Comments for Classmates week 12

Holly Longnecker:
I totally agree with you! Dan and Morgan both have inspired me to learn more about education and how to incorporate the internet into the classroom. They are right education has become free! I hope everything works out for Dan.

Comments for Teachers weeks 10, 11, & 12.

My teacher's name is Lisa Thumann. The first blog I read was about G-mail. She went into great detail about how to organize your G-mail inbox. I really enjoyed reading her comments and ideas on how to organize everything and how this can lead into life getting organized also. This was my comment:

Hello! My name is Heather L. I attend the University of South Alabama and have been assigned to follow your blog for the next three weeks for Doctor Strange’s EDM 310 class. I really enjoyed reading all of the things G-mail can actually do! I had no clue that you could use filters for e-mail and they actually work. I also loved your advice on color coding things. I am in the middle of trying to reorganize school work right now and this post definitely gave me some great ideas on how to do that with my e-mail!


Post #2:

I LOVED the video! It was hilarious! I think it’s so funny though how the video is true! I am also a student at South Alabama and use Google a lot too. I hope your conference went well!

Comments4Kids weeks 9, 10, & 12

Week 9:
This video is a very cool video if you don't know the English language. I love all the different types of pretty clothes. It kept my attention even though I know English.


Week 10:

My student's name was Hannah. I explored her blog after I commented on her cute little poem. I absolutely fell in love with this little girl! She seems so cute and reminds me a lot of me when I was her age. If only my teachers had given me a blog to write on when they thought I talked to much. Maybe I wouldn't have gotten into so much trouble!

Week 12:

My student's name was P.J. He is two or three years old and his post was about his day at the senior playground. He was just so darn cute! Here is what I wrote:

Hello P.J.! My name is Heather and I am in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. Its a blogging course here at the University of South Alabama. Dr. strange assigned your blog to me this week and I'm so glad he did. You seem so adorable and rambunctious! You also looked like you had a lot of fun on the playground! I love that you can read! Keep up the good work!

March 28th Blog Assignment

I just got done reading Morgan Bayda's post. I completely agree with her and with Dan Brown. The world will leave the universities and schools behind if we refuse to catch up with it. The information is out there we just have to embrace the new way it is presented. I have begun to see the importance of this course after reading this blog. I know that even though I find this course difficult I must embrace what I am learning and go with the flow or risk being left behind! I am glad to here that her PLN has worked for her. I'm still not sure how mine is coming along (lol). I will continue to ask for help with it and continue to try and work on it. I believe that universities and schools alike must strive to use new technology in their classrooms. I feel cheated when I go into a middle school room to visit my old teacher and see that they are able to use a Smartboard. I have only seen a Smart board in one of my college classrooms and that is in out EDM 310 class, and WE DON'T EVEN USE IT! My one question is how are we to teach with this wonderful technology if we do not learn how to use it.


This is what I wrote on her blog:

I am glad to read that your PLN has gotten you a volunteer position! I completely agree with you that schools will be left behind if they refuse to catch up! I can sympathize with you on being cheated. I hate walking into a classroom and seeing a Smartboard or some other type of really cool technology and find out they we won’t be using it in the classroom.

April 4 Blog Post

I just finished reading these blogs. I believe that what Mr. Chamberlain did with his class was AMAZING! I think he opened up a new world for teachers! I can not believe how many things there are for us as teachers to use! Kaia's father seems a wonderful man who just enjoys his job as a teacher and enjoys his daughter! I think that these men have opened up a new world for their students now also. How many students in the past were able to say they spoke to, not wrote to but actually spoke to, a man from a different country over the internet! Ten years ago it would have been inconceivable! These men have opened the doors for communication between the students and his daughter for a life time! I believe they also unwittingly opened the doors for understanding of a different culture which is more amazing to me than the technology itself! I believe that future teachers will have to step up and use their technology as a tool to help teach and show their students life.

March 12th Blog Homework ALEX/ACCESS

ALEX:
ALEX is a website designed for teachers. It is amazing! There are several pages full of lesson plans, curriculum, and so much more! I loved exploring this website and seeing all the different things it could help me with in the classroom. Especially with the lesson plans! This website takes you step by step into making a lesson plan. AMAZING! It even has a page where you can look up grant opportunities!

I believe this website will be EXTREMELY useful when I first start out teaching because it gives you a place to look for lesson plans and how to carry out lesson plans. This website also has a page to go to for professional organizers giving deadlines for different contests or learning conferences for you and your future students.


ACCESS:
ACCESS is a website designed for students. This website provides students with many different resources to help them in school. According to a video on the site, students were even able to take different classes that were not available at their school. Another student stated it helped him pass his grad exams.

From what I saw on this site it looks to be very useful to students and teachers alike. Teachers can use this site as a supplement to what is going on in their class. Students can also take reviews for AP courses and see what text books they will use in the class. This website seems very useful!

Comments for Classmates (catching up)

I made several of these before and recently discovered that they needed to be put on our blog. So here they are in order:

Week 3:
Jasmine Marshall
I completely agree with you. Teacher and students now days must must must understand and use the new technology or risk being left behind in the stone age, but they must also know how to teach without the technology. I also find myself on Facebook during classes and it is comforting to know that other people really do the same things.

Week 4:
Carlesia McIntosh
Though I wish your statement about drawing more people into the teaching profession were true, I really doubt more people will want to be teachers for many different reasons but mainly for the money. But if you think about it that is better for us because if you flood our market with more teachers and we become a dime a dozen then jobs will become more scarce for us then they already are.

I definitely agree with your SMARTboard podcast comment. How very rude and unprofessional of him to try and do a podcast in the middle of ordering lunch. I tried to listen to that three different times and still didn't get anything from it other than he ordered soup.

Amy Stork
Hi Amy! Sorry it has taken me so long to comment on this! I totally agree with what you are saying about using technology but at the same time I believe that we should also use books and writing. As a future English teacher I absolutely LOVE that blogging gets these students excited about writing and wanting to get better at it! Hopefully students everywhere will be able to have this experience and be able to get my students excited about writing again!

Week 6:
Kimberly McNorton
Isn't it sad that teachers are not student orientated? I agree with you about not trusting Wikipedia. As a future English teacher I will never allow it to be on a works cited page!

Angela Gagliano
I completely agree with you! I would also like to add that this helps us keep the parents informed. With this when a parent comes in asking for information we can show them the podcasts online and give them any further information they might ask for.

Week 7:
Lauriel Mcquieter
Awesome that you did your own research. iPods really are great learning tools if people use them that way. Isn't it wonderful that something as simple as learning can turn a child's day around and lift their self esteem?

Alicia Gunnerson
I completely agree with you! The statistics are amazing! Who would think that talking to children about internet safety would actually get to them? I really hope that everyone continues to educate themselves on internet safety.

Week 8:
Cara Noble
I agree with you distinguishing between propaganda and truth is very difficult. My advice would be to do more research on it. Visit different kinds of sites to see if there is anything that says the opposite of what you read. I also agree with you on inspiring teachers! This world needs teachers who are willing to learn and inspire and motivate others to want to learn!

Alex Harper
I can't wait till my first year of teaching either! I'm confused about iTunes U too. I'm sure there is a point maybe someone can explain it to us. I'm a little skeptical as to how schools would work without books though.

Week 9:
Michelle Jackson
I loved Mr. Paush's speech and was very inspired by him to be the best person I can be! It is amazing what he was able to accomplish in his life! I loved that he never gave up trying to inspire people even up to his dying day. He truly was a great man and the world lost a terrific educator. I hope you hear back from your kindergarten class you commented on soon.

The student for my class was not on the master list.

Comments for Teachers weeks 7,8, & 9.

I forgot to post this.

My teacher to comment on was Mr. McMahon. He is a math teacher who now works for Mathletics. Mathletics is an online program where elementary and middle school teachers can take their students online to make math more fun to learn, rather than try to bore them to death with lectures. This website also provides curriculum for home schooling teachers and students. This website looks like a very promising tool if the participant is willing to pay. Mr. McMahon was not very up to date on his blogs so I went back on his blog and chose two other posts to comment on. Here are the results:


Mr. McMahon,
My name is Heather Love and I am a student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama and have been assigned to follow your blog for the next few weeks as a class assignment. I must admit when I read your blog was about math I cringed, being an English major math has always been one of my worst subjects. Upon further reading this blog I became enthralled. I am very curious about Mathletics and about your job for it. What is it that you actually do for them? I look forward to reading your earlier and future blogs!


Mr. McMahon,
I'm sure you are glad not having job security is over! A late congratulations on the Mathletics. I'm sure Asia is a beautiful and exotic place to live. Good luck on your future endeavors!

Mr. McMahon,
You bring up some interesting points. I’m not sure what the solution to the worksheets problem would be but I do believe that there has to be some other way to get information across to students without giving them an abundance of worksheets!

PLN

A PLN is a Personal Learning Network. This network shows who you learn from. My personal learning network includes the following thus far:

My EDM 310 class
My British Lit class
My World Lit class
My psychology class
Dr. Strange
Mr. Sullivan
Mrs. Daley
Ms. Meyers
ABC
NBC
Discovery Channel
My family
Mrs. Hines
You tube
Sir Ken Robinson
iTunes U

Its not very long but I hope to continue to add through out this semester.

Skype

Skype has been very useful in this class in that when I had a question that needed answering I was able to Skype my teachers and get an answer. Skype was also very useful in the fact that when I was in my pod cast group we were able to talk to each other and set up times when we could meet. Skype has also been useful for this class because when I could not get a hold of a teacher for various reasons, mostly because it was late at night, my boyfriend was able to walk me through what we are supposed to be doing.

Timeline

This is the time line of my relationship. Click and tell me what you think!

This is my teaching survey...

Copy and paste the URL below in your address bar to complete my survey:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHRScm9ZWFR4SEx5S0RiUGFSU2tJQWc6MA

March 7, 2010 Blog Homework: The Last Lecture

I just finished watching this lecture and I must say it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen or heard! What this man accomplished in his life even after he found out he was dying is one of the most remarkable things in this world. How many people can actually say they accomplished their dreams by living their life the right way despite all the obstacles they or other put in their way?

Mr. Pausch was a very remarkable man. I loved his idea getting people to learn with a head fake. I mean how remarkably simple is that. I think it's one of those "duh" moments to! I mean how many times have we tried to use reverse psychology on someone to get them to do something we want? That's all a head fake is, reverse psychology. What a wonderfully nice way to say use reverse psychology on your students, it works.

Another wonderful thing this man did was show how if you live your life in a caring, loving, way life will reward you. Everything this man accomplished he was able to accomplish because he lived his life the way one should. He didn't back stab anyone or sleep his way to the top. All he did was do his job to the best of his ability. He enjoyed life and no matter what happened, it happened for a reason and he accepted it.

Mr. Pausch looked like he was a wonderful professor who could capture not only his students' attention with ease but the entire student body's. I think even though his last lecture was for his children we could learn a lot from it, not only about how to live but how to teach as well. He was charismatic, fun loving, and just plain interesting to watch. He seems like he was one of those teachers you don't mind learning from. If we cold all remember to be charismatic about teaching and to have a positive out look on life no matter what happens not only would we be great teachers we would be terrific people in general.