Jan. 31 blog posts

Here's whats coming!

This video makes me think of my own almost two year old. From the time I got my iPhone which was about 6 moths ago she instantly figured out how to slide it and make it come on and how to go to the pictures and find pictures of herself. She even knows how to play videos and games. My son who is five is probably as technologically advanced as it gets. He can operate the computer better than any kid his age I know, he can download apps on my phone and play his DSi all by himself.

I think that children these days learn at such a young age about technology that not using it to teach is a waste! It just doesn't make any sense to me to have the all the resources that we have available to us and not use them or not want to use them.

MEDIA LITERACY! and LITTLE KIDS... BIG POTENTIAL!

This is what I think a classroom in 2010 should look like. Teachers using every available source of technology to teach the kids and kids actually using all the technology instead of a teacher just standing in front of a board, writing and expecting the kids to actually pay attention to whats going on.

These First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class are using blogs, wikis, web pages, and Skype to collaborate and learn while other teachers are still using JUST books and the dry erase board. Now I don't even have to tell you which set of kids is going get more out of their first grade year do I? It just seems unfair that classrooms around the world are so different. I think all teachers should have to use media and technology in their classrooms.

These kids are not just learning about technology but I think they are also learning about internet safety and courtesy. The part where the little boy said you should never say anything mean on a blog because you may hurt someone's feelings really meant that these kids were learning how to treat others online. These kids also had laptops and desktops and looked as if there were plenty of computers for the kids in class. That is so great because computers shouldn't just be used as a gaming station they should be used by all the kids for REAL learning!

I thought it was great how these kids were writing on their blogs and saying that they wanted to learn to write better so that their writing would be better on their blogs. Nowadays it is so hard to motivate kids to learn things and to work hard at something and these kids really sounded like they wanted to get better so their blogs would be better!! WOW! What an inspiration!!!

PODCASTS!

I watched the podcast on the smart board lessons first and I liked it because it was very informal and very real, but for the same reason it was kind of hard to follow because he was ordering coffee and talking to people during the show. Some of the stuff that he said like about DimDim being free he forgot to mention that it was only a trial period. For the most part though I thought that it was informative and would be very helpful for the classroom. I can't figure out though if he was on his cell phone making a podcast on he had his computer in the car with him.

Next I listened to this week in photography. This podcast was very different from the last one from the beginning. It started off my saying all the sponsors and it sounded very professional. There are multiple people on this one, there are guests and regular people on there. This one kind of reminded me of a radio station because it sounded like they were advertising things and talking about current topics rather than just giving information. Where i did think that the first was too informal this one was too much like a radio for me.

The next one I listened to was mac break weekly. It also started out with a professional voice doing advertisements. They were live at the iPad reveal. They were actually live and talking to a studio. They were using skype and twitter. This was more like the news and reporters i thought. By the way I watched this and WANT a iPad LOL! (just thought id throw that in)

Ed TechTalk sounded to me like a at home podcast. It wasn't as professional as the photography one. What I did find interesting about this podcast is that the lady being interviewed was teaching a hybrid class using lots of technology. She had a paperless classroom and an online blackboard which I thought was very neat!

David Warlick reminded me a lot of the smart board lessons because he was in a restaurant which crying children and dishes clinging in the background. It was VERY hard for me to listen to this and focus on what they were saying because of all the background noise. They did talk about bringing people in by skype which I LOVE!

The last one I listened to was KidCast. The KidCast one I listened to was where he was talking about whether to do a podcast or video. I found this podcast VERY helpful. He was very easy to listen to because there was no background noise and was very detailed when he was explaining something.

Amy Stork

Jan. 24 blog posts

1. Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

I found this video to be very enlightening about how college students are alike and how teachers need to adapt to new teaching techniques. The part in the video talks about students being on Facebook during class is true because even I am guilty of doing that as well. I think that if teachers made class a little more interesting or more interactive then students would pay more attention in class.

This edm310 class is one of the more interesting classes that i have taken. I found my self not even looking at the clock the first night I was there! When I did look t the clock it was 8:15 and the class was over. I think that just goes to show that if teachers would adapt to the students way of life, which is the internet for most then I truly believe that students would LEARN the material and have an all around better college experience.

It's Not about the Technology

This is something that I totally agree with. My son's kindergarten class just got a smart board and his teacher was so excited about it. She learned all about it and uses it in her classroom everyday to enhance her teaching. While this a good situation, there are some teachers that have it in there classrooms that don't even use it or use it to strictly play games. Where I don't think that the smart boards are a waste of money I think that we should mandate teachers take technology classes every year to keep up to date with changing technologies.

Most kids in school in the 21st century will be far more advanced in technology than there teachers that are teaching them. I don't think that there is any way that teachers can continue to teach without using the newest technologies available and keep kids interested in learning.

"Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?"

I am so glad to be reading this. This is what I haven been thinking for quite some time now. I mean how can we as teachers except to continue to teach students in the same mean that it has been done for years now? While I understand that writing skills are important to learn I believe that typing and computer literacy skills are equally important.

Mr Fisch's statement that principles and head teachers should be held accountable for the teachers not being technologically literate could not be better stated if I said it myself. IF the people who are in charge are themselves not technologically literate and do not make it mandatory for their staff to be then what kind of message is that send =ing to the students who are in their classrooms? It's saying that the teachers and principles don't care enough about their students to learn every possible way to enrich their students educational career.

I for one do no think it is funny or acceptable for grown ups much less teachers to state that they "don't know anything about computers". I actually had two college professors last semester who stated several times "oh I don't know how to use my cell phone much less those computers!" I was appalled!! Why in the world these college professors would make themselves sound so non-educated to their students, who no doubt were probably not listening but on Facebook, is beyond me. People today say that they don't know how to use computers like it's something that will just go away and their not going to bother with it. It makes me so mad because it would take them less time to just sit and figure it out then to constantly refuse it. Technology will only get more advanced it's not going away!!

Gary Hayes Social Media Counts

This is very impressive. I think that some of the people who don't want to accept the internet or "don't know how to use it", should watch these numbers continue to rise. It might jumpstart them to get with the program. I think as a future teacher that it is my responsibility to stay up to date on everything that can help me be a better teacher.

I was pretty amazed at how many new internet users there were. I hope that it is people would are trying to learn all they can about new technologies and how it affects them.

Amy Stork

Jan. 17th Blogs

DID YOU KNOW

This video really made me realize that it has not been THAT long ago that the Internet has taken over our everyday lives. I was shocked by most of the numbers on the video. It also made me curious so I watched the rest of the videos on here like it and I really couldn't believe some of the stuff on there! The thing that I think I was most shocked at was the number of babies born while I was watching the video.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

This video is about Rip Van Winkle waking up after 100 years and learning that computers were in most places except for schools. He was very comfortable in the schools because he was not used to computers. I thought this video was very entertaining but also very true! I think that schools should be the first place that there is new technology so that kids can learn it early and begin to use it in there everyday life. While hospitals do need technology just think how much better and easier it would be to learn on that technology if you had been using it since you were 5.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

This video discusses the importance of children's creativity and how we need to adapt our teaching styles to them instead of trying to make all children college professors. Ken is so funny but makes makes a really good point. It makes such good sense not to kill a child creativity. The point about children giving things a chance without the fear of being wrong made me really think about my own 5 year old son and how he will just do things just to see what will happen and how I always try and make him sit down and think things through before doing them. I mean I know that is something that he has to learn I may do it a little differently after watching this. He was so true about women and multitasking and I never knew why until now!! I do have to say that this was one of the most interesting lectures I have listened to in a while. It touched close to home for me when he began to talk about Gillian Lynne as we just had my son tested for ADHD and his IQ is 137. I struggle with whether or not to put him on medicine and this really made me think harder about it.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

This video was about a teacher in rural Georgia that teaches a technology class. I was so impressed by this teacher and hope to inspire kids the way she is. Her class is really opening the door to all kids. Like she said in the video some kids have trouble when there is just paper. I strongly agree with that. In the case of some kids, like my son, there minds are moving so fast that is hard to get on paper what he is trying to say. I have found that using the computer and teaching him to type his words that he's a lot less frustrated.

by: Amy Stork