Last minute words!!

Thank you Ms. Averitt for such a great semester. I learned a lot of new things in your class and I will definetly be using them when I become a teacher.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday!!!

Blog Experiences

I took a look at Marlena Marsh's blog posts just because we have become really good friends throughout the semester and we had some of the same experiences blogging. First of all, through conversation we both have had we had found out that this was both of ours first time blogging and we had no idea what a blog was before we started this course. Secondly, we both learned about some new technology that will help us in the long run in our classrooms when we start teaching. Marlena and I both talked about how great this new technology is and the different softwares that are out are going to benefit us when we become teachers.

I really feel that blogs are going to be a great aspect for me when I become a teacher. I feel that there are pluses in using blogging in the classroom it will be able to keep the parents of my students and my students up to date to stuff we are doing and stuff that is going on in the classroom. It will also help them keep their children in line with homework and upcoming events/projects. I feel that blogs are going to great in the way that the parents wont have to dig through their child's backpack when they come home and hoping that they brought their homework home with them they will just be able to log onto the Internet and go to my website and find everything on it.

There are also going to be some minuses about blogging and the technology in the classroom. Some the concerns that I have for blogging is not all the families are going to have the Internet. So they will not be able to benefit from this technology. Also I have the feeling that since the students know that the information for the days lesson will be posted on the Internet they many often skip class more often.

Overall, I am very excited to be using blogging and the future technology in my classroom. I will take what I have learned from this course and utilize it in my classroom so my students will be able to benefit from it and learn different things.

Electronic Interaction

For my Electronic Interaction I contacted via email one of my old High school teachers from Mesa, Az. He teaches a Drivers Education class and is also the Varsity Girls Softball Coach at Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Az.

Here is our conversation via email:

Hey Coach Ham,
I have an assignment due in one my classes
that asks me to contact a teacher from a different state and carry on
a discussion/conversation about some aspect of technology and
education.

Here are some of the question I wil be asking you to
answer:
1. How is technology changing education now-a-days?

Technology is making it easier for teachers to make lessons more
relevant to students' every day lives.

2. Do you use technology in your classroom? If so, how?

Yes, I use technology on a daily basis. Sometimes I use power point
presentations with a proxima, dvd, videos, a driving simulation
program, etc.

3. Is there any technology that you wish you had in your classroom? If
so, what would it be?

Absolutely, a smart board would be great!

Thanks Coach Ham, If you could try and get this back to me before
Thursday December, 4th

Thanks again,
Kelsey Volz

Coach Ham's email back to me:
Glad to hear you are doing well. Be sure to come and see me when you are
in town.

Coach

My email back to Coach Ham:

Thank you very much Coach I really appreciate you helping me out. Good luck to you in the future and trying to get some more technology to try out. Soon every classroom will have all the technology any teacher could ask for!!!

Thanks again,
Kelsey Volz

What I learned!!!

I have found this class very helpful and informational. I have enjoyed every minute of it and learning about the different types of technology that can be used in a classroom today. Half of the things we had to do for this class I had no idea what they were or how they worked such as: podcasting, blogging, and the different technologies that are available for blind people. I never knew that I could use blogs in my classroom. I will be using blogging in my classroom since it is an easy way to keep in touch with students for assignments and just to let them know upcoming events and also to keep in touch with their parents and to inform them of what is going on. I had no idea before this class what podcasting was. I have learned a lot about it and it will be a helpful tool to use in my classroom for lectures so if students are not able to come to class they have some where to look and listen to the lecture of that day. I am hoping to be able to use some or even all of these technologies in my future classroom so my students have every opportunity to be successful in their educational quest. I really enjoyed this semester in this class and learning all the different technologies and how they work. There were a few flaws but nothing is ever going to be perfect. There are some suggestions I would like to let others do in the future for this class. First thing is for the podcasting presentation you need to practice a lot before the day of the presentation and it is not as bad as you think it will be don’t be nervous giving your presentation your pretty much talking to a microphone. Haha!! Second is for the ACCESS Lab assignment try and go as a class and not just a couple students going every other week. This will help the teacher be more consistent with what they are telling us.

This was a great semester!! Thank you Mrs. Averitt. I enjoyed having you as my teacher.

ACCESS Lab trip to MGM!!!

On November 21, 2008 Marlena Marsh, Kimberly Pierce and Myself went and visited Mary G. Montgomery High Schools ACCESS Lab in Semmes, AL. We interviewed Mr. Rose who is one of the Psychology teachers and the Director for the ACCESS Lab at MGM. Mr. Rose was very informative and gave some wonderful information about the ACCESS Lab and how it works and how it will affect schools in the future.

First, he started off telling us about the equipment that is required for the ACCESS Lab. The Kodak is the hub that plugs into a live internet connection that connects all the other schools in the area that have ACCESS. The Kodak is a touch screen device that sets and controls everything in the classroom. It allows the teacher to have control over the class and if the teacher were broadcasting a class then it would broadcast in different classes. IT can also call different schools and project to them called video conference. There is no need for a use of a microphone the teacher doesn’t need to have to raise their voice. The Elmo is another piece of equipment that Mr. Rose explained to us and it is document reader. By using, the Elmo it lets teachers work out problems and it is projected onto the T.V’s that in the classroom so the students can see what the teacher is doing and explaining to them.

Mr. Rose also talked with us about two different types of classes that are available. One is the web base class which is through ACCESS. It allows students to go online and login through ACCESS and do their work. It is equivalent to an online course. The second on is the IBC. This is when two different classes are being taught but by one teacher.

The last thing that Mr. Rose informed us about was the helpful internet sites. The first one he talked to us about was Kompozer. He told us that this was probably the best one to use and it was a free HTML. The second one was FTP Surfer which is also a free site. The last one was the most recent it is a new tutorial called “Hot Potatoes”. He suggested if he use any of these internet sites to use this one.

He also told us that there were 120 teachers at the schools and maybe five know about the technology of ACCESS. Mr. Rose has been teaching for 25 years and this is his second year doing ACCESS and he sounded to be very informative and that he wants to try and get every teacher using this piece of technology.

Duke University-The Center for Documentary Studies

I watched two podcasts which were “The South In Black and White” and also the film “Broken.” I felt that these two podcasts were very educational but both in different ways.

The first podcast I watched was “The South in Black and White” this was a very interesting podcast since in one of my classes I am taking we have been talking a lot about this kind of stuff. This podcast discussed how the history of racism is incorporated into literature and other arts at Hayti Heritage Center. The class is going to be discussing different controversial topics and how to deal with race these in today’s society. They talk about different goals that will help improve the racial issues. Each student has to share what their point of view is and how it got them where they are today. During this podcast I saw that the Duke Lacrosse team incident was mentioned many times and it happened to be viewed as an opportunity to start the discussions about race and how to educate people.

The second podcast I watched was “Broken” which was a HIV educational video from South Africa. This one was a little more disturbing to me then I expected. This podcast is about a girl who gets raped by her father and chastised by her mother. She has no way around this which is very sad. She can not talk to her parents about what “another parent” does because then she gets blamed for lying and has to deal with the pain and torture she goes through. The purpose of this video is to inform the public eye about the abuse that many children suffer and go through. This was a hard video for me to sit and watch it was very sad to see what this girl was going through.

Our very own podcast!!

First off I would like to say that I thought everyone did a great job doing the podcast especially since it was a first for many of us. There will always be improvement no matter what. I could not listen to my podcast since it was has not been downloaded to the internet yet. But I do remember a few things that I could have fixed for my self; first of all I was really nervous for a reason I am not sure, and secondly I had a few mess ups that I could have fixed by talking slower and gathering more thoughts before I spoke. I thought Crystal Powell’s and my podcast should have been more conversational and not just a bunch of thoughts from one person.

The first podcast that I watched was Susan Smith, Bridget Thompson-Hall and Angela Minish discussing ALEX and ACCESS, two new programs of the Alabama Department of Education. I felt that this was a very well in-depth podcast but I feel that it could have been more conversational which would have made it more interesting to listen to. There were a few bumps in the road but they are easy ones to fix for the next time. Great Job Ladies!!

The second podcast I listened to was Rachael Beaty, Keller Weathers, and Joye Wiggins discussing some of the blogs they have found being used in schools in the United States. They provide details about how the blogs are used and how they might be helpful to other teachers using, or planning to use blogs, in their classrooms. This was the first podcast of the night and I felt they started us of to a very good start. In this podcast I liked the conversational style I just think they should have used it a lot more. I also think the “um’s” need to try and be cut out. Maybe instead of saying “um”, pause for a second for regrouping your thought. This was a great podcast nice job ladies!!

The last podcast I listened to was Ashley Corley, Brooke Busby and Kimberly Pierce discussing their experiences in blogging and share their ideas on how blogs can be used in the classroom. Again I feel that these ladies could have had a more conversational style instead of just reading straight from what they had written and read off the paper. That being said great job!!

Last but not least I would like to let everyone know that we all did an awesome job and there will always be room for improvement. Keep up the great work and good luck to you all in the future.