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I thoroughly enjoyed reading the blog posts from these kids in Mr. Goerend's class. They all had such an imagination, and wonderful vocabulary. I posted a comment to Owen, who told a creative story about a baseball game. He then went into great detail about a hot dog he ate, describing the smell. Too funny! I was very impressed with a post from Sara Ready Set Read! She talked about International Read Like a Bookworm Day, and the importance of reading. According to Sara, on this day you read a book all day long no matter where you are. It is also a day to celebrate favorite authors. Sara chose a great topic to write about and I praised her in my comment to her.

Next I posted a comment on a student's post about International Act Like a Dork Day. They had to pull their pants up really high, wear glass and tape on a fake nose. I told this student it takes great courage to do this at school. They received an A+ and a free pizza party for participating. Another student wrote about "How Embarrassment Turned Into an International Holiday". After a boy was humiliated when running late, and his hat coming off to show his awful hair color, his friends created "International Sprint Like a Cheetah Day". I told this student these were great friends and a great post as well. Lastly, I read Chandler's post about International Dance Like a Dancer Day. He said there was no story behind it, he just thought it would be funny to watch everyone dancing!! They kids even danced in the bathroom. I told Chandler to be careful doing that and I enjoyed his hilarious post. These kids are really something special. It seems they love to blog and love to learn.

PLN - Personal Learning Network

At first I thought, how is a Personal Learning Network going to help me? But was I totally suprised! I have already connected with educators I've never even met through Twitter, sites and blogs. I have a Twitter account and am following several educators on there from around the globe. I get ideas simply by reading their conversations about education. Also on Twitter, I follow CNN Breaking News, the History and Discovery Channel to keep me in the loop about current news and history topics. I maintain my class blog Blogspot.com at Blogger.com and follow some of my classmates. This allows me to connect with them and learn more from reading their blog posts. As I research to learn about technology, education and history, I connect to more and more people on a daily basis. When I enter my assigned posts each week, I connect to other bloggers out there by leaving comments for them about what I have learned. I download podcasts from iTunes U about education technology and watch YouTube videos to learn more about this subject, as well as history. What is so amazing is that when you delve deeper into a conversation or post, and leave one comment on someone's blog, it basically leaves your personal "fingerprint", so that other people can read that comment, then read your blog, post a comment, and even contact you if they wish. Therefore, the communicating and learning process goes on and on around the world!

I have also subscribed to some RSS feeds and am beginning to understand what that is all about and how it works. I created my own Wiki page, Angie's Wiki and am currently learning more about it. I now realize that I will be able to utilize the tools of my Personal Learning Network to benefit my middle school students. Here are five educators who were particularly interesting to me:

William Chamberlain is a math teacher at Noel Elementary School in Missouri. By following him on Twitter, I clicked around and found a link to his class blog, W. Chamberlain and discovered that he teaches the use of technology to students and teachers. He is even following me now!! He posts pictures and videos of his students for different events in which they have been involved. This gives his students a feeling that he really cares about them as a person and as a group. By providing blog links of teachers at Noel, Comments 4 Kids, and listing the "Top Blog Commenters," he is motivating and inspiring the students, and at the same time, making his blog very personal and inviting. Mr. Chamberlain makes them feel they are actually a vital part of his classroom, not just a warm body who sits in a desk all day and listens. (No Burpback Education on this site!!)

Steven Anderson, a technology educator in North Carolina, has over 4600 followers on Twitter! He is also followed by William Chamberlain. The networking connection of learning is on the move! On his blog site, "Web 2.0 Connected Classroom," he debates the outdated grading scale that is used today. Anderson suggests using the traditional grading method, along with grades for other skills, like critical thinking and application of knowledge. I've never even thought about this, but it makes for a great argument. The letter grades of A,B,C,D, and F, are so ancient and broad in scope, the entire system needs an upgrade! I'm glad to be following this innovative thinker in the 21st Century.

Through a class assignment, I found that Dr. Alice Christie's website is a Resource for educators, and is very helpful for any teacher. I found numerous links there that allow you to view in-depth history topics on the United States. Within each of those topics there are detailed lesson plans to assist a current or future teacher, as well as curriculum standards. I have saved this site on my favorites and will refer to it in the future as I progress in my degree.

Jarrod Lamshed, is another educator I am following on Twitter. He is from Australia, teaches at Hackman East School, and is also followed by William Chamberlain. I found him by following Chamberlain! His website, Mr. Lamshed's Class is very similar to Chamberlains, in that he assigns a class blog, lists information and videos about events his students are involved in, and also lists blogs of teachers at Hackman East. You can also subscribe to RSS Feeds on his website. One awesome aspect I noticed on his website are live updates via Twitter. Talk about cutting edge technology for students!!

I absolutely love Sir Ken Robinson. He is hysterical! He is intelligent and has such a quick wit at the same time. His official website is pretty neat. I was introduced to him through one of my class blog assignments. He has several YouTube videos that are thought provoking and has written many books as well. He is known internationally as a leader in creativity development. He urges educators to examine their teaching techniques with radical new thinking skills. His argues that children need creativity, or their own individual "passion", to blossom academically, and without it, their learning is stifled. His new book is titled "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything." I plan on reading it over the Winter break.

I also visit the blog site, "AtTheTeachersDesk," which has a lot of helpful information. With my PLN, I connected to a 6th grade history teacher in Alabama through Twitter. I've sent her a message, asking for any advice she can give a future teacher. I am definitely hooked on my PLN! This is really awesome and I feel empowered.

Dear Kaia: Voicethread and Video

I see once again how you connect with people through your PLN. On William Chamberlain's class blog, he and his students met Kaia and her father while visiting Kaia's blog on the Comments4Kidz site. After being contacted by her father, he spoke to Chamberlain's class using Skype. Jabiz, Kaia's father, actually teaches English, History and Geography in Doha, Qatar, and has a blog named "The Intrepid Teacher." Soon thereafter, the class decided to make a video for Kaia since she can't read yet using Voicethread. All of the above mentioned technologies linked these people together. That is so cool! It also taught the students how to communicate globally and have compassion for another person who may be younger or come from a different culture. Kaia's blog is completely precious. She finds beauty within her "less than elegant" surroundings, as any innocent child would. It is a lesson that you can learn from people in other cultures and that you can learn from a child. I love her father taking a picture of her, while she is taking a picture of the ground.

Jabiz's blogsite is surprisingly a lot like a teacher's here in the U.S. His main concern is the spread of Swine Flu and the school closings it has caused. He talks about E-learning or virtual learning, and how he is using it since the students cannot come to class. A lot of times, I think we assume we are the only country that uses all of this new technology, but this assignment has reminded me that is not the case at all. Teachers in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world use YouTube and blogs. They have the same frustrations, challenges and dreams that American teachers have. I love the picture of the two boys walking down the street. It looks so peaceful and happy.

I think Voicethread is an awesome new concept and will be widely used. Voicethread is a new way for teachers and students to talk, share images, documents and videos. I've seen it mentioned by some of the people I am following on Twitter. The fact that it is supervised by the schools ensures the content will be topic specific. Each week I am learning more and more about how to connect with people all over the world.

One is able to teach AND learn by simply using the technology of Blogger, Skype, YouTube and Voicethread. This class reached out to a little girl and inadvertently her father just by visiting her blog site. They never dreamed they would learn about a teacher and his classroom in the Middle East.

New Media Literacies Project

I found this website Project New Media Literacies (NML). The motto is listed as "CREATE CIRCULATE CONNECT COLLABORATE". This is exactly what the Networked Student video was telling us. The student first creates, then he circulates what he has created, he connects with others, and collaborates in learning along with them. This one is a research initiative at MIT's Comparative Media Studies program. It explores how to best equip young people with social skills in order to become full participants in this new media landscape. It also raises public understanding about what it means to be literate in an interconnected, multicultual world.

At the top of this site they have an about various tabs you can click on to learn more. There is an about us tab that lists the director and other staff involved. There is a learning library tab that has numerous link to learn more about media literacy and how to get involved. Under the research tab, it states the project began in 2005. Also that their goal in to invite educators at every level to participate in an ongoing dialogue related to their research questions. Under the strategy guides tab, it is specifically directed to educators. They feel that the New Media Literacies need to be integrated across the curriculum in how educators teach and think about traditional school content. They also discuss issues of visualization and simulation; literature issues of appropriation.

This site offers a model for how these skills might be better integrated into the curriculum. They are developing a series of teacher strategy guides which will inform and inspire teachers working in that field. This will spark further experimentation and innovation. Their first Teachers' Strategy Guide: Reading in a Participatory Culture, offers strategies for integrating the tools, approaches, and methods of Comparative Media Studies into the English and Language Arts classroom. The Mapping Project is NML's newest Teachers' Strategy Guide, and is currently in development. This project will collaborate with social studies classrooms to review evolving digital strategies and the ways we, as a people, envision ourselves in the digital landscapes. The Mapping Project is an area I definitely want to learn more about as I prepare to become an educator of history and social studies. There is so much to absorb and learn, but it seems very cutting edge and exciting.

New Media Literacies Video

I watched this video. These are somewhat new terms when attributed to technology. I am not sure if these are valuable skills to have in the teaching field. Yes, students need to know about some of these skills to become creative artists, workers and citizens. I do possess some of these skills, but definitely need to learn more. I agree that we are not just the consumers anymore of these tools on the internet. We are the authors and publisher as well. You do need to use judgment to determine if information found is reliable. The term play is used here for knowing how to experiment with your surroundings as a form of problem solving. The video states that these are not just skills for the classroom or workplace, but are skills that involve creative expression and connect people together. Honestly, I think some of the skills could be used for the 21st century, but I fail to see the overall importance of most of them when referencing technology.
I am not really sure how to go about acquiring the others. I would have to learn more about them first.

The Networked Student

I had never heard of connectivisim until I saw this video! By using social networking as a learning device, the student is able to learn and connect with other students online, and the process continues. I also didn’t know about Google Scholar! I can use this in the classroom by assigning students a history topic to research on Google Scholar, bookmark it, and post the URL for others to view and explore. And of course using the blog is very helpful, as I have learned through having my own in this class. It allows you to read other opinions about a specific topic and then form your own by writing on your blog. This is the new way to learn in the 21st Century.

I think I have a lot to learn, but am eager to become a networked teacher. This course has taught me so much about technology and its effects. It has introduced me to technology that I did not even know existed. The connection tools mentioned in this video allow a student to build their own personal learning network. I notice that iTunes U is used, once again to download lectures, etc. The student is actually able to create his own virtual textbook using RSS reader, create his own Wiki, while working on this same topic. The great thing is that other students will be able to learn from everything this student has posted online. So in a sense, he is the student AND the teacher at the same time! I like the artwork illustrated by her son, I’m assuming. It was very simple, but the message was clear and concise.

The RSS feeds allow the student to subscribe to almost any type of changing content on the internet. He makes new contacts and also learns from those he already knows, without ever opening a textbook. New tools are being created every day, so educators need to take notice and embrace this new technological way of teaching. The student needs a teacher even though she does not actually lecture. She teaches him HOW to build his personal learning network and take advantage of the learning opportunities. She offers the student guidance when he gets stuck, she shows him to communicate properly and ask respectfully when requesting help from experts. Teaching students to be respectful is still very important, even if they are learning online. She also shows him how to tell the difference between good information and propaganda, how to really dig, and research for information. The teacher hopes the student will continue to use his personal learning network in the future because these ARE the skills he will need in the 21st Century. And they are skills I intend to teach to my students as well. I could use tips from Wendy Drexler, especially if she is using this to teach middle school students.

This is How We Dream!!

Richard Miller’s presentation to the Modern Language Association directly explains the “birth” and “death” of a textbook,and how outdated they are becoming. This is his faculty profile at Rutgers University, Rutgers.edu. He then moves on to detail how his online research of the Virginia Tech shootings was created completely from his computer and without books. I think we all take for granted the technology we literally have at our fingertips. Sure, books are useful, but if it’s pouring down rain or 100+ degrees outside, we don’t have to go to the library. We can walk over to our laptop and reach out across the world to research for a project. As a future teacher of history, I was intrigued to see how he brought together the different aspects of his document on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., including print, sound and visual components. I liked the reference to Dr. King’s dream motto and Miller’s title, “This is How We Dream.” He also shows how the 2008 Presidential Election changes could be seen in real time online. I agree with Richard Miller, a professor at Rutgers, that the process of writing in our culture has changed significantly. No matter what subject you are going to teach, writing is an essential skill students must have and technology must be incorporated into their writing. He really drives the point home about how worthless books have become today, when he says, “you can get it on Amazon for $.59 cents.” He is absolutely right! Your textbooks literally become worth mere cents over a short period of time.

Incorporating images certainly make a message much more powerful. I really love the Dr. King segment he put together. As a history lover, I found it very moving. As he demonstrated on a map of the U.S., this nation, and the world will continue to “go green,” and our news, via paper and books, will become more obsolete. When I begin to actually teach history, I believe it will be extremely beneficial for my students to learn by using the many different venues that are available. My students will be provided the tools necessary to write using multimedia. I plan to use iTunes U, Blogger.com, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other new technology that will be created by the time I graduate. I also think it is a good idea to have student independently insert images, videos and links into their writing assignments. Now that I am actually doing this as a student in this class, I realize the impact it adds to your written text.

Miller has also caught the “iTunes U Fever” that is spreading across university campuses nationwide. So far, this is my favorite multimedia tool that I have learned about. It has such potential for higher education, as well as K-12. I plan to use iTunes U when creating “productions” for my history topics and discussion in the classroom. Using multimedia tools will avoid the “Burpback Education” EDM310 Podcasts of just lecturing non-stop and feeding students the information and then simply giving a test. When creating a fascinating visual display via iTunes U, it will hold the students’ attention, peak their interest, and result in them learning more about it. Also, Miller makes a great point about “ideas not belonging to us individually, but as a culture.” Educators who have this mindset of working as a team and sharing their knowledge seem to be more successful. YouTube has become an essential tool to educators. Miller points out a fundamental change by using YouTube as a multimedia tool. One lesson that he and a colleague posted on YouTube got 9,000 views in 3 months. He makes the argument that had it been written in text, it might come out in 2 years versus 3 months. The pedagogy Free Dictionary field will need inspiring teachers to teach the technology that is just beyond the horizon, and I plan to be one of them. I thought both parts of this video were very intriguing and thought provoking.

The iPod and Duke University

In 2004 the people at Duke University and their Center for Instructional Technology came up with a novel idea. They distributed over 1600 iPods to first-year students, CIT Duke Unviersity. This project was implemented in an effort to encourage its use in academic education on campus. In June, 2005, an evaluation was performed, “Duke University iPod First-Year Experience Final Evaluation Report.” It determined which iPod uses were most productive. As well as any aspects of the iPod that would help form programs in the future with regard to Duke’s academic and technology goals. Many benefits were discovered, such as more convenience for faculty and students by using portable course content and less dependence on paper and textbooks. It was also found that the iPod offered flexible, independent access to digital multimedia course materials which reduced hours spent by students at the lab and library. The iPod provided simple and effective recordings of small group discussions and interviews, its use increased student interest in class discussions, labs, field research and independent projects. And lastly, it provided enhanced support for individual learning, which I believe is the most important benefit of all listed.

This evaluation also identified 4 institutional impacts of the project; an increase in communication within the campus technology support groups; publicity generated by the project produced many contacts, partnerships, and collaboration with other higher education institutions; sparked conversations between faculty, staff, administration and students about the best role for technology in teaching; publicly increased Duke University’s commitment to technology and allowed collaboration with regard to technology with Stanford University, Ohio State, Pennsylvania State and Missouri School of Journalism. I feel the IPod project at Duke helped spread the word among universities that the iPod was a valuable tool for teaching in the higher education field. Duke University and their Center for Instructional Technology were instrumental in bringing this groundbreaking technological tool to the forefront of academics.

In the span of one year, the use of the iPod as an academic technological gadget basically exploded! As of December, 2005, the student use of iPods QUADRUPLED at Duke. Also, academic courses that used the device in the classroom actually doubled in only its second year at the university. Duke News. The projection for the 2006 Spring semester is that 1200 students in 42 courses will use the iPod in lectures and assignments, versus the previous Spring semester where 280 students used it in 19 courses. As mentioned above, the Duke iPod First-Year Experience, eventually grew into the Duke Digital Initiative (DDI), which promotes the effective use of new technology in higher education. DDI promotes the development of digital technology, such as digital audio and video, as well as tablet PCs in the classroom. These tools capture the students’ interest and encourage them in their studies. It seems that Duke University has set off a national race for other universities to get “technological” via the iPod. I think it is a great concept and I hope it reaches South Alabama very soon.

iTunes U

After researching online for websites about iTunes U, I found this simple, but very informative video on YouTube, YouTube. This video tells you all about iTunes U and gives detailed instructions on how to find what you are looking for at the iTunes Store. It is free and available to anyone, not just students. Along with downloading to your computer, you can also sync podcasts to your iPod or iPhone. Some of the ITunes U sources are universities, PBS stations and museums. What a great technological concept Apple has come up with again! I first heard of iTunes U this semester in my EDM 310 class with Professor Averitt. For one of my class assignments, I downloaded several podcasts via iTunes U. After listening to these, I was convinced that using iTunes U, along with podcasts in the classroom, would be an effective teaching tool.

I then decided to check out Stanford University, and see how they were using iTunes U. They include a restricted site for Stanford students, faculty and academic technology staff. But it also has a public iTunes U site for the entire community. (Hopefully iTunes U will be available for South Alabama students in the near future.) Standord’s restricted site provides curriculum information via CourseWork-linked iTunes sites. The faculty can request an iTunes CourseWork site for their course(s). This allows the instructor to create a private iTunes site visible only to registered CourseWork users in a particular class. Administrators and instructors can upload and edit the content of a course, while students are only allowed to preview and download course content. I predict it will be available to middle and high schools across the country by the time I graduate. iTunes U will certainly be a very useful application in the K-12 teaching field.

Dr. Alice Christie

Dr. Christie’s website provides a wealth of information about so many diverse subjects and grades levels. I chose the topic “Teaching with Historic Places” (TwHP). I will be teaching history/social studies and the internet will be the first place students will turn to for their research. Occasionally, I will require them to use actual encyclopedias and books, but the internet will continue to be the dominant research tool. To get to TwHP within her site, select “Searching the Web,” on the left hand side of her home page, then click "Online Researching Resources", click "Primary Sources" and "Teaching with Historic Places". TwHP has implemented their lesson plans with the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS). There is also a link for “Curriculum Standards for Social Studies”.

These particular lesson plans were developed with middle school students in mind, but are also appropriate for other grades. I feel they would be extremely useful in my classroom, as a first year teacher. Once you click on a specific topic within TwHP, such as “The Birthplace of John F. Kennedy”, and then click “About This Lesson”, it explains how you can develop this lesson into your own classroom curriculum. It also lists student objectives, as well as materials for students, which therein include links for each one. Dr. Christie’s website gives you step by step details on how to teach each and every lesson. I am definitely keeping this website for future use and review. Exploring this site has actually made me very optimistic and excited about teaching history! This is helpful for any current or future educator who would like to enhance learning in their classroom, regardless of subject or grade level.