My EDM 310 Blog Assignments
My blog assignments are now complete. I truly enjoyed this class and learning so many new things about technology. I know many of you are just starting out as teachers and I want to say that you have chosen a wonderful profession. However, this is a career that can be so frustrating and so rewarding at the same time. There will be times when you feel that your students do not care and you are not getting through to them. However, never doubt that you are having an impact on students and their futures. It may not be evident at the time, but believe me, you are. Blessing to each of you as you walk this path as an educator of children.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
EDM 310
I learned so many things in this class. I have been out of the classroom for almost 13 years now and technology has changed tremendously. When I walked out of my classroom of ten years, I left behind a plain white board and an overhead projector. Now ready to walk back in to the classroom, I find SMART boards, computerized overheads, computers for every student, and cameras for distance learning. It is truly amazing how much has changed. I already knew programs such as Excel and Word, but blogging was new to me and I enjoyed learning how to set up and use a blog. iGoogle is another thing I enjoyed learning how to use. I know that I will implement these items into my teaching. Now that I have taken this class, I feel much more prepared to walk back into the classroom.
I learned so many things in this class. I have been out of the classroom for almost 13 years now and technology has changed tremendously. When I walked out of my classroom of ten years, I left behind a plain white board and an overhead projector. Now ready to walk back in to the classroom, I find SMART boards, computerized overheads, computers for every student, and cameras for distance learning. It is truly amazing how much has changed. I already knew programs such as Excel and Word, but blogging was new to me and I enjoyed learning how to set up and use a blog. iGoogle is another thing I enjoyed learning how to use. I know that I will implement these items into my teaching. Now that I have taken this class, I feel much more prepared to walk back into the classroom.
Electronic Contact
My electronic contact was Becky York, a 5th grade teacher at Sanford Middle School in Lee County, Alabama. Mrs. York teaches Language Arts and math. I asked Mrs. York what kind of technology she uses in her classroom. She explained that she has four computers in her classroom. With these computers she is able to use the Accelerated Reading Program and STAR Math. She also uses a website for the spelling and vocabulary for their reading series. She also uses many different websites to enrich learning with whatever topic she may be teaching at the time.
Mrs. York is a strong believer of technology enhancing leaning. In her Language Arts classes students have a blog site for journaling. She believes that her students enjoy blogging instead of using notebooks for journaling. All of Mrs. York’s students take keyboarding class. She feels that her class also helps her students practice their keyboarding skills. She knows that these technology skills are very important.
I feel there is no limit to how technology can be used in the classroom. There is so much available for teachers to use now days. I hope to be able to really incorporate the things I have learned from this class into my classroom. This is such a great way to help students stay focused and engaged in learning. So much of today’s culture is wrapped up in technology. For students to learn these skills early is very important.
My electronic contact was Becky York, a 5th grade teacher at Sanford Middle School in Lee County, Alabama. Mrs. York teaches Language Arts and math. I asked Mrs. York what kind of technology she uses in her classroom. She explained that she has four computers in her classroom. With these computers she is able to use the Accelerated Reading Program and STAR Math. She also uses a website for the spelling and vocabulary for their reading series. She also uses many different websites to enrich learning with whatever topic she may be teaching at the time.
Mrs. York is a strong believer of technology enhancing leaning. In her Language Arts classes students have a blog site for journaling. She believes that her students enjoy blogging instead of using notebooks for journaling. All of Mrs. York’s students take keyboarding class. She feels that her class also helps her students practice their keyboarding skills. She knows that these technology skills are very important.
I feel there is no limit to how technology can be used in the classroom. There is so much available for teachers to use now days. I hope to be able to really incorporate the things I have learned from this class into my classroom. This is such a great way to help students stay focused and engaged in learning. So much of today’s culture is wrapped up in technology. For students to learn these skills early is very important.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Visiting Daphne High School ACCESS Lab
I visited the ACCESS lab at Daphne High School. Their lab was located in newest addition to the school. This building has once been a church and the high school was able to purchase this property which allowed them to have the space for this lab. John Roh heads up the ACCESS lab at Daphne and he gave us a grand tour by demonstrating the technology in the lab.
The room was set up with rows on rectangular tables and chairs. There was a white board on the right wall of the room and a promethean board in the front of the class. Also, there was a camera suspended from the ceiling and a large desk in the front of the room with laptop. In the back of the room was a storage closet where 24 student laptops are stored.
This is such as awesome form of technology. A student getting the opportunity to take subjects that are not taught at his high schools is so important. Especially if these students are college bound and need the subject to help them prepare for their major. For example if a student wants to major in engineering but can only take up to Pre-Cal then that is a problem when he goes to college. He will have needed to take Calculus also or else he will be playing catch up his freshman math classes. With the ACCESS lab and distance learning available it is possible for students to get the classes needed. However, there are problems that can arise with scheduling. Mr. Roh explained that bell schedules do not always match with other schools and sometimes breaks do not either such as spring break and Christmas break. These are some of the issues that must be worked out when using this program.
Mr. Roh showed us how to use the promethean board and how a teacher can go online and pull up a lesson on a particular topic for her subject area and grade level. This can really get a student’s attention and keep him focused. Mr. Roh also showed us the website for his distance learning class AP Biology. He is teaching students that are in a small high school in north Alabama. He showed us how the site worked and how he goes in and checks on the student’s progress. However there are a few problems with this also. The lessons are all located online and will refer to particular websites. Sometimes when students go to these websites, they are no longer active. This creates a problem because quizzes and test questions come from these websites. For the most part, the opportunity to use this technology is so beneficial for students and I believe as time passes, these problems will be resolved and more and more students will be using the ACCESS lab.
The room was set up with rows on rectangular tables and chairs. There was a white board on the right wall of the room and a promethean board in the front of the class. Also, there was a camera suspended from the ceiling and a large desk in the front of the room with laptop. In the back of the room was a storage closet where 24 student laptops are stored.
This is such as awesome form of technology. A student getting the opportunity to take subjects that are not taught at his high schools is so important. Especially if these students are college bound and need the subject to help them prepare for their major. For example if a student wants to major in engineering but can only take up to Pre-Cal then that is a problem when he goes to college. He will have needed to take Calculus also or else he will be playing catch up his freshman math classes. With the ACCESS lab and distance learning available it is possible for students to get the classes needed. However, there are problems that can arise with scheduling. Mr. Roh explained that bell schedules do not always match with other schools and sometimes breaks do not either such as spring break and Christmas break. These are some of the issues that must be worked out when using this program.
Mr. Roh showed us how to use the promethean board and how a teacher can go online and pull up a lesson on a particular topic for her subject area and grade level. This can really get a student’s attention and keep him focused. Mr. Roh also showed us the website for his distance learning class AP Biology. He is teaching students that are in a small high school in north Alabama. He showed us how the site worked and how he goes in and checks on the student’s progress. However there are a few problems with this also. The lessons are all located online and will refer to particular websites. Sometimes when students go to these websites, they are no longer active. This creates a problem because quizzes and test questions come from these websites. For the most part, the opportunity to use this technology is so beneficial for students and I believe as time passes, these problems will be resolved and more and more students will be using the ACCESS lab.
"The Edible School Yard" and "A Night in the Global Village"
The first podcast I listen to was “The Edible School Yard.” This podcast was recorded at the Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkley, California. In this video podcast a garden is the center of learning. Middle school students are not just sitting at a desk and doing worksheets to learn math and science but outside doing “hands on” activities. Students work in their garden growing food then learn to cook the food they have grown. These students are not only learning about the water cycle and the stages of plant life but life skills. This is a great example of “hands on” leaning.
The second podcast I listen to was “A Night in the Global Village.” This video podcast was recorded at Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. In this podcast students and teachers are given the chance to experience life as someone who must deal with poverty.
Heifer Ranch is set up to close resemble life in third world countries such as Guatemala, and Zambia. Students and teachers visit these campsites and spend time there learning to survive on the minimal resources they are given. They learn to trade resources for resources. Later everyone is given a time to express how this experience has affected them.
I loved these podcasts because it took learning outside the classroom and dealt with real life issues. I believe when students can really get their “hands dirty” in learning it is an awesome experience. In both of these podcasts that is exactly what the students were being able to do. The life lessons they gained were extremely valuable. Teachers need to constantly be looking for ways to do this.
Podcasts are such a great technology tool for the classroom today. Just being able to show these podcasts to students in the classroom is a great idea. This would even give students any opportunity to think of other ways to get out of the classroom to learn. I plan to use this type of technology in the future in my classroom. I am anxious to see what my own students would come up with.
The first podcast I listen to was “The Edible School Yard.” This podcast was recorded at the Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkley, California. In this video podcast a garden is the center of learning. Middle school students are not just sitting at a desk and doing worksheets to learn math and science but outside doing “hands on” activities. Students work in their garden growing food then learn to cook the food they have grown. These students are not only learning about the water cycle and the stages of plant life but life skills. This is a great example of “hands on” leaning.
The second podcast I listen to was “A Night in the Global Village.” This video podcast was recorded at Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. In this podcast students and teachers are given the chance to experience life as someone who must deal with poverty.
Heifer Ranch is set up to close resemble life in third world countries such as Guatemala, and Zambia. Students and teachers visit these campsites and spend time there learning to survive on the minimal resources they are given. They learn to trade resources for resources. Later everyone is given a time to express how this experience has affected them.
I loved these podcasts because it took learning outside the classroom and dealt with real life issues. I believe when students can really get their “hands dirty” in learning it is an awesome experience. In both of these podcasts that is exactly what the students were being able to do. The life lessons they gained were extremely valuable. Teachers need to constantly be looking for ways to do this.
Podcasts are such a great technology tool for the classroom today. Just being able to show these podcasts to students in the classroom is a great idea. This would even give students any opportunity to think of other ways to get out of the classroom to learn. I plan to use this type of technology in the future in my classroom. I am anxious to see what my own students would come up with.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Blogging
I have learned so much in this class this semester and learning what and how to blog is one of the things I have found to be very useful. I knew what blogs were and have many friends who are bloggers but had never really thought about it being a useful tool in the classroom. I know for me this is just a different way of journaling thoughts and ideas which is something I always had my students do in my class. However what makes blogging more interesting is it can be share with so many others. Not just others in the same class, but other classes in other schools in other parts of not only the state or country but the world. What an awesome opportunity students have today to have the ability to do this.
Blogging have so many advantages. First it gets the students thinking and putting his or hers ideas in words. Students really seem to connect more to a computer than to just pen and paper. Teachers can use blogs to not only get students to answer and discuss particular topics but also have class discussions with other classes studying the same thing. For example as an English teacher, my students always had a novel to be reading. I love the idea of having my students blogging about the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This is a piece of southern literature that students from another part of the country may have differing opinions about the book than my students here in the South. How great is it that my students could discuss this with a class of students from somewhere in the north or Midwest part of the country.
The only thing I can think of as a minus or disadvantage to blogging would be some students being more reluctant to share their thoughts or ideas because it is “out there” for everyone to see and read. This could be quite intimidating for students who tend to be on the shy side. I remember when teaching and I would ask students to journal about a certain topic. I was almost always asked the question if anyone besides me would be reading their journal or if I would be reading it aloud to the class. It may seem strange that high school students would be this shy or insecure, but it does happen.
I read Briana Browder’s class blog and thought she did an excellent job with all the topics. Each one was well researched and well written. One of the things that she had mentioned in her blog on International Blogs was the use of Skype. This is another great technology tool. I have used Skype in communicating with my sister who lives in Barcelona, Spain. I had never thought about it being used in the classroom as a technology tool to communicate with other students. I think all of us have learned a great deal about technology in the classroom and are now better prepared to incorporate it in with our teaching styles.
I have learned so much in this class this semester and learning what and how to blog is one of the things I have found to be very useful. I knew what blogs were and have many friends who are bloggers but had never really thought about it being a useful tool in the classroom. I know for me this is just a different way of journaling thoughts and ideas which is something I always had my students do in my class. However what makes blogging more interesting is it can be share with so many others. Not just others in the same class, but other classes in other schools in other parts of not only the state or country but the world. What an awesome opportunity students have today to have the ability to do this.
Blogging have so many advantages. First it gets the students thinking and putting his or hers ideas in words. Students really seem to connect more to a computer than to just pen and paper. Teachers can use blogs to not only get students to answer and discuss particular topics but also have class discussions with other classes studying the same thing. For example as an English teacher, my students always had a novel to be reading. I love the idea of having my students blogging about the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This is a piece of southern literature that students from another part of the country may have differing opinions about the book than my students here in the South. How great is it that my students could discuss this with a class of students from somewhere in the north or Midwest part of the country.
The only thing I can think of as a minus or disadvantage to blogging would be some students being more reluctant to share their thoughts or ideas because it is “out there” for everyone to see and read. This could be quite intimidating for students who tend to be on the shy side. I remember when teaching and I would ask students to journal about a certain topic. I was almost always asked the question if anyone besides me would be reading their journal or if I would be reading it aloud to the class. It may seem strange that high school students would be this shy or insecure, but it does happen.
I read Briana Browder’s class blog and thought she did an excellent job with all the topics. Each one was well researched and well written. One of the things that she had mentioned in her blog on International Blogs was the use of Skype. This is another great technology tool. I have used Skype in communicating with my sister who lives in Barcelona, Spain. I had never thought about it being used in the classroom as a technology tool to communicate with other students. I think all of us have learned a great deal about technology in the classroom and are now better prepared to incorporate it in with our teaching styles.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Podcasts from EDM 310
The first podcast I listened to was “Burp Back Education: How It Can Be Eliminated” by Nikki Hunter, Christi Turner and Tiffany Blocker. They begin by explaining “burp back” education and what that means. This is a technique that teachers have used for years in the classroom. The teacher lectures or uses handouts for students to basically memorize and then later be tested on this material. It has been shown through research that students do not retain this information for very long. It is stored in short term memory and is soon forgotten after being tested. Their suggestions that are discussed are using alternative ways of presenting the information through games or other interactive activities. Using different speakers in the classroom is also suggested. These are ways that students can focus in on what is being taught instead of just memorizing the information. Most teachers are aware that this is not the best way to teach, however, with the growing pressure of standardized testing; sometimes there is not enough time to use the alternative methods which are more time consuming.
The second podcast I listened to was ACCESS Distance Learning: A Work in Progress by Henryetta Alexander, April Jones and Ashley Reed. They begin by explaining What ACCESS which is a website that connects all Alabama high school statewide. This is a way for students to be able to take courses that are not available at their school because of the lack of certified teachers. These are courses for advanced students who are seeking courses in dual enrollment and advanced placement. This is one way of getting 9th grade students on the college track and helping them stay there. This also provides a way for students to better individualize their education. Students do not need to feel limited because there school does not offer what they need for college. ACCESS has also added courses for remedial students. These students can take a basic reading class and not feel pressure from a teacher or other students. This can help these students “catch up.”
Both of these podcasts were well done. The students researched their topics and seemed very knowledgeable. They were interesting and kept my attention while listening. I did notice that there were some pauses that probably could have been avoided and the use of “um” and “and um.” When recording a podcast, I do not even think you are aware of how many times this can happen. Also making sure you are using a conversational tone instead of sounding like you are reading off the page. The only other suggestion I could make would be to be careful about pronouncing certain words such as “thing” sounding like “thang.” Overall, I think both podcasts were good.
The first podcast I listened to was “Burp Back Education: How It Can Be Eliminated” by Nikki Hunter, Christi Turner and Tiffany Blocker. They begin by explaining “burp back” education and what that means. This is a technique that teachers have used for years in the classroom. The teacher lectures or uses handouts for students to basically memorize and then later be tested on this material. It has been shown through research that students do not retain this information for very long. It is stored in short term memory and is soon forgotten after being tested. Their suggestions that are discussed are using alternative ways of presenting the information through games or other interactive activities. Using different speakers in the classroom is also suggested. These are ways that students can focus in on what is being taught instead of just memorizing the information. Most teachers are aware that this is not the best way to teach, however, with the growing pressure of standardized testing; sometimes there is not enough time to use the alternative methods which are more time consuming.
The second podcast I listened to was ACCESS Distance Learning: A Work in Progress by Henryetta Alexander, April Jones and Ashley Reed. They begin by explaining What ACCESS which is a website that connects all Alabama high school statewide. This is a way for students to be able to take courses that are not available at their school because of the lack of certified teachers. These are courses for advanced students who are seeking courses in dual enrollment and advanced placement. This is one way of getting 9th grade students on the college track and helping them stay there. This also provides a way for students to better individualize their education. Students do not need to feel limited because there school does not offer what they need for college. ACCESS has also added courses for remedial students. These students can take a basic reading class and not feel pressure from a teacher or other students. This can help these students “catch up.”
Both of these podcasts were well done. The students researched their topics and seemed very knowledgeable. They were interesting and kept my attention while listening. I did notice that there were some pauses that probably could have been avoided and the use of “um” and “and um.” When recording a podcast, I do not even think you are aware of how many times this can happen. Also making sure you are using a conversational tone instead of sounding like you are reading off the page. The only other suggestion I could make would be to be careful about pronouncing certain words such as “thing” sounding like “thang.” Overall, I think both podcasts were good.
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Mr. C's fifth grade class
