My EDM310 Blog Assignments Are Now Complete

It's been fun, but I'm glad that the semester is over. I hope that you all enjoy your Thanksgiving. Good luck with teaching!

What I have learned

Coming into this class I did not even know what a blog was. Reading the assignment that says "Create a Blog", I asked everyone around me, "What is a blog?" I soon became very familiar with it. I'm glad that we are required to take this course because it is not something that I would look at in the bulletin and decide to take just for fun. Having said that, this is my list of things I have learned in EDM310.
1. How to create and keep a blog
-adding pictures
-linking websites
-linking my email
2. How to use ITunes and all about ITunesU
3. How to use google's spreadsheat
4. How to use google's documents
5. What ACCESS and ALEX is
6. How important technology is as a resource in the classroom
7. What and how to create a podcast

I understand why we used google, but I would have like to have learned more about Microsoft Word and Excel. I know that they are very similar, but Word is just something I use in every class.

Pros and Cons of Blogging in the Classroom

After taking this class, I am convinced that teachers should use blogs in their classrooms. There are limitations to that statement though. A lot of students don't have regular access to the internet at their homes, so blogs should not be used as a primary way of giving information. They should act as a reinforcement for material covered in class. You could supply links to websites that might help the students figure out their homework. An idea that would appeal to parents is blog for the parents to read about what their children are doing in class and how they're doing.

Older students will enjoy participating in creating blogs. They can include their ideas on books, have a message board for peer help with homework or even display projects on a blog. There has to be a block on computers in the classroom in order for students to stay on track. If you allow them to freely surf the net, the blog will never have any attention paid to it. Some entries that I encountered this year are time consuming, so the teacher must keep that in mind when giving students a blog topic.

While reading Brian O'Gwynn's blog, I realized that he has just about the same point of view as I do on blogging in the classroom...it's a good idea. It allows you to express your opinion about different topics. It is interesting to read what others have to say about the same topics you wrote about.

Duke University

One of the podcasts that I chose to listen was "The South in Black and White." The South in Black and White is a course offered by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke. It is a course that emphasizes how we got to where we are now. The class has Gospel music every week. They invite different southern storytellers to tell their stories. The class is not taught at Duke University but rather at the Hayti Heritage Center which is a historic African American church in Durham, North Carolina. You don't have to be a student to come to class. It is open to the public, but everyone must register for the class prior to attending.



The Hayti Heritage Center
Source:http://www.hayti.org/wp/wp-content/themes/hayti_redux/images/hay_thumb.jpg

The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University gives students the opportunity to express themselves through different types of documentaries. They are encouraged to "experience" the different fields such as photography, film, audio and poetry. All of this hands on experiece is meant to enable the students to express modern life and culture. According to the Center for Documentary Studies website:

The CDS promotes documentary work that cultivates progressive change by amplifying voices, advancing human dignity, engendering respect among individuals, breaking down barriers to understanding, and illuminating social injustices.

I'm glad that classes like these are offered to not only students at universities but also the general public. It helps to better educate people who are simply interested in the subject.

ACCESS lab

I visited the ACCESS lab at Daphne High School. Mr. Roh is in charge of the lab at this school. ACCESS labs have two ways that lessons are taught. There is web-based and a video conference. Daphne High is currently using web-based only. It is set up to use video, but they need more people involved in order to utilize it.

It is a great program because students are able to take classes that they normally would not be able to take at there school because they are not offered. I would have taken advantage of this program in high school for two reasons. 1.) So that I could take a class that wasn't offered at my school and I was interested in and 2.) I enjoy taking web classes. It has more of a work at your own pace attitude.

Communication with Teacher

Jennifer Tate and I corresponded via email about the use of technology at her school. She teaches at Discovery Elementary School in Huntsville, AL. When selecting a teacher to correspond with, I thought that she was a great candidate being a gifted teacher. It is a small school with about 250 students and class sizes at about 30. This is also a low income school with very few resources.

The school tries to incorporate technology use in the classroom, but it is difficult because most of the students do not have computers at home. All teachers provide their students with their email address for communication purposes. Mrs. Tate has only had 3 students and 6 parents contact her this way. There are two computers in each classroom. One computer is for teacher use only and the other is for the students to work on accelerated reading and math programs. When asked about the computer lab at her school, Mrs. Tate wrote:

"The computer lab tech is just there to open the lab and help with computer issues in the school. She is not required to teach a class. It is up to the teacher. The classes go to the computer lab twice a week. (One time being reading, the other for math) Our school is a Title One school, and instructional time is carefully monitored. The teachers do not have the "freedom" to be able to participate in blogs and chat rooms because of the time constraints put on them from our principal/district. The students in the upper grades (3-5) might get some extra computer lab time for web based research if they have a project to complete."

The librarian at Providence is attempting to use blogs with the 4th and 5th graders. First, she has to teach the students about internet safety and then they will begin blogging. Since she is the librarian, the students will blog about anything they read. Their blog is located at
http://mustangreaders.21classes.com/.
There are no posts at this time. While in the library, the students will also be using Google Earth.

Mrs. Tate has used podcasts that she was shown at a workshop in her classroom. Because of the structure, that she mentioned above, being enforced at her school, she is not able to use that tool that often. When asked about using using technology to develop a lesson plan, she referred me to a site that she likes to use called Sites for Teachers.

EDM 310 Podcast

The four podcasts that I listened to were all different. That was definitely something I liked. I'm glad that there wasn't a specific set of guidelines given to us. It gave us the freedom to actually have a discussion. Some groups did sound like they were simply reading from a sheet of paper, but for the most part they sounded like an unrehearsed discussion. Sometimes groups sounded "stuck", and no one spoke for a moment. That broke up the discussion and made it seem like there was not a whole lot left to talk about.

I thought that my podcast went well. We all researched our information individually so we didn't come up with the same material to talk about. We did sound a bit rehearsed at first, but as we got more used to doing the podcast we sounded more fluid. There were moments of silence with my group, but I felt like we picked it up pretty quickly. We did leave out what YouTube actually is. We should have led off with that.

I would like to emphasize how good one podcast was in particular. "The Last Lecture" of Randy Pausch: Lessons Learned was the best podcast that I listened to. I was there in person when the recording took place, and I listened to it again for this assignment. I was very impressed with this group including Ginny Grant, Sandi Sadlock, Christina Ardoin and Brian O'Gwynn. They were very well prepared and passionate about what they were talking about. In class that night, they caught my attention more than any other group. As I said, they were well prepared but did not seem rehearsed.

Mathematics and Technology

In the first episode Judy Chandler touched on the thoughts of mathematics teachers incorporating technology into the classroom. Most teachers find it difficult to embrace technology. It is thought of as an "add on". A lot of teachers focus on simply getting to the end of the book. Technology provides students the opportunity to dive deeper into the subject area. There are many different resources that are available to help students better understand lessons. Technology supports greater understanding of what the students are learning.

In the second episode Judy Chandler talks about "thinking mathematically". Asking the students questions engage the students more than just in a lecture environment. It makes them pay more attention and directs their learning. Involving students in a discussion encourages them to question why things are this way and encourages them to develop an understanding through "thinking mathematically".

I agree with the concept of using technology in teaching mathematics. Immediate feedback lets the student know right away if they are working the problem correctly, and it shows them what they need to fix in order to get the correct answer. Normally, with homework, the students wouldn't know until the next day whether or not they worked those problems correctly. It is too late at that point. They already have a grade on that assignment. Giving the students more examples than just the one or two in the textbook could help them figure out how to work the more difficult problems.

Questioning students and involving them in a discussion is a great way to encourage their understanding of math and encourage students to listen to the teacher's lecture. From experience, when there is a chance that you're going to be called on in class you tend to listen to the teacher because you want to give the correct answer. That pressure is intense, but an understanding teacher wouldn't be intimidating to the student. It is a great idea for a teacher to give her students a chance to ask questions that they need answers to because someone may need help on a concept that the teacher did not focus on during lecture.

"Growth" vs. "Fixed" Mindsets in Learning

Two workshops were created that separated students. Both of the groups were included in an eight session study skills class, but only half was taught about the growth mindset. The half that was just taught study skills had declining grades while the other half prospered. Ultimately the just study skills half were taught about the growth mindset, and their grades showed remarkable improvement.

Having a growth mindset means that you believe intelligence is something that you can develop through education and hard work. It makes it easier for a person to make a mistake and learn from it. Having a fixed mindset means that you believe that your intelligence level is predetermined. It makes a person very concerned about how much intelligence they have.

A lot of parents believe in the fixed mindset. That is where you see a lot of emphasis on IQ scores. That score makes them treat their child different their whole life. It either makes a parent say, "Oh, he's so much smarter than that. I know he could do better. He just didn't apply himself." or you may hear "Well, I guess a "C" is just the best he could do."

It takes a lot of effort to learn something that doesn't come easy to you. That is why I think the growth mindset should be taught to students. Sometimes I don't understand things, and after studying and talking with my teachers and peers I finally get it. Students should be taught to keep on trying and to not settle on a grade just because you squeaked by. All teachers need to be educated on this subject as well. It is too easy to give up on a students just because he or she is not getting it as fast as the others. That student is the one that needs the most help. Setting that students up with a peer tutor during school hours is an excellent idea. Give a little extra time to the students who need it.

WGBH Podcast

Blood Vessels Help Tumors Grow

Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels. Dr. Fulkman believed that there was a chemical in tumors that allowed blood vessels to grow. He devised an experiment to prove his theory. A tumor was inserted into the cornea of a rabbit. The cornea rarely contains blood vessels. After a while, blood vessels started growing in the cornea directed straight toward the tumor. In two weeks, the tumor grew 16,000 times its normal size. After the tumor was removed all the blood vessels disappeared.

It was discovered that tumors secrete heparin to attract blood vessels. Now that we know this, the fight against cancer has gotten a lot stronger. If we can find a molecule that stops blood vessels from growing, then the cancer can be defeated.

Showing more than one podcast related to a certain subject can help a student identify what he or she is most interested in. When choosing a podcast to write an entry about, I found myself listening to topics that interested me. There was a large selection of topics that had more than one podcast that was related to it. Although topics that I am interested in like environment and human anatomy and physiology did not have multiple podcasts listed.

A good idea in the classroom is to let children choose what they want to learn about. The teacher could give the class a list of topic and break the class up into groups according to which topic the students' chose. The assignment could be to write up a report on your topic or preform a presentation in front of the class. I would do this for middle school to high school aged students.

A Night in the Global Village
Heifer International is a wonderful organization that I am personally involved with. I purchase trees for eroded countrysides in underdeveloped countries whenever I can to help out villages in need. Global Gateway, which is a part of Heifer International puts "well off" children in the shoes of impoverished children. There are several village you get to live in for the night with different pros and cons relating to the village. It is a wonderful educational experience. They really get to experience what it would be like to live in an undesirable situation. The children (along with chaperons) must build fires, feed themselves and keep warm.

Students watching this video may realize how good they have it. Even children from low income families can benefit from watching this video and realize that they may not be that "bad off".

The Edible Schoolyard
A middle school in California participates in a taking care of a garden during their first period class. It is an organic garden, so it incorporates the health of yourself and your planet. They relate the garden with math, science and social studies skills in the adjacent building. Team work must also be used.

Learning about taking care of our planet is a very important issue that many people do not think about. People's minds are changing, but not enough. Too many people think that taking care of our planet is just for "hippies". I understand that eating organic food is good for myself and my environment. I understand that animals treated with growth hormones and antibiotics are not treated well, and everything that is put into their bodies is put into ours. This is a huge point of interest to me. I do everything that I can to help our planet stay healthy for the future of our children. I think that teaching this generation about conservation and healthy lifestyles will not only benefit them, but it will also benefit everyone else who shares the same Earth.

Podcast

After reviewing several podcasts on iTunes, I discovered that all podcasts have a few things in common yet are all different. They are all informative, organized and enthusiastic. I love how all podcasts bring something else to the table. The information provided on each one is unique to the podcast.

They are organized in sections, and they are easier to pay attention to because instead of listening to a straight lecture you get to listen to more of a conversation. These are great tools for the classroom because it will catch the students' attention.

The information provided is well thought out and researched. After all, these are used in classroom settings, and we want our students to learn the actual truth not just "hear say". A good podcast not only gives you an informative lesson, but it also gives the complete story. It will leave little room to question that you have been taught.

The enthusiasm that teachers and students bring to the table in podcasts creates a fun learning environment. the listener should be able to feel the passion that is felt by the speaker for different topics. That passion is contagious. It also makes it that much more interesting to listen to their views.