Friday, May 1, 2009

Final Reflection

Rennard G. Lambert
April 27, 2009
EDM 310 Mr. Tashbin
From what I observed from the course my instructor Mr. Tashbin has been one of the most helpful teachers so far that I have had in the education department at South Alabama. His knowledge of the material was very helpful and possibly would be considered for later use in the future as I plan to enter the secondary education field in the public school system. The course as whole was nice with some edges that could be smooth out in time such as: podcasting was very fun and educational but it could use a little more usage in the classroom by teachers would perhaps make it a little easier to grasp the concept. The blogging was very nice. I learn that that it could be a new tool that could be used in public school system for teachers as well as parents to stay in contact on a personal basis to what’s going on in the class. Learning about the Google world and how it’s becoming more involved with the (G-Drive) was also a plus because it could be use for students that might not always have access to Microsoft tools like word, PowerPoint, and excel. Google already has it saved to be open at any time or place where the internet is accessible. Overall the course was very informing with minor flaws, in which would need some attention. I feel that if something was to be changes I would say perhaps a larger computer lab with faster connections and printers, but other than that I found everything very educational in the course.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Twitter The New Nation of Communication

From what I've learned about Twitter is that it's a growing tool of communicating with friends and family. I first heard about it on the Today Show about a week before we discuss it, as I was getting ready for class. It seems that it maybe the new style of keeping in contact with family, friends and even co-workers. From what I observed the setup of twitter is very munch like joining a new site such as Facebook or MySpace that most use to keep in contact with close friends. I also learned that it can be used to notify you if your flowers need to be watered if you might be out of town, according too a recent blog on Twitter. On the Today Show they used it as way to find out what there friends might be doing at work without using their company email around co-workers. In my opinion I think any new way to communicate to others will always be fun to play with, as well as easier to stay in contact with out logging to your email every time to send a complete message. Not to mention staying in what new in the world.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The first blog I read about a History teacher that teach in Louiseanna. What I found interesting about it was that she quoted Brittney Spears on her song circus. That is what really caught my eye. She said "when you are running a classroom it is like running a circus.'' It is because it is different acts and the teacher is a ring leader. I find it true because you have to engage with their students differently children are different.
The second blog that I read was how to teach गेओमेट्री with tiles which I found really interesting because I never heard anyone do it like that before.You use tiles to represent the equation and count it out from there. I thought it was neat becaue I never saw a math teacher teach गेओमेट्री hands on

Saturday, January 31, 2009

After reading the articles on "Changing the way we think" and "Google plans to make PCs history", I have concerned feelings about both. In the article the way we think by Bill Thompson he describes this day in age and generations to come as the more we depend on the web for our everyday info. Our brains aren’t being used to their full ability. He also says we have become so dependent on them that we don't realize it, is somewhat the truth. In my opinion technogly is always going to be evolving with daily changes. And the way I see it, it's not going to stop because not just Americans but the world craves it. We always want things to be faster more assemble and in reach, with this being said we have either got to ship up or ship out. As for the Google site this is a prime example of technology coastally moving in the next step. With Google wanting to create the "Gdrive" to hold the worlds personal file in there "Cloud Computing" is little too much for me. I mean I'm glad that there trying to advance into a whole nother direction with saving documents, but letting someone else be incontrole of all the files to be accessed at anytime is to bizarre. This is my view on subject of technology, what the worlds view?

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

From what I observed off the Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide (ACCESS) program cite is that it gives students ability to reach out to instructors as well as those who may have issues during the regular class semester. It also goes in detail on how it provides high-quality classroom courses & teachers, via technology, which is a great asset to today’s society being that this is more of a high -tech age.
Furthermore, after observing the site some schools cannot offer the Advanced Diploma, which is required by state law .Some of the problems that could happen is that low –income families living in rural areas might not have perfect access to internet. While few many rural and low-income schools have limited course offerings for students. On the other hand some schools cannot offer the Advanced Diploma, which is required by state law, and is must in the state of Alabama. Over all the site is a very useful tool and in future this may be the new classroom setting.

Monday, January 26, 2009

The ALEX website, also known as the Alabama Learning Exchange, is a website that was created for educators in the state of Alabama. This website contains all the Alabama Course of Study (ALCOS) standards that should be taught in the state of Alabama for each content area and grade level. Teachers in the state are not allowed to teach anything else to students other than what is listed in the course of study. These standards are mainly used by teachers when writing a lesson plan. The lesson must be one that is appropriate for the specific subject area and grade level.
The home page of the website has the acronomym “ALEX” at the top along with the complete title directly underneath. Also on the homepage, the are the various subject areas, such as mathematics, literature, and science listed in colorful blocks. Once the user clicks on the subject area, the user is directed to the grade level page. There are two sets of grade level standards, the 1999 version and the recently updated 2007 standards. Once the user selects the grade level, the website then directs them to a page that lists the numbered standards. In front of each standard, there is a small, blue highlighted number in front. If the user clicks on this number, they would be linked to a page that gives lesson plans from other teachers who have used that standard in a lesson. The plans are downloadable for use by anyone.