Blog Post # 5

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

This was very interesting blog by Scott McLeod. In this post, he makes points on how technology can be dangerous in the classroom for children. He mentions such dangers like child predators, porn, and chat rooms. While I can agree that these are major risks when dealing with technology and students, I can honestly say that technology is still a very useful tool. If we as teachers can monitor the use of technology closely and teach them correct ways to use it then we can avoid the dangers that technology can hold. Also, another point he made about teaching kids to write online instead of a pen and paper, challenged my thinking a bit. I can strongly agree with the fact that online writing is staking the place of manually writing. I mean, if students continue to use the computer to write papers and communicate with teachers then students will never need to learn how to use a pen, in the future. For that matter we wouldn't even have to teach them how to spell because the computer would just do all of the work for them.

I did a little research on Dr.McLeod and found out some background on him. He's an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky. He also a founding director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education. It is the nation's only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of administrators. McLeod has received many awards for his efforts and dedication to his work in technology leadership.


The iSchool Initiative

Travis Allen made great points with this video. He really caught my interest with his power point. The iSchool Initiative is basically a new way that technology can save money and help the environment in our schools by having everything accessible through the iPhone.Things such as assignments, agendas, lunch menus, and books could be accessed through the iphone. Allen proposed that by doing this students could be saved hundreds of dollars and have access to everything they need at anytime through phone or computer. This plan also provides a way for teachers and parents to always stay connected with the students progress in school. I would have to say that I am totally on board with the iSchool Initiative.

Mobile learning is an awesome idea. Everyday the world is becoming more and more reliant on technology and its benefits. Schools are also incorporating technology into its curriculum more now these days. The organization that Travis Allen has formed is revolutionary. Getting on board with the idea of mobile learning can only benefit everyone. The idea of having anytime access to grades, lesson plans, assignments, and anything associated with school, can save so much time and money for parents especially. There would be no more need for buying everything separately. If would all be in one place. I am sure that people would agree with me when I say that students would much rather spend one lump some of money for everything, than spend multiple large sums of money on books, supplies. and more.


Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

This video blew me away! I wasn't expecting to see something this cool. The fact that something can be put together so beautifully from a group of strangers, who have never met is just awesome. Technology is a beautiful thing. It sounds as if these people have practiced together,rehearsed the song, and performed it together. This video absolutely amazed me and I loved it!

Teaching in the 21st Century

This was another challenging video for me. I think that what Roberts thinks it means to teach, is for teachers to actually implement a lesson for students instead of relying solely on technology to do so. As students we can find anything on the internet if we look hard enough. We could teach ourselves school related lessons without the use of the teacher, if we wanted to. By saying this, I'm saying that technology is a teacher in its self. Now, this video makes me think because everything that I know from school was taught to me through my teachers. But now that I'm in college, times have changed and technology has become a crutch. We use Twitter, Facebook, blog sites, emails, and YouTube for everything. After watching this video, I feel that it is going to be my job to make sure that when I become a teacher I don't solely rely on technology. I want my students to be able to say that I taught them lessons based on my knowledge and my words. The Internet is very helpful but if we only have that as our resource for learning, then what's the use of teaching?


Reading Rockets

I browsed through different links on this website and found that the many different resources for new teacher peaked my interest. I like that the website offers all of these tutorials, guides, and self exams for first-year teachers. It's almost like a confirmation for new teachers to help them be more reassured that they are ready in all areas of teaching. The website offers newsletters and articles on things you can expect your first year of teaching and things you can implement in your classes.

As I searched some more on this website, I found a very interesting and fun activity for teachers called, "Put Downs and Comebacks." I played this for a minute and it taught me how to respond to a child who is putting themselves down academically and the reasons why this could be happening. Thus activity covered situations in which maybe the child is feeling negative about their self and about different academics such as reading. I found this very helpful because it demonstrates ways that you can encourage a child, when they are feeling discouraged and down.

Project #9a

Project #5

Blog Post # 3

Technology In Special Education

This video sparked an interest in me because before watching it, I had never known that

technology could be so helpful in various areas of education. The teacher in the video, Lacey Cook, showed how the use of technology improved the way her students responded academically. For example one student, Corbin, who would normally have to have someone read aloud to him during silent reading, used audio books on his I pod to help him focus. The use of the I pod, provided him with an easier way to participate in silent reading. The video also showed two other students who have trouble speaking using the computer to communicate their words with the teacher. Lacey spoke on how she used the computer to give homework and classwork assignments to her students. In this instance technology seemed to help the students pay attention and participate effectively in class activities.

I, personally, enjoyed the video and found that maybe in the future I could use some of the same techniques in my special education classes. Using online tools could really benefit my students later on in their lives because it helps them to be more interactive and hands- on with their learning. One of the tools that I found could be the most useful in my special education classrooms, was the program "Zoom Text." This program magnifies words on the computer for students who have trouble seeing. This tool is important because it shows that these students do not have to have limitations on their education and can reach the same potential as a student who aren't in special education.

How the IPad Works with Academics for Autism

This video shows a little boy with autism, Braden, who uses his I Pad to help learn. In the video he plays on different apps that show him skills such as counting and writing. It helps him by letting him interact with numbers and words directly. His parents said that before purchasing the IPad, they had trouble getting Braden to focus and pay attention when it was time to learn. I found this very interesting. As I went on to the Apple website and looked at the different apps, I found that they were very inexpensive. By education apps not being very costly, I think it would be more helpful to students because it can allow them to get numerous apps at once and use it to teach them in all areas academically.

The app that I chose to use in the classroom was Math Bingo. I chose math because it's an area most children struggle in and need help with. Math Bingo covers addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and varies in levels of difficulty from easy to hard. The object is to answer the math problem, at the top of the screen, by choosing the correct solution on the bingo chart. You have to get five bingo bugs in a row to win and if you answer the question incorrectly, the correct answer is shown on the bottom of the screen. The time to complete the game is 45 seconds. I thought that this would be an effective game because when I was in school, we were given a similar timed game to test our multiplication knowledge. This particular app was ranked number one in educational games for three weeks in a row.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

Wow! I never could have imagined such numbers related to how often people use the internet. Technology is important to our education and knowledge but this makes me question just how important it really is. I'm a victim of excessive technology use myself because not only can I not live without my smart phone, but I check my Facebook and email accounts daily. I'm not sure if this is good or bad but by the looks of those numbers in Gary's chart the rest of the world is more than active on the internet.

The rapidly changing numbers makes me think that by the time I'm a teacher, students as young as preschool will have access to sites such as YouTube and Facebook. Seriously, it seems as if I will have to be more worried about what my students are doing in my classrooms with their cell phones and laptops. As a college student now I find myself checking my emails in class and even logging in to Facebook for second, but looking at that chart makes me realize that those things are a real distraction. I cannot exactly say how this chart will affect me in the future, but I'm sure that it will, in some way.

A Vision of Students Today

Watching Michael Wesch's video opened my eyes to the world of technology and it's relation to education. I find myself on the borderline of the debate on how technology helps education. It seems as if it is a distraction in class for most students. Teachers are almost just "babysitters," because students are not paying much attention to them due to their possession of I pods, laptops, and smart phones. On the other side it is very helpful in classes that are a blend of lecture and online. While we still have access to the internet, blended courses help us to be able to do the work on our own time rather than in class when we are not paying attention.
Another thing pointed out in the video was how students who are paying for their classes are not attending them. I'm guilty of this sometimes as well. Also we as college students are paying hundreds of dollars for books that we don't even use most times. I'm not sure how this can be handled but it is a problem, especially for students who are putting themselves through college. It's funny to me that in the video, students say that we are victim of problems we did not create. I say this because we one day will be the educators and what we create will one day effect the students we teach. This video just makes you think and question the world around you.

C4T #1

I visited the blog site of Dean Shareski called Ideas and Thoughts. From the two blogs that I have read from him, I must say that I admire his thinking. He has caused me to question my own thought process and dig a little deeper into it.

The first blog I read was entitled,"A Tweet For Customer Service." Here he talks about a few bad customer service experiences he had and how the use of Twitter helped him straighten them out. The first bad experience he had was with Delta, when which case his luggage got lost. When he first discovered it was missing, he tweeted Delta's Twitter account and they responded by telling him to immediately file a claim, tracking it down, and telling him it would be delivered to him the next day between 6-10pm. As the last hour approached, the luggage was still not delivered to him, resulting in him going back to Twitter. Delta shortly contacted him and his bag was delivered at 2am. Delta offered him a free rebate of his luggage fee and a few Skymiles for his trouble. His next bad encounter was at a hotel in Orlando, where he was charged $14.95 for internet service. Once he attempted to make the internet connection, he was asked to pay another $14.95. He called the front desk to complain and they told him, that that's just how it is. Once again he resorted to Twitter, and a few minutes later the manager of the hotel took care of the charges. Dean Shareski says that he used to Twitter in these instances because he was mad, to tell others about the bad products/services, and to see if companies were paying attention.
I responded to this blog by sharing that I personally had chosen not to get a Twitter account because being that I already had a Facebook, I thought it would just be another distraction. I wasn't aware of how helpful twitter could be. This blog convinced me that maybe I should get a Twitter account just in case I needed to utilize it if I found myself in any of the situations that Dean Shareski wrote about.

The second blog post I read and commented on was called,"Understanding the Digital Divide." Here Dean talks about his experiences when visiting different conferences such as FETC. While at this conference he experienced a dominant use of technology and lack of conversation between guests. He said that he visited conferences in hopes of meeting new people and sharing ideas. The conference was mainly focusing on "tools and gadgets." This changed when he went to Educon, which took place in a school and was more conversational. After talking about his experiences at these conferences, he spoke about what he called "the digital divide," that he feels is occurring across the world. This concept basically says that technology and people are becoming "divided," meaning that there is a disconnect between the two. Dean says that he feels as if it's a problem that's bigger than him and he chooses to be with the "smart people" who still converse and share ideas, rather than letting computers do so for him.
I commented on this post by saying that I agree with his thoughts on technology. For example, in the beginning of my college career I found myself frustrated with the lack of real teaching and replacement of computers teaching me. It was almost like the teachers were babysitters and I did not feel connected with them. As I progressed in college, I had the pleasure of experiencing blended courses that were effective in incorporating the use of computers in the classroom.
In my opinion, there should be a balance between technology and teachers in the class.