Virtual Tour using Google Earth

Google Presentation on PLNs

This is a presentation I did on how to go about setting up and making use of a PLN or a Personal Learning Network.

Google Docs Survey Results

These are the results from my class survey on Alice in Wonderland. I created the survey using Google docs.
Click Here

Podcast:: Did You Know 3.0

This is the podcast I did with my group in EDM 310, We were discussing the video Did You Know 3.0. Click Here to listen


EDM 310's podcast site "Its time for technology talk"

Comments 4 Teachers weeks 7,8,9

Since I am running quite behind in my comments for teachers I read several different articles from the month of April and choose three of them to comment on. Bill Ferriter, The Tempered Radical, posted on several different subjects ranging from inappropriate comments made by media personal to poetry to getting middle school boys interested in reading.
I commend Mr. Ferriter for his post about the comedian from CBS that had some not so funny things to say about the mis fortunate Russian boy who was sent back to Russia with only a note explaining why his adoptive mother didn't want him anymore.
Another one of his entry's talks about April being Poetry month and how he is getting his students involved in writing and recording their own poetry. Its nice to see a teacher so interested in a subject he is teaching his students.
The third post that i commented on dealt with getting middle school boys interested in reading. Mr. Ferriter has a great approach that is at the same time self serving. He has his class do silent reading time were for thirty minutes he and his class read silently. Not only does this allow for students to have time to read the stories for their assignments but this also allows for Bill to show how interested in reading he is. Reading is not just for book worms or librarians, real mean read too.

P.L.E.'s & Two Questions

This students P.L.E. is much more in depth then my own. I want to know what this site is that she is using to keep track of all of her different sites. She is using so many tools to help better her education. She is very interested in the subjects and is learning non conventionally. I love her closing comment, "because the class is paperless you never need a pencil". I hope to expand my Personal Learning Environment as she has done. Having a P.L.E. is very important to being a life long learner.

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

This video was fantastic! It asks you two questions. 1. Whats my sentence? What will people say about you once you are gone? and 2. Am I better today then I was Yesterday? These are two very important questions that we all need to think about. I hope that my sentence is something great like, Through her teaching she helped foster generations of social activists who have changed the world for the better! That would be great. And as far as, Am I better today than yesterday? Every morning when I wake up I try and make a point of being a better person then I was the day before. I want to change this world for the better and the only way to do that is for me to give my 110% every single day. I hope that is an attitude that i can pass on to my future students.

Blogging! (April 18)

When I first started EDM 310 I was very skeptical about the entire class especially the blogging. I didn't really understand what a blog was, I just thought it was someone with to much time on their hands that just sat around and typed up what had happened to them that day or their uneducated opinions on current issues. But now I see how important blogging can really be, people from around the world can share ideas and information with each other. I can see myself using this in my teaching career, technology is progressing so fast, gone are the days of the chalk board and endless lectures and note taking. I will encourage my students to use the internet and the tools available to them to help build their own personal learning network and to tap into the global learning community that is out there just waiting for their input.

Wordle Project

I was able to create this word cloud by using Wordle.

Comments 4 teachers weeks 10 & 12

For Weeks 10 & 12 I commented on Mrs. Follis' blog, The Follis Files


Mrs. Follis was discussing collabrotive earning techniques such as group projects and study sessions and how these could help students better preform in class. I commented on her blog saying that I agreed with her on how group collaboration could lead to a better understanding of the subject at hand. Some people have a more interactive learning style then others who do just fine by reading from the book or listening to lecture. Some students need to be able to bounce ideas off one another and relieve feed back from their peers. She also disused how waiting tables when she was younger helped prepare her to deal with a class full of kids. I agree with her completely, I too am waiting tables to put myself through school. I know that I am learning skills that will enable me to control my class room and to help tailor to individual students needs. There a lot of things you can learn from working with lots of random people. You learn that everyone is different and how to read these different people. You learn to see when someone needs something that they are not prepared to ask for, weather is be an extra ranch dressing for their salad or help understanding a question. I really enjoyed reading Mrs. Follis' blog, I think that she brought a lot of interesting things to light.

Video Confrence with Two Teachers from Kenya using Skype

Yesterday I participated in a video conference with two college professors from Kenya. The conference was held in the UCOM building and directed by my EDF 315 & 211 professor Dr.Fregeau. We were able to ask Ukaiko & Helen questions and have them answer us directly. It was amazing getting to speak with these women face to face. When I first started EDM 310 I was very unaware of the tools available to me on the internet. I really didn't realize how technology is changing education the way that it is. The conference showed me how Skype could be a very valuable tool for my PLN.

Week 6

In place of the original assignment I read and commented on 8 blogs from At the Teachers Desk.

Those blogs are:
Artcyclopedia:The art teachers best friend
What will anyone find interesting about us?
Are we really sure that our successful students are successful?
Is Disney leading the way with digital content
Susan G. Komen for the cure
Cooking with Jacob
Kidblog.org
A lesson in copyright

Before Dr. Strange gave me this assignment I hadn't seen At the Teachers Desk, but now I'm a follower! This is a great blog, what a wonderful idea to have a collaborative blog where teachers and students can share ideas with each other from across the globe.

Comments for kids week 14

For week 14 I commented on a blog by a little girl named Payton. She is learning how to read and write and is using the computer as a tool in her learning. The comment I left her was:
Hey Payton, I love spring too! I bet you like using the computer to write blogs. I am going to school to be a teacher and when I graduate I hope to have my students using to computer to do things just like you.

To visit her blog just click here

Week 11

Mr. C's class is a great example of how students can use technology to better their educations. Mr. Chamberlain's class found a blog by a young girl named Kaia. In her blog she had posted pictures that she had taken of things outside. She also talked about how her dad was reading a book and it inspired him to take Kaia outside and explore. The students of Mr. C's class posted comments to Kaia's blog and made a voice thread and video for her at the request of her father. Its amazing how something such as Kaia's pictures and story can be posted, viewed and commented on by people from across the globe. At just three years old Kaia was able to make contact with people that she might never had had the chance to communicate with otherwise. This kind of communication can open us up to a global learning community.With technology such as this the world is essentially at our fingertips.

Link to Kaia's blog

Mr. C's class

Week 10 : An Open Letter to Educators & Dan Brown

WOW! I thoroughly enjoyed reading Morgan's blog and watching the video by Dan Brown.
Its true that the education system could use some updates! Information is everywhere these days all you have to do is turn on your computer and you instantly have access to millions of databases. Google is my best friend and the go to resource for any kind of research. I am tired of spending hundreds of dollars on books that I will never use. I do however enjoy the classroom setting, I feel like it is a better learning environment because it can help people stay focused on the subject matter.As an educator i plan on using a combination of classic and technology teaching styles. I will have my students use sites such as Google, Skype, Delicious and Aviary to build a strong learning community in and out of school.

Week 12

I really enjoyed watching the Zax video, it is a good way to get across the message of change. Just because it isn't easy doesn't mean that you shouldn't ever give way to change. If we never changed the world would never progress.

I think that getting students to post their work on the web is a great way to develop a global learning community. The more information is put out there the more there is to learn. students could connect with other students around the world and use each others experience and knowledge to forward their own education.
Posting work to the web could also help make connections with people just like in the PS22 video were the students are now getting to perform with Fleetwood Mac because of a rendition of "Landslide" the children sang and posted to the web.



Other examples of students posting work to the web are:
Hannah's World Blog
Hannah is using the web to share her story telling.

Students can also share their art over the internet just like this student did here.

Sometimes kids just have stuff to say whether it be about school work, hobbies or sharing information like Avi did in her blog

Comments for Kids week 12

For week 12 I commented on five year old Izac's blog : At the Beach. He had used the computer to draw a picture of himself having fun at the beach. Using paint and other drawing applications could be a fun way to help kids develop story telling and art skills. The comment I left for him was :
Hey Izac,
I love your picture! My name is Allison and I am going to college at USA so I can be a teacher. I hope one day I can have my students make art on computers just like yours. :)

Allison Rogers
http://rogerslindsayedm310.blogspot.com

You can visit his blog Here

Time Toast Timeline: Twenty Years In Education 1970-1990

Personal Learning Network

I have started building my P.L.N. (personal learning network), in hopes that I will be able to keep in touch with these individuals and learn things from them that will better prepare me for my teaching career. A few of the people I have contacted are old teachers from my high school as well as some from my community college. I am lucky enough to have made friends with several teachers that I have done service hours for. One of which is from the Marietta Johnson school in Fairhope. A place that I hope to work for one day. I am keeping in touch with these people by email mostly, I am trying to convince a few of them to start using twitter and Skype, hopefully i will be able to influence them.

Comments 4kids week 10

I commented on Hannah's blog about her beginning, middle, and end project in class. She read a story called the pot of gold and drew pictures depicting the beginning, middle, and end of the story. I thought this was a great way to teach kids about story structure and creative writing.

My comment to her was :Hannah, I loved your pictures, you are very talented. Having the beginning middle and end are very important parts of story telling.i am a student at USA and I hope to be a teacher one day. In one of my classes we are looking at student blogs to see how students are learning using technology. I hope you keep an interest in art, the world is a more colorful place with it. :)
to visit her blog please click HERE

Week 7: This is how we dream

This is How We Dream
Times are changing and one of the things that is changing is how we learn. Books newspapers and magazines and other print documents are going extinct. As sad as I will be to see my books slowly replace by downloaded texts, it will be better for our world and our environment. The speed at witch information is shared over the web is astonishing. We can inform anyone around the world instantly of new happenings just by pressing send. People can now attend the same class from all over the earth!

Not only are we reaching people from all corners of the globe we can also include so much more in our online writings such as mixed forms of media such as pod casts and videos. As the tasks we take on evolve so must our way of learning. Think about it, we are making so many advancements in technology that half of what a student in a technical college learns will be outdated by the time they graduate. Using the internet also allows you to collaborate with others more easily, instead of having to meet and exchange ideas you can just call the person on skype, send them a quick SMS or email them.

The Networked Student
I cant wait to be the teacher of networked students. I hope that this will lead to brighter individuals as their learning process will become more exciting. Students will be more likely I believe to stay interested in and excited about their work if they are able to do their research online using as many different sources as they want. They no longer have to rely on the volumes provided in the school or local library for information. Students can now find information written by other students and collaborate with them to build a personal learning network.

As teachers of networked students we will have to stay on top of the technology that our students will be using. There is nothing worse than being "schooled" by your student. It is very important to be technologically literate in today's time, we cannot afford to fall behind in this field. As educators we must always be on the cutting edge of new and exciting things. We are helping today's students become tomorrows leaders.

Week 9: ALEX & ACCESS

ALEX
What a fantastic website, I immediately saved it to my favorites after checking it out. ALEX is a website that has almost everything a teacher would need to know. You can find help with lesson plans for all subjects and grades. there is a link to inform you of all grant opportunities! Everything is categorized well and easy to find, its probably one of the more easily navigable sites I have seen on the subject. When you come to the Home page of ALEX you are faced with 8 tab choices, simply choice which one your query would fall under and click!

ALEX is a teachers best friend, one could find most everything they needed for class. From a page of useful web links and its own search engine, to a page devoted to professional development this site is a great resource.i know that I will be using it in the future!

ACCESS
I think that Access is a great idea, students will be able to take online course in high school. There is around 40 something classes that students can enroll in. Students were overall pretty satisfied with the courses and some said they enjoyed it more than there regular classroom courses, but did express an interest in having more face to face contact with their teachers. Teachers find the online courses to be a great way of educating the students and would be willing to continue in teaching the course.

This just goes to show how advanced our civilization is and how far we have come from the first classrooms thousands of years ago. For the longest time the only way to get an online course would be if you were in college. Now our high school students can choose to learn online as well as in the classroom. One day I imagine we wont meet for class at all and people will be able to get their education from anywhere in the world. Which also of course means we will be able to teach from anywhere we want :)

Power Point About Myself

Class Survey

This is a survey I did using Google Docs, on Alice in Wonderland. I sent it to all Spring Edm310 students. Loading...">Click Here

Comments for kids week 9

For week 9 I commented on English with Rosa blog: Oscar Ceremony. She had posted a short promotional video for the ceremony. I think that it was a very exciting video and could be used to get kids more interested in the event.
The comment I left was:Wow, that video really gets you pumped! I love watching the red carpet to see all the stars dressed up and the ceremony is fun because you get to see who preformed the best. Click Here

Comments for Kids Week 8

For week 8 I commented on a charcoal drawing that was accompanied by a poem written by the student. This student seems very artistic, the drawing was a detailed image of a head with no skin. I find that drawing is a fantastic way for kids to express them selves and I think that is a healthy way for them to release excess energy. The comment i left was: Your drawing is very intense, it seems as if your subject is crying out in pain. Is this a self portrait minus the skin? the link to the blog is as follows Click Here

Comment for kids week 4

I know that my comments for kids are a little out of order, for that I apologize, I don't mean to get so far behind. For week 4 of comments for kids, I commented on Annie M's blog about internet safety. I think it is very important that our kids understand how dangerous the internet can be. We should all do our part on educating each other on the dangers of the web. The comment I left for her was :You are right it is very important to protect yourself on the net. There are all sorts of strange individuals out there, you never really know who you could be talking to! Click here

Comments for kids week7

I comment on Jesus' blog for week seven. He is telling a story about a vampire bunny; Bunnicula. He seems very inventive, I never would have thought of writing a story about a blood thirsty rabbit. His class is writing stories on their laptops.This could be a very good way to get kids interested in creative writing. The comment I left him was : This sounds like a really interesting story! I never thought of a Dracula bunny. The link to his blog is :Click Here

Randy Pausch: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Randy Pausch is a very admirable person. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer and only given a few months to live. And even with all of this on his plate he still felt it important to talk to people about how to achieve their childhood dreams. He started the lecture with discussing his own childhood. Born in 1960, Randy said he had a happy childhood and felt that he was born to two fantastic people. As a child he was a daydreamer and thought since we had made it to the moon that anything was possible, which is an attitude he kept throughout his life.

As a child Randy had six major dreams, most of which he accomplished. The ones he didn't he was able to learn a lot from trying. One of the quotes he uses in his lecture is "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted". He also belives that brick walls were put there for us to prove ourselves, not to keep us out. The people they stop are the ones who didn't want it bad enough.

Randy started a program at Carnegie Mellon University called Building Virtual Worlds or BVW for short. The first semester of the program he assigned his students to build a virtual program. When asked how he wanted it done, he said for them to do whatever they wanted, with only two guidelines. The assignments that were turned in he found amazing. He went to his mentor and asked what he should tell the class, his response was tell them they did a good job but he knows they can do better. This is a great example of constructive criticism. I think that this is one of the best way to get your students to do better in class. You encourage them by telling them they did a good job and then re instill in them the fact that you believe in them by telling them you know that they can do better.

In closing his lecture he leaves the audience with a few parting thoughts that I think should be told to everyone. One of my favorites is something I think can be used with any grade level, and that is are you a Tiger or an Eeyore? are you going to be full of life and take chances and make mistakes or are you going to be an Eeyore and mope about the hard ships that befall you? Remember Brick walls are put there for us to show our determination. When things don't go our way or that class is too hard, we shouldn't complain we should just work harder. This video helped me out not by listening to his teaching methods but from listening to how he worked to get where he wanted to be and he did it with a smile on his face.

Comments For Kids weeks 5 & 6

These are a few of my comments that I left for the comments for kids assignment. Im sorry that I am a little behind with my posting, I have had so much going on I just haven't had the time.
In this blog the teacher was posting about a new school, in Africa, for girls and how happy it made him to see this kind of advancement in that part of the world.
The link to the blog is: Click Here
My comment:
I really enjoyed the video! It is great that there is finally a school in that area of the world that excepts girls. You can tell from the smiles on their faces that they are glad to be there. My name is Allison, and I have been assigned to read your class blog for my EDM 310 class at USA. I will be posting about it on my blog.http://rogerslindsayedm310.blogspot


This blog was a combination of student and teacher efforts. They asked what you thought about Jordan's Picasso piece and news in the art world.
Priestsic5
Picasso Art work
My comment:
I heard about that, How horrible would it be if it was you that ripped the painting! I would never over come the guilt/embarrassment. I enjoy Jordan's Picasso, and the blog page is set up quite nice as well! My name is Allison, I have been assigned to view your blog and comment on your blog for my EDM310 class at USA. I will be posting about it on my blog.I really enjoyed the video! It is great that there is finally a school in that area of the world that excepts girls. You can tell from the smiles on their faces that they are glad to be there. My name is Allison, and I have been assigned to read your class blog for my EDM 310 class at USA. I will be posting about it on my blog. (http://rogerslindsayedm310.blogspot)

Tech Savy

A Vision of Students Today

Wow, What a video! It really hit home for me, I am a 21 yr old college student who works full time to support myself and finance my schooling. I now how it feels to multi task, sometimes I load myself down with so much that I can barely get through the day without feeling like my brain and body is about to give out! I don't have off days I have actually forgotten what one of those feels like and I don't imagine I will until sometime in between the spring and summer semester. I thought this video was well planned out, it really grabbed my attention. i feel like it captured the stress, anxiety and alot of times hopelessness that college students deal with on a day to day basis.
If I were to add anything to this video that would make it more personal to me, it would probably have to be how broke most of us are, lol! Textbook prices and tuition keep going up and up and there doesn't seem to be a ceiling for it. The price of living alone is enough to make some want to drop out and go to work just to make ends meet, especially when a majority of your class time is spent in classes that don't have anything to with your degree.

Not All About Technology
Mrs. Hines blog on how technology could be used in a classroom to improve teaching and learning methods was fantastic. I couldnt tell you how many times I have sat in a class with a teacher who was barely able to run a power point slide show on their several thousand dollar smart board. I would often times wonder how much of my tuition money went to paying for this wonderful piece of equipment that I was getting no use out of. If a teacher is going to use technology to aid in their teaching they need to know how it works and what they can do with it.
In todays world everything is computerized, kids are so techno savy now that it blows my mind! My soon to be eight year old sister can do more things with her mothers laptop then I can wrap my head around! We as fututre educators need to pour ourselves into learning how we can use different forms of technology to help children learn. There are so many different ways to reach out and grab students attention and we just arent utalizing them. My little brother cares nothing about reading books or taking notes but if he can download it or google it he is all over it. He walks around glued to his Ipod touch, and occasionaly calls me up to tell me about some new discovery he has made, using the internet of course, for a resaerch project for school. Kids love technology, they eat it up! If they can learn how it all works, so can we and we should.

Fischbowl
I do so enjoy his play on words. :)
" If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write." I agree with this statement. We as educators need to know how technology works because our students do! It is not ok at all to be proud of ones' illiteracy in technology. Yes, it is evolving every day and alot of the things we learn today will be outdated tomorrow, but that doesnt mean we should throw our hands up and say forget about it!
One of the reasons I am going into education is because I love to learn, and continue to learn I shall. If we ignore the need to incorparte technology succesfully into our classrooms we are failing our students. We are educators and we need to do exactly that. These students are our future, they will hold jobs in the future that do not exist today. Teachers need to be able to equip their students with all the knowledge that they will need to make it in the world. That wont happen unless we first educate ourselves.

Media Count

Gary Hayes Social Media Counter blows my mind. It is crazy to think so much is going on right now, but then agian it is crazy to think that theres not. We live in the age of technology and there is no escape! Its exciting to think about where we will be in the next 30 years considering that 30 years ago computers were just begining to emerge on the scene.

Technologies and Classrooms

Did You Know?
It is hard for me to write about this particular video. It contains such a wide range of information. Some of which I'm not entirely inclined to believe. But if only a percentage of what it said is true then it is reasonable to believe the world and its technology is growing at a break neck speed. The human race is now more than ever completely reliant on technology and our addiction is only getting worse.

It is hard to imagine life without the simple convinces of Google, Myspace and text messaging. What would happen to our civilization if all of these suddenly vanished? The truth of the matter is that technology and all its wonders is here to stay. We will continue to advance our technologies, making them smarter, faster and more efficient with every passing day. There is no going back now.

Mr. Winkle
The video opens as Mr. Winkle wakes from a very long sleep. He comes to realize that the world he dozed off in has become a fast paced, computer ran jungle. He visits an office building and a hospital where he is constantly bombarded by new technologies that he has never seen before. Winkle then retreats to a school house where he feels more comfortable, because you see the school setting has not changed with the rest of the world. What little technology is there is largely ignored and collecting dust.

What the video is trying to say is that our school systems are not adequately preparing our children for this new techno crazed world that we live in. Think back to your years spent in the public school system.How much of what you spent time learning do you actually use today? The rest of the world is evolving so quickly, why is it that we allow for our education systems to remain the same? It is time that more technology courses be required as part of the high school and even elementary curriculum if we are to keep advancing in the future.

Vicki Davis
This video ties in with the previous two. Vicki Davis, a media teacher for a rural town in Georgia, is making great strides in connecting her students with the rest of the world. She knows the importance of producing computer savy high school graduates. The children who pass through her classroom will have the oppurtunity to connect with other teens from around the globe. They will come away better prepared for careers involving computer technologies.

Davis has been teaching her students to create and use a number of differnt techno tools from blogging and twitter to creating their own avitars and video games. She is giving these children the tools they will need to make it in our ever advancing society. I think what she is doing is fantastic. I think that we need more teachers like her who are willing to go that extra mile to make a difference in their students lives. What she is doing will change her students lives.

Schools kill our creativity
Ken Robinson claims that schools kill our creativity, for the most part I agree. We are told how to dress, How to act, Where to sit, When to eat, What to read and when we are expected to have it all done. Individuality is not in couraged and for the most part discouraged. Children go into kindergarden free spirits full of excitment and wonder and 13 years later are released into the world with a learned fear of failure. Afraid that they will fail the trials and tribulations of life and wont be able to obtain the same level of existance as their peers.

On the other hand as a teacher, you have the power to instill in your pupils a great pride in one's self and individuality. A teacher can encourage their students to think for themselves and to look out side the box for solutions to problems. How is the world ever to change if free thought is limited? We should incourage creativity in our young people they are the ones who will be taking the riegns after we are to jaded to care about the direction of things. Most of all the ability of people to have creative thoughts is important because without them the world would never change and how boring would that be?

Welcome to my blog!

This is my first ever blog. Woohoo!