Project 8: Teaching Dr. Strange using Screenjelly

I have become a fan of Screenjelly. It is a wonderful screen capture with audio for up to three minutes. When Dr. Strange sent out the "Too Much Time?" questionnaire, I could not see the entire questionnaire. I first emailed him the problem and thought that he may not know what I was talking about. So I decided to send him a Screenjelly showing him exactly what I was seeing what I was seeing while I explained in the audio. Here is a copy of my Screenjelly that I sent to Dr. Strange.

Project 7: Vocaroo

Here is my recording sent to fellow classmate Tabitha Greenlee about our Google Earth podcast.

Comment4Teachers

My assignment for the Comment4Teachers was to comment on the Teacher Leaders Network. The following are my comments.

3/28/2010 I am also commenting for my EDM310 class. I like your idea about using this software to capture exactly what you are telling the students about an upcoming assignment. I think it would also be a great tool to use for those that have missed a class. They would not have to get the notes from a classmate, but from a class website. Thanks for sharing this.

4/4/2010 I never thought of parental involvement and parental engagement as two different approaches. I have always thought parental involvement is a must if you want your child to be motivated to achieve in school. Parental engagement seems to encourage not only success in the classroom, but in the community too. I love this idea. Thanks for sharing.

March 28 Homework

I agree with Morgan Bayda's post. Most professors either do not know about or are unwilling to adapt to the ever changing technology that students use daily. A lecture class can be very boring when you have the world at your fingertips at home. As a returning student after a 15 year absence from a classroom, I can honestly say that college has not changed much over the last 15 years, which really surprised me. I assumed that new technology would be embraced by the university, but instead the university seems almost scared of it. I think we still need the university, but the university must meet students where they learn...through technology.

Comments4Kids
This week I posted a comment on Kimball H.'s blog post "People should read two hours a day". I do read for two hours a day, but I wish it were more pleasure reading and less school reading.

Project 6: Skype

I began using Skype in October when my sister-in-law went to Iraq. This has been our only form of communication with her since she arrived in Iraq. My children have also been using Skype to talk to their aunt in Gulf Shores on a regular basis. They love it! For my mother-in-law's birthday, we gave her a webcam so she can Skype her grandchildren in Birmingham. I am introducing the entire family to Skype and we are all using it socially. I think Skype will be a great way to communicate with parents of my students. It will be easier for me to have parent conferences at a time when it will be convenient for myself and parents.

I found this description of ALEX on the Illinois New Teacher Collaborative website, "Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX), a project of the Alabama Department of Education, is designed to compile educational materials and information into a time-saving one-stop resource for teachers and administrators in Alabama. Their goal is for Alabama's students to reap the benefits of Alabama educators sharing their wealth of expertise and knowledge with colleagues." When I first did a search in Google, I was surprised to find information on an Illinois website. This peaked my curiosity. I went straight to the ALEX website. I wanted to find out how and if this site could be useful to me. There is all kinds of information available from upcoming professional development classes to podcast. I love that teachers, who are being held to the same state standards as I will be, have shared lesson plans that I can use in my classroom. I appreciate that Alabama has set up a site for teachers to be able to network with other teachers throughout our state.

The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS) program is available to all Alabama public high school students. It provides equal access to high quality instruction and greater equity for all Alabama public high school students through 21st century technology. It uses online and interactive videoconferencing (IVC) courses taught by Alabama certified and highly qualified teachers to link classrooms and offer coursework, including Advanced Placement and foreign languages, to students in schools where those courses may not be available.

This week, I posted a comment on a video posted by Jared from Mr. McClung's 5th period class taking us along on his Google trip to Adelaide, Australia.

March 7th Homework

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Every time I watch this video, I am so inspired. From listening to Randy Pausch's last lecture, I think that this is the type of person he was; inspiring. I don't think he thought of himself as inspiring, but rather as someone who was inspired by so many others. He seemed to take so much from other people, but never really thought about what he was giving to them. As a teacher, I hope to have this kind of mentality. I don't want to be the teacher that knows everything, but I want to be the teacher who is not afraid to admit when she has learned something, even if that something was from a second grade student. I hope I can give my students the space to explore and learn. They will have to learn the basics, but is there any one set way to learn the basics? I like how he gave his students freedom to learn and create, but that freedom was given to him as a teacher. I don't think I will have that kind of freedom as a teacher in elementary school, but I can dream.

Comment4Kids

This week I commented on Samary's post in Mrs Shetler's class in Arizona. It was a poem titled "The Rain". In my comments I said the we live in one of the top 5 rainiest cities in the US. Every week I love seeing what these kids can do. Amazing!

Project 4: My PLN

When I first started looking for resources for my PLN, I was not sure what I was doing, what I would need a PLN for, or how to go about setting it up. One day, I decided to Google new teachers to see what I could come up with. I was amazed at how many websites there are for and about new teachers. It is wonderful to have a network to be able to go to to ask questions or look for answers. I am using Delicious to keep track of my PLN. I have chosen a few websites with links to specific blogs or information that are of interest to me now and will be when I begin teaching. Two of my sites include New Teacher Survival Central and TeacherLingo. I think both of these sites will be very helpful to me when I get into a classroom if not before.