Adios, Amigos!

My experience in EDM 310 has been very beneficial. With the help of my fellow students I have definitely learned a lot. However, I am never sad to see the end of a semester. I have enjoyed the company of everyone in the class, but I have to say it is time for a break. Hopefully, I will see some of you in classes to come, but for now I just have to say Merry Christmas and Good luck on finals!

Final Reflections

I feel like this class has been a great starting point to help me in the future. Everything we were exposed to can be used in my future classroom or as a tool to help benefit my own personal education experience right now. Some of my favorites were all the different Google applications which I can utilize while working on certain projects or use as a way to connect with my students later. Pretty much everything I could ever need to find or organize can be done via Google. iTunesU also struck me as a good source for papers and research I might need to do later on that would be a little unconventional, but completely useful. I also can see many uses for thing such as podcasts, videocasts, and Google Earth. These are very good educational resources that can really encourage students to enjoy learning which is something I hope to foster later on.

When I first started this class, I thought it was going to be about teaching me how to integrate technoogy into the classroom effectively. Altough this is true, I thought it was going to tell me exactly what to do. Instead I was left to my own devices. This seems like the best approach for the goal of the class. It would have been very easy to have been spoon fed how to integrate technology in the classroom, but it what I would have learned would have been outdated soon. I may have thought that was what the class was about, but I'm much happier that it was different from what my original vision of the class was.

I do not feel like there was anything I learned this semester I plan on dumping starting next week. There are a few things I feel more interested in continuing to loose, but for the long run, I feel like everything might have been beneficial to someone in some way.

This class probably wasn't the most exciting every time I came into class. I thoroughly enjoyed having our guest speakers via Skype. Those were always the most interesting days. Another good thing was that this class was extremely relaxing. It did not bring me any stress so that is definitely comforting to me.

The most difficult thing to understand this semester has been the html scripting. I cannot by any means speak computer. I don't think I ever will. One thing I can do is follow directions. That is the only way I was able to complete some fo the blog assignments. Remembering what to do and how they will benefit someone else was the easy part. Understanding why the html scriping works the way it does is still a question I have yet to find an understandable answer to.

Yes, at times Iwas bored in this class. This mostly happened on days where we did a lot of setting up for a project. Like previewing Google Earth and setting up for our Blogs where we had to click and type specific things. Class became rather montonouss those days. However, despite the montonaity I also appreciated the step by step actions that way I wouldn't have to worry about figuring it all out on my own.

I feel like some of the things that would be most beneficial to me in my teaching career, such as Delicious, ACCESS and ALEX,were only given a slight glance at. Blogging is a very useful tool, but there seem to be other things that could give me so many more brainstorming ideas or creative teaching techniques later on that I might forget about whenever I start teaching because I didn't get a thorough explanation of their uses.

Technologically literate? Not quite there yet. Technologically informed? Definitely. To become technologically literate I feel like I would have to utilize the tools I have been exposed to for a much longer amount of time than how long I have currently been using them.

There are quite a few things we have learned about over the semeste which will be beneifical to me as a student. Hopefully by implementing this knowledge and using it for the rest of my college career I will be better able to use it in the classroom to give out assignments that will be more beneficial to my students.

Technology is constantly changing and there is no way to make things stay the same. The only option is to teach us how to go forth and continue learnine and evolving the classroom as the world around us evolves as well. This is by far the most important thing for me to take away from this class.

My Personal Learning Network

Over the semester I had a hard time understanding the benefits of a PLN (Personal Learning Network). I think it had something to do with the fact that Dr. Strange's PLN is set to accommodate his career and interests. Somehow I was convinced my PLN had to be beneficial to me as a teacher to help further my career on down the road. What I have now realized is that a PLN is meant to benefit a person individually. My needs right now for my current career are nothing like Dr. Strange's or Mr. Chamberlin's. They both have fantastic examples of uses and benefits from them, but neither of them have a PLN similar to my current needs.

In the future I plan on being an educator, but right now my full time career is a student. My PLN needs to reflect that. To do so I need to make connections with people who are going through the same things academically I am that way I will always have resources to assist me when I am stuck on an assignment. A PLN that would fit my needs includes my fellow students who can help me collaborate on different class assignments. It can also include current professors and former teachers from high school.

Another challenge I faced with my PLN is where to contact people. Twitter does seem to be the uprising new 'it' thing for social networking, but I personally do not access it too often and niether do my friends who also have an account on Twitter. I decided to base mine on Facebook instead. It is another social networking site, but is something I use quite regularly along with the rest of my fellow students and a lot of my former teachers and some professors. I made this decision because in order for my PLN to be useful by any means it must be based off of something that is reliable.

After I finally cam to the conclusion of how I could best benefit from a PLN and where it would be best located, Irealized a PLN is something I had seemed to be utilizing all semester without realizing it. In each and every one of my classes I have at least one contact person who I can send a message and get answers to the questions I might have about a certain class. Many of thes people are also going into similar fields as myself so there is a large chance I will most likely maintain the connection and use it to benefit myself later on once I start my teaching career. As time goes by I hope to aquire more connections. This is just a starting point that will hopefully trigger some much bigger things for me later on.

Project 11

For my Project 11 Assignment I made a video on Geocaching. The video can be viewed HERE on YouTube.

Comments 4 Kids

I feel like Comments 4 Kids is a good way to integrate education majors into the classroom. It also is very beneficial to all of the students whose blogs that we comment on. A few of the blogs we had to comment on were a bit difficult to comment on, but for the most part I feel like this was an assignment that opened our eyes a bit to things that children appreciate when learning. The majority of the blogs we were assigned to comment on were for elementary students and some thing for little children never change. They always love when older students talk to them and acknowledge them. No matter how much technology is integrated into the classroom, children will always like when older students pay attention to them. They look up to students who are older than them so receiving comments from us was quite an experience for them.

Wikipedia

For our podcast, we talked about using Wikipedia. We discussed whether or not it was a valid source and also how or if we as individuals used it. So, sit back, relax and join in the discussion by clicking HERE.

Usefulness of a Collaborative Blog

At the Teacher's Desk is a collaborative blog that teachers from all over the nation use to share interesting experiences they have within the classroom. Most of the post in some way involve technology.

My favorite posts were the ones that had to do with Skyping the ESL classroom in with a Spanish classroom in another state. That seems like a very beneficial thing for both classrooms. I personally want to be an ESL teacher eventually so I was involuntarially drawn to those particular posts. I really love that they these students were able to take their common knowledge in order to help someone else in their education.

ATTD as a whole seems like a great way to share ups and downs of technology. Also in the ESL posts was where Mr. Chamberlin shared what he would change about his next video conference and why. I found this to be very beneficial for other teachers to avoid the same difficulties later on.

The Best of the Lists

Doug Johnson has made a list of Seven Brilliant Things Teachers Do with Technology, and Seven Stupid Mistakes Teachers Make with Technology. For me the top two brilliant things on his list were to use the kids’ own devices to teach them and empower kids with technology. Students need to experience things for themselves. Part of doing that is to desire learning. By taking things that students enjoy doing or using and integrating it into the classroom, learning becomes a more enjoyable experience for the students. I feel like people learn the most when they don't realize they are having an educational experience, they just think they are having fun.

Out of the Seven Stupid Mistakes Teachers Make with Technology, I feel like the two most important are ignoring the intrinsic interest of tech use in today's kids and not backing up data. Like I have already said, making students enjoy learning is probably the most beneficial learning experience. I also feel like backing up all data is extremely important. If a teacher is going to utilize technology, he or she must also recognize that sometimes technology can backfire on a person. An educator also needs to show his or her students the importance of being prepared. By being an example of coming to class prepared enough to have backup if something goes wrong for a lecture, a teacher is also able to justify penalizing a student for turning something in late.

The final List I was give was about New Classroom Rules. The two most important rules for me were to be polite, courteous, and respectful at all times in both physical and virtual space and complete all assignments neatly and on time and submit on line or post to your blog or wiki, and share it with your followers on Twitter. I feel like allowing students to turn in assignments online will allow them a certain amount of freedom they might not normally experience. It will also allot them more responsibility. Being respectful while using technology in the classroom is also of utmost importance to me.

The Future of Whatever

Wow. This is definitely something I have contemplated many times after enrolling in this class. This generation, whether it be the "MTV Generation" or the "Cell Phone Generation," tends to not care that much. I myself am guilty of it.

Today, many students want to just slide by. Even people who are viewed as over achievers wish to receive maximum recognition with minimal work. For example, I really enjoy receiving As to boost my GPA, but I'm just as happy with a 90 as I am with a 100. At the end of the day, they are worth the same to my GPA, so why should I care?

It's the lackadaisical attitude that will make it hard to teach later on in my career. I will constantly have to challenge myself in order to keep my students interested. Just like Dr. Wesch said, each generation seems harder and harder to impress. I will not be able to rely on a new ingenious teaching device I come across to captivate my students for many many years. They will eventually outgrow every seemingly brilliant idea I will ever have. I cannot even rely on the experiences in the class to last me long in my education career. Eventually, blogging will be old news, and I will have to come up with new ways to capture my students attentions.

Student Work on the Internet

The kids at PS22 are amazing at what they do. Their songs are so touching and heartfelt it is unbelievable. Many adults cannot comprehend singing with passion, but they do. After watching their video Landslide I realized one the driving forces behind the different formats of posting student work on the internet is pride. Now, I don't mean a cocky kind of pride, but the kind where the students can be proud of the work they have accomplished in the classroom. The students at PS 22 are motivated by their YouTube videos. They gained a huge following from it and that encouraged them to try harder and harder to succeed.


There have been other groups I have seen this semester that have been motivated by placing what they learned on the internet. The Dear Kaia photo essay was a prime example. Going out and taking all those pictures was a learning experience in itself, but putting it on the internet allowed for Kaia to share her wonderful experience. The tremendous response afterward had to be an amazing experience for her. it encouraged her to know that what she has to say is valid and that you are never too young to impact others.


Also, there was Eagels' Nest Radio. It was a group of third graders who created podcasts to share what they had been learning in class with the world. In this case what they had learned about was Julius Caesar. It was an extremely creative podcast and it also showcased the vast amount of knowledge they had gained on the subject. The podcasts they made and responses these children receive help to create an environment where learning is cool and fun.

The World of ACCESS

The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide is a program the state of Alabama created in order to created virtual classrooms for students. The goal is to provide equal access to education for all high school students in the state. In some smaller communities there might not be a need or demand for extremely rigorous coursed, but qualified students shouldn't have to succumb to a meager education just because the majority of the other students cannot handle it. Now they are able to take AP courses and other advanced learning courses online through ACCESS.

I really wish I would have had access to a program like this while I was in high school. Although I am from Alabama, I attended a private school so the ACCESS Program was not an option for me. I completely understand its benefits. No student should have to suffice to an non challenging education just because a tougher curriculum is not offered in his or her district. Each and every student should be challenged in the classroom.

Introducing ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange, better known as ALEX is a resource for both teachers and students. It provides links to virtual resources and tips for teaching and is a tool that allows everyone to further his or her education just by the click of the mouse.

I really like how ALEX provides so many resources for teachers and students to utilize in education. ALEX not only provides useful sources, but legitimate sources as well. For students writing a paper for an English class, they can easily access ALEX to help them find qualified resources that do not appear as the first link on a Google search. No matter what subject a student is looking for he is sure to find something useful on ALEX.

Kaia

Something that interested me about these posts is the concept of a 'Photo Essay.' I love how it works for all ages. Children can get involved with it at a very basic level, but older students can utilized it as well. As an Secondary English Language Arts major I can see me being able to use this as a project idea in the classroom. It would put a lot of students at ease as far as not having to give an oral speech goes, but it would also force them to use knowledge over many different areas. Ultimately it would probably be a more difficult assignment than just an oral speech, but students would probably learn more from this since it is something they would enjoy doing.

Interesting Things of New Media Literacies

As I was researching this project, I stumbled upon a blog that they post. One of the more recent postings on it came from a conference someone attended this summer. While there a ninth grader gave a five minute presentation on how video games can correctly be integrated into the classroom. First of let me mention how impressed I was with the young girl's professionalism, but I also was impressed with how well thought out all her points were. For a student to truly learn, please don't make it obvious that the video game is a learning experience. It won't work. Students have to be thoroughly engaged to enjoy the game. It has to be a game they would want to play anyways. As she said, kids are surprisingly smart. They are more than capable of applying their video game knowledge to the classroom.If you would like to view her video CLICK HERE.

Themes of The New Media Literacies Project.

This list of words does not surprise me in the least. To be honest, I don't even find them original. The general concept of all of them could have been used/taught many years before the NML was even though of. They have all been taught within the classroom in some way, shape or form before new technologies started running rampart throughout the world. It's just that now students have new ways of being engaged in the classroom through technology so they way to teach these things has to change.

In the video clip judgment was basically defined as deciding whether or not a source found electronically is legitimate or not. I think this has always been an issue for students. Finding and deciding if a source is reliable has always been apart of the learning experience. Before computers came about students still had to read things and analyze them in order to decide if certain sources were beneficial to their purpose. For example, if a high school student was trying to find a book at the library on outer space he/she would have to take the call number into account. The book in the junior non fiction section will not be as useful to them as the ones in the adult non fiction section.

Overall the most important question for me is 'What will all these words mean to me as a teacher twenty years from now?'

Networking in the Classroom

I think the ideas of networking in the classroom is a very remarkable concept. Honestly, the idea of it now it intimidating for me so I couldn't imagine myself trying to learn in that environment in high school, much less middle school. It teaches students to be independent, and that is a task needed in order to succeed in college.

In the end where the teacher's role was mentioned, I enjoyed how it pointed out that teachers would still be needed even with networking starting to appear in the classroom. Students will still need guidance, and motivation with teachers being the driving force behind these things. Networking is a complicated process and only that will not come easy for a lot of students. To be honest, I think a lot of them will be too lazy to truly benefit from this. I think it will work in honors classes, but not non-honors classes. In both groups I feel like students will find this to be an extravagant work load, but the honors students will care about their grade in the end and suck it up anyways.

I'm not sure how I would be able to motivate my students to truly give this their all. If the students aren't motivated, I don't feel like networking would be of any benefit to them at all. Most students want to be spoon fed everything they need to know. They refuse to work in order to find the answers to things. This is a cycle that needs to be broken while they are young in order to get networking to work.

As I write this, I can feel my opinion starting to change. I said earlier I couldn't imaging using networking when I was in middle school, but that's just it. That would seem impossible in my experience. If students were forced to start utilizing networking at a younger age, maybe they wouldn't be quite so lazy and feel the need to be spoon fed their knowledge.

Tecnological Advances

I like the concept that knowledge "belongs to us as a culture." It's so true. There have been many times in the past where knowledge has been restricted from some people. Now it is virtually impossible to hide knowledge from someone. With sources being more and more accessible the only thing truly holding people back from gaining a wealth of information maybe the fact that they lack the capacity to learn.

Dr. Miller started in Part 1 discussing how gone are the old ways of the library and printing books, but I'm starting to think that library databases will be obsolete soon as well. Typically there are huge databases containing a lot of useful information for students and people seeking out detailed, legitimate information, but it has been withheld from them. Databases are usually only accessible to students if they belong to a library and know how to access them. Now things like iTunesU are popping up making knowledge easier and easier to access.

I wouldn't necessarily say I am ready for the multimedia classroom. Honestly, I feel rather technologically illiterate at times myself, but I am more than willing to accept the challenge. No one can be 100% tech literate. There is just way too much technology out there to be familiar with it all. I hope that my students will be more than willing to learn about technology and figure out how they can apply it to the classroom themselves. Even if I don't end up being the most tech-savvy teacher ever, I hope I can drive my students to want to learn and to be able to cross over their tech knowledge into the classroom.

Integrating iPods in Education

Wow! I had NEVER heard of this before. At first when I was reading up on Duke University's use of iPods I wasn't totally convinced on its value. Everything I found was about its initial integration into the university so I was unsure of how exactly they were being used to benefit students (http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/12/ipodupdate.html). However after researching some other sources on the idea I began to realize that iPods can be extremely beneficial if used correctly.

I personally am an English Language Arts major so when I read the article found at http://www.schoolcio.com/ShowArticle/1014 I began to realize how easy it would be for me to use right now and later on in when I'm teaching in a classroom. I am a Spanish minor so I can see how an iPod could benefit me by allowing me to listen and practice Spanish skill. Also, I can see how it could be beneficial to teaching for me because I could utilize audio books to help illustrate a point to my future students.

iTunes U

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I think that iTunes U could be a very beneficial teaching tool. It could also be a very useful tool for those who choose to use it. However, I'm not so sure that is will benefit people who are not directly connected to a university that is utilizing iTunesU. Most students that use iTunes only use it for recreational purposes. They use it to download music or movies. Most of them are aware of pocasts, but rarely look at them, and I did not know anyone who uses iTunesU for anything before this class.

I must point out though that I do not think that it is a waste of time. For those who do use it, I am more than positive it is an extremely useful resource, but I think it would be more beneficial in some elementary or secondary classrooms unless a college class is directly creating something for iTunesU. This is the sort of tool that students need to know how to use and apply at a young age in order to appreciate its full potential. After learned at a younger age, its benefits can be transferred to college students, but I think it's a hard thing to try and teach college students to utilize right now.

Dr. Alice Chrisite: Explorer of Technology in Education

After examining Dr. Christie's sight for a while I came across a study she did in 1994 to examine how students can learn literacy through technology. At first when I looked at this publication, I thought it was a bit out dated. Needless to say it still is in a way, but it was still interesting for something else. In 1994 technology hadn't been readily available for everyone. There was no such thing as a family computer in ever house hold with internet connect so to be considering using computers as a learning tool for students was probably a major step. It kind of made me vew her as an explorer into a new frontier on teaching.

Just by viewing the one slide show it apparant that the students really enjoyed using the computer. Half the battle in teaching is engaging students. Once this occurs it's usually a lot easier to start the learning process. I really admire the woman for taking chances and exploring new methods of engaging students that hadn't been explored much at the time. Most people gather ideas from others a reuse them. It's only the minority that is willing to branch out on their own to find new ways to engage students. Teachers need to be constantly finding new ways to capture their students. No two classes will ever be the same so every year projects, and teaching methods need to be changed for each group. Teachers can't get stuck in a rut. They must be willng change and expand year after year.

Simple Insights

Mr. McClung did a brilliant job of sharing his experience as a first year teacher. I loved how a lot of what he had to say was simple, obvious things that get overlooked in a lot of classrooms. Listening to students and and being able to tell if they are comprehending the lesson are two of the most important things to consider when teaching. They seem so obvious in fact I can see how they can be easily forgotten. Hopefully, I will not be one of the teachers who lets these little things slip by me.

Wikipedia

I have never been a big fan of Wikipedia. The only time I have ever found it useful is when I'm trying to recall who sang what song in last season's American Idol. Other than that sort of trivial thing, Wikipedia is anything but reliable. After reading about things that have been covered up by major corporations on Wikipedia, I'm not very surprised.

In general, I still don't think it's wrong to view a Wikipedia page while researching, but I definitely believe everything should be double checked. I would never put something I found on Wikipedia in a paper I write unless I found the same information from another resource. Even then I would cite the credible source not Wikipedia. Trusting Wikipedia to be a reliable source is not worth risking my grades on.

Practice

President Abraham Lincoln was a rather tall individual. This is his memorial.

Some of my Favorite Foods

More to Know

Well, after watching last years version of 'Did You Know,' I was extremely surprised about how quickly technology was taking over. Now that I've seen the new version, I didn't realize a lot of what they had to say, but it didn't surprise me to the extent the first version did.

One thing about this video is that it is motivational, yet saddening at the same time. It encourages me to keep up technologically, but I also hate that the old ways are dying out. I prefer reading the newspaper over online newspapers. Having a physical copy of the news is just something I prefer, unfortunately I'm in the minority for that. The only thing I would question from this video that talks about technological connectedness regards junk e-mails. I feel like a junk e-mail is just as easy to ignore as junk snail mail so the changes won't be very effective.

Leaving a Legacy Randy Pausch Style

After the initial introduction I never again thought about how this man had recently been diagnosed with a life threatening form of cancer. He was merely one of the best, most consuming motivational speakers I have ever heard. I loved listening to this man discuss his surprisingly interesting life and give me some amazing advice on how to pursue my own dreams. His advice could be used by anyone. Anyone could have found something inspirational from lecture. For me, some of his most applicable advice would have to be his teaching techniques.

The head fake. It has to be the simplest, yet most brilliant teaching concept ever. Make students learn, but don't tell them they're learning. No one really likes the word 'learn' so avoid it at all costs. Technology doesn't have to be the main factor it's just a matter of setting up a fun atmosphere that is actually a learning environment in disguise. For example, the best of the best history teachers do this. Instead of making students feel like they are at a lecture, a good history teacher will make his or her students feel like they are at story time.


There are also some teaching techniques I caught on from Randy that went unspoken. One for instance is to encourage students to leave a legacy. He did this not by telling them to chase their dreams, but by chasing his own. He was also a man who taught that it is possible for someone to accomplish every goal he sets in life and to be able to look back on life and be happy with it. With everything he did he showed that a life lesson could be taken from all of it. I feel like part of being an educator is to inspire students. To do so requires one to live an inspirational life, and that is definitely something that Randy Pausch accomplished.


Randy taught his students to be better than himself. When he gave his students the assignment to have the virtual reality fair it far exceeded his expectations. They did so well he didn't even know what else to teach them and had to trick them into doing better. Somehow it worked and they exceeded his expectations even more. He taught them to expect the absolute best out of themselves. It wasn't to push them, but to show them what they were naturally capable of. That is something everyone needs to learn and sometimes it take a teacher to do so.

Technological Illiteracy

Karl Fisch made an amazingly strong argument for encouraging teachers to become technologically literate. He compares being technologically incapable to being illiterate and it really struck a nerve to me as a reader. In a world where people are relying on computers more and more daily as a tool communication and accessing information, how can teachers willingly not keep up with the rest of society in their classrooms?

Advances are being made constantly and I wouldn't really be surprised if eventually students were being taught how to type in kindergarten instead of how to print letters. As teachers we must stay on top of the game and be more technologically aware than our students at all times. All throughout high school I constantly had teachers who were learning how to work a computer or even a DVD player from us students. When I become a teacher I want to be the one teaching my students things as basic as that not the other way around.

Insights by Kelly Hines

I completely agree with Ms. Hines's point in this article. Technology will change everyday but the ultimate test will be our ability to adapt. Will teachers be able to grab on and use new technology to develop the minds of their students? Ultimately technology will only take students so far. They will still need the guidance of teachers to help develop their minds and it is the job of the teacher to make sure that happens. It will require a lot of continuous learning, but that will only allow the teacher to do a better job for their students.

My favorite thing that Ms. Hines talks about in this blog is how teaching and learning go hand in hand. She said that if students aren't learning that the teacher isn't really teaching. She refers to this concept as 'smart teaching.' This concept is meant to acknowledge how teachers must take the time to discover new teaching methods to connect with their various students.

My College Experience

I think I missed the point of this video. Yes, I completely believe the statistics that this video showed, but I do not believe that the life of a student is as depressing as the video makes it out to be. It felt like the creators of this video were trying to show how hard the life of a student is, but I feel like there is still a piece of the puzzle I'm missing. Does the creator of this video have a plan on how to fix any of these issues we face today?

I don't feel like my life as a student is quite as sad as this video makes college life seem. A lot of the issues that were showcased seemed to be issues that could be changed for the better with little to no effort on the student's side. Yes, many professors don't know their student's name, but that doesn't mean they are fully to blame. I feel like there should have been a piece in this video that showed how many students actually interact with professors outside of class. For me there was an element of hope missing. To me there is always something prosperous to look forward to, but that was no where to be seen in this video.

Amazing Third Graders!

The children that create Eagles' Nest Radio absolutely amazed me. I had no idea that third graders could be so much tech savvy than I am. Going into this class I was only aware of what a podcast was. I could never have made one before and too see a group of children less than half my age making one just blows my mind. Never in a million years would I have been able to accomplish this when I was in the third grade. Learning how to write in cursive was what I looked forward to that year.

Not only did these children create a podcast, but they made a rather amazing one at that. It was absolutely captivating the whole time. The music playing in the background fit the theme so well, and I could really tell that they loved telling the stories about Caesar. They learned so much about the Roman Empire and I am very impressed by their abilities to bring history to life!

Improvements

I feel like last semester's videocast is a bit rehearsed and impersonal in the beginning. The speakers seemed to to have planned every word that they said ahead of time, and not everything came across as just natural conversation like it did with the podcasts I listened to with last weeks assignments. It was not until a little ways into the videocast that the speakers started to become more comfortable infront of the camera and that made listening more enjoyable.

For my podcast I would like to have a more interesting introduction. That is what get the audience interested and makes them want to continue listening. I feel like the material discussed needs to be something that captures the audience and makes them want to hear the discussion. That will make them feel like they are an active member in the conversation rather than a passive listener.

Mr. Needleman's "Video in the Classroom" Presentation

I've never thought of using video editing to help encourage students to read and write before, but now it seems like a brilliant idea. I completely agree with him comment on how the students who do not enjoy reading and writing need to be reached the most. Allowing students to utilize technology in order to gain an appreciation for reading and writing is definitely the way to go.

Podcasts

Sometimes it feels like technology is passing me by. I will have heard of pretty much every technological advancement, but sometimes it feels like it takes me a while to figure out how beneficial most of these things can actually be. After I finally jumped on the iPod bandwagon, I immediately figured out why iTunes was so useful. I especially liked it since I don't really like the idea of illegal downloading and iTunes was a source of downloading music legally and safely. However, I never quite understood the benefits of Podcasts until now.

There is so much information hidden within iTunes it astounds me. Podcasts not only provide information on technology and adancements in education, but they also provide information from the entertainment industry. Anyone and everyone would be able to find a Podcast that they would enjoy listening to or watching and more importantly it's free. I've come to realize that iTunes is not only a useful way to listen to music and put it on an iPod, but also to find information. Podcasts can be used as a good source for research in classes.

A cool thing about Podcasts is that they are easy to listen to. The people who make them love what they are talking about. It's photographers talking about photography and teacher talking about teachers. There aren't any lecturers. Only people talking about the things that they love. By having people talk about what they enjoy it makes listening to Podcasts enjoyable. Even if I happen to be listening to something I normally wouldn't, I still get something out of the Podcast because the person making it makes it interesting.

I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed the Podcasts is because it is so much like the radio. There is a snazzy introduction with fun music that really catches my attention. Then it just feels like I'm listening in on an interesting conversation like a morning radio show. I have always enjoyed listening to the radio as far as listening to music goes so it was an easy transition to listen to Podcasts.

Davis Connects Her Students to the World

Learning does not only come from books. It can come from experience and one's own hard work. Vicki Davis has done a wonderful job of harnessing this concept and applying it to the classroom. She teaches her students to access every available resource they can use and also allows room for them to teach her as well. Something else that is remarkable about her teaching techniques is that adjusts each year to her students and how they learn and uses their individuals interests. She does not expect everyone to all be the same every year and she adjusts to that.

What I really enjoyed about this video is that she uses technologies that allow her students to connect to the world while sitting in their own classroom. This is something I would love to experience in my own school education so I really enjoy seeing it be effective for other students. It allows them to learn form a whole new group of people they would not normally be exposed to. This exposure allows the students to get outside of the bubble of their home and learn more about new cultures which is an experience that cannot be taught merely through a book and lecture.

"Educated Out of Creativity"

Not everyone is cut out for the business world. Some are meant to entertain through forms of dance, music, and drama. A person does not have to be a CEO of a major company in order to be a multimillionaire. Just look at people Brad Pitt, Taylor, and Wade Robson. All of three of these people are known and make millions for their art form and millions more people appreciate them for it. So why is it that so many people can succeed in the artistic industry, yet society still crushes the desires of so many saying that they do not stand a chance at making a living without having the kind of intellect that can receive college degrees?

Sir Ken Robinson pointed out in this video that it takes more than just literacy to stimulate a child's mind. However, many educators and parents do not know how to nurture children that use the creative side of their brains as outlet. Instead they are told that there is something wrong with them for not having book smarts. A child who could have been the next top musician is torn down just to fit the mold that society had created about what it takes to be successful. Creativity can be used by many, but instead people are discouraged and are being "educated out of creativity."

Now that I Know Mr. Winkle

The rapid change in society and technology as shown in Did you Know 3.0 is amazing. To that people are preparing for jobs that do not even exist yet is amazing. It makes me wonder how as an educator I am supposed to prepare students for a future with such uncertainty. The good side of it is though that these changes are for the better. Youth are the main users of technology and technology is the driving force behind the creation of these new jobs. These two situations go hand in hand to allow technology to continue at its rapid pace.

Not only has technology changed quickly, but it has also caught on quickly as well. To think that it took 38 years for 50 million people to listen to the radio, but only 2 years for the same number of people to create a facebook account is astounding. To me it seems like people today have more means to stay up to date technologically, and more of an interest in doing so.

Mr. Winkle Wakes shows how technology today really has made the world unrecognizable compared to how it was a mere century ago. From increase of businesses to medical performances technology has allowed man to make some pretty large advances. However, the same cannot be said of the education system which seems to be grounded in its ways. Since youth today are the main users of new technologies it only makes since that schools would take advantage of this in order to encourage their students in order to make the learning experience better, but this is not being done.

This video was created to open up the eyes of teachers to how their methods of teaching might not be the best for their students. Instead, they might want to consider rearranging the leaning experience so that students can relate better. Lecturing can be monotonous even for the best of students, and most of them enjoy hands on interactions better. Overall the main focus is that schools are not keeping up technologically compared to the rest of the world, and that is detrimental to students.

Into the Life of Emily Carlson

First off, I am a Secondary English Education major here at South. I chose this because my ultimate goal is to get my masters in Teaching English as a Second Language, and this seemed like the most direct path to do so. For all my life I always wanted to go away to college, but my senior year in high school I went through some tough things and decided it was not a good time for me to leave home. I am really glad I made this decision because I absolutely love South Alabama.

Last semester by a fluke I decided to write my own name in for SGA senator and got three of my friends to do the same. Someone had told me that I would need 25 votes to win as a write in so I thought there was no way I would win. Apparently if there is an empty seat in a college, they take any write in they can get and I am now an SGA senator. So, if anyone wants any help getting something done around South just let me know and Iwill be glad to help.

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