Blog Post 15: Final Reflection

This is my final reflection for EDM 310. I had a lot of fun this semester. I have learned so much, and I am glad that I took this class when I did.

Final Project #16

For my groups' final project, we conducted a survey to see how classrooms in the real world are using technology. Our results can be found in the  following presentation. My group included Lisianna Emmett, Tracy Hunt, Jennifer Silcox, and myself.

Final Report on PLN

When I first started on this project, I was clueless as of where to start.  I thought that it was going to be a tedious job of working on it, but I was wrong.  Once I started working on it, I discovered many sites that I could use and use in my daily life.  As you can see from the picture, I have used symbaloo for my PLN.  I know that my PLN is similar to what it was earlier on in the semester, but I believe that this one will help me become more organized and it will be useful to me. 

By looking at the picture, you can see that my PLN is color coated.  I chose this as a way to tell which links were related and had a similar genre in common.   My colors are described by the following:

• Green represents blogs.  All of the blogs that I find interesting or pertaining to my life as an English major will be found under that color.  Currently I have Blogger, The Learning Network, The EDM 310 Class Blog, My class blog, and Lunacept- intercepting the Web as my websites in green.
• Blue represents Social Networks.  The main social networks that I use will be found on my PLN in this color.  So far, the only blue tiles that I have are Twitter and Facebook.
• Orange represents News Sources.  It is always a good thing to be informed about current news and stories that are important to the lives of people.  The news sources that I have are BBC, The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, The Mobile Press-Register, and The Daleville Sun-Courier.  These are the main news sources that I use in my life.
• White represents e-mail and Google resources. This is where I will keep links to my email resources and the main Google resources that I will be using.  
• Brown represents music resources.  I normally use these resources as a way to learn about new music.  I generally like to listen to music while I work on projects, and these websites are a great way for me to listen to what I want to.
• Red represents preset web-mixes.  Out of the many presets that were available to be used, the three red tiles are the only ones that I thought were pertaining for my constant use.  These tiles were Tech/Gadgets, Health, and News.
• Black represents Education and technology resources.  These sources are taken from the various education and technology websites that I like to be informed on what is new for me to know about as a future teacher.  

Overall, I had a great experience in creating my PLN.  It was hard at times to figure out what I found important enough to put on this PLN.  In the end, I believe that the way that I have it organized, I will be using and updating this source regularly.  

Special Metaphor Assignment (Blog Post #14)

1. I believe that I missed the metaphor, because I looked at the post from a literal standpoint.  I generally tend to look at things from a literal view than out of the box.  I’m someone who tries to stay within the rules and see things as what they actually say.  That is one of my faults that I am working on, and that is the reason on why I missed the metaphor.  

2. Since Dr. Strange had asked for us to keep a log of metaphors a few weeks ago, I have encountered many metaphors.  I did not realize right away that they were metaphors, but I later figured it out.  A few of my favorite metaphors that I have encountered are the following: wet blanket, spoil sport, and Debby downer.  These metaphors were the easiest for me to identify when I first heard them.  

3. Some things that we can do as educators are to introduce our students to a new metaphor every day and ask them to come up with their own.  Also, we could do what this assignment has asked us to do, and let our students keeping a log of all of the metaphors that they come in contact with.

4. We use metaphors to say something without coming straight out and saying it.  This is to avoid offending someone based on their beliefs and various other thoughts.  After working on this assignment, I have realized just how many metaphors are being used every day.