Plus and Minus of Bloggs in the Classroom

I read over a couple of other student's bloggs and I enjoyed reading what others had to say. It hard to say if I liked or disliked the idea of using bloggs in the classroom. One thing that I liked about it is that I could read and get to know my other classmates. I was able to see their points of view on some of the blog topics. It was very inlightning. I think another way that bloggs could be useful is for students who are a little shy or have social problems in the classroom can use the blog to express him or herslef. I only found some minor dislikes about the bloggs. I really hated having the assignmenst due. It is difficult for someone who cant always have a computer near them to keep up with online tasks. It may be ok for highschool students who can have computer lab time and dont have many time consiumming classes. I have many other classes that take up my time along with a full time job. So that is the only real problem I had with the blogging.

EDM 310 blogpost

When listening to the podcast from the class I found them entertaining but not really professional enough to use in a classroom. There were some where the speakers were laughing and one group one of the speakers cut in while the other was talking. All together they were poorly put together. Some improvements could be practicing ahead of time, research more on the topic, try not to use bigger words than you need, and speak clearly. They were great topics, I just dont think everyone took it as seriously as it should have been.

The Last Lecture

If I had to describe the last lecture by Randy Pausch in one word it would be motivational. Soem key things that he did to get the speech going is he introduced the elephant in the room, defined the scope, concluded strong, showed enthusiasm, immersed himself, and got personal. These are great things that I can use in my teaching methods one day in the classroom. One of the great quotes in his speech was "We cannot change the cards we are delt, just how we play the hand." What i can get from this quote is as a teacher we have different challenges everyday that we have to deal with and how we handle it can have a huge effect on the outcome. I believe that everyone should hear or read the last lecture, it is very moving and motivational.

All About me Presentation!

All About me Presentation!

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To Wikipedia or not to Wikipedia? That is the question

I do not ever use Wikipedia. I do not trust what I read or see on that research tool (if you would call it that). My freshmen year at South I was in a composition class where you had to write papers. I was using Google to search on my topic and one link was to Wikipedia. I clicked on it and the site said that the item I was searching on did not even exist. Just to let you know I was doing my paper on the history of the White House. So as you can see that was a very ridiculous statement. I have had others tell me that they have found very great facts on Wikipedia but I would rather not take that chance. The Internet is a very huge data base and I am sure I can find somewhere on it to find good, reliable, information and not have to bother with Wikipedia.

Fisch's Blog for May 16th 2007

I scanned through some of her blogs and was looking for something that caught my eye. One did. This blog was a youtube video on customer service. This man had bought an HP computer with an extended warranty and needed some help. The computer had recently went to service at HP and when it was returned some of the software he needed was not with the computer so he called to see about getting new disks. This seems like an easy fix, no major brain power is needed to help this guy. So a phone call that should have took two minutes to fix took over six and the man was hung up on. It was a horrible customer service experience that could seriously damage any possibility of that man doing business with HP again. The reason I was compelled to write about this blog is I work in customer service myself. Daily I meet people who just need simple help and if you handle it the right way usually there are no problems. I also have had to call companies such as HP and have poor service myself. It is frustrating when you know its just a simple problem and tech support wants to ask you everything from the model number to how many buttons is on the front of the tower. So I suggest if anyone ever has any problems with tech support call the company back and make a complaint or possibly go to their website where there is usually a survey you can take.

Fisch Blog

To say that I am impressed with her blog would be an understatement. Not only was her blog well organized but she uses the blog for what it is meant for, speaking her mind. As a future educator I found her list of standards to be reasonable. My mother is a teacher in a high school but has not been teaching but for three years. While she was doing her student teaching she was paired with a teacher who was not very tech savvy. This teacher would run copies off of work and hand them to students. This high school was equipped with class sets of laptops and projectors to show videos and pictures to the students but were never used. Now that my mother is a teacher and has her own class she uses all the equipment that is available. The sad thing is, most the teachers at that high school have been teaching for twenty years and are very out dated when it comes to classroom advances. I agree with Fisch's blog, teachers should be updated just as you have to update software with a computer.

International Blogging

The school I read about was a small school in Portugal. Teachers were encouraged to set up blogs for students to use in the class room. At the end of the experience, observations confirmed that the students and teachers both enjoyed the experience with the using blogs in the classroom. The students felt both completed and enriched. Also while using blogs teachers also noticed significant differences between the students that will help for future design of curricula in Portugal. I feel that the use of blogs in the class room with over all benefit the students individually and as a whole.

Blogs in the Classroom

After doing some research on teachers using blogs in the classroom I discovered they are actually very popular. You would think that it was mainly high school classes that partake in the blogging comunity, but actually there were many elementary classses as well. For example a teacher in Fredrick County, MD took her class on a field trip to an indian reservation. The class was so excited about what they saw she decided to start an online blog for her class. On the web they students were able to talk about what they liked best and share information that other students may not know. Not only was the blog usefull for information but the teacher noticed that the students who were usually more quite in class came alive in the online blogs. She got to see a more indepth look at her students personality. Over all it was a classroom success.

Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX)

You may be wondering what ALEX is. Well ALEX is a very useful web tool for teachers, students, and parents. It is a completely free website to view course of study, helpful and reliable search tools, and great lesson plans for teachers. Some websites may be hard to understand or to use. That is something great I discovered about ALEX. It was extremely easy to use. You can simply got to http://alex.state.al.us and find tools for you and your student.

When I was in elementary school there was no such thing as ALEX. There was something else I could use and that was the Homework Hot line. On many nights that hot line came in handy especially when I made it to fractions. I see ALEX as the new homework hot line. It is a great and reliable way to get help in school when you need it. You may see why it is handy for students but why for teachers? My mother is a teacher and I see her come home on some days and wonder how she can do something fresh and fun with her class. In this case ALEX would come in handy. It has where you can chat with other teachers and see what they are doing so you can keep your class having a great time while learning. I do hope you have an idea about how helpful and useful ALEX can really be. So if you ever get stuck with school work you know where to go!

About Me

My name is Amanda Bentley. I was born and raised in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Some of you may know the town from the movie Forrest Gump, but I promise you it does not look like that. God blessed me with a wonderful family. My mother is a teacher and my biggest influence in my life. I am at South Alabama to become an Elementary School teacher. I feel sometimes that I will never finish with school but my dreams will help through the rough spots. For the time being I work at Circuit City in Mobile. So if you ever go in there stop by customer service and see me. I love the company. My best friend is my sister, we are two years apart and get along great. This was her first year at South Alabama and I think I was more nervous for her first day than on mine. But hey that is what big sisters are for. So there you have it. A little bit of Amanda in a nut shell.

Welcome To My Blog!

Hey! Welcome to my blog. I hope you have fun taking a look around! My life may be kind of boring so sorry if you fall asleep while reading! Haha. *Peace and Love People*