April 4th Blog

A lot of things in this article sparked my interest. I never really thought of stuff like blogging, facebook, and Twitter as being connected around the world. Which if you think about, it is pretty scary. Who knows who all can see pictures of you and find out information. But to be involved with technology that is a risk I am willing to take. kaia's father gives a great perspective about how his daughter can look back and see how something sparked all the way across the world. This just shows me that technology is always growing by leaps and bounds. Which is a scary thought because who is to say that technology wont advance to where there are no teachers in the classroom. Technology is taking over! The voicethread was neat also. Kaia can look back years from now and watch herself.

March 28th Blog

After reading, and watching this video I am a little empowered. Dan Brown pretty much helped show me that change isn't always a bad thing. Dan spoke so passionately he really grabbed my attention. I thought it was interesting how he said he dropped out of school because he was not being educated. Both Dan and Morgan hit the nail on the head. going to a University usually includes being in an over-crowded classroom, with one professor who lectures for hours on end. Frankly, it is just flat out boring. Neither me nor my classmates are listening. Also, we do not communicate with our classmates. I usually meet maybe two or three people in all of my classes, and never see them again after that class is over. Education needs to step it up. Because if they do not then technology will take over and standard education will fall through the cracks. Teachers should be using technology on a everyday basis. Students should be allowed laptops, smart boards should be in every classroom, and students should have to write required blogs. Our generation today has to be constantly entertained. If educators don't step up to the technology plate then they will be jobless. Maybe not now, maybe not in ten years but eventually. Both Dan and Morgan did an excellent job of highlighting the problems within our school systems.

TimeToast timeline

I did my timeline on John Mayer. Mayer is a successful musician and has the Grammy's to prove it. John's music has been featured on T.V shows, and movies. He continues to play for sold-out houses, and currently lives in Los Angeles.

Click here for timeline!

Group Podcast

My group consisted of A.W Farris, Sam Blackman, and myself. We did our podcast on Google Lit Trips. We talked about how to use Lit Trips, and what Lit Trips was all about. It is a simple way to find information for not only students but teachers as well.

Click here for group podcast

SKYPE

I have never been a big skype user. But since we have been required to use it this semester I have skyped a few friends. I also skype a friend from my class. Skype is such a great way to talk back and forth virtually. Using skype I am able to talk to my friend from Texas. Skype is a very useful tool for communicating.

Project 5 Survey Results

My survey was pretty general. I asked questions about why him/her is going into education. If him/her uses an ipod or zune. If they thought technological advances should be used in the classroom. Most of my responses where yes. I also got a lot of the same answers as to why he/she is going into education. Overall very good results.

Click here for survey results

Comments 4Kids Week 9,12,13

Week 9: This week the kids made bird houses, cut out ducks, and talked about Abraham Lincoln. My comment: What a fun day! Thanks for sharing all your stories about the ducks and bird houses. I remember making those in kindergarten.

Week 12: This week Jadah drew a picture of a boat.
My comment: Good Work Judah! Your boat looks awesome. I love going boat riding in the lake down the street from my house. Very artistic, keep up the good work.

Week 13:This week a young girl goes rock climbing.
My comment: Awesome rock climbing. I am 20 years old and I would never go rock climbing. I am deeply scared of heights. Thanks for sharing.

Comments4Teachers 13 and 14

Week 13: Role playing in the classroom, Civil War Exercise.
Hi,
My name is Brittany Lewis and I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM class. In this class I comment on my classmates blogs, teachers blogs, and kids blogs. After reading you blog I was intrigued by how you use role-playing in your classroom. I am not a teacher yet but hopefully I will be able to use some of the things you have suggested in the future. It was very interesting how you used your lesson plan to teach about the Civil War. Thanks so much. My class website/blogs is http://www.edm310.blogspot.com, my personal blog is http://www.lewisbrittanyedm310.blogspot.com.

Week14: Teachers and Vacation, the stress of being a teacher.
It is so refreshing to see a teacher who loves their work. I am not a teacher yet, but I can imagine that the daily tasks can be stressful. My mother who is a 30-year retired teacher tells me everyday that teaching is not always easy. Each student needs individual attention and being one person in a class of 20 or 30, can be a stressful task. I am only a 20-year-old so my stress level hasn’t even begun. But I appreciate your input, very enlightening.

Comments4Teachers 10,11,12

Week 10
In this weeks Comments4Teachers my teacher Shelli Terrell's blog was about planting seeds into students. She goes on to talk about having a mustard seed of faith, and how we as teachers should encourage our students to strive for goals. My comment: Hi,
My name is Brittany Lewis. I am a student in Dr. Starange’s EDM class. In a few semester’s I will be going into my first English classroom. When I read this blog the first thing that I noticed was your emphasis on passion. I think to be any kind of teacher you must have passion for what you are doing. I myself have been a Christian since I was 4 years old. And it is nice to hear someone else share their faith. My blogspot is lewisbrittanyedm310.blogspot.com. My course blogspot is edm310.blogspot.com

Week11
In this blog, my teacher talks about micro-blogging and how tools like Twitter are useful not only to communicate to others but for learning purposes. My comment: I am currently on Twitter, but do not use it for learning purposes. I never really thought about it as a learning tool. But from what I have read it is an awesome source to stay involved. Though it is just one source to a micro-world of many, it is one of the newer updated blog spots. So I think that yes we do learn more from micro blogging.

Week12
This blog is about Google Reader. Google Reader allows blogger's to put all your blogs and favorite websites on one page. This video gives step by step directions on how to add Google Reader. My comment: Google Reader is such an interesting way to keep your favorite sites and blogs in one spot. And what is even better is that your favorite sites are updated, and Google Reader allows you to see when.

PLN

Though my PLN is not very long, I am currently adding more to it to become more technologically advanced. I am an active member on Facebook, which is an awesome way to connect with people from all over. I am also on Twitter, and Myspace. I have just started using ALEX, as of last semester. And am now involved in ACCESS. I am on itunes, and subscribe to SMARTboard's podcast.

Comments 4Teachers Weeks 7,8,9

Week 7
In this weeks blog, my teacher Eric Langhorst, made-up a dozen ways to use technology in the classroom. Here is my comment: Hi, I am Brittany Lewis. I am currently enrolled in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 course. In this course we are taught to integrate technology into our soon-to-be classrooms. In a few semesters I will be a secondary English teacher. I own a facebook and Twitter account, but I have leaned about a lot more technological advances I could be using. Thank you so much for the tips, I will definitely be using many of your ideas!

Week 8
In this weeks blog, Mr. Langhorst made a powerpoint on bringing novels to life. He showed many groups that gather together and read, in and out of the classroom. My comment: I am not the biggest reader but I do occasionally find something I am interested in. I remember being in middle-school and having Silent Sustained reading. Then I wanted to go play outside, but now I would love to have 20 minutes to read to myself. My blog spot is http://lewisbrittanyedm310.blogspot.com. And my course blogspot is http://edm310.blogspot.com.

Week 9:
In this weeks post Mr. Langhorst has a personal video of himself. He was intervewed about his classroom and how he liked being a student a Walden University. He is currently in his second year for his doctorate. In his video he discusses how to incorporate technology into the classroom. My comment: I am not a teacher yet, but I like that you do an in-class review, and not only is it in-class, but on itunes, and on podcast. This makes it so much easier for students if they have missed that day of class, or need extra study time at home. I thoroughly enjoyed this video thanks for sharing.

Comments 4Kids Week10

In this weeks comments 4Kids, the student talked about Percy Jackson and The Olympians. My comment: Ive never really been into series like these, but I did see the previews for this movie, and it looked interesting. I will more than likely see the movie.

March 12th

The new and upcoming cite ALEX is helping teachers to be more organized in the classroom. ALEX stands for Alabama Learning Exchange. To enter this cite click ALEX. When ALEX's homepage appears a search engine will pop-up, different web links, courses of study, lesson plans, personal workspace, professional learning, and podcast treasury are provided.

The courses of study include: English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Arts Education, and Physical Education. These courses of study allow you to find different links to lesson plans you can use. ALEX also allows you to view different web links for the student, teacher, and administrator. ALEX allows teachers to find new and innovative lesson plans in a range of subjects. ALEX is also a great place for personal workplaces, professional learning, and podcast. I have personally used ALEX myself. And as a teacher I will most definitely use ALEX for interesting lesson plans.

ACCESS is for Alabama teachers. It allows teachers different resources, courses, educators, and students. ACCESS's goal is to to create equity through additional educational offerings for all Alabama public high school students. ACCESS allows teachers to view courses in graduation exams, course offerings, course catalogs e.t.c. ACCESS is just another cite for teachers to become more integrated with technology.

I have never used ACCESS, or even heard of it for that matter. But it looks like a really good source for teachers to use in the classroom. I also thought it was interesting that ACCESS allows you to view other universities and gather new ideas. As a future teacher ACCESS will definitely be something I'll look more into. ACCESS and ALEX are both great cites for teachers to explore.

February 28th Blog

This Is How We Dream:
Dr. Richard Miller's video was very interesting, and also provided some new ideas on multimedia writing. Dr. Miller shows ideas on how we as students can use the internet for new and exciting sources. Dr. Miller says in his video that "Now is the time to be technologically literate." Through technology new information can be shared and discused, and in Dr. Miller's video he shows us just that. Dr. Miller showed many examples of how we can become more up to date on current issues, presidential elections e.t.c.

I really liked how visual this video was. Dr. Miller shows exactly how to use new technology and multimedias. I thought it was pretty awesome that he never stepped foot in the library when he had to write a paper about the Virginia Tech shootings. Dr. Miller also showed images of collaborative work with some of his colleages. He can talk to four and five people at the same time. He showed clips of Dr. Martin Luther King, and even added music and sound to the presentation.

Altogether, Dr. Miller's point in this video is to show us as educators that we can spand our horizons and use techniques, such as the ones he has shown in this video. Change is not always bad, we can use new and intergrated techniques in our classrooms. Changes like these allow students to become more interenet savy, and allows them to have fun at the same time. I will be grauating soon, and hope to use some of Dr. Miller's techniques in my classroom. This video was very interesting and informative.

The Networked Student:
This was a cute video, about how students can blog and connect with other students. Wendy Drexler's video goes on to tell about how we as students can use things like iPod's to hear educational podcast, listen to music, and even virtual books. Connective learning is a way to get updated information from the web and other souced on the internet. This learning network will allow students to not only be current with the pace of our society, but to learn more effectively. In this 21st Century teaching is different. New tools and technology are developing almost daily.

A personal learning network is where "you" as a person asses information for your personal learning. This also allows you to connect and share with other students. You can even find bookmarked cites that match topics you are looking for. It also talks about setting up your own blog and actively using it. Wendy Drexler's video personal showed me that being technologically involved is important these days.

The question of whether I will use sources like Dexler's is yes. I found this video a very useful tool, to maybe show my students in the future. By being connected, which this class allows me to do, I will be able to become more multicultural, and also better involve myself in new technological advances. I thought this was a very creative video, and really caught my attention. I as a student will try and become more diverse when it comes to technology.

Toward's A New Future:
When you look around so many new things have emerged. This video was very witty. It showed clips of things like South Park, images from American Idol. I thought it was awesome that every year students gather together and talk about new technology and try their best to break it down. I myself live on Youtube, so I enjoyed the segment that he did about Youtube. Youtube is huge!! I thought that Michael Wesch had a very cool outlook about technology and integrating it into our learning processes.

Comments for Kids Week 4,5,6,7,8

Week 4 Comments for Kids:
In this weeks comments for kids my blogger Anthony wrote a descriptive analysis of a book he was reading about an assassin named Alex, here is my comment:
Hi, I am in an EDM class (micro-computer class) and I also make blogs weekly. Your blog was very descriptive it made me want to pick up this book and read all about Alex. Very thorough analysis of this book great job.

Week 5 Comments for Kids:
This weeks kids made up there own planets and colored them multiple colors. I commented by saying, your planet is very interesting. The color plate you choose reminds me of Easter. Great job, keep up this creative work! Click here for blog

Week 6 Comments for Kids:
In this weeks blogs team 6 did "Don't Stop Me Now." These kids got on stage and sang and dance. Here is my comment: So cute! Really enjoyed the performance. Very entertaining. Click for song


Week 7 Comments for Kids:
In this blog students made a video about a guy named Matt. In the video Matt went all over the world and in each city he did a little dance. This particular class did the same except in different places around their community, it was hilarious to watch these kids dancing, some of them were even good. Here is my comment for week 7: This was super witty! Some of these kids can for real dance. Thanks so much for sharing, it was such a cute little video I could totally follow it.

Week 8 Comments for kids:
In this kindergarten class students made thank you cards and made pictures of school buses and it even ended up in on the news. Here is my comment:
Hi class, I am Brittany Lewis and I have an EDM class that allows me to preview all kinds of blogs. This was such a creative blog. What an interesting idea to decorate the bus, and it was even on the news! Keep up the good work class.

iPhone Baby

This was such a cute video, It is absolutely crazy that a little baby can use an iphone. I myself don't have an iphone but I do know how to use some of the apps. But I get confused and have to be told how to use some of the apps myself, and here a baby can do it. This video just show's how technologically advanced our society is, and that it will only become more and more advanced throughout the years. I really liked this short little video and It gave me an insight to how advanced our society is becoming. Hopefully, when I have kids they can use my iphone and I can make cute videos like this.

February 21 Blog

When visiting Dr. Alice Christie's site, I was interested in her digital media and photography resources. It is all about incorporating digital photography/media into the classroom. Dr. Christie's goes into great detail on how to do these things. She gives general digital camera links about how to use photography as an educational source, digital features, and even a power-point photography review. I was most interested in this because I love pictures, and seeing beauty in nature. By using things like photography in the classroom you as a teacher can use innovative lessons and allow students to be creative. Students today are so bogged down with homework and test, they cannot use their creative side and express themselves. Yes, we need astronauts and scientist, but we also need the Picasso's of the world. She also talks about digital camera tips and the do's and dont's of photography. She lists tips for buying cameras and how to use them after you have bought them. Dr. Chrisite's website was very interesting and unique. I as a new teacher will apply photography to my lessons.

itunes University is a place that students or teachers can go to hear podcast, share educational information, and gain academic knowledge. I visited the University of Alabama's site, and found movies and podcast on the ABC's of education. The movie's are free and some of the site included topics on the no child left behind policy, social groups, and even cyberspace. I visited Auburn Universities site. I entered the special education site where you can subscribe to movies and podcast. Each episode focuses on certain issues dealing with special education and disabilities. iTunes University is a pretty solid idea, it consist of a variety of topics and is available to the general public. Almost every top institution and University was listed. All the way from Brown University to Columbia University. The fact that things like this even exist, allows students or just about anyone to find topics of interest.

I found a site called The Principal's Partnership, that uses iPod's for instruction. This site ask the question, can iPod's be used in a high school classroom? It goes on to talk about how the iPod is one of the most recognizable icons of the twenty-first century. The iPod is being used in everyday classrooms to help students become not only technologically advanced but to actually help them with classwork and homework. Where as you can store crazy amounts of music and photos, students can also use the iPod as a tool for school. The site also says that the iPod is becoming a source for study aids, making it convenient and fast to get classwork done. iTunes U was created because of the technological advances of the ipod. The Principal's Partnership also gives great resources on the iPod.
The Principals' Partnership

A Program of Union Pacific Foundation>
Duke University is one of the college's involved in this program. By using the iPod Duke had seen a dramatic growth in the classroom. Duke even distributed free iPod's in 2004 because the demand was so high. Not only has Duke began using iPod's for instruction they have also widened there range to other things in technology. The use of the iPod has expanded Duke's students learning experiences and classroom experiences.
news.duke.edu/2005/12/ipodupdate.html>

Presentation

February 14 Blog

Wikipedia:
As an English major the majority, if not all, of my teachers say, "Do not use Wikipedia." But when we Google, pretty much anything, Wikipedia is the first to pop up. This article was by far my favorite, I am all about exploiting evil corporations, who's only goal is to make more and more money at anyone's expense. I am a total conspiracy theorist, and do not doubt that top names such as, Wal Mart, Exxon Mobil, and other big shot corporations would go into Wiki and change entries that are not "Aesthetically pleasing" to their company. I personally, use Wikipedia. If I need something quick it is always the first thing to pop up. I do dislike the fact that anyone can change it, especially company's. But the designer of this Wikipedia Scanner is a genius! Not only can you see who is changing vast amounts of information of Wiki but you can see what dirty corporation is behind it. But I do think If technology can advance in this area then Wikipedia will be a new and improved source to use. Pro Wikipedia!!!

What I Have Learned This Year Article:
This article is what we as future teachers need to live by. Mr. McClung spoke very simple and precise. His seven main points were; how to read the crowd, be flexible, communicate, be reasonable, don't be afraid of technology, listen to your students, and never stop learning. I think the one that spoke to me the most was, listen to your students. In a year or so I will be teaching high school. And if I haven't heard it a million times most students say, "He/she just wont listen to what I have to say." Dealing with teenagers mostly, they deal with this with their parents, siblings, and school. Me being a 20 year old myself can definitely relate. We as teachers must be intuitive with our students, and listen to what they have to say. All seven points are valid, but that was probably the one point I most agreed with. This article is a good resource to look back on when I start teaching. Mr. McClung has a pretty solid idea of his students, and I enjoyed this article.

February 7th Blog

I watched the video integrating ICT into the MFL classroom. Most of everything that this podcast was about I agreed with. By using podcast in the classroom it makes it very easy for students to gather information or find out things they missed that day at school. Podcast are an innovative way for students to learn and understand new forms of technology. It is also easy to upload new podcast, this teaches students how to do it themselves. By getting involved with technology it helps students understand materials better, and actually want to learn. Our world today is full of technological advances such as; video games, t.v, facebook, e.t.c. So to teach students today we have to be on their level. We almost have to think like our students do. If learning is made to be fun and different then maybe the dropout rate wouldn't be so high. This podcast was very informative, and helped me to realize that we must understand technology and use it in the classroom.