Blog Assignment 4

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom by Joe Dale


In this podcast Joe Dale discusses some of the benefits of using podcasts in the classroom.  One of the example benefits he gives is that they are an effective way of interacting with students outside of the classroom.  Others are as follows: a form of learning students of today are familiar with and therefore makes it relevant to them, it allows for differentiation and project based learning, it promotes creativity and innovation, and it can offer distance learning opportunities for absent students.  He then shows us an example of using podcasts in the class room.  He profiles a sixth grade social studies teacher who has used a number of different podcast and podcast projects in the classroom.   The podcast the teacher is using in this video is a book with different characters and he uses different people to have a different voice other than his own on the recording.  It really brings the characters to life for the students.  Mr. Dale also interview a principal who agrees with his point that it can be a very effective way of teaching.  At the end he gives some resources on podcasting using GarageBand and Audacity.  


I enjoyed watching this podcast.  I listen to a number of podcasts from iTunes and I was under the impression that it was a specific term used for iTunes.  I didn't know it was more of a universal term.  Two of my favorite podcasts are "The Moth" and "This American Life."  They are great podcasts that share stories and having a degree in English, I love stories.  I also went to the resource he provided about using Audacity and found it to be very helpful.  I have not ever made a podcast so being assigned to make one is a bit scary because I have no clue how to do that.  The Audacity resource he listed really helped out a lot.  Here's a link to it: Audacity Tutorial.


The Practical Principals with Melinda Miller and Scott Elias


What I can gather about this website is that it is a couple of tech savvy principals who podcast about technology in the classroom.  I can tell without even listening to the podcasts yet that this will be a very helpful website and I have already bookmarked it in my browser.  It appears that there hasn't been a new podcast since about May of this year.  The latest podcast is about end of the year wrap up for principals and I didn't think this podcast would be very practical for me to listen to at this time, but like I said I know I will be back to this website.  The second most recent one was all about technology and I know I'll be able to get a lot out of this one.  

They begin the podcast talking about the MacBook Air.  They were both very complimentary of the machine.  I have a MacBook Pro which is the bigger laptop computer from Apple, the Air is very thin, it actually does't even have a slot to put in CD's or DVD's.  It's basically like a PC version of a NetBook. See picture above.  When I was considering buying my new computer I was in debate which one I should get.  They say that the Air is better because it's just as fast as the Pro, but it weighs a lot less and is easier to carry.  I went with the Pro, because I couldn't justify spending the same amount of money for less computer.  But, they make a lot of good points.  Another thing I really like about this podcast is that for everything they talk about they leave a link to directly underneath the link to listen to the podcast.  Overall the podcast is about 45 minutes long and is full of great advice on technology.  They also present the fact that all this technology is great they are good tools, but it is not about the tools.  It's about who and how they are being used.  Great podcast!


Eagle's Nest Radio & Class Blog


This blog and podcast is from Mrs. Edmison's third grade class.  Basically the podcast's work in conjunction with the lessons that Mrs. Edmison is teaching.  It's really great.  The children in the classroom are who narriate the podcasts.  So, not only is she teaching them about roman architecture, for example, she is also having them recreate it for themselves.  I always found this type of learning very beneficial.  As a student you don't just have to memorize a bunch of facts and then answer questions about them.  You have to really learn it and be able to talk about it for yourself, in essence you could then go teach someone about roman architecture because you've taught yourself about it.  


She is also teaching them at a very early age about really using computers for more than just facts or entertainment.  She's teaching them to be well versed in using computers in the future to accomplish specific tasks beneficial to our forward thinking society and work force.  I think Mrs. Edmison is doing a great thing.  It's innovative and a new way for students to learn.  

My Sentence Video

My Sentence Video

C4T post 1

The C4T blog I was assigned was "Principals Page" by Michael Smith. His blog post are usually short and very enjoyable, but the fact that they are short and usually only present one main idea does not offer much for reflection. In this weeks post the author talks from an administrators point of view and is titled "Kindergarten Kids Remind Me of Las Vegas." He begins by talking about how much he enjoys seeing the fresh batch of kindergarteners that come in every year. He talks about how much fun they are and how full of wonderment they are. He then talks about looking at them and wondering about how promising their futures are and what kind of promise they have in store. He gives examples about some of them being valedictorian, prom queen, starting quarterback, and even doctors or lawyers. Then he says it makes him think about the ones that will struggle and have learning disabilities, divorced parents, and financial difficulties. He then compares their futures to making a gamble. He says in closing "On the surface everything is wonderful. But just underneath things aren't quite so perfect."


My comment: "This is great perspective. At that age most children don’t have much experience with either success or emotional/physical struggle. I think that it is an inspiration to everyone to see children live at their purest. I mean at that point no one cares about much except boys think girls are icky and girls think boys are smelly. Thanks for the perspective."

I did receive a follow up e-mail after making this post. All it said was thanks for commenting, but as always it was nice to be told thanks.

The next blog post I commented on was titled "Do You Know Who I Am?" The post was about how as an educator, who has been at it for quite some time, you will be approached later in life by former students asking the sometimes awkward question "do you know who I am?" He says that the majority of the time he does not remember because they have aged, gained or lost weight, or been sent to prison thus now covered in tattoos. He says that after they talk for a while he remembers the 1994 version of who they were or what-have-you. It was a fun read. Like the last post it was difficult to think of anything to say because it is a general observation and there were not a lot of different ideas or thoughts expressed. But, I did what I could with what I had.

Here's my comment: "I'm not a teacher yet. I am in school studying to be one, but I have never thought about what it will be like in the future to help push students along hopefully into bettering their life. Then years later being recognized by them and not having a clue who they are. Also, after reading this I probably won't feel so bad if this ever happens to me because I'll know that I'm not the only one"

Here is a link to "Principals Page"

Blog Assignment 3

"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines


In this article Mrs. Hines talks about the push of using technology in the classroom.  She talks about how beneficial these services are.  She says using blogs, podcasts, and wikis are innovative tools for learning and teaching, but they are not the first things needed to initiate change in the classroom.  She presents that in the bigger picture teacher need to teach students to be learners.  Teach them to think critically and solve problems first.  She also charges teachers to be learners as well.  She says that with all the technology available, that technology in the hands of a bright, innovative teacher can make amazing things happen.  But, the teacher must be willing to learn how to effectively use these things.  She says a computer can be used in two ways in the classroom, as an effective tool for learning, or a word processer and game system.  As the title suggests it really is not about the technology.  Putting smart boards in every classroom will not change the public school system, but where it starts is with the teacher.  If the teacher is not willing to be a learner and keep up technologically and intellectually then technology is not the answer.

I can say that I really got a lot out of this article.  It really does reach, in my opinion, to the heart and core of this class.  Learning, on our own, about technology and using technology in the classroom  is an almost limitless resource.  I mean information is much more readily available to us than it ever has been and utilizing that in the classroom can do nothing but good things.  Like the article suggests though it is completely up to the teacher to use the things made possible by technology to the best of their ability.  The real questions to me is why wouldn't you want to do that?  I mean me personally, I want to be the best at whatever it is that I am doing.  Using technology effectively and teaching students to learn how to use it can only make me better at what I do.  Great article!

Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?by Karl Fisch 

This article by Mr. Fisch was written about four years ago.  He talks about how it is not okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher.  Taking the information we learned from his "Did You Know 3.0" video technological information has doubled and probably doubled again since he first wrote this post.  Lets hope that the number tech savvy teachers has at least doubled since then.   Despite it's age the article raises a number of good questions and charges educators to keep up with the times.  He says that technology is a part of life now, there's no way around it.  He compares being technologically literate in the twenty-first century to being able to read and write in the twentieth century.  In the early part of the twentieth century you could get away with not being able to read and write and still be successful.  But by the end of the twentieth you could not be successful at all.  He says the same is going to be true for technological literacy in the twenty-first century.  You can get away with it for now, but eventually you will have to be technologically literate or be unemployable.  He then says this "If a teacher today is not technologically literate -and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more- it's the equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write." which is the jest of his entire article.   

I can say that I do agree with a lot of what Mr. Fisch is saying in this article.  I mean he's not saying lessons need to be like Steve Jobs introducing a new Apple product or anything like that.  But he is saying that educators need to use technology in the classroom and teach their students how to as well.  I think he is speaking in the same vein as the first article.  I don't think he's saying that technology is the answer, but teaching critical thinking skills and problem solving integrated with technology is how educators should be teaching.  Using the technology as another way, or the primary way to convey information.

 Gary Hayes Social Media Count

This is an awesome website!  It is absolutely amazing to see how much information is processed through all these different avenues of social media and social networking.  It really does blow my mind to see that in fifty four seconds forty four hours of video was uploaded and that six hundred new people joined Google+.  This really does show you how much technology is a part of our society.

As much as our society is entrenched in technology educators should use this as an advantage in the classroom.  I mean it is a medium by which everyone already receives most of their information these days.  People don't read newspapers, they use their computer for the news.  If people are learning about the world using technology should educators use it to teach students about the world?  It makes all the sense in the world to me.  Check out the link for that website! It's pretty incredible.

A Vision of Students Today by Michael Wesch


This is an awesome video made by students in an anthropology class at the University of Kansas.  In the video it talks about how people are spending their time and how they are learning in America and in some instances world wide.  Two hundred students submitted responses to a set of questions in a Google  Doc about how they spend their time, money, and resources.  The camera bounces around to different people in the classroom and they hold up notes about how their time is spent per day.  Three hours in class, one and a half hours watching television, and so on.  They all added up to twenty six and a half hours and concluded with one student holding up a sign that said I'm good at multi-tasking, and then another that said I have to be.  Then the video addresses bigger concerns.  One student holds up a scantron answer sheet that says (I'm paraphrasing here, its actually a number of cards) filling this out will  not help me get to where I'm going or help solve the worlds problems. Saying "I did not create the problems, but they are my problems." and giving examples like war and poverty.  Lastly it poses the thought that some have suggested that technology can save us, then some have suggested that technology alone can save us.  It concludes with talking about the chalkboard and writing on a chalkboard, it questions what is missing?  Pictures, video's, networking?

I really liked this video, i was able to relate to it in a number of ways.  This semester I am also taking a sociology class and the part where it's talking about not creating the problems but they are still my problems is a great connection for me looking the the eyes of the sociology class I'm taking.  thinking about how much of my life is determined by what everybody else does really brings some new perspective.  I believe my generation views it more as an us problem and wants to find a way to fix it. I believe my generation to be a more self-less generation than maybe some of the previous generations.  I mean take TOMS shoes for example.  They are ugly, cheap shoes that fall apart after about six months.  But I have had three pairs of them because the idea behind it is one for one.  For every pair of shoes bought another pair is donated to a child who does not have shoes somewhere in the world.  My generation loves gimmicks like this.  They are spreading like wildfire.

It is exciting to see how much technology is going to influence the educational system into the future.  It will eventually replace chalkboards and whiteboards instead everyone in the class will be drawing on their iPads and have it networked to display on the wall.  I mean think about it, I can learn so much just using the interent.  Whole libraries can be saved onto my hard drive.  I can't wait to see where we're going to end up with all of this.

Project 5 - Google Presentation

Blog Assignment 2

Did You Know 3.0 by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod

This video presents a lot of facts about the world we are currently living in and how technology is affecting our society.  It also presents some facts about the United States in comparison to other countries and their population.  The video states that the amount of technological information is doubling every two years.  So what that means is if a student is pursuing a four year technical degree by his/her third year half of what they studied in their freshman year will be outdated.  This challenges educators to not only keep with with technology but tech technology.  The video suggests that we will be teaching students how to use technology that has yet to be invented in order to solve problems that have yet to present themselves.

There are a number of remarkable things presented in the video.  Some that challenge us like when it said India has more honors kids than America has kids.  The video was a bit dated suggesting that MySpace has 200 million users, which it probably no longer does.  That also brings the question how much of that information has already changed.  It said that in 2006 there were 2.6 billion Google searches per month but when the video was made it was a staggering 31 billion.  I think that video was made in 2008 so by 2011 that number has to at least doubled.  It also raises the question who answered all the questions before Google?

Some other things I found interesting: The top 10 on demand jobs didn't exist in 2004. Students will hold 10 to 14 jobs by the time they are 38 and 1 out of every 2 people at most companies have been there less than 5 years.  By 2013, a super computer will be built that will exceed the computational capabilities of the human brain, and by 2049 there will be one that exceeds the capabilities of the entire human population.  Wow, what a great video! It opened my eyes to a lot of new things and also challenged me to learn as much as I possibly can about this world and our society.

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needleman

In this video Mr. Winkle wakes up after a 100 year long nap.  At first he goes into a business and sees all the new technology, computers, fax machines, copiers, and people having business meetings over webcam.  He can't believe it and gets lightheaded and has to leave.  From there he goes into a hospital and again encounters technology the likes of which he's never seen like heart monitors, x-ray machines, and again computers.  He can't seem to get comfortable here either with all the new technology so he goes into a school.  He notices that all the children are sitting in rows like he was used to.  He also noticed that the teacher just lectured and everything was like it was 100 years ago.  He sees a computer in the back covered with dust and rarely used.  Mr. Winkle likes school.

This video made me think about how I was taught in school. Most of my teachers were reluctant to change and for the most part had us do little to no assignments on computer.  With the way technology is taking over our way of life teachers must teach with technology.  It is without a doubt the greatest resource an educator has.  I am learning a lot in this class by have to actually do things and not have to memorize them and spit them back out.  Knowing these skills and putting them to use will make me a better teacher.  The world is changing, education is changing along with it.  The video said "Even after 100 years everything remained the same."  This should never be the case in any classroom.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

I found this presentation to be exceptional. The just of it is that up to this point the education system we have is flawed because it does not promote creativity.  He says that formal education was brought about by the industrialization era and that because of that education is predicated around two things.  One, that the most useful things are it the top(i.e. math and language)  and the second is academic ability.  He illustrates a story about a famous choreographer who as a child could not sit still in a regular classroom and the teacher tells her mother, after discovering her affinity for dance, to send her to a dance school.  Rather than stifle her in a regular classroom she was sent where her creativity could flourish.  Now she's very successful. Sir Ken Robinson also says in his presentation that "If you're not prepared to be wrong you'll never come up with something original." Because being wrong is such a stigma in education today he says we are educating people out of their creative capacity for fear of being wrong.  He encourages us to educate the whole being because the future is unknown and education is taking us into a future we can't grasp.

This presentation taught me a lot.  It will definitely be something I watch again, probably a number of times.  It encouraged me to, if in a future classroom, to promote and accept creativity because I feel it was missing from my education.  This class has and will challenge me and my creativity.  I have often though that was one of my better academic skills, being creative, but it never seemed to find it's place in most classrooms.  I will be using my creativity as much as possible in my academic efforts and will encourage all those around me to do the same.

Cecelia Gault Interviews Sir Ken Robinson

This video and the article that partners with it helped me learn a lot about how important creativity is in education.  It makes me sad that as Americans we believe our country to be the best in the world.  Yet, we are not first in education, I don't think we're even in the top ten.  It also raises the question of the importance of education in our society.  As American's we love winning.  Take the Olympics for example, our country usually is at the top of the metal count list in both summer and winter olympics.  We take pride in that, we revel in the fact that our country has superior athletes to others.  Yet, we seem very complacent to the fact that there is a twenty-five percent drop out rate in our education system.  Should we not too take pride in our public education system and want it to be of this highest worldly standard as we expect our athletes to be?

I feel that there is a lot we can learn from other countries in all aspects of life, not only limited to our education systems.  In the interview Sir Ken Robinson encourages people to travel to learn, he says it is one of the best ways to learn.  He also discusses myths about creativity, he says everyone is creative and can be taught how to be more creative.  I know I am going to be doing more research into Sir Ken Robinson and learning more about what he has to say about the future of education.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smart

In this video Vicki Davis talks about some of the technological resources she uses to help connect her classroom in rural south Georgia to places all over the globe.  She is teacher he students using a lot of the same tools that we are using in this class including Google docs, Twitter and blogging.  She has them make YouTube videos and work with other students making those videos in other parts of the world.  She says that if you have a classroom where there is only paper and only pencil then only certain types of students are going to succeed.   She's teaching them the importance of technology and how it is a portal to the world.  With a smart phone or laptop computer there is literally a myriad of information at your fingertips.  It is important to be able to know how to access and utilize that technology in our growing world.

I really liked this video.  I think it is very encouraging to see emphasis placed on technology in the classroom.  It is inevitable, our future will be and to an extent already is focused around technology.  Being able to use this to our advantage and use it successfully will pay back dividends in the future.  It is the way the world is moving and it is very important that our educational system recognize how important technology is to the advancement of our society and our societies intellectual capacity.  Using technology in the classroom I feel really reaches out and gets to people on a completely different level.  I think it would help more students learn and learn how to learn as Vicki Davis says in the interview.

Project 2 - Wordle

Blog Assignment 1

A Little About Me

Hey!  I’m Taylor Lane and this is my blog for EDM310!  Well, I was born and raised in Moss Point, MS.  I went to school and lived in Montgomery, AL for a while, but now I’m home on the coast again. I have a huge family and that’s one of the main reasons I’m excited to be back.  I travel about 40 minutes one way to attend USA.  So, getting to know life as a commuter student is going to be a challenging adventure.

One of the main reasons I am excited about pursuing a career in the field of education comes from past experiences.  I had an AP English teacher in high school that just could not get me interested in English, literature, or poetry at all.  She just could not make it interesting.  To make a long story short, I had some English and literature professors in college who opened my eyes to how much our language can enrich someone’s quality of life.  I hope that I can do that for others.

My passions sound cliché when you read them.  For example, if I said “I love music.” You can’t tell how much I love music, but I LOVE music. Some of my favorite artists are The Avett Brothers and Ben Folds.  I also love reading. Over the summer I’ve been reading “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace and it contains some of the most amazing description I’ve ever read.

That’s a little about me.


Dr. Pausch on Time Management

I learned a few things from Dr. Pausch’s video that I had not previously considered.  When he presented suggestions on goal setting and planning one of the ideas that I found remarkable was thinking “What happens if I choose not to do it?”  It makes me think of the consequence of choosing not to do something in order to motivate me to action.  He also motivated me make a plan and make to do lists.  I actually made one right after I watched the video.  His advice to “Do the ugliest thing first” was my inspiration to tackle this first blog post.

This is the first time I have seen a video of Dr. Pausch, but its not my first run in with him.  I read his book ‘The Last Lecture” a few Christmases ago.  It was a great book with a number of notable life lessons.

Penn State University's Time Management Exercises

This is another suggestion that I found to be extremely helpful.  I have already put a few of these suggestions into action in my daily routine. I found the suggestion to just do one thing at a time very useful.  I have so many things to do this semester that I’ve found when I sit down to study or work it is overwhelming the number of things I have to get accomplished.  So, focusing on one thing at a time and completing that one task makes it easier for me to go on to the next one and complete another. 

I also found the suggestion to have plans for the semester, week, and day to be a great way to work.  I have already laid out in my planner when all my tests are and what readings I need to get done each week in order to be prepared for class.  Breaking my tasks down into smaller increments makes them much easier to manage.  As opposed to just viewing them all as big daunting tasks they become small steps toward a main goal.