My EDM 310 Blog Assigments are Now Complete

well....... we did it! Through all the breakdowns and panic attacks, we made it! YAH! bye... I will see yall around!

blog: week 16

Throughout this semester, I have learned quite a few things. I have become more effective using Microsoft Word since I learned new tools as well as faster steps to creating word processing pages. I also have learned a great deal about spreadsheets. I have never been introduced to the payment table concepts and since I understand them now, I will be much more prepared when I get ready to purchase a car, house, etc. I have also learned a lot of new tools for the future by doing these blogs. I know of quite a few more resources that I will be able to use in my classroom to better educate my students!

blog: week 14

As I read through the information about NPR blogs and wired news, I realized that Wikipedia tends to create these things in effort for their own advancements. I dont think that the program should allow for changing of information by random other people. So many people use this program for research and count on its contents to be factual. I definitely do not like the idea of Diebold being able to change Wikipedia information. This only brings concerns for the public and shows much weakness in their system. It's very scary that the information that is being fed to the public could very well be a lie.

As far as my opinion and feelings toward Wikipedia and its components, I do not think that I fully trust the information. I have used this as a resource in the past and now that I am understanding all the kinks and mishaps of the system, I dont know that I will ever use it again. Its not fair for Wikipedia to put information on the web about educational topics since so many people use this as a resource in their own studies. There is no way of truly knowing what has been altered, so I will most likely stay away!

blog: week 13

Dr. Carol Dweck, of Standford University is studying and observing new psychological concepts throughout learning in K - 12. Studies show that students are pre-destined to be in a certain skill category and it will stay that way until they are finished with school completely. Dr. Carol Dweck does not understand this concept and has her own concept called Growth Mindset that helps students to breat mental barriers that usually hold students back from learning and allows them to learn with different learning styles.

As a future teacher, I would be able to better educate my students by using this resource. The Growth Mindset concept will help students to branch out of their normal learning style and learn differently. Using these videos, I would have discussion and even blog topics or journal topics about them so that students can express what they have learned. This is always a good way for students to explore new ideas.

blog: week 12

As I visited The Teachers domain, I realized that it has a lot of great ideas and programs about history and discovery. The videos were very clear and easy to understand. Its a great idea to put these topics on audio and video because they are more interesting to watch. Students dont fully understand this type of information unless they can see it.

I watched a Space Science video on the Earth and the enormous amounts of life on Earth. This is rare since Earth is the only place in the solar system with life on it. I know that this would be a great tool for me as a teacher because it would allow for different learning styles for my students. It would be much more fun and interesting if I could show my students videos instead of reading from a textbook.

I would definately take part in The Teachers Domain and include its materials in my everyday teaching. Hopefully, I could tie in a video with most every lesson. I know that these concepts are hard to grasp without a visual, so I know these videos would be great!

week 9 post: iTunes University

A great advancement was made by iTunes recently. They have constructed a new program known as iTunes University where there are ample amounts of audio and video lectures from universities around the United States. The program allows viewers to see actual audio and video clips from university classrooms like Stanford, Duke, Arizona St., etc.

In my classroom, I know that these resources will be of great help if I need assistance on planning a lesson. Also, I will be able to show audio and video clips using the iTunes program to better educate my class. Since I will be in an elementary classroom, I will not require my students to use this program on their own at home. Although, while in the classroom, I will have the program on the computers for students to use while I instruct them.