Final Reflection

So this is it, the last assignment. Eight weeks ago this day couldn't have arrived here soon enough, and now that it is staring me in the face I am honestly feeling rather poignant. Dr. Strange had included a list of questions on the class blog to think about and reflect upon, but oddly enough I have been thinking about most of them for almost a month now. We are supposed to include what we have learned, mention some things that stand out, identify a few aspects of our teaching which might have been changed, and of course what we found out about ourselves.
I know that I really enjoyed the lab times. They were directly related to my success in this class. Anthony and Jamie Lynn are amazing teachers and because of them I was not afraid to ask for help when I needed it. Keep in mind, I did not say they were not afraid of me asking for help. For the most part I, also, enjoyed the projects. I learned that I can stay up until 11:59 twice a week and still be productive during the day. I feel extremely accomplished, because at the beginning of the semester, I remember thinking to myself, "there's no way I can do this," but I did it. I was the student that only had basic computer skills. When I say basic, I mean BASIC. I had previously had an Introduction to Microcomputing class which covered Word, Excel, and Power Point but I did not really learn anything. Then I get to Dr. Strange's class and I learn so much, it is bubbling out of me and I can't wait to share it with others. It is almost contagious or something. I just get so excited that often times others look at me strangely when I am explaining what I am doing or how to do it. Let them look at me strangely; I do not care, because from the words of the great Gina Pace, "I love being able to say Google me."
I really do not have enough time or space in this post to go into detail about the improvements I need to make, but I am willing and eager to continue learning so I think that is more important. In another class I was taking this semester, my professor always stressed that being a good teacher was not about turning your students into something else or making them people they are not. Dr. Strange did not turn me into something else (not even a mac lover), I am still me. Only now, I feel like a better me. So here is my final reflection: any class that I can learn new tools, meet extraordinary people, and feel better about myself and my teaching capabilities is considered successful. EDM 310=Mission Accomplished.
On a p.s. note I plan to continue blogging and by this weekend my daughter Kyla will have her blog up. I will have a link to it on my blog. Thanks to all the readers, commentators, critics, and positive thinkers who chose to "follow me along my journey, as I learn to become an effective blogger." I was right it definitely was an "adventure for all persons involved."

Just a little 411 for PC owners

This post is just a little information for all my fellow PC owners. After watching Martha and Ashley's video for their final project it was just about all I could stand. It was so great and I decided if I heard one more person say they created their fabulous project with imovie I might just scream. So, instead of screaming I decided to google it. Yes, Anthony I googled something without you having to force me. And guess what? I learned something! I found this super fantastic totally awesome and most importantly FREE video editor. Guess what else? It is only for PC users. So to all my PC people click here for your free download. I was just playing around with it a little bit and it is amazing! I cannot wait until I have something I can really use it on. For all of you who already knew about it, shame on you for not sharing it with us. And for all of those who do not know about it, you should check it out.

Blog Post 12/Assignment 13

M-Cubed: ISTE Presentation
After watching this video, I was really interested in what they were doing. The students were excited about printing their projects and even more thrilled when it turned out the way they expected. I know you probably realize Dr. Strange assigned us to watch more videos, but I was genuinely interested in checking this "FabLab" out. So I watched...
FabLab ModelMaker: Change a Shape Net's Permutation
and
FabLab ModelMaker: Break Apart or Separate Shape Nets
I watched, not necessarily learned, how to construct shapes and break them down. Both videos were very informative and well illustrated, I just learn better hands-on. Yes, Dr. Strange that is what makes your class completely educational because we actually learn and not just memorize. I would like to spend some time playing with the FabLab. I am a complete math lover and I was interested from the beginning. I think with mathematics, more than any other subject, it is imperative to visualize the process and being able to have the tangible product in your hands is just about as visual as it gets. The next video I watched was chosen because it had been viewed by so many. It is called The Children's Engineering Initiative. It is not what I first thought it was. I learned how Virginia is leading the way for technological use in elementary schools. I, also, saw the struggle that is evident in just about all elementary schools. No matter though how difficult the process or how many "brick walls" one may hit, it is the initiative that gets the ball rolling. If you do not actually roll the ball, that is alright, too. Just get in there every now and then and give it a little push.

Questionairre Report

My questionnaire was about Facebook accounts. I inquired about the number of friends on facebook, uses for facebook, and even how many hours account holders spent on their account. Almost all the people who responded are PC owners, except for Anthony. In addition, all the respondents are between the ages of 19 and 45 years old. On average, the response to recommending Facebook to a friend is 3.8, on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most likely and 1 being not likely at all. Many of the respondents only use Facebook for social networking, but some other social networks noted were blogger, twitter, skype, and myspace. I, personally, use myspace but the last time I looked my number of friends was dwindling; due to the inactivity many people are closing their myspace accounts. There was a large range of responses for the hours spent on Facebook, but most people spend 2-5 hours on Facebook, a few people spend less than 1 hour using their account, and one person spends 6-10 hours on Facebook each week. In my questionnaire I left one question open for comments about Facebook. One respondent said, “I use Facebook to stay in contact with a lot of people back home. It comes in handy!” While another was quoted as saying, “Did use Facebook a lot until they started having privacy issues.” It is clear the opinions of Facebook, also, cover a broad range, but on average many people are using it, enjoying it, and utilizing its connecting capabilities to stay in touch with friends. Most people who answered the questionnaire have more than 300 friends and almost everyone said they spend their time commenting on friends’ pages while using Facebook. Maybe they should call it “Friendbook!” I enjoyed doing this questionnaire and l feel like I learned something. How valuable the information is, I do not know, but it was interesting. I am not going to take this time to call out the thirty something classmates who did not answer my questionnaire, but you know who you are. A big thanks to Melissa, Crystal, Alissa, Barry, Maeghan, Kimberly, Sara, Tyler, and Anthony for taking the time to answer my questions.

McClung's Second Year

What I learned This Year
McClung has many firsts during his second year teaching. He teaches a different grade and unlike last year he is not afforded all the resources most teachers would consider necessary. In addition, he must teach a new kind of Science and an additional Social Studies class. Since his background was not in History he has difficulty, one might even say failure, teaching it to jr. high school students. He still manages to adapt to changes that were and are necessary for classroom success. Mr. McClung is still learning to become a better teacher and he is not afraid to say it. I love the way he recognizes the "school moms." I did not think Mr. McClung could be a more awesome teacher from last year or do a better job, but applications of his new ideas and now his new experiences have made this year's post even better than the last. I can empathize with his feelings for the "grown-ups." I hope he always remembers that teachers teach everyone, but we do it for the kids.

Comment for teacher 2nd summary

Eric Langhorst

So, first I read the latest post from Mr. Langhorst and it was spectacular. A week goes by and it comes time for me to read and comment again. Much to my dismay he had not posted anything new. Of course I know it is completely acceptable for me to go into earlier posts in order for me to read and comment so that I may fulfill my assignments. So that is what I did. I have been periodically checking just to see if he had posted something new and I have been anxiously awaiting his upcoming blogs about his visit to Mount Vernon to the 2010 Gilder Lehrman Summer Institute, but he has not posted any. Well quite frankly, I am disappointed. I wanted to read about it, and I do not even like history. Honestly, I loathe history. Point to make: even though Eric Langhorst is a fabulous writer and photographer and his blog is informative and interesting, it is not nice to "lead" readers on to thinking you are going to "be Tweeting, writing some blog posts and sharing lots of pictures" if you are not going to be able to get around to it. The problem is, it is difficult for me to remember all the wonderful things I have read and learned from this blog, because my mind is so clouded by the distress this waiting has caused. Maybe Mr. Langhorst will read this and get in gear.

Comments for kids 4

James and the Giant Earth





I have been following the Pt England Scribes. It is a group of children ages 7-9 who are engaged in hands on learning with computers and technology. They are using their skills in the classroom to enhance their reading, writing, language, and literacy skills. Then they share them with the world with their class blog. They use pixelmator to create their animations and they create podcasts to describe their illustrations. The ones I have viewed seem to be mostly related to science, but I think they are learning so much more. Their teacher includes a picture of the student who creates each blog, so I can just imagine how accomplished it makes each of them feel. I added this feed to my PLN because I have a feeling this teacher is going to continue to be successful with technology in her classroom and I could learn a lot from her.

Final project

This is just a tease of what the whole thing looks like. If you would really like to check it out click here. Press all the buttons and then leave me a comment.

Complete PLN

This is my PLN. I am using netvibes. Each day it grows a little bit more. I like being able to follow certain blogs by the click of the mouse. I am able to keep up with all my social networking sites on one page. No more going from tab to tab. Plus look how beautiful it is. Every time I look at the rainbow of colors it makes me smile. That might not be important to everyone, but it is significant to me, because I am not usually smiling when I am sitting in front of the computer.
So as you can tell I have all the important feeds on my PLN tab. I am following the class blog, Martha’s blog and the kids of Port England quite closely. If either of my two teachers post something interesting I can check that out, too. I used to use igoogle, but it was very complicated to navigate. Here if I need to add a tab, I just click edit tab to add and I can add anything I want. In each tab I am given the option to add widgets, feeds, links, or bookmarks. I would explain exactly how to do it, but netvibes is truly self-explanatory. If you can read, you can do it. I did it! I have learned a lot in my EDM 310 class, but my PLN is something I will cherish. Here is a link to Alana's PLN.

Blog Post 11/Assignment 12

Skype conversation Strange and Cassidy
Ms. Cassidy uses a technological approach to education and utilizes it in the classroom for writing lessons. She notes that we can no longer use the same tools we used 5 years ago to teach today's students. Technology is rapidly changing and she has been fortunate to obtain computers for her class to use and a technical engineer to help her set up programs. I love watching the children interact with each other as they check their classmates blogs. It is most impressive to observe as their skills improve. They are gaining confidence in their abilities and in return are acquiring an out-going traits. These elements will help them to be better learners, critical thinkers, and successful students.
I am anxious to implement various technological tools in my class. I feel the benefits are endless and the possibilities are limitless because technology can be applied to every school subject. Some difficulties that could arise are lack of funding or necessary equipment which can be combated with grants and donations. Another "brick wall" that I have been dealing with in my current classroom is the lack of internet access. I have to save all of our recordings at school and then post everything at night when I am at home. Hopefully, I will not encounter this problem in the public school setting. I know the biggest advantage for my students is the excitement they have for hands-on activities. When they are engaged in the learning process, they learn more.
Ms. Cassidy is a role model and excellent exemplar for the ways technology can be utilized. She discusses some of the issues that are important to the children's privacy and safety and gives valid solutions. She is inspirational and proof that these are ideas that work. I will most definitely, use the class blogs and podcasts in my classroom. I was relieved to find out that all the children used in the production were not first graders. I appreciate the way she used her valuable resources (last year's class). If you want to be amazed at a group of kids and be inspired to be the best teacher you can be you should watch this video, First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class: Little Kids Big Potential.

Blog Post 10/Assignment 11

Welcome to my PLE
The PLE video was somewhat intimidating. I feel behind in the technology race. Her PLE is expansive and her dedication is astounding. It was amazing to hear a young lady speak of failure, yet she does not give up on her goals. When she hits a brick wall and receives no response from the scientist, she tries again. She is well informed of technological tools, references, and resources. As I gaze at my own PLN, mine seems like a small star in a vast universe. I am currently using netvibes for my PLN page, and I have chosen the bright pink background with a rainbow theme, so mine is much brighter and more colorful than hers. I only have three tabs on mine, though. One is for social networking, one for professional contacts and one is for bookmarks and links. The tab with social networking is mostly for fun. It has my e-mail feeds, facebook and twitter accounts, and it, also, has a little widget with the local weather. The professional contact tab contains a few of my fellow classmate’s blogs that I am interested in following, my previous comments for teacher assignments and a few other interesting blogs I have discovered during my technological journey. There is, also, a handy “To-do” list centered in the middle of this page. My bookmarks and links tab is filling quickly with links that I have found interesting, useful, or both. My PLN may not be quite as expansive as her PLE, but I am not finished. I plan to continue filling my PLN with an abundance of useful information and tools. Like her, I use it mostly for school. If anyone else has any good ideas for additions, please leave me a comment. Suggestions are so helpful in situations like these. We really can learn a lot from each other. As a matter of fact, I have to give some credit to fellow classmate Martha Yim, for helping me find out about netvibes. So from Martha, to me, to you, if you have not had the chance to check out netvibes for yourself click here.

Two Questions That can Change Your Life

These questions are the epitome of self-reflection. For the person that is not affected by them, I say you should pinch yourself. You might be in la-la land. Without sounding religious or fanatic I think these questions are necessary for a full life and rewarding life. If a person walks around without thinking about the differences he or she is making or not making in the world today, they are just taking up space and using up valuable oxygen. Humanity is built upon the dream of a better tomorrow, and ultimately if you are not doing something to make it better you are just getting in the way. I thought, for a long time, about my "sentence." I am a teacher, not just because I teach, but because I love teaching. It is truly my niche in life and I know I make a difference. It is amazes me that a simple woman from Alabama can be a part of the solution and influence the lives of tomorrow in such a positive way. So after careful consideration and much deliberation I decided my sentence would be about Alana the teacher.
"She makes a difference by influencing positive thinkers with confidence and creativity."

Interview discussion

What constitutes a "Technologically Literate Teacher?"

Comments for Kids 3

This new assignment was not nearly as much fun, probably because my post was a 34 second long video. You can view it here. Although it was not my favorite, I have to admit Mr. McClung does a great job of getting his students involved. And that fact is what teaching tomorrow is all about.
It is The McClung's Review and the students are granted various awards. It is the end of the school year and they reflect on their achievements. This particular video is of Mason giving his acceptance speech. He has won the award of "Most time spent hating Mr. McClung." It seems like some of the video has been cut short, but I do gather the kids are having a great time learning. Kudos to Mr. McClung for being so open about these inventive projects and engaging his class.

Teach Someone

How to YouTube


This audio is to give you step-by-step directions on how to YouTube. YouTube is a great educational tool to use for teaching and learning, not to mention lots of fun. The first thing you need to do is create an account. Go to www.YouTube.com. Click on "create account" it is located in the upper-right hand corner of the screen. To get started you will need to fill in some necessary information, and accept the terms. You can either add YouTube to your Google account or create a new one. Now you are setup to use this fun and fantastic tool.
Now onto the using part of this How-to audio. First you are going to need to make a video. If you are not sure how to do that, you will need to click on the google bar on your computer screen and type the in the words "How to record a video?" and click "search" because you are going to need some additional help. This is an audio about how-to-Youtube. So you have your account setup and you have a video or two. Now it is time to upload your videos. Click on the word "upload." Check out the video requirements in the blue box and click on the upload choice that applies to you. I, personally, like to pre-record then upload. Browse your computer to locate the safe place you saved your video to and in just a few moments you will be finished. Double click on the video file and it will start the upload process automatically. Just some friendly information: the longer the video, the longer this process takes. Go ahead and give your video a title and description. Tag it if you would like. Then select the proper category and decide which privacy setting is appropriate for your video. Finally, save changes. This is very important!
Now in the upper-right hand corner you can click on your account and manage it. By clicking on "my videos" you can view all or some of your videos. Then if you want to know who is watching your videos and when they are watching them just click on the word "insight" on the left side of the screen. Instantly you can view all sorts of video statistics and information.
The last thing I want to talk about, because it is also very useful, is sharing your videos. Click on the video you would like to share, of course one that you have already uploaded and can be found in your account. You can click on the box that says "share" and choose the locations you would like to share your video with or connect it to. If you would like to post your video on your blog or some other place you will need an embed code. Click the button that says "embed." High-light and copy the embed code, then go to your blog post and paste the code. Now I particularly like to go to YouTube and browse videos, well not all the videos, just mine. I click on the word "browse" and type in the titles of my own videos. I like to see how high up on the list my videos are. Now you can browse your videos or any of the other gazillion videos, it is your choice. You can choose by title or category. After choosing a video you can view it, comment on it, or share it. Ta-da! You are an official YouTube user.

Blog Post 9/Assignment 10

Lecture to Educators
This post did not share much information that most students do not already know. Lecturing is not so effective, text books are costly and rarely used, and most of the "facts" teachers inform their students of are more easily found on the internet, not to mention probably more current. What my classmates should have learned from this post is exactly how lucky we are. If you attend a school that has hands on activities and real life training, check out Dan's video before you start complaining. I am so skeptical of these notions because for the past two and a half years my classes have included an assortment of pedagogy. All of my teachers have known my name, although some of them still cannot pronounce it correctly they gave it a valiant effort. I cannot name one class that did not use the required books. Yes, I have had some professors who lectured, and trust me it was boring, but some information is just "need to know." I agree with Morgan and Dan that change is necessary; however, I do not think Dan is making the best decision. I look forward to seeing future videos from Dan, to find out how that decision works out for him. Life does require us to sometimes do things we do not necessarily agree with and often times it is about the bigger picture of things. To get a degree or not? Today that is the question.

ALEX: The Alabama Learning Exchange
ALEX has lesson plans, web links, and interactive activities easily accessible and usable by administrators, teachers, students, and parents. You can choose from any of these categories: Courses of study, Web links, Lesson plans, Personal workspace, Professional learning, Podcast treasury, Alexville, or Search. In the "Course of Study" tab you can search features by grade level, subject, or keywords. By clicking the "Web Links" tab, you are directed to teacher, administrator, or student web links. Each link category is further broken down into topics of interest for you to choose from.
The "Lesson Plan" option has many benefits. You can browse through actual lesson plans by subject, title, author, or school. You can even create and save them in your own personal workspace. To use the "Personal Workspace" you must establish an account, which only takes a few minutes. You can find or create lesson plans, podcast entries, or teacher webpages.
The "Professional Learning Plan" teaches about ALEX, offers training opportunities, views past presentations, and searches for grants. All of these are valuable tools for the Alabama teacher, or any teacher for that matter. The "Podcast Treasury" is pretty self-explanatory. Hundreds of educational podcasts are available at the click of the mouse. "Alexville" is a little different. It is like a blog for all ALEX users and visitors. There are posts and comments to read about with tips, pointers, and appreciations. The last tab is the "Search" box and it allows you to search the database. You can make a more narrow search by clicking a category first.
Taking the time getting to know and play with this free (yes FREE) on-line tool would be beneficial to any educator. I could write revelations about how ALEX could benefit me as a future teacher, but then I would be neglecting to inform you how useful it has already been to me as a student. Finally Dr. Strange has assigned us something to research that I am familiar with. You should not wait until you start teaching to utilize ALEX. ALEX should be a part of your PLN right now! Include it as a link or bookmark it for easy access. Go ahead and setup an account. I already told you; it is free and it only takes a few minutes. Later down the road it could save you a lot more than a few minutes. It has already saved me from a few headaches. It has all the assistance a teacher, student, parent, or administrator could ever wish for. Try it; you will like it.

Not an assignment

If you read the title, you are probably wondering "She has time for that?" The answer is NO, but I just could not help myself. I had my Pre-Kindergarten class brainstorm some ideas for videos that we could do. They, not me, came up with some really good ideas. One of their ideas was to read books. Since during the 2009-2010 school year almost all of them learned to read I thought this was a great idea. I must admit I was slightly concerned about how well they would do, since they are not extremely fluent with their reading skills. They do a great job of sounding out and reading small sentences in a structured setting, but being able to show the pictures, speak loud and clear, and pausing for punctuation are slightly more complicated tasks. Then something wonderful happened! One of my students from last year has come to visit for the summer. She is helping out and keeping me on my toes. Guess what? She has mastered these more difficult skills I just mentioned and all the kids in the class want to be just like her. They want to go to big school like her, they want to run as fast as her, and now they want to read like her. This idea could not have worked out any more perfectly. Check out the video "Katie reads Why the Frog has Big Eyes" and see how attentive the other students are as she reads the story to the next generation of "big-schoolers." I am so proud of her! She inspired them more in just a few minutes, than I did in a whole year. What a way to use technology in the classroom. Now everyday the kids are practicing reading their books. They, too, want to read a story to the whole class and have me record them. Stay tuned for more non-assignments. We have some more ideas in the works.

Comments for Teacher Summary

I was assigned to read and respond to The Tempered Radical by Bill Ferriter. He teaches in North Carolina, where he received "Teacher of the Year" award. Recently he wrote about whiteboards and their place in the classroom. After posting comments on his blog, he made another post emphasizing one of my statements. He makes great points; he did say my comment was "brilliant."
Bill Ferriter has, also, wrote pieces about the money invested in schools for better leadership and he has offered suggestions on what does work in the world of smartboards. He writes extremely relevant articles and he does a great job of honestly expressing his opinions without losing his temper or embarrassing the department of education.
I am honored to have been a part of his blog and I am truly glad Dr. Strange designated this particular to teacher as my assignment. It is always good to expand your learning network and I have a feeling "teacher of the year" Bill Ferriter is a good one to have contact with. If you are interested in some serious education issues check out his blog.

Smartboard lesson