I must say it has been fun and a great learning experience. I have enjoyed all of the knowledge and all of the new faces that I have come to know, but I am glad that the semester is at a close!

Summary Post

1) I actually loved all of the things that we covered in our class. I learned a lot of things that i will be able to bring into my classroom. As I have stated before I love the idea of having blogs in my classroom. I is a great source for parent/teacher communication and a great way for parents to be involved with their child's school work. I loved learning how to upload videos onto UTube, well I did not love to learn how to do it, but I love that I now know how to do it. Google docs and spreadsheets are a great tool that I will use that I did not know even existed before this course. I also love iTunesU. There is so much information available so much knowledge that can be used! I also liked the "Comments for Kids" it not only made us involved with the classrooms of today, but gave me great ideas and encouragement for technology in my classroom. I have voiced to you my love for Delicious. I am also very glad that you brought our "intellectual trail" to our attention. I had never thought of my footprints before. I must say that I have a huge library of knowledge at finger tips that I never new was there until this class!

2) I do not think that there could be anymore that I would have liked to have learned. I am sure that there is more out there thought.

3) I am glad that we learned everything that we did! Knowledge is power!

4) As I stated before many things excited me in the class. I loved being able to talk to people that we had assignments on. I also am very excited over all of the knowledge that I am now able to access and all the the tools available for me and support from other teachers on the web.

5) I did not find anything intellectually challenging.

6)I was never bored, always on my toes!

7) I would hope for a complete outline of assignments at the beginning of the semester that did not change to be able go by and double check myself along the way.

8) I think that I am more technologically literate that I was entering this course. I believe that I am in the medium range.

9) I will maintain and improve my skills learned in this class by using the tools that have been brought to my attention and by continuing to search for more tools.

Comments 4 Kids Summary

I really loved doing Comments for Kids this semester. I loved being able to see how other teachers are incorporating technology into their classrooms. It gave me great ideas, like using google earth to look up where famous people once lived. I also love the idea of my students parents being able to log on and look at their child's progress in the class and what they are working. I think that it is encouraging to the students that we worked to receive comments from college students and their parents. I think that it gets them excited about their work and make them want to do well on their because they know that their parents and us are looking at their work.

PLN

I will use Google Documents in the classroom as well. This will eliminate the hassle of my students and their parents buying and carrying around disks and usb storage drives. A Google document is free and no more what computer the students get on they will always be able to access Google documents. With Google documents, my students will be able to write word documents and do presentations among other things.
iTunesU
I plan to use iTunes University in my classroom. This will be useful to me, my students, and parents. I will be able to get great ideas from my peers about assignments. My students will benefit from iTunes by looking at some great podcast videos done by other students. The parents will benefit by visiting iTunes to look at their child's classroom video podcasts and/or listening to the podcasts.

I plan on using these tools daily in the classroom. I feel that it will take me a year or two to get on track with it, but I think once I get it down it will be like riding a bike. I will have to wait to get out there to decide exactly where I will use them in my class, but I will certainly have my students using blogger to post their journals.

My Projects

View my Podcast project Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

View my other project Mac vs. PC

New Classroom Rules

My Two Favorites of these are...

2. Come to class on time, or log into your online class anytime day or night, whenever it is most convenient to you.

8. Do not cheat, but remix, re-purpose, and sample other peoples’ work and ideas and give them credit.


... I picked these two because I actually use both of them! I think that technology is great it has helped me as a mom be able to take classes that I would have normally not had the time to take. I also Love to quote other peoples work. There are a lot of people out there with great thoughts that I love to include in my work, but you must ALWAYS acknowledge them!

7 Brilliant Things Teachers Do With Technology

I really liked this article. It not only shines light on the teachers who are doing good things with technology, but it also inspires and give new well any teachers ideas and encouragement. I love when he said, "Technology won’t make a poor teacher a good one. But it can make a good teacher even better. And it can help make great teachers the ones that students remember for the rest of their lives."

My Two Favorite are...

1. Empower kids with technology. Technology is an amplifier of natural abilities. Brilliant teachers see that good writers become better writers, good debaters become better debaters, good French speakers become better French speakers, good mathematical problem-solvers become better mathematical problem-solvers, and so on. by helping their students harness technology. They do not see technology as a crutch, but as a propellant. Brilliant teachers have experienced the empowering power of technology themselves. Brilliant teachers use good assessment strategies to rigorously determine the quality of technology-enhanced projects.

Use this great tool of the future, it is here.

6. Use the kids’ own devices to teach them. Brilliant teachers understand the old Arab proverb, "It's easier to steer the camel in the direction it is already heading." Students are increasingly and unstoppably bringing in personal communication devices -- cell phones, cameras, game devices, iPods/mp3 players, netbooks, laptops, and PDAs. Brilliant teachers know how to use cell phones to poll their classes; create podcasts of lectures for later review; use games to teach difficult concepts; and make "Google-jockeys" of student wireless laptop users. Read the report, http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/publications/index.html?tr=y&auid=4393966 Pockets of Potential for a great overview of this topic.

Use the students on interest to keep them interested. Learn from them as well!

Seven Stupid Mistakes Teachers Make

HA HA, I can't believe people are watching porn at work!
That is absurd.
Why he decided to compare that with what follows is I guess to catch the attention of the reader, but I do not feel is in the same scope, but a great eye catcher!

To me these mistakes are common sense, Not backing up data, Treating a school computer like a home computer, Not supervising computer-using students, private online communication, Believing that one's teaching style need not change, ignoring kids interest in technology, Thinking technology in schools will go away. I do not see how teachers are making these mistakes or believe these things. I certainly hope that there are not any new teachers in the field who are thinking these things.
I realize all of these points and plan to abide by the rules of common sense. Do not use you work computer as a home computer! Do not look at anything or post anything on the Internet that you do not want traced back to you. REMEMBER YOUR FOOTPRINTS!

The two that are most important to me are...
1. Not backing up data. "You mean having two copies of my files on the hard drive doesn't count as a backup?" The first time a teacher loses his or her precious data, my heart breaks. The second time, well, stupidity ought to cause some suffering.


I think that out of them all this is the one mistake that may have actually made. It is always a good idea to have a thumb drive, but what about backing up your back up? I have had thumb drives that erased all of my files before!

4. Thinking online communication is ever private. Eventually, everyone sends an embarrassing personal message to a listserv. I've heard of some tech directors who get their jollies reading salacious inter-staff e-mails. Your school e-mails can be requested and must be produced if germane to any federal lawsuits. Even e-mail deleted from your computer still sits on servers somewhere -- often for a very loooong time. Think you wiped out your browsing history? Don't bet that is the only set of tracks you've left that show where you've been surfing. Your Facebook page will be looked at by the school board chair; your superintendent and principal know who the author of that "anonymous" blog is. Not assuming everyone can see what you send and do online is stupid.

I think that anyone who thinks that online communication is private is very stupid! You need to turn on your television or get a computer yourself if you believe this one!

I have to say the I have mixed emotions on this link. It can be used as a great communication tool for educators, but some people tend to be using it for a "gripe" session. I read one about students using pencils as weapons and students having to turn in thier pencils to the office.... blaugh blaugh blaugh.

One blog that did stand out as great though was the one about teaching students how important it is to create a positive digital portfolio. It remindes me of Dr. Strange in teaching us about our tech trails. I never realized before this class how great our digital imprints can be.

The author of that blog was so very right in saying "we must encourage our students to create and save digital content whether it be audio, video, writing, or a mash up of the three at some centralized spot that can be found later by them, future employers, or even by colleges and universities. What are you doing to help your students create their own positivie on line identity?"

Michael Wesch: Part Two

"The Machine is Changing US" is right on point! Media does mediate our conversations! I truly believe that the media has a major impact on our actions and I believe that the public follows the impact of what is said. I think that the media influenced the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Obama was smart in this and took advantage of technology and the media in winning the election. Television is "shaping" our culture. What can change this? How can we stop this impact? It is a major concern of mine. BUT as Mr. Wesch states in regard to the middle east, What do you plan to do about it?....NOTHING! It seems to overwhelming to save the world from the media. I know that I can control my home though and instead of letting my son get worked up over the death of Micheal Jackson, whom he has no idea of who that person was before his death, I just DO NOT LET HIM WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ps22

I loved watching this video. I almost cried. Landslide is one of my favorite songs. I think that it is great that these students were able to come together and sing this touching song. It is great that Stevie Nicks saw this video herself and was so touched that she invited the students to sing this at a concert. This was so great.