My EDM310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

Hey everybody! I just wanted to say that I have really enjoyed this class with y'all. I thought the best part of this class was the presentations. Everybody's presentations were great and very interesting!! I wish everybody the best in the future!! We are all going to be great teachers!!

Best Wishes and Happy Holidays,

Lisa

What I have learned in EDM310

Wow the things I have learned to this class. When this class first started I was thinking that it would be just like all of the other computer classes that I have taken in the past. Boy was I wrong! There are so many new applications that was introduced to me in this class in which I will list below.

1. Blogs- I had no clue what this was besides my niece and nephew saying that they blog there friends. Learning how to create a blog, I have decided that I will definitely use this in the classroom.

2. Adding links and pictures to my blogs- Ok so I learned how to do add pictures to a email or blog but never knew how to add links. I think that the link feature is probably one of the most helpful things that I have learned in this class. This will be helpful when I send letters how to parents about their child or maybe a field trip that is coming up. I can add the link to the letter or email and the parent can go directly either to my email or the website for the field trip.

3. ITunes- So my dad is a little more advanced in the technological world the his youngest daughter, which is me. I had heard about iTunes from my dad but never knew how it worked until this class. I love iTunes now!!! It is amazing how much is out there to listen to for FREE!! You can listen to different videocasts and podcast like the one I really especially was Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture.

4. Podcasts- I had no idea what in the heck this was when Dr. Strange said that we were going to do one. I can honestly say I was not very excited about doing the project until my partners and I started to form ideas. This is a very neat tool to use in the classroom, but unfortunately i think it is better for the high school age and not the elementary age kids.

5.Google Tools- Google tools is a great place to go to basically doing anything and once again it is free. It has basically the same features as Microsoft but the key word free!!

6. ACCESS- I have never heard of such a thing until this class. growing up in Texas we did not have such a lab. Once I get my degree and go back to Texas to teach I hope that my school district has one.

7. ALEX- Just like the ACCESS lab I had never heard of the website before. I can honestly say through if I do not teach in Alabama and go back to Texas to teach I will look for a website that is for Texas teachers that is like this. I know that this is a site that I will refer to for teaching lesson plans.

The most important thing that I have learned in this class is that there is so much more technology out there then when I first learned how to turn on a computer. The kids today are so much more advanced than I ever was when I started kindergarten.

Blogs in the classroom

First of all I have to admit that I did not know a thing about blogs until I took Dr. Strange's class. Well actually I had heard the term from my niece and nephew but have never used until this class. Blogging I think could be a great thing for teachers to use in their classrooms. How can it be used someone might ask? Once I have my own classroom I would like to use it to post assignments, due dates, classroom calendar and also the class syllabus. Not only would I use for just teacher use, but I would like for my students to use it as an online journal. Students can also use it to be able to communicate with fellow classmates about assignments, and projects.

The person that I chose to view her blogs was Patricia Robbins'. I really enjoyed her blogs and points of view.click here to go to her website She made sure that she had a lot details in every blog so that it was very informative. Some other student's blogs are just to the point with not a lot of details. Another thing that I liked about her blogs was that she attached some kind of photo. This I feel just by adding a photo makes reading the blog more interesting.My favorite blog was the one on the Edutopia video casts. If you visit my blog and look at my presentation you will see that I love pigs and the picture she has of the pig is great!! Her blog on the Last Lecture was outstanding. I know that it must really meant something to her to listen to someone who had accomplished so much at the same age as her. Randy's speech I believe moved anyone that listened to it. I do have to agree with Patricia that I am not sure if I am Eeyore or Tigger. Some days I think that I am both.

So the down falls of blogging...Well I think one of the biggest down falls is that not every student is going to be able to afford a computer at home. I know that it was not until I was say 5 years ago that I was able to afford my own laptop. Another down fall is that sometimes computer systems get overloaded or "crash". Students might not be able to use the excuse "the dog ate my homework" when it comes to blogs but they can use the excuse "my computer broke last night so I could not do the assignment."

Overall I have really enjoyed learning how and what blogs are about. I hope when I do get to teach that the school district will support blogging the classrooms. It would really nice if that each child could have a laptop issued to them for the year, but have to return on the last day of class. Technology like laptops could make school more interesting for the children and the drop out rate just might go down for once.

Duke University

The podcast that I chose to listen to was called Sermon on the Mount. The speech was given by Fr. Elias Charcour who is the Archbishop at the Melkite Catholic Church is Galilee. This sermon was given at the Duke Chapel on the university's campus. I chose this speech to listen to because I am Catholic and was interested in what he had to say about the Sermon on the Mount.

Fr. Charcour is a Palenstinan, Arab, Christian and citizen of Israel. As he states " he was not born a christian but as a baby with a birth certificate." What he is saying with this statement is that even through we are different nationalities, religions and citizenship's that we are all born children of God, the rest you chose to be. He states that our purpose in life is to praise and celebrate the risen Lord and that God loves us unconditionally. God did not create us to kill, fight in wars or have hatred towards one another but to have peace and love one another.

Another point that Fr. Charcour makes is the Sermon on the Mount is not about the Beattitudes but about the blessing and the link with the father in the heaven. He came to give this sermon to be an "international begger". What does he mean about being an "international begger"? He states "I have come to be an international begger. We have now 137,000 christians in Galaliee. They are Palenstian christians and I have come to beg for your friendship for the Jewish community. Not just for myself but for my children and all children.We do not want your money, power, guns, miltary all we want is your faith.

I found this sermon very moving and powerful. Being in a huge Catholic family I really enjoyed this sermon and actually let some of my family members to hear it. I hope one day I will have the opportunity to visit the Duke campus so that I can go to church one Sunday to hear a great sermon like this one.

To go to Duke University's Chapel click here

Electronic Contact Assignment

For the assignment I contacted my friend in Roundrock, Texas. Her name is Jennifer Delatte and she teachs 5th grade at Timberwood Park Elemantary in the Comal ISD. I was very surprised to hear that her school is using a great bit of technology in their classrooms.

The first thing she explained to me was about the document cameras. Her school uses the document cameras to show assigments. The cameras are attached to the teachers' computer and then ran to a projector. Her school also use the computer lab to teach the students how to use excel, powerpoint and word. Excel is used to teach the students how to do line graphs and other mathmatical applications. Powerpoint is used for lectures in their science class.Not only does her class go to the computer lab once a week, they also have computer carts that have laptops in them that can be brought into the classrooms. Her class also uses the Smartboard, which I think is an awesome teaching tool. The Smartboard is a program ran from the computer and is projected on a white board. It is an interactive tool that the students can use an special pen to mark the correct answer on the Smart board. The program has videos,question and answer section and also quizzes. Jennifer uses a program called Eduphoria. This is a program that she can post lesson plans for other team members to view and also to keep up with district mandates and training classes that are required. A final thing that her school does is a online grading system. What this is a online grade book so that not only can any teach look at the student's grades but also the parents can view their child's grades at anytime. Wow would I have been in a lot of trouble growing up if my parents could have viewed my grades before the three progress notes went out.

I am really looking forward to teaching in Texas. It seems that their school systems are more advanced in the tecnological world. It will be amazing to see how advance the schools will be in three years when I graduate.

EMD310 Podcasts

When I went back to relisten to my groups podcast, I indeed found some room for improvement. First of all I thought that my group could have rehearsed more than we did. We as a group could have spoken a little bit louder. Another thing that I found that as a group could have done is when we gave a website, we should have spelled out the website. As a last thing that I found that we could have improved our conversation was to explain a little bit more about the website that were discussed. If we metioned a website we should have explained how to get to that sute step by step for the others out there that have never been to the USA website. Other then those minor improvements I think the conversation went very well.





The next topic I chose to listen to was Reflections on "The Last Lecture of randy Pausch" by Brett, Jenny, Taylor and Bree. When I listen to their conversation I actually found myself imagaing that I was at Randy's lecture. This group did an excellant job at explaining all the aspects and topics of his lecture. They included very great details so that the listener could actaully feel like they were in front of Randy while he was doing this lecture. The only thing that I found that this was room for improvement was to try to leave out all the "umms" through the conversation. Overall I really liked this conversation of all the podcasts that were presented.


The next topic I chose to listen to was the COE and technology used in them which was presented by Kathryn, Kerri, and Hanni Nolan. I felt like this group was very well prepared. At times though through the conversation the group memebers needed to speak up, a little hard to hear them. When the foliotek was presented I felt that as a group they could have gone to the COE administration to be able to find out more information on the grading system. If they had the complete information on the grading system it would been very helpful information to the listeners. Also when this group talked about the USA online, it would have been helpful if they could have explained how to get to the online through the USA website. Besides those couple of things I felt that this was a great informative conversation.




The last topic I chose to listen to was the conversation on facebook as an educational tool presented by Danielle, Stephaine and Jalisa. As a group I felt that they spoke to loud. Another thing I found for improvement as a group was try to leave out the "umms and ughs". The last thing I found for improvement was that I felt the conversation was basically between only two members of the group. As a group I think there should be been equal input into the conversation.

ACCESS LAB-DAPHNE HS

I chose Daphne High school to visit their ACCESS lab. Mr. Joe Roh who is the coordinator for the lab was very nice to take the time out of his day to show us the lab. He explained that the lab is used for the AP students to take classes that are not offered at the school. In the past some students have taken Russian and other classes that are offered on the internet. The classroom is set up to accominidate twenty five students. There is a closet that has a cabinets that has twenty five laptops in there for the students to use. In both the front and the back of the room there is a big screen plasma tvs that are mounted up on the walls. Along with the tvs there are two video cameras, one that faces the class and another that faces the instructor. In the front of the classroom there is a huge microphone. I know if Mr. Roh did not explain to us that it was a mic, I would have never known. The microphone looks like a huge piece of plastic hanging from the ceiling. The way it works is the actually mic looks like a black little box. The plastic around the mic is the actual sound board. Mr Roh said that the mic is so powerful that you can literally hear a pin drop. He then explained how the "master panel" works. It is a computer at the teacher's poduem that controls everything. Because the mic is so powerful when the classroom that you are using is not the "teaching classroom", that always out your mic on mute. As for the master panel you can do so many different things from doing a split screen, to zooming in on students to focusing on just the instructor.I really enjoyed learning about this new technology that is being used in some schools.

I think that if I had this kind of technology when I was in high school, I would have taken more harder classes. Having the ACCESS labs in schools give students more opportunity to explore different classes. The students are not restricted to staying with the same old basic curriculum, like just math, science, english etc.

In the future I hope that the school that I teach at will have an ACCESS lab. I think that if every high school had this that more students will be prepared to enter college when they graduate.

Mathematics and Technology

YUCK!!!! As I would say as an child growing up and as an adult who hates math!!! After viewing this video on Mathematics and technology my view has shorta of changed. In 2002 the state of Maine put some 19,000 laptop computers in the hands of middle school students and their teachers. The focus was to make their society the most "digitally, literate society on earth" as stated by Angus King, the former Governor of Maine.

The students in the middle schools can use the ibooks in the classrooms as well as out on class field trips. In this video one class went on the class field trip to the lake to study "science". They were able to take pictures and record data on the laptop to take back to the classroom. Once back in the classroom they were able to post their pictures and information on their class website. I do have to agree with Mary Ann McGarry in that the students getting hands on experience does make the students more interested in the subject that might not be as well liked. Also her statement on that the students are getting to be the inventors and creators and making things happen I believe are helping students be more involved in their learning.

I think that laptops in the classrooms in a excellent idea!!!! I believe that if more states would integrate laptops in their curriculum a couple of things would happen. One I think that the drop out rate would decline and success rates would rise.Having a nephew that is currently in 7th grade and his school does use the laptops, he seems to be more excited about school. "One student in the video said that his grades used to not be so good and now they are much better because he is interested in school since he started to use the laptops in school."I believe this to be very true from personal experience with my nephew. As another student stated " we can go out on the Internet to find out more information about a subject or go out of the boat, is more interesting and fun than just trying to learn the information out of a book".

To see video

"Growth" vs "Fixed" Mindsets

The video podcast on itunes with the interview with Dr. Dweck on Growth verses a fixed mindset I found very interesting. Dr. Dweck, a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, recently wrote a book entitled, "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" in which she explains that her belief is that for anybody to perform positively we must learn from our mistakes.In her interview she states that people in a fixed mindset, before they do a task they think about how they will be viewed. As Dr. Dweck states, a fixed mindset questions "Will I not look smart or will I look smart?" They also base the activities on the intelligence shown to be advantage to them. Failure, Dr. Dweck states, is where growth happens. The belief that you can overcome your mistakes will help you to grow learns and build your intellectual skills.

Dr. Dweck then talks about teaching a "growth mindset".They developed a eight sessions workshop in which half of the students got eight study skills in a "growth mindset" and the other half got it in a "fixed mindset". She explains that the students in the fixed mindset that the study skills did not work because the students were not motivated to apply the skills. As for the "fixed mindset" students their grades also started to decline. For the students that have the "growth mindset" they were taught that as Dr. Dweck states "the mind is like a muscle." That overtime the more learning the mind absorbs the better the intellectual skills will improve.

After hearing this interview I reflected back to my school age days and I think I was a very "fixed mindset" student. Like Dr. Dweck explained the "fixed" mindset type of student has the fear of failure, in which, I always had growing up. Until I listened to this interview I had no idea that their were such as a thing as "fixed" or "growth" mindsets. I do agree with one of her final quotes "You can not keep up with this changing world, if you can not grow and learn.When it comes to the brain don't lock down keep those neurons connecting!" Without growth and learning what would this world be like today?

To view the video

iTunesU- Oct 24

I went to the iTunes University and search for podcasts for educators. There are many podcasts out there for teachers to use in their classrooms. The site that I chose to listen to is called Tech Tips 101 for Educators by Charonda Cosey and Dawn Corley. I chose to listen to the podcast on blogs and video conferencing in education. I found the information that these two teachers gave is going to be very helpful once I have my own classroom. The tips they gave are to help educators to be more global in the technological world while in their classroom.

The main focus on this podcast was about blogs. One of the teachers ask the question What is blogs? This is the very same question I asked when Dr. Strange introduced it to our class. This teacher introduced blogs to her class as it is an "online journal". She explains that blogs are not just for the students but for the teachers also. . How might it be used for the teachers? Some teachers might use the blogs as 'bulletin board". To use it as a bulletin board teachers can post their class syllabus, class projects and important due dates. As for students, besides using it as an online journal, they can also use it as a place to do their writing assignments. Students can also use the blogs for group projects. The students can post a blog to other students about the project in what they have done at home.

The second part of the podcast was on video conferencing in the classroom. Corely ask the question What is video conferencing? Once again this is the same question I had when Dr. Strange introduced it to out class. It is where two or more people can engage in talking, video, and software from two different locations. All you need is web cam, video and skhype. Skhype is a software that is free and is being used in many school districts. Corely then explains how to download the software. She then explains how video conferencing improve collaboration? Help to decrease the cost of collaboration is that skhype is free!!! The use of video conferencing is being used from reading to social studies. For an example older students can read to the younger grades. Middle school students can watch high school plays to relate to their literature studies. These are just two examples that video conferencing is used in the classrooms.

Out of the two tech tools that were mentioned on this website, I could say that I would probably try to use the blogs in the classroom. The examples that were given for uses for the teachers were great ideas. I especially liked the idea for the teachers to use it as an bulletin board. Also for the students, for them to use it as an online journal. In today's society students are much more technologically advanced then 10 years ago. I believe that by adding the online journal to their weekly homework will keep students more interested in their studies.

Edible Schoolyard and A Night in the Global Village

The Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkley, Ca and the Edible Schoolyard provides the public school students in the urban areas a classroom that consists of a organic garden and kitchen. One might ask why is the benefial to students? This is a way to teach students about the food systems, how to grow, harvest and prepare the produce. I feel that students having these expriences in the garden and in the kitchen will help to promote a better understanding of the nutural world and what the children are eating and where the foods come from. I think that this a great idea to help children learn about the food systems. If children have more hands on learning I feel that they will retain the information learned much longer than just reading it in a book. I hope to be able to use this kind of teaching in my own classroom or maybe be the first one at my school in incorporate it.

A night in the Global Village was a very eye opening video. This video takes place in Perryville Arkanas at the Heifer Ranch. A group of students from the Colorado Rockey Mountain Learning Expectionary School voluntarily gave up their normal life for one night to see how it is to live like a student of poverty in another country. The focus is to teach students about poverty, hunger and development. The students are to choose a number and then they are put into "families". Once they are assigned a "family" they are then told what country they are living in. All of the students then take a tour of the different types of housing that they will be living in. The houses represent living conditions in places such as Guatamala, Tailand, Zambia , Applasia and an refugee camp. To most of the students the houses looked like shacks, but they soon came to find out that these were homes that the actual people of poverty live in. Not only do the students get to expreince staying the night in these houses but also some do not have running water or food. The students must learn how to "make do" with the limited resources they have. One of the best skills that the students learn is that they have to be able to communicate with eachother and also get along. Not only do they use their communiction skills but also learned haw to barter with their "neighboring" country for needs. I think this is a great idea and this should be in every state.

I beleive that both videos were very interesting and would love to use them in my classroom. I especilly liked the night in a global village. A night in the Global Village is a eye opening expreince for children of all ages. I think that if there were more of these type of places for students to go to around the country, the more children would grow up appreciating what they have instead of what they do not have.

Podcasts

Until Dr. Strange's class, I had never heard of podcasting. I was very interested in listening to some podcast to see what kind of information was out there for teachers. As I listened to the podcast it was like you are listening to a talkshow on the internet. I found the Smartboard lesson very interesting and informative. This podcast in based out of Canada in which some of the speakers were from different countries. The purpose of the Smartboard lessons is to give the sutdents, teachers as well as parents the rules, expectations and the educational plans for the up coming academic year.

The next podcast that I went to was the Kidcast. This is a website for kids to learn what and how to do a podcast. It give the kids instructions on how to start up a podcast. The kids can publish their thoughts and ideas to other kids all over the world. The kids are not limited to what they can publish. There are the basic subjects as in history, science ect. ect. all the way to topics on health, fitness and nutrition for kids. I think this is a great website for kids to be able to publish their ideas and get feedback from other children from around the world.

Another podcast I listened to was David Warlick, podcasting with media coordinators. This was dicussion about podcasting in libraries. He was in a conference room with 9,000 other librarians and teachers. He approach was that he would take comments from the audience on how they use the podcast. One lady said that she thought it was great idea in that students can do their research not only at the school lobrary but also at home by accessing the library podcast. Another teacher said that she uses the library podcast to post assigments and dicussion for her students.Some teachers use the podcast for small group dicussions and classroom debates. Another use for podcast is that teachers can post notes for students to use at home when doing research. Teachers can also use the podcast for recording their lectures so that the students can listen to again once they go home. This would be very helpful in that if the students were busy writing notes down in class and might have missed a very important part of the lecture. I feel that this would be very benifial for both teachers and students and probaley would use this in my classroom.

Overall I really enjoyed listening to the podcasts. It amazes me to see and hear how today's educational world has advanced so much in the technological world. I can remember when I was in elementary and we were being introduced to computers and now kids are using iPods and computers to do their studies. When I do have my own classroom I hope that I will be able to use podcasting in it.

"The Last Lecture"

WOW,WOW,WOW!!! The Last Lecture has been a huge talk around many groups of different people lately. I have been wanting to view his lecture but never knew that it was online until I watched it on utube. It was kinda of hard to actually watch this video knowing that the author that gave that speech is no longer with us. His speech inspired me so much that i actually went and bought the book and have many friends that are on my waiting list to read it next.

So one is probably asking what is the big deal with "The Last Lecture"? Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University for nine years. Not only was he an award winning professor and researcher he also worked with Adobe, Google and Electronic Arts and his favorite Walt Disney Imagineering in which he piloted the Alice project. So now you might be asking what does all this have to do with his lecture? At Carnegie Mellon University every year they host an "Last Lecture Series in which a professor is asked to give the last lecture, and for 2008 Randy Pausch was asked to give it this year. He did think about it and almost did not give the lecture. His reasoning behind almost not giving it was because he had just found out the he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and only had 3-6 months to live. After giving it some more thought he decided to go on with the lecture. Quoted from Mr. Pausch "he didn't have to imagine it as his last lecture, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer".

He decided to call his lecture "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" which in his words "wasn't about dying..It was about living". In his video along with in his book he says a very great quote in which I believe every person should take to heart, "time is all you have...and you might find one day that you have less than you think". Like Mr. Pausch himself living an ordinary life with his wife and three kids and goes to the doctor to come out that he does not have as much time as he thought. The way he started his lecture was wonderful. He explained that his father had always said that "if there was an elephant in the room, introduced it" this is when he showed a slide of his CT scan showing all ten tumors in his liver and that is when the doctors told him that he had only 3 - 6 months to live and he was on his 9 th month. His next quote I believe that I will live by for the rest of my life "That is what it is and we can not change it and we cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand". He had many more quotes that I could live by but this is the one that just touched my heart.
So what about achieving your childhood dreams? Randy's dreams were to be able to experience zero gravity, play in the NFL, author in the World Book encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk, winning a huge stuff animal and being an Disney Imagineer. He explains each of his childhood dreams and how that is if he was able to achieve them. As for the zero gravity, he realized at an early age that NASA did not want him because he wore glasses. He was fine with this but still wanted "float" or experience the zero gravity.Randy explains that this dream became a reality when he learned that NASA does have a program for college students could submit proposals for experiments on the plane. In 2001 the team from Carnegie Mellon were invited to go to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to ride the plane. Unfortunately the was only one problem the instructors were not allowed to participate. Of course this being one of his dreams, Randy was going to find a way for him to be able to ride also. In doing his research he did find that NASA is always up for good publicity in which he faxed in to NASA he resignation as the faculty advisor and changed it to the journalist. In his words "My experience in zero G was spectacular", in which I think answers the question if he was able to accomplish that dream. His second dream to play in the NFL, he did not get to do. When he was a child he was in little league flag football and remembers one thing that his coach told him that he used in his classroom. "Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals...You've got to get the fundamentals down. because otherwise the fancy stuff is not going to work." I believe that this is very true in college classrooms and also in elementary education classrooms. If the students do not get the basic fundamentals the they will never really grasp the real concept in what they are supposed to do. His third childhood dream caught me by surprise. Randy wanted to be an author of the World Book encyclopedia. Growing up his parents made him use his critical thinking skills in how to find out answers if he did not know them. He new best friend became the encyclopedia. He became so interested in them that he wanted to be an author for the company. Well his wish came true..the company called him and asked if he wanted to the "Virtual Reality"? Of course he accepted it and you can look up "V" and she what he published. Like he said in his video every little boy wanted to "captain Kirk".A few years back he got a call from a guy that was writing a book with William Shatener (a.k.a. Captain Kirk) and they wanted to come visit Randy's virtual reality library at Carnegie Mellon. This was his childhood dream but did still considered it a dream until his saw Captain Kirk in person. Childhood dream granted when he did show up and stayed for three hours in the lab and left a autographed picture for randy.So his next to last childhood dream was to win huge stuff animals at the fairs. He says that his dad was man of his word and would let him try to win the animals with limit amount of money he was given. In Randy's word "two secrets to winning giant stuff animals: long arms and a small amount of discretionary income. I have been blessed in life to have both".Randy's last childhood dream was to become an Imagaineering. After getting his PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon he sent off letters of application to Walt Disney Imagining, in which he got several rejections letters back. After a few years he was finally able to be a part of the Imagaineering at Walt Disney. He worked on the ALice project in which is a ride at the park. Even though all of these were his childhood dreams, they were finally achieved in his lifetime.

I have learned from his video is that everybody has to have childhood dreams. It might take a whole lifetime to be able to achieve those dreams. The most important thing that I have learned is that no one should ever let go of their childhood dreams. Always work toward them on a daily basis, because you might find that your lifetime has been shorted in any given morning.

iPods Instruction Blog

When I did the web search for ipod instructions, I found several websites that are available to learn how to use your new ipod. The website I chose to explore was called iPod knowledge. On this site it had several links to other websites that can be accessed depending on what you are trying to find the answer to. The link that I found very helpful is the link to iPod manuals on the Apple website. To go to this link directly click here. Once on this website you can choose your model of the iPod and download the instructions in a PDF form. For people out there like myself that are not "iPod suave" I feel this website will be very helpful.

Wow!!! Is what I can say about Duke University using iPods as a teaching method. For a older student like myself, to be able to go back and hear or even read the lecture that the professors are giving could boost my grades tremendously. I would have to agree that it is a huge incentive for the students to attend class so that they can share what they are learning from the iPods. Also with that if all universities were to go to this type of teaching I believe that enrollment would increase nationwide. One my ask why do i think that? The reason is because if the universities all gave the iPods to the students and all long as they passed they would be able to keep the iPod, the more would enroll. In today's economy the more free incentives the more people will be willing to try different things. I think everybody should go to the Duke University website and read what the some of the professors are saying about using the iPods. To go to the website directly click here

Alice Christie Blog

I found Dr. Christie's website very informative. The section that I particular liked was the GPS/Gaucaching information. The GPS is becoming more popular not only for hunting, driving or boating but not also in the classrooms. Until I her guide on incorporating the GPS in the classrooms, I would have only that of the GPS for the more common heard of uses. Using them in the classrooms I feel is a great way to teach the students how to develop many skills. The GPS would teach the students would learn what teamwork is about, communications skills and improving their crital thinking skills. By working as a team to find the objects it forces the students to also communicate to their fellow classmates. As for the critical thinking skills, if they are not able to find the object it would force the students to all think together to be able to figure out what they did wrong. In the future if the school district that I will be working in with have the GPS the I will for sure have them in my classrooms.

Wikipedia Blog

As a student in highschool I can remember when Wikipedia was one of the greatest tools to use for research papers. Then once I enter collage I found out very fast how it is not a reliable source of information to use for research papers. I do not think that Wikipedia is a source that can be trusted. The reason I feel this way is that, it is a source that anybody that knows how to use a computer can edit the information to what they believe it should say. The only time that I think Wikipedia would be useful is for one's own personal knowledge of how other's view a particular subject.

My presentation

Lisa Burke's EDM310 Fischbowl 180 Days

I found this blog very interesting. I did not realize until I viewed his power point that he created for his school, that in fact there really are not 180 days of instruction. Watching that power point I reflected back to when I was in school, and it all came back to me that he was right on the extra things that were taking away from instruction days, (of course growing up in Texas, we did not have any snow days!!) As a child in school, of coarse we loved the "special" days when we were not learning and getting to do something different as in pep rally days or even early release days!! Probably like myself many people or parents do not realize that there are some many days that take away from instruction days. In a way it does kinda of hurt the children and adds more stress to the teachers, in that, some days the teachers have to cram more information to teach to make sure all the material is covered by the end of the year. Maybe the school systems need to take a look at this problem and address it by having for an example have the counselor days on at nights. athe believe more time for instruction will be less stressful for the teachers and children will learn better if they go at the same rate instead of cramming from time to time.

Lisa Burke's EDM310 Fischbowl blog

I would say that in today's world that everybody needs to be technologically literate. What Mr. Fisch said in his blog I totally agree with him. I can remember growing up that we did not actually start using computers in the classroom until I was in 10th grade. These days children are learning how to use computers in kindergarten. I have a niece who is 10 years and a nephew who is 12 years old. My nephew has been required to use his laptop that is supplied by his school starting in 5th grade.The children these day not only are going to be literate on the computers but also on other technological devices, as in DVD players. I have a cousin who is only 2 1/2 years old that already knows how to use the DVD player. I am sure that by the time she is in kindergarten she will able to use the computer also. Mr Fisch's quote "If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write" I very much agree with him on this. Also I agree that it is not acceptable for someone to say that can not read but is acceptable for someone to say that they can not do math. This should be the same with the technological world. Everybody should be able to use the computers and not be afraid of them.

Lisa Burke's EDM310 Blog on International Schools

The first website I found for teachers to use was formed for teachers that are teaching abroad in China. This website is for teachers that are teaching ESL in China. It gives other teachers the opportunity to see what it is like to be teaching ESL abroad.To go to the websiteCLICK HERE.

The second website that I found for teachers is one that Australian teachers blog on about teaching in their country. These teachers not only use blogging but some also use pod casts. To go the website CLICK HERE

Lisa Burke's Blogging in US schools

When the Internet started years ago, not many people knew about blogging. Some people think of blogging as for only teenagers, but this is not the case in some schools in the US. Children as young as kindergarten are starting to learn how to blog. Blogging is a way for students to show their own work.Bob Sprankle in Wells, Maine has been teaching for ten years and has always had an website. "Blogs are great,” Sprankle says, “because every kid can have his or her own corner where they can show their work. As soon as I started my blog, it really motivated the kids to write more."(Sprankle). To go directly to the website CLICK HERE

The online journal is a great way to get children to write more often.Marissa Dudiak A teacher by the name of Marissa Dudiak who teaches in Frederick County,took her second graders on a field trip to a farm. As Marissa states " all the students wanted to do was talk about what they saw. But instead of leading a discussion about the trip, Mrs. Dudiak had the students sign on to their classroom Web log.
There they wrote about learning to use a bow and arrow, sitting inside a tepee and petting a buffalo. The short entries were typical of second-grade writing, with misspelled words and simple sentences. Still, for Mrs. Dudiak, the exercise proved more fruitful than a group discussion or a handwritten entry in a personal journal."
I feel that I would agree with her that this is a great way to get kids more excited about writing and learning her to express their feelings and thoughts.To go the website that posted this article CLICK HERE

Fischbowl blog

I really found the video on fischbowl very interesting and informative. Growing up as an 80's child, I did not have a computer until I was around 12 years old and it was the family computer. Also I did not have a pager until I was 18 years old and a cell phone until I was 21 years old. I am amazed to see my niece and nephew in how advanced they are in the technological world. The children these days are learning more in schools at a younger age, in which I would think in the long run probably will be more successful in the career world.
The statics in the video I found very shocking in the how high they were. I was surprised at that Great Britain was in the lead for the things that were listed. My guess was China. I am many friends that are teachers and I am going to forward this link to them, so that they can be amazed just as much as I was.

ACCESS Program

Hey everybody,
I would like to introduce you to an website that the State of Alabama has for students, parents and educators of advanced placement level students. The site is called Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide or also known as ACCESS. It was developed for highschool students to access advance placement courses that are not offered through the school that they attend. This program also gives the schools that are in either low income or rural areas that do not have the access to the advance placement courses, the students are able to use this site to obtain them.In addition to having courses for the students it also has courses for parents who would like to get their highschool diploma but need to take courses before hand. As for what is available for the educators, it gives them links to videoconferencing in the classrooms.
I grew up in Texas and the state did not offer anything like this program. I think this is a great opportunity not only for the students but also the educators that might not be efficent with today's technology, in that they will be able to learn to use the equipment and understand the program.

ALEX blog

Hello everybody,
I would like to introduce you to the ALEX or also known as the Alabama Learning Exchange. This site is an excellent source for resources available to Alabama teachers. There are 8 different types of resources available on this site, which include, courses of study, web links, examples of lesson plans, personal workspace, professional and distance learning along with a search and help tabs. Starting with the course of study tab it includes all subjects that are studying from K-12 grades. Within each subject you can choose the grade level and it will give you objectives that students at that grade level should be able to demonstrate. Also within each subject you can go directly to the lesson plans link to view examples of lessons plans that could be used in your classroom. The web link tab that is provided gives teachers, administrator and students access to educational links that are available.Once you have created an account with ALEX, you will be allowed to create personal workspace. This is a great place for storing lesson plans along with the ability to submitting them also. The professional learning tab is used to access the Alabama Department of Education Program Websites. Here you will find anything from professional development opportunities, teaching and learning tools,links to help improving communication and professional growth and much, much more. The last tab to introduce you to is the distance learning. The links you to the ACCESS or the Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide program. I feel that this would be a great website to use in the future of the up coming teachers. It is very informative and hope to be able to when I have my own classroom in the future.

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About Me!!

Hey y'all!! My name is Lisa, thirty one years old and originally from Texas. I was born at Mobile Infirmary, then moved to Panama City until age of three and then grew up the rest of my life in Texas. In 2005 I moved back to the Mobile "area" to Daphne to be closer to my family. I am majoring in elementary education and once I have my certification I have hopes that I will find a teaching job back in Texas to be close to my best friend and her family. Just to give you a little more background, in high school I was involved in FFA and raised 2 pigs. I also used to play the flute for 7 1/2 years. I am a huge football girl, in which I grew up in a "split family". My mom's side of the family in War Eagle and my dad's side is Roll Tide. Then there is me that grew up in Texas, so I do have the crimson blood in me but my favorite team by far is Texas A&M Aggies!!!Gig'em aggies!! So you could say that I have crimson/maroon blood that runs through me. I am the baby of the family and have one older sister who lives in New Orleans with her husband and two step kids. I also have one dog, who is almost 8 years old, named Abby. I am looking forward to finishing my degree and getting back to my home stomping grounds, in Texas!! If you would like to anything else just ask.

Hey y'all!!

Hey everbody! My name is Lisa and welcome to my blog!!! I am very excited about learning how to blog. This is very new to me. I look forward to learning more new things in this class.