Blog Post #13

“Alex” is the acronym for Alabama Learning Exchange. It is a resource website for teachers. It features things such as courses of study, web links, lesson plans, podcasts and more. It has links to find professional development opportunities and many teaching tools. It features grade specific lesson plans in twelve different categories ranging from English to career/technical in all different grade levels.

Under professional development, it includes educator standards and the code of ethics that we all must adhere to. It has a helpful FAQ page in professional development and related professional learning units. It features a web resource section that has links to helpful sites for administrators, teachers and students.

I think this site will be very helpful for a new teacher, in particular the lesson plans, podcasts and some of the interactive links. I would like to see some more community based computing tools.

Additional Assignment #5

John Spencer has a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and a master’s from Northern Arizona University. He teaches 8th grade at a low SES school in Phoenix, Arizona.

You can summarize what John Spencer has said in some of his posts with, reaching the child = teaching the child. John has proven that using technology based tools is a good method to spur creativity and maximize opportunities for learning. His use of metaphor in math to describe a variable is very off the wall, but it makes perfect sense when you think about it. Children that take advantage of his class will not only receive an education, they will learn how to think.

Project #15 Writing With Multi Media

Blog Assignment #12

Think about the topics in this video. What are some of the technologies mentioned?

Which of these technologies do you think would be most useful in teaching? How will you use them?

How could the technologies listed be used to enrich a literature class teaching Shakespeare?

 
What are some of the technologies mentioned? Some technologies that were mentioned are blogs, winkis, podcasts, online collaboration, webcams, E Portfolios, cell phones, iPods and more.

Which of these technologies do you think would be most useful in your teaching? How will you use these? I will be teaching the early elementary grades so I think blogs and online collaboration will be useful. iPods will be great for story time or learning games (letters, shapes, colors). Skype and video will be great for exploring volcanoes and animals in the jungle!  Then we can post everything we learn on the class blog.

How could the technologies listed be used to enrich a literature class teaching Shakespeare?
For a high school class, we assign students to research and report on the clothing and costumes of the era.  Have them construct a multimedia presentation on the Globe theatre.  Have them Skype with a Shakespeare scholar.
Ask them to collaborate and rewrite a portion of a Shakespeare play into modern language and then video the scene and post on the blog!

I also found this video. Watch it for "extra credit". ;)

Google Form Results - Project #6

My questionnaire requested demographic information on the class sample to determine race, age, educational background, etc. to determine any correlation between background and pursuing a degree in education.  Additional questions were on future post grad work and use of technology in the classroom.

As shown in the graphs below, the sample demonstrates  ”normal” demographic characteristics for an undergraduate class.  The single interesting finding was that having family members involved in some form of education seems to have a significant impact on the student’s choice of major.  Thirteen of nineteen responses showed links to either immediate or extended family members involved in education.

Final Project Progress Report

Cassie Steele and myself will be doing this project together. We have talked about different things that we could do, and decided to do a movie on our experiences in EDM310. We are going to talk about the different tools we used in this class. We will also talk a lot about our opinions of this course and some other ideas that we have.

Blog Assignment # 11

Ms. Cassidy’s uses many techniques in her classroom. Some of the ones I think I might use would be, educational computer games, educational programs, videos and blogging and smart board. She uses the computers as a study center for specific learning exercises, but emphasizes the wide range of resources and interaction that can be accomplished with technology.

Children are able to manipulate the technology (animation, symbols and reading) at a younger age than they are able to type coherent responses, so Skype or video may be better feedback or evaluation tools. One great use of the technology is the exposure and interaction that the class can have with distant places and cultures.

Ms. Cassidy was very complementary of her technology resource officer. We are learning a wide range of basic building blocks in EDM 310, but a reliable technology resource person in our school will certainly be helpful.

Project #14 Teach Someone Something

Click here to view my .pdf file

C4T #3 Summary Post

The blog I commented on was called, “About a Teacher”.

The first post I commented on was called, “Aren’t We Done with Waiting?” Greta talks about having the initiative to be a concerned and involved professional and use our skills to collaboratively help children. She is advocating a grassroots movement of networked education professionals committed to parent/student/teacher communication to effect positive change in all of our educational processes. As John Donne said: “No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.” In other words, we’re all in this together. Let’s do what we can.

I commented to Greta and told her that a lot of what she talked about is the approach I want to take when I teach. I said that positive effects from the bottom up cannot help but contribute to some amount of change.

Greta’s second post I commented on was about loving your children in your class before you even know them. Greta had the “bad” child in one of her classes. The child all of the teachers warn you about. This little boy Thomas had serious behavior problems. Greta found out that he had been a victim of sexual abuse. She showed him that she cared about him, spent time with him and did little things that eventually helped the way he acted and changed his attitude. She loved him before she even knew him, and she really ended up helping him.

I commented to her and told her that that was wonderful, that she was a great impact in his life. I said that being about to learn about, love and help my students I will have one day is something I’m so excited about.

C4K Summary Post

C4K #3

This post was by Room 116. It was about the Christchurch earthquake. The child who wrote this said that it happened very early in the morning. They said that there was a lot of damage, but no one was hurt.

I said that it must have been really scary waking up to an earthquake. I said that I couldn’t imagine being in one and asked if earthquakes happen often there.

C4K #4

This post was by Lily. It was about a fete given by her school that she helped out with. She described everything that went on very well and used great detail.

I told her that it sounded amazing and that I loved reading about it. I told her that when I was in grade school, we had something very similar to it, but it was called Field Day.

C4K #5

This post was by Ben B. He talked about his name. He said he liked it because he could make his name short or long. He said no one he knows has his name. Most people thought his name was Benjamin, but that it wasn’t.

I told him that is was awesome that he liked his name. I also told him that I’m curious what Ben is short for, because I also thought it was short for Benjamin.

C4K #6

This post was by Adam. His post was about his biome project. He said that he had to study a biome and make multimedia and a presentation out of it. He talked about different animals in the tundra. Some animals he talked about were polar bears, seals, killer whales and wolves.

I told him that 5 weeks was a long time to spend on a project. I said that it was very informative and that the pictures looked great.

C4K #7

This post was by Unisaur. This child took a picture of the ceiling in the USS Alabama. This picture was taken because it went along with the elements of photography.

I said great job and that I loved the photo. I said that if I tried to take a picture like that, it wouldn’t have turned out the way I would have wanted it to. I also said that I thought Wave was a great name for the photo.