Blog Post 8

This is How We Dream
In the video This is How We Dream Part 1 Dr. Richard E Miller talks about "writing with media." He talks about how students, and other writers, can publish documents using a form of media and a written publication.
I think this is a great concept to use not only in classroom but in everyday life, even with very young kids. Kids today know so much about technology because they have a Iphone, Ipad and Ipod it amazes me everyday. In the video, Dr. Miller talks about a media publication he did, and if he would have printed the same information and had it published, it would take over two years for the information to be made public. With this type of media publication, the information is made public immediately.
He talks about two different types of changes that have come from technology: Incremental and fundamental change. Incremental being the change of notebooks and pencils to laptops. Everything that you use to communicate is on your laptop or smart phone. Fundamental is the advances of technology. He talks about ideas being shared and not becoming individual property. I really liked that, ideas should be passed on not kept to yourself.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post
Carly is a great writer and has a lot of tallent. I loved reading this post because you could just feel the excitement for this project through her words and the way she wrote it. I like the idea of having and understanding just what you want your teaching philosophy to be and how you want to teach. I love the inspirational videos that she found. She did a great job coming up with this idea. It really got me to thinking about just what I want to bring to the table as a teacher. I want to inspire my students in a positive way. She seemed to really understand just what EDM 310 can do to help us as future teachers.

EDM 310 is different

I watched both of these videos, The Chipper Series, and EDM310 for Dummies, at the beginning of the semester when Dr. Strange suggested them hoping that they would prepare myself for the class that I was about to endure. I was nervous/terrified/stressed/eager all together for the first 2 weeks. Needless to say, I was a complete wreck. Both of these videos are absolutely hilarious. The EDM310 for Dummies offered a great deal of relief. Obviously other students had made it out of this class alive, so I knew I could do it. I have felt just like these students. Ripping the keyboard out of the computer and throwing things have crossed my mind. After making it through the first half of this class, I am no longer a complete wreck because I have my own schedule and can do assignments at my own pace. I have learned that I was a huge procrastinator and I have learned what the term “time management” actually means. I wish I had taken this class as a freshman; I would probably have done better in some of my other classes.
The Chipper Series was also great. Chipper is a normal college student who thinks that teachers should plan around her schedule. After being fired from every job possible she decides to go back to school. I believe I would have given up and returned to school sooner than she did. I remember freshman year, even this past semester, thinking, “this teacher must think their class is the only class I am taking and that I do not have a personal life”. Yes, this class can be stressful if you get behind but it is also a wonderful class, in that, you learn much more than just the same ole “textbook material”; you acquire knowledge that will be useful for the rest of your life.
The video that I would make for future students is How to Use Collaboration. Collaboration is a major part for group projects in this class. In this video I would show a group for 4 students that included someone who was not a “team player”. The plot would show all of the students working together to make a podcast with the “outcast" member playing on the phone and not paying attention while the others worked hard on their project. I would show how to use Google Docs, texting, email, and twitter for meeting times and other important shared information. The “outcast” member would not pay attention to any of the information being sent to them, further omitting them from the important project. In the end, the student would learn how to use all of the advances suggested and learn how to be a “team player”.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

In the video learn to change, change to learn it showed experienced educators discussing how much education has changed. Whether we like to admit it, change in education is necessary. Children need to be taught more about technology and social media networks because that is all that is around them. If they are not taught how to use social media networks and technology at school, they will have to learn it elsewhere. Isn't the purpose of going to school to learn? Children should not have to learn elsewhere, technology and social media should be incorporated into school so they will be prepared for the "real world" when they complete school. One of the teachers on the video said that kids are getting a more stimulating experience outside of school than they are at school. This should not be the case, but unfortunately it is in so many circumstances. By bringing social media networks and other technology to school, children will learn so much more and have a stimulating experience inside of the classroom. When I become a teacher, I want my students to enjoy learning and I want to encourage them to be creative and have fun.

Scavenger Hunt
This assignment was suggested by Justin Cometti in the fall semester of 2011 in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. Like mentioned previously in this post, he also had to come up with an assignment, like Carly's. Justin came up with the Scavenger Hunt 2.0 . In this assignment, we were given 5 things to look for, but were to only choose 3 assignments to do on our post.
I first, located Edmodo.com . It is a website that is much like Twitter or Facebook, but for students and teachers to interact with one another. This is a great tool for the classroom. It is a space where students and teachers can communicate back and forth. It is especially useful for parents, too. The parents will be able to see some, if not most, of the work performed by their children online.

I created a poll at pollyeverywhere.com