Sunday, September 25, 2011

Project 9a

Blog Post #5

Don't teach your kids this stuff

Dr. McLeod is a an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky. He is also founding director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education. In Dr. Mcleod's post he is trying to warn parents and teachers that there are dangerous things that can occur through technology and that they shouldn't teach kids anything about it. I agree that there are some disadvantages of technology that can be bring about danger but I also think that there are advantages as well. Yes, you have predators online chatting with people through fake identities, scams, and etc but at the same time you also have the advantages. Through technology you can do so much and obtain a lot of information. I think that a child should have it explained to them the advantages and disadvantages from someone who knows it. They should know to not talk to strangers or give out personal information.

Ischool Initiative

Ischool Initiative was a great video made by a high school student named Travis Allen. In this video he talks about how we should convert everything in school to ischool. He explains how much money is spent on all of the supplies and tools needed in school for things like pens, pencil, graphing and scientific calculators,textbooks, notebooks, and etc. His estimate that he came up with was minimum $600. The price of the ischool is $150 average and it contains all of the supplies in that one item. He also brought up the point that this will save on our natural resources. This all makes a lot of sense even though many people may not like the idea of no books and they want there children to actually write and read in real books. Some kids learn better when they actually have books and is writing with a pen or pencil on paper. Travis Allen's idea of ischool is a great way to save on money and natural resources but personally I don't think that kids should learn only through technology.

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir
This video was amazing! I have never heard of a choir being created online and performing from home. These choir members never met and it sounds really good together. It is amazing what you can do through technology.

Teaching in the 21st century

This was a very interesting video by Kevin Roberts. Roberts believes that teaching in the 21st century is not just transferring information and facts into the students head but rather to be the filter. What he means by this is that all of the resources are here for the students so teachers should be teaching them how to use there resources so they can actually think and learn on there own. This is helping them to prepare them for the real world because in life it is the same way. It's not all about taking information in memorizing it to spit it out for a test then forget it later.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Blog Post #4

The benefits of podcasting in the classroom

In this video they talked about how podcasting can be beneficial in the classroom. I agree because this is a way to keep students entertained and excited about learning. It is also a good way to teach outside the classroom such as if it is an online class or simply for extra help. It is also smart because if a student has to miss class they won't be behind. It can be a great resource for students and also parents of the students can see what is going on in there child's classes. This video was interesting!

Eagle Nest Radio & class blog

This was a podcast by a third grade class. I thought it was very interesting. The students learned about Rome and is talking about it. They had a lot of information to share and that really impressed me. I think that the music should have been a little quieter so that we could hear the students clearly. Overall I really enjoyed it.

The Practical Principals

In this podcast there was a variety of different topics which I thought were really interesting. They were talking about the different issues that teachers can face and how you can go about solving them. They also talked about improvement plans for teachers and why teachers can get on it. They talked about all the different tools that could also help in the classroom. I thought this was a very helpful podcast and it taught me some things that I didn't know!

This is my Sentence. Project #6

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Project 5

Blog Post #3

It's Not About the Technology

Mrs. Hines made a lot of good points. When teaching it really shouldn't be about the technology. I believe that it should be a tool that teachers use but not teach students completely. Some students do better going to a classroom and interacting with the teachers and students.

Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

Karl Fisch created a list that I believe is a great guideline for teachers to go by. I believe that this will lead teachers to become really successful and I would recommend that all teachers read over these standards:

1. All educators must achieve a basic level of technological capability.
2. People who do not meet the criterion of #1 should be embarrassed, not proud, to say so in public.
3. We should finally drop the myth of digital natives and digital immigrants. Back in July 2006 I said in my blog, in the context of issuing guidance to parents about e-safety:
"I'm sorry, but I don't go for all this digital natives and immigrants stuff when it comes to this: I don't know anything about the internal combustion engine, but I know it's pretty dangerous to wander about on the road, so I've learnt to handle myself safely when I need to get from one side of the road to the other."
The phrase may have been useful to start with, but it's been over-used for a long time now. In any case, after immigrants have been in a country for a while, they become natives. We've had personal computers for 30 years, and I was using computers in my teaching back in 1975. How long does it take for someone to wake up to the fact that technology is part of life, not an add-on?
4. Headteachers and Principals who have staff who are technologically-illiterate should be held to account.
5. School inspectors who are technologically illiterate should be encouraged to find alternative employment.
6. Schools, Universities and Teacher training courses who turn out students who are technologically illiterate should have their right to a licence and/or funding questioned.
7. We should stop being so nice. After all, we've got our qualifications and jobs, and we don't have the moral right to sit placidly on the sidelines whilst some educators are potentially jeopardising the chances of our youngsters.

After reading this I hope that our teachers will go through there career following these guidelines.


Gary's Social Media Count

I was amazed after looking at Gary's chart. So many people are active in technology and can do it through laptops, phones, ipads, ipods, and so much more. It's so convenient because you can carry these items around with you throughout the day. It seem as though almost every person is involved in technology in some kind of way.

A Vision of Students Today

This video is showing how students don't take education as serious as they should. I believe that a lot of students are in college only because of how society pushes going to college after high school is the best thing you can do. They are wasteing time and money that it takes to go to school, fees, books and so much more. I hope that this video makes students want to strive in whatever they do, especially in education.