Class Reflection

EDM 310 with Mr. Tashbin has been great. While the classroom environment was laid back and stress free, I found the class to be very educational and helpful. All of the Google applications that were learned in this class are very helpful and I will be sure to use them in my classroom. Some of the applications such as igoogle, I have used personally and I have passed on my knowledge of Blogspot to some of my church members and friends that are currently teachers. I will use the information learned in an elementary classroom to help keep in touch with the parents for homework asignments, in class projects, and topics discussed in class. This class does not need any changes. The teacher was awesome, the material covered was helpful and easy to understand. i would recommend this teacher and class to anyone. It has been a great experience for me. I wish I could do it all over again!!!

TWITTER

Twitter is a communication tool where you can keep in touch with people all over the world in real time. Twitter is a more professional tool that facebook, myspace, and other similar type websites. Twitter is used by the business world to contact customers and is also used with many television talk shows and news shows. As a teacher I would find twitter useful because we could communicate with other classrooms all over the world. Also I could use twitter to talk to other teachers to get better teaching ideas to intergrate in the classroom rather its international or regional. On a personal level I don't think I would use twitter. I'm not into all of the websites for communication. They are becoming overwhelming and I do not have time to keep up with them all. I currently use facebook but only about once or twice a month. I'm sure twitter is very useful in the corporate world for business leaders and teachers.

Room 9's Writing Spot 2008

This New Zealand classroom uses the blog to allow the classroom students to communicate. This is an actual blog site from the Mrs. Rachel Boyd. The teacher has posts of instruction on HOW TO projects. The students are able to respond on the topics adding anything to the ingredients or needed equiptment. Rachel Boyd takes pride in her 6 and 7 year olds. http://www.room9nelsoncentral2008.blogspot.com/

In the Classroom, Web Logs Are the New Bulletin Boards

Marisa L. Dudiak's second grade class in Federick County, Md used the blog to discuss what the students learned while on a field trip. The blog allowed them to interact with their peers more quickly than writing in a journal. Blogs are becoming more popular with teachers because they take less effort to maintain than other types of web based sites.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E5D7113FF93AA2575BC0A9629C8B63

Blogging Classroom Connects to Parents

Fifth grade teacher, Fred Roemer, in St. Petersberg, Fl uses blogs to communicate with the parents of his classrooms. Many of the parents were complaining that the students were not sharing information about homework and test. Mr. Roemer post the activities from the day and spelling words for the week. The website keeps the parents, students and other teachers very informed. There are no pictures avaliable from this teacher. http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/09/Tampabay/Blogging_classroom_co.shtml

Google's Rumored GDrive May 'Kill" the PC

Google is working to create an online storage center that could possible eliminate the need for storage devices on desktop computers, laptops, an other drives such as USB. This would be the convenience most people even myself have been searching for. This would make it possible for me to access anything I save from any location. I would not have to beat myself up for forgetting my USB Flash Drive. This change would cause a decrease in the sale of desktops and laptops with mass storage components and portable storage devices. I think this may be a great idea for people who constantly travel but it could cause a problem with the speed of Internet access and could cause people to become more adamant hackers. More personal information will be available on the web.

Changing the Way We Think

According to the article researchers feel that search engines such as google and other technology such as cell phones are causing people to think differently. I think search engines cause children, students, and adults to find answers based on the way they already feel. Since search engines can find very specific information it makes it harder to understand other people's viewpoints because its easy to find articles that agree with you. People become more closed minded because they are not forced to read and think about the way others feel about certain issues. Sometimes people become too dependant on search engines and sometimes the websites provided are not as credible as it may seem. Since information is not accurate people are mislead.

Cell phones have become a commodity for most people. Cell phones allow people to work away form their desk and be more efficient for their clients. It is easy to communicate with people when you are in an area where you can not talk on the phone.

ACCESS

The Alabama Department of Education has created a program called Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS) Distant Learning. This program ws incorporated to allow public high school students to take classes at other schools via the internet which are not offered at their particular high school. The purpose of this program is to provide an infrastructure that delivers quality learning oppurtunities for all citizens.

This program is a great asset to the public school system. It allows schools to create more competively motivated students. Students are able to learn more diversely about a wide range of subjects due to the program. This also creates a new uique approach to learning and communication. By offering the course via internet the student is able to become more responsible because he will be responsible for completing the work on his own and will become more technologically advanced because he will have to learn how to navigate through any programs that are used.

Although the program is awesome and creates new advancement for public schools and the students that attend those schools, it has a costly budget. The budget may cause an increase in taxes. Also, since the program offers course that are avaliable at certain schools, this may also lead to job cuts. Teachers can be replaced by online sessions. Students being taught by online sessions may hinder them from effectively learning. They may not be encouraged to work as hard because they may not form a personal bond with the teacher, which would be easier to create with one-on-one human contact. The students may not complete assignments or feel compelled to work hard. Some students may be intimidated by the method of teaching. For more information folow the provided link. http://accessdl.state.al.us

ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) is a program created by the Alabama department of Education for teachers, which was designed to provide a link between teachers across the state to share information about the classroom. This website help teachers to connect the Alabama course of study with in class activities. Teachers are able to share activities, lesson plans, and other helpful tools and ideas that can be used in the classroom.

The website is very easy to navigate. There are many areas in which teachers are able to access on the website if they need help understanding and incorporating any portion of the Alabama Course of Study in the classroom. The available information includes but is not limited to: web links, lesson plans, and personal work spaces. There is information for different subject areas physical education, mathematics, language arts, art education, social studies, and science just to name a few.

This website is very useful. Teachers can engage in chat and view other people's ideas to help incorporate other types of learning in the classroom. This can encourage teachers to think differently especially when working in environments that are unfamiliar. ALEX can help create classes that are more productive because some ideas may cause children to be more focused than others and can hold their attention. The website can also help teachers deal with children that have disabilities better because they can get advice from others that have dealt with children of similar caliber. As a result of viewing this website, I will incorporate some of the activities found under the Physical Education category for my current classroom. To view the website click on the provided link. http://alex.state.al.us