Final Reflection

Project #11 Short Movie

Blog Post #14

In our assgignment this week, we are reading the blog Box of Tricks by Jose Picardo.  In his blog he includes a substantial list of internet resources for teachers.  We were also assigned to watch his video, Top ten tips for using technology in the classroom.  These are the top ten tips that he listed:

• Use streaming video
•  Use music more often
• Use teleconferencing tools such as Skype
• Create your own interactive exercises
• Use your interactive whiteboard more effectively.
• Create your own podcasts
• Start a blog or a wiki
• Use social networks
• Use internet tools
• Make the most of your pupils' devices

Most of these tips are things that we have become familiar with in EDM310.  I hadn't given a lot of thought to using my student's music to enhance my lessons, but I think that is an awesome suggestion.  It will definitely help them to stay focused if all of their senses are engaged.  I also think I have a lot more to learn when it comes to creating my own interactive exercises. I love the idea of having my students use their own devices.  I think that will make their lessons more relevant,  as well as help them to realize that learning is not something that only takes place at school.  It is something that we should be doing constantly, in every area of our life.  After I am through with EDM310,  I am looking forward to learning even more about Smartboards and the other tools that we have been introduced to in this class.

C4K Summary #3

For our first November C4K assignment, we were assigned to comment on Mr.  McClung's World.  In this post he had chsen a band called the Black Keys as his class' band of the week.  This was my comment:

Hi, my name is Kristie McNair and I am an EDM310 student at the University of South Alabama.  I really enjoyed your video.  I have never heard of the Black Keys before, but I thought they were great!  I will definitely be visiting itunes to check them out some more.  I love that your class has a band of the week, and I think your class blog is awesome.  It's awesome that you make it fun as well as educational.  I am definitely going to keep the band of the week in mind for my class one day.

For our second C4K assignment this month we I was instructed to comment on Mrs.  Yollis' Class Blog.  Her students had posted Halloween stories that they had written.  I was assigned to comment on Shane's post.  This was my comment:

Dear Shane, 
Hello! My name is Kristie McNair and I am an EDM310 student at the University of South Alabama. I read your story Halloween Olympics, and I thought it was great! I thought it was very funny that all of those scary things decided to play those games. My favorite was the rotten pumpkin dodging. Did Ghoster get a gold medal for winning the Halloween Olympics? I have a daughter who is in the 3rd grade, and she also likes to write stories. I am going to let her read these. Good job, Shane. You are a great writer!

For my final C4K assignment, I was assignet to comment on Ashley's blog.  Ashley is a student at the PT England School in Auckland, NZ.  Ashley's post was about the fireworks show at the Rugby World Cup.  This was my comment:

Hi Ashlee,
My name is Kristie Mcnair. I am an Edm310 student at The University of South Alabama. I thought you did a great job describing the excitement of the Rugby World Cup. Your video was very good, and I really liked how you described the lights exploding in the sky. Keep up the good work!

Final Post on PLN

This is the PLN that I created while in EDM310. It has many common sites, like Google and Facebook, as well as sites that I use often. These include the University of South Alabama site and our EDM310 blog. I have created tiles for some of the teachers we read from this semester as well as some that I have found myself on the web. There are tiles for the Mobile County Public School System as well as SchoolTube and Teacher Tube. I know this is only a beginning of what my PLN should become, but before I began EDM310, I didn't even know what a PLN was. I am very thankful that I have found these resources through this class, and I can't wait to find even more in the future.