My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now COMPLETE.

I enjoyed being in EDM 310 and wish everyone the best of luck. I hope the rest of your careers are full of learning and leading. Good luck with student teaching and know that the first year of teaching is going to be tough, but hang in there! Teaching is the most rewarding occupation out there. When you see the light bulb go off in a student who is struggling, or when you here a student say,"You're my favorite teacher" you will understand what I mean.

ACCESS visit

I chose to visit Alba Middle School to observe the ACCESS lab. Alba Middle School is located in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Bayou La Batre is my home town and I graduated from Alba High School.  At one time the campus was home to grades K-12. A new high school and elementary school were built and the old facility became the middle school. I thought only high schools had ACCESS labs, but to my surprise this middle school has a fully functional lab.  I contacted the science department at this school (because I wanted to know how a science teacher incorporates this lab) and a 7th grade teacher named Andra Meredith was able to give me a tour and answer my questions. She was very helpful and accommodating.

    

 The lab had 6 round tables with 4 to 5 chairs around them.  There were two 42 inch flat screen monitors on opposite walls of the room and a teacher's station in the front of the room.  Mrs. Meredith had used this lab several days before my visit.  Her students have been learning about food chains and predators and prey.  She had scheduled a field biologist to talk with her students about predators and how owl pellets (owl pellets are oval shaped masses of indigestible remains of animals preyed upon by birds of prey) are used to determine many factors about a certain area.  On the day of my visit Mrs. Meredith's class was dissecting and examining owl pellets that the biologist had talked about.   Click on this link to see an example of the lab and how to order them.  I have dissected owl pellets before and it was interesting to see how another teacher presents the same  lab.  I loved how she incorporated the learning lab into her lesson and gave the lab a real life application.  Mrs. Meredith is eager to incorporate other classes into this activity by using their portable lab and by making contacts at various schools in the county.

My visit to see the lab and how it is used has been very beneficial. Once I return to the classroom and if I am teaching at a high school with an ACCESS lab, I have a better understanding of how the lab can be used.  Mrs. Meredith gave me so many ideas, and I was encouraged to see how easy it is to incorporate into a class.  I look forward to this opportunity that has been made available to teachers by the state of Alabama.

Did I learn?

I have a confession to make. I took the 1997 version of this course at USA, and from what I can remember of that class (12 years ago) I did not learn near as much in that class as I have in this class. The topics covered in this class (EDM310) have been practical, interesting, and will easily be Incorporated into teaching. Before taking this class I did not know anything about blogs or pod casts. I am very capable of creating, editing, and maintaining a blog or two. I am excited about the possibilities of blogging in the classroom. I liked the fact that our blogs were a project that lasted the entire semester and it was an ongoing responsibility for the students. I enjoyed looking at everyone else's blogs. I was able to look at the others and confirm questions I had about assignments. The podcast was right up my alley. I enjoyed creating and recording the podcast. Working with other classmates on this project made the podcast enjoyable and interesting. Before completing this assignment I had no idea what a podcast was or why they were necessary. I now understand what a tremendous tool a podcast can be for teachers. I get excited just thinking of the possibilities of pod casts in the classroom.

The only thing I can think of that I would have liked to learn about in this class would be the actual process of recording, editing, and unloading a podcast. Mrs. Averrit explained to me briefly the process that is involved in pod casting and it sounds fairly simple. Recording the podcast was fun and novel, but would have been more beneficial for the "soon to be teacher" if the how to podcast was covered.

This class was a pleasant surprise for me. I did not know what to expect, and have been very pleased with what we have covered and how it was covered. This class may be the first useful education class I have taken (no offense to previous education classes) in a while.

Week 15 post

The Edible School Yard video podcast was about Martin Lither King Jr. Middle School's gardening program.  The students and teachers are responsible for planting, maintaining, and harvesting the garden.  As the garden is being taken care of the teachers use every aspect of gardening to teach the students in a way that is most beneficial.  It is almost like the students are learning and don't even know it.  The garden helps the students develop a huge amount of pride in what they are doing and learn teamwork and basic life skills.  In the video the students seemed to very engaged and interested.  In this type of setting the normal classroom problems did not seem to occur.  The gardening experience is so novel that traditional classroom management does not apply.  The smartest kid may not stand out as such and every type of student has a chance to shine.

The second video podcast was about students spending a day in the shoes of the less fortunate.  The students are placed into groups and then sent to different "camps" to live out the night as hungry, poor people.  Each group is given different supplies and no one has everything they need to cook food.  They have to interact within their own groups and go out and work together with the other groups.  Through this experience they are able to get a small glimpse into the lives of people that live in countries like Guatemala, countries in Africa, Thailand, and refugee camps.  The global village activity is an outstanding way to get kids out of their comfort zones and get them to thinking about others and how to help those who need our help.

Both of the podcasts have given me ideas of things I can do, on a smaller scale, in my classroom or in my school.  Teamwork was highlighted in both these podcasts, and I think that this is one of the most important parts of an effective and positive learning experience.  In science classes the teacher gets to have lab groups and the students are placed in groups and are expected to work well with one another.  At the beginning of the school year I would have to give points to groups that worked well together in order to get them to work as a team.  As the year went on and the students became a team, the points were not necessary.  Students must be part of the team and learn to work with those who are not the easiest to work with.  This is a life skill that is necessary for a healthy adult hood.  

Another aspect that was mirrored in both podcasts was the real life application.  The students with the edible schoolyard were able to use what they learned in their own lives and it helped them understand the world around them.  The students in the global village were able to understand better the circumstances of people of different races and cultures. These students were nudged in a direction of action.  Some of them wanted to find out more about how to help others in need.  As a teacher I need to find ways to help my students learn science while at the same time learn real life lessons.  By looking at the big picture and analyzing lessons in that perspective I could fit more life skills into my class and know that these lessons could open the eyes of students to a needy world they live in.

Week 14 post-Pluses and Minuses of Blogging

I chose Lynda's blog for this assignment.  I enjoyed her point of view on certain topics.  I could almost imagine her talking to me through the blog.  She was very informal and laid back when she wrote about the topics covered.  This laid back attitude made her blog an easy read.   I took the time to look at two other student blogs and when I compared all four of ours it was interesting to see how we thought alike and at the same time we were completely different.  

There are many pluses to using blogging in the classroom.  I want to focus on 3 major pluses.  In reading Lynda's  blog I could see right off the bat one of the pluses of blogging in the classroom.  I was able to see exactly what she had learned through doing her assignment and posting to her blog.  It is homework.  Blogs are very beneficial when it comes time to check certain  homework assignments.  Students would know the deadline and that deadline would have to be met.  No more excuses like,"I put it on your desk yesterday", or "I found it on the floor next to the basket, and you never graded it".  The excuses that drive me crazy would be no more.  So I guess Plus #1 would be student accountability.  A classroom blog would hold the students accountable on a whole new level.  Plus #2 is the efficiency of blogging.  Less paper would be used, and teacher's would have all students assignments at her fingertips.  There would be no more huge stacks of papers to grade.  All the teacher would need is her computer and the Internet.  We have used hardly any paper in EDM 310 and Mrs. Averitt was able to check our homework at her leisure.  Plus #3 about blogging in the classroom is the fact that everyone is entitled to voice their own opinion.  Lynda was able to share what Randy Pausch's last lecture meant to her at this stage in her life, and I really enjoyed reading about what she thought.  It helped me know her better.  Blogging helps us get to know one another without even talking.

Since I mentioned 3 pluses in the above paragraph I will list 3 minuses in the following paragraph.  Minus #1 would be the inability of a teacher being able to ensure that each student is doing his or her own posts.  Anyone could log on and write a post for me and no one would be the wiser (not that I am guilty of this, but it could happen).  I knew of a person in college that would write papers for people and this person made a good bit of money.  So why would it be any different in the age of technology.  Minus #2  is that the information that is posted to the blog is out there and pretty much anyone can read it.  That is a little worrisome when it comes to younger students.  Parents would have access to student work and could compare and question certain aspects of your assignments.  The last minus I think is worth mentioning is the students' access to the Internet.  It seems that everyone is on-line these days, but teachers can not assume that every student has access to the Internet or even to a computer at home.  Probably 95% of students do have access, but a teacher has to consider the other 5% that does not have access.  

Blogging offers so many options to teachers.  It is a teacher's responsibility to make sure how blogging is used is beneficial and fair to his or her students.  There are many positive aspects to blogging and there are just as many negative aspects.  This is just the way it is.  Talented and innovative teachers are able to enhance the positives and reduce the negatives.  Over all I think that blogging is going to become a more prevalent part of the classroom.

Week 13- EDM310 podcasts

I listened to the following podcasts for this weeks assignment:  ss0513, ss0414, ss0216, and  the interview with Dr. Strange (there was no identification number for this one).  The first podcast I listened to was about burp back education.  This is a topic that Dr. Strange addresses in his class.  This group did a good job.  Their introductions were nicely done and I like how they stated their goals along with telling us a little about themselves.  I followed this podcast easily and thought it was very organized and very well thought out.  The students gave good explanations and good examples when needed.  The group leader kept the podcast moving and the group members responded well to one another.  There were a few "ums" and one group member needed to be careful of how she pronounced certain words.  For example, she said "thang" instead of "thing".  This podcast had a good flow to it, a good pace, and very good direction.

The second podcast was a interview of Dr. Strange.  His voice was clear, and loud.  He made the listener feel comfortable and his thought process was easy to follow.  The podcast had a good flow, but I was a little distracted by the clicking noise I heard every now and then.  The third podcast I listened to about useful websites was a good example of how a group should take turns.  This group was very informative and kept the conversation moving.  The sites that were provided were good and were each a little different than the other.  The guy in this group needed to be careful of his "um"'s and "uh"'s.  He seemed to not be as comfortable about what he was saying.  One lady in this group needed to be careful of the grammar she was using.  But over all this podcast was good and the group seemed very comfortable with what they were doing.

The fourth and final podcast was about technology used in the classrooms at USA.  This was the least informative podcast I listened to.  The guy in this group talked about a cool technology that some of the teachers use and he was very informative.  He answered questions from his group members very well.  The other two members did not shed any light on technology being used that I did not already know about.  I feel they could have dug a little deeper and came up with better information than what they did.    I tried to listen to my podcast but it is not available yet, but I was there when it was recorded and have a feeling that we did a good job.

The 

Week 12 Post

This weeks assignment was to listen to 2 podcasts given by Judy Chanlder, a math teacher in Maine. Her topic was using technology in teaching math. She began her first podcast listing many of the excuses teachers use to justify their decision not to use technology in the classroom. A few of the excuses were: "Technology is an add on", "I have not time to learn how to use it", "I have to cover what's in the book first"' "I have students who are successful with out technology", "Students are getting it"' "What would technology bring to my class?". The National Teachers of Mathematics states that technology is essential in learning math and enhances learning. When technology is used the students are more interested and become more engaged. There are many advantages to using technology in the math class. A few of them are as follows: Students receive instant feedback with technology tools that are used, Technology uniquely address the individual needs of students and encourage different levels of critical thinking, technology gives good visual examples, and technology gives a teacher alternative ways to present information. What teachers don't realize is that they actually gain class time by using technology, because some of the technology that is available can cover several lessons at one time. Using technology in a class room promotes greater learning and engages students in multi-sensory learning.

The second podcast focused on what type of questions teachers ask their students. The questions that guide learning and focuses the learning of the students. Using technology helps the students explore, investigate, "play with", and ask why? The questions that are generated guide the students to think and reason, and in return they remember better what they are learning. A traditional math class is lesson by lesson and chapter by chapter. Some students are not able to learn this way and become frustrated and become dis-engaged. Other students memorize useless information and do well on the test, but soon forget what they memorized. By engaging them with the latest technology (visual models, differentiated instruction, real world applications) the teacher creates a different way of learning.

As a former teacher I remember how frustrated our technology coordinator would get when "those" teachers refused to attend any workshop that had anything to do with new technology. "Those" teachers used the computer for making tests and checking e-mail and that was enough for them. I was the opposite. I was eager to use whatever I could in my classroom to enhance my students learning. And by doing this I saw first hand what a difference it made in student participation, pride, and grades. I have a son who is 6 and can use a laptop better than I can. Technology is here to stay and will only get more popular. Teachers should feel an obligation to be "up to snuff" on the latest and be able to incorporate it into their lessons. 

Technology opens the door to so many possibilities of learning.  I used it as often as I could when I taught.  My students participated in making and using a database, completing a webquest(that I created), played review games on Quia(that I created), made travel brochures, power points, and many others.  On the days we used technology a person could feel the excitement as the students walked in my room.  It is true that sometimes technology isn't easy to use or the server is down or a kid forgets his password, but it is worth the headaches and the temporary frustration.  Every teacher should do their best to incorporate as much technology as possible.  The students will love them for it.

Electronic Contact Assignment

For this assignment I contacted Stacy Pugh, a Biology teacher at Vestavia Hills High School in Vestavia Hills, Alabama.  I taught in the Birmingham area for 6 years and know of the reputation of this school system.  The Vestavia school system takes pride in being on the cutting edge of technology and engaging instruction.   Mrs. Pugh was very prompt in replying to my e-mail and was very eager to help.  The first question I asked her was about the greatest and latest technology that she is using in her classroom. She was very helpful and she sounded very excited about the technology that she uses. According to Mrs. Pugh, Vestavia Hills has some of the most advanced educational technology tools available at this time. The Board of Education in this system just spent several million dollars outfitting each and every classroom with Promethean boards (pictured on the right) and the software to support them. Each teacher attended a two day mandatory training class. Mrs. Pugh referred to this class as a "crash course". Each teacher learned how to connect, turn on, and operate the actual hardware. She expressed her disappointment in the fact that the teachers did not have any time allowed to brainstorm with her peers and formulate ways to use the technology.

What is a Promethean Board (pictured at the left) and what does it do?   Mrs. Pugh provided a little information about the Promethean Board and provided me with a website in order to discover more about this new technology.  I visited two websites. The first website prometheanplanet.com is the site Mrs. Pugh suggested. This site is a for lack of a better word, "support" site. There are lesson plan links, flip chart link, and other links that I don't quite understand. This site was not as helpful as the second site I visited. Prometheanworld.com had everything I wanted and needed to know about this new technology.   A Promethean Board is an interactive white board. This board was designed by teachers, so they could "transform the classroom into a truly interactive learning environment". The boards come with 2 Activpens that write like a pen but also can function as a mouse. There is a multitude of software packages to go with this board. With this new technology teachers can create engaging lessons that will capture their students and enhance the learning experience.   These boards have battery free pens, wall mount brackets, low-glare, wire free technology,and best of all, award winning lesson development software that helps teachers create lessons in a click.   Of course there are accessories to go with these boards, and Mrs. Pugh has a document camera that displays objects onto the board.  She gave the example of a dissected flower.  She can place the flower underneath the camera and point, draw, and label the parts of the flower on the board.  This is a wonderful asset for a teacher, especially a science teacher during labs.  

The second question I asked Mrs. Pugh was, " How often do you use technology in the classroom and how do your students respond to it?"  She responded with a very simple answer.  She told me that she uses it "every single day".  According to Mrs. Pugh her students love the interactive aspect and she said that even the freshmen love to "play" with the boards.  After visiting the websites above I can only dream of all the ways to use the Promethean board.  What an excellent technological tool to use in engaging students in the learning process.  Mrs. Pugh takes advantage of this technology on lab days.  She is able to use the document camera to help her show students "live" examples of what they have been discussing in class.  If a lab group has a particularly good example of a specimen, Mrs. Pugh can share it with the entire class with great ease.   The Promethean board makes learning easy and adds novelty to the same old "stuff".  The picture below shows a science class using the board to study the parts of the heart.  

The last question I asked Mrs. Pugh was about support that was provided by her school system to help teachers with the technology that is being used.  She was very positive in her response to this question.  She said the teachers have excellent support.  If a teacher has a need and contacts the appropriate person, that need is usually addressed within one school day.  So when a teacher is making out his or her lesson plans and knows that they will need tech support for a specific lesson all they need to do is contact the technology coordinator.  Teachers keep the coordinator aware of the lessons planned and the coordinator can be available to assist if needed.  This component of technology usage is critical.  Without a strong support system the teachers at Vestavia High School would have a difficult time using the wonderful tools available to them.  There was no hint of frustration in my conversations with Mrs. Pugh.  I could hear it in her voice ( I asked permission to call her at her school and she was happy to oblige).  She was excited about the Promethean Board and I know that her excitement flowed over into her lessons and activities.  Her students saw and felt this excitement and the chain reaction continues.

If you would like more information about Promethean Boards you can take a few minutes to watch this you tube video.  This video was created by a group of teachers and students at Evangel Christian Academy.  It is informative and entertaining.  

Week 11 Stanford Podcast

In this video podcast Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, compares a "Growth" mindset and a "Fixed" mindset. She believes that there are two categories of students. The students that have a growth mindset are hard workers, and are finding ways to increase their intelligence. The other group of students have a fixed mindset and only choose activities that will show that they are intelligent. The students in this group do not try to branch out or try things to stretch their minds or to make their neurons work harder. Professor Dweck offered 8 sessions to students and split them into two groups. One group was offered study skills plus growth mindset lessons and the other group was offered just study skill lessons. The group that was offered the growth mind set lessons were exposed to articles about growing the mind and took part in discussions about a growth mindset. These students used the study skills lessons that were offered to them and used them in their classes. After the 8 week sessions the group had a rebound in grades and teachers could pick out the students who had taken the growth mindset lessons. The students who did not receive the growth mindset lessons did not do well, grades went down, and were not motivated to put the study skills into practice.

Professor Dweck also is working in conjunction with a race car driver on her topic of mind growth. The race car driver read her book and wants her to help him grow his mind with his racing. She believes that she can help the race car driver to have a growth mind set in order to learn from his mistakes and become a better race car driver.

I know this professor has written a book and done major research, but what she is saying is not anything new or profound. Teachers have been dealing with these types of students for a very long time. In a class room a teacher is going to have the students who try to appear smart, who are smart, and who try really hard to be smart. I know that as a professional I am not suppose to have favorites, but my favorite student is the one who gives 110% every day. They do not have to be the most intelligent, or make the best grades. They just have to be a hard worker. Watching this podcast has solidified the fact that we should not only expect our students to learn from their mistakes, but we, as teachers, should learn from ours. We should be able to admit to our students when we mess up. This would be leading them by example. They would be able to see that it is ok to mess up and that teachers are still in the learning process too. Teachers also need to be very mindful of the students who are trying to grow their minds, and try to encourage these children to take get out of the comfort zone of learning. Learn things that are not fun or interesting. STRETCH those Neurons!!!! I have taken many classes (most all of my graduate school classes) that made my head hurt and that I hated, but I didn't give up. And I came out on the other side with a great degree and even better than that a confidence in myself that I would have missed out on. This is what we should want for our students.

Week 10- WGBH video podcast

In iTunesU, in the WGBH section there are many video resources for teachers. The section of WGBH we were referred to is called teacher's domain. The description of teacher's domain was as follows: " It is a free digital library featuring media adapted from NOVA, frontline, and other sponsors. The library helps educators enhance their students learning experience and advance their own teaching techniques." I agree with this statement 100%. The quality and quantity of the video podcasts were top notch. These are a great resource for teachers. I just hope that more become available.

For this weeks assignment I viewed 5 video podcasts. I am a science teacher, therefore, I checked out all the science categories. The subject of science was divided into the following groups: Life science, Earth and Space science, Physical science, and Engineering.

Earth and Space Video Podcasts:
The first video podcast that I watched was in the Earth and Space Science section and it was about solar eclipses. I remember teaching about solar eclipses and drawing all the diagrams on the board and doing demos using tennis balls. I wish I would have had access to this short little video clip. It used great diagrams, great examples, great visuals, and it covered the vocabulary associated with a solar eclipse. The video was only 3 minutes long and that its perfect to me because it would be the perfect size to reinforce what was covered in lecture and would help solidify terms and the movement involved during an eclipse. I also watched Earth as a system, observing clouds, and characteristics of the sun. The podcast about the earth was narated by James Earl Jones and I thought that made it interesting because you were listening to a famous person ( and who doesn't like to listen to Darth Vadar talk?), This podcast was more like a documentary and a little more lengthy, but it would still be very useful. The podcast about the sun had all the basic information students need to know about the sun and it put things in a perspective that the students could understand. The terms and definitions were present and easily understood. The observing clouds podcast was very simple. You sit and watch clouds float by and watch them move and change. This podcast would be great for elementary aged students or as a fun introduction to clouds for upper level students.

Life Science Video Podcast:
I watched one video in this section about the frozen frog. It was very interesting and could be used to explain several things. Camouflage was mentioned several times. A teacher could use this frog to start discussions of the topic survival of the fittest, or could use this video to get students thinking or should I say hypothesizing about why the frog freezes and what it accomplishes. Students would love this video because it has green slimy frogs and they freeze and then thaw out and hop away.

I am very excited to use this resource in the classroom. Looking back on my past teaching experience I wish I would have had these then. I can see the possibilities and learning opportunities these podcasts provide. To reach these podcasts you go to iTunes store, then click on iTunesU, then click on featured educational providers, and then click on WGBH.

Week 8- Fall 08 Podcasts

I listened to "My classes at South: How technology is used in them" by Matthew and Jill and "What I learned from Randy Pausch" by Brandy, Amanda, and Daniel. In listening to these podcasts I realized how easy it is to say certain words to use as a filler. The words um, like, you know, and uh were in almost every sentence. I will be doing my podcast this Tuesday and I am going to try very hard to keep myself from using those word. It becomes annoying and distracting. I caught myself counting how many times one lady said the word "um" and was not listening to what she was really saying.

The positives about the first podcast were that the guy had a nice slow clear voice. He was very easy to understand and I was able to follow him easily. Both podcasters knew what they were talking about, but at the same time both became confused half way through their talking points. The negatives about the first podcast were they both seemed to get confused, they both jumped around a bit on the topics, and the flow of the conversation was choppy. Their different points did not flow together. I became a little confused about some of the things they talked about.

The positives about the second podcast were that this team had fun with each other. They teased one another and that made it fun to listen to. The 2 ladies sounded professional and knew what they were talking about. The young man was a bit rude and insensitive. He did not seem to have put alot of work into this assignment. I could only find one negative thing about this podcast (besides the young man) and that was their thought could have been a little more organized and they could have had specific points they wanted to talk about.

Podcast Post

For this assignment I listened to 4 of the recommended podcasts: SmartBoard Lessons, Kidcast, Macbreak weekly, and TWIP. I also searched and found 3 podcasts that I thought were interesting: StoryNory, Motion, Forces, & Energy, and Why? The science show for kids. I will first discuss the recommended podcasts and then spend time on the 3 I chose.

The first thing I noticed about all 4 recommended podcasts was that each one had music as the introduction. Not one of these podcasts started with talking. I like the way the music gave me a chance to get focused and ready for the podcast. Another thing I noticed about each podcast was that they all had sponsors and the podcast subscriptions were free. This means that the sponsors pay for these podcasts and the consumer does not have to. All of these podcasts had hosts that were enthusiastic, easy to listen to, and kept it going. The SmartBoard Lesson podcast consisted of a man and woman, and they discussed using the SmartBoard as a teaching tool. There podcast is almost a weekly occurrence. KidCast has one host and this podcast focuses on using the podcast in the classroom. The podcast happens once every few month. This one did not hold my attention like the first podcast mentioned. It seems better to have more than one person on a podcast to keep it more interesting. The discussion and feedback from others is important. MacBreakWeekly is a weekly podcast and was the most entertaining (even though it was Mac related). There were 3 or 4 hosts and they made the podcast have a more radio show like feel to it. They shared personal information and laughed with one another. This podcast had the most sponsors. It took the main host quite a while to list all of them. TWIP podcast was similar to the MacBreak Weekly. It had the same format and same sort of atmosphere.

Listening to just these 4 podcasts helped me realize 3 things about podcasting in general. Number one: Intro and background music gives the podcast a more professional vibe. Number 2: Having more than one host gives the podcast more life and dimension. Number 3: The host needs to have enthusiasm and fun.

The next 3 podcasts I listened to were Story Nory, Why? The Science Show for Kids, and Motion, Forces, & Energy. Story Nory is a podcast that brings a new story to children every week. The narrator has a lovely voice and is very easy to understand. This podcast would be a great resource for elementary school teachers. I could see a teacher using this podcast during rest time. Allowing kindergartners to listen as they lay on their mats would be a novel way to do nap time. Teachers could let children listen to the story and then draw a picture of what they heard (this would help them with their comprehension). There are so many options for a teacher if they used this podcast. Why? The Science Show for Kids podcast is hosted by a scientist who answers kids questions every week. Of course he can not answer all the questions that are submitted but he does a nice job of having a wide variety of questions and answers. I could see myself using this concept to creating student podcasts and the assignment would be to answer certain questions, work as teams to answer the questions, submit questions about the current material being studied so I could better explain it using a podcast. Again, I can see the podcast being used for so many things in a science classroom. The last podcast was very basic but I really like it. It was a teacher's podcast and he reviewed the different sections in a chapter. He would refer to the text, and then elaborate on the concept. This is a great teaching tool. Once students get home and begin to do their homework they may think,"Now what did he say about..." And all they have to do is go to his podcast and they can hear him say it. I like the way he uses the podcast, and I would like to use it to record my "Note Time" in class. That way if a student is absent they can go to my podcast and hear what we talked about in class. The options for using a podcast in the class room are almost endless. Yeah podcast! To hear any of the 3 podcasts listed above all you have to do is go to Search iTunes Store and type in the name of the podcast.

Last Lecture Post

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture is packed full of substantial advice; not only teaching advice but advice to help a person live a better life. The four teaching/life skills I have chosen to focus on are: 1) Fundamentals 2) Enthusiasm 3) Respect 4) Brick walls. I believe that teacher's have the most important job. As teacher's we have a great deal of power over the future acheivements of our students. Our attitudes, our level of compassion, our amount of concern will be one of the major determining factors of a child's success in school.

Randy mentions in his lecture that teachers need to focus on the fundamentals, and that we need to get these down pat before we get fancy. I agree with this statement 100%. When I taught 7th grade science I spent more time on fundamentals because it is the foundation from which my students were going to build. If the foundation is shaky, there is a good chance that the structure will fail. When a student masters the fundamentals there will be a confidence that becomes present in that child's school attitude. Teacher's play such a huge role in planting the seed of confidence in a child. And as that child grows in education that seed will grow into a plant and one day will produce fruit of its own. Student/teacher bonds will form when a teacher goes the extra mile to help a struggling student. These bonds are crucial to the student. The student begins to see that the teacher cares and can be trusted. The bond that forms leads me to my next teaching/life skill: respect.

On the first day of every new school year I would start with "The Talk". I wouldn't start of with the rules or with my expectations. I would start of on a personal level. I taught 12 and 13 year olds and I can remember what it was like to be that age. Everyone, no mater what age, wants to be respected. But I feel that at this age it is more needed then ever. I would let them know that even though I didn't know them, I respected them, and it was up to them to keep that respect. If I give my respect I expect respect in return. If respect was shown respect was given. Randy mentions loyalty in his lecture. He gave the example of the student having problems with the dean and he went and stood up for the student. Because he was willing to stand up for that student, that student is now standing up and taking the lead for Randy. It is because they respected and believed in one another. I spoke with me students in a tone as if I were talking to friends. I assured them that I would always treat them as people, not as children, but as individuals with ideas, opinions, and thoughts.

I loved Randy's enthusiasm. I couldn't help but keep listening to what he had to say. When a person believes 100% what they are saying then that enthusiasm pours out of them. In teaching my students picked up on my level of enthusiasm. I set the tone for learning each and every day. If I did not buy into an activity, then I could not expect them to. Most days I was excited about what we were doing in class and I tried to make each learning activity have a certain level of fun in it. Making learning fun and engaging was the most challenging aspects of being a teacher. I had to work hard at it, but it always paid off when I say the excitement on my students faces or when students walked in the room telling me they couldn't wait to come to science class.

I saved brick walls for the last topic. I hate brick walls. I have never thought about them the way Randy talked about them in his lecture. He said that brick walls are not there to stop us, but to get us to prove what we can really do. We have to persevere. We have to keep working until we make it to the finish line. We have brick walls in every area of our lives (school, home, work, family, friends, grocery store, etc). He also spoke of being self-reflective and I think that when I hit a brick wall that is what I do. I reflect on what happened and then work on a solution and work hard to get over the wall or how to knock it down. Teachers can give students the necessary skills to be able to identify those brick walls and help them get over that wall. No child is going to be great at every subject. That is where the teacher comes in to make the difference.

Week 5 Post

Both of my international teacher's blogs were found on the website edublog. This site is available for teachers and students. It serves over 275,000 bloggers at this time. It is a free service and has easy steps to follow on how to create a blog. This site offers what seems to be the blogging equivelant of some of the aspects of ACCESS, but on a national and international scale.

The first teacher blog is from a male teacher in Victoria, Austrailia. The name of the blog is Tom's School Desk. The teacher is a fairly new teacher and is mostly interested in educational technology. His blog contains student podcasts on several topics, RSS feeds on certain topics, and seems to be used a good bit by his students. His blog is very straight forward and has basic information. This website is not very helpful with class content or assignments. The picture to the right is a picture of his school.

This picture was at the top of Mr. Swenson's blog.

The second teacher blog is from a male teacher in England. Mr. Swenson's blog is very nice and a great example of how teacher's can use a blog to help students stay organized. The main page has each classes agenda for each day posted. Students know exactly what was done in class each day. This is very handy for students who are absent and makes make up work easier for the teacher. The student knows exactly what to ask about when he or she returns. To the right of the agenda he has links to each of the classes he teaches, links to the school website and online grades, and archives. This blog also has downloadable assignments. For example, on February 4 his language arts students started a brochure project. The students are able to download the instructions to this project from his blog.

Week 4 Post

Mrs. Reagan (pictured on the left) is the principal of Georgetown Elementary School.
Georgetown Elementary school in Michigan has a school blog that is very similar to a website but has so many more capabilities. A person can find any information on this blog. Every teacher in the school has a class blog and the links to that blog are on the schools blog. You can view the school calendar by week or month and view an agenda for the days selected. This school blog has comments from schools in Taiwan. This blog show immediate connections to schools all over the world. There is a section called Live Action Feed and it shows the locations people who have visited the blog. Foley, Alabama popped up in this section because I have been looking at this schools blog. I am very impressed and excited about the capabilities of blogs.

Fantastic Fun in Fine Arts is a fine art teacher's blog. It is very organized and easy to navigate. If I were a parent of one of this teacher's students I would be able to find plenty of information for her class. She has a calendar on her main page that would be very helpful to parents when they need to know deadlines, tests, play practice, parties, etc. This is a great resource for fine art students. They have all the information about play practice and deadlines for scripts. This seems to be a very effective and practical use of a blog. Unfortunately, there were no photos available on this blog.

Week 3-Post #2

     According to the powerpoint on the ACCESS website Access uses technology to provide courses and teachers because many low-income schools are limited in what is offered to students.  The State of Alabama wants to provide equal access to high quality instruction for less fortunate schools and students through distance learning.  ACCESS offers additional courses to students, advanced courses (triginometry, physics, calculus), advanced placement courses, remedial courses, dual enrollment courses, and additional courses.  The three methods of delivery of these distance learning courses are web-based, videoconferencing, and blended.  The web-based method would use a web-site.  Videoconferencing would be streaming and face to face.  It would connect classes in real time.  Blended is when the first two methods are combined.  Phase I of ACCESS commenced in October of 2005.  In phase I pilot school sites have been established and principles and counselors of the pilot schools have been trained.   E-teachers and facilitators have also been trained.  The web-based method seems to be the less complicated and more beneficial method of delivery.  Videoconferencing  seems to be a work in progress.  It is going to take a large ammount of organization and cooperation.  There are two full slides of difficulties listed in the power point that concern the Videoconferencing.

     The ACCESS program seems very impressive in the power point and in the articles written.  The amount of technology involved is a huge undertaking and may be very overwhelming to most teachers if it is not a well organized "machine" once it is implemented.  The amount of training is crucial.  Without the proper training teachers will stick with what they already know.  I think that the newer teachers would be more likely to have the capabilities to use this type of technology.  The older teachers would need more training and encouragment.  ACCESS is an exciting technological advance and the newer tech "savy" will have a wonderful resource at his or her finger tips.  I am very interseted to see an ACCESS school site and ask questions about it.  

ACCESS post

The best way to describe the purpose of the ACCESS program was best stated by the State Superintendent of Education, Joe Morton.  He stated that the ACCESS distance learning will "remove barriers of walls and geography that has limited students' exposure in the past."  Not all schools are created equally.  There are some schools that are not as fortunate as others when it comes to technology, resources, or classes that are offered.  ACCESS addresses each one of these issues and offers a "cutting edge of instructive technology" states Fox News correspondent, Shepard Smith.  Thanks to the support of the Governor, Alabama legislature, ARC, Bellsouth Foundation, and The State Board of Education many schools in the state that can not afford certain classes or lack the resources to offer remediation are able to enhance the educational experience for these students.  Advanced diploma, advanced placement classes, dual enrollment, remediation classes, distance learning, and a teacher's ability to enhance instruction by using multimedia and technology tools are many of the ways ACCESS will enhance and equalize Alabama education.

The methods in which ACCESS is available to many schools are these: Web-based, Videoconferencing, and blended (both web-based and videoconferencing).  The web-based method would offer the courses needed to complete the requirements of an advanced diploma remediation, advanced placement, and dual enrollment.   Videoconferencing  or IVC labs will help the school districts connect with each other and interact with other teachers and students. A blended method would incorporate the web-based method and Videoconferencing.  In order for ACCESS to work effectively for the students and teachers of Alabama there is a support center that monitors E-teachers, offers help desk to teachers and students, and offers professional development to the teachers.  The schools that are part of the support center are Troy University, University of Alabama, and Madison City Schools.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as the intentional or unintentional usage of someone's words or ideas without recognition.  Some examples of plagiarism given on the Purdue website were "buying, stealing, or borrowing someone else's paper, hiring someone else to write a paper, copying large amounts of text without using quotation marks".  Plagiarism is so much easier when using the internet as a resource.  All a person has to do is copy and paste.  A safe way to avoid plagiarism is to give credit where credit is due.  A person can do this buy taking accurate notes from sources by placing quotes with copied text, paraphrase statements and always give credit somewhere in the paragraph, or use direct quotes from a source.   

When I taught in Birmingham I was the victim of plagiarism.  I had created and posted a webquest on my school's website for my 7th grade science students to complete.  I had a teacher from Mobile county e-mail me and ask if she could use my webquest in her science class.  Of course, I was flattered and gave her permission to use it.  Months later I was talking with a friend of mine the Mobile school system and she was bragging on a certain teachers presentation of a webquest that she had "created"at a system wide meeting.  My friend began to describe the webquest and it sounded very familiar.  I asked her for the address and she gave it to me.  I looked up the webquest and it was mine.  She had changed a few things, but some things were copied and pasted and others were linked straight to my webquest.  The teacher had taken my "made from scratch" webquest, changed a few things about it, and called it her own.  She recieved many rewards (LCD projector, new laptop, etc) for her classroom because she had done such a wonderful job.  I went to my administrator and reported it, but nothing was done.  I wasn't sure at the time how copyright works and if a web based creation would be covered by the law, but after looking at the copyright website I now understand that any work is automatically secure under the copyright law.  Registration is not required.  After my hard work (it took me 3, 8hour days at a workshop to complete the webquest) was stolen and passed off as someone else I began to deny teacher's from other systems to use any of my web based project.  There is no way of monitoring what those teachers chose to do, but I did keep documentation of those contacts.  It is because of dishonesty that good people suffer.  Plagiarism is stealing and is wrong.  Student's should not be the only one's held accountable for what they write.  Teacher's should be held to highest standard when it comes to their work, especially if they claim it is an original work.

ALEX

ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange and that is exactly what it is. It is a resource with many uses and applications. There are 7 links that provide different options for teachers. The options are as follows: courses of study, web links, lesson plans, search, personal workspace, professional learning, and distance learning. The state course of study link is sorted by subject area. All a teacher needs to do is click on the subject he/she teaches and a complete list of standards pop up. There is also a link that provides lesson plans. All a teacher has to do is click on the subject and grade level and lessons that are relevant pop up. Teachers can also share lessons using this link. ALEX also provides opportunities for students as well. For students ALEX offers the opportunity of taking AP classes that they are not able to take.
This website seems to be a first year teachers best friend. The hardest part of teaching for the first time is knowing where to begin. ALEX is a great starting point and will give a new teacher a specific direction. The site is very well organized and is easily navigated. In addition to being useful, this site will help teachers manage their time. Since course of study, lesson plans, we blinks, and workspace are all located in one place a teacher will be able to work more efficiently. Time will definitely be saved and the teacher will be able to focus on the quality of her students' education.

Post #2 for week 1

     The amount and specificity of the technology available for those with disabilities is remarkable.  It seems that the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 opened virtual doors before they had been created.  There are many programs available to provide accessibility for most people with disabilities.  People with audiological, vision, and limited hand usage have the capability to surf the Web and use the computer effectively.  

    One of the most amazing advances in the adaptability of the computer is the programs used for the vision impaired.  A person that is totally blind has several programs from which to choose, and these programs read what is on the screen and provides information through speech.  JAWS and Windows Eyes are two examples of the software available.  In 1973 a computer took up an entire room and had very basic functions.  I am sure blind and deaf people in the 70's and even 80's thought they would never use a computer.  Now, 36 years later there is not only one way for them to use a computer, but dozens of programs that give them the right to use technology just like the rest of the world.

Who's That Girl?

     My name is  Joyce La Force Fisk.  I am married to Sean Fisk and we live in Bon Secour.  I am a stay at home mom and have two boys (Christian-5 and Ethan-2).  I am taking this class in order to keep my certification current.  I am a certified secondary science teacher.  I received my BS in Secondary Education/General Science from USA and my Masters of Science in Geosciences from MSU.   My teaching experience is limited to a single school system.  I taught seventh grade science for 6 years in one of the best school systems in Alabama and I have been home with my boys for the past 4 years.  I am planning to go back to teaching in the next 5 years.

     In my spare time I like to scrapbook.  It is a good creative outlet for me, and I am being productive.  I also enjoy TaeKwonDo.  I have been a student of this martial art since January 2008.  I am a senior blue belt (half way to black belt) and plan to be a black belt by the end of this year.