Wynter's Favorite Book

This is one of Wynter's favorite bedtime stories that I recorded so she can listen to it when I have to work later. I recorded it with audacity at the same time I did my podcast.

file:///C:/Users/jamie/Desktop/edm310/We%27re%20going%20on%20a%20bear%20hunt.wav

Substantive Presentation

For my presentation I decided to use my Blackberry to record my daughter reading her weekly fluency passage. Tho goal is for her to read the passage correctly in a minute or less. When we started she could read the passage with 3 seconds left and on her test on 4/23/10 she completed the passage with 15seconds left. Hearing where she had trouble helped her correct her mistakes, and she really enjoyed recording and hearing herself on the phone.
http://www.johnstrange.com/edm310/jamieanderson/Winter.mov

Final Blog Post

I was excited about several of the projects we did during this semester. My favorite being the Comments4Kids project. I was inspired by kids use of technology. I am planning on teach my daughter and her cousins to use Skype to stay in touch with each other, versus running up my phone bill. I was also excited about making my podcast, even though I ended up doing it by myself . It wasn’t the best , but not bad for my first try. What excites me about the podcast and videocasts is I can see using them on a class web page and/or blog with my future students to help them keep up with class if they have to be out, or to go back a review for a test. Audacity was great to work with, I even used it to record myself reading my daughters favorite book , so she can listen to it at bedtime while I am at work. Before this class I hadn’t really ever used YouTube so, that is a great resource tool that I have gained . My husband and mother are both computer programmers so, spreadsheets and databases I’ve used before, but I hadn’t used Google Docs before this class, but it does make the information on accessible. Itunes and ItunesU were another resource site that I hadn’t ever used prior to this class, and I was impressed with the amount of podcast were available for download. Picasa has been wonderful to use, my husband is a camera nut, so I have 200 pictures of our daughter , not including all the other pictures he’s taken . Picasa has made it easier to sort them, and decide which ones to keep. The Comments4Teachers project was informative, I really enjoyed reading the blog sites At the Teacher’s Desk and Bits and Bytes. The Personal Learning Network project is a little bit more of a problem for me since I don’t get to send a lot of time on the computer right now, but I am working on it. I love meeting and talking to new people, I do everyday at work, but for some reason I have a harder time making connection on line. I join some groups on Classroom 2.0 and twitter. I hope by the time I’m ready to enter the classroom to teach I will have a solid PLN set up. I’m not sure want you can add to this class, but if there is something out there Dr. Strange will find it. I don’t thing there is anything that was taught during this class that should be forgotten; some of the subjects might apply to some more then others, but all knowledge is good to have, you never know when you might needed it.
Dr. Strange you asked if there was anything we would change, so I’ll tell you what I think. I think that this course would better serve us future teacher if it we were required to take it closer to the time when we start student teaching. The reason I say this is that technology is constantly changing and by the time we start teaching in 2 to 3 years a lot of what we learned will be outdated. I know you want all of us to keep learning alone, with and from others, but realistically how many of your former students keep a blog today.
Ok, next thing I would change would be the student should have the option of taking this class as a real hands on class, or the hybrid or online version. I would really like to be able to take this class as a hands on in, lab room type setting , like Dr. Christie’s Class. I don’t register for online classes unless the class isn’t offered any other way, I have too many distraction at home. I wouldn’t say that the workload is too much, but I would say that it is easy to be overwhelmed with all of it, if you let it. I would say that I am at a medium level of technological literacy. My plan to improve my technological literacy is to try spend more time on line reading blog, and hopefully building my PLN, and playing around with the tools I’ve learned to see how I can incorporate them into the classroom.

Comments4Kids Week 12 & 13

In week 12 comments 4 kids assignment I was assigned to the Team One Rock Stars and to Shyla. Shyla posteds a picture she drew and a story she dictated to her teacher, in which she explained the picture. I thought she looked cute with her pigtails and her blue, blue sky.
In week 13 comments 4 kids I was assigned comment on Lorenzo’s story about his kayaking trip. His story was cute. I like he got back into the kayak after he had fallen out. I told he I hope I am as brave as him if I get to go kayaking one day.

Comments4Kids Week 10

Eric a student in Ms. Kolbert's class shared an article about the jellyfish species called turritopsis nutricula, also known as the immortal jellyfish. Yes, it is really immortal. It can regenerate back to its polyp stage, and can start asexual reproduction all over again. If this jellyfish wasn't so tiny, about the size of a pinkie finger nail, my over active imagination would be in envisioning jellyfish taking over the world. After reading the article Eric shared I headed over to youtube and found a lot of videos about this jellyfish. Below you will find my favorite video out of the ones I found. If you want to read the article I have include a link to it as well. Jellyfish Article

Comments4Kids Week 9

My comments for kids week nine assignment was a post for class by teacher site, Mr. McClung's World. The post I was assigned to read was Cold War Kids, which turned out to be a indie band. The band was Mr. McClung's choice for his band of the week. The band used blogs and social networks to promote their music. The band is a good example of how much easier it is for musicians today to promote themselves and their music using technology.

Commets4Teachers Cycle Two

Ms. She only has two post since January; the two post are a summary of what she learned in 2009 by using twitter. So, I went back to her 2009 posts to see what else she had to say. In her post from July 2009 she mentions Seth Godin , a successful author and marketing guru. She had embedded a video with him addressing the issue of social networking. I am including it here for you guys to watch, since I think he makes a good point. I went to you tube and watched a few more of his videos, he is an interesting guy. Jenny She really likes twitter. Just about everything else she posted was dealing with twitter. I did take a look at her class site,Little Voices, Little Scholars, in which showcases her students work. I was impressed with it. Her blog, Jenny's Learning Journal on the other hand wasn't what I expected after reviewing Ms. Carnevale's site in the last comments4teachers cycle. I guess I was expecting more post on a broad range of topics. I think that Ms. She has done a great job in developing her social networking skills, which is something that I have trouble with. She has done a great job in incorporating technology into her classroom.

The second post that I read from Ms. Carnevale was on 02/24/10. This posting was what she calls Website Wednesday. She listed five different sited on this posting. The first was a site called Schoolhouse Rock, I loved this site, it was old school music videos on just about every topic you would need in teaching elementary students. They list the lyrics for you so you can teach them to your students. The next site she mention was Harvey's Homepage. This site is for all you math lovers. This site offers a variety of different math lessons for teacher to download.
The next site was my favorite The Science Zone. The Science Zone offer interactive science activities and games for students. It offers a wide range of topics. This next site is for all the book lovers. The site is called 180 Alternatives to Book Reports and it gives some creative ways to get the students to show what they read. Last but not least she tells us about Magic Studios. Magic Studios is a Free website that allows to create interactive websites for your students, without knowing any special programming skills. You can make online quizzes that provide feedback when the correct or incorrect answer is selected. It even offers a library that you can browse to view a variety of resources others have created.

The third post I read was posted on March 5th and was entitled Tech Stars. Ms. Carnevale setup a wiki project that included third graders, fourth graders and fifth graders from across the country to collaborate on writing and illustrating a story. She had enough class who signed up to participate in the project she divided them into two groups. The goal behind the project was to have the students improve their writing skills while utlizing twenty-frist century technology. A side beifit is the students get to learn about new regions by reading about the areas where each partictate class is located, each class got it's own wiki page where they described their home city. The stories are very cute, the students are doing a great job. If you want to check the stories out I has included the links below.
Write On Intro

Group One Story Group Two Story

I really like this site, Ms. Carnevale does an excellent job of helping the teachers and the student in her area to use technology in the classroom and with is blog she is also helping teachers across the world as well. I know I already commented on three of her post, but I wanted to mention something she posted on 3/15/2010. She entitled it Can you wipe your feet online? she reminds everyone that anytime you put anything online it stays there, and anyone can google you and fine it. She brought up a good point in that more and more employers are googling applicants before hiring them to see how they are presenting them selves to others online. She shares a cute video, you can watch it below. Thank You, Ms. Carnevale for sharing.

I was assigned to read Bits and Bytes, Ann Carnevale’s website. Ms. Carnevale is an instructional Technology Specialist, and she developed this website to help the elementary teachers of Plainville Community Schools, in Plainville, CT. It is intended to be a vehicle for sharing information and news related to technology use and integration in the classroom. I loved this site Ms. Carnevale recommends some wonderful sites, some geared to the students and others to help the teachers. I started with the post on 02/22/10, in this post she presents a video to teach you how to use labels in gmail to organize your emails. I learned a few things so I decided to included the video in this post so everyone can watch it. I hope it helps you too.

Gmail Labels

Survey Summary

I didn’t have a theme to my survey I just came up with some questions I thought were relevant to a class full of education majors. I started with wanting to know what type of teacher everyone is planning on becoming. I had twenty-six people respond to my survey. Fifty percent are planning on becoming a secondary teacher, forty-two percent are becoming elementary and twelve percent are planning on focusing on special education. I wanted to know what subject the secondary students were planning on teaching, math and English both had four future teachers, social studies has two, and seventeen replied other, and science had zero future teacher from the twenty-six responses. The next portion of my survey had questions about EDM310 class, the first question asked was if they thought they would be able to implement the tools we are learn this semester into our classroom when we start teaching . Sixteen of the twenty-six responded that they thought they would definitely would be able to use the tools, and the other eleven responded that they would able to use the tools maybe…. No one responded with a no, that they would not be able to use the tools we have been taught, so all of them will at least try to use the tools we have been taught. The next item was on the hybrid format of the class. The majority sixty-two percent stated they could take it or leave it, they didn’t love the format, but they didn’t hate it either. Twenty-three percent of the responders hated the hybrid format, and nineteen percent love the hybrid format. The next section was general questions to find out the demographics of the responders. Eighty-one percent were female and nineteen were male and sixty-nine percent were between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, eight percent are between twenty-six and thirty. Twelve percent are between thirty-one and thirty-five, four percent between thirty-six and forty, and eight percent forty-one or older. I asked the responders if they had considered themselves a technology literate person before they began this class, and sixty-nine percent answered that yes the did considered themselves tech literate before EDM310 and thirty-eight responded no they had not considered themselves tech savvy before EDM310. The next questions I asked was if they thought students should be able to take notes in class using their laptop, I let the responders answer this in their own words, most agreed that the student should be allowed to use their laptops in class, but there were a few were concerned that the students wouldn’t use the laptop for note taking. The last thing I wanted to know was when the last time they had read a book for pleasure, not for a class. Most said they read for pleasure regularly, only a few stated that they only read wants required by their classes. Thanks to everyone who took the survey for me. To view the data click here.

Michael Wesch Video

The Machine is Changing Us: YouTube and Politics of Authenticity a video by Michael Wesch was a insightful video. It makes you reflect on the effect media has on your life. Mr. Wesch believes that Neil Postman’s” Amusing Ourselves to Death” is more appropriate today then when it was written more then twenty years ago. He gives an example by using the word “whatever” and how the meaning of the word has changed throughout the years. Starting out by meaning whatever - that’s want I said, before the nineteen sixties, to the whatever- I don’t care by the end of the sixties, to the MTV generation’s change from whatever to the interfere “meh” and finally to today’s whatever- meaning I’ll do what ever I want to weather you like it or not. I agree with Mr. Wesch we need to turn that whatever into I will help who ever needs help whatever it takes. We need to learn to be less selfish, to teach our children to care for one another, to be proactive in changing the world for the better for all. To answer Dr. Stranger’s questions, how does this video relate to my life? Between work and school I have very little free time, but I will admit I spend to much of it in front of the TV, when I should be spending time with my family and friends. I don’t have a typical college life, I am thirty-two years old, a mother , and a wife, my college life is interwoven with my personal life. Me and daughter have shows we watch together that brings us closer, girly shows as my husband calls them, and there are shows my husband and I watch together , and some I watch by myself, which isn’t hard since we have three TV’s in the house and four computers. My husband watches YouTube all the time, the only time I watch it is for a class assignment. After watching this video I see it in a whole new way. I think as a teacher I could use YouTube in a variety of ways once I become more familiar with how it works. I also think I should read Mr. Postman’s book. I’ll let you know how I like it once I read it. I was moved by the free hug video, everybody has those days when they just need a hug, and the video with man in the mask and the hand statement was inspiring. It makes you realize your not alone in wanting everyone to just come together and agree to fix the worlds problems. If everybody would treat each other the way they want to treated we wouldn’t have so many problems.

This is how we dream

Richard Miller’s “This is how we Dream” kind of made me sad, I love reading books, I would much rather snuggle down in my recliner and read a book, then read a blog, ebook, or a web comic. I know he was referring to academic books becoming absolute in paper format, but long do we have before all books are only available in digital format. It might not happen in my lifetime, but I expect it will had in my daughters lifetime. Okay, on to Dr. Stranger’s questions, Am I prepared to write in multimedia and will my students be able to write in multimedia? I think that I need practice in combining written words, with video, and sound since it isn’t something I’ve had to do a lot of. I think my students will have an easier time using multimedia then I do, I’ll probably learn tricks from them. Students today have been exposed to computers since they were very young, where as nobody had a PC at home until the Commodore 64 came out; nowadays almost everybody has a computer a home. My husband built our daughter one when she was four. I think that what her generation will accomplish will surprise us all, and I think that as a teacher I owe it to my students to never stop learning, and to allow them to teach me something sometimes. As educators we should help our students fulfill all their dreams.

The Networked Student

Ms. Drexler’s video “The Networked Student” was very intriguing. The idea of this type of class for high school and middle school students just blew my mind. I think it’s a great pedagogy . The earlier a student is taught that there isn’t any limits on what they can learn, and to look and think outside the ordinary, the better student they will become. Wendy Drexler stated on her website that isn’t the obstacles she knows she’ll face that worry her, it’s the unforeseen ones that worry her; with reading the potential problems that she does know about and she is still prepared to take on the challenge of turning middle school science students into networked students makes her a true visionary in teaching. I am inspired by her. I hope by the time I graduate I will be ready to tackle the obstacles I’ll face in teaching my students to be networked students. I don’t think I am ready yet, but I am committed to learn what I need to know to prepare myself to help my students on their journeys to become networked students. Dr. Strange posses the question “Why does the networked student even need a teacher?” My answer to this is that everybody needs help or guidance a some point during their journey . Some students will need more help then others , some need motivation to stay on track, and so just need praise for a job well done, what ever they need it’s the teachers job to give it to them, even if it is discipline, they have to know that you care about them and their future.

ipods and itunes U

Itunes U and ipods go together so I’ll discuss both of them together. First I don’t have an ipod, but after all the research I ha’ve read concerning their uses in the class room, I think I need one. Dr. Strange wanted us to start with Duke University concerning the use of ipods in the classroom, so I did. I was impressed with the universities willingness to go out on a limb and try something so radical. Duke is not the only university that jump in to the ipod learning movement . Georgia College and State University started similar projects in 2002. GCSU website goes into detail about how the program was started and how it has evolved into an icommunity . The use of the ipods for learning isn’t just for the students at GCSU, a series of podcast for faculty improvement were also made available to the faculty who couldn't make faculty workshops. These podcast can be found on itunes U. Itunes U has gives anyone access to a ton of learning opportunities. Teachers can go to itunes U and find help with any subject. I like teacher TV. This area is divided into subjects, English, math, and science,which I was thrilled to find, since I still looking for ways to use the technology that we are learning to teach science. I just hope that the administrators that I will have to work with will be as open as Robert Craven of the Orange County Department of Education who told Susie Meserve of the Associated Press about his reaction to the ipod “When the original 5 GB version came out I thought it was interesting. Once I got my hands on one, however, I was blown away. I immediately tried to rationalize its use in education, to determine how we could move these into the classroom.” if all educators were that eager to try new methods of teaching all of our schools would be better. When asked how was his schools using the ipods in the class rooms he gave several examples. My favorite was the recording of the first grades reading their weekly fluency passage, the students are supposed to read as many words correctly as they can in 60 seconds. My daughters in the first grade and we practices all week for these test, I would love to hear how she did on the actual test. I think by letting them hear themselves read it would help the pronounce words better.

Dr. Strange's Wiki Page

Dr. Strange asked us, his students, What is meant by "technology literate teacher" on his Wiki page a tech literate teacher at wiki spaces.com. A technology literate teacher , to me, is someone who not afraid of using technology to teach their student using methods that are going to give the students hands on experience. No matter which grade level or subject you are going to teach the students have to be excited about learning and they have to be challenged if not, they are going to be bored. A technology literate teacher must try new things as they come available, and learn from mistakes as they happen. Technology literate teachers will continue to learn not only from colleagues but from their students as well. What is a TL teacher to know? That’s a hard one to answer, nobody can know everything, but all of use know some, so when we come together the possibilities are endless. If I need help teaching a certain skill I can log on and ask for help. By using the resources available to us the students benefits, instead of one teacher the actually have millions of teachers.
Dr. Strange also asked us "Must all teachers be technologically literate?". This one seems easy right, of course every teacher should be technologically literate. However, we have to remember that there are some teachers out there that have been teacher before computers were a normal household item. With that being said I think that in today’s society every teacher should be able to use every resource that they have available to them. I think that there are some that are afraid of making mistakes, so they don’t try, and it is sad that they have forgotten that you can’t learn something new without being willing to make a few mistakes. So, yes I think all teachers should be technologically literate. I think that the willingness to evolve as the world around evolves will make us better teachers.

Dr. Alice Christie

Dr. Alice Christie's Educational Technology Guide provide a lot of useful information. I was interested in her section about Constructivism. This is the first time I have come across this term in relation to education so, I googled it, and this is how www.funderstanding.com defines it “Constructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own “rules” and “mental models,” which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences. I read Dr. Christie’s page and PowerPoint concerning Constructivism, and I think that the theory of students and teachers working together as co-learners is great. I always learn more by being an active part of the process then just by listening to a lecture. I also watched her podcast about geocaching, since it is something I have been planning to do with my daughter. I loved that she gives teacher idea’s on how to incorporate geocaching into a lesson. I bookmarked her site since it had so much information, I am certain that I will be back.

February 14th Assignment

I wasn’t surprised that Wikipedia isn’t the best source of information. Any site that can be edited by anybody with a computer can’t be trusted. If I use information I found on Wikipedia I verify it with another source. Virgil Griffith’s Wikipedia Scanner just proves that the information on Wikipedia can’t be trusted. I’m not surprised that politicians and major corporations would go in and change their Wikipedia page, both pay people to monitor their public image. Do I think that Wikipedia will ever be a reliable information source, maybe. The only way that Wikipedia will ever be a reliable source is if the information that is added is verified and removed if founded to be inaccurate.




Mr. McClung summary of what he learned during his first year teaching was thoughtful . I loved when he said to listen to your students because you may be the only one that does. I believe that to truly help someone you have to know them, and to know them you have to listen to them. I like his comment about communication since it is the key to any relationship, be it a personal or working relationship. I agree that a teacher should be flexible, anything can happen to derail a carefully laid plan. I think the most important advice that Mr. McClung gives us is to make the students the center of our lessons and to remember that it doesn’t matter who else is observing the class, the students is still our audience. I recommend that every check this blog out. http://attheteachersdesk.blogspot.com

February 7th Assignment

I chose to read the posts on podcasting at http://langwitches.org . The first post
“It’s Not About the Tools. It’s About the Skills.” was a very enlightening post. It’s crazy
how we always challenge what we don’t understand. If a parent isn’t familiar with computer
lessons, and just see it as a waste of time, then it is our jobs to explain to them what the lesson is
teaching the student, so that they can understand that their child is being taught important skills. This post gave a lot of information on how to use podcasting in teaching and how to explain to parents the reason behind the use of technology . I enjoyed the “Flat Stanley Project” The podcasts the first graders did was great, I think that the kids’ podcasts were better then mine. They picked out an area to visit, researched it, and made up a tale about their adventures. The digital storytelling post and podcast was interesting The post “Producing a Podcast “ gave details on how to produce your own podcast. I agreed with her post about reflection. It is always important to reflect on projects that have been completed, to think about what the project taught you. The picture to the left was created and shared by langwitches blog.

Comment4Kids

Week 4

My first student to comment on was a student named Chase T. at the Avoca West School.
Chase post was a book review of The Eagle Spike. Chase did a really good job in the review. He gave just enough of information to spark the readers interest in the book, but not too much were he gave the entire book away.

Week 5

Curtis was the second kid I was assigned to comment on. Curtis had written a short story about being bitten by a radioactive spider. This kid is a wonderful writer. He used descriptive words very well, I could almost feel the bit myself.


Week 6

This week I watched a silent movie that Ala had made recounting her holiday vacation, which she had titled "Battling with the Wind". Ala tells us before we watch the video that her little sister wanted to go swimming. In the video we see the wind blow her little sister around. This was a very cute video.


Week 7

Nicholas is writing a story about a vampire bunny. I will have to check back in to see how he finishes the story.

Week 8

James' blog was about finding the correct voice to write in and choosing the correct words. I agree that if you know who you are writing to finding the correct words is easier to do.

MY PRESENTATION

January 31st assignmets

Podcast Reviews

When I typed in Smartboard lesson it download a short podcast titled Timmys & A Tip, so I listen to it first. I was not impressed with this podcast. Ben Hazzard, the podcaster, was at a coffee shop waiting to order, while he was doing this podcast. There was a lot of background noise, which was distracting. It was short, and really didn't give very much information. The caster was promoting a website called dimdim.com, which is a web meeting site. I was confused why it would come up under the search for the Smartboard Lesson podcast, until I double clicked the icon for the podcast and it pulled up a list of podcasts. In this list was the Smartboard Lesson podcasts. Mr. Hazzard was one of the hosts of the podcasts. I chose to listen to episode#149, which was titled the " Top 5 Smartboard Misuses. I listen to 18 minutes of this podcast and I never heard any of those misuses mentioned. I have to say that this podcast was much easier to listen to then the first. They did list six different websites for teachers to checkout. Since the podcast's target listeners are teachers wanting to learn how to properly use smartboards, and not the general public I didn't see the need for needless chatter before they even got to the topic.
The next podcast I listened to was Kidcast episode#62. This podcast was comparing audio podcasting and video pocasting. This podcast was easy to listen too, it was clear and gave detailed information. The caster stated that video podcasting, while needed in some cases, requires more production time. I felt like if had listen to the entire podcast I would know what lesson or subject would require a video and which an audio, and what was required to make a successfully video podcast. This was my favorite podcast.
I listen to three different episodes of ConnectLearning, episodes 90,92, and 96. None of these podcast were very clear, there was too much background noise. I honestly think that the background noises were hard to control, since all of this were recorded at conferences or workshops. All of these podcast were in a question and answer format. I think that these podcast are good for getting ideas, or good for people who wanted to see what they missed at the workshop or conferences, but not that informative.
EdTech Talk was a podcast that focused on helping teachers who are teaching online classes. I know I sound like a broken record, but once again I taught there was to much background noise, and open "space" sound. I think the topic of this podcast is an important one,since I think a lot of classes are moving from the classroom to online. I know a middle school teacher that taught her classes online during a two week period during a flu outbreak so the students and teachers wouldn't be at risk. I would hate for K -12 to switch to online classes, because I like they need the social skills we learn during those years, but I can see how It can help during medical or weather problems, just think, if the schools are closed due to bad weather, they just move the class online until the danger passes.
Listening to Macbreak Weekly and This Week in Photography, were very much alike. The photography podcast had more information for the general public, but I didn't like the format. It sound like a couple of buddies getting together and talking about their shared hobby. I didn't like Macbreak at all. The focus was on the ipad, and that was all they talked about. They spent a good 5minutes on the name alone. I think this podcast was for all the apple fans out there, not the general public.
Over all I learned that its hard to make a podcast that doesn't have background noise, since most of them had at least a little bit. I liked a podcast that gets to the point, and gives me the information I'm looking for instead making me listen to chit chat. I hope when I have to do my podcast I'll be able to cut out the background noise and get to the point.

Ms. Cassidy's Class and tech baby videos

The video about Ms. Cassidy's class made me see red! I have a daughter in the first grade, and I can tell you they are not doing anything close to the kids in her class are doing. I let her watch the videos too. She wanted know why she didn't have computers in her classroom. She wants to put her pictures and class work on the computer too. We sat down together and set up a blog page for her and this week as she brings home work I am going to scan it in for her. How are our kids going to compare to other kids across the world once they are grown if they do not get the same level of experience. My daughter is lucky me and my husband can take the time to teacher her everything we know, but what about the parents out there that work two jobs just to pay the bills and buy the necessities. It isn't fair to our kids to not have every learning tool available to them so they can succeed. I wonder how many of our schools here in mobile county have smartboards in every classroom? Is there something as parents we can do to hold the schools accountable for what they aren't teaching our kids? The government doesn't test for technology skills levels, and in this technical world shouldn't they? Consider the baby with the iPhone, if he can master it now, what will he be capable of when he is six, if he is given the chance and the tools.

Added Assignments 1/24

Gary Hayes Social Media Counts
I think that this count just proves that we as future teachers have to stay on top of how the world of media is changing. We have to be ready when we step foot into our classrooms; we won't have time to play catch up. I not sure how I will use media in my future classes, but you can be sure I will figure it out before I'm finished here at South. I don't think I ever thought about using media in my future classroom, other than powerpoint, before this class. So, I know I have some work to do before I can consider myself a tech-literate teacher.

Video #1

Mr. Wesch's "A Vision of Students Today" brings up some very good questions.
Is the current system of higher education working? College is suppose to teach
students not only subject matter, but also how to use or apply that knowledge to
solve problems they will encounter in the future. Most of my classes just pump you
full of information, but don't show you how that information can be used. How many
of the courses required to get your degree are still relevant in today's society?
Technology will solve all our problems? I don't think so. For those few students who
type faster then they write I can see them taking note on a laptop, but the students I know
that take their laptops to class they do anything but take notes with it. Online class are suppose
to be the future of education, but having taken a few online classes; I honestly would prefer
to go to regular class. I think that online class are great of some personality types, but not so good for others.
The cost of higher education is astronomical;it takes between ten to twenty years to pay off most student loans. What is going to cost in thirteen years when my daughter will be going off to college? Can the cost of higher learning be lowered? Why does a ebook cost almost as much as the hard copy textbook? Why is the international textbooks cheaper then the US textbooks?
I don't have the answers to these question, but I hope there is a way to fix the ever grow cost of college.



Video # 2

"It's Not about the Technology" by Kelly Hines, was a very insightful article, posted at www.eduratireview.com. Ms. Hines, who is a tech-savvy teacher,tells us that it's not the lack of technical tool, but the mind set of the teachers that need to be changed first. I agree completely; what good does it do to put a smart board in a classroom with a teacher who can't check their email, or doesn't know what a blog is. Number one on Ms. Hines' list of things to change
is that teachers must be learners! I love it. Teachers should always stay as updated as possible in their subject, research,tools, and the world around them. Kelly wrote "If a student has not learned, no matter how much effort has been exerted, no teaching has been done." I could not have said it any better, if the student didn't learning anything how can you say you taught them, start over and try teach the subject in a different way. I think Ms. Hines got to the root of the problem in most of today's schools. Most teachers I've encountered since my daughter and nieces have started school have been good teachers, but there have been a few that gave me cause for concern. There are too many out there that don't want to change the way they've been teacher for years, I think that some of that is on the administration as well as the teachers. The principles should know which teacher need to go to workshops to learn new tools and make sure they use them, and which ones should retire. If you are no longer passionate about sharing your knowledge with your students then it is time to get out of the classroom.


Video# 3

Mr.Fisch's blog "Is it Okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?" was the best blog I have read so far in this class. He's statement that" technologically illiterate teachers today, is like a teacher not knowing how to read and write 30 years ago." made a few people mad, but nobody really disagreed. The general consensus about the reason that there is some tech illiterate teachers out there, is that they are afraid of making mistakes. I think that is a cope out, nobody can learn something new without making a few mistakes along the way. They don't expect their students to be mistake free when learning a new topic, at least I hope not, so why should the expect it from themselves. I also think that it is the responsibility of the administration to hold their teachers accountable for not using new technology in the class room. My daughter started taking computer class in preschool at age 3; so my husband, a programmer, built our daughter her own computer when she was 4, and now at age 6 she is more computer literate then some of the teachers she had since starting school. I was personally appalled at her teacher's lack of computer knowledge last year, however that teacher and the rest of the kindergarten teachers took a summer workshop on how to use smart boards, which they had installed during the summer. I have always considered myself a computer literate person, but since starting this class, I think I have a few things to learn before I'm ready to embark on my teaching career.

January 17th Assignments Video # 4

Sir. Ken Robinson's message in his video "The Importance of Creativity" is right on target. I agree that all of us learn differently, and we all have our on strengths. My daughter does well in school, but she loves acting out stories she's made up or play games she's invented. People use to educate their children in academics and in the arts so they would be "well rounded", but somewhere along the way as a society we've come to focus on the academic subjects and left the arts behind. I try to expose my daughter to the arts so she can decided where her passion lies.

January 17th Assignments

Did you know? by Karl Fisch was an interesting video. He talks about how the US has a smaller population then China and India, and he thinks that China will one day be the largest English speaking country. Video # 1

According to the information I found India has a larger percentage (10.66%) of English speaking population then China (.77%) does. The next part of the video he talks about how as teachers we are preparing students for the ever changing workforce; trying to teach them not only our subjects, but how to use their knowledge to function in an ever changing technological world. The next segment of the video talks about how the internet has changed our world. We have changed how we approach meeting new people, and keeping in touch with exist friends. Social networks, online dating, texting, gaming, and cell phones have changed how we live, play, and work. The amount of available information is crazy, we can access information with a touch of a button, it beats sending a week at the local library after school to work on a paper or project. My six year old asked my husband what it was like when he was a kid, he told her he didn't have a computer until high school, no cell phone, and no internet, her response was "No internet that's just crazy! Your making that up" she asked me if Daddy was telling a joke. If we have 5 times more words now the Shakespeare did can you imagine what he would write today. The author of this video states that in our lifetime that computers will advance to the point were they will be better then the human brain. I don't know enough about the computer industry to know if that's true, but that's kind of scary if it is.
I did know some of the facts on the video, and others I didn't. I think the video's producer's a little concerned about the population difference between the Us, China, and India.


Video # 2


Mr. Winkle Wakes by Matthew Needleman is a cute video. Mr. Winkle wakes up and goes out and explores his surroundings, he is a little overwhelmed by the changes he sees. The computers, phones, and other electronic devices seem to scare him, so he goes to the school and is happy because it seems to be the same as it did hundred years ago. I know that all schools are not where the should be, but this video is an insult to schools everywhere. I have a six year old and I am involved with her school, They are always raising money and applying for grants to improve the school's equipment and computers. They are currently working on getting smart boards for every classroom, every classroom has at least two computers, and the is a computer lab, which the students go for
computer class, even the kindergarteners. Mr. Needleman, I don't know who you are, or what you do for a living, but if you are worried about the state of you local schools, do something about it, call they and ask them how you can help; trust me they well take all the help the can get. If your problem is that the schools aren't teaching students how to use technology; that's a harder problem to fix. The school administration are the ones who enforce the teaching standards and the older administrators don't know how to use the technology themselves so the don't require their teachers to use it; I think that as the older administrators and teachers are retiring and new ones are coming in the problem will fix it self.
Video # 3

Vicki Davis video was very informative. I agree with her in that there is a way to teach any student, and that you just have to find out how to reach them. I think she has done a great job and I thank her for all her hard work in connecting students and teachers from around the world. I look forward read more about the flat class room project, I think her approach of having the student teach is great, I know I have always learn better my doing something then just hearing about it.