Reflection of Course

I really enjoyed EDM310. Before I took EDM310, I did not know what a blog was. I now have two blogs, a class blog and a professional blog. When I start teaching I plan on using a class blog for announcements, assignments, and parent reminders. I really liked doing the blog reading assignments it helped me to venture outside what I normally read. The class discussions about the blog reading assignments were extremely helpful because of the different views people had. I liked the Google Presentation we did too! It was very interesting to learn about my classmates. I did not like doing the Pod cast it was very tedious and time consuming. Overall I really enjoyed this class. I have a better knowledge of Google and a lot of information to take with me that can be used in the classroom.

Twitter

I am not interested in using Twitter. I suppose if I had a lot of free time and no life I could use Twitter to follow my friends. The only way Twitter would serve as a positive tool is if one lived all alone, far away from their family. It would be a great way to overcome loneliness. As a teacher I don't see a need for Twitter because I would want a private life outside the classroom.

About Me

I am a full time student at the University of South Alabama. I am working on my Batchlor's degree in Elementary Education. I hope to eventually receive a Master's Degree in counseling.

Podcasts

I listened to several educational pod casts. I found them very interesting. The pod casts had neat sound effects. The casts are also very informative.

The first podcast I listened to was Smart Board Lessons with Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. It had music in the background and cool sound effect.

The second podcast I listened to was KidCast #59. This podcast contained some neat ideas about how to use pod casting in the classroom. It suggested giving students a copy of a podcast and letting them edit it. The cast suggested allowing students to pause the cast and put their opinions in.

The next podcast I listened to was ProQuest. This cast contained very useful information about investigating articles on the web. This cast taught me to investigate due to biased informational groups that put information the web. Instead of sending students to the web it is better to send them to Textbook on the Internet.

The final cast I listened to was Macbreak its a great show with guys talking about technology. My overall experience listening to the pod casts was very informative. I subscribed to two pod casts.

http://greenschool.org/
Wow! Someone in the class suggested that everone check the Green School out and I am really glad I did. The school is made out of bamboo and has mud walls. It seems really neat! I would love to teach there.

International School

http://shurenschool.wordpress.com/
The Shu Ren International school has a blog with announcements. The Shu Ren school posted an invitation to celebrate the year of the Ox. The school put a reminder about receiving a discount for early registration. The school is now on Facebook too.

A Teacher's Blog

http://blogs.glnd.k12.va.us/teachers/mfinsterwald/
Mrs. Finsterwald,a fourth grade teacher uses her blog for class announcements. She posts the spelling words for the week. She also has a reminder about when yearbook orders are due. Her blog even has a reminder about the Valentines Day party.

A Teacher's Blog

http://learningwithimpact.blogspot.com/2009/02/monday-metaphor-shrapnel.html
The blog I read was posted by a teacher with a bad temper. He lost his cool with the class. He felt really bad after he lost his temper and apologized. The man said that the experience humbled him and the apology made the class closer to him.

G Drive

I think the G drive will be a great gadget. Last year my computer crashed and I lost all my information that was stored to my computer. If I had the G drive it wouldn't have been a big deal because the information wouldn't have been stored on my PC. Every year new inventions replace old ones as technology increases.

Is Google Changing The Way I Think?

I think the article is ridiculous because Google helps you find information very quickly. Facebook and Myspace could make you feel like you are loosing your identity. But I can't see how google could change the way you think or make you lose your attention span. I feel like Nick Carr might be suffering from adult ADD and blaming it on Google is a cop out excuse.

Today I looked at the ACCESS website. ACCESS is an acronym for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators & Students Statewide. The reason for ACCESS is to provide equal access to high quality instruction that will improve improve student achievement through distance learing opportunities.

There are definately some pros and cons with ACCESS. The major pro is that everyone gets a good education. Some rural schools can't offer Advanced Diploma, which is required by state law and ACCESS allows the rural school to offer it. A con is that there isn't a teacher in the class to help with hands on activities. The teacher will usually respond later through an email. There are definately more pros than cons. ACCESS allows rural students to take classes such as physics, calculus, and trigonometry. Therefore, ACCESS is accomplishing their goal, which is to provide additional educational offerings for all Alabama public highschool students.

The ALEX Website

Today I explored the ALEX website. It is the Alabama Learning Exchange. It is a very professional website where students and teachers can improve their teaching skills and exchange ideas. The ALEX website also has neat ideas posted by teachers for fun activities to do in the classroom. The website even contains lesson plans, that could be very helpful if you are ever out of ideas.

When you log onto ALEX there are seven boxes you can click on. The first box, courses of study, has grades K-12's standards for learning. The second box, web links, is organized into categories by subjects. When you click on a subject fun activities appear to help with curriculum. The third box, lesson plans, allows you to pick lesson plans by subject. The fourth box, search personal workspace, is a place where teachers can log on and do work. The fifth box, professional learning, contains websites for professional development opportunities. The sixth box, distance learning, takes you to the ACCESS website. The final box, help, will take you through the process of setting up an ALEX account. Although an account isn't necessary to view the website. I would highly reccomend this this website to anyone in the education field. It is great!

The

Hi. I set up my blog!