Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Randy Pausch lecture was actually more interesting then I thought it would be. I really enjoyed listening to him. He opened his message by telling the audience why he was giving his "last" lecture. Which is very important because if he didn't the audience would not have know why he titled it his last lecture. He told the audience what he was going to talking about and what he was not going to talk about. He did not want to go on and on about his condition.

He talked about the lessons he learned, what others taught him, his accomplishments, and enabling others. He discussed his experiences in college and in teaching. He explain the courses he taught in detail, painting a picture for the audience to see what his students could expect from his class and what he expected from his students. He enabled the dreams of others.

I really enjoyed the world video he showed the audience. It is really cool to know that as a student you are capable and able to do anything including video production. Although the virtual world was sort of scary, being that it was able to tell the students when it wanted to be turned off, it was pretty cool to see and I'm sure it was extremely cool to play.

I really like his methods of teaching. Its all about experience. He taught his students from his experiences. A few things he said that stuck out to me as a teacher are help others, enable the dreams of others, you can't go far without any help from others, brick walls are there for a reason: to show how bad you want something; and lastly, the best way to teach someone something is to make them think they are learning something else.

My Presentation

Best? Posts of 2007 - July

I readed the best post of 2007, which was published in July. It is titled NECC Reflection #1: Where were the students? In this post Karl talked about a trip to a NECC conference in which he didn't see many students. He notes that he knew students were there and that he just didn't see any. He also states how he would have loved to hear the students opinions on some of the topics. I agree this is good because how could a person know what someone else's wants with out asking the source.

Since he wasn't able to hear the desires of other students, he plans to take a few students along with him and others to the next NECC conference. This will eliminate the issue of not knowing what the students want. The students will also be able to sit in and listen to what the teachers planned to teach them and the different ways. I agree that this is a wonderful idea and I like what Karl is doing.

Peers' Podcasts

First, I will like to say that I really enjoyed listening to the podcasts of my peers. They showed me what to do and what not to do. The first podcast I listened to was titled Lessons from Life: The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch by Kele Volz and Crystal Powell. By listening to their podcast I could tell the young ladies had a lot of valuable information they want to speak about. They did their research, which is good. But there are some things I felt they could have done better on and some things I will try not to do when I do my podcast. One of the students sounded like she was reading the material directly off the page. I feel like she need to practice what she planned to say before they started to record. I could here pages flipping so I will suggest to use flashcards or have everything laid out in order before starting. They could have sound a little more excited and confident. They should make the listener want to listen to the rest of the message. They should have greeted their listeners and introduced themselves. And maybe they should or could have had some water near by just in case their mouths became dry and maybe have more than 2 speakers with so much material.

The second podcast I listen to was titled Possibilities for Using Facebook in an Educational Setting by Allison Midgette and Shaundretta Bethel. I really enjoyed listening to their podcast. It was great! I like how they introduced themselves even though Dr. Strange introduced them as well. I like how they defined facebook before starting the message, they sounded excited and knew what they were going to say. They even related the material to the listener. If you are not a education major, I believe you could still gain valuable information form this podcast. I founded out a lot of information by listening to this podcast.

When I do my podcast with my classmates, I will invite them to listen to both podcasts if they haven't done so already. We can learn something from both podcasts.

Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

Karl Fisch, a teacher and technology education specialist at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colorado, won an award form EduBlog Awards for his blog post "Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?" It was nominated as "The Most Influential Post of 2007". Fisch said he didn't expected to win a thing, not even did he expect to be nominated. He was actually responding to a post written by Terry Freedman. Freedman wrote a post about 'is it acceptable for a teacher to be technology illiterate?' And Freedman also proposed a set standards for teachers.

I really enjoyed reading Fisch's post. It was very enlightening to me. I totally agree with Fisch. I agree that teachers should and need to be very familiar with today's technology and so the technology that is to come, because there will be more, better, and faster technology. If teachers aren't educated upon technology, I don't believe teachers(we) will not be able to grasp the attention of most students, let alone teach them a lesson. Teachers have to be able to win students over form video games, ipods, mp3 players, myspace, and there are so many others that I could name but they will probably take up my entire blog. As teachers, we have to be knowledgeable about the latest technology available and we desire to educate our students about the technology and the different ways to use them.

Podcasts Part 2

In addition to the other podcasts, I went back to listen to some more podcasts. One was Keep It Real. They're topic was "What if you ask the students what they think?" TTT125 - 10.15.08 Teachers Teaching Teachers by Paul Allison, Susan Ettenheim, and Thomas (Teb) Locke. I did enjoy this podcast because it had students actually speaking about a topic. They were actually discussing podcasts. The other podcast I listen to was 107.9-FM WWPH in Princeton Junction. This is a student ran radio station. The title of the podcast I listen to by 107.9 was "The Great 108 Morning Roundup". Within this podcast, the students reported the news, recent sports events, weather, and also did commercials. And the last one I listened to was Aesop's Fables Podcast by LearnoutLoud.com. I listened to "The Swan and the Goose" and "The Boy Hunting Locust". This podcast consist of someone reading stories.

Podcasts

Although, I had a lot of problems with learning how to find the podcasts, I still managed to listen to a few. The ones I was able to listen to were SMARTBoard Lessons, KidCast, and MacBreak Weekly. They were all pretty interesting but I have my favorite out of the three and my reasons. I will describe the few I was able to listen to in the following paragraphs.

First, the SMARTBoard Lessons' podcast was interesting. I listened to episode 150: Links You Can Use:K-12 Finally the Future. The speakers talked about helpful links teachers may want to use. They also talked about the top five ways to misuse your smartboard. They identified that they were not going to focus on wrongful things but on helpful tips. Even though, it was directed at the ways you may misuse your smartboard, they had positive things to say and said things positive.

Second, I listen to the KidCast's podcast. I listen to the one titled "The Medium is Not the Message". I have to say this one was my favorite out of the three. The author was Dan Schmit. I loved his message, it was very helpful to me. Being a student that plans to do a podcast in the future, he really gave some good advice. He discussed how students are doing podcasts just to do a podcast and not delivering the message through the podcast correctly. Basically, I feel like he is saying, instead of using the podcast as a way of communication and delivering a message, students are just recording their voices. By listening to his message, I have a different understanding upon the way I am and will view the assignment when we do our podcasts. I will deliver the message and use the podcast as "an extended idea of communication" (Dan Schmit), instead of just recording my voice.

Lastly, I listen to the MacBreak Weekly's podcast titled la la leo. I really did not enjoy this one at all. It sounded more like a radio station, which they are all similar to. Upon listening to these podcasts, I definitely plan to listen to more and I am excited about recording podcasts in class.

International Classroom Blog #2

For my 2nd international classroom blog, I have the honor of describing Ms. Thomas's classroom blog from Meadowbank School Room 23 in Auckland, New Zealand. The students in her class are ages 6-7. On their blog she has assignments the students have worked on such as making a planet explorer. A planet explorer is how the students show that they are able to identify the planets. She also uses this blog as a way for her students to place posts up to tell their parents, family members, and others (like you and i) about their class assignments for that day and/or week. I really like how she uitilized the blog to teach her students how to put posts on an internet's blog site. To check their blog out for yourself just visit meadowbankreporters.blogspot.com.

International Classroom Blog #1

For my international classroom blog post, I found Ms. Rachel Boyd's class blog. The class is from Nelson Central School in New Zealand, Room 9. I have to say this is my favorite classroom blog by far. I love the way she organized the blog with the different tabs and colors. She has a photo album on the blog so anyone can check out photos of her students. Also on the blog is something that really impressed me. The students are doing podcasts(i believe)! They're doing podcasts about Lorax. They also have a little video of pictures that goes along with the podcast. To check on this classroom's blog visit the link http://room9nelsoncentral.blogspot.com/.

Mrs. Lowe's Class Blog

For my 2nd K-12 Classroom Blog that is being taking place in the United States, I chose Mrs. Lowe's Class out of Missouri.On the Classroom's website(http://schoolweb.missouri.edu/poplarbluff.k12.mo.us/lowe/)there is a link to the blog(http://plowe.edublogs.org/), which is titled The Lowe Down. Mrs. Lowe uses the blog to communicate with her student's parents and other classroom teachers. She has posts about what she will use to teach the students and ways she will help them learn through practice. She has links that parents or teachers may visit to help their children study. The links maybe to handouts, games, etc. She also has links that will take you back to the classroom's blog and to podcasts. Something very interesting about this blog was that Mrs. Lowe's recorded her students doing an activity and you can go on the website and listen to it. It's titled "Sweet Sounds of Learning". I enjoyed checking out Mrs. Lowe's classroom blog.

Mr. Langhorst 8th Grade Classroom Blog

This is a picture that I found on the classroom's blog spot. The students are watching President Obama's Inauguration.

















This is a picture I found on the class's website of the students in class.

Hi, the first K-12 Classroom Blog I found was Mr. Langhorst's 8th Grade American History Class, which is a class that is taught at South Valley Junior High in Liberty, Missouri. The link to the classroom's website is http://www.liberty.k12.mo.us/~elanghorst/blog. On the website there is a link(http://www.speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/) which will send you to the classroom's blog. On the classroom's website, Mr. Langhorst has laid out a very resourceful page for students and parents. There are different topics/tabs such as: Course Description, which describes the course; Student Resource Page, where the students may find classmates' email addresses; Parent Resource Page, which has the same tabs as the homepage but in detail for parents; Teacher Resource Page, which teachers may find Mr. Langhorst's lesson plans and the type of materials he used with links to each; Contact Mr. Langhorst, which has his contact information; About Mr. Langhorst, which tells about his life; This Week In Class, this tab tells the student and/or parents what their child may have missed while out of class that particular week(s); Units of Study, describes the units the students will learn in class and activities for each; Student Project Showcase, has links that will direct you to the blog spot for student projects; Weekly Parent Newsletter, shows the newsletter the school sends out to parents each week which you may download; Class Pictures and Video, has class pictures that may have been taken in class or while on field trips and video which have been taped in or outside of class; South Valley Jr High Page, will direct you to the school's website; Mr. Langhorst's Podcast/Blog, will direct you to Mr. Langhorst's blog and podcast; and lastly Cool Links and Sites, which students may check out for extra study methods. On the Blog spot there are mostly podcasts and videos from class. There are also links for students to check out about American History.

The Fisch Bowl 2007

My reaction to the Fisch Bowl Movie, which you can watch at http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/06/did-you-know-20.html, was that I was very interested in seeing what was going to be in the rest of the movie after seeing some of the facts and statistics it showed. The movie started with an interesting fact about how many babies are born in 8 seconds, 34 babies, which I though would be a much higher number. It also stated that there were 1.3 million 2006 graduates in the U.S., which I am proud to say I was apart of. But very unaware of, I did expect India to have more graduates than the U.S. at 3.1 million. This is very exciting to know and China had 3.3 million. The video stated the 100% of India's 2006 college graduates spoke English and in 10 years China will be the number one English speaking country. It said that many of the majors offered today did not exist10 years ago such as: New Media, Organic Agriculture, e-business, Nanotechnology, and Homeland Security. It gave statistics such as: today's 21 year olds have watched 20,000 hours of television, played 10,000 hours of video games, talked 10,000 hours on the phone, and have sented and/or received 250,000 emails or IMs. And I can back this up because I send and receive a lot of emails and IMs. :-) All of these were pretty interesting facts the video mention but this was not all. It went on to inform us about how future computers will have more knowledge than the human brain and some will exceed the computer capabilities of the human race in 2049! It ends with letting us know that we should prepare our students for jobs that do not exist so they will be capable of fixing the problems that do not exist!

The ACCESS Program

The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS) Program is a Distance Learning program for students. It provides opportunities and options for Alabama public high school students to engage in Advanced Placement (AP), elective, and other courses to which they may not otherwise have access. The students are allowed to take Advanced Placement courses during regular school hours through a web-based program, one-on-one lectures, and recently added, the students are now able learn through interactive video conference with their teachers.
By visiting http://accessdl.state.al.us/, one could learn more about ACCESS and how it can accommodate you, your child, and/or student(s). The website has different tabs that you can go under such as About ACCESS, Courses, Students, Educators, Parents, Contact Us, Help, and Resources. Under About ACCESS, it describes the ACCESS program; under the Courses tab, it identifies the courses that are available through ACCESS; in the Students tab, it tells the students what type of activities and devices they should look forward to doing and using, it also shows the students were classes will be held; under the Educators tab, teachers who are interested in teaching in the Distance Learning program may see what jobs are available; under the Parents tab, it describes ACCESS for the parents, lets them know what their child will be learning, and where the classes will be held and where they are offered; under the Contact Us tab there is information such as telephone and email addresses which one can use to contact someone who works for ACCESS; the Help tab has frequently asked questions; and the Resources tab identifies the type of exams and tests the students will be taking. One can also take a look at a powerpoint on ACCESS at: http://accessdl.state.al.us/showaccess.php?Ink=aboutaccess. The powerpoint gives good information on ACCESS as well but in a simpliest form.
The ACCESS program will be usefull to me because I am able to inform my future students and their parents about the program, for those students who want to take Advanceplacement Classes. It will also be usefull to me if I ever decide to teach a Distance Learning class.

Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX)

The Alabama Learning Exchange, ALEX, is the Alabama Department of Education’s interactive Web portal. According to Shannon Parks’ article titled Alabama Learning Exchange: ALEX Web Portal, ALEX receives over 31,000 unique visitors per month. She also states that ALEX won a 2007 “Best of the Web” Award from the Center for Digital Education and Government, hosting, through the Alabama Supercomputer Authority, a rich assortment of interactive and resources linked to the searchable Alabama Courses of Study. Most of these activities are supplied by the Verizon Foundation’s, Thinkfinity.org, with over 2,000 lesson plans supplied by Alabama teachers. The resources are designed to engage students and teachers in 21st century learning, and expand new opportunities. Last year a training program was offered and available in every district to help teachers learn to use ALEX and Thinkfinity.org in their area of expertise. Parents are also able to help their child meet school expectations at home by using ALEX (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org).
If one visits ALEX’s home site, http://alex.state.al.us, he or she will see that it’s full of life and color. It has different tabs on which one can choice that’s best fit for them, such as Courses of Study, Web Links, Lesson Plans, Search, Personal Workplace, Professional Learning, Distance Learning, and Help. In the Courses of Study tab it gives a description of what every grade level would or should be learning under each subject area. Under the Web Links tab there are links for teachers, administrators, and students. In the Lessons Plans tab a teacher can create a lesson plan and a parent can take a look at a teacher’s lesson plan. Under the Workplace tab a teacher may login to enter their workplace, which may contain any and all work such as lesson plans the teacher may have created using ALEX. The Professional Learning tab helps a person keep up with the latest news and find learning tools among other things. In the Distance Learning tab it will provide a person with access to the Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS) program. ACCESS gives students Advance Placement opportunities that they may not usually have. The students attend web-based courses by using two-way video and audio devices. Under the Search tab one may search through the above tabs for assistance and in the Help tab there are frequently asked questions.
ALEX will be a good use to me when I become a teacher because I will not only be able to use it to create lesson plans and such but I will also be able to inform my students and parents about ALEX. Therefore, parents will know exactly what their student(s) is learning and will also be able to assist them with such.

Who Am I?

Hi, my fellow classmates! My name is Angel Jackson. I am a rising Junior at the University of South Alabama, majoring in Elementary Education. I chose this field not only because I love kids but also because this is my calling. I love to have fun with children by playing games and teaching lessons. I enjoy incorporating a little fun into everything. My roommates always tell me "Your kids are going to love you because you're so fun." Currently I work at the Exploreum and for the University in the Communication Department. I have been working at the Exploreum for 3 years now. I enjoy working there because I teach the camps that it has open for kids during summer, spring, and winter breaks. While working in the Communication Department it helps me develop listening and communicating skills, which I will definitely need while teaching. I am so interested in how people learn so I'm planning to take up Psychology or Counseling after I finish my Education degree in 2010. Well...that's enough information about me. I look forward to learning about you all this semester.

WELCOME

Hi, readers and welcome to my blog, I hope you have a great time reading my blogs this semester(which I'm sure I'll have a wonderful time reading yours as well) and I will like to thank you in advance for being a reader.