Electronic Contact

Within my blog I received a comment from a teacher giving me advice on blogs. Mr. Chamberlain told me that I should develop and encourage technology in my class. Here is the response that he sent me: Thanks for the kind words about my class blog. I remember how excited I was when I was in my edu classes learning about all the things I could use when I became a teacher. Just remember, you want the best tool for whatever you do and technology is just one tool of many.

I wish you much success.

Wm. Chamberlain
September 4, 2008 4:21 PM

I am so glad that he wrote nice words to me. It is so great that people respond to your blogs.

My EDM 310 Blog Assignments are Now Complete

I am so happy to have had class with everyone. Have a great year and happy holidays!

Growth VS. Fixed Minds

In this podcast there was talk about how students minds can grow. Is is better to teach structured or non structured material. Many studies have taken place on how people learn and which teaching methods work better for students. There was a study done showing how study skills did not work for students . They were not motivated to learn the material that was being taught to them. The grades of the students did not improve at all. The neuron connectors did not fire off good learning result. It was more like a stale mate within the thought process. Within the growth mind set session, it found that students were motivated. Their brains were then growing and the neurons were firing off better and stronger. Yes, the brain is the most powerful muscle within the body. The students grade improved with this method also. Intelligence is not learned, it is developed. One must exercise their brain so that therefor they are able think intelligent and are smarter.
I believe that in order for me to be an affective teacher I must teach by allowing my students brains to expand and grow. In knowing that students learn better doing hands on activities and ones that interest them, I must take that with me. Everyone has the means of intelligence. When someone is hindered to expand with their mental they are more than likely to not use their knowledge for the right reasons.

Edible School Yard and A Night in the Global Village

At the Martin Luther King Junior Middle School they have garden school yard. Every morning for first period they go to the garden to tend to the vegetables, flowers, and herb harvest. This was a way for the teachers to incorporate and combine different subjects in within the hands on of the gardening yard. They also have a chef teacher that teaches them ways of preparing and cooking healthy food. The students seemed to enjoy doing this. By them having to care and take care of crops they took pride in what they were doing. Development of community unity skills were created with in the students. Also the knowledge and willingness to work together as a group to grow and complete the task.
I think that this was great for the students to do. This was a great way to give the students another way or technique of learning subject with integrating harvesting within it. I would like to integrate different interesting things within my classroom. Students seem to learn better when they are doing something they like besides being taught repeat material. Students I believe need more hands on material and less repeat. I thought that this was a great way to get away from the same old thing. It not only help them mentally but help them make better food choices for their physical portion. If there were more places like this around their would be better knowledge of healthiness.
The other podcast that I watched was A Night in the Global Village. This was about student that were of well privilege life styles experiencing poor, poverty stricken life styles. Students were assigned to different living conditions that were simulated around the world. Some of the groups did not have as much as others. They were required to go around and trade things for food, water, and other materials. For many of the students this was a wake up call for them. A lot of them will never go through this in real like because of the riches and non poverty environments they were born in and now live within. How great to put them in the shoes of the less fortunate. Many of them will appreciate what they have now.

What did I learn in EDM 310

I enjoyed the class personally. I thought that the class offered many interesting assignments. I learned the following: Pod casting,Spreadsheets,blogging,google gadgets,google documents,google PowerPoint's, and face book. Those are just some of the things that I learned. I thought that pod casting was fun and different. Blogging was also something new that I have never done before. I think that I will be bringing blogging with me when I begin to teach. Blogs are a great way to communicate,post information and helps with material. I am glad that I was able to learn about this particular technology. Technology is great! Without it what would we do today. Student and teachers need to be exposed to the new technologies that are out there at a finger strike away. I believe that this class could not have been any more informative than what it was. This class should not only be required by future teachers but everyone should have the ex poser to this great tool of technology learning. There was one thing that I wished I could have learned and that was how to post voice recordings to a blog. I think that would have been great to learn. That would have been something that I could have used within my personal classroom blog.

Discovery Access Lab

I went on a visit to the Discovery Access Lab at the Davidson High School. We met with our tour guide by the name of Mary Claire Wright. She is an educator there at Davidson High School. She took us with in the lab showing us the set up of the room. The teacher also had his own work station. His station had a computer, there were cameras, LCD TV board, and writing board for him to write down material for the students that were connected at the distant school. The lab will be in full operation by next year. It is completely set up will all of the equipment. She was tell us that they needed someone that could watch the students while the teaching took place. This person or persons would get paid to do so.
This is a great way to get teaching and instruction of other subjects to students that are not able to receive it because of were they go to school. So this is a great way to bring it to them without they having to find another school or miss out on the great advancements and rewards that other students have access to. I think that all student should be able to partake in the great educational advances and extras that are out there but just are distance away. I went to this visit with three other people, Amelia, Theola, and Lerrica. We thought that is was a great mini field trip to go and observe and learn out this wonderful learning tool.