Blog Post # 4

Langwitches

Podcasting is a brilliant way to engage children in the classroom. I was thoroughly impressed by the first graders that were Langwitches introduced. As I was listening to the first graders, I couldn't help but to smile. These children are engaging in a type of learning that I was never introduced to. What really impressed me was the way that Ms. Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano taught her second grade students how to learn Hebrew. The students recorded their own voices in Hebrew to tell the story of Purim and the teacher out the script out of order so that when the students went up to the smartboard they can put them in order. It's a way for the teacher to test their comprehension level of the language. I thought that this was just amazing. If I had this opportunity I would probably be fluent in Spanish by now.

I love the Flat Stanely podcast. It is a great way for younger students to learn about the world around them. The students recorded their voices to tell the short story about how Stanley became Flat Stanley and how he was mailed around the world because he could fit into an envelope. Next the students were flattened! They were so excited that they got the permission from their parents to be mailed too. These students were mailed to Tokyo, Antarctica and even to Alabama where she learned to say Roll Tide! In order for these students to do this project, they had to go home with the help of their parents and do a little research about the location on where they were being mailed to. This is a great for students to engage in critical thinking and to learn how to work with others.

There are many benefits to using podcasts in and out of the classroom. According to Joe Dale, the author of The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom, some of the benefits include that it is a form of learning students of today are familiar with and therefore makes it relevant to them, it promotes creativity and innovation, it can offer distance learning opportunities for absent students, and allows parents to see and hear what their child is doing at school. This is the kind of teaching and learning that I want to do in my future classroom. I love hands on learning. I also think that it is a great way for the parents to be involved in their child's learning and personal growth. I will definitely use podcasting as a learning tool in my future classroom.

Special Blog Post #1

Misinterpreted Data

Looking at data can be easily misinterpreted if you don't think about what it actually means. When I did the WolframAlpha search, I was really amazed by the results. I did three population comparisons between the United States and India, the United states and China, and for fun I compared China and India. The results showed that China has 1.35 billion people, India has 1.21 billion people and the United States, the lowest on the totem pole, has 309 million people. There is a dramatic difference between the United States and these two countries. It is safe to say that the United States is out numbered.

WolframAlpha

WolframAlpha is a search engine that helps you find facts on what you want to know about. To have fun, I first typed in the search engine "compare the Alabama Crimson Tide to the Auburn Tigers." Sadly they are still investigating this topic. So I searched something more realistic and I compared Facebook to Twitter. Facebook has 12 billion page views a day and Twitter has 690 page views a day. Facebook also has 630 million daily visitor where as Twitter has 120 million. Facebook site rank is 2nd where Twitter is only ranked 10th. I also searched "How far is the United States from Italy". The results showed that the distance between the center of the United States to the center of Italy is 5,343 miles, and in kilometers 8,599. It also showed the distance travel times. In an aircraft at 550 mph it would be 9 hours and 45 minutes. Sound would take 7 hours, light in fiber would take 40 milliseconds, and light in vacuum would take 29 milliseconds.

According to WolframAlpha, their "long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone." The creator Stephen Wolfram did just that and is continuing to maximize the users experience. This search engine is for the purpose of gaining knowledge and is easy for anyone, young and old, to use. This tool would be great for me and for any future or current educator to use in a classroom. Let's say that a student ask you a question that you don't know the answer to. For example:"Ms. Harris, when did Christopher Columbus sail the ocean blue?" "I don't know Tommy. Let's find out as a whole class." WolframAlpha makes it easy to find out. You type in the search engine the question and wala! "WolframAlpa says that Christopher Columbus reaches the new world on october 12, 1492." This tool is perfect for any classroom for students, and possibly teachers, who want to learn.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

It's mind boggling thing when you think about how many people are there using Facebook at that current time or how many people in the world are using some form of technology period. Gary Hayes Social Media Count makes that thought into a realization. This social media count shows how many people are using Social, Mobile, Games and Heritage. In one month about 61,005,848 blog post have been posted. It's crazy to think that I am one of those bloggers who posted in a month out of about 61,005,848 post. In one year Facebook has about over 1 trillion likes and comments. This count puts in perspective of how much the world is connected.

I knew the world was a vast place with billions of people in it. However, I never realized how closely connected we all are until I look at this count. Technology is vital to our survival as a whole. As a future educator, my perspective has changed on how we use technology and now I realize how important it is to stay on top of the technological trends. For my future students to be the best of the best, I have to be exceptional at providing my future students with the resources that they need to succeed. Being aware of the world around you is the key. Gary Hayes Social Media Count is a great tool to show how connected we are in the world and is a great reminder that what we do effects everyone.

Blog Post #3

Peer Editing

Peer editing can be either destructive or helpful to a students. If not done correctly, peer editing will not be effective and will do more harm than good. Throughout the years in middle and high school and carried on into my first year in college, I dreaded peer reviews. At the time, I thought there was no purpose of the task and just gave my peers the excuse to ridicule and to mock me. Let's face it; kids are ruthless. I went to school with a lot of Mean Margarets and Picky Pattys! As a result of my peer review experiences, I became inefficient in my criticism of my peer's papers. I was afraid to give any kind of criticism due to the fact that I was concerned with hurting his or her feelings.

I strongly believe that my experiences and opinions of peer reviews are due to the lack of proper instruction on how to edit effectively. The video What is Peer Editing? and the slideshow Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial gave me excellent tips on how to a qualitative peer review and how to edit effectively. I have learned that complements and staying positive is essential to a qualitative peer review. Complements builds up your peer's confidence and self esteem. I have also learned that giving suggestions in a positive way also helps because it doesn't make him or her feel incompetent. For example, when suggesting on word choice say "Hey, instead of using the word good use the word excellent. It gives the paper more personality." Being cruel and judgmental is not an effective way on getting your point across. Also being specific in your suggestions helps as well. Vague criticism is not helpful to your fellow peer. Other helpful tips on what not to do in a peer review according to the video Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes are don't rush through the peer review, don't change the subject, and don't be a Mean Margaret.

I strongly think that these videos and slideshow should be shown in classrooms all across the country. They get to the point on what not to do and clearly state on what you should do when it comes to critiquing someone's paper, blog, or even a comment on a social network. Peer reviewing is personal and it should always be done in a respectful manner.

Assistive Technologies

I have always wondered what it would be like to be deaf or blind. I have always thought that I would rather be deaf than blind any day. I would hate to not be able to see the world or where I am going or to be able to read a book. However, the advancement in science and technology has given the deaf and blind societies the ability to surpass these obstacles.

The Mountbatten brail writer, according to the video The Mountbatten, is an assistive technology that allows blind students to keep up in the classroom. The Mountbatten allows blind students to interact within a normal classroom setting. The advance technology takes a brail document and can convert it to print for teachers and students who do not know brail. This also allows the teacher to give feedback. This allows blind and seeing students and teachers to work together in group settings. I would use this technology to help students realize that not everyone is the same and that disabled people deserve the same amount respect as everybody else.It would also help the blind students feel part of a student community and bring normalcy to their lives.

Teaching Math to the Blind

One of the hardest subjects to master is math. It is ten times harder for someone who is blind. For blind students who want to go into engineering, mastering the math that is involved can be very difficult. In the video Teaching Math to the Blind, Professor Karshmer from the University of San Francisco introduces a machine that helps blind students to perform the simplest math problems to the most advance math problems. This technology is amazing. It consist of a grid and blocks with brail and the actual number on the block. A student scans a block and it talks to the student identifying what that block is. Then the student places the block in the grid and the grid tells the student what that block is relative to where it is in the grid. This allows the student to set up the problem correctly. This technology is incredible. I believe that technology for the impaired should be in every classroom. This really helps impaired students feel like they are part of the learning community.

iPad Usage For the Blind

One of the most amazing app features for the iPad is voice over. This allows visually impaired students to learn outside the classroom. One of the features that this includes is iBook. It's really easy for a visually impaired person to operate this system. All they have to do is run their fingers along the screen and when they find an app they want to open, all they have to do is double tap anywhere on the screen. The iBook is incredible. A blind student selects a book that they want to read and the system reads it aloud for them. This gives not only blind students but blind people all over the world there independence back. They no longer need the help from seeing people to do things they like to do. I hope to have this technology in my classroom one day. Not only for the blind but also to show my students what the world is capable of producing and what they could produce way beyond today's advancing technology.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

In the video Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts, you find students who are learning on there own and in groups about how to use the internet and other computer technologies through hands on assignments. In their groups, students are given an assignment to look up and to practice with and when they have done so they teach the rest of the class how to do it. An example of this was the Tereform group. What was so amazing to me is that Ms. Davis gave them an assignment on how to use the tereform when she didn't know how to do it herself. This is true learning. Getting the students involved in teaching their peers is not only effective but it teaches them to be responsible and to be critical thinkers.

While watching this really cool video, I was starting to notice that I was comparing Ms. Davis' classroom to EDM 310. We may not be learning how to tereform, but were learning to be critical thinkers. Were also learning to be digital citizens. I have learned more in this class so far than I have ever learned in a "burp back" classroom. The quality of learning that Ms. Davis' students are doing should be in classrooms across the world. I plan on doing this type of teaching in my future classroom.

Blog Post #2

Did You Know?

The video, Did You know? 3.0- A John Strange 2012 Version, was a real eye opener about the world and its connection and dependency for technology. The video describes the way people use technology and how often technology is used through gut wrenching numbers. It is unbelievable how much the world uses technology. For example, according to the video 1,398,148 searches are made on Google every minute. That is incredible. I can't remember the last time I actually used a real encyclopedia to conduct any form of research. It's evident that Google is essential for every day living. If you have a question all you have to do is type it into the search box and hit enter and at a split of a second you have a page with tons of links with the answer. It is an incredible tool. When was the last time you used a book source to answer a question? I personally can't answer that question because it has been that long. Also in the video, it states that the students that were in EDM310 sent about 108 text messages a day. Personally I know that I send about 200 messages a day. I like to keep connected with my friends and family. Another mind blowing fact that this video brought to my attention is that the top jobs in 10 years and the technology that will be used don't exist yet!

As a future educator I am worried that I won't be able to keep up with the advancing technology that my future students will use. Technology is a wonderful gift. However, I believe that technology is going to turn the world's population into electronic zombies. Even though connecting with the world will be made easier than what it is now, I believe that physical human interaction will decrease. Technology, I believe, will hinder social skills. Everyday I see a child holding a tablet of some sort and is glued to it. I work in a public setting and most of the children I interact with are shy and don't know how to approach another person. Even adults that I interact with lack the social skills necessary to be productive in society. I believe that this problem is due to cell phones and social networks such as facebook. I hardly ever see a person without a cell phone in his or her hand.

Even though I have pointed out the negatives of technology there are also plenty of positives as well. With the use of technology, connecting with people around the world is made easier. This helps society in a lot of ways. It allows students to connect with other students within the country or to a student in China. This allows a child to become aware of his or her position in the world. It allows a student to become culturally aware. That is main key for people to get along in the world. All in all, technology, whether if you like it or not, is the key for survival.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

The video Mr. Winkle Wakes brings up a point that is relative to the video "Did You Know?" that if schools don't advance in technology, students will be left in the dust compared to the rest of the world. Mr. Winkle wakes up after a 100 year sleep not recognizing anything that is going on within the world. The only recognizable thing was a school. The video points out that the school lacked technology and the students were using paper and regular books.

The video sarcastically makes fun of how the school never changes and that it will result in students lacking the skills to be efficient in society. In contrast to my argument for "Did You Know?", students will not be able to function in the outside world if schools don't incorporate technology within the curriculum. Teaching our youth to be electronic zombies will give them the necessary skills to get jobs in our advancing society.

Sir Ken Robinson

Creativity is important for a child's development throughout his or her life. Sir Ken Robinson stated that "If you are not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.". Students are constantly worried about being wrong for the constant worry that they will be labeled as "not smart" and are afraid to ask questions. Trial and error is the heart of growing as an individual. Creativity is what fuels our brain. Without it the world would be very systematic and black and white.

Schools have taken the arts out of schools and focus to much on math and language classes. Yes there are students who thrive from these courses and they could be our future brain surgeons. And that is wonderful! However, the artsy students who are seen as weird because they are more emotional and read more into the beauties of the world are left behind. Creativity needs to be in the school systems so students can be free with their imagination and show the world that there is still beauty in it.

Pinterest

I love Pinterest! I have been a pinterest user for a year now and it really does help jump start your brain juices. It also helps teachers to come up with some new fun methods to help their students to get more involved. I love world history and I found a cool way to help students to learn about other continents. The activity is called "Continent Buckets". For each bucket is a continent. Within the buckets are facts or object from the bucket. I added a little spin on it for older students. For whichever bucket they choose from they do a small presentation on that object or fact. It is a great way for getting students involved!

Project #2

Blog Post #1

About Me

My name is Jessica Charlene Harris. I am 21 years old and I was born on April 5, 1991. Before I came to live in Mobile, I lived in a small town outside of Birmingham called Fultondale for about 15 years. Prior to living there I have lived in other small towns such as Gardendale and Cleveland, Alabama. I moved to Mobile for school and to experience another environment outside of Birmingham that would be still familiar but different at the same time. I came to the University of South Alabama to gain more independence from my parents and to gain more responsibility for my own life.

Prior to moving to Mobile and attending USA, I attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham or UAB. At UAB I changed my major at least five times. I started out as a health management major and I was also pre-optometry. Health management, I decided, was not for me and changed my major to biology. Biology, it turned out, was not my favorite subject. Due to this revelation I changed my major to exercise science. I love to work out so I thought this would be the perfect fit and changed from pre-optometry to pre-physical therapy. I was then introduced to the world of anatomy. In my opinion anatomy is the most gruesome subject ever and decided to make another major change out of the science and medical field completely. I changed my major to advertising when I transferred to South Alabama. However, I still didn't feel satisfied. I felt like I was missing something important in my life. I sat down one night and wrote down all that I am interested in and what I would be happy doing the rest of my life. I came to the conclusion that I love history and I love helping people which are two things that I am very good at. Therefore, I changed my major to Secondary education with a concentration in social science.

Even though I value my independence from my family, they are a huge part of my life. I have a moderate size family with two parents and two older brothers. My parents, Dean and Deborah Harris, have been married for thirty-three years. My dad is a quiet man and always seems to be in deep thought. In contrast, my mom is very opinionated and is very temperamental. However, my parents manage to get along and own their own restaurant in Tarrant City, Alabama which is an industrial city within Birmingham. The restaurant's name is Bama Hot Dogs. The name choice came from my family's love of Alabama football. My brothers, Jeremy and Johnathan Harris, are thirteen and ten years older than me. My mom calls me "the bonus" of our family. My brothers are a huge part of my life and are my personal cheerleaders. They love to live vicariously through me and make sure I am doing the right thing and that I do not make the same mistakes as they did.

Through the influences of my brothers, I have grown to love sports. My passion is volleyball and tennis. Volleyball teaches important lessons such as team work and responsibility. Tennis teaches you how to be independent and to take accountability for your actions. These sports and their lessons inspire me even more to become a teacher and a coach. I want to teach and help kids learn these important and valuable lessons.

Additionally, I believe in hard work and that hard work is what gives you the best results. I am not one to give up. I work hard on every task that I am given and to the best of my ability.

My Classroom

When I was in school I hated it when my teachers would talk on and on and not really involve the student body in the discussion. The best way for me to learn was to do it hands on and to actually be involved. That is how I plan to teach my future students. I believed that the best way to learn and to understand a topic is to be involved at the task at hand.

I plan on teaching history in grades 6th and above. I prefer high school students because they can comprehend more and be on a more intellectual level. Students in these grades will be more able to use the technology that I want to incorporate in my teaching. I want them to be able to use power point and to be able to present main topics in efficient ways by using pictures and videos.

I plan to be a hands on teacher. I want my students to be efficient learners and to be rational thinkers. I am going to achieve this goal by getting my students involved in class debates and letting them share there opinions in well thought out processes.

My classroom will be fair and all my students will have an equal opportunity to express their ideas. I will encourage my students to work in groups to teach them the value of team work but also encourage them to take the time to embrace their own curiosity by doing independent research. Therefore, teaching them to be independent and to be more self sufficient.

Randy Paush on Time Management

The video is very true, and I can relate because I have serious problems with time management. I learned that "failing to plan is planning to fail" which I can relate to during my first year of college. I would put things off thinking that I had enough time to do my homework. I would frequently forget what I had to do. With out planning and making a "to do" list I was lost and my grades reflected that.

An interesting topic that he brought up were goals and why are they on your goal list. My goals are to become the best educator that I can be and to be successful. I learned that the best way to succeed at your goals is to break them down into small parts. This is true. Breaking things into smaller steps helps you stay on track and lessens your stress. I live the frog analogy and it sends a good message. If you have a lot of parts to you "to do" list, do the biggest step first so that when you get to the end it won't be as stressful and more successful.

Time Management Exercises

Writing out a schedule for myself would be the most beneficial. It's the most beneficial for me because it doesn't allow me to procrastinate much. It allows me to schedule my social life around my academic life. Another factor is that I have a hard time with saying no to my friends. With this schedule it doesn't leave me much time to say yes to my friends. It allows me to put my priorities first and to be rid of time wasters. My friends will understand because they might have the same problems.

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