Blog Post #5

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff by: Scott McLeod is a very interesting video. The internet is a very powerful source that can be used wrong if it is in the wrong hands. The internet can be good for anybody to learn and to be creative and that is the most important thing to know. Yes there are bad people in the world who do crazy things, just be careful. Scott McLeod was being very sarcastic when he wrote the post. He didn't mean what he said seriously.

The iSchool initiative video is a well put video. As technology expands, it is good to look at other ways to teach. Travis Allen came up with a way to help the public education school system. He noticed that the public schools were having a tough time with the budget cuts and how there are to many students in the class rooms. The iSchool is a device that can be used to eliminate all of the problems. Using the iSchool app, one could do anything they wanted to for school purposes. There are apps for email, chemical touch, world wiki, formulate, and several more that will get students prepared for education. The good things that I see with this iSchool device is how it would save about 600 dollars per student. Also how it would eliminate the money issues the schools are having. The bad thing I see with this invention is how the students might not be too focused in the classrooms learning, but to busy facebooking and texting instead.

Teaching in the 21st Century by Kevin Roberts gives us examples to how teaching in the 21st century is done. The internet is a way students find out new things anytime, anyway, and anywhere. From being on facebook, twitter, blog, cell phones, ect. Then teachers are not the main source of knowledge. It allows us to explore new possibilities for how teaching has changed. Also Mr Roberts says that one needs to be engaged not entertain. I agree how Mr. Roberts said that teaching in the 21st century starts with you, by seeing whats out there.

Eric Whitacre's Vitural choir was a very good video. It is amazing to see how technology had been changing over time. Also how the members of the choir have never meet in person let alone sing together. This video makes me wonder what it would be like 20 years from now.

It makes me think because if putting a choir together while never meeting, then why would we ever have to leave the house? Since the technology is arising so fast new inventions are being created.

Blog Post #4

Langwitches
Podcast can be for teachers as well as students. It was cool to see how the students really enjoyed making the clips on Dinosaurs. The students enjoyed listening to their voices on the recording. Podcast is really good for teachers. It allows them to record materials from a book instead of reading it aloud. Recording a podcast and editing of the podcast is a great tool, especially for languages learners to play with the mechanics of the language. Podcast is a great tool to use in the classroom setting because it gets the kids interested in what they are doing. It is another way of teaching to make things exciting.

The Education Pod-casting Network, helps connect teachers all over the world. Also "The Education Podcast Network is an effort to bring together into one place, the wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century." My question is why is podcast becoming so popular in this day in age? podcast was around for a while and it is just now starting to become more and more popular in the world. Podcast is world wide, so many more people have access to it.

In the video Pod-casting In the Classroom, Joe Dale talks about why podcasting is helpful and useful in the classroom. He starts off with talking about kids that were born after 1980. He calls them “Millenial”. He states how these kids have never experienced a world that didn’t have personal computers and other technology. He believes that since innovative technology is a part of the children life, podcast is a form of learning that they are familiar with, and that they can adapt to better. Students can record role plays in character while making their learning more memorable, while parents can see and hear what their children are doing in school. The parents can also help their children become familiar with the system.

Project #6 My Sentence Video

Blog Post # 3

Peer Editing can be very useful if the peer editor knows exactly what they are doing. The three steps on evaluating a paper is first start with positive comments. Then give good suggestions like word choice, details, organization, sentences, topic. The third thing to remember is make corrections. Watching the video make it easier to understand some of the possible problems that might happen when you peer edit a persons work like getting distracted or being to harsh.
The main thing in the video that sticks out is really keep the positive image when you read someone else work. Even if the author did a bad job and had a lot of errors, still be positive. Also don't be mean to the author either, that will just make things worse as we seem in the video.

In the post "It's Not About the Technology" I agree with Kelly Hines. Technology to me is not everything and we as a society should stop depending on technology. Technology will help, but only if you are familiar with it. Mrs. Hines said some really good things like teacher must be learners. This way teachers will be more open to new ideas and to new things. Teachers who truly want to be successful must be voracious and self-motivated in their pursuit of evolving understanding. Also learning and teaching are not the same thing. As I was telling Mrs. Hines in a post to her, I said that I had a teacher once who asked why wasn't I understanding the problem the teacher done about 10 time. Well it was because I did not learn it because of the way it was explained.
Technology is useless without good teaching, because if someone has a smart board but does not know how to use it, then there is not point of having it. A teacher must be perpetual learners who are invested in their professions. Lastly be a 21st century teacher without the technology. If a teacher can prepare the student to be creative and innovative, those students will be prepared in the future. It should just be about technology, because some times technology wont help.

I disagree with Mr Fisch on how he thinks that all teachers should be Technological Savvy. Technology should not be the main thing teachers or any body to rely in. What would happen if all the technology just disappeared on day? Then the world would be one messed up place, and only a few people would know what to do. It is good for teachers to know how to use the technology when it is necessary, but other than that I feel it might be a waist of time. Why have a smart board in the class room if the teacher does not know how to use it? Or why try and make peoples life difficult if it is not even called for.
One of the biggest misconceptions we have today, is how the society is backwards. India has the smartest people in the country, not because of the technology they have but for other purposes. The kids their are way smarter than the children in the United States. To me, that really says a lot.

Gary Hayes Social Media
is very scary to think about sometimes. It is a shame to see how many people use facebook and twitter instead of learning knowledgeable things and ideas. It is also amazing at the same time to see how many people use technology every single day.I would say, if learning was as simple as writing a post on facebook, then the world would be really smart. Technology use is easy for some people to learn, but what about for the others? Teaching is the same way, some students are hands on learners, and others might be more visual.
If we rely on technology, then when something happens to all the technology, where would we be? It is good to learn how to use facebook, twitter, and skype, but only if you want to reconnect with people and maybe even family member. Other than that, these sites are useless. All I can say is be more independent.

I really enjoyed watching the video A vision of Students Today by: Michael Wesch. I like the question at the end of the video that said can technology save us? My response was no, if we use technology for all the wrong reasons. To me technology for the bad reasons are starting to corrupt peoples lives. Why would someone even want to be on facebook for over 5 hours or tweet every second of the day? I feel it to be a waist of time. Even while a student is in class, they might be paying attention to their smart phone than paying attention to their professor.
I believe that technology for the good is a good step in direction. It brings positive messages to those in hope of something new. Such as technology that might help locate a missing person, or technology that saves someones life. I all all for the good use of technology, even if it is in a class room.

Project #5

C4T

Switching off the Interactive White Boards for Good by Kevin McLaughlin was very interesting. The author feel that IWB's are not very useful in the classroom setting based off his experience using them. He feels as if they are too expensive, which I agree with, and how hard it would be to remove them from all the classroom settings since the hype is so big. Mr. McLaughlin did a survey with the students in his class and the students also agreed with his idea that IWB's are a waist of time to use. Mr. McLaughlin feels that it would also be a waist of time to have expo's with the headteachers, because within the next few months the training has been forgotten and many return back to their original way of teaching.

Mr McLaughlin would rather use teaching devices that are mobile like ipads, ipod, and netbooks, but my defense was; what if people started to take the devices, then you would be stuck having to replace them or eventually having to go without them. The price to keep up with the mobile devices would far more exceed the price of an IWB. Also I went on to say that IWB's are not for every class setting. I find it necessary  to only have them in classrooms that would really need them such as the class I am in now EDM 310.


After reading the comment to my post I left for Mr. McLaughlin on , I realized it isn't just about the technology it self, it is about how well you can teach the materials to the students. If the IWB works, then use what ever is best for the educator to enhance performance in the class rooms. Since the budget is low in public schools it is hard to get funding for the new gadgets available.

I agreed with what Mr. McLaughlin about how hard it is to keep up with the development in technology since there will always be something new. And as long as one teaches the curriculum and the students are learning, then that is all that should matter.

Blog Post # 2

            The video clip "Did You Know?”Did You Know was very informative on how technology is increasing over the years. Google searches increases from 2.7 billion in 2006 to 31 billion in 2008. Bermuda is the number one ranked country in broadband internet pention.  Also how facebook only took two years to market an audience of 50 million people, versus a radio which took 38 years. The author stated that 25 percent of India’s population has the largest I.Q. which is greater than the total population in the United States.

             I feel as an American that this is true; I primarily believe this has to do with how rapid technology is evolving and with all the new gadgets being created. Children and young adults rather play with a video game and watch YouTube videos then study and do work. I’m not saying that people in India don't play video games as well; I feel maybe they have better study habits. With all of this said the amount of new technical information is doubling every two years, creating more job opportunities to jobs that aren’t even created yet.

The video clip "Mr. Winkle Wakes”Mr. Winkle Wakes is about a man who sleeps for a hundred years and then finally he woke up. He left his house and traveled the streets and saw big buildings and new things. He went to an office where there was these strange machines that did anything you asked it to do. One could have meetings over the computer as well, but Mr. Winkle did not like that, he started to feel sick so he left. He went to the hospital and saw the same similar machines. Mr. Winkle was amazed how people could stay alive off of machines and other medical devices. He knew then he had to leave.

The sad thing about this story is how Mr. Winkle went to a school, and he remembered it the same way it was 100 years ago, with the exception of the dusty machine box in the back of the room. This really tells us something about the education system and how it needs to be improved. All the technology is improving and getting better as I learned from watching "Did You Know", and from personal experiences. So if technical information is doubling every two years, then what happen to the education system?

Sir Ken Robinson in the video "The Importance of Creativity"The Importance of Creativity made a really good point to why the education system lacks creativity and any self reflection on an individual. One had to fit "in", if not you were consider different. Sir. Robinson said how a child takes chances and is not afraid of the outcome. If you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original, and I agree with him 100 percent. Being creative is part of growing up, it's part of life. Sir Robinson also said that mistakes are the worst thing you can make in an education system, I feel this is because the education system is designed to do something only one way which is their way; and if you cannot do it like them, then you are wrong.

            In society, we think that art and dance is not more important than science and math, simply because of the originality and creativity one needs to become a dancer, it just comes natural. Sir. Robinson also said how degrees are not really worth anything these days because as the years go by one will need to father there education and get a PH. D or doctorate degree. We also grow out of creativity making it harder for "humans" to be open minded about life. I agree with Sir Robinson on how the gift of human imagination should not be wasted. It’s a gift, imagination has a purpose and it is very useful.

In the video interview,Cecelia Gault's Interview Cecelia Gault was very enthused and energetic about what she was doing. Her task was to give Sir. Robinson an interview about his lecture on the Importance of Creativity. Even though Cecelia Gault is very young, she still knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up; and would be an educator of some sort. One of the main person or persons depending on the classroom environment was the teacher. The teacher keeps the students enthused on becoming educators as we can tell from Cecelia Gault’s interview. Cecelia asked Sir. Robinson what was the three facts he demonstrated in the lecture about creativity, and Sir. Robinson was able to answer them because he knew exactly what Cecelia wanted. Sir Robinson said that everyone is creative, you can be creative with anything, and you can teach people to be more creative.

For me to keep my class educated as Cecelia’s teacher did, I would have to work hard to keep my class energetic and excited about leaning. I would also have to keep in mind that being creative and having imagination is just as important as a math problem or reading a story. I would have to learn what each student is good at doing and build from there. I would also have to demonstrate a positive atmosphere and positive leadership to keep the class flowing just right. And also to inspire the students that they can do and become anything they put their mind to.

In the video Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students Digital SmartsHarness Your Digital Smarts by Vicki Davis, was very inspiring because I am getting connected to the world in EDM 310. Vicki said the every student can learn, but only certain students succeed with pen and paper; meaning that every student does not learn the same. Using technology can be used as another form of teaching and it is very hand on. Vicki teaches the students to learn new software and also how to use technology. She wants he students to be very independent and do some learning on their own, for example; if she gives the students a new word and they don’t know what it means, and then Vicki expects the students to look it up.

I find Vicki’s teachings very helpful because it demonstrates independence and gives the students some freedom to learn on their own. Most teachers feel that it is important to know the topic that is going to be taught, buy Vicki feels that yes it’s true for some things but at the same time, it’s also good to learn new things as you go along. Vicki gave the students inspiration to what is out in the world and enhanced there knowledge to what to expect. Also if you empower the students then you will have a better classroom.