3rd Post January 31, 2010

Podcast's
I listened to all of the podcasts and I definitely liked some more than others. Listening to podcasts can be a bit boring, because the voice of the person talking doesn’t keep my attention for long. The smart board podcasts was okay. I could hardly understand what he was saying because there was some other type of noise in the background. Learning about smart board was interesting because I don’t know much about it. It’s a tool that I would like to be able to use in my future classroom. The next podcast that I listened to was the kidcast. I enjoyed listening to this podcast and liked the music that was played at the beginning to introduce the show. That was really neat. I heard about the difference in Video podcast and just a podcast. He really did well with distinguishing these two topics. So, as I continue listening to these different podcasts I am starting to warm up more and more to these podcasts.

The third podcast that I listened to was EdTechTalk. When the recording first came on I thought I was listening to a robot. It was a bit awkward at first. I don’t think that this podcast gave me any ideas that I could use for when I begin teaching. I listened to the Connect Learning podcast and once again I enjoyed the music to start off the podcast. I listened to episode 90 and heard some good ideas for helping students remember with school lessons. I listened to the Macbreak podcast next. I didn’t know how it would help me because, I don’t own anything that has to do with Mac and Apple. When I listened to this podcast it sounded like I was listening to an advertisement on the radio. They really didn’t say much about what could help me in the future when I begin teaching. They just talked about the different gadgets like the iPod nano and I didn’t find this podcast helpful at all. The last podcast was This Week in Photography. I like photography, but I didn’t really enjoy this podcast. They rambled too much for me. I thought I would continue to warm up to the podcasts, but it didn’t really happen.
Here's What's Coming
This is amazing that a one year old learned how to use an I Phone. I don't own an I Phone so I don't know how to work one, but I could learn just like he did. It may be amazing that a one year old learned this, but it's not shocking to me. Because like most children they watch someone else doing some activity and they learn from it and then they are doing it. What would have been shocking to me is if the one year old could text message. I will be ready to start teaching students who may be more media literate than me. I'm not afraid to teach a child who knows how to work a computer. It's not like the child will tell me how to teach if I don't teach them from a computer. The child will just go with it.

Media Literacy in the 1st Grade/Little Kids Big Potential
I really enjoyed watching this video. It's nice to see young children already begin to learn how to become more media literate. Even though they are only in the first grade, I wonder if they are also being taught the dangers of the internet. I was very happy to see that when leaving a comment to the class, the teacher has to approve the comment before it is shown to the public. So if someone writes a comment that is inappropriate then she can handle it without the students finding out about it. This classroom seems like the kids really enjoy it. Because they are not just learning from a book, but also being able to expand their minds with learning how to blog and upload their assignments to the computer. It's a great idea! I wonder how the parents feel about this learning experience for their children. Were all of the parents accepting or were there some who didn't agree with the teacher s way of teaching?

2nd post January 24 2010

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
I enjoyed watching Mr. Wesch's video. It was so neat the way the walls and seats were used in the video instead of hearing someone discuss the issue because that can be boring at times. This video has my attention from the beginning to end. I also enjoyed the way the students were used by either writing or typing a response to the issue. The video did capture most of my college experience. One of the things that I would add to it would be the hours out of a day that I text message. I hardly talk on the phone and I mostly text message throughout the day. Another thing that I would add would be about having a social life outside of classes. I live four hours from Mobile and I will hardly be going home this semester, I think I counted two times that I will be going home and one of the times will be for Spring Break. I don't have much of a social life when school is in session. When I saw the sign that said, "Only 18% of Teachers know me by name." That is not bizarre because most teachers may not take the time out to learn their students name and some students may not talk during a discussion or to ask a question. Though it's still at the beginning stage for the semester and some of my teachers are trying to remember names with faces, only one out of six teachers has called my name besides during roll call. If you want a teacher to know who you are, you have to make sure that teacher knows you.

Kelly Hines: It's Not About the Technology
I enjoyed reading this post. It's very helpful information for all teachers to know. I'm going to be a special education teacher and it's not going to be easy work, but I want to be able to make learning for my students fun and enjoyable. I agree that teachers must be learners. Though we may be teaching others there is still going to be room for teachers to learn along the way. Especially because every student learns differently so we as teachers have to have the ability to teach all students a way that they can follow. Her second point is so true. I have always seen a teacher get frustrated because the students wasn't understanding the material even after he/she went over it hundreds of times. Even in college, I have been in a class where the teacher felt that the material she was teaching shouldn't have been reviewed because we(the students) should have learned it years ago. That was discouraging to see a teacher get so upset because some students didn't remember how to work out problems. Teachers should remember that they were once students. They also went through most of the problems that their students are facing and should not get so upset if they have to re do an assignment for their students to understand. If they find that their students don't understand the material, then they should think about teaching the material a different way. It's simple the administration should know who their innovative and non innovative teachers are and should only give them certain technologies to work with to teach students so that it want be a waste of time or money.

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher
This post was inspiring to me. I want to be technologically literate not just for me but also for my students. I want to be able to keep up with everything that brings excitement to my students when they are not in the classroom. I want to bring that excitement into the classroom so that they feel at home or have a home away from home. Teachers who are not willing to take steps to improve their teaching throughout the years should get ready for students to sleep in their classroom due to boredom. You should want your students to look forward to class everyday. That would be a great feeling knowing that your students enjoy your class. Being technologically literate as a teacher is like keeping up with fashion during every season and knowing whats in season and outdated. I loved the part where Fisch talks about the parents who to me made excuses for their children by saying that they were not good at a subject that their child now is having a hard time learning. For those parents, I feel that they are just making excuses, but even if you(the parent) had a difficult time learning a subject that your child is now learning you should fix it so that they want make the same excuse for their own children. If you have to get a tutor for your child then do it, but don't make excuses as if it's okay when it's not.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count
These numbers are unbelievable. Is this really happening every second? I have seen and heard different numbers being thrown out about technology, but seeing everything at once that possibly could be happening at this moment is just unbelievable. I have really thought about what this could really mean for my career. Possibly that I really need to keep up with the trend of the Internet when I begin teaching. I looked at the different social networks that were used for the count and that I recognize. I see that Hayes didn't use myspace. I wonder if he didn't include myspace into the count because it's not as popular as it used to be years ago. That's another thought to think about for when I begin teaching. Most social networks that are popular now possibly will not be popular in two or three years. There will be another social network that will be more popular than facebook and twitter. Why does that happen? Possibly because after awhile it gets boring and could mean it's time for a change. On the other hand, some people don't like change when they have gotten comfortable using a internet site. When facebook changes something on their site, I see a lot of unhappy status updates regarding the changes, but after awhile the subscribers get use to the new change and just deal with it. So possibly if facebook were to ever become unpopular it would possibly be due to people being bored with the site and they move on to a more new and popular site. I have been on a lot of different social networks since I was a teenager. Facebook is the only one so far that has gotten me to be in contact with a lot of my distant family members who I hardly communicate with. I wonder if facebook would stick around longer than other social networks and continue to be the most popular site. I guess we would just have to stick around and found out.

First Blog Assignment 1/17/10

Did you know 3.0
This video was interesting. Are the facts right? I can believe most of the facts to be true, others not so sure. The video really made me think about how much technology is being used every second of a day. I wonder if the use of technology could continue to be used so much without any harm being done. Since technology's are still being perfected, maybe there wouldn't be anything to worry about in the future such as Robots taking over the world. If those are the facts for 2008, I wonder what 2009 "Did you Know" facts are going to be. People are definitely using the internet more and more everyday to find out information because it is quicker than looking in a book, which is where they were looking before the internet became so popular. People these days are looking for something fast like take out. The internet is like a take out meal. It doesn't take long to find information on the internet, like it doesn't take long to get a take out meal. More and more information can be find on the internet. One day everything will be on the internet and there wont hardly be any places to go out too. It scary when you think about what the internet in the future will be like.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
This video was interesting. Mr. Winkle awakes 100 years to find that technology has changed in many places. Beginning to feel out of place he sees a school and finds that nothing has changed over the time he was sleeping. Finding a school that hasn't really changed over a century is not a good sign for a school system. It's a bit scary to see teachers are still sitting at the front of the class lecturing their students on the same information year after year. That doesn't make a classroom fun, the way the video portrayed a classroom it looked a bit boring.
Before a school year starts a teacher should have something different in her classroom or lesson plan than the year before to bring about change. If a teacher doesn't have a computer in her room in the year 2010, she should have one in the year 2011 and also know how to operate it with some to no help. For the year 2012, the teacher should have computers for the students in the classroom if possible. If a teacher doesn't already know about different programs to make a classroom more fun for the students then the teacher should find out. A computer could go along way for many students especially those who are visual learners.

Ken Robinson: The importance of Creativity
I really enjoyed Ken Robinson speech. I agree with him 100% on creativity is being put down. This video was also inspiring for the creative children and for the teachers who are allowing their students to show their creativity. Children should be allowed to express their creativity because every child can be creative at something. When you allow a child to express their creativity it boost their confidence and helps them throughout their lifetime. This video makes me think of the problem some school boards are facing with wanting to get rid of physical education and have children sit in a classroom all day with no break except for lunch. Honestly, I doubt any teacher wants to sit in a classroom lecturing all day with hardly any break. As far as thinking about the children, they wont be getting any exercise if they have to sit in a classroom for up to 7-8 hours without the half hour to hour of physical ed. I really enjoyed this video and hope that the teachers who have creative students in their classroom can help them to express their creativity more.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your students Digital Smarts
Every teacher should watch this video and begin to change the way they teach just to make it more fun for their students. I enjoyed this video. Every student should be allowed to work from computers on whatever subject they are taking at school from history to even math. More students would probably enjoy being in school more if they had the opportunity to be on a computer at school. I really liked the part where Mrs. Davis said that she doesn't know everything and actually learns about things from her students. That statement is very true. Just because you are a teacher and are there to teach others doesn't mean that you know everything and still can learn from your own students. This video is inspiring for those who are having to learn and do their school work from computers and for current or future teachers who want to begin teaching from a computer.