Notes To Future Students

This can be one of the best classes you take. The work is not that hard you just have to stay on top of your weekly blogs. The class blog is the most important blog. The video classes can get you out of trouble if you don't understand something Dr. Strange went over in class. If you have a problem talk to Dr. Strange he is a very good coach. Remember to practice, practice, and practice some more it is the only way to learn something. Good Luck!!!!

What I would Have Liked To Learn But Did Not

I believe that I learned all that I could have. There is nothing I would have changed. I believe Dr. Strange is a great teacher because he doesn't claim to know everything about computers.(Trust me he knows more than most) If something came up and he was not sure he would say "I don't know lets find out" I like that because no one knows everything. Besides computers and technology is always changing. I liked the group project that we did I would have like to do more with that than we did. The class was very useful to me and a must for future teacher.

What I Learned In EDM 310

I learned how to create, edit, and maintain blogs. I learned how to use google and all googles different gadgets. How to create different kinds of spreadsheets, how to calculate interest rates and set up budgets and convert money. I also learned about I-Tunes and all the free stuff they offer. I learned about ALEX. I learned that technology should not be feared. I learned how to cut, copy, and paste. Sounds simple but before this class I had no idea how to do that. I learned how to install a picture and how to link something together on a blog. I have never felt comfortable using a computer until now. This class has help me understand more about using computers than I could have ever imaged. I feel this class is one of the most important classes to me that I have taken so far. To have had Dr. Strange as a teacher was also a blessing. To see someone love what they do gave me hope that one day I could be as passionate as he is.

Plusses and Minuses of Blogs in Classrooms

I absolutely love blogs in classrooms for all grade levels. I think blogs are a great way to communicate with parents and any other classes about what is happening in children's classrooms. My own experiences with EDM 310 blogs helped me with lessons and to keep up with due dates. I feel we are much more comfortable with blogs than when class first started. I never new about blogs before this class. As a P.E teacher I hope to be able to use blogs for my students. I believe the only minus would be the extra time of writing martial and transferring it to the blog but that shouldn't be that hard. I read another blog from one of my classmates (Christina) and I enjoyed her ideas the best. I feel that Christina will be a super great Special ED teacher. Many of her blogs were similar to my own. I think that Christina will be very successful as a Special ED teacher. Christina is the kind of person that know matter what she will make a different in someones life she is a special lady.

Documantary Studies

I think these classes are important for students to learn about things they don't understand. I would hope that these classes were not slanted in one way are another. But discussed the facts about the topics chosen. I don't believe sugar coating topics helps any one group of people. These projects can help people cope with difficulties in society. I'm not sure were these classes fit into education for me. But I'm sure some colleges would find a place for these classes like Duke University has.
How about more hands on aproach when teaching educational classes. We all know that we learn by doing what ever it is we are trying to learn. Help students problem slove so they learn how to acomplish tasks. Why do teachers educate with burp back lessons? Most students would learn if some presure was place on them.

Podcast Suggestions for Improvements

     Some improvements that me and my team could have made would be to discuss more about certain aspects of the lecture in greater detail. I believe we could have chooses one are two points and went more in depth about our own experiences while watching the lecture. I could have researched Randy Pauch's life more in order to understand him. There were lectures I could have listened to in order to find out who he was and what he stood for. I think limiting the time was difficult for us because we could have done a series of podcast about this lecture.

     Some of the other podcast did not seem as friendly as others I listened to. There were many facts about topics which was interesting but it did not seem to flow that well. I think we could have shared facts in a more personal way in order to connect with listeners. I think we could have brought more of our own experiences into the podcast so to invite listeners to feel apart of the conversation. I think all the podcasts I listened to could have made them selves more personal in order to invite listeners to feel apart of the podcasts.

     I know many students were concerned about a five minute time limit. I believe the time limit should have been ten to fifteen minutes longer. We really thought that five minutes was a long time but with the topics we had to choose from five minutes was not enough time. So longer time limits and more than one podcast about certain topics would be my suggestion for future classes.  

Maine Department of Education

I believe that these podcast are the future for helping teachers explore new ways of helping students get the educational skills needed in today's market place. The computer skills for most children mainly my on two children six and fifteen are highly advanced. I believe most children learn by doing the task a hand trial and error. Computers are no different, I know my children can do things on a computer that Dr. Strange is teaching in a college classroom.
So children I believe will find learning alot more fun because of computers. Teachers may find that letting children learn on computers will not limit children. Because most of us have had a teacher in front of the classroom teaching a lesson that you understood so you just checked out mentally. I think that with computers some children could almost always be engaged with learning. The student could learn as fast as he or she could master the skill and be on to the next skill with out any down time.
For teachers in the classroom I believe that this tool can and will be beneficial to them. I also think as a teacher something like this could help improve test scores. With all the testing that takes place in schools today this would help students and teachers have some fun learning again. I have been classes where teachers have taught me without me even knowing that I was learning the skill because they were so creative. Would computers help these kinds of teachers, I think so. But I do not want to see computers and computer on line classes take the place of real classrooms and creative teachers.

"Growth vs. Fixed" Minds

I enjoyed listening to "Growth vs. Fixed" minds. I do agree with what was said about students who want to look smart and believe that they are as smart as they will ever be. Some students do believe they will not get any smarter. These students do not understand that the more they learn the smarter the brain will become.
Students who have a growth mind set may or may not understand that the mind is like a muscle. The more you use it the smarter you become. No one knows everything so when you make a mistake its about how you respond to it. Students with a growth mind set understand that just because you make a mistake you can learn from it not just give up. You can grow smarter if you never stop trying. This video can help educators and parents understand how to guide there students.
The simple fact that teachers could recognize the students that were in the program was very impressive. The students themselves had no idea they were in this program. I think that students that are having trouble would do well to be placed in a program like this one. As a teacher I hope to learn more about the "Growth vs. Fixed" minds. I think it would be beneficial to implement this program in Mobile schools.

Access Lab @ Daphne High School

The access classroom at Daphne High school was set up very nice. I was surprised by the up to date technology that the access lab offered. I met with Joseph Roh who was in charge of the IB program. Mr. Roh had inherited the access lab from someone else that wrote the grant to get the lab started. Mr. Roh had some favorable things to say about the lab but also stated there were many logistical problems with the lab. The IVC part of Access / the video part was not being used this semester and may not be used for second semester. The only part of Access that was being used was web classes. Mr. Roh stated that only classes that were not offered to students could be used for IVC. So if a student wants to take chemistry II and there is not a teacher or class offered the student could use Access to join in with other classes. A teacher from Daphne could take his or her class in the IVC lab and other students could join in at other schools. So a teacher can have class in the Access lab and link with a high school anywhere in the state provided that the school has a access lab. The teachers may only have a total of thirty students in a lab. Mr. Roh said that one of his teachers was curious about how he was gonna give test using IVC. This presents a problem of how to get the test back to the instructor. The access lab will be o.k Mr. Roh stated if the state alots a teacher to be in charge of the classroom. Someone who can handle scheduling classes the technical problems that come up and handling updates. One way for it to fail is to add the access lab to a teacher who may already have four or five things to deal with in a day. Then ex spect the teacher to run it like someone who is total devoted only to the lab. It seems like a great idea but at the cost of $85,000 to $95,000 a school why not put in new computers in steed. In 2009 the state has mandated that all freshman from this point forward be required to take a least one on line class. Daphne usually have some where around 300 to 400 new freshmen a year. Daphne has about 30 lab top computers and around 30 regular computers. They are on the block system as are most high school meaning 4 blocks aday. Do the math with these few computers how will this get done? Mr. Roh stated that often time the government example No Child Left Behind and local state governments put these mandates in place without providing any money to carry them out and schools are left holding the bag. Mr. Roh stated that they would somehow find the money but it would be a struggal. So in my opinion the access lab is a great idea, but maybe instead of always coming up with the next big idea we should concrete on making what we have now work and figure out how to pay for these ideas before we implement programs on schools that may be able to pay for them or may not.