This is Goodbye!

I can't believe the time has come to say goodbye! I will have to say it is bittersweet. Learning has definitely come a long way since I was in college. To be honest when I signed up for this class I thought I would be able to sit back and enjoy the show. I have been teaching for so long I thought it would be kind of nice to be the student for a change. That however was not the case in this class. After some adjustments on my part I did finally get into the groove of things. I would like to thank Dr. Strange and Ms. Averit for their patience and willingness to answer my endless questions. Also, my group of girls that I worked with were awesome! Dr. Strange you are an inspiration. I love how passionate you are about what you do and how you were able to infuse so much technology into this course. Don't ever let us wear you down! You are making a difference! I will have admit I am happy to retire my laptop for a few weeks and am ready to enjoy the summer with my kids. But I'll be back! Happy Blogging Everyone:-)

Final Post

1. I think that making and adding to my blog has been one of my favorite things in this class. I could see how powerful this could be to a teacher and a student. As a teacher I always made the students keep portfolios in every subject for them to look back and evaluate their performance and see their progress. Now that I look at my blog and I like the final project and all of the progress I have made. I don't know if I would be able to go into as much detail with early childhood students, but it is something I would like to implement. A class blog will be the first thing I will make when I return to teaching. I think constant communication with parents is a must and what a wonderful way to display their work.

I loved everything about Google docs. Being able to access my work anywhere was wonderful. It helped with our group presentations because we were able to collaborate without meeting every time. Since I live across the bay this helped me tremendously. I feel like this will be a very valuable tool for me in the classroom and out. As I have posted before I am growing to love my PLN. It is constantly growing and very organized. I liked making the videocasts and podcasts and think that students would be highly motivated by this. The posts I read within our school were great as well as outside our region. I love examples and this gave me a good way to find ways teachers and students used blogs.

I see now why teachers need to be technology literate. My new challenge is to help the children use it with project based learning. I feel technology is such a wonderful tool that helps us and truly makes our job easier. There are so many resources out there now that help our job. I used to spend a fortune on books and resources for my classroom. I used to make interactive tools by hand. Now they are just a click away.

2. Although I did my substantive presentation on the SMART board, I feel the students need some experience with this before they go into the classroom. For many of the classrooms there is little access to computers, but with a SMART board the students can at least interact and use so many of the tools.

3. There was nothing that I learned that I wished I had not. Google Earth was extremely frustrating, but I can see its usefulness.

4. Although I was extremely overwhelmed, it did excite me. I am excited about what all I can do with my knowledge when I go back into the classroom and how it will benefit the students.

5. I found it all to be intellectually challenging! After being out of college for 13 years this was extremely challenging and kept me very busy. In this course the most challenging was the Google Earth Project.

6. Too busy to be bored!

7. The only thing that I would change would be to consolidate some of the assignments. In the beginning it was very confusing but I eventually got the hang of it.

8. When it comes to being technologically literate I would say I am good and I will be able to use what I have learned and effectively implement it into the classroom.

9. I will maintain my knowledge base by keeping up with EDM 310 and checking to see what you guys are up to. I will also try to continue to develop my PLN and work on leaving an "intellectual trail" in the future.

Project 12 Google Earth Project

I have recorded a tour using Google Earth. These are some of the places I would like to go (again) in the next couple of years. I say again because I have been to some of them, but did not spend nearly enough time there.

https://sites.google.com/site/butlersherikedm310/edm310-file/GoogleEarthtour.kmz?attredirects=0&d=1

2nd Post on My PLN

I can't believe how fast my PLN has grown. I am following about 50 educators on Twitter now including Kelly Hines, Scott Mcleod, Paige Baggett and of course Dr. Strange. I was not crazy about Twitter at first, but I am growing to like it and see the usefulness of it. Often, I will click on the links tweeted from others and have found some very valuable resources. One of the neat things I found out about twitter was when I went to a NAEA Conference with my sister. She was able to highlight NAEA and receive all tweets regarding the conference. Not only did we find some great workshops this way, but also some great restaurants in the Baltimore area from other peoples tweets we did not know.

I also have several bookmarks in Delicious that I have found in this class and others that are valuable to me at this time as a preschool teacher. It saves so much time to not have to search for all of these sites. I love being able to pull up my Delicious account and all of my most important sites are right there.

I feel my PLN will grow as my needs change. I have learned how important a PLN is and hope to one day be someone who can be a contributor for others as well.

Project 14 Substantive Presentation

Tiffany, Amy and I chose to do our presentation on the SMART board. We all practiced using the device and love it. I feel it will be an invaluable tool when teaching. Most of the classrooms now come equipped with one. Since some students will have small slots of time to use technology independently, the SMART board allows everyone to learn skills together. You can look at our presentation to find out some of the benefits and uses.

Assignment 15

Welcome to My PLE!


I really enjoyed this video. This is an amazing use of technology in the schools. It was fascinating to see a seventh grader learning the the same way we are learning in this class. She seemed to be very knowledgeable about the technology and really enjoying the fact that all of her assignments are computer based. It really is nice to see an example of where the learning is placed on the students shoulders and they are so motivated by it. I hope that my children are one day doing these same types of activities in school. I also really liked the way she organized and uses her personal learning environment. My PLN is not as involved as hers, but it is very useful to me. I know that it will constantly be changing and evolving.


Two Question That Can Change Your Life by Daniel Pink

These are two very good questions that make me think. The first one was... what is my sentence? I don't have an answer to that one yet, but I am motivated to find out. Right now I kind of feel like JFK with too much going on and everything gets muddled. This does give me a goal to one day have a sentence. The second one was... was I better today than yesterday? These are words I live by. Although, I can't always answer yes to it, I sure can try. I hope to instill this in my children as well. They should always strive for their personal best and there is always room for improvement.

Project 13 Video/Podcast

Here is a link to our video/podcast. We chose to interview Dr. Paige Baggett about ways she uses technology in her classes at USA. Click HERE to watch it. You can also check out more podcasts at the It's Time For Technology Talk, EDM 310 Podcast Blog.

Project 15 Interview

For my interview I chose to interview my niece. Her name is Jacy Baggett and she is a Junior in the IB program at Murphy High School. I asked her some of the ways technology was used at her school and ways she uses technology personally. We were actually in a hotel room at the Hyatt Regency in beautiful Baltimore, Maryland. You may watch the interview below.

Comment for Teachers Weeks 13 and 14

This time I was assigned to Ms. Kelly Hines. I was excited because I had been following her on twitter all semester and never thought to look for her blog. I love reading her post on week 13 because she talked about being in a slump when writing on her blog. As a former teacher I can totally relate to what she is feeling. Sometimes you just get so overwhelmed with so much going on that you can't be as creative or as expressive as you need to. I was so glad to see this post. You can check out her blog at http://keepingkidsfirst.wordpress.com These are my comments to her:

Week 13
Hi Ms. Hines,
I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. I have enjoyed following you on twitter and have read over many of your blog posts. I have obtained many resources and gained knowledge from your posts. As a former teacher I know how you feel about being in a slump. The weather is just too nice to think about blogging. I find it hard sometimes too when I have set the bar so high for myself that I can't live up to my own standards. Sometimes we just have to take a step back and let others do it for a while and join in when we feel we are ready. Everyone deserves a break and time off often does us good. Just know that you are making a difference and your contributions are appreciated.

Week 14
What a wonderful way to look at how children learn. This is a great metaphor for differentiated learning. I can find children and adults in each of the categories you listed. And know exactly what category I fit in as well. I hope that when I return to the classroom I am able to give each student the right "foods" they need to fit their "metabolism". I have enjoyed reading your blog and you have given me so much to think about. You can check out my blog at http://butlersherikedm310.blogspot.com and I look forward to following yours as well.

Assignment 14 How Can We Change?

Dr. Strange asked us to pick a topic that we have covered in this class to discuss. I chose to discuss the need for change when it comes to the way we teach. This is a video I found on You Tube that supports WHY we need to change:



I think the most important lesson I have learned in this class is that I need to be more adaptable and open to change when it comes to technology. Am I going to be ready to do this after this class is over. I hope so, but I know there will be so many challenges to face in order to make it work. It's easy to sit in this class with all of our laptops and say that our educational system needs to be revamped and we need to integrate the technology the students are so often exposed to. However, once you get into the classroom you will see that there is not a lot of technology for the students to utilize. Some may only get to use it 30 minutes a week at a computer lab. Others may have to share one or two computers in the classroom. Teachers have to beg and plead for soap and paper towels from the parents. How can we change to this style of learning when there is such a lack of tools in the schools?

Week 14 Comments 4 Kids

This week I commented on Tevron's "Storybird" which is like a story board all about animals. He is a first grader in Mrs. Cassidy's Class in Moose Jaw, Canada. I loved looking at and reading his post. This teacher is doing some wonderful things with her students. You can check out their blog at http://classblogmeister.com Here is the comment I left:

Tevron,
I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. I am so glad I was assigned to your post because I love animals too. I really enjoyed looking at all of your pictures and reading your story. My favorite was the fish. You did a wonderful job describing each of the animals actions. Keep up the great work. Tell your teacher she can check out my blog at http://butlersherikedm310.blogspot.com.

Assignment 13 Why is it Important to Publish Student's Work?

Dr. Seuss was a genius when it comes to characterizing our society. The Zax shows those who are reluctant to change. I find that changing is not the hard part most of the time. It is the time it takes to learn something new and effectively implementing it that people are reluctant to experience. Through this course I have come to see how important it is to publish your own work and respond to others. In the beginning, I was very nervous to put myself out there. However, the more I contributed, the easier it became. In my own experience, I am much more motivated to do my best when I know there is an audience. Students should experience the feeling of importance when they publish and get responses from others outside of their classroom. Through our assignments I have seen numerous examples of creative student work. These are some of my favorites.

Here is a video which shows students talking about using blogs for posting student writings:


Creative Story and Illustration by Jonte, a year 7 student, in the PT England School











The KinderKids' Blog




Adora Svitak She is a 12 year old author and teacher. She lives in Redmond, WA and has published three books so far and more books are in the works. She teaches everyday through school visits ad distance learning medium such as webcasting and video conferencing. She uses a Smartboard in her teaching. You can learn more at www.adorasvitak.com.



Week 13 Comments4Kids

This week I was assigned to Anahera's Camp Poem. She is a very talented Year 5 student at the PT School in England. She wrote poem about her experiences at a camp that she went to. Her use of vocabulary was amazing. This is the post that I left her:

Hello Anahera,
My name is Sherik Butler and I am a student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class. I live in Mobile, AL. I enjoyed your poem about camp that you wrote. It sounds like you had a lot of fun and good food. I love to go kayaking and canoeing too! We have several places to go where I live. Keep up the wonderful work you are doing. Please tell your teacher she can check out my blog at: http://butlersherikedm310.blogspot.com/

Project 10 Timetoast Timeline

Using the program Timetoast Timeline, I created my own all about me timeline. I found this program very user friendly. I think this tool would be very useful at the beginning of the year to get to know all about the students in a class. It would also be a very motivating tool for the students to use to complete class projects.
Here is the timeline I created or you can click here to view it:

Project 8 "How To" Make a Tangram

I used video technology to make a movie to show my audience how to make a tangram. The purpose / objective of this video is to show you how to make a tangram which can be used in the elementary classroom to help to build spacial reasoning skills, foster creativity, and reinforce problem solving skills.
*Caution: It turned out much longer than I wanted. You may want to follow along with your own sheet of paper and scissors so you don't fall asleep!

Wordle Created Document