Sunday, January 24, 2010

Blog Assignment 1/24/10

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
This video does not represent my overall college experience. These guys seem to be complaining mostly of the lack of time they have while in college. Welcome to college - if they have 2 hours to talk on the cell, 2.5 hours to listen to music, time to email and facebook during class I do not think technology will solve all there problems. Technology in the classroom could help there boredom yet simply time management would work wonders for these guys.

Kelly Hines, "It's Not Simply About the Technology

Ms. Hines is right on target. Teachers have to be learners and learning is not the same as teaching and technology is useless without good teaching. If time is not taken with those that need to be brought up to date than all the technology in the world is useless to them.

As for our elementary students, technology is great and I definitely think they need to be able to navigate around yet I do not think we need to forget about teaching them the basics and problem solving. Problem solving never goes out of date, especially with the age of technology.

Fisch: Is It Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
First off, this guy was really frustrated when he wrote this blog. He needs to remember that to a student or co-worker in question that no question is a dumb question! With the teachers that are just starting out in the field I do not think many will not have a BASIC understanding of today's technology. For those that were not products of the technology wave everyone needs to remember Ms. Hines' comment, "technology is useless without good teaching." Yes, it is okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher as long as you are a teacher willing to conquer your illiteracy.

Gary Hayes, Social Media Count
This encourages me as a future teacher to stay abreast on technology. I will incorporate this usage and highway of information in my daily lesson plans. On the flip side it looks like the majority of this usage is for personal or noneducational purposes. How many hits are your major research sites getting versus You Tube. I can see where this will become a challenge to future educators to regulate this highway for educational purposes and not be abused for entertainment by the students especially when laptops become mandatory in the classroom.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Blog Assignment 1/17/2010

Did you know? by Karl Fisch
No, I did not know. Technology growth is new and exciting yet overwhelming and scary. How can we keep up? I feel our governement is having a difficult time keeping up with regulating the progression of the Internet and technology as a whole. For instance, how to regulate Internet purchases to include state and county taxes so our school systems have the proper fundCheck Spellinging to keep up with our growing technological times.

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Matthew NeedlemanBold
After 100 years Mr. Winkle still finds himself comfortable in school away from the technology and hustle and bustle of the outside. To me this is good and bad. Good in the way that schools are still a comfort zone for our studentsBold yet not good due to education not progressing as rapid as the times. We need to give our schools a chance to catch up. Technology has exploded overnight. The schools need proper funding and guidance to catch up. As future educators we have a huge task in front of us to help in transforming the system.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson is a brilliant hoot!
Creativity is a necessity for children's mind, body and soul. Creativity is an outlet for a child to exert energy. Sir Robinson comments on a situation where the doctor of a child prescribes dancing instead of Ritalin for a hyperactive child before ADHD was created.Italic More of this needs to occur in today's society. I see when a child is given an outlet to express themselves creatively there grades improve. Here lately it all seems to be about the grade and not the total package. A well educated individual is thought to be a well rounded person which usually includes something of the arts.

Vicki Davis: Harness Yours Students' Digital Smarts
Hats off to this educator. She has the opportunity, resources and desire to turn students into tech savvy individuals. I have only been to my EDM 310 class a handful of times and have already had my eyes opened to the many avenues you can take in your classroom with technology. Awesome stuff out there.