ACCESS Lab at MGM High School

I had no idea what an ACCESS lab was, let along, that it was being utilize in high schools in Mobile County before this assignment was given. Marlena Marsh, Kelsey Volzy, and I visited an ACCESS lab in a local high school in the area. Before we entered the lab I was thinking, “where are the computers ?” There were just long tables in the classroom. To my surprise, these students are provided with lab tops that were stored in a metal cabinet until needed. Lab tops in high schools, what’s next? I’ll tell you what’s next or shall I say what is already in the making?We were able to meet and talk with the psychology instructor at Mary G. Montgomery High School. His name was Roger Rose. His personal and general insight on the program ACCESS brought about many interesting and amazing points to surface. I began to think out the box quickly and understand the true meaning behind the “burp back” concept of teaching. From my understanding of things, lower and higher education will some day not exist in the classroom. Students will be able to log their computers at home and complete assignments. With the new equipment out there, they will be able to view their teachers online with web cam or listen to the lessons on pod casts.
He had an ELMO machine which was responsible for demonstrating manual work. The input on this machine was projected onto a large flat screen for the entire class to view. This machine would eliminate chalkboards and chalk. It would allow students to get a better view with little effort. He showed us something called a Kodak hub whose purpose was the same as remote control. It controlled all the equipment in the room and accessed other classrooms who were connected to this outlet. He showed us Murphy’s ACCESS lab through this system. He said it allows him to teacher psychology to students at MGM and Murphy through live internet connection. He can view the students while the students are viewing him. He said he teaches to several students through this live web because many high schools do not have a psychology teacher. This method could save our school system a lot of money. He also showed us ACCESS teaching tools on the web and suggested other teaching software to use such as Komposer, Hot Potatoes and FTP surfer. These software programs are all free for teachers to view and learn from.
During Mr. Rose’s tutor he suggested we go and meet with another teacher at the school who specialized in pod casting. Her name was Mrs. LeGrone. She pod cast all her lectures and has them accessible on her web page for her students to listen. She is taking pod casting with power points presentations to a whole new level. She said the only problem with this teaching method is that all her students don’t own a home computer. She said next year she will put her presentations and pod casts on DVDs because she believes every household owns a DVD player. This teacher is definitely thinking outside the box. You will find her page very interesting. Just click here.

Evaluation of My Experiences In EDM310

First of all, this is the first computer applications class I have taken during my college experience. Everything I was exposed to was new to me. I appreciate this class being apart of the Elementary Education degree plan. If this class was not mandatory, I probably would have not taken it with fear of doing poorly or not being able to understand many of the concepts covered. I am glad I took this class. I learned many new things I had absolutely no idea about or even ever heard of. I took proud in creating my own blog. I think using this teaching tool throughout this class was a good idea. I would much rather submit something electronic than manually any day. My printer ran out of ink during the summer semester but because we don't use printers for any of our assignments, I didn't have to stress about purchasing ink. Times are hard! I learned some simple things during this semester as well like downloading pictures, creating links, and making my blog user friendly for disabled individuals. I learned how to create spreadsheets with formulas, create a slide show, and utilize many of the tools under Google. Before this class, I never got on the internet. I never been on iTunes or Youtube. I created my first gmail acount in this class! I had no clue Google had so many free things to how with many projects for school and my classroom.

To find out what a pod cast was and then to ctreate my own was a great experience! Although I was very nervous and stressed about the whole idea, I am glad I went through with it. I also enjoyed making a customize iGoogle page for my students. My daughter was my first viewer and user and she really liked it. She stayed on there for a couple of hours. I had to made her get off. I had never heard of an ACCESS lab neither. I did not know technology in schools had escalate that much since I graduated high school. *************************AN ACCESS LAB I was a little disappointed we did not create our own website. I had already started bragging to my friends about it. I would have like to learn how to create a program that I could download all my students completed assignments and a create computer generated grade book that automatically calculated their grades and averages for me. Maybe in the furture I can take some courses to be able to create these things myself. I give this class an A- overall. Good Job Ms. Averitt! I hope we made you proud!

Plusses and Minuses of Blogs in a Classroom

The person whose blog posts I chose to read was Elizabeth "Ashley" Corley.She and I seemed to have the same experiences with blogging. We had never heard of a blog until we entered this class. Although we were new to blogging, we found it to be easy to manipulate and use. We learned they blogging can also be benefical to teaching and learning.

Ashley and I were group members for our pod cast assignment. In researching information on our topic "Blogs in the Classroom", we discovered they blogs in the classroom is not new. We just did not know about it. We saw how teachers were using this teaching tool in the classroom and confirmed that it would be a great idea for us to use it in our classroom as well.
The plusses of using blogs in the classroom is that it is an excellent communication tool. Students can critique their fellow classmates' work, submit assignments, and recieve assignments too. Burpback educating is becaming a thing of the past. Students were rather complete assignment on the internet than fumbling with some papers. Children these days are always on the computer. I believe integrate blogging into the curriculum would help me and my students.

There are always negatives to go along with positives. The minuses of blogs in the classroom is that, not every student has a computer at home. The internet can be safely used with the proper procedures or programs but the internet can be very dangerous to children. I find doing my work on the computer easy, but sometimes get a little off course with my assignments becuause of wanting to check other accounts that have nothing to do with my schoolwork. I know this may be a difficult task with students as well. They may start their assignment then start surfing the web if they became bored. For the most part, I still think using blogs in the classroom is a great idea.

TO read Ashley Corley's Blog Posts CLICK HERE!

Duke University Center for Documentary

I listened to Looking Back at 9/11 Across America: An Acoustic Exhibit Presenting American Voices in the Aftermath of the Attack from Duke University Center for Documentary Studies. As many of my classmates discussed, everyone remembers and will always remember 911. The people on this pod cast experiences were much different than mine.

I was in high school. It was 7:30am in the morning and I was looking for my track coach for our new practice schedule. When I opened the door to her office the gymnastic coach was standing at her desk listening to the radio. I proceeded to ask him “Do you know where McDade is?” He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and yelled “Shut up and shut the door!” I was in shock! I kindly walked out unaware with what was going on and continued looking for my track coach. Suddenly, the intercom came on and made an announcement of the first plane crash. I still did not understand what was going on. When I returned to my homeroom class, the teacher went into detailed the seriousness of what was occurring. I was finally getting an understanding of our country’s enemies, “terrorists”. It was a nightmare becoming a reality. This event changed U.S. History forever. What a tragedy! It made me feel angry, sad, and many other emotions all at the same time. But the question still stands, “Was or is going to war the answer?”

Classroom Podcast Reviews

I had been checking Ms. Averitt's page everyday until the pod casts were uploaded. The classes, for the most part, did an excellent job on our first pod casts. I was so proud of us. This was a great experience for me because I got to hear my voice recorded which did not sound much like a man as I had anticipated. The first pod cast I listened to was my group of course. My group members were Brooke Busby and Ashley Corley. Our discussion was on interesting blog we had discovered on the web that were utilized in K-12 classrooms as an educational tool. Ashley's sped read her part while Brooke read and free styled causing her to jumble up her words. I sounded like a robot reading from a script! Can anyone say "nervous" because we were very nervous. Although we were very wordy and our podcast was slightly lengthy, we did well.

Theola Hines and Larrica Smith's pod cast was hilarious. The girls just went with what they knew about their topic. They discussed the website Facebook being used as an educational tool. You could really tell that they did not do much reading which brought character to their pod cast. Another pod cast I felt was similar to theirs was Jill Revette and Matthew Cline. I was cracking up laughing when they did their performance. Their pod cast was discussed in a humorous fashion. Both groups tended to have some unplanned pauses but for the most part remained very entertaining and enjoyable.

Another pod cast I listened to was Susan Smith, Bridget Thompson-Hall, and Angela Minish. They discussed ALEX and ACCESS. You ladies did well with the exception of your strong southern accents. Some words were misinterupt because of those beautiful accents.

Last but not least, I wanted to applaud Keller Leathers, Rachael Beaty, and Joye Wiggins on their fabulous act. They performed like professionals. I was blown away! The only advice I have for them is keep up the good and try not to be so nervous. They seemed so natural but just a few words were shaky.

"Mathematical with Technology" Pod Casts

"Mathematical with Technology" pod casts created by Judy Chandler, a technology integration specialist, math teacher, and tutor for the the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, introduced many aspects of mathematical tips and ideas to assist students with their learning process and studies. Technology is booming in the classroom today, teachers just need to know how to include math technology into their lesson plans. These pod casts could be easily used as a tutoring tool. These pod casts could save parents a lot of money and time by allowing their children to utilize this necessity. I can imagine how some children's grades could have been even higher in math if this type of technology was available to them.One of Judy Chandler mathematical pod cast described how she intended to provide student’s with several integrated and advanced learning tools to challenge their math abilities and help them achieve higher academics. This new technology is used like an assistant to the teachers. Some teachers do not like this idea because they are not computer savvy. These pod casts seemed very useful in word problems with you must analyze and do some thinking. From my experiences and witnessing others, math word problems or any word problems in any subject are generally hard to interrupt and understand. Mathematics is the one subject no matter what a child wants to be when they grow up; math will always be used on a daily basis. It is important they children learn this subject well and be comfortable with it. Mathematical pod casts will provide children with that much needed confidence and extra attention that they may be missing.

I found these pod casts very interesting. I would have never thought that a mathematical pod cast would be so beneficial to a student’s curriculum. I also would have never thought that a mathematical resourceful pod cast was possible or feasible to learning the area of math. This method would not be a tool I would choose to use for myself seeing how am a visual learner, especially at math, I would rather learn with a visual pod cast not audio only.