I had to create a movie in my EDLD 5363class and ofcourse it had to be something about us. The most important things to me are my family and friends so that is what I chose. To tell a little about me, means to talk about the people that helped shape me into the person I am today. The background music happens to be the song my husband and I picked as "our song" when we were in junior high.  This turned out to be pretty fun as well as made me very emotional. The fact that it had to be under 2 minutes made it difficult. Being a mom of three beautiful girls, I wanted to show more of them. I will use this in the future. We always do various types of slide shows for the kids birthdays as well as family reunions. I look forward to making many more in the future. I Hope you enjoy!!

My Dream-Classroom in Five Years

The classroom in five years will be one that has open lines of communication between parents, staff, teachers and students. Teachers will be using tools such as Blackboard to house all of the content for the class as well as to form group discussions on a weekly basis. Teachers will make sure that they are fully trained and take pride in making sure they have kept up to date with grades, communication and make sure they are fully vested in what they are using. “Bonnie Meyers has a unique perspective on student-information systems -- that of a teacher and a parent. She teaches history and English to sixth graders at the district's Diablo Vista Middle School, and her daughters go to California. She says she sees the undeniable merit of School Loop when it's used properly, but there are times when it's misused, or not used often enough. Diablo Vista's principal expects that teachers will update student and class information in the system about once a week, says Meyers” (Gronke, 2009).

Parents will not shy away from technology in the future as well. They will become a third part y part of the classroom and given the chance to connect in to answer a question or just to show student what they are doing I they are on a business trip will add to the value to each student and make the parents more involved in the classroom experience. "Once [parents] realize the value of being connected, these challenges are resolved fairly quickly," he says, adding that in all scenarios, however the information is delivered, "when parents are involved in their children's education, the child prospers” (Villano, 2008).

The actual set up of the classroom will include many things the schools of today do not have. Things such as many outlets to plug in phones, computers, USB's, comfortable chairs and couches, as well as cafe style tables to work in groups. The atmosphere will be more like a coffee shop friendly environment instead of sterile. The desks will be replaced with tables, one of the walls will be a LCD screen that can have three separate presentations on or one. They will be used to house anchor charts, wight words, and other things teachers normally hang all over the walls. With a swipe of the finger they can scroll to the screen they need. Students will also have their own ipads, bring their own devices and be able to use them throughout the day in every area. While manipulative and paper pencil are still needed in the primary grades in order to learn how to write and perform math problems, they will be doing most of the work on the tablets. Once they write a story they will take a picture of it, to edit, make changes etc...and type the final paper. While it will take some teachers more convincing than others, this will be the norm in five years.

“Technology continues to profoundly affect the way we work, collaborate, communicate, and succeed. Increasingly, technology skills are critical to success in almost every arena, and those who are more facile with technology will advance while those without access or skills will not. The digital divide, once seen as a factor of wealth, is now seen as a factor of education those who have the opportunity to learn technology skills are in a better position to obtain and make use of technology than those who do not. Evolving occupations, multiple careers, and an increasingly mobile workforce contribute to this trend” (Cummins, 2012).

Communication and socialization is an important part of society, so it will be just as important in the classroom. Students will be required to have a blog, create discussion questions, and respond to each others on a weekly basis.

“Blogging represents one of many tools that pioneering teachers are using to empower students to take more responsibility of managing their own work and adding value to the world. Thousands of teachers are using blogs as educational tolls: they are relatively easy to create, you can create content in minutes, you can publish to large audience or a targeted community , and you can invite almost anyone into a conversation” (November, 2008)

With the help of technology leaders as well as teachers that are ready to actually prepare the students for the real word we live in today and not the world we lived in fifteen years ago, this will happen. Students will desire to come to school to learn instead of daydreaming about what they want to be doing in front of the computer. Which is usually things like, talking to friends, checking social media, and playing games. These are all things that will be done in the classroom in the future, all while learning the academic standards they need to succeed in today’s society.