My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

A breif note to all my classmates, I have enjoyed being in EDM 310 with you all. My group members from the pod casts it was great working with you both. I wish everyone a great summer. Hope to see you in the future! :)

EDM 310 Experience

At the beginning of this semester I felt taking a computer class was to easy, I done this so many times before. EDM 31o though has been different. I have never blogged before this class, I felt it was pointless. With this class I have found blogging to be useful to me as a future teacher. I will most definitely be able to use blogs in my classroom with students from posting important alerts to posting fun facts. Using Google Docs in our class was great. I had never heard of it before, but am glad we used it. Google Docs has word documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint's, and more I'm sure. Using these programs over the Internet was better then having to get them through Microsoft Word or other programs. I don't have these programs on my computer so using the Google Docs was helpful.
The PowerPoint we did in class from Goggle Docs was easy to use and access. The PowerPoint topic we were given was a good topic, just anything about our self. Presenting the PowerPoint to the class was nerve racking for me because in front of the class I get very nervous. I sped through my presentation, but I got it done. Spreadsheets are also available on Google Docs with all the necessary formulas and symbols. I haven't used spreadsheets on a daily basis so I really didn't know how to use it. Using spreadsheets was easier then I thought. With the right directions it was easy to use the formulas and come up with the correct answers. The easy part for me ends there, I didn't get the hang of it. The program is easy to use, I just didn't know the correct formulas to use.
One of the websites I am excited to have learned about is Delicious.com. Having a bookmark website for all of my lesson plan sites is great. Just saving them on one computer isn't helpful unless you are on that computer. So,yes, i will be using this in the future to organize my favorite websites.
Before this class I had not heard of ACCESS or ALEX. ACCESS is useful for high school students wanting to take Advanced Placement courses (AP). With the ACCESS lab all usual subjects are available. ALEX I would be more likely to use because I am majoring in Elementary Education. I would use this website for lesson plans.
EDM 310 has been a great class and has given me useful information for me as a future teacher. I have enjoyed learning about all of these websites and programs. The one thing I would have liked to learn more about is Picasa. We went over it once, but I enjoy learning about photography programs on the computer.

EDM 310 Podcasts

I listened to my own group's pod casts from Technology Talk: Conversations with Future Teachers . Our podcast topic was on "Burp Back Education". This is where teachers steadily spit out information and the students simply 'burp' it back. So our group broke down the meaning of 'burp back' and ways to improve or eliminate it in the classroom. For me I feel I kept it short when I could of elaborated more on the specific question. I actually had more information to share on ways to improve 'burp back' in the classroom, but with my nerves I totally forgot about them. My fellow group members I feel elaborated well on the topic, they both had enough information to share within the time frame. The only suggestion I have for them would be to seem more natural, not to read from the notes.
The other pod casts I listened to were also from our EDM 310 class. The most common thing amongst all the groups were being nervous, talking to fast, and needing to make more conversation. We all have nerves when doing something new, so before starting taking a deep breath and relaxing may be helpful. Talking to fast, I have this problem, is a common problem because of the nerves. To improve on this having bulleted notes to look over could be helpful. Making conversation is part of what we do in daily life, but when there is mic in front of you it doesn't seem as natural. So just relaxing as if we are in a natural conversation will help to get through the pod casts.
Overall, the pod casts for our class went pretty good. The ten minute time frame I felt was appropriate for our first pod casts. The next pod casts we do, if we do, we will be better prepared and more relaxed thanks to our first experience in EDM 310.

Twitter

Twitter.com is a social networking site like Myspace or Facebook. Twitter has one simple question "What are you doing?". The key to Twitter is that you must use 140 characters or less in your response, this keeps it short and simple. I would say like a text message, just for more people to read.
Some responses I read were "Eating lunch", "going to the movies", "walking the dogs". This is nice information for some i guess, but to me it doesnt seem very important. I honestly did not see any point in tweeting. I signed up for Twitter, but i did not do any tweeting. In my daily life I see no point, I have a Myspace and a Facebook, I prefer Myspace over both Facebook and Twitter.
Twitter useful in the class? Sure it can be. Its just a shrunk blog and blogs are great for the classroom. Teachers could send out important alerts for students to read, as well as their parents as you could in a blog. Posting due dates for students would be something useful for tweeting. Posting quick fun facts for students to look up and bring to class the next day may be fun for them.
As an individual I will not use Twitter. I see no point in posting what I am doing at the moment. As a teacher, however, I will incorporate Twitter as a fun activity for the students to do.

Blogging Experiences

I read over Marlena Marsh's blog from Mrs. Averitt's EDM class fall 2008. Reading over her experiences with blogging I would say I agree with some of her comments. Who knew you could use blogging in the classroom with students? We both found out that you could use blogs in the classroom. The technology learned in this class will be useful for the both of us. I will use blogging in my curriculum as she will too.
Blogging is a plus for students because it is another way for them to express themselves within the class. Doing this students can get help from other students in the class. You could also have students post their opinions about tests they have taken and some changes you may need to make. Also teachers can post assignments on the blog for students. Blogging and the internet itself is great for teachers because there is an endless file of lessons to use.
Amongst positives are negatives as well. Some negatives of blogging in the classroom are some students may not have access to do this. Students may get bored, as they do with other things. This could be avoided by adding fun things to the blogs and not just assignments and readings. The most negative is probably having young students on the internet, although we will provide a safe website you have to take precautions.
Overall technology in the classroom is a great idea. I will use the tools of technology learned in EDM 310 for my future classes. Blogging I feel will be the most useful in the classroom. I will use it to spread good news to the students and their parents.

International Teaching Blogs

Teaching frenzy is a blog posted by Hanna an ESL teacher in Portugal. An interesting post she has is where she makes a reading comprehension worksheet on a local teen star. These types of worksheets catch the eyes of students she is told. I think so to because it is something that students can relate to other than it just being school work. She also posts a worksheet for younger students that varies in activity from coloring to connecting dots. At her school they celebrate many holidays including father's day. The students usually do a 'best dad certificate' she sees where this may be a problem because some children have broken homes or their parent may have died recently. I understand that completely. She has many links on her blog.Click here to check out Hanna's blogs.

Alice Christie's Website

Dr. Alice Christie's website is a great resource for teachers and future teachers. Her site has information on workshops, educational technology, GPS and geocaching, web design, searching the web, photography, and searching the web. Specifically web design I felt was interesting because as a future teacher I plan on using technology in my classroom. To do this my web page should be easy to use for young students. I don't know much about how that part works so reading the information she has presented, has informed me on that part of the subject.

Dr. Christie has links to help you on different aspects of web design. Design principles sets you up on design tips, good designs and bad designs, resizing photos, adding text to photos, and using photos to create text. She also provides a toolkit, a way to capture images. Using tables, tables can be used to create charts, schedules, and positioning clip art. She has a rubric to look over as well as tips to get you started. She provides information about copyright issues. Click here for more information on Dr. Alice Christie.

My Presentation

Review of Elementary Teacher Blog by E- Teacher

This blog is posted by a teacher from Oregon. She posts a few of her lessons. These lessons are for third grade students. For a writing lesson she chose the topic "If I were president". She has one of her students papers on the blog. Another lesson she writes about is Reader's Theatre. I think this is interesting because it involves the students in reading and it gets them motivated. Click here to view blog.


Mrs. Luffy a fourth grade teacher at Central Elementary writes about a good program to integrate technology into the classroom. She has a post on a Thanksgiving script that motivated her to do a script with her students, there is a link to the video. Mrs. Luffy has her students do a podcast every week to recap what they have learned. She says the students really enjoy hearing there voices on the website. Click here to view blog.

Alt Title Text

Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS)

ACCESS is available for Alabama public high school students so they are able to engage in Advanced Placement (AP), elective, and other courses at their schools which are otherwise not available. The courses that are offered are the usual math, english, social studies, science, foreign language, health, and electives. Art is part of the advanced placement program along with english, science, math, social studies, and some electives.
Click herefor more information.

Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX)

The Alabama Learning exchange (ALEX) is a great website source for teachers to get information on all subjects. Categories available are courses of study, web links, lesson plans, personal workspace, professional learning, and distance learning. In the courses of study there are 12 subjects to choose from. The subjects available are English Language Arts, Mathematics, Arts Education, Science, Social Studies, Career/Technical Education, Driver and Traffic Safety Education, Health Education, Foreign Language, PE, Technology Education, and others as well. The lesson plans page has all the subjects available to search for lessons.
To access the personal workspace you must first set up an account. Then you are able to access your personal lesson plans and teacher web pages. The professional learning page is available to you for developmental oppurtunities and learning tools. Distance learning is available for students to access more courses that are not physically available to them at their school. This program is known as the Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS).
Click here for more information.

About Me

Hi my name is Christi Turner this is my third year in college, but my first year at South Alabama. I transferred to South from Faulkner State Community College, its a great school as well as South. I expected South to be more challenging with more homework and studying and I was right. It's all good though, because to become a teacher is what I want to do and to do that I need to work hard and get the job done.
Before school I played slow-pitch softball for about 10 years, did the tournaments and stuff. Since school and work I don't play as much as I used to, but I do play co-ed in the fall so that's good enough. Well I graduated from C.F. Vigor High School class of 2006. I loved it, it was fun, but glad it is over. I think I have an odd job. I work at a slaughter house/ meat packing company, its different, the people are great, and I can say it is fun sometimes. So that is a little about me.

Add a Picture

Here is my first picture on my new blog...YAY!!!

A Link to My University

Click here to go to The University of South Alabama web site.

My First Post

This is my first post, how exciting it is!!!! LOL