April 4th Assignment

The Voicethread on Mr. C's blog to Kaia was amazing! I had no idea that something like this could exist. How sweet is it that this class sent their own voices as a message to this little girl?! I found this blog post to be extremely adorable and I left a comment telling them that they did a great job with it. Kaia's picture video was adorable. Her sweet little voice explaining what she took pictures of...the pictures that she took by herself! She is already so smart with technology.

The Intrepid Teacher post was by Kaia's father. He explains the day when they went outside of their house to take pictures and to explore nature. He also talks about how he connected with Mr. C's class after he uploaded her video on YouTube. He talks about the concerns that he has as a parent. The possibility that he is pushing her too far out into a cyberspace connection was his biggest fear because he knows of the dangers with the internet. He also loves the fact that his daughter is creating such a connection with technology and that her knowledge is growing. I agree that getting the children involved with the internet like Kaia is, is important in learning. I also agree, and I am not even a parent, that we should be cautious at what we put out into cyberspace because of all of the dangerous people that are using the internet too. Its such a shame.

March 28th Assignment

Morgan Bayda's post called "An Open Letter To Educators" was a new view that I have not yet come across concerning my education in college. She includes a video made by Dan Brown that supports her opinions in her post. The video is of this young man who has dropped out of college because he felt that his schooling was interfering with his education. He explained how college today is not the best way for people to be educated because of some ways the classes are taught. I agree with this because I have been in my fair share of classes that I have learned nothing. He explains how education was not always available to everyone and that only the highly privileged were allowed to have access to much of the world's information. He continues with telling how times have changed and now anyone can have access to any information just as long as they can pay for it. It is strange to think how we have to pay so much just to know more than those who aren't able to attend college. I do agree with Dan Brown because he knows how people aren't getting educated properly with the way some classes are run. I agree with him in all of his points except one. I will not drop out of college because right now this is the best way for me to get educated for my degree. Yes, I have been in those huge classes that don't get individual attention from the professor, have to do countless amounts of irrelevant work, and don't ever get what they need to out of the class itself. I have been to a good few of those classes. I am not in any of those classes now though. I am further along in my college career now and I am getting the education that I need. I stuck in there for those horrible classes and now I am in classes where the teachers know me, I am doing work that will help me in the future, and I am retaining the knowledge that I am taught in class. Yes college gives a bad education experience from some, but I am where I am suppose to be and my knowledge is growing. Morgan speaks about her computer class and how she uses everything that she learned in that class. I agree with her about the computer class, because I am learning so much in this class and will definitely be keeping this knowledge with me throughout my life. She lists the different uses that she has been taught in her class and that she continues to use them. I also would like to help in a low budget form when I get out of college. I want to join the Peace Corps after I graduate so that I can take two years before I start work to help others overseas.

I went to the Jeff Dunham show with my friend Leah this past Thursday. It was SO funny and he is just as hilarious live as he is on Comedy Central. My favorite character of his is Achmed which is the dead terrorist that he has in his act.

Comments4Kids 10

I posted on Gabby's blog in Mrs. Kolbert's class. She wrote about how her school is doing some kind of Olympics at their field day. Her teacher picked the country Dijibouti for their class to be in the games. She stated some facts about the country and put up a picture of their flag and where they are located on a map. Its such a small country and I posted how I have never heard of it before. I also posted that I hoped that their class did well in the games. From the sentence structure of this girl, she seems a bit older than the other blogs that I have been commenting on.

Comments4Kids Week 8 & 9

I posted a comment of the blog of a class of Kindergartners. The teachers names are Mrs. Voigt and Mrs. Farrington. The post that I read had a picture of the class holding a pinwheel project that they did that day. They also did many other projects which was a lot, I thought, for a Kindergarten class. I commented on their many activites and that they had a really cute blog page. I also said that I was impressed with their blog page because it had so much and it was so adorable!


Week 9 is from the same blog as Week 8. It is the same class but on a more recent date. This day they learned how to "hide" from a tornado by getting into the safety position which I posted was really good that they now know how to do that. They also read the Rainbow Fish which I told them was my favorite book when I was there age. They had another picture in their post and it showed them using the SmartBoard that we use here at South!

This is a picture of my best friends Elaine and Leah and I on stage at my brother's gig in Panama City. We played around with their gear while they were on break...so we look like the real deal. It so sooo much fun.

Comments4Kids Week 6

I got to post on a little girl named Ariana's blog. She had a video up on her post that her teacher recorded of her. She tells how she likes reading and she wants to get better at 'getting on the computer'. I commented on her blog and said how I was a college student at The University of South Alabama and that I am in a computer class. I explained that I was learning to get better at working on my computer as well. I also wished her well with her reading and learning with the computer. This teacher's class blog was really cute!

Eric Clapton Concert

This is me and my dad after watching Roger Daltrey and Eric Clapton perform at the BJCC in Birmingham...it was the best concert that I have ever been too. Especially since Clapton's "Layla" is my second favorite song EVER! (Hotel California by The Eagles is my number one favorite.)

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

This is pretty crazy that it never stops. It makes sense that it never stops because there are so many people using the internet and these programs. It just makes you think about how people are so dependent on the internet and some programs that they use it so much. This counter is definitely news to me and I had never had to think about all of the people using the internet. It is cool to see something like this to give you an idea of what the world is doing out there. I just cant believe that it goes so fast!
I think that if this counter is changing so fast now, it will be doing the same if not faster when I become a teacher. By the time that I am teaching, I think that the kids will be more involved with the internet than they are now. I could use this counter to show the class so they know how big the internet is and it isn't just something we use in Alabama. The internet is another world to me and I want to show the children that. They need to see the changing pace of our society and the societies of the world. This will be a great lesson to teach my future students. I still cant believe this thing!

March 7th Assignment

In Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture", I became very aware after the first two minutes that this hour long video would NOT be a drag. The instant he explained about his condition with cancer, it was like he created an immediate bond with his audience and any viewer of his video. He used humor in his talk which I love because it always keeps attention. He spoke of his childhood and explained some childhood dreams of his. In his talk, he explained how to keep your childhood dreams. He also explains how we have to play the cards that we are dealt and talks about how his condition is inevitable but will not bring him down. Its amazing to me that with 5 months to live, he was so happy and in the best of health and seeing him like this is so inspiring.
Throughout this video, I actually wrote down a few quotes that the mentioned. These quotes made me stop and think about their meaning and I realized that they implied to me as well. One quote was, "Brick walls are there for a reason - they let us prove how badly we want things". Now that is a great quote for a classroom because everyone hits a brick wall every once and a while. It encourages us to keep looking up and to work harder. Another quote is, "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted". This is for those childhood dreams that you didn't exactly achieve but got just as much experience from working for it. I like the one, "Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you", that is quoted from Jon Snoddy.
He talks about so many lessons and ways to live life, work with others, and succeed. One topic that he explains is, 'Never lose childlike wonder', because it drives you to what you really want. He advocated heavily on helping others. I believe this too because you never know when you might need that extra hand with something someday from a person that you have helped before. He believes in karma and so do I. I strongly believe in karma and was brought up on it so when he talks about helping others, doing good for others, thinking about others, I understand what he means because it really pays off in the end. He says to 'Never give up', which is another very strong piece of advice. If you are a teacher, leading your students to success, you want to push them with this saying so that they don't have the option to give up.
I absolutely love this video and plan on sharing it with family members that are going through rough times and have been striving for their childhood dreams. His presentation gives advice to so many age groups and personalities. He is an inspiration to all students because every student is striving for a goal no matter what it is. I will use some of his quotes as inspiration and I will remember this video for future reference either in the classroom or with friends or family. His enthusiasm on life and helping others as a way to reaching goals is a great leaning tool for generations to come. I honestly dreaded watching this video when I saw that it was over an hour long, but believed that directions when they said, "it is well worth the time", and I am so glad that I did.

February 28th Assignment

"This is How We Dream" (parts 1 and 2) by Richard Miller was a very interesting and very DIFFERENT video assignment. I liked the way that he presented his thoughts in sync with the actions of the computer. The computer was flowing so smoothly through all of the sites and videos. The presentation was about how we could use media technology in so many ways. Miller has already done so many things and showed examples and how to do each way. I would really like to look into some of the examples that he talks about, like the research he did where he collaborated his own thoughts with what he found on the internet.
In the first video, he talks about how you can do projects certain ways with different programs using the internet. I was not aware of some of these ways and would love to learn how to use them. You can incorporate videos and lectures into your presentation. You can involve everything you need for your presentation with just one computer and the internet. To me, this seems so far advanced than the media world I have been using. Either I have not been taught the write components to use, or the computer has advance so much in the past few years.
In the second video, he talks about "composing with the web itself". This was very hard for me to believe because I haven't seen this before. He talks about Jonathan Harris and his and says"...to try and use the web to present the affect of the globe." Even this statement makes no sense to me. Watching the example of using the web in this manner is so bizarre and amazing that we are even more advanced now to this level. The example the video shows are, "aggregating thoughts that {Harris} releases into the web". How cool is that?!


"The Networked Student" by Wendy Drexler was a vert creative and cute video. The way that it was presented kept me listening and didn't bore me at all. It was also very enlightening because I am also learning to become a networked student. I think that this class will help me do so and it will prepare me for a higher level of learning in the rest of my classes. This video was a great example of how students should be changing some of their learning styles and how getting more involved with networking will help the outcome of learning. It also makes me more aware of how some of my students, as a future teacher, will be more used to this type of learning as I begin my career some years from now.
The question 'why does the networked student even need a teacher' is asked in this video and it gives a great answer. The video says, "she is the one that teachers him how to build this network and how to take advantage of learning opportunities". It also explains the that teacher (1)offers guidance as he gets stuck, (2) how to communicate properly and ask respectfully for help, and (3) how to tell between good information and propaganda. The explanation continues with (4)the teacher showing how to turn a web source into a scavenger hunt, (5)to get excited when he finds his wanted content, and (6) helps organize the mountains of information. If that isn't enough reason why a networked student still needs a teacher, than I don't know what is. Even though the students has everything he could ask for at his fingertips, he still needs guidance and a little bit of everything else from his teacher.
I do believe that after this EDM310 class, I WILL be prepared to be a teacher of a networked student. I do not think that I am prepared NOW, but I know I will be in the near future. Even though Ms. Drexler will be trying to get students more networked in the fall with middle school kids, I think that I would be ready if I were to start teaching next fall. As long as I finish this EDM 310 class now this Spring, I believe I will be ready by next fall. Good thing I WONT be teaching by next fall, so I have plenty of time to practice on my own time with networking. By the time that I do start teaching, I will have plenty of practice, preparation, knowledge of networking, and room for even more learning of future networking.


In Michael Wesch's video, I liked how he took the time to explain the different versions of "whatever". He talks about the different generations and how they used it. I don't quite know if I fall under the "MTV Generation", but I know that I did grow up watching it. I think it was a bit more important in my brother's time since he was born in 1981 and I was born in 1988. I like the Simpson's cartoon clip explaining the "eh" that we use today. I use the phrase 'whatever' and 'eh' everyday.