Think Your Comment Was Not Posted?

Let me refresh your memory. From p. 14 of the Projects Instruction Manual:

Some teachers moderate the comments left on their personal blog and/or on the blogs of their students. This means that you may not see your comment until it has been approved. That may take one day or many days. You do not have to worry about it whether it ever appears since you will summarize the post and your comment and you will post these summaries to your blog on a regular basis. This also applies to C4T and C4K.


Do not worry if you do not see your comment!

C4T Assignments Now Posted

C4T Assignments Now Posted

Mandatory Meeting Dates - A Reminder

Tuesday Thursday Classes Meet Both Days This Week (9/2 and 9/4)

Monday Wednesday 4 Class Meets Wednesday This Week (9/3) and Monday (9/8) Next Week

Wednesday 6 Classes Meets Wednesday This Week (9/3)

Almost Time to Celebrate - But Not on Wednesday Night

So close....!

We now have 119 students in EDM310. Two have never shown up for class and do not have a blog. So let's say we have 117 enrolled.

Of those all but 12 (10%) posted Blog Post #2 on time. That is the best Week 3 performance ever (except for summer semesters).

Of those 12, eight are enrolled in the Wednesday night class. That means 33% of the Wednesday night class did not post Blog Post #3 on time. Why so many? I wish I knew. So our celebration is slightly undermined. But in the other three classes only 4 students out of 93 students (4%) failed to post Blog Post #3 on time.

Time to celebrate, except on Wednesday night.

Keep it up MW4, TT11 and TT2! Get on board while you can W6!

Jennifer Flowers Wants You to Know About This Site

Jennifer Flowers has found a site she believes will help all of you and wants to share that information. All you have to to to read her post Great Website for HTML Coding!

A Slightly Better Start Than in Some Semesters

There are 126 students in all four EDM classes this semester (as of now).

Two students do not have working blogs.

Twenty-two additional students did not do Blog Post #1.

That is almost 20% of the class.

A slightly better start than in some semesters.

You can do better!

Ready for the Start: Fall 2014 Semester Syllabus and Materials Now Available

Just click on Syllabus 2014 or Instruction Manual 2014 in the right column under Essential Materials for Students and Visitors. Everything has now been posted.

USA

Welcome Classes Fall 2014

Welcome!






This is the EDM310 Class Blog. You will need to review it daily. It is our communication "hub."

The Syllabus and other materials will be posted (links to the right) no later than Monday August 18. They will probably be available earlier than that. Keep looking.

Read the email and follow the instructions in it.
Important:
1. Sign up for a gmail account and let edm310new@gmail.com know what that email address is. We will ONLY use your Gmail address in EDM310
2. Bring your portable computer to class. If you do not have one we VERY STRONGLY recommend that you get a Mac. ALL teachers in Baldwin County use Macs and about 33% of teachers in Mobile County use them. That means that about 60% of all teachers in Mobile and Baldwin Counties use Macs. You will discover in EDM310 why we feel Macs are your best choice by a wide margin. You can contact me by email for further elaboration.
3. There will be NO computers in the classroom we will use this fall and you will need one for every class, including the first one.
4. Contact us with questions. Contact addresses are in the email I sent to your university jag mail account.

We will see you soon!

John Strange and the EDM310 staff

Foliotek Instructions

1. You must have registered for Foliotek unless you are exempt. You must access Foliotek through USA ONLINE, not directly on the web. The following are exempt from using Foliotek: a) those seeking only recertification or license renewal; 2) students who are not seeking candidacy status; students who are not Education majors. Foliotek costs $ 35 for one year. NOTE: Several students who are in their first semester at USA report they are not being charged for Foliotek. If this happens to you notify me or a lab assistant.

To register and pay for Foliotek follow these instructions:
a. When using Foliotek use Chrome or Explorer browsers ONLY.
b.Go to the USA Online Login page.
b. Login. Your User ID is your J number. Your password is the last 4 digits of your social security number.
c. Click on Sakai. Then click on a class which requires the use of Foliotek. Then click Foliotek in the left column. If you have not established a Foliotek account, do so. You will have to pay by credit card. After all information has been entered you will have to Accept the Foliotek rules, etc.
2. Once you have registered and paid for Foliotek and Accepted the Foliotek rules, etc. you will be able to post to Foliotek.

Think of Foliotek as a storage device in the sky where you will store evidence of your accomplishments in the College of Education. Every course you take in the COE has state established standards which you must meet. You must store the evidence used to determine whether or not you have met these standards in Foliotek where anyone desiring to can see that evidence. Your instructors will provide detailed instructions of what evidence must be submitted for what standards. You then place electronic copies of that evidence in Foliotek.

In EDM310 all of your evidence for all of the standards associated with EDM310 is in your blog and the EDM310 Class Blog. Therefore your blog and the Class Blog are what "go" into Foliotek. Since your evidence consists entirely of blogs we only have to provide Foliotek with links - links to your blog and the Class Blog. Therefore completing the Foliotek requirements for EDM310 is quick and easy.

You will need:
1. A list of the standards associated with EDM310. They are:

Literacy: Oral and Written Communications (3)(c) 1.(iii)
Literacy: Technology (3)(c) 4.(i)
Literacy: Technology (3)(c) 4.(ii)
Literacy: Technology (3)(c) 4.(vi)
Professionalism: Ethics (5)(c) 5.(ii)
Professionalism: Ethics (5)(c) 5.(iv)
For Elementary Majors ONLY: General Special Education: 290-3-3-.34 (2)(g)2.(iii)

Note that the standards are grouped into Literacy, Professionalism and Teaching K-6(for General Special Education). (There are other groups.) Also note that there is one small letter i (or two or three of them) at the end of the numbering system. These are VERY IMPORTANT. Be sure you pay attention to them!

2. You will need the URL to your blog and the URL for the Class Blog ( http://edm310.blogspot.com )

3. Then follow the instructions in Foliotek Instructions.

4. After you have completed Foliotek, your entries must be checked in person by one of the EDM310 staff members. This is an ABSOLUTE requirement and it must be done in class before 4 pm Wednesday April 30, 2014. If one of us does not sign off on your Foliotek entries in person you will get an I in the course. And if you do not complete Foliotek (which is a GREAT hassle for you and an even greater hassle for Dr. Strange) no later than Thursday June 26, 2014 your I will become an F no matter what you would have gotten in the course.

Blog Post Assignments 14 and 15 Now Posted

Consult the latest revision (version 2) of Blog Post Assignments.

Tips on Using Twitter from Mrs. Bennett at Gulf Shores Elementary

I have been busy watching #ISTE2014 in Atlanta, Georgia since Friday. If you will just go to your Twitter account and type in #ISTE2014 you can watch the posts. It will be fast and furious.
I don't know if you have downloaded Tweet Deck. Tweet Deck is very is to download and your Deck will have 4 columns that you can move around. To add another column you search the hashtag you want and hit add column. This is how you can watch several feeds at once.

This is the hashtag people not at iste are using:
#notatiste14

Also, a new app or download is Want
an AMAZING app to learn Twitter Download "TweechMe"

The Grand Father of Twitter Chats is Tom Whitby. He is now retired.
In this video he discusses being a "Connected Educators".

Another instrumental educator and backbone of Twitter Chats is Jerry
Blumengarten.
He is also retired, but on Twitter constantly encouraging and teaching. Visit his website: Cybrary Man's Educational Web Sites

Twitter is how educators are learning in this transformational point in
Educational History.


~ Connect & share, then tell us how you did it !

Michele Pierce Bennett
Gulf Shores Elementary Library
MichelePierceBennett@MichelePierceB
Learning in the Library Blog
251.968.7375

Checking ALT and Title tag modifiers

To check the TITLE tag modifier: Hold the cursor over the image. The source of your image should appear for a short time.

To check the ALT tag modifier. Go to the W.A.V.E. (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) site. Enter the URL for the blog to be checked. A green tag by an image indicates that the ALT tag was properly done. A yellow tag indicates a problem with the tag. A red tag indicates that the tag was not done.

Correct all problems that exist on your blog.

Project 13 Questions - Answers by Lindsey Estes

Lindsey has posted to the EDM310 Facebook page these answers to questions about Project 13:

Hey EDM Students,

I know there have been several questions regarding Project 13 and posting it to your blogs. Here are three links that may help to clarify your confusion. If you still have questions, feel free to contact any of the lab assistants.

http://edm310.blogspot.com/2013/10/project-13-lesson-plan-1-clarifications.html
http://edm310.blogspot.com/2013/10/what-to-do-with-your-lesson-plan-some.html
http://edm310.blogspot.com/2013/10/what-to-do-with-your-lesson-plan.html

Be sure to look at all three links. Hope this helps to clarify.

I Dodged the Question

In the previous post to this one I replied to a post by William Chamberlain who reflected on a students's question "Why do I have to learn history?" This is an important question and needs to be addressed, not dodged like I did in responding to the question as if it were "How should history be taught"?

I will try again. All of us have to learn history because we live history. Each day our historical trail lengthens. That trail, that history, shapes us (and has already shaped us). I think it is important to understand how that happens (and what happened and how it happened). That, I think, is why we should learn history. But to learn that history we must reflect, ask questions, gather data, seek answers, increase our awareness to what is happening so that the questions will be more easily addressed in the future.

We need to know history in order to affect the future (if we can). If we understand our ongoing history, it is possible we can shape the future history, that is our history after tomorrow (or any time frame you want to set). That is why we need to learn history. And we can substitute almost anything for our selves in this process of reflecting, asking questions, gathering data, seeking answers, and changing the future.

But this probably does not really address the question asked by the fifth or sixth grader. My guess is that he really meant why do I have to learn the history you have (or the textbook has) chosen for me to study? A good question. I think we should think very hard about how to provide our students with more choice in the histories they choose to study. We should emphasize that what needs to be learned is how to effectively use the tools listed above (reflecting, asking questions, gathering data, etc.) which we use to study history. Schools instead seek a specific answer to a specific question and call that history.

Why Do I Have to Learn History?

In a recent blog post William Chamberlain, a teacher in Noel Missouri and one of the people who has most influenced how I have organized EDM310 and the person for whom the William Chamberlain Prize for EDM310 Students which is awarded annually by the University of South Alabama is named,asked this question.

His post raises a very important question. Here is what he wrote:

Funny how a little question, only seven words long, can throw one for a loop. I had a student ask me that question an hour ago and I am still reeling from it. I'm reeling because I can't verbalize an answer.

The first thing I did was look online for an answer. Surely somewhere there is a cogent, well reasoned and yet simple answer. If there is one, I didn't find it. Google the question yourself and see what comes up. Better yet search videos using the question, plain horrible. Honestly, I doubt anyone can answer this one for me anyway.

I have always loved history, I have loved the stories that come from history. I love the connections I see between seemingly disparate events. I love recounting stories like Peale's Mastadon because of the connections between art, science, and exploration.

Now I am stuck trying to justify what I teach without any cogent thoughts appearing. Why do they have to learn history?

I hope you will go to his post and read the many comments that have been left. They address Mr. Chamberlain's question in many different ways and are important for any aspiring teacher to consider.

One of those comments was left by me and I am repeating it here so I can be sure all EDM310 students will read his post and my comment. At least I should be able to "be sure" but you never know. Here is my comment and two pictures I took at the time of the event that I recount in my comment.

I'll add a few thoughts. Last March I visited the American Cemetery in Normandy. Around one gravestone a fairly large group had gathered. One person was rubbing sand into the carved out portion of the gravestone so that the name could be read which is difficult to do in sunlight. I later found out the sand was from Omaha Beach which is within walking distance. Another person was reading a statement about Sgt. Grover L. Scroggins from Texas, the person who was buried there. She had obviously contacted relatives and her comments told a great deal about Sgt. Scroggins, an American soldier who had died in the Normandy Invasion seventy years ago. I was moved to tears, as were many of those gathered around. What was going on, I wondered, since it was obvious that those surrounding the grave were Americans. I inquired and found that they were students from an American university near Washington, D.C. who were studying history. Each student had been assigned an American soldier who was buried in the American cemetery at Omaha Beach. Each conducted research and prepared a statement to be read on the field trip the class took to France. The readings were recorded on video and sent to members of the soldier's family. But these students were studying history! Why were they doing this? To learn about what had happened in Normandy 70 years ago. To learn to do research. To learn to write. To learn to make a public presentation which will be shown to a lot of other people. To learn videography. To learn about how people react to the sacrifices of others. To learn the geography of one of the most important events of the last 100 years (or more). To learn to work with others (family members, other students, teachers, residents of France). History is a context for learning that goes way beyond knowing "what happened" and "when and where it happened." I find it hard to imagine a better and more powerful learning experience. History was the context, not the end objective. History should not be taught as a subject which is memorized and then burped back. Instead it should be a vehicle, a context, for active learning that has a public purpose. Just ask the students participating in this learning event. Or the family members who got the videos. Or even those who just happened to walk by and listen in as I did. I certainly learned a lot - about history and about learning!

Maybe these thoughts will help us to understand how history can be a powerful context for learning. I suspect this approach would be equally powerful in any town in America.

EDM310, We Have A Problem

Yes, we have a problem - with C4Ts.

Sunday June 8, 2014 at midnight was the first deadline for posts on C4Ts

two posts were due:
C4Ta#1 and C4Tp#1.

Each of those posts was to cover two posts read, summarized and commented on by you. That means you should have read four posts (2 for the alternating teacher and 2 for Sylvia Tolisano, i.e. Langwitches).

Twelve students did both of these assignments. Four did neither but one of these four has now posted C4Ta#1 but not C4Tp#1. Two additional students read (apparently) and commented on only one post for C4Ta#1. I have not yet read the posts for C4Tp#1 so I do not know if any who did this post only did half of it.

If you are one of the students who did not do any part of these assignments you should immediately do them. You cannot afford to get behind in EDM310, especially in the summer.

Book Conversation Assignments Posted

The assignments for your book conversations (formerly called podcasts) have now been posted in a document called Book Conversation Assignments Summer 2014.

Class Materials Now Posted

All class materials at=re now available.

Click on Instruction Manual in the right column under Essential Materials for Students and Visitors.

If you should find a document that appears to be for a previous semester please send an email to strange.john@gmail.com Include what you clicked and where what you clicked is located (name of document, page number)

If you have not yet created your Google account, do so before class starts Tuesday May 27, 2014. You must have a Google account before class starts! See the email I sent to your Jagmail account last week.

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Syllabus and Other Materials Now Available.

To get a copy of the Summer 2014 Syllabus, click on the link in the column on the right under Essential Materials for Students and Visitors.

Other materials can be found through links in the Instruction Manual. A link to it is also found in the column on the right labeled Essential Materials for Students and Visitors.

The document Blog Post Assignments is not complete. It may be early Tuesday before it is available. If it becomes available before then i will post that information to this blog.

Welcome Summer 2014 Students

Welcome to the EDM310 Class Blog.

The Class Syllabus will be posted tomorrow, Friday May 23, 2014. Other materials will be available between now and Tuesday May 27, 2014 when classes start.

Remember - get a Google mail account before classes start. Unfortunately your University of Mail account (although operated by Google) will not work with Blogger and YouTube, both of which we will use extensively. So get your Gmail account BEFORE class on Tuesday.

Read my email to you carefully. It contains some extremely important information about EDM310.

Learn more about EDM310.

Read EDM310 is Different.

Watch Aspects of EDM310.

Watch 9 Differences: EDM310 Is Different