Blog Post 5

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff Please by Scott McLeod

I loved this post. Mr. McLeod really brought to my attention the fact that so many students don't have parents or teachers who educate them as far as technology goes. The whole story was written in a satirical way. He talked about how he didn't want parents to teach their kids how to do things with computers, social networking, scan, as well as many other things that computers are used for. The way he did it was very sarcastic and it caught my attention. Then he decided at the end to say that he was doing all of these things with his kids so we will see who has the leg up in a decade or two. We all know that computers are definitely something that our kids should know how to use, but there are some people who don't want to accept this. I don't think that pencils and paper are out of date, and I still think that they should be used in schools, but computers should be used as well.

The High School Initiative
Travis Allen's ZeitgeistYoungMinds Entry iSchool Initiative 

These are both good videos because this is something that we as teachers will face one day, the dreaded budget cuts, which means a cut in employees. These videos were about how Travis Allen thinks that we will eventually go to an iSchool type of classroom. This is something like an iPhone that you use in the classroom. It keeps students from having to use paper, pens and pencils. It also will save paper because teachers won't have to make copies for students. Everything that a student will need is in their iSchool device. Including an app for emailing as well as other important apps such as recorder that allows students to record lectures and the iCalculator that students will need for their daily math classes. There are many apps that come on the iSchool that students will need.
My favorite app was the iHomework which allows students to communicate with teachers about homework and assignments. This will make it easier for students to keep track of their classwork. I also like how internet access would be limited to just websites that are related to schoolwork. The iSchool costs 150.00 and saves schools about 600.00 per student. I am not sure what position I take on this idea. I can't decide if it is a good thing or a bad thing. I do know that it would save schools money, but is it necessarily always a good thing to only use technology? You then come into the problem of teachers who don't know how to use this technology. They have to be taught what to do and that costs money as well as then the teachers have to take the time to teach the students how to use it. There are always problems that can happen when using technology. I am not sure if I agree with this idea, but I do know that we need to educate our students more in the technological area.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
I loved this video. I am a big fan of this type of music and was actually in several choirs and ensembles in High School as well as participated in the state of Alabama's Honor Choir and All State Choirs for several years. I have actually sang this song before and it is very difficult to sing with people that you have met before and in a setting where your choir is together. I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for them to all sing this and then put this together. I think that this is an amazing use of the internet and it just shows what the internet is capable of doing, IF we are teaching students how to use it. Some people are naturally gifted as far as technology goes, I am not. I have to have someone teach me how to do these things. I am all for this type of technology being taught in schools.

Teaching in the 21st Century
According to this video, teachers are the filter of knowledge but they must show students how to validate information, synthesize information, leverage information, communicate information, collaborate with information and problem solve with information. Should teachers teach fact or skills? I think they should teach both. Students have to know about things in our society. We have to teach the basics as far as English, Mathematics, Sciences and Social Sciences, but I also think we should teach them skills as well. How are we to prepare them for life if they aren't taught some type of skills. I felt that I was totally unprepared for a job and for the real world after I graduated High School.
I was taught some of these things in High School as far as not using Wikipedia as a source, and I had one really good teacher who taught us how to invest our money and not to use credit cards and that we needed to save and use cash more than a debit card. I just think that we need to teach students these things. Some of them don't have parents to teach them these things and most won't listen to their parents anyways. Even if they don't listen then, they will remember it one day because I remember things. I had to learn most things by trial and error though. This will effect me as an educator because I need to be like the teacher that I had in High School that taught me things about life. I feel that he prepared me, as best as one teacher could, for what life was going to be like after I graduated.

Reading Rockets Website
This website is one that gives future teachers as well as parents information on how to make learning fun for their kids and students. One of the apps that I liked most was the comprehension apps. There re so many students who don't like reading. I am an English/Education major and I believe that this is because so many students couldn't comprehend what they were reading as a child, so they just gave up on reading and now as adults they hate reading. I think reading comprehension is something that all teachers should focus on. I also liked the ABC's of teaching reading that I read about. It teaches teachers which students are at risk for not learning to read, a glossary of basic terms in reading instructions, as well as Reading 101 and the top 10 things a teacher should know about reading.

This website also offers information for first year and new teachers. I like that a lot because I know that as a new teacher I will be stressed out enough and it will help to have a website like this that can give me some tips to help me with my classes and students. They also offer a self study online class. There was a whole section on building strong teacher/parent relationships. This is important to me because I know that there are going to be parents who don't care anything about their child or what their child does, there will also be parents who think that their child is perfect and that they deserve an A even if they didn't do the work and then there will be the parents who actually want to work with me as their child's teacher. I think it is important to have good relationships with the parents if they allow it and this is an excellent source of information about how to make that happen.