My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete.

To all future students of EDM 310,

The single most important thing you can remember to do is keep up on your blogs. They are not that hard but if you wait until the last minute they may pose some difficulty for you. Dr. Strange is compentant and knowledgable, so do not be afraid to ask questions. Do not let him ruffle your feathers with his Apple superiorty complex(He must have a lot of Apple stock), just remember being the teacher does not make him perfect. I really can not say much else because technology changes so quickly that what we did this semester may not be what you guys are up to in the future. Have fun!

Mandatory Post

I've had a lot of thoughts this semester about this class and the blogs. I understand the need for such classes at the university level. I think this class serves a valid purpose and is full of great tools and knowledge. I personally have had experience with computers for much of my life and I am technologically minded. Most of the things we learned in EDM 310 were, what I thought, basic things about blogging and social networking. The word processing was very simple and I'd assumed most students thought so also but that wasn't always the case. I believe that everyone has the social networking down. I would like to have seen more spreadsheet and word processing lessons. Most employers use spreadsheets like Excell and that is a crucial skill that is needed. We lost some students from the class at the begining of the semester probably because they may have felt intimidated by the computer. I suppose we take technology for granted. I liked the podcasts and thought they were well done. One thing I think should have been done was some sort of video project or maybe a live streaming type of thing. Also, I think one or twp classes from home with some sort of video conferencing thing would have been beneficial. I really think that Twitter was a little overblown but we did start that towards the end of the semester. Maybe Twitter would have been more readily recieved if we had started it at the begining of the semester but I relize that it was a new spur of the moment thing and I know Dr. Strange is incorporating it in to his future classes. ONe more thing that may have been cool would have been to get Mr. C or another teacher to speak to us live over thee Internet and maybe teach a lesson. I really can't think of anything else. I enjoyed the class and Dr. Strange is a pretty good instructor despite his strange fasination with all things Apple!

My Thoughts On Sir Robinson's Speech

I just watched a video online with a speech given by a man named Sir Ken Robinson. His speech was entitled "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" For those that want to check out the video presentation here's the link: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
Sir Robinson had a lot of very good points. I beleive he made a very good observation when he stated that the "education system has mined our minds of the commodities it wants". I agree with Sir Robinson on this point. From my experience in school, it did not matter what you thought as a student, it only mattered what the teacher said. Sir Robinson was speaking at an education conference. He identified the three themes of the conference which were human creativity, unpredictability in regaurds to the future, and that children have extrodinary abilities. Sir Robinson spoke about the ability of children to be creative from brith but that the education system teaches them to bridle that creativity. He also gave two points on the hierchy of education which are primary emphasis placed on acedemic ability and that the most useful subjects for an industrial society are placed on top of all other subjects. He lastly spoke about three aspects of intelligence. He said intelligence was diverse, dynamic, and distinct. Overall I found Sir Robinsons speech to be very in formative and insightful. I agree with him on many aspects and I believe with him that children should be encouraged more often to be creative. All educational subjects should carry equal weight in our schools.

My Thoughts On Twitter

Twitter is one of the many new social networking sites that has become popular on the Internet in the last three to five years. I first heard of Twitter from watching the Fox News Channel. The news anchors were constantly talking about the comments they were receiving, live, from viewers. This seemed interesting to me but I still did not know what Twitter was. While in EDM 310, my Professor, Dr. Strange, began to talk about Twitter and it's possible uses in the field of education. Dr. Strange had us to create a Twitter account and start twittering. I watched the instructional video on the sites main page before creating my account. It was very informative video and creating a Twitter account was very simple. I have been using Twitter off and on for about three or four weeks now.

As far as Twitter being useful in the classroom setting I'm undecided. I can see where it would be useful for gathering information or sources for lesson plans. I can also see using Twitter for networking. I believe that it could be beneficial to students in opening up contacts across the country or even the world. A drawback of Twitter is that it simply seems to be repackaging Internet chat sites and other social sites. I can remember some of the first chat rooms on the Internet. Twitter is just a little better and with your picture. There are also other social sites like My Space and Face Book that serve pretty much the same function. I wonder if students could begin to get overwhelmed by all the social sites and perhaps not be able to focus on their school work. Besides, what site will replace Twitter in a few years? I do agree that the Internet is always dynamic and constantly changing. I also wonder how long total access will last. With the current legislation working it's way through congress the Internet my get regulated quickly and the free exchange of information may be limited. We'll just have to wait and see how Twitter will develope and impact our classrooms.

Edutopia

I recently watched two podcast at iTunes University about classroom learning. The two podcasts were called the Edible Classroom and A Night In The Global Village. These podcast were on the Edutpoia site located on iTunes University. The quickest way to find them is by doing a search for them. The Edible Clsssroom was very unique in that it was centered around a garden outside of the school that the students worked in and learned basic social skills. The school garden also incorporated a class kitchen where students learned how to cook the food they grew. This was invaluable for the students learning opportunity. A Night In The Global Village was very interesting in that students in Colorado where given the opportunity to spend the night at a local ranch and experience the living conditions of other countries. This was unique in that it gave the children an insight into other cultures and how other people in different countries deal with lack of food and resources.

These podcast can be very useful in exposing students to other cultures and living conditions the world over. I thought that the Village one was not that profound. It was really more like camping and if they wanted to have a lasting affect on those children the length of stay should have been much longer than one night. The Edible Classroom one was one that has the most potential. Children should learn basic things like growing and cooking their own food. Although I was surprised and amused that having a garden seemed to be a great and wonderful idea that was thought up by a local restaurant owner as though it had never been done. When I was in school we had agriculture class and we had a green house and grew a garden. Maybe growing up in Alabama does have some advantages over growing up in California. Both podcast were very interesting, well done, and worth watching.

itunes University

After checking out the iTunes University site I have to admit that I was really impressed with the wealth of information that can be found within the site. According to Apple, "iTunes U, part of the iTunes Store, is possibly the world’s greatest collection of free educational media available to students, teachers, and lifelong learners." Having well over 100,000 files available for educational viewing or downloads is a good start towards being the greatest collection on the web, but considering the vast amount of information out there they probably have a ways to go.

The site gives you three options while setting up your access to iTunes University. Internal, external, and mixed access to your sites. The internal access ability will give your members access to everything uploaded or already on the your site itself. Access for those not registered and having passwords to your internal site will be denied. This will allow you to administer your site for your designated audience. The external access ability opens up your material for all people to view your site. This is a good option for those that are wanting wide spread access of their files and their organizations files. The last option is mixed access which can give you a level of protection and a level of open access for the general public.

Apple also offers access to people or students with special education needs. Most major universities are on the iTunes U site with tons of content available to most of the public. Overall I think that the iTunes U site offers an amazing opportunity to educators and students for learning and expanding their knowledge. Check out the link for more information: http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning/

alicechristie.org

An interesting site for educators is Dr. Alice Christie's web site. Dr. Christie has compiled quite a lot of information for the use of educators at all levels of learning. Dr. Christie had forty years of educational experience and it shows on her site. The navigation is very simple and just a few clicks gets you right into the content your are interested in. The layout of her site is subdued and yet appealing. In this age of flamboyant web sites, a site that has a simple layout is appreciated.

One of the tabs I liked on her site was the workshops tab. It's the 5th tab down on the right side of the home page. There is a lot of great information here. I like how she list everything needed to successfully complete one of her workshops. The step by step instructions are very simple. Another link in the Workshops tab is the virtual field trip link. Although it is $50.00 to become a member of the virtual field trips I wonder if this will be the wave of the future for our school age children. Check out her site for more information: http://www.alicechristie.org/index.html

Wikipedia This, Wikipedia That!

Wikipedia has been somewhat of an internet research sensation in recent years. The content and subject matter is astounding. Wikipedia markets itself as being the online encyclipedic databse for research facts and writing papers for school. Wikipedia is unique in that anyone can contribute to or take away from each individual entry. The idea is that the articles contain up to date facts and information for any given topic. But with anyone and everyone having the ability to access and change the information just how reliable are the entries? A 2007 article on Wired addresses this very issue. Here's the link: http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/08/wiki_tracker?currentPage=all.

According to the write up, Wikipedia has been altered many times over often by the very people who topics were written about. This may seem to be biased but I remember a scene from a great movie that went like this:

Luke: Obi-Wan.
Luke: Why didn't you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father.
Obi-Wan: Your father... was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and *became* Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true... from a certain point of view.
Luke: A certain point of view?
Luke: Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. Anakin was a good friend. When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot. But I was amazed how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train him as a Jedi. I thought that I could instruct him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong.

That little bit of wisdom was from Star Wars. I think that with Wikipedia as with all things, we should be careful of taking what we read at face value. When researching something when did we as intellectuals stop verifying our facts from multiple sources? Wikipedia is just a tool. The tools we use are only useful if used in the right way and this holds true for Wikipedia. History is constantly being rewritten, usually by those in power, so caution is always a good idea when using any source for any research. Check The Facts!

The Dreambuilder

I recently watched Randy Pausch's last lecture called Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. You can find it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo. With over 9 million views on YouTube, Randy's lecture has been widely circulated. Randy died from liver cancer last year. He touches on this at the begining of his lecture but just briefly. His main emphasis is about childhood dreams. Randy had quite a few of them. One of the most important ones for him, to be a Disney Imagineer, led him into his life work of being a professor at MIT and teaching virtual reality.

You can see Randy's true desire is to see his students pursue their own dreams. One of the most crucial aspect of this is allowing people to have the creativity in order to pursue their dreams. Randy was very good at equipping his students to be succesfu at fulfilling their dreams. Randy speaks about how important you dreams are and he talks about how he went about achieving his own dreams.

Another important aspect of achieving your dreams is looking for and having mentors. Mentors are able to develope and help shape you to make your dreams a reality. Mentors encourage you and push you. Some of Randy's most crucial mentors were his parents. His dad in particular was more than just a father. He was his coach and freind. His dad pushed him to be the best he could be.

The take-away from this video is very important to understand. In the face of adversity, you must push on and stay positive. We also should do whatever we can to help those around us achieve what is important to them. Randy set a high standard for the rest of us to follow. He was a great motivator amd a great professor. Would that we could all have a Randy Pausch in our lives to motivate us and push us to break through those walls that keep us from our dreams.

My Presentation

Fishbowl Recap

I reviewed the January '07 Fishbowl blog for a recent class assignment. The first blog was titled A Blueprint for Colorado? and was very interesting. Here's the link: http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/01/blueprint-for-colorado.html. Although I know very little about the Colorado education system, the blog got me to thinking about our local education boards here in Alabama. I wonder how many changes have been discussed and enacted by officials who do not even understand educational functions or matters at all. Now I do realize that this blog is over two years old and the present economic crisis has probably begun to influence educational decisions, but I'm sure there are legitimate concerns. It's an interesting read so check it out.

The second blog I reviewed was also for January '07. That one was really amazing. It was strangely titled Change the World-One Water Buffalo At A Time. Here's the link: http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/01/change-world-one-water-buffalo-at-time.html.
This was a very powerful video and it really can put things into perspective quickly. Sometimes our world view as Americans can be so limited. We can hardly imagine how someone giving someone else a water buffalo could make such a huge impact. Imagine if someone came to your house in your suburb and gave you a cow. You probably would not even know what to say. You more than likely would not be grateful but rather offended to say the least. Yet in other cultures such as the one in the video they are speechless. This was just one small thing that changed many peoples lives. Check out the video, it's worth watching so here's the link: http://www.thompsonjazz.com/movies/waterbuffalo/flash-hi.htm.

Past Casts

Following the assignment guidlines for this week I reviewed two podcasts from the EDM 310 fall 2008 class. The two I chose to preview were: Watchers and Listeners-How Do We Respond & Blogging and Teaching. The first podcast, Watchers and Listeners, was presented by: Dr. John Strange, John Hardman, Keri Ashworth, & Autumn Jordan. The second podcast, Blogging and Teaching, was presented by: Rachel Davis, Justin Tullis, & Myrenda Howze. I enjoyed the content of each podcast. The information was informative and current. Here's the link for those interested in listening to the podcasts: http://edm310fall08podcasts.blogspot.com/

Overall I would say that the podcasts were well done and very professionally presented. The students were knowledgable and each podcast seemed well thought out. However, there were two things I beleive that were drawbacks for the podcasts. The first was the lack of video to accompany the audio. Living in our visual age, I really beleive that video would be a great enhancer to these podcasts. The second issue I see is the length of the podcasts themselves. This I also noticed on the itunes podcast site. A lot of podcasts are quite long and I really question peoples ability to pay attention to them in their duration. A lot of young students today seem to have very short attention spans. I think people are better able to handle 5 to 10 minutes rather than 20 to 30 and up. Perhaps these issues will be evaluated going forward. There are qiute a few podcasts that are very well done at the link above and I encourage you to go and check them out.

To Tech or Not To Tech?

After reading the post on The Fishbowl, http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html, about whether or not teachers should be tech savvy, I really began to understand more completely both sides of the story. Technology is here to stay and no one is disputing that fact. I personally have been involved with tech since I was a small child. I actually had a Texas Instrument gaming system. My parents were too cheap to get us an Atari. The T.I. was like a knock off imitation of Atari. Instead of conquering Pack Man I was battling through level after level of Munch Man. Then, as per the order of natural progression, I graduated to each progressive system as they emerged. I also remember the first Apple computers being introduced to the classrooms. Green screens anyone? I also understand there where still some schools using Apple II computers as recently as 4 to 5 years ago! Unthinkable I know, but when you consider that most of the worlds population does not even have access to computers on a regular basis, Apple IIs are not so bad.

As for the Fishbowl post, I am divided over the issue. While I see that there is a growing divide between some teachers and their students I do not see how that inhibits education. Take math for example, somehow the knowledge of math was learned and mastered in times past where computers did not exist. The masters of math were intelligent enough to figure out things in their heads. Now students are given calculators to do the heavy computing. I am thankful for these devices, one of them got me through PreCalculus, but what happens when we stop expanding of brains because we depend on technology to do the hard work for us. My life has been interwoven with technology since I was small and I use technology all the time, but I love the feeling that I get when I solve a problem on my own with my own mind. While it is true that some teachers are tech illiterate, I really do not see that as a weakness nor a drawback. Students will learn from a variety of sources around them and their teachers should facilitate this learning. A lot of times the teacher and the students learn from each other and I believe that this is true of technology. What we know today will be different tomorrow. Teachers and students must and will learn together. To equate not being literate with technology to being unable to read or write is somewhat biased. I would submit that technology could very well render students illiterate in writing sills. Given enough time with texting and using keyboards to type we could very well lose the ability to write with pen and paper. Ultimately, as with all things, I believe that things will continue to be balanced. Most children experience tech at home and outside the classrooms on a regular basis. If teachers will teach and educate their students with the resources at their disposal our children will be just fine. And eventually those teachers that may be holdouts against technology will either retire or get on board. Progress will always move us forward.

Elementary Blogging Around the World

After looking at some domestic blog site I thought I would go hunting for some international sites. I wanted to see what children in other countries might be up to and how they might be able to share those things with others around the world.

I found one site in China, http://blog.ruralchina.org/, which gives some great insight into elementary education in rural China. One post that I liked was the one called 6th Grade Paper Rockets. The students look like they were engaged and learning science. They also look like they were enjoying their selves also. Just children having fun with learning.

Another really interesting site I found belongs to a school in England. The schools site can be found here: http://kirklandneukprimary.blogspot.com/. One of the most interesting things on this site was that it was geared towards teaching thier students French. All of the blogs on this site were about lessons on doing things in French speaking terms. One of the blogs titled Quel temps fait-il aujourd'hui? was interesting. The teacher used a wheather site to have her students put the various wheather terms into French words. That was very interesting.

Blogging For Education

One of the neatest things out there for teachers and students is blogging. Blogging allows teachers and students to share information like never before. Almost in the blink of an eye, knowledge is shared from school to school, town to town, and in a lot of cases, country to country.

One site that I found interesting was http://elementaryteacherblog.blogspot.com/. Following this elementary teacher and her students activities are interesting to say the least. Just check out the blog called What, Vagina? Another one that I enjoyed was the one called What Are The Rules? It was funny and interesting what the children thought about the rules.

Another blog I found which was good was one for Trantwood Elementary. Here's the link: http://trantwoodelem.learnerblogs.org/. This blog is very well done and really shows an in depth view of an elementary school's weekly activities. While the first blog I wrote about was from one teachers perspective this one has postings from all grade levels in the school and from different classes. One of the more interesting links was to a site where children were leaving voice messages to President Obama. Check it out:

http://voicethread.com/share/303542/

Shift Happens?

Shift Happens, what an interesting use of words. After viewing the video at http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/06/did-you-know-20.html, I definitely do want to join in the conversation. The facts and statistics in the eight minute video were rather astounding. To think that technology is growing that quickly. It is hard to wrap your mind around that fact. I am 33 years old and I can remember when the first chat rooms started on the Internet. I remember being in California and talking with many people around the world from many different countries all at the same time. You had to be a quick with typing just to keep up with the chats. Now texting on your cell phone is the big thing. I'm still a holdout on that one. I also had a Myspace page as recently as last year. It is amazing that your entire life can now be on the computer screen at a place like Myspace and your life can be public for the whole world to view. Kind of sobering also. Makes you want to be careful about what you say and what you post. We very much have to teach our children to live and function in the world that is unfolding around them everyday. The way is here and that way is a future full of technological wonders.

I do believe though that to much tech can be a bad thing. I deleted my Myspace and got rid of many of my multiple e-mail accounts. I had become so wired, as they say, that I had forgotten what it was like to stop and loose myself in a good book for awhile. It is easy to be overwhelmed by all the information that is at your finger tips. It would be wise to teach our children to deal we the informational overload stress that will goes hand-in-hand with our technological advances. Our children are going to have to balance their lives so they do not leave their social abilities behind. As we teach our children how to get plugged in we must also teach them how to get unplugged as well. The future is going to be a challenging place and we do need to prepare or children for all aspects of it. Now go check out the video and get involved in the conversation!

ACCESS Granted!

A little German for your teenage daughter? Or perhaps you'd prefer your son to recite poems in Latin. How about letting your little Einstein work on thier Calculus? Well, if your son or daughter is interested in furthering their language skills or creating a new mathematical theory while in high school then look no further than Alabama's educational initiative called ACCESS. ACCESS, which stands for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide, is an amazing program designed to give students the opportunity to excel in subjects beyond what their local high school may offer. The site is designed for Advanced Placement students to take classes beyond the current level offered in their school. The site also offers a wide array of elective classes for the students to take in order to widen their learning skills and knowledge base.
I've provided the link to the ACCESS site for you to check it out. Just go to this link and enjoy: http://accessdl.state.al.us/index.php

I've also put just a small sampling of the language courses offered here below:

Foreign Language:
French I
French II
German I
German II
German III
German IV
Latin I
Latin III

As you can see, this small sample of classes offered are more than able to help the students get the advanced learning they may need to stay competitive in our modern world. This is absolutely one of the best educational tools I've seen offered for our students at our local area high schools.

ALEX Who?

I went in search of ALEX and guess what I found? A popular Internet sensation perhaps or maybe some famous actor? Could ALEX be a new hot band that has broken out? Actually ALEX is none of these. What I found out is that ALEX is short for the Alabama Learning Exchange web site (http://alex.state.al.us/index.php) and a very well thought out site. Someone had the foresight to see the need for and develop a web site to meet the needs of educators in the state of Alabama and beyond. The site compiles mountains of information and lots of great links in one spot. The site is extremely easy to navigate. From the home page you have eight colorful boxes to choose from. Each box takes you to a different page with tabs leading you to what you are seeking. I would suggest registering with the site though. I wanted to try the create your own lesson plan and in order to use that feature I had to register. It was quick and simple to register so don't be wary. This site is a great resource for teachers and students who are becoming teachers. The interface for creating lesson plans was easy to use. The interface was also easy to edit when needed. Having access to a wide array of lesson plans can give you some good and quick ideas about how to formulate you own plans to fit your classroom. The site also contains a link to ACCESS. ACCESS is the state of Alabama's Distance Learning site for high school students. ACCESS stand for Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide. The ACCESS site provides great opportunities for high school students looking to excel in advance subjects but unable to take the classes they need at their high school.

All in all, I was quite impressed with the site and I will definitely use this site as a resource for my future classroom.

Introduction

This is my first post for EDM310 at South and also my first official class at South. I'm very excited about continuing my degree. Elementary Education is my major and I can hardly wait to graduate. I am looking forward to getting out of retail and starting a fulfilling and rewarding career as a teacher.

First, a little background info. I was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama. I'm 33 years old, on my second marriage, and my wife and I have eight children between us. Literally, hers, mine, and ours. I had four children from my first marriage and she had three. We recently had a baby boy together. We've been married for a year and a half now.
My first job was the US Army. I served from August 1994 to January 1999. I was trained as a M1A1 tank crewman. I spent my entire enlistment stationed at the National Training Center in the Mojave desert in southern California. After leaving the Army I came back home to Alabama and I got into retail with Walmart for a few years. I left the retail sector to go to school. I attended Brownsville Revival School of Ministry in Pensacola, Florida. I felt like the LORD was calling me to preach. I graduated BRSM in 2003 with a degree in Pastoral Theology. The door never seemed to open for a position or maybe I did not push hard enough. Nonetheless, I then went back into retail, worked for Walmart again for a few years, and then started working for Target about three years ago.
I made up my mind to go back to school and become a teacher. Teaching has always come natural to me and I have a tremendous amount of patience. I started school the summer semester of 2007 and I am now half-way as of the beginning of spring semester 2009. I hope to be finished by the end of summer 2010.

That's all I've got for now!