Goodbye

I can honestly say I will miss this class. I have enjoyed this class and learned so much. I gained so much from this class that I know I will carry with me into the classroom.
I enjoyed listening and reading my fellow students views in blogs and comments. One piece of advice I will leave for my fellow students would be to be cautious of how you present yourself. Consider everything you put on the internet as a piece of your resume. I promise the things that you think are cool or funny now will not be cool or funny when a potential employer Googles you and finds inappropriate content on the internet. Take this advice from someone who has been there. I am thankful there was no internet when I was younger.;-)

Final Blog Post

We covered so much in class this semester. Where do I start? There were so many new programs we were introduced to. Some I love and have begun to use on a regular basis. Others were just nice to know they existed, but I don't plan on using them.

Here are the answers to the questions posed by Dr. Strange in our Final Blog Post Assignment

1.Google Docs-I am a new fan. I have started using it exclusively(unless a teacher requires us to use another program)

Screenjelly-I use this a lot to explain things to people instead of trying to talk them through it over the telephone. Not something I would use in the classroom, but helpful none the less.

Delicious-I use this all the time to mark websites to go back to for a variety of things. I even have tags for websites my children go to for school. A great resource.

PLN-This is something I am still working on(and will throughout my career). I love getting feedback from other people and be able to learn from others successes or failures.

Google Earth-There are so many uses for Google Earth. I still have a lot to learn about this, but will enjoy exploring. I think this will be something I will use in the classroom.

ALEX and ACCESS-I think these are sites that I will utilize once I become a teacher, but not so much now. I may be wrong, but I do know what they are and where to find them if I need to use them.

Post I have read and Comments4classmates-Most of the post have been informational. It has been nice to read others perspectives on the same post we have read or videos we have seen. It amazes me how 2 people can see or read the same thing and have such different views on it. It opens up discussion and I love this aspect of blogs.

2. One thing I wish we had spent more time on was Twitter. I am not a Twitter user and have only been on Twitter maybe 10 times. I don't understand the aspect. This is something I am going to work on after this class is over. Everyone we spoke to seemed to use Twitter a lot. It can obviously be a valuable tool, I just need to learn it and make it work for me.

3.There was nothing in this class I learned that I wish I had not. I found everything very interesting although I did not find all things useful. Even though I did not find it useful at this time, that doesn't mean I won't find it useful in a later situation. I am glad I was exposed to it.

4.Did it excite me? YES!!! Ask the teachers at my children's school. On several occasions I have ask them if they were using this program or if they had seen that blog. Most have them had not. I am excited because I feel like this class has made me a better teacher. I think, no, I know I will now be able to engage the students in a classroom with all the technology available. This is what I am excited about.

5.I didn't find anything intellectually challenging, but I found a lot of the class to be intellectually stimulating. This class introduced to me so many ideas and perspectives that really made me think. I said in a previous post that I have stepped so far outside of my comfort zone that I have created a new comfort zone.

6.I was never bored in this class at any time. If anything, I was probably overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed in a good way. Things that should probably have taken 2 hours to do took me 4 or more. I would read something and then click and read something else and so on. I found so many things that really interested me. I guess this will be an "occupational hazard".

7.The only thing I would change about this class is to be more organized. I did feel like I had to look too many places to try to find answers to my questions. I did find them, but it would have been more helpful to me to have them in one location instead of having to go from blog to syllabus.

8.Am I technology literate? When I first walked into the classroom, I thougth I was. I quickly learned I was not. I would consider myself in the middle of being technologically literate. This is a huge accomplishment to me. I only can go up from here and I will enjoy the climb.

9.I will continue my technology climb by contributing to and reading the alumni class blog. I am very excited about this opportunity to talk and discuss with other students who are in the same situation as I am. I enjoy learning and see learning new technology as a challenge. I am up for the challenge and welcome the excitement that learning new things will bring.

April 25 Homework

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

After watching this video and thinking about my sentence, I hope that my sentence has not been created yet. All the things I hope to achieve are still a work in progress. I hope my sentence will include being a great mom and great teacher. But who knows. My sentence may change in 2, 10, or 25 years. I like this thought. It goes back to being Googled well. Every footprint you leave is something someone else can see and follow. Are you leaving footprints you want someone to follow?


A 7th Grader's Personal Learning
Environment (or PLN)

After watching this video, I am very encouraged as a future teacher. This student seems very excited and interested in learning. I think the key to this is the student-centered approach to learning the teacher is offering and the freedom that come with this this. The student seems eager to learn about various topics. The way technology is used in the classroom (a science classroom no less) engages students in a way so that they are willing to be a better learner. I am going to save this video so I can try out some of the programs used in the video.

Project 13: Videocasts

Click here to watch to my videocast with Tabitha Greenlee titled "Google 5.1 So Much More Than Earth.

Project 5: Google Docs Form

Here is a link to my responses for my Google Docs survey.

Here is a summary of my responses.

Project 14

Here is project 14...The Reset Button!

Project 15

Here is our project 15 video.

Project 12: My Google Tour

When I embedded my Google tour in my blog, my descriptions and place marks were lost. I talked to Dr. Strange about this problem, and he had the same problem. It may be a problem on Google Earth's side.

Project 12: Another way to get to my Google Tour

My Google tour is a trip to Disney properties around the world.

Disney Around the World

I tried to create a link to my Google tour that included the descriptions, but they were lost in the process. My place marks are included in the link.

April 18 Homework

Technology is changing and expanding so quickly. After watching several of the videos assigned throughout the semester, it has become more clear to me that technology is more than just socially based. There is so much information available for us to use, we would be foolish not to use as much as we can to engage our students. I created the Wordle above from words from our syllabus. Teacher and education are the largest words with everything else surrounding those two words. That was amazing how true the Wordle is. Teacher and education will be the center of what we will be doing, but we have so many other things surrounding us that we should take full advantage of.

Comment4Kids
I commented on Joseph's blogpost. Here is my comment:
Hi Joseph. I have done a cannonball into the pool, but it has been many years. My children love to do cannonballs and try to splash me as I watch them. I love your animation. You did a great job with that. How did you do it?

Project 9: My Timetoast Timeline

I did my Timetoast timeline on all the activities my children had the week of March 21-27, 2010.

Comments4Teachers

I commented on the Follis Files by Candace Follis

4/11/10
Although the students did not find this activity exciting or fun, they got something from it. Not all learning is exciting or fun. The key may be to just get them to start a discussion on the reading to let them see the reading from another perspective.

4/17/10
I haven’t really thought much about how I would group students in a classroom. Recently, in one of my college classes, we grouped ourselves to discuss a handout. The two students I grouped with had such a different view of the article than I did. It really gave me a different perspective. I personally love group learning and am sure I will use it often in my classroom. Tanks fo rgiving me something to think about.

April 11th Homework

I think it is important for students to post their work to their blogs because it holds them accountable. It gives them an outlet to showcase their work and leave behind a footprint they can be proud of. I think by posting to their blog, they are going to present their best work. This is a way for us to coach our children through school and open them up to feedback from a world far bigger than the classroom.

I found this video on YouTube and loved the statement that blogs place students in charge of their own learning and where their learning will go. Listen how one students asked a question on her blog, got the response "good question" and her response to that response. It has made me more conscientious of the responses I leave.




This video shows how high school students use blogging in their classroom.




This video I found while looking for people to add to my PLN. Rachel Boyd seems very passionate about teaching, as I hope to be.




The overall message I get from these videos is to open doors for our students and let them roam. They are already living in a digital world. As teachers we must move into the digital world if we have not done so already. If not, we may be teaching, but we are not educating our students.

Comment4Kids
This week I posted on the post Answers for Ms. F and the Digikids

April 4th Homework

Kaia's story is so inspirational to me. The fact that she is only 3 years old and her father is so involved with teaching her and showing her the world through the internet inspires me to do the same with my daughter and son. I sat down with my daughter this week and read a blog about the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". She wanted to leave a comment on the blog and I let her (using my Google account). A month ago, I would not have let her leave a comment. Kaia's father inspired me to show my children the world and let them interact with it. I have always been very protective about what my children see online and they have had very limited exposure. Am I really protecting them? What better way to learn about things than with me right beside them where I can answer questions and teach them as we experience things together.
I love the fact that Kaia's dad is so involved in her learning. I believe parental involvement is key to a successful academic career. Mr. Chamberlain's class commenting on Kaia's blog has opened up a channel of communication that is invaluable. Kaia and Mr. Chamberlain's class have been able to learn through their communication and, more importantly, have learned that they can communicate with people from around the world. This knowledge fascinates me, but to them it is or will be a way of life.


Comment4Kids

This week I commented on Harlem's first imovie. My comment was "I enjoyed watching your first imovie. You did a great job. You spoke very clearly. Was this your first visit to the farm?"