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?"

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.