Blog Post # 14 Final Reflection

Final Project #16

Final Report on PLN

My Personal Learning Network a list of tools and people to assist me in acquiring the skills to become a professional educator. It is made up of classmates, teachers, and others that I have collaborated with for assistance. I am also using tools like Symbaloo, Facebook, and Twitter. Twitter is one way that I am gathering a list of people to help me in my growth as a professional educator. Facebook is another tool that I have developed a list of people. C4T has also helped me create a list of people to add to my PLN.I have a list of teachers from my previous college that I attended that I have called upon for guidance, even some of my son's teachers have guided me. Since I have been attending EDM 310 I have been learning about the tools that are available through technology that can be a part of my network. I am still in the process of developing my PLN and I know that it will grow and change over time.

Blog Post # 13

Engage in an E-Media Fast

This is a very tough assignment. We are tasked with the challenge of not using any electronic (powered by electricity or batteries) entertainment or communications devices for 24 consecutive hours. If you break the activity by using a banned device, you have to start the activity over again. After the third attempt you are to write about your outcome of the activity. This was very hard because I depend on media devices for school as well as my family.

First of all I am taking an online course this semester as well as three other classes that consist of online applications such as lecture notes, homework assignments, study guides, announcements, special assignments, and grades. In addition I use an audio recorder in all of my classes except for EDM310. At home I am taking care of my father who has health issues and we have a young child so I depend on my cell phone to stay in contact with my wife, sister, and my father. After a long day of work and school I like to relax and unwind by watching TV for 1 to 2 hours before going to bed. This assignment has made me realize how important and how dependent we are on technology. It is not only a luxury it is essential to our daily lives. I don't know how many times I have been told by an agency or business that they have shut down operations temporarily due to computer issues. We now live in a world dependent on technology.

Technology is advancing at an alarming rate. It seems like everyday there is some new device or app that brings another level of advancement to the world of media. A few years from now, when I enter the classroom my students will arrive having lived a life filled with media their entire life. They will not even no what life was like ten or twenty years ago. They will probably be more skilled in the use of technology than I am. It will be crucial that I keep them engaged in the learning process, by using lesson plans that are both interesting and challenging.

Project #13 Progress Report

My group consists of myself, Tina Smith and LaShunda Barnes. We haven't decided on a final project yet. We haven't discussed it because we have been so focused on the Smart board Project 15. My group and I have met via google chat, skype, face time, and oovoo. We had a hard time with the video chat on skype, we could hear one another (sometimes) but couldn't see one another. So we tried face time, and couldn't figure out how to group chat. Lashunda Barnes found oovoo, and so far it seems the most user friendly. After looking at the Mobile County Pacing Guide we decided on 2nd Grade math for Project 15. We used the Smart Board for our lesson. Now that we have completed Project 15 we are ready to begin working on our final project.

Collaborative Project #15 SMARTBoard Instruction Part 2

C4T #4

High Achievers








My Comments For Teachers #4 assignment was to comment on Dorothy Burt's blog. For my first week I read her post titled High Achievers
In her post she discusses how Alfred Ngaro became the first Cook Island member of parliament in NZ. Mr. Ngaro is a local school parent and a Board of Trustee member for the Manaiakalani school. I agree with Mr Ngaro's views that learning and mentoring deserve our greatest focus. Children are our future. We must help them to learn the skills that they will need to keep mankind moving forward. Teachers must be mentors, coaches, leaders, and motivators. The support needs to come from parents, teachers, and administrators. I have included a video of Alfred Ngaro's acceptance speech to the New Zealand parliament.

Since I started taking an educational media class I have learned how important technology is to education. In addition, I have also learned how important mentoring, guiding, and leading is to education. I Thanked Ms. Burt for sharing her ideas and knowledge. I also told her that I look forward to reading her blog again and will share my comments on my blog.

Below are my comments to Ms. Burt:
My name is James Dunnam , I am a Secondary Education Student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. I was assigned to read your blog again this month. I have enjoyed reading your posts.Thank you for letting me read your blog. I want to congratulate the Manaiakalani Schools for having one of their own to become the first Cook Island member of parliament in NZ. Mr. Ngaro gave a very good speech. I agree with his views that learning and mentoring deserve our greatest focus. Since I started taking an educational media class I have learned how important technology is to education. In addition, I have also learned how important mentoring, guiding, and leading is to education. Thanks for sharing your ideas and knowledge. I look forward to reading your blog again and will share my comments on my blog.




My Comments For Teachers #4 assignment for the second week was to comment on Ms. Paige Vitulli's blog. She is an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at the University of South Alabama. Her lastest post was titled:Edu-301-Birds-Inspired-by-John-James Audubon. She did a follow-up to a Mobile Museum of Art field trip that she did with her students. She assigned her students an art project. They had to draw a bird of their choice using only white drawing paper and traditional crayons. I thought that the results were excellent. Below are my comments to Paige Vitulli.

My name is James Dunnam , I am a Secondary Education Student in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama. Thank you for letting me read your blog. I really enjoyed reading about your follow-up to the Mobile Museum of Art field trip. I visited the museum last year while taking an Art Appreciation class. I thought the museum was very interesting and informative. I believe that I really appreciated the visit more because of what I had learned while taking the art class.

I think that you gave your students an excellent assignment and they all did a very good job. I think your post was great. You included a complete list of the directions that were given to your students. I also enjoyed looking at the links that you included. I am an avid hunter and enjoy the great outdoors. I really like the works of John James Audubon. Most of all, I thought your photo album with all the student's drawings were really exceptional. I look forward to reading more of your blog.