Project 9A Timetoast Timeline

Blog Assignment 5

 Scott Mcleod is a professor at the Univeristy of Kentucky. He is also the director of CASTLE, which is the nations only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators. Don’t Teach Your Kids This Stuff Please is a blog post published by Scott Mcleod. Mcleod’s blog post was very sarcastic. He is explaining that we should not allow students to use technology because it is negative in many ways. Sarcastically he is saying that technology can benefit our students regardless of the negative things that it may portray. I completely agree with Mcleod’s blog post I believe as teacher we need to balance the traditional classroom with technology. We should not strongly depend on one or the other. As teachers we need to teach our students the positive things about the internet and how they must use it to their advantage.

The iSchool Initiative is a video done by Travis Allen when he was a student in high school. He was proposing that a program named ischool should be used in all schools. This program would be used by both teachers and students. It would cut back the cost of supplies purchased by the schools. The ischool would replace the things that former teachers would struggle with. Calculators, globes, and papers would no longer need to be provided for students physically.

 I was actually amazed by this video. With Travis being a young student in high school his proposal was mature. I believe if all schools took action with this it would tremendously benefit both teachers and students. The cost of materials has been a major problem in our school systems. With this proposal schools could bundle the cost every year.

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir video was outstanding. The use of internet in this production was beyond amazing. Below the video states that these people never met or practiced this in person. The choir sung this entire song via internet. I have honeslty never realized how we can accomplish so many things over the internet with ever meeting in person.

Teaching in the 21^st Century was transformed into a video by Kevin Roberts. Kevin Roberts is displaying how different it will be to teach in the 21^st century compared to before. Technology has changed dramatically, which means our teaching skill should do the same. The use of technology will strongly be in affect over a matter of time. As instructors, we must be up to date with the latest technology to teach to our students. We may need to change our teaching strategies. Catching a student’s attention in the future will be far more difficult. Students will be able to depend on internet research to answer most of their questions. Teachers will need to change their approach to remain as the “educator”.

The Reading Rockets website is full of all types of resources for reading. It has tabs for teachers, parents, librarians, and principals. The site has links that can help with most reading problems. It also has links for classroom strategies. I believe this can be helpful for teachers in many ways. There are many students with reading problems, with this site we can go and find different ways to help our students. There are videos, books, and guides that can all be reviewed on the site.

The site would help with a place for parents to look and also try to solve reading problems. Teachers can refer parents to this site for further help at home. It has definitions to explain certain reading problems that parents may not understand. The principals and librarians also have a tab located, which can help the students school wide.  

Blog Assignment 4

After reading the Langwitches’s blog post Podcasting with First Grade, I learned more about podcasting. The younger students were learning to podcast in the classroom. The students were recording an interview and acting out the part of two characters from the current book they were reading in class. Surprisingly the students were very interested in podcasting. The teacher stated that the students were cooperative and attentive with the podcast.  The students were learning new skills in podcasting such as recording and editing. I found it amazing how this caught first graders interest and the skills they were learning at a young age.

The benefits of podcasting in the classroom is a video done by Joe Dale. This video is simply describing the different ways podcasting is beneficial in the classroom. Joe Dale states that podcasting promotes creativity and innovation. After reading about podcasting, I agree with the benefits that were acknowledged in this video. Students can benefit from podcasting in ways that they will not experience in any other way.

Judy Scharf’s podcast collection was very informative. I did not know anything about podcasts before reading this collection. This page describes exactly “what is a podcast” and “tips to succeed”. These two points were the most helpful to me. I now know that for my podcast I should do research on the software I will be using. Becoming comfortable with the software for podcasting is another factor that I learned is important.

My Sentence Movie

C4T #1

I was assigned to Brian Crosby's blog, Learning is Messy. I really enjoyed reading his blog and the topics that were discussed. In the first blog post I read, he was explaining his use of technology in his classroom. His main use that I picked up on was Skype. He used Skype in his classroom to actually keep a student posted on work because they were unable to attend class. I left a comment explaining to him how amazing I thought this was. The way he used Skype with his students was diffrent from what I have seen before.

The second blog post I read was about an article that he was actually featured in. The ariticle was about students grades and that depending on if a teacher should keep their job.Brian Crosby was quoted saying: “No one says that poverty means that these kids can’t learn,” he added, “but that is the meme that is promoted. Instead, we need to recognize the problem, and like America has always been admired for, take it head on and solve the problem.” I commented on this blog post agreeing with what he was saying. Student have issues both at home and school, I believe it is completly unfair to only blame the teacher. We must look at other factors and fix them, instead of pointing the finger at one individual.

My life story

Blog Assignment 3

Technology inSpecial Education

This video shows how this teacher is using technology to enhance her students learning. The students stated themselves that computers helped them to complete their work. Although some of these students were unable to communicate with the teacher verbally, using computers helped them communicate in a tremendous way. The teacher allowed the students to use technology to help them with certain needs that they were unable to complete before. The computers helped with commutation, vision, and hearing.

After watching this video, I realized how technology can be beneficial to everyone. I never knew that computers could help students in such a major way. When I was in school I did not see computers being used to help special needs students. I believe this new use of the computers is amazing in every way. Technology is not only being used for entertainment, it is not being used to help in ways they were never used before.

EducationalApps

After searching for an app that would be helpful for use in the classroom with a special needs student, I found plenty. I did not know Apple has some many apps that teachers or parents can use to help their students. I chose the app SmartKids Picture Dictionary. This app is used for younger kids learning the English language. With teaching elementary school special needs students will be falling behind the other students. By this grade level students should be able to identify some words and pictures. This app is used to help teach words and pictures together. It increases the child’s vocabulary. I would use it to help the students with identifying words and processing them. I believe it will be beneficial to special needs students because of the involvement it requires. If the student is more involved, most likely the more they will grasp.

Gary HayesSocial Media Count

This counter done by Gary Hayes is an amazing eye-opener. The use of social networking and internet researching is growing tremendously. The networking that we as students are being introduced to will most likely be outdated when we become teachers. New updated items are being added to technology at a very fast pace.

As upcoming teachers, we must keep ourselves updated with the latest technology spree. If we keep ourselves informed then we can inform our students. Using the social media and making it beneficial to our students in a positive manner will have a great impact on their future. I believe teachers who used technology to the fullest have a better outcome with their students. We need to stay away from the traditional classrooms, and take advantage of our technology.

Michael Wesch:A Vision of Students Today

This video done by Michael Wesch is enlightening to both teachers and students. From a students’ point of view, I realized that we are not highly involved with our education in the classroom. Students are doing the minimum or just enough to get by and this is accepted. We are not being pushed or motivated to perform the maximum work in classrooms. This begins to fall upon our teachers. As a teacher, I plan to have my students involved as much as I can without overpowering them. I believe some of our teachers today do not know the difference in this. It is okay to push students, but we do not want to make them give up on their education either. Students have outside lives besides school and as teacher we need to keep this in mind. We need to have our students involved in the classroom and push for extra involvement outside the classroom.

Blog Assignment 2

Did you know

Did You Know? 3.0 - A John Strange 2012 Version

This YouTube video by Dr. Strange was beyond interesting. The original video had more facts involved, but they were both amazing videos. Sitting down and actually thinking about how technology is changing our everyday lives has never dawned on me until now. The United States strongly depends on technology every day to do simple tasks. Sad to say if technology was taken away from us we would be in a world of trouble. Our younger students are now being taught to depend on technology at an early age. After leaving the elementary school level our students will know things about technology that older students would have never learned.

There was a fact in the video stating that India has more honors kids than America has kids. This fact alone is outstanding. The second fact I found amazing was that the top ten demanding jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004. This shows how much our world is changing every day. As educators we must be teach our student the most recent technology or they will fall behind quickly. Our future will be based on technology highly and we must prepare our students for this early.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

Mr. Winkle Wakes The Mr. Winkle Wakes video gives you a surprisingly outlook of how the world has changed but is still the same in one important place. Mr. Winkle traveled from a typical work setting, a typical hospital, and a very typical school setting. All these places seem up to date with technology until you finish the video. Our environment has changed dramatically, but our classrooms are remaining the same. Technology needs to be enforced in all of the newer classes.

Teachers are still following the traditional school settings in our modern day. We as teachers need to embrace technology and use it not only for ourselves but for students also. I have noticed in classrooms how much technology has changed for some students. A select few of teachers are using smart boards to teach every day.

The Importance of Creativity

The Importance of Creativity. This video is focusing on the fact the schools are causing creativity in students to disappear. Subjects in school are taught by what the schools feel are most important. Dance and art aren’t taught to be as important as math and science. Children should be given the opportunity at all age levels to express themselves and be creative. In schools we are teaching students that there is one set way that something must be done and we must follow that. Students should follow what they believe is right. There should definitely be structure when teaching, but teachers don’t have to be extremely strict on one way of learning.

The story that was told about the dancer was enlightening. ADHD is commonly diagnosed in our younger students based on behavior problems.. As teachers, we need to give our students a chance to express themselves and not be quick to say they have a behavior issue. Students have different interest at different ages and we must embrace this instead of discouraging it. This video shows the contributions a teacher can add to a student's future.. It is important that we allow students to be creative in doing their school work. Teachers may have an opinion on what is important to them, but we must take our students opinions and intrest into matter.

A Vision for 21^st Century Learning

A Vision for 21st Century Learning According to this video the new way of learning will consist of using more technology and fewer lectures. Our traditional classrooms now consist of some technology, but mostly the use of lectures. Students will learn in a way that will benefit them in their future workplace. Learning will actually be more involved and fun for students. The video say it will teach them in way that they will not realize they are learning.

I believe this will be a very beneficial way of learning for students. Younger students participate more if school is enjoyable for them. Lectures are a good way of learning but I do not feel like they are necessary. Hands activities have always been an easier way of learning for me. The major idea is that with using technology only, is that all learning styles are being acknowledge in some way.

Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts

Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts

This video shows students using different aspects of technology in the classroom. The teacher is using a different approach than the paper and pencil approach. She also allows her students to teach each other instead of her being the only one to teach. I believe this is important for students to learn.  The more involvement I think the more a student will grasp.

One aspect that I liked that this teacher used was learning from her students. She allowed them to teach her new things. The technology that they were using in the classroom was new to me. I have never seen this type of technology used with students. The more that she is teaching her students, the more they will know for their future jobs.

Project 1 Wordle

My first wordle!