Final Project

I was a member of the group, Bay-Minette. For our final project we had to make an ibook that consisted of a lot of the projects and things we did this semester. The ibook we created included our favorite blog post, my sentence video, my passion video, group podcast, smart board lesson, pictures, and much more. Our theme was Flying Through EDM310, and we used pictures from Peter Pan to go along with it. It was a lot of fun putting it together and adding details. I have never used ibook before, so it was great getting to learn about it. Also, it made me realize just how much I learned this semester. I hope you enjoy it. Below, is a picture of my group that put it together.

Reflection Video

C4T summary

The teacher that I was assigned to was Ms. Julie Reuter. I chose to read her blog post on PLNs. She talks about how important it is to have people in your PLN that are encouraging, that will push you, that are honest, that will help be better, and that will critique you. She taught her 5th grades about PLNs and let them create their own on google drawing. Then she decided that kids need to learn about this at a younger age. She had her 5th graders come in and teach the 1st graders about it and help them make their own. Then they were all able to show theirs.

In response, I told her that we learned about this in the EDM class I am taking right now. I said that I had never really heard about it before now. I think that kids should definitely be taught about PLNs at a younger age. By letting the 5th graders teach the 1st grades, it not only helps the 5th graders learn even more but helps create a bond and even expand their PLN.

The second blog post that I read about was called "Passion for Padlet". Julie tells us all about this tool she uses in her classroom. She says that it is very simple and easy to use. There are just a few steps you have to make and then you will be able to use it. She tells us that she uses it work her students to ask questions and for any comments. She would ask questions and then the students would reply on the Padlet.

I told her that I have never heard of Padlet before. It sounded like a very good way to involve and interact with your kids. I would definitely like to try using it one day.

C4K summary

The first student I was assigned to was Russell. Russell is a 8 year old from Pt England School in Auckland, NZ. In his blog post he talked about taking swim lessons at the aquatic center. He said that he has to pace himself when swimming or else he will get tired fast. He wants to get better at back stroke.

I told Russell that when I was his age I was on a swim. I loved to swim, and my favorite stroke was freestyle. I told him that he was right about keeping a steady pace. It really helps, especially when you are racing.

The next student I was assigned was Rave. He was also from Pt England School in Auckland, NZ. His blog post was all about his cousins 21st birthday party. He tells us that the theme was Monte Carlo and everyone wore black and gold clothes. His cousin was the oldest of the grandkids and so the celebration was very special. Family and friends all gave speeches and talked about fun memories.

In response, I told Rave that the party sounded like a blast! I told him that a lot of people celebrate not only the 21st but also the 16th birthday. I liked the theme of the party. I also thought that it was really cool that the relatives gave speeches.

Talia'uli was the next student I had. He created a google presentation on Kowhai trees. He told about the environment, adaptation, and types of the Kowhai tree. The presentation was very good. I told him that he did a great job. I have never heard of the Kowhai tree before. So I learned alot.

The final student I had was Nyree. Her blog post was on sentence variety. Her assignment was to make the sentences she was given more interesting for the reader. Nyree did a great job! In my comment, I told her that she definitely made the sentences more interesting and enjoyable to read. She was very creative. The only thing to work on was her punctuation. But that she did a great job.

Blog Post #13

The assignment for Blog Post #13 was to create an assignment for a Blog Post in my area of speciality. My area of speciality is Elementary Education but my topic covers all classrooms.

Topic: What role does Emotional Intelligence play in creating a healthy classroom?

I feel it is important to create an environment that is conducive to learning. When you have children in a classroom that have frequent outbursts, disrespectful attitudes towards the teacher and other students, it can make leaning difficult for those students wanting to learn.

Emotional Intelligence is defined as "The capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically"

To develop Emotional Intelligence competencies you first have to be aware of your emotions and behavior (Self Awareness), to manage your negative and destructive emotions (Self Management), and share your positive experiences with others (Relationship Management).

Marc A. Brackett wrote: "Research indicates that social and emotional skills associated with success in many areas of life, including effective teaching, student learning, quality relationships, and academic performance"

There are many classroom activities to address emotional literacy. One activity would be to list and define various emotions: what triggers these emotions, what a child can do to deal with the emotion, and how their emotion affects the people that are around them. Not only is it important for the children to have emotional intelligence but also the teacher when dealing with difficult children.

"All learning has an emotional base." -- Plato

Blog Post #12

What assistive technologies are available to you as a teacher? Select a few and discuss how they may be useful to you

Hearing Assistance Technology or (HAT), is technology that was designed to help the hearing impaired. Oftentimes, a hearing aid or cochlear implant is not enough to help children with hearing problems. The Assistive Listening Device also known as ALD helps to separate the sound of background noise so that the hearing impaired can hear more clearly. The way this is achieved is the speaker talks into a microphone and the words are sent straight into the ear thus eliminating any background noise or issues with the user being able to hear the speaker due to distance.

Another device that helps the hearing impaired is bluetooth device that allows for digital audio streaming from the bluetooth device to the hearing aid or cochlear inplant. Either of these devices will be helpful in the classroom, I could certainly see where the microphone would be good for group discussions and the bluetooth device for individual lessons.

It is wonderful when volunteers come to the school to read to the children, but some children need additional one-on-one help with reading. The Assistive Technology Tool that is designed to help children with reading is Audiobooks. The books allow the child to listen to the text and follow along. The books are on various format such as CD's, MP3 players, audio cassettes. The benefits of this technology is that the children can move at their own pace with playback options and they will learn to pronounce the words correctly. There is a huge electronics library available and in the event that the book you are seeking is not in the audiobook library. They have developed a scanner where you can scan printed material into a computer or handheld device. The text is then read aloud via a speech reading system. This technology is called Optical Character Recognition.

Smart Board Project 12 Part B

Teacher Interview

C4T teacher #3

I was assigned the teacher arvind s. grover. The first blog post of hers i read was called "Showing all kinds of Loving families". In this blog she writes how important it is to teach about the different kinds of families. She posted a video of two gay men that get married after being together for a very long time. They adopt a child and have a wonderful life. In response, I wrote that i think it is also very important to teach about the different kinds of families. I never was really taught about it. Now when I see other kinds than my own family, it kinda shocks me. Especially today with our society, their are so many people different than ourselves.

The next post I read was titled "Hi friends and strangers, please interact with me, not your mobile device". In this post, she talks about how all everyone is addicted to their phones. How they don't even interact with each other because they are too busy on their phones. She posted a video about people that are missing out on the things in front of them because they are doing things on their phones. I responded by saying how I see this going on all the time. I will be trying to have a conversation with someone and they just ignore me because they are distracted by something on their phone. My boyfriend even does this. It is very aggravating! It is good that our society is so technologically advanced, but it is bad if we can interact with the people around us.

Blog Post 11

Project 15

All About Weather

Duration: 1 Week

Grade: 4th

Subject: Science

Assignment: Each group will be assigned a certain type of weather. They must make a google docs presentation telling all about the different conditions that that weather involves. They must include pictures and video clips of that certain weather type.

Project Calendar

Day One

I will introduce each type of weather. I will show videos and clips of each. I then will split the class up in to 5 groups of 4. Each group will be assigned a kind of weather.

Day Two

I will give the whole class period for the students to begin researching and getting video clips for their presentation.

DAY Three

I will take the student outside (weather permitting) and we will enjoy/discuss the weather for that day. Then we will return to the class room and continue doing research.

Day Four

The students will start making their presentations and putting together all of the material they researched.

Day Five

The students will finish up their presentations and have a chance to run it by me to make sure they have everything. Presentations will begin on the following Monday.

Blog Post #10

I enjoyed watching the Youtube video by Sir Ken Robinson entitled: Bring on the Education Revolution. He explained how people have not identified what their talent is or in some cases, not using it as they should. Instead of schools promoting diversity of talent, the schools are promoting a standardized, mechanical process of learning. He suggests that we change the current model from evolution to revolution.

One thing that I learned from his video is that as teachers, we should create an environment where children will flourish. In a sense, a more personalized approach to learning. As I have learned, there are many different learning styles and techniques and it takes trying new things to see what will be the most effective way to reach students. We need an innovative, creative, think-outside-the-box approach to create a passion for learning.

Blog Post #9

I enjoyed watching the video of Ms. Cassidy's 1st grade class using technology in the classroom. They discussed using blogs, classroom webpage, wikis, video, skype and nintendo DS.

Ms Cassidy began using technology 10 years ago and she has changed her learning style to accomodate the latest technology trend. One thing that she uses in the classroom is the Blog online portfolio. The benefits of using a blog is teaching collaboration, writing, reading and video skills all on one medium. The blog is a very useful tool for teachers and students in the classroom. She said that kids love it for several reasons. The audience is not just paper for only the teacher to see, but it is open for everyone to view and add comments. She has embedded a blog meister which is a tracking tool to see how many page reads the blog has received. The children are so excited to see if people have viewed their site and left comments. She also has a cluster map that shows where the person is located that viewed the blog.

Although this new technology trend sounds like a great way for children to learn, there are some obstacles that you may encounter. One concern that parents have with technology is allowing the children to have free access to all sites. This can be addressed by limiting what a child will see by setting privacy restrictions. Also, you can post educational links that the children can safely access and explain to them that these are the only links approved for access. It is important to establish and communicate up front, consequences if a child does access sites that are not on the approved list.

Another obstacle that you might encounter is limited computer resources. If that is the case, it is important to schedule time for computer lab and have the children that are not able to access a computer, to have other learning activities and then rotate. Like Ms. Cassidy mentioned in her video, is the buy-in from administrators to allow you to teach using PLN's. Not every school has embraced this new technology and may require some convincing and show of success before they allow you to continue teaching these methods.

Project #9

Project #14 PBL #2

The Project/Unit Design Cycle

A planning guide for ACSS based elementary projects/units

Grade Level: 3rd grade

Unit of Study: English Language Arts

Project Title: Around the World Food Choices

Start Date/Duration: 2 class periods a week dedicated to this project Duration 6 week period

Describe the scenario for the project:

Children chose a country they want to study. Research on internet what foods are common in the area. What foods are commonly grown. Connect with children in other countries. Draw pictures, Map out findings and make videos, Summarize the authentic challenge in this project: Connecting with children in other countries to validate information collected online.

Priority Common Core State Standards (3 – 4)

Math: Measurement and Data

Reading: site information when writing to support researched topic

Writing: conduct research project based on questions demonstrating understanding of the topic

Speaking and Listening: Present information to classroom

Social Studies: Learning how to use maps and understanding locations

Draft a Driving Question for the project:

What foods do children in other countries eat?

How will the project involve the community or allow students to interact with other adults outside the classroom?

Ask parents to help them prepare meals from other countries

______________________________________________________ How will students share their products/solutions/ideas with a public audience?

Have a parent meeting where the student prepare foods from different countries and share their findings in slideshow or video.

______________________________________________________ Identify the key 21st century skills to be learned in the project.

❑ Teamwork and collaboration.

❑ Innovation and Creativity

❑ Effective Oral and Written Communication

❑ Accessing and Analyzing Information

❑ Work Ethic

What final products will students produce in the project?

Define countries, Map out their findings, prepare video

Technology-based: Internet, twitter, skype, iEarn

Which research based teaching strategies will be used in the project?

❑ Identifying Similarities and Differences

❑ Summarizing and Note Taking

❑ Reinforcing Effort, Providing Recognition

❑ Homework and Practice

❑ Nonlinguistic Representations

❑ Cooperative Learning

❑ Setting Objectives, Providing Feedback

Enroll and Engage 1. Plan the first two days of the project. Check tools to be used to begin the project. Handouts __x___

Need to know __x___

Review timeline _x__

Form teams __x___

Project #13 PBL #1

Our group decided to do a lesson plan on art, that includes dance. It is called Dance Out Loud. The idea of the project is to introduce the elements of choreography and choreographic form. They will understand the difference between dance as art, and dance as a sport. The students will present their projects in any form of media format.The objective is to identify, define, and practice elements of choreography. To show evidence of success in achieving identified learning target. The teacher will use available texts and other technology resources. Students will create a choreography dictionary in their choice of media format. Students will also demonstarte understanding of terminology through Media Presentation of the dictionary.

Title="Virginia Tech" Alt="five people doing different dance moves"

C4T Summary

I was assigned to the teacher, William Chamberlain. In his blog post "It's Lending Time" he explains how he teaches his students about lending. He tells us that he let the kids vote on people they feel that would most need the loan. The children chose three people from different countries to give to. They gave microloans to each "helping outfit a market stall, expanding a poultry house to meet demand, and to help buy more cows and pigs". In response, I told him how cool I thought the idea of loaning was. Not only are you teaching them about loans and money, but you are teaching them about giving to people in other countries. I also asked how they got the money to loan out.

The next blog post I read was called "Note Taking, Moleskines, and Modeling". In this post Chamberlain tells us about the importance of note taking. He had his students watch two videos about tips and different ways to take notes. He explains that Note taking isn't just for the classroom, but is a life skill. Also, he tells us that note taking is a way of learning. Note taking is also personal. The way you understand and write things down may be completely different from your neighbor. So don't copy notes from others. I responded by telling Chamberlain how helpful his tips and videos he shared were. I told him how after reading and watching I realized how bad of a note taker I was. "I am the student like they mentioned in the first video that tries to write down everything the teacher says. I then miss a lot of words and haven't learned a single thing." I then told him about a teacher I had that made us write down questions for each lecture and turn them in. This really helped us to pay attention and really understand what we were being taught.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading William Chamberlains blogs. If you get the chance you should go and read them for yourself. I plan to continue to read more and more of them. He has wonderful things to say and really great ideas and tips.

Blog Post #8

My favorite learning tool is Discovery Education

The features that I like about this website is they provide lesson plans on the core subjects as well as art and literature, business, technology, and health. They thought of everything as each subject is broken down by the

► Objective which explains what the child will be doing.

► Class materials needed such as overhead projector, white board, calculator.

► Step by step procedures with examples.

► Discussion questions to reinforce what the student just learned

► Evaluation to determine how well the students listened in class, participated in class, and how well they applied what they learned.

For Math, they provide Tips for solving problems, printable worksheets, suggested reading material and vocabulary words with definitions.

They also have a great feature called Virtual Field Trips.

I loved reading through the lesson examples and can't wait to use them in my classroom.

C4K summary

Shamone Morris, a third grader in Ms. Martins class, wrote a blog on what she believes. She wrote about how she was a Christian and loves Christ because he saved her. She wrote all about why she believes and why others should believe. She also included a couple of bible verses to help enforce what she was saying. I can tell she didn't proofread what she wrote because there was a lot of words misspelled, wrote the same word twice, and her punctuation and grammar was poor. For my comment back, I wrote how I thought it was wonderful that she was sharing her belief with others. I said that I was also a Christian and that she inspires me to share my belief with others as well. Last, I told her to make sure she reads what she writes before she posts it.

Blog Post #7

What Can We Learn About Teaching and Learning From Randy Pausch?

The Blog assignment this week was to watch the video Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. The Lecture was given by Randy Pausch, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Randy started the lecture by telling the audience that he has terminal cancer and according to the doctors, only "3 to 6 months of good life left". The lecture was not at all what you would think coming from someone with his prognosis. He was inspiring, funny, upbeat, and genuinely happy. He took the audience through his childhood dreams. He had a list of dreams or goals that he wanted to achieve in life and he spoke to each item on the list. He later talked about his career and the obstacles that he overcame to achieve his dream. When he was turned down for a job, he said "Brick walls are not there to keep us out but to prove how bad we want something". "The brick walls are there to stop people who do not want it bad enough". Randy had tenacity, whenever he had a closed door, he would treat it as an opportunity.

Randy used an expression throughout his lecture called "head fake". Head fake is where you think you are learning one thing, but you are actually learning something totally different during the process. One example that he used was football. He loved football and realized that while playing his favorite sport, he was learning more than just how to throw the ball or read a play. He was being taught life lessons like teamwork, sportsmanship, perseverance.

He took the "head fake" one step further and helped develop a computer program called ALICE which is where a student thought they were making movies and playing computer games, but were actually learning computer programming. He wanted children to have fun while they were learning something hard.

Throughout the lecture he was giving life lessons such as: show gratitude, be earnest, tell the truth,apologize when you screw up, focus on others not yourself, work hard, find the best in everybody, be prepared, enjoy life, have fun, don't complain, get a feedback loop and listen to it, and never give up.

The lecture was not about how to achieve your dreams as he led the audience to believe, but how to lead your life. The lecture was not for the audience but for his 3 children that in is death, he would leave behind.

This was a wonderful lecture that made such an impression on me. I am happy that our class had this assignment as I feel we are keeping the wisdom of Randy Pausch alive.

Book Trailer

Blog Post #6

Personal Learning Network, which is also referred to as PLN, is a network that you use to exchange information, usually on-line with people of like interests. There are many social networking sites that you can use to connect with people and exchange information. These sites include: Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikis, Digital Discussion Forums, Social Bookmarking, Google+ and more.

The advantages of teachers using a PLN are: Access to global learning communities, share resources, discuss best practices and collaboration, exchange ideas and experiences with educators at all levels, share and organize bookmarks online, find opportunities, share opinions and discuss topics.

Because there are so many different sites available, it is important to utilize a program to organize your desktop personal settings. One program that I like is Symbaloo. It is a display of tiles that allow you to directly search your mail, newsfeeds, and commonly visited internet sites with a touch of a button.

The best way to create your own PLN is to reach out to people on Twitter that share the same interest as you. I began my PLN by reaching out to teachers on twitter from a list that Mr. Strange provided. I am also following a blog called At the teachers desk. Larry Ferlazzo provided a list entitled “The Best Twitterers For Sharing Resource Links:” I think I will reach out to the individuals on this list as well.

Remember:

• Make sure that your source of information is credible

• The tools are not as important as the connections made by them

My Sentence Videos

This is my Sentence

This is my Passion

Blog Post #5

What did you learn from these conversations with Anthony Capps?

From the Project Based Learning Skills video series, I learned some great examples of how you can use Project Based Learning in the classroom. The videos were taken from conversations between Anthony Capps,a 3rd grade teacher at Gulf Shores Elementary and Dr. Strange, teacher of USA EDM310.

I learned that Project Based Learning is constantly evolving. It was initially a measurement at the end of the lesson to show what a student learned. Now, it is focused on the process of learning.

In the first video series Project Based Learning: Experiences of a 3rd Grade Teacher. Anthony explains how he determines a project topic for his class. He has to make sure that the content meets the state ACCRS standards, motivates the children, has a relevant subject, involves the community, and has an authentic audience. In the example that he used, the class wrote a letter to a congressman. They were encouraged to interview family and friends. All children were required to participate but only 8 letters were selected to be sent. The class critiqued the letters and chose the best ones.

When selecting a topic, I learned that not all projects will go as planned. In some instances, a parent may not agree with the topic and request a change. If this occurs, an alternative project should be assigned to the student. The goal to keep in mind when selecting a topic is for all children to be engaged and excited about the project.

An important part of any project is research. In the video iCurio, Anthony points out that the website iCurio is available for students to do research, download images, text, graphs, and videos. This website is specifically designed for educational use as it meets alabama curation standards. You don't want children searching and finding inappropriate or inaccurate information on the internet. This tool also has an on-line storage capacity which allows students to create folders to keep them organized.

Discovery Education is another website that Anthony recommends. This website encourages the use of digital technology in the classroom to enrich the research experience. This site offers instructional videos, skill builders, games, audio files, images, writing prompts to improve writing skills, encyclopedia research for the basic core subject areas.

I love the video on Strange List of Tips for Teachers . He reminds us that we need to be constantly learning and setting examples for those around us. Teaching never ends and it is hard work but it is so worth it. As he mentioned in the second video, unexpected things will happen as it did when the parent wasn't happy with the project topic that was chosen. In this case, we need to be flexible and have an action plan in place so that we will know how to move forward. In everything we do, we need to have a end goal in mind. What is it we are trying to accomplish and how are we going to get there. Our goal when selecting a topic for Project Based Learning is to engage 100% of students, 100% of the time in 100% of their projects. Once our project is completed, we should reflect and learn from our mistakes and our successes. Ask for feedback from our audience on how we can improve for our next project.

Dont Teach Technology - Use It is a great video where Anthony addresses using technology in the classroom. He explains the importance of allowing children time to become familiar with the computer and programs. It is imperative for the teacher to understand how to use a computer and have familiarity with the instructional website. Don't be surprised if a child is better at creating a powerpoint presentation than you, but make sure you can help assist them if they do have questions.

There are four segments to lesson plans. Your yearly goal, your monthly goal, your weekly goal, and your daily goal. You must adhere to your schedule so that you can accomplish all the required lesson plans on time. This is especially necessary to prepare the children for standardized testing.

Project #3 Presentation

C4T

I read Allanah King's post " Ask Before You Post". Basically it was about how she made a presentation. She used some pictures that she had borrowed from other people without asking and without really thinking twice about it. After doing a lesson at a school she visited, one teacher stayed after to talk to her. The teacher asked her about one of the presentations she did a long time ago. At the end of the conversation, the teacher told Allanah that her nephew was in one the pictures that was in her presentation. "She was OK with it and didn’t mind but I was still embarrassed that it was there". In my comment, I mentioned how crazy it was that out of all the people in this world, someone related to the person in the picture saw it. I said that it is very important to get permission from people to use their pictures. Like the story Allanah said, you never know who is going to see it.

The next post by Allanah king that I read was "Spell Write". This post was about how Allanah loved the idea of testing each student on their "Spell Write" spelling list. The only problem was that to test each individual student, it would take forever. So Allanah decided to record herself giving the test. She also provided each student with a template so that they could write their answers. This way the students could fast forward/rewind when they needed to, and could go at their own pace. Ms. King also provided some links to show exactly what she was talking about. In response, I said how wonderful I thought this idea was. I talked about how nice it is to be able to go at the pace that the student wants to go on. This is something I definitely would like to use when I become a teacher.

I have included the picture that Allanah King uses in her blog of the template for her Spell Write tests.

Blog Post #4

What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?

The reason why teachers ask questions in class is to engage the student in the discussion and try to determine if the children understand the topic. I learned from the article "The right way to ask questions in the classroom" that It is critical that we structure the questions in such a way that requires a response from each student, not just a select group of 'smart kids'. One effective approach is to ask a question…. pause for 3 seconds and then call on a student to answer. Because you are calling on random students, each student will be thinking of an answer in case you call their name. If you ask a question and want a 'show of hand's', you typically get the same students that answer the questions and the ones that don't raise their hands disengage from the discussion. It is important that you ask questions that will stimulate a response and active participation. when you prepare for class, write down a list of questions that you can ask the students. The students may ask you questions too, so be prepared for that. Include in your notes when you will pause from the discussion and ask the questions. Asking questions throughout the class will keep the children engaged.

In the article, "Asking questions to improve learning", the writer shared some 'Strategies for asking questions'. First think of the subject matter and communicate facts, ideas, and ways of thinking that will help them learn. Try not to ask 'leading questions' that are phrased where it suggests its own answer Instead, you want the child to think on their own and come up with a unique response. If you ask a 'yes' / 'no' question, follow up with asking them to provide an example of why they chose that response. Make sure your questions are direct, specific and clearly stated. During classroom discussions, you should only ask one question at a time. Children will be confused if too much is asked at one time. You want to keep them focused.

Blog Post #3

After watching the videos "What is Peer Editing?", "Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes", and the slideshow "Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial", I learned the following guidelines for peer editing: Always start your critique with compliments. Your feedback should be positive. It is much easier to accept correction when it is presented the right way.

When making suggestions on how your peer can improve their writing, be specific. Areas to review are word choice,details used, organization, and topics. This covers the structure of their writing.

The last step in peer editing is corrections. This would include punctuation errors, grammatical mistakes, spelling errors and problems with sentence structure. Be sure to clearly mark the problem areas so the reader will know what needs to be corrected.

Peer editing is a useful process for both you and your peers. You will benefit from reviewing their work and it will create an awareness so you can improve your own writing skills.

Blog Post 1

I have heard many scary things about EDM310. One of my friends told me it took several times taking it to finally pass. When I told her I was taking it this semester, she laughed and said good luck. I talked to other people about it and they said that once you get the hang of it and figure out how to manage your time, it is not that bad.

My fear about EDM310 is the required 9 hours a week. I am on the dance team, in a sorority, and I'm taking 7 classes this semester, so I don't have very much time to do anything outside of that. When I get free time all I want to do is pass out on my bed, because I'm so exhausted. I really hope that I will have the time to do the work required of me.

This class is a lot different from the classes I have taken in college so far. This is the first time I have ever had to do a blog. I can tell from the first email that we got from Mr. Strange that this is not an easy class and that he is not going to just give me a good grade because I went to class. Some of the teachers I have had are like that. It is going to take a lot of work to get a good grade in this class.

Like I mentioned earlier I don't have a lot of time, so the most difficult thing for me would probably be, staying on track of the work, and having enough time to do the work. One thing I can do to help me stay on track is to print out the checklist and syllabus and carry it with me so that I can look at it and know what needs to be done and when. Also if I am waiting to dance at the basketball game or something and have some extra time I can just pull out the checklist and can do some work. I need to not wait till the last day to do the assignments. I need to do a little bit each day and I think that will help a whole lot.

test

2nd practice test

Practice Post

Hello, my name is Ashley Bigoney. Yes, I know my last name is crazy, but you pronounce it like Bigonay. Anyways, I am 19 years old and I am a sophomore. I am from Huntsville, AL. I have two older brothers, and a little sister. I am a huge family person, so being 6 hours away really kills me. Coming to school here at South Alabama was a very tough decision. I didn't want to be this far away from my family and friends. One thing that really swayed my decision to come here was that my boyfriend of now three and a half years came here with me. When I came on a tour here at South I just fell in love with the campus. I love meeting new people so this was a great choice for doing that. Also, I knew that I wanted to dance at whatever college I went to and South has a great dance team. At the time when I was getting ready to go to college I thought that I wanted to become a nurse and I knew that South was known for their medical field.