Final Reflection

Reflecting back on this EDM 310 class, I realized that I have learned so many things about how to use technology in the classroom. This has been a fantastic class that has benefited me not only this semester, but the things I've learned will benefit me in my future classroom. A few of my favorite things from this semester is how to use Google Docs, the benefit of blogs in the classroom, and how important it is to incorporate technology into my classroom. As a future teacher, I would be doing my students a serious injustice if I were to not include technology into my curriculum. Technology is taking over our lives, and I hope that I could teach my students how to use it to benefit them. Google Docs is an extremely useful tool to use that I will definitely continue to use after this class. I also absolutely loved the idea of using blogs in my future classroom to keep my students and their parents in the loop of what's going on in my classroom. I had never used blogs before this class, but I now realize how useful they will be and I would love to use them when I become a teacher. This class has taught me many useful things that I will definitely use in my future classroom.

Response to: "Google can give you a virtual fever"

This article poses an interesting problem. People are diagnosing themselves of medical conditions using Google. I believe this is something everyone has done, not necessarily to the extreme amount the article discusses, but Googled symptoms to find what could be wrong. I know for me, a few weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night with extreme pain near my left kidney. I had no idea what it could be, but I was desperate at 2 in the morning to find a solution to make the pain stop. I Googled what the pain could be and what I should do to make it stop. One site I found said to lay on a heating pad. I immediately went to bed on a heating pad, and I woke up in the morning feeling awesome! I definitely believe in Googling symptoms, just not to the extreme that some people do. It is incredible that people are convincing themselves they have a brain tumor when in actuality it is simply a caffine headache. "Cymbercondria" is an interesting trend that is occuring in today's world. It's something I've never really thought about.

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

Wow! There are no words. I think this was the worst video we have been assigned to watch this entire semester. It was beyond boring, and I have just wasted 15 minutes of my life. Now saying that, I know I need to address writing using multimedia a little bit.

I think is great that people can write and publish it to the internet and others can read it for free, but I absolutely love books, and I get worried that they will eventually go away. I feel there is a happy medium that people can attain.

I definitely think that using multimedia in the classroom with our students will benefit them and help them to understand things more fully. For example, Martin Luther King, it would be amazing to be able to play his speech during class, I think the kids would understand about him much better if they can actually see him speak. I believe writing and multimedia combined can be a great thing in the classroom if used correctly.

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

I absolutely love the way this video is set up. It is such a creative way to capture our attention, but honestly watching these videos about the same thing are getting a bit old. I feel like all of the videos are starting to repeat themselves, and it is getting boring.

I thought the question, "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?", was interesting. I feel like teachers are most definitely needed because blogs are great, but just like the video said, they are people's opinions, not facts. This is why I don't really like blogging unless it is a teacher giving information to their students, or someone update people on what is going on in their lives. People can write anything they want, so I am very weary about trusting blogs, I just take the information with a grain of salt.

Teachers are needed to guide and direct their students in the right direction. It's good to know that our teacher is there to answer our questions and help us when we need it. Also, I think that having a Personal Learning Network will help prepare me to be able to teach students who also have a Personal Learning Network. Overall, this was a good and informative video.

New Media Literacies by the NML Staff

The introduction to this video immediately captured my attention. I noticed right away it was only a few minutes long, it had music throught the entire video, and it was fast paced. I enjoyed watching this video on media literacy. The things they talked about are so true. These people made really good points about media literacy.

We are completely immersed in a technologically advanced society. We use technology all day every day. From TV, to cell phones, to computers, to internet, we are surrounded by media. In the past, there were a few people who produced the media, and there were consumers. Today, we are producers and consumers. We do both. We read media, and we produce media, such as Facebook for example.

I also do believe the 11 terms they discussed in this video are definitely skills that we need to be successful in today's world. Out of these 11, I believe I possess judgement, play, distributed cognition, visualization, and multitasking. I am still learning and working on being technologically literate. I am willing to learn and grow and I believe this class is really helping me to do this.

It is so important for people to realize how much media and technology is a part of our lives. We need to be technologically literate in today's world. It is important that we as teachers, impart to our students about technology and how important it is.

Using iPods in Instruction

When searching online for using iPods in instruction I came across this website, which is actually a PDF form, but has some really great information on it. It talks about how useful iPods in the classroom would be for the students because they already use iTunes often for music, and it would be super conveinent to be able to put the lecture on ancient Roman ruins, for example, and skip to the part you were confused about. It would be absolutely fantastic! This is the website: http://www.principalspartnership.com/iPods.pdf

I also read the Duke University report on using iPods in instruction. I loved it! I think it is fantastic that they gave 1600 incoming freshman in 2004 20GB iPods. The best part about it is they ACTUALLY used the iPods in many of their courses during that school year! I think it is wonderful to use something that this generation is so incredibly confortable using, and allowing it to be a productive tool to help us in school. I really think it is amazing that iTunes has developed iTunesU, and I believe it will be an amazingly useful tool in the future, the more popular it becomes. I believe iPods are a great way to help students in school!

iTunes University

iTunes University is completely fascinating! I love it! This assignment was the first time I had ever heard of iTunes U, and I am so thankful. I began exploring things that interested me. For example, I have recently become interested in History, which I previously hated, so I selected History under the categories section in iTunes U. On that home page was a video podcast about Imperial Rome with an awesome picture of the coliseum. I clicked on it right away to find out what it was. I watched a few minutes of the podcast and it was fascinating!

I cannot wait to have more time to explore iTunes University. They have really wonderful podcasts in it. I believe iTunes U is extremely useful for anyone who has a desire to learn.

Dr. Christie's Website

When I first arrived at Dr. Christie's website, I immediately noticed that "comprehensive resource for educators" was in bolded letters on the home page. I suddenly became interested to see what her website had to offer for teachers. Her website is extremely interesting and has many great things to offer teachers such as safety when dealing with children and the internet, which is extremely important. The one thing I am absolutely thrilled about is under the Workshop tab on the sidebar, is a link where she discusses Virtual Field Trips. This is awesome because my podcast group is doing our podcast and presentation on Virtual Field Trips! I am so thrilled that I have already found one great resource for our group.

I really think Dr. Christie's website is extremely thorough and I found the information it contained extremely useful even as a student. I am thankful that it discusses how technology can be used in practical ways in the classroom, and even has lists of researching resources to use. I love this website, I have made it a favorite on my computer!

What I've Learned This Year by Mr. McClung

I responded to Mr. McClungs' blog, and it can be found on his blog at: http://attheteachersdesk.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-i-learned-this-year.html

I thought the blog posted by Mr. McClung was wonderful! It was so refreshing hearing good advice from a new teacher. Advice from teachers who have been teaching a while is awesome, but to hear from someone who has only been teaching for one year is great. I thought his blog was extremely eye-opening. I was reminded that it is all about the students. My lessons need to be geared to them. This may seem obvious, but I think it is too easy to get consumed by just making it a productive lesson, and not think about the students and how they will get it.

I truly want to make a different in the lives of my future students. I want them to know that I care about them. I loved that one of Mr. McClungs' students wrote and told him that they really felt like he cared about them. I want to be like that when I am a teacher. I want to be a great teacher and I want my students to know I truly care about each and every one of them!

My Thoughts on "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch

Wow! Incredible! Amazing! Inspiring!

Whenever this video first circulating YouTube I watched it, but that has been over a year. I made an impact on me then, and I was reminded of the things I learned while re-watching this video again. He is truly inspiring. Throughout my entire high school/college years (8 years so far), my life motto has been "Dream Big" I have written it on papers and hung it on my wall, I have even had it as a background on my computer at times. I love to be reminded to Dream Big and don't let it go.

Randy Pausch has truly such an incredible story. I cannot imagine being told that I have only a few months to live. He has left a wonderful legacy, and is still impacting many people even after his death. I would love to leave a wonderful legacy that encouraged people to follow their dreams and never let go of them. This video has really touched my heart both times that I have watched it. I actually cried when I wastched it this time. The most heart breaking part was at the very end when he said that the lecture was actually for his three kids. Wow! There are hardly words. This is an awesome lecture that everyone should definitely watch. Incredibly inspiring!

My thoughts on Karl Fisch: "Is It Ok to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?"

I am completely amazed by Mr. Fisch! His post is great! I totally agree with him. The thing that amazed me the most was when Mr. Fisch said, 80% of the parents that came to conferences, at least 1 of them said they were never good at math. I am actually sitting at the beach right now visiting with a lady who does this to her children OFTEN! Last semester I tutored her daughter in math, and I cannot tell you how many times I heard her say that she has never been any good at math. This happened while I was sitting at her kitchen table with her daughter! No telling how many times she said it when I wasn't there! It's completely crazy!

I agree with Mr. Fisch, it's almost like people are proud of the fact that they are illiterate about some things. I learned so much reading this post. I definitely don't want to be an technologically illiterate teacher. I want to be the best teacher I can possibly be! Truly, his post was extremely eye opening! I cannot wait to share it with friends!

My Response to "It's Not about the Technology"

I thought Kelly Hines blog was extremely inciteful and true. I definitely agree with her. Technology is important, but it is not all about the technology. I loved her points about teaching, teachers most definitely have to be learners, learning and teachning are not the same thing, and technology is without a doubt useless without good teaching. These are all extremely good points that I completely agree with 100%!

I feel like many teachers today have technology in their classroom but do not use it properly, and they waste so much time figuring out how to work it when it doesn't work. Technology can be a wonderful thing if it is used properly by a good teacher, but definitly does not substitute for good teaching. Last semester I observed a teacher who had a SMARTboard in her classroom, and she used it really well. It was not distracting in the slighest bit. She took classes to teach her how to use it properly, and it was evident. She was not only a good teacher, but used technology in a way that benefited her students. I feel the biggest problem with technology is that it waste's too much time if teachers do not know how to use it properly. I completely agree with Kelly and her blog was absolutely wonderful!

My thought on "A Vision of Students Today"

I absolutely loved this video, It was right on! I went to LSU for four years before transferring here to South Alabama and I feel this video could be directly talking about LSU, it hits the nail on the head. It is exactly how things are there. A lot of students bring their computersand facebook throughout the class. Most of the classes are huge, too big for teachers to learn your name. You buy hundreds of dollars of books that you never use! It's completely insane!

When I watch this video and think of South Alabama, to me it does not apply. This school is small. My classes are very small compared to a major university such as LSU. No one brings computers to any of my classes, it's so weird to me. It really made me think of LSU, even though those things talked about in the video were not necessairly good, and miss it. I thought this video was great , and really shows what most major universities are like.

Reflections on 3 EDM 310 Podcasts

"Reflections on The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch": I did not like how the instructor did the introduction to the podcast, the students should have done that. I loved how the students introduced who they were and where they were from. It was evident they each picked parts of The Last Lecture to discuss. I really liked that. It was clear that the first girl that spoke read directly from her piece of paper, she was boring. If you read from your paper, I believe it is important to add personality into your paper. It did not sound like the other two people read from something, they just simply were having a conversation about what they thought. I really enjoyed it.

"Should All Teachers Be Technologically Literate?": Yet again I did not like how Dr. Strange did the introduction to the podcast, I think it would have been better had the students done it. Oh my goodness, someone coughed into the microphone and hurt my ears, that should have definitely been cut out of the podcast! I feel the students in this podcast is right about the fact that teachers should be as technologically literate as they possibly can. It is important to keep up with the times. Honestly, this podcast was quite boring to me.

"Useful Websites for Educators, BW0414W": The topic of this podcast is extremely boring. I am realizing how important the topic is for a making a podcast. Also, there is background noise that is extremely distracting during this podcast. These girls have nice voices to listen to, just the topic was boring to me. Listening to these podcasts have definitely helped me realize what I should and should not do for my podcast. They were extremely helpful!

My view on, "Eagles' Nest Radio Episode 1: Take a BITE out of Shark Facts!"

This was a fantastic podcast! I loved the music throughout the podcast, it really added to it! The children were absolutely adorable. I loved listening to them talk about shark facts. Anna Katherine had such an cute voice! She got really into it and was incredibly enjoyable to listen to. It was evident that the children were really prepared. They did great!

The children had a great topic, which is such an important part of a podcast. They were extremely enthusiastic about shark facts. I thought they did a great job making this podcast. There were not many distracting background noises, and they spoke into the microphone very clearly. It was refreshing to hear a podcast done by children as opposed to adults. I loved it!

Blog on Comments

I commented on three students from Dr. Strange's Wednesday night class.

Maggie Tarver's blog, "After listening to precious Eagle Nest Radio"
Jim Fawcett's blog, "Tinkerntt.com"
Lacey Musgrove's blog, "EDM 310 Podcast: "Should All Teachers Be Tech Literate?"

My response to "Changing the way we think"

While reading "Changing the way we think", I began thinking how technology and Google has changed the way I think. It is really a fascinating thought. When I was younger I use to be a cracker jack with math facts, now I need a calculator. I definitely believe technology is changing the way we think and act.

When I am looking up something on the Google search engine, I look for quick easy facts to read. If the thing I am looking for happens to be in a long paragraph, I either move on and look for something in bullet form, or skim the paragraph. When I was younger, I would have to go to the library, and read many books to find what I need. Today, I can find out almost anything I need to know with a few clicks of my mouse and a couple of minutes. It required a lot less thinking and searching. I definitely think technology is a good thing, but there are also downsides to it. I have to work to keep my brain sharp.

My thoughts on Podcasts

These are the 6 podcasts I listened to:

SMART board
Stuff You Should Know: 3 Innovations we need right now
Grammar Girls Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing:181GG Spacing Out, and Capitalization
The Art of Storytelling with Children: teaching children forgiveness in storytelling
Think Like A Leader: Dr. Larry S. Anderson
The Tenacious Teachers- Teaching Strategies for the Everyday Teachers

When I first started looking for podcasts, I was really unsure of what they actually were. I had never listened to a podcast before and was clueless about them. The first podcast I listened to was the SMART board podcast. It was awful. It was like I was listening to a morning show on the radio. I tried to skip around and listen to different SMART board podcasts thinking they would get better. I listened to a few minutes of about three different ones. They were all the same to me, horrible! I then began searching for an educational podcast that would interest me. I found one about 3 Innovations we need right now. It was extremely interesting. One of the innovations was a teleportation portal that could teleport us places quickly. Like they said, we are too complicated beings, but an interesting thought. There were many fascinating podcasts under this one.

I then continued to look around under the educational podcasts, and I found one called Grammar Girl. I struggle a little with grammar, so this peaked my interest immediately. Grammar Girl's voice was easy to listen to. I realized that it matters what someones voice sounds like during a podcast. Sometimes their voice is pleasant to listen to, while other voices are annoying. I really learned so much while listening to Grammar Girl's podcast. She makes new podcasts frequently, and they are all something to do with grammar, such as when to capitalize and where commas go. Another thing I liked about this podcast was the introduction was only about 35 seconds. Some podcast that I have listened to were a few minutes long, which is horrible. My attention needs to be grabbed at the beginning of a podcast or I am a lost cause!

I love books, so I got really excited when I found a podcast about storytelling. The introduction was only about a minute long, which caught my attention right away, then they went on to talk about how children love stories and it is a great way to teach them things like forgiveness for example. I learned so much while listening just to a short segment of this podcast. They also told a great story, and I love stories! I then found a podcast about being a leader. I think being a leader is so important, especially as a teacher. They made many good points about how a leader is suppose to act and treat others. I found the mans voice in this podcast to be awful, but the two guest speakers were nice to listen to.

The very last podcast I listened to was about being a tenacious teacher. The teacher that was interviewed during this podcast happened to be Vikki Davis, the teacher with the Digiteam Dream Team, who was on the video we watched last week! I think she is an amazing teacher. I absolutely loved that fact that she was on the podcast and I was unaware of it when I first began listening to it. I learned so much while listening to segments of all of these podcasts. In my opinion, there are a few things that make a podcast good or bad. The persons voice, whether it is pleasant not, the length of the introduction, and the material itself. These are all important things to think about when making a podcast.

My Reaction to "The Importance of Creativity"

Wow! Ken Robinson is amazing! His points with education and use of humor kept my attention throughout the entire 20 minute video. At first I was dreading watching it, but as soon as it started, I became captivated. When he said he was from Stratford upon Avon, I loved it! I have spent a weekend there before, and it is amazing! It was very interesting when he said said, "that children who are starting school this year, will be retiring in 2065." We do not know what the world will be like then, so we are educating children for world that we know nothing of. This is one of many extremely fascinating things he spoke about.

Ken said he believes that, "Creativity is as important as literacy in education." He really opened up my eyes as to truly how important it is to encourage creativity in children. I really struggle with creativity, such as painting. Painting is something that I have recently become really interested in, but I am not very good at it, actually I'm horrible. I still love it though, and hopefully one day the creative juices will begin flowing. While watching this video I realized why I am like I am. My family has joked for years about how much of a neat freak my mom use to be. When I was little and I would color a picture for her, as I was giving it to her I would say, "do you want me to just throw it away mom?" We laugh about it now, but I really think that it has effected my creativity in a bad way throughout the years. I really want to be the best possible teacher I can be, and encouraging the children to be creative is an important aspect of being a good teacher.

What I Think About "Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts"

Teacher Vikki Davis from Georgia is an incredible teacher! Her video has totally inspired me. It is evident that she absolutely loves what she does. She knows how to teach the students' in such a way that they learn and enjoy learning. The fact that Vikki won a prestigious award for her blog, really says something about her. I love how she allows the kids' to not only teach her new things, but also help their peers. She cares so much about her students' and it is evident watching her in the classroom.

I feel very encouraged after watching this video about an amazing teacher who puts her heart into her work. I love how she said that, "empowering the students' is so important". That is definitely true and it is shown true by watching her in the classroom. The students' appear to enjoy learning and helping their fellow peers. I would love to have as much passion as Vikki does. She is very inspiring!

My Reaction to "Mr Winkle Wakes"

Mr. Winkle Wakes was interesting at the beginning of this short video. It is definitely true how much times have changed over the last 100 years. The technology in offices and hospitals has increased much over the years to say the least. There are computers and machines everywhere today. As the video progressed to Mr. Winkle going into a school and being comfortable because it was the same as it was 100 years ago, I thought what was being said was simply not completely true.

Schools today are steadily increasing the amount of technology they use with the children. When I went to LSU, I tutored at a local public school, and it was full of computers for the teachers and children to use, as well as SMART Boards for the teachers to use to teach the children. Schools are realizing that students' need much more stimulation that a chalkboard to get and keep their attention. In my opinion and many others, kids' brains today are programed differently than they were years ago before TV and video games. Children require much more stimulation or they get bored. I know more schools would use technology if they had the funding, but I believe slowly they will all get the technology they need to teach the kids' productively. So overall, I was not thrilled with the video Mr. Winkle Wakes.

My thoughts on "Did You know?"

To start off, I absolutely love random facts. This video was right up my alley. It captured my undivided attention after the first 30 seconds. I had no idea that "China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world." As fact after fact came across my computer screen, I became more interested in what would be coming up next. At first I had problems keeping up with all the facts. Truthfully, I had to watch the video twice and I still do not remember many of the facts.

This video was incredibly fascinating. It made me think back to when my family first got a cell phone, computer, and when the Internet became a staple in my home. After each random fact I would think about how it related to me. For example, the facts about the Google search engine, and how many search are done on it monthly. In 2006 I was in my first year of college, going into second year, and that was the time when I really began using Google, and now I use Google many times a day. I see how there could be 31 billion searches in a month on Google today, as opposed to the 2.27 billion in 2006. This was an extremely informative video that I feel I could watch many times before I finally grasp all the information.

All about me!

My name is Staci, and I am 21 years old. I am from Baton Rouge, LA. I attended LSU for 4 years, during which I met my best friend, who is the most amazing man in the world. We got married in May of 2008. He graduated from LSU this past may and we moved to Mobile for his job. I transferred to South Alabama to finish my schooling in elementary education. I have an amazing family back in Baton Rouge that I miss dearly, but I am very happy here in Alabama. I have 2 nieces (20 months old and 8 months old), and 2 identical twin nephews that are just 3 weeks old (they were born at just 28 weeks as opposed to the normal 40; they are tiny but doing well). All of these babies have my heart and are a huge part of my life. I am truly an extremely happy person, and I simply love life!