Sunday, March 3, 2013
Project #9 PLN Progress Report
My Personal Learning Network is reall starting to come along. After learning more about a PLN in my last blog post and reading about others it has made it pretty understanding. I have started using twitter as my main tool in my personal PLN. Twitter is an amazing tool to use for a thing such as this. There are all kinds ofdifferent people and pages to reference to on Twitter. Facebook is also a good way to strengthen your PLN. It also has many educators and education pages to help better your educational future. I am also starting to use Pinterest as a resource for my personal PLN. There are thousands of things I can use for stregthening my PLN. I like to keep my main favorites around the core and if I can't find what I'm looking for in either Google, Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest, I will seek my content elsewhere.
C4K Comments
In my 1st C4K, I had a K-5 student who was very bright for his age! His post was short but he was writing about how much fun he has in the snow. He was really excited about the new snow that had fell and that he was going to be able to snow tube.
My comment to him was about how lucky he was to get snow every year and that I was happy to hear his love for it because most people up north believe it to be a burden. I told him about how I had only seen snow twice my whole life and that we hardly ever get any in the South. I asked him what was his favorite thig to do in the snow and to teach me just in case we had a mysterious blizzard one day.
In my 2nd C4K, I had a 2nd grade student who was from a northern state and he loved Hockey! His whole post was about his love for hockey and how much he loved to watch his hometown pro hockey team play which was Pittsburgh. He hoped to one day be a pro hockey player.
My comment to him was introducing myself of course, and then I told him that I didn't know too much about his beloved sport but I was also a huge sports fanatic. I told him that I played college baseball here at the school, and asked about the sports he played besides hockey. I also asked him if he could help teach me some of the rules of hockey.
In my 3rd C4K, I had a young boy who was writing about his trips to the beach over a holiday weekend. He said that he had fun in the water with his dad and that they captured their own mussels and cockles to cook and eat for themselves.
My comment to him was basically telling him that I also loved the beach and hanging out with my family and friends while I was there. I told jim about how hot our summers were in the South because he was from a northern state. I told him about how hot our sand gets and sometimes it's ver hard to walk on. I asked him exactly what were cockles because I have never heard of them. I told him that here on the coast our seafood mainly consists of shrimp, crab, and oysters.
Blog Post #7
Randy Pausch's Last Lecture:
Dr. Randy Pausch was a man of ultimate character. Since my first encounter with one of his lectures earlier in the semester, I have been intrigued by this gentleman. After watching "The Last Lecture," I again was reminded of why I was touched by his words the first time I heard him speak. He wasn't only a man with tips about time management skills, he was brilliant in the way he used words to inspire and motivate people to better their position, whatever that may be. I can only imagine what it would have been like to be present in the Carnegie Mellon University's McConomy Auditorium then night of his last lecture. I'm sure it was thrilling, especially knowing the fact that Dr. Pausch was on his last leg so to say with his health problems. He was very quickly approaching a premature death and still had the intentions of hopefully, helping other people with his words. This man is a hero who had life figured out, unfortunately, things he couldn't control took his life.
Getting away from the emotional side, his message was, and is, genius. He began by talking about achieving personal dreams and enabling others to achieve their dreams as well. He believed he had achieved all of his childhood dreams and that sometimes enabling others to do the same is even more fun. Anything is possible and I think he didn't want us to lose sight of that. The inspiration and permission to dream is huge in his mind, and I think should be a key aspect of everyone. His points about playing on sports teams, experiencing new things, and trying your best all intervene into something bigger than a singular act or subject. If you play on a sports team or join some type of club, you will learn things like teamwork, leadership, responsibility, discipline, and other helpful attributes that you will want to be polished in later on in life. Of course everybody wants to be the star of the team but he used a quote that summed up the greater principle which stated, "experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted." He calls this Indirect Learning or Headfakes where even though you may not be physically successful you still gain positive attributes as you go after them. In summary of goal achieving, you may not achieve every single one of your goals but you will come away from pursuing them with something very valuable.
Dr. Pausch speaks of adversity as a "brick wall." Says they are there not to stop us, but to show us how badly we want something. This makes sense because if you want something bad enough, you will do anything possible to get what you desire. If you still don't get what you desire even though giving it your all, I would think that person could be content about his/her efforts and move on positively from there. I know if I give something my absolute "all" and I still don't come out exactly where I want to be, I can still live with the fact that I tried my best! Most of the time when you do give your all to something you end up on the right path anyway.
There is a lot to learn from this video and I am glad that I was able to get the chance to watch it. Dr. Pausch made me realize that not only should you break through the "brick walls" that try and bound you way from success, but also try and help others do the same! Especially after you have reached all of your goals in life. I hope that one day I am able to say, as he was, that I captured all of my childhood dreams and also found comfort in helping another person or multiple people do the same!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Blog Post #4
Reaction to Podcast Resources:
For those of you who are not sure of what a podcast is I will tell you. A podcast can be defined as a media file that is freely available for download from the internet automatically with software that can handle RSS feeds. This file is then played on a personal computer or mobile device at the listener’s convenience. A podcast can be only audio, only video, or audio/video. I was shown a few different examples of ways and uses of podcasts in an educational setting and chose to look at a certain 3 resources given to me by my EDM310 teacher, Dr. Strange.
The first one I looked at was Langwitches. In this blog article, a teacher is helping kids engage in a read-along story by recording her students' individual voices, while reading as the different characters in the story. She claims that it was amazing seeing her young students closely following the story as they waited to hear their voice played out loud. She claimed the kids brought their own personality to the recordings once the became comfortable with the setup. They started to change pitches and attitude towards the feeling of the words. I feel as if this is an awesome way to keep young students engaged about reading. You are truly getting I would say, 100% attentiveness.
The second resource was The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom. In this video and description, it shows how podcasts are very helpful in education. They claim that it promotes innovation and creativity, which I definitely agree with. This is much easier and fun way of learning things you need to know. Many students do not really progress with traditional ways of teaching. The benefit with a podcast is that you can learn material the way you want to and learn from people you respond to best. This also is an easier way for teachers to interact with students outside of the classroom. A normal school day is a very long day, and sometimes over-capacitates students. Now that teachers can mingle with students away from school, maybe it'll create an easier environment for some students who don't do very well in a classroom setting.
My last resource was Judy Scharf's-Podcast Collection. In this resource, Miss Scharf put together a collection of podcasts from examples, to tips, to how-to guides. This collection would be a tremendous help for students, teachers, or any person wanting to know more about a podcast. It is simply laid out, all you have to do is scroll down the page and through the different types and find what you are looking for. This will definitely help me out on my soon-to-do podcast for my EDM310 class.
-- Special thanks to Ms. Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano for all of her hard work with podcasts and teaching her students to use these special tactics!! This link gives you access to a few of her "Langwitch" examples and her use of podcasts with the kids. Click Me and scroll down to Blog Post #4... Disregard the directions and pay attention to the blue links. The directions are for me.
Have an amazing day!!
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Blog Post #6
The Networked Student:
The video The Networked Student, is a very insightful source on how hopefully the future of education may be. This video was created by Wendy Drexler and narrated by her son. It is just a little over 5 minutes long so I encourage you to take a little time and watch it! It really gives you an idea of how the traditional ways of teaching and the infamous "burp-back" method is on its way out of the door, hopefully for good.
Throughout the beginning of the video, it is elaborating on how a male student is trying to catch on to connected learning or connectivism as a way of getting more out of learning. This guy is trying to take control of his learning without having to rely on a teacher hand and foot, and actually having to get his own hands dirty to understand the material he wishes to learn. He begins to build a learning network from the ground up. He begins to grasp new ways of figuring out what it is he needs to know. Before you know it, he starts to understand the concept of connected learning and synchronized communication, he has the ability to access and validate information properly, he begins to bookmark sites, he creates his own blog, and he starts using iTunes for learning podcasts on different subjects from the best teachers all around the nation and world. He finds that it never hurts to as questions even if he is asking an expert's opinion. He then begins to share his ways of learning and research information for the world to view.
The question is "Why does the networked student even need a teacher?" Clearly, he has made huge strides in a positive way but he will still need guidance along the way. I think a teacher's mission should be to educate his/her students to be able to solve their own problems and build their very own, individual learning network like you seen in Miss Drexler's video. Prepare your students so that the only time you intervene is for small problems and supervision. The teacher is there to show the students ways to ask respectively for help from experts, how to differentiate between factual information and propaganda, how to turn a web search into something more broad with more helpful information, and how to get excited when a he/she finds the desired content. Overall, I think that a teacher should hope that once a student is beyond his/her class, that they continue to use their effective learning network to navigate their future.
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Personal Learning Environment:
The girl in The Personal Learning Environment video, has her stuff in order and I commend her for that. She seems to know where everything she needs to get to is located and has all of her assignments and fun sites organized the way she likes it. The girl in this video sounded a good while younger than me and to be honest I wish I was as organized as she is. She really made me realize how much easier things would be if I slowed things down and organized all my technological learning sites and devices. I'm not saying I am a slob or extremely unorganized, I am just saying she seems to have it a little easier because of her preparedness. She has also had ver good guidance as you can tell, on the uses of technological organization and a personal learning environment. To be honest, until now, I haven't ever been introduced to this method of learning and now that I am, I intend to use it to my advantage.
C4T Post #1
In my first C4T, I encountered a teacher who was very passionate about a particular somebody that was a historical figure but, was undoubtedly never recognized like he should have been. She wrote passionately about a guy named Aaron Swartz, who was a brilliant software programmer and an internet activist. Swartz, proclaimed and protested bravely about online web issues and believed that the government could do a much better job of providing the efficient technology for our younger and older students so they would be prepared for life after school. He was convicted of several charges by a grand jury which included wire fraud, that had a maximum sentence of up to 35 years. Shortly after the allegations, Swartz was found dead by suicide. The blog I read didn't elaborate much on who he was but gave great detail about what he could have been. Also, she believed he died much too young. She believes he was an unsung hero.
In my response, I was aware of the emotion that was put into the post and told her I was unaware of who this man was. It made me curious as to what this man did and why she was so passionate about his premature ending life. I went and researched this man and now I understand what his beliefs were and came to an agreement with him and the blog poster about the majority of the blog post.
In my second C4T, I came across Jen Deyenberg's-Journey Through Teaching with Technology blog which is titled Trails Optional. Her post was titled "Blogging Using Blogger." In this post, she was trying to encourage her fellow teachers to get on board using either or a seperate blogging website in order to get their students interacted with the cyber world. She had a great presentation that clearly illustrated growth from blogging students from the beginning of the year to the end of the school year. Also in the presentation, the last few slides clearly directed the instructions to creating your own personal blog using blogger. She basically showed the teachers what the benefit was and then showed them how to create a blog, very good marketing on her part!
In my response, I proclsimed to her that I also understood the positives of using a blog and online sources to learn new things. I told her about EDM310 and how helpful it was. I encouraged her presentation and let her know that she had done a great job of marketing her idea. I agreed fully with her that this was going to be a major part of our present students future, no matter the age or grade level.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Blog Post #5
Krissy Vinosdale:
Not only a degree makes you a teacher, the initiative to help younger people succeed also has to matter deep down inside of you. That's what Krissy does; she's always learning more and more to make her better at her profession. She thinks of school as being a comfy environment to allow the student to be a sponge. She basically wants it to be a place that kids want to attend every day, and while they are there, learn something valuable to them. I think she is an innovator, and I hope somehow, someway she gets her wish in the near future.
My Own School:
I've never really thought about creating my own school, but once you do, there are many ideas you come up with. Like Krissy, I would want to make it appealing to young people on the inside and out. The environment would be laid back and the curriculum would be on the point of future use for the students. I'm thinking of elementary school when I say this, but my jungle gym would be out of this world. I would require my teachers to reward there class daily with a trip to this magnificent structure. I would cut school hours, and raise teacher's pay. Students would decide the lunch menu! Wouldn't you want to come to this school?
Virtual Choir:
This video is amazing. I wish I could claim this video. This video shows that technology is simply limitless! The choir is from all around the world, they never meet, and that's what makes it great! Eric Whitaker is the man and an innovator.
Teaching in the 21st Century:
In this video, Kevin Roberts believes that teachers need to change their way of teaching. I thought at first, Kevin didn't see the need in teachers at all, but that's not the case. He just points out that students can find out anything they want through the use of technology. Students rely on teachers for information too much these days, when it's a click away. Of course, teacher's have to be in the classroom for many reasons like teaching life lessons, educating how to do things, and moderating. I think as future educators, Robert's has showed me that it is time for change. Use technology in your everyday curriculum. Make the students do their own research on things they need to know. Use technology for problem solving!
Flipping the Classroom:
I believe this will work. I think that classrooms are so different these days it allows this to work. This method helps all kinds of students. It helps the slower learner and the learners that catch on easier. The only problem is the students who do not have the use of technology in there home. This makes them stand out and also gets them behind. I think this method can work but the schools will have to provide the technology to all students, so they can bring their work home with them.
Not only a degree makes you a teacher, the initiative to help younger people succeed also has to matter deep down inside of you. That's what Krissy does; she's always learning more and more to make her better at her profession. She thinks of school as being a comfy environment to allow the student to be a sponge. She basically wants it to be a place that kids want to attend every day, and while they are there, learn something valuable to them. I think she is an innovator, and I hope somehow, someway she gets her wish in the near future.
My Own School:
I've never really thought about creating my own school, but once you do, there are many ideas you come up with. Like Krissy, I would want to make it appealing to young people on the inside and out. The environment would be laid back and the curriculum would be on the point of future use for the students. I'm thinking of elementary school when I say this, but my jungle gym would be out of this world. I would require my teachers to reward there class daily with a trip to this magnificent structure. I would cut school hours, and raise teacher's pay. Students would decide the lunch menu! Wouldn't you want to come to this school?
Virtual Choir:
This video is amazing. I wish I could claim this video. This video shows that technology is simply limitless! The choir is from all around the world, they never meet, and that's what makes it great! Eric Whitaker is the man and an innovator.
Teaching in the 21st Century:
In this video, Kevin Roberts believes that teachers need to change their way of teaching. I thought at first, Kevin didn't see the need in teachers at all, but that's not the case. He just points out that students can find out anything they want through the use of technology. Students rely on teachers for information too much these days, when it's a click away. Of course, teacher's have to be in the classroom for many reasons like teaching life lessons, educating how to do things, and moderating. I think as future educators, Robert's has showed me that it is time for change. Use technology in your everyday curriculum. Make the students do their own research on things they need to know. Use technology for problem solving!
Flipping the Classroom:
I believe this will work. I think that classrooms are so different these days it allows this to work. This method helps all kinds of students. It helps the slower learner and the learners that catch on easier. The only problem is the students who do not have the use of technology in there home. This makes them stand out and also gets them behind. I think this method can work but the schools will have to provide the technology to all students, so they can bring their work home with them.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Special Blog Post #1
WolframAlpha Search:
This search yielded India's Population-1.21 billion, United State's Population-309 million, China's Population-1.35 billion
Numbers added up =318 million, United State's Population-309 million... That's 9 million more English speaking Chinese than the total population of our home country.
2 Other Searches:
What is the population of Australia-21.5 million
What is Canada's population-33.9 million
WolframAlpha:
WolframAlpha can be very useful for many things. This site is basically a resource similar to Google search. It is very helpful and also shows visuals to help you better understand your overall search.
This can be used for any class to find info. This can also be used for anything that you want to learn more about. Things that you ask yourself, "I wonder?" This site can answer all of those questions. This is a great educational tool and it also comes as a smart phone app.
Gary Hayes Video:
-I watched the video and used snippet for a screenshot to try all combinations.
Changes... Based on Gary Hayes' Video:
This video is amazing. This is a must watch. Make sure you try every combination and watch all these stats and money pile up over the days, moths, and years. After experiencing this site and playing with the combinations, it helps you see that as a future educator, I have to understand and buy in to the concept of change.
I have began to slowly take my mind off of the traditional ways of educating. I understand the traditional ways because I was brought up with traditional teachers that hardly ever stepped out of the box, other than a few. I was taught the burp-back method that Dr. Strange talks about. As I see over and over again these mind-blowing statistics and numbers of technological advances in our society, the more it makes me want to develop some kind of change in curriculum that exposes students at an early age to things they will have to learn in the future to be successful.
This search yielded India's Population-1.21 billion, United State's Population-309 million, China's Population-1.35 billion
Numbers added up =318 million, United State's Population-309 million... That's 9 million more English speaking Chinese than the total population of our home country.
2 Other Searches:
What is the population of Australia-21.5 million
What is Canada's population-33.9 million
WolframAlpha:
WolframAlpha can be very useful for many things. This site is basically a resource similar to Google search. It is very helpful and also shows visuals to help you better understand your overall search.
This can be used for any class to find info. This can also be used for anything that you want to learn more about. Things that you ask yourself, "I wonder?" This site can answer all of those questions. This is a great educational tool and it also comes as a smart phone app.
Gary Hayes Video:
-I watched the video and used snippet for a screenshot to try all combinations.
Changes... Based on Gary Hayes' Video:
This video is amazing. This is a must watch. Make sure you try every combination and watch all these stats and money pile up over the days, moths, and years. After experiencing this site and playing with the combinations, it helps you see that as a future educator, I have to understand and buy in to the concept of change.
I have began to slowly take my mind off of the traditional ways of educating. I understand the traditional ways because I was brought up with traditional teachers that hardly ever stepped out of the box, other than a few. I was taught the burp-back method that Dr. Strange talks about. As I see over and over again these mind-blowing statistics and numbers of technological advances in our society, the more it makes me want to develop some kind of change in curriculum that exposes students at an early age to things they will have to learn in the future to be successful.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Blog Post #3
Paige Ellis/Peer Editing:
All of the links, A, B, and C were very helpful in defining and giving a helping hand about peer review and editing. In Paige Ellis's blog she makes it known that peer editing can be difficult and sometimes uncomfortable. This is true in many cases such as, bad papers, friends papers, and just simply not wanting to be sound mean or harsh.
The videos are all very similar in making it known how peer editing is very important and useful in all grade levels. They show helpful ways to critique your classmates and even helps in how to compliment your peer that you are editing. All in all, it was very helpful to watch the videos and read Paige's blog. It also can help in your writings by not wanting to make these mistakes and get a great review!
Assistive Technologies:
In these videos, I learned that there are barriers in classrooms all over the world. These barriers can be removed and overcame by the usage of assistive technology. These videos made me aware that as a teacher I cannot think that all children are the same and learn at the same speed. It made me aware that I will have to be prepared for children with barriers and find ways to overcome those barriers. Assistive Technology such as talking calculators, sensory aids, screen magnifiers, and Ipads will make it somewhat a little easier to help the kids with vision and hearing defects.
The Mountbatten:
This device should be very helpful for students with vision impairments. Its is a Braille writer and it provides quick feedback for blind students. This makes it much easier for blind students to be involved in regular classroom activities with the students with no impairments. It is also computer compatible, so that's a plus! I am a PE major so I'm not certain how I would involve this device in my curriculum, but if there is a way I will certainly do so!
Issues In My Classroom:
After watching these videos, I have now became aware that most educators will have to educate a student with an impairment. These videos helped me learn new ways to diminish these barriers put in between these students with disabilities and education.
The thing is, I am going to be a physical educator and be in the gym and outside and not in a classroom. I believe the Ipad and voice-overs will be a tool used by me. I will get the impaired student's parents involved and teach her the ways to use these things at home. I believe us as future educators need to be completely up to speed on how most of assistive technology works, therefore, when we have a student who is deaf or blind, we do not stutter but find the best way to benefit each other.
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts:
In this video, Vicki Davis is teaching her students how to readily use almost every form of technology available. Some people may think her way of teaching is non-traditional and it is, but I believe it is the way of the future. She allows her students to lead classroom discussions and wants her students to find their own solutions to problems. This new innovation of teaching method should be adopted by all schools and grade levels all around the country in my opinion.
Ms. Davis believes that not only does she teach the class but the class teaches her, and also that peers are the greatest teacher to each other. She teaches her students to use blogs and software, some don't learn that until adulthood, and some never do! She created two different programs to help her students get out and understand the internet abroad. She wants to make sure her students learn the great uses and values of technology. Her video has honestly inspired me to go away from traditional ways of teaching physical education and find ways to bring technology into play.
The videos are all very similar in making it known how peer editing is very important and useful in all grade levels. They show helpful ways to critique your classmates and even helps in how to compliment your peer that you are editing. All in all, it was very helpful to watch the videos and read Paige's blog. It also can help in your writings by not wanting to make these mistakes and get a great review!
Assistive Technologies:
In these videos, I learned that there are barriers in classrooms all over the world. These barriers can be removed and overcame by the usage of assistive technology. These videos made me aware that as a teacher I cannot think that all children are the same and learn at the same speed. It made me aware that I will have to be prepared for children with barriers and find ways to overcome those barriers. Assistive Technology such as talking calculators, sensory aids, screen magnifiers, and Ipads will make it somewhat a little easier to help the kids with vision and hearing defects.
The Mountbatten:
This device should be very helpful for students with vision impairments. Its is a Braille writer and it provides quick feedback for blind students. This makes it much easier for blind students to be involved in regular classroom activities with the students with no impairments. It is also computer compatible, so that's a plus! I am a PE major so I'm not certain how I would involve this device in my curriculum, but if there is a way I will certainly do so!
Issues In My Classroom:
After watching these videos, I have now became aware that most educators will have to educate a student with an impairment. These videos helped me learn new ways to diminish these barriers put in between these students with disabilities and education.
The thing is, I am going to be a physical educator and be in the gym and outside and not in a classroom. I believe the Ipad and voice-overs will be a tool used by me. I will get the impaired student's parents involved and teach her the ways to use these things at home. I believe us as future educators need to be completely up to speed on how most of assistive technology works, therefore, when we have a student who is deaf or blind, we do not stutter but find the best way to benefit each other.
Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts:
In this video, Vicki Davis is teaching her students how to readily use almost every form of technology available. Some people may think her way of teaching is non-traditional and it is, but I believe it is the way of the future. She allows her students to lead classroom discussions and wants her students to find their own solutions to problems. This new innovation of teaching method should be adopted by all schools and grade levels all around the country in my opinion.
Ms. Davis believes that not only does she teach the class but the class teaches her, and also that peers are the greatest teacher to each other. She teaches her students to use blogs and software, some don't learn that until adulthood, and some never do! She created two different programs to help her students get out and understand the internet abroad. She wants to make sure her students learn the great uses and values of technology. Her video has honestly inspired me to go away from traditional ways of teaching physical education and find ways to bring technology into play.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Blog Post #2
Did You Know? 3.0-A John Strange 2012 Version
Did You Know? Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and with revisions from Dr. Strange, they've successfully given us heavy insight on statistics around the world and what we, as future educators have to look forward to in the future. The video was encouraging and somewhat discouraging, raising a few eyebrows as it rolled along. It's first fact about India and how their IQ's are easily outnumbering ours, is kind of embarrassing but yet gives you motivation that you can possibly help make a difference in the near future. Either India is a country filled with super geniuses or our citizens aren't buying into the fact that we can definitely do better. On the language aspect, I do understand that the Chinese have a larger population than us but having more Chinese people know our native language than the natives who live in the U.S. is absolutely astounding. This could affect a ton of things in the near future like jobs, marketing, etc.
The second half of the video is very much more encouraging in my eyes. With the millions of YouTube videos being watched every minute, the millions of Google searches per minute, and the amount of text messages being sent per minute and daily, it shows me that the generation that I will have to educate will be much more technology literate, and that it may be time for a change from traditional ways of educating like books and papers to more of a web based approach. Stats show that the majority of people have computers and they also show that they use them. The video asks, "What is your role?" I see our role as putting ourselves into positions to, and teaching the ways that make it easier for our students to get the jobs of the future.
Mr. Winkle Wakes
In this video Mr.Winkle Wakes Matthew Needleman really makes you think and basically reveals that the same things from 100 years ago still takes place in most schools. Mr. Winkle wakes after his 100 year nap and starts to travel around and take in the world that is happening today. Mr. Winkle is overwhelmed by the technology that is in use at businesses and hospitals. He finally finds a place that is comforting to him and that is at a basic school. It is instantly familiar and traditional with the way he is used to doing things, even 100 years later.
After watching this video, it has left me with this strong impression; We are taking away from the students. With all the technology in use in the adult and business world, we still choose to approach education the same way we did 100 years ago when this technology wasn't available. It seems like education is resisting innovation and especially technology. As educators, I thought we were supposed to be grooming our students to be successful once they were out of our hands. Now, my thoughts lean towards the fact that we are limiting their abilities. There has to be a change in the way things are being done.
The Importance of Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson in the video The Importance of Creativity strongly believes that all kids have talent and that sometimes this talent is narrowed and stripped away from them. After watching this video and hearing him argue these factors, I honestly couldn't agree with him more on every one of them. Educators are basically teaching kids blindly with unpredictability about the future. He believes that creativity in education is just as important as literacy.
He uses a quote, "All children are born artists." He thinks we either grow or are educated out of creativity. Kids are not afraid of being wrong. That is a powerful thing because if you're not prepared to be wrong you automatically lose creativity. As you grow older you become afraid of being wrong and making mistakes, which this is what you have been taught.
He believes that intelligence is diverse, dynamic, and distinct which I couldn't agree more after his statements about each category. He is challenging us to adopt fundamental issues on other ways to educate our youth. We should want to cultivate creativity, acknowledge multiple styles of intelligence, and help kids make something of their creative capacity and not narrow it. In light of the Mr. Winkle video and the things I've heard today, change is very much needed in the near future. Changes in the way we educate our youth and prepare them for the real world are crucial. As technology grows, we have to evolve with it and give them the best preparation possible if we want to continue to be a strong academic country.
Traditional ways of teaching should soon be a thing of the past. We should embrace the new and better ways of doing things and imply them into the educational field. I honestly believe if changes aren't made soon, there will be some sort of downhill spiral our country takes as an educational whole. Lets make strides to better this situation and make this a strength and a positive.
Pinterest
A. Created Account
B. I think that student use of this would be greatly beneficial and a fun way of doing things such as projects, and presentations. I also think it would be a great tool to use for lesson plans.
C. I started following Edutopia and Edudemic. Edutopia stays up to date and adds useful articles and different things that could be very useful in the classroom. Edudemic is also a good site to follow because they add useful tips on how to use web 2.0 in the classroom and also for helping create new ways to keep your students interested.
D. Watched Video
E. Explored Links
I think Pinterest has already and will continue to be evolved into the educational process. It could be very helpful in mixing things up and showing your class new looks instead of the same old thing every day. Also, it could be a fun way for the kids to do a project or report of some sort. There are many ways you could go with it.
Did You Know? Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and with revisions from Dr. Strange, they've successfully given us heavy insight on statistics around the world and what we, as future educators have to look forward to in the future. The video was encouraging and somewhat discouraging, raising a few eyebrows as it rolled along. It's first fact about India and how their IQ's are easily outnumbering ours, is kind of embarrassing but yet gives you motivation that you can possibly help make a difference in the near future. Either India is a country filled with super geniuses or our citizens aren't buying into the fact that we can definitely do better. On the language aspect, I do understand that the Chinese have a larger population than us but having more Chinese people know our native language than the natives who live in the U.S. is absolutely astounding. This could affect a ton of things in the near future like jobs, marketing, etc.
The second half of the video is very much more encouraging in my eyes. With the millions of YouTube videos being watched every minute, the millions of Google searches per minute, and the amount of text messages being sent per minute and daily, it shows me that the generation that I will have to educate will be much more technology literate, and that it may be time for a change from traditional ways of educating like books and papers to more of a web based approach. Stats show that the majority of people have computers and they also show that they use them. The video asks, "What is your role?" I see our role as putting ourselves into positions to, and teaching the ways that make it easier for our students to get the jobs of the future.
Mr. Winkle Wakes
In this video Mr.Winkle Wakes Matthew Needleman really makes you think and basically reveals that the same things from 100 years ago still takes place in most schools. Mr. Winkle wakes after his 100 year nap and starts to travel around and take in the world that is happening today. Mr. Winkle is overwhelmed by the technology that is in use at businesses and hospitals. He finally finds a place that is comforting to him and that is at a basic school. It is instantly familiar and traditional with the way he is used to doing things, even 100 years later.
After watching this video, it has left me with this strong impression; We are taking away from the students. With all the technology in use in the adult and business world, we still choose to approach education the same way we did 100 years ago when this technology wasn't available. It seems like education is resisting innovation and especially technology. As educators, I thought we were supposed to be grooming our students to be successful once they were out of our hands. Now, my thoughts lean towards the fact that we are limiting their abilities. There has to be a change in the way things are being done.
The Importance of Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson in the video The Importance of Creativity strongly believes that all kids have talent and that sometimes this talent is narrowed and stripped away from them. After watching this video and hearing him argue these factors, I honestly couldn't agree with him more on every one of them. Educators are basically teaching kids blindly with unpredictability about the future. He believes that creativity in education is just as important as literacy.
He uses a quote, "All children are born artists." He thinks we either grow or are educated out of creativity. Kids are not afraid of being wrong. That is a powerful thing because if you're not prepared to be wrong you automatically lose creativity. As you grow older you become afraid of being wrong and making mistakes, which this is what you have been taught.
He believes that intelligence is diverse, dynamic, and distinct which I couldn't agree more after his statements about each category. He is challenging us to adopt fundamental issues on other ways to educate our youth. We should want to cultivate creativity, acknowledge multiple styles of intelligence, and help kids make something of their creative capacity and not narrow it. In light of the Mr. Winkle video and the things I've heard today, change is very much needed in the near future. Changes in the way we educate our youth and prepare them for the real world are crucial. As technology grows, we have to evolve with it and give them the best preparation possible if we want to continue to be a strong academic country.
Traditional ways of teaching should soon be a thing of the past. We should embrace the new and better ways of doing things and imply them into the educational field. I honestly believe if changes aren't made soon, there will be some sort of downhill spiral our country takes as an educational whole. Lets make strides to better this situation and make this a strength and a positive.
A. Created Account
B. I think that student use of this would be greatly beneficial and a fun way of doing things such as projects, and presentations. I also think it would be a great tool to use for lesson plans.
C. I started following Edutopia and Edudemic. Edutopia stays up to date and adds useful articles and different things that could be very useful in the classroom. Edudemic is also a good site to follow because they add useful tips on how to use web 2.0 in the classroom and also for helping create new ways to keep your students interested.
D. Watched Video
E. Explored Links
I think Pinterest has already and will continue to be evolved into the educational process. It could be very helpful in mixing things up and showing your class new looks instead of the same old thing every day. Also, it could be a fun way for the kids to do a project or report of some sort. There are many ways you could go with it.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Blog Assignment #1
About Me:
My name is Logan Kirkland and I am a Junior at the University of South Alabama. I am majoring in physical education with teacher certification and really hope to one day be a coach. I hope to coach baseball either in the high school or college level and really hope to one day make a difference in some young people's lives.
I was born here in Mobile, Alabama and have lived here all my life. This was one of the main reasons I chose USA. I also play baseball here at the University. I play second base for the Jags and really hope this is the year we breakout and show signs of the Jags of old.
Future Classroom:
I am a physical education major so my future classroom will be either a gym or a field of some sort. I will use the tools that were taught to me over my college tenure and I'm sure, I will incorporate my own philosophy into teaching the kids the proper way to be fit, and to stay fit. I grew up around sports and learned new ways to stay physically fit over the years, so this will help me in my teaching methods over the years.
The things that I like about physical education is that I can teach the kids in a "hands-on" kind of way. I believe that this method is one of the more effective ways of teaching and that the kids understand it easier. Every concept that I try to teach the kids, I will make sure that they know I also practice the same concepts. This way, they know that they can come to me and ask questions about anything they are unsure about.
I will be teaching in the high school level so I'm hoping my students have already learned and established their own set of motor skills. My job will be pointing out their strengths and weaknesses and hopefully helping each individual turn a weakness into a strength. I understand that each student will be different in skill level and that some kids will take more learning and practice than others, but I think that with me understanding that, I will help the majority of kids who actually want to be helped.
I think I have an advantage in this field because of the physical educators I have had in the past. I have been able to see many different teaching philosophies and compile the best methods over the years. This is why I think I have a leg-up on my peers in this field, and think that I will be a great help to my future students. I will show my future students the best ways to be and stay physically fit and lay out a blueprint to staying that way in the future.
Time Management Video:
Dr. Randy Pausch's video on time management is very helpful and overall insightful. I am very glad I watched this. He brings up key thoughts that goes on almost everyday inside of a college students mind. This video showed me different ways to help manage my time and set my goals.
He says "failing to plan is planning to fail." If you really think about this statement it makes a load of sense. I am bad about not managing my time and goals well, and I think that this statement really made me realize that and is going to make a positive influence on the way I do things from now on. I got a lot out of this video!
My name is Logan Kirkland and I am a Junior at the University of South Alabama. I am majoring in physical education with teacher certification and really hope to one day be a coach. I hope to coach baseball either in the high school or college level and really hope to one day make a difference in some young people's lives.
I was born here in Mobile, Alabama and have lived here all my life. This was one of the main reasons I chose USA. I also play baseball here at the University. I play second base for the Jags and really hope this is the year we breakout and show signs of the Jags of old.
Future Classroom:
I am a physical education major so my future classroom will be either a gym or a field of some sort. I will use the tools that were taught to me over my college tenure and I'm sure, I will incorporate my own philosophy into teaching the kids the proper way to be fit, and to stay fit. I grew up around sports and learned new ways to stay physically fit over the years, so this will help me in my teaching methods over the years.
The things that I like about physical education is that I can teach the kids in a "hands-on" kind of way. I believe that this method is one of the more effective ways of teaching and that the kids understand it easier. Every concept that I try to teach the kids, I will make sure that they know I also practice the same concepts. This way, they know that they can come to me and ask questions about anything they are unsure about.
I will be teaching in the high school level so I'm hoping my students have already learned and established their own set of motor skills. My job will be pointing out their strengths and weaknesses and hopefully helping each individual turn a weakness into a strength. I understand that each student will be different in skill level and that some kids will take more learning and practice than others, but I think that with me understanding that, I will help the majority of kids who actually want to be helped.
I think I have an advantage in this field because of the physical educators I have had in the past. I have been able to see many different teaching philosophies and compile the best methods over the years. This is why I think I have a leg-up on my peers in this field, and think that I will be a great help to my future students. I will show my future students the best ways to be and stay physically fit and lay out a blueprint to staying that way in the future.
Time Management Video:
Dr. Randy Pausch's video on time management is very helpful and overall insightful. I am very glad I watched this. He brings up key thoughts that goes on almost everyday inside of a college students mind. This video showed me different ways to help manage my time and set my goals.
He says "failing to plan is planning to fail." If you really think about this statement it makes a load of sense. I am bad about not managing my time and goals well, and I think that this statement really made me realize that and is going to make a positive influence on the way I do things from now on. I got a lot out of this video!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
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