I found a video podcast for kindergarten. It was so cute and such a great idea in order for parents to see their children at school and interacting with other children. This particular video podcast was of Mrs. Bradley’s kindergarten class acting out with music, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Some of the students were spiders, some rain, and some the sun. They were having such a fun time! Mrs. Bradley had podcasts and video podcasts of her elementary class. The podcasts were of cheers.

This idea is great! I would love to create podcasts and video podcasts of my classes in the future. I will be teaching elementary and I know as a parent myself that I would love to be able to experience some of what my children do at school. These would be keepsakes for me.

The podcasts with just the audio were a good idea but I really like the video casts. The video casts were more personal because you could see the students and see how much fun they were having singing and acting out the song as a group.

I also found Mrs. Bradley’s Kindergarten Young Fives blog which also had the link to the video cast that I watched at iTunes along with others. This blog can be viewed at Mrs.Bradley's Kindergarten Class.

My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

Hey Everybody! We have made it through this semester of EDM 310, YAY!!!!!

Last Post

Did I learn anything in this class this semester? Well, of course I did. There shouldn't be anyone that didn't learn anything. I would have to say that the most important thing that I have learned is to ALWAYS save my work to my flash drive in case of an unfortunate event like your computer crashing. Lots of people don't think that their computer will crash and get so caught up in what they are doing that they don't save along the way. I am here to tell you that it can happen and it did happen to me. I can laugh about it now but it wasn't funny at the time.

I have learned things about Microsoft Word that I did not know and I have been able to use things that I have learned in this class in other classes. I have learned to save pictures from the internet to my flash drive and then insert them into documents or presentations. Sounds simple but before this class, I only knew how to copy and paste and sometimes that doesn't work. I also learned how to edit hyperlinks which also seems simple now but not if you have no idea where to start.

The first go around with Excel, I have to admit, I was lost but the second go around I was able to understand and learn more. I do have more to learn about Excel but I believe, with practice, I will get it.

My power point presentation at the beginning of the semester was just a simple version of a presentation. I had completed presentations in the past for other courses. I actually learned a lot about power point by completing the end of the semester assignment. I learned that there are so many tools that can be used in a presentation, the biggest thing to learn about power point is knowing where to find what you are looking for.

Before this semester, the only time I saw the word "blog" was on myspace. I had never created a blog or made a blog post or even read a blog. I have learned that blogs are widely used. Professors, Instructors, Teachers, Parents Schools, students of all ages, etc. have been exposed to blogs. You can even find blogs on different subjects and topics of interest.

As far as podcasts, they are interesting. I listened to podcasts this semester where the different people were all in different states. Lessons can be presented by a number of speakers without them having to meet in any particular place.

I knew befor this semester that technology has advanced and continues to advance dramatically but just exactly how dramatically wasn't apparent to me before this course.

I honestly can not think of anything that I would have liked to learn in this class but didn't. I learned a whole lot, I just hope I can remember it all. i do beleive that the best way for me to learn anything in this class was most definitely by doing it.

We covered so much this semester in this course, I don't know how anything else could possibly be added. I can't think of anything that should be added. The things that we did cover were the "basics" and with anything you can also go more in depth but I beleive by learning how to get started, learning the details will come with practice.

The Edible School Yard

The edible school yard is about Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkely California. These sixth grade students are planting, harvesting, and eating. The garden and the adjacent kitchen act as learning labs for social studies, math, science, and life. THe garden is the center of teaching but is only part of what also goes on in the classroom.

In my opinion, because this is a hands on type of learning and the students are doing it themselves they are learning and remembering what they are learning. These students are able to tell you what they are learning and give their own mini lessons.

These students are also using cooperative learning. Some of the students are stronger in math and some in the science part of it and when they work together they are able to make better sense of everything.

When the garen was started is was to provide healthier food in the cafeteria, it was said in that, "if they grow it, they want to eat it." These children are also learning things that children use to learn at home with their families. This home learning most times is not still taking place. The students are not only seeing but they are making it happen. I personally observed how much the studens love and appreciate many aspects of their schoolyard garden.

More on what works in education can be found at edutopia

From the Apple.com site I found this on iTunes U; “Learning no longer happens only at a desk. Students now expect constant access to information, no matter where they are. Which is exactly why more and more faculty are using iTunes U to distribute digital lessons to their students.”

Teachers are using iLife and iWork applications to create customized ed. Materials. For example, language lessons that students can listen to on the bus or at home. With the help of things like Podcast Producer and Wiki Server, IT professionals at schools can help produce and distribute all kinds of multimedia content on iTunes U or a class wiki.

Once your classroom presentations and lectures have been captured and published, students can download them from iTunes. Then they can transfer them to iPod or iPhone and take it all with them. Any place can be a place to learn. iTunesU

I think iTunes U could be a very useful educational tool. iPods are a big deal for most students and for them to be able to access their lessons on their iPods would also be very useful to them as well. As for teachers, having students download their lessons onto their iPods will cut down on repetition. If a student is absent on the day that a teachers went over a particular lesson, they can download it to their iPod and then there you go. I wish I would have had this type of availability when I was in high school.

A video on iTunes U can also be found at iTunesU.

iPods in instruction

Presently, an increasing number of professors at various universities and colleges are experimenting with making lectures and study materials available to students via iPods and other MP3 players. Some K-12 educators and schools have also started using the iPod to enhance their curriculum and to support learning objectives in content areas such as – mathematic, science, reading, foreign language, and
history among others.

Duke University was the 1st to provide iPods to all incoming freshmen.
About 75 percent of freshmen surveyed said they used the iPods for their academic work. Some of the most popular student uses included recording lectures, taking oral notes, and even using the devices to create electronic flash cards.
But at the same time, some of the students said that while the iPods have potential in the classroom, they are still underutilized. According to the survey both students and faculty said more specific ideas of iPod use in the classroom were needed. Some also complained of the inability to share files from iPod to iPod. This info was found and more info can be found at iPods as well as iPods

Alice Christie

How can Alice Christies site be useful in teaching? It can be very useful. She has many useful tools on her site. From How to topics to an Educational tech guide. I would say that any time I have a uestion about something to do with teachnology I could probably find the answer on this site which can be found at AliceChristie.

This site of Alice Christie has many publications. These publications are a sort of How to on different topics about teachnology and using it in the classrroom. There are topics such as "Teachnology to Enhance Literacy in Elementary School Teacher" and "It's Elementary! Using Electronic Portfolios with Young Students." There is a list of these type publications that can be read for help.

Alice Christie also had an Educational Tech guide along with a video that can be viewed at AliceChristie.
This tech guide has topics such as "Discovering Art in a Web 2.0 World," "Constructivism," "Digital Media and Photo," "Instant Messaging," and "Internet Safety."

This is a very educational video for teachers as well as parents and students on different topics in different subject areas. I would definitely recommend this site just as it was recommended to me

NPR Blog on Wiki

How and when (if ever) Wikipedia can be a trusted source of info? I think the podcast that we listened to in class Wednesday night addressed this. I also read the blog at NPRblogonWiki. This blog told of how many large companies have made changes to blogs that were in reference to them or contained info on them. Some of these companies were Walmart, Exxon Mobil, as well as Congress and the CIA. Anyone can make changes on wiki, even the average person.

The group from Wednesday night made a good point about wiki being a good starting point for research but should not be solely depended on. What is good about wiki is that you can check your sources that are listed and determine how reliable the information is. I know from my own experience that I have used wiki to look up basic things but never anything that I need in depth info about. Wiki is a good tool and should be used but only to a certain extent. A podcast on wiki can be found at wiki.

Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch Last Lecture:Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. This was a GREAT lecture. It was very inspirational. One of the podcasts that I watched for last weeks post was about this same lecture and just hearing the students from last semester talk about it was inspirational.
The way that the lecture was layed out was so organized. Everything was broken down with important points. The really important points were emphasized by being repeated throughout the lecture.

In this lecture, Randy Pausch spoke on three main points. These points being: Childhood dreams; enabling dreams of others; and lessons learned. On the first point, Randy Pausch talked about brickwalls, this was something he brought up more than once. Brickwalls are placed for those who really don't care to achieve their goals, those who keep going, this proves how badly we want things.

Another point that was made in the lecture was about people who are critical, critics still love you and care. Randy Pausch said that if you are doing something really wrong and nobody says anything or trys to correct you, they have lost hope in you so when someone is critical, this is a good thing. I really enjoyed how these points were thrown into the lecture, it made the whole lecture encouraging.

Also, Randy Pausch talked about what he learned from his childhood dreams, not only from the ones that he did accomplish but also from the ones he did not. He actually said that the dreams that he did not accomplish are the ones that taught him the most.

What really kept this lecture interesting were the many pictures. Randy Pausch had many pictures that really caught your attention because they were funny. While watching this last lecture, I had many emotions. I was sad for one because he knew that he had liver cancer and that he didn't have long to live, I was also amazed at the attitude that he had about it all, and I also learned some really mportant things that I hope to pass on to my own students one day.

This lecture can be viewed at Randy Pausch.







Also, if you would like to visit his homepage, it can be found at Randy Pausch home

Fisch Bowl 2007

In returning to Fisch Bowl 2007, I chose to read the October blogs. Theses different blogs made some good points. Let me back up, all of these blog posts were related to filtering the internet in schools even for teachers. The different blogs will really make you think about the same thing that all of these people are trying to figure out, "how best to meet the needs of our students?"

The first statement that really stood out to me in one of theses posts that,"not one of those who sigh or are critical of filtering decisions has their job on the line should "Johnny" access inappropriate content. This was straight to the point and oh so true. This guy also pointed out that these critics would not sit in court with him either when a lawsuit was filed.

This made me think, filtering is neccessary, as sad as it is to say, even for teachers because in another post, someone said, what if the teacher uses bad judgment? We are suppose to be able to entrust our children with their teachers but truth be know, not all teachers are trustworthy. On the other hand though, some of the internet does need to be accessible to teachers and students because it will enhance their learning experience.

One of the other posts suggests way to save youtube videos and similar sites locally. Teachers could save these type things from their own computer and still use them in their lessons. If necessary, these saved videos could be approved before the students are allowed to view them.
This is a link to a youtube video that I watched that I thought all should watch, it is not related to filtering but it is related to education. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CRlmhWSvEM
I couldn't figure out a picture to incorporate so thought a youtube link would be good.

These posts from October can be found atOctober

Podcasts

The two podcasts from last semester that I chose to listen to were "Watchers and Listeners-How do We Respond?" and "Lessons from Life: The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch." I listened for things that I could use to improve podcast for this semester but apparently I am not a very critical person because I thought they were done really well and if ours are as good as theirs, then we will be doing pretty well.

"Watchers and Listeners- How do we Respond?" This podcast was done by three students named John Hardman, Keri Ashworth, and Autumn Jordan along with their professor, John Strange. Their podcast was based on an article that Professor Strange had written. The group examined the theses that "students are now listener/watchers and not reader/writers. How accurate is that claim and what reactions should we have to it if it is correct? This podcasts can be listened to by clicking this link Watchers and Listeners. This is also a picture of students who participated in this particular podcast along with Professor Stange'>John Hardman, John Strange, Keri Ashworth, and Autumn Jordan" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh856XwiFnnZbbC0gzFLUmmc79M6NRjfJBuFdmnSemK1bEF7dx_Ya3e4_YNDPL4MNESg80-1lENKb8ls4BMtJpVbZ2qAtkoy2YaVbGs7UHU-Dy_jhyG1SQsiOBebAPM0vFZ4ei_Fxw3Lzw/s200/T0406.jpg" border=0>

Each of the students introduced themselves and their majors as well as their hopes and plans for their future which I liked because it helps listeners get to know the speakers a little bit. One thing that I caught in the podcasts was that the students asked Professor Strange to explain something in his podcasts that they didn't know and he couldn't remember what it was either, it was kind of funny but not a good thing The students did address every aspect of the article and the points> how do you get people who are in the process of learning to contribue instead of listening/watching? How do you get them to produce material? Some things I had never considered too much was how much now people are listening to books and watching movies instead of actually reading the books. Professor Strange pointed out that changes are happening rapidly with technology.

"Lessons from Life: The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch" was done by two students, Kelse Volz and Crystal Powell. They looked ast lessons for life that can be found in "The LAst Lecture of Randy Pausch." This podcast can be found at this link Randy Pausch. I really enjoyed this podcast also. These students shared what they had learned from Professor Pausch and they also shared about him which I thought very appropriate considering that he had recently passed away. Professor Pausch had very useful teaching technique that every teacher shoule keep on mind. This podcast was inspirational to me and I think would be to everyone. I would like to do a podcast like this one that wold really stick out in listeners minds the way that this one did mine. Great life lessons. Here is a picture of the students that completed this podcast.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirTmlF9LIxCW2WhZEPxbyLsVGIHyzvzW3dRVjYzrhtolXABDsSnjS2tttb2kzJKGh2bW4gLIJYFSOnasqyRGjaA8TUpC82NBUTkRXBVLgsCb61s8KDdGCt8pHc2yhVPK4gIzI_apCFMlA/s1600-h/A6.jpg


These podcasts have definitely gave me an idea of what is expected when completing our own. I think this will be interesting and I hope it will give me some ideas of how to create podcasts with my own students once I become a teacher.

Fischbowl

"Best of the Fischbowl 2007," Karl Fisch makes the statement that, "if a teacher today is not technologically literate-and is willing 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. He then asks "Extreme?" and says "Maybe."

Well.... I don't know that I feel it is an extreme thing to say. From my own personal experience with online work, being technologically literate is definitely a must for anyone that plans on being successful at all. If teachers are not tech. literate, they can not teach their students and therefore their students will not be tech. literate. The worst part is when they get to college, they will be overwelmed because they never learned anything about the computer or web.

I think it is unacceptable for a teacher to learn new things and at least try to keep up with advancing teachnology. I understand that teachers have a lot on their plates but I also feel that it is our responsibilty as teachers to teach students the things that will be beneficial to their lives. Technological literacy is beneficial and should not be overlooked.

I now understand even more why a computer class is a requirement for a degree in Education, it should be now and should be always. As technology changes, so should computer classes. We need to have something to offer to our students and ways to help them with technology.

Podcasts

I have listened to parts of five different podcasts. I could not find ConnectLearning so I was not able to listen to what it was about or how it was done. Overall, it is really ineresting how the podcasts are done. There were different speakers but they could be in different locations. I also found out that there are podcasts for all listeners including kids that you can subscribe to for free.

I listened to SmartBoard Lessons 123: Notebook 10. Ben HAzzard and Joan Badger were the speakers and they were 2000 km away from each other. They introduced themselves and talked about the weather. These podcats are about using Smart Board. This particular podcast was not a lesson but was introducing the newest version of Smart Board. This podcast was about the features and classroom applications. They gave links such as Smart. In each podcast, they give downloadable lessons.

KidCast is self explanatory, theyare podcast for kids. I listened to episode one, I actually listened to all of it because it was really short. This particular podcast was a review by kids for kids on a movie. This would be a great tool for older elementary school students in exploring podcasts.

Ed Tech talk show number 26 took place on Feb. 8, 2009. This podcast as well as the others started out with music. Listeners can join in through chat rooms or through skype. This particular podcast is about constructive learning, "way to learn is by doing." When I heard that I thought about this class because we are definitely learning by doing, lol!

Mac Break Weekly is about Macintosh and "This week in Phontography" is about Photography. Everyone was introduced, they were all in different locations, southern CAlifornia, Seattle, Vancouver, New York City. I think it is really cool how a podcasts can go on with people in different areas of the U.S and probably even different countries. Teachnology has really came a long way. Technology is moving so fast that it is impossible to keep up with.

International school/teacher blogs

The Ambrit Rome International school is located in Rome Italy. They had a pretty cool blog with lots of pictures and YouTube. AmbritRome. On this blog you can find a contact email, links to the schools homepage, and of course they have an archive. We are in Alabama, in the United States using blogger.com and they are in Rome, Italy. Although there is a huge distance with many many miles between us, it is like we are right next door.

The Shu Ren International school has a blog that is much like any other blog but I would say, it is more extensive. It has a blog for a campus it has in Berkley California in which adult chinese classes are offered and then I found blogs for preschool and Kindergarten. kinderfirst The kinderfirst blog was very informative with news, important dates, letter from the teacher to parents and what I thought was neat was the letter from the English teacher. I thought about the fisch bowl that we watched last week about other countries speaking the english language fluently.

U.S. teachers/schools blogs

Well, I did find through my surfing of the web that many schools and teachers use blogs, pretty cool, learn something new everyday. I am sure that more and more schools and teachers will be using blogs in the near future. Blogs for communication to parents would be a great idea.

Anyways, I found this elementary school called Trantwood Elementary and they had a blog which can be found at Trantwood. On Jan. 22nd, Mrs. Holmans 2nd grade class posted their Wild Water Haiku blog with a link to actually hear the students read their haiku about Wild Weather. Haiku's. On Trantwoods blog spot you can add a comment but the comment must be approved first and then will be posted within 24-48 hours. 5th grade also posted a blog calle "Dear President Elect Barack Obama" on Jan. 9th, 2009. There is a list of the different blog entries by the different grades.

Harrison Elementary school was another school that I found that currently uses blogs. Harrison Elem. School is located in Warsaw, Indiana. Their school blog consists of info such as classroom web pages where teachers can post info, provide descriptions of various projects, and share photographs of their activities. Teachers can also create links to important websites and even maintain a classroom blog separate from the school blog. Harrison

"Did You Know?"

I just watched the coolest clip on You Tube. My reaction summed up is WOW! My husband walked in towards the end and was reading the statistics and we started it again so he could see the beginning. We were just amazed with some of the numbers. There are really too many for me to name that really amazed me but I did jot down some as I was watching. Some didn't interest me as much as others but over all, very interesting! There was the question, "Did You Know?" and I would have never have guesse how extreme some of those numbers were.
The amount of text messages exceeding the population of the PLANET is crazy! ALso, 2.7 billion Google searches just this month, thats a lot of searching. I have a myspace account along with almost everybody I know so I thought it was interested that 230,000 people joined myspace just TODAY, and if myspace were a country, it would be the 8th largest in the world. Awesome clip! Oh, the college graduates for India was about three times as many as the U.S. Really enjoyed the clip and suggest that everyone watch it on You Tube or go to Did You Know

ACCESS

ACCESS stands for, "Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students State Wide" or "Distance Learning." "Providing classroom courses and teachers via technology" is what they are all about. At the site ACCESS you can find out ingo about ACCESS and the courses offered. There is a link for students, educators, and also for parents. If you would like to contact ACCESS for any reason, there is also a contact us link along with help link and a Resources link. At the above site there is an online course login and registration
I found the powerepoint ACCESS to be very informative. I found it interesting about the problems that are attempting to be a thing f the past with the help of ACCESS. The powerpoint stated that, "Many rural and low-income schools have limited course offerings for students." Some schools can not even offer an Advanced Diploma which is actually required by law but apparently is just disregarded. " The vision is that "The state of alabma will provide equal access to high quality instruction to improve student achievement through distance learning opportunities. The Misson, goal, and what ACCESS can provide is also found within this powerpoint. "Distance Learning" is defined and the modes aof delivery are listed. There is a web-based mode and a video conferencing mode. These can also be blended.

Alabama Learning Exchange

The Alabama Learning Exchange, also known as ALEX can be found at ALEX. This is a teacher resource site. It has many helpful resources for the Alabama school teacher, grade K-12. You can find any course of study, weblinks for teacher, adminstrator, or student. There are lesson plans available and you can also set up an account where you can create your own personal workspace. There are resources for professional learning and also distance learning info. If you have any trouble, there is a help tab.

Under the Course of Study tab there is a search feature to access courses by grade, level, and keyword. The courses of study with available resources are: English Language Arts, Math, Arts, Career tech, Driver and Traffic Safety, Health, Scinence, Social Studies, Foreign Language, P.E., and Technology Ed. There are resources on this site for any type of teacher. There are all subjects for elementary school teachers like me and specific subjects for secondary ed. teachers as well as p.e. and foreign language.

If you were to click on one of the course of studies, for example, "English Language Arts," You would see that you could select from K-12. You would then find guidelnes of what to do for your students and how to approach getting these things done. I selected Kindergarten to find out what was expected in the Language Arts area for that age. Some examples from the list were to, "exibit awareness of concept of story." In order to do this, one thing that is suggested is to, "associate written words with a story. " These different guidlines are outlined with suggestions.

The "Lesson Plan" link can be used to create your own personal lesson plans, or you can find an ALEX lesson plan by author, title, school, or by subject. By setting up an account, you can creat your own personal workplace where you can store and submit lesson plans and web pages.

Under the "Professional Learning" link you can find site on professional develpment opportunities, teaching, learning tools, news, and practices. You can also visit pages to find educator resources for proffesional growth and communication. For anyone interested in distance learning, this info can also be found on the ALEX website.

If help is needed doing anything on this site, help can be found under the help tab. You can find help setting up your ALEX account, and how to create and submit lesson plans. From exploring this site, I believe it will be a very helpful resource tool when I begin teaching. Everything was very simple to find and explore through and get back to. No matter the grade or the course of study, this site is loaded with resources and so easy to use.

First Post

This link will take you to ebay

Hey everybody! My name is Heather Averette. I am an Elementary Education major. I plan on continuing my education after finishing my bachelors and get my masters in counseling. I'm sure I will teach for a few years while finishing my masters but counseling is really what I want to do.

Eventually I would like to counsel all ages, not just elementary school students but for now I want to work for the school system so I can have time with my own children. I have been married for five years now and have two children. My daughter is five and my son is two.

It took me four years to receive my associates degree in liberal arts because I wasn't able to go every semester. I went to Faulkner State Comm. College most of my associates and then transfered to Bevill State Comm. College in North Alabama. We lived in North Alabama for eighteen months where my husband was the Pastor of a small church in a small town, really small! We had only one red light!

We are now back in south Alabama which is home to both my husband and myself. We both graduated from Theodore High School, myself in 2002 and my husband in 2003. I hope to be home for a while but another move is a strong possibility in our future and is something that I am willing to do in order to do what we've been called to do.