Classmates-
I have enjoyed our class together. I hope you all take something from Mr. Sullivan's class as I have. Congratulations in completing another course in the journey to graduation! Good luck to you all and have a wonderful summer!
-Nikki Hunter
Monday, May 4, 2009
What I have learned in EDM 310
In the duration of the class, there are things that will stick with me more than others. I’m impressed with what I gained from blogging and how useful it can be to me as a teacher. As for podcasts, I will have to spend more time with them in the future to decide if I will use them in my classroom, but I do believe they can be helpful during a lesson. Twitter is something I will probably never use because I find it pretty useless, for now. The Google Docs is a great tool and I’m impressed with it. It’s a tool that is accessible on any computer, unlike Microsoft Office. I’m impressed with the class overall and feel that it was a benefit not only to my education but also my career.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Pros and Cons of Blogging in the Classroom
There are many advantages to blog, but there are also disadvantages. For this assignment I read Gretta's Blog. I think one of the advantages of blogging in the classroom is connection. It's a great way to relate to parents or other teachers. You can use your blog to spread information, ideas, etc. I know that as a parents I worry about the kind of teachers my child will have in the future and I would love to be able to have something like a blog to get to know the teacher a little better. The blog could be used to list their education and achievements.
Also, it's a great way for others to get to know you. They can learn about your work ethic, expectations, interests, and ideas. I think it's a great tool for keeping parents informed on what's going on in their child's classroom. For instance, a teacher can post assignments and their due dates that way the parents can encourage the students to get an early start or to be prepared by the due date. Teachers can inform parents on special events at the school or appointments for meetings.
Blogging does have it's cons. Blogs, honestly, can be a little boring. Some posts can be on-going and uneventful. Also, some people may not have access to the internet (although, this is changing dramatically). Teachers should not rely on just blogs to get information out to the parents. Handout, letters, or newsletters are still important for those parents who don't check the blog everyday.
Blogs have their advantages, which really seems to outweigh the disadvantages. I plan to use blogging in my classroom when I'm a teacher to stay in touch with parents and for other educational reasons.
Also, it's a great way for others to get to know you. They can learn about your work ethic, expectations, interests, and ideas. I think it's a great tool for keeping parents informed on what's going on in their child's classroom. For instance, a teacher can post assignments and their due dates that way the parents can encourage the students to get an early start or to be prepared by the due date. Teachers can inform parents on special events at the school or appointments for meetings.
Blogging does have it's cons. Blogs, honestly, can be a little boring. Some posts can be on-going and uneventful. Also, some people may not have access to the internet (although, this is changing dramatically). Teachers should not rely on just blogs to get information out to the parents. Handout, letters, or newsletters are still important for those parents who don't check the blog everyday.
Blogs have their advantages, which really seems to outweigh the disadvantages. I plan to use blogging in my classroom when I'm a teacher to stay in touch with parents and for other educational reasons.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Podcast Improvements
The first podcast I listened to from last semester's EDM 310 students was
"Useful Blogs for Teachers" S09JST1101 by Helen Ramsay, MariKate Howell, Rachael Bradford and Stacey Sylvester. The speakers were informative on blogs that teachers can use in their classroom and how they are useful. The students had great information, but it was hard to understand one particular student. I realized that it's important to be articulate and pronounce words clearly.
The next podcast I listened to was "The Pros and Cons of Wikipedia" S09JST0901 by Courtney Rose, Leah Hall and Annie Hutson. In this podcast, the students gave good information, but there was a lot of slang language. I think that if we're going to be teachers, we should use proper English, and try to limit the "uh's," "like's," and "um's" in our speech.
"Useful Blogs for Teachers" S09JST1101 by Helen Ramsay, MariKate Howell, Rachael Bradford and Stacey Sylvester. The speakers were informative on blogs that teachers can use in their classroom and how they are useful. The students had great information, but it was hard to understand one particular student. I realized that it's important to be articulate and pronounce words clearly.
The next podcast I listened to was "The Pros and Cons of Wikipedia" S09JST0901 by Courtney Rose, Leah Hall and Annie Hutson. In this podcast, the students gave good information, but there was a lot of slang language. I think that if we're going to be teachers, we should use proper English, and try to limit the "uh's," "like's," and "um's" in our speech.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Podcasts
Teachers Connecting 5: Scrabble
This podcast was interesting to me because I like SmartBoards and I've used them many times. This podcast was about giving teachers ideas in how to used SmartBoards in classroom collaboration. The speaker in the podcast gave lists of mind-mapping sites for teachers to use. The speaker said to use case-studies and scenarios to teach teachers how to use technology. The podcast had a special speaker name Troy who went around to schools showing teachers how to use these boards. He created a scabble game to use.
Kidcast 59: Beyond Passive Listening - Active Engagement with Podcasting
The speaker in this podcasts says that teachers are trying to pull iPods into the classroom to avoid passive listening. Teachers want their student actively engaged. The speaker gives ideas on how to do this: put activation points in podcasts. Some ideas are to ask students if they agree with the speaker of the podcast and the information they are giving, ask the students to find information to back up the speaker, or have the students turn to their neighbor and teach what they have learned.
EdTechtalk.com 2009-03-12 SEEDlings
In this podcast, the guest speaker is the creator of Quizlet.com. After hearing about this website, I was dying to check it out. At this site, you can make your own flash cards, make study groups, and find other memorization techniques. I thought it was very interesting. No more spending large amounts of time on making flashcards!
This podcast was interesting to me because I like SmartBoards and I've used them many times. This podcast was about giving teachers ideas in how to used SmartBoards in classroom collaboration. The speaker in the podcast gave lists of mind-mapping sites for teachers to use. The speaker said to use case-studies and scenarios to teach teachers how to use technology. The podcast had a special speaker name Troy who went around to schools showing teachers how to use these boards. He created a scabble game to use.
Kidcast 59: Beyond Passive Listening - Active Engagement with Podcasting
The speaker in this podcasts says that teachers are trying to pull iPods into the classroom to avoid passive listening. Teachers want their student actively engaged. The speaker gives ideas on how to do this: put activation points in podcasts. Some ideas are to ask students if they agree with the speaker of the podcast and the information they are giving, ask the students to find information to back up the speaker, or have the students turn to their neighbor and teach what they have learned.
EdTechtalk.com 2009-03-12 SEEDlings
In this podcast, the guest speaker is the creator of Quizlet.com. After hearing about this website, I was dying to check it out. At this site, you can make your own flash cards, make study groups, and find other memorization techniques. I thought it was very interesting. No more spending large amounts of time on making flashcards!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
International K-12 Blogs
The first international blog I found being used in a classroom was from Canada and the name of the school is Lindale Elementary School. The school uses the blog much like our class blog. It has information about the school, teachers, and principal. Also, it includes pictures of students' work, school calendars, and individual classroom blogs.
The next blog I found is from "Mr. Lamshed's Classroom" in Adelaide, S.A. This blog has pictures of what the classroom has done: nursing home visits, activities with book reading assignments and other classroom activities. The blog also includes links for learning, notices and newsletters, and highlights from the school year.
Classroom Blogs in the U.S.
The first blog I found is from a school in Oregon named Central Elementary. The blog is used much like our own class blog. The blog has announcements, the yearly schedule, and many other sources of information for parents, students and teachers. It also allows the school to communicate with the PTA and parents to communicate with the teachers. The blog is used to brag on the students, and to give them learning resources like library searches and educational web-links.
The second blog I found is for Parkside Elemetary School in Atlanta. This blog was very neat and well put together. The blog included photo galleries and teacher tutorials. Also, it included school information: contact info, schedules, information about the teachers and principal, and details about the classrooms and what they are doing to help teach the students. This blog also include Podcasts.
The second blog I found is for Parkside Elemetary School in Atlanta. This blog was very neat and well put together. The blog included photo galleries and teacher tutorials. Also, it included school information: contact info, schedules, information about the teachers and principal, and details about the classrooms and what they are doing to help teach the students. This blog also include Podcasts.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Response to "Did You Know"
Wow! My first thought was when was this video made and how have those number changed since then. I was amazed to think that India's entire college graduate population spoke English and that one day, China would be the largest English speaking country. The video amazed me with the amount of influence the internet has had on the world. With the way it has grown in just the last decade, I'm anxious to see what the future holds. Computers are becoming smarter by the minute.
It's apparent that we have to make sure our children are able to excel in the world and we have to realize they are in competition with very smart and powerful countries. It's important we prepare students to take on this ever-changing world.
It's apparent that we have to make sure our children are able to excel in the world and we have to realize they are in competition with very smart and powerful countries. It's important we prepare students to take on this ever-changing world.
ACCESS
The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide program is designed to give students the opportunity to high-quality education through technology. This program is especially important because it offers this education to students who would otherwise not have the opportunity. ACCESS also offers AP courses for students, like physics, and gives them the necessary resources to learn how to operate today's technologically advanced world.
I think this is a great program and very important for the young people. Our world revovles around technology now and everyone must learn how to operate a computer or other technologies. This program also gives students a hand up in the world by giving them the resources so they're exposed to higher-quality learning instead of being satisfied with just the basics of reading and writing.
I think this is a great program and very important for the young people. Our world revovles around technology now and everyone must learn how to operate a computer or other technologies. This program also gives students a hand up in the world by giving them the resources so they're exposed to higher-quality learning instead of being satisfied with just the basics of reading and writing.
Monday, January 19, 2009
ALEX
The Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is a website designed for educators and others to provide a wealth of information in a convenient way. There are lesson plans, web links, and activities available to everyone. Also, ALEX has courses of study set up for anyone to browse. The courses of study cover the basics: Language Arts, Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies. It also provides information for Art, Health Education and more.
As a future educator, I'm so excited that something like this is available for me to use in my classroom. I love the idea of a lot of the information I need being composed together in an organized way! As teachers, we'll always have our hands full of things that need to be done and this website helps simplify our tasks so we can spend valuable time on other aspects of our job!
As a future educator, I'm so excited that something like this is available for me to use in my classroom. I love the idea of a lot of the information I need being composed together in an organized way! As teachers, we'll always have our hands full of things that need to be done and this website helps simplify our tasks so we can spend valuable time on other aspects of our job!
All About Me!
My name is Nikki Hunter and I'm 22. I'm a junior and my major is Early Childhood Education. I moved to Grand Bay from Atlanta in May. While I was in Georgia, I moved to different colleges and changed my major 3 times trying to find the right fit. Seems like I've found it here at South.
I recently had a little girl - She was born on January 4 and she is the love of my life! I never knew being a mother was so rewarding. Also, I'm engaged to a wonderful man named Daniel. We're still trying to adjust to being parents and trying to find time to sleep! =)
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