Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Project 8 and Project 14: How to Use Voicethread



I would use Google Docs to teach my students how to use Voicethread. I would also use Diigo to capture screenshots of Voicethread. One screenshot for each step in the Process of making a Voicethread.

The first step would be to sign up for (or sign in to) a Voicethread account.
The second step would be to go to the Create tab.
The third step would be to upload an image, or a set of images. These can be from your computer, a url, or a media source.
The fourth step is to record a comment or to type a comment under that image (or both).
The fifth step is to share what you've created. You can embed your Voicethreads onto other websites or send them in emails.

You can make contacts on Voicethread and view their Voicethreads and comment on their material or make Voicethreads in response.

Voicethread.com is a very useful website. In the classroom, it could be used to create photo essays. It could also be used to send images to your project partners.

I would have to let my student's know that the basic Voicethread account only comes with three Voicethreads. They would have to either upgrade their accounts or choose wisely.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Interview with a Future Educator



My little sister, Rebecca Warnberg, is also attending the University of South Alabama in hopes of obtaining a degree in Elementary Education. She is a freshman and has not taken EDM 310 yet. I wanted to know what she thought about technology in the classroom. Here's what she had to say:
Caitlyn: In your opinion, what makes a technologically literate teacher?
Rebecca: A tech literate teacher knows how to use Microsoft Office and the internet.
Caitlyn: So, you don't think that teachers should know , for example, how to blog, use Skype, or use a Promethean board?
Rebecca: I think those things may be useful, but they're not necessary for someone to be a good teacher.
Caitlyn: Do you think that teachers should at least be familiar with these things so that they could use them in the classroom?
Rebecca: Yes.
Caitlyn: Should all teachers be tech literate?
Rebecca: Yes.
Caitlyn: Could you explain that answer? Earlier you said that all teachers needed to know was Microsoft Office and how to use the internet.
Rebecca: Like I said before, those are the basics. Other things might be useful, but they are not what makes a good teacher. I don't think teachers need to know much technology in order to run a classroom effectively.
Caitlyn: How would you use technology in your classroom (if you would at all)?
Rebecca: I plan to teach kindergarten. I don't anticipate using much technology with children of that age. If I do end up teaching an older grade, I might have my students play interactive computer games, but I can't see using them very much.
Caitlyn: Thank you for your time Rebecca.
Rebecca: Technology is stupid.

I'm glad that Rebecca will have to take EDM 310 in the future. She need sto be exposed to other opinions and ideas. Even if she doesn't change her mind, I think it will be good for her to be exposed to all of the ways that technology can be used in the classroom.

My Professional Blog



You can find the blog that I will be continuing after this semester at http://caitlizenglishteachers.blogspot.com/. This blog is going to be my friend Liz and I documenting our journey to becoming English teachers and our experiences once we become teachers. We've been best friends since high school and I'm so excited to see our relationship grow as we learn together!

I also have made a professional blog that I can show to employers. You can find it at:http://warnbergcaitlynpb.blogspot.com/.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Week 11 Assignment




A father in Qatar read a book called The Last Child in the Woods. He was inspired by the book to take his daughter, Kaia, outdoors for a photo session to help her get in touch with nature. She took her own pictures and he helped her make a video essay about them to share on her blog with her family. Mr. Chamberlain's class saw her blog and commented on it and then made a Voicethread response for Kaia.

I think, as a parent, I would be alarmed that people other than my relatives were viewing my daughter's blog. I would be afraid of a stalker. As a teacher, I would be excited that I was connecting my students with other children around the world so that they could learn together. As a student, I would be grateful for the learning experience. It is so cool to see our world getting smaller and smaller as technology advances.

I think that we have to proceed with caution, but that creating a learning network across the globe is a worthwhile effort.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Comments4Teachers: A GeekyMomma's Blog

Week 10 "An Open Letter to my Students' Parents"
This week's post was about how parents can get involved in their child's blog.
"I think that it is so important to get parents involved in their child's education and blogging is such an excellent way to do that!
I'm a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class and we've been learning about how to effectively use technology in the classroom." (You can find the blog post I responded to here.)

Week 12 "Ten Things Your Student Can Blog About Today"
This week's post was a list of ideas for students to write about on their blog. As a future English teacher, I look forward to encouraging my students to write about their own experiences and their interests.
"Wow! This is such a great idea! I'm still in school to become a teacher, but I would love to have each of my students blog and share their ideas with others! I am so excited to start!"



Week 10 Assignment

Comments4kids
This week, I commented on an opinion essay that a student in Mrs. Goerend's class wrote about how 30 min breaks should be given in middle school and high school. I thought the student had a very good point. You can find his essay and my comment here.

Morgan Bayda and Dan Brown "An Open Letter to Educators"



I would have to agree with both Morgan and Dan that University isn't really an environment that encourages interaction and networking and that students really just spend a lot of time memorizing facts. It is different in a few classes. EDM 310 of course encourages us to interact with other students. I would have to disagree with the idea that the lecture mode of learning is going extinct though. We still need professors to tell us facts so that we can memorize them. That shouldn't be the only part of our education, but it's a big part. Universities should be incorporating more technology into the classroom so that they can better prepare their students for the world they will be working in, but I don't think that the colleges I have attended have been doing such a bad job with that. I feel that, especially at Mat-Su College, students were encouraged to interact with their neighbors and to ask questions. I, of course, agree that the internet is an efficient way to network with others and to find and share useful information. Morgan was right about that.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Diigo



Diigo, like Delicious, is a social bookmarking website. They differ a little bit. I use Diigo primarily. You can use it to put virtual sticky notes on pages and to save pages that you like for others to see.
My Diigo username is caitlynwarnberg.

EDM 310 Survey

I sent out a survey to other students that I made using a google docs form. I wanted to know what other students thought of the course and if they thought there was any way to improve it.

As of this moment, 37 students in EDM 310 have taken my survey. A lot of them mentioned that they wish there was more of an explanation given for some of the assignments. Several of them said that they want a grade for each assignment so that they can gauge how they are doing in the class. Most students spend 2-3 hours working on this class each week.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

VoiceThread: My Cat Bill

Timetoast

I had a lot of fun doing this Timetoast assignment. =)
This timeline is of my life and the places I've lived. It also contains major events that have happened in my life and timespans that are significant.

Skype and Twitter


I use Skype all the time to talk to my friends out of state. Elizabeth lives in Nebraska. Sam lives in Alaska. Desiree and Trevor live in California. We'll all meet on Skype and talk while we watch The Office. My skypename is caitlyn.warnberg.
Twitter is something I don't use very frequently. Both Liz and Sam have accounts, but I talk to them on Facebook and on the phone and I text them. I have used Twitter though. I follow Langwitches as part of my PLN. My twittername is caitlynwarnberg.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Week 9 Assignment



Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX)


The Alabama Learning Exchange seems to be a site where educators can post and share ideas for lesson plans and find helpful information for all sorts of things in their classroom. The posts are searchable (there is a search engine within the site that directs you to lesson plans that contain certain key words.) The posts are also categorized by subject matter and grade. The site also includes useful web links and podcasts. There is a section where teachers can get tutorials on basic computer software that would be used in the classroom.

ALEX could be a very useful website. However, I was looking at the lesson plans for 11th grade language arts and they were very vague. Just a bunch of questions that could be applied to almost any novel. I think it would be useful as a springboard, but that you would definitely have to come up with a few of your own questions or tweak the questions so that they fit the novel the class was reading.

Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS)

The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide, or ACCESS, is a program that was designed to give all public high school students the same opportunity to take advanced courses and online courses. 174 of Alabama's schools and 9,000 students participate in the program. Large numbers of both students and educators feel that the online school is at the same level or better than traditional courses. The 50+ courses offered include ten different AP classes and several foreign languages. Courses may involve video conferencing, or they may be completely web based.

I talked about something like this being a possibility in the podcast that I did with Chelsea Steele. Our topic was iTunes U and it's usefulness to high school educators. Sort of different than an online school, but not really. It's crazy that Alabama actually has a program like this! I look forward to seeing it grow and prosper. It's a great opportunity for students to take courses, that may or may not be offered at their high school, online with other students from Alabama.

Comments4Kids

This week I commented on Mrs. Yollis' Class Blog. My assignment was their Quadrilateral tutorial.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Week 8 Assignment



Achieving Your Childhood Dreams by Randy Pausch


It was hard to differentiate the teaching methods for me because I was too busy listening to his story and sifting through all the people he had to thank. It is so sad that he died. I feel for his wife and children. It's hard to think that this was his last big speech before he left this world. I guess it was appropriate because he was trying to give advice.

The four techniques for teaching that I found were hands-on learning, head fakes, making learning fun, and...

He believed in hands on learning. He used this a lot in his classes. He began a class at his university that had the students creating virtual worlds. He actually turned it into a masters program where students complete project after project in order to earn their masters.

He believed in tricking students into learning by telling them they're learning something else. He calls it "head fakes." He would have the students start a project and tell them the goal was to teach one thing (like the Alice project) and they would end up gleaning something unexpected from the project (like learning how to use Javascript).

Making learning fun. He says that this is the most important thing and that this is what he really wants us to take away form his lecture on teaching. I agree with him. I think that making learning fun is really important. Part of the reason that I want to be a teacher is that I had so many teachers that made learning fun and I wanted others to experience that.

Comments4Kids Week 8

This week I had Michala. Her post was about slavery. I think she touched on empathy with the slaves. It was a very good post. =)
http://mrsshetler.edublogs.org/2009/10/27/i-feel-like-a-slave/comment-page-1/#comment-197