For my first comment for kids assignment I was assigned a student at Noel Elementary School . The students name was Kristen and she is an 8th grader! It was great to see her blog and how well she was working using technology for educational purposes. Kristen's about me was very informative! She discussed her likes and dislikes and what was important in her life, such as family and friends. She mentioned that her favorite subject was Communication Arts, but her least favorite was math. Mr. Chamberlain commented on her post, telling her that he would help her and that she could ask him for help also. I thought that it was great for the students to have blogs because that way the (teacher like Mr. Chamberlain did in this case) may know more about the students and know what specific subject they need more help in. I did notice that the blog opened up more communication between students and teachers! It's definitely a great asset and it's good to get to know the student, like Kristen on a personal level!
I was also able to read Kristen's learning manifesto, and I could definitely learn some things for her, like going to bed early!! She had very good goals: going to bed early, being a good student by staying caught up on work, and also paying full attention. Kristen's goals were realistic and challenging. I think that they are each important steps in learning as much as you can in a school year, so I know she is on the right track. Through the learning manifesto, I learned that blogging goals is so vital because throughout the year, the student or teacher can look back over that blog and measure their progress and use it as a reminder of "where they are headed!"
I really enjoyed viewing and commenting on Kristen's blogs! By taking the time to look over her blogs and page, I realized just how important is is for students to have a blog!! I will definitely require my students to do this!!
Before this assignment, I can honestly say that I have only listened to podcasts but never created a podcast, much less went public with one; however, my group and I will accomplish that this week. For the blog assignment this week we were given some videos, tutorials, and articles to read about podcasts on how to create podcasts, why podcasts are used in schools, how efficient they actually are, what software one needs to complete the project, and step by step tips on how to make a great podcast.
The podcasts, videos, and articles that I read were very helpful and I think that it will allow the process for a newbie such as myself to be easier.
In one of the options for our assignments I read the article by Carolyn Wood, "Learning Podcasting", which basically covered the definition of a podcast, the instruments you need to make a podcast (microphone, headset etc.), hardware you need to install such as audacityto edit your podcast, and other resources you may need to present it at it's best. She also explained audioblogging and and advertising through podcasts.
I also found some very helpful tools in the Judy Scharfpodcast collection.
To get a greater understanding of how to create a podcast in a step by step format, I watched a youtube video entitled "How to Create a Podcast." This gave you visual and actually showed you what to click on your computer to get started, how to edit the podcast, cut out background noise, how to upload the podcast, and subscribe to an RSS feed.
I also watched a video by Joe Dell calledPodcasting in the Classroom. In this video many great benefits from podcasting in the classroom are discussed. Podcasting in a classroom setting as a resource for teaching is a very effective tool. Students can access the podcast anytime and anyplace. They can record the lecture and play it back for review. It also makes a lecture more vibrant if the teacher has students read with exuberance and enthusiasm the different roles of characters. It definitely enhances their learning experience. It is a relevant and new way to learn and incorporates a visual tool, in which students greatly respond to. This also helps for students who may have to be absent from school, because they can get what they missed off of the web. Parents can also stay up to date through podcasting. This allows interaction among students and engages them in a way that other resources cannot.
Hadley Ferguson has written two very informative posts. It was great to read and gain insight from an experienced educator. The first post that I read was entitled 12 Goals. In this post, Mr. Ferguson listed specific goals that he would strive to fulfill in order to be a better teacher. I think that blogging these 12 goals was a fantastic idea, because throughout the school year he could look back over them to see how well he was doing in keeping those goals and also share them with other teachers. As a teacher, I think incorporating new goals at the beginning of the year would be the key to learning and growing as a teacher and also ensuring that students receive the best from you. Not only as a student but as a learner, I think having these types of goals are important. It's important in order to reach your fullest potential to consider: What am I trying to achieve? What areas do I need to work on? How can I incorporate my strengths into what I am attempting? The list could really go on according to how you view things, but I think in essence Mr. Ferguson was using these 12 goals as a measurement to see how he progresses throughout the year to ensure that he gives his students his very best! This is very essential for an educator!
In the second post I read, Mr. Ferguson wrote a blog entitled A Return to Imagination. He wrote this blog after being inspired from hearing an interview on the book, The Power of Pull. The main idea of this article was to unlock the imagination. Mr. Ferguson explained that unlocking the imagination was important in learning, and without doing that, one is limited. However, when they do this, a new dimension is awakened and opened up, broadening a student's way of thinking. Of course he pointed out that students need to really use their imagination, but that teachers do as well. I completely agree! For students to use their imagination, just like math, English, writing, technological skills etc. a teacher must also be able to show them. So as "cliche" as it may sound, teacher's hold the key to unlock many imaginations that are so vital to the future. I am glad I get to be part of that. I aim to grow in unlocking my own imagination so that I can take students to another dimension of learning.
Both of the posts that I read by Mr. Ferguson definitely challenged me and taught me a lot in becoming a better student and better teacher!!!
Don't Teach Your Kids This, Please!!
Dr. McLeod has a very profound use of reverse psychology. My favorite part is the end, when he says, "can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two!" That is very true. I think that if you were to take
students and separate them into two categories: group a. going through elementary/high school with only a chalkboard, pens, paper, and zero technology while group b. who had all of those resources plus, computers, power point, smart board, internet access, blogging etc. It is very likely that as Dr. McLeod was stating in his sarcasm, that those students (like the ones in group a) would be crippled. By the time they graduated, they would have limited skills and would not be developed and prepared enough to get a job or pursue a college degree, whereas group b. would be at the same pace with the world around them, and ready for the next step. Technology equips students with the skills that they need and without certain technology exposure students will become crippled as adults trying to make it in our society.
Dr. McLeod definitely does a great job at pointing out how relevant it is to learn with technology and become familiar with it through an indirect sarcastic way! It was a great and different read. I'm sure that educational systems are in a transitioning era between figuring out what from the past to continue to use, while incorporating more and more technology. As a teacher who firmly believes in the use of technology in the classroom, I would imagine at times it gets annoying when parents say things like "my child doesn't need that" when in reality it's for the child's best interest.
iSchool Initiative
In this video a student made a very interesting presentation about an iSchool. The iSchool would function off of iTouch applications ranging from all sorts, world wiki, USA Presidents, Starwalk, table of elements, along with many different tools. It would completely eliminate the need for paper, pens, and copy machines. He argues that the iSchool would help save the school system money, it would be cheaper for students, and it would also help the enviornment.
The iSchool seemed like a very interesting idea; however I do not think that this is the answer to our countries education problems. Technology can equip and assist many teachers and students. It gives them the ability to go farther than a book, pen, and chalkboard can take them, however, this specific idea almost gives you the impression that human communication will be eliminated. Communication between individuals, in my opinion does in fact teach something that technology cannot. Without actually communication, relationship building, imagination, incorporated with the use of this iSchool, students will still be limited. Will this iSchool decrease the demand for teachers? That is something to really consider. Technology is great, but it doesn't need to take the place of the actual teacher, or else we are out of the job, before we ever have a job. Maybe this can be an addition to our educational system, just not the end all be all. Even though, it's not my favorite idea, it was still a great presentation from a younger student!
The Lost Generation This quick video really sums up what seems to be the future of today's misplaced priorities in our society. As the reader goes down the list it seems to doom the future, but in reality our future is determined by what we do today. We shape tomorrow by the decisions we make now and if our priorities are wrong now then they will be even more misplaced thirty years from now. If we are a wandering generation, then we are blazing the trail for a lost generation. This was very alarming, but with all things just like we have the choice to damage we have the choice to impact for the good. Today we can put our priorities in the right place, families first, happiness over money, etc. and because of this the future will be a better and brighter place. We see this as the words/reading is reversed. When we reverse our actions today, put our priorities right, take responsibilities for our actions we can decree exactly what was spoken in the second half of that video and that is that there is hope, divorce isn't the way, we don't have to settle for "quick fix", family is important, kids will prosper, and we can be happy knowing we can change the world.
This video is powerful in and of itself, but with the effects of scrolling down and then reversing, it gives it a greater effect! I think that without that aspect of it, then the effectiveness would be lost.
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir- 'Lux Aurumque'
Wow, I know that we are supposed to write a summary of what we have seen but this was so amazing that I am almost speechless. As I was watching the virtual choir, I asked myself how is that even possible??? It's amazing that with technology even things like this are possible. Voices brought together from many different countries to perform one piece, from people who have never met. Who would have thought of such 20 years ago? So what could be possible in 20 more years? This was a masterpiece in itself and even showing and proving the endless possibilities that technology offers. I am still wondering, how it's possible because I know it took hard work for all the people involved. I think this was a phenomenal and creative endeavor. Technology awakens imagination, evokes creativity, and makes the impossible possible!
Before watching the instructional video, I had never heard of Google Squared or Wolfram Alpha. Some educational implications would be that these sources offer people the opportunity to see the expansion or our world, different cultures, or even the sheer fact that we don't just take statistics that we hear but actually get the accurate figure between the two sources. We were instructed to add in China and the US but I continued to list several more countries because it was interesting to compare and contrast the size. I think that the availability of these sources in the classroom will be great in teaching. It allows students to do a broad variety of things from comparing and contrasting the different results, to comparing different countries and even giving them a chart that is quick and easily accessed. It helps them visualize and gives them something tangible to work with! The "Did you Know" video still has a certain shock factor, but after seeing these statistics and the growth rate of countries it's not as shocking now. It is still very overwhelming that if only 25% of China's country spoke English it would exceed the 100% of our English speaking country. Something to think about really!
After reading the "Food for Thought" article I realized that the I-pad is something that we shouldn't shy away from but embrace. It has a lot of great features and is indeed easier to use than many people that I have talked to make it out to be.
The most startling realization of this video was not the outstanding price for books or the massing amount of debt a student may have once graduating, but what the students "voice out" in the very beginning. The students held up a message that said "My average class size is 115" and " 18% of students know my name." When these types of messages are shown, it proves that many educational systems have eliminated quality and settled for just getting the job done. Many statements that follow those two, are ones such as "I will only complete 49% of my reading assignments" and "I buy text books I never open". In my opinion if quality in education was ensured through a more personal level between students and teachers, then it would guarantee a greater success in students' outcome. For example they would be more apt to read or actually put to use books they have purchased. In the end rather than just showing up students will end the semester more enriched because of teachers who took the time to know their name and provided a more personal atmosphere for all students to be engaged in learning.
It was also very eye opening that as a student we attempt to squeeze in all that is required of us into 24 hours, when in reality our schedule demands more time than a day can give. This calls for sacrifice in other ares, so what do you give up, work? focusing on school? sleep? social life? The demand to learn and achieve is great and with that comes the high price of multi tasking; however, I fully believe that in my generation and even more so for the next generation that sticking them in a class room will negate the very purpose for education. Because our society is so technologically advanced it has become the core of how we communicate, work our jobs, socialize, etc. If technology is at the core of our society and without it as American's our country would seem to be tremendously crippled, then why isn't technology the core of education? The minds of kids, teenagers, and many young adults are fueled daily by technology. As you can tell on this video, kids spend many hours on facebook, sending emails, talking on their cell phone, and things of that nature. So to stick someone with this way of thinking into a classroom, much like the one on the video with many desks and a blackboard limits their mind, bores their inquisitive minds and for the most part disengages them immediately. Technology has added color to our world and has allowed many students to become three dimensional in their ways of thinking so to stick them in a class room is like trying to make them re-enter a one dimensional way of thinking. Because of this, I believe many bright students will not make it as far as their potential could take them, and that's simply because when they walk in the classroom they get a similar message as many of these students.
Although it is easy to see problems with the educational system, it is also great to see instructors who aim to make a difference and improve it. Those are footsteps that future teachers should strive to follow in. Rather than settling, aim to be different. In one of my classes, a professor here at south had all of the students play a name/fact game and within a few days she knew all of our names. Another instructor also remembered my name and as I passed her in the hall she addressed me. Not that knowing someone's name makes all the difference, but it definitely makes you (as a student) feel like you can approach that teacher for help and makes you feel like they want the best for your educational endeavors.
This was also a link to a very encouraging video in response to "A vision for students today" called "A Faculty Response to A Vision of Students Today." Great tips by instructors who are making education relevant and personal!
This article by Kelly Hines was very enlightening. First of all the title of the article was very eye-catching! Great title to sum up the points of the article! The first point was phenomenal and I think it is the foundational key to being a great teacher. Kelly Hines said made the point that teachers must be learners. In order to teach what is most relevant to a student's life then a teacher must be willing to learn new methods of teaching and must we willing to stretch and grow. An evolving teacher will be the teacher that has the most success because students will learn from a teacher like that. In relation to the Medical Field say for instance a Doctor. A Doctor must stay up to date with new research on diseases, illnesses, cures, tools, and medications or else a patient may not receive proper treatment. I wouldn't want to go to a Doctor who did not know there was a certain vaccination if I was suffering with a certain illness because of his lack of "learning" in medicine. College is the platform for an educator, a classroom and daily life will be a place for the educator to continue to learn in order to be of use and most effectiveness. I completely agree with Ms. Hines. I hope to strive to be this type of teacher.
I also strongly agree with point two. How do teacher's measure success? SAT scores? ACT scores? Honor Roll? Completing the lesson plan? All of these are good scales, but what means the most is how much the student takes away and how much the student actually learns from the class. When success of a teacher is reliant upon how much the student learns it ensures that each student receives equal attention and a quality education. After having these two skills applied, technology in the hands of this kind of teacher will definitely become limitless in the classroom and allow a great learning experience for the students. In the hands of this kind of teacher technology can make all the difference. This was a great article and can be very applicable!
It is very clever that he gave a warning saying "grumpy blogger alert!" Although some may have been offended by his post, I think that Dr. Fisch was right on target. Immediately as I read this I was reminded of one of my high school teachers who was so technologically illiterate. This would be a great read for him! I think it should be absolutely mandatory for teachers to have a working knowledge of the different facets of technology in the classroom to allow education to become more innovative. Considering many students lives are made up of technology from their social life, to the news, to how they complete school work etc. then a teacher should most definitely be able to properly use technology in order to teach to his/her fullest potential, if not they would be limiting the students.
The quote in the blog was very true! 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. It is very interesting that people find it socially acceptable to admit they aren't very good at math but you really don't hear many say they cannot read. In the same manner you hear many people say they do not know how to use computers or certain cell phones etc. I don't think it's okay for teachers to be technologically illiterate. I think that it should be as important as the other recourses educators use!
As I sat and watched the numbers quickly increase on the media count, I was amazed! Technology is literally moving at a rate faster than the human mind can comprehend! As I think back over my childhood I remember how internet became popular (dial up of course), we had VHS then transitioned to DVD and Blue Ray. We went from the cord phones, to cordless phones, to car phones, then to cell phones, and now smart phones, plus so many other inventions.In just 22 years life as we have known it has changed, and is changing. In just a few short years computers have changed. With this rapid pace, who knows what the future looks like. Who knows what I will by using to complete homework my senior year of college or during my career.
Viewing this is hard to wrap your brain around, but definitely broadens your horizons and makes you really wonder "what could be?"
