Blog Post # 8

This Is How We Dream
By: Richard E. Miller

Dr. Richard E. Miller is a professor in the department of English at Rutgers School of Arts and Science. In Dr. Richard Miller's videos This Is How We Dream part 1 and 2, he discusses and informs us how writing in the academy and in the culture has changed. He share the importance of reading, writing, and how to research and publish information. He mentions that he believes we are living at the moment of the greatest change in human communication and in human history. Dr. Miller starts by sharing his beginning in this profession, which was by spending time understanding writing as an activity. He says, "I am a person of the book and I was raised in a house filled with books." Dr. Richard Miller grew to accomplish his dream of writing books. He published two books; As If Learning Mattered: Reforming Higher Education and Writing at the End of the World.
The main idea presented in these videos is that the way of teaching and learning has changed tremendously. We no longer depend on pencil/pen or paper to write our papers, we use word processing. We now have the internet to research in an easier and faster manner rather then going to the library. We use the internet for many different reasons, we can also use it to communicate with others world wide. So what will it be like in the future for our children? Will they ever have to use pencil/pen and paper to write a paper? Will they have to go to the library to do research? The answers to these's question's are mostly likely no.
I myself at 21 years old have never relied on going to the library to do research, I have always found all the information I need online. I honestly enjoy using technology for learning and look forward to using it in my classroom when I start teaching. Although, I do still believe in the use of basic skills such as writing with a pencil/pen on paper and reading an actual paperback or hardback book. This basic skills should most definitely still be taught in the elementary levels of education. These basic skills are what set a foundation for higher level skills of learning such as technology. The change of using technology and multimedia has already occurred in the world today so we as educators have to be prepared for what may come in the future.

Carly Pugh - Blog Post # 12
Carly Pugh Blog

Carly Pugh is a fellow student who is also an education major at the University of South Alabama, she published an outstanding blog post # 12. After reading her post, I know she is a great student and will be an amazing teacher one day. Anyone who reads Carly's work can notice that she is a very dedicated person. She made a playlist that define's her views of being an educator, she did such a great job that I enjoyed every second of watching it! Dr. Miller and Carly's work both have similarities but also have some differences. I agree that the use of technology and multimedia will help in the classroom and is great way to get students engaged with the work assigned to them. Students will be able to have lots of fun while learning more about their assignment and how the use multimedia. I cannot thank Carly enough for sharing her excellent work on blog post # 12 and the playlist she created. I will definitely keep an open mind to all these ideas in my future classroom.

The Chipper Series and EDM 310 for Dummies

I thought that The Chipper Series was a very interesting and attention grabbing video. Chipper starts off as a student at The University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. Chipper and her parents decide that they do not like the way Dr. Strange teaches so she meets with Dr. Strange himself to speak with him about this problem but he does not change his ways so Chipper goes on the drop out of school completely. Chipper then try's other options such as different schools and many jobs to make it through life. She is the type of person who thinks she can make it through life and be successful without giving any effort. She finally realized that she was wrong along and to be successful you have to put in effort and be determined, so Chipper enrolled back in school with the major of education. The part on the topic of procrastination really caught my attention because unfortunately I do have a problem with procrastination. I sometimes tend to start work early hoping to finish earlier than the due date, but with my busy schedule of classes and schoolwork, juggling two jobs, being in a sorority and having a social life it's sometimes hard to get everything done. Although, I have struggled a slight bit I do think that overall I've done pretty well. Becoming an elementary teacher has always been a passion and goal of mine, though there has been times that I've thought is teaching really what I'm meant to do. I now know for sure that teaching is what I'm meant to do with my future because I love children and being in a classroom full of young kids eager to learn is so inspiring.

I really liked the video EDM310 for Dummies, the actors in this video did an awesome job showing the emotions students in this class feel, including me being one of them. Although, this class tends to be frustrating at times I am very thankful for the things I've already learned and I'm eager to continue to learn more. It's hard to realize exactly what all I've learned from this class so far but I know it's a lot and I cannot wait for the end of the semester to realize all the neat things Dr. Strange has introduced me to so I can use these wonderful tools in my future as an educator. Teaching isn't just about using technology in every way possible it's about using technology in the enhancement of learning.

After watching both of these videos I know how lucky I am to be in school and I'm looking forward to having a bright future. EDM 310 has encouraged me and given me much confidence. I wouldn't be opposed to making a video like either one of these.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

I really enjoyed watching and listening to this video and I agreed with most of the things talked about and said throughout it. I have grown up in the technology age and would probably be lost without my cell phone and computer. That's kinda sad to say but it's so true and I'm sure most people would say the same these days. They mentioned that all electronic devices are banned from schools and I do agree with that rule because students attend school to learn not to simply play on their cell phones, iPods, iPads and whatever other electronic devices are popular these days. Though this rule is broken every day in schools all over the world. Back in the day students would write notes to each other to communicate during class but now cell phones are used to text each other. Technology, electronic devices, and social networking is important and used all over the world by everyone. Social networking is a great way to communicate with someone sitting right beside you or someone across the country from you in a fast and easy way. School is just one of the major learning places, through we can learn from our surroundings and places we may visit, it's just that each of these has a different way of teaching and learning. Education has changed so much over the years and I think that social networking has been apart of this change. As educators we should accept this and prepare ourselves for the change that has already occurred because you never know what will happen, anythings possible.  Every piece of technology doesn't have to be used in everyday teaching but we should try to use as much as we can in the best way possible while also keeping the basic learning skills involved as well.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0 

A scavenger hunt is such a neat and fun way to learn about technology! Thank you to Justin Cometti for suggesting this as an assignment. I first watched the introduction video Discovery Education Wed 2.0 for 2011. Next I visited the home page of Discovery Education, this site has so many tools that can be used in and out of the classroom by anyone.

1. Locate a tool that is similar to Twitter/Facebook and provides a social platform for teachers, parents, and students. Create an account as a Teacher and write a paragraph or two about how you could use this site in your classroom. 

Edmodo is a wedsite kinda like Facebook, which allows you to share, though it provides teachers and students to do this securely. Edmodo is a great tool for many different things, such as posting assignments, class discussions, notifications, and many more. This tool helps teachers stay connected to their students, parents, and other teachers as well. A neat part about this tool is that you can sync your Google Docs with the Edmodo Library to easily access and share Google Docs with groups. I still have a lot to learn from Edmodo but I do plan to use this in my future classroom.

4. Find a video tool you have never used. Summarize some of its special features.

Animoto is such a cool tool to create videos! Animoto is a very easy and fun tool for anyone to use to creat slideshow videos. I created an account so I was able to make my very own slideshow, I only got the free version for now just to see what it is all about. There is a few different versions you can purchase. The lowest version is the one I used and it just has very basic features. But the higher up in the versions you get you have more options of tools and features to use. The slideshow I put together are highlights of myself with my family, friends and boyfriend over the past year. Check it out!!


Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

5. Find a tool to create a poll anywhere and at anytime. Create your first poll and post it here.

Poll Everywhere replaces expensive proprietary audience response hardware with standard web technology. It is the easiest way to gather live responses in any venue: conferences, presentations, classrooms, radio, tv, print -anywhere. It can help you to raise money by letting people pledge via text messaging. And because it works internationally with texting, web, or twitter, its simplicity and flexibility are earning rave reviews. I think this tool could be very useful for almost any subject. With this website, polls are easy to create and as teacher's we could make assignments for students more fun by using something like a poll and I think students would enjoy doing this.

Make a live audience poll at Poll Everywhere