For my first comments for kids, my student was Carmen who is in the 8th grade at Noel Jr. High School. At first, I read Carmen's learning manifesto. I noticed that teacher had commented and stated that she had not really followed the assignment guidelines, but I preceded to read and comment on what she had completed. Spelling and grammar was a big issue in her first couple of posts, but by the time I had commented on her About Me, her spelling and grammar had improved. Her about me showed that she was proud of her family and of her heritage. I really admired their class's willingness to learn and all of the blogs were very good.
The first podcast that I listened to was the third grade class, Eagles' Nest Radio. I really enjoyed listening to these podcasts. I believe that the students are benefiting from this new way of presenting information. I have never seen a classroom blog where they use podcasts as a way of learning. Allowing students to use podcasts in the classroom gives them the opportunity to use technology and be familiar with its advantages at a young age.
I then read the information written by Judy Scharf on how to make a successful podcast. The information was helpful to me and I will use some of her advice when doing my podcast. In her blog she gave tips for success, examples of podcasts from youtube, and information about podcasts in general.
The next page was I looked up was the Practical Principal's podcast, written by Melinda Miller and Scott Elias. Scott lives in Colorado and Melinda lives in Missouri. This shows how people from different parts of the country can connect and record a podcast. In their podcast, they share how their day goes as a principal and the experiences that they have at their schools.
Listening to these podcasts was helpful in learning how to make my podcast better. I learned that podcasts are beneficial for almost everyone. I really loved the idea of using a podcast in the classroom. I will definitely think about using a podcast in my classroom as a way for my students to connect with one another and keep up with what we are doing in the class.
1.) Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please? By: Scott McLeod
When I first read this post by Dr. McLeod, I thought how can you think technology is not important? It's the essence of our future. I then realized that was exactly the point of his blog. He took a sarcastic approach to his post, making it more effective and thought provoking. I really enjoyed his approach and I agreed with the argument he was making. In researching Dr. McLeod, I found out that he is the co-creator of the video, "Did you know?", a video we watched for a previous blog assignment.
2.) The iSchool Initative
This video was about an idea created by a seventeen year old high school student. He created a concept called the iSchool, the idea that school could be completed in it's entirety on an Apple iTouch. There are already a multitude of apps on the iTouch that could be used for the iSchool and with modifications, more apps could be added that could make the iSchool possible for students everywhere.
I don't know what to think about this idea. It would reduce waste in our environment, I agree with that, but I'm not sure about the efficiency of the iSchool. I think the iSchool would be better if it was integrated into regular schools gradually. A classroom could still meet and do tests and things in the classroom, but gradually the iSchool would be introduced for homework assignments and a way for parents, teachers, and students to communicate.
3.) Lost Generation
I really enjoyed this video. The information that was given is a reality for my generation if things do not change in our society. At the end, they reversed the situation given as if things were changed now. I believe that we will celebrate the anniversary's of our divorce, will care more about our careers than our kids, and we will be lethargic and lazy. That is, if our society continues to progress towards this. We must work to change the standards for what people think we will become in the future.
4.) Ed Whitaker's Virtual Choir
This video was very soothing. I enjoyed it very much. As I watched it, it seemed like it was just a video of a choir and a combination of pictures of different people, but after reading Jennifer's post, I realized that these people had never met, their videos were combined. That is a hard concept for me to grasp. It seems as though the internet has become a tool for everything and anything in our society. The fact that it is possible for so many different people, who have never met, to come together and create a beautiful song just shows that the internet is used for everything in today's society.
The search engines Google Squared and WolframAlpha are both great tools to use in the classroom.
a. When I practiced searching in Google Squared, I found that it was very useful. Unlike www.google.com, Google squared lets the student find information about a topic on one page and all together. If you were doing a search on the planets, you could find anything you wanted about it on one page. You could also add a topic and instantly receive the answer to that topic.
b. WolframAlpha is also very useful. When you search for something on this search engine, you will find a picture or a map to go along with it as well as a plethora of information. Unlike Google Squared, the information goes down the page instead of using a table.
c & d. I had not heard of either of these search engines before this class.
e. Once I read the comment on my Did You Know assignment, I realized that I was in some way like Mr. Winkle. I have used computers since I've been in elementary school, but technology has advanced so much since then and all of the new technology today is very overwhelming to me.
f. This exercise has showed me that there is so much out there that I have not even come across. I didn't even know that these two very helpful search engines existed and if I did, projects that I have done in the past would have been much easier. I've learned that I react very surprised with the statistics about technology. I do not know as much as I thought it did when it comes to technology in our society today.
Food For Thought: I enjoyed the article Food For Thought, it is a crazy that the six year old, illiterate boy could work an iPad with no instruction.
1.) Micheal Wesch: A Vision of Students Today.
I agree with the message of this video. It shared facts and statistics of the lives of college students in today's age. A couple of facts stood out to me, for example, students spend one hundred dollars on books that they never open. Another statistic stated that students only read 49% of their reading assignments, but will read 2300 pages of online books. Technology is becoming the future for everything, especially education.
This video seemed to relate to the way my college experience so far in many ways. The relation between the statistics that involved technology were mostly all true. The one that stated the majority of students today graduate, they will have jobs that do not exist today. People pay for classes and become in debt, only to not attend class. To add to this video, I would use more statistics that relate to technology today. The video was filmed in 2007 and in three years, technology has advanced.
2.) "It's Not About the Technology." by Kelly Hines
The post made by Ms. Kelly Hines was one that I couldn't agree more with. She explained that in a society where technology is taking over in education, we must not focus completely on the technology. We must focus on teaching teachers how to teach with the new advances in technology. Teachers must be ready to learn and must have the right mind-set about using the technology that is being presented to us.
Ms. Hines also said that teachers must be learners. Teachers need to be motivated to learn. They also need to keep up to date with all of the new technology. She suggests workshops and teaching sessions on the new technology available, ie; smartboards, blogs, wikis, etc. I couldn't agree more with what she states in her post. Without the motivation of teachers and the help that they need to learn about the technology in the 21st century, the advancement of the classroom will not happen.
3.) Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
Mr. Fisch's post was by far one of the best posts I've read so far in EDM 310. I'm sure that is because this post won the most influential post of 2007. I couldn't agree more with the points that he made. In the beginning of the post, he gave a list of what he thought was and wasn't acceptable in a school. One rule on his list that stood out to me was number 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." This is a bold statement, a very bold statement, but should be considered.
I also really agree with this statement made, also very bold. "If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write." In today's society, we must use technology. There is no way around it. Whether it's emails, the use of microsoft word, or looking something up on google, technology in schools cannot be avoided. Because of this, if a teacher is not technologically literate, it can be related to a teacher of thirty years ago who cannot read or write.
4.) Gary Haynes Social Media Count
This website is really an eye opener. I know people are using technology each and everyday, but seeing the numbers change and increase each second is very eye opening. When I refreshed the page, in one second over 40,000 youtube videos were viewed, over 1,000 tweets were posted on twitter, and 40 people joined facebook. For me as a teacher, this means that each second, each hour, each day, and each year, the number of people using technology is growing. If 40 people were joining facebook in one second, think about the number of people who will have join facebook in two years when I graduate and become a teacher. The number of people sending emails, joining social networks, and even using google is increasing every second. The people who are 'technologically illiterate' will be left behind. As a teacher, I must be familiar with the technologically advances in our society.
The first blog post I read posted by Andy, was called, 'Maintaining Oral Standards.' This post was talking about oral testing and the challanges it brought along with it. I agree with what was said by Andy when he talked about different grading styles playing a role in testing. Students don't also know how the teacher will grade or even what the teacher is looking for. He stated that of the students he spoke with, 35% did not know what their father's occupation was. This is alarming to me. Communication between families, I believe, is the most important thing. Children need to have an open mind about communicating with their parents and the same goes for parents having an open mind about talking with their children. Communication is important to the success and well-being of a child's future.
The second post was entitled, 'Why Should Age Determine Ability.' This post explained the relationship between age and language learning. The author gave an example of a situation that may, for example, take place between an adult moving to China. The adult told the teacher that they were 42 years old and the teacher wanted to place them in a level 6 class because of his age. This just does not work. Just because he is an adult, does not mean that he knows the language at a level of 6. If age was an issue with that program, then they need to teach the adult privately and not in a class of adults. Administrators and school officials need to put in place programs for students of all ages.
Video 1-Did you know?
This video was very interesting and scary at the same time. The information that was scary was the fact that our world is becoming so advanced, so very quickly. The first few facts that were shown, ie. the amount of honor students in China, exceeding the number of children total in America, was pretty crazy. It seems as if our country is so far in advancements of the mind and technology as the other countries in our world.
Another fact that struck me as crazy was the fact that we send and receive everyday exceeds the number of people on the planet. I don't know if it's just me, but isn't that very extreme? Our society is becoming so dependent on technology and the advancement of technology. The fact that 1 in every 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met online is also incredible to me. More and more people are using technology to do everything in our current times and we as a society are becoming completely dependent on it.
Video 2-Mr.Winkle Wakes
This video explains the story of Rip Van Winkle awakening after a 100 year slumber to see the world after 100 years. It showed the busy environment of a business office, the advanced environment in a hospital, and a school classroom. It shows that Mr. Winkle did not like all of the technology that he saw. He didn't understand it and it made him stressed out as he tried to figure it all out. The one time that he felt comfortable was in a school, an environment that had not changed too much except for that one computer in the back of the classroom.
The video shows us how technology has advanced so much in 100 years. In our society today, everything that Mr. Winkle didn't like is a normality to us. We can walk into a busy office to hear a million noises at once and it doesn't phase us. The same is true with a hospital. Everything we see or hear in a hospital is normal to our society. We know the procedures, the technology used, and the way the doctors interact with us. Technology is a normality in our society and it is only going to become more advanced.
Video 3-The Importance in Creativity
I really enjoyed watching this lecture. Ken Robinson believes that creativity in education is just as important as literacy or math. He is completely right, I believe. Schools need to have more time for art, dance, and other ways that students can be creative. At many school systems around the country and maybe even the world have cut programs such as music and art. Something that Ken said that was very interesting to me was that the students who start school now will retire in the year 2065. Our world is advancing technologically every year, how different will the world be in 2065? Will the education that we are giving our children now even be useful in the year 2065?
Ken Robinson also stated that Picasso once said, "All children are born artists." Ken believes that the children today are educated out of creativity. He asks why are children taught more math than dance? Another quote from Ken, "Creativity is the process of original ideas that have values." We should not hinder one's original ideas in a classroom. If a student is doodling during a math lesson, should we tell that child to stop? I don't think so. Children need to be able to be creative in all situations.
Video 4-Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
This video was very cool. I love the things that Vicki Davis has started in her classroom. In today's society and also in the future, everything is and will be surrounded by technology. I believe in 50 plus years, we won't even have paper and pen, computers will run everything. That is why students in today's society need to learn how to be more connected with computers, phones, and the internet itself.
I feel this class, EDM 310, is similar to the class that Vicki Davis has set up. We are learning to blog and how to connect to other students and teachers around the world through blogging. It's important to learn new things in technology so that as our society progresses in advancements we can be more well equipped. I also think that student's in high schools and middle schools all over our country need to begin to do what Vicki Davis's class is doing with technology advancements.
