Goodbye for Now

I'm sure I'll see some of my fellow students next semester. Thanks to Mr. Tashbin for helping me this semester. And thanks to Dr. Strange for organizing this course.

Week 15 Assignment

#1:

• Blogs: I learned that blogs are a way to publish your work so that you have a broad audience. It helps students to realize that they can reach the world.
  
• Google Docs: I had no idea that Google had free software for creating all sorts of documents and presentations, forms and surveys and even websites. All of it is connected to your Gmail account! It's really useful.
  
• Picasa: I used this on my mission trip over spring break to share photos from the trip with all of my friends!
  
• Podcasts & Vodcasts: I learned that there is a whole community of teachers out there trying to educate other teachers about technology and all sorts of other things. I also learned that making a podcast is not so difficult.
• YouTube: I learned that YouTube is more than just entertainment. It's a place where you can post your projects and your thoughts and ideas. My mother was watching lessons about Algebra the other day because she's going back to school and she needs a refresher. It blows my mind that all she had to do was look it up on YouTube!
  
• PLNs: I learned that maintaining a Personal Learning Network is importantif you want to be a life long learner and the best educator you can be.
  
• Twitter: I learned that I hate Twitter and find very little use in it. If people want to tell me these things, they can text me or facebook me. I don't care to follow strangers.
  
• Comments4kids, Comments4classmates,& Comments4teachers: I learned that there is a whole network of educators and students on the internet that are willing to post their ideas and their thoughts in order to benefit others.
  
• iTunes & iTunesU: I learned that iTunes has an educational component that is opening up possiblities for the future of education.

#2: Something I would have liked to learn in this class, but did not, would be how to use a promethian board.
#3: There is nothing in this course that I regret learning. Google Earth was hard for me to figure out, but it is a useful tool. I hope I master it someday.
#4: This class did excite me. There were times when it was a pain to figure out these tools, but I am so glad I did. I can't wait to walk into my first job ready to use technology to enhance my students learning environment. I really like the idea of blogging. I also found out that Billy Collins (poet) has made some of his poems into videos. Maybe other poets have too. As a future English teacher, I can see a lot of potential for technology in my curriculum.
#5: I think that being an independent learner and teaching myself how to use Voicethread and Google Docs and Google Earth was "intellectually challenging."
#6: I was bored some days when we were sitting in class doing work and I was trying to do something, but I couldn't figure it out and the teacher was busy. Honestly, I got on facebook during these times to cheer myself up.
#7: Since I am allowed to say it, I will. I didn't feel overworked in EDM 310. There was a lot thrown at us in the beginning of the semester, but after that, it all leveled out. I completed each week's assignments in less than an hour or two.
#8: I would say I am somewhat tech literate after taking this course. There is so much more that I could learn.
#9: In order to improve my tech literacy between now and the time I graduate, I plan to keep up with my PLN and continue to mess around with programs on my computer so that I can use them well.

PLN Update

For my PLN I follow the Langwitches blog and The Teacher's Podcast. I plan to continue to follow these in order to gain as much knowledge and insight into the teaching field as I can. The latest Langwitches post was about tweeting with elementary school students. You should check it out.

Liz and I did start that blog that I mentioned in an earlier post. Liz has been busythis semester, but both ofus are very excited about continuing to blog together! You can find our blog at: http://caitlizenglishteachers.blogspot.com/.

Week 14 Assignment

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

I really liked this video. I might even share it with my students when I'm a teacher. It's important for teachers to inspire their students to greatness, to help them focus, and to help them develop critical thinking skills. Those are three concepts that really jumped out at me through this video. (I still don't know what my sentence is... I'll have to think about it.)

This student has a very organized PLE. My PLE includes usaonline and my PLN. It also includes my EDM 310 blog and my professional blog that I created with my friend Liz. I would be interested in doing things like this in my classroom. I would like my students to feel like they have the freedom to take responsibility for their classroom.

Week 13 assignment

A topic that concerns me after taking this course is how I am going to incorporate technology into my classroom when I'm a teacher. I think that blogging is certainly an option. I can see having my students keep an online journal of their work. I can see assigning them to write responses to certain literary works or having them write poems of their own. I also think that youtube and skype might be helpful. I could find video's related to what my class is studying or I could have my class post their own videos. When I was in high school, we had to do a project called "The Crucible in 60 Seconds." As a teacher, if I ever had my class do an assignment like this, I would consider video taping their projects and either posting them to our class blog or posting them to youtube. Skype could be useful if I wanted to give my students the opportunity to meet a local poet or a local writer. I am so excited to start teaching and to begin implementing all of these ideas in my classroom.

Comments 4 Kids (Week 14): Cruz's Blog

Cruz made an animated video about the signing of a treaty. I can't even begin to say how impressed I am. When I was his age, I used the computer to play games. That was it. I can't believe he made that video all by himself. It's a little scary to think that my future students will be able to do this. I still have no idea how to go about making a video like that.

Google Earth Project

I made a tour of all the places I've lived. However, I had trouble figuring out a lot of the things on Google Earth. I did my best.

Comments4teachers: Speaking of History

Eric Langhorst is an 8th grade history teacher in Missouri.

Creating Historical Book Clubs
I was so excited to view this presentation about creating book clubs! I love book clubs and would love to do something like this with students in my school someday. Maybe departments could work together. There could be a historical book club and a science book club, etc.

Podcasting with the Experts

This blog post was about an assignment that Mr. Langhorst does with his students every year. He has them watch a documentary about the Donner Party incident. He then has his students debate whether they think the Donner part was at fault for what happened to them. He records this debates and this year, he posted them on youtube and asked some experts to leave some comments for his students. He then created a podcast about all of this. I think this is really cool. I would love to do something like with with my students. I can see this fitting in with Literature discussions quite nicely.

Week 12 Assignment

Dr. Suess - The Zax


This movie does make a good point about being stubborn and not changing in order to move forward. I hope that education makes great strides in the coming years.

Why is it important for students to publish their work?

PS 22 School Choir:

It is so cool that this school choir was able to share their talent on YouTube for the whole world to see it! Students need to post their work so that they have a large audience and so they get used to communicated with others in this "global village."

We've Got the Write Stuff:Paradise
Students should be taught how to share their thoughts and feelings. They should be encouraged to write and think that writing is fun. Blogging is a way to get students to write in a way that is fun and relevant to their lives. Parents and teachers can easily comment on blogs. This boosts students' self confidence.
(This was my Comments4kids assignment for week 13.)

Little Voices, Little Scholars: Mahana
This student was able to share her experiences of her trip to the farm! She'll be able to look back on this post and remember her trip for a long time to come.
(This was my Comments4kids assignment for week 12.)

A Cold Winter Day in Iowa
This kind of creative writing is just the sort of thing that students ahould be encouraged to do. So many people have commented on this students blog post! It is so awesome!

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.

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/.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

My Personal Learning Network (PLN)

My personal learning network includes the Langwitches blog and The Teachers' Podcast. Both provide information that I find interesting and relevant to my future career. They provide insight from other teachers who have been through experiences that all teachers go through. Both discuss the use of technology in the teaching field.
I am also thinking of asking my friend Liz to start a blog with me. We are both majoring in Secondary Ed./Language Arts and have been discussing the importance of keeping journals of our own experiences so that we can go back and see how we've grown as educators. I think it might be beneficial if we keep these journal entries together and post them on the web so that we can benefit others as well as ourselves.

Comments4Teachers: 2₵ Worth & David Warlick

Response to "The Digiverse & Flying to the Other Side of the Planet"

"I can't believe the rate that the digital universe is growing at! It's staggering! This shows how important it is that educators become tech literate so that they can communicate with their students in our technology centered world."

Response to "Dispute Finders & Claims of Ignoring Lincoln"

"I agree with you about the dispute finder. It certainly is interesting and it may be a shortcut to finding information, but, like Wikipedia, how sure of the information can we be? (it’s accuracy, relevance, etc.)

As for U.S. History from 1877, I’m taking that course right now in college. I don’t think they should do away with U.S. history before 1877 completely, but it’s nice to focus on this sliver of history for a whole course. Trying to squeeze all of American history into one course is difficult and, usually, big issues don’t get covered properly for the sake of time."

Response to "Some Reflections on the iCTLT COnference in Singapore"

"Web 3.0 sounds like a really creepy/bad idea. It could end up being like The Matrix or something.

Mathletics sounds like a fun idea! At my old high school, we had a math assembly every year to cheer on the calculus students before they took the AP exam. It sounds dumb, but it was actually kind of fun. My little brother was King SOHCAHTOA one year."

Week 7 Assignment

Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2

I didn't like that I couldn't see Richard Miller while he was speaking. He didn't explain all of the images flashing by on the screen. I didn't understand how a few of them related. I understand that his presentation was meant to illustrate how we publish our works now, but all of the images began to distract me from what he was saying.

I also don't quite grasp the concept of publishing "using the web itself." He was saying that we didn't need an alphabet and throwing out all sorts of other concepts that were too abstract for me to quite grasp. Did he mean that we didn't need to use the alphabet for our new publications in reference to YouTube? This would make sense. We can just speak our message instead of writing an publishing. The way he worded it just threw me off.

He did make a good point about how much more efficient it is to use the web instead of more traditional methods of publishing because you can reach a much larger audience. I think this points to the fact that we are becoming a global village. I also think it points towards people's willingness to read something or listen to something as long as it doens't take too much time and it's free.

"The Networked Student" by Wendy Drexler

The concept of connectivism is a little intimidating. I think that it could be used to do projects, but I don't think that it should be the main form of learning in a high school class (especially in the subject I have chosen to teach. English/Lang. Arts). I think that English has to be taught with a little more formal structure and that opinions definitely have their place when it comes to poetry and central themes in a work, but that there is also a time for fact. I am also skeptical of a student's willingness to participate actively in this sort of environment in high school. So many of the students I knew in high school were just there to do the minimum of what was required. I don't think that students like this would be successful in an environment that requires them to take a more active role in the learning process. Maybe that's a good thing though. A system like this could reward students who are willing to go the extra mile.

Michael Wesch

I think that Wesch's exploration of the word "whatever" is fascinating. I like how he points out how generation after generation in America has become more and more narcissistic and apathetic due to television and other forms of media. I definitely see this in students around me (hopefully I don't behave in a narcissistic manner).

I also thought that the part where he discusses that on YouTube we talk to cameras initially, not to real people. Context collapse being present on the web is so fascinating. Having to publish things that will be seen be the world and that will be seen in replay for who knows how long makes people uncomfortable. They also feel like they can say anything. Anonymity makes people feel like they don't have to react to people on the web in the same way that they would react to people who were in the room with them. I can relate to this. I've joined discussion groups on Facebook where I have opened up and shared my opinion far more than I would have in a face to face conversation.

He raises the question whether we can conquer the narcissistic disengagement by breaking down boundaries and creating a global village on the web. I think we definitely can. I hope that future generations realize that caring about other people is the most fulfilling thing in life. I don't want to teach a room full of students who don't care.

Comments4Kids

Week 5, I commented on a video some students made regarding macs and pcs. You can find my comment at this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/CinemaOwls#p/u/9/OLcZPQ2nzlQ.

Week 4, I commented on some poetry that a student wrote about a winter day. You can find my comment at this link: http://mrsgstudent.blogspot.com/. This was the first post for a student listed on the page.

Presentation

Week 6 Assignment

Dr. Alice Christie's Website

The section on Dr. Christie's website titled Educational Technology would be very helpful to anyone teaching K-12. It is a list of different resources that teachers could utilize in their classrooms with links that lead to definitions of the subject and different explanations of how it works. This site helps to educate teachers about the technology that is available and shows them how to put it to good use in their classroom and gives them a reason why it would be useful.

The portion on ePortfilios is especially interesting. This gives students a place to publish their work and helps the parents to be more easily involved in their child's progress at school. She makes a point to say that the importance of the portfolio is the involvement of parents, teachers, and other students in that child's growth in the subject matter.

iTunes University

iTunes University has a lot of material that is useful to me both as a student and a future educator. As a student, I can make use of the podcasts uploaded by teachers in order to brush up on some things or to learn new things. I subscribe to free Spanish and Korean podcasts on iTunes. I want to refresh my Spanish for a mission trip I am taking over spring break. I subscribe the Korean podcasts because I want to challenge myself by learning a new language. My sociology textbook has an iTunes component. You can purchase the podcasts so that you can listen to the chapters on the go or while you read the book to help the material to stick in your mind.
In the literature section, iTunes U has a bunch of material available to teacher and students. You can download The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for free! This is helpful for auditory learners or for students who lead a busy life and don't have time to sit down with a book and read, but who do have time to multi-task. They can listen to the books while they're cleaning or making dinner or driving. It's such a great idea!

Duke's iPod Experiment

Duke's experiment with iPods in the classroom for first year students is a fascinating study about how iPods can be used as an educational tool. Duke spent $500k on purchasing 1600 20G iPods with voice recording capabilities for their first year students in 2004-2005. The experiment was successful. Students used their iPods to record lectures and comments on papers and flashcards. They of course used them for entertainment purposes too, but that's not a big deal considering the benefits of the devices. Some reports of students recording lectures for their friends so that they could skip class where noted. Duke decided to only issue iPods to students who were enrolled in classes in which they were most used the following school year.

This is the link to the paper about the actual experiment: http://cit.duke.edu/pdf/reports/ipod_initiative_04_05.pdf. This is a link to a very interesting article about the Dunk experiment: http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2005/06/Bravo-for-the-Duke-iPod-Experiment_633573772543619027.aspx?Page=1. This article sees the experiment as a success and doesn't mention any downsides. This next article carefully mentions some downsides to iPods in the classroom: http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2005-07/2005-07-13-voa3.cfm.

Wikispaces: Tech Literate Teacher

Dr. Strange asked us to answer two questions on his wikispace. I posted my responses on his site and here on my blog. Something that I didn't like about Dr. Strange's wikispace is that in his explanation, he states that his students come into the the class tech illiterate and will probably not be tech literate by the time they leave. I found this very discouraging. What is the point of this class if we aren't becoming tech literate during the semester?

What is tech literacy for a teacher?
I think tech literacy for most teachers at the moment includes a basic understanding of the internet and how to use powerpoint and word. I think we are moving slowly towards blogging and podcasting becoming more important, but we're not to the point where they are essential.

Should all teachers be tech literate?
I think that teachers should be as technically literate as is useful in their work. Right now a lot of teachers don't really need to use that much technology in their classroom to get the material across. They do have their students use word and powerpoint but it is not a necessity for students to know how to blog and podcast. I think that this is fine for some classes. Maybe using too much technology in them would end up being more of a hinderance than a help depending on the teacher and the type of students they are handling. Certainly, we are moving towards times where technology is going to become more important. Teachers should be willing to change with the times, but there is no point in changing simply to change without any specific benefits being gained by making the switch.

Comments4kids

This week I posted on a video of a student reciting a limerick that she wrote. You can find my comment at this link: http://pesteam2.blogspot.com/. My student was Gloria.

Week 5 Assignment

NPR and Wikipedia
I knew about Wikipedia and NPR (National Public Radio) long before this assignment. I often go to Wikipedia to get an overview of the general information about a topic. NPR is my boyfriend's favorite station to tune into on his radio's dial. It is a good place to get the latest news going on in the world, the United States, and in your local area. All Things Considered is my boyfriend's favorite program. I prefer to switch between NPR and AFR (American Family Radio) to get different views on the topics being discussed. Both stations strive to remain unbiased, but I don't think anything can be unbiased. It's always best to go to two sources for the news. Wikipedia gives a dry history of NPR and some general information about the programs on NPR.

See Who's Editing Wikipedia by John Borland
This article was about a man named Virgil Griffith who developed a system that tracks who is editing Wiki articles to make sure that the sources of these edits are not overly biased about the topics. This system is not supported by Wikimedia (owners of Wikipedia) as of right now, but the system is helping to ensure users have the most accurate information. I think that it is admirable of Griffith to develop this system to protect the interests of consumers without being asked to do so. The article doesn't mention if he is making money off of this somehow, but I wonder if there is any profit to be made in a system such as this.
I think that Wikipedia is a good place to find general information about a topic, though obviously not a place to use as a reliable source for your research. They list links at the bottom of the page to places where you can find more information about the topic and a lot of times, those sites listed are good sources.

What I've learned this Year by Mr. McClung
This was a blog about a what Mr. McClung learned in his first year of teaching. He said it was important to listen to your students and to be patient with them and to not be upset when a lesson doesn't go as you planned because it's more important that a students understand the material. He also made a point to say that technology is our friend and should be embraced as a useful tool in the classroom. I think that what he had to say was very insightful and I am very grateful that he was wiling to share this information with everyone. I feel that reading his post will better equip me to be a teacher.

Week 4 Assignment

Benefits of Podcasting in the classroom

The Langwitches Blog entitled "It's Not About Tools. It's About Skills." emphasizes that teaching podcasting and blogging skills isn't about using the tools for fun. Teaching technology is about teaching useful skills that students will use in the real world. People need to understand that a good education isn't just about memorizing facts. It's about being able to apply the knowledge in those facts.
Podcasting, video conferencing, blogging and using wiki provide skills such as collaboration, writing, global awareness, media literacy, critical thinking and communication skills. Skills such as these would be useful in virtually every career field.

Week 3 Assignment

Teachers Podcasting

This week I listened to six different podcasts. My objective was to determine the differences in style and format of each podcast and whether or not I found it helpful for learning purposes. The podcasts included in my assessment are: SmartBoard Lessons Podcast, KidCast, Teachers Teaching Teachers, EdTechtalk, MacBreak Weekly, and This Week in Photography.

The SmartBoard Lessons Podcast was more of a radio talk show with two hosts and they had newsupdates with technology and they joked a lot. MacBreak Weekly had three hosts and they talked about the latest news in technology and gave their opinions about it. KidCast is basically a man giving you a lecture about the topic of the day. I enjoyed this group of three because they're more traditional radio programs that are structured, informative, and fun to listen to.

Teachers Teaching Teachers has a host and a few different experts and they have an agenda to talk about but there is room for improvisation. EdTechTalk is more of a group discussion. There were many experts and they had a topic to discuss but there wasn't much of a strict agenda. I didn't really enjoy these two programs. I felt it was a bit chaotic to have everyone trying to jump in with their own opinion. The hosts (especially in Teachers Teaching Teachers) kept talking over everyone else. It made it seem like they didn't really care what the other experts had to say.

This Week in Photography discusses new techniques and technologies being developed in photography. It was mostly just two hosts discussing these things. They mentioned Haiti which I found interesting. They were talking about documenting these images for posterity. I found the podcast informative and fun to listen to. There were too many advertisements in the beginning though.This exercise made me wonder whether or not I will be making podcasts for my class to listen to. If I do decide to make podcasts in the future, I will have to think about the format a lot and how to keep the lesson fun and interesting.

Mrs. Cassidy's 1st grade class. Media Literacy & Little Kids... Big Potential

It’s so awesome to see all the different things that Mrs. Cassidy’s class is doing with technology. When I was in first grade we went to the computer lab to learn how to use the space bar and the shift button. These first graders can find websites and blog and know how to be safe on the internet. It makes me excited about finding ways to use the internet to enhance my classroom environment.

1 Year Old Using iPhone

I think that what this proves is that the technology is not difficult to learn. There are many other videos of babies using iPhones. I actually liked another video better. The child in that video was playing games and watching YouTube videos.

Week 2 Assignment

A Vision of Students Today by Michael Wesch

This film accurately depicts what many students experience in college today. Personally, most of what was said does not apply to my educational experience, but I see evidence of each of those facts in the students around me.

I liked the concept of having the different facts written on chairs and chalkboards and different places around the classroom. However, the camera work was a little blurry and it hurt my eyes to try to strain and read everything. Perhaps they could have used a better camera. Perhaps they could have read the facts out loud along with the words on the screen. They need to do something to make it easier to read.

"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines

I agree with Hines that technology is only a tool. While it can enhance the learning environment, it is not a necessary part of the learning environment in most cases. Technology does go to waste in a lot of schools. Why bother having the school spend thousands of dollars to allow students check facebook at lunch and to print off papers between classes? Why not just have the students write their papers by hand?

If the technology is being used to make the learning experience better, if teachers are willing to learn to use this technology efficiently and creatively, then the money has not gone to waste. Maybe students who don't grasp the material one way will be helped by newer technology, but the teacher has to make an effort to ensure that each student is learning something at the end of the day.

Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher? by Karl Fisch

Fisch's post about how teachers need to change the way they approach technological illiteracy won Edublog's Most Influencial Post of the Year in 2007 and for one very good reason. Teachers today do need to step back and think about how ridiculous it is that a lot of them are unwilling to learn or teach in a widely accepted medium. Computers are not the enemy and have quickly become part of everday life for many people in our country and in other countries around the world. Why not embrace them? Why not use them to your advantage in the classroom?

The fact is that computers, while not necessary for all forms of learning, can enhance almost any classroom if used properly. Teachers should be sitting idly by and setting a bad example for their students. Refusing to learn how to use and implement computers in the classroom is like telling students that progress doesn't matter.

Gary's Social Media Counter

I can't believe how quickly those numbers are multiplying. As someone going into the teaching field, those numbers might effect my future career in a number of ways. I could use social networking as an advantage in the classroom and set up a page for my students to ask questions and discuss things that are going on in class. This would be a positive thing. Another possibility could be that a can't stop my students from texting, tweeting, getting on facebook and sending im's. My future student might not be able to focus enough of their attention on me to learn anything.

Week 1 Assignment

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Matthew Needleman

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Matthew Needleman was an interesting concept. Technology has changed the way we live our ordinary lives. Certainly a man from a hundred years ago would barely recognize a hospital or the places we have to work now. Needleman claims that school hasn't changed much in the past 100 years.

I don't agree that schools haven't advanced in 100 years. We've done away with chalk and slates. Students are able to learn foreign languages more easily with cd's and other forms of audio assistance. My high school in Alaska had even started to replace all the white boards with Promethean boards, or smart boards. We had to use the computer on a regular basis to do our work. We watched YouTube videos all the time in class. However, this might only have been because Alaska is one of the wealthiest states in the union. I can't vouch for how much they use new technology in Alabama, Texas, or California.

Did You Know? by Karl Fisch

Did You Know? by Karl Fisch, contained a lot of very interesting facts. They flashed by so quickly on the screen that I had to pause and rewind a few times to catch it all. I have no reason to believe that Karl Fisch would lie to me, but I find it difficult to believe a few of the facts. For example, he said that for a person getting a degree related to technology and computers, the things they learned in first two years of their degree are obsolete by the time they begin their third year. It's unfathomable.

The point of Fisch's presentation was to present us with the unfathomable. 1,300,000,000 people populated China in 2008; China is soon going to be the country with the highest English speaking population; the wire that has the ability to process over 2 million phone calls in one second-- all of these were listed to show us that we are living in the information age and that knowing about the latest technology is important because it's hard to keep up in this fast paced world. I think Fisch makes a good point.

The Importance of Creativity by Sir Ken Robinson

I really enjoyed Sir Robinson's presentation. I thought he made a good point about how all people are different and that our education system doesn't properly address that. We do focus on math, science, and languages and leave those who are more gifted in the arts to fend for themselves and struggle.

The story he told about the woman who is a famous choreographer was a good example. I have known a lot of children who have been labeled ADD who are gifted in sports or music or dance but who perform poorly with their schoolwork unless you spend a lot of time working with them. It's sad that we are putting these children at a disadvantage by forcing students who are right brained to use their left brain. They used to force children who were left-handed to relearn things with their right hand in school because being left handed was "wrong." That practice is now seen as unnecessary and a tad bit cruel. Eventually, educators will realize that forcing children into fields where they don't excel is also cruel.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts by Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis' teaching method seems effective and interesting. Digital citizenship is something we should be teaching our students today because of all the technology that is being developed. Students who have a head start using these technologies before they get into the real world will have an advantage over those who don't understand how to use them.

However, I don't completely understand the need for OpenSim. It sounds to me to be a chatroom/video game. I don't know why the traditional chatroom isn't all that's necessary. Maybe I'm behind the times.