That's All Folks!

Yup, we outta here ya'll. no more work, i dont know about you guys, but im really looking forward to some serious rest and relaxation. It's been real guys, i'll always remember the good times. Julies yall are the best group. We had fun on all of our last minute assignments. (And all of them were still better than group 1's) Julie H. Gook Luck with that baby. Everybody stay up with me hopefully we'll have some classes together, so we can help each other limp through them like we did this one!

EDM 310 Class Reflection

What a great class. I had so much fun and learned so much. This class helped provide tools and techniques that i will definitely use as a future teacher. As a high school science or history teacher, i will need to teach with passion, accuracy, and intelligence. All of these characteristics can be acquired and sharpened just by taking this class. After completion of this class, i will be at the top of my game to start off as a new, technologically literate teacher. With to

tools like google, blogging, digital media, and my PLN by my side, teaching will be more like a hobby than a job.

I can honestly say that this class took my expectations and threw them out the window.When i heard that i had to take this class, i just knew that it would be boring and tedious work involving spreed sheets, and word documents. However, as we got into the first couple weeks of class, i knew that would not be the case. After that, i really was excited to come to class. I looked forward to every day with Mr. Sullivan. He took his lecture and went in whatever direction the students wanted to know. We did actually get a lot of work done, but you would have never known it, what with all the fun we were having.

The funny thing is that nothing in the class was actually hard. Mr. Sullivan took his time and gave individual attention when needed. The only thing i didn't like was the somewhat repetitive and increasingly unoriginal blog topics. It seemed like we blogged about why teachers should be be tech literate for a whole month an a half. I would have liked to see more versatility and personalization in the blogs. Other than that the class was great. The most important thing that i learned in class was that i should always keep leaning.

Classroom Rules of the Future

As of now, things like cell phones and computers aren't allowed in most classrooms. I believe that on day this will change. Student are being given more and more freedom when it comes to their use of their technology. But as the barriers are lifted, we must figure out, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Kids will be kids. The students of tomorrow are still students. They will still play around, just in a different way. Imagine how people from Star Trek or something goof off, it'll probably be around twenty times worse than that. So according to Dr. Strange, some rules will have to change to fit this lifestyle.

One thing i liked that he said was, " Come to class on time, or log into your online class anytime day or night, whenever it is most convenient to you." This would be great for me, I hate having a schedule. I really do. I guess i consider myself to be spontaneous, i don't know. I t just always bothered me to have to get up and go to school everyday at the same time and do the same old same old. But we all gotta make a living and for mostly everyone, that means having to keep a pretty tight weekly time sheet. But wouldn't it be awesome to just have the whole day to just get things done if you needed to? Then you could just get whatever you needed for class when it was most convenient for you.

Another ideal of Strange's that raised an eyebrow for me was this. "Talk only when permitted, text at all other times." For me, this would lead to some problems. I'm fine with texting for small conversations and such, but i feel that today's society is being consumed by this texting phase. I am a bigger fan of video conversing, which i believe will become bigger as time goes on. It's just more personal and i like that. And also, texting can be so vague. Have you ever gotten directions from someone who was strictly a "texter"? It's ridiculous! They will get you lost faster than a dyslexic cab driver!

Dr. Strange also made a reference to sharing. I just wanted to add that i think that this is what the online teaching experience is all about. Coming up with new ideas and being able to share them and better everyone's experience by doing so. This is where the Internet made it's name.

It's Okay, Sometimes We All Do Stupid Things

True Dat! There are some "stupid" teachers out there. I have had plenty of them. Mabey they were not actually stupid, just ignorant. Which, according to Mr. Johnson here, is underlying stage of stupidity. People in general are stupid, we all do stupid things. Just today, as opposed to studying for a quiz in my EDF class, i opted to play some Call of Duty on Xbox. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a small fraction of the material that is rotting today's members of society's brain. But it's a good way to procrastinate, so i just let it feed my stupidity. Also, Facebook, or shall I say "Procrastabook" enough said.

So anyways, besides our inevitable desire to find things that aren't productive to occupy our time. Some people luck up and get a good idea that they can link to what students find fascinating. Kids, and adults alike, love computers. An not just computers. Any student in today's society has some liking towards some type of technology. You just have to find a way to make that connection and use it to relay the information that you are trying to teach. I'll go back to the video game example. I like playing Xbox, so do millions of other students out there. So what teachers could try to do is use this as a medium to get students involved. There are games out there that mimic real world, historic, scientific, and other educational material. I have played a game where you play as a civil war character, or play some other role in history

This is just an example. But basically, what teachers need to do is learn from what stupid mistakes they have made. However, sometimes, the things they think are stupid could provide a learning tool for yourself or for the class you are teaching that no one would have ever used. Be creative and innovative

This blog is basically just revoicing everything we've learned this semester. However i think it is nice to know that there are teachers out there who are very liberal in the attempt to technologically advance our education system, which is, as of now, behind. Personally, i am a big fan of the video. Maybe that is just because i am lazy, but i think that a lot of kids that are considered to be unreachable these days are lazy too. I think video will be a very significant part of the equation to make the transition to being a more technology based school system.

I am a big fan of facebook, and think that perhaps, if students wern't so consumed with their own facebook, that it could be used as a great tool in education. If not for students, definitely for teachers, and building their PLN. I also enjoyed the pictures and other eye candy that made me want to read more about them. At first, i was simply scanning over the page and watching a few random videos. But then, as i began to see the pictures, i found myself wanting to read more about them. Blogs such as these should be a reference for teachers and schools wanting to become more technologically savvy.

WHATEVER ! It Takes

Wow this video really brought me some insight for what youtube really could be. Before this, i thought of youtube as a place for stupid people craving attention doing stupid thigns to get it. And it is, the vast majority of youtube is aimed to things that don't seem relevant to anything. But they are. Mabey not in most people's perspective, but someone took the time to make a video aimed at one particular subject that they felt needed to be addressed. The subject of course may have been something humorous. That person may have just wanted to make people laugh. The subjuct oculd have been attempting to get an idea out, like the "one world" video. (which i am now a big fan of) or The video could have been somewhat of a confessional, where that person just needed to talk to someone, in hopes that that person would be online.

Youtube, and other networking tools, are changing the way we conversate. Language as a whole is changing right in front of our eyes! The question is, is it a bad thing or good? Is Talking to a camera stupid or is it broadening our horions? Who knows. Only time and technology will tell.

Posting Assignments Help Students In A Number Of Ways

Students posting blogs and other electronically submitted assignments will be a very helpful and useful tool in the years to come. This is true for a number of reason. Take for example, this music class. Art and Music classes will benefit largely from the advancement of online assignments due to the multimedia that is used in this process. For the struggling arts section of today's school system, this will be great news.

Submitting assignments will not only be helpful to the students studying the arts. Teachers of any subject will benefit tremendously from assigning projects in this manner. Ther will no longer be a need to spend all your time keeping track of papers. Teachers can simply save as many copies as they would like to their hard drive or storage device.Organizing will be much easier being a teacher from the loss of all the hassle and expenses of paper and ink.

In most of my classes at south i have encountered Internet enhanced classes. Personally i find that these classes require more awareness of thing such as due dates, but are beneficial to both students and teachers. Students simply have to know when and what is due. If they miss the due date, the submission date and time are displayed with the assignment. No help to the student there, but there are plenty of benefits. Students can access help tutorials and use the Internet to help find the answer they are looking for. Students can also keep records if they would like.

click hereto take the test on your social life

Dang that kid was cute. It looks like she will be following in her dads footsteps, because she is a great picturetaker! She seems to be an artistic little girl, who finds a way to make everything beautiful. I think teachers could use digital media in ways such as this to connect with their students and find out exactly what artistic talents or interests they may have. Art and personal expression is one of many fields that are lacking in today's school system. Kids are being taught the same old same old "Three R's" reading writing and arithmetic. Kids aren't being exposed to how fun all these subjects could be with a little expansion of the normal curriculum. For example, teachers could use a smart board to display a project such as this where the students go out and take a few pictures of the favorite part of their neighborhood or school. An activity such as this will sculpt the child's imagination and exceptionally. It will also help the teacher realize what their students true interests may be.

NML Doesn't Know Just How Illiterate They Are

I found that the NML staff had a bunch of good ideas for creating a base when interacting with some one or someones culture that you are not familiar with. The ideas they put forth would definitely help social networkers to build their PLN on a global scale. However, aren't most of these techniques that we would use in everyday life and not strictly limited to technology or social networking?

I think that these ideas aren't simply applicable to computer users in the 21st century, but to everyone in everyday life. These ideals that these people put up, as their base for whatever it is they are trying to do technologically, are tools that everyone has been using for some time. Not just in the 21st century. I can honestly say that as a student, i have used half of these techniques this week alone, and its only Tuesday! And the rest Ive used before.

This is the goal or mission statement stated at the top of the NML website, "a research initiative based within MIT's Comparative Media Studies program, explores how we might best equip young people with the social skills and cultural competencies required to become full participants in an emergent media landscape and raise public understanding about what it means to be literate in a globally interconnected, multicultural world." What does that mean? Statistically speaking, young people are the most technologically advanced individuals on the face of the earth!!! they need to be teaching old people how to use a computer. Or coming up with new stuff for the young people to use.

I checked out the NML blog. Matt Levinson says that his son taught him to use his iPhone. And these are the kinds of people that teach our universities. The truth is that sometimes, the teachers don't know half of the material they are teaching. But that's really not a problem, it comes with the territory. The field of technology is growing ever faster each and every day. So how is a teacher or a student to keep up with the pace? For that matter, who is even setting the pace to begin with? The reality of the matter is that all of us being effected by this spontaneous growth of information are the ones creating, changing, and involving ourselves in it. Its a big circle. Sometimes the teacher will do his job and teach, but then again, that teacher has a lot to learn from an increasingly tech literate college student who might have something to bring to the table. So all in all the trick is open communication and inclusion in the thought process.

Connected Learning

Of course students need teachers! Where would any of us be without some one to show us how to do everyday things? Our parents are teachers. What would life be like without learning how to take a bath or learning to talk. Everyone needs a teacher for one thing or another, whether it be the the learning process or everyday life. Teachers are everywhere, not just in classrooms. First let us define a teacher. Webster's dictionary defines a teacher as one who instructs. I believe that a teacher is far more than that. I think that a teacher is someone who is constantly showing their pupil(s) new and different ways of getting the job done or either relating to personal approaches that may also help. Teachers provide a base for student to learn off of. Most teachers expect their student to learn the basic knowledge of the course, but exceptional teachers want all of their student to learn using their different skills and talents. Teachers are NEEDED!

Think, for a second, what the world would be like if there were no teachers. If students learned using simply a computer and a syllabus. First of all there would be hardly any motivation to learn. The student would simply take for granted all the ideas that were being electronically placed in front of him. Secondly, teachers act as a helper. if a student were to get stuck, who would they call? Could they simply look it up on google? But what if they received an inaccurate source? The answer would be counted wrong and the student wouldn't even know why. Teachers must not only be present in the learning process, they should be abundant.

If i were a teacher of a networked student, yes, my life and profession would be a lot easier, but would it all be as rewarding? Personally, i don't think so. A teacher's job would then consist of simply providing assignments and explaining them in a predetermine video perhaps. In my opinion, networked learning should only be used as an expansion of the traditional classroom style teaching.Use it to expand or reiterate on points brought up in class. The job of being a teacher just feels like it would be made into more of a supervision role, than a learning experience if this ideal were used as the only teaching tool. I plan to only use connective learning as an extracurricular activity for those who simply love to learn and would like to know more or receive additional information about a certain subject.

Richard Miller; This Is How We Dream

Miler believes that we as human beings and teachers are living and experiencing first hand the greatest change in communication in the history of language. He says that some of this has to do with our "workspace". as opposed to the former paper and pen, we now use a laptop that can be taken basically anywhere you want to take it.Another change that has occurred is the storage and sharing.of documents. Anything can be saved forever on your computer or published to a website. Also, the collaboration of documents can be expressed in far many more ways, such as picture video, and word processing. This information is easier and more accessible for and to all. Also, where we work was addressed as being a big change in communication. Information can change instantly changing many people's ideas and feelings toward any certain subject. Miller believes that this venue will continue to evolve. He foresees a time when people will compose using a new composition technique using the web itself. This is a cutting edge idea that i don't really understand, and either does he. It has not been fully created yet. Richard Miller is proposing that schools invest in the research of what he believes will overcome today's already technologically based society. My understanding of how this concept will work and be available is sort of cloudy, but from my knowledge it is still a work in progress. Miller's idea, from just a summation of it, sounds like a way to reform the way individuals look at and comprehend information entirely. Information is already sent and consumed at the highest rate available, but this would completely blow that out of the water.

iPods In The Classroom

Duke university has been using iPods to study the effect on how students use the technology and how productivity in the classroom has been effected, since 2004. The iPods have 20GB of storage , those things aren't cheap! The iPods also come equipped with voice recording technology. Other than the recording feature and other standard features on the iPods, there were some obvious academic uses for the iPods. The first was the accessibility of all the students' information. The iPod was able to sync with multiple course content via podcats and other content made available by the university. The second is the previously mentioned recording software. This allowed students to record organize and make playlists of what they wanted to study. Finally the iPod was an easy way to store and transfer information.

These iPods are really taking all the technology for education such as podcasts and other types of audio/visual storage and bundling them for students, teachers, and anyone else who wants to use it. An upgrade from the regular iPod would most definitely be the iPod touch or the IPhone. These instruments are so adaptable. They come ready to equip with thousands of free or reasonably priced applications ranging from what to eat for lunch to how much weigh to use while working out. There is even a prototype known as ischool that mostly helps students coordinate their classes. The application also features a graphing calculator. These calculators are normally priced around $120, this application is much more reasonably priced and provides much better user interface by providing colors and easier graphing.

ITUNES U

iTunes U sounds like a great tool to help all teachers and students no matter what level. Students could use it to study or even as a source of research. Also, if a student were to use it as a study tool it would give that student a break from the same old type of learning. Students would have as many different perspectives as they could find. They could hear a lecture one day from their normal classroom teacher, then they could go home and futher their learning by hearing or watching the material in a different perspective.

Obviously students benift from iTunes U, but how could a teacher take this and run with it? Teachers should encourage their students took look up other teachers lectures. Teachers should also not get offended if a student considers another teacher or professor's lecture to be more entertaining or accurate. In fact, this situation could be the source of some great debate topics.

Useful Classroom Involvement Tools Using Technology

As we have blogged about many times before technology can be quite useful in the classroom. It seems that every week i find new technology or a different way to use old techniques to help student s better understand what they are learning.Dr. Christie uses a lot of tools and techniques that are a combination of the basic known ideas, and some that deserve to be talked about.

One tool that i was especially interested in was geocatching. Most use this new hobby as a way to hike or do scavenger hunts. However, Dr. Christie has taken it to the next level by involving it in his classroom. This sounds like an excoiting technique for students of all grade level. Christie also seems to be a big fan of photography and digital media. Using pictues has been shown to intrest and assist some kids in the learning process. If a biology teacher showed his/her students a colorful and intriging picture of a flower as an example of a part of the cirriculum; most likely the students will absorb the information if their attention is grabbed in this way.

In closing, it seems that the dctor has been thinking of new was to get his students more engaged in his classroom. More teachers should pursue this way of thinking.

Next Generation Learning Video

First let me just start off by saying those were some nice vans kiddo. This video is great, although i doubt the skateboard wearing youngster put it together on his own. Nevertheless, a great video. All the technology was great. This video makess me wish i was still in le school today just so i could used some of the things that he talked about. Iphones, whiteboards, the internet; I thought a graphing calculator was advanced! Obviously not, there's all kinds of technology available for any type of classroom, whether it be a biology lab or an english class. Tehcnology could be everywhere with the right funding. I would lovve to teach in a classroom with a whiteboard or a computer for every student. Mabey one day this will be possible.

So in conclusion, this kid had some great ideas. The problem is getting more people like his mom to be involved in getting some of these tools to help children learn in a variety of different ways. Think about if evey child in America had a computer. Or even if 75% of children had a computer. What would life be like by the time they graduated? Our population is already known as one of the most advanced nations in the world. Think about what would happen if the children of today were given those kinds of advanced tools. The possiblities are limitless.

Practical Principals

I thought this blog was great. It was very organized. Everything was right there in a link. The blog also had a lot of catchy post titles followed by great sources of information. The practical principals also used far more than a simple blog to get their point across. They used twitter, facebook, itunes and all sorts of useful tools to inform people about what they talked about.

I have added the principals on Twitter and i intend on keeping up with their blog posts. They seem like they have a lot of great ideas and new ways of teaching kids. They seem to have a good sized PLN. I say this because they use other people's blogs and twitter pages to talk about a certain point.

How Can I Make My Podcast Be All That It Can Be?

On the podcast that i watched, the pod casters seemed to have simply printed off a bunch of lines from the Internet on the information they would be talking about and simply regurgitated the information back to the classroom. This is one characteristic that i hope next semester's EDM class won' associate with my podcast group. I plan on meeting with my group a couple times and getting a feel for what we will be saying. This way, the group will be somewhat prepared to actually have a conversation instead of simply reading from a note card.

We have a lively bunch of people in our podcast group so i hope thats a good thing. We also have had plenty of great ideas to get the ball rolling. The podcast should turn out to be great.

We Have A Lot To Look Forward To

Man, we as students studying to become teachers really don't know what we are getting into. I feel like it takes a lot to be acome a great or even a good teacher. It seems like this guy has a got a pretty good understanding of what it's all about after just one year. In my opinion, the student always comes first. The end result is helping your sttudents learn, and work toward a degree. And i'm sure that nothing makes Mr. Mcclung happier than to see all his principals come together to produce a great student. I think that my favorite of his ideals has to be the fact that all teachers must be flexible. Sure, you are handed a sylabus at the beginning of the semester by your boss, but it's up to you to mold that basic gameplan into what and how exactly your students need to learn.

Wikipedia...definitely not a valid source

Ever since i have been writing research papers, or around the eighth grade, i've known that my teachers were not big fans of Wikipedia. This is understandably so due to how the articles are edited and composed. Anyone, at any time has the right and ability to put his or her two cents in on a wiki article. This means that if a certain politician feels that he has been badmouthed on wikipedia, he can simply get online and put a positive spin on things. Strides have been made to counteract the reliablility of wikipedia by making the computer of the writer of a post traceable. This, however does nothing at the time. All the politician would have to do would be to run across the street to Starbucks and go to town. The author tracing system doesn't hold much power now, but it's a step in the right direction.

One Life To Live

By far the best video to blog about so far. I loved the video. The guy's outlook on life was exactly what everyone's should be. Randy Pauch's teaching style wasn't stated clearly; but if it is parallel to his personality and beliefs, then his students should be honored to learn from him. However, there were some teaching styles he did discuss briefly. Mr. Pauch obviously believed in setting goals, leadership, participation, different forms and appoaches of learning, and also having fun while doing so.

Most teachers in today's learning environment simply follow the curriculum. These teachers produce children who aren't exactly on fire for their education. The students affected simply stroll through their time as students meeting the "average" requirements set by their average educators. Pauch, on the other hand, seems to be a believer in believers. He says setting goals and sticking to them for your entire life is the way to achieve them. What a surprise, right? He also is a big fan of fundamentals. Afterall, what dream isn't complete without a fundamental gameplan?

As for the basis of his students' learning experience, he seems to be right on point. But it is hard these days to actually keep a dreamer dreaming, what with all the professional criticism out there. Exactly how are tomorrow's leaders expected to stick to their dreams of being whatever it is they would like to become one day? Pauch believes several forms of indirect learning and student involvement are key to a good learning experience. As for indirect learning, most students would make a more valiant attempt if they didn't feel like the material was being shoved down their throats. And as for student involvement, that's pretty self-explainitory. Any educator must keep their students involved and intrigued in their education.

Randy Pauch had many great theories and beliefs about education. But the one that truly inspired me was the man given six months to live saying, "don't let the brick walls keep you from achieving your goals." We all only have one life to live. Why not spend it in the pursiut of happiness, and at the same time trying to help eveyone else a little as we go.

My Reaction to the Fichbowl Blog

i did use the same example that i used in the previous blog but now that i think back on the situation it makes me mad to think that my school recived funding for those computers and didn't even use them.

Mr.Fisch, a little full of yourself, but you make a good point. computer-based learning is a great way of staying up to date as an educator. However, most educators aren't as computer savy as other.

I graduated in 2006 and mostly all of my teachers relied on boring notes and worksheets to teach the material. my science class was given four brand new Apple desktops, but were rarely ever used for teaching purposes. The teachers had no idea of what utinsils they had available at no cost. (such as youtube, podcasts, etc.) Not beacause they didn't know, but because they chose to be ignorant of technology. This reading this assignment was arequirement of my EDM 310 class and i feel like it was a good assigment. I particularly liked the part about 2020 vision.

My comment to Kelly Hines' Blog

My EDM 310 class is all about technology-based learning and i'm loving it. However, new technology is worth nothing without the proper training and equipment. My high school science class recieved four brand new Apple desktop computers and the most action they saw was facebook and the occasional youtube video.

I came from a rural community where most students didn't have home internet access so they wern't familliar with it when a computer was introduced into the classroom. But in my opinon, this could have all changed if the teaching staff would have taken advantage of the teaching instruments they had in front of them.

The opportunities for computer-based learning are limitless, and are only expanding as I type. You can take a class and totally turn it around using a computer to enhance the learning experience.

I Am A Multitasker

That video was pretty much right on point for my life. The first few weeks i have spent at South, I haven't had much down time. My classes take up my whole day. If im not actually in class, I'm doing work that corresponds to that class. I have to check my email two or three times a day to check if my EDF teacher hasn't dropped any late assignments or extra readings on me. By the way, I have yet to have a test or quiz or any assignment that covers what we were assigned to read.

Thats not to mention the fact that I simutaneously try to keep up a social life and worrk at the same time. I have a girlfriend. We try to talk for a good hour or two before we go to sleep evey night, but that doesnt happen a lot beacause we are both so tired from our day. On top of that i work around ten hours a week and play in a club football league which practices three nights a week. However, contrary to the videolucky to find the time to get on facebook or just play video games or watch TV.

picture modifiers

Podcasts: Likes and DIslikes

After listening to about five of these podcasts i have come to the conclusion that i am not a big fan. Podcasts to me are a more finite version of talk radio. I'm sure that some podcasts are different but these particular technology talk shows and interviews just aren't that intertaining. However, I suppose they can be somewhat informative if you make yourself listen and pick out the various pieces of information. But for the vast majority of the time, the hosts are trying thier damnedest to be funny while simultaneously maintianing thier best radio host personality

I did get a lot out of the "kid casting" podcats. The host was explaining to the listeners about "vodcasting" or video podcasting as he preferred. He stated that podcasting in the classroom is a good way to reach your students. I believe he is correct in this asoect. Most students watch television every day. Some watch it as opposed to doing thier homework. So now that there is a way to fuse the two together into such things as studying through a vodcast, or learning activities just to familliarize students with new technology such as these videocasts.

The smartboard learning podcasters believed that video podcats "gets kids engaged" and "are a great spot to start conversation". This is true in some aspects but I, on the other hand, feel different. What is wrong with the traditional, face to face style of teaching? It is true that some kids nowadays are intrigued by technology based learning, but some are not.

One of my teachers here at South gives all her assignments online as well as some of her lectures. im guessing that this is simply the result of a work load that is too big for her. If this is the case, then what is the point of teachers? Theoredicly, students could all be sent to school or even stay at home where they do nothing but watch videos and take online exams on what they have learned. Where do we draw the line?

my first picture

my first link

click here to go to my university homepage.

Empowering Students

With a ton of funding, Mrs. Davis might have something. I came from a rural school and i know that a lot of my old classmates would have loved to have technology and resources such as these in high school, that is if some of them could even pay for basic school supplies. To achieve a goal such as this, some drastic contributions would have to be made in my community.

However, I feel like today's school system is headed in this general direction. Students are obtaining a surplus of knowledge and interest in computer technology. Most kids that i have known not to have a facebook or myspace are simply not able to update their status because the nearest computer is in their local library. But if someone were to ever go to one of these local computer labs, they would find that about half of the computers are taken up. Obviously today's students are anxious learners when it comes to computers, not to mention the growing demand for computer literate individuals. So it would be a win win in that aspect. But a computer lab in every classroom? That would take some serious restructuring of today's education process.

that brittish guy was funny. and he made a good point.

We as teachers face a tough future. With an increasing population, there will be a rise in all types of students, as well as types we have never seen before. Most of this is happening right before our eyes. The responsibility that we bear is tremendous. People who grow to be influential figures had to be molded by some sort of teacher/mentor. The decisions we all make everyday, unconsciously, are due to 12 years of learning. So that's where we stand, in a position to help or just become another by the book, colorless, unimaginative molder of future leaders.

So what can we do about it? Well, I've always heard that everyone is different. So cater to your students assorted interests and beliefs. It is imperative to involve the entire class in every aspect of your classroom. So first, find out what your students interests, hobbies, extracurricular activities, etc might be. This part is easy. Kids talk, all the time, even when they aren't supposed to. They talk about movies they've seen sports stars they love. But the key is finding a way to relate this information. Find out these things as well as things they don't appreciate or might consider boring. Of course with a curriculum as your primary guideline, you will have to stick to that for the most part. But, for example, if a student has expressed interest in dinosaurs while in middle school, then the teacher should deviate from the required agenda for one day and do his best to catch up. After all, that student could have grown to become a prize-winning paleontologist or flipping burgers at burger king, but that student will always remember that favorite teacher who taught him or her the difference between a t-Rex and a brontosaurus

Technology Is Becoming A Nesscessity

It's true, times are changing. Humanity has come an unthinkably long way in an increasingly short amount of time, and will continue to do so. It's thrilling, but at the same time frightening. If the worlds population continues to increase, how will our people afford to feed these extra mouths with an increasing demand for food and other natural resources already? Where will they all go? Most of the countries that are currently growing so fast already have an overfill of people living there. How can we survive? That is, if computers don't outsmart and overpower us first. Eventually, our overwhelming desire to grow will be our old planet's downfall. I come from from a small rural community, where my family owns over 700 acres of land. And after watching that video, I've never been so happy to drive 35 minutes to go to wal mart.

Matthew Moorer's EDM 310 Blog

Well, today we have all overcome. I think Dr. King would be proud. Tonight has had nothing to do with race, bigotry, or biast. However, we have all endured slow and stupid computers and blazing tempuratures in the lab. So congrats on that. My name is Matthew Moorer. Most people call me Matt, so i guess that would be all yall. I graduated from Washington County High in 2006. Then went on to Faulkner State Community College where i got suckered into spending three years at a junior college. But now im at South and i really like it. This is my first semester and first web-oriented class. So i expect at least 50% of all my assignments to be done by my fellow classmates! That's about it. See yall in class.