Professional Blog (Project 11)

If you may not have seen the link on the side of my blog page to my professional blog, here is a link to my professional blog as well.

Goodbye 4 now

What I’m going to miss the most about this semester are my classmates. We worked as a team together to create a better stress free environment (maybe not well) with the help of Ms. Averitt and Dr. Strange. I’m going to miss my group members the most.

Final blog post (week 16)

This is my final blog post for EDM 310 class. When I first came into this class, I didn’t know what to think or do. There wasn’t a textbook, so I had no idea what to expect. This sure wasn’t it. I never thought that technology in a classroom setting was a good idea. This class helped me to see that there is more to learning then with textbooks and chalk boards. I’ve learned that I will never be ready for my students, unless I learn the technology that my students are growing up knowing.

(1)These are what I learned from the class:

What I will take from this course is my PLN. I will be able to use this to communicate with other teachers and administrator to strengthen my knowledge in the classroom.

Videocast and podcast- I know how to create and use both. These will be used in my future classroom.

Blogging- I hope to be able to have my own class blog for my students to express themselves.

Wiki- I didn’t learn too much with. I was more confused and looked elsewhere for the information.

Presentations- I liked and have used presentations before EDM and I are sure that this will be used in my future classroom later.

Google doc and Google Spreadsheets- I never knew that Google was more than a search engine and now I have competition to Microsoft programs. Which is really better? I will have to keep experimenting.

Picasa- Is a good tool to use inside and outside the classroom. I have already found use for this tool in my everyday life.

YouTube- I did have knowledge of YouTube before the start of EDM 310 and will continue to use this site. I did use this during the course for the tutorials of how to do something’s for our projects that I needed to learn before completing them.

Moviemaker- I love this because besides classroom mini movies, I can make personal moves for my family that live in New York and send pictures and videos. This program allows me to be more creative and allow my imagination to run wild.

Post from classmates- will be a little harder for me to accomplish with my own students going into special education in the early childhood.

Twitter- This was a good tool to keep with other teachers that are already in the field and to be able to get ideas and suggestions that will be helpful in the future.
Post from teachers- will be a little harder for me to accomplish with my own students going into special education in the early childhood.

ITunes- I have been using before EDM and will continue to use after EDM just know will Resources to podcast and ITunesU.

Goggle forms- This allows surveys to be done more effective then by word and having to later input separately. I think this will be useful in my future class.

Google earth- Is the most frustrating thing to work with. I do think that it is a neat concept of what it does do, but I wouldn’t assign a project using this to special education students.

ACCESS & ALEX- The knowledge of ACCESS and ALEX will be useful to have while with my special education students.

Who I am as a professional- It’s still going to be awhile before I set foot in a classroom, but I will be more ready for the challenge in technology when the time comes.

Teaching literacy- I will continue to learn and be taught technology in the future to keep up with the change in time.

Future of schools- What I learned from other teachers that are in the field is that, technology is changing what we use to know about classrooms. Use as teachers need to learn to keep up with our students.

Intellectual trail- With many people on the internet today, I know that I can only put good things because you never know whose watching.

Things I learned- What I learned this semester is how to blog, use Google docs,Google forms, moviemaker, Google earth and Picasa. I also learned how to embed and upload videos and pictures onto YouTube and my blog.

(2)There isn’t anything else in program wise that I would have liked to learn with the addition to what we have already covered in class.

(3)Everything that I have used and completed during this semester will be useful when I have my own class.

(4) The only thing that I was most excited to use when I first found out about the project was Movie maker. I never even knew that this program was even on my computer. I was so excited about being able to work it I made short movies about my daughter and placed it on DVDs for my parents and my in-laws. This program will be a great resource inside and outside the classroom.

(5)The only thing that I found “intellectually challenging” was when converting files. That needs to be shown at the being of the semester.

(6)The class assignments and blog post keeps you busy. There isn’t time to get bored. Frustrating at times? Yes.

(7) What I would change about EDM 310 is that I needed more of grade structure. I was blind the whole way. I need the syllabus to breakdown what each blog post and each project is worth.

(8)I can honestly say that I am more technology literate now then when I started. Coming into the class, I only knew basics when it came to internet and word. Now at the end of class, I’m able to blog and make mini movies.

(9) As technology changes so fast I know that if I want to stay technology literate that I will have to keep learning for me and my students. I will keep using Google docs, Skype, YouTube and moviemaker

Group interview (project 15 )

This is an interview done by Myself, Lauren Reeves, and Pam Overstreet. We interviewed Stephen Ludwig, an administrator of technology in Clarence city schools and is also a part time teacher at the University of Buffalo teaching the NY version on EDM 310. The question that we gave Mr. Ludwig was what constitutes a 'technology literate teacher'?

PLN (Continued)

I have kept up with my previous networks that I had commented about including the podcasts, RSS, and blogs. I have increased my following in all the areas allowing me to get more information and make friendships with special education teachers that are in the field already. Some other places that I use for my Personal Learning Network (PLN) are Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. During the past month I have used these three networks at a rapid rate.

First I started to use Twitter. Twitter allows me to text other special education teachers. These teachers give fun ideas of how to bring imagination into the class lectures. They interact with students in assignments that make the students want to learn. We share experiences in the classroom that can potentially help others in the future. Some people that I’m following and texting are SpecialEDNeeds, Teachalotgirl, usedgov, and Teachkidd. If you would like to twitter me, you can find me at haludwig84.

Another network that I participate in is Facebook. Facebook allows family, friends, and co-workers to get connected by the internet. I have 83 friends that I communicate with in Facebook. These networks allow you to become a fan of education sites and other teachers. When you become a fan, you can be on a discussion board that talks about different technology that is used in the special education classrooms and idea of lesson plans that other teachers have used successfully in their own class.

The last network that I started to look through more each day and have subscriptions in is YouTube. YouTube allows you to express who you are and what you want others to know about whom you are or what you want others to learn. On this network you can find step by step instructions of how to use programs like Google Docs as well as give insight inside the classroom. Some of the people that I subscribed to are missourhawkeys, lacecook, and SSDSLCRyan.

In the end I have found six networks that I can use as my Personal Learning Network. I’m looking forward to when I’m teaching in my own classroom and able to use my own lesson plans and technology to be successful like others that I have found in my networks. I’m thankful for what I have learned to this point and what I hope to keep learning in the future.

Two questions/ PLN or PLE? (week 15)

Two Questions

Author Daniel Pink has book called: Drive” that has people think about what they use to motivate themselves. The first question to ask is “What is my Sentence?” The next question is, “Was I better today than yesterday?” These two questions to Mr. Pink can change your life. To me it makes me evaluate my standards in the classroom. When I start to teach students, I have to ask these questions. If I get a negative answer, I need to think about how to change it to a positive.

We have to change ourselves for the better of our students. You can’t take something that didn’t do well or respond well and keep using it. Change around ideas until it fits. Our students will not achieve, if we don’t achieve. Make something of yourself. Have a sentence.

PLN or PLE?

A 7th grade student made this video over her PLE. Like a personal learning network (PLN) her PLE organized her studies so she will know what is do and when. This also allows her to have individual freedom to do her lessons at her own pace. Everyday she would come to class and check the class blog for updates and the daily assignments to be completed. This allows her to do her studies in any order she wants.

I think that students in EDM 310 or even the 510 classes should take the time and organize their assignments to do their own PLE to get the required work done at a workable pace. You can even do a PLE in other education classes or core classes.

Interesting blogs found in the US (Project 13)

Heather Ludwig, Alice Anderson and Lauren Reeves discuss interesting school blogs in the United States.

class link to podcast
or
Listen here

To Blog or Not to Blog...Is that even a Question? (project 14)

In our group we had Lauren Reeves, Heather Ludwig, and Pam Overstreet. We did our project over Blogging. The video has facts about blogging then short videos over creating a blog, posting on a blog and adding pictures to your blog.

Comment 4 teachers (week 13 and 14)

This past two weeks I have read through Kathy Cassidy of the Primary Preoccupation blog post. Ms. Cassidy is a first grade teacher in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada. Her goal is to use technology in her classroom to connect, collaborate and learn with her students about other cultures. Some of the things that her students use with technology are blogs, wikis, video, Skype, and other online tools. The classroom has its own class blog and webpage. When reading Ms. Cassidy’s post the two that I enjoyed the most are telling the story with story bird and using video to capture learning.

The first post is called ‘Telling the Story with Story bird’. This post is about Ms. Cassidy getting a response back from her top ten list for tools used in primary school settings. A source that she found to be helpful is storybird. This allows students to embed pictures instead of drawing them. This allows students to not just focus on the image of a book but the writing.

I like this aspect of learning, because I even though art is a good thing in a child’s life, I think that students would color and draw all day instead on paying more attention to the words that should be going with those pictures. Story bird can make the images move and can cause a child to increase their imaginations when seeing the illustrations came to life more that a picture in a book or and picture that was drawn with crayons.

The second post is called ‘Using video to capture learning’. Ms. Cassidy attended an iT summit in Saskatoon and made a presentation call Just Point and Shoot: Using Video to Capture Learning. The presentation was about being able to capture an image of a non-polished idem and how video to help students share their learning with other students. The students are able to rewind and see themselves on the video and get excited but still learn at the same time because they are watching an educational video that they created.

What Ms. Cassidy said “If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be at least a million?” As is true to many people, not just students and teachers but parents and child are what happen if video wasn’t around? What happen if no video cameras were invented? We would only have still images and know what to remember the words and actions that were said.

My Thoughts/ The iSchool initiative (Mobile Learning) (Week 14)

My thoughts about EDM 310 that I would like to interact with my students in the classroom would be blogging. Until I took this class, I had never once even looked at a blog site. I had done two semesters of student teaching in a high school special education class and long term subbing in a special education primary school level for three months. None of the teachers that I worked with or worked in place of had any type of blog or class web site. I think that if I start a blog for my classroom that I would be able to further their learning and have a creative way to keep both the students and their parents into the class at all times.



This video “iSchool initiative” is designed and narrated by a high school student in Georgia. The student says that he thinks that he is able to help fix the problem with schools in our nation. The solution is the iSchool. The iSchool is a mobile learning device that has apps for every subject type. Some of these apps are Email, chemical touch, US Constitution, USA Presidents, World Wiki, Star walk, formulae, recorder, scientific calculator, notes, calendar, application classics, and iHomwwork. This device is able to hold notes, assignments, projects, and important dates like test.

The apps that I find the most interesting are the classic. The Classic is where you can find an electronic library. It holds textbooks, novels, plays, workbooks. He then continues on to say how this device will save the school systems money every year. The student did research and found that a school that gets the iSchool will save over $600 per student. This saves trees and our environment. What parents will like about this device is they will be able to see everything that their child is doing during school.

Would this really work?

Comment 4 kids week 14

This week I’m posting about class 6 at Point England School in Auckland, New Zealand. Their class blog is named the pen made me write it. The post name was Pt England picnic. The picnic post is a video that the teacher created with pictures from a class picnic of the different activates the students participated in. The video was supported by music by the beach boys called Fun Fun Fun.

The Zax is like Teachers/ Why are Blogs important for students in the Classroom? (Week 13)

The Dr. Seuss’ story about the Zax is similar to teachers in both grade schools and Universities. There was a north and south zax that walked until they were face to face. They are both stubborn that one wouldn’t move to the side to let the other one by and stood there for hundreds of years. Soon the highways were built and neither one moved.

This is similar to many teachers because a teacher that has been teaching for years doesn’t like to change what they had been teaching for years. I have had teachers that would recycle their lectures and notes. They even reused the same assignments of worksheets and tests. Some people may think that they are just lazy, but some teachers just don’t like to change something that they have been doing and using for years after getting all the snags out.



Why are Blogs important for students in the Classroom?

There are many reasons how blogs are important to a student in the classroom. One of these reasons was shown in the video PS 22. This video was one created of an Elementary school chorus singing “Landslide”. The students then opened at Madison Square Garden singing that same song because they did that video and the world say including Stevie Nicks manager. One of the reasons that my podcast group and I came up with during our podcast sessions was, that parents can get on and see their child in their class environment. Another reason was that it allows the students to write and express themselves.

Three examples of students posting on blogs are comment 4 kids, Dear Kaia, and social networking. The first example of students posting on blogs can be found on Comment4 kids. This site shows different class blogs from around the world. They post videos and text messages about assignments and ideas. There are even sites that have videos of group projects. Another example of kids’ comments is on Dear Kaia. This little girl had different students and teachers around the world comment to her about her pictures that she took. This gives her confidence and encouragement. Who knows, she might be a photographer. The last example that I have is Twitter and Facebook social sites. Some people may say that it’s too dangerous to let their child go on these sites, but it allows them to express and show who they are to the world.

If you what to watch the chorus class sing “Landslide” watch the following.

Comment 4 kids week 13

This week I’m doing a post from Ms. Helen King’s class at Pt England School in Auckland, New Zealand. The post name is called ‘You never know when someone is watching’. It is a video with her classes playing soccer when Dan Carter comes out from hiding. The moral of the video is to tell the students that you should always do your best in everything, cause you never know when there will be someone watching your every move.

Comment 4 Teachers (weeks 10 & 12)

For the past two weeks I was reading and exploring a web page called EDTE.CH Inspire Connect Engage Create by Tom Barrett. There were many great posts in this page and I highly recommend reviewing his site. Mr. Barrett gives incite to Google Forms, Twitter and Google Earth. The three post that I decided to do over Superhero Ideas That Didn’t Make It Through the Revolving Doors, I Hope and Are we the resource if been looking for?

The first post is called Superheroes ideas that didn’t make it through the Revolving Doors was about the fantastic #movemeon book by Doug Belshaw and Stuart Ridout. This book was created by users of Twitter. The reason for this book is to gain knowledge and ideas about school leadership from other teachers and administrators. Mr. Barrett likes this because it involves our peers. In the end, it brought 300 individuals together for a common cause.

It is amazing that with the different technology in the world, those simple networking pages like Twitter and Facebook can cause educational break through. Libraries can be a great source to get information about education in books, but nothing is more useful then the word of mouth from peers that work in the field that they give the information about.

The next post I read was I Hope. This post was about Tom Barrett’s hopes for his future as an educator, father and for his son in education over the next fifteen years. Education isn’t just about the students and teachers. It’s also about the parents. Mr. Barrett hopes that his son’s classrooms are engaging and exciting. That he finds his success and celebrate it. He hopes that his son will find the opportunity that the world provides.

Also, in this post, it is similar to Dan Brown’s video in my previous post about hoping the class size was smaller, the teachers engage the students, and technology is part of the students learning. Through the years, education has been ending with students, teachers, and parents giving hopes on the future more than changing the future of education. Mr. Barrett hopes is one of the voices that are looking for a change not just as an educator himself, but as a father of a student looking to learn.

The last post is called, Are We the Resource I Have Been Looking For? It is a web application Mr. Barrett outlined as an application to provide educators opportunities to find their resources and connections in one place then in several different web pages. Mr. Barrett thought about how this resources was doing more harm than help. He determined that the source should be on the educators networking abilities to allow them access and not the resource itself. This means that it is important for educators of youth to know knowledge not just expect to summon it with a click of the mouse.

Mr. Barrett says it is more difficult to make your networks after you are out of school training then when you are in the mist of learning what networking is and about to be more prepared. It is important to have your networking and personal learning networks (PLN) established before entering your classroom. Future teachers that have networking and other teachers who are or have been in the field already in their network have a better idea what to expect when they enter their new classrooms for the first time.