Goodbye for Now

I'll be back to my class blog for sure. Too much effort and good ideas to let go to waste.

Lacey Musgrove

Don't Forget

lvmugrove@gmail.com

251-752-7253

lvm901@jaguar1.usouthal.edu

Project 6: My Personal Learning Network

My PLN consist of..... the internet.

I understand the concept behind a personal learning network, it just has not become second nature to me yet. Dr. Strange's class was the first time I had heard of the term. Before that I had only been exposed to "Networking". Remember that? Haha. But I very much appreciate being putting on the right track with my PLN due to EDM and Dr. Strange.

I can undoubtedly say that the following people are part of my PLN: all the students of EDM 310 in Fall of 2009-especially students in the Wednesday night class; Dr. Strange; Mr. Chamberlain; Mr. McClung; Mr. Goerend; Kaia and her father and all of my teachers so far at South.

Also, I have become exposed to SOOO many great people, websites and books through EDM and I know that, with these resources as part of my NETWORK, my PERSONAL LEARNING will be increased greatly.

Thank you everyone.

EDM AND ME : )

I believe I was moderately technologically literate before EDM and now I believe I am more technologically literate after. And, as I have for... my whole life... I'll continue to use technology in every aspect of my life, especially my future teaching.

PROGRAMS/WEBSITES

YouTube - is changing People.

Twitter - Great for news and views.

Skype - I have one. Who knows who I'll end up talking to with it.

Picasa - Love Picasa. Eventhough, I don't remember anything about it from class.

iTunes/iTunesU - Beneficial to me personally. I'm not positive if it will affect my future teaching.

Delicious - I have one. I'm sure I'll refer to it in the future.

Wordle - Love Wordle! I'll definitely use it.

Foliotek - Dr. Strange's directions made Foliotek understandably for me... FINALLY!

ACCESS/ALEX - For me, a monthly resource.. at least.

IDEAS

PLNs - Still trying to convince myself.

Comment4Kids - I hope it grows even larger. Its a true symbol of education reform.

HTML - A whole new world. I look forward to becoming a HTML professional.

Podcasts/Videocasts - Not sure if I'll be inspired to create one of these on my own.

Wikis - I've joined two other Wikis (besides Tech Literate Teacher) since being introduced to the concept. So, Go Wikis!!

Technological Literacy - Undoubtedly important.

The Future of Schools - I hope I'm an influential part of it.

My "Intellectual Trail" - Something I think about every time I get on a computer.

Me as a Professional - Closer and closer every day.

GOOGLE - A great bundle of tools.

Blogs/ Blogger - Love Blogger.

GoogleDocs - Love GoogleDocs.

Google Spreadsheets - Meh.

Google Reader - Useful.

GoogleForms - I think I may find a use for these in the future.

Google Earth - Always useful.

My Favorite Posts

• Did You Know? 3.0 and 4.o
• Comments4Kids Zane's Blog Amber's Fantastic Facts At the fireplace Mr. McClung's World Katie's Blog Moturoa's Blog Mr. Lamshed's Class Blog
• Ken Robinson on Education and Creativity
• Randy Pausch: The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
• Dr. Alice Christie.org
• Dear Kaia: Kaia's First Photo Essay
• Importance of Children's Work on the Internet: PS22 Chorus and Dear Kaia
• *YouTube* is Changing *People*
• New Classroom Rules, Seven Stupid Mistakes and Seven Brilliant Things

I appreciative that we got to interact with the students of Pt. England School in New Zealand, and Kaia and her father. Also our Skype sessions with Mr. McClung and Mr. Goerend.

Presentations

I liked creating my GoogleDocs Presentation.

The podcast my group and I made was a new experience.

And I'm glad I learned how to make a voicethread through Project 11.

What I would have liked to have learned.

More basic HTML stuff and more basic computer stuff. Tricks of the trade and such.

What I wish I didn't learn.

Umm... I can't think of anything.

What I got excited about learning in EDM.

HTML, Google Tools, Comments4Kids.

Anything intellectually challenging?

Nothing stands out. However, I think some things were slightly challenging from a creativity aspect.

Bored at any time?

Its hard to be bored on the World Wide Web.

Ways I would change EDM 310.

-Less blog posts.
-More Comments4Kids.
-More of an introduction to programs and concepts. And therefore more programs and concepts.

Project 11: Voicethread

By: Anthony Capps, Lacey Musgrove

and Heather Anderson

Anthony, Heather and I very easily created this voicethread on Voicethread.com. Then Anthony and I demonstrated to the class all the different ways that anyone (with a Voicethread.com account) can comment on the material within the voicethread. I think voicethreads will be a great teaching tool for me. I could make a voicethread and have my students access it at home.

The Tech Literate Teacher: Project 10 Podcast

TED.com

Edutopia
SMARTboard Lessons
TeacherTube
By: Lacey Musgrove, Anthony Capps,

Heather Anderson and Lauren Karadimos

Listen to it here.

New Classroom Rules, Seven Stupid Mistakes and Seven Brilliant Things

NEW CLASSROOM RULES

from Education Innovation

**My Favorites**

1. Come to school every day, unless you would rather just go on line. **less restrictions will result in less rebellion**

4. Bring required materials, including your laptop and cell phone every day. **less restrictions will result in less rebellion**

6. Don't Talk to your neighbors, unless you are sharing your ideas, asking for help or giving help. **less restrictions will result in less rebellion**

8. Do not cheat, but remix, re-purpose, and sample other peoples’ work and ideas and give them credit. **former approaches to "Cheating/Plagiarism" hinder creative thinking**
15. Know what you are supposed to be learning, why, and what you will do with the knowledge. **too many teachers assume that we students ALREADY know these things**

SEVEN STUPID MISTAKES TEACHERS MAKE WITH TECHNOLOGY

from Doug Johnson via Education World

**My Favorites**

1. Not backing up data. **something I need to take heed to**
5. Believing that one's teaching style need not change to take full advantage of technology. **something my former teachers weren't aware of when I was experiencing Middle and High School during the booming age of the Internet**
6. Ignoring the intrinsic interest of tech use in today's kids. Kids like technology. Not using it as a hook to motivate and interest them in their education is stupid. **YES, STUPID. I completely agree**

SEVEN BRILLIANT THINGS TEACHERS DO WITH TECHNOLOGY

from Doug Johnson via Education World

**My Favorites**

1. Empower kids with technology.

2. Creatively find and use resources. **even as easy as showing your students the result of a Google search of the subject matter you are studying, once they see how many OTHER people care about it, I know you will intrigue at least one of your students**

3. Make conferencing real-time.

4. Put kids in touch with the world. **students would rather learn about the Fall of the Berlin Wall if they could, for example, have a conversation with someone who was there before, during AND after its existence**

5. Accept the role of co-learner.

6. Use the kids' own deviced to teach them.

7. Delight in discovery, the newness, and the fun technology holds.

**These are all my favorites. I'm going to make a mental note to make a poster of these rules to display for myself in my classrooms.**

Doug Johnson's Wiki

Looks like a great Resource!!

Collaborative Blogs

I hope to be a part of many collaborative blogs throughout my teaching career; with my colleagues, my school district, my students and their parents. Also, my mentors and members of my personal learning network. Any excuse to communicate with fellow teachers or parents is a good excuse in my book, so I would absolutely advocate collaborative blogs.

Components of At the Teacher's Desk--

"An experiment in professional learning, collaboration and sharing of ideas."

Gadgets

• Visitor Tracker
• Contributor List
• Contributors' Blog List
• Most Active Contributors
• Twitter - Search
• Twitter - Follower Counter
• Labels List

Members

• John Strange (Alabama)
• Mr. McClung (Arkansas)
• Mr. Chamberlain (Missouri)
• Mr. Lamshed (Australia)
• NZWaikato (New Zealand)
• Jenny She (New Zealand)
• Fiona Jolly
• teachernz (New Zealand)
• Jane Hake
• ali colbeck (Australia)
• Mr. Moore (Colorado)

My Top 5 Posts from At the Teacher's Desk

• Scary Statistics Enough said.
• The Fundred Project I hope circumstances allow me to facilitate an amazing project like this one when I become a teacher.
• Using Skype to Connect ESOL Students with Foreign Language Students Because every ESOL student can benefit from communicating with someone in their 1st and 2nd language.
• How Do I Know I am Not Just being Selfish? I guess you don't. However, I think the confusion comes from "generation gaps".
• Pencils and Crayons to be Banned in Schools Detrimental.

*YouTube* is Changing *People*

The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube and the Politics of Authenticity

Micheal Welsch

This presentation was shocking to me because I am absolutely a part of the MTV/Whatever!/Reality TV Generation. Apparently, all of this technology will change drastically in the next ten years, but I'm extremely happy that I have the curiosity to research and comprehend the true magnitude of the current age.

The phenomenon of MadV and the Free Hugs Campaign still blows me away, eventhough I'm not surprised by its existence.

Micheal Welsch's YouTube Channel It has other great videos.

Referenced books I want to read:

"Believing, Inventing, and Implementing Technological Pedagogies" By: Anthony Capps

Anthony Capps' post, Believing, Inventing, and Implementing Technological Pedagogies is a great example of the very thing he discusses in it. I especially love being introduced to thoughts of people I KNOW. Reading such a thoughtful post with so much insight makes exploring my peers thoughts even more enjoyable.
And also, to make an example of another point in his post; I hope so much that using the technology I've learned in Dr. Strange's class will help me to inspire my students to care, consider and comment on their fellow peers' thoughts.

Importance of Children's Work on the Internet: PS22 Chorus and Dear Kaia

What an incredible display of inspiring our students to do great things. Celebrities, parents, students (like us), and other children especially, watching how much fun the children of PS22 are having can only encourage good things....

.....good things that can lead to GREAT things like this!!!!

Kaia's Photo Essay

And Kaia's blog is something that even I feel so touched to be a part of. I can't wait to facilitate such a connection for my future students.

ACCESS: Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide

The Alabama ACCESS Distance Learning Initiative was launched on November 1, 2004. I was shocked when I read this because I attended an Alabama public high school from 2003 - 2007, and I had never heard of the program since classes at the College of Education. My school did have a dual enrollment option, for only one course. I'm sure it was a part of my school but it never crossed my path.

ACCESS is what it sounds like. A program that Alabama implements statewide, that uses the technology of computers and the Internet to allow students to go to classes (online) that aren't offered at their school, with qualified instructors

Overall, this program seems to be an appreciated one; also, fairly successful with "75% of students and 82% of teachers involved in ACCESS expressing that their virtual school experience was as good as or better than that for traditional courses".

2009-2010 ACCESS

Video Conferencing Instruction (VCI)

COURSE OFFERINGS

Subject

Mathematics

Algebra I

Algebra IB

Geometry

Algebraic Connections

Algebra II

Algebra II with Trigonometry

Precalculus

Calculus

AP Calculus AB

English

AP English Language and Composition

AP English Literature and Composition

Social Studies

Honors World History: 1500 to the Present (Grade 9)

United States History to 1877 (Grade 10)

United States History from 1877 to the Present (Grade 11)

Economics

United States Government

AP United States History

AP European History

Science

Forensic Science

Environmental Science

Biology

Chemistry

Advanced Chemistry

Physics

Human Anatomy and Physiology

Foreign Language

French I

French II

French III

German I

German II

German III

Latin I

Spanish I

Spanish III

Mandarin Chinese I

Other Required

Health Education

Computer Applications

Electives/Career

Tech Accounting I

Bible as Literature

Business Technology Applications

Advanced Business Technology Applications

Education and Training

Floral Design and Interiorscaping

Poetry

Sociology

ACT Preparation

Other course offerings are web-based instruction courses. Just about the same amount as the previous section of course, in most of the same subjects. ACCESS also provides Alabama High School Graduation Exam Remediation Materials. Hopefully in my future schools this program or one similar to it will be a useable program for me and my students.

ALEX: Alabama Learning Exchange

The Alabama Learning Exchange website is composed of vital resources for anyone in the field of Education. It has Alabama courses of study, web links, lesson plans, a personal workspace section, a professional learning section and a podcast gallery (gallery360).

SIDE NOTE: Every student in the College of Education should review (print out if necessary) all of the Alabama standards under the course of study section of the Alabama Learning Exchange website.

The subjects included under the course of study section include; English language arts, science, mathematics, social studies, arts education, career/technical education, driver and traffic safety education, health education, languages other than English, physical education, technology education and miscellaneous courses of study.

The web link section has links for teacher web links, administrator web links and student web links. The lesson plan section has lesson plans for practically every subject and area in every grade.

Google Time Based Search Options

The WonderWheel and Time-Based Search Options are SO cool. I will be using them in the future for sure.

Intrepid Teacher: Singing Hearts

This whole, fascinating journey of Kaia, her dad, Mr. Chamberlain and all the other people around the world who watched the videos, read the blog posts and left comments, has really intrigued to read Richard Louv's book; because it seems to be the driving force that started this whole sequence of events. That's why I love books and reading.

Dear Kaia: Kaia's First Photo Essay

I feel so privileged to be given a glimpse into this young girl's life. She is incredibly cute and it makes me so happy to see her spending time outside, exploring and learning.

With every picture on her post and in her photo essay, you can see her surroundings being put into perspective more and more. These are the goals I strive to accomplish as a teacher.

Turning what is percieved as 'nothing' into art... something beautiful that tells a story... learning.

A fascinating process.

Mr. Chamberlain: Dear Kaia - Voicethread

I'm very much a fan of voicethreads after Dr. Strange's class. I look forward to supplementing my curriculum in this way for my students. I hope when I try this for the first time, my students get as excited about it as I do.

Comments4Kids: Zane's Blog

I commented on Zane's blog about his lego robots and

Kobe Bryant & LeBron James.






I was very impressed by his lego robot.

The New Media Literacies

The New Media Literacies presents their ideas of the skills a person needs to be successfully productive in this new age of technology. Skills like judgement, negotiation, appropriation and play are universal skills that, in any era, would be a crucial element to being an effective artist, citizen or worker. But, yes, the other, new skills that they mention are definitely needed these days if you want to be successful in your endeavors with "new media".
I have good judgement when it comes to resources from the internet. Examples of places that I would rely on are government websites, established corporations or brands and accredited volumes of information. I do my share of playing on the internet. I like finding new things that intrigue me and just letting the trail of interest continue and build off itself. As the movie went on and explained negotiation and appropriation I realized that I posses those skills as well. I'm definitely a multitasker; and the rest of the skills I am going to have to do more research on in an attempt to start aquiring them.

Wendy Drexler: The Networked Student

This was a really great video. Yeah, it makes someone studying to be a teacher think about what the students are going to be like by the time we make it to our own classrooms. However, I believe that a networked student will always benefit from a teacher. It's the same as any networked person... there is always something new to learn so there are always going to be people to teach it to you. I look forward to being that person for my students, that is, when they aren't teaching me.

Richard Miller: This Is How We Dream

I enjoyed hearing Richard Miller's ideas and I appreciated him sharing them. I was very interested in the technology of Jonathan Harris that he mentioned. I checked it out and it is really amazing. We Feel Fine is his tool that searches blogs; and Universe is the one that uses the news. Its really incredible technology that you could probably spend your entire life exploring and always find something new. Jonathan Harris is also on TED.com.





In order to achieve what Richard Miller speaks about in his presentation, we need exactly what he says. We need teachers that have the knowledge and capabilities to inspire their students to want to start learning, creating and sharing using this technology; curriculum and lesson plans that are updated to meet these goals and are proven effective; and resources to be made available to everyone.

Comment4Kids: Amber's Fantastic Facts

I commented on a poem Amber posted on her class's blog. Amber's Fantastic Facts. It was impressive. You should read it.

Using iPods for Instruction

I found this great presentation on SlideShare.net, which is a website that let's people share PowerPoint presentations, word documents and PDF Portfolios either privately or publicly. It has a great volume of information on how to use iPods effectively in the classroom.

iPods & Podcasting for Whole Language Instruction

View more presentations from Grace poli.

I think iPods are a great tool for enhancing instruction. It would be a great accomplishment if this technology, and all the technologies of today, could be accessible for every child in the world. iPods can be used for reading comprehension, listening centers, reviewing math concepts... all sorts of stuff. From what I've read, teachers have seen students getting less distracted and in turn learning more.

iTunesU

I can say I will be using iTunesU as long as it stays alvailiable. The iTunesU introduction presentation on YouTube was very informative and persuasive about the advantages of iTunesU.It's awesome that you can practically go to ivy league school's lecture classes, lab experiements, etc. I'm becoming more and more convinvced to invest in a iPhone to have all of this information and all these incredible tools at my fingertips.

Dr. Alice Christie.org

On Dr. Christie's website I explored the Google Earth Resource Guide section. She's absolutely right about using GoogleEarth in the classroom. When I was younger I believe I wasn't as interested in learning as much because I wasn't aware of the significance of what I was being taught. We would learn about the Revolutionary War or the Fall of the Roman Empire but none of it was put into perspective for me. When I'm a teacher, I would love to use GoogleEarth to show my students different regions of the world and our country, for them to better understand the impacts that these people and events that we learn about have had on our world and society. I look forward to exploring all of Dr. Christie's website more thouroughly and printing copies of her lessons using GoogleEarth like Measuring Using The GoogleEarth Ruler Tool .

NPR, Wikipedia, and Virgil Griffith's WikiScanner

I personally do not use Wikipedia. There are millions of sites that are better and more specific for research. I am not surprised that companies try to make themselves look better through Wikipedia.
I applaud Virgil Griffth for his talents and skills. I have yet to acquire the knowledge to know how to do anything close to what he accomplished with the WikiScanner. Maybe one day. I know I won't be learning any of it on Wikipedia though, that's for sure.

Did You Know? 4.0

Interesting.... I didn't know Obama used the social networking sites to raise that much money. He caught on quick. From a building, to your pocket, to a blood cell. That will be interesting to see. Another intriguing "Did You Know?".

Randy Pausch: The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Wow! What an incredible lecture. Where to start?
Randy Pausch's lecture was "about" ways to achieve your childhood dreams. His talk was in three parts. He talked about his childhood dreams, how he did and we can enable someone else's childhood dreams, and the lessons learned from his experience and our experience of hearing him speak.
He had a ton of excellent ideas and methods to live your life by. There were several that stood out to me. "Brick walls are there to show how bad we want something." "Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals!" "Have something to bring to the table; it makes you valuable. Like his observation about Captain Kirk not being an expert at anything besides being the leader of his crew. I liked what he told us about how "we are doing our students a disservice by setting the bar anywhere" when it comes to our expectations of them.


He spoke about his childhood dreams and how he fulfilled most of them and how some changed along the way. He spoke a lot about the programs and ideas that he used to help other people achieve their childhood dreams. Including: Building Virtual Worlds, ETC and the Alice program. The lessons learned he spoke about included be good at something, work hard, and find the best in everybody. (you may not see it right away but he says wait long enough and EVERYONE will show you there good side.

The greatest part of Randy Pausch’s lecture was the topic of the head-fake. From the point that he explained what a head-fake was… I started noticing everything he was saying and realized that’s what he was doing to his audience. Little did I know he would reveal that at the very end? This was an incredibly inspiring talk. I’m so thankful that I was assigned to watch his video. I very much plan on buying his book and telling my family members to watch this video. I believe it would do them a lot of good.

Comments4Kids: At the fireplace Blog: Autumn Colours

I commented on the blog of the students of Abanskaya school 3 in Russia. Their blog was suggested by Mr. Chamberlain on his class blog. The students created Autumn centerpieces out of food and found objects. They were pretty incredible and the class seems to do projects like this often. Very cool.

Comment4Kids: Mr. McClung's World: Teaching Tool: EarthPulse

I commented on Mr. McClung's blog today about a resource on the National Geographic website called EarthPulse. It was a very cool application. I looked around for a while and I plan to go back to learn some more. It's really my kind of site. You should check it out!

Practice

Comments4Kids: Katie's Blog

I commented on Katie's blog; she's in Mr. Toft's grade 5 class in Stittsville, Ontario, Canada. She likes to read more than computers and TV. I look forward to following her blog to see what she's learning in school.

GoogleDocs Presentation

Mr. McClung: What I've Learned This Year.

I just read Mr. McClung's post and found it to be very true. I enjoyed reading about a 1st year teacher's experience very much. He made a lot of valid points, including:

• to be an effective teacher you have to let your students/ audience direct what and how you teach
• being flexible and not sweating the small stuff is key
• keeping lines of communication with good teachers open is important, this can allow you to good, effective trade ideas
• ENCOURAGE your students to do better the next time when they fail at something
• and listen to your students.

I firmly believe that if a teacher knows his or her students well enough that teaching them will just be like second nature. The students will learn and grow without knowing it. Mr. McClung has excellent information and advice. His blog is a part of my PLN.

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

I would say this video accurately depicted my college experience by about 90%. The only thing that didn't really fit is the amount of time and energy put into Facebook and such by the students who were surveyed. Other than that it was pretty right on. I will be in a lot of debt by the time I graduate. Who knows if I will even find a job when I graduate. This post was informative and interesting but as a student myself... not surprising.

The Fischbowl: Is it Okay to be a Technilogically Illiterate Teacher?

I just read this post by Karl Fisch and found it very enlightening. I very much agree with Mr. Fisch's comparison of tech illiterate teachers now and illiterate teachers 30 years ago. Currently working teachers that are not tech literate need to seriously consider opening their interest to learning basic and new technology.

Comments4Kids: Moturoa's Blog

I just commented on Monturoa's blog after watching the video about the Appleby Country Fair. The fair looked like a lot of fun. Cool to see the similarities and differences of country fairs in our 'country' and their 'country'.

Langwitches Blog: Episode #19

In this podcast on the Langwitches.org website, two women, one of which is Melanie Holtsman, discuss Web 2.0 and Ideas for integrating technology in the classroom. This podcast was very informative for me and gave me quite a few ideas for when I become a teacher. One of the ideas she had was to have different designated children that would get to blog on the class blog about what they did and learned each day. I think that is an awesome idea and depending on the grade and the technologies available, more and more children can be a part of doing that. Its a great way for parents to keep track of what goes on in the classroom as well. Ms. Holtsman also brought up an excellent point about how blogging, podcasting and videocasting with people all over the world really helps children apply what they learn everyday to a larger audience because they know and they've spoken to people all over the world. Another great advantage of podcasting and videocasting for children that Ms. Holtsman brought up was that when creating these production children can become aware of what they portray when they present information. They can watch or listen to something that they made and say "I don't like this" or "I want to do this a different way". I look forward to subscribing to Langwitches RSS feed and learning all the great tips it was to offer.

EDM 310 Podcast: "Should All Teachers Be Tech Literate?"

I think last semester's videocast of "Should All Teachers Be Tech Literate?" was excellent. It has all of the things that I thought the previous podcasts I watched lacked. Even though this was a videocast I like that I could have listened to it only and I would have known what was going on, what was being discussed, etc.; because Dr. Strange laid it all out in the beginning. I would prefer a quiet place like this room when I do my podcast because background noise was very distracting for me in the podcasts I've seen. In my podcast I will certainly strive to make it as interesting as possible and try to keep people's attention with good points and entertaining conversation.

Education Podcasts

After watching all of the podcasts, most of which were about technology and podcasting/videocasting, I've gotten some good tips laid out in my head to follow when I make my podcast. For me, it was hard to pay attention to something that wasn't using my sense of sight to relay its message. However, I strongly agree with the idea that having children listen to podcasts instead something like a videocast would greatly strengthen their listening skills and heighten their levels of understanding in all other subjects. Most of the podcasts had really great ideas. From one perspective I like that the podcasts are like conversations but I think some of them would be easier to follow if they had more structure like a public speech. "Today we are going to talk about..." type stuff. Clearer transitions would be helpful. All of these points are ones that I look forward to focusing on when I do my podcast. The SmartBOARD Lessons podcast was interesting. The man and woman had similar humor and personalities which made it comedic to listen to. KidCast was about thoughts on podcasting and videocasting for children. I believe it was in this podcast that he spoke about how podcasting, as opposed to videocasting, is better for developing a child's listening skills. The MacBreak Weekly podcast was my favorite. The two gentlemen were very antimated and intriguing. Its very funny because I know very litte, almost nothing, about Mac computers but these guys kept me listening. I know that if I knew more about Mac computers I would have been even more interested. The This Week in Photography podcast was about various new tools and technology in photography. I look very forward to discovering more podcasts that really interest me that I can learn from; about podcasting and about the podcast's topic.

Comments4Kids: Mr. Lamshed's Class Blog

It's great that Mr. Lamshed's class was able to get two new pocket camcorders that they can use to communicate with us and other classes all over the world.
I look forward to following Mr. Lamshed's class blog and Mr. McLung's World blog.
It's also a great idea for teachers to present the information about health to the students instead of having strangers come into the classroom to speak about it.

Next Generation Learning - UK

Very cute kid. Great points. The technology that connects the parents to the school is good. Wiis in the classroom that promote fitness and "improve concentration" are incrdible tools. And using the technology of voting to encourage shy children AND help teachers keep track of progress is brilliant.

Vicki Davis

I think its an incredible opportunity for children from Georgia to interact and even visit people from other cultures. I like that Vicki Davis admits that she doesn't know everything walking into the classroom. She allows her students to learn more in depth by teaching her. Her views and the views of edutopia.org are ones that I would like to take into my own classroom one day.

Ken Robinson on Education and Creativity

As a high school senior about to graduate, I was asked to come up with a senior quote. A saying that would read only under my senior yearbook picture "forever". Five minutes before quotes were due to the yearbook staff, I chose a quote by Albert Einstein, "It's a miracle curiosity survives formal education". This talk actually brought two things to my attention about this quote; that it is true and false.
First, this talk proved my quote and Albert Einstein wrong; because curiosity, creativity and originality do not survive formal education these days. The priorities in the education system are gravely mistaken as accurate and well thought out. Classes and activities that would expand children's' minds creatively, are stifled by academics. It's true that creativity should be seen as just as important as literacy in education, but it clearly is not.
Secondly, after watching Ken Robinson speak, I do believe that Albert Einstein was right. It is a miracle, but it does seem that curiosity has survived formal education. With the technological advances that this world has seen in the past 20 years there's no way its not true. However, I agree with Mr. Robinson, a balance needs to be found.

Did you know? 3.0/ Mr. Winkle Wakes

The movie Did You Know? 3.0 was very enlightening, and believable. I'm not surprised that technology and the Internet has come so far in the amount of time it has been around. However, some of the points were shocking. The statistics that it took radio 38 years to meet a market audience of 50 million, TV 19 years, Internet 4 years, iPods 3 years and Facebook 2 years is astonishing to me. It's also funny to me that India has more honors kids than the United States has kids!
The sequence of watching Did You Know? 3.0 before Mr. Winkle Wakes made the first movie more relative to my life as a teacher. I believe that as much as technology has taken and is taking over our lives and society that teachers are still relevant and necessary.

Hey Class!

Hello, class. My name is Lacey Musgrove. I'm from Gulf Shores. I've lived there my whole life and graduated from Gulf Shores High School. I finished at Faulkner last semester where I was majoring in Education and now I'm at South to finish my degree. I have two sisters. One that is still in high school and one that graduated from Auburn University in 2008. I love my dog, Jackson. I currently do not have a job. I babysit and take out student loans for money. I enjoy school and learning. I would not be in school if I didn't. That's me, mostly.

Hello.

Hello.