-answer session rather than just alternating topics between group members. The last thing that I noticed was short pauses during the podcasts. Most of the groups really sounded like they were very knowledgeable about their topic, so I think that this the pauses were probably due to getting off track in the script.
Second, I listened to a podcast titled "Source Materials for High School Teachers on the World Wide Web" by Anne Gardner and Kimberly Hinojosa. Again, I thought that Anne and Kim did a great job in gathering information for their podcast. They collected great information, and I am sure this information will be very useful to high school teachers who listen to this podcast. They covered several different websites in their podcast that all had various tools for teachers and students to use.
Third I listened to a podcast titled "What I Learned from 'Randy Pausch's Last Lecture'" by Lynda Rigsby and Jennifer Lennox. I really enjoyed listening to Lynda and Jennifer's podcast. They had a great topic, and they really did a great job covering the information in "Randy Pausch's Last Lecture." Randy Pausch really is a great role model for both teachers and students because he really shows people why they should reach out to achieve their dreams. Last, I listened to a podcast called "ACCESS Distance Learning: A Work in Progress" by Henryetta Alexander, April Jones, and Ashley Reed. These ladies did a great job explaining all of the uses of the ACCESS program. They covered the many different aspects of the program including the many different components of the ACCESS program and information about dates when the ACCESS labs would be available in different schools.
Although I thought that everyone did a great job with covering information in their podcasts, there were some things that I noticed that could have been improved. A major thing that I really noticed in almost everyone's podcast was using "um." It did not sound like the people were saying "um" because they were not familiar with the information that they were talking about. I think that the "um's" in the podcasts would have really been reduced if the students would have had more practice with recording podcasts. Recording podcasts for the first time is kind of "nerve-racking." Another thing that I noticed in most of the podcasts was that it sounded more like the students were reading rather than holding a conversation. A way to improve this is through a lot of practice, and also having a question-answer session rather than just alternating topics between group members. The last thing that I noticed was short pauses during the podcasts. Most of the groups really sounded like they were very knowledgeable about their topic, so I think that this the pauses were probably due to getting off track in the script.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Maine Department of Education "Mathematics with Technology"
The first podcast that I listened to was "Mathematics with Technology-Episode 1." This podcast was recorded by Judy Chandler from the Maine Department of Education. Her podcast discussed the use of technology in the mathematics classroom. Ms. Chandler stresses to her listeners the importance of teachers incorporating technology in the mathematics classroom. According to Ms. Chandler, some teachers feel that they do not have time for technology in their classroom, and they do not feel that technology plays a significant role in their classroom. Their main concern is to finish the textbook and to help their students achieve well on the final exams. Although some teachers are very set in their teaching methods and do not feel they need to change, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics tells us that technology is essential when teaching mathematics because it enhances the lessons that are taught and makes learning more effective. They also say that technology is one of the six major principles in creating a high quality mathematics education classroom. Ms. Chandler says that there are many technology tools available for use in the mathematics classroom that will help to engage students in a multi-sensory, more productive learning environment.
The second podcast that I listened to was "Thinking Mathematically-Episode 2." This podcast was also recorded by Judy Chandler from the Maine Department of Education. She explained that traditionally mathematics lessons were taught by going from lesson to lesson in a mathematics textbook. She says that this causes some students to fall farther and farther behind because they become disengaged and frustrated with the math work. Other students achieve well with this traditional program, but this is only because they can memorize all of the meaningless procedures taught by their teachers. In order to help students to achieve well, Ms. Chandler says that teachers should work hard to help engage students in thinking mathematically. Technology has opened many doors to help teachers do just this. Technology tools available today help students by offering activities with "hands-on" experience, using visual models, providing differentiated instruction, and offering alternative ways to demonstrate learning. Teacher questioning also helps to engage students in the math lessons. Questioning focuses and guides student thinking and helps provide more effective learning opportunities. Teacher questioning guides the class discussion and helps engage students in critical thinking. Ms. Chandler reminds teachers that they should always use their resources and skills to help their students to "think mathematically."
As a future teacher, I am really excited that technology has advanced so much. Teachers now have so many tools available to them to help make their teaching styles and lessons much more effective. Students also have more tools available to them which helps to meet the learning styles and needs of all of the different students in the classroom. Through listening to these podcasts, I learned that not only are there technology tools that are useful in the computer class, but also for the many other subjects that the students study. Teachers have tools available for them to use in Math, Reading, Science, Social Studies, English, etc. According to Ms. Chandler, technology tools available today help students by providing "hands-on" activities, using visual models which helps grab students' attention, providing differentiated instruction to keep the students' interested, and offering alternative ways to demonstrate learning which helps students with all different learning styles.
Ms. Chandler's podcast really helped me to understand the importance of incorporating technology into my classroom when I become a teacher. It has been proven that using technology in the classroom helps to enhance lessons and make learning more effective. Ms. Chandler also states the importance of encouraging class discussion and critical thinking in the classroom. She says that teachers need to ask questions while teaching a lesson to keep their students engaged in the lesson and help them to actually think hard about the subject that they are studying. Podcasts like Ms. Chandlers are truly beneficial to teachers because they help motivate teachers to change their lessons to meet the learning needs of students in the classrooms today. As time progresses, teachers have to learn to adapt and change their learning styles to fit the needs of the new students coming in to their classroom. If this means learning a new computer program or learning how to work a new projector in the classroom, we should because it is our job as teachers to make sure we do everything we can to help benefit the students in our classroom.
The second podcast that I listened to was "Thinking Mathematically-Episode 2." This podcast was also recorded by Judy Chandler from the Maine Department of Education. She explained that traditionally mathematics lessons were taught by going from lesson to lesson in a mathematics textbook. She says that this causes some students to fall farther and farther behind because they become disengaged and frustrated with the math work. Other students achieve well with this traditional program, but this is only because they can memorize all of the meaningless procedures taught by their teachers. In order to help students to achieve well, Ms. Chandler says that teachers should work hard to help engage students in thinking mathematically. Technology has opened many doors to help teachers do just this. Technology tools available today help students by offering activities with "hands-on" experience, using visual models, providing differentiated instruction, and offering alternative ways to demonstrate learning. Teacher questioning also helps to engage students in the math lessons. Questioning focuses and guides student thinking and helps provide more effective learning opportunities. Teacher questioning guides the class discussion and helps engage students in critical thinking. Ms. Chandler reminds teachers that they should always use their resources and skills to help their students to "think mathematically."
As a future teacher, I am really excited that technology has advanced so much. Teachers now have so many tools available to them to help make their teaching styles and lessons much more effective. Students also have more tools available to them which helps to meet the learning styles and needs of all of the different students in the classroom. Through listening to these podcasts, I learned that not only are there technology tools that are useful in the computer class, but also for the many other subjects that the students study. Teachers have tools available for them to use in Math, Reading, Science, Social Studies, English, etc. According to Ms. Chandler, technology tools available today help students by providing "hands-on" activities, using visual models which helps grab students' attention, providing differentiated instruction to keep the students' interested, and offering alternative ways to demonstrate learning which helps students with all different learning styles.
Ms. Chandler's podcast really helped me to understand the importance of incorporating technology into my classroom when I become a teacher. It has been proven that using technology in the classroom helps to enhance lessons and make learning more effective. Ms. Chandler also states the importance of encouraging class discussion and critical thinking in the classroom. She says that teachers need to ask questions while teaching a lesson to keep their students engaged in the lesson and help them to actually think hard about the subject that they are studying. Podcasts like Ms. Chandlers are truly beneficial to teachers because they help motivate teachers to change their lessons to meet the learning needs of students in the classrooms today. As time progresses, teachers have to learn to adapt and change their learning styles to fit the needs of the new students coming in to their classroom. If this means learning a new computer program or learning how to work a new projector in the classroom, we should because it is our job as teachers to make sure we do everything we can to help benefit the students in our classroom.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
"Growth" vs. "Fixed" Minds - Stanford University Video Podcast
The podcast that we were assigned to listen to was "Growth" vs. "Fixed" Minds which is part of a Stanford University podcast series called "The Stanford Challenge: Seeking Solutions, Educating Leaders (Improving K-12 Education)." To visit the Stanford University iTunes website you can use the following link: Stanford University.This podcast discussed the difference between "fixed" and "growth" mindsets in learning. The first mindset discussed was the "fixed" mindset. According to the speaker for Stanford University, some students have a "fixed" mindset which means that they believe that their basic intelligence is a fixed trait. This lady said that this concerns students because they always worry if they have enough intelligence to complete a task. Other students believe they have the "growth" mindset. These students believe that their intelligence is something that they develop through life experiences and educations.
In order to try to help all students to develop the "growth" mindset, Stanford University employees set up a workshop with eight different sessions. Half of the students in this study received study skills and "growth" mindset classes while the other half received only study skills classes. The results showed that the students who were in the classes of just study skills made no improvements. Their grades continued to drop, and they were not motivated at all by the study skills courses. Stanford University psychologists believed this was because they did not receive the "growth" mindset lesson which teaches the students that their brain is like a muscle that gets stronger with use. In order to prove their theory, the students were given an article about the "growth" mindset. After reading the article, the students learned how to apply this "growth" mindset when completing their school work. At the end of the semester, these students showed great improvements in their grades, and the teachers were distinguish between the students who had the "fixed" mindset and the students who had the "growth" mindset.
At the end of the video podcast, the students with the "growth" mindset were described as "curious to learn" while the students who have the "fixed" mindset just "want to feel smart." As a future teacher this affects me because in order to be a good mentor I also must have this "growth" mindset. The learning process never stops, and as a teacher I have to remember that my intelligence is still continuing to grow. It is very important for students to always be "curious to learn" and remember that their intelligence has no boundaries. As a teacher, I will always strive to be the best motivator for my students and remind them everyday that they can do anything that they set their mind to.
In order to try to help all students to develop the "growth" mindset, Stanford University employees set up a workshop with eight different sessions. Half of the students in this study received study skills and "growth" mindset classes while the other half received only study skills classes. The results showed that the students who were in the classes of just study skills made no improvements. Their grades continued to drop, and they were not motivated at all by the study skills courses. Stanford University psychologists believed this was because they did not receive the "growth" mindset lesson which teaches the students that their brain is like a muscle that gets stronger with use. In order to prove their theory, the students were given an article about the "growth" mindset. After reading the article, the students learned how to apply this "growth" mindset when completing their school work. At the end of the semester, these students showed great improvements in their grades, and the teachers were distinguish between the students who had the "fixed" mindset and the students who had the "growth" mindset.
At the end of the video podcast, the students with the "growth" mindset were described as "curious to learn" while the students who have the "fixed" mindset just "want to feel smart." As a future teacher this affects me because in order to be a good mentor I also must have this "growth" mindset. The learning process never stops, and as a teacher I have to remember that my intelligence is still continuing to grow. It is very important for students to always be "curious to learn" and remember that their intelligence has no boundaries. As a teacher, I will always strive to be the best motivator for my students and remind them everyday that they can do anything that they set their mind to.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
WGBH Video Podcast "What is a Planet?"
The video podcast I chose to listen to was "What is a Planet?" This podcast discussed the debate on how many planets there are in the solar system. While in school I was always taught that there were nine planets, but other researchers try to prove that there are ten or more planets. According to the International Astronomical Union, a planet is a body that orbits a star, has enough mass to create its own gravity, has a round shape, and has cleared its neighborhood. Through this definition, astronomers are saying that Pluto should no longer be considered a planet; it should be reclassified as a dwarf planet. Although this definition has been created by the IAU, there is still much confusion on how to classify planets because scientific understanding is always evolving. Because of this confusion, this podcast tells us that planet classifications are probably going to continually change.
This video podcast was designed for children in grades K-5 who are learning about the solar system and planets. As a future teacher in schools that are being based highly on technology, I believe using video podcasts in my classroom will be a very interesting and creative way to present a lesson. Podcasts like this one use research from many different areas to help students have a better understanding of what a planet is. Because some students are audio and visual learners, having video podcasts along with other types of technology, such as power points or classroom blogs, will help to meet the needs of children with all different types of learning styles. Before I watched this video podcast, I just though of a video podcast as a video recording of a teacher or other professional talking. Through watching this podcast, I learned that video podcasts can incorporate moving pictures, graphs or other images, and the speaker. Being able to use many different types of moving images or props in the video podcasts will definitely make the podcasts more interesting for children.
As as teacher, I will be able to use video podcasts to teach lessons on all of the different subjects: Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and English. I believe one big benefit of having this new technology available to teachers is that it will help teachers with make-up work. I have always heard from experienced teachers that helping a child complete make-up work can become a major headache. Through video podcasts, teachers will now be able to record their lessons and post them to a class website or blog so that students who miss school will not have to miss the class lesson. Another benefit of creating video podcasts in the classroom will be that parents or guardians will also be able to view the class lessons through the classroom website. If a student in the classroom is having trouble with a certain subject area, having class lessons available for parents to watch may help parents assist their children with homework or school projects.
This video podcast was designed for children in grades K-5 who are learning about the solar system and planets. As a future teacher in schools that are being based highly on technology, I believe using video podcasts in my classroom will be a very interesting and creative way to present a lesson. Podcasts like this one use research from many different areas to help students have a better understanding of what a planet is. Because some students are audio and visual learners, having video podcasts along with other types of technology, such as power points or classroom blogs, will help to meet the needs of children with all different types of learning styles. Before I watched this video podcast, I just though of a video podcast as a video recording of a teacher or other professional talking. Through watching this podcast, I learned that video podcasts can incorporate moving pictures, graphs or other images, and the speaker. Being able to use many different types of moving images or props in the video podcasts will definitely make the podcasts more interesting for children.
As as teacher, I will be able to use video podcasts to teach lessons on all of the different subjects: Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and English. I believe one big benefit of having this new technology available to teachers is that it will help teachers with make-up work. I have always heard from experienced teachers that helping a child complete make-up work can become a major headache. Through video podcasts, teachers will now be able to record their lessons and post them to a class website or blog so that students who miss school will not have to miss the class lesson. Another benefit of creating video podcasts in the classroom will be that parents or guardians will also be able to view the class lessons through the classroom website. If a student in the classroom is having trouble with a certain subject area, having class lessons available for parents to watch may help parents assist their children with homework or school projects.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
EDM 310 Fall 2008 Podcasts
The first podcast that I listened to was a podcast by Erica Sledge, Ashley Cleveland, and Shyane Fant. To listen to this podcast you can use this link: Useful Internet Sites for Elementary Teachers by Erica Sledge, Ashley Cleveland, and Shyane Fant. The topic of this podcast was "Pick of the Day: Useful Internet Sites for Elementary Teachers." During this podcast, these ladies discussed three different websites. The first website that they discussed was http://its.leesummit.k12.mo.us/. According to Ashley, this website helps teachers to learn how to incorporate technology in their classroom and in their curriculum. Erica discussed the ALEX website. She discussed the different web links on the ALEX website, the lesson plans, and the distance learning feature. Last, Shyane talked about the http://www.teachers.net/ website. She liked the site because this site had ideas for all teachers whether it be an elementary teacher, secondary education teacher, or a physical education teacher. I believe that these girls did a great job explaining each of the three websites that they discussed. The only problems that I really noticed in the podcasts were the numerous uhh's and umm's. This probably just came from nervousness, so with more practice I believe these girls could have done a wonderful job.
The second podcast I listened to was a podcast by Tomeka Washington, Rosilyn Harris, and Marlena Marsh. To listen to this podcast you can use this link: Useful Internet Sites for Elementary Teachers by Tomeka Washington, Rosilyn Harris, and Marlena Marsh. The topic of this podcast was also "Pick of the Day: Useful Internet Sites for Elementary Teachers." Marlena first discussed http://www.rainforestmaths.com/. According to Marlena, this website allows students to learn math while also having the fun rain forest background. The next website discussed was the Alabama Virtual Library website. According to these ladies, this website can be used to search various subjects such as animals, plants, people, geography, science, math, etc. Another website these ladies discussed was http://www.brainpopjunior.com/. This website is a source for children grades kindergarten through third. This website covers subjects such as science, math, social studies, reading, health, and writing. Again, I think that these girls did a good job at covering the topic that was assigned to them. Problems that I noticed in this podcast were also the uhh's and umm's and also relatively long pauses in between some sentences.
Because I am also doing my podcast on "Useful Internet Sites for Elementary Teachers," I felt that listening to these blogs really helped me to better understand what I was expected to do. By listening to these podcasts, I noticed how nervous these girls were with the numerous uhh's and umm's, so I feel like the best thing that I can do to improve my podcast is to practice. Another thing that I feel like I need to do to improve my podcast is to give more credit to the used websites. I noticed that when these girls discussed these websites they really did not mention the name of the website very often. When recording my blog, I am going to try to make a point to mention the name of the website after every couple of sentences. The only other thing that I really noticed was the background noise. When these girls were shuffling their papers, the microphone picked up the noise, so when I record my blog I am going to try to lay my papers out so that I will not have to shuffle from page to page.
The second podcast I listened to was a podcast by Tomeka Washington, Rosilyn Harris, and Marlena Marsh. To listen to this podcast you can use this link: Useful Internet Sites for Elementary Teachers by Tomeka Washington, Rosilyn Harris, and Marlena Marsh. The topic of this podcast was also "Pick of the Day: Useful Internet Sites for Elementary Teachers." Marlena first discussed http://www.rainforestmaths.com/. According to Marlena, this website allows students to learn math while also having the fun rain forest background. The next website discussed was the Alabama Virtual Library website. According to these ladies, this website can be used to search various subjects such as animals, plants, people, geography, science, math, etc. Another website these ladies discussed was http://www.brainpopjunior.com/. This website is a source for children grades kindergarten through third. This website covers subjects such as science, math, social studies, reading, health, and writing. Again, I think that these girls did a good job at covering the topic that was assigned to them. Problems that I noticed in this podcast were also the uhh's and umm's and also relatively long pauses in between some sentences.
Because I am also doing my podcast on "Useful Internet Sites for Elementary Teachers," I felt that listening to these blogs really helped me to better understand what I was expected to do. By listening to these podcasts, I noticed how nervous these girls were with the numerous uhh's and umm's, so I feel like the best thing that I can do to improve my podcast is to practice. Another thing that I feel like I need to do to improve my podcast is to give more credit to the used websites. I noticed that when these girls discussed these websites they really did not mention the name of the website very often. When recording my blog, I am going to try to make a point to mention the name of the website after every couple of sentences. The only other thing that I really noticed was the background noise. When these girls were shuffling their papers, the microphone picked up the noise, so when I record my blog I am going to try to lay my papers out so that I will not have to shuffle from page to page.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Podcasts
While completing this blog assignment, I listened to six podcasts. The podcasts I listened to can be found on iTunes. The names of the podcasts were SmartBoard Lessons Podcast, Kidcast, ConnectLearning, EdTechTalk, MacBreak Weekly, and This Week in Photography. Listening to these podcasts really helped me to better understand what podcasts were and how to create a script for a podcast. I now better understand how to navigate my way through a podcast, and also how podcasts can be used in schools. Podcasts incorporate many amazing new technology techniques that will be absolutely terrific to use when I become a teacher.
The first podcast I listened to was the Smartboard Lessons Podcast. This podcast was titled "Teachers Connecting 4: Students View of Edtech and Connections" by Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. This podcast discussed the use of smartboards in the classroom. The main part of the posdcast that I listened to was a group of seventh grade students from St. Patrick's Catholic School. This podcast really reminded me of a radio show or a talk show. Students were able to tune in to the podcast and tell why they felt that smartboards were important for learning, and they mentioned tips for teachers who use smartboards. According to these students some of the features that they use on the smartboard include pulling textbook pages up on the screen, color coding work, using the available internet connection, and having much more visible work. A couple of the uses of the smartboards in their classroom included conducting lessons on the smartboard and viewing podcasts on the smartboard.
Second I listened to the Kidcast 59 Podcast titled "Beyond Passive Listening-Active Engagement with Podcasting" by Dan Schmit. This podcast had a little bit of a different setup than the first because there was only one speaker. The main focus of Dan Schmit's podcast was how to create a podcast that helped children become active while listening to podcasts. Schmit listed many ways that teachers could help their children become actively engaged in podcasts. The first idea he explained was creating a scaffold. He said that teachers could create an outline leaving out some key terms or details from the podcast, and they could have their students listen to the podcast to fill in the missing pieces. The second idea for teachers was to provide reflective questions for students to answer after listening to the podcast. Reflective questions should help the student form an opinion of whether or not they agree with the speaker. Third, Dan Schmit suggested that teachers ask for students to write paragraph summaries of podcasts or paragraph reflections after listening to different podcasts. Dan went on to list more ideas that could help teachers actively involve their students in podcasts. This podcast helped me to see how I could use podcasts as a future teacher in my own classroom. He explained many ways to create assignments associated with listening to podcasts.
The last four podcasts I listened to were also very helpful in helping me to better understand what podcasts were and how to better understand how podcasts are done. The EdTech Talk podcast I listened to was "EdTech Weekly 117" recorded on March 1, 2009. The main focus of this talk was the use of different websites by people of all different ages. Some of the websites discussed were twitter, facebook, and myspace. By listening to this podcast, I felt that this was a podcast that people could listen to to familiarize themselves with current technology and current internet sites. The MacBreak Weekly Podcast I listened to was "Episode 129: Cry of the Wild Woz." There were five speakers in this podcast, and the speakers main focuses were new Mac and Apple news. Last, I listened to This Week in Photography which is a podcast that focuses on different camera techniques, technology, and news.
In my opinion it was interesting to listen to how each of the podcasts were different from the others. Some podcasts have only one speaker while other podcasts may have many speakers and also incorporate interviews. The podcasts that I enjoyed the most were the SmartBoard Lessons podcast and the KidCast podcast. Each of these podcast had very good information and techniques that I feel will be very useful as a future teacher. By listening to all of these podcasts, I now have a better understanding of exactly what a podcast is and how all podcasts can be different.
The first podcast I listened to was the Smartboard Lessons Podcast. This podcast was titled "Teachers Connecting 4: Students View of Edtech and Connections" by Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. This podcast discussed the use of smartboards in the classroom. The main part of the posdcast that I listened to was a group of seventh grade students from St. Patrick's Catholic School. This podcast really reminded me of a radio show or a talk show. Students were able to tune in to the podcast and tell why they felt that smartboards were important for learning, and they mentioned tips for teachers who use smartboards. According to these students some of the features that they use on the smartboard include pulling textbook pages up on the screen, color coding work, using the available internet connection, and having much more visible work. A couple of the uses of the smartboards in their classroom included conducting lessons on the smartboard and viewing podcasts on the smartboard.
Second I listened to the Kidcast 59 Podcast titled "Beyond Passive Listening-Active Engagement with Podcasting" by Dan Schmit. This podcast had a little bit of a different setup than the first because there was only one speaker. The main focus of Dan Schmit's podcast was how to create a podcast that helped children become active while listening to podcasts. Schmit listed many ways that teachers could help their children become actively engaged in podcasts. The first idea he explained was creating a scaffold. He said that teachers could create an outline leaving out some key terms or details from the podcast, and they could have their students listen to the podcast to fill in the missing pieces. The second idea for teachers was to provide reflective questions for students to answer after listening to the podcast. Reflective questions should help the student form an opinion of whether or not they agree with the speaker. Third, Dan Schmit suggested that teachers ask for students to write paragraph summaries of podcasts or paragraph reflections after listening to different podcasts. Dan went on to list more ideas that could help teachers actively involve their students in podcasts. This podcast helped me to see how I could use podcasts as a future teacher in my own classroom. He explained many ways to create assignments associated with listening to podcasts.
The last four podcasts I listened to were also very helpful in helping me to better understand what podcasts were and how to better understand how podcasts are done. The EdTech Talk podcast I listened to was "EdTech Weekly 117" recorded on March 1, 2009. The main focus of this talk was the use of different websites by people of all different ages. Some of the websites discussed were twitter, facebook, and myspace. By listening to this podcast, I felt that this was a podcast that people could listen to to familiarize themselves with current technology and current internet sites. The MacBreak Weekly Podcast I listened to was "Episode 129: Cry of the Wild Woz." There were five speakers in this podcast, and the speakers main focuses were new Mac and Apple news. Last, I listened to This Week in Photography which is a podcast that focuses on different camera techniques, technology, and news.
In my opinion it was interesting to listen to how each of the podcasts were different from the others. Some podcasts have only one speaker while other podcasts may have many speakers and also incorporate interviews. The podcasts that I enjoyed the most were the SmartBoard Lessons podcast and the KidCast podcast. Each of these podcast had very good information and techniques that I feel will be very useful as a future teacher. By listening to all of these podcasts, I now have a better understanding of exactly what a podcast is and how all podcasts can be different.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was a great lecture to watch. In the beginning of the lecture Randy tells the audience about numerous tumors he has located in his liver. Although most people would be absolutely horrified by this news, Randy Pausch was not. He was an extremely healthy man, and his ultimate goal in life was to teach people how to achieve their dreams. The three main points Randy Pausch covered in his lecture were his childhood dreams, how to enable the dreams of others, and how to use the information he was teaching to help you achieve your own dreams or enable the dreams of others. The first topic that he covered in his lecture was his childhood dreams.
All of the dreams that Randy had as a child, he set out to achieve. The first dream he talked about in the lecture was being in zero gravity. Randy did achieve this dream through a project he and his classmates did for NASA, and he said the feeling was absolutely awesome. The second dream he discussed was playing in the NFL. Randy, unfortunately, did not make it to the big time in football, but he did enjoy playing football as a child. He noted in his lecture that football taught him fundamentals and hard work, and it helped him learn important positive character traits such as teamwork and sportsmanship. Third, he talked about his dream to author an article in the World Book Encyclopedia. Again, Randy worked very hard to achieve his dream, and he was successful. He authored an article about Virtual Reality. Fourth, he discussed his dream of becoming Captain Kirk. Because he knew this dream would be extremely difficult, he changed his dream to just meeting Captain Kirk. He was able to achieve this dream, and he said it was very awesome to be able to meet his boyhood idle. The fifth dream he talked about was winning stuffed animals. Once again, he worked very hard and was able to achieve this goal. During his presentation, he showed many pictures of all the theme park stuffed animals he had won, and he brought a few on to the stage as giveaways. The last dream he discussed was his dream to become a Disney Imagineer. During Randy's first try to become a Disney Imagineer, he was rejected. Although he had hit what he called a "brick wall", he did not let this setback discourage him. He stated "Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things." Randy continued to strive to achieve his childhood dream, and eventually the good news came. He was able to go for a company he was working for and work in the Imagineer department on the Aladdin project. His job was to publish a paper about virtual reality pertaining to the Aladdin project. After completely his task of publishing the paper, Randy was offered a job as a real Disney Imagineer. He turned down the job as an Imagineer, stating that it could be overly stressful, but he continued to work as a consultant in the Imagineer department one day a week.
The second topic Randy discussed was how he could work to enable the dreams of others just like he had done for himself. As a professor, Randy was in the perfect place to be able to influence the lives of other people. The first person Randy was able to help as a professor was a student named Tommy. Tommy's dream was to work on a Star Wars film. Tommy worked doing undergraduate studies in Randy Pausch's class, but when it was time for Randy to move to Carnegie Mellon Tommy did not follow him. Tommy had achieved his childhood dream. He received an offer to work on the Star Wars films. In order for Randy to achieve his goal in greater depths, Randy Pausch created a course at Carnegie Mellon that was called "Building Virtual Worlds." To Randy's surprise the course turned out absolutely fantastic the first year. The students were extremely talented, and the course turned into a show for the entire student body and for parents. Many people were interested in the talents of the students in the "Building Virtual Worlds" class, and they would come down every semester to look at the work the students in the class had created. Through this course, Randy was able to show his students what it felt like to have work that people appreciated and enjoyed. All the students knew that they had made great accomplishments through their work in his class. After ten years, Randy handed his position down as the instructor of this course, and moved on to what he called "The Dream Fulfillment Factory." As part of the "The Dream Fulfillment Factory" Don Marinelli and Randy Pausch created the Entertainment Technology Center which enabled graduate students to obtain a two year professional master's degree in Entertainment Technology. In this program students did five virtual reality projects to promote Entertainment Technology. Because of the strength of this course at Carnegie Mellon, companies began writing contracts promising to hire the students who received their master's degree in this course. Two of the companies were EA and Activision. Again, he had achieved his goal because he enabled these students to fulfill their dreams of working in Entertainment Technology.
During the last part of his lecture, Randy Pausch talked about "Lessons Learned," and he talked with the audience about how to achieve their dreams and how they could help to enable the dreams of others. First, Randy discussed the role of parents, mentors, teachers, and colleagues. During this discussion Randy explained how these people can influence the lives of children and help the children achieve their dreams. As a good role model, these people can guide children during their younger years in life and encourage them to be all that they can be. It is the job of a good role model to remind children that they can do anything that they set their mind to. Next, Randy talked about many good things to do to help in achieving goals. Randy said everyone should always try to be like Tigger in "Winnie the Pooh" and be happy. He reminded people to never lose the child-like wonders, and he said people should always help others. Randy said that everyone should always remain loyal, and they should never give up. He said everyone should always tell the truth, they should apologize when they screw up, and they should focus on other people, not themselves. Other things he mentioned included finding the best in everybody, showing gratitude, always working harder instead of complaining, and always remembering that brick walls help to show dedication.
At the very end of the show, the audience learned something they did not intend to learn when Randy Pausch started his lecture. He had told the audience that they would learn how to achieve their childhood goals and how to help other people achieve their childhood goals. Although these are great things for people to learn, the purpose of Randy's lecture was something different. His lecture provided what he called a "head fake" which is a lesson that someone does not know they are going to learn. Randy Pausch said the first head fake of his lesson was that the people should have learned not how to achieve their dreams but how to lead their life. The second head fake was that the lesson was not really for the audience. He actually recorded his last lecture for his children.
All of the dreams that Randy had as a child, he set out to achieve. The first dream he talked about in the lecture was being in zero gravity. Randy did achieve this dream through a project he and his classmates did for NASA, and he said the feeling was absolutely awesome. The second dream he discussed was playing in the NFL. Randy, unfortunately, did not make it to the big time in football, but he did enjoy playing football as a child. He noted in his lecture that football taught him fundamentals and hard work, and it helped him learn important positive character traits such as teamwork and sportsmanship. Third, he talked about his dream to author an article in the World Book Encyclopedia. Again, Randy worked very hard to achieve his dream, and he was successful. He authored an article about Virtual Reality. Fourth, he discussed his dream of becoming Captain Kirk. Because he knew this dream would be extremely difficult, he changed his dream to just meeting Captain Kirk. He was able to achieve this dream, and he said it was very awesome to be able to meet his boyhood idle. The fifth dream he talked about was winning stuffed animals. Once again, he worked very hard and was able to achieve this goal. During his presentation, he showed many pictures of all the theme park stuffed animals he had won, and he brought a few on to the stage as giveaways. The last dream he discussed was his dream to become a Disney Imagineer. During Randy's first try to become a Disney Imagineer, he was rejected. Although he had hit what he called a "brick wall", he did not let this setback discourage him. He stated "Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things." Randy continued to strive to achieve his childhood dream, and eventually the good news came. He was able to go for a company he was working for and work in the Imagineer department on the Aladdin project. His job was to publish a paper about virtual reality pertaining to the Aladdin project. After completely his task of publishing the paper, Randy was offered a job as a real Disney Imagineer. He turned down the job as an Imagineer, stating that it could be overly stressful, but he continued to work as a consultant in the Imagineer department one day a week.
The second topic Randy discussed was how he could work to enable the dreams of others just like he had done for himself. As a professor, Randy was in the perfect place to be able to influence the lives of other people. The first person Randy was able to help as a professor was a student named Tommy. Tommy's dream was to work on a Star Wars film. Tommy worked doing undergraduate studies in Randy Pausch's class, but when it was time for Randy to move to Carnegie Mellon Tommy did not follow him. Tommy had achieved his childhood dream. He received an offer to work on the Star Wars films. In order for Randy to achieve his goal in greater depths, Randy Pausch created a course at Carnegie Mellon that was called "Building Virtual Worlds." To Randy's surprise the course turned out absolutely fantastic the first year. The students were extremely talented, and the course turned into a show for the entire student body and for parents. Many people were interested in the talents of the students in the "Building Virtual Worlds" class, and they would come down every semester to look at the work the students in the class had created. Through this course, Randy was able to show his students what it felt like to have work that people appreciated and enjoyed. All the students knew that they had made great accomplishments through their work in his class. After ten years, Randy handed his position down as the instructor of this course, and moved on to what he called "The Dream Fulfillment Factory." As part of the "The Dream Fulfillment Factory" Don Marinelli and Randy Pausch created the Entertainment Technology Center which enabled graduate students to obtain a two year professional master's degree in Entertainment Technology. In this program students did five virtual reality projects to promote Entertainment Technology. Because of the strength of this course at Carnegie Mellon, companies began writing contracts promising to hire the students who received their master's degree in this course. Two of the companies were EA and Activision. Again, he had achieved his goal because he enabled these students to fulfill their dreams of working in Entertainment Technology.
During the last part of his lecture, Randy Pausch talked about "Lessons Learned," and he talked with the audience about how to achieve their dreams and how they could help to enable the dreams of others. First, Randy discussed the role of parents, mentors, teachers, and colleagues. During this discussion Randy explained how these people can influence the lives of children and help the children achieve their dreams. As a good role model, these people can guide children during their younger years in life and encourage them to be all that they can be. It is the job of a good role model to remind children that they can do anything that they set their mind to. Next, Randy talked about many good things to do to help in achieving goals. Randy said everyone should always try to be like Tigger in "Winnie the Pooh" and be happy. He reminded people to never lose the child-like wonders, and he said people should always help others. Randy said that everyone should always remain loyal, and they should never give up. He said everyone should always tell the truth, they should apologize when they screw up, and they should focus on other people, not themselves. Other things he mentioned included finding the best in everybody, showing gratitude, always working harder instead of complaining, and always remembering that brick walls help to show dedication.
At the very end of the show, the audience learned something they did not intend to learn when Randy Pausch started his lecture. He had told the audience that they would learn how to achieve their childhood goals and how to help other people achieve their childhood goals. Although these are great things for people to learn, the purpose of Randy's lecture was something different. His lecture provided what he called a "head fake" which is a lesson that someone does not know they are going to learn. Randy Pausch said the first head fake of his lesson was that the people should have learned not how to achieve their dreams but how to lead their life. The second head fake was that the lesson was not really for the audience. He actually recorded his last lecture for his children.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
International Blogs
The first international blog I looked at was Mr. Lamshed's class blog in Adelaide, Australia. Mr. Lamshed's class is the class from Australia that linked itself to Mr. C's class in Noel, Missouri that I wrote about last week. His class is an all boy class. Mr. Lamshed's blog was a blog that had a lot of great information about his class. Some of the things Mr. Lamshed included on his blog were videos, photos, learning links, notices and newsletters, and online tasks. When looking at Mr. Lamshed's blog, I was really amazed at all of the work he had put into his blog. Mr. Lamshed wrote at least once a week about what the children in his class were working on. He included everything from assignments for the students in his class to work on to videos recording what the students were working on.
The second blog I looked at was a blog out of Thailand. The name of this blog was Room 202's blog. Just like all of the other school blogs I have looked at, this class blog included videos, pictures, and information about what the children were doing in the classroom. The blog post that interested me the most was a post titled "Connecting with Canada." The basic summary of this post was that this class from Thailand was connecting with a class from Haultain Community School in Canada via Skype which is a free video conferencing tool. According to the blog post some of the things that the classes discussed over the video conference included temperature differences, class size and school size differences, and nationality differences. It was really amazing to me that these two classes could connect through technology to compare differences in between schools.
The second blog I looked at was a blog out of Thailand. The name of this blog was Room 202's blog. Just like all of the other school blogs I have looked at, this class blog included videos, pictures, and information about what the children were doing in the classroom. The blog post that interested me the most was a post titled "Connecting with Canada." The basic summary of this post was that this class from Thailand was connecting with a class from Haultain Community School in Canada via Skype which is a free video conferencing tool. According to the blog post some of the things that the classes discussed over the video conference included temperature differences, class size and school size differences, and nationality differences. It was really amazing to me that these two classes could connect through technology to compare differences in between schools. Saturday, February 7, 2009
United States Teacher Blogs
The first blog I found was Mr. C's class blog. Mr. C is a fifth grade teacher at Noel Elementary School in Noel, Missouri. Mr. C had a great blog that had a lot of information. Some of the things that Mr. C included in his blog were class pictures, class videos, and notes from class lessons. The thing that most drew my attention on Mr. C's class blog was a post that linked his class to a class in Australia. Mr. C made it an assignment for the students in his fifth grade class to access Mr. Lamshed's class blog in Adelaide, Australia. Both Mr. C and Mr. Lamshed's classes were reading the book Holes. Mr. Lamshed had posted three reflection questions on chapters one through seven, so Mr. C made it an assignment for the children in his classroom to access Mr. Lamshed's blog and post a comment relating to one of the three reflection questions. To me this was absolutely awesome. It is great that technology has come this far in order to help students connect with students all across the world.
The second blog I looked at was Mr. McClung's class blog. Mr. McClung is a sixth grade teacher at Noel Elementary School in Noel, Missouri. Mr. McClung just like Mr. C had a lot of great information on his blog for the students in his classroom to see. Some of the things that he included on his class blog were slide show presentations, pictures and videos from school functions, and names of people in his class who received academic awards. The main thing on Mr. McClung's class blog that drew my attention was a post titled "Tulsa Update." Mr. McClung had to be absent for school to attend a coaching clinic, so he kept in touch with his students using the class blog. In the post Mr. McClung told his students that he was learning great information at the coaching clinic, but he also told them that he had been monitoring their behavior on the class live stream. The point of Mr. McClung's blog was that technology has now made life easier for teachers and substitute teachers. Mr. McClung was able to communicate with the class substitute using the class blog about instructions for student assignments, and he was also able to monitor how well the substitute was able to handle the classroom. This to me is another awesome feature that technology has brought to us over the past couple of years, and I think that it is great that more teachers are starting to use the resources they have available to them through technology.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Alabama ACCESS Program
The ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide) program is a program now available in Alabama which was created to help connect teachers and students through the use of technology. According to the ACCESS website, the mission of this program is "to provide an infrastructure that delivers quality learning opportunities for all citizens." The goal of the program is "to provide additional educational offerings for all Alabama public high school students." Although this is the ultimate goal of the program there are many small objectives the ACCESS program hopes to achieve. Some of these objectives include providing equal access to courses required for advanced diplomas, providing equal access to advanced placement and dual enrollment courses, providing teachers with up to date technology which will help enhance their lessons, etc. In order to meet these goals, ACCESS has created many strategies in order to provide the needed technology in all of the Alabama public high schools. A couple of the strategies of this program include providing additional computers to the high schools which will provide the needed technology for Internet based courses and increasing the connectivity between the central offices and the schools.
Some components of the ACCESS program include Internet based courses, interactive video courses, and blended courses which will include both videoconferencing and Internet based instruction. The Internet based courses that ACCESS provides are courses that are delivered completely online and are taken during the regular school day. The interactive video courses are courses that use audio/visual links to link the students and the teacher. Both of these components of access have their benefits and challenges. A couple of the benefits of videoconferencing and Internet based instruction include providing more learning responsibility for the students and providing more opportunity for students to take courses not available to them at their own school. Challenges that come with videoconferencing and Internet based instruction include technology problems and schedule coordination.
Some components of the ACCESS program include Internet based courses, interactive video courses, and blended courses which will include both videoconferencing and Internet based instruction. The Internet based courses that ACCESS provides are courses that are delivered completely online and are taken during the regular school day. The interactive video courses are courses that use audio/visual links to link the students and the teacher. Both of these components of access have their benefits and challenges. A couple of the benefits of videoconferencing and Internet based instruction include providing more learning responsibility for the students and providing more opportunity for students to take courses not available to them at their own school. Challenges that come with videoconferencing and Internet based instruction include technology problems and schedule coordination.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Plagiarism and Copyright Rules and Regulations
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, plagiarism is the act or instance of the stealing or passing off of the ideas or words of another as one's own or the use of another's production without crediting the source. Common types of plagiarism include copying and pasting text from the Internet, buying papers from online sources, hiring a professional writer to write a paper, and borrowing papers that someone has already written. The best way to avoid being suspected of plagiarism is to always make sure to give credit where credit is due. The only time something in a paper does not need to be cited is if the information the author is writing about is comes from his or her own life or if the information is common knowledge. There are many tips offered on The Owl at Purdue website that can help all students avoid plagiarism. A few of the tips mentioned include marking another author's words with a big Q to indicate that these words need to be in quotations, marking ideas of another author with a big S to indicate that the thoughts came from a source, summarizing text relying only on memory and notes rather than looking at the original text, and going back after completing a paper and checking to be sure that credit is given in all places where credit is due.
Copyrights are also important when discussing the works of other people. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary a copyright is the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something as a literary, musical, or artistic work. A copyright can protect both published and unpublished works. With a copyright comes many rules and regulations. Rights that come along with copyrights include the following: only the owner of the copyright can authorize the reproduction of the work, only the owner of the copyright can authorize the sell, lease, rental, or transfer of ownership of the work, and only the owner of the copyright can allow the work to be publicly displayed or performed. With a copyright in place, not following these rules and regulations is considered by the Copyright Act to be illegal.
Copyrights are also important when discussing the works of other people. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary a copyright is the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something as a literary, musical, or artistic work. A copyright can protect both published and unpublished works. With a copyright comes many rules and regulations. Rights that come along with copyrights include the following: only the owner of the copyright can authorize the reproduction of the work, only the owner of the copyright can authorize the sell, lease, rental, or transfer of ownership of the work, and only the owner of the copyright can allow the work to be publicly displayed or performed. With a copyright in place, not following these rules and regulations is considered by the Copyright Act to be illegal.
Information about the ALEX Website
The Alabama Learning Exchange also known as ALEX is a website that provides great information for teachers. To access this website follow this link: ALEX website. Examples of resources available to teachers on this website include courses of study, lesson plans, web links, and search engines. The courses of studies that can be found on the ALEX website include English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Arts Education, Career/Technical Education, Foreign Languages, Physical Education, Technology Education, Driver and Traffic Safety Education, and Health Education. For each topic covered in the course of study list, you can select a grade level, and the ALEX website will provide you with a curriculum and the objectives you will need to cover as a teacher in the grade level you selected. When looking for lesson plans on the ALEX website, you can search using a subject and a grade level. Each lesson plan provides you with a list of the materials you will need to teach the lesson and step-by-step directions for how you will teach the lesson. The web links resource available on the ALEX website includes teacher web links, administrator web links, and student web links, and the web links can be searched for using different subjects.
All of the resources provided on the ALEX website in my opinion are extremely useful. For new teachers, it is not always an easy task to create your own lesson plans for the entire year, so having access to other lesson plans is a great tool. Through the ALEX website teachers can find creative ideas and techniques for teaching lessons on all subjects. The courses of studies are also very important and useful for new teachers. The courses of studies helps new teachers create an outline of the objectives they are required to cover throughout the school year. The teachers can use the course of studies to determine what each lesson they teach needs to cover.
All of the resources provided on the ALEX website in my opinion are extremely useful. For new teachers, it is not always an easy task to create your own lesson plans for the entire year, so having access to other lesson plans is a great tool. Through the ALEX website teachers can find creative ideas and techniques for teaching lessons on all subjects. The courses of studies are also very important and useful for new teachers. The courses of studies helps new teachers create an outline of the objectives they are required to cover throughout the school year. The teachers can use the course of studies to determine what each lesson they teach needs to cover.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Web Accessibility for All People
A law created in 1973, which is called The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, makes it possible for all disabled people to be able to access web pages on the Internet. This law makes it mandatory that all Federal agencies and the federal agency's contractors make all web information accessible for disabled people. The way Internet accessibility is made possible for disabled people is through adaptive hardware and software. Adaptive hardware and software includes any device that can connect to a computer in order to enable someone who has trouble seeing or navigating on the computer. Some other Acts and organizations who make this web accessibility for all possible include The Telecommunications Act of 1996, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), and Web Accessibility in Mind also known as WebAIM. The goal of each of these Acts and organizations is to improve accessibility on all parts of the world wide web for disabled people.
There are many tools on the market available for alternative web browsing. Some examples of tools used for alternative web browsing include refreshable braille displays, vischeck color blindness simulators, screen magnification software, screen reader software, and voice recognition software. The refreshable braille displays and screen reader software are typically used by people who are totally blind. The refreshable braille displays connect to computers and electronically convert the text on the screen to braille which enables the blind users to be able to read the text from the website. The screen reader software reads all parts of the text from the screen and provides the disabled user all navigational information through speech. The vischeck color blindness simulator and the screen magnification software are used by people who have visual impairments. The vischeck color blindness simulators can be used by people who have the red/green color deficit or the blue/yellow color deficit. This program defines the colors on the computer screen to make the colors visible for people with color blindness. The functions of the screen magnification software include enlarging all parts of the content on the computer screen, allowing viewers to adjust certain web page attributes such as color and cursor size, and reading the textual content out loud. Last, voice recognition software is typically used by people who have limited hand use. The purpose of this program is to allow users to enter commands by speaking into a computer microphone.
There are many tools on the market available for alternative web browsing. Some examples of tools used for alternative web browsing include refreshable braille displays, vischeck color blindness simulators, screen magnification software, screen reader software, and voice recognition software. The refreshable braille displays and screen reader software are typically used by people who are totally blind. The refreshable braille displays connect to computers and electronically convert the text on the screen to braille which enables the blind users to be able to read the text from the website. The screen reader software reads all parts of the text from the screen and provides the disabled user all navigational information through speech. The vischeck color blindness simulator and the screen magnification software are used by people who have visual impairments. The vischeck color blindness simulators can be used by people who have the red/green color deficit or the blue/yellow color deficit. This program defines the colors on the computer screen to make the colors visible for people with color blindness. The functions of the screen magnification software include enlarging all parts of the content on the computer screen, allowing viewers to adjust certain web page attributes such as color and cursor size, and reading the textual content out loud. Last, voice recognition software is typically used by people who have limited hand use. The purpose of this program is to allow users to enter commands by speaking into a computer microphone.
Introduction
Hi Everybody! My name is Briana Browder, and I am from Robertsdale, Alabama. I am nineteen years old, and I just transferred to the University of South Alabama this semester. My major at South Alabama is Elementary Education. My career goal is to be a Kindergarten teacher in a Baldwin County school. I have always thoroughly enjoyed children, and I feel like being a school teacher will be an extremely rewarding and fun career. As a Kindergarten teacher I will always be reminded that my dedication to the students in my classroom helps each of them be able to read, to write, to say their alphabet, and many more exciting things.
Some of the things that I will be covering about myself in my PowerPoint presentation include who my family members are, where I work, and what my interests are. I have a family of four which includes, my mom, Angie Browder, my dad, Dewitt Browder, a sister, Amber Barnett, and myself. My sister also has two little girls: Delaney which is five and Anna Grace which is three. I have great job at Baldwin EMC in Summerdale Alabama in the Loss Control and Safety Department. I really enjoy my job & I love all of the people who I work with. Baldwin EMC provides a great program for college students in order to allow students to gain job experience while in school. Some of my hobbies outside of work and school include boat riding, knee boarding, shopping, and spending time with my family and friends. I am a very active person, so I pretty much enjoy any outdoor activity there is.
Some of the things that I will be covering about myself in my PowerPoint presentation include who my family members are, where I work, and what my interests are. I have a family of four which includes, my mom, Angie Browder, my dad, Dewitt Browder, a sister, Amber Barnett, and myself. My sister also has two little girls: Delaney which is five and Anna Grace which is three. I have great job at Baldwin EMC in Summerdale Alabama in the Loss Control and Safety Department. I really enjoy my job & I love all of the people who I work with. Baldwin EMC provides a great program for college students in order to allow students to gain job experience while in school. Some of my hobbies outside of work and school include boat riding, knee boarding, shopping, and spending time with my family and friends. I am a very active person, so I pretty much enjoy any outdoor activity there is.
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