Blog Post 5

Don’t Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

In Mr. McLeod’s post, Don’t Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? He talks about kids having a leg up by knowing how to use technology in the classrooms. I definitely agree. I had no idea of the many ways technology can be useful in the classroom till I started Dr. Strange’s class. I do see how kids being so involved with technology can be scary too. There are many terrible things out on the Internet, but it’s our job as future educators to make sure we are only teaching kids the useful ways of the Internet and technology. Dr. Scott McLeod is from Ames, Iowa and is an associate Professor in the Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky. He has received many national awards for his work in technology leadership.

The iSchool Initiative

In this video by Travis Allen, he is trying to encourage global learning. He wants to revolutionize America by using the iSchool Initiative. I think he did a fantastic job in his video. Mr. Allen talks about the many applications available on the itouch that would be beneficial to teaching in the classrooms. He didn’t leave out a single aspect or anything that teachers and students couldn’t access on the itouch. He talked about email, recorders, calculators, starwalk and many more. It would be very beneficial for students as well as teachers. Everything needed for class would be in the palm of your hand. The iSchool Initiative would also save tons of money. I would cut back on books, school supplies, classroom tools, ink cartridges and a lot of other tools. The iSchool Initiative is another great way for our world to go green. This iSchool Initiative is a great idea, but I would be very overwhelmed to all of a sudden rely only on an itouch for all of my classes. If schools slowly worked into this year-by-year I think I would be absolutely terrific. I think Mr. Allen is a very intelligent student and his ideas would be most beneficial for education in our country.

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir

I was so impressed by this video. It basically shows that anything is possible. There are truly some very intelligent people in this world, I don’t think I would have thought or ever been able to create this in a million years. This is another video that shows the amazing use of technology even with people across the country.

Teaching in the 21st Century

In this video by Kevin Roberts, he thinks that teaching in the 21st century is using technology to learn. Roberts sees teaching as providing student with the skills to use the Internet for learning. The Internet is a great source for all things but students need teachers to direct them for educational learning through the Internet and technology. Technology is all around us and in our lives every day. There is no way to avoid it, as future educators we need to embrace it. I am still learning so many things that technology has to offer and I can’t wait to use it in my classroom in the futu

Project 9

Blog Post #4

100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better.

In this article by Valene, she talks about the many ways to use an iPod other than listening to music. There are tons of other uses for an iPod and a lot of them are educational. First off iPods have many tutorials on their programs to help you understand and learn skills on the iPod better. There are many applications, software, and continuing education tools on an iPod. For educational purposes there are many programs to upload study guides, listen to audio books, learning support, and classroom help. There are many applications that can help with writing, converting DVDs, keeping up with notes, and much more. This article does a great job in showing how iPods can be educational as well are recreational.

The Education Podcasting Network

The Education Podcasting Network is a website to explore ideas of 21st century teaching. This site suggests the idea of podcasting to improve teaching methods. It helps explain to you what a podcast is and the benefits of it as well. It also explains how to upload a podcast on the site and how to search for one. The Educational Podcasting Network offers from 3 to over 150 podcasts for all subjects. The website also breaks down podcasts in different grade school levels. I think the more teachers use this site the more popular podcasting within education will be.

Langwiches

On the website Langwiches, there are many posts that encourage 21st century learning like The Education Podcasting Network. Although, this site doesn’t focus on just podcasting, it shows videos and articles on twitter, Skype, blogging, and audio books. Langwiches also shows many educational apps available on iPads for kids. For example, there is a Book Creator App. I think this is a great app for kids to use; it encourages them to be creative and come up with their own stories. After creating your story you can share it with other friends, family, and classmates. I think that this app will help with encouraging reading among the younger age groups. Many kids these days don’t like to read as much but, if they can use an iPad or any other technology device I think that will definitely spark their interest.

Project 6 “This is My Sentence"

Blog Post #3

It’s Not About the Technology

In Ms. Hines post, It's Not About the Technology, she talks about what needs to be changed within our classrooms. Although technology is great to have, there are other things that need to be focused on improving. She first mentions that teachers must be learners. Teachers must up to date on current education issues and be self-motivated. Ms. Hines also makes the point that teaching and learning is not the same thing. You can teach a child how to do something, but did they actually learn it?
The next major thing she focuses on is teaching with technology. If school systems are spending money on putting innovative tools in the classrooms then teachers need to be able to use them properly. Many of these innovative tools are currently useless in classrooms because teachers don’t use them. It’s very important to make use of these tools like Ms. Hines said or it’s a huge waste of money.

Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

Mr. Fisch spoke about teachers being technologically literate. I agree with him completely. Being technologically literate is a trend right now and teachers need to be up to date with trends that deal with education. He talks about technology being part of every day life. Mr. Fisch also complains on his post about having teachers willing to take the time to be technologically literate, which is definitely a problem if teachers aren’t willing to learn.
Mr. Fisch also gives a list of his criterion and/or standards for teachers. He basically says that all staff members in school systems should find employment elsewhere if they aren’t technologically literate or have the desire to become technologically literate. He also mentions many times that if teachers aren’t willing to become technologically literate than that’s equivalent to a teacher thirty years ago who didn’t know how to read and write.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

The social media count shows for a fact how much technology is increasing. As a pre-service teacher we should be up to date with all of these technology uses listed on the social media count. Many of these things can be very helpful in the classroom and some are great ways for means of communication. So many teachers don’t take advantage of the many uses listed here that could help in the classroom. We use many of these in EDM310 and they are all very helpful and help limit time spend in the classroom.

The Vision of Students Today

In this Video Michael Wesch basically points out the problems for students in college today. He makes some very good points. One that stood out to me was the fact that many students are required to do so many things in their classes that will not benefit them in their degree. Why waste time doing something irrelevant that’s not going to help with your success? Students have so much on their plate and being a full time student is like having a full time job.
We shouldn’t have to pay for textbooks that aren’t going to teach us anything. I enjoyed this video very much. I feel as if many students can relate to a lot that is pointed out in this video. If we bring technology into colleges more than learning might be a lot more interesting and entertaining.

Project #5- Google Presentation

C4T Summaries

Summary for Mr. Tarte's posts

In Mr. Justin Tarte’s blog post, Seeing eye to eye , he spoke strongly about how important it is to have positive educational discussions with other teachers and administration within your school. Mr. Tarte admitted that he and another staff member did not agree on certain topics, but were both able to focus on what is best for their students. He says that having conversations with other teachers helps each other grow and improve. In Mr. Tarte's post, We all have voices , he video interviewed several faculty and students at PBJHS. He wanted to find out what they were excited for this school year. There were multiple teachers excited about new faculty, more technology in the classrooms, and some teachers who were just excited to be back. About half of the students interviewed said that they enjoyed their physical education class and/or sports the most.

Summary for my responses

When responding to Mr. Tarte’s post, Seeing eye to eye, I agreed that it is important for teachers and administration to be able to have conversations that focus on the students. I mentioned that my mom is a teacher for MCPSS and that her grade level meets every week to discuss classroom objectives. I think it’s great for teachers to meet and have educational discussions. What better educational advice could you get other than from a teacher or administrative staff? In Mr. Tarte’s video interview post, I mentioned how great it was to see the students just as excited as the faculty for the new school year. If the faculty and teachers stay enthusiastic about school then it should keep students positive and enthusiastic as well. I also mentioned that I was surprised that none of the students were excited about being able to wear their choice of clothing to school. I was required to wear a uniform in all of my previous schools. I think it’s great to let them dress how they want and it’s another way to encourage creativity.

Blog Post 2

Video 1
Did You Know 3.0
In the video Did You Know 3.0, the authors Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod compare the U.S. to China and India in many ways that kind of look down on the U.S. It says that 25% of India’s population has the highest IQ’s compared to the total U.S. population. That’s also because India as well as China’s population is much larger that the U.S. It’s not a fair comparison.
The video Did You Know 3.0 was very factual. It’s somewhat scary to know how much technology is changing and how fast, but it’s also very impressive so see how much we are progressing. By seeing how fast technology is growing creates a kind of fear that some day computers are going to be more intelligent than the humans creating them. The video is basically showing us how technology unknowingly is preparing humans for the future.
I think it is great that technology is growing so rapidly. Faster growing technology could help improve many other aspects of our lives. But it also scares me to think how much smarter a computer will be in the future compared to a human. We do know that a computer could never understand the meaning of “self” or “who am I and what is my purpose.”

Video 2
Mr Winkle Wakes
In this video by Mathew Needleman, Mr. Winkle is a cartoon from one hundred years ago. He wakes up from a long slumber to find the world a completely different place from what he had remembered. Everything has changed or advanced to a more improved world but Mr. Winkle doesn’t think so. He is overwhelmed by all of the development.
Mr. Winkle notices changes in offices and hospitals. He sees that computers are the basis of how things operate. He sees that people are able to communicate in different ways than before. When Mr. Winkle visits the hospital he is overwhelmed that humans are being kept alive and breathing by machines. His last visit was to a school. He was more comfortable in the school because it seemed more familiar. There didn’t seem to be much change in the classrooms.
Not having more technology development in the classrooms could hurt students. Schools need to be funded for technology purposes so that students can learn more and be better prepared for the future.

Video 3
The Importance of Creativity
In the video The Importance of Creativity, Sir Ken Robinson speaks about three themes. The first theme he speaks about is the evidence of creativity. Creativity should be just as important as literacy. Being creative is much easier for children because they aren’t afraid to be wrong. If humans weren’t prepared to be wrong then no one would come up with anything unique or original. Adults lose the capacity to be creative because of the fear of being wrong. I totally agree with that, if humans were more creative then there would be more variety in the world.
The second thing he talks about is creativity in the future. All around the world the main focus is mathematics and language, then humanities, and lastly arts. Arts should be more focused on. We educate from the waist up to the brain to the point where humans only communicate with the brain and nothing else. In the world right now a bachelor’s degree isn’t worth anything because of a larger population and more vast knowledge. Now if you want a job you will have to obtain a masters degree or get a PhD.
The last thing he talks about is the capacity of children. Children are intelligent in many different ways. Educators need to rethink how we educate our children and show children how to use their gift of imagination with creativity. Intelligence is distinct. Creativity creates original ideas that have value. We need to see children for the hope they are and let them be creative because they are our future.

Video 4
Cecelia Gault Interviews Sir Ken Robinson
I learned in this interview that to make sure children have a good education you have to provide your classroom with a balanced curriculum. Teachers should focus on all subjects, not just mathematics and sciences. Teachers should make better use of technology and help with the understanding of it as well. We should encourage students to explore creativity and not be afraid.

Video 5
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
In the video Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts, Vicki Davis shows us how she incorporates technology in her classroom. Vicki Davis teaches a class that shows students a whole new perspective on technology. She focuses on each and every kind of technology all day every day.
Her students learn technology terms everyday and she encourages them to look them up online rather than explaining them. She wants her students to search, think, and understand on their own. She teaches her students how to be more educated in technology and want them to gain experience. One form of teaching method she uses is blogging. Vicki Davis talks about how she learns from her students and how you don’t have to know everything before you teach it.