Dear Fellow Classmates of T9!
I loved class and I hope that you did too. I also hope that you learned a thing or two. I'm glad I got to learn about you during our presentations and following you on Twitter. Hopefully we will all keep in touch and continue using our accounts!
If by any chance any of you actually read this, what was your favorite part of the class? I enjoyed learning about all the different ways I can use Google besides as a search engine. Sometimes I believe Google will probably take over the internet world. If that does happen, I'd be totally cool with that. Would you?
Au Revior!
Christina
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Final Post
We covered so much in class! Where do I begin? I guess I will start with the blogs I wrote in every week. I really liked doing that. I don't really know why, I guess I felt it was easier to access and I knew that I had to get it done by midnight Sunday! I loved doing the presentations because I felt like I had a personal relationship with most everyone in the classroom. Usually I only talk to my classmates that sit around me but things like Twitter, the blogs, and presentations allowed us to get to know each other.
Twitter was my favorite project because I got to teach it. For one day I felt extremely important and I was proud of myself that I got chosen to do that. I did try to take more pride in this class because I was so excited of being given the title of "master of all things twitter" but my life only got even more crazy than it already was, but I'm back! Twitter also allowed me to follow teachers all around the world. I think most of us are following Mrs. Anderson who is a teacher in Montana. She is a strong advocate of twitter for her 5th grade class.
I also enjoyed exploring all the things Google offers like Google Docs and Earth. I'm glad I know that Google offers just about everything you could possibly need in one website. Google Earth is like a of the future mapquest and Google Docs gives me a free power point, spreadsheet, and form section. How amazing is that? I say pretty darn! I downloaded Picasa to my computer because I like to play with my pictures. I'm happy about that because now I don't have to pay for that expensive paint!
I have always been an iTunes user, but it was only for music purposes. Now I download podcasts for education, french lessons, and book audios! I never realized how popular Mac and Apple was. I am a PC user so I guess that's all I hear about. This class opened my eyes to a whole new world and it kind of makes me want to go out and by an Apple laptop.
I am supossed to talk about Delicious but I don't think we covered this in class and I was there every single day. Lucky me though I checked it out on my own and signed up for an account to see what was it about. I'm glad I did because now I can see what good books are being read these days. I love to read so this is a website I will probably check into more over the summer when I have time to chill and read a good book!
Access is found all over in Mobile County Public schools. Unfortunely we did not get to visit any of the labs, but my best friend is in still in high school and she says that the labs at her school has improved since she was a freshman. Alex is a program that allows students with exceptional performances in school be subjected to AP and higher level courses. Also at this site there are lesson plans and ideas that teachers can use for their classroom. That will be very helpful to me because if I need an assignment I can go to the website and check it out. Also, if I find something I think is useful, I can share it on the website.
I learned more than I imagined during this course and I enjoyed every day! I made sure I did not miss because one class period miss would mean me missing out on some useful information I know that I needed to know. I thank you Dr. Strange for being an awesome teacher and always wanted to check out things when you didn't know. Because you're right, if you don't know, FIND OUT! :)
Twitter was my favorite project because I got to teach it. For one day I felt extremely important and I was proud of myself that I got chosen to do that. I did try to take more pride in this class because I was so excited of being given the title of "master of all things twitter" but my life only got even more crazy than it already was, but I'm back! Twitter also allowed me to follow teachers all around the world. I think most of us are following Mrs. Anderson who is a teacher in Montana. She is a strong advocate of twitter for her 5th grade class.
I also enjoyed exploring all the things Google offers like Google Docs and Earth. I'm glad I know that Google offers just about everything you could possibly need in one website. Google Earth is like a of the future mapquest and Google Docs gives me a free power point, spreadsheet, and form section. How amazing is that? I say pretty darn! I downloaded Picasa to my computer because I like to play with my pictures. I'm happy about that because now I don't have to pay for that expensive paint!
I have always been an iTunes user, but it was only for music purposes. Now I download podcasts for education, french lessons, and book audios! I never realized how popular Mac and Apple was. I am a PC user so I guess that's all I hear about. This class opened my eyes to a whole new world and it kind of makes me want to go out and by an Apple laptop.
I am supossed to talk about Delicious but I don't think we covered this in class and I was there every single day. Lucky me though I checked it out on my own and signed up for an account to see what was it about. I'm glad I did because now I can see what good books are being read these days. I love to read so this is a website I will probably check into more over the summer when I have time to chill and read a good book!
Access is found all over in Mobile County Public schools. Unfortunely we did not get to visit any of the labs, but my best friend is in still in high school and she says that the labs at her school has improved since she was a freshman. Alex is a program that allows students with exceptional performances in school be subjected to AP and higher level courses. Also at this site there are lesson plans and ideas that teachers can use for their classroom. That will be very helpful to me because if I need an assignment I can go to the website and check it out. Also, if I find something I think is useful, I can share it on the website.
I learned more than I imagined during this course and I enjoyed every day! I made sure I did not miss because one class period miss would mean me missing out on some useful information I know that I needed to know. I thank you Dr. Strange for being an awesome teacher and always wanted to check out things when you didn't know. Because you're right, if you don't know, FIND OUT! :)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
~I have to thank Dr. Strange for asking me to teach or tell the class about twitter, because I know that if he had not I would have never cared! ~
So what is twitter? In short, its 160 characters of what you are doing at that time. It is just like updating your status on myspace or facebook. At first, I thought this was stupid. I mean, that's all I can do? Even private messages are restricted (but you can use more characters!)! When I made my account, everything just seemed self explanatory. I did watch a few movies to see what they thought about twitter and maybe there was something I was missing. I figured out that twitter is whatever you want to make it.
The first important thing to have when you make an account are followers! Though you can follow anyone, when you update no one will see it unless they are following you. I do not have a lot of followers but I do have enough that they try to communicate with me. I check my twitter about 10 times a day and update when I feel like it which is usually like 5 or 6 times a day. I have been trying to promote twitter with my friends so we can all follow each other. But no one wants to get on this band wagon with me. I'm glad that everyone in my class has one because it allowed me to make friendships and see what was going on in their lives.
I try to respond to people every day too. For a quick minute I had a lot of people I was following that made stupid tweets or ALOT of tweets and I would miss more interesting tweets so I ended up having to delete them. I wish there was some sort of filter where I could organize all my followers into catergories so it would be easier to read!
Honestly, I think that there are only few benefical aspects of twitter I can use for my classroom. I came up with the brilliant idea that I was going to have a twitter account that students and teachers could check out where I would post useful links and helpful facts. You don't have to have an account to see my twitter page, but you do to respond. I would not require students to have an account. This is simply because of the always issue that they may not have internet access out of school. I'm now a forever twitter user and I will continue to try to think of way twitter can be useful to me as a teacher.
So what is twitter? In short, its 160 characters of what you are doing at that time. It is just like updating your status on myspace or facebook. At first, I thought this was stupid. I mean, that's all I can do? Even private messages are restricted (but you can use more characters!)! When I made my account, everything just seemed self explanatory. I did watch a few movies to see what they thought about twitter and maybe there was something I was missing. I figured out that twitter is whatever you want to make it.
The first important thing to have when you make an account are followers! Though you can follow anyone, when you update no one will see it unless they are following you. I do not have a lot of followers but I do have enough that they try to communicate with me. I check my twitter about 10 times a day and update when I feel like it which is usually like 5 or 6 times a day. I have been trying to promote twitter with my friends so we can all follow each other. But no one wants to get on this band wagon with me. I'm glad that everyone in my class has one because it allowed me to make friendships and see what was going on in their lives.
I try to respond to people every day too. For a quick minute I had a lot of people I was following that made stupid tweets or ALOT of tweets and I would miss more interesting tweets so I ended up having to delete them. I wish there was some sort of filter where I could organize all my followers into catergories so it would be easier to read!
Honestly, I think that there are only few benefical aspects of twitter I can use for my classroom. I came up with the brilliant idea that I was going to have a twitter account that students and teachers could check out where I would post useful links and helpful facts. You don't have to have an account to see my twitter page, but you do to respond. I would not require students to have an account. This is simply because of the always issue that they may not have internet access out of school. I'm now a forever twitter user and I will continue to try to think of way twitter can be useful to me as a teacher.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
EDM 310 Podcasts
Making podcasts in class was one of my favorite projects we have done in class. Even though we had to select from already given topics, the learning experience of how podcasts work was very interesting. First of all, it's really easy. Virtually anyone can figure out how to make one so this can be very beneficial for classrooms as a learning device. Even though we only made sound podcasts, I'm sure video podcasts are just as easy and effective.
The first podcast I listened to was my own group's podcast. We all sounded very nervous and was rushing through our words. We were though very clear but there were a lot of pauses. I'm sure they were due to our nervousness. I then went on to listen to Amber and Melonie's podcast on interviewing Dr. Strange. I loved their introduction they gave of Dr. Strange and then followed in with questions. Though some of the questions were quite lengthy so I kind of got lost on what the point of the question was. I also learned that the internet was invented in 1995.
Next I checked out another group (Nicholas, Gretta, and Sarah) who did the same topic my group did, technology in the classroom. They focused on tools that were used in their classes like clickers. We discussed more on internet and computer uses. I like how they asked each other questions. It seemed impromptu, which is always a good thing. I honestly enjoyed everything about their podcast. Lastly, I checked out Peyton, Kendra , Jessica White and Jessica Courville's podcast on pros and cons of facebook as a learning tool. Honestly, all the podcasts were almost a like. The girls organized their presentation by discussed the pros first then the cons. This would work out if they did not have so many pros and cons. I probably would have discussed a pro, a con, a pro, and so on and so on to engage and keep my listeners attention.
The first podcast I listened to was my own group's podcast. We all sounded very nervous and was rushing through our words. We were though very clear but there were a lot of pauses. I'm sure they were due to our nervousness. I then went on to listen to Amber and Melonie's podcast on interviewing Dr. Strange. I loved their introduction they gave of Dr. Strange and then followed in with questions. Though some of the questions were quite lengthy so I kind of got lost on what the point of the question was. I also learned that the internet was invented in 1995.
Next I checked out another group (Nicholas, Gretta, and Sarah) who did the same topic my group did, technology in the classroom. They focused on tools that were used in their classes like clickers. We discussed more on internet and computer uses. I like how they asked each other questions. It seemed impromptu, which is always a good thing. I honestly enjoyed everything about their podcast. Lastly, I checked out Peyton, Kendra , Jessica White and Jessica Courville's podcast on pros and cons of facebook as a learning tool. Honestly, all the podcasts were almost a like. The girls organized their presentation by discussed the pros first then the cons. This would work out if they did not have so many pros and cons. I probably would have discussed a pro, a con, a pro, and so on and so on to engage and keep my listeners attention.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
plusses and minuses of blogs
I read all of Carol's blog entries for this blog update. I found it very useful to complete our assignments by posting our thoughts in blogs. I admit, I have not explored everyone is our class' blog, but I have checked out a few of my friends. Carol and my blogs are almost a like because we talk about what we need to say and how we felt about it. Actually, I do not think I came across anyone's blog that did more than that!
A downside of using blogs is that if someone decides to follow you and you are not in the class, the blogs may be a bit confusing because that person would not know what subject you are talking about. Though some blogs you asked for us to include pictures and links, so this may be useful to whoever views the page.
I felt like using the blog kept me a little more organized. Instead of having to worry about turning papers in every week, I can just log on to here to complete my assignment. This will be very useful in the classroom because sometimes students forget, but here they can log on anytime and complete their assignments.
And of course, always the biggest issue on using blog in the classroom is the availability of internet access and a computer to do the assignments. Honestly though, I think that technology is being put in the classroom and being more available to students at school, so they at least have somewhere to go even if they do not have a computer at home.
I felt like having a blog introduced me to some of my classmates. I know that I probably would not have spoke to anyone if I did not have to. The assignments though like the slide show on about us and having an introduction entry for this blog got us to know a little bit about one another. Doing this inside of the classroom would be efficient because at least students would have at least one other student to communicate with if they are too afraid to ask you (or the teacher) they can ask their classmates.
A downside of using blogs is that if someone decides to follow you and you are not in the class, the blogs may be a bit confusing because that person would not know what subject you are talking about. Though some blogs you asked for us to include pictures and links, so this may be useful to whoever views the page.
I felt like using the blog kept me a little more organized. Instead of having to worry about turning papers in every week, I can just log on to here to complete my assignment. This will be very useful in the classroom because sometimes students forget, but here they can log on anytime and complete their assignments.
And of course, always the biggest issue on using blog in the classroom is the availability of internet access and a computer to do the assignments. Honestly though, I think that technology is being put in the classroom and being more available to students at school, so they at least have somewhere to go even if they do not have a computer at home.
I felt like having a blog introduced me to some of my classmates. I know that I probably would not have spoke to anyone if I did not have to. The assignments though like the slide show on about us and having an introduction entry for this blog got us to know a little bit about one another. Doing this inside of the classroom would be efficient because at least students would have at least one other student to communicate with if they are too afraid to ask you (or the teacher) they can ask their classmates.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Growth vs. Fixed
Carol Dweck is the author of the book "Mindset: The New Psychology Success" and she believes that students have a fixed mind set which means that they base their knowledge from what they already know and whatever intellegence they have at the time, that is what they are stuck with. They are concerned if they are going to look smart or dumb if they say something or try to complete tasks. But growth mind set students are the ones who are ready to learn and want to work out their brains. There are a set of 8 session workshops that teach students how to a growth mind set. At the workshop, they were taught how to have good study skills and apply tactics used outside of the classroom in the classroom.
Having a growth mind set is not just for grade school students, anyone can benefit from it. Growth mind set helps you grow and seek to be more successful in life. Having a fixed mind set only holds you back because one would believe they cannot grow because they will make mistakes. But mistakes are inetivable and you can learn from them.
I believe that there are a lot of students that have a fixed mind set because they are afraid to be smart because it's not the cool thing to be. Which at the time, we have to take into consideration that they are children and at their age they are concerened about petty things like that and not the education they should be absorbing. Fixed mind students may also be the ones who afraid they are not smart enough to participate or apply themselves. As a future teacher, we must find a way to show that learning is "cool" to change our fixed mind students into growth mind students
Having a growth mind set is not just for grade school students, anyone can benefit from it. Growth mind set helps you grow and seek to be more successful in life. Having a fixed mind set only holds you back because one would believe they cannot grow because they will make mistakes. But mistakes are inetivable and you can learn from them.
I believe that there are a lot of students that have a fixed mind set because they are afraid to be smart because it's not the cool thing to be. Which at the time, we have to take into consideration that they are children and at their age they are concerened about petty things like that and not the education they should be absorbing. Fixed mind students may also be the ones who afraid they are not smart enough to participate or apply themselves. As a future teacher, we must find a way to show that learning is "cool" to change our fixed mind students into growth mind students
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