ACCESS lab visited

I visited an ACCESS lab with Amelia Perkins, Myrenda Howze, and Larrica Smith at Davidson High School. We were taken on a tour by Mary Claire(?). At the time of our visit a class was in session so we weren't able to explore the lab hands on. Our tour guide told us basically everything that we had already read and blogged about. She encouraged us to look into getting a job teaching an ACCESS class. The tour lasted all of ten minutes. It probably could have been longer if there wasn't a class already in session.

Teacher from another state

The teacher that I contacted from another state was actually my aunt. Ms. Vera Hines is a biology teacher at John McDonough #35 High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. She has been teaching for over twenty years. She Has been using technology in the classroom for almost ten years. She makes all of her students sign up for emails using it with professional email addresses so that they can put them on their resumes. She emails them important information that they will need, such as: due dates, special science events for extra credit, announcements, etc. Thirty percent of her assignments technologically based. She even gives them at home tests that must be completed on the computer and submitted at a certain time. She calls it preparing them for college and the real world.

+ > -

This class has been very helpful to me. It further showed how much I am computer illiterate. I have slowly learned somethings over this semester on how to work with and incorporate technology into education. This blogging thing had me a little confused at first, but now I got a hang on things. I have enjoyed displaying my thoughts and ideas about the different subjects we were told to write about.

I did have a hard time with adding the pictures and then making it visible or audio for a blind person. I don't even know if I did that correctly or not. I did enjoy being able to view the other classmates blogs and being able to compare their thoughts and ideas.

As a future teacher, I just may continue with the blogging for my students and their parents.

The Blogs of Other Classmates

I decided to write about two classmates and their blogs. The two that I have I chosen to review have both helped me through this blogging thing more than they will ever know it. They both have contributed tremendous thoughts, ideas, and opinions that are sure to keep you interested in what they are blogging about. They both were detailed in their blogs. They seemed to have enjoyed these assignments. When I did not know where to begin, all I had to do was look at their blogs to get started. They were consistent and always on time with posting their blogs. They never missed a beat. It is because of them that I was able to catchup on my blogs. Thank you Jennifer Harris for making your blogs so detailed. Thank you Myrenda Howze for making your blogs understandable. I would not have gotten through this without you guys!!

Duke University

The South in Black and White was a podcast where professors are encouraging students at the university to take a class to learn more about the history of the south. The course will incorporate views from speakers of both European and African descent. They will each share their views and feelings on the life struggles that people had to and are still going through in the south. They want students to be able to look into the past to make their future better.

As a teacher, I am going to have to continue to be open-minded and accepting to all my students to show them that we are all family no matter our race, gender, or social status.

EDM310 Podcasts

I have enjoyed listening to the podcasts of the other future teachers as well as the one I was a part of. I must say that after listening to my own, it did not sound as bad as I thought it did. I strongly suggest that the next time I do little more research on my topic before I discuss it. I could have been a little enthused about my topic. I must say Larrica Smith did a swell job on the podcast. She kept the questions coming for me. Overall we completed our task even though it was just the two of us.



The next podcast I listened to was done by Danielle Tasker, Stephanie Ellis, and Jalisa Mobley. Their podcast was on the same subject as the one me and Larrica talked about, " Facebook as an educational tool". These young ladies did an excellent job going into depth about facebook and how it works. They gave wonderful examples on how it can be used as an educational tool. They pointed out things Larrica and I did not talk about. It is a good thing Dr. Strange had two sets of each podcasts so that everyone can get different views of each.



The third podcast I listened to was the discussion about Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. Daniel Griffin, Brandy Wimberly, and Amanda Bentley were the podcasters. The overall podcast was great. Daniel did well, but he needed to work on a few things. He needed to choose his words carefully, think before he spoke, and allow his fellow podcasters the opportunity to finish their statements before cutting them off and speaking over them.



The fourth podcast I listened to was a discussion on the subject of YouTube being an educational tool. The podcasters included Adrienne Lynch, Brian Stevens, and Joylyn Reese. They did an excellent job with answering the question. They all agree that YouTube can be used as an educational tool. The only thing that needed to be fixed were the long pauses in between the speakers. Their flow could have been a little more steady.



Every one of the podcasts I listened to were very insightful on the subjects. They gave great examples on the subject and how they can be helpful and incorporated into educational.

Incorporating subjects in Podcasts

Judy Chandler is a Technology Integration Specialist as well as a Mathematics teacher. She is also a Math Mentor trainer for the Maine Mentor training Initiatives. She strongly dislikes teaching math straight from the book. She encourages teachers to integrate technology into their teaching skills. Students have a high level of technological education at an early age. Students will grasp concepts of any subject better with technology.

Fixed OR Growth? You Choose!!

The pod cast that was viewed was about the research of what mindset was better, fixed or growth. Carol Dweck did some research on a class to see if students prosper and learn more with a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is when students only want to learn things in the way they have always learned it, so they can feel extra smart. A growth mindset is when students don't mind learning new things in a more challenging way. Students have the tendency to grasp more in a growth mindset.
Carol Dweck did her research with a class, where she divided the class in half. One-half of the class was taught using their fixed mindset. The other half of the class was taught using their growth mindset. Once the students returned back together after eight weeks, everyone noticed that the half of the class that were taught with their growth mindset had a tremendous advance in their study habits and schoolwork. the half with the fixed mindset, stayed about the same from where they started.
As a teacher, i would rather have my students learn with their growth mindset. They will be eager and excited to learn and try things in a more challenging way. As a student myself, i think i would have rather learned things in a more challenging way. It makes you even smarter!!