Duke Documentary Posts

I watched/listened to two different podcasts about vastly different subjects. I was intrigued by each podcast, just in different ways. The podcasts taught me new ideas and informed me greater in others.

The first podcast that I listened to was The South in Black and White. This podcast was aired after the Duke Lacrosse team scandal. This program promotes this new class about not only history but racial issues today as well. He says that everyone thinks about race and you must reflect on your culture. The class will have conversations about history and how to deal with race today. There will be performances of the Emmett Till story, gospel music, and Southern story tellers to enrich the curriculum.

The second podcast I watched was a HIV educational video. It took place in South Africa and informed people of the horrors of rape. It showed a typical day for a teenage girl who was raped by her father and then chastised by her mother when supper wasn't ready when she got home. This video opened my eyes to the horror that children must go through in these types of situations.

Podcast Reviews

I personally found all of the blogs very well presented. I know that we were all nervous but I found that each group covered this fact up well. Even though I could not listen to my podcast because it has not been aired yet, I know that I said "umm" quite a few times too many. I also feel that my group members and I should have made our podcast more conversational and less lecture.

The first podcast that I listened to was about Blogging. It was presented by Ashley Corley, Brooke Busby, and Kimberly Pierce. I found that maybe by writing down what you were going to say before saying it, it would help with the pauses that sometimes elapsed. I also thought that the speakers could be a bit more animated when talking. I think that it would have helped the podcast be more attention grabbing.

The second podcast that I listened to was about Blog Experiences. It was presented by Rachael Beaty, Keller Weathers, and Joye Wiggins. I found the presentation hard to hear at times, so maybe talking into the microphone more or speaking louder would help. I also found that when the group members were talking all at once it was hard to understand what each person was trying to say. Talking one at a time will help this problem out immensely.

The last podcast that I listened to was about ALEX and ACCESS. The presenters were Susan Smith, Bridget Thompson-Hall, and Angela Minish. I think that by collecting your thoughts before you begin speaking it will help the tumbling over words and thoughts that haven't fully developed. I thought that the articulation could be improved as well.

I would like to close by saying that once again, I thought that all of the podcasts that I listened to were great and I was hard for me to criticize any of them.

Mathematics with Technology Blog

In these two blogs, the speaker talks about how and why to integrate technology into the mathematics curriculum. She states that teachers think that technology is not needed when studying mathematics but in fact, it is vital. Technology allows students to integrate past concepts with new ones in a shorter amount of time. It also allows students to see mathematics in a new way, grasping all learning styles. Technology is also an important tool in critical thinking skills. It allows students to look at a problem from all angles and come up with a thorough answer based upon their critical thinking abilities.
I will use technology in my classroom to enhance the learning of my students. I find that looking at something in a new way helps me learn better and I feel that it will do the same for my students. I hope to incorporate technology in my mathematics classes so that my students will be open to the world and know how these practices apply to everyday life.
Technology and blogs both enhance a curriculum in numerous ways. They give insight to teachers on new methods and give children a view of the world that they may have not had before. I will use both blogs and technology in my classroom daily to help enhance my curriculum and enrich the lives of my students.

Stanford "Minds" Video

In this video, a professor of psychology talks about how students mindsets, either fixed or growth, affect their performance in academics. She tells of a study that the University performed where half of the students were given tips for success and the other half were given those tips and growth mindset speeches. The half of the study that were given both of the skills performed at a higher level and had more confidence.

The professor stated that by telling people that their mind is a muscle and the more that they use it the more that it will grow, people have a greater chance of trying new things and believing in themselves. With a fixed mindset, people get discouraged because they are too worried about not being good at something to go out and try the new experience.

As a teacher, I need to keep this in mind because I want my students as well as myself to be of the growth mindset. With this mindset, my students will go on to further their education with the confidence in themselves to succeed. This will help a people and should be taught at early ages in schools.

WGBH Video

I found a video in the K-5 section. The name of the video was "A Night in the Coral Reef". This video outlined which sea creatures came out at night and what they did during the night. The plant eating fish are out in the reef only during the day, they retreat to their hiding spots inside the reef at nightfall to hide and sleep. The flesh eating fish and creatures come out to prey at night. They stalk the reef looking for sleeping fish or troll the sea bed looking for food. The sea polyps open their receptors to catch passing plankton as it floats through the water. An octopus is also show searching for food with its tentacles. The sea urchin skims the sea bed at a slow pace, eating as it goes.

In my Kindergarten class, my teacher installed a touch tank where we could learn and feel the sea creatures like the sea anemone and the sea urchin. This is where I first learned to love and be fascinated with the sea. My Kindergarten teacher is the reason that I want to teach at the Kindergarten level. I found this video to be a great asset in my classroom. I want my students to be able to see animals that they may have never seen before in their own environment.

I will use this video and others like it to create a fun, educational setting for my kids to learn. I hope that using this new technology will incorporate traditional teaching methods with cutting edge methods so that the students will be taught and stimulated to the highest level. I want to instill the love of learning into my students lives at an early age, and I think that videos like this one will help me to accomplish this.

Edutopia Videos

The first video that I watched was "The Edible Schoolyard". This is a program that teaches middle school students where their food comes from, how to prepare it, and how a garden relates to the other subjects that they learn about. The children plant the seeds, tend the garden, pick the produces fruits and veggies, then go into the classroom and learn how to prepare and eat these foods. The program also allows teachers to teach math and science skills in a new way which allows all students the opportunity to excel.

The second video that I watched was "A Night in the Global Village". This is a program where children are taken to a 5 acre ranch, divided into groups and have to spend the night in an impoverished situation in one of the various structures that depict a living space for people around the world. Each group is given a meager amount of supplies but they must barter with the other groups in order to be able to cook their meal. The next morning, there are chores to be done and a time for reflection on what they experienced the night before.

I found the first concept fascinating. I would love to be able to plant a small garden outside of my classroom and get the children involved in the cultivating process. This would be an opportunity for growth and new concepts to be brought forth as well as teaching them the values of working, tending, and preparing your food. The second video was very interesting. I would also love to take a group of children to the ranch and have them experience what its like to be impoverished. I feel that kids today don't know what people around the world go through on a daily basis and this would be a great way to let them glimpse into these people's world. I would use this video in my classroom so that the students can see what these children went through even if we could not go to the ranch ourselves.

Alabama Virtual Library

"The Alabama Virtual Library provides all students, teachers, and citizens of the State of Alabama with online access to essential library and information resources. It is primarily a group of online databases that have magazine, journal, and newspaper articles for research. Through the AVL, an equitable core of information sources are available to every student and citizen in Alabama, raising the level of excellence in schools and communities across the state." You can view the AVL from home once you go to your Public Library branch and get a user name and password.

The AVL site offers several tabs located on the left side of the page that takes you to helpful links such as frequently asked questions (FAQ), news, training, support, campus, home, and publications. These tabs contain pertinent information that helps the user better understand the AVL. Under the campus tab, you can look up a book or other material from various different methods. You can look it up by an age group, a topic, look for a magazine, or from a particular database. These tools help to you to locate your text in the most efficient manner possible.

I will use this tool in my classroom. I believe that it will help my students to be able to access books and other materials that the library has to offer from the classroom or their home computer. This will cut down on the time they have to spend looking for a book because they will have done the research on the AVL. I will also find this site helpful myself. I will be able to look up texts for class and research them more efficiently.