iTunes U WGHB Grades 9-12

From WGHB Grades9-12 Podcast's I selected to view the podcast "Characteristics of the Sun". The podcast was a great film that had 3-D visuals accompanied by a well spoken narrator. Through each step of explaining about the sun, the podcast provide definition to certain scientific terms and also provide interesting facts and figures about the Sun, such as how hot the sun gets and how far away from Earth it is. All in all, the video was very informative and entertaining. It provided just enough great facts to where the student may want to try to find out more about the sun on there on. I think podcasts are great teaching tools because I feel that most students are visual learners. It is one thing to verbally tell a student about something but it is completely different if you not only tell them but show them. In a world that is evolving more rapidly with cell phones, laptops, video games, and ipods, it will take more than "yesterday's" teaching methods to reach future students.

Edutopia Podcast

The Edible Schoolyard was a great podcast. It was exciting to see kids learning while they were doing hands-on tasks. I love how that one garden taught them science, math, cooking, responsibility, independence, and lots more. The best part for me was when the boy could explain how the plant became dry vegetation and then soil and then the soil helped grow another plant to complete and restart the cycle. It really was great to see that you don't have to hammer in the book work, and kids can learn from real life experiences.

A Night in the Global Village was another great podcast. It not only showed students about true hunger and poverty, but it let them live it for a short time. I like how each were divided into groups with different conditions. The best part is that the different groups were all given different supplies such as matches, food, flashlights, etc., but no group had a way to complete a meal. This forced the students to work together to try to reach one goal. This was a great way to teach independence but an even better way to teach teamwork.

These podcasts taught me that I don't have to be another boring teacher. I can have fun with my class and at the same time they have the ability to learn something that is very important. I like the Edible Schoolyard the best. I could see myself having a class like that because I love hands-on learning. It's one thing to teach children something from a book, but it is another thing to let live it, feel it, and experiences it. I think that any prospective teacher should watch these because these were doable and enjoyable projects, and I think the smiles on the kids faces showed that.

iTunes University

A great technology tool to help teachers is iTunes University. Several major college and institutions used the iPod in their classrooms. iTunes University allows college professors to upload their video lessons and audio podcast lectures to iTunes University. From there other professors, students of that particular, or anyone with a free subscription to iTunes can go into iTunes University and subscribe to the lesson or podcast. This is a helpful tool for any teacher because iTunes University covers more than just college lectures. iTunes University includes educational media from famous museums and PBS stations. Not to mention it contains over 100,000 audio and video file to explore and continues to expand everyday day.

As a teacher, you may be asking why this is so great. The iPod has become an everyday part of life for millions of people and can be a great tool in teaching. In a university setting, as a student, you could miss a week of class and pull all of the lectures you missed from iTunes University, provided that your University participates in the service. For instance, you could be a teacher at a school that can't afford to send classes on field trips, or you could be to far away from the place you want to visit. With iTunes University, you could go to the Brooklyn Museum, Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum all without leaving the classroom. Those are just a few of the many ideas and uses that iTunes University presents. If you would like to see more about the use of iTunes University then Click Here.

iPod's in Education

In 2004, Duke University set out to become a leader in technological education. Every freshman that enrolled at Duke for the Fall semester of 2004 received a fourth-generation iPod. Duke had taken a risk that many consider was just a fad, but this risk seems to have it's rewards. Duke has now scaled back issuing iPods. If you take an iPod required course at Duke the university will lend you an iPod for the term. If you want your own it will only cost you $99. As far as iPod instruction at Duke being a fad, the university offered 47 courses that used the iPod in the Spring of 2006. The Spring of 2005 only offered 19 such courses. If you would like more details for Dukes use of the iPod check out the article I read HERE.

Duke is not the only university to take advantage of iPod's technology. Schools such as MIT, New York Law School, Texas A&M, and Stanford are also using the iPod. But the iPod is not limited just to Universities anymore. It is being used across the globe in K-12 Classrooms. Karen Thompson, a K-12 Teacher in Springfield, Illinois has a website that provides links to different projects and tools that show teachers some of the different things iPods can accomplish. To visit Karen Thompson link Click Here. Also, a fellow Blogger, whose blog is The Best Article Everyday, posted 100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better. To view the complete list Click Here.

Dr. Christie's Site

Dr. Christie had a great site with useful information such as iMovies, Podcast, Instant Messaging, and the list goes on. Being such a successful and accomplished educator for over 40 years, I am confident that here tips will definitely work. I searched the site and found that teachers could use GPS technology to incorporate lessons, which is very cool, but I'm not sure I will ever teach at a school that would allow the full power for such a project. I looked at her tips for podcast, checked out some of her workshops, and listened to her "Last Lecture".

After running through her site, I found a digital media section. From there I found a Movie or "iMovie" section. If you would like to view this link Click Here. Inside I found different projects that students had completed. The first project is the one that really caught my eye. Students in an elementary school had researched the life of Rosa Parks, created a script, and filmed a movie. It is even done in black and white, and has an old newscast type of look. I thought this would be a perfect way to get kids to learn without actually making them feel like they are learning. Any teacher could do this for anything and the subject does not matter. If you would like to watch the video then Click Here.

Wikipedia

The articles and podcast concerning Wikipedia were very interesting to read and listen to. I use Wikipedia a few times a week. I might search the name of a pro athlete. I may be watching T.V. and cannot figure out what movie a remember a certain actor from. I might want biography information, career stats, or records of great games fro my favorite pro athletes. I knew Wikipedia could be changed by anyone, and I never thought this was a huge deal. I figure that most of what I read on Wikipedia is true and factual. But that was before I read the articles and listened to the podcast. I use Wikipedia for hobby related information, but Wikipedia can give some companies a bad name and a "black eye" so to speak. Now knowing that anyone can sugar coat or remove anything from Wikipedia that they don't like or agree changes my view of Wikipedia's creditability. I know they can find who changed the information, but it is completely legal to change the information. Due to that fact, I don't think Wikipedia will ever be 100% reliable.

Randy Pausch's Lecture

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams was a great video to watch. It was like watching a great movie that comes along every once in a while that you wish would never end. He was full of so much information and knowledge, yet he kept the concepts simple. You can live out your dreams to so extent, as long as you don't take no for an answer, and you keep pushing toward your goal. This was an eye opening lecture.
As the video opened, he made it a point not to pity him and that he was not going to talk about his cancer. And as the video went on further, I forgot about his life story and really focused on his lecture. Randy Pausch, in some way or another, fulfilled all of his childhood dreams. After his dreams were fulfilled he dreamed even bigger and began to help his students realize and achieve their dreams.
Randy Pausch did not believe in book work. He wanted work to be hands on. He talked about how to "head fake" children. "Head faking" was the concept of letting children have fun while indirectly teaching them something. His "dream factory" became Alice, which is a project that allows children to make movies and games, yet teaches them as they use it. At the time of the lecture it had 1 million downloads, 8 textbooks about it, and 10% of U.S. colleges were using it. Pausch said that the best was yet to come from "Alice". He compared himself to Moses, in the fact that, like Moses he will "get to see the promised land, but not step foot in it".
Randy Pausch should be a role model for future teachers. He did not believe in book work, but he did believe in children having fun while they learn something really hard. He whole basis for living was to have fun, not just in learning but in life. The thing I learned most from the lecture was to never give up on the dreams of my future students or my own dreams. I think that dreams will only die if you let them. And in the end the talk was for his kids. "Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things". -Randy Pausch

All About Me

The Fischbowl Best of 2007: April, 180 Days?

Karl Fisch's April's Blog Entry for Best of 2007 was a very interesting topic named 180 Days?. The topic came from Barry Bachenheimer, who asked the question is 180 days of school enough time, and how many of those 180 days are devoted to instructing students. I then went to the link which The Fischbowl provided and watched Barry's YouTube video 180 Days?. The video considered 180 days of school and then it featured factors that affected teacher's from instructing students. These factor included: testing, test review days, fire drills, pep rallies, picture day, guidance counselor talks, school wide assemblies, and so on. It is very interesting when you look at the big picture.

I'm glad I chose to blog about this topic, because I have first hand experience. High school for me was great. It was friends, sports, telling jokes, and having as much fun as possible. Before I say anything else, I received an outstanding, quality education. I say that to say, 180 days are wasted. Most of the time in school and in the classroom is wasted on programs, movies, reviews, State testing. Even with all the class interruptions and not having teacher instruction everyday, I feel like all of my classmates and I received a great education. My opinion is that there is too big of a deal being made about 180 Days?. It is a great thought, but school is about making mistakes and learning from them, just as much as it is about learning from a teacher and a book. It's school so let's just lighten up and have fun with it.

Last Semesters Students Podcasts

The first podcast I chose to listen from last years class was podcast number 21. The students that made this podcast were Ashley Cleveland, Erica Sledge, and Shyane Fant. The subject of their podcast was "Useful Web Sites for Elementary Teachers". I thought the podcast was very well done. The girls spoke very well. Although they seemed tense at first they seemed to calm down and be comfortable with each other. From this podcast I can learn that it is a must to research your topic, because it is clear that they were well prepared. I will also take away that they spoke well, loudly enough, and clearly. I hope my podcast is as well done. If you are interested in listening to this podcast LISTEN HERE

The second podcast I listened to was on the topic of "Technology Used in Classrooms in the College of Education". The students performing this podcast were Tina Dillen and Sara Large. This was podcast number 8. Their podcast was done very well also. Maybe I could make my podcast more of an attention grabber. Hopefully it my podcast will be more interesting. Their topics were scattered from advantages to disadvantage back to advantages which made it very confusing. Mainly, I wanted my podcast to be clear, well spoken, organized, and entertaining. If you are interested and listening to their podcast LISTEN HERE

The Fischbowl

After reading Karl Fisch's blog, I feel that he was dead on about all the statements he made. Every teacher today should be required to be computer literate. Computers and the Internet are here to stay, as much as the older generation does not want to admit it. Computers will be a part of everyday life for everyone for years to come, especially students and teachers. I believe that students will get their homework assignments, study guides for tests, grades, and etc. in the future from a blog. The internet was just in it's infancy ten years ago, and I am not sure that it has hit its full potential yet or that it ever will.

I realize that we have older teachers in school systems that believe that if they taught for so many years without a computer then they can continue to do so. I feel like that is a childish thought process, and in the end it hurts the children. If you cannot or do not teach children to be computer literate nowadays, then as an educator, you are only setting them up in failure for the future. The future will have computers, but we must be able to use the computers to have a future.

Podcasts

This week I listened to the required podcasts. The first podcast I listened to was KidCast Number 58. The podcaster, Dan, brought up the topic of how classes are performing podcasts. He believes that podcasting is not about just saying, "Hey, here is a podcast". He believes podcasting is about collaboration and research, then posting it and making it available to the world, and finally following up with more podcasts. His podacast was boring at first and started off slowly, but it contained useful information.

Next I listened to the Connecting Learning podcast with David Warlick. The was Episode 96, and he was hosting a workshop which included around 9,000 teachers. One teacher from and elementary school said that kids dislike assignments they do with pencil and paper, buy enjoy the exact same assignment if they can do it on a computer. Another teacher suggested that kids love personalizing their blogs and may work harder on their assignments because they know more people will see their work.

Then I listened to MacBreak Weekly Episode 125. This podcast was fun and upbeat. I loved the fact that the podcast used a cast of different people. It was almost like listening to a morning radio show.

Lastly, I listened to This Week in Photography Number 66. They too were fun, energetic, and really seemed to enjoy working together. They seemed very comfortable together and of course very knowledge about the topics they were speaking about. It was interesting to me that they talked about how everyone now owned a camera hurt real photo journalists.

International Classrooms That Use Blogs

The first International classroom blog that I found was powered by Miss Wyatt of Tasmania, Australia. She did not release the exact name of her school, but on the blog, she referred to it as a district school. Ms. Wyatt teaches a 6th and 7th grade class at the school. Her blogs included assignments, links to the students blogs, and several articles telling about what the class was involved in that week. What made this class interesting to me, was what you see in the picture. The class in the picture is Ms. Wyatt's class, and the boy you see on the screen is from Canada. The two classes are friends that exchange information through the blogs. In this particular picture, they used Skype Chat to communicate with each other. So for about an hour that day Australia and Canada were in the same classroom. Pretty neat stuff. If you would like to see more of Ms. Wyatt's classroom blog then CLICK HERE.



The second International school I found that used classroom blogs was the American Embassy School in New Delhi, India. Gary Coyle is the teacher in charge of the blog. He teaches 8th Grade Humanities. Most of his blogs usually include the major points they covered in class, a reflection of the assignment, and links that give examples of the material. His blog isn't the best I've seen, but he did just recently complete a Master's Degree in Educational Technology at San Diego State University. If you would like to see Mr. Coyle's 8th Grade Humanities classroom blog just CLICK HERE.

American Schools That Use Blogs In The Classroom

The first school I found that used blogs in the classroom was William E. Norris Elementary, which is located in Southampton, Massachusetts. Mr. Kevin Hodgson is over the sixth grade at the school and incorporates the use of blogs in their daily classroom routine. Mr. Hodgson posts reading, writing, math, English, and homework assignments directly to the blog to allow his students to know what it due and when. He also posts test dates, links that may help the students understand the material better, and interactive games that make learning more appealing. Recently, he has added videos of puppet shows that his students performed for younger classes. His purpose is to " allow students to share their work" and to "allow students to view assignments". If you would like to view Mr. Hodgson's classroom blog CLICK HERE


The second school I found that had a classroom that used blogs was Julien G. Hathaway Elementary School in Oxnard, California. The person that is in control of the blog is a first grade teacher named Sarah Puglisi. She has named her classes' blog "How Beautiful You Are" because of her love for children. Her blog is used to display pictures of events that have happened in her class, and it is used to display the work of her students. She has pictures of them performing an earthquake drill. She also has pictures of their pet hermit crabs. Most recently, her posts have discussed how she has taught the children about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. If you would like to view Mrs. Puglisi's class blog then CLICK HERE

Did You Know?

The movie showed me tons of things that I either did not know or did not realize. The one point that really cleared it up for me was that it took "radio" 38 years to reach a market audience of 50 million while it only took the "computer/Internet" 4 years to reach that number. The number of college graduates also shocked me. I had assumed that, prior to the video, the U.S. produced more college graduates than any other country in the world. I was wrong. I am almost 21 years old, and I have grown up with every great technological advancement known to man.


Before the video, I knew that technology played a big part in my life, but I guess I never thought of it being that big in the lives of everyone else. I do play video games and watch TV . I have a MySpace account and visit YouTube often. Heck, I've even bought and sold items on eBay. And I text message most of my friends everyday. The Internet is a great tool. It has answered questions, helped find people, helped people find spouses, helped book flights and hotel rooms, helped book tickets to concerts and sporting events, and it has helped me throughout school with various papers and projects. And now I wonder how life would be without it all? That, I cannot imagine.

ACCESS Program

ACCESS stands for Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide. Governor Bob Riley and State Superintendent of Education Dr. Joesph B. Morton initiated ACCESS in 2006. The mission and goal are very simple and similar. It was designed to provide all students will and equal opportunity education and to make sure that everyone received the best quality education possible. ACCESS offers advanced diploma course, dual enrollment courses, remediation courses, advanced placement courses, and additional courses that that students school may not offer themselves. ACCESS incorporates and utilizes distance learning. Distance learning means that teachers and students can be in two different places and can communicate through the Internet.



In my opinion, ACCESS sounds like a great idea. As technology had advanced so has education and ACCESS uses technology to provide students and teachers more ways to communicate and learn. I think that all schools with this system can benefit, but I especially believe that lower income schools and inner city schools will benefit the most. In the case of these schools, ACCESS can offer the same education that is received at all schools. ACCESS should offer students a stepping stone for the future, preparing them better for college, and offering the chance of completing dual enrollment for early college credits. ACCESS will make a great stride for the future of education.

ALEX-Alabama Learning Exchange

Today I researched information about ALEX (Alabama Learning Exchange). ALEX is a website that acts as a community for teachers. Teachers can log in to ALEX and post and create lesson plans which other teachers can use in their classrooms. ALEX contains lesson plans from traditional classes, such as, Math, English, and Science. Yet it also includes the lesson plans for modern classes that range from Driver and Traffic Safety to Career/Technical Education. Alex also covers all grades, K-12. Each lesson plan includes the State of Alabama Quality of Teaching Standard the lesson satisfies. Most of the lesson plans even include the time the lesson will take. Another great feature is that you can use a search engine within the site to help you find exactly what you are looking for. It also is very helpful by including valuable educational web links.

As a new teacher, this website would be extremely helpful. I never knew such a site existed, and i was even more impressed by all of the help it contained. Having a website that contains lessons plans for a variety of subjects would make my job a lot easier. The greatest relief is knowing that it is all state approved. Also, my favorite part is that it contains other educational web links. I think ALEX is a great tool for any teacher.

About Me

Hello everyone! My name is Matthew Quimby. I'm from Atmore, Alabama, which is only about an hour away from Mobile. I'm attending South to get my Physical Education degree. I'm currently the Junior Varsity and Varsity Boy's Assistant Basketball Coach at Escambia Academy, which is where I graduated from in 2006. I have a great family, along with some of the best friends a guy could ask for. I also have a wonderful girlfriend named Lonni, and we have been going out for over two years now. Other than that, I love sports, funny movies, and anything that involves having fun. So thanks.

Welcome!

Hey everyone! This is my first blog, and I hope you enjoy my blogs in the near future.