Rakesia Brown's Blog

I'm Outta Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-04-26T08:44:00.000-06:00

YES, i finished blogging for this semester. MY BLOG IS COMPLETE AND IT IS CLOSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things I have learned

2007-04-26T08:36:00.000-06:00

1. EVERYTHING (I think) in Microsoft word
2. A lot of things in Excel that I didn't know
3. Believe it or not, this class was the first time I did a PowerPoint presentation
4. How to blog before this class, never heard of blogging
5. How to create my OWN PERSONAL website which was very cool.
6. How to create a brochure, maybe when I open my own business, this will be very helpful
7. According to Dr. Strange, everyone should choose a Mac computer over Windows
8. According to Dr. Strange, everyone should use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer
9. Financials, I learned that it will take me forever to pay half of my house off because of interest

My Website

2007-04-15T21:25:00.000-06:00

So I have completed my first website! It was a fun experience even though things seemed somewhat complicated at the beginning. You guys and girls can view my site at http://www.johnstrange.com/edm310tt930spring07/Brown/. Since I enjoy watching movies, my site is about 12 of my favorite actors and actresses. I think I did pretty good for it to be my first time at this task. E-mail me to let me know what you think. I guess If I had more time, maybe I could change the font and the background color on each page.

Week 11 Seymour Papert

2007-03-19T19:54:00.000-06:00

Seymour Papert is not only a mathematician, but also an expert on helping children learn to work with computers and was the first to recognize how computers could revolutionize learning and education."Seymour Papert is rethinking how schools should work based on constructionist theories of learning. He also focuses on the impact of new technologies on learning in general and schools as a learning organization in particular.
He co-founded the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He invented the Logo Programing Language. It can be used to teach computer science concepts. Mr. Papert states, "as long as schools confine the technology to simply improving what they are doing rather than really changing the system, nothing very significant will happen." This is what Papert says about the way classrooms should change today, "Well I think that about 90 per cent of what we teach in mathematics in schoolrooms I’d throw out, it’s not really of any use in the modern world. Some of it was useful in an ancient world, like the 19th century or maybe the early 20th century and some of it was only useful as the way you could get kids to adopt a certain mathematical way of thinking when all you had to work with was pencil and paper. Think about the stuff that kids learn, knowing that a third is less than a half yeah that’s important, but everybody who’s worked in a kitchen knows that." To see on more on this recent interview, visit the website at http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/s1144341.htm.

iPods Classroom Instruction

2007-03-12T12:15:00.000-06:00

A rural Georgia school is using iPods to enhance education. More than 100 of the school's staff members use the digital music and video players as an education tool. This school is doing more than just downloading the class lectures to these iPods. One history teacher asks the students to download films to their devices so she can decrease the amount of unnecessary time in the classroom. They also use it as a way of catching up on missed classes. Here is the site http://ipod.gcsu.edu/zzzzMedia/Press_Articles/eSchoolNewsOnline001.pdf
Recent trends suggest that students have developed a fascination with iPods . The use of iPods allow teachers and students to create audio and video material. The combination of these two technologies has prompted a greater interest in learning than could have ever been expected. A school in Waco, TX is circulating iPods loaded with the course reserves for music classes. A music and fine arts librarian, notes that, "with the iPods, students can listen while walking between classes or at other times when being in the library or logged on to a computer would not be possible. Every iPod (40GB 4GL models) has all of the audio reserves for all of the music classes for the entire semester..."

Spreadsheets in the classroom

2007-03-03T13:28:00.000-06:00

In Maryland, one school is using spreadsheets in the mathematics courses. They are hoping that the use of spreadsheets will meet certain goals. The one goal that I was interested in was the use of spreadsheets in order to replace graphing calculators. Another goal that was interesting to me was "Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers courses with spreadsheets and instruction on developing spreadsheets." The last goal that I liked was to be able to "upload all video to the Internet and copy all video for each course onto CD's for every student enrolled in each course."
Another website I found was http://futureofmath.misterteacher.com/spreadsheets.html. It informs the readers about the future potential of using spreadsheets to advance mathematics. The site defines spreadsheet as "Spreadsheet programs can be used to make calculations, organize data, make charts, and much more." And then it goes in to telling the readers how to use spreadsheets in the classroom, with the most common use being to organize data and create charts and graphs.

MARDI GRAS 2007

2007-02-23T14:20:00.000-06:00

For Mardi Gras, I worked. Simple as that. I work in the middle of downtown on the third floor, so I was able to look outside at the people while they were screaming and having fun. It was not an enjoyable day at all. We receive our work from different places, such as Florida and Georgia, and by the time they brought the work downtown, they couldn't get through. The police had nearly every street blocked off, so we had to wait until all the parades were over. I will certainly never forget Mardi Gras 2007.

Darren Kuropatwa's International Blog

2007-02-23T14:11:00.000-06:00

Darren Kuropatwa is teaching in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His blog name is "A Difference". He talks about what happens daily at his school. For example, the software installation for his switchboard. He talks about how difficult it was on his first day of using it in the classroom. It's a very detailed blog. Visit Darren's blog at A DIFFERENCE

International Blogging

2007-02-23T14:00:00.000-06:00

Jo McLeay is a English teacher in Melbourne, Austrailia. She talks about her life as a teacher. She says, "We teachers are back for our second day of preparation and on Tuesday we meet our new students for the first time." She posts links to blogs that have summaries on them.

Come to her website
CLICK HERE

Mr. Monson's 5th grade class blog

2007-02-08T09:53:00.000-06:00

Mr. Monson is a 5th grade teacher at Nettleton Science, Technology, and Reading Magnet School in Duluth, Minnesota. His students have to write about one of four things: 1. what they saw or heard 2. something they like 3. something to add or fix
4. a question to make they writer think about. On his blog site, he has a list of his classes and students. He uses it to post daily and weekly classroom assignments so the parents can see what their child needs to do. He also talks about fund raisers and conference slips being due by informing the parents with a post. Another thing that he does, and I admit that I am fortunate enough that my elementary school didn't have blogs, is let the parents know when report cards will be distributed to the students. Here is the website CLICK HERE

Ms. Kreul

2007-02-08T09:31:00.000-06:00

Here is a picture of Richards Elementary School

Schools or Teachers in the U.S. blogging

2007-02-08T09:02:00.000-06:00

In Whitefish Bay, MI, Ms. Kreul is using blogging in her classroom. She teaches fourth grade at Richards Elementary School. She talks about what she teaches in her classroom with all of the different subjects, such as math, science, spelling, and social studies. For example, to help the students in science she passed around a globe, and if the student's hand was on water, they had to say water and vice-versa. Her blog is sort of like her lessons in the classrooms. Another example is the post she had on spelling. She talks about how she plays games like hangman and word swap in order to motivate her students to learn how to spell. The website is CLICK HERE

I NEED COMMENTS

2007-02-01T10:29:00.000-06:00

Hey ALL. I need some people to comment on my wall.

Kappa Alpha Psi Black and White Ball

2007-01-28T17:47:00.000-06:00

This is my boyfriend and me at the Kappa Alpha Psi Black and White Ball in May 2006. It is a very fun and exciting event that I would encourage anyone to attend.

Week 4, 1st few weeks blogging in EDM 310

2007-01-28T17:37:00.000-06:00

Blogging has been a wonderful experience for me. I am a member of Facebook and My Space. It's sort of like your own online diary, but yet others can view and comment. I think as a future teacher, blogging can be useful in K-12 classrooms because of the helpful information they can contain along with images and links to other web sites.

I think the kids will be interested in what their peers have to say on their blogs, while at the same time it might help to increase reading skills. Most students don't like to sit back and read without the ability to interact with others. These blogs encourage people to be interactive, while being able to express their individual opinions. Although blogging can be exciting, it can include inaccurate information and biased. Blogs can also be dangerous because they are easy to access worldwide.

The Gym

2007-01-21T19:34:00.000-06:00

Hello classmates! Recently, I joined a gym that is located down the street from the university. They have great monthly rates and it's not crowded like the usual gyms are. I would advise everyone to join if you are not a member yet. To learn more about the benefits of joining Planet Fitness, click hereCLICK HERE

Me, LaToya, and Jessica

2007-01-21T19:20:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of my friends, LaToya and Jessica in Birmingham last year.

MY WONDERFUL JOB

2007-01-18T09:50:00.000-06:00

Hey guys! I am a proof operator for Regions Bank. My job is extremely fun and I work with numerous students thata also attend the University of South Alabama. If you would like to visit my job's website and learn more about the bank in general CLICK HERE

This Weekend

2007-01-18T09:34:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone, I am extremely ready for the weekend. No school, no work. I will probably spend time with my family and friends. Brian and I will go shopping as usual. My friends and I will go out somewhere and have a very enjoyable time enjoying life. I hope you guys have a good weekend also. SEE YA!!!!

HEY PLAYOFFS

2007-01-16T09:44:00.000-06:00

Football playoffs this week

Creating a link

2007-01-11T10:31:00.000-06:00

This is a link to the class blog.
Tuesday-Thursday class blog

Welcome to my blog

2007-01-11T10:02:00.000-06:00

Hell0,

My name is Rakesia Brown and I am a sophomore at the University of South Alabama. My major is elementary education. Hopefully, I will graduate in Spring 2009. See you later buddy!