Reflection of the TCPCG Ed. Tech Class!

I love this class and I love the teacher!
I had a lot of fun in this class exploring new technology, websites and ways to use all of that new knowledge in the classroom.
There are things I learned that I just wouldn't have ever known had I not taken this class.
I also feel that I have finally become comfortable and somewhat excited about using this blog!
I think that theres a possibility that I may keep it.
This class has me more comfortable and more aware of the technology that myself and my students will be using. I know that this are ever changing and I will have to be keeping up with all of this on my own.
SMART board! Oh how I love smart board. I can only hope that I get the chance in my career to work with a SMART board. I just love how the teacher can interact with their slides from writing on them to using them to make games. SMART board really makes classes interactive and fun. I do agree with what the professors wife, an assistant principle, said "just because you can put all those fun colors and objects on the slides doesn't mean you should." Im glad I've learned to use SMART board in a way so that the slides are not too much and full of distracting gagets.
Everything was fun about this class, laid back and not rushed. Plus, you get to go to his school which is right next to some awesome outlet stores!!!

Video Reflection

So my video has been completed.

I personally dont think its very good but I know I tried my best. I think I was able to do some cool things and I love that my group decided to use some other technology such as the screen cast. 

I feel confident that I could ask students to make videos and that I would be able to help them put the videos together.

I think my lack of tech savvyness leaves me with a lack of creativity when it comes to making videos of my own. On top of all this I really think Im a terrible actress and hate watching myself but I guess being a teacher and especially being in this program thats just something Im going to have to get used to.

So if you dare here is my video, but I prefer that you just dare not and keep it all a mystery ;)

Class Notes for home!

Class, please watch this podcast, take notes and come prepared to use your knowledge for tomorrow!

Click on the Picture below and download the file!

Online Farm Simulation

This is a link to a great online simulation and game website put on by the The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture.
We will use this at points in class but if you would like to get a head start feel free to check it out!

Students who chose to begin early or start their own farm through the site may obtain extra credit on the final game project!

My American Farm

Parents if you are concerned about the use of this site please read this article which has more information about the site and the people who put it all together

Farm
Bureau

Quiz on Todays Lesson

If you would like to test your new knowledge from the Poultry Anatomy and Physiology lecture here is a little quiz!

Poultry Resources

I have compiled a list and analysis of some poultry resources that may be helpful to students as they discover the poultry industry. These websites are also useful to anyone looking to have a home flock of chickens.
You will find websites on regulations, breeds, hatch and much more.

Hope you can find what your looking for!

Heres the link!

Agriculture Survey

Please take this survey to allow me to know where you are before class begins:

Click here to take survey

WebQuest

Here is a link that can go with my previous video so you can make some choices on possibly raising your own poultry!

Poultry TrackStar

Here you can answer the questions!




Here are the answers if you choose to follow the questions!
Answers

Teaching with New Media

After reading the top 10 tips for using new media in classrooms I personally remain skeptical of many of the aspects.
On the other hand I did like some.

I really like the idea of using Wikispaces and Google Docs to allow students to not lose work and be able to access it everywhere. You always hear students saying: I forgot it at home, I lost it, I can't print it at home and so on the excuses go. Google Docs I feel is a good way to ensure that the teacher knows each student cant lose their work.
With that I have had many teachers lose my own work that I handed in so I like the idea that teachers can see that you are doing your work or that it is finished.
I think its a great idea to use online surveys such as Surveymonkey because not only does it help teachers know where students are but it helps to show different stats of the students to the everyone. Such as in another class today a group used a survey to see if we were with Dewey or Elliot on progressive education reform.
These things help students interact.

Some of the other things I am very wary of. I just dont think it is a good idea to use Twitter or Facebook for classes and even the use of Blogs just makes me nervous. You can't always control who is reading your students blogs, Twitters, or Facebooks and I just feel like it opens the floor up for issues. In college we are mindful adults and so know how to use these blogs effectively but I dont know that younger students would. This goes with Skype, this just opens students up to a whole new issue that if used correctly it could be effective in say a world language class but you never know what could happen.

The rest such as Voicethread I just don't get. I think I am just not a very tech savy and so I feel like some technology is ok but sometimes your own ability to stand in front of a class and teach is the most effective. I love the idea of things like Google Earth in classrooms and Tag Galaxy (if I could figure out how to use it) seems like it may work well to show relationship and maybe help instill empathy in students for history.

So in the end I guess its just going to take me a while to become ok with the use of all this technology. I just wonder what kind of can we are opening and what will come of it?

Informational Video: Poultry Production

One of my units in for student teaching is Poultry Production.
I have decided to embed 2 videos. One showing how poultry farms are run, which is a very controversial situation. The clip is from Food Inc. I decided to show this to point out to my students that while this is the ways things are because companies are selling to consumers who want a lot of poultry, fast and cheap. Producers don't always want to be raising birds this but are forced into by contract.
For example Purdue expects their chickens to be raised certain ways and because of large company competition usually producers have to contract with large producers like Purdue where they are now not actually even growing their own birds, they are growing Purdues birds they way Purdue wants them to be grown. Producers know the best way for their chickens but the best way isn't always the way companies want it.
This is not the only industry this is happening in, where producers are so afraid to lose their livelihood they don't speak up because if they do they may be "black listed" as the woman in Food Inc was.
So all in all these videos are just a way to show but consumers are seeing and help students understand how to interpret these things, teach the correct knowledge and help consumers decide to make the decision that they want better. Even if it costs more.
My thoughts:Dont complain unless you willing to do something about it. We all know that people dont like the way poultry are producer, but how many of those people do you think eat Tyson, Purdue, Wal-mart, McDonalds and so forth!
I also feel like in the wrong hands Food Inc is dangerous for the above reason. People watch it and then hate producers.



Should things really be this way? Should producers be afraid to speak out for fair contracts and to produce quality birds.

This could be educationally relevant to my subjet..... :)

I have learned to embed a video into this blog. I have chosen one of my favorites. A cow that has been taught to ride and jump. This is my life long dream. We have a steer calf named Eskimo and if my husband allows us not to eat him this is his future!
ENJOY!






I have also added an RSS feed from the USDA that shows recent news and developments in the agricultural industry!

Alan November

I have just read the Alan November article. I really enjoyed reading this, it puts our "relationaship" with technology in a different way.
I really like how he asks: "What relationships do you want to have? and What technology do you want to have?"
This is something that we face daily. How do we want people to see us and how will we make them see us that way?
This goes back to my Did you know 4.0 post about posting your life on facebook.
You decide at that point that you want people to know you life and your going to use facebook to air it and probably use a computer and of course a smartphone to get it onto facebook.
This really makes us think about all of the technology around us.
I chose to have a smartphone because I felt the need to be connected to everything, I like to know NOW whats going on. My dad on the other hand refuses to get anymore than a regular phone because he does not want his whole life to be in his hand, he wants to leave work and leave it there unless of course hes on call.

I also really appreciated his discussion of: If your going to teach students to use the internet teach them how to think and discriminate.
This I love because I feel like it forces us to really use our brains to figure things out in a time when many think that technology has taken that from us.
In one of my previous college classes we had the same "If its on the internet it must by true" idea and we found this website that backed the idea that the Earth is flat this is a group of people with a .org site (which we have all been taught that if its .org or .edu site its probably good) still promoting the idea that the world is flat. While it is ok to think as you please you need to have a student that can look at this and know that there is all proof that the world is in fact NOT flat but is Round. A student not thought to think critically and discriminate could find this site as fact as the authors example of the student believing the Holocaust was a hoax.

This was just a really amazing article, I could probably discuss it for a while but I will spare all!

Did you know 4.0

Just watched the video Did you know 4.0 
All I have to say is HOLY SMOKES!
I feel like I have always known the statistics shown in the video but having them put down and listed out like that just really put it all in prospective.
Its crazy to even think that my niece who is 8 has a sell phone and texts be all the time and I didnt have a sell phone until I was in highschool in which that was only because I had a car so if I broke down I could call someone.
There are so many examples you can use to explain our dependance on technology such as the need for even your young children to have a cell phone to freaking out about your friends post on facebook because your read it out of context.
Even the way we share our life stories through technology now makes me wonder how much further it can go. I mean 5 years ago I couldnt have imagined heading to my facebook after a long day and telling a list of people I may know well or only have just met once about my entire day.

To think just how far technology has gone so far, so fast makes me sure wonder how things will change in my lifetime!

The First Day

"The Journey Ahead"

Hello,
Today is my first day of TCPCG classes. Ive been looking forward to this day for 5 years, ever since I found out about this program. Now that it is here and we have been given lots and lots of reading Im realizing my journey through this program may be much more difficult than I thought and more difficult than my journey to get to this day. I hope that the program brings out the best in my abilities. It does feel so nice to be surrounded by people who are here for a reason and are all as passionate as I am about being teachers.

The first class on technology started at a later time today which was really nice.  I could sleep in a little,  get last minute things done and slowly get back into going to school. I am excited for this class because I dont know how to use computers and technology well and I know my students will. Not only that I know that technology is something that will always be working hand in hand with my career. As I have spent sometime using my new MacBook Im realizing while I wasnt a very strong PC before I can say that I do enjoy the Mac, I just need to understand it better (not that I understood the PC very well).
Ive never had a blog and I can say Im pretty paranoid about this kind of thing, it took me forever to get a facebook. Im hoping to become more comfortable with this blog.

Looking forward to my next post, hopefully Im not overwhelmed from all of my other classes!

P.S. save it and show it to the world?! Thats what I mean about this stuff!!