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.

Comments4Teachers week 10 and 12

For the 2nd part of teacher comments I was assigned to Dorothy Burt's - Manaiakalani blog.

1st comment: March 28, 2010

Aviary added to Google Apps for Education (Click on Title to access this blog post)


Hi,

My name is Katherine and I'm a student at the University of South Alabama. For the next three weeks I have been assigned to your blog to comment on your post. If you would like to visit my blog you may do so at perkinskatherineedm310.blogspot.com. I enjoyed reading your post on aviary, I had never heard of aviary before and it seems to be a great tool for education. I enjoy using powerpoint for presentations and will most likely enjoy using this new app for powerpoints. I'm looking forward to reading all about the things happening in your classroom and educational tools you find on the internet.

Thank you,

Katherine P.

March 29, 2010
Parents engaging in Children's work (Click on Title to access this post)


Mrs. Burt,

I really enjoyed reading this post. That is great that the parents are becoming so involved in their child's work. Honestly, I have to agree with the student who stated that they love to write since they have an audience. I too have felt that way when I have to present or now that I'm blogging. I don't wont my work to be sloppy and have major grammar when others beside the teacher reads it. I do feel more motivated when others read my work. I think that's a great idea to have use facebook as a way the students and their parents can check their school work online.

-Katherine (EDM 310 student)

10 Post: March 28, 2010

Morgan Bayda: An open letter to educators (Link to Morgan Bayda's Post)
I really enjoyed reading Morgan Bayda post and watching Dan Brown's video. Though, I have never thought about dropping out of school, I thought this post and the video can be used as an example of how lots of college students may feel. Having to go to an hour or so lecture class and look at a powerpoint and professor discuss whats in a book is kind of a dread. Throughout my college career I have had a high percentage of professors actually take the time out to learn their students name and a little about their about their students and a few professors not care who they were teaching let alone the names of their students.

I get my textbooks through financial aid, but I would rather be able to get that money back in refund and spend it on school materials that I'm actually going to need and use in that semester. Having to buy a $100 textbook and its not even used in the class is crazy. I'm happy EDM 310 does not require a textbook for this class because they know it would be a waste of money for this hybrid course. Everything tool that we need for this course can be found on the Internet.

When I become a teacher I would like to try technology in my class and maybe have a class blog for the students and parents to look at for that students progress throughout that year. I know that many of my students will have to be taught differently and just using pencil and paper is not going to work. I will be working in a special education setting and want to be able to broaden their horizons and show them the different technological tools out their that is available for them. I want to be able to make a way for all of the documents that special education have to keep up with an easier job for those type of teachers.

Comments4Kids

This week I commented on the kids in Room 6 at St. Pius X school. Two students had been learning French and were using what they had learned in their video. The video showed the students having a conversation. They greeted and counted in French to one another. I thought it was a great video. I don't know much to any French, but I remember some Spanish that I had learned, so it sounded somewhat similar when I heard the students speaking in French. The video also used title captions and showed the French language in the English language.

Comments4classmates

This week I was assigned to Leigh Ankersen (Class A) and Steven Diamond (Class D) to comment on their March 12th blog post. Leigh's blog is up to date and I was able to leave her a comment, but Steven Diamond hasn't been posting at all to his blog so I was unable to leave him a comment.

Timetoast Timeline

Katherine Chanel's First 20 years timeline

I did my timetoast timeline on my first 20 years of life. I chose my life because it means a lot to me and I just wanted to be able to look back on the things that have taken place in my life. A lot of the events I had to ask my mom, because I was too small to remember the event.

Comments4Teachers 7,8,9

For comments4Teachers I was assigned to JFHandley blog and below are the comments that I left for Mrs. Ferguson. I will most likely end up adding her blog to my PLN because she gave great information on the way she teaches in her classroom. She seems like a really great teacher just from reading her blog.

1st Comment4Teacher: 2/26/10

Global Fun and Laughter

Ms. Ferguson,

I really enjoyed reading your post. My name is Katherine and I'm a student at the University of South Alabama where I take EDM 310. You may find out more information on our class blog at: http://edm310.blogspot.com. I'm assigned to your blog for the next couple of weeks to complete an assignment. This was a great post. I'm at the beginning of my PLN and have found so many networks that I could add. I really enjoyed reading your post that I may add your blog to my PLN for future ideas. I am looking forward to reading more of your posts.

-Katherine

2nd Comment4Teacher: 3/6/10

Getting a Grade

Hi again!

My name is Katherine and I recently wrote on another post for an assignment for my EDM 310 class. I really enjoyed this post. Giving students the opportunity to express how they feel regarding your teaching is great. At the end of the semester I get to do that for my college professors. I actually have been doing since high school. I enjoy giving my teachers feedback on how they teach. I don’t know if it truly helps, but it does make me feel good because it’s almost as if a huge weight was lifted off of my chest when I got to give feedback. I would like to do that for my students when I become a teacher. I’m studying to be a special education teacher in the elementary school system. Even from them I want to be able to know the exact same questions you asked.

-Katherine P.

3rd Comment4Teacher: 3/28/10

Reflecting on my students

Mrs. Ferguson,

My name is Katherine and I'm a student in Mobile, AL. I really have enjoyed reading your comments about your class and I have learned a lot from your blog. I will continue to keep up with your blog because you have expressed great points in your blog that all teachers should use. I'm happy that you chose to have your students reflect on your teaching. When a teacher can have his/her students tell the teacher what they can do better it helps the teacher to grow and the students know that they are helping that teacher to grow and will feel proud to help. It's also nice to have the students tell you what they don't want to continuously hear from you or others because they have heard so much already. I get to evaluate my professors at the end of the semester and I always look forward to the evaluation. I hope that my professors take time out to grow when they read the comments from their students. Thank you again for having such a great blog and for providing me with all of this great information.

-Katherine P.

South Alabama & EDM 310 experience survey

The survey on your experience at USA and in EDM 310

(Click on the underlined word above and it will take you to my survey)

I did my survey on the experience gained from EDM 310 and South Alabama. Please fill it out if you haven't done so and I will do the same for you.

Thanks,

Katherine P.

9th post: March 12, 2010

Have a Safe and Fun Spring Break!!

Alabama Learning Exchange(ALEX) (Click on the title and it will take you to the website)
This website seems like a great source for teachers and I'm happy to have been able to find out about this website. When I first arrived to the ALEX website there were many links available of different materials that teachers need and could use in the classroom. The links that are available through this site are Courses of Study, Web Links, Lesson Plans, Search, Personal Workplace, Professional Learning, and also a Podcast Treasury. Since our class just finished up with podcast that link stood out to me. Under the Podcast Treasury there were different podcast topics that could be listened to. They even had a section for places in Alabama where you can listen to podcast about there history. I clicked on the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and it showed many podcast on different African American famous people. It was really neat.

For the web links tool, it has different links for students, teachers, and administrators. For the Lesson Plans section it has many different subjects and you can put in which subject(s) you want to have lesson plans on and you can also choose the grade level. What tool that I really enjoyed was the Professional Learning because it has a section for special education. It has a lot of information that I'm going to need. I will definitely keep ALEX close by so that I can use it when I begin teaching. It will be of much help for me and other teachers.

Alabama Connecting Classroom Educators and Students Statewide (Click on the title and it will take you to the website)

Another great and useful website for upcoming teachers. This website is more about technology in high schools. It has a section for students, educators and a section for parents is coming soon. I want use this site as much because it's built for high school students, but it seems like a good site to learn from. It doesn't have the different links for teachers and students like the ALEX site had, but it's still a good site for high school teachers.

The ACCESS site has a couple of different links for educators, courses, resources, students, and technical support. When I went to the sources section it showed a link for the Alabama High School Graduation Exam, an advanced placement link, test preps. I believe to look further into this website there has to be a username and password set up.

Comments4Kids
This week I was assigned a student named Emelia from New Zealand and she along with some of her other classmates did a short video. It was titled, "The Dramatic Moment." It was about a girl who couldn't find her pencil case and her classmates helped her find out, they didn't find it either so they sat and thought about where it could be. After a moment they all asked her if she had looked in her backpack and luckily when she did there was her pencil case. It was a great video and all of the students did a great job.

Comments4Classmates
I was assigned to post on Gregory Youngblood (Class A) and Keitra Crayton ( Class D), but neither of these students have posted for the week of March 1-7.

8th Post: March 7, 2010

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture.

I really enjoyed this video. I have actually heard a similar video with Mr. Pausch except it was only a couple of minutes long. His last lecture was very inspirational and very enjoyable to watch. He will definitely be remembered for his outstanding work. The things he did for a virtual world was amazing. He definitely accomplished a lot of his childhood dreams and a lot of people can't say that they accomplished at least 50% of their dreams.

He really loved what he did especially involving the imagineering and virtual world. I love virtual world type of games like "The Sims." I love his idea of not using textbooks in the classroom. Honestly what would you need a textbook for in the type of assignments he was having his students work on anyway. It would be just a waste of money to have them. Also when you have your students switch up partners for each assignment is great because everyone is getting to know other people. Also having students rate their team members was good, but also scary at the same time. You have to worry about if someone liked having you in a group or not, but you also get to know how well you work with others and its an opportunity for you to improve on other projects.

Mr. Pausch was a very caring guy and definitely had a sense of humor. I wondered if all of his students really enjoyed his classes and knew how much they had learned from him. After Mr. Pausch would discuss something he would bring up a slide on "the brick wall." Which were there for people who knew how badly they wanted something. If you want it you will not let the brick wall stop you. Which I felt was great because there are times where you want something so badly and of course those unexpected events happen and you may not be able to accomplish what you want, but if you really want it then will you do it and not let anything prevent you from accomplishing what you want.

Mr. Pausch made some key points on things to remember such as, having fun in the classroom as a teacher, never lose the child-hood wonder, helping others because it makes us better people. He also discussed how to get people to help you. I really loved this video and didn't mind watching it for the entire hour. It was very nice at the end how he had a cake brought out for his wife's birthday. He is definitely an inspirational person. When his children look back at this video they will be proud that there dad left this for them to learn from. He deserved that standing ovation at the end.

Comments4Kids
This week I commented on Cindy from an Arizona middle school and she had written a beautiful and touching poem titled "They Suffer." The comment that I left Cindy is below.

Cindy,

That is a beautiful poem. Did you write that yourself? My name is Katherine and I’m a college student in Mobile, AL. I really enjoyed reading your poem. Keep up the good work!

-Katherine

Comments4Classmates

This week I commented on Kristen Thrash (Class A) and Kathleen Cosgrove (Class D) and both students are up to date on their blog posts.

7th Assignment: February 28, 2010

Richard Miller: This is How We Dream
I enjoyed these videos. The use of the pictures, words, and other videos with his voice makes a nice and organized video. This video was very neat, I enjoyed looking at the different things he used. I have never seen some of the things that he was doing in the video, but I will learn how to do the things that he did.

"Are you prepared to write with multimedia?" I do feel prepared to write with multimedia. If there is a new multimedia that I don't know of then I will just learn it. I also do most of my school work and projects without having to go to the library. Unless it's required that we have to use a book as a source then that is the only time that I go to the library. I have learned a lot about different educational technologies and have accustomed to using them so using multimedia will be no problem for me.

"Will your students be able to do this?" Since kids these days are learning about technology and at a very young age learning how to work a iPod/iPhone then I do believe that future students will be able to do this. This is nothing compared to the other technologies that they already know of. If there are some students who may not have the funds to a computer and don't know how to work with multimedia, I will make sure that they learn it so they want feel left out.

Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student
I really enjoyed this video. The drawings and different topics were very organized. I loved the name of the high school '21st Century High School.' There is so much information that can be found without even using a textbook. The video discussed a lot of the things that I am learning in EDM 310 with PLN and blogging. When I first heard about mp3 players and iPods I thought they could only be used for music and video, but now I know that can be used as an educational tool as well. They can also be used to listen to lectures from any college or university and with different subject areas.

"Why does a networked student even need a teacher?" I have thought about this question myself and have even wondered if in the future kids will still need teachers to be there. Students will always need a teacher to be there. Even in the future with all the different technologies, students will still need to know how to properly use those tools. Someone will need to be there to show them how it needs to be used. I loved the answer that was expressed in the video. I'm happy to know that teachers will still be needed in the future.

"Are you prepared to be a teacher of a networked student?" I will be prepared to be a teacher of a networked student. As I continue to learn about the different educational tools and found out what they do and how they can be used, I'm adding them to my list of materials that I would want to have for my students. I'm not fully prepared right now, but when that time comes I will be prepared to teach any student who is tech literate.

Michael Wesch
I once again enjoyed Mr. Wesch video. I found that a lot of the things that he touched on was so true. I loved he used different t.v. shows to go along with his discussion. Now when I watch South Park and The Simpsons I'm going to remember this video which isn't a bad thing. I found it very true that the generation who grew up in the 90s(my generation) use the word 'whatever' a lot. I have even used it several times throughout my life. I have never said 'Eh' or 'Meh' but I have heard Eh before. I didn't even know of Meh. I loved how he incorporated Youtube into his discussion. Those Numbers were very much believable. Also when he used some of his students to start video blogging the comments were very true. I haven't video recorded myself, but using audacity a lot of my classmates found it weird because they felt they were talking to themselves. When I take pictures, I want to make sure that everything is in its place and the picture will come out looking how I want it or better. I'm not worried with how the younger generation will be when I become a teacher. Every generation is different from the clothes to their facial expression and even the words that they use in their vocabulary.


Personal Learning Network
My Personal Learning consist of:

• EDM 310 Class Blog
• John Hadley Strange Blog
• Teaching All Students Blog
• Dr. Christie website
  

These sites are similar and different information. All are about using technology in the classroom, but may be with different grade levels. The Teaching All Students blog is a site where technology is used in a special education setting which is very helpful for me because that is my major.

Comments4Kids
This week I commented on a Melville Intermediate Room 8 blog. They posted about their school worm farm. They had a slide showing of pictures of the students putting waste into the farms for the worms to eat off of. It was pretty neat. I love how instead of throwing away their food they use it to feed the worms. Like I told their class, "Our waste is another person or worm treasure." I also received a comment back from the teacher. I posted what he said below. This was the first time I had ever received a reply back from a teacher and the feeling was unbelievable. I'm looking forward to receiving more replies.

Mr. Webb reply:
Thank you so much for your comment that you left on our class blog in New Zealand. The students still have to put the caption on the post, but the worm farm is for the food scraps that are produced from the left over food. In New Zealand the students have to bring their own lunch to school and although we have a school canteen (or tuck shop) most students bring their own lunch. The left over food is then put into the worm bins and eaten by the worms, and we use the liquid waste to fertilize the plants.

I wanted to thank you personally for the comment as well because the students were excited by hearing we had a comment from the USA, we'll read through it as a class tomorrow morning. Its hugely empowering for students to have their work viewed from anywhere in the world and they have a huge fascination with the USA because of its cultural influence (one of the students was able to state their was a song about Alabama when we had a quick conversation about it, which is pretty good its usually not very much!) and what they see in the media, thank you again.
Mr Webb, Classroom Teacher, Melville Intermediate School, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand.

6th Assignment: February 21, 2010

Dr. Alice Christie Website: Educational Technology
I enjoyed Dr. Christie's webisite. She had a lot of good teaching tools listed on her site. I chose to find out more information on Webquest. I chose this tool because I didn't know what Webquest was and wanted to find out more information on it. What is a Webquest? "A Webquest is a well developed curricular unit or lesson that actively engages learners." It almost seems as if a Webquest is similar to just having a website for the classroom where different topics and information is posted by the teacher and the students get to look at the different topics and learn more about that topic. Students who use Webquests can also get feedback on their posted assignments just like when our class use Comments4kids/classmates, it's just the same. I thought I didn't know much about Webquests, but the information that I'm reading seems very similar to what I'm actually experiencing in EDM 310. There are different components to Webquest, such as Introduction, the task, process, resources, evaluation, conclusion, reflection, extension, and lastly notes to the teacher. All of these components make up the Webquest. It seems like a great learning tool that should continued to be used in the classroom.

iTunes University
iTunes U has a lot of different topics and information available for students and teachers and different subjects can be listened to as a podcast. I wouldn't mind using iTunes as a student or teacher, but as a student at the moment I would still like to learn in a classroom environment. Since I'm more of a visual learner it's good to see that iTunes not only has podcast, but also Vodcast. If you don't know much about a certain topic and you want to find out more information then iTunes can be a great source of information with the podcast and vodcast. I read that iTunes is made available to all students including students with disabilities. As a future special education teacher I'm happy to read that iTunes can be a great tool for students that are visually impaired because they have what is called Voiceover for Mac computers and the screen readers for PC's. Different colleges and universities can set up accounts to upload different lecture topics which can be viewed by any users of iTunes. I'm still figuring iTunes out because I have never used it before this class. I didn't know there was a iTunes U or that music wasn't the only that could be downloaded from iTunes. I have so far learned a lot about iTunes that I didn't know before.
http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/what-is.html

The Use of iPods
I don't own an iPod I only own a mp3 player which my only use for that is for music, but I have heard about the different tools that come along by using an iPod. On a techno teachers website, I found an iPod topic where the different iPod discussions were being discussed. Audio books, games, music, video, podcast, and photos can be viewed on an iPod. An audio book is a recording of a book that can be listened to word for word from the iPod. iPods can be a great tool in the classroom. With the audio books the students can listen while looking at a hard copy. It can also help with fluency, expression, and help students want to read more. iPods has educational games that can be helpful towards the different subject areas such as, math, reading, and writing. As far as using the music component in the classroom it can be used in the younger grades for clean up songs and learning songs. Using iPods in the classroom can definitely make students want to come to class.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H02j0MAgUvo&feature=player_embedded

http://www.technoteacher.org/?p=271

Duke University allows Students to check out iPods for a semester and other types of listening devices. When I read that I was thinking I wished I went to Duke just to be able to check out iPods. Since I have never had one, it would be nice to have that experience of using one for an entire semester. Satti Khanna, a professor at Duke was the first professor to incorporate iPods into his classroom. His class was working on a project where they had to use different technologies. I really enjoyed having to read about Duke and their technology uses.

http://dukedigitalinitiative.duke.edu/examples/page/show?id=3604302%3APage%3A226

http://dukedigitalinitiative.duke.edu/page/technologies-1


Comments4Kids
This week I commented on a boy named Bryan. I commented on his Migration Play Reflection which he had to write a reflection of how he felt his group members performed. He wrote that he felt his group did good on the speech, but not on where his group members were supposed to stand. He felt that they could have done better if they knew how to stand when giving a performance. I enjoyed reading his post, he seems like a very bright young man especially knowing what him and his group members could have done better.

5th Post Assignment: Febuary 14, 2010

Happy Valentines Day!

NPR/ The Wired Story
These articles were interesting. When I first saw this assignment I didn't know what I would I would be reading. I knew that information could be changed on Wikipedia by any person, but I didn't know or never really thought about someone/company would actually change their own information to make it look good or make someone else look bad. Virgil Griffith came up with a great tool for Wikipedia.

Do I believe that Wikipedia could ever be a trusted and reliable source? Hmm... Anything is possible. For Wikipedia to become a trusted source they shouldn't allow an anonymous user to change information at least keep the users who has an account. Then when something changes everyone will already know who changed it. But then again companies could create an alias and still change the information. Well I guess Wikipedia would just have to cut out allowing outside sources changing information and they hire people to change the information when situations happen. Which could possibly help Wikipedia to then become a trusted source.

What I've Learned This Year?
I really enjoyed this post by Mr. McClung. His post was very inspiring for future teachers. Everything that he discussed in his post are things that I have thought about wanting to do when I become a teacher. I want to be there for my students and have them trust me. I want them to be able to know that I'm here to help them not criticize them for every mistake they make. When you become a teacher you have to remember you were once that student sitting in a desk and remember how we felt about our teachers. I loved how Mr. McClung discussed the lesson plans and activities not going perfect. How it's okay and to not get frustrated when everything doesn't go right. You really can't show the students that you are just as scared as they are about the first day of school. Well maybe you can, then you all can talk about it and not be nervous anymore together. It would be a bonding tool to get over the first day jitters. I love having the students taking the end of the year survey because then you can know how your students felt about you. Getting positive feedback from your students really makes you feel like you are doing your job and more.

Comment4Kids
This week I commented on Michael N student blog. He wrote about a book called, "Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwieler." I told him that I really enjoyed reading his post and gave him a positive comment. Michael wrote that he really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. He seems to have a love for books. He also talked about the character that he can relate to. The character likes to save money and so does Michael. I really liked that part because I know that a lot of kids don't really care to save their money, but Michael is different.

Katherine's Life

Vocaroo

Vocaroo example:
I tried out vocaroo just for fun. I wasn't able to use vocaroo under firefox, but it allowed me to record under windows explorer.

*Click on Vocaroo example above to listen to my recording.

4th Post: Febuary 7, 2010

More Podcasts
I watched the Benefits for Podcasting in the Classroom video and I really enjoyed the video. It discussed the advantages of allowing podcast and vodcast in the classroom. The video gave a great example about podcast. It showed a student being sick and not being able to go to school. She knew she was going to be missing the review for an upcoming test and she was a little sad, but she remembered that the teacher always posted study guide podcast for the test so she wouldn't be missing the review after all. I thought that was a great idea. Students wont have to worry about missing class if they have a teacher who posts class work on their class website.

It also showed students working on a podcasts for one of their lessons. The students, teacher, and principal gave their opinions on the podcast and they all seemed to like the idea. The students especially seemed very happy about this new way of learning. They were excited about learning. I would like to use this way of learning with my students. I will be in the special education k-6 field and I would like to be able to make my job easier since I hear that the special education teachers have a lot of work to prepare for their students. I not only want to make my job easier, but make learning for special needs children easier for them because it will be about their way of learning. I have wondered if there are any special ed. teachers out there who use podcast or vodcast in their classroom. If not then I will work on that for my students.


Comments4Kids
I commented on Mr. McClung's Resistance about electrical currents. I'm really happy that we are given the opportunity to respond to the younger generation blog posts. We get to see everything that they are learning and to be honest it seems like a lot of fun just by looking at the video. Not only does the students in the classroom get to learn, but others also who may not have the opportunity to learn the same way as those students. Some students may still be learning just from textbooks and may not comprehend any of what they are learning so having these videos can help others to understand what they should be learning from their own teachers.

3rd Post January 31, 2010

Podcast's
I listened to all of the podcasts and I definitely liked some more than others. Listening to podcasts can be a bit boring, because the voice of the person talking doesn’t keep my attention for long. The smart board podcasts was okay. I could hardly understand what he was saying because there was some other type of noise in the background. Learning about smart board was interesting because I don’t know much about it. It’s a tool that I would like to be able to use in my future classroom. The next podcast that I listened to was the kidcast. I enjoyed listening to this podcast and liked the music that was played at the beginning to introduce the show. That was really neat. I heard about the difference in Video podcast and just a podcast. He really did well with distinguishing these two topics. So, as I continue listening to these different podcasts I am starting to warm up more and more to these podcasts.

The third podcast that I listened to was EdTechTalk. When the recording first came on I thought I was listening to a robot. It was a bit awkward at first. I don’t think that this podcast gave me any ideas that I could use for when I begin teaching. I listened to the Connect Learning podcast and once again I enjoyed the music to start off the podcast. I listened to episode 90 and heard some good ideas for helping students remember with school lessons. I listened to the Macbreak podcast next. I didn’t know how it would help me because, I don’t own anything that has to do with Mac and Apple. When I listened to this podcast it sounded like I was listening to an advertisement on the radio. They really didn’t say much about what could help me in the future when I begin teaching. They just talked about the different gadgets like the iPod nano and I didn’t find this podcast helpful at all. The last podcast was This Week in Photography. I like photography, but I didn’t really enjoy this podcast. They rambled too much for me. I thought I would continue to warm up to the podcasts, but it didn’t really happen.
Here's What's Coming
This is amazing that a one year old learned how to use an I Phone. I don't own an I Phone so I don't know how to work one, but I could learn just like he did. It may be amazing that a one year old learned this, but it's not shocking to me. Because like most children they watch someone else doing some activity and they learn from it and then they are doing it. What would have been shocking to me is if the one year old could text message. I will be ready to start teaching students who may be more media literate than me. I'm not afraid to teach a child who knows how to work a computer. It's not like the child will tell me how to teach if I don't teach them from a computer. The child will just go with it.

Media Literacy in the 1st Grade/Little Kids Big Potential
I really enjoyed watching this video. It's nice to see young children already begin to learn how to become more media literate. Even though they are only in the first grade, I wonder if they are also being taught the dangers of the internet. I was very happy to see that when leaving a comment to the class, the teacher has to approve the comment before it is shown to the public. So if someone writes a comment that is inappropriate then she can handle it without the students finding out about it. This classroom seems like the kids really enjoy it. Because they are not just learning from a book, but also being able to expand their minds with learning how to blog and upload their assignments to the computer. It's a great idea! I wonder how the parents feel about this learning experience for their children. Were all of the parents accepting or were there some who didn't agree with the teacher s way of teaching?