Farewell......

Well it's that time of the year again; where everyone heads home for break. I enjoyed this class, and I hope everybody has a Merry Christmas!!!
Goodbye.. until next year.....

Podcast....

This podcast was made possible by Dillon Rogers, Autumn Wiggins, Kimberly Gilley, and me. It's called What If technology Lost It's Patience and Left Us?
The title pretty much explains it all.
Click here to watch our podcast.

Apples For Teachers-Project 11.

This project was made possible by Dillon Rogers, Autumn Wiggins, and me. We decided to do this project based on the idea that Iphones should be allowed in the classroom for educational purposes. The phone has several applications that could be very valuable for teachers to use.
Click here to watch our video.

Comment4Kids...

This project has been an eye opener of how kids are really getting into technology. Seeing children develop their blogs,and posting their projects was pretty cool. I enjoyed giving positive encouragement to all of these kids. You can tell that they work so hard on these assignments, and that they enjoy making the posts. A few examples that I have are Rising Stars Room 12&13, RBS 4th Grade Blog, and a fifth grade class blog.
The Rising Stars had a group of children who made a Gingerbread story. It was really cool how they narrated the animation.
I posted a comment on one of the boy's post on RBS. His post was about one of vacations to Wyoming, and how he went hunting. It was adorable.
The Fifth grade class blog was just getting started. This was the first time for the kids to start blogging.
Overall, this project was a lot of fun!

My PLN...

Well, let's just say my PLN is a work in progress. I'm new to a lot of this stuff so I haven't got a big list yet.However, I fully intend to continue building my network even after this class is over. One blog that I follow is At The Teacher's Desk. This is probably one of my favorite blogs. I think it's great that teachers can contribute their ideas or stories. It gives you a different point of view, and is helpful for all teachers. Another blog that I follow is Dear Kaia. She is the cutest little girl,and it's wonderful that her dad keeps up with her blog. Room 10 @ Pt. England school is another blog I follow. The kids posting their projects online is amazing. It makes me wish that we would have had something like that when I was a little kid. Mr. McClung's blog is also in my PLN. He seems like a pretty cool teacher who really cares about his students. I'm just going to keep on learning, and hopefully I will be able to add others to my PLN. All of this was possible due to the weekly assignments Dr. Strange gave us. I will definitely keep up with them,and find more that I want to join.

EDM Fall 2009 Semester

1.It's the end of the semester, and it's time to reflect on all I have learned. This has been a great course, and I think I have learned more in this class than any other.One thing I have learned is that blogging is great way to share ideas, and communicate with others. I didn't know anything about blogs before this class, and know I've found it to be an amazing tool. I feel like my professional blog will be useful in the future when I'm applying for a teaching position. Also, I think that I will have my students set up their own personal blogs because I know how much they can learn from having one. Wikis are pretty cool. I like that members of the wiki can add information to any topic. I'm not sure that I would use it though because it charges a fee. The presentations that we did in class were interesting. However, I'm not a big fan of talking about myself, Project 2, so I didn't really enjoy putting it together. I did enjoy hearing others give their presentations, and I feel that this will be useful in my classroom. It will help the students develop their public speaking skills.
Google Docs is amazing! I didn't realize how many ways you could use Google until this class. This will definitely be used in my classroom, and it I love that it is multifunctional. The Google spreadsheet and forms is another great tool to use in the class. Picasa is a great tool for pictures. I found this very useful when I was making my google presentation. The podcasts and videocasts were probably my favorite projects in the class. I really enjoyed getting to learn how to do those, and I was in a great group. I think these can be the most effective in the classroom because it's something that will get your attention.
Youtube was nothing new to me because I watch videos on it all the time. I think it's a great way to communicate with others because so many people watch Youtube.
I think my favorite post that I read was Mr. McClung's first year of teaching. It was very encouraging, and is helpful to all of those who are going into the teaching profession.
My PLN is still very small, but I have hope that it will continue to grow in the future. Twitter is really great, and I just created an account.
Comment4Kids is another thing that I enjoyed doing. It's great that these children are getting the opportunity to post their work online.
I use itunes all the time to download music, but I had never taken the time to look at itunes U. This is great for students who want to know what is going on in the classroom, and offers all kind of information. This is definitely the wave of the future. As far as accessibility issues; I do believe that some students just can't afford a computer/internet. That will definitely be a problem in the future if everything is placed on the computer. At this point, I'm not sure what the answer is.
We didn't cover much about Google Earth, but I do think that is great especially for a geography course. Delicious is kind of like a factoid site. It will have just about anything you ask for, and will organize the information.
Access and Alex will be something that I use for my classroom. It offers great activites and lesson plans. I also like how Access gives students the opportunity to take courses online. Foliotek wasn't very exciting. I understand why the state requires it, but it seems like they could come up with a better way. I'm glad Dr.Strange let us do it in class because it can be confusing sometimes.
Since I've taken this course; being technologically literate has become very important to me. I think the schools of the future will involve sitting at a computer, and taking your courses online. There will be fewer hours spent in the classroom. As far as my "intellectual trail", I think it's exciting that people can google you,and automatically see your blogs.

2. I learned a lot in this class, but I would like to learn more about Twitter and Picasa. Also, I wish that we had covered more on how to develop a PLN.

3. There's nothing that I would want to forget about in this class. All of it will help us be better teachers!

4. Yes, I think what made me really excited was seeing how Kaia's blog became such a big hit. It really showed me how many opportunities can open up when you use technology.

5.I thought making the podcast/project 11 was "intellectually challenging". It made us think outside of the box, and it wasn't something I had done before.

6. Some days were kind of boring. It was mainly because I don't like sitting in a chair for long periods of time. Maybe if we were moving around a bit more that would solve the problem. It would be really cool if this class became an online course.

7. I would change the amount of projects we do. This last month I felt like we were in warp speed trying to get everything done. It's not that I don't like the projects; it's just I wish we could have more time to focus on each one. I guess what I'm saying is compared to quantity vs. quality. I would rather have fewer projects so that I can put more time into making them better. That way I don't have to worry about rushing to get the next project done. Just my two cents(=.

8. I would say, at this point, that I have a good amount of knowledge about technology. I have definitely learned a lot!

9. I'm going to keep trying to build my PLN. Also, I will make sure that I keep up with all the new technology out there.
Click here to view the questions.

New Classroom Rules...

The Education Innovation website has offered some new rules to apply in the classroom. Here are my two favorites on the list.

1. "Leave your seat only when necessary, which should be often to go collaborate with others or demonstrate something to the class." -Education Innovation
I like this rule because it's important for students to work with each other. I think we learn so much more when we all put our minds together. It's so boring to just sit, and listen to lectures all the time. Projects/activities are more effective tools for learning then just memorizing a bunch of facts. Not only does it help students to learn the material, but it also helps develop social skills.

2. "Know what you're supposed to be learning, why, and what you will do with the knowledge." -Education Innovation
Students have a tendency to just study the material for a test, and then completely forget all the information after the course is over. Instead of doing the work just for a grade; actually go a step further to get all you can out of the class. It doesn't benefit you at all if you shove the material in a corner; never to be used again.

Click here to view the Education Innovation website.