Twitter Report

During the last couple of months I have learned a lot about Twitter. Twitter is basically like Myspace and Facebook with a few tweets. :) Twitter is a great way to communicate with other people and keep in touch. It also helps keep people updated! This would a great tool for a school classroom to keep the students on task with homework. It would also help parents stay on top of dates and meetings to attend. I think Twitter or something similar to Twitter would be a great technology addition to any classroom.

My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are now complete.

Hope you enjoyed my blog posts and that they will be valuable to whoever read them!

Conversation w/ Outside Teacher

Hi Meagan,
We are currently on school holidays so sorry for the delay ....
Technology big part of my classroom ? - TEchnology is an everyday part of my classroom. In New Zealand the classroom teacher teaches all subjects and has the same children all day long. We have had a rather slow start to blogging this year but it is part of our literacy programme. Children are actively taught search terms etc as part of our library skills programme so they can use these skills to find information in the library and on the internet. We use some interactive maths games (online) for building basic facts speed.
We have a data projector available so do things like our mathematics strategy text all together using a timed power point.
We use our classroom digital camera to record all we are doing and later in the year as these shot skills build we begin some simple movie recordings.


I'd love to have a couple of flip video things so that the children could really easily record their thoughts etc - so easy to use and tiny to take around. I have one of my own that a friend sent from overseas but you can't order them here in NZ!!! Also would like a digital blue USB microscope and we have that on the purchasing schedule for later this year.


Technology is hugely important - it always has been but the types of technology have changed through various periods in history. I think that the children in my class need to know how to create as well as access using technology so they can put forward their thoughts etc - and learning how to create lets them experience how easy it is to put things on the internet that are not necessarily true but created by people to look true.


Technology allows the children to connect more widely than with just their own ideas and those of their local community - it allows us to try on the ideas of others and see if we agree or disagree.


Hope this helps.
Kind regards
Jody Hayes

On 23/04/2009, at 4:15 AM, Meagan Green wrote:





Ok great... I am majoring in Elem. Edu but currently taking a technology course where we engage in podcasts, blogging, etc...so I'm just going to ask a few questions about technology in your school...

Is technology a big part of your classroom? and what types of technology do you use most often with your students?

What types of technology do you think would be beneficial to your classroom that you do not already have?

Do you think technology is important for student's future? Why?

Thanks,
Meagan


Hi Meagan,
Of course. You can email them to me or arrange a time to skype.
Kind regards
Jody
On 16/04/2009, at 5:09 AM, Meagan Green wrote:

> Ms. Hayes,
> I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am currently enrolled in a technology class. I was wondering if you would be willing to answer some technology/education questions?
>
> Thanks,
> Meagan
>

Jody Hayes
hayes@olol.school.nz
Our Lady of Lourdes School
Palmerston North

Read our class blog at http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1638

Strange things I have learned :-)

I have learned many things this semester that I never knew existed. Among the few: blogging, podcasts, itunes, igoogle, and twitter. My favorite thing that I learned about was BLOG. I really feel like this is one of the main things that I will definitely use when I become a teacher. A classroom blog will be useful in many ways. I will be able to post assignments so that students will have no excuses for late work. Parents will be able to contact me without hesitation. Parents will also be able to see exactly what we're doing in the classroom. A classroom blog will make things so much easier for everyone and I think all classrooms should have one. Technology is something that is drastically increasing everyday so I know that I need to stay on top of the changes and encourage it in my classroom as well.

Video Podcast

After watching a couple of these podcasts I realized that I need to be a hands on teacher. These videos showed me how important it is to get your students to understand what you're teaching no matter which route you have to take to do it. I feel like a lot of schools have drifted away from projects and field trips. I think children need fun instruction to give them different choices to learn. Some students may understand the lesson from a lecture but other students may need a fun activity to help them grasp it from a different level or point of view.

When I become a teacher I want to do everything in my power to make sure all of my students are learning and having fun while doing it. Learning should be fun. It shouldn't be something that you dread. I know that while I'm in my math class I hate and I want to go home the whole time because the teacher doesn't help me to learn it in different ways. If a child is confused like that all the time he/she will begin to hate school. I want my students to look forward to school each day. In order for that to happen I will have to take notes from these video podcasts and make learning exciting!

iTunes University

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16624_itunes_university_better-than_the_real_thing.html discusses how students are learning differently and using more technology than say 10 years ago. It discusses how technology has improved grades tremendously. iTunes University is so much more effective than just basic lectures. It keeps learning more interesting for the students. iTunes is a way for students to go back and view a lecture they sat in two weeks ago to help prepare for tests etc...

I know a lot of people that use tape recorders to recollect lectures but iTunes University is so much better than that. Teachers probably put more effort into there lecture as well knowing the world can view it anytime. The only downside I can think of is that absentees may possibly go up with this type of technology. I hope that one day this could be used for online courses because I would be the first one to sign up for it. For me, it takes a lot of time to take care of my child and go to school three days a week. So, I would love it if I could take online courses that actually had lectures I could view online to help me grasp the lesson. I think iTunes University is wonderful & I would love to have the opportunity to be apart of something like it.

Duke iPods

I researched the site: http://cit.duke.edu/pdf/reports/ipods_initiative_04_05.pdf I found it surprising that Duke gave away iPods to all their future students coming in as freshmen. The plan was to promote more technology in classes. The plan definitely paid off because teachers and students loved it. Teachers began requiring students to complete podcasts instead of written assignments.

The second site I researched was: http://learninginhand/ipod/index.html This was more of a beginners iPod information site. It was broken down into two seperate groups which included iPod touch and iPod with click wheels. I would really benefit from this site if I was interested in iPods because it gave great detail in instruction for using an iPod.

Dr. Christie

Dr. Christie gave some really helpful tips on building classroom blogs. I hope to be able to use a blog when I become a teacher, but I am kind of worried that most parents and students would not care to be involved in it. A lot of parents are fearful of technology because they don't like change. My Daddy doesn't even know how to turn a computer on and he doesn't care to learn. I know that there are a lot of people that are like that. I want my students and their parents to get involved in technology because it is so much easier to communicate this way. Dr. Christie gave many tips on how to get blog attention and I hope they will work for me in the future.

Wikipedia

I was so surprised after reading about how Wikipedia really is. I have actually used Wikipedia for information many times. I was shocked to find out that basically anyone can edit information. There is no telling how much information on Wikipedia that is false. This is really aggravating to me because researching is not an easy task and knowing which research sites have accurate facts seems almost impossible.

Randy Pausch's Final Lecture

Randy Pausch was a highly successful professor at a highly respected college. From watching his lecture I learned that he is a very laid back teacher so of course his students love him! His classes fill up extremely fast because everyone wants to be in his classroom.

The course that he discussed in his lecture is Building Virtual Worlds. In this class he assigns many hands on projects that are extremely difficult and time consuming, but his students love doing them because they get to have actual experiences. Randy Pausch refers to his course as Edutainment. He believes that education should be fun.

Randy Pausch used many quotes throughout his lecture. Some of the ones that stood out were: "When you tell someone they're doing something wrong, it's really helping them." "Find the best in everybody no matter how long you have to wait." I think that from everything he is going through it has helped him to inspire people and really display a positive outlook. He undoubtly looks at life in a different perspective that most.

The main thing that touched me was what he said about teaching students. He said to teach your students to do the right thing and good stuff happens. This is the same exact motto I tell myself that I will use as a future educator. I want to be a positive influence on my students and display good morals to them as well. I not only want to educate my students in academics, but I want to educate them in being good people because they are the future.

Fischbowl May 2007

This article talks about how so often technology teachers (or teachers in general) do not teach technology to the best of their ability. Today's world is so fast paced that teachers become overwhelmed with all of the work that has to be done. Teachers do not take the time to teach their students proper technology anymore. Most teachers would prefer to just do it for them so they can hurry up and get on with the assignment. They assume the student will catch up or figure it out later, but sometimes that's not the case.

I liked the way he referred to this as a customer service issue. He compared teachers to customer service reps in this article. After thinking about that to myself, it makes sence. Teachers really are a student's customer service. I think it is very important that all teachers serve there students with every bit of knowledge that they have in every area as well as technology. An example I thought of was if you are putting something together and someone is helping you. When you get to a point where you don't know what to do, they jump in and do it for you. This is not going to help when you have to put it together on your own one day because you will not know what to do when you get to that point again. I just thought this article really made a lot of sense and it got me thinking about how important quality customer service really is when it comes to education.

Facebook as an Educational Tool? - Podcast

I really enjoyed this podcast. I think it was very interesting how they did a question/answer interview type podcast. This made it a lot more interesting because I was able to see both views. This podcast almost sounded like a salesman discussing Facebook to a customer trying to persuade them to make an account which definitely kept my attention. I know that when I do my podcast I will want to do something similar to this, but I think it would be better if there were more people included to make it more interesting. I would like for my podcast to keep the listener interested as well as informed about the topic.

Blogging Experiences - Podcast

The first podcast I listened to was Blogging Experiences. I thought Blogging Experiences was a good podcast. The one thing that could have been improved is maybe something that would keep the listeners attention better. This podcast was mainly based on facts and information. There was not a lot of debate or opinionated conversation between the girls that did this podcast. When I say it could have been more like a debate I don't mean argumentative. When I create my podcast I will try to find some way to make it more interesting because I had a hard time staying focused on this podcast. I think it is very important to keep the audience entertained enough that they may want to listen to what you have to say.

Power Point Presentation "My First Baby"

Best of Fischbowl

This article talked about how important technology is for the future. It was a very entertaining article that really makes you think about the changes in the world. I am 22 years old and it amazes me how much schools have increased technology.

When I started going to school the most technology that was seen in a classroom was one computer with no internet and an overhead projector. Now most classrooms have at least three computers with internet access. I have just now in the last five years started to learn a little bit about computers. I can't imagine how much my son is going to know about technology when he's my age.

PODCASTS

Today was my first time to ever listen to a pod cast. I don't have an Ipod, so I know nothing about any of this. I listened to MacBreak Weekly, Ed Tech Talk, Kid Cast, & Smartboard Lesson. After listening to these pod casts, it really inspired me to do it more often. I think they were very informative and I enjoyed listening to them.

MacBreak Weekly discussed a lot of different things that involve Mac Computers. I actually own a Toshiba laptop, and I have never used a Mac computer. One thing that I found to be interesting was that they offer a jump drive called iTV where you can watch High Definition television on your computer. It also has something similar to a DVR that records movies and shows. I had no clue you could watch live tv on a computer so I thought this was really neat.

The Ed Tech Talk mainly talked about parent participation and how important it is to have parent involvement in schools. I agreed with mostly everything that this podcast talked about.

The KidCast discussed how students should be engaging in more podcasts in classrooms. I wish that all students could have the opportunity to become involved in podcasts. This talked about how podcasts should focus more on education when being used in classrooms. I think podcasts are so much more interesting for students rather than listening to lectures all day.

The Smartboard lesson discussed the attributes that smartboard can have for teachers. I really liked the way it explained what not to do while using smartboard in detail. I felt like this was the most informative podcast that I listened to.

I hope to be able to use podcasts in my classroom in the future because I think it would be extremely beneficial to the students as well as myself. It would make things so much easier and more interesting. Technology saves so much time.

New Zealand Classroom Blog

This blog was created by Jody Hayes. She teaches a class of 9-11 year olds. This is her sixth year to have a classroom blog. Her blog consists of class role, related links, pictures of previous activities, and updates. She refers to her students as Navigators which is new to me. She uses this reference as a simile stating that her students are like sailors navigating through school to be successful leaders.

Maryland Classroom Blog

This blog page was created by Ms. Whyte who is a second grade teacher in Silver Spring, Maryland at Woodlin Elementary. From the looks of it she is just starting the blog and still getting adjusted to it. Most of the blog discusses Science. Her blog consists of class assignments, related links, class role, and some student entries.

Missouri Classroom Blog

This blog was created by Mr. Chamberlain, a fifth grade teacher at Noel Elementary School in Noel, Missouri. He has included many classroom pictures, updates, educational links, and videos. It is obvious that this teacher spends a lot of time updating and improving his class blog page. It includes a list of books from the library, student personal blogs, and an about me section that has lots of info about Mr. C. This blog is very professional. It has so many wonderful areas that seem very informative to his students.

Canadian Class Blog

This blog was created by Kathy Cassidy who teaches first grade in Moose Jaw, Canada. The site showed different activities done in the classroom. It had a video as well as many pictures of the students. It also had a list of assignments. Her site also included the class role. Only first names were listed which is a very good safety precaution. The blog page was very well organized and easy for parents to understand.

Wedding Picture

This is a picture from my wedding.
- March 10, 2007

The Fischbowl Power Point

I thought the Fischbowl power point presentation was very informative. It told many interesting facts that are designed to make viewers reexamine today's education. It used many examples that made me question whether today's children are being prepared for what the future holds. It also points out that America is not exactly what it may seem. We have always been taught that America is the most powerful and educated country in the world, but according to this presentation that is an untrue statement.

There were many examples used in the presentation that jumped out at me such as the slide that said if Myspace were a country it would be the eighth largest in the world. There was a slide that also stated that most countries speak English as their second language. I felt that it was trying to say that America is the only country where most people do not speak a second language. It expressed that China will soon speak more English than America. It states that the U.S. has less college graduates that other countries. I thought this powerpoint would be something that could be shown at schools across America to give educators the incentive to work harder and take America's "future" more seriously.

ACCESS

Access is a Distance Learning program that is called Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide. It is very similar to the ALEX Distance Learning. Access is for high schools that do not offer a wide variety of courses such as Advanced Placement courses or more interesting electives. ACCESS was introduced in 2004. This program also allows the teachers to partake in video conferencing with other classrooms. ACCESS uses advanced technology to help all students become equally successful.

I think ACCESS is a very rewarding program and I hope to one day get the chance to become apart of something like it. I like the ACCESS plan that states all students will be offered an equal learning experience. Many schools do not have high quality technology and ACCESS is something that can assist in those areas making schools much more enjoyable.

ALEX

The Alabama Leaning Exchange website offers many tips for teachers of all grades. It supplies a variety of learning techniques such as distance learning, lesson plans, and classroom activity ideas. The Distance Learning section will help teachers pin point what areas there students may need assistance in. This is a place where students can engage in areas that may be limited in there school. This may include interactive video conferences with other classrooms or courses with two-way audio and video. Alex also provides a virtual library that would be very beneficial to any classroom. Another thing that is really great about Alex is that it keeps teachers updated on the current grant programs.

I think Alex is a really great program and it will definitely be useful to me as a future educator. I thought the Distance Learning section was the most interesting area. I think as a teacher it would be wise to share Alex with the parents of my future students as well so that they can make use of it in their homes. I felt that this website was not primarily just for teachers. It is for anyone that is willing to become more educated.

Blog due Jan 18

If you have not already read my about me, then you probably want know that I am majoring in Elementary Education. Hopefully, I will graduate in May 2011. I transferred to South from Southern Miss last year. I am orginally from Lucedale, MS but I moved to Hurley, MS about a year ago with my husband Kyle. We have been married almost 2 years. We have a sweet baby boy named Manning who is 8 mos old. He is so much fun! I enjoy spending my time with family & friends. I love music.. especially country. My favorite tv show is Desperate Housewives. I love anything to do with food lol whether it's going out to eat or cooking at home... but I hate cleaning! If you would like to know anything else just leave a comment! :-)

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