Brooke McQuillan's EDM310

Goodbye EDM 310

2010-05-02T13:25:00.001-05:00

GOODBYE EDM 310
I would like to say good bye the friends I have made in EDM 310 this semester and I hope that all of you do well in your endeavors. I would like to thank Dr. Strange and Ms.Averitt for teaching me the many things we have been through this semester. I must say it was not easy and time management was a very big factor but I planned on that in the beginning. I will take everything I have learned and incorporate into my classroom. I will continue to learn anything I can that will help me with my teaching and am open to learning from anyone.

Final Blog Post.

2010-05-02T13:11:00.002-05:00

FINAL BLOG POST
I have learned many things in the EDM 310 class; many things that I expected to learn and many things I did not expect to learn. I must say that I was very skeptical at first and thought that the work loud was a bit much. With a lot of time management and organization it can be handled. I do not think there is anything more that I could have learned in this semester in this class. I think will take everything I have learned and use it to my advantage in my classroom and use in for my personal benefits as well. I do believe that I am very technologically literate. I plan to teach my students everything I know and hopefully they will teach me something along the way as well. Here are some of the same things I have learned in this class this semester.

BLOGGING- Blogging is my favorite thing we were taught this semester. It has opened my eyes to so many other things I will be able to do in my classroom; sharing student work, posting assignment, etc. I might even have a personal blog as well. By doing our weekly blog posts I have also learned many interesting facts from the videos we must watch and post on. My PLN has also grown from this fact as well.
Professional Blog

COMMENTS FOR TEACHERS- Having to comment on other teachers blogs has really opened my eyes. Reading their posts and understanding things that go on in their classroom really are interesting to me; I enjoy learning thing like that. This has also helped my PLN grow as well.

GOOGLE DOCS- I have done two projects with Google Docs and they are both posted to my EDM blog. This program is quick and easy and allows you to share and calibrate with others on Google. It is similar to Microsoft Power-point but I believe it is even simpler.

GOOGLE EARTH- This was a more resent project and it was not the easiest one as well. I do not think that learning to run Google earth was a priority in this class nor do I think I will make it a priority in my classroom. However, I do think that I will show my students how it works and it will be great when we study geography; in finding places on the map.

PODCASTING &VIDEOCASTING- These tools will also be incorporated into my classroom. I think it is great for children to learn at least the basics of how to make a podcasts and using Audacity to do that is a very simple program. Then we will share them with the world by posting them on our class blog. VOICETHREADING is used in Audacity as well. We used this program to comment on our kids blogs this semester and I think we will also use the program for this and a specific group project.

TIMETOAST TIMELINE- This program was interesting and easy to use. I made a timeline about “World Events That Have Happened from 2000-2009” I think it would be great for my classroom to learn how to use because it was not that difficult a program. I plan to incorporate a project about a timeline of their life.

PLN (post2)

2010-04-29T00:19:00.002-05:00

I have continued working on my Personal Learning Network and I plan to use it the future. This will help me to become a better educator and be much more organized for the first day of school. While putting together my PLN I got to converse with so many teachers around the world which helps to broaden my horizons. It also allows teachers to share student with other teachers so that they can collaborate and share ideas about the students' works. My PLN is still growing, and I plan to add many student blogs and even my future class blog and co-workers’ blog to it as well. I hope that it grows forever because this shows that I am concerned about the education of my students. Blogging has been the main focus of my PLN. I have many teacher and student blogs that I have enjoyed looking at and have shared with my family and friends. I will continue this journey ever after EDM 310 and I thank you for teaching me all that I have learned.

Project 8

2010-04-28T19:52:00.001-05:00

Project 12

2010-04-28T19:42:00.003-05:00

This is my Tour of Australia to my EDM 310 Project 12. I found in doing this project that Australia is a great place to visit and have may beautiful beaches and sunsets. Please view my tour and take a look; let me know what you think!

Click here to view my tour of Australia

H.W April 25

2010-04-25T11:58:00.004-05:00

"TWO QUESTIONS THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE"
Was I better today than I was yesterday? That is a great way to look at the day; a great question to ask you at the end of each day. I have heard this phrase before. I have not always thought of life in this way but I do think it's a different way of thinking of things. I have a friend that says each day he tries to do something crazier than that he did the day before. I think the question is really asking you; are you happy with the chooses you made today?

"7TH GRADER WITH A PLE"
This seventh grader was very impressive. She is learning things in the seventh grade that I am only learning right now. I was shocked when she told us that she was asked to get confirmation that the information she found was true; so she e-mailed a scientist from Australia. This student will even advanced in here technology as she grows up.

Project 15

2010-04-24T17:26:00.006-05:00

TIFFANY LAW INTERVIEW

I Interviewed Tiffany Law for this project. Tiffany is an Elementary teacher which you will find out if my project. I put this project together using IMovie on a MacBook Pro!

Project 14

2010-04-21T19:17:00.002-05:00

This is my Project 14.
In my group was Lauren Germany, Angela Green and myself. We Interviewed our family members on how they use technology in the classroom as well as at home. Please watch our video and leave me your comments; I would love to know what you think.

Podcast.

2010-04-21T18:29:00.006-05:00

Angela Greene, Lauren Germany and I made our podcast on inexpensive camcorders. We compared three inexpensive camcorders and shared our finding in our podcast.

Click to watch our Podcast

Click to view it time for Technology talk

Comments for Kids (wk 14)

2010-04-18T15:20:00.002-05:00

"MY BIG BUDDY"
Hello Princess Gracie, my name is Brooke. I love your picture you have drawn. Keep up the hard work and always do your homework.
click to view Gracie's blog post

Comments for Teachers (Week 13,14)

2010-04-18T14:19:00.002-05:00

JEN DEYENBERG

WEEK 13
Hello Ms. Jen Deyenberg, my name is Brooke McQuillan and I am commenting on you blog as an assignment from my teacher at South Alabama. The class is EDM 310. I really enjoyed this post. I loved that you had so many stations set up for the students to visit and learn from. I think that by doing that it can help students learn in different ways. Thank you for sharing.

WEEK14
Hello Jen, this is Brooke again. I really enjoyed this post as well. I love seeing students work posted. They all look like they were working really hard to get the straws to stand up. This was a very creative project. Thanks for sharing.

H.W April 18

2010-04-18T13:54:00.002-05:00

The topic I have chosen to discuss is student’s use of blogging in the classroom. Students learning to use blogs in the classroom at an early age can help with many vocabulary and computer skills. Posting their work for family members and the world to see is also and great tool. I have found that some students are also learning how to make podcasts with their classmates. It is amazing that our educators are teaching children things that I am just now learning. This inspires me to teach my classroom everything I know and to keep up with technology.

Project 10

2010-04-18T13:21:00.004-05:00

This is my Time-Toast Timeline of World Events from 2000-2009!

H.W Mar 12

2010-04-14T17:18:00.002-05:00

ALEX- ALABAMA LEARNING EXCHANGE
This website is a site for teachers to use when planning their school year. You can find lesson plans for any subject and for any grade level. You can also find the state standards for all subjects. There are also numerous podcasts made by teachers and shared on the site. Click to see Alex website

ACCESS- ALABAMA CONNECTING CLASSROOM EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS
Educators and students state wide Access is a program for students to take courses on line so that they do not fall behind. Access is available to all Alabama public school students. There was a podcast on the homepage of Access with students telling us why they liked taking courses on Access. Some reasons included because it allowed them to stay on track and it was easy and helpful.Click to see Access website

H.W. April 11

2010-04-14T16:14:00.002-05:00

DR.SEUSS & PS 22

"Why is it important for students to post their work to blogs?"
The PS 22 chorus video was so beautiful. Those children sounded amazing. I didn't expect to hear that type of song sung by that age group of children. This was the best example of sharing the wonderful talents of our youth. And showing how are teachers are teaching our children. Another example of this is on my commenting for teachers, teachers could post students work as a way of displaying good work. On kid’s blogs, students post work to share with family and to help with computer skills and grammar.
Click to watch video

Cool Article I Found

2010-04-08T10:23:00.003-05:00

"A" Is for App

"As smartphones and handheld computers move into classrooms worldwide, we may be witnessing the start of an educational revolution. How technology could unleash childhood creativity -- and transform the role of the teacher."
By Anya Kamenetz | Photo: Danielle Levitt

"A look at some of the coolest devices, sites, and apps for kids to log on and learn."
By Zachary Wilson

Comments for Kids (wk 12,13)

2010-04-07T19:35:00.002-05:00

WEEK 13
Hello Max, This is Brooke. I really enjoyed your post. I am glad that you got to go to Skateland and have a really good day. I use to go skating when I was your age all the time. Have fun!

WEEK 12
The comment for week 12 is in the "Project 7" post.

Project 7

2010-04-07T19:23:00.003-05:00

This is my voice thread for Lomio Lee, and comment for kids. I hope you like it.

Comment for Teachers (Wk 10,12)

2010-04-07T18:02:00.003-05:00

JASON SCHRAGE "CONNECTIONS" week10
Hello Jason, My name is Brooke McQuillan. I am commenting on your blog as an assignment for my EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I think that a PD Presentation is a great idea. You seem to be very excited about it. Good luck with it and I look forward to seeing more!

WEEK 12
Hello Jason, This is Brooke again. I am in love with this post. I don’t know if I mentioned that I was an Elementary Education major in my last post. Hearing teaching say things like this make me look forward to the day I become a teacher. I loved it when you said that you wanted to stay passionate about the things you will be teaching year after year. Keep them great posts coming!

H.W April 4

2010-04-07T16:46:00.004-05:00

"MR.CHAMBERLIN ON HIS BLOG, TITLED DEAR.KAIA"
I think that was really thoughtful of the class to make a voice-thread and send it to Kaia because she could not read yet. Adding all of the pictures of Kaia to the voice-thread was a good idea. "DEAR KAIA" "this this that" This was the cutest little girl ever. She was so excited to tell us what kind of pictures she took that she just started saying this, this, and that. This blog post would be a great example of sharing children's life as they grow up with family. The pictures Kaia took were very beautiful as well."SINGING HEART" This post just keeps getting better. The fact that Kaia's post has been seen by so many people and traveled as far as New Zealand and Alaska is great. One day Kaia will know how popular her blog really is. This is great that she is learning blogging; something I am only learning now.
CLICK TO VIEW BLOG

Project 6 (How I Use Skype)

2010-03-31T18:01:00.004-05:00

Before I enrolled in EDM 310 I had never used Skype before but did have the program on my computer. I have seen others use Skype before and it seemed like a simple enough programs to learn. When we started our podcast project it became very hard to find time to meet with everyone in my group. We found that using Skype made it easy for use to share our thoughts and for practicing our podcast without actually having to get together. Now that I am much more familiar with Skype I have more contacts and I use it more frequently for fun.

Click here to download Skype

Project 5 Twilight Questionnaire

2010-03-31T16:34:00.007-05:00

Google images
TWILIGHT QUESTIONNAIRE
When I began to think about a topic for my questionnaire it was very difficult for me. I wanted to pick a topic that interested me but also could strike many others interests as well. When I asked my family for advice they suggested Twilight for the simple fact that it is an interest of mine and my sisters. I am twenty one years of age therefore I do not consider myself to be a "vampire obsessed teenager." I enjoyed reading the Twilight series because it was a truly well written love story that I could read over and over again. When I wrote my questionnaire I simply wanted to find out how many people enjoyed the books as much as I did. I had only three people that have note read the books and only one person who has not seen the movie. Over all 40% were for team Edward, 30% were for team Jacob and 30% were undecided. My questionnaire proved that reading the Twilight series does not spark and interest in other vampire shows of books; although it did for me. This survey was very helpful and served its purpose. All of the information that derived from this questionnaire was greatly appreciated. Thank you.Click here to view questionnaire
results

H.W Mar 28

2010-03-28T16:02:00.004-05:00

MorganBayda

Morgan Bayda’s post was very in-lighting. The things she said about using computer sources more like blogging, twitter, videos, and PLN in the classroom was an eye opener. I had never thought about what Dan Brown said in his video; That Universities are the center of education. But now it must "adapt". Society must move forward with technology. While I have been in EDM310 I have taught many tools to that well help me to keep up with society and keep up with Mr. Dan Brown. Now that I have seen his video I will be more aware of this fact.

comment for kids (week 9) (week 10)

2010-03-24T15:33:00.005-05:00

WEEK 9 Hello Ms.V's class! This is Brooke McQuillan again. Well it sounds like you all had a lovely day again today! That is awesome that it snowed on this day after lunch! I hope you all got to go outside and play! Unfortunately I do not get to see snow that often. You all help up the hard work!
brookemcquillanedm310.blogspot.com

WEEK 10 Hello Ethan, My name is Brooke McQuillan. I am commenting on your blog as a class assignment. This is a great alternative to the traditional “I am” poem. I love it. It is very creative! Great work.
brookemcquillanedm310.blogspot.com

Personal Learning Network

2010-03-11T16:35:00.002-06:00

My Personal Learning Network is coming along well. I have been focusing on getting contact information from people that will benefit me in the future when I am an educator. I have many contacts from schools and teachers that I know are great educators and that I strive to become somewhat like in the future. Tiffany Law is a graduate of South Alabama and is a Kindergarten teacher. Christie Legros is an art teacher at Theodore High School. These educators hold the tools of success and key to my success and they are willing to share them with me. I am working hard on building my PLN more and more.

H.W Jan 31 (from class blog)

2010-03-11T16:03:00.003-06:00

This was a very interesting video. I love to see kids interacting and using technology. These children probably know more about their blogs than I know about mine. I loved that they are using their blogs as a learning tool for English and grammar. Using Wikis to learn about traditions and rituals was a great idea as well. The children also use Skype to talk to their friends in Hamilton about what they are learning.
(Part 2)This baby is about one years old and already well aware of how to use his fathers iPhone. Imagine when he is two; he will probably be able to use the computer. This child has the potential to be very technology advanced.

Comment for kids (week 7)

2010-03-10T19:09:00.001-06:00

Hello Mr.Lamshed’s class, My name is Brooke. I was assigned to read your class blog by teacher. I must say that when I say this post I was very impressed. I have never heard of an entire class shaving their heads to raise money for something like this. I am so proud of you all that it worms my heart. Although, I think you all should have better smiles on your faces in your picture and realize what great kids you all are! Keep up the good work! Great job Mr. Lamshed!

H.W Mar 7

2010-03-09T23:36:00.004-06:00

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dream

This lecture was very good. Mr.Pausch was very funny to watch. He began by telling us about the ten tumors he has in his liver. The doctor gave him three to six months to live and that was one month ago. He is in great shape. He actually got down and did about 10 push ups.
Pausch then talked about his childhood. He was born in 1960. He said he was always smiling and dreaming. He stated "inspiration and permission to dream is huge". Pausch has six main goals as a child; zero gravity, playing NFL football, author in World Book Encyclopedia, meet Captain Kurk and being an imaginer. He actually did achieve some of these goals.
He went to a camp or something and pretended to be a reporter because professors could not go. He showed the video of them in zero gravity and it was pretty cool and funny when feel. So he did achieve that goal. Although playing in the NFL was another story. He did play football and said he learned many lessons from that. He stated "When your failing at something and no one is telling you anymore, then they gave up". Being an author in World Book Encyclopedia. This goal was achieved. He also said he thinks that if they would publish his work in the Encyclopedia then Wikipedia must be ok. Next was meeting Captain Kurk from Star Trek. Pausch said that meeting your boyhood idol was really cool.
Being an imaginer was a big part of this lecture. He talked about a secret imaginer project at Disney. he was asked to break the secretary of defense on the project so he needed information. He talked to Jon Shoody (the creator of the secret Aladdin project) and together they collaborated. They also decided he would work for a month and publish a paper. He was also a consulting imaginer for Disney. This was a great video. I learned a lot. Randy Pausch is a great professor and I wish he was one of my teachers; I would enjoy learning a few things from him.
Click to watch video

comment for kids (week 8)

2010-03-08T23:06:00.003-06:00

I enjoyed reading this blog very much. I also looked at other post on this blog than the one I commented on. I am assuming that Mrs.Voigt lets the student write the blog with her, judging from some of the lines in the posts. Also most of the post have every students name in each post. This is a good was to keep track of the year better than a lesson plan.

Comment:
Hello Mrs. Voigt and Mrs. Farrington's Kindergarten class. My name is Brooke McQuillan and I was assigned my my teacher to explore your blog. I must say that I enjoyed it very much. It looks like you all have learned a lot this year and have had fun along the way. Well keep up the good work and stay out of trouble!
Thanks for sharing.
brookemcquillanedm310.blogspot.com

H.W Feb 28

2010-02-28T19:27:00.003-06:00

Richard Miller: This is How We Dream
Richard Millers's film was very interesting. He began the film by talking about how literate was written in books and put into libraries. All of the worlds information is in books and libraries. From there he began to talk about the technology of today. Today we use laptops and the web to instantly find what you are looking for.
Miller spoke about a specific report he wrote using the web and said he did without stepping foot in a library. Government documents are also on the web for easy access to any and everyone. Collaborate with images and film and sound and document, not just with print. Also, links can be a added for love footage. Using ITunes and finding educational stories is a great way to get a message out there or to find a specific message.

Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student
This film was a very interesting vodcast. I would enjoy doing a film like this as a project. This film was about a student in a connectivism class. He is studying American Phycology and does not own a book. The film was based on the fact that the students make connections with others and expand their "connective network".
The students build personal learning networks just as we are doing. Through ITunes, the student has downloaded lectures from courses. The network students need a teacher to guide him through his journey.

Michael Wesch: "Toward A New Future of Whatever"
Michael began his speak talking about media ecology. He defined media ecology as not just tools, the media mediate our conversation and the media delegate who says what and when. He spoke about cultural changes in the media as well. One quote from his speak I remember was "a 30 second commercial can define our culture".
Then he moved into culture of today. The MTV generation, the Real-World generation, and American Idol. All of these pop culture TV shows shape the community. Book-generation me states that a child in this generation grows to think that they are an american idol and when they find out they aren't, they are shocked.
The "one world" you tube video was really awesome. I enjoyed watching everyones message that they wrote one their hands. I believe that video is a strong message to the world. This video be Michael Wesch was very educational. I learned a lot and I have saved the link for future references.

Comments for Teachers (Week 7,8,9)

2010-02-28T19:03:00.006-06:00

Week7
Hello Scott Jelias, My name is Brooke McQuillan. I was assigned to read your blog by my teacher. This post got my attention. I think that giving high school students some incite into what they are to expect might ready their minds more. Being considerate of your digital footprint is a good step. Facebook and Twitter are good “social networks”, but in other cases have been know to get some in more trouble than expected. Giving back will always be one of the things at the top of my list. You never know what you might need from a friend the next day! Finding things you are passionate about is also a big thing I agree with. I loved this post. Thank you for sharing.
edm310.blogspot.com (our class blog)
brookemcquillanedm310.blogspot.com (my blog)

Week8
Hello Jelias, this is Brooke again. I also enjoyed this post because personally I do feel like I am creative. I am a education major at South Alabama and in most of my classes we have touched on the topic of be creative during our first year of teaching. I feel up like I am up for the challenge of balancing the curriculum and engorging my class to open their minds and let them wonder. Thank you for sharing.

Week9
Hello again Jelias, This is Brooke McQuillan. I am amazed by this story. My opinion on this would be to cut of the internet connection for a few days and get you all back to the basics. Sounds to me like everyone is relying on Mr.Internet a little to much! Don’t get me wrong, I use the internet just as much as the next person but it’s not what we should be relying on.
You said “What better opportunity to make sure students have the interpersonal, social tool they need to collaborate with people who happen to be in the same room.” Isn’t that partly what school is about, building social skills?

Comment for kids (week 6)

2010-02-21T18:31:00.002-06:00

Brooklyn was the cutest little girl. Her podcast was very short and I could not understand everything she said. Although, I did here she say that she likes ice cream. In my comment I told her that I defiantly agree with that. I also encouraged her to keep up the good work in school and to always do her homework.

Comment for kids (week 5)

2010-02-21T18:15:00.002-06:00

My child's name was Liam. His story was about a spider biting him and the venom was taking over his body. He spoke about the colors and gave great detail about ever aspect of the day he was biting by the spider. He kind of made it a scary story. In my comment I told Liam hi had a very vivid and expressive imagination. I also told him to keep the good work and stay in school.

Comment for kids (week 4)

2010-02-21T18:04:00.002-06:00

In the comment to the Avoca West School children, my child name was George. He told a story about winter. He spoke about how much he loved the snow and Christmas. In my comment I told George that I also love the snow and Christmas. Although, that I live in mobile and that I do not get to see a lot of it.

H.W Feb 21

2010-02-21T17:21:00.002-06:00

Alice Christie's website had many different links that would be very helpful for a new teacher. One link was for different workshops that you could browse through. One of the workshops was for using Google Earth. I looked over that site because I have no idea how to use Google Earth.
Another link was for editing photos. She had many different examples of pictures she had already edited. Another link was for Podcasts resources. Many of the resources were from podcast in the classroom and podcasts from education. This website will be very helpful in the future.
ITunesU-
ITunesU is a great place to find podcast to play in the classroom. Adding podcasts to lesson plans is a good way to keep the childrens attention in the classroom. For example, this month is black his history month and there are many different podcasts on ITunesU that would be great to add to a lesson plan.
IPod-
I did not fully understand the Ipod instruction assignment. Although, I did look up a few Ipod review and all of them were very good. All of the consumers were very satisfied with their product.

It Takes 2

2010-02-17T18:11:00.001-06:00

H.W Feb 14

2010-02-14T12:26:00.003-06:00

Wikipedia
In my opinion, Wikipedia has never been a trusted source of information. Professors have never promitted using Wikipedia when writing papers. How could someone possible trust an encyclopedia that can be edited be anyone. I was not aware of the IP tracker that was added to Wikipedia. Having this tracker and the IP addresses published on the web for everyone to see should cut down on people editing information Wikipedia. The gentleman from wired magazine stated that they think Wikipedia holds 100 times the information with 85% the accuracy.

As far as when Wikipedia can be trusted again. I have never trusted Wikipedia,so how could I begin to trust them. When the developers of Wikipedia were creating the "free encyclopedia" who knows what they were thinking. Therefore, these problems should all fall into their hands. They should know that their targeted audience (students) do not use their source because it is not reliable.

Mr.McClung
Mr.McClung's blog was very inspiring. It made me look forward to my first year of teaching. There were many memorable things from McClung's blog that I would love to quote. One was that "no lesson is ever perfect, the lesson you teach and the one you plan are always different". I have heard this statement before so I know it must be true! Another quote was "our job as teachers is to pick them up after they fail , dust them off, and encourage them to try again." I truly believe in this statement.
McClung also spoke about teachers doing everything but begging our students to learn yet we refuse to grow as professional educators. I want to say that when I become an educator I will keep my mind open for opportunity. I also want to learn from my student and not just teach them.

H.W for Feb. 7

2010-02-06T16:56:00.004-06:00

On of the Very first thing the man stated was that we are now teaching a group of students called the millenials. These students were born in a time were when technology was growing. They never new life without a cell phone of a computer. Our children could not survive without their I pods and and laptops. This podcast was about the advantage of podcasts in the classroom. The greatest advantage I saw was for when children are sick and miss school.

Having a class blog and posting all assignments on the blog will help with students falling behind from missed classes. Also showing the blogs in class really keep the students attention in class and help to teach the lesson if other than using a smart board. The students stated what they thought about having podcasts assessable in their classroom and they all were very positive statements. One students said she even listens to podcast on her iPod at home.

H.W. for Jan. 31

2010-02-06T16:05:00.004-06:00

First of all I would like to apologize for my post for January 31 being a week late. However, I am having a problem with my iTunes playing the video for my podcast. Although, it is playing the audio. So I am going to try to do the post anyway.

Smart Board Lesson Podcast
As I began listening to the Smart Board Lesson Podcast he was talking about having a conference with another with another class and sharing your smart board lesson plans. I though that could be interesting. Smart board lesson plans can be set up and saved in advance for substitutes or teacher conferences. Although I was very distracted by the man ordering his coffee. It was odd.

Kidcast
This Sounded very fun and exciting. I wish I could I have seen it. He was speaking about video podcast. I thought he was very well rehearsed and argued point very well. Those two points are the most important factors in making a video podcast. Along with having good information and good visual aspects. I enjoyed all of these podcast very much. I look forward to making one of my own. I plan on being very well rehearses and setting up all of my in formation before hand.

Using ITunes is a great way to add excitement in the classroom. A video can always be added to a lesson plan to make in more fun. This would be a great way be keep the kids attention rather than just speaking to them in front of the smart board. Also on ITunesU you can look up other class lecture to show in your class to let your student know what other student are doing around the world.

H.W. Jan 24

2010-01-24T18:18:00.008-06:00

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today.
This short film was very true. I could hold up almost half of the signs the students in that class were holding up. I believe every student will be in debt from the cost of books and tuition. The fact that most of us are on our facebooks and e-mails more than reading our textbooks or doing our homework is surprisingly the ugly truth. The last girl's sign needs to be known by all teachers. It is very true that we are bringing our lap tops to class, but we are definably not taking notes on them. "Some have suggested that technology alone can save us", this quote in my opinion is false.

Technology has the potential in the future to completely ruin our youth. For example, think about this. Would you rather watch your child sit on his computer chating with his friend on Skype or Facebook; or would you rather watch him playing outside with his friends and riding his bike. Although I do see all the benefits of technology for school and for us as teachers although we are beginning to teach our children to soon and it's taking away their youth to soon. click here to watch video

Kelly Hines: "It's Not About the Technology
I have to say that I completely agree with Kelly. I have always been a learner and I will carry that with me as I teach. I strive to be a educational learner and teacher. Inspiring my students to help and to show me the best way to teach them is one of the most important aspect of my classroom. Technology in this equation is vital. For students, that is their motivation. Going into the classroom knowing that gives many teachers the upper hang.(if they do know that) I will embrace the technology I have been given and also grow and learn up and coming technology so that my students do not fall behind because of me!!click here to view web page

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay To Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
I really enjoyed Mr.Fisches blog. I like that he expresses his mind and got right to the point on a lot of topics. I agree with most of the things he stated. However I do not know enough about the immigration and natives he spoke about to comments on them. I hope to one day learn as much as I can and to have as much success in my blog as Mr.Fisch has.click here to view blog

Gary Hayes: Social Media Count
As i watched the count for about 10 minutes, the largest media net that continued to increase was "e-mails sent globally" which was most shocking. I would assume that most of the older users use e-mail. I was hoping to see more blog post or internet users. For me and my future I see the doorway of communication opening up to me and my students and for parents. There will not only be e-mails and phone calls, but also Skype, and class blogs. There will be so much more to offer my students with all of the technological advances in the future.click here to watch count

H.W. jan 17

2010-01-16T23:53:00.006-06:00

Did you know by Karl Fisch.
This was very shocking information. Most of this I did not realize. It definitely makes you understand how far we have come, but also how much faster we are moving forward. In ways it is sad to see the good old american tradition fly out of the window, and in other ways it is exciting to wonder what the future holds.click here to watch film
Mr.Winkle Wakes by Matthew Needleman
In this film Mr.Winkle is an old man that woke up after an 100 year nap. When he woke he found that the world was very different. There were computers and printer in offices and there was machines and lasers in a hospital. All of these things made Mr.Winkles very upset and he longed for something familiar. When he went to a school that is exactly what he found. It was just as he remembered. Although there was one old computer in the back of a class. I think that this short film was saying that some schools are falling behind with their technology and I agree. I think that children are beginning to learn at home on their computes and by the television, then, when they get to school we put paper and pencils in front of then and they don't understand. Schools need to keep up with the technology of the generation they are teaching.click here to watch film
Harness your students' Digital smarts by Vicki Dawls
This film was about a class very similar to ours. The class was learning lots of things similar to what we will be learning this semester. The students were very involved with the projects in the class and with interacting with students around the world. The teacher was very excited to be teaching the students as well inspiring them to do more. I strive to be that type of teacher.click here to watch film
The Importance of Creativity by Sir Ken Robinson
This was my favorite video of the four. It really opened my eyes to see the way our schools look at education. School are educating children for the future and we do not even know what that future holds. Ken Robinson said that if you are not prepared to be wrong then you will never come up with anything creative. Kids are scared to be wrong. School are teaching the basics math and english courses more than arts and dance classes. This is taking away from our children's' creativity. Picasso said the all children are born artists and they grow out of it, or they are educated out of it. This is truly sad. In universities students are getting degree to get jobs for there future and when they graduate they find out that the job the strived for requires a further degree. I completely agree with this short film and It has made me change they way I plan to educate my students in my classroom. I will strive to inspire the creative part of their brain and not just test them on material. We might not see the future but we are educating the people who will! Some very interesting quotes I would like to mention are; "If a man speaks his mind in a forest and no women heres him, is he still wrong?", "If all the insects in the world were wiped out, in 50 years, all life on earth would be wiped out. If all humans were wiped out, in 50 years, all life on earth would flourish".
click here to watch film

new picture

2010-01-16T22:48:00.004-06:00

This is a picture of Michael Angelo's famous painting, "the creation of man"

New picture

2010-01-16T22:28:00.002-06:00

This is a picture of me!

Link to Facebook

2010-01-16T22:25:00.002-06:00

This is the link to Facebook.click here

First Post

2010-01-13T19:01:00.000-06:00

Well, this is my first post! I guess I'm a blogger now!