Edutopia!

The two podcast that I just watched were very interesting. The first one I watched was "The Edible Schoolyard." It was about a school in California that uses gardening as a teaching technique! It was very interesting to see how excited and cooperative the 6Th grade children were in the gardening. They loved it! Through the gardening the children were learning math, science, life lessons, and much more. It taught these students to have a sense of community. In the past, the things that the children are learning from gardening, were taught at home. Now days most children have no experience in this department. Alice Waters created this "gardening program" in 1994 as a way to improve the lunch program. I love how the kids see something through from beginning to the end. They grow the food and then good it and eat it. They learn to be generous and also how to be cooperative, like a family. I think that this is a great program for child development.

Another podcast I watched was, "A Night in the Global Village." This was my favorite! I have such a heart for the nations. To see children learning about other cultures and people was so encouraging to me. This helps them to not be blinded by our society and not to think that everyone in the world is as fortunate as many Americans. The Global Gateway Program takes children out of their natural environment to an area like none they have experienced. Teachers can bring students to this "global village" to help them learn about poverty, hunger, sanitation, and other problems that many villages face. The camp has life-like villages set up from Guatemala, Taiwan, refugee camps, and other areas. The students along with a chaperon stay the night in the villages with all the amenities that a villager has, nothing! Actually they are given a few goods such as rice, water, matches, and cooking pans. They spend the night and function as true villagers from other countries. They have to depend on each other and work together to make it through the night with a full stomach. I think that this is such a great program. I think that it shows children just how blessed they are, how much we take for granted, how to work together, and how to be responsible. They have to cooperate with other students or else everyone loses. There is also an in school project that the podcast mentioned, called Read & Feed that teachers can participate in, in the classroom. I love that the global village opens the students' eyes and helps them to see that they need to take action in their own community and maybe one day it will encourage them to take action in other communities, as well.

In my classroom I could see myself utilizing both of these podcast ideas, maybe not to the full extent, but somewhat. I would love to be able to have a small garden that my class could help plant, maintain, and be a part of. Something like tomatoes or some other fruit or vegetable that they could watch grow and we could eat in class. It would let them be a part of a community of growth and would help us to all be responsible for something.

The village program is really awesome. If teachers had the chance to take students to the actual program that would be awesome. I think that in my classroom I will just have to settle on virtual field trips to show my children the means by which some people live. I would also give practical ideas of things we can do to help as a class. I would also encourage my class to give up something for a week that they think they can't live without, cellphone, video game, etc. I think it would show them that we have so many things and we are so blessed by the abundance of our resources. I would love to have my class connect with a class from a different culture than ours and learn about each other. I think it is always good to open there eyes to knew perspectives and views on life.

Please go watch these pod casts...they are really short but really cool!

Randy Pausch-Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

What an amazing lecture! I really enjoyed watching this lecture. He is such an awesome speaker but most importantly he was speaking to help others. He was using his lecture to encourage and help others. Even in Randy Pausch's state, he lives each day to have fun and to better life for future children. His speech was extremely encouraging and I believe that all educators should take time to watch this video.

I love Randy Pausch's enthusiasm and excitement. I love his vision for future generations and for helping children enable dreams. One of my favorite parts of the lecture was when he was discussing his class that he instructed and how he was blown away by the first project they completed. I love that he did not just say, "way to go everyone!", but instead he called people and found more ways to stretch the students' abilities. WOW! He looked for other ways that they could use their wonderful ideas and made the projects bigger and better. He believed in them.

Pausch exhibits many teaching methods in his lecture. The one above, believing in his students and helping them reach their fullest potential, I really enjoyed hearing. He also used group work in his classes. He said that it was great for his students and their bonding. Pausch believes that students should have fun while learning. I totally agree. I do not think that students should sit in class bored to death. I love that in all his classes, he uses fun activities to help students learn.

He used many examples from his own experiences, he explained how two people said the same thing to him but how each of them worded it differently. The men both said the same thing but one man tore down Pausch and the other man built him up. He taught the lesson to watch how you speak and how you word things to your students. Pausch discussed how we will run into brick walls but that they are not the end all. A lot of his lecture was basically about letting kids be kids and enjoying life.

I could talk about this lecture for hours. I will just mention a few more points that he made. Respect authority while questioning it. Sell something worthwhile. Never lose childlike wonder. Have fun. Never give up! Ignore everything they say and only focus on what they do. Have a feedback loop and listen to it. Show gratitude. Don't complain, just work harder. I loved the video!Please Watch!

iTunes University

I wish that South Alabama would get in on the times! I think that the way other colleges and schools are using iTunes U is awesome. It is such a fun and modern way to incorporate school into everyday life. Students can have lectures, notes, pictures, etc. at their fingertips all the time. At these schools that have utilized the iTunes U, the students have access to so much information. I believe it makes it easier for students if they have all these resources on their iPod. I think that students would be so much more prone to listen to a lecture or podcast outside under a tree before they would in a stuffy library on a computer.
The way these colleges are using the iPod is so great. They are turning a fun experience into so much more. You can now learn and it will be enjoyable. I would love to try to utilize this process in my classroom. Even if I just do podcasts or allow my students to do podcasts and then upload them onto their iPods. If they do not all own an iPod, I could just show them how it works and how they can use them for when they do get one, someday. I could upload pictures and so much more information for my students that would be helpful. As a student right now, I would love for my professors to use the itunes U program.
I think thatthis article pretty much explains iTunes U very well.

Using iPods!

There are so many ways to utilize an iPod! I think that a lot of people focus on only the listening to music on an ipod. Although that is very enjoyable, iPods can used for numerous things. They can be used for recording notes, listening to lectures, studying foreign languages, etc. After reading a study done by Duke University, I really can see the great importance of an iPod. I love that something so entertaining can be used to further education as well.
Duke issued each incoming Freshmen in 2001 an iPod. They studied the usage and value of the iPods. For the most part the iPods helped in the students education. They were a great tool for listening to lectures and other things. Even thought their were some problems with the iPods, I think that they were a great benefit. I think now with even more advanced iPods, they could help in the classroom even more.
I found a pretty cool website for the "new iPod owner"! Most of the tips on this site are really basic. I think that it could be really helpful to someone who has never owned an iPod or someone who is not so savvy with technical stuff. It gives you tutorials for many issues you may come into with using your iPod. Click here to see the site.