Marcino_Patricia_Interview- The Forgotten Arts

We are into our fourth month of our EDMT program at FSO. This month is going to be a lot of fun, although some parts, a bit challenging.

Coincidentally, I just returned from a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC where I had a fascinating encounter with some of the Gullah people of the Sea Islands. They have such interesting history and their crafts are magnificent!

The islands are still occupied to a degree, but as Mrs. Perry states in the interview, the young people are leaving for "bigger and better" things. They do not wish to practice the unique art of basket weaving and producing natural remedies.

I was searching for an interview topic and right here on my school campus I discovered a teacher who is very familiar with the culture of the Gullah. So, here is my interview.

BlogPost_marcinopatricia_20091017_Week4_FinalProject_ETC

This is my one to three minute video as part of my final project. It is a video that I will actually present to our district in order to encourage them to allow access to Web 2.0 tools and incorporate digital technology in our classrooms.

Credits: Images from http://animationlibrary.com; http://www.royaltyfree.com and from my personal collection of animations.

Music is from Garage Band.

BlogPost2_20091019__Week3ReflectiveMediaAsset

This is my second one-minute Reflective Media Asset, created with Keynote and Garage Band. This media is based on my third week's Web 2.0 tools and I have chosen tarheelreader.org. It is an excellent tool to use in all curriculum, particularly when teaching writing. Students can read thousands of books in any subject and create a book of their own. Images in the presentation were retrieved from my files from http://www.animationlibrary.com and from http://www.RoyaltyFree.com, both of which I am a member.

BlogPost3Week3_200910142009_ResearchandBloggingAboutWeb2.0Tools

My third Web 2.0 tool is the Internet Public Library. This site was so fascinating to my students. As I research Web 2.0 tools to use in my class room, I share them with my students and obtain their feedback. If they really like a site, then I will use it if it is available, and if the site is not available, then I will share the site with colleagues and we will make a formal request from our principal for access.

The Internet Public Library is hosted by "The iSchool at Drexel, College of Information Science and Technology, with major support from the College of Information at Florida State University. The web site was founded in 1995.

In my school district we are fortunate to have fairly current reading textbooks. However, most of our textbooks are outdated. The dictionaries, thesaurus and encyclopedias we have are 8-9 years old!

Yesterday, I was working with a group of students during guided reading. One of the tasks was for the students to get their thesaurus and find synonyms for 5 of their vocabulary words. One student brought the thesaurus to me and told me that none of the vocabulary words were in her thesaurus! I looked for myself and sure enough, the words were not there! Why, because the thesaurus was published in 2000!!!! She asked, "how am I going to finish my assignment?"

Honestly, I had not looked at the dates in the thesaurus because I inherited this classroom and up until this point, the lesson plans that we are requested to use has not required the use of a thesaurus. Plus, I have three that I have been allowing the students to use. It just so happened that we started RTI this week and the lesson called for one. Long story short, I went to my computer to see if I could access this site and when I was able to, I loaded it to all the student computers. They absolutely loved it.

Today, after we completed our science lesson, my students took turns looking up information related to our lesson. And, one thing that thrilled them was the fact that they can ask a librarian a question and get a personalized answer.

I like the site for myself as well. I found a couple of articles that will be of assistance to me in my research that I am conducting for my AR project. I e-mailed a question also that I would like answered.

Most of you probably know this site already and use it frequently, but if not, check it out. The screen shot is of the web page at http://www.ipl.org.

BlogPost2Week3_200910142009_ResearchandBloggingAboutWeb2.0Tools

I came across the Web 2.0 tool entitled Tar Heel Reader. I really like this site because it is user friendly for my students. The site has literally hundreds of books for all age groups that can be downloaded as Power Points if you wish. Each book can be speech enabled as well.

This site is partnered with Flickr so that your students can upload pictures from Flickr to write a book of their own, or students can upload their own photos.

You will be able to address any component of your Reading Frameworks by either downloading books already created for the component you wish to address, or you can make up your own book for use in guided reading or shared reading. Main Idea is a huge problem area for many students.

You could create a book addressing Main Idea and then generate a test for the book you or your student(s) create.

I accessed this site today and my students loved it. And, this site is approved for use by my school district, so I plan to take full advantage of it. And, by the way, there are books on most any topic you might want to include in your lesson plan.

This site is also very useful in creative writing. Students get to write their text beneath pictures which you might choose for an assignment. My students are fourth graders and they were very excited about using these tools today.

I am including a preview of this site within my post in order for you to view it and see what it is like. Please take a look at this site. I think it would be helpful to many of you with whom I have spoken about your AR project. The site also provides alternative methods of viewing if you do not have components needed to view the books

Credits and images are owned by Tar Heel Reader. The web address is: http://www.tarheelreader.com

Review of classmate post by Mel Rainey

Carbonmade.com gives an artist the experience of an online social experience. Each student of mine is able to sign up for a free account and begin to build a portfolio of images and artwork they have created. Along with the portfolio students can comment and blog about other artwork that they have seen on line or through this site.Using the site is made simple for anyone to use, only requirement is that you have a steady Internet connection for downloading. The tools are easy to learn and offer a variety of portfolio options from movies to photography. Setting up an account and monitoring it is also easy students and myself can set the web page for specific viewing and sharing methods.

Research and Blogging About Web 2.0 Tools Week 3 Post 1

A site that I explored and created a game for my students is http://www.classtools.net This site provides free flash templates, so unless you have flash and java script you will not be able to use it. It is a great site however, because teachers can create games, activities and diagrams. One example I viewed was creating a Venn Diagram. Students have to match the information to each section of the diagram. This is so cool. What is really exciting is that it is a totally free site! There are no passwords except when you password protect your game, particularly a test, from students. There are no sign-up fees. I have had to get a notebook just for my passwords!

The site provides sample lesson plans and templates for an activity that you can embed into your lesson plans. You can create tests, literary reviews, math problems, writing assignments and many more activities.

There are also tutorials and a google gadget so that you can add it to your igoogle or bookmarks if you wish. The templates you create are stored on the main web page of Class Tools. You should be able to access your saved plans/templates from any computer as long as it has flash/java script capabilities. You can add the link directly to your desktop so that you can easily access it. Then you can provide the link to your student computers so that they can access the test, or game that you have created for them. I think this would be a worthwhile web 2.0 tool to use for class room activities. And, again, it is free for teachers.

Just click on the link and you will go directly to a game.

http://classtools.net/widgets/quiz_6/kyzgP.htm Shared via AddThis

References for Persuasive Presentation

The video "Persuasive Presentation" was created for my class and to present to my school district as part of an overall presentation to convince them that our schools need Web 2.0 tools. The US is way behind China and several other countries in technology in education. My point that I could not make in this video is that the majority of our goods, autos, clothing, etc. are NOT made in the US but are imported. You may ask what does this have to do with education? Everything! I will let you think about it for awhile. I'll be back with more.

References

Keynote presentation composition-Patricia Marcino

Music- from Garage Band-Route 66 Rock

Pictures for keynote-from Royalty-free images, from my personal image library HP stock

Persuasive Presentation

Research Flickr Lesson Plans

I researched several sites that had posts, actual lesson plan formats utilizing Flickr. The consensus has been that if a classroom teacher is going to use Flickr as a Web 2.0 tool in the classroom, the teacher would be better served if he/she creates a class account. In this way, the teacher and students can access student work. Having a class account gives the teacher an option of keeping the account private.

Students can do searches on most any search engine to locate pictures for free that they would like to include in their collage, or add their own pictures, drawings for whatever project they are creating.

Students can also locate images on Flickr. You will notice that once on the Flickr site, you are invited to make comments, edit the images by adding text to the image and use notes or descriptions. This contributes to their literacy capabilities.

You can also set up an e-mail account through Flickr. For instance if your students have photos at home they would like to share. Students can scan the photos at home and send them via email to their Flickr account.

Sharing is what Web 2.0 tools are about. The tools make learning fun and sharing easier.

A lesson plan that I read about during my research is using Flickr with a creative writing class. It is one that I am going to use next week. We are currently working on descriptive writing. The lesson basically is that the teacher will locate an image on Flickr and display the image. Students will be asked to study the image. Then the students will tell what is happening in the photo, what has caused the situation, how do you imagine the people feel. Next, another image will be displayed, and students will be asked to compare and contrast the images. This lesson will cover not only descriptive writing but also comparing and contrasting in reading.

AR Blog

This is the link to my AR Blog if you would like to visit. Feel free to make any helpful comments. Anything you think would assist me in my research. My project is about helping struggling readers to learn how to determine the main idea in a selected passage. I will be submitting research data and making a movie presentation depicting my findings.

http://web.me.com/patriciamarcino/Site/Blog/Blog.html

Post from KaraMalpass on Web 2.0 tools

The first Web 2.0 tool that is an interest to me to use in my classroom is http://www.xtranormal.com/users.php?mode=profile&uid=1081111&op=3. This is a website where you can create movies using different characters. All you have to do is choose your character, setting, voice, and then type in your text. You can create motions and expressions for your character while they are talking. I teach first graders and sometimes when you are always teaching in the front of the room it can get too routine. The students can loose interest in what you are saying and they start to tune you out. There are also times when the students are having a difficult time learning new information. You try and try again and they just can?t understand what you are trying to say. These are two examples of how great it would be if there was another way to present the information in a more fun and interactive way. Creating a video of a character that can teach just like you would only it?s visual and different. It is a great way to present information to engage the students.

Post from Kerry Marquis' blog

For teachers, social bookmarking sites are a convenient and useful way of organizing online resources for lesson planning, teaching and research. It is especially convenient because the bookmarks to sites are located on line and are accessible to any computer with Internet access.

For students, a classroom bookmarking site can be used by a class of students to compile sites which relate to what students are studying, thus documenting the learning process. Art teachers can use social bookmarking such as del.ico.us for teaching students art vocabulary, having students work out appropriate tagging relating to art terms such as the elements and principles of art (Buffington, 2008b). "A teacher could show an image to the class and the students could discuss possible terms to use to 'tag' the image" (p. 38).

You Tube Web 2.0 tools

This is my third post for researching and using Web 2.0 tools. I researched many movie making sites, however, several had fees attached to them in order to subscribe or utilize their tools. We are a Title 1 school and therefore cannot pay for subscriptions. I really liked www.eyespot.com but it is a fee-based site, incorporating pixie flash.

YouTube is free. With YouTube, you can upload movies created in the classroom with digital cameras, web cams or even create a slide presentation and incorporate music from programs such as Garage band. It has many capabilities. There again, will your school districts allow YouTube? I have loaded YouTube movies onto a flash drive and shown them to my students, totally educational, of course. It is a great way for students to see what other students are doing around the world. I think the possibilities are endless for using this Web 2.0 tool in the classroom. Maybe you are having a little difficulty getting a particular point across in your lesson plan. You could create a slide show, or a movie explaining that point. Since most students are visual learners, and, they like movies, you will be able to demonstrate the point visually. I want to create something that will demonstrate mean, median and mode to my students. I was shocked yesterday when half of my class failed a math test covering this content! I suggested to the math teacher and the math coach that perhaps we could create a slide show or movie that would explain it in graphic animated detail. They jumped at the idea, so that's what we are working on next week. I'll let you know how it works.

I have found the perfect YouTube movie to incorporate into my presentation to our school board to further illustrate why Web 2.0 tools are needed in the classroom. The movie will follow this composition. It is entitled "Education Today and Tomorrow." It was created by Tom Woodward of Henrico County Schools in Virginia. He has granted permission to incorporate this movie into my blog and for use in presentation for educational purposes. I couldn't say it any better. Let me know what you think.

I have learned how to use YouTube because in our last course with Dr. Deason, we had to produce movies in our group project. I was so intimidated at first, but now, I love it!!!!!

As you know when you visit YouTube, you can view movies from any category in education.

For all of your curriculum, there will be a movie to help illustrate a point. Our art teacher has a collection of movies on art museums, mediums of art and demonstrations of everything from face painting to murals. The students love to view them.

We may be the most fantastic teachers and speakers in the world, but we all know that people of all ages will get more out of a presentation if you incorporate some type visual aid, and make sure it is colorful!

Education today and tomorrow

Student views on Blogging

Web 2.0 tool-Blogging for education

My second post for using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom will be why we should utilize blogging for our students. I believe the reason most school districts do not allow blogging is because most blog sites are not password protected. Blogmeister for classroom use is password protected. The teacher controls what is submitted and viewed on the web through Blogmeister.

Generally speaking, a blog is a personal journal for posting one's thoughts about anything from personal thoughts to project compilation such as what we FSO graduate students are doing. The blogs are dated and appear on a web site that hosts blogs, like this one we are using Blogger.com.

There is really no limit to the length of the blog or the number of subjects one may choose to write about. I have never blogged before except for a little bit on Facebook, however, I have friends who blog from their Blackberries about anything and everything, which I think is taking it a little far. But, to each his own.

My reasons for thinking that blogging would be beneficial for students in the classroom is that students can take ownership over their learning. It gives students a voice. Which, by the way, I am teaching writing for FCAT to 4th graders and am trying to get them to understand what voice means. Some are getting it and others are not. However, when they type their stories on the computer and view it, somehow being on the screen looks so much different than viewing it on paper.

I ask them, "is this what you wouldn't mind the world seeing" and then editing becomes more fun than tedious. They want to get it perfect! "Grandmother might see it!"

Students can receive feedback if blogging, from their peers, and it will motivate them to take a second look at their work and perhaps be motivated to produce better work.

I so enjoy teaching writing and I truly believe that blogging for students will enhance their writing and research skills. In our media center, there are 12 computers that students can use to conduct research in any curriculum topic. By conducting research and then writing about it will improve their literacy skills.

With Blogmeister, students can interact with other students around the world. They will be able to read and comment on others of like mindedness. Since the sites are monitored by the classroom teacher, the teacher can first read any blog to ensure Internet safety. This is a primary concern, as should be.

Blogging is also a way to communicate with parents while becoming technology literate. So many parents are really interested in what their students are studying and this would be a way for them to actually see what students write and how they feel about things that they sometimes can't verbally express. It is like art. Through art or even music, people can express themselves when they otherwise could not.

Blogging will keep students engaged and give them a chance to be creative and develop skills that will be useful to them in the future. Blogging is certainly an excellent tool for developing 21st century skills.

I have chosen a video from You Tube that allows you to hear what students have to say about blogging.

BrainPop video for previous post





 

Research and Blogging About Web 2.0 Tools

Today I have good news. BrainPop has approved my application for membership even though our district has blocked access. Hopefully, now that I am approved to retrieve data from their web site, I will be able to put something together to demonstrate how important Web 2.0 tools are for our students. My first post is going to be about video sharing. This form of media is very important to those students who are, by majority, visual learners. In my experience from teaching ESOL and remedial students, image-rich instruction was retained better and faster. This is also the case with the majority of my students.

Our world today is a visual society. Practically everything we see or hear about is delivered through visual media. We have television, DVD's, newspapers, magazines and movies. Those students who are fortunate to have computer access at home, come in every morning and say to me, "Ms. Marcino did you know there might be ice or water on the moon?", as an example of this morning. And, I reply, from where did you obtain this information? Answer, off the computer. I did not have this information yet because I had not listened to or viewed the news!

History was literally made and viewed on September 11th. History is made everyday and textbook publishing companies cannot keep up! I have mentioned this in times prior that our textbooks are outdated! Our students need to know what is going on in their world today.

In our previous studies, we learned that our brains are wired for images. Did you know that what we see registers must faster than what we read? Sixty thousand times faster in fact. This information can be found in most any science journal. In fact my fourth graders learned this fact last year in their science class.

I have done extensive research on how color affects behavior and learning. It is amazing how powerful color can be. Today, most homes have color television. You stop and think for a moment if your attention would be caught more by a black and white commercial or a color one. Think about how much you love to see the colors of Autumn, or the color of the ocean, particularly in north Florida.

My point is that video instruction is a necessity for the classroom. Just ask a student if they would rather see an instructional video or if they would rather listen to you instruct. Now be fair. We know our students love us dearly and may say they had rather listen to you to protect your feelings, but honestly, they want to watch the video.

Students will learn more quickly from watching a color animated video than you writing something on the board, or them trying to read a textbook or worksheet. Video is that important! I do not know the source of this quote, but I am gong to cite it anyway. It circulated on the Internet some time back and I saved it. It goes like this: "Dear God, I didn't think purple and orange went together until I saw the sunset you created on Tuesday. That was cool." Eugene. Just imagine, doesn't that pull at your hear strings? Maybe some of you saw this or know the source. If so, please leave me a comment.

Many of you are art teachers. Just imagine if you could post your students' art in a video and show it to the class. How proud would that student be to see his/her work on the Internet! We did this at my school two years ago. There was an art charity and our students painted pictures which were displayed on an auction site and sold to raise money for a worthwhile charity. The students were so proud as were we and their parents.

There are so many sources available to us now, that textbooks could most likely be eliminated. Imagine if we could get rid of the stringent benchmarks set forth for testing and just let our students learn in the manner that is best suited for them. And, I don't want to get started on the FCAT or any other state testing procedure for that matter. I think children should be allowed to learn at their own rate of speed and learn the basics yes, but pursue their interests and maximize their potential.

I am embedding a video that I think is a great example of teaching an important lesson. The video comes to you courtesy of BrainPop. Each week there is a different video. Please visit the site: http://www.brainpop.com. It is a wonderful site that I am going to do my best to convince our district to allow access.

References for Social Bookmarking

References

Edutopia, What works in public education, a web site and RSS feed, copyright

2009 The George Lucas Educational Foundation, Retrieved October 6, 2009

from http://www.edutopia.org

Fryer, Wesley A., Mobile Digital Storytelling: an article for the tech edge:

The journal of the Texas computer education association, Retrieved

October 6, 2009 from http://www.speedofcreativity.org/

Kadar, Avraham, (2000) BrainPop, Retrieved October 5, 2009 from

http://www.brainpop.com/about/

SEG Research (2008), Understanding Multimedia Learning: Integrating

multimedia in the k-12 classroom, Retrieved October 5, 2009 from

http://www.brainpop.com

Social Bookmarking-BP3

Hello everyone. Today I am blogging about educational uses for social bookmarking. I am using Delicious to bookmark reference pages for my AR project and to locate pertinent information that I can utilize in my classroom. Today I located an article, while searching on the Delicious site, entitled "Understanding Multimedia Learning: Integrating multimedia in the K-12 classroom. The article was conducted by SEG Research. The research was supported by a grant from BrainPOP.

This article immediately caught my eye because I researched similar material in my Media Research class in July-August of this year! The article also ties in with the course we had in Aug-September on brain research. If I had know about Delicious then, I could have included this wonderful paper.

The paper referred to above describes the way in which the brain processes multimedia information and the principles behind effective multimedia instruction.

The second article I located is entitled "Mobile Digital Storytelling: An Article for the Tech Edge: The Journal of the Texas Computer Education." It was written by Wesley A Fryer and updated November 26, 2007. He has a web site also: www.speedofcreativity.org.

In this article, Mr. Fryer discusses the importance of digital storytelling in contributing to student achievement. I found it particularly interesting that he explains the use of cell phones as mobile recorders, and lists several web sites for students to access to record audio clips that can be integrated into projects the students are completing. One of these web sites that I have to check out is GabCast at www.gabcast.com. Teachers can set up accounts so that students can conduct interviews for special projects and record the information to be embedded into a digital story or keynote or ppt presentation.

Another site I visited is www.BrainPop.com. This is a site that creates animated, curriculum based content that supports educators and engages students. I see sites such as this one as being very important in developing media skills with our students. This site has lesson plans, teacher conferences pages, forums, blogs, and allows you to post their videos on your blogs once you are approved. I applied, but perhaps since our school district denies access at the present time, I did not get approved to post a video on my blog. Many of you will find that to be the case with your school districts. I was hoping to share my blog with my school district to demonstrate the enormous possibilities for increasing academic achievement with our students.

This next site is www.edutopia.org. I am embedding a video that I thought was very thought provoking in our field of media design and technology. Why, even fourth graders are producing movies! It is sites like this that are truly contributing to the development of 21st century skills with our students. Perhaps I will be able to share this with my district in my attempts to get them to release educational sites for access by our students. I have bookmarked this one and will be using it for research for my AR topic. I love all of the Web 2.0 tools to which I have been exposed. There is so much I want to share with my students. They have so much potential and their potential is being squashed because they can't have access to the tools that would place them in the forefront of educational excellence. I signed an agreement regarding the use of this video because it is copyrighted. I have permission to use the video for my blog and for educational uses. The name of this video is "What Works in Public Education" created by The George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Anti-teaching-BP2

When I first glanced at the title of Michael Wesch's article "Anti-teaching", I was rather curious. I must say that I am in complete agreement with his thoughts and practices. When he states, that in the process of conducting a survey of 131 college students for his article, that hundreds of dollars are spent on textbooks that are never opened, students pay for classes they never attend, I totally agree. I have a friend who has paid for numerous college courses for her son to attend and he didn't attend the majority. Why? He stated that they were boring. Perhaps he went to each once or twice and concluded that he could spend his time doing more worthwhile endeavors. And, today, he is establishing his own photography business. When I was an under grad student, I will admit that I attended the typical lecture class with 75-300 students in an auditorium and found it to be very boring. Several students either slept through, or played games or did homework for other classes and the list goes on. Mr. Wesch talks abut creating a learning environment conducive to learning for students and getting away from the rows of desks and lecture style teaching. I couldn't agree more!! My classroom is not your typical classroom either. I don't have rows of desks and I don't lecture. I may explain some things, but as I do, I walk around the room or sit in a student group or sit on the floor with a group. I have rugs for students to sit or lay on while doing their work. I also have a chart of their lessons and what they can do once the lesson have been completed and checked by a peer or me. And do you know their favorite activity, you guessed it, getting time on the computers. I have 6 computers in my classroom. Granted many sites have been blocked, but we have found several that the students can explore. In my humble opinion, students need to feel comfortable in their learning environments and free to express themselves. We sometimes take our lessons outdoors, which they thoroughly enjoy. In the article Mr. Wesch refers to John Dewey's statement that" people learn what they do." That is so correct. As teachers, what and how we teach is what our students do. Teachers, have you ever allowed your students to "teach" a segment of your lesson? If so, you will see that the majority will mimic you. Occasionally you will have an independent thinker who teaches to his own tune or beat, as one might say. It is an eye-opener.

In reviewing the Personal Learning Environment paper, I found that it is fast becoming the most effective way for people to learn, whether they be school-age students or adults like us taking our courses on line. PLE tools make learning much more interesting and interactive and engaging for the student. It really does represent a shift away from traditional learning. What I like most about PLE is that it shifts accountability from the teacher to the student. In other words, yes, the teacher is responsible for managing the lesson and providing the necessary tools for learning; however, the student now becomes responsible for and takes ownership of his learning. In Florida, teachers are held accountable for their students' ability to pass the FCAT. Teachers are required to teach certain curriculum and are generally instructed to "teach to the test." I am so against this and have voiced my opinion probably too many times. My opinion is that if a teacher teaches the curriculum content and the tools to learn the content to students, students will pass without all the stress of having certain criteria drilled to them. Our students are smarter than than they are given credit for. I am very proud to state that I teach above the level of my students and cover all the standards and have had an excellent pass/fail ratio. My average is 88% in a Title 1 school which is higher than the district and state's averages. But, I am a non-traditional teacher. I don't want to be stressed every day and I don't want my students to be stressed every day and constantly told that "learn this or you won't pass". This is not my way. I would love to see these tests go away because they are not an accurate gauge of a students learning.

I do not think our current educational system is working for our students. I believe this partly because the majority of our schools are still stuck in the Industrial age in their way of thinking and in the way education is presented. Within our government, education should be at the top of the list for considerations. Do our legislators not realize that these students we have in our classrooms are our future leaders? Globally, countries are passing us by in technology and employing 21st Century learning skills. It is so difficult for me to grasp why the US is supposed to be the wealthiest, most forward moving country, yet we are trillions of dollars in debt, we have people living on the streets and there is not enough money for education and healthcare!

In this country alone, our resources, if used properly, and money distributed properly, could feed and clothe every person in our country. Most likely, every family could be provided with shelter as well. Sure, other countries have poverty, but none compare to us. That's a shame!

What would work? Well, first there would have to be a total revamping of our government. Education would have to be first in line of considerations. The millions of dollars that is wasted on certain types of research, like why birds migrate south for instance, could be spent on education. And we have all read or heard about the $5000.00 toilet seats in government offices, hahahahaha. Well, need I say more? Our government wastes so much money that could be targeted for education, like providing every school with Web 2.0 tools, and the computers with which to use the tools. Train all of teachers in Web 2.0 technology. Buildings need to be remodeled and as new schools are built, construct them to look pleasing and welcoming and not like boot camps with high fences and barbed wire! With proper education, crime would be less, there would be less unemployment. Perhaps if our country would provide our students with the education that is required for the 21st Century, our senior citizens and baby boomers could rest a little easier knowing that our country would be in good hands and not facing a likelihood of being absorbed by another country.

I really like virtual learning environments especially for our Title 1 students who basically have no global knowledge base when they enter school. The virtual environments can help them to build the knowledge bases that they are lacking. Technology in itself is not enough to construct a new school of learning. Like when FSO crashed and other institutions' computer systems crash, there has to be a back up. Good old-fashioned reading, writing and arithmetic always needs to be taught and learned. As an under grad, I actually knew classmates who could not do math on paper because all of their lives they had depended on calculators. What if the calculator breaks right in the middle of an exam and you can't just get up and get another one?

Everyone needs the good old-fashioned foundation. Then add to that base, the Web 2.0 tools and any other technology that is going to enhance learning.

At my school we are fortunate to have smart boards in every classroom and computers in every classroom plus two computer labs. However, we have teachers who do not have a background in the technology to utilize these wonderful resources and our district has blocked so many important Web 2.0 tools. Granted, all content must be monitored for children, but there are ways to password protect many sites that would be advantageous for the students to access.

As I mentioned earlier, students need to learn much more than what is contained in a state test. I would say that our legislators probably could not pass the FCAT. And, if their job was in jeopardy if they didn't pass, wonder how quickly technology would be available?

The courses I have taken with FSO during the past three months have helped me tremendously in developing better lesson plans and are preparing me for my AR project. I also have a Masters in Psychology and therefore the past courses with Multiple Intelligences and Brain-based Learning have been particularly interesting to me. I think all teachers could profit from these courses if they can avail themselves of them. Our last course on Instructional Design was particularly interesting and I might add, a bit overwhelming, however, I learned so much valuable information. The project my team worked on relates directly to my AR project. I learned so much from my teammates. If we did not have a PLE I probably would not be as successful as I hope to be with my final project. Key components for 21st learning skills are incorporated into the FSO platform as it is a Course Management System structure. This structure allows the instructors to manage many more students than if it were a physical classroom. Students are able to interact and learn at their own speed and develop intrinsically as well. Instructors and students can access assignments, use Web 2.0 tools and manage their own destiny. 21st Century skills require that students learn and master more than just a base of knowledge. They must be able to use Bloom's at its higher order and 21st Century puts accountability where it belongs, on the student. In nutrition, "you are what you eat" and in the learning environment, "you are and project what you learn." Hopefully, in this 21st Century, state testing will be abolished and students can move at their own pace as is intended. Students do not need to be held back in a class because there may be 2 or 3 not absorbing as quickly, but because the state mandates certain criteria, students are forced to become bored. Not in my classroom! Components of 21st Century skills dictate that students learn what and how as quickly as they can absorb. They master skills more quickly when allowed to move forward.

Student outcomes will be mastery of skills, knowledge and expertise that they need to succeed in work and life. Students will become lifelong learns and not just learners to get by or to memorize just enough to pass a test. Students can be motivated to become eager learners. True, in our environment today, that motivation is sometimes to inspire and some students are more difficult to reach, but I believe that anyone can learn, perhaps not to the mastery level of some, but learn more than they knew, just the same.

Good morning. I have discovered 5 RSS feeds that I would like to share with you this morning. The first is entitled Education Week American Education. It is an on line subscription that you will need to either subscribe to or pay for individual articles. You can read snapshots of articles to determine if it is interesting enough for you to purchase a subscription or an article. In some cases, if you want to share documentation with your principal or district administration, it might be a good idea to purchase a copyrighted article to get your point across as to why media technology is a necessary tool in the class room. The articles are current and updated daily. There is an archive from which you can search your topic. One article I researched is Inverting Bloom's Taxonomy, published October 2, 2009 by Sam Wineburg and Jack Schneider. The article discusses moving from factual knowledge to critical thinking. This article and others like it will benefit me in my classroom because I am constantly searching for ways to engage my students in critical thinking.

The second RSS feed is an RSS site which compiles a set of about 250 learning technology feeds from a global view. The feeds are organized by category and are current. This site originates in Australia and is called Australian Frameworks. I am particularly interested in this site because the US is behind the times in using digital media in the classrooms. Perhaps I will be able to locate research which will support my AR project. I am a non-traditional teacher in that I only use text books as a resource. I teach my students that they must look elsewhere for building their foundations and not rely solely on textbooks, which by the way are not current in most cases. I can definitely use this site for myself and for my students. My students can actually view what students globally are studying. I could go on and on about this site. Just type in Australian Frameworks RSS feeds and see for yourself what a great resource this is.

The third RSS feed that I researched and subscribed to is EDUCAUSE/Blogs. This is an educational resource RSS feed containing publications, podcasts and blogs. It is a free subscription. I am hoping to locate pertinent information relating to my AR project as well as provide documentation to our district administration as to why they need to allow access to particular sites like classroomblogmeister.com that will give ownership to students' writing and posting. It will be very beneficial to me for my students as well as to me as a student. I viewed several posts and publications that I have saved for use in my classroom.

For my fourth RSS feed, I have discovered a site entitled Teachers Teaching Teachers. It is a feed which is constructed of tutorials created by teachers for teachers. It has tutorials on everything from how to develop a lesson plan in every curriculum to how to add iTunes to your lesson plan format. One of the tutorials I enjoyed was an explanation on how to connect with teachers globally. This is going to be very beneficial to me in working with my AR project. There very well may be a teacher in another country who has accomplished or is working on the topic of my AR project. I will also be able to allow my students to view a "how to" on creating a power point (if I can gain access through the district). I also present to teachers from time to time and this will be a valuable resource for me.

The fifth RSS feed I have added is entitled Free Technology for Teachers. I really like this site! These are posts and tutorials created by teachers. It is similar to the TTT site. This site, however, also has other links to tutorials such as the Smithsonian Channel. For years I have subscribed to the Smithsonian magazine. My students have enjoyed the magazine articles. The on line magazine publication will be a great asset. I will be able to incorporate information into my lesson plans and hopefully allow my students to research articles for their writing journals as well as science and other curriculum topics. Since it is a live feed, you can also go to the "at a glance" to link to a particular video that you wish to share. You know when you get that "teaching moment" or when a student asks a question that displays excellence in critical thinking. Please give it a try. I think you will like the feeds.

Using Blogging in the learning Environment-BP1

Educational Blogging has multiple uses, such as: completing writing assignments, creating ongoing portfolios of samples of students' writing, using the blog as a reading response journal. There is a very informative slide presentation at http://www.slideshare.net entitled Educational Uses of Blogs and Tags created by Diana Dell who is a representative of Sqool Techs, LLC. It has some great information for all educators, especially those working with students in writing courses.

Another site I visited is http://accessmylibrary.com. I was impressed with this site. It has over 30,000,000 (thirty million) articles of top publications found in libraries across the country. On this particular web site are several links to other web sites that are specific to educators. These different sites utilize web 2.0 tools to provide the educator with ideas for classroom solutions as is specified in a site entitled Connect Ed. There are forums where you can share ideas, conduct research, which we are all doing for our AR project. You can also find educational grant sources.

In their search box, I typed in a search for how blogging can help readers to improve and immediately ten articles loaded that targeted my subject. Since I am working on a similar target for my AR project, I typed in struggling readers and another 34 sites loaded. I browsed through several and have bookmarked sites to explore in depth at a later date.

I am liking this course more and more. As I previously have stated, I was totally unaware of how much technology is available for us to use with our students. The problem is that the school districts are not keeping up with the forward movement in technology. As a child I remember reading comic books that displayed things that we are using in our lives today, such as computers, lasers, micro chips, and the list goes on. Well, as a child and I am sure the writers thought they were writing science fiction. Ha, wonder if of them are still living to see that their fictional gadgets have become a reality? Just like our school districts need to move out of the industrial age and into the technological age so that our students will be better prepared to go out into the universe prepared for whatever comes their way!

Reflections of a Yorkie Mom

I am working towards a Masters in Educational Media Design and Technology. Wow! I have made it through three months. It has been difficult trying to balance a full time teaching position, part-time tutoring, part-time real estate sales and caring for two Yorkie puppies and my precious 16 year old Shih Tzu. In addition, I have a 3 1/2 year old granddaughter who is such a precious gift to our family.

I am totally enjoying my courses through Full Sail University. I suppose I am just overwhelmed by so much technology. Ha, I had considered myself to be somewhat computer savvy, but to my surprise, I am like a pre-schooler in the area of media design and technology. However, I consider myself to be a life long learner and very determined. So, look out world of technology, here I come.