Wikipedia

I already knew all about how anyone and everyone can change entries about things on Wikipedia, but I did not know that now it can be tracked! I remember this though because in high school, our teachers would not let us use Wikipedia, but I was never told while until later. It obviously is not that reliable because I could go on there right now and butcher the whole site. Of course I would never do that, but I could! But now, even if I were to leave anonymous entries, I can still be tracked via my IP address! So thanks to Virgil Griffith from CalTech, whoever edits entries will be found out due to his Wikipedia Scanner, unless someone perhaps goes to a random coffee shop and uses a community computer to do so. That would be the smart way to go about it ;). But anyone from Wal-Mart to politicians have changed things on their relating to themselves or their companies to make themselves have a better image. I find it almost amusing.

"Growth" vs. "Fixed" Minds

Carol Dweck, professor of Psychology, wrote a novel called "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success". She mentions in the beginning of this video, while telling someone about some research done, that many students base their activities around their intelligence being shown to others. Other students do think that in incorrect, and that they can develop intelligence through working hard and passion. An experiment was done with two groups of students, where one half was taught study skills, and the other half was taught study skills with growth mindsets. The half with fixed mindsets did not do well at all, as expected. Being taught with a growth mindset is letting them know all about how their brain works and so on, and were told things like "No one laughs and babies when they don't know anything. It's just that they haven't learned yet." Don't be afraid to jump out there and learn or admit when you're wrong. You just have to learn! With a fixed mindset, they have a desire to look smart. With a growth mindset, they are taught that intelligence can be developed, so it leads to a desire to be taught and learn.

While doing some more research on Carol Dweck's book online, I found this quote from an article about her: "The key, she found, isn’t ability; it’s whether you look at ability as something inherent that needs to be demonstrated or as something that can be developed." I think that as a teacher, this has shown me that I need to inform my students about having a growth mindset because appearing to be smart is not everything. If you feel as if you are not smart, it is okay because it can be learned. You don't have to go out of your way to make everyone think that you are smart. It can and will be developed, one just has to realize that everyone can learn. It does not matter who are you. But still, as I quote Carol, "One group is really going around the world curious, curious to learn; and the other is going around wanting to be smart." Which one are you?

iTunes Store... sort of.

I had a blog that was due yesterday, but my computer took a lot longer than necessary to download iTunes, so I was not able to complete the blog last night. I have iTunes now, but I am not that computer literate. I eventually got to the videos on PBS, but I'm not sure how to download them. I click "GET MOVIE" and then I eventually found them downloading. Once downloaded, I could not see the video; I could only hear the audio.

But regardless, I can still tell that these educational videos could be extremely helpful in teaching a classroom. PBS is a great station and I still flip it on from time to time to see the different ways they use to teach children. They try to make it fun and make it to where it sticks once it has been taught to the child.

The one that I was actually able to listen to was "Galileo on the Moon". It was just someone who was doing some researching on the moon and you heard a clip of them while on the moon. It was quite interesting, and if I were to teach children about Physical Science, I'm sure this would be really exciting for most of them to hear! Then I could get them to do a project about what they think they would see on the moon, and how they would react. Just a fun activity, and I'm sure that I could teach them all about gravity and craters and such found on the moon. Not to mention, all of the things discovered by Galileo. I wish I was able to actually view the video clip, and the other videos do not seem to want to download. I need a better computer!!!!

iTunes University

All I have to say is, Thank God for iPods! They have helped to expand technology in colleges and universities everywhere. There are many big name colleges and universities out there that actually are currently using iTunes as a teaching tool, or Podcasts. Some well known ones are Boston College, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Harvard, Princeton College, Stanford, and the list goes on. Maybe one day soon South Alabama will be in the list using iTunes since it is a great addition to any course.

It is said that iTunes is "Always in Session", no matter what day of the week or time of day. Whenever one needs to access information from a class or lecture for instance, he or she can get onto iTunes and download whatever they need. This is only, of course, if their current college or university uses iTunes for help in areas like that. It helps promote "Learning to Go". Just like while using any iPhone or iPod anytime, you can do the same with iTunes. Just upload the file onto your Apple product and carry on with daily activities while also learning. No need to sit down with a book and read, just listen!! Another plus is it "Keeps Them Motivated". Supposedly, not only does it provide audio, but also visuals. It is more motivating than reading a book and looking at just pictures, but hearing it and also seeing videos with it is something that makes learning through iTunes more appealing. iTunes is also very "Open Minded". Not only can a student access all of these files from the universities, but also parents and/or anyone who just wants to learn. I guess right now if I were interested in learning random stuff about biology, iTunes would be the place to go!

Use of iPods in Instruction

I have never heard of such a thing!! I wish that our college used iPods in some of the courses that I am taking so I can be issued a free one, just like at Duke University. That is so awesome, but I'm sure they do not expect the iPod to be used so much for personal pleasure, but for use to help in adaptation to digital technology. According to Duke News, there were 42 courses that required an iPod in the year 2006. I am sure by now, many additional courses have been added to the Duke Digital Initiative (DDI). There is so much today that deals with technology that I agree it should be used more in our classes. Someone in America cannot go throughout one day without the use of some sort of technology. Every single job requires some knowledge dealing with technology, so everyone should definitely be more informed about it.

In doing more research on iPods being used in classes for instruction, I stumbled across a website dealing with iPod use at Edith Cowan University, Using iPods in Learning & Teaching. They listed a number of "ways for educators to use iPods in Teaching and Learning." Here are a few: Recording Economic Lectures, Reviewing with iPods, Text and audio, Storage of information, Developing new engineering software, Dictating lesson plans and research notes, and the list goes on! Being able to record a lecture really appeals to me, since I tend to fall asleep in class sometimes! That is horrible, but at least I still choose to attend :]. Like I said earlier, hopefully one day this will reach all colleges around the United States, including the University of South Alabama. By the time it does, I most likely will have already graduated, but it can and will help others in the future become more literate when it comes to technology while also making life easier in college.

180 days?

On the Fischbowl web page, I read the blog posted by Karl Fisch in April "180 days?". Barry Bachenheimer, who is the Director of Instruction for Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools in New Jersey and also a professor at Montclair State University, used a power point made by Karl Fisch in one of his classes to start a discussion-"Did You Know?/Shift Happens". A lot of the students didn't really seem to care so much because they were mentioning that they do not have enough time to do what they already are doing. It lead to a discussion about how well the time is used yearly for students to learn and/or make a difference while in school.

Barry Bachenheimer created a response to his students' thoughts and called it "180 days", and Karl Fisch took and "remixed" the response and created his own version called "180 days?". The whole presentation is showing how a lot of the days are used in school to do things that are not absolutely necessary, and could be used for many better things. The countdown went all the way to 120 days. 60 days of the 180 days allotted for students to be learning in school were not used efficiently. I like the fact that Karl deducted 12 days from the 180 for testing. I disagree with testing too, Karl! Maybe the administration at schools need to analyze what all is going on while the students are attending class, and realize maybe they don't need a movie day once a month. Use that time to better not only themselves, but the world...

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Technological Literacy

This post written by Karl Fisch, I think, was a great one to write about on our own personal blogs. I agree completely with the blog and do not think that he was too forward in anything that he said. If our University did not also believe that our teachers we are creating at this institute for the future need to be literate when it comes to technology, then I probably would not be enrolled in this class right now. Most of the things that I have learned so far in this Micro-computing Systems class I already know how to do, but I believe knowing all of the basics is a necessity for every teacher. Someone posted a comment on this post asking Karl exactly what it meant to be technologically literate. Some may think that since they can use a Power Point presentation during a lesson in class that they are literate. I would have to disagree with that because some things like that are as easy as 1-2-3. Anyone can do it. Good news is that pretty much everything on computers these days has become user friendly for even the new user.

But honestly, I think it should be essential for everyone to be technologically literate. Practically almost every single job these days involves one knowing how to deal with some sort of technology. There is no telling how it will be ten... twenty... thirty years from now. I am sure soon enough one will not be able to get a job at all if they are not literate when it comes to technology. Our world is progressing daily. Karl Fisch made the statement, "If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write." That does sound a little bit extreme to me, but most likely is true. Being technologically literate soon enough will be something everything will be expected to be and know how to do, just like reading and writing. You can't get by these days if you can't read and/or write. It is great that a blog like this was not only posted, but recognized, and hopefully impacting many around to learn how to work with technology. And like Mr. Fisch said, ignorance of it all is definitely not something to be proud of.

International Blogging

I actually found it quite difficult to find people who work in or with international schools who keep up with a blog. The first one that I did come across was of someone who is teaching at an international school in Guatemala City. I have been to Guatemala three times now, and my dream would be to teach there one day. This blog that Kelly Graves keeps up with with is mainly about her daily activities. Her blog can be read at www.kellyseagraves.blogspot.com. Most of the things that she spoke about had nothing to do with her giving others an education. She seems to be interacting with the people through things such as church and cookouts. It was fun to read, but I got nothing insightful from it. Below is Kelly with a friend eating hot dogs in honor of February.



The next blog that I found at http://theinternationalteacher.wordpress.com/ is one for the international teaching community. I think it is great to have such a blog like this where people who are interested in teaching somewhere other than a place like Mobile, Alabama can find out more information dealing with it all. The most recent post talked about finding that "fit" in the perfect international school for you. Not all schools are meant for every teacher, but the majority of the posts deal with schools that are out there who are in need of someone to teach there. Like I mentioned earlier, teaching in Guatemala would be absolutely amazing, so a blog such as this one could be and is actually very helpful to me in deciding what I want to do with my career. The picture below was taken by a teacher overseas one day while at the market.

Blogs in K-12 Classrooms

After viewing a few blogs found on Google, the one that caught my attention most was actually the first result given when I searched. Alfred Thompson's blog, which can be found at http://blogs.msdn.com/alfredth/, is very informative. He is a computer teacher, so most of his blogs I would say are directed toward other computer teachers. In my opinion, it could also be directed towards people who are interested about new software and/or how things operate within a computer, or maybe even for a caring and involved parent. Posts he had written that caught my attention were "How To Teach Your Child to Program", "How Software Is Built - Updated", "10 Golden Rules For Teaching Computer Science", "WiiMote (Wii game controller) and Microsoft Robotics Studio", and "More on teaching kids to think - AKA CS concepts for looking things up". Alfred uses his blogs in order to help parents with their children, teachers with their students, or just help an everyday gamer use their new Wii! A picture of Alfred Thompson is posted below:



Another one I stumbled upon was a blog created for Ms. Nelson's fifth grade class found at http://msnelson.blogspot.com/. This one seems a little bit different from the blogs that Mr. Thompson has posted. This one was more for the parents. Ms. Nelson would post blogs often about what the students have been learning in detail. So not only would the parents be able to see what progress had been made in their child's classroom, but the student could also get on in order to review the lessons of the day. There were a few posts made that gave extra information to the student, for example, more links to help them on one of their upcoming projects. I actually think that her creating a blog for her classroom was a great idea. I may even use a blog one day when I teach so my students will have no excuse for not knowing what they missed or when to turn something in because it will always be available online. Below is a picture of Ms. Nelson' class:

My Furry Siblings Presentation

ACCESS

ACCESS, which stands for the Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide program, is spreading rapidly across the state. It is a way for students who are in high school, grades 9-12, to be able to take courses online that may not be offered at their current high school. When I first was reading about this program, I was a bit turned off by it. I am still not positive if this program has to be done at home or in the classroom. I read about one specific high school Coffeeville and it spoke of a "Videoconferencing Lab" where students were taking special courses. Can ACCESS be accessed at home also? I hope one day in the future this program does not get so big that students are able to stay at home and do all of their classes from their very own bedroom. We will have the laziest teenagers ever who sleep in and then sit at home all day. The PowerPoint presentation at http://accessdl.state.al.us/ said that it provides courses at flexible hours; does this mean that students will eventually be able to stay home and take courses whenever? I hope it never reaches that point, and students always have to attend class on a regular basis.

On the other hand, I think it can be a great program because it is available to those who have failed or flunked out of a class. For instance, if a child fails a course his ninth grade year, he could be able to retake it over the summer so he can move onto the tenth grade on time and not be behind. That is very convenient for many. ACCESS currently is offering 32 web-based courses and 25 videoconferencing courses. I read a few blogs where teachers have commented on the program saying that they think it is wonderful and so do their students. I personally plan on teaching at a private school, so I honestly am not sure if something like this will ever reach a school that meets that criteria; hopefully though one day I will be able to put it to use with my students. I would not be interested in web-based courses that the children can only do at home, but possible a videoconferencing course. A lot of AP classes were not offered at Faith Academy, which is where I possibly plan to teach. ACCESS could be a great addition for those students with the aptitude and desire to work harder and faster to get a more Advanced Diploma. I look forward to learning more about this program and eventually seeing it spread even more across the state.

Putting ALEX to Use

In the previous blog that I posted, I briefly discussed what the Alabama Learning Exchange was and all of the things that it has to offer. I myself will hopefully be teaching Mathematics within the next 2 or 3 years, so I am sure that I will be able to put ALEX to great use. According to http://alex.state.al.us, "The majority of these rich resources (lesson plans, Web links, and interactive activities) are located and connected to the Alabama Courses of Study by National Board Certified Teachers." Therefore, information found on their website should not only be reliable, but also helpful.

When I was scanning through the website, under Mathematics it showed that it offered lesson plans for various subjects of math including Algebra, Algebra II, Algebra II with Trigonometry, Algebra III with Statistics, Algebraic Connections, Geometry, and Pre-Calculus. Honestly, I was not impressed with the amount of lesson plans offered on different math questions found under the Algebra II section. I know that you can join ALEX, so maybe once a member more lesson plans become available. Regardless, I do think that the Alabama Learning Exchange will definitely be of help to me in the future, especially if I need help figuring out how to teach something effectively to my class. Hopefully with my education I am receiving at South and with help from databases such as this one, I will be a successful teacher.

ALEX

ALEX, which stands for the Alabama Learning Exchange, is a website where teachers can either post lesson plans or upload other teachers lesson plans that they have posted. The home page at http://alex.state.al.us gives you the option of searching by courses of study, lesson plans, and through a personal workspace. It also offers professional learning, distance learning, as well as web links which lead to other reliable educational websites.

Through this database, teachers are able to find loads of information regarding practically any subject needed. While using ALEX, one can search not only by subject but also by grade to narrow things down. The courses of study that are offered include English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Arts Education, Career/Technical Education, Driver and Traffic Safety Education, Health Education, Languages other than English (Foreign Languages), Physical Education, Technology Education, and other courses of study. The slogan for ALEX is "Quality for Every Facet of Learning", and the Alabama Learning Exchange Team does all that they can to live up and exceed their motto. This website is definitely one that I plan on visiting again.

Did you know?

Actually, I didn't know. This video that I just watched on You Tube by Karl Fisch was a complete shocker to me. Well I figured that the statistics were pretty high when it came to how many people spend the majority of their time watching television or staring at a computer for hours upon hours, but I had no clue that the statistics were so outrageous. It almost makes me want to sit down and evaluate how much time I spend doing things that are not productive. I am completely addicted to Myspace and Facebook. I have to check it every single time I sit in front of a computer, except when I'm in Dr. Strange's class ;)! I can literally be on my computer for hours at a time, searching for pointless stuff for my own entertainment. It is sad to think that four year olds are already using computers. To a certain extent, I think that is great because there are so many good things that come from the use of a computer and the internet, but when I have children I hope to keep them away from computers and video games as long as possible. Our nation has become way too dependent on such things created through technology, and I feel that society has been dumbed down. In fact, I'm not even sure if I used correct grammar in that past sentence, but I'm relying on this composer hoping it would have shown me a little red or green squiggly line to notify me that I have said something incorrectly.

Where will we be 20 years from now? 30 years? 40? I am sure the statistics will only get worse...

Late to class...

I rushed to get to class, wet hair and with barely any makeup on, and I realized that when I got here that it was picture day for our blogs! That teaches me a lesson to get up before lunch time instead of being a lazy bum :].

My First Blog Post!

I now welcome you to the best blog you will ever read!!