GOODBYE EDM 310

GOODBYE EDM 310, Dr. Strange, Mr. Tashbin, and all EDM 310 students. I have really enjoyed this class and everyone involved in it. I have learned so much from EDM 310 than any other class. I will remember everything that was introduced to me this semester. I'm thinking about continuing to blog about my everyday life and my journey to becoming a special education teacher. I will also continue to look back at the future EDM 310 classes and comment on those students assignments. I'm looking forward to going home and showing my family all that I have learned from this class. I have already told my mom and grandmother about a lot of the projects, Google Earth included and my grandmother was already liking what she was hearing. I can't wait to actually be able to show them. Although this semester is coming to an end and our summer is approaching, I will never forget this class or my wonderful teacher Mr. Tashbin. Continue to work hard and whatever your major is don't give up even when times get hard. I would like to see all of us become Teachers. If you really want to teach, then it will happen.

Keep your head up EDM 310 students!

May 2nd: Final Reflection Post

Wow! I can't believe the semester is close to coming to an end. I have really enjoyed EDM 310 and learning about all of the different technologies that I can use in my classroom. I'm looking forward to introducing some of the technologies that I have learned to my future students. Good Luck to all of the EDM 310 students.

1. blogs-I learned how to blog, add pictures and links to my blog. I'm wanting to continue blogging in the future and make a class blog for when I begin teaching.
wikis- I didn't learn this tool.
presentations - I didn't have to learn to use this because I use Powerpoint. I wont use Google presentations because I prefer to use Powerpoint.
Google Docs- I learned about creating presentations through Google Presentations and Google Forms.
Google spreadsheets- I didn't learn this tool, if it's like Excel then it will be no problem with me using the Google spreadsheets.
Picasa- I added this tool to my computer. I don't really care for it. It wasn't hard to learn because I have other programs similar to this. I don't really know if I will continue to use Picasa.
podcasts- I enjoyed creating a podcast. I would like to use this tool when I begin teaching so that I can record the assignments and activities that we learn in class.
videocasts- I didn't learn to use this tool, but I don't think this will be hard to learn.
YouTube - I new about this tool before the class, but I haven't actually added any videos to YouTube. I just enjoy watching other videos and my soaps.
movie making - I didn't use movie making
PLNs - I learned how to create a PLN.
Twitter- I was already using twitter before I entered the class. I enjoy being on twitter because I can see what my favorite celebs are doing. Since being in EDM 310 I have been able to add other teachers from the U.S. and surrounding countries.
other teachers and students outside of our region- I have been in skype sessions with other teachers from other countries. I have seen other skype sessions with other teachers and students from other countries.
comments4kids-I really enjoyed being able to comment on kids from other countries. It was nice to see their work displayed on their class blog.
comments4classmates-I somewhat enjoyed reading some of my classmates post.
comments4teachers- I enjoyed commenting on teachers blog because their post would be interesting and very informational. I gained so much from reading their blogs.
iTunes, iTunesU - I have heard of iTunes before this class, but not so much iTunes U.
Google forms- I enjoyed having Google Forms as an assignment. It was great learning how to create a survey and have others fill it out. I definitely want to continue using Google Forms to create other surveys.
Google Earth- I love learning about Google Earth. This was by far my favorite assignment. I can spend hours on GE.
Delicious-I have not learned to use Delicious yet.
ACCESS, ALEX- Both sites were very useful and gave a lot of information involving teaching. I will continue to use these sites after EDM 310.

also in the future. The tools that I learned are blogging, google forms(making a survey), I learned from different students and teachers from other countries, Wordle, ScreenJelly, Google Earth(My favorite), iTunesU, PLNs, podcast, and picassa. Some of the tools that I didn't list above are because I had already learned them before EDM 310.

2. I have tried to think of things that I would have liked to learn in this class, but since so much was introduced to me I don't believe there was anything else that I would have wanted to learn.

3. Hmmm... Are there things that I learned that I wish I would have not learned? Good Question. I felt that everything that I learned was beneficial in some way. I may have thought the assignment was ridiculous and irrelevant at that time, but now since I have completed all of my assignments I don't believe there was an assignment that I wished I would not have learned.

4. I would describe EDM 310 as useful and interesting. I wouldn't describe it as being exciting. I had fun learning though, but exciting would not be the word I would describe this class.

5. I think that since we mostly learned on our own in this class then it took a little time to get used too.

6. Boredom in EDM 310. Nooo wayyyy! (I'm not being sarcastic).

7. What I would change about EDM 310 is some of the assignments being added at the last . At times, when assignments had already been posted on the class blog then videos or something would be added to that weeks assignments. Although I made sure to look at the EDM Class Blog everyday, I didn't like seeing assignments being added to a particular weeks assignment. (I hope that makes sense).

8. I do consider myself to be technological literate. I'm GOOD with knowing about technology.

9. To continue building up my literacy with technology I will continue keeping my PLN and following the teachers in my PLN and through twitter. Once I begin teaching, I hope to start my own class blog and hopefully through the years be able to get a smartboard into my classroom to use. Also I will continue looking at the schools in other countries and see what their students and teachers are doing in the classroom to get some ideas.

My Professional Blog

To access my Professional Blog there is a link to the side of this blog that will take you to my professional blog. You can also access it from here. Katherine P's Professional Blog

Project 15: Interview

I interviewed elementary school teacher Dora Reams from the Mobile County School System. She teaches special needs students and has been teaching for 30+ years.

Why did you choose a career in teaching?

• She became a special education teacher because she has a sister who has special needs.

What advice do you have for first year special education teachers?

• Don't get frustrated because there is a lot to learn. Get a good behavior reward system. Have structure and stay firm with your students. Stay organized!

What roles and responsibilities do you have as a teacher?

• Prepare lesson plans, making and changing schedules, put grades and IEPs in computer.

How do you feel about the use of technology in the classroom? Do you use any technology in the classroom?

• She felt that technology has positives and negatives to it. She felt that the technology is good if it works properly. It's bad when it freezes and doesn't work.
  
• The only type of technology she uses in the classroom is the computer, overhead projector, and a tape player.

I guess because she has been teaching for many years that when I asked her the question regarding technology she didn't really know much further about other technologies. She did say that she didn't know how to use a smartboard and hasn't been trained in that tool.

Do you feel that having the majors elementary education and special education merge as one will make things better for the special education classroom?

• She wasn't sure how things would change, but since there is a need for special education teachers she understands why they decided to make the change. She says it will be a lot of work for that one teacher to take on so we all will have to see how things go with those teachers.
  

2nd Part of Personal Learning Network

Here is my 2nd part of my PLN:

• Scott McLeod Twitter - I'm following a lot of people who are in education on twitter.
  
• Dorothy Burt's Blog
• The Electric Educator
• Keeping Kids First
• Morgan Bayda
  

April 25th Post

Personal Learning Environment Video: (Click out of the "Add a picture to the identity" and hit the play button to hear my comment)

Below is the recorded VoiceThread I created to comment on the video above.





Another great video. It's funny because I have thought about the question, "Was I better today than yesterday?" Everyday is different and different events place each day. Each day is different than the other. Of course, everyone says, "Live each day like it's your last." I try to, but it sometimes doesn't happen.

"What is my sentence?" Now this is a harder question to answer. Can I really answer that question right now? I guess to that question I could say, "She helps others before she helps herself." I hope that once I become a teacher I can say, "She helps students to overcome the stereotypes and succeed." I like the second one better, but I will have to think some more about that question because it's so new to me. I have never heard anyone ask that question before. I'm looking forward to reading about my classmates answer to these two questions.

This week I was assigned to Betty Cernosek (Class A) and May Krasovich (Class D). Neither students have posted the April 18th assignment. I will keep checking back this week to see if they ever post for that week.

Project 8/14

Use a tool you have used in this class to teach someone else: How to create a timeline

Since watching Dina Tillman's video on Screenjelly I thought that would be a great tool to demonstrate how to use another tool we have used through Screenjelly, so I decided to use ScreenJelly to show someone how to create a timeline. Since using Screenjelly actually shows the person the steps that you are taking I thought that would be great to show my presentation.

I decided to use Timetoast because it was a great tool to use and looking through all of the different Timelines I felt that I was learning something. I believe that a lot of people have felt that Timetoast is a great educational tool which should be used in the classrooms of today. I will probably use it in my classroom to teach and possibly have students create their own.

I also created a Google docs presentation to show more detailed instructions on creating a Timeline.

Project 12: Google Earth

Because I'm an Alabama Fan I chose to do the Google Earth Project on the places that Alabama will travel to for their away games in the Fall. I have never really seen the stadiums up close and personal of other college stadiums, so I thought this would be great chance for people who wont be going to the away games in Alabama's upcoming 2010 season to see where they are located. Google Earth is great and I will continue using it after EDM 310. I hope the Alabama fans everywhere enjoyed my presentation. (Listed under the Tour are the names of the stadiums in order as shown in the tour).



Bryant Denny Stadium (Alabama Home Games)
9/18 Duke- Wallace Wade Stadium
9/25 Arkansas- Donald W. Reynolds Stadium
10/9 South Carolina- Williams Brice Stadium
10/23 Tennessee- Neyland Stadium
11/6 LSU- Tiger Stadium

April 18th Post

My thoughts on an EDM 310 topic- Comments4Kids and Teachers!

I have enjoyed doing the blog post assignments because I have been learning a lot from this class. There isn't one EDM 310 topic that I could talk about without talking about others, but I will try to just focus on one topic. What I enjoyed most about EDM 310 was the Comments4Kids and Teachers. I enjoyed these two the most because I had never seen anything like it before. Before this class, I wasn't familiar without a lot of the technological materials and surely wasn't expecting to learn about it in this class. I thought I would just be learning more about Windows Office, but I was soo wrong. Being assigned to the Comments4Kids and Teachers was very rewarding. I got to see many young students artwork and class videos posted on their site. Seeing that really inspires me to create a class blog for my future students. Comments4Teachers was a great learning experience because I got the opportunity to read a lot of what teachers are feeling in the classroom and how they are teaching their students. Also a lot of the teachers blog that I was assigned to showed many other technological materials that they use in their classroom that I had never heard of before. Also what made me really enjoy Comments4Kids and Teachers was when I received feedback from the teacher/class blog I commented on. That was a great feeling. I got to experience how the children/teachers must have felt when they received comments from people across the world.

We only have about two weeks of classes left and when EDM 310 finally ends, I will still remember a lot of information I learned from this class than from what I learned in other classes. At the end of the day, I'm very happy this class was made a requirement because you do learn a lot. It's not your normal class, where the teacher lectures and you take test all the time. You get to really experience new things and you learn at the same time. Even though Comments4Kids and Teachers are coming to an end, I believe that I will still look online for class blogs in many other countries and continue commenting. You never know, maybe in the near future I will Skype from my classroom to another classroom in another country.

Comments4Classmates: Week 14

This week I was assigned to Rebecca Cowart (Class A) and Blaine Hayaski (Class D). Both Rebecca and Blaine posted their responses for the Week 13 blog assignment and I was able to leave them both a comment.

Comments4Kids: Week 14

Kingston at the Swimming Sports (Click on the link to see the video of Kingston swim).
This week I commented on Room 14 from the Pt. England school. I got the chance to see a video of a little boy named Kingston swimming in a race and he WON the race. It was so exciting to see. The comment I left for Kingston is below. I can't believe this is my last post on Comments4Kids. I have really enjoyed reading younger students class assignments online. I'm going to miss commenting on students blog.

Hi Kingston,

My name is Katherine and I'm a college student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I enjoyed watching your video. You are a great swimmer. I wish I could swim like that. Congratulations on winning the race. Keep up the great work Kingston!

-Katherine

Comments4Teachers week 13 and 14

For the next two weeks I have been assigned to John Sowash blog. He titled his blog as 'The Electric Educator.'

1st comment: April 9th

New Tool: Wiffiti (Click on the Title and it will take you to this post)

Hi Mr. Sowash,

My name is Katherine Perkins and I have been assigned to your blog for two weeks for my EDM 310 class. You may access the EDM class blog at http://edm310.blogspot.com/ and my blog at http://perkinskatherineedm310.blogspot.com/. I enjoyed reading your post on Wiffiti. I had never heard of Wiffiti before reading your post. I think I have seen it before during TV awards, but never knew what it was. It does seem like a fun tool to use in the classroom, but I agree that it could be possibly dangerous also. Also if it was used in the classroom wouldn't this tool cause students to stop
verbally communicating with the teacher? If used for a certain amount of time during discussions or as a way to send homework questions would be okay, but maybe not as everyday use. Students still need to have a way to verbally communicate if they need help on a question. Thanks again for posting on Wiffiti and I'm looking forward to reading your next post!

2nd Comment: April 15, 2010



This week Mr. Sowash discussed Google proofing questions. He wanted to know ideas and suggestions on, "How do you write a Google Proofing Question?" I tried to answer the question the best that I could.

Below is my comment to Mr. Sowash.

Hi again Mr. Sowash,

My name is Katherine Perkins and I enjoyed reading your post. This is a great question that you have brought to your readers mind. "How do you write a Google Proof Question?" Prior to EDM 310, I hardly used Google as a search, but I'm using it more than before. I'm more of a Yahoo person and this question could be applied to Yahoo as well. When I research a topic, I don't write full sentences because I know that every single word will be added into the search. I try to go with the main topic I'm research, for example, Echolalia or Echolalia symptoms. If I put in a full sentence the search would bring up a lot of irrelevant pages. I have done the same method using Ask Jeeves.

I don't know if my response helps, but that's something I do. I would also like to see what other ideas your readers come up with. So I hope you receive some great feedback and I will check back to read other comments.

I have enjoyed reading your blog these two weeks and I look forward to reading more. Keep up the great work Mr. Sowash!

Also thank you for providing feedback about Wiffiti.

-Katherine

Week 13: April 11 Post

Dr.Seuss- The Zax
This was a interesting video. As I watched this video, all I could think about was how stubborn these two Zax were. They stood there and didn't budge as if time had stopped and nothing was going to change. Which of course in the end it showed that things changed and the people were able to travel all kinds of directions.

There are still teachers right now who can be referred to as a Zax. It's because they don't want to change the way they handle their classroom. They feel that the way they teach their students is working and there is no need to change, but I'm sorry to say that is the wrong to think. As a teacher, you have to be creative and able to think of new ideas on the spot. You shouldn't want your students in 1990 and your students in 2010 to be taught the exact same way with the exact same material.I'm sorry to say, but there are still teachers who have not updated their lesson plans since they started teaching. Switch it up every now and then and if you run out of ideas then, have your students think of some ideas. Children love to be included in things. You can also ask other teachers or look on educational websites for new ideas. Make the classroom exciting and fun for everyone including yourself.

Another PS 22 Video
Question: Why is it important for students to post their work to blogs?
First off let me just say that I enjoyed hearing these outstanding group of students sing. They sounded awesome. I was blown away. I also enjoyed seeing the students feel a connection to the song as they were singing, they were really into it.

The importance of having students post their work could help them learn positive and negative feedback. Having someone other than your teacher point out how great you did on an assignment makes you feel like you are on top of the world. Also if your assignment wasn't so great then the feedback may help you to do better next time. Though sometimes when you know that you didn't put your all into an assignment you may not care to read a negative response.

Since getting the opportunity to read and comment on younger students assignments, I have felt that I'm getting the chance to make someone smile today because I just wrote them a response telling them how I enjoyed reading their post and that they did an awesome job on it.

The picture shown above was drawn by a 5 year old little boy and he was writing about waiting for his turn. It was nice to see his actual drawing included in the post and not just words typed. I gave him total praise for this drawing and encouraged him to continue being a good student.

Ms. Cassidy's first graders... Also the link shown is of the first graders who use technology in the classroom. They were taught how to post and comment on their blog. They knew a lot about the positives and negatives of commenting. It was great to see them be so aware of how to comment nicely.

The little girl in the picture is Kaia and she loves the outdoors. She is a little adventurer. I enjoyed reading about her story. She has her own blog about her adventures outdoors.


Comments4Kids:
This week I was assigned to the Pt. England Scribes class blog. I commented on the 13th post and it was either a poem or riddle written by Shanika. I thought it was different with this class blog because the students individual pictures were next to their work. I have seen pictures on other class blogs, but I never knew which students were which. I hope that these students are just as safe as other students whose pictures on uploaded to their class blogs. The comment that I left Shanika is written below.

Hi Shanika,

My name is Katherine and I'm a college student in Mobile, Alabama. I enjoyed reading your post. Was that a poem/riddle that you wrote? You did a great job on it. Keep up the great work Shanika!
Comments4Classmates:
This week I was assigned to Ryan Buzbee (Class A) blog and Amber Grace (Class D) blog. Ryan has not posted for the April 4th assignment so I was unable to leave him a comment. Amber Grace posted the April 4th assignment and I was able to leave her a comment.

Results of South Alabama & EDM 310 experience

The link below will take you to the results of my survey. Thanks to all who actually took out the few minutes to take my survey. I was shocked to see I only received 40+ responses and I sent my survey to over 100 EDM 310 students. Thanks again!

South Alabama & EDM 310 experience Results (Click on the words to the left to see the results)

12th Post: April 4th, 2010

Dear Kaia: (Click on Title and it will take you to Wm Chamberlain blog post)
Mr. Chamberlain class was commenting Kaia's blog and during their commenting her father was seeing all of the traffic from Mr. Chamberlain class. Kaia's father talked with Mr.Chamberlain's class about how Kaia didn't know how to read so she wouldn't be reading the comments. Mr. Chamberlain came up with a great idea to record his class comments for Kaia so that she would be able to hear the students and see pictures of them. This was beautiful and I smiled the entire time as I was reading and watching the video from Mr. Chamberlain. I went to Kaia's blog and it was so girlie and pretty for a girl her age. I saw the photos that her and her father took. I was amazed and wondered where exactly those pictures were taken. I know in their hometown, but I hope not something they see from their home. It was beautiful how they made something that could look so unattractive look so amazing and beautiful. As a teacher, we have to be able to teach the students that things should be looked at very closely. The ugliest thing could still be embraced as something beautiful. We have to be open minded to everything and help our students to be open minded also. Being open minded and accepting can get a person very far. They are able to learn about different people, backgrounds, and culture by being open minded and accepting.

Intrepid Teacher: Singing Hearts (Click on Title and it will take you to Jabiz blog)

This blog was created by Kaia's father Jabiz. He summarized the event that he experienced with Wm Chamberlain's class and his daughter blog. I enjoyed reading his post about his daughter. Kaia seems like a very smart little 3-4 year old. For a child her age who loves being outdoors to explore nature is great. It's a new learning experience for her so she seems to want to find out about her environment. It's great that her father didn't miss out on Kaia's great experience and got to see the things she was seeing also. That is a great bonding tool between the parents and their children when they are doing something the children have been experiencing.

As far as the technology when putting up a child or student work before you take those steps of exposing the student/child you have to make sure that you have full control over everything. You have to make sure that you know what to do if things get out of hand with the Internet. You should make sure things are private and should express to the child the do's and dont's of the Internet. As a future teacher, I would like to try technology in my classroom and perhaps including a class blog. I like the idea of having a class blog as a starting tool and then deciding later on if I would want to try a blog for every student. I would see how the parents felt first before making the decisions. I would want my students to be open minded and accepting to different people and cultures. They have to learn that every human being is different and come from different places and should accepting to people who are different from them.

Comments4Kids:

This week I was assigned to the Pt. England's Year One-Team One Rock Stars blog. I commented on David's work. He wrote about, Waiting for my turn. He had drawn a picture of a child playing outside on a slide. His teacher uploaded his work for me like she does her other students. It was great to see David's artwork on the class blog. I commented on his artwork and left the comment which is typed below.

Hi David,

My name is Katherine and I'm a college student in Mobile, AL and you did a really good job on your drawing. Also it is a good thing to be patient and wait your your turn for the slide. I loved going down the slide when I was your age. I enjoyed playing at the playground too. Keep up the great work and keep being the great Pt. Englander you can be.

Comment4Students:
This week once again I was assigned to Leigh Ankersen(Class A) and Steven Diamond(Class D). Leigh Ankersen is on track with her blogs and I was able to leave her a comment. Steven Diamond has not blogged at all and I was not able to leave him a comment.

Skype Post/Project

I have family that uses Skype since we all live in different states, but I didn't have Skype on my computer because I didn't know much about it until EDM 310. I had used Skype previous before on another computer talking to a family member, but was lacking information about Skype. I have finally used Skype on my own. I just finished video chatting with a KeyPal(EDF 315 assignment) who is from Saudi Arabia, but is attending the South Alabama. He wanted to use Skype to see how he speaks in English. He told me that he uses Skype to talk with his siblings. It was weird almost talking on Skype. I guess I will just have to get use to video chatting with someone. I will continue to use Skype to talk with family members and friends after EDM 310 because it is another great way to talk with family and friends around the United States.