Friday, February 27, 2009

Podcasts experiences

Kidcast 

This podcast by Dan Schmit was basically one teacher offering advice or ideas for other teachers in the area of helping students with their learning skills and possibly keeping their interest during the typical school day.  Dan tells the listener about some of his experiences and some of his co-workers experiences in the classroom.   One thing he talked about was the benefits of online schooling.  In this day of age, teachers are constantly faced with difficult decisions on how to make learning something that kids will have a desire to do.  Dan offers great advice on current events and technology that will be of large assistance to any struggling teacher. 


Edtechtalk

Sharrel Oaks was the host on this particular night of podcasting about what they as teachers and other teachers are up to.  During this podcast there was a interview by an elementary computer teacher talking about his experience as a technology master.  Since the majority of his students are under the age of 7 his advice was focused toward those needy elementary teachers.  He talked about how smart those younger students are and how quick they are at learning things due to their growing minds and curious personalities.  Younger students are so open to try anything and to desire to earn more!  These chatting elementary teachers carried on to encourage other teachers to push their young students to soak up all the schooling they could while they are still open to learning.  Overall, their advice seemed to be ligament and helpful.  

Macbreak Weekly 

This podcast's focus was completely focused on the continued increase in Macintosh computers and other Macintosh devises.  The gentlemen on this podcast for the first few minutes on the cast talked about their own computers and about how "amazing" they are.  Then they moved on to introduce the new laptops that will start being sold in America.  This cast is an informative channel that addresses certain e-mails of concern or of someone searching for assistance with problems with their Macintosh's.  There are constant updates with Mac and in-order to keep the listener informed with these updates, this podcast continues to keep up with the times of Mac.  These guys are Macintosh junkies that know their stuff and would be capable of assisting anyone with Mac questions, problems or concerns.  

This Week on Photography  (TWIP)

This podcast is the information cast strictly based on updates amongst all photography accessories such as film, cameras, photo-shoots, magazines, computers, digital screens and lenses.  These guys converse about the current events of worldwide famous photographers and photos, informing the listener about the new and improved photography technology.  The main topic of this cast was the new "Pocket Wizard" that companies have started selling.  They talked about how each individual camera would be compatible with this Pocket Wizard compared to other cameras.  This devise is simply a remote flash that is capable of being placed in any area of the room that a picture is being taken in and works just as well as the attached flash.  All in all this podcast talks about the latest in technology that comes out for photographers and is a great informative cast for any aged photographer.  

Monday, February 16, 2009

International Schools that Use Blogs


Sandaig Otters Weblog

This particular blog is for an entire school in Glasgow, Scotland. On this blog, the teachers and blogger assistants post videos, pictures and school wide news updates weekly on the blog.  There is a spot on the  blog that has an archive calendar of events from the past few years at that elementary school.  Just by looking at this blog, you can see things going on in the school, how students and teachers relate to one another and what the schools main focus is for the learning process. Though international schools are different from those in the US, they are still centers for learning and still use modern technology to assist parents, students and other teachers in the furtherance of knowledge of the school. 


Ms. Cassidy's Blog

In this blog, Kathy Cassidy in Moose Jaw, Canada posts pictures and videos about the students and what they have been doing in the classroom and outside the classroom.  I noticed that she posted a link to a website that assists younger students and the technique of reading and writing.  This was obvious posted in the interest of parents so they can help their child with daily homework skills and studies.  Its seems as though this teacher is very well connected with the children too.  She has personal blog spots for each child, along with student entries, like papers students wrote so she could post them for everyone to read.  The obvious focus to this blog is learning and I must say she has a pretty good hand in that.  
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id-1337




Teacher Blogs in The United States

Miss Lehman's Blog

On this blog, this elementary school teacher post weekly news for her students.  Through this blog, she informs her class about the projects, tests, quizzes and homework that will be due the following week. From reading this blog, I can tell that this teacher is very informative and helpful with her students.  She gives full advice and help with papers that are coming up and keeps the students informed about events the in the school that are taking place that week.  She also posts links to news articles, science web sites and the like to help her students learn more while doing their homework.  Over all, I feel like this teachers takes full advantage of the recent advance in technology.  
http://blogs.glnd.k12.va.us/teachers/alehman/
(no picture available) 

Mrs. Austens Kindergarten Class Blog

Mrs. Austen is the Kindergarten teacher in the local Goochland County Public Elementary School.  On her blog, she more so focuses on the parents interest.  She posts her weekly lesson plans on her page so that parents can be prepared to assist their young children in any sort of writing or reading help they may need.  Mrs. Austen also posts news updates on the events of the school and things going on in class.  For example, when all the students will be having a special shirt day, she would post that at the beginning of the week for parents as a simple reminder.  This teachers also seems very well organized and prepared weekly for a full weeks worth of work. 
http://blogs.glnd.k12.va.us/teachers/kaustin/